Rosa mystica belongs to the Litany of Loreto as the Church prays it, and its roots lie in the medieval hymns and sermons that read the Song of Songs of Mary — the garden enclosed, the flower of the field — and in the tradition that called the thorns of the rose an image of sin from which she alone was preserved. The same imagery gave the Rosary its name, the rosarium or rose garden of prayers offered to her. The title is sometimes attached in popular usage to private claims the Church has not approved; this entry follows only the Litany's own use of it.

This is a title of praise rather than a distinct doctrine, and Marialis Cultus asks that such poetic titles be read for what they teach. What the rose teaches is her holiness: a beauty that is entirely God's gift and entirely fruitful, since the flower exists for the fruit. The invocation belongs with the Immaculate Conception on one side and with the Church's own vocation to be holy and without blemish on the other.

Universal Church

Roses in Marian art are a standing sign of this invocation: a rose held in the Child's hand or Mary's, a crown or garland of roses, the hortus conclusus of a walled rose garden, and the rose windows that light medieval churches dedicated to Our Lady.

• Rosa Mystica
• Mystic Rose

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