Stella Maris (The Star of the Sea) has long been the favourite title by which people of the sea have called on her in whose protection they have always trusted: the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her son, Jesus Christ, accompanied his disciples in their vessels, helped them in their work and calmed the storms.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road returns with the second volume of The Passenger Stella Maris is an intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence.

The words Star of the Sea are a translation of the Latin title Stella Maris. The title has been in use since at least the early medieval period. Purportedly arising from a scribal error in a supposed etymology of the name Mary, it came to be seen as allegorical of Mary's role as "guiding star" on the way to Christ.

She is the Patron Saint of the Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), an official Apostolate of the Catholic order founded in Glasgow, Scotland. She is the patroness of the Netherlands. The AoS has for many years commemorated the Feast of Stella Maris – Star of the Sea, with Mass each year on September 27 for seafarers.