| Devotion to Our Lady |
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Click here for the current ADULT 33- day Preparation for the True Devotion Consecration to Mary
Click here for the current CHILDREN'S 33- day Preparation for the True Devotion Consecration to Mary
Click here for the current CHILDREN'S 33- day Preparation for the True Devotion Consecration to Mary
INTRODUCTION TO THE TRUE DEVOTION CONSECRATION TO MARY
This CONSECRATION TO MARY page will explain to you, in part, the necessity of making a total consecration to Our Lady, according to the method outlined by St. Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort. Please set aside time to read this page independently of the daily meditations for the Consecration. With this foundational knowledge and conviction, you will then better follow all the stages of the 33-day Preparation, which will provide you with all the prayers and meditations to successfully make the True Devotion Consecration. Furthermore, it will show you how to maintain and grow in that devotion once you have made it.
Yes, there is a lot to read! But there is a lot at stake! Can anyone put a price on salvation? Can anyone put a price on cutting-back on time spent in the fires of Purgatory? Can anyone put a price on a greater degree of holiness and happiness in Heaven? As Our Lord says: "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!" If we can spend hours watching and reading worldly or secular material, that will have little bearing on increasing our chances of salvation, then how much more should we not be ready to read spiritual materials that do have an influence on our holiness and ultimate fate. If we have to do "violence" to ourselves, in order to bear away the kingdom of Heaven, then so be it!
There is no doubt that the 33-day Preparation is a battle, not least against the devil, who hates to see anyone complete it and make the Consecration, but also a battle against our natural instincts and desires to do other, more 'pleasant' and 'likeable' things. It is a cross that must be carried, as Our Lord said: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY and follow Me!" (Luke 9:23). So let us take up this cross of preparation, deny ourselves what we naturally desire, and supernaturally follow Our Lord and Our Lady! Of course it will take time! But what is that pain and time compared to the pain and length of time spent in Hell, Purgatory, or, God-willing, in the joys of Heaven? As St. Louis de Montfort writes:
"As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state? He alone to whom the spirit of Jesus Christ shall have revealed this secret, the faultlessly faithful soul whom He shall conduct there Himself, to advance from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, from light to light, until he arrives at the transformation of himself into Jesus Christ, and to the plenitude of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven." (St. Louis de Montfort,True Devotion to Mary, §119).
Yes, there is a lot to read! But there is a lot at stake! Can anyone put a price on salvation? Can anyone put a price on cutting-back on time spent in the fires of Purgatory? Can anyone put a price on a greater degree of holiness and happiness in Heaven? As Our Lord says: "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away!" If we can spend hours watching and reading worldly or secular material, that will have little bearing on increasing our chances of salvation, then how much more should we not be ready to read spiritual materials that do have an influence on our holiness and ultimate fate. If we have to do "violence" to ourselves, in order to bear away the kingdom of Heaven, then so be it!
There is no doubt that the 33-day Preparation is a battle, not least against the devil, who hates to see anyone complete it and make the Consecration, but also a battle against our natural instincts and desires to do other, more 'pleasant' and 'likeable' things. It is a cross that must be carried, as Our Lord said: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross DAILY and follow Me!" (Luke 9:23). So let us take up this cross of preparation, deny ourselves what we naturally desire, and supernaturally follow Our Lord and Our Lady! Of course it will take time! But what is that pain and time compared to the pain and length of time spent in Hell, Purgatory, or, God-willing, in the joys of Heaven? As St. Louis de Montfort writes:
"As the essential of this devotion consists in the interior which it ought to form, it will not be equally understood by everybody. Some will stop at what is exterior in it, and will go no further, and these will be the greatest number. Some, in small number, will enter into its inward spirit; but they will only mount one step. Who will mount to the second step? Who will get as far as the third? Lastly, who will so advance as to make this devotion his habitual state? He alone to whom the spirit of Jesus Christ shall have revealed this secret, the faultlessly faithful soul whom He shall conduct there Himself, to advance from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, from light to light, until he arrives at the transformation of himself into Jesus Christ, and to the plenitude of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven." (St. Louis de Montfort,True Devotion to Mary, §119).
INTRODUCING THE CONSECRATION
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REASONS FOR MAKING THE CONSECRATION IN RELATION TO GOD
1. It is the will of God, as announced by Our Lady at Fatima. The fact that God wants this should be sufficient reason for making the Consecration. 2. Mary is God's masterpiece and in justice deserves praise above and beyond what we give to anything else except the praise we give to God. God receives much glory when we honor Mary, the work of His hands. 3. God has made Mary the channel or mediatrix of all graces. It would be an insult not to use the means that God has appointed for the distribution of His graces, and to seek other means instead. 4. We imitate God's ways by our reliance on Mary in our lives. Just as God chose to enter this world through Mary and chose to rely on Mary for the work of the Redemption, we, likewise, should go to God through Mary and rely upon her for the work of our salvation. |
REASONS FOR MAKING THE CONSECRATION IN RELATION TO OURSELVES
1. If we want to save our souls, then there is no better way of saving them than giving ourselves over to Mary. 2. There can be no salvation without the grace of God. This consecration is a surer and safer way of obtaining, increasing and keeping the graces of God. 3. Mary has been given the role of forming the saints of the end times. We are all called to be saints. There is no better school than the school of Mary for teaching, forming and maintaining sanctity. 4. A true devotion to Mary is almost a guarantee of salvation. This has been been affirmed by the testimonies of numerous Saints, Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Who in their right mind doesn't want to save their soul? 5. The devils have confessed that they find it more difficult to overcome the true servants of Mary than other souls who have a lesser devotion to Mary. |
THE SAINTS SPEAK OF MARY
► "The saints have said admirable things of this holy city of God; and we must cry out with the saints: "De Maria numquam satis"--"Of Mary there is never enough." We have not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary as we ought. She deserves still more praise, still more respect, still more love, and still more service" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce. Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "The humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: "They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish."
► St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: "They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins." And again: "For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation."
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: "A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost."
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: "It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection."
► St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: "He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost."
► St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: "As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified."
► "God wishes that His holy Mother should be at present more known, more loved, more honored than she has ever been" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "When Mary has struck her roots in a soul, she produces there marvels of grace, which she alone can produce. Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been or ever will be—a God Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest saints that there will be in the end of time. The formation and the education of the great saints who shall come at the end of the world are reserved for her" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, in might and in grace, in these latter times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor strayed sinners who shall be converted and shall return to the Catholic Church" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► "The humble Mary will always have the victory over that proud spirit, and so great a victory that she will go so far as to crush his head, where his pride dwells. She will always discover the malice of the serpent. She will always lay bare his infernal plots and dissipate his diabolical councils, and even to the end of time will guard her faithful servants from his cruel claw" (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary).
► St. Albert the Great (a Doctor of the Church), says: "They who are not thy servants, O Mary, shall perish."
► St. Bonaventure (a Doctor of the Church) repeats the same thought when he says: "They who neglect the service of Mary shall die in their sins." And again: "For them, from whom Mary turns away her face, there is not even a hope of salvation."
If a lack of devotion to her is a mark of eternal reprobation a constant love for her must be a sign of eternal salvation. Many spiritual writers state that devotion to Mary is a sign of predestination.
► St. Ignatius of Antioch (a Father of the Church), a martyr of the second century, writes: "A sinner can be saved only through the Holy Virgin who, by her merciful prayers, obtains salvation for so many who, according to strict justice, would be lost."
► St. Alphonsus Liguori (a Doctor of the Church) says: "It is impossible that a servant of Mary be damned, provided he serves her faithfully and commends himself to her maternal protection."
► St. Anselm (a Doctor of the Church) writes: "He who turns to thee and is regarded by thee cannot be lost."
► St. Antonine is of the same opinion. He says: "As it is impossible for them from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy to be saved, so it is necessary that they to whom she turns her eyes of mercy and for whom she intercedes to be saved and glorified."
WHY SHOULD I PUT IN ALL THIS EFFORTS IN MAKING THE TRUE DEVOTION CONSECRATION TO MARY?
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What is the Consecration to Mary? St. Louis Marie de Montfort tells us that the Consecration to Mary is a safe and sure means of giving glory and honor to God (our main purpose in life) and of sanctifying and saving our souls (our secondary purpose in life).
St. Louis points out, in his book True Devotion to Mary, that there is nobody who gives honor and glory to God as much as and as well as Mary. She is the perfect example, she is therefore the perfect teacher, and he adds that she is also a perfect ‘mold’ of perfection that we can pour ourselves into, so as to molded into replicas of her. Furthermore, she is the masterpiece of God’s creation; she is the chosen channel for all the graces of God; she is the most influential with God; she is a terror to our infernal enemies of Hell; she is the mistress of all the powerful angels of God; she is a powerful advocate for sinners at the feet of her Son and our Judge—Jesus Christ. In short, SHE IS WHAT WE NEED to honor and glorify God as we ought; SHE IS WHAT WE NEED to obtain the mercy and grace required for our salvation. Once again we repeat St. Louis' quote: "If we wish to go to Him [Jesus] ... we must use the same means which He used, in coming down from Heaven to assume our human nature and to impart His graces to us. That means was a complete dependence on Mary His Mother, which is TRUE DEVOTION to her... this devotion consists in surrendering oneself in the manner of a slave to Mary, and to Jesus through her, and then performing all our actions with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary." (The Secret of Mary, chapter 1). In this earthly life, whenever we need help or assistance, we seek the best possible person we can find and/or afford—the best teacher; the best school; the best craftsman; the best mechanic; the best doctor or surgeon; the best lawyer; the best coach, etc.—and that is for purely temporal things! How much more important is not the care and salvation of the soul? There, too, we need to seek out the best—and Mary is the best! The devils, who seek the damnation of our soul, have to admit that they have no success with the true servants and slaves of Mary. In his book, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis-Marie de Montfort recounts an incident where St. Dominic was exorcising some devils from some unfortunate person and the devils were forced to speak and admit their lack of success with the true servants of Mary. Here is the account of that incident: When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils, who were in possession of this wretched man, were forced to answer St. Dominic's questions in spite of themselves. They said: 1. That there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary; 2. That by the Rosary, which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of Hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world, because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary. 3. They revealed several other things. St. Dominic put his Rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in Heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men. At this they let out such unearthly screams, that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way that many of the people wept also, out of pure natural pity. The devils, speaking through the mouth of the Albigensian, pleaded in a heart‑rending voice, "Dominic, Dominic, have pity on us, we promise you we will never harm you. "You have always had compassion for sinners and those in distress; have pity on us, for we are in grievous straits. We are suffering so much already, why do you delight in increasing our pains? Can't you be satisfied with the pains we now endure? Have mercy on us, have mercy on us!" St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer in such a way that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic's orders. |
So he knelt down and said this prayer to Our Lady: "Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the Holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question."
No sooner had he said this prayer, than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried, "Dominic, we beseech you, by the passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of his Holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking further; for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars—so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us." "Woe to you, wretched spirits, who do not deserve to be heard," St. Dominic said, and kneeling down he prayed to the Blessed Virgin: "O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation [the Hail Mary] properly. I beg you for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth, here and now before the people." St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, "Answer my servant Dominic at once!" It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard Our Lady, only St. Dominic. Then the devils started screaming: "Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from Heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of Hell, you who are a most sure path to Heaven! Must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth, and confess before everyone, who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness! "Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into Hell. She is like the sun, which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective. "We have to say, however reluctantly, that no soul, who has really persevered in her service, has ever been damned with us; one single sigh, that she offers to the Blessed Trinity, is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in Heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants. "Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned, according to our ordinary standards, are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus, in their fury, they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity. "Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody, who perseveres in saying the Rosary, will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins, by which they obtain pardon and mercy." Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary, which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man's body, under the guise of red‑hot coals. When the devils had all been expelled and the heretic completely delivered from them, Our Lady, although invisible, gave her blessing to the assembled company, and they were filled with joy. A large number of heretics were converted because of this miracle and joined the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. (St. Louis Marie de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Thirty-Third Rose”). In more recent times, we have the more succinct statement of Our Lady Herself at Fatima (on July 13, 1917) where she said to the three children: "I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, [August] to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because ONLY SHE CAN HELP YOU." |
TRUE DEVOTION CONSECRATION TO MARY
by Rev. Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
by Rev. Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
In his Treatise of True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St. Grignion de Montfort has distinguished a number of different degrees of true devotion to the Mother of God. He speaks only briefly of the forms of false devotion—that which is altogether exterior, or presumptuous, or inconstant, or hypocritical, or self-interested—since his main concern is true devotion.
Like the other Christian virtues, true devotion grows in us with charity, advancing from the stage of the beginner to that of the more proficient, and continuing up to the stage of the perfect. The first degree or stage is to pray devoutly to Mary from time to time, for example, by saying the Angelus when the bell rings. The second degree is one of more perfect sentiments of veneration, confidence and love; it may manifest itself by the daily recitation of the Rosary—five decades or all fifteen. In the third degree, the soul gives itself fully to Our Lady, by an act of consecration, so as to belong altogether to Jesus through her. That is why St. Grignon de Montfort speaks in his formula of 'Consecration of oneself to Jesus by the hands of Mary'. In the course of his treatise he usually says it more briefly, 'Consecration to Mary,' meaning thereby consecration to Jesus through her.
What does this Consecration mean?
This act of consecration consists in promising Mary to have constant filial recourse to her and to live in habitual dependence on her, so as to attain to more intimate union with Our Blessed Lord and, through Him, with the Blessed Trinity present in our souls. The reason for making it lies. St. Grignion de Montfort says, in the fact that God has willed to make use of Mary for the sanctification of souls, having already made use of her to bring about the Incarnation (Treatise on True Devotion, ch. I, a. I, no. 44).
The Saint continues: 'I do not think that anyone can attain to great union with Our Blessed Lord or perfect fidelity to the Holy Ghost without being closely united to Our Lady and depending very much on her help . . . She was full of grace when she was saluted by the Archangel Gabriel, she was superabundantly filled with grace by the Holy Ghost when He overshadowed her, she so advanced in grace from day to day and from moment to moment as to arrive at an inconceivable summit of grace; on which account the Most High has made her His unique treasurer and the unique dispenser of His graces, so that she may ennoble, enrich and elevate whom she wills, and make whom she wills enter the narrow gate of Heaven . . . Jesus is everywhere and always the Son and the fruit of Mary; Mary is everywhere the true tree which bears the fruit of life and the true mother who produces it.'
In the same chapter, a little earlier, we read: 'We may apply to Mary with even more truth than St Paul applies them to himself the words: "My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you. I am in labor daily with God's children till Jesus be formed in them in the fulness of His age." St. Augustine says that the predestined are in this world hidden in the womb of Mary in order to become conformed to the image of the Son of God; and there she guards, nourishes, and supports them and brings them forth to glory after death, which is the true day of their birth—the term by which the Church always speaks of the death of the just. O mystery of grace unknown to the reprobate and little understood by the predestined!' Mary is truly the mother of the just, conceiving them spiritually and bringing them forth after death by their entry into glory, which is their definitive spiritual birth. It is clear then that it would be a falling short in humility to neglect to have frequent recourse to the Universal Mediatrix whom Divine Providence has given us as our true spiritual mother to form Christ in us. It is clear also that theology cannot but recognize that it is lawful and more than lawful to consecrate oneself to Mary, Mother and Queen of all men. Pope St. Pius X has made his own the teaching of St. Grignion de Montfort, and sometimes of his very expressions, in the Encyclical Ad diem ilIum on Mary, universal Mediatrix.
Consecration to Our Lady is a practical form of recognition of her universal mediation and a guarantee of her special protection. It helps us to have continual childlike recourse to her and to contemplate and imitate her virtues and her perfect union with Christ. In the practice of this complete dependence on Mary, there may be included—and St. Grignion de Montfort invites us to it—the resignation into Mary's hands of everything in our good works that is communicable to other souls, so that she may make use of it in accordance with the will of her Divine Son and for His glory. 'I choose thee this day, O Mary, in the presence of the whole court of Heaven, as my Mother and Queen. I give and consecrate to you as your slave my body and my soul, my interior and exterior possessions, and even the value of my past, present and future good actions, allowing you the full right to dispose of me and of all that belongs to me, without any exception whatever, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.' This offering is really the practice of the so-called heroic act, there being question here not of a vow but of a promise made to the Blessed Virgin. Even religious who have taken solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience can make this offering which will introduce them further into the mystery of the Communion of Saints.
We are recommended to offer our exterior possessions to Mary, that she may preserve us from inordinate attachment to the things of this world and inspire us to make better use of them. It is good also to consecrate to her our bodies and our senses that she may keep them pure.
The act of consecration gives over to Mary also our soul and its faculties, our spiritual possessions, virtues and merits, all our good works past, present and future. It is necessary, however, to explain how this can be done. Theology gives us the answer by distinguishing what is communicable to others in our good works from what is incommunicable.
What in our good works is communicable to others?
To begin at the other end of the problem, our merits de condigno which constitute a right, in justice, to an increase of grace and to eternal glory are incommunicable. Our merits de condigno differ in that from those of Our Blessed Lord. He was Head of the human race and could in justice communicate His merits to us. If, therefore, we offer our merits de condigno to Mary, it is not in order that she may give them to others, but that she may keep them for us, that she may help us to make them bear fruit, and, if we have the misfortune to lose them by mortal sin, that she may obtain for us the grace of really fervent contrition.
There is, however, something in our good works which we can communicate to others whether on Earth or in Purgatory. (Cf. Treatise of True Devotion, ch. iv, a. I). There is, in the first place, the merit de congruo proprie, [which does strictly and fully pay for something but] is founded on the rights of friendship with God by grace. God gives grace to some because of the good intentions and good works of others who are His friends. There are, in the second place, our prayers; we can and should pray for our neighbor, for his conversion and his spiritual progress; we should pray also for the dying, for the souls in Purgatory.
There are finally our acts of satisfaction. We can make satisfaction de congruo for others, for example, by accepting our daily crosses to help to expiate for their sins. We may even, if God moves us to do so by His grace, accept the penalty due to their sins, as Mary did at the foot of the Cross, and, thereby, draw down the Divine Mercy on them. This the Saints did frequently. An example is found in the life of St. Catherine of Siena. To a young Sienese, whose heart was full of hate of his political enemies, she said: 'Peter, I take on myself all your sins, I shall do penance in your place; but do me one favour; confess your sins.' 'I have been frequently to Confession,' answered Peter. 'That is not true,' replied the Saint. 'It is seven years since you were at Confession,' and she proceeded to enumerate all the sins of his life. Confounded, he repented and pardoned his enemies. Even without having all St. Catherine's generosity, we can accept our daily crosses to help other souls to pay the debt they owe to the Divine justice.
We can also gain indulgences for the souls in Purgatory, opening to them the treasury of the merits and satisfactions of Christ and the saints and hastening the day of their liberation.
There are, therefore, three things which we can share with others: our merits de congruo, our prayers, our satisfaction. And if we put these in Mary's hands for others, we ought not to be surprised if she sends us crosses—proportionate, of course, to our strength—to make us really work for the salvation of souls.
Who are those who may be advised to make this act of consecration? It certainly should not be recommended to people who would make it for merely sentimental reasons, or through spiritual pride, and would not understand its true meaning. But those who are truly spiritual may be recommended to make it for a few days at first, and then for some longer time; when finally they are prepared, they may make it for their whole lives.
Someone may say that to give everything to Our Lady is to strip oneself, to leave one's own debts unpaid, and so to add to one's term in Purgatory. This is in fact the difficulty the devil suggested to St. Bridget of Sweden, when she thought of making the act of donation to Mary. Our Blessed Lord explained, however, to the Saint that the objection sprang from self-love and made no allowance for Mary's goodness. Mary will not be outdone in generosity: her help to us will far exceed what we give her. The very act of love, which prompts our donation, will itself obtain remission of part of our Purgatory.
Others wonder if making the act of donation to Mary leaves them free to pray for relatives and friends afterwards. They forget that Mary knows the obligations of charity better than we do: she would be the first to remind us of them. There may even be some among our relatives and friends on Earth and in Purgatory who have urgent need of prayers and satisfactions, without our knowing who they are. Mary, however, knows who they are, and she can help them out of our good works, if we have put them at her disposal.
Thus understood, consecration and donation make us enter more fully, under Mary's guidance, into the mystery of the Communion of Saints. It is a perfect renewal of the baptismal promises.
Fruits of this Consecration
'This devotion,' St. Grignion de Montfort tells us, 'gives us up altogether to the service of God, and makes us imitate the example of Our Blessed Lord, Who willed to be "subject" in regard to His Blessed Mother (Luke 2:51). It obtains for us the special protection of Mary, who purifies our good works and adorns them when she offers them to her Divine Son. It leads us to union with Our Blessed Lord; it is an easy, short, perfect and safe way. It confers great interior freedom, procures great benefits for our neighbor, and is an excellent means of assuring our perseverance.' The Saint develops each of these points in a most practical way.
He speaks of the easiness of the way in ch. 5, art. 5: It is an easy way, one followed and prepared for us by Our Blessed Lord in His own coming, one where there are no obstacles in reaching Him. It is true that one can arrive at union with God by following other roads; but there will be many more crosses and trials, and many more difficulties which it will not be easy to surmount—there will be combats and strange agonies, steep mountains, sharp thorns, fearful deserts. But the way of Mary is sweeter and more peaceful.
'Even along the way of Mary there are stern battles and great difficulties; but our good Mother makes herself so near and present to her faithful servants to enlighten them in their doubts, to strengthen them in their fears, and to sustain them in their battles, that in truth the Virgin's way to Jesus is a way of roses and honey compared with all others.' The Saint adds that the truth of this can be seen from the lives of the Saints who have followed this way most particularly: St. Ephrem, St. John Damascene, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Francis de Sales.
A little further on in the same chapter, the Saint states that Mary's servants 'receive from her Heaven's greatest graces and favors which are crosses; but it is the servants of Mary who bear the crosses with most ease, merit and glory; and what would hold back another makes them advance,' for they are more aided by the Mother of God, who obtains for them the unction of love in their trials. It is wonderful how Mary makes the cross, at the same time, easier to bear and more meritorious: easier to bear because she helps us, and more meritorious because she obtains for us greater charity, which is the principle of greater merit.
'It is a short way ... one advances more in a little while of submission to and dependence on Mary than in many years of self-will and self-reliance ... We can advance with giant strides along the path by which Jesus came to us ... In a few years we shall arrive at the fulness of the perfect age.' St. Francis of Assisi learned one day in a vision that his sons were endeavoring vainly to reach Our Blessed Lord by a steep ladder which led directly to Him. St. Francis was shown instead a ladder much less steep, at the top of which was Mary, and he heard the words: 'Tell your sons to make use of the ladder of My Mother.'
'It is a perfect way, chosen by God Himself ... The Most High descended to us by way of the humble Mary without losing anything of His Divinity; it is by Mary that little ones can rise perfectly and divinely to the Most High without fear.'
It is, finally, a safe way, for the Blessed Virgin preserves us from the illusions of the devil and our imagination. she preserves us from sentiment as well, calming and ruling our sensibility, giving it a pure and holy object, and subordinating it to the rule of the will vivified by charity.
In consecration to Mary, we find great interior liberty: this is the reward of putting ourselves in such complete dependence on Mary. Scruples are banished; the heart dilates with confidence and love. The Saint confirms this point by referring to what he read in the life of the Dominican, Mother Agnes de Langeac, 'who, suffering great anguish of soul, heard a voice which said to her that if she wished to be delivered and to be protected from her enemies, she should make herself at once the slave of Jesus and His Holy Mother ... When she had done so all her anguish and scruples ceased, and she found herself in a state of great peace, as a result of which she determined to teach the devotion to others ... among whom was M. Olier, the founder of the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and many other priests of the same seminary.' It was in the same seminary that St. Grignion de Montfort received his priestly formation.
'Finally, this devotion is one which procures the good of our neighbor and it is for those who live by it an admirable means of persevering in grace ... for by it one gives to Mary, who is faithful, all that one has ... It is on her fidelity that reliance is placed ... that she may preserve and increase our merits in spite of all that could make us lose them ... Do not commit the gold of your charity, the silver of your purity, the waters of heavenly graces, or the wine of your merits and virtues ... to broken vessels such as you yourselves are; else you will be despoiled by robbers, that is by the demons, who watch day and night for a favorable opportunity.' Put all your treasures, all your graces and virtues, in the womb and in the heart of Mary: she is a spiritual vessel, a vessel of honor, a singular vessel of devotion.
'Souls who are not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God and of Mary, understand and relish what I say; and it is for them that I write ... If a soul gives itself to Mary without reserve, she gives herself to it without reserve' and helps it to find the road which leads to the eternal goal.
Such are the fruits of this consecration: Mary loves those who commit themselves to her fully; she guides, directs, defends, protects, supports and intercedes for them. It is good to offer ourselves to her so that she may offer us to her Son according to the fulness of her prudence and her zeal.
There are also fruits of a higher order which this devotion produces, fruits which are strictly mystical, as we shall explain in the next section. According to St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (ch. I, a. 2, no.3), devotion to Our Blessed Lady will be more specially necessary in the last ages of the world, when Satan will make an effort such 'as to deceive (if possible) even the elect' (Matthew 24:24). 'If the predestined', he says, 'enter with the grace and light of the Holy Ghost into the interior and perfect practice of this devotion, they will see clearly as far as faith permits this beautiful star of the sea, and they will arrive safely in harbor, in spite of pirates and tempests. They will learn the greatness of their Queen, and they will consecrate themselves entirely to her service, as her subjects and slaves of love' to combat what St. Paul calls the slavery of sin (Cf. Rom. vi, 20). They will have experience of her motherly tenderness, and they will love her as her well-beloved children.
The expression 'holy slavery' used by the Saint has been sometimes criticized. This is to forget that it is a slavery of love which accentuates rather than diminishes the filial character of our love of Mary. Besides, as Mgr. Garnier, Bishop of Luçon, remarked in a pastoral letter of March 11th, 1922, if there are in the world slaves of human respect, of ambition, of money, and of shameful passions, there are also, thank God, slaves of conscience and of duty. The holy slavery belongs to this group. The expression 'holy slavery' is a striking metaphor, opposed to the slavery of sin.
FR. FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER'S PREFACE
to his translation of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's book
TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY
to his translation of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's book
TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY
BIOGRAPHY OF FR. FREDERICK FABER
Fr. Frederick William Faber was a Catholic devotional writer, as well as a composer of hymns and an Oratorian priest (the Congregation of the Oratory was originally founded by St. Phillip Neri in 1575, and brought to England in 1848 Cardinal John Henry Newman). Frederick William Faber was born on June 28, 1814, at the village of Calverley (nr. Bradford), in Yorkshire, England; and died at the relatively young age of 49 in London, on September 26, 1863. He was very well educated and attended some of the best schools available. After five years at Harrow School, he matriculated at Balliol College of Oxford, in 1832; then became a scholar at University College in 1834; and later a fellow of that College in 1837. He received Anglican ordination in 1839, and took work as a tutor, until, in 1843, he was appointed Rector of the Anglican parish in Elton, Northamptonshire. During the years 1839-1843, Faber made two tours of Europe, and his letters of his experiences glow with remarkable enthusiasm for the Roman Catholic rites and devotion that he witnessed. On his return to his Anglican parish in Elton in 1844, he established the practice of confessions, preached Catholic doctrine, and wrote the life of the Catholic St. Wilfrid, openly advocating the claims and supremacy of Rome.
Faber was a convert to the Catholic Faith, entering the Church in 1845, having just entered his 'thirties'. In October 1845, the future St. Cardinal John Henry Newman, at that time an Anglican priest, was received into the Church at Littlemore, England. In November of the same year, Frederick William Faber was also received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Waring, at Northampton, England. In 1846, Faber established a religious community, the “Brothers of the Will of God” or “Wilfridians,” as they were named after St. Wilfrid. In 1847 Faber was ordained priest and with his zealous community, now forty in number, converted the whole parish, except “the parson, the pew-opener, and two drunken men.” In 1848, Fr. Newman arrived from Rome with his new congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Fr. Faber placed himself under Fr. Newman as a simple novice, taking with him all his community who were willing to follow his example. In 1849 he was sent by Fr. Newman to found the Oratory at King William Street, London, and was appointed its superior. In the poor chapel there, once a tavern, Faber laid the foundation of his future works. Poor schools, nightly services, and sermons with hymns and processions of the Blessed Sacrament, till then unknown, formed its chief characteristics. Faber’s hymns, personally composed especially for these services, display a combination of accurate theological doctrine, fervent devotion, musical rhythm, and true poetic talent. As a preacher he was remarkable for his delivery, choice of expression, absence of gesticulation, and personal exhortations of surprising force.
In 1847 Faber began the publication of “Lives of the Modern Saints,” not as biographies, but as showing the growth of sanctity under the operation of grace and the supernatural perfection attained. The series of forty-nine Lives supplied a great want of the time and, after some opposition, met with full approbation. His knowledge of the spiritual life and the extent of his theological and ascetic reading were seen in the eight works that now came from his pen: “All for Jesus”, 1853; “Growth in Holiness”, 1854; “The Blessed Sacrament”, 1855; “The Creator and the Creature”, 1858; “The Foot of the Cross”, 1858; “Spiritual Conferences”, 1859; “The Precious Blood”, 1860; “Bethlehem”, 1860. Fr. Faber had studied St. Louis de Montort's life and writings for over 15 years. Finally in 1862, shortly before his own death, he translated from the French and published St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary. The many foreign translations of these works, their circulation now maintained for more than fifty years, their constant quotation by spiritual writers, have raised their author to the rank of a master in mystical theology. He wrote also two volumes of “Notes on Doctrinal Subjects” (1866), giving the skeleton of various sermons and of two projected works, “Calvary” and “The Holy Ghost.” A volume of poems, various essays, and other minor works are also from his pen. The fascination and grace of his presence rendered him personally attractive, while as confessor his sympathy with souls in trouble, his spiritual insight, and his supernatural unworldliness, gave to his counsel a lifelong point and force.
Faber spent the remaining years of his life, occupied primarily in establishing his community on the strict observance of St. Philip’s Institute. The sacraments, prayer, including the reverent performance of the ecclesiastical functions: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the recitation of the Divine Office and all the other liturgical functions, and the daily preaching of the Word of God were St. Philip’s weapons, and Faber would never engage in other external works, however good. Unswerving loyalty to the Holy See was his watchword, and devotion to the Mother of God was for him the safeguard of the Ffaith and the source and support of true piety.
THE PREFACE OF FR. FABER
It was in the year 1846 or 1847, at St. Wilfrid's, that I first studied the life and spirit of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort; and now, after more than fifteen years, it may be allowable to say that those who take him for their master will hardly be able to name a saint or ascetical writer to whose grace and spirit their mind will be more subject than to his. We may not yet call him saint; but the process of his beatification is so far and so favorably advanced that we may not have long to wait before he will be raised upon the altars of the Church.
There are few men in the eighteenth century who have more strongly upon them the marks of the man of Providence than this Elias-like missionary of the Holy Ghost and of Mary. His entire life was such an exhibition of the holy folly of the Cross that his biographers unite in always classing him with St. Simon Salo and St. Philip Neri. Clement XI made him a missionary apostolic in France, in order that he might spend his life in fighting against Jansenism, so far as it affected the salvation of souls. Since the Apostolical Epistles it would be hard to find words that burn so marvelously as the twelve pages of his prayer for the Missionaries of the Holy Ghost, to which I earnestly refer all those who find it hard to keep up under their numberless trials the first fires of the love of souls.
He was at once persecuted and venerated everywhere. His amount of work, like that of St. Anthony of Padua, is incredible, and indeed, inexplicable. He wrote some spiritual treatises which have already had a remarkable influence on the Church during the few years they have been known, and bid fair to have a much wider influence in years to come. His preaching, his writing and his conversation were all impregnated with prophecy and with anticipations of the later ages of the Church. He comes forward like another St. Vincent Ferrer, as if on the days bordering on the Last Judgment, and proclaims that he brings an authentic message from God about the greater honor and wider knowledge and more prominent love of His Blessed Mother, and her connection with the second advent of her Son. He founded two religious congregations—one of men and one of women—which have been quite extraordinarily successful; and yet he died at the age of forty-three in 1716, after only sixteen years of priesthood.
It was on the 12th of May, 1853, that the decree was pronounced at Rome declaring his writing to be exempt from all error which could be a bar to his canonization. In this very treatise on the veritable devotion to our Blessed Lady, he has recorded this prophecy: "I clearly foresee that raging brutes will come in fury to tear with their diabolical teeth this little writing and him whom the Holy Ghost has made use of to write it; or at least to envelop it in the silence of a coffer, in order that it may not appear." Nevertheless, he prophesies both its appearance and its success. All this was fulfilled to the letter. The author died in 1716, and the treatise was found by accident by one of the priests of his congregation of St. Laurent-sur-Sevre in 1842. The existing superior was able to attest the handwriting as being that of the venerable founder, and the autograph was sent to Rome to be examined in the process of canonization.
All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Here in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized.
Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Saviour, her dearest and most blessed Son!
I have translated the whole treatise myself, and have taken great pains with it, and have been scrupulously faithful. At the same time, I would venture to warn the reader that one perusal will be very far from making him master of it. If I may dare to say so, there is a growing feeling of something inspired and supernatural about it, as we go on studying it; and with that we cannot help experiencing, after repeated readings of it, that its novelty never seems to wear off, nor its fullness to be diminished, nor the fresh fragrance and sensible fire of its unction ever to abate. May the Holy Ghost, the Divine Zealot of Jesus and Mary, deign to give a new blessing to this work in England; and may He please to console us quickly with the canonization of this new apostle and fiery missionary of His most dear and most Immaculate spouse, and still more with the speedy coming of that great age of the Church which is to be the Age of Mary!
F. W. Faber
Priest of the Oratory
Presentation of Our Blessed Lady November 21, 1862
Fr. Frederick William Faber was a Catholic devotional writer, as well as a composer of hymns and an Oratorian priest (the Congregation of the Oratory was originally founded by St. Phillip Neri in 1575, and brought to England in 1848 Cardinal John Henry Newman). Frederick William Faber was born on June 28, 1814, at the village of Calverley (nr. Bradford), in Yorkshire, England; and died at the relatively young age of 49 in London, on September 26, 1863. He was very well educated and attended some of the best schools available. After five years at Harrow School, he matriculated at Balliol College of Oxford, in 1832; then became a scholar at University College in 1834; and later a fellow of that College in 1837. He received Anglican ordination in 1839, and took work as a tutor, until, in 1843, he was appointed Rector of the Anglican parish in Elton, Northamptonshire. During the years 1839-1843, Faber made two tours of Europe, and his letters of his experiences glow with remarkable enthusiasm for the Roman Catholic rites and devotion that he witnessed. On his return to his Anglican parish in Elton in 1844, he established the practice of confessions, preached Catholic doctrine, and wrote the life of the Catholic St. Wilfrid, openly advocating the claims and supremacy of Rome.
Faber was a convert to the Catholic Faith, entering the Church in 1845, having just entered his 'thirties'. In October 1845, the future St. Cardinal John Henry Newman, at that time an Anglican priest, was received into the Church at Littlemore, England. In November of the same year, Frederick William Faber was also received into the Catholic Church by Bishop Waring, at Northampton, England. In 1846, Faber established a religious community, the “Brothers of the Will of God” or “Wilfridians,” as they were named after St. Wilfrid. In 1847 Faber was ordained priest and with his zealous community, now forty in number, converted the whole parish, except “the parson, the pew-opener, and two drunken men.” In 1848, Fr. Newman arrived from Rome with his new congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Fr. Faber placed himself under Fr. Newman as a simple novice, taking with him all his community who were willing to follow his example. In 1849 he was sent by Fr. Newman to found the Oratory at King William Street, London, and was appointed its superior. In the poor chapel there, once a tavern, Faber laid the foundation of his future works. Poor schools, nightly services, and sermons with hymns and processions of the Blessed Sacrament, till then unknown, formed its chief characteristics. Faber’s hymns, personally composed especially for these services, display a combination of accurate theological doctrine, fervent devotion, musical rhythm, and true poetic talent. As a preacher he was remarkable for his delivery, choice of expression, absence of gesticulation, and personal exhortations of surprising force.
In 1847 Faber began the publication of “Lives of the Modern Saints,” not as biographies, but as showing the growth of sanctity under the operation of grace and the supernatural perfection attained. The series of forty-nine Lives supplied a great want of the time and, after some opposition, met with full approbation. His knowledge of the spiritual life and the extent of his theological and ascetic reading were seen in the eight works that now came from his pen: “All for Jesus”, 1853; “Growth in Holiness”, 1854; “The Blessed Sacrament”, 1855; “The Creator and the Creature”, 1858; “The Foot of the Cross”, 1858; “Spiritual Conferences”, 1859; “The Precious Blood”, 1860; “Bethlehem”, 1860. Fr. Faber had studied St. Louis de Montort's life and writings for over 15 years. Finally in 1862, shortly before his own death, he translated from the French and published St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary. The many foreign translations of these works, their circulation now maintained for more than fifty years, their constant quotation by spiritual writers, have raised their author to the rank of a master in mystical theology. He wrote also two volumes of “Notes on Doctrinal Subjects” (1866), giving the skeleton of various sermons and of two projected works, “Calvary” and “The Holy Ghost.” A volume of poems, various essays, and other minor works are also from his pen. The fascination and grace of his presence rendered him personally attractive, while as confessor his sympathy with souls in trouble, his spiritual insight, and his supernatural unworldliness, gave to his counsel a lifelong point and force.
Faber spent the remaining years of his life, occupied primarily in establishing his community on the strict observance of St. Philip’s Institute. The sacraments, prayer, including the reverent performance of the ecclesiastical functions: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the recitation of the Divine Office and all the other liturgical functions, and the daily preaching of the Word of God were St. Philip’s weapons, and Faber would never engage in other external works, however good. Unswerving loyalty to the Holy See was his watchword, and devotion to the Mother of God was for him the safeguard of the Ffaith and the source and support of true piety.
THE PREFACE OF FR. FABER
It was in the year 1846 or 1847, at St. Wilfrid's, that I first studied the life and spirit of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort; and now, after more than fifteen years, it may be allowable to say that those who take him for their master will hardly be able to name a saint or ascetical writer to whose grace and spirit their mind will be more subject than to his. We may not yet call him saint; but the process of his beatification is so far and so favorably advanced that we may not have long to wait before he will be raised upon the altars of the Church.
There are few men in the eighteenth century who have more strongly upon them the marks of the man of Providence than this Elias-like missionary of the Holy Ghost and of Mary. His entire life was such an exhibition of the holy folly of the Cross that his biographers unite in always classing him with St. Simon Salo and St. Philip Neri. Clement XI made him a missionary apostolic in France, in order that he might spend his life in fighting against Jansenism, so far as it affected the salvation of souls. Since the Apostolical Epistles it would be hard to find words that burn so marvelously as the twelve pages of his prayer for the Missionaries of the Holy Ghost, to which I earnestly refer all those who find it hard to keep up under their numberless trials the first fires of the love of souls.
He was at once persecuted and venerated everywhere. His amount of work, like that of St. Anthony of Padua, is incredible, and indeed, inexplicable. He wrote some spiritual treatises which have already had a remarkable influence on the Church during the few years they have been known, and bid fair to have a much wider influence in years to come. His preaching, his writing and his conversation were all impregnated with prophecy and with anticipations of the later ages of the Church. He comes forward like another St. Vincent Ferrer, as if on the days bordering on the Last Judgment, and proclaims that he brings an authentic message from God about the greater honor and wider knowledge and more prominent love of His Blessed Mother, and her connection with the second advent of her Son. He founded two religious congregations—one of men and one of women—which have been quite extraordinarily successful; and yet he died at the age of forty-three in 1716, after only sixteen years of priesthood.
It was on the 12th of May, 1853, that the decree was pronounced at Rome declaring his writing to be exempt from all error which could be a bar to his canonization. In this very treatise on the veritable devotion to our Blessed Lady, he has recorded this prophecy: "I clearly foresee that raging brutes will come in fury to tear with their diabolical teeth this little writing and him whom the Holy Ghost has made use of to write it; or at least to envelop it in the silence of a coffer, in order that it may not appear." Nevertheless, he prophesies both its appearance and its success. All this was fulfilled to the letter. The author died in 1716, and the treatise was found by accident by one of the priests of his congregation of St. Laurent-sur-Sevre in 1842. The existing superior was able to attest the handwriting as being that of the venerable founder, and the autograph was sent to Rome to be examined in the process of canonization.
All those who are likely to read this book [True Devotion to Mary], love God, and lament that they do not love Him more; all desire something for His glory—the spread of some good work, the success of some devotion, the coming of some good time. One man has been striving for years to overcome a particular fault, and has not succeeded. Another mourns, and almost wonders while he mourns, that so few of his relations and friends have been converted to the Faith. One grieves that he has not devotion enough; another that he has a cross to carry which is a peculiarly impossible cross to him; while a third has domestic troubles and family unhappinesses which feel almost incompatible with his salvation; and for all these things prayer appears to bring so little remedy.
But what is the remedy that is wanted? What is the remedy indicated by God Himself? If we may rely on the disclosures of the saints, it is an immense increase of devotion to our Blessed Lady; but, remember, nothing short of an immense one. Here in England, Mary is not half enough preached. Devotion to her is low and thin and poor. It is frightened out of its wits by the sneers of heresy. It is always invoking human respect and carnal prudence, wishing to make Mary so little of a Mary that Protestants may feel at ease about her. Its ignorance of theology makes it unsubstantial and unworthy. It is not the prominent characteristic of our religion which it ought to be. It has no faith in itself. Hence it is that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; that souls which might be saints wither and dwindle; that the Sacraments are not rightly frequented, or souls enthusiastically evangelized.
Jesus is obscured because Mary is kept in the background. Thousands of souls perish because Mary is withheld from them. It is the miserable, unworthy shadow which we call our devotion to the Blessed Virgin that is the cause of all these wants and blights, these evils and omissions and declines. Yet, if we are to believe the revelations of the saints, God is pressing for a greater, a wider, a stronger, quite another devotion to His Blessed Mother. I cannot think of a higher work or a broader vocation for anyone than the simple spreading of this peculiar devotion of the Venerable Grignion De Montfort. Let a man but try it for himself, and his surprise at the graces it brings with it, and the transformations it causes in his soul, will soon convince him of its otherwise almost incredible efficacy as a means for the salvation of men, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ. Oh, if Mary were but known, there would be no coldness to Jesus then! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much more wonderful would be our faith, and how different would our Communions be! Oh, if Mary were but known, how much happier, how much holier, how much less worldly should we be, and how much more should we be living images of our sole Lord and Saviour, her dearest and most blessed Son!
I have translated the whole treatise myself, and have taken great pains with it, and have been scrupulously faithful. At the same time, I would venture to warn the reader that one perusal will be very far from making him master of it. If I may dare to say so, there is a growing feeling of something inspired and supernatural about it, as we go on studying it; and with that we cannot help experiencing, after repeated readings of it, that its novelty never seems to wear off, nor its fullness to be diminished, nor the fresh fragrance and sensible fire of its unction ever to abate. May the Holy Ghost, the Divine Zealot of Jesus and Mary, deign to give a new blessing to this work in England; and may He please to console us quickly with the canonization of this new apostle and fiery missionary of His most dear and most Immaculate spouse, and still more with the speedy coming of that great age of the Church which is to be the Age of Mary!
F. W. Faber
Priest of the Oratory
Presentation of Our Blessed Lady November 21, 1862