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***                    THE SECRET OF MARY
                       ==================   
    
                         INTRODUCTION    
    
1.   Here is a secret, chosen soul, which the most High God    
taught me and which I have not found in any book, ancient or    
modern.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, I am confiding it to    
you, with these conditions:    
     (1) That you share it only with people who deserve to    
know it because they are prayerful, give alms to the poor, do    
penance, suffer persecution, are unworldly, and work seriously    
for the salvation of souls.    
     (2) That you use this secret to become holy and worthy of    
heaven, for the more you make use of it the more benefit you    
will derive from it.  Under no circumstances must you let this    
secret make you idle and inactive.  It would then become    
harmful and lead to your ruin.    
     (3) That you thank God every day of your life for the    
grace he has given you in letting you into a secret that you    
do not deserve  to know.    
     As you go on using this secret in the ordinary actions of    
your life, you will come to understand its value and its    
excellent quality.  At the beginning, however, your    
understanding of it will be clouded because of the seriousness    
and number of your sins, and your unconscious love of self.    
    
2.   Before you read any further, in an understandable    
impatience to learn this truth, kneel down and say devoutly    
the Ave Maris Stella ("Hail, thou star of ocean"), and the    
"Come, Holy Spirit", to ask God to help you understand and    
appreciate this secret given by him.  As I have not much time    
for writing and you have little time for reading, I will be    
brief in what I have to say.    
    
       [1. NECESSITY OF HAVING A TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY]    
    
[A. THE GRACE OF GOD IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY]    
    
3.   Chosen soul, living image of God and redeemed by the    
precious blood of Jesus Christ, God wants you to become holy    
like him in this life, and glorious like him in the next .    
     It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your    
vocation.  All your thoughts, words, actions, everything you    
suffer or undertake must lead you towards that end.  Otherwise    
you are resisting God in not doing the work for which he    
created you and for which he is even now keeping you in being.     
What a marvellous transformation is possible!  Dust into    
light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness,    
creature into Creator, man into God!  A marvellous work, I    
repeat, so difficult in itself, and even impossible for a mere    
creature to bring about, for only God can accomplish it by    
giving his grace abundantly and in an extraordinary manner.     
The very creation of the universe is not as great an    
achievement as this.    
    
4.   Chosen soul, how will you bring this about?  What steps    
will you take to reach the high level to which God is calling    
you?  The means of holiness and salvation are known to    
everybody, since they are found in the gospel;  the masters of    
the spiritual life have explained them; the saints have    
practised them and shown how essential they are for those who    
wish to be saved and attain perfection.  These means are:    
sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial,    
abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of    
God.    
    
5.   The grace and help of God are absolutely necessary for us    
to practise all these, but we are sure that grace will be    
given to all, though not in the same measure.  I say "not in    
the same measure", because God does not give his graces in    
equal measure to everyone , although in his infinite goodness    
he always gives sufficient grace to each.  A person who    
corresponds to great graces performs great works, and one who    
corresponds to lesser graces performs lesser works.  The value    
and high standard of our actions corresponds to the value and    
perfection of the grace given by God and responded to by the    
faithful soul.  No one can contest these principles.    
    
[B. TO FIND THE GRACE OF GOD, WE MUST DISCOVER MARY]    
    
6.   It all comes to this, then.  We must discover a simple    
means to obtain from God the grace needed to become holy.  It    
is precisely this I wish to teach you.  My contention is that    
you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace    
from God.    
    
7.   Let me explain:    
     (1)  Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for    
every individual person .  No patriarch or prophet or any    
other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this    
grace.    
    
8.   (2)  It was Mary who gave existence and life to the    
author of all grace, and because of this she is called the    
"Mother of Grace".    
    
9.   (3)  God the Father, from whom, as from its essential    
source, every perfect gift and every grace come down to us ,    
gave her every grace when he gave her his Son.  Thus, as St    
Bernard says, the will of God is manifested to her in Jesus    
and with Jesus.    
    
10.  (4) God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator    
and the dispenser of all his graces, so that all his graces    
and gifts pass through her hands.  Such is the power that she    
has received from him that, according to St Bernardine, she    
gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus    
Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to whom she wills, as    
and when she wills, and as much as she wills.    
    
11.  (5) As in the natural life a child must have a father and    
a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of    
the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his    
mother.  If he prides himself on having God for his Father but    
does not give to Mary the tender affection of a true child, he    
is an impostor and his father is the devil.    
    
12.  (6) Since Mary produced the head of the elect, Jesus    
Christ, she must also produce the members of that head, that    
is, all true Christians.  A mother does not conceive a head    
without members, nor members without a head.  If anyone, then,    
wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be    
filled with grace and truth , he must be formed in Mary    
through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a    
fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true    
members of Jesus Christ, her true children.    
    
13.  (7) The Holy Spirit espoused Mary and produced his    
greatest work, the incarnate Word, in her, by her and through    
her.  He has never disowned her and so he continues to produce    
every day, in a mysterious but very real manner, the souls of    
the elect in her and through her.    
    
14.  (8) Mary received from God a unique dominion over souls    
enabling her to nourish them and make them more and more    
godlike.  St Augustine went so far as to say that even in this    
world all the elect are enclosed in the womb of Mary, and that    
their real birthday is when this good mother brings them forth    
to eternal life.  Consequently, just as an infant draws all    
its nourishment from its mother, who gives according to its    
needs, so the elect draw their spiritual nourishment and all    
their strength from Mary.    
    
15.  (9) It was to Mary that God the Father said, "Dwell in    
Jacob", that is, dwell in my elect who are typified by Jacob.     
It was to Mary that God the Son said, "My dear Mother, your    
inheritance is in Israel", that is, in the elect.  It was to    
Mary that the Holy Spirit said,"Place your roots in my elect".     
Whoever, then, is of the chosen and predestinate will have the    
Blessed Virgin living within him, and he will let her plant in    
his very soul  the roots of every virtue, but especially deep    
humility and ardent charity.    
    
16.  (10) Mary is called by St Augustine, and is indeed, the    
"living mould of God" .  In her alone the God-man was formed    
in his human nature without losing any feature of the Godhead.     
In her alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made    
godlike as far as human nature is capable of it.    
     A sculptor can make a statue or a life-like model in two    
ways: (i) By using his skill, strength, experience and good    
tools to produce a statue out of hard, shapeless matter; (ii)    
By making a cast of it in a mould.  The first way is long and    
involved and open to all sorts of accidents.  It only needs a    
faulty stroke of the chisel or hammer to ruin the whole work.     
The second is quick, easy, straightforward, almost effortless    
and inexpensive, but the mould must be perfect and true to    
life and the material must be easy to handle and offer no    
resistance.    
    
17.  Mary is the great mould of God, fashioned by the Holy    
Spirit to give human nature to a Man who is God by the    
hypostatic union, and to fashion through grace men who are    
like to God.  No godly feature is missing from this mould.     
Everyone who casts himself into it and allows himself to be    
moulded will acquire every feature of Jesus Christ, true God,    
with little pain or effort, as befits his weak human    
condition.  He will take on a faithful likeness to Jesus with    
no possibility of distortion, for the devil has never had and    
never will have any access to Mary, the holy and immaculate    
Virgin, in whom there is not the least suspicion of a stain of    
sin.    
    
18.  Dear friend, what a difference there is between a soul    
brought up in the ordinary way to resemble Jesus Christ by    
people who, like sculptors, rely on their own skill and    
industry, and a soul thoroughly tractable, entirely detached,    
most ready to be moulded in her by the working of the Holy    
Spirit.  What blemishes and defects, what shadows and    
distortions, what natural and human imperfections are found in    
the first soul, and what a faithful and divine likeness to    
Jesus is found in the second!    
    
19.  There is not and there will never be, either in God's    
creation or in his mind, a creature in whom he is so honoured    
as in the most Blessed Virgin Mary, not excepting even the    
saints, the cherubim or the highest seraphim in heaven.    
     Mary is God's garden of Paradise, his own unspeakable    
world, into which his Son entered to do wonderful things, to    
tend it and to take his delight in it.  He created a world for    
the wayfarer, that is, the one we are living in.  He created a    
second world - Paradise - for the Blessed.  He created a third    
for himself, which he named Mary.  She is a world unknown to    
most mortals here on earth.  Even the angels and saints in    
heaven find her incomprehensible, and are lost in admiration    
of a God who is so exalted and so far above them, so distant    
from them, and so enclosed in Mary, his chosen world, that    
they exclaim: "Holy, holy, holy" unceasingly.    
    
20.  Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the    
Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him    
true knowledge of her.  Happy the person to whom the Holy    
Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter, and to    
whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain    
where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living    
waters of grace.  That person will find only grace and no    
creature in the most lovable Virgin Mary.  But he will find    
that the infinitely holy and exalted God is at the same time    
infinitely solicitous for him and understands his weaknesses.     
Since God is everywhere, he can be found everywhere, even in    
hell.  But there is no place where God can be more present to    
his creature and more sympathetic to human weakness than in    
Mary.  It was indeed for this very purpose that he came down    
from heaven.  Everywhere else he is the Bread of the strong    
and the Bread of angels, but living in Mary he is the Bread of    
children.    
    
21.  Let us not imagine, then, as some misguided teachers do,    
that Mary being simply a creature would be a hindrance to    
union with the Creator.  Far from it, for it is no longer Mary    
who lives but Jesus Christ himself, God alone, who lives in    
her.  Her transformation into God far surpasses that    
experienced by St Paul and other saints, more than heaven    
surpasses the earth.    
     Mary was created only for God, and it is unthinkable that    
she should reserve even one soul for herself.  On the contrary    
she leads every soul to God and to union with him.  Mary is    
the wonderful echo of God.  The more a person joins himself to    
her, the more effectively she unites him to God.  When we say    
"Mary", she re-echoes "God".    
     When, like St Elizabeth, we call her blessed, she gives    
the honour to God.  If those misguided ones who were so sadly    
led astray by the devil, even in their prayer-life, had known    
how to discover Mary, and Jesus through her, and God through    
Jesus,they would not have had such terrible falls.  The saints    
tell us that when we have once found Mary, and through Mary    
Jesus, and through Jesus God the Father, then we have    
discovered every good.  When we say "every good", we except    
nothing.  "Every good" includes every grace, continuous    
friendship with God, every protection against the enemies of    
God, possession of truth to counter every falsehood, endless    
benefits and unfailing headway against the hazards we meet on    
the way to salvation, and finally every consolation and joy    
amid the bitter afflictions of life.    
    
22.  This does not mean that one who has discovered Mary    
through a genuine devotion is exempt from crosses and    
sufferings.  Far from it!  One is tried even more than others,    
because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her    
children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of    
Jesus.  But while meting out crosses to them she gives the    
grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy.  In this    
way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to    
her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e. "sweetened" crosses    
rather than "bitter" ones.  If from time to time they do taste    
the bitterness of the chalice from which we must drink to    
become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which    
their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates in    
them a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more    
bitter crosses.    
    
[C. A TRUE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN IS INDISPENSABLE]    
    
23.  The difficulty, then, is how to arrive at the true    
knowledge of the most holy Virgin and so find grace in    
abundance through her.  God, as the absolute Master, can give    
directly what he ordinarily dispenses only through Mary, and    
it would be rash to deny that he sometimes does so.  However,    
St Thomas assures us that, following the order established by    
his divine Wisdom, God ordinarily imparts his graces to men    
through Mary.  Therefore, if we wish to go to him, seeking    
union with him, 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.    
    
        [2. WHAT PERFECT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS IN]    
    
[A. SOME TRUE DEVOTIONS TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY]    
    
24.  There are indeed several true devotions to our Lady.  I    
do not intend treating of those which are false.    
    
25.  The first consists in fulfilling the duties of our    
Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our    
actions for God more through love than through fear, praying    
to our Lady occasionally, and honouring her as the Mother of    
God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional.    
    
26.  The second consists in entertaining for our Lady deeper    
feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration.     
This devotion inspires us to join the confraternities of the    
Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to say the five or fifteen    
decades of the Rosary, to venerate our Lady's pictures and    
shrines, to make her known to others, and to enrol in her    
sodalities.  This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good,    
holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third,    
nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in    
practising that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus    
Christ.    
    
27.  The third devotion to our Lady is one which is unknown to    
many and practised by very few.  This is the one I am about to    
present to you.    
    
[B. THE PERFECT PRACTICE OF DEVOTION TO MARY]    
    
[1.  What it consists in]    
    
28.  Chosen soul, 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.    
     Let me explain this statement further.    
    
29.  We should choose a special feast-day on which to give    
ourselves.  Then, willingly and lovingly and under no    
constraint, we consecrate and sacrifice to her unreservedly    
our body and soul.  We give to her our material possessions,    
such as house, family, income, and even the inner possessions    
of our soul, namely, our merits, graces, virtues and    
atonements.    
     Notice that in this devotion we sacrifice to Jesus    
through Mary all that is most dear to us, that is, the right    
to dispose of ourselves, of the value of our prayers and alms,    
of our acts of self-denial and atonements.  This is a    
sacrifice which no religious order would require of its    
members.  We leave everything to the free disposal of our    
Lady, for her to use as she wills for the greater glory of    
God, of which she alone is perfectly aware.    
    
30.  We leave to her the right to dispose of all the    
satisfactory and prayer value of our good deeds, so that,    
after having done so and without going so far as making a vow,    
we cease to be master over any good we do.  Our Lady may use    
our good deeds either to bring relief or deliverance to a soul    
in purgatory, or perhaps to bring a change of heart to a poor    
sinner.    
    
31.  By this devotion we place our merits in the hands of our    
Lady, but only that she may preserve, increase and embellish    
them, since merit for increase of grace and glory cannot be    
handed over to any other person.  But we give to her all our    
prayers and good works, inasmuch as they have intercessory and    
atonement value, for her to distribute and apply to whom she    
pleases.  If, after having thus consecrated ourselves to our    
Lady, we wish to help a soul in purgatory, rescue a sinner, or    
assist a friend by a prayer, an alms, an act of self-denial or    
an act of self-sacrifice, we must humbly request it of our    
Lady, abiding always by her decision, which of course remains    
unknown to us.  We can be fully convinced that the value of    
our actions, being dispensed by that same hand which God    
himself uses to distribute his gifts and graces to us, cannot    
fail to be applied for his greatest glory.    
    
32.  I have said that this devotion consists in adopting the    
status of a slave with regard to Mary.  We must remember that    
there are three kinds of slavery.    
     There is, first, a slavery based on nature.  All men,    
good and bad alike, are slaves of God in this sense.    
     The second is a slavery of compulsion.  The devils and    
the damned are slaves of God in this second sense.    
     The third is a slavery of love and free choice.  This is    
the kind chosen by one who consecrates himself to God through    
Mary, and this is the most perfect way for us human beings to    
give ourselves to God, our Creator.    
    
33.  Note that there is a vast difference between a servant    
and a slave.  A servant claims wages for his services, but a    
slave can claim no reward.  A servant is free to leave his    
employer when he likes and serves him only for a time, but a    
slave belongs to his master for life and has no right to leave    
him.  A servant does not give his employer a right of life and    
death over him, but a slave is so totally committed that his    
master can put him to death without fearing any action by the    
law.    
     It is easy to see, then, that no dependence is so    
absolute as that of a person who is a slave by compulsion.     
Strictly speaking, no man should be dependent to this extent    
on anyone except his Creator.  We therefore do not find this    
kind of slavery among Christians, but only among Muslims and    
pagans.    
    
34.  But happy, very happy indeed, will the generous person be    
who, prompted by love, consecrates himself entirely to Jesus    
through Mary as their slave, after having shaken off by    
baptism the tyrannical slavery of the devil.    
    
[2.  The excellence of this practice of devotion]    
    
35.  I would need much more enlightenment from heaven to    
describe adequately the surpassing merit of this devotional    
practice.  I shall limit myself to these few remarks:    
     1. In giving ourselves to Jesus through Mary's hands, we    
imitate God the Father, who gave us his only Son through Mary,    
and who imparts his graces to us only through Mary.  Likewise    
we imitate God the Son, who by giving us his example for us to    
follow, inspires us to go to him using the same means he used    
in coming to us, that is, through Mary.  Again, we imitate the    
Holy Spirit, who bestows his graces and gifts upon us through    
Mary.  "Is it not fitting," remarks St Bernard, "that grace    
should return to its author by the same channel that conveyed    
it to us?"    
    
36.  2. In going to Jesus through Mary, we are really paying    
honour to our Lord, for we are showing that, because of our    
sins, we are unworthy to approach his infinite holiness    
directly on our own.  We are showing that we need Mary, his    
holy Mother, to be our advocate and mediatrix with him who is    
our Mediator.  We are going to Jesus as Mediator and Brother,    
and at the same time humbling ourselves before him who is our    
God and our Judge.  In short, we are practising humility,    
something which always gladdens the heart of God.    
    
37.  3. Consecrating ourselves in this way to Jesus through    
Mary implies placing our good deeds in Mary's hands.  Now,    
although these deeds may appear good to us, they are often    
defective, and not worthy to be considered and accepted by    
God, before whom even the stars lack brightness.    
     Let us pray, then, to our dear Mother and Queen that    
having accepted our poor present, she may purify it, sanctify    
it, beautify it, and so make it worthy of God.  Any good our    
soul could produce is of less value to God our Father, in    
winning his friendship and favour, than a worm-eaten apple    
would be in the sight of a king, when presented by a poor    
peasant to his royal master as payment for the rent of his    
farm.  But what would the peasant do if he were wise and if he    
enjoyed the esteem of the queen?  Would he not present his    
apple first to her, and would she not, out of kindness to the    
poor man and out of respect for the king, remove from the    
apple all that was maggoty and spoilt, place it on a golden    
dish, and surround it with flowers?  Could the king then    
refuse the apple?  Would he not accept it most willingly from    
the hands of his queen who showed such loving concern for that    
poor man?  "If you wish to present something to God, no matter    
how small it may be," says St Bernard, "place it in the hands    
of Mary to ensure its certain acceptance."    
    
38.  Dear God, how everything we do comes to so very little!     
But let us adopt this devotion and place everything in Mary's    
hands.  When we have given her all we possibly can, emptying    
ourselves completely to do her honour, she far surpasses our    
generosity and gives us very much for very little.  She    
enriches us with her own merits and virtues.  She places our    
gift on the golden dish of her charity and clothes us, as    
Rebecca clothed Jacob, in the beautiful garments of her first-    
born and only Son, Jesus Christ, which are his merits, and    
which are at her disposal.  Thus, as her servants and slaves,    
stripping ourselves of everything to do her honour, we are    
clad by her in double garments - namely, the garments,    
adornments, perfumes, merits and virtues of Jesus and Mary.    
These are imparted to the soul of the slave who has emptied    
himself and is resolved to remain in that state.    
    
39.  4. Giving ourselves in this way to our Lady is a practice    
of charity towards our neighbour of the highest possible    
degree, because in making ourselves over to Mary, we give her    
all that we hold most dear and we let her dispose of it as she    
wishes in favour of the living and the dead.    
    
40.  5. In adopting this devotion, we put our graces, merits    
and virtues into safe keeping by making Mary the depositary of    
them.  It is as if we said to her,"See, my dear Mother, here    
is the good that I have done through the grace of your dear    
Son.  I am not capable of keeping it, because of my weakness    
and inconstancy, and also because so many wicked enemies are    
assailing me day and night.  Alas, every day we see cedars of    
Lebanon fall into the mire, and eagles which had soared    
towards the sun become birds of darkness, a thousand of the    
just falling to the left and ten thousand to the right.  But,    
most powerful Queen, hold me fast lest I fall.  Keep a guard    
on all my possessions lest I be robbed of them.  I entrust all    
I have to you, for I know well who you are, and that is why I    
confide myself entirely to you.  You are faithful to God and    
man, and you will not suffer anything I entrust to you to    
perish.  You are powerful, and nothing can harm you or rob you    
of anything you hold."    
     "When you follow Mary you will not go astray; when you    
pray to her, you will not despair; when your mind is on her,    
you will not wander; when she holds you up, you will not fall;    
when she protects you, you will have no fear; when she guides    
you, you will feel no fatigue; when she is on your side, you    
will arrive safely home" (Saint Bernard).  And again, "She    
keeps her Son from striking us; she prevents the devil from    
harming us; she preserves virtue in us; she prevents our    
merits from being lost and our graces from receding."  These    
words of St Bernard explain in substance all that I have said.     
Had I but this one motive to impel me to choose this devotion,    
namely, that of keeping me in the grace of God and increasing    
that grace in me, my heart would burn with longing for it.    
    
41.  This devotion makes the soul truly free by imbuing it    
with the liberty of the children of God.  Since we lower    
ourselves willingly to a state of slavery out of love for    
Mary, our dear Mother, she out of gratitude opens wide our    
hearts enabling us to walk with giant strides in the way of    
God's commandments.  She delivers our souls from weariness,    
sadness and scruples.  It was this devotion that our Lord    
taught to Mother Agnes de Langeac, a religious who died in the    
odour of sanctity, as a sure way of being freed from the    
severe suffering and confusion of mind which afflicted her.     
"Make yourself," she said, "my Mother's slave and wear her    
little chain."  She did so, and from that time onwards her    
troubles ceased.    
    
42.  To prove that this devotion is authoritatively    
sanctioned, we need only recall the bulls of the popes and the    
pastoral letters of bishops recommending it, as well as the    
indulgences accorded to it, the confraternities founded to    
promote it, and the examples of many saints and illustrious    
people who have practised it.  But I do not see any necessity    
to record them here.    
    
[3.  The interior constituents of this consecration and its    
spirit]    
    
43.  I have already said that this devotion consists in    
performing all our actions with Mary, in Mary, through Mary,    
and for Mary.    
    
44.  It is not enough to give ourselves just once as a slave    
to Jesus through Mary; nor is it enough to renew that    
consecration once a month or once a week.  That alone would    
make it just a passing devotion and would not raise the soul    
to the level of holiness which it is capable of reaching.  It    
is easy to enrol in a confraternity; easy to undertake this    
devotion, and say every day the few vocal prayers prescribed.     
The chief difficulty is to enter into its spirit, which    
requires an interior dependence on Mary, and effectively    
becoming her slave and the slave of Jesus through her.  I have    
met many people who with admirable zeal have set about    
practising exteriorly this holy slavery of Jesus and Mary, but    
I have met only a few who have caught its interior spirit, and    
fewer still who have persevered in it.    
    
                                                 Act with Mary    
    
45.  1. The essential practice of this devotion is to perform    
all our actions with Mary.  This means that we must take her    
as the accomplished model for all we have to do.    
    
46.  Before undertaking anything, we must forget self and    
abandon our own views.  We must consider ourselves as a mere    
nothing before God, as being personally incapable of doing    
anything supernaturally worthwhile or anything conducive to    
our salvation.  We must have habitual recourse to our Lady,    
becoming one with her and adopting her intentions, even though    
they are unknown to us.  Through Mary we must adopt the    
intentions of Jesus.  In other words, we must become an    
instrument in Mary's hands for her to act in us and do with us    
what she pleases, for the greater glory of her Son; and    
through Jesus for the greater glory of the Father.  In this    
way , we pursue our interior life and make spiritual progress    
only in dependence on Mary.    
    
                                                   Act in Mary    
    
47.  2. We must always act in Mary, that is to say, we must    
gradually acquire the habit of recollecting ourselves    
interiorly and so form within us an idea or a spiritual image    
of Mary.  She must become, as it were, an Oratory for the soul    
where we offer up our prayers to God without fear of being    
ignored.  She will be as a Tower of David for us where we can    
seek safety from all our enemies.  She will be a burning lamp    
lighting up our inmost soul and inflaming us with love for    
God.  She will be a sacred place of repose where we can    
contemplate God in her company.  Finally Mary will be the only    
means we will use in going to God, and she will become our    
intercessor for everything we need.  When we pray we will pray    
in Mary.  When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion we will    
place him in Mary for him to take his delight in her.  If we    
do anything at all, it will be in Mary, and in this way Mary    
will help us to forget self everywhere and in all things.      
    
                                              Act through Mary    
    
48.  3. We must never go to our Lord except through Mary,    
using her intercession and good standing with him.  We must    
never be without her when praying to Jesus.    
    
                                                  Act for Mary    
    
49.  4. We must perform all our actions for Mary, which means    
that as slaves of this noble Queen we will work only for her,    
promoting her interests and her high renown, and making this    
the first aim in all our acts, while the glory of God will    
always be our final end.  In everything we must renounce self-    
love because more often than not, without our being aware of    
it, selfishness sets itself up as the end of all we work for.     
We should often repeat from the depths of our heart: "Dear    
Mother, it is to please you that I go here or there, that I do    
this or that, that I suffer this pain or this injury."      
    
50.  Beware, chosen soul, of thinking that it is more perfect    
to direct your work and intention straight to Jesus or    
straight to God.  Without Mary, your work and your intention    
will be of little value.  But if you go to God through Mary,    
your work will become Mary's work, and consequently will be    
most noble and most worthy of God.    
    
51.  Again, beware of doing violence to yourself, endeavouring    
to experience pleasure in your prayers and good deeds.  Pray    
and act always with something of that pure faith which Mary    
showed when on earth, and which she will share with you as    
time goes on.  Poor little slave, let your sovereign Queen    
enjoy the clear sight of God, the raptures, delights,    
satisfactions and riches of heaven.  Content yourself with a    
pure faith, which is accompanied by repugnance, distractions,    
weariness and dryness.  Let your prayer be: "To whatever Mary    
my Queen does in heaven, I say Amen, so be it."  We cannot do    
better than this for the time being.    
    
52.  Should you not savour immediately the sweet presence of    
the Blessed Virgin within you, take great care not to torment    
yourself.  For this is a grace not given to everyone, and even    
when God in his great mercy favours a soul with this grace, it    
remains none the less very easy to lose it, except when the    
soul has become permanently aware of it through the habit of    
recollection.  But should this misfortune happen to you, go    
back calmly to your sovereign Queen and make amends to her.    
    
[4. The effects that this devotion produces in a faithful    
soul]    
    
53   Experience will teach you much more about this devotion    
than I can tell you, but, if you remain faithful to the little    
I have taught you, you will acquire a great richness of grace    
that will surprise you and fill you with delight.    
    
54.  Let us set to work, then, dear soul, through perseverance    
in the living of this devotion, in order that Mary's soul may    
glorify the Lord in us and her spirit be within us to rejoice    
in God her Saviour.  Let us not think that there was more    
glory and happiness in dwelling in Abraham's bosom - which is    
another name for Paradise - than in dwelling in the bosom of    
Mary where God has set up his throne. (Abbot Guerric)    
    
55.  This devotion faithfully practised produces countless    
happy effects in the soul.  The most important of them is that     
it establishes, even here on earth, Mary's life in the soul,    
so that it is no longer the soul that lives, but Mary who    
lives in it.  In a manner of speaking, Mary's soul becomes    
identified with the soul of her servant.  Indeed when by an    
unspeakable but real grace Mary most holy becomes Queen of a    
soul, she works untold wonders in it.  She is a great wonder-    
worker especially in the interior of souls.  She works there    
in secret, unsuspected by the soul, as knowledge of it might    
destroy the beauty of her work.    
    
56.  As Mary is everywhere the fruitful Virgin, she produces    
in the depths of the soul where she dwells a purity of heart    
and body, a singleness of intention and purpose, and a    
fruitfulness in good works.  Do not think, dear soul, that    
Mary, the most faithful of all God's creatures, who went as    
far as to give birth to a God-man, remains idle in a docile    
soul.  She causes Jesus to live continuously in that soul and    
that soul to live in continuous union with Jesus.  If Jesus is    
equally the fruit of Mary for each individual soul as for all    
souls in general, he is even more especially her fruit and her    
masterpiece in the soul where she is present.    
    
57.  To sum up, Mary becomes all things for the soul that    
wishes to serve Jesus Christ.  She enlightens his mind with    
her pure faith.  She deepens his heart with her humility.  She    
enlarges and inflames his heart with her charity, makes it    
pure with her purity, makes it noble and great through her    
motherly care.  But why dwell any longer on this?  Experience    
alone will teach us the wonders wrought by Mary in the soul,    
wonders so great that the wise and the proud, and even a great    
number of devout people find it hard to credit them.    
    
58.  As it was through Mary that God came into the world the    
first time in a state of self-abasement and privation, may we    
not say that it will be again through Mary that he will come    
the second time?  For does not the whole Church expect him to    
come and reign over all the earth and to judge the living and    
the dead?  No one knows how and when this will come to pass,    
but we do know that God, whose thoughts are further from ours    
than heaven is from earth, will come at a time and in a manner    
least expected, even by the most scholarly of men and those    
most versed in Holy Scripture, which gives no clear guidance    
on this subject.    
    
59.  We are given reason to believe that, towards the end of    
time and perhaps sooner than we expect, God will raise up    
great men filled with the Holy Spirit and imbued with the    
spirit of Mary.  Through them Mary, Queen most powerful, will    
work great wonders in the world, destroying sin and setting up    
the kingdom of Jesus her Son upon the ruins of the corrupt    
kingdom of the world.  These holy men will accomplish this by    
means of the devotion of which I only trace the main outlines    
and which suffers from my incompetence.    
    
[5. Exterior practices]    
    
60.  Besides interior practices, which we have just mentioned,    
this devotion has certain exterior practices which must not be    
omitted or neglected.    
    
                                [Consecration and its renewal]    
    
61.  The first is to choose a special feast-day to consecrate    
ourselves through Mary to Jesus, whose slaves we are making    
ourselves.  This is an occasion for receiving Holy Communion    
and spending the day in prayer.  At least once a year on the    
same day, we should renew the act of consecration.    
    
   [Offering of a tribute in submission to the Blessed Virgin]    
    
62.  The second is to give our Lady every year on that same    
day some little tribute as a token of our servitude and    
dependence.  This has always been the customary homage paid by    
slaves to their master.  This tribute could consist of an act    
of self-denial or an alms, or a pilgrimage, or a few prayers.     
St Peter Damian tells us that his brother, Blessed Marino,    
used to give himself the discipline in public on the same day    
every year before the altar of our Lady.  This kind of zeal is    
not required, nor would we counsel it.  But what little we    
give to our Lady we should at least offer with a heart that is    
humble and grateful.    
    
      [A Special Celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation]    
    
63.  The third practice is to celebrate every year with    
special fervour the feast of the Annunciation of our Lord.     
This is the distinctive feast of this devotion and was chosen    
so that we might honour  and imitate that dependence which the    
eternal Word accepted on this day out of love for us.    
    
           [The Saying of the Little Crown and the Magnificat]    
    
64.  The fourth practice is to say every day, without the    
obligation of sin, the prayer entitled "The Little Crown of    
the Blessed Virgin", which comprises three Our Fathers and    
twelve Hail Marys, and to say frequently the Magnificat, which    
is the only hymn composed by our Lady.  In the Magnificat we    
thank God for favouring us in the past, and we beg further    
blessings from him in the future.  One special time when we    
should not fail to say it is during thanksgiving after Holy    
Communion.  A person so scholarly as Gerson informs us that    
our Lady herself used to recite it in thanksgiving after Holy    
Communion.    
    
                               [The wearing of a little chain]    
    
65.  The fifth is the wearing of a small blessed chain either    
around the neck, on the arm, on the foot, or about the body.     
Strictly speaking, this practice can be omitted without    
affecting the essential nature of the devotion , but just the    
same it would be wrong to despise or condemn it, and foolhardy    
to neglect it.    
     Here are the reasons for wearing this external sign:    
     (1)  It signifies that we are free from the baneful    
chains of original and actual sin which held us in bondage.    
     (2)  By it we show our esteem for the cords and bonds of    
love with which our Lord let himself be bound that we might be    
truly free.    
     (3)  As these bonds are bonds of love, they remind us    
that we should do nothing except under the influence of love.    
     (4)  Finally, wearing this chain recalls to us once more    
that we are dependent on Jesus and Mary as their slaves.     
Eminent people who had become slaves of Jesus and Mary valued    
these little chains so much that they were unhappy at not    
being allowed to trail them publicly like the slaves of the    
Muslims.    
     These chains of love are more valuable and  more glorious    
than the necklaces of gold and precious stones worn by    
emperors, because they are the illustrious insignia of Jesus    
and Mary, and signify the bonds uniting us to them.    
     It should be noted that if the chains are not of silver,    
they should for convenience' sake at least be made of iron.    
     They should never be laid aside at any time, so that they    
may be with us even to the day of judgement.  Great will be    
the joy , glory and triumph of the faithful slave on that day    
when, at the sound of the trumpet, his bones rise from the    
earth still bound by the chain of holy bondage, which to all    
appearance has not decayed.  This thought alone should    
convince a devout slave never to take off his chain, however    
inconvenient it may be.    
    
                         [SUPPLEMENT]    
    
                      A. PRAYER TO JESUS    
    
66.  Most loving Jesus, permit me to express my heartfelt    
gratitude to you for your kindness in giving me to your holy    
Mother through the devotion of holy bondage, and so making her    
my advocate to plead with your Majesty on my behalf, and make    
up for all that I lack through my inadequacy.    
     Alas, O Lord, I am so wretched that without my dear    
Mother I would certainly be lost.  Yes, I always need Mary    
when I am approaching you.  I need her to calm your    
indignation at the many offences I have committed every day.     
I need her to save me from the just sentence of eternal    
punishment I have deservedly incurred.  I need her to turn to    
you, speak to you, pray to you, approach you and please you.     
I need her to help me save my soul and the souls of others.     
In a word, I need her so that I may always do your holy will    
and seek your greater glory in everything I do.    
     Would that I could publish throughout the whole world the    
mercy which you have shown to me!  Would that the whole world    
could know that without Mary I would now be doomed!  If only I    
could offer adequate thanks for such a great benefit as Mary!     
She is within me.  What a precious possession and what a    
consolation for me!  Should I not in return be all hers?  If I    
were not , how ungrateful would I be!  My dear Saviour, send    
me death rather than I should be guilty of such a lapse, for I    
would rather die than not belong to Mary.    
     Like St. John the Evangelist at the foot of the Cross, I    
have taken her times without number as my total good and as    
often have I given myself to her.  But if I have not done so    
as perfectly as you, dear Jesus, would wish, I now do so    
according to your desire.  If you still see in my soul or body    
anything that does not belong to this noble Queen, please    
pluck it out and cast it far from me, because anything of mine    
which does not belong to Mary is unworthy of you.    
    
67.  Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces.  Implant in my    
soul the tree of true life, which is Mary.  Foster it and    
cultivate it so that it grows and blossoms and brings forth    
the fruit of life in abundance.  Holy Spirit, give me a great    
love and longing for Mary, your exalted spouse.  Give me a    
great trust in her maternal heart and a continuous access to    
her compassion, so that with her you may truly form Jesus,    
great and powerful, in me until I attain the fullness of his    
perfect age.  Amen.    
    
                       B. PRAYER TO MARY    
                   [FOR HER FAITHFUL SLAVES]    
    
68.  Hail, Mary, most beloved daughter of the eternal Father;    
hail, Mary, most admirable mother of the Son; hail, Mary, most    
faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit; hail, Mary, Mother most    
dear, Lady most lovable, Queen most powerful!  Hail, Mary, my    
joy, my glory, my heart and soul.  You are all mine through    
God's mercy, but I am all yours in justice.  Yet I do not    
belong sufficiently to you, and so once again, as a slave who    
always belongs to his master, I give myself wholly to you,    
reserving nothing for myself or for others.    
     If you still see anything in me which is not given to    
you, please take it now.  Make yourself completely owner of    
all my capabilities.  Destroy in me everything that is    
displeasing to God.  Uproot it and bring it to nothing.     
Implant in me all that you deem to be good; improve it and    
make it increase in me.    
     May the light of your faith dispel the darkness of my    
mind.  May your deep humility take the place of my pride.  May    
your heavenly contemplation put an end to the distractions of    
my wandering imagination.  May your continuous vision of God    
fill my memory with his presence.  May the burning love of    
your heart inflame the coldness of mine.  May your virtues    
take the place of my sins.  May your merits be my adornment    
and make up for my unworthiness before God.  Finally, most    
dearly beloved Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may    
have no other spirit but yours to know Jesus and his divine    
will.  May I have no soul but yours to praise and glorify the    
Lord.  May I have no heart but yours to love God purely and    
ardently as you love him.    
    
69.  I do not ask for visions or revelations, for sensible    
devotion or even spiritual pleasures.  It is your privilege to    
see God clearly in perpetual light.  It is your privilege to    
savour the delights of heaven where nothing is without    
sweetness.  It is your privilege to triumph gloriously in    
heaven at the right hand of your Son without further    
humiliation, and to command angels, men, and demons, without    
resistance on their part.  It is your privilege to dispose at    
your own choice of all the good gifts of God without any    
exception.    
     Such, most holy Mary, is the excellent portion which the    
Lord has given you, and which will never be taken from you,    
and which gives me great joy.  As for my portion here on    
earth, I wish only to have a share in yours, that is, to have    
simple faith without seeing or tasting, to suffer joyfully    
without the consolation of men, to die daily to myself without    
flinching, to work gallantly for you even until death without    
any self-interest, as the most worthless of your slaves.  The    
only grace I beg you in your kindness to obtain for me is that    
every day and moment of my life I may say this threefold Amen:    
Amen, so be it, to all you did upon earth; Amen, so be it, to    
all you are doing now in heaven; Amen, so be it, to all you    
are doing in my soul.  In that way, you and you alone will    
fully glorify Jesus in me during all my life and throughout    
eternity.  Amen.    
    
         IV. THE CARE AND GROWTH OF THE TREE OF LIFE,    
                      or, in other words,    
                    HOW BEST TO CAUSE MARY    
                TO LIVE AND REIGN IN OUR SOULS    
    
[A. The holy slavery of love.  The Tree of life.]    
    
70.  Have you understood with the help of the Holy Spirit what    
I have tried to explain in the preceding pages?  If so, be    
thankful to God.  It is a secret of which very few people are    
aware.  If you have discovered this treasure in the field of    
Mary, this pearl of great price, you should sell all you have    
to purchase it.  You must offer yourself to Mary, happily lose    
yourself in her, only to find God in her.    
     If the Holy Spirit has planted in your soul the true Tree    
of Life, which is the devotion that I have just explained, you    
should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield    
its fruit in due season.  This devotion is like the mustard    
seed of the Gospel, which is indeed the smallest of all seeds,    
but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so    
high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and    
make their nest in its branches.  They repose there, shaded    
from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of    
prey.    
    
[B. How to cultivate it]    
    
     Here is the best way, chosen soul, to cultivate it:    
    
71.  (1)  This tree, once planted in a docile heart, requires    
fresh air and no human support.  Being of heavenly origin, it    
must be uninfluenced by any creature, since a creature might    
hinder it from rising up towards God who created it.  Hence    
you must not rely on your own endeavours or your natural    
talents or your personal standing or the guidance of men.  You    
must resort to Mary, relying solely on her help.    
    
72.  (2)  The person in whose soul this tree has taken root    
must, like a good gardener, watch over it and protect it.  For    
this tree, having life and capable of producing the fruit of    
life, should be raised and tended with enduring care and    
attention of soul.  A soul that desires to be holy will make    
this its chief aim and occupation.    
    
73.  Whatever is likely to choke the tree or in the course of    
time prevent its yielding fruit, such as thorns and thistles,    
must be cut away and rooted out.  This means that by self-    
denial and self-discipline you must sedulously cut short and    
even give up all empty pleasures and useless dealings with    
other creatures.  In other words, you must crucify the flesh,    
keep a guard over the tongue, and mortify the bodily senses.    
    
74.  (3)  You must guard against grubs doing harm to the tree.     
These parasites are love of self and love of comfort, and they    
eat away the green foliage of the Tree and frustrate the fair    
hope it offered of yielding good fruit; for love of self is    
incompatible with love of Mary.    
    
75.  (4) You must not allow this tree to be damaged by    
destructive animals, that is, by sins, for they may cause its    
death simply by their contact.  They must not be allowed even    
to breathe upon the Tree, because their mere breath, that is,    
venial sins, which are most dangerous when we do not trouble    
ourselves about them.    
    
76.  (5) It is also necessary to water this Tree regularly    
with your Communions, Masses and other public and private    
prayers.  Otherwise it will not continue bearing fruit.    
    
77.  (6) Yet you need not be alarmed when the winds blow and    
shake this tree, for it must happen that the storm-winds of    
temptation will threaten to bring it down, and snow and frost    
tend to smother it.  By this we mean that this devotion to our    
Blessed Lady will surely be called into question and attacked.     
But as long as we continue steadfastly in tending it, we have    
nothing to fear.    
    
[C. Its lasting fruit: Jesus Christ]    
    
78.  Chosen soul, provided you thus carefully cultivate the    
Tree of Life, which has been freshly planted in your soul by    
the Holy Spirit, I can assure you that in a short time it will    
grow so tall that the birds of the air will make their home in    
it.  It will become such a good tree that it will yield in due    
season the sweet and adorable Fruit of honour and grace, which    
is Jesus, who has always been and will always be the only    
fruit of Mary.    
     Happy is that soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is    
planted.  Happier still is the soul in which she has been able    
to grow and blossom.  Happier again is the soul in which she    
brings forth her fruit.  But happiest of all is the soul which    
savours the sweetness of Mary's fruit and preserves it up till    
death and then beyond to all eternity.  Amen.    
     "Let him who possesses it, hold fast to it."    
    
*** TREATISE ON TRUE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
    ===============================================    
    
               INTRODUCTION OF SAINT LOUIS MARIE    
    
1.   It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came    
into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign    
in the world.    
    
2.   Because Mary remained hidden during her life she is    
called by the Holy Spirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother    
hidden and unknown. So great was her humility that she desired    
nothing more upon earth than to remain unknown to herself and    
to others, and to be known only to God.    
    
3.   In answer to her prayers to remain hidden, poor and    
lowly, God was pleased to conceal her from nearly every other    
human creature in her conception, her birth, her life, her    
mysteries, her resurrection and assumption. Her own parents    
did not really know her; and the angels would often ask one    
another, "Who can she possibly be?", for God had hidden her    
from them, or if he did reveal anything to them, it was    
nothing compared with what he withheld.    
    
4.   God the Father willed that she should perform no miracle    
during her life, at least no public one, although he had given    
her the power to do so. God the Son willed that she should    
speak very little although he had imparted his wisdom to her.    
     Even though Mary was his faithful spouse, God the Holy    
Spirit willed that his apostles and evangelists should say    
very little about her and then only as much as was necessary    
to make Jesus known.    
    
5.   Mary is the supreme masterpiece of Almighty God and he    
has reserved the knowledge and possession of her for himself.    
She is the glorious Mother of God the Son who chose to humble    
and conceal her during her lifetime in order to foster her    
humility. He called her "Woman" as if she were a stranger,    
although in his heart he esteemed and loved her above all men    
and angels. Mary is the sealed fountain and the faithful    
spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may enter. She is the    
sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity where God    
dwells in greater and more divine splendour than anywhere else    
in the universe, not excluding his dwelling above the cherubim    
and seraphim. No creature, however pure, may enter there    
without being specially privileged.    
    
6.   I declare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise    
of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where he became man by the power    
of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders    
beyond our understanding. She is the vast and divine world of    
God where unutterable marvels and beauties are to be found.    
She is the magnificence of the Almighty where he hid his only    
Son, as in his own bosom, and with him everything that is most    
excellent and precious. What great and hidden things the all-    
powerful God has done for this wonderful creature, as she    
herself had to confess in spite of her great humility, "The    
Almighty has done great things for me." The world does not    
know these things because it is incapable and unworthy of    
knowing them.    
    
7.   The saints have said wonderful things of Mary, the holy    
City of God, and, as they themselves admit, they were never    
more eloquent and more pleased than when they spoke of her.    
And yet they maintain that the height of her merits rising up    
to the throne of the Godhead cannot be perceived; the breadth    
of her love which is wider than the earth cannot be measured;    
the greatness of the power which she wields over one who is    
God cannot be conceived; and the depths of her profound    
humility and all her virtues and graces cannot be sounded.    
What incomprehensible height! What indescribable breadth! What    
immeasurable greatness! What an impenetrable abyss!    
    
8.   Every day, from one end of the earth to the other, in the    
highest heaven and in the lowest abyss, all things preach, all    
things proclaim the wondrous Virgin Mary. The nine choirs of    
angels, men and women of every age, rank and religion, both    
good and evil, even the very devils themselves are compelled    
by the force of truth, willingly or unwillingly, to call her    
blessed.    
     According to St. Bonaventure, all the angels in heaven    
unceasingly call out to her: "Holy, holy, holy Mary, Virgin    
Mother of God." They greet her countless times each day with    
the angelic greeting, "Hail, Mary", while prostrating    
themselves before her, begging her as a favour to honour them    
with one of her requests. According to St. Augustine, even St.    
Michael, though prince of all the heavenly court, is the most    
eager of all the angels to honour her and lead others to    
honour her. At all times he awaits the privilege of going at    
her word to the aid of one of her servants.    
    
9.   The whole world is filled with her glory, and this is    
especially true of Christian peoples, who have chosen her as    
guardian and protectress of kingdoms, provinces, dioceses, and    
towns. Many cathedrals are consecrated to God in her name.    
There is no church without an altar dedicated to her, no    
country or region without at least one of her miraculous    
images where all kinds of afflictions are cured and all sorts    
of benefits received. Many are the confraternities and    
associations honouring her as patron; many are the orders    
under her name and protection; many are the members of    
sodalities and religious of all congregations who voice her    
praises and make known her compassion. There is not a child    
who does not praise her by lisping a Hail Mary. There is    
scarcely a sinner, however hardened, who does not possess some    
spark of confidence in her. The very devils in hell, while    
fearing her, show her respect.    
    
10.  And yet in truth we must still say with the saints: De    
Maria numquam satis : We have still not praised, exalted,    
honoured, loved and served Mary adequately. She is worthy of    
even more praise, respect, love and service.    
    
11.  Moreover, we should repeat after the Holy Spirit, "All    
the glory of the king's daughter is within", meaning that all    
the external glory which heaven and earth vie with each other    
to give her is nothing compared to what she has received    
interiorly from her Creator, namely, a glory unknown to    
insignificant creatures like us, who cannot penetrate into the    
secrets of the king.    
    
12.  Finally, we must say in the words of the apostle Paul,    
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has the heart of man    
understood" the beauty, the grandeur, the excellence of Mary,    
who is indeed a miracle of miracles of grace, nature and    
glory. "If you wish to understand the Mother," says a saint,    
"then understand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of God." Hic    
taceat omnis lingua : Here let every tongue be silent.    
    
13.  My heart has dictated with special joy all that I have    
written to show that Mary has been unknown up till now, and    
that that is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known    
as he should be.    
     If then, as is certain, the knowledge and the kingdom of    
Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only be as a    
necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She    
who first gave him to the world will establish his kingdom in    
the world.    
    
         PART I: TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY IN GENERAL    
    
                          CHAPTER ONE    
               NECESSITY OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY    
    
               1. Mary's part in the Incarnation    
    
14.  With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a    
mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to    
his infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply    
nothing, since he alone can say, "I am he who is".    
Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and    
self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute    
need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will    
and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has    
only to will them.    
    
15.  However, I declare that, considering things as they are,    
because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest    
works through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we    
can safely believe that he will not change his plan in the    
time to come, for he is God and therefore does not change in    
his thoughts or his way of acting.    
    
16.  God the Father gave his only Son to the world only    
through Mary. Whatever desires the patriarchs may have    
cherished, whatever entreaties the prophets and saints of the    
Old Law may have had for 4,000 years to obtain that treasure,    
it was Mary alone who merited it and found grace before God by    
the power of her prayers and the perfection of her virtues.    
"The world being unworthy," said Saint Augustine, "to receive    
the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave    
his Son to Mary for the world to receive him from her."     
     The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in    
Mary and through Mary.    
     God the Holy Spirit formed Jesus Christ in Mary but only    
after having asked her consent through one of the chief    
ministers of his court.    
    
17.  God the Father imparted to Mary his fruitfulness as far    
as a mere creature was capable of receiving it, to enable her    
to bring forth his Son and all the members of his mystical    
body.    
    
18.  God the Son came into her virginal womb as a new Adam    
into his earthly paradise, to take his delight there and    
produce hidden wonders of grace.    
     God-made-man found freedom in imprisoning himself in her    
womb. He displayed power in allowing himself to be borne by    
this young maiden. He found his glory and that of his Father    
in hiding his splendours from all creatures here below and    
revealing them only to Mary. He glorified his independence and    
his majesty in depending upon this lovable virgin in his    
conception, his birth, his presentation in the temple, and in    
the thirty years of his hidden life. Even at his death she had    
to be present so that he might be united with her in one    
sacrifice and be immolated with her consent to the eternal    
Father, just as formerly Isaac was offered in sacrifice by    
Abraham when he accepted the will of God. It was Mary who    
nursed him, fed him, cared for him, reared him, and sacrificed    
him for us.    
     The Holy Spirit could not leave such wonderful and    
inconceivable dependence of God unmentioned in the Gospel,    
though he concealed almost all the wonderful things that    
Wisdom Incarnate did during his hidden life in order to bring    
home to us its infinite value and glory. Jesus gave more glory    
to God his Father by submitting to his Mother for thirty years    
than he would have given him had he converted the whole world    
by working the greatest miracles. How highly then do we    
glorify God when to please him we submit ourselves to Mary,    
taking Jesus as our sole model.    
    
19.  If we examine closely the remainder of the life of Jesus    
Christ, we see that he chose to begin his miracles through    
Mary. It was by her word that he sanctified Saint John the    
Baptist in the womb of his mother, Saint Elizabeth; no sooner    
had Mary spoken than John was sanctified. This was his first    
and greatest miracle of grace. At the wedding in Cana he    
changed water into wine at her humble prayer, and this was his    
first miracle in the order of nature. He began and continued    
his miracles through Mary and he will continue them through    
her until the end of time.    
    
20.  God the Holy Spirit, who does not produce any divine    
person, became fruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was    
with her, in her and of her that he produced his masterpiece,    
God-made-man, and that he produces every day until the end of    
the world the members of the body of this adorable Head. For    
this reason the more he finds Mary his dear and inseparable    
spouse in a soul the more powerful and effective he becomes in    
producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus    
Christ.    
    
21.  This does not mean that the Blessed Virgin confers on the    
Holy Spirit a fruitfulness which he does not already possess.    
Being God, he has the ability to produce just like the Father    
and the Son, although he does not use this power and so does    
not produce another divine person. But it does mean that the    
Holy Spirit chose to make use of our Blessed Lady, although he    
had no absolute need of her, in order to become actively    
fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and his members in her and    
by her. This is a mystery of grace unknown even to many of the    
most learned and spiritual of Christians.    
    
         2. Mary's part in the sanctification of souls    
    
22.  The plan adopted by the three persons of the Blessed    
Trinity in the Incarnation, the first coming of Jesus Christ,    
is adhered to each day in an invisible manner throughout the    
Church and they will pursue it to the end of time until the    
last coming of Jesus Christ.     
    
23.  God the Father gathered all the waters together and    
called them the seas (maria). He gathered all his graces    
together and called them Mary (Maria). The great God has a    
treasury or storehouse full of riches in which he has enclosed    
all that is beautiful, resplendent, rare, and precious, even    
his own Son. This immense treasury is none other than Mary    
whom the saints call the "treasury of the Lord". From her    
fullness all men are made rich.    
    
24.  God the Son imparted to his mother all that he gained by    
his life and death, namely, his infinite merits and his    
eminent virtues. He made her the treasurer of all his Father    
had given him as heritage. Through her he applies his merits    
to his members and through her he transmits his virtues and    
distributes his graces. She is his mystical channel, his    
aqueduct, through which he causes his mercies to flow gently    
and abundantly.    
    
25.  God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary,    
his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he    
possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to    
whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when    
she wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not    
pass through her virginal hands. Such indeed is the will of    
God, who has decreed that we should have all things through    
Mary, so that, making herself poor and lowly,, and hiding    
herself in the depths of nothingness during her whole life,    
she might be enriched, exalted and honoured by almighty God.    
Such are the views of the Church and the early Fathers.    
    
26.  Were I speaking to the so-called intellectuals of today,    
I would prove at great length by quoting Latin texts taken    
from Scripture and the Fathers of the Church all that I am now    
stating so simply. I could also instance solid proofs which    
can be read in full in Fr. Poir‚'s book "The Triple Crown of    
the Blessed Virgin". But I am speaking mainly for the poor and    
simple who have more good will and faith than the common run    
of scholars. As they believe more simply and more    
meritoriously, let me merely state the truth to them quite    
plainly without bothering to quote Latin passages which they    
would not understand. Nevertheless, I shall quote some texts    
as they occur to my mind as I go along.    
    
27.  Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a    
still greater perfection to grace, it is certain that our Lord    
remains in heaven just as much the Son of Mary as he was on    
earth. Consequently he has retained the submissiveness and    
obedience of the most perfect of all children towards the best    
of all mothers.    
     We must take care, however, not to consider this    
dependence as an abasement or imperfection in Jesus Christ.    
For Mary, infinitely inferior to her Son, who is God, does not    
command him in the same way as an earthly mother would command    
her child who is beneath her. Since she is completely    
transformed in God by that grace and glory which transforms    
all the saints in him, she does not ask or wish or do anything    
which is contrary to the eternal and changeless will of God.    
When therefore we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint    
Bernardine, Saint Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven    
and on earth, even God himself, is subject to the Blessed    
Virgin, they mean that the authority which God was pleased to    
give her is so great that she seems to have the same power as    
God. Her prayers and requests are so powerful with him that he    
accepts them as commands in the sense that he never resists    
his dear mother's prayer because it is always humble and    
conformed to his will.    
     Moses by the power of his prayer curbed God's anger    
against the Israelites so effectively that the infinitely    
great and merciful Lord was unable to withstand him and asked    
Moses to let him be angry and punish that rebellious people.    
How much greater, then, will be the prayer of the humble    
Virgin Mary, worthy Mother of God, which is more powerful with    
the King of heaven than the prayers and intercession of all    
the angels and saints in heaven and on earth.    
    
28.  Mary has authority over the angels and the blessed in    
heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the    
power and the mission of assigning to saints the thrones made    
vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride.    
     Such is the will of almighty God who exalts the humble,    
that the powers of heaven, earth and hell, willingly or    
unwillingly, must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary.    
For God has made her queen of heaven and earth, leader of his    
armies, keeper of his treasures, dispenser of his graces,    
worker of his wonders, restorer of the human race, mediatrix    
on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful    
associate in his great works and triumphs.    
    
29.  God the Father wishes Mary to be the mother of his    
children until the end of time and so he says to her, "Dwell    
in Jacob", that is to say, take up your abode permanently in    
my children, in my holy ones represented by Jacob, and not in    
the children of the devil and sinners represented by Esau.    
    
30.  Just as in natural and bodily generation there is a    
father and a mother, so in the supernatural and spiritual    
generation there is a father who is God and a mother who is    
Mary. All true children of God have God for their father and    
Mary for their mother; anyone who does not have Mary for his    
mother, does not have God for his father. This is why the    
reprobate, such as heretics and schismatics, who hate, despise    
or ignore the Blessed Virgin, do not have God for their father    
though they arrogantly claim they have, because they do not    
have Mary for their mother. Indeed if they had her for their    
mother they would love and honour her as good and true    
children naturally love and honour the mother who gave them    
life.    
     An infallible and unmistakable sign by which we can    
distinguish a heretic, a man of false doctrine, an enemy of    
God, from one of God's true friends is that the heretic and    
the hardened sinner show nothing but contempt and indifference    
for our Lady. He endeavours by word and example, openly or    
insidiously - sometimes under specious pretexts - to belittle    
the love and veneration shown to her. God the Father has not    
told Mary to dwell in them because they are, alas, other    
Esaus.    
    
31.  God the Son wishes to form himself, and, in a manner of    
speaking, become incarnate every day in his members through    
his dear Mother. To her he said: "Take Israel for your    
inheritance." It is as if he said, God the Father has given me    
as heritage all the nations of the earth, all men good and    
evil, predestinate and reprobate. To the good I shall be    
father and advocate, to the bad a just avenger, but to all I    
shall be a judge. But you, my dear Mother, will have for your    
heritage and possession only the predestinate represented by    
Israel. As their loving mother, you will give them birth, feed    
them and rear them. As their queen, you will lead, govern and    
defend them.    
    
32.  "This one and that one were born in her." According to    
the explanation of some of the Fathers, the first man born of    
Mary is the God-man, Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ, the head    
of mankind, is born of her, the predestinate, who are members    
of this head, must also as a necessary consequence be born of    
her. One and the same mother does not give birth to the head    
without the members nor to the members without the head, for    
these would be monsters in the order of nature. In the order    
of grace likewise the head and the members are born of the    
same mother. If a member of the mystical body of Christ, that    
is, one of the predestinate, were born of a mother other than    
Mary who gave birth to the head, he would not be one of the    
predestinate, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a monster in    
the order of grace.    
    
33.  Moreover, Jesus is still as much as ever the fruit of    
Mary, as heaven and earth repeat thousands of times a day:    
"Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." It is therefore    
certain that Jesus is the fruit and gift of Mary for every    
single man who possesses him, just as truly as he is for all    
mankind. Consequently, if any of the faithful have Jesus    
formed in their heart they can boldly say, "It is thanks to    
Mary that what I possess is Jesus her fruit, and without her I    
would not have him." We can attribute more truly to her what    
Saint Paul said of himself, "I am in labour again with all the    
children of God until Jesus Christ, my Son, is formed in them    
to the fullness of his age." Saint Augustine, surpassing    
himself as well as all that I have said so far, affirms that    
in order to be conformed to the image of the Son of God all    
the predestinate, while in the world, are hidden in the womb    
of the Blessed Virgin where they are protected, nourished,    
cared for and developed by this good Mother, until the day she    
brings them forth to a life of glory after death, which the    
Church calls the birthday of the just. This is indeed a    
mystery of grace unknown to the reprobate and little known    
even to the predestinate!    
    
34.  God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in    
and through Mary. He tells her, "My well-beloved, my spouse,    
let all your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may    
grow from strength to strength and from grace to grace. When    
you were living on earth, practising the most sublime virtues,    
I was so pleased with you that I still desire to find you on    
earth without your ceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself    
then in my chosen ones, so that I may have the joy of seeing    
in them the roots of your invincible faith, profound humility,    
total mortification, sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm    
hope and all your virtues. You are always my spouse, as    
faithful, pure, and fruitful as ever. May your faith give me    
believers; your purity, virgins; your fruitfulness, elect and    
living temples."    
    
35.  When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it    
wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is    
the fruitful virgin who never had and never will have her    
equal in purity and fruitfulness. Together with the Holy    
Spirit Mary produced the greatest thing that ever was or ever    
will be: a God-man. She will consequently produce the marvels    
which will be seen in the latter times. The formation and the    
education of the great saints who will come at the end of the    
world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous    
virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and    
wondrous things.    
    
36.  When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul,    
he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself    
generously to that soul according to the place it has given to    
his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does    
not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in    
them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and    
inseparable spouse. I say "inseparable spouse", for from the    
moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused    
Mary to form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the    
elect, he has never disowned her, for she has always been    
faithful and fruitful.    
    
                        3. Consequences    
    
37.  We must obviously conclude from what I have just said:    
     First, that Mary received from God a far-reaching    
dominion over the souls of the elect. Otherwise she could not    
make her dwelling-place in them as God the Father has ordered    
her to do, and she could not conceive them, nourish them, and    
bring them forth to eternal life as their mother. She could    
not have them for her inheritance and her possession and form    
them in Jesus and Jesus in them. She could not implant in    
their heart the roots of her virtues, nor be the inseparable    
associate of the Holy Spirit in all these works of grace. None    
of these things, I repeat, could she do unless she had    
received from the Almighty rights and authority over their    
souls. For God, having given her power over his only-begotten    
and natural Son, also gave her power over his adopted children    
- not only in what concerns their body - which would be of    
little account - but also in what concerns their soul.    
    
38.  Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus    
is king by nature and by conquest. But as the kingdom of Jesus    
Christ exists primarily in the heart or interior of man,    
according to the words of the Gospel, "The kingdom of God is    
within you", so the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin is    
principally in the interior of man, that is, in his soul. It    
is principally in souls that she is glorified with her Son    
more than in any visible creature. So we may call her, as the    
saints do, Queen of our hearts.    
    
39.  Secondly, we must conclude that, being necessary to God    
by a necessity which is called "hypothetical", (that is,    
because God so willed it), the Blessed Virgin is all the more    
necessary for men to attain their final end. Consequently we    
must not place devotion to her on the same level as devotion    
to the other saints as if it were merely something optional.     
    
40.  The pious and learned Jesuit, Suarez, Justus Lipsius, a    
devout and erudite theologian of Louvain, and many others have    
proved incontestably that devotion to our Blessed Lady is    
necessary to attain salvation. This they show from the    
teaching of the Fathers, notably St. Augustine, St. Ephrem,    
deacon of Edessa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Germanus of    
Constantinople, St. John Demascene, St. Anselm, St. Bernard,    
St. Bernardine, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure. Even according    
to Oecolampadius and other heretics, lack of esteem and love    
for the Virgin Mary is an infallible sign of God's    
disapproval. On the other hand, to be entirely and genuinely    
devoted to her is a sure sign of God's approval.    
    
41.  The types and texts of the Old and New Testaments prove    
the truth of this, the opinions and examples of the saints    
confirm it, and reason and experience teach and demonstrate    
it. Even the devil and his followers, forced by the evidence    
of the truth, were frequently obliged against their will to    
admit it. For brevity's sake, I shall quote one only of the    
many passages which I have collected from the Fathers and    
Doctors of the Church to support this truth. "Devotion to you,    
O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to    
those whom he wishes to save" (St. John Damascene).    
    
42.  I could tell many stories in evidence of what I have just    
said.    
     (1) One is recorded in the chronicles of St. Francis. The    
saint saw in ecstasy an immense ladder reaching to heaven, at    
the top of which stood the Blessed Virgin. This is the ladder,    
he was told, by which we must all go to heaven.    
     (2) There is another related in the Chronicles of St.    
Dominic. Near Carcassonne, where St. Dominic was preaching the    
Rosary, there was an unfortunate heretic who was possessed by    
a multitude of devils. These evil spirits to their confusion    
were compelled at the command of our Lady to confess many    
great and consoling truths concerning devotion to her. They    
did this so clearly and forcibly that, however weak our    
devotion to our Lady may be, we cannot read this authentic    
story containing such an unwilling tribute paid by the devils    
to devotion to our Lady without shedding tears of joy.     
    
43.  If devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all    
men simply to work out their salvation, it is even more    
necessary for those who are called to a special perfection. I    
do not believe that anyone can acquire intimate union with our    
Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy Spirit without a very    
close union with the most Blessed Virgin and an absolute    
dependence on her support.    
    
44.  Mary alone found grace before God without the help of any    
other creature. All those who have since found grace before    
God have found it only through her. She was full of grace when    
she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel and was filled with    
grace to overflowing by the Holy Spirit when he so    
mysteriously overshadowed her. From day to day, from moment to    
moment, she increased so much this twofold plenitude that she    
attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace. So much    
so, that the Almighty made her the sole custodian of his    
treasures and the sole dispenser of his graces. She can now    
ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses. She can lead them    
along the narrow path to heaven and guide them through the    
narrow gate to life. She can give a royal throne, sceptre and    
crown to whom she wishes. Jesus is always and everywhere the    
fruit and Son of Mary and Mary is everywhere the genuine tree    
that bears that Fruit of life, the true Mother who bears that    
Son.    
    
45.  To Mary alone God gave the keys of the cellars of divine    
love and the ability to enter the most sublime and secret ways    
of perfection, and lead others along them. Mary alone gives to    
the unfortunate children of unfaithful Eve entry into that    
earthly paradise where they may walk pleasantly with God and    
be safely hidden from their enemies. There they can feed    
without fear of death on the delicious fruit of the tree of    
life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They can    
drink copiously the heavenly waters of that beauteous fountain    
which gushes forth in such abundance. As she is herself the    
earthly paradise, that virgin and blessed land from which    
sinful Adam and Eve were expelled she lets only those whom she    
chooses enter her domain in order to make them saints.    
    
46.  All the rich among the people, to use an expression of    
the Holy Spirit as explained by St. Bernard, all the rich    
among the people will look pleadingly upon her countenance    
throughout all ages and particularly as the world draws to its    
end. This means that the greatest saints, those richest in    
grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the    
most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to    
imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.     
    
47.  I said that this will happen especially towards the end    
of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and his    
holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in    
holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon    
tower above little shrubs. This has been revealed to a holy    
soul whose life has been written by M. de Renty.    
    
48.  These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be    
chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all    
sides. They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed    
Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her food,    
guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, sheltered under    
her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with    
the other. With one hand they will give battle, overthrowing    
and crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and    
their schisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and    
their wickedness. With the other hand they will build the    
temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God,    
namely, the Blessed Virgin, who is called by the Fathers of    
the Church the Temple of Solomon  and the City of God . By    
word and example they will draw all men to a true devotion to    
her and though this will make many enemies, it will also bring    
about many victories and much glory to God alone. This is what    
God revealed to St. Vincent Ferrer, that outstanding apostle    
of his day, as he has amply shown in one of his works.    
     This seems to have been foretold by the Holy Spirit in    
Psalm 58: "The Lord will reign in Jacob and all the ends of    
the earth. They will be converted towards evening and they    
will be as hungry as dogs and they will go around the city to    
find something to eat." This city around which men will roam    
at the end of the world seeking conversion and the appeasement    
of the hunger they have for justice is the most Blessed    
Virgin, who is called by the Holy Spirit the City of God .    
    
              4. Mary's part in the latter times    
    
49.  The salvation of the world began through Mary and through    
her it must be accomplished. Mary scarcely appeared in the    
first coming of Jesus Christ so that men, as yet    
insufficiently instructed and enlightened concerning the    
person of her Son, might not wander from the truth by becoming    
too strongly attached to her. This would apparently have    
happened if she had been known, on account of the wondrous    
charms with which Almighty God had endowed even her outward    
appearance. So true is this that St. Denis the Areopagite    
tells us in his writings that when he saw her he would have    
taken her for a goddess, because of her incomparable beauty,    
had not his well-grounded faith taught him otherwise. But in    
the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and    
openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known,    
loved and served through her. The reasons which moved the Holy    
Spirit to hide his spouse during her life and to reveal but    
very little of her since the first preaching of the gospel    
exist no longer.    
    
1) God wishes to make Mary better known in the latter times.    
    
50. God wishes therefore to reveal Mary, his masterpiece, and    
make her more known in these latter times:    
     (1) Because she kept herself hidden in this world and in    
her great humility considered herself lower than dust, having    
obtained from God, his apostles and evangelists the favour of    
being made known.    
     (2) Because, as Mary is not only God's masterpiece of    
glory in heaven, but also his masterpiece of grace on earth,    
he wishes to be glorified and praised because of her by those    
living upon earth.    
     (3) Since she is the dawn which precedes and discloses    
the Sun of Justice Jesus Christ, she must be known and    
acknowledged so that Jesus may be known and acknowledged.    
     (4) As she was the way by which Jesus first came to us,    
she will again be the way by which he will come to us the    
second time though not in the same manner.    
     (5) Since she is the sure means, the direct and    
immaculate way to Jesus and the perfect guide to him, it is    
through her that souls who are to shine forth in sanctity must    
find him. He who finds Mary finds life, that is, Jesus Christ    
who is the way, the truth and the life. But no one can find    
Mary who does not look for her. No one can look for her who    
does not know her, for no one seeks or desires something    
unknown. Mary then must be better known than ever for the    
deeper understanding and the greater glory of the Blessed    
Trinity.    
     (6) In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than    
ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and    
welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be    
converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to    
combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to    
seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose    
them; finally, she must shine forth in grace to inspire and    
support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus    
Christ who are fighting for his cause.    
     (7) Lastly, Mary must become as terrible as an army in    
battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in    
these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time    
- even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies his    
efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to    
stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for    
Mary's faithful servants and children whom he finds more    
difficult to overcome than others.    
    
51.  It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked    
persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent    
of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that    
first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered against    
the serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to    
explain it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the    
salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. "I    
will place enmities between you and the woman, between your    
race and her race; she will crush your head and you will lie    
in wait for her heel" (Gen. 3:15).    
    
52.  God has established only one enmity - but it is an    
irreconcilable one - which will last and even go on increasing    
to the end of time. That enmity is between Mary, his worthy    
Mother, and the devil, between the children and the servants    
of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of    
Lucifer.    
     Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against    
the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the time of the    
earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind,    
he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such    
ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent    
and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud    
rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men    
but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not    
mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not    
infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin's, since her    
attributes are limited. It simply means that Satan, being so    
proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and    
punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her    
humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover,    
God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits    
that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit    
through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her    
pleadings for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints,    
and one of her threats more than all their other torments.    
    
53.  What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What Eve    
ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By    
obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as    
herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect    
fidelity to God saved her children with herself and    
consecrated them to his divine majesty.    
    
54.  God has established not just one enmity but "enmities",    
and not only between Mary and Satan but between her race and    
his race. That is, God has put enmities, antipathies and    
hatreds between the true children and servants of the Blessed    
Virgin and the children and slaves of the devil. They have no    
love and no sympathy for each other. The children of Belial,    
the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world, - for they are    
all one and the same - have always persecuted and will    
persecute more than ever in the future those who belong to the    
Blessed Virgin, just as Cain of old persecuted his brother    
Abel, and Esau his brother Jacob. These are the types of the    
wicked and of the just. But the humble Mary will always    
triumph over Satan, the proud one, and so great will be her    
victory that she will crush his head, the very seat of his    
pride. She will unmask his serpent's cunning and expose his    
wicked plots. She will scatter to the winds his devilish plans    
and to the end of time will keep her faithful servants safe    
from his cruel claws.    
     But Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially    
shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait    
for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor    
children whom she will rouse to fight against him. In the eyes    
of the world they will be little and poor and, like the heel,    
lowly in the eyes of all, down-trodden and crushed as is the    
heel by the other parts of the body. But in compensation for    
this they will be rich in God's graces, which will be    
abundantly bestowed on them by Mary. They will be great and    
exalted before God in holiness. They will be superior to all    
creatures by their great zeal and so strongly will they be    
supported by divine assistance that, in union with Mary, they    
will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is, their    
humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.    
    
2) Devotion to Mary is especially necessary in the latter    
times.    
    
55.  Finally, God in these times wishes his Blessed Mother to    
be more known, loved and honoured than she has ever been. This    
will certainly come about if the elect, by the grace and light    
of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interior and perfect practice of    
the devotion which I shall later unfold. Then they will    
clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, as much as faith    
allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the splendours    
of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely to her    
service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience    
her motherly kindness and affection for her children. They    
will love her tenderly and will appreciate how full of    
compassion she is and how much they stand in need of her help.    
In all circumstances they will have recourse to her as their    
advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will see    
clearly that she is the safest, easiest, shortest and most    
perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves    
to her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong    
entirely to Jesus.    
    
56.  But what will they be like, these servants, these slaves,    
these children of Mary?    
     They will be ministers of the Lord who, like a flaming    
fire, will enkindle everywhere the fires of divine love. They    
will become, in Mary's powerful hands, like sharp arrows, with    
which she will transfix her enemies.    
     They will be as the children of Levi, thoroughly purified    
by the fire of great tribulations and closely joined to God.    
They will carry the gold of love in their heart, the    
frankincense of prayer in their mind and the myrrh of    
mortification in their body. They will bring to the poor and    
lowly everywhere the sweet fragrance of Jesus, but they will    
bring the odour of death to the great, the rich and the proud    
of this world.    
    
57.  They will be like thunder-clouds flying through the air    
at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to    
nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they will    
shower down the rain of God's word and of eternal life. They    
will thunder against sin, they will storm against the world,    
they will strike down the devil and his followers and for life    
and for death, they will pierce through and through with the    
two-edged sword of God's word all those against whom they are    
sent by Almighty God.    
    
58.  They will be true apostles of the latter times to whom    
the Lord of Hosts will give eloquence and strength to work    
wonders and carry off glorious spoils from his enemies. They    
will sleep without gold or silver and, more important still,    
without concern in the midst of other priests, ecclesiastics    
and clerics. Yet they will have the silver wings of the dove    
enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls them,    
filled as they are with the resolve to seek the glory of God    
and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they will    
leave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the    
fulfilment of the whole law.    
    
59.  Lastly, we know they will be true disciples of Jesus    
Christ, imitating his poverty, his humility, his contempt of    
the world and his love. They will point out the narrow way to    
God in pure truth according to the holy Gospel, and not    
according to the maxims of the world. Their hearts will not be    
troubled, nor will they show favour to anyone; they will not    
spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he may be.    
They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in their    
mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their    
shoulders. They will carry the crucifix in their right hand    
and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and    
Mary on their heart. The simplicity and self-sacrifice of    
Jesus will be reflected in their whole behaviour.    
     Such are the great men who are to come. By the will of    
God Mary is to prepare them to extend his rule over the    
impious and unbelievers. But when and how will this come    
about? Only God knows. For our part we must yearn and wait for    
it in silence and in prayer: "I have waited and waited."    
    
                          CHAPTER TWO    
               IN WHAT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS    
    
            1. Basic principles of devotion to Mary    
    
60.  Having spoken briefly of the necessity of devotion to the    
Blessed Virgin, I must now explain what this devotion consists    
in. This I will do with God's help after I have laid down    
certain basic truths which throw light on the remarkable and    
sound devotion which I propose to unfold.    
    
       First principle: Christ must be the ultimate end    
                       of all devotions    
    
61.  Jesus, our Saviour, true God and true man must be the    
ultimate end of all our other devotions; otherwise they would    
be false and misleading. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the    
beginning and end of everything. "We labour," says St. Paul,    
"only to make all men perfect in Jesus Christ."    
     For in him alone dwells the entire fullness of the    
divinity and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and    
perfection. In him alone we have been blessed with every    
spiritual blessing; he is the only teacher from whom we must    
learn; the only Lord on whom we should depend; the only Head    
to whom we should be united and the only model that we should    
imitate. He is the only Physician that can heal us; the only    
Shepherd that can feed us; the only Way that can lead us; the    
only Truth that we can believe; the only Life that can animate    
us. He alone is everything to us and he alone can satisfy all    
our desires.    
     We are given no other name under heaven by which we can    
be saved. God has laid no other foundation for our salvation,    
perfection and glory than Jesus. Every edifice which is not    
built on that firm rock, is founded upon shifting sands and    
will certainly fall sooner or later. Every one of the faithful    
who is not united to him is like a branch broken from the stem    
of the vine. It falls and withers and is fit only to be burnt.    
If we live in Jesus and Jesus lives in us, we need not fear    
damnation. Neither angels in heaven nor men on earth, nor    
devils in hell, no creature whatever can harm us, for no    
creature can separate us from the love of God which is in    
Christ Jesus. Through him, with him and in him, we can do all    
things and render all honour and glory to the Father in the    
unity of the Holy Spirit; we can make ourselves perfect and be    
for our neighbour a fragrance of eternal life.    
    
62.  If then we are establishing sound devotion to our Blessed    
Lady, it is only in order to establish devotion to our Lord    
more perfectly, by providing a smooth but certain way of    
reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Lady distracted us    
from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of    
the devil. But this is far from being the case. As I have    
already shown and will show again later on, this devotion is    
necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching    
Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him    
faithfully.    
    
63.  Here I turn to you for a moment, dear Jesus, to complain    
lovingly to your divine Majesty that the majority of    
Christians, and even some of the most learned among them, do    
not recognise the necessary bond that unites you and your    
Blessed Mother. Lord, you are always with Mary and Mary is    
always with you. She can never be without you because then she    
would cease to be what she is. She is so completely    
transformed into you by grace that she no longer lives, she no    
longer exists, because you alone, dear Jesus, live and reign    
in her more perfectly than in all the angels and saints. If we    
only knew the glory and the love given to you by this    
wonderful creature, our feelings for you and for her would be    
far different from those we have now. So intimately is she    
united to you that it would be easier to separate light from    
the sun, and heat from the fire. I go further, it would even    
be easier to separate all the angels and saints from you than    
Mary; for she loves you ardently, and glorifies you more    
perfectly than all your other creatures put together.    
    
64.  In view of this, my dear Master, is it not astonishing    
and pitiful to see the ignorance and short-sightedness of men    
with regard to your holy Mother? I am not speaking so much of    
idolaters and pagans who do not know you and consequently have    
no knowledge of her. I am not even speaking of heretics and    
schismatics who have left you and your holy Church and    
therefore are not interested in your holy Mother. I am    
speaking of Catholics, and even of educated Catholics, who    
profess to teach the faith to others but do not know you or    
your Mother except speculatively, in a dry, cold and sterile    
way.    
     These people seldom speak of your Mother or devotion to    
her. They say they are afraid that devotion to her will be    
abused and that you will be offended by excessive honour paid    
to her. They protest loudly when they see or hear a devout    
servant of Mary speak frequently with feeling, conviction and    
vigour of devotion to her. When he speaks of devotion to her    
as a sure means of finding and loving you without fear or    
illusion, or when he says this devotion is a short road free    
from danger, or an immaculate way free from imperfection, or a    
wondrous secret of finding you, they put before him a thousand    
specious reasons to show him how wrong he is to speak so much    
of Mary. There are, they say, great abuses in this devotion    
which we should try to stamp out and we should refer people to    
you rather than exhort them to have devotion to your Mother,    
whom they already love adequately.    
     If they are sometimes heard speaking of devotion to your    
Mother, it is not for the purpose of promoting it or    
convincing people of it but only to destroy the abuses made of    
it. Yet all the while these persons are devoid of piety or    
genuine devotion to you, for they have no devotion to Mary.    
They consider the Rosary and the Scapular as devotions    
suitable only for simple women or ignorant people. After all,    
they say, we do not need them to be saved. If they come across    
one who loves our Lady, who says the rosary or shows any    
devotion towards her, they soon move him to a change of mind    
and heart. They advise him to say the seven penitential psalms    
instead of the Rosary, and to show devotion to Jesus instead    
of to Mary.    
     Dear Jesus, do these people possess your spirit? Do they    
please you by acting in this way? Would it please you if we    
were to make no effort to give pleasure to your Mother because    
we are afraid of offending you? Does devotion to your holy    
Mother hinder devotion to you? Does Mary keep for herself any    
honour we pay her? Is she a rival of yours? Is she a stranger    
having no kinship with you? Does pleasing her imply    
displeasing you? Does the gift of oneself to her constitute a    
deprivation for you? Is love for her a lessening of our love    
for you?    
    
65.  Nevertheless, my dear Master, the majority of learned    
scholars could not be further from devotion to your Mother, or    
show more indifference to it even if all I have just said were    
true. Keep me from their way of thinking and acting and let me    
share your feelings of gratitude, esteem, respect and love for    
your holy Mother. I can then love and glorify you all the    
more, because I will be imitating and following you more    
closely.    
    
66.  As though I had said nothing so far to further her    
honour, grant me now the grace to praise her more worthily, in    
spite of all her enemies who are also yours. I can then say to    
them boldly with the saints, "Let no one presume to expect    
mercy from God, who offends his holy Mother."    
    
67.  So that I may obtain from your mercy a genuine devotion    
to your blessed Mother and spread it throughout the whole    
world, help me to love you wholeheartedly, and for this    
intention accept the earnest prayer I offer with St. Augustine    
and all who truly love you.    
    
Prayer of Saint Augustine    
    
     O Jesus Christ, you are my Father, my merciful God, my    
great King, my good Shepherd, my only Master, my best helper,    
my beloved friend of overwhelming beauty, my living Bread, my    
eternal priest. You are my guide to my heavenly home, my one    
true light, my holy joy, my true way, my shining wisdom, my    
unfeigned simplicity, the peace and harmony of my soul, my    
perfect safeguard, my bounteous inheritance, my everlasting    
salvation.     
     My loving Lord, Jesus Christ, why have I ever loved or    
desired anything else in my life but you, my God? Where was I    
when I was not in communion with you? From now on, I direct    
all my desires to be inspired by you and centred on you. I    
direct them to press forward for they have tarried long    
enough, to hasten towards their goal, to seek the one they    
yearn for.    
     O Jesus, let him who does not love you be accursed, and    
filled with bitterness. O gentle Jesus, let every worthy    
feeling of mine show you love, take delight in you and admire    
you. O God of my heart and my inheritance, Christ Jesus, may    
my heart mellow before the influence of your spirit and may    
you live in me. May the flame of your love burn in my soul.    
May it burn incessantly on the altar of my heart. May it glow    
in my innermost being. May it spread its heat into the hidden    
recesses of my soul and on the day of my consummation may I    
appear before you consumed in your love. Amen.    
    
         Second principle: We belong to Jesus and Mary    
                        as their slaves    
    
68.  From what Jesus Christ is in regard to us we must    
conclude, as St. Paul says, that we belong not to ourselves    
but entirely to him as his members and his slaves, for he    
bought us at an infinite price - the shedding of his Precious    
Blood. Before baptism, we belonged to the devil as slaves, but    
baptism made us in very truth slaves of Jesus.    
     We must therefore live, work and die for the sole purpose    
of bringing forth fruit for him, glorifying him in our body    
and letting him reign in our soul. We are his conquest, the    
people he has won, his heritage.    
     It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit compares us:    
1) to trees that are planted along the waters of grace in the    
field of the Church and which must bear their fruit when the    
time comes; 2) to branches of the vine of which Jesus is the    
stem, which must yield good grapes; 3) to a flock of sheep of    
which Jesus is the Shepherd, which must increase and give    
milk; 4) to good soil cultivated by God, where the seed will    
spread and produce crops up to thirty-fold, sixty-fold, or a    
hundred-fold. Our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree and    
condemned the slothful servant who wasted his talent.    
     All this proves that he wishes to receive some fruit from    
our wretched selves, namely, our good works, which by right    
belong to him alone, "created in Jesus Christ for good works".    
These words of the Holy Spirit show that Jesus is the sole    
source and must be the sole end of all our good works, and    
that we must serve him not just as paid servants but as slaves    
of love. Let me explain what I mean.    
    
69.  There are two ways of belonging to another person and    
being subject to his authority. One is by ordinary service and    
the other is by slavery. And so we must use the terms    
"servant" and "slave". Ordinary service in Christian countries    
is when a man is employed to serve another for a certain    
length of time at a wage which is fixed or agreed upon. When a    
man is totally dependent on another for life, and must serve    
his master without expecting any wages or recompense, when he    
is treated just like a beast of the field over which the owner    
has the right of life and death, then it is slavery.     
    
70.  Now there are three kinds of slavery; natural slavery,    
enforced slavery, and voluntary slavery. All creatures are    
slaves of God in the first sense, for "the earth and its    
fullness belong to the Lord". The devils and the damned are    
slaves in the second sense. The saints in heaven and the just    
on earth are slaves in the third sense. Voluntary slavery is    
the most perfect of all three states, for by it we give the    
greatest glory to God, who looks into the heart and wants it    
to be given to him. Is he not indeed called the God of the    
heart or of the loving will? For by this slavery we freely    
choose God and his service before all things, even if we were    
not by our very nature obliged to do so.    
    
71.  There is a world of difference between a servant and a    
slave. 1) A servant does not give his employer all he is, all    
he has, and all he can acquire by himself or through others. A    
slave, however, gives himself to his master completely and    
exclusively with all he has and all he can acquire. 2) A    
servant demands wages for the services rendered to his    
employer. A slave, on the other hand, can expect nothing, no    
matter what skill, attention or energy he may have put into    
his work. 3) A servant can leave his employer whenever he    
pleases, or at least when the term of his service expires,    
whereas the slave has no such right. 4) An employer has no    
right of life and death over a servant. Were he to kill him as    
he would a beast of burden, he would commit murder. But the    
master of a slave has by law the right of life and death over    
him, so that he can sell him to anyone he chooses or - if you    
will pardon the comparison - kill him as he would kill his    
horse. 5) Finally, a servant is in his employer's service only    
for a time; a slave for always.    
    
72.  No other human state involves belonging  more completely    
to another than slavery. Among Christian peoples, nothing    
makes a person belong more completely to Jesus and his holy    
Mother than voluntary slavery. Our Lord himself gave us the    
example of this when out of love for us he "took the form of a    
slave". Our Lady gave us the same example when she called    
herself the handmaid or slave of the Lord. The Apostle    
considered it an honour to be called "slave of Christ".    
Several times in Holy Scripture, Christians are referred to as    
"slaves of Christ".    
     The Latin word "servus" at one time signified only a    
slave because servants as we know them did not exist. Masters    
were served either by slaves or by freedmen. The Catechism of    
the Council of Trent leaves no doubt about our being slaves of    
Jesus Christ, using the unequivocal term "Mancipia Christi",    
which plainly means: slaves of Christ.    
    
73.  Granting this, I say that we must belong to Jesus and    
serve him not just as hired servants but as willing slaves    
who, moved by generous love, commit themselves to his service    
after the manner of slaves for the honour of belonging to him.    
Before we were baptised we were the slaves of the devil, but     
baptism made us the slaves of Jesus. Christians can only be    
slaves of the devil or slaves of Christ.     
    
74.  What I say in an absolute sense of our Lord, I say in a    
relative sense of our Blessed Lady. Jesus, in choosing her as    
his inseparable associate in his life, glory and power in    
heaven and on earth, has given her by grace in his kingdom all    
the same rights and privileges that he possesses by nature.    
"All that belongs to God by nature belongs to Mary by grace",    
say the saints, and, according to them, just as Jesus and Mary    
have the same will and the same power, they have also the same    
subjects, servants and slaves.    
    
75.  Following therefore the teaching of the saints and of    
many great men we can call ourselves, and become, the loving    
slaves of our Blessed Lady in order to become more perfect    
slaves of Jesus. Mary is the means our Lord chose to come to    
us and she is also the means we should choose to go to him,    
for she is not like other creatures who tend rather to lead us    
away from God than towards him, if we are over-attached to    
them. Mary's strongest inclination is to unite us to Jesus,    
her Son, and her Son's strongest wish is that we come to him    
through his Blessed Mother. He is pleased and honoured just as    
a king would be pleased and honoured if a citizen, wanting to    
become a better subject and slave of the king, made himself    
the slave of the queen. That is why the Fathers of the Church,    
and St. Bonaventure after them, assert that the Blessed Virgin    
is the way which leads to our Lord.    
    
76.  Moreover, if, as I have said, the Blessed Virgin is the    
Queen and Sovereign of heaven and earth, does she not then    
have as many subjects and slaves as there are creatures? "All    
things, including Mary herself, are subject to the power of    
God. All things, God included, are subject to the Virgin's    
power", so we are told by St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St.    
Bernardine and St. Bonaventure. Is it not reasonable to find    
that among so many slaves there should be some slaves of love,    
who freely choose Mary as their Queen? Should men and demons    
have willing slaves, and Mary have none? A king makes it a    
point of honour that the queen, his consort, should have her    
own slaves, over whom she has right of life and death, for    
honour and power given to the queen is honour and power given    
to the king. Could we possibly believe that Jesus, the best of    
all sons, who shared his power with his Blessed Mother, would    
resent her having her own slaves? Has he less esteem and love    
for his Mother than Ahasuerus had for Esther, or Solomon for    
Bathsheba? Who could say or even think such a thing?    
    
77.  But where is my pen leading me? Why am I wasting my time    
proving something so obvious? If people are unwilling to call    
themselves slaves of Mary, what does it matter? Let them    
become and call themselves slaves of Jesus Christ, for this is    
the same as being slaves of Mary, since Jesus is the fruit and    
glory of Mary. This is what we do perfectly in the devotion we    
shall discuss later.    
    
            Third principle: We must rid ourselves    
                     of what is evil in us    
    
78.  Our best actions are usually tainted and spoiled by the    
evil that is rooted in us. When pure, clear water is poured    
into a foul-smelling jug, or wine into an unwashed cask that    
previously contained another wine, the clear water and the    
good wine are tainted and readily acquire an unpleasant odour.    
In the same way when God pours into our soul, infected by    
original and actual sin, the heavenly waters of his grace or    
the delicious wines of his love, his gifts are usually spoiled    
and tainted by the evil sediment left in us by sin. Our    
actions, even those of the highest virtue, show the effects of    
it. It is therefore of the utmost importance that, in seeking    
the perfection that can be attained only by union with Jesus,    
we rid ourselves of all that is evil in us. Otherwise our    
infinitely pure Lord, who has an infinite hatred for the    
slightest stain in our soul, will refuse to unite us to    
himself and will drive us from his presence.    
    
79.  To rid ourselves of selfishness, we must first become    
thoroughly aware, by the light of the Holy Spirit, of our    
tainted nature. Of ourselves we are unable to do anything    
conducive to our salvation. Our human weakness is evident in    
everything we do and we are habitually unreliable. We do not    
deserve any grace from God. Our tendency to sin is always    
present. The sin of Adam has almost entirely spoiled and    
soured us, filling us with pride and corrupting every one of    
us, just as leaven sours, swells and corrupts the dough in    
which it is placed. The actual sins we have committed, whether    
mortal or venial, even though forgiven, have intensified our    
base desires, our weakness, our inconstancy and our evil    
tendencies, and have left a sediment of evil in our soul.    
     Our bodies are so corrupt that they are referred to by    
the Holy Spirit as bodies of sin, as conceived and nourished    
in sin, and capable of any kind of sin. They are subject to a    
thousand ills, deteriorating from day to day and harbouring    
only disease, vermin and corruption.    
     Our soul, being united to our body, has become so carnal    
that it has been called flesh. "All flesh had corrupted its    
way". Pride and blindness of spirit, hardness of heart,    
weakness and inconstancy of soul, evil inclinations,    
rebellious passions, ailments of the body, - these are all we    
can call our own. By nature we are prouder than peacocks, we    
cling to the earth more than toads, we are more base than    
goats, more envious than serpents, greedier than pigs, fiercer    
than tigers, lazier than tortoises, weaker than reeds, and    
more changeable than weather-cocks. We have in us nothing but    
sin, and deserve only the wrath of God and the eternity of    
hell.    
    
80.  Is it any wonder then that our Lord laid down that anyone    
who aspires to be his follower must deny himself and hate his    
very life? He makes it clear that anyone who loves his life    
shall lose it and anyone who hates his life shall save it.    
Now, our Lord, who is infinite Wisdom, and does not give    
commandments without a reason, bids us hate ourselves only    
because we richly deserve to be hated. Nothing is more worthy    
of love than God and nothing is more deserving of hatred than    
self.    
    
81.  Secondly, in order to empty ourselves of self, we must    
die daily to ourselves. This involves our renouncing what the    
powers of the soul and the senses of the body incline us to    
do. We must see as if we did not see, hear as if we did not    
hear and use the things of this world as if we did not use    
them. This is what St. Paul calls "dying daily". Unless the    
grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a    
single grain and does not bear any good fruit. If we do not    
die to self and if our holiest devotions do not lead us to    
this necessary and fruitful death, we shall not bear fruit of    
any worth and our devotions will cease to be profitable. All    
our good works will be tainted by self-love and self-will so    
that our greatest sacrifices and our best actions will be    
unacceptable to God. Consequently when we come to die we shall    
find ourselves devoid of virtue and merit and discover that we    
do not possess even one spark of that pure love which God    
shares only with those who have died to themselves and whose    
life is hidden with Jesus Christ in him.    
    
82.  Thirdly, we must choose among all the devotions to the    
Blessed Virgin the one which will lead us more surely to this    
dying to self. This devotion will be the best and the most    
sanctifying for us. For we must not believe that all that    
glitters is gold, all that is sweet is honey, or all that is    
easy to do and is done by the majority of people is the most    
sanctifying. Just as in nature there are secrets enabling us    
to do certain natural things quickly, easily and at little    
cost, so in the spiritual life there are secrets which enable    
us to perform works rapidly, smoothly and with facility. Such    
works are, for example, emptying ourselves of self-love,    
filling ourselves with God, and attaining perfection.    
     The devotion that I propose to explain is one of these    
secrets of grace, for it is unknown to most Christians. Only a    
few devout people know of it and it is practised and    
appreciated by fewer still. To begin the explanation of this    
devotion here is a fourth truth which is a consequence of the    
third.    
    
        Fourth principle: It is more humble to have an    
                   intermediary with Christ    
    
83.  It is more perfect because it supposes greater humility    
to approach God through a mediator rather than directly by    
ourselves. Our human nature, as I have just shown, is so    
spoilt that if we rely on our own work, effort and    
preparedness to reach God and please him, it is certain that    
our good works will be tainted and carry little weight with    
him. They will not induce him to unite himself to us or answer    
our prayers. God had his reasons for giving us mediators with    
him. He saw our unworthiness and helplessness and had pity on    
us. To give us access to his mercies he provided us with    
powerful advocates, so that to neglect these mediators and to    
approach his infinite holiness directly and without help from    
any one of them, is to be lacking in humility and respect    
towards God who is so great and holy. It would mean that we    
have less esteem for the King of kings than for an earthly    
king or ruler, for we would not dare approach an earthly king    
without a friend to speak for us.     
    
84.  Our Lord is our Advocate and our Mediator of redemption    
with God the Father. It is through him that we must pray with    
the whole Church, triumphant and militant. It is through him    
that we have access to God the Father. We should never appear    
before God, our Father, unless we are supported by the merits    
of his Son, and, so to speak, clothed in them, as young Jacob    
was clothed in the skin of the young goats when he appeared    
before his father Isaac to receive his blessing.    
    
85.  But have we no need at all of a mediator with the    
Mediator himself? Are we pure enough to be united directly to    
Christ without any help? Is Jesus not God, equal in every way    
to the Father? Therefore is he not the Holy of Holies, having    
a right to the same respect as his Father? If in his infinite    
love he became our security and our Mediator with his Father,    
whom he wished to appease in order to redeem us from our    
debts, should we on that account show him less respect and    
have less regard for the majesty and holiness of his person?    
     Let us not be afraid to say with St. Bernard that we need    
a mediator with the Mediator himself and the divinely-honoured    
Mary is the one most able to fulfil this office of love.    
Through her, Jesus came to us; through her we should go to    
him. If we are afraid of going directly to Jesus, who is God,    
because of his infinite greatness, or our lowliness, or our    
sins, let us implore without fear the help and intercession of    
Mary, our Mother. She is kind, she is tender, and there is    
nothing harsh or forbidding about her, nothing too sublime or    
too brilliant. When we see her, we see our own human nature at    
its purest. She is not the sun, dazzling our weak sight by the    
brightness of its rays. Rather, she is fair and gentle as the    
moon, which receives its light from the sun and softens it and    
adapts it to our limited perception.    
     She is so full of love that no one who asks for her    
intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful he may be. The    
saints say that it has never been known since the world began    
that anyone had recourse to our Blessed Lady, with trust and    
perseverance, and was rejected. Her power is so great that her    
prayers are never refused. She has but to appear in prayer    
before her Son and he at once welcomes her and grants her    
requests. He is always lovingly conquered by the prayers of    
the dear Mother who bore him and nourished him.    
    
86.  All this is taken from St. Bernard and St. Bonaventure.    
According to them, we have three steps to take in order to    
reach God. The first, nearest to us and most suited to our    
capacity, is Mary; the second is Jesus Christ; the third is    
God the Father. To go to Jesus, we should go to Mary, our    
mediatrix of intercession. To go to God the Father, we must go    
to Jesus, our Mediator of redemption. This order is perfectly    
observed in the devotion I shall speak about further on.    
    
         Fifth principle: It is difficult to keep the    
                   graces received from God    
    
87.  It is very difficult, considering our weakness and    
frailty, to keep the graces and treasures we have received    
from God.    
     1. We carry this treasure,which is worth more than heaven    
and earth, in fragile vessels, that is, in a corruptible body    
and in a weak and wavering soul which requires very little to    
depress and disturb it.    
    
88.  2. The evil spirits, cunning thieves that they are, can    
take us by surprise and rob us of all we possess. They are    
watching day and night for the right moment. They roam    
incessantly seeking to devour us and to snatch from us in one    
brief moment of sin all the grace and merit we have taken    
years to acquire. Their malice and their experience, their    
cunning and their numbers ought to make us ever fearful of    
such a misfortune happening to us. People, richer in grace and    
virtue, more experienced and advanced in holiness than we are,    
have been caught off their guard and robbed and stripped of    
everything. How many cedars of Lebanon, how many stars of the    
firmament have we sadly watched fall and lose in a short time    
their loftiness and their brightness!     
     What has brought about this unexpected reverse? Not the    
lack of grace, for this is denied no one. It was a lack of    
humility; they considered themselves stronger and more self-    
sufficient than they really were. They thought themselves well    
able to hold on to their treasures. They believed their house    
secure enough and their coffers strong enough to safeguard    
their precious treasure of grace. It was because of their    
unconscious reliance on self - although it seemed to them that    
they were relying solely on the grace of God - that the most    
just Lord left them to themselves and allowed them to be    
despoiled. If they had only known of the wonderful devotion    
that I shall later explain, they would have entrusted their    
treasure to Mary, the powerful and faithful Virgin. She would    
have kept it for them as if it were her own possession and    
even have considered that trust an obligation of justice.    
    
89.  3. It is difficult to persevere in holiness because of    
the excessively corrupting influence of the world. The world    
is so corrupt that it seems almost inevitable that religious    
hearts be soiled, if not by its mud, at least by its dust. It    
is something of a miracle for anyone to stand firm in the    
midst of this raging torrent and not be swept away; to weather    
this stormy sea and not be drowned, or robbed by pirates; to    
breathe this pestilential air and not be contaminated by it.    
It is Mary, the singularly faithful Virgin over whom Satan had    
never any power, who works this miracle for those who truly    
love her.    
    
       2. Marks of false and authentic devotion to Mary    
    
90.  Now that we have established these five basic truths, it    
is all the more necessary to make the right choice of the true    
devotion to our Blessed Lady, for now more than ever there are    
false devotions to her which can easily be mistaken for true    
ones. The devil, like a counterfeiter and crafty, experienced    
deceiver, has already misled and ruined many Christians by    
means of fraudulent devotions to our Lady. Day by day he uses    
his diabolical experience to lead many more to their doom,    
fooling them, lulling them to sleep in sin and assuring them    
that a few prayers, even badly said, and a few exterior    
practices, inspired by himself, are authentic devotions. A    
counterfeiter usually makes coins only of gold and silver,    
rarely of other metals, because these latter would not be    
worth the trouble. Similarly, the devil leaves other devotions    
alone and counterfeits mostly those directed to Jesus and    
Mary, for example, devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the    
Blessed Virgin, because these are to other devotions what gold    
and silver are to other metals.    
    
91.  It is therefore very important, first, to recognise false    
devotions to our Blessed Lady so as to avoid them, and to    
recognise true devotion in order to practise it. Second, among    
so many different forms of true devotion to our Blessed Lady    
we should choose the one most perfect and the most pleasing to    
her, the one that gives greater glory to God and is most    
sanctifying for us.    
    
1. False devotion to our Lady    
    
92.  There are, I find, seven kinds of false devotion to Mary,    
namely, the devotion of (1) the critical, (2) the scrupulous,    
(3) the superficial, (4) the presumptuous, (5) the inconstant,    
(6) the hypocritical, (7) the self-interested.    
    
                                             Critical devotees    
    
93.  Critical  devotees are for the most part proud scholars,    
people of independent and self-satisfied minds, who deep down    
in their hearts have a vague sort of devotion to Mary.    
However, they criticise nearly all those forms of devotion to    
her which simple and pious people use to honour their good    
Mother just because such practices do not appeal to them. They    
question all miracles and stories which testify to the mercy    
and power of the Blessed Virgin, even those recorded by    
trustworthy authors or taken from the chronicles of religious    
orders. They cannot bear to see simple and humble people on    
their knees before an altar or statue of our Lady, or at    
prayer before some outdoor shrine. They even accuse them of    
idolatry as if they were adoring the wood or the stone. They    
say that as far as they are concerned they do not care for    
such outward display of devotion and that they are not so    
gullible as to believe all the fairy tales and stories told of    
our Blessed Lady. When you tell them how admirably the Fathers    
of the Church praised our Lady, they reply that the Fathers    
were exaggerating as orators do, or that their words are    
misrepresented. These false devotees, these proud worldly    
people are greatly to be feared. They do untold harm to    
devotion to our Lady. While pretending to correct abuses, they    
succeed only too well in turning people away from this    
devotion.    
    
                                           Scrupulous devotees    
    
94.  Scrupulous  devotees are those who imagine they are    
slighting the Son by honouring the Mother. They fear that by    
exalting Mary they are belittling Jesus. They cannot bear to    
see people giving to our Lady the praises due to her and which    
the Fathers of the Church have lavished upon her. It annoys    
them to see more people kneeling before Mary's altar than    
before the Blessed Sacrament, as if these acts were at    
variance with each other, or as if those who were praying to    
our Lady were not praying through her to Jesus. They do not    
want us to speak too often of her or to pray so often to her.    
     Here are some of the things they say: "What is the good    
of all these rosaries, confraternities and exterior devotions    
to our Lady? There is a great deal of ignorance in all this.    
It is making a mockery of religion. Tell us about those who    
are devoted to Jesus (and they often pronounce his name    
without uncovering their heads). We should go directly to    
Jesus, since he is our sole Mediator. We must preach Jesus;    
that is sound devotion." There is some truth in what they say,    
but the inference they draw to prevent devotion to our Lady is    
very insidious. It is a subtle snare of the evil one under the    
pretext of promoting a greater good. For we never give more    
honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour    
her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We    
go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus,    
her Son.    
    
95.  The Church, with the Holy Spirit, blesses our Lady first,    
then Jesus, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the    
fruit of thy womb, Jesus." Not that Mary is greater than    
Jesus, or even equal to him - that would be an intolerable    
heresy. But in order to bless Jesus more perfectly we should    
first bless Mary. Let us say with all those truly devoted to    
her, despite these false and scrupulous devotees: "O Mary,    
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy    
womb, Jesus."    
    
                                          Superficial devotees    
    
96.  Superficial  devotees are people whose entire devotion to    
our Lady consists in exterior practices. Only the externals of    
devotion appeal to them because they have no interior spirit.    
They say many rosaries with great haste and assist at many    
Masses distractedly. They take part in processions of our Lady    
without inner fervour. They join her confraternities without    
reforming their lives or restraining their passions or    
imitating Mary's virtues. All that appeals to them is the    
emotional aspect of this devotion, but the substance of it has    
no appeal at all. If they do not feel a warmth in their    
devotions, they think they are doing nothing; they become    
upset, and give up everything, or else do things only when    
they feel like it. The world is full of these shallow    
devotees, and there are none more critical of men of prayer    
who regard the interior devotion as the essential aspect and    
strive to acquire it without, however, neglecting a reasonable    
external expression which always accompanies true devotion.    
    
                                         Presumptuous devotees    
    
97.  Presumptuous  devotees are sinners who give full rein to    
their passions or their love of the world, and who, under the    
fair name of Christian and servant of our Lady, conceal pride,    
avarice, lust, drunkenness, anger, swearing, slandering,    
injustice and other vices. They sleep peacefully in their    
wicked habits, without making any great effort to correct    
them, believing that their devotion to our Lady gives them    
this sort of liberty. They convince themselves that God will    
forgive them, that they will not die without confession, that    
they will not be lost for all eternity. They take all this for    
granted because they say the Rosary, fast on Saturdays, are    
enrolled in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary or the    
Scapular, or a sodality of our Lady, wear the medal or the    
little chain of our Lady.    
     When you tell them that such a devotion is only an    
illusion of the devil and a dangerous presumption which may    
well ruin them, they refuse to believe you. God is good and    
merciful, they reply, and he has not made us to damn us. No    
man is without sin. We will not die without confession, and a    
good act of contrition at death is all that is needed.    
Moreover, they say they have devotion to our Lady; that they    
wear the scapular; that they recite faithfully and humbly    
every day the seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys in her    
honour; that sometimes they even say the Rosary and the Office    
of our Lady, as well as fasting and performing other good    
works.    
     Blinding themselves still more, they quote stories they    
have heard or read - whether true or false does not bother    
them - which relate how people who had died in mortal sin were    
brought back to life again to go to confession, or how their    
soul was miraculously retained in their bodies until    
confession, because in their lifetime they said a few prayers    
or performed a few pious acts, in honour of our Lady. Others    
are supposed to have obtained from God at the moment of death,    
through the merciful intercession of the Blessed Virgin,    
sorrow and pardon for their sins, and so were saved.    
Accordingly, these people expect the same thing to happen to    
them.    
    
98.  Nothing in our Christian religion is so deserving of    
condemnation as this diabolical presumption. How can we    
truthfully claim to love and honour the Blessed Virgin when by    
our sins we pitilessly wound, pierce, crucify and outrage her    
Son? If Mary made it a rule to save by her mercy this sort of    
person, she would be condoning wickedness and helping to    
outrage and crucify her Son. Who would even dare to think of    
such a thing?     
    
99.  I declare that such an abuse of devotion to her is a    
horrible sacrilege and, next to an unworthy Communion, is the    
greatest and the least pardonable sin, because devotion to our    
Lady is the holiest and best after devotion to the Blessed    
Sacrament.    
     I admit that to be truly devoted to our Lady, it is not    
absolutely necessary to be so holy as to avoid all sin,    
although this is desirable. But at least it is necessary (note    
what I am going to say), (1) to be genuinely determined to    
avoid at least all mortal sin, which outrages the Mother as    
well as the Son; (2) to practise self-restraint in order to    
avoid sin; (3) to join her confraternities, say the Rosary and    
other prayers, fast on Saturdays, and so on.    
    
100. Such means are surprisingly effective in converting even    
the hardened sinner. Should you be such a sinner, with one    
foot in the abyss, I advise you to do as I have said. But    
there is an essential condition. You must perform these good    
works solely to obtain from God, through the intercession of    
our Lady, the grace to regret your sins, obtain pardon for    
them and overcome your evil habits, and not to live    
complacently in the state of sin, disregarding the warning    
voice of conscience, the example of our Lord and the saints,    
and the teaching of the holy gospel.    
    
                                           Inconstant devotees    
    
101. Inconstant  devotees are those whose devotion to our Lady    
is practised in fits and starts. Sometimes they are fervent    
and sometimes they are lukewarm. Sometimes they appear ready    
to do anything to please our Lady, and then shortly afterwards    
they have completely changed. They start by embracing every    
devotion to our Lady. They join her confraternities, but they    
do not faithfully observe the rules. They are as changeable as    
the moon, and like the moon Mary puts them under her feet.    
Because of their fickleness they are unworthy to be included    
among the servants of the Virgin most faithful, because    
faithfulness and constancy are the hallmarks of Mary's    
servants. It is better not to burden ourselves with a    
multitude of prayers and pious practices but rather adopt only    
a few and perform them with love and perseverance in spite of    
opposition from the devil the world and the flesh.    
    
                                         Hypocritical devotees    
    
102. There is another category of false devotees of our    
Lady, - hypocritical ones. These hide their sins and evil    
habits under the mantle of the Blessed Virgin so as to appear    
to their fellow-men different from what they are.    
    
                                      Self-interested devotees    
    
103. Then there are the self-interested devotees who turn to    
her only to win a court-case, to escape some danger, to be    
cured of some ailment, or have some similar need satisfied.    
Except when in need they never think of her. Such people are    
acceptable neither to God not to his Mother.    
    
104. We must, then, carefully avoid joining the critical    
devotees, who believe nothing and find fault with everything;    
the scrupulous ones who, out of respect for our Lord, are    
afraid of having too much devotion to his Mother; the exterior    
devotees whose devotion consists entirely in outward    
practices; the presumptuous devotees who under cover of a    
fictitious devotion to our Lady wallow in their sins; the    
inconstant devotees who, being unstable, change their    
devotional practices or abandon them altogether at the    
slightest temptation; the hypocritical ones who join    
confraternities and wear emblems of our Lady only to be    
thought of as good people; finally, the self-interested    
devotees who pray to our Lady only to be rid of bodily ills or    
to obtain material benefits.    
    
2. Marks of authentic devotion to our Lady    
    
105. After having explained and condemned false devotions to    
the Blessed Virgin we shall now briefly describe what true    
devotion is. It is interior, trustful, holy, constant and    
disinterested.    
    
106. First, true devotion to our Lady is interior, that is, it    
comes from within the mind and the heart and follows from the    
esteem in which we hold her, the high regard we have for her    
greatness, and the love we bear her.    
    
107. Second, it is trustful, that is to say, it fills us with    
confidence in the Blessed Virgin, the confidence that a child    
has for its loving Mother. It prompts us to go to her in every    
need of body and soul with great simplicity, trust and    
affection. We implore our Mother's help always, everywhere,    
and for everything. We pray to her to be enlightened in our    
doubts, to be put back on the right path when we go astray, to    
be protected when we are tempted, to be strengthened when we    
are weakening, to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be    
encouraged when we are losing heart, to be rid of our    
scruples, to be consoled in the trials, crosses and    
disappointments of life. Finally, in all our afflictions of    
body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary for help, with never    
a fear of importuning her or displeasing our Lord.    
    
108. Third, true devotion to our Lady is holy, that is, it    
leads us to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of Mary. Her    
ten principal virtues are: deep humility, lively faith, blind    
obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing    
purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and    
heavenly wisdom.    
    
109. Fourth, true devotion to our Lady is constant. It    
strengthens us in our desire to do good and prevents us from    
giving up our devotional practices too easily. It gives us the    
courage to oppose the fashions and maxims of the world, the    
vexations and unruly inclinations of the flesh and the    
temptations of the devil. Thus a person truly devoted to our    
Blessed Lady is not changeable, fretful, scrupulous or timid.    
We do not say however that such a person never sins or that    
his sensible feelings of devotion never change. When he has    
fallen, he stretches out his hand to his Blessed Mother and    
rises again. If he loses all taste and feeling for devotion,    
he is not at all upset because a good and faithful servant of    
Mary is guided in his life by faith in Jesus and Mary, and not    
by feelings.    
    
110. Fifth, true devotion to Mary is disinterested.  It    
inspires us to seek God alone in his Blessed Mother and not    
ourselves. The true subject of Mary does not serve his    
illustrious Queen for selfish gain. He does not serve her for    
temporal or eternal well-being but simply and solely because    
she has the right to be served and God alone in her. He loves    
her not so much because she is good to him or because he    
expects something from her, but simply because she is lovable.    
That is why he loves and serves her just as faithfully in    
weariness and dryness of soul as in sweet and sensible    
fervour. He loves her as much on Calvary as at Cana. How    
pleasing and precious in the sight of God and his holy Mother    
must these servants of Mary be, who serve her without any    
self-seeking. How rare they are nowadays! It is to increase    
their number that I have taken up my pen to write down what I    
have been teaching with success both publicly and in private    
in my missions for many years.    
    
111. I have already said many things about the Blessed Virgin    
and, as I am trying to fashion a true servant of Mary and a    
true disciple of Jesus, I have still a great deal to say,    
although through ignorance, inability, and lack of time, I    
shall leave infinitely more unsaid.    
    
112. But my labour will be well rewarded if this little book    
falls into the hands of a noble soul, a child of God and of    
Mary, born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the    
will of man. My time will be well spent if, by the grace of    
the Holy Spirit, after having read this book he is convinced    
of the supreme value of the solid devotion to Mary I am about    
to describe. If I thought that my guilty blood could help the    
reader to accept in his heart the truths that I set down in    
honour of my dear Mother and Queen, I, her most unworthy child    
and slave, would use it instead of ink to write these words. I    
would hope to find faithful souls who, by their perseverance    
in the devotion I teach, will repay her for the loss she has    
suffered through my ingratitude and infidelity.    
    
113. I feel more than ever inspired to believe and expect the    
complete fulfilment of the desire that is deeply engraved on    
my heart and what I have prayed to God for over many years,    
namely, that in the near or distant future the Blessed Virgin    
will have more children, servants and slaves of love than ever    
before, and that through them Jesus, my dear Lord, will reign    
more than ever in the hearts of men.    
    
114. I clearly foresee that raging beasts will come in fury to    
tear to pieces with their diabolical teeth this little book    
and the one the Holy Spirit made use of to write it, or they    
will cause it at least to lie hidden in the darkness and    
silence of a chest and so prevent it from seeing the light of    
day. They will even attack and persecute those who read it and    
put into practice what it contains. But no matter! So much the    
better! It even gives me encouragement to hope for great    
success at the prospect of a mighty legion of brave and    
valiant soldiers of Jesus and Mary, both men and women, who    
will fight the devil, the world, and corrupt nature in the    
perilous times that are sure to come.    
     "Let the reader understand. Let him accept this teaching    
who can."    
    
3. Principal practices of devotion to Mary    
    
115. There are several interior  practices of true devotion to    
the Blessed Virgin. Here briefly are the main ones:    
     (1) Honouring her, as the worthy Mother of God, by the    
cult of hyperdulia, that is, esteeming and honouring her more    
than all the other saints as the masterpiece of grace and the    
foremost in holiness after Jesus Christ, true God and true    
man.    
     (2) Meditating on her virtues, her privileges and her    
actions.    
     (3) Contemplating her sublime dignity.    
     (4) Offering to her acts of love, praise and gratitude.    
     (5) Invoking her with a joyful heart.    
     (6) Offering ourselves to her and uniting ourselves to    
her.    
     (7) Doing everything to please her.    
     (8) Beginning, carrying out and completing our actions    
through her, in her, with her, and for her in order to do them    
through Jesus, in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus, our last    
end. We shall explain this last practice later.    
    
116. True devotion to our Lady has also several exterior     
practices. Here are the principal ones:    
     (1) Enrolling in her confraternities and joining her    
sodalities.    
     (2) Joining religious orders dedicated to her.    
     (3) Making her privileges known and appreciated.    
     (4) Giving alms, fasting, performing interior and    
exterior acts of self-denial in her honour.    
     (5) Carrying such signs of devotion to her as the rosary,    
the scapular, or a little chain.    
     (6) Reciting with attention, devotion and reverence the    
fifteen decades of the Rosary in honour of the fifteen    
principal mysteries of our Lord, or at least five decades in    
honour of the Joyful mysteries - the Annunciation, the    
Visitation, the Birth of our Lord, the Purification, the    
Finding of the Child Jesus in the temple; or the Sorrowful    
mysteries: the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging, the    
Crowning with thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, and the    
Crucifixion; or the Glorious mysteries: The Resurrection of    
our Lord, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the    
Assumption of our Lady, body and soul, into heaven, the    
Crowning of Mary by the Blessed Trinity.    
     One may also choose any of the following prayers: the    
Rosary of six or seven decades in honour of the years our Lady    
is believed to have spent on earth; the Little Crown of the    
Blessed Virgin in honour of her crown of twelve stars or    
privileges; the Little Office of our Lady so widely accepted    
and recited in the Church; the Little Psalter of the Blessed    
Virgin, composed in her honour by St. Bonaventure, which is so    
heart-warming, and so devotional that you cannot recite it    
without being moved by it; the fourteen Our Fathers and Hail    
Marys in honour of her fourteen joys. There are various other    
prayers and hymns of the Church, such as, the hymns of the    
liturgical seasons, the Ave Maris Stella, the O Gloriosa    
Domina ; the Magnificat and other prayers which are found in    
all prayer-books.    
     (7) Singing hymns to her or teaching others to sing them.    
     (8) Genuflecting or bowing to her each morning while    
saying for example sixty or a hundred times, "Hail Mary,    
Virgin most faithful", so that through her intercession with    
God we may faithfully correspond with his graces throughout    
the day; and in the evening saying "Hail Mary, Mother of    
Mercy", asking her to obtain God's pardon for the sins we have    
committed during the day.     
     (9) Taking charge of her confraternities, decorating her    
altars, crowning and adorning her statues.    
     (10) Carrying her statues or having others carry them in    
procession, or keeping a small one on one's person as an    
effective protection against the evil one.    
     (11) Having statues made of her, or her name engraved and    
placed on the walls of churches or houses and on the gates and    
entrances of towns, churches and houses.    
     (12) Solemnly giving oneself to her by a special    
consecration.    
    
117. The Holy Spirit has inspired saintly souls with other    
practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, all of which    
are conducive to holiness. You can read of them in detail in    
"Paradise opened to Philagia", a collection of many devotions    
practised by holy people to honour the Blessed Virgin,    
compiled by Fr. Paul Barry of the Society of Jesus. These    
devotions are a wonderful help for souls seeking holiness    
provided they are performed in a worthy manner, that is:    
     (1) With the right intention of pleasing God alone,    
seeking union with Jesus, our last end, and giving edification    
to our neighbour.    
     (2) With attention, avoiding wilful distractions.    
     (3) With devotion, avoiding haste and negligence.    
     (4) With decorum and respectful bodily posture.    
    
4. The Perfect Practice    
    
118. Having read nearly every book on devotion to the Blessed    
Virgin and talked to the most saintly and learned people of    
the day, I can now state with conviction that I have never    
known or heard of any devotion to our Lady which is comparable    
to the one I am going to speak of. No other devotion calls for    
more sacrifices for God, none empties us more completely of    
self and self-love, none keeps us more firmly in the grace of    
God and the grace of God in us. No other devotion unites us    
more perfectly and more easily to Jesus. Finally no devotion    
gives more glory to God, is more sanctifying for ourselves or    
more helpful to our neighbour.    
    
119. As this devotion essentially consists in a state of soul,    
it will not be understood in the same way by everyone. Some -    
the great majority - will stop short at the threshold and go    
no further. Others - not many - will take but one step into    
its interior. Who will take a second step? Who will take a    
third? Finally who will remain in it permanently? Only the one    
to whom the Spirit of Jesus reveals the secret. The Holy    
Spirit himself will lead this faithful soul from strength to    
strength, from grace to grace, from light to light, until at    
length he attains transformation into Jesus in the fullness of    
his age on earth and of his glory in heaven.    
    
           PART II: THE PERFECT DEVOTION TO OUR LADY    
    
                         CHAPTER THREE    
           THE PERFECT CONSECRATION TO JESUS CHRIST    
    
              1. A complete consecration to Mary    
    
120. As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united    
and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most    
perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and    
consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God's    
creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore    
follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the    
most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more    
one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to    
Jesus.    
     That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a    
perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed    
Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other words, it    
is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy    
baptism.    
    
121. This devotion consists in giving oneself entirely to Mary    
in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her. It requires    
us to give:    
     (1) Our body with its senses and members;    
     (2) Our soul with its faculties;    
     (3) Our present material possessions and all we shall    
acquire in the future;    
     (4) Our interior and spiritual possessions, that is, our    
merits, virtues and good actions of the past, the present and    
the future.    
     In other words, we give her all that we possess both in    
our natural life and in our spiritual life as well as    
everything we shall acquire in the future in the order of    
nature, of grace, and of glory in heaven. This we do without    
any reservation, not even of a penny, a hair, or the smallest    
good deed. And we give for all eternity without claiming or    
expecting, in return for our offering and our service, any    
other reward than the honour of belonging to our Lord through    
Mary and in Mary, even though our Mother were not - as in fact    
she always is - the most generous and appreciative of all    
God's creatures.    
    
122. Note here that two things must be considered regarding    
our good works, namely, satisfaction and merit or, in other    
words, their satisfactory or prayer value and their    
meritorious value. The satisfactory or prayer value of a good    
work is the good action in so far as it makes condign    
atonement for the punishment due to sin or obtains some new    
grace. The meritorious value or merit is the good action in so    
far as it merits grace and eternal glory. Now by this    
consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin we give her    
all satisfactory and prayer value as well as the meritorious    
value of our good works, in other words, all the satisfactions    
and the merits. We give her our merits, graces and virtues,    
not that she might give them to others, for they are, strictly    
speaking, not transferable, because Jesus alone, in making    
himself our surety with his Father, had the power to impart    
his merits to us. But we give them to her that she may keep,    
increase and embellish them for us, as we shall explain later,    
and we give her our acts of atonement that she may apply them    
where she pleases for God's greater glory.    
    
123. It follows then:    
     (1) that by this devotion we give to Jesus all we can    
possibly give him, and in the most perfect manner, that is,    
through Mary's hands. Indeed we give him far more than we do    
by other devotions which require us to give only part of our    
time, some of our good works or acts of atonement and    
penances. In this devotion everything is given and    
consecrated, even the right to dispose freely of one's    
spiritual goods and the satisfactions earned by daily good    
works. This is not done even in religious orders. Members of    
religious orders give God their earthly goods by the vow of    
poverty, the goods of the body by the vow of chastity, their    
free will by the vow of obedience, and sometimes their freedom    
of movement by the vow of enclosure. But they do not give him    
by these vows the liberty and right to dispose of the value of    
their good works. They do not despoil themselves of what a    
Christian considers most precious and most dear - his merits    
and satisfactions.    
    
124. (2) It follows then that anyone who in this way    
consecrates and sacrifices himself voluntarily to Jesus    
through Mary may no longer dispose of the value of any of his    
good actions. All his sufferings, all his thoughts, words, and    
deeds belong to Mary. She can then dispose of them in    
accordance with the will of her Son and for his greater glory.    
This dependence, however, is without detriment to the duties    
of a person's present and future state of life. One such duty,    
for example, would be that of a priest who, by virtue of his    
office or otherwise, must apply the satisfactory or prayer    
value of the Holy Mass to a particular person. For this    
consecration can only be made in accordance with the order    
established by God and in keeping with the duties of one's    
state of life.    
    
125. (3) It follows that we consecrate ourselves at one and    
the same time to Mary and to Jesus. We give ourselves to Mary    
because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite himself    
to us and unite us to him. We give ourselves to Jesus because    
he is our last end. Since he is our Redeemer and our God we    
are indebted to him for all that we are.    
    
          2. A perfect renewal of baptismal promises    
    
126. I have said that this devotion could rightly be called a    
perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.    
Before baptism every Christian was a slave of the devil    
because he belonged to him. At baptism he has either    
personally or through his sponsors solemnly renounced Satan,    
his seductions and his works. He has chosen Jesus as his    
Master and sovereign Lord and undertaken to depend upon him as    
a slave of love. This is what is done in the devotion I am    
presenting to you. We renounce the devil, the world, sin and    
self, as expressed in the act of consecration, and we give    
ourselves entirely to Jesus through Mary. We even do something    
more than at baptism, when ordinarily our god-parents speak    
for us and we are given to Jesus only by proxy. In this    
devotion we give ourselves personally and freely and we are    
fully aware of what we are doing.    
     In holy baptism we do not give ourselves to Jesus    
explicitly through Mary, nor do we give him the value of our    
good actions. After baptism we remain entirely free either to    
apply that value to anyone we wish or keep it for ourselves.    
But by this consecration we give ourselves explicitly to Jesus    
through Mary's hands and we include in our consecration the    
value of all our actions.    
    
127. "Men" says St. Thomas, "vow in baptism to renounce the    
devil and all his seductions." "This vow," says St. Augustine,    
"is the greatest and the most indispensable of all vows."    
Canon Law experts say the same thing: "The vow we make at    
baptism is the most important of all vows." But does anyone    
keep this great vow? Does anyone fulfil the promises of    
baptism faithfully? Is it not true that nearly all Christians    
prove unfaithful to the promises made to Jesus in baptism?    
Where does this universal failure come from, if not from man's    
habitual forgetfulness of the promises and responsibilities of    
baptism and from the fact that scarcely anyone makes a    
personal ratification of the contract made with God through    
his sponsors?    
    
128. This is so true that the Council of Sens, convened by    
order of the Emperor Louis the Debonair to remedy the grave    
disorders of Christendom, came to the conclusion that the main    
cause of this moral breakdown was man's forgetfulness of his    
baptismal obligations and his disregard for them. It could    
suggest no better way of remedying this great evil than to    
encourage all Christians to renew the promises and vows of    
baptism.    
    
129. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, faithful    
interpreter of that holy Council, exhorts priests to do the    
same and to encourage the faithful to remember and hold fast    
to the belief that they are bound and consecrated as slaves to    
Jesus, their Redeemer and Lord. "The parish priest shall    
exhort the faithful never to lose sight of the fact that they    
are bound in conscience to dedicate and consecrate themselves    
for ever to their Lord and Redeemer as his slaves."    
    
130. Now the Councils, the Fathers of the Church and    
experience itself, all indicate that the best remedy for the    
frequent lapses of Christians is to remind them of the    
responsibilities of their baptism and have them renew the vows    
they made at that time. Is it not reasonable therefore to do    
this in our day and in a perfect manner by adopting this    
devotion with its consecration to our Lord through his Blessed    
Mother? I say "in a perfect manner", for in making this    
consecration to Jesus they are adopting the perfect means of    
giving themselves to him, which is the most Blessed Virgin    
Mary.    
    
131. No one can object that this devotion is novel or of no    
value. It is not new, since the Councils, the Fathers of the    
Church, and many authors both past and present, speak of    
consecration to our Lord or renewal of baptismal vows as    
something going back to ancient times and recommended to all    
the faithful. Nor is it valueless, since the chief source of    
moral disorders and the consequent eternal loss of Christians    
spring from the forgetfulness of this practice and    
indifference to it.    
    
132. Some may object that this devotion makes us powerless to    
help the souls of our relatives, friends and benefactors,    
since it requires us to give our Lord, through Mary, the value    
of our good works, prayers, penances, and alms-giving.    
     To them I reply:    
     (1) It is inconceivable that our friends, relatives and    
benefactors should suffer any loss because we have dedicated    
and consecrated ourselves unconditionally to the service of    
Jesus and Mary; it would be an affront to the power and    
goodness of Jesus and Mary who will surely come to the aid of    
our relatives, friends and benefactors whether from our meagre    
spiritual assets or from other sources.    
     (2) This devotion does not prevent us from praying for    
others, both the living and the dead, even though the    
application of our good works depends on the will of our    
Blessed Lady. On the contrary, it will make us pray with even    
greater confidence. Imagine a rich man, who, wanting to show    
his esteem for a great prince, gives his entire fortune to    
him. Would not that man have greater confidence in asking the    
prince to help one of his friends who needed assistance?    
Indeed the prince would only be too happy to have such an    
opportunity of proving his gratitude to one who had sacrificed    
all that he possessed to enrich him, thereby impoverishing    
himself to do him honour. The same must be said of our Lord    
and our Lady. They will never allow themselves to be outdone    
in gratitude.    
    
133. Some may say, perhaps, if I give our Lady the full value    
of my actions to apply it to whom she wills, I may have to    
suffer a long time in purgatory. This objection, which arises    
from self-love and from an unawareness of the generosity of    
God and his holy Mother, refutes itself.     
     Take a fervent and generous soul who values God's    
interests more than his own. He gives God all he has without    
reserve till he can give no more. He desires only that the    
glory and the kingdom of Jesus may come through his Mother,    
and he does all he can to bring this about. Will this generous    
and unselfish soul, I ask, be punished more in the next world    
for having been more generous and unselfish than other people?    
Far from it! For we shall see later that our Lord and his    
Mother will prove most generous to such a soul with gifts of    
nature, grace and glory in this life and in the next.    
    
134. We must now consider as briefly as possible: (1) The    
motives which commend this devotion to us, (2) the wonderful    
effects it produces in faithful souls, and (3) the practices     
of this devotion.    
    
                         CHAPTER FOUR    
             MOTIVES WHICH RECOMMEND THIS DEVOTION    
    
         1. By it we give ourselves completely to God    
    
135. This first motive shows us the excellence of the    
consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary.    
     We can conceive of no higher calling than that of being    
in the service of God and we believe that the least of God's    
servants is richer, stronger, and nobler than any earthly    
monarch who does not serve God. How rich and strong and noble    
then must the good and faithful servant be, who serves God as    
unreservedly and as completely as he possibly can! Just such a    
person is the faithful and loving slave of Jesus in Mary. He    
has indeed surrendered himself entirely to the service of the    
King of kings through Mary, his Mother, keeping nothing for    
himself. All the gold of the world and the beauties of the    
heavens could not recompense him for what he has done.    
    
136. Other congregations, associations, and confraternities    
set up in honour of our Lord and our Blessed Lady, which do so    
much good in the Church, do not require their members to give    
up absolutely everything. They simply prescribe for them the    
performance of certain acts and practices in fulfilment of    
their obligations. They leave them free to dispose of the rest    
of their actions as well as their time. But this devotion    
makes us give Jesus and Mary all our thoughts, words, actions,    
and sufferings and every moment of our lives without    
exception. Thus, whatever we do, whether we are awake or    
asleep, whether we eat or drink, whether we do important or    
unimportant work, it will always be true to say that    
everything is done for Jesus and Mary. Our offering always    
holds good, whether we think of it or not, unless we    
explicitly retract it.  How consoling this is!    
    
137. Moreover, as I have said before, no other act of devotion    
enables us to rid ourselves so easily of the possessiveness    
which slips unnoticed even into our best actions. This is a    
remarkable grace which our dear Lord grants us in return for    
the heroic and selfless surrender to him through Mary of the    
entire value of our good works. If even in this life he gives    
a hundredfold reward to those who renounce all material,    
temporal and perishable things out of love for him, how    
generously will he reward those who give up even interior and    
spiritual goods for his sake!    
    
138. Jesus, our dearest friend, gave himself to us without    
reserve, body and soul, grace and merits. As St. Bernard says,    
"He won me over entirely by giving himself entirely to me."    
Does not simple justice as well as gratitude require that we    
give him all we possibly can? He was generous with us first,    
so let us be generous to him in return and he will prove still    
more generous during life, at the hour of death, and    
throughout eternity. "He will be generous towards the    
generous."    
    
               2. It helps us to imitate Christ    
    
139. Our good Master stooped to enclose himself in the womb of    
the Blessed Virgin, a captive but loving slave, and to make    
himself subject to her for thirty years. As I said earlier,    
the human mind is bewildered when it reflects seriously upon    
this conduct of Incarnate Wisdom. He did not choose to give    
himself in a direct manner to the human race though he could    
easily have done so. He chose to come through the Virgin Mary.    
Thus he did not come into the world independently of others in    
the flower of his manhood, but he came as a frail little child    
dependent on the care and attention of his Mother. Consumed    
with the desire to give glory to God, his Father, and save the    
human race, he saw no better or shorter way to do so than by    
submitting completely to Mary.    
     He did this not just for the first eight, ten or fifteen    
years of his life like other children, but for thirty years.    
He gave more glory to God, his Father, during all those years    
of submission and dependence than he would have given by    
spending them working miracles, preaching far and wide, and    
converting all mankind. Otherwise he would have done all these    
things.    
     What immeasurable glory then do we give to God when,    
following the example of Jesus, we submit to Mary! With such a    
convincing and well-known example before us, can we be so    
foolish as to believe that there is a better and shorter way    
of giving God glory than by submitting ourselves to Mary, as    
Jesus did?    
    
140. Let me remind you again of the dependence shown by the    
three divine Persons on our Blessed Lady. Theirs is the    
example which fully justifies our dependence on her. The    
Father gave and still gives his Son only through her. He    
raises children for himself only through her. He dispenses his    
graces to us only through her. God the Son was prepared for    
mankind in general by her alone. Mary, in union with the Holy    
Spirit, still conceives him and brings him forth daily. It is    
through her alone that the Son distributes his merits and    
virtues. The Holy Spirit formed Jesus only through her, and he    
forms the members of the Mystical Body and dispenses his gifts    
and his favours through her.    
     With such a compelling example of the three divine    
Persons before us, we would be extremely perverse to ignore    
her and not consecrate ourselves to her. Indeed we would be    
blind if we did not see the need for Mary in approaching God    
and making our total offering to him.     
    
141. Here are a few passages from the Fathers of the Church    
which I have chosen to prove what I have just said: "Mary has    
two sons, the one a God-man, the other, mere man. She is    
Mother of the first corporally and of the second spiritually"    
(St. Bonaventure and Origen).    
     "This is the will of God who willed that we should have    
all things through Mary. If then, we possess any hope or grace    
or gift of salvation, let us acknowledge that it comes to us    
through her" (St. Bernard).    
     "All the gifts, graces, virtues of the Holy Spirit are    
distributed by the hands of Mary, to whom she wills, when she    
wills, as she wills, and in the measure she wills" (St.    
Bernardine).    
     "As you were not worthy that anything divine should be    
given to you, all graces were given to Mary so that you might    
receive through her all graces you would not otherwise    
receive" (St. Bernard).    
    
142. St. Bernard tells us that God, seeing that we are    
unworthy to receive his graces directly from him, gives them    
to Mary so that we might receive from her all that he decides    
to give us. His glory is achieved when he receives through    
Mary the gratitude, respect and love we owe him in return for    
his gifts to us. It is only right then that we should imitate    
his conduct, "in order", as St. Bernard again says, "that    
grace might return to its author by the same channel through    
which it came to us".    
     This is what we do by this devotion. We offer and    
consecrate all we are and all we possess to the Blessed Virgin    
in order that our Lord may receive through her as intermediary    
the glory and gratitude that we owe to him. We deem ourselves    
unworthy and unfit to approach his infinite majesty on our    
own, and so we avail ourselves of Mary's intercession.    
    
143. Moreover, this devotion is an expression of great    
humility, a virtue which God loves above all others. A person    
who exalts himself debases God, and a person who humbles    
himself exalts God. "God opposes the proud, but gives his    
graces to the humble." If you humble yourself, convinced that    
you are unworthy to appear before him, or even to approach    
him, he condescends to come down to you. He is pleased to be    
with you and exalts you in spite of yourself. But, on the    
other hand, if you venture to go towards God blindly without a    
mediator, he vanishes and is nowhere to be found. How dearly    
he loves the humble of heart! It is to such humility that this    
devotion leads us, for it teaches us never to go alone    
directly to our Lord, however gentle and merciful though he    
may be, but always to use Mary's power of intercession,    
whether we want to enter his presence, speak to him, be near    
him, offer him something, seek union with him or consecrate    
ourselves to him.    
    
          3. It obtains many blessings from our Lady    
    
144. The Blessed Virgin, mother of gentleness and mercy, never    
allows herself to be surpassed in love and generosity. When    
she sees someone giving himself entirely to her in order to    
honour and serve her, and depriving himself of what he prizes    
most in order to adorn her, she gives herself completely in a    
wondrous manner to him. She engulfs him in the ocean of her    
graces, adorns him with her merits, supports him with her    
power, enlightens him with her light, and fills him with her    
love. She shares her virtues with him  - her humility, faith,    
purity, etc. She makes up for his failings and becomes his    
representative with Jesus. Just as one who is consecrated    
belongs entirely to Mary, so Mary belongs entirely to him. We    
can truthfully say of this perfect servant and child of Mary    
what St. John in his gospel says of himself, "He took her for    
his own."    
    
145. This produces in his soul, if he is persevering, a great    
distrust, contempt, and hatred of self, and a great confidence    
in Mary with complete self-abandonment to her. He no longer    
relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues    
and good works, since he has sacrificed them completely to    
Jesus through his loving Mother. He has now only one treasury,    
where all his wealth is stored. That treasury is not within    
himself: it is Mary. That is why he can now go to our Lord    
without any servile or scrupulous fear and pray to him with    
great confidence. He can also share the sentiments of the    
devout and learned Abbot Rupert, who, referring to the victory    
which Jacob won over an angel, addressed our Lady in these    
words, "O Mary, my Queen, Immaculate Mother of the God-man,    
Jesus Christ, I desire to wrestle with this man, the Divine    
Word, armed with your merits and not my own."    
     How much stronger and more powerful are we in approaching    
our Lord when we are armed with the merits and prayers of the    
worthy Mother of God, who, as St. Augustine says, has    
conquered the Almighty by her love!    
    
146. Since by this devotion we give to our Lord, through the    
hands of his holy Mother, all our good works, she purifies    
them, making them beautiful and acceptable to her Son.    
     (1) She purifies them of every taint of self-love and of    
that unconscious attachment to creatures which slips unnoticed    
into our best actions. Her hands have never been known to be    
idle or uncreative. They purify everything they touch. As soon    
as the Blessed Virgin receives our good works, she removes any    
blemish or imperfection she may find in them.    
    
147. (2) She enriches our good works by adorning them with her    
own merits and virtues. It is as if a poor peasant, wishing to    
win the friendship and favour of the king, were to go the    
queen and give her an apple - his only possession - for her to    
offer it to the king. The queen, accepting the peasant's    
humble gift, puts it on a beautiful golden dish and presents    
it to the king on behalf of the peasant. The apple in itself    
would not be a gift worthy of a king, but presented by the    
queen in person on a dish of gold, it becomes fit for any    
king.    
    
148. (3) Mary presents our good works to Jesus. She does not    
keep anything we offer for herself, as if she were our last    
end, but unfailingly gives everything to Jesus. So by the very    
fact we give anything to her, we are giving it to Jesus.    
Whenever we praise and glorify her, she sings today as she did    
on the day Elizabeth praised her, "My soul glorifies the    
Lord."    
    
149. At Mary's request, Jesus accepts the gift of our good    
works, no matter how poor and insignificant they may be for    
one who is the King of kings, the Holiest of the holy. When we    
present anything to Jesus by ourselves, relying on our own    
dispositions and efforts, he examines our gift and often    
rejects it because it is stained with self-love, just as he    
once rejected the sacrifices of the Jews because they were    
imbued with selfish motives.    
     But when we present something to him by the pure,    
virginal hands of his beloved Mother, we take him by his weak    
side, in a manner of speaking. He does not consider so much    
the present itself as the person who offers it. Thus Mary, who    
is never slighted by her Son but is always well received,    
prevails upon him to accept with pleasure everything she    
offers him, regardless of its value. Mary has only to present    
the gift for Jesus graciously to accept it. This is what St.    
Bernard strongly recommended to all those he was guiding along    
the pathway to perfection. "When you want to offer something    
to God, to be welcomed by him be sure to offer it through the    
worthy Mother of God, if you do not wish to see it rejected."    
    
150. Does not human nature itself, as we have seen, suggest    
this mode of procedure to the less important people of this    
world with regard to the great? Why should grace not inspire    
us to do likewise with regard to God? He is infinitely exalted    
above us. We are less than atoms in his sight. But we have an    
advocate so powerful that she is never refused anything. She    
is so resourceful that she knows every secret way to win the    
heart of God. She is so good and kind  that she never passes    
over anyone no matter how lonely and sinful.    
     Further on, I shall relate the story of Jacob and Rebecca    
which exemplifies the truths I have been setting before you.    
    
      4. It is an excellent means of giving glory to God    
    
151. This devotion, when faithfully undertaken, is a perfect    
means of ensuring that the value of all our good works is    
being used for the greater glory of God. Scarcely anyone works    
for that noble end, in spite of the obligation to do so,    
either because men do not know where God's greatest glory is    
to be found or because they do not desire it. Now Mary, to    
whom we surrender the value and merit of our good actions,    
knows perfectly well where God's greatest glory lies and she    
works only to promote that glory. The devout servant of our    
Lady, having entirely consecrated himself to her as I have    
described above, can boldly claim that the value of all his    
actions, words and thoughts is used for the greatest glory of    
God, unless he has explicitly retracted his offering. For one    
who loves God with a pure and unselfish love and prizes God's    
glory and interests far above his own, could anything be more    
consoling?    
    
              5. It leads to union with our Lord    
    
152. This devotion is a smooth, short, perfect and sure way of    
attaining union with our Lord, in which Christian perfection    
consists.    
     (a) This devotion is a smooth way. It is the path which    
Jesus Christ opened up in coming to us and in which there is    
no obstruction to prevent us reaching him. It is quite true    
that we can attain to divine union by other roads, but these    
involve many more crosses and exceptional setbacks and many    
difficulties that we cannot easily overcome. We would have to    
pass through spiritual darkness, engage in struggles for which    
we are not prepared, endure bitter agonies, scale precipitous    
mountains, tread upon painful thorns, and cross frightful    
deserts. But when we take the path of Mary, we walk smoothly    
and calmly.    
     It is true that on our way we have hard battles to fight    
and serious obstacles to overcome, but Mary, our Mother and    
Queen, stays close to her faithful servants. She is always at    
hand to brighten their darkness, clear away their doubts,    
strengthen them in their fears, sustain them in their combats    
and trials. Truly, in comparison with other ways, this virgin    
road to Jesus is a path of roses and sweet delights. There    
have been some saints, not very many, such as St. Ephrem, St.    
John Damascene, St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure,    
and St. Francis de Sales, who have taken this smooth path to    
Jesus Christ, because the Holy Spirit, the faithful Spouse of    
Mary, made it known to them by a special grace. The other    
saints, who are the greater number, while having a devotion to    
Mary, either did not enter or did not go very far along this    
path. That is why they had to undergo harder and more    
dangerous trials.    
    
153. Why is it then, a servant of Mary might ask, that devoted    
servants of this good Mother are called upon to suffer much    
more than those who serve her less generously? They are    
opposed, persecuted, slandered, and treated with intolerance.    
They may also have to walk in interior darkness and through    
spiritual deserts without being given from heaven a single    
drop of the dew of consolation. If this devotion to the    
Blessed Virgin makes the path to Jesus smoother, how can we    
explain why Mary's loyal servants are so ill-treated?     
    
154. I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful    
servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favourites,    
receive from her the best graces and favours from heaven,    
which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of    
Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit    
and glory. What could check another's progress a thousand    
times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not    
balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this    
good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy    
Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the    
honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love.    
They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds,    
though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone    
who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer    
persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will    
never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and    
perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is    
the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person    
could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit    
which has not been sweetened.    
    
155. (b) This devotion is a short way to discover Jesus,    
either because it is a road we do not wander from, or because,    
as we have just said, we walk along this road with greater    
ease and joy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance    
more in a brief period of submission to Mary and dependence on    
her than in whole years of self-will and self-reliance. A man    
who is obedient and submissive to Mary will sing of glorious    
victories over his enemies It is true, his enemies will try to    
impede his progress, force him to retreat or try to make him    
fall. But with Mary's help, support and guidance, he will go    
forward towards our Lord. Without falling, retreating and even    
without being delayed, he will advance with giant strides    
towards Jesus along the same road which, as it is written,    
Jesus took to come to us with giant strides and in a short    
time.    
    
156. Why do you think our Lord spent only a few years here on    
earth and nearly all of them in submission and obedience to    
his Mother? The reason is that "attaining perfection in a    
short time, he lived a long time", even longer than Adam,    
whose losses he had come to make good. Yet Adam lived more    
than nine hundred years!    
     Jesus lived a long time, because he lived in complete    
submission to his Mother and in union with her, which    
obedience to his Father required. The Holy Spirit tells us    
that the man who honours his mother is like a man who stores    
up a treasure. In other words, the man who honours Mary, his    
Mother, to the extent of subjecting himself to her and obeying    
her in all things will soon become very rich, because he is    
amassing riches every day through Mary who has become his    
secret philosopher's stone.    
     There is another quotation from Holy Scripture, "My old    
age will be found in the mercy of the bosom". According to the    
mystical interpretation of these words it is in the bosom of    
Mary that people who are young grow mature in enlightenment,    
in holiness, in experience and in wisdom, and in a short time    
reach the fullness of the age of Christ. For it was Mary's    
womb which encompassed and produced a perfect man. That same    
womb held the one whom the whole universe can neither    
encompass nor contain.    
    
157. (c) This devotion is a perfect way  to reach our Lord and    
be united to him, for Mary is the most perfect and the most    
holy of all creatures, and Jesus, who came to us in a perfect    
manner, chose no other road for his great and wonderful    
journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible One, the    
Inaccessible One, He who is, deigned to come down to us poor    
earthly creatures who are nothing at all. How was this done?    
     The Most High God came down to us in a perfect way    
through the humble Virgin Mary, without losing anything of his    
divinity or holiness. It is likewise through Mary that we poor    
creatures must ascend to almighty God in a perfect manner    
without having anything to fear.    
     God the Incomprehensible, allowed himself to be perfectly    
comprehended and contained by the humble Virgin Mary without    
losing anything of his immensity. So we must let ourselves be    
perfectly contained and led by the humble Virgin without any    
reserve on our part.    
     God, the Inaccessible, drew near to us and united himself    
closely, perfectly and even personally to our humanity through    
Mary without losing anything of his majesty. So it is also    
through Mary that we must draw near to God and unite ourselves    
to him perfectly, intimately, and without fear of being    
rejected.    
     Lastly, He who is deigned to come down to us who are not    
and turned our nothingness into God, or He who is. He did this    
perfectly by giving and submitting himself entirely to the    
young Virgin Mary, without ceasing to be in time He who is    
from all eternity. Likewise it is through Mary that we, who    
are nothing, may become like God by grace and glory. We    
accomplish this by giving ourselves to her so perfectly and so    
completely as to remain nothing, as far as self is concerned,    
and to be everything in her, without any fear of illusion.      
    
158. Show me a new road to our Lord, pave it with all the    
merits of the saints, adorn it with their heroic virtues,    
illuminate and enhance it with the splendour and beauty of the    
angels, have all the angels and saints there to guide and    
protect those who wish to follow it. Give me such a road and    
truly, truly, I boldly say - and I am telling the truth - that    
instead of this road, perfect though it be, I would still    
choose the immaculate way of Mary. It is a way, a road without    
stain or spot, without original sin or actual sin, without    
shadow or darkness,. When our loving Jesus comes in glory once    
again to reign upon earth - as he certainly will - he will    
choose no other way than the Blessed Virgin, by whom he came    
so surely and so perfectly the first time. The difference    
between his first and his second coming is that the first was    
secret and hidden, but the second will be glorious and    
resplendent. Both are perfect because both are through Mary.    
Alas, this is a mystery which we cannot understand, "Here let    
every tongue be silent."    
    
159. (d) This devotion to our Lady is a sure way  to go to    
Jesus and to acquire holiness through union with him.    
     (1) The devotion which I teach is not new. Its history    
goes back so far that the time of its origin cannot be    
ascertained with any precision, as Fr. Boudon, who died a holy    
death a short time ago, states in a book which he wrote on    
this devotion. It is however certain that for more than seven    
hundred years we find traces of it in the Church.    
     St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who lived about the year 1040,    
was one of the first to practise it publicly in France as is    
told in his life.    
     Cardinal Peter Damian relates that in the year 1076 his    
brother, Blessed Marino, made himself the slave of the Blessed    
Virgin in the presence of his spiritual director in a most    
edifying manner. He placed a rope around his neck, scourged    
himself and placed on the altar a sum of money as a token of    
his devotion and consecration to our Lady. He remained so    
faithful to this consecration all his life that me merited to    
be visited and consoled on his death-bed by his dear Queen and    
hear from her lips the promise of paradise in reward for his    
service.    
     Caesarius Bollandus mentions a famous knight, Vautier de    
Birback, a close relative of the Dukes of Louvain, who about    
the year 1300 consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin.    
     This devotion was also practised privately by many people    
up to the seventeenth century, when it became publicly known.    
    
160. Father Simon de Rojas of the Order of the Holy Trinity    
for the Redemption of Captives, court preacher to Philip III,    
made this devotion popular throughout Spain and Germany.    
Through the intervention of Philip III, he obtained from    
Gregory XV valuable indulgences for those who practised it.    
     Father de los Rios, of the Order of St. Augustine,    
together with his intimate friend, Father de Roias, worked    
hard, propagating it throughout Spain and Germany by preaching    
and writing. He composed a large volume entitled "Hierarchia    
Mariana", where he treats of the antiquity, the excellence and    
the soundness of this devotion, with as much devotion as    
learning.    
     The Theatine Fathers in the seventeenth century    
established this devotion in Italy and Savoy.    
    
161. Father Stanislaus Phalacius of the Society of Jesus    
spread this devotion widely in Poland.    
     Father de los Rios in the book quoted above mentions the    
names of princes and princesses, bishops and cardinals of    
different countries who embraced this devotion.    
     Father Cornelius a Lapide, noted both for holiness and    
profound learning, was commissioned by several bishops and    
theologians to examine it. The praise he gave it after mature    
examination, is a worthy tribute to his own holiness. Many    
other eminent men followed his example.    
     The Jesuit Fathers, ever zealous in the service of our    
Blessed Lady, presented on behalf of the sodalities of Cologne    
to Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria, the then archbishop of Cologne,    
a little treatise on the devotion, and he gave it his approval    
and granted permission to have it printed. He exhorted all    
priests and religious of his diocese to do their utmost to    
spread this solid devotion.    
    
162. Cardinal de B‚rulle, whose memory is venerated throughout    
France, was outstandingly zealous in furthering the devotion    
in France, despite the calumnies and persecutions he suffered    
at the hands of critics and evil men. They accused him of    
introducing novelty and superstition. They composed and    
published a libellous tract against him and they - rather the    
devil in them - used a thousand stratagems to prevent him from    
spreading the devotion in France. But this eminent and saintly    
man responded to their calumnies with calm patience. He wrote    
a little book in reply and forcefully refuted the objections    
contained in it. He pointed out that this devotion is founded    
on the example given by Jesus Christ, on the obligations we    
have towards him and on the promises we made in holy baptism.    
It was mainly this last reason which silenced his enemies. He    
made clear to them that this consecration to the Blessed    
Virgin, and through her to Jesus, is nothing less than a    
perfect renewal of the promises and vows of baptism. He said    
many beautiful things concerning this devotion which can be    
read in his works.    
    
163. In Fr. Boudon's book we read of different popes who gave    
their approval to this devotion, the theologians who examined    
it, the hostility it encountered and overcame, the thousands    
who made it their own without censure from any pope. Indeed it    
could not be condemned without overthrowing the foundations of    
Christianity. It is obvious then that this devotion is not    
new. If it is not commonly practised, the reason is that it is    
too sublime to be appreciated and undertaken by everyone.    
    
164. (2) This devotion is a safe means of going to Jesus    
Christ, because it is Mary's role to lead us safely to her    
Son; just as it is the role of our Lord to lead us to the    
eternal Father. Those who are spiritually-minded should not    
fall into the error of thinking that Mary hinders our union    
with God. How could this possibly happen? How could Mary, who    
found grace with God for everyone in general and each one in    
particular, prevent a soul from obtaining the supreme grace of    
union with him? Is it possible that she who was so completely    
filled with grace to overflowing, so united to Christ and    
transformed in God that it became necessary for him to be made    
flesh in her, should prevent a soul from being perfectly    
united to him?    
     It is quite true that the example of other people, no    
matter how holy, can sometimes impair union with God, but not    
so our Blessed Lady, as I have said and shall never weary of    
repeating. One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of    
the age of Jesus is that Mary who is still as much as ever his    
Mother and the fruitful spouse of the Holy Spirit is not    
formed well enough in their hearts. If we desire a ripe and    
perfectly formed fruit, we must possess the tree that bears    
it. If we desire the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, we must    
possess the tree of life which is Mary. If we desire to have    
the Holy Spirit working within us, we must possess his    
faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary the divinely-favoured    
one whom, as I have said elsewhere, he can make fruitful.    
    
165. Rest assured that the more you turn to Mary in your    
prayers, meditations, actions and sufferings, seeing her if    
not perhaps clearly and distinctly, at least in a general and    
indistinct way, the more surely you will discover Jesus. For    
he is always greater, more powerful, more active, and more    
mysterious when acting through Mary than he is in any other    
creature in the universe, or even in heaven. Thus Mary, so    
divinely-favoured and so lost in God, is far from being an    
obstacle to good people who are striving for union with him.    
There has never been and there never will be a creature so    
ready to help us in achieving that union more effectively, for    
she will dispense to us all the graces to attain that end. As    
a saint once remarked, "Only Mary knows how to fill our minds    
with the thought of God." Moreover, Mary will safeguard us    
against the deception and cunning of the evil one.    
    
166. Where Mary is present, the evil one is absent. One of the    
unmistakable signs that a person is led by the Spirit of God    
is the devotion he has to Mary, and his habit of thinking and    
speaking of her. This is the opinion of a saint, who goes on    
to say that just as breathing is a proof that the body is not    
dead, so the habitual thought of Mary and loving converse with    
her is a proof that the soul is not spiritually dead in sin.    
    
167. Since Mary alone has crushed all heresies, as we are told    
by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Office of    
B.V.M.), a devoted servant of hers will never fall into formal    
heresy or error, though critics may contest this. He may very    
well err materially, mistaking lies for truth or an evil    
spirit for a good one, but he will be less likely to do this    
than others. Sooner or later he will discover his error and    
will not go on stubbornly believing and maintaining what he    
mistakenly thought was the truth.    
    
168. Whoever then wishes to advance along the road to holiness    
and be sure of encountering the true Christ, without fear of    
the illusions which afflict many devout people, should take up    
with valiant heart and willing spirit this devotion to Mary    
which perhaps he had not previously heard about. Even if it is    
new to him, let him enter upon this excellent way which I am    
now revealing to him. "I will show you a more excellent way."    
     It was opened up by Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom.    
He is our one and only Head, and we, his members, cannot go    
wrong in following him. It is a smooth way made easy by the    
fullness of grace, the unction of the Holy Spirit. In our    
progress along this road, we do not weaken or turn back. It is    
a quick  way and leads us to Jesus in a short time. It is a    
perfect  way without mud or dust or any vileness of sin.    
Finally, it is a reliable way, for it is direct and sure,    
having no turnings to right or left but leading us straight to    
Jesus and to life eternal.    
     Let us then take this road and travel along it night and    
day until we arrive at the fullness of the age of Jesus    
Christ.    
    
              6. It gives great liberty of spirit    
    
169. It gives great liberty of spirit - the freedom of the    
children of God - to those who faithfully practise it. Through    
this devotion we make ourselves slaves of Jesus by    
consecrating ourselves entirely to him. To reward us for this    
enslavement of love, our Lord frees us from every scruple and    
servile fear which might restrict, imprison or confuse us; he    
opens our hearts and fills them with holy confidence in God,    
helping us to regard God as our Father; he inspires us with a    
generous and filial love.    
    
170. Without stopping to prove this truth, I shall simply    
relate an incident which I read in the life of Mother Agnes of    
Jesus, a Dominican nun of the convent of Langeac in Auvergne,    
who died a holy death there in 1634.    
     When she was only seven years old and was suffering great    
spiritual anguish, she heard a voice telling her that if she    
wished to be delivered from her anguish and protected against    
all her enemies, she should make herself the slave of our Lord    
and his Blessed Mother as soon as possible. No sooner had she    
returned home than she gave herself completely to Jesus and    
Mary as their slave, although she had never known anything    
about this devotion before. She found an iron chain, put it    
round her waist and wore it till the day she died. After this,    
all her sufferings and scruples disappeared and she found    
great peace of soul.    
     This led her to teach this devotion to many others who    
made rapid progress in it - among them, Father Olier, the    
founder of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, and several other    
priests and students from the same seminary. One day the    
Blessed Virgin appeared to Mother Agnes and put a gold chain    
around her neck to show her how happy she was that Mother    
Agnes had become the slave of both her and her Son. And St.    
Cecilia, who accompanied our Lady, said to her, "Happy are the    
faithful slaves of the Queen of heaven, for they will enjoy    
true freedom."  Tibi servire libertas.    
    
          7. It is of great benefit to our neighbour    
    
171. It is of great benefit to our neighbour, for by it we    
show love for our neighbour in an outstanding way since we    
give him through Mary's hands all that we prize most highly -    
that is, the satisfactory and prayer value of all our good    
works, down to the least good thought and the least little    
suffering. We give our consent that all we have already    
acquired or will acquire until death should be used in    
accordance with our Lady's will for the conversion of sinners    
or the deliverance of souls from Purgatory.    
     Is this not perfect love of our neighbour? Is this not    
being a true disciple of our Lord, one who should always be    
recognised by his love? Is this not the way to convert sinners    
without any danger of vainglory, and deliver souls from    
Purgatory by doing hardly anything more than what we are    
obliged to do by our state of life?     
    
172. To appreciate the excellence of this motive we must    
understand what a wonderful thing it is to convert a sinner or    
to deliver a soul from Purgatory. It is an infinite good,    
greater than the creation of heaven and earth, since it gives    
a soul the possession of God. If by this devotion we secured    
the release of only soul from Purgatory or converted only one    
sinner in our whole lifetime, would that not be enough to    
induce any person who really loves his neighbour to practise    
this devotion?    
     It must be noted that our good works, passing through    
Mary's hands, are progressively purified. Consequently, their    
merit and their satisfactory and prayer value are also    
increased. That is why they become much more effective in    
relieving the souls in Purgatory and in converting sinners    
than if they did not pass through the virginal and liberal    
hands of Mary. Stripped of self-will and clothed with    
disinterested love, the little that we give to the Blessed    
Virgin is truly powerful enough to appease the anger of God    
and draw down his mercy. It may well be that at the hour of    
death a person who has been faithful to this devotion will    
find that he has freed many souls from Purgatory and converted    
many sinners, even though he performed only the ordinary    
actions of his state of life. Great will be his joy at the    
judgement. Great will be his glory throughout eternity.    
    
          8. It is a wonderful means of perseverance    
    
173. Finally, what draws us in a sense more compellingly to    
take up this devotion to the most Blessed Virgin is the fact    
that it is a wonderful means of persevering in the practice of    
virtue and of remaining steadfast.    
     Why is it that most conversions of sinners are not    
lasting? Why do they relapse so easily into sin? Why is it    
that most of the faithful, instead of making progress in one    
virtue after another and so acquiring new graces, often lose    
the little grace and virtue they have? This misfortune arises,    
as I have already shown, from the fact that man, so prone to    
evil, so weak and changeable, trusts himself too much, relies    
on his own strength, and wrongly presumes he is able to    
safeguard his precious graces, virtues and merits.    
     By this devotion we entrust all we possess to Mary, the    
faithful Virgin. We choose her as the guardian of all our    
possessions in the natural and supernatural sphere. We trust    
her because she is faithful, we rely on her strength, we count    
on her mercy and charity to preserve and increase our virtues    
and merits in spite of the efforts of the devil, the world,    
and the flesh to rob us of them. We say to her as a good child    
would say to its mother or a faithful servant to the mistress    
of the house, "My dear Mother and Mistress, I realise that up    
to now I have received from God through your intercession more    
graces than I deserve. But bitter experience has taught me    
that I carry these riches in a very fragile vessel and that I    
am too weak and sinful to guard them by myself. Please accept    
in trust everything I possess, and in your faithfulness and    
power keep it for me. If you watch over me, I shall lose    
nothing. If you support me, I shall not fail. If you protect    
me, I shall be safe from my enemies."    
    
174. This is exactly what St. Bernard clearly pointed out to    
encourage us to take up this devotion, "When Mary supports    
you, you will not fail. With her as your protector, you will    
have nothing to fear. With her as your guide, you will not    
grow weary. When you win her favour, you will reach the port    
of heaven." St. Bonaventure seems to say the same thing in    
even more explicit terms, "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "not    
only preserves the fullness enjoyed by the saints, but she    
maintains the saints in their fullness so that it does not    
diminish. She prevents their virtues from fading away, their    
merits from being wasted and their graces from being lost. She    
prevents the devils from doing them harm and she so influences    
them that her divine Son has no need to punish them when they    
sin."    
    
175. Mary is the Virgin most faithful who by her fidelity to    
God makes good the losses caused by Eve's unfaithfulness. She    
obtains fidelity to God and final perseverance for those who    
commit themselves to her. For this reason St. John Damascene    
compared her to a firm anchor which holds them fast and saves    
them from shipwreck in the raging seas of the world where so    
many people perish through lack of such a firm anchor. "We    
fasten souls," he said, "to Mary, our hope, as to a firm    
anchor." It was to Mary that the saints who attained salvation    
most firmly anchored themselves as did others who wanted to    
ensure their perseverance in holiness.     
     Blessed, indeed, are those Christians who bind themselves    
faithfully and completely to her as to a secure anchor! The    
violent storms of the world will not make them founder or    
carry away their heavenly riches. Blessed are those who enter    
into her as into another Noah's ark! The flood waters of sin    
which engulf so many will not harm them because, as the Church    
makes Mary say in the words of divine Wisdom, "Those who work    
with my help - for their salvation - shall not sin." Blessed    
are the unfaithful children of unhappy Eve who commit    
themselves to Mary, the ever-faithful Virgin and Mother who    
never wavers in her fidelity and never goes back on her trust.    
She always loves those who love her, not only with deep    
affection, but with a love that is active and generous. By an    
abundant outpouring of grace she keeps them from relaxing    
their effort in the practice of virtue or falling by the    
wayside through loss of divine grace.    
    
176. Moved by pure love, this good Mother always accepts    
whatever is given her in trust, and, once she accepts    
something, she binds herself in justice by a contract of    
trusteeship to keep it safe. Is not someone to whom I entrust    
the sum of a thousand francs obliged to keep it safe for me so    
that if it were lost through his negligence he would be    
responsible for it in strict justice? But nothing we entrust    
to the faithful Virgin will ever be lost through her    
negligence. Heaven and earth would pass away sooner than Mary    
would neglect or betray those who trusted in her.    
    
177. Poor children of Mary, you are extremely weak and    
changeable. Your human nature is deeply impaired. It is sadly    
true that you have been fashioned from the same corrupted    
nature as the other children of Adam and Eve. But do not let    
that discourage you. Rejoice and be glad! Here is a secret    
which I am revealing to you, a secret unknown to most    
Christians, even the most devout.    
     Do not leave your gold and silver in your own safes which    
have already been broken into and rifled many times by the    
evil one. They are too small, too flimsy and too old to    
contain such great and priceless possessions. Do not put pure    
and clear water from the spring into vessels fouled and    
infected by sin. Even if sin is no longer there, its odour    
persists and the water would be contaminated. You do not put    
choice wine into old casks that have contained sour wine. You    
would spoil the good wine and run the risk of losing it.    
    
178. Chosen souls, although you may already understand me, I    
shall express myself still more clearly. Do not commit the    
gold of your charity, the silver of your purity to a    
threadbare sack or a battered old chest, or the waters of    
heavenly grace or the wines of your merits and virtues to a    
tainted and fetid cask, such as you are. Otherwise you will be    
robbed by thieving devils who are on the look-out day and    
night waiting for a favourable opportunity to plunder. If you    
do so all those pure gifts from God will be spoiled by the    
unwholesome presence of self-love, inordinate self-reliance,    
and self-will.    
     Pour into the bosom and heart of Mary all your precious    
possessions, all your graces and virtues. She is a spiritual    
vessel, a vessel of honour, a singular vessel of devotion.    
Ever since God personally hid himself with all his perfections    
in this vessel, it has become completely spiritual, and the    
spiritual abode of all spiritual souls. It has become    
honourable and has been the throne of honour for the greatest    
saints in heaven. It has become outstanding in devotion and    
the home of those renowned for gentleness, grace and virtue.    
Moreover, it has become as rich as a house of gold, as strong    
as a tower of David and as pure as a tower of ivory.    
    
179. Blessed is the man who has given everything to Mary, who    
at all times and in all things trusts in her, and loses    
himself in her. He belongs to Mary and Mary belongs to him.    
With David he can boldly say, "She was created for me", or    
with the beloved disciple, "I have taken her for my own", or    
with our Lord himself, "All that is mine is yours and all that    
is yours is mine."    
    
180. If any critic reading this should imagine that I am    
exaggerating or speaking from an excess of devotion, he has    
not, alas, understood what I have said. Either he is a carnal    
man who has no taste for the spiritual; or he is a worldly man    
who has cut himself off from the Holy Spirit; or he is a proud    
and critical man who ridicules and condemns anything he does    
not understand. But those who are born not of blood, nor of    
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God and Mary, understand    
and appreciate what I have to say. It is for them that I am    
writing.    
    
181. Nevertheless, after this digression, I say to both the    
critics and the devout that the Blessed Virgin, the most    
reliable and generous of all God's creatures, never lets    
herself be surpassed by anyone in love and generosity. For the    
little that is given to her, she gives generously of what she    
has received from God. Consequently, if a person gives himself    
to her without reserve, she gives herself also without reserve    
to that person provided his confidence in her is not    
presumptuous and he does his best to practise virtue and curb    
his passions.    
    
182. So the faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin may    
confidently say with St. John Damascene, "If I confide in you,    
Mother of God, I shall be saved. Under your protection I shall    
fear nothing. With your help I shall rout all my enemies. For    
devotion to you is a weapon of salvation which God gives to    
those he wishes to save."    
    
                         CHAPTER FIVE    
           BIBLICAL FIGURE OF THIS PERFECT DEVOTION:    
                       REBECCA AND JACOB    
    
183. The Holy Spirit gives us in Sacred Scripture, a striking    
allegorical figure of all the truths I have been explaining    
concerning the Blessed Virgin and her children and servants.    
It is the story of Jacob who received the blessing of his    
father Isaac through the care and ingenuity of his mother    
Rebecca.    
     Here is the story as the Holy Spirit tells it. I shall    
expound it further later on.    
    
                      The Story of Jacob    
    
184. Several years after Esau had sold his birthright to    
Jacob, Rebecca, their mother, who loved Jacob tenderly,    
secured this blessing for him by a holy stratagem full of    
mystery for us.    
     Isaac, realising that he was getting old, wished to bless    
his children before he died. He summoned Esau, who was his    
favourite son, and told him to go hunting and bring him    
something to eat, in order that he might then give him his    
blessing. Rebecca immediately told Jacob what was happening    
and sent him to fetch two small goats from the flock. When    
Jacob gave them to his mother, she cooked them in the way    
Isaac liked them. Then she dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes    
which she had in her keeping, and covered his hands and neck    
with the goat-skin. The father, who was blind, although    
hearing the voice of Jacob, would think that it was Esau when    
he touched the skin on his hands.    
     Isaac was of course surprised at the voice which he    
thought was Jacob's and told him to come closer. Isaac felt    
the hair on the skin covering Jacob's hands and said that the    
voice was really like Jacob's but the hands were Esau's. After    
he had eaten, Isaac kissed Jacob and smelt the fragrance of    
his scented clothes. He blessed him and called down on him the    
dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. He made him    
master of all his brothers and concluded his blessing with    
these words, "Cursed be those who curse you and blessed be    
those who bless you."    
     Isaac had scarcely finished speaking when Esau came in,    
bringing what he had caught while out hunting. He wanted his    
father to bless him after he had eaten. The holy patriarch was    
shocked when he realised what had happened. But far from    
retracting what he had done, he confirmed it because he    
clearly saw the finger of God in it all. Then, as Holy    
Scripture relates, Esau began to protest loudly against the    
treachery of his brother. He then asked his father if he had    
only one blessing to give. In so doing, as the early Fathers    
point out, Esau was the symbol of those who are too ready to    
imagine that there is an alliance between God and the world,    
because they themselves are eager to enjoy, at one and the    
same time, the blessings of heaven and the blessings of the    
earth. Isaac was touched by Esau's cries and finally blessed    
him only with a blessing of the earth, and he subjected him to    
his brother. Because of this, Esau conceived such a venomous    
hatred for Jacob that he could hardly wait for his father's    
death to kill him. And Jacob would not have escaped death if    
his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him by her ingenuity and    
her good advice.    
    
                  Interpretation of the story    
    
185. Before explaining this beautiful story, let me remind you    
that, according to the early Fathers and the interpreters of    
Holy Scripture, Jacob is the type of our Lord and of souls who    
are saved, and Esau is the type of souls who are condemned. We    
have only to examine the actions and conduct of both in order    
to judge each one.    
     (1) Esau, the elder brother, was strong and robust,    
clever, and skilful with the bow and very successful at    
hunting.    
     (2) He seldom stayed at home and, relying only on his own    
strength and skill, worked out of doors.    
     (3) He never went out of his way to please his mother    
Rebecca, and did little or nothing for her.    
     (4) He was such a glutton and so fond of eating that he    
sold his birthright for a dish of lentils.    
     (5) Like Cain, he was extremely jealous of his brother    
and persecuted him relentlessly.    
    
186. This is the usual conduct of sinners:    
     (1) They rely upon their own strength and skill in    
temporal affairs. They are very energetic, clever and well-    
informed about things of this world but very dull and ignorant    
about things of heaven.    
    
187. (2) And they are never or very seldom at home, in their    
own house, that is, in their own interior, the inner,    
essential abode that God has given to every man to dwell in,    
after his own example, for God always abides within himself.    
Sinners have no liking for solitude or the spiritual life or    
interior devotion. They consider those who live an interior    
life, secluded from the world, and who work more interiorly    
than exteriorly, as narrow-minded, bigoted and uncivilized.    
    
188. (3) Sinners care little or nothing about devotion to    
Mary, the Mother of the elect. It is true that they do not    
really hate her. Indeed they even speak well of her sometimes.    
They say they love her and they practise some devotion in her    
honour. Nevertheless, they cannot bear to see anyone love her    
tenderly, for they do not have for her any of the affection of    
Jacob; they find fault with the honour which her good children    
and servants faithfully pay her to win her affection. They    
think this kind of devotion is not necessary for salvation,    
and as long as they do not go as far as hating her or openly    
ridiculing devotion to her they believe they have  done all    
they need to win her good graces. Because they recite or    
mumble a few prayers to her without any affection and without    
even thinking of amending their lives, they consider they are    
our Lady's servants.    
    
189. (4) Sinners sell their birthright, that is, the joys of    
paradise, for a dish of lentils, that is, the pleasures of    
this world. They laugh, they drink, they eat, they have a good    
time, they gamble, they dance and so forth, without taking any    
more trouble than Esau to make themselves worthy of their    
heavenly Father's blessing. Briefly, they think only of this    
world, love only the world, speak and act only for the world    
and its pleasures. For a passing moment of pleasure, for a    
fleeting wisp of honour, for a piece of hard earth, yellow or    
white, they barter away their baptismal grace, their robe of    
innocence and their heavenly inheritance.    
    
190. (5) Finally, sinners continually hate and persecute the    
elect, openly and secretly. The elect are a burden to them.    
They despise them, criticise them, ridicule them, insult them,    
rob them, deceive them, impoverish them, hunt them down and    
trample them into the dust; while they themselves are making    
fortunes, enjoying themselves, getting good positions for    
themselves, enriching themselves, rising to power and living    
in comfort.    
    
191. Jacob, the younger son, was of a frail constitution,    
gentle and peaceable and usually stayed at home to please his    
mother, whom he loved so much. If he did go out it was not    
through any personal desire of his, nor from any confidence in    
his own ability, but simply out of obedience to his mother.    
    
192. He loved and honoured his mother. That is why he remained    
at home close to her. He was never happier than when he was in    
her presence. He avoided everything that might displease her,    
and did everything he thought would please her. This made    
Rebecca love him all the more.    
    
193. He was submissive to his mother in all things. He obeyed    
her entirely in everything, promptly without delay and    
lovingly without complaint. At the least indication of her    
will, young Jacob hastened to comply with it. He accepted    
whatever she told him without questioning. For instance, when    
she told him to get two small goats and bring them to her so    
that she might prepare something for his father Isaac to eat,    
Jacob did not reply that one would be enough for one man, but    
without arguing he did exactly what she told him to do.    
    
194. He had the utmost confidence in his mother. He did not    
rely on his own ability; he relied solely on his mother's care    
and protection. He went to her in all his needs and consulted    
her in all his doubts. For instance, when he asked her if his    
father, instead of blessing him, would curse him, he believed    
her and trusted her when she said she would take the curse    
upon herself.    
    
195. Finally, he adopted, as much as he could, the virtues he    
saw in his mother. It seems that one of the reasons why he    
spent so much time at home was to imitate his dear mother, who    
was so virtuous, and to keep away from evil companions - who    
might lead him into sin. In this way, he made himself worthy    
to receive the double blessing of his beloved father.    
    
196. It is in a similar manner that God's chosen ones usually    
act. They stay at home with their mother - that is, they have    
an esteem for quietness, love the interior life, and are    
assiduous in prayer. They always remain in the company of the    
Blessed Virgin, their Mother and Model, whose glory is wholly    
interior and who during her whole life dearly loved seclusion    
and prayer. It is true, at times they do venture out into the    
world, but only to fulfil the duties of their state of life,    
in obedience to the will of God and the will of their Mother.    
     No matter how great their accomplishments may appear to    
others, they attach far more importance to what they do within    
themselves in their interior life, in the company of the    
Blessed Virgin. For there they work at the great task of    
perfection, compared to which all other work is mere child's    
play. At times their brothers and sisters are working outside    
with great energy, skill and success, and win the praise and    
approbation of the world.  But they know by the light of the    
Holy Spirit that there is far more good, more glory and more    
joy in remaining hidden and recollected with our Lord, in    
complete and perfect submission to Mary than there is in    
performing by themselves marvellous works of nature and grace    
in the world, like so many Esaus and sinners. Glory for God    
and riches for men are in her house.    
     Lord Jesus, how lovely is your dwelling-place! The    
sparrow has found a house to dwell in, and the turtle-dove a    
nest for her little ones! How happy is the man who dwells in    
the house of Mary, where you were the first to dwell! Here in    
this home of the elect, he draws from you alone the help he    
needs to climb the stairway of virtue he has built in his    
heart to the highest possible points of perfection while in    
this vale of tears. "How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord,    
God of hosts!"    
    
197. The elect have a great love for our Lady and honour her    
truly as their Mother and Queen. They love her mot merely in    
word but in deed. They honour her not just outwardly, but from    
the depths of their heart. Like Jacob, they avoid the least    
thing that might displease her, and eagerly do whatever they    
think might win her favour. Jacob brought Rebecca two young    
goats. They bring Mary their body and their soul, with all    
their faculties, symbolised by Jacob's two young goats, 1) so    
that she may accept them as her own; 2) that she may make them    
die to sin and self by divesting them of self-love, in order    
to please Jesus her Son, who wishes to have as friends and    
disciples only those who are dead to sin and self; 3) that she    
may clothe them according to their heavenly Father's taste and    
for his greater glory, which she knows better than any other    
creature; 4) that through her care and intercession, this body    
and soul of theirs, thoroughly cleansed from every stain,    
thoroughly dead to self, thoroughly stripped and well-    
prepared, may be pleasing to the heavenly Father and deserving    
of his blessing.    
     Is this not what those chosen souls do who, to prove to    
Jesus and Mary how effective and courageous is their love,    
live and esteem the perfect consecration to Jesus through Mary    
which we are now teaching them?    
     Sinners may say that they love Jesus, that they love and    
honour Mary, but they do not do so with their whole heart and    
soul. Unlike the elect, they do not love Jesus and Mary enough    
to consecrate them their body with its senses and their soul    
with its passions.    
    
198. They are subject and obedient to our Lady, their good    
Mother, and here they are simply following the example set by    
our Lord himself, who spent thirty of the thirty-three years    
he lived on earth glorifying God his Father in perfect and    
entire submission to his holy Mother. They obey her, following    
her advice to the letter, just as Jacob followed that of    
Rebecca, when she said to him, "My son, follow my advice"; or    
like the stewards at the wedding in Cana, to whom our Lady    
said, "Do whatever he tells you."    
     Through obedience to his mother, Jacob received the    
blessing almost by a miracle, because in the natural course of    
events he should not have received it. As a reward for    
following the advice of our Lady, the stewards at the wedding    
in Cana were honoured with the first of our Lord's miracles    
when, at her request he changed water into wine. In the same    
way, until the end of time, all who are to receive the    
blessing of our heavenly Father and who are to be honoured    
with his wondrous graces will receive them only as a result of    
their perfect obedience to Mary. On the other hand, the    
"Esaus" will lose their blessing because of their lack of    
submission to the Blessed Virgin.    
    
199. They have great confidence in the goodness and power of    
the Blessed Virgin, their dear Mother, and incessantly implore    
her help. They take her for their pole-star to lead them    
safely into harbour. They open their hearts to her and tell    
her their troubles and their needs. They rely on her mercy and    
kindness to obtain forgiveness for their sins through her    
intercession and to experience her motherly comfort in their    
troubles and anxieties. They even cast themselves into her    
virginal bosom, hide and lose themselves there in a wonderful    
manner. There they are filled with pure love, they are    
purified from the least stain of sin, and they find Jesus in    
all his fullness. For he reigns in Mary as if on the most    
glorious of thrones. What incomparable happiness! Abbot    
Guerric says, "Do not imagine there is more joy in dwelling in    
Abraham's bosom than in Mary's, for it is in her that our Lord    
placed his throne."    
     Sinners, on the other hand, put all their confidence in    
themselves. Like the prodigal son, they eat with the swine.    
Like toads they feed on earth. Like all worldlings, they love    
only visible and external things. They do not know the    
sweetness of Mary's bosom. They do not have that reliance and    
confidence which the elect have for the Blessed Virgin, their    
Mother. Deplorably they choose to satisfy their hunger    
elsewhere, as St. Gregory says, because they do not want to    
taste the sweetness already prepared within themselves and    
within Jesus and Mary.    
    
200. Finally, chosen souls keep to the ways of the Blessed    
Virgin, their loving Mother - that is, they imitate her and so    
are sincerely happy and devout and bear the infallible sign of    
God's chosen ones. This loving Mother says to them "Happy are    
those who keep my ways", which means, happy are those who    
practise my virtues and who, with the help of God's grace,    
follow the path of my life. They are happy in this world    
because of the abundance of grace and sweetness I impart to    
them out of my fullness, and which they receive more    
abundantly than others who do not imitate me so closely. They    
are happy at the hour of death, which is sweet and peaceful    
for I am usually there myself to lead them home to everlasting    
joy. Finally, they will be happy for all eternity, because no    
servant of mine who imitated my virtues during life has ever    
been lost.    
     On the other hand, sinners are unhappy during their life,    
at their death, and throughout eternity, because they do not    
imitate the virtues of our Lady. They are satisfied with going    
no further than joining her confraternities, reciting a few    
prayers in her honour, or performing other exterior devotional    
exercises.    
     O Blessed Virgin, my dear Mother, how happy are those who    
faithfully keep your ways, your counsels and your commands;    
who never allow themselves to be led astray by a false    
devotion to you! But how unhappy and accursed are those who    
abuse devotion to you by not keeping the commandments of your    
Son! "They are accursed who stray from your commandments."    
    
         Services of our Lady to her faithful servants    
    
201. Here now are the services which the Virgin Mary, as the    
best of all mothers, lovingly renders to those loyal servants    
who have given themselves entirely to her in the manner I have    
described and following the figurative meaning of the story of    
Jacob and Rebecca.     
    
1. She loves them.    
    
"I love those who love me." She loves them:    
     a) Because she is truly their Mother. What mother does    
not love her child, the fruit of her womb?    
     b) She loves them in gratitude for the active love they    
show to her, their beloved Mother.    
     c) She loves them because they are loved by God and    
destined for heaven. "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."    
     d) She loves them because they have consecrated    
themselves entirely to her and belong to her portion, her    
inheritance. "In Israel receive your inheritance."    
    
202. She loves them tenderly, more tenderly than all the    
mothers in the world together. Take the maternal love of all    
the mothers of the world for their children. Pour all that    
love into the heart of one mother for an only child. That    
mother's love would certainly be immense. Yet Mary's love for    
each of her children has more tenderness than the love of that    
mother for her child.    
     She loves them not only affectively but effectively, that    
is, her love is active and productive of good like Rebecca's    
love for Jacob -and even more so, for Rebecca was, after all,    
only a symbolic figure of Mary. Here is what this loving    
Mother does for her children to obtain for them the blessings    
of their heavenly Father:    
    
203. 1) Like Rebecca she looks out for favourable    
opportunities to promote their interests, to ennoble and    
enrich them. She sees clearly in God all that is good and all    
that is evil; fortunate and unfortunate events; the blessings    
and condemnations of God. She arranges things in advance so as    
to divert evils from her servants and put them in the way of    
abundant blessings. If there is any special benefit to be    
gained in God's sight by the faithful discharge of an    
important work, Mary will certainly obtain this opportunity    
for a beloved child and servant and at the same time, give him    
the grace to persevere in it to the end. "She personally    
manages our affairs," says a saintly man.    
    
204. 2) She gives them excellent advice, as Rebecca did to    
Jacob. "My son, follow my counsels." Among other things, she    
persuades them to bring her the two young goats, that is,    
their body and soul, and to confide them to her so that she    
can prepare them as a dish pleasing to God. She inspires them    
to observe whatever Jesus Christ, her Son, has taught by word    
and example. When she does not give these counsels herself in    
person, she gives them through the ministry of angels who are    
always pleased and honoured to go at her request to assist one    
of her faithful servants on earth.    
    
205. 3) What does this good Mother do when we have presented    
and consecrated to her our soul and body and all that pertains    
to them without excepting anything? Just what Rebecca of old    
did to the little goats Jacob brought her. (a) She kills them,    
that is, makes them die to the life of the old Adam. (b) She    
strips them of their skin, that is, of their natural    
inclinations, their self-love and self-will and their every    
attachment to creatures. (c) She cleanses them from all stain,    
impurity and sin. (d) She prepares them to God's taste and to    
his greater glory. As she alone knows perfectly what the    
divine taste is and where the greatest glory of God is to be    
found, she alone without any fear of mistake can prepare and    
garnish our body and soul to satisfy that infinitely refined    
taste and promote that infinitely hidden glory.    
    
206. 4) Once this good Mother has received our complete    
offering with our merits and satisfactions through the    
devotion I have been speaking about, and has stripped us of    
our own garments, she cleanses us and makes us worthy to    
appear without shame before our heavenly Father.    
     She clothes us in the clean, new, precious and fragrant    
garments of Esau, the first born, namely, her Son Jesus    
Christ. She keeps these garments in her house, that is to say,    
she has them at her disposal. For she is the treasurer and    
universal dispenser of the merits and virtues of Jesus her    
Son. She gives and distributes them to whom she pleases, when    
she pleases, as she pleases, and as much as she pleases, as we    
have said above.    
     She covers the neck and hands of her servants with the    
skins of the goats that have been killed and flayed, that is,    
she adorns them with the merits and worth of their own good    
actions. In truth, she destroys and nullifies all that is    
impure and imperfect in them. She preserves and enhances this    
good so that it adorns and strengthens their neck and hands,    
that is, she gives them the strength to carry the yoke of the    
Lord and the skill to do great things for the glory of God and    
the salvation of their poor brothers.    
     She imparts new perfume and fresh grace to those garments    
and adornments by adding to them the garments of her own    
wardrobe of merits and virtues. She bequeathed these to them    
before her departure for heaven, as was revealed by a holy nun    
of the last century, who died a holy death. Thus all her    
domestics, that is, all her servants and slaves, are clothed    
with double garments, her own and those of her Son. Now they    
have nothing to fear from that cold which sinners, naked and    
stripped as they are of the merits of Jesus and Mary, will be    
unable to endure.    
    
207. 5) Finally, Mary obtains for them the heavenly Father's    
blessing. As they are the youngest born and adopted, they are    
not really entitled to it. Clad in new, precious, and sweet-    
smelling garments, with body and soul well-prepared and    
dressed, they confidently approach their heavenly Father. He    
hears their voice and recognises it as the voice of a sinner.    
He feels their hands covered with skins, inhales the aroma of    
their garments. He partakes with joy of what Mary, their    
Mother, has prepared for him, recognising in it the merits and    
good odour of his Son and his Blessed Mother.    
     a) He gives them a twofold blessing, the blessing of the    
dew of heaven, namely, divine grace, which is the seed of    
glory. "God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual    
blessing," and also the blessing of the fertility of the    
earth, for as a provident Father, he gives them their daily    
bread and an ample supply of the goods of the earth.    
     b) He makes them masters of their other brothers, the    
reprobate sinners. This domination does not always show in    
this fleeting world, where sinners often have the upper hand.    
"How long shall the wicked glory, mouthing insolent    
reproaches?" "I have seen the wicked triumphant and lifted up    
like the cedars of Lebanon." But the supremacy of the just is    
real and will be seen clearly for all eternity in the next    
world, where the just, as the Holy Spirit tells us, will    
dominate and command all peoples.    
     c) The God of all majesty is not satisfied with blessing    
them in their persons and their possessions, he blesses all    
who bless them and curses all who curse and persecute them.    
    
2. She provides for all their needs    
    
208. Our Lady's charity towards her faithful servants goes    
further. She provides them with everything they need for body    
and soul. We have just seen that she gives them double    
garments. She also nourishes them with the most delicious food    
from the banquet table of God. She gives them the Son she has    
borne, the Bread of Life, to be their food. "Dear children,"    
she says in the words of divine Wisdom, "take your fill of my    
fruits," that is to say, of the Fruit of Life, Jesus, "whom I    
brought into the world for you." "Come," she repeats in    
another passage, "eat the bread which is Jesus. Drink the wine    
of his love which I have mixed" for you with the milk of my    
breasts.    
     As Mary is the treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and    
graces of the Most High God, she reserves a choice portion,    
indeed the choicest portion, to nourish and sustain her    
children and servants. They grow strong on the Bread of Life;    
they are made joyful with the wine that brings forth virgins.    
They are carried at her breast. They bear with ease the yoke    
of Christ scarcely feeling its weight because of the oil of    
devotion with which she has softened its wood.    
    
3. She leads and guides them    
    
209. A third service which our Lady renders her faithful    
servants is to lead and direct them according to the will of    
her Son. Rebecca guided her little son Jacob and gave him good    
advice from time to time, which helped him obtain the blessing    
of his father and saved him from the hatred and persecution of    
his brother Esau. Mary, Star of the sea, guides all her    
faithful servants into safe harbour. She shows them the path    
to eternal life and helps them avoid dangerous pitfalls. She    
leads them by the hand along the path of holiness, steadies    
them when they are liable to fall and helps them rise when    
they have fallen. She chides them like a loving mother when    
they are remiss and sometimes she even lovingly chastises    
them. How could a child that follows such a mother and such an    
enlightened guide as Mary take the wrong path to heaven?    
Follow her and you cannot go wrong, says St. Bernard. There is    
no danger of a true child of Mary being led astray by the    
devil and falling into heresy. Where Mary leads, Satan with    
his deceptions and heretics with their subtleties are not    
encountered. "When she upholds you, you will not fall."    
    
4. She defends and protects them    
    
210. The fourth good office our Lady performs for her children    
and faithful servants is to defend and protect them against    
their enemies. By her care and ingenuity Rebecca delivered    
Jacob from all dangers that beset him and particularly from    
dying at the hands of his brother, as he apparently would have    
done, since Esau hated and envied him just as Cain hated his    
brother Abel.     
     Mary, the beloved Mother of chosen souls, shelters them    
under her protecting wings as a hen does her chicks. She    
speaks to them, coming down to their level and accommodating    
herself to all their weaknesses. To ensure their safety from    
the hawk and vulture, she becomes their escort, surrounding    
them as an army in battle array. Could anyone surrounded by a    
well-ordered army of say a hundred thousand men fear his    
enemies? No, and still less would a faithful servant of Mary,    
protected on all sides by her imperial forces, fear his enemy.    
This powerful Queen of heaven would sooner despatch millions    
of angels to help one of her servants than have it said that a    
single faithful and trusting servant of hers had fallen victim    
to the malice, number and power of his enemies.    
    
5. She intercedes for them    
    
211. Finally, the fifth and greatest service which this loving    
Mother renders her faithful followers is to intercede for them    
with her Son. She appeases him with her prayers, brings her    
servants into closer union with him and maintains that union.    
     Rebecca made Jacob approach the bed of his father. His    
father touched him, embraced him and even joyfully kissed him    
after having satisfied his hunger with the well-prepared    
dishes which Jacob had brought him. Then inhaling most    
joyfully the exquisite perfume of his garments, he cried:    
"Behold the fragrance of my son is as the fragrance of a field    
of plenty which the Lord has blessed." The fragrance of this    
rich field which so captivated the heart of the father, is    
none other than the fragrance of the merits and virtues of    
Mary who is the plentiful field of grace in which God the    
Father has sown the grain of wheat of the elect, his only Son.    
     How welcome to Jesus Christ, the Father of the world to    
come, is a child perfumed with the fragrance of Mary! How    
readily and how intimately does he unite himself to that    
child! But this we have already shown at length.    
    
212. Furthermore, once Mary has heaped her favours upon her    
children and her faithful servants and has secured for them    
the blessing of the heavenly Father and union with Jesus    
Christ, she keeps them in Jesus and keeps Jesus in them. She    
guards them, watching over them unceasingly, lest they lose    
the grace of God and fall into the snares of their enemies.    
"She keeps the saints in their fullness" (St. Bonaventure),    
and inspires them to persevere to the end, as we have already    
said.    
     Such is the explanation given to this ancient allegory    
which typifies the mystery of predestination and reprobation.    
    
                          CHAPTER SIX    
              WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS DEVOTION    
    
213. My dear friend, be sure that if you remain faithful to    
the interior and exterior practices of this devotion which I    
will point out, the following effects will be produced in your    
soul:    
    
               1. Knowledge of our unworthiness    
    
     By the light which the Holy Spirit will give you through    
Mary, his faithful spouse, you will perceive the evil    
inclinations of your fallen nature and how incapable you are    
of any good apart from that which God produces in you as    
Author of nature and of grace. As a consequence of this    
knowledge you will despise yourself and think of yourself only    
as an object of repugnance. You will consider yourself as a    
snail that soils everything with its slime, as a toad that    
poisons everything with its venom, as a malevolent serpent    
seeking only to deceive. Finally, the humble Virgin Mary will    
share her humility with you so that, although you regard    
yourself with distaste and desire to be disregarded by others,    
you will not look down slightingly upon anyone.    
    
                  2. A share in Mary's faith    
    
214. Mary will share her faith with you. Her faith on earth    
was stronger than that of all the patriarchs, prophets,    
apostles and saints. Now that she is reigning in heaven she no    
longer has this faith, since she sees everything clearly in    
God by the light of glory. However, with the consent of    
almighty God she did not lose it when entering heaven. She has    
preserved it for her faithful servants in the Church militant.    
Therefore the more you gain the friendship of this noble Queen    
and faithful Virgin the more you will be inspired by faith in    
your daily life. It will cause you to depend less upon    
sensible and extraordinary feelings. For it is a lively faith    
animated by love enabling you to do everything from no other    
motive than that of pure love. It is a firm faith, unshakable    
as a rock, prompting you to remain firm and steadfast in the    
midst of storms and tempests. It is an active and probing    
faith which like some mysterious pass-key admits you into the    
mysteries of Jesus Christ and of man's final destiny and into    
the very heart of God himself. It is a courageous faith which    
inspires you to undertake and carry out without hesitation    
great things for God and the salvation of souls. Lastly, this    
faith will be your flaming torch, your very life with God,    
your secret fund of divine Wisdom, and an all-powerful weapon    
for you to enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow    
of death. It inflames those who are lukewarm and need the gold    
of fervent love. It restores life to those who are dead    
through sin. It moves and transforms hearts of marble and    
cedars of Lebanon by gentle and convincing argument. Finally,    
this faith will strengthen you to resist the devil and the    
other enemies of salvation.    
    
                   3. The gift of pure love    
    
215. The Mother of fair love will rid your heart of all    
scruples and inordinate servile fear. She will open and    
enlarge it to obey the commandments of her Son with alacrity    
and with the holy freedom of the children of God. She will    
fill your heart with pure love of which she is the treasury.    
You will then cease to act as you did before, out of fear of    
the God who is love, but rather out of pure love. You will    
look upon him as a loving Father and endeavour to please him    
at all times. You will speak trustfully to him as a child does    
to its father. If you should have the misfortune to offend him    
you will abase yourself before him and humbly beg his pardon.    
You will offer your hand to him with simplicity and lovingly    
rise from your sin. Then, peaceful and relaxed and buoyed up    
with hope you will continue on your way to him.    
    
            4. Great confidence in God and in Mary    
    
216. Our Blessed Lady will fill you with unbounded confidence    
in God and in herself:    
     1) Because you will no longer approach Jesus by yourself    
but always through Mary, your loving Mother.    
     2) Since you have given her all your merits, graces and    
satisfactions to dispose of as she pleases, she imparts to you    
her own virtues and clothes you in her own merits. So you will    
be able to say confidently to God: "Behold Mary, your    
handmaid, be it done unto me according to your word."    
     3) Since you have now given yourself completely to Mary,    
body and soul, she, who is generous to the generous, and more    
generous than even the kindest benefactor, will in return give    
herself to you in a marvellous but real manner. Indeed you may    
without hesitation say to her, "I am yours, O Blessed Virgin,    
obtain salvation for me," or with the beloved disciple, St.    
John, "I have taken you, Blessed Mother, for my all." Or again    
you may say with St. Bonaventure, "Dear Mother of saving    
grace, I will do everything with confidence and without fear    
because you are my strength and my boast in the Lord," or in    
another place, "I am all yours and all that I have is yours, O    
glorious Virgin, blessed above all created things. Let me    
place you as a seal upon my heart, for your love is as strong    
as death." Or adopting the sentiments of the prophet, "Lord,    
my heart has no reason to be exalted nor should my looks be    
proud; I have not sought things of great moment nor wonders    
beyond my reach; nevertheless, I am still not humble. But I    
have roused my soul and taken courage. I am as a child, weaned    
from earthly pleasures and resting on its mother's breast. It    
is upon this breast that all good things come to me."    
     4) What will still further increase your confidence in    
her is that, after having given her in trust all that you    
possess to use or keep as she pleases, you will place less    
trust in yourself and much more in her whom you have made your    
treasury. How comforting and how consoling when a person can    
say, "The treasury of God, where he has placed all that he    
holds most precious, is also my treasury." "She is," says a    
saintly man, "the treasury of the Lord."    
    
            5. Communication of the spirit of Mary    
    
217. The soul of Mary will be communicated to you to glorify    
the Lord. Her spirit will take the place of yours to rejoice    
in God, her Saviour, but only if you are faithful to the    
practices of this devotion. As St. Ambrose says, "May the soul    
of Mary be in each one of us to glorify the Lord! May the    
spirit of Mary be in each one of us to rejoice in God!" "When    
will that happy day come," asks a saintly man of our own day    
whose life was completely wrapped up in Mary, "when God's    
Mother is enthroned in men's hearts as Queen, subjecting them    
to the dominion of her great and princely Son? When will souls    
breathe Mary as the body breathes air?" When that time comes    
wonderful things will happen on earth. The Holy Spirit,    
finding his dear Spouse present again in souls, will come down    
into them with great power. He will fill them with his gifts,    
especially wisdom, by which they will produce wonders of    
grace. My dear friend, when will that happy time come, that    
age of Mary, when many souls, chosen by Mary and given her by    
the most High God, will hide themselves completely in the    
depths of her soul, becoming living copies of her, loving and    
glorifying Jesus? That day will dawn only when the devotion I    
teach is understood and put into practice. Ut adveniat regnum    
tuum, adveniat regnum Mariae: "Lord, that your kingdom may    
come, may the reign of Mary come!"    
    
         6. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus    
    
218. If Mary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our soul    
by fidelity to this devotion, she will in due time bring forth    
her fruit which is none other than Jesus. I have seen many    
devout souls searching for Jesus in one way or another, and so    
often when they have worked hard throughout the night, all    
they can say is, "Despite our having worked all night, we have    
caught nothing." To them we can say, "You have worked hard and    
gained little; Jesus can only be recognised faintly in you."    
But if we follow the immaculate path of Mary, living the    
devotion that I teach, we will always work in daylight, we    
will work in a holy place, and we will work but little. There    
is no darkness in Mary, not even the slightest shadow since    
there was never any sin in her. She is a holy place, a holy of    
holies, in which saints are formed and moulded.    
    
219. Please note that I say that saints are moulded in Mary.    
There is a vast difference between carving a statue by blows    
of hammer and chisel and making a statue by using a mould.    
Sculptors and statue-makers work hard and need plenty of time    
to make statues by the first method. But the second method    
does not involve much work and takes very little time. St.    
Augustine speaking to our Blessed Lady says, "You are worthy    
to be called the mould of God." Mary is a mould capable of    
forming people into the image of the God-man. Anyone who is    
cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped and moulded into    
Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a short time    
he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same    
mould that fashioned a God-man.    
    
220. I think I can very well compare some spiritual directors    
and devout persons to sculptors who wish to produce Jesus in    
themselves and in others by methods other than this. Many of    
them rely on their own skill, ingenuity and art and chip away    
endlessly with mallet and chisel at hard stone or badly-    
prepared wood, in an effort to produce a likeness of our Lord.    
At times, they do not manage to produce a recognisable    
likeness either because they lack knowledge and experience of    
the person of Jesus or because a clumsy stroke has spoiled the    
whole work. But those who accept this little-known secret of    
grace which I offer them can rightly be compared to smelters    
and moulders who have discovered the beautiful mould of Mary    
where Jesus was so divinely and so naturally formed. They do    
not rely on their own skill but on the perfection of the    
mould. They cast and lose themselves in Mary where they become    
true models of her Son.    
    
221. You may think this a beautiful and convincing comparison.    
But how many understand it? I would like you, my dear friend,    
to understand it. But remember that only molten and liquefied    
substances may be poured into a mould. That means that you    
must crush and melt down the old Adam in you if you wish to    
acquire the likeness of the new Adam in Mary.    
    
                7. The greater glory of Christ    
    
222. If you live this devotion sincerely, you will give more    
glory to Jesus in a month than in many years of a more    
demanding devotion. Here are my reasons for saying this:    
     1) Since you do everything through the Blessed Virgin as    
required by this devotion, you naturally lay aside your own    
intentions no matter how good they appear to you. You abandon    
yourself to our Lady's intentions even though you do not know    
what they are. Thus you share in the high quality of her    
intentions, which are so pure that she gave more glory to God    
by the smallest of her actions, say, twirling her distaff, or    
making a stitch, than did St. Laurence suffering his cruel    
martyrdom on the grid-iron, and even more than all the saints    
together in all their most heroic deeds! Mary amassed such a    
multitude of merits and graces during her sojourn on earth    
that it would be easier to count the stars in heaven, the    
drops of water in the ocean or the sands of the sea-shore than    
count her merits and graces. She thus gave more glory to God    
than all the angels and saints have given or will ever give    
him. Mary, wonder of God, when souls abandon themselves to    
you, you cannot but work wonders in them!    
    
223. 2) In this devotion we set no store on our own thoughts    
and actions but are content to rely on Mary's dispositions    
when approaching and even speaking to Jesus. We then act with    
far greater humility than others who imperceptibly rely on    
their own dispositions and are self-satisfied about them; and    
consequently we give greater glory to God, for perfect glory    
is given to him only by the lowly and humble of heart.    
    
224. 3) Our Blessed Lady, in her immense love for us, is eager    
to receive into her virginal hands the gift of our actions,    
imparting to them a marvellous beauty and splendour, and    
presenting them herself to Jesus most willingly. More glory is    
given to our Lord in this way than when we make our offering    
with our own guilty hands.    
    
225. 4) Lastly, you never think of Mary without Mary thinking    
of God for you. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary    
joining you in praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely    
relative to God. Indeed I would say that she was relative only    
to God, because she exists uniquely in reference to him.    
     She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God.    
If you say "Mary" she says "God". When St. Elizabeth praised    
Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the    
faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, "My soul    
glorifies the Lord." What Mary did on that day, she does every    
day. When we praise her, when we love and honour her, when we    
present anything to her, then God is praised, honoured and    
loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.    
    
                         CHAPTER SEVEN    
             PARTICULAR PRACTICES OF THIS DEVOTION    
    
                     1. Exterior Practices    
    
226. Although this devotion is essentially an interior one,    
this does not prevent it from having exterior practices which    
should not be neglected. "These must be done but those not    
omitted." If properly performed, exterior acts help to foster    
interior ones. Man is always guided by his senses and such    
practices remind him of what he has done or should do. Let no    
worldling or critic intervene to assert that true devotion is    
essentially in the heart and therefore externals should be    
avoided as inspiring vanity, or that real devotion should be    
hidden and private. I answer in the words of our Lord, "Let    
men see your good works that they may glorify your Father who    
is in heaven." As St. Gregory says, this does not mean that    
they should perform external actions to please men or seek    
praise; that certainly would be vanity. It simply means that    
we do these things before men only to please and glorify God    
without worrying about either the contempt or the approval of    
men.    
     I shall briefly mention some practices which I call    
exterior, not because they are performed without inner    
attention but because they have an exterior element as    
distinct from those which are purely interior.    
    
1. Preparation and Consecration    
    
227. Those who desire to take up this special devotion, (which    
has not been erected into a confraternity, although this would    
be desirable), should spend at least twelve days in emptying    
themselves of the spirit of the world, which is opposed to the    
spirit of Jesus, as I have recommended in the first part of    
this preparation for the reign of Jesus Christ. They should    
then spend three weeks imbuing themselves with the spirit of    
Jesus through the most Blessed Virgin. Here is a programme    
they might follow:    
    
228. During the first week they should offer up all their    
prayers and acts of devotion to acquire knowledge of    
themselves and sorrow for their sins.    
     Let them perform all their actions in a spirit of    
humility. With this end in view they may, if they wish,    
meditate on what I have said concerning our corrupted nature,    
and consider themselves during six days of the week as nothing    
but sails, slugs, toads, swine, snakes and goats. Or else they    
may meditate on the following three considerations of St.    
Bernard: "Remember what you were - corrupted seed; what you    
are - a body destined for decay; what you will be -food for    
worms."    
     They will ask our Lord and the Holy Spirit to enlighten    
them saying, "Lord, that I may see," or "Lord, let me know    
myself," or the "Come, Holy Spirit". Every day they should say    
the Litany of the Holy Spirit, with the prayer that follows,    
as indicated in the first part of this work. They will turn to    
our Blessed Lady and beg her to obtain for them that great    
grace which is the foundation of all others, the grace of    
self-knowledge. For this intention they will say each day the    
Ave Maris Stella  and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.    
    
229. Each day of the second week they should endeavour in all    
their prayers and works to acquire an understanding of the    
Blessed Virgin and ask the Holy Spirit for this grace. They    
may read and meditate upon what we have already said about    
her. They should recite daily the Litany of the Holy Spirit    
and the Ave Maris Stella  as during the first week. In    
addition they will say at least five decades of the Rosary for    
greater understanding of Mary.    
    
230. During the third week they should seek to understand    
Jesus Christ better. They may read and meditate on what we    
have already said about him. They may say the prayer of St.    
Augustine which they will find at the beginning of the second    
part of this book. Again with St. Augustine, they may pray    
repeatedly, "Lord, that I may know you," or "Lord, that I may    
see." As during the previous week, they should recite the    
Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave Maris Stella, adding    
every day the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus.    
    
231. At the end of these three weeks they should go to    
confession and Holy Communion with the intention of    
consecrating themselves to Jesus through Mary as slaves of    
love. When receiving Holy Communion they could follow the    
method given later on. They then recite the act of    
consecration which is given at the end of this book. If they    
do not have a printed copy of the act, they should write it    
out or have it copied and then sign it on the very day they    
make it.     
    
232. It would be very becoming if on that day they offered    
some tribute to Jesus and his Mother, either as a penance for    
past unfaithfulness to the promises made in baptism or as a    
sign of their submission to the sovereignty of Jesus and Mary.    
Such a tribute would be in accordance with each one's ability    
and fervour and may take the form of fasting, an act of self-    
denial, the gift of an alms or the offering of a votive    
candle. If they gave only a pin as a token of their homage,    
provided it were given with a good heart, it would satisfy    
Jesus who considers only the good intention.    
    
233. Every year at least, on the same date, they should renew    
the consecration following the same exercises for three weeks.    
They might also renew it every month or even every day by    
saying this short prayer: "I am all yours and all I have is    
yours, O dear Jesus, through Mary, your holy Mother."     
    
2. The Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin    
    
234. If it is not too inconvenient, they should recite every    
day of their lives the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin,    
which is composed of three Our Fathers and twelve Hail Marys    
in honour of the twelve glorious privileges of Mary. This    
prayer is very old and is based on Holy Scripture. St. John    
saw in a vision a woman crowned with twelve stars, clothed    
with the sun and standing upon the moon. According to biblical    
commentators, this woman is the Blessed Virgin.    
    
235. There are several ways of saying the Little Crown but it    
would take too long to explain them here. The Holy Spirit will    
teach them to those who live this devotion conscientiously.    
However, here is a simple way to recite it. As an introduction    
say:" Virgin most holy, accept my praise; give me strength to    
fight your foes", then say the Creed. Next, say the following    
sequence of prayers three times: one Our Father, four Hail    
Marys and one Glory be to the Father. In conclusion say the    
prayer Sub tuum - "We fly to thy patronage".      
    
3. The Wearing of Little Chains    
    
236. It is very praiseworthy and helpful for those who have    
become slaves of Jesus in Mary to wear, in token of their    
slavery of love, a little chain blessed with a special    
blessing.    
     It is perfectly true, these external tokens are not    
essential and may very well be dispensed with by those who    
have made this consecration. Nevertheless, I cannot help but    
give the warmest approval to those who wear them. They show    
they have shaken off the shameful chains of the slavery of the    
devil, in which original sin and perhaps actual sin had bound    
them, and have willingly taken upon themselves the glorious    
slavery of Jesus Christ. Like St. Paul, they glory in the    
chains they wear for Christ. For though these chains are made    
only of iron they are far more glorious and precious than all    
the gold ornaments worn by monarchs.    
    
237. At one time, nothing was considered more contemptible    
than the Cross. Now this sacred wood has become the most    
glorious symbol of the Christian faith. Similarly, nothing was    
more ignoble in the sight of the ancients, and even today    
nothing is more degrading among unbelievers than the chains of    
Jesus Christ. But among Christians nothing is more glorious    
than these chains, because by them Christians are liberated    
and kept free from the ignoble shackles of sin and the devil.    
Thus set free, we are bound to Jesus and Mary not by    
compulsion and force like galley-slaves, but by charity and    
love as children are to their parents. "I shall draw them to    
me by chains of love" said God Most High speaking through the    
prophet. Consequently, these chains are as strong as death,    
and in a way stronger than death, for those who wear them    
faithfully till the end of their life. For though death    
destroys and corrupts their body, it will not destroy the    
chains of their slavery, since these, being of metal, will not    
easily corrupt. It may be that on the day of their    
resurrection, that momentous day of final judgement, these    
chains, still clinging to their bones, will contribute to    
their glorification and be transformed into chains of light    
and splendour. Happy then, a thousand times happy, are the    
illustrious slaves of Jesus in Mary who bear their chains even    
to the grave.    
    
238. Here are the reasons for wearing these chains:    
     a) They remind a Christian of the promises of his baptism    
and the perfect renewal of these commitments made in his    
consecration. They remind him of his strict obligation to    
adhere faithfully to them. A man's actions are prompted more    
frequently by his senses than by pure faith and so he can    
easily forget his duties towards God if he has no external    
reminder of them. These little chains are a wonderful aid in    
recalling the bonds of sin and the slavery of the devil from    
which baptism has freed him. At the same time, they remind him    
of the dependence on Jesus promised at baptism and ratified    
when by consecration he renewed these promises. Why is it that    
so many Christians do not think of their baptismal vows and    
behave with as much licence as unbelievers who have promised    
nothing to God? One explanation is that they do not wear    
external sign to remind them of these vows.    
    
239. b) These chains prove they are not ashamed of being the    
servants and slaves of Jesus and that they reject the deadly    
bondage of the world, of sin and of the devil.    
     c) They are a guarantee and protection against    
enslavement by sin and the devil. For we must of necessity    
choose to wear either the chains of sin and damnation or the    
chains of love and salvation.    
    
240. Dear friend, break the chains of sin and of sinners, of    
the world and the worldly, of the devil and his satellites.    
"Cast their yoke of death far from us." To use the words of    
the Holy Spirit, let us put our feet into his glorious    
shackles and our neck into his chains. Let us bow down our    
shoulders in submission to the yoke of Wisdom incarnate, Jesus    
Christ, and let us not be upset by the burden of his chains.    
Notice how before saying these words the Holy Spirit prepares    
us to accept his serious advice, "Hearken, my son," he says,    
"receive a counsel of understanding and do not spurn this    
counsel of mine."    
    
241. Allow me here, my dear friend, to join the Holy Spirit in    
giving you the same counsel, "These chains are the chains of    
salvation". As our Lord on the cross draws all men to himself,    
whether they will it or not, he will draw sinners by the    
fetters of their sins and submit them like galley-slaves and    
devils to his eternal anger and avenging justice. But he will    
draw the just, especially in these latter days, by the chains    
of love.    
    
242. These loving slaves of Christ may wear their chains    
around the neck, on their arms, round the waist or round the    
ankles. Fr. Vincent Caraffa, seventh General of the Society of    
Jesus, who died a holy death in 1643, carried an iron band    
round his ankles as a symbol of his holy servitude and he used    
to say that his greatest regret was that he could not drag a    
chain around in public. Mother Agnes of Jesus, of whom we have    
already spoken, wore a chain around her waist. Others have    
worn it round the neck, in atonement for the pearl necklaces    
they wore in the world. Others have worn chains round their    
arms to remind them, as they worked with their hands, that    
they are the slaves of Jesus.    
    
4. Honouring the mystery of the Incarnation    
    
243. Loving slaves of Jesus in Mary should hold in high esteem    
devotion to Jesus, the Word of God, in the great mystery of    
the Incarnation, March 25th, which is the mystery proper to    
this devotion, because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit for    
the following reasons:    
     a) That we might honour and imitate the wondrous    
dependence which God the Son chose to have on Mary, for the    
glory of his Father and for the redemption of man. This    
dependence is revealed especially in this mystery where Jesus    
becomes a captive and slave in the womb of his Blessed Mother,    
depending on her for everything.    
     b) That we might thank God for the incomparable graces he    
has conferred upon Mary and especially that of choosing her to    
be his most worthy Mother. This choice was made in the mystery    
of the Incarnation. These are the two principal ends of the    
slavery of Jesus in Mary.      
    
244. Please note that I usually say "slave of Jesus in Mary",    
"slavery of Jesus in Mary". We might indeed say, as some have    
already been saying, "slave of Mary", "slavery of Mary". But I    
think it preferable to say, "slave of Jesus in Mary". This is    
the opinion of Fr. Tronson, Superior General of the Seminary    
of Saint-Sulpice, a man renowned for his exceptional prudence    
and remarkable holiness. He gave this advice when consulted    
upon this subject by a priest.    
     Here are the reasons for it:    
    
245. a) Since we live in an age of pride when a great number    
of haughty scholars, with proud and critical minds, find fault    
even with long-established and sound devotions, it is better    
to speak of "slavery of Jesus in Mary" and to call oneself    
"slave of Jesus" rather than "slave of Mary". We then avoid    
giving any pretext for criticism. In this way, we name this    
devotion after its ultimate end which is Jesus, rather than    
after the way and the means to arrive there, which is Mary.    
However, we can very well use either term without any scruple,    
as I myself do. If a man goes from Orl‚ans to Tours, by way of    
Amboise, he can quite truthfully say that he is going to    
Amboise and equally truthfully say that he is going to Tours.    
The only difference is that Amboise is simply a place on the    
direct road to Tours, and Tours alone is his final    
destination.    
    
246. b) Since the principal mystery celebrated and honoured in    
this devotion is the mystery of the Incarnation where we find    
Jesus only in Mary, having become incarnate in her womb, it is    
appropriate for us to say, "slavery of Jesus in Mary", of    
Jesus dwelling enthroned in Mary, according to the beautiful    
prayer, recited by so many great souls, "O Jesus living in    
Mary".    
    
247. c) These expressions show more clearly the intimate union    
existing between Jesus and Mary.  So closely are they united    
that one is wholly the other. Jesus is all in Mary and Mary is    
all in Jesus. Or rather, it is no longer she who lives, but    
Jesus alone who lives in her. It would be easier to separate    
light from the sun than Mary from Jesus. So united are they    
that our Lord may be called, "Jesus of Mary", and his Mother    
"Mary of Jesus".    
    
248. Time does not permit me to linger here and elaborate on    
the perfections and wonders of the mystery of Jesus living and    
reigning in Mary, or the Incarnation of the Word. I shall    
confine myself to the following brief remarks. The Incarnation    
is the first mystery of Jesus Christ; it is the most hidden;    
and it is the most exalted and the least known.    
     It was in this mystery that Jesus, in the womb of Mary    
and with her co-operation, chose all the elect. For this    
reason the saints called her womb, the throne-room of God's    
mysteries.    
     It was in this mystery that Jesus anticipated all    
subsequent mysteries of his life by his willing acceptance of    
them. Consequently, this mystery is a summary of all his    
mysteries since it contains the intention and the grace of    
them all.    
     Lastly, this mystery is the seat of the mercy, the    
liberality, and the glory of God. It is the seat of his mercy    
for us, since we can approach and speak to Jesus through Mary.    
We need her intervention to see or speak to him. Here, ever    
responsive to the prayer of his Mother, Jesus unfailingly    
grants grace and mercy to all poor sinners. "Let us come    
boldly before the throne of grace."    
     It is the seat of liberality for Mary, because while the    
new Adam dwelt in this truly earthly paradise God performed    
there so many hidden marvels beyond the understanding of men    
and angels. For this reason, the saints call Mary "the    
magnificence of God", as if God showed his magnificence only    
in Mary.    
     It is the seat of glory for his Father, because it was in    
Mary that Jesus perfectly atoned to his Father on behalf of    
mankind. It was here that he perfectly restored the glory that    
sin had taken from his Father. It was here again that our    
Lord, by the sacrifice of himself and of his will, gave more    
glory to God than he would have given had he offered all the    
sacrifices of the Old Law. Finally, in Mary he gave his Father    
infinite glory, such as his Father had never received from    
man.    
    
5. Saying the Hail Mary and the Rosary    
    
249. Those who accept this devotion should have a great love    
for the Hail Mary, or, as it is called, the Angelic    
Salutation.     
     Few Christians, however enlightened, understand the    
value, merit, excellence and necessity of the Hail Mary. Our    
Blessed Lady herself had to appear on several occasions to men    
of great holiness and insight, such as St. Dominic, St. John    
Capistran and Blessed Alan de Rupe, to convince them of the    
richness of this prayer.    
     They composed whole books on the wonders it had worked    
and its efficacy in converting sinners. They earnestly    
proclaimed and publicly preached that just as the salvation of    
the world began with the Hail Mary, so the salvation of each    
individual is bound up with it. This prayer, they said,    
brought to a dry and barren world the Fruit of Life, and if    
well said, will cause the Word of God to take root in the soul    
and bring forth Jesus, the Fruit of Life. They also tell us    
that the Hail Mary is a heavenly dew which waters the earth of    
our soul and makes it bear fruit in due season. The soul which    
is not watered by this heavenly dew bears no fruit but only    
thorns and briars, and merits only God's condemnation.    
    
250. Here is what our Blessed Lady revealed to Blessed Alan de    
Rupe as recorded in his book, The Dignity of the Rosary,  and    
as told again by Cartagena: "Know, my son, and make it known    
to all, that lukewarmness or negligence in saying the Hail    
Mary, or a distaste for it, is a probable and proximate sign    
of eternal damnation, for by this prayer the whole world was    
restored."    
     These are terrible words but at the same time they are    
consoling. We should find it hard to believe them, were we not    
assured of their truth by Blessed Alan and by St. Dominic    
before him, and by so many great men since his time. The    
experience of many centuries is there to prove it, for it has    
always been common knowledge that those who bear the sign of    
reprobation, as all formal heretics, evil-doers, the proud and    
the worldly, hate and spurn the Hail Mary and the Rosary.    
True, heretics learn to say the Our Father but they will not    
countenance the Hail Mary and the Rosary and they would rather    
carry a snake around with them than a rosary. And there are    
even Catholics who, sharing the proud tendencies of their    
father Lucifer, despise the Hail Mary or look upon it with    
indifference. The Rosary, they say, is a devotion suitable    
only for ignorant and illiterate people.    
     On the other hand, we know from experience that those who    
show positive signs of being among the elect, appreciate and    
love the Hail Mary and are always glad to say it. The closer    
they are to God, the more they love this prayer, as our    
Blessed Lady went on to tell Blessed Alan.    
    
251. I do not know how this should be, but it is perfectly    
true; and I know no surer way of discovering whether a person    
belongs to God than by finding out if he loves the Hail Mary    
and the Rosary. I say, "if he loves", for it can happen that a    
person for some reason may be unable to say the Rosary, but    
this does not prevent him from loving it and inspiring others    
to say it.    
    
252. Chosen souls, slaves of Jesus in Mary, understand that    
after the Our Father, the Hail Mary is the most beautiful of    
all prayers. It is the perfect compliment the most High God    
paid to Mary through his archangel in order to win her heart.    
So powerful was the effect of this greeting upon her, on    
account of its hidden delights, that despite her great    
humility, she gave her consent to the incarnation of the Word.    
If you say the Hail Mary properly, this compliment will    
infallibly earn you Mary's good will.    
    
253. When the Hail Mary is well said, that is, with attention,    
devotion and humility, it is, according to the saints, the    
enemy of Satan, putting him to flight; it is the hammer that    
crushes him, a source of holiness for souls, a joy to the    
angels and a sweet melody for the devout. It is the Canticle    
of the New Testament, a delight for Mary and glory for the    
most Blessed Trinity. The Hail Mary is dew falling from heaven    
to make the soul fruitful. It is a pure kiss of love we give    
to Mary. It is a crimson rose, a precious pearl that we offer    
to her. It is a cup of ambrosia, a divine nectar that we offer    
her. These are comparisons made by the saints.    
    
254. I earnestly beg of you, then, by the love I bear you in    
Jesus and Mary, not to be content with saying the Little Crown    
of the Blessed Virgin, but say the Rosary too, and if time    
permits, all its fifteen decades, every day. Then when death    
draws near, you will bless the day and hour when you took to    
heart what I told you, for having sown the blessings of Jesus    
and Mary, you will reap the eternal blessings in heaven.    
    
6. Praying the Magnificat    
    
255. To thank God for the graces he has given to our Lady, her    
consecrated ones will frequently say the Magnificat, following    
the example of Blessed Marie d'Oignies and several other    
saints. The Magnificat  is the only prayer we have which was    
composed by our Lady, or rather, composed by Jesus in her, for    
it was he who spoke through her lips. It is the greatest    
offering of praise that God ever received under the law of    
grace. On the one hand, it is the most humble hymn of    
thanksgiving and, on the other, it is the most sublime and    
exalted. Contained in it are mysteries so great and so hidden    
that even the angels do not understand them.    
     Gerson, a pious and learned scholar, spent the greater    
part of his life writing tracts full of erudition and love on    
the most profound subjects. Even so, it was with apprehension    
that he undertook towards the end of his life to write a    
commentary on the Magnificat  which was the crowning point of    
all his works. In a large volume on the subject he says many    
wonderful things about this beautiful and divine canticle.    
Among other things he tells us that Mary herself frequently    
recited it, especially at thanksgiving after Holy Communion.     
The learned Benzonius, in his commentary on the Magnificat,    
cites several miracles worked through the power of this    
prayer. The devils, he declare, take to flight when they hear    
these words, "He puts forth his arm in strength and scatters    
the proud-hearted".    
    
7. Contempt of the world    
    
256. Mary's faithful servants despise this corrupted world.    
They should hate and shun its allurements, and follow the    
exercises of the contempt of the world which we have given in    
the first part of this treatise.    
    
            2. Special interior practices for those    
                    who wish to be perfect    
    
257. The exterior practices of this devotion which I have just    
dealt with should be observed as far as one's circumstances    
and state of life permit. They should not be omitted through    
negligence or deliberate disregard. In addition to them, here    
are some very sanctifying interior practices for those souls    
who feel called by the Holy Spirit to a high degree of    
perfection. They may be expressed in four words, doing    
everything through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary, in    
order to do it more perfectly through Jesus, with Jesus, in    
Jesus, and for Jesus.    
    
                                                  Through Mary    
    
258. We must do everything through Mary, that is, we must obey    
her always and be led in all things by her spirit, which is    
the Holy Spirit of God.  "Those who are led by the Spirit of    
God are children of God," says St. Paul. Those who are led by    
the spirit of Mary are children of Mary, and, consequently    
children of God, as we have already shown. Among the many    
servants of Mary only those who are truly and faithfully    
devoted to her are led by her spirit.    
     I have said that the spirit of Mary is the spirit of God    
because she was never led by her own spirit,, but always by    
the spirit of God, who made himself master of her to such an    
extent that he became her very spirit. That is why St. Ambrose    
says, "May the soul of Mary be in each one of us to glorify    
the Lord. May the spirit of Mary be in each one of us to    
rejoice in God." Happy is the man who follows the example of    
the good Jesuit Brother Rodriguez, who died a holy death,    
because he will be completely possessed and governed by the    
spirit of Mary, a spirit which is gentle yet strong, zealous    
yet prudent, humble yet courageous, pure yet fruitful.    
    
259. The person who wishes to be led by this spirit of Mary:    
     1) Should renounce his own spirit, his own views and his    
own will before doing anything, for example, before making    
meditation, celebrating or attending Mass, before Communion.    
For the darkness of our own spirit and the evil tendencies of    
our own will and actions, good as they may seem to us, would    
hinder the holy spirit of Mary were we to follow them.    
     2) We should give ourselves up to the spirit of Mary to    
be moved and directed as she wishes. We should place and leave    
ourselves in her virginal hands, like a tool in the hands of a    
craftsman or a lute in the hands of a good musician. We should    
cast ourselves into her like a stone thrown into the sea. This    
is done easily and quickly by a mere thought, a slight    
movement of the will or just a few words as, "I renounce    
myself and give myself to you, my dear Mother." And even if we    
do not experience any emotional fervour in this spiritual    
encounter it is none the less real. It is just as if a person    
with equal sincerity were to say - which God forbid! - "I give    
myself to the devil." Even though this were said without    
feeling any emotion, he would no less really belong to the    
devil.        
     3) From time to time during an action and after it, we    
should renew this same act of offering and of union. The more    
we do so, the quicker we shall grow in holiness and the sooner    
we shall reach union with Christ, which necessarily follows    
upon union with Mary, since the spirit of Mary is the spirit    
of Jesus.    
    
                                                     With Mary    
    
260. We must do everything with Mary, that is to say, in all    
our actions we must look upon Mary, although a simple human    
being, as the perfect model of every virtue and perfection,    
fashioned by the Holy Spirit for us to imitate, as far as our    
limited capacity allows. In every action then we should    
consider how Mary performed it or how she would perform it if    
she were in our place. For this reason, we must examine and    
meditate on the great virtues she practised during her life,    
especially:    
     1) Her lively faith, by which she believed the angel's    
word without the least hesitation, and believed faithfully and    
constantly even to the foot of the Cross on Calvary.    
     2) Her deep humility, which made her prefer seclusion,    
maintain silence, submit to every eventuality and put herself    
in the last place.    
     3) Her truly divine purity, which never had and never    
will have its equal on this side of heaven.    
     And so on for her other virtues.    
     Remember what I told you before, that Mary is the great,    
unique mould of God, designed to make living images of God at    
little expense and in a short time. Anyone who finds this    
mould and casts himself into it, is soon transformed into our    
Lord because it is the true likeness of him.    
    
                                                       In Mary    
    
261. We must do everything in Mary. To understand this we must    
realise that the Blessed Virgin is the true earthly paradise    
of the new Adam and that the ancient paradise was only a    
symbol of her. There are in this earthly paradise untold    
riches, beauties, rarities and delights, which the new Adam,    
Jesus Christ, has left there. It is in this paradise that he    
"took his delights" for nine months, worked his wonders and    
displayed his riches with the magnificence of God himself.    
This most holy place consists of only virgin and immaculate    
soil from which the new Adam was formed with neither spot nor    
stain by the operation of the Holy Spirit who dwells there. In    
this earthly paradise grows the real Tree of Life which bore    
our Lord, the fruit of Life, the tree of knowledge of good and    
evil, which bore the Light of the world.    
     In this divine place there are trees planted by the hand    
of God and watered by his divine unction which have borne and    
continue to bear fruit that is pleasing to him. There are    
flower-beds studded with a variety of beautiful flowers of    
virtue, diffusing a fragrance which delights even the angels.    
Here there are meadows verdant with hope, impregnable towers    
of fortitude, enchanting mansions of confidence and many other    
delights.    
     Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the truths that these    
material objects symbolise. In this place the air is perfectly    
pure. There is no night but only the brilliant day of the    
sacred humanity, the resplendent, spotless sun of the    
Divinity, the blazing furnace of love, melting all the base    
metal thrown into it and changing it into gold. There the    
river of humility gushes forth from the soil, divides into    
four branches and irrigates the whole of this enchanted place.    
These branches are the four cardinal virtues.    
    
262. The Holy Spirit speaking through the Fathers of the    
Church, also calls our Lady the Eastern Gate, through which    
the High Priest, Jesus Christ, enters and goes out into the    
world. Through this gate he entered the world the first time    
and through this same gate he will come the second time.    
     The Holy Spirit also calls her the Sanctuary of the    
Divinity, the Resting-Place of the Holy Spirit, the Throne of    
God, the City of God, the Altar of God, the Temple of God, the    
World of God. All these titles and expressions of praise are    
very real when related to the different wonders the Almighty    
worked in her and the graces which he bestowed on her. What    
wealth and what glory! What a joy and a privilege for us to    
enter and dwell in Mary, in whom almighty God has set up the    
throne of his supreme glory!    
    
263. But how difficult it is for us to have the freedom, the    
ability and the light to enter such an exalted and holy place.    
This place is guarded not by a cherub, like the first earthly    
paradise, but by the Holy Spirit himself who has become its    
absolute Master. Referring to her, he says: "You are an    
enclosed garden, my sister, my bride, an enclosed garden and a    
sealed fountain." Mary is enclosed. Mary is sealed. The    
unfortunate children of Adam and Eve driven from the earthly    
paradise, can enter this new paradise only by a special grace    
of the Holy Spirit which they have to merit.    
    
264. When we have obtained this remarkable grace by our    
fidelity, we should be delighted to remain in Mary. We should    
rest there peacefully, rely on her confidently, hide ourselves    
there with safety, and abandon ourselves unconditionally to    
her, so that within her virginal bosom:    
     1) We may be nourished with the milk of her grace and her    
motherly compassion.    
     2) We may be delivered from all anxiety, fear and    
scruples.    
     3) We may be safeguarded from all our enemies, the devil,    
the world and sin which have never gained admittance there.    
That is why our Lady says that those who work in her will not    
sin, that is, those who dwell spiritually in our Lady will    
never commit serious sin.    
     4) We may be formed in our Lord and our Lord formed in    
us, because her womb is, as the early Fathers call it, the    
house of the divine secrets where Jesus and all the elect have    
been conceived. "This one and that one were born in her."    
    
                                                      For Mary    
    
265. Finally, we must do everything for Mary. Since we have    
given ourselves completely to her service, it is only right    
that we should do everything for her as if we were her    
personal servant and slave. This does not mean that we take    
her for the ultimate end of our service for Jesus alone is our    
ultimate end. But we take Mary for our proximate end, our    
mysterious intermediary and the easiest way of reaching him.    
     Like every good servant and slave we must not remain    
idle, but, relying on her protection, we should undertake and    
carry out great things for our noble Queen. We must defend her    
privileges when they are questioned and uphold her good name    
when it is under attack. We must attract everyone, if    
possible, to her service and to this true and sound devotion.    
We must speak up and denounce those who distort devotion to    
her by outraging her Son, and at the same time we must apply    
ourselves to spreading this true devotion. As a reward for    
these little services, we should expect nothing in return save    
the honour of belonging to such a lovable Queen and the joy of    
being united through her to Jesus, her Son, by a bond that is    
indissoluble in time and in eternity. Glory to Jesus in Mary!    
Glory to Mary in Jesus! Glory to God alone!    
    
                          SUPPLEMENT    
    
                THIS DEVOTION AT HOLY COMMUNION    
    
Before Holy Communion    
    
266. 1) Place yourself humbly in the presence of God.    
     2) Renounce your corrupt nature and dispositions, no    
matter how good self-love makes them appear to you.    
     3) Renew your consecration saying, "I belong entirely to    
you, dear Mother, and all that I have is yours."    
     4) Implore Mary to lend you her heart so that you may    
receive her Son with her dispositions. Remind her that her    
Son's glory requires that he should not come into a heart so    
sullied and fickle as your own, which could not fail to    
diminish his glory and might cause him to leave. Tell her that    
if she will take up her abode in you to receive her Son -    
which she can do because of the sovereignty she has over all    
hearts - he will be received by her in a perfect manner    
without danger of being affronted or being forced to    
depart."God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved."     
     Tell her with confidence that all you have given her of    
your possessions is little enough to honour her, but that in    
Holy Communion you wish to give her the same gifts as the    
eternal Father gave her. Thus she will feel more honoured than    
if you gave her all the wealth in the world. Tell her,    
finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is unique, still    
wishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in your    
soul, even though it is poorer and less clean than the stable    
which he readily entered because she was there. Beg her to    
lend you her heart, saying, "O Mary, I take you for my all;    
give me your heart."    
    
During Holy Communion    
    
267. After the Our Father, when you are about to receive our    
Lord, say to him three times the prayer, "Lord, I am not    
worthy." Say it the first time as if you were telling the    
eternal Father that because of your evil thoughts and your    
ingratitude to such a good Father, you are unworthy to receive    
his only-begotten Son, but that here is Mary, his handmaid,    
who acts for you and whose presence gives you a special    
confidence and hope in him.    
    
268. Say to God the Son, "Lord, I am not worthy", meaning that    
you are not worthy to receive him because of your useless and    
evil words and your carelessness in his service, but    
nevertheless you ask him to have pity on you because you are    
going to usher him into the house of his Mother and yours, and    
you will not let him go until he has made it his home. Implore    
him to rise and come to the place of his repose and the ark of    
his sanctification. Tell him that you have no faith in your    
own merits, strength and preparedness, like Esau, but only in    
Mary, your Mother, just as Jacob had trust in Rebecca his    
mother. Tell him that although you are a great sinner you    
still presume to approach him, supported by his holy Mother    
and adorned with her merits and virtues.    
    
269. Say to the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I am not worthy". Tell him    
that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of his love    
because of your lukewarmness, wickedness and resistance to his    
inspirations. But, nonetheless, you put all your confidence in    
Mary, his faithful Spouse, and say with St. Bernard, "She is    
my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation of my hope." Beg    
him to overshadow Mary, his inseparable Spouse, once again.    
Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever. Tell him    
that if he does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary    
will be formed there nor will it be a worthy dwelling for    
them.    
    
After Holy Communion    
    
270. After Holy Communion, close your eyes and recollect    
yourself. Then usher Jesus into the heart of Mary: you are    
giving him to his Mother who will receive him with great love    
and give him the place of honour, adore him profoundly, show    
him perfect love, embrace him intimately in spirit and in    
truth, and perform many offices for him of which we, in our    
ignorance, would know nothing.    
    
271. Or, maintain a profoundly humble heart in the presence of    
Jesus dwelling in Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at    
the gate of the royal palace, where the King is speaking with    
the Queen. While they are talking to each other, with no need    
of you, go in spirit to heaven and to the whole world, and    
call upon all creatures to thank, adore and love Jesus and    
Mary for you. "Come, let us adore."    
    
272. Or, ask Jesus living in Mary that his kingdom may come    
upon earth through his holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom,    
divine love, the forgiveness of your sins, or any other grace,    
but always through Mary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach    
upon yourself and say, "Lord, do not look at my sins, let your    
eyes see nothing in me but the virtues and merits of Mary."    
Remembering your sins, you may add, "I am my own worst enemy    
and I am guilty of all these sins." Or, "Deliver me from the    
unjust and deceitful man." Or again, "Dear Jesus, you must    
increase in my soul and I must decrease." "Mary, you must    
increase in me and I must always go on decreasing." "O Jesus    
and Mary, increase in me and increase in others around me."    
    
273. There are innumerable other thoughts with which the Holy    
Spirit will inspire you, which he will make yours if you are    
thoroughly recollected and mortified, and constantly faithful    
to the great and sublime devotion which I have been teaching    
you. But remember, the more you let Mary act in your Communion    
the more Jesus will be glorified. The more you humble yourself    
and listen to Jesus and Mary in peace and silence - with no    
desire to see, taste or feel - then the more freedom you will    
give to Mary to act in Jesus' name and the more Jesus will act    
in Mary. For the just man lives everywhere by faith, but    
especially in Holy Communion, which is an action of faith.     
    
*** THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY FOR RENEWAL AND SALVATION
    ==================================================    
    
A White Rose    
    
1    Dear ministers of the most high God, you my fellow priests    
who preach the truth of God and who teach the gospel to all    
nations, let me give you this little book as a white rose that    
I would like you to keep. The truths contained in it are set    
forth in a very simple and straightforward manner, as you will    
see.    
     Please keep them in your heart so that you yourselves may    
make a practice of the Rosary and taste its fruits.    
     Please have them always on your lips too, so that you will    
always preach the Rosary and thus convert others by teaching them    
the excellence of this holy devotion.    
     I beg of you to beware of thinking of the Rosary as    
something of little importance - as do ignorant people, and even    
several great but proud scholars. Far from being insignificant,    
the Rosary is a priceless treasure which is inspired by God.    
     Almighty God has given it to you because he wants you to use    
it as a means to convert the most hardened sinners and the most    
obstinate heretics. He has attached to it grace in this life and    
glory in the next. The saints have said it faithfully and the    
Popes have endorsed it.    
     When the Holy Spirit has revealed this secret to a priest    
and director of souls, how blessed is that priest! For the vast    
majority of people fail to know this secret or else only know it    
superficially. If such a priest really understands this secret,    
he will say the Rosary each day and will encourage others to say    
it. God and his blessed Mother will pour abundant grace into his    
soul, so that he may become God's instrument for his glory; and    
his word, though simple, will do more good in one month than that    
of other preachers in several years.    
    
2    Therefore, my dear brothers and fellow priests, it will not    
be enough for us to preach this devotion to others; we must    
practice it ourselves, for if we firmly believed in the    
importance of the holy Rosary but never said it ourselves, people    
could hardly be expected to act upon our advice, since no one can    
give what he does not have: "Jesus began to do and to teach." We    
ought to pattern ourselves on our Lord, who began practising what    
he preached. We ought to emulate St. Paul, who knew and preached    
nothing but Jesus crucified.    
     I could tell you at great length of the grace God has given    
me to know by experience the effectiveness of the preaching of    
the holy Rosary, and of how I have seen, with my own eyes, the    
most wonderful conversions it has brought about. I would gladly    
tell you all these things if I thought that it would move you to    
preach this beautiful devotion, in spite of the fact that priests    
are not in the habit of doing so these days. But instead of all    
this, I think it will be quite enough for this little summary    
that I am writing if I tell you a few ancient but authentic    
stories about the holy Rosary. These excerpts really go to prove    
what I have outlined for the faithful.    
    
A Red Rose    
    
3    Poor men and women who are sinners, I, a greater sinner than    
you, wish to give you this rose, a crimson one, because the    
precious blood of our Lord has fallen upon it. Please God that    
it may bring true fragrance into your lives - but above all, may    
it save you from the danger that you are in. Every day    
unbelievers and un-repentant sinners cry, "Let us crown ourselves    
with roses." But our cry should be, "Let us crown ourselves with    
the roses of the holy Rosary."    
     How different are theirs from ours! Their roses are    
pleasures of the flesh, worldly honours and passing riches which    
wilt and decay in no time, but ours, which are the Our Father and    
Hail Mary which we have said devoutly over and over again, and    
to which we have added good penitential acts, will never wilt or    
die, and they will be just as exquisite thousands of years from    
now as they are today.    
     On the contrary, sinners' roses only look like roses, while    
in point of fact they are cruel thorns which prick them during    
life by giving them pangs of conscience, at their death they    
pierce them with bitter regret and, still worse, in eternity they    
turn to burning shafts of anger and despair. But if our roses    
have thorns, they are the thorns of Jesus Christ, who changes    
them into roses. If our roses prick us, it is only for a short    
time, and only in order to cure the illness of sin and to save    
our souls.    
    
4    So by all means we should eagerly crown ourselves with these    
roses from heaven, and recite the entire Rosary every day, that    
is to say, three rosaries each of five decades, which are like    
three little wreaths or crowns of flowers. There are two reasons    
for doing this: first of all, to honour the three crowns of Jesus    
and Mary - Jesus' crown of grace at the time of his Incarnation,    
his crown of thorns during his passion, and his crown of glory    
in heaven, and of course the three-fold crown which the Blessed    
Trinity gave Mary in heaven. Secondly, we should do this so that    
we ourselves may receive three crowns from Jesus and Mary, the    
first a crown of merit during our lifetime; the second, a crown    
of peace at our death; and the third, a crown of glory in heaven.    
     If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure    
you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins "you shall receive    
a never-fading crown of glory." Even if you are on the brink of    
damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have    
sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black    
magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil,    
sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life    
and save your soul, if - and mark well what I say - if you say    
the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of    
knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your    
sins.    
     In this book there are several stories of great sinners who    
were converted through the power of the Rosary. Please read and    
meditate upon them.    
    
A Mystical Rose Tree    
    
5    Good and devout souls, who walk in the light of the Holy    
Spirit, I do not think you will mind my giving you this little    
mystical rose tree which comes straight from heaven and which is    
to be planted in the garden of your soul. It cannot possibly harm    
the sweet-smelling flowers of your contemplations; for it is a    
heavenly tree and its scent is very pleasant. It will not in the    
least interfere with your carefully planned flower-beds; for,    
being itself all pure and well-ordered, it inclines all to order    
and purity. If it is carefully watered and properly attended to    
every day, it will grow to such a marvellous height, and its    
branches will have such a wide span that, far from hindering your    
other devotions, it will maintain and perfect them. Of course,    
you understand what I mean, since you are spiritually minded;    
this mystical rose tree is Jesus and Mary in life, death and    
eternity.    
    
6    Its green leaves are the Joyful Mysteries, the thorns the    
Sorrowful ones, and the flowers the Glorious Mysteries of Jesus    
and Mary. The buds are the childhood of Jesus and Mary, and the    
open blooms show us both of them in their sufferings, and the    
full-blown roses symbolize Jesus and Mary in their triumph and    
glory.    
     A rose delights us because of its beauty: so here we have    
Jesus and Mary in the Joyful Mysteries. Its thorns are sharp, and    
they prick, which makes us think of them in the Sorrowful    
Mysteries, and last of all, its perfume is so sweet that everyone    
loves it, and this fragrance symbolizes their Glorious Mysteries.    
     So please do not scorn this beautiful and heavenly tree, but    
plant it with your own hands in the garden of your soul, by    
making the resolution to say your Rosary every day. By saying it    
daily and by doing good works you will be tending your tree,    
watering it, hoeing the earth around it. Eventually you will see    
that this little seed which I have given you, and which seems so    
small now, will grow into a tree so great that the birds of    
heaven, that is, predestinate and contemplative souls, will dwell    
in it and make their nests there. Its shade will shelter them    
from the scorching heat of the sun and its height will keep them    
safe from the wild beasts on the ground. And best of all, they    
will feed upon the tree's fruit, which is none other than our    
adorable Jesus, to whom be honour and glory forever and ever.    
Amen.    
God Alone    
    
A Rosebud    
    
7    Dear little friends, this beautiful rosebud is for you; it    
is one of the beads of your Rosary, and it may seem to you to be    
such a tiny thing. But if you only knew how precious this bead    
is! This wonderful bud will open out into a gorgeous rose if you    
say your Hail Mary really well.    
     Of course it would be too much to expect you to say the    
whole fifteen mysteries every day, but do say at least five    
mysteries, and say them properly with love and devotion. This    
Rosary will be your little wreath of roses, your crown for Jesus    
and Mary. Please pay attention to every word I have said, and    
listen carefully to a true story that I want to tell you, and    
that I would like you to remember. Two little girls, who were    
sisters, were saying the Rosary very devoutly in front of their    
house. A beautiful lady suddenly appeared, walked towards the    
younger girl, who was only about six or seven, took her by the    
hand, and led her away. Her elder sister was very startled and    
looked for the little girl everywhere. At last, still not having    
found her, she went home weeping and told her parents that her    
sister had been kidnapped. For three whole days the poor father    
and mother sought the child without success.    
     At the end of the third day they found her at the front door    
looking extremely happy and pleased. Naturally they asked her    
where on earth she had been, and she told them that the lady to    
whom she had been saying the Rosary had taken her to a lovely    
place where she had given her delicious things to eat. She said    
that the lady had also given her a baby boy to hold, that he was    
very beautiful, and that she had kissed him again and again.    
     The father and mother, who had been converted to the    
Catholic faith only a short time before, sent at once for the    
Jesuit Father who had instructed them for their reception into    
the Church and who had also taught them devotion to the Rosary.    
They told him everything that had happened, and it was this    
priest himself who told me this story. It all took place in    
Paraguay.    
     So, dear children, imitate these little girls and say your    
Rosary every day as they always did. If you do this, you will    
earn the right to go to heaven to see Jesus and Mary. If it is    
not their wish that you should see them in this life, at any rate    
after you die you will see them for all eternity. Amen.    
     Therefore let all men, the learned and the ignorant, the    
just and the sinners, the great and the small, praise and honour    
Jesus and Mary night and day, by saying the holy Rosary. "Greet    
Mary who has laboured much among you."    
    
FIRST DECADE    
The surpassing merit of the Rosary as seen in its origin and    
name.    
    
First Rose    
    
9    The Rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal    
prayer. In the Rosary mental prayer is none other than meditation    
of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus    
Christ and of his blessed Mother. Vocal prayer consists in saying    
fifteen decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our    
Father, while at the same time meditating on and contemplating    
the fifteen principal virtues which Jesus and Mary practised in    
the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.    
     In the first five decades we must honour the five Joyful    
Mysteries and meditate on them; in the second five decades, the    
Sorrowful Mysteries; and in the third group of five, the Glorious    
Mysteries. So the Rosary is a blessed blending of mental and    
vocal prayer by which we honour and learn to imitate the    
mysteries and the virtues of the life, death, passion and glory    
of Jesus and Mary.    
    
Second Rose    
    
10   Since the Rosary is composed, principally and in substance,    
of the prayer of Christ and the Angelic Salutation, that is, the    
Our Father and the Hail Mary, it was without doubt the first    
prayer and the principal devotion of the faithful and has been    
in use all through the centuries, from the time of the apostles    
and disciples down to the present.    
    
11   It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church    
received the Rosary in its present form and according to the    
method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic,    
who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of    
converting the Albigensians and other sinners.    
     I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is    
found in the very well-known book De Dignitate Psalterii, by    
Blessed Alan de la Roche. Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity    
of people's sins was hindering the conversion of the    
Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse, where he    
prayed continuously for three days and three nights. During this    
time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to    
appease the anger of God. He used his discipline so much that his    
body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.    
     At this point our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three    
angels, and she said, "Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the    
Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?"    
     "Oh, my Lady," answered Saint Dominic, "you know far better    
than I do, because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always    
been the chief instrument of our salvation."    
     Then our Lady replied, "I want you to know that, in this    
kind of warfare, the principal weapon has always been the Angelic    
Psalter, which is the foundation-stone of the New Testament.    
Therefore, if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them    
over to God, preach my Psalter."    
     So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal for the    
conversion of the people in that district, he made straight for    
the cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the    
people together, and Saint Dominic began to preach.    
     At the very beginning of his sermon, an appalling storm    
broke out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was    
so much thunder and lightning that all were very much afraid.    
Even greater was their fear when, looking at a picture of our    
Lady exposed in a prominent place, they saw her raise her arms    
to heaven three times to call down God's vengeance upon them if    
they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the    
protection of the holy Mother of God.    
     God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to    
spread the new devotion of the holy Rosary and to make it more    
widely known.    
     At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm came to    
an end, and he went on preaching. So fervently and compellingly    
did he explain the importance and value of the Rosary that almost    
all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false    
beliefs. In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the    
town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their    
former bad habits.    
    
Third Rose    
    
12   The miraculous way in which the devotion to the holy Rosary    
was established is something of a parallel to the way in which    
God gave his law to the world on Mount Sinai, and it obviously    
proves its value and importance.    
     Inspired by the Holy Spirit, instructed by the Blessed    
Virgin as well as by his own experience, Saint Dominic preached    
the Rosary for the rest of his life. He preached it by his    
example as well as by his sermons, in cities and in country    
places, to people of high station and low, before scholars and    
the uneducated, to Catholics and to heretics.    
     The Rosary, which he said every day, was his preparation for    
every sermon and his little tryst with our Lady immediately after    
preaching.    
    
13   One day he had to preach at Notre Dame in Paris, and it    
happened to be the feast of St. John the Evangelist. He was in    
a little chapel behind the high altar prayerfully preparing his    
sermon by saying the Rosary, as he always did, when our Lady    
appeared to him and said: "Dominic, even though what you have    
planned to say may be very good, I am bringing you a much better    
sermon."    
     Saint Dominic took in his hands the book our Lady proffered,    
read the sermon carefully and, when he had understood it and    
meditated on it, he gave thanks to her.    
     When the time came, he went up into the pulpit and, in spite    
of the feast day, made no mention of Saint John other than to say    
that he had been found worthy to be the guardian of the Queen of    
Heaven. The congregation was made up of theologians and other    
eminent people, who were used to hearing unusual and polished    
discourses; but Saint Dominic told them that it was not his    
desire to give them a learned discourse, wise in the eyes of the    
world, but that he would speak in the simplicity of the Holy    
Spirit and with his forcefulness.    
     So he began preaching the Rosary and explained the Hail Mary    
word by word as he would to a group of children, and used the    
very simple illustrations which were in the book given him by our    
Lady.    
    
14    Carthagena, the great scholar, quoting Blessed Alan de la    
Roche in De Dignitate Psalterii, describes how this took place.    
     "Blessed Alan writes that one day Father Dominic said to him    
in a vision, 'My son, it is good to preach; but there is always    
a danger of looking for praise rather than the salvation of    
souls. Listen care-fully to what happened to me in Paris, so that    
you may be on your guard against this kind of mistake. I was to    
preach in the great church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and    
I was particularly anxious to give a fine sermon, not out of    
pride, but because of the high intellectual stature of the    
congregation.    
     "'An hour before the time I had to preach, I was dutifully    
saying my Rosary - as I always did before giving a sermon - when    
I fell into ecstasy. I saw my beloved friend, the Mother of God,    
coming towards me with a book in her hand. "Dominic," she said,    
"your sermon for today may be very good indeed, but no matter how    
good it is, I have brought you one that is very much better."    
     "'Of course I was overjoyed, and I took the book and read    
every word of it. Just as our Lady had said, I found exactly the    
right things to say in my sermon, so I thanked her with all my    
heart.    
     "'When it was time to begin, I saw that the University of    
Paris had turned out in full force, as well as a large number of    
noblemen. They had all seen and heard of the great things that    
the good Lord had been doing through me.    
     "'I went up into the pulpit. It was the feast of Saint John    
the Evangelist but all I said about him was that he had been    
found worthy to be the guardian of the Queen of Heaven. Then I    
addressed the congregation:    
     "'My Lords and illustrious doctors of the University, you    
are accustomed to hearing learned sermons suited to your refined    
tastes. Now I do not want to speak to you in the scholarly    
language of human wisdom but, on the contrary, to show you the    
Spirit of Cod and his greatness."'    
     Here ends the quotation from Blessed Alan, after which    
Carthagena goes on to say in his own words, "Then Saint Dominic    
explained the Angelic Salutation to them, using simple    
comparisons and examples from everyday life."    
    
15   Blessed Alan, according to Carthagena, mentioned several    
other occasions when our Lord and our Lady appeared to Saint    
Dominic to urge him and inspire him to preach the Rosary more and    
more in order to wipe out sin and convert sinners and heretics.    
     In another passage Carthagena says, "Blessed Alan said our    
Lady revealed to him that, after she had appeared to Saint    
Dominic, her blessed Son appeared to him and said, 'Dominic, I    
rejoice to see that you are not relying on your own wisdom and    
that, rather than seek the empty praise of men, you are working    
with great humility for the salvation of souls.    
     "'But many priests want to preach thunderously against the    
worst kinds of sin at the very outset, failing to realize that    
before a sick person is given bitter medicine, he needs to be    
prepared by being put into the right frame of mind to really    
benefit by it.    
     "'That is why, before doing anything else, priests should    
try to kindle a love of prayer in people's hearts and especially    
a love of my Angelic Psalter. If only they would all start saying    
it and would really persevere, God in his mercy could hardly    
refuse to give them his grace. So I want you to preach my    
Rosary."'    
    
16   In another place Blessed Alan says, "All priests say a Hail    
Mary with the faithful before preaching, to ask for God's grace.'    
They do this because of a revelation that Saint Dominic had from    
our Lady. 'My son,' she said one day, 'do not be surprised that    
your sermons fail to bear the results you had hoped for. You are    
trying to cultivate a piece of ground which has not had any rain.    
Now when God planned to renew the face of the earth, he started    
by sending down rain from heaven - and this was the Angelic    
Salutation. In this way God reformed the world.    
     "'So when you give a sermon, urge people to say my Rosary,    
and in this way your words will bear much fruit for souls.'    
     "Saint Dominic lost no time in obeying, and from then on he    
exerted great influence by his sermons." (This last quotation is    
from "The Book of Miracles of the Holy Rosary," written in    
Italian, also found in Justin's works, Sermon 143.)    
    
17   I have been very pleased to quote these well-known authors    
word for word for the benefit of those who might otherwise have    
doubts as to the marvellous power of the Rosary.    
     As long as priests followed Saint Dominic's example and    
preached devotion to the holy Rosary, piety and fervour thrived    
throughout the Christian world and in those religious orders    
which were devoted to the Rosary. But since people have neglected    
this gift from heaven, all kinds of sin and disorder have spread    
far and wide.    
    
Fourth Rose    
    
18   All things, even the holiest, are subject to change,    
especially when they are dependent on man's free will. It is    
hardly to be wondered at, then, that the Confraternity of the    
Holy Rosary only retained its first fervour for a century after    
it was instituted by Saint Dominic. After this it was like a    
thing buried and forgotten.    
     Doubtless, too, the wicked scheming and jealousy of the    
devil were largely responsible for getting people to neglect the    
Rosary, and thus block the flow of God's grace which it had drawn    
upon the world.    
     Thus, in 1349 God punished the whole of Europe with the most    
terrible plague that had ever been known. Starting in the east,    
it spread throughout Italy, Germany, France, Poland and Hungary,    
bringing desolation wherever it went, for out of a hundred men    
hardly one lived to tell the tale. Big cities, towns, villages    
and monasteries were almost completely deserted during the three    
years that the epidemic lasted.    
     This scourge of God was quickly followed by two others, the    
heresy of the Flagellants and a tragic schism in 1376.    
    
19   Later on, when these trials were over, thanks to the mercy    
of God, our Lady told Blessed Alan to revive the former    
Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. Blessed Alan was one of the    
Dominican Fathers at the monastery at Dinan, in Brittany. He was    
an eminent theologian and a famous preacher. Our Lady chose him    
because, since the Confraternity had originally been started in    
that province, it was fitting that a Dominican from the same    
province should have the honour of re-establishing it.    
     Blessed Alan began this great work in 1460, after a special    
warning from our Lord. This is how he received that urgent    
message, as he himself tells it:    
     One day when he was offering Mass, our Lord, who wished to    
spur him on to preach the holy Rosary, spoke to him in the Sacred    
Host. "How can you crucify me again so soon?" Jesus said. "What    
did you say, Lord?" asked Blessed Alan, horrified. "You crucified    
me once before by your sins," answered Jesus, "and I would    
willingly be crucified again rather than have my Father offended    
by the sins you used to commit. You are crucifying me again now    
because you have all the learning and understanding that you need    
to preach my Mother's Rosary, and you are not doing it. If you    
only did that, you could teach many souls the right path and lead    
them away from sin. But you are not doing it, and so you yourself    
are guilty of the sins that they commit."    
     This terrible reproach made Blessed Alan solemnly resolve    
to preach the Rosary unceasingly.    
    
20   Our Lady also said to him one day to inspire him to preach    
the Rosary more and more, "You were a great sinner in your youth,    
but I obtained the grace of your conversion from my Son. Had such    
a thing been possible, I would have liked to have gone through    
all kinds of suffering to save you, because converted sinners are    
a glory to me. And I would have done that also to make you worthy    
of preaching my Rosary far and wide."    
     Saint Dominic appeared to Blessed Alan as well and told him    
of the great results of his ministry: he had preached the Rosary    
unceasingly, his sermons had borne great fruit and many people    
had been converted during his missions.    
     He said to Blessed Alan, "See what wonderful results I have    
had through preaching the Rosary. You and all who love our Lady    
ought to do the same so that, by means of this holy practice of    
the Rosary, you may draw all people to the real science of the    
virtues."    
     Briefly, then, this is the history of how Saint Dominic    
established the holy Rosary and of how Blessed Alan de la Roche    
restored it.    
    
Fifth Rose    
    
21   Strictly speaking, there can be only one kind of    
Confraternity of the Rosary, that is, one whose members agree to    
say the entire Rosary of 150 Hail Marys every day. However,    
considering the fervour of those who say it, we may distinguish    
three kinds: Ordinary Membership, which entails saying the    
complete Rosary once a week; Perpetual Membership, which requires    
it to be said only once a year; Daily Membership, which obliges    
one to say it all every day, that is, the fifteen decades made    
up of 150 Hail Marys.    
     None of these oblige under pain of sin. It is not even a    
venial sin to fail in this duty because such an undertaking is    
entirely voluntary and supererogatory. Needless to say, people    
should not join the Confraternity if they do not intend to fulfil    
their obligation by saying the Rosary as often as is required,    
without, however, neglecting the duties of their state in life.    
     So whenever the Rosary clashes with a duty of one's state    
in life, holy as the Rosary is, one must give preference to the    
duty to be performed. Similarly, sick people are not obliged to    
say the whole Rosary or even part of it if this effort might tire    
them and make them worse.    
     If you have been unable to say it because of some duty    
required by obedience or because you genuinely forgot, or because    
of some urgent necessity, you have not committed even a venial    
sin. You will then receive the benefits of the Confraternity just    
the same, sharing in the graces and merits of your brothers and    
sisters in the Rosary, who are saying it throughout the world.    
     And, my dear Catholic people, even if you fail to say your    
Rosary out of sheer carelessness or laziness, as long as you do    
not have any formal contempt for it, you do not sin, absolutely    
speaking, but you forfeit your participation in the prayers, good    
works and merits of the Confraternity. Moreover, because you have    
not been faithful in things that are little and of    
supererogation, almost without knowing it you may fall into the    
habit of neglecting big things, such as those duties which bind    
under pain of sin; for "He that scorns small things shall fall    
little by little."    
    
Sixth Rose    
    
22   From the time Saint Dominic established the devotion to the    
holy Rosary up to the time when Blessed Alan de la Roche    
reestablished it in 1460, it has always been called the Psalter    
of Jesus and Mary. This is because it has the same number of Hail    
Marys as there are psalms in the Book of the Psalms of David.    
Since simple and uneducated people are not able to say the Psalms    
of David, the Rosary is held to be just as fruitful for them as    
David's Psalter is for others.    
     But the Rosary can be considered to be even more valuable    
than the latter for three reasons:    
     1    Firstly, because the Angelic Psalter bears a nobler    
          fruit, that of the Word incarnate, whereas David's    
          Psalter only prophesies his coming;    
     2    Just as the real thing is more important than its    
          prefiguration and the body surpasses the shadow, so    
          the Psalter of our Lady is greater than David's    
          Psalter, which did no more than prefigure it;    
     3    Because our Lady's Psalter or the Rosary made up of    
          the Our Father and Hail Mary is the direct work of the    
          Blessed Trinity.    
     Here is what the learned Carthagena says about it:    
     The scholarly writer of Aix-la-Chapelle says in his book,    
The Rose Crown, dedicated to the Emperor Maximilian: "It cannot    
be maintained that Salutation of Mary is a recent innovation. It    
spread almost with the Church itself. For at the very beginnings    
of the Church the more educated members of the faithful    
celebrated the praises of God in the 150 psalms of David. The    
ordinary people, who encountered more difficulty in divine    
service, thus conceived a holy emulation of them.... They    
considered, which is indeed true, that the heavenly praises of    
the Rosary contained all the divine secrets of the psalms, for,    
if the psalms sing of the one who is to come, the Rosary    
proclaims him as having come.    
     "That is how they began to call their prayer of 150    
Salutations 'The Psalter of Mary,' and to precede each decade    
with an Our Father, as was done by those who recited the psalms."    
    
23   The Psalter or Rosary of our Lady is divided into three    
chaplets of five decades each, for the following reasons:    
     1    to honour the three persons of the Blessed Trinity;    
     2    to honour the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ;    
     3    to imitate the Church triumphant, to help the members    
          of the Church militant, and to bring relief to the    
          Church suffering;    
     4    to imitate the three groups into which the psalms are    
          divided, the first being for the purgative life, the    
          second for the illuminative life, and the third for    
          the unitive life;    
     5    to give us graces in abundance during life, peace at    
          death, and glory in eternity.    
    
Seventh Rose    
    
24   Ever since Blessed Alan de la Roche re-established this    
devotion, the voice of the people, which is the voice of God,    
gave it the name of the Rosary, which means "crown of roses."    
That is to say that every time people say the Rosary devoutly    
they place on the heads of Jesus and Mary 153 white roses and    
sixteen red roses. Being heavenly flowers, these roses will never    
fade or lose their beauty.    
     Our Lady has approved and confirmed this name of the Rosary;    
she has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail    
Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose, and that each complete    
Rosary makes her a crown of roses.    
    
25   The Jesuit brother, Alphonsus Rodriguez, used to say his    
Rosary with such fervour that he often saw a red rose come out    
of his mouth at each Our Father, and a white rose at each Hail    
Mary, both equaL in beauty and differing only in colour.    
     The chronicles of St. Francis tell of a young friar who had    
the praiseworthy habit of saying this crown of our Lady every day    
before dinner. One day, for some reason or other, he did not    
manage to say it. The refectory bell had already been rung when    
he asked the Superior to allow him to say it before coming to the    
table, and, having obtained permission, he withdrew to his cell    
to pray.    
     After he had been gone a long time, the Superior sent    
another friar to fetch him, and he found him in his room bathed    
in a heavenly light in the presence of our Lady and two angels.    
Beautiful roses kept issuing from his mouth at each Hail Mary,    
and the two angels were taking them one by one and placing them    
on our Lady's head, while she smilingly accepted them. Finally,    
two other friars who had been sent to find out what had happened    
to the first two saw the same scene, and our Lady did not leave    
until the whole Rosary had been said.    
     So the complete Rosary is a large crown of roses and each    
chaplet of five decades is a little wreath of flowers or a little    
crown of heavenly roses which we place on the heads of Jesus and    
Mary. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the    
rose of devotions and the most important one.    
    
Eighth Rose    
    
26   It is scarcely possible for me to put into words how our    
Lady esteems the Rosary and how she prefers it to all other    
devotions. Nor can I sufficiently express how wonderfully she    
rewards those who work to make known the devotion, to establish    
it and spread it nor, on the other hand, how strictly she    
punishes those who work against it.    
     St. Dominic had nothing more at heart during his life than    
to praise our Lady, to preach her greatness, and to inspire    
everybody to honour her by saying her Rosary. As a reward he    
received countless graces from her. This powerful Queen of heaven    
crowned his labours with many miracles and prodigies. God always    
granted him what he asked through our Lady. The greatest favour    
of all was that she helped him to crush the Albigensian heresy    
and made him the founder and patriarch of a great religious    
order.    
    
27   As for Blessed Alan de la Roche, who restored the devotion    
of the Rosary, he received many privileges from our Lady; she    
graciously appeared to him several times to teach him how to work    
out his salvation, to become a good priest and perfect religious,    
and how to pattern himself on our Lord.    
     He used to be horribly tempted and persecuted by devils, and    
then a deep sadness would fall upon him and sometimes he would    
be near to despair. But our Lady always comforted him by her    
presence, which banished the clouds of darkness from his soul.    
     She taught him how to say the Rosary, explaining its value    
and the fruits to be gained by it; and she gave him a great and    
glorious privilege, which was the honour of being called her new    
spouse. As a token of her chaste love for him, she placed a ring    
upon his finger and a necklace made of her own hair about his    
neck and gave him a Rosary.    
     Fr. TritŠme, the learned Carthagena and Martin of Navarre,    
as well as others, have spoken of him in terms of highest praise.    
Blessed Alan died at Zwolle, in Flanders, on September 8th, 1475,    
after having brought more than a hundred thousand people into the    
Confraternity.    
    
28   Blessed Thomas of St. John was well known for his sermons    
on the holy Rosary, and the devil, jealous of his success,    
tortured him so much that he fell ill and was sick for such a    
long time that the doctors gave him up. One night, when he really    
thought he was dying, the devil appeared to him in the most    
terrible form imaginable. There was a picture of our Lady near    
his bed; he looked at it and cried with all his heart and soul    
and strength, "Help me, save me, my dearest Mother." No sooner    
had he said this than the picture seemed to come alive and our    
Lady put out her hand, took him by the arm and said, "Do not be    
afraid, Thomas my son, here I am and I am going to save you; get    
up now and go on preaching my Rosary as you used to do. I promise    
to shield you from your enemies."    
     When our Lady said this, the devil fled and Blessed Thomas    
got up, finding himself in perfect health. He then thanked our    
Lady with tears of joy. He resumed his Rosary apostolate, and his    
sermons were wonderfully successful.    
    
29   Our Lady not only blesses those who preach her Rosary but    
she highly rewards all those who, by their example, get others    
to say it.    
     Alphonsus, King of Leon and Calicia, very much wanted all    
his servants to honour the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary,    
so he used to hang a large rosary on his belt, though he never    
said it himself. Nevertheless, his wearing it encouraged his    
courtiers to say the Rosary devoutly.    
     One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given    
up for dead he found himself, in spirit, before the judgment-seat    
of our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins    
he had committed, and our Lord was about to condemn him when our    
Lady came forward to speak in his favour. She called for a pair    
of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances, while    
she put the large rosary which he had always worn on the other    
scale, together with all the rosaries that had been said through    
his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his    
sins.    
     Looking at him with great kindness, our Lady said, "As a    
reward for the little service you did for me in wearing my    
rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your    
life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend    
those years wisely, and do penance."    
     When the King regained consciousness he cried out, "Blessed    
be the Rosary of the most holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been    
de-livered from eternal damnation."    
     After he had recovered his health, he spent the rest of his    
life in spreading devotion to the Rosary, and said it faithfully    
every day.    
     People who love the Blessed Virgin ought to follow the    
example of King Alphonsus and that of the saints whom I have    
mentioned, so that they too may win other souls for the    
Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. They will receive great graces    
here on earth and finally eternal life. "Those who explain me    
will have life everlasting."    
    
Ninth Rose    
    
30   It is very wicked indeed and unjust to hinder the progress    
of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. God has severely    
punished many of those who have been so benighted as to scorn the    
Confraternity and have sought to destroy it.    
     Even though God has set his seal of approval on the Rosary    
by many miracles, and though it has been approved by the Church    
in many papal bulls, there are only too many people who are    
against the holy Rosary today. Such are free-thinkers and those    
who scorn religion, who either condemn the Rosary or try to turn    
others away from it.    
     It is easy to see that they have absorbed the poison of hell    
and that they are inspired by the devil; for no one can condemn    
devotion to the holy Rosary without condemning all that is most    
holy in the Catholic faith, such as the Lord's prayer, the Hail    
Mary and the mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus    
Christ and his holy Mother.    
     These freethinkers, who cannot bear to have people saying    
the Rosary, often fall into an heretical state of mind without    
realizing it and come to hate the Rosary and its mysteries.    
     To have a loathing for confraternities is to fall away from    
God and true piety, for our Lord himself has told us that he is    
always in the midst of those who are gathered together in his    
name. No good Catholic would neglect the many great indulgences    
which the Church has granted to confraternities. Finally, to    
dissuade others from joining the Rosary Confraternity is to be    
an enemy of souls, because the Rosary is a means of avoiding sin    
and leading a good life.    
     St. Bonaventure says in his "Psalter" that whoever neglects    
our Lady will die in his sins. What, then, must be the punishment    
in store for those who turn people away from devotion to her?    
    
Tenth Rose    
    
31   While St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary in Carcassone,    
a heretic made fun of his miracles and the fifteen mysteries of    
the Rosary, and this prevented other heretics from being    
converted. As a punishment God allowed fifteen thousand devils    
to enter the man's body.    
     His parents took him to Father Dominic to be delivered from    
the evil spirits. He started to pray and he begged everyone who    
was there to say the Rosary out loud with him, and at each Hail    
Mary our Lady drove a hundred devils out of the man, and they    
came out in the form of red-hot coals.    
     After he had been delivered, he abjured his former errors,    
was converted and joined the Rosary Confraternity. Several of his    
associates did the same, having been greatly moved by his    
punishment and by the power of the Rosary.    
    
32   The learned Franciscan, Carthagena, as well as several other    
authors, says that an extraordinary event took place in 1482. The    
venerable Fr. James Sprenger and the religious of his order were    
zealously working to re-establish devotion to the Rosary and its    
Confraternity in the city of Cologne. Unfortunately, two priests    
who were famous for their preaching ability were jealous of the    
great influence they were exerting through preaching the Rosary.    
These two Fathers spoke against this devotion whenever they had    
a chance, and as they were very eloquent and had a great    
reputation, they persuaded many people not to join the    
Confraternity. One of them, the better to achieve his wicked end,    
wrote a special sermon against the Rosary and planned to give it    
the following Sunday. But when the time came for the sermon he    
did not appear and, after a certain amount of waiting, someone    
went to fetch him. He was found to be dead, and he had evidently    
died without anyone to help him.    
     After persuading himself that this death was due to natural    
causes, the other priest decided to carry out his friend's plan    
and give a similar sermon on another day, hoping to put an end    
to the Confraternity of the Rosary. However, when the day came    
for him to preach and it was time to give the sermon, God    
punished him by striking him down with paralysis which deprived    
him of the use of his limbs and of his power of speech.    
     At last he admitted his fault and that of his friend and in    
his heart he silently besought our Lady to help him. He promised    
that if only she would cure him, he would preach the Rosary with    
as much zeal as that with which he had formerly fought against    
it. For this end he implored her to restore his health and his    
speech, which she did, and finding himself instantaneously cured    
he rose up like another Saul, a persecutor turned defender of the    
holy Rosary. He publicly acknowledged his former error and ever    
afterwards preached the wonders of the Rosary with great zeal and    
eloquence.    
    
33   I am quite sure that freethinkers and ultra-critical people    
of today will question the truth of the stories in this little    
book, as they question most things, but all I have done has been    
to copy them from very good contemporary authors and, in part,    
from a book written a short time ago, The Mystical Rose-tree, by    
Fr. Antonin Thomas, O.P.    
     Everyone knows that there are three different kinds of faith    
by which we believe different kinds of stories. To stories from    
Holy Scripture we owe divine faith; to stories on non-religious    
subjects which are not against common sense and are written by    
trustworthy authors, we pay the tribute of human faith; and to    
stories about holy subjects which are told by good authors and    
are not in any way contrary to reason, to faith or to morals    
(even though they may sometimes deal with happenings which are    
above the ordinary), we pay the tribute of a pious faith.    
     I agree that we must be neither too credulous nor too    
critical, and that we should keep a happy medium in all things    
in order to find just where truth and virtue lie. But on the    
other hand, I know equally well that charity easily leads us to    
believe all that is not contrary to faith or morals: "Charity    
believes all things," in the same way as pride induces us to    
doubt even well authenticated stories on the plea that they are    
not to be found in Holy Scripture.    
     This is one of the devil's traps; heretics of the past who    
denied tradition have fallen into it, and over-critical people    
of today are falling into it too, without even realizing it.    
People of this kind refuse to believe what they do not understand    
or what is not to their liking, simply because or their own    
spirit of pride and independence.    
    
SECOND DECADE    
The surpassing merit of the Rosary as seen in the prayers which    
compose it.    
    
Eleventh Rose                                      [The Creed]    
    
34   The Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, which is said on    
the crucifix of the rosary, is a holy summary of all the    
Christian truths. It is a prayer that has great merit, because    
faith is the root, foundation and beginning of all Christian    
virtues, of all eternal virtues, and of all prayers that are    
pleasing to God. "Anyone who comes to God must believe," and the    
greater his faith the more merit his prayer will have, the more    
powerful it will be, and the more it will glorify God.    
     I shall not take time here to explain the Creed word for    
word, but I cannot resist saying that the first words, "I believe    
in God," are wonderfully effective as a means of sanctifying our    
souls and putting the devils to rout, because these words contain    
the acts of the three theological virtues of faith, hope and    
charity.    
     It was by saying these words that many saints overcame    
temptations, especially those against faith, hope or charity,    
either during their lifetime or at the hour of their death. They    
were also the last words of St. Peter, Martyr. A heretic had    
cleft his head in two by a blow of his sword, and although St.    
Peter was at his last gasp, he managed to trace these words in    
the sand with his finger.    
    
35   The holy Rosary contains many mysteries of Jesus and    
Mary, and since faith is the only key which opens up these    
mysteries for us, we must begin the Rosary by saying the Creed    
very devoutly, and the stronger our faith the more merit our    
Rosary will have.    
     This faith must be lively and informed by charity; in other    
words, to recite the Rosary properly it is necessary to be in    
God's grace, or at least seeking it. This faith must be strong    
and constant, that is, one must not be looking for sensible    
devotion and spiritual consolation in the recitation of the    
Rosary; nor should one give it up because the mind is flooded    
with countless involuntary distractions, or because one    
experiences a strange distaste in the soul or an almost continual    
and oppressive fatigue of the body. Neither feelings, nor    
consolation, nor sighs, nor transports, nor the continual    
attention of the imagination are needed; faith and good    
intentions are quite enough. Sola fides sufficit.    
    
Twelfth Rose                                  [The Our Father]    
    
36   The Our Father or the Lord's Prayer derives its great value    
above all from its author, who is neither a man nor an angel, but    
the King of angels and of men, our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Cyprian    
says it was necessary that he who came to give us the life of    
grace as our Saviour should teach us the way to pray as our    
heavenly Master.    
     The beautiful order, the tender forcefulness and the clarity    
of this divine prayer pay tribute to our divine Master's wisdom.    
It is a short prayer but can teach us so very much, and it is    
well within the grasp of uneducated people, while scholars find    
it a continual source of investigation into the mysteries of God.    
     The Our Father contains all the duties we owe to God, the    
acts of all the virtues and the petitions for all our spiritual    
and corporal needs. Tertullian says that the Our Father is a    
summary of the New Testament. Thomas a Kempis says that it    
surpasses all the desires of all the saints; that it is a    
condensation of all the beautiful sayings of all the psalms and    
canticles; that in it we ask God for everything that we need,    
that by it we praise him in the very best way; that by it we lift    
up our souls from earth to heaven and unite them closely to God.    
    
37   St. John Chrysostom says that we cannot be our Master's    
disciples unless we pray as he did and in the way that he showed    
us. Moreover, God the Father listens more willingly to the prayer    
that we have learned from his Son rather than those of our own    
making, which have all our human limitations.    
     We should say the Our Father with the certitude that the    
eternal Father will hear us because it is the prayer of his Son,    
whom he always hears, and because we are his members. God will    
surely grant our petitions made through the Lord's Prayer because    
it is impossible to imagine that such a good Father could refuse    
a request couched in the language of so worthy a Son, reinforced    
by his merits, and made at his behest.    
     St. Augustine assures us that whenever we say the Our Father    
devoutly our venial sins are forgiven. The just man falls seven    
times, and in the Lord's Prayer he will find seven petitions    
which will both help him to avoid lapses and protect him from his    
spiritual enemies. Our Lord, knowing how weak and helpless we    
are, and how many difficulties we endure, made his prayer short    
and easy to say, so that if we say it devoutly and often, we can    
be sure that God will quickly come to our aid.    
    
38   I have a word for you, devout souls who pay little attention    
to the prayer that the Son of God gave us himself and asked us    
all to say: It is high time for you to change your way of    
thinking. You only esteem prayers that men have written, as    
though anybody, even the most inspired man in the whole world,    
could possibly know more about how we ought to pray than Jesus    
Christ himself! You look for prayers in books written by other    
men almost as though you were ashamed of saying the prayer that    
our Lord told us to say.    
     You have managed to convince yourself that the prayers in    
those books are for scholars and for the rich, and that the    
Rosary is only for women and children and the poor people. As if    
the prayers and praises you have been reading were more beautiful    
and more pleasing to God than those which are to be found in the    
Lord's Prayer! It is a very dangerous temptation to lose interest    
in the prayer that our Lord gave us and to take up prayers that    
men have written instead.    
     Not that I disapprove of prayers that saints have written    
to encourage the faithful to praise God, but it is not to be    
endured that they should prefer these to the prayer which was    
uttered by Wisdom incarnate. If they ignore this prayer, it is    
as though they passed by the spring to go to the brook, and    
refusing the clear water, they drink instead that which is dirty.    
For the Rosary, made up of the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary,    
is this clear and ever-flowing water which comes from the    
fountain of grace, whereas other prayers which they look for in    
books are nothing but tiny streams which spring from this    
fountain.    
    
39   People who say the Lord's Prayer carefully, weighing every    
word and meditating on them, may indeed call themselves blessed,    
for they find therein everything that they need or can wish for.    
     When we say this wonderful prayer, we touch God's heart at    
the very outset by calling him by that sweet name of Father.    
     "Our Father," he is the dearest of fathers: all-powerful in    
his creation, wonderful in the way he maintains the world,    
completely lovable in his divine Providence, all good and    
infinitely so in the Redemption. We have God for our Father, so    
we are all brothers, and heaven is our homeland and our heritage.    
This should be more than enough to teach us to love God and our    
neighbour, and to be detached from the things of this world.    
     So we ought to love our heavenly Father and say to him over    
and over again: "Our Father who art in heaven" -    
     Thou who dost fill heaven and earth    
     with the immensity of thy being,    
     Thou who art present everywhere:    
     Thou who art in the saints by thy glory,    
     in the damned by thy justice,    
     in the good by thy grace,    
     in sinners by the patience    
     with which thou dost tolerate them,    
     grant that we may always remember    
     that we come from thee;    
     grant that we may live as thy true children;    
     that we may direct our course towards thee alone    
     with all the ardour of our soul.    
     "Hallowed by thy name." The name of the Lord is holy and to    
be feared, said the prophet-king David, and heaven, according to    
Isaiah, echoes with the praises of the seraphim who unceasingly    
praise the holiness of the Lord, God of hosts.    
     We ask here that all the world may learn to know and adore    
the attributes of our God, who is so great and so holy. We ask    
that he may be known, loved and adored by pagans, Turks, Jews,    
barbarians and all infidels; that all men may serve and glorify    
him by a living faith, a staunch hope, a burning charity, and by    
the renouncing of all erroneous beliefs. In short, we pray that    
all men may be holy because our God himself is holy.    
     "Thy kingdom come." That is to say: May you reign in our    
souls by your grace, during life, so that after death we may be    
found worthy to reign with thee in thy kingdom, in perfect and    
unending bliss; that we firmly believe in this happiness to come;    
we hope for it and we expect it, because God the Father has    
promised it in his great goodness, and because it was purchased    
for us by the merits of God the Son; and it has been made known    
to us by the light of the Holy Spirit.    
     "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." As    
Tertullian says, this sentence does not mean in the least that    
we are afraid of people thwarting God's designs, because nothing    
whatsoever can happen without divine Providence having foreseen    
it and having made it fit into his plans beforehand. No    
obstruction in the whole world can possibly prevent the will of    
God from being carried out.    
     Rather, when we say these words, we ask God to make us    
humbly resigned to all that he has seen fit to send us in this    
life. We also ask him to help us to do, in all things and at all    
times, his holy will, made known to us by the commandments,    
promptly, lovingly and faithfully, as the angels and the blessed    
do in heaven.    
    
40   "Give us this day our daily bread." Our Lord teaches us to    
ask God for everything that we need, whether in the spiritual or    
the temporal order. By asking for our daily bread, we humbly    
admit our own poverty and insufficiency, and pay tribute to our    
God, knowing that all temporal goods come from his Providence.    
When we say bread we ask for that which is necessary to live;    
and, of course that does not include luxuries.    
     We ask for this bread today, which means that we are    
concerned only for the present, leaving the morrow in the hands    
of Providence.    
     And when we ask for our daily bread, we recognize that we    
need God's help every day and that we are entirely dependent upon    
him for his help and protection.    
     "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass    
against us." Every sin, says St. Augustine and Tertullian, is a    
debt which we contract with God, and he in his justice requires    
payment down to the last farthing. Unfortunately we all have    
these sad debts.    
     No matter how many they may be, we should go to God with all    
confidence and with true sorrow for our sins, saying, "Our Father    
who art in heaven, forgive us our sins of thought and those of    
speech, forgive us our sins of commission and of omission which    
make us infinitely guilty in the eyes of thy justice.    
     "We dare to ask this because thou art our loving and    
merciful Father, and because we have forgiven those who have    
offended us, out of obedience to you and out of charity.    
     "Do not permit us, in spite of our infidelity to thy graces,    
to give in to the temptations of the world, the devil, and the    
flesh.    
     "But deliver us from evil." The evil of sin, from the evil    
of temporal punishment and of everlasting punishment, which we    
have rightly deserved.    
     "Amen." This word at the end of the Our Father is very    
consoling, and St. Jerome says that it is a sort of seal of    
approbation that God puts at the end of our petitions to assure    
us that he will grant our requests, as though he himself were    
answering:    
     "Amen! May it be as you have asked, for truly you have    
obtained what you asked for." That is what is meant by this word:    
Amen.    
    
Thirteenth Rose    
    
41   Each word of the Lord's Prayer is a tribute we pay to the    
perfections of God. We honour his fecundity by the name of    
Father.    
     Father,    
     thou who throughout eternity    
     dost beget a Son    
     who is God like thee,    
     eternal, consubstantial with thee,    
     who is of the very same essence as thee;    
     and is of like power    
     and goodness    
     and wisdom    
     as thou art....    
     Father and Son,    
     who, from your mutual love,    
     produce the Holy Spirit,    
     who is God like unto you;    
     three persons    
     but one God.    
     Our Father. This means that he is the Father of mankind,    
because he has created us and continues to sustain us, and    
because he has redeemed us. He is also the merciful Father of    
sinners, the Father who is the friend of the just, and the    
glorious Father of the blessed in heaven.    
     When we say Who art, we honour by these words the infinity    
and immensity and fullness of God's essence. God is rightly    
called "He who is;" that is to say, he exists of necessity,    
essentially, and eternally, because he is the Being of beings and    
the cause of all beings. He possesses within himself, in a    
supereminent degree, the perfections of all beings, and he is in    
all of them by his essence, by his presence and by his power, but    
without being bounded by their limitations. We honour his    
sublimity and his glory and his majesty by the words Who art in    
heaven, that is to say, seated as on thy throne, holding sway    
over all men by thy justice.    
     When we say Hallowed be thy Name, we worship God's holiness;    
and we make obeisance to his kingship and bow to the justice of    
his laws by the words Thy kingdom come, praying that men will    
obey him on earth as the angels do in heaven.    
     We show our trust in his Providence by asking for our daily    
bread, and we appeal to his mercy when we ask for the forgiveness    
of our sins.    
     We look to his great power when we beg him not to lead us    
into temptation, and we show our faith in his goodness by our    
hope that he will deliver us from evil.    
     The Son of God has always glorified his Father by his works,    
and he came into the world to teach men to give glory to him. He    
showed men how to praise him by this prayer, which he taught us    
with his own lips. It is our duty, therefore, to say it often,    
with attention, and in the same spirit as he composed it.    
    
Fourteenth Rose    
    
42   We make as many acts of the noblest Christian virtues as we    
pronounce words when we recite this divine prayer attentively.    
     In saying "Our Father, who art in heaven," we make acts of    
faith, adoration and humility. When we ask that his name be    
hallowed, we show a burning zeal for his glory. When we ask for    
the spread of his kingdom, we make an act of hope; by the wish    
that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we show a    
spirit of perfect obedience. In asking for our daily bread, we    
practice poverty of spirit and detachment from worldly goods.    
When we beg him to forgive us our sins, we make an act of sorrow    
for them. By forgiving those who have trespassed against us, we    
give proof of the virtue of mercy in its highest degree. Through    
asking God's help in all our temptations, we make acts of    
humility, prudence and fortitude. As we wait for him to deliver    
us from evil, we exercise the virtue of patience.    
     Finally, while asking for all these things, not only for    
ourselves but also for our neighbour and for all members of the    
Church, we are carrying out our duty as true children of God, we    
are imitating him in his love which embraces all men and we are    
keeping the commandment of love of our neighbour.    
    
43   If we mean in our hearts what we say with our lips, and if    
our intentions are not at variance with those expressed in the    
Lord's Prayer, then, by reciting this prayer, we hate all sin and    
we observe all of God's laws. For whenever we think that God is    
in heaven, that is to say, infinitely removed from us by the    
greatness of his majesty, we place ourselves in his presence    
filled with overwhelming reverence. Then the fear of the Lord    
will chase away all pride and we will bow down before God in    
utter nothingness.    
     When we pronounce the name "Father" and remember that we    
owe our existence to God, by means of our parents, and even the    
instruction we have received by means of our teachers, who take    
the place of God and are his living images, we cannot help paying    
them honour and respect, or, to be more exact, to honour God in    
them. And nothing would be farther from our thoughts than to be    
disrespectful to them or hurt them.    
     When we pray that God's holy name be glorified, we cannot    
be farther from profaning it. If we really look upon the kingdom    
of God as our heritage, we cannot possibly be attached to the    
things of this world.    
     If we sincerely ask God that our neighbour may have the same    
blessings that we ourselves stand in need of, it goes without    
saying that we will give up all hatred, quarrelling and jealousy.    
And if we ask God for our daily bread, we shall learn to hate    
gluttony and sensual pleasures which thrive in rich surroundings.    
     While sincerely asking God to forgive us as we forgive those    
who trespass against us, we no longer give way to anger and    
revenge, we return good for evil and we love our enemies.    
     To ask God to save us from falling into sin when we are    
tempted is to give proof that we are fighting laziness and that    
we are genuinely seeking means to root out vicious habits and to    
work out our salvation.    
     To pray God to deliver us from evil is to fear his justice,    
and this will give us true happiness, for the fear of God is the    
beginning of wisdom. It is through the virtue of the fear of God    
that men avoid sin.    
    
Fifteenth Rose    
    
44   The Angelic Salutation, or Hail Mary, is so heavenly and so    
beyond us in its depth of meaning, that Blessed Alan de la Roche    
held that no mere creature could ever understand it, and that    
only our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, can really    
explain it.    
     Its enormous value is due, first of all, to our Lady to whom    
it was addressed, to the purpose of the Incarnation of the Word,    
for which reason this prayer was brought from heaven, and also    
to the archangel Gabriel who was the first ever to say it.    
     The Angelic Salutation is a most concise summary of all that    
Catholic theology teaches about the Blessed Virgin. It is divided    
into two parts, that of praise and that of petition. The first    
shows all that goes to make up Mary's greatness; and the second,    
all that we need to ask her for, and all that we may expect to    
receive through her goodness.    
     The most Blessed Trinity revealed the first part of it to    
us; St. Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, added the second;    
and the Church gave us the conclusion in the year 430 when she    
condemned the Nestorian heresy at the Council of Ephesus and    
defined that the Blessed Virgin is truly the Mother of God. At    
this time she ordered us to pray to our Lady under this glorious    
title by saying, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,    
now and at the hour of our death."    
    
45   The greatest event in the whole history of the world was the    
Incarnation of the eternal Word by whom the world was redeemed    
and peace was restored between God and men. Our Lady was chosen    
as his instrument for this tremendous event, and it was put into    
effect when she was greeted with the Angelic Salutation. The    
archangel Gabriel, one of the leading princes of the heavenly    
court, was chosen as ambassador to bear these glad tidings.    
     In the Angelic Salutation can be seen the faith and hope of    
the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles. Furthermore, it    
gives to martyrs their unswerving constancy and strength, it is    
the wisdom of the doctors of the Church, the perseverance of the    
holy confessors and the life of all religious (Blessed Alan). It    
is the new hymn of the law of grace, the joy of angels and men,    
and the hymn which terrifies devils and puts them to shame.    
     By the Angelic Salutation God became man, a virgin became    
the Mother of God, the souls of the just were delivered from    
Limbo, the empty thrones in heaven have been filled, sin has been    
pardoned, grace been given to us, the sick been made well, the    
dead brought back to life, exiles brought home, the Blessed    
Trinity has been appeased, and men obtained eternal life.    
     Finally, the Angelic Salutation is the rainbow in the sky,    
a sign of the mercy and grace which God has given to the world    
(Blessed Alan).    
    
Sixteenth Rose    
    
46   Even though there is nothing so great as the majesty of God    
and nothing so low as man in so far as he is a sinner, Almighty    
God does not despise our poor prayers. On the contrary, he is    
pleased when we sing his praises.    
     And the Angel's greeting to our Lady is one of the most    
beautiful hymns which we could possibly sing to the glory of the    
Most High. "To you will I sing a new song." This new hymn, which    
David foretold would be sung at the coming of the Messiah, is    
none other than the Angelic Salutation.    
     There is an old hymn and a new hymn: the first is that which    
the Jews sang out of gratitude to God for creating them and    
maintaining them in existence, for delivering them from captivity    
and leading them safely through the Red Sea, for giving them    
manna to eat, and for all his other blessings.    
     The new hymn is that which Christians sing in thanksgiving    
for the graces of the Incarnation and the Redemption. As these    
marvels were brought about by the Angelic Salutation, so also do    
we repeat the same salutation to thank the most Blessed Trinity    
for the immeasurable goodness shown to us.    
     We praise God the Father because he so loved the world that    
he gave us his only Son as our Saviour. We bless the Son because    
he deigned to leave heaven and come down upon earth, because he    
was made man and redeemed us. We glorify the Holy Spirit because    
he formed our Lord's pure body in the womb of our Lady, that body    
which was the victim for our sins. In this spirit of deep    
thankfulness should we, then, always say the Hail Mary, making    
acts of faith, hope, love and thanksgiving for the priceless gift    
of salvation.    
    
47   Although this new hymn is in praise of the Mother of God and    
is sung directly to her, it is nevertheless most glorious to the    
Blessed Trinity, for any honour we pay to our Lady returns    
inevitably to God, the source of all her perfections and virtues.    
God the Father is glorified when we honour the most perfect of    
his creatures; God the Son is glorified when we praise his most    
pure Mother; the Holy Spirit is glorified when we are lost in    
admiration at the graces with which he has filled his spouse.    
     When we praise and bless our Lady by saying the Angelic    
Salutation, she always refers these praises to God in the same    
way as she did when she was praised by St. Elizabeth. The latter    
blessed her in her high dignity as Mother of God and our Lady    
immediately returned these praises to God in her beautiful    
Magnificat.    
    
48   Just as the Angelic Salutation gave glory to the Blessed    
Trinity, it is also the very highest praise that we can give to    
Mary.    
     One day, when St. Mechtilde was praying and was trying to    
think of some way in which she could express her love of the    
Blessed Virgin better than before, she fell into ecstasy. Our    
Lady appeared to her with the Angelic Salutation written in    
letters of gold upon her breast and said to her, "My daughter,    
I want you to know that no one can please me more than by saying    
the greeting which the most adorable Trinity presented to me and    
by which I was raised to the dignity of the Mother of God.    
     "By the word Ave, which is the name of Eve, Eva, I learned    
that God in his infinite power had preserved me from all sin and    
its attendant misery which the first woman had been subject to.    
     "The name Mary, which means 'lady of light,' shows that God    
has filled me with wisdom and light, like a shining star, to    
light up heaven and earth.    
     "The words, full of grace, remind me that the Holy Spirit    
has showered so many graces upon me that I am able to give these    
graces in abundance to those who ask for them through my    
mediation.    
     "When people say, The Lord is with thee, they renew the    
indescribable joy that was mine when the eternal Word became    
incarnate in my womb.    
     "When you say to me, Blessed art thou among women, I praise    
the mercy of God who has raised me to this exalted degree of    
happiness.    
     "And at the words, Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,    
the whole of heaven rejoices with me to see my Son Jesus adored    
and glorified for having saved mankind."    
    
Seventeenth Rose    
    
49   Blessed Alan de la Roche, who was so deeply devoted to the    
Blessed Virgin, had many revelations from her, and we know that    
he confirmed the truth of these revelations by a solemn oath.    
Three of them stand out with special emphasis: the first, that    
if people fail to say the Hail Mary, which has saved the world,    
out of carelessness, or because they are lukewarm, or because    
they hate it, this is an indication that they will probably be    
condemned to eternal punishment.    
     The second truth is that those who love this divine    
salutation bear the very special stamp of predestination.    
     The third is that those to whom God has given this favour    
of loving our Lady and of serving her out of love must take very    
great care to continue to love and serve her until the time when    
she shall have had them placed in heaven by her Son in the degree    
of glory which they have earned (Blessed Alan)    
    
50   Heretics, all of whom are children of the devil and who    
clearly bear the sign of God's reprobation, have a horror of the    
Hail Mary. They still say the Our Father, but never the Hail    
Mary; they would rather carry a poisonous snake about them than    
a rosary.    
     Among Catholics, those who bear the mark of God's    
reprobation think but little of the Rosary. They either neglect    
to say it or only say it quickly and in a lukewarm manner.    
     Even if I did not believe what was revealed to Blessed Alan    
de la Roche, even then my own experience would be enough to    
convince me of this terrible but consoling truth. I do not know,    
nor do I see clearly, how it can be that a devotion which seems    
to be so small can be the infallible sign of eternal salvation,    
and how its absence can be the sign of God's eternal displeasure;    
nevertheless, nothing could be more true.    
     In our own day we see that people who hold new doctrines    
that have been condemned by the Church, with all their would-be    
piety, ignore the devotion to the Rosary and often dissuade their    
acquaintances from saying it with all sorts of fine pretexts.    
They are very careful not to condemn the Rosary and the Scapular,    
as the Calvinists do, but the way they set about attacking them    
is all the more deadly because it is the more cunning. I shall    
refer to it again later on.    
    
51   The Hail Mary, the Rosary, is the prayer and the infallible    
touchstone by which I can tell those who are led by the Spirit    
of God from those who are deceived by the devil. I have known    
souls who seemed to soar like eagles to the heights by their    
sublime contemplation and yet were pitifully led astray by the    
devil. I only found out how wrong they were when I learned that    
they scorned the Hail Mary and the Rosary, which they considered    
as being far beneath them.    
     The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from heaven upon    
the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvellous    
spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The    
more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer, the more    
enlightened in mind we become, the more zealous in heart, the    
stronger against all our enemies.    
     The Hail Mary is a sharp and flaming shaft which, joined to    
the Word of God, gives the preacher the strength to pierce, move,    
and convert the most hardened hearts, even if he has little or    
no natural gift for preaching.    
     As I have already said, this was the great secret that our    
Lady taught St. Dominic and Blessed Alan for the conversion of    
heretics and sinners. Saint Antoninus tells us that that is why    
many priests acquired the habit of saying a Hail Mary at the    
beginning of their sermons.    
    
Eighteenth Rose    
    
52   This heavenly salutation draws down upon us the blessings    
of Jesus and Mary in abundance, for it is an infallible truth    
that Jesus and Mary reward in a marvellous way those who glorify    
them. "I love those who love me. I enrich them and fill their    
treasures." That is what Jesus and Mary say to us. "Those who sow    
blessings will also reap blessings."    
     Now if we say the Hail Mary properly, is not that a way to    
love, bless and glorify Jesus and Mary? In each Hail Mary we    
bless both Jesus and Mary: "Blessed art thou among women, and    
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."    
     By each Hail Mary we give our Lady the same honour that God    
gave her when he sent the archangel Gabriel to greet her for him.    
How could anyone possibly think that Jesus and Mary, who often    
do good to those who curse them, could ever curse those who bless    
and honour them by the Hail Mary?    
     Both Saint Bernard and Saint Bonaventure say that the Queen    
of Heaven is certainly no less grateful and good than gracious    
and well-mannered people of this world. Just as she excels in all    
other perfections, she surpasses us all in the virtue of    
gratitude; so she will never let us honour her with respect    
without repaying us a hundredfold. Saint Bonaventure says that    
Mary will greet us with grace if we greet her with the Hail Mary.    
     Who could possibly understand the graces and blessings which    
the greeting and tender regard of the Virgin Mary effect in us?    
From the very first instant that Saint Elizabeth heard the    
greeting given her by the Mother of God, she was filled with the    
Holy Spirit and the child in her womb leaped for joy. If we make    
ourselves worthy of the greeting and blessing of our Lady, we    
shall certainly be filled with graces and a flood of spiritual    
consolations will flow into our souls.    
    
Nineteenth Rose    
    
53   It is written, "Give, and it shall be given to you." To take    
Blessed Alan's illustration of this: "Supposing I were to give    
you a hundred and fifty diamonds every day, even if you were an    
enemy of mine, would you not forgive me? Would you not treat me    
as a friend and give me all the graces that you were able to    
give? If you want to gain the riches of grace and of glory,    
salute the Blessed Virgin, honour your good Mother."    
     "He who honours his Mother (the Blessed Virgin) is as one    
who lays up a treasure." Present her every day with at least    
fifty Hail Marys, for each one is worth fifteen precious stones,    
which are more pleasing to her than all the riches of this world    
put together.    
     And you can then expect great things from her generosity.    
She is our Mother and our friend. She is the empress of the    
universe and loves us more than all the mothers and queens of the    
world have ever loved any one human being, for, as St. Augustine    
says, the charity of the Blessed Virgin far surpasses the natural    
love of all mankind and even of all the angels.    
    
54   One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of our Lord counting    
gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask him what he was    
doing, and he answered, "I am counting the Hail Marys that you    
have said; this is the money with which you purchase heaven."    
     The holy and learned Jesuit, Father Suarez, was so deeply    
aware of the value of the Angelic Salutation that he said he    
would gladly give all his learning for the price of one Hail Mary    
well said.    
    
55   Blessed Alan de la Roche said, "Let everyone who loves you,    
O most holy Mary, listen to this and drink it in:    
     "Whenever I say Hail, Mary, the court of heaven rejoices and    
earth is lost in wonderment; I despise the world and my heart is    
filled with the love of God, when I say 'Hail, Mary.' All my    
fears wilt and die and my passions are quelled, if I say 'Hail,    
Mary'; devotion grows within me and sorrow for sin awakens, when    
I say 'Hail, Mary.'    
     "Hope is made strong in my breast and the dew of consolation    
falls on my soul more and more, because I say, 'Hail, Mary.' And    
my spirit rejoices and sorrow fades away, when I say 'Hail,    
Mary.'    
     "For the sweetness of this blessed salutation is so great    
that there are no words to explain it adequately, and even when    
its wonders have been sung, we still find it so full of mystery    
and so profound that its depths can never be plumbed. It has but    
few words but is exceeding rich in mystery; it is sweeter than    
honey and more precious than gold. We should often meditate on    
it in our hearts, and have it ever on our lips so as to say it    
devoutly again and again."    
     Blessed Alan also relates that a nun who had always had a    
great devotion to the Rosary appeared after her death to one of    
her sisters in religion and said to her, "If I were able to    
return in my body to have the chance of saying just a single Hail    
Mary, even without great fervour, I would gladly go through the    
sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in    
order to gain the merit of this prayer" It is to be noted that    
she had been bedridden and suffered agonizing pains for several    
years before she died.    
    
56   Michel de Lisle, Bishop of Salubre, who was a disciple and    
co-worker of Blessed Alan de la Roche in the re-establishment of    
the holy Rosary, said that the Angelic Salutation is the remedy    
for all ills that we suffer as long as we say it devoutly in    
honour of our Lady.    
    
Twentieth Rose              Brief explanation of the Hail Mary    
    
57   Are you in the miserable state of sin? Then call on Mary and    
say to her, "Ave," which means "I greet thee with the most     
profound    
respect, thou who art without sin," and she will deliver you from    
the evil of your sins.    
     Are you groping in the darkness of ignorance and error? Go    
to Mary and say to her, "Hail Mary," which means "Hail, thou who    
art bathed in the light of the Sun of Justice," and she will give    
you a share in her light.    
     Have you strayed from the path leading to heaven? Then call    
on Mary, for her name means "Star of the Sea, the Polar Star    
which guides the ships of our souls during the voyage of this    
life," and she will guide you to the harbour of eternal    
salvation.    
     Are you in sorrow? Turn to Mary, for her name means also    
"Sea of Bitterness which has been filled with bitterness in this    
world but which is now turned into a sea of purest joy in    
heaven," and she will turn your sorrow into joy and your    
affliction into consolation.    
     Have you lost the state of grace? Praise and honour the    
numberless graces with which God has filled the Blessed Virgin    
and say to her, Thou art full of grace and filled with all the    
gifts of the Holy Spirit, and she will give you some of these    
graces.    
     Are you alone, having lost God's protection? Pray to Mary    
and say, The Lord is with thee, in a nobler and more intimate way    
than he is with the saints and the just, because thou art one    
with him. He is thy Son and his flesh is thy flesh; thou art    
united to the Lord because of thy perfect likeness to him and by    
your mutual love, for thou art his Mother. And then say to her,    
"The three persons of the Godhead are with thee because thou art    
the Temple of the Blessed Trinity," and she will place you once    
more under the protection and care of God.    
     Have you become an outcast and been accursed by God? Then    
say to our Lady, "Blessed art thou above all women and above all    
nations by thy purity and fertility; thou hast turned God's    
maledictions into blessings for us." She will bless you.    
     Do you hunger for the bread of grace and the bread of life?    
Draw near to her who bore the living Bread which came down from    
heaven, and say to her, "Blessed be the fruit of thy womb, whom    
thou hast conceived without the slightest loss to thy virginity,    
whom thou didst carry without discomfort and brought forth    
without pain. Blessed be Jesus who redeemed our suffering world    
when we were in the bondage of sin, who has healed the world of    
its sickness, who has raised the dead to life, brought home the    
banished, restored sinners to grace, and saved men from    
damnation. Without doubt, your soul will be filled with the bread    
of grace in this life and of eternal glory in the next. Amen."    
    
58   Conclude your prayer with the Church and say, "Holy Mary,"    
holy because of thy incomparable and eternal devotion to the    
service of God, holy in thy great rank as Mother of God, who has    
endowed thee with eminent holiness, in keeping with this great    
dignity.    
     "Mother of God, and our Mother, our Advocate and Mediatrix,    
Treasurer and dispenser of God's graces, obtain for us the prompt    
forgiveness of our sins and grant that we may be reconciled with    
the divine majesty.    
     "Pray for us sinners, thou who art always filled with    
compassion for those in need, who never despise sinners or turn    
them away, for without them you would never have been Mother of    
the Redeemer.    
     "Pray for us now, during this short life, so fraught with    
sorrow and uncertainty; now, because we can be sure of nothing    
except the present moment; now that we are surrounded and    
attacked night and day by powerful and ruthless enemies.    
     "And at the hour of our death, so terrible and full of    
danger, when our strength is waning and our spirits are sinking,    
and our souls and bodies are worn out with fear and pain; at the    
hour of our death when the devil is working with might and main    
to ensnare us and cast us into perdition; at that hour when our    
lot will be decided forever and ever, heaven or hell.    
     "Come to the help of your poor children, gentle Mother of    
pity, Advocate and Refuge of sinners, at the hour of our death    
drive far from us our bitter enemies, the devils, our accusers,    
whose frightful presence fills us with dread. Light our path    
through the valley of the shadow of death. Lead us to thy Son's    
judgment-seat and remain at our side. Intercede for us and ask    
thy Son to pardon us and receive us into the ranks of thy elect    
in the realms of everlasting glory. Amen."    
    
59   No one could help admiring the excellence of the holy    
Rosary, made up as it is of these two divine parts: the Lord's    
Prayer and the Angelic Salutation. How could there be any prayers    
more pleasing to God and to the Blessed Virgin, or any that are    
easier, more precious, or more helpful than these two prayers?    
We should always have them in our hearts and on our lips to    
honour the most Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ our Saviour and his    
most holy Mother.    
     In addition, at the end of each decade it is good to add the    
Gloria Patri, that is: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,    
and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and    
ever shall be, world without end. Amen.    
    
THIRD DECADE    
The surpassing merit of the holy Rosary as a meditation on the    
life and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ    
    
Twenty-first Rose          The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary    
    
60   A mystery is a sacred thing which is difficult to    
understand. The works of our Lord Jesus Christ are all sacred and    
divine because he is God and man at one and the same time. The    
works of the Blessed Virgin are very holy because she is the most    
perfect and the most pure of God's creatures. The works of our    
Lord and of his blessed Mother can rightly be called mysteries    
because they are so full of wonders, of all kinds of perfections,    
and of deep and sublime truths, which the Holy Spirit reveals to    
the humble and simple souls who honour these mysteries.    
     The works of Jesus and Mary can also be called wonderful    
flowers, but their fragrance and beauty can only be appreciated    
by those who approach them, who breathe in their fragrance, and    
who discover their beauty by diligent and serious meditation.    
    
61   St. Dominic divided the lives of our Lord and our Lady into    
fifteen mysteries, which stand for their virtues and their most    
important actions. These are fifteen pictures whose every detail    
must rule and inspire our lives. They are fifteen flaming torches    
to guide our steps throughout this earthly life; fifteen shining    
mirrors to help us to know Jesus and Mary, to know ourselves and    
to light the fire of their love in our hearts; fifteen fiery    
furnaces to consume us completely in their heavenly flames.    
     Our Lady taught Saint Dominic this excellent method of    
praying and ordered him to preach it far and wide so as to    
reawaken the fervour of Christians and to revive in their hearts    
a love for our Blessed Lord. She also taught it to Blessed Alan    
de la Roche and said to him in a vision, "When people say 150    
Hail Marys, that prayer is very helpful to them and a most    
pleasing tribute to me. But they will do better still and will    
please me more if they say these salutations while meditating on    
the life, death, and passion of Jesus Christ, for this meditation    
is the soul of this prayer." For the Rosary said without the    
meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost    
be a body without a soul, excellent matter, but without the form,    
which is the meditation, and which distinguishes it from other    
devotions.    
    
62   The first part of the Rosary contains five mysteries: the    
first, the Annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to our Lady; the    
second the Visitation of our Lady to Saint Elizabeth; the third,    
the Nativity of Jesus Christ; the fourth, the Presentation of the    
Child Jesus in the Temple and the purification of the Blessed    
Virgin; the fifth, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple among the    
doctors.    
     These are called the Joyful Mysteries because of the joy    
which they gave to the whole universe. Our Lady and the angels    
were overwhelmed with joy the moment the Son of God became    
incarnate. Saint Elizabeth and St. John the Baptist were filled    
with joy by the visit of Jesus and Mary. Heaven and earth    
rejoiced at the birth of the Saviour. Holy Simeon felt great    
consolation and was filled with joy when he took the holy child    
into his arms. The doctors were lost in admiration and wonderment    
at the replies which Jesus gave; and who could express the joy    
of Mary and Joseph when they found Jesus after three days'    
absence?    
    
63   The second part of the Rosary is also composed of five    
mysteries, which are called the Sorrowful Mysteries because they    
show us our Lord weighed down with sadness, covered with wounds,    
laden with insults, sufferings and torments.    
     The first of these mysteries is our Lord's prayer and his    
Agony in the Garden of Olives; the second, his Scourging; the    
third, his being Crowned with thorns; the fourth, his Carrying    
of the Cross; the fifth, his Crucifixion and death on Calvary.    
    
64   The third part of the Rosary contains five more mysteries,    
which are called the Glorious Mysteries, because when we say them    
we meditate on Jesus and Mary in their triumph and glory. The    
first is the Resurrection of Jesus; the second, his Ascension    
into heaven; the third, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the    
apostles; the fourth, our Lady's Assumption in glory; the fifth,    
her Coronation.    
     Such are the fifteen fragrant flowers of the mystical Rose-    
tree, on which devout souls linger, like discerning bees, to    
gather their nectar and make the honey of a solid devotion.    
    
Twenty-second Rose    
The Meditation of the Mysteries makes us resemble Jesus    
    
65   The chief concern of the Christian should be to tend to    
perfection. "Be faithful imitators of God, as his well-beloved    
children," the great Apostle tells us. This obligation is    
included in the eternal decree of our predestination, as the one    
and only means prescribed by God to attain everlasting glory.    
     Saint Gregory of Nyssa makes a delightful comparison when    
he says that we are all artists and that our souls are blank    
canvasses which we have to fill in. The colours which we use are    
the Christian virtues, and the original which we have to copy is    
Jesus Christ, the perfect living image of God the Father. Just    
as a painter who wants to do a life-like portrait places the    
model before his eyes and looks at it before making each stroke,    
so the Christian must always have before his eyes the life and    
virtues of Jesus Christ, so as never to say, think or do anything    
which is not in conformity with his model.    
    
66   It was because our Lady wanted to help us in the great task    
of working out our salvation that she ordered Saint Dominic to    
teach the faithful to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of the    
life of Jesus Christ. She did this, not only that they might    
adore and glorify him, but chiefly that they might pattern their    
lives and actions on his virtues.    
     Children copy their parents through watching them and    
talking to them, and they learn their own language through    
hearing them speak. An apprentice learns his trade through    
watching his master at work; in the same way the faithful members    
of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary can become like their    
divine Master if they reverently study and imitate the virtues    
of Jesus which are shown in the fifteen mysteries of his life.    
They can do this with the help of his grace and through the    
intercession of his blessed Mother.    
    
67   Long ago, Moses was inspired by God to command the Jewish    
people never to forget the graces which had been showered upon    
them. The Son of God has all the more reason to command us to    
engrave the mysteries of his life, passion and glory upon our    
hearts and to have them always before our eyes, since each    
mystery reminds us of his goodness to us in some special way and    
it is by these mysteries that he has shown us his overwhelming    
love and desire for our salvation. "Oh, all you who pass by,    
pause a while," he says, "and see if there has ever been any    
sorrow like to the sorrow I have endured for love of you. Be    
mindful of my poverty and humiliations; think of the gall and    
wormwood I took for you in my bitter passion."    
     These words and many others which could be given here should    
be more than enough to convince us that we must not only say the    
Rosary with our lips in honour of Jesus and Mary, but also    
meditate upon the sacred mysteries while we are saying it.    
    
Twenty-third Rose    
The Rosary is a Memorial of the Life and Death of Jesus    
    
68   Jesus Christ, the divine spouse of our souls and our very    
dear friend, wishes us to remember his goodness to us and to    
prize his gifts above all else. Whenever we meditate devoutly and    
lovingly upon the sacred mysteries of the Rosary, he receives an    
added joy, as also do our Lady and all the saints in heaven. His    
gifts are the most outstanding results of his love for us and the    
richest presents he could possibly give us, and it is by virtue    
of such presents that the Blessed Virgin herself and all the    
saints are glorified in heaven.    
     One day Blessed Angela of Foligno begged our Lord to let her    
know by which religious exercise she could honour him best. He    
appeared to her nailed to his cross and said, "My daughter, look    
at my wounds." She then realized that nothing pleases our dear    
Lord more than meditating upon his sufferings. Then he showed her    
the wounds on his head and revealed still other sufferings and    
said to her, "I have suffered all this for your salvation. What    
can you ever do to return my love for you?"    
    
69   The holy sacrifice of the Mass gives infinite honour to the    
most Blessed Trinity because it represents the passion of Jesus    
Christ and because through the Mass we offer to God the merits    
of our Lord's obedience, of his sufferings, and of his precious    
blood. All the heavenly court also receive an added joy from the    
Mass. Several doctors of the Church, including St. Thomas, tell    
us that, for the same reason, all the blessed in heaven rejoice    
in the communion of the faithful because the Blessed Sacrament    
is a memorial of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that    
by means of it men share in its fruits and work out their    
salvation.    
     Now the holy Rosary, recited with the meditation on the    
sacred mysteries, is a sacrifice of praise to God for the great    
gift of our redemption and a holy reminder of the sufferings,    
death and glory of Jesus Christ. It is therefore true that the    
Rosary gives glory and added joy to our Lord, our Lady and all    
the blessed, because they cannot desire anything greater, for the    
sake of our eternal happiness, than to see us engaged in a    
practice which is so glorious for our Lord and so salutary for    
ourselves.    
    
70   The Gospel teaches us that a sinner who is converted and who    
does penance gives joy to all the angels. If the repentance and    
conversion of one sinner is enough to make the angels rejoice,    
how great must be the happiness and jubilation of the whole    
heavenly court and what glory for our Blessed Lord himself to see    
us here on earth meditating devoutly and lovingly on his    
humiliations and torments and on his cruel and shameful death!    
Is there anything that could touch our hearts more surely and    
bring us to sincere repentance?    
     A Christian who does not meditate on the mysteries of the    
Rosary is very ungrateful to our Lord and shows how little he    
cares for all that our divine Saviour has suffered to save the    
world. This attitude seems to show that he knows little or    
nothing of the life of Jesus Christ, and that he has never taken    
the trouble to find out what he has done and what he went through    
in order to save us. A Christian of that kind ought to fear that,    
not having known Jesus Christ or having put him out of his mind,    
Jesus will reject him on the day of judgment with the reproach,    
"I tell you solemnly, I do not know you."    
     Let us meditate, then, on the life and sufferings of our    
Saviour by means of the holy Rosary; let us learn to know him    
well and to be grateful for all his blessings, so that, on the    
day of Judgment, he may number us among his children and his    
friends.    
    
Twenty-fourth Rose    
Meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary is a great means of    
perfection    
    
71   The saints made our Lord's life the principal object of    
their study; they meditated on his virtues and his sufferings,    
and in this way arrived at Christian perfection.    
     Saint Bernard began with this meditation and he always kept    
it up. "At the very beginning of my conversion," he said, "I made    
a bouquet of myrrh fashioned from the sorrows of my Saviour. I    
placed this bouquet upon my heart, thinking of the lashes, the    
thorns and the nails of his passion. I applied my whole mind to    
the meditation on these mysteries every day."    
     This was also the practice of the holy martyrs; we admire    
how they triumphed over the most cruel sufferings. Where could    
this admirable constancy of the martyrs come from, says Saint    
Bernard, if not from the wounds of Jesus Christ, on which they    
meditated so frequently? Where was the soul of these generous    
athletes when their blood gushed forth and their bodies were    
wracked with cruel torments? Their soul was in the wounds of    
Christ and those wounds made them invincible."    
    
72   During her whole life, our Saviour's holy Mother was    
occupied in meditating on the virtues and the sufferings of her    
Son. When she heard the angels sing their hymn of joy at his    
birth and saw the shepherds adore him in the stable, her heart    
was filled with wonder and she meditated on all these marvels.    
She compared the greatness of the Word incarnate to the way he    
humbled himself in this lowly fashion; the straw of the crib, to    
his throne in the heart of his Father; the might of God, to the    
weakness of a child; his wisdom, to his simplicity.    
     Our Lady said to Saint Bridget one day, "Whenever I used to    
contemplate the beauty, modesty, and wisdom of my Son, my heart    
was filled with joy; and whenever I considered his hands and feet    
which would be pierced with cruel nails, I wept bitterly and my    
heart was rent with sorrow and pain."    
    
73   After our Lord's Ascension, our Blessed Lady spent the rest    
of her life visiting the places that had been hallowed by his    
presence and by his sufferings. There, she meditated on his    
boundless love and on his terrible passion.    
     Saint Mary Magdalene continually performed the same    
religious exercises during the last thirty years of her life,    
when she lived at Sainte-Baume.    
     Saint Jerome tells us that this was the devotion of the    
faithful in the early centuries of the Church. From all the    
countries of the world they came to the Holy Land to engrave more    
deeply on their hearts a great love and remembrance of the    
Saviour of mankind by seeing the places and things he had made    
holy by his birth, his work, his sufferings, and his death.    
    
74   All Christians have but one faith and adore one and the same    
God, and hope for the same happiness in heaven; they know only    
one mediator, who is Jesus Christ; all must imitate their divine    
model, and in order to do this they must meditate on the    
mysteries of his life, of his virtues and of his glory.    
     It is a great mistake to think that only priests and    
religious and those who have withdrawn from the turmoil of the    
world are supposed to meditate upon the truths of our faith and    
the mysteries of the life of Christ. If priests and religious    
have an obligation to meditate on the great truths of our holy    
religion in order to live up to their vocation worthily, the same    
obligation is just as much incumbent on the laity, because of the    
fact that every day they meet with spiritual dangers which might    
cause them to lose their souls. Therefore they should arm    
themselves with the frequent meditation on the life, virtues, and    
sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which are presented to us in the    
fifteen mysteries of the holy Rosary.    
    
Twenty-fifth Rose    
The Riches of Holiness contained in the Prayers and Meditations    
of the Rosary    
    
75   Never will anyone be able to understand the marvellous    
riches of sanctification which are contained in the prayers and    
mysteries of the holy Rosary. This meditation on the mysteries    
of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ is the source of    
the most wonderful fruits for those who make use of it.    
     Today people want things that strike and move them, that    
leave deep impressions on the soul. Now has there ever been    
anything in the history of the world more moving than the    
wonderful story of the life, death, and glory of our Saviour    
which is contained in the holy Rosary? In the fifteen tableaux,    
the principal scenes or mysteries of his life unfold before our    
eyes. How could there be any prayers more wonderful and sublime    
than the Lord's Prayer and the Ave of the angel? All our desires    
and all our needs are found expressed in these two prayers.    
    
76   The meditation on the mysteries and prayers of the Rosary    
is the easiest of all prayers, because the diversity of the    
virtues of our Lord and the different situations of his life    
which we study, refresh and fortify our mind in a wonderful way    
and help us to avoid distractions. For the learned, these    
mysteries are the source of the most profound doctrine, while    
simple people find in them a means of instruction well within    
their reach.    
     We need to learn this easy form of meditation before    
progressing to the highest state of contemplation. That is the    
view of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and the advice that he gives when    
he says that, first of all, one must practice on a battlefield,    
as it were, by acquiring all the virtues of which we have the    
perfect model in the mysteries of the Rosary; for, says the    
learned Cajetan, that is the way we arrive at a really intimate    
union with God, since without that union contemplation is nothing    
but an illusion which can lead souls astray.    
    
77   If only the Illuminists or the Quietists of these days had    
followed this piece of advice, they would never have fallen so    
low or caused such scandals among spiritual people. To think that    
it is possible to say prayers that are finer and more beautiful    
than the Our Father and the Hail Mary is to fall a prey to a    
strange illusion of the devil, for these heavenly prayers are the    
support, the strength and the safeguard of our souls.    
     I admit it is not always necessary to say them as vocal    
prayers and that interior prayer is, in a sense, more perfect    
than vocal. But believe me, it is really dangerous, not to say    
fatal, to give up saying the Rosary of your own accord under the    
pretext of seeking a more perfect union with God. Sometimes a    
soul that is proud in a subtle way and who may have done    
everything that he can do interiorly to rise to the sublime    
heights of contemplation that the saints have reached may be    
deluded by the noonday devil into giving up his former devotions    
which are good enough for ordinary souls. He turns a deaf ear to    
the prayers and the greeting of an angel and even to the prayer    
which God has composed, put into practice, and commanded: Thus    
shall you pray: Our Father. Having reached this point, such a    
soul drifts from illusion to illusion, and falls from precipice    
to precipice.    
    
78   Believe me, dear brother of the Rosary Confraternity, if you    
genuinely wish to attain a high degree of prayer in all honesty    
and without falling into the illusions of the devil so common    
with those who practice mental prayer, say the whole Rosary every    
day, or at least five decades of it.    
     If you have already attained, by the grace of God, a high    
degree of prayer, keep up the practice of saying the holy Rosary    
if you wish to remain in that state and by it to grow in    
humility. For never will anyone who says his Rosary every day    
become a formal heretic or be led astray by the devil. This is    
a statement which I would sign with my blood.    
     On the other hand, if God in his infinite mercy draws you    
to himself as forcibly as he did some of the saints while saying    
the Rosary, make yourself passive in his hands and let yourself    
be drawn towards him. Let God work and pray in you and let him    
say your Rosary in his way, and that will be sufficient for the    
day.    
     But if you are still in the state of active contemplation    
or the ordinary prayer of quietude, of the presence of God,    
affective prayer, you have even less reason for giving up the    
Rosary. Far from making you lose ground in mental prayer or    
stunting your spiritual growth, it will be a wonderful help to    
you. You will find it a real Jacob's ladder with fifteen rungs    
by which you will go from virtue to virtue and from light to    
light. Thus, without danger of being misled, you will easily    
arrive at the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ.    
    
Twenty-sixth Rose    
    
79   Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but self-    
willed lady in Rome, so often referred to by speakers on the    
Rosary. She was so devout and fervent that she put to shame by    
her holy life even the strictest religious in the Church.    
     Having decided to ask St. Dominic's advice about her    
spiritual life, she made her confession to him. For penance he    
gave her one Rosary to say and advised her to say it every day.    
She excused herself, saying that she had her regular exercises,    
that she made the Stations of Rome every day, that she wore sack-    
cloth as well as a hair-shirt, that she gave herself the    
discipline several times a week, that she often fasted and did    
other penances. Saint Dominic urged her over and over again to    
take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would not hear of it.    
She left the confessional, horrified at the methods of this new    
spiritual director who had tried so hard to persuade her to take    
up a devotion for which she had no taste.    
     Later on, when she was at prayer she fell into ecstasy and    
had a vision of her soul appearing before the Supreme Judge.    
Saint Michael put all her penances and other prayers on one side    
of the scales and all her sins and imperfections on the other.    
The tray of her good works were greatly outweighed by that of her    
sins and imperfections.    
     Filled with alarm, she cried for mercy, imploring the help    
of the Blessed Virgin, her gracious advocate, who took the one    
and only Rosary she had said for her penance and dropped it on    
the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it    
weighed more than all her sins as well as all her good works. Our    
Lady then reproved her for having refused to follow the counsel    
of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day.    
     As soon as she came to herself she rushed and threw herself    
at the feet of Saint Dominic and told him all that had happened,    
begged his forgiveness for her unbelief, and promised to say the    
Rosary faithfully every day. By this means she rose to Christian    
perfection and finally to the glory of everlasting life.    
     You who are people of prayer, learn from this the power, the    
value and the importance of this devotion of the holy Rosary when    
it is said with meditation on the mysteries.    
    
80   Few saints have reached the same heights of prayer as Saint    
Mary Magdalene, who was lifted up to heaven by angels each day,    
and who had the privilege of learning at the feet of Jesus and    
his holy Mother. Yet one day, when she asked God to show her a    
sure way of advancing in his love and arriving at the heights of    
perfection, he sent the archangel St. Michael to tell her, on his    
behalf, that there was no other way for her to reach perfection    
than to meditate on our Lord's passion. So he placed a cross in    
the front of her cave and told her to pray before it,    
contemplating the sorrowful mysteries which she had seen take    
place with her own eyes.    
     The example of Saint Francis de Sales, the great spiritual    
director of his time, should spur you on to join the holy    
confraternity of the Rosary, since, great saint though he was,    
he bound himself by vow to say the whole Rosary every day for as    
long as he lived.    
     Saint Charles Borromeo also said it every day and strongly    
recommended this devotion to his priests and clerics in    
seminaries and to all his people.    
     Blessed Pius V, one of the greatest popes who have ever    
ruled the Church, used to say the Rosary every day. Saint Thomas    
of Villanova, Archbishop of Valencia, Saint Ignatius, Saint    
Francis Xavier, Saint Francis Borgia, Saint Teresa and Saint    
Philip Neri, as well as many other great men whom I do not    
mention, were greatly devoted to the Rosary.    
     Follow their example; your spiritual directors will be very    
pleased, and if they are aware of the benefits which you can    
derive from this devotion, they will be the first to urge you to    
adopt it.    
    
Twenty-seventh Rose    
    
81   To encourage you still more in this devotion practised by    
so many holy people, I should like to add that the Rosary recited    
with the meditation of the mysteries brings about the following    
marvellous results:    
     1    it gradually brings us a perfect knowledge of Jesus    
          Christ;    
     2    it purifies our souls from sin;    
     3    it gives us victory over all our enemies;    
     4    it makes the practice of virtue easy;    
     5    it sets us on fire with the love of our Lord;    
     6    it enriches us with graces and merits;    
     7    it supplies us with what is needed to pay all our    
          debts to God and to our fellow-men, and finally, it    
          obtains all kinds of graces from God.    
    
82   The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the science of Christians    
and the science of salvation; it surpasses, says Saint Paul, all    
human sciences in value and perfection:    
     1    because of the dignity of its object, which is a God-    
          man, compared to whom the whole universe is but a drop    
          of dew or a grain of sand;    
     2    because of its utility to us; human sciences only fill    
          us with the wind and emptiness of pride;    
     3    because of its necessity; for no one can be saved    
          without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, while a person    
          who knows absolutely nothing of any other science will    
          be saved as long as he is enlightened by the knowledge    
          of Jesus Christ.    
     Blessed is the Rosary which gives us this science and    
knowledge of our Blessed Lord through our meditations on his    
life, death, passion and glory.    
     The Queen of Sheba, lost in admiration at Solomon's wisdom,    
cried out, "Blessed are your attendants and your servants who are    
always in your presence and hear your wisdom." But happier still    
are the faithful who carefully meditate on the life, virtues,    
sufferings and glory of our Saviour, because by this means they    
can gain perfect knowledge of him, in which eternal life    
consists.    
    
83   Our Lady revealed to Blessed Alan that no sooner had Saint    
Dominic begun preaching the Rosary than hardened sinners were    
touched and wept bitterly over their grievous sins. Young    
children performed unbelievable penances, and everywhere he    
preached the Rosary such fervour was aroused that sinners changed    
their lives and edified everyone by their penances and the    
amendment of their lives.    
     If by chance your conscience is burdened with sin, take your    
Rosary and say at least a part of it in honour of some of the    
mysteries of the life, passion, and glory of Jesus Christ, and    
you can be sure that, while you are meditating on these mysteries    
and honouring them, he will show his sacred wounds to his Father    
in heaven. He will plead for you and obtain for you contrition    
and the forgiveness of your sins. One day our Lord said to    
Blessed Alan, "If only these poor wretched sinners would say my    
Rosary often, they would share in the merits of my passion, and    
I would be their Advocate and would appease the justice of God."    
    
84   This life is a continual war and a series of temptations;    
we do not have to contend with enemies of flesh and blood, but    
with the very powers of hell. What better weapon could we    
possibly use to combat them than the prayer which our great    
Leader has taught us, than the Angelic Salutation which has put    
the devils to flight, destroyed sin and renewed the world? What    
better weapon could we use than meditation on the life and    
passion of Jesus Christ? For, as Saint Peter tells us, it is with    
this thought that we must arm ourselves, in order to defend    
ourselves against the very same enemies whom he has conquered and    
who molest us every day.    
     "Ever since the devil was crushed by the humility and the    
passion of Jesus Christ," says Cardinal Hugues, "he has been    
practically unable to attack a soul that is armed with meditation    
on the mysteries of our Lord's life, and, if he does trouble such    
a soul, he is sure to be shamefully defeated." "Put on the armour    
of God so as to be able to resist the attacks of the devil."    
    
85   So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the holy Rosary,    
and you will crush the devil's head and stand firm in the face    
of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of rosary beads    
is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them    
to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were    
possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.    
    
86   Blessed Alan relates that a man he knew had tried    
desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil    
spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he    
thought of wearing his rosary round his neck, which eased him    
considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the    
devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and    
day. This drove the evil spirit away forever because he could not    
bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testifies that he    
delivered a great number of those who were possessed by putting    
a rosary round their necks.    
    
87   Father Jean Amƒt, of the Order of St. Dominic, was giving    
a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year,    
when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the    
devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success,    
he put his rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the    
girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking,    
"Take it off, take it off; these beads are tormenting me." At    
last, the priest, filled with pity for the girl, took his rosary    
off her.    
     The very next night, when Fr. Amƒt was in bed, the same    
devils who had possession of the girl came to him, foaming with    
rage and tried to seize him. But he had his rosary clasped in his    
hand and no efforts of theirs could wrench it from him. He beat    
them with it very well indeed and put them to flight, crying out,    
"Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, come to my help."    
     The next day on his way to the church, he met the poor girl,    
still possessed; one of the devils within her started to jeer at    
him, saying, "Well, brother, if you had been without your rosary,    
we should have made short shrift of you." Then the good Father    
threw his rosary round the girl's neck without more ado, saying,    
"By the sacred names of Jesus and Mary his holy Mother, and by    
the power of the holy Rosary, I command you, evil spirits, to    
leave the body of this girl at once." They were immediately    
forced to obey him, and she was delivered from them.    
     These stories show the power of the holy Rosary in    
overcoming all sorts of temptations from the evil spirits and all    
sorts of sins, because these blessed beads of the Rosary put    
devils to rout.    
    
Twenty-eighth Rose    
    
88   St. Augustine assures us that there is no spiritual exercise    
more fruitful or more useful than the frequent reflection on the    
sufferings of our Lord. Blessed Albert the Great, who had St.    
Thomas Aquinas as his student, learned in a revelation that by    
simply thinking of or meditating on the passion of Jesus Christ,    
a Christian gains more merit than if he had fasted on bread and    
water every Friday for a year, or had beaten himself with the    
discipline once a week till blood flowed, or had recited the    
whole Book of Psalms every day. If this is so, then how great    
must be the merit we can gain from the Rosary, which commemorates    
the whole life and passion of our Lord?    
     Our Lady one day revealed to Blessed Alan de la Roche that,    
after the holy sacrifice of the Mass, which is the first and most    
living memorial of our Lord's passion, there was indeed no more    
excellent devotion or one of greater merit than that of the    
Rosary, which is like a second memorial and representation of the    
life and passion of Jesus Christ.    
    
89   Fr. Dorland relates that in 1481 our Lady appeared to the    
Venerable Dominic, a Carthusian devoted to the holy Rosary, who    
lived at Treves, and said to him:    
     "Whenever one of the faithful, in a state of grace, says the    
Rosary while meditating on the mysteries of the life and passion    
of Christ, he obtains full and entire remission of all his sins."    
     She also said to Blessed Alan, "I want you to know that,    
although there are numerous indulgences already attached to the    
recitation of my Rosary, I shall add many more to every five    
decades for those who, free from serious sin, say them with    
devotion, on their knees. And whosoever shall persevere in the    
devotion of the holy Rosary, with its prayers and meditations,    
shall be rewarded for it; I shall obtain for him full remission    
of the penalty and the guilt of all his sins at the end of his    
life.    
     "And let this not seem incredible to you; it is easy for me    
because I am the Mother of the King of heaven, and he calls me    
full of grace. And being filled with grace, I am able to dispense    
it freely to my dear children."    
    
90   St. Dominic was so convinced of the efficacy of the Rosary    
and its great value that, when he heard confessions, he hardly    
ever gave any other penance, as we have seen in the story I told    
you of the lady in Rome to whom he gave only a single Rosary.     
St. Dominic was a great saint and other confessors also ought to    
walk in his footsteps by asking their penitents to say the Rosary    
with meditation on the sacred mysteries, rather than giving them    
other penances which are less meritorious and less pleasing to    
God, less likely to help them to advance in virtue, and not as    
efficacious in helping them to avoid sin. Moreover, while saying    
the Rosary, people gain numerous indulgences which are not    
attached to many other devotions.    
    
91   As Abbot Blosius says, "The Rosary, with meditation on the    
life and passion of Christ, is certainly most pleasing to our    
Lord and his blessed Mother and is a very successful means of    
obtaining all graces; we can say it for ourselves as well as for    
those who have been recommended to our prayers and for the whole    
Church. Let us turn, then, to the holy Rosary in all our needs,    
and we shall infallibly obtain the graces we ask for from God to    
attain our salvation.    
    
Twenty-ninth Rose    
    
92   There is nothing more divine, according to the mind of St.    
Denis, nothing more noble or agreeable to God than to cooperate    
in the work of saving souls and to frustrate the devil's plans    
for ruining them. The Son of God came down to earth for no other    
reason than to save us. He upset Satan's empire by founding the    
Church, but the devil rallied his strength and wreaked cruel    
violence on souls by the Albigensian heresy, by the hatred,    
dissensions and abominable vices which he spread throughout the    
world in the eleventh century.    
     Only severe remedies could possibly cure such terrible    
disorders and repel Satan's forces. The Blessed Virgin,    
protectress of the Church, has given us a most powerful means for    
appeasing her Son's anger, uprooting heresy and reforming    
Christian morals, in the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, as    
events have shown. It has brought back charity and the frequent    
reception of the sacraments as in the first golden centuries of    
the Church, and it has reformed Christian morals.    
    
93   Pope Leo X said in his bull that this Confraternity had been    
founded in honour of God and of the Blessed Virgin as a wall to    
hold back the evils that were going to break upon the Church.     
Gregory XIII said that the Rosary was given us from heaven as a    
means of appeasing God's anger and of imploring the intercession    
of our Lady.    
     Julius III said that the Rosary was inspired by God that    
heaven might be more easily opened to us through the favours of    
our Lady.    
     Paul III and Blessed Pius V declared that the Rosary was    
given to the faithful in order that they might have spiritual    
peace and consolation more easily. Surely everyone will want to    
join a confraternity which was founded for such noble purposes.    
    
94   Father Dominic, a Carthusian, who was deeply devoted to the    
holy Rosary, had a vision in which he saw heaven opened and the    
whole heavenly court assembled in magnificent array. He heard    
them sing the Rosary in an enchanting melody, and each decade was    
in honour of a mystery of the life, passion, or glory of Jesus    
Christ and his holy Mother. Fr. Dominic noticed that whenever    
they pronounced the holy name of Mary they bowed their heads, and    
at the name of Jesus they genuflected and gave thanks to God for    
the great good he had wrought in heaven and on earth through the    
holy Rosary. He also saw our Lady and the Saints present to God    
the Rosaries which the Confraternity members say here on earth.    
He noticed too that they were praying for those who practice this    
devotion. He also saw beautiful crowns without number, which were    
made of sweet-smelling flowers, for those who say the Rosary    
devoutly. He learned that by every Rosary that they say they make    
a crown for themselves which they will be able to wear in heaven.    
     This holy Carthusian's vision is very much like that which    
the Beloved Disciple had, in which he saw a great multitude of    
angels and saints, who continually praised and blessed Jesus    
Christ for all that he had done and suffered on earth for our    
salvation. And is not this what the devout members of the Rosary    
Confraternity do?    
    
95   It must not be imagined that the Rosary is only for women,    
and for simple and unlearned people; it is also for men and for    
the greatest of men. As soon as St. Dominic acquainted Pope    
Innocent III with the fact that he had received a command from    
heaven to establish the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, the    
Holy Father gave it his full approval, urged St. Dominic to    
preach it, and said that he wished to become a member himself.    
Even Cardinals embraced the devotion with great fervour, which    
prompted Lopez to say, "Neither sex nor age nor any other    
condition has kept anyone from devotion to the Rosary."    
     Members of this Confraternity have come from all walks of    
life: dukes, princes, kings, as well as prelates, cardinals and    
Sovereign Pontiffs. It would take too long to list them in this    
little book. If you join this Confraternity, dear reader, you    
will share in their devotion and their graces on earth and their    
glory in heaven. "Since you are united to them in their devotion,    
you will share in their dignity."    
    
Thirtieth Rose    
    
96   If privileges, graces and indulgences of a confraternity    
make God alone it valuable to us, then that of the Rosary is the    
one to be most recommended, since it is the most favoured and    
enriched with indulgences, and ever since its inception there has    
hardly been a pope who has not opened the treasures of the Church    
to enrich it with further privileges. And since example is more    
persuasive than words and favours, the Holy Fathers have found    
that there was no better way to show their high regard for this    
holy Confraternity than to join it themselves.    
     Here is a short summary of the indulgences which they    
wholeheartedly granted to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary,    
and which were confirmed again by our Holy Father Pope Innocent    
XI on 31st July 1679, and received and made public by the    
Archbishop of Paris on 25th September of the same year:    
     1    Members may gain a plenary indulgence on the day of    
          joining the Confraternity;    
     2    A plenary indulgence at the hour of death;    
     3    For each rosary of five decades recited: ten years and    
          ten quarantines;    
     4    Each time that members say the holy names of Jesus and    
          Mary devoutly: seven days' indulgence;    
     5    For those who assist with devotion at the procession    
          of the holy Rosary: seven years and seven quarantines    
          of indulgence;    
     6    Members who have made a good confession and are    
          genuinely sorry for their sins may gain a plenary    
          indulgence on certain days by visiting the Rosary    
          Chapel in the church where the Confraternity is    
          established. This may be gained on the first Sunday of    
          every month, and on the feasts of our Lord and our    
          Lady;    
     7    To those who assist at the Salve Regina: a hundred    
          days' indulgence;    
     8    To those who openly wear the rosary out of devotion    
          and to set a good example: a hundred days' indulgence;    
     9    Sick members who are unable to go to church may gain    
          a plenary indulgence by going to confession and    
          Communion and by saying that day the whole Rosary, or    
          at least five decades;    
     10   The Sovereign Pontiffs have shown their generosity    
          towards members of the Rosary Confraternity by    
          allowing them to gain the indulgences attached to the    
          Stations of the Cross by visiting five altars in the    
          church where the Rosary Confraternity is established,    
          and by saying the Our Father and Hail Mary five times    
          before each altar, for the well-being of the Church.    
          If there are only one or two altars in the    
          Confraternity church, they should say the Our Father    
          and Hail Mary twenty-five times before one of them.    
    
97   This is a wonderful favour granted to Confraternity members,    
for in the Station Churches in Rome plenary indulgences can be    
obtained, souls can be delivered from purgatory, and many other    
important remissions can be gained. and these are available to    
members without trouble, without expense, and without leaving    
their own country. And even if the Confraternity is not    
established in the place where the members live, they can gain    
the very same indulgences by visiting five altars in any church.    
This concession was granted by Leo X.    
     The Sacred Congregation of Indulgences drew up a list of    
certain definite days on which those outside the city of Rome    
could gain the indulgences of the Stations of Rome. The Holy    
Father approved this list on March 7th, 1678, and commanded that    
it be strictly observed. These indulgences can be gained on the    
following days:    
     All the Sundays of Advent; each of the three Ember Days;    
Christmas Eve, and the Masses of midnight, of the Dawn and of the    
Day; the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy    
Innocents, the Circumcision and the Epiphany; the Sundays of    
Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima, and every day from Ash    
Wednesday to Low Sunday inclusively; each of the three Rogation    
days; Ascension; the vigil of Pentecost, and every day of its    
octave; and the three days of the September Ember Days.    
     Dear brothers and sisters of the Confraternity, there are    
numerous other indulgences which you can gain. If you want to    
know about them, read the complete list of indulgences which have    
been granted to the members of the Confraternity. You will see    
there the names of the popes, the year in which they granted the    
indulgence, and many other particulars which I have not been able    
to include in this little summary.    
    
FOURTH DECADE    
The surpassing merit of the holy Rosary as seen in the wonders    
God has worked through it.    
    
Thirty-first Rose    
    
98   The saintly Blanche of Castille, Queen of France, was deeply    
grieved because twelve years after her marriage she was still    
childless. When St. Dominic went to see her he advised her to say    
the Rosary every day to ask God for the grace of motherhood, and    
she faithfully carried out his advice. In the year 1213 she gave    
birth to her eldest child, who was called Philip. But when the    
child died in infancy, the Queen sought our Lady's help more than    
ever, and had a large number of rosaries given out to all members    
of the court and to people in several towns in the Kingdom,    
asking them to pray to God for a blessing which this time would    
be complete. This was granted to her, for in 1215 St. Louis was    
born, the prince who was to become the glory of France and the    
model of Christian kings.    
    
99   Alphonsus VIII, King of Aragon and Castille, had been    
leading a disorderly life and had been punished by God in several    
ways, and he was forced to take refuge in a town belonging to one    
of his allies.    
     St. Dominic happened to be in this town on Christmas Day and    
he preached on the Rosary as he usually did, and spoke of the    
graces that we obtain through this devotion. He mentioned, among    
other things, that those who said the Rosary devoutly would    
overcome their enemies and regain all they had lost.    
     The King listened attentively and sent for St. Dominic to    
ask whether what he had said about the Rosary was really true.    
The Saint assured him that nothing was more true, and that if    
only he would practice this devotion and join the Confraternity,    
he would see for himself. The King resolved to say the Rosary    
every day and persevered for a year in doing so. The very next    
Christmas, our Lady appeared to him at the end of his Rosary and    
said, "Alphonsus, you have served me for a year by saying my    
Rosary devoutly every day, so I have come to reward you. I have    
obtained the forgiveness of your sins from my Son. Here is a    
rosary, which I present to you; wear it, and I promise you that    
none of your enemies will be able to harm you."    
     Our Lady vanished, leaving the King overjoyed and greatly    
encouraged; he immediately went in search of the Queen and told    
her all about our Lady's gift and the promise that went with it.    
He touched her eyes with this rosary, for she had lost her sight,    
and she was cured.    
     Shortly afterwards the King rallied some troops and with the    
help of his allies boldly attacked his enemies. He forced them    
to give back the territory they had taken from him and make    
reparation for his losses. They were completely routed, and he    
became so successful in war that soldiers came from all sides to    
fight under his standard, because it seemed that, whenever he    
went into battle, the victory was sure to be his.    
     This is not surprising because he never went into battle    
without first saying his Rosary on his knees. He made certain    
that the whole of his court joined the Confraternity of the    
Rosary and he saw to it that all his officials and servants were    
devoted to it.    
     The Queen also joined the Confraternity, and they both    
persevered in the service of Blessed Virgin and lived very holy    
lives.    
    
Thirty-second Rose    
    
100  St. Dominic had a cousin named Don Perez or Pedro, who was    
leading a highly immoral life. When he heard that his cousin was    
preaching on the wonders of the Rosary and learned that several    
people had been converted and had amended their lives by means    
of it, he said, "I had given up all hope of being saved but now    
I am beginning to take heart again. I really must hear this man    
of God."    
     So one day he went to hear one of St. Dominic's sermons.    
When the latter caught sight of him, he struck out against sin    
more zealously than ever before, and from the depths of his heart    
he besought God to enlighten his cousin and let him see what a    
deplorable state his soul was in.    
     At first, Don Perez was somewhat alarmed, but he still did    
not resolve to change his ways. He came once more to hear the    
Saint preach and his cousin, realizing that a heart as hardened    
as his could only be moved by something extraordinary, cried out    
with a loud voice, "Lord Jesus, grant that this whole    
congregation may see the state of the man who has just come into    
your house."    
     Then everyone suddenly saw that Don Perez was completely    
surrounded by a band of devils in the form of hideous beasts, who    
were holding him in great iron chains. People fled in all    
directions in abject terror, and Don Perez himself was even more    
appalled when he saw how everyone shunned him. St. Dominic told    
them all to stand still and said to his cousin, "Unhappy man that    
you are, acknowledge the deplorable state you are in and throw    
yourself at our Lady's feet. Take this rosary, say it with    
devotion and with true sorrow for all your sins, and make a    
resolution to amend your life."    
     Don Perez knelt down and said the Rosary; he then felt the    
desire to make his confession, which he did with heartfelt    
contrition. St. Dominic ordered him to say the Rosary every day;    
he promised to do this and he entered his own name in the    
register of the Confraternity. When he left the church his face    
was no longer horrible to behold but shining like that of an    
angel. Thereafter he persevered in devotion to the Rosary, led    
a well-ordered life and died a happy death.    
    
Thirty-third Rose    
    
101  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!"    
    
102  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 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.)    
    
103  Then the devils started screaming:    
    
104  "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.    
    
Thirty-fourth Rose    
    
105  It is almost impossible to do credit sufficiently to the    
victories that Count Simon de Montfort won against the    
Albigensians under the patronage of Our Lady of the Rosary. They    
are so famous that the world has never seen anything to match    
them. One day he defeated ten thousand heretics with a force of    
five hundred men; on another occasion he overcame three thousand    
with only thirty men; finally, with eight hundred horsemen and    
one thousand infantrymen he completely routed the army of the    
King of Aragon, which was a hundred thousand strong, and this    
with the loss on his side of only one horseman and eight    
soldiers.    
     Our Lady also protected Alan de l'Anvallay, a Breton    
knight, from great perils. He too was fighting for the faith    
against the Albigensians. One day, when he found himself    
surrounded by enemies on all sides, our Lady let fall a hundred    
and fifty rocks upon his enemies and he was delivered from their    
hands.    
     Another day, when his ship had foundered and was about to    
sink, this good Mother caused a hundred and fifty small hills to    
appear miraculously above the water and by means of them they    
reached Brittany in safety. In thanksgiving to our Lady for the    
miracles she had worked on his behalf in answer to his daily    
Rosary, he built a monastery at Dinan for the religious of the    
new Order of St. Dominic and, having become a religious himself,    
he died a holy death at Orleans.    
    
107  OthŠre, also a Breton soldier, from Vaucouleurs, often put    
whole companies of heretics or robbers to flight, wearing his    
rosary on his arm and on the hilt of his sword. Once when he had    
beaten his enemies, they admitted that they had seen his sword    
shining brightly, and another time had noticed a shield on his    
arm on which our Lord, our Lady and the saints were depicted.    
This shield made him invisible and gave him the strength to    
attack well.    
     Another time he defeated twenty thousand heretics with only    
ten companies without losing a single man. This so impressed the    
general of the heretics' army that he sought out OthŠre, abjured    
his heresy and declared that he had seen him surrounded by    
flaming swords during the battle.    
    
Thirty-fifth Rose    
    
108       Blessed Alan relates that a certain Cardinal Pierre,    
whose titular church was that of St. Mary-beyond-the-Tiber, was    
a great friend of St. Dominic's and had learned from him to have    
a great devotion to the holy Rosary. He grew to love it so much    
that he never ceased singing its praises and encouraging everyone    
he met to embrace it. Eventually he was sent as legate to the    
Holy Land to the Christians who were fighting against the    
Saracens. So successfully did he convince the Christian army of    
the power of the Rosary that they all started saying it and    
stormed heaven for help in a battle in which they knew they would    
be pitifully outnumbered. And in fact, their three thousand    
triumphed over an enemy of one hundred thousand.    
     As we have seen, the devils have an overwhelming fear of the    
Rosary. St. Bernard says that the Angelic Salutation puts them    
to flight and makes all hell tremble. Blessed Alan assures us    
that he has seen several people delivered from Satan's bondage    
after taking up the holy Rosary, even though they had previously    
sold themselves to him, body and soul, by renouncing their    
baptismal vows and their allegiance to Jesus Christ.    
    
Thirty-sixth Rose    
    
109  In 1578, a woman of Antwerp had given herself to the devil    
and signed a contract with her own blood. Shortly afterwards she    
was stricken with remorse and had an intense desire to make    
amends for this terrible deed. So she sought out a kind and wise    
confessor to find out how she could be set free from the power    
of the devil.    
     She found a wise and holy priest, who advised her to go to    
Fr. Henry, director of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, at    
the Dominican Friary, to be enroled there and to make her    
confession. Accordingly, she asked to see him but met, not Fr.    
Henry, but the devil disguised as a friar. He reproved her    
severely and said she could never hope to receive God's grace,    
and there was no way of revoking what she had signed. This    
grieved her greatly but she did not lose hope in God's mercy and    
sought out Fr. Henry once more, only to find the devil a second    
time, and to meet with a second rebuff. She came back a third    
time and then at last, by divine providence, she found Fr. Henry    
in person, the priest whom she had been looking for, and he    
treated her with great kindness, urging her to throw herself on    
the mercy of God and to make a good confession. He then received    
her into the Confraternity and told her to say the Rosary    
frequently.    
     One day, while Fr. Henry was celebrating Mass for her, our    
Lady forced the devil to give her back the contract she had    
signed. In this way she was delivered from the devil by the    
authority of Mary and by devotion to the holy Rosary.    
    
110  A nobleman who had several daughters placed one of them in    
a lax monastery where the nuns were concerned only with vanity    
and pleasures. Their confessor, on the other hand, was a zealous    
priest with a great devotion to the holy Rosary. Wishing to guide    
this nun into a better way of life, he ordered her to say the    
Rosary every day in honour of the Blessed Virgin, while    
meditating on the life, passion and glory of Jesus Christ.    
     She joyously undertook this devotion, and little by little    
she grew to have a repugnance for the wayward habits of her    
sisters in religion. She developed a love of silence and prayer,    
in spite of the fact that the others despised and ridiculed her    
and called her a fanatic.    
     It was at this time that a holy priest, who was making the    
visitation of the convent, had a strange vision during his    
meditation: he saw a nun in her room, rapt in prayer, kneeling    
in front of a Lady of great beauty who was surrounded by angels.    
The latter had flaming spears with which they repelled a crowd    
of devils who wanted to come in. These evil spirits then fled to    
the other nuns' rooms under the guise of vile animals.    
     By this vision the priest became aware of the lamentable    
state of that monastery and was so upset that he thought he might    
die of grief. He sent for the young religious and exhorted her    
to persevere. As he pondered on the value of the Rosary, he    
decided to try and reform the Sisters by means of it. He bought    
a supply of beautiful rosaries and gave one to each nun,    
imploring them to say it every day and promising them that, if    
they would only say it faithfully, he would not try to force them    
to alter their lives. Wonderful and strange though it may seem,    
the nuns willingly accepted the rosaries and promised to say the    
prayer on that condition. Little by little they began to give up    
their empty and worldly pursuits, letting silence and    
recollection come into their lives. In less than a year they all    
asked that the monastery be reformed.    
     The Rosary worked more changes in their hearts than the    
priest could have done by exhorting and commanding them.    
    
Thirty-eighth Rose    
    
111  A Spanish countess who had been taught the holy Rosary by    
St. Dominic used to say it faithfully every day, with the result    
that she was making marvellous progress in her spiritual life.    
Since her only desire was to attain to perfection, she asked a    
bishop who was a renowned preacher for some practices that would    
help her to become perfect. The bishop told her that, before he    
could give her any advice, she would have to let him know the    
state of her soul and what her religious exercises were. She    
answered that her most important exercise was the Rosary, which    
she said every day, meditating on the Joyful, Sorrowful and    
Glorious Mysteries, and that she had profited greatly by so    
doing.    
     The Bishop was overjoyed to hear her explain what priceless    
lessons the mysteries contain. "I have been a doctor of theology    
for twenty years," he exclaimed, "and I have read many excellent    
books on various devotional practices. But never before have I    
come across one better than this or more conformed to the    
Christian life. From now on I shall follow your example, and I    
shall preach the Rosary."    
     He did so with such success that in a short while he saw his    
diocese changed for the better. There was a notable decline in    
immorality and worldliness of all kinds as well as in gambling.    
There were several instances of people being brought back to the    
faith, of sinners making restitution for their crimes, and of    
others sincerely resolving to give up their lives of vice.    
Religious fervour and Christian charity began to flourish. These    
changes were all the more remarkable because this bishop had been    
striving to reform his diocese for some time but with hardly any    
results.    
     To inculcate the devotion of the Rosary all the more, the    
bishop also wore a beautiful rosary at his side and always showed    
it to his congregation when he preached. He used to say, "My dear    
brethren, I am a doctor of theology, and of canon and civil law,    
but I say to you, as your bishop, that I take more pride in    
wearing the rosary of the Blessed Virgin than in any of my    
episcopal regalia or academic robes."    
    
Thirty-ninth Rose    
    
112  A Danish priest used to love to tell how the very same    
improvement that the Spanish bishop noticed in his diocese had    
occurred in his own parish. He always told his story with great    
joy of heart because it gave such glory to God.    
     "I had," he said, "preached as compellingly as I could,    
touching on many aspects of our holy Faith, and using every    
argument I could possibly think of to get people to amend their    
way of life, but in vain. Finally, I decided to preach the holy    
Rosary. I told my congregations how precious it was and taught    
them how to say it, and I affirm that having taught them to    
appreciate this devotion, I saw a manifest change within six    
months.    
     "How true it is that this God-given prayer has a divine    
power to touch our hearts and inspire them with a horror of sin    
and a love of virtue!"    
     One day our Lady said to Blessed Alan, "Just as God chose    
the Angelic Salutation to bring about the incarnation of his Word    
and the redemption of mankind, so those who want to bring about    
moral reforms and regenerate them in Jesus Christ must honour me    
and greet me with the same salutation. I am the channel by which    
God came to men, and so, next to Jesus Christ, it is through me    
that men must obtain grace and virtue."    
    
113  I, who write this, have learnt from my own experience that    
the Rosary has the power to convert even the most hardened    
hearts. I have known people who have gone to missions and heard    
sermons on the most terrifying subjects without being in the    
least moved; and yet, after they had, on my advice, started to    
say the Rosary every day. they eventually became converted and    
gave themselves completely to God.    
     When I have gone back to parishes where I had given    
missions, I have seen tremendous differences between them; in    
those parishes where the people had given up the Rosary, they had    
generally fallen back into their sinful ways, whereas in places    
where the Rosary was said faithfully I found the people were    
persevering in the grace of God and advancing in virtue day by    
day.    
    
Fortieth Rose    
    
114  Blessed Alan de la Roche, Fr. Jean Dumont, Fr. Thomas, the    
chronicles of St. Dominic and other writers who have seen these    
things with their own eyes speak of the marvellous conversions    
that are brought about by this wonderful devotion. Great sinners,    
both men and women, have been converted after twenty, thirty or    
forty years of sin and unspeakable vice. I will not even relate    
those which I have seen myself because I do not want to make this    
book too long; there are several reasons why I would rather not    
talk about them.    
     Dear reader, if you practice and preach this devotion, you    
will learn more, by your own experience, than from spiritual    
books, and you will have the happiness of being rewarded by our    
Lady in accordance with the promises she made to St. Dominic, to    
Blessed Alan de la Roche, and to those who encourage this    
devotion which is so dear to her. For the Rosary teaches people    
about the virtues of Jesus and Mary, and leads them to mental    
prayer, to the imitation of Jesus Christ, to the frequentation    
of the sacraments, the practice of genuine virtue and of all    
kinds of good works. It also helps us to gain many wonderful    
indulgences, which people are unaware of because those who preach    
this devotion hardly ever mention them and content themselves    
with giving a popular sermon on the Rosary which very often    
produces admiration but not instruction.    
    
115  Finally, I shall content myself with saying, in company with    
Blessed Alan de la Roche, that the Rosary is a source and a    
store-house of countless blessings.    
     1    Sinners obtain pardon;    
     2    Those who thirst are refreshed;    
     3    Those who are fettered are set free;    
     4    Those who weep find joy;    
     5    Those who are tempted find peace;    
     6    Those in need find help;    
     7    Religious are reformed;    
     8    The ignorant are instructed;    
     9    The living learn to resist spiritual decline;    
     10   The dead have their pains eased by suffrages.    
     Our Lady once said to Blessed Alan, "I want those who are    
devoted to my Rosary to have my Son's grace and blessing during    
their lifetime, at death and after their death. I want them to    
be freed from all slavery so that they will be like kings, with    
crowns on their heads, sceptres in their hands and to reign in    
eternal glory. Amen.    
    
FIFTH DECADE    
How to say the Rosary worthily    
    
Forty-first Rose    
    
116  It is not so much the length of a prayer as the fervour with    
which it is said which pleases God and touches his heart. A    
single Hail Mary said properly is worth more than a hundred and    
fifty said badly. Most Catholics say the Rosary, either the whole    
fifteen mysteries or five of them, or at least a few decades. Why    
is it then that so few of them give up their sins and make    
progress in virtue, if not because they are not saying them as    
they should.    
    
117  It is a good thing to think over how we should pray if we    
want to please God and become more holy.    
     1    Firstly, to say the holy Rosary with advantage one must    
be in a state of grace or at least be fully determined to give    
up sin, for all our theology teaches us that good works and    
prayers are dead works if they are done in a state of mortal sin.    
Therefore, they can neither be pleasing to God nor help us to    
gain eternal life. As Scripture says, "Praise is not seemly in    
the mouth of a sinner" (Ecclus. 15).    
     The praise and greeting of the angel and the very prayer of    
Jesus Christ are not pleasing to God when they are said by    
unrepentant sinners.    
     "These people honour me with their lips, but their heart is    
far from me" (Mark 7:6).    
     Those who join my confraternities (says Jesus Christ), who    
say the Rosary every day, without any contrition for their sins,    
offer me lip service only and their hearts are far from me.    
     2    I have just said that a person must "at least be fully    
determined to give up sin," 1) because if it were true that God    
only heard the prayers of those in a state of grace, it would    
follow that those who are in a state of serious sin should not    
pray at all. This is an erroneous teaching which has been    
condemned by the Church, because sinners, of course, need to pray    
far more than good people. Were this horrible doctrine true, it    
would be useless and futile to tell a sinner to say the Rosary,    
because it would never help him; 2) because they join one of our    
Lady's confraternities, or say the Rosary or some other prayer,    
without having the slightest intention of giving up sin, they    
join the ranks of her false devotees. These presumptuous and    
impenitent devotees, hiding under her mantle, with the scapular    
round their necks and the rosary in their hands, cry out,    
"Blessed Virgin, good Mother, Hail Mary," and yet at the same    
time they are crucifying Jesus Christ and tearing his flesh anew    
by their sins. It is a great tragedy, but from the ranks of our    
Lady's most holy confraternities souls are falling into the fires    
of hell.    
    
118  We earnestly advise everyone to say the Rosary: the    
virtuous, that they may persevere and grow in the grace of God;    
sinners, that they may rise from their sins. But God forbid we    
should ever encourage a sinner to think that our Lady will    
protect him with her mantle if he continues to love sin, for it    
will turn into a mantle of damnation which will hide his sins    
from the public eye. The Rosary, which is a remedy for all ills,    
would then be turned into a deadly poison. Corruptio optimi    
pessima.    
     The learned Cardinal Hugues tells us that one should be as    
pure as an angel to approach the Blessed Virgin and say the    
Angelic Salutation. One day, our Lady showed herself to an    
immoral man who used to say the Rosary regularly every day. She    
showed him a bowl of beautiful fruit, but the bowl itself was    
covered with filth. The man was horrified to see this, and our    
Lady said to him, "This is the way you are honouring me. You are    
giving me beautiful roses in a dirty bowl. Do you think I can    
find them pleasing to me?"    
    
Forty-second Rose    
    
119  In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression    
to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers,    
the Rosary, but we must also pray with great attention, for God    
listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth.    
To be guilty of wilful distractions during prayer would show a    
great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries    
unfruitful and make us guilty of sin.    
     How can we expect God to listen to us if we ourselves do not    
pay attention to what we are saying? How can we expect him to be    
pleased if, while in the presence of his tremendous majesty, we    
give in to distractions, like a child running after a butterfly?    
People who do that forfeit God's blessing, which is changed into    
a curse for having treated the things of God disrespectfully:    
"Cursed be the one who does God's work negligently." Jer. 48:10.    
    
120  Of course, you cannot say your Rosary without having a few    
involuntary distractions; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary    
without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never    
still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you    
must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary    
distractions and to control your imagination.    
     To do this, put yourself in the presence of God and imagine    
that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you, and that your    
guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if    
they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for    
Jesus and Mary. But remember that at your left hand is the devil,    
ready to pounce on every Hail Mary that comes his way and to    
write it down in his book of death, if they are not said with    
attention, devotion, and reverence. Above all, do not fail to    
offer up each decade in honour of one of the mysteries, and try    
to form a picture in your mind of Jesus and Mary in connection    
with that mystery.    
    
121  We read in the life of Blessed Hermann of the Order of the    
Premonstratensians, that at one time when he used to say the    
Rosary attentively and devoutly while meditating on the    
mysteries, our Lady used to appear to him resplendent in    
breathtaking majesty and beauty. But, as time went on, his    
fervour cooled and he fell into the way of saying his Rosary    
hurriedly and without giving it his full attention. Then one day    
our Lady appeared to him again, but this time she was far from    
beautiful, and her face was furrowed and drawn with sadness.    
Blessed Hermann was appalled at the change in her, and our Lady    
explained, "This is how I look to you, Hermann, because this is    
how you are treating me; as a woman to be despised and of no    
importance. Why do you no longer greet me with respect and    
attention while meditating on my mysteries and praising my    
privileges?"    
    
Forty-third Rose    
    
122  When the Rosary is well said, it gives Jesus and Mary more    
glory and is more meritorious for the soul than any other prayer.    
But it is also the hardest prayer to say well and to persevere    
in, owing especially to the distractions which almost inevitably    
attend the constant repetition of the same words.    
     When we say the Little Office of Our Lady, or the Seven    
Penitential Psalms, or any prayers other than the Rosary, the    
variety of words and expressions keeps us alert, prevents our    
imagination from wandering, and so makes it easier for us to say    
them well. On the contrary, because of the constant repetition    
of the Our Father and Hail Mary in the same unvarying form, it    
is difficult, while saying the Rosary, not to become wearied and    
inclined to sleep, or to turn to other prayers that are more    
refreshing and less tedious. This shows that one needs much    
greater devotion to persevere in saying the Rosary than in saying    
any other prayer, even the psalter of David.    
    
123  Our imagination, which is hardly still a minute, makes our    
task harder, and then of course there is the devil who never    
tires of trying to distract us and keep us from praying. To what    
ends does not the evil one go against us while we are engaged in    
saying our Rosary against him.    
     Being human, we easily become tired and slipshod, but the    
devil makes these difficulties worse when we are saying the    
Rosary. Before we even begin, he makes us feel bored, distracted,    
or exhausted; and when we have started praying, he oppresses us    
from all sides, and when after much difficulty and many    
distractions, we have finished, he whispers to us, "What you have    
just said is worthless. It is useless for you to say the Rosary.    
You had better get on with other things. It is only a waste of    
time to pray without paying attention to what you are saying;    
half-an-hour's meditation or some spiritual reading would be much    
better. Tomorrow, when you are not feeling so sluggish, you'll    
pray better; leave the rest of your Rosary till then." By tricks    
of this kind the devil gets us to give up the Rosary altogether    
or to say it less often, and we keep putting it off or change to    
some other devotion.    
    
124  Dear friend of the Rosary Confraternity, do not listen to    
the devil, but be of good heart, even if your imagination has    
been bothering you throughout your Rosary, filling your mind with    
all kinds of distracting thoughts, so long as you tried your best    
to get rid of them as soon as you noticed them. Always remember    
that the best Rosary is the one with the most merit, and there    
is more merit in praying when it is hard than when it is easy.    
Prayer is all the harder when it is, naturally speaking,    
distasteful to the soul and is filled with those annoying little    
ants and flies running about in your imagination, against your    
will, and scarcely allowing you the time to enjoy a little peace    
and appreciate the beauty of what you are saying.    
    
125  Even if you have to fight distractions all through your    
whole Rosary, be sure to fight well, arms in hand: that is to    
say, do not stop saying your Rosary even if it is difficult to    
say and you have no sensible devotion. It is a terrible battle,    
but one that is profitable to the faithful soul. If you put down    
your arms, that is, if you give up the Rosary, you will be    
admitting defeat and then the devil, having got what he wanted,    
will leave you in peace, and on the day of judgment will taunt    
you because of your faithlessness and lack of courage. "He who    
is faithful in little things will also be faithful in those that    
are greater." Luke 16:10.    
     He who is faithful in rejecting the smallest distractions    
when he says even the smallest prayer, will also be faithful in    
great things. Nothing is more certain, since the Holy Spirit has    
told us so.    
     So all of you, servants and handmaids of Jesus Christ and    
the Blessed Virgin, who have made up your minds to say the Rosary    
every day, be of good heart. Do not let the multitude of flies    
(as I call the distractions that make war on you during prayer)    
make you abandon the company of Jesus and Mary, in whose holy    
presence you are when saying the Rosary. In what follows I shall    
give you suggestions for diminishing distractions in prayer.    
    
Forty-fourth Rose    
    
126  After you have invoked the Holy Spirit, in order to say your    
Rosary well, place yourself for a moment in the presence of God    
and make the offering of the decades in the way I will show you    
later.    
     Before beginning a decade, pause for a moment or two,    
depending on how much time you have, and contemplate the mystery    
that you are about to honour in that decade. Always be sure to    
ask, by this mystery and through the intercession of the Blessed    
Virgin, for one of the virtues that shines forth most in this    
mystery or one of which you are in particular need.    
     Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people    
fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not    
asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were    
asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So,    
whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special    
grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin.    
     The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is    
to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as    
quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary    
as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been    
said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or    
have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our    
will.    
    
127  It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say    
it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could    
not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to    
think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and    
yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honoured by it!    
     Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy    
religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands    
of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before.    
     Dear friend of the Confraternity, I beg you to restrain your    
natural precipitation when saying your Rosary, and make some    
pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a    
smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which    
I have marked with a cross, as follows:    
     Our Father who art in heaven, + hallowed by thy name, + thy    
kingdom come, + thy will be done + on earth as it is in heaven.    
+ Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our    
trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and    
lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. Amen.    
+    
     Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, +    
blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy    
womb, Jesus. +    
     Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and    
at the hour of our death. Amen. +    
     At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses    
because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a    
decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than    
thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or    
reflecting.    
    
128  Blessed Alan de la Roche and other writers, including Robert    
Bellarmine, tell the story of how a good priest advised three of    
his penitents, who happened to be sisters, to say the Rosary    
every day without fail for a whole year. This was so that they    
might make a beautiful robe of glory for the Blessed Virgin out    
of their Rosaries. This was a secret that the priest had received    
from heaven.    
     So the three sisters said the Rosary faithfully for a year,    
and on the feast of the Purification our Lady appeared to them    
at night when they had retired. St. Catherine and St. Agnes were    
with her, and she was wearing a dress brilliant with light, on    
which was written in letters of gold the words "Hail, Mary, full    
of grace." Our Lady approached the eldest sister and said, "I    
greet you, my daughter, who have greeted me so often and so well.    
I want to thank you for the beautiful robes you have made me."    
The two virgin saints who accompanied our Lady also thanked her    
and all three disappeared.    
     An hour later, our Lady, with the same two companions,    
entered the room again, but this time she was wearing a green    
dress which had no gold lettering and did not shine. She went to    
the second sister and thanked her for the robe she had made by    
saying her Rosary. But since this sister had seen our Lady appear    
to the eldest sister much more magnificently dressed, she asked    
the reason why. Our Lady answered, "Your sister made me more    
beautiful clothes because she has been saying the Rosary better    
than you."    
     About an hour after this, she appeared to the youngest of    
the sisters wearing tattered and dirty rags. "My daughter," she    
said, "I want to thank you for these clothes you have made me."    
The young girl, feeling ashamed, cried out, "O my lady, how could    
I have dressed you so badly! I beg you to forgive me. Please    
grant me a little more time to make you a beautiful robe by    
saying my Rosary better." Our Lady and the two saints vanished,    
leaving the girl heartbroken. She told her confessor everything    
that had happened and he urged them to say the Rosary for another    
year and to say it with more devotion than ever.    
     At the end of this second year, on the same day of the    
Purification, our Lady, clothed in a magnificent robe, and again    
attended by St. Catherine and St. Agnes, wearing crowns, appeared    
to them in the evening. She said to them, "I have come to tell    
you that you have earned heaven at last, and you will all have    
the great joy of going there tomorrow." The three of them cried,    
"Our hearts are ready, dearest Queen, our hearts are ready." Then    
the vision faded. That same night they became ill and sent for    
their confessor, and received the last sacraments, after having    
thanked him for the holy practice he had taught them. After    
Compline, our Lady appeared with a large company of virgins and    
had the three sisters clothed in white robes. While angels were    
singing, "Come, spouses of Jesus Christ, receive the crowns which    
have been prepared for you for all eternity," they departed from    
this life.    
     Some important truths can be learned from this story:    
1) How important it is to have a good director who will counsel    
holy practices, especially that of the holy Rosary; 2) How    
important it is to say the Rosary with attention and devotion;    
3) How kind and merciful is the Blessed Virgin to those who are    
sorry for the past and are firmly resolved to do better; 4) How    
generous she is in rewarding us in life, at death, and in    
eternity for the little services that we render her with    
fidelity.    
    
Forty-fifth Rose    
    
129  I would like to add that the Rosary ought to be said    
reverently, that is to say, it ought to be said as much as    
possible, kneeling, with hands joined, clasping the rosary.    
However, if you are ill, you can, of course, say it in bed; or    
if one is travelling it can be said while walking; if, on account    
of some infirmity, you cannot kneel you can say it standing or    
sitting. You can even say it while working if your duties do not    
allow you to leave your job, for work with one's hands is not    
always incompatible with vocal prayer.    
     I agree that, since the soul has its limitations and can    
only do so much, when we are concentrating on manual work we are    
less attentive to the activities of the spirit, such as prayer.    
But when we cannot do otherwise, this kind of prayer is not    
without its value in our Lady's eyes, and she rewards our good-    
will more than our exterior actions.    
    
130  I advise you to divide up your Rosary into three parts and    
to say each group of five decades at different times of the day.    
This is much better than saying the whole fifteen decades at    
once.    
     If you cannot find the time to say five decades all    
together, say a decade here and a decade there; you will thus be    
able, in spite of your work and the calls upon your time, to    
complete the whole Rosary before going to bed.    
     St. Francis de Sales set us a very good example of fidelity    
in this respect: once when he was extremely tired from the visits    
he had made during the day and remembered, towards midnight, that    
he had left a few decades of his Rosary unsaid, he knelt down and    
said them before going to bed, notwithstanding all the efforts    
of his secretary, who saw he was tired and begged him to leave    
the rest of his prayers till the next day.    
     Imitate also the faithfulness, reverence and devotion of the    
holy friar, mentioned in the chronicles of St. Francis, who    
always said five decades of the Rosary with great reverence and    
attention before dinner. I have mentioned this earlier.    
    
Forty-sixth Rose    
    
131  Of all the ways of saying the holy Rosary, the most glorious    
to God, most salutary to our souls, and the most terrible to the    
devil is that of saying or chanting the Rosary publicly in two    
choirs.    
     God is very pleased to have people gathered together in    
prayer. All the angels and the blessed unite to praise him    
unceasingly. The just on earth, gathered together in various    
communities, pray in common, night and day. Our Lord expressly    
recommended this practice to his apostles and disciples, and    
promised that whenever there would be at least two or three    
gathered in his name he would be there in the midst of them.    
     What a wonderful thing to have Jesus Christ in our midst!    
And all we have to do to have him with us is to come together to    
say the Rosary. That is why the first Christians met so often to    
pray together, in spite of the persecutions of the Emperors, who    
had forbidden them to assemble. They preferred to risk death    
rather than to miss their gatherings where our Lord was present.    
    
132  This way of praying is of the greatest benefit to us:    
     1 because our minds are usually more alert during public    
prayer than when we pray alone;    
     2 when we pray in common, the prayer of each one belongs    
to the whole group and make all together but one prayer,    
so that if one person is not praying well, someone else in the    
same gathering who is praying better makes up for his deficiency.    
In the same way, those who are strong uphold the weak, those who    
are fervent inspire the lukewarm, the rich enrich the poor, the    
bad are merged with the good. How can a measure of cockle be    
sold? This can be done very easily by mixing it with four or five    
bushels of good wheat.    
     3 One who says his Rosary alone only gains the merit of    
one Rosary; but if he says it with thirty other people he gains    
the merit of thirty Rosaries. This is the law of public prayer.    
How profitable, how advantageous this is!    
     4 Urban VIII, who was very pleased to see how the devotion    
of the holy Rosary had spread to Rome and how it was being said    
in two groups or choirs, particularly at the convent of Santa    
Maria sopra Minerva, attached a hundred days' extra indulgence    
toties quoties, whenever the Rosary was said in two choirs. This    
is set out in his brief Ad perpetuam rei memoriam, of the year    
1626. So every time you say the Rosary in common, you gain a    
hundred days' indulgence.    
     5 Public prayer is more powerful than private prayer to    
appease the anger of God and call down his mercy, and the Church,    
guided by the Holy Spirit, has always advocated it in times of    
disasters and general distress.    
     In his Bull on the Rosary, Pope Gregory XIII declares that    
we must believe, on pious faith, that the public prayers and    
processions of the members of the Confraternity of the Holy    
Rosary were largely responsible for the great victory over the    
Turkish navy at Lepanto, which God granted to the Christians on    
the first Sunday of October 1571.    
    
133  When King Louis the Just, of blessed memory, was besieging    
La Rochelle, where the rebellious heretics had their strongholds,    
he wrote to his mother to beg her to have public prayers offered    
for a victorious outcome. The Queen-Mother decided to have the    
Rosary recited publicly in Paris in the Dominican church of    
Faubourg Saint-Honor‚, and this was carried out by the Archbishop    
of Paris. It was begun on May 20th, 1628.    
     Both the Queen and the Queen-Mother were present, with the    
Duke of Orleans, Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, Cardinal de    
B‚rulle, and several prelates. The court turned out in full force    
as well as a great number of the general populace. The Archbishop    
read the meditations on the mysteries aloud and then began the    
Our Father and Hail Mary of each decade, while the congregation    
of religious and lay-folk answered. At the end of the Rosary a    
statue of the Blessed Virgin was carried solemnly in procession    
while the Litany of our Lady was sung.    
     This devotion was continued every Saturday with admirable    
fervour and resulted in a manifest blessing from heaven, for the    
King triumphed over the English at the Island of R‚ and made his    
triumphant entry into La Rochelle on All Saints Day of the same    
year. This shows us the power of public prayer.    
    
134  Finally, when the Rosary is said in common, it is far more    
formidable to the devil, because in this public prayer it is an    
army that is attacking him. He can often overcome the prayer of    
an individual, but if it is joined to that of others, the devil    
has much more trouble in getting the best of it. It is easy to    
break a single stick; but if you join it to others to make a    
bundle, it cannot be broken. Vis unita fit fortior. Soldiers join    
together in an army to overcome their enemies; immoral people    
often come together for parties of debauchery and dancing; evil    
spirits join forces in order to make us lose our souls. Why,    
then, should not Christians join forces to have Jesus Christ    
present with them, to appease the anger of God, to draw down his    
grace and mercy on us, and to frustrate and overcome the devil    
more forcefully?    
     Dear friend of the Confraternity, whether you live in the    
town or the country, near the parish church or a chapel, go there    
at least every evening, with the approval of the parish priest,    
together with all those who want to recite the Rosary in two    
choirs. If a church or chapel is not available, say the Rosary    
together in your own or a neighbour's house.    
    
135  This is a holy practice, which God, in his mercy, has set    
up in places where I have preached missions, in order to    
safeguard and increase the good brought about by the mission and    
to prevent further sin. Before the Rosary was established in    
these little towns and villages, dances and parties of debauchery    
went on; dissoluteness, wantonness, blasphemy, quarrels and feuds    
flourished; one heard nothing but evil songs and double-meaning    
talk. But now nothing is heard but hymns and the chant of the Our    
Father and Hail Mary. The only gatherings to be seen are those    
of twenty, thirty or a hundred or more people who, at a fixed    
time, sing the praises of God as religious do.    
     There are even places where the Rosary is said in common    
every day, at three different times of the day. What a blessing    
from heaven that is! As there are wicked people everywhere, do    
not expect to find that the place you live in is free of them;    
there will be people who avoid going to church for the Rosary,    
who may even make fun of it and do all they can, by what they do    
and say, to stop you from going. But do not give up. As those    
wretched people will have to be separated from God and heaven    
forever, already here on earth they have to be separated from the    
company of Jesus and his servants.    
    
Forty-seventh Rose    
    
136  People of God, cut yourselves adrift from those who are    
damning themselves by their impious lives, laziness and lack of    
devotion without delay, and say the Rosary often with faith,    
humility, confidence and perseverance.    
     1  Our Lord told us to pray always, after the example he    
has given us, because of our endless need of prayer, on account    
of the darkness of our minds, our ignorance, and weakness, and    
the number of our enemies. Anyone who really gives heed to this    
commandment of our Master will surely not be satisfied with    
saying the Rosary once a year, as the Perpetual Members do, or    
once a week, like the Ordinary Members, but will say it every day    
without fail, as a member of the Daily Rosary, even though the    
only obligation he has is that of his own salvation. "We ought    
always to pray and not lose heart."    
    
137  These are the eternal words of our Blessed Lord himself. And    
we must believe his words and abide by them if we do not want to    
be damned. You can explain them as you wish so long as you do not    
interpret them as the world does and observe them in a worldly    
way. Our Lord gave us the true explanation of his words in the    
examples he left us: "I have given you an example that as I have    
done to you, so you do also." (Jn. 13:5.) And "he spent the whole    
night in prayer to God," (Luke 6:12) as if the day was not    
sufficient for it.    
     Often he repeated to his Apostles these two words, "Watch    
and pray." The flesh is weak, temptation is everywhere and always    
around you. If you do not keep up your prayers, you will fall.    
And because some of them evidently thought that these words of    
our Lord constituted only a counsel, they completely missed the    
point. That is why they fell into temptation and sin, even though    
they were in the company of Jesus Christ.    
    
138  Dear friend of the Confraternity, if you want to lead a    
fashionable life and belong to the world - by this I mean if you    
do not mind falling into mortal sin from time to time and then    
going to confession, and avoiding conspicuous sins which the    
world considers vile, while keeping up the "respectable" ones -    
then, of course, there is no need for you to say so many prayers    
and Rosaries. To be "respectable" you only need to say a little    
prayer morning and evening, an occasional Rosary given to you for    
your penance, a few decades said in a casual way, when the fancy    
takes you - that is quite enough for any good-living person. If    
you did less, you might be branded as a freethinker or    
profligate; if you do more, you are becoming an eccentric or a    
fanatic.    
    
139  But if you want to lead a true Christian life and genuinely    
want to save your soul and walk in the footsteps of the saints    
and not fall into serious sin, if you wish to break all the    
snares of the devil and extinguish all his flaming darts, you    
must pray always as our Lord taught and commanded you to do.    
     If you really have this wish at heart, then you should at    
least say your Rosary every day, or its equivalent.    
     I repeat "at least," because probably all that you will    
accomplish through your Rosary will be to avoid mortal sin and    
temptation. This is because you are exposed to the strong current    
of the world's wickedness by which many a strong soul is swept    
away; you are in the midst of the thick, clinging darkness which    
often blinds even the most enlightened souls; you are surrounded    
by evil spirits who, being more experienced than ever and knowing    
that their time is short, are more subtle and more effective in    
tempting you.    
     It will indeed be a marvel of grace wrought by the holy    
Rosary if you manage to keep out of the clutches of the world,    
the devil and the flesh and sin, and gain eternal life.    
    
140  If you do not want to believe what I say, at least learn    
from your own experience. I should like to ask you if, when you    
were in the habit of saying no more prayers than people usually    
say in the world, and saying them in the way they usually say    
them, you were able to avoid serious faults and sins that were    
grievous but seemed of little account to you in your blindness.    
Now at last you must wake up, and if you want to live and die    
without sin, at least serious sin, pray always; say your Rosary    
every day, as all members used to do in the early days of the    
Confraternity. (See the end of this book for proof of what I    
say.)    
     When our Blessed Lady gave the Rosary to St. Dominic, she    
ordered him to say it every day and to get others to say it    
daily. St. Dominic never let anyone join the Confraternity unless    
he were fully determined to say it every day. If nowadays people    
are allowed to be Ordinary members through saying the Rosary once    
a week, it is because fervour has dwindled and charity grown    
cold. You get what you can from one who is poor in prayer. "It    
was not so in the beginning."    
     Three things must be noted here.    
    
141  The first is that if you want to be enroled in the    
Confraternity of the Daily Rosary and share in the prayers and    
merits of its members, it is not enough to be enroled in the    
Ordinary Rosary or simply to make a resolution to say it every    
day. In addition, you must give your name to those who have the    
power of enroling. It is also a very good thing to go to    
confession and communion for this intention. The reason for this    
is that the Ordinary Rosary membership does not incLude that of    
the Daily Rosary, but this latter does include the former.    
     The second point I want to make is that, absolutely    
speaking, it is not even a venial sin to fail to say the Rosary    
every day, or every week, or every year.    
     The third point is that whenever illness, or obedience to    
a lawful superior, or necessity, or involuntary forgetfulness has    
prevented you from saying the Rosary, you do not forfeit your    
share in the merits and you do not lose your participation in the    
Rosaries of the other Confraternity members. So it is not    
absolutely necessary for you to say two Rosaries on the following    
day to make up for the one you missed, as I suppose, through no    
fault of your own. If, however, when you are ill, your sickness    
is such that you are still able to say part of your Rosary, you    
have to say that part.    
     "Blessed are those who stand before you always." "Happy    
those who dwell in your house, O Lord, they praise you    
continually."  Lord Jesus, blessed are the brothers and sisters    
of the Daily Rosary Confraternity who, day after day, are present    
in and around your throne in heaven, so that they may meditate    
and contemplate your joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.    
How happy they are on earth because of the wonderful graces you    
bestow on them, and how blessed shall they be in heaven where    
they will praise you in a special way forever and ever.    
    
142  2  The Rosary should be said with faith, for our Blessed    
Lord said, "Believe that you will receive and it will be    
granted." If you believe that you will receive what you ask from    
God, he will grant your petitions. He will say to you, "As you    
have believed, so be it done to you." "If anyone needs wisdom,    
let him ask God with faith, and without hesitating, and - through    
his Rosary - it will be given him."    
    
143  3  Thirdly, we must pray with humility, like the publican;    
he was kneeling on the ground, on two knees, not on one knee as    
proud and worldly people do, or one knee on the bench. He was at    
the back of the church and not in the sanctuary as the Pharisee    
was; his eyes were cast down, for he dared not look up to heaven;    
he did not hold his head up and look about him like the Pharisee;    
he beat his breast, confessing himself a sinner and asking for    
forgiveness: "Be merciful to me, a sinner," and not like the    
Pharisee who boasted of his good works, who despised others in    
their prayers. Do not imitate the prayer of the proud Pharisee    
which only hardened his heart and increased his guilt; imitate    
rather the humility of the tax-collector, whose prayer obtained    
him the remission of his sins.    
     You must be on your guard against giving yourself to what    
is extraordinary and asking or even desiring knowledge of    
extraordinary things, visions, revelations, or other miraculous    
graces which God has occasionally given to some of the saints    
while they were saying the Rosary. Sola fides sufficit: Faith    
alone suffices now that the Gospel and all the devotions and    
pious practices are sufficiently established.    
     Even if you suffer from dryness of soul, distaste for prayer    
and interior discouragement, never give up the least part of your    
Rosary; this would be a sign of pride and infidelity; but like    
a brave champion of Jesus and Mary, say your Our Fathers and Hail    
Marys in your dryness, without seeing, feeling, or appreciating,    
and concentrating as best you can on the mysteries.    
     You ought not to look for sweets or jam to eat with your    
daily bread, as children do; but to imitate Jesus more perfectly    
in his agony you could say your Rosary more slowly sometimes when    
you find it particularly hard to say: "Being in agony, he prayed    
the longer," so that what was said of our Lord when he was in his    
agony of prayer may be said of you: he prayed all the longer.    
    
144  4  Pray with great confidence, with confidence based on the    
goodness and infinite generosity of God and on the promises of    
Jesus Christ. God is the spring of living water which flows    
unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray. The eternal Father    
yearns for nothing so much as to share the life-giving waters of    
his grace and mercy with us. He entreats us, "All you who thirst,    
come to the waters," that is, come and drink of my spring through    
prayer, and when we do not pray to him he sorrowfully says that    
we are forsaking him, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of    
living water."    
     We please our Lord when we ask him for graces, and if we do    
not ask he makes a loving complaint, "Until now you have not    
asked anything.... Ask and you will receive, seek and you will    
find, knock and the door will be opened to you."    
     Furthermore, to give us more confidence in praying to him,    
he has bound himself by a promise: that his eternal Father would    
grant everything we ask in his name.    
    
Forty-eighth Rose    
    
145   As a fifth point, I must add perseverance and prayer. Only    
he who perseveres in asking, seeking, and knocking, will receive,    
will find and will enter. It is not enough to ask God for certain    
graces for a month, a year, ten or twenty years; we must never    
tire of asking. We must keep on asking until the very moment of    
death, and even in this prayer, which shows our confidence in    
God, we must join the thought of death to that of perseverance    
and say, "Although he should kill me, I will trust in him," will    
trust him to give me what I ask.    
    
146  Prominent and rich people of the world show their generosity    
by foreseeing people's wants and ministering to them, even before    
they are asked for anything. God's munificence, on the other    
hand, is shown by his making us seek and ask, over a long period    
of time, for the graces which he wishes to bestow, and the more    
precious the grace, the longer he takes to grant it:    
     1  in order to increase the grace still more;    
     2  in order that the recipient may more deeply appreciate    
it;    
     3  in order that the one who receives it may guard against    
losing it; for people do not appreciate very much what they    
obtain quickly and at little cost.    
     So, dear members of the Confraternity, persevere in asking    
God for all your needs, both spiritual and material, through the    
holy Rosary; especially should you pray for divine Wisdom, which    
is "an infinite treasure," and there can be no possible doubt    
that you will receive it sooner or later, provided you do not    
give up and do not lose courage in the middle of your journey.    
"You still have a great way to go."    
     You have a long way to travel, there will be bad times to    
weather, many difficulties to overcome, and many enemies to    
defeat before you will have stored up enough treasures for    
eternity, enough Our Fathers and Hail Marys with which to buy    
your way to heaven and win the glorious crown which awaits each    
faithful brother and sister of the Confraternity.    
     "Let no one take your crown": take care that your crown is    
not appropriated by another who has been more faithful than you    
in saying his Rosary every day. "Your crown": it was yours, God    
had prepared it for you; it was yours, you had already half    
obtained it by your Rosaries well said. But because you stopped    
on the way when you were running so well, another has left you    
behind and got there first; another who is more diligent and more    
faithful has paid, by his Rosaries and good works, what was    
required to obtain that crown.    
     "You began your race well; who has hindered you?" Who has    
prevented you from having the crown of the holy Rosary? Alas,    
none other than the enemies of the Rosary, who are so numerous.    
    
147  Believe me, it is only the violent who take it by force.    
These crowns are not for the timid who are afraid of this world's    
taunts and threats, neither are they for the lazy and indolent    
who only say their Rosary carelessly, or hastily, just for the    
sake of getting it over with. The same applies to people who say    
it intermittently, as the spirit moves them. These crowns are not    
for cowards who lose heart and lay down their arms as soon as    
they see hell is let loose against their Rosary.    
     Dear fellow-members, if you want to serve Jesus and Mary by    
saying the Rosary every day, you must be prepared for temptation:    
"If you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for    
temptation." Heretics, licentious people, the so-called    
respectable people of the world, persons of superficial piety,    
and false prophets, hand in glove with your fallen nature and all    
hell itself - all will wage terrible battles against you in an    
endeavour to make you give up this holy practice.    
    
148  To help you to be better armed against their onslaught - not    
so much of acknowledged heretics and profligates as those who are    
considered "respectable" in the eyes of the world, and even those    
who are devout but have no use for the Rosary - I am going to    
tell you simply some of the things these people are always saying    
and thinking.    
     "What does this babbler want to say?" "Come, let us attack    
him, for he is against us." What is he doing, saying so many    
Rosaries? What is it he is always mumbling? Such laziness! He    
does nothing but keep on sliding those beads along, he would do    
much better to work without amusing himself with such    
foolishness. Oh yes, it's quite true, all you have to do is to    
say the Rosary and a fortune will fall from heaven into your lap.    
The Rosary brings you all you need without lifting a finger. But    
hasn't it been said, "God helps those who help themselves"? Why    
load yourself with so many prayers? Brevis oratio penetrat    
coelos; an Our Father and a Hail Mary well said are quite    
sufficient. God has never commanded us to say the Rosary; of    
course it's all right, it's not a bad devotion when you've got    
the time, but don't think for one minute that people who say the    
Rosary are any more sure of heaven than we are. Just look at the    
saints who never said it!    
     Far too many people want everyone to see through their own    
eyes, people who lack prudence and carry everything to extremes,    
scrupulous people who see sin almost everywhere, who say that    
those who do not say the Rosary will be damned.    
     Oh yes, the Rosary is all right for old women who can't    
read. But surely the Little Office of our Lady is much more    
worthwhile, or the seven penitential psalms? Is there anything    
more beautiful than those psalms which have been inspired by the    
Holy Spirit?    
     You say you have undertaken to say the Rosary every day;    
that's just a flash in the pan, you know it won't last. Wouldn't    
it be better to undertake less and be more faithful about it?    
Come, my friend, take my word for it, say your morning and night    
prayers, work hard during the day and offer it up. God do