April 28
This month we focus our attention on a great Marian “Apostle”, St. Louis de Montfort. St. Louis de Montfort was born in France in 1673 and ordained as a priest in 1700. He had a great zeal for preaching and a great love of our Lord and our Lady. At this time in France, priests were scarce, and the preaching was less than beneficial to the faithful. Combining his two greatest attributes, St. Louis became a missionary preacher and gave missions in poor parishes throughout France.
St. Louis also had a great love for the rosary. As a third order Dominican St. Louis was tireless in preaching the rosary and forming rosary confraternities. He wrote a book that is still published to this day, called The Secret of the Rosary.
However, it was his very great love for our Lord and Lady that led him to write his most famous book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The reasoning behind the book was simple for St. Louis, the more we love the Blessed Virgin Mary, the closer she will bring us to her son, Jesus Christ. He devised a thirty-three-day preparation for consecration to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary. While the devotion was popular in his day, his work was lost to the Church for some 100 years.
Upon the discovery of this lost manuscript years after his death, the book was published and has enjoyed continual publication since. The influence of this book has been vast not only for the catholic faithful but for many popes as well. Pope Pius IX praised it as the best form of Marian devotion. Pope Leo XII not only beatified Louis de Montfort, but he indulgenced his book on Mary as well. Pope Pius XI and Pope St. John Paul II acknowledged their practice of this devotion and the profound influence it had on their lives. The influence on the life of Pope St. John Paul II was so dramatic that his motto during his papacy was Totus Tuus, Totally Yours, in reference to this total devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
If you desire a boost in your spiritual life, and want to become closer to our Lord, try reading True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and making the total consecration to Jesus through Mary. It is guaranteed to be lifechanging!