What the True Devotion to Mary Consists In

A. Several True Devotions to the Most Blessed Virgin

24. There are, indeed, several true devotions to the most Blessed Virgin: and I do not speak here of false ones.

25. The first consists in fulfilling the duties of a Christian, avoiding mortal sin, acting more out of love than out of fear, and praying from time to time to the Blessed Virgin and honoring her as the Mother of God, without any special devotion toward her.

26. The second consists in having for the Blessed Virgin more perfect sentiments of esteem, love, confidence, and veneration. It leads one to join the confraternities of the Holy Rosary and the Scapular, to recite the chaplet and the holy Rosary, to honor her images and altars, to publish her praises, and to enroll in her congregations. And this devotion, which excludes sin, is good, holy, and praiseworthy; but it is not so perfect, nor so capable of drawing souls away from creatures and detaching them from themselves in order to unite them to Jesus Christ.

27. The third devotion to the Blessed Virgin, known and practiced by very few persons, is the one I am now going to reveal.

B. The Perfect Practice of Devotion to Mary

1. What It Consists In

28. Predestined soul, it consists in giving oneself entirely, as a slave, to Mary and to Jesus through her; and then in doing all things with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary. I will explain these words.

29. One must choose a notable day on which to give, consecrate, and sacrifice oneself voluntarily and out of love, without constraint, entirely, without any reserve -- body and soul; one's exterior goods of fortune, such as one's house, family, and income; one's interior goods of the soul, namely: one's merits, graces, virtues, and satisfactions. It should be noted here that by this devotion one sacrifices to Jesus through Mary what is most dear to the soul, and what no religious order demands as a sacrifice: the right one has to dispose of oneself and of the value of one's prayers, almsgiving, mortifications, and satisfactions; so that the entire disposition of them is left to the most Blessed Virgin, to be applied according to her will to the greater glory of God, which she alone knows perfectly.

30. One leaves at her disposal all the satisfactory and impetratory value of one's good works: so that after the offering one has made of them, although without any vow, one is no longer master of the good one does; but the most Blessed Virgin may apply it -- now to a soul in purgatory, to relieve or deliver it; now to a poor sinner, to convert him.

31. One does indeed, by this devotion, place one's merits in the hands of the Blessed Virgin; but this is so that she may keep them, increase them, and beautify them, because we cannot communicate to one another the merits of sanctifying grace or of glory... But one gives her all one's prayers and good works, insofar as they are impetratory and satisfactory, to be distributed and applied to whomever she pleases; and if, after having thus consecrated oneself to the Blessed Virgin, one desires to relieve some soul in purgatory... to save some sinner, to support some friend by our prayers, alms, mortifications, and sacrifices, one must humbly ask her and accept whatever she determines, without knowing it; being firmly persuaded that the value of our actions, dispensed by the same hand God uses to dispense His graces and gifts, cannot fail to be applied to His greater glory.

32. I have said that this devotion consists in giving oneself to Mary as a slave. It should be noted that there are three kinds of slavery. The first is the slavery of nature; all men, good and bad, are slaves of God in this way.

The second is the slavery of constraint; the demons and the damned are slaves of God in this way. The third is the slavery of love and of will; and it is by this that we must consecrate ourselves to God through Mary, in the most perfect manner by which a creature can give itself to its Creator.

33. Note also that there is a great difference between a servant and a slave. A servant demands wages for his services; a slave receives none. A servant is free to leave his master whenever he wishes, and serves him only for a time; a slave cannot justly leave; he is given over to him forever. A servant does not give his master the right of life and death over him; a slave gives himself entirely, so that his master could put him to death without being troubled by justice. But it is easy to see that the slavery of constraint implies the most complete dependence, which properly belongs only to a man in relation to his Creator. That is why Christians do not make slaves of this kind; only the Turks and idolaters do so.

34. Happy and a thousand times happy is the generous soul that consecrates itself to Jesus through Mary as a slave of love, after having shaken off by baptism the tyrannical slavery of the devil!

2. The Excellence of This Practice

35. I would need much light to describe perfectly the excellence of this practice, and I will say only in passing: 1) That to give oneself thus to Jesus through the hands of Mary is to imitate God the Father, who gave us His Son only through Mary, and who communicates His graces to us only through Mary; it is to imitate God the Son, who came to us only through Mary, and who, having given us the example to do as He did, urged us to go to Him by the same means by which He came to us, which is Mary; it is to imitate the Holy Spirit, who communicates His graces and gifts to us only through Mary. Is it not just, says St. Bernard, that grace should return to its Author by the same channel through which it came to us?

36. 2. To go to Jesus Christ through Mary is truly to honor Jesus Christ, because it shows that we are not worthy to approach His infinite holiness directly by ourselves, on account of our sins, and that we need Mary, His holy Mother, to be our advocate and mediatrix before Him who is our Mediator. It is at the same time to approach Him as our Mediator and our brother, and to humble ourselves before Him as our God and our Judge: in a word, it is to practice the humility that always ravishes the heart of God...
37. 3. To consecrate oneself thus to Jesus through Mary is to place in the hands of Mary our good works, which, although they may appear good, are very often stained and unworthy of the gaze and acceptance of God, before whom the very stars are not pure. Ah! let us beg this good Mother and Mistress that, having received our poor gift, she may purify it, sanctify it, elevate it, and embellish it so as to make it worthy of God. All the produce of our soul is less before God, the Father of the household, to win His friendship and grace, than a wormy apple of a poor peasant, tenant of his Majesty, would be before the king to pay his rent. What would this poor man do if he had any sense and if he were in the good graces of the queen? A friend of the poor peasant and respectful toward the king, would she not remove from that apple whatever was wormy and spoiled, and set it upon a golden dish surrounded by flowers; and could the king refuse to accept it, even with joy, from the hands of the queen who loves this peasant?... Modicum quid offerre desideras? manibus Mariae tradere cura, si non vis sustinere repulsam. If you wish to offer something to God, says St. Bernard, place it in the hands of Mary, unless you wish to be rejected.

38. Good God, how little is all that we do! But let us place it in the hands of Mary through this devotion. Since we will have given ourselves entirely to her, as much as one can give oneself, stripping ourselves of everything in her honor, she will be infinitely more generous to us; she will give us "for an egg, an ox"; she will communicate herself entirely to us with her merits and virtues; she will place our gifts on the golden dish of her charity; she will clothe us, as Rebecca clothed Jacob, in the fine garments of her firstborn and only Son, Jesus Christ -- that is, in His merits, which she has at her disposal: and so, as her servants and slaves, after stripping ourselves of everything in her honor, we shall have double garments: Omnes domestici ejus vestiti sunt duplicibus: garments, ornaments, perfumes, merits, and virtues of Jesus and Mary in the soul of a slave of Jesus and Mary who has stripped himself of self and is faithful in his stripping.

39. 4. To give oneself thus to the Blessed Virgin is to practice charity toward one's neighbor to the highest degree possible, since to make oneself her willing captive is to give her what is most precious, so that she may dispose of it at her will in favor of the living and the dead.
40. 5. It is through this devotion that one places one's graces, merits, and virtues in safety, making Mary the guardian and saying to her: "Here, my dear Mistress, is what, by the grace of your Son, I have done that is good; I am not able to keep it because of my weakness and inconstancy, because of the great number and malice of my enemies who attack me day and night. Alas! If every day we see the cedars of Lebanon fall into the mud and eagles that soared to the sun become birds of the night; a thousand of the just likewise fall at my left and ten thousand at my right. But, my powerful and most powerful Princess, guard all my goods, lest they be stolen from me; hold me, lest I fall; I entrust all that I have to you as a deposit: Depositum custodi. -- Scio cui credidi. I know well who you are; that is why I entrust myself entirely to you. You are faithful to God and to men, and you will not allow anything to perish that I entrust to you. You are powerful, and nothing can harm you or take from your hands what you hold." Ipsam sequens non devias; ipsam rogans non desperas; ipsam cogitans non erras; ipsa tenente, non corruis; ipsam protegente, non metuis; ipsa duce, non fatigaris; ipsa propitia, pervenis (St. Bernard, Inter flores, ch. 135.) And elsewhere: Detinet Filium ne percutiat; detinet diabolum ne noceat; detinet virtutes ne fugiant; detinet merita ne pereant; detinet gratiam ne effluat. These are the words of St. Bernard, which express in substance all that I have just said. Were there but this single motive to urge me toward this devotion -- as being the means of preserving and even increasing the grace of God in me -- I should breathe nothing but fire and flame for it.
41. 6. This devotion truly sets a soul free with the freedom of the children of God. Since for the love of Mary one voluntarily reduces oneself to slavery, this dear Mistress, out of gratitude, enlarges and expands the heart, and makes it walk with giant strides in the way of God's commandments. She removes weariness, sadness, and scruple. It was this devotion that Our Lord taught to the dear Agnes of Langeac, a religious who died in the odor of sanctity, as a sure means of escaping the great trials and perplexities in which she found herself. "Make yourself," He said to her, "a slave of my Mother, and wear the little chain"; which she did, and at that very moment all her troubles ceased.

42. To authorize this devotion, one should cite here all the bulls and indulgences of the popes and the directives of bishops in its favor, the confraternities established in its honor, the example of many saints and great persons who have practiced it; but I pass over all that in silence...

3. Its Interior Formula and Its Spirit

43. I then said that this devotion consists in doing all things with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary.

44. It is not enough to have given oneself once to Mary as a slave; it is not even enough to do it every month and every week: this would be too passing a devotion, and it would not raise the soul to the perfection of which it is capable. There is not much difficulty in enrolling in a confraternity, in embracing this devotion, and in saying a few vocal prayers each day as it prescribes; but the great difficulty is to enter into the spirit of this devotion, which is to make a soul interiorly dependent on and a slave of the most Blessed Virgin and of Jesus through her. I have found many persons who, with admirable ardor, entered into this holy slavery outwardly; but I have rarely found those who took on its spirit, and fewer still who persevered in it.

Acting with Mary

45. 1. The essential practice of this devotion consists in doing all one's actions with Mary, that is, in taking the Blessed Virgin as the perfect model for all that one must do.

46. Therefore, before undertaking anything, one must renounce oneself and one's best ideas; one must annihilate oneself before God, as being of oneself incapable of every supernatural good and of every action useful for salvation; one must have recourse to the most Blessed Virgin and unite oneself to her and to her intentions, though they be unknown; one must unite oneself through Mary to the intentions of Jesus Christ -- that is, place oneself as an instrument in the hands of the most Blessed Virgin, so that she may act in us, through us, and for us, as she sees fit, for the greater glory of her Son, and through her Son, Jesus, for the glory of the Father; so that one takes on no interior life or spiritual activity except in dependence on her...

Acting in Mary

47. 2. One must do all things in Mary, that is, one must gradually become accustomed to recollecting oneself interiorly and forming within a little idea or spiritual image of the most Blessed Virgin. She will be for the soul its Oratory, where it makes all its prayers to God without fear of being rejected; the Tower of David, where it takes refuge from all its enemies; the burning Lamp, to illumine its whole interior and to burn with divine love; the sacred Resting-place, where it contemplates God in her company; and, finally, its sole All before God, its universal refuge. If it prays, it will be in Mary; if it receives Jesus in Holy Communion, it will place Him in Mary, that He may take His delight there; if it acts, it will be in Mary; and everywhere and in all things, it will produce acts of renunciation of self...

Acting through Mary

48. 3. One must never go to Our Lord except through her intercession and her standing with Him, never finding oneself alone in praying to Him...

Acting for Mary

49. 4. One must do all one's actions for Mary, that is, as a slave of this august Princess, one must work only for her, for her benefit, for her glory, as the proximate end, and for the glory of God as the ultimate end. In all that one does, therefore, one must renounce self-love, which almost always imperceptibly takes itself as the end, and repeat often from the depths of the heart: O my dear Mistress, it is for you that I go here or there, that I do this or that, that I suffer this pain or this injustice!

50. Take care, predestined soul, not to believe that it is more perfect to go straight to Jesus, straight to God in your activities and intentions; if you go there without Mary, your activity and your intention will be of little value; but by going through Mary, it is the activity of Mary in you, and consequently it will be most exalted and most worthy of God.

51. Moreover, take care not to force yourself to feel and savor what you say and do: say and do everything in the pure faith that Mary had on earth, which she will communicate to you in time. Leave to your Sovereign Lady, poor little slave, the clear vision of God, the transports, the joys, the pleasures, the riches; and take for yourself only pure faith, full of distaste, distractions, weariness, and dryness. Say: Amen, so be it, to all that Mary, my Mistress, does in heaven; this is the best I can do for the present...

52. Take care also not to torment yourself if you do not at once enjoy the sweet presence of the Blessed Virgin in your soul. This grace is not given to all; and when God favors a soul with it, by His great mercy, it is very easy to lose it if one is not faithful in often recollecting oneself. And if this misfortune should befall you, return gently and make amends to your Sovereign Lady.

4. The Effects It Produces in the Faithful Soul

53. Experience will teach you infinitely more than I can tell you, and if you have been faithful to the little I have told you, you will find such riches and graces in this practice that you will be astonished, and your soul will be filled with joy...

54. Let us labor, then, dear soul, and let us bring it about that, through this devotion faithfully practiced, the soul of Mary be in us to glorify the Lord, and the spirit of Mary be in us to rejoice in God her Savior. These are the words of St. Ambrose: Sit in singulis anima Mariae ut magnificet Dominum, sit in singulis spiritus Mariae ut exultet in Deo... And let us not think that there was more glory and happiness in dwelling in the bosom of Abraham, which is Paradise, than in the bosom of Mary, since God has placed His throne there. These are the words of the holy Abbot Guerric: "Ne credideris majoris esse felicitatis habitare in sinu Abrahae, qui vocatur Paradisum, quam in sinu Mariae in quo Dominus thronum suum posuit."

55. This devotion, faithfully practiced, produces an infinity of effects in the soul. But the principal gift that souls possess is to establish here below the life of Mary in a soul, so that it is no longer the soul that lives, but Mary in it, or the soul of Mary becomes its soul, so to speak. Now, when by an ineffable but real grace the divine Mary is Queen in a soul, what wonders does she not work there? As she is the worker of great marvels, particularly in the interior, she labors there in secret, unknown even to the soul, which, by its awareness, would destroy the beauty of her works...

56. As she is everywhere the fruitful Virgin, she brings into every interior where she dwells purity of heart and body, purity of intentions and designs, and fruitfulness in good works. Do not think, dear soul, that Mary, the most fruitful of all creatures, who went so far as to produce a God, remains idle in a faithful soul. She will make it live unceasingly in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in it. Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio donec formetur Christus in vobis (Gal 4:19). And if Jesus Christ is equally the fruit of Mary in each soul in particular as in the whole world in general, it is especially in the soul where she dwells that Jesus Christ is her fruit and her masterpiece.

57. Finally, Mary becomes all things to this soul before Jesus Christ: she enlightens its mind by her pure faith; she deepens its heart by her humility; she enlarges it and sets it ablaze by her charity; she purifies it by her purity; she ennobles it and exalts it by her maternity. But why do I linger? Only experience can teach these marvels of Mary, which are unbelievable to the learned and the proud, and even to the majority of the devout...

58. As it was through Mary that God came into the world for the first time, in humiliation and self-emptying, might it not also be said that it is through Mary that God will come a second time, as the whole Church expects, to reign everywhere and to judge the living and the dead? Who knows how and when this will be? But I know well that God, whose thoughts are as far from ours as the heavens are from the earth, will come at a time and in a manner least expected by men, even the most learned and the most versed in Sacred Scripture, which is very obscure on this subject.

59. We should also believe that toward the end of time, and perhaps sooner than we think, God will raise up great men filled with the Holy Spirit and with the spirit of Mary, through whom this divine Sovereign will accomplish great wonders in the world, to destroy sin and to establish the reign of Jesus Christ, her Son, over that of the corrupt world; and it is by means of this devotion to the most Blessed Virgin -- which I do but sketch and diminish by my weakness -- that these holy persons will accomplish all things...

5. The Exterior Practices

60. Besides the interior practice of this devotion, of which we have just spoken, there are also exterior ones that must not be omitted or neglected...

The Consecration and Its Renewal

61. The first is to give oneself to Jesus Christ, on some notable day, through the hands of Mary, of whom one makes oneself a slave, and to receive Communion for this intention on that day, spending it in prayer: which consecration one renews at least every year on the same day.

The Offering of a Tribute to the Blessed Virgin

62. The second practice is to give every year, on the same day, a small tribute to the Blessed Virgin, to show her one's servitude and dependence: this has always been the homage of slaves toward their masters. Now, this tribute is either some mortification, or some almsgiving, or some pilgrimage, or some prayers. Blessed Marin, according to his brother St. Peter Damian, used to take the discipline publicly every year, on the same day, before an altar of the Blessed Virgin. Such fervor is neither demanded nor advised; but if one does not give much to Mary, one should at least offer what one gives with a humble and grateful heart...

The Special Celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation

63. The third is to celebrate every year, with special devotion, the feast of the Annunciation, which is the principal feast of this devotion, established to honor and imitate the dependence in which the Eternal Word placed Himself on that day, for the love of us...

The Recitation of the Little Crown and the Magnificat

64. The fourth exterior practice is to say every day, without obligation of sin if one should fail, the Little Crown of the most Blessed Virgin, composed of three Paters and twelve Aves, and to recite often the Magnificat, which is the only canticle we have from Mary, to thank God for His blessings and to draw down new ones. Above all, one should not fail to recite it after Holy Communion, as a thanksgiving, as the learned Gerson holds that the Blessed Virgin herself used to do after Communion...

The Wearing of the Little Chain

65. The fifth is to wear a little blessed chain around the neck, or on the arm, the foot, or across the body. This practice may absolutely be omitted without affecting the substance of this devotion; yet it would be harmful to despise or condemn it, and dangerous to neglect it... Here are the reasons for wearing this outward mark:

1. To guard against the fatal chains of original and actual sin, which once bound us;

2. To honor the cords and loving bonds with which Our Lord consented to be bound, so as to make us truly free;

3. Since these bonds are bonds of charity, traham eos in vinculis caritatis, they remind us that we should act only by the impulse of this virtue;

4. Finally, they remind us of our dependence on Jesus and Mary as slaves. Many great persons who had made themselves slaves of Jesus and Mary prized these little chains so highly that they complained it was not permitted them to drag them publicly at their feet, as the slaves of the Turks did. O chains more precious and more glorious than the necklaces of gold and precious stones of all the emperors, for they bind us to Jesus Christ and His holy Mother and are their illustrious marks and livery!

It should be noted that the chains, if not of silver, should at least be of iron, for the sake of convenience... They should never be removed during one's lifetime, so that they may accompany us to the day of judgment. What joy, what glory, what triumph for a faithful slave, on the day of judgment, when his bones, at the sound of the trumpet, shall rise from the earth still bound by the chain of slavery, which will presumably not have rotted! This thought alone should powerfully encourage a devoted slave never to remove it, however uncomfortable it may be to nature.