St. Louis de Montfort and the Consecration

Born - January 31, 1673 Died - April 28, 1716

Well known for his Total Consecration to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort is easily becoming one of my favorite Saints. He was a man who sought after God's heart and wanted nothing in return. He took no credit for his works, but said that all he did was done by the Father.

Growing up, St. Louis lived in Montfort-sur-Meu, a small town in northern France. His parents raised him Catholic, and at the age of 12, he went to school in Rennes. While at school there, St. Louis had a strong desire to be a priest and do Missionary work. He worked hard and studied Philosophy and Theology. At the age of 20, he moved to Paris to continue pursing the Priesthood. While there, he became very sick, but eventually regained his health, and went back to pursuing the Priesthood, studying at St. Sulpice. While there, St. Louis worked in the the library, and from that spent much of his time reading. This helped him form a deep devotion to Our Lady.

In 1700, at the age of 27, St. Louis de Montfort became a priest and was assigned to Nantes. From letters, it became clear that St. Louis had become frustrated with his present situation, saying that he thought he needed to be preach to the poor. After five months of his ordination, he joined the Third Order Dominicans and formed a group of close religious who helped him preach to the poor.

For several years he preached to the people of Brittany and Nantes, and did whatever he could to serve the poor. After years of service there, St. Louis travelled around France teaching and doing all sorts of Mission work. He was regarded as having a heated style of preaching, and it did cause for some problems, but St. Louis de Montfort did not let anything stop him.

The Bishop of La Rochelle was so impressed by St. Louis de Montfort's work, that he helped him open up a school there, for poor boys and girls. After just a short time, the school had 400 kids.

Worn out by hard work and sickness, he finally came to Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre. During  his time there, he fell ill and died on April 28, 1716. He was 43 years old, and had been a priest for only 16 years. His last sermon was on the tenderness of Jesus and the Incarnate Wisdom of the Father. Thousands gathered for his burial in the parish church, and very quickly there were stories of miracles performed at his tomb.

He was later canonized a Saint by Pope Pius XII on July 27, 1947 and his feast day is April 28th.

So why am I doing a blog about St. Louis de Montfort? Well, it seems people don't know much about him, including myself. This man wrote many things on God and Mary and as I find myself diving into it all, it is truly beautiful. The book I am reading at this moment is called, "The Secret of Mary" and it talks about the consecration. When I decided to do the consecration, I was warned that I might not be ready for it, but I said I was and went through with it. Until recently, I thought I had done fine with it, and I was truly consecrating myself to God, through Mary. Then I opened up one of St. Louis' books and wow, was I off.

In "The Secret of Mary," he talks about Devotions to Mary, and I thought my devotion was what I had agreed to when I did the consecration, just a less spiritual version of what he did. I knew I was not coming close to his spirituality, but I thought I was following the Consecration. The book though, is changing my mind and enlightening me. The first devotion to Mary he talks about is one without special practices, and I looked at that, and decided I do have special practices. I of course was patting myself on the back, saying, "I knew I was doing this right!" Then the next thing he talked about was a devotion with special practices, practices that include the rosary, wearing a scapular, honoring icon's of Our Lady and all of that. I read this and said, I'm doing this! This is what he was calling me to right?

He then says:

"This devotion is good, holy and praiseworthy, if we keep ourselves free from sin; but it is not so perfect as the next, nor so efficient in severing our soul from creatures or in detaching us from ourselves, in order to be united with Jesus Christ."  (The Secret of Mary, Section 26)

After reading that, I asked myself, what else is a better devotion then that? St. Louis de Montfort tells the reader that the third devotion is:

"It consists in giving oneself entirely and as a slave to Mary, and to Jesus through Mary; and after that to do all that we do, with Mary, in Mary, through Mary and for Mary."

The book explains to the reader that the devotion tells the reader two things: One being that this act is a TOTAL consecration to Jesus through Mary and secondly, there is a state of being totally consecrated. This states calls us to a "Permanent disposition of living and acting habitually independent on Mary." The book explains that the practice will seem small at first, as St. Louis de Montfort compares it to a mustard seed, but after persistent exercise, we can see its wondrous effects.

St. Louis de Montfort explains everything in this book, and after reading this, I have learned that though my consecration is a sad excuse for anything, it has time to grow, as long as I continue to exercise everything. I am not done with the book, but I will continue to read it and I urge anyone who has done the consecration to do so as well. This book, along with St. Louis de Montfort's other writings offer so much, and I know that I'll be reading them all.

If you want to fully consecrate yourself to Jesus, through Mary, you will do whatever seems necessary.

I am glad you read this, and I am praying for you all! Pray for me as well!

"He died for me, so I will live for Him!"

Part II - St. Louis de Montfort - Secret of Mary