True Devotion to Maria ... by Blessed Louis de Montfort (d. 1716 A.D.)

Extracts ... for making the Total Consecration to Jesus by Maria

Day 22 of 33 -- Marks of false and true devotion

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Introduction:

This sub-section of Section 129, like the others, are extracts from Blessed Louis de Montfort's book: True Devotion to Maria ... this is an absolutely top tier writing on the Blessed Virgin. The extracts from True Devotion on these sub-sections are the ones specifically called out by Louis de Montfort ... as part of the daily readings (of a four week devotional) when making the Total Consecration to Maria.

We cannot identify or call Blessed Louis de Montfort a Saint because ... anti-Pope "Pius XII" had no Catholic jurisdiction to make Saints since he was automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church for heresy. I list selected heresy of anti-Pope "Pius XII" on Section 20.2 of this site. This Catholic Dogma on automatic excommunication for heresy or for physical participation in a heretic cult (such as the vatican-2 jew-heretic cult) is listed on Section 13.2 of this site.

The Beatification of Louis de Montfort was made by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.

Subjects discussed here include ...

1.  Identifies false devotions to the Blessed Virgin.

2.  Identifies and describes true devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

3.  Reference made to the most perfect devotion, to be covered in Section 129.5

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Start writings from True Devotion to Maria ... titles and headings may be many pages prior to the extract ...

On Devotion to Our Blessed Lady in General

II. Discernment of the True Devotion to our Blessed Lady

Having assumed these Five Truths, we must now take more pains than ever to make a good choice of the true devotion to our Blessed Lady. There are at this time, more than ever, false devotions to our Blessed Lady, which it is easy to mistake for true ones. The devil, like a false coiner and a subtle and experienced sharper, has already deceived and destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin, that he makes a daily use of his diabolical experience to plunge many others by this same way into everlasting perdition; amusing them, lulling them to sleep in sin, under the pretext of some prayers badly said, or of some outward practices which he inspires. As a false coiner does not ordinarily counterfeit any thing but gold and silver, or very rarely the other metals, because they are not worth the trouble, so the evil spirit does not for the most part counterfeit the other devotions, but only those to Jesus and Maria, the devotion to Holy Communion, and to our Blessed Lady, because they are, among other devotions, what gold and silver are amongst (other) metals.

Note 1: Regarding the text ... "destroyed so many souls by a false devotion to the Blessed Virgin" ... heresy is what places a baptized person outside of Christianity (the Catholic Church).

Note 2: Regarding the text ... "devotion to Holy Communion" ... Mass is not available in these times, there is no such thing as Catholic Mass outside of the Catholic Church ... God allowed our Catholic properties to be taken over by the vatican-2 jew-heretic cult on 8 December 1965. See Sections 12 and 13 and their sub-sections of this site.

It is, then, very important first of all to know (1) false devotions to our Blessed Lady in order to avoid them; and (2) the true devotion in order to embrace it. In conclusion, among so many practices of true devotion to our Blessed Lady, I will explain more in detail, in the second part of this treatise, which is the most perfect one, the one most agreeable to our Lady, the most glorious to God, and the most sanctifying to ourselves, in order that we may attach ourselves to it.

1.  On False Devotions to our Lady.

I find seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to our Lady, namely, (1) the critical devotees; (2) the scrupulous devotees; (3) the external devotees; (4) the presumptuous devotees; (5) the inconstant devotees; (6) the hypocritical devotees; and (7) the interested devotees.

The critical devotees are, for the most part, proud scholars, rash and self-sufficient spirits, who have at bottom some devotion to the holy Virgin, but who criticise nearly all the practices of devotion to her, which the simple people pay simply and holily to their good Mother, because these practices do not fall in with their own humour and fancy. They call in doubt all the miracles and histories recorded by authors worthy of our faith, or drawn from the chronicles of religious orders; narratives which testify to us the mercies and the power of the most holy Virgin. They cannot see without uneasiness simple and humble people on their knees before an altar or an image of our Lady, sometimes in the corner of a street, in order to pray to God there; and they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they adored the wood or the stone. They say that, for their part, they are not fond of these external devotions, and that their minds are not so weak as to give faith to such a number of tales and little histories as are in circulation about our Lady. Or, at other times, they reply that the narrators have spoken as professional orators, with exaggeration; or they put a bad interpretation upon their words. These kind of false devotees and of proud and worldly people are greatly to be feared. They do an infinite wrong to the devotion to our Lady; and they are but too successful in alienating people from it, under the pretext of destroying its abuses.

Note: The selected readings by Louis de Montfort for making the Total Consecration only include the write-up on critical devotees ... one can review the others in the book.

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2.  On the Characters of True Devotion to our Blessed Lady

After having laid bare and condemned the false devotions to the most holy Virgin, we must, in a few words, characterise the true devotion. It must be (1) interior, (2) tender, (3) holy, (4) constant, and (5) disinterested.

1.  True devotion to our Lady is interior; that is to say, it comes from the spirit and the heart. It flows from the esteem we have of her, the high idea we have formed of her greatness, and the love which we have for her.

2.  It is tender; that is to say, full of confidence in her, like a child's confidence in his loving mother. This confidence makes the soul have recourse to her in all its bodily or mental necessities, with much simplicity, trust, and tenderness. It implores the aid of its good Mother, at all times, in all places, and about all things; in its doubts, that it may be enlightened; in its wanderings, that it may be brought into the right path; in its temptations, that it may be supported; in its weaknesses, that it may be strengthened; in its falls, that it may be lifted up; in its discouragements, that it may be cheered; in its scruples, that they may be taken away; in its crosses, toils, and disappointments of life, that it may be consoled under them. In a word, in all its evils of body and mind, the soul's ordinary refuge is in Maria, without fearing to be importunate (overly persistent in request) to her or to displease Jesus Christ.

3.  True devotion to our Lady is holy; that is to say, it leads the soul to avoid sin, and to imitate in the Blessed Virgin particularly her profound humility, her lively faith, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelical sweetness, and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin.

4.  True devotion to our Lady is constant. It confirms the soul in good, and it does not let it easily abandon its spiritual exercises. It makes it courageous in opposing the world in its fashions and maxims, the flesh in its wearinesses and passions, and the devil in his temptations. So that a person truly devout to our Blessed Lady is neither changeable, irritable, scrupulous, nor timid. It is not that such a person does not fall, or change sometimes in the sensible feeling of devotion, or in the amount of devotion itself. But when he falls, he rises again by stretching out his hand to his good Mother. If he loses the taste and relish of devotion, he does not disturb himself because of that; for the just and faithful client of Maria lives on the faith of Jesus and Maria, and not on sentiments and sensibilities.

5.  Lastly, true devotion to our Blessed Lady is disinterested; that is to say, it inspires the soul not to seek itself but God only, and God in His holy Mother. A true client of Maria does not serve that august Queen from a spirit of lucre and interest, nor for its own good, whether temporal, corporal, or spiritual; but exclusively because she merits to be served, and God alone in her. He does not love Maria precisely because she does him good, or because he hopes in her; but because she is so worthy of love. It is on this account that he loves and serves her as faithfully in his disgusts and drynesses, as in his sweetnesses and sensible fervours. He loves her as much on Calvary, as at the marriage of Cana. Oh! how such a client of our Blessed Lady, who has no self-seeking in his service of her, is agreeable and precious in the eyes of God and of His holy Mother! But in these days how rare is such a sight! It is that it may be less rare that I have taken my pen to put on paper what I have taught, in public and in private, during my missions for many years.

I have now said many things about the most holy Virgin; but I have many more to say, and there are infinitely more which I shall omit, whether from ignorance, inability, or want of time, in the design which I have to form a true client of Maria, and a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Oh! but my labour will have been well expended if this little writing, falling into the hands of a soul of good dispositions, a soul well born, - born of God and of Maria, and not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, - should unfold to him, and should, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, inspire him with, the excellence and the price of that true and solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, which I am going presently to describe.

If I knew that my guilty blood could serve in engraving upon any one's heart the truths which I am writing in honour of my true Mother and sovereign Mistress, I would use my blood instead of ink to form the letters, in the hope to find some good souls who, by their fidelity to the practice which I teach, shall compensate to my dear Mother and Mistress for the losses which she has suffered through my ingratitude and infidelities. I feel myself more than ever animated to believe and to hope all which I have had deeply engraven upon my heart, and have asked of God these many years, namely, that sooner or later the Blessed Virgin shall have more children, servants, and slaves of love than ever; and that, by this means, Jesus Christ, my dear Master, shall reign more in hearts than ever.

I clearly foresee that raging beasts shall come in fury to tear with their diabolical teeth this little writing and him whom the Holy Spirit has made use of to write it, or at least to smother it in the silence of a coffer, that it may not appear. They shall even attack and persecute those who shall read it and carry it out in practice. But what matter? On the contrary, so much the better! This very foresight encourages me, and makes me hope for a great success; that is to say, for a great squadron of brave and valiant soldiers of Jesus and Maria, of both sexes, to combat the world, the devil, and corrupted nature in those more than ever perilous times which are about to come! Qui legit, intelligat. Qui potest capere, capiat.

Note: Interestingly enough this did in fact happen ... True Devotion to Maria was "lost" (out of sight) for over 100 years when it was discovered in 1842 by a priest. The priest brought it to a superior who recognized the handwriting as being that of Louis de Montfort.

Note 2: TAN Books (of Thomas A. Nelson) has corrupted and published a copy of True Devotion ... Nelson is a virulent heretic against the Catholic Dogma, is automatically excommunicated and therefore headed for Hell.

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