In The End
My Immaculate Heart will Triumph Helping Today’s Souls Live their Consecration To Jesus through Mary Issue 1 • May 2020 • facebook.com/beholdthymother
In this issue: • Pius XII and the Consecration to the Blessed Virgin • Alma Mater: Mother Secret and Hidden • Our Lady of the Great Return • Consecration of Pope Pius XII to the Blessed Virgin • With Mary: Of the Imitation of the Virtues of the Blessed Virgin • True Devotion’s Plan of Action • Dictionary of Mary. Collectible Cards • Consecration to Jesus Through Mary, Getting Started
PIUS XII AND THE CONSECRATION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
All of Mary. Fathers of the Company of Mary, 1953 The Montfortian Marian consecration used to be a private devotion. No doubt several Popes, such as Saint Pius X, Benedict XV, and Pius XI, had made this consecration and recommended it, but it had not been officially and publicly approved. In the Act of Consecration made by His Holiness Pius XII, of the Church and of all mankind to the Blessed Virgin, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on October 31, 1942, the Holy Father said: “Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Help of Christians, Refuge of the human race, Triumphant in all the combats of God…, We, as the common Father of the great human family and as Vicar of Him to whom all power has been given in heaven and on earth, and from Whom we have received the care of all the redeemed souls with His Blood, to You, to your Immaculate Heart ..., We trust and consecrate ourselves, not only in union with the holy Church, Mystical body of your Beloved Jesus ..., but also with the whole world ... In the same way that the Church and the whole human race were consecrated to the Heart of your beloved Jesus ..., so we also consecrate ourselves perpetually to You, to your Immaculate Heart, O our Mother, Queen of the world, so that your love and your
patronage may hasten the triumph of the kingdom of God, and that all nations, put at peace with each other and with God, proclaim you blessed and sing with you, from one end of the world to the other, an eternal Magnificat of glory, love, and gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, the only one in which they can find Truth, Life, and Peace.” This consecration made in front of the Portuguese people gathered at Fatima, was then renewed in a grandiose ceremony in Saint Peter of Rome, on the following December 8th. On May 1st of 1948, in the Marian Encyclical of His Holiness Pius XII, Auspicia Quædam, an official and universal document, the consecration of the Church and of the world effectively renewed is strongly remembered, and the wish is expressed that all, through a private and collective consecration, adhere to this great act: “We want everyone to do [the Consecration] whenever a propitious occasion allows it, not only in each diocese and in each parish, but also in the domestic
home. We hope that thanks to this private and public consecration, we will be more abundantly granted heavenly benefits and gifts”. By these solemn acts, the consecration to the Blessed Virgin has definitely entered into the official worship of the Church. The Pope also defined in speeches delivered in a more restricted circle, how this consecration should be understood, made, and lived, when on November 22nd of 1946, the Holy Father received in audience a certain number of leaders and
participants of the “Great Tour.” In this triumphal march of Our Lady of Boulogne through France, the faithful were invited to consecrate themselves to the Blessed Virgin. The Holy Father formally gave them a slogan and expressed it thus: “Be faithful to the One who has guided you here. Echoing our call to the world, you have made it heard around you; You have traveled all over France to make it resonate, and you have invited all Christians to personally renew, each in his own name, the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pronounced by their Pastors on behalf of all. You have already collected ten million individual memberships, a result that gives us great joy and awakens in Us great hope.
Participants of the Grand Return. From 1943 to 1948, Our Lady of Boulogne toured all over France in a procession called “Du Grand Return.”
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But the indispensable condition for perseverance in this consecration is to understand its true meaning, grasp its full scope, and faithfully assume all its obligations. We recall here what we said on this subject on a very dear anniversary to our hearts: the Consecration to the Mother of God ... is a total gift of oneself, for all life and for eternity; not a gift of pure form or of pure sentiment, but an effective gift, made in the intensity of the Christian and Marian life.” (The Holy Father is quoting his speech of January 21, 1945 to 4,000 Congregationalists of the Blessed Virgin.)
These words are extremely encouraging and precious, since they indisputably constitute an approval of the Marian consecration in the Montfortian sense. We do not intend in any way to say that Pius XII formally advises the act of holy slavery, with the abandonment to the Blessed Virgin of the right to dispose of our prayers, our indulgences and all the communicable value of our good works. But the Marian Montfortian consecration, taken in all its meaning and in all its realization, was officially approved by the Holy Father in the “Decretal Letters” (July 20, 1947)
that promulgate the canonization of Saint Louis Marie de Montfort. Pius XII speaks in them of “the ardent, solid, and straight devotion” that the great apostle fed towards Our Lady, and that was the secret of both his holiness and his incomparable apostolate. And he calls this devotion by name: “the noble and holy slavery of Jesus in Mary.” Roma locuta. The Pope has spoken. Let his word be heard. This word obviously gives new strength to the considerations we will discuss next. May it also be their garment of blessing and fruitfulness!
Excerpt taken from, Todo de Maria, Fathers of the Company of Mary, Mechliniæ, 19 Novembris 1953 Nihil obstat A. Van den Dries, can., lib. cens. Imprimi potest † L. Suenens, vic. gen.
Alma Mater Introduction to The True Devotion by St. Louis de Montfort It is by the Most Holy Virgin Mary that Jesus has come into the world, and it is also by her that He has to reign in the world. Mary has been singularly hidden during her life. It is on this account that the Holy Ghost and the Church call her alma Mater, —Mother secret and hidden. Her humility was so profound that she had no propensity on earth more powerful or more continuous than that of hiding herself, even from herself, as well as from every other creature, so as to be known to God only. He heard her prayers to Him, when she begged to be hidden, to be humbled, and to be treated as in all respects poor and of no account. facebook.com/beholdthymother
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He took pleasure in hiding her from all human creatures in her conception, in her birth, in her life, and in her resurrection and assumption. Her parents even did not know her, and the Angels often asked of each other: Quae est ist? Who is that? Because the Most High either hid her from them, or if He revealed anything of her to them, it was nothing compared to what He kept undisclosed.
“It is by the Most Holy Virgin Mary that Jesus has come into the world, and it is also by her that He has to reign in the world.”
God the Father consented that she should do no miracle, at least no public one, during her life, although He had given her the power. God the Son consented that she should hardly ever speak, though He had communicated His wisdom to her. God the Holy Ghost, though she was His faithful Spouse, consented that His Apostles and Evangelists should speak but very little of her, and no more than was necessary to make Jesus Christ known.
Our Lady of the Great Return History of Our Lady of Boulogne In the year 636, at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Belgium, arrived a boat without sailors or oars. The light that shone from inside the vessel made several people run to see what it was all about. Inside the vessel, they found an image of the Blessed Virgin, sculpted in wood, approximately three and a half feet tall, holding the child Jesus on her left arm. This Image had on the face something majestic and divine. While the novelty of this show delighted those it had attracted to the shore, inside a chapel in the upper town, Our Lady appeared to the faithful assembled there to reveal that the Angels by a secret order of Divine Providence had brought a ship to their harbor, where they would find Her Image. She ordered them to bring the boat in this Chapel, as it was the place chosen and intended, to receive the effects and testimonies of a very particular cult. Our Lady announced that she had chosen the city as a place of grace. She said, “I am the Advocate of Sinners, the Source of Grace, the Fountain of Piety. I want a divine light to descend upon you and your city... My friends, be chaste and build a church on my behalf.” 4 facebook.com/beholdthymother
The news of this apparition spread all over the city, and the people descended in droves on the shore, to receive this sacred disposition and this rich monument of divine liberality. The same tradition tells us that inside the vessel they found two other very holy relics, one of Jesus Christ our Lord, and the other of the Blessed Virgin, and a handwritten Bible. According to some ancient memories, Saint Omer, then bishop of Thérouanne, richly enshrined these precious relics. Nobody knows for sure where the statue came from, but some believed, at the moment of Her arrival, to seeing Her coming from the East. It was around that time that the Saracens invaded the cities of Antioch and Jerusalem. As if God, from the moment these barbarians seized the Holy Land, had wanted, by a very particular design of His Providence, the Image of the Holy Mother driven out somehow from Palestine, to find its dwelling, precisely in the city which gave birth to the invincible Godfrey de Bouillon, the great restorer of God’s Holy Name in the Holy Land. Rushed to the shore, the townspeople transported it to the chapel which later became a church. Today, neither this church which housed it, nor the ancient statue, still exist. But innumerable were the graces of conversion, healing, and the miracles obtained by pilgrims in this sanctuary and through the intercession or Our Lady. The Great Return The history of Notre-Dame-de-Boulogne does not stop there. At the Revolution, the image of Mary was burnt to ashes, and Her church pulled down. A new statue was sculpted in 1803, and pilgrimages began again. Before the Marian Congress at Boulogne in 1938, the custom of taking replicas of the statue of Our Lady of Boulogne “on tour” in France, was inaugurated. During the Second World War, the sanctuary church at Boulogne was badly damaged, and the image smashed. The Immaculate Heart of Mary had appeared at Fatima in 1917, asking for prayers for the conversion of Russia. On March 23rd of 1943, the day after the consecration of France to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Grand Return began at Lourdes. A replica of the statue of Our Lady of Boulogne returned to Boulogne-sur-Mer. facebook.com/beholdthymother
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The enthusiasm of the “Great Return” of Our Lady of Boulogne filled France with great hope. From 1943 to 1948, four reproductions of Our Lady of Boulogne toured nearly 750,000 miles across France, visiting 16,000 parishes and causing a surge of new faith, prayers, and conversions in its path. Missionaries accompanied the image and their goal was to support and spread everywhere the consecration of the faithful to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a means of returning this Catholic country to the law of God. On a side trip to Rome in 1945, Pope Pius XII blessed the image and the pilgrims.
“I am the Advocate of Sinners, the Source of Grace, and the Fountain of Piety.” Unfortunately, all the enthusiasm of the Great Return only lasted but a passing moment. The French didn’t live their consecrations as they promised and soon returned to their liberalism. The world did not convert even after the horrors of the Second World War, as Our Lady requested it at Fatima. Today, the world stands in even greater need of a Great Return to God, through Her who is the Advocate of Sinners, the Source of Grace, and the Fountain of Piety, as She told the townspeople of Boulogne when She first appeared. Let us return to Our Lady, and through Her to God.
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Your Holiness Pope Pius XII’ Consecration of the Church and Mankind to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Saturday, October 31, 1942
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of mankind, conqueress of all God’s battles! We, thy supplicants, prostrate ourselves at the foot of your throne, imploring Thy mercy and Thy opportune help and protection against the present calamities, not because of our merits, of which we cannot presume, but uniquely by reason of the great goodness of Thy maternal heart. To you, and to your Immaculate Heart, in this tragic hour of human history, we entrust and consecrate ourselves, not only in union with the Holy Church, the mystical body of your Jesus, which suffers and sheds its blood, prey to tribulations in so many places and so many ways, but also in union with the whole world, torn by fierce discord, consumed by the fire of hatred, and victim of its own wickedness. Look with compassion on all material and moral destruction, by so much pain, so much anguish of fathers and mothers, brothers, innocent children, by so many lives cut down in the flower of youth, so many bodies torn to pieces in brutal slaughter, so many souls tortured and troubled, and so many in danger of being lost for all eternity! Oh, Mother of Mercy, obtain peace for us from God, and especially those graces which can, in an instant, convert human hearts, those graces which can prepare, establish and assure peace! Queen of Peace, pray for us and give this world at war the peace for which all people long, peace in the Truth, Justice and Charity of Christ. Give them peace not only from arms, but also peace in their souls that in tranquility and order the Kingdom of God may expand. Grant your protection to infidels and to all those still walking in the shadow of death; grant them peace and let the Sun of Truth rise for them, that together with us, they may repeat before the only Saviour of the world: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, to men of good will.” (Lk 2:14) Give peace to the people separated by error and schism, particularly those who profess a singular devotion to You and among whom there is no home where Your venerable icons are not honored, and where, at present, they may be hidden in the hope for better days. Bring them back to the One Fold of Christ, under the One True Shepherd. Obtain complete peace and freedom for the Holy Church of God; stop the rampant flood of neo-paganism; foment in the faithful love for purity, the practice of Christian life and apostolic zeal, so that the people who serve God may increase in merit and number. Finally, in the same way that the Church and all of humanity were consecrated to the Heart of Your Son Jesus, so that by placing all hope in Him, He would be for them a sign and pledge of victory and salvation; so likewise, thus and for always, we consecrate ourselves to You, to Your Immaculate Heart, oh, our Mother and Queen of the world so that Your love and Your protection hasten the triumph of the Kingdom of God and may all nations, at peace with each other and with God, proclaim You Blessed and sing with You from one end of the earth to the other, the eternal Magnificat of glory, love and gratitude to the Heart of Jesus in which alone they can find Truth, Life and Peace.
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“We must therefore in every action consider how Mary has done it, or how she would have done it, had she been in our place. For that end we must examine and meditate the great virtues which she practiced during her life…”
WITH MARY
Excerpt taken Of the Imitation of the Virtues of the Blessed Virgin by Abbot A. Joseph de Rouville
Blessed are they that keep my
ways… Blessed is the man that heareth me, (Prov. viii. 32, 34.) and treasureth up in his heart the lessons of virtue I teach him in the examples of sanctity I have laid before him! The Churchy by applying to the Blessed Virgin these words of the Holy Scripture, exhorts us to study the conduct which this Queen of Saints led upon earth, and to imitate what we admire in her. Happy, in effect, is he who imitates Mary, since by imitating Mary, he imitates Jesus, the King, and the first model of all virtues. The life of this most holy Virgin is a universal lesson. In it, we learn how to behave in prosperity and adversity, in time of prayer, amidst exterior occupations, in honors and humiliations. We shall never attain the perfection with which she performed all her actions; but that person is most perfect who is the less distant from it. O! You, therefore, who make
profession of serving and honoring Mary; if you wish to conform to this excellent model, endeavor to imitate, as far as compatible with our weakness, her lively faith, ready obedience, profound humility, unremitting
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fidelity, pure intentions, and most generous love. Who is not able, when assisted by divine grace, of following her example as a model in the practice of these different virtues?
Without this imitation, your love for her is very weak, and you ought not to expect striking marks of her protection. Every day, it is true, you say some prayers in her honor. Moreover, you carry, upon yourselves some exterior marks of your devotion towards her. You are, perhaps, a member of those spiritual confraternities which are particularly established to honor her eminent virtues.
All this will engage her, undoubtedly, to ask graces of salvation for you. But if your devotion extend no further, and do not induce you to imitate her virtues, your devotion will not save you.
O! Most amiable Queen of Virtues, if we love thee, is it not right we should do for thee what we do for our temporal friends? We endeavor to form our character according to theirs, and to assume their inclinations.
The Philistines possessed the Ark of the Covenant; nay, they enriched it with gifts; but it never obtained any blessings for them, because they remained always attached to their idols.
It is from this conformity that the union of hearts arises. There is no friendship where there is no resemblance of manners. How can thy heart, so humble and chaste, so absolutely subject to the will of God, so zealous for the interests of God, be tenderly united with a heart addicted to voluptuousness and pride, rebelious to the Will of God, and without any zeal for His glory? If you love me, be my imitators, as I have been of Jesus Christ; this is what thou says to each of us, with still much more reason than St. Paul to the primitive Christians. If you are my children, imbibe the spirit of your mother.
The spirit of the children of Mary ought to be like the spirit of their mother; a spirit of charity, a spirit of peace, a spirit of mortification, a spirit of the fear and love of God.
If you love me, be my imitators, as I have been of Jesus Christ
O holy Virgin! I will therefore for the future make my piety towards thee consist above all things in the imitation of thy virtues. It is the most perfect homage I can offer. It is the greatest testimony of love I can give thee. facebook.com/beholdthymother
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True Devotion’s Plan of Action This is a suggested plan of action for those who want to become True Devotees of Our Lady but don’t know where to start. All resources cited are available for free at facebook.com/beholdthymother. Please send us a message so we can email you a Consecration Package. Step One: Read the Treatise of the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. Step Two: Choose a feast of Our Lady to do your Consecration. You must pick the Consecration Date, 34 days in advance. Step Three: Make your 33-Day-Preparation according to the method prescribed by St. Louis de Montfort. Step Four: On the chosen feast day of Our Lady, make your Consecration and pay a tribute to Our Lady according to your devotion and capacity. Step Five: Request a certificate from facebook.com/beholdthymother. Include your name as you want it to appear in the certificate, the date of your Consecration, and the feast celebrated. We will email you a beautiful certificate you can print and frame to remember this day as a special moment in your spiritual life. Step Six: If you decide that the practice of Holy Slavery is right for you, start practicing the exterior and interior practices. “Although what is essential in this devotion consists in the interior, we must not fail to unite to the inward practice certain external observances.” True Devotion Step Seven: In every publication of our magazine, we include a section called WITH MARY, where our saints and Catholic writers talk about the virtues and prerogatives of Our Lady, so you can learn to practice virtues in the Spirit of Mary. This is one of the Interior Practices of the Holy Slavery and a fundamental action of this devotion. Step Eight: Please, help us spread the word about our ministry by sharing copies of our magazine, so we can hasten what St. Louis de Montfort calls in his prophetic book of the True Devotion, the Age of Mary: “when will that happy time, that age of Mary, come, when souls, losing themselves in the abyss of her interior, shall become living copies of Mary, to love and glorify Jesus? That time will not come until men shall know and practice this devotion which I am teaching.” There’s no doubt, that only then, we will enjoy Our Lady’s Promise: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will Triumph.” 10 facebook.com/beholdthymother
Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) During paschal time (Holy Saturday to Pentecost), we recite this anthem instead of the Angelus. It is a greeting of joy praising Mary for Her Son’s victory over death. It is believed to be used since the times of St. Gregory the Great, in the 6th century, when he ordered a penitential procession due to a pestilence afflicting Rome. While an image of Our Lady was being carried over the bridge of Saint Angelo, St. Gregory heard angelic voices singing the first lines:
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“O, Queen of Heaven rejoice, Alleluia! For He whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia! Has risen as He said, Alleluia!”
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Regina Caeli
To which the holy Pope added: “O, pray to God for us, Alleluia!” Then, a heavenly perfume dispelled the pestilence.
Laminate Most Efficacious Prayer to Our Lady
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My Queen and my Mother! to thee I offer myself without reserve, and to give thee a mark of my devotion, I consecrate to Thee during this day, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, and my whole person: since then I belong to thee, O my good Mother, preserve and defend me as thy property and possession. Amen
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CONSECRATION TO JESUS THROUGH MARY Purification of the BVM
Our Lady of Lourdes
February 2
February 11
Starting: December 31
Starting: January 9
Queenship of Mary
Visitation of the BVM July 2
Mount Carmel July 16
Starting: April 28
Starting: May 30
Starting: June 13
May 31
Assumption of the BVM Starting: July 13
Seven Sorrows
September 24
Starting: August 13
Starting: August 22
Our Lady of the Pillar October 12
Starting: September 9
Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5:
March 25
May 13
Starting: February 20/21
Starting: April 10
Dedication O.L. Snow August 5 Starting: July 3
Most Holy
August 22
Nativity of the BVM
Name of Mary
September 8
September 12
Starting: July 20
Starting: August 6
Starting: August 10
Our Lady of Ransom
September 15
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of
Immaculate Heart
August 15
Annunciation of the BVM
Holy Rosary of the BVM
Maternity of Mary
October 7
October 11
Starting: September 4
Starting: September 8
Presentation of the BVM November 21 Starting: October 19
Immaculate Conception
Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 8
December 12
Starting: November 5
Starting: November 9
Read the Treatise of the True Devotion by St. Louis de Montfort Pick a Feast of Our Lady Prepare for 33-days according to the method prescribed by Montfort Consecrate to Jesus through Mary on Her Feast Day and pay Her some tribute Decide if the True Devotion is right for you and start practicing the interior and exterior practices of the devotion.
If you would like to support the production of this monthly magazine, you can send a contribution at this link: https://paypal.me/beholdthymother MAY GOD BLESS YOU! Follow us on Twitter: @beholdthymother Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beholdthymother/ Email us: childofjesusandmary@gmail.com
behold thy mother