Saint Louis de Montfort’s Classics Free On-Line



Taken from: http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/True%20Devotion%20to%20Mary%20by%20St_%20Louis%20De%20Montfort.htm

True Devotion to Mary according to St. Louis De Montfort and other Recommended Readings

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An Old and Divine Holiness: True Devotion to Mary according to St. Louis De Montfort:

I present you with a deep, powerful and highly-fruitful spirituality that is fully approved by the Church. It�s a simple spirituality. You only need to read two writings: True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (also called True Devotion to Mary) and a letter called The Secret of Mary, in that order. The rest of the Montfort�s books will only deepen your devotion. Re-reading is encouraged.



Most of the following books are FREE Online books that you can read with any Internet Browser, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Netscape Navigator. No special software is needed. Just click on the link to read. Multiple links are provided as Mirror sites.



1. Beginner's Level Montfortian Readings:



True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin or True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin or True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis De Montfort. This book is the "meat" of Montfortian Spirituality. This is my absolute favorite book of all time!

The Secret of Mary or The Secret of Mary by St. Louis De Montfort. This is a letter describing Perfect Practice of True Devotion to Mary, also known as "slavery of the will." This is a wonderful, succint, read!

An Overview of the Life and Spirituality of Saint Louis De Montfort by Father Pat Gaffney.

Montfortian Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a 40-day prayer consecrating oneself to Jesus through Mary.

The Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a morning prayer recommended by St. Louis De Montfort.

Methods for Saying the Rosary by St. Louis De Montfort.

2. Intermediate Level Montfortian readings:



The Letters of St. Louis De Montfort by St. Louis De Montfort.

The Love of Eternal Wisdom by St. Louis De Montfort.

Letter to the Friends of the Cross by St. Louis De Montfort.

Secret of the Rosary or Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis De Montfort.

Prayer for Missionaries by St. Louis De Montfort.

Manuscript Rule of the Company of Mary by St. Louis De Montfort.

Letters to the Members of the Company of Mary by St. Louis De Montfort.

The Wisdom Cross of Poiters by St. Louis De Montfort.

The Original Rule of the Daughters of Wisdom by St. Louis De Montfort.

Letter to the Inhabitants of Montbernage by St. Louis De Montfort.

Rules for Various Groups by St. Louis De Montfort.

The Will of St. Louis Marie by St. Louis De Montfort.

Jesus Living in Mary: Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort. The articles in this book are well-written and immensely helpful.

Montfort Spirituality by Father Pat Gaffney.

3. Advanced Level Montfortian Spirituality:



True Devotion to the Holy Spirit (this is the abridged version of The Sanctifier) by Archbishop Luis M. Martinez. Archbishop Martinez practiced and encouraged Perfect Practice of True Devotion to Mary per St. Louis De Montfort. He has some very deep spiritual insights into the Interior Life. His writings have a poetic beauty--like spiritual vignettes. You can buy this from Sophia Institute Press

Secrets of the Interior Life by Archbishop Luis M. Martinez. You can buy this from Sophia Institute Press

Only Jesus by Archbishop Luis M. Martinez. You can buy this used from Amazon. You might also try EBay. I really enjoyed this book, especially how Archbishop Martinez defines Love.

Mary�s Role in Salvation History by Father Pat Gaffney. This is a great essay!

4. Good Montfortian Sites:



Montfortian Spirituality

The Montfortian Religious Homepage

Montfort Missionaries. Be sure to click on the video of Pope John Paul II visiting the tomb of St. Louis De Montfort. This site also has very reasonably priced books and religious items.

5. Other Spiritual Classics:



The Bible: The Douay-Rheims Bible or The New American Bible

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Uniformity with God�s Will by St Alphonsus de Liguori.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis.

The Interior Castle (The Mansions) by St. Terese of Avila.

Our Lady's Warriors

This site is framed, so I can only link to the homepage. You can access "Saints Writings" by looking to the list of links on the left-hand side of the webpage. Click on the linked titled, "Saints Writings." This will take you to St. Therese of Avila's Way of Perfection, St. Augustine's Confessions and other great spiritual classics.

The writings of St. John of the Cross: Ascent of Mt. Carmel, The Dark Night and The Spiritual Canticle.

Other Spiritual Classics This site takes you to additional spiritual classics.

BACK TO UNITY PUBLISHING

Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Read this life-changing classic by Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort at EWTN:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/montfort/truedevo.htm




INDEX:



INTRODUCTION



PART I - TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR LADY IN GENERAL



CH. 1 - NECESSITY OF DEVOTION TO OUR LADY



CH. 2 - IN WHAT DEVOTION TO MARY CONSISTS



PART II - THE PERFECT DEVOTION TO OUR LADY



CH. 3 - THE PERFECT CONSECRATION TO JESUS CHRIST



CH. 4 - MOTIVES WHICH RECOMMEND THIS DEVOTION



CH. 5 - BIBLICAL FIGURE OF THIS PERFECT DEVOTION



CH. 6 - WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS DEVOTION



CH. 7 - PARTICULAR PRACTICES



SUPPLEMENT: THIS DEVOTION AT HOLY COMMUNION



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Also available at Lighthouse Catholic Media:



Moses, Mary and the Burning Bush

February 6, 2008, 12:16 am


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Today [actually next Wednesday this year] is Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent. Forty is a number used often in the Bible and is the reason that Lent has 40 days (Sunday’s don’t count). In Noah’s time it rained for 40 days and nights, the people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years, Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and most importantly Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days.

In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that, after Moses fled Egypt he was in the land of Midian for 40 years: “And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the desert of mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.” (Acts 7:30) So Moses was prepared by God for 40 years before the Burning Bush event, the turning point in his life and a turning point in human history.

But did you know that the Burning Bush has often been seen as a symbol of Mary who carried God within her womb?

“The bush, then (as some hold) is a prefiguration of the Virgin Mary since she made the Savior blossom forth, like a rose growing out of the bush of her human body; or rather, because she brought forth the power of the divine radiance without being consumed by it. Hence we read in Exodus: ‘The Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and looked and behold the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed’ (Ex 3:2) ” Rabanus Maurus (Benedictine Monk d. 780)

St. Gregory, the fourth century Bishop of Nyssa, seems to have been the first to connect the idea of Moses and the burning bush to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Gregory wrote in his On the Birth of Christ that as the bush was in flames, but not consumed, so Mary had God present inside her and was not consumed.

In Eastern Christian tradition the Burning Bush is seen as a symbol of Mary – The burning bush appeared to Moses in Exodus 3:2. In the song of The Burning Bush sung during the month of Kiahk (the fourth month of the Coptic calendar between December 10 and January 8 ) they say:

The burning bush seen by Moses

 

The prophet in the wilderness

 

The fire inside it was aflame

 

But never consumed or injured it.

 

The same with the Theotokos Mary

 

Carried the fire of Divinity

 

Nine months in her holy body.

Again it was said of Christ that He is a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). The fire burning inside the bush is a symbol of Christ and the bush itself symbolizes the Virgin.

 

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Taken from: http://unbornwordoftheday.com/2008/02/06/moses-mary-and-the-burning-bush

What is Militia of the Immaculata?

The Militia of the Immaculata (MI) is a worldwide evangelization movement founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917 that encourages total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of spiritual renewal for individuals and society. The MI movement is open to all Catholics. It employs prayer as the main weapon in the spiritual battle with evil. MIs also immerse themselves in apostolic initiatives throughout society, either individually or in groups, to deepen the knowledge of the Gospel and our Catholic Faith in themselves and in others. Marian consecration is a formal act of self-giving that does not stop at Mary, but is Christ-directed. It is really consecration to Jesus. The MI's mission is "To Lead Every Individual With Mary to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus." By joining the MI, members become willing instruments of Our Lady, the woman foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15. She leads them to personal sanctification, the conversion of Church opponents and ultimately the universal reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Founding of the MI The Knights of the Immaculata The Making of a Knight The Militia of the Immaculata began on October 16, 1917, around a table at the Conventual Franciscan seminary in Rome. Maximilian Kolbe gathered together six like-minded young friars before a statue of the Blessed Virgin and drafted a charter that would establish one of the most influential Marian apostolates ever. The charter still serves as a blueprint of spiritual progress for MI members today. Since these humble beginnings, the MI has spread throughout the world and is today present on five continents and in forty-six nations. Official membership now nears four million. "Membership in the Militia means complete dedication to the Kingdom of God and to the salvation of souls through Mary Immaculate." Pope John Paul II Founding of the MI, 1917 In 1922, the Movement was canonically established as a Pious Union of the Faithful and in 1926 Pope Pius XI elevated it to the status of a Primary Union. Today, the MI falls under the direction of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity and has been highly endorsed by Pope John Paul II. In 1981 the Holy Father noted that "membership in the MI means complete dedication to the Kingdom of God and to the salvation of souls through Mary Immaculate." With the approval by the Pontifical Council for the Laity on October 16, 1997, of the MI's updated International Governing Statutes, the MI was given the privilege of status as an "international public association" - a status shared by only three other Catholic organizations. During his lifetime St. Maximilian Kolbe founded Cities of the Immaculata in Poland and Japan to serve as centers of Marian-Franciscan evangelization for the Movement. He employed the mass media, especially the printed word, to spread the ideals of the MI and to encourage others to consecrate themselves to Our Lady. Despite his death as a martyr of charity in 1941, the Movement continues to expand and several religious communities and institutes have sprung from the spiritual legacy initiated in 1917.

 

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Taken from: http://www.consecration.com/default.aspx?id=8

The Immaculate Conception, Joachim and St. Anne Meet Beneath the Golden Gate



The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich




II. THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION



1. JOACHIM AND ST. ANNE MEET BENEATH THE GOLDEN GATE.

It was a warning from on high that had led Joachim into the Holy Place, and it was by a similar inspiration that he was brought into a subterranean passage which belonged to the consecrated part of the Temple and ran under it and under the Golden Gate. I have been told what was the meaning and origin of this passage when the Temple was built, and also what it was used for, but I have no clear recollection of this. Some religious observance relating to the blessing and reconciliation of the unfruitful was, I think, connected with this passage. In certain circumstances people were brought into it for rites of purification, expiation, absolution, and the like. [32] Joachim was led by priests near the slaughtering-place through a little door into this passage. The priests turned back, but Joachim continued along the passage, which gradually sloped downwards. Anna had also come to the Temple with her maidservant, who was carrying the doves for sacrifice in wicker baskets. She had handed over her offering and had revealed to a priest that she had been bidden by an angel to meet her husband under the Golden Gate. I now saw that she was led by priests, accompanied by some venerable women (among whom I think was the prophetess Anna), through an entrance on the other side into the consecrated passage, where her companions left her. I had a very wonderful view of what this passage was like. Joachim went through a little door; the passage sloped downwards, and was at first narrow but became broader afterwards. The walls were of glistening gold and green, and a reddish light shone in from above. I saw beautiful pillars like twisted trees and vines. After passing through about a third of the passage Joachim came to a place in the midst of which stood a pillar in the form of a palm tree with hanging leaves and fruits. Here he was met by Anna, radiant with happiness. They embraced each other with holy joy, and each told the other their good tidings. They were in a state of ecstasy and enveloped in a cloud of light. I saw this light issuing from a great host of angels, who were carrying the appearance of a high shining tower and hovering above the heads of Anna and Joachim. The form of this tower was the same as I see in pictures, from the litany of the Blessed Virgin, of the Tower of David, the Tower of Ivory, and so forth. I saw that this tower seemed to disappear between Anna and Joachim, who were enveloped in a glory of brightness. I understood that, as a result of the grace here given, the conception of Mary was as pure as all conceptions would have been but for the Fall. I had at the same time an indescribable vision. The heavens opened above them, and I saw the joy of the Holy Trinity and of the angels, and their participation in the mysterious blessing here bestowed on Mary's parents. Anna and Joachim returned, praising God, to the exit under the Golden Gate: towards the end the passage sloped upwards. They came into a kind of chapel under a beautiful and high arch, where many lights were burning. Here they were received by priests who led them away. The part of the Temple above which was the hall of the Sanhedrin lay over the middle of the subterranean passage; above this end of it were, I think, dwellings of priests whose duty it was to look after the vestments. Joachim and Anna now came to a kind of bay at the outermost edge of the Temple hill, overlooking the valley of Josaphat, where the path could no longer go straight on but branched to right and left. After they had visited another priest's house, I saw Joachim and Anna and their servants starting on their journey home. On their arrival at Nazareth, Joachim, after a joyful meal, gave food to many poor people and distributed generous alms. I saw how full he and Anna were of joy and fervor and gratitude to God when they thought of His compassion towards them; I often saw them praying together with tears.

It was explained to me here that the Blessed Virgin was begotten by her parents in holy obedience and complete purity of heart, and that thereafter they lived together in continence in the greatest devoutness and fear of God. I was at the same time clearly instructed how immeasurably the holiness of children was encouraged by the purity, chastity, and continence of their parents and by their resistance to all unclean temptations; and how continence after conception preserves the fruit of the womb from many sinful impulses. In general, I was given an overflowing abundance of knowledge about the roots of deformity and sin.

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Taken from: http://www.ecatholic2000.com/anne/lom9.shtml

"I am the Immaculate Conception"



THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Excerpted and compiled from, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND THE HOLY SPIRIT:

The Marian Teachings of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, Fr. H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P.

"I Am the Immaculate Conception."

A few hours before his second and final arrest, on February 17, 1941, Fr. Kolbe had time to put on paper his thoughts about her, who for a quarter of a century, day after day, had never ceased to occupy his priestly and apostolic mind and heart. This text, is therefore, of the highest importance. He could not have written it during his captivity at Pawiak near Warsaw, nor during his detention in the death camp at Auschwitz, even though he delivered many spiritual sermons on the Immaculata. In these lines we find the gist of his Marian doctrine ---- based on several sketches of text from a projected book of his, dating back mostly to the years 1939--41.

This last writing of Saint Maximilian Kolbe constitutes his spiritual testament. Let us follow the line of his reasoning, taking care to be faithful to his thought:

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence, they must tells us in the most precise and essential manner who she really is.

Since human words are incapable of expressing Divine realities it follows that these words: "Immaculate," and "Conception" must be understood in a much more profound, much more beautiful and sublime meaning than usual: a meaning beyond that which human reason at its most penetrating, commonly gives to them . . . However, we can and should reverently inquire into the mystery of the Immaculata and try to express it words provided by our intelligence using its own proper powers.

Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?

Not God, of course, because He has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam's rib. Not the Incarnate Word, Who exists before all ages, and of Whom we should use the word "conceived" rather than "conception."

Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created "conceptions." But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by Original Sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate Conception.

Everything which exists, outside of God Himself, since it is from God and depends on Him in every way, bears within itself some semblance to its Creator; there is nothing in any creature which does not betray this resemblance, because every created thing is an effect of the Primal Cause.

It is true that the words we use to speak of created realities express the Divine perfections only in a halting, limited and analogical manner. They are only a more or less distant echo----as are the created realities that they signify ---- of the properties of God himself. Would not "conception" be an exception to this rule? No, there is never any such exception. The Father begets the Son; the Son proceeds from the Father and the Son. Theses few words sum up the mystery of the life of the Most Blessed trinity and of all the perfections in creatures which are nothing else but echoes, a hymn of praise of this primary and most wondrous of all mysteries.

We must perforce use our vocabulary, since it is all we have; but we must never forget that our vocabulary is very inadequate.

Who is the Father? What is His personal life like? It consists in begetting, eternally because He begets His Son from the beginning and forever.

Who is the Son? He is the Begotten-One, because from the beginning and for all eternity He is begotten by the Father.

And Who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of created is a created conception, then the fruit of Divine love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a Divine "conception." The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the "uncreated, eternal conception," the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.

The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the "conception" that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the Three Persons by which They can be distinguished from one another. But They are united in the Oneness of Their Nature, of Their Divine existence. The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy "conception," this infinitely holy Immaculate Conception . . .

The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God Himself, was the Immaculata, who never contacted the slightest stain of sin, who never departed in the least from God's will. United to the Holy Spirit as His spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than can be predicated of any other creature.

What sort of Union is this? It is above all an interior union, a union of her essence with the "essence" of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her; lives in her. This was true from the first instance of her existence. It was always true and it will always be true.

And in what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He Himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves Himself, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. he is a fruitful Love, a "Conception." Among creatures made in God's image, the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful, from the very first instance of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity.

This eternal "Immaculate Conception" [which is the Holy Spirit] produces in an immaculate manner Divine life itself in the womb or depths of Mary's soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary's body is kept sacred for Him; there He conceives in time the human life of the Man-God.

And so the return to God [which is love], that is to say the equal and contrary reaction, follows a different path from that found in creation. The path of creation goes from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit; this return trail goes from the Spirit through the Son back to the Father; in other words, by the Spirit the Son becomes incarnate in the womb of the Immaculata; and through this Son love returns to the Father.

And she the Immaculata, grafted into the Love of the Blessed trinity, becomes from the first moment of her existence and forever after the "complement of the Blessed Trinity." In the Holy Spirit's union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings; in there is is all the love of the Blessed trinity; in the other, all of creation's love. So it is that in this union Heaven and earth are joined; all of Heaven with the earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love. At Lourdes, she did not say that she was conceived immaculately, but as St. Bernadette repeated it, "Que soy era immaculata councepiou:" "I am the Immaculate Conception."

THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: LOURDES

Mary's affirmation at Lourdes: "I am the Immaculate Conception" refers not only to her spiritual "I," but to the total, personal "I:" to her body united to her soul as to its vital principle, both making up her personal reality:

Our Heavenly Father is the source of all that is; everything comes from the Blessed Trinity. We cannot see God, and so Jesus came to this earth, to Him known to us. The Most Blessed Virgin is the one in whom we venerate the Holy Spirit, for she is His spouse. The Third Person of the Blessed trinity never took flesh; still, our human word "spouse" is far too weak to express the reality of the relationship between the Immaculata and the Holy Spirit. We can affirm that she is, in a certain sense, the "incarnation" of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that we love in her; and through her we love the Son . . .

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Taken from: http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/conception.htm#2

How did the AMAIC come about?

The seeds of the AMAIC were sown in the 1970s from the determination of a group of Australian Catholics to counteract widespread doctrinal and moral error and to uphold the light of truth. The notion of Academy was already in the minds of members due to their associations with schools, colleges, seminaries, and other academic institutions, also through philosophy (e.g. Plato’s Academy), and the Thomistic influence of the famous Aquinas Academy of Dr. Austin Woodbury (S.M.), in Sydney. The cherished phrase, Marian Academy , to which we added our national designation, Australian, was inspired by St. Maximilian Kolbe, who had said: “If the Immaculata wants it, we shall found a Marian Academy to study, teach and publish for the entire world what the Immaculata is – an Academy even with a doctorate in Mariology”. We owed this last piece of information to Kolbe Missionary and former Legionary of Mary, Josephine Mary Nethery, of Sydney Australia, who had provided us with E. Piacentini ’s “Panorama of the Marian Doctrine of Bl. [now Saint] Maximilian Kolbe”.

Finally, as already noted, His Eminence Cardinal Deskur invested our Academy with the concluding phrase of our title, of the Immaculate Conception.

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