“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” (de Montfort, L., True Devotion to Mary, F. W. Faber, D.D, Trans. Illinois:Tan Books, p 57).
De Montfort discusses seven false devotions to Our Lady and their devotees:
Critical devotees are the proud and self-sufficient souls who disparage most simple and holy devotions to Mary, as well as miracles and pious stories that exemplify the mercy and power of Our Blessed Mother. Theirs is a dangerous path as they not only sin against Our Lady, but also are capable of distancing others under the ruse of obliterating any abuses toward it.
Scrupulous devotees shy away from any devotion to Mary for fear of insulting Jesus. They often tend to criticize the encouragement of too many Rosaries and other external devotions to her.
External devotees are those who outwardly exhibit their devotion to Mary yet have no interior spirit of their own. It is they who will participate in numerous Rosaries, rattling them off as quickly as possible—who will frequently attend Mass, yet in a most distracted state. They will partake of processions and belong to all the confraternities but neglect to amend their lives.
Presumptuous devotees dismiss the culpability of their sins of pride, impurity, anger, detraction, etc. because of their devotion to Our Blessed Mother. It is their “get out of jail free card” by which God will forgive them for all their weaknesses.
Inconstant devotees maintain an on-again, off-again devotion to Our Lady. They will generally go whole-hog, joining confraternities and taking up all the devotions, then neglect to follow up.
Hypocritical devotees “. . . who cloak their sins and sinful habits with her mantle, in order to be taken by men for what they are not” (de Montfort, p 64).
Interested devotees are those who turn to Mary only in time of need such as sickness or danger.
TRUE DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
Louis de Montfort, after discussing false devotions to Mary, describes the characteristics of true devotion which must include the following:
Interior devotion comes from the mind and the heart, emerging from our love for her and honor as Queen of Heaven and earth.
Tender devotion is much like a child’s trust in his mother. It is filled with a confidence that leads us to her for comfort in time of need. “It implores the aid of its good Mother at all times, in all places and above 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 the crosses, toils and disappointments of life, that it may be consoled under them” (de Montfort, p 66).
Holy devotion causes us to detest sin and seek to imitate Mary as much as humanly possible.
Constant devotion is enduring and courageous, strengthening us in spiritual battle against the weaknesses and passions of the flesh.
Disinterested devotion is without pride, inspiring the soul to seek only God—forgetting self.
COMMON PRACTICES
The following are interior and exterior practices of true devotion to Mary:
Interior practices
1. to honor her as the worthy Mother of God, with the worship of hyperdulia; that is to say, to esteem her and honor her above all the other saints, as the masterpiece of grace, and the first after Jesus Christ, true God and true Man
2. to meditate on her virtues, her privileges and her actions
3. to contemplate her grandeurs
4. to make acts of love, of praise, of gratitude to her
5. to invoke her cordially
6. to offer ourselves to her and unite ourselves with her
7. to do all our actions with the view of pleasing her
8. to begin, to continue and to finish all our actions by her, in her, with her and for her, in order that we may do them by Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, our Last End
Exterior practices
1. to enroll ourselves in her confraternities and enter her congregations
2. to join the religious orders instituted in her honor
3. to proclaim her praises
4. to give alms, to fast and to undergo outward and inward mortifications in her honor
5. to wear her liveries, such as the Rosary, the Scapular or the little chain
6. to recite with attention, devotion and modesty the holy Rosary . . .
7. to sing, or have sung, spiritual canticles in her honor
8. to make a number of genuflections or reverences, while saying, for example, every morning, sixty or a hundred times, Ave Maria, Virgo Fidelis (“Hail Mary, Faithful Virgin”), to obtain from God through her the grace to be faithful to the graces of God during the day; and then again in the evening, Ave Maria, Mater Misericordiae (“Hail Mary, Mother of Mercy”) to ask pardon of God through her for the sins that we have committed during the day
9. to take care of her confraternities, to adorn her altars, to crown and ornament her images
10. to carry her images, or to have them carried, in procession, and to carry a picture or an image of her about our own persons, as a might arm against the evil spirit
11. to have copies of her name or picture made and placed in churches, or in houses, or on the gates and entrances of cities, churches and houses
12. to consecrate ourselves to her in a special and solemn manner (de Montfort, p 69-72).
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