Montfort’s direction for this phase
227. First practice. Those men and women who wish to enter into this particular devotion, which is by no means erected into a confraternity, although that were to be wished, after having, as I have said in the first part of this preparation for the Reign of Jesus Christ, spent twelve days at least in emptying themselves of the spirit of the world, contrary to that of Jesus Christ, shall spend three weeks in filling themselves with Jesus Christ through the Most Blessed Virgin. Here is the order they may keep:
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary §227. Our complete English edition.
Montfort unfolds that order in the three weeks that follow: knowledge of self, of Mary, and of Jesus Christ. These first twelve days prepare for those weeks.
True Devotion to Mary, paragraphs 120–123
This optional reading accompanies the phase; Montfort’s preparation instructions above remain the guide.
120. All our perfection consisting in being conformed, united, and consecrated to Jesus Christ, the most perfect of all devotions is without question the one which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, Mary being the most conformed to Jesus Christ of all creatures, it follows that, of all devotions, the one which most consecrates and conforms a soul to Our Lord is devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin, his holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more it will be to Jesus Christ. That is why the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ is nothing other than a perfect and entire consecration of oneself to the Most Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or, in other words, a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.
121. This devotion consists, then, in giving oneself entirely to the Most Blessed Virgin, in order to be entirely Jesus Christ’s through her. We must give her: 1. our body with all its senses and its members; 2. our soul with all its powers; 3. our exterior goods, which are called goods of fortune, present and to come; 4. our interior and spiritual goods, which are our merits, our virtues, and our good works, past, present, and future: in two words, all that we have in the order of nature and in the order of grace, and all that we may have in the future in the order of nature, of grace, or of glory; and this without any reserve, not even of a penny, a hair, or the least good action; and this for all eternity; and this without claiming or hoping for any other reward for one’s offering and one’s service than the honor of belonging to Jesus Christ through her and in her, even if this lovable Mistress were not, as she always is, the most liberal and the most grateful of creatures.
122. Here it must be noted that there are two things in the good works we do, namely: satisfaction and merit; in other words, the satisfactory or impetratory value and the meritorious value. The satisfactory or impetratory value of a good work is a good action insofar as it satisfies for the punishment due to sin, or obtains some new grace; the meritorious value, or merit, is a good action insofar as it merits grace and eternal glory. Now, in this consecration of ourselves to the Most Blessed Virgin, we give her all the satisfactory, impetratory, and meritorious value, in other words the satisfactions and the merits, of all our good works: we give her our merits, our graces, and our virtues, not to communicate them to others (for our merits, graces, and virtues are, properly speaking, incommunicable; and only Jesus Christ, by making himself our surety with his Father, was able to communicate his merits to us), but to keep, increase, and embellish them for us, as we shall say further on; we give her our satisfactions to communicate them to whomever she pleases, and for the greater glory of God.
123. From this it follows: 1. that by this devotion one gives to Jesus Christ, in the most perfect manner, since it is by the hands of Mary, all that one can give him, and much more than by the other devotions, in which one gives him either a part of one’s time, or a part of one’s good works, or a part of one’s satisfactions and mortifications. Here everything is given and consecrated, even to the right of disposing of one’s interior goods, and of the satisfactions one gains by one’s good works from day to day: which is not done even in any religious order. In religious orders one gives to God the goods of fortune by the vow of poverty, the goods of the body by the vow of chastity, one’s own will by the vow of obedience, and sometimes the liberty of the body by the vow of enclosure; but one does not give him the liberty or the right one has to dispose of the value of one’s good works, and one does not strip oneself, as far as one can, of what the Christian man has that is most precious and most dear, which are his merits and his satisfactions.
St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary §§120–123. Our complete English edition.
The prayers for this phase
Turn away from the spirit of the world and ask to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus. The prayers below are this companion’s selection for these first twelve days. Continue your accustomed Rosary.
The Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Traditional Catholic prayer.
Act of Contrition
O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (1885).
Veni Creator Spiritus · Come, Creator Spirit
Come, Creator Spirit, visit the minds of those who are Thine; fill with heavenly grace the hearts which Thou hast made.
Thou who art called the Paraclete, gift of God Most High, living fountain, fire, and charity, and spiritual anointing:
Thou art sevenfold in Thy gifts, the finger of the Father’s right hand; Thou art the Father’s promised gift, enriching our tongues with speech.
Kindle light within our minds; pour love into our hearts; sustain the weakness of our bodies with Thy enduring strength.
Drive the enemy far away, and grant us peace without delay; with Thee going before us as our guide, may we avoid all harm.
Through Thee may we know the Father, and know the Son as well; and may we believe in Thee, the Spirit of them both, for ever.
Glory be to God the Father, and to the Son who rose from the dead, and to the Paraclete, unto ages without end. Amen.
Traditional Latin hymn; English rendering for The Marian Way.
Ave Maris Stella · Hail, Star of the Sea
Hail, Star of the Sea, loving Mother of God, and ever Virgin, blessed gate of heaven.
Receiving that Ave from Gabriel’s mouth, establish us in peace, reversing the name of Eve.
Loosen the bonds of the guilty; bring light to the blind; drive away our evils; ask for us every good.
Show thyself a mother: through thee may He receive our prayers who, born for us, willed to be thy Son.
Virgin without equal, meek above all others, make us, freed from sin, meek and chaste.
Grant us a pure life; prepare a safe journey, that, seeing Jesus, we may rejoice together for ever.
Praise be to God the Father, glory to Christ Most High, and to the Holy Spirit: one honor to the Three. Amen.
Traditional Latin hymn; English rendering for The Marian Way.
Close in prayer.
Behold, O Mary, today I present myself to You, and offer myself wholly to your service, and for the little or much that remains to me to live on this earth; and together with You I renounce all Creatures, and dedicate myself entirely to the Love of my Creator. I consecrate to you then, O Queen, my mind, that it may think always of the Love which You deserve; my tongue, to praise you; my heart, to love you.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori · The Glories of Mary · Presentation of Mary, prayer (excerpt)Prayer sources and translation notes
Days 1–12: turn away from the spirit of the world and ask to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Montfort appoints at least twelve days for this purpose in True Devotion 227 but does not supply a fixed daily prayer list there. The Act of Contrition, Veni Creator, and Ave Maris Stella are the traditional prayers chosen for this companion; they are an editorial aid, not an additional rule attributed to Montfort. Continue your accustomed Rosary. Read Montfort’s direction.
The Sign of the Cross
Traditional formula; Holy Spirit matches the site’s prayer register.
Act of Contrition
Complete historical public-domain prayer; no wording borrowed from a modern prayer adaptation.
Veni Creator Spiritus · Come, Creator Spirit
Traditional Latin hymn; fresh English rendering for The Marian Way. All seven stanzas are included.
Ave Maris Stella · Hail, Star of the Sea
Traditional Latin hymn; fresh English rendering for The Marian Way. All seven stanzas are included; Ave and Eva retain the hymn’s contrast between Mary’s welcome and Eve’s disobedience.
An optional memory aid saved on this device. You may read any day at any time.
The preparation follows St. Louis de Montfort’s directions in True Devotion to Mary §§227–233. The readings are his words in our English translation. Their day-by-day selection and the first twelve days’ prayer selection are this companion’s arrangement; Montfort does not assign a separate reading for each day.