So generous is the Queen of heaven, as St. Andrew of Crete says, that she makes a large return for the smallest devotions of her servants. But two conditions are necessary for this. The first is that we offer her the homage of a soul pure from sin; for otherwise Mary will say to us what she said to a soldier, a man of vicious habits, who, as St. Peter Celestine relates, offered her some devotion every day. One day, when he was suffering greatly from hunger, our Lady appeared to him and presented him some exquisite food, but in a vessel so filthy that he did not venture to taste it. “I am the Mother of God,” Mary said to him, “who have come to relieve your hunger.” “But I cannot taste from this vessel,” answered the soldier. “And do you wish,” replied Mary, “that I should accept your devotions, offered me from a soul so polluted?” At these words the soldier was converted, became a hermit, lived thirty years in the desert, and at his death the Virgin again appeared to him and led him to heaven.
We have said, in the first part of this work, that, morally speaking, it is impossible that a servant of Mary should be lost. But this must be understood with the condition that he lives without sin, or at least that he desires to forsake it; for then our Lady will help him. But if anyone, on the other hand, should sin in the hope that our Lady will save him, by that very sin he would render himself unworthy and incapable of the protection of Mary. The second condition is that he persevere in his devotion to her. Perseverantia sola meretur coronam—“Perseverance alone shall merit a crown,” says St. Bernard. Thomas à Kempis, when a young man, was accustomed to have recourse daily to the Virgin with certain prayers. One day he omitted them; then he omitted them for some weeks; then he gave them up entirely. One night he saw Mary in a dream, who embraced his companions, but, having come to him, said: “What do you expect, you who have given up your devotions? Depart, for you are unworthy of my favors.” Terrified by these words, Thomas awoke and resumed his accustomed prayers. With reason, then, does Richard say that he who is perseveringly devoted to Mary will be blessed with the hope that all his desires shall be fulfilled. But since no one can be sure of this perseverance, no one can be sure of salvation before his death.
It was a very remarkable counsel which Brother John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, left to his companions at his death, when they begged him to leave them in writing what was the most pleasing devotion they could offer to our Lady in order to obtain her protection. He answered: Any small thing, but let it be constant—Quidquid minimum, dummodo sit constans. Finally, then, I add here, simply and in a few words, the various devotions we may offer to our Mother to obtain her favor—a thing which I consider the most useful that I have written in this little work. But I do not so much recommend my reader to practice them all, as to practice those he selects with perseverance, and in fear of losing the protection of the divine Mother if he neglects to continue them. Oh, how many who are now in hell would have been saved, had they continued the devotions they once began to Mary!
I — The Hail Mary
This angelic salutation is very pleasing to the most holy Virgin, for it seems, as it were, to renew in her the joy she felt when St. Gabriel announced to her that she was made Mother of God; and therefore we should often salute her with the Hail Mary. “Salute her with the angelic salutation,” says Thomas à Kempis, “for gladly does she hear this sound.” The divine Mother herself told St. Matilda that no one could salute her better than with the Hail Mary. He who salutes Mary will also be saluted by her. St. Bernard once heard himself audibly saluted from a statue of the Virgin, which said to him: Ave, Bernarde—“Hail, Bernard.” And the salutation of Mary, says St. Bonaventure, will always bring some grace in return, for she ever responds to those who salute her. And Richard adds: If anyone comes to the Mother of our Lord saying, “Hail Mary,” how could she deny him the favor he asks? Mary herself promised St. Gertrude help in death for every Hail Mary she said. Blessed Alan asserts that, as all heaven rejoices when the Hail Mary is said, so the devil trembles and flees: Caelum gaudet, Satan fugit, cum dico, Ave Maria. And Thomas à Kempis confirms this; for a devil who once appeared to him suddenly fled at hearing the Hail Mary.
The practice of this devotion is as follows. First, to say every morning on rising, and every evening on going to bed, three Hail Marys, prostrate, or at least kneeling, adding to each that short prayer: “By your pure and immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.” And to ask the blessing of Mary as our Mother, as St. Stanislaus always did, and to place ourselves under the mantle of our Lady, praying her to keep us from sin throughout the following day or night. It is a great help to this to keep near the bed a beautiful image of the Virgin.
Second, to say the Angelus, with the three Hail Marys, as is customary, in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. John XXII was the first Pope to attach an indulgence to this devotion, on the occasion—as Father Crasset relates—when a criminal condemned to be burned, having invoked Mary on the vigil of her Annunciation, remained unharmed, even to his garments, in the midst of the flames. More recently, Benedict XIII granted a hundred days’ indulgence to those who recite it, and at the end of the month a plenary indulgence, after confession and holy Communion. Father Crasset also states that other indulgences were granted by Clement X to those who add, at the end of each Hail Mary: Deo gratias et Mariae—“Thanks be to God and to Mary.” Formerly, at the sound of the bell, everyone knelt to say the Angelus; now some are ashamed to do so. But St. Charles Borromeo was not ashamed to descend from his carriage or his horse to recite it in the street, and sometimes in the mud. It is related that a certain slothful religious, who would not kneel at the signal for the Hail Mary, saw the belfry bow three times, and a voice spoke from it, saying: “Behold, you will not do what even senseless creatures do.” Let it be remembered that, as Benedict XIV directed, in the Paschal season the Regina Caeli is said instead of the Angelus; and from Vespers on Saturday through the whole of Sunday the Angelus Domini is said standing.
Third, to salute the Mother of God with a Hail Mary every time the clock strikes. Alphonsus Rodriguez saluted Mary every hour; and in the night, when the hour came, the angels woke him, that he might not omit his devotion.
Fourth, on leaving or entering the house, to salute the Virgin with a Hail Mary, that at home and abroad she may protect us from sin; and to kiss her feet, as the Carthusian Fathers are accustomed to do.
Fifth, to pay reverence with a Hail Mary to every image of Mary we meet; and let everyone who can do so place some beautiful image of the Virgin in a niche in the wall of his house, that it may be honored by those who pass by. In Naples, and still more in Rome, there are very beautiful images of our Lady by the wayside, set there by her devout servants.
Sixth, holy Church directs that the angelic salutation be prefixed to all the canonical hours of the Office, and that the Office close with it. Hence it is well, at the beginning and end of every action, always to say a Hail Mary—I mean of every action, whether spiritual, such as prayer, confession, Communion, spiritual reading, or hearing a sermon, or temporal, such as study, giving counsel, work, going to table, to bed, and the like. Happy are those actions that are enclosed between two Hail Marys! And so too on waking in the morning, on closing the eyes to sleep, in every temptation and peril, in every burst of anger, say always a Hail Mary. My dear reader, practice this, and you will see the advantage to be drawn from it; remembering that for every Hail Mary there are twenty days’ indulgence. Moreover, Father Auriemma relates that the Blessed Virgin promised St. Matilda a good death if she recited every day three Hail Marys in honor of her power, wisdom, and goodness. And she also said to Blessed Jane of France that the Hail Mary was very pleasing to her, especially when said ten times in honor of her ten virtues. Many indulgences are likewise attached to these ten Hail Marys.
II — Novenas
The servants of Mary are very attentive and fervent in keeping the novenas of her feasts; and during these the holy Virgin, full of love, dispenses to them innumerable and special blessings. One day St. Gertrude saw beneath the mantle of Mary a multitude of souls, on whom our Lady was looking with great affection; and she understood them to be those who, on the preceding days, had prepared themselves by devout exercises for the feast of the Assumption. The devotions to be used for the novenas are the following.
First, mental prayer, morning and evening, with a visit to the most holy Sacrament, adding an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father, repeated nine times.
Second, three visits to some image of Mary, thanking the Lord for the graces granted to her, and asking of the Virgin each time some special favor; and at one of these visits the prayer placed at the end of each of her feasts should be read.
Third, to make many acts of love—at least a hundred, or fifty—to Mary and to Jesus; for we can do nothing more pleasing to her, as she said to St. Bridget, than to love her Son: “If you wish to bind yourself to me, love my Son Jesus.”
Fourth, to read every day of the novena, for a quarter of an hour, some book that treats of her glories.
Fifth, to practice some external mortification—hair-cloth, the discipline, and the like—with fasting, or some abstinence at table from fruit or other agreeable food, at least in part; chewing also some bitter herb; and on the vigil of the feast, to fast on bread and water. But all this must always be done with the permission of a spiritual father. Better than all these, however, are the practices in these novenas of interior mortification: abstaining from the indulgence of curiosity, whether through the eye or the ear; remaining retired and silent; obeying, and not answering with impatience; bearing contradictions, and other things of the sort, which may be used with less danger of vainglory and greater merit—and for these the permission of a director is not needed. The most useful exercise is to propose, at the beginning, the amendment of some fault into which we are most apt to fall. And to this end it is well, at each of the visits named above, to ask pardon for some past sin, renew the intention of avoiding it in the future, and implore Mary’s help in keeping this resolution. The honor most dear to the Virgin is the imitation of her virtues; and so it is well in every novena to propose to oneself some special virtue of Mary, particularly suited to the mystery—as, for example, on the feast of her Conception, purity of intention; of her Nativity, the renewal of the spirit and the rousing from tepidity; of her Presentation, detachment from something to which we are most attached; of the Annunciation, humility in bearing contempt; of the Visitation, charity toward our neighbor, almsgiving, or at least prayer for sinners; of the Purification, obedience to superiors; and finally, of the Assumption, the practice of detachment, and the doing of all things as a preparation for death, living as if every day were to be our last. In this way the novena will prove of great service.
Sixth, besides the Communion on the day of the feast, it is well to ask it more frequently of the spiritual father during the days of the novena. Father Segneri said that we cannot honor Mary better than with Jesus. For she herself, as Father Crasset relates, revealed to a holy soul that nothing dearer could be offered to her than holy Communion, since there Jesus Christ gathers up in the soul the fruit of his Passion. Hence it appears that the Virgin desires nothing from her servants more than holy Communion, saying: “Come, eat the bread and drink the wine that I have prepared for you.” Finally, on the day of the feast, after Communion, we should offer ourselves to the service of this divine Mother, asking of her the grace of the virtue proposed in the novena, or some other special favor. And it is well every year to set apart, among the rest, certain feasts of the Virgin to which we have the greatest devotion and tenderness, and to make a particular preparation for them by dedicating ourselves anew, and in a more especial manner, to her service, choosing her for our Lady, advocate, and Mother. Then we should ask pardon for our negligence in her service during the past year, promising her greater fidelity in the year to come. In a word, let us pray her to accept us as her servants, and to obtain for us a holy death.
III — The Rosary and the Office
The devotion of the most holy Rosary is known to have been revealed to St. Dominic by the divine Mother herself. The saint, being in affliction and lamenting to his Lady the conduct of the Albigensian heretics, who at that time were doing great injury to the Church, heard the Virgin say to him: “This earth will always be barren, until the rain falls upon it.” St. Dominic was then given to understand that this rain was to be the devotion of the Rosary, and that he was to make it known. And indeed the saint preached it everywhere, and this devotion was embraced by all Catholics, so that at the present day there is no devotion more practiced by the faithful of every condition than that of the most holy Rosary. What have not modern heretics—Calvin, Bucer, and others—said to bring the use of the Rosary into contempt! But the great good is well known which this noble devotion has brought to the world. How many by its means have been freed from sin! How many led to a holy life! How many have had a good death and are now saved! Let us read the various books that treat of it. It is enough to know that this devotion has been approved by holy Church, and that the sovereign Pontiffs have attached indulgences to it. To him who recites the third part of the Rosary, the indulgence of seventy thousand years is granted; to him who recites it entire, eighty thousand; and yet more to him who recites it in the chapel of the Rosary. Benedict XIII more recently annexed to the Rosary—for him, at least, who recites the third part of a Rosary blessed by the Dominican Fathers—all the indulgences attached to the Rosaries of St. Bridget, namely, one hundred days for every Hail Mary and Our Father that is said. And, moreover, those who recite the Rosary gain the plenary indulgence on all the principal feasts of Mary and of holy Church, and also of the Dominican saints, if they visit their churches after confession and Communion. But let it be remarked that this is understood of those whose names are inscribed in the book of the Rosary, to whom a plenary indulgence is also granted on the day their names are inscribed, provided they have made their confession and Communion; a hundred years if they wear the Rosary; and to those who make mental prayer once a day, seven years each time, with a plenary indulgence at the end of the month.
In order to gain the indulgences attached to the recitation of the Rosary, it is necessary to meditate on the mysteries, which are recorded in many books; but for those who do not know them, it is enough to contemplate any one of the mysteries of the Passion of Jesus Christ, such as the scourging, the death, and the like. The Rosary must be recited with devotion; and here let us call to mind what the holy Virgin said to Blessed Eulalia: that she was better pleased with five decades said with pauses and devotion than with fifteen said in haste and with less devotion. For this reason it is well to say the Rosary kneeling, before some image of Mary, and at the beginning of every decade to make an act of love to Jesus and Mary, asking some favor. And let it be remarked, moreover, that it is more efficacious to say the Rosary in company with others than to say it alone.
Urban II attached many indulgences to the recitation of the Little Office of our Lady, which is said to have been composed by St. Peter Damian; and the holy Virgin has often shown how pleasing to her was this devotion, as we learn from Father Auriemma. The Litanies are also very pleasing to her, and an indulgence of two hundred days is granted each time they are recited; as well as the hymn Ave Maris Stella—“Hail, Star of the Sea,” which the divine Mother bade St. Bridget repeat every day; and, more than all, the Magnificat, for with this we praise her in the very words with which she praised God.
IV — Fasting
Many servants of Mary, on Saturdays and on the vigils of her feasts, are accustomed to honor her by fasting on bread and water. It is well known that Saturday is a day dedicated by holy Church to the honor of the Virgin, because on this day, says St. Bernard, she remained constant in the faith after the death of her Son. For this reason the servants of Mary never fail on this day to offer her some special homage, and particularly the fast on bread and water, as St. Charles Borromeo, Cardinal Toledo, and so many others practiced it. Neithard, Bishop of Bamberg, and Father Joseph Arriaga, of the Society of Jesus, did not so much as taste food on Saturday. The great graces which the Mother of God afterward bestowed on those who practiced this devotion may be read in the writings of Father Auriemma. It is enough for us to mention the compassion she showed to that bandit chief who, on account of this devotion, was permitted to remain alive although his head had been cut off, and although he was under the displeasure of God; and he was enabled to make his confession before dying. He afterward declared that the holy Virgin, for the sake of this fast he had offered her, had preserved him in life; and then he suddenly expired.
It would not, then, be a very extraordinary thing if anyone especially devoted to Mary—particularly if he had already deserved hell—should offer her this fast on Saturday. He who practices this devotion, I may say, will hardly be condemned: not that our Lady will deliver him by a miracle if he dies in mortal sin, as happened to the bandit, for such prodigies of divine mercy seldom take place, and it would be madness to look for eternal salvation by them; but I do say that the divine Mother will readily obtain perseverance in divine grace, and a good death, for him who practices it. All the brothers of our little congregation who can do so fast on bread and water on Saturday in honor of Mary. I say those who can do so, meaning that if anyone is prevented by ill health, at least on Saturday he may content himself with a single dish, make an ordinary fast, or at least abstain from fruit and other agreeable food. It is necessary on Saturday to offer special devotions to our Lady: to receive Communion, or at least to hear Mass, to visit some image of the Virgin, to wear hair-cloth, and the like. And at least on the vigils of the seven feasts of Mary, let her servants endeavor to offer her this fast on bread, or in any other manner they are able.
V — Visiting the Images of Mary
Father Segneri says that the devil could in no better way console himself for the losses he sustained by the overthrow of idolatry than by attacking sacred images through the heretics. But holy Church has defended them even by the blood of the martyrs; and the divine Mother has also made manifest by miracles how much she is pleased by devotion and visits to her images. The hand of St. John Damascene was cut off because he defended with his pen the images of Mary; but our Lady restored it to him in a miraculous manner. Father Spinelli relates that in Constantinople, every Friday after Vespers, a veil that hung before an image of Mary drew back of itself, and after Vespers on Saturday closed of itself. The veil before an image of the Virgin was seen to draw back in a similar way by St. John of God, whereupon the sacristan, taking the saint for a robber, struck him with his foot—but the foot was withered. All the servants of Mary, therefore, are accustomed to visit her images often with great devotion, and also the churches dedicated to her honor. These are indeed, as St. John Damascene teaches, like the cities of refuge, where we find safety from temptations and from the punishments merited by the sins we have committed. St. Henry, the Emperor, on entering a city, always visited, before anything else, some church of our Lady. Father Thomas Sanchez never returned home until he had visited some church of Mary. Let us not be weary, then, of visiting our Queen every day, in some church or chapel, or in our own house, where for this purpose it would be well to have, in some retired place, a little oratory with her image, adorned with drapery, flowers, tapers, or lamps; and before it the Litanies, the Rosary, and the like may also be said. For this purpose I have published a little book, which has already gone through eight editions, of Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament, as well as to the Virgin, for every day of the month. Some devout servant of Mary might have one of her feasts celebrated in some church or chapel, preceding it by a novena, with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and also with sermons.
But here it is well to note a fact which Father Spinelli relates in the Miracles of the Madonna. In the year 1611, in the celebrated sanctuary of Mary at Montevergine, it happened that on the vigil of Pentecost the people who thronged there profaned the feast with dancing, excess, and immodest conduct, when a fire was suddenly seen bursting forth from the house of entertainment where they were feasting, so that in less than an hour and a half it was consumed, and more than fifteen hundred persons were killed. Five who remained alive affirmed upon oath that they had seen the Mother of God herself, who with two lighted torches set fire to the inn. After this I entreat the servants of Mary to abstain, as far as they can, and to lead others to abstain, from going to such sanctuaries of our Lady at times of feasting; for hell then reaped much more fruit from it than the divine Mother received honor. Let him who practices this devotion go to visit them at a time when they are not thronged.
VI — The Scapular
As men take pride in having others wear their livery, so the most holy Mary is pleased when her servants wear her scapular, as a mark that they have dedicated themselves to her service and are of the number of the household of the Mother of God. Modern heretics, of course, ridicule this devotion; but holy Church has approved it by many bulls and indulgences. Father Crasset relates, and Father Lezzana also, in speaking of the scapular of Mount Carmel, that about the year 1251 the holy Virgin appeared to Blessed Simon Stock, an Englishman, and, giving him her scapular, told him that those who wore it should be saved from eternal damnation, in these words: Accipe, fili dilectissime, hoc tui ordinis scapulare… in quo quis moriens aeternum non patietur incendium—“Receive, my most beloved son, this scapular of your order, the badge of my confraternity, a privilege granted to you and to all the Carmelites: whoever wears it at death shall be delivered from the eternal flames.” And Father Crasset further relates that Mary appeared at another time to Pope John XXII, and directed him to declare to those who wore the scapular that they should be released from purgatory on the Saturday after their death. This the same Pontiff announced in his bull, which was afterward confirmed by Alexander V, Clement VII, and others, as the above-named Father Crasset relates in the passage cited. And, as we remarked in the first part, Paul V mentions the same, and seems to explain the bulls of the preceding Pontiffs, prescribing in his bull the conditions to be observed in order to gain the indulgences annexed, namely: the observance of chastity according to one’s state of life, the recitation of the Little Office of the Virgin, and, for him who cannot recite it, at least the observance of the fasts of the Church and abstinence from meat on Wednesday.
Thus the indulgences attached to this scapular of our Lady of Mount Carmel—as well as to the others, of the Sorrows of Mary, of Mary of Mercy, and particularly of the Conception—are innumerable, daily, and plenary, in life and at the hour of death. For myself, I have taken all the scapulars named above. And let it be particularly made known that, besides many individual indulgences, there are annexed to the scapular of the Immaculate Conception, which is blessed by the Theatine Fathers, all the indulgences granted to any religious order, pious place, or person; and particularly that, by reciting the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father six times in honor of the most holy Trinity and of the Immaculate Mary, are gained each time all the indulgences of Rome, the Portiuncula, Jerusalem, and Compostela, which reach the number of five hundred and thirty-three plenary indulgences, besides the temporal, which are innumerable. All this is transcribed from a sheet printed by the same Theatine Fathers.
VII — Entering the Confraternities of Mary
Some persons disapprove of confraternities, saying that they give rise to contention, and that many join them for human ends. But as the Church and the sacraments are not condemned because there are many who abuse them, neither should we condemn the confraternities. The sovereign Pontiffs, instead of condemning them, have approved and highly commended them, and enriched them with indulgences. St. Francis de Sales earnestly exhorts laymen to enter the confraternities. What did not St. Charles Borromeo do to establish and multiply these sodalities! And in his synods he expressly charges confessors to lead their penitents to join them. And with reason; for these confraternities, especially those of our Lady, are like so many arks of Noe, in which the poor people of the world may find refuge from the deluge of temptations and sins that floods them. In the course of our missions we have learned well how useful these confraternities are. As a rule, more sins are found in one man who does not belong to a confraternity than in twenty who frequent them. The confraternity may be said to be the tower of David: “The tower of David… a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armor of valiant men” (Cant. 4:4). And this is the cause of the good obtained from the confraternities: that their members acquire in them many defenses against hell, and make use of many means to preserve themselves in divine grace which it is very difficult for persons in the world, who are not in confraternities, to practice.
In the first place, one of the means of salvation is to meditate on the eternal truths: “Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin” (Ecclus. 7:40). And so many are lost because they do not think of it: “With desolation is all the land made desolate, because there is none that considereth in the heart” (Jer. 12:11). But those who belong to a confraternity are led to think by the many meditations, readings, and sermons made there: “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27). Secondly, in order to be saved it is necessary to commend oneself to God: “Ask, and you shall receive” (John 16:24). And the brothers of the confraternities do this continually; and God hears them the more graciously, because he himself has said that he will willingly grant great graces to prayers made in common: “If two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:19). On which St. Ambrose says: Many who are small, if they unite together, become great; and the prayers of the many cannot but be heard. In the third place, in the confraternity the sacraments are more frequently approached, both on account of the rules and on account of the example of the other members; and by this means perseverance in divine grace is more easily obtained, the holy Council of Trent having declared Communion to be “an antidote by which we are freed from daily sins and are preserved from mortal sins.” Fourthly, besides the sacraments, there are practiced in the sodalities many exercises of mortification, of humility, and of charity toward the sick and poor members; and it would be well if in every confraternity the holy custom were introduced of assisting the sick poor of the place. It would be a still greater advantage if there could be introduced into them, in honor of the divine Mother, the secret sodality of the more fervent members.
I will here enumerate the exercises usually practiced in these. First, half an hour of reading. Second, the Vespers and Compline of the Holy Spirit are said. Third, the Litanies of the Virgin are recited, and then some appointed brothers practice mortifications by bearing the cross upon their shoulders, or others of a like kind. Fourth, for a quarter of an hour a meditation is made on the Passion of Jesus Christ. Fifth, each one accuses himself of any breach of the rules of which he has been guilty, and receives a penance for it from the father of the congregation. Sixth, the little flowers of mortification made during the past week are read by one selected brother, and then the novenas to be said are announced. Finally, the discipline is taken for the space of a Miserere and a Salve, and everyone kisses the feet of the crucifix that stands at the foot of the altar. The rules, then, for each brother would be these: First, to make a meditation every day. Second, a visit to the most holy Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin. Third, in the evening, an examination of conscience. Fourth, spiritual reading. Fifth, to avoid games and worldly company. Sixth, to frequent Communion and practice some mortification of the chain, the discipline, and the like. Seventh, to commend daily to God the souls in purgatory and sinners. Eighth, if any brother is sick, to visit him.
But let us return to our subject. In the fifth place, it has already been said how much more sure is our salvation if we serve the Mother of God; and do not the brothers serve her in the congregation? How greatly do they praise her there! How many prayers do they offer to her! There, from the beginning, they consecrate themselves to her service, choosing her in a special manner for their Lady and Mother; and they are enrolled in the book of the children of Mary. Hence, being her distinguished servants and children, she treats them with distinction and protects them in life and in death. Thus a brother of the confraternity may say that, with the confraternity, he has received every blessing: “Now all good things came to me together with her” (Wisd. 7:11).
Every brother should pay particular attention to two things. First, as to his end: to enter the confraternity for no other end than to serve God and his holy Mother and to save his own soul. Second, not to forsake the congregation on the appointed days for the affairs of the world, since there the most important business in the world is to be transacted, namely, eternal salvation. Endeavor also to draw as many as you can into the confraternity, and especially to bring back those brothers who have left it. Oh, what terrible punishments has our Lord made those suffer who have abandoned the confraternity of our Lady! In Naples a certain brother left the congregation, and, being urged to return, said: “I will return when my legs are broken and my head cut off.” And he was a prophet; for very soon after, his legs were broken and his head was cut off by some of his enemies. On the other hand, the members who persevere are favored by Mary with spiritual and temporal good: “All her domestics are clothed with double garments” (Prov. 31:21). We may read in Father Auriemma the special graces granted by Mary to the brothers of the confraternity in life and in death, but especially in death. Father Crasset relates that in 1586 there was a youth who, being near death, fell asleep; but, afterward awaking, he said to his confessor: “O Father, I have been in great danger of hell, but my Lady has rescued me. The devils presented my sins before the tribunal of the Lord, and already they were dragging me to hell, when the holy Virgin came and said to them: ‘Where are you taking this youth? What have you to do with one of my servants, who has so long served me in the congregation?’ The devils fled, and so I was saved from their hands.” The same author relates, soon after, that another brother of the congregation, also at the point of death, had a great struggle with hell; but he conquered, and, full of joy, exclaimed: “Oh, what blessings come from serving the blessed Mother well in her confraternity!” And so, wholly consoled, he died. He adds, further, that the Duke of Popoli, being on his deathbed, said to his son: “My son, know that the little good I have done in life I owe to the congregation; and therefore I have no greater good to leave you than the confraternity of Mary. I am more proud of having been a brother of the congregation than Duke of Popoli.”
VIII — Alms in Honor of Mary
The servants of Mary are accustomed, especially on Saturday, to give alms in honor of the divine Mother. That holy shoemaker called St. Deusdedit—that is, “God has given”—as St. Gregory relates in his Dialogues, distributed to the poor on Saturday all that he had earned during the week. And another holy soul saw in a vision a sumptuous palace which God was preparing in heaven for this servant of Mary, in the building of which nothing was done except on Saturday. St. Gerard never refused anything that was asked of him in the name of Mary. Father Martin Gutierrez, of the Society of Jesus, did the same, and he confessed that he had never asked a favor of Mary without receiving it. And when this servant of hers had been slain by the Huguenots, the divine Mother appeared to his companions, attended by some virgins, whom she directed to wrap his body in a sheet and carry it away. St. Eberard of Salzburg practiced the same devotion, and on this account a holy monk saw him in the form of a child in the arms of Mary, who said: “This is my son Eberard, who never refused me anything.” Alexander of Hales practiced it likewise; and, being asked by a lay-brother of St. Francis, in the name of Mary, to become a Franciscan, he left the world and entered the order. Let not the servants of the Virgin, then, be weary of giving daily some little alms in her honor, and of increasing it every Saturday. And if they can do nothing else, let them at least, for love of Mary, perform some other act of charity, such as visiting the sick, or praying for sinners and for the souls in purgatory. Works of mercy are very pleasing to this Mother of mercy.
IX — Frequent Recourse to Mary
Of all devotions, none is so pleasing to our Mother as to have frequent recourse to her intercession, asking her help in all our special needs—in taking or giving counsel, in dangers, afflictions, and temptations, and particularly in temptations against purity. The divine Mother will certainly deliver us if we have recourse to her with the antiphon Sub tuum praesidium—“We fly to thy patronage,” or with a Hail Mary, or even by simply invoking the most holy name of Mary, which has particular power against the demons. Blessed Santes, a Franciscan, in a temptation against purity, had recourse to Mary, and she at once appeared to him and, laying her hand upon his breast, delivered him. It is useful to kiss or press the rosary, or the scapular, or even to look upon some image of the Virgin. And be it known that Benedict XIII granted fifty days’ indulgence to those who pronounce the names of Jesus and Mary.
X — The Tenth and Last Devotion
In this last devotion I gather together various practices in honor of Mary.
First, to celebrate, or have celebrated, or at least to hear Mass in honor of the holy Virgin. It is true that the holy sacrifice of the Mass can be offered only to God, to whom it is offered principally in acknowledgment of his supreme dominion; but, as the sacred Council of Trent declares, this does not prevent its being offered to God in thanksgiving for the graces bestowed on the saints and on his most holy Mother, and in commemoration of them, that they may deign to intercede for us. And therefore it is said in the Mass: Ut illis proficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem—“That it may avail to their honor, but to our salvation.” This offering of the Mass, as also the saying of three Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory be’s to the most holy Trinity in thanksgiving for the graces granted to Mary, she herself revealed to a soul to be very pleasing to her; for the Virgin, not being able fully to thank the Lord for all the favors bestowed on her, is pleased when her children help her to thank God.
Second, to reverence the saints most closely united to Mary, such as St. Joseph, St. Joachim, and St. Anne. The Virgin herself recommended to a nobleman the devotion to St. Anne, her mother. And we should also honor the saints who had the most special devotion to the divine Mother, such as St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist, St. Bernard, St. John Damascene, the defender of her images, St. Ildephonsus, the defender of her virginity, and the like.
Third, to read every day some book that treats of the glories of Mary; to preach, or at least to recommend to all—and particularly to one’s own relatives—devotion to the divine Mother. The Virgin one day said to St. Bridget: “Make your children my children.” And to pray daily for the living and the dead who were most devoted to Mary.
Let us here enumerate many other indulgences granted by the Pontiffs to those who in various ways honor this Queen of heaven. First, to those who say, “Blessed be the holy and immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” an indulgence of one hundred years is granted; and when after the word “immaculate” the word “most pure” is added, other indulgences are granted, according to Father Crasset, applicable to the souls in purgatory. Second, for the Salve Regina, forty days. Third, for the Litanies, two hundred days. Fourth, to those who bow the head at the names of Jesus and of Mary, twenty days. Fifth, to those who say five Our Fathers and Hail Marys in honor of the Passion of Jesus and the Sorrows of Mary, ten thousand years.
And for the convenience of devout souls, I will here mention other indulgences attached by the sovereign Pontiffs to other devotions. First, to him who hears Mass, three thousand eight hundred years. Second, Benedict XIII granted seven years’ indulgence to those who make the acts of the Christian, with the intention of receiving in life and in death the holy sacraments; and if these are continued for a month, a plenary indulgence, applicable to the souls in purgatory or to themselves at the hour of death. Third, to those who recite fifteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys for sinners, the remission of the third part of their sins. Fourth, Pope Benedict XIV has granted more indulgences to those who make mental prayer for half an hour every day, and a plenary one once a month, after confession and Communion. Fifth, to those who recite the prayer Anima Christi—“Soul of Christ,” three hundred days. Sixth, those who accompany the Viaticum obtain five years’ indulgence, and with lights, six years; and those who cannot do this, if they accompany it while reciting an Our Father and Hail Mary, one hundred days. Seventh, those who kneel before the most holy Sacrament gain two hundred days. Eighth, those who kiss the cross, one year and forty days; those who bow the head at the Glory be to the Father, thirty days. Ninth, to priests who before Mass recite Ego volo celebrare Missam—“I wish to celebrate Mass,” fifty days are granted. Tenth, to those who kiss the habit of a religious order, five years. Other indulgences may be found in the works of Father Viva. Let everyone, when seeking the indulgences named above, endeavor to make an act of contrition, that he may be in a state to gain them.
I omit other devotions, which are to be found in other books—such as the seven joys, the twelve privileges of Mary, and the like—and let us close this work with the beautiful words of St. Bernardine:
O woman, blessed among all women, you are the honor of the human race, the salvation of our people. Your merit is without limit, and you have entire power over all creatures. You are the Mother of God, the Lady of the world, the Queen of heaven. You are the dispenser of all graces, the glory of holy Church. You are the model of the just, the consolation of the saints, and the source of our salvation. You are the joy of paradise, the gate of heaven, the glory of God. Behold, we have published your praises. We beseech you, then, O Mother of mercy, to strengthen our weakness, to pardon our boldness, to accept our service, to bless our labors, and to impress your love upon the hearts of all, that, having honored and loved your Son on earth, we may praise and bless him eternally in heaven. Amen.