St. Louis de Montfort - Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary: The 33 Day Method of Prayer & Meditation According to St. Louis de Montfort

The 33 Day Method of Prayer & Meditation
According to St. Louis de Montfort

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary
The 33 Day Method of Prayer & Meditation According to St. Louis de Montfort

Copyright 2019 TAN Books.

This compilation derived from the TAN Classic Edition of True Devotion to Mary, copyright 1941 by the Fathers of the Company of Mary. Retypeset in 2019 by TAN Books. The Consecration Prayer, Daily Consecration Prayers, etc. derived from public domain sources. Calendar of Marian Feasts and prayers for the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary were created by TAN books for use in this manual. All rights reserved.

Interior Images: Pieta, 1876 (oil on canvas), Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1825-1905) / Private Collection / Photo Christies Images / Bridgeman Images. Christ taking Leave of his Mother (engraving), English School, (19th century) / Private Collection / Look and Learn / Illustrated Papers Collection / Bridgeman Images. The Madonna in Sorrow (oil on canvas), Sassoferrato, Il (Giovanni Battista Salvi) (1609-85) / Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy / Bridgeman Images. Madonna of the Book (Tempera and oil on wood panel) c. 1480-81, Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi) (1444/5-1510) / Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, Italy / Bridgeman Images

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in articles and critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the editors use of the Douay-Rheims Version for biblical quotations has been retained. Typography and changes in this edition are the property of TAN Books and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher.

Cover & interior design by www.davidferrisdesign.com.

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1298-6

Published in the United States of America

TAN Books
PO Box 410487
Charlotte, NC 28241
www.TANBooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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NAME

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MARIAN FEAST DAY

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CONSECRATION DATE

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PARISH NAME

The source for this new edition of Total Consecration is the TAN Classic edition of True Devotion to Mary translated in 1864 by Fr. Faber. It proposes 4 periods of prayer and meditation that guide the reader through Renunciation of the World, Knowledge of Self, of the Blessed Virgin, and of Our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Louis de Montforts method of preparation for total consecration is intended to be completed in 33 days.

Various manuals for Total Consecration over the years have been produced following different systems and arrangements, and incorporating the meditations in one way or another. None of them make use of all the material, and for good reason, it is too much for a person in the world, busy with so many duties and responsibilities on every side, to accomplish.

Therefore, we have produced Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary to bring this life-changing devotion into one manual for the modern reader. This new edition guides the reader through three sets of readings from the sources found in the original.

The first is from the Douay Rheims version of the bible, edited only to update archaic language and nothing more. The second is from the Imitation of Christ, as it is found in the Fr. Faber version of Total Consecration. This has also been edited to be more amenable to modern English. The third is from de Montforts own True Devotion, which has also been lightly edited in terms of sentence structure.

The readings have been selected to conform to the themes of each period. Then, we have added daily prayers from the treasury of the Church and the Saints, and spiritual exercises for each period which in the original are left only as a suggestion. The method of Total Consecration and a list of Marian feast days are to be found in the back of the book as an appendix.

We have selected all the material so that each days meditation and prayer may be completed in 45 minutes to an hour but one may choose exactly how to structure the devotion to their needs. If the reader finds the meditations to be too daunting, it is not necessary to do each of them. The readings are structured such that one can tailor the preparation to their own needs as well.

The preparations for Total Consecration found in this book should not be seen as a set of rules that must be followed, but rather, a plan and model that one can adopt as needed to attain the very goal of St. Louis de Montforts teaching, the slavery of holy love to Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin Mary, His perfect creation.

PREPARATION FOR
CONSECRATION TO JESUS
THROUGH MARY

S t. Louis de Montfort advises us to prepare for the consecration by exercises which certainly are not compulsory, but which assure its great efficacy because of the purity and other dispositions which they tend to develop in our souls.

Two different periods are assigned for these exercises: a preliminary period of twelve days during which we endeavor to free ourselves from the spirit of the world; and a second period of three weeks: the first devoted to the knowledge of ourselves, the second to that of the Blessed Virgin and the third to that of Jesus Christ.

These periods mentioned by St. Louis de Montfort do not constitute a rigorous and unchangeable division. According to circumstances, they may be lengthened or shortened. The faithful often take but three days to prepare for the annual renewal of their consecration.

The object of this consecration is to cast off the spirit of the world, which is contrary to that of Jesus Christ, in order to acquire fully the spirit of Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin. Hence the practices suggested by St. Louis de Montfort: renunciation of the world, knowledge of self, of the Blessed Virgin and of Jesus Christ.

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