Finis St. Louis de Montfort

I finally finished True Devotion Consecration to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort.  Actually the book is a compilation of de Montfort's writings: The Love of Eternal Wisdom, The Secret of the Rosary, The Secret of Mary, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, and the True Devotion Consecration.  These were all arranged by Fr. Helmuts Libietis.

It took me five weeks to finish.  I committed myself to make this consecration and I did, and will.  I finished the book, but I'm not officially putting myself in front of the Tabernacle and making the consecration, until January 28th -- the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Aquinas is a Dominican, as am I, and we Dominicans have Our Lady as our special patron.  So I thought the feast of the Angelic Doctor would be a good day to consecrate myself to her.

That being said, I hated this book.  It is so outdated as to be useless.  One would be committed to a mental institution nowadays if their thought process was aligned with the theme of this book.  Good grief, how many times did I have to tell myself that I was less than excrement and should wear chains as a sign of being a slave to Jesus and Mary?

Another thing that surprised me and led me to dislike Fr. Libietis' compilation.  Nowhere in the book, does Libietis mention that St. Louis de Montfort was a Third Order Dominican. That's a gross and grievous error.  In fact, if you didn't know that St. Louis de Montfort is listed in the Dominican Litany of Saints, you would have thought he was a Third Order Carmelite!  I kept checking to see if Libietis was a Carmelite, because he kept mentioning that Order. How could he ever omit that Louis de Montfort is a famous Dominican saint!

There is also a huge emphasis on the Brown Scapular.  A Dominican would point out the fact that wearing

the Brown Scapular, worthy devotion as it is, is no rabbit's foot!  It is not your ticket through heaven's gate.
Besides, St. Louis de Montfort would have also worn the Dominican scapular that Our Lady gave to St. Dominic.  In fact, the Dominican scapular is the only part of the habit, that is blessed, because it comes from Our Lady, herself.  Why would Fr. Libietis omit this?

I am thankful that in spite of  my criticism of the book, it did bring me closer to Mary.  For that I am grateful.  Also, it has inspired me to write my own consecration to Mary.  I'm in the process, with St. Louis de Montfort's guidance, to write a consecration for us who live in the 21st century. Watch for it.  It will be posted during the 40 days of Lent.

To Jesus through Mary.