Part 1

THE MONTH OF MARY.

THE

MONTH OF MARY,

ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT OF

_ST. FRANCIS OF SALES;_

OR,

Thirty-one Considerations

WITH

EXAMPLES, PRAYERS, ETC.

BY

DON CASPAR GILLI.

Translated and abridged from the Italian by a SISTER OF THE INSTITUTE OF CHARITY.

ROBERT WASHBOURNE, 18 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1890.

Nihil Obstat FR. T. A. SMITH, O.P. Censor deputatus

Imprimatur HENRICUS EDUARDUS, Card. Archep. Westmonast.

Die 14 Martii, 1890.

CONTENTS.

Author's Preface Protestation Preliminary Instruction The Eve of the Month of Mary: The Immaculate Conception Example: Devotion of St. Francis of Sales to the Blessed Virgin Mary First Day: Mary, a Model of Perfect Self-denial from her Birth Example: The Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception Second Day: Mary consecrates herself to God in the Temple Example: The two Invocations of St. Philip Neri Third Day: Continuation of the Preceding Subject Example: The Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Fourth Day: Fidelity of Mary in following the Call of God Example: Lamps and Candles burnt in Honour of Mary Fifth Day: Mary is a Model to Religious Persons in her Presentation in the Temple Example: The edifying Death of St. Jane Frances de Chantal Sixth Day: The Annunciation of the Most Holy Virgin Example: St. Bernard's Love for Mary Seventh Day: The Excellence of the Virginity of Mary Example: The Love of St. Alphonsus for Mary Eighth Day: The Visitation Example: The Pilgrimage of St. Francis of Sales to Loreto Ninth Day: The Charity of Mary in the Visitation Example: Consecration of the Saturday to Mary Tenth Day: By the Visit of Mary, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Ghost Example: Devotion of St. Thomas Aquinas to the 'Ave Maria' Eleventh Day: Humility of Mary Example: Origin of the Rosary Twelfth Day: Through the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist receives the most special Graces Example: Conversion of the celebrated Pianist, Hermann Cohenn Thirteenth Day: The Trials and Consolations of the Blessed Virgin Example: A Fortunate Mistake Fourteenth Day: Mary at Bethlehem Example: The Devotion of the Saints to the 'Angelus' Fifteenth Day: The Union of Charity and Humility in the Heart of Mary at the Incarnation Example: The Efficacy of the 'Salve Regina' Sixteenth Day: The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Example: Punishment of the Profaners of a Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Seventeenth Day: Mary, the Model of Perfect Obedience, in the Mystery of the Purification Example: A Conquest of the Blessed Virgin's Eighteenth Day: The Flight into Egypt.--Trust in Providence Example: The Excellence of the 'Hail Mary' Nineteenth Day: Mary, at the Marriage of Cana, teaches us the Best Method of Prayer Example: The Advantages of the 'Hail Mary' Twentieth Day: The Petition of Mary at the Marriage of Cana was full of Confidence Example: Further Advantages of the 'Hail Mary' Twenty-first Day: Mary obtains the first Miracle from Jesus by her lively Faith Example: Most pleasing to Our Blessed Lord is our Devotion to His Mother Twenty-second Day: Mary chose the Better Part Example: Beauty of the 'Ave Maris Stella' Twenty-third Day: The Blessed Virgin did not neglect the Duties of Martha Example: The 'Magnificat' Twenty-fourth Day: Mary in her Sleep Example: Devotion to the 'Salve Regina' Twenty-fifth Day: Mary on Calvary is the Mother of all Christians Example: The 'Regina Coeli' Twenty-sixth Day: Mary after the Ascension of Christ Example: A courageous Son of Mary Twenty-seventh Day: Mary in the Upper Room at Jerusalem Example: The Prayer 'Memorare' Twenty-eighth Day: How precious in the Sight of God was the Death of Mary Example: Letters addressed to the Most Holy Virgin Twenty-ninth Day: Mary, like Jesus, dies of Divine Love Example: The Fourteen Joys of the Most Holy Virgin Thirtieth Day: The Death of Mary was sweet and tranquil Example: Novenas in Honour of the Blessed Virgin Thirty-first Day: The Resurrection and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Example: The Novena of St. Gertrude to the Blessed Virgin Act of Consecration of St. Francis of Sales to the Most Holy Virgin

PREFACE.

OF the many who by their writings have laboured to celebrate the sublime prerogatives and virtues of the Mother of God, there is not one whose language is more adapted to the devotions of the month of Mary than St. Francis of Sales. Everything, says a pious author, in this admirable Saint enchants and fascinates us; whoever reads his writings attentively, feels constrained, not only to honour and venerate him, but also to love him. With him there is a peculiar grace to console, as well as to perfect, the soul. He adapts himself to the capacities of humble minds, whilst no one has more knowledge than he of the most exalted perfection.

The sweet mildness of this Saint sprang from the meekness of which his soul was full. It is a difficult task to preserve peace in the soul, and well he knew it, declaring that he 'lived in a continual fear of losing, in one quarter of an hour, all that meekness which he had acquired by twenty years of combat.' St. Bonaventure learnt all his science at the foot of the Crucifix, and it was there, also, that St. Francis acquired all his benignity, fighting for it, we may say, hand- to-hand against his natural impetuosity. This virtue by degrees penetrated the inmost parts of his soul, so that it was not only manifested in all the actions of his life, but it directed also his pen, and enabled him to make use of the most delicate comparisons and ingenious images. All that is sweet, and pure, and amiable in Nature-- doves, bees, flowers, all took hold of his imagination. From his lips, as well as from his pen, issued loving invitations to perfection. His singular privilege, however, is that this meekness and grace appear always fresh to the devout reader, and are ever pleasing, even when he lays open the festering wounds of the heart. The great Fenelon, whose spirit and heart so vividly retraced the holy Bishop of Geneva, thus wrote to a lady: 'The books most useful for you are those of St. Francis of Sales. Everything in them is amiable and consoling; everything is solid experience, simple practice, and the feeling and light of grace. _To have become accustomed to this kind of food is a mark of great perfection._' Bishop Parisis also says: 'Everything that can contribute to make this most amiable of Saints more known to the world, is of the greatest utility to the cause of religion.'

For this reason we have composed this little work. It is a sort of resume of the doctrine of St. Francis of Sales upon the prerogatives and virtues of the august Queen of Heaven, and we may gather a delicious bouquet for her month of May. Hence the devout reader will always meet with the genuine text of the Saint without any paraphrase, though not always in consecutive order. In each of the thirty-one considerations we have been obliged to discard those matters which did not relate to our subject. However, such suppressions only produce greater clearness in the whole work. We must say two words upon the manner in which this exercise can be rendered fruitful:

1. If you are not able to assist at the public services or devotions in honour of the Blessed Virgin in your own church, erect a little altar to Mary in your house, and adorn her picture, or statue, with flowers, and there, every day, either alone or with others of your household, meditate upon her virtues, and implore her powerful intercession.

2. It will be an excellent preparation to spend the last day of April in holy recollection, and to examine what is the principal passion that you will sacrifice to Mary during the course of the month, and the grace or virtue that you propose to obtain from God by recurring to her intercession. Do not fear to ask too much, she is the Mother of God, and our Mother also.

3. Read every day the appointed meditation, with tranquillity and recollection, that your soul may relish the subject, and apply what is read to its own necessities. After your lecture, follow this advice of St. Francis of Sales: 'When you have concluded your prayer, take a little walk and gather a small nosegay of devotion from the considerations you have made, that you may inhale its spiritual odour throughout the day.'

4. You should consider it a duty to approach the holy Sacraments more frequently than usual during the month, and never leave the Altar of Mary without having made a spiritual communion.

5. Let no day pass, or, at least, no Saturday, without practising some mortification, sanctified and directed by obedience. 'Our devotion, however small,' said St. John Berchmans, 'is always pleasing to Mary, provided it be constant.' But let us not forget that interior mortifications are the most perfect; such as to abstain from speaking or looking about without necessity, etc., because in such mortifications there is less danger of vainglory, and they attack our passions in the innermost depths of the heart.

6. Endeavour also to become familiar with ejaculatory prayers to Mary. 'This kind of prayer,' says St. Francis of Sales, 'may supply for every other kind, but no other kind of prayer can supply for this. Spiritual exercises without aspirations are like a firmament without stars, or a tree without leaves.'

7. The month should be concluded by an offering of the heart to Jesus and Mary, after Holy Communion. And that you may more securely persevere in the service of the best of all Mothers, let it be your care to renew your resolutions every Saturday, to examine in what manner you have kept them, and by a protestation of sorrow for past omissions, and a determination of greater fidelity for the future, to repair the failings of the week.

The sovereign Pontiff Pius VII. has granted to all who shall say some public or private prayers in honour of the most holy Virgin Mary during the course of the month of May, three hundred days Indulgence each day, and a Plenary Indulgence once in the month if, having confessed and Communicated, they pray for the holy Church.

The same sovereign Pontiff has granted to all the faithful who, with a contrite heart, shall recite the Litany of Loreto, three hundred days Indulgence each time. All these Indulgences are applicable to the souls in Purgatory.

PROTESTATION.

IN conformity with the decree of the sovereign Pontiff Urban VIII., I declare that I wish to give only a purely human authority to all the miraculous facts related in this work, excepting those that are confirmed by the decisions of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, to whose infallible judgment I intend to submit my person and my writings; nor shall I cease to declare myself her respectful son, believing all that she proposes to my belief, because she is the sole depositary here on earth of sound doctrine, of faith, and of catholic unity.

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTION.

Doctrine of St. Francis of Sales upon Devotion to Mary.

HOLY Church, speaking of the most Blessed Virgin, says that she went up from the desert of this world _flowing with delights, leaning upon her Beloved_. In fact, all the praises bestowed upon the Saints, and upon Mary in particular, terminate in Christ our Lord; because all these praises should be directed to the glory of her Divine Son, Who led her by His grace to the most exalted degree of merit and happiness.

It is related in Scripture that the Queen of Saba, taking a multitude of gifts to Jerusalem, offered them _all_ to Solomon. It is thus that all the Saints act--and the Mother of God especially. She is ever attentive to recognise that her virtues, her perfections, her merits, and her happiness proceed from the mercy of her Divine Son, Who is alone their source, their origin, and perfection: _Soli Deo honor et gloria_. All honour and glory to God alone; all should return to Him, because _from Him alone is every perfect gift_.

If Mary be holy, who is it that sanctified her but her Divine Son? If she be saved, who was her Saviour but Jesus Christ?--_Innixa super dilectum suum_. Her whole happiness has its foundation in the mercy of her Divine Son. She may be called a lily of purity and innocence. This lily has acquired all its purity by being washed in the Blood of the Immaculate Lamb. She is a rose, on account of the ardour of her love, and her rich vermilion can be nought else than the Blood of her Son. If she is likened to fumes of odoriferous sweetness, the fire which produces them is the charity of her Divine Son and the wood of the Cross; in a word, everywhere and in everything, Mary is leaning upon her Beloved. Behold, devout souls, how we ought to be jealous of the honour of Jesus Christ. Do not imitate the enemies of holy Church, who think that they honour the Son more perfectly by refusing all honour to the Mother. On the contrary, the worship of the Mother is referred to the Son, and thus exalts His glory and mercy all the more.

In order to show more clearly the purity of the worship which holy Church pays to the most Blessed Virgin, I will mention two contrary heresies, both equally injurious to the veneration deservedly due to Our Lady. One of these heresies sinned by excess; calling Mary _the Goddess of Heaven_, and offering sacrifices to her as such; the other sinned by default, condemning all honour paid to Our Lady. The Church, who walks in the royal road of moderation, in which virtue consists, condemned both these heresies, defining against the former that no sacrifice whatever could be offered to Mary, as she was a pure creature; and against the latter, that this holy Virgin, being Mother of God the Son, was worthy of special worship, infinitely less than that of her Son, but incomparably greater than that of all the other Saints. To the first, she says, that the Virgin is simply a creature, yet so holy, so perfect, so closely united to her Son, and so much loved by God, as to render it impossible to love the Son sincerely without loving and honouring the Mother. To the second, she says, sacrifice is the supreme worship of latria, due to the Creator alone, and the Blessed Virgin is simply a creature, although most excellent. Indeed, in speaking of Mary, I call her more the creature of God and of her Son than the rest of creation; because God created greater perfections in her than in all other creatures, and she had a greater share in the Redemption than all others, being rescued not only from sin but from the power and inclination to sin. And who does not know that it is a greater benefit to rescue a person from slavery before he is made a slave, than to deliver him after he has become captive! How far are we then from placing the Son and the Mother on an equality, as our adversaries falsely assert?

It is true that we call her beautiful, and the most beautiful amongst creatures; but she is beautiful _as the moon_, which receives its light from the sun; because all her glory is communicated to her by her Son. Pliny writes that the thorn, named _aspalathum_, is not naturally odoriferous, but that if the rainbow rests upon it, it quickly exhales a rare and sweet odour. The holy Virgin is a thorn of that burning bush which Moses saw and which was not consumed, as the Church says: '_Rubum quem viderat Moyses incombustum, conservatam agnovimus tuam laudabilem virginitatem_'. Of herself alone, she is certainly unworthy of our worship, for she is without odour. But when the great sign of reconciliation between God and men came and rested upon this holy thorn--first, by His grace in her Immaculate Conception, and afterwards at the Incarnation, when God became her Son, and reposed in her immaculate bosom--then, indeed, so great became the fragrance of this thorn that no other plant ever could produce before God so sweet and pleasing an odour. Nor will He ever reject the prayers that are perfumed in this fragrance. We repeat that all this perfume came to her from her Divine Son.

Jesus Christ is our Advocate, and so is Mary; but with what difference! In right of justice, the Saviour is alone our Advocate, because when He pleads our cause He justifies His petition by showing His Blood and His Cross. He does not hide our debts from His Father; but at the same time He urges the value of the price that He has laid down for our salvation. Mary and all the Saints exercise, also, the office of advocate in our favour; it is only by way of intercession. They entreat the Divine Justice to pardon our iniquities; but it is through the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ. In a word, they do not add their prayers to the prayers of the Saviour, but to ours; in order to help us to obtain the graces which are necessary for our eternal salvation.

THE MONTH OF MARY. --- THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

THE wonderful variety which is observable in the works of nature gives us a very high idea of the immeasurable riches of the Almighty Creator. And yet He manifests His power still more in the supernatural order, and the wonderful diversity of the works of grace preaches more loudly the munificence of His mercy. God, in the excess of His goodness, did not merely grant a general redemption to men, sufficient for the salvation of each one, but He diversified and multiplied the supernatural gifts which accompany this redemption with infinite liberality and wonderful variety. But His highest favours were lavished upon the most holy Virgin. From all eternity the Heavenly Father had ordained in His love to form her heart to the perfection of charity, that she might love His Divine Son with the most perfect maternal love--as He had loved Him from all eternity with the most perfect paternal love. The Son of God cast His eyes upon this Virgin, and chose her for His Mother, and co-operator in the great work of the world's redemption, a merciful Mother, a most powerful advocate of mankind--the most amiable, the most loving, and the most beloved of all creatures.

It is the opinion of many theologians that our Lord sanctified St. John the Baptist in the womb of St. Elizabeth, by a ray of His light and grace, and gave him the use of reason together with the gift of faith, so that he knew his God, hidden in the immaculate womb of Mary, adored Him, and consecrated himself to His service. If such a grace were granted by Our Lord to His precursor, who can doubt for a moment that He should have granted not only a similar, but a much greater privilege to her whom He Himself had chosen for His Mother, and that He should not only have sanctified her in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, but should have, moreover, raised her from the very first instant of her conception to a state of purity and sanctity?

The adorable Redeemer of the human race, the eternal object of the love of His Heavenly Father, considered His Mother from that first moment, as a delicious garden which was to produce the fruit of eternal life, and He cultivated this garden in order that every kind of perfection should flourish therein. He adorned her with the gold of charity and with a wondrous variety of virtues, that she might be able to sit at His side as a Queen--that is to say, occupy the first place amongst the elect, and, in this manner, enjoy the delights that are found at the right hand of the Eternal God.

This Divine Mother was redeemed, therefore, in a manner becoming the dignity of the Son, for Whom she was created. Hence she was preserved from reprobation and from all danger of it, because she was enriched with the perfection of grace and with everything necessary for its preservation. Well is she compared to a beautiful aurora, or dawn, which, from its very beginning, went on increasing until it reached its perfect day. O first-fruit of the Redemption! O masterpiece of the Redeemer! It is just, indeed, O my Divine Saviour, that as a Son full of love and devotion towards Thy Mother, in preventing her with the blessings of Heaven, Thou shouldest have preserved her, not only from sin like the Angels, but even from every danger of sinning, and shouldest, moreover, have removed from her path all that could hinder or even retard her in the exercise of Thy holy love. It was written in Thy eternal decrees that Thou wouldest at one day prefer her to all rational creatures who were dear to Thy Divine Heart, and that Thou wouldest call her _the beloved object of Thy predilection, Thy dove, Thy spotless and beautiful one, perfect beyond compare_.

A special privilege was reserved for Mary, worthy of a Son Who loved her with an infinite love, and Who, being infinitely good, wise and perfect, was to choose for Himself a Mother, and form her according to His own heart. He willed then that the grace of Redemption should be applied to her as a preservative remedy. Like the waters of the Jordan that, in the days of Josue, interrupted their course through respect for the Ark of the Covenant, so the stream of original corruption stayed its course at the feet of Mary, at the conception of this living tabernacle of the Eternal Covenant.

From the first instant of her conception, Mary knew her God, and loved Him sovereignly; from that moment she became impeccable, through the special assistance of the divine protection, and through the continual inflow of efficacious and preventing graces, to which she never offered the slightest resistance. God not only adorned her with the most abundant habitual grace, but He preserved it in her, keeping her always free from every evil inclination, every idle thought, and every feeling in the slightest degree contrary to the most perfect sanctity.

As to her body, we may believe it was endowed with singular perfections. St. Joachim and St. Anne received her from God through a particular, and we may say, even a miraculous grace, so that she was one of the most excellent works of the Holy Ghost, and breathed only sanctity and purity. This Queen loved, then, her virginal body, not only because it was docile, humble, pure and obedient to Divine Love, but still more because from it was formed the Body of her Saviour.

Truly has this holy Virgin been called _elect as the sun_, because as the sun shines resplendent above all the stars, through the excellence of its prerogatives, so there is no one amongst all the Saints who has obtained, or can ever obtain, graces superior to those bestowed upon Mary. There are Saints who have received signal graces from our Lord, and these, compared with the rest of the world, are like queens crowned with charity, and occupy a distinguished position in the love of our Divine Saviour. But His most blessed Mother is the Queen of all Queens, for she is not only crowned with charity, but with the perfection of charity, and to use an expression of the Holy Spirit, Who says that _the Son is the crown of the Father_; her crown is in truth her Son; that is to say, the sovereign object of charity, the Eternal Love, forms her crown.

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

How lovely is the rose! and yet it causes great sadness in my soul. It reminds me of my sin, on account of which the earth was condemned to produce thorns.--_St. Basil._

Mary, conceived without sin, is compared to the incorruptible cedar, the scent of which puts serpents to flight.--_St. Alphonsus Liguori._

How great will be our happiness in heaven, where we shall be able to contemplate Mary, to love her and be loved by her; for she alone forms a paradise of delights. Mary is truly, after God, all that is beautiful, sweet, glorious and amiable in that celestial realm; all is in Mary, all through Mary, all, in fine, is hers.--_St. Bonaventure._

Nothing is of greater service to our soul, nor more sustains and strengthens it, than the frequent thought of Mary.--_St. Teresa._

EXAMPLE.

_Devotion of St. Francis of Sales to the Blessed Virgin Mary._