a year of prayer: 365 Rosaries

“Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray.
This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood.” (St. Louis de Montfort)

April 28 also commemorates the feast day of Saint Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), founder of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom, and prolific writer on the importance of devotion to Our Blessed Mother. Aptly called a “disciple of Mary,” Saint Louis de Montfort’s work, “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” remains a seminal text in devotion to Mary, and consecration to Jesus through her love and life.

Born poor, in the village of Montfort in Brittany, France, Louis exhibited a desire for the Lord from an early age, oftentimes spending hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Rather than take his family name, Saint Louis opted for “Grignion,” the place in which he was baptized. At age 12, he entered the Jesuit College of St. Thomas Becket at Rennes, where he studied for 8 years, prior to consecrating himself to the Lord, giving up his worldly possessions, vowing never to own anything of his own, and setting off on foot to Paris, to enter the priesthood. His studies in Paris proved him to be an intelligent and devout student, and he was ordained 7 years later in 1700.

Saint Louis de Montfort spent his next years, traveling across France on foot, evangelizing and preaching the true teachings and doctrine of the Church. At that time, many French Catholics did not fully understand Church teachings, and little was being done in the way of instruction. He wrote to his spiritual director, “Seeing the needs of the Church, I cannot help praying continually for a small society of poor priests who, under the protection of the Virgin Mary, will go from parish to parish, instructing the poor in the faith, relying solely on divine providence." Saint Louis envisioned a company of instructors, consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, who could travel and fill this spiritual need for the people—a vision he would realize years later.

In these early years of his priesthood, Saint Louis made many enemies and was asked to leave more than one parish! He had a tendency to directly oppose and condemn sinfulness and wrongdoing, and correct erroneous doctrine. His challenge to live a more holy life was one which many found difficult, but more found inspiring. However, the reaction of some began to wear on Saint Louis, and he began to doubt whether his true calling was in the work he was doing. For answers, he walked the nearly 1000 miles to Rome and had a personal audience with Pope Clement XI who assured him that his mission was in France.

For the next 10 years, Saint Louis lived fully and kept busy on his Apostolic Mission in Western France. He walked from parish to parish renewing the Catholic life of the people he encountered, preaching and instructing, providing for the poor, teaching catechism, organizing the building of shrines, renovating broken-down churches, and establishing schools.

Given his busy and strenuous life, his health suffered. He was frequently ill, and in 1716, following his preaching of a sermon on the kindness of Jesus, he was near death. Prior dying, Saint Louis kissed the crucifix and the little statue of our Lady which he held in his hands, exclaiming, "In vain do you attack me, I am between Jesus and Mary. I have finished my course: all is over. I shall sin no more.” Having fulfilled his mission, Saint Louis de Montfort died peacefully.

Saint Louis was buried in the church at Saint Laurent, where thousands visit on pilgrimage each year. The epitaph on his tomb reads:

You who pass this way, what do you see?
A light quenched,
A man consumed with the fire of charity,
Who became all things to all men,
Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort.


If you would know his life, there was none more holy;
If his penance, none more mortified;
If his zeal, none more ardent;
If his devotion to Mary, none more like Bernard.
A priest of Christ, he showed forth Christ in his actions,
and preached him everywhere in his words;
unwearied, he rested only in the grave.


A father to the poor,
protector of orphans,
reconciler of sinners,
his glorious death was the image of his life.
As he lived, so did he die.


During his life, Saint Louis encouraged the imitation of the Virgin Mary’s acceptance of God’s will in her life. He founded the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (for priests and brothers) and the Daughters of Wisdom, who cared especially for the sick. He encouraged the praying of the Holy Rosary, wrote the beautiful inspiration text, “The Secrets of the Rosary,” and inspired the common manner in which the Rosary is prayed today.

Saint Louis de Montfort lived a life dedicated to Our Lord, to His will, and to accepting that holy will in his life. To accomplish this, he looked to the “first disciple of Christ,” Our Blessed Virgin Mother, Mary. In promoting a systematic devotion and consecration to Our Holy Mother, Saint Louis de Montfort directed all thoughts, feelings, and actions back to Jesus, through the powerful intercession of Mary, through prayer and contemplation, through preaching, and through simple adoration. His written works remain today, guiding us toward true devotion and true union with the Lord.

Selected Quotations from Saint Louis de Montfort:

“Mary’s chief purpose is to unite us with Jesus Christ, her Son; and it is the most decided wish of her Son that we should come to him through his Blessed Mother.”

“Since the salvation of humanity began through the Hail Mary, the salvation of each individual is linked with this prayer… This same prayer, devoutly said, will cause the word of God to germinate in our souls, and to bear the fruit of life: Jesus Christ.”

"It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world."

“Mary is the fruitful Virgin, and in all the souls in which she comes to dwell she causes to flourish purity of heart and body, rightness of intention and abundance of good works. Do not imagine that Mary, the most fruitful of creatures who gave birth to a God, remains barren in a faithful soul. It will be she who makes the soul live incessantly for Jesus Christ, and will make Jesus live in the soul”

"Pray with great confidence, with confidence based on the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."

“We fasten our souls to Your hope, as to an abiding anchor. It is to Her that the saints who have saved themselves have been the most attached and have done their best to attach others, in order to persevere in virtue. Happy, then, a thousand times happy, are the Christians who are now fastened faithfully and entirely to Her, as to a firm anchor!”

"Mary alone gives to the unfortunate children of unfaithful Eve entry into that earthly paradise where they may walk pleasantly with God and be safely hidden from their enemies. There they can feed without fear of death on the delicious fruit of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They can drink copiously the heavenly waters of that beauteous fountain which gushes forth in such abundance."

"She [Mother Mary] is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say "Mary" she says 'God'."

"If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children."

“My contention is that you must first discover Mary if you would obtain this grace from God. Mary alone found grace with God for herself and for every individual person. No patriarch nor prophet nor any other holy person of the Old Law could manage to find this grace. It was Mary who gave existence and life to the Author of all grace, and because of this she is called the “Mother of Grace.”


As Saint Bernard says, “The will of God is manifested to her in Jesus and with Jesus.” God chose her to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all His graces, so that all His gifts and graces pass through her hands. According to Saint Bernardine, “She gives the graces of the eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to whom she wills.”


Since Mary produced the Head of the elect, Jesus Christ, she must also produce the members of that Head. If anyone, then, wishes to become a member of Jesus Christ, and consequently be filled with grace and truth, he must be formed in Mary through the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses with a fullness enabling her to communicate it abundantly to true members of Jesus Christ, her true children.”