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As in several threads lately the topic of devotion to the Blessed Mother has come up I thought I’d write what a false devotee would be, according to St. Louis de Montfort (True Devotion to Mary pg 41-46).
"There are, I find, seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Mary. I class the devotees as critical, scrupulous, exterior, presumptuous, inconstant, hypocritical, and interested.
The critical are usually proud scholars, people of independent and self satisfied minds…They discredit all miracles, and all stories of the Virgin’s power…
Scrupulous false devotees are those who imagine they are dishonoring Mary’s Son by honoring Mary. They fear they may belittle the One by exalting the other. They cannot stand that men should praise the Mother of God as the great saints have praised her. They rant and rave when they see more people kneeling before the Virgin’s altar than before the Blessed Sacrament-as if one were opposed to the other, and as if those who pray to Mary do not pray to Jesus through her.
These people do not want their friends to talk so much about the Queen of Heaven, nor to address her so often. “Why so many Rosaries?”, they ask. “Why so many Marian confraternities and exterior devotions? This is ignorance. It is making a mummery of religion. Let’s have the real thing. Let’s have devotion to Jesus Christ.” They name the Lord without taking off their hats, or bending their heads. “Let’s preach Jesus, nothing else. That is a solid devotion. Jesus is our only Mediator.”
What they say about Jesus is true; but in the way they apply it to prevent devotion to the Mother of Jesus-using it as a pretense of fostering a greater good-one finds a cunning snare set by the devil…
Exterior false devotees are those for whom Marian devotion consists only in outward show. They relish this sort of thing because they have no interior spirit. They will say many Rosaries-hastily. They will hear several Masses in a morning without attention. They will march in processions, without fervor. They will enroll themselves in all Mary’s confraternities, without reforming their lives, stifling their passions or imitating Mary’s virtues…
Presumptuous false devotees are sinners abandoned to their vices…With semblance of devotion to her they conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, profanity, gossip, and all sorts of injustices…Aren’t they devoted to Mary? They think they are. So God will forgive them. They think He will. They not die without the Sacraments. They think they won’t. They will not be damned. They think they won’t. Don’t they say the Rosary, when they think of it? Don’t they fast, sometimes, on Saturdays? Don’t they belong to a Marian confraternity?..Nothing in Christianity is more abominable than this presumption. It is satanic…
Inconstant false devotees are those who are devout to Our Lady at intervals, and according to their own whims…
Hypocritical false devotees seek to hide their ugliness of soul from the eyes of others by flying the banner of the Virgin most pure.
And interested false devotees are more devoted to themselves than to the Lady whose name they invoke. They want something from her…"
"There are, I find, seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to Mary. I class the devotees as critical, scrupulous, exterior, presumptuous, inconstant, hypocritical, and interested.
The critical are usually proud scholars, people of independent and self satisfied minds…They discredit all miracles, and all stories of the Virgin’s power…
Scrupulous false devotees are those who imagine they are dishonoring Mary’s Son by honoring Mary. They fear they may belittle the One by exalting the other. They cannot stand that men should praise the Mother of God as the great saints have praised her. They rant and rave when they see more people kneeling before the Virgin’s altar than before the Blessed Sacrament-as if one were opposed to the other, and as if those who pray to Mary do not pray to Jesus through her.
These people do not want their friends to talk so much about the Queen of Heaven, nor to address her so often. “Why so many Rosaries?”, they ask. “Why so many Marian confraternities and exterior devotions? This is ignorance. It is making a mummery of religion. Let’s have the real thing. Let’s have devotion to Jesus Christ.” They name the Lord without taking off their hats, or bending their heads. “Let’s preach Jesus, nothing else. That is a solid devotion. Jesus is our only Mediator.”
What they say about Jesus is true; but in the way they apply it to prevent devotion to the Mother of Jesus-using it as a pretense of fostering a greater good-one finds a cunning snare set by the devil…
Exterior false devotees are those for whom Marian devotion consists only in outward show. They relish this sort of thing because they have no interior spirit. They will say many Rosaries-hastily. They will hear several Masses in a morning without attention. They will march in processions, without fervor. They will enroll themselves in all Mary’s confraternities, without reforming their lives, stifling their passions or imitating Mary’s virtues…
Presumptuous false devotees are sinners abandoned to their vices…With semblance of devotion to her they conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, profanity, gossip, and all sorts of injustices…Aren’t they devoted to Mary? They think they are. So God will forgive them. They think He will. They not die without the Sacraments. They think they won’t. They will not be damned. They think they won’t. Don’t they say the Rosary, when they think of it? Don’t they fast, sometimes, on Saturdays? Don’t they belong to a Marian confraternity?..Nothing in Christianity is more abominable than this presumption. It is satanic…
Inconstant false devotees are those who are devout to Our Lady at intervals, and according to their own whims…
Hypocritical false devotees seek to hide their ugliness of soul from the eyes of others by flying the banner of the Virgin most pure.
And interested false devotees are more devoted to themselves than to the Lady whose name they invoke. They want something from her…"
