Dear Brothers and Sisters,
There are several versions of St. Louis De Montfort’s “Act of Consecration” in English, but the one I use today is taken from what many call the best English Translation from the original French, as St. Louis de Montort wrote it. This is taken from the translation of “True Devotion to Mary,” written by Frederick William Faber, Priest of the Oratory, on the Feast of the Presentation of our Blessed Lady, 1862:
“Who can receive this, let him receive it. Who is wise, he will understand these things.”
There are several versions of St. Louis De Montfort’s “Act of Consecration” in English, but the one I use today is taken from what many call the best English Translation from the original French, as St. Louis de Montort wrote it. This is taken from the translation of “True Devotion to Mary,” written by Frederick William Faber, Priest of the Oratory, on the Feast of the Presentation of our Blessed Lady, 1862:
Consecration of Ourselves to Jesus Christ, The Incarnate Wisdom, by the Hands of Mary
O Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom! Oh sweetest and most Adorable Jesus! True God and True Man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary always Virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the Virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine Incarnation.
I give Thee thanks that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, in taking the form of a slave, in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy Holy Mother, in all things in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But alas I ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises whcih I made so solemnly to thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy son, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare no more come by myself before Thy Most Holy and August Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee It is by her means that I hope to obtain of Thee, contrition, and the pardon of my sins, the acquisition and the preservation of wisdom. I salute thee, then, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden, and to be adored by Angels and by men. I hail thee, O Queen of heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God.
I salute thee, sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the divine Wisdom and for that end receive the vows and offerings which my lowness presents to thee. I, N.,-- a faithless sinner, – renew and ratify in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him then I have ever been before.
In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choos thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past present and future; leaving to you the entire and full right of disposing of me and all that belongs to me without exception, according to thy good good pleasure to the greatest glory, In time and in eternity.
Receive, O benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy Maternity, in homage to the power which both of you have over this little worm and miserable sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity hath favored thee, I protest that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.
O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He hath redeemed me by thee He may receive me, O Mother of Mercy, get me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God, and for that end put me in the number of those whom thou teachest, whom thou conductest, and whom thou nourishest and protectest, as thy children and slaves.
O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thy intercession, and by thy example to the fulness of His age on earth, and of His glory in the heavens. Amen.
I give Thee thanks that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, in taking the form of a slave, in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy Holy Mother, in all things in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But alas I ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises whcih I made so solemnly to thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy son, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare no more come by myself before Thy Most Holy and August Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee It is by her means that I hope to obtain of Thee, contrition, and the pardon of my sins, the acquisition and the preservation of wisdom. I salute thee, then, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden, and to be adored by Angels and by men. I hail thee, O Queen of heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God.
I salute thee, sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the divine Wisdom and for that end receive the vows and offerings which my lowness presents to thee. I, N.,-- a faithless sinner, – renew and ratify in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him then I have ever been before.
In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choos thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past present and future; leaving to you the entire and full right of disposing of me and all that belongs to me without exception, according to thy good good pleasure to the greatest glory, In time and in eternity.
Receive, O benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy Maternity, in homage to the power which both of you have over this little worm and miserable sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity hath favored thee, I protest that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.
O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He hath redeemed me by thee He may receive me, O Mother of Mercy, get me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God, and for that end put me in the number of those whom thou teachest, whom thou conductest, and whom thou nourishest and protectest, as thy children and slaves.
O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thy intercession, and by thy example to the fulness of His age on earth, and of His glory in the heavens. Amen.
“Who can receive this, let him receive it. Who is wise, he will understand these things.”
