Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

Marian Consecration, often called Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, is one of the oldest and most treasured practices of Catholic spiritual life. To consecrate yourself to Mary is not to worship her or to place her above her Son. It is to entrust yourself entirely to Jesus by giving everything you have and are into the hands of his Mother, so that she may present it to him purified and made whole.

When a person makes this consecration, they hand over to Mary all their prayers, works, joys, and sufferings, past, present, and to come. They ask her to take these poor gifts, add to them the merits of her own perfect love, and offer them to Jesus. The result is a life lived under her maternal care, drawn ever closer to Christ.

What It Means to Consecrate Yourself

The word consecrate means to set apart for God. In this devotion you give yourself to Jesus in the most complete way possible, through the person who was closest to him on earth and remains closest to him in heaven. Mary, who carried Christ in her womb and stood beneath his Cross, becomes the channel through which your whole life flows back to God.

Saint Louis de Montfort described this handing over under four headings. You give Mary:

Your body, with all its senses and members, to be used for God.
Your soul, with all its faculties, memory, understanding, and will.
Your goods, both the spiritual merits you gain and the worldly things you hold.
Your inner value, the very worth of your good actions, so that Mary may use it for the glory of God as she sees fit.

Nothing is held back. This is why it is called total consecration. You trust that Mary, far from losing your gifts, will multiply their worth beyond anything you could achieve alone.

Saint Louis de Montfort and True Devotion to Mary

The classic teaching on Marian consecration comes from Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673 to 1716), a French priest and missionary. His book, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, was written in the early 1700s, lost for over a century, and rediscovered in 1842. Since then it has shaped countless souls, saints and ordinary believers alike.

His central conviction can be put in a single phrase: To Jesus through Mary. Montfort taught that Mary is the surest, the easiest, the shortest, and the most perfect way to reach Christ. Just as Jesus came to us through Mary at the Incarnation, so we return to him through her. She asks nothing for herself. Every grace she receives she pours out toward her Son.

His famous summary, Totus Tuus (Latin for "totally yours"), captures the heart of the devotion. To Mary the soul says: I am totally yours, and all that I have is yours. Take me and lead me to Jesus.

The 33-Day Preparation of Saint Louis de Montfort

Montfort did not want anyone to make this consecration lightly. He set out a period of preparation lasting thirty three days, one day for each year of Christ's earthly life. The preparation moves in four stages, each with its own focus, prayers, and readings:

Twelve preliminary days: a time to empty yourself of the spirit of the world, to renounce vanity, self love, and worldly attachments, and to make room in your heart for God.
Week one, knowledge of self: seven days spent examining your own weakness, sin, and need for a Saviour, growing in humility and honest self awareness.
Week two, knowledge of Mary: seven days meditating on the Blessed Virgin, her virtues, her role in salvation, and her tender care for her children.
Week three, knowledge of Jesus Christ: seven days turned toward Christ himself, the goal and end of the whole devotion, growing in love for the Lord to whom Mary leads us.
The day of consecration: the thirty fourth day, on which the Act of Consecration is made, ideally after Mass and Holy Communion, on a feast day of Our Lady.

Each day the person prays the Rosary, together with prayers such as the Litany of the Holy Spirit, the Ave Maris Stella, and the Litany of Loreto, and reads a short passage suited to that stage.

A Modern Path: 33 Days to Morning Glory

Montfort's original text can feel dense to modern readers. For that reason many people today prepare using 33 Days to Morning Glory by Father Michael Gaitley of the Marian Fathers. This popular retreat keeps the thirty three day structure but draws on four great teachers of Marian devotion: Saint Louis de Montfort, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and Saint John Paul II.

The reading is warm, simple, and easy to follow a little each day, which has made it a favourite for parish groups and first time consecrants. Whether you use Montfort's own book or a modern guide, the goal is the same: to arrive at the day of consecration having truly given your heart to Jesus through Mary.

Totus Tuus: The Motto of Saint John Paul II

No one did more to bring Montfort's teaching to the modern world than Pope Saint John Paul II. As a young man in Poland he read True Devotion to Mary and it changed the course of his spiritual life. When he became a bishop, he chose as his motto two words from Montfort: Totus Tuus, totally yours.

That motto stayed with him through his entire papacy, printed on his coat of arms and spoken from his heart. He credited Mary's protection with saving his life during the assassination attempt of 1981, and he entrusted the whole Church to her again and again. His example shows that this ancient devotion is not a relic of the past but a living path to holiness.

When to Make Your Consecration

By tradition the consecration is made on a feast of Our Lady, so that the great act of self giving is joined to the Church's own celebration of Mary. To finish the preparation on the feast, simply count back thirty three days and begin on that start date. Here are several of the most popular feasts, with the day the preparation begins:

Our Lady of Lourdes (11 February): begin on 9 January.
The Annunciation (25 March): begin on 20 February.
Our Lady of Fatima (13 May): begin on 10 April.
The Visitation (31 May): begin on 28 April.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary (Saturday after the Sacred Heart): count back thirty three days from the feast.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel (16 July): begin on 13 June.
The Assumption (15 August): begin on 13 July.
The Queenship of Mary (22 August): begin on 20 July.
The Nativity of Mary (8 September): begin on 6 August.
Our Lady of the Rosary (7 October): begin on 4 September.
The Immaculate Conception (8 December): begin on 5 November.
Our Lady of Guadalupe (12 December): begin on 9 November.

You may consecrate yourself on any of these feasts, and many people renew their consecration every year on the same date. Some choose the day that first drew them to Mary, such as the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Immaculate Conception.

The Act of Consecration

On the day of consecration the person prays an Act of Consecration, giving themselves to Jesus through Mary. The following prayer is in the spirit of Saint Louis de Montfort:

O eternal and incarnate Wisdom, O sweet and adorable Jesus, true God and true man, I adore you in the bosom and splendour of your Father in eternity, and in the virginal womb of Mary, your most worthy Mother.

I thank you for having emptied yourself in taking the form of a servant to set me free from the cruel bondage of sin. Unhappily I have failed to keep the vows and promises I made to you at my baptism. Today I wish to renew them into the hands of your holy Mother.

I, an unfaithful sinner, renew and ratify today, in your hands, O Immaculate Mary, the vows of my baptism. I renounce forever Satan, his empty promises, and his evil works, and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after him all the days of my life.

In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose you this day for my Mother and Queen. I deliver and consecrate to you, as your child and servant, my body and soul, my goods both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present, and future. I leave to you the entire and full right of disposing of me, and of all that belongs to me, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God.

Grant, O faithful Virgin Mary, that I may be your true child and servant, and lead me at last to the vision of Jesus in glory. Amen. Totus tuus, I am all yours.

Living the Consecration Through the Rosary

Consecration is not the end of a journey but the beginning of a way of life. Once you have given yourself to Jesus through Mary, you renew that gift day by day. No practice keeps the consecration alive more surely than the Rosary.

When you pray the Rosary you place your hand in Mary's and walk beside her through the life of her Son, from the Annunciation to the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection. Each Hail Mary is a small renewal of your Totus Tuus. If you are new to the practice, our guide on how to pray the Rosary will lead you step by step.

Many consecrated souls also grow in the parallel devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, offering their daily Rosary in reparation and in loving trust, exactly as Our Lady asked at Fatima.

The Fruits of Consecration

Saint Louis de Montfort promised that those who live this devotion faithfully would find it a straight and gentle road to holiness. The fruits are real and lasting:

A deeper knowledge of Jesus, for Mary always leads the soul to her Son and never keeps it for herself.
Greater humility, as you learn to depend not on your own strength but on the grace God gives through Mary.
Peace and confidence, knowing that your whole life is in the hands of a loving Mother.
Growth in the virtues, especially purity, obedience, and charity, shaped after the example of Our Lady.
A more fruitful prayer life, since every prayer and good work is offered through Mary and made pleasing to God.

The consecrated soul does not become less itself. It becomes more fully what God made it to be, held close to Christ through the Mother he gave us from the Cross.

Draw Closer to Jesus Through Mary

Deepen your devotion to Our Lady and make the Rosary the daily heartbeat of your consecrated life.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary How to Pray the Rosary