St. Louis de Montfort: The Trinity Only Gives Its Gifts through Mary

Let us recall here, as a proof of the dependence we ought to have on our Blessed Lady, what I have said above in bringing forward the example which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost give of this dependence.

The Father has not given, and does not give, His Son except by her; He has no children but by her, and communicates no graces but by her. God the Son has not been formed for the whole world in general except by her; and He is not daily formed and engendered except by her, in the union with the Holy Ghost; neither does He communicate His merits and His virtues except by her. The Holy Ghost has not formed Jesus Christ except by her; neither does He form the members of our Lord’s Mystical Body except by her; and through her alone does He dispense His favors and His gifts.

After so many and such pressing examples of the Most Holy Trinity, can we, without an extreme blindness, dispense ourselves from Mary, and not consecrate ourselves to her, and depend on her to go to God, and to sacrifice ourselves to God?

Here are some Latin passages of the Fathers, which I have chosen to prove what has just been said:

“Duo filii Mariae sunt, homo Deus et homo purus, unius corporaliter, et alterius spiritualiter Mater est Maria”
“Mary has two sons, the one a God-man, the other, mere man. She is Mother of the first corporally and of the second spiritually” (St. Bonaventure and Origen).

“Haec est voluntas Dei, qui totum nos voluit habere per Mariam, ac proinde si quid spei, si quid gratiae, si quid salutis, ab ea noverimus redundare”
“This is the will of God who willed that we should have all things through Mary. If then, we possess any hope or grace or gift of salvation, let us acknowledge that it comes to us through her” (St. Bernard).

“Omnia dona, virtutes gratiae ipsius Spiritus Sancti, quibus vult, et quando vult, quomodo vult, et quantum vult, per ipsius manus administrantur”
“All the gifts, graces, virtues of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the hands of Mary, to whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and in the measure she wills” (St. Bernardine).

“Quia indignus eras cui donaretur, datum est Mariae, ut per illam acciperes quidquid haberes”
“As you were not worthy that anything divine should be given to you, all graces were given to Mary so that you might receive through her all graces you would not otherwise receive” (St. Bernard).

God, says St. Bernard, seeing that we are unworthy to receive His graces immediately from His own hand, gives them to Mary, in order that we may have through her whatever He wills to give us; and He also finds His glory in receiving through the hands of Mary the gratitude, respect, and love, which we owe Him for His benefits. It is most just, then, that we should imitate this conduct of God, in order, as the same St. Bernard says: Ut eodem alveo ad largitorem gratice gratia redeat, quo fluxit – the grace should return to its Author by the same canal through which it came. .

This is precisely what our devotion does. We offer and consecrate all we are and all we have to the Blessed Virgin, in order that Our Lord may receive through her mediation the glory and the gratitude which we owe Him. We acknowledge ourselves unworthy and unfit to approach His Infinite Majesty by ourselves; and it is on this account that we avail ourselves of the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin.

True Devotion to Mary, trans. by Fr. F/ W. Faber,
London, 1863, Part II, II, nn. 140-142
Posted on January 17, 2026