According to Saint Louis de Montfort
In it, we entrust our entire being — body and soul, prayers and works, past and future — into the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that she may offer all of it, purified and perfected, to her Son. It is not a devotion added on top of the Faith, but a renewal of our baptismal promises at their deepest root, made through the surest and most direct path to Jesus Christ: His Mother.
Saint Louis de Montfort taught that Mary, who formed Christ within herself, is likewise best fitted to form Christ within us. Consecrating ourselves to her does not diminish our devotion to Jesus; it perfects it. As he wrote, our whole perfection consists in being conformed, united, and consecrated to Jesus Christ — and no one leads us there more surely than Mary.
Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673–1716) was a French missionary priest renowned for his tireless preaching among the poor and his profound love for the Blessed Virgin. In his classic work, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary — written in the early eighteenth century and rediscovered decades after his death — he set forth a complete spirituality of total consecration, rooted in Sacred Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers.
Pope Pius IX praised this devotion as among the finest expressions of love for Our Lady, and Saint Louis de Montfort was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 20, 1947. His method has since been embraced and echoed by many saints and popes, including Pope Saint John Paul II, whose papal motto, Totus Tuus — “totally yours” — was drawn directly from Montfort’s act of consecration.
For members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima, this devotion carries a particular urgency. At Fatima, Our Lady asked that the world be entrusted to her Immaculate Heart, and promised that through this consecration, souls would be drawn closer to her Son and her Immaculate Heart would ultimately triumph.
Total Consecration according to Saint Louis de Montfort gives that request a concrete, personal form. Rather than a single public act, it is a lasting gift of self, renewed throughout life, that binds the one who makes it to Mary as closely as a child is bound to a mother. In this way, it is the personal counterpart to the consecration Our Lady asked of the whole world — each of us, individually, hastening the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart.
The opening twelve days are spent examining and renouncing the spirit of the world wherever it has taken root in our lives, so that the heart is made ready to receive the spirit of Christ.
Daily prayer during this period typically includes the Veni Creator, the Ave Maris Stella, and the Magnificat, joined to Scripture and meditation.
The following week turns inward, asking us to see ourselves honestly — our weakness, our need for grace, and our total dependence on God’s mercy.
The Litany of the Holy Spirit is added to the daily prayers.
The third week is devoted to coming to know Mary — her virtues, her interior life, and her complete union with the will of God — most often through the daily Rosary and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
The final week turns to Jesus Christ Himself, culminating in Confession, the Holy Mass, and Holy Communion, so that the consecration is made by a soul freshly reconciled and united to her Lord.
Saint Louis de Montfort structured the preparation for consecration as a thirty-three day retreat of prayer and reflection, traditionally divided into four parts.
On the chosen day, the retreat concludes with the recitation of the formal Act of Consecration — the prayer in which we offer to Jesus, through Mary’s hands, all that we are and all that we have, asking to become faithful imitators of Mary and true children of God.
Many mark the day by wearing the Miraculous Medal or another sign of their consecration. Within our Confraternity, consecration and its annual renewal are anchored to the two great Fatima anniversaries: May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the anniversary of the first apparition at the Cova da Iria, and October 13, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun and Our Lady’s final apparition. Each thirty-three day preparation begins accordingly — on April 10 for a May 13 consecration, and on September 10 for an October 13 consecration.
The anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun and of Our Lady’s final apparition at Fatima.
Thirty-three days of prayer and reflection before the day itself.
The feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Its thirty-three days begin on April 10.
Twice each year, members of our Confraternity across the Philippines and the United States are invited to make — or renew — their Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, timed to the two great Fatima anniversaries. Preparation for the October 13 consecration begins September 10; preparation for a May 13 consecration begins April 10 of that year. In the coming weeks, we will share photographs from both chapters as our members complete their thirty-three days of preparation and unite themselves to Our Lady on the day of consecration itself.
Members commit to living out the message of Our Lady of Fatima and to offering penance for poor sinners. There is no fee.
