Since October is the month of the Holy Rosary, I found it fitting again this week to focus on the main prayer of the Holy Rosary – the Hail Mary. But instead of going through the prayer line by line, which I have done in other blog posts that focus on the themes in the Hail Mary, today we will draw from one of the great saints of the Catholic Church, St. Louis De Montfort.

In his famous book, The Secret of the Rosary, St. Louis De Montfort explains the many different elements of the Holy Rosary. In Rose (chapters) 15, 16, 17, and 18, the saint explains thoroughly main prayer of the Rosary. The excerpts below come from these four chapters.

As always with my blog posts, I hope you share with them others, especially your family and friends as well as copy and paste this quotes to your social media sites in order that others may learn more about the beauty and truth of Jesus Christ, the Catholic faith and her traditions.

St. Louis De Montfort said…

“The Angelic Salutation is a most concise summary of all that Catholic theology teaches about the Blessed Virgin. It is divided into two parts, that of praise and petition: the first shows all that goes to make up Mary’s greatness and the second all that we need to ask her for and all that we may expect to receive through her goodness.”

“The new hymn is that which Christians sing in thanksgiving for the graces of the Incarnation and the Redemption. As these marvels were brought about the Angelic Salutation, so also do we repeat the same salutation to thank the Most Blessed Trinity for His immeasurable goodness to us.”

“When we praise and bless Our Lady by the saying the Angelic Salutation she always passes on these praises to Almighty God in the same way as she did when she was praised by Saint. Elizabeth. The latter blessed her in her most elevated dignity as Mother of God and Our Lady immediately returned these praises to God by her beautiful Magnificat.”

“The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer the more enlightened one’s intellect becomes, the more zealous his heart, and the stronger his armor against his spiritual enemies.”

“By each Hail Mary we give Our Lady the same honor that God gave her when He sent the Archangel Gabriel to greet her for Him. How could anyone possibly think that Jesus and Mary, who often do good to those that curse them, could ever curse those that bless and honor them by the Hail Mary?”

“The Hail Mary is a sharp and flaming shaft which, joined to the Word of God, gives the preacher the strength to pierce, move and convert the most hardened hearts even if he has little or no natural gift of preaching.”

“In each Hail Mary we bless both Jesus and Mary: ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is thy fruit of thy womb Jesus.’”

“If we make ourselves worthy of the greeting and blessings of Our Lady we shall certainly be filled with graces and a flood of spiritual consolations will come down into our souls.”

So as this month of the Holy Rosary continues, let us ask for the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of the Rosary to always intercede for us, bringing our prayers to Jesus Christ. Let us also ask for the prayers of St. Louis De Montfort who through divine wisdom and great spiritual insight loved the Blessed Virgin Mary and helped further the understanding of the Holy Rosary. Amen.