15 Days of Prayer With Saint Louis De Montfort
Veronique Pinardon
Jean Bulteau
Victoria Hébert (Translator)
Denis Sabourin (Translator)
ISBN 9780764807152
ISBN 0764807153
Last year I stumbled upon a different volume in this series, 15 Days of Prayer with Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati by Père Charles Desjobert, OP, and really enjoyed it. I did some research on the series and this was the tenth volume I have work and prayer through. In my research to date there have been at least 40 volumes in this series. Many written in French and then translated, including this volume, this book was first published in French in 1996, the English edition appeared 2001. There does not appear to have ever been an eBook edition of this volume.
I believe as of the writing of this review there have been 40 volumes in the series; the earliest I found was from 1999 through to a volume which was published in 2025. The earlier editions were published by Liguori, but they have now moved to New City Press which is now part of Focolare Media. Only about a dozen seem to be in print currently and of those only a handful appears to have eBooks. With my dual form of dyslexia this is disappointing. I greatly prefer eBooks so I can change the font, and the colour of font and page to make reading easier. I have added all the eBook editions I could find to my wish list. And have been tracking down older out of print editions like this one and scanning them to read them. About the Series we are informed:
“15 Days of Prayer Series
On a journey, it’s good to have a guide. Even great saints took spiritual directors or confessors with them on their itineraries toward sanctity. Now you can be guided by the most influential spiritual figures of all time. The 15 Days of Prayer series introduces their deepest and most personal thoughts.
This popular series is perfect if you are looking for a gift, or if you want to be introduced to a particular guide and his or her spirituality. Each volume contains:
• A brief biography of the saint or spiritual leader
• A guide to creating a format for prayer or retreat
• Fifteen meditation sessions with reflection guides”
The description of this specific volume states:
“15 Days of Prayer Collection Now distributed by New City Press, this popular series is perfect for those looking for an introduction to a particular spiritual guide, those searching for gift ideas and those who merely wish to know more about the person and his or her spirituality. Additional volume planned in 2 to 3 months intervals. Each volume contains A brief biography of the saint or spiritual leader introduced in that volume A guide to creating a format for prayer and retreat 15 meditation sessions with focus points and reflection guides Follow in the footsteps of Saint Louis de Montfort A childlike devotion to the Mother of God marked Louiss life from the start. At confirmation he took the name Mary. Studying with the Jesuits at Rennes, and then at the Sorbonne and SaintSulpice, Louis became familiar with the French school of spirituality and as he himself declared, read nearly all of the books dealing with devotion to Our Lady. Seek Christ through Mary In the brief 16 years of his priesthood, Saint Louis de Montfort fulfilled a career of founder, missionary and prolific writer. Two years after ordination he organized the nursing and teaching congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom and in 1705 founded his missionary congregation of men, the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (Montfort Fathers). Throughout his life, Louis stressed that a tender devotion to Mary is the greatest secret of achieving union with Christ. It is Mary, Louis emphasized, who intercedes on our behalf when we pray, for just as Jesus passed through Mary in his Incarnation, all graces and Gods gifts pass through her hands. Enjoy your time with Saint Louis de Montfort as you journey with one of the most engaging spiritual figures of all time.”
The back of the volume states:
“Follow in the footsteps of Saint Louis de Montfort
A childlike devotion to the Mother of God marked Louis's life from the start. At confirmation he took the name Mary. Studying with the Jesuits at Rennes, and then at the Sorbonne and Saint-Sulpice, Louis became familiar with the French school of spirituality and, as he himself declared, read nearly all of the books dealing with devotion to Our Lady.
Seek Christ through Mary
In the brief 16 years of his priesthood, Saint Louis de Montfort fulfilled a career of founder, missionary, and prolific writer. Two years after ordination he organized the nursing and teaching congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom and in 1705 founded his missionary congregation of men, the Missionaries of the Company of Mary (Montfort Fathers). Throughout his life, Louis stressed that a tender devotion to Mary is the greatest secret of achieving union with Christ. It is Mary, Louis emphasized, who intercedes on our behalf when we pray, for just as Jesus passed through Mary in his Incarnation, all graces and God's gifts pass through her hands.
Enjoy your time with Saint Louis de Montfort as you journey with one of the most engaging spiritual figures of all time.”
About the authors on the back cover we are informed that:
“Veronique Pinardon is a member of the congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom. She spent ten years in the hospital chaplaincy at Angers and now is involved in pastoral work in the health field.”
and
“Jean Bulteau formerly was superior general of the Brothers of Saint Gabriel. He gives retreats focusing on Louis de Montfort's spirituality.”
The chapters in this volume are:
How to Use This Book
Brief Chronology of Saint Louis de Montfort's Life xv
Introduction xxi
Abbreviations Used in This Book
1. Day One— I Have a Father Who Is Infallible
2. Day Two — Come to Me, I Want to Make You Happy
3. Day Three — Jesus Christ, Eternal Wisdom and Born of Mary
4. Day Four — The New Wine of the Holy Spirit
5. Day Five — Everything Comes Through Prayer
6. Day Six — The Authority of the Word of the Holy Spirit
7. Day Seven — To Jesus Through Mary
8. Day Eight — The Irrevocable Gift of Our Heart
9. Day Nine — To Give Everything to Mary, to Lose Oneself in Her
10. Day Ten — I Thank God a Thousand Times for Passing As a Poor Person
11. Day Eleven — The Loving Invention of the Eucharist
12. Day Twelve — To Make Our Lord Loved
13. Day Thirteen — To Give Us Proof of His Love, Wisdom Chose the Cross
14. Day Fourteen — Students of a Crucified God
15. Day Fifteen — The Rose Is the Queen of All Flowers, the Rosary Is the Rose of All Devotions
Bibliography
I highlighted a number of passages while reading this volume some of them are:
“Louis Marie was sent to Rennes (the capital of Brittany) to enroll in the Jesuit college there. His uncle, a priest, became one of his closest friends. Louis Marie was considered to be intelligent, studious, deeply religious, shy, as well as artistic.”
“Louis Marie was ordained and celebrated his first Mass in the parish Church of Saint Sulpice on June 5, 1 700 (his ministry would last a mere sixteen years).”
“He decided to go to see the pope to ask for answers to his queries; to be able to go and be a missionary. He set out on foot from Poitiers, begging food and shelter on his way to the Holy City. Once he reached St. Peter's Basilica, he removed his sandals and immediately went to Peter's tomb.”
“It is said that Louis Marie's greatest contribution to the Church are his writings and teachings about total self-consecration to Mary. This, for Louis Marie, was a way in which a believer could renew and fulfill his baptismal promises.”
“Louis Marie is a master because of the quality of his teaching and the originality of the spiritual path that he proposes. He is a witness by means of the holiness of his life and the fruitfulness of his actions. At the same time both a mystic and a missionary, he knew to allow himself to be "molded" by Mary in order to become a living part of Jesus Christ, all the while teaching others to do the same.”
“Louis Marie always gave Jesus Christ preference. Throughout his entire life, he sought to know him. Having found him, he still sought him. He loved him above all else in the world and gave of himself without regard in order to make him known and loved. His preaching and writings map out a path of a characteristically Christian life.”
“We propose to present to you one of these "facets" of the unique gem that is Jesus Christ, in and through whom is made manifest both the Father and the Holy Spirit.”
“Complete trust in God's will: that is the spiritual outlook Louis de Montfort took early in his life. When events in his life were good, or when they seemed not to be going his way, Louis abandoned himself to God's plan.”
“The death of his benefactor did not seem to bother him in the least: he abandoned himself to God and his divine providence.”
“Louis Marie's motto, "God alone," was not just a passing phrase written on a piece of paper. It was a conviction of faith, the source and expression of his vital relationship and constant attitude towards God.”
“Modern man, even a Christian, is less inclined to defer to God in all things, to see an active presence of the heavenly Father in his life.”
“Father, you are only love, you love me immensely, you can't go on without me. Your nature is to give, to give of yourself. You give eternally of yourself to your Son, and, through him, to each human. Your plan, as the Father, is to transmit your life to your children, to make each of them, freely, an heir to your happiness.”
“The constant flow from the Father is not an invitation to laziness. God needs the responsible commitment of man after having made him a partner in creation.”
“The Lord is always calling us, calling us to a deeper union with him. Louis Marie recognized this in his own life, and always sought to draw closer and closer to God.”
“The Incarnation, the consequence of Mary's faith and her unconditional reply to God through love, plainly reveals Mary's vocation to us, her place in God's plan: Mary had no other reason for being than Jesus, in him and in his members.”
“Louis Marie makes us notice the discretion of the interventions by Wisdom which reaches from one extremity to another with strength and disposes of everything with gentleness. His action is gentle, without any violence (see ASE 53). It is an invitation for us to put ourselves into the hands of Wisdom, to let ourselves be led by his Spirit. It assures us that Wisdom works in us, unbeknownst to us, often in a way that is so secret we don't even know it.”
“In what ways do I welcome the Holy Spirit into my life? How am I fostering a devotion to Mary?”
“For Louis Marie, there was a cyclical relationship between prayer and desire for Wisdom (God). Each one feeds off of the other, so the more a person prays, the more one desires Wisdom, and the more a person desires Wisdom, the more one prays.”
“Prayer must be a constant in a person's life; one must never be discouraged in their spiritual life to the degree that they cease praying. It is especially during the dry spells in our spiritual life that we must pray with the most vigor.”
“Dry periods in one's prayer life are wonderful opportunities to grow in love with God; perseverance in one's practice of prayer is necessary during these times. Might I pray for God's grace that I persevere through difficult periods in my prayer life?”
“Years of study and meditation had prepared the author for this text. But these pages also reflect his life, suffering, prayer, and his meeting with Wisdom.”
“Let us pray to Eternal Wisdom. May we learn to "speak well" so that we may inspire others with his love.”
“The acquisition of God's holiness is your vocation; it is to there that your thoughts, words, actions, suffering, and all the movements of your life must be aimed; or you resist God by not doing what you have been created to do.”
“The saints did not go beyond their humanity. They assumed it, anchored in the realities of their lives, trying to fulfill it bountifully and by identifying themselves more closely to Christ, the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom.”
“When we give ourselves totally to Mary, we accept her as our Mother in order to receive from God, through her, the life as "adoptive children"; it is to make the gift from God become "effective" by welcoming it; therefore glorifying God in the most sure manner: "You never praise nor honor Mary without her praising and honouring God with you.”
“Then, we live in Mary, as in a divine milieu and she is at home within us. "Here is only what we can believe / I carry her in the middle of myself / Engraved with traits of glory / Even through the obscurity of faith...! do everything in and through her / That is the secret for holiness / To always be faithful to God / To always do his will in all things" (C 77, 15 and 19).”
“Do I, like Mary, seek to clear a space in my own life so that God may take his rightful place inside me?”
“Do I attempt to shape my obedience to God according to the model given by the Blessed Virgin? Do I accept Mary as my guide in faith? Do I seek to build my faith life in the manner she lived, with the spiritual abandonment she lived so that the Lord might fill me with his grace and divine will?”
“All of this was not improvised. It was the fruit of a profound interior life, of a contemplation of Christ in his Incarnation. He was overcome with divine Wisdom who made himself a poor person by assuming the human condition, and he wanted to reproduce this poverty in his life.”
“To pray with Louis Marie is to unite oneself with his search for Wisdom. There, our gaze will see beyond indifference and our compassion will take the shape of effective service. God, Father of the poor, give us the divine Wisdom that comes from you.”
“We can also ask ourselves about what recognition we give to the poor and how we can make their plight reach our hearts. May the Poor One reach our hearts and inspire our prayers.”
“Eternal Wisdom, in order to get close to man and give tangible witness to his love, went so far as to become a man, become a child, become poor, and die for us all on the cross....”
“In order to know him, we must seek him. Let us be reminded that it is from the side of what is humble, without flash.... Let us ask him to help us turn to the poor.”
“His vocation had its roots between two things he loved which mutually called to him: the love of Eternal Wisdom and love for the poor.”
“Louis Marie asks us to expose ourselves to the light of Wisdom, let his rays shine on us in prayer, listen to his words and let them penetrate into our hearts, let ourselves be transformed into him in order to be able to transmit a spark of his love to others.”
“Now, at the beginning of the third millennium, Louis Marie appears to us to be a model for the new evangelization. With him, we can ask for the passion of the Gospel and the capacity to enter into a new dynamic adapted to the needs of the hearts who await God.”
“We honor Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit by honouring Mary as we pray the rosary. Mary is a glorious model of detachment. She abandoned her will for that of the Father's so that the Son might be born of her womb. May we all seek such self-abandonment in our own lives, that God will find a home in our hearts and souls, and use us as instruments of his divine will.”
“Saint Gregory of Nyssa graciously said that we are painters. Our soul is the waiting canvas... the original that we must copy is Jesus Christ, the living image who perfectly represents the eternal Father (SAR 65).”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. It is a great read.
This is a good volume in an excellent series. Spending these 15 days with Louis De Montfort was well worth the time and effort. I just really wish all of the 40 volumes were available as eBooks, I would work through them all if so. If you read all 40 volumes back to back without tasking a day for the introduction, and biography between it is 600 days of praying. If you do take extra days for those sections, or end up missing a day here or there, or choose to reread a day from time to time it would take close to 2 years to work through the collection. They are excellent books. As mentioned I just wish they were all in print and available digitally!
A great read in an excellent series!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books in the 15 Days of Prayer With Series:
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam - Christian Verheyde
Brother Roger Of Taize - Sabine Laplane
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Matthieu Arnold
Don Bosco - Robert Schiele
Henri Nouwen - Robert Waldron
Jean-Claude Colin - Francois Drouilly
Johannes Tauler - Andre Pinet
Meister Eckhart - André Gozier
Peter Joseph Triest - Brother René Stockman
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - André Dupleix
Saint Alphonsus Liguori - Jean-Marie Segalen
Saint Augustine - Jaime García
Saint Benedict - André Gozier
Saint Catherine of Siena - Chantal van der Plancke
Saint Clare of Assisi - Marie-France Becker
Saint Dominic - Alain Quilici
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton - Betty Ann McNeil
Saint Eugene de Mazenod - Bernard Dullier
Saint Faustina Kowalska - John Cleary
Saint Francis de Sales - Claude Morel
Saint Francis of Assisi - Thaddée Matura O.F.M.
Saint John of the Cross - Constant Tonnelier
Saint Katharine Drexel - Leo Luke Marcello
Saint Martín de Porres: A Saint of the Americas - Brian J. Pierce
Saint Philip Neri - Jean-François Audrain
Saint Teresa of Avila - Jean Abiven
Saint Therese of Lisieux - Victoria Hebert
Saint Thomas Aquinas - Suzanne Vrai and André Pinet
Saint Vincent de Paul - Jean-Pierre Renouard
The Curé of Ars - Pierre Blanc
…
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