Devotion to Mary

First time in the English language

Fr. Neubert, a Marianist, one of the finest Mariologists of the twentieth century, is not only the author of scholarly works, but of an amazing number of excellent books on matters spiritual and pastoral from a Marian perspective. This work, only now published in an English translation, first appeared in France in 1952 and was quickly translated into most European languages, but never in English. Fr. Neubert considered Devotion to Mary one of his most important works. Countless priests have found this text an inspiring book of meditation and a source of priestly renewal.

Throughout this work, Mary is presented especially as Mother: the Mother of God, our Mother, the Mother of all the members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Mary’s Motherhood is an image of the maternal character of the Church. For Fr. Neubert, Marian devotion consists not so much in specific practices but, rather, in offering one’s life to the Virgin Mary, an offering which has an ecclesial dimension. For St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, Marian consecration is a solemn renewal of one’s baptismal commitment confided to the Virgin Mother. For Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, Marian consecration is to assist Mary in her apostolic mission: as she gave birth to Christ, “the First-born among many brethren, she cooperates, with a mother’s love, in the generation and formation of the faithful” (Lumen Gentium 63).