Holy Slavery: An Ancient Devotion

HOLY SLAVERY: . . .

 

In  number 159 of his Treatise on True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort . . .

. . . calls his form of Total Consecration to Mary, “a secure way to go to Jesus and to acquire perfection by uniting ourselves to Him.” Referring to Father Henri Boudon’s book, “The Holy Slavery of The Mother of God,” St. Louis de Montfort tells us that this devotion, or form of consecration, is “so ancient that we cannot fix precisely the date of its beginning.”

He then goes on to say: “It is certain, however, that for more than seven hundred years we find traces of it in the Church.” And to confirm this he cites the writings of St. Peter Damian who wrote that, in the year 1016, Blessed Marino, his brother, “made himself a slave of the Blessed Virgin in the presence of his director, in a most edifying manner.”

. . . AN ANCIENT DEVOTION

Montfort was right when he said that “we cannot fix precisely the date of its beginning,” because we can go back (in the Eastern Church) to the 8th Century to St. John Damascene who died in the year 749, for traces of this consecration of holy slavery to Mary. In fact, we can go back even further, (in the Western Church) to St. Ildefonsus of Toledo who died in 667.

But first, St. John Damascene whom Montfort quotes, in Number 41 of his Treatise on True Devotion. Referring to the necessity of devotion to Mary for salvation, Fr. de Montfort writes: “Among all the passages of the holy Fathers and Doctors, of which I have made an ample collection in order to prove this truth, I shall for brevity’s sake quote but one: ‘To be devout to you, O Holy Virgin,’ says St. John Damascene, ‘is an arm of salvation which God gives to those whom He wishes to save.’ ”

ST. JOHN DAMASCENE

 

Born in Damascus, John retreated to the monastery of Mar-Saba, near Jerusalem. He had many occasions to preach in the Holy City. The conclusion of his homily I, on the dormition of Mary, delivered in Greek, at the “Tomb of the Virgin,” located near Gethsemane at the bottom of the Kedran Valley, reveals in no uncertain terms his complete dedication to the Mother of God. Here is an excerpt from that homily.

“Today, we also stand in your presence, O Sovereign, yes, I repeat it, Sovereign, Mother of God and Virgin. We hold firm to the hope that you are for us, as to an absolutely firm and immovable anchor. Each one of us consecrates to you his spirit, his soul, his body, his entire person . . .

“If it is true that the honor rendered to the other servants is a proof of love towards the common master, can the honor which is rendered to you, the Mother of your Master be neglected?

“Thus, we will give better proof of our loyalty to our proper master . . . Cast your eyes upon us, O excellent Sovereign, mother of our good Sovereign; govern and conduct as you wish our destiny; calm the impulses of our shameful passions and guide our way safely into the stormless port of God’s will (l Dorm. 14).

The expression used: “We consecrate to you,” evokes clearly the idea of a ritual offering, a consecration. In the doctrine of St. John Damascene, with roots in the Incarnation, the honor he gives to the Mother of God he ultimately gives to the Lord.

ST. ILDEFONSUS OF TOLEDO

 

But even before St. John Damascene, we have the example of St. Ildefonsus of Toledo, in the 7th Century. Ildefonsus was Bishop of Toledo from 657 to 667. One of his first biographers describes him as so devoted to Our Lady that she would have appeared to him while he was at prayer.

His treatise on the perpetual Virginity of Mary was well known and highly thought of throughout the Middle Ages. That treatise opens with some remarkable invocations to Mary. “My Lady, my Sovereign, mother of my Lord, servant of your own Son, you who have given birth to the Creator of the world, I beg of you, I pray you, that I may possess the Spirit of your Son, that I may possess the Spirit of my Redeemer, to speak what is true and appropriate about you . . .

“You, chosen by God, taken by God, called by God, very close to God, joined to God . . .

“Here you are blessed among women, spotless among mothers, Lady among servants, Queen among your sisters . . .

“You are blessed for my faith; blessed for my soul; blessed for my love; blessed for my praises and my preaching.

“That may I preach you as much as you should be preached; that may I love you as much as you should be loved; that may I praise you as much as you should be praised; that may I serve you as much as your glory should be served ” (P.L. 96, 58A-59B).

This passage, with slight variations, appears as a separate prayer in many manuscripts of the 12th and 13th centuries.

We have just noted the expression: “That I may serve you” (Serviam tibi). St. Ildefonsus becomes even more explicit in the solemn invocation that concludes the treatise:

SERVING JESUS . . .

Now I come to you, the only one to be Virgin and Mother of God.

I prostrate myself before you . . . that you may reveal the fullness of your Son’s kindness, that you may give me the courage to defend the true Faith in your Son.
“Grant me the grace to be loyal to God and to you, to serve your Son and to serve you to serve Him, as my Creator; to serve you as the mother of my creator; to serve Him as the Lord of Power; to serve you as the servant of the Lord of the universe; to serve Him, as God; to serve you as the mother of God . . .

“I am also your servant, because my Lord is your Son; you are my Lady, because you are the servant of my Lord; I am the servant of the Handmaid of my Lord, because you, my Lady, have become the mother of my creator.

. . . AND MARY

“I pray you, I pray you, Holy Virgin, that I may hold Jesus with that same Spirit through whom you gave birth to Jesus; that my soul may receive Jesus from that Spirit through which your flesh conceived the same Jesus; that I may know Jesus through that Spirit which has permitted you to know, to hold and to nourish Jesus.

“That I may speak of Jesus with words that are at once humble and exalted, thanks to that Spirit in Whom you have acknowledged yourself as the Handmaid of the Lord, hoping that the angel’s word would be fulfilled in you.

“Finally, that I may love Jesus in that Spirit in which you, now, adore Him as your Lord and contemplate Him as your Son” (P. L. 96, 105-106).

Our readers should recognize, in these last two paragraphs, the elements of the prayer cited by Pope Paul VI in his Marialis Cultus, at the end of No. 26.

SERVANT OF JESUS AND MARY

Ildefonsus addresses himself to the Lord to ask for the grace to be able to serve His Mother so well that he may find reassurance that he is serving Him (the Lord) faithfully – because it is to be a better servant of the Son that he wishes to make himself servant of His Mother:

“Thus, it is the concern of the Lord that one be in the service of His Handmaid thus the honor that we bring to the service of the Queen ultimately reaches the King.”

It is astounding to witness such tender devotion to Mary, a devotion so filled with the gospel spirit of the Annunciation and Visitation. There is no ambiguity here between the honor due to the Lord and that due to the Handmaid of the Lord. In this light, the prayers of the 7th century Visigothic Orational (possibly written by St. Ildefonsus, or at least inspired by him) can say to Mary:

“May we be assured of your prayers, we who rejoice in experiencing the very sweet yoke of your service. . .

Even if we don’t know how to translate the word “servus”/”servitus” (slave/ slavery? — serf/ servitude? – servant/ service?), the reality is very simple and truly evangelical: to be the “servant of the Handmaid” is to want to love and serve Jesus as Mary herself loves and serves Him, in the Holy Spirit.

What a surprise it should be for any one of us, today, to see this Marian yet Christological devotion formulated so clearly and with such fervor, already in the 7th century!

Montfort was indeed right when, writing about the Holy Slavery of Jesus and Mary, he said: “We cannot fix precisely the date of its beginning!”