Virgo Potens

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 30th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) The feast of the Annunciation commemorates the greatest miracle of the marvellous Heart of this admirable Mother, which on that day becomes an unfathomable depth of wonders, where greater and more prodigious things take place than have ever happened or ever will happen, no matter how great or worthy of admiration, in all centuries past, present and yet to come. The feast of the Visitation is the feast of the Magnificat and of the inspired words that came forth on that day from her blessed Heart so filled with the Holy Spirit. (continued)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th [152. continued] First, the rank of the superior, because the higher the one who commands, the more grave is the disobedience. It is a greater sin to disobey God than to disobey man, a greater sin to disobey the pope than a bishop, or a father and mother than other relations; and it is also a greater sin to disobey with contempt of the person who commands, than with contempt only of the commandment. (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) The feast of the Nativity of Mary is the feast of the birth of her Heart, which on that day began to live a life more holy than any other life. The feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple commemorates the solemn and public dedication of her Heart to eternal Love, which is God Himself. The feast of her angelic Marriage with St. Joseph is the feast of the divine betrothal of the two purest of Hearts, two virgin Hearts so closely united that they form but a single heart which loves God more thin do all the hearts of the Seraphim. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th 152. Disobedience is a sin by which we violate the command of our superiors, treating them with contempt, and it can be a mortal sin even in small matters; because, as St. Bernard says, we must not consider the nature of the thing commanded nor the simple transgression of the precept, but the pride of the will which will not submit when it ought. [Lib. de Præcept et Dispens., cap xi] “It is not the simple transgression of the wish but the proud contention of the will that creates criminal disobedience,” and the grievousness of the sin can be judged under three different heads. (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) The fifth is the feast of the Joys of the Heart of Mary on July 8th. There are in addition many others, for all feasts of the Blessed Virgin are really feasts of her Admirable Heart. The feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8th, is the feast of the Creation or formation of her most holy Heart, which was fashioned by the almighty hand of God and filled with grace and love from the very first of its creation. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 27th [151. continued] The fathers generally call hypocrisy perversity, iniquity, impiety; and it is easy not only to fall into this sin, but to become so accustomed to it that it leads us into atheism. We often begin by serving God with a certain degree of holy fervour, but when this diminishes, we no longer serve God but only pretend to serve Him in order to keep up outward appearances. “Woe unto you hypocrites!” [See St. Thomas, 2a 2æ, qu. xi, per tot.] ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 27th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) The third is the feast of the Sorrows of the Pure Heart of the Mother of Jesus, which is celebrated on the Friday following Passion Sunday. The fourth is the feast of the Resurrection of the Heart of Mary which was restored to life by the Resurrection of her Divine Son: "(Her) spirit (was) revived," and overwhelmed with the greatest joy imaginable when this beloved Son visited her after His Resurrection. For that reason this feast is observed under the name of the Apparition of the Risen Jesus to His Most Holy Mother, on the first free day after the octave of Easter. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th [151. continued] Also when in all the functions connected with the service of God we pretend to have a pure intention when we have it not: “And seek to please not God but men, not the conversion but the favour of the people.” [D. Th. 2a 2æ, qu. lxi, art. 2] (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th The first is celebrated in the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and in several other places on February 8th, and in a number of other communities and churches on the first day of June.* The second is the feast of the most ardent longing of the virginal Heart for the birth of our Saviour, which is called the feast of the Expectation, and is observed on December 18th. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680) *The Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary was celebrated by The Congregation of Jesus and Mary and the Order of Our Lady of Charity, both founded by St. John Eudes, on February 8th. In the Universal Church, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was celebrated on August 22nd from 1944 until 1969. It is celebrated the day after the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the current calendar, but still observed on the Traditional calendar on August 22nd, the last day of the Octave of the Assumption of Our Lady. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 12. The twelfth means of honoring the admirable Heart of the Mother of Our Saviour is to celebrate its feast, or rather its feasts, with particularly marked devotion. I say "feasts" for there are several feasts of the most august Heart of our Heavenly Queen. (continued)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th [151. continued] In this way also we sin gravely by hypocrisy when we show ourselves scrupulous about works of supererogation or in certain minute observances, not fearing at the same time to transgress against the essential duties of religion and our own state of life, “having left the weightier things of the law,” like those Scribes and Pharisees whom Christ reproved, saying that they “strain a gnat and swallow a camel.” [Matt. xxiii, 24] (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯ August 26th, 2026 Dear Telly-gram Friends, I am going to be running behind with posting for the next few days. I will do my best to post something each day, and hope to be caught up sometime next week. Thank you for your patience! ✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. (continued) Finally, it is the Heart of our great Queen, our most bountiful Sister and our most amiable Mother, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth and who holds in her hands for distribution to men all the treasures of her beloved Son, cui vult, quando vult, et quomodo vult, says St. Bernard; "to whomever she wills, whenever she wills, and however she wills." ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th [151]. continued] Hypocrisy is always a mortal sin when we pretend to be spiritual and holy, and try to appear as such, when we are not so at heart, caring more for the opinion of men than for the opinion of God; and it is worse still when we affect sanctity in order to further our own advancement and to acquire credit in order to reach and to work evil; or else to obtain some honour, or other temporal good. (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. (continued) Mary's Heart is constantly mindful of us and the little things that concern us. Her Heart is so filled with kindness, meekness, mercy and genrosity that never has anyone been known to invoke this Mother of Goodness in humility and confidence without receiving comfort in her presence. It is a Heart full of wisdom and enlightenment which possesses a perfect understanding of all our needs and of all that is most fitting for us to have. It is a most generous Heart, strong and mighty to fight our enemies, to repulse and crush whatever oppresses us, to obtain from God whatever it asks of Him, and to shower us with all kinds of blessings. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd [151]. continued] There is no vice against which Jesus Christ has inveighed so much in His Gospel as against this one [Matt. vi, 7, 15, 21], condemning it with eight cries of “Woe unto you,” which are eight maledictions. And St. Gregory remarks that the hypocrites, blinded by pride and hardened in their sins, generally die impenitent without ever being enlightened, for a reason which is perhaps taken from St. Peter Chrysologus, because while we can see that the remedies to the amendment of other vices do good, the disease of hypocrisy is so pestilential that it affects the very remedies themselves, so that they only serve to foment and increase the evil. “Brethren,” says the Saint, “this pestilence must be avoided that turns remedies into diseases, medicines into maladies, holiness into vice, saintliness into sinfulness.” ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. In all your affairs, necessities, perplexities and afflictions, have rescourse to the most benign Heart of Mary, regarding it as your refuge in every need, and as a refuge, fortress and safeguard which God has given you as a shelter in the midst of all the miseries engulfing man in this valley of tears, this place of exile and banishment. Yes, the most bountiful and gentle Heart of Mary is truly solarium exiIii nostri, "The solace and comfort of our exile." Whoever has recourse to it with respect and confidence will feel the marvellous effects of its incomparable goodness. There glows in the maternal Heart of our most charitable Mother more love than in all the hearts of the fathers and mothers of all time past, present and yet to come. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 22nd 151. Hypocrisy is a vice by which we affect to demonstrate externally a virtue and a sanctity which we do not possess; and he is really a hypocrite who, being full of wickedness within, pretends in his outward appearance to be good. ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

ASPIRATION Placez dans mon cœur ô Marie quelque unes des fleurs qui ornent le votre. Place in my heart, O Mary, some of the flowers that adorn thine.

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 22nd TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 10. Pay some special honor daily to the royal Heart of the sovereign Lady of the universe. This may be done through an act of devotion or a prayer offered for that intention, in imitation of Blessed Herman of the Order of St. Dominic, who each day used to recite an Ave Maria in greeting to the most amiable Heart of Mary. Even though, following the example of this holy religious, you were to say only one Ave Maria each day in honour of the admirable Heart of the Mother of God, you would be doing something highly pleasing to her and most advantageous to your own soul, since the great Suarez, that wonder of learning and piety, said that he would rather lose all his knowledge than lose the merits of a single Ave Maria. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)