Mary and the War of Revelation 12

In the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (abbreviation TD), Saint Louis de Montfort speaks of the fight against Satan, thus of the salvation of the world.

He speaks from experience, but also relies on Scripture, especially Genesis and Revelation (Gn 3:15, Rev 12), which he interprets in a Marian perspective. In actual fact, the Virgin Mary, more intensely than anyone, embraced the infinite desire of her Son to save the whole world by his Cross.

The "children" are victorious over Satan:

In Saint Louis de Montfort, the victors over Satan are called servants, slaves, children, and poor children (TD 54).

The word "servant or slave" refers to Christ who became a servant (Jn 13), took the form of a slave (Phil. 2.7), and as such was able to be the Redeemer.

The word "child" certainly points to the fight in Revelation 12, a passage that mentions children and offspring, as in Genesis 3: 15, where the offspring of the woman crushes the snake.

These children, or slaves who have the spirit of childhood, are giving Satan a hard time: Mary's faithful servants and children… whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others (TD 50). They are also subject to trials whose action could seem completely devastating without the secret work of grace.

Thus, for example, while fashionable preachers are left in peace, the "children of the Company of Mary" (the missionaries of the Company of Mary, founded by Montfort) called to be preachers filled with the spirit of God, provoke the reaction of "all hell," as they are engaged in the fight "between the truth of Saint Michael and the lies of Lucifer," between the predestined race of the Virgin and the cursed race of the serpent (Gn 3:15).

Mary is terrible to the devil

Having espoused, more intensely than anyone, the infinite desire of her Son to save the whole world by his cross, the Virgin is "terrible to the devil":

“Lastly, Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time—even less now than ever—to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.” (TD 50)

This text is a commentary of the Book of Revelation:

- The devil knows that he has "little time" (TD 50 = Rev. 12:12).

- Revelation speaks of the children of the Woman, who have to face the Dragon as he goes to war against them (Rev 12: 17). For Montfort, these are "the true children of Mary" (TD 50).

- Revelation says that they conquered Satan "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death." (Rev 12:11). This verse likely meant for Montfort not only the martyrs but also those who have died to themselves by renouncing their own will to live in Mary.

The true children of Mary are victorious in the fight because God gave Mary the strength to overcome the devil:

“It is chiefly about these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that first and well-known prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise. It is opportune to explain it here for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil. ‘I will place enmities between you and the woman, between your race and her race; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel’ (Gen. 3:15)." (TD 51)

“From the time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind, God gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel…” (TD 52)

The children and slaves of Mary are the heel of the Body: the humblest, but also the most decisive part in the fight against Satan (TD 55), that is to say in the salvation of the world.

Francoise Breynaert

Excerpt from her book: L'arbre de vie, (The Tree of Life) Parole et silence, Paris 2007