Some writers have the knack of condensing within the pages of a single book whole panoramas of thought. St. Louis Mary de Montfort was such a writer. In his classic work True Devotion to Mary, Montfort has summed up the whole of Marioloy and Marian Spirituality in simple, popular yet unequivocal language. In his treatise on The Love of Eternal Wisdom, the Saint has condensed the story of the divine Romance between the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Eternal Wisdom, and man. In the present book The Secret of the Rosary, the saintly author sums up beautifully everything one should know about the Rosary. With a flair for the true and the authentic, he leads the reader step by step into the marvelous realms of the Rosary, a veritable secret of Christian perfection and "a divine summary of the mysteries of the life, passion, death and glory of Jesus and Mary."

The Secret of the Rosary "goes far beyond mere research. We might say that it contains everything that can be said about the rosary, about its content and form, its real worth, about the instruction necessary for its appreciation and use." F. M. William, "The Rosary: Its History and Meaning," Benziger Bros., 1952, p. 115.

Pope Pius XII, who canonized St. Louis Mary de Montfort, on July 20, 1947, characterized the new Saint as "the guide who leads you to Mary and from Mary to Jesus." These words aptly describe the God-given mission of this great Marian Saint whose motto was To Jesus Through Mary.

Born on January 31, 1673, in the little town of Montfort, Brittany, France, Louis Mary Grignon studied under the Jesuit Fathers at Rennes, and under the Sulpicians in Paris. Ordained on June 1st, 1700, he set out on a missionary career that was to take him up and down the coast of France preaching Christ Crucified and devotion to Mary, particularly the Holy Slavery of Jesus through Mary and the Rosary. "Let me but place my rosary around a sinner's neck," he was wont to say, "and he will not escape me."

After sixteen years of apostolic labors, after a missionary career packed with drama and the supernatural, Father de Montfort died during one of his missions, shortly after coming down from the pulpit.

A great lover and tireless preacher of the Rosary, de Montfort's spirit lives on today in his two Religious Congregations, The Missionaries of the Company of Mary (Montfort Fathers) and the Daughters of Wisdom.

Taken from the inside flaps.