Monday, February 26, 2018

Amo Jesum amore Mariae; amo Mariam amore Jesu --Drużbicki


"I love Jesus with the love of Mary; I love Mary with the love of Jesus."

Thus the epitaph on the tomb of Kasper Drużbicki, SJ (1589 - 1682), author of the Opera ascetica, whose tongue is incorrupt.

Father Drużbicki "...was one of the main theologians and mystics of his times, the founder of the Polish school of spirituality (along with Mikołaj Łęczycki), and the worldwide precursor of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, before the apparitions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)." Wikipedia

He also promoted a new devotion called Mancipium Mariae (slavery of Mary), before Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673 -1716). There are devotions in Drużbicki which are later found in Montfort (e.g. to the Eternal Wisdom and the Total Consecration to Mary).

Here is a relevant passage from the Opera ascetica on the Total Consecration to The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, "the Woman clothed with the sun."

Et tuae igitur partes fuerunt, operam omnem dare, ut totes fieres mulieri huic sole amictæ, solique justitiæ amicissimæ, quam simillimus, quam vicinissimus, quam familiarissimus. Tuæ partes fuerunt, operum omnem dare, ut totus in MARIAM transires, totus in affectum erga MARIAM migrares, totus MARIAE laudes spirares, totus Mariae honor esses, honoresque ubique plantares, totus Mariæ peculium, patrimonium, possessio, hæreditas, hæreditatisque proventus fieres, perinde uti etiam hæc omnia, infinitiesque plura & majora tibi est Maria, tibi sunt in Maria, tibi sunt per Mariam, sunt tibi propter Mariam.

Opera omnia ascetica, Kasper Druzbicki, SJ.
Provisionum senectutis, Pars I, Provisio VI: Per Imitationem Pretiosissime Dei Matris quam perfectissimam.