The Ultimate Guide to Marian Consecrations (Chart Included!)

In recent times, Marian devotion in the Catholic Church has become quite widespread. The last couple of centuries have been graced with more and more of the Blessed Mother through many Church-approved apparitions and a springtime of saints reigniting devotion to her. Today, Marian Consecration has become a well-known and widespread Catholic practice.

But what is Marian consecration, and when did it begin? When, and how, is a Marian consecration made? Here’s a full overview of this grace-filled spiritual practice plus a guide to choosing your consecration date.

What Is Marian Consecration?

“He who shall find Mary shall find life; that is, Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (St. Louis de Montfort)

To consecrate something means to declare it holy, to set it apart as sacred. Making a Marian Consecration declares that we belong to God as we place ourselves in the care of Mary, the one created being who was so filled with grace that she perfectly and completely entrusted herself to him. When we take the Blessed Mother as our way to God, we become better able to give our own yes––our fiat––to him.

The practice of Marian Consecration took root largely thanks to the preaching of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, a French priest and vibrant preacher of the faith during the late 1700s to early 1800s. De Montfort was deeply devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, promoting the Rosary and True Devotion to Mary.

Is Marian Consecration Biblical?

Yes, Marian Consecration is rooted in Scripture. God chose Mary to be the physical mother of Christ and spiritual mother to all souls in the Church. 

Where Is Marian Consecration In The Bible? The Backstory

When God became incarnate in Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, he chose to come to earth in human form, which means he needed a woman to be his mother.

Christ's entrustment to Mary began at the Annunciation when Our Lady conceived him in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Later, after her cousin Elizabeth hailed her as blessed, Mary herself humbly praised God that “all generations would call [her] blessed” (Luke 1:48)––the first hint of the Marian spirituality that was to come.

Jesus showed entrustment to Mary by his obedience to her and his earthly father Joseph. After Jesus was lost in the temple for three days, he returned to Nazareth with his parents and remained in their care until his public ministry began when he was 30.

Beyond entrusting himself to Mary by his incarnation and upbringing on earth, Christ also deferred to his Mother at the start of his public ministry. When she noticed that the wine ran out during the wedding feast at Cana, Our Lady brought the need to Christ: “they have no wine” (John 2:3). Jesus responded that his hour had not yet come, but Mary turned to the servants and said “do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). And Christ, following his mother's prompting, turned the water into an abundance of wine. This moment in the Gospels illustrates Mary's mediation and intercession for us with Christ.

Mary shows us that going to the Queen is always the best way to petition royalty because it's the most effective way to reach the ear of the King. Her role of influence and intercession with Jesus follows the precedent of the Queen Mother in the ancient Israelite monarchy (mentioned in 1 Kings 2:19).

God appointed Mary as Queen of Heaven to give his graces to souls. When we pledge our hearts to serve her, she teaches us to be more like her, and ultimately, more Christ-like.

At The Cross

The central moment of Marian entrustment took place on Calvary:

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)

The apostle John represents all of us, who, because we follow Christ and His Church, are also called to receive her into our lives.

Furthermore, after Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, his disciples and the first Christians kept close to Our Lady. Before Pentecost,

“All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” Acts 1:14

Those days in the upper room at the beginning of the Church echo a fundamental kind of entrustment to Mary.

Why Consecrate To Mary? 

“One of the greatest aspects of being consecrated to Mary is that she’s such a gentle mother. She makes the lessons of the Cross into something sweet, and she pours her motherly love and solace into our every wound. Going to her and giving her permission to do her job truly is the ‘surest, easiest, shortest and the most perfect means’ to becoming a saint. What joy it is to be consecrated to Jesus through Mary!” (Father Michael Gaitley, 33 Days to Morning Glory)

St. Louis de Montfort promoted doing a prayerful 33-day preparation for consecration to Mary. In his writings, de Montfort called this method “the sure means and the straight and immaculate way” toward holiness, because Mary is “is the most sure, the most easy, the most short, and the most perfect means by which to go to Jesus Christ.” Marian Consecration is the best way that we can draw nearer to God.

In this beautiful testimonial video, Jackie and Bobby Angel point out that this consecration is always to Jesus through Mary. Mary herself is never the endpoint; she always leads us to Jesus.

While the practice is called “Marian Consecration,” in reality, we are always going to Jesus through Mary. By going to Mary, we do not neglect the Son for the Mother, but rather, when we honor Mary, this gladdens and glorifies Jesus her Son. The honor we give to Mary does not take away from Jesus. On the contrary: it brings us closer to him. 

In his book The Secret of Mary, St. Louis de Montfort highlights how Marian consecration makes us more like the Holy Trinity:

“To give ourselves to Jesus through Mary is to imitate God the Father, Who has given us His Son only through Mary, and Who communicates to us His grace only through Mary.

It is to imitate God the Son, Who has come to us only through Mary, and Who, “by giving us an example, that as He has done, so we do also,” has urged us to go to Him by the same means by which He has come to us—that is, through Mary.

It is to imitate the Holy Ghost, Who bestows His graces and gifts upon us only through Mary.” (The Secret of Mary, #35)

Most importantly, Marian Consecration mirrors the way that Christ came to us: through Our Lady. The Lord, in his wisdom, chose to give himself to the human race through a woman, the Blessed Mother. We follow God's wise order when we go to him through Mary.

“To go to Jesus through Mary is truly to honor Jesus Christ, for it denotes that we do not esteem ourselves worthy of approaching His infinite holiness directly and by ourselves because of our sins; that we need Mary, His holy Mother, to be our advocate and Mediatrix with Him, our Mediator.

It is to approach Jesus as our Mediator and Brother, and at the same time to humble ourselves before Him, as before our God and our Judge.

In a word, it is to practice humility, which is always exceedingly pleasing to the heart of God.” (The Secret of Mary, #36)

A Renewal of Baptism

Marian Consecration refers back to the promises we made at Baptism and helps us to live them more fully. We reject Satan and all his works and empty promises as we did at our Baptism, asking Our Lady to help us be more faithful to God.

St. Louis de Montfort highlights this in his prayer of consecration:

I … a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in Thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.

Marian Consecration plants the riches of grace in our souls. Fr. Michael Gaitley explains that when we consecrate ourselves to Mary, we give her complete permission to do her work in us. And she does––she “begins working a masterpiece of grace within our souls.”

The Devil is terrified of Our Lady because her perfect humility counteracts his pride. Consecration to Our Lady protects us from Satan’s reach in a special way. It signifies that we belong to God by placing us safely in the arms of the most maternal woman, under the mantle of our heavenly Queen, where the Evil One dares not approach.

Through Marian Consecration, we entrust ourselves to the Blessed Mother’s maternal intercession, requesting her help as we offer ourselves completely to Jesus and letting her guide us to closer union with him. She is eager to bring us closer to Christ.

When & How Do I Make My Marian Consecration?

All you need to know is right here! Read on to learn how to embark upon this particularly effective, direct, and appropriate way of drawing close to Christ.

Why 33 Days?

The 33 days of spiritual preparation before a consecration day is based on the 33 years of Christ’s life. The goal of Marian consecration is to become more like Christ by drawing near to his mother.

Mary’s heart was deeply Christlike because she was the only other creature who lived her entire life with no original sin on her soul. By setting aside 33 days, we recall that we, too, are meant to imitate Christ. Our entire lives are a journey of growth in virtue by God’s grace so that we can be worthy of the grace that Jesus and Mary want to give us in heaven.

St. Louis de Montfort divides his 33-day consecration framework into four phases. The first 12 days are a preliminary time spent casting off the spirit of the world so that our hearts can become more like Jesus and Mary. Each of the next three weeks are spent growing in three kinds of knowledge: 1) knowledge of oneself so that we can humbly seek God’s healing and grace in our areas of weakness, 2) deeper knowledge of Mary by examining how she followed Christ and the example of her virtues, and 3) knowledge of Jesus so that we can be more united to him.

Picking A Marian Consecration Date

It is most fitting to make your consecration to Our Lady on one of her feast days sprinkled throughout the Catholic liturgical year.

How to choose a date for Marian Consecration, you ask?

Pray about it. Does a particular Marian title or feast draw your heart? Or maybe your choice is as simple as choosing the next upcoming consecration start date/Marian feast day and letting that be your consecration tradition!

Your consecration process begins 33 days before the occasion of your choice. You’ll want to make sure that the timing and circumstances of your life allow you to set aside the necessary time for prayer and spiritual exercises involved in these 33 days of preparation for Consecration.

Whatever guides your decision, here's an overview of all the opportunities around the year for starting and completing your Marian Consecration! 

All the Marian Consecration Start & Finish Dates

Marian Consecration Programs

It is beautiful to prepare for Marian Consecration with others. Many parishes run groups that embark on Marian Consecration programs together or offer it as a spiritual enrichment study. You might invite family, friends, or coworkers to join you in your Marian consecration process. You can also make your preparation and Marian Consecration on your own. Choose one of the following handbooks or programs to guide your journey.

• 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley is an easy to use yet nonetheless spiritually-rich version of the Marian Consecration.
• In Preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus Christ Through Mary: According to St. Louis DeMontfort, Fr. Hugh Gillespie offers an excellent adaptation of St. Louis de Montfort’s work.
• The real deal, the original Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary by St. Louis de Montfort (and often comes alongside his True Devotion to Mary) is definitely not for starters, but a more challenging journey that will deepen your spiritual life.
• Prepare for consecration with your children or as a family with this book authored by Carrie Gress or the Marian Consecration Family Adventure from Holy Heroes.

What Popes Have Said About Marian Consecration

Recent popes have commended Marian Consecration for how it has transformed their personal lives and their callings to lead the Church. Some of them formally consecrated different locations, regions, and causes to the Blessed Virgin Mary––John Paul II entrusted Europe to Our Lady and also consecrated the world to her Immaculate Heart, and Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine in 2022. Here are words from a few popes about its importance!

Pope Pius XII:

“Consecration to the Mother of God is a total gift of self, for the whole of life and for all eternity; and a gift which is not a mere formality or sentimentality, but effectual, comprising the full intensity of the Christian life––Marian life.”

St. John Paul II:

Spoke often and very highly about Marian Consecration: “Consecrating ourselves to Mary means accepting her help to offer ourselves and the whole of mankind to him who is holy, infinitely holy; it means accepting her help—by having recourse to her motherly heart, which beneath the cross was opened to love for every human being, for the whole world—in order to offer the world, the individual human being, mankind as a whole, and all the nations to him who is infinitely holy.”

For St. John Paul II, consecrating himself to Jesus through Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort's way made a great impact on his life: “I was greatly helped by a book by St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort entitled Treatise of True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. There I found the answers to my questions. Yes, Mary does bring us closer to Christ; she does lead us to him, provided that we live her mystery in Christ… This is the origin of the motto Totus Tuus. The phrase comes from St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. It is an abbreviation of a more complete form of entrustment to the Mother of God … thanks to St. Louis, I began to discover the immense riches of Marian devotion from new perspectives.” (John Paul II, Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination)

Pope Francis:

Said of Marian Consecration: “This is no magic formula but a spiritual act … It is like what young children do when they are scared; they turn to their mother for protection.  We turn to our Mother, reposing all our fears and pain in her heart and abandoning ourselves to her. It means placing in that pure and undefiled heart, where God is mirrored, the inestimable goods of fraternity and peace, all that we have and are, so that she, the Mother whom the Lord has given us, may protect us and watch over us.”

Pope Leo XIV:

Pope Leo XIV spoke of Our Lady in his first moments before the Church on May 8, 2025, the day he was elected (which, fittingly, was the feast day of Our Lady of Pompeii in Italy). His first trip outside of Rome as Pope was to the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel, and to celebrate his one year anniversary, he offered Mass at the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii.

Additionally, one of the jubilee occasions that Pope Leo XIV celebrated during the Year of Hope was the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, on October 12, 2025. That day, Pope Leo stood in front of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima brought to St. Peter’s Square from Portugal and consecrated the Church and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. His homily that day covered the hallmarks of devotion to Mary:

“Marian spirituality, which nourishes our faith, has Jesus as its center. It is like Sunday, which opens each new week in the radiance of his Resurrection from the dead … Marian spirituality is at the service of the Gospel: it reveals its simplicity. Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus. It teaches us to return to him and to meditate and ponder the events of our lives in which the Risen One still comes to us and calls us. Marian spirituality immerses us in the history upon which heaven opened … Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness … to light in the Church.”

What Saints Have Shared About Marian Consecration

Many saints throughout time have also contributed insights on Marian devotion and consecration:

• “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” –St. Maximilian Kolbe
• “Whatsoever we do, we can never be true children of Mary, unless we are humble.” –St. Alphonsus Liguori
• Do you want certain salvation? Then have great devotion to the Virgin Mary... She will guarantee your salvation. She infallibly saves the one who honors her. –St. Sharbel Makhlouf
• Love of Mary and devotion to her are a sure sign of obtaining eternal salvation. –St. Bernard
• “Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence.” –St. Francis de Sales
• “The Immaculate alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. She seeks souls that will consecrate themselves entirely to her, that will become in her hands forceful instruments for the defeat of Satan and the spread of God's kingdom.” –St. Maximilian Kolbe
• “No matter how sinful one may have been, if he has devotion to Mary, it is impossible that he be lost.” –St. Hilary of Poitiers

Should I Renew My Marian Consecration?

St. Louis de Montfort encourages renewing your Marian Consecration once a year, preferably on the same feast. It is also fitting to do the 33-day preparation process again when you are making these renewals, if possible, to reaffirm your entrustment to her and to continually deepen your “yes” to God through Mary.

How to Continue Living Marian Consecration

Reaffirming one’s consecration to Our Lady often is important. Complete entrustment to Mary is not a one-and-done matter but is something to deepen and keep at the forefront of life always. As Pope John Paul II indicated his Act of Entrustment to Mary, we must do what Christ asked of the apostle John––and by extension, of all of us as children of the Blessed Mother––and take Mary into our home (see John 19:27).

St. Louis de Montfort recommends renewing your Marian consecration even on a daily basis with a brief consecration formula like this one:

My queen and my mother, I give myself entirely to you; and to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve. Wherefore, good mother, as I am your own, keep me, guard me, as your property and possession. Amen.

Or, put even more simply:

“I am all yours, my Queen, my Mother, and all that I have is yours.”

Ways to Continue Living Your Marian Consecration:

• Pray the rosary
• Steep yourself in the graces of the greatest prayer to Our Lady for 365 days with The Rosary in a Year podcast
• Pray a daily Morning Offering to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• Wear a simple chain on your wrist to outwardly signify that you belong to Christ through Our Lady.
• Enroll in the Brown Scapular and wear it.
• Wear a Miraculous Medal.
• Bring other Marian Prayers into your devotions. There are many that are short and consoling like the Litany of Loreto, Magnificat, or Memorare.
• Read what saints like Louis de Montfort, Alphonsus Liguori, John Paul II, and Fulton J. Sheen have written about Our Lady.
• Let Catholic authors help you reflect on Mary. The Ascension store offers excellent titles including Mary, Teach Me to Be Your Daughter: Finding Yourself in the Blessed Mother by Megan Madden, How to Pray Like Mary by Sonja Corbitt, Whispers of Mary: What 12 Old Testament Women Teach Us About Mary by Gayle Sommers, and Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross by Dr. Edward Sri.