"If you want to obtain the gift of perseverance, love Mary"

As the Spanish Jesuit Saint Francis Borgia (1510-1572) was questioning his novices one day, he realized that some among them lacked devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He notified the master of novices, begging him to keep an eye on them and to remain attentive to their progress.

But soon what the Jesuit saint feared came to pass: all those novices lost the grace of their vocation.

Around the same time, Saint Philip Neri was fond of telling his penitents in confession: “My children, if you want to obtain the gift of perseverance, love Mary, serve Mary! Because we fall and we get lost only when we neglect to call on her for help.”

From Le Rosaire des Enfants (The Children’s Rosary)

5, rue de l'Université - 75007 Paris, France