We saw first the Context of French Spirituality in the Seventeenth Century. Let us now consider a specific aspect of the French School of Spirituality—its Marian dimension—and examine the role it played.
The Marian Dimension in the Post-Tridentine Reform in France: The Hidden Legacy of the French School of Spirituality
The Catholic Reformation of the 16th century—often referred to as the “Counter-Reformation”—did not bear its most profound fruit immediately after the Council of Trent (1545–1563), but with a certain historical delay. In France, the true reform took root in the 17th century through the structuring of priestly formation. This renewal was not imposed merely by conciliar decrees but emerged through the foundation of a spiritual school deeply shaped by holiness and mystical insight, led by figures such as Bérulle, Condren, Olier, Saint John Eudes, and Vincent de Paul. The impact of institutions like the Oratory of Jesus, the Society of Saint-Sulpice, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (Eudists), and the priestly retreats founded by Vincent de Paul was decisive for the future of the Church in France and worldwide.
Yet one central element of this renewal remains largely underestimated: its Marian dimension. Far from being a mere devotional addition, this Marian aspect was a core theological, mystical, and pedagogical principle, shaping the very vision of God, Christ, grace, and consequently priestly formation.
A Foundational Grace: Bérulle in the Parlour with Sister Madeleine of Saint Joseph
The origin of this Marian shift lies in a frequently overlooked but decisive encounter: a conversation between Pierre de Bérulle and the Carmelite Mother Madeleine of Saint Joseph, held in the monastery’s parlour. She was the bearer of a Spanish Marian tradition—most likely transmitted through Alonso Rodríguez. In this exchange, she communicated to Bérulle a Marian intelligence deeply rooted in Christocentrism. From this moment, Bérulle would go on to write one of his final works, The Life of Jesus—which must be understood not merely as the earthly life of Jesus, but as the life of Jesus in Mary, during the nine months of gestation—a contemplative immersion in the mystery of the Incarnation within the womb of Mary. To contemplate the fullness of Jesus is to behold Him first dwelling in Mary. And when she gave Him to the world, He did not truly leave her—for He remained, in a spiritual and intimate way, within her. What a mystery of love and union!”
This encounter marked what Henri Brémond would call a Copernican revolution in Bérulle’s theological vision: Mary was no longer peripheral but became the interior space of Christ’s mystery, a singular mediation—not apart from Christ but within Him, through His humanity received from her. It was a new, organic illumination of the Trinity and the economy of salvation. Bérulle did not abandon the Trinitarian structure of our faith. He firmly upheld that, through baptism, we are grafted into the Son, and in Him, we worship the Father in the Holy Spirit. This foundational form remains intact. However, since Jesus is fully God, and since He is our all—our Redeemer, our Mediator, our model of priesthood—Bérulle, through the grace he received, was led to deepen the mystery of Christ Himself, the second Person of the Trinity. In this light, he discovered and taught that if we truly seek to encounter Jesus in the fullness of His mystery, we must find Him in Mary. For it is in her that He dwelled in the most complete and intimate way. The Incarnation begins in her, and thus, Mary becomes not only the physical but also the spiritual space where the mystery of Christ is revealed in its fullness. (See here the two diagrams -namely Trinitarian and Marian – and how one fits inside of the other)
Reference: Brémond, Henri. Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France, vol. 3 (Plon, 1921).
A Theological and Mystical Transmission
This fruitful intuition was transmitted to the major figures of the French School:
Charles de Condren, Bérulle’s successor as head of the Oratory, integrated this vision into his theology of the priesthood and of the Host: Mary became the matrix of all consecration. His well-known Marian prayer, beginning “O Jesus living in Mary,” expresses the living union between Jesus and His Mother in the Incarnation.
Reference: Condren, Charles de. Œuvres complètes, ed. Migne, vol. I, “Collection des orateurs sacrés”, 1858.
Jean-Jacques Olier, founder of the Sulpicians, received special graces regarding “Mary’s interior.” He spoke of priestly formation as taking place in the spiritual womb of Mary, and even established a liturgical feast of Mary’s interior. Some of his personal letters and notes—still unpublished in part due to fear of misinterpretation—testify to this mystical experience of great theological depth.
Reference: Faillon, Étienne-Michel. Vie de M. Olier, vol. II, 1873. (The passages on Mary indeed contributed to the suspension of his beatification cause in the 19th century.) See also this article/book: The Interior Life of Mary According To Monsieur Olier.
Saint John Eudes, founder of the Eudists, developed the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary with rare spiritual insight. His writings, especially The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God, form a coherent and innovative spiritual synthesis on Mary’s role in salvation history, always in connection with the Incarnation.
Reference: Saint John Eudes, Le Cœur admirable de la très sainte Mère de Dieu, ed. Migne, 1864.
Finally, Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, often seen as the most popular representative of this school, is in fact its synthesiser. In a missionary and popular vein, he extends this same theological vision: Mary as the form of God, the living matrix of the Christian life, temple of the Trinity, and the place where Christ is spiritually formed in souls.
Reference: Grignion de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, nn. 217–221.
A Devotion Both Dogmatic and Formative
It would be mistaken to consider this Marian dimension as secondary or merely devotional. It touches the very heart of the Christian mystery: the Incarnation, the Trinity, Christology, Ecclesiology, and interior life. It was also deeply formative: in all these institutes, devotion to Mary was structural to priestly life—not as an optional pious practice, but as a means of configuration to Christ.
Mary is where the priest learns to beget Christ in souls. She is the model of all spiritual formation, just as she was the first to educate the Word made flesh. It is really from her school that we truly learn Christ. (see what Pope John Paul II says about being at the school of Mary)
Conclusion
The true Tridentine reform in France cannot be fully understood without this Marian dimension. The grace initially received by Bérulle and transmitted through Montfort forms a coherent lineage linking mysticism, dogma, and priestly formation. To rediscover this dimension today, in a Church yearning for renewed spiritual and priestly formation, may well be one of the keys to a truly rooted and fruitful renewal.
Select Bibliography
- Brémond, Henri. Histoire littéraire du sentiment religieux en France, Plon, 1916–1933.
- Faillon, Étienne-Michel. Vie de M. Olier, Paris, 1873.
- Saint John Eudes. Le Cœur admirable de la très sainte Mère de Dieu, Migne, 1864.
- Grignion de Montfort. True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, various editions.
- Condren, Charles de. Œuvres complètes, Migne, 1858.
- Philippe Lécrivain. The French School of Spirituality, Cerf, 2010.
- Louis Bouyer. Spirituality of the New Testament and the Fathers, Cerf, 1950.
Jesus Living in Mary
O Jesus, living in Mary,
come and live in your servants:
in the spirit of your holiness,
in the fullness of your power,
in the perfection of your ways,
in the truth of your virtues,
in the communion of your divine mysteries.
Rule over every hostile power,
in your Spirit,
to the glory of the Father.
Amen.
This prayer has been recited by generations of Sulpicians and seminarians. It still is today. It can be considered Olier’s most widespread and well-known text. Paradoxically, however, it is not very original. In fact, it is a prayer he borrowed from Charles de Condren, his spiritual director. Nevertheless, he left a decisive personal mark on it, since Condren did not mention the Virgin Mary. There are several versions of this prayer. We have chosen the one most commonly used.
Olier calls for the coming of Jesus into his servants—those who have accepted Him as their Lord, that is, those who want to belong to Him entirely, to be consecrated to Him in their whole existence and in the depths of their being. But we already know that Jesus maintains a very different relationship with His servants than human masters do. Does He not call them His friends? And does He not come to dwell in them? We, too, who desire to be servants of Jesus, can express this desire: that Jesus come to dwell in us, so that He may grant us a share in His Spirit, so that we may be clothed with His sentiments.
He comes to live in us; thus is fulfilled Paul’s word: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). He wants to live in us in His spirit of holiness—that is, He wants to sanctify us through His Spirit. He wants to communicate to us the fullness of His strength—that is, He wants us to be indwelt by the power of His resurrection. He wants to lead us along His most perfect ways, to root us in the most true and profound dynamism of His life, to allow His mysteries—that is, all the concrete forms in which His life was accomplished up to His death—to unfold within our own life and death.
It is easy to understand why Olier would mention the Virgin Mary and the life of Jesus in her. Was she not the first to welcome the Word—first by faith, then in her flesh, because of that faith? Was she not the first to surrender to the Spirit, the first to commune with the mysteries of Jesus, the first to share so intimately His movement toward the Father?
From childhood, Olier showed a tender devotion and a respectfully familiar relationship with the Virgin Mary. He himself recounts in his Memoirs how, feeling unloved by his own mother, he would turn readily to Mary. He kept throughout his life this closeness to her who gave him access to her Son, and whom he frequently invoked amid the events of daily life.
Soon after his definitive conversion at Loreto in Italy—which he attributed to her intercession—he made a “vow of servitude” to Mary. This was a common practice of the time, originating in Spain, whereby one committed to belong to Mary in order to belong more perfectly to Christ.
Today, the term “servitude” may make us uncomfortable, as it evokes slavery; but in the 17th century, it clearly referred to “slavery” in the Pauline sense—the kind that leads to freedom in Christ. In fact, the vow of servitude was a form of private consecration to Mary, normally followed by a consecration to Jesus Himself, which is precisely what Olier did.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, welcoming Him in an unprecedented way—so great was her capacity for grace—the Virgin Mary is both the image and the first realisation, the first fruits, of the Church. In her, said Olier, the Spirit found an immense depth of obedience, and he marvelled to see in Mary all that the Spirit of God would one day pour out upon the whole Church.
In the painting commissioned from Charles Le Brun for the chapel of the Saint-Sulpice Seminary on the theme of Pentecost, the artist depicted Mary above the disciples, receiving the fire of the Spirit which rests upon her and then divides into tongues of fire over the apostles. It is clear that Mary here is the image of the Church.
Speaking during Advent to one of his spiritual sons about the importance of the mystery of the Incarnation for Christian life, Olier suggested preparing for it through the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which he said invites us “to adore that of the Son” (i.e., the conception, the incarnation of the Son)… “to teach us that this divine Saviour would wish to be conceived in the heart of the whole Church, and would wish to establish in it His dwelling, His life, and His reign, just as He did in the particular nature He chose in Mary, when He united Himself in her to our humanity.”
Another feast held great importance for Olier: the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, on 21 November, which he established as the patronal feast of the Seminary. It symbolised Mary’s offering of herself and her total availability.
Olier also emphasised the close union between Jesus and Mary—not only because of their mother-son relationship, but primarily because Jesus communicates to His mother, who received Him in faith, the very life He possesses in its fullness: He shares with her His Spirit, His gifts, His immense treasures, His very life. In a word, He gives Himself entirely to her.
Between the Son and the Mother, then, there takes place a marvelous exchange, as the Christmas liturgy says. Mary gave Christ His humanity; He, in turn, gave her His divine life. While she carried Him within her, Mary was the world of Jesus: Mary was everything to Him. She was His nourishment, His life, His dwelling, His temple. In return, Jesus sanctified His mother. And this interior exchange continued throughout Jesus’ life, through all His mysteries in which she intimately participated.
It was throughout her entire life that Mary lived this communion with her Son, even to the cross. Olier himself, during his ministry as parish priest of Saint-Sulpice, faced many difficulties. In one of his letters to Marie Rousseau—the woman who greatly helped him and was instrumental in his conversion—he spoke of Mary’s unwavering faith during the Passion and death of Jesus to exhort himself, and her as well, to stand firm amid trials and temptations: “During all that time (the time of the Passion), all the disciples, except for Saint John, abandoned the Son of God. But the Holy Virgin remained unshaken in her faith in her Son, and in her esteem for His greatness. Remain with her, recollected in silence and peace, at the foot of Jesus’ cross. Remain intimately united to the strength of that divine Mother, whom Holy Scripture presents to us as standing on Calvary, to express the strength of her heart and her constancy in the tribulation of the Cross, which was beyond all expression.”
Thus, Mary is the model of Christians who welcome Christ in faith so that He may live His mysteries in them.
Source:
Pitaud, Bernard, P.S.S.
See also