by Simeon Coffey, 9th Grade

At the Saint Louis de Montfort Academy the feast of Our Lady of Good Success is a highly venerated and joyously celebrated feast day of one of the many glorious titles of Our Lady. Our Lady of Good Success appeared to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres of the Conceptionist convent in Quito, Ecuador when Mother Mariana was only twenty. She received several visions beginning in 1582. These included prophecies of the evils which were to come in our times. The Saint Louis de Montfort Academy students and staff take great heed to these messages, celebrating this feast of Our Lady as seriously as possible.

The Saint Louis de Montfort Academy’s ceremonies began with the developing tradition of the Rosary of the Dusk, consisting of a solemn rosary procession praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary are prayed in reparation for the sins Our Lady prophesied would come in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Following this procession was the singing of the Lamentations of Jeramiah and a proclamation of our devotion to her. Then a procession went inside. The students and staff venerated relics of Our Lady and of Mother Mariana. Following the ceremonies was delightful conversation and a wonderfully prepared meal. The next morning was the Rosary of the Dawn: a tradition which has been followed for decades in Quito, if not centuries. All of these ceremonies show the importance of Our Lady of Good Success to the Saint Louis de Montfort Academy and how we wish she should be venerated around the globe.

As the world around us continues to fall further into sin and further away from God, we must take great heed to the prophecies of Our Lady and do whatever we can to make reparation for all our modern evils. Rather than flee from these messages, we should celebrate them joyously and with a fervent desire to be more united with Our Lady, and to be ardent knights in face of the evils of our world.