To Defeat the Devil, Invoke the Virgin!

Victories were gained in Judea by means of the ark. Thus Moses conquered his enemies. “When the ark was lifted up, Moses said, Arise, oh Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered!” Thus Jericho was conquered; thus were the Philistines conquered; “for the ark of God was there.” It is well known that this ark was the type of Mary. As the ark contained the manna, thus Mary contained Jesus, whom the manna also prefigured, and by means of this ark, victories were gained over the enemies of earth and over hell.

Wherefore St. Bernardine of Sienna says that when Mary, the ark of the New Testament, was crowned queen of heaven, the power of hell over men was weakened and overthrown. “Oh, how the devils in hell,” says St. Bonaventure, “tremble at Mary and her great name!” The saint compares these enemies to those of whom Job makes mention and says: “He diggeth through houses in the dark …. If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death.”

Thieves enter houses in the dark to rob them, but when the dawn comes they flee, as if the image of death appeared to them. In the same manner, as St. Bonaventure expresses it, the demons enter into the soul in times of darkness, that is, when the soul is obscured by ignorance; they dig through the houses of our minds in the darkness of ignorance; but then, he adds, as soon as the grace and the mercy of Mary enter the soul, this beautiful aurora dissipates the darkness, and the infernal enemies flee as at the approach of death. Oh, blessed is he who always, in his conflicts with hell, invokes the beautiful name of Mary! In confirmation of this it was revealed to St. Bridget that God has given Mary such power over all evil spirits, that whenever they assail any of her servants who implore her aid, at the slightest sign from her they flee far away in terror, preferring that their pains should be redoubled rather than that Mary should domineer over them in this manner.

A Lapide remarks upon the words with which the divine spouse praises his beloved bride, when he calls her the lily, and says that as the lily is among thorns, so is his beloved among the other daughters ;* that, as the lily is a remedy against serpents and poisons, so the invocation of Mary is a special remedy for overcoming all temptations, particularly those of impurity, as they who have tried it have universally experienced. St. John of Damascus said, and every one may say the same who is so happy as to be devoted to this great queen : Oh, mother of God, if I trust in thee, I shall surely not be vanquished ; for, defended by thee, I will pursue my enemies, and opposing to them thy protection and thy powerful support as a shield, I shall surely conquer them. James the Monk, reputed a doctor among the Greek fathers, discoursing of Mary to our Lord, says : Thou, oh my Lord, hast given us this mother for a powerful defence against all our enemies.

( St. Alphonsus d’ Liguori, Glories of Mary)