As mentioned in the last article, the Catholic association “Aa” had an impenetrable secrecy that protected its activities, but it makes it difficult today to know how it was organized and what impact it had.
However, from the beginning, it was known to be an association reserved mainly for young men preparing for the priesthood. During the seventeenth century, future priests did not necessarily enter seminaries. They often studied philosophy and theology in universities. However, university life with the other students was not conducive to priestly formation. Numerous associations helped compensate for its drawbacks. These included the Marian Sodalities, where aspiring priests found an environment more in keeping with their vocation.
Aa was one such society. At first, it was intended for theology students and recruited members from among the sodalities. Later, it became independent and broadened its field of action. Then, Aas appeared for philosophy students and seminarians. After ordination, the new priests returned to their dioceses, and their membership in the association ceased. However, they remained united to it by the strong bonds forged by a common life of piety and apostolic endeavors. They continued to be interested in Aa’s destinies, preserved its spirituality, and helped each other in the apostolate. They also promoted the foundation of new nuclei and attended the associations when possible. In short, they no longer belonged to it legally but retained the characteristics of true members.
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As Aa arose within the Marian Sodalities, it encouraged a spirituality based on Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s teachings. However, it was also greatly influenced by the currents of spirituality in vogue in France. Indeed, the Collège de Clermont’s first nucleus gave the association its own imprint with a characteristic mentality. Its members were supposed to cultivate devotion to Saint Joseph, the Holy Angels, and, above all, the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is Aa’s devotion,” says its statutes. All members were required to make a solemn profession to Her. They considered her the Queen whose glory they wished to promote, their Mother and recourse in all their needs. After the most Holy Name of Jesus, Mary’s name was most frequently on their lips. They invoked it with the greatest confidence and strove to make her known, loved, and praised by all those with whom they worked.
Slavery to Mary Most Holy, then taking its first steps, was Aa’s preferred Marian devotion. Later, Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort became its doctor and apostle. Pierre Cardinal de Berulle 1 advised those desiring greater perfection to consecrate themselves to Our Lady as slaves. Although the devotion met with harsh opposition, many generous souls responded to his appeal. Gradually, this stellar Marian devotion began to spread throughout France.
Father Henri Marie Boudon, future Archdeacon of Evreux and one of Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort’s forerunners was among the first members of Aa’s initial group. Slavery to Our Lady was imprinted on the spirit that always inspired the association. In Aa’s early days, still young, Henri Boudon begged for alms to pay for his studies and was known in Paris as the “Halle Street beggar.” When Monsignor François de Montmorency-Laval resigned from the Evreux archdeaconate, he appointed Father Boudon as his replacement. In his new position as archdeacon, Father Boudon became famous for his heroic patience in resisting the attacks of his enemies. The holy books he wrote made him one of the most widely-read spiritual authors of his time. His volume on Marian slavery, titled Dieu Seul, ou la Sainte Esclavage de l’Admirable Mère de Dieu (Only God, the Holy Slavery of the Admirable Mother of God), was widely circulated. Canon Jean-Baptiste Blain, a friend of Sanit Louis Grignion de Montfort, says it was one of that saint’s favorite works.
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Aa members practiced slavery to Our Lady. Their written formulas of consecration reveal the forerunners of Father Boudon’s profound influence on the formation of the association’s spirituality.
As we said, the Aa Treatise (by-laws) allowed every nucleus to choose the acts of piety to practice in common while generally recommending the most used ones. It reads: “As we in the Aa have professed to strive for the most sublime perfection, we despise none of the means which may help this great work. Mental prayer, spiritual readings, exterior and interior mortifications, attendance at the sacraments, pious lectures have always been usual practices.” However, a weekly piety meeting was obligatory. There was a monthly meeting at which members studied measures to ensure exact observance of the rules and discussed practices to help members attain sainthood.
The manner of conducting these meetings was also uniform and regulated by the Treatise. Weekly meetings began with the Veni Creator and the Aa prayer, recited by the commissioner. In addition to the rules, the Portable Director 2 contained a repository of lectures for such occasions. The commissioner would give a talk or read one recommended by the Portable Director. He would invite those present to speak, starting with the one to his right. When everyone had spoken, the commissioner summarized what was said. He then opened a free debate that lasted until the end of the session. The meeting closed with the recitation of an antiphon of Our Lady and the prescribed prayers. They followed the same method in the monthly meetings, but topics were limited to issues related to the association’s internal life.
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In general terms, Aa’s unity and cohesion resulted much more from its governing principles and members’ ardent desire for sanctification than from the organization’s regulations. The Aa withstood revolutionary persecutions because of the autonomy each nucleus enjoyed. During most of the seventeenth century and the entire eighteenth century, its wholesome action was widely felt in the life of the Church. There are known traces of its existence in the nineteenth century, but it is impossible to specify when its activities ended.
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