Fr. Pio Bruno Lanteri was a man on fire with the desire to become a saint. At first, he tried to attain his goal by joining the most rigorous religious congregation in the Church, the Carthusians. After just eight days, however, the silence, prayer vigils, and fasting became too much for him, and he had to leave. Though deeply disappointed, Lanteri didn’t give up his goal. Because of his weakness, however, he figured he’d have to find a particularly powerful way to the height of holiness. Sometime later, he went on an Ignatian retreat for the first time. To his great joy, he found exactly what he’d been looking for: an extraordinarily powerful way by which even someone like him could become a saint.

Lanteri was so overjoyed at discovering the Spiritual Exercises retreat that he dedicated his life to sharing it with others. With ardent seal and enthusiasm, he invited people to make his version of it, telling them it provides everything a person needs to become “a saint, a great saint, and quickly.”… He had such confidence in the power of his Ignatian retreats because he gave them with a particular emphasis, what one might call his “secret weapons.” What were Lanteri’s secret weapons? The very same things that later saints would emphasize in their “quick” and extraordinarily effective ways to holiness, namely, Divine Mercy and Mary… Divine Mercy and Marian devotion today are truly powerful means for all to grow in holiness.

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