Everything about Louis De Montfort totally explained
St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, was a
French priest and
Catholic saint, born on
31 January,
1673 in the small town of
Montfort-sur-Meu, ordained to the priesthood in Paris in
June 1700, and died at
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre on
28 April 1716. He was known as a preacher in his time and as an author, whose books are widely read to the present day.
He is considered as one of the early proponents of the field of
Mariology as it's known today, and a candidate to become a
Doctor of the Church. His
founders statute by Giacomo Parisini is now placed at the Upper Niche of the South Nave within
Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
Early Years
He was the eldest surviving child of the large family of Jean-Baptiste Grignion, a notary, and his wife Jeanne Robert who was known for being deeply Catholic. He passed most of his infancy and early childhood in
Iffendic, a few miles from Montfort, where his father had bought a farm. At the age of 12, he entered the
Jesuit College of St Thomas Becket in
Rennes.
At some time during his college days, he became aware of a call to the priesthood, and at the end of his ordinary schooling, began his studies of philosophy and theology, still at St Thomas in Rennes.
Listening to the stories of a local priest, the Abbé Julien Bellier, about his life as an itinerant missionary, he was inspired to preach missions among the very poor. And, under the guidance of some other priests he began to develop his strong devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
He was then given the opportunity, through a benefactor, to go to Paris to study at the renowned Seminary of
Saint-Sulpice towards the end of 1693. When he arrived in Paris, it was to find that his benefactor hadn't provided enough money for him, so he lodged in a succession of boarding houses, living among the very poor, in the meantime attending the Sorbonne University for lectures in theology. After less than two years, he became very ill and had to be hospitalized. Somehow he survived his hospitalization and the blood letting that was part of his treatment at the time.
Upon his release from the hospital, to his surprise he found himself with a place reserved at the Little
Saint-Sulpice, which he entered in July 1695. Saint-Sulpice had been founded by Jean-Jacques Olier, one of the leading exponents of what came to be known as the
French school of spirituality. Given that he was appointed the librarian, his time at Saint-Sulpice, gave him the opportunity to study most of the available works on spirituality and, in particular, on the Virgin Mary's place in the Christian life. This later lead to his focus on the Holy
Rosary and his acclaimed book the
Secret of the Rosary.
From priest to preacher
He was ordained a priest in June 1700, and assigned to
Nantes. His letters of this period show that he felt frustrated from the lack of opportunity to preach as he felt he was called to do. He considered various options, even that of becoming a hermit, but the conviction that he was called to "preach missions to the poor" increased. Five months after his ordination, in November 1700, he wrote: :"I am continually asking in my prayers for a poor and small company of good priests to preach missions and retreats under the standard and protection of the Blessed Virgin". This initial thought eventually led to the formation of the
Company of Mary. At around this time, he first met
Blessed Marie Louise Trichet when he was appointed the chaplain of the hospital of
Poitiers. That meeting became the beginning of Blessed Marie Louise's thirtyfour years of service to the poor.
Frustrated with the local bishops, he set off to make a pilgrimage to
Rome, to ask
Pope Clement XI, what he should do. The Pope recognised his real vocation and, telling him that there was plenty of scope for its exercise in France, sent him back with the title of Apostolic Missionary.
For several years he preached in missions from Brittany to Nantes, and his reputation as a great missioner grew, and he became known as "the good Father from Montfort". At
Pontchateau he attracted thousands of people to help him in the construction of a huge
Calvary. This was to be the cause of one of his greatest disappointments, for the very eve of its blessing, the Bishop, having heard that it was to be destroyed on the orders of the King of France under the influence of members of the
Jansenist school, forbade its benediction. It is reported that upon receiving this news, ho told the thousands awaiting the blessing:
"We had hoped to build a Calvary here; let us build it in our hearts. Blessed be God."
Final years
He left Nantes and the next several years were extraordinarily busy for him. He was constantly occupied in preaching missions, always travelling on foot between one and another. Yet he found time also to write - his
True Devotion to Mary, the
Secret of Mary and the
Secret of the Rosary, rules for the
Company of Mary and the
Daughters of Wisdom, and many Hymns. His missions made a great impact, especially in the
Vendée.
The heated style of his preaching was regarded by some people as somewhat strange and he was poisoned once. Although it didn't prove fatal, it caused his health to deteriorate. Yet he continued, undeterred. He went on preaching and established free schools for the poor boys and girls.
Daughters of Wisdom
The bishop of
La Rochelle had been impressed with Montfort for some time and invited him to open a school there. Montfort enlisted the help of his follower
Marie Louise Trichet who was then running the General Hospital in
Poitiers. In 1715 Marie Louise and Catherine Brunet left Poitiers for La Rochelle to open the school there and in a short time it had 400 students.
On August 22, 1715, Blessed
Marie Louise Trichet and Catherine Brunet, along with Marie Valleau and Marie Régnier from La Rochelle received the approbation of Bishop de Champflour of
La Rochelle to perform their religious profession under the direction of Montfort. At the ceremony Montfort told them: "
Call yourselves the Daughters of Wisdom, for the teaching of children and the care of the poor." The
Daughters of Wisdom grew into an international organization and the placing of Montfort's
founders statute in
Saint Peter's Basilica was based on that organization.
Death and burial
Worn out by hard work and sickness, he finally came in April 1716 to
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre to begin the mission which was to be his last. During it, he fell ill and died on 28 April 1716. He was 43 years old, and had been a priest for only 16 years. His last sermon was on the tenderness of Jesus and the Incarnate Wisdom of the Father. Thousands gathered for his burial in the parish church, and very quickly there were stories of miracles performed at his tomb.
Exactly 43 years later to the day of his death, on April 28th 1759
Marie Louise Trichet also died in
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre and was buried next to Montfort. Over two centuries later, on September 19th 1996,
Pope John-Paul II (who beatified
Marie Louise Trichet) came to the same site to meditate and pray on the adjacent tombs of Saint Louis and Blessed
Marie Louise Trichet in
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre.
Legacy and Impact on the Catholic Church
He was a priest and a preacher for only 16 years, often having risked everything along the way. Some years before his death, he wrote to the Blessed
Marie Louise Trichet, the first Daughter of Wisdom:
» "If we don't risk anything for God we'll never do anything great for Him."
But it's worth noting that based on his autobiography, his sixteen years of priesthood include many months of solitude, perhaps as many as a total of four years: at the cave of Mervent, amidst the beauty of the forest, at the hermitage of Saint Lazarus near the village of Montfort, at the hermitage of Saint Eloi in
La Rochelle, at Mont Saint-Michel, etc. This gave him time to think, contemplate and write.
Sainthood and congregations
He was
beatified by Pope
Leo XIII in
1888 and
canonized by
Pius XII in
1947. His feast day is celebrated by the Church on
28 April.
The saint's birthplace and tomb are now sites of "Montfortian pilgrimages" with about 25,000 visitors each year. The house in which he was born is at No 15, Rue de la Saulnerie in
Montfort-sur-Meu. It is now jointly owned by the three Montfortian congregations he formed: the Montfort Missionaries, the
Daughters of Wisdom and the Brothers of St Gabriel. The
Basilica of Saint Louis de Montfort at
Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre is an impressive structure that attracts a good number of pilgrims each year.
The congregations de Montfort left behind, the
Company of Mary, the
Daughters of Wisdom, and the
Brothers of Saint Gabriel (whose congregation developed from the group of lay-brothers gathered round him), grew and spread, first in France, then throughout the world.
Influence on Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II once recalled how as a young seminarian he "read and reread many times and with great spiritual profit" a work of de Montfort and that:
» "Then I understood that I couldn't exclude the Lord's Mother from my life without neglecting the will of God-Trinity"
According to his
Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, the pontif's personal motto "
Totus Tuus" was inspired by St. Louis' doctrine on the excellence of
Marian devotion and total consecration, which he quoted:
» “Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ.
» Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ."
The thoughts, writings, and example of St. Louis de Montfort, an example of the
French school of spirituality, were also singled out by
Pope John Paul II's encyclical
Redemptoris Mater as a distinctive witness of
Marian spirituality in the
Catholic tradition. In an address to the Montfortian Fathers, the pontiff also said that his reading the saint's work
True Devotion to Mary was a "decisive turning point" in his life.
God Alone: Montfortian spirituality
God Alone was the motto of Saint Louis and is repeated over 150 time in his writings.
God Alone is also the title of his collected writings. Briefly speaking, based on his writings, Montfortian spirituality can be summed up via the formula: "To God Alone, by Christ Wisdom, in the Spirit, in communion with Mary, for the reign of God."
Although St Louis is perhaps best-known for his
Mariology and devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, his spirituality is founded on the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, and is centered on Christ. But the Virgin Mary is, of course, a key element in his spirituality.
Grignion de Montfort's approach of "total consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary" had a strong impact on
Marian devotion both in popular piety and in the spirituality of
religious orders. As one of the classical writers of Christian spirituality, Saint Louis de Montfort is a candidate to become a
Doctor of the Church. His book
True Devotion to Mary has been considered one the most influential
Marian books.
St. Louis was a strong believer in the
power of the rosary and his popular book
The Secret of the Rosary is approved by the Catholic church and is an easily readable, yet multi-perspective approach to the Holy
Rosary. It provides specific
methods for praying the rosary with more devotion. It has been read by Catholics worldwide for over two centuries and is one of the earliest works to establish modern
Mariology.
Further Information
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