St. Louis-Marie Gringot 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.
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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 had not 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. 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 did not prove fatal, it caused his health to deteriorate. Yet he continued, undeterred. He established free schools for the poor boys and girls and the congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom was formed with the help of Blessed Marie Louise Trichet. 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. Almost three centuries later, on September 19th 1996, Pope John-Paul II 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.
Sainthood and legacy
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. 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. One of his well known followers was Pope John Paul II. According to his encyclical 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 congregations he 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. 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 do not risk anything for God we will never do anything great for Him."
But it is 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. His book True Devotion to Mary has been considered one the most influential Marian books. The thoughts, writings, and example of St. Louis de Montfort, an example of the French school of spirituality, were 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 The True Devotion to Mary was a "decisive turning point" in his life. 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 has been read by Catholics worldwide for over two centuries.
See also
References
- de Montfort, St. Louis. Preparation for Total Consecration according to the Method of St. Louis de Montfort. Bay Shore NY: Montfort Publications, 2001.
- Doherty, Eddie. Wisdom's Fool: A biography of St. Louis de Montfort. Bay Shore NY: Montfort Publications, 1993.
- de Montfort, St. Louis-Marie Grignion. True Devotion to Mary. translated by Mark L. Jacobson, Aventine Press, 2007 (ISBN 1593304706).
- de Montfort, St. Louis. Secret of the Rosary ISBN 978-0895550569.
- Biography of Saint Louis de Montfort http://ebisreligiousicons.com/montfort/bgraphy.html
- Biography of Saint Louis de Montfort http://www.montfort.org/English/LifeLM.htm
- Pope John Paul II on de Montfort http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/1402/857/
- Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater http://www.cin.org/jp2ency/jp2mot.html
- Pope John Paul II's encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html
External links
- Entry on the Catholic Encyclopedia about Saint Louis de Montfort
- Missionaries of the Company of Mary - Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Missionaries of Mary, founded by de Montfort
- Catholic Books including True Devotion to Mary free online
