Saint Louis de Montfort

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, French priest and Catholic saint, born in 31 January 1673 at Montfort and died at Saint Laurent sur Sevre on 28 April 1716.

St. Louis was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 and canonized by Pius XII in 1947.

The saint served as a missionary among the people of Brittany and the Vendee.

St. Louis de Montfort was known for having directed the construction of a calvary among enthusiastic peasants. The King of France, however, under the influence of members of the Jansenist school, was later to order it destroyed. It is reported that upon receiving this disturbing news, he was not perturbed but only declared, "Blessed be God!" St. Louis' spirituality placed great emphasis on the value of obedience.

The thought, writings, and example of St. Louis de Montfort have been singled out in an encyclical by the late Pope John Paul II as a distinctive witness of Marian spirituality in the Catholic tradition; the pontiff also spoke of his reading the saint's work The True Devotion to Mary as a "turning point" in his life.

References

• Preparation for Total Consecration according to the Method of St. Louis de Montfort. The Montfort Missionaries. 2001.
• "St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort." The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1911. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09384a.htm