Saint Louis Marie de Montfort 17th C.

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was born on January 31, 1673, and he died on April 28, 1716. He was one of eighteen children, and he was the eldest surviving. He entered a Jesuit college when he was twelve years old. Saint Louis Marie de Montfort wrote several books that went on to become classics, including Secret of the Rosary and True Devotion to Mary. He also influenced several popes. He also founded religious communities, including the Company of Mary. Do you think he is the Catholic Saint with the biggest difference between notoriety and effect?

This handout picture released by the Vatican Press Office on March 12, 2013, shows cardinals following a grand mass at St. Peter’s Basilica before the start of a papal election conclave on March 12, 2013, at the Vatican. Cardinals moved into the Vatican today as the suspense mounted ahead of a secret papal election with no clear frontrunner to steer the Catholic world through troubled waters after Benedict XVI’s historic resignation.

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort Biography

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was born in 1673 in Montfort-sur-Meu, France. His father was a notary who died when he was young. At the end of his ordinary schooling at the Thomas Beckett College, the Jesuit School, he began his studies of philosophy and theology, still at St Thomas in Rennes. In his youth, he listened to stories of priests, and he was inspired to minister to the poor, and he developed a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort went to Paris in late 1693 to study at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice. However, he became seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. His illness was par for the course for saints. After his hospitalization, which included a blood letting, his place was reserved for him at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice.  He was appointed the seminary’s librarian, which 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. which led to his devotion to Mary and the rosary.

Even as a seminarian in Paris, Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was known for his veneration of angels: he “urged his confreres to show marks of respect and tenderness to their guardian angels” and often ended his letters with a salutation to the guardian angel of the person to whom he was writing.

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was ordained a priest in June 1700 and was assigned to Nantes, France. In November 1710, he joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic and asked permission not only to preach the rosary but also to form rosary confraternities. Desiring to be a missionary, Montfort made a pilgrimage to Rome to ask the advice of Pope Clement XI. The Pope said yes, but did not send him to Canada as he wanted, but instead, for several years, he preached in missions from Brittany to Nantes. As his reputation as a missionary grew, he became known as “the good Father from Montfort.”

Montfort left Nantes, and the next several years were extraordinarily busy for him. He was constantly occupied in preaching missions, always walking 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, and many hymns. He also founded several religious communities. Saint Louis Marie de Montfort died April 28, 1716. He was only 43 years old and had only been a priest for 16 years.

Conclusion

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort accomplished a lot in only 16 years. The gap between his notoriety, he is not well known, and what he accomplished (he wrote 17 books), was a poet, wrote hymns, and founded several religious communities. For this reason, there are over 100 biographies written of him. However, he was just canonized in 1947. He is worth knowing.