A great son of Mary: St. Louis de Montfort

Pope St. John Paul II said, "The reading of this book was a decisive turning-point in my life ... This ‘perfect devotion’ is indispensable to anyone who means to give himself without reserve to Christ and to the work of redemption ... It is from Montfort that I have taken my motto: ‘Totus tuus’ (‘I am all thine’)."

By Kimberly Bruce

Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. The mere mention of his name makes my heart leap with joy. The millions who have consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary using his renowned book, True Devotion to Mary, will likely feel their hearts respond in much the same way. 

Today, Montfort’s love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is what he’s most well-known for. Some of his best-selling spiritual books are The Secret of Mary, and The Secret of the Rosary.

A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, first published in 1843, is considered to be the greatest single book on the Blessed Virgin Mary ever written, and his call to Marian consecration served as the basis for the international Marian Press bestseller 33 Days to Morning Glory.

Regarding True Devotion to Mary, Pope St. John Paul II said:

The reading of this book was a decisive turning-point in my life ... This ‘perfect devotion’ is indispensable to anyone who means to give himself without reserve to Christ and to the work of redemption ... It is from Montfort that I have taken my motto: ‘Totus tuus’ (‘I am all thine’).

Eucharistic devotion
Born in 1673 in Montfort-la-Canne, France, Louis’ family name was Grignion, to which he later added  “of (de) Montfort.” From childhood, Louis possessed a tremendous devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. By the time he was 12, he would stop daily at church before and after each of his classes at the Jesuit college at Rennes. During holiday breaks from school, he was active in a young men’s society that ministered to the poor, visited the sick in hospitals, and read to patients during mealtimes.

At the age of 19, Louis travelled by foot to Paris to begin his theological studies. Ever devoted to the poor, Louis gave away all his money during the journey, even exchanging his very clothes with some folks. He vowed to live only on alms from then on. He was ordained a priest at the age of 27 and became a hospital chaplain. In 1706, Pope Clement XI appointed Montfort a “missionary apostolic,” and he began travelling from town to town, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. He was known as a great orator who spoke simply and with fire.

'Blessed be God!'
Father Louis was a man of constant prayer who considered persecutions and humiliations (of which he encountered many) as joy. Once, he spent 15 months with several hundred peasants constructing a monumental Calvary upon a local hill. The Jansenists (who heretically denied man’s free will in accepting and utilizing grace) were always maddened by Fr. Louis’ successes. They convinced the governor that it was a fortress he was building, and the king ordered it destroyed. Hundreds of peasants were forced to tear it all down. Father Louis’ response to this crushing defeat was his noted exclamation: “Blessed be God!”

The Jansenists, vexed by him, next worked to effectively banish him from a district where he was giving a mission. He also suffered poisoning in La Rochelle, never fully recovering despite taking an antidote. This poisoning caused him continual health problems for the rest of his life. He dodged another attempted assassination during a planned walk down a particular street. 

Religious foundations
Finally, two years before Fr. Louis’ death, he founded two orders that he had long wished to start: the Company of Mary (for men), and the Sisters (or Daughters) of Wisdom (for women). By the early 1900s, houses of Daughters of Wisdom were in virtually every country, instructing some 60,000 children. The Company of Mary was initially led by a reluctant priest, Fr. Mulot, who suffered from poor health. As prophesied by Fr. Louis, the moment Fr. Mulot began to preach at his first mission, he was instantly cured of the paralysis that he had suffered on one whole side of his body and of a lung infection.

Father Louis died on April 28, 1716 at the age of 43. He was canonized a saint in 1947 by Pope Pius XII and continues to summon expressions of love and thanksgiving from the millions of servants of Our Lady that he has encouraged us to be.

Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, pray for us! 
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