Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Roman
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and
confessor
Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways.
Confessor of the Faith
Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Pope Clement XI.
As well as preaching, Montfort found time to write a number of books which went on to become classic Catholic titles and influenced several popes. Montfort is known for his particular devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
and the practice of praying the rosary.
Montfort is considered one of the notable writers in the field of
Mariology
Mariology is the theological study of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mariology seeks to relate doctrine or dogma about Mary to other doctrines of the faith, such as those concerning Jesus and notions about redemption, intercession and grace. Chri ...
. His most notable works regarding
Marian devotions
Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Orie ...
are contained in ''
Secret of the Rosary
''The Secret of the Rosary'' is a book about the Holy Rosary written by Saint Louis de Montfort, a French priest and Catholic saint who died in 1716. The English translation of the book bears the Imprimatur of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy of the ...
'' and ''
True Devotion to Mary
''True Devotion to Mary'' is a book by Saint Louis de Montfort on the Roman Catholic theme of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
History
Written in 1712, the manuscript remained practically unknown for more than a century, when it was discov ...
''.
The Roman Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, canonized Montfort on 20 July 1947. A "founders statue" created by Giacomo Parisini is located in an upper niche of the south nave of
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
.
Early years
He was born in 1673 in
Montfort-sur-Meu
Montfort-sur-Meu (, literally ''Montfort on Meu''; br, Moñforzh) is a commune in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany in the northwest of France.
It is noted as the birthplace of the Roman Catholic Saint Louis de Montfort, who is co ...
, the eldest surviving child of eighteen born to Jean-Baptiste and Jeanne Robert Grignion. His father was a notary. Louis-Marie passed most of his infancy and early childhood in
Iffendic
Iffendic (; ; Gallo: ''Fendic'') is a commune in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany. It is located in the North West of France.
Geography
The towns nearby are Montfort-sur-Meu, La Nouaye, Bédée, Pleumeleuc, Saint-Gonlay, Talensac ...
, a few kilometers 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, where his uncle was a parish priest.Poulain, Augustin. "St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 21 Feb. 2013 /ref>
At the end of his ordinary schooling, he 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. Bellier was propagating among his students a
consecration and entrustment to Mary
The consecration and entrustment to the Virgin Mary is a personal or collective act of Marian devotion among Catholics, with the Latin terms ''oblatio'', ''servitus'', ''commendatio'' and ''dedicatio'' being used in this context. Consecration is a ...
. Under the guidance of Bellier and other priests, de Montfort began to develop his strong devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
.
He was then given the opportunity, through a benefactor, to go to Paris to study at the renowned Seminary of Saint-SulpiceFoley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media /ref> 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, but 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
The French School of spirituality was the principal devotional influence within the Catholic Church from the mid-17th century through the mid-20th century, not only in France but throughout the church in most of the world. A development of the Cat ...
. 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 led to his focus on the Holy Rosary and his acclaimed book the
Secret of the Rosary
''The Secret of the Rosary'' is a book about the Holy Rosary written by Saint Louis de Montfort, a French priest and Catholic saint who died in 1716. The English translation of the book bears the Imprimatur of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy of the ...
.
Devotion to the angels
Even as a seminarian in Paris, Montfort was known for the veneration he had toward the angels: he "urged his confreres to show marks of respect and tenderness to their guardian angels." He often ended his letters with a salutation to the guardian angel of the person to whom he was writing: "I salute your guardian angel". He also saluted all the angels in the city of Nantes, a custom that, it appears, he repeated when he entered a new village or city.''Jesus Living in Mary: Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort'', Montfort Publications, Litchfield, CT, 1994 /ref>
One of the reasons why Montfort had such devotion to the angels is that veneration of the pure spirits was an integral part of his training and also of his culture. His college teachers, the Jesuits, were known for their zeal in propagating devotion to the angels. Montfort's seminary training under the Sulpicians brought him into contact with the thought of Cardinal de Bérulle and Olier, both of whom had deep veneration for the angels. Furthermore, in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, manuals of piety and treatises on the pure spirits were numerous.
From priest to preacher
He was ordained a priest in June 1700, and assigned to Nantes. His great desire was to go to the foreign missions, preferably to the new French colony of Canada, but his spiritual director advised against it. 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.
In November 1700 he joined the Third Order of the Dominicans and asked permission not only to preach the rosary, but also to form rosary confraternities. He began to consider the formation of a small company of priests to preach missions and retreats under the standard and protection of the Blessed Virgin. This eventually led to the formation of the
Company of Mary
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The co ...
. At around this time, when he was appointed the chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, he first met Marie Louise Trichet. That meeting became the beginning of Marie Louise's 34 years of service to the poor.
Desiring to be a missionary, Montfort made a pilgrimage to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
to ask the advice of Pope Clement XI. The Pope recognized his real vocation and, telling him there was plenty of scope for its exercise in France, sent him back with the title of Apostolic Missionary.James, Theodore E. and Nevins, Albert J., ''Heart of Catholicism: Essential Writings of the Church from St. Paul to John Paul II'' 1997 On his return from his long pilgrimage to Rome, Montfort made a retreat at
Mont Saint Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.
The island lies approximately off the country's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is ...
"to pray to this archangel to obtain from him the grace to win souls for God, to confirm those already in God's grace, and to fight Satan and sin". These occasions gave him time to think, contemplate and write.
For several years he preached in missions from
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
to Nantes. As his reputation as a missioner grew, he became known as "the good Father from Montfort". At Pontchateau he attracted hundreds of people to help him in the construction of a huge Calvary. However, on the very eve of its blessing, the Bishop, having heard it was to be destroyed on the orders of the King of France under the influence of members of the
Jansenist
Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...
school, forbade its benediction. It is reported that upon receiving this news, he simply said, "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 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'', rules for the
Company of Mary
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The co ...
and the
Daughters of Wisdom
The Daughters of Wisdom is a Catholic religious institute of women founded by Louis de Montfort and Marie Louise Trichet in 1703 to serve those in need.
History
In 1703, when he was temporary chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, Louis de ...
, and many hymns. His missions made a great impact, especially in the
Vendée
Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.
.
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 went on preaching and established free schools for the poor boys and girls.
Daughters of Wisdom
The bishop of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
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 22 August 1715 Trichet and Brunet, along with Marie Valleau and Marie Régnier from La Rochelle, received the approbation of Bishop de Champflour of La Rochelle to make their religious profession under the direction of Montfort. At the ceremony Montfort told them: "Call yourselves the
Daughters of Wisdom
The Daughters of Wisdom is a Catholic religious institute of women founded by Louis de Montfort and Marie Louise Trichet in 1703 to serve those in need.
History
In 1703, when he was temporary chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, Louis de ...
, 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 statue'' in
Saint Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a Church (building), church built in the Renaissance architecture, Renaissanc ...
was based on that organization.
Death and burial
Montfort's 16 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, and at the hermitage of Saint Eloi in
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
.
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 of that year. 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, on April 28th 1759, Marie Louise Trichet also died in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre and was buried next to Montfort. On 19 September 1996 Pope
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
(who beatified Trichet) came to the same site to meditate and pray at their adjacent tombs.
In Montfort's approach to Marian consecration, Jesus and Mary are inseparable. He views "consecration to Jesus in Mary" as a special path to being conformed to, united and consecrated to Christ, given that
:''" ...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."''
:''"God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters, and He named it the sea (mare). He has made an assemblage of all His graces, and He has called it Mary (Maria)."''
According to Montfort, "Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way of approaching Jesus."
Montfort's process of ''Total Consecration'' has seven elements and effects: knowledge of one's unworthiness, sharing in Mary's faith, the gift of pure love, unlimited confidence in God and Mary, communication of the Spirit of Mary, transformation into the likeness of Jesus, and bringing more glory to Christ. Montfort's practice of consecration to Mary has both internal and external components. The internal components focus on surrendering oneself as a slave to Mary and to Jesus through her, and performing all actions "with Mary, in Mary, through Mary and for Mary". The suggested exterior practices include enrolment in Marian societies, or joining Marian religious orders, making Marian privileges known and appreciated, and giving alms in honor of Mary.
Louis de Montfort influenced a number of popes.
* In the 19th century, Pope Pius IX considered it the best and most acceptable form of Marian devotion, while
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
granted indulgences for practicing Montfort's method of Marian consecration. Leo beatified Montfort in 1888, selecting for Montfort's beatification the day of his own Golden Jubilee as a priest.
* In the 20th century Pope
Pius X
Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...
acknowledged the influence of Montfort's writings in the composition of his encyclical '' Ad diem illum''.Köster, Heinrich Maria ''die Magt des Herrn'', 1947, 54
* Pope
Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City f ...
stated that he had practiced Montfort's devotional methods since his early youth. Pope
Pius XII
Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia.
It may refer to:
People Popes
* Pope Pius (disambiguation)
* Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect
Given name
* Pius ...
declared Montfort a saint and stated that Montfort is the guide "who leads you to Mary and from Mary to Jesus."
* Pope
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
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 could not exclude the Lord's Mother from my life without neglecting the will of God-Trinity." According to his
Apostolic Letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
''
Rosarium Virginis Mariae
''Rosarium Virginis Mariae'' (''Rosary of the Virgin Mary'') is an Apostolic Letter by Pope John Paul II, issued on October 16, 2002, which declared from October 2002 to October 2003 as the "Year of the Rosary". It was published by Pope John Pau ...
'', the pontiff's personal motto was "
Totus Tuus
was routinely used to sign off letters written in Latin, meaning "all yours", often abbreviated as "t.t." (a variation was ). In recent history was used by Pope John Paul II as his personal motto to express his personal Consecration to Mar ...
." The thoughts, writings, and example of Louis de Montfort were also singled out by Pope John Paul II's encyclical ''
Redemptoris Mater
''Redemptoris Mater'' (Latin: ''Mother of the Redeemer'') is an encyclical by Pope John Paul II delivered on March 25, 1987 in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Subtitled ''On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the Pilgrim Church'', the text ad ...
'' as a distinctive witness of Marian spirituality in the Roman Catholic tradition.
Secret of the Rosary
''The Secret of the Rosary'' is a book about the Holy Rosary written by Saint Louis de Montfort, a French priest and Catholic saint who died in 1716. The English translation of the book bears the Imprimatur of Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy of the ...
* Letters of St. Louis Marie
* The Love of Eternal Wisdom
* Letter to the Friends of the Cross
* The Admirable secret of the Rosary
* Methods for Saying the Rosary
* The Secret of Mary
*
True Devotion to Mary
''True Devotion to Mary'' is a book by Saint Louis de Montfort on the Roman Catholic theme of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
History
Written in 1712, the manuscript remained practically unknown for more than a century, when it was discov ...
* Prayer for Missionaries
* Manuscript Rule of the Company of Mary
* Letter to the Members of the Company of Mary
* The "Wisdom Cross" of Poitiers
* Original Rule of the Daughters of Wisdom
* Letter to the Inhabitants of Montbernage
* Rules for Various Groups
* The Will of St. Louis Marie
* Morning and Night Prayers
Priest and poet
While Montfort is best known for his spiritual writings, he was also a poet and during his missions managed to compose more than 20,000 verses of hymns. Montfort's hymns and canticles were, for the most part, meant to be sung in village churches and in the homes of the poor. Some authors argue that a reading of Montfort's hymns is essential for an understanding of him as a man and for appreciating his approach to spirituality.
Based on the analysis of Bishop Hendrik Frehen of the Company of Mary, Montfortian hymns fall into two major categories: "inspired" and "didactic." The inspired canticles flow spontaneously, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine, or on the occasion of a joyful celebration. The didactic hymns took more effort and time to compose, and focus on instructional and informative qualities: they teach the audience through the use of a moral and a theme. After Montfort's death, the Company of Mary (which continued his work of preaching parish renewals) made great use of his hymns and used them as instruments of evangelization.
He is also said to have carved at least three statues depicting the Madonna and Child.
Legacy
Congregations de Montfort
The congregations Montfort left behind, the
Company of Mary
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The co ...
, the
Daughters of Wisdom
The Daughters of Wisdom is a Catholic religious institute of women founded by Louis de Montfort and Marie Louise Trichet in 1703 to serve those in need.
History
In 1703, when he was temporary chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, Louis de ...
, and the
Brothers of Saint Gabriel
The Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel (SG), otherwise Gabrielite Brothers or Frères de Saint-Gabriel (FSG), is a religious institute. Its roots go back to Louis de Montfort, who opened a few schools for poor children in La Rochelle, France, in ...
(which congregation developed from the group of lay-brothers gathered around him), grew and spread, first in France, then throughout the world.Montfortian Religious Family /ref>
The Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará follow the spirituality of Louis de Montfort.
Montfort'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
Montfort-sur-Meu (, literally ''Montfort on Meu''; br, Moñforzh) is a commune in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany in the northwest of France.
It is noted as the birthplace of the Roman Catholic Saint Louis de Montfort, who is co ...
Montfort Secondary School
Montfort Secondary School (MSS) is a Catholic school in Hougang, Singapore. Founded in 1916, it is a government-aided secondary education all-boys school. It is one of the seven institutions governed by St Gabriel's Foundation.
History
H ...
in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
, and the Montfort Academy, a private secondary school in Mount Vernon, New York.
Biographies
There are more than a hundred biographies written of Montfort. They differ in how they reflect the ecclesial and cultural milieu within which each was written.
The first four biographies of Montfort, by Grandet, Blain, Besnard, and Picot de Clorivières, were all written in the eighteenth century. They reflect the hagiographical method current then—the devotional biography. Such an approach reflected little of the critical sensibility that had dominated most of the seventeenth century through the works of the Bollandists, the memorialists of Port-Royal, and Jean de Launoy. They sought to edify, praise, eulogize, and idealize. Such early biographies are filled with anachronism, incoherence, and over-generalization. Despite such limitations, Montfort's early biographers provide valuable material. They have preserved eyewitness accounts and original documents, and they offer a solid historical foundation for reconstructing many of the truths of Montfort's life.De Fiores, S., "Various Interpretations Of Montfort's Personality",''Jesus Living in Mary: Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort'', Montfort Publications, Litchfield, CT, 1994 /ref>
The nineteenth century's "romanticized" conception of history influenced hagiography in two main ways. 1) Although a biography should relive the outer events of a saint's past, it was more important to describe the interior drama of his soul. 2) The nineteenth-century biographies of Montfort reflect this historiographic orientation. Two biographies were prepared for the Montfort's beatification, one by Fonteneau and the other by Persiani. The latter is almost a translation of the former (1887). They limited themselves to recounting the events that took place and did not go into Montfort's psychology. On the other hand, Pauvert (1875) published a collection of Montfort's unpublished letters and established a chronology of the first years of his priesthood. A. Crosnier's biography (1927) was also influenced by nineteenth-century romanticism. Just before Montfort's canonization appeared De Luca (1943). The author took into account the literary and spiritual milieu of seventeenth-century France and attempted to introduce his readers to Montfort's spiritual life, pointing out "phases" in Montfort's growth and development.
Of the different genres of biography that purport to describe the events of someone's life, the "realistic" biography is popular with some today. Such a method is apparent in the four works dedicated by Louis Perouas to Grignion de Montfort (1966, 1973, 1989, 1990). The author separated himself from his predecessors by describing Montfort, his life, and his pastoral work using a historical-critical and psycho-sociological approach. Perouas held that the Breton saint's path was a "tormented journey" because he had difficulty dealing with a strained relationship with his father, who was known for his violent temper. His long and arduous journey toward a balanced life came to a "certain maturation for Father de Montfort when he was in his forties." Generally more acceptable than Perouas’ Freudian psychological interpretation is his understanding of Montfort's ministry in the context of the sociological and pastoral realities of his times.
See also
*
Brothers of Christian Instruction of St Gabriel
The Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel (SG), otherwise Gabrielite Brothers or Frères de Saint-Gabriel (FSG), is a religious institute. Its roots go back to Louis de Montfort, who opened a few schools for poor children in La Rochelle, France, in a ...
*
Company of Mary
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The co ...
*
Daughters of Wisdom
The Daughters of Wisdom is a Catholic religious institute of women founded by Louis de Montfort and Marie Louise Trichet in 1703 to serve those in need.
History
In 1703, when he was temporary chaplain of the hospital of Poitiers, Louis de ...
Legion of Mary
The Legion of Mary ( la, Legio Mariae, postnominal abbreviation L.O.M.) is an international association of members of the Catholic Church who serve it on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, as a Marian movement by the layman and civi ...
References
Sources
* de Montfort, Louis. ''Preparation for Total Consecration according to the Method of St. Louis de Montfort.'' Bay Shore NY: Montfort Publications, 2001.
* de Montfort, Louis. ''God Alone: The Collected Writings of St. Louis Marie De Montfort'' Montfort Publications, 1995
* Doherty, Eddie. ''Wisdom's Fool: A biography of St. Louis de Montfort.'' Bay Shore NY: Montfort Publications, 1993.
* Fiores, Stefano. ''Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Montfortaine.'' (1360 pag.)Novalis, 1994
*
* Smith, Jr., Scott L.br>''St. Louis de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary - New Easier-to-Read Translation'' 2019,
Further reading
* DiNoia, J. Augustine. 1996, ''The love that never ends'' OSV Press