St. Louis had engraved on his heart the words his mother had said to him when he was a boy: ‘I’d rather see you dead than stained by a single mortal sin.’
Newdesk (21/10/2024 19:46, Gaudium Press) St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort says that Blanche of Castile asked St. Dominic de Guzman for prayers for her children.
The saint advised her to pray the Rosary daily. She obeyed and, what’s more, distributed rosaries to all the members of her court and to many towns in her kingdom.
God answered the pleas of this virtuous mother, from whom St. Louis was born, ‘the prince who would become the glory of France and the model of all Christian kings’[1].
Louis VIII died in 1216, and two years later so did the crown prince, Philip. Little Louis was then consecrated King in Reims Cathedral – with the title of Louis IX – at the age of twelve, and Blanche of Castile remained Regent, a position she had held since her husband’s death.
Blanche of Castile energetically suppressed the rebels
Taking advantage of the fact that the throne was occupied by a boy and the Regent was a foreign woman – a Spaniard – important personages plotted against the monarchy. But she ‘suppressed with energy and tenacity the seditions and revolts of the great feudal lords’[2].
In 1230, the King of England. Henry III, landed in Saint-Malo, Northern France, with many armed men. The Duke of Brittany and the nobility of the region paid homage to him. But Blanche gathered an army that set forth in that direction, and Henry retreated to his own country.
‘Lily among the lilies’
The serious disputes between the two kingdoms were resolved by marriage. Two daughters of the Count of Provence – south-east France – Marguerite and Eleanor, married St. Louis and Henry III, King of England, respectively.
Henry still tried to dominate France, financially supporting some nobles who revolted against St. Louis, but he defeated them in 1242 at the Battle of Taillebourg, in the south of the country.
Shortly afterwards, the saint made a very shrewd deal with Henry III, so that the King of England became his vassal.
St. Louis had engraved on his heart the words his mother had said to him when he was a boy: ‘I’d rather see you dead than stained by a single mortal sin.’[3]
Every day he attended Mass and prayed the Divine Office. Among other penances, he wore a sackcloth and slept on a plank of wood. A man so pure in body and soul that his mother said he was ‘the lily among the lilies’[4].
‘He was a man of great stature, great beauty, very imposing, so that at the same time he attracted, instilled deep respect and aroused immense love.
‘He had the temperament of a terrible warrior in the hour of battle, and was the most stately and decorous king of his time.’[5] ‘In battle, he placed himself in the most dangerous places, without ever backing down.’[6]
Sainte-Chapelle
He married Marguerite de Provence, who was frivolous, but by his example corrected her faults and she even accompanied him on the Crusade to Egypt. They had eleven children, three of whom were born during this heroic expedition.
St. Louis often exercised his justice in the woods outside the Palace of Vincennes, near Paris. After attending Mass, he would go to a large oak tree, sit in its shade, listen to grievances, give advice and pass sentence. Being very kind, he protected the good and punished the bad.
Here are some examples: A cook, accused of serious violence, thought he would be pardoned for working in the royal palace. But the king ‘personally ordered him to be hanged.’[7]
A married noblewoman living in adultery had ordered her lover to kill her husband. Franciscans, Dominicans, high court ladies and even the queen interceded for her. But the evidence was incontestable and St. Louis ordered that this infamous woman ‘be burnt at the very place of her crime.’[8]
To increase his knowledge and love of Catholic doctrine, he often invited prominent theologians to join his meals. One of them was St. Thomas Aquinas.
Among the various works he ordered to be built – churches, monasteries, hospitals, orphanages – the sublime Sainte-Chapelle in Paris stands out.
Describing the impressions he had when he visited it, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira said:
‘I thought of St. Louis, of his artisans who built this marvel of Catholic art, of the multitude of subjects who loved their saintly monarch and admired in him his resemblance to the King of Kings, Our Lord Jesus Christ. I thought about it and understood even better what was the golden age of Christendom.”[9]
On the shoulders of the nobles, a mantle with the Cross
In 1244, St. Louis fell seriously ill and promised God that, if he were cured, he would undertake a Crusade against the Mohammedans.
Having been granted this promise, on Christmas Eve of that year he gathered a number of feudal lords in the royal palace and ordered that a mantle embroidered with the cross be placed on each of their shoulders.
Soon afterwards, a procession took place from the palace to the church to take part in Mass. Then everyone perceived the crosses and pledged to accompany the king in the battle for the liberation of the Holy Land[10].
The Archbishop of Paris and Blanche of Castile didn’t want St. Louis to go on the Crusade. They told him that his vow had been made when he was unconscious on account of his terrible illness.
The saint then declared: ‘If I made the vow while unconsciousness, I now make it consciously’.
Pope Innocent IV approved the Crusade, though the excommunicated Emperor Frederick II rejected it. The pontiff met with St. Louis in the Monastery of Cluny, in the presence of Blanche.
In March 1247, a papal legate preached the Crusade. Three of the saint’s brothers – Robert d’Artois, Alphonse de Poitiers and Charles d’Anjou – and a large number of feudal lords from France, Flanders and the King of Norway enlisted.
On August 25th, 1247, the royal armada, made up of 38 ships, left from Aigues-Mortes in the Mediterranean Sea, singing the Veni Creator. The Seventh Crusade had begun.
By Paulo Francisco Martos
from Noções de História da Igreja
[1] SÃO LUÍS MARIA GRIGNION DE MONTFORT. O segredo do rosário. Belo Horizonte: Editora da Divina Misericórdia, p. 90.
[2] AIMOND, Charles. Le Moyen Âge. Paris: J. de Gigord. 1939, p. 193.
[3] WEISS, Johann Baptist. Historia Universal. Barcelona: La Educación. 1927, v. VI, p. 435.
[4] Idem, p. 436.
[5] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. As realidades terrenas devem ser parecidas com o Céu. In Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Ano XXII, n. 258 (setembro 2019), p. 29.
[6] DANIEL-ROPS, Henri. A Igreja das catedrais e das Cruzadas. São Paulo: Quadrante. 1993, v. III, p. 328.
[7] Idem, p. 330.
[8] Idem, p. 331.
[9] CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Harmonioso cântico de matizes. Ano IV, n. 44 (novembro 2001), p. 34.
[10] Cf. WEISS, Johann Baptist. Historia Universal. Barcelona: La Educación. 1927, v. VI, p. 439.
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Compiled by Roberta MacEwan