St. Louis De Montfort
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At the age of 19 Montfort went to Paris to study theology.
He said goodbye to his family and friends at the bridge on the outskirts of Rennes. The event takes on deep symbolism. Having left all, he crossed the bridge to a new life relying on God Alone. So, convinced that God was His loving Father, that he gave his money and luggage to the first beggars he met, and even exchanged clothes with one of them. Then, turning he walked joyfully to Paris, begging for food and shelter along the way. He lived the rest of his life in just this way – for God Alone. This became the motto of his life.
What I love about Montfort is that He really believed God was His Father and that His Father would provide his daily bread.
Yes, we need to be responsible and do our part. But too often this slips into an anxious self-reliance. We forget that God is our Father and we live as if everything depends on us alone. It is then that we become overwhelmed and anxious.
We rely on ourselves alone.
Montfort did his part but he depended on Divine Providence, he lived for God alone and relied on God alone.
two
Montfort had great courage
Two events from his life show us the true meaning of courage.
When faced with evil we have two good options, they are the two parts of courage: Attack and Endure
The first thing we must do when we face evil, is to attack it, pounce on it, bar its entrance - take initiative and change it if you can - but never remain passive in the face of evil. Make no mistake here – I did not say attack people – I said to attack evil. Evil has no rights.
Montfort was not a pushover. He fought for what was right – one time literally. In May of 1714, he arrived at Roussay to preach a parish mission. He mounted the pulpit in the parish church, and after a brief prayer, began to speak. This was a tiny town in the west of France in which the two most prominent buildings were the Church and the bar next door – full of a drunken rowdy crowd. As Montfort raised his voice, the drunkards could hear the sermon, and the parishioners could hear the raucous noise coming from the bar. Knowing this, those in the bar tried to disturb his sermon by screaming insults at the congregation and mocking them for their faith.
Montfort very calmly paused the sermon, gave the people his blessing and exited the church. As he left, though empty handed and alone, he walked directly into the bar. An eyewitness describes what happened next: “Father said nothing, except with his fists. For the first time since he came to Roussay men had a chance to see how big, and to feel how hard, those fists were. He struck them down and let them lie. He overturned tables and chairs. He smashed glasses. He walked over the bodies of stunned and sobered hoodlums and went slowly back up the street to the church to finish his sermon.”
Evil has no rights and it is irrational, therefore there are instances in which we must use the force necessary to eradicate that evil.
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The second part of Courage is to endure what we cannot change.
Once you have done all you can to change evil and can do no more, then you must endure the evil with patience, that is, without giving up, giving in or becoming evil yourself. But it also means to endure cheerfully.
Montfort had the custom of building a life-sized scene of Calvary on the highest point overlooking a town where he was giving a parish mission. At Pontchateau, when he announced his determination of building a monumental Calvary on a neighboring hill, the idea was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants. For fifteen months 500 peasants worked daily without pay. The finished Cross was over fifty feet tall! On the day of dedication, the order came from the king that the whole scene should be demolished, and the land restored to its former condition. Political adversaries had convinced the king that what the Calvary they built was really meant to be a base for a British invasion. So the King ordered that the 500 peasants, watched by a company of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work of destruction. Father de Montfort was not disturbed on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only: “We had hoped to build a Calvary here. Let us build it in our hearts. Blessed be God!”
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In 1706 Montfort set out for Rome walking more than 700 miles one way to ask the Pope what he should do.
In June, Montfort met with Clement XI, pouring out his heart to the Pope. Surprisingly, the Holy Father turned down St. Louis’ offer to go and be a missionary in Canada or Japan. Instead, the Pope commissioned Montfort to return home and renew the Church there. He spent the rest of his life conducting more than 200 missions and retreats in North Western France in village squares, churches, monasteries, military barracks, poor houses and even houses of prostitution. Today, more than 300 years later, many of the towns and parishes still hold his visit to their town as the turning point in the faith of the area.
The mission of St. Louis de Montfort was to lead all people to Jesus through Mary saying, “It was through the blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is through her that he must reign in the world.”
If we do not risk anything for God, we will never do anything great for him.
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St. Louis De Montfort was the Apostle of the Reign of Mary
Montfort wrote True Devotion to Mary probably in 1714, shortly before his death in 1716. He prophesied it would be attacked by the devil and buried because it proposed the key to the reign of Jesus in the world. It was literally buried in a chest in a field during the French Revolution and not found until 1842 and not translated into English until 1862. Why did God allow this incredible work to be hidden for so long? Because it was meant for our time.
St. Louis De Montfort could be called the Apostle of the Reign of Mary because he foresaw a time in the future when Mary would become the Queen of All Hearts so that she would establish Jesus as the King of all hearts.
Mary began appearing in the world as never before in 1830 and her appearances and messages have become more frequent and more urgent in recent times.
In 1917 she promised the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart.
We live in the time predicted by Montfort.
But Mary’s power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him…in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.”
To bring about the reign of Mary and Jesus, Montfort insisted on three practices:
Consecrate oneself entirely to Mary
Live in union with Mary from moment to moment as Jesus did when he was a little child – depending entirely on her
Sit at the School of Mary each day in the Rosary
This is what we aim to live, this is how we lead people to Jesus through Mary!