ORDER OF PREACHERS
The Dominican Family
Trinidad
& Tobago
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ORDER OF PREACHERS |
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ST. LOUIS–MARY GRIGNION DE MONTFORT
1673 – 1716
Birth & Childhood Louis–Marie Grignion was born 31 January 1673 in the small town of Montfort–sur–Meu, near Rennes in Brittany, France. He was the eldest of the family of eighteen, with only eight surviving children of staunch Catholic parents, Jean–Baptiste Grignion, an attorney, and his wife Jeanne Robert. His father bought a farm in a nearby village, Iffendic, and the family grew up there. Even at an early age he showed signs of extraordinary devotion and spirituality by preaching to his peers, leading them in the Rosary and telling them stories of the saints. As a result, rather than have him learn a trade and help support the family, his mother, recognising the promise of a vocation to the priesthood had him undertake studies at home and, from age twelve years, sent him to the Jesuit College of St Thomas Becket in Rennes to where he walked daily. After two years, the family spent the winter in Rennes and the summer in Iffendic. At this school he formed lasting friendships with Claude Poullart des Places, the first founder of the Holy Ghost Fathers, and especially with John Baptist Blain who also became the intimate friend of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the Christian Brothers. During these school days, he developed the desire to be an itinerant preacher throughout Brittany and spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also acquired an extraordinary compassionate approach to the poor. Vocation When he finished his Secondary or High Schooling he undertook to study philosophy. A benefactor made it possible for him to continue studies for the priesthood in the Seminary of Saint–Sulpice in Paris. He was offered a horse by his family but this he refused. His mother provided him with a new suit and his father gave him some money. As soon as he had said his “Adieu” to his family he went further and gave up everything he possessed, which consisted of his mother’s suit and his father’s money. He exchanged the suit with a beggar for his rags, the money he distributed among the poor. As a beggar, he walked the 130 miles to the Seminary in Paris. At this time, to show his complete break with his family, giving everything to God, he gave up his name also. He became known as Louis–Marie from Montfort. Later in life he visited his home town and he did not call on his parents, nor did he let them know that he as the preacher of the mission. Some friends arranged that they meet and he was very pleased, as they too were. He had totally abandoned himself to God and gave up everything, including his family. There was no great support for the upkeep of the Seminary and often the poorer students, such as Louis–Marie, had to find lodgings elsewhere. Often he went without food. He had to be hospitalised and suffered intensely for the rest of his life. One advantage was that he was accepted as a permanent resident in the Seminary. Priesthood In 1700 Louis–Marie Grignion was ordained to the priesthood. His priestly ministry would be very short, a brief but packed sixteen years. His first appointment was to Nantes where he joined a missionary group of priests, his great desire, but after a short stint he left because of his frustration at the lack of opportunities to preach to the poor. He went to Poitiers in November 1701 as chaplain to what in English speaking lands would be known as a “Poor House” or “Work House”. He chose the worst room in the house as his, he ate with the poor and often he waited until they had eaten before he commenced on what was left over. Mismanagement was rampant in the Poor House. He decided to organise the staff on behalf of the patients. He gathered twenty young girls to join with him and he saw this as the beginning of a religious congregation to look after the poor in such establishments. In this way he hoped to alleviate the lot of those living in this and like institutes. Unfortunately all twenty left within two months. The lady he put in charge remained and years later she would be the first to join the Daughters of Wisdom when he founded this Religious Institute to attend to the sick poor and to establish free schools for the poor.. The management of the Poor House was not happy with his ‘interference’ in the running of the house so he was removed as chaplain early in 1703. It shows the spirit of the man when he decided that he would go to Rome, meet with the Pope and obey his will for his future work. He set off as a pilgrim and begged his way along the route. In June 1706, he met Pope Clement XI. The Holy Father refused his offer to go as a missionary to the wilds of Canada or to the Far East but sent him back as a “Missionary Apostolic” to revive the faith in France. He returned by foot to Poitiers and on hearing of his arrival, the bishop gave him twenty–four hours to leave the diocese. He was nonplussed. He went to Rennes and in the next ten years preached over two hundred missions and retreats in Western France. Ruined churches were repaired, marriages were rectified, children baptized and instructed, and the Catholic Faith was rebuilt. Itinerant Missionary Preacher In 1708 he began a two year spell of preaching very successful missions and the people accepted him whole–heartedly. One of his techniques was to have the faithful erect some fitting memorial of the mission. In the village of Pontchateau he had a huge Calvary erected. The King objected, having been advised that Fr. Louis–Marie was building a fortress from where peasants would be able to spy and send out mercenaries to cause revolt. The King had accepted the calumnies; the bishop could offer no ‘proof’ to the contrary. He saw no way other than accept the King’s demand. Accordingly the bishop refused permission to bless the monument and forbade Fr. Louis–Marie to preach in his diocese. He accepted the bishop’s directives as the will of God who offered Fr. Louis–Marie to share in the sufferings of Christ on the first Calvary. The episode first at Poitiers and then with the removal of the Calvary in the village of Pontchateau were not isolated, indeed were a regular occurrence in various forms. It had begun in the Seminary where he provoked the teaching staff, or more accurately where they tried his patience. Later he would meet with opposition from bishops and priests who would oppose his every move. The fundamental reason was that so many of them were Jansenists and he certainly was not. Jansenism was a movement which taught that human nature is radically and intrinsically corrupted by original sin; that some people are predestined for heaven, the rest for hell; Christ did not die for these but only for the former. Janenists advocated an extremely strict code of morals; they promoted rigorous penitential exercises; did not approve of frequent Holy Communion, because people are not worthy, and then only after the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This heresy was condemned by Pope Innocent XI’s Constitution Cum Occasione. Clement XI added another condemnation in 1713. A practical result of this opposition was that he was kept constantly on the move and that was to the spiritual benefit of the faithful in the places to which he would go. The bishop of Rennes had not ask him to leave the diocese but in 1911 he moved to La Rochelle in Brittany and to the final stage of his life. The Bishop of La Rochelle became a great supporter and friend. Together they achieved much good for the salvation of souls, deepening the faith of the people. One result was that eighty years later, during and after the French Revolution, the faith remained extremely strong in that diocese. Marian Spirituality St. Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort is known above all for the Marian spirituality which he proposed, preached and which is flourishing today in all parts of the Christiana world.. He might never have left this spirituality in writing were it not for divine providence. At least two attempts were made on his life. In the first, some assassins were hiding in a narrow street to waylay him. He had a premonition, or perhaps he was advised by a friend, and took another route home. The second attempt was more successful. Poison was put in his soup. Fortunately this was not fatal but it meant that he had to rest for almost a year. The respite for such a period was providential. He now had time to write True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Pope Pius XII who canonised him referred to the writings as “ardent, solid and correct”. Popes John XXIII and Paul VI commended them. Pope John Paul II took his motto, both as bishop and as Pope, “Totus Tuus”, “Totally Yours”, from The Secret of Mary. John Paul II claimed that reading True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin changed his entire life. Marian spirituality is not mere devotion to Mary. The Love of Eternal Wisdom shows that he based his devotion on the solid rock of faith in the Blessed Trinity. The Incarnation is the “compendium of all the other mysteries”. Mary’s active presence was essential to the Incarnation and as a consequence her active presence continues to be necessary for the life of the Church, the Body of Christ. The purpose of the Church as the sacrament of salvation is holiness. We become one with Christ and enter into the Church through baptism. Holiness is achieved by living the baptismal commitment. This commitment is renewed by consecration to Jesus through the hands of Mary, the Model and Guide. Dominican St. Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort and St. Dominic had several strong parallels in their lives. Both visited the Pope of the day and both offered to go to the foreign missions, St. Dominic with the strong hope that he would die a martyr at the hands of the Cumans. St. Louis–Marie wanted to go to the remotest and most undeveloped parts of Canada or to the East. The Popes declined these offers and sent both saints back to France to combat heresy there by preaching. Both saw the necessity of having other priests join with them and so both established two religious institutes each, one for women, the other for men: St. Dominic the cloistered nuns and the friars; St. Louis–Marie his Daughters of Divine Wisdom for women and Missionaries of the Company of Mary for men. Both had intense devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Both believed that the effectiveness of their preaching required abject poverty of life as mendicants. No doubt that this was the main physical cause of death for both. Both had relatively short priestly lives, St Dominic about twenty–four years, St. Louis–Marie just sixteen. St. Louis–Marie had a great devotion to St. Dominic, probably because he believed that St. Dominic founded the Rosary as an adjunct to preaching. He certainly has been one of history’s greatest campaigners to spread the Rosary worldwide. During every mission he would set up the Dominican Rosary Confraternity. He insisted that after the mission and when he had moved elsewhere, the people would congregate to recite the Rosary daily. In 1710, ten years after his ordination he joined what was then called the Third Order of St. Dominic, now known as the Lay and Clerical Fraternities of Dominicans, an integral part of the Dominican Family. And while he had many disappointments and set backs at the hands of bishops and priests, his relationship with the Dominicans, both before as well as after becoming a Tertiary were always extremely good. Wherever there was a Dominican Church he would choose it for the Missions to be preached in a town. He was always welcomed in the Priories and Convents. One of his brothers was a Dominican priest. Religious Congregations The year before his death St. Louis–Marie founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Wisdom, a religious institute devoted to the care of the destitute in hospitals and in schools. He also founded a male congregation to continue his preaching apostolate, the Missionaries of the Company of Mary. Neither of these seemed to flourish at first but after his death, and particularly at the beginning of the twentieth century both blossomed and continue to spread the Kingdom of God by the reign of Jesus through Mary. There is a third Religious Institute which is based on the spirituality of St. Louis–Marie. It was not founded by him. While at La Rochelle both the saint and the bishop founded several “free schools”. Several of the first adherents were among his followers during his life. They continued his spirit of service to the poor. After the French Revolution and with the assistance of the Superior General of the Company of Mary, this spirit was concretised in a new Congregation, the Brothers of St. Gabriel. Death Sickness and tiredness from hard work did not deter St. Louis–Marie Grignion from going to Saint–Laurent–sur–Sčvre to begin the mission which was to be his last. He died on April 28, 1716, worn out by his illness and labours. Thousands attended his funeral and stories of miraculous cure spread. He was beatified in 1888 and Pope Pius XII canonised him in 1947. Relevance for Today There is no better recommendation of St. Louis–Marie de Montfort’s spirituality for the present day than the fact that Pope John Paul II confirmed de Montfort’s Marian spirituality in a section (n. 48) of his encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater, and in two special letters to the Religious Institutes St. Louis–Marie had founded and which continue his spirit, particularly that of Marian spirituality. In the encyclical letter the Pope wrote: “I would like to recall, among the many witnesses and teachers of this spirituality, the figure of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who proposes consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments. I am pleased to note that in our own time too new manifestations of this spirituality and devotion are not lacking.” Prayers
God our Father,
(Composed by St. Louis–Marie Grignion de Montfort) For the Spirit of Mary
My powerful Queen,
you are all mine through your mercy,
and I am all yours.
Take away from me all that may displease God
and cultivate in me all that is pleasing to Him.
May the light of your faith
dispel the darkness of my mind,
your deep humility
take the place of my pride,
your continual sight of God
fill my memory with His presence.
May the fire of the love of your heart
inflame the lukewarmness of my own heart.
May your virtues take the place of my sins.
May your merits be my enrichment
and make up for all
that is wanting in me before God.
My beloved Mother,
grant that I may have no other spirit but your spirit,
to know Jesus Christ and his Divine will
and to praise and glorify the Lord,
that I may love God with burning love like yours.
Amen.
O Jesus, living in Mary O Jesus, living in Mary,
Come and live in Thy servants,
In the spirit of Thy holiness,
In the fullness of Thy might,
In the truth of Thy virtues,
In the perfection of Thy ways,
In the communion of Thy mysteries.
Subdue every hostile power
In Thy spirit, for the glory of the Father.
Amen.
In the Arms of Your Mercy
O Mary, my Queen,
I cast myself in the arms of your mercy.
I place my soul and body
in your blessed care
and under your special protection
from this world.
I entrust to you all my hopes and consolations,
all my anguish and misery,
my life and the end of my life.
Through your most holy intercession
and through your merits,
grant that all my works may be directed and carried out
in accord with your will
and the will of your Divine Son.
Amen.
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