Louis de Montfort

Montfort's ministry unfolded along two complementary axes: missionary preaching and the founding of institutions intended to extend his work. His missions, marked by the preaching of the Cross, the renewal of baptismal promises, and devotion to the Rosary, attracted crowds while also stirring opposition from certain clergy. To perpetuate this apostolate, he laid the foundations for the Company of Mary, a congregation of missionary priests known today as the Montfortans. With Marie-Louise Trichet, he founded the Daughters of Wisdom, dedicated to the care of the poor and the instruction of young girls; according to sources, he gave them the mission to "call themselves Daughters of Wisdom, for the teaching of children and the care of the poor." From his circle would also emerge the teaching congregation of the Brothers of Saint Gabriel. Montfort was also a prolific spiritual writer: we owe to him The Love of Eternal Wisdom, The Secret of Mary, The Admirable Secret of the Most Holy Rosary, and above all the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. This last manuscript, which remained unknown for a long time, was only rediscovered in 1842 and published in 1843, more than a century after his death.

The heart of Montfort's spirituality lies in a formula that has become famous: to go "to Jesus through Mary." For him, the Virgin is not an end, but the shortest and surest path to Christ and to the eternal Wisdom that is Jesus. To this end, he proposes a "total consecration" of oneself to Jesus through the hands of Mary, a path of abandonment and filial dependence that he describes as a "perfect and entire devotion." This doctrine, set forth in the Treatise on True Devotion, is accompanied in his life by an ardent devotion to the Cross: he asked in his prayers for the grace to "bear the rudest and heaviest crosses." His missionary life was itself a school of detachment, lived in radical poverty, amidst contradictions and humiliations. A witness to concrete charity toward the most destitute, he united personal austerity with an abandoned trust in Providence, under the motto "God alone." This reputation for holiness, founded on the coherence between his preaching and his life, supported the process that would lead, long after his death, to his beatification and then to his canonization.

The canonization process of Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort followed a long path, commensurate with the late rediscovery of his writings. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on January 22, 1888. Nearly sixty years later, Pope Pius XII proclaimed him a saint on July 20, 1947, in Rome; the day after the ceremony, on July 21, 1947, the Pope addressed the pilgrims who had come to Rome for the canonization. In 1997, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of this canonization, Pope John Paul II dedicated a letter to the figure and spirituality of the saint, highlighting the relevance of his Marian doctrine. The liturgical feast of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort is set for April 28, the anniversary of his death, and appears in the Roman calendar as an optional memorial. His relics are preserved in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, where his tomb, adjacent to that of Blessed Marie-Louise Trichet, remains a place of pilgrimage.

Montfort's legacy is perpetuated first through the three religious families born from his work: the Company of Mary (Montfort Missionaries), the Daughters of Wisdom, and the Brothers of Saint Gabriel, present on several continents. His spiritual influence, however, extends far beyond these congregations. The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, after its publication in the 19th century, enjoyed considerable distribution and nourished modern Marian devotion. His influence is notably attested to by Pope John Paul II, who recognized in the reading of Montfort a "decisive turning point" in his spiritual life and borrowed his pontifical motto "Totus Tuus" ("Totally Yours") from his prayer of consecration. The center of this devotion remains the sanctuary of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in the Vendée, where the motherhouse of the Montfortian congregations, the saint's tomb, and a missionary museum housing his relics are located. John Paul II visited it on a pilgrimage in 1996 to pray at his tomb.