Author Topic: St. Louis IX, King of France, August 25 (Read 651 times)

Cantarella · « **on:** August 24, 2015, 10:50:27 PM »

The following text from the Book of Wisdom is habitually applied to St. Louis:

“Hear, therefore, ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that are judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourself in the multitude of nations: For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts ...

“To you, therefore, O kings, these are my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it. For they that have kept just things justly, shall be justified: and they that have learned these things, shall find what to answer.

"Covet ye, therefore, my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction. Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by them that love her, and is found by them that seek her” (6:2-4; 10-12).

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

St. Louis was a wise King in the full sense of the word, because the truly wise one is not the scientist who knows many facts, but the saint.

What is wisdom? It is the fundamental virtue by which man knows the most profound aspect of things, the ultimate reality of things. It is the virtue that allows one to penetrate and understand not only this or that subject, but the whole universe, the cosmos. It is wisdom that permits one to understand the meaning of one’s own existence, the meaning of human life in general, and the meaning of the ensemble of other created things.

How does one understand the ultimate reality of things? It is to know what the things are, what they represent, what they exist for. But wisdom is not just to understand. It is to understand in order to lead one’s life and order one’s actions in accordance with the answer one finds to these questions.

There is, then, an opposition between the wise man and the foolish one. The foolish man is the one who is not concerned about these things. He only wants to enjoy himself. He does not want to know the ultimate reason for things, the reality that is behind appearances. He does not want to adapt his life to principles. He just wants to enjoy a good life - not necessarily an immoral life, but a life where he does not have to think about anything profound. To live a life like this is a complete absence of wisdom.

How many good ladies do you know who take reasonable care of their family duties, assist at Mass, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, but do not have wisdom? Certainly there are many. They do all these good things, but afterwards they are immersed in their little mediocre lives without any profound thought.

In his Treatise on Eternal Wisdom St. Louis de Montfort explains that wisdom is a presupposition of the Faith. Without wisdom the Faith can exist, but it lacks a foundation. Our Lady was the Seat of Wisdom and was always seeking to increase her knowledge, love and service of God.

This virtue is demanded of kings, governors and all who exercise some form of power. A king without wisdom loses his people. When he has wisdom, he saves his people and is the glory of his people. For a man without wisdom, power becomes an instrument of his perdition.

Hence, we can understand the magnificent eulogy Scriptures made of the wise king. He leads peoples and things to their final end, which is God. This is the ultimate meaning of his kingship.

What we admire in St. Louis, King of France, is the model of a wise man placed on the throne to govern his kingdom.

We should ask him to give us the precious virtue of wisdom.

http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j036sdLouisKingofFrance2.htm

Cantarella · « **Reply #1 on:** August 24, 2015, 11:00:26 PM »

St. Louis IX of France, pray for us.

poche · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2015, 12:54:31 AM »

St. Louis of France
Reigning from 1226 to 1270, Louis IX showed how a saint would act on the throne of France. He was a lovable personality, a kind husband, a father of eleven children, and at the same time a strict ascetic.

To an energetic and prudent rule Louis added love and zeal for the practice of piety and the reception of the holy sacraments. He was brave in battle, polished at feasts, and addicted to fasting and mortification. His politics were grounded upon strict justice, unshatterable fidelity, and untiring effort toward peace. Nevertheless, his was not a weakly rule but one that left its impress upon following generations. He was a great friend of religious Orders, a generous benefactor of the Church.

The Breviary says of him: "He had already been king for twenty years when he fell victim to a severe illness. That afforded the occasion for making a vow to undertake a crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land. Immediately upon recovery he received the crusader's cross from the hand of the bishop of Paris, and, followed by an immense army, he crossed the sea in 1248. On the field of battle Louis routed the Saracens; yet when the plague had taken large numbers of his soldiery, he was attacked and taken captive (1250). The king was forced to make peace with the Saracens; upon the payment of a huge ransom, he and his army were again set at liberty." While on a second crusade he died of the plague, with these words from the psalm upon his lips: "I will enter Thy house; I will worship in Thy holy temple and sing praises to Thy Name!" (Ps. 5).

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

It was his mother's supreme desire that her son should become a kind, pious and just ruler. She was wont to say to him: "Never forget that sin is the only great evil in the world. No mother could love her son more than I love you. But I would rather see you lying dead at my feet than know that you had offended God by one mortal sin." These words remained indelibly impressed upon his mind.

St. Louis was a member of the Third Order of St. Francis and so is included in the family of Franciscan saints.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-08-25

poche · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2015, 04:48:20 AM »

Against this great and good king, one of the principal patrons of France, one finds nowhere an unkind word uttered. His biographers emphasize his indifference to his own comfort, his deep and humble devotion to God and to the poor. He not only governed his nation in an admirable manner, but went as a crusader to the Holy Land with mind intent only on freeing the Holy Sepulcher from the hands of the infidel.

In the midst of wars, Louis was a lover of peace, and was often called upon to mediate between other Christian princes. Under the oak at Vincennes, he delivered wise and equitable judgments; his constant endeavor was not to appear imperious. Never impersonal about his charity, he fed beggars from his own table and daily gave meals to a hundred poor. He founded many hospitals and refuges, among them one for penitents and another for the blind

Under his patronage, Robert de Sorbonne built in Paris the university which still bears his name. Louis appreciated and fostered learning, and there is the well-known story of an occasion when he invited Thomas Aquinas to dine at the palace. The huge philosopher sat in his place and said nothing at all, while about him the French conversation went on — "the most brilliant and noisy clatter in the world," says Chesterton, who tells the story with relish. Suddenly the table shook under the impact of a great fist. There was a startled silence as the company stared in amazement at Thomas. Unaware of them, and with another blow on the table, he said loudly, "And that will settle the Manichaeans!" Then it was that King Louis leaned over to one of his secretaries. "Take a note of this," he whispered, "and of anything more that he says. He might forget it and no doubt it is an important argument and a true one."

Louis was smitten by the plague and died in the East at the age of fifty-five, during the second crusade. He had been a good husband and father, devoted to his wife, Marguerite of Provence, and to his family of eleven children. Always at his side, to counsel him, had been his mother, Blanche of Castile, and on some occasions this great adviser had acted as his cook. For with her own hands, we are told, she was wont to prepare for Louis his favorite dish of lampreys, or eels. The recipe we have chosen is taken from Le Cuisinier Francois by Le Sieur de La Varenne, written in 1658 and, quite possibly, it was in this manner that good Saint Louis enjoyed his eel.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/recipes/view.cfm?id=113

poche · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2015, 04:50:19 AM »

In the midst of wars, Louis was a lover of peace, and was often called upon to mediate between other Christian princes. Under the oak at Vincennes, he delivered wise and equitable judgments; his constant endeavor was not to appear imperious. Never impersonal about his charity, he fed beggars from his own table and daily gave meals to a hundred poor. He founded many hospitals and refuges, among them one for penitents and another for the blind

I hear that some ofhis critics, and they are many (Rush Limbaugh are you listening) would call him a Marxist and a communist or some kind of a socialist because of his concern for the poor.