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St
LOUIS IX |
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Feast Day: August 25
- Also
known as
- Louis Capet
- Profile
- Son of
King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile.
King of
France at age eleven; his
mother ruled as regent until he reached 22, and he reigned for 44
years. He made numerous judicial and legislative reforms. Promoted
Christianity in
France; established religious foundations, aided
mendicant orders, propagated synodal decrees of the Church, built
leper
hospitals, and collected
relics. Married Marguerite of Provence at age 19, and
father of
eleven. Supported
Pope
Innocent IV in war against Emperor
Frederick II of
Germany.
Franciscan
tertiary. Led two
Crusades and
died on one.
- Born
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25 April 1214 at Poissy,
France
- Died
-
25 August 1270 at Tunis,
Algeria of natural causes;
relics in the house at Saint Denis,
Paris,
France; destroyed in
1793 during the
French Revolution
- Canonized
- 1297
- Name Meaning
- famous warrior
- Patronage
-
barbers;
Blois, France;
builders;
button makers;
Carthage, Tunisia;
construction workers;
Crusaders;
death of children;
difficult marriages;
distillers;
embroiderers;
French monarchs;
grooms;
haberdashers;
hairdressers;
hair stylists;
kings;
La Rochelle, France;
masons;
needle workers; city of
New Orleans, Louisiana
Oran, Algeria;
parenthood;
parents of large families;
passementiers;
prisoners;
Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France;
archdiocese of
Saint Louis, Missouri; city of
Saint Louis, Missouri;
sculptors;
sick people;
soldiers;
stone masons;
stonecutters;
tertiaries;
Versailles, France
-
Representation
-
crown of thorns;
king holding a
cross
king holding a
crown of thorns; nails
-
- Readings
- In order to avoid discord, never contradict anyone except in case of
sin or some danger to a neighbor; and when necessary to contradict
others, do it with tact and not with temper.
Saint Louis
In prosperity, give thanks to God with humility and fear lest by
pride you abuse God's benefits and so offend him.
Saint Louis IX
My dearest son, my first instruction is that you should love the Lord
your God with all your heart and all your strength. Without this there
is no salvation. Keep yourself, my son, from everything that you know
displeases God, that is to say, from every mortal sin. You should permit
yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would
allow yourself to commit a mortal sin.
If the Lord has permitted you to have some trial, bear it willingly and
with gratitude, considering that it has happened for your good and that
perhaps you well deserved it. If the Lord bestows upon you any kind of
prosperity, thank him humbly and see that you become no worse for it,
either though vain pride or anything else, because you ought not to
oppose God or offend him in the matter of his gifts.
Be kindhearted to the poor, the unfortunate and the afflicted. Give them
as much help and consolation oas you can. Thank God for all the benefits
he has bestowed upon you, that you may be worthy to receive greater.
Always side with the poor rather than with the rich, until you are
certain of the truth.
Be devout and obedient to our mother the Church of Rome and the Supreme
Pontiff as your spiritual father.
In conclusion, dearest son, I give you every blessing that a loving
father can give a sons. May the three Persons of the Holy Trinity and
all the saints protect you from every evil. And may the Lord give you
the grace to do his will so that he may be served and honored through
you, that in the next life we may together come to see him, love him and
praise him unceasingly. Amen.
from a spiritual testament by King Saint Louis IX to his son
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