Book Reviews and More: Louis Marie de Montfort - Alan J. Frost

Sunday, 27 April 2025

Louis Marie de Montfort - Alan J. Frost - CTS Biographies

Louis Marie de Montfort

CTS Biographies

CTS Great Saints

Alan J. Frost

Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860822780

ISBN 1860822789

CTS Booklet 680

Louis Marie de Montfort - Alan J. Foster - CTS Great Saints

I discovered the books and booklets of the Catholic Truth Society in 2018. Since that time I have read over 430 different titles, and many of them more than once. This is one that was original part of the CTS Great Saints Series, but is not part of the CTS Biographies. This volume was originally published as part of the CTS Great Saints Series, which is a subset of the CTS Biographies. This books is currently out of print. This booklet was first published in 2004. There is also an newer biography of this saint in the CTS Great Saints Series; Louis Marie de Montfort: His Life, Message and Teaching by Paul Allerton SMM that was published in 2016, I discovered this volume while working on the review of that one, both are marked as part of the CTS Great Saints Series.

The descriptions of this volume is:

“In 1716, aged only 43, this French priest, prophet and preacher died, almost a household name in his own time. Equally shunned and admired, De Montfort strove all his life guiding the lost to Jesus, through Mary. His like has been seen in every generation, especially in our own increasingly secular world – Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Maximillian Kolbe, and even Pope John Paul II, himself greatly influenced by de Montfort’s important writings. The Apostle of ‘True Marian Devotion’ de Montfort is best known for his act of total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as practiced today by millions.”

This booklet is an excellent volume on this saint and it is part of a wonderful series and I can easily recommend it. The chapters in the booklet are:

Introduction

His Life

Reflection on His Life

His Writings

His Canonisation

His Legacy

Bibliography

I highlighted a few passages while reading this volume some of them are:

“Louis Marie de Montfort, like many seemingly 'destined' for sainthood, had a manner of life that was different, we might say other-worldly, from an early age. He grew to become an outstanding and passionate preacher of the message of the Rosary. He was also someone with a special calling, being occasionally blessed with the gift of prophecy.”

“Through all his trials and tribulations, and the depth and detail of his writings, the thrust of his teaching is that the simplest and fullest way to Jesus is through Mary: ad Jesum per Mariam.”

“From an early age, he showed a remarkable horror of sin, and a love of prayer. This would be displayed in formal settings and in solitary wanderings by streams and woods, singing cantiques to God he wrote himself even as a young boy.”

“As he grew, he continued to spend time alone in prayer rather than playing lads' games with his fellow pupils, and privately he submitted himself to regular mortification from his teenage years (wearing a hair-shirt, and iron armlets under his sleeves). He also prayed daily in his parish church, Saint-Sauveur, to Our Lady, to make him day by day more like her Son.”

“Throughout his schooling he proved himself a brilliant student, and when he reached eighteen, expressed a wish to continue his studies in Paris, with a view to entering the seminary of Saint-Sulpice.”

“His sole possessions were a crucifix and a rosary, and though some biographers have speculated that he also stripped himself of his full name on this journey, he continued to sign himself 'Louis Marie Grignion', though he would refer to himself as 'le Pere de Montfort,'”

“We begin to get a picture of one of those rare people who seem literally too good to be true, but true he was, in every sense.”

“Montfort, nevertheless, always accepted what came to him as God's will. Even so, within himself there was a constant need to be certain that he was doing the right thing (whatever that might be). This would eventually, in 1706, lead to him walking to Rome to go straight to the top, so to speak, to know his purpose for certain through God's Vicar on earth”

“He had already gathered some twenty very poor girls of the hospital into a little company. They helped the similarly poor and the disabled. He gave them the name 'Sagesse', and in 1703 this group became the first of the two Orders he founded, the Order of the Daughters of Wisdom.”

“He sat down to his meagre supper as usual at the hospital and found a note by his bowl informing him he was dismissed. It is conjectured that others' ambitions and jealousy were the explanation, and there was always in Montfort' s life the inability of people around him and his superiors to cope with his saintliness.”

“Meanwhile, the poor of Poitiers, who had nothing to do with his sudden leaving in any sense, petitioned their bishop for Montfort's return. More then this, in 1704, 400 of them signed a similar petition to M. Leschassier, who must have thought he had rid himself of responsibilities over Montfort, who continued to write to him irrespective.”

“In the year of 1706 Montfort felt an irresistible urge to go to Rome to know from the Pope himself, the Lord's true purpose for him. So he set out, on foot all the way, hoping for an audience. He undertook this huge journey without any money and carrying only his religious essentials of a Bible, a breviary, a crucifix, rosary and image of Our Lady.”

“Though he met with success in numerous and significant conversions, not least of a prominent townswoman and vociferous heretic, Madame de Mailly, and though he even moved the soldiers of the La Rochelle garrison to tears with his preaching, he was the victim of an attack in the form of the poisoning of his broth one evening. He did recover, but he was seriously weakened, for he had been a man of considerable strength when he wished to use it, in physical labour or in carrying a sick tramp to a place of refuge.”

“Although he had set up his first Order in 1703 (The Daughters of Wisdom), and at a local level had set up small Associations, such as The Daughters of the Cross, The Company of Virgins, The White Penitents, The Friends of the Cross, and The Soldiers of St Michael, he had not yet established a community of priests.”

“What do you say about a man like St Louis-Marie de Montfort? Surely the word 'superhuman' is not out of place. In his physical trials that he imposed on himself everyday, in his work, in his fasting, in his self-denial, in his mortifications, ~e undertook much more than any reasonable human being could ask, or could emulate.”

“Is it excusable, or just an excuse, to say that this was all 300 years ago? Things are so different now, times so changed, the world an altered place, so how could anyone be expected to be his sort of saint. And the Church tut-tuts or downrightly forbids where mortifying the flesh is concerned, while 'sacrifice' is hardly ever spoken of as part of a Catholic's devotion to Christ.”

“Yes, the world has changed, but what has time to do with an immortal soul that is the gift of God, that is the spiritual temple of pure, innocent love. The potential loss of which in others drives all our known and unknown saints in this life, whenever they lived and shall live, whatever the primitive or technologically-advanced times they might be born into.”

“In a nutshell it is 'ad Jesum per Mariam', to Jesus through Mary. This is the underlying theme and teaching of 'The Secret of the Rosary', 'The Secret of Mary', and 'True Devotion to Mary', all stemming from his initial work 'The Eternal Wisdom'.”

“Though the Order grew, up until the late 1800's the Company of Mary confined itself to the north-western area of France. Perhaps it was echoing Montfort's own obedient response to the direction of Pope Clement XI in 1706 to their founder. In 1871 this changed with a mission to Haiti. Then persecution by the French government led to a spread of the congregation to Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and England. This dispersion has continued and today the Montfort Missionaries are found in over thirty countries across the globe.”

This is the second short biography from the CTS on this saint I have read. Both are excellent. This one is packed full of great information, and only partially overlaps the other. I really appreciated the section going through an outline of each of the Saints books. And I found the section on the miracles for canonization fascinating. Over the years I have done a few different versions of the Consecration to Mary, and plan to work through the CTS edition at some point. But reading more about the man and his life was absolutely fascinating.

This is I believe the only volume published by Alan Frost, for the CTS. Like the other biography of this saint this one reminds of the style reminds me of J.B. Midgley who wrote numerous volumes for the CTS and whose works grew my addiction to the books and booklets from the CTS. The writing is engaging and informative, it is the story of the saint’s life but also about his works and his legacy. It is an excellent biography and one I can easily recommend, another great resource from the Catholic Truth Society.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

For reviews in the CTS Biographies Series Click here.

Note: Midgley wrote the first and last volume in this series that I am aware of alphabetically, and the first three I read were by his pen. I have now read all books I have found marked as part of the CTS Great Saints Series but I keep finding more like this volume occasionally.