By Fr. Joy Prakash, OFM –
Louis carried out the highest office in France in a thoroughly Franciscan way.
His mother, the saintly Blanche of Castile, trained Louis for a double duty: kingship in France and membership in the Kingdom of Heaven. Louis was crowned at the age of 12, though Blanche ruled as regent for several years. Franciscan Friars were among his instructors: eventually he became a Secular Franciscan, the Third Order of St. Francis; the first Order is the Order of Friars Minor (OFM); and second is Poor Clare Sisters.
Louis fasted throughout Advent and every Friday. Louis was generous in founding hospitals, building churches and promoting learning. In the 1250’s there was a controversy at the University of Paris regarding the Mendicant Orders: Dominicans and the Franciscans. The professors there resented the independent but immensely popular schools of the mendicants. Louis openly supported the Franciscans; the great theologians, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas were honoured guests at his table.
In 1248-1254 Louis led a crusade to recover the Holy Land. He went through North Africa and captured Damietta in Egypt, but was soon taken prisoner. When he was to be ransomed, his captors added a condition: He must deny his faith. Louis refused and they eventually gave in.
Louis’s greatest achievement was to rule his kingdom in the light of the Gospel. He always considered God’s law superior to his own laws. Louis worked hard to improve the administration of justice in his kingdom. He maintained good relations with the other Christian rulers of his day; three times he was called upon to mediate peace between opposing rulers in Europe.
Louis was a good father to his eleven children. He was very concerned to teach them the dignity of their Baptism, even over the nobility of their rulers in Europe.
He died on his second crusade (1267-70) and was canonized in 1297.
Comment: We rarely associate kings with the spirit of Saint Francis, but Louis IX shows us that the Poverello’s ideals can work there also. In some ways, following the Gospel must have occasionally looked to Louis like disadvantage, but he considered his chosen path worth any apparent drawbacks.