Saint Louis IX of France: Co-Patron of Secular Franciscan Order

On August 25, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Louis IX of France (1214-1270), co-patron of the Secular Franciscan Order and of Third Order Regular men and women.

Raised with great sense of responsibility to others

Louis was born in 1214, the eldest surviving son of Louis VIII, King of France (1223-1226) and Blanche of Castile. He was crowned at Reims at the age of 12, but his mother ruled the kingdom as regent until 1234. Blanche, a devout Catholic, instilled in him a great sense of responsibility. She told him: "I love you, my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should ever commit a mortal sin."

Quintessential Christian ruler

In his day, Louis was viewed as the quintessential Christian ruler. He fostered a uniform system of justice, attempting to quell private feudal wars in his realm, and establishing a direct right of appeal to the monarch. He abolished trial by combat and introduced the presumption of innocence in criminal proceedings. Louis was attentive to the rights of the poor (he outlawed usury, excessive rates of interest that were gouging many people). Very devout in his personal life, he was never heard to speak ill of anyone and had a large number of poor people fed daily, some at his own table. He fostered learning, established many hospitals, and was a great patron of the Franciscan and Dominican friars and their evangelizing efforts. Indeed, he was rebuked by some courtiers for being a "monk-king."

The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, one of the splendors of Gothic architecture, was constructed by Saint Louis between 1241-48 to house his relic collection, especially what was thought to be the Crown of Thorns.  He had obtained the relic at great expense from the Latin Emperor Baldwin II of Constantinople a few years previously. Photo by Pedro Szekely.

“God’s lieutenant”

Louis's sense of duty as "God's lieutenant" led him to respond to Pope Innocent IV’s appeal to go on Crusade against Islamic rulers. He was away from his realm in the Eastern Mediterranean waging this "Seventh Crusade" from 1248 to 1254 (during which he was captured, but then was able to fortify the Christian presence in the Holy Land). Later, in 1270, he launched the "Eighth Crusade" but died of dysentery in Tunis not long after arriving in North Africa.

Death of Louis IX at Tunis. Illuminated by Jean Fouquet, Grandes Chroniques de France (1455–1460).

Committed to justice and peace

Louis's life reminds us that Franciscan spirituality always involves a commitment to establishing God's justice in society and the promotion of peace. Although his life certainly expressed the values of authentic Christian penance - seeking to turn from evil and live out Gospel values, there is actually no historical record that he ever formally entered the Order of Penance (the Franciscan "Third Order"). Louis's ideals are captured in a letter he wrote to his son, the future Philip III.

This painting of Saint Louis IX, King of France, by El Greco (1592-95), hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Sibling saint

Louis's younger sister, (Saint) Isabelle (1224-70), was a Franciscan penitent; she founded a monastery of Poor Clares at Longchamp outside Paris, where she lived in a house on the property but without becoming a nun.

San Luis Rey Mission

In the United States, not only the city of St. Louis, Missouri, but the California mission of San Luis Rey is named after him.

Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, California, is named after Saint Louis IX of France.

The Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, Missouri, is also named after Saint Louis IX of France. Photo by Botsojoy, English Wikipedia.

Main image: Saint Louis IX (detail) from the visual colophon of the Bible of St. Louis, New York, Morgan Library & Museum.