The Sanctity of Louis IX: Early Lives of Saint Louis

Description

King St. Louis IX's letter to his eldest son.

BnF, Ms. lat. 13778 for both, and Ms. lat. 18335 for Geoffrey, O.P.

Medievalist Bruce L. Venarde recommends "the well-regarded biographies of Louis by Jacques Legoff and of Blanche by Lindy Grant" as well as "Sean Field [who] has written on relevant matters as well".

St. Thomas praised King St. Louis in his commentary on Psalm 48:1: "…both rich and poor together", naming him alongside St. Abraham!:

Both rich and poor together, as if to say, "Everyone, heed these teachings" since they are useful to all. And what are these teachings? Matthew 5: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"; Ecclesiasticus 31: "Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish." However, some are rich in actuality, but not in (their) desires. And this can be a holy (one), like Abraham, and Ludovic, the king of France.

To be praised as a saint by such a great saint! Wow!

from matins:

Louis IX, King of France, was brought up under the most holy care of his mother Blanche. To regain possession of Jerusalem, he crossed the sea with a great army and put the Saracens to flight in the first battle. But, when a great many of his soldiers had perished in the plague, he was defeated and taken captive. Upon conclusion of a treaty, he was set free. He redeemed many Christians in the East from enslavement to the barbarians, and also converted many infidels to the faith of Christ. Returning to France, he built many monasteries and hospitals for the poor. He helped the needy by his beneficence, and he often visited the sick and served them himself. He wore plain clothing and constantly afflicted his body by wearing a hair shirt and by fasting. When he had crossed the sea again to make war against the Saracens and had pitched camp within sight of them, he died of the plague, saying this prayer: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy Name.

Geoffrey of Beaulieu, O.P. (focused more on his sanctity as evidenced by his crusades):

ref:6.9: Queen Blanche defended her son against rumors: "If this said king, her son, whom she loved above all other mortal creatures, lay sick to the point of death and she were told that he would be cured by sinning once with a woman who was not his wife, she would sooner see him die than that he even once would offend his Creator through mortal sin."

ref:6.16: "If, however, for some reason it happened that he visited his wife the queen during these days of abstinence and spent time with her, and—due to the nearness of his wife and human weakness—he should feel an inordinate movement of the flesh, he would rise from the bed and stride about the room until his rebellious body had calmed down."

ref:6.17: "He was particularly fond of these two [Orders, the Dominicans and Franciscans], for he used to say that if he could divide himself in two, he would give half to one and the remainder to the other."
(In a way he did; one of his sons became a Dominican, and other a Franciscan.)

ref:6.17: Queen Marguerite "had absolutely no desire to accede to his request, his heartfelt longing [that he renounce his kingdom and enter religious life], for any reason"; "refuting the king’s proposal, she pointed out sound reasons against it: divine providence had placed him more usefully in his original state so that he might safeguard the realm and advance the interests of the entire Church."
(He tried to convince his married daughter, Blanche, queen of Navarre, to become a nun. What zeal he had! Yet he understood the great individual good of the religious state for his 11 children, but also that the common good (advanced by political marriages) is greater than the individual good; cf. II-II q. 88 a. 11 arg. 1.)

ref:6.18: "he wanted them to listen to sermons with him, and each one of them to learn their letters, recite the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, and always attend Compline with him".

ref:6.23: In his Instructions to his sons: "you should not fight against or offend God for his gifts."

ref:6.25: "willingly and devoutly listen to the Divine Office."

ref:6.20: "knowing him to be a just and holy man , they feared him. [cf. Mk. 6:20]"

ref:6.56: On his love of the religious and founding monasteries, giving more funds to them than to his own palaces etc. (ref:6.57 names them specifically):

“Dear God, I think how well these alms are spent upon such and so many brothers, who flow from all over the world to these convents in Paris to study sacred doctrine, and then take what they have absorbed from divine Scripture and pour it forth across the world for the salvation of souls and the honor of God!”

ref:6.61:

He wanted to hear the singing of all the canonical hours and150 the Hours of the Blessed Virgin every day. Even if he was journeying on horseback, he would still softly recite them with his chaplain, both the offices for the day and for the Blessed Virgin. Moreover, he recited the Office of the Dead, with the nine readings, every day with his chaplain, even on solemn feast days. It was a rare day indeed that he did not attend two masses, and often he would hear three or four. When he once heard, however, that certain nobles were grumbling about how he would hear so many masses and so many sermons, he answered that no one would ever say a thing if he spent twice the time playing dice or riding in the woods hunting and hawking!

ref:6.66: Supporting learning, he "copied at his own expense all the useful and authentic books of sacred Scripture which he could locate in the various monasteries’ book cupboards, so that not only he, but other learned men and the religious of his household could study them for the use and edification of themselves and their neighbors."

William of Chartres, O.P. (focused more on his governing abilities as evidence of his sanctity):

ref:7.14: He was prohetic, reading souls: "‘Master William will toy with his position as treasurer for only five, maybe six years; but then he will enter into religion.’"

ref:7.24, Louis IX's views on usury:

“The issue of Christians charging interest and practicing usury seems to be a matter for prelates of the Church. The Jews, however, who bear the yoke of servitude to me,47 are my concern, to see that they oppress no Christians by usury and that they not be allowed to commit such depravity48 under my protection and infect my land with their poison. Let the prelates act as they see fit for the Christians answerable to them, and I wish to attend to my business with the Jews. Let them abandon usury or leave my land, lest it be further befouled by their filth.”

ref:7.15: Visiting and preparing the sick for death, like priests' sick calls, "he was also moved, more than I would have believed possible, by a sort of pious usurpation (pia usurpatione) [cf. St. Jerome's "superbiam sanctam"], to concern himself with the salvation of souls, about which he was so actively concerned that he seemed to exercise equally a priestly rule (regale sacerdotium) or a royal priesthood (sacerdotale regimen)."

ref:7.17: His chaste dealings with a "notoriously attractive" lady, exhorting her, in the presence of William of Chartres, O.P.:

“My lady, I want you to call to mind something concerning your salvation. It is said that you were once a beautiful lady. But what once was, now is passed, as you are well aware. You can, therefore, consider that such swiftly fading beauty is vain and useless and does not last, like a quickly wilting flower. And with all your care and effort, you cannot bring it back. Rather you must concern yourself with achieving another beauty, not of the body, but of the soul, whereby you may be able to please our Creator and atone for those things done thoughtlessly in bygone elegance.”

Louis IX of France reigned as king from 1226 to 1270 and was widely considered an exemplary Christian ruler, renowned for his piety, justice, and charity toward the poor. After his death on crusade, he was proclaimed a saint in 1297, and today Saint Louis is regarded as one of the central figures of early French history and the High Middle Ages. In The Sanctity of Louis IX, Larry F. Field offers the first English-language translations of two of the earliest and most important accounts of the king's life: one composed by Geoffrey of Beaulieu, the king's long-time Dominican confessor, and the other by William of Chartres, a secular clerk in Louis's household who eventually joined the Dominican Order himself. Written shortly after Louis's death, these accounts are rich with details and firsthand observations absent from other works, most notably Jean of Joinville's well-known narrative.The introduction by M. Cecilia Gaposchkin and Sean L. Field provides background information on Louis IX and his two biographers, analysis of the historical context of the 1270s, and a thematic introduction to the texts. An appendix traces their manuscript and early printing histories. The Sanctity of Louis IX also features translations of Boniface VIII's bull canonizing Louis and of three shorter letters associated with the earliest push for his canonization. It also contains the most detailed analysis of these texts, their authors, and their manuscript traditions currently available.