St Louis, Holy King of France, ora pro nobis!

I highly recommend Christopher Check's article from This Rock, Oct 2009
With greater personal asceticism, the man who once loved a good party or a stirring theological discussion with his friend Thomas Aquinas now devoted himself more than ever to making France a place where Christian holiness would flower. He labored for peace and justice with such drive that he became the most sought-after arbiter in Europe. In negotiating peace with England, his advisors believed he was far too generous to Henry III. He outlawed private war and judicial combat. He coined the realm’s first gold coin in centuries, the écu, replete with Crusader imagery. He gave generously to the poor, feeding them from his own table and washing their feet. He supported the Church, building monasteries and leper hospitals. He encouraged large-scale displays of public piety, participating in no fewer than nine translations of saints’ relics. In Paris’s words, he was "the pinnacle of the kings on Earth." In G.K Chesterton’s, "the noblest knight of the Middle Ages."
Don't tell that to Brook Shields though....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The church of St Louis, King of France in ST PAUL, MN is defiantly a church worth seeing. The church is located just blocks away from HealthEast:St Joseph's Hospital. It is so gorgous! Too bad I didn't have a camera when I was last there in 2004... back in the day when church doors were open for people to go in. St Mary's Assumption is across the street from that same hospital and can easily be seen (dual steeples) from the front steps of the St Paul Catheral.

Fr. John Mary, ISJ said...

I agree with "In need of Mercy"; we have gone to confession at St. Louis, King of France, in the chapel, which offers weekday confessions over the noon hour.
The Church is beautiful.
And we gave an icon to Archbishop Burke, at his installation as Archbishop of St. Louis; I did not know much about him until researching and doing the icon. A great model for laity...he loved the Lord immensely; he loved and cared for the poor.
A needed reminder to us that one does not exclude the other!