Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
An Often Misunderstood Saint Part IV: Expulsion from the Mission Band of Father Leuduger
Fr. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
In a letter to Father Leschassier, dated December 6,1700, Father de Montfort wrote: “I still harbor the desire I had in Paris to join Father Leuduger, student of Father de St. Brieuc. He is a great missionary and a man of wide experience.” No one could challenge Louis Grignion’s high esteem of the famous Breton preacher, founder, author, and also the organizer of missionary preaching in the diocese of St. Brieuc and the surrounding area.
L ouis de Montfort first heard of Dom Leuduger (1649-1722) when a student at the Jesuit college in Rennes. Father Bellier, a diocesan priest who regularly led a group of the local college students on visits to the sick and the poor, was also – from time to time – one of Father Leuduger’s volunteer assistants. The stories of the conquests for God that Father Bellier brought back with him after preaching a parish mission were more exciting to Louis Grignion than news from explorers in the wilds of Canada or from merchants in the mysterious Far East. And while still a student in the Jesuit college, the young man probably had the privilege of witnessing Father Leuduger and his team in action, for they had come to Rennes to preach a mission to the soldiers of the local garrison.
From the time of his college days, therefore, Dom Leuduger was one of Louis Marie’s heroes. When searching for an apostolate after his ordination (June, 1700), the saint dreamt of joining the mission band of the celebrated Breton, Jean Leuduger. However, a newly ordained priest would first have to climb a few rungs of pastoral ministry before being able to join the top-ranked mission team in the area. In October, Father Louis Grignion was sent lo Saint Clement House in Nantes, to try his hand at preaching missions and retreats under the direction of an elderly, holy priest, Father Lévéque. In the December 1700 letter to Father Leschassier, he spoke of frustration with his assignment to St. Clement and suggested to his spiritual director the possibility of now – at last! – transfer-ring to the parish mission band of the renowned Father Leuduger. It would be the realization of a longing dating back to his teenage years.
However, Father Leschassier claimed that he could give him no advice about joining Dorn Leuduger since, as he wrote to Louis Grignion, “I never had the good fortune of meeting him.” Most probably the veteran Sulpician did not think that a few months of preaching at Nantes was adequate to become not a temporary volunteer but a member of Leuduger’s core team, which was what Montfort was requesting. Father Leuduger, as far as can be known, was never contacted about the possibility. In 1701, Providence led the young priest not to Father Leuduger but to the General Hospital in Poitiers.
Five years later, a more experienced Father de Montfort was even more determined to be an apprentice of Dom Leuduger, still reputedly the greatest of parish missioners of northwestern France. What better means lo fulfill the Pope’s command to evangelize his own country? Where such a move would lead him, Father de Montfort was not certain. However, it would surely glve him an experience of the best in parish missions. It is said that when Jean Leuduger organized a town renewal, the village square itself took on the appearance of a monastic cloister, so intense was his preaching and organizational abilities. Moreover, Father Leuduger’s well-known devotions to the Holy Spirit and to Our Lady were most attractive to Montfort.
Dom Leuduger had also, so it appears, heard of the zealous priest from Montfort and wanted him to join the team. In February, 1707, Father de Montfort became an auxiliary of the Breton mission band. The number of priests associated with Leuduger is astounding: probably about twenty regulars, and, often that many or even more volunteers when a large mission was undertaken. It was considered an honor for any priest, whether village pastor or professor at the Sorbonne, to join Father Leuduger temporarily in evangelizing a village or city. Working as a team was important – especially for the core auxiliaries – and Father Leuduger’s directives were to be respected. Otherwise, with as many as forty to fifty priests taking part, the mission could turn into disastrous chaos.
Louis de Montfort assisted in various roles in several missions led by Dom Leuduger, although he preferred the position of catechist. Towns throughout the diocese of St. Malo were evangelized by this Breton mission team while the priest from the village of Montfort was with them: Baulon, Le Verger, Merdrignac, and his birthplace of Montfort. La Chéze, Plumieux, Saint-Brieuc, Moncontour, La Trinité-Porhoét in the diocese of St. Brieuc also heard the powerful preaching of Louis Marie when Leuduger’s team literally swept through the area on a victory campaign for the Gospel.
Father de Montfort at 34, not yet seven years ordained, was one of the youngest members of Leuduger’s core team, made up of many seasoned veterans. Yet he preached with such fire, prayed with such fervor that he quickly became one of the best known. At La Chéze, he simply told the people that he was the one predicted in 1417 by Saint Vincent Ferrer: “the man whom the Most High would raise up in years to come, a man unknown, scoffed at, opposed, the man who would with the help of grace, complete the undertaking” of the restoration of the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows at La Chéze. And during the time of the mission in that town and in the nearby village of Plumleux, he fulfilled the prophecy. The new Vincent Ferrer restored the chapel! A majestic procession composed of people from twenty to thirty parishes in the area carried the new statue of Our Lady of Sorrows to her magnificently restored shrine at La Chéze. The Bretons’ praise for the Father from Montfort seemed to know no limit. It was a repeat of the cry of the Israelites: “Saul has slain his thousands but David his ten thousands!,” only now it was a comparison between Leuduger’s team and the one member who stood out above the rest, the new David, the young Father Grignion of Montfort.
He was also gifted, so the people of La Chéze claimed, with healing powers. His custom was to have the sick drink a bit of water in which the name of Jesus – stitched or written on a small bit of cloth – had been dipped. So many sick were cured that the news spread throughout the region. Even fifty years later, the then pastor of La Chéze recounted in a memorandum to his bishop the wonderful stories – still very much alive in the parish – of this great priest who took part in the mission. The cured reported that Montfort not only restored the sick to health but also multiplied bread for the poor. He described the priest as a man of extraordinary penances yet always so filled with joy, attracting people by his pleasant smile. And most importantly, added the cured, he was always obedient to the orders of his superiors.
Tile mural depicting a scene of St Louis de Montfort’s Life and a wood carved statue
This mural (image #1) appears immediately outside the chapel in Montfort’s Spiritual Center. This first scene depicts Louis Grignion’s leaving to begin his studies in Paris. Louis Grignion walked to his destinations and this journey was no different. It is over 250 miles between the towns. He would give up his clothes and money along the way.
The second image is a wood carved statue of St. Louis de Montfort located in the chapel of the Montfort Spiritual Center.
So many sick were cured that the news spread throughout the region. Even fifty years later, the then pastor of La Chéze recounted in a memorandum to his bishop the wonderful stories – still very much alive in the parish – of this great priest who took part in the mission.
Dom Leuduger never mentions Louis Marie in his Bouquet de la Mission, which contains chronicles of his missions. He does write admirably of the practice of publicly reciting the full rosary at La Chéze, a custom which he indicates began with the mission there in 1707 (when Father de Montfort preached on the rosary). Even years after Montfort’s death, the people of the area were convinced that a rare man of God had visited them and the effects of his preaching were still much in evidence.
In other towns where the Breton mission team preached, the response of the people to Father de Montfort equaled, or even exceeded, what it was in La Chéze. Stories of his “extraordinary” ministry followed him everywhere. At his home village of Montfort, he preached without words. Gazing at a crucifix, he stood motionless in the pulpit as if in ecstasy. He then walked through the Church, offering a crucifix to each person, saying: “Are you not upset to have so offended Him?” When Montfort arrived on a Sunday for a parish mission at Moncontour (where Father Leuduger had been parish priest), he was shocked that a noisy band and a large group of shouting dancers were violating the holiness of the Lord’s day. He walked right into the middle of the entertainment, grabbed instruments out of the hands of the musicians and ordered everyone on their knees to beg pardon of God. And they all – some with hesitation – obeyed him. Not satisfied, he publicly scolded the mayor and ordered him never to permit such a scene again. The veteran members of the mission team were aghast.
In the same town, Montfort was angered over the extremely worldly if not indecent dress of the bourgeoisie, not only when they were at the village square but even when at Mass. After celebrating the Eucharist in the chapel of the local hospital, he announced that he would offer for veneration his small ivory cross which had been blessed by Pope Clement XI. But the women whom he considered immodestly dressed were openly refused permission to kiss the cross, even the prominent ladies who governed the hospital. He took the occasion to remind the congregation in forceful terms that especially those in charge must give good example to the younger generation. A bold preacher, willing to cross swords with anyone who resisted the Good news of Jesus Christ!
It appears that in the few months that Father Louis Marie was with the Breton mission team, he more and more overshadowed its other members. Not maliciously or even consciously, he drew the spotlight onto his Spirit-filled preaching, his loving ministry to the rejects of the town, his tender love for Our Lady and her Rosary. Grandet tells us that Montfort was “so much the master of the hearts of his hearers that they would have been ready to follow him to the other end of the world if he wanted to lead them there. ”
In August, 1707, after having heard Dom Leuduger preach a moving sermon on the importance of praying for the deceased, Father de Montfort was inspired to take up a collection to have Masses celebrated for the souls in purgatory. The formal rule for all priests working with Father Leuduger was clear: there are to be no requests made of the poor for material help. The Breton mission team was subsidized by the wealthy and by charitable foundations. Even if the money Montfort received was to go for Masses for the dead, he was sternly told by the leader of the mission band that he had broken a fundamental regulation of the team. John Baptist Blain tells us that he was accused “of the crime of taking up a collection, and as if the crime were irreparable, Dom Leuduger expelled him from the mission team, telling Father de Montfort that he no longer wanted to work with him.”
Louis de Montfort must have been, at the very least, surprised. He had always envisaged the day when he could work side by side with the great Father Leuduger. His dream had come true. For several months he had the honor of being part of the small army of Leuduger’s parish missioners. Now this holy preacher forcefully told him that he was not wanted. As regularly happens when Montfort receives a severe setback, he went off in solitude and prayer.
However, the story of the relationship between Leuduger and Montfort is not complete. Only a few years later, so John Baptist Blain informs us, Dom Jean Leuduger, then in his early sixties, gave serious thought to naming a successor. Who would take his place?
He sincerely requested Father Louis de Montfort to take over the reins. Leuduger would then have no fear for the future of his successful Breton mission team. However, the Father from Montfort was by then totally immersed in his own style of preaching parish missions and with his own team, so had to decline.
(to be continued)
