Q&A: Did Saint Louis de Montfort go through a sudden conversion experience as a young man, something like the one spoken of in the biographies of Saint Ignatius Loyola and several other saints?
Father J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
Experience As A Youth?
The principal biographers of Montfort declare that if he had died as a young man he would have been considered an extraordinary saint. Something like an Aloysius Gonzaga. From his youth he appears to have been graced by God. Graced with out-of-the-ordinary holiness and by the time of his seminary years’ even with mystical gifts. There was no extraordinary conversion experience from worldliness to Christ-centeredness.
However, that does not mean that he achieved great holiness without any struggle. Biographers often speak of his anger which he had to dominate in order to become the “Good” Father from Montfort. During his first years of priesthood, he knew not only loneliness but abandonment by his friends and acquaintances. Especially as a young, idealistic priest, he had to fight discouragement. Discouragement he faced with the opposition to his ministry by some of the ecclesiastical authorities.
He went through what some call a short “vocational crisis”. A time when he thought of leaving the active ministry of parish-mission preacher. A time when he might settle into a priestly life of solitude. His path to the higher stages of sanctity was a journey, moving from step to step, struggling constantly to live totally for God Alone. No one becomes a saint without daily battles.
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