On St Louis-Marie de Montfort

Yes, I know his feast day is not until April 28th, but I thought I should put this up now anyway.

When I went on my own Tour de France in 2002, one place I visited was St Laurent-sur-Sevres.

This is the village in the Vendee region where the saint is buried; it is a minor basilica, and was also visited by Pope John Paul II, who, as we all know, was a devotee of De Montfort and his True Devotion.

There is, as far as I am aware, no bus service to the village, so you can take the train to Cholet, a good-sized town seven miles to the north, and get a taxi from there. I believe there is one hotel in St Laurent, though it was full when I got to the area, so I stayed Saturday night in Cholet, and got a taxi to St Laurent for 1030 Mass.

At the time, I was using just a simple, cheap single-use disposable camera, so the photos are not good. Apologies!

Here is the basilica from the bridge:




Here is the tomb of the saint:



And here is the stained glass window over the main entrance. Each of the five vertical parts of the window represents the various religious orders and lay movements which the saint either founded or inspired: