Calumniating The King
(Today is the feast of King St Louis, so I decided to republish this post. You can find the original here)
There were other skirmishes, including other peaceful protesters being hit and even some reports of them being spat upon by BLM. (See, e.g., https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2020/june/attack-catholics-praying-elderly-man-who-were-protecting-king-louis-ix-statue). Why the anger over the French King? Two charges: (1) antisemitism and (2) racism/"Islamophobia." In this post I will present the life and virtues of King St. Louis, expose the damnable lies leveled against him, and demonstrate the evil of his detractors. My sources on King St. Louis are:
- Louis IX: Most Christian King of France, [1968] by Margaret Wade Lebarge
- Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, [English edition; 1992] by Jean Richard
- Saint Louis, [2009] by Jacques LeGoff
King St. Louis IX: Quintessential Catholic Monarch
St. Louis IX, King of France, was born at Poissy on April 25, 1214. He often referred to himself as "Louis de Poissy" because he considered his true birth to have been in the place where he was baptized as a member of Christ's One True Church. He was one of ten children born to King Louis VIII (reigned 1223–1226) and Queen Blanche of Castile (lived from 1188–1252). He was their second son, but when his older brother Philip died in 1218 at the age of nine, Louis became Crown Prince (i.e., male heir with the right to inherit the throne) at the age of four.
King Louis VIII died at the age of thirty-eight, when St Louis was only twelve years old. The young child received coronation as King Louis IX, but the boy-King was unable to rule under the French law, promulgated by past kings, decreeing that no one may exercise kingly authority until age 21. His extremely devout and pious mother, Queen Blanche, became Regent of France which meant that she could rule France by making binding decisions in the name of her son until he was old enough to rule on his own. She was the de facto ruler of France from 1226-1235, making her the most powerful woman in Europe, if not the entire world at that time. She was a brilliant woman, and made many shrewd alliances and deals with other nobility, ensuring that her son would rule over an even more powerful France.
The greatest thing Queen Blanche did, and indeed, the greatest thing any mother could do, was to impart to her royal son the knowledge and love of the Catholic Faith. St. Louis himself gave credit to his mother for instilling his love of the Church. The Queen told him, "I love you, my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child, but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should ever commit a mortal sin." The saint said at the end of his life he always remembered those words and lived by them.
In 1234, at the age of twenty, the saint married Margaret de Provence, a woman described as "fair of face, but fairer of faith." It was important to the King that his Queen should be as devout as he was in the practice of the Faith. He was not disappointed in his Queen. He often would say that his life was guided by the motto, "All for Christ, All for France, All for Margaret." He ascended to the Royal Throne on April 25, 1235 assuming all powers of an absolute monarch. His mother went from being Queen-Regent to Queen-Mother, a figurehead with no authority, but who continued to exert great influence over her son.
King St. Louis IX: Seeking First the Kingdom of God
While "power corrupts" is a truism in most cases, it did not apply to St. Louis. Upon receiving full power as monarch, Louis set about achieving his personal goal of making France the foremost Catholic kingdom. It began with his prayer life and holy example. He recited the Divine Office daily, and attended the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass twice each day. Once when reproached by one the nobles that he "spent too much time with praying" and didn't give enough attention to matters of government, the justly angry King told him, "If I spent my time idly, by hunting and other pleasures of royalty, no one would object. You dare to upbraid me for seeking first the Kingdom of God?" The noble was speechless.
The virtuous King often abandoned royal garb for a hair-shirt to do penance, and would sleep on the floor many nights. His devotion to the Most Holy Sacrifice was legendary. Saint Louis would genuflect during the Nicene Creed at Mass to show reverence to the incarnation of Christ, "the greatest event in human history" at the words,"ET INCARNATUS EST DE SPIRITU SANCTO EX MARIA VIRGINE: ET HOMO FACTUS EST." ("AND BECAME INCARNATE BY THE HOLY GHOST OF THE VIRGIN MARY: AND WAS MADE MAN."). This pious practice was quickly emulated by his subjects, and even began to be practiced outside France. Rome responded by making the practice, an incentive to piety, part of the actual rubrics. Think of King St. Louis the next time you genuflect at the Credo during Mass!
The King and Queen had eleven children from their holy marriage; six sons and five daughters. He recognized that his most solemn duty as a father was to instill in his children the same love of Christ and His One True Church that he had. He would teach them their catechism and go to Mass with them. He made praying with them a priority. It is believed he never told a lie and never broke a promise.
The Latin emperor of Constantinople gave St. Louis the Crown of Thorns in 1238, and the saint built the magnificent Sainte Chapelle to house this relic of Christ's crucifixion. King St. Louis is often depicted holding the Crown of Thorns. He built many churches, encouraged vocations, and protected all religious orders.
King St. Louis IX: Giving Alms to the Poor and Enforcer of Catholic Morals
The King had a great love for the poor, and would invite numerous serfs into his castle to eat with him. He would often disguise himself as a beggar and circulate among the common folks to ask what they thought of the King. He would take to heart any complaints and seek to rectify them. He abolished prostitution and made sure those women who were caught up in such sinful living were given the ability to turn from sin and make living wages doing something useful. He made blasphemy punishable by being branded on the lips. When the pope told him he thought the penalty to be too severe, the saint replied that he subjected himself to the laws he promulgated and would gladly have his own lips branded if he spoke a blasphemy, so as to rid France of that sin. Out of respect for the pope, he mitigated the penalty to several months in a dungeon.
King St. Louis abolished usury, and in 1240 had all copies of the blasphemous Talmud publicly burned in Paris. The Jews were hated for charging interest on money, and the King had them wear an identifying badge to warn the people and hope for their conversion. He gave strict orders that no Jew was to be harmed under any pretext. More than once he served as a godfather for the baptism of a converted Jew. All false religions were banned from public worship, and only the Catholic Faith, the religion of the State, could be practiced in public and proselytize. The King made two incredible legal reforms; he abolished the so-called "trial by ordeal," a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a dangerous experience and predicated on the belief God would save the innocent by a miracle. The saint rightly concluded this was a form of tempting God to "show me a miracle and prove Thou art Just." He also introduced the presumption of innocence. This was done in response to the wealthy accusing the poor of crimes and demanding they prove themselves innocent when they were uneducated and couldn't afford help. Now all were presumed innocent and the burden of proof was on the accuser to prove guilt.
King St. Louis IX: Crusader for Christ
When he fell violently ill, the King made a vow to go on a Crusade in the Holy Land to save the Catholics from the savage Mohammedans. St. Louis’s first Crusade (The Seventh Crusade;1248–1250) was a response to the conquest of Christian-controlled Jerusalem by a Turkish and Egyptian force in 1244. After the Holy City was taken, the victors massacred the Christian inhabitants and desecrated the churches. The King's Crusade was set to punish Egypt for that attack and ultimately restore Jerusalem to its Christian king. It failed. Louis’s army was defeated, and he was thrown into prison.
St. Louis negotiated a deal for his release in exchange for the payment of a heavy ransom. When Turan Shah received half payment from Queen Margaret, he released the King. His advisors begged him to leave Egypt and not pay the remaining half of the ransom, but the virtuous king refused because he had given his solemn promise, and remained until the full debt was paid.
King St. Louis IX: Rooting out Corruption in the Church
It was precisely because the King loved the Church so much, that he would rebuke and stand against any cleric who stepped beyond their spiritual power and acted like they were starved for glory and temporal power. A group of bishops met with King St Louis to demand that he take their side against some nobles in a dispute because they were clerics. The saint (literally) laughed in their faces and said that he would side with those whom he believed to be morally right, which in this case was the nobles, and they should not use their position as bishops to attempt to further a cause in which they were clearly wrong.
When certain bishops were excommunicating their subjects for the slightest reason to keep them in line, St. Louis did not hesitate to publicly admonish them for devaluing the punishment to the point that it wouldn't have the medicinal effect of meaning much and causing people to amend their ways.
King St. Louis IX: Banishing the Disease of Heresy
The King kept company with St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas, whose mind never stopped thinking, was dining with St. Louis, when the Angelic Doctor stood up, pounded the table and said, "That's the argument to defeat the Albigensian heretics!" The King's guards came to admonish St. Thomas, but the good King told them to immediately bring St. Thomas something to write with so he would not forget his argument.
The King would often compare heresy to disease and would do all in his power to extirpate it. This analogy of heresy to disease was even contained in the bull of his canonization:
He [Louis] abhorred those who were infected with the macula of perversion [i.e., heresy]. So that they would not infect the adepts of the Christian faith with the rot of this contagious disease, he hunted it out with efficient efforts beyond the boarders of his kingdom, and by exercising his attentive, preventative concerns for the condition of his kingdom, he cast these ferments out of it and allowed the True Faith to shine there in its authentic state.
King St. Louis IX: A Man of Strong Faith
It is related that in the King's private chapel, a miracle took place when he was not there. When the priest consecrated the Host, it had turned into a visible Christ Child! One of his good and faithful servants ran to the King to tell him what happened, and come and see for himself before the miracle ended. The saintly King just hung his head, deep in thought. His servant couldn't understand his reaction. "Does not your Majesty wish to come and see the Infant Jesus?" He lifted his head and replied, "No, my good man. With the eyes of Faith, I see the Infant Jesus in the Host every day at Mass. Go, and call those who do not believe to witness it. As for me, I believe He is there every day, as the Church teaches." King St. Louis IX truly lived the words of Our Lord, "Jesus saith to him: 'Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.'" (St. John 20:29).
King St. Louis IX: Living in Sedevacantism
Upon the death of Pope Clement IV on November 29, 1268, until the election of Pope Gregory X on September 1, 1271 was a long interregnum. The King lived approximately the last year and nine months of his life with no pope on the throne of St. Peter. This never prevented him from living and dying as a true Catholic; in a certain sense, he is a saint for our unique time of near universal apostasy. He never lost the faith, and our prayers to him will ensure his most powerful intercession that we keep the Integral Catholic faith as Traditionalists.
King St. Louis IX: Dying as he Lived--A Devout Catholic who Loved Our Lord and Our Lady
The rise of the Mamluk general Baybars and his merciless campaign of terror against the Christians in the Holy Land prompted Louis to take the cross a second time. St. Louis was in his fifties, and it had been twenty years since he first left on his first Crusade. The Crusade was a disaster from the start and ended with St. Louis contracting a fatal disease. He composed a letter to his son, Crown Prince Philip who would become King Philip III, aka Philip the Bold. Here is just part of what St.Louis wrote to him:
Fair son, the first thing I would teach thee is to set thine heart to love God; for unless he love God none can be saved. Keep thyself from doing aught that is displeasing to God, that is to say, from mortal sin. Contrariwise thou shouldst suffer every manner of torment rather than commit a mortal sin.
If God send thee adversity, receive it in patience and give thanks to our Saviour and bethink thee that thou hast deserved it, and that He will make it turn to thine advantage. If He send thee prosperity, then thank Him humbly, so that thou becomest not worse from pride or any other cause, when thou oughtest to be better. For we should not fight against God with his own gifts.
Confess thyself often and choose for thy confessor a right worthy man who knows how to teach thee what to do, and what not to do; and bear thyself in such sort that thy confessor and thy friends shall dare to reprove thee for thy misdoings. Listen to the services of Holy Church devoutly, and without chattering; and pray to God with thy heart and with thy lips, and especially at Mass when the consecration takes place. Let thy heart be tender and full of pity toward those who are poor, miserable, and afflicted, and comfort and help them to the utmost of thy power.
Worn out from toil and sickness, King Louis IX received the Last Rites, and while praising Jesus and Mary, gave forth his soul to God at the age of 56 on August 25, 1270. He was infallibly canonized and enrolled among the saints of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII on August 11, 1297--almost exactly 27 years after his holy death. His feast day is kept on the day he entered Heaven, August 25th.
Exposing the Calumnies of the King's Evil Enemies
The Jews and the Mohammedans hate King St. Louis IX. That these enemies of Christ should hate one of His saints and cast aspersions upon him should come as no surprise. The Times of Israel happily reports:
Umar Lee, who started a petition for the city [St. Louis] to remove the statue and change the city’s name, organized the anti-statue rally. The petition, which had 849 signatures as of Sunday evening, says Louis IX was “a rabid anti-semite who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people,” as well as “vehemently Islamophobic.” (See https://www.timesofisrael.com/st-louis-archdiocese-defends-statue-of-king-louis-ix-who-persecuted-jews/amp/).
Southern Jewish Life reports that Lee is also planning to ask Pope (sic) Francis to decanonize (!) Louis IX. (See sjlmag.com/2020/06/missouri-activists-shine-light-on.html?m=1. And leave it to Bergoglio to do something so invalid and evil). The Vatican II sect happily joins forces with Jews and Mohammedans because the Modernists are just as wicked. The Vatican II sect's Archdiocese of St. Louis gave a lackluster defense of the saint, and there was no official effort on the part of any cleric from Bergoglio on down to denounce BLM and counter the petition. The Jesuit rag America denounces the great saint in an article written by one Eve Tushnet, entitled "Don't Hide From the Sins of St. Louis." Tushnet is a Jewish convert to the Vatican II sect and sodomite. She is the author of Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality. (I'd love to write a book, Vegetarian and Eating Meat: Accepting My Diet and Self-Contradictions).
Tushmet denounces King St. Louis IX for his "antisemitism;" most notably burning the Talmud. She writes, If there is one thing a church (sic) facing a catastrophic sexual abuse crisis needs, it is willingness to admit the sins of our heroes. If our first instinct is to defend "the church," not to defend the truth or the victims, have we really learned the lessons of the abuse crisis? (See https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/07/06/dont-hide-sins-st-louis). This is sheer blasphemy and lies. That King St. Louis was imperfect, conceded; that he was antisemitic denied. Likewise, he was neither racist nor "Islamophobic" (a made up word that labels anyone who spurns that diabolic sect as "mentally ill" by having an "irrational fear" ). The lesson of the abuse crisis is that the Modernists allowed sexual perverts (like Tushmet) into the seminaries after Vatican II and Communists sent thousands of sodomites into the seminaries to infiltrate the Church. To claim that correctly declaring the truth about the heroic virtues of King St. Louis and refusing to impute to him made-up sins is somehow analogous to the Vatican II sect covering up for pederasts is just plain madness.
Here's an examination of the charges against the saint, and proof of their falsehood.
King St. Louis and the Jews
- It was the interest-charging Jews who were evil for imposing usury. To warn the people against borrowing money from them, they wore a badge, and this also served to protect them against violence by royal decree.
- The King wanted their conversion and was godfather to several converted Jews
- The Talmud deserved to be burned because it is a blasphemous, evil book.
Proof of the Talmud's evil:
THE TALMUD gets its name from the word LAMUD — taught, and means The Teaching. By metonymy it is taken to mean the book which contains the Teaching, which teaching is called Talmud, that is, the doctrinal book which alone fully expounds and explains all the knowledge and teaching of the Jewish people. For nearly five hundred years after the Babylonian Talmud was completed, the study of literature was greatly hampered partly due to public calamities and partly owing to dissensions among the scholars. But in the eleventh century others wrote further additions to the Talmud. Chief among these were the Tosephoth of Rabbi Ascher.
Besides these there appeared the Perusch of Rabbi Moische ben Maimon, called by the Jews Rambam for short, by the Christians Maimonides, and by Rabbi Schelomo, Iarchi or Raschi.
Thus, the Mischna, Gemarah, Tosephoth, the marginal notes of Rabbi Ascher, the Piske Tosephoth and the Perusch Hamischnaioth of Maimonides, all collected into one, constitute a vast work which is called the Talmud.
The Talmud teaches that Jesus Christ was illegitimate and was conceived during menstruation; that he had the soul of Esau; that he was a fool, a conjurer, a seducer; that he was crucified, buried in hell and set up as an idol ever since by his followers.
In the Tract Sanhedrin (103a) the words of Psalm XCI, 10: 'No plague shall come near thy dwelling,' are explained as follows:
"That thou mayest never have a son or a disciple who will salt his food so much that he destroys his taste in public, like Jesus the Nazarene."
To salt one's food too much or to destroy one's taste, is proverbially said of one who corrupts his morals or dishonors himself, or who falls into heresy and idolatry and openly preaches it to others.
In the same book Sanhedrin (107b) we read:
"Mar said: Jesus seduced, corrupted and destroyed Israel."
it is explained why animals must not be allowed in the barns of Gentiles, and why Jews are not permitted to have sexual intercourse with them:
"Animals must not be allowed to go near the Goim, because they are suspected of having intercourse with them. Nor must women cohabit with them because they are over-sexed."
In fol. 22b of the same book the reason is given why animals especially of the feminine sex must be kept away from their women:
"...because when Gentile men come to their neighbors' houses to commit adultery with their wives and do not find them at home, they fornicate with the sheep in the barns instead. And sometimes even when their neighbors' wives are at home, they prefer to fornicate with the animals; for they love the sheep of the Israelites more than their own women." (See The Talmud Unmasked:The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians, by theologian Pranaitis [1892], available in full online at http://www.talmudunmasked.com/index.htm).
King St. Louis and the Mohammedans
The Crusades of St. Louis were not done out of hatred for a person's race, but for the protection of Christians and the conversion of those "still in the darkness of idolatry or Islamism" (Prayer for the Consecration of the Human Race to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus). St. Louis' biographer LeGoff, relates that when in Egypt, the saint met the Sultan of Babylon. Through an interpreter they spoke. The King said he was sad. The Sultan asked why and St Louis responded, "It is because I have not won the thing I wanted to win the most, for which I left my sweet country of France..." "What is that?" the Sultan asked. "It is your soul," said King St. Louis. He explained how the Sultan and the Mohammedans could only be saved by Jesus Christ and His Church. The Sultan responded, "In following the law of the most blessed Mohammed we hope to one day come to enjoy the greatest pleasures in the afterlife." The King (no ecumenist!) immediately replied, "That is why I can only be thoroughly astonished that you men who are discreet and circumspect give your faith to that sorcerer Mohammed who commands and allows so many dishonest things. I have actually looked at and examined the Koran, and I have only seen filth and impurities in it..." The sultan was so moved, he began to sob at the concern St. Louis had, as he pleaded for the conversion of the Moslems. (See LeGoff, pgs. 647-648).
Proof that the Koran teaches wickedness:
The Koran is an evil book written under demonic inspiration. Strong words? I own a copy. Here's what it teaches:
"O ye who believe! Fight the unbelievers who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you; and know that Allah is with those who fear Him." (Sura IX 123) Islam spread by means of violence. Catholicism spread by being persecuted and loving Her enemies along the way.
"They do blaspheme who say: 'Allah is Christ the son of Mary.' But said Christ: 'O Children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.' Whoever joins other gods with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help." (Sura V 75) Islam says Christians go to Hell, and Christ is not Divine; He allegedly told others to worship the false moon "god" Allah.
"O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (For friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guided not a people unjust." (Sura V 54) Mohammedans are told not to have Christians or Jews as friends.
Also taught:
Women are inferior to men (Sura IV 34)
Men can, and even should, beat their wives in some circumstances (Sura IV 34)
Allah does not love the unbelievers (Sura III 32)
The Modernists' and liberals' conundrum: If you support Islam, which supports the inferiority of women and approves of them being beaten, doesn't that make you a misogynist? But if you condemn Islam for being misogynistic and not a "religion of peace," doesn't that make you "Islamophobic"?
Conclusion
Now it can be seen why BLM, the Jews, Mohammedans, and Modernists despise and spread lies about King St. Louis IX. He is the embodiment of everything they hate. Here is a layman with a large family who puts God first. He believed there is only One True Church to which all must belong if they are to be saved. He didn't believe in ecumenism, that Moslems worship the same God as Catholics, and he did believe the Jews were the Deicide race who also need conversion because proselytism is not "solemn nonsense." He did not believe in separation of Church and State, or religious liberty, but that every State must be a Catholic State. He lived a life of heroic virtue, realizing that power and money are to be used in the service of God, and any other use is folly. He was solidly Catholic and proud of it; the model Christian ruler and knight, who with supreme valor, upheld all that was good, true, and beautiful. Where is any of this in our politicians of today? The enemies of King St. Louis IX hate the King of kings Whom he served so well. This is all the more reason to honor and emulate him!
The Collect from the Mass in honor of King St. Louis IX, Confessor: "O God, Who didst translate Blessed Louis, Thy Confessor, from an earthly throne to the glory of Thy Heavenly Kingdom, grant, we beseech Thee, through his merits and intercession, that we may have companionship with the King of kings, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen."
A Saint most inspiring. As for the communists' attack on his statue in the city which bears his name - how unfortunate for them.
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