St. Louis Marie Grignion de la Bacheleraie, who abandoned his family name for  that
his birthplace, was born on January 31, 1673 in the little town  of Montfort-la-Canne,
which is located in Brittany, France. He studied for the priesthood at St.  Sulpice in
Paris, having made the 200-mile journey there on foot.  He was ordained a  priest  in
1700, at the age of 27.
He founded two religious orders: the Daughters of Wisdom, begun  in 1703 from a
number of poor and afflicted girls at the Hospital of Poiters, where he was temporary
chaplain, and the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, founded in 1715.
St. Louis de Montfort left several writings, the
most  famous  being   The   Secret   of   the
Rosary,  True Devotion  to  Mary,  and   The
Secret of Mary.   These books  were  based
on  sermons  he had  given  when  traveling
around France.  By  spreading   devotion  to
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,    St.  Louis  was
teaching souls to love the devil's great enemy.
At the Saint's beatification investigation, many
witnesses testified that during  his  life  they
had heard struggles between  him  and  the
devil including the sound of fist blows and the
swish of whips.
St. Louis de Montfort exhausted his great physical strength  by his  apostolic  labors.
On his deathbed in Sainte-Laurent-sur-Sévre, at age 43, he kissed the crucifix and
a statue of the Blessed Mother. Apparently speaking to the devil, he  exclaimed:  "In
vain do you attack me; I am between Jesus and Mary!  I have  finished  my  course:
All is over.  I shall sin no more!" Then he died peacefully on April 28, 1716. His feast
day is April 28, the day of his birth in Heaven. St. Louis' writings were examined  by
the Holy  See,  which  pronounced  that  there  was  nothing  in  them  to  hinder  his
beatification and canonization. Â He was canonized a Saint in 1947.