Feast of Saint Louis IX, King of France

He rendered justice without respect of persons. He built hospitals, convents, the Sainte-Chapelle. He wore the hair shirt beneath his royal dalmatic. He went on crusade twice, was taken prisoner once, and never yielded. Jean de Joinville saw him tend to the sick whom everyone else fled. He saw him weep before the Blessed Sacrament.

Capetian France reached its zenith under him—not by conquest, but by the holiness of its leader. He died on August 25, 1270, the last words on his lips: “Jerusalem.”

The Church canonized him twenty-seven years after his death. That is what a king of France is. Based on his deep piety, efforts to reform justice, and participation in the Crusades, Saint Boniface VIII canonized Louis IX, King of France, in 1297, just 27 years after Louis IX's death.

His tomb is here in Paris in the Basilica of Saint Denis