The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-08-30
Bay St. Louis.

OF the venerable oak at Vincennes, beneath
whose branches sat the royal Louis to hear his
subjects, grievances and to redress their wrongs;
and that from this circumstance the Bay re-
ceived its noble appellatiou.
1t seems peculiarly appropriate to write, this
week, concerning st. Louis, since Louisiana
celebrated his festival on the 25th inst, when
all Christians in the State became French, in
heart, for at least one day, in their love and
veneration for the patron of their beloved
country.
Our grand Cathedral, truly o relic of the
past and witness of many changing scenes
which saw the flag of France go down before
the banner of Spain-which beheld the blood
of Frenchmen split before it's walls for their
patriotism to Louisiana and to France-which
wondered at the tricolor of the Republic, bla-
zing for few days before yielding to the
shining stars of the American standard-this
venerable old edifice bears the name of St.
Louis, and honors his memory upon it's affairs.
st. Louis was the son of Louis VIII. and
Blanche of CASTLE, and owing to his fathers
early death, was crowned King of France
when only in his twelfth year. Yet young as he
was, he was impressed by the solemnity and sa-
credness of the coronation ceremony, and
aiuCSIly ocSouSu0OOu 70 ST&uU ulm T0SOluGlOn,
light and strength to employ his auth GRITTY,
according to his obligations, only for the di-
vine honor, the defence of the Church, and the
good of his subjects.
We all know the heroic saying of the Queen
mother to the youthful Louis: my son,
love thee with all the tenderness of mothers
love, yet would prefer to see thee dead ut my
feet, than that thou shouldst commit mortal
SIM"
These words show US the depths of the
mother heart and the strength of the Christian
will; and it is no wonder that beneath such
guidance st. Louis became hero and a saint.
Voltaire, that great scoffer at all things holy,
says of him: "That prince would have re-
formed Europe if reformation had been posi-
BILE AT that time. He increased the power,
prosperity and civilization of France and
showed himself type of human perfection.
To the piety of an anchorite, he Joined all the
virtues of king, and he practiced q wise sys-
tenn of economy without ceasing to be liberal.
Prudent and firm in the deliberations of the
distinguished for cool intrepidity in
battle, as humane as if he had been familiar
with nothing else but misery, he carried human
perfection as far as it can be expected to ex-
tend"
When death overlook this great King while
to lay siege to Tunis-he gave se-
ries of instructions to his son which were
committed to writiug-copies of which are
still preserved in the Chamber of Accounts at
Paris, and in which are to be found all the
wisdom of the statesman and all the holiness
of the saint.
The eighth and last crusade undertaken by
King Louis in behalf of the Christians of the
East, though not successful as a whole, yet
was the means of obtaining many concessions
for the prosecuted Christians, and of showing
to the world the ilustrioas example of this
truly royal saint
When overpowered by the fearful malady
which hurried him to the tomb although in a
strange land, surrounded by hostile army,
his own soldiers dying of the plague around
him, his youngest son dead of the same fearful
'courge, gloom in the very air he breathed and |
despair in the hearts of all about him. he still
preserved an unalterable peace of mind and |
with q smile upon his conference.-the halo |
If the blessed-addressed words of eucour- !
sgement to his children, friends and soldiers |
Then, after praying for his country and his
tfiicted army, he had himself laid upon a bed
If ashes; and there, with the calmuess of the
older and the humility of the Christian, with
he darkness of the Pyramids above him and
he glory of the Crueifx about him, his pure
oul passed out to God on the 18th of August,
go, in the fifty fifth year of his age, and forty
bird of his reign.
Such is a brief sketch of this sanity King
those name was given by Iberville to the
eautiful Bay which invites so many of our
itizens to its shores during the summer
lonths. Although nearly two hundred years
ave passed awag since then, the settlement
'hich still exists upon the BORDERS preserves
ne associations and influences of the past.
he only church whose bells resound across it's
'aters is Catholic, and the language of st.
ouis is the one chiefly spoken within its (
alls. A noble, yet most humble priest of God,
ives us in his own person a beautiful copy of
'e virtues of the royal Saint, Jealous as a
'usader, he is still as patient as a recluse
earned both in he scia1oa 80