We call Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort a prophet of the last days, though he lived between the latter half of the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century, because of the remarkable prophecies he left behind—prophecies that speak directly to these times.
Louis de Montfort’s Birth
We can imagine the blustery night of January 31, 1673, as the midwife hurried about the small cottage of Jeanne de la Vizeule and Jean-Baptiste Grignion, preparing for the birth of their child. The day had been tempestuous, with harsh, cold winds sweeping in from the Atlantic Ocean and rushing eastward toward the little village of Montfort, some twenty-four kilometers from the nearest large city, Rennes.
One might wonder: did Saint Michael leave his post atop the abbey at his great shrine of Mont Saint-Michel, rising from the waters of the English Channel to the north? Did Our Lady send him, with a legion of angels, to this humble and seemingly insignificant hamlet in the heart of Brittany, to surround the home of a child destined for greatness—a future saint, a prophet of the times foretold by Saint Paul in Romans 8:28?
Did Jeanne, her husband, or any of those gathered in that modest home have even the faintest idea what God had ordained for this child, or the works he would one day accomplish for the Kingdom?
The Prophecies
Louis de Montfort foretold the emergence of the “Apostles of the Latter Times”—a band of saints uniquely consecrated to Mary, destined to oppose the Antichrist, restore the Church, and usher in the reign of Christ through her. In his work, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, he describes a period of heightened spiritual conflict, in which these apostles will be marked by humility, poverty of spirit, and enduring persecution. Mary’s power over the devil will shine brightest in the end times:
towards the end of the world, ….Almighty God and His holy Mother are to raise up saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs. These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her spirit, supported by her arms, sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with the other.
With one hand they will give battle, overthrowing and crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and their schisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness. With the other hand they will build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, namely, the Blessed Virgin…
They will be like thunderclouds flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, they will shower down the rain of God’s word and of eternal life. They will thunder against sin; they will storm against the world; they will strike down the devil and his followers and for life and for death, they will pierce through and through with the two-edged sword of God’s word all those against whom they are sent by Almighty God.
They will be true apostles of the latter times to whom the Lord of Hosts will give eloquence and strength to work wonders and carry off glorious spoils from His enemies. They will sleep without gold or silver and, more important still, without concern in the midst of other priests, ecclesiastics and clerics. Yet they will have the silver wings of the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls them, filled as they are, with the resolve to seek the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they will leave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the fulfillment of the whole law.
They will have the two-edged sword of the Word of God in their mouths and the bloodstained standard of the Cross on their shoulders. They will carry the Crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart.
Mary scarcely appeared in the first coming of Christ…
But in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her.
Saint Pope John Paul II referenced Saint Louis de Montfort in his encyclical, Mater Redemptoris.
