St Louis Marie de Montfort and the "French School of Spirituality"

St Louis Marie de Montfort has been called "the last of the great Bérullians" by Henri Brémond in his monumental work, A Literary History of Religious Thought in France, Vol. III: The Triumph of Mysticism.

Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle is considered to be the founder of what has come to be known as "The French School of Spirituality". Bérulle centred his piety entirely on the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ as man, a mystery which meant for him that Jesus was not only the way but also the goal of the spiritual life. For every Christian "incorporation" into Christ by baptism is the only way to union with God; but this incorporation requires that we make a voluntary, conscious effort to conform our interior (spiritual) lives, in every moment of our lives, to the interior life of Christ himself, that is to what Bérulle calls the 'states' of the Incaranate Word. This conformity must result in a genuine transfusion into us of the very being of Jesus, of his prayer, his feelings, his adoration. The disciples of Bérulle developed his thinking in various ways, among them the relationship of Jesus with his mother Mary, and the relationship of the Christian with her: Mary was in perfect conformity with her Son, the dispositions of her own soul corresponding perfectly with those of her divine Son, and so she is a perfect model for all Christians in this conformity. St Louis Marie de Montfort is very much in line with this thinking of the French School.

This relationship of St Louis Marie and the French School is explored in a number of articles, among them:

 
Cardinal Pierre de Berulle
Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle