In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Autumn 2005 (Volume 9, Issue 2)
300 Years of the Company of Mary
In 1705, a young man of 18 called Mathurin Rangeard, who came from a small town, Bouillé-Saint-Paul, in the Province of Poitou, was on his way to try his vocation among the Capuchin Friars, when he stopped in Poitiers and went into the chapel of the House of Penitents to pray. The chaplain in this house was Father Louis Marie Grignion (known to most as "the priest from Montfort"), who had just left the General Hospital of Poitiers to begin, with the encouragement of the Bishop, a series of parish missions in the town of Poitiers. He happened at that moment to be hearing confessions there, and he noticed the young man's piety; so, when confessions were over he went to speak to him, asking him about his plans. Mathurin told him he intended joining the Capuchin Friars, and said he had entered this chapel quite by chance. "No, not by chance," replied Father de Montfort, "but through the working of Providence. Wouldn't you like to help the missionaries in their work? Follow me: that is your certain vocation."
Mathurin Rangeard, like the Apostles in the Gospel, immediately took up this challenge, and began to help Father de Montfort in his missions. He remained faithful to this task for the rest of his life - 55 years - until his death on 22 July 1760. St. Louis Marie had been dreaming for some years of what he called "a small and poor band of good priests" to help him in teaching catechism to the poor and inspiring real devotion to Our Lady. Mathurin Rangeard never became a priest, although he did receive the "tonsure", making him officially a cleric, in 1722. He never even made the vows that St. Louis Marie asked the members of his "Company of Mary" to take, perhaps because he felt unworthy. But he was the first to answer the call to join the saint in his missionary work, and he continued to serve both St. Louis Marie and his successors for the rest of his days. No priests took up the invitation to join him, in a definitive way, until Fathers Adrien Vatel and René Mulot, ten years later in 1715.
So it is that, this year, 2005, the Company of Mary will be celebrating 300 years of existence, seeing Mathurin Rangeard as the first member of the religious congregation which developed from St. Louis Marie's dreams and the response of those first dedicated helpers. We invite all our Associates to join with us in this celebration.
