Mission in France

The Pope’s reply was swift and unexpected. Stretching out his hands in the direction of France, he said, “You have in your own country a field worthy of your zeal.” He then explained the anxiety of the Holy See at the encroachments of Jansenism, which he had just explicitly condemned, and asked de Montfort to teach Christian Doctrine to the people and to help them understand the spirit of Christianity by the renewal of their baptismal promises. Finally, he conferred on him the title of Missionary Apostolic.

Although dumbfounded at the Holy Father’s unexpected decision, de Montfort now felt certain of his vocation to the home missions. It was a keen disappointment to him that, for the second time, the door had been firmly closed on his own plans for a martyr’s death. Yet he was a man for whom God’s Will was the supreme value, even when it meant the sacrifice of his dearest desires. And if his longings for martyrdom could not be literally fulfilled, his enemies would try to provide him with its equivalent!

Little did they expect that the priest they had succeeded in removing from his diocese and whose work they had so subtly undermined, would return as the chosen champion of the Holy See against their own teaching.