Beginnings

Louis was the eldest of the eight children of John Baptist Grignion. He was born on the last day of January in 1673 in the little town of Montfort-la-Canne. At Confirmation he added the name of Mary, and later substituted Montfort, his birthplace, for his family name.

When he had completed his education at the Jesuit College in Rennes, he went to Paris at the age of twenty to prepare for the priesthood. Lack of means prevented him from gaining admittance to the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice and he became a student under Abbé de la Barmondiere. When the Abbé died, Louis was left in even more destitute circumstances. He joined a community of ecclesiastics who lived a life of Spartan discipline and extreme poverty.