He Dies, His Work Lives On

It was eight o’clock on the evening of 28 April 1716, and he was 43 years old. (After his canonization in 1947, this date was chosen as his feast-day.) But this was only the beginning of his work, for it was continued by the Company of Mary and the Daughters of Wisdom and, in spite of persecution, the de Montfort Fathers (as they later became known) gave 430 missions in the 63 years before the French Revolution. The reformation they brought about in France was similar to that achieved in Italy, at the same period, by the Redemptorists. Soon their apostolate was to find a fruitful harvest in several continents.

The Daughters of Wisdom are now numbered in thousands and have foundations throughout the world devoted to charitable activities.