Abbey-Roads2

Third Order Franciscan and Patron of the Secular Franciscan Order…

But most importantly, a good father to his son.  His piety and virtue lovingly expressed in a letter to his son may sound strange to many modern parents, who typically seek worldly success and emotional fulfillment for their children, often without concern for their salvation.  From the Saint’s letter:

To his dear first-born son, Philip, greeting, and his father’s love.

“Therefore, dear son, the first thing I advise is that you fix your whole heart upon God, and love Him with all your strength, for without this no one can be saved or be of any worth.

“You should, with all your strength, shun everything which you believe to be displeasing to Him. And you ought especially to be resolved not to commit mortal sin, no matter what may happen and should permit all your limbs to be hewn off, and suffer every manner of torment , rather than fall knowingly into mortal sin.” - Source

On the other hand…

A friend of mine who spends much time in France on business, loves to tell me how anti-semitic the French are - how they betrayed the Jews in WWII, and how historically, they had no love for them.  If this be true, St. Louis may have contributed to it as well:

“Dear son, freely give power to persons of good character, who know how to use it well, and strive to have wickednesses expelled from your land, that is to say, nasty oaths, and everything said or done against God or our Lady or the saints. In a wise and proper manner put a stop, in your land, to bodily sins, dicing, taverns, and other sins. Put down heresy so far as you can, and hold in especial abhorrence Jews, and all sorts of people who are hostile to the Faith, so that your land may be well purged of them, in such manner as, by the sage counsel of good people, may appear to you advisable.” - Source 

Just goes to show you, even the saints may have been subject to the trendy ideas of their time; or is it just how we interpret what they said, along with their behavior, through our contemporary myopia and opinion based upon popular consensus?  

He was a good dad though.