The poorest of the French poor were recipients of the king’s charity and alms in whatever city or town he happened to be in. Twice a week, money, bread and leftovers from the royal table were handed out. He founded a hospital for the destitute and the sight impaired and established three monasteries.

Louis was born at Poissy in 1214, the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. After his father died, when Louis was 11, Queen Blanche was declared regent and remained the most important influence in Louis’ life. He was the ninth sovereign of the Capetian dynasty.

He was 19 when he married Margaret of Provence. They had 11 children, 8 of whom lived to adulthood. Louis became personally involved in their spiritual training and passed on to them his horror of sin.

He assumed his reign as king in 1226 and ruled for 44 years until his death in 1270. Father Clifford Stevens writes in The One Year Book of Saints that King Louis is remembered as a fair, wise and loving monarch who ruled his people with justice and firmness. He established the crown as the administrator of proper justice especially for the poor and weak.

Louis supported and implemented measures of church reform and founded many ecclesiastical institutions. He built the church of Sainte-Chapelle at Paris as a shrine for what was believed to be the original Crown of Thorns.

Louis embarked on two crusades in his lifetime, but neither one brought him success. His first crusade in 1248 was to Egypt where his forces captured the city of Damietta. But within a year, he was taken prisoner by the Saracens. Tom Cowan writes in The Way of the Saints that he was finally released on ransom.

He led a second crusade in 1270 to deter Muslim advances in Syria. When Louis and his fleet arrived in Sardinia, the crusader army was struck by typhus. Louis and his son, Philip, became ill and Louis died soon after on Aug. 25 in Tunis, Algeria.

Under his reign, France enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and peace. However, he was not perfect in regard to his treatment of Jews, Muslims, heretics, homosexuals and lepers. Richard McBrien writes in Lives of the Saints that Louis regarded Judaism as a perfidious religion. In 1269, he decreed that all Jews should wear a distinctive red badge on their chest and back, a precursor of the yellow star they were forced to wear during the Nazi era.

The French regarded their king as a deeply pious and honorable man. Louis was canonized in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII. He is the patron saint of France; his feast day is Aug. 25.

St. Louis King of France Parish in Austin will host a festival on Aug. 23 in celebration of the parish’s patron saint. Visit st-louis.org/festival for details.