Page 10 - Michael 2024 March

Louis Even from 1885 to 1935

In the previous issue of MICHAEL, in an article
on the 50th anniversary of the death of Louis Even,
founder of the MICHAEL magazine, we talked about
the event that changed his life in 1934 when he was al-
most 50 years of age: his encounter with the concepts
of Economic Democracy, or Social Credit, developed
by the Scottish engineer Clifford Hugh Douglas.
This article follows the first 50 years of Louis Even’s
life, and aims to highlight the extent to which he was
a figure with extraordinary qualities from an early age
and throughout his entire career. He came from a large
Catholic family which instilled in young Louis the val-
ues that won the admiration of all who knew him and
led thousands of people to follow him in this Move-
ment for the financial and social liberation of all.
by Thérèse Tardif

His birth
Louis Even was born on March 23, 1885 in Mont-
fort-sur-Meu, near Rennes, in Brittany, France. He was
baptised the following day in the parish church which
was then dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673–1716)
was the great apostle of Brittany and was blessed with
a devotion to the Virgin Mary. He was born in the par- The parish church of Montfort-sur-Meu,
ish of Montfort-sur-Meu, like Louis Even. It was in his first dedicated to Saint John the Baptist,
honour that the future founder of MICHAEL was given then to Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort
the name Louis-Marie, and it can be said that he was
a faithful imitator of his patron saint, for he too had a parents knew how to bring up their family to love
great devotion to Mary. God and, because of that a veritable garden of saints
The church’s name was changed to honour Saint resulted: seven of the children entered the religious
Louis-Marie-Grignon de Montfort after his canonisa- life, including four in the Company of Mary (founded
tion in 1947. by Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort) and three
During his lifetime, Saint Louis-Marie Grignon had others became priests.
a burning desire to come to Canada, but the Holy Fath- Of the seven religious, six died between the ages
er reserved him for France, which was in great need of of 20 and 26. They had scarcely consecrated them-
missionaries at the time. Two centuries later, seeing the selves to God by profession or perpetual vows when
needs of Canada, perhaps Saint Louis-Marie and Saint the Divine Redeemer seized these fresh roses to adorn
John the Baptist (patron saint of French Canadians) his glorious Paradise. Did he want to protect them
consulted each other in heaven to send Louis-Marie from the religious persecution raging in France, or
Even de Montfort to Canada. St. John the Baptist was did he take them as victims, so that from heaven they
not afraid and was ultimately martyred by beheading. could, with divine means, assist their brother Louis in
Louis Even too, was not afraid, and also proclaimed, his special and difficult mission?
like John the Baptist, “You don’t have the right!” When the Militia of the Immaculate was founded
A family of saints by Saint Maximilian Kolbe, one of its first members
died. The founder of the movement was delighted be-
Louis Even’s parents, Pierre Even and Marguerite cause, he said, “one of our own must be up there with
Vitre, had 16 children. Four died at birth; the others his celestial powers to help the Work develop.”
were Pierre, Aimée-Marie, Marie-Joseph, Marie-
Sainte, François, Ernest, Philomène, Émile, Françoise, Louis-Marie Even had great affection for his par-
Louis-Marie, Marie-Louise, and Léon. Louis-Marie was ents. He said with admiration that his mother did not
tolerate any sins in the house. Despite her kindness,
the fourteenth in the family. his mother knew how to be firm in shaping charac-
Such a large family was already remarkable, but ter and correcting faults. She never hesitated to take
what was even more exceptional was that the good a small branch of wicker to drive her little Marie-Lou-

10 MICHAEL March/April 2024 www.michaeljournal.org