Page 9 - Michael 2024 March

it an instrument of domination. The most striking Father Kolbe, who died a martyr in 1941 in the
commentary on this matter was by Pope Pius XI who concentration camp of Oswiecim, Poland, had
wrote in his Encyclical Letter, Quadragesimo Anno, founded Niepokalanow, the “City of the Immaculata”,
in 1931: where over 600 brothers worked to disseminate vari-
“This power becomes particularly irresistible ous publications intended to make Our Lady known
when exercised by those who, because they hold and loved. Father Kolbe strived to instill a belief in
and control money, are able also to govern credit the importance of soliciting subscriptions to these
and determine its allotment, for that reason sup- publications, and increased the paper’s circulation
plying, so to speak, the lifeblood to the entire eco- to over one million copies, when the City of the Im-
nomic body, and grasping, as it were, in their hands maculata was forced to close in 1939.
the very soul of production, so that no one dare To make Our Lady known and loved
breathe against their will.” In December, 1964,
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort at the age of 79, Louis
Saints Louis-Marie de Even became seriously
Montfort and Maximilian ill but recovered against
Kolbe were important to the all expectations. He
life and work of Louis Even. said: “I have obtained
Louis Even, born in a reprieve. I have loved
Montfort-sur-Meu, France, the Blessed Virgin much
in my life, but perhaps I
on March 23, 1885, was have not made her loved
christened Louis-Marie in enough.”
honour of St. Louis-Marie
Grignion de Montfort, who Since the beginning,
was also born in Montfort- every meeting of the
sur-Meu. In his book, True Movement began with
Devotion to Mary, St. Louis the recitation of the Ros-
de Montfort, born in 1673, ary. But during the last
says that Marian devotion, ten years of his life, from
far from removing us from Christ, brings us closer to 1964 to 1974, Louis Even
Him; far from being a detour, it is a short cut. Louis did even more: besides
Even inherited from his patron saint this devotion to continuing to write on
the Virgin Mary, and the consecration to the Mother Social Credit, he wrote articles on the apparitions of
of God marked his entire life. the Blessed Virgin throughout the world, sharing the
Saint Maximilian Kolbe Virgin Mother’s insistence on the urgency for all her
children to repent and return to God through the reci-
Another saint import- tation of the Rosary.
ant to Louis Even was Max- In 1968, Mr. Even and the directors of MICHAEL
imilian Kolbe, a Franciscan travelled to San Damiano, Italy, to meet visionary,
priest, who also had a great Rosa Quattrini, to whom the Virgin Mother had ap-
devotion to Mary. In 1917, peared since 1964. Our Lady delivered the following
the same year as the Appar- message to the Directors: “Apostles of right think-
itions of Our Lady at Fatima ing, pray a lot to Saint Michael to defend you with
and also the creation of So- his sword. Make me known and loved by everyone
cial Credit by Clifford Hugh through the recitation of the Rosary.” It was after re-
Douglas, St. Kolbe founded ceiving this message that the Pilgrims of St. Michael
the Militia of the Immaculata added the Rosary Crusade to their apostolate work,
to convert the Freemasons. which consisted of reciting the Rosary with families
St. Maximilian founded a monthly review, The they visited when spreading the Social Credit mes-
Knight of the Immaculata, which was published until sage.
September, 1939 when Hitler’s armies invaded Po- Louis Even left a tremendous spiritual inherit-
land. The same month, the first issue of VERS DE- ance to the Pilgrims of St. Michael, the “apostles of
MAIN (the French-language version of the English right thinking” and “pilgrim-warriors”. Let us become
language magazine, MICHAEL) was published in worthy of this legacy by soliciting subscriptions to
Canada, as though to take over the battle for the our publication, MICHAEL, in order to make known
triumph of the Immaculata from Kolbe’s periodical. the exceptional message of Economic Democracy. v
Louis Even’s motto was “To build the Kingdom of Alain Pilote
the Immaculate”.

www.michaeljournal.org MICHAEL March/April 2024 9