October 9
Saint Louis Bertrand was a Dominican priest from Spain. While he is now known as the Apostle of the Americas, his first assignment as a priest was as master of novices in Valencia, Spain. This means that he was responsible for preparing young men to be priests and brothers in the Dominican Order. He held this post for thirty years. When a plague broke out in Valencia, he tended to the sick and dying. He prepared the dead for burial and often buried them with his own hands.
After this, Father Louis felt called to be a preacher, which is the central charism of his order. (The Dominican initials, OP, stand for “Order of Preachers.”) He attracted great crowds that overflowed even vast churches, so he resorted to preaching outdoors in the public squares. His fame reached Saint Teresa of Ávila, the great reformer of the Carmelites. She asked his advice in carrying out her reform.
However, Father Louis had long desired to become a missionary. In 1562, he sailed for the New World and landed at Cartagena, Colombia. He preached in Spanish, but his listeners understood him in their own languages. His fellow missionary, Bartolomé de las Casas, encouraged him in his defense of the rights of the native peoples against their Spanish conquerors. Louis was sent to other places as well, and his ministry was met mostly with success. However, on one of his missions, he was given a cup laced with poison, but the poison failed to have any effect on him. (In some statues and pictures, he is shown holding a cup with a snake or a dragon coming out of it. This represents the poison.) After seven years in South America, Father Louis returned to Spain in 1569. He tried to plead the cause of the oppressed natives he had encountered. He also became a spiritual counselor to many people, including Saint Teresa of Ávila. One day, while preaching, he became ill and had to be carried down from the pulpit. He died on October 9, 1581.
(Image © Manuel Esteban, via Shutterstock)