Louis Marie Grignion was the oldest of eight children in a family from the small French town of Montfort. His father was a lawyer and his mother stayed home and looked after the family. When he was in High School, he found it difficult to get along with his classmates and he developed a preference for solitary prayer, especially to Our Lady: he never missed an opportunity to visit the Chapel before and after school to pray to Our Lord and Our Lady. Many thought that he was strange. After High School, he went to Paris to become a priest. He did not have enough money to live at the Seminary, so he lived among the poor and sick of Paris. Louis Marie was never very interested in theology itself and would prefer to spend his time helping the poor and teaching their children the catechism. At the age of 27, he was ordained a priest and became a hospital chaplain. He was a gifted preacher and, 5 years later, felt the call to be a missionary and devoted himself to preaching the Gospel in villages all across France for the next 17 years. He had a deep devotion to Our Lady and wrote very beautifully about her: “It is through the most Blessed Virgin Mary” he wrote, “that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is through her that he must reign in the world. […] She who first brought Him into the world will make Him known to the world.” He believed everything could be done when we entrust it to Our Lady. His famous phrase “Totus Tuus”, “I am all yours”, became the Papal motto of Pope St. John Paul II. Louis Marie founded 2 Religious Orders: the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, for priests and brothers, and the Daughters of Wisdom, who cared especially for the sick. He died on April 28th 1716 at the age of 43.