Today we commemorate a king who was a faithful disciple of Christ Crucified, and whose life bears witness to the truth that virtue is not always rewarded in this world. Louis was inspired by his zeal for the Faith to attempt the reconquest of the Holy Places sanctified by the blood of the Redeemer, but instead of triumph and victory, he only met with defeat and captivity, and when he was at last ransomed by his people, he brought back to Paris as a symbolic trophy of his campaigns the crown of thorns once worn by Our Savior.

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