“Which would you rather: have leprosy or commit a mortal sin?” Louis asked.
“I would rather commit thirty mortal sins than have leprosy,” Jean de Joinville replied.
Louis did not agree.
In the 13th century, Louis IX, later known as Saint Louis, was King of France. He became king at just 12 years old and would remain on the throne for 44 years. Jean de Joinville was a French nobleman and Seneschal of Champagne, a senior official who helped govern the region, and one of Louis’s close companions.
“Leprosy could affect the body, but mortal sin was a far greater danger because it affected the soul. Physical suffering, however terrible, was preferable to knowingly turning away from God,” King Louis said.
Years later, Joinville wrote about this conversation in his account of Louis’s life. It became one of the traditional stories associated with Saint Louis. We cannot know whether every word was preserved exactly as spoken, but the exchange gives us a glimpse into how Louis understood sin and the soul.
Today, we are careful about many things that can damage us. We protect our bodies, our possessions, our names, and our lives. But does Saint Louis’s question make us wonder what we are protecting our souls from?
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ
