Expression

Louis IX of France (1214–1270) is one of history's rare figures: a king who was also canonized a saint. Raised by his devout mother Blanche of Castile, who famously told him she would rather see him dead than in mortal sin, Louis grew into a ruler who took his Christian duties with total seriousness. As king (1226–1270), he was renowned for justice — he would sit beneath an oak tree at Vincennes and hear the petitions of ordinary people, ensuring even the poorest could get a fair judgment. He reformed French law, founded hospitals, fed the hungry from his own table, washed the feet of the poor, and built the breathtaking Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, a jewel-box of stained glass, to house relics of Christ's Passion (including what was believed to be the Crown of Thorns). Louis led not one but two Crusades. The first (the Seventh Crusade) ended in his capture and ransom in Egypt; he bore the humiliation with patience and faith. He died of disease in 1270 during a second Crusade in Tunisia, his last word reportedly 'Jerusalem.' Canonized in 1297, St. Louis became the patron of France and the ideal of the Christian king — one who saw his crown not as a prize but as a responsibility before God. His life shows that holiness and high office can meet, and that true kingship means serving the least. Many places, including St. Louis, Missouri, bear his name.

Medieval people sang on the road and in the season — and from those songs grew a treasure we still cherish at Christmas. Pilgrims walking the long miles to Santiago or Rome sang to keep their spirits up and their hearts on God; the most famous surviving collection, the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat ('Red Book of Montserrat'), preserves songs and even dances meant for pilgrims keeping vigil at a Spanish shrine. Crusaders too had their marching songs, and troubadours composed 'crusade songs' about departure, longing, and faith. But the medieval song-form that touches us most deeply is the carol. Originally a 'carol' was a song with dancing — a round dance with a repeating refrain ('burden') alternating with verses. Over the high and late Middle Ages, this lively form became attached to the great feasts, above all Christmas, producing joyful songs of the Nativity in a mix of Latin and the everyday language of the people. Unlike the solemn Latin chant of the Mass, carols were warm, singable, and popular — music for the whole community to share. Many beloved Christmas songs trace their roots to this medieval flowering: pieces like the Latin 'Personent hodie' (printed 1582 but far older) and 'Gaudete' come from this tradition. As Advent moves toward Christmas, the carol is the medieval gift that still rings out — the joy of the Nativity set to a tune the whole village could sing.

This week's writing assignment asks you to do one of the hardest and most valuable things a thinker can do: argue FAIRLY about a question people feel strongly about. The question is 'Were the Crusades justified?' The temptation is to grab one side and ignore the other — but that is propaganda, not thinking. A balanced evaluative essay does four things. First, the introduction states the question honestly and notes that it is genuinely debated. Second, one paragraph gives the strongest reasons the Crusades CAN be defended — for example: they answered a real plea from Eastern Christians under threat; pilgrims to the Holy Land faced genuine dangers; the original aim was defensive, not conquest for its own sake. Third, another paragraph gives the serious CRITICISMS — for example: terrible massacres like Jerusalem in 1099; the shameful sack of Christian Constantinople in 1204; mixed motives of greed and ambition; lasting bitterness in Christian-Muslim and Catholic-Orthodox relations. The mark of maturity is stating the OTHER side as fairly as you state your own. Fourth, the conclusion reaches your own MEASURED judgment — which may be 'partly justified in aim but often gravely wrong in execution,' or another nuanced view — supported by the facts, not a slogan. Use the T-chart you made on Day 1. Begin drafting today and finish as carry-over work. The goal is not to 'win' but to think clearly and charitably about a hard truth.

Return to St. Nicholas, where the week began. This week you have studied a complicated chapter of history — Crusades with mixed motives, the clash and commerce of East and West — and the demanding virtue of charity. St. Nicholas cuts through the complexity with something simple and pure: love that gives in secret and seeks no reward. He and St. Louis IX both answer the week's deepest question — what is power FOR? — in the same way: power, wealth, even kingship are given so that we may serve and love others. As his feast (December 6) brightens these Advent days, St. Nicholas points us straight to Christmas, when God himself comes as the greatest secret gift of all.