Louis IX et la mémoire liturgique

Abstract

The principal function of the liturgical offices of the Opus Dei was to institutionalise the memory of a saint. This article examines how liturgical sources were closely tied to the production of memory during the Middle Ages, and uses three of the liturgies of St Louis in order to show how three different ecclesiastical orders commemorated him in terms of their own spiritual ideals and their individual institutional identity. By examining a selection of antiphons and responses, it shows how, for the Cistercians, Louis was a mystic; at the royal court, he was a glorious and anointed king; for the Franciscans, he was a new St Francis, enduring his passion and martyrdom while on the crusade. In this way, liturgical commemoration contributed to what Jacques Le Goff calls ‘the production of royal memory’.