Vocations Stories: Br. Louis Bertrand Lemoine, O.P.
March 7, 2012
In the video below Br. Lemoine describes his call to the Dominican Order. “Growing up in the rural Louisiana town of Bunkie, I attended Catholic school for much of my life along with my sister. I had many wonderful experiences with my family growing up, including vacations and even hunting and fishing with my father. In addition to these experiences, I also attended Mass regularly and received the usual sacraments growing up, experiences so common for a child in South Louisiana. With the encouragement of saintly priests in my life and after much prayer and thanks, no doubt, to the extensive prayers of others, I joined the Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana, and began studies in Philosophy in 2006 at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. As a seminarian, the Lord gave me blessings upon blessings; indeed, I was encouraged by the ever-present support of the people of my Diocese. Throughout my years of seminary, I was given many opportunities to learn about the lives of the saints and thereby gain an understanding of what precisely holiness is; I found this combined with a study of the traditional virtues and vices to be most helpful. Finally, the Lord gave me the grace to persevere through the varied challenges of seminary life; most importantly, He gave me His own Blessed Mother and taught me to be devoted to Her through the writings of St. Louis de Montfort. With Her help and the gracious blessing of my superiors in the diocese, I explored my attraction to the Province of St. Joseph and applied to the Order during my final year of seminary studies. St. Dominic’s genius in founding the Dominican Order was exhibited in his idea that there is no contradiction between a life of monastic observance and penance and also a life lived in imitation of the Apostles who preached the Gospel with great zeal. I see in the Order a unique opportunity to live a life of regular observance while also being totally committed to preaching and offering the Holy Mass for the salvation of souls. I can only see myself being fulfilled by living this life of contemplation for the sake of others, all based on the firm teachings and methods of St. Thomas Aquinas and devotion to the Blessed Mother and Her Rosary.” -Br. Louis Bertrand Lemoine, O.P. [vimeo 38109342 w=500 h=281]