The Venerable Louis‑Marie Baudouin (1765 – 1835)

On Day FOUR of our novena to the Venerable Louis-Marie Baudouin, I want to give you some more information about this wonderful priest who continues to be an inspiration to us all.  (To join in our Novena, click here.)

Birth and Early Life
Louis‑Marie Baudouin was born on 2 August 1765 in Montaigu, in the deeply Catholic Vendée region of France. He was the youngest of eight children. His father, a gardener, died when Louis‑Marie was two, and after his mother’s death in 1780, his education was supported by local clergy and family members.

Priesthood and the Revolution
He entered the Grand Séminaire of Luçon in 1782 and was ordained priest at Saint‑Malo on 19 September 1789. Shortly thereafter, he refused to swear the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Arrested and imprisoned twice, he ministered clandestinely until exiling to Spain in September 1792, along with 400 other Vendée clergy. He remained in exile — mainly in Toledo — until returning to France in August 1797, often in disguise, even learning lace‑making to evade detection.

Restoring the Church in Vendée
In July 1801, Baudouin was appointed parish priest  of Chavagnes‑en‑Paillers. By 1803, he had founded the junior seminary at Chavagnes—the first such institution reopened in post‑Revolutionary France. In 1802, together with Charlotte‑Gabrielle Ranfray (Mother Saint‑Benoît), he founded the Ursulines of Jesus congregation to educate young girls; later, in 1828, he established the Sons of Mary Immaculate (the Pères de Chavagnes) to form priests and evangelise rural France.

Challenges and Later Years
In 1812, by order of Napoleon, the Chavagnes seminary was partly transferred to La Rochelle. Baudouin served as rector of the seminary there and vicar‑general of the diocese. After the restoration of the Diocese of Luçon in 1821, he returned to lead the seminary in Chavagnes until his retirement in 1829. He passed away there on 12 February 1835, aged 69.

Legacy and Cause for Sainthood
His cause for beatification began in the 1860s. On 20 December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, in one of his last actions as Pope, recognized his heroic virtue and declared him Venerable.

Chavagnes International College Today

• Founded in 1802 by Father Baudouin, the seminary at Chavagnes was the first to reopen in France after the Revolution. Since 2002, the site has housed Chavagnes International College, a traditional English‑language Catholic secondary school for boys aged 11–18. The curriculum includes GCSEs, A‑levels, and optional French qualifications as well as the US High School Diploma. The College emphasises community life, daily Mass, prayer, choral singing and pastoral formation alongside academics, theatre and sports.
• The College’s motto is In electis tuis mitte radices — “Put down roots in those Thou hast chosen,” drawn from Ecclesiasticus 24:13. It beautifully encapsulates what happens year after year: students come to study, pray, and live together—and in countless ways, are transformed as they take root in faith and community.

The Prophecy: “Il y aura toujours un séminaire à Chavagnes”

According to R.P. Yves Chaille, recounting the history in his book Histoire du petit séminaire de Chavagnes‑en‑Paillers, a dying priest whispered to Father Baudouin:

“Il y aura toujours un séminaire à Chavagnes.”
“There will always be a seminary at Chavagnes.”

That prophecy has rung true for over two centuries—despite Revolutionary laws, Napoleonic suppression, anti‑clerical secularisation in 1905, a wartime occupation under the Nazis, and multiple closures. Each time, the seminary re‑emerged: as an ecclesiastical college, a refuge, and now as a thriving international Catholic school. It is the living fruit of Baudouin’s legacy.

Invitation to Support the Mission

Chavagnes International College continues Father Baudouin’s mission in its own unique way. Some remarkable outcomes over 23 years:

• On average, one student or teacher each year joins a seminary to study for the priesthood.
• Many more go on to be devoted Catholic fathers, husbands, professionals—dentists, lawyers, engineers, artists, carpenters, writers, and beyond—all formed in faith and service.

We invite you to help ensure that “there will always be a seminary at Chavagnes” by supporting the College through prayers and financial contributions.

Your support helps the College:

• Welcome more young men each year into a formation environment rooted in faith, scholarship, and community,
• Sustain and restore its historic buildings,
• Maintain its liturgical life and house of prayer,
• Extend its outreach to students of diverse backgrounds and nationalities.

Father Baudouin’s founding spirit—and the prophecy whispered to him—live on in every boy or teacher who comes to Chavagnes and is shaped by its life; that same spirit of fidelity and dedication then goes forth with our alumni as they put down new roots of faith in the communities they help to build up and serve. Europe, and our world, need Catholic heroes, just as they did in the time of Father Baudouin. That’s why we invite you to play your part in this work of restoration, not just of  buildings, but of our Christian civilisation.

In electis tuis mitte radices — may we continue to put down roots in those chosen by God, generation after generation.

If you would like to explore how to support Chavagnes International College—through prayer, volunteering, or donations—please let me know. From 23rd to 31st July 2025, we are praying a special Novena. You are welcome to join us. The text is here. But you can pray for us any time! 

You can email me with your pledges of support, of prayers, or your suggestions.

I’ll be happy to hear from you. God bless you.

Sincerely,

Ferdi McDermott,

Headmaster and Founder of Chavagnes International College

P.S. You can donate now online by card here, by clicking on this link.

If you are in the USA, you can give to a US non profit that will make you a tax saving. Just email me for details. The same goes for the UK, where we have a charity that benefits from Gift Aid. Email me for details : support@chavagnes.org. In France, you can join, and donate online with LES AMIS DU CARILLON . (They will give you a tax receipt, so that a gift of 1000 euros will only cost you 340 after deduction of tax.)