Louis IX of France

Saint Louis IX (1214-1270) was King of France from 1226 to 1270. He embodied the ideal Christian monarch, reigning with deep piety, rigorous justice, and profound charity. He is renowned for commissioning the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris to house relics of Christ's Passion. A great reformer, he improved the administration of his kingdom and issued the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. He led two crusades, the Seventh (1248-1254) and the Eighth (1270), dying of plague near Tunis during the latter. He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297.