Jacques-Désiré Laval
French Roman Catholic missionary in Mauritius (1803-1864)
Feast: 9 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
At Port Louis on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, Blessed Jacques-Désiré Laval, priest, who, after some years practising the medical profession, became a missionary in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit and led the Black people recently freed from slavery to the freedom of the children of God.
The miracles
The Roman Martyrology does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 9 September as a doctor turned Spiritan missionary in Mauritius among people newly freed from slavery.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Roman Martyrology, 9 September (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q517560 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Jacques-Désiré Laval (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.