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St. Louise de Marillac
St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) was canonized in 1934 and entered St. Peter's in Rome in 1954. She is the patroness of Christian social work. [1] Louise received a classic education in her youth and learned domestic skills. She felt called to a religious cloistered life but that door closed. She married Antoine Le Gras and had a son but her husband became ill. [2] Louise collaborated spiritually with St. Vincent de Paul, becoming the spiritual moderator of the Ladies of Charity founded by Vincent in 1617. In 1633, together they founded the Daughters of Charity to serve the poor and sick. Vincent
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St. Louise de Marillac
- 1. St. Louise deMarillac 1591-1660 Canonized: 1934 Entered St. Peters: 1954 Patroness of Christian Social Work: 1960
- 3. St. Peters inRome St. Louise de Marillac • Foundress • Teacher • Foundlings
- 4. St. Vincent dePaul • Founder of CMs • Missions • Luke 4:18
- 5. What do weknow about Louise
- 7. Poissy Abbey Louise receiveda Classic education
- 8. Louise learned domesticskills
- 9. Louise felt calledto a Religious Cloistered life
- 10. Suffering • Louise wouldwrite…
- 11.
- 12. Antoine Le Gras NobleFamily Royal Household of Marie de Médici Comfortable life style Important social circles
- 13. Closing Doors • Illegitimate •Rejected •Sent •Sentagain •Refused •Married • Worrisome son •Husband’s illness • Depression, guilt, unworthiness, doubts
- 14. And yet anotherdoor closes Two of her uncles, Louis and Michel were imprisoned during a civil unrest in 1632
- 15.
- 16. ENTER THE HOLYSPIRIT
- 18. Yes, dear lady,I do consent
- 19.
- 20. Spiritual Bond forthe Poor Vincent: Founded the Ladies of Charity in 1617 Louise: Became the Spiritual Moderator of them
- 21. Traveling Spiritual Advisor •Go,Mademoiselle go in the name of Our Lord. I pray that His Divine Goodness may accompany you, be your consolation along the way, your shade against the heat of the sun, your shelter in rain and cold, your soft bed in your weariness, your strength in your toil, and, finally, that He may bring you back in perfect health and filled with good works.
- 22. Foundation in 1633 •Together St. Vincent and St. Louise founded the Daughters of Charity in 1633 • Vincent gave hundreds of Conferences • Louise taught them to read and write and taught them Spirituality and how to serve • Both visited the houses • Louise wrote hundreds of letters to them
- 27. Finding the Willof God Led by the Spirit From uncertainty to Holiness
- 28. St. Louise deMarillac • What aspect of the life of St. Louise do you resonate with? • What makes St. Louise so relevant to us today? • If you could have a one to one conversation with St. Louise, what would you like to talk with her about?
Editor's Notes
- #2 Louise and Vincent died in the same year – 1660 – Great Collaborators Vincent was canonized 77 years after his death Louise 274 after her death. In 1660 they turned their roles over to M. René Alméras. and Marguerite Chétif (Chetif was Chosen by Louise – after that elected as we do today) The Vincentian priests and the Daughters of Charity lost two Founders, but Founders of a completely new kind of Congregation. Not Nuns, but women walking the streets for the Poor and later in schools and hospitals. That newness was their genius. It revolutionized the Church in France and the manner of serving the Poor. What must have been the loss that year 1660
- #3 In 1954 (20 years after her canonization) Louise was placed in the last niche in St. Peter’s reserved for Founders and Foundresses of Religious Congregations. There are 39 of them. And she got the last nitch.
- #4 Teacher, foundress foundlings Cornette Louise never saw the Cornette – so why show it? Because it is what people at that time knew. Do the Good that presents itself. – hence the foundlings What presents itself as a good and a need is Divine Providence - it is Grace in front of you!
- #5 Founders CMs Missions – “missioners” He has sent me to proclaim good news to the Poor – the cross of preaching Because he is here as a founder of the Congregation of the Mission, he is presented as a preacher. Often in France is presented with children. But elsewhere in the world he is the priest and preacher
- #6 BUT WHAT DO WE KNOW OF LOUISE? Louise was born illegitimate. Her father is Louis de Marillac a member of the aristocracy. He loved her But he married and his wife did not want Louise
- #7 It would seem that Louise’s early life was woven with dark threads. …
- #8 Louise, at age about 3, was sent to the Dominican convent in Poissy. Her aunt, also Louise de Marillac, was a nun at the Dominican convent. The young children of the rich were sometimes sent to Convent schools. Louise went because she was not welcome in her father’s wife’s home. How much of that reality touched the toddler? From an early age Louise received a classical education at the convent. Louise was schooled among the country’s elite and was introduced to the arts and humanities as well as to a deep spiritual life. She studied theology, philosophy, Latin and perhaps Greek. She read all the classics, both spiritual and literary. She learned to paint. Latin Scripture Spiritual writers Current Literature She left Poissy well educated and well read Biblical Studies and high liturgy Later, when she married - she and her husband requested and received permission to have a Bible in there home and to read it. Important all her life. All of this was important for God’s plan. Teaching children, girls! Teaching the Daughters to read and write. The Ladies.
- #9 When her father died Louise was 13 was removed from the Monastery and went to live with a spinster woman where she learned domestic skills and household management skills. It was a boarding house and there were other girls there as well. WHO MADE THIS DECISION? Both the Classical education at Poissy and the household skills served her well all her life. BOTH WERE DIVINE PROVIDENCE BUT BOTH ALSO CARRIED THE SENSE THAT SHE WASN’T WANTED AND HAD NEVER HAD A FAMILY LIFE.
- #10 She made a vow to become a Nun. She decided to enter the Capuchin convent. Rejected probably because of frail health. Or perhaps because she was ILIGITIMATE. Louise was refused and her spiritual advisor told her God had other plans for her. But her guilt about not fulfilling her Vow haunted her for years.
- #11 God, who has granted me so many graces, led me to understand that it was His holy will that I go to Him by way of the Cross. His goodness chose to mark me with it from my birth and He has hardly ever left me, at any age, without some occasion of suffering. Spiritual Writings A 29 p. 710 prior to 1633 THESE ARE NOTES FROM HER RETREATS AT THE END OF HER LIFE: SPES UNICA
- #12 The cloistered life closed to her, Louise entered into an arranged marriage with Antoine Le Gras on February 6, 1613 A secretary to the Queen Mother and Regent, Marie de Medici (Mother of Louis XIII) Antoine was a nobleman but of lower status than the Marillacs THIS IS THE CHURCH WERE THEY WERE MARRIED
- #13 Noble family But lower level than the Marillacs Although this marriage afforded a broad social circle for Louise – intellectual salons, etc, it was less than the Marillacs. This is because she was illegitimate, that fact was noted on her marriage certificate. It also kept her from a marriage befitting as a Marillac. Still It was a happy marriage and she truly loved Antoine. They had one son, Michel, who was born prematurely and was sickly as a child. Antoine began a steady decline in health (presumed to be a form of tuberculosis.)
- #14 It is important to note that Louise’s life can be depicted by a series of doors closing before her. I This created in her a sadness, doubts, guilt, scrupulosity, but also a hunger for God’s assurance.
- #15 Michel de Marillac, Keeper of the Seals. After her father's death, he became her guardian and later her spiritual director. Political intrigue would lead to his death in exile. Nonetheless, this man, who had played a vital role in the reestablishment in France of the major religious orders during the period of the Catholic Counter Reformation, succeeded in blending profound personal spirituality with immense organizational skill. Long after the politics of the day had been forgotten, his Code Michau remains a valued document in French jurisprudence. Much of Michel de Marillac can be found in his niece as she formed the first Daughters of Charity to balance contemplation and action in their service; worked out the minute details of hospital contracts with civil and ecclesiastical authorities; obtained authorization to establish free schools for poor little girls
- #16 Her early life – specifically her illegitimacy, denied her the title of Madame. Though she was married – and to a good upright man, she would remain Mademoiselle. Vincent never called her Sister or Mother. He called her Mademoiselle. Addressed letters Mad. Le Gras After her husband’s death she resumed her maiden name, Louise de Marillac. Yet Vincent never used that name. Always wore the black veil of the widow. Although she had significant spiritual guides – including St. Francis de Sales, she continued in her doubts, guilt, etc especially over her “broken vow” to become a cloistered Nun. These ‘dark experiences’ as a child marked Louise all her life. She was in fact an intelligent women who thought quickly, acted quickly and was a great organizer. She had enjoyed a social life
- #17 Read the note of Pentecost Louise carried this in her pocket from 1623 to her death at 1660 It is THE defining moment of her life. It is in the archives of the Vincentian Priests and Brothers at 95 rue de Sèvres in Paris THIS SO IMPACTED LOUISE’S LIFE THAT IT REMAINS FOR US, THE DAUGHTERES OF CHARITY, A TRANSFORMATIVE EVENT. WE ELECT OUR SUPERIORESS GENERAL, THE SUCCESSOR TO LOUISE, ON THE MONDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
- #18 Brighter threads entered Louise’s weaving. She was spiritually strong It changed everything for her. She believed that the Lumiere of Pentecost relieved her doubts, her concerns about leaving or staying with her husband, etc. Though she did not understand how some of it would come about, she believed it had been revealed to her. Perhaps through the grace of Francis de Sales.
- #19 Somtime before 1629 (perhaps 1628 Louise told Vincent she had experience a call to turn her entire life over to serve the poor. She asked to make a retreat on this. Vincent said: Well, yes, dear lady I do consent. Why not, since Our Lord has given you this holy thought? And he urged her on by quoting Scripture with regard to the days readings. Good and bad fruit.
- #20 The had come to know one another well. They understood one another. They now shared a spiritual bond focused on the Poor. Louise had come to this relationship fearful, scrupulous, anxious, all from her past sufferings. Little by little, Vincent guided her to a better self esteem. They were friends. Though she had been focused on the cross, she now shared his understanding of the Incarnation. She would write about the Incaernation: “that aa God who seems unable or unable to do with humanity.” ! “that a God should somehow be unable or unwilling to be separated from humanity From Nicolas Gobillon, Book 5 Saint Louise, The Life of Mademoiselle Le Gras, Gobillon, 1676 ed., bk. V, ch. 1, §1, p. 189.
- #21 She became the Spiritual Moderator for the Ladies of Charities – the Confraternities. In Paris and all over France.
- #22 Vincent needed her and now she was ready. She went all over France, hoseback, caragies , etc. She visit all of the confraternities. She wrote the contracts for the Confraternities to exist in parishes and dioceses She wrote the rules for each Conference She visited all of them and gave spiritual conferences She made sure the Poor were being well served. She made sure he finances were in order Later she would be sent to visit all the houses of the Daughters of Charity She wrote the contracts for them to work in hospitals She founded les “Petite Schools” and taught teachers. Still today in France She taught rudimentary nursing.
- #23 WE have many of those conferences And many of her letters When we see what they were aiming for don’t think of the Daughters of Charity today. Imagine 4 or 5 and soon 12 young women, girls really, who couldn’t read or write. Had no education. Knew nothing of community or spirituality. This was truly on the spot learning. Louise was a well educated, cultured woman. These girls were exactly the opposite. Poissy!!! Still, at the time of the death of Louise and Vincent, there were forty houses in Paris where these girls were running hospitals, little schools, serving galley slaves, taking care of orphans.
- #24 We have hundreds of St. Louise’s letters Perhaps 30,000 of St. Vincent We have the notes and thoughts of Louise during her many, many retreats. By the way, we also have volumes of the Letters of Frederic Ozanam. We know the Founders best in their letters. The letters between Vincent and Louise show the progress in Spirituality of both of them – but especially of Louise Sr. Elizabeth Charpy shows their progress through their letters. Later letters show equality, both in spirituality and ministry. From marginal notes to in depth discussions.
- #25 This is really a remarkable image, if one considers that it was painted 50 to 60 years before St. Margaret Mary’s visions of the Sacred Heart. Louise’s devotion to the heart of Jesus probably has roots in the influence of St. Francis de Sales on her spirituality and in her contacts with the Capuchin sisters and with the Visitation sisters, who at that precise time were fostering devotion toward the sufferings and the five wounds of Christ. The heart that Louise paints is simpler than the one that Margaret Mary later popularized. It is without a flame. There is no crown of thorns. But it is one of the first such representations of the heart of Jesus that we know of. Some feel that the heart in this painting was added, but most likely it comes from the hand of St. Louise herself. It is interesting to note that St. Louise placed the heart of Christ on the seal of the Daughters of Charity too. The Lord of Charity..This large painting is currently housed on the staircase near the office of the Superior General in the Maison-Mère of the Daughters of Charity, rue du Bac. At the bottom of the painting someone has written in capital letters: “Ce tableau a été peint par Mlle. Le Gras notre mère et institutrice [This tableau was done by Mademoiselle Le Gras, our mother and founder].”In 1891 this painting was noticed in a chapel annexed to the cathedral of Cahors, where a house of the Daughters of Charity had been established in the time of Vincent and Louise. It is likely that this house, like many others, received a “Lord of Charity” from Louise. Such paintings were probably also placed in the room or chapel where the Confraternities of the Ladies of Charity met, so that the members might have an image of Jesus.
- #26 Upper left: Good Shepherd Upper Right: The Holy Family Bottom Center: Probably a self portrait – a selfie!
- #27 On the right banner near the head of Christ are written the words: “Learn from me that I am gentle …”, and on the left banner: “Come, blessed of my Father …”It was to images like this that St. Louise was referring when she wrote to a sister, saying (ES 334): “Here are some images that I am sending you: a Lord of Charity to put in the room where you receive the poor and another for your own room.” As you can see clearly, there is an attestation on the reverse side of the medallion stating: “Cet image a été peint de la propre main de la venerable Louise de Marillac, veuve de M. le Gras, secretaire de la reine Marie de Medicis, et 1ere Supérieure de la Compagnie. Morte le 15 mars 1660 (This image was painted by the very hand of the venerable Louise de Marillac, widow of Monsieur le Gras, secretary of the queen Marie de Medicis, and first Superioress of the Company. Died, March 15, 1660)”.
- #28 From a young woman, who had threads of uncertainty, sadness, sufferings, doubts, guilt, to Servant of the Poor To Holiness The Patroness of all Christian social workers, A teacher A nurse Founded the first orphanage Founded a congregation of consecrated women The moderator and spiritual advisor of all the Ladies of the Conferences What Vincent saw in her, we now all see: A woman of great strength and wisdom. God took these threads of her birth, her early life, her pain, insecurity, and wove a masterpiece. And she is a model for all of us.