Beatification of Louise de Marillac – DC pilgrimmage to Rome, May 1920 (part 2)

Louise de Marillac, 1591-1660 (Image courtesy of Vincent de Paul Image Archive, DePaul University)

This is the second in our series of posts on the beatification of Louise de Marillac. The account, written by Sister Margaret O’Keefe and taken from the Provincial Annals, is used with permission of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives.

May 8. Saturday. Via Appia. Went to the Church Domine quo vadis! It is outside Rome on the way to the Coliseum, and on the spot where St. Peter met our Lord and asked him whither He was going. A large marble statue of our Lord with the cross, stands passing the door.

Saturday P. M. Most wonderful visit of all the Catacombs! The Trappists have charge, the monk who was our guide had been a patient in our Sisters’ Hospital, and took the trouble to show us everything. We had each a lighted taper, and as we went in single file thro those narrow passages lined with empty tombs, down in the bowels of the earth our souls were thrilled with various emotions – At St. Cecilia’s tomb there is a beautiful marble statue in the place where her boy lay, and near by an altar – nine Masses had been said there that morning. These were the Catacombs of St. Callixtus on the Appian Way.

Tomorrow our series will conclude with the account of Louise’s beatification ceremony.