Category Archives: Louise de Marillac

Daughters of Charity Community Seal, seen in the entrance lobby of the Provincial Archives (used with permission of Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives)

This weekend, the Daughters of Charity have celebrated three important feast days. The Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was on the 27th; the Feast of Catherine Laboure on the 28th. November 29, 1633 is the founding date for the Company of the Daughters of Charity. The narrative below, about the founding of the Company, is taken from the Daughters’ international website.

Beginnings

The Company of the Daughters of Charity was born imperceptively, in the manner of the things of God.  The Spirit of God breathed into the hearts of several persons, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac and Marguerite Naseau.  Successive and significant events marked their lives.  Little by little they saw the hand of God in these events.

Vincent de Paul discovered the material and spiritual misery in the countryside.  In 1617, in Châtillon les Dombes, he brought together the ladies of the bourgeoisie  after an encounter with a poor family.  He founded the “Confraternities of Charity.”  They were to organize the daily material support and spiritual accompaniment of those who were poor in order to help them move toward well being and regain their self assurance.

Louise de Marillac, who had always been aware of those in difficulty around her, visited poor persons even before meeting Vincent de Paul.  Attentive to the needs of the most humble and with an open heart of faith she visited the first “Confraternities of Charity” at the request of Vincent de Paul.

Vincent and Louise realized that the direct service of poor persons was not easy for the ladies of nobility or of the bourgeoisie.  It was difficult to overcome the barriers of social class.  These women took meals, distributed clothing and gave care and comfort.  They visited the slums dressed in beautiful dresses next to people they considered to be peasants: what a formidable challenge!  The tension between the ideal of service and social constraints was real.  The families of the ladies were not always favorable to these works.

Marguerite Naseau, a 34 year old woman from the countryside in Suresnes, taught herself to read by asking those whom she met along the road to help her.  She worked in her village with other young girls teaching children to read.  Her only intention was to serve God.  She met Vincent de Paul with other priests of the Congregation of the Mission during one of his Missions of Evangelization.  In 1630 she met up with Vincent and Louise in Paris.  They suggested that she help the Ladies of the Confraternities.

Louise had the idea that young women, like Marguerite, could assure the concrete, daily service of the poorest people.  Vincent was happy that the simple country girls could come to the aid of those in need.  But the idea of creating two distinct groups from different social classes, with the Ladies on one side and the “humble country girls” on the other didn’t seem appropriate.  After three years of reflection, their ideas came together.

Three stories, three vocations intersect and join together to serve those who are poor.  The difficulties in the confraternities finally opened the way to a new creation: the Company of the Daughters of Charity was born on November 29, 1633.

For more information about the origins of the Daughters, see www.filles-de-la-charite.org

Vincent de Paul, 1581-1660 (Courtesy of Vincent de Paul Image Archive, DePaul University)

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

On this day: Louise de Marillac’s earliest letter to Vincent de Paul is dated June 5, 1627. The original letter resides in the Archives of the Daughters of Charity Mother House in Paris. The English text appears in both the collected works of Vincent and the collected works of Louise:

Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conferences, and Documents. Newly Translated, Edited, and Annotated from the 1920 Edition of Pierre Coste, C.M. Edited by Sr. Jacqueline Kilar, D.C., Translated by Sr. Helen Marie Law, D.C., Sr. John Marie Poole, D.C., Rev. James R. King, C.M., Rev. Francis Germovnik, C.M. Annotated by Rev. John W. Carven. C.M. (New York: New City Press 1985), Volume 1 (1607-1639), Letter #14, p.26-27.

Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac: Correspondence and Thoughts. Edited and Translated from the French by Sr. Louise Sullivan, D.C. (New York, New City Press, 1991). Letter #L.1, p.5-6: To Monsieur Vincent, June 5, 1627.

The translation below comes from the Spiritual Writings of Louise, translated by Sr. Louise Sullivan.

L.1 TO MONSIEUR VINCENT
June 5. 1627
Monsieur,
I hope that you will excuse the liberty I am taking in telling you how impatient I have become because of your long absence, troubled as I am about the future and by not knowing where you are or where you are going. It is true, Father, that I find some comfort in my trial from the thought of the business that is keeping you away, but that does not prevent the days from seeming like months for someone as lazy as I. However, I want to await calmly the hour of God, and I recognize that my unworthiness is delaying it.

I have been aware that Mademoiselle du Fay(note 1) has been more anxious than usual. We spent the Feast of Pentecost together. After services, she would have liked to confide in me but we remained open to and desirous of accomplishing the will of God. The work which your Charity gave me is finished. If the members of Jesus need it and you want me to send it to you, Father, I shall not fail to do so. I did not want to do this without your authorization.

At last, my Most Honored Father, after some worry, my son is placed in school(2). Thanks be to God, he is happy and is doing well there. If that continues, I shall be very relieved concerning him.

Allow me, Father, to bother you again about the 28 year old girl that they wish to send from Burgundy and confide to my care. From what I hear, she has a good background and is virtuous. Prior to this, the good blind girl from Vertus(3) had told me that her 22 year old companion might also come here. She has been under the direction of the Oratorians for the past four years and is a true country girl. I am not convinced that she wants to come but she has given me some assurance that she desires to do so.

I humbly implore you to tell me what I should do in this matter. The person who is going to Burgundy plans to leave Monday. Since I thought that you would be returning this week, I promised a reply.

For the past month our good God has permitted my soul to be unusually aware of Him, nevertheless I remain constantly in my imperfections. When I shall no longer place any obstacle in the way of the effects of the prayers which I hope to receive from your Charity, I believe I shall mend my ways. These past days I have greatly desired you to remember to offer me to God and to ask of Him the grace of accomplishing His holy will in me despite the opposition of my misery. Therefore, I most humbly supplicate you, Father, and ask your pardon for bothering you. By the goodness of God I remain, Father, your most grateful servant and unworthy daughter.

Notes
(1 – Sullivan, Louise Spiritual Writings) Mademoiselle du Fay, Lady of Charity of great devotion. Her paternal uncle, Rene Hennequin, married Marie de Marillac, one of Saint Louise’s aunts.

(2 – Vincent, Correspondence, v.1). Michel Le Gras, born October 19, 1613, intended to embrace the ecclesiastical state. To encourage the vocation of her son, Saint Louise had placed him in the seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, the college spoken of here, which had been founded and was directed by the austere and virtuous Adrien Bourdoise. Michel, however, caused his mother a great deal of anxiety by the instability of his character. He ultimately abandoned the cassock at the age of twenty-seven (1640). After ten years of wavering, on January 18, 1650, he married Demoiselle Gabrielle Le Clerc in the Church of Saint-Sauveur. Saint Vincent witnessed the marriage contract.

(3 – Vincent, Correspondence, v.1) A locality included today in the commune of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint·Denis).