Tag Archives: St. Louise de Marillac

June 9, 2023 · 9:35 am

The Lumière of St. Louise

Typically, in these posts, we try to focus on materials held here at the local Provincial Archives.  For this post, however, we would like to focus on a piece of global news of the Daughters and the archival world.

Saint Louise de Marillac portrait, held in the Provincial Archives in Emmitsburg

One of the foundational documents of the history and spirituality of the Daughters of Charity is the Lumière of Saint Louise de Marillac, the co-founder of the community alongside Saint Vincent de Paul.  In 1623, on the Feast of Pentecost, Louise found herself in a deep melancholy, with her husband seriously ill, an uncertain future for herself, and a crisis of faith at hand.  In a moment of prayer, she had a vision of the pathway of her life.  She saw herself when she “would be in a position to make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and that I would be in a small community where others would do the same.”  She added, “I was also assured that I should remain at peace concerning my director; that God would give me one whom He seemed to show me.”  She felt assurance that “it was God who was teaching me these things…I should not doubt the rest.”

It took a decade for the work of her vision to come to pass.  She did find a spiritual director in Saint Vincent, and, in 1633, they together founded the “Little Company” of the Daughters of Charity.  Saint Louise carried the folded message that she wrote to herself on Pentecost until her death.

St. Louise’s Lumière

The 400th Anniversary of this Pentecost has just passed.  The folded note of Saint Louise had survived for centuries in the Archive of the Vincentian Fathers, Saint Vincent’s priestly community.  As a magnanimous gesture and a symbol of the fraternal ties between the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity, the Vincentians repatriated the Lumière back to the Daughters of Charity.  It will live and be preserved in their Mother House at the Rue du Bac in Paris as one of the great historical and spiritual treasures of the Community’s charism!

Father Tomaz Mavric and Sister Francois Petit, Superior and Superioress of the Daughters of Charity, with Sister Francois holding the Lumiere

Although the Provincial Archives does not hold any primary sources of Saint Louise, we can provide a wide array of resources on Louise’s spirituality and the way it is interpreted and lived today through the Community that she founded.  These include scholarship related to Louise and many works named after her, including St. Louise de Marillac School in Arabi, Louisiana; St. Louise de Marillac School in St. Louis; St. Louise de Marillac Hospital in Buffalo, New York; and the Association Louise de Marillac lay organization.

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Filed under Archives, Artifacts, Father Tomaz Mavric, Louise de Marillac, Sister Francois Petit

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March 10, 2020 · 9:15 am

The Death of Vincent and Louise

The year 2020 marks 260 years since the deaths of both founders of the Daughters of Charity, Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac.  Louise had had bouts of serious ill health for much of her life, but the year 1660 saw her receive unction – or last rites – twice in the same year.  In her final days, she met with the earliest members of the Daughters and with the lay members of the Vincentian family at the time, the Ladies of Charity.  The priest who was by her bedside reported her last words; when he issued his apostolic pardon, she responded simply with “Yes.”  She died mid-day on March 15, 1660.

Vincent was ill himself at this time, so ill that he could not be at Louise’s side as she lay dying.  For the last months of his life, he was confined to the Paris Motherhouse of the Vincentians on Rue de Sèvres.  In July, he managed to give two conferences to the Daughters of Charity on the virtues of their foundress.  Unable to talk at length, Vincent instead let the assembled Daughters talk of Louise’s ability to raise her mind to God, to never complain of her ailments, of supporting sick Sisters, her willingness to perform the tasks that others would consider work for servants, her love and concern for the members of her community, and, of course, her humility in her service to the poor. 

Before Vincent began to move to the matter of electing Louise’s successor, he added a final admonishment to the Daughters:  “Courage!  Dear Mademoiselle Le Gras will help you.  She has been present for all that we’ve said.”

In Louise’s las months, when she had heard of Vincent’s illness, she sent him notecards with some of her home remedies.  By August, he could no longer make it to the chapel for Mass, either as a celebrant or congregant, even on crutches.  At last, after members of his community pressed and pressed him, he finally allowed himself to be carried to Mass each day.

On September 26, 1660, Vincent received his last rites and blessed the priests of the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity for the last time.  He passed away on the morning of the 27th seated in a chair by his fireplace.

Representation of Saints Vincent and Louise around the deathbed of Sister Marguerite Naseau, the first to enter the community of the Daughter of Charity. Image painted by an early Daughter

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