Louise was born out of wedlock in 1591. She had never known who her mother was, but was raised by her father Louis de Marillac – a member of the aristocracy – and acknowledged her as his own. Louise found it difficult to adjust when her father married. She was sent to study in a convent where her aunt was a religious; it was there that her desire to enter into consecrated life grew. When her father died and resources became limited, she lived in a boarding house where she was able to hone her domestic and organizational skills, as well as the secrets of herbal medicine.
In 1613, she married Antoine le Gras, secretary to the Queen Mother of France, but their marital happiness was short-lived because of his poor health. As a young matron, Louise traveled and socialized among both the royalty and aristocracy of France, but she was equally comfortable with the poor, no matter their desperate situations.
Suffering was never far from Louise. In 1623, when illness was wasting Antoine (who died in 1625), she had fallen into depression. While at prayer, Louise had a vision in which she saw herself serving the poor and living the evangelical counsels in community. She wrote this “lumière” (“Pentecost experience”) on parchment and carried it in her person as a reminder that God was constantly guiding her life despite her difficulties. In that vision a priest appeared to her, whom she later identified as Vincent de Paul – her future confidant and collaborator in ministry.
In 1629, Louise assisted Vincent de Paul in the Confraternities of Charity in the parishes of France, which she found therapeutic. She visited them to uphold the quality of the services they rendered, reviewed financial accounts for stewardship reports, and most important of all, encouraged the workers and volunteers to see Christ in those whom they served.
Through this, she gained a deep knowledge of the needs of the poor, developed her management skills and identified effective structures for service. In 1633, she founded the Daughters of Charity when she began to train young women in her own home to address the needs of poor persons and to gain support from their life together. Louise provided leadership and expert management to the evolving network of services she and Vincent inspired.
Louise, who died on March 15, 1660 just a few months before Vincent de Paul, was beatified in 1920 and canonized in 1934. In 1960 Pope John XXIII proclaimed her the Patroness of Christian Social Workers. She lives on in the congregations and organizations she had established and inspired, as they continue to bring the Good News to the poor through their work.
Shout for all you are worth, raise your voice like a trumpet.
Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me
—it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks—
to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke,
to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor,
to clothe the man you see to be naked
and not turn from your own kin?
Then will your light shine like the dawn
and your wound be quickly healed over
your integrity will go before you and the glory of Yahweh behind you.
Cry, and Yahweh will answer; call, and he will say, ‘I am here’.
If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked work,
if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed,
your light will rise in the darkness,
and your shadows become like noon.
Yahweh will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.
He will give strength to your bones
and you shall be like a watered garden.
like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.
Writings
(Year C).As soon as our first parent had sinned, the goodness of God took pity on human nature and promised to repair the fault by the Incarnation of His Word. This promise was so powerful that, although it did not completely abolish sin because of the freedom which God has given to man, it changed its effect, making it personal.
This promise meant that the whole nature could no longer participate in the fault of an individual because the Person of God was now part of it. Moreover, its effect was immediate for. us since, from the instant it was made, the divine plan was accomplished in the mind of God. O admirable love! O hidden secret! What did You want to do, O my
God, when You created man sinceYou were not unaware of his weakness? However, the events had to be as they were, O my Master, to make us understand the effects of Your great love.
Was it not also, O my God, so that Your admirable Incarnation might be the source of the graces of which souls stand in need in order to reach their end? When You created our bodies, You gave us all that we need to feed and clothe ourselves and to experience pleasure. However, the soul, by its nature, could never of itself make use of all these means for its preservation. Neither could it become so closely united to God who is its object since He is inaccessible to all beings except through this most admirable of means which makes God man and man God who, continually present to the soul . . . has made it so like unto Himself that He act it as He sees fit, conformably to its needs, in order to enable it to attain its end in keeping witb His designs for each individual.
Yes, O my God, I wholeheartedly accept this thought which seems to me to be so in keeping with Your goodness and love. To fail to acknowledge the fact tbat You want to communicate interiorly with man would be, as it were, to diminish and to be ungrateful for the love which You bring to us.
What! You, who would will tbe communion of the Saints of the Church Triumphant, Suffering and Militant, and who operate all these marvels, would act like the princes of tbis eartb who must remain withdrawn from others in order to maintain their authority! Oh, it is not so. You who are infinite goodness always want to communicate Yourself. Therefore, I shall be more attentive tban ever to Your dear presence. Do not, I beg of You, O my Lord, reject the most unfaithful of Your creatures. I hope for this through Your love. I implore You to share tbe sentiments which You put into my heart during this little meditation with tbose who need them so tbat, by loving and honoring Your holy and amiable presence, they may apply tbemselves to be attentive to it. Thus, You will not refuse to grant them the graces tbat You infallibly give to tbose who hold tbemselves in the disposition to receive them anymore. than tbe sun distinguishes in shedding its rays on all tbat is before it.
Now is the time for tbe fulfillment of your promise. Blessed may You be forever, O my God, for tbe choice which You made of the Holy Virgin! Did not the devil merit final damnation from Your divinity? It was necessary for Your omnipotence to make use of the weaker sex in human nature to crush his head as Your justice had threatened to do. In order to accomplish this, You used the blood of the Blessed Virgin to form the body of Your dear Son. O admirable goodnessI What care You took in carrying out your plan! How long did You defer it? (On the Mystery of the Incarnation)
Musical Selection
Most High and glorious God
Bring light to the darkness of my heart
Give me right faith, certain hope
And perfect charity
Lord, give me insight and wisdom
So I might always discern
Your holy and true will
Lord, give me insight and wisdom
So I might always discern
Your holy and true will
Lord, give me insight and wisdom
So I might always discern
Your holy and true will
Collect
God our Father, the source and reward of love, through your Son who became man you gave the new commandment of love to your Church. May we follow the example of Saint Louise; and by practicing your love on earth may we obtain the kingdom promised to your servants who are faithful. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
