Saint Louise de Marillac

Louise was born in Paris on August 12, 1591, in circumstances that have never been cleared up. Three days later, a notarial deed recognizes her as the “natural daughter” of Louis de Marillac, a knight, who settles an income on her; there is a suspicion, though, that he claimed that fatherhood to spare a brother of his a scandal. She grew up in the royal monastery of Saint Louis at Poissy, where the Dominican nuns taught her to read, write and paint and, under the guidance of an aunt, gave her a solid humanist education. When her father died in 1604, her guardian became Michel de Marillac, the future chancellor of France. She married Antoine Le Gras and was widowed in 1625, with a son. It was in those years that she met Vincent de Paul, and out of that meeting came the thing she is remembered for. The Daughters of Charity began as something that hadn’t existed before: not cloistered nuns, but women who went into homes, hospitals and prisons, wherever there was need. Louise trained them, guided them, and traveled across France opening houses. The rule she gave them has become famous: their monastery is the house of the sick, their cell a rented room, their cloister obedience. She died in Paris on March 15, 1660, a few months before Vincent. She was canonized by Pius XI in 1934. If your name is Louise, today is your name day.