Louise de Marillac
1591-1660 17th century Feast day: March 15
Concrete service of the poor as a place of encounter with God, and gentleness toward oneself in times of anxiety.
Who was Louise de Marillac?
A wife, a mother, then a widow at thirty-four, long troubled by scruples and anxiety, she found her path alongside Vincent de Paul. With him she founded the Daughters of Charity, sending women into streets, hospitals, and countryside to serve the poor where they lived. She formed hundreds of sisters with a tender realism nourished by her own fragility.
In their own words
Take great care of the service of the poor, and above all of living together in great union and cordiality, loving one another in imitation of the union and life of our Lord.
I abandon myself entirely to the guidance of divine Providence.