SLDM

• Louise de Marillac D.C.

  Also known as Louise Le Gras, co-founder with Vincent de Paul of the Daughters of Charity
• Louise de Marillac is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
• Born

  August 12, 1591
• Died (age 68 years)

  March 15, 1660
• Children

  Michel Le Gras
• Parents

  Marguerite Le Camus
• Spouse

  Antoine Le Gras (m. 1613–1625)
• Attributes

  Widow's clothing
• Canonized by Pope Pius XI

  March 11, 1934
• St. Louise de Marillac

  • Cofounder with St. Vincent de Paul of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul
  • A congregation of laywomen dedicated to teaching and hospital work
• Louise was a member of the powerful de Marillac family and was well educated
• Poor health prevented her from joining the strict order of Poor Clares
• In 1613 she married Antoine Le Gras (secretary to Queen Marie de Médicis of France), by whom she had a son, Michel
• Widowed in 1625, she had already chosen Vincent de Paul as her spiritual guide, and he encouraged her to undertake charitable works
• She trained girls in the spiritual life and taught them to assist in visiting, feeding, and nursing the needy
• In 1633 Vincent de Paul founded the Daughters of Charity with Louise as their superior
• The Daughters of Charity were neither enclosed nor called nuns, pioneering in bringing women into religious service outside the cloister
• The Daughters of Charity was the first noncloistered religious institute of women devoted to active charitable works
• Saint Louise de Marillac

  Louise de Marillac was born at Ferrieres-en-Brie near Meux, France, on August 12, 1591. She was educated by the Dominican nuns at Poissy. She desired to become a nun but on the advice of her confessor, she married Antony LeGras, an official in the Queen's service, in 1613. After Antony's death in 1625, she met St. Vincent de Paul, who became her spiritual adviser. She devoted the rest of her life to working with him.
• Louise's work

  1. Helped direct Vincent's Ladies of Charity in their work of caring for the sick, the poor, and the neglected

  2. Set up a training center in her own home for candidates seeking to help in her work

  3. Wrote a rule for the community

  4. Allowed four of the members to take vows in 1642

  5. Traveled all over France establishing her Sisters in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions
• Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul

  The community founded by Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul, formally approved in 1655 and placed under Vincent and his Congregation of the Missions, with Louise as Superior
• Time of Louise's death in Paris

  1660
• By the time of her death in Paris on March 15, 1660, the Congregation had more than forty houses in France. Since then they have spread all over the world.
• Louise was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934, and was declared Patroness of Social Workers by Pope John XXIII in 1960.
• Her feast day is May 9th.