Love the poor - Mary Manning

Mary Manning interviews St Louise de Marillac who was born in 1598 and died in 1660. Her feast day is 15 March. She is known as the patron of social workers in particular, but also of disappointing children, loss of parents, people rejected by religious orders, sick people, widows and the Vincentian Service Corps.

MM: I understand that your early life was privileged, at least in some ways.

L: I grew up in the affluent society of Paris and my father, Louis de Marillac, belonged to a prominent family. So I was privileged in that way. On the other hand, he died when I was only fifteen and I never knew my mother at all as she and my father were not married. So while I was well looked after, I was deprived of a normal family life.

MM: At what stage of your life did you think you might follow a religious path?

L: In addition to instruction from my father, I was educated at the royal monastery of Poissy where my aunt was a Dominican nun. Here I learned about the arts and humanities but also about the spiritual life. It was this that attracted me to joining the Daughters of Passion in Paris. My application was rejected, possibly because my health was not good. Or maybe because God had other designs for me, as my spiritual director said.

MM: How did this rejection affect your life?

L: If I had been accepted, my life would have been completely different. I would not have married and given birth to my son Michael. I may also not have met Vincent who was to be the most profound influence on my life.

MM: Maybe one of the designs God had for you was marriage. Did you find your marriage fulfilling or did you regret not being part of a religious order as you'd hoped.

L: I was married happily to Antony Le Gras for twelve years and our son Michael was born in the first of those. Sadly, Antony became ill and I nursed him for a long time. Despite being happy with my marriage I suffered from doubt and prayed for help to solve this.

MM: Were your prayers answered?

L: Yes, and in a dramatic way. This is what I wrote about the experience: 'On the feast of Pentecost, during Holy Mass or while I was praying in the church, my mind was completely freed of all doubt. I was advised that I should remain with my husband and that the time would come when I would be in the position to make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and that I would be in a small community where others would do the same.'
Shortly before my husband's death in 1625 I vowed not to marry again but to devote myself entirely to the service of God. I took on the task of my own spiritual development and wrote my 'Rules of Life in the World' where I laid out a detailed structure for my life including times for meditation, Communion, reading and prayer.

MM: In that vision of your future you were also told you would be guided to a new spiritual director. Did that come about?

L: He was, of course, 'Monsieur Vincent', the person we know as St Vincent de Paul. I had already met him but it took him five years to agree to act as my confessor. It may have been my bouts of ill health that made him reluctant to let me help with his work but eventually he agreed.

MM: Vincent de Paul had established the Vincentians in 1625. What sort of role did he see there for you?

L: To answer that I need to tell you about charitable care of the poor at that time. It was completely disorganised and many poor people missed out altogether despite the money and help provided by the Ladies of Charity, a group set up by Vincent de Paul many years earlier.

I think he realised I was an organised sort of person so he invited me to assist with the work these women did in the parishes of France. I think you would call this a management role. I visited sites to check the service being offered, check finances and reports, interview and encourage workers and volunteers.

I realised that some of the wealthy Ladies of Charity did not have the temperament or background to work with the poor so I began to train young women in my home. I taught them how to address the needs of the poor and how to work together as a community. We were guided by these words: ‘Love the poor and honour them as you would honour Christ himself’. It was from working with a small group of women that the Daughters of Charity developed.

MM: You worked with the Daughters of Charity until you were almost seventy years old, and just six months before the death of Vincent. Since then how has your work spread throughout the world?

L: The Daughters of Charity have become an international community of 25,000 Catholic women ministering all over the world. We touch those in need through education, health care and social and pastoral services. Prayer and community life remain the foundation of our service.

In 1926, at the invitation of Bishop Michael O'Farrell of Bathurst, the first four sisters arrived from the Province of Great Britain. They went to Orange NSW, where they were joined in 1928 by a second group of four. Their first work was visiting the poor in the parish, and they also taught in St Mary's School, East Orange.
Today they have communities across the southern states of Australia as well as in New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Let us pray

O Gracious God, Saint Louise devoted her life to helping Saint Vincent de Paul serve the needs of the poor. She often taught: 'Be diligent in serving the poor. Love the poor, honour them, as you would honour Christ himself.'

I lift up to you the programs in my church and community that help the needy, and the people who do the work. Multiply the donations. Teach me how to think generously. Give me a heart that desires to care for the poor as if I were serving Jesus directly, and help me to see Jesus in each person that begs on the street corner or church door. Saint Louise, pray for us. Amen.