In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort

"Footsteps Online"

Summer 2000 (Volume 5, Issue 2)

In the Footsteps of Wisdom (continued)

Mother Marie Louise and her first companion, Catherine Brunet, were to spend many years in Poitiers ministering to the poor in the Workhouse and beyond. But one day they were to receive a message from Fr. de Montfort to leave Poitiers for La Rochelle where he wished them to start a school under the care of the Daughters of Wisdom. But shortly after this the sisters were to be dealt a severe blow, for while preaching a mission in St. Laurent-sur-Sèvre Fr. de Montfort died suddenly, leaving behind a community of women and one of missionary brothers and priests. Shattering though this was, in the years after Montfort's death, the community of the Daughters of Wisdom grew slowly but surely. New communities were established in response to the needs of the poor, despite many difficulties and setbacks and soon towns and villages throughout France became accustomed to the unusual grey habit of the Daughters of Wisdom. In all these new ventures the Cross, so loved by Montfort, was to become the hallmark of the sisters' presence and Marie Louise personally saw to the setting up of each new community travelling many long roads and hours on horseback visiting communities and encouraging the sisters in their mission. Marie Louise never tired of encouraging her sisters, "Fear not little flock, and do not be people of little faith who are always apprehensive and lose confidence in times of difficulty. The hand which strikes as will always comfort us." (Letter 18)

And so the story of the early years of the community of the Daughters of Wisdom was to be a story of joy and sorrow, attachment and loss, disappointment and achievement. For Marie Louise personally, a time of failing health and painful misunderstandings, which she bore with amazing patience and gentleness. She believed wholeheartedly in the loving Wisdom of God for herself, the community of the Daughters of Wisdom and for the poor.

"A fruit of her love for Christ Wisdom, all her asceticism, all her prayer, was her love for the poor and for those who were suffering the most, in whom she recognised the body of Christ." (Decree of July 10 1991)

Last Testament

It is this spirit that Marie Louise bequeathed to the Daughters of Wisdom in her Last Will and Testament before she died on April 28th 1759, on the same date and at the same hour and in the same place as Fr. de Montfort had died forty-three years earlier.

"In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I feel obliged to recommend to all the Daughters of Wisdom, in the present and in the future, never to deviate from the primitive spirit of our holy founder, which is a spirit of humility, of poverty, of detachment, of union with one another."

As a woman, and in keeping with the spirituality bequeathed to her by Montfort, Marie Louise always sought to journey with Mary in her search for Wisdom, so that through each "yes" of her daily life, Christ might be born again. And so it is today in the year 2000, as each Daughter of Wisdom seeks to give birth to Christ wherever she is - in India, the USA, the UK, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Congo, Philippines, Peru, Colombia, Malawi, France, Italy and many other countries.

Year 2000

Yes, Marie Louise, woman of your time what are you saying to us now at the start of this new Millennium?

You would tell us that there is no timetable for the human heart that loves and says "yes" to life. You would tell us to ask over and over again for the gift of Wisdom that will enable us to:

  • move inwards to the heart and source of Wisdom in prayer
  • to move out to open our hearts to the experience of life, especially suffering
  • to move into our hands that we may touch others with compassion
  • to move our feet to walk the streets and market places of today's world carrying the Good News
  • to move into our mouths and tongues, to speak up about injustice and suffering
  • to move the eyes of our hearts to a new vision of what it means to love
  • to move us on to be more than we ever dreamt we could be, because we know we are loved.

Marie Louise of Jesus, first Daughter of Wisdom, you alert us and challenge us to listen to the voiceless ones of today's world, those of no account and powerless, refugees, homeless, handicapped, unemployed ……

We ask you to deliver us,

  • from the fear of the future
  • from our lack of daring
  • from our lack of faith
  • from our tendency to compromise
  • from the insufficiency of our love and availability.

Obtain for us

  • Your desire for Christ Wisdom
  • your devotion to Mary
  • your apostolic daring
  • your compassionate love for the poor
  • your unshakeable hope

As co-founder with Montfort of the Daughters of Wisdom, Marie Louise brought her particular gifts and experience as a woman to complement and build on the initial inspiration of Fr. de Montfort. Hers is the story of a woman who never left the shores of her native France, but whose story is repeated today in the open heart of each Daughter of Wisdom in the four corners of the world.