In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Autumn 2000 (Volume 5, Issue 3)
"God will do great things through this little one"
Our appreciation of Marie Louise Trichet's heroic holiness is enriched when we take a look at the history of the time in which she responded to the call of the Gospel.
She was born more than three hundred years ago, roughly half way through the long reign of Louis XIV when that despotic monarch was at the height of his power. Because of the splendour of his court at Versailles, he became known as the Sun King. At around the time of Marie Louise's birth, the finishing touches were being put to the Hall of Mirrors in the magnificent Palace of Versailles. The extravagance at Versailles, together with the cost of the wars connected with the Sun King's power politics, squandered the wealth of the nation and crushed the working classes under the burden of taxation, thus sowing some of the seeds of the French Revolution.
Destitution and misery formed a dark shadow stalking the glory of the Sun King. To visualize misery on a similar scale today we can recall the heart-rending scenes of Third World reality, which TV regularly brings into our living rooms.
More than twenty years before Marie Louise's birth, the Sun King had issued an edict obliging each French city to establish a refuge for the healthy poor. While the intention may have been charitable, the methods used were often repressive. The poor were regarded as 'vermin' and treated inhumanely. They were even hunted down by the chasse-coquins (hunters of the poor), handcuffed, put in chains, frequently they were flogged and subjected to hard labour.
According to the mentality of the day, inequalities in society were seen as willed by God. However, popular preachers stressed the duty of helping the poor and charitable confraternities were devoted to assisting the needy. Above all, God was at work raising up saints whose commitment nourished the hope of the poor. Amongst these we count Vincent de Paul, Louis Marie Grignion, Marie Louise Trichet ...
In the light of modem psychological theories of personality, we now recognise that all-important foundations for maturity and the capacity to love in adult life are laid in childhood. This suggests that Marie Louise's early experiences can throw light on her later life, which was so strongly marked by compassion.
She was born in Poitiers, western France, on May 7th 1684 and baptised the same day. Her parents were Julian and Françoise Trichet and she was their fourth child.
Julian was a lawyer at a time when France had a surplus of lawyers. Fierce competition kept legal fees low and a certain amount of dubious dealing was taken for granted by some members of the legal profession. Since his honesty ruled out any such practice, Julian struggled to make ends meet to support his growing family. Consequently, the Trichets lacked much middle-class comfort but they gained immeasurably from the secure home atmosphere provided by the good, even-tempered man who was their father.
Françoise was impulsive and lively, very different in temperament from her husband. However, their union was founded on solid Christian commitment to each other and great love for their children, and so their rough edges were smoothed over. Their mutual support greatly contributed to an atmosphere of harmony and security for their growing family. Marie Louise's older siblings, Jeanne, Julian and Elizabeth, were all born between 1680 and 1683 so, happy mother though she was, Françoise had her hands full and tiredness must have been a fairly constant companion. A year after the arrival of Marie Louise, Thérèse was born and in 1686, a second son, Alexis. Four years later saw the arrival of Claude and then in 1697, Françoise-Elizabeth, the lastborn.
Marie Louise grew into a quiet and reserved child. So reserved in fact, that when she reached school age her father, no doubt thinking that she would find the school environment overwhelming, wanted to have her tutored at home. This was not at all what she wanted and the firmness which was another side of this child's character was revealed! She definitely wanted to go to the school run by the religious of Our Lady and to this her parents agreed even though it entailed walking some distance to and from the school each day.
The convent of the Sisters of Our Lady in Poitiers, was the third house of that Congregation to be opened by the foundress, St. Jeanne de Lestonnac in 1618. It had remained faithful to the original spirit of the teaching order she had brought into being 'under the protection and in imitation of the Blessed Virgin'. The Sisters started teaching only after ten years of profession by which time they were deeply formed in both contemplation and authentic Christian living.
Having already developed a tender devotion to Mary at home, Marie Louise was in her element in the Marian atmosphere at school. That is, until the morning the Sister supervising the children's arrival was in a somewhat disagreeable mood. So foreign was this to the child, she was quite unable to go into class. Instead, taking matters into her own hands she spent the morning visiting all the churches of Poitiers. Years later she still recalled the signs of God's love she found throughout the city that morning.
When Marie Louise was seven and a half, the Trichets were hit by a great sorrow: the death of the darling of the family, baby Claude. She came face to face with deep sorrow for the first time. Less than two years later in November 1693, this bereavement was followed by another: Thérèse, nearest to Marie Louise in age and her favourite playmate, died at the age of eight.
Who can tell the effect of this second tragedy on the nine-year old Marie Louise? A modem biographer describes her as praying more earnestly than ever before, responding to the gentle call to pray simply by being in God's presence. Her parents also noticed that out of love for Jesus, she practised such penances as leaving the places closest to the fire to the others and refusing to take a heated brick to bed in the coldest part of the winter.
From a young age, Marie Louise befriended the poor. The year of Thérèse's death marked the beginning of a two-year economic crisis of great severity in France: bad harvests, the devastation of war and increasing unemployment resulted in two million French people becoming homeless or starving, or both. Begging became a way of life for many. Surely Marie Louise's tender heart was deeply moved by the awareness of such misery.
In only a matter of months after the death of Thérèse, the Trichet's eldest daughter was struck by profound paralysis which was to last for four years. Caring for Jeanne daily on their return from school, Marie Louise and Elizabeth developed a sensitivity that comes from having seen dear ones suffer and which responds readily to the needs of others. When Jeanne was seventeen, her parents responded to her great desire and took her to the shrine of Our Lady of Ardilliers. During Mass, to the wondrous joy of all the family, she was miraculously cured. Who can tell the impact of such an exceptional grace on the young Marie Louise?
Unusual though it was at the time, Elizabeth and Marie Louise got permission to receive communion fairly often. Attracted as they both were to a life of devotion, they were inseparable. Together, they rose very early and attended first Mass each morning.
More than once as Marie Louise was growing up, her vivacious mother had expressed a certain exasperation with her quiet and reserved daughter. With his keener understanding of the child, her kind husband assured her: "God will do great things through this little one." Signs of those 'great things' were already present in her childhood.
Sr Anne Beglan, DW
