Saint Who?
Saints Who Promoted the Rosary
Saint Louise de Marillac
Foundress († 1660)Feast: March 15
“When parents pray the rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the rosary aloft and say to Our Lady, ‘With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart!’ She will attend to their souls.” Born in France in 1590, Louise de Marillac never knew her mother, who died shortly after she was born. Her youth saw many changes, including her father’s remarriage and, later, her sudden transfer from a respected convent school to a boarding house.
Louise was happily married in her early twenties. But when her husband became ill and then died, she began to blame herself. She suffered from depression and scrupulosity. Her spiritual director, Saint Vincent de Paul, helped her regain her peace of mind. Louise began to help Vincent in his work for the poor, and founded the religious community known as the Daughters of Charity.
She retained, however, great anxiety for her son, with whom she had a tense relationship. He could not settle down. Vincent instructed her to imitate the peace of Our Lady. At last, Louise had the joy of seeing her son married. His daughter would be a frequent visitor at her grandmother’s convent, and earned the nickname the “little sister.” Shortly before Louise’s death she told her sisters, “Pray earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, that she may be your only Mother.”
Loving Father, through the prayers of Saint Louise and the power of the rosary, console and heal our families.
