She passes through a crisis of depression LOUISE was not plunged into this state of confusion and weakness all at once. She resisted temptations. She profited from her trials, striving to ground herself in humility … Read More
Frederic Ozanam’s Tactical Wisdom for Today’s Consumer Society
One of the ways a “classic” gets identified is by its aptitude to speak to ages beyond its own. The product of one era, it has an ability to bring its insight to the concerns … Read More
Louise de Marillac, a portrait. Part I: The mystery of her ancestry and youth (4)
A great marriage of convenience FOR Valence de Marillac and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of Louis de Marillac, it was no very difficult matter to find somewhere about the Court a young man with a … Read More
Louise de Marillac, a portrait. Part I: The mystery of her ancestry and youth (3)
The mystery of the ‘poor Demoiselle’ THEN LOUISE was withdrawn from the convent school at Poissy. When? Why? On whose authority? Of all those strange mysteries which abound in the childhood story of Louise de … Read More
Vincent Getting Away For Short Breaks
Quite a number of years ago a confrere, in conversation, pointed out something which has stuck in my mind ever since. He remarked that Vincent was always the senior confrere in the community, apart from … Read More
Louise de Marillac, a portrait. Part I: The mystery of her ancestry and youth (2)
The mystery of her birth THE FACTS are as follows: Louis de Marillac, lord of Ferrieres en Brie and later also of Farinvilliers, spent his youth in the army and carried out with competence the … Read More
The Moderation of Vincent De Paul
In a book of dazzling intuition about St Francis of Assisi, GK Chesterton memorably remarked that Francis and Thomas Aquinas had saved us from spirituality. You may well blink. If you didn’t, you haven’t really … Read More
Louise de Marillac, a portrait. Part I: The mystery of her ancestry and youth (1)
Part I: The mystery of her ancestry and youth Marillac family origins IT is HARD today to appreciate the role played by the great families of France in the seventeenth century; they stood between the … Read More
How St Vincent Ferrer influenced St Vincent de Paul
When I was reading about the life and works of Vincent Ferrer, whom I admire enormously, I was surprised to find that some of his biographers mentioned that he had a significant influence on St … Read More
Louise de Marillac, a portrait. Introduction
SOME SAINTS, although they lived perhaps centuries ago, are well known to us. Others are bound up inseparably with a great achievement in the Church in connection with which their names have become household words; … Read More