Louise de Marillac
1591 – 1660
Saint Louise de Marillac co-founded the Daughters of Charity and organized care beyond the cloister. Explore her May 9 feast, family life, and leadership.
A Life before the Foundation
Louise was born in 1591, married Antoine Le Gras in 1613, and had a son. Her religious life developed amid family responsibilities and her husband’s illness. After becoming a widow, she began working with Vincent de Paul. The sequence matters: her experience of marriage, motherhood, and loss formed part of the leader she became.1
From Visits to Sustained Organization
Louise visited charitable confraternities and helped translate a commitment to poor people into organized work. Visiting alone was insufficient without preparation, reliable cooperation, and attention to actual needs. Her role included forming women for service and sustaining relationships across different locations. This practical leadership is central to the institutional record, rather than a minor addition to Vincent’s biography.12
The Daughters of Charity
The Company of the Daughters of Charity began in 1633. Its developing ministries included care for sick people and abandoned children in a society marked by poverty and war. Service outside a conventional enclosed monastery required a distinctive organization of religious life. Louise’s contribution joined spiritual formation with decisions about personnel, training, community, and the everyday demands of caring work.12
Why May 9 Appears on Her Calendar
Louise died on March 15, 1660. Her Vincentian liturgical feast is now May 9, while older books commonly print March 15. The difference reflects a calendar change rather than uncertainty about the death date. The Daughters of Charity’s own chronology is a direct institutional source for the present observance and for the community’s understanding of its co-founder.1
Sources and further reading
- Institutional resourceSaint Louise de MarillacDaughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de PaulInstitutional chronology of marriage, widowhood, the 1633 foundation, charitable work, and the May 9 liturgical feast.Accessed .
- Reference workSt. Vincent de PaulThe Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company; New Advent transcriptionHistorical context for the collaboration and the development of the Daughters of Charity.Published: 1912. Accessed .
Paragraph citations point to starting sources. They do not imply that every source is neutral or that sources agree with one another.
Editorial record
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Narrative synthesis with paragraph-level starting citations. Evidence, tradition, debate, and uncertainty are labeled separately.
- v1 · 2026-10-22Figure profile added to or upgraded within Feason’s connected Christian encyclopedia.
- Contemporary evidence
- Material or textual evidence created near the person, place, or event.
- Tradition
- Later community memory, devotion, or institutional claim, attributed to its holders.
- Historical debate
- More than one responsible interpretation remains in active discussion.
- Unknown
- The surviving record cannot presently establish a confident answer.
Known For
- Daughters of Charity Co-Founder
- Formation of Women in Service
- Care for Foundlings
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