1. A discovery under the guidance of Saint Vincent de Paul
Louise began to associate with Saint Vincent around 1623, when her already very sick husband was still living. She relates it in recounting the Light of Pentecost and the saint confirmed it in the conference of 3 July 1660, when he spoke of the virtues of the foundress. “Just now I was reflecting before God and saying, ‘Lord, You want us to speak about Your servant,’ for she’s the work of His hands; and I asked myself, ‘What did you notice in the thirty-eight years you’ve known her?’” From the beginning of his spiritual direction, Saint Vincent strove to make Saint Louise understand that the search for God’s will is inseparable from trust in his Providence.
After the light of 1623, she was impatient to discern her future and did not know what God wanted of her. Saint Vincent moderates and calms her by putting her on the path of trust in Providence. When Louise became a widow in 1625, he advised her to restrain her impatience, to become aware of her mistakes and of the causes that produced them, and to ask God to make known his will by allowing herself to be guided by Providence. For Saint Vincent, trust in Divine Providence is a guarantee of salvation and a source of happiness. “We cannot better assure our eternal happiness than by living and dying in the service of the poor, in the arms of Providence and with genuine renouncement of ourselves in order to follow Jesus Christ” (CCD III, 38; letter 1078). Convincing Louise de Marillac of this truth was his first objective as spiritual director. We see this in the letter he wrote in 1629. Louise is worried about her son Michel and Saint Vincent is preparing to send her on a mission to visit the Confraternities of Charity. He knows that she needs to free herself inwardly and allow herself to be guided by Providence. That is why he gives her this advice. “Mademoiselle, I wish you good evening and hope that you are no longer weeping over the happiness of your little Michel, or worrying about what will become of our sister. . . . Mon Dieu, my daughter, what great hidden treasures there are in holy Providence and how marvelously Our Lord is honored by those who follow it and do not try to get ahead of it! — Yes, you will tell me, but it is on account of God that I am worried. — It is no longer because of God that you are worried if you are troubled because of serving Him.” (CCD I, 59; letter 31; cf. also I, 216; letter 151).
A few days later, he wrote again repeating the same watchword (CCD I, 60; letter 32) and a few weeks later Vincent praised her conduct because he saw that Louise was getting into the practice of letting herself be led by Providence. “…how your letter and the thoughts [you] sent to me console me! Indeed, I must confess to you that the feeling has spread through every part of my soul, and with all the more pleasure, since they let me see that you are in the state God wants of you. Well now, continue, my dear daughter, to remain in this good disposition and allow God to act” (CCD I, 61; letter 34). Louise has begun to let herself be guided, but it is necessary to trust fully. In 1635, Louise visits the Confraternity of Charity of Beauvais. She prepares her report and sends it to Saint Vincent. He received it and answered. “Perhaps at that time we shall be able to prevail upon more people to take a hand in the Charity. The above-mentioned Bishop of Beauvais is leaving to give the mission in Liancourt; perhaps you will be there before him; however, do not hurry for the sake of avoiding him. Follow the order of Providence. Oh! how good it is to let ourselves be guided by it! Take good care of your health and spare nothing in order to eat properly during your hard work” (CCD I, 283-284; letter 198d). Trust in Providence does not exempt us from seeking the human means at our disposal for God to act through us, in us, and with us, etc.
2. Experience and some teachings of Saint Louise on Providence
Saint Louise is constantly relying on trust in Providence, both in her personal life and in the direction and government of the Company. Sometimes she identifies Providence with the divine will or with God himself. In 1642, after the surprising event of the fall of the ceiling, she wrote a reflection-meditation entitled, “On the Conduct of Divine Providence,” which reflected her convictions about the ceiling’s fall. “God permitted us to recognize His Divine Providence by the remarkable events surrounding the fall of our ceiling … I then thought that our entire family should have … total dependence on Divine Providence.” Louise transmits what she lives and teaches it to the sisters and collaborators in the mission. She wanted all the sisters to be deeply penetrated by her experience of trust and abandonment.
Thus, in 1650, she wrote to the sisters of Nantes. “I beg all our sisters to remain firmly attached to the guidance of Divine Providence, to love it and to abandon themselves to it anew, being certain that if we are faithful to God to this degree, His goodness will not abandon us, and all that now causes us suffering will be transformed into great consolation” (SW 323; L. 286). At the end of her life, 1659, Saint Louise insisted, “This is the work of Divine Providence in which the Daughters of Charity must place all their trust, rather than in the powerful, or in spiritual leaders, or still less, in our own efforts” (SW 651; L. 632). It is the summary of her life led by trust in Providence. Thus she wrote in her will: “You know, O my God, that I am wholly yours, that your providence has been, by divine grace, the guide of my conduct in every state of life, for which I humbly thank you.”
Saint Louise was so convinced that trust in Providence must be a fundamental attitude in the Daughters of Charity, that, at the end of her life, she affirms that poverty and trust in divine Providence are the pillars that can sustain the Company in the future. Saint Vincent shared this experience; he was so sure of it that he thought of the name of Daughters of Providence for the Company. “Sisters, you should have such deep devotion to Divine Providence and such great love for and confidence in it that if Providence itself had not given you the beautiful name of Daughters of Charity, … you should be called ‘Daughters of Providence,’ for it is Providence that has brought you into being” (CCD IX, 62; conference 11).
Sister María Ángeles Infante, DC
