Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Louis XVI's Sainted Aunt


Madame Louise of France, also known as Blessed Therese of Saint Augustine was the youngest daughter of King Louis XV and Polish princess Queen Marie Lescinska. The daughter of Saint Louis according to the flesh, she became the spiritual daughter of Saint Teresa of Avila. Before becoming a nun, she tried to assist the Jesuits who had been abolished from France because of the liberal element at court led by her father's mistress Madame de Pompadour. In 1770 Louise chose the poorest and most rigorous Carmelite monastery in France, that of Saint Denis, where she begged to be treated the same as the rest of the sisters. She was given the veil by the papal nuncio, assisted by the young Dauphine Marie-Antoinette, her nephew's bride. According to Madame Campan, Marie-Antoinette would call Madame Louise "the most scheming little Carmelite in the kingdom" because of the role she played behind the scenes in advising the king on church affairs. She often petitioned the queen for dowries for impoverished young ladies who wanted to become nuns. One young girl, Mademoiselle Lidoine, to whom the Queen gave a dowry at Madame Louise's plea, became the prioress who led the Blessed Martyrs of Compiegne to the scaffold on July 17, 1794.


Madame Louise, Blessed Therese, died on December 23, 1787. Her last words were: "Full gallop, into heaven!"

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! As I wrote you in my first comment on your blog, I am a very frequent visitor, You may remember that I show a greater interest in the martyr boy king Louis XVII. Well, you must go and read these sites that I found JUST TODAY! I cannot believe I found the two of them in one single day. The first one has given me a peace of mind and the second has given me a real reason to keep spreading the Catholic faith and makes me happy at understanding that the carving of his heart and its odyssey had a grand purpose as one of the secrets of Our Lady of Fatima and also one divine instrument for France to repent and recognize in that martyr child the action of Our Lord's designs. Tears are rolling down my cheeks at reading this. I am most touched by this. Also there is a full recognizition on Queen Marie Antoinette faith.-I will translate them for my acquaintances and will spread them in full with my neighbors and the community in my local church. These are the sites: blanrue.com/dossier_louis_XVII/Louis%20XVII%20Partie%203.doc This one is a centered investigation on the fate of young Louis XVII and http://www.crc-internet.org/HIR04/June22_1.htmd and other two follow. Thanks

elena maria vidal said...

Thank you for the links, maru. Yes, the body of the boy they exhumed was mauch larger than a ten year old. Some say the bones were made larger by the TB but I wonder. Yes, there is a larger purpose here, and a great mystery.