Saint Louise de Marillac

Catholic icon of Saint Louise de Marillac on thick plywood 20mm, which does not sting and keeps its shape over time. Preparation with acrylic stucco and have been used acrylic colors. It has been covered with varnish to keep the colors undiluted in time and humidity. Hanging clip included on the back of the icon. 

St. Louise de Marillac was the illegitimate daughter of a French nobleman. Although he provided for her and loved her dearly, he died when she was 13 years old. She married when she was 22, and was widowed 12 years later. Louise was a close friend of St. Vincent de Paul, a priest who was struggling to awaken his nation’s conscience towards the desperate plight of the poor. As he traveled through France, Vincent organized associations of lay workers to help the poor. After the death of her husband, Vincent asked Louise to visit these groups, encouraging them to greater generosity and correcting abuses, where these had arisen. Eventually a group of simple village women gathered around Louise. Together they became the Daughters of Charity, a new form of religious life dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor. They cared for the great numbers of abandoned orphans, for the aged poor, for prisoners, and for the sick. They started schools for poor children. They transformed the character of Christian charity by establishing permanent institutions to put charitable works on a stable footing. Louise de Marillac died six months before the death of her dear friend and mentor, Vincent de Paul. Her feast day is on May 4 and is the patron saint of Christian Social Workers, disappointing children, loss of parents, people rejected by religious orders, sick people, widows and Vincentian Service Corps.