I have desired, and I have been desired;
But now the days are over of desire,
Now dust and dying embers mock my fire;
Where is the hire for which my life was hired?
Oh vanity of vanities, desire!
Longing and love, pangs of a perished pleasure,
Longing and love, a disenkindled fire,
And memory a bottomless gulf of mire,
And love a fount of tears outrunning measure;
Oh vanity of vanities, desire!
Now from my heart, love’s deathbed, trickles, trickles,
Drop by drop slowly, drop by drop of fire,
The dross of life, of love, of spent desire;
Alas, my rose of life gone all to prickles,–
Oh vanity of vanities, desire!
Oh vanity of vanities, desire;
Stunting my hope which might have strained up higher,
Turning my garden plot to barren mire;
Oh death-struck love, oh disenkindled fire,
Oh vanity of vanities, desire!
Christina Rossetti
Soeur Louise De La Misericorde (1674)
Sr. Louise de la Miséricorde – Who are you?
Louise de La Vallière (1644 – 1710, Sister Louise of Mercy, O.C.D.)
Her Life
In some respects, we could say that the life of Louise de la Vallière, who lived in the 17th century, parallels that of many seekers of God in our own time. Living at the most brilliant court in French history, Versailles, she was loved and adored by the Sun King Louis XIV, whom she sincerely loved and who bore her four children out of wedlock.
Louise de la Baume le Blanc lost her beloved father at an early age and was soon abandoned by her mother, who sought only luxury and a third marriage to continue her worldly life. By nature, Louise was quite the opposite: reserved and modest, no doubt due to the religious upbringing of her childhood. But life at the court of Versailles had all the makings of a dazzling experience for the 15-year-old, who became maid of honor to the Duchess of Orléans, wife of Louis XIV’s brother. Her great reserve and frankness won the respect of many, who saw a radical contrast between the vanity of the courtiers and this woman who, despite being Louis XIV’s mistress for six years, commanded respect. The general public, not inclined to love the King’s favorites, spoke of Louise with indulgence.
Of her relationship with the King, it can be said that “Louise revealed her passionate nature. Beneath a gentle, peaceful exterior lurked an ardent flame that pushed her forward, recklessly disregarding the consequences.” But she was also a woman of indisputable qualities of mind, and the King would not have found her appealing had she lacked those qualities. “She had a lot of spirit. She had a big, steadfast, generous, tender, and compassionate heart, far removed from vanity and capable of strong commitment.” She loved the King for himself and not for what he represented, which is why the King, usually so fickle in his love affairs, remained deeply attached to her for six years.
Louise did not experience serenity in this love, as her conscience tormented her every day as she crossed paths with the King’s wife, Queen Marie-Thérèse. But life at court, with all its jealousies and scheming, quickly took its toll on this passionate love, at least on the King’s side, while Louise took more than fifteen years to detach herself from the King. It was now Madame de Montespan who, unsatisfied with merely taking her place in the King’s heart, used all her resources to humiliate Louise, who continued to love the King, for several years.
The Road to Conversion
Six years had passed since the King abandoned Louise for Madame de Montespan. Louise still lived at the court of Versailles, but now she had more free time and a renewed taste for reading. She regularly heard Bossuet’s sermons, and even the admonitions she received didn’t change her, as she still held out hope of winning back Louis XIV’s heart. But life took its toll. Following an illness that brought her to death’s door, Louise realized how short and fragile life was. She begged heaven not to die in sin. She remembered the faith of her childhood. She agreed to go to confession. She now saw more clearly the games the King played. She finally understood that she had been led astray. Only God deserved to be loved the way she had loved!
Although she realized that “a soul in the world, without prayer, reflection, and consulting God on its conduct, is like a rudderless vessel in the midst of a storm,” she didn’t yet renounce the world. She decided to stay at court, choosing to suffer humiliation in order to be like Jesus. It was the beginning of a journey of conversion. “How many abuses, jokes, and denigrations did she have to suffer during the two years she remained at court?”
Towards Carmel
Louise could have been bogged down in the penitential practices of the time, but fortunately for her, a priest told her: “I only ask you to look at Him.” Yes, look at Christ, rich in Mercy! Then came the providential arrival in Versailles of Bossuet, who became the Dauphin’s tutor, with whom Louise could meet as often as she needed to put her life in order. She led an increasingly secluded life, spending long hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
As Bossuet got to know her during spiritual direction, he advised her to give herself completely to God and to choose an order such as Carmel. Louise was immersed in reading The Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila. This reading deeply moved her. So she accompanied a friend to the Carmel of Faubourg St. Jacques in Paris. She was immediately seduced by the Carmelites’ way of expressing themselves and their freedom of spirit. She was told that the rule was strict, but this only served to further attract this soul thirsting for the absolute. At first, the prioress was reluctant to take on a woman whose life and morals had been the subject of scandal. But Bossuet had no trouble convincing the prioress of Louise’s absolute sincerity and repentance, and of her desire to devote herself to God. All the more so as he appreciated her way of acting “gently, slowly.” The law of graduality!
She was given the name Sr. Louise de la Miséricorde (Louise of Mercy)
Her resolution to enter Carmel was strengthened. “The whole Court was edified and astonished by her tranquility and joy, which increased as the time approached.” On 16 April 1674, at the age of 30, she entered Carmel [her clothing followed on 2 June 1674]:
“Mother,” murmured Louise de la Vallière, “I have made such a poor use of my will all my life. I have come to place it in your hands, never to take it back again.”
“Enter, my daughter. From now on, your name will be Louise de la Miséricorde” [Louise of Mercy].
Beyond the gates, many did not believe in Louise’s vocation. But at the convent, she astonished the sisters with her regularity, gentleness, calm, and the ease with which she complied with the rule down to the smallest detail. There was an absolute humility about her! She loved the silence where God spoke to her soul, and she suffered when Queen Marie-Thérèse and other court nobility asked her to come to the parlor. Her earthly love was definitively dead; all she felt in her heart was divine love. It now enabled her to endure anything.
On the day of her profession (3 June 1675), as some of the guests wept, Louise could say:
“You must rejoice in my fate, for on this day I am only beginning to be happy.”
Surrendering herself totally to the One whom her heart loves more than anything else, she advanced along the mystical path.
“I am so tranquil about everything that can happen that I look at health, illness, rest, work, joy, and sorrow with the same equanimity. I close my eyes and let myself be led to obedience.”
She spent more than 30 years in Carmel, admired by all for her humility and detachment, but above all for the quality of her love for God.
“The souls who, after having had the misfortune of losing you, receive the grace of returning to you, and instead of encountering the rigor of a severe judge, find there the tenderness of a charitable father.”
Louise, now an elderly woman, underwent a daily martyrdom, her body nothing but sores and pain. Her migraines were throbbing.
On 6 June 1710, Louise de la Baume Le Blanc, Duchesse de la Vallière, died at the age of 65. As soon as news of her death spread, crowds began to gather behind the gate of the monastery. Many asked the nuns to allow objects to touch the Carmelite’s body. The word “saint” was increasingly murmured when people talked about Louise.
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve wrote of her: “When we read the chapter of the Imitation of Christ where divine love is discussed, Madame de la Vallière is one of those living figures who explain it to us in her own person, and who best comment on it” [Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a prominent 19th-century French literary historian and critic, known for his biographical approach to literary criticism].
Our thanks to the Discalced Carmelites of Quebec for this marvelous biography, which was largely inspired by Monique de Huertas’ biography of the life of Sister Louise (Huertas, Monique de 1998, Louise de La Vallière: De Versailles Au Carmel, Pygmalion/G. Watelet, Paris).
If you first learned about Louise de la Vallière from reading Alexandre Dumas‘ d’Artagnan Romances, or as the inspiration for the English word lavalier, now you know the rest of her story.
Les augustes représentations de tous les rois de France, depuis Pharamond jusqu’à Louis XIV,… avec un abrégé historique sous chacun, contenant leurs naissances, inclinations et actions plus remarquables pendant leurs règnes Nicolas de Larmessin (French, 1632-1694)
Engraved image (view 104 in the collection)
Bibliothèque nationale de France (Public domain)
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
Featured image: The 1865 oil on canvas painting by M. Schmitz after artist Pierre Mignard includes one key phrase engraved at the base of the column; it epitomizes the motivation of the Duchess of la Vallière to embrace the hidden life of Carmel: Sic transit gloria mundi (thus passes the glory of the world). Others would leave the court and join her at the Carmel of the Incarnation, as well. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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