Bl. Marie Louise Trichet

Marie-Louise Trichet was born in Poitiers, France, in 1684, the fourth of eight children of a lawyer. At seventeen she met St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, then chaplain of the city's General Hospital, and he became her confessor.

At his suggestion she went to work at the hospital among the poor, despite opposition. She became the first member of the Daughters of Wisdom, the congregation Montfort founded, as Sister Marie-Louise of Jesus.

After Montfort's death in 1716 she led the congregation alone for forty-three years and spread it widely. She died at Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre in 1759. John Paul II beatified her in 1993.

The Church has declared Marie Louise Trichet Blessed.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.