BIOGRAPHY OF MARIE LOUISE ANGÉLIQUE CLARAC

HER CHILDHOOD

Marie Louise Angélique Clarac was born April 6, 1817, in Auch, France to a wealthy family.

Very soon however, she revealed herself as sensitive to the plight of the poor, already bearing in her the germ of a unique vocation.

A LIFE OF KINDNESS

“Every good tree produces good fruit…. A bad tree cannot give good fruit… Therefore, you shall know them by their fruits.” (Mt 17-20)

Very young, Marie Louise donated her good fruit and chose a religious life full of charity towards humanity. Later, through her works, she was recognized as “a woman of great genius and remarkable zeal”.

HER RELIGIOUS LIFE

Sister Marie Louise Angélique Clarac received the habit of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul on May 12, 1842, being drawn to them by their dedication to the poor and needy. After starting out as a teacher in Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse, at her request, she went as a missionary to Algiers in 1848, for a period of 6 years.

Back in Italy, at the age of 37, she made Turin her home and the center of her works of charity. In 1862, following the advice of of the bishop of Ivrée, Mons. Luigi Moreno, she acquired a vast complex that included, among others, a kindergarten, a school and an oratory. Nine years later, in 1871, she definitively left the family of the Daughters of Charity of St Vicente de Paul and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Mary, not without having overcome numerous obstacles.

She worked with perseverance, humility and patience to multiply and consolidate her works until her death at the age of 70, on June 21, 1887.

On January 26, 1981, Pope John Paul II confirmed the opening of the process for her beatification.