A Reflection on Marie Louise Trichet
The music to “If I were a Piece of Cloth,” was written by Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW, in 1999 for a Vesper service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Daughters of Wisdom in Connecticut.
In 2005, Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW, wrote a reflection on Marie Louise Trichet, cofounder of the Daughters of Wisdom, for The Lure of the Saints by Jan Sweeny, Paraclete Press, MA. During that time, Sr. Rosemarie was the director of Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center in Litchfield, Connecticut. In her reflection, Sr. Rosemarie realizes how closely aligned her life had been to Marie Louise's in the many daily challenges they faced. With the Feast Day of Marie Louise Trichet approaching (May 7), we revisit an adapted version of the original essay.
"I have a newfound friendship with Blessed Marie Louise Trichet.
Although not formally canonized by the Roman Catholic church as St. Louis de Montfort is, she is a woman with a growing influence in my life. She is acclaimed by many for her holiness, even though her full recognition by the church is still in process. Only in the past decade or so have some of her letters and experiences become accessible to many. I was excited when I discovered one of her inspirational words: "If I were a piece of cloth, I would give myself to the poor." Those words, spoken during the famine in France, seemed to capture how God, Divine Wisdom, manifested in her. They became a challenge to me as well, asking for my commitment to those who are poor."
As director of Wisdom House, Sr. Rosemarie came to know Marie Louise in another way.
"I discovered that she had been the administrator and finance manager of the Poor House in Poitiers, France. She had no funds and had to provide basic food, clothing, and shelter to not only the residents of the Poor House but also to her community of sisters. I was able to identify with this reality and began to pray to her for guidance, insight, and wisdom for my situation at Wisdom House. I went to her as a mentor and needed to learn from her, even if the learning was to "live by faith."
In 1997, I commissioned an icon of Blessed Marie Louise. A generous donor provided funds, and iconographer Angela Manno of New York wrote the icon. I have sat before this icon many times, filled with discouragement, other times with anger, demanding that she do something to alleviate the burden of my difficult situation as administrator. "I was trained in theology, not in financial management!" I would say.
There were no immediate results, but there were results that were gradual and took patience, persistence, and faith to recognize them. A few months ago, I was given an outline of a presentation about Marie Louise Trichet and the spirituality of financial management. I came across this statement about her, which really resonated with me: 'A business woman by necessity rather than by choice, several new foundations found her confronting administrators and sometimes even bishops, contract in hand, battling to save the original nature of an apostolic congregation of universal dimensions.' This statement did it for me. I could identify with these words about Marie Louise, and I felt comforted and confirmed in the continuing challenge of blending administration with theology, finance, and spirituality.
Then my family came into perspective. I remembered that my grandmothers and grandfathers all had a hand in clothing, food, and construction businesses. They all had an eye out for those who did not have enough food, clothing, or shelter, and they gave freely. My parents continued in this vein. When I realized, through coming to know Blessed Marie Louise, that I had been prepared for this work all along, it was an "aha moment."
Blessed Marie Louise is one saint whose advice I seek these days. She knows the life of an administrator and organizer. She knows what it means to have a vision and to depend on others for the means to make the vision come about. She is a friend of God, a patron of administrators and finance managers, and a friend of the poor - just as I try to be."
Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW, 2005
Sr. Rosemarie Greco, DW
