At Paris in France, Blessed Mary Theresa de Soubiran La Louvière, virgin, who for the greater glory of God founded the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix, and, after being expelled from it, lived out the remainder of her life in the deepest humility.
Lifespan: 1834–1889
Beatified: 20 October 1946 by Pope Pius XII
Memoria liturgica: 7 June
“Whoever trusts in God is strong with the strength of God.”
Origins: A Heart Prepared by God
Sofia Teresa Agostina Maria de Soubiran was born on 16 May 1834 in Castelnaudary, in the heart of the Lauragais region of France. She came from an ancient noble family, impoverished by the Revolution, but still marked by a deep Catholic faith. The domestic environment, sober and austere, was the first school of her soul. Her father, an elderly military officer, instilled in her a sense of duty and rectitude; her mother and unmarried aunt gave her a simple, prayerful love.
Having attended no schools, educated at home alongside her little sister Maria by Canon Louis de Soubiran — her uncle and spiritual guide — the young Sofia learned to know God in silence and discipline. From childhood she felt that her life belonged to the Lord. Her first experiences in the Marian sodality, animated by her uncle, led her to discover apostolate and the desire “to bring some glory to God, and do good for souls.”
The Call and the Struggle
Carmel attracted her, but God wanted her elsewhere. Her uncle, moved by social ideals, wished to restore in France the ancient institution of the beguinages — communities of consecrated but lay women. Sofia Teresa, though inwardly resisting this project, recognized in it a mysterious calling. After two years of struggle, in the silence of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, she yielded: “I renounced serving God as I wished, in order to seek Him where He wanted me.”
In 1854 she founded at Castelnaudary the beguinage of Bon Secours. The beginnings were humble and arduous. Sofia Teresa soon understood that the Spirit was urging her beyond that form, toward a truly religious and apostolic life. The fire that destroyed the house in 1861 was like a prophetic sign: from those ashes a new consecrated family would be born, wholly dedicated to the Eucharist and to Mary.
The Birth of “Maria Ausiliatrice”
In 1862 Teresa consecrated the community to the Virgin Mary. Under the spiritual guidance of Father Paul Ginhac, S.J., she reached the decision to live according to a genuine religious congregation. On 7 June 1864 she made her vow of self-dispossession: “so that in M.A. and in myself the Lord may be my all, and I may build on nothing but Him.” This was her total fiat.
Under the title of Maria Ausiliatrice (M.A.), the institute took shape among young poor and working women, those most exposed to the moral dangers of the emerging industrial world. Teresa recognized her mission therein: “to support by every means young women without family, offering them a refuge and a faith.”
From then on her life was a continuous self-giving. In Toulouse, Lyon, Amiens, and other cities, the family houses welcomed young working women. The love of Christ always drove her forward: “The thought that presided over the formation of this Society was the desire for expiation in union with our Lord, working for Redemption through suffering and active consecration.”
The Founder’s Cross
But the path of the foundress had to pass through purification. Beside her arose an ambitious woman, Julia Richer (Mother Marie-François), who became assistant general. Under the appearance of zeal, she plotted against Mary Theresa, until she had her accused of incompetence and of having ruined the congregation.
In February 1874, deceived by those she most esteemed, Teresa resigned. She would write: “My soul struggled in unspeakable anguish… but I saw that the Lord willed it thus.”
She was removed. Expelled from what she had brought into being, and despite her requests, she was never permitted to return. After seven months of solitude and uncertainty, she found welcome in Paris at the monastery of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge. There she took the name Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart.
In shadow and silence she lived her last fifteen years as a simple religious, poor among the poor. “The good God,” she writes, “has led me by the way of the cross, so that I might have no support but Him.” In the hiddenness of the Refuge, Mary Theresa carried the congregation in her heart. She could neither write nor receive letters, but she prayed for her daughters: “You will see, when I am gone, what God will do for Maria Ausiliatrice.”
She died on 7 June 1889, in peace and humility, consumed by tuberculosis and by love, offering her suffering for the Church and for Maria Ausiliatrice. Indeed, a few months after her death, her former adversary would leave the institute. Under the guidance of Marie-Élisabeth de Luppé, the congregation was reborn in the spirit of its foundress. God keeps His promises: from death, life springs forth.
“I have touched with my own hands that Jesus Christ has loved me.”
Thus the Blessed summarizes the whole mystery of her life: a long journey of love, carved in suffering, in naked faith, and in total trust in God.
Mary Theresa de Soubiran La Louvière was beatified on 20 October 1946 by the Venerable Servant of God Pope Pius XII.