Marie-Thérèse de Lamourous (November 1,érè 1754 – September 14, 1836) was a French laywoman who was a member of the underground Catholic Church during the French Revolution. After the Revolution she founded a house for repentant prostitutes at Bordeaux called "La Maison de La Miséricorde" (The House of Mercy). Her feast day is September 14.
Early life
Marie Thérèse Charlotte de Lamourous was born at Barsac, Gironde on November 1, 1754. She was the first of 11 children born to Louis Marc Antoine de Lamourous du Mayne and Elisabeth de Vincens de Lamourous du Mayne. Only five children survived into adulthood. Both families were prominent and very old French nobility. Louis Marc Antoine was a lawyer (after his father) and was attached to the Bordeaux parlement.
The family moved to Bordeaux in 1766, when Lamourous was 12. There she received her First Communion in 1767 and was educated by her mother, who had attended a convent school. Marie Thérèse was educated in the traditional subjects of mathematics, reading, and writing, but also in agriculture.
The French Revolution
With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Lamourous (then 35) became a faithful member of the underground Catholic Church. She was an important link in the network of ministries and good works that developed under the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Bordeaux, Joseph Boyer. Aside from visiting the sick, teaching catechism, visiting prisoners and helping to keep the clergy in touch, Lamourous, dressed as a peasant, would enter the offices of the committee of supervision and read the list of planned arrests and executions while pretending to clean the building. She used this information to help people escape the guillotine.
In 1794 authorities in Paris expelled all French nobility from France's port cities. Lamourous, her father, two sisters, and two very young nephews moved to the family’s estate at Pian. Lamourous would still return to Bordeaux frequently to continue her ministries there.
The parish at Pian was without a priest and Lamourous became like a pastor for that congregation. She gathered people together for Sunday worship, taught catechism and even "heard" confessions (she could not grant absolution, but she listened and gave advice). In the absence of a priest, she gave her own confession to a portrait of Vincent de Paul. Despite all these ministries she was able to live a rather secluded and contemplative life in a small hermitage on her property.
With the rise of Napoleon in 1800 the Revolution ended and Lamourous (now 46) was able to move back and forth from Bordeaux freely.
Return to Bordeaux
Before the Revolution Jeanne Germaine de Pichon, a good friend of Lamourous, had begun a ministry of rehabilitating prostitutes (called filles) who wished to leave that way of life. This need was even greater after the Revolution, when de Pichon approached Lamourous to take over this ministry. At first Lamourous was horrified at the thought as she had been raised to believe that these women were entirely disgraceful. Her friend and spiritual director, the priest Chaminade, was at first opposed to this, as he wanted Lamourous to help with his Sodality; but he left the decision up to her. Lamourous visited the filles. While there she experienced a profound sense of calm, peace, and joy. She found the women pleasant and comforting. However upon leaving her feelings of reproach and uneasiness returned. After an illness, and a very bad dream about the future of the filles, she agreed to visit the house again, absentmindedly grabbing her nightcap as she left. On January 2, 1801 she toured the house, again met with the filles, and again was filled with the same warm feelings from before. As the day drew to a close, she escorted de Pichon and Chaminade to the door, and saw them out saying “I will stay here.” She became the Bonne Mère (Good Mother) to the filles (daughters) and the work was called La Maison de La Miséricorde (The House of Mercy). Lamourous chose Our Lady of Mercy as patron of the house.