In the Footsteps of St. Stephen , just to the East of the famous and exquisitely beautiful church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande in the centre of the town. She was probably baptised the same or the following day, following the custom of that time. Unfortunately nothing remains of this church today, except part of the doorway, which is incorporated into the wall of the buildings which now line the square. The family made many moves during the following years, some necessitated by the increase in the number of children: Marie-Louise was the fourth of eight children.
It is not absolutely sure where it was that the famous meeting between Marie-Louise Trichet and Father de Montfort took place, but Montfortian tradition tends to place it in the church of Saint-Porchaire. It is known that St. Louis Marie used to hear confessions here during his first years in Poitiers, so it is as likely a place as any other for the encounter: "Who sent you here, my daughter? Louis Marie and Blessed Marie-Louise, is down in the lower part of town, in an area seldom visited by tourists, and in their day it was a very poor area.
The present building is largely the same one that they knew, though today it is given over to offices and apartments. Standing in the inner courtyard, facing the long stretch of the main wing, tradition places St. This corner is shaded by the beautiful old sycamore tree that certainly was there in their day. On the other side of the River Clain lies the suburb of Montbernage. To reach it, you have to cross the Pont Joubert.
He restored it, and had carved on its facade: "If the love of Mary is in your heart, do not forget to say an Ave as you pass by. In , Marie-Louise Trichet was having a great deal of trouble obtaining her mother's permission to leave Poitiers and go to La Rochelle. A poor blind girl, very pious and patient, used to stay all day at the chapel of Our Lady Queen of Angels on the Pont Joubert.
Marie-Louise asked her to offer many prayers to the Virgin for her, and ever afterwards attributed the happy outcome to these prayers: one day Mme. Trichet came and said simply, "I can no longer keep you here; the Holy Spirit is urging me to tell you to go. It was there that he established the chapel of Our Lady, Queen of All Hearts, and placed the statue of the same name, which is still venerated there today.
