Mother Marie Louise de

Meester and the ICM

Spirituality: Foundations of the
Theresian Identity
INTRO LESSON FOR RELIGION AND THEOLOGY
 As a Theresian, why is it important to
always go back to the life of Mother
Marie Louise de Meester?

Essential Why do we consider the ICM

Spirituality as part of our identity as
Questions: Theresians?

How do we challenge ourselves to

constantly live the missionary spirit of
Mother Marie Louise de Meester?
How long
have I been
here?
St. Theresa’s College: An ICM
Mission School
Often, many Theresians from past to
present, pride on the fact that St. Theresa’s
College of Quezon City formed them as
women of substance and character.
While this fact is stated, many have
overlooked that STCQC is a MISSION SCHOOL
run by the ICM Sisters.
What we call Thersian identity traces its
roots to the ICM congregation and the
spirituality of Mother Marie Louise de
Meester
Mother Marie Louise de
Meester: Highlights of her Life
Born April 8, 1857
The eldest of five children; her father was a textile merchant and
had a Dry Goods Store in the main street of Roeselare
Was sent to an Aunt who was known for her integrity, sense of
reality and true Christian living.
Maria sought out the Redemptorists to seek advice and
guidance.
A process of spiritual maturation gradually brought her to the
conviction that she should put her whole self freely at the disposal
of God’s Kingdom through consecration in the religious life.
 Mother Marie Louise de
Meester: Highlights of her Life
She chose to enter the community of the Canonesses
of St. Augustine.
The monastery traces its roots to St. Augustine of
Hippo
May 4, 1881, took her vows of evangelical counsels +
commitment to monastic stability.
Followed the Rule of Life of St. Augustine
St. Augustine: The Model of
her Spirituality
 St. Augustine: Her Model of Spirituality
As a member of the Canonesses of St. Augustine, she lived her life in the spirituality of
St. Augustine of Hippo, a great spiritual master and doctor of the Church.
Once a wayward person seeking for the meaning of life, he found the truth in
contemplating in the Scriptures and in the guidance of great Christian mentors like St.
Ambrose.
Upon his inner conversion, he sought to live his life dedicated to the pursuit of God
through the strengthening of his interior life seeking to be in union with God.
Augustine discovered the spiritual secret that is the basis for all religions - that faith
can bring peace and order to a tortured mind.
He formulated what was to become the Rule of St. Augustine, a rule that molded the
religious life of Mother Marie Louise de Meester.
St. Augustine: The Model of
her Spirituality
Mother Marie Louise de
Meester as a Model Religious
Sister
A gifted teacher.
Spent time with students after class to
listen to them and give insights.
She counseled them of gospel values, to
avoid the traps of moodiness and selfishness,
make like worth living, reduce expenditures
on cosmetics, candies to be able to give more
to the neglected at home and abroad.
The Beginnings of the ICM
The Beginnings of the ICM
A class project started a correspondence with a Carmelite priest in
India (a brother of a former student)
He eventually invited the community to send sisters.
Urged by the Holy Spirit and supported by her monastery, she
responded to the invitation to care for orphans and abandoned
children..
A former student (Sr. Ursule), wanting to go to the foreign mission,
joined the Canonesses and offered to accompany Marie Louise. She
was a novice and did not need ecclesiastical permission to go.
On Sept. 3, 1897, the first Missionary Canoness of St. Augustine
traveled to India.
The Morning Star (American
Redemptorist magazine, 1902)
In 1902 I was visiting the Belgian Sisters at Mulagumoodu in India. That very morning, seventeen
urchins had been streaming in. Mother Marie-Louise was receiving them with a smile, a caress, a
kind word. Happiness was shining in the eyes of those who could stay and of those who had come
with the new charges. After a while, Sister Marie-Ursule became worried. “Mother,” she said,
“..we may not take them all. The paddy reserve is getting low, and we have still six months to
go.” “Do not worry,” was the calm reply. “God is sending them. He must provide.”
Indeed provisions of rice came in, unexpectedly and always at the right time, and no one went
hungry at this home of Providence. – Fr. Huysman
 1910 – An International
Missionary Congregation
Approval of the Constitutions of the Missionary
Canonesses of St. Augustine
Profession of vows of new sisters in 1904
Purchase of a property in Roeselare in 1905
First private audience with Pope Pius X in 1906
Approval of Novitiate at Roeselare in 1908
Establishment of the first mission in the Philippines in
1910
Granted the Decree of Praise in 1911 (the recognition of
the Holy See of an institute as an ecclesiastical institution
of pontifical right)
The Mission of Mother Marie Louise de
Meester in the Philippines
“We have a lot in common with the apostles. They were
poor and untrained. Aren’t we? We barely know the
language and we have hardly anything. But the apostles
were filled with courage and with trust in the Lord, so they
worked wonders. We too will work wonders, if we remain
full of courage, faith, and trust.” – MLDM
1911-1913 – The
Growth of the
Movement
“In spite of my own unworthiness, or
rather on account of that
unworthiness, I am fully relying on God
and I dare to expect everything from
Him. If I am an obstacle to His
Kingdom, I am begging Him to put me
aside, to take me out of the picture.
But if He wishes me to continue
fulfilling my present function, I will do
so, because I know that He will not let
me down.” - MLDM
Fulfillment of Her Dream
 The Last Days and the
Continued Growth of the
Movement
1926: Approval of the Constitutions of the
Congregation
March 1927: Purchase of the property at Heverlee,
Belgium
June 1927: First General Chapter of the Congregation,
Election of Sr. Marie-Agustin as 2nd Superior General
October 1928: Death and burial in Heverlee.
The Witness and
Missionary Zeal of
Mother Marie Louise
de Meester

The testimony of her life invites us

to strive or the kind of holiness
which combines a deep interior life
with undaunted apostolic zeal.
She left the example of an
intensely active life in which
presence to God and presence to
people draw on each other.
As each informs and enriches the
other, both are made fruitful in an
undivided heart.
The Living
Thoughts of
MMLDM
Live in union with god.
May this union penetrate you intimately
and all will be well.
What are missionaries devoid of union
with God?
May he be the all of your life!
Jesus!
May he be the soul of your
soul!
“May Jesus grant you the grace to imitate
Him more and more. Like Him, have a
heart so generous and so great that the
whole world may find room in it.”
Thoughts to Ponder:
Now that I looked back at the legacy of MMLDM, I ask myself:
What small patterns in my life that emulates her life of zeal and
mission?
In what ways can I continue to grow as a good Theresian in the
life and example of MMLDM?
How can I develop my relationship my relationship with God in
my inner self?
In what ways does my effort can my principles and advocacies
in life be like MMLDM?
How can I inspire others to be like MMLDM whose generosity
and zeal like Jesus marked her missionary life?