Mother Marie Louise Angelique Clarac

Mother Marie Louise Angelique Clarac was born on the 6th April 1817, at Auch, a French city. Her parents, Jean Godefroy Clarac, hatter and her mother, Ursula Cazes, midwife, belonged to the affluent middle class of Gascogne.

Marie Louise Angelique, the third of five children, was tenderly loved but strictly brought up.

From her mother, who used to exhort her with the words: “we must see God in the poor” and “what we do to them, we do it to God”, she learned to love and be generous towards the poor.

The education she received helped her grow into a creative and strong-minded woman.

The powerful desire she had to give herself totally to Christ by serving Him in the needy, made her join the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in May 1841, at the age of 24, in spite of the opposition of her parents.

Throughout her life, impelled by her passionate love for the Crucified Christ, Mother Clarac reached out and served the disadvantaged, the children and youngsters. She responded to the needs and struggles of the times with new ministries that improved the quality of life of the poor, gave them access to education and guidance... Because of her untiring zeal and heart’s method, she was known in Turin as the “Mother of the poor” as well as an “Exceptional and inventive Teacher”.

In 1871, in order to ensure the continuity of her works of charity, a bishop advised her to start a new Religious Family: “The Sisters of Charity of St. Mary”.

Mother Clarac worked in close collaboration with Don Bosco, and the Salesians.

She died on 21 June 1887.

Mother Clarac is remembered as a creative and daring woman who gave it all to serve the poor and the youngsters with a thoughtfulness that took the utmost care in bringing a sense of dignity and never humiliating those in need.