St Louise’s is referred to as a Vincentian school because of its association with the Daughters of Charity whose co-founders were St Louise de Marillac and St Vincent de Paul. Both Louise and Vincent had a deep respect for the dignity and potential of every human being and worked to bring about a more just and caring society during a period of great political, social and religious turmoil.

St Vincent De Paul Vincent was born on 24th April 1581 in Pouy, southern France, about four miles northwest of the town of Dax. In 1600 he was ordained as a priest and four years later he graduated from the University of Toulouse with a degree in Theology.   The year 1608 saw his arrival in Paris where he took possession of the parish of Clichy in the north of the city and five years later he became a tutor to the children of the wealthy Gondi family and Chaplain of the Gondi Estates.   In 1613 Vincent travelled to Châtillon-les Dombes in eastern France,where he established a group of lay women to work with the poor. This group, initially known as the Confraternities of Charity, evolved into the Ladies of Charity, an organization of lay women who offered care,concern, and relief to the poor.   In1623 Vincent met Louise de Marillac, and a year later he was named Principal of the College de Bons Enfants, which later became the first Motherhouse (maison mère) of the Community.

In 1625, with the financial help of Madame de Gondi, Vincent founded the Congregation of the Missionto spread the gospel among the rural poor. In 1632 Vincent madeSaint-Lazare ("Lazarists" is a common European name for Vincentians) in Paris the community Motherhouse.

In 1633, Vincent co-founded the Daughters of Charity with Louise deMarillac, to help the Ladies in their service of the sick and the poorand later gave the Community the rule by which it was to be governed.

Vincent died in Paris on 27th September 1660 at the age of 79. He was beatified in 1729 and canonized in 1737.

St Louise De Marillac Louise De Marillac, “the valiant woman of France”, was born in 1591 in the Parisarea, the daughter of Louis de Marillac. In 1613 she married AntoineLeGras, who was secretary to the Queen of France and later she gavebirth to a son, Michel Antoine. Her husband died twelve years later and she took a vow of widowhood.   In 1629, at the request of Vincent de Paul, Louise travelled throughout France visiting the ‘Confraternities of Charity’, which had been established by Vincent to enable parishes to respond to the needs of their sick orpoor members.    In 1633 a number of country girls who worked for the Confraternities cameto live with Louise and became a group of ‘permanent volunteers’. These country girls became the first members of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founded jointly by Louise and Vincent in the same year.

During the 1630s and 1640s, in collaboration with Vincent de Paul, Louise and the Sisters continually expanded their work to encompass care forunwanted infants, the sick, the elderly and even the galley slaves,whom they nursed in prison while they were waiting to be sent to the galleys. The year 1642 saw the first taking of formal religious vows by Louise and the Daughters of Charity.

The early 1650s saw the Sisters working in the battlefields of France, nursing the wounded and setting up field hospitals.  Someof the Sisters died from fever contracted on the battlefields. In 1653 some Daughters of Charity were sent by Louise and Vincent to Poland to nurse soldiers on the battlefield and to care for orphaned children.

After the issue in 1656 of a royal edict banning begging and imprisoning beggars found on the street, Louise and Vincent opened houses for anumber of beggars who sought accommodation and enabled some of the homeless people of Paris to acquire basic skills such as tailoring, shoemaking, weaving and lace-making.

St Catherin Laboure Born in Francein 1806, Zoe Labouré was a member of a large farming family.Circumstances even prevented her, alone among her brothers and sisters,from learning how to read and write. After her mother died, she served as the family housekeeper. In 1830, however, Zoe joined the Sisters of Charity, taking the name Catherine. She entered the novitiate at the Motherhouse of the Sisters, on the Rue du Bac, Paris.         On November 27, 1830,Our Lady appeared to Sister Catherine in the novitiate chapel standing on a globe, with light streaming from her hands. Framing Our Lady was a prayer, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."  Then the picture (for it was essentially that) turned about. On the back side of the vision was a large "M" with a cross above, and below the cross, two hearts, one crowned with thorns and one pierced by a sword. Our Lady told Sister Catherine her mission was to spread Marian devotion through this image in the form of a medal.

Catherine told these things at first only to her confessor. Because she wanted to avoid publicity, she declined even to appear before the board set up bythe archbishop of Paris to investigate the apparitions. But Sister Catherine's confessor,Father Aladel, was highly regarded by the archbishop, so his testimony was accepted as confirming the reports. It was also Fr. Aladel who had the first medals stamped in 1832. From that time on, the devotion spread throughout the world.  

In1831, Catherine was assigned to the Sisters' house at Reuilly, Paris.Here she spent the last 46 years of her life. Her mystical experiences continued. Most people saw her, however, simply as an insignificant,rather distant person, busy about ordinary things like tending the door, plucking chickens and serving the aged. Only in her last year,1876, did she speak of her experiences to a second person. Hersuperior, Sister Dufes, was anxious to have a statue made according to the design that Our Lady had requested, so she turned to Catherine fordetails. Catherine supplied them and the whole story as well.

Despite her efforts to remain hidden, when Sister Catherine died, there was an outburst of devotion at her funeral. Shortly afterward, a child crippled from birth was cured instantaneously at her tomb.  St.Catherine's remains (enshrined today in the Rue du Bac chapel of theapparitions) have remained incorrupt. She was canonized in 1947.

Sister Rosalie Rendu Jeanne Marie Rendu was born September 9, 1786 at Confort, in the Jura Mountains,the daughter of small property owners. At the age of 10, Jeanne Marie was shaken by the deaths of her father and of her youngest sister that occurred within a period of a few months. Aware of her responsi­bility as the eldest, she helped her mother to care for her two younger sisters.   When peace was restored, Madame Rendu sent her daughter to the Ursuline Sisters who had a boarding school in Gex. Jeanne Marie sometimes wentto the hospital in the city and there she discovered the service provided by the Daughters of Charity for the sick and the poor. She felt God’s call to join them growing within her. On May 25, 1802, she entered the Daughters of Charity in Paris.   A few months later, she was sent to the Mouffetard district where she was given the name Sister Rosalie. She would remain there for 54 years caring for, assis­ting and consoling all those who were suffering. Men,women and children worked long hours. The salaries were low and were not paid if the worker was sick. The developing economic liberalism intensified the misery of all these poor persons.

To respond to the multiple needs that she saw about her, Sister Rosalie,along with the sisters of her local community, opened, one after theother, a free clinic, a pharmacy, a school, an orphanage, a child care center, a youth club for young workers and a home for the elderly who were without resources. The enthusiasm of charity that animated this sister was conta­gious and resulted in many wealthy ladies bringing their financial support.

Students from the nearby Sorbonne, who wanted to put their Christian life intoaction, sought advice from Sister Rosalie. This would be the begin­ning of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, founded by Frederick Ozanam, one of those students.

The Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 saw her near all those who were suffering, irrespective of their allegiance. She mounted the barricades to assist the wounded and she protected all those who sought refuge in her house. At the risk of her own life, she put herself between the opposing factions crying out, “We do not kill here.”

In1852, Napoleon III awarded her the Cross of the Legion of Honor inhomage from the govern­ment for all the work that she had accomplished in this very miser­able area of the capital.

Her death, on February 7, 1856,elicited great emotion at all levels of Parisian society. At her tombat Mont parnasse Cemetery in Paris, to this very day there are always flowers from people who are grateful to her and at the tombstone is written, "to Sister Rosalie from your friends the poor and the rich.”

The Daughters of Charity Today Today the Daughters of Charity number 26,000 and live in eighty five countries throughout the world working to alleviate poverty andinjustice while endeavouring to support people in their efforts to help themselves.    The Irish Province of the Daughters of Charity consists of 34 houses.  Members of the order first arrived in Ireland in 1855. They worked first in Drogheda where they began visiting the sick and people in need. They also established a night school for factory girls and eventually opened a children’s home and a primary school.   The Sisters came to Belfast in 1900 at the invitation of Dr Henry, Bishop Elect of Down and Connor.They became involved in the education of the ‘half-timers’ and provided accommodation for young working class girls and visited homes in the area.   St Vincent’s School, Dunlewey Street, Falls Road was opened on 1st May 1900 to meet the educational needs of girls aged 9 to 14 years, who worked in the mills and factories.  There was also a school for primary school children aged 5 to 14. The school continued until 1989.

Vincentian Education The Vincentian approach to education, influenced by St Louise de Marillac and St Vincent de Paul, was introduced to St Louise’s when it opened in1958.    In a recent publication “The Core Values of Vincentian Education” Sister Louise O’Sullivan D.C. examined the documentation relative to education in the lives and writings of Louise and Vincent and found the following values as central to their common mission of evangelisation: Holistic                         Vincentian education seeks to respond to the intellectual, spiritual, moral and affective needs of the students. It educates the heart as well as thehead.

Integrated                   

Creative                      

Vincentian education is ever seeking new or renewed ways to meet changing needs among the student population while maintaining a clear “sense of the possible”.

Flexible                      

Vincentian education is willing to make the effort to adapt to the needs of the non-traditional student.

Excellent

Vincentian education places quality at the centre of its educational activities.

Person-oriented

The Vincentian educational institution must be one in which all, administration, faculty, staff, and most importantly, students are respected and valued.

Collaborative              

Vincentian education seeks to collaborate rather than merely compete with other educational institutions;

Focused                      

Vincentian education is ever viewed as central to the Vincentian mission of service.  As such it strives to integrate this vision into the educational process and to keep the primacy of it alive among all those who share in this common mission.

These values are undoubtedly challenging and provide further food for reflection, evaluation and action during a time when materialism,consumerism, bureaucracy, competitiveness arising from league tables,ever increasing demands by government and diminishing resources tend toblur or narrow the vision of what education is really about. 

St louises Comprehensive College St Louise's was founded in 1958 on what is now the Junior School site, and developed and expanded into one of the foremost schools in Northern Ireland.    The school’s first Principal was Sister Ita Polley, who was succeeded by Sister Genevieve O’Farrell in 1963. On Sister Genevieve’s retirement in1988, she was succeeded by Sister Rosaleen Mac Mahon. Sr Rosaleen in turn was succeeded by the school's present Principal, Mrs Carmel McCartan in 2005 .   In 1978, twenty years after the school’s foundation, a major new extension was opened. This extension, more than twice the size of the origina lschool building, is now referred to as the Senior School, since it accommodates all classes from year 10 upwards as well as most of the school’s practical classrooms.

The excellence of St Louise’s was recognised by the Jerwood Foundation in1989, by the Schools Curriculum Award in 1992, 1997 and 2002 and alsoby the Lighthouse Schools Project in 2000.

St Louise’s celebrated its 40^thanniversary in 1998 with a series of events including an orchestral concert at the Waterfront Hall attended by President Mary McAleese andthe release of “Sharing a Dream”, a CD of music performed by staff and students. The CD included the School Song and “One Life to Follow”, asong celebrating the life of St Louise written and performed by MrBrendan Dowd, at that time a member of St Louise’s Religious Education department and now Head of Religious Studies at Lagan College, Belfast. Both tracks are available for download. Click here to go to our Downloads page

In recent years the school campus has expanded further, with the addition of two Technology blocks and the opening of a major new sports complex in 2001.

The tradition of service of St Vincent de Paul and St Louise de Marillac is deeply rooted in St Louise’s and is promoted through a caring ethoswhich extends from within the school out to the wider community. Itfinds expression through supporting charities and promoting the various religious societies which exist in the school including the Marillac Association which helps the elderly in the community.

St Louise’s is reputed to be one of the largest girls’ schools in Western Europe.  Part of the school’s unique role is to encourage girls to follow in th esteps of great women of faith and action, of whom St Louise de Marillacis an inspiring example, and so to make a difference to the world inwhich they live. 

 Sister Rosaleen pictured with Head Girls (Left to Right) Laura Johnston, Anne Marie McPeake, 

 Jennifer McDonald, Louise Manly, Bronagh Best, Deborah Burns, Rachael Early and Aine Bracken

Since 1996 St Louise’s has played a leading role in promoting the cause of peace and has been instrumental in the development of a number ofinter-schools peace initiatives. The process began with anInter-Schools’ Peace Rally held at the City Hall in March 1996 and in succeeding years this was followed by other initiatives such as an Inter-Schools’ Young Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Reconciliation(1997), a Vigil for Peace (1998), the recital of an Inter-Schools’Peace Poem and Address to the First Minister (1999), the dedication of an Inter-Schools’ Peace Capsule (2000) and the launch of the school’s own Peace Wall (2003). Click here to go to our Peace Initiatives photo gallery