Marie Louise was born in Wissembourg on 27th August, 1837. Wissembourg is in Alsace, then a French P

1
Marie Louise was born in Wissembourg on 27th
August, 1837. Wissembourg is in Alsace, then a
French Province near the border of Germany. Her
father was Antoine Mestmann, a Dutch medical
doctor from Amsterdam. Her mother was Elizabeth
Derendinger, from Alsace. Her mothers family
were prosperous brewers and property owners in
Wissembourg and Hageuenau. The family were in
comfortable circumstances, and she received a
liberal education at a private school for girls.
She had two younger sisters.
2
Marie Louises father had led an adventurous life
in his youth as a staff doctor in the Dutch Navy,
cruising the China Seas. On marrying, he settled
down to a comfortable life as a general
practioner in Wissembourg. However when Marie
Louise was 17, her father died suddenly and she
took charge of the household. Her mother had poor
health.
3
At 20 years old, Marie Louise married Victor
Hartzer, (aged 30) in the old abbey church of St.
Peter and Paul at Wissembourg, in February, 1858.
Victor was an inspector of prisons. Her husband
rose quickly in his profession, and four
successive promotions in eight years, meant as
many family uprootings. Their last residence was
in Vesoul, in France, where Victor was appointed
chief inspector of prisons.
Here, at Vesoul, although her husband was in the
prime of his life, his health and strength began
to ebb with an agonizing form of paralysis.
Marie Louise spoke later about watching her
husband with anxiety as he dragged himself
around on his tours of inspection until the
inevitable day when he became completely
paralysed.
4
In the end, Victor could do no more than follow
Marie Louise with his eyes as she served his
needs with a forced cheerfulness and a breaking
heart. He died in her arms after a long agony.
It was now September, 1869. They had been married
just eleven years. She was 32 years of age and a
widow with two young boys (8 and 10) to support
and comfort. She says that at this time, the
future filled her with fear. Earlier (March) of
the same year, her beloved younger sister, Marie
had died, (at 21), and her mothers health
suffered another reverse.
5
Marie Louise reluctantly left Vesoul where she
had so many friends and much support, and set off
with her sons to find a home in Strasbourg where
she could live together with her mother and other
sister, Antoinette.
6
Marie Louise purchased a house near a parish
church at the beginning of 1870, never dreaming
of the catastrophe that was imminent the
outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July of
the same year.
7
She speaks On the night of the 15th August,
bombardment began in earnest. Rousing everyone I
hurried them downstairs to the shelter amid the
scream of shells and the din of answering
gunfire. We dragged mattresses and furniture
against the windows and doors as some protection
against flying shrapnel, while the ground
shuddered again and again with the shock of
explosions. That first night of terror seemed to
be endless, but it was only the beginning of a
succession of such nights and days that went on
for the six weeks of the siege.
8
Eventually the suffering of the inhabitants of
Strasbourg evoked a wave of sympathy in nearby
Switzerland. Requests were made by the Swiss for
the women, children and old men to be given
permission to withdraw from the city into the
safety of their country. The permission was
granted on condition that the names of the
evacuees be submitted to the German Command and
that they have passports
9
Marie Louise applied for the necessary papers
since Strasbourg was rapidly becoming an inferno.
Amongst the four thousand names submitted, she,
her mother, sister and sons were selected to
leave in the first convoy of five hundred.
However, when the passports actually arrived, the
names of her children were missing. The convoy
was to leave the next day.Marie Louise had no
choice but to set out alone across the city to
get the matter rectified. She described this
journey as a gruelling ordeal in the midst of
shot and shell.
10
The evacuation took place the next morning and
her family formed a little group in the sad
procession of refugees. They were not only
forced to leave home and country, but were
forbidden to carry any luggage whatsoever. Armed
soldiers accompanied them as they travelled
through Germany to Switzerland.
11
Shortly after their arrival Marie Louise took the
family to Einsiedeln, a peaceful little town in
the Alps where they could recover from the nerve
shattering experiences of war. It was also partly
a pilgrimage to the famous Marian shrine there,
called Our Lady of the Hermits, or the Black
Madonna.
12
On September 27 Strasbourg surrendered and by the
end of October, Marie Louise and her family were
able to return to their home, since it was still
intact, though they were obliged to lodge a
certain number of Prussian soldiers. The Treaty
of Frankfurt of May 10, 1871 ceded Alsace to
Germany, and its citizens had to opt for French
or German nationality. Marie Louise signed the
option for French citizenship on behalf of
herself and her sons on July 31, 1872. All those
choosing French citizenship had to transfer to
French territory before October 1, 1872.
13
In the next two months, Marie Louise had bought a
house and settled her mother, sister and sons at
Ornans, a quiet town near the Jura mountains.
However, after 3 years, her sister became
homesick for Strasbourg. Marie Louise was aware
that both her sister and her mother needed her
care.
14
She decided to seek the necessary authorization
to return also and live with them, leaving the
two boys at boarding school at Ornans. If they
had gone with her, they would have had to
continue their studies in German. Some months
previously, her sons had come to know of the
existence of the Society of the Missionaries of
the Sacred Heart, and wanted to join it. Marie
Louise refused to consent to this, saying they
were too young.
15
In July, 1875, Marie Louise set off down to
Ornans again to spend the long school holidays
with her sons. She then also gave her consent to
their entering the MSCs at the end of the school
year. Later she wrote that parting with them was
almost more than she could bear.
16
While visiting her sons at Issoudun, Marie Louise
met Fr. Chevalier, and discovered he had also
founded a congregation of sisters, called
Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Marie Louise writes that this title and all that
it meant attracted her enormously. She came away
from Issoudun, excited and thoughtful.
17
Marie Louise was now 40 years old. She had a
deepening devotion to OLSH and a desire to follow
a religious vocation. However, it was another 5
years before she entered. During this time her
mother died, her sister improved in health, and
her sons neared ordination.
18
Marie Louise returned to Issoudun, in 1881 to
find a great disillusionment awaited her.
The person in charge was incompetent, the 3
sisters who had been there from the beginning
remained loyal to the spirit of Fr. Chevalier
and refused to renew their vows to their
superior. Two others were very young. Fr.
Chevalier himself described the person in charge
as pious, incapable, acting without counsel and
knowing nothing of business.
19
After some time, spent in the house as a
retreatant / boarder and with the firm
understanding made to Fr. Chevalier that she was
not willing to take charge of the community,
Marie Louise says she threw human prudence to the
winds for once and took the decisive step of
joining the community.
20
Marie Louise writes at the age of 45, a new era
began for me. I felt so happy and free that my
natural high spirits often brimmed over. I became
like a young girl once more, skimming up and down
the stairs, throwing myself enthusiastically into
the manual work of which there was plenty, and
delighting in the hours of prayer.
21
Her honeymoon lasted less than a year. On
December 8, Fr. Chevalier announced that she was
the new superior of the community and in charge
of novices. She protested in vain. She said All
I know how to do is make a home.
22
For 26 years, until the death of Fr. Chevalier in
1907 and her own four months later, she was the
most direct channel and a faithful interpreter
whereby the original inspiration of the Founder
was passed on to successive generations of
Daughters of OLSH.
23
Some of the events of Marie Louises life 1884
- 5 Sisters including Marie Louise, professed in
September, In 1885, 5 sisters were sent to
Australia 1895 - Arrival of first 9 sisters in
Kiribati 24 Sisters died in the missions, during
Marie Louises time in charge. Their average
length of stay was 6 years. 1902 Marie Louise
established a house in Belgium (Thuin) because of
the anti-clerical laws in France By 1906, M.
Louis had moved the sisters, administration and
novices to Belgium 1907 Jan - Fr. Chevalier
expelled from his Presbytery. His property was
sold on April 30. Fr. Chevalier died in October,
aged 83 1908 - Feb 22, Marie Louise dies at
Thuin, (Belgium) aged 71
24
How was she able, without ever being able to
visit them, to direct and bond so many sisters of
varied nationalities, in such a diversity of
apostolic situations, in different countries,
often in the midst of hardship, insecurity,
sickness and even death? Perhaps the answer lies
in what she said about making a home - she
created on the human, interpersonal level, a warm
and spontaneous joy in living/working together.
This mandate does not grow old, or out of date,
it has been our heritage and is our mandate still
into the future.