Madame Barbe Acarie (1566-1618) Founder of The French Discalced Carmelites
In a present-day article written by Father Robert P. Maloney titled “The Beautiful Acarie” in 1997 he reveals the following information. “Almost no one has heard of Barbe Avrillot Acarie; few recognize the name Madame Acarie as she was later called. But most of all she knew, encouraged and directed almost all the leading religious figures of the day. Among her keenest admirers were:
Benedict of Canfield
Pierre de Bérulle
André Duval
Michel de Marillac
St. Francis de Sales
In 1791, she was beatified as Sister Marie of The Incarnation, the name she took when she joined the Carmelites in later life. André Duval was her first biographer stating,
“She had the gift, no small one, of impressing souls seriously.”
Her father, Nicholas Avrillot, was Chancellor of Queen Marguerite of Navarre and Financier to the Chamber of Paris… the family was very Catholic, very royalist, and very rich. Even Henry IV, who had sent her husband into exile [due to a conflict over The Catholic League], and the Queen, Marie de Medici, were among Barbe’s ardent admirers.
In regards to her mystical spiritual experiences, Father Maloney continues,
“Around 1588, when she was 22 years of age and had already borne three children, Barbe had the first of her many ecstasies. With a vision of St. Teresa of Avila who told Barbe that the reform which Teresa had brought to Spain should now be brought to France. Other ecstasies caused her to stay in church for 10 hours without being aware of the time and which later caused acute sufferings, and then later by clearly marked stigmata. She kept this rather successfully hidden. Saying the Rosary with her children, looking at a Crucifix, reading a book, or even conversing, Barbe would sometimes be caught up in ecstasy. It appears that her children became quite used to this.”
Other gifts that she had included ‘discernment of spirits’ and ‘reader of hearts’. Michel de Marillac says of Barbe, “On her side all was virtue and grace, on mine, the workings of grace reflected from her.”
Lastly, 55 Discalced Carmelite monasteries were founded in France over the next 40 years due to the efforts of Barbe Acarie.
In order to understand the providential role of her life and holy works it seems important to describe the movement from a religious point of view. A series of Popes were known for their austerity of life, skill in governing the Church, for their zeal for the purity of the Catholic Faith and for the maintaining of good morals.
St. Pius IV Concluded The Council of Trent;
St. Pius V Published the decrees, defeated the Muslim barbarism at Lepanto, and extensively propagated the Apostolic works of missionaries to new places;
Sixtus V Reorganized the Papal States and renewed the ancient splendor of Rome;
Clement VIII Solemnly absolved King Henry VIII of England after he had again entered into the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church on his death bed;
Paul V Forbade anyone to publicly attack the belief in The Immaculate Conception.
At the time of Barbe Acarie’s life there was a noticeable rebuilding of new churches, monasteries and convents. As a result of the Catholic Counter Reformation, 200 abbeys were rebuilt, with new parishes opened everywhere. In Paris alone 150 Roman Catholic churches, oratories and chapels were built.
The Phenomenal Part played by Women in the French Restoration Movement
Most of the women in the French Court were models of piety and charity. The august widow of King Henry III, Louise of Lorraine, lived in retirement and was only concerned with good works and devotional exercises. She visited daily the sick in the Hospital Dieu and the prisoners; the Princesses of Longueville [daughters of the king], the Duchess of Mercure, the Marechale de Joyeuse, the Marquise de Meignelay and Madame de Bréaute – they all supported their pious and charitable foundations with their money and position. Additionally, they practiced all the austerities of the cloister in the court and in the world.
Madame Barbe Acarie
Mr. Georges de Cadoudal writing in 1863 in his Biography of Madame Acarie gives facts related to Barbe’s secular life – early childhood, adolescence, marriage, and dedication to building new convents and monasteries. He writes, “Madame Acarie’s brilliant virtues, great piety and unbounded charity dominated the whole religious movement of this period.
For more than a quarter of the century, this admirable woman was in Paris, the soul of all good works, the providence of all unfortunates and the role model of wives and mothers.”
In her life, she had already met many Historians. Dr. André Duval was one of the first theologians of the 17th Century, who was close to Madame Acarie, and who made a very consistent and interesting impression on her. Others were Father Herve of The Oratory, the Abbot of Montis, and St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Savoy among many others. All of these illustrious religious wrote about Barbe Acarie in the context as the founder of The French Carmelites, as the blessed Mother Superior Marie of The Incarnation. But this article will address the secular life as a woman, wife and mother of six children. As well as touch on her foundational work to bring the Discalced Carmelite Order to France.
Barbe Acarie was born February 1, 1566 in Paris, France. On the next day she was baptized at the Church of Saint Mary. Her father, Nicolas Avrillot, Lord of Champlatreux, was Accountant General in the Chamber of Paris and also Chancellor to the Queen of France, Marguerite of Navarre [mentioned earlier]. She was the sister of King Charles IX and first wife of King Henry IV.
Nicolas Avrillot married Marie Luillier. The family tree of the Luilliers is available in the back of the book, The First English Translation of a Biography of Madame Acarie by Teresa Farris-Dacar. (It is available through Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million via the special order desk.)
Both the Avrillot and Acarie families belonged to such strong Catholic races in which Calvinism found unshakable and which remained pure even when the widespread contagion hit the first houses of the Kingdom and killed King St. Louis. Meanwhile, they set for Parisian society an example of the rarest virtues. They were the models of a gentile and austere piety, the benefactors of the poor and the honor of society.
Barbe was placed for schooling at the Abbey of Longchamps near Paris, where there were nuns of the Franciscan Order of St. Clare. Also, where her mother’s sister, Sister Isabella Luillier was located. There Barbe showed an irresistible inclination for charity, piety, and all things of God.
After receiving her First Holy Communion she rose to the intelligence of the highest truths of the Faith and began to show in all her answers a rare prudence and discernment which penetrated even the most hidden reasons of things. The structure and layout of Longchamps Monastery fascinated her love for regularity and calm and also animated her tender devotion to God and His Holy Mother Mary.
But due to parental insistence she married Pierre Acarie, Viscount of Villemor on August 24, 1582. He was a single son who was born into an ancient and distinguished family like hers. More importantly, he was a devout Roman Catholic. She also gave to him unbounded faith and charity and virtues which highlighted her beauty. This was a perfect purity of which she impressed all contemporaries.
“Her beauty was so pure that she inspired everyone who looked at her with admiration and love of virtue,” said Madame de Meignelay. One of her earliest historians Father Herve stated, “God increased her beauty, like Judith, with so many advantages, that she seemed to be incomparable in her magnitudes, poise, charms, and the extraordinary graces which shown upon her.”
She gave birth to 6 children, 3 sons and 3 daughters. Her children grew up worshiping her like a saint from a very young age and imitated her virtues. Barbe oversaw their religious training and educational studies. Two of her sons became learned and honored priests, the eldest one married and led an honorable life as an ideal Catholic family. All three daughters joined the French Carmelites that their mother led in organizing and maintaining.
High wisdom, firmness, and the prudence of Roman Catholics were the qualities which Madame Acarie displayed in governing her house. Daily Mass with her children and house servants was the norm for Madame Acarie.
“These qualities had at this period in Parisian society an influence and a repercussion. “Heresy and civil war had brought grossness and depravity of manners to its height in the lower classes and especially among servants.” stated Mr. Cadoudal.
Even in Madame Acarie’s time, she and her husband as well as the families which they visited formed the elite class of the society. Their servants represented a race of faithful, loyal, good, simple, and pious individuals.
Yet, by 1863 at the time of Georges de Cadoudal’s awareness of the servant class, he notes, “This race has today become extinct or is rarely seen but at that time, and for the next two hundred years, was one of the glories of the nobility of France.”
References:
The First English Translation of A Biography of Madame Acarie, 1566-1618, by Teresa Farris-Dacar, Ingram Publishing, 2020, originally written by Georges de Cadoudal in 1863 in French.
About the Author:
Mrs. Teresa Farris-Dacar has an M.A. in History, M.Ed. Clinical Counseling, M.Ed. Curriculum Design, B.A. Humanities, a major in Journalism, and has published the books listed below. They are available from the author by e-mailing her at ForGodandKing@att.net or placing a special order at Barnes & Noble or Books A Million. All books published by Ingram Publishing Company.
From England – To Barbados – To Carolina;1670-1700: The Founding of Charles Towne;
For God and King [a Christian historical novel];
Heaven Bound by Wearing The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel;
3 books translated from French into English for the first time:
- The Life of Mother Anne-Seraphine Boulier (written in 1683),
- Records of the Monastery of Dijon,1611-1789,
- Biography of Madame Acarie, 1566-1618.