Polallion, Marie De Lumague Dame De

Polallion, Marie De Lumague Dame De a French lady renowned for her piety, and the founder of a religious order, was born Nov. 29, 1599, at Paris. Belonging to a noble and rich family, and having enjoyed a brilliant education, she was wooed by several gentlemen of high standing, but, resisting all the seductions of the world, gave the preference to a life of monastic quiet. At the instigation of Lebrun, a Dominican who directed her conscience, she entered a monastery of the Capuchins. But as the weakness of her health did not suffer her to submit to the ascetic rules of the order, she was free to leave the monastery, and in 1617 she was married to Francois de Polallion. Her husband died about a year after, and from this time she lived in retirement as tutor of one of the daughters of the duchess of Orleans. Madame de Polallion, in the midst of the most brilliant court of Europe, remained true to her early monastic habits, and when relieved of her duties sought again her former retreat. According to St. Vincent de Paul, she founded the "Institut des Filles de la Providence" in 1630: the members of this sisterhood undertook to educate the children of the poor in the country. She directed that they should be thirty-three in number, and distributed them in the villages of the environs of Paris. Her own means were soon exhausted by the enterprise, but private charity came to the rescue, and Anne of Austria, taking the institution under her protection, presented it in 1651 with a mansion in the suburb of Saint-Marceau. She also helped in the founding of the "Maison des Nouvelles Catholiques," which was liberally endowed by marshal Turenne. The life of Madame de Polallion has frequently been written. She died at Paris Sept. 4, 1657. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 40, 587.