Venerable Princess Louise Marie of France

Louise of France, OCD (Louise-Marie; 15 July 1737 – 23 December 1787) was a French princess and Discalced Carmelite, the youngest of the ten children of King Louis XV and Queen Maria Leszczyńska. She entered the Carmelite convent at Saint-Denis in 1770 and took the religious name Thérèse of Saint-Augustin. She served as prioress in 1773–1779 and 1785–1787. Her cause for canonisation was opened in 1902 and she was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1997. Louise was born at the Palace of Versailles on 15 July 1737, exactly as predicted by the royal physicians. Her parents had had seven daughters and two sons before her, but one sister (Marie Louise) and one brother (the Duke of Anjou) had already died. As Salic law precluded women from inheriting the throne, Louis XV hoped for a "spare" son from this pregnancy. After the birth, he played a joke on the crowd gathered outside, announcing the birth of a son. The news spread and people celebrated with public feasts. The newborn's maternal grandfather, the deposed King Stanisław of Poland, prepared to travel to Versailles. By evening, the truth was clarified, and Stanisław stayed home. France and the royal court were saddened by the birth of another girl. Daughters of the French king, known as filles de France, were referred to simply as madame and their given name. French royal children were baptised immediately upon birth with a simplified ceremony called ondoiement (performed by the Archbishop of Vienne for Louise). The baptism was completed a few years later, with godparents and a name. Before this time, Louis XV's daughters were known by numbers. Accordingly, Louise was called Madame Septième as his seventh (living) daughter. An anecdote claims that the King announced that he and Queen Marie would have no more children by calling Louise Madame Dernière ("the last madame").