Louise Humann (1766-1836)

Upon Mademoiselle Louise Humann's death in 1836, a distraught Abbé Théodore Ratisbonne said of his spiritual mother, "Here lays this sweet, strong Christian who, from the depths of her quiet, secluded home, has exercised more influence on the world of her time than will ever be known!" Yet in an era when women had few opportunities to excel or contribute to society outside the home, how did this brilliant and pious French mystic help re-Christianize France following the upheaval of the French Revolution?