Introduction

Although much recent historical research has provided a more sensitive appreciation for the complexities of the past, certain myths persist in historical accounts long after they have been challenged. The myth of imposed order plagues the Council of Trent and the Catholic Reformation; historians had argued that the Council of Trent single-handedly initiated the Counter Reformation by imposing a series of moral reforms from above that established discipline within the Church. While it is difficult to understand de Paul's motivations from the documentary record, Bernard Pujo argues persuasively that de Paul abandoned his secular pursuit of benefices and titles for a more spiritual undertaking. Until the last century, many of the works about de Paul, de Marillac, and the Daughters of Charity were not specifically historical in focus, but were rather testaments of faith. Many of them were published with specifically apologetic or polemical intents in mind.