Marie Laveau, death doula?

Marie Laveau was born to a free, wealthy black couple in New Orleans’ French Quarter. There are not any photographs of Laveau but records indicate that she was married and widowed before entering into a decades long common law marriage that welcomed 15 children. Laveau was known throughout New Orleans for her devotion to Catholicism and her blending of Catholic ritual with her African heritage. Her home was filled with altars that honored both the saints and her ancestors, her daily routine included attending mass at the St. Louis Cathedral before tending the sick and dying, she hosted public rituals at Congo Square and St. John's Bayou and encouraged attendees to fill the pews at mass.

The more sinister parts of her reputation may trace back to both the dark magic attributed to her daughter as well as society’s propensity to villify black culture and icons. From reading her nationally published obituary, it is clear that in her own day, Laveau was heralded as “very wise”, “skillful in the practice of medicine” and “a most wonderful woman”.

Perhaps a woman associated today with the occult was in reality much closer to all of us death doulas and midwives, someone who tended the sick and the dying, helped families prepare their loved ones bodies for burial and reminded communities to honor their dead in ritual grief tending. Maybe Marie Laveau’s many titles could all be summarized into one vocation we can all understand, “death doula”? Could this blessed woman be our own patron saint?