La Vallière was mistress to Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667 to whom she bore six children, two of whom lived beyond infancy. After she lost favor with Louis, she entered a Carmelite convent in 1671 in the Rue d'Enfer under the name sœur Louise de la Miséricorde. There she wrote Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu (1767).