Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow
S. Ioannae Franciscae Fremiot de Chantal Viduae
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, a devout wife, mother, and widow, was guided by Saint Francis de Sales and with him founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.
Saint Jane Frances Frémiot was born in 1572 at Dijon, in Burgundy, of a distinguished family. Brought up in the faith and in the fear of God, she was married while still young to the Baron de Chantal, and proved a faithful and loving wife and a careful mother of her children, ordering her household with prudence and piety. Her happiness in the world was cut short when her husband was killed in a hunting accident, leaving her a widow with young children.
Under the guidance of Saint Francis de Sales
In her sorrow Saint Jane Frances gave herself more and more to prayer and to works of charity, caring for the poor and the sick with her own hands. In time she came under the spiritual direction of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, who became her guide along the path of holiness. Under his gentle and wise direction she advanced in the love of God and grew in the spirit of humility, obedience, and interior peace which his teaching so beautifully commended.
Having seen to the settlement of her children and her family duties, and counselled by Saint Francis, she resolved to consecrate herself wholly to God in the religious life. Together with him she founded, at Annecy in Savoy, the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, a community for women who sought to serve God in prayer and charity, including those whose health or circumstances did not suit the great austerities of the older orders. The new institute was marked by gentleness, humility, and a spirit of loving devotion to the Heart of Jesus.
Mother of the Visitation
As the first superior and mother of the Visitation, Saint Jane Frances governed her growing family of religious with tenderness and strength, and the Order spread to many houses during her lifetime. She bore with patience many interior trials and dryness of soul, and was a model to her daughters of constancy in the service of God amid every difficulty. After the death of Saint Francis de Sales she continued faithfully the work they had begun together.
She died on the thirteenth of December, 1641, at Moulins, while returning from a journey, and was afterward canonised. The collect of her feast asks that, taught by her example to seek God above all things, we may be enlightened in heart and may follow him. In Saint Jane Frances the Church honours one who served God faithfully in marriage, in widowhood, and in religion, and who showed that holiness is the calling of every state of life.
The Collect
O almighty and merciful God, who didst grant unto blessed Jane Frances, inflamed with thy love, a wondrous strength of soul to walk in the way of perfection through every path of life, and who through her wast pleased to enrich and adorn thy Church with a new offspring: grant unto us, by her merits and prayers; that we, who know our own weakness and trust in thy strength, may overcome all adversity by the help of thy heavenly grace.
Omnípotens et mísericors Deus, qui beátam Ioánnam Francíscam, tuo amóre succénsam, admirábili spíritus fortitúdine per omnes vitæ sémitas in via perfectiónis donasti, quaque per illam Ecclésiam tuam nova prole foecundáre voluísti: eius méritis et précibus concede; ut, qui infirmitátis nostræ cónscii in tua virtúte confídimus, cæléstis grátiæ auxilio cuncta nobis advérsa vincámus.
Patronage
She is venerated as the foundress of the Visitation Order and is honoured as a patroness of widows, mothers, and those in the religious life.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar her memorial is observed on 12 August, near the anniversary of her death.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal?
In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal her feast is kept on 21 August as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar her memorial is observed on 12 August.
Who was Saint Jane Frances de Chantal?
She was a French noblewoman, wife, mother, and widow of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who, under the guidance of Saint Francis de Sales, founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. She is honoured as a model of holiness in every state of life and died in 1641.
What was her connection to Saint Francis de Sales?
Saint Francis de Sales was her spiritual director and guided her in the way of holiness; together they founded the Visitation Order at Annecy. Their friendship and shared work are among the most celebrated in the history of the saints, and both are venerated for the gentle, loving spirituality they taught.
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