Jane Frances de Chantal

 I have been reading a book of St. Francis de Sales letters, primarily letters of spiritual direction. St. Francis is noted as one of the best Spiritual Directors, if not the absolute best, in the history of the Church. I had the opportunity to be in Spiritual Direction for a short while. I must say that my Spiritual Director was top notch also and I miss it and him.  I compensate by taking Spiritual Direction vicariously from St. Francis through his letters. One of the downsides is that I get jealous of the relationship that St. Francis had with his spiritual children, especially his love for his most well-known spiritual daughter, St. Jane Frances de Chantal.

Jeanne-Francoise (to give her the French form of her name) was born in Dijon, France (where the mustard comes from) in January 1572. Her father was president of the parliament. He was the primary influence on her education since her mother died when she was only 18 months old. She developed into a beautiful and refined young woman and married the Baron de Chantal when she was 20 or 21 years old. 

It seems that they were happy in their marriage. They hosted hunting parties and other entertainments for neighboring nobles and had six children together, three of whom died in infancy. The Baron was often away from home in service to the king, but Jane was an excellent manager of the estates and of the family. After seven years of marriage, the Baron was killed in a hunting accident. The broken-hearted widow took a vow of chastity. She took her children and went to live with her demanding father-in-law, at his insistence. 

In 1604, Jane's father invited her to come to Dijon to hear the Bishop of Geneva preach Lenten sermons at the Sainte Chapelle. This was her first encounter with St. Francis de Sales. They soon became friends, and he became her Spiritual Director. When she told him of her desire to become a nun, he advised her to defer that decision. He also advised her to mitigate some of the austerities she wanted to practice. 

After three years, Francis told Jane of his plans to found an order of women religious that would be a haven for women whose age, health or other considerations barred them from joining other established orders. He wanted the sisters to be free of the cloister and able to undertake spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They were to exemplify the virtues of Mary at the Visitation - hence the name the Visitation Nuns. The congregation consisting of three women began when Jane Francis was 45. The order had 13 houses by the time de Sales died and 86 before Jane Frances herself died at the age of 69. She was buried next to St. Francis de Sales in the order's convent in Annecy, France.

St. Jane Frances is the patron Saint of forgotten people (I think that is all of us at one time or another), in-law problems, and widows. Her feast day is August 12.

St. Jane Frances, pray for us.