Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal.
Widow.
Feast Day 21 August.
Double.
White Vestments.
English: Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal.
Deutsch: Johanna Franziska von Chantal,
Heilige der Katholischen Kirche.
Français: Jeanne de Chantal
This File: 9 March 2015.
User: Kokodyl
(Wikimedia Commons)
“Long-Suffering Leader”.
The Life of Saint Jane Frémiot de Chantal.
Available on YouTube at
Like Mary, whose Assumption we have been Celebrating for the last seven days, Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal was a Spouse, a Mother, and a Widow. She was born at Dijon, France, the same Country as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (Feast Day, yesterday), and received the Baptismal name of Jane, because that day, 23 January 1572, was The Feast Day of Saint John the Almoner.
The name of Frances, which she added at her Confirmation, reminds us of the gentle Saint of Geneva (Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva). As in previous times, Benedict and Scholastica, Francis of Assisi and Clare, so Francis de Sales and Jane Frances, corresponding with the designs of Divine Providence, united their pious efforts and enriched The Church by “the Foundation of a new family” (Collect). [Editor: The new family was “The Order of The Visitation of Holy Mary”.]
English: Saint Francis de Sales giving The Rule for
The Order of The Visitation of Holy Mary
to Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal
Français: Saint François de Sales donnant à sainte
Jeanne de Chantal la règle de l’ordre de la Visitation
Artist: Noël Hallé (1711-1781).
Date: 18th-Century.
Current location: Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, Paris.
(Wikimedia Commons)
At the death of her husband, Baron de Chantal (1601), his young Widow Consecrated herself to God by a Vow of Perpetual Chastity.
This strong woman [Editor: Latin: “Mulier Fortis”], spoken of in the Epistle, left everything to acquire at this price the precious Pearl of a Religious Life (Gospel). Her father and four of her six children were still living.
She became the Mother of innumerable Nuns of The Order of The Visitation, now dispersed over the whole World. Filled with The Spirit of Divine Charity (Postcommunion), she constantly repeated to them, like Saint John The Apostle: “Let us love God with our whole heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, for the love of God.”
Illustration: AZ QUOTES
She died at Moulins, France, in 1641.
Like Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal, and by her intercession, let us Pray God, that, knowing our weakness and relying on His strength, we may, by His Grace, overcome all obstacles (Collect).
Mass: Cognóvi.
Commemoration: The Octave of The Assumption.
Creed.
Preface: Of The Assumption (Et te in Assumptione).
English: Stained-Glass Window in the Church of Saint Philibert, Charlieu, France. It depicts (from Left to Right): Saint Francis de Sales; Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque;
Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal.
Deutsch: Bleiglasfenster in der Kirche Saint-Philibert in Charlieu, Darstellung: Franz von Sales (links), Margareta Maria Alacoque, Johanna Franziska von Chantal.
Photo: 3 July 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Reinhardhauke
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal, 28 January 1572 – ☩ 13 December 1641) is a Roman Catholic Saint, who Founded a Religious Order after the death of her husband.
Jane Frances de Chantal was born in Dijon, France, on
28 January 1572, the daughter of the Royalist President of the Parliament of Burgundy. Her mother died when Jane was eighteen months old. Her father became the main influence on her education. She developed into a woman of beauty and refinement, lively and cheerful in temperament.
She married the Baron de Chantal when she was twenty-one years old and then lived in the feudal Castle of Bourbilly. Baron de Chantal was accidentally killed by an Arquebus, while out shooting in 1601.
Left a Widow at twenty-eight years old, with four children, the broken-hearted Baroness took a vow of Chastity. Her mother, step mother, sister, first two children, and now her husband, had died.
Chantal gained a reputation as an excellent manager of the estates of her husband, as well as of her difficult father-in-law, while also providing alms and nursing care to needy neighbours.
During Lent in 1604, the pious Baroness met Saint Francis de Sales, the Bishop of Geneva, who was Preaching at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon. They became close friends and de Sales became her Spiritual Director. She wanted to become a Nun, but he persuaded her to defer this decision.
Later, with his support, and that of her father and brother (the Archbishop of Bourges), and after providing for her children, Chantal left for Annecy, to start The Congregation of The Visitation, which was Canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, 6 June 1610.
The Order accepted women who were rejected by other Orders because of poor health or age. During its first eight years, the new Order also was unusual in its public outreach, in contrast to most female Religious who remained Cloistered and adopted strict ascetic practices.
The usual opposition to women in active ministry arose and Francis de Sales was obliged to make it a Cloistered Community following The Rule of Saint Augustine. He wrote his Treatise on “The Love of God” for them. When people criticised her for accepting women of poor health and old age, Chantal said, “What do you want me to do ? I like sick people; I’m on their side.”
Her reputation for Sanctity and sound management resulted in many visits by (and donations from) aristocratic women. The Order had thirteen Houses by the time Saint Francis de Sales died, and eighty-six Houses before Chantal died at The Visitation Convent in Moulins, France, aged sixty-nine.
Saint Vincent de Paul served as her Spiritual Director after Saint Francis de Sales’ death. Her favourite Devotions involved The Sacred Heart of Jesus and The Heart of Mary.
She was buried in Annecy Convent, next to Saint Francis de Sales. The Order had 164 Houses by 1767, when she was Canonised. Saint Jane Frances de Chantal outlived her son (who died fighting the Huguenots and the English on The Île de Ré during the Century's Religious Wars) and two of her three daughters, but left extensive correspondence.
Her grand-daughter also became a famous writer, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné.
She was Beatified on 21 November 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV, and Canonised on 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.
Saint Jane Frances’s Feast Day was included in The General Roman Calendar in 1769, two years after she was Canonised. She wrote some exemplary Letters of Spiritual Direction.
The Order of The Visitation of Holy Mary (Latin: Ordo Visitationis Beatissimæ Mariæ Virginis, V.H.M.), or, The Visitation Order, is an Enclosed Roman Catholic Religious Order for Women.
Members of The Order are also known as The Salesian Sisters (not to be confused with The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco), or, more commonly, as The Visitandines, or, Visitation Sisters.
The Order of The Visitation was Founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France.
At first, the Founder had not a Religious Order in mind; he wished to form a Congregation without External Vows, where the Cloister should be observed only during the Year of Novitiate, after which the Sisters should be free to go out by turns to visit the Sick and the Poor.
The Order was given the name of The Visitation of Holy Mary with the intention that the Sisters would follow the example of The Virgin Mary and her joyful visit to her kinswoman, Elizabeth, (known as “The Visitation” in The Roman Catholic Church).
Saint Francis de Sales invited Saint Jane Frances de Chantal to join him in establishing a new type of Religious Life, one open to older women and those of delicate constitution, that would stress the hidden inner virtues of humility, obedience, poverty, even-tempered Charity, and patience, and founded on the example of Mary in her journey of mercy to her cousin Elizabeth.
The Order was established to welcome those not able to practice austerities required in other Orders. Instead of chanting the Canonical Office in the middle of the night, the Sisters recited The Little Office of The Blessed Virgin at half-past eight in the evening. There was no Perpetual Abstinence nor prolonged Fast.
The Order of The Visitation of Mary was Canonically Erected in 1618 by Pope Paul V, who granted it all the privileges enjoyed by the other Orders. A Papal Bull of Pope Urban VIII Solemnly Approved it in 1626.
Left a Widow at twenty-eight years old, with four children, the broken-hearted Baroness took a vow of Chastity. Her mother, step mother, sister, first two children, and now her husband, had died.
Chantal gained a reputation as an excellent manager of the estates of her husband, as well as of her difficult father-in-law, while also providing alms and nursing care to needy neighbours.
English: Stained-Glass Window in the Parish Church of
Saint John the Baptist, Dammartin-en-Goële, France;
it depicts Saint Francis de Sales introducing Saint Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal to Saint Vincent de Paul.
Deutsch: Katholische Pfarrkirche Saint-Jean-Baptiste
(Johannes der Täufer) in Dammartin-en-Goële, Frankreich,
Bleiglasfenster, Darstellung: Franz von Sales stellt
Johanna Franziska von Chantal dem hl. Vinzenz von Paul vor.
Photo: 4 April 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: GFreihalter
(Wikimedia Commons)
During Lent in 1604, the pious Baroness met Saint Francis de Sales, the Bishop of Geneva, who was Preaching at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon. They became close friends and de Sales became her Spiritual Director. She wanted to become a Nun, but he persuaded her to defer this decision.
Later, with his support, and that of her father and brother (the Archbishop of Bourges), and after providing for her children, Chantal left for Annecy, to start The Congregation of The Visitation, which was Canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, 6 June 1610.
The usual opposition to women in active ministry arose and Francis de Sales was obliged to make it a Cloistered Community following The Rule of Saint Augustine. He wrote his Treatise on “The Love of God” for them. When people criticised her for accepting women of poor health and old age, Chantal said, “What do you want me to do ? I like sick people; I’m on their side.”
Saint Vincent de Paul served as her Spiritual Director after Saint Francis de Sales’ death. Her favourite Devotions involved The Sacred Heart of Jesus and The Heart of Mary.
The Church of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal,
Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
Photo: 27 April 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Farragutful
(Wikimedia Commons)
Her grand-daughter also became a famous writer, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné.
She was Beatified on 21 November 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV, and Canonised on 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.
Saint Jane Frances’s Feast Day was included in The General Roman Calendar in 1769, two years after she was Canonised. She wrote some exemplary Letters of Spiritual Direction.
19th-Century print of
The Coat-of-Arms of The Order of The Visitation,
Founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales
and Saint Joan Frances Frémiot de Chantal.
Source: http://www.visitation.org/
Author: Saint Francis de Sales.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Order of The Visitation of Holy Mary (Latin: Ordo Visitationis Beatissimæ Mariæ Virginis, V.H.M.), or, The Visitation Order, is an Enclosed Roman Catholic Religious Order for Women.
Members of The Order are also known as The Salesian Sisters (not to be confused with The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco), or, more commonly, as The Visitandines, or, Visitation Sisters.
At first, the Founder had not a Religious Order in mind; he wished to form a Congregation without External Vows, where the Cloister should be observed only during the Year of Novitiate, after which the Sisters should be free to go out by turns to visit the Sick and the Poor.
The Order was given the name of The Visitation of Holy Mary with the intention that the Sisters would follow the example of The Virgin Mary and her joyful visit to her kinswoman, Elizabeth, (known as “The Visitation” in The Roman Catholic Church).
Sermon: Saint Jane Frances de Chantal.
Available on YouTube at
Saint Francis de Sales invited Saint Jane Frances de Chantal to join him in establishing a new type of Religious Life, one open to older women and those of delicate constitution, that would stress the hidden inner virtues of humility, obedience, poverty, even-tempered Charity, and patience, and founded on the example of Mary in her journey of mercy to her cousin Elizabeth.
The Order was established to welcome those not able to practice austerities required in other Orders. Instead of chanting the Canonical Office in the middle of the night, the Sisters recited The Little Office of The Blessed Virgin at half-past eight in the evening. There was no Perpetual Abstinence nor prolonged Fast.
