Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

Life story

Jane Frances Frémyot was born in 1572 at Dijon in Burgundy, the daughter of Bénigne Frémyot, president of the Parlement of Burgundy. In 1592 she married Christophe de Rabutin, Baron de Chantal, and lived at the château of Bourbilly. They had six children, four of whom reached adulthood.

In 1601 her husband died in a hunting accident, when she was about twenty-nine. She stayed to raise her children and spent much time helping the poor and the sick of the region. In 1604, during Lent at Dijon, she met Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva, who became her spiritual director through many years of letters and visits.

On 6 June 1610, at Annecy, she and two companions opened the first house of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. Francis de Sales's original idea was a community without the heavy austerities of contemporary monastic life, open to women who were frail or older. The order later became an enclosed one. By the time of her death it had more than eighty houses in France and neighbouring countries.

She looked after the order through journeys and an enormous correspondence, while still caring for her children and grandchildren. Her granddaughter, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, became famous for her letters. After Francis de Sales died in 1622 she directed the order for another nineteen years. Jane Frances died on 13 December 1641 at Moulins and was canonised in 1767 under Pope Clement XIII.

Works and witness

• Married in 1592 and raised her children after her husband's death in 1601
• Met Francis de Sales in 1604 and took him as spiritual guide
• Opened the first Visitation house at Annecy on 6 June 1610
• Led the order as it grew to more than eighty houses
• Canonised in 1767

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Francis de Sales, Letters of spiritual direction

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.