Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret

Life story

Jeanne-Antide was born on 27 November 1765 at Sancey in Franche-Comté, to a poor farming family. Her mother died when she was sixteen, and she took over the housework and fieldwork. Her family opposed her calling, but at twenty-two she entered the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, serving at Langres and then in Paris.

When the French Revolution suppressed religious communities, she refused to go home as ordered and had to flee. She followed Abbé Receveur into exile in Switzerland and Germany, caring for the sick and for young women, and later returned to France. In 1797 she opened a school for poor girls in Besançon, and on 11 April 1799 she founded the Sisters of Charity with two young women, with a soup kitchen and a free school.

In 1810 she went to Naples with eight sisters, where they cared for incurable patients and opened a school. In 1819 Pope Pius VII approved the congregation and exempted it from the authority of the local bishop. Even so, the archbishop of Besançon would not let it expand, and she was removed as superior; after a trip to Rome she was not taken back. She stayed in Naples running a hospital with the sisters loyal to her, and was nicknamed Daughter of Peter. She died in Naples on 24 August 1826, and the two branches of her institute were reunited only in 1954. She was beatified on 23 May 1926 and canonized on 14 January 1934.

Works and witness

• Entered the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul at twenty-two, serving at Langres and Paris
• Fled France during the Revolution and cared for the sick in Switzerland and Germany
• Opened a school for poor girls in Besançon in 1797; founded the congregation on 11 April 1799
• Directed a hospital in Naples from 1810 after conflict with the Besançon authorities
• Died on 24 August 1826; canonized on 14 January 1934

Saints from the same country

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

References

• Vatican News (Spanish), 'S. Juana Antida Thouret, virgen, fundadora de las Hermanas de la Caridad'
• Sisters of Charity of Jeanne-Antide Thouret (filles-de-la-charite.org), 'Saint Jeanne-Antide Thouret' (feast 23 May, death 24 August 1826)

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