St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
She was born Joan Francoise Fremyot on January 23rd at Dijon, the daughter of a president of the parliament of Burgundy. She was the active and capable housekeeper of a great household before she became the founder and superior of an order of contemplative nuns.
At twenty she was married to a local nobleman, the Baron de Chantal. He was good and kind, and the marriage was a happy one; she had the distinction and presence of a great lady, and she possessed intelligence and good humor too. Though she performed her role in the society of the neighborhood her mind was elsewhere. Though she would entertain on her husband's behalf, she received visitors with reserve during his absences and was observed to wear dresses which were noticeably less fine. Then she would devote herself to prayer and to exploring the disturbing feeling that God had chosen her life for some great service.
After eight years of marriage she lost her husband in a hunting accident. Her only desire now was to live a life of prayer, but everything seemed to be in the way of it. There were her four children to bring up; she was the guest of a difficult father-in-law; or else she was acting as hostess for her father in Dijon. Also she had put herself in the hands of a tyrannical and obtuse director who wearied her flesh and spirit and would not let her seek advice elsewhere. She dreamed of a perfect and understanding director and at last she found one in St. Francis of Sales; she attended his sermons in Dijon in 1604; they were introduced at the house of her brother. It was as if Francis too had found someone he was seeking; he had had a vision of a new order of nuns which would be led by a widow.
Francis found a great soul whose splendid simplicity did not realize how far she had progressed in the life of contemplation. Later when Mme de Chantal experienced the full influence of the mysticism of the Spanish Carmel through Mother Mary of the Trinity and others met in Dijon, she found that they had little to teach her: they could only explain the privileges that she had been granted by God.
Francis moved with sympathy and discretion. He wanted to be absolutely sure of the vocation of his charge. They met again at St. Claude in his diocese; then after a decisive interview at Annecy in June 1610 the Congregation of the Visitation was founded. It was intended to meet the needs of those who desired a religious life but were not physically or temperamentally able to withstand the stringent demands of contemporary enclosed orders. At first its aims included tending the poor and the sick; but under the inspiration of its foundress it moved naturally towards a more strictly contemplative form of life, and its charter was revised to this end in 1615.
St. Joan de Chantal is a saint of prayer; she speaks of 'that pure capacity to receive the spirit of God which suffices for all method'; but because she attained to the high flights of Mary through a hard apprenticeship to the duties of Martha she is an inspiration to all who labor at reconciling practical life and devotion. She was canonized in 1767.
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