Jane Frances de Chantal Archives

Today, the Church honors St. Jane Frances de Chantal on her feast day – August 12th.

🙏 Prayer to St. Jane Frances de Chantal — https://thecatholiccrusade.com/prayer-to-st-jane-frances-de-chantal/

St. Jane Frances de Chantal is the patron saint of forgotten people, widows, and parents separated from their children, and is invoked by those struggling with in-law difficulties.

Born Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot in Dijon, France, in 1572, she lost her mother as an infant and was raised by her father, a president of the Parliament of Burgundy, who gave her a strong education and formation in the faith.

At 21, she married Baron Christophe de Chantal, and the couple had a happy marriage and six children, though only four survived to adulthood. Tragedy struck nine years later when her husband died from a hunting accident. Widowed and grieving, Jane struggled to forgive the friend responsible, and for a time lived under the difficult authority of her demanding father-in-law.

During a Lenten sermon, she heard Bishop Francis de Sales preach on forgiveness, and his words moved her to pardon the man who had caused her husband’s death. Francis de Sales became her spiritual director, and together they founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in 1610, a community dedicated to prayer and to caring for those other orders would not accept, including the sick and the elderly.

Jane spent the rest of her life building up the Visitation order, establishing dozens of convents across France. She died on December 13, 1641, in Moulins. She was beatified in 1751 and canonized in 1767. Her feast day is celebrated on August 12.