Sainte Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal
Fondatrice de la Visitation (+ 1641)
Jeanne Françoise Frémyot était la fille du président
du Parlement de Bourgogne. C'était un catholique intransigeant en cette époque
des Guerres de Religion. A 20 ans, elle épousa le baron de Chantal qu'elle aima
d'un grand amour. Épouse accomplie, pieuse à ses heures, elle était une mère
parfaite, mais eut la douleur de perdre en bas âge deux de ses six enfants. A
28 ans, quand le baron est tué d'un accident de chasse, elle se révolte,
déteste le malheureux meurtrier malgré lui et, au bord du désespoir, elle s'en
remet à un confesseur rigoureux. Quatre ans plus tard, elle entend saint
François de Sales prêcher un carême et reconnaît en lui le maître spirituel
dont elle a besoin.
L'évêque de Genève la libère de ses scrupules. De leur
confiance réciproque va naître une grande aventure religieuse et spirituelle.
Jeanne-Françoise prend le temps d'établir ses quatre enfants dans la vie et
fonde l'Ordre de la Visitation-Sainte-Marie, congrégation destinée aux femmes
de santé fragile. Après la mort de saint
François de Sales, elle maintiendra intacte cette spiritualité salésienne,
surtout la vie intérieure abandonnée à Dieu. Pendant 40 ans, elle souffrira de
tentations contre la foi, mais l'amour de Dieu lui suffit, écrivit-elle.
"Ah! disait-elle, si le monde connaissait la
douceur d’aimer Dieu, il mourrait d’amour!".
Voyageuse infatigable, elle parcourut tous les chemins
de France pour veiller à l’édification des nombreux monastères de la
Visitation. Elle participera activement à la diffusion des ouvrages de saint
François de Sales et, par ses propres écrits, apportera sa contribution à la
pensée salésienne. (saints du diocèse d'Annecy)
Au martyrologe romain, le 12 août, mémoire de sainte
Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, religieuse. Elle avait été mariée au baron de
Chantal et lui donna six enfants qu’elle éleva avec sollicitude. Après la mort
de son mari, sous la direction de saint François de Sales, elle entra avec
bonheur dans la voie de la perfection et accomplit des œuvres de charité, pour
les pauvres surtout et les malades. Elle fonda avec lui l’Ordre de la
Visitation, qu’elle dirigea avec sagesse, et mourut à Moulins, le 13 décembre
1641.
Martyrologe romain
"Ne vous retournez jamais sur vous-même. Regardez
seulement Dieu et le laissez faire, vous contentant d'être toute sienne en
toutes vos actions."
Changement de la date du 21 août au 12 décembre, puis,
depuis 2003, est fêtée le 12 août.
.JPG)
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
.JPG)
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
Sainte Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal
Fondatrice d'Ordre
(1572-1641)
Jeanne-Françoise Fremiot
de Chantal, née à Dijon, réunit en elle toutes les distinctions, celle de la
naissance, celle de l'esprit, celle surtout de la sainteté. Admirable en tout,
dès son bas âge elle brilla surtout par un zèle ardent pour la foi catholique.
A cinq ans, on la vit
reprendre avec force un hérétique qui parlait contre la présence réelle:
"Monsieur, lui dit-elle, vous ne croyez pas que Jésus-Christ soit dans
l'Eucharistie; cependant Il a dit qu'Il y était, vous croyez donc qu'Il n'a pas
dit la vérité?" Le protestant, ne sachant que répondre, voulut fermer la
bouche de l'enfant en lui offrant des dragées, mais elle les jeta au feu avec
mépris, en disant: "Voilà, monsieur, comment les hérétiques brûleront en
enfer pour n'avoir pas cru aux paroles de Jésus-Christ!"
Âgée de vingt ans, elle
fut donnée en mariage à un époux digne d'elle, le baron de Chantal. Dieu donna
de nombreux et charmants enfants à ces époux modèles; rien ne manquait à leur
bonheur, quand une catastrophe épouvantable vint le briser: le baron fut blessé
à la chasse, par accident, de la main d'un de ses amis, et mourut pieusement
quelques jours après. Jeanne avait vingt-huit ans; elle reçut le coup terrible
sans faiblir et fit à Dieu, à l'instant même, le voeu de chasteté parfaite, se
traça un plan de vie austère, se vêtit sans luxe, porta le cilice et se donna
tout entière à sa sanctification et à l'éducation de ses enfants.
Dieu lui fit bientôt
rencontrer saint François de Sales, à Dijon même; dès lors elle se mit sous sa
direction, et sa vie s'éleva rapidement à une perfection supérieure: "J'ai
trouvé à Dijon, pouvait dire le Saint, la femme forte, en Mme de Chantal."
Après avoir montré au
monde le modèle de la mère chrétienne, Dieu va faire éclater en l'illustre
Sainte le modèle sublime de la perfection religieuse. Elle devint fondatrice de
l'Ordre de la Visitation. La séparation fut pour elle un sacrifice sublime; il
lui fallut résister aux cris et aux larmes et passer par-dessus le corps de son
fils aîné, qui s'était couché sur le seuil de la porte, criant: "Maman, ne
me quittez pas!" Une telle âme devait franchir à grands coups d'ailes les
sommets de la plus haute sainteté.
Elle en vint à faire le
voeu de choisir toujours ce qui lui paraîtrait le plus parfait. L'amour de Dieu
possédait son âme au point qu'elle n'en pouvait supporter l'ardeur. "Ah!
disait-elle, si le monde connaissait la douceur d'aimer Dieu, il mourrait
d'amour!" Saint Vincent de Paul vit son âme monter au Ciel sous la forme
d'un globe de feu et rejoindre l'âme de saint François de Sales, brillante du
même éclat.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/sainte_jeanne-francoise_de_chantal.html
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
La vie de Sainte Jeanne
de Chantal
INTRODUCTION
SAINTE JEANNE de CHANTAL,
fêtée le 12 décembre, est née le 23 janvier 1572.
Elle a vécu aux 16° et
17° siècles.
Fondatrice de l’ordre de
la VISITATION avec Saint François de SALES, elle est un exemple autant pour les
épouses et les mères de famille que pour les moniales dont elle a partagé les
conditions de vie.
BIBLIOGRAPHIE :
Petite vie de JEANNE de
CHANTAL de André RAVIER Ed Desclée de BROUWER (1992).
Le Témoignage de JEANNE
de CHANTAL de Emmanuel du JEU Ed Pierre TEQUI (1927, réédition 2001)(GL).
Mémoires de Mère de
CHAUGY (1650).
Sainte JEANNE de CHANTAL,
sa race et sa grâce de Mère de CHAUGY (1650) ( P210 GL).
I) BIOGRAPHIE de Sainte
JEANNE de CHANTAL
* CONTEXTE
HISTORIQUE :
Politique
intérieure :
. Les régences (Catherine
de Médicis pour ses fils Charles IX et Henri III, et pour son petit fils Louis
XIII ; Anne d’Autriche pour Louis XIV).
. Les Guerres de religion
1562-1628.
. Les ligues catholiques
(Duc de Guise contre Henri III et duc de Mayenne contre Henri IV).
. la FRONDE contre
MAZARIN et Anne d’Autriche (1648-1660).
Politique
extérieure :
Guerres pour défendre le
royaume de France (contre les Anglais 1628 et contre l’empire d’Allemagne allié
aux Espagnols (la Guerre de trente ans se termine en 1648).
* CONTEXTE
RELIGIEUX :
Au début du 17° siècle la
France meurtrie recommençait à vivre et s’organisait sur les ruines matérielles
et morales laissées par les guerres de religion (massacre de la St BARTHELEMY
le 24/08/1572, assassinat d’HENRI III par un moine ligueur en 1589, en laissant
pour héritier Henri de Navarre qui était protestant (abjuration en 1593), en
1598, l’édit de Nantes permet le retour à la paix religieuse en 1610).
* QUELQUE DATES DE LA VIE
DE SAINTE JEANNE DE CHANTAL :
. 23/01/1572 à
DIJON : Naissance de Jeanne FREMYOT à DIJON. Son père est le président du
parlement du duché de BOURGOGNE.
. 1573 : Mort de sa
mère ; elle sera élevée par sa tante.
. 29/12/1592 :
Mariage avec Christophe de CHANTAL, baron de BOURBILLY.
. 1601 : Mort de son
mari suite à un accident de chasse. La baronne de CHANTAL a alors 4 enfants
(les 2 premiers sont morts à la naissance).
. Décembre 1602 :
départ de la baronne de CHANTAL à MONTHELON pour vivre aux côtés de son
beau-père.
. 1604 : Retraite de
carême avec MONSEIGNEUR de SALES évêque d’ANNECY. En décembre le futur saint
FRANCOIS de SALES devient le directeur spirituel de la future sainte Jeanne de
Chantal.
. 1607 : François
demande à Jeanne de devenir la pierre fondamentale de l’INSTITUTION
(congrégation de moniales que l’évêque d’Annecy voulait créer dans son
diocèse).
. Décembre 1609 :
création de l’INSTITUTION par François et Jeanne.
. 06 juin 1610 : Les
trois premières FILLES DE LA VISITATION dont Jeanne de Chantal prononcent
leurs premiers vœux.
. 1619 : 1°
rencontre entre St Vincent de Paul et Jeanne de Chantal (p196).
. 28/12/1622 : Mort
à LYON de MONSEIGNEUR de SALES évêque d’ANNECY d’une attaque d’apoplexie.
. 1632 : début des
tentations de mère Jeanne de CHANTAL. Ces dernières allèrent croissant
jusqu’à la fin de sa vie.
. 1641 : Jeanne de
CHANTAL rend visite à la reine Anne d’Autriche et rencontre le dauphin, le
futur LOUIS XIV.
. 13/12/1641 : Mort
de mère Jeanne de CHANTAL à MOULINS.
II) LES ETAPES DE LA VIE
DE SAINTE JEANNE DE CHANTAL :
. Jeanne
FREMYOT : jeune fille éduquée dans la foi chrétienne par son
père (1572 à 1592).
Craignant que la réforme
très présente en BOURGOGNE ne menace la Foi de ses enfants, le père de
Jeanne se charge lui-même de la formation religieuse de ses enfants.
Description de Jeanne
avant son mariage : « belle, gaie, simple, clairvoyante,
décidée et profondément appliquée à ses devoirs de chrétienne ».
. La baronne de
CHANTAL : la dame parfaite de BOURBILLY (1592 à 1601).
Epouse aimante et
active.
Mère souvent seule
et dévouée à ses quatre enfants.
Chrétienne exemplaire
pour son mari et pour son entourage.
Femme de la société
au service des plus pauvres.
. La veuve :
femme active cherchant à discerner ce que DIEU attend d’elle (1601 à
1607).
Vœux de chasteté.
Résignation à accomplir
son devoir d’état dans la simplicité et l’humilité.
Quête d’un directeur spirituel
(recherche du berger de la vision).
L’épreuve du faux berger
et la rencontre de Saint François.
L’engagement aux côtés de
St François (les directives données, la profession de Foi).
.
La cofondatrice de l’INSTITUTION (1607 à 1622).
L’INSTITUTION est le
projet de Saint François de créer un ordre contemplatif de la VISITATION dont
la douceur de la règle permet l’accueil de toutes celles qui sont appelées à
DIEU (quelques soient leur constitution physique), de se consacrer à lui dans
la prière et la vie intérieure.
Acceptation du projet de
Saint François.
La séparation progressive
d’avec les biens matériels p 63 et 65 et d’avec les êtres chers.
Ouverture de la 1°
VISITATION à ANNECY : de la visite des malades à la vie cloîtrée.
La consécration totale à
DIEU le jour de la Pentecôte 1616.
. La «pierre fondamentale
de l’INSTITUTION» seule face au monde (1622 à 1641).
Le départ de St
François : dernière rencontre le 08/12/1622, sa mort le 28/12/1622, le
chagrin de Jeanne.
L’expansion rapide de la
VISITATION (13 monastères en 1622, 87 en 1641), Jeanne fait la tournée des
monastères, et continue à en créer.
Mère de CHANTAL doit
faire face à la notoriété (Mme de Montmorency devient son amie, La reine
demande à la rencontrer).
Mère de CHANTAL demeure
au service des malades (rôle joué pendant la peste à ANNECY).
Recherchant la
perfection, Jeanne est éprouvée par des tentations de plus en plus vives.
La sainte mort de
Jeanne : transmission de ses responsabilités temporelles et préparation de
son âme à la rencontre avec DIEU (confession, communion, prières).
L’EXEMPLE DONNE PAR
SAINTE JEANNE DE CHANTAL
. Parfaite conciliation
de sa soif de perfectionnement spirituel avec ses nombreuses responsabilités
temporelles.
Au château de BOURBILLY
elle aide son mari à gérer les affaires du domaine tout en étant
rayonnante de foi.
Au château de MONTHELON
elle accède avec humilité aux exigences de son
« impossible » beau-père tout en cherchant sa vocation.
A la VISITATION elle
s’occupe de l’avenir de ses enfants et de son itinéraire spirituel personnel.
De même elle gère l’expansion de sa congrégation tout en cheminant
elle-même spirituellement.
. Obéissance totale à
DIEU et à ses représentants sur terre.
L’obéissance au directeur
spirituel.
L’obéissance à la volonté
de DIEU.
. Dénuement total
pour laisser le plus de place à DIEU.
Le dépouillement de
toutes les richesses terrestres.
Dépouillement de tous
péchés pour purifier son âme.
Dépouillement de tout
orgueil humain (Humilité extrême).
Charité envers les
pauvres et amour débordant pour DIEU.
Charité permanente
Amour passionné
CONCLUSION :
Un exemple de vie à
travers ses différents états de vie :
L’approfondissement
permanent de la vie intérieure (vie de prière et sacramentelle exemplaire
de la baronne de BOURBILLY).
L’entraide mutuelle et la
charité fraternelle (service des plus pauvres de ses gens).
Esprit missionnaire et
rayonnement (elle entraîne sa famille et ses proches dans son sillage)
Sainte Jeanne de Chantal
a fait des miracles de son vivant et surtout après sa mort.
Canonisation le 16
juillet 1767 par le pape CLEMENT XIII.
Héritage de Sainte Jeanne
de Chantal :
- Sa sanctification
de tous les états de la vie comme fille, épouse, veuve et religieuse est
un exemple toujours actuel pour les femmes de notre société.
- L’ordre des filles de
la VISITATION existe encore (Présentation du monastère de la VISITATION
créé par Ste Jeanne de Chantal en 1624 à CHAMBERY et qui est aujourd’hui
toujours présent à St Pierre d’ALBIGNY).
SOURCE : http://www.saintejeannedechantal.com/La-vie-de-Sainte-Jeanne-de-Chantal_a136.html
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Détail
d'un vitrail à la chapelle Saint-Vincent-de-Paul à Paris rue de Sèvres: saint
Vincent de Paul avec saint François de Sales et sainte Jeanne de Chantal.
JEANNE de CHANTAL
Religieuse visitandine
1572-1641
EXTRAIT BIOGRAPHIQUE
Jeanne Françoise Frémyot
naquit à Dijon le 23 janvier 1572. Orpheline de mère à dix-huit mois, elle
reçut de son père, second Président au Parlement de Bourgogne, une éducation
forte et brillante, profondément chrétienne. « Dès son jeûne âge l'on remarqua
en elle des indices particuliers de la grâce divine, et entre autres une
modestie fort majestueuse et une aversion si incomparable aux hérétiques, que
si quelqu'un d'eux la voulait toucher ou porter entre ses bras, elle ne cessait
de crier qu'il ne l'eût posée. Elle apprenait avec une grande souplesse et
vivacité d'esprit tout ce qu'on lui enseignait, et on l'instruisait de tout ce
qui est convenable à une demoiselle de sa condition et de son bon esprit : à
lire, écrire, danser, sonner des instruments, chanter en musique, faire des
ouvrages... »1
Le 29 décembre 1592, elle
épousa Christophe II de Rabutin, baron de Chantal. « Ce fut un des plus
accomplis mariages qui aient été vus, l'un et l'autre partis étant parfaitement
doués de corps et d'esprit, des plus aimables qualités, recommandables en la
noblesse. Quant à notre bienheureuse Mère, elle était de riche taille, d'un
port généreux et majestueux, sa face ornée de grâces et d'une beauté naturelle
fort attrayantes sans artifice et sans mollesse ; son humeur vive et gaie, son
esprit clair, prompt et net, son jugement solide ; il n'y avait rien en elle de
changeant ni de léger. Bref, elle était telle qu'on la surnomma la dame
parfaite... Elle ne portait que du camelot et de l’étamine, et cela avec tant
de propreté, de grâce et de bienséance, qu'elle paraissait cent fois plus que
plusieurs autres qui ruinent leurs maisons, pour porter des affiquets... Cette
femme diligente fut une couronne à son mari Le cœur duquel se fiant en elle
entreprit avec joie et générosité de régler sa maison.2 »
Pendant neuf ans ils
vécurent un très grand bonheur au château de Bourbilly, jusqu'à ce jour de 1601
où Monsieur de Chantal mourut des suites d'un accident de chasse. Jeanne se
retrouva seule, à vingt-huit ans, avec quatre jeunes enfants3. Sa douleur était
immense. Un événement décisif orienta toute sa vie : la rencontre, en 1604, de
saint François de Sales venu prêcher le carême à Dijon où le président de
Frémyot avait invité sa fille. « Elle faisait mettre son siège à l’opposite de
la chaire du prédicateur pour le voir et ouïr plus à souhait. Le saint prélat,
de son côté, bien qu’attentif à son discours, remarquait cette veuve par-dessus
toutes les autres dames4. » Le frère de la baronne de Chantal qui était
archevêque de Bourges5, la présenta à François de Sales ; ce fut le point de
départ d'un ardent amour de Dieu et d'un dépouillement radical qui la
conduiront à une haute union à Dieu. Entre Jeanne de Chantal et François de
Sales se noua une profonde relation, faite d'une totale et affectueuse
confiance mutuelle. Elle ne tarda pas à lui confier son désir d'être toute à
Dieu. Mais ses responsabilités familiales la retenaient.
Peu à peu, cependant, les
obstacles tombèrent6 ; en 1610, elle quitta Dijon pour aller inaugurer à Annecy
une nouvelle forme de vie religieuse dont François de Sales était le fondateur
: la Visitation. Un double aspect caractérisait le jeune institut : une vie de
prière intense et le service des malades. Fait unique à l'époque : ces
religieuses n'étaient pas cloîtrées, ce qui fit l'étonnement des malveillants.
En 1619, François de Sales dut supprimer la visite aux malades, et la
Visitation devint un ordre cloîtré.
1617 fut pour Jeanne de
Chantal une année d’épreuves : son gendre mourut à Turin (23 mai), suivi de
Marie-Aimée, après un accouchement prématuré (16 septembre). Sur son lit de
mort, Marie-Aimée prit l'habit de la Visitation et prononça ses vœux entre les
mains de saint François de Sales. La Mère de Chantal, qui avait commencé à
souffrir de maux étranges dès 1610 et avait été de nouveau malade en 1615 et
1616, se vit à toute extrémité à la fin de 1617 ; elle guérit à la suite d'un
vœu à saint Charles Borromée. Une fois remise, elle partit fonder une
Visitation à Grenoble (8 avril 1618), préparée par les prédications de l'évêque
de Genève. A l’automne, elle commence un voyage de quatre ans loin d'Annecy.
Après la fondation du monastère de Bourges (15 novembre), François de Sales
l'appela à Paris où elle resta du 7 avril 1619 au 21 février 1622, s'occupant
des débuts de la nouvelle Visitation (l° mai 1619), négociant le mariage de sa
fille Françoise avec Antoine de Toulongeon, surveillant les fondations de
Montferrand (7 juin 1620), de Nevers (21 juillet), d’Orléans (9 septembre), de
Valence (8 juin 1621). Après quelques jours passés à Maubuisson avec Angélique
Arnauld et un pèlerinage au tombeau de Marie de l'Incarnation au carmel de
Pontoise, elle partit pour la fondation de Dijon (8 mai 1622), par Orléans,
Bourges, Nevers et Moulins. Fin octobre, elle était à Lyon où François de Sales
lui commanda d'aller visiter les monastères de Montferrand et de Saint-Étienne
(établi le 1° octobre). Le 11 décembre, à Lyon, eut lieu le dernier entretien
des deux fondateurs, et la Mère repartit aussitôt visiter d'autres monastères.
Elle n'apprit la mort de son père spirituel, survenue le 28 décembre 1622, que
le 6 janvier 1623 à Belley d’où elle rentra à Annecy pour s'occuper du corps de
François de Sales et de ses funérailles.
Désormais Jeanne de
Chantal gouverna seule les treize monastères de la Visitation où les vocations
affluaient. Elle se démit de son supériorat après l'Ascension 1623 et n'accepta
d'être réélue que pour trois ans. Désirant se plier en tout à la Règle comme la
plus humble des religieuses, elle ne voulut jamais du titre de mère générale,
reprenant après chaque déposition le dernier rang. Cependant son influence
spirituelle et morale était immense et incontestée. Rien ne se décidait sans
elle. Elle fonda les Visitations de Chambéry (14 janvier 1624), d’Evian (6 août
1625), de Rumilly (29 septembre) et de Pont-à-Mousson (6 mai 1626). En 1627,
elle eut la joie de l'ouverture du procès de béatification de François de
Sales, et la peine de la mort de Celse-Bénigne, tué au combat de l'Ile de Ré
(22 juillet)7. A l'automne 1627, elle fonda la Visitation de Cremieu (21
septembre) et visita les monastères de Paris, d'Orléans et d'Auvergne. En 1634,
elle fonda une seconde maison à Annecy pour accueillir l'afflux des
postulantes. En juin 1635, pour conférer de l'avenir de son ordre avec les
évêques réunis à l'Assemblée du clergé de France, elle gagna Paris où elle
passa l'hiver.
Chaque monastère étant
placé directement sous l'autorité de l'évêque du diocèse, des amis de la
Visitation s'inquiétèrent des moyens de maintenir, dans l'avenir, l'union et
l’uniformité entre tant de maisons. A l'occasion de l'Assemblée du clergé, en
1635, se tint une réunion de quelques évêques, avec saint Vincent de Paul,
supérieur des Visitations de Paris8, et le commandeur de Sillery9. Appelée à
donner son avis, la Mère de Chantal fit nettement comprendre que la volonté
formelle du fondateur avait été de laisser les monastères sous l'autorité des
évêques, sans supérieure générale, et d'établir « non un moyen d'union
d'autorité, mais de charité » entre eux et avec le premier monastère d'Annecy,
« estant le dépositaire principal de l'esprit de l'Institut, et de la tradition
du sens de la Règle, et des statuts, pour avoir esté réglé et formé par le
Fondateur10. » Les prélats se rangèrent à cet avis et approuvèrent le Coutumier
avec les additions proposées.
Le problème des moyens
d'union entre les monastères ne se régla pas si facilement que semble le dire
la préface du Coutumier de 1637. Peu après, en effet, Octave de Bellegarde11
(archevêque de Sens), Vincent de Paul et le commandeur de Sillery proposèrent
de demander l’établissement d'un visiteur apostolique. La Mère de Chantal en
sentait l'opportunité, d'autant plus que Rome avait failli l'imposer d'office,
en 1637, à la suite de rapports faits par des jésuites contre l'ordre pour
accuser les supérieures et maîtresses des novices de gêner la libre communication
des sœurs avec les confesseurs. De plus, c'était une idée de François de Sales
mais, selon lui, le visiteur ne devait agir que par l'autorité des évêques afin
de ne pas porter atteinte à leurs prérogatives. La Mère de Chantal maintint
fortement cette position et se trouva ainsi en désaccord sur ce point avec
Vincent de Paul qui désirait des pouvoirs étendus pour le visiteur. Jeanne de
Chantal ne voulait que mettre en œuvre les intentions du fondateur, mais il
fallut bien interpréter et compléter pour faire face à des situations
nouvelles. Elle le fit avec sa personnalité profondément originale, son bon
sens pratique et sa profonde connaissance de la psychologie féminine. Il ne fut
plus jamais question de visiteur apostolique.
Au printemps 1636, elle
reprit la route pour Troyes, Marseille et Montpellier. A l'automne 1638, elle
fonda la Visitation de Turin (21 novembre). Le 11 avril 1641, elle se démit de
sa charge de supérieure avec l'intention de ne plus jamais la reprendre. Recrue
d'épreuves et de deuils, elle aspirait au repos. Or la duchesse de
Montmorency12 voulut prendre le voile à la Visitation de Moulins des mains de
son amie la Mère de Chantal qui se mit en route le 28 juillet. En août, elle
était à Moulins où Anne d'Autriche13 lui envoya une litière pour la conduire à
Saint-Germain-en-Laye où elle désirait s'entretenir avec elle. De Paris, elle
regagna Moulins où, en arrivant, elle dut s'aliter (8 décembre). Jeanne de
Chantal mourut paisiblement, le 13 décembre 1641, après avoir dicté ses dernières
recommandations à ses filles de la Visitation. Elle laissait l'ordre solidement
établi avec quatre-vingt-sept monastères. Son corps fut ramené à Annecy (30
décembre) et inhumé dans l'église de la Visitation. la Mère Jeanne-Françoise
Frémyot de Chantal fut béatifiée par Benoît XIV le 21 novembre 1751. Le procès
de béatification n’avait commencé qu’en 1722 et les du procès avait été
retardée par plusieurs difficultés D'une part, une fausse interprétation du
décret d'Urbain VIII avait fait négliger de recueillir dans les formes les
dépositions des témoins quand il en était encore temps ; d'autre part, les
réaction anti-mystique et antijanséniste, qui sévissait dans les milieux
romains, la soupçonnait de quiétisme et de sympathies jansénistes. Elle fut canonisée
par Clément XIII le 16 juillet 1767.
1 Mère
Françoise-Madeleine de Chaugy : Mémoire sur la vie et les vertus de
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal.
2 Mère
Françoise-Madeleine de Chaugy : Mémoire sur la vie et les vertus de
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal.
3 Ils eurent six enfants
dont deux fils moururent en bas âge. Il resta Celse-Bénigne (né en 1596, le
père de la marquise de Sévigné), Marie-Aimée (née en 1598), Françoise (née en
1599) et Charlotte (née en 1601, quinze jours avant la mort de son père).
4 Mère
Françoise-Madeleine de Chaugy : Mémoire sur la vie et les vertus de
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal.
5 André Frémyot, né à
Dijon le 26 août 1573 ; sa naissance coûta la vie à sa mère. Il fit ses études
à Paris. Encore sous-diacre (1602), il fut élu archevêque Bourges (sacré à
Saint-Denis-du-Pas de Paris, le 7 décembre 1603). Démissionnaire en 1621, il
reçut en commende les abbayes de Breteuil et de Ferrières et le prieuré de
Nogent-le-Rotrou. Ami de François de Sales, il fut un des trois commissaires
apostoliques nommés par Urbain VIII pour l’enquête canonique (1627). Il mourut
à Paris le 13 mai 1641.
6 Marie-Aimée est mariée
à Bernard de Sales, frère de saint François de Sales (13 octobre 1609).
Charlotte meurt à la fin de janvier 1610. Celse-Bénigne est confié à son
grand-père avant de commencer une carrière à la cour.
7 Celse-Bénigne, de son
mariage avec Marie de Coulanges, laissait une petite fille qui deviendra la
marquise de Sévigné.
8 Saint Vincent de Paul,
à la demande de saint François de Sales, de sainte Jeanne de Chantal et de
l’évêque de Paris fut nommé supérieur des trois monastères parisiens de la
Visitation depuis leur fondation, charge qu’il garda jusqu’en 1660.
9 Frère du chancelier
Nicolas de Sillery, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, destiné dès l’enfance à la vie
religieuse, fut reçu dans l'ordre de Saint-Jean-de-Jérusalem (1596) et, au
retour de Malte, il reçut la commanderie de Troyes (1600). Appelé par son frère
à la Cour, il eut la faveur d'Henri IV et de Marie de Médicis dont il devint le
premier écuyer puis le chevalier d'honneur. Il effectua des ambassades en
Espagne et à Rome, où « en quittant cette capitale du monde chrétien, il
emporta le nom d’ambassadeur aussi dévot que magnifique. » En 1624, à la
disgrâce de son frère il renonça à la vie publique. A l'occasion d'un jubilé,
il rencontra Vincent de Paul auquel il fit une confession générale et sous la
direction duquel il se plaça. C'est sans doute sur ses conseils qu’il se rendit
à la Visitation du faubourg Saint-Jacques, mais ce fut un échec : « Quoy qu'il
remarqua beaucoup de perfection, et toute la vertu qu'il pouvoit souhaiter à la
supérieure et aux religieuses qu'il vit, ce n'estoit point cependant ce qu’il
cherchoit pour s'y attacher. » Il vint pour la première fois au monastère de la
rue Saint-Antoine, le 28 décembre 1630, pour entendre un panégyrique de
François de Sales par le curé de Saint-Jean-en-Grève. Hélène-Angelique
Lhuillier, la supérieure, lui consacra par la suite de nombreuses heures
d'entretien et entreprit de travailler à son édification spirituelle comme de
lutter contre son amour de la gloire et des richesses. Lorsqu'il se fit prêtre
en 1634, il choisit de dire sa première messe (13 avril) dans la modeste
chapelle de la rue Saint-Antoine. Pour s'associer davantage aux prières des
visitandines, le commandeur vint s'établir définitivement dans l'hôtel du
Petit-Bourbon où il vécut jusqu'à sa mort. Parmi ses bienfaits à l'égard de la
Visitation, l'histoire a surtout retenu la construction de l'église de la rue
Saint-Antoine, mais sa générosité alla aussi à d'autres maisons de l'ordre. Il
mourut à Pa¬ris le 26 septembre 1640 et fut inhumé au monastère de la
Visitation.
10 Préface du Coutumier
de 1637.
11 Octave de Saint-Lary
de Bellegarde naquit à Brouage en Périgord, en juillet 1587, quelques mois
avant que son père (César, duc de Bellegarde et gouverneur de Saintonge) ne
mourut de blessures reçues à la bataille de Coutras. Il étudia à Bordeaux et à Toulouse
puis à la Sorbonne (1606). Destiné à l’état ecclésiastique, il fut pourvu de
bonne heure de bénéfices (les abbayes de Saint-Mélaine de Rennes, et de Nisors,
la domerie de Notre-Darne d'Aubrat). Son oncle lui céda l’abbaye de
Saint-Germain d'Auxerre où il fit profession. Aumônier ordinaire d’Henri IV
(1607), abbé de Pothières (1610), il fut nommé évêque de Couserans en 1612. Le
14 novembre 1621, il était appelé à l'archevêché de Sens. Pendant un quart de
siècle, tout à sa mission de chef de diocèse, il veilla avec un dévouement
absolu aux intérêts spirituels et temporels de son Église. Plein de sollicitude
pour l'observation des lois canoniques et pour la restauration de la
discipline, il laissa la réputation d’ardente piété et d'une grande douceur. Il
installa les visitandines à Provins, à Montargis et à Melun. Il mourut dans sa
maison de Montreuil (près de Paris) le 26 juillet 1646. Il couronnait une vie
toute de dignité et de zèle par un testament laissant tout ce qu'il possédait
aux pauvres et à son Église. Son corps, rapporté à Sens, fut inhumé dans le
sanctuaire de sa cathédrale.
12 La princesse
Marie-Félicité des Ursin avait épousé en 1615 Henri II, duc de Montmorency et
d’Amville, pair de France, premier baron, amiral et maréchal de France, gouverneur
du Languedoc. Révolté contre Louis XIII et le cardinal de Richelieu, le duc fut
battu à Castelnaudary ; pris et jugé, il fut décapité à Toulouse (1632). Après
l’exécution de son époux, la duchesse de Montmorency fut assignée à résidence à
Moulins où elle fit construire une église pour les religieuses de la Visitation
dans laquelle elle fit élever le mausolée de son mari. Elle prit le voile et
fut supérieure du monastère. Elle mourut en 1666.
13 La Reine, habituée de la Visitation du faubourg Saint-Jacques, avait favorisé la fondation de la Visitation de Saint-Denis (1638) ; plus tard (1648) elle mit sous sa protection la fondation de la Visitation de Compiègne.
SOURCE : http://voiemystique.free.fr/jeanne_de_chantal_1.htm
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Statue
de sainte Jeanne de Chantal. Église Saint-Clément de Flottemanville-Bocage
(XIV/XV)
O bonté souveraine de la
souveraine providence de mon Dieu, je me délaisse pour jamais entre vos
bras ; soit que vous me soyez douce ou rigoureuse, menez-moi désormais par
où il vous plaira. Je ne regarderai point les chemins par où vous me ferez
passer, mais vous, ô mon Dieu, qui me conduisez ; mon cœur ne trouve point
de repos hors des bras et du sein de cette céleste Providence, ma vraie mère,
ma force et mon rempart ; c'est pourquoi je me résous moyennant votre aide
divine, ô mon Sauveur, de suivre vos désirs et ordonnances sans jamais regarder
où éplucher les causes pourquoi vous faites ceci plutôt que cela, mais à yeux
clos je vous suivrai selon vos volontés divines sans rechercher mon propre
goût ; c'est à quoi je me détermine de laisser tout faire à Dieu, ne me
mêlant que de me tenir en repos entre ses bras, sans désirer chose quelconque,
que selon qu'il m'incitera à désirer, à vouloir et à souhaiter.
Je vous offre ce désir, ô
mon Dieu, vous suppliant de le bénir, entreprenant le tout appuyé sur votre
bonté, libéralité et miséricorde, en la totale confiance en vous et défiance de
moi et de mon infinie misère et infirmité.
Amen
Sainte Jeanne de Chantal
Il
y a trois façons de faire oraison
La première se
fait en nous servant de l'imagination, nous représentant le divin Jésus en
la crèche, entre les bras de sa sainte Mère et du grand saint Joseph ; le
regardant entre un bœuf et un âne ; puis voir comme sa divine Mère l'expose
dans la crèche, puis comme elle le reprend pour lui donner son lait virginal et
nourrir ce Fils qui est son créateur et son Dieu. Mais il ne faut pas se bander
l'esprit à vouloir, sur tout ceci, faire des imaginations particulières, nous
voulant figurer comme ce sacré Poupon avait les yeux et comme sa bouche était
faite ; mais nous représenter tout simplement le mystère. Cette façon de
méditer est bonne pour celles [ les personnes ] qui ont encore l'esprit des
pensées du monde, afin que l'imagination, étant remplie de ces objets, rechasse
toute autre pensée.
La deuxième façon, c'est
de nous servir de la considération, nous représentant les vertus que
Notre-Seigneur a pratiquées : son humilité, sa patience, sa douceur, sa charité
à l'endroit de ses ennemis, et ainsi des autres. En ces considérations, notre
volonté se sentira tout émue en Dieu et produira de fortes affections,
desquelles nous devons tirer des résolutions pour la pratique de chaque jour,
tâchant toujours de battre sur les passions et inclinations par lesquelles nous
sommes les plus sujettes à faillir.
La troisième façon, c'est
de nous tenir simplement en la présence de Dieu, le regardant des yeux de
la foi en quelque mystère, nous entretenant avec lui par des paroles pleines de
confiance, cœur à cœur, mais si secrètement, comme si nous ne voulions pas que
notre bon ange le sût. Lorsque vous vous trouverez sèche, qu'il vous semblera
que vous ne pourrez pas dire une seule parole, ne laissez pas de lui parler, et
dites : Seigneur, je suis une pauvre terre sèche, sans eau ; donnez à ce pauvre
cœur votre grâce. Puis demeurez en respect en sa présence, sans jamais vous
troubler ni inquiéter pour aucune sécheresse qui puisse arriver. Cette manière
d'oraison est plus sujette à distractions que celle de la considération, et, si
nous nous rendons bien fidèles, Notre-Seigneur donnera celle de l'union de
notre âme avec lui. Que chacune suive le chemin auquel elle est attirée.
Ces trois sortes
d'oraison sont très bonnes : que donc celles qui sont attirées à l'imagination
la suivent, et de même celles qui le sont à la considération et à la simplicité
de la présence de Dieu ; mais, néanmoins, pour cette troisième sorte, il
faut bien se garder de s'y porter de soi-même, si Dieu ne nous y attire.
Ste Jeanne de Chantal
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/08/12.php
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
François de Sales et Jeanne de Chantal réunis sur une médaille du XIXe siècle
Sainte Jeanne-Françoise
de Chantal
Veuve et Fondatrice
de : “Ordo Visitationis Beatissimae Mariae Virginis”
(Ordre de la
Visitation...)
(1572-1641)
Françoise-Madeleine de
Chaugy, nièce de la Mère de Chantal, évoque « l'humeur vive et gaie »
de sa tante, « son esprit clair, prompt et net, son jugement
solide ». Ces qualités humaines devaient rendre Sainte Jeanne-Françoise de
Chantal très efficace dans toute sa vie d'épouse et de mère, puis de femme
Consacrée.
Fille de magistrat,
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot, âgée de vingt ans, fut donnée en mariage au baron de
Chantal. Leur foyer, où naquirent quatre enfants, connut huit années de bonheur
profond, que vint interrompre brutalement un accident de chasse (1600).
Le baron, blessé, mourut
pieusement quelques jours après. Jeanne avait vingt-huit ans ; dans sa
douleur, elle se confia toute à Dieu.
C'est alors que Le
Seigneur mit François de Sales sur sa route. Dès lors, elle se mit sous sa
direction. Avec patience et fermeté, l'Évêque de Genève conduisit
Jeanne-Françoise à une perfection supérieure :
« J'ai trouvé à
Dijon, pouvait dire le Saint, la femme forte, en Mme de Chantal. »
Le Saint Évêque donna à
la future Sainte cette parole qui devrait conduire toute sa vie : « Il
faut tout faire par Amour, et rien par force ; il faut plus aimer
l'obéissance que craindre la désobéissance. »
En 1610, vint l'heure des
adieux héroïques de Madame de Chantal à son père et à ses enfants.
Elle devint Fondatrice de
l'Ordre de la Visitation, Ordre qui allie Contemplation et service des malades.
Alors commencèrent à travers la France les voyages incessants pour fonder des
maisons à l'image de celle d'Annecy.
La Sainte Fondatrice
mourut à Moulins le 13 Décembre 1641.
L'amour de Dieu possédait
son âme au point qu'elle n'en pouvait supporter l'ardeur. « Ah !
disait-elle, si le monde connaissait la douceur d'aimer Dieu, il mourrait
d'Amour ! ».
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Noël Hallé (1711–1781), Saint François de Sales donnant à sainte Jeanne de Chantal la règle de l'ordre de la Visitation, XVIIe s., Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île
Sainte Jeanne-Françoise
Frémiot de Chantal
Leçons des Matines avant
1960.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon.
Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot de Chantal naquit à Dijon, en Bourgogne, d’une
illustre famille, et donna, dès son enfance, des signes non équivoques d’une
grande sainteté. A peine âgée de cinq ans, elle réfuta, dit-on, les erreurs
d’un noble calviniste avec une solidité d’arguments au-dessus de son âge, et
jeta au feu un petit présent que cet homme lui avait offert, en disant : «
Voilà comment brûleront en enfer, les hérétiques qui refusent de croire à la
parole de Jésus-Christ. » Sa mère étant morte, elle se mit sous la protection
de la sainte Vierge, et renvoya une de ses suivantes qui cherchait à lui
inspirer du goût pour le monde. Rien dans sa conduite ne dénotait l’enfant ;
remplie d’aversion pour les plaisirs du siècle et ne soupirant qu’après le
martyre, elle se donnait tout entière aux œuvres de religion et de piété.
Lorsque son père l’eut mariée au baron de Chantal, on la vit appliquée à la
pratique de toutes les vertus, pleine de zèle vis-à-vis de ses enfants, de ses
serviteurs et de ceux qui étaient sous sa dépendance, pour les instruire des principes
de la foi et les former aux bonnes mœurs. Elle soulageait les besoins des
pauvres avec une très grande libéralité, et bien souvent la providence divine
multiplia ses provisions ; aussi promit-elle de ne jamais rien refuser à
quiconque lu i demanderait l’aumône au nom de Jésus-Christ.
Cinquième leçon. Après la
mort de son mari, causée par un accident de chasse, elle se mit à pratiquer une
vie plus parfaite et se lia par le vœu de chasteté. Outre qu’elle supporta
courageusement la mort de son mari, elle voulut encore donner au meurtrier une
marque publique de pardon, en triomphant d’elle-même jusqu’à vouloir être la
marraine de son fils. Elle se contenta d’une domesticité peu nombreuse, d’une
nourriture grossière et de vêtements communs, et fit passer à de pieux usages
ses parures précieuses. Tout le temps qui lui restait après le soin de sa
maison, elle l’employait à la prière, aux lectures pieuses et au travail. On ne
put jamais l’amener à consentir à de secondes noces, bien qu’il se présentât des
partis honorables et avantageux. Et de peur que, dans la suite, sa
détermination de garder la chasteté ne fût ébranlée, elle renouvela son vœu et
grava sur sa poitrine, au moyen d’un fer rouge, le très saint nom de
Jésus-Christ. Enflammée d’une charité dont l’ardeur croissait chaque jour, elle
se faisait amener les pauvres, les abandonnés, les malades et ceux qui se
trouvaient affligés des maux les plus repoussants. Non contente de les recevoir
chez elle, pour les consoler et les soigner, elle nettoyait leurs vêtements
malpropres les raccommodait, et n’avait pas horreur d’approcher ses lèvres de
leurs ulcères fétides et purulents.
Sixième leçon. Ayant
appris, sous la direction spirituelle de saint François de Sales, à connaître
la divine volonté, elle abandonna avec un invincible courage son père, son
beau-père, et son propre fils. Et comme ce dernier s’opposait à la vocation de
sa mère, celle-ci n’hésita point à passer sur son corps, en sortant de sa
maison. Elle jeta alors les bases du saint institut de la Visitation de
Sainte-Marie et en observa les règles dans toute son intégrité. Elle était
éprise de la pauvreté au point de se réjouir de manquer même du nécessaire.
Elle se montra un modèle accompli d’humilité, d’obéissance et de toutes les
vertus chrétiennes. Préparant en son cœur des ascensions toujours plus hautes,
elle s’astreignit par un vœu des plus difficiles à observer, à faire
constamment ce qu’elle comprendrait être le plus parfait. Ce fut surtout grâce
à elle que le pieux institut de la Visitation se répandit de tous côtés ; et
c’est par des écrits remplis de la sagesse de Dieu, comme par ses paroles et
ses exemples, qu’elle a excité ses sœurs à la piété et à la charité. Enfin,
chargée de mérites et saintement munie des sacrements, elle mourut à Moulins,
le treize décembre seize cent quarante et un. Saint Vincent de Paul, qui était
alors éloigné, vit son âme reçue au ciel par saint François de Sales. On
transféra dans la suite son corps à Annecy. Avant et après sa mort, des
miracles l’ont rendue célèbre. Benoît XIV l’a béatifiée, et le souverain
Pontife Clément XIII l’a inscrite au catalogue des Saints. Enfin, Clément XIV a
ordonné que toute l’Église célébrerait sa Fête le douzième jour avant les
calendes de septembre.
Au troisième nocturne. Du
Commun.
Lecture du saint Évangile
selon saint Matthieu. Cap. 13, 44-52.
En ce temps-là : Jésus
dit à ses disciples cette parabole : Le royaume des cieux est semblable à un
trésor caché dans un champ. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint
Grégoire, Pape. Homilia 11 in Evangelia
Septième leçon. Si le
Seigneur, mes très chers frères, nous dépeint le royaume des cieux comme
semblable à des objets terrestres, c’est pour que notre esprit s’élève, de ce
qu’il connaît, à ce qu’il ne connaît pas ; qu’il se porte vers les biens
invisibles par l’exemple des choses visibles, et, qu’excité par des vérités
dont il a l’expérience, il s’enflamme de telle sorte, que l’affection qu’il
éprouve pour un bien connu lui apprenne à aimer aussi des biens inconnus. Voici
« que le royaume des cieux est comparé à un trésor caché dans un champ ; celui
qui l’a trouvé, le cache, et à cause de la joie qu’il en a, il va et vend tout
ce qu’il a, et il achète ce champ » [1].
Huitième leçon. Il faut
remarquer dans ce fait, que le trésor une fois trouvé, on le cache afin de le
conserver. C’est parce que celui qui ne met pas à l’abri des louanges humaines
l’ardeur des désirs qu’il ressent pour le ciel, ne parvient pas à les défendre
contre les malins esprits. Nous sommes, en effet, dans la vie présente comme
dans un chemin par lequel nous nous dirigeons vers la patrie ; et les esprits
malins infestent notre route, comme le feraient des voleurs. C’est vouloir être
dépouillé que de porter un trésor à découvert sur le chemin. Je ne dis pas
cela, néanmoins, pour empêcher que le prochain soit témoin de nos bonnes
œuvres, selon ce qui est écrit : « Qu’ils voient vos bonnes œuvres et qu’ils
glorifient votre Père qui est dans les cieux » [2] ; mais afin que nous ne recherchions
pas, dans le motif qui nous fait agir, les louanges du dehors. Que l’action
soit publique, mais que notre intention demeure cachée, pour que nous donnions
ainsi à notre prochain l’exemple d’une bonne œuvre, et cependant que par
l’intention que nous avons de plaire uniquement à Dieu, nous souhaitions
toujours le secret.
Neuvième leçon. Or, le
trésor, c’est le désir du ciel, et le champ où est caché ce trésor, c’est une
vie digne du ciel. Il vend bien tout ce qu’il a pour acheter ce champ, celui qui,
renonçant aux voluptés charnelles, foule aux pieds tous ses désirs terrestres,
par la pratique exacte de cette vie digne du ciel, en sorte que plus rien de ce
qui flatte les sens ne lui plaise, et que son esprit ne redoute rien de ce qui
détruit la vie charnelle.
[1] Matth. 13, 44.
[2] Matth. 5, 16.
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
Bien que la gloire de
Marie soit d’au dedans [3], sa beauté paraît aussi dans le vêtement qui
l’entoure [4] : vêtement mystérieux, tissé des vertus des Saints qui lui
doivent leur justice et leur récompense [5]. De même que toute grâce nous vient
parla divine Mère, toute gloire au ciel converge vers celle de la Reine des
cieux.
Or, entre les âmes
bienheureuses, il en est de plus immédiatement rapprochées de la Vierge bénie
[6]. Prévenues de la tendresse particulière de cette Mère de la grâce, elles
laissèrent tout [7] pour courir sur la terre à l’odeur des parfums de l’Époux
qu’elle a donné au monde [8] ; elles gardent au ciel avec Marie l’intimité plus
grande qui fut déjà leur part au temps de l’exil. De là vient qu’à cette heure
de son exaltation près du Fils de Dieu [9], le Psalmiste chante aussi les
vierges pénétrant avec elle en allégresse dans le temple du Roi [10] ; le
couronnement de Notre-Dame est véritablement la toute spéciale solennité de ces
filles de Tyr [11], devenues elles mêmes princesses [12] et reines [13] afin de
former son noble cortège et sa royale cour.
Si le diadème de la
virginité n’orne pas le front de l’élue proposée aujourd’hui à notre vénération,
elle est de celles pourtant qui méritèrent en leur humilité d’entendre un jour
le céleste message : Écoute, ma fille, et vois, et incline l’oreille de ton
cœur, et oublie ton peuple et la maison de ton père [14]. En réponse, tel fut
son bienheureux élan dans les voies de l’amour, qu’on vit des vierges
innombrables s’attacher à ses pas pour parvenir plus sûrement à l’Époux. A elle
aussi revient en conséquence une place glorieuse dans le vêtement d’or, aux
reflets multiples, dont resplendit en son triomphe la Reine des Saints [15].
Car quelle est la variété
signalée par le Psaume dans les broderies et les franges de cette robe de
gloire [16], sinon la diversité des nuances que revêt l’or delà divine charité
parmi les élus ? C’est afin d’accentuer l’heureux effet provenant de cette
diversité dans la lumière des Saints, que l’éternelle Sagesse a multiplié les
formes sous lesquelles se présente au monde la vie des conseils. Tel est bien
l’enseignement voulu par la sainte Liturgie dans le rapprochement des deux
fêtes d’aujourd’hui et d’hier au Cycle sacré. De l’austérité cistercienne au
renoncement plus intérieur de la Visitation Sainte-Marie, la distance paraît
grande ; l’Église néanmoins réunit la mémoire de sainte Jeanne de Chantai et de
l’Abbé de Clairvaux, en hommage à la bienheureuse Vierge, dans l’Octave
fortunée qui consomme sa gloire ; c’est qu’en effet toutes les Règles de
perfection s’accordent pour n’être, à l’honneur de Marie, que des variantes de
l’unique Règle, celle de l’amour, dont la divine Mère présente en sa vie
l’exemplaire premier.
« Ne divisons pas la robe
de l’Épouse, dit saint Bernard [17]. L’unité, tant au ciel qu’ici-bas, consiste
en la charité [18]. Que celui qui se glorifie de la Règle n’agisse pas à
rencontre, en allant contre l’Évangile [19]. Si le royaume de Dieu estait
dedans de nous [20]), c’est qu’il n’est point dans le manger ou le boire, mais
dans la justice, la paix, la joie du Saint-Esprit [21]. Critiquer autrui sur
l’observance extérieure et négliger de la Règle le côté qui regarde l’âme,
c’est écarter le moucheron de la coupe et avaler un chameau [22]. Tu brises ton
corps par des travaux sans fin, tu mortifies par les austérités tes membres qui
sont sur la terre ; et tu fais bien. Mais lorsque tu te permets de juger celui
qui ne peine pas autant, lui peut-être se conforme à l’avis de l’Apôtre :
empressé davantage pour les dons les meilleurs [23], retenant moins de cet
exercice corporel qui est de moindre utilité, il s’adonne plus à la piété qui
est utile à tout [24]. Qui donc de vous deux garde le mieux la Règle ? Celui
sans doute qui s’en trouve meilleur. Or, le meilleur, quel est-il ? le plus
humble ? ou le plus fatigué ? Apprenez de moi, dit Jésus [25], que je suis doux
et humble de cœur » [26].
Parlant de la diversité
des familles religieuses, saint François de Sales dit excellemment à son tour :
« Toutes les Religions ont un esprit qui leur est général, et chacune en a un
qui lui est particulier. Le général est la prétention qu’elles ont toutes d’aspirer
à la perfection delà charité ; mais l’esprit particulier, c’est le moyen de
parvenir à cette perfection de la charité, c’est-à-dire, à l’union de notre âme
avec Dieu, et avec le prochain pour l’amour de Dieu » [27]. Venant donc à
l’esprit spécial de l’institut qu’il avait fondé de concert avec notre Sainte,
l’évêque de Genève déclare que c’est « un esprit d’une profonde humilité envers
Dieu, et d’une grande douceur envers le prochain ; d’autant qu’ayant moins de
rigueur pour le corps, il faut qu’il y ait tant plus de douceur de cœur » [28].
Et parce que « cette Congrégation a été érigée en sorte que nulle grande âpreté
ne puisse divertir les faibles et infirmes de s’y ranger, pour y vaquer à la
perfection du divin amour » [29] ; il ajoute gracieusement : « Que s’il y avait
une sœur qui fût si généreuse et courageuse que de vouloir parvenir à la
perfection dans un quart d’heure, faisant plus que la Communauté, je lui
conseillerais qu’elle s’humiliât et se soumît à ne vouloir être parfaite que
dans trois jours, allant le train des autres [30]. Car il faut observer
toujours une grande simplicité en toutes choses : marcher simplement, c’est la
vraie voie des filles de la Visitation, qui est grandement agréable à Dieu et
très assurée » [31].
Avec la douceur et
l’humilité pour devise, le pieux évêque était bien inspiré de donner à ses
filles, comme armoiries, le divin Cœur où ces suaves vertus ont leur source
aimée. On sait combien magnifiquement le ciel justifia ce blason. Le siècle
n’était pas encore écoulé, qu’une religieuse de la Visitation, la Bienheureuse
Marguerite-Marie, pouvait dire : « Notre adorable Sauveur m’a fait voir la
dévotion de son divin Cœur comme un bel arbre qu’il avait destiné de toute
éternité pour prendre ses racines au milieu de notre institut. Il veut que les
filles de la Visitation distribuent les fruits de cet arbre sacré avec
abondance à tous ceux qui désireront d’en manger, sans crainte qu’il leur
manque » [32].
« Amour ! amour ! amour !
mes filles, je ne sais plus autre chose ». Ainsi s’écriait, elle aussi, en ses
derniers ans, la glorieuse coopératrice de François dans l’établissement de la
Visitation Sainte-Marie, Jeanne de Chantal. « Ma Mère, lui dit une sœur, je
vais écrire à nos maisons que Votre Charité est en sa vieillesse, et que comme
votre parrain saint Jean, vous ne nous parlez plus que d’amour ». A quoi la
Sainte repartit : « Ma fille, ne faites point cette comparaison, car il ne faut
pas profaner les Saints en les comparant aux chétifs pécheurs ; mais vous me ferez
plaisir de mander à ces filles-là que si je croyais mon courage, si je suivais
mon inclination, et si je ne craignais d’ennuyer nos sœurs, je ne parlerais
jamais d’autre chose que de la charité ; et je vous assure que je n’ouvre
presque jamais la bouche pour parler de choses bonnes, que je n’aie envie de
dire : Tu aimeras le Seigneur de tout ton cœur, et ton prochain comme toi-même
» [33].
Paroles bien dignes de
celle qui valut à l’Église l’admirable Traité de l’Amour de Dieu, composé, dit
l’évêque de Genève, à son occasion, prière et sollicitation, pour elle et ses
semblables [34]. Tout d’abord cependant, l’impétuosité de cette âme, exubérante
de dévouement et d’énergie, parut peu faite pour être maîtresse en une école où
l’héroïsme se traduit dans la suavité simple d’une vie toute cachée en Dieu.
C’est à discipliner cette énergie de la femme forte, sans en éteindre l’ardeur,
que s’appliqua persévéramment saint François de Sales durant les dix-huit
années qu’il en eut la conduite. « Faites tout, lui répète-t-il en mille
manières, sans empressement, suavement comme font les Anges ; suivez la
conduite des mouvements divins, rendez-vous souple à la grâce ; Dieu veut que
nous soyons comme des petits enfants » [35]. Et ici trouve place une page
délicieuse de l’aimable Saint, que nous voulons citer encore :
« Si l’on eût demandé au
doux enfant Jésus, étant porté entre les bras de sa mère, où il allait ?
N’eût-il pas eu raison de répondre : Je ne vais pas, c’est ma mère qui va pour
moi. Et qui lui eût demandé : Mais au moins n’allez-vous pas avec votre mère ?
N’eût-il pas eu raison de dire : Non, je ne vais nullement, ains seulement par
les pas de ma mère, par elle et en elle. Et qui lui eût répliqué : Mais au
moins, ô très cher divin enfant vous vous voulez bien laisser portera votre
douce mère ? Non fais certes, eût-il pu dire, je ne veux rien de tout cela ;
ains, comme ma toute bonne mère marche pour moi, aussi elle veut pour moi ; et,
comme je ne marche que par ses pas, aussi je ne veux que par son vouloir ; et,
dès que je me trouve entre ses bras, je n’ai aucune attention ni à vouloir, ni
à ne vouloir pas, laissant tout autre soin à ma mère, hormis celui d’être sur
son sein, et de me tenir bien attaché à son cou très aimable pour la baiser
amoureusement des baisers de ma bouche ; et, afin que vous le sachiez, tandis
que je suis parmi les délices de ces saintes caresses qui surpassent toute
suavité, il m’est avis que ma mère est un arbre de vie, et que je suis en elle
comme son fruit, que je suis son propre cœur au milieu de sa poitrine, ou son
âme au milieu de son cœur : c’est pourquoi, comme son marcher suffit pour elle
et pour moi, sans que je me mêle de faire aucun pas : aussi ne prends-je point
garde si elle va vite ou tout bellement, ni si elle va d’un côté ou d’un autre,
ni je ne m’enquiers nullement où elle veut aller, me contentant que, comme que
ce soit, je suis toujours entre ses bras, joignant ses amiables mamelles, où je
me repais comme entre les lis... Théotime [36], nous devons être comme cela, pliables
et maniables au bon plaisir divin » [37].
L’office de Marthe parut
d’abord vous être destiné, ô grande Sainte. Prévenant l’heure qui devait sonner
pour Vincent de Paul un peu plus tard, François de Sales, votre Père, eut la
pensée de faire de vos compagnes les premières filles de la Charité. Ainsi fut
donné à votre œuvre le nom béni de Visitation, destiné à placer sous l’égide de
Marie vos visites aux pauvres malades trop délaissés. Mais l’affaiblissement
progressif des santés modernes avait manifesté, dans les institutions de la
sainte Église, une lacune plus douloureuse encore, plus pressante à combler :
nombre d’âmes, appelées à la part de Marie, en étaient écartées par leur
impuissance à porter l’austère vie des grands Ordres contemplatifs. L’Époux,
dont la bonté daigne s’adapter à tous les âges, fit choix de vous, ô Jeanne,
pour subvenir avec son Cœur sacré, sur ce terrain de son amour, aux misères
physiques aussi bien que morales du monde vieilli, usé, menaçant ruine.
Renouvelez-nous donc en l’amour
de Celui dont la charité vous consuma la première ; dans ses ardeurs, vous
parcourûtes les sentiers les plus divers de la vie, et jamais ne vous trahit
l’admirable force d’âme que l’Église rappelle à Dieu aujourd’hui, pour obtenir
par vous le secours nécessaire à notre faiblesse [38]. Que le funeste poison de
l’esprit janséniste ne revienne plus jamais chez nous glacer les cœurs ; mais,
en même temps, nous le savons de vous : l’amour n’est réel qu’autant qu’avec ou
sans les macérations, il vit de foi, de générosité, de renoncement, dans
l’humilité, la simplicité, la douceur. C’est l’esprit de votre saint institut,
l’esprit de votre angélique Père rendu par lui si aimable et si fort :
puisse-t-il régner toujours parmi vos filles, maintenir entre leurs maisons
l’union suave qui n’a point cessé de réjouir les cieux ; puisse le monde
s’assainir aux parfums qui s’échappent toujours des retraites silencieuses de
la Visitation Sainte-Marie !
[3] Psalm. XLIV, 14.
[4] Ibid. 10-15.
[5] Apoc. XIX, 8.
[6] Psalm. XLIV, 15.
[7] Matth. XIX, 27.
[8] Cant. I, 3.
[9] Psalm. XLIV, 10.
[10] Ibid. 15-16.
[11] Ibid. 13.
[12] Ibid. 10.
[13] Cant. VI, 7.
[14] Psalm. XLIV, 11.
[15] Ibid. 10.
[16] Ibid. 10, 14, 15.
[17] Bernard. Apologia ad
Guillelm. III, 6.
[18] Ibid. IV, 8.
[19] Ibid. V, 11.
[20] Luc. XVII, 21.
[21] Rom. XIV, 17.
[22] Bern. Apolog. VI,
12.
[23] I Cor. XII, 31.
[24] I Tim. IV, 8.
[25] Matth. XI, 29.
[26] Bern. Apolog. VII,
13.
[27] Entretiens
spirituels, XIII.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Constitutions de la
Visitation, Préambule.
[30] Entretien XIII.
[31] Entretien XIV.
[32] Lettre du 17 juin
1689, à la Mère de Saumaise.
[33] Mémoires de la Mère
de Chaugy, IIIe P., ch. V.
[34] Traité de l’Amour de
Dieu, Préface ; Mémoires de la M. de Chaugy, IIIe P. ch. XXIV, XXVI ; etc.
[35] Œuvres, passim.
[36] « Un grand serviteur
de Dieu m’avertit naguère que l’adresse que j’avais faite de ma parole à
Philothée en l’Introduction à la vie dévote avait empêché plusieurs hommes d’en
faire leur profit, d’autant qu’ils n’estimaient pas dignes de la lecture d’un
homme les avertissements faits pour une femme. J’admirai qu’il se trouvât des
hommes qui, pour vouloir paraître hommes, se montrassent en effet si peu
hommes... Toutefois, pour imiter en cette occasion le grand Apôtre, qui
s’estimait redevable à tous, j’ai changé d’adresse en ce traité, et parle à
Théotime. Que si d’aventure il se trouvait des femmes (or cette impertinence
serait plus supportable en elles) qui ne voulussent pas lire les enseignements
qu’on fait à un homme, je les prie de croire que le Théotime auquel je parle
est l’esprit humain qui désire faire progrès en la dilection sainte, esprit qui
est également ès femmes comme ès hommes ». Amour de Dieu, Préface.
[37] Amour de Dieu, Liv.
IX, ch. XIV.
[38] Collecte, Secrète et
Postcommunion de la fête.
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Bhx cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Disciple de saint
François de Sales, elle a fait honneur à son maître et elle a démontré que,
sans recourir nécessairement à ces formes spéciales et transcendantes de
sainteté que nous trouvons chez les Pères du désert, on peut atteindre le
sommet de la perfection chrétienne en aimant Dieu passionnément et en
accomplissant ses devoirs d’état, dans la quadruple situation d’épouse, de
mère, de veuve et de religieuse, tour à tour vécue par sainte Chantal.
Clément XIV introduisit
dans le Bréviaire, sous le rite double, la fête de notre Sainte.
La messe est du Commun,
mais les collectes sont propres :
Prière. — « Seigneur qui,
dans votre toute-puissante miséricorde, vous êtes plu à enflammer d’une sainte
ardeur votre bienheureuse et fidèle servante Jeanne-Françoise, et avez voulu
qu’avec une admirable force d’âme, elle arrivât à la perfection en traversant
les états de vie les plus variés, et même qu’elle devînt mère d’une nouvelle
famille religieuse ; accordez-nous par ses mérites que, conscients de nos insuffisances,
nous nous confiions dans votre grâce, avec l’aide de laquelle nous puissions
triompher de tous les obstacles ». Le rédacteur a voulu dire trop de choses et
il est arrivé ainsi à nous donner une collecte sans cursus et sans une idée
vraiment centrale.
Sur les oblations. — «
Que cette Hostie de salut nous enflamme de ces mêmes ardeurs dont brûla le cœur
de la bienheureuse Jeanne-Françoise, l’embrasant de l’éternelle charité ». En
cela réside une des raisons pour lesquelles Jésus a institué la sainte
Eucharistie : Ignem veni mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur ?
[39]
Remarquons que l’idée de
feu, appliquée à l’Esprit Saint, revient plusieurs fois dans le Missel, et
toujours dans l’oraison sur les oblations. Mais dans les anciennes formules
liturgiques on invoquait sur l’autel le feu du Paraclet, pour qu’il consacrât
et consumât le sacrifice, comme celui d’Élie. — Sacrificia, Domine, tuis oblata
conspectibus, ignis ille divinus absumat [40], — lisons-nous dans la secrète du
vendredi de la Pentecôte —, le rédacteur moderne de la collecte de ce jour
modifie un peu cette idée, car, semblant oublier qu’il s’agit d’une oratio
super oblata, il formule plutôt le texte d’une post-communion et nous fait
demander le feu sacré de la charité qui est l’effet et le fruit de la sainte
Communion.
Après la Communion. — «
Répandez en nous, Seigneur, l’Esprit de votre amour, afin qu’après nous être
rassasiés du Pain céleste, nous puissions, par les prières de la bienheureuse
Jeanne-Françoise, mépriser les choses caduques et, avec toute l’ardeur de notre
cœur, ne nous attacher qu’à vous seul ». A l’école du saint Évêque de Genève,
la sainteté devient aimable et ne donne plus cette impression de mélancolie
qu’une vertu débutante peut causer à ceux qui en sont témoins.
Madame de Chantal ayant
confié la direction de son âme à saint François de Sales, ses domestiques
disaient à ce propos : « Au temps des confesseurs précédents, Madame priait
pendant plusieurs heures de la journée, et, pour ce, mettait dans l’embarras
toute la domesticité. Monseigneur de Genève, au contraire, la fait prier
maintenant continuellement et cela n’importune plus personne ».
[39] Luc. 12, 49 : Je
suis venu jeter le feu sur la terre, et quel est Mon désir, sinon qu’il
s’allume ?
[40] Que les sacrifices
offerts en votre présence, Seigneur, soient consumés par ce feu divin.
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Jane
Frances de Chantal, Basilique de la Visitation, Annecy.
Dom Pius Parsch, Le
guide dans l’année liturgique
Fortiter et suaviter.
1. Sainte Jeanne de
Chantal. — Jour de mort : 15 décembre 1641. Tombeau : dans le couvent des
Visitandines d’Annecy. Vie : Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot de Chantal, fondatrice de
l’Ordre de la Visitation, naquit en 1572 d’une illustre famille. Son père la
donna en mariage au baron de Chantal ; épouse et mère, elle se dévoua
entièrement à la formation morale et religieuse de ses enfants, de ses
serviteurs et de ceux qui étaient sous sa dépendance. D’une très grande
libéralité envers les pauvres, elle vit plus d’une fois la divine Providence
multiplier ses modestes ressources ; aussi fit-elle vœu de ne jamais rien
refuser à qui lui demanderait l’aumône au nom de Jésus-Christ. Son mari ayant
été tué accidentellement à la chasse, elle supporta chrétiennement son deuil et
voulut encore donner au meurtrier une marque publique de pardon en devenant la
marraine de son fils. Une pieuse affection l’unissait à saint François de
Sales, son directeur, et c’est avec son approbation qu’elle dit adieu à son
père et à ses enfants, et fonda l’Ordre de la Visitation. — Messe « Cognovi »
du commun des non Vierges.
2. Fortiter et suaviter.
— La force et la douceur, l’énergie et la tendresse ; l’union de ces qualités
est un des traits essentiels du caractère chrétien. De cette union le Sauveur
lui-même donne le plus magnifique exemple : d’une énergie étonnante en certaines
circonstances, et cependant toujours plein d’aménité et de bonté. Lorsqu’il
s’arme d’un fouet pour chasser les vendeurs du temple, lorsqu’il déclare à
saint Pierre, immédiatement après lui avoir promis les clefs du royaume des
cieux : « Retire-toi de moi, Satan, tu m’es un scandale », il semble,
oserions-nous dire, que nous ne comprenons plus le Sauveur ; mais il montre
ailleurs une telle tendresse à l’égard des pécheurs, à l’égard de
Marie-Madeleine, de la femme adultère, du bon larron, à l’égard de saint Pierre
après son reniement ! Ainsi, devons-nous user de force et de douceur quand et
comme il convient. Sachons être énergiques sans rigueur excessive, sans cesser
d’être aimables ; et que notre bonté ne dégénère pas en faiblesse et en
apathie. S’agit-il de nos principes, le dogme et la morale sont-ils en cause ?
Alors soyons fermes et inébranlables ; point de tolérance admissible en
pareille circonstance ; mais, dans nos rapports avec les hommes, ayons assez de
douceur et de condescendance pour les comprendre, les excuser, ou leur
pardonner. Un chrétien doit être ferme et rigide comme un père, compatissant et
tendre comme une mère ! Telles sont les qualités que nous admirons aujourd’hui
en sainte Jeanne de Chantal.
3. Un trait de la vie de
sainte Jeanne de Chantal. — Un des moments les plus pénibles de sa vie fut
celui où elle se sépara des siens : « Le 19 mars 1610, jour fixé pour les
adieux, les parents et les amis de la sainte se réunirent chez M. Frémiot.
L’assemblée était nombreuse. Tout le monde fondait en larmes. Mme de Chantal,
seule, conservait un calme apparent ; mais ses yeux nageaient dans l’eau, et
témoignaient de la violence qu’elle était obligée d’employer pour se contenir.
Elle allait de l’un à l’autre, embrassant ses parents, leur demandant pardon,
les conjurant de prier pour elle, essayant de ne pas pleurer, et pleurant plus
fort. Quand elle arriva à ses enfants, elle n’y put tenir. Son fils,
Celse-Bénigne, se pendit à son cou et essaya par mille caresses de la détourner
de son projet. Mme de Chantal, penchée sur lui, le couvrait de baisers et
répondait à toutes ses raisons avec une force admirable. Nul cœur, si
insensible qu’il fût, n’était capable de retenir ses sanglots en entendant « ce
discours filial et maternel si douloureusement amoureux ». Après que les cœurs
eurent été épuisés de tendresse, Mme de Chantal, pour mettre fin à une scène
qui l’accablait, se dégagea vivement des bras de son fils et voulut passer
outre. Ce fut alors que Celse-Bénigne, désespéré de ne pouvoir retenir sa mère,
se coucha en travers de la porte en disant : « Eh bien ! Ma mère, si je ne puis
vous retenir, du moins vous passerez sur le corps de votre fils ». A ces mots,
Mme de Chantal sentit son cœur se briser, et, ne pouvant plus soutenir le poids
de sa douleur, elle s’arrêta et laissa couler librement ses larmes. Le bon M.
Robert, qui assistait à cette scène déchirante, craignant que Mme de Chantal ne
faiblît au moment suprême : « Eh quoi ! Madame, lui dit-il, les pleurs d’un
enfant vous pourront ébranler ? – Non ! reprit la sainte en souriant à travers
ses larmes ; mais que voulez-vous, je suis mère ! — Et, les yeux au ciel,
nouvel Abraham elle passa sur le corps de son fils » [41].
[41] Mgr BOUGAUD. — Histoire
de Sainte Chantal. Tome premier, p. 411-413.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/21-08-Ste-Jeanne-Francoise-Fremiot
San Francesco di Sales, Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
Église
Saint-Maurice, Annecy (Haute-Savoie, France)
Also
known as
Jane Frances of Chantel
Jane Frances Fremiot de
Chantal
Giovanna Francesca de
Chantal
13
December (monastery of
the Visitation in Moulins, France)
12
December (from 1970 to 2001)
21 August (the
date of the founding of her Order; from 1769 to 1969)
Profile
Born to the nobility, the
daughter of the president of the Parliament of Burgundy who
raised her alone after the death of
her mother when
Jeanne was 18 months old. Married in 1592 at
age twenty to Baron de Chantal. Mother of
four. Widowed at
28 when the Baron was killed in a hunting accident and died in
her arms. Taking a personal vow of chastity, she was forced to live with her
father-in-law, which was a period of misery for her. She spent her free time
in prayer,
and received a vision of the man who would become her spiritual director.
In Lent, 1604,
she met Saint Francis
de Sales, and recognized him as the man in her vision. She became a
spiritual student and close friend of Saint Francis,
and the two carried on a lengthy correspondence for years. On Trinity
Sunday, 6 June 1610 she
founded the Order
of the Visitation of Our Lady at Annecy, France.
The Order was
designed for widows and lay
women who did not wish the full life of the orders, and Jeanne oversaw
the founding of 69 convents.
Jeanne spent the rest of her days overseeing the Order,
and acting as spiritual advisor to any who desired her wisdom. Visitationist nuns today
live a contemplative life, work for women with poor
health and widows,
and sometimes run schools.
Born
28
January 1572 at Dijon, Burgundy, France
13
December 1641 at
the Visitationist convent at
Moulins, France of
natural causes
relics at Annecy,
Savoy (in modern France
21
November 1751 by Pope Benedict
XIV
16 July 1767 by Pope Clement
XIII
abandoned
or forgotten people; against abandonment
parents
separated from children
–
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
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Readings
When shall it be that we
shall taste the sweetness of the Divine Will in all that happens to us,
considering in everything only His good pleasure, by whom it is certain that
adversity is sent with as much love as prosperity, and as much for our good?
When shall we cast ourselves undeservedly into the arms of our most loving
Father in Heaven, leaving to Him the care of ourselves and of our affairs, and
reserving only the desire of pleasing Him, and of serving Him well in all that
we can? – Saint Jeanne
Hold your eyes on God and
leave the doing to him. That is all the doing you have to worry
about. – Saint Jeanne
She was full of faith,
and yet all her life long she had been tormented by thoughts against it. Nor
did she once relax in the fidelity God asked of her. And so I regard her as one
of the holiest souls I have ever met on this earth. – Saint Vincent
de Paul
We should go to prayer
with deep humility and an awareness of our nothingness. We must invoke the help
of the Holy Spirit and that of our good angel, and then remain still in God’s
presence, full of faith that he is more in us than we are in ourselves. – Saint Jeanne
One day Saint Jane spoke
the following eloquent words, which listeners took down exactly as spoken: “My
dear daughters, many of our holy fathers in the faith, men who were pillars of
the Church, did not die martyrs.
Why do you think this was? Each one present offered an answer; then their
mother continued. “Well, I myself think it was because there is another
martyrdom: the martyrdom of love. Here God keeps his servants and handmaids in
this present life to that they may labor for him, and he makes of them both
martyrs and confessors.
I know,” she added, “that the Daughters
of the Visitation are meant to be martyrs of this kind and that, by
the favor of God, some of them, more fortunate than others in that their desire
has been granted, will actually suffer such a martyrdom.”
One sister asked what form this martyrdom took. The saint answered: “Yield
yourself fully to God, and you will find out! Divine love takes its sword to
the hidden recesses of our inmost soul and divides us from ourselves. I know
one person whom love cut off from all that was dearest to her, just as
completely and effectively as if a tyrant’s blade had severed spirit from
body.” We realized that she was speaking of herself. When another sister asked
how long the martyrdom would continue, the saint replied: “From the moment when
we commit ourselves unreservedly to God, until our last breath. I am speaking,
of course, of great-souled individuals who keep nothing back for themselves,
but instead are faithful in love. Our Lord does not intend this martyrdom for
those who are weak in love and perseverance. Such people he lets continue on
their mediocre way, so that they will not be lost to him; he never does
violence to our free will.” Finally, the saint was asked whether this martyrdom
of love could be put on the same level as martyrdom of the body. She answered:
“We should not worry about equality. I do think, however, that they martyrdom
of love cannot be relegated to a second place, for ‘love is as strong as
death.’ For the martyrs of love suffer infinitely more in remaining in this
life so as to serve god, than if they died a thousand times over in testimony
to their faith and love and fidelity.” – from the memoirs of the secretary of Saint Jane
Frances de Chantal
Fidelity toward God consists
in being perfectly resigned to his holy will, in enduring everything that his
goodness allows in our lives, and in carrying out all our duties, especially
that of prayer,
with love and for love. In prayer we
must converse very familiarly with our Lord, concerning our little needs,
telling him what they are, and remaining submissive to anything he may wish to
do with us… We should go to prayer with deep humility and an awareness of our
nothingness. We must invoke the help of the Holy
Spirit and that of our good angel, and then remain still in God‘s
presence, full of faith that he is more in us than we are in ourselves. There
is no danger if our prayer is without words or reflection because the good
success of prayer depends
neither on words nor on study. It depends upon the simple raising of our minds
to God,
and the more simple and stripped of feeling it is, the surer it is. We must
never dwell on our sins during prayer. Regarding our offenses, a simple
humbling of our soul before God, without a thought of this offense or that, is
enough…such thoughts act as distractions. – Saint Jeanne
de Chantal, from Wings to the Lord
MLA
Citation
“Saint Jeanne de
Chantal“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 January 2025. Web. 27 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jeanne-de-chantal/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jeanne-de-chantal/
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Valentin Metzinger (1699–1759), Sv. Frančišek Saleški in Ivana Frančiška Šantalska, 1753, 211 x 122, National Gallery of Slovenia
Article
(Saint) Widow (November
21) (17th century) Jane Frances Fremiot, born at Dijon in Burgundy (January 23,
A.D. 1575), was early married to the Baron de Chantal, a nobleman of rank equal
to her own; but losing him through a fatal accident while hunting, she thenceforth
gave herself up entirely to a life of prayer and of works of charity. In the
year 1610, guided and encouraged throughout by her friend and spiritual father,
Saint Francis de Sales, she founded the Order of Nuns of the Visitation, which
quickly spread in France and neighbouring countries. Saint Jane’s last years
were passed in the enduring of intense suffering of body and mind. She went to
her rest at Moulins, December 15, A.D. 1643. Her remains were translated to
Annecy in Savoy, the cradle of her Order. There she rests near Saint Francis,
in the crypt of a stately church.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “Jane
Frances”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
12 August 2016. Web. 28 January 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-jane-frances/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-jane-frances/
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
de:Johanna Franziska von Chantal,
Heilige der Katholischen Kirche
en:Jane Frances de Chantal, saint of the
catholic church
St. Jane Frances de
Chantal
Born at Dijon, France,
28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins,
13 December, 1641.
Her father was president
of the Parliament of Burgundy,
and leader of the royalist party during the League that
brought about the triumph of the cause of Henry
IV. In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, and lived in the feudal castle
of Bourbilly. She restored order in the household, which was on the brink of
ruin, and brought back prosperity. During her husband's absence at the court,
or with the army, when reproached for her extremely sober manner of dressing,
her reply was: "The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from
here". She found more than once that God blessed with miracles the
care she gave the suffering members of Christ. St.
Francis de Sales's eulogy of her characterizes her life at Bourbilly
and everywhere else: "In Madame de Chantal I have found the perfect woman,
whom Solomon had
difficulty in finding in Jerusalem".
Baron de Chantal was
accidentally killed by a harquebus while out shooting in 1601. Left a widow at
twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity.
In all her prayers she
besought God to
send her a guide and God,
in a vision, showed her the spiritual
director He held in reserve for her. In order to safeguard her
children's property,
she was obliged to
go and live at Monthelon in the home of her father-in-law, who was ruled over
by an arrogant and wicked servant. This was real servitude, which she
bore patiently and gently for seven years. At last her virtue triumphed
over the ill will of the old man and house keeper.
During Lent,
1604, she visited her father at Dijon,
where St.
Francis de Sales was preaching at the Sainte Chapelle. She recognized
in him the mysterious director who
had been shown her, and placed herself under his guidance. Then began an
admirable correspondence between the two saints.
Unfortunately, the greater number of letters are no longer in existence,
as she destroyed them after the death of the holy bishop.
When she had assured the future security of children, and when she had provided
the education of
Celse-Bénigne, her fourteen year old son, whom she left to her father and her
brother, the Archbishop of Bourges,
she started for Annecy,
where God was
calling her to found the Congregation of the Visitation. She took her two
remaining daughters with her, the elder having recently married the
Baron of Thorens, a brother of St.
Francis de Sales. Celse-Bénigne, impetuous like those of her race, barred
his mother's way by lying across the threshold. Mme de Chantal stopped,
overcome: "Can the tears of a child shake her resolution?" said
a holy and
learned priest,
the tutor of Celse-Bénigne. "Oh! no", replied the saint,
"but after all I am a mother!" And she stepped over the child's
body.
The Congregation of
the Visitation was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity
Sunday, 6 June, 1610. Its aim was to receive, with a view to their
spiritual advancement, young girls and even widows who
had not the desire or strength to subject themselves to the austere ascetical practices
in force in all the religious orders
at that time. St.
Francis de Sales was especially desirous of seeing the realization of
his cherished method of attaining perfection, which consisted in always keeping
one's will united to the Divine will, in taking so to speak
one's soul,
heart, and longings into one's hands and giving them into God's keeping,
and in seeking always to do what is pleasing to Him. "I do always the
things that please him" (John
8:29). The two holy founders
saw their undertaking prosper. At the time of
the death of St.
Francis de Sales in 1622, the order already counted thirteen houses;
there were eighty-six when St. Jane Frances died; and 164 when she was canonized.
The remainder of
the saint's life
was spent under the protection of the cloister in
the practice of the most admirable virtues.
If a gentle kindness, vivified and strengthened by a complete spirit of
renunciation, predominates in St.
Francis de Sales, it is firmness and great vigour which prevails in St.
Jane Frances; she did not like to see her daughters giving way to human
weakness. Her trials were continuous and borne bravely,
and yet she was exceedingly sensitive. Celse-Bénigne was an incorrigible duellist.
She prayed so
fervently that he was given the grace to die a Christian
death on the battle-field, during the campaign against the Isle of Ré
(1627). He left a daughter who became the famous Marquise de Sévigné. To family troubles God added
interior crosses which, particularly during the last nine years of her life,
kept her in agony of soul from
which she was not freed until three months before her death.
Her reputation for sanctity was
widespread. Queens, princes, and princesses flocked to the reception-room of
the Visitation.
Wherever she went to establish foundations, the people gave her ovations.
"These people", she would say confused, "do not know me;
they are mistaken". Her body is venerated with
that of St.
Francis de Sales in the church of the Visitation at Annecy.
She was beatified in
1751, canonized in
1767, and 21 August was appointed as her feast
day.
The life of the saint was
written in the seventeenth century, with inimitable charm, by her secretary,
Mother de Chaugy. Monsignor
Bougaud, who died Bishop of Laval,
published in 1863 a "Histoire de Sainte Chantal" which had a great
and well-deserved success.
The words of the saint comprise
instructions on the religious
life, various minor works, among which is the admirable "Deposition
for the Process of Beatification of St. Francis de Sales", and a great
many letters. Thesaint's qualities are seen in her precise and vigorous
style, void of imagery but betraying a repressed emotion, and bursting forth
spontaneously from the heart, anticipating in its method the
beautiful French of the seventeenth century. The book which may be
called her masterpiece, "Réponses sur les Régles, Constitutions et
Coutumes", a truly practical and complete code of the religious
life, is not in circulation.
Pernin,
Raphael. "St. Jane Frances de Chantal." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910. 15
Mar. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08282c.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas. Dedicated to
Mary Ann Gregoregyk.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08282c.htm
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
St. Jane Frances de
Chantal, Widow and Abbess
Her life is written by
Dr. Henry de Maupas du Tour, bishop of Puy, in 4to., also in 12mo. by Mrs.
Louisa de Rabutin, who was married first to Monsieur de Daletz, and after his
death to Monsieur de la Ravière. This work has been often by mistake ascribed to
her father, Roger de Rabutin, count of Bussy, famous for several juvenile loose
productions of false wit, and more deservedly for his edifying repentance, by
which he endeavoured to repair that scandal, and to live sincerely to God,
after he had forsaken the court. See also her life compiled by Marsollier,
canon of Usez; and the lives of the first mother-superiors, and several other
nuns of the Visitation, published in four volumes, in 4to. by sister De Chaugy,
at Annecy, 1659.
A.D. 1641
THE FATHER of St. Jane de
Chantal was Benignus Fremiot, one of the presidents of the parliament of
Burgundy, famous for his loyalty to Henry IV., in opposing the league; also for
his great piety, and the modesty with which he refused the dignity of first
president, by which he showed himself the more worthy of that honour. By his
lady, Margaret de Berbisy, he had three children, Margaret, who was afterwards
married to the count of Effran; Jane, who was born at Dijon, on the 23d of
January, 1573; and Andrew, who died archbishop of Bourges. The president
Fremiot was left a widower by the death of his lady, whilst his children were
yet in their infancy; but he took such pious and prudent care of their
education that no assistance or instructions were wanting for forming them in
the most perfect sentiments and practice of every religious duty, and for
introducing them into life with advantage. Jane, who at her confirmation was
called Frances, profited by them above the rest, and was most tenderly beloved
by her father, who gave her in marriage when she was twenty years of age to the
Baron de Chantel, chief of the family of Rabutin, then twenty-seven years old,
an officer of distinction in the French army, and highly in favour with King
Henry IV. The marriage was solemnized at Dijon, and a few days after she went
with her husband to his seat at Bourbilly. She found a family, which, by the
absence of the master, had not been much accustomed to regularity, which she
made it her first care to establish. She was very attentive to see that all her
domestics were every day present at evening prayers; and at mass on Sundays and
great holidays in the parish church, on all other days at home. Regular hours
were assigned for meals, and every employment and duty was discharged with
great order, she being sensible that this is an indispensable part of virtue,
to which few things are more fatal than the confusion of a disorderly life or
family. During the frequent absence of her husband, who was obliged often to
attend the court or the army, she scarcely ever admitted any company, and never
stirred abroad, knowing how much this virtue is both the duty and the delight
of a good wife, in order to watch over her servants, children, and domestic
concerns, and to shun the snares of dissipation, levity, vanity, love of
trifling, and much loss of time, which insensibly sap the very foundations of a
virtuous life, and strike at the roots of a Christian spirit. Neither did she
indulge herself any time in sloth, or ever find any part of her time a burden, as
those ladies so often do, who, living in a perpetual round of empty amusements,
are sometimes cloyed with insipid pleasures, sometimes wearied with continual
noise and hurry, or ruffled by mortifications and affronts, always sick in
solitude, restless and impatient in their pursuits, longing for, and condemning
every thing in its turn; one hour dissolved in ease or vain joy, another
devoured by melancholy; the continual jest of their own foolish pride and
caprice, and a prey by fits to every spiritual passion. True virtue is
constant, uniform, and always calm, tasting in itself solid joys. A fervent
soul which looks upon every moment of time as infinitely precious, embraces and
improves it with an eagerness which never flattens, and inspires vigour even under
the severest trials of spiritual dryness. This pious lady employed all her
leisure hours either at her work or in the daily long exercises of prayer and
pious reading which she prescribed to herself. These devotions she at first
much abridged when her husband was at home, at which seasons her house was
usually full of company. 1 But,
afterwards repenting of this loss of time, and always finding the spirit of
piety much impaired in her by that dissipation and amusement or play, beyond
what necessity might excuse, she resolved, in 1601, no more, upon any such
pretence, to curtail her usual exercises; and from that time she so contrived
matters as neither to omit any of her devotions, nor to be wanting to any
office which charity, courtesy, or other duties of her station in the world
required of her. The Baron de Chantal was a nobleman of strict honour, and very
religious. Nor was any thing which the world could afford wanting to this pious
couple to complete the happiness of the married state. But God, who would reign
alone in the heart of our saint, prepared it for himself by the most sensible
sacrifice.
The baron, in
complaisance to a friend who was come to see him, went out one day a shooting;
and, as he had on a coat which resembled the colour of a deer, his friend,
mistaking him for one behind the bushes, shot him in the thigh. He survived
this accident nine days, during which time he received the holy sacraments in
the most edifying sentiments of resignation and piety, and caused his pardon of
the person by whom he had been shot to be recorded in the registers of the
parish church, strictly forbidding any one to prosecute or bring him into
trouble. He expired in the arms of his disconsolate lady, who was left a widow
at twenty-eight years of age, with one little son and three daughters; besides
which she had buried two children in their infancy. Her grief was not to be
expressed; yet she bore it with such a heroic constancy and resignation, that
she sometimes said she was surprised to see herself receive so grievous a shock
with so great contentedness and equanimity. In her desolate state, offering
herself to suffer whatever crosses God should be pleased to lay upon her, she
made an entire sacrifice of herself to him with the most perfect resignation,
and a vow of perpetual chastity. In the depth of this affliction she found an
extraordinary comfort and joy at the thought that she was now at liberty to
give herself more perfectly to the divine service; and she repeated to
God, Thou hast broken my bonds, and I will sacrifice to thee a victim of
praise. 2 The
more authentically to testify her perfect forgiveness of him who had been the
cause of her husband’s death, she studied constantly to do him every good
office in her power, and stood godmother to one of his children. According to
the rules laid down by St. Paul, St. Ambrose, and other holy fathers, to
sanctify the state of her widowhood, she proposed to herself a new plan of
life. A considerable part of the nights she spent in tears and prayers. She
redoubled her alms, distributed all her rich clothes among the poor, making a
vow not to wear any but what were made of linen; she discharged most of her
servants, giving all of them honourable recompenses; fasted much, lived
retired, and divided all her time between the instruction and care of her
children, her prayers, and her work. Such was her fervour, and so ardent her
desire of living perfectly to God alone, that she wished she could hide herself
in some desert, to be more removed from all worldly hindrances. She declared in
confidence, that had not her four little children been a tie upon her, too fast
for her conscience to get clear of, she believed she should have fled to the
Holy Land, and there ended the remainder of her days; and it was her earnest
and continual prayer, with many tears, that God would free her from whatever
could hinder her from loving and serving him, and that he would conduct her to
a truly holy spiritual guide, by whom she might be instructed in what manner
she might in all things best accomplish his adorable will. She then received in
her devotions many heavenly favours. One day, while she was earnestly begging
our Lord to bring her to a faithful guide who should conduct her to himself,
she saw on a sudden a man of the same stature and features with St. Francis of
Sales, in a black cassock with a rochet and cap on, just as he was the first
time she saw him afterwards at Dijon. Another time, being in a little wood, her
soul was in a rapture, and she desired to get into a church that was near, but
all in vain. Here it was given her to understand that divine love must consume
all the rust of self-love in her, and that she should meet with a great many
troubles both from within and without. Upon recovering herself, she found her
heart in wonderful joy in the Lord, insomuch that to suffer for God seemed to
her the food of love on earth, as his enjoyment is in heaven.
When the year of her
mourning was expired, her virtuous and tender father Fremiot sent for her to
his house at Dijon, where she pursued much the same manner of life, except that
she sometimes received visits from certain grave ladies who were of an advanced
age. A year after this she was obliged, by the affairs of her family, to go
with her children to Montelon, one league from Autun, to live with her
father-in-law, the old Baron de Chantal, who was then seventy-five years of
age. Her patience was there put to a continual severe trial by the perpetual
frowardness of the old gentleman, and the imperious carriage of a peevish
housekeeper, whose authority was absolute in the family. Jane never let fall
the least word of complaint, nor discovered the least sourness in her looks;
and her compliance in every thing was cheerful and agreeable. But she gave most
of her time to prayer, and on Sundays went to Autun which was three little
leagues off, to assist at sermons. It happened in the year 1604 that St. Frances
of Sales came to preach the Lent at Dijon, upon which occasion the devout widow
made a visit to her father Fremiot, that she might have the opportunity of
assisting at the sermons of that celebrated preacher, and eminent servant of
God. The first time she saw him she was much taken with his saintly deportment,
and was persuaded he was the spiritual director she had long begged of God to
send her, to conduct her soul in the most perfect paths of his holy love.
Before she spoke, the bishop knew her from a former vision, in which God had
manifested to him this future vessel of his grace. St. Francis dined frequently
at her father the president Fremiot’s house, and by hearing his familiar
discourse, she conceived a great confidence in him, and felt extraordinary
sentiments of devotion kindled in her breast. It was her earnest desire that
she might be allowed to lay open to him the interior state and dispositions of
her soul; but she was hindered by a scruple on account of a vow she had made,
by the advice of an indiscreet religious man, her director, not to address
herself to any other than to himself for spiritual advice. She, however took
great delight in hearing St. Francis’s discourses. One day the good bishop
seeing her dressed better than usual, said to her: “Madam, would not your
head-dress have been neat without this lace? and your handkerchief been good
enough without fringe?” The devout widow hereupon cut the fringe off upon the
spot, and the lace at night. The bishop, who knew that nothing is little that
is done with a desire perfectly to please God, was much delighted with her
ready obedience.
The perplexities about
her indiscreet vow, the resolution of which St. Francis referred to others,
being at length removed, she made several confessions to him, and a general one
of her whole life. At the same time she suffered severe interior trials by desolation
of soul, and alarming anxieties about her conduct, under which she received
great light and comfort by the wholesome councils of St. Francis. By his
advice, she so regulated her devotions and other exercises of virtue, as to
conform herself in her exterior to the will of others, and to what she owed to
the world whilst she lived in the houses of her father and father-in-law. This
conduct charmed every one, and made them say: “Madam prays always, yet is never
troublesome to any body.” She rose at five o’clock, always without a fire, and
without the attendance of a maid. She made an hour’s meditation; then called up
her children, and went with her family to mass. After dinner, she read the holy
scripture for half an hour; at evening catechised her children and some others
of the village: read again, and said her beads before supper; retired at nine
o’clock, said evening prayers with her children and family; after which, she
continued a long time in prayer alone. In the employments of the day, and even in
company, nothing seemed to interrupt the attention of her soul to God. She
mortified her taste in whatever she ate, yet without showing it; she wore a
hair-cloth, coarse linen, and very plain clothes; visited the poor who were
sick in the neighbourhood, watched whole nights by the bedside of those who
were dying, and among other distressed helpless persons, maintained one that
was covered with ulcers, which she used to dress with her own hands. The
constant sweetness and mildness of her temper showed how perfectly she had
already mortified her interior, and subdued her passions. This proved her
devotion to be solid, and rendered it amiable to men, as it was perfect before
God. St. Francis, whom she visited from time to time at Annecy after his return
thither, often admired the entire disengagement of her heart from all earthly
things, and the fervour and purity of affection with which she sought in all
things the will of God. Every morning she renewed her firm purpose of loving
and seeking the holy will of God alone in all her thoughts and actions,
desiring always to die to herself and to all creatures, that she might live
only to God, and making an oblation of herself to him without reserve. For a
token of this total dedication of herself to him, she wrote on her breast near
the seat of her heart the holy name of Jesus.
The more her soul strove
by self-denial and assiduous prayer to raise itself above the world, and its
low concerns, its wings expanded and unfolded themselves, and she discovered
new charms, and a greater light in the heavenly truths of religion, which then
seemed to have been folded and shut up before. The better to apply herself to
these great means of improving her heart in the divine love, she began to
entertain thoughts of renouncing the world. When she had disclosed this
inclination to St. Francis, he took some time to recommend the matter to God,
and at length proposed to her divers religious Orders. Her answer only was,
that she desired to embrace whatever state he judged most conducive to the
divine honour. He then mentioned his project of forming a new establishment of
a congregation of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. The pious widow embraced
the proposal with extreme joy; but the excessive grief of her aged father and
father-in-law, the tender age of her children, and the situation of the affairs
of her family, raised great obstacles to her design, and gave her much to
suffer. No one who lies under any obligations of justice to others, can,
without first discharging them, lawfully embrace any state incompatible with
them. Such circumstances point out what it is that God requires of a soul, and
in what state or means her perfection is to be sought. Some pretended the
obligation which Madame de Chantal owed to her children could not be complied
with, unless she remained with them in the world. St. Francis evinced, on the
contrary, that in a cloister she would be able to watch over their education
with no less vigilance, and perhaps, even with greater advantage to them, than
by continuing always with them; and this, which it was her indispensable duty
to provide for, she engaged herself still to do. After many violent struggles,
this consideration of prudence being settled, her aged father and father-in-law
gave their consent; but this they did with such floods of tears as would have
shook a constancy less heroic than hers. This conflict was a great sacrifice
especially in one of so dutiful and tender a soul; but the love of God, which
was her only view in this action, triumphed over the sentiments of nature; and
the same motive obliged her friends themselves at length to approve her
resolution, though it cost them so dear.
Before she left the world
she married her eldest daughter to St. Francis’s eldest nephew, the young Baron
de Thorens, which match was esteemed by all her friends very honourable and
advantageous. Her two younger daughters she determined to take with her; and
the one died in a short time in her arms; the other she afterwards married to
the Count de Toulonjon, a nobleman of great virtue, prudence, and honour. Her
son, the Baron de Chantal, was only fifteen years old, and him she left under
the care of her father, and of excellent tutors, and showed that his affairs
required no longer her presence, except to superintend his education, which she
engaged to do, and promised for that purpose still to visit him, which St.
Francis likewise engaged that she should do. Her reasons had perfectly
satisfied her father, father-in-law, and uncle the archbishop, who had long
opposed her resolution; nevertheless, though they agreed that her design was a
call of heaven, and neither against the rules of prudence nor any other duty,
yet the tenderness which nature inspired, raised a fresh storm when the time of
her parting came. Taking leave of her father-in-law, the old Baron de Chantal,
at Montelon, she fell on her knees, begged his pardon if she had ever
displeased him in anything, desired his blessing, and recommended her son to
him. The old gentleman, who was in his eighty-sixth year, appeared
inconsolable, and tenderly embracing her, wished her all happiness. The
inhabitants of Montelon, especially the poor, who thought that in her they lost
their all, expressed their grief by tears and loud lamentations. She made them
all a short exhortation, and recommended herself to their prayers. Thus she
took leave of them, and being accompanied by the Baron of Thorens, his lady,
her second daughter, and her son, and others, dined at Autun; but called on the
way to engage a good religious man to omit nothing in helping her father-in-law
to save his soul; and he kept his word. At Dijon she bade adieu to all her
neighbours; then casting herself at the feet of her aged father, she besought
him to bless her, and to take care of her son, whom she left with him. The
president, feeling his heart oppressed with unutterable grief, and bathed in
tears, said: “O my God! it is not for me to oppose your designs. It will cost
me my life. To you, O Lord, I offer this dear child; receive her, and be you my
comfort.” He then gave her his blessing, and lifted her up. Young Chantal, her
son, ran to her, clasped her about the neck, and by the most endearing
expressions, endeavoured to prevail with her to alter her resolution. When he
was not able to gain his point, he threw himself across the door. The holy
widow stepped over his body, but returned again, shedding some tears. With a
serene countenance she again took leave, checking the emotions of nature by
reflecting that her resolution having been judged, after the most mature
deliberation and advice, to be the call of heaven, it was her duty to follow
it, and a happiness and pleasure to make to God an entire sacrifice of all that
was most dear. Her journey to Annecy was prosperous; but she conducted the
Baron de Thorens and his lady to their seat, saw them settled, then returning
to Annecy, laid the foundation of her new institute at Annecy on Trinity
Sunday, 1610, the holy bishop having provided there a convent for that purpose.
Two other devout women took the habit with her, and were joined soon after by
ten others.
The Cardinal of
Marquemont, archbishop of Lyons, having persuaded St. Francis to change the
plan of this congregation so far as to make it a religious Order, that it might
be rendered of a more lasting continuance, the pious widow and her companions
made their solemn vows in his hands. The holy founder would have the two sister
virtues of humility and meekness to be the basis of this rule. “In the practice
of virtues,” said he to our saint and her religious sisters, “let humility be
the source of all the rest; let it be without bounds; make it the reigning
principle of all your actions. Let an unalterable meekness and sweetness in all
events become by habits natural to you.” He gave them excellent instructions on
the great duty of prayer, that heavenly exercise being the chief fruit and end
of religious retirement. Speaking of the adorable sacrifice of the altar, he
said to St. Jane, “The mass is the sun of spiritual exercises, the heart of
devotion, the centre of our divine religion. Unite your heart in it with the
church triumphant and militant, which joins itself here in one body with
Christ, its sacred head, through him to drawn down by a holy violence the mercy
of the Father upon us.” He inculcated to his spiritual children the necessity
of mortifying the senses; for the flesh having been partner in the sin of our
first parents, and continuing to be so in the revolt against the spirit, it is
to be chastised, subdued, and crucified; and the senses being the avenues of
the soul, are the instruments by which the passions are inflamed, and these
never can be governed, unless those inlets be strictly guarded and curbed.
Hence the obligation of exterior mortification is so strongly inculcated in the
law of the gospel; neither can any one hope to obtain the mastery of his
interior, and to possess or govern his soul without this extrinsic succour. Yet
St. Francis did not enjoin by this rule any great austerities, that it might be
accommodated to the weakest constitutions, and might be less liable to the
danger of pernicious relaxations creeping in under the cloak of frequent
dispensations. But then he pointed out a constant crucifixion of the senses by
little denials; for he had observed the dangerous mistake of some, who,
professing austere rules, are so far strangers to the spirit of their
institute, and of their holy founders, as to flatter themselves the
extraordinary rigours they practise are to be compensated by other indulgences.
Whilst under this pretence they allow themselves many liberties, they in a
great measure forfeit the advantages of their other mortifications, and the
senses, by being sometimes indulged with excess and delicacy, remain headstrong
and untamed. Some degrees of relaxation on certain occasions are reasonable and
necessary in all states; but a loose is never to be given to the
senses in eating and drinking, or in any other point. If the rule prescribed by
St. Francis was in this respect milder than many others, and seemed more easy
in practice, he, on the other side, allowed no mitigation in the essential
interior mortification of the will and the passions. Many have the courage to
renounce exterior things, as St. Gregory observes; but very few can find in
their hearts truly to die to themselves. For want of this, many who are
virtuous and devout in appearance, will be found to have heaped up nothing but
false virtues, and often in their very fasts and prayers to have offered
sacrifices which were abominable in the sight of God, because infected with the
stinking poison of self-love; nor is it enough to banish self-will in greater
vices so long as it is suffered still to fortify itself in smaller inordinate
attachments. The least of these is a tie which fastens the soul to the earth,
and an obstacle to the reign of the pure love of God in her. This lesson St.
Francis strongly inculcates to his spiritual daughters. “We must die,” said he, 3 “that
God may live in us. It is impossible to procure the union of our souls with God
by any other means. These words seem hard; but they are followed with others of
incomparable sweetness, that by this death we are united to God.” He taught
them, that the principal means by which we are thus to die to ourselves, are
perfect obedience to superiors, and entire resignation to the divine will, so
as never to ask, never to refuse anything in diet, or such temporal things;
never to be disturbed or uneasy in any concerns. “You ask,” said he again, 4 “what
I desire should remain most deeply engraven on your mind. Ah! what shall I say
to you, my most dear daughters, but these two words: Desire nothing, refuse
nothing. For this document compriseth the perfect doctrine of indifferency of
the will. Behold, the little Jesus in the crib refuseth nothing, cold, poverty,
nakedness, the company of beasts, all the injuries of the season, and whatever
his Father permitted. Neither did he refuse those little comforts which his
mother offered him. Even so we ought to receive equally all that Providence
shall permit to befal us,” &c.
By these excellent maxims
did our saint regulate her conduct, and she never ceased to inculcate the same,
both by word and example, to her religious sisters. She taught them by humility
to love and receive well reprimands and correction; for our souls are
spiritually sick, and must rejoice to be pared and cut, to receive their
polish, suffering cheerfully the fire and the lancet of humiliations and
mortification. The greatest mark of true humility and perfect virtue is, if a
soul loves to be humbled and corrected. St. Jane exhorted her nuns to complete
in themselves, by a devout spirit of prayer, the work which they began by
humility, obedience, and self-denial. She instructed them to repeat acts of
divine love, a hundred and a hundred times a-day, by ejaculatory aspirations,
by them darting their affections towards God, and continually offering to him
their hearts and all their actions. Being scrupulously exact in the least
circumstances relating to the divine service, she taught all under her care the
same spirit of religion. Once hearing a noise made in a chamber under the
chapel whilst the blessed sacrament was exposed, to repair that fault, of
irreverence, or inadvertence, she at dinner asked pardon of God for her
sisters, kissed their feet, and dined on the floor, which is an ordinary
humiliation and penance in many religious communities. When some of the sisters
did not rise instantly at the toll of the bell for the divine office, she gave
a public reprimand with many tears, saying: “If we reflect that it is the voice
of God which calls us to pay him our homage, we should not loiter one moment.”
But a detail of her admirable lessons, and the edifying instances of her
charity, meekness, and all virtues, would be too long for this place, but may
be read in her life written by the Bishop of Puy, and again by Marsollier. Soon
after she had made her religious profession, she desired to make a vow of doing
in every action what she thought most perfect or most pleasing to God; which
she did with the approbation of St. Francis, who said he knew the constant
fervour and perfection of her soul in labouring always to accomplish such a
vow, which never can be allowed, except to persons in whom the most perfect
habits of fervour have taken the deepest root. 5 This
saint was afflicted with frequent painful sicknesses, and suffered for some
time many grievous interior trials from a scrupulous fear of offending God. But
it appears from the state of her interior, as she laid it open to her holy
director, that she frequently received extraordinary consolations and favours
from God. Her sickness seemed to her physicians sometimes to proceed from the
ardour of the divine love with which she was consumed. In one of her letters to
St. Francis, she said: “The whole world would die of love for so amiable a God,
if I could make it feel the sweetness which a soul tastes in loving him.”
The affairs of her
children, after the death of her father, and the foundation of many new
convents at Lyons, Grenoble, Bourges, Dijon, Moulins, Nevers, Orleans, and
Paris, obliged her often to leave Annecy. The very same year that she took the
habit, upon the death of her pious father, she went to Dijon, and staid there
some months to settle her affairs, and place her son in the academy. She
afterwards procured his marriage with Miss Mary de Coulange, a beautiful,
virtuous, and rich young lady. At Paris she met with a violent persecution; but
God strengthened and comforted her under it; and by the example of her
astonishing meekness and patience, rendered her the admiration of those who had
been her most bitter adversaries. She governed her convent at Paris for three
years, from 1619 to 1622. In the following year, the death of St. Francis was a
grievous affliction to her, which, nevertheless, her perfect resignation to the
divine will made her to bear with unshaken constancy. It was her happiness to
bury his body with great honour in the church of her convent at Annecy. Her son
having prepared himself for battle, by devoutly receiving the sacraments, was
killed fighting against the Huguenots, in the isle of Rhé, in 1627, and in the
thirty-first year of his age, leaving a new married lady, with a daughter not a
year old, who was the celebrated Madame de Sevigné. 6 St.
Jane received this afflicting news, which drew tears from strangers, with such
an heroic fortitude and entire submission to the divine appointments, as
astonished those who were with her. Upon any sudden affliction she used to
offer her heart to God, saying: “Destroy, cut, burn, whatever opposes your holy
will.” Her daughter-in-law de Chantel was snatched away in 1631, leaving her
only daughter five years old. The very next day after she had received this
melancholy news, she heard that of the death of her son-in-law, the Count
Toulonjon, whom she most tenderly loved, and who died at Pignerol, of which he
was governor. Our saint neglected nothing to comfort the young widow her
daughter. Exterior trials, how severe soever, were light in comparison of the
interior anguish, darkness, and spiritual dryness which she sometimes
experienced for a considerable time, as appears from several of her letters,
quoted by the bishop of Puy. Good God! how adorable are the designs of your
providence! You suffer those souls which are most dear to you seemingly to lose
themselves in labyrinths, to wander in mists and darkness, amidst various
disturbances of mind. Yet these are certain and direct paths to happiness; and
with infinite wisdom do you make them lead to yourself, the source and centre
of all light. So sweetly, through your mercy, do all things work together to
the good of your elect. This saint was in return often favoured with
extraordinary consolations.
By all her trials, and by
her constant love and practice of the most heroic humility, patience, meekness,
charity, and obedience, she laboured assiduously to overcome herself, and to
gain and maintain an absolute ascendant of the superior part of her soul over
the inferior. She never ceased inculcating to her religious sisters the
necessity of continually renouncing and dying to ourselves, out of a great
desire of pleasing God; for by this is the servant of God styled the strong
woman, because she courageously and earnestly puts her hand to the most
difficult task of conquering and subduing herself. “Our Saviour,” said the
saint to her nuns, “has annexed the prize of his love and of eternal glory to
the victory we gain over ourselves. Your intention in coming to the visitation
is to disunite yourselves from yourselves, in order to be united to God. It is
a little field, where, unless one die to oneself, there will be no reaping of
fruits. You can only upon this condition be spouses of Jesus Christ, that by
crucifying your judgment, your will, and your inclinations, you may become like
to him. This spouse of your hearts makes you climb up, and draws you after him
to the top of Mount Calvary, where, crowned with thorns, he suffers himself to
be stripped, nailed, despised, and afflicted with a thousand and a thousand
unspeakable sharp torments. It is your part to continue there with him,
endeavouring to imitate him by an entire conformity in two points. The first
is, to get clear of yourselves, and with constancy aspire to perfection. We
come from the world rough, unpolished, and full of evil inclinations, which we
must labour to cut away. Unless we strike off these irregularities, we can
never square with him, who is perfect and holy. The second point is, to suffer
your hearts to be mortified, pared, and bent as is thought expedient, by
obedience, and an entire resignation of yourselves into the hands of those who
direct you, with perfect simplicity. Let them or the hand of God strike where
you feel it most. If you resist, you cannot become the spouses of Christ
crucified, nor attain to perfection. On the contrary, if in good earnest you
abandon and renounce yourselves, you will find an incomparable sweetness in
God’s service, and it will be your delight to trample on self-love for the
advancing of the kingdom of grace. It is the reward God promised to the
conqueror. “I will give them a hidden manna,” says he; which upon the first
tasting it, will give them a loathing of all the delights which the whole earth
affords. But take notice, that you must conquer before you can taste this
manna; for it is not afforded to the cowardly, but reserved for souls of
valour, courage, and resolution, that are absolutely determined to sacrifice
all, without reserving any thing for themselves; they who leave nothing alive,
but kill every evil inclination, will have a title to all. But this violence
ought to be sweet and gentle, though firm and constant. O my children, kill
boldly and courageously your enemy. By its death you will gain peace and life.
I know one who has made an unspeakable progress by this method of overcoming
himself in every respect; he is advanced in his way in a little time much
further than many others less resolved in the business of self-denial.” On
another occasion, our saint bitterly deplored the blindness and misery of many
souls who practise exercises of devotion; but being of an unmortified and
self-conceited temper, reap little benefit, but rather fall more easily into
pride, and imagine they are in a state to which they are utterly strangers.
Being once consulted by letter about a religious person who seemed to live in
great virtue, and to receive extraordinary graces, she wrote back: “You have
sent me the leaves of the tree; send me likewise some of its fruit, that I may
judge of it; for I matter not the leaves. Now the fruits of a good heart which
God waters and nourishes with his grace, are a total forgetfulness of itself, a
great love of humiliations, and an universal joy and satisfaction in every
body’s good.”
Thus did our excellent
directress of souls in the paths of virtue study first to draw them from themselves,
and to vanquish in them all inordinate attachments and evil inclinations, in
order to carry them towards God; to whom souls which are perfectly disentangled
from earthly things, are wonderfully united by divine love, and its main source
and vital action, a spirit of prayer. As to the manner of holy meditation or
prayer, she advised that persons be instructed how to excite pious affections,
and form good resolutions in that exercise; but would have them allowed to
follow these affections according to their own devotion, and the motions of the
Holy Ghost. She exhorted strenuously to perseverance, and if distractions
molest us, to make a prayer of patience, humbly and lovingly begging God to be
our support, and to inspire us with a desire of loving and praising him, and
the like. To pray always is a lesson she often repeated to her religious,
saying, that the heart ought to be praying and loving while we are at our
recreation, work, speaking, or resting; which is the meaning of the spouse,
when she says: “I sleep, but my heart watcheth.” In a time of spiritual
dryness, when she found her heart dull in its inward operations, she wrote a
prayer made up of various acts of love, praise, thanksgiving, compunction, and
supplications for herself, friends, enemies, sinners, the dead, and whatever
she desired to ask of God; and this paper she carried day and night at her
neck, having made this amorous compact with our Lord, that as often as she
pressed it on her heart, it should express her intention of repeating all these
acts with the utmost fervour of which she was capable. Of the same nature is a
desire by repeating Amen, to assent to, and join in all the acts of love and
praise, which the heavenly spirits and all God’s servants on earth offer
without intermission, and in the supplications of the latter. A pestilence
raged violently two years at Annecy. The duke and duchess of Savoy endeavoured
several ways to engage our saint to provide for her safety by flight. But she
could not be induced to abandon her dear flock; and by her exhortations, alms,
and prayers, exceedingly alleviated the public calamity in that city. Her whole
community was by a singular providence preserved from the contagion. In 1638
the duchess royal of Savoy called her to Turin, to found there the convent of
her Order. She was soon after invited to Paris by the queen of France, and to
her extreme mortification, was treated there with the greatest distinction and
honour imaginable. In her return she fell ill of a fever, with a peripneumony or
inflammation of the lungs, by which she was detained on the road in her convent
at Moulins. There it was that, having received the last sacraments, and given
her last instructions to her nuns, she, with wonderful tranquillity, died the
death of the saints on the 13th of December, 1641, being sixty-nine years old.
Her mortal remains were conveyed with great honour to Annecy. Among several
visions of her glory, St. Vincent of Paul, who had been her confessor at Paris,
was favoured with one, about which he consulted the bishop of Paris, a
judicious monk, and some other learned men. Though he carefully concealed the
divine gifts and favours, yet for the glory of this great servant of God, he
left an authentic verbal process of this vision, but as of a third person. In
it he says he had never been favoured with any vision relating to the glory of
any other saint, and that he had always the highest opinion of the sanctity of
this pious lady. He tells us, that upon the news of her sickness he was praying
for her with great earnestness, when he saw a little shining ball, as it were,
of fire rising from the earth, and meeting in the air another larger ball of
fire; both which mounted up to the heavens, and buried themselves in an immense
bright fire, which, as an interior voice told him in a very distinct manner,
represented the divine essence, and the other two balls the souls of blessed
Jane Frances Chantal, and St. Francis of Sales. Soon after he heard of her
death, and was struck with a sudden apprehension lest she might have committed
some venial sin in some of the words she had spoken to him, though he always
regarded her as a person accomplished in all virtues, and one of the most holy
souls he ever knew. In this fear he prayed for her with greater fervour than before,
and he was that instant favoured with the same vision a second time. From that
moment he was fully persuaded to the certainty of her glory. 7 Several
miracles are related by the bishop of Puy to have been performed by her, some
whilst she was living, others through her intercession, and by her relics after
her death. Among others, he mentions a young nun at Nemers, in the county of
Maine, who had been struck with a palsy, and confined to her bed seven weeks in
the most deplorable and helpless condition; but was on a sudden perfectly
restored to her health, and the use of her limbs, by invoking this servant of
God, who was then lately deceased. Whilst the community was singing the Te
Deum for this miracle, another nun, who was grievously afflicted with
sickness, and whose legs were swelled to an enormous size, begged the like
favour through the intercession of this saint, and found herself no less suddenly
sound and well, so that the choir sung a second Te Deum in
thanksgiving immediately after the first. Several other miracles were proved
before commissaries, and declared authentic in the process of her
beatification, which was performed, and the decree published, by Pope Benedict
XIV. in 1751, who commanded her name to be inserted in the Roman Martyrology.
Clement XIV. by a decree, 2nd September, 1769, fixed her feast on the 21st of
August.
The favourite maxims
which this saint inculcated to her spiritual children regarded humility,
meekness, and charity. “Humility,” said she, 8 “consists
in this, that when others humble us, we humble ourselves still more; when
others accuse us, we add to their accusations; when we are employed in mean
offices, we sincerely own it is more than we deserve; when we are cast by, we
are well content. A religious person cannot give a more evident mark of pride
and incapacity, than to think herself capable of anything. Did we but know how
strangely those souls affront the Spirit of God who raise themselves, or make
ostentation by vanity, we should be ready to pray that fire might fall from
heaven upon us, rather than to be guilty of this vice. I wish I could engrave
this maxim with my blood. I could wish my lips were bored with a hot iron, on
condition that the mouths of the religious might be always shut against the
least word that breaks in upon humility.” The saint will have mildness to be so
perfect by our assiduity in practising it with the most heroic dispositions,
that it becomes, as it were, the natural and constant frame of our souls, which
no provocation must ever disturb. Our saint had a wonderful address in
tempering corrections and reproofs with such tenderness and charity, as to give
no one uneasiness; also in concealing and bearing all personal injuries, and in
repaying slanders, curses, and affronts with blessings and favours. Her
exhortations to her sisters to bear with one another’s burdens, and to suffer
nothing ever to cool the sweetness of their charity towards every one, were
most pathetic and earnest; and she often put them in mind in what school we are
educated. “With whom,” said she, “did Jesus Christ converse? With a traitor,
who sold him at a cheap rate; with a thief, who reviled him in his last
moments; with sinners and proud Pharisees. Ah! shall we, at every shadow of an
affront or contradiction, show how little charity and patience we have!” She
was ever inculcating how enormous the sin of speaking against one’s neighbour
is; especially where there is the least shadow of envy or spite: and she often
repeated, that whoever were guilty of it, deserved to have their tongues cut
out; wishing, that by the loss of her own she could prevent this foul sin ever
happening among her religious sisters.
Note 1. To make a
round of amusements or idle visits the business of life, is to degrade the
dignity of a rational being, and to sink beneath the very brutes. Anciently not
only amongst the Hebrews, who enjoyed the light of faith and religion, but also
amongst the Gentiles, queens and empresses are always found in Homer and other
writers at their looms or distaffs, or busy in their domestic concerns, never
idle, or at play. Augustus Cæsar wore no other clothes than such as his wife
and daughter had spun or made with their own hands. Nature stands in need of
relaxation for the exercise of the body and unbending of the mind; but this may
be so contrived as to be useful and serious. At least it ought never to swallow
up too much of our precious time. It is not to be expressed how much any
passion for trifling amusements unsettles, enervates, and debases the mind, and
unhinges the whole frame of the soul; how strong an aversion to business, and
how torpid a sloth it generates; also what loathings, and how much emptiness,
fickleness, and bitterness, everywhere attend and pursue it. When through a
degeneracy of soul many shrunk first from a serious turn of mind, they chose
diversions which were martial and laborious. To the dregs of corruption in
manners was reserved the invention of slothful games and amusements. Cards, the
modish diversion of this age, were first discovered at the French court in the
fourteenth century. F. Daniel (Diss. sur l’Origine du Jeu de Piquet,
trouvée dans l’Histoire de France, published in the Mémoires de Trevoux, an.
1720) thinks in the reigns of Charles VI. and VII. For the names and
numbers of the cards admirably agree, by elegant allusions, to the persons and
transactions of that time. Mr. Bullet, professor at Besançon, to whom the
Mémoires sur la Langue Celtique have acquired an immortal reputation, published,
in 1757, a pamphlet entitled, Recherches Historiques sur les Cartes à Jouer,
avec des Notes Critiques, wherein he corrects several mistakes of FF.
Menestrier and Daniel on this subject, and demonstrates that cards were
invented four or five years before the death of Charles V., and that they
consist of military allusions. Even the queens have a relation to the combats
of chivalry, in which the ladies had a great share. This game was soon after
introduced in England, as appears from the word knave, for valet or
servant; which it then signified with us, as appears from Wickliff’s New
Testament, kept in Westminster library, &c., where we read, Paul, the
knave of Jesus Christ. Games at cards, in which chance is chiefly
predominant, fall under the censure of games of hazard, which the laws of
religion and natural justice capitally condemn. Those games at cards in which
dexterity and skill prevail, can only be tolerated or allowed when the play is
not deep, and there is no danger either of losing much time at it, or of
contracting an attachment to it. [back]
Note 2. Ps.
cxv. [back]
Note 3. Entert.
20. [back]
Note 4. Ibid.
21. [back]
Note 5. See Collet
de Voto, S. Teresa, and S. Andrew Avellini’s lives. [back]
Note 6. This
daughter, Mary of Rabutin, heiress to her family, was afterwards married to
Henry, marquis of Sevigné, and has left to the latest posterity an authentic
monument of her lively and agreeable genius, good taste, and judgment in the
easy, genteel, and spirited style of her letters, full of wit and dignity, and
an unrivalled model of a familiar epistolary style, especially in her letters
to her beloved daughter, the Countess of Grignan. The letters which she did not
write with her own hand, but only dictated, are in every respect much inferior
to the former; and those who added the latter volumes to the two first, have,
by serving the booksellers, injured the world and her memory, and passed a
gross imposition on the public. The best edition of her letters, is that put
out by Perrin in 1734. [back]
Note 7. Collet, Vie
de S. Vincent, t. 1, l. 4, p. 342. [back]
Note 8. See her
maxims in her life by Maupas and Marsollier. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/212.html
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
Tableau
représentant sainte Jeanne de Chantal et saint François de Sales offrant leur
coeur à la Vierge dans la cathédrale Saint-Siffrein de Carpentras (Vaucluse).
St. Jane Frances de
Chantal
Feastday: August 12
What a way to start a
marriage! Jane no sooner arrived at her new home then she discovered she might
lose it. Her husband, Christophe, had not only inherited the title of baron but
enormous debts as well.
But Jane had not come to
the marriage empty-handed. She brought with her a deep faith instilled
by her father who made daily religious discussion fun, allowing the children to talk
about anything -- even controversial topics. She also brought a good-hearted
way that made a friend comment, "Even stupid jokes were funny when she
told them."
These qualities helped
the twenty-year-old French woman take
charge by personally organizing and supervising every detail of the estate, a
method which not only brought the finances under control but won her employees'
hearts as well.
Despite the early
financial worries, she and her husband shared "one heart and one
soul." They were devoted to each other and to their four children.
One way Jane shared her
blessings was by giving bread and soup personally to the poor who came to her
door. Often people who had just received food from her would pretend to leave,
go around the house and get back in line for more. When asked why she let these
people get away with this, Jane said, "What if God turned
me away when I came back to him again and again with the same request?"
Her happiness was
shattered when Christophe was killed in a hunting accident. Before he died, her
husband forgave the man who
shot him, saying to the man, "Don't commit the sin of
hating yourself when you have done nothing wrong." The heartbroken Jane,
however, had to struggle with forgiveness for a long time. At first she tried
just greeting him on the street. When she was able to do that, she invited him
to her house. Finally she was able to forgive the man so
completely that she even became godmother to his child.
These troubles opened her
heart to her longing for God and
she sought God in prayer and a deepening
spiritual life. Her commitment to God impressed
Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop who
became her director and best friend. Their friendship started before they even
met, for them saw each other in dreams, and continued in letters throughout
their lives.
With Francis' support,
Jane founded the Visitation order for women who were rejected by other orders
because of poor health or age. She even accepted a woman who
was 83 years old. When people criticized her, she said, "What do you want
me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side." She believed that
people should have a chance to live their calling regardless of their health.
Still a devoted mother,
she was constantly concerned about the materialistic ways of one of her
daughters. Her daughter finally asked her for spiritual direction as
did may others, including an ambassador and her brother, an archbishop. Her
advice always reflected her very gentle and loving approach to spirituality:
"Should you fall
even fifty times a day, never on any account should that surprise or worry you.
Instead, ever so gently set your heart back in the right direction
and practice the opposite virtue, all the time speaking
words of love and trust to our Lord after
you have committed a thousand faults, as much as if you had committed only one.
Once we have humbled ourselves for the faults God allows
us to become aware of in ourselves, we must forget them and go forward."
She died in 1641, at
sixty-nine years of age.
In Her Footsteps
We have been told
the secret of happiness is
finding: finding yourself, finding love, finding the right job.
Jane believed the secret of happiness was
in "losing," that we should "throw ourselves into God as a
little drop of water into the sea, and lose ourselves indeed in the Ocean of
the divine goodness." She advised a man who
wrote to her about all the afflictions he suffered "to lose all these
things in God. These words produced such an effect in the soul, that he wrote
me that he was wholly astonished, and ravished with joy."
Today, when any thoughts
or worries come to mind, send them out into the ocean of God's love that
surrounds you and lose them there. If any feelings come into your heart --
grief, fear, even joy or longing, send those out into the ocean of God's love.
Finally, send your whole self, like a drop, into God. There is no past no
future, here or there. There is only the infinite ocean of God.
Prayer: Saint Jane, you
forgave the man who
killed your husband. Help me learn to forgive a particular person in
my life who
has caused me harm. You know how difficult it is to forgive. Help me to take
the steps you took to welcome this person back
into my life. Amen
*In the USA, Jane Frances
de Chantal's feast day was
moved to August 12 in order to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on
December 12.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=60
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
Église
Saint-Honoré-d'Eylau (vitrail) - Paris XVI
Bleiglasfenster
in der Kirche Saint-Honoré d'Eylau (Avenue Raymond-Poincaré im 16.
Arrondissement von Paris), Darstellung: Johanna Franziska von Chantal.
Hersteller des Fensters: Félix
Gaudin nach einem Karton von Raphaël Freida.
Catholic
Heroes… St. Jane Frances De Chantal
March 7, 2019
By CAROLE BRESLIN
In the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church was reeling from the Protestant Reformation, which led to the Council of Trent (1545-1563) to renew the Church. In addition, God provided many holy men and women to help usher in a spiritual revival as well. Some of those champions of the Counter Reformation were St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), and St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641).
Jane came from noble roots. Her father was prominent as the royalist president of the Parliament of Burgundy, France. Jane was born in Dijon on January 23, 1572, an only child. A pious, faithful Catholic, Jane’s father ensured that she received proper formation when her mother died in July 1573. Jane was only 18 months old.
Jane grew into a truly lovely, sophisticated woman much sought after in marriage. She had an ebullient personality and was always cheerful. These qualities continued in her marriage to Baron Christophe de Chantal when she was 21 years old. They lived happily at the Bourbilly castle, but Jane then discovered the heavy debts of the family. Since her husband was frequently away, Jane learned to run the estate and soon the financial position greatly improved under her management.
Christophe and Jane were only married eight years when he was accidently killed in a hunting accident. Already bereft of her mother, stepmother, sister, and two children, this left Jane with four children to raise by herself. Jane could not find it in her heart to forgive the man who had accidentally shot her husband.
Nevertheless, she resolved to manage what her husband had left her and did so very well. Her father-in-law resented her presence after the loss of his son and treated her poorly, but she valiantly tried to treat him with respect.
Perhaps his resentment began when Jane gave away the couple’s jewels and elaborate clothing to local churches to be used for vestments and revenue. She also served the poor by setting up soup kitchens, baking bread, and tending the sick. Even with such generosity, she still had one fault blocking the road to holiness — her seeming inability to forgive.
Jane also suffered from an embittered housekeeper, who undermined her efforts to manage the estates, even though Jane included the woman’s children in education there. She suffered ridicule, insults, and arrogance, all of which only served to increase her virtues, especially patience and charity.
Three years after her husband’s death, Jane still prayed for the grace to forgive. She went to Sainte-Chapelle in 1604 and heard a sermon by the bishop of Geneva, France, St. Francis de Sales. Subsequently, Jane approached St. Francis and he became her spiritual director. She then came to forgive her husband’s killer, and she also sought to become a nun.
St. Francis recommended that she postpone such a great decision. He encouraged her to live a life of holiness as a mother rather than enter a cloister. After eight years as a widow, Jane provided for her children, and with the approval of her father, and her brother, who was the bishop of Bourges, St. Francis gave her permission to enter the religious life.
Jane then left for Annecy, southwest of Dijon near the French Alps. In cooperation with St. Francis de Sales, she established the Order of the Visitation nuns on June 6, 1610, Trinity Sunday. Her hope was to found an order open for women who had been rejected by other orders because of old age or poor health. The order was erected by Pope Paul V in 1618 and solemnly approved by Pope Urban VII in 1626.
Another great difference in this new Congregation of the Visitation — as it was called — was that the women were not cloistered. These religious would engage in active ministry which brought no small amount of controversy. Up until this time in the Church, women religious stayed in cloisters and did not go outside the convents in active ministry. Thus, St. Francis de Sales was forced to make it a cloistered community under the Augustinian model.
The new focus of the women became to reach God by interior mortification and following the movements of the Divine Will with the greatest love as outlined in the Catholic classic, Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales.
Since this congregation included women of poor health and the elderly, some of the austerities of living in a cloister were eased. For example, the practice of raising at midnight and 3 a.m. to say Matins and Lauds was dispensed. Instead they prayed the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Likewise, sleeping on hard surfaces and perpetual abstinence were not required.
These lessened temporal or exterior practices were replaced by mortifying interior ones such as detachment. Obedience was to be practiced “carefully, faithfully, promptly, simply, frankly, and cordially.” In short, the chief rules of the Visitation did nothing to weaken the body, but nothing was spared in mortifying the spirits.
The new congregation won great respect from all walks of life. Jane’s reputation for sanctity and her administrative abilities won many followers and benefactors. Aristocratic women visited frequently and gave generously to the support of the new order.
As a result, Jane traveled around France opening new houses for the Visitation ladies, such as in Lyons, Moulins, Grenoble, Bourges, and Paris. During this time, St. Francis de Sales passed away in 1622. Jane felt a deep loneliness, thinking she must be a bad, worthless fruit left on a tree after Our Lord had taken all the good fruit.
In December 1641, Jane fell ill during a visit to the Moulins monastery. She joyfully anticipated the call of her Bridegroom. She prepared by writing her final circular letter to the Visitation houses. She made a firm act of faith and received Viaticum with great love and devotion.
With her last breaths she carefully and clearly spoke the name of Jesus three times. Jane died at the age of 69 on December 13 in Moulins, France. She was buried in Annecy next to St. Francis de Sales. Jane had outlived her son, who was a soldier. She also outlived two of her daughters and left extensive correspondence.
On November 21, 1751, Pope Benedict XIV beatified Jane Frances de Chantal. Pope Clement XIII canonized her on July 16, 1767. Her feast is celebrated on December 12. At the time of the canonization there were 164 houses of the Visitation. The great apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), belonged to the Visitation Order.
In 2017, there were 160 Visitation monasteries throughout the world.
Dear St. Jane Frances de Chantal, with what fire did your heart burn with the
love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. You were so blessed to have such a wonderful
spiritual director in St. Francis de Sales. Help us, we pray, and ask the
Sacred Heart to send us an abundance of holy and faithful spiritual directors
for parents and religious both. How desperately we need guidance in following
Christ and remaining faithful to His teachings. Help us, we pray. Amen.
(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four
daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for
eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian
Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
SOURCE : https://thewandererpress.com/saints/catholic-heroes-st-jane-frances-de-chantal/
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Santa
Giovanna Francesca Frémiot de Chantal, fondatrice dell'Ordine Ordine della
Visitazione di Santa Maria
Saint
Jane Frances de Chantal, foundress of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary,
circa 1850, Monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Toledo, Ohio (US)
Santa Giovanna
Francesca de Chantal Religiosa
- Memoria Facoltativa
Digione, Francia, 1572 -
Moulins, Francia, 13 dicembre 1641
La vita di Giovanna
Frémiot è legata indissolubilmente alla figura di Francesco di Sales, suo
direttore e guida spirituale, e di cui fu seguace e al tempo stesso ispiratrice
e collaboratrice. Nata a Digione nel 1572, a vent'anni sposò il barone de
Chantal, da cui ebbe numerosi figli. Rimasta vedova, avvertì sempre di più il
desiderio di ritirarsi dal mondo e di consacrarsi a Dio. Sotto la guida di
Francesco di Sales, diede vita a una nuova fondazione intitolata alla
Visitazione e destinata all'assistenza dei malati. L'Istituto si diffuse
rapidamente nella Savoia e nella Francia. Ben presto seguirono Giovanna,
diventata suor Francesca, numerose ragazze, le Visitandine, come erano chiamate
e universalmente note le suore dell'Isituto. Prima della sua morte, avvenuta a
Moulins il 13 dicembre del 1641, le case della Visitazione erano 75, quasi
tutte fondate da lei. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Giovanna = il
Signore è benefico, dono del Signore, dall'ebraico
Martirologio Romano: Santa Giovanna Francesca Frémiot de Chantal, religiosa: dal suo matrimonio cristiano ebbe sei figli, che educò alla pietà; rimasta vedova, percorse alacremente sotto la guida di san Francesco di Sales la via della perfezione, dedicandosi alle opere di carità soprattutto verso i poveri e i malati; diede inizio all’Ordine della Visitazione di Santa Maria, che diresse pure con saggezza. Il suo transito avvenuto a Moulins sulle rive dell’Allier vicino a Nevers in Francia ricorre il 13 dicembre.
(13 dicembre: Nel monastero della Visitazione a Moulins in Francia,
anniversario della morte di santa Giovanna Francesca Frémiot de Chantal, la cui
memoria si celebra il 12 agosto).
Nella storia della Chiesa
troviamo alcuni casi in cui uomo e donna hanno agito insieme nel cammino della
santità, ricordiamo così Francesco e Chiara, Elzeario di Sabran e Delfina di
Glandève, Teresa d’Avila e Giovanni della Croce, Benedetto e Scolastica, Luigi
e Zelia Martin (genitori di santa Teresina di Lisieux), Giulia e Carlo Tancredi
di Barolo, i coniugi Beltrame. Altra “coppia” sorprendente fu quella composta
da san Francesco di Sales e Giovanna Francesca Frémyot de Chantal. Fu infatti
grazie all’incontro con il vescovo di Ginevra che Giovanna definì il suo
percorso di santità.
I francesi la chiamano
sainte Chantal e la venerano ad Annecy, dove riposa accanto a san Francesco di
Sales.
Nasce a Digione il 23
gennaio 1572 in una famiglia dell’alta nobiltà borgognona. Suo padre è Benigno
Frémyot, secondo presidente del Parlamento. Rimasta ben presto orfana di madre,
crescerà sotto l’educazione e la morale paterne.
Il 29 dicembre 1592
Giovanna sposa Cristoforo II, barone di Chantal. Il loro è un matrimonio
felice. Viene da subito chiamata «la dama perfetta» per quel suo prodigarsi
nella tenuta di Bourbilly e per le attenzioni e premure che riserva al
consorte. Da questa unione perfetta nascono sei figli: i primi due muoiono alla
nascita, poi arrivano Celso Benigno, Maria Amata, Francesca e Carlotta.
Dolce, serena, affabile,
Giovanna è amata dai suoi familiari, come dalla servitù. Quando Cristoforo si
assenta dal castello per adempiere ai suoi impegni di corte, Giovanna
lascia gli abiti eleganti e si dedica ai poveri, ai quali non offre solo
denaro, ma la propria persona, servendoli. La sua carità si fa immensa durante
la carestia che colpisce la Borgogna nell’inverno 1600-1601. È qui che la
baronessa, senza ascoltare i borbottii di molti e incoraggiata dal consorte,
trasforma il maniero in un vero e proprio ospedale per ospitare madri e bambini
in difficoltà e si occupa della costruzione di un nuovo forno per poter distribuire
il pane a tutti coloro che bussano alla sua porta. Un giorno le viene detto che
nel granaio non è rimasto che un solo sacco di segala… e lei, senza esitazioni,
ordina di proseguire la distribuzione del pane, come prima… la segala finirà al
nuovo raccolto.
Ma ecco giungere la prima
grande prova, la morte di Cristoforo, ucciso da un colpo di archibugio durante
una battuta di caccia.
Resta vedova a soli 29
anni, vedova e madre di quattro creature di cui la prima ha solo cinque anni e
l’ultima pochi giorni. Matura, in questo tempo di lutto e di dolore, il
desiderio di consacrarsi a Cristo, ma i doveri familiari non le permettono una
scelta di vita così drastica. In attesa di conoscere la volontà di Dio,
Giovanna si dedica totalmente ai figli, all’amministrazione della casa e
alla preghiera.
Il suocero, barone di
Chantal, la informa che deve subito trasferirsi da lui, a Monthélon se desidera
che i figli prendano parte all’eredità e lei accetta, pur sapendo che nella
residenza dell’anziano barone comanda una «servapadrona». Per lungo tempo dovrà
sopportare le angherie di quest’ultima.
Il suo nome inizia a
rendersi noto per la sua carità. Non è più chiamata «dama perfetta», ma la
«nostra buona signora».
Un’altra difficile prova
deve ora affrontare: la sua guida spirituale non comprende la sua persona, non
sa leggere la sua anima. Un giorno suo padre la invita a Digione,
questa volta per ascoltare il quaresimale del vescovo di Ginevra, Francesco di
Sales, la cui fama si diffonde sempre più in Savoia e in tutta la Francia. Il
primo incontro fra Giovanna e il vescovo avviene il 5 marzo del 1604. Da allora
si instaura un camino di unione fraterna e spirituale straordinario. La
direzione spirituale di Francesco di Sales si realizza soprattutto attraverso
l’epistolario, dove l’umano è «divinizzato» e il divino «umanizzato».
In una lettera inviata al
vescovo ginevrino Giovanna scrive: «… tutto quello che di creato c’è quaggiù
non è niente per me se paragonato al mio carissimo Padre… Un giorno mi comandaste
di distaccarmi e di spogliarmi di tutto. Oh Dio, quanto è facile lasciare
quello che è attorno a noi, ma lasciare la propria pelle, la propria carne, le
proprie ossa e penetrare nell’intimo delle midolla, che è, mi sembra, quello
che abbiamo fatto è una cosa grande, difficile e impossibile se non alla grazia
di Dio».
Nel 1610 firma di fronte
al notaio un atto con il quale si spoglia di tutti i beni in favore dei figli.
Lascia dunque la famiglia e parte per Annecy e il 6 giugno, insieme a due
compagne, Giacomina Favre e Giovanna Carlotta de Bréchard entra nella piccola
ed umile «casa della Galleria», culla dell’Ordine della Visitazione.
Rimarrà sempre “madre”,
continuando ad amare profondamente e teneramente i suoi figli. Nuove morti,
nuovi lutti… tanto che soltanto la figlia Francesca le sopravviverà tra figli,
fratelli, generi e nuora. Perciò Dio diventa per lei l’unica ricerca, l’unico
fine della sua attuale vita. Alla scomparsa di Francesco di Sales (28 dicembre
1622), Giovanna si trova sola alla guida della nuova famiglia religiosa della
Visitazione. Si fa pellegrina sulle strade di Francia, fondando ben 87 case
visitandine. Consumata «nell’amore di opera e nell’opera di amore», come usava
dire, si spegne il 13 dicembre 1641 nel monastero di Moulins.
Le «Lettere di amicizia e direzione» (tradotte per la prima volta in italiano, a cura dei monasteri della Visitazione d’Italia) sono la testimonianza più viva della grande spiritualità di Madre Chantal ed è la prova che fosse persona troppo intelligente e “libera” per ridursi ad un’ombra anonima di san Francesco di Sales.
Autore: Cristina Siccardi
San Francesco di Sales, Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal,
Ordine della Visitazione di
Santa Maria
Tableau
de Pierrre Parrocel représentant saint François de Sales remettant la règle de
son ordre à sainte Jeanne de Chantal dans la chapelle Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux
de la cathédrale Saint-Siffrein de Carpentras.
iovanna è una bambina fortunata. Suo padre, uomo politico ricco e potente, è il nobile Benigno Frémyot. Nasce a Digione (Borgogna, Francia) nel 1572 e purtroppo perde la mamma quando è ancora una bambina. Il padre è affettuoso. La educa a essere buona e caritatevole. Sa essere anche severo, quando è necessario, e tenere testa alle ribellioni tipiche dell’adolescenza, senza entrare in conflitto con la figlia. Giovanna è una bella ragazza e a vent’anni si sposa con il barone de Chantal Cristoforo II. È un matrimonio d’amore e dalla felice unione nascono sei figli. Giovanna è una dolce moglie e un’amorevole madre e sa condurre il nobile palazzo con saggezza. La servitù la adora per la sua bontà d’animo.
Quando il marito si assenta dalla lussuosa tenuta, Giovanna indossa abiti modesti e porta conforto e aiuto ai poveri e agli ammalati, donando loro del denaro. Durante la grave carestia che nel 1600 colpisce la Borgogna, Giovanna, con il consenso del bravo marito, apre le porte del suo castello a malati ed affamati. Fa costruire pure un altro forno per distribuire gratuitamente il pane a tutti quelli che lo chiedono. E tutto questo nonostante i malumori e le critiche che deve subire da parte di tanta gente egoista.
Giovanna ha ventinove anni quando il marito muore durante un incidente di caccia. Il suocero minaccia di diseredare i nipoti e la costringe a trasferirsi con i figli presso il suo palazzo, dove una governante dispotica le rende la vita difficile. La giovane vedova non intende risposarsi e per il bene dei suoi figli sopporta tutto. Nel suo animo, però, inizia a farsi strada il desiderio di dedicarsi completamente a Dio.
Nel vescovo di Ginevra Francesco di Sales – futuro santo patrono dei giornalisti per il suo diffondere messaggi attraverso fogli scritti, metodo inusuale per quei tempi – trova la persona che la porterà a realizzare le sue aspirazioni. Durante un incontro a Digione tra i due nasce una grande intesa spirituale, un amore puro che porterà tanti frutti. Insieme nel 1610 fondano le case della Visitazione di Santa Maria composte da donne anche anziane e fragili, le cosiddette “visitandine” impegnate a pregare e a curare gli ammalati. Giovanna sa che i suoi figli ormai sono autonomi. Diventa suor Francesca e quando nel 1622 muore Francesco di Sales, viaggia incessantemente per fondare nuove case della Visitazione. Finisce i suoi giorni nel 1641, a Moulins, lasciando alla Francia in eredità 86 monasteri.
Autore: Mariella Lentini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/30400
San Francesco di Sales, Ordine della Visitazione di Santa Maria
Giovanna Francesca di
Chantal
(1572-1641)
Beatificazione:
- 21 novembre 1751
- Papa Benedetto
XIV
Canonizzazione:
- 16 luglio 1767
- Papa Clemente
XIII
- Basilica Vaticana
Ricorrenza:
- 12 agosto
Religiosa: dal suo
matrimonio cristiano ebbe sei figli, che educò alla pietà; rimasta vedova,
percorse alacremente sotto la guida di san Francesco di Sales la via della
perfezione, dedicandosi alle opere di carità soprattutto verso i poveri e i
malati; diede inizio all’Ordine della Visitazione di Santa Maria, che diresse
pure con saggezza. Il suo transito avvenuto a Moulins sulle rive dell’Allier
vicino a Nevers in Francia ricorre il 13 dicembre
Tutto quello che di
creato c’è quaggiù non è niente per me se paragonato al mio carissimo
Padre"
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot
de Chantal nasce a Digione il 23 gennaio 1572, da famiglia nobile. A solo
diciotto mesi rimane orfana della mamma che muore dando alla luce il fratello
minore, Andrea. Da quel momento il padre – magistrato – sarà il suo educatore;
da lui riceverà i forti principi di lealtà e giustizia che saranno l’ossatura
della sua vita. Il 28 dicembre 1592, appena ventenne, sposa Cristoforo Barone
di Raboutin - Chantal e si trasferisce a Bourbilly, una tenuta di proprietà del
marito. Dal matrimonio nascono sei figli, di cui solo quattro sopravvivono. Il
suo spirito pratico e razionale le permette di prendersi cura degli affari di
famiglia e di rimettere in sesto con successo le finanze e le disastrose
condizioni in cui versava la grande tenuta. Porta avanti tutta questa attività
senza mai perdere di vista l’aiuto ai poveri che bussavano alla porta del
castello, seguendo fedelmente il profondo impulso interiore che a questo la
muove.
Nel 1601, a causa di un
incidente durante una battuta di caccia, il marito more. Giovanna ne risente a
tal punto da far temere per la sua stessa vita. Cerca rifugio in Dio,
prodigandosi generosamente verso i poveri ed occupandosi con totale dedizione
all’educazione dei figli. In un primo tempo torna a Digione, dal padre, ma poi
si trasferisce a Monthelon (altra tenuta di famiglia), presso il suocero che
l’aveva minacciata di escludere i figli dall’eredità se non lo avesse
raggiunto. L’anziano era succube di una domestica, con la quale aveva avuto dei
figli, e che farà passare a Giovanna sette anni duri e pieni di umiliazioni.
Non sono, tuttavia, anni inutili per la sua crescita spirituale: a questa dura
scuola impara sì l’umiltà, ma una umiltà generosa. Diceva: “Siamo umili,
ma di quella umiltà generosa che teme soltanto il peccato, che dipende soltanto
dalla volontà di Dio e tiene soltanto ad essa. In una parola, l’umiltà rende
felici fin da questo mondo tutti quelli che vogliono gloriarsi solo della croce
di Gesù Cristo”. In diverse occasioni vi furono signori che si fecero avanti
per chiedere la sua mano, ma lei sempre rifiuta: aveva scelto in cuor suo di
donarsi totalmente a Dio, tanto da incidersi il nome di Gesù sul petto con un
ferro rovente …non amava certo le mezze misure! Lo dimostra una delle sue frasi
preferite: “È troppo avaro il cuore cui Dio non basta ed è miserabile il
cuore che si accontenta di meno che di Dio”.
Desiderosa di progredire
nella vita spirituale, si affida alla guida di un sacerdote che però non riesce
a comprenderla e che, anzi, inasprisce ulteriormente le sue pene. Solo
incontrando a Digione, nel marzo 1604, san Francesco di Sales, Vescovo di
Ginevra, trova colui che la sua anima da anni cercava. La spiritualità del
Santo la trasforma: niente sovraccarico di pratiche religiose, niente eccessi
penitenziali, ma l’invito a vivere una spiritualità profonda nella sua
condizione di vita, nel fedele e quotidiano compimento dei doveri familiari.
Poco prima di morire, sintetizzerà nel suo stile diretto e senza giri di parole
l’insegnamento del “beato padre”, come lei amava chiamare il Santo
Vescovo: “Siate, mia cara figlia, come un recipiente vuoto davanti alla
divina Bontà, per ricevere quel che a lui piacerà di donarvi. Per il presente,
siate fedele nel fare ciò che dovete e nel soffrire umilmente e senza mollezza
ciò che Dio vi presenterà momento per momento”.
Anno dopo anno cresce
nella Baronessa de Chantal il desiderio della vita religiosa, ma come
realizzarlo? San Francesco da tempo desiderava fondare una comunità di donne
dedite alla vita contemplativa coniugata ad una qualche forma di servizio di
carità; incontra, nel desiderio e nella disponibilità di Giovanna, il tanto
atteso segno di Dio. Nella primavera del 1610, superando grandi difficoltà
soprattutto familiari, colei che fino a quel momento era conosciuta come
“Madame de Chantal” lascia la casa paterna per trasferirsi ad Annecy, in Alta
Savoia, dove Francesco di Sales risiedeva. Il 6 giugno 1610, viene fondato il
primo nucleo della nuova famiglia religiosa, la “Visitazione di Santa Maria”,
le cui monache sono comunemente dette “Visitandine”. Con questo nome S.
Francesco di Sales voleva fosse onorato un mistero evangelico che allora nella
Chiesa era quasi dimenticato. A stemma della congregazione venne scelto un
cuore circondato di spine con una croce sovrapposta ed inciso un monogramma che
intreccia i nomi di Gesù e di Maria.
Quando l’Ordine comincerà
la sua espansione, questa duttilità tra vita contemplativa e attiva, troverà
l’opposizione dell’Arcivescovo di Lione, che chiederà al Fondatore di
trasformare la sua “piccola Congregazione” in un Ordine claustrale (siamo nel
1615). Nel 1618 san Francesco, vedendo in tale richiesta un segno della volontà
di Dio, adotterà la Regola di Sant’Agostino e darà alle sue figlie le
Costituzioni definitive.
Nel 1622 san Francesco di
Sales muore a Lione: Giovanna ne soffre moltissimo, ma ormai la sua tempra
interiore è tale da saper affrontare, con Dio e in Dio, anche questo distacco.
Da subito si prodiga per far rientrare la salma del vescovo al monastero di
Annecy, culla dell’Ordine. San Vincenzo de’ Paoli diventerà la nuova guida
spirituale di Giovanna, lui che già dal 1619 era confessore delle Visitandine
di Parigi.
Tra il 1622 e il 1641,
anno in cui morirà santa Giovanna, i monasteri della Visitazione passano da 13
a 87. Dopo aver sistemato i figli (che seguirà con amore materno e premuroso
fino alla fine) si dedica con tutta se stessa all’organizzazione della sua
famiglia religiosa. Scrive migliaia di lettere (parte delle quali raccolte e
pubblicate), si prodiga nel visitare tutti i Monasteri e sarà proprio durante
uno di questi viaggi che le sue forze cederanno. Morirà sulla breccia il 13
dicembre 1641, a Moulins. Il suo corpo riposa nella basilica della Visitazione
ad Annecy, accanto a quello del suo “beato padre”.
La causa di
canonizzazione fu avviata nel 1715. La prima parte del processo si concluse nel
1751 con la beatificazione e nel 1767 santa Giovanna Francesca Fremyot de
Chantal raggiunse san Francesco di Sales anche nella gloria dei santi.
Concludiamo con un estratto da una preghiera che la Santa scrisse e portava
sempre con sé: “O sovrana bontà della sovrana Provvidenza del mio Dio! Io
mi riposo per sempre fra le tue braccia, sia che tu sia dolce o severa.
Conducimi d’ora in avanti dovunque vorrai: io non guarderò la strada lungo la
quale mi farai passare, ma guarderò a Te, mio Dio, che mi conduci; la mia anima
non trova riposo all’infuori delle braccia e del seno di questa celeste
Providenza, mia vera madre, mia forza e mio baluardo”.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/giovanna-francesca-di-chantal.html
Santa Giovanna Francesca de Chantal
Den hellige Johanna
Fransiska av Chantal (1572-1641)
Minnedag: 12.
august
Skytshelgen for
salesianerinnene og for en lykkelig forløsning
Den hellige Johanna
Fransiska Frémyot (fr: Jeanne-Françoise; lat: Joanna Francisca) ble født den
28. januar 1572 i Dijon i Øst-Frankrike. Hun kom fra en lavadelsfamilie og var
datter av den burgundiske parlamentspresidenten Bénigne Frémyot, som var leder
for det rojalistiske partiet i den ligaen som sto bak triumfen til kong Henrik
IV (1589-1610). Hun mistet tidlig sin mor og ble sammen med sine søsken
oppdratt av faren i en streng katolsk tro, i en tid da mange adelige hadde gått
over til den kalvinistiske lære. Johanna, som ved fermingen tok navnet
Fransiska, avviste flere rike friere fordi de ikke var katolikker: «Jeg ville
heller dø tusen ganger enn å gifte meg med en fiende av Kirken...» Men som
tyveåring giftet hun seg i 1592 med den 27-årige Christophe de Rabutin, baron
de Chantal. Han var offiser i den franske hær og tidligere en dyktig
duellant, som på morssiden stammet fra den salige Humbeline
av Jully (ca 1092-ca 1136).
Bryllupet ble feiret i
Dijon, og få dager senere reiste Johanna med sin mann til hans sete på slottet
Bourbilly. Der fant hun at eiendommen og husholdningen hadde forfalt etter
at mannens mor døde, og hun gjorde det til sin første oppgave å gjeninnføre
orden og et godt styre. Ekteskapet var svært lykkelig og de fikk seks barn, men
de tre eldste døde tidlig, mens en sønn og to døtre vokste opp. Johanna var en
trofast hustru, hengiven mor og dyktig oppdrager av sine barn. Mannen var ofte
borte på politiske oppdrag, og når hun ble kritisert for at hun ikke kledde seg
standsmessig, svarte hun: «De øynene jeg vil behage, er akkurat nå mange mil
borte».
Men i 1601, etter bare ni
års ekteskap, var mannen på jakt sammen med vennen M. de Aulézy. Omstendighetene
er ikke klare, men ved et uhell skjøt vennen baronen i låret. Han levde i ni
dager mens han led store smerter under de mislykkede operasjonsforsøkene til en
klossete kirurg, og han mottok sakramentene med oppbyggelig ro og resignasjon
før han døde. Han tilga også sin venn M. de Aulézy og sa til ham: «Ikke begå
den synd å hate deg selv når du ikke har gjort noe galt».
Johanna Fransiska satt nå
alene igjen med fire barn, den yngste datteren var bare to uker gammel. Hun
gikk deretter gjennom tre år med dyp depresjon og sorg. Hun forsøkte å skjule
dette av frykt for å bli en byrde for andre. Hun overtok fadderskapet til de
Aulézys barn etter sin mann. I løpet av sørgeåret hentet faren henne til huset
i Dijon, hvor hun bodde sammen med barna. Men av hensyn til barnas arv måtte
hun ta dem med og dra til Monthelon ved Autun for å bo sammen med svigerfaren,
som da var 75 år gammel. Den gamle baron de Chantal behandlet henne ydmykende.
Samme år som ektemannen døde, bestemte hun seg for å leve i evig kyskhet og vie
seg til oppdragelsen av barna, mens hun lette etter en åndelig veileder.
Da en prest tilbød seg å
bli hennes åndelige veileder, aksepterte hun takknemlig. Men han viste seg å
være både hard og ufølsom. Han tynget henne ned med bønner, observanser, faste
og askese som var helt upassende for en kvinne i hennes ulykkelige situasjon.
Han tvang henne også til å love fire ting: At hun ville adlyde ham i alle ting,
at hun aldri skulle gå til en annen veileder, at hun ville holde alt han sa til
henne hemmelig og at hun ikke skulle snakke om sitt indre liv med noen andre.
Hun slet med dette ulykkelige forholdet i tre år.
I 1604 holdt den
hellige Frans
av Sales, biskop av Genève, fasteprekener i Sainte-Chapelle i Dijon, og
Johanna dro for å bo hos sin far slik at hun fikk muligheten å høre en så
berømt predikant. Hun gjenkjente ham som den personen hun en gang hadde
sett i en visjon, og visste at han var den åndelige veilederen som hun lenge
hadde tryglet Gud om å sende henne. Etter noen innledende vanskeligheter gikk
han med på å være hennes åndelige veileder.
Nå fulgte det et vennskap
mellom dem som er et av de mest fullkomne i helgenhistorien. De førte en livlig
korrespondanse, men dessverre er bare biskopens brev bevart. De viser
imidlertid hvilke åndelige høyder Johanna må ha nådd. Etter Frans' råd
regulerte hun sine andaktsøvelser og andre øvelser slik at hun tilpasset seg
det hun skyldte verden så lenge hun bodde i husene til faren og svigerfaren.
Hun fulgte en streng leveregel, viet mye av sin tid til barna, besøkte de
fattige som var syke i nabolaget og våket hele netter hos de som var døende.
Johanna viet seg totalt
til Gud og ble svært inspirert av sine kontakter med karmelittnonnene i Dijon.
Etter mange åndelige renselser oppnådde hun kontemplativ bønn. Hun fortalte
Frans om sine planer om å gå inn i et karmelittkloster, og han brukte litt tid
på svaret og forela saken for Gud. Men i 1607 Frans sa at han hadde en bedre
ide. Han kom da med sin plan om en ny religiøs orden uten klausur for kvinner,
og de inngikk et samarbeid.
Men først sørget hun for
sine barn. Hennes eldste datter ble gift med Frans' bror, og en annen datter
ble også gift, mens hennes bror, erkebiskopen av Bourges, tok seg av
oppdragelsen av sønnen. Da hun skulle forlate hjemmet, skjedde en nokså
melodramatisk episode med hennes eneste sønn, den 14-årige Celse-Bénigne. Han
ville hindre henne i å dra, og la seg over dørterskelen. Hennes bror spurte:
«Kan et barns tårer ikke endre din beslutning?» Hennes svar var: «Nei, men jeg
er en mor.» Deretter tok hun et stort skritt over guttens kropp og forlot
huset.
Deretter grunnla Johanna
i 1610 etter Frans' råd Besøkelsesordenen eller «Ordenen av Marias gjesting hos
Elisabeth» (Ordo de Visitatione Beatae Mariae Virginis – OVM), hvor
søstrene ble kalt salesianerinner eller visitasjonssøstre, og de viet seg til
pleie av de syke og omsorg for de fattige. Frans hadde skaffet et hus i Annecy
i Savoia, sør for Genève. Det ble kalt Gallerihuset og lå ved bredden av
innsjøen Lac d'Annecy. Han vigslet sitt kloster på Treenighetssøndagen i 1610.
Sammen med Johanna mottok
samme år to andre søstre ordensdrakten fra Frans' hånd, Maria Favre og
Charlotte de Bréchard, samt tjeneren Anne Coste, og ti andre sluttet seg snart
til dem. Frans skrev regelen for den nye kongregasjonen, som utmerket seg ved
sin spesielle mildhet. Besøkelsesordenen ble bestemt for enslige kvinner og
enker, som på grunn av sin alder, helse eller andre grunner ikke var egnet til
andre ordenssamfunns strengere liv. Han ville at de skulle leve uten klausur,
slik at de friere kunne ta på seg arbeid for legeme og sjel.
Det at de levde blant de
syke og fattige, vakte mye oppsikt, kritikk og anstøt. Opprøret i folket gikk
så vidt at Frans i 1615 etter krav fra erkebiskop de Marquemont av Lyon så seg
tvunget til å forandre ordenen, innføre streng klausur og foreskrive Augustins
regel for den, med tilleggskonstitusjoner som var beundringsverdige i sin
klokskap og moderasjon. Kongregasjonen måtte oppgi sykepleien som oppgave og i
stedet gå inn for oppdragelse av ungdommen. Denne holdningen var forårsaket av
lutherske angrep på slappheten i visse klostre, og de romerske myndighetene
fant det nesten umulig å innrømme respektabiliteten til «uklausurerte» nonner.
Den hellige Angela
Merici og den ærverdige Maria Ward var to andre grunnleggere som møtte
lignende vanskeligheter på denne tiden, men de hadde større suksess i å
gjennomføre sine opprinnelige ideer. Frans skrev spesielt for Johanna og hennes
mer erfarne søstre sin berømte avhandling «Om Guds kjærlighet».
Johanna Fransiska tok
ledelsen av det første ordenshuset i Annecy med omtrent et dusin nonner. I
begynnelsen var det lett nok å styre aspirantene som trådte inn i ordenen, men
senere, da døtre fra adelsfamilier trådte inn, ble Madame de Chantals dyktighet
og takt virkelig satt på prøve; mange av dem var overforfinede, sårbare og
ignorante, og følte at deres høye byrd ga dem rett til å avvise alle kjedelige
oppgaver. Mange av enkene var også irriterende selvsentrerte. Men Johanna
Fransiska var fullt ut i stand til å klare dette og gikk videre med å
grunnlegge flere klostre.
Johanna ble ofte tvunget
til å forlate klosteret i Annecy på grunn av sine barns affærer og for å
grunnlegge flere klostre. Året etter at hun ble ikledd døde hennes far, og hun
dro til Dijon for å ordne opp i hans saker. Hun ble der i tre måneder, og fikk
også sønnen inn på et kollegium. Etter at det hadde blitt grunnlagt klostre i
Lyons, Moulins, Grenoble og Bourges, sendte Frans bud etter henne fra Paris for
å grunnlegge et hus der. Med denne grunnleggelsen i 1619 kom vendepunktet, til
tross for åpen fiendtlighet og skjulte intriger.
Johanna styrte klosteret
i Paris i tre år, og i denne tiden var den hellige Vincent
av Paul rådgiver for det etter ønske fra Frans av Sales. Johanna lærte
å kjenne Angélique Arnauld, abbedisse i Port-Royal, som imidlertid ikke fikk
tillatelse til å trekke seg fra sitt embete og slutte seg til Besøkelsesordenen
som hun hadde ønsket. Før Johannas død var det 86 hus i Besøkelsesordenen.
Fremgangen skyldtes Frans' undervisning og skrifter og hans understreking av
ydmykhet og saktmodighet heller enn legemlig askese, samt Johannas klokskap og
hengivenhet.
Frans av Sales' død den
28. desember 1622 ble et voldsomt slag for Johanna, men hennes overgivelse til
den guddommelige vilje gjorde at hun bar sorgen med urokket standhaftighet.
Etter dette var hun alene med ansvaret for å bygge ut og styrke ordenen, og hun
sørget for å utgi Frans' skrifter. Et nytt slag kom da hennes 30-årige sønn
Celse-Bénigne ble drept i kampen mot hugenottene og engelskmennene på Île de Ré
i 1627. Han etterlot seg hustru og en datter som ennå ikke var fylt ett år.
Datteren skulle bli kjent som den berømte Madame de Sévigné. Han hadde vært en
uforbederlig duellant, og hun hadde bedt om at han ville få den nåde å dø en
kristen død.
I 1628 herjet en
fryktelig pest i Frankrike, Savoia og Piemonte, og den skapte store lidelser i
flere av ordenens klostre. Da pesten nådde Annecy, nektet Johanna å forlate
byen. I stedet stilte hun alle klosterets ressurser til de sykes disposisjon,
noe som inspirerte de lokale myndighetene til å sette inn adekvate tiltak for
de syke og etterlatte. I 1632 kom nyheten om at Celse-Bénignes enke var død, og
deretter døde hennes høyt elskede svigersønn Antonius de Toulonjon og Mikael
Favre, Frans' skriftefar og en nær og hengiven venn av visitasjonssøstrene. Men
Johanna kom seg over både disse og andre tap, sykdom og religiøse prøvelser.
For hun var i lange perioder plaget av indre kvaler, mørke og åndelig tørrhet,
til tider i en fryktelig grad, noe som fremgår av flere av hennes brev. Men hun
kjempet seg gjennom prøvelsene og var aktiv til det siste, og ingen så på
hennes glade ansikt hvor mye hun led i sjelen.
Johanna forente et dypt
religiøst liv med stor administrativ dyktighet og karakterstyrke. Hun var
kompromissløs, følsom og temmelig intens. Frans sa at han i henne hadde funnet
«den perfekte kvinne, som Salomo lette etter, men ikke fant i Jerusalem». Vincent
av Paul, som kjente henne personlig og godt, sa om henne at hun var «et av de
helligste mennesker jeg noensinne har møtt på denne jord».
I 1635 og 1636 foretok
Johanna systematiske besøk til alle klostrene i sin orden. Antallet var nå oppe
i 65, og mange av dem hadde aldri sett sin grunnlegger og åndelige mor. I 1641
dro hun til Frankrike i et veldedig ærend for Madame de Montmorency. Det ble
hennes siste reise. Hun ble invitert til Paris av dronningen, Anna av
Østerrike, og til hennes bedrøvelse ble hun der møtt med store
hedersbevisninger.
På tilbakeveien ble hun
syk i Besøkelsesklosteret Moulais i departementet Allier, og der døde hun den
13. desember 1641, 69 år gammel, etter å ha skrevet et avskjedsbrev til
søstrene. Hun hadde da deltatt i grunnleggelsen av 86 klostre i ordenen. Hennes
legeme ble ført til Annecy og bisatt i ordenskirken i Monastère de la
Visitation ved siden av Frans av Sales. Hennes hjerte og øyne ble gitt til
klosteret i Nevers.
Hennes
saligkåringsprosess ble svært forsinket, og ikke før 81 år etter hennes død ble
hennes grav beordret åpnet for å foreta den foreskrevne identifikasjonen av
relikviene. Den 1. desember 1722 samlet biskopen av Genève, de apostoliske
kommisjonærene, prinsesse Eléanor-Philippine og søstrene i kommuniteten i
Annecy seg for å bevitne åpningen av graven.
Senere ble det foretatt
en rekke translasjoner av relikviene. Den uvanligste var i 1793 under Den
franske revolusjon, da søstrene fikk ordre om å forlate klosteret. For å
beskytte relikviene av Johanna og Frans gjemte søstrene dem i all hast i en
madrass og fraktet den i en båt over innsjøen til Château de Duingt, som
tilhørte familien til en av søstrene. De religiøse myndighetene ble varslet om
at de urnene som tidligere hadde inneholdt de helliges relikvier, nå inneholdt
andre skjeletter. I 1806 da freden var gjenopprettet, ble Frans' relikvier
flyttet til katedralen og Johannas til kirken Saint-Maurice. I 1912 ble begges
jordiske rester overført til nye graver. Både hennes og Frans' relikvier hviler
nå i koret i Besøkelseskatedralen.
Salesianerinnenes ordens
drakt er svart med et hvitt bryststykke, et brystkors av sølv og to tøybånd
hengende fra beltet foran. Besøkelsesordenen har særlig utmerket seg i
utbredelsen av Jesu-Hjerte-andakten. En som også tilhørte ordenen, var den
hellige Margareta
Maria Alacoque, og hennes høyeste anliggende var tilbedelsen av Jesu
helligste hjerte.
Johanna Fransiska ble
saligkåret den 21. november 1751 (dokumentet (Breve) var datert den 13.
november) av pave Benedikt XIV (1740-58) og helligkåret den 16. juli 1767 av
pave Klemens XIII (1758-69). Hennes navn står i Martyrologium Romanum. Hennes
festdag ble skrevet inn i den romerske kalenderen i 1769 og lagt til 21.
august, som er dagen for grunnleggelsen av ordenen. Ved kalenderrevisjonen i
1969 ble hennes fest flyttet til 12. desember, ikke dødsdagen den 13. desember
fordi det er festdagen for den hellige Lucia.
I 2002 ble hennes minnedag flyttet til 12. august, men vi har ikke klart å
finne ut hvorfor dette skjedde og hvorfor den datoen ble valgt.
Johanna fremstilles som
ordenskvinne i Besøkelsesordenens drakt, i høyre hånd et hjerte med navnet
Jesus, i venstre en bok. Hun er skytshelgen for sin orden og for en lykkelig
forløsning.
Se også «Frans
av Sales og Jesu-Hjerte-fromheten» (Hjertet som religiøst bilde i
utvalgte tekster av Frans av Sales – Hovedoppgave i kristendomskunnskap av
Susanne Anette Kjekshus Koch, Universitetet i Oslo, Det teologiske fakultet,
våren 1996).
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/jchantal
