Statue
d'Isabelle de France sous le porche de Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, refaite
en 1841 par Louis Desprez
Statua
d'Isabella di Francia sotto il portico dell'Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois
Blessed Isabel of France, copy after the gothic original. Porch of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris.
Statue
d'Isabelle de France sous le porche de Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, refaite
en 1841 par Louis Desprez
Statua
d'Isabella di Francia sotto il portico dell'Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois
Blessed Isabel of France, copy after
the gothic original. Porch of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris.
Bienheureuse Isabelle de France
Née à Paris en 1225, elle était la sœur du roi saint Louis. Atirée depuis toujours par les réalités célestes et vivant de la prière et de la charité, Isabelle resta à la cour, tenant son rang, tant que vivait sa mère Blanche de Castille. Elle réussit à éviter le mariage et se retira, dès qu’il lui fut possible, dans une petite maison à l’ombre du couvent de Longchamp qu’elle avait bâti pour les clarisses et consacré à l’Humilité de Notre-Dame. Sans prononcer de vœux, elle vécut toute sa vie dans cette retraite et mourut en 1270.
Bienheureuse Isabelle de France
Religieuse clarisse, sœur de Saint Louis (+ 1270)
Ce n'est pas une princesse de légende. Nous avons d'elle le portrait vivant qu'a écrit l'une de ses dames d'honneur, Agnès d'Harcourt, qui deviendra par la suite abbesse de Longchamp. Dès son plus jeune âge, cette sœur du roi saint Louis fut attirée par les choses célestes. Elle était gracieuse et belle en sa jeunesse, mais de santé chétive. Près de sa mère, elle tint son rang au palais royal, mais passait beaucoup de temps avec les pauvres. Elle réussit à ne point se laisser marier à Conrad, le fils de l'empereur Frédéric II, malgré les instances du Pape. Après la mort de Blanche de Castille elle résolut de vivre à l'écart du monde et passa le reste de sa vie dans une petite maisonnette, près du couvent de Longchamp qu'elle avait bâti à Paris pour les clarisses et qu'elle consacra à "l'Humilité de Notre-Dame." Elle y mena une vie d'austérité et de prière, sans prononcer pour autant des vœux de religion.
Fêtée au propre de France le 22 février et que Paris fête le 24 février...
La bienheureuse Isabelle (1225-1270), sœur de saint Louis, est née à Paris de Louis VIII et de Blanche de Castille. Dès son plus jeune âge, elle fut attirée par les choses célestes. Près de sa mère, elle tint son rang au palais royal, mais passait beaucoup de temps avec les pauvres... (saints diocésains - diocèse de Nanterre)
Sœur du roi saint Louis, elle resta à la cour tant que vécut sa mère Blanche de Castille. Elle y tint son rang avec simplicité mais aussi avec dignité. Elle s'occupait surtout des pauvres, des malades et des lépreux. Puis elle fonda le monastère des religieuses clarisses "Notre-Dame de l'humilité", sur la plaine de Longchamp, grâce à l'appui royal. Saint Bonaventure rédigea la règle de ces moniales. Isabelle resta simple laïque, habitant à côté du monastère dans la piété, l'austérité et la prière.
À Longchamp aux environs de Paris, en 1270, la bienheureuse Isabelle, vierge. Sœur du roi saint Louis, elle refusa des noces princières, méprisa les délices du monde et fonda un couvent de Sœurs Mineures, avec lesquelles elle vécut pour Dieu dans l’humilité et la pauvreté.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/684/Bienheureuse-Isabelle-de-France.html
Bse Isabelle de
France
Vierge et fondatrice des « Clarisses urbanistes »
(1225-1270)
Isabelle de France, fille
du roi de France Louis VIII, le Lion, et de Blanche de Castille, est morte sans
alliance ni postérité.
Sœur cadette de saint
Louis IX, Isabelle reçut, comme son frère, une éducation chrétienne très forte
: dès son plus jeune âge elle se fit remarquer par sa piété et sa tempérance.
Pour des raisons
politiques, son père voulait la marier au comte Hugues de la Marche qui préféra
épouser Yolande, la fille du comte de Bretagne. Le pape Innocent IV (Sinibaldo
Fieschi, 1243-1254) souhaitait la voir épouser le fils de Frédéric II de Hohenstaufen,
empereur du Saint Empire. Ce prince Conrad était en titre mais non en fait, roi
de Jérusalem, et devait hériter de l'Empire. Isabelle refusa ce parti et fit
connaître à sa famille et au Pape qu'elle souhaitait garder la virginité. Le
Pape comprit son dessein, et lui accorda, par bulle (26 mai 1254)
l'autorisation de se mettre sous la tutelle spirituelle de religieux
franciscains.
Un an plus tard, elle
entreprit la construction d'un monastère, dans la forêt de Rouvray (le bois de
Boulogne), proche de Paris, sur un terrain concédé par son frère, le roi Louis
IX.
Celui-ci, très attaché à
sa sœur, l'avait autorisée à consacrer une somme de trente mille livres, soit
la somme qu'elle aurait eue comme dot, pour la construction du monastère. Le
monastère de Longchamp fut achevé en 1259, et accueillit les premières
clarisses (de l'obédience de Saint-Damien), venues du monastère de Reims, le 23
juin 1260. En s'inspirant de la Règle écrite par Claire d'Assise, elle avait
composé elle-même une règle, un peu moins sévère, qui fut approuvée par
Alexandre IV (2 février 1259). Saint Bonaventure, ministre général des
Franciscains et d'autres frères l'avaient conseillée ; il prêcha plusieurs fois
à Longchamp et rédigea un traité de vie spirituelle dédié à Isabelle : de
Perfectione vitae ad sorores (La vie parfaite, pour les sœurs). Le
monastère fut consacré à l'humilité de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie.
À partir de 1260,
Isabelle vint s'installer dans une petite maison, construite pour elle dans
l'enclos du monastère, pour partager la vie et la prière des sœurs, mais elle
ne fit jamais profession religieuse. En 1263, elle obtint du pape Urbain IV, un
remaniement de la Règle. Cette dernière rédaction fut adoptée par plusieurs
monastères, en France et en Italie (clarisses urbanistes).
Isabelle mourut le 22
février 1270 et fut enterrée dans l'église du monastère. Après la mort de saint
Louis (à Tunis, la même année), Charles d'Anjou, frère du roi et d'Isabelle,
demanda à une dame de compagnie d'Isabelle d'écrire sa vie, en vue de sa
canonisation.
Agnès d'Harcourt publia
ce récit hagiographique, vers 1280, mais Isabelle ne fut béatifiée qu'en 1521,
par le pape Léon X (bulle Piis omnium).
SOURCE : https://levangileauquotidien.org/FR/display-saint/03212779-941f-4255-9131-9e8fb2a07d4c
Stained-Glass
window of Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île (Paris) Window of Sainte Isabelle de
France, sister of Saint-Louis, king of France under the name of Louis IX
Katholische
Pfarrkirche Saint-Louis-en-l'Île auf der Île
Saint-Louis im 4. Arrondissement von Paris, Bleiglasfenster, Darstellung: Isabella von Frankreich,
Gründerin der Abtei von Longchamp
Bienheureuse Isabelle de France
Isabelle était soeur du roi saint Louis. On la connaît par un portrait plein de vie laissé par l'une de ses dames d'honneur Agnès d'Harcourt. Gracieuse et belle, la jeune princesse était de santé fragile mais elle tenait son rang avec vaillance au Palais, près de sa mère Blanche de Castille, la reine intrépide. Très tôt, on remarque son attrait pour la prière, son amour du silence et le souci du service des pauvres. Isabelle de France refuse à vingt ans, malgré l'insistance du Pape, d'épouser le prince Conrad, fils de l'empereur Frédéric II. Sur le conseil de saint Bonaventure et avec l'aide de son frère le jeune roi Louis IX, elle établit un monastère à Longchamp pour des soeurs Clarisses. Elle quittera le palais royal pour vivre dans une modeste maison tout près de ce couvent.
Tout comme Elisabeth, Isabelle vient de l'hébreu "El-Yah-Beth" qui signifie "la maison de Dieu". De nombreuses saintes ont sanctifié ce nom : depuis Élisabeth, mère de Jean-Baptiste, à Élisabeth de Hongrie. On fête également le 4 juillet sainte Isabelle du Portugual.
Rédacteur : Frère Bernard Pineau, OP
SOURCE : http://www.lejourduseigneur.com/Web-TV/Saints/Isabelle-de-France
.JPG)
Église Saint-André du Roc-Saint-André (Morbihan, France) : vitrail Bienheureuse Isabelle de France
Saint
Andrew church of Le Roc-Saint-André (Morbihan, France) : stained glass
window
22 février : Bienheureuse
Isabelle de France
Clarisse, sœur de Saint Louis, roi de France, Isabelle fut comme lui pleine d'amour pour le Christ auquel elle se consacra entièrement : elle fut fondatrice et abbesse du monastère de Longchamp, détruit par la satanée révolution. Elle est fêtée au propre de la France le 22 février (Archidiocèse de Paris = 24 février) - « Neige à la Sainte Isabelle, fait la fleur plus belle » :
Isabelle, fille du roi de France Louis VIII et de Blanche de Castille, est née en mars 1225. Dès son plus jeune âge, cette sœur du roi Saint Louis fut attirée par les choses célestes. Elle était gracieuse et belle en sa jeunesse, mais de santé chétive. Près de sa mère, elle tint son rang au palais royal avec simplicité mais aussi avec dignité car elle passait beaucoup de temps avec les pauvres, les malades et les lépreux. Elle réussit à ne point se laisser marier à Conrad IV, le fils de l'empereur Frédéric II du Saint Empire, malgré les instances du Pape Innocent IV. Après la mort de Blanche de Castille, elle résolut de vivre à l'écart du monde et passa le reste de sa vie dans l’austérité et la prière, dans une petite maisonnette, près de l’abbaye de Longchamp qu'elle a fait bâtir à Paris pour les Clarisses et qu'elle consacra à « l'Humilité de Notre-Dame ». La première pierre de cette abbaye fut posée le 10 juin 1256 par Saint Louis et le couvent fut achevé en 1259. Par la bulle du 12 février 1259, le pape Alexandre IV autorise les religieuses à occuper l'abbaye « Abbatissa sosorum minorissarum humilitatis nostrae Dominae de Longo-Campo », ce qu'elles font le 23 juin 1260, suivies, trois ans plus tard, par Isabelle de France. Saint Bonaventure rédigea la règle pour ces moniales. Par humilité, Isabelle ne prononce pas ses vœux, s'occupe de la cuisine, va chercher l'eau à la Seine et dort sur de la paille. Elle meurt le 22 février 1270, un mois avant ses 45 ans.
Dans le contexte de la canonisation en cours du roi Louis IX, Charles d'Anjou commande à Agnès d'Harcourt, alors abbesse de Longchamp, une Vie d'Isabelle de France. Le texte est rédigé en prose et en langue vernaculaire vraisemblablement entre 1279 et 1281. La vie et les miracles d'Isabelle constituent un nouvel argumentaire en faveur de la sainteté dynastique capétienne. La princesse est présentée comme une vierge savante. Sa vie emprunte à la fois à un modèle féminin de sainteté proche de Claire d'Assise, et à un modèle royal et masculin, celui de Saint Louis. Par bulle du 3 janvier 1521, le pape Léon X déclare "bienheureuse" Isabelle de France et le 4 juin 1637, Mgr Jean-François de Gondi, premier archevêque de Paris, autorise le déplacement du corps de la bienheureuse Isabelle pour le mettre entièrement dans le chœur de l'église abbatiale du couvent de Longchamp (ce qui était réservé aux sœurs ayant prononcé les vœux), et en 1670 l'abbesse Claude de Bellières obtient du pape Clément X de célébrer l'octave au nom d'Isabelle, dont la fête a été fixée au 31 août à l’époque.
SOURCE : http://notredamedesneiges.over-blog.com/article-16423743.htmlIsabelle de France
Sœur de Saint Louis, la
bienheureuse Isabelle se retira humblement avec le souci des pauvres.
par Défendente
Genolini
22 février
Avec une mère pareille et un frère de la même trempe, pouvait-il en être
autrement ? Le pape, le roi, les intérêts du royaume, rien n’y fait. Isabelle
ne veut pas se marier. Elle veut être religieuse. Et chacun est bien obligé de
s’incliner. Sans doute trouva-t-elle un appui sans réserve de son frère cadet
qui devint Louis IX, le futur Saint Louis. Avec lui, même goût pour la
piété, même souci des pauvres. À la mort de sa mère, Blanche de Castille,
Isabelle confie à son frère, de retour de la croisade, son désir de fonder un
monastère où elle se retirerait. Le roi en posa la première pierre à Longchamp.
Le lieu fut appelé « l’Humilité de Notre-Dame ».
Par humilité justement et
à cause de sa santé fragile, Isabelle se fit aménager une demeure à l’ombre du
couvent ; elle vivait pauvrement, comme une moniale, et cela lui permettait de
soulager encore les pauvres qui frappaient à sa porte. Elle adoucit la règle de
sainte Claire qui aurait été trop dure pour les filles de bonne famille qu’elle
décidait à se consacrer.
Saint Louis sera près d’elle au moment de sa mort. Une extase illumina le visage de celle qui mourait étendue sur de la paille et qui demanda qu’on prie pour la « pauvre Isabelle ».
C’était le 22 février 1270.
Étymologie du nom
Forme ibérique d’Élisabeth. À partir d’une mauvaise lecture on prit le « El » d’Élisabeth
pour un article. Ce qui donna El Isabeth. Puis le beth final
devint bel. Il deviendra Isabeau en France, puis Babet.
Célébrités
Bien des reines et des princesses portèrent ce nom. Dont la grande Isabelle la
Catholique, reine de Castille (1451-1504).
Vieux proverbe de ce jour
« Neige à la Sainte-Isabelle fait la fleur plus belle. »
Pensée spirituelle de Saint Louis, frère d’Isabelle
« Selon ton pouvoir, soulage les pauvres volontiers, ou de soutien moral
ou d’aumône. »
Courte prière de Saint Louis
« Sire Dieu, fais que nous voyions clair en nos défauts et que nous ôtions
de nous ce qui te déplaît. »
SOURCE : https://www.france-catholique.fr/isabelle-de-france.html
Isabelle de France,
princesse de l’humilité
750 ans après sa mort
(1270), la bienheureuse Isabelle reste dans l’ombre de son frère, le roi saint
Louis. C’est pourtant la figure originale et attachante d’une princesse
capétienne.
22 Novembre 2020 | par
Dans la famille de saint
Louis, je demande la sœur. Née en 1225, Isabelle, unique fille de Louis VIII et
de Blanche de Castille, est donc la sœur de Louis IX, de onze ans son aîné.
Selon sa biographe, Agnès d’Harcourt, la jeune fille mène une existence
singulière au sein de la cour. Elle refuse les projets de mariage, notamment
avec le fils de l’empereur d’Allemagne, en dépit de la lettre que lui adresse
le pape pour l’inciter à accepter cette alliance. Elle vit en laïque consacrée,
visite les malades et préfère rester dans sa chambre à étudier l’Écriture
Sainte plutôt que se mêler aux jeux des épouses de ses frères. Cultivée, elle
est capable de corriger une lettre en latin écrite par son chapelain en son
nom. Têtue, elle résiste aussi bien à sa mère, qui voudrait qu’elle se
nourrisse mieux, qu’au roi qui aurait bien aimé qu’elle lui donne un bonnet
cousu de ses mains — bonnet qu’elle réserve à une pauvre femme.
Le projet franciscain
Les années 1250 marquent un tournant dans la vie de la princesse. Le pape lui écrit à plusieurs reprises. Il admire son « louable désir de virginité » et la presse de prononcer un « vœu » sur ce point. Il lui accorde des confesseurs franciscains (1254). Guibert de Tournai, lui-même franciscain, lui écrit un traité de vie spirituelle et l’encourage à adopter l’état religieux. Mais Isabelle a un autre projet en tête. Alors que les fils de saint François exercent une influence de plus en plus forte sur le roi et sa cour, la princesse entend fonder une abbaye de sœurs franciscaines. Dès 1255, des agents royaux achètent des terrains à l’ouest de Paris, aux abords de l’actuel bois de Boulogne, au lieudit Longchamp. Avec l’aide d’une équipe de théologiens franciscains, dont saint Bonaventure en personne, elle entreprend d’écrire une règle pour les futures moniales.
Louis IX pose la première pierre du monastère et, en juin 1260, les premières sœurs, venues de Reims, investissent les lieux. Mais Isabelle est insatisfaite de la règle, et par l’intermédiaire de Louis IX, elle en obtient du pape Urbain IV une version modifiée (1263). Isabelle souhaitait en effet donner à ce texte un caractère plus explicitement franciscain et elle tenait par-dessus tout à ce que les moniales portent le nom de « sœurs mineures encloses » — en référence aux « frères mineurs ». Par ailleurs, elle choisit d’appeler sa fondation « Humilité-de-Notre-Dame ». Elle expliquera ce nom ainsi : « Je n’ai jamais entendu parler de personne qui l’ait pris. Je m’en étonne, car il me semble qu’on a laissé le nom le plus digne par lequel Notre Seigneur a choisi Notre Dame pour être sa mère.
Isabelle ne fera jamais profession dans sa propre fondation, mais jusqu’à sa
mort, dans la nuit du 22 au 23 février 1270, elle habitera une petite résidence
dans l’enceinte du monastère. Enterrée dans le chœur des moniales, Isabelle
bénéficie aussitôt d’un culte, et c’est dans ce contexte qu’Agnès d’Harcourt,
troisième abbesse de Longchamp, rédige sa biographie et compile ses miracles.
Finalement, pour répondre aux désirs des pèlerins, on déplace le tombeau et on
le place à cheval sur le chœur des moniales et la partie de l’église réservée
aux séculiers, afin que les unes et les autres puissent y avoir accès. Mais
dans la sainteté également, Isabelle l’inclassable est restée dans l’ombre de
son frère, puisque seul Louis IX a été canonisé.
Sœurs Mineures ou Clarisses ?
Grâce aux réseaux aristocratiques, la règle d’Isabelle a connu un certain succès, et plusieurs monastères féminins l’ont adoptée : en France, Provins, Saint-Marcel (à Paris), Le Moncel, Nogent-l’Artaud, La Guiche (près de Blois), et plus tardivement, Reims. En Angleterre, Aldgate (Londres) et Waterbeach (près de Cambridge). En Italie, Saint-Sylvestre in Capite à Rome suit la règle d’Isabelle dès 1285. Il s’est ainsi formé un groupe bien spécifique de monastères de sœurs franciscaines — et non pas « clarisses ». En effet, la voie franciscaine féminine prônée par Isabelle diffère de celle de Claire. Alors que Claire défend un idéal de pauvreté absolue, Isabelle insiste sur l’humilité — d’où les noms qu’elle donne à ses sœurs (« sœurs mineures ») et à sa fondation. « Si grande par la lignée, elle demeura vraiment très humble », pouvait-on lire sur son tombeau.
Au Moyen Âge, il existe donc une différence assez nette entre ces deux ordres religieux féminins et franciscains. Si les monastères du groupe de Longchamp disposent de la règle que leur a octroyée Urbain IV en 1263, la situation des Clarisses est plus complexe : Saint-Damien continue d’observer la forme de vie écrite par Claire et approuvée en 1253, tandis que la plupart des autres monastères suivent la règle que leur a donnée Urbain IV, également en 1263 — quelques mois après celle accordée à Isabelle, mais assez différente de celle-ci. Pour le commun des mortels, ces subtiles différences sont difficiles à saisir d’autant que les conditions matérielles d’existence de ces deux groupes de monastères sont assez proches. Dans les deux cas, les moniales ont à leur service des sœurs converses et elles possèdent des biens assez importants. Bientôt, on ne fera plus la différence entre les filles de sainte Claire et celles de la bienheureuse Isabelle : elles seront toutes appelées « Clarisses urbanistes » ou « Urbanistes », du nom du pape qui leur a donné leur règle. Ainsi, au XVIIe ou XVIIIe siècle, il est régulièrement question des « Clarisses de Longchamp » — ce qui, en rigueur de termes, est inexact. Désormais, on fait la distinction entre toutes ces urbanistes et les moniales qui, par le biais de sainte Colette, ont redécouvert la règle de Claire et son exigence de pauvreté, à savoir les « Colettines », les Clarisses de l’Ave Maria et les Capucines.
Aujourd’hui, Longchamp n’est plus un monastère mais une célèbre marque de
maroquinerie. Raison de plus pour faire mémoire de la bienheureuse Isabelle qui
appartient au petit cercle de femmes ayant écrit une règle destinée à régir la
vie d’autres femmes. Transgression majeure au Moyen Âge.
Pour en savoir davantage :
J. Dalarun et alii, Isabelle de France, sœur de saint Louis. Une princesse
mineure, Paris, éditions franciscaines, 2014.
Updated on 22 Novembre
2020
SOURCE : https://www.messagerdesaintantoine.com/content/isabelle-de-france-princesse-de-lhumilite
Publié le 21 février
2024
Modifié le 21 février
2024
Bienheureuse Isabelle de
France
Isabelle demeure une
figure vénérée, non seulement dans l'histoire religieuse, mais aussi dans la
mémoire collective française.
Sœur de Saint
Louis (+ 1270)
La bienheureuse Isabelle
(1225-1270), sœur de Saint Louis, est une figure remarquable de l’histoire
médiévale, dont le portrait nous est parvenu grâce aux écrits d’une de ses
dames d’honneur, Agnès d’Harcourt. Issue de la royauté française, elle fut
élevée dans le faste du palais royal, mais son cœur était tourné vers les
réalités célestes dès son plus jeune âge.
Malgré sa jeunesse et sa
beauté, Isabelle était d’une santé fragile. Aux côtés de sa mère, Blanche de
Castille, elle assumait ses devoirs à la cour tout en consacrant beaucoup de
son temps aux déshérités de la société. Elle refusa fermement le mariage avec
Conrad, fils de l’empereur Frédéric II, malgré les pressions du Pape. Après la
mort de sa mère, Isabelle prit la décision de se retirer du monde et de
consacrer le reste de sa vie à Dieu.
Elle fit ériger un petit
ermitage près du couvent de Longchamp, qu’elle avait elle-même fondé à Paris,
dédié à « l’Humilité de Notre-Dame ». Là, elle vécut une existence
austère et priante, sans pour autant prononcer des vœux religieux. Son
dévouement envers les démunis et les malades était profondément enraciné dans
sa foi.
Isabelle demeure une figure
vénérée, non seulement dans l’histoire religieuse, mais aussi dans la mémoire
collective française.
Une paroisse du diocèse
de Nanterre porte son nom, et son histoire a été immortalisée dans une bande
dessinée. Elle incarne une voie féminine franciscaine distincte de celle de
Claire, et son héritage perdure à travers les siècles.
SOURCE : https://tribunechretienne.com/bienheureuse-isabelle-de-france/
Bienheureuse Isabelle de
France (1225-1270)
Fondatrice du monastère des Clarisses à Longchamp
Fille du roi Louis VIII
et de Blanche de Castille, Isabelle est née en 1225 à Paris, onze ans
après son frère aîné, le futur saint Louis, qui devient roi sous le nom de
Louis IX de 1226 à 1270. Elle reçoit une sérieuse éducation chrétienne et,
comme toute princesse, est destinée à un mariage « utile » pour le
royaume. Mais la jeune fille se révèle très pieuse, attentive aux pauvres et
désireuse de se consacrer au Christ. Elle refuse le parti que lui propose sa
mère puis celui que souhaite pour elle le pape qui voulait la voir épouser
Conrad de Hohenstaufen, le fils de Frédéric II, l’empereur du Saint-Empire
romain. A la mort de sa mère, en 1252, elle choisit de vivre à l’écart du
monde. Vers 1255, elle fait construire un monastère de religieuses clarisses
sur la plaine de Longchamp, dans la forêt de Rouvray (le bois de Boulogne),
proche de Paris, sur un terrain concédé par son frère. Celui-ci, très attaché à
sa sœur, l’a autorisée à y consacrer une somme de trente mille livres, soit le
montant de sa dot. Le monastère « Notre-Dame de l’humilité » est
achevé en 1259 et accueille les premières clarisses venues du monastère de
Reims le 23 juin 1260. En s’inspirant de la Règle écrite par Claire d’Assise et
conseillée par saint Bonaventure, elle compose elle-même une Règle, un peu
moins sévère, qui est approuvée par le pape Urbain IV en 1263 (d’où le nom
de clarisses urbanistes pour celles qui suivent cette Règle).
Isabelle vient s’installer dans une petite maison, construite pour elle dans
l’enclos du monastère, pour partager la vie et la prière des sœurs mais ne fait
jamais profession religieuse. Elle meurt à Longchamp le 23 février 1270
quelques mois avant son frère.
Ce qu’elle nous inspire
Agnès d’Harcourt qui fut la suivante d’Isabelle puis la troisième abbesse du monastère fut chargée de rédiger sa biographie :
« Et sur toutes choses elle voulait que les sœurs de l’abbaye fussent
appelées sœurs mineures, et en nulle manière la règle ne lui pouvait suffire si
ce nom n’y fut mis. (…) C’est du nom de l’humilité Notre Dame qu’elle nomma son
abbaye (…). Et moi, sœur Agnès d’Harcourt, je lui demandai : « Dame, dites-moi
pour Dieu, s’il vous plait, pourquoi avez-vous donné ce nom à notre
abbaye ? ». Elle me répondit : « Parce que je n’ouïs jamais
parler de nulle personne qui le prit, ce dont je m’émerveille car il me semble
qu’on a dédaigné le nom le plus grand et le meilleur qui se puisse prendre si
c’est le nom auquel Notre Seigneur élut Notre Dame à être sa mère, et c’est
pourquoi je l’ai donné à ma maison ». »
Prière pour
l’humilité :
Souvent, mon Dieu, je suis angoissé(e) face à ma réalité personnelle, à toutes ces voix qui parlent en moi, à tout ce que je ne comprends pas de la vie.
Souvent, Jésus, je suis énervé(e), même agressif(ve) de ne pas contrôler tout ce qu’il y a autour de moi et en moi.
Alors aujourd’hui, Seigneur, je te demande la patience et l’humilité nécessaires pour tenir le coup.
Donne-moi l’humilité voulue et l’abandon réel pour continuer mon apprentissage à l’amour vrai.
S’il te plaît, mon Dieu, enseigne-moi à prendre soin de mon « aujourd’hui ».
Aide-moi, Jésus, à ne pas désespérer afin de parcourir mon chemin, celui que tu m’as tracé et que je dois suivre.
Aide-moi à reconnaître les forces et les instruments que tu mets sur mon chemin pour grandir dans mon mystère.
Merci, Jésus, de renouveler mon regard sur ce que je vis !
Merci, Seigneur, de me donner l’humilité et la foi nécessaires pour « lâcher prise » et découvrir ainsi, dans la sérénité, les trésors présents dans mes pauvretés et celles des autres.
Merci, Seigneur Jésus, de faire de moi un chef-d’œuvre à partir de mon rien !
Merci, Seigneur, d’exaucer ma prière !
Amen !
(Source : site du diocèse
d’Amiens)
SOURCE : https://paroissesaintecroixdespuys.fr/fetes-liturgiques/fetes-du-mois-de-fevrier/7759-2/
Teil eines Bleiglasfensters (Langhaus) in der katholischen Pfarrkirche St-Médard in Paris, Darstellung: hl. Isabella
Also
known as
Isabel of France
8
November as one of the Saints
of the Diocese of Evry
23
February on some calendars
24
February on some calendars
Profile
Born a princess,
the daughter of King Louis
VIII of France and
Blanche of Castile;
sister of Saint Louis
IX; aunt of Saint Louis
of Tolouse. Declined a marriage offer
from the German emperor
in order to found a Poor
Clare convent at
Longchamps near Paris, France where
she lived as a nun,
though without taking vows. Circa 1259, Pope Alexander
IV approved a Rule Isabella had written for what became the Order
of the Humble Handmaidens of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Born
March 1225
22
February 1270 at
the abbey of
Longchamp, France of
natural causes
buried at
the abbey in
Longchamp
exhumed after nine days
and found incorrupt
1521 by Pope Leo X (cultus
confirmation)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
Saints
and Their Attributes, by Helen Roeder
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Blessed Isabella of
France“. CatholicSaints.Info. 23 January 2024. Web. 18 February 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-isabella-of-france/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-isabella-of-france/
Bleiglasfenster
in der katholischen Pfarrkirche Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Sceaux im Département Hauts-de-Seine in
der Île-de-France, Darstellung: hl. Isabella und Ludwig der Heilige, Signatur: E.
Hirsch 1899 (siehe Laurence de Finance: Un patrimoine de lumière
1830−2000. Verrières des Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne.
Éditions du patrimoine (Centre des monuments nationaux), Paris 2003, S. 257,
2-85822-781-0)
Bleiglasfenster
in der katholischen Pfarrkirche Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Sceaux im Département Hauts-de-Seine in
der Île-de-France, Darstellung: hl. Isabella
(Saint) Virgin (August 31) (13th century) A French Princess, daughter of King Louis VIII, a pious and cultured maiden, who refused to give her hand to the Emperor of Germany’s eldest son and heir, in order to consecrate her virginity to God. She founded a monastery of Poor Clares near Paris, where she died, February 22, A.D. 1270.
MLA Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “Isabel”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 10 September 2013. Web. 21 February 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-isabel/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-isabel/
St. Isabel of France
Feastday: February 26
Sister of St. Louis and
daughter of King Louis VIII of France and
Blanche of Castile, she refused offers of marriage from several noble suitors
to continue her life of virginity consecrated
to God. She ministered to the sick and the poor, and after the death of her
mother, founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of
the Blessed Virgin Mary at
Longchamps in Paris. She lived there in austerity but never became a nun and
refused to become abbess. She died there on February 23, and her cult was
approved in 1521.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=126
Blessed Isabelle of France, Poor Clare (AC)
Died February 23, 1270; beatified 1520. Isabelle was the only sister of Saint Louis and daughter of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. She refused offers of marriage from several noble suitors, including the emperor of Germany (I have no idea who they mean), in order to continue her life of virginity consecrated to God. Isabelle ministered to the sick and the poor, and after the death of her mother founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin at Longchamps in Paris. She lived there in austerity but never became a nun and refused to become abbess (Benedictines, Delaney).
In art, Blessed Isabelle is a Poor Clare with a crown,
washing the poor (Roeder). She is venerated at Longchamps near Paris
(Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0226.shtml
St. Isabel of France
Daughter of Louis VIII and of his wife, Blanche of Castille, born in March, 1225; died at Longchamp, 23 February, 1270. St. Louis IX, King of France (1226-70), was her brother. When still a child at court, Isabel, or Elizabeth, showed an extraordinary devotion to exercises of piety, modesty, and other virtues. By Bull of 26 May, 1254, Innocent IV allowed her to retain some Franciscan fathers as her special confessors. She was even more devoted to the Franciscan Order than her royal brother. She not only broke off her engagement with a count, but moreover refused the hand of Conrad, son of the German Emperor Frederick II, although pressed to accept him by everyone, even by Pope Innocent IV, who however did not hesitate subsequently (1254) to praise her fixed determination to remain a virgin. As Isabel wished to found a convent of the Order of St. Clare, Louis IX began in 1255 to acquire the necessary land in the Forest of Rouvray, not far from the Seine and in the neighbourhood of Paris. On 10 June, 1256, the first stone of the convent church was laid. The building appears to have been completed about the beginning of 1259, because Alexander IV gave his sanction on 2 February, 1259, to the new rule which Isabel had had compiled by the Franciscan Mansuetus on the basis of the Rule of the Order of St. Clare. These rules were drawn up solely for this convent, which was named the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin (Monasterium Humilitatis B. Mariæ Virginis). The sisters were called in the rule the "Sorores Ordinis humilium ancillarum Beatissimf Marif Virginis". The fast was not so strict as in the Rule of St. Clare; the community was allowed to hold property, and the sisters were subject to the Minorites. The first sisters came from the convent of the Poor Clares at Reims. Isabel herself never entered the cloister, but from 1260 (or 1263) she followed the rules in her own home near by. Isabel was not altogether satisfied with the first rule drawn up, and therefore submitted through the agency of her brother Louis IX, who had also secured the confirmation of the first rule, a revised rule to Urban IV. Urban approved this new constitution on 27 July, 1263.
The difference between the two rules consisted for the most part in outward observances and minor alterations. This new rule was also adopted by other French and Italian convents of the Order of St. Clare, but one can by no means say that a distinct congregation was formed on the basis Isabella's rule. In the new rule Urban IV gives the nuns of Longchamp the official title of "Sorores Minores inclusæ, which was doubtlessly intended to emphasize closer union with the Order of Friars Minor. After a life of mortification and virtue, Isabella died in her house at Longchamp on 23 February, 1270, and was buried in the convent church. After nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were wrought at her grave. In 1521 Leo X allowed the Abbey of Longchamp to celebrate her feast with a special Office. On 4 June, 1637, a second exhumation took place. On 25 January, 1688, the nuns obtained permission to celebrate her feast with an octave, and in 1696 the celebration of the feast on 31 August was permitted to the whole Franciscan Order. They now keep it on 1 September. The history of the Abbey of Longchamp had many vicissitudes. The Revolution closed it, and in 1794 the empty and dilapidated building was offered for sale, but as no one wished to purchase it, it was destroyed. In 1857 the walls were pulled down except one tower, and the grounds were added to the Bois de Boulogne
Sources
AGNES D'HARCOURT, third Prioress of Longchamp
(1263-70), wrote the saint's life, Vie de Madame Isabelle, which may be
found in the Archives Nationales L. 1021 MSS. (Paris). A Latin
translation of this book is given in Acta SS., VII, Aug., 798-808; cf.
ibid., 787-98. See also ROULLIARD, La sainte mère, ou vie de Madame
Saincte Isabel (Paris, 1619); ANDRÉ, Histoire de Sainte Isabelle (Carpentras,
1885); DANIÉLO, Vie de Madame Sainte Isabelle (Paris, 1840);
BERGUIN, La Bienheureuse Isabelle de France (Grenoble, 1899);
DUCHESNE, Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Longchamp, 1255-1789 (2nd
ed., Paris, 1904); SBARA-LEA, Bull. Franc., III (Rome, 1765), 64-9; II
(1761). 477-86.
Bihl, Michael. "St. Isabel of France." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 26 Feb. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08179a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley. Dedicated to SS. Francis and Clare of Assisi.
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.
Bleiglasfenster (Ausschnitt) in der katholischen Pfarrkirche Cœur-Immaculé-de-Marie in Suresnes, Darstellung: Ludwig der Heilige und seine Schwester Isabella von Frankreich
Blessed Isabella of France
(Bl. Isabelle de France)
Feast Day - February 23
Isabella was the sister of King Saint Loius IX of France. Her mother, the saintly Queen Blance, bore this child special affection because, after the death of her husband, Isabella was the only daughter still living. Her cousin was King Saint Fernando III of Castile and Leon. Isabella was endowed with remarkable gifts, and special attention was paid to educate her in the requirements of her high position. She knew Latin perfectly and could read the writings of the Gathers of the Church in that language. She was, however, no less capable in accomplishments that are peculiarly feminine. With consummate artistry she embroidered vestments for divine services, and took great pleasure in working for the poor and the sick.
The princess loved and honored her saintly brother Louis, who was her senior by ten years and had then been king for many a year. But her love for God was still greater. One day she was knitting a new-fashioned nightcap. The king asked her to give it to him when finished.
“No,” she said, “this is the first of its kind and I must make it for my Savior Jesus Christ.”
Accordingly, she gave it to a poor sick person, and then made another for the king.
Her life in the royal palace was as retired as that of a nun in her convent. Hardly ever did she speak at mealtime. The choicest food she sent to the sick, and she ate so little even of the ordinary food that it was remarkable how she could live. Blessed Isabella of France fasted three days every week. All the court considered the princess a saint. One of the court ladies, who wrote her life, says,
“We beheld in her a mirror of innocence, and at the same time an admirable model of penance, a lily of purity, a fragrant rose of patience and self-renunciation, and endless fountain of goodness and mercy.”
Isabella’s only desire was to belong entirely to God,
and so she took the vow of perpetual virginity. However, Emperor Frederick II
sought her consent for marriage with his eldest son Conrad. Her mother, her
brother, the king, and even Pope Innocent IV would have liked to see the
marriage take place for the good of the State and the Church. But Isabella
wrote the Holy Father a letter in which she expressed such high regard for
consecrated virginity and so strong a desire to persevere in it, that the pope
praised her highly and encouraged Blessed Isabella of France in her noble
sentiments.
When her mother died, Isabella wished to withdraw from the court in order to consecrate herself entirely to God in a convent. With the king’s assistance she built a convent for the Poor Clares at Longchamps near Paris, and then with several ladies of the court she obtained admission. At the request of the Holy Father, the strict rule of St Clare was mitigated for this community by St Bonaventure, who was minister general of the Franciscan Order at that time, and the modified rule was confirmed anew by Pope Urban IV.
At Isabella’s request, the convent was named for the Humility of Our Blessed Lady. Blessed Isabella of France lived there nine years and desired nothing more than to be a humble subject although she surpassed everyone in sanctity. At her death in 1270 angels were heard singing. Several miracles occurred also after her death, and so Pope Leo X beatified her.
from The Franciscan Book of Saints, edited by Marion Habig, OFM
SOURCE : https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/blessed-isabella-of-france.html
Saint
Louis posant la première pierre de l'abbaye de Longchamp avec la bienheureuse
Isabelle de France et la reine Marguerite de Provence. Vitrail de la chapelle
Saint-Louis de la chapelle des Franciscains de Paris.
Saint
Louis laying the first stone of the Longchamp Abbey with Blessed Isabella of
France and Queen Marguerite of Provence. Stained glass window of the
Saint-Louis chapel of the Franciscans in Paris.
August 31
St. Isabel, Virgin
THIS holy princess
was daughter of Lewis VIII. king of France, and Blanche of Castile, and only
sister to St. Lewis. She was born in 1225, and lost her father when she was but
two years old. She was trained up in the purest maxims of religion, and in the
heroic practice of all virtues, and attained so perfect a knowledge of the
Latin tongue that she often corrected the compositions of her chaplains in that
language. Her character, from her infancy, was a combination of every eminent
virtue, and her whole life, from thirteen years of age, was almost, one
continued course of prayer, reading, and working. At that age she took a
resolution to consecrate her virginity to God, and always shunned all vain
amusements, and, as much as obedience to the queen would permit, all ornaments
of dress. A match was proposed between her and the young Conrad, the emperor’s
eldest son; and her mother, St. Lewis, and the pope joined in persuading her,
for the public good of the church and state, to accept so advantageous an
offer. But she considered matters in another light, alleged the consecration
she had made of herself to another state, and answered the pope in a letter,
that it was something much greater to be the last among the virgins who are
consecrated to the divine service, than to be an empress, and the first woman
in the world. Her courageous resolution was honoured with congratulations from
his holiness and St. Lewis, and the sequel showed how much the better choice
she made, in preferring the calm harbour of a retired life to the tempests and
vices of such a court. Isabel fasted three days a week, and never ate but of
the coarsest food, and only what seemed absolutely necessary for the support of
nature. She sent from her table the nicest dishes to the poor, and reserved for
them almost whatever was at her disposal. St. Lewis one day found her at her
work, making a cap, and begged she would give it him as a token of her
friendship, saying he would wear it for her sake. “This,” said she, “is the
first work of the kind that I have spun; I therefore owe it to Jesus Christ, to
whom all my first-fruits are due.” The king was exceedingly pleased with her
answer, and desired she would spin another for him; which she accordingly did,
after she had given the first to a poor man
Humility was the
favourite virtue of St. Isabel, and she called the nunnery which she built at
Longcamp, four miles from Paris, Of the Humility of our Lady, saying she chose
that title because the Blessed Virgin was exalted to the dignity of Mother of
God, chiefly on account of her profound humility. Our saint founded this house
in 1252, for Minoresses or Clares; but obtained of Urban IV. a dispensation for
them to be allowed to enjoy rents and possessions. After the death of her
mother, she retired into this monastery. William of Nangis says she professed
the Franciscan rule; but this is generally looked upon as a mistake; for all
other writers assure us, that on account of her frequent infirmities, she never
made a religious profession, though she lived in the monastery, strenuously
labouring to sanctify her soul by assiduous prayer, mortification, and patience
under continual sicknesses for the six last years of her life. St. Lewis, who
tenderly loved her for her extraordinary virtue, frequently visited her. She
died on the 22d of February, 1270, being forty-two years old. Her relics are
enshrined at Longchamp. She was beatified by Leo X. in 1316. Urban VIII.
granted an office in her honour. See her life, written by Agnes of Harcourt,
her maid of honour. Ed. Du Cange, Joinville, Chalippe, Vie de S. François, t.
2. p. 285.
Rev. Alban Butler
(1711–73). Volume VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-viii-august/st-isabel-virgin
Façade de l'église Bienheureuse-Isabelle de Neuilly-sur-Seine (René Coulon, 1958) dans le quartier de Bagatelle, arrondissement of Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, Metropolitan France, France
Blessed
Isabel of France, by Father Silas Barth, O.F.M.
Article
Blessed Isabel was the
daughter of Louis VIII, King of France, and of Blanche of Castile, and the
sister of Saint Louis IX. Her pious mother, who sought above all to bring up
her children in the fear of the Lord, early instilled into her heart those
sentiments of a lively faith and of a burning charity which were to be the guiding
principles of her whole future life, and accustomed her to the practice of
piety and of every Christian virtue. The young princess cooperated so well with
grace that, though living amid the comforts and distractions of the court, she
at an early age became remarkable for her spirit of recollection and prayer,
her charity, humility, and self-denial.
To preserve a becoming
recollection, Isabel avoided frivolous amusements and carefully guarded her
senses. She devoted many hours of the day, and even part of the night, to
prayer and the contemplation of the divine mysteries. Dreading the slightest
imperfection, she daily examined her conscience most carefully, reproached
herself for the smallest faults, and confessed them with many tears. To mortify
her flesh, she fasted on three days of the week, and ordinarily took barely
enough food to maintain her strength. Her charity toward the poor and the
suffering grew with her years. She not only sent food and clothing to the
needy, but she also visited them in their homes, ministered to their wants, and
alleviated their sufferings by her tender sympathy. In all this she was guided
by a lively faith; for she saw in the poor and the sick our Divine Savior, who
looks upon every work of mercy as if done to himself. One day, as she was
engaged in making a cap, King Louis, her brother, asked her to present it to
him. “No,” she replied, “I have determined to give it to our Lord, as it is the
first one I have made.” When the cap was finished, she sent it to a poor sick woman,
whom she was wont to supply every day with food from her own table. Her great
devotion toward our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament caused her generosity to
extend also to the churches. She was expert with the needle and could weave
silk and cloth of silver and gold, and she frequently employed her skill in
making sacred vestments and ornaments for the altar.
God, in his mercy, tried
the virtue of his servant by a severe and dangerous illness, which defied the
skill of the physicians and the most tender care of her mother and attendants.
Many prayers were offered up for her recovery, and at length a holy woman of
Nanterre declared that Isabel would recover her health, but that she would no
longer belong to the world. This prediction was verified. With returning health
and strength, Isabel devoted herself with renewed zeal to the practices of
piety, charity, and mortification. She displayed even greater contempt for the
vanities of the world, and entertained serious thoughts of embracing the
religious life. But now another trial came upon her. The German Emperor
Frederic II asked her hand in marriage for Conrad, his eldest son and heir
apparent, and Pope Innocent IV even urged her to accept so honorable and so
advantageous a proposal. Isabel, who had vowed her virginity to God and who
looked upon the honors of the world as naught, was greatly distressed and
called upon God to come to her assistance in her hour of need. She firmly
rejected the Emperor’s proposal, and informed the Pope of her vow, declaring that
she would consider herself more fortunate as the last among the virgins
consecrated to God, than as the first among the queens of this world. The Pope,
admiring her heroic virtue, congratulated her and encouraged her to persevere
in her resolve to belong to God alone.
After the death of her
saintly mother, Isabel, with the assistance of Saint Louis, built a convent for
the Poor Clares, at Longchamps, on the outskirts of Paris, and named it the
Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin. A number of nuns were brought
from the convent of the Poor Clares at Rheims, to train the new community,
which consisted for the most part of ladies of high birth, in the practices of
the religious life. At the request of Isabel, the strict Rule of Saint Clare
was modified in regard to poverty and some outward observances, and this Rule
with its modifications was approved by Pope Urban IV, whence the Sisters
observing it were called “Urbanist Clares.”
Isabel herself did not
take the religious habit, but lived according to the Rule in her home near by.
She exercised herself with great fervor in the practice of every religious
virtue and reached a high degree of perfection, so that one of the Sisters
wrote of her: “She was a true mirror of innocence, a wonderful model of mortification,
a rose of patience and self-denial, a shining lily of chastity, a copious
fountain of mercy, and a perfect type of every virtue.”
After thus living the
life of a religious for about nine years, Isabel died the death of the just on
23 February 1270. She had reached the age of forty-five. At the moment of her
death, some of the Sisters heard the songs of angels and a voice saying, “Her
home has been founded in peace.” Her body was entombed int he convent church.
Soon miracles began to bear witness to her sanctity, and Pope Leo X, in 1521,
sanctioned the devotion paid to her and permitted the celebration of her feast.
During the French Revolution, the convent at Longchamps was destroyed, but some
of the relics of Blessed Isabel are still preserved in the parish church of
Saint Louis in Paris.
MLA
Citation
Father Silas
Barth, O.F.M. Franciscan
Herald, September 1918. CatholicSaints.Info.
16 October 2022. Web. 21 February 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-isabel-of-france-by-father-silas-barth-o-f-m/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-isabel-of-france-by-father-silas-barth-o-f-m/
Lives
of Eminent Saints – Life of Saint Isabella
Isabella, daughter of
Louis VIII, and of Blanche of Castile, who reigned over France, was born in
1225. She had six brothers, all older than herself, amongst whom was Saint
Louis, who succeeded his father on the throne.
Isabella, the only sister
of those princes, possessed all their love and affections. Her tenderness of
heart, her cultivated intellect, her beauty, and above all, her piety caused
them to love and admire her. She was only two years old when she lost her
father. Her mother took care that she should be instructed not only in the
practice of the Christian virtues, but also in such knowledge as was required
by her high social position. She learned Latin so perfectly that she was able
to correct the writings of her chaplain. Accomplishments like this did not
prevent her from applying herself to useful labor, such as became a lady of her
rank, and her chiefest delight was to make vestments for the altar and clothing
for the poor.
Isabella knew nothing of
the frivolous amusements which ordinarily occupy ladies of high estate, and all
her time was divided between prayer, reading, and working.
Every one knew that it
was her intention to consecrate herself entirely to God. ‘Twas for this reason
that she avoided the pleasures of the court, and never put On rich robes except
in obedience to the queen her mother. Meanwhile her mother and King Louis
received ambassadors from the Emperor Frederic II, who sought Isabella’s hand
for his young son, Conrad. This prince was then only seventeen years of age. He
was the sole inheritor of the kingdoms of Sicily and Jerusalem, and presumptive
King of the Romans. The latter dignity secured to him the empire of the West.
Frederic entreated Pope Innocent IV to lend his instances in urging this
marriage; but the young princess was not to be moved. She pleaded her vow of
chastity by which she was bound, and her answer to the sovereign pontiff was,
that she preferred the lowliest position amongst the virgins consecrated to God
to the empire of the whole world.
Every one was astounded
on learning the sacrifice so generously made by Isabella. Saint Louis, her
brother, eulogised her for it, and the pope wrote to her congratulating her on
this noble and pious resolution. Isabella was now constantly at her mother’s
side, for she was the consolation of that happy parent whom she edified by her
virtues. Nevertheless her heart was always turned to God. The poor occupied
much of her time, for she looked on them as the suffering members of Jesus
Christ, and for sake of them she disregarded all the idle attentions she might
have received at the hands of the great. In fact she preferred the poor to
Saint Louis and to the King himself. A single fact will prove this. On one
occasion Saint Louis found her working at a cap, and when he besought her to
give it to him, she replied, “this is the first of this sort of work at which I
have tried my hand, and it is only just, that the first fruits should be given
to Jesus Christ.” The holy king, edified by this answer, requested her to make
him another, and she promised to do so, if she ever resumed this sort of work.
Meanwhile she sent what she had made to a poor sick woman.
Isabella’s love of the
Mother of God was equal to that wherewith the most distinguished saints ever
loved her. To attest her reverence for the profound humility of the Redeemer’s
Mother, and to evince her tender devotion for her, she caused a monastery to be
built, and to this she gave the name of “Our Lady of Humility.”
When queen Blanche died
in 1252, she broke all the ties that bound her to the court, and then retired
without delay into the monastery she had erected. Fearing that her constant ill
health should require dispensations from the punctual observance of the
conventual rule, she never made her religious profession, but she was not on
that account the less separated from the world, nor did she cease to edify the
community by her mortifications and countless virtues.
During the last ten years
of her life she was cruelly tested by sickness, which was almost continual.
Saint Louis, who venerated her and loved her tenderly, paid her frequent visits
throughout this period.
Isabella seldom spoke,
and being asked to account for this, she answered, that she desired to make
atonement for any sin that she might have committed by the tongue; nevertheless
she held frequent intercourse with the other religious, and thus triumphed over
temporary sufferings, by contemplating eternal felicity where sorrows and
sufferings never come. God took her to Himself on the 22nd February of the year
1270. She was then forty-five years of age. Saint Louis assisted at her funeral
obsequies, and terminated these last sad duties by a discourse calculated to
console the sister hood for the loss they had sustained. Her relics were
piously preserved till the time of the French revolution.
Prayer
O Isabella, who didst
prefer a mystic union with the Heavenly Spouse to the most brilliant of this
world’s bridals, and the obscurity of a cloister to all the pomp of a throne –
do thou obtain for us grace, that we may be able to set true value on the
lasting joys of heaven, where thou art now crowned with eternal blessedness.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/lives-of-eminent-saints-life-of-saint-isabella/
Sainte Isabelle de France.
Catholic
Heroes… St. Isabel Of France
February 23, 2016
By CAROLE BRESLIN
France, because of her early and continual faithfulness to the Catholic faith, has been called the Eldest Daughter of the Church. The ties with the Catholic Church began with the conversion of King Clovis I (466-511) and continued through the Protestant Revolution until the present time — even with the persecutions France suffered during the French Revolution. One of the Catholic kings who became a saint had a sister who has also been declared a saint, St. Isabel of France.
In Pays de France, just outside of Paris, along the Seine, lived King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, the queen of France. The royal couple were a holy example of Christian love, and they already had several children when their daughter, Isabel, came into the world in March 1225.
When Isabel was less than two years old, King Louis VIII died, leaving her older brother to reign as king. King Louis IX was installed in 1226 and he reigned until 1270. His mother supervised the education of the young children, ensuring that Isabel not only learned the feminine arts of sewing and embroidery, but also learned Latin in order to study the fathers of the Church.
Isabel demonstrated great piety from a very early age, and, it must be noted, she received much support in practicing her faith from her mother, her brother the king, and other members of the royal court.
She dedicated her sewing skills to providing clothing for the poor and preparing vestments for liturgical celebrations. On one occasion, as she was embroidering a new hat, King Louis IX asked her to give the hat to him. She refused, explaining, “No, this is the first of its kind and I must make it for my Savior Jesus Christ.”
When she finished it, she gave it to a poor and sick person. Then she made another cap of similar design for her royal brother.
Arranged marriages, common at the time, were a part of Isabel’s life from the age of two. The Treaty of Vendome, created in March 1227 and signed in June 1230, betrothed Isabel to Hugh, the eldest son and heir of Hugh X of Lusignan. Lusignan was an area on the western coast of France.
However, Isabel refused to celebrate this marriage. Some years later, she also refused to marry another royal personage, Conrad, the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Her mother and brother both urged her to marry Conrad. Even Pope Innocent IV tried to persuade her to marry the son of the emperor, but again she refused.
When she learned of the Pope’s hope that she would marry Conrad, Isabel wrote to him explaining that she had consecrated her virginity to Christ and would never marry. The Pope, witnessing her steadfast faithfulness to Christ, admired her for her perseverance and agreed with her position. Her brother finally acquiesced and no longer pushed for her to marry Conrad.
Not long after this Isabel’s mother died. In 1255 Isabel asked her brother if she could leave the court and establish a home for a group of Franciscan women. Thus, King Louis IX undertook the purchase of some land in the Forest of Rouvray, not from the Seine River, just west of Paris, for this purpose.
The cornerstone was placed on June 10, 1256 and four years later the building was completed. On February 2, 1259 Pope Alexander IV gave his approval to the new rule prepared by Princess Isabel. This rule had been compiled by Mansuetus, a Franciscan, who based it on the Rule of the Order of St. Clare, also referred to as the Poor Clares.
These rules were approved by St. Bonaventure, who was minister general of the Franciscan Order at the time. The new monastery was called the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin. The nuns of this monastery were called Sorores Ordinis humilium ancillarum Beatissima Maria Virginis.
The rules were unique and specific to this group of women, being somewhat simpler than the rules of Poor Clares in that the fasting was not as rigid and the community was allowed to hold property. But like the Poor Clares, these women also helped those less fortunate.
The first nuns to join this new monastery were from the convent of the Poor Clares at Reims, nearly 100 miles east of Paris. Although Isabel never resided at the monastery, she observed the rules in the privacy of her home.
After a few years, Isabel discerned that the rule needed to be revised. Just as King Louis IX had submitted her first rule, he submitted and obtained confirmation of the revised rule. Pope Urban IV approved the new rule on July 27, 1263, giving the nuns of Longchamp the official title of Sorores Minores inclusae. This title emphasized the close relationship with the Order of Friars Minor.
The changes in the rule were insignificant, dealing with outward practices more than with changes in piety and service. Both the French and the Italian convents adopted this new rule; but this did not represent a new or a distinct congregation of Franciscan nuns.
Isabel had refused to become the abbess of the monastery, but continued to observe the rules as well as additional mortifications. She practiced nearly total silence, fasted three days a week, and lived a life of heroic virtue.
In 1270 Isabel died at the new house in Longchamp on February 23. The nuns declared that when she died, the singing of angels could be heard. She was buried in the convent church. After only nine days, her body was exhumed and it was still supple, suffering no decay.
Not surprisingly, many miracles occurred at her gravesite. In 1521 Pope Leo X beatified Isabel, permitting the Abbey of Longchamp to celebrate her feast with a special office.
On June 4, 1637 Isabel’s body was exhumed again and it was still incorrupt. Months later, on January 25, 1688 the nuns received permission to celebrate Isabel’s feast with an octave observance.
The entire Franciscan order obtained authority to celebrate her feast on August 31 by Pope Innocent XII in 1696 when she was canonized. Now her feast is celebrated on February 26.
Dear St. Isabel, you have shown us that riches are not the treasure of this
world. Rather you found your peace and joy by pursuing the treasures of eternal
life. Help us to understand, to know the love of God, and the joy to be found
in mortifications and penances performed for the love of God. 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-isabel-of-france/
Saint Isabelle of France. Stained glass window in Notre-Dame de la Visitation, in Rochefort, Belgium
St. Isabelle of France, Princess: Woman of Charity and Humility
Today, February 26, the Church honors Saint Isabelle of France, (1225-1270,
also known as Isabel and Isabella), the daughter of King Louis VIII of France
and sister to the illustrious king of France, St. Louis IX.
Isabelle was gifted in many ways: she was beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous.
She was well-known for her charity to others. Daily, she invited poor people to
her dinner table, waiting on them herself. She spent her evenings visiting the
poor and the sick.
As a child, she requested spiritual direction and became even more devoted to
the Lord, under the guidance of the Franciscans. She sought holiness above all
else and refused to marry, but consecrated her virginity and her entire life to
God alone.
In 1252, Isabelle founded a cloister for Franciscan nuns, which she built just
four miles from Paris, at Longchamp. She had a great love for the virtue of
humility and named the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The rules, which were written by St. Bonaventure, were unique to this group of
women, who prayed, fasted, and provided assistance to the poor. Isabelle never
joined the community herself, but after her mother died, did live in the
monastery in a room apart from the nuns’ cells. She maintained a discipline of
silence for most of her day. She suffered from many illnesses during her life,
which prevented her from following the rule of life for the nuns which was one
reason she refused to be named abbess of the monastery. This also allowed her
to retain her wealth and possessions, in order to fund the monastery and to
support the poor.
Her life of prayer was marked by ecstasies at several points of her life,
including a period of time near the end of her life when she stayed awake
through several nights in rapt contemplation. Isabelle died at Longchamp in
1270 and was buried in the monastery church. Many miracles have since occurred
at her burial site. Her cult was approved in 1521. She is the patroness of sick
people.
Litany of Humility
Written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for
Pope Saint Pius X
O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may increase and I may decrease, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, grant me the grace to desire
it.
SOURCE : https://catholicfire.blogspot.com/2016/02/st-isabelle-of-france-princess-woman-of.html
Sainte
Isabelle de France. Peinture d'une des chapelles latérales de Notre-Dame de
Paris
Beata Isabella di
Francia Principessa
1225 - 22 febbraio 1270
Figlia del re Luigi VIII
e di Santa Bianca di Castiglia, sorella di san Luigi IX. Educata dalla madre
con una profonda e severa religiosità, fin dall'infanzia si distinse per la
profonda pietà. Una lunga malattia fece maturare in lei la decisione di
dedicarsi alle sue pratiche di pietà, alle pie letture e alla cura dei poveri.
Si distinse in modo particolare per il culto alle reliquie dei santi e per il
mantenimento dei crociati. Dopo aver rifiutato molte proposte di matrimonio e
successivamente alla morte della madre, con l'aiuto del fratello, fonda un monastero
a Longchamp presso Parigi, poi distrutto durante la Rivoluzione francese. Non
adottò la regola di S. Chiara, ma per andare incontro alla comunità di
religiose di nobile origine scrisse una regola che mitigava il voto di povertà.
Tale regola fu approvata nel 1263 da papa Urbano IV e fu adottata da altri
monasteri di Clarisse, specialmente in Francia. Visse santamente a Longchamp
sino alla morte avvenuta dopo due anni di malattia. Sepolta inizialmente nella
chiesa del convento, ora le sue reliquie sono a Parigi presso la tomba di San
Luigi IX e in parte nella cattedrale di Meaux.
Martirologio
Romano: A Longchamp nella periferia di Parigi in Francia, beata Isabella,
vergine, che, sorella del re san Luigi IX, avendo rinunciato a nozze regali e
ai piaceri del mondo, fondò il convento delle Suore Minori, con le quali servì
Dio in umiltà e povertà.
La principessa Isabella,
sorella minore del re San Luigi IX di Francia, nacque nel 1225 dal re Luigi
VIII e dalla regina Santa Bianca di Castiglia. La principale fonte circa la
vita di questa beata è la “Vita” scritta da Agnese di Harcourt, badessa del
monastero di Longchamp fondato dalla stessa Isabella, che si occupò di lei
negli ultimi dieci anni della sua vita. E’ difficile a distanza di così tanto
tempo discernere se le sue scelte di vita quali il rifiuto del matrimonio e del
cibo, comuni a numerose altre ragazze di un tempo, fossero dettate da
convinzioni spirituali e da libere scelte, piuttosto che da elementi
patologici, psicologici o politici. Sin dall’adolescenza Isabella nutrì una
repulsione verso la sua condizione regale, disprezzando il lusso che la
circondava e cadendo in una profonda anoressia, al punto che alla madre per
tentare di aiutarla non restò che appellarsi ad una “donna santa”. Costeì si
limitò però a fare una profezia, cioè che la giovane principessa sarebbe ancora
vissuta come “morta al mondo”. In seguito rifiutà non pochi pretendenti ed al
papa Innocenzo IV, che le aveva scritto affinchè accettasse la mano del re
Corrado di Gerusalemme per il bene della cristianità, rispose con fermezza
negativamente, chiedendo piuttosto con risolutezza ed ottenendo di poter
emettere il voto perpetuo di verginità.
Nel 1226 era asceso al
trono suo fratello, che si rivelò per lei ispiratore della carità verso i
poveri e del fervore religioso: quotidianamente infatti Isabella era solita invitare
alla sua mensa numerosi mendicanti e visitava malati e poveri. Luigi prese
parte a due crociate, risultate però inefficaci, e quando nella prima fu fatto
prigioniero in Egitto, per Isabella fu un duro colpo, giàcche sovvenzionava il
sostentamento di dieci cavalieri per contribuire al recupero dei luoghi santi.
Altra figura influente nella sua vita fu Santa Chiara d’Assisi e nel 1252, alla
morte della madre, Isabella decise di fondare a Longchamp un convento ove
vivere secondo gli ideali delle clarisse: re Luigi approvò e finanziò tale
progetto ed alcuni francescani, fra cui San Bonaventura, furono chiamati a
collaborare alla formulazione della regola e delle costituzioni. Il nuovo
monastero, sito nei sobborghi parigini, fu dedicato all’Umiltà della Beata
Vergine Maria.
Da allora Isabella
profuse buona parte delle proprie sostanze a sostegno del convento e proseguì
la sua attività di assistenza ai poveri. Assai probabilmente, ella però non
emise mai i voti perpetui, forse a motivo delle sue precarie condizioni di
salute: la stessa sua decisione di vivere in un luogo separato dell’edificio,
non a stretto contatto con le celle delle suore, fu dovuta a quanto pare a
motivi di umiltà uniti al desiderio di scongiurare l’eventuale elezione a
badessa. Per dieci ani condusse in monastero una vita di digiuno, penitenza,
contemplazione e preghiera. Prima della sua morte, avvenuta il 22 febbraio
1270, il suo cappellano, il confessore e suor Agnese, suo futura biografa,
furono testimoni di un suo rapimento estatico. Pochi mesi dopo morì a Tunisi il
suo santo fratello, di ritorno dalla seconda crociata.
Papa Leone X, con bolla
pontificia del 3 gennaio 1521, dichiarò “beata” la principessa Isabella di
Francia, una delle prime sante clarisse. Un tempo la sua festa era celebrata
dall’ordine francescano all’8 giugno insieme alle consorelle Agnese di Boemia e
Camilla Battista da Varano. Luigi IX fu invece uno dei primi terziari
francescani ad essere riconosciuto santo.
Autore: Fabio
Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90519
Medioevo. Isabella,
la "santa Chiara" della Francia
Antonio Musarra giovedì
6 giugno 2024
Disponibili per la prima
volta i documenti sulla sorella di Luigi IX che alla metà del '200 scelse la
vita religiosa e fondò un ordine dopo aver conosciuto la spiritualità e la
teologia francescane
Chi è Isabella di
Francia? Figlia di Luigi VIII e Bianca di Castiglia, vissuta in pieno XIII secolo,
morta in odore di santità, la sua fama è stata lungamente offuscata da quella
del fratello, re Luigi IX, il santo re crociato, a tal punto da ritardarne la
beatificazione, giunta soltanto nel 1521. La sua vicenda è narrata con dovizia
di particolari da Agnese di Harcourt, sua dama di compagnia, una quindicina
d’anni dopo la morte. Non esente da intenti agiografici, l’opera ha
un’importanza peculiare: si tratta, infatti, della prima biografia di una donna
redatta da una donna. Il fatto è già di per sé straordinario. Stupisce, dunque,
il silenzio nei suoi confronti. In tempi di programmatica affermazione della
cosiddetta “storia di genere” – benemerita, nella misura in cui l’attenzione
per la donna non si presenti quale prodotto d’un pensiero militante ma come
elemento costitutivo d’un continuum storico (e storiografico) da
secoli declinato al maschile – si tratta d’un elemento importante.
Giunge a colmare questa
lacuna un volume recentemente edito in italiano dalle Editrici
Francescane, Isabella di Francia. Sorella di San Luigi (pagine 306,
euro 27,00), curato da Jacques Dalarun, francescanista di fama, da sempre
attento alle figure femminili dell’Ordine, Sean Field, autore di studi sulle
donne sante capetingie, e Marco Bartoli, tra i massimi specialisti di santa
Chiara e dei suoi scritti. Si tratta della nuova edizione di un testo edito a
Parigi dieci anni fa (Jacques Dalarun, Sean L. Field, Jean-Baptiste Lebigue, e
Anne-Françoise Leurquin-Labie, Isabelle de France, sœur de Saint Louis. Une
princesse mineure, Parigi, Éditions franciscaines, 2014), in cui sono comprese
le principali fonti relative alla donna, accompagnate da un’ampia introduzione
relativa al periodo in cui Isabella è vissuta, con particolare riguardo
all’Ordine religioso da lei istituito e alla rispettiva regola religiosa.
Di Isabella abbiamo
diverse notizie. Agnese racconta di come passasse le giornate nello studio,
dedicandosi, in particolar modo, all’apprendimento del latino e alla lettura
delle Sacre Scritture, ovvero in silenzio in lavori di cucito. Destinata a
Corrado di Svevia, figlio dell’imperatore Federico II, rifiutò il matrimonio,
desiderando la verginità. A seguito della morte della madre, col sostegno del
fratello, assurto al trono, decise di dedicarsi alla cura dei poveri e dei
malati. La lettura di un’opera di Gilberto di Tournai, teologo francescano, la
spinse, nel 1254, ad abbracciare il proposito di vita dell’Assisiate,
allontanandosi dalla tradizionale vicinanza familiare all’Ordine cistercense.
Sino alla morte, avvenuta nel 1270 – contemporanea a quella del fratello,
spentosi sulla spiaggia di Tunisi nel corso della sua seconda crociata –
avrebbe mantenuto saldo il proposito di seguirne l’esempio, impiegando la
propria dote per la costruzione d’un monastero d’ispirazione francescana a
Longchamp, nei pressi di Parigi. Senza divenirne badessa ma vivendo in una casa
situata nei pressi. Tali intenti avrebbero spinto papa Alessandro IV a
indirizzarle la lettera Benedicta Filia tu, contenente un lungo elogio dei
suoi meriti e dei suoi progressi spirituali, capaci di suscitare l’emulazione
di altre giovani. Per la redazione della regola di vita della propria comunità,
coinvolse i massimi teologi parigini, tra cui Bonaventura di Bagnoregio,
ministro generale dell’Ordine francescano. Non è chiaro il livello d’intervento
di Isabella nella stesura del testo, benché si possa presumere fosse notevole.
Ella ottenne, infatti, un’apposita dispensa rispetto alla norma del concilio
Lateranense IV che vietava l’erezione di nuovi Ordini religiosi, prescrivendo
alle nuove formazioni l’adozione delle regole esistenti.
A prima vista, siamo di
fronte a una vicenda esemplare. Se non fosse ch’essa è testimoniata da una
cospicua mole di documenti, resi ora disponibili agli studiosi. L’Ordine
delle Sorores minores inclusae ebbe un discreto sviluppo: in Francia,
in Inghilterra, in Italia. Inevitabile, il confronto con Chiara d’Assisi, la
cui regola sarebbe stata approvata nell’ottobre del 1263, pochi mesi dopo
quella di Isabella, la quale ebbe un’ampia diffusione. Rispetto alla forma
vitae delle clarisse, alla professa era richiesto maggiore rigore:
l’obbligo della clausura era rafforzato dal voto di perpetuità. Oltre a ciò,
era ammesso il possesso dei beni, amministrati da un procuratore. Non era la
povertà materiale a interessare la principessa di Francia, ma l’umiltà di
spirito; tanto più importante nell’ambito del contesto nobiliare da cui
proveniva. Al pari di Chiara, Isabella risalta quale interprete della
religiosità del proprio tempo, perennemente in bilico tra esaltazione e
disprezzo del mondo. Siamo di fronte, insomma, a una figura importante, la cui
riscoperta costituisce un tassello ulteriore nella comprensione della
diffusione degli ideali mendicanti tràditi dal francescanesimo in tutta Europa.
© Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/isabelladi-francia-l-altrasanta-chiara
.jpg)
Isabella di Francia
sorella di san Luigi
19 Febbraio 2024
L’Istituto
Francescano di Spiritualità della Pontificia Università Antonianum ha
promosso l’incontro di studio in occasione della presentazione di Isabella di Francia sorella di san Luigi,
volume edito da Editrici Francescane a cura di Marco Bartoli, Jacques Dalarun e Sean L. Field.
Nel corso
dell’incontro, martedì 19 marzo 2024, dalle 17:00,
sono intervenuti Chiara Codazzi, Marco Bartoli e Gabriella Zarri.
«Chi conosce Isabella di
Francia (1225-1270)? Sorella minore di Luigi IX, principessa capetingia
oscurata dalla gloria del fratello, il re santo. Fondatrice dell’Ordine delle
Sorelle minori? Per la prima volta la sua figura e la regola da lei composta
vengono fatte conoscere in lingua italiana. Isabella, dopo aver rifiutato il matrimonio
con l’imperatore Federico II, scelse la via della verginità continuando a
vivere a corte. Nel 1263 il papa approvò la regola da lei composta per le
Sorelle Minori: una regola di vita cristiana radicale ispirata a san Francesco.
Con l’appoggio del fratello fondò il monastero di Longchamp (Parigi) restando
ai margini, senza mai diventarne badessa, continuando la sua vita a corte,
ispirando il governo di Luigi IX nella forte identità cristiana che lo
caratterizzò. L’ordine delle Sorelle Minori da lei fondato fiorì in Francia, in
Italia e soprattutto in Inghilterra. La sua figura si pone a fianco di quelle
poche donne, come Chiara d’Assisi, che ebbero l’ispirazione e il coraggio di
scrivere una regola per donne. Una figura poco conosciuta storicamente, ma che
alimenta la comprensione del fenomeno francescano nell’Europa cristiana del
Medioevo». Isabella di Francia sorella di san Luigi,
a cura di Marco Bartoli, Jacques Dalarun e Sean L. Field,
Editrici
Francescane, Padova, 2023.
SOURCE : https://www.antonianum.eu/news/isabella-di-francia-sorella-di-san-luigi/
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), Étude pour sainte Isabelle de France
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867),
Sainte Isabelle de France. Carton pour les vitraux de la chapelle Saint-Louis à
Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, Louvre INV 27229, Recto
Febrero 23: Beata Isabel de Francia.
Virgen de la Segunda Orden (1225‑ 1270).
León X
concedió oficio y misa en su honor el 11 de enero de 1520.
Isabel nació hacia 1225,
hija de Luis VIII, rey de Francia, y de Blanca de Castilla, quien con piedad,
inteligencia y energía supo formar santos también en trono real. La joven
princesa fue iniciada en la oración y en una tierna devoción al Señor y a la Santísima
Virgen, en la meditación y tras prácticas de la vida cristiana. La escuela y el
ejemplo de Blanca de Castilla nos dieron un San Luis IX, rey de Francia y
la Beata Isabel. Experta en labores de bordado y tejido, donó a las iglesias
ornamentos confeccionados con sus propias manos y adoró la Eucaristía con todo
el ánimo de su corazón.
Ayunaba tres veces por
semana, se alimentaba parcamente. Evitaba las diversiones. Sus recreaciones
eran en compañía de su hermano Luis y de las damas que estaban a su servicio.
Con frecuencia visitaba a los enfermos en los hospitales o en sus casas,
atendía a sus necesidades y les endulzaba sus penas. Enfermó gravemente, de
modo que se temió por su vida; sanó gracias a las oraciones y cuidados de su
madre Blanca.
Conrado, hijo del
emperador Federico II, la pidió en matrimonio, con gran alegría de Blanca y de
su hermano el rey Luis, y del papa Inocencio IV, pero ella declaró que había
hecho voto de virginidad y que nadie la haría desistir de su decisión.
Para mejor realizar su
vocación religiosa, en los alrededores de París hizo construir un monasterio en
1261, y adoptó la regla de la Segunda Orden de Santa Clara. Las religiosas que
habían seguido su ejemplo provenían de la nobleza y pertenecían a la corte de
Francia. Para una mejor formación franciscana de la nueva comunidad, hicieron
venir cuatro religiosas de otros monasterios.
Isabel vivió nueve años
en el monasterio y lo honró con sus virtudes. Murió el 23 de febrero de 1270, a
los 45 años de edad. Algunas religiosas en el mismo instante oyeron cantos
angélicos que decían: «En la paz está su morada». San Luis estuvo presente
en los funerales de su querida hermana y tuvo palabras de consuelo para la
comunidad de las Clarisas.
Allirot, Anne-Hélène, « Isabelle de France, sœur de saint Louis : la vierge savante. Étude de la Vie d'Isabelle de France écrite par Agnès d'Harcourt », Médiévales, 48, 2005, p. 55-75 : https://journals.openedition.org/medievales/1050
Massimo Fusarelli, Isabella di Francia, sorella minore sulle orme di san Francesco, Roma, 2025: https://ofm.org/uploads/Lettera_IsabelladiFrancia2025_IT.pdf
