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