St. Jane Frances de Chantal

"In Madame de Chantal I have found the perfect woman, whom Solomon had difficulty in finding in Jerusalem". - St. Francis de Sales, her spiritual directorBorn at Dijon, France, 28 January, 1572; died at the Visitation Convent Moulins, 13 December, 1641. Jane (Jeanne) was born to into nobility, her father being the president of the parliament of Burgundy. At age 20 she was married to the Baron de Chantal.  Jane had four children and loved and served her young family deeply until the death of her husband in a hunting accident at age 28.For seven years she was forced to live in the house of her father in law, a trial which she was forced to bare patiently due to his ill-disposition towards her. She took a vow of perpetual chastity during this time.In all her prayers Jane asked God to send her a guide.  In a vision He showed her the spiritual director He held in reserve for her. During Lent, in 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 the famous correspondence between the two saints which produced volumes of letters of spiritual direction some of which are available today, but most of which were destroyed by her on the death of St. Francis.She went to Annecy in 1610, where she believed God was calling her to found an order for women and girls who feel called to live the life of Christian perfection, but not practice the severe asceticism of the religious orders of the time.Thus the Congregation of the Visitation was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, June 6th, 1610. The method of spiritual perfection of the Visitation nuns was that of St. Francis, 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. There were 86 convents of the Visitation nuns at her death 31 years later.St. Jane Frances de Chantal's spirituality was a strong and resilient one; she did not like to see her daughters giving way to human weakness, and encouraged constant battle against the passions and habits which keep one from following God's will.
Her trials were continuous and borne bravely; and yet she was exceedingly sensitive. She endured 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 canonized in 1767.