St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Feast 08-12 · Canonized 1767
Patron of
About
Jane Frances Frémyot was born in Dijon, France, in 1572. Married to Baron de Chantal at twenty, she was widowed at twenty-eight when her husband died in a hunting accident, leaving her with four children. She forgave the man who shot him and even became godmother to his child.
In 1604 she met St. Francis de Sales, who became her spiritual director. Together they founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary in 1610, a congregation for women who wished to live a life of prayer and charity without the severe austerities of older orders.
She died in 1641 and was canonized in 1767. She is venerated as a patron of widows, of those rejected by religious orders, and of parents separated from their children.
Suggested prayer
O God, who gave Jane Frances de Chantal the grace to forgive the man who shot her husband and to become godmother to his child, grant through her intercession that widows and all who struggle to forgive may find peace in Your providence. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.