August 12th Feast of St. Jane de Chantal

On August 12th, the Visitation Order celebrates the feast of their co-founder, St. Jane de Chantal.

Novena to St. Jane de Chantal

O glorious saint, blessed Jane Frances, by fervent

prayer, attention to the Divine Presence, and purity

of intention, you attained on earth an intimate union

with God. Be now our advocate, our mother, our

guide in the path of virtue and perfection. Plead

our cause near Jesus, Mary and Joseph, to whom

you were so tenderly devoted, and whose holy

virtues you deem most necessary for us; an ardent

love of Jesus in the most holy Sacrament, a tender

and filial confidence in His Blessed Mother, and

like you, a constant remembrance of His Sacred

Passion and death. Obtain also, we pray, that our

particular intentions in this novena may be granted.

V. Pray for us, O holy St. Jane Frances,

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises

of Christ.

Let us pray.

O almighty and merciful God, who granted to

blessed St. Jane Frances, so inflamed with love of

thee, a wonderful degree of fortitude through all the

paths of life, and through her, were pleased to adorn

thy church with a new religious Order, grant by her

merits and prayers that we, who sensible of our

weakness confide in thy strength, may overcome

all adversity with the help of thy heavenly grace,

through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

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St. Jane Frances Fremyot de Chantal was born of a prominent family at Dijon, France, on January 23, 1572. She married Christopher de Rabutin, Baron de Chantal, in 1592 at the age of twenty. They had six children (of whom four survived into adulthood) and enjoyed a happy marriage. When her husband was killed by a family friend in a hunting accident in 1601, she became desolate and sought spiritual guidance in her grief.

In the wake of her husband's death, Jane Frances and her children went to live with her father-in-law, a thoroughly unpleasant and difficult man who, among other things, kept a mistress. As if her widow's grief and raising young children alone wasn't enough of a burden, Jane de Chantal eventually found herself trying to manage the financial affairs of her father-in-law's estate. Through it all her faith in God and love for others deepened.

In 1604, she met St. Francis de Sales in her home town of Dijon, France, where the young bishop was preaching a Lenten mission. Francis de Sales was deeply impacted by Jane Frances' passion for God and the things of God. Their friendship (which is admired as a model of spiritual friendship) was to endure until his death in 1622.

With the support of Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal founded the Congregation of the Visitation of Holy Mary (also known as the Visitation Order) at Annecy in 1610 with three other women who joined her: Jacqueline Favre, Charlotte de Bréchard, and Anne Coste. They were to be daughters of prayer who lived the life of the gentle, humble Jesus through the practice of the little virtues. Those already out of the novitiate visited the poor and others in need, although this outreach to the larger community was not the focus of their day-to-day life together. Within eight years the community observed papal enclosure.

The unique thing about the Visitation (compared with other religious communities of women at the time) was that it admitted women who were widowed, older, of delicate health and handicapped. This community lived a balanced life of prayer and activity.

Even by today's standards, Jane de Chantal was a capable administrator in her own right as evidenced by the fact that over eighty Visitation communities had been established by the time of her death at Moulins on December 13, 1641. Jane Frances was buried at Annecy near the body of Francis de Sales.

Praying in the Spirit of Jane de Chantal

What is your will for me, O God?
I await your plan.
I want to live only for you
and be guided by you always.
Grant that your holy will be done in me.