Jane de Chantal was thinking about her position. She was, first of all, the widowed mother of three children—the youngest was 14 years old. For the last 10 years, she had lived in her father-in-law’s house. It was a trial because of his bitter temper and malicious housekeeper.
However, her living situation—as well as the death of her husband—had brought her close to God. Four years after being widowed, she had taken a vow to remain unmarried, and since then had desired to consecrate herself as a nun.
Now—well, she was nearly 40 years old, and no religious order could take her now. Still, she had hope, because she had just spoken with her spiritual director, Bishop Francis de Sales.
He told her of a congregation he wished to establish for women who couldn’t enter religious orders due to age or health or similar considerations. The congregation would be less physically rigorous, focusing primarily on hidden interior virtues and renunciations.
It would be called the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. The sisters would focus, in their spiritual life, on the virtues of the Blessed Mother, especially those she exhibited at the Visitation. They would commit themselves to detachment and to seeking union with God’s will.
The bishop asked Jane to lead the new order.
This she did, with a steady and discerning hand. After its formal establishment on Trinity Sunday in 1610, the order grew rapidly. By the time Jane went to her eternal rest in 1641, there were 86 houses of the Visitation.
Just a few years after Jane’s death, a little girl named Margaret was born in France. She would later join the Visitation Order and become one of its most illustrious members. We now know her as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the Apostle of the Sacred Heart devotion.
Jane de Chantal’s life shows us that we are all called to sanctity, regardless of station or time of life. Wisdom from the Lives and Letters of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal opens this calling to union with God to all of us, compiling the profound yet approachable advice and dialogues of these two great saints. Begin your journey with them today at The Catholic Company!
