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St. Jane Frances de Chantal
August 21, 2016
Born at Dijon in 1572, St. Jane Frances, after her marriage to Baron de Chantal, showed herself as an admirable wife and mother. At the death of her husband when she was twenty-eight, she decided to remain a widow in order to occupy herself with education of her children. She devoted all her energies to this task, but encountering St. Frances de Sales was led progressively to accomplish God’s special plans for her under the saint’s gentle but firm direction. She gradually freed herself from all that detained her in the world, forced herself to separate from her children and in 1610 founded at Annecy the first house of the Visitation. Foundations increased rapidly; when Jane died in 1641 the Order was spreading everywhere. Her body lies in the church of the Visitation convent at Annecy near that of St. Francis de Sales.