Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/445

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431
431

ST. JANE 431 Alexander YII., declared that the indal- gences granted to the rosaries and beads of the venerable Jane of the Cross were apocryphal and were to be so considered, and Uiat it was not to be believed as undoubted fact that the beads were taken to heaven and blessed by God there and smelt sweet from the touch of His hands. Her Life was written by one of her nuns, Sister Mary Evangelista. Daza, HtBtoria de la Vida y Milagros de Santa Juana de la Cruz, Sarag09a, 1611. AnaUcta^ iv. ooL 1142. BfkgAii&^ Admiranda. B. Jane (IB) de TEstonnac, or de Lestonnac, Feb. 2, 1556-1640, marquise de Montferrant-Landiras and founder of the Order of Daughters of the B. V. Mary, called nuns of Notre Dame. Her father was a counsellor in the parliament of Bordeaux, and came of the ancient and distinguished family of Lestonnac. Her mother, Jeanne Deyquem de Montaigne, was sister of the famous philosopher of that name ; she either was a Protestant, or had leanings towards Calvinism, and encouraged her daughter to associate with some Calvinistic girls of her own age, but young Jeanne was true to the faith of her &ther. At seventeen she married Gaston, marquis of Montferrant- Landiras, one of the most illustrious families of Guienne. She had been a happy wife for more than twenty-four years when the marquis died. Jeanne resolved to retire from the world, but waited until her four surviving children were settled in life. She married one of ber daughters to the Baron d'Arpaillant ; two others became nuns. In 1603 Joanne entered the convent of the leuillantines at Toulouse. She had been there only six months when the unaccustomed austerities of the cloister ajQfected her health so seriously that she bad to give up the idea of becoming a nun there, and she returned to her relations at Bordeaux. While she was overwhelmed with disappointment at the failure of her plan, she conceived the idea of founding a new order for edu- cational purposes. She spent some time in prayerful seclusion, near her son's ch&teau at Landiras, and then she founded the institute of Daughters of our Lady, which was annexed to the Order of St. Benedict. The new order was established by a decree of Paul V. in 1607. Jeanne and her first few disciples took the veil in the following year, in their house near the port in Bordeaux. Many convents of the order have been established since then and have taken an active part in the edu- cation of the young. She died Feb. 2, 1640, at the age of eighty-four. Sho was at once regarded as a saint, and articles which had belonged to her were preserved as inestimable treasures. Her canonization was talked of from the time of her death, but it was only in Sept., 1900, that she was solemnly beatified by Leo XIII. Guerin, P.£., Supplement. Analecta, ii. 1234 and v. 454. Diarto di Borna, Sept. 27, 1834, Dec. 14, 1841. Tablet, Oct. 6, 1000. St. Jane (19) or Ste. CHANTAL,Dec. 1 3, 1572-1641, baroness of Chantal. Patron of Annecy and Moulins ; of Nevers (with Cyr, son of Julitta (2) ). Founder and first superior of the Visitandines, or Order of the Sisters of the Visitation. Jeanne Frangoise Fremyot was born at Dijon, Jan. 23, 1572. She was the daughter of Benigne Fremyot, president of the parliament of Burgundy. Her mother was Marguerite de Berbisey, descended from St. Huhbelina, sister of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. From her earliest childhood, Jeanne Fran9oi8e was remarkable for her piety, charity, and devotion to the Eoman Catholic Church, at that time disturbed by the Eeforma- tion. In 1592, she married Christophe de Eabutin, baron de Chantal. France was then distracted by civil wars, so for safety the marriage took place at Bour- billy, a strongly fortified castle belong- ing to the de Chantal family. Here the young couple lived for three months, and here Jeanne Fran^oise was left to manage household and estates when her husband was summoned by Eling Henri IV. to join his army. She set a good example in her house, adhering herself to the rules she made, rising early, working with her maids, assembling her household to daily prayer in the private chapel and then to Mass in the parish church, and losing no opportunity