Antoinette Bourignon

Antoinette Bourignon (born Jan. 13, 1616, Lille, France—died Oct. 30, 1680, Friesland, Neth.) was a mystic and religious enthusiast who believed herself to be the “woman clothed with the sun” (Revelations 7).

Bourignon was a Roman Catholic but took to self-imposed retirement, penance, and mortification. Later she tried convent life and the management of an orphanage; both were failures because of her distrust of human nature and her harsh, autocratic disposition. She became convinced that she was illuminated by God to reform both temporal and spiritual life. Accordingly, she attacked every form of religious organization and was praised by some and condemned by others. She attracted many followers in the Netherlands, France, and England, but especially in Scotland, where her doctrines were posthumously denounced by the Presbyterian general assemblies of 1701, 1709, and 1710. Her works, which exhibit a curious medley of opinions, were collected (1679) by her disciple Pierre Poiret, who in the same year also wrote her biography.