Saint Jane Frances of Chantal

Saint Jane Frances of Chantal (born Jan. 28, 1572, Dijon, Fr.—died Dec. 13, 1641, Moulins; canonized 1767; feast day August 21) was a French cofounder of the Visitation Order.

In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, who was killed in a hunting accident (1601), leaving her with four children. In 1604 she heard St. Francis de Sales preach the Lent at Dijon and placed herself under his direction. In 1610, after her eldest daughter had married and her 14-year-old son was provided for, she took her two remaining daughters to Annecy, where with Francis she founded the Visitation Order. She was bereaved by the death of Francis (1622), and in 1627 her son died in battle. She transformed her convent at Annecy into a hospital during the plague of 1628. She died in her convent at Moulins en route from Paris, to which city she had been invited by Queen Anne of Austria. The Visitation Order had 86 houses at her death.