Legends of the monastic orders as represented in the fine arts : Forming the second series of Sacred and legendary art / by Mrs. Jameson.

  • Anna Brownell Jameson
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Legends of the monastic orders as represented in the fine arts : Forming the second series of Sacred and legendary art / by Mrs. Jameson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    STE. JEANNE-FRAN9OIS DE CHANTAL. 4*19 Mademoiselle de Fremiotj for that was her maiden and secular name, was even as a child remarkable for her religious enthusiasm. One day a Calvinist gentleman, who visited her ])arents, presented her with some bon-bons. She immediately flung them into the fire, saying, as she fixed her eyes upon him, ^ Voila, Monsieur, comment les heretiques brideront dans renter ! ’ She did not, however, grow up a cruel fanatic, though she remained a devout enthusiast. She married, in obedience to her parents, the Baron de Chantal; at the same time making a secret vow, that if ever she were left a widow she would retire from the world and dedicate herself to a religious life. Her husband died when she was in her twenty-ninth year, and for the next ten years of her life she was sedulously em- ployed in the care and education of her four children ; still preparing herself for the fulfilment of her vow. In the year 1610 she assisted St. Francis de Sales in the institution of the Order of the Visitation. Having arranged the future destinies of her children, and married her son advantageously to Mademoiselle de Coulanges, she prepared to renounce all intercourse with the world, and to assume the direction of the new Order, as ^ la Mere ChantaU Her chil- dren, who seem to have loved her passionately, opposed her resolution. On the day on which she was to wuthdraw from her home, her son, the father of Madame de Sevigne, threw himself on the ground before the threshold of her door. She paused for a moment and burst into tears ; then, stepping over him, went on, and the sacrifice was consummated. Before her death, Madame de Chantal counted seventy-five houses of her Order in France and Savoy; and, from its non- exclusive spirit, this community became useful as well as popular. When St. Vincent de Paul instituted the Hospice de la Madeleine^ as a refuge for poor erring women, he placed it under the superintendence of the Sisters of the Visitation, called in France ^ Soeurs de Sainte Marie.’’ La Mere Fran^oise died in 1641, and was canonised by Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) in 1769. Madame de Sevigne did not live to see her ^ sainte Grande-Maman ’ receive the 3 M