A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Guyon, (Johanna Mary Bouviers de la Mothe)
She was sent, when only seven years of age, to the convent of the Ursulines, where she was taken care of by one of her half sisters. At eight years of age, the confessor of the queen-mother of England, widow of Charles I. presented her to that princess, who would have retained her, had not her parents opposed it, and sent her back to the Ursulines. She would fain have taken the habit; but they having promised her to a gentleman in the country, obliged her to marry him. At twenty-eight years of age she became a widow, being left with three young children, two sons and a daughter, of whom she was constituted guardian, and their education, with the management of her fortune, became her only employment. She had put her domestic affairs into such order, as shewed an uncommon capacity; when of a sudden she was struck with an impulse to abandon every worldly care, and give herself up to serious meditation, in which she thought the whole of religion was comprized.
In this disposition of mind she went first to Paris, where she became acquainted with M. d'Aranthon, bishop of Geneva, who persuaded her to go to his diocese, in order to perfect an establishment he had founded at Gex, for the reception of newly converted Catholics. She accordingly went in 1681, and took only her daughter with her. Some time afterwards, her parents desired her to resign the guardianship of her children to them, and all her fortune, which was 40,000 livres a-year. She readily complied with their request, reserving only a moderate pension for her own subsistence. Hereupon the new community desired their bishop to request her to bestow this remainder upon their house, and become herself the superior; but she refused to comply with the proposal, not approving their regulations; at which the bishop and his community took such offence, that he desired her to leave the house.
She then retired to the Ursulines at Thonon, and from thence to Turin, Grenoble, and at last to Verceil, by the invitation of that bishop, who had a great veneration for her piety. At length, after an absence of five years, her ill state of health made her return to Paris, in 1686, to have the best advice. During her perambulations abroad, she composed the Moyen court et tres facile clef aire Oraison; and another piece entitled, Le Cantique de Cantiques de Salomon interprete, selon le Sens mystique, which were printed at Lyons, with a licence of approbation; but as her irreproachable conduct, and extraordinary virtues, made many converts to her system, which was called Quietism, she was confined, by an order from the king, in the convent des Filles de la Visitation, in 1688. Here she was strictly examined for the space of eight months, by order of M. Harlai, archbishop of Paris; but this served only to illustrate her innocence and virtue; and Madam Miranion, the superior of the convent, representing the injustice of her detention to Madame Maintenon, the latter pleaded her cause so effectually to the king, that she obtained her discharge, and afterwards conceived for her a particular affection and esteem.
Not long after her deliverance, she became known to Fenelon, afterwards archbishop of Cambray, who became her disciple. She had besides acquaintance with the dukes de Chevreuse and Beauvilliers, and several other distinguished persons. But these connections could not protect her from the ecclesiastics, who made violent outcries on the danger of the church from her sect.
In this exigence, she was persuaded to put her writings into the hands of the bishop of Meaux, and submit them to his judgment who, after reading all her papers, both printed and MSS. had a conference with her, and was well satisfied with her principles; yet a ferment daily increased, and an order was procured for the re-examination examination of her two books. M. Bossuet was at the head of this examination, to whom, at the request of Madam Guyon, was joined the bishop of Chalons, afterwards Cardinal de Noailles; and to these two were added, first, M. Transon, superior of the society of St. Sulpice; and Fenelon. Madam Guyon, while her cause was under examination, retired to the convent of Meaux, at the desire of that bishop. At the end of six months, thirty-four articles were drawn up, which were signed at Isay, near Paris, by all the examinants, and by Madam Guyon, who declared "she had always intended to write in a true catholic sense, and had not apprehended any other could be put upon her words."
In consequence of these submissions, and the testimony given of her conduct, during six months residence in the convent of St. Mary de Meaux, the bishop continued her in the participation of the sacrament, declaring that he had not found her any wise involved in heresies elsewhere condemned. Thus cleared, she returned to Paris, not dreaming of any further prosecution; but the storm was not yet allayed, for she was involved in the persecution of the archbishop of Cambray, who as well as herself, was accused of Quietism, and she was imprisoned before the expiration of the year 1695, in the castle of Vincennes; from thence she was removed to the convent of Thomas a Girard, and then thrown into the Bastile, where she underwent many rigorous examinations, and continued in prison, as a criminal, till the meeting of the general assembly of French clergy, in 1700, when nothing being made out against her, she was released. After which, she went to the castle belonging to her children, and from thence to Blois, the next town to it.
From this time till her death, which was twelve years, she remained in perfect oblivion, and her uniform and retired life is an evident proof, that the noise she had made in the world, proceeded not from any ambition she had of making a figure in it: her whole time being employed in the contemplation of God. The numerous verses which proceeded from the abundance of her heart, were formed into a collection, which was printed after her death, in five volumes, under the title of Cantiques Spirituels, ou d'Emblemes sur l'Amour Divin, Her other writings consist of twenty volumes of the Old and New Testament, with Reflectwns et Explications concernant la Vie interieure; Discours Chretiennes, in two volumes; Letters to several Persons, in four; Her Life, written by herself, in three; a volume of Visitations, drawn from the most venerable authors, which she made use of before her examiners, and two of Opuscles,
She died June 2, 1717, having survived the archbishop of Cambray almost two years and a half, who had a singular veneration for her to the day of his death. Her poems were translated by Cowper, a little before his death.