ST. JANE 433 Jeanne^s eldest daughter, Marie Aym6e, was married while very yonng, to Ber- nard de Sales, haron de Thorens, brother of St. Francia The arrangement of this marriage was followed by proposals for that of Madame de Chantal. A nobleman of Bnrgnndy, very rich and distiognished and an intimate friend of President Fremyot, asked his daughter's hand in marriage. The president and all the relations of the pious widow ardently desired that this marriage should be arranged, and St. Jeanne was the more pressed to assent because of the worldly advantages she would gain for her family by this step. The temptation to yield was very strong, she had to fight against her own heart. She could not but be touched by the merits of her suitor, and the benefits her family would derive from the marriage. But Ood saved her from breaking the promises which she had so often made, that she would be His alone. The gentleman withdrew his suit, and the holy widow, to seal by her blood the vow she now renewed never again to listen to a similar proposal, had the courage to brand tho name of Jesus on her heart with a red hot iron. In 1017, while Madame do Thorens was on a visit to her mother at tho con- vent at Annecy, she heard of the death of her husband. The shock brought on an illness, her child was bom prema- turely, and lived just long enough to be baptized by his grandmother Ste. Jeanne. Tho young widow never recovered. On her death-bed she was received into the Order of the Visitation. Jeanne's second daughter, Frangoise, became Comtesse de Toulonjon, and is described in the letters of her niece, Mme. de Sevigne, as brilliant, warm- hearted, and imperious. Jeanne's only son died in the flower of his age, before his mother. His daughter was afterwards the famous Mme. de SevignS. Jeanne ruled her convent wisely and well ; she was frequently asked to reform religious houses of other orders. Twice she returned to the world to put her affairs in order, on the deaths of her father and father-in-law. During her lifetime eighty convents of the Visitation oame into existence. In 1622, St. Francis de Sales died, and she was in- strumental in procuring his canonization. She also set herself to collect all the writings of the holy bishop, and it was due to her labours that his letters, medi- tations, sermons, and book, U Amour de Dieu^ were made public. A few months before Jeanne's death, Anne of Austria, queen of France, sent for the aged saint to the court of St. Germains, and made her bless her son, afterwards Louis XIV. Jeanne died at Moulins, Dec. 13, 1641. She was buried near St. Francis in the Church of the Visitation at Annecy. Each saint was placed in a crystal coffin above a golden altar. Jeanne was considered a saint during her life. Pieces of her dress and clothing were treasured as relics. Several miracles are recorded of her. During the famine which devastated France, especially Burgundy, 1600-1, she dis- tributed such quantities of food to the poor that her own servants began to grumble and to fear that there would be none left for the household, should the famine continua Madame de Chantal went to the granary to see whether there was any foundation for their alarm, and found only one cask of flour, and a small quantity of rye remaining. It was the middle of winter and tho number of paupers increased daily. She ordered the servants to take without measuring, and give without counting, which was done for six months; and in summer, when she went again to the granary, the little store had not diminished. The saint herself always attributed this miracle to the prayers of Dame Jeanne, a good old servant. Jeanne Frangoise was canonized by Clement XIII., in 1707. B,M. L'Abbo Bougaud, Vie de Ste. Chantal. Modern Saints. Lady Lovat, Seeds and Sheaves. St. Jane (20) of St. Joseph, Jdne 7, 1591-1651, V. Abbess of Tart. Jeanne de Courcelle de Pourlan, daughter of the Baron de Pourlan, was educated in the Abbey of Notre Dame de Tart, the first Cistercian nunnery. She took the veil ^1 ^
