St. Jane Frances, WIDOW, A.D. 1641.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday August 21, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
"The father of St. Jane Frances was left a widower whilst his children were in their infancy: but he took care to train them to every religious duty, and this saint profited by this holy education above all the rest. She was married at twenty years of age to the Baron de Chantal, an officer of distinction in the French army. She made it her first care to establish regularity in her family. She scarcely ever admitted any company, and never stirred abroad; knowing it to be the delight of a good wife to watch over her servants, children, and domestic concerns, and to shun the snares of dissipation, levity, vanity, love of trifling, and much loss of time. She employed all her leisure hours, either at her work, or in daily exercises of prayer and pious reading.
At twenty-eight years of age she was left a widow. She bore the loss of her husband with heroic constancy and resignation. She offered herself to suffer whatever crosses God should be pleased to lay upon her, and made a vow to live thenceforth in perpetual chastity. She spent a considerable part of the nights in prayer and tears of compunction; she redoubled her alms, wore plain clothes, fasted much, lived retired, and divided her time between the care of her children, her prayers, and her work.
Under the direction of St. Francis of Sales, she laid the foundation of the Order of the Visitation of the B. Virgin Mary, for the basis of which, St. Francis would have the sister virtues of humility and meekness. He inculcated to his spiritual children the necessity of mortifying the senses; for these, being the avenues of the soul, are the encouragement of the passions, which can never be governed, unless the senses are strictly guarded and curbed. St. Jane Frances taught her nuns to love and receive well reprimands and correction, which is the greatest mark of true humility. She was afflicted with frequent painful sicknesses, and met with grievous trials and persecutions, but under all these God afforded her strength and consolation.
The saint being seized with her last illness, received the holy sacraments, gave her last instructions to her nuns, and with wonderful tranquillity died the death of the saints on the 13th of December, 1641, being sixty-nine years old.
Strive to imitate the eminent virtues, which this saint ever practiced and inculcated. Bear one another's burdens, and suffer nothing to cool your charity towards any one. Let mildness be the natural and constant frame of your soul, which no provocation must ever disturb. Temper corrections and reproofs with such tenderness and charity, as to give no one uneasiness: conceal and bear all personal injuries, and repay affronts with blessings and favors."
Novena and prayers to St. Jane Frances de Chantal: O Glorious saint, blessed Jane Frances, who, by thy fervent prayer, attention to the divine Presence, and purity of intention in thy actions, didst attain on earth an intimate union with God, be now our advocate, our mother, our guide in the path of virtue and perfection. Plead our cause near Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, to whom thou wast so tenderly devoted, and whose holy virtues thou didst so closely imitate.
Obtain for us, O amiable and compassionate saint, the virtues thou seest most necessary for us; and ardent love of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament, a tender and filial confidence in His blessed Mother, and, like thee, a constant remembrance of His sacred passion and death. Obtain also, we pray thee, that our particular intention in this novena may be fulfilled.
v. St. Jane Frances, pray for us
r. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Almighty and merciful God, Who didst grant Blessed St. Jane Frances, so inflamed with the love of Thee, a wonderful degree of fortitude through all the paths of life, and wast pleased through her adorn Thy Church with a new Religious order; grant, by her merits and prayers, that we, who, sensible of our weakness, confide in Thy strength, may overcome all adversities with the help of Thy heavenly grace, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
Prayer to Implore Fidelity to Divine Grace: O Great St. Jane Frances! who, to follow the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, when thou west called to the religious state, didst despise all the ties of nature and of blood; obtain for us also the grace to correspond faithfully with all divine impulses, and to sacrifice to God whatever is most dear and precious to us.
For Perfect Conformity: O great St. Jane France, who didst execute, with the utmost exactness, thy singular and difficult vow to do always what thou didst recognize as most perfect; obtain for us the grace always to aspire to the acquisition of the most sublime sanctity, and never to omit any means which we know may conduce to this end.
Source: Blessed Sacrament Book By Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance
