The Life of St. Jane Frances: Fremyot De Chantal

Emily Bowles

• Publisher: Paeroa House
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781779797834
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

She buried her husband, buried her dreams, and then chose to bury herself in God. The Life of St. Jane Frances Fremyot de Chantal is the breathtaking true story of a woman who faced the kind of grief that breaks most people entirely, and instead allowed it to forge her into something extraordinary. Written by Emily Bowles and first published in 1872, this luminous biography traces the remarkable journey of a seventeenth-century French noblewoman who transformed personal devastation into a life of profound spiritual purpose, institutional vision, and unshakeable courage. Jane Frances was no sheltered saint. She was a widow, a mother, a woman of rank and responsibility who carried the weight of an entire household before she ever set foot in a convent. Her story begins not in the quiet of a cloister but in the noise and pain of ordinary human life, which is precisely what makes it so arresting. Bowles renders this life with an intimacy and reverence that draws readers deep into the world of Counter-Reformation Europe, a world trembling with theological passion, social upheaval, and a hunger for spiritual renewal. At the heart of the narrative stands the profound friendship between Jane Frances and St. Francis de Sales, a relationship of rare spiritual depth that gave birth to the Order of the Visitation and reshaped the possibilities of religious life for women across the continent. Bowles captures both the grandeur and the tenderness of this bond, portraying two souls who understood that holiness was not the absence of suffering but its transfiguration. The atmosphere throughout is richly drawn, moving between the elegance of aristocratic French society and the stripped simplicity of consecrated life, never letting the reader forget the immense personal cost behind every moment of grace. What readers gain from this book is something that goes far beyond historical biography. It is an encounter with a woman whose interior life was as fierce as it was faithful, whose determination to seek God did not flinch before family obligation, social expectation, or heartbreak. In an age hungry for authentic stories of resilience and meaning, Jane Frances stands as a figure of startling relevance. Whether you are drawn by devotion, by history, or simply by the hunger to understand how a human being builds something lasting out of loss, this biography offers rare and enduring reward.

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE.
• CHAPTER I. — Girlhood and Marriage. 1572-1595.
• CHAPTER II. — Life at Bourbilly. M. de Chantal’s Death. 1595-1601.
• CHAPTER III. — First Years of Widowhood. 1601-1602.
• CHAPTER IV. — Life at Monthelon. St. Francis de Sales. 1601-1605.
• CHAPTER V. — The elder Children. 1605.
• CHAPTER VI. — Work among the Sick and Poor. Fruits of Direction. 1605-6.
• CHAPTER VII. — Vocation of Jane Frances decided. 1607.
• CHAPTER VIII. — Jane de Sales. Marie Aymée. 1606-1608.
• CHAPTER IX. — Foundation Stones of the Visitation. 1608.
• CHAPTER X. — Leaving Home. First Settlement at Annecy. 1609-1610.
• CHAPTER XI. — Bernard de Sales, Marie Aymée, and Françoise. 1609-1611.
• CHAPTER XII. — Deaths and Changes. 1611-1617.
• CHAPTER XIII. — Death of Bernard and Marie Aymée de Sales. 1617.
• CHAPTER XIV. — New Foundations. Paris. Angélique Arnauld. 1617-1619.
• CHAPTER XV. — Madame de Toulonjon. Death of Francis de Sales. 1619-1622.
• CHAPTER XVI. — Council of Superiors, and new Foundations. 1622-1626.
• CHAPTER XVII. — Progress of the Visitation. Death of Celse Bénigne. 1626-1628.
• CHAPTER XVIII. — The Plague of 1628.
• CHAPTER XIX. — Madame de Toulonjon. Steps towards the Canonization of Francis de Sales. 1629-1632.
• CHAPTER XX. — Deaths of Marie de Coulanges, Antony de Toulonjon, and M. Favre. 1632-1634.
• CHAPTER XXI. — The Visitandines and their Convent Schools. 1634.
• CHAPTER XXII. — Question of a General Superior of the Order. Mother de Chantal visits the Convents. 1635-1636.
• CHAPTER XXIII. — Interior Trials and Losses. 1636-1641.
• CHAPTER XXIV. — Last Journey and Death of Mother de Chantal 1641.
• CHAPTER XXV. — Death of Françoise de Toulonjon. 1684.