Johanna Franziska von Chantal
| Johanna Franziska von Chantal | |
|---|---|
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| Founder of the order | |
| birth | January 23, 1572 , Dijon, France |
| death | December 13, 1641 in Moulins , France |
| beatification | August 21, 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV. |
| canonization | July 16, 1767 by Pope Clement XIII. |
| Burial place | Annecy |
| Remembrance day | 12. August |
| Attributes | Heart, cross, nun's dress |
| Patronage | For a happy delivery |
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“We have to trust fully in God, who never lets us down.” |
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Johanna Franziska Frémyot von Chantal ( Jeanne Françoise Frémyot de Chantal ) (born January 23, 1572 in Dijon , † December 13, 1641 in Moulins ) was the wife of Christophe Rabutin de Chantal, mother of six children, and spiritual friend of St. Francis de Sales and co-founder of the Sisters of the Visitation of Mary (Salesians) . She is a saint of the Catholic Church, the grandmother of the writer Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné and sister of André Frémyot, Archbishop of Bourges .
Life
Childhood and years of marriage
Johanna Franziska Frémyot was born on January 23, 1572 in Dijon as the second daughter of the Burgundian Parliament President Bénigne Frémyot and his wife Marguerite de Berbisey. The mother died when her brother Andreas was born. Since the father had little time to bring up the children due to his work as President of Parliament, the children were first placed in the care of an aunt and then in the family in Poitou where the older sister Marguerite married.
Very late at the time, namely at the age of 20, Johanna Franziska married Baron Christoph von Rabutin-Chantal on December 29, 1592 and moved to his castle in Bourbilly. Their first two children died immediately after their birth, but four others survived: Celsus-Benignus was born in 1596, Marie-Aimée in 1598, Franziska in 1599 and Charlotte in 1601.
A few months after the birth of the youngest daughter Charlotte, a tragic hunting accident occurred in October 1601. A shot went off from the rifle of his best friend Louis d'Anlezy and fatally hit Christoph von Chantal. The father-in-law Guy von Chantal took over the guardianship of the children and asked Johanna Franziska to take care of the management of his castle in Monthelon (Saône-et-Loire) if she did not want her children to be disinherited. Johanna Franziska sought advice and help from a priest who, however, did not take her seriously and burdened her even more with severe penance exercises. In this situation she met Francis de Sales , Prince-Bishop of Geneva , based in Annecy .
Encounter with Francis de Sales and spiritual friendship
On March 5, 1604, Johanna Franziska von Chantal heard a fasting sermon by the Geneva prince-bishop in the Sainte-Chapelle in her home town of Dijon, which was to change her life fundamentally. Francis de Sales accepted the invitation of her brother André Frémyot, who had meanwhile become Archbishop of Bourges. He immediately noticed the widow, who listened attentively to his sermon. After the sermon he met her at a reception given by the archbishop. In other meetings during the weeks of Lent, Johanna Franziska also told about her suffering. In Franz von Sales she first met someone who took her worries seriously and listened to her sympathetically. It did her so good that she asked Francis de Sales to continue to be her spiritual advisor and companion in the future. In the first letter that Franz von Sales wrote to Johanna Franziska, the latter said: “God, it seems to me, has given me to you; this becomes more and more certain for me with every hour. "
In the course of the following years a spiritual friendship, unique in the history of the Church, developed between Johanna Franziska von Chantal and Franz von Sales. In about 350 letters, of which, unfortunately, only very few have survived from Johanna Franziska because she burned them after the death of Francis de Sales, it is documented how two people, united in deep friendship, helped each other on the path to holiness to find.
What Johanna Franziska did particularly well was the spirit of freedom, which Francis de Sales placed as a heading over their common spiritual path. In contrast to her former confessor, Francis de Sales did not force her into any prayer exercise, but on the contrary, he wrote to her: “This should be the basic rule of our obedience: do everything out of love and nothing out of compulsion! To love obedience more than to fear disobedience. "
Desire for a life in the monastery
Since the death of her husband Christoph there have been repeated attempts to marry the baroness again. Johanna Franziska herself, however, felt more and more drawn to a celibate life in a monastery. She also wrote about it to Francis de Sales. However, he said that this is currently not their job. Her place as a Christian is to look after her children as a widow and to manage the two castles well.
At Easter 1607, however, both began to think about a possible new religious community of women who on the one hand serve God in prayer, but on the other hand go out on the streets to help the poor and sick. Johanna Franziska was enthusiastic about this plan, but also knew that all of this could only be realized if her children were looked after and if the father-in-law gave his consent.
In 1608 Marie-Aimée, Johanna Franziska's eldest daughter, was married to Bernhard von Sales, a brother of Franz von Sales. It was also decided that her son Celsus-Benignus would enter the service of the French royal court. So only the two daughters Françoise and Charlotte remained unsupervised. After some deliberation, Franz von Sales and Johanna Franziska decided that, with the consent of their father-in-law, they should move to Annecy together with their two children so that they could actually start establishing the religious community there.
At the end of January 1610, the nine-year-old daughter Charlotte became seriously ill. A few days later she was dead. In April 1610 Johanna Franziska left her Burgundian homeland with her daughter Françoise and moved to Annecy.
Establishment of the Visitation
On June 6, 1610 Johanna Franziska von Chantal founded the order of the sisters “From the Visitation of Mary ” (“l'Ordre de la Visitation Beatae Mariae Virginis” = OVM) together with Franz von Sales in Annecy , in the German-speaking area also Salesians or Visitants called. The congregation initially devoted itself to caring for the poor and the sick. In 1615, however, Franz von Sales and Johanna Franziska von Chantal were informed that they had to introduce the strict enclosure if they wanted to receive full canonical recognition for their new religious community. With a heavy heart, the two founders of the order decided to change the rules of the order. On April 23, 1618, Pope Paul V granted the Order of the Visitation of Mary, in its modified form, papal recognition. After just a few years, the order was spread throughout France.
Francis de Sales dies
In 1617 Johanna Franziska von Chantal lost another child. Their eldest daughter Marie-Aimée died giving birth to their first child. Johanna Franziska performed the emergency baptism of her granddaughter before the newborn also died. On December 28, 1622 she then had to cope with the death of her spiritual companion and advisor Franz von Sales. This loss hit her so hard that she suffered from it for the rest of her life.
The last years of life
After the death of Franz von Sales, Johanna Franziska devoted herself above all to the expansion and further development of her religious community.
She also began to sift through the written estate of Francis de Sales, especially his letters, his sermons and the spiritual conversations he had had with the Sisters of the Visitation. Not only was she the first editor of the works of Francis de Sales, but she also took an active part in ensuring that the process of beatification for Francis de Sales began as quickly as possible. This happened in 1627.
In 1629 the plague broke out in Annecy and the surrounding area. Johanna Franziska refused to leave the city because of this, but devoted herself to the plague and the dying.
In 1632 she was present when, in the course of his beatification process, the coffin of Francis de Sales was opened and the integrity of the body was established. Johanna Franziska asked for the hand of Francis de Sales to be placed on her head so that he could bless her for the last years of her life.
During a visitation trip in 1641 Johanna Franziska fell ill with pneumonia, combined with pleurisy, in the monastery of Moulins, and died on December 13 of the same year. Her last words were: “Yes, my father, I am coming. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. "
During her lifetime she founded a total of 87 Visitation monasteries.
Her body was transferred to the mother house of the order in Annecy and buried there in the church of the Visitation Monastery next to Francis de Sales. Today her bones rest next to those of St. Francis de Sales in the new basilica of the Visitation Monastery in Annecy, built at the beginning of the 20th century .
Remembrance day
- Catholic: August 12th ( Uncommitted Remembrance Day in the General Roman Calendar )
- Prior to 1970, the memorial day was August 21 , the day of her beatification and birthday (and baptism?) Of her mentor Francis de Sales .
- Until 2002, the day of remembrance on December 12th , one day before her death, was the usual choice for a day of remembrance of the saints (in this case the feast of St. Lucia of Syracuse from ancient times .) This was postponed again because of the commemoration day of Our Lady of Guadalupe , with August 21st meanwhile from the feast of St. Pope Pius X. (who was brought closer to the day of his death, August 20, the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux ).
Canonization and patronage
Johanna Franziska von Chantal was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV on August 21, 1751 ; Pope Clement XIII. canonized them on July 16, 1767 . She is considered to be the patroness of a happy delivery. After her death, her family name Chantal also became a common first name.
Picture gallery
literature
- Betty Sendtner : Johanna Franziska von Fremiot, Baroness von Chantal. A biographical sketch. In: Cölestina. A festival for women and virgins. Theodor Bergan, Aschaffenburg, 1838, pp. 148-195. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- Johanna Franziska Frémyot von Chantal: Correspondence. Letters from 1605-1641. CD-Rom edition. Sales, Eichstätt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7721-0310-0 .
- André Ravier Johanna Franziska von Chantal. Her nature and her grace. 2nd Edition. Sales, Eichstätt 2012, ISBN 978-3-7721-0306-3 .
- Peter Ebner : Baroness Chantal. Novel. Sales, Eichstätt 2003, ISBN 978-3-7721-0259-2 .
musical
The musical "The Baroness" tells the life of St. Johanna Franziska von Chantal. The music was composed by Francis Care, the text is by Herbert Winklehner and Nicola Bamberger. Further information can be found on the website www.musical-diebaronin.de .
Web links
- John J. Conley: Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot, Baronne de Chantal (1572-1641). In: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
- Pedigree of the Salesian Family
- www.musical-diebaronin.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c cf. Hildegard Waach, Johanna Franziska von Chantal. The life of a saint, Eichstätt-Wien, 1957, page 18; André Ravier, Johanna Franziska von Chantal. Your being and your grace, Eichstätt, 1992, page 11; Etienne-Jean Lajeunie, Francis de Sales. Life - Teaching - Werk, Eichstätt, 1975, page 485; Franz von Sales wrote in a letter to Johanna Franziska von Chantal, dated January 23, 1617: "I was pleased to hear from you that today is your birthday, because I didn't think about it." see. German edition of the works of St. Franz von Sales, Volume 5: Letters I. To Johanna Franziska von Chantal, Eichstätt 1990, page 299.
- ↑ Johanna-Franziska Chantal - ( Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints , accessed on January 27, 2014)
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Chantal, Johanna Franziska von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Frémyot von Chantal, Johanna Franziska; Frémyot, Johanna Franziska (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Saints of the Catholic Church |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1572 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dijon |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 13, 1641 |
| Place of death | Moulins |