ANNUNZIATA, (Annunciade) Order of the. - This is the common name for the Order of contemplative nuns founded at Bourges by Blessed Joan of France (Joan of Valois, 1464-1505), daughter of Louis XI, King of France, and of Charlotte of Savoy, with the cooperation of Father Gabriel Mary (Gilbert Nicolas, 1462-1532). The first rule, the only one known to the foundress, approved by Alexander VI on 12 February 1502, was clearly inspired by the model of the double monasteries of the Order of Fontevrault, and sets as its program of life the imitation of the "ten joys and virtues" of the Virgin. The second rule (22 May 1515) and the third (29 August 1517) abandon the principle of double monasteries, but continue in the program of imitating the virtues of the Virgin. The official title "Order of the Virgin Mary" which they assumed never supplanted the common designation: "Order of the Annunciation." The nuns are still known today under the name of "Annunciates." They are also called "Red Annunciates," to distinguish them from the "Blue or Turquoise Annunciates," founded at Genoa by Vittoria Fornari in 1634. At the death of the foundress (5 February 1505) the Order had only the monastery of Bourges; it counted nine at the death of the co-founder Father Gabriel (1532) and about fifty at the beginning of the French Revolution.
Founded in France by a daughter of the King of France, the Order had spread only in its own country and in neighboring ones: Belgium, the Netherlands, the Rhineland, Westphalia. The Revolution dispersed all the communities, with the exception of that of Tirlemont, which, though changing residence several times, was able to survive. Of the other monasteries only two were reopened, that of Villeneuve-sur-Lot in 1816, and that of Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1818 (the latter moved to St. Margaret's Bay, England, in 1903). Other foundations were later made at Geel and at Merksem, Belgium, in 1853 and 1883, and at Thiais in 1925. The Order of the Annunciation is made up of autonomous monasteries. At first the houses were under the jurisdiction of the major superiors of the Order of Friars Minor, but in the 17th century many obtained a transfer to the dependence of the diocesan bishops. This perhaps explains the halt in expansion. In fact, from 1657 to the Revolution there was no foundation, whereas there had been 34 from 1600 to 1657. The constitutions approved in 1932 place all the monasteries under the jurisdiction of the bishops, leaving to the Friars Minor the canonical visitation in the name of the bishop.