CHÉZARD de MATEL, JEANNE. - French mystic of Roanne, b. 6 Nov. 1596, d. 11 Sept. 1670, foundress of the Congregation of the Incarnate Word and of the Most Holy Sacrament. Favoured with extraordinary gifts, she early acquired an understanding of Holy Scripture and visions concerning the mystery of the Incarnation, characteristic of her spiritual profile, thus linking her mysticism in the midst of the seventeenth century to the medieval tradition. In 1625 she founded the new Congregation at Roanne amid unprecedented trials and opposition, obtaining papal approval for it in 1644. The process of beatification is under way. Of her writings, only a collection edited by E. Hello has so far appeared: Oeuvres choisies (Paris 1870).
BIBL.: M. Saint-Pierre de Jésus, Vie de la rév. mère J. C. de M., fondatrice ecc., Fribourg 1910; H. Bremond, Hist. litter. du sentiment religieux en France, VI, Paris 1923, pp. 267-313; L. Christiani, s. V. in DSp. II, cols. 837-40. Innocenzo Casati