JOANNA OF VALOIS (Jeanne de France), Saint. - Daughter of Louis XI, King of France, and of Charlotte of Savoy, and foundress of the Religious of the Annunciation, b. in Paris on 23 April 1464, d. at Bourges on 4 February 1505. An object of aversion on her father's part, both because of her deep piety and because of her small stature and deformed body, she was nevertheless given in marriage in 1476, for political reasons, to her cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans.

He imitated his father-in-law in his indifference toward J., and although she had obtained for him his release from the prison to which he had been condemned for rebellion against his sovereign, as soon as he ascended the throne under the name of Louis XII he hastened to seek the annulment of his marriage to J., on the grounds of the constraint he had suffered and of her incapacity for motherhood. The papal commission declared the nullity on 17 December 1498; and J. received the sentence as a favor, which offered her the means of serving the Lord more freely. Having withdrawn to the Castle of Bourges, given to her as an appanage, she founded there, with the approval of St. Francis of Paola and the help of the Franciscan Gabriele Maria, the Order of the Annunciation (1500), confirmed by Alexander VI on 15 February 1501. At the profession made on Pentecost of 1503, J. took the name of Sister Gabriella Maria. The cult paid to J. from the beginning was confirmed by Benedict XIV on 21 April 1742; she was canonized by Pius XII on 20 May 1950. Feast on 4 February.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: L. Perquin de Gembloux, Histoire de la Jeanne de Valois, Bourges 1839-40; M. Cagnac, La b. Jeanne de V., Paris 1930; Duc de Lévis-Mirepoix, Jeanne de France, fille de Louis XI, la Cendrillon des Valois, ibid. 1943; A. Redier, Jeanne de France, Le Puy 1946; E. Contardi, S. G., regina di Francia, Rome 1950; E. Renaud, La b. Jeanne de France, son mariage et le procès de nullité, in Ami du clergé, 60 (1950), pp. 113-21; G. Chastel, Ste Jeanne de France, Paris 1950.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec6_giovanna_di_valois_jeanne_de_f, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Giovanna di Valois (Jeanne de France), santa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {485}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giovanna-di-valois-jeanne-de-france-santa} }

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Joanna of Valois (Jeanne de France), Saint

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