GIOVANNA FRANCESCA FRÉMYOT de CHANTAL, saint. — Born at Dijon on 23 January 1572, died at Moulins on 13 December 1641. Of noble birth, she married the Baron de Chantal in December 1592; she was widowed with four children in 1601. A woman of great piety during her youth and married life, after her husband’s death she set out on the path of perfection: her
intentions, however, did not correspond to an easy implementation. An unsettled and sensitive soul, she had a spiritual director who increased her scruples through complicated religious practices.
Only after she met St Francis de Sales at Dijon (March 1604) and chose him as her spiritual director (August 1604) did the essence of true Christian freedom, rich in gentleness and consideration, become clear to her. St Francis de Sales also instructed her in the most fruitful method of prayer: no longer at fixed hours (often the most inconvenient within the running of a household), but at every moment of the day, with joy and simplicity of heart. Through the Salesian method, G. F. was able to overcome the gulf separating her sublime aspirations from the daily difficulties of the spirit. She remained too concerned with attaining interior consolation, but St Francis de Sales instilled in her the principle that, even in the perfect interior life, one must not seek consolation as one’s aim.
In 1610 she decided to leave the world and founded the Visitation with Francesco di Sales (at Annecy in June 1610). The Order, shaped by the gentle and humble Salesian spirituality (had not St Francis de Sales emphasized that «la charité est une humilité montante et l'humilité une charité descendante »?), had initially arisen as a contemplative Order but at the same time one devoted to helping the poor. However, the opposition of the Archbishop of Lyon, who wanted the nuns always to live in enclosure and not to visit the poor, caused the Order to return to an essentially contemplative basis. The constitutions were approved by the Holy See in 1626. Only later did the Visitation devote itself to the education of young girls.
The closeness of G. F. to Francesco di Sales was, in the history of the Church, one of the highest examples of holy Christian fraternity. It was not only the Saint who inspired G. F.; she too knew how to enlighten the Saint on the path of seeking God: it was G. F. who opened the secret treasure of the mystical life to the Saint, or at least helped to dispel his suspicions regarding mystical illuminations. The Saint owed no little to G. F.’s mystical experiences in embarking upon the composition of the Traité de l'Amour de Dieu.
The Saint long outlived her spiritual director, governing her Institute with great ability. She was beatified by Benedict XIV on 13 November 1751 and canonized by Clement XIII on 16 July 1767. Feast day: 21 August.