JOLY, JEANNE-MADELEINE. - Visitandine, born in Dijon in 1643, died there on 19 October 1708. Admitted to the city’s monastery at the age of fifteen, the Lord, who had destined her to assist St Margaret Mary Alacoque in spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart, first led her along the same path of crosses and humiliations, through terrible interior trials.
In 1678 Mother M. T. de Saumèse, who had returned to Dijon, spoke to the community about the new devotion, and all accepted it and were inflamed with the desire to cooperate in its propagation. Joly then composed litanies, a Mass and an Office of the Sacred Heart, which, with added explanations and prayers, was translated into Latin by the chaplain and published in 1686 (the new edition, approved by the bishop of Langres, appeared three years later under the title: La dévotion au Sacré-Coeur de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, Dijon 1689); in 1688 she sketched in pencil a picture representing the Heart of Jesus surrounded by a crown of thorns, surmounted by the Cross and enveloped in flames, with small drops of blood trickling from the wound; this was later painted and displayed in the monastery; in 1692 she saw her desire for a Confraternity of Perpetual Adoration fulfilled, for which she drew up the regulations.