MAILLÉ, JEANNE-MARIE de, Blessed. — A most virtuous French lady, Franciscan tertiary, born in the castle of Roche-St-Quentin (Touraine) on 14 April 1332, died in Tours on 28 March 1414. To obey her mother, she married Robert, Baron of Silly, with whom she lived in virginal chastity. After her husband’s death (1362), she was driven from the castle, gave her possessions to the poor, and lived on alms while serving lepers, orphans, prisoners, and converting fallen women. She spent her final years near the basilica of St Martin in Tours, in heroic concealment, immersed in mystical contemplation. Her cult was approved in 1871. Feast day: 28 March.
BIBL.: P. D. Janvier, La b. J.-M. de M., baronne de Sillé, Paris 1888; L’aureola serafica, II, Quaracchi 1898, pp. 126-56; L. de Chérancé, La b. J.-M. de M., ibid. 1905; G. Goyau, Figurines franciscaines, ibid. 1921, pp. 85-90; M. de Crisenoy, Bse J.-M. de M., la mystique des temps de misère, ibid. 1948. Felice da Marto.