✦ Remembering Saints

Feast day: August 12

St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Widow, Foundress · 1572–1641

Patron of Widows, parents separated from children

A French baroness, widowed young with four children, who under the guidance of St. Francis de Sales founded the Visitation order for women whose health or age barred them from stricter convents.

With Francis de Sales she created an order that welcomed the widowed, the frail, and the older woman — communities of gentleness rather than harsh penance.

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