A Simple Life: Wisdom from Jane Frances de Chantal

by Jane Frances de Chantal

How can I keep my focus on God when novelty and consumerism constantly pull me in different directions? Saint Jane Frances de Chantal's steadfast pursuit of inner simplicity of life in God offers rest to our psyches and spirits. Her pain, sorrow, and interior struggles gave her deep insight into God's providence and love. Her gentle counsels illustrate how to live in harmony with God's will and thus find peace. Jane de Chantal draws us to that one tranquil place from which we can view all the love of a trustworthy God. Each volume of the Classic Wisdom Collection provides time-tested spiritual guidance for living a Christian life.

Genres: Theology

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (French: Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal) is a Roman Catholic saint, who was beatified in 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV and canonized in 1767 by Pope Clement XIII, with her feast day set as 21 August (later moved to 12 December, and finally to 12 August by Pope John Paul II in 2001).

As a young widow of 32, she became a close friend of the bishop of Geneva, Francis de Sales, after one of his sermons helped her to learn forgiveness. Later, with the eventual support of de Sales and her brother, the archbishop of Bourges, she became a nun, founding the Congregation of the Visitation in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, on Trinity Sunday, 6 June 1610, as an order to accept women rejected from other orders due to health or age. This continues today under the Rule of St. Augustine as the enclosed Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (V.H.M.;Latin: Ordo Visitationis Beatissimae Mariae Virginis). The motto of the order is "Live Jesus".

Upon her death at age 69, Chantal was buried in the Annecy convent next to de Sales. As a Roman Catholic saint, she is invoked as the patron of forgotten people, widows, and parents who are separated from their children.