Waldtraud
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 Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: August 18th - St. Jane Frances de Chantal |
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August 18th - St. Jane Frances de Chantal
St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) was the widow of the Baron of
Chantal. She founded the Order of the Visitation with St. Francis of Sales.
The day to bid farewell to leave her family members to found the Convent had
arrived. The holy widow lived with her father-in-law the Baron of Chantal in
Monthelon. She went to him, knelt before him and asked his blessing, his
forgiveness, and his protection for her son. The 86-year-old Baron was
saddened by her departure, but embraced his daughter-in-law and wished her
happiness.
Afterward, she knelt before her father, Monsieur Fremiot, President of the
Parliament of Burgundy, to ask his blessing. He said: "My God, it does not
belong to me to change Thy designs. If it did, I would ask Thee to let me
keep my daughter with me. Instead I offer to Thee this beloved daughter.
Receive and console her." Then he blessed her.
She was also very much loved by the poor and all the inhabitants of
Monthelon, who publicly manifested their sorrow at her departure. She had
received Holy Eucharist in Dijon to fortify herself for the coming
separation from her 14-year-old son. The young man ran to her and embraced
her, locking his arms around her neck, trying to move her heart to change
her mind, but without success. He then went to the door and barred his
mother's way by lying across the threshold. "Since I am too weak to stop
you," he said, "you will have to step over your only son to abandon him."
The saint wept bitterly, but did not waver in her resolve.
Her serenity restored, she told those present: "I ask you to forgive my
weakness in weeping, for I am leaving my son and my father forever, but I
will find my God everywhere."
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corręa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
One can see the tragic aspect of the scene. St. Jane Frances de Chantal was
a widow and an extremely good person, carrying out her family duties in a
way that attracted the friendship and affection of everyone. If it were a
revolutionary family of our days, she would be persecuted; but it was a very
good family, so she was esteemed by all the members. She was the emotional
support of her father-in-law, her father, and her son. Until that moment she
had been a splendid family member and had earned the general affection of
the household as well as the inhabitants of Monthelon, where she lived.
God gave her a new vocation and asked her to rip herself asunder from all
those legitimate and even holy bonds in order to be the founder of a new
contemplative religious family. From then on, she would no longer be able to
see her relatives.
The tragic aspect of the scene is placed in relief with the leave-taking of
her father-in-law: she knelt before the 86-year-old man and asked his
forgiveness for whatever wrong she had done him and asked his blessing. Then
came the farewell to her father: again tears, again kneeling before him. The
old man, like a figure in a Greek tragedy, offered his daughter to God. And
then came the dramatic scene with her son hanging on her neck asking her not
to leave, not to go away to the convent. Unsuccessful, he lay down on the
threshold to show his dissent and to force her to walk across his body to
leave. All these acts are deeply tragic.
Such tragedy was a consequence of a profoundly serious mentality about life,
and particularly the religious life. It reflects a sense of the gravity of
things, a great sense of what the cross represents, of what religious
renunciation represents. The person who was called to a religious vocation
had the sense of the serious relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ she was
entering into. Such seriousness accepted with a supernatural outlook also
gives a great serenity, as we can see in the final episode of St. Jane
Frances de Chantal's farewell.
Today people have lost this sense of solemnity and seriousness. Almost
everything is superficial, vacuous, received with a pasted-on smile used for
every occasion. Without this spirit of gravity, even religious life has
changed. It is very rare to still find that old recollection common in
convents past. The life of the sisters thus often lost its significance.
Instead of looking for the cross of Our Lord, the sisters are more
frequently turned toward their own self-satisfaction and happiness. If you
add today's tendency to adapt convents to the modern world stimulated by
progressivist ecclesiastical authorities, you have the many convents of our
day with their Mardi-Gras atmosphere. It is the very opposite of the time of
St. Jane Frances de Chantal.
Seriousness about life and religion gives a great serenity. Above,
pre-conciliar nuns at recreation.
What is the lesson we can take from the life of St. Jane Frances? We should
imitate her profundity of spirit.
o First, she understood that the life of a family is a wonderful thing,
something desired by God.
o Second, she understood that the glory of that life is to have some
children who become religious, missionaries, apostles and warriors. When the
family has this fruit, it transcends itself and touches on a higher reality.
o Third, the whole environment in which St. Jane Frances de Chantal
lived was impregnated with the same Catholic spirit of sacrifice.
o Fourth, this profundity of spirit prepares the soul to love God. Our
Lord said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the violent. The violence
Our Lord asks of us can be seen in the life of St. Jane Frances de Chantal.
It is a fruit of her profundity of spirit.
Let us ask her to grant us the same profound spirit of Faith that she
had.
Saint Quote:
Most people are taught by way of example and not by way of words.
-St. Benedict
Bible Quote
11. He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12. And
whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12)
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The Consecration of All Suffering
Eternal Father, I offer You all the past, present and future
suffering of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
hanging in constant agony on the Cross. Of the sins and
indifferences of the world, In union with all the past, present
and future suffering of all Your holy innocents, born and
unborn. All Your martyrs, all Your saints, and all Your victim
souls, In total, inseparable, co-sacrificial union With every
single Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ever offered up to You
throughout the past, throughout the present, and throughout
the future, in reparation and atonement for poor sinners
everywhere: The unbelievers, the fallen away, and the lost
souls who are about to die, because they are our brothers
and sisters, made in Your Image, and we love them more
than we love ourselves, Amen. |
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