2012-05-28 09:47:47

St. Jeanne Delanoue


Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on the lives of Saints in the catholic church from around the world. In this series we bring you alive the heroic lives lived by the saints. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. These saints are examples of great holiness and virtue, and thereby inspires others to do so. Their stories are unique, which inspire and invite us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint.
In this series we bring you those saints who are canonized by the Pope John Paul II.
Last week we listened to the fascinating story of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, who was canonized on 31st October 1982 in Rome, and became the first woman saint in the Canadian Church.
‘All I have ever desired most deeply and what I still most ardently wish is that the great precept of the love of God above all things and of the neighbour as oneself be written in every heart.’ So wrote Marguerite Bourgeoys, who left the security of a 17th century French bourgeoisie life to serve the early pioneers in New France. She assisted in bringing the gospel to the local people, established schools, taught vocational and domestic skills to women, helped the poor, and founded the Congrégation de Notre-Dame de Montréal.
Today let us listen to the heroic life of Saint Jeanne Delanoue (1666-1736). She was canonized on 31st October 1982 in Rome.
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‘It is the Spirit of God which animates you and prompts you to this penitential life. Henceforth, then, be without fear and follow your inspirations’, so said Saint Louis de Montfort to Saint Jeanne Delanoue.
Money is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is actually a great blessing if it is used according to God's will. But Jeanne was so concerned with her own material success that she went against God's law, even working on Sunday. She was also blinded to the suffering of those around her and lacked charity toward her neighbors. God made His will clear to her through a vision and the words of a simple, but holy woman. It was Jeanne’s ‘yes’ to God that resulted in great miracles. She is truly a saint for us today because she was just like you and me.
JEANNE DELANOUE was born in Saumur, in the valley of the Loire River, on 18 June 1666. She was the youngest in a family of twelve. Her father was a draper, and her mother ran a shop selling religious goods, catering to pilgrims to a local shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Ardillier. Although but six years of age when her father died, she helped her mother run the store in order to maintain the family. Her qualities were remarkable: she was skillful, energetic, and indefatigable, even to the point of keeping the store open on Sundays and holy days. But her early life was also one of self-centeredness, pride and avarice. She was described as bad-tempered and egotistical.
Her long widowed mother died when Jeanne was twenty-five and she took over as proprietress of her mother's small store. Jeanne also provided accommodations to pilgrims who were visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Ardillier. She caused great scandal by opening her shop on Sunday, an unheard of practice in 17th century France. Jeanne's only interest was making herself rich from the pilgrims and she paid no heed to what other's thought or said about her.

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The future was in the hand of Jeanne Delanoue. Her "business" was growing and prospering. It was precisely within this context of success that, at the age of 27, two years after the death of her mother, Jeanne encountered a profound experience which changed her life completely.
On Pentecost of 1693, Jeanne encountered a poor, elderly widow and a devout pilgrim from Rennes to the shrine of Our Lady of Ardillier. Her name was Francoise Fouchet. She predicted that Jeanne would one day spend her life in care for the poor. Francoise also invited Jeanne to consecrate herself to the many poor people of her neighbourhood.
But her prediction was met with skepticism; however, as time passed, caring for the less fortunate is exactly what Jeanne came to do. Despite the responsibilities she had accrued, in response to this call which she believed to have come from God, Jeanne turned toward the poor. She began caring for orphans and living a truly spiritual life. They assumed more of her time each day than did her clients until finally they became her full-time occupation. She eventually closed the family business to commit herself more fully to this work.As she converted her ways, many criticized her and doubted her sincerity, but over time she won their hearts by her unselfish love and care for all those in need. Within a short time no longer did the poor await her visits to them, but they came to her. In 1700, she warmly welcomed a child into her home, and soon after she took in the sick, the aged, and the destitute. With so many needing lodging, the only place for the poor were the grottos hollowed out in the tuff. She made them as comfortable as she could, however it was necessary for her to seek help.

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Within four years, some young girls were interested in helping Jeanne and were even willing to wear a religious habit if she wished them to do so. It was thus, Jeanne, along with other women who shared her vision of helping the needy, founded the Sisters of Saint Anne of Providence of Samur. In 1704 she and her companions were clothed in the religious habit and the order was formally recognized. Soon she was founding other houses also in Brézé and Puy-Notre-Dame. The constitutions of the congregation were approved in 1709.

Jeanne Delanoue's tenacity, supported by the dedicated women who worked with her, brought about the foundation of Saumur's first home for the poor in 1715 - a home which King Louis XIV called for in 1672!
Very quickly her charity spread beyond the limits of Saumur and of her diocese. More than that, already there were forty helpers who were under her direction and who had made the decision to follow her example of self-sacrifice, of prayer, and of mortification.
Noted for her miraculous healing abilities, she and her companions founded orphanages and hospices throughout France.

Worn out by her labors, Jeanne Delanoue died on 17 August 1736, at Fencet, France, of natural causes. At the time of her death, there were twelve communities of her sisters as well as homes for the poor and schools spread throughout France.
The congregation Jeanne founded was renamed Congregation of St. Anne of Providence on 3rd December 1964. She was canonized in October 1982 by Pope John Paul II.

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Everyone could admire the zeal of St. Jeanne and the work she accomplished in the numerous visits she received and made, but only her closest friends knew about her mortification, her life of prayer and of union with God. It is from this that her untiring charity proceeded.
St. Jeanne is a wonderful example to us today of the mercy and grace of God to all of his children. God invited her to give up her self-centered and avaricious life and instead to dedicate herself to helping others. Jeanne listened and said yes. She gave up her self-centered ways and instead of seeking her own comfort and riches, she changed her focus to helping those in need, especially orphaned children.
Let us ask God today to open our hearts so that we may hear His voice to learn the ways in which He wants us to use our talents and gifts to serve Him.P.J. Joseph, S.J








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