Philosopher
Jeanne de Chantal
1572–1641
Also known as Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot de Chantal, Jane of Chantal
Founder of the Visitation order, whose lectures and letters mapped the soul's journey to perfection: an early modern moral psychology written for women.
Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot was born in Dijon in 1572 into a leading legal family of Burgundy; her father was president of the Parliament of Burgundy. She founded the Visitation order of nuns, whose schools long carried her influence, and was canonised in 1767.
Her lectures, conferences and letters also show the authority women could hold as spiritual directors and moral counsellors in her time. Her granddaughter was Madame de Sévigné. She died in 1641.
Key ideas
- The soul’s journey
- Her writings give an elaborate map of the soul’s progress towards perfection, an early modern chapter in moral psychology.
- An ascetic idea of virtue
- Her concept of virtue is ascetic and her account of the soul mystical, reflecting a view of human nature formed in the convent culture of Counter-Reformation France.
- Augustine for women
- Her commentaries on Augustine, written for an audience of nuns, shape Augustine’s thought to suit a community of women.
- Tradition
- Western
- Region
- Burgundy, France
- Period
- Early modern
Influences
Where these links come from
- Jeanne de Chantal drew on Augustine. Source: John J. Conley, Jeanne de Chantal, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sources
- John J. Conley, Jeanne de Chantal, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- John J. Conley, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy