Joan of Lestonnac (1556–1640)

Biography

She retained her Catholic faith, despite the emotional tugging of her mother who had converted to Calvinism. Her marriage to Gastón de Montferrand at the age of 17 made her the mother of seven children, of whom five survived. The frequent absence of her husband, trapped by war, shaped her as the administrator of her lands and a close connoisseur of the needs of the people around her. Twenty-four years after her marriage, she became a widow and that same year she buried her eldest son, who died in his youth. At age 47, Joan began her life as a Cistercian novice at the Feuillantiners monastery in Toulouse, France. Due to a serious illness, she had to leave the monastery, which made her feel very distressed. After a season of doubts and prayer, light began to dawn and she understood that God wanted her to reach out to young women in danger. With the support and direction of two Jesuit priests, she founded the Company of Mary, dedicated to the comprehensive education of female youth. Joan of Lestonnac left thirty houses founded in France when she died in Bordeaux in 1640. She was canonized by Pius XII in 1949.