At Saumur near Angers in France, Saint Jeanne Delanoue, virgin, who, relying wholly on the help of divine Providence, first took into her home orphans, old women, the sick, and fallen women, and then with companions laid the foundations of the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Anne of Providence.
Lifespan: 1666–1736
Beatified: 5 November 1947 by Pope Pius XII
Canonized: 31 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II
Memoria liturgica: 17 August
“I want to live and die with my dear brothers: the Poor.”
Jeanne Delanoue
Jeanne Delanoue was born in Saumur, on the banks of the Loire, on 18 June 1666, the last of a family of twelve children. Her parents kept a modest haberdashery near the sanctuary of Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers. She lost her father very young, at the age of six, and despite her young age she helped her mother manage the shop to support the whole family. Her qualities were remarkable: skillful, active, indefatigable — to the point of keeping the shop open on Sundays and feast days.
What future might she not have hoped for? Certainly to expand her business and prosper. But at the age of twenty-seven, an elderly and devout pilgrim of Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers invited her to devote herself to the poor, who were so numerous. Her mother had recently died.
Despite her increased responsibilities, she began to care for the poor, responding to a call she sensed was coming from God. She devoted more time to them each day than to her customers, until at last she was entirely given over to them full time. Before long, the poor no longer waited at their own homes, but came to her. In 1700 a child was taken in, soon followed by the sick, the elderly, and the destitute.
To house so many, there were only grottos carved from tufa stone, which were fitted out as best they could be. But outside help had to be sought. After four years, by 1704, several young women had come forward willing to assist Jeanne and even to take the religious habit at her request. Thus was born the Congregation of Saint Anne of Providence, under which name the Constitutions were approved in 1709.
The tenacity of Jeanne Delanoue, sustained by such generous dedication, led to the founding of the first hospice of Saumur in 1715 — a house that had first been requested by King Louis XIV as far back as 1672. Her charity quickly overflowed beyond the limits of her city and diocese. She already counted forty auxiliaries, all under her direction, resolved to follow her example of devotion, prayer, and mortification.
At her death on 17 August 1736, Jeanne Delanoue left behind a dozen communities, along with hospices and small schools. “The Saint is dead,” people said in Saumur.