St. Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic.net Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Company of Mary. Roman Martyrology: In Bordeaux, France, St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, who, as a child, refused the invitation and efforts of her mother to draw her away from the Catholic Church and, being widowed and after educating her five children, founded the Society of the Sisters of the Company of Mary, in imitation of the Society of Jesus, Christian education for girls (1640 ) . Canonization date: May 15, 1949 by Pope Pius XII SHORT BIOGRAPHY Born December 27, 1556 at Bourdeaux, France. She married Gaston de Montferrant, Baron of Landiras, in 1572 at age 16. Mother of seven, five of whom lived to adulthood; two of the five entered religious life. Widowed at age 41, she ran the affairs of her estate and castle by herself. Believing that her obligations to the world were finished, she entered a Cistercian house at Toulouse, France at age 46. She was not up to the rigors of the order’s discipline, became seriously ill, and wanted to die at the monastery; her superiors refused to allow it. On her last night at the monastery, she had a vision of Mary who presented an image of Jeanne helping lost children. Returning to her estate, she slowly started this work with local women and priests which led to the foundation of the Sisters of the Company of Mary, devoted to the education of girls and slowing Calvinism. It was approved by Pope Paul V on 7 April 1607; Joan was elected superior in 1610. Today the congregation has grown to 2,500 sisters in 17 countries. She died on February 2, 1640 of natural causes. página 1 / 1 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).