Companion to a Visionary: When the archbishop of Lyons invited the Visitation sisters into his diocese in 1615, he stipulated that they change their way of life. Instead of visiting the sick, he wanted them cloistered—out of contact with the outside world. Jane objected to Francis. “I beg of you . . . to write a word to the archbishop in strong ink.” After lengthy negotiations, however, Francis agreed to the change.
Jane acquiesced gracefully but never lost sight of the original vision. During an outbreak of the bubonic plague, she distributed food and medicine to the poor who flocked to her convent. Years later, when St. Vincent de Paul began the Sisters of Charity to serve the poor directly, he said his inspiration had come from Jane.
As Jane’s travels and responsibilities increased, she saw Francis less frequently than ever. But she was not unprepared for this sacrifice. Four years earlier, she had felt that God wanted her to become more detached from Francis. Francis had confirmed this sense in words that Jane carried in her pocket until the day she died: “Our Lord loves you, my dear mother; he wants you to be all his. Let no other arm carry you now; his providence alone shall be your rest. Do not look elsewhere.”
In December 1622, they had a rare four-hour meeting at which Jane hoped to receive guidance for her own spiritual life. But when Francis said they should postpone that discussion and talk about the order instead, she quietly folded the paper on which she had written notes about herself and gave her attention to business.
The postponed conversation never took place. Francis sent Jane from that meeting to visit several convents. He caught a chill on Christmas Eve and died three days later. Jane was devastated.
Francis’ coffin lay on the altar at the Annecy chapel for several months. One day, Jane took her burdens into the chapel and knelt before her friend’s body, pouring out her heart. This comforted her greatly and helped her move forward with the work she and Francis had begun.
From Darkness to Peace. Jane never enjoyed being in charge. “I have a strong temperamental dislike of action,” she once told Vincent de Paul. “Forcing myself to act out of duty wears me down more and more.” She never called herself foundress or Mother General, preferring “to be thought of as an elder sister in your family . . . blessed with more chances than others to speak and work with our father [Francis].”
Still, she worked on for nineteen years after Francis’ death. At the end of that fruitful period, there were eighty-seven Visitation convents.
Not until the spring of 1641—after refusing special privileges and the role of superior for life—was Jane able to step down from leadership into the role of an ordinary sister. After years of spiritual aridity, she found renewed peace. She died of bronchitis on December 13, 1641, saying, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”
What fitting last words for someone who succeeded in orienting her whole life to seeking God alone!