Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier de Ages

Who was Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier de Ages?

Jeanne-Élisabeth Bichier des Ages is a French saint, canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 6, 1947. She is commemorated August 26.

At the outbreak of the French Revolution, her father died. All the family goods were confiscated. She was imprisoned with her mother and had to struggle against lawyers in order to get back everything she could recover. She left the castle and retired in a country-house in the Poitou region. Since her childhood she was attracted by contemplation and she was consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Her wish was to consecrate her life to God in enclosure, but she did not tell her mother. During the Revolution she used to gather people and pray with them.

Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier des Ages was the founder of the Daughters of the Cross, a religious order which is devoted to the care of the poor and the instruction of county children in the diocese of Poitiers, France.