Blessed Charles of Blois
![[Blessed Charles of Blois]](saintc37.jpg "26kb jpg detail from 'Charles of Blois, duke of Brittany, is taken prisoner at the Battle of La Roche-Derrien' by Jean Froissart, 1347; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Memorial
- 29 September
- Profile
- Son of Guy de Chatillon, Count of Blois, and Margaret, sister of King Philip VI of France.
Felt a call to be a Francescan friar, but political duty kept him in secular life.
Married Joan of Brittany in 1337, and became Duke of Brittany which involved him in disputes political and military.
Soldier.
Captured Nantes, France.
Attended Mass daily.
Founded religious houses, helped the sick and poor.
Made a barefoot pilgrimage to Rennes.
In 1346 he was defeated and lost his dukedom to John de Montfort who imprisoned him and sent him to England to languish in the Tower of London until ransomed and released nine years later in 1355.
Charles then spent nine more years unsuccessfully fighting to regain his dukedom defore dying in battle.
Along the way he founded several religious houses, and was known for his Christian treatment of prisoners.
- Born
- 1320
- Died
-
29 September 1364
killed in battle at Aurey
- Canonized
- 1904 by Pope Pius X
- Patronage
- prisoners
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