Jane de Lestonnac Joan de Lestonnac
Believing that her obligations to the world were finished, she entered a Cistercian house at Toulouse 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.
abuse victims people rejected by religious orders widows
Catholic Online For All the Saintsby Katherine Rabenstein Google Directory Kirken i Norge [norwegian]