February 4: Saint Joan of Valois

Queen of France and Founder of the Order of the Annunciation

Of fragile appearance, with a slight build and a physical malformation, Joan of Valois never managed to receive from her father, Louis XI, King of France, the welcome that her open and generous character would have deserved. Born in Nogent-le-Roi on April 23, 1464, at just twelve years of age she was given in marriage to her cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans. It was a forced union, devoid of affection, which her husband never accepted willingly. Despite this, when Louis rebelled against King Charles VIII and risked a death sentence, it was Joan herself who intervened in his defense, succeeding in saving him.

When the Duke of Orléans ascended the throne under the name Louis XII, he immediately sought to rid himself of his wife by obtaining an annulment of the marriage so that he could marry Anne of Brittany. Having achieved his aim, he assigned Joan the Duchy of Berry, several towns, and a substantial income. Joan then withdrew to Bourges, where she chose a simple life, devoted to prayer and to helping the poorest. Her discretion and constant attention to those in need earned her the affectionate title of “the Good Duchess.”

It was in Bourges that she founded a community of consecrated women dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. It became known as the Order of the Annunciation. The rules were drawn up by the Observant Franciscan friar Gabriel Marie Nicolas. Joan herself officially entered the order on the day of Pentecost in 1504. She died shortly thereafter, on February 4, 1505, and was buried in the very place where she had founded the community, until in 1562 her remains were scattered by the Huguenots.

Already regarded as a saint from the seventeenth century onward, she nonetheless had to wait a long time for official recognition: her canonization was proclaimed only on May 28, 1950.