CHANTAL, JANE FRANCES, BARONESS DE a French saint and the founder of the Order of the Visitation, was born on Jan. 28, 1572, at Dijon, the daughter of the presi dent of the parlement of Burgundy. At the age of 20 she married Baron de Chantal, but on his death, four years later, resolved to devote herself to the religious life. In 1604 she met St. Francis de Sales, and her four children now being provided for, she departed for Annecy where she founded the Congregation of the Visitation in June 161o. She was canonized in 1767, her feast being observed on Aug. 21.
See F. M. de Chaugy, Ste. J. F. de Chantal, 8 vols. H. Bremond, Sainte Chantal (1912) ; and The Spirit of St. J. F. de Chantal as shown in her Letters (1922).