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| St. Joan of Valois at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, Paris, France. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen |
History
Because Saint Joan of Valois was a
princess, her dad, King Louis XI of France, set up an engagement between Joan
and the Duke of Orleans when she was only two months old and he was only two
years old! Joan had a happy childhood, but she had to get married when she was
only 12. Her husband didn’t want her because she walked with a limp and wasn’t pretty,
but he was afraid of the king. Then King Louis XI died, and a few years later, Joan’s
brother died, too, so her husband became king and she became queen of France.
Her husband immediately went to the pope to have their marriage declared null
because he never wanted to marry Joan. Joan didn’t like this, but she accepted
the pope’s ruling. After all, she knew she was supposed to start a monastery.
She called it the Order of the Annunciation, because she wanted to respond to
every difficulty as the Blessed Mother had, “Be it done unto me according to
Your will.”
Activity
Because Saint Joan of Valois was
used to royal life, she had some trouble leading the monastery. She would get
impatient with the nuns when they didn’t make progress as quickly as she wanted
them to. Do you ever get impatient with other people? Today, make a commitment
to pray the Hail Mary (just as Saint Joan of Valois would have done) every time
you feel impatient with somebody. You might have to pray it more than once in
order to start feeling the grace to be patient, but you will!
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