Isabelle of France (saint)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
(Redirected from Saint Isabelle of France)
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Isabelle of France
File:St. Isabel of France Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.jpg
St. Isabelle at the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois in Paris, a neo-gothic replica of the original statue
Born March 1224
Died 23 February 1270 (aged 45)
Longchamp, Pays de France, Kingdom of France
Burial Monastery of St. Clare, Longchamp, Pays de France, Kingdom of France
House Capet
Father Louis VIII of France
Mother Blanche of Castile
St. Isabelle of France
Venerated in Catholic Church
(Poor Clares in France)
Beatified 1521 by Pope Leo X
Canonized 1696[citation needed] by Pope Innocent XII
Feast 26 February

Isabelle of France (March 1224[1] – 23 February 1270) was the daughter of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. She was a younger sister of King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) and of Alfonso, Count of Poitiers, and an older sister of King Charles I of Sicily. In 1256, she founded the Poor Clare Monastery of Longchamp in the part of the Forest of Rouvray (now called the Bois de Boulogne), west of Paris. She is honored as a saint by the Franciscan Order.

Early life

Isabelle's father died when she was 2 years old and it was Isabelle's mother, Blanche, who oversaw her education. She could read both Latin,[2] and the vernacular, and enjoyed tales of chivalry as well as devotional texts. While pursuing the traditional feminine interests such as embroidery, she took special pleasure in working on priestly vestments.[3]

When still a child at court, Isabelle was already devoted to religion. By the papal bull of 26 May 1254, Pope Innocent IV allowed her to retain some Franciscan friars as her special confessors. She was even more devoted to the Franciscan Order than her royal brother.[4]

By virtue of the Treaty of Vendôme in March 1227, Isabelle was betrothed with Hugh, eldest son and heir of Hugh X of Lusignan, with the marriage contract being signed on June 1230; however, she refused to celebrate the formal wedding due to her fixed determination to remain a virgin, although she never became a nun. Later, she refused the hand of Conrad IV of Germany, son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, although was pressed to accept him by everyone, even by Innocent IV.[4]

Monastery of Longchamp

As Isabelle wished to found a monastery of Poor Clares, her brother King Louis began in 1255 to acquire the necessary land in the Forest of Rouvray, not far from the Seine, west of Paris. On 10 June 1256, the first slide of the monastery church was laid. The building appears to have been completed about the beginning of 1259, because Pope Alexander IV gave his sanction on 2 February 1259, to the new Rule which was composed especially for this monastery by the Franciscan Mansuetus base on the Rule of St. Clare. Not as strict as that rule, the community was allowed to hold property. The monastery was named the Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin. In the Rule the nuns were called the Sisters of the humble order of servants of the most Blessed Virgin Mary. The nuns were subject to the Friars Minor. Some of the first nuns came from the Poor Clare monastery in Reims.[4]

Isabel never joined the community herself, but did live in the monastery in a room separate from the nun’s cells. She suffered from illnesses during her life, which prevented her from following the rule of life for the nuns. Isabelle refused to become abbess, which allowed her to retain her wealth and resources, so she could support the and continue to give to the poor. She kept a discipline of silence for most of her day.[2]

Isabelle died at Longchamp on 23 February 1270,[3] and was buried in the monastery church. After nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were said to have been wrought at her grave. In 1521 Pope Leo X allowed the Monastery of Longchamp to celebrate her feast day with a special Office. On 4 June 1637, a second exhumation took place. On 25 January 1688, the nuns obtained permission to celebrate her feast with an octave, and in 1696 the celebration of the feast on 31 August was permitted to the whole Franciscan Order by Pope Innocent XII.

The Monastery of Longchamp had many vicissitudes. The French Revolution closed it, and in 1794 the empty building was offered for sale, but, as no one wished to purchase it, it was destroyed. In 1857 the walls were pulled down, except for one tower, and the grounds were added to the Bois de Boulogne.

Ancestry

Family of Isabelle of France (saint)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Louis VI of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Louis VII of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Adelaide of Maurienne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Philip II of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18. Theobald II, Count of Champagne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Adèle of Champagne
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Matilda of Carinthia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Louis VIII of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20. Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
21. Alice of Namur
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. Isabelle of Hainaut
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
22. Thierry, Count of Flanders
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11. Margaret I, Countess of Flanders
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
23. Sibylla of Anjou
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1. Isabelle of France
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24. Alfonso VII of León and Castile
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Sancho III of Castile
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
25. Berenguela of Barcelona
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Alfonso VIII of Castile
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
26. García Ramírez of Navarre
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13. Blanca of Navarre
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
27. Marguerite de l'Aigle
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Blanche of Castile
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
28. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Henry II of England
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
29. Matilda of England
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7. Leonora of England
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
30. William X, Duke of Aquitaine
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Eleanor of Aquitaine
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31. Aenor de Châtellerault
 
 
 
 
 
 

References

  1. The Chronicon Turonense records the birth in 1224 "mense martio" of "Isabellis, filia Ludovici Regis Franciæ". Chronicon Turonense, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, vol. XVIII, p. 305.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "St. Isabel of France", Faith ND
  3. 3.0 3.1 Foley OFM, Leonard. "Blessed Isabel of France", Saint of he Day, Franciscan Media
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bihl, Michael. "St. Isabel of France." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 30 December 2015

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainLua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Sources

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Nolan, Kathleen D. Capetian Women, 2003.

Further reading

  • Agnes d'Harcourt (third Prioress of Longchamp, 1263–1270), Vie de Madame Isabelle, Archives Nationales L. 1021 MSS., Paris.
  • André, Histoire de Ste Isabelle, Carpentras, 1885.
  • Daniélo, Vie de Madame Ste Isabelle, Paris, 1840.
  • Berguin, La Bienheureuse Isabelle de France, Grenoble, 1899.
  • Duchesne, Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Longchamp, 12557–1789, Paris, 1904.
  • Sbaralea, Bull. Franc., III, Rome, 1765, 64-9.
  • Sbaralea, Bull. Franc., II, Rome, 1761, 477-86.
  • Sean L. Field, Isabelle of France: Capetian Sanctity and Franciscan Identity in the Thirteenth Century (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-268-02880-0.
  • Sean L. Field, ed. and trans., The Writings of Agnes of Harcourt: The Life of Isabelle of France and the Letter on Louis IX and Longchamp (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).

External links