Jane Frances de Chantal, VHM (born Jeanne-Françoise Frémyot, Baronness of Chantal; 28 January 1572 – 13 December 1641) was a French Catholic noble widow and nun who was beatified in 1751 and canonized in 1767. She founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. The religious order accepted women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. When people criticized her, Chantal famously said, "What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side." During its first eight years, the new order also was unusual in its public outreach, in contrast to most female religious who remained cloistered and adopted strict ascetic practices. Biography Jane Frances de Chantal was born in Dijon, France, on 28 January 1572, the daughter of the royalist president of the Parliament of Burgundy, Bénigne Frémyot and his wife, Margaret de Berbisey. Her paternal uncle was the prior at Val des Choux. Her brother André became the Archbishop of Bourges (1602–1621). Her mother died when Jane was 18 months old. Her father became the main influence on her education. She developed into a woman of beauty and refinement. Baroness Having turned down two prior suitors, in 1592, she married the Baron de Chantal when she was 20 and they lived in the feudal Castle of Bourbilly. There they hosted hunting parties and other entertainments for the neighboring nobles. Their first two children died shortly after birth. When her older sister Margaret died, the baroness brought her three small children to Bourbilly. She and her husband subsequently had a son and three daughters. Baron de Chantal was occasionally away from home on service to the king. Chantal gained a reputation as an excellent manager of the estates of her husband, as well as of her difficult father-in-law, while also providing alms and nursing care to needy neighbors. In 1601, the Baron was accidentally killed in a hunting accident. Left a widow at 28, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity. Chantal then put the estate in order and acceded to her father's request that she and her children to stay for a time with him in Dijon. She had not long returned to Bourbilly when she received a letter from her widowed father-in-law demanding that she live with him in his castle at Monthelon, Saône-et-Loire. Towards the end of 1602, Chantal closed