Agnes of Jesus, OP (born Agnès Galand and also known as Agnes of Langeac; November 17, 1602 – October 19, 1634) was a French

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. She was

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

ess of her monastery at

Langeac Langeac (; oc, Lanjac) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. It is located about 30 km west of Le Puy-en-Velay, and about 100 km southwest of Lyon. Population See also * Communes of the Haute-Loire d ...

, and is today venerated in the Catholic Church, having been

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on November 20, 1994.

Life

Agnès Galand was born on November 17, 1602, in

Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, literally ''Le Puy in Velay''; oc, Lo Puèi de Velai ) is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire, the city is famous for its ca ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the third of seven children of Pierre Galand, a cutler by trade, and his wife, Guillemette Massiote. When she was five years old, Galand was entrusted to a

religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...

for her education. Even from that early age, she showed a strong sense of spiritual maturity. She consecrated herself to the Virgin Mary at the age of seven. Galand joined the Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena at

in 1623. At her receiving of the

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, ...

she took the name Agnes of Jesus. Soon after her own

profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...

, she was assigned to serve as the Mistress of novices for the community. Galand was elected to lead her community as prioress in 1627. She was later deposed from this office, but she accepted her demotion with indifference and grace. She died on October 19, 1634, in Langeac.

Spiritual legacy

Notable visions

Galand was noted even during her lifetime as a mystic.

Louis Marie de Montfort Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Roman Catholic priest and Confessor of the Faith#Western Christianity, confessor. He was known in his time as a preacher and was made a missionary apostolic by Pope ...

records the following anecdote:

I shall simply relate an incident which I read in the life of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a Dominican nun of the convent of Langeac in Auvergne. ... One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to Mother Agnes and put a gold chain around her neck to show her how happy she was that Mother Agnes had become the slave of both her and her Son. And St. Cecilia, who accompanied our Lady, said to her, "Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of Heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom."

In 1631, Galand experienced the most famous of her visions, in which the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

urged her to pray for an unknown

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

with the command, "Pray to my Son for the

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

of Prébrac (near

Cugnaux Cugnaux (; Languedocien: ''Cunhaus'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Population The inhabitants of the commune are known as Cugnalais. Twin towns Cugnaux is twinned with these * Cavarzere, Italy (Since 2 ...

)."

Jean-Jacques Olier Jean-Jacques Olier, S.S. (20 September 1608 – 2 April 1657) was a French Catholic priest and the founder of the Sulpicians. He also helped to establish the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, which organized the settlement of a new town ...

was the current holder of that office, and while at a retreat led by

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. Afte ...

, he experienced a vision in which Galand appeared to him, though he was unacquainted with her. He sought out the nun who had appeared to him in the dream. When he met Galand, she told him: "I have received orders from the Holy Virgin to pray for you. God has destined you to open the first seminaries in France." Olier would go on to found the

Society of Saint-Sulpice The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (french: Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint-Sulpice), abbreviated PSS also known as the Sulpicians is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, ...

. Before her death, she related to her community her great desire that they pray for priests. She also had visions of both her

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...

and

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

Veneration and beatification

A cause for her

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

was introduced on April 19, 1713. She was declared

venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

on March 19, 1808, by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

. Pope John Paul II beatified her on November 20, 1994. At her beatification ceremony, John Paul II called Galand "truly blessed", noting her willingness to submit to

God's plan God's Plan may refer to: Theological concepts * God's plan, or the Will of God * Salvation, the saving of a soul from sin and its consequences ** Plan of salvation, a Christian concept describing God's plan to save humanity ** Plan of salvation ( ...

for her, "offering her intellect, will, and freedom to the Son of Man, that he might transform them and harmonize them totally with his own!" Her feast day is October 19.

Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier (8 December 1832 – 17 December 1916) was a French people, French Dominican Order, Dominican friar and priesthood (Catholic Church), priest, who served as the 76th Master of the Order of Preachers, Master of his Order fro ...

, beatified on the same day as Galand, cited the example of Galand's life as his inspiration for joining the Dominican Order. He would go on to be elected the seventy-sixth Master General of the Dominicans in 1904.

References

External links

Monastère de Langeac (Monastère Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnes Of Jesus 1602 births 1634 deaths 17th-century Christian mystics People from Le Puy-en-Velay Dominican nuns Dominican beatified people 17th-century French nuns Dominican mystics French beatified people Marian visionaries Angelic visionaries