Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (Commonly known as Madame Guyon, ; 13 April 1648 – 9 June 1717) was a French mystic accused of advocating Quietism, which was considered

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

by the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

. Madame Guyon was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing the book '' A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer''.

Personal life

Guyon was the daughter of ''Claude Bouvier'', a procurator of the tribunal of

Montargis Montargis () is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, and contains light industry and farming, ...

, 110 kilometers south of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and 70 kilometers east of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

, and the home of her affluent parents, moving nine times in ten years. Guyon's parents were very religious people, thus they gave her an especially pious training. Other important impressions from her youth came from reading the works of

St. Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...

, and being educated by nuns. Prior to her marriage she had wanted to become a nun, but this desire did not last long.Dégert, Antoine. "Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 21 May 2019 In 1664, when she was 15 years old, after turning down many other proposals, she was forced into an arranged marriage to a wealthy gentleman of

, Jacques Guyon, aged thirty eight. During their marriage, Guyon suffered terribly at the hands of her mother-in-law and maidservant. Adding to her misery were the deaths of her half-sister, followed by her mother, and her son. Her daughter and father then died within days of each other in July 1672. She bore another son and daughter shortly before her husband's death in 1676. After twelve years of being unhappyly married and after the birth of five children, of whom only three survived, Madame Guyon became a widow at the age of 28.

Date of birth

There is some controversy surrounding the date of birth of Madame Guyon, but the date of 18 April 1648 given in the (highly condensed) English translation of Madame Guyon's autobiography, published by Moody Press, appears to be a typographical error—all French editions of the autobiography from the earliest one on, published in 1720, state 13 April 1648 as her birthday. Her date of birth, however, nonetheless remains unclear since Madame Guyon writes "Je naquis, à ce que disent quelques uns, la veille de Pâques, le 13. d'Avril ... de l'année 1648" ("I was born, as some say, on the eve of Easter ..., the 13th of April of the year 1648"). The 13th of April 1648 was, however, Easter Monday of that year.

Career

Already during her marriage, Guyon retained belief in God's perfect plan, fiercly believing that she would be blessed in suffering. This became true especially after being introduced to mysticism by Fr. François La Combe, the superior of the

Barnabite The Barnabites ( la, Barnabitum), officially named as the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul ( la, Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli), are a religious order of clerics regular founded in 1530 in the Catholic Church. They are associated with the Angelic ...

house in Thonon in

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Sa ...

. After her husband's death, Madame Guyon initially lived quietly as a wealthy widow in Montargis, before re-established contact to François La Combe in 1679. After three mystical experience, Madame Guyon felt herself drawn to

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ...

. The Bishop of Geneva, Jean d’Arenthon d’Alex, persuaded her to use her money to set up a house for “new Catholics” in Gex, in

, as part of broader plans to convert

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in the region. In July 1680, Madame Guyon left Montargis with her young daughter and travelled to Gex. The project was problematic, however, and Madame Guyon clashed with the sisters who were in charge of the house. The Bishop of Geneva sent Father La Combe to intervene. At this point, Guyon introduced La Combe to a mysticism of interiority. While her daughter was in an Ursuline convent in Thonon as a pensioner, Madame Guyon continued in Gex, experiencing illness and great difficulties, including opposition from her family. She gave over guardianship of her two sons to her mother-in-law and took leave of her personal possessions, although keeping a sizeable annuity for herself. Because of Madame Guyon's ideas on mysticism, the

Bishop of Geneva The Catholic Diocese of Geneva was a Latin Catholic diocese in part of Switzerland and Savoy from 400 to 1801 when it merged with the Diocese of Chambéry. The merged diocese later lost Swiss territory to the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva a ...

, who had at first viewed her coming with pleasure, asked her to leave his diocese, and at the same time he expelled Father Lacombe, who then went to

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, a ...

. Madame Guyon followed her director to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, then returned to France and stayed at

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint-A ...

, where she spread her religious convictions more widely with the publication of "Moyen court et facile de faire oraison" in January 1685. The

Bishop of Grenoble The Roman Catholic Diocese of Grenoble–Vienne-les-Allobroges (Latin: ''Diocesis Gratianopolitana–Viennensis Allobrogum''; French: ''Diocèse de Grenoble–Vienne-les-Allobroges'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church i ...

Cardinal Le Camus Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

, was perturbed by the appeal her ideas aroused and she left the city at his request, rejoining Lacombe at

. In July the following year the pair returned to

, where Madame Guyon set about to gain adherents for her mystical vision. The timing was ill-chosen;

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

, who had recently been exerting himself to have the Quietism of Molinos condemned at

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, was by no means pleased to see gaining ground, even in his own capital, a form of mysticism which, to him, resembled that of Molinos in many of its aspects. By his order Lacombe was shut up in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

, and afterwards in the castles of

Oloron Oloron-Sainte-Marie (; oc, Auloron e Senta Maria; eu, Oloroe-Donamaria) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Aquitaine), southwestern France. History The town was founded by the ...

and of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...

. The arrest of Madame Guyon, delayed by illness, followed on 29 January 1688, brought about, she claimed, by Father de La Motte, her brother and a

. She was not released until seven months later, after she had placed in the hands of the theologians, who had examined her book, a retraction of the propositions which it contained. Some days later she met, at Beyne, in the Duchess de Béthune-Charrost's country house, her cousin,

François Fénelon François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of '' Th ...

, who was to be the most famous of her supporters. Fénelon was deeply impressed by her piety. Through Fenelon, the influence of Madame Guyon reached and influenced religious circles powerful at court—the Beauvilliers, the Chevreuses, the Montemarts—who followed his spiritual guidance.

Madame de Maintenon Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

and, through her, the young ladies of Saint-Cyr, were soon won over to the new mysticism."Madame Guyon" CCEL
/ref> This was at the height of Madame Guyon's influence, most of all when Fénelon was appointed on 18 August 1688 to be the tutor to the Duke of Burgundy, the king's grandson. Before long, however, the

Bishop of Chartres The oldest known list of bishops of Chartres is found in an 11th-century manuscript of Trinity Abbey, Vendôme. It includes 57 names from Adventus (Saint Aventin) to Aguiertus (Agobert) who died in 1060. The most well-known list is included in the ...

, in whose diocese Saint-Cyr was located, took alarm at the spiritual ideas which were spreading there. Warned by him, Madame de Maintenon sought the advice of persons whose piety and wisdom she valued, and these advisers were unanimous in their rejection of Madame Guyon's ideas. Madame Guyon then asked for an examination of her conduct and her writings by civil and ecclesiastical judges. The king consented that her writings should be submitted to the judgment of

Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addr ...

Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles Louis-Antoine de Noailles (27 May 16514 May 1729), second son of Anne, 1st duc de Noailles, was a French bishop and cardinal. His signing of the Unigenitus bull in 1728 would end the formal Jansenist controversy. Biography Louis-Antoine de Noai ...

, and of Tronson, superior of 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, ...

. After a certain number of secret conferences held at Issy, where Tronson was detained by a sickness, the commissioners presented in thirty-four articles the principles of Catholic teaching as to spirituality and the interior life (four of these articles were suggested by Fénelon, who in February had been nominated to the

Archbishopric of Cambrai The Archdiocese of Cambrai ( la, Archdiocesis Cameracensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Cambrai'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France, comprising the arrondissements of Avesnes-sur-He ...

). But on 10 October 1694

François de Harlay de Champvallon François de Harlay de Champvallon (François III de Harlay; 14 August 1625 – 6 August 1695) was the fifth Archbishop of Paris. Life and church Early years Harlay de Champvallon was born in Paris, the nephew of François de Harlay, archb ...

, the

Archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in Fran ...

, who had been excluded from the conferences at Issy, anticipated their results by condemning the published works of Madame Guyon. She, fearing another arrest, took refuge for some months at

Meaux Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris. Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, on ...

, with the permission of Bossuet who was the presiding bishop there. After placing in his hands her signed submission to the thirty-four articles of Issy, she returned secretly to

. At Paris, the police, however, arrested her on 24 December 1695 and imprisoned her, first at

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, then in a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

at Vaugirard, and then in the

, where on 23 August 1699 she again signed a retraction of her theories and promised to refrain from spreading them further. From that time on she took no part, personally, in public discussions, but the controversy about her ideas only grew all the more heated between Bossuet and Fénelon. Madame Guyon remained imprisoned in the Bastille until 21 March 1703, when after more than seven years of her final captivity, she went to live with her son in a village in the Diocese of Blois. There she passed some fifteen years surrounded by a stream of pilgrims, many from England and Scotland, and spending her time writing volumes of correspondence and poetry. She continued to be revered by the Beauvilliers, the Chevreuses, and Fénelon, who never failed to communicate with her whenever safe and discreet intermediaries were available. Among the pilgrims, Milord Chewinkle stayed in Blois with Guyon for 7 years. One visitor, Pierre Poiret, went on to publish many of Guyon's works. One of her greatest works, published in 1717 by Pierre Poiret—''Ame Amante de son Dieu, representée dans les emblems de Hermannus Hugo sur ses pieux desirs—''features her poetry written in response to the striking and popular emblem images of the Jesuit Herman Hugo and the Flemish master Otto von Veen. Guyon herself states that she took these emblems into the Bastille.

Beliefs about prayer

Guyon believed that one should pray at all times, and that one should devote all of one's time to God. "Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of God. He tells us this Himself: 'walk before Me and be blameless' . Prayer alone can bring you into His presence, and keep you there continually." As she wrote in one of her poems: "There was a period when I chose a time and place for prayer. ... But now I seek that constant prayer, in inward stillness known ..."

Grace vs. works

In the Christian dispute regarding

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...

and works, Guyon defended the belief that salvation is the result of grace rather than works. Like

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvi ...

, and

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutheranis ...

, she thought that a person's deliverance can only come from God as an outside source, never from within the person himself or herself. As a result of His own free will, God bestows his favour as a gift. In her autobiography, for example, Madame Guyon criticized self–righteous people who try to gain heaven through their works. She praised lowly sinners who merely submitted themselves to God's will. Of the so-called righteous, she wrote: "the righteous person, supported by the great number of works of righteousness he presumes to have done, seems to hold his salvation in his own hands, and regards heaven as the recompense due to his merits.… His Saviour is, for him, almost useless. "These 'righteous persons' expect God to save them as a reward for their good works." In contrast to the self-sufficient, "righteous" egoists, the sinners who have selflessly submitted to God "are carried swiftly by the wings of love and confidence into the arms of their Saviour, who gives them gratuitously what He has infinitely merited for them." God's "bounties are effects of His will, and not the fruits of our merits."

Death and legacy

In 1704, her works were published in the

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, becoming very popular. Many English and Germans visited her at

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the d ...

, among them Johann Wettstein and

Lord Forbes Lord Forbes is the senior Lordship of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. The title was created sometime after 1436 for Alexander de Forbes, feudal baron of Forbes. The precise date of the creation is not known, but in a Precept dated July 1 ...

. She spent the remainder of her life in retirement with her daughter, the Marquise de Blois, at Blois, where she died at the age of 69, believing that she had died submissive to the Catholic Church, from which she had never had any intention of separating herself. Her published works, the ''Moyen Court'' and the ''Règles des associées à l'Enfance de Jésus'', were both placed on the

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...

in 1688. Fénelon's ''Maximes des saints'' was also condemned by both the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and the bishops of France. An anonymous 18th-century manuscript, hand-written in French, entitled "Supplement to the life of Madame Guyon" exists in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which sets forth many fresh details about the Great Conflict which surrounded Madame Guyon.

Bibliography

Works

*''Vie de Madame Guyon, Ecrite Par Elle-Même'' (''Life of Madame Guyon, Written by Herself'') :*3 vols, Paris, 1791 :* ''The Autobiography of Madame Guyon'', tr Thomas Taylor Allen, (London, 1897) :* (date and translator uncertain; additional ISBNs for Moody translation: , ) :* ''La Vie de Madame Guyon écrite par elle-même'', ed Benjamin Sahler, (Paris: Dervy-Livres, 1983). *''Opuscules spirituels'' (''Spiritual Opuscules''), :*2 vols, Paris, 1790 *''Les Torrents Spirituels'' (''Spiritual Torrents''), (1682) :* ''Les Torrents et Commentaire au Cantique des cantiques de Salomon'', ed Claude Morali, (Grenoble: J Millon, 1992) *''Le Moyen Court Et Autres Écrits Spirituels'' (''The Short and Easy Method of Prayer''), (1685) *''Commentaire au Cantique des cantiques de Salomon'' (''A Commentary on the Song of Solomon''), (1688) :* ''The Song of Songs of Solomon with Explanations and Reflections Having Reference to the Interior Life by Madame Guyon'', trans James W Metcalf, (New York: AW Dennett, 1879). :* ''Les Torrents et Commentaire au Cantique des cantiques de Salomon'', ed Claude Morali, (Grenoble: J Millon, 1992) *''Commentaire sur Livre de Job'' (1714) *''Règles des assocées à l'Enfance de Jésu'' *Guyon, Jeanne "Ame Amante de son Dieu, representée dans les emblems de Hermannus Hugo sur ses pieux desirs" (Pierre Poiret, Cologne, 1717) Other modern editions *Madame Guyon, ''Selected Poems of Madame Guyon''. ed. Li Jili, Foreword by Kelli M. Webert, TiLu Press, 2012; (ebook version). *''Selections from the Autobiography of Madame Guyon'', (New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, Inc.), *''Le Moyen court et autres écrits spirituals'', ed Marie-Louis Gondal, (Grenoble: J Millon, 1995) *''La Passion de croire'', ed Marie-Louis Gondal, (Paris: Nouvelle Cité, 1990) n anthology of excerpts from the writings of Madame Guyon

References

* * :''This article incorporates text from the

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

, a publication now in the public domain.''

External links

* * *
Short Biography
''by Dorothy Disse''
L'Ame Amante de son Dieu
* http://madameguyon.fr ''présentation en français de sa vie et accès à des oeuvres. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte 1648 births 1717 deaths 17th-century Christian mystics 18th-century Christian mystics People from Montargis Roman Catholic mystics French religious writers French spiritual writers French autobiographers 17th-century Protestants 18th-century Protestants Women mystics Converts to Protestantism from Roman Catholicism 17th-century letter writers 18th-century letter writers