Françoise d'Amboise, O.Carm (9 May 1427 – 4 November 1485) was a French

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

nun.

Biography

D'Amboise was born in the castle of Thouars. She was the daughter of the rich noble Louis d'Amboise, prince of Talmont and Viscount of Thouars, and Louise-Marie de Rieux.Diane E. Booton, ''Manuscripts, Market and the Transition to Print in Late Medieval Brittany'', (Ashgate Publishing, 2010), 147. To escape from the violence of the times, she fled with her mother to the court of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, which resided in

Vannes Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic ...

and, later on, in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

. At the age of three she had been engaged to Peter, the second son of John V, Duke of Brittany, for political reasons. She married him at the age of fifteen, in 1442. In 1450, after the unexpected death of Pierre's elder brother, her husband came to rule Brittany as Pierre II. Françoise d'Amboise became the Duchess of Brittany and had a discrete but active share in governing Brittany. She came to help the poor and the sick. She had also a strong feeling about justice. Her husband died of a disease in 1457. She then entered into a conflict with King

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...

who wanted to marry her. A widow without children, she founded in 1463, together with Jean Soreth, the first

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

of the Carmelites in France, of which she later became prioress. She took the veil of a nun in 1468, when entering the convent of

, called "The three Maries". She died in

, at the monastery of the Carmelites.

Veneration

A sainthood cause for d'Amboise was opened after her death. In 1863, she was beatified by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

. Susan Broomhall, ''Women and Religion in Sixteenth-Century France'', (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 47.

Notes

References

* * J.-L. Chalnel, ''Histoire de la Touraine'', 1841, tome IV. * Eugène Lafolye, ''Compte des dépenses de Françoise d'Amboise'', Editeur Vannes, 1889. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amboise, Francoise d Carmelite nuns Venerated Carmelites 1427 births 1485 deaths French beatified people Female saints of medieval Brittany Francoise Francoise d'Amboise 15th-century Breton women 15th-century Breton people