Joan Delanoue was born at Saumur, France, but lost her father while she was yet a child. When she reached her twenty-fifth birthday, her widowed mother died, leaving behind a numerous family to be maintained by a trinket shop. Financial insecurity gradually drove her to avarice and miserliness. Beggars were kept at bay, every available space was rented out to pilgrims and Sundays were working days. In 1669, a local priest inspired her to start living up to her faith with love and fervour. Eventually, she closed down her shop on Sundays to fulfil her religious obligations. Four years later, Frances Souchet, a widowed pilgrim, was accommodated by Joan for the night in a room adjacent to the family store. The prophetic messages of this woman gradually began to sink into the mind of Joan. It dawned upon her that her mission in life was not to hoard money selfishly but to give it away generously. She began by extending financial support to an indigent family of six. Eventually she closed down her shop and converted her entire house into a home for the orphans, elderly and the destitute. People generously supported her venture while Frances Souchet encouraged her with the words: “The King of France won’t give you his purse; but the King of Kings will always keep his open for you.” With a small group of ladies who gathered around her, Joan (of the Cross) founded at Saumur a religious Society called Sisters of St. Anne of providence. She had a peaceful death in 1736 and was canonized in 1982.
Refection: The dramatic transformation of Joan from an avaricious and irreligious woman into a self-sacrificing saint, who surrendered all what she was and all what she had to serve Christ in the poor and the poor in Christ, is fascinating. The inspiring words of a simple priest and a pious pilgrim were God’s channels to bring about this metamorphosis.
That little shop-keeper did more for the poor of Saumur than all the town Councilors put together. What a woman! What a holy person. (People of Saumur, Joan’s hometown)
