Jeanne Chezard de Matel

Jeanne Chézard de Matel, OVISS (November 6, 1596 – September 11, 1670) was a French Catholic mystic who founded the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, whose rule and constitution were approved in 1633 with the principal objective of youth education.

Life Jeanne was born on November 6, 1596, in Roanne, in the Diocese of Lyon, in France. She was the daughter of Jean Chézard, a French army officer and nobleman, and his wife, Jeanne Chaurier, whose first four children were stillborn or had died as infants. Jean was baptized the same day in St. Stephen's Church. Two small children who came to the door begging were her godparents. As she grew in her spirituality, she was drawn especially to Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, to St. Joseph and to Michael the Archangel.

In 1608, at the age of 12, Jeanne was permitted to make her first Communion. In her teens she lived an active social life, loving parties, dancing, fun and laughter. Jeanne was endowed with the gift of infused contemplation and had vivid experiences of God’s presence. Additional monasteries were established at Anduze (1697) and Roquemaure (1697). During the French Revolution the Incarnate Word houses shared the fate of all religious houses throughout the country, and were suppressed by the Decree of 1790.

The Sisters who survived persecution were dispersed. Many struggled to remain faithful to their commitment to the Incarnate Word, protecting the relics and writings of Jeanne, and the other guiding documents of their Order. In 1817 the Order was re-established in the village of Azerables, France.

Jeanne de Matel is referenced frequently in the novel The Cathedral by Joris-Karl Huysmans where the central character, Durtal, contemplates writing her biography.