St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Jane suffered from depression for most of her life. The sudden, accidental death of her husband left her suffering for decades. In writing about this experience, she mentioned a variety of distressingtemptations and that she was no longer like herself. It was through Jane’s struggle that she became friends and a spiritual directee of St. Francis de Sales. Her spirituality, with his direction, provided a way of holiness that meant confronting her depression with virtue. This path never cured her depression, even if it did at times alleviate symptoms. Her struggles enabled her to extend empathy and gentleness to those around her, the virtues most accounted for in her saint biographies.