Blessed Agnès de Jésus, Virgin

Memorial

Agnès Galant, a dominican mystic, was born in Puy-en-Velay (France) on november 17, 1602. Her childhood was marked by deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin, intense fervor in prayer, and a demonstrably great love for the poor. At the age of 21, she entered the newly founded dominican convent at Langeac. Four years later, she was elected prioress.

In 1631, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her and said, "pray to my son for the abbé de Pébrac." Thus, Agnès contributed to the vocation and mission of Jean-Jacques Olier, who then held that benefice. She appeared to him twice in paris in 1634. In june of that same year, M. Olier visited the monastery at Langeac, where he met with Mother Agnès de Jésus several times and recognized her as the one who appeared to him. These visits began to prepare him to open a seminary. Agnès communicated to M. Olier the secrets of union with God in which she lived so intensely. " i once saw you as the child of my tears while praying for your conversion, i now look upon you as my father." Agnès died at the age of 32 on october 19, 1634, leaving her nuns with a special vocation to pray for priests. Thus, one may call her the "spiritual mother of the seminaries of France."