Observing the feast of St Jane de Chantal

In the last few days I have been asked about whether we will celebrate the feast of St Jane Frances de Chantal in class. Actually, the feast of Jane de Chantal in the USA is observed on August 18th. You can find this in the local ordo.

Now, as of 3 years ago, the Church universal celebrates the memory of Jane de Chantal on August 12th. The assigning of her feast seems complicated, but it is not really hard to understand (he laughs).

Jane de Chantal actually died on December 13, 1641 - but this was the feast of St Lucy, an martyr from Sicily during the Roman Imperial period. St Lucy remains a very popular figure throughout Europe, so there was no way of moving her to place Jane de Chantal at the time of
her canonization. Thus her feast was observed on August 21st (the birthday of Francis de Sales and the day of her own Canonization in 1767).

When the Roman Calendar was simplified and revised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, August 21st became the feast of Pius X (who died on that day in 1914, and who was canonized in 1954…). Since Jane de Chantal was already on that day, Pius' feast was placed on September 3rd… But the 1970 revision attempted to put the saints on dates that had something to do with their lives. Thus, Pius went to August 21, and Jane to the closest free day near the day of her "dies natalis" (birthday to eternal life): December 12.

For the Americas the day was a problem. Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe was strongly observed on that day throughout the continent. So, the Visitandines asked the Holy See to have the feast brought back to August, and the closest possible day was August 18.

When the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe became popular also in Europe, thanks to the efforts of John Paul II, then the universal calendar moved Jane's feast (as I have said) to August 12.

SO… will we ever have one day for Jane de Chantal?

I have it on the authority of several liturgists here in Rome that a new revision of calendar, lectionaries, and sacramentaries is already underway. Perhaps some day soon we will see this resolved. But for now, the day is August 18 for the USA and August 12th for the rest of the world. St Jane de Chantal, therefore, is not forgotten.

This is not to say that you should not party on anyway on December 13th. I think you can celebrate her memory more joyous now that you know that she is not neglected :)