Portrait de la bienheureuse Juana, 1475, Convent de Jesus de Averio, Portugal
Bienheureuse Jeanne du Portugal
Vierge
dominicaine (✝ 1490)
"Chaque jour
sa beauté acquérait de nouvelles grâces" dit la chronique, ce qui la fit
maintes fois demander en mariage. Fille du roi de Portugal Alphonse V, elle
s'appliquait à paraître telle que doit paraître une fille de roi. Mais bonne
chrétienne, elle donna à Dieu la beauté de son âme et disparut dans l'humilité
du monastère des moniales dominicaines à Aveiro. Elle y offrit alors ses
souffrances pour la rédemption des captifs.
À Averio au Portugal, en 1490, la bienheureuse Jeanne, vierge. Fille du roi
Alphonse V, elle repoussa plusieurs projets de mariage et préféra servir Dieu
dans l’Ordre des Prêcheurs, où elle fut le refuge des pauvres, des orphelins et
de veuves.
Martyrologe
romain
Sainte Jeanne de Portugal
princesse,
dominicaine
(1452-1490)
La bienheureuse Jeanne de Portugal, fille du roi
Alphonse V de Portugal naquit à Lisbonne en 1452.
Sa naissance fut ardemment implorée, moyennant
beaucoup de prières, car ce roi n’avait pas encore d’héritier pour son trône.
Dès sa naissance, les trois états du royaume
jurèrent de la reconnaître comme leur princesse et héritière au trône, si un
enfant mâle venait à manquer.
Âgée à peine de trois ans, Jeanne perdit sa mère,
morte en couches de l’héritier tant désiré. Elle fût alors confiée aux bons
soins de la bonne et “sainte” Beatrix de Menezes.
L’ardente piété et la pureté angélique donnaient un
charme exquis à l’extraordinaire beauté de Jeanne qui, bien jeune encore fut
convoitée par le Dauphin de France, par Maximilien d’Autriche et par le roi
d’Angleterre. Mais, la jeune princesse avait choisi un amour plus grand, car
dès son plus âge, le désir de sainteté, et de se consacrer et se donner toute
entière au Christ l’habitait. Elle désirait entrer chez les dominicaines
d’Aveiro.
Elle réussi à y entre, mais seulement après avoir
vaincu les oppositions et de son père et de la cours, qui ne voyaient pas d’un
bon œil cette retraite qui privait sûrement le royaume de Portugal d’une
alliance profitable.
Aussi bien son père que son frère la harcelèrent
pendant longtemps — allant jusqu’aux menaces et à l’enlèvement —, lui demandant
de quitter sa retraité et, à des fins politiques, de se marier. Jeanne réussi
toujours à réintégrer le monastère d’Aveiro où elle mena une vie d’austère
pénitence et d’humilité.
Ces oppositions et tracasseries éloignées, elle put
enfin vêtir l’habit des filles de saint Dominique de Guzman, le 4 août 1472, au
monastère d’Aveiro, où sa courte vie fut un continuel holocauste d’amour et de
sacrifice.
Elle décéda à l’heure qu’elle avait elle-même prédite,
le 12 mai 1490, quand ses consoeurs récitaient la litanie des saints. Arrivées
à l’invocation : « Tous les saints innocents, priez pour nous »,
elle leva les yeux au ciel et expira doucement dans le Seigneur, son époux.
Les miracles signalés sur sa tombe sont fort
nombreux.
Le pape Innocent XIII la béatifia le 31 décembre
1692 et confirma son culte. Elle est fêtée le 12 mai.
Bienheureuse Jeanne du Portugal
Religieuse
dominicaine portugaise
Fête
le 12 mai
O.P.
Lisbonne,
Portugal, 16 février 1452 – † Aveiro, Beira Litoral, 12 mai 1490
Béatifiée
le 31 décembre 1692 par le pape Innocent XII
Autre
mention : 30 mai
Autre
graphie : Juana de Portugal
À
Aveiro au Portugal, la bienheureuse Jeanne, fille du roi du Portugal Alphonse
V, choisit de devenir dominicaine et se consacra aux pauvres, aux orphelins et
aux veuves.
Blessed Jane of Portugal, OP V (AC)
(also known as Joanna)
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, 1452; died at Aveiro, Portugal, in 1490; cultus
approved in 1693.
Joanna, a child of many
prayers, was born heiress to the throne of her father, King Alphonsus V, at a time
when Spain and Portugal had divided the colonial wealth of the earth between
them. Her sickly brother Juan was born three years later, and soon after this
their mother, Queen Elizabeth of Coimbra, died. Joanna was left to the care of
a wise and pious nurse, who cultivated the child's natural piety. By age five
the little princess had exceeded her teacher in penitential practices. She
fasted and prayed, rose at night to take the discipline, and wore a hairshirt
under her glittering court apparel.
Although Joanna would not
inherit the throne of Portugal while her brother was alive, a wise marriage
would do much to increase her father's power. Accordingly, he began early to
arrange for her marriage. Joanna, whose knowledge of court intrigue was as good
as his own, skillfully escaped several proposed matches. She had treasured the
desire to enter the convent, but, in view of her father's plans, her desires
met with violent opposition. She was flatly refused for a long time; finally,
her father gave his reluctant consent, but he withdrew it again at her
brother's insistence.
She was regent of Portugal
when her father and brother went to war against the Moors, and when they
defeated the Moors in 1471, her father, in the first flush of victory, granted
her request to take the veil. Joanna and one of her ladies-in-waiting had long
planned to enter the Dominican cloister at Aveiro, which was noted for its
strict observance. But when her father finally gave consent for her to enter
religion, he did not allow her to enter that Dominican convent. She had to go
to the nearby royal abbey of the Benedictines at Odivellas. Here she was
besieged by weeping and worldly relatives who had only their own interests at
heart. After two months of this mental torture, she returned to the court.
The rest of Joanna's life
is a story of obedience and trials. Her obligations of obedience varied. She
was required to bend her will to a wavering father, who never seemed able to
make a decision and abide by it; to bishops, swayed by political causes, who
forced her to sign a paper that she would never take her solemn vows; and to
doctors, who prescribed remedies that were worse than the maladies they tried
to cure. The trials came from a jealous brother, from ambitious and interfering
relatives, from illness, and from cares of state.
After 12 years of praying
and hoping, Joanna finally received the Dominican habit at Aveiro in 1485.
Once, she was deprived of it by an angry delegation of bishops and nobles, and,
at another time, her brother tore the veil from her head. Despite the
interruptions of plague, family cares, and state troubles, Joanna lived an
interior and penitential life. She became an expert at spinning and weaving the
fine linens for the altar, and busied herself with lowly tasks for the love of
God. She used all her income to help the poor and to redeem captives.
Her special devotion was to
the Crown of Thorns, and, in early childhood, she had embroidered this device
on her crest. To the end of her life she was plagued by the ambition of her
brother, who again and again attempted to arrange a marriage for her, and
continually disturbed her hard-won peace by calling her back to the court for
state business.
On one of these trips to
court, Joanna was poisoned by a woman--a person she had rebuked for leading an
evil life. The princess lived several months in fearful pain, enduring all her
sufferings heroically. She died, as it says in an old chronicle, "with the
detachment of a religious and the dignity of a queen," and with the
religious community around her (Benedictines, Delaney, Dorcy).
Blessed Joanna of Portugal
Born at Lisbon, 16 February, 1452; died at Aveiro,
12 may, 1490; the daughter of Alfonso V, King of Portugal, and his wife Elizabeth.
She was chiefly remarkable for the courage and persistency with which she opposed all attempts on the part of her
father and brother to make her marry. She had resolved from childhood to be the spouse of Christ
and, when possible to enter the religious
state; but being the next heir to the throne
in default of male issue, her wish was particularly obnoxious to her family and to the country. Joanna was very beautiful and her hand was sought
by several princes. Once, in her father's absence, she had to act as regent of
the kingdom, and in that office is said to have shown great capacity.
After many struggles, she
entered the Dominican house called the Convent of Jesus,
at Aveiro, where the rule was
severe and very strictly kept. For a time she was compelled, for political
reasons, to leave it and go back to Court.
Finally, however, she was professed; and her life in the convent was so penitential, holy, and heroically humble, that she died in the odour of sanctity, and miracles followed her decease.
Capes, Florence. "Blessed Joanna of Portugal." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
12 May 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08409a.htm>.
Blessed Jane of Portugal,
V.O.P.
Memorial Day: May 12th
Profile
Joanna, a child of many prayers, was born heiress to
the throne of her father, King Alphonsus V, at a time when Spain and Portugal
had divided the colonial wealth of the earth between them. Her sickly brother
Juan was born three years later, and soon after this their mother, Queen
Elizabeth of Coimbra, died. Joanna was left to the care of a wise and pious
nurse, who cultivated the child's natural piety. By age five the little
princess had exceeded her teacher in penitential practices. She fasted and
prayed, rose at night to take the discipline, and wore a hairshirt under her
glittering court apparel.
Although Joanna would not inherit the throne of
Portugal while her brother was alive, a wise marriage would do much to increase
her father's power. Accordingly, he began early to arrange for her marriage.
Joanna, whose knowledge of court intrigue was as good as his own, skillfully
escaped several proposed matches. She had treasured the desire to enter the
convent, but, in view of her father's plans, her desires met with violent
opposition. She was flatly refused for a long time; finally, her father gave
his reluctant consent, but he withdrew it again at her brother's insistence.
She was regent of Portugal when her father and
brother went to war against the Moors, and when they defeated the Moors in
1471, her father, in the first flush of victory, granted her request to take
the veil. Joanna and one of her ladies-in-waiting had long planned to enter the
Dominican cloister at Aveiro, which was noted for its strict observance. But
when her father finally gave consent for her to enter religion, he did not
allow her to enter that Dominican convent. She had to go to the nearby royal
abbey of the Benedictines at Odivellas. Here she was besieged by weeping and
worldly relatives who had only their own interests at heart. After two months
of this mental torture, she returned to the court.
The rest of Joanna's life is a story of obedience and
trials. Her obligations of obedience varied. She was required to bend her will
to a wavering father, who never seemed able to make a decision and abide by it;
to bishops, swayed by political causes, who forced her to sign a paper that she
would never take her solemn vows; and to doctors, who prescribed remedies that
were worse than the maladies they tried to cure. The trials came from a jealous
brother, from ambitious and interfering relatives, from illness, and from cares
of state.
After 12 years of praying and hoping, Joanna finally
received the Dominican habit at Aveiro in 1485. Once, she was deprived of it by
an angry delegation of bishops and nobles, and, at another time, her brother
tore the veil from her head. Despite the interruptions of plague, family cares,
and state troubles, Joanna lived an interior and penitential life. She became
an expert at spinning and weaving the fine linens for the altar, and busied
herself with lowly tasks for the love of God. She used all her income to help
the poor and to redeem captives.
Her special devotion was to the Crown of Thorns, and,
in early childhood, she had embroidered this device on her crest. To the end of
her life she was plagued by the ambition of her brother, who again and again
attempted to arrange a marriage for her, and continually disturbed her hard-won
peace by calling her back to the court for state business.
On one of these trips to court, Joanna was poisoned
by a woman--a person she had rebuked for leading an evil life. The princess
lived several months in fearful pain, enduring all her sufferings heroically.
She died, as it says in an old chronicle, "with the detachment of a religious
and the dignity of a queen," and with the religious community around her
(Benedictines, Delaney, Dorcy).
Born: Born in Lisbon, Portugal, 1452
Died: died at Aveiro, Portugal, in 1490
Beatified: April 4, 1693 by Pope
Innocent XII (cultus confirmed)
Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. This is a wise Virgin whom the Lord found watching, who took her
lamp and oil, and when the Lord came she entered with Him into the marriage
feast, alleluia.
V. Pray for us Blessed Jane, alleluia.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia.
Lauds:
Ant. Come, O my chosen one, and I will place my throne in thee, for the
King hath exceedingly desired thy beauty, alleluia.
V. Virgins shall be led to the King after her, alleluia.
R. Her companions shall be presented to Thee, alleluia.
Second Vespers:
Ant. She has girded her loins with courage and hath strengthened her
arm; therefore shall her lamp not be put out forever, alleluia
V. Pray for us Blessed Jane, alleluia
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, alleluia
Prayer:
Let us Pray: O god who amidst royal
delights and the allurements of the world didst strengthen Blessed Jane, Thy
Virgin, with unshaken constancy, grant, through her intercession, that Thy faithful
may despise all earthly things, and aspire always to the things of heaven
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/Dominican%20Saints%20May.html#Jane
of Portugal
