Above all things let God be loved the most : Françoise d’Amboise, Duchess, Carmelite nun, and witness of the devout life

Abstract

A fifteenth century duchess, living a courtly life but being imbued by the spirit of the devotio moderna movement, enshrines Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John’s Gospel to be in the world but not of the world (cf. Jn 15:19, 17:14-16). The Carmelite Bl. Françoise d’Amboise lived during a very turbulent time, with France in war and the people suffering the consequent tribulations. Despite being protected within the riches and comforts of courtly life, d’Amboise disregarded these and thought them secondary to the pleas of the poor and the needy, for whom she dedicated herself entirely. She was truly in the world, her role as Duchess of Brittany placed her in the heart of society, but her heart and spirit were elsewhere, so much so that her dying husband’s will provided her with he necessary means so that “[his] spouse could, with greater disposition, attend to a life of prayer, charitable acts, and devotion.”1 Ever since she was young, d’Amboise wanted to join the religious life; alas, her social standing and, more particularly, her family prohibited it. However, by providence she met the saintly Carmelite reformer Bl. Jean Soreth (1394- 1471). Together they ventured on the reform project of founding Carmelite female monasteries in France imbued by the spirituality of the devotio moderna movement which, by this time, had grown so much in the Low Lands that it almost immediately permeated into Germany, first, and then France. We will argue that her impact on Carmelite sisterhood in France was to become so vital that for d’Amboise’s imprint on medieval Carmelite sisterhood to be well understood, one must observe the complex development of this feminine reality within the Northern European area of the Order in light of its intricate connection to the spiritual qualities of the devotio moderna. As we shall see, the parallelism between the two spiritual traditions is astonishingly close not only on a historical but also on a spiritual level. This article will commence by giving a brief biography of the duchess. Then, we will go over the historical and spiritual contexts within which the Carmelite nuns in France were founded as part of Soreth’s reform project. Then, constituting the central focus of this study and in order to truly appreciate the spiritual heritage of the duchess, we will have a close look at her Exhortations in which clear connections are observed with the spirituality of the devotio moderna. Finally, a word of conclusion and synthesis seeks to tie up loose ends.