A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte
GUYON, JEANNE MARIE BOUVIER DE LA MOTTE,
The friend of the celebrated Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray, and memorable for her sufferings in defence of her religious opinions, was the descendant of a noble family, and born at Montagris in France, April 13th., 1648. At seven years of age she was sent to the convent of the Ursulines; here the sensibility of her constitution and temper, aided by the impressions received in a monastic life, gave her an early propensity to enthusiasm. The confessor of Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles the First, struck by the character and ardour of the young devotee, presented her, when scarcely eight years old, to the queen, who, but for the opposition of her parents, would have retained her in her family.
Jeanne was desirous of taking the veil, but was overruled by her father, who obliged her to marry M. Guyon, a wealthy gentleman. This union was not a very happy one; and at the age of twenty-eight Madame Guyon was left a widow, with two sons and a daughter, of whom she was appointed sole guardian. The first years of her widowhood she devoted to the regulation of her domestic affairs, the education of her children, and the management of their fortune; in which employments she displayed great energy and capacity. By these occupations, however, she was not prevented from conforming to the ceremonials of the Catholic church, which she continued to observe with a rigorous austerity.
In the midst of these duties, she was suddenly seized with a spiritual impulse; and, under the delusions of a heated imagination, she abandoned the common affairs of life, to deliver herself up to sublime chimeras. She went to Paris, where she became acquainted with M. d'Aranthon, Bishop of Geneva, who prevailed on her to go to his diocese, to perfect an establishment founded by him at Gex, for the reception of newly-converted Catholics. She went to Gex in 1681, accompanied by her little daughter. Some time after, her relations demanded of her a resignation of her office of guardian to her children, together with their fortunes, which amounted to forty thousand livres. She readily consented to this; and, reserving only a moderate income for herself, consigned over to her family the bulk of her property. The community of Gex, observing her liberality, asked the bishop to propose to Madame Guyon that she should bestow a pension on their house, and thereby constitute herself its superior. Her rejection of this proposal, on the plea of disapprobation of the regulations of the community, gave offence to the sisterhood and their patron, by whom she was desired to leave the house.
She then went to the Ursulines at Thonon, whence she proceeded to Turin, and thence to Grenoble: at length, by the invitation of the bishop, who venerated her piety, she retired to Verceil. After an absence of five years, which she had spent in teaching her doctrines, she returned in 1686, to Paris, with a view of procuring medical aid. During her wanderings she had composed two tracts, entitled "A Short and Easy Method of Prayer," and "The Song of Songs, interpreted according to its Mystical Sense." Her irreproachable conduct, added to the novelty of her doctrines, which recommended prayer, contemplation, and divine love, as the sum and substance of religion, procured her many converts. The principles of Madame Guyon, which savoured of Platonic philosophy, diffused themselves throughout Paris, under the name of Quietism. Letters, from the provinces in which she had lived, complaining of the spread of her doctrines, completed their triumph by stimulating the curiosity of the multitude. The church, alarmed at a heresy which disparaged ceremonial devotion, prepared to resist the attack. Father la Combe, a Barnabite, and Confessor to Madame Guyon, was the first who suffered. He was imprisoned. Madame Guyon herself was next confined, January, 1688, in the convent des Filles de la Visitacion, where she was strictly interrogated, and detained for eight months. Her deliverance was at length effected by Madame Miranion, the superior of the convent, who represented her case to Madame de Maintenon. This lady pleaded her cause with Louis the Sixteenth, who liberated her, and she was introduced at St Cyr, a convent erected by Madame de Maintenon.
Soon after her liberation, Madame Guyon was introduced to Fenelon, who became her disciple and friend. She was also distinguished by the notice of the Dukes de Chevreuse and Beauvilliers, men of merit and talents, and by ladies of the first distinction, who were attracted as much by the graces of her person and manners as by her doctrines.
The cry of heresy was again raised by the church, which, by its anathemas, gave importance to the sect it sought to crush. Madame Guyon was persuaded by her friends to submit her cause and her writings to the Bishop of Meaux; who, after a conference with her, and perusing her papers, declared his satisfaction. The fury of the church was not, however, allayed; and an order was procured for the re-examination of the doctrines of Madame Guyon; who, in the mean time, retired to the convent of Meaux. Bousset was at the head of the committee of examination, and Transon, Fenelon, and the Bishop of Chalons, were associated. At the end of six months, thirty-four articles were drawn up by the commissioners, to which Fenelon added four, to prove the harralessness of Quietism. The thirty-four articles were signed by all the examiners, March 10th., 1695. Madame Guyon also put her signature to them, and signed a submission to censure passed by the Bishop of Meaux the preceding April, against her tracts; by which she declared, that she never meant to advocate anything contrary to the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman church. To this the bishop added an attestation, purporting that he was satisfied with the conduct of Madame Guyon, and had continued her in the participation of the holy sacrament. Thus acquitted, she returned to Paris, in the hope of finding safety and repose.
But the rage of bigotry was not yet exhausted; Madame Guyon became involved in the persecutions of Fenelon, and in less than a year was imprisoned, first in the castle of Vincennes, then in the convent Thomas à Geràrd, and at last in the Bastile. At a meeting of the general assembly of the clergy of France, in 1700, no evidence appearing against her, she was once more set at liberty.
She next went to visit her children, and settled near them at Blois. The remainder of her life she passed in retirement. The walls of her chamber, the tables and furniture, were covered with numerous verses which were printed after her death in five volumes, entitled "Cantiques Spirituels, ou d'Emblemes sur I'Amour divin." She also left twenty volumes of "Commentaries on the Bible;" and "Reflections and Explanations concerning the Inner Life;" and "Christian Discourses;" "Letters to several persons;" her own "Autobiography;" a volume of "Visitations;" and two volumes of "Opuscules." She died June 9th., 1717.