Today, February 4, is the memorial of Saint Jane of Valois.
Also known as Jane of France, she was born a princess, the daughter of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy, in 1464. Jane was the cousin of Blessed Louise of Savoy. She was deformed at birth, with a hump on her back and walked with a limp, and sickly throughout her life. As a young girl, she developed a devotion to Our Lady, and the praying of the Angelus.
For political reasons, Jane was married at age 9 (other accounts state she was 12) to Louis, Duke of Orleans. Louis was displeased with marrying the physically deformed Joan. Believing it her duty, she overlooked his mistreatment of her, and even prayed for him. When he became King Louis XII, he had their marriage annulled. She was then made Duchess of Berry (in modern France) which province she ruled.
In her new life, Jane told her Franciscan spiritual director Blessed Gabriel Mary that she had a monastic vocation. She founded the Order of the Annonciades (Sisters of the Annunciation), an enclosed order of contemplative nuns whose chief rule was to imitate the virtues of Mary as described in the Bible.
Jane died of natural causes in 1505. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1742. She was canonized by Venerable Pope Pius XII in 1950.
Curious that her marriage to the Duke of Orleans was annulled, but Henry VIII’s marriage was not.
Historically, they were in the same time period.