15 Facts About Antoinette Bourignon

Antoinette Bourignon de la Porte was a French-Flemish mystic and adventurer.

Antoinette Bourignon taught that the end times would come soon and that the Last Judgment would then fall.

Antoinette Bourignon's belief was that she was chosen by God to restore true Christianity on earth and became the central figure of a spiritual network that extended beyond the borders of the Dutch Republic, including Holstein and Scotland.

Antoinette Bourignon was born to a family of wealthy Catholic merchants in Lille in 1616.

Antoinette Bourignon was born with a severe cleft lip and palate, and initially "it was debated whether her life was worth preserving", although a subsequent surgery completely removed the birth defect.

Antoinette Bourignon would have preferred to have joined a strict religious order, the Discalced Carmelites.

Antoinette Bourignon claimed to be in direct connection with God and accused the girls of having a pact with the devil.

Antoinette Bourignon disliked the lavish splendour of the Catholic Church and wanted to establish a community of what she saw as true Christians.

Antoinette Bourignon set up a printing press and carried on attracting controversy, calling herself the "new Eve" until her press was confiscated by the local government.

Antoinette Bourignon then fled to Husum, in an area then known for its religious tolerance and freedom.

Antoinette Bourignon had burned his study of the silkworm on her advice.

Antoinette Bourignon failed to finish his work The Book of Nature, which was full of mystical poems and phrases.

Antoinette Bourignon was accused of witchcraft and so hurriedly departed to Hamburg.

Antoinette Bourignon's stay there was brief; opposition from the Lutheran clergy there forced her to move to East-Friesland, accompanied by Pierre Poiret.

Antoinette Bourignon's writings, containing an account of her life and of her visions and opinions, were collected by her disciple, Pierre Poiret, who published her life :.