20 Facts About Jeanne Guyon

Madame Guyon was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing the book A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer.

Jeanne Guyon was the daughter of Claude Bouvier, a procurator of the tribunal of Montargis, 110 kilometers south of Paris and 70 kilometers east of Orleans.

Jeanne Guyon was sickly in her childhood, and her education was neglected.

Jeanne Guyon's childhood was spent between the convent, and the home of her affluent parents, moving nine times in ten years.

Jeanne Guyon's parents were very religious, thus they gave her an especially pious upbringing.

Jeanne Guyon bore another son and daughter shortly before her husband's death in 1676.

Jeanne Guyon's date of birth nonetheless remains unclear since Madame Guyon writes Je naquis, a ce que disent quelques uns, la veille de Paques, le 13.

Already during her marriage, Jeanne Guyon retained belief in God's perfect plan, fiercely believing that she would be blessed in suffering.

The project was problematic and Jeanne Guyon clashed with the sisters who were in charge of the house.

At this point, Jeanne Guyon introduced Lacombe to a mysticism of interiority.

Jeanne Guyon gave over guardianship of her two sons to her mother-in-law and took leave of her personal possessions, although keeping a sizeable annuity for herself.

Jeanne Guyon was not released until seven months later, after she had placed in the hands of the theologians, who had examined her book, a retraction of the propositions which it contained.

Madame Jeanne Guyon then asked for an examination of her conduct and her writings by civil and ecclesiastical judges.

Jeanne Guyon continued to be revered by the Beauvilliers, the Chevreuses, and Fenelon, who communicated with her when safe and discreet intermediaries were available.

Jeanne Guyon believed that one should pray at all times and devote all of one's time to God.

Jeanne Guyon tells us this Himself: 'walk before Me and be blameless' Genesis 17:1.

Jeanne Guyon praised lowly sinners who merely submitted themselves to God's will.

Jeanne Guyon spent the remainder of her life in retirement with her daughter, the Marquise de Blois, at Blois, where she died at the age of 69, believing that she had died submissive to the Catholic Church, from which she had never had any intention of separating herself.

Jeanne Guyon's published works, the Moyen Court and the Regles des associees a l'Enfance de Jesus, were both placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1688.

An anonymous 18th-century manuscript, hand-written in French, entitled "Supplement to the life of Madame Jeanne Guyon" exists in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which sets forth many fresh details about the Great Conflict which surrounded Madame Jeanne Guyon.