Austere, Poor, Barefooted Reformer, Saint Colette- A saint after Pope Francis' Heart.

February 7 marks the feast day of Austere, Poor, Barefooted Reformer, Saint Colette - A saint after Pope Francis' heart and patron saint of women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers, and sick children.

Saint Colette began her reform during the time of the Great Western Schism supported by Antipope Benedict XIII illustrating the old proverb: a sign of top intellect is the ability to make progress in the face of ambiguity.

Antipope Benedict XIII was in power from 1394 to 1423. The Great Schism, or Western Schism, was a period in the 14th century when there were three people who claimed to be the pope of the Catholic Church. The schism lasted from 1378 to 1417.

The 15th century in general was a very difficult one for the Western Church. Abuses long neglected cost the Church dearly in the following century. Saint Colette’s reform indicated the entire Church’s need to follow Christ more closely.The schism was driven by political rivalries and allegiances, and weakened the reputation of the papacy.    Urban VI, Clement VII, and Alexander V competed for the title:   In 1378, Pope Urban VI was elected, but cardinals claimed the election was coerced.  Cardinals who opposed Urban VI elected Clement VII as a rival pope. Clement VII took up residence in Avignon where the Avignon Papacy was closely tied to the French monarchy. In 1409, the Council of Pisa elected a third pope.  The multi pope issue was resolved by  the.Council of Constance: The Council of Constance was held from 1414–1418. The council resolved that all three popes should abdicate and a new pope be elected.  The lection of Martin V: Martin V was elected pope, ending the schism

Saint Colette was born in the village of Corbie, in the Picardy region of France, on 13 January 1381to Robert Boellet, a poor carpenter and to his wife, Marguerite Moyon.

Her parents had grown old without having children, before praying to Saint Nicholas for help in having a child. Their prayers were answered when, at the age of 60, Marguerite gave birth to a daughter. Out of gratitude, they named the baby after the saint to whom they credited the miracle of her birth. She was affectionately called Nicolette by her parents, which soon came to be shorted to Colette, by which name she is known.

After her parents died in 1399, Colette joined the Beguines but found their manner of life unchallenging. Joining a Benedictine order to avoid an arranged marriage. In September 1402, Colette received the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis and became a hermit under the direction of the Abbot of Corbie, living near the abbey church. After four years of following this ascetic way of life (1402–1406), through several dreams and visions, she came to believe that she was being called to reform the Franciscan Second Order and to return it to its original Franciscan ideals of absolute poverty and austerity.

In October 1406, she turned to the Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon who was recognized in France as the rightful pope. Benedict received her in Nice, in southern France, and allowed her to transfer to the Order of Poor Clares. Additionally, he empowered her through several papal bulls, issued between 1406 and 1412, to found new monasteries and to complete the reform of the Order.

With the approval of the Countess of Geneva and the aid of the Franciscan itinerant preacher, Henry de Beaume, her confessor and spiritual director), Colette began her work at Beaune, in the Diocese of Geneva. She remained there only a short time. In 1410, she opened her first monastery at Besançon, in an almost-abandoned house of Urbanist Poor Clares. From there, her reform spread to Auxonne (1412), to Poligny (1415), to Ghent (1412), to Heidelberg (1444), to Amiens, to Pont-à-Mousson in Lorraine, and to other communities of Poor Clares. During her lifetime 18 monasteries of her reform were founded. For the monasteries which followed her reform, she prescribed extreme poverty, going barefoot, and the observance of perpetual fasting and abstinence.

In addition to the strict rules of the Poor Clares, the Colettines follow their special Constitutions, approved in 1434 by the Minister General of the friars, William of Casale, and approved in 1448 by Pope Nicholas V, again in 1458 by Pope Pius II, and in 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV.

Colette died at Ghent in March 1447

Prayers to Saint Colette 

include the St. Colette Novena and the Prayer of Saint Colette. Saint Colette is the patron saint of women who want to conceive, expectant mothers, and sick children.

St. Colette Novena
"Dear Lord, we thank You and praise You for giving us St. Colette as an example of holiness"

"Please hear the petitions she brings before Your throne on our behalf"

"St. Colette, pray for us"

"Pray for me, that I may always serve God with devotion, as you did"

"Pray that I may love God wholeheartedly and may do my best to bring my family members closer to God"