What can you do if you believe that depressive feelings keep you from living a productive life? You could look forward to a time when medicine and psychology may discover a real cure for your illness. That may be a long way off. In the meantime, you could look back several centuries to imitate the example of a seventeenth-century French saint who battled with feelings of depression, but nonetheless lived a remarkably successful life.

St. Jane de Chantal (1572–1641) was a marvelous person, who excelled in a succession of callings—wife and mother, manager of a large estate, widow and single parent, founder of a religious community, and spiritual adviser to thousands of women. To get an idea of what Jane was like, imagine a lovely woman who combined the organizational skills of Elizabeth Dole, the charismatic charm of Oprah Winfrey, and the practical spirituality of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  The remarkable thing about Jane is that she accomplished so much all the while suffering from depressive feelings most of her adult life.

Jane was madly in love with her soldier husband, Christophe. She dates the onset of her life-long depression from the hunting accident that killed him in 1601. “A few months after I became a widow,” she later recalled

it pleased God that my whole being should be beset by so many different, distressing temptations that, if he in his mercy had not taken pity on me, I am sure I should have perished in the fury of that storm, for I could get almost no relief from this anxiety, and I lost so much weight that I became quite unlike myself—you would hardly have recognized me.

The temptations that hit Jane while she was mourning would crop up repeatedly throughout her life. She never specified the content of these troubling thoughts, except that she once described them as “suggestions of blasphemy, infidelity, and unbelief.” We know only that doubts about faith, probably indistinct and formless, and fear of displeasing God often tormented her.  St Jane de Chantal suffered this affliction for four decades.

Jane’s agony seems to be like the lifelong suffering of Mother Teresa. The recent publication of the saint of Calcutta’s  correspondence shocked the world by revealing that for half a century she felt abandoned by God.  Mother Teresa’s  spiritual directors  believe that God allowed her to endure the cross of this perpetual darkness as a way of relating to and praying for the suffering poor that she served.  Jane does not tell us enough to allow a detailed comparison of her anguish to that of Mother Teresa, except that she, too, suffered for many years.  It seems, however,  given her symptoms of sadness, doubt, weight loss, excessive guilt, and indecisiveness, that Jane experienced a form of depression.

Through the years Jane learned some ways to deal with her depressive feelings.  Her wise choices brought her some relief and made her emotional pain endurable.  Although her prescription for depression did not cure her illness, it enabled her to live a very productive life.  Consider with me the key elements of her effective approach to her problem:  trusting God, relying on the support of friends, disciplining her negative thoughts, and serving others.

Trusting God

From the onset of Jane’s depression, a light shone in her darkness. Amid the crush of doubt and fear, she recognized the Lord’s invitation to rely on him to get her through the pain.  She came to believe that he was allowing her troubles, so she made a heartfelt decision to embrace his will. “O Lord Jesus,” she prayed, “I surrender to you all my will. Let me be your lute.  Touch any string you please.  Always and forever let me make music in perfect harmony with your own.  Yes, Lord, with no ifs, ands, or buts . . . let your will be done in me.”  Jane’s relationship with Christ brought her moments of joy, but the reprieve was always temporary.  Her depressive feelings would often return with a vengeance.  But Jane never abandoned her trust in God.  Toward the end of her life she said, “I’ve had these temptations for forty-one years now—

do you think I’m going to give up after all this time? Absolutely not. I’ll never stop hoping in God. . . .  If I can keep from offending God in spite of all this, then I am content with whatever it may please him to allow me to suffer, even if I must suffer for the rest of my life. I want only to do it knowing that he wants me to, and that in suffering I am being faithful to him.

Relying on the Support of Friends

St. Jane de Chantal developed healthy relationships with friends, who supported her.  Chief among these was St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622).  In 1604, Jane first encountered Francis during Lent at Dijon, France, where he was preaching daily sermons.  When she heard him on Ash Wednesday, she sensed that God had sent him to help her with her trials.  For the next six weeks Jane checked her eagerness to pour out her heart to Francis and engaged him only in light conversations. But by Wednesday in Holy Week she felt compelled to seek Francis’s counsel. She unburdened herself to him with great relief.  Over the next several months, Francis gently encouraged Jane to abandon herself to God and pay no attention to her doubts. Finally, late in the summer he became her spiritual director. “O Lord, how happy that day was for me!” she said. “I could feel my soul turn completely around and step right out of its inner imprisonment. . . .”   The two saints became fast friends.  Until his death in 1622, Francis’s care enabled Jane to experience a degree of spiritual freedom and inner peace.  But even with the encouragement of her great friend, she still had to battle her troubling thoughts.

Disciplining Negative Thoughts

Early in their relationship Francis told Jane that her temptations distressed her because she dreaded them. And that if she thought less of them, they could not harm her. He summed up his counsel with this memorable example:

Recently I was near the beehives, and some bees flew onto my face. I wanted to raise my hand to brush them off. “No,” a peasant said to me. “Don’t be afraid and don’t touch them. They won’t sting you unless you touch them.” I trusted him, and not one stung me. Trust me, don’t fear these temptations; don’t touch them, and they won’t hurt you.

Jane embraced this wisdom and applied it as best she could. But sometimes her doubts swarmed her like bees, and while she tried not to touch them, their noisy buzzing still tormented her.  Paradoxically, Jane used this advice to help many women to stop being hard on themselves.  She just seems to have been unable to extend the same kindness to herself.

Serving Others

Throughout her life, Jane de Chantal devoted herself to serving others.  This selfless, outward focus brought her some measure of healing for her depression.  After Christophe’s untimely death she spent herself in care for her children.  And for seven years she unselfishly managed the household of her mean and inconsiderate father-in-law.

In 1610, Jane collaborated with Francis in founding a religious community for women.  That year she and two other women opened the first convent of the Sisters of the Visitation of Mary in Annecy, the town that served Francis as his base. Propelled by Jane’s charism and inspired by Francis’s guidance, within a few years the new order attracted many members. The community spread quickly throughout all France.  Building this new religi0us order consumed Jane’s energy for the next three decades.  The road was not easy, as Jane had to deal constantly with poverty, inadequate housing, sickness, internal conflicts, slander, and opposition.  Before her death in1641 she had established eighty-seven Visitation convents. She criss-crossed France in arduous journeys to encourage the nuns in person. Appropriately, Jane became known as Mother de Chantal as she tenderly mothered her sisters as her own daughters. So the community surrounded Jane with women whom she loved. And caring for them took attention away from her problems.

Not a Cure-all

So anyone who wants to find some relief from depression could imitate these elements in St. Jane de Chantal’s example:

  • Trust the Lord
  • Maintain wholesome relationships with friends
  • Refuse to fear or engage troubling thoughts
  • Divert attention from your problems by reaching out to others

This prescription is not a cure-all. And it is not a substitute for professional help.  Anyone who has signs of depression, should seek a medical assessment.  If a doctor has prescribed  medications, Jane, who had a real concern for people, would want him to continue taking them.

Following Jane’s example, however, will reduce the impact of depressive feelings.  Depressed persons may find it difficult to trust God, but they should keep on praying, even if it sometimes seems that no One is listening.  That’s what Mother Teresa and Jane did. And they may sometimes fail to shun destructive thoughts, but like Jane they should work at ignoring those buzzing tempters.  And sufferers of depressed feelings may find a measure of relief by spending time with people who love them and by reaching out to people in need.

Wise application of these principles and medical advice, will help a person struggling with depressive feelings  live more successfully, as it did for St. Jane de Chantal.

(You can read more about St. Jane de Chantal in my book, Saints at Heart: How Fault-Filled, Problem-Prone, Imperfect People Like Us Can Be Holy.)