LOUISE OF SAVOY, BL.

Widow, Poor Clare; b. Dec. 28, 1462; d. Orbe, Switzerland, July 24, 1503 (feast, July 24). She was the daughter of Bl. Amadeus of Savoy and Yolanda of France, and thus the granddaughter of King Charles VII and the niece of Louis XI. Louise wished to become a religious but, obedient to her parents' will, married Hugh of Orléans in 1479. They lived an exemplary Christian life together at the Château de Nozeray until Hugh died, July 3, 1490. During the next two years, Louise prepared to retire from the world. After distributing her fortune, she, together with her maids of honor, Catherine de Saulx and Charlotte de Saint–Maurice, entered (June 1492) the monastery of Poor Clares at Orbe, Switzerland, a convent founded by Hugh's mother, and rendered illustrious by the reform of St. colette in 1427. Professed in 1493, she became an exemplary religious and as abbess was noted for her hospitality to the Franciscan friars. Her remains were transferred to Nozeray in 1531 and to the chapel of the royal palace, Turin, in 1842. Gregory XVI confirmed her cult, Aug. 12, 1839.

Feast: July 24.

Bibliography: a.m. jeanneret, ed., Vie de très haulte… Madame Loyse de Savoye … escripte en 1507 par une religieuse (Geneva 1860). j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by the Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56) 7:601–606. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater. 4 v. (New York 1956) 3:518–519. d. stÖckerl, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1202.

[m.g. mcneil]