Our good Sister belonged to a truly patriarchal family in our Catholic Brittany. She was the eldest of ten children and drew, from an early age, from the lessons and examples of a virtuous and solidly Christian mother, that lively faith which was like the distinctive character of her soul. Still very young, she saw the ordeal suddenly change her sweet family life. The excessive kindness of his dear parents was deceived, and soon, forced to leave their own lands, they had to put themselves at the service of their neighbors.
Then, God asked them successively the sacrifice of their children, of those who seemed to respond to their sweetest hopes by their intelligence and their piety. But how to retain these dear angels whom God was calling, to whom He was already revealing himself with his infinite charms?
I want to go to Jesus. And shortly after the desires of this chosen little one were fulfilled, he saw God while the sorry parents mourned the departure of this sixth child. The father succumbed to so many ordeals, and little Jeanne understood at that very hour that she had to become the support of her poor mother and of the three children who still remained to her.
She was accepted on a farm, near her mother, and there, despite her 14 years, she showed a prudence and a wisdom well above her age. Seeking out the elderly, fleeing the slightest danger, she came, as soon as she was free, to take refuge under the maternal wing, happy to offer them the first fruits of her labor. She also surrounded her two brothers and her little sister with the most assiduous care, yielding to all their wishes and devoting herself completely.
But poverty remained great in the modest home and little Jeanne, wanting to sacrifice herself without measure to help her mother, decided to leave her. She was placed by a pious ecclesiastic in an excellent family and the young girls she served gave her in return the example of all the virtues.
