Patron Saint of Abuse Victims, People Rejected by Religious Orders, and Widows
Saint Joan was born on December 27, 1556, in Bordeaux in 1556, the daughter of Richard de Lestonnac, a member of the Parliament of Bordeaux, and Jeanne Eyquem, the sister of the noted philosopher, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne.
She grew up at a time when the conflict between the Protestant revolutionaries and the defenders of the Catholic faith was at its height. This was painfully evident in her own family: while her mother became an enthusiastic Calvinist and tried to persuade her to convert, her father and her uncle Montaigne adhered to the Catholic faith and were her support in remaining a Catholic.
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