Feastday: February 26
Saint Isabelle of France (March 1225 – 23 February 1270) was the daughter of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. She was a younger sister of Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) and Alfonso, and an older sister of Charles I of Sicily.
She refused offers of marriage from several noble suitors to continue her life of virginity consecrated to God. She died there on February 23, and her cult was approved in 1521.
She lived there in austerity but never became a nun and refused to become abbess. She ministered to the sick and the poor, and after the death of her mother, founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Franciscan Abbey of Longchamp) at Longchamps in the part of the Forest of Rouvray now called the Bois de Boulogne, west of Paris in 1256.
Isabelle died in her house at Longchamp on 23 February 1270, and was buried in the convent church. After nine days her body was exhumed, when it showed no signs of decay, and many miracles were said to have been wrought at her grave. In 1521 Pope Leo X allowed the Abbey of Longchamp to celebrate her feast with a special office. On 4 June 1637, a second exhumation took place. On 25 January 1688, the nuns obtained permission to celebrate her feast with an octave and in 1696 the celebration of the feast. On 31 August was permitted to the whole Franciscan Order.
Saints And Angels 