Arnauld, Jacqueline Marie (1591–1661)

French abbess. Name variations: Angélique-Marie de Sainte-Magdeleine Arnauld, Mère Angélique, Mère Marie Angélique. Born Jacqueline Marie Arnauld, Sept 8, 1591; died Aug 6, 1661; 2nd of 6 daughters of Antoine Arnauld (lawyer) and Catherine Marion Arnauld (d. 1641; dau. of Simon Marion, avocat general at Parlement of Paris).

Abbess of Port Royal des Champs, known as Mère Angélique, who believed she was attempting nothing more than to follow the original monastic rule as strictly as possible, when her convent provoked the suspicions of the king and was subject to intense persecution; appointed abbess of Port Royal des Champs at age 8 (1599) and ordained a nun the following year (1600); intent upon returning the convent to the strict rule of St. Benedict, imposed sharing of all property, frequent prayer, and long periods of complete silence upon the community; her mother and all her sisters, as well as many male relatives, would eventually seek the religious life at Port Royal, which became an influential center of spirituality and education; her convent began to incur the suspicion of royal authorities because of its apparent sympathies with the reformist ideas of Cornelius Jansen (1638). An important place of refuge during the civil wars (1648–49, 1652), Port Royal came under increasing scrutiny, its schools were closed, and many of its supporters were in hiding when she died (1661).

See also Women in World History.