St. Colette lived a life of extremes in service to God’s will.

She was born in France in 1381, daughter to a carpenter. Both of her parents had died by the time she was 17 years old, and she gave away her possessions to the poor and joined a community of Franciscans.

For a time she lived as an anchoress—someone who lives in solitude and prayer—by having herself sealed in a brick cell with only one small, grated window looking in to a church. She became known for her spiritual insight and wisdom.

She had a vision from St. Francis in which he told her to reform the order of Poor Clares. To do this, she had to leave her cell. She decided to travel through France without shoes and in a patched nun’s habit, begging and encouraging greater faithfulness, especially among the religious orders there.

Her efforts were met with great opposition—she was even accused of sorcery—but she persisted, and began a movement that reformed convents in parts of France, Spain, and Belgium. She founded 17 additional convents in the reformed, stricter rule of the Poor Clares.

She was well-known for her holiness and for the depth of her prayer, which often led to ecstatic visions. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and her image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Colette, you called people to greater holiness by your own example and dedication to prayer, pray for us!