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Daughter of Louis VIII
and of his wife, Blanche
of Castille, born in
March, 1225; died at
Longchamp, 23 February,
1270.
St. Louis IX, King
of France (1226-70), was
her brother. When still
a child at court,
Isabel, or Elizabeth,
showed an extraordinary
devotion to exercises of
piety, modesty, and
other virtues. By Bull
of 26 May, 1254,
Innocent IV allowed
her to retain some
Franciscan fathers as
her special confessors.
She was even more
devoted to the
Franciscan Order than
her royal brother. She
not only broke off her
engagement with a count,
but moreover refused the
hand of Conrad, son of
the German Emperor
Frederick II, although
pressed to accept him by
everyone, even by
Pope Innocent IV,
who however did not
hesitate subsequently
(1254) to praise her
fixed determination to
remain a virgin. As
Isabel wished to found a
convent of the Order of
St. Clare, Louis IX
began in 1255 to acquire
the necessary land in
the Forest of Rouvray,
not far from the Seine
and in the neighbourhood
of Paris. On 10 June,
1256, the first stone of
the convent church was
laid. The building
appears to have been
completed about the
beginning of 1259,
because
Alexander IV gave
his sanction on 2
February, 1259, to the
new rule which Isabel
had had compiled by the
Franciscan Mansuetus on
the basis of the Rule of
the Order of St. Clare.
These rules were drawn
up solely for this
convent, which was named
the Monastery of the
Humility of the Blessed
Virgin (Monasterium
Humilitatis B. Marię
Virginis). The
sisters were called in
the rule the "Sorores
Ordinis humilium
ancillarum Beatissimf
Marif Virginis". The
fast was not so strict
as in the Rule of St.
Clare; the community was
allowed to hold
property, and the
sisters were subject to
the Minorites. The first
sisters came from the
convent of the Poor
Clares at Reims. Isabel
herself never entered
the cloister, but from
1260 (or 1263) she
followed the rules in
her own home near by.
Isabel was not
altogether satisfied
with the first rule
drawn up, and therefore
submitted through the
agency of her brother
Louis IX, who had also
secured the confirmation
of the first rule, a
revised rule to
Urban IV.
Urban approved this
new constitution on 27
July, 1263.
The difference between
the two rules consisted
for the most part in
outward observances and
minor alterations. This
new rule was also
adopted by other French
and Italian convents of
the Order of St. Clare,
but one can by no means
say that a distinct
congregation was formed
on the basis Isabella's
rule. In the new rule
Urban IV gives the
nuns of Longchamp the
official title of "Sorores
Minores inclusę, which
was doubtlessly intended
to emphasize closer
union with the Order of
Friars Minor. After a
life of mortification
and virtue, Isabella
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
wrought at her grave. In
1521
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.
They now keep it on 1
September. The history
of the Abbey of
Longchamp had many
vicissitudes. The
Revolution closed
it, and in 1794 the
empty and dilapidated
building was offered for
sale, but as no one
wished to purchase it,
it was destroyed. In
1857 the walls were
pulled down except one
tower, and the grounds
were added to the Bois
de Boulogne.
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