Joan of Valois

Born deformed and unloved by her father, Joan was married at twelve to her cousin Louis of Orléans, who had the union annulled on taking the throne in 1498 — a public and humiliating trial she endured without a word against him. Withdrawing to Bourges as Duchess of Berry, she founded there the Annonciades, whose rule invites its sisters to imitate the ten virtues of the Virgin. She died at forty, held a saint by the people of Berry long before Rome agreed. Her canonisation came only in 1950.