St. Colette

Colette was the daughter of a carpenter named DeBoilet at Corby Abbey in Picardy, France. She was born on January 13, 1381, christened Nicolette, and called Colette. Orphaned at seventeen, she distributed her inheritance to the poor. She became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived at Corby as a solitary. She soon became well known for her holiness and spiritual wisdom, but left her cell in 1406 in response to a dream directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She received the Poor Clares habit from Peter de Luna, with orders to reform the Order. She founded seventeen convents with the reformed rule and reformed several older convents. A branch of the Poor Clares is still known as the Collettines.

Colette died in 1447 and was canonized in 1807. Her feast day is March 6th.