Spiritual Torrents

Jeanne-Marie (nee) Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) (1648-1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. Guyon's parents were very religious people, and they gave her an especially pious training. Other important impressions from her youth that remained with her came from reading the works of St. Francis de Sales, and from certain nuns, her teachers. At one time she wanted to be a nun, but soon changed her mind. Her published works, the Moyen Court and the Règles des Associées à l'Enfance de Jésu, were both placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1688. François Fénelon's Maximes des Saints was also branded with the condemnation of both the Pope and the bishops of France. Her disciples at the Court of Louis XIV were persons of piety and of exemplary life. Guyon's most devout disciples after her death were to be found among the Protestants and especially the Quakers.