Autobiography of Madame Guyon

Madame Guyon was a French noblewoman who was born in an unprincipled time fated to its corruption. She grew up in a church as licentious as the world in which it was established: spiritually despondent and plagued by ignorance. Regardless of these tormenting conditions, she rose to the inimitability of Christian veneration. She had an unsteady and disorganized childhood, was tormented by sickness and abuse, and was imprisoned for years by the highest church authorities. She gave up her worldly goods at the demands of this church which led to her impoverishment. She survived her psychological and physical ruination by conquering pretentious royal conspiracies and reviling the malignancy of the papal inquisition.