The Memoirs of Madame Guyon

The Autobiography of Madame Guyon is a memoir of Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic from seventeenth and eighteenth century. Guyon had a belief in God's perfect plan, fiercely believing that she would be blessed in suffering. She was introduced to mysticism by Fr. François La Combe, the superior of the Barnabite house in Thonon in Savoy. After her husband's death, Madame Guyon initially lived quietly as a wealthy widow in Montargis, before re-establishing contact with François La Combe in 1679. After three mystical experiences, Madame Guyon felt drawn to Geneva where she decided to use her money to set up a house for 'new Catholics' in Gex, in Savoy, as part of broader plans to convert Protestants in the region. Because of Guyon's ideas on mysticism, the Bishop of Geneva, who had at first viewed her coming with pleasure, asked her to leave his diocese, and at the same time he expelled Father Lacombe.