'''Douceline of Digne''' ({{circa}} 1215/1216 – 1274) was the founder of the [[Beguines and Beghards|Beguines]] of [[Marseille]] and the subject of a vita that survives today, ''The Life of Douceline de Digne''.<ref name=Jeay>{{cite book|last=Jeay|first=Kathleen Garay; Madeleine|title=The life of Saint Douceline, a Beguine of Provence : translated from the Occitan with introduction, notes, and interpretive essay|year=2001|publisher=D. S. Brewer|location=Woodbridge [u.a.]|isbn=0859916294|edition=Transferred to digital printing.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Field |first=Sean L. |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Courting_Sanctity/FsCIDwAAQBAJ?hl=en |title=Courting Sanctity: Holy Women and the Capetians |date=2019-05-15 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-3620-9 |pages=56-73 |language=en}}</ref>
==Life== Douceline was born shortly after the death of [[Mary of Oignies]], in 1215 or 1216, to a wealthy family, likely in the town of [[Digne]] in [[Provence]], in the [[south of France]]. Her father, a wealthy merchant called Bérenguier (or Bérenger), was from Digne and her mother, Hugue, was from [[Barjols]] where the family lived when Douceline was a child. When her mother died around 1230, Douceline moved to [[Hyères]] with her father, probably to be closer to her brother [[Hugh of Digne|Hugh]] who was a member of the town's [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] monastery. Hugh was to become a well-known Franciscan [[theologian]] and [[preacher]] and was to have a significant role in assisting Douceline. A second brother died young leaving two daughters, Douceline and Marie, who later followed their aunt’s ways of life.<ref name=Jeay />
After a very pious childhood and teenage years which were devoted to the care of the poor and sick in her father's house, she experienced a "conversion" at the age of 20 and, several years afterwards, took vows before her brother Hugh and established her first [[beguine]] community near the [[Roubaud]] River on the edge of the town of Hyères ({{circa|1241}}). She subsequently founded a second house in the town of Hyères itself, closer to the Franciscans, whose church she and her ladies attended. Then, around 1250, she established another community on the outskirts of [[Marseille]]. Douceline lived in the Marseille house and continued as leader of the communities in both towns until her death in 1274.<ref name=Jeay />
She was the focus of an intense [[cult]] in Provence after her death.
==''The Life of Douceline de Digne''== ''La vida de la benaurada sancta Doucelina'' has survived in a single, unique [[manuscript]], which is now housed in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris]], fonds français 13503.<ref name="Jeay" /> [[Joseph Hyacinthe Albanès]] translated the work into French in 1879; an English translation was made in 2001.
''The Life of Douceline de Digne'' introduces a 13th-century woman [[Mysticism|mystic]] of great significance in the study of female [[spirituality]] in the [[Middle Ages]]. The'' Life'' was probably written by [[Philippa de Porcellet]], a member of Douceline's community in Marseille.<ref name="Jeay" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * [[Joseph Hyacinthe Albanés|Abbé J.-H. Albanès]], ''La Vie de sainte Douceline, fondatrice des Béguines de Marseille, composée au treizième siècle en langue provençale. Publiée pour la première fois, avec la traduction en français et une introduction critique et historique'', (Marseille, Camoin, 1879)
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1210s births]] [[Category:1274 deaths]] [[Category:Beguines and Beghards]] [[Category:13th-century French women]]