What Was the Life of Saint Nicole?
Saint Nicole, also known as Saint Colette, was born to a carpenter and eventually founded 18 monasteries under her reform. Saint Colette was born Nicolette, and as a child was called Nicole. She went by Colette after her parent’s death in 1399.
Saint Colette was born on January 13, 1380 in Picardy, France. After her parents died, she gave her inheritance to the poor and lived at Corby Abby as a “solitary.” This means she lived as a nun, but alone within the monastery in a solitary cell. A cell was built for her adjacent to the church and she was completely enclosed in 1402, complete with a ceremonial bricking up of the door to her room.
Colette became well known for her spiritual wisdom and her holiness. While enclosed in her cell, she began to have visions from God. She refused the visions and lost the power of sight and hearing. She gave her heart and will to God, and was released from her cell by Blanche of Geneva. Colette had an audience with Pope Benedict XIII who gave her orders to reform the Franciscan Order. She was very humble in her work, often praying on her knees with the friars of the various orders.
Colette died on March 6, 1447, and was canonized in 1807. Saint Colette’s feast day in the Catholic church is March 6.
