This year, on December 29, is the 450th anniversary of the birth of Ven. John of St. Samson. He was christened the following day in Sens. He had a very difficult childhood. He was blinded by an incompetent physician after contracting chicken pox and was orphaned at a young age. He was introduced to the Parisian Carmelites in Place Maubert in 1603 and joined the Order at Dol-de-Bretagne three years later. When he was transferred to Rennes in 1612, he became the spiritual soul of the Touraine reform. His deep mystical life made him a seasoned teacher of the spiritual life. His teachings, dictated to novices and disciples, have come down to us in over 4000 manuscript folios.
A lover of solitude made fruitful by his encounters with God, he was beatified by Pius IX in 1866. A reliquary containing his skull is kept at the Carmelite Church of Notre Dame de Lumières.