Joan, Princess of Portugal

Blessed Joan of Portugal (6 February 1452 – 12 May 1490; Portuguese: Santa Joana Princesa, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɐ̃tɐ ʒuˈɐnɐ pɾĩˈsezɐ]), was a Portuguese saint, Regent and princess of the House of Aviz, daughter of King Afonso V of Portugal and his first wife Isabella of Coimbra.

Infanta Joan of Portugal was the second child of Afonso, but after the early death of her older brother John she was declared heiress to the throne in spite of being female. She was given the title of "Princess of Portugal," a title was reserved for the heir apparent. Other children of the king were styled, "Infante (Prince)" or "Infanta (Princess)". Even though she lost it after the birth of her younger brother, the future John II of Portugal, among the people she continued to be known as Princess Joan.

From a young age, Joan expressed a desire to become a nun; however, as she was second-in-line to the throne, her father did not allow it. During his military expedition to Tangier in 1471, Joan served as Regent of the Portuguese Kingdom. After vehemently refusing several proposals of marriage, Joan joined the Dominican Convent of Jesus in Aveiro in 1475. Her brother had, by then, been given an heir, so the family line was no longer in danger of extinction. Still, she was compelled several times to leave the convent and return to the court. She turned down an offer of marriage from Charles VII of France, 18 years her junior. In 1485, she received another offer, from the recently-widowed Richard III of England, who was only 8 months younger. This was to be part of a double marital alliance, with his niece Elizabeth of York marrying her cousin, the future Manuel I. However, his death in battle, of which Joan allegedly had a prophetic dream, halted these plans. Joan never formally professed as a nun. She continued to be a great supporter of her brother, John II of Portugal, throughout his reign and her life.

Joan died on 12 May 1490 in Aveiro and was buried in the Convent of Jesus in Aveiro. She was beatified in 1693 by Pope Innocent XII. As of this writing she has not been canonized, but she is known in Portugal as the Princess Saint Joan.

Ancestry

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Blessed Joanna of Portugal
• Dominican Martyrology: May 12
• The Portuguese Princess's Dream, Richard III Society - American Branch Web Site. Richard III Society. Retrieved 2010-02-26.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.