French author of works of piety, education, literature and a cookbook Les secrets de la cuisine d’amateur (1890) which enjoyed some success. A friend and correspondent of Charles de Montalembert and the Dominican Father Henri Lacordaire, she hosted a literary salon in her castle at Salans. She was the secretary of the patronage committee of the Dominican Order of Bethany, founded in 1866 by the Dominican Father Jean-Joseph Lataste.
Born into a noble family in Franche-Comté, she was the daughter of Baron Charles de Saint-Juan (1785-1862), General Councilor of Doubs, and Zoé Gravier de la Gelière, from a noble family of Burgundy whose father was mayor of Beaune. She was the younger sister of the poet Alexandre de Saint-Juan (1820-1863), and through her mother she was the first cousin of Marguerite de Blic.
From childhood she was familiar with the arts and literature, her father was a member of the Academy of Sciences, Belles-Lettres and Arts of Besançon and Franche-Comté and co-founder of the newspaper Le Francs-Comtois, and he welcomed artists and men of letters (including Charles Nodier and Charles Weiss) to his private mansion in Besançon and castle in Salans.
Holding an elite place in Franche-Comté society through her literary work, Marie de Saint-Juan was the author of several highly esteemed works, and the friend and regular correspondent of Charles de Montalembert and of the Dominican father Henri Lacordaire, of Charles Weiss and of Auguste Castan with whom she maintained a friendly correspondence for years until her death. She created a literary and musical salon in her castle of Salans, where she received many personalities of the day, earning her the nickname “Madame de Sévigné of Franche-Comté.”
She was a member of the Third Order of the lay Dominican Fraternities like her cousin Marguerite de Blic with whom she was very close. Marie de Saint-Juan actively participated in the creation of the Order of Dominicans of Bethany, serving as the secretary of the patronage committee, founded in 1866 by the Dominican priest Jean-Joseph Lataste, whose vocation was to welcome women on their release from prison and enable them to become nuns, without distinction between themselves and the other sisters.
Marie de Saint-Juan died on 2 April 1890 at the Château de Salans at age 68.
Link to Wikipedia biography (French)