[1] At the court of Henry III and the Valois, the young Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville stood out for her beauty, kindness and piety, which would become very important to her as she grew older.

[1] After the marriage, Antoinette left Paris to settle in Machecoul, a fief of the Duchy of Retz, an estate belonging at the time to the parents of Charles de Gondi, and where her two sons Henri and Léonor were born.

Soon, Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville decided to found a monastery in Machecoul where the body was buried again, so "prayers would be held more specifically for the repose of her husband's soul, which would be laid there.

"[2] Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville spent another three years in Machecoul to defend the interests of her sons, Henri (now the direct heir to the Duchy of Retz ) and Léonor (who died soon thereafter in 1600), and left their education to governesses, tutors and their grandparents.

She learned of the existence of a new monastery, "a refuge for noble widows and orphans of war, run by the reformed Cistercian monks" and joined the Feuillantines convent near Toulouse as Sister Antoinette of Saint Scholastica.