Princess Maria Christina of Saxony (1735–1782)


Princess Maria Christina of Saxony was a Princess of Saxony and later Abbess of Remiremont.

Life

She was the daughter of Augustus III of Poland, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Maria Josepha of Austria, first cousin of Empress Maria Theresa.
Maria Christina was born at the Wilanów Palace in Poland. She came from a close family and her parents made sure they put emphasis on a good education. She was educated in Latin, French, Polish, philosophy, geography, religion, drawing, music and dance.
Her older sister Maria Josepha married Louis, Dauphin of France in 1747.

Abbess

In 1764, Maria Christina was sent to France to become a Coadjutorice at the Abbey of Remiremont in Remiremont, northern France. Her position was thanks to the personal intervention of Louis XV himself.
At the time of her arrival, the abbey was under control of Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, sister of the Holy Roman Emperor and aunt of the future Marie Antoinette.
In France, she was known as Marie Christine de Saxe. In 1773, at the death of Anne Charlotte, Maria Christina was named Abbess, a position she would keep until her death.
Remiremont had seats and votes in the Reichstag including all rights and obligations of an Imperial Princess, and enjoyed immunity against temporal power.
She was a frequent visitor to Paris and was fond of the Theatre and the city's social life. She spent a great deal of money, the payment of which was made by Stanisław Leszczyński and after that the king Louis XV. Her correspondence with her brother Francis Xavier, Regent of Saxony was preserved at Trojes.
She was created a Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross.
Maria Christina bought the Château de Brumath in the town of Brumath in the Alsace region of France. Purchased in 1775, she chose the building for its location in the country and for its natural setting. She lived a lavish lifestyle at the château which far outdid her revenues.
Dying at the château on 19 November 1782, her nephew King Louis XVI was obliged to pay her debts in the amount of 136,876 livres for his dead aunt.
She was buried at the abbey in its église des Dames on the 15 December 1782. She was praised for her intelligence, her conversation and for being a cultivated woman for her age. The château de Brumath was abandoned and was pillaged in the French Revolution.

Ancestry