This paper examines the contradictory reception of one figure, Marie des Vallées (1590-1656), a Norman mystic also known as "the saint of Coutances". Though Saint Jean Eudes recognized her as a true mystic, she, nevertheless, aroused general suspicion, becoming the subject of trials and lampoons during her lifetime as weil as posthumously. Ber case throws light upon the broader reception of mysticalfigures during the second half of the 1'J1h century and shows how fundamentally equivocal they are. After a study of the polemic surrounding Marie des Vallées, this article focuses on how Father Eudes attempted to legitimate Marie as a particular type of saintly mystic. It also draws attention the ways in which her opponents used her to put mysticism at large on trial.