B-III/1. To Mother de Chantal, Superioress at Paris: St. Francis exhorts her to the practice of self-renouncement: it consists in a perfect indifference to all things and an entire acquiescence in the will of God.
Paris, 8th August 1619.[1]
My dearest Mother—I am sure that I shall have to spend to-day again in solitude and silence, and perhaps to-morrow: if not, I will prepare my own soul with yours, as I told you before.
I entirely wish you to continue the exercise of renouncing self, submitting yourself to Our Lord and to me. But, my dear mother, I want you to mingle with this some acts of your own, in the form of ejaculatory prayers, approving of this renouncement; as for example: I will it indeed, Lord; take away, freely take away all that clings to my heart. No, O Lord, let me except nothing, tear me from myself. O self, I quit thee for ever, until my Lord command me to take thee again. This ought to be gently but firmly declared.
Further, you must please, my dear mother, take no foster-father; yea, as you see, you must quit the one whom you will still have, and must stay as a poor little wretched creature before the throne of the divine mercy, and remain quite denuded of all things, without demanding any act or affection whatever for creatures: on the contrary, making yourself indifferent as to the acts and affections it may please God to ordain, not dwelling upon the thought that it is I who will act as your foster-father. Otherwise, taking a father at your own liking, you would not go out of self, but would be ever finding your own interest, which is the very thing we must above all avoid.
Admirable are the renunciations of our self-esteem, and of what we were according to the world (which was, in truth, nothing, save in comparison with the poor); of our own will, of complacency in creatures and in natural affection; in a word, of all self, which we must bury in an eternal abandonment, to see and to know it no longer as we have seen and known it, but only when God so ordains for us, and as he ordains for us.
Write and tell me how much you approve this lesson. May God deign to possess me for ever, Amen: for I am his here, and I am his there, where I am in you, as you know, very perfectly; for you are indivisible from me except in the exercise and practice of the renunciation of all ourself fB-III/2. From Mother de Chantal to the Saint: Answer to the Preceding.
9th August 1619.
Ah! my only father, what good does this dear letter do me! Blessed be he who inspired you with it, and blessed be the heart of my father for ever and ever!
Truly I have an extreme desire, and, as I think, am in a firm resolution, to live in my self-renunciation, by the grace of my God: and I trust he will aid me. I feel my spirit quite free, and in a certain profound and infinite consolation to see itself thus in the hands of God. It is true that all the rest of my being remains ever in much distress: but if I do well what you told me, my sole father, as certainly I will do with God’s help, all will constantly get better.
I must say this to you: if I were to let my heart go, it would seek to clothe itself again with the affections and desires which it fancies our Lord will give it; but this I by no means permit, so that these projects only appear in the distance; for, methinks, I must ponder, love, and will nothing except according to the orders of the foster-father who will be given me; and I am careful not to notice who this may be.
May my God fortify you by his sweet goodness, and make us perfectly accomplish what he desires from you, my dearest father; may Jesus make you a great saint, and I believe he will. Blessed be his goodness for your cure and good rest. Good-bye, my true father; to-night I will give you news of me.
B-III/3. To Mother de Chantal: Same Subject.
9th August 1619.
O my Jesus! what a blessing and consolation to my soul to know that my mother is quite stripped of self before God! For a long time I have had an incomparable sweetness when I chant these responses: Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave me her, and the Lord hath taken her away, blessed be the name of the Lord.[2]
What a happiness is that of St. Joseph and the glorious Virgin, on the journey into Egypt, when, most of the way, they see nothing except the sweet Jesus. It is the end of the Transfiguration, my dear mother, to see no longer Moses, nor Elias, but Jesus only. It is the glory of the sacred Sulamitess to be alone with her God only, so as to say to him: My beloved to me, and I to him.[3] We must then remain for ever all despoiled, in affection, although in effect we clothe ourselves; for we must have our affection united so absolutely and so simply to God that nothing may cling to us. Oh how blessed was that Joseph of old who had neither buttoned nor clasped his mantle, so that when they would hold him thereby, he let it go in an instant!
I admire with sweetness the Saviour of our souls, coming naked from the womb of his mother, dying all naked on the Cross, and then put back into his mother’s bosom to be buried. I admire his glorious Mother, who was born without her maternity, and was stripped of that maternity at the foot of the Cross, and who might well say: naked was I of my greatest good when my son came into my womb, and naked am I when I receive him dead into my bosom. The Lord gave him to me, the Lord took him away: blessed be the name of the Lord. I say then to you, my dear mother: Blessed be the Lord who has despoiled you! Oh how content is my heart to know that you are in so desirable a state! And I say to you as it was said to Isaias:[4] Walk and prophecy naked these three days: persevere in keeping to this self-renunciation before our Lord; there is no longer need to make acts, unless they come naturally to your mind, but only softly to sing, as you can, the canticle of your renouncement: Naked came I from the womb of my mother, and the rest.
Make no further acts of effort, but, founded on yesterday’s resolution, go, my dear daughter, hearken and incline your ear; forget your people—your other affections—and your father’s house, for the king hath desired your free-heartedness and simplicity.[5] Remain at rest there, in a spirit of very simple confidence, without even looking where your garments are; I mean not looking with any attention or solicitude.
Good-bye, my dear mother. Glory to Jesus, deprived of father and of mother on the cross! Glory to Jesus, despoiled of all things! Glory to Mary, despoiled of her Son at the foot of the cross. Remain in the tranquil acceptance of your poverty of spirit; make no violent efforts; peacefully refresh the body. Vive Jesus! Amen.
B-III/4. From Mother de Chantal to the Saint:Answer to the preceding.
9th August 1619.
My only Father—M. de Grandis told me to-day that we must still take great care of you; that you must no longer be so sparely dieted; that we must keep and nurse you very carefully, on account of the inflammation which threatens. I am very glad of these orders, and that you will keep your solitude, as it will be used for the further profit of your dear soul: I could not say our soul, because I seem no longer to have a part of it, so stripped and so despoiled do I see myself of all that was most precious to me.
Ah! my true father, how deep the knife has cut! Shall I be able long to remain in these sentiments? At least our good God will please to keep me in my resolutions, as I desire. Ah! what force have your words given to my soul! How they touched and consoled me when you said: “O my Jesus! What a blessing and a consolation to my soul to know that you are quite stripped of self before God!” May Jesus deign to continue to you, my father, this consolation, and to me this happiness.
I am full of good hope and of a very peaceful and tranquil courage. Thanks to God I am not urged to regard that which I am stripped of; I remain in a certain simplicity; I see it as a thing far away; it keeps coming up indeed and touching me, but I turn away immediately.
Blessed be he that has despoiled me! May his goodness confirm and strengthen me unto the effecting, when he wills me to come to it. When our Lord gave me that sweet thought of abandoning myself to him, which I manifested to you on Tuesday—ah! I never thought that he would begin to despoil me by means of myself, thus making me begin the work. May he be blessed for all, and deign to strengthen me!
I did not tell you that I had little interior light and consolation: I am only at peace about all. It even seems to me that our Lord, during these days past, has somewhat withdrawn from me that little sweetness which the sense of his dear presence gives; the same, more or less, to-day. There remains little to support or rest my spirit; perhaps it is that this good Lord would pass his hand throughout my whole heart, to take all and strip me of all. His most holy will be done!
My only father, to-day it came to my memory that one day you commanded me to despoil myself. I answered: I do not know what of; and you repeated: Did I not clearly tell you, my daughter, that I would despoil you of all? Oh how easy it is to quit what is outside of ourselves! But to quit our skin, our flesh, our bone, and to pierce into the interior, and to the very marrow—which, meseems, is what we have done—this is a great, a difficult thing, and impossible to aught but the grace of God. To him then is the glory due, and to him be it given for ever.
My true father, am I not clothing myself in the consolation I take in conversing with you when I take it without your leave? It seems to me that in future I should do nothing, and that I should no longer have thought, affection, or will, save in so far as everything is commanded me.
I conclude then by wishing you a thousand good-nights, and by telling you what has come into my mind. I think I see the two portions of our united soul make one, abandoned and given over to God alone. Amen, my dearest father. And may Jesus live and reign for ever! Amen. Do not risk anything by rising too soon; I fear this holy feast may make you run into some excess. God guide you in everything.
B-III/5. To Mother de Chantal: Same subject.
9th August 1619.
Most affectionately I give you good-night, my dear mother, beseeching God that as he has reduced you to the sweet holy purity and simplicity of children, he would henceforth take you in his arms like St. Martial,[6] to carry you as he chooses to the perfection of his love.
And take courage; for if he has stripped you of consolations and the sense of his presence, it is in order that even his presence may no longer occupy your heart, but himself and his good pleasure, as with her who wishing to embrace him and stay at his feet was sent elsewhere. Touch me not, he said to her, but go, tell Simon and my brethren.[7] Well—we will talk of it together. Blessed are the naked of heart, for Our Lord will clothe them. May his goodness deign not to leave me with so little sanctity, in a profession and at an age when I ought to have so much. My mother, live joyously before God and bless him with me for ever and ever. Amen.
B-III/6. To the Same: Same subject.
10th August 1619.
All goes well, my dearest mother: in good truth you must remain in this holy detachment till God reclothes you. Stay there, said Our Lord to his Apostles, till you are endued with power from on high.[8] Your solitude must not be interrupted until after Mass tomorrow.
My dear mother, your imagination is quite mistaken in representing to you that you have not put away and abandoned the care of yourself and affection for spiritual things: for have you not quitted and forgotten all? Declare to-night that you renounce all virtues, only wanting them in the measure God will give them; and only trying to acquire them in so far as his goodness will employ you in them for his own good pleasure.
Our Lord loves you, my mother, he wishes to have you all his own: henceforth have no other arms to carry you than his, no other bosom to rest on than his and his Providence: cast not your eyes elsewhere, nor stay your spirit save on him alone: hold your will so simply united to his that nothing may intervene.
Think no more about the friendship, the unity, which God has made in us, think not of your children, nor your heart, nor your soul, nor indeed of anything whatsoever: for you have given up all to God. Clothe yourself with Our Lord crucified, love him in his sufferings, make ejaculatory prayers on this: what you have to do, you must no longer do because it is your inclination, but purely because it is the will of God.
I am very well, thank God. This morning I have begun my review, which I shall finish to-morrow.
I feel insensibly at the bottom of my heart a new hopeful determination to serve God better, in holiness and justice all the days of my life; and yes, I also find myself stripped of self, thanks to him who died naked in order to make us undertake to live naked. O my mother, how happy were Adam and Eve, while yet in their state of pure innocence! Live totally in happy peace, my dear mother, and be clothed with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
B-III/7. To a Superioress of the Visitation: How to act when criticised: how to secure the love and the respect of subjects.
2nd October 1619.
My very dear Daughter—Take good care not to fall into any discouragement when you are murmured at or criticised a little. No, my dear daughter; for I assure you that the business of finding fault is very easy, and that of doing better very difficult. There needs but very little ability to find fault, and something to talk about, in those who govern or in their government; and when some one reproves us, or points out to us the imperfections in our conduct, we ought to listen quietly to it all, then lay it before God, and take counsel about it with our assistant sisters; and after that do what is considered best, with a holy confidence that God will bring all to his glory.
Do not be quick to promise; but ask time to make up your mind in matters of any consequence. This is fitting in order to secure the good success of our affairs, and to nourish humility. St. Bernard writing to one of my predecessors, Arducius, Bishop of Geneva: “Do all things,” he says, “with counsel, but the counsel of a few persons, who are peaceable, wise and good.” Do this so sweetly that your inferiors may not take occasion to lose the respect which is due to your office, nor to think that you have need of them for governing; modestly let them know, without saying it, that you are acting so to follow the rule of modesty and humility, and what is prescribed by the constitutions. For you see, my dear daughter, it behoves as far as possible to act so that the respect of our inferiors for us may not diminish love, nor love diminish respect.
Do not trouble yourself at being a little governed by that good soul outside; but go on peacefully, either acting according to her advice in things where there lies no danger in contenting her, or acting otherwise when the greater glory of God requires it; and then you must, as cleverly as you can, gain her approval.
If there be some sister who does not show sufficient respect for you, let her know it through one of the others whom you may judge the most suitable for this, not as if from you but as if from this person herself. And in order that your gentleness may in no way resemble timidity or be regarded as such, if you were to see a sister who made a profession of not showing this respect, you would have yourself sweetly to show her, by herself, that she ought to honour your office and work with the rest to preserve in dignity the charge which binds together the whole congregation in one body and one spirit.
Well now, my dear daughter, keep yourself entirely in God, and be humbly courageous in his service, and often recommend to him my soul, which, with all its affection, cherishes yours most perfectly, and wishes it a thousand thousand benedictions. When I say to you: do not show this letter, I mean, do not show it indiscriminately; for if it be a satisfaction to you to show it to some one, I am very willing. Your very affectionate father and servant, &c.
B-III/8. To a Sister of the Visitation: Abnegation of self-will is the best austerity.
1st January 1620.
I have seen the suggestions which the enemy of your progress makes to your heart, my dear daughter, and I see likewise the grace which the most holy Spirit of God gives you to keep you strong and firm in the pursuit of the way in which he has placed you. My dear daughter, this evil one does not mind our wounding the body provided that he can make us always do our own will: he does not fear austerity but obedience. What greater austerity can there be than to keep one’s will in subjection and continual obedience? Remain in peace; you are a lover of these voluntary penances, if, indeed, the works of self-love can be called penances.
When you took the habit, after many prayers and much consideration, it was decided that you should enter into the school of obedience and of abnegation of your own will, rather than remain given up to your own judgment and to yourself. Do not then let yourself be shaken, but remain where Our Lord has put you. It is true that you have there great mortifications of the heart, seeing yourself so imperfect and so worthy of being often corrected and reproved: but is not this what you ought to be seeking, this mortification of the heart and continual knowledge of your own abjection?
But, say you, you cannot do such penance as you would. Oh tell me, my dearest daughter, what better penance can a heart do which commits faults than to submit to a continual cross and abnegation of self-will? But I say too much; God himself will uphold you with the same hand with which he placed you in this vocation; and the enemy shall have no victory over you, who, as the first daughter of that country, ought to be well proved by temptation and excellently crowned by perseverance. I am all yours, my dear daughter, &c.
B-III/9. To a Superioress of the Visitation: On a difference as to ecclesiastical precedence. Monasteries to be content with moderate dowries. On self-love in austerities.
11th January 1620.
My dear Daughter—I confess that I cannot at all understand these considerations of ceremony, because I have never thought of them. Quite four times, at least, I have preached at Paris for the reception of nuns, and a simple priest has performed the service: once I made the reception and a Jesuit Father preached, and under both arrangements I did not cease to be what I am. Whoever preaches, the good M. N. takes the place and performs the function of the Bishop; wherefore if he perform the office I do not see that another person may not preach, whatever he may be. Neither my Lord the Bishop of Nantes, nor my Lord the Archbishop of Bourges, makes any difficulty about it at Paris, nor have I ever made any here at St. Clare’s or St. Catherine’s.
But all the same I also admit that it truly shows a little human nature in good M. N. to think that it affects his reputation whether he performs or does not perform the office, even though he has not the talent of preaching; and for my own part I think quite the contrary: but at last what can be done? —for to turn his mind away is to upset it altogether. It will then be well that if our good M. N. can persuade his relatives to be satisfied, he should give the exhortation, and I cannot imagine what reason they can have to be dissatisfied since it is so good and so honourable a thing; and at the same time there will be more distinction about the affair in this way than in any other. But if this cannot be done, you must ask some Religious Father; for what can one do with all these fancies? Time is short, and there seems no chance of inducing my Lord to act otherwise. I assure you, my daughter, that when a young person of quality entered the Carmelites, I gave the exhortation, and M. du Val, doctor of theology, performed the office; whereas he would have preached better than I and I better have performed the ceremony than he. Alas! what trifles are we tied to!
Well then, such is my advice. But if even this cannot be, then the office will have to be before dinner and the exhortation after dinner. Meantime, my dear daughter, this is true, that he who has his heart and his intention in God feels little, at least in the superior part, of the agitations of creatures; and he who has it in heaven, as St. Gregory said to two bishops, is not blown about by the storms of earth.
Not only do I consent, but I approve, yea with all my heart exhort, that when rich parents give reasonably, according to their condition and means, they should not be teased to give more. As, for example, with the daughter who is making her trial, I would a hundred times rather have a thousand crowns quietly, than twelve hundred with bitterness and long vexatious struggling. God’s spirit is generous, sweet, and humble: one would perhaps gain two hundred crowns by disputing, but one would lose four hundred in reputation; and we take away from the rich the desire of letting their daughters come when we exact so avariciously all that we can. That is my opinion; that is what I have done here.
She is right, undoubtedly, this good daughter, in thinking that her fasting humour is a true temptation: it was, it is, and it will be, so long as she continues to practise these abstinences. It is true that by them she weakens her body and its sensuality; but by a poor exchange she strengthens her self-love and her self-will; she starves her body, and she overcharges her heart with the poisonous growth of self-esteem and self-pleasing. Abstinence which is practised against obedience takes away the sin from the body to put it in the heart. Let her give her attention to cutting off her own will, and she will soon quit these phantoms of sanctity in which she reposes so superstitiously. She has consecrated her corporal strength to God; it is not for her to break it down unless God so order it; and she will never learn what God orders save by obedience to the creatures whom the Creator has given her for her guidance. This is what is required, my dear daughter; you must help her against this temptation by the advice of some true servant of God; for more than one person is required to uproot this self-satisfaction in exterior sanctity, dearly esteemed by the prudence of self-love. Do this then, ask M. N. to instruct and fortify her against this temptation; and if he thinks well let it even be in your presence.
Is it in real earnest, my dear daughter, that you say: we are quite poor, thank God? Oh! if it be so, how gladly would I say: happy then are you, thank God! But I scarce dare to speak of a virtue which I only know by the infallible description of the king of the poor, Our Lord: for as to myself I have never seen poverty close.
Keep to what I told you as to Communion, and let your intention be to unite your heart with that of him whose body and heart you receive both together. Afterwards do not occupy yourself in thinking what are the thoughts of your mind about this, since of all these thoughts there is not one which is your thought, save that which you have deliberately and voluntarily accepted, which is to receive Communion for the union and as the union of your heart with that of the Beloved. Your very affectionate servant, &c.
B-III/10. To a Superioress of the Visitation (perhaps the same): She is not to dwell on her miseries, and is to commit to God the care of her reputation. Singularity and self-will in spiritual exercises a dangerous delusion. Virtue depends not on feeling but on the consent of the will. On change of confessors.
14th January 1620.
I wrote to you the day before yesterday, my dear daughter, and replied to your two previous letters. O my daughter, the truly well-beloved of my heart, act just in this way. Do not permit your spirit to consider its miseries, let God work; he will make something good out of it. Have but little reflection upon what your nature may mingle with your actions. These sallies of self-love must be treated by neglect; having disavowed them twice or thrice a day you have finished with them. They must not be rejected with violence, it is enough to say a little no.
You are right; a daughter who belongs to God ought not to think of her reputation; it would be unbecoming. As for me, says David,[9] I am very young and despised; but I forgot not thy justifications. Let God do with our life, and our reputation, and our honour, as he chooses, for it is all his. If our abjection serve for his glory ought we not to glory in being abject? I will glory in my infirmities, said the Apostle,[10] that the power of Christ may dwell in me. What power of Jesus Christ?—humility, consent to abjection.
I am writing to this poor dear daughter. I never saw a temptation more manifest or more patent than this: it is almost without cover or pretext. To break vows in order to fast! To pretend to be good in solitude and not good in the congregation! To want to live for self by way of living for God! To desire to have the entire control of one’s own will in order better to follow
the will of God—what chimeras! That a melancholy, strange, disagreeable, hard, sour, bitter, self-willed inclination, or rather fancy and imagination, can be an inspiration—what a contradiction! To give up praising God and to be silent through ill-humour in the offices which holy Church appoints, because one cannot give praise in a corner according to one’s wish—what an extravagance! But still, I hope that God will draw glory from all this, since this poor dear daughter submits herself in everything that is commanded her and has a reverence for your presence. Often give commands to her, and impose upon her mortifications opposed to her inclinations: she will obey, and although it will seem to be by force it will still be profitably, and according to the grace of God.
Indeed, my dear daughter, you must truly make no difference between your soul and mine in the confidence which you must have in me; and take good courage to form the acts of union and of acquiescence in God’s will by the superior portion and point of your spirit, without distressing yourself at all for not having feelings of devotion during your times of weakness, since consent to good and to evil can be given without feelings, and feelings can be without consent.
One ought not to be fickle in wanting to change a confessor without strong reason; but one ought not either to be altogether unchanging, because legitimate causes of changing may arise; and Bishops ought not to tie their hands so closely that they cannot make a change when necessary, above all when the sisters with common consent request it: the same of the spiritual father. I have no leisure. Vive Jesus, in all and everywhere, and above all in the midst of our hearts! Amen.
B-III/11. To a Sister of the Visitation: Cautions against a spirit of self-seeking and self-will.
[Apparently the one spoken of in preceding letter.]
14th January 1620.
My dear Daughter—The thought of leaving your congregation has all the truest marks of temptation that could be found; but God be praised that in this assault the keep is not yet surrendered nor (as I think) ready to surrender. Oh! my daughter, beware, beware, of wanting to leave. There is no middle term between your leaving and your ruin; for do you not see that you will never leave save to live to yourself, of yourself, by yourself, and in yourself? And this so much the more dangerously for its being under pretext of union with God, who however neither desires nor ever will desire to have any union with those morose, self-seeking and singular solitaries, who leave their vocation, their vows, their congregations, through bitterness of heart, through vexation of spirit, and through a disgust with common life, with obedience, with rules and holy observance.
Do you not see Simeon Stylites so prompt to leave his pillar on the advice of the elders?—while you, my dear daughter, will not leave your abstinences on the advice of so many good people, who have no interest in wanting to make you leave them except to render you free and detached from love of self. Well then, my dear daughter, sing henceforth the canticle of love: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for sisters to dwell together in unity![11] Treat your temptation roughly; say to it: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God: Get thee behind me, Satan: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.[12]
I leave you to think for yourself, my dear daughter. To make genuflexions to the Blessed Sacrament, as if out of ill-humour, after the temptation— what greater mark of temptation can one have? The effect of inspirations is humble, sweet, tranquil and holy. How then can your inclination be an inspiration, when it is so ill-tempered, hard, sullen and disturbed? Withdraw yourself from it, my dear daughter; treat this temptation as one treats those of blasphemy, infidelity, heresy, despair: do not parley with it, do not come to terms with it, do not listen to it; contradict it, as far as ever you can, by frequent renewals of your vows, by frequent submissions to your superior. Often call upon your good Angel; and I hope, my dear sister, that you will find the peace and sweetness of the love of your neighbour. Amen. I am writing to you without leisure; but do what I tell you. Sing in the choir ever more constantly in proportion as the temptation says, keep silence, after the example of that holy blind man. The peace of the Holy Spirit be with you.
B-III/12. To a Sister of the Visitation: Consolations in sickness: consideration for the sick a mark of the Visitation Order; confidence in God.
7th February 1620.
This paper goes to find your eyes, in order through them to salute your heart, most dear to mine, my very dear daughter. Oh that poor heart! I see it very ill, in the letter which you wrote me on the 12th December, which I received very late. But I speak wrongly, without meaning it, my dear daughter; it is not your heart which is sick, it is your body; and on account of the tie which there is between them it seems to the heart that it suffers the evil of the body. My dear daughter, do not think yourself to be burdened when you suffer what you have to suffer; you must do it for the most holy will of God, who has given this weight and this measure to your bodily state: but love knows all and does all; it seems to make me a physician.
I am a great favourer of the sick, and am always afraid lest the inconveniences which they cause should excite a spirit of prudence in the houses, and a tendency to desire to dismiss them without getting leave from the spirit of charity, under which our congregation has been founded, and for which there has been expressly made the distinction of sisters which is seen therein. I favour then the cause of your sick person, and provided that she is humble, and acknowledges herself indebted to charity, you must receive her, poor daughter. It will be a continual holy exercise for the charity of the sisters.
O my dear daughter, remain at peace; do not occupy yourself with your imperfections, but keep your eyes uplifted towards the infinite goodness of him who to keep us in his humility lets us live in our infirmities. Have every confidence in his goodness, and he will have a care of your soul and of all that concerns it, beyond what you could think.
I will help M. N. in all that I can; but I must confess that in the matter of business and affairs, particularly worldly ones, I am a poor priest more than ever I was, having learnt at court to be more simple and less worldly.
Remain in peace, my dear daughter, and live wholly in God. I salute very cordially our dear sisters, and am entirely yours, my dear daughter. Our mother has plenty of work cut out in France, in the multitude of houses which are asked for. Vive Jesus, and may his name be blessed for ever and ever! Amen. You are my very dear daughter, and God wills that I should have the consolation of saying so.
B-III/13. To a Superioress of the Visitation: Counsels to be interpreted with discretion; multiplicity of exercises chiefly intended for beginners.
22nd February 1620.
Well, my dear daughter, I tell you that if I have said in some conference, twelve hours in the house for one in the parlour, I said what would be desirable if it were practicable. One often says such things, which must be understood with allowance, that is, when the things can be done reasonably, according to places, times, and the affairs one has to transact. So remain at peace, and apply this principle wisely, prudently, not drawing a hard and fast line, nor rigorously nor word by word.
The Directory of the novitiate proposes a multitude of exercises, ’tis true; and further it is good and suitable in the commencement to keep spirits regulated and occupied: but when in progress of time souls are a little practised on this multiplicity of interior acts, and are shaped, broken in and made active, then the exercises unite in one exercise of greater simplicity, either the love of complacency, or the love of benevolence, or the love of confidence, or of uniting and reuniting the soul with God, insomuch that this multiplicity converts itself into unity.
And besides, if there be some souls, even in the novitiate, who are fearful of subjecting their spirit too closely to the appointed exercises, provided that this fear does not proceed from caprice, self-sufficiency, disdainfulness or melancholy, it is for the prudent mistress to conduct them by another way, although this one is ordinarily useful, as experience shows. Live wholly in God, in peace, in sweetness, courageously and holily, my dear daughter. I am in him entirely yours.
B-III/14. To Mother Anne-Marie Rosset, Superioress at Bourges: On the reception of a certain sister, and on the Constitutions.
27th March 1620.
My very dear Daughter—This note which I can only get out by force from amidst an overload of affairs is only to tell you that as this good daughter about whom you write to me was one of the first of this house, and was of such great consideration as you tell me, I think that, to content this good lady and various persons of respectability, she must be received to profession, since, moreover, there is no obstacle of consequence, and I think that this womanish tenderness about herself will gradually pass away. She can be of the number of associated sisters, who are, I think, the objects of the greatest charity that can be exercised, while waiting for her courage to rise, so that she may be able to bring herself round somewhat to choir. In a word, she must exercise a generous and sweet charity towards her spirit, and consider that God wanted her there for that purpose.
I am looking over the rules and constitutions, and the formularies; in which I have found great mistakes both in the printing and the writing. These I am correcting, and will put the blessed vows so expressly that everybody may be satisfied, and so there may be peace. My dear daughter, I will write again to you soon, but I thought I ought not to delay any longer to write this note.
I salute your heart with all the affection of mine, and am entirely yours. I salute our dear sisters. Blessed be God. Amen.
B-III/15. To Mother de Chastel, at Grenoble: On receiving young postulants or aspirants, and the way of treating them: also on the rules for Associated Sisters.
16th May 1620.
My very dear Daughter—The girl of whom you write to me, as she is of such great consequence, can very well be received, provided that she is about twelve years old. It is true that these young people give trouble, but what of that? I find no blessing without burden in this world. We must so adjust our will that it should either not aim at things that please, or if it do aim at them and desire them, that it should also willingly accommodate itself to things that displease, which are inseparably joined with those that please. We have no wine without dregs in this world. So you must choose: is it better that there should be thorns in our garden in order to have roses, or that there should be no roses in order to have no thorns? If this girl bring more good than harm, it will be good to receive her; if she bring more harm than good, you should not receive her.
And speaking of young girls, Sister N. (Jeanne-Marie, daughter of the woman who keeps the gate), who was received so young, is ill with a malady which is painful, and, according to M. Grandis, mortal; for she is consumptive. I went to see her the other day, and I had an unspeakable consolation in seeing so quiet an indifference as to death or life, so sweet a patience, and a smiling countenance under a burning fever and amid many sufferings, she asking as her only consolation to be allowed to make her profession before her death.
Now, if you receive the one whom you speak of, you must certainly not oblige her to the exercises, for this might disgust her at such a tender age, which cannot ordinarily relish that which is of the spirit. As to the habit, you must not give it to her before the age, but you will do well to provide her a very simple dress, and a little kerchief to wear on her head, so that she may in some way resemble a religious, and it will be good to have it black or dark, without ornament, as I saw at Saint Paul’s at Milan, where there were about a hundred and fifty sisters, and twenty or twenty-five novices, and quite as many postulants (prétendantes), who were there at school and waiting: these last were all clothed alike in blue, and wore a uniform dress. I say the same of the little girl, Lambert; and it will be a slight preparation for the habit; this latter can be given to girls of good disposition a few months before the time, but not the position of novice, as was done with Sister Jeanne-Marie; nor should this ever be done except for urgent causes. A little habit, dark or white, or of whatever colour you choose, with something of the shape of the religious dress, which would show that they are aspiring and waiting till the age, should satisfy them.
That subjects should go to Lyons or elsewhere does not matter at all; and do not trouble yourself about it. When you have got into our monastery, its advantages will have their attractions like the others, and maidens will come there as doves come to fresh white dove-cots. Meanwhile, my dear daughter, he who seeks only the glory of God finds it in poverty as in abundance. Those good daughters do not love a poverty that pinches, neither are we ourselves violently in love with it. Those then that want to go to Lyons, quietly and peaceably let them go; God takes better care of you than that all this should matter. You will excuse me, my dear daughter.
I hope that God will help us that the great Office may never be introduced into this congregation; and the Pope himself has given some instruction about it. It is good, moreover, that there should be Associated sisters, for the sake of those who could not say the Office, either from having weak or short sight, or from some weakness of chest or other infirmity. It is for this reason that the exercises which should be given them instead of the choir Office have not been marked; for these must be selected according to their infirmity. If their sight is bad they can say the Rosary. If they suffer from the chest and not from the eyes they can say their Hours, and the superior can put them to some duty not incompatible with their infirmity. I have lately been reading the 1st Constitution, where it is clearly enough stated that Associated sisters, like the domestic sisters, shall say Paters and Aves instead of the Office: this is at pages 118, 119. So there is no obligation to say the Hours, but it will be enough for them to do what is said in this article of the constitutions, the superior for the rest employing them according to what she sees they can do.
It will be good that our mother from Lyons [Favre] should call at Grenoble to see you; you will both receive consolation from it. And do not distress yourself about the little touch of joy which your heart feels at this; for it is nothing, and only serves to make us humble ourselves quietly, to discover the misery of our nature, and to make us wholly desire to live according to grace, according to the Gospel, according to the spirit of our Lord. Always speak freely to me, for I protest before God and his Saints that I am yours, my very dear and truly beloved daughter. I salute our sisters tenderly, and also those good ladies.
B-III/16. To a Superioress of the Visitation (probably the same): Directions as to the treatment of one of her daughters and as to points of the rule: advice and encouragement for herself, particularly as to simple confidence in God.
June 1620.[13]
We have been engaged here since the day before yesterday in choosing the sisters to be sent into France, my very dear daughter. And our mother writes to me that you will give her one and the house of Lyons another, which with the eight we shall supply will make the number she wants. But I do not yet know how we shall manage to go to fetch yours. Well, we will think about it, and meanwhile amid this confusion, I answer you, my dear daughter, in as little space as I can.
I see in this sister (Anne Marie) a certain something that is very good and that pleases me. There is somewhat of the extraordinary, which ought to be considered without excitement, in order that we may not be misled either on the side of nature, which often deludes itself by the imagination, or on the side of the enemy, who often diverts us from the exercises of solid virtue to occupy us in these actions of outside show. You must not be surprised that she is not so exact in doing what she does, for this often happens to persons who are attached to the interior, and cannot all at once give due attention to everything. The thing is, not to let her make much of these sights, these feelings or pains, but, making little reflection on all this, let her do in simplicity the things in which she is employed. You can take her away from the kitchen when she has served there yet some little time. Oh how excellent and to be loved is this kitchen, because it is humble and abject!
Choir sisters may be put into the class of Associates and Associates into that of choir sisters when reason requires, as is said concerning the domestic sisters in the 1st chapter of the Constitutions.
If I go to Rome I will try to serve Madame de Sautereau in her desire.
To know when it is required for contracts that the spiritual Father should be present, and when not, depends on the nature of the contracts; for there are some in which it is required and others where it is not, as the Bishop has need of the presence of his Chapter in some contracts, in others not. It is for instructed people to settle this as occasion arises; one cannot lay down a general rule. There is sometimes inconvenience, but one could scarcely remove it without falling into a greater. Whether M. Dutine calls himself spiritual Father or not in contracts neither makes nor mars, for this name can be understood in various ways.
The work On the Will of God can be read, except the last Book, which, being scarcely intelligible, might be improperly understood by the imagination of readers, who, desiring these unions, would easily imagine that they had them, without as much as knowing what they are. I have known religious women, not of the Visitation, who having read the books of the Mother [St.] Teresa, found on their own reckoning that they had as many perfections and spiritual acts as she had, though they were far indeed from it, so greatly does self-love deceive us.
This expression: Our Lord suffers in me such and such things, is altogether extraordinary; and although our Lord has sometimes said that he suffered in the person of his own, to honour them, yet we ought not to speak so advantageously of ourselves. For our Lord only suffers in the person of his faithful friends and servants, and to boast and proclaim ourselves to be such has a little presumption in it; self-love is often very glad to make its account thereby.
When the doctor has to enter the monastery, to see some sick person, it is enough that he have permission in writing at the beginning, and it will last till the end of the illness; the carpenter or mason to the end of the work for which he enters.
Your way is good, my dear daughter, and there is nothing to object to, save that you go considering your steps too much, for fear of falling. You make too much reflection on the movements of your self-love, which are doubtless frequent, but which will never be dangerous so long as, tranquilly, not letting yourself be annoyed by their importunity nor alarmed by their multitude, you say no. Walk simply, do not desire repose of spirit too earnestly, and you will have the more of it. Why do you put yourself in trouble? God is good; he sees very well what you are; your inclinations cannot hurt you, bad as they may be, since they are only left to you to exercise your superior will in making a more profitable union with that of God. Keep your eyes uplifted, my dear daughter, by a perfect confidence in the goodness of God. Do not be anxiously solicitous for him, for he told Martha that he did not wish it, or at least that he was better pleased that there should be no solicitude, not even in doing good.
Do not examine your soul so much about its advancement. Do not want to be so perfect, but in simple earnest live your life in your exercises, and in the actions which come to be done in their time. Be not solicitous for tomorrow.[14] As to your way, God who has guided you up to the present, will guide you to the end. Remain in entire peace, in the holy and loving confidence which you ought to have in the sweetness of heavenly Providence.
Ever pray devoutly to our Lord for me, who cease not to wish you the sweetness of his holy love, and in his love that of the blessed dilection of your neighbour, whom this sovereign Majesty loves so much. I picture you to myself high up in the beautiful air,[15] where you regard as from a holy hermitage the world which is below, and see displayed the heaven to which you are called. I assure you, my dear daughter, that I am greatly yours, and my faith tells me that you do well to live entirely in the bosom of divine Providence, outside of which all is but vain and useless affliction. May God be for ever in the midst of your heart. Amen.
B-III/17. To Mother de Bréchard, Superioress of the Visitation at Moulins: How she is to act in the difficulties which arose over the foundation at Nevers: the most painful unkindness is the unkindness of good people and friends: we must will God only.
26th July 1620.
I did not suspect that this difficulty would ever arise over the foundation of Nevers, my very dear daughter—what reason is there for it? A young person is at Moulins; therefore she and her means must stay there. But those who make the difficulty are so worthy of great respect, and have so much claim on your house and on all the Congregation, and have so much holy zeal and piety, that although it is not in strictness very serious, we must, I think, let it be valid to some extent, according to the advice of the Rev. Father Rector, who, as Mlle. du Tertre writes to me, thinks that half will suffice to begin the foundation, and the other half to satisfy properly the house at Moulins.
There remains the difficulty of your person and that of this dear daughter; for I see also the strong desire which M. le Marechal and his lady have that you, and she as well, should stay at Moulins. And I must own that this affair is regarded in such a spirit that I am fearful of speaking my mind; yet I do it, and I say that it would be well for you, who have been acting and who are known, to take Sister P. Jerome to Nevers, and establish her there as well as you can in a stay of a month or two: and when I say that you should go I mean to speak also of Mlle. du Tertre, my daughter, whom I know to be inseparable from you.
Now, I am supposing that these gentlemen will put confidence in your plighted promise to return infallibly and bring back Mlle. du Tertre with you; but if they will not, you must send Sister P. Jerome with two or three whom she may choose, and do the best that can be done, provided that the division is made in writing: for Sister P. Jerome has courage and capacity enough, by God’s grace, for succeeding in this enterprise.
I assure you, my dear daughter, that this difficulty has not troubled me except for the pain which I know you have had from it, concerning which I needs must ask you just to read the chapter on patience in Philothea, where you will see that the sting of honeybees is more painful than that of other insects. The attacks of friends on our liberty are inexpressibly grievous; but, after all, we must tolerate them, then bear them, and finally love them as dear contradictions.
Undoubtedly, we must will only God, absolutely, invariably, inviolably; but the means of serving him we must only will quietly and lightly, so that if we are hindered in the employment of them we may not be greatly disturbed. We must will little, and with little will, all that is not God. So then, take courage; if the Father Rector and I are trusted, as I said above, all will only go the better for this. Do you remember the foundation of this monastery here? It was made, like the world, out of nothing at all, and now 16,000 ducats[16] have been spent in buildings, and not one single sister furnished a thousand except my Sister Favre.
Nevers will be a blessed house, and its foundation firm and solid, since it has been troubled. But if by good hap these gentlemen of Moulins will not consent to the terms which the Father Rector and I think right, what should be done? I cannot really imagine it, but in case it were so, you would have to take good care of Sister P. Jerome and her company, and let our Mother know, who perhaps has some other foundation on her hands where she could be employed. Otherwise she must be sent back to us when the weather is a little more favourable.
And in all events it behoves to remain at peace in the will of God, for which ours is made. I salute with all my heart this dear Sister P. Jerome, and Sister Françoise-Jacqueline, and all our dear sisters. At last, blessed are they who do not their own will on earth, for God will do it in Heaven above. I am totally yours, my dearest daughter, and wish you a thousand benedictions. Salute, I beg you, the Reverend Father Rector.
B-III/18.To Mother de Chantal: Human prudence not to be followed in accepting subjects. His tender love for souls: he would have them strong.
Probably about 1620.[17]
My very dear Mother—In this matter of the reception of sisters which you write to me about, there is an extreme danger lest one should throw oneself too much on human prudence, lest one should rest too much on nature, and too little on God’s grace. I have a difficulty in preventing people from considering weakness of constitution and corporal infirmities. One would have neither the one-eyed, nor the lame, nor the sickly enter into the marriage feast. In short, it is very hard to fight against the human spirit, for abjection and pure charity. I add then this word, my dear mother, to tell you that according to your order I have written to our Sister de N. lovingly; and I assure you, my dear mother, I do so with all my heart, for I love this poor daughter with a perfect heart. But it is a strange thing! There are no souls in the world, as I think, who love more cordially, tenderly, and (to speak in all sincerity) more lovingly than I; and I even somewhat abound in affectionateness, and words thereof, particularly at the beginning. You know that it is according to the truth and the variety of this true love which I have for souls; for it has pleased God to make my heart so: but still I like souls that are independent, vigorous, and not feminine; for such great tenderness disturbs the heart, disquiets it, distracts it from loving prayer to God, hinders entire resignation and the perfect death of self-love. That which is not God is for us nothing. How can it be that I feel this, I who am the most affectionate person in the world, as you know, my dear mother? Yet in truth I do feel it; but it is a marvel how I reconcile it all together; for it is my idea that I love nothing at all but God, and all souls for God. Ah! Lord God, do yet this grace to my whole soul that it may be in you solely. My dear mother, this discourse is unending. Live joyously, wholly full of God and of his love. Good-night, my dearest mother. I feel this unity which God has made, with an extraordinary power.
B-III/19. To a Religious of the Visitation: Perfection to be gained by the continual practice of divine love: the gift of prayer will be given to the soul that is empty of self: an alms vowed but not bestowed may be transferred to an object equally good.
1620.
Oh how many benedictions will God pour out on your heart, and how many consolations on mine, if you go on increasing in the perfect practice of divine love, my dear daughter! The Holy Spirit sometimes follows the method of inspiring by degrees what he wants done as a whole, and his calls are wont to be very solid. That good man in the Gospel[18] who had two sons said to the one: My child, go work in my vineyard; and he said: I will not; but afterwards, on reflection and returning to himself, he went, and worked hard. Then the father said to the other: My child, go and work in my vineyard; and he answered: I go, and yet he went not at all. Now, said Our Lord, which of the two did the father’s will? Undoubtedly the first, my dear daughter.
You have too good a heart not to do perfectly what has to be done, for the love of him who will only be loved entirely; walk then truly so, my dear daughter; your spirit upraised in God and regarding nothing but the face and eyes of the heavenly Spouse, to do all things according to his pleasure; and doubt not that he will pour out upon you his most holy grace, to give you strength equal to the spirit which he has breathed into you.
The sacred gift of prayer is all ready in the right hand of the Saviour. As soon as ever you shall have emptied yourself of self, that is, of the love of your body and of your own will, that is, when you are very humble, he will pour it into your heart. Have patience to walk with short steps till you have legs to run with, or rank wings to fly. Be content yet a while to be a little nympha, soon you will become a full-formed bee.
Humble yourself lovingly before God and men, for God speaks to ears bowed down. Hearken, says he to his spouse,[19] and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and thy father’s house. So the well-beloved Son prostrates himself on his face when he speaks to his eternal Father, and awaits the answer of his oracle. God will fill your vessel with his balm when he sees it empty of the perfumes of this world, and when you are humble he will exalt you. But, my dear daughter, do not say like the younger son of that man, I will go and work, save with a firm desire of going.
Well now, it is the truth that I have written, once only, to N. to say, that an alms vowed but not bestowed was to some extent capable of being transferred to another work of equal piety; but that being vowed, given over, completed, it could no more be withdrawn; because an alms actually given is no longer his who gave it, but belongs of full right and most certainly to him who has received it, and particularly when he has received it without condition, or under a condition which on his side he is ready to execute.
But as to complaining of you, certainly I have never done it, nor in any way compromised my opinion, which is that of all theologians. But, moreover, it is the best in the world for applying to the case, if you will but follow it, in spite of what the world may say. Moreover, it is the same thing whether you give here or there, since the God of the monastery of N. is God of the monastery of N., as both houses are equally the most holy Virgin’s, and your own, my dear daughter, whom I conjure to persevere in loving me constantly in Our Lord, as I am for ever and without reserve invariably yours, not ceasing to beseech the most holy Virgin, most beloved Lady of heaven and earth, to love you and to make you the entirely beloved one of her Son, by the continual inspirations which she will obtain for you from his divine Majesty. Your most humble father and servant, &c.
B-III/20. To Mother de Chastel, at Grenoble: On the difference which had arisen between the Countess de Dalet and her mother:[20] vows of chastity: duties of daughters to parents: how religious superiors should act as between mother and daughter.
25th April 1621.
After all, my very dear daughter, it is true, as I have often said to you, that discretion is a virtue without which no virtue is virtue, not even devotion, if true devotion can be without true discretion.
This good lady, of whose fine and rare qualities you were the first to make me an admirer, sadly complains of her daughter for that having found a swarm of bees with their honey she occupies herself too much with them and eats too much honey, contrary to the advice of the Wise Man, who said: Thou hast found honey; eat what is sufficient for thee.[21] She will have told you all her reasons better than I could lay them before you, except this perhaps, that your religious house has great obligations to her, as you yourself have written to me. Take care, my dear daughter, to contribute all you can to the satisfaction of this mother as regards this her daughter, who is indeed obliged to give up, I do not say a few, but many of her consolations, however spiritual they may be, in order to leave many to her mother.
I confess that I do not understand how a mother of so much sense, perfection, and piety, and a daughter of such great virtue and devotion, do not remain entirely united in that great God, who is the God of union and conjunction: but still I know that this does happen, and that even Angels, without ceasing to be Angels, have contrary wills on the same subject, without, however, any division or dissension, because they perfectly love the will of God, which as soon as it appears is embraced and adored by all. Ah! is there no way to make these two ladies love it, this holy will? For I am sure they would both yield themselves to its obedience.
This good lady, the mother, speaks to me of a vow of chastity made by her daughter, and says that it is rashly taken. This I do not touch; for many things must be considered before it can be decided that a vow of chastity can or should be dispensed from, or is capable of dispensation, since there is nothing to be esteemed like the chaste soul. But this mother speaks of another thing, which is that she would rather have her daughter altogether a religious, since in that case they will no longer ask her to be security, and the administration of the children’s fortunes will be confided to her. But here again I do not know what to say, as I do not know what is the vocation of Heaven, and I see this good lady’s children so young: this is the thing which gives me more concern than the rest.
All that the lady complains of is that her daughter keeps her purse to herself, amidst the many troubles and trials in which she sees her mother to be, and does not give her any assistance. Now this, my dear daughter, is quite against my sentiments. St. Francis could not approve the ants’ hoarding, but it seems to me that a daughter who has means should never spare them for her mother, and I speak of what is wanted for her peace of mind and just satisfaction.
I write to you with my head full of business, and amid much confusion. And further, I am writing to you by guess-work; for I am sure that to speak rightly on this occasion I should have to hear the parties at full length. But so long as this cannot be, the mother’s side must be taken; there is always a just presumption in her favour.
At the same time, she only asks you to use your influence to moderate the zeal which this good daughter has for her retreats; and this is a thing which cannot and should not be refused, as moderation is always good in all exercises, except in that of loving God, whom one ought not to love by measure. Use then your efforts for this moderation, to which it will be easy to bring this good daughter, since her good mother permits her to go and enjoy her devotion in peace at all the great feasts of the year, and also for three days every six weeks, which is a good deal.
I have said enough: I am sure, my dear daughter, that after having invoked the Holy Spirit he will give you light to properly effect or advise this moderation. I am in Our Lord entirely yours. I beseech him ever to reign in your soul, in your dear congregation, and to inspire all of you to pray often for me. Amen.
B-III/21. To Mother de Chantal: She is not to appeal to law in order to retain the dowry of a sister who is going to leave the convent. Vanity of earthly things and of human prudence.
1621.
This is what I am writing to my very dear daughter, according to my real sentiments. The truth is, one talks continually of being a child of the gospel, and scarcely any one holds its maxims in such entire esteem as is due. We have too many aims and designs; we would have the merits of Calvary and the consolations of Thabor both together, have the favours of God and the favours of the world. Go to law! no indeed, I will not: To him that would take away thy cloak give thy coat also.[22] What is she thinking of? Four lives like hers would not suffice to terminate her affair by way of law. Let her die of hunger and thirst after justice; for blessed will she be. Is it possible that her sisters are unwilling to give her anything? But if it be so, is it possible that the children of God insist on having all that belongs to them, when their Father Jesus Christ willed to have nothing of this world belonging to him?
Ah! how greatly I desire her good—but above all, the sweetness of the peace of the Holy Spirit, and the assurance which she ought to have as to my sentiments towards her: for I can say that I know they are according to God, and not only that, but they are from God. What is the good of so much concern for so transitory a life, and of making a gilded frame for a paper picture? I tell her paternally my sentiments; for I certainly love her beyond belief: but I say it before Our Lord, who knows that I lie not.
O my mother, I fear natural prudence extremely in the discernment of the things of grace; and if the prudence of the serpent be not diluted with the simplicity of the dove of the Holy Spirit, it is altogether poisonous.
What more shall I say to you? Nothing else, my dear mother, save that I cherish your heart incomparably, and as mine own, if mine and thine can be said between us, where God has established a most unchangeable and indissoluble unity, for which may he be blessed for ever. Amen.
B-III/22. From Mother de Chastel, Superioress at Grenoble, to the Saint: She asks to be allowed to resign her charge.
About May 1621.
My Lord—The infirmity under which I suffer oppresses me to such an extent that it sometimes brings me down to a tedium and disgust of my life. God having given me a great natural aversion for Offices, sufficiently teaches me by this chastisement that he has not destined me for them. I do not think I can any longer in conscience hold a place which I do not merit. It is doing an injustice to my sisters, who are the spouses of Jesus Christ, to leave them any longer a superior incapable of serving them on account of her infirmities, incapable of instructing them, and unworthy to govern them for want of virtue. This reproach continually gnaws my heart; and when the worm attacks this first and chief part, all the rest of my body gives way to sadness, and remains without strength or courage.
B-III/23. To Mother de Chastel: Answer to the Preceding.
I well believe, my very dear daughter, that you think we ought to relieve you of the charge and quality of Mother, but we do not think so at all. Oh! my dear daughter, do you think Our Lady was less the Mother of Our Lord when she appeared all beside herself with sorrow, and when loaded with distress, and quite overwhelmed with affliction, she breathed out that word, Yes, my Son, because so it hath pleased thee—than when with exalted voice and heart thrilling with joy she sang the heavenly song of her Magnificat? Do not fear to disedify the sisters; God will take care of that. Your heart is simple, frank, and sincere, your way is good, and I find nothing in it to object to except that you consider your steps too scrupulously through fear of falling. About what do you trouble yourself so much? God is so good! Do not be so solicitous for him; he reproved Martha for it; do not want to be so perfect.[23] St. Paul warns you not to be wiser than it behoveth to be wise.[24] Examine not so much your soul on its progress; it is useful for you not to know your graces and the riches which you have acquired before God; comfort your poor heart, which I paternally cherish before God, and it is God who wills that I should have the consolation of saying so. Remain at peace then, my dear daughter; be a mother, and a good mother, as long as God shall so ordain.
B-III/24. To Mother de Chantal: On the gifts of understanding and of counsel, which had fallen respectively to the two saints at the annual drawing of lots.
Whitsuntide 1621.[25]
Oh that I might, my dearest mother, receive and employ well the gift of holy Understanding, to penetrate more deeply into the holy mysteries of our faith! For this penetration marvellously subjects the will to the service of him whom Understanding so admirably acknowledges to be all good, within whom it is all absorbed and occupied; in so far that as it no longer thinks anything can be good compared with this goodness, so it cannot will to love any good in comparison: like as an eye which should be planted deep within the sun could behold no other brightness.
But because while we are in the world we can only love in well-doing, because our love here must be active, as I shall say to-morrow in the sermon, God helping, we have need of Counsel in order to discern what we ought to practise and do for this love which urges us; for there is nothing which so much urges us to the practice of good as heavenly love. And in order that we may know how we should do good, what good ought to be preferred, to what we should apply the activity of love, the Holy Spirit gives us his gift of Counsel.
So then, here is our soul well dowered with a good portion of the sacred gifts of heaven. May the Holy Spirit who favours us be for ever your consolation. My soul and my spirit adore him eternally. I beseech him ever to be our wisdom and our understanding, our counsel and our fortitude, our knowledge and our piety, and to fill us with the spirit of the fear of the eternal Father. It was not without you that we celebrated this feast of Pentecost, for I well remember the holy devotion which you have for this solemnity.
B-III/25. To a Superioress of the Visitation (probably M. de Bréchard): We are not to trust to human providence but to divine, and we should be as willing for God to be served by others as by ourselves.
24th July 1621.
O my dear daughter, how sad to consider the effects of human prudence in these souls about whom you write to me, the mine and thine reigning so much the more powerfully in spiritual things because they seem to be a spiritual mine and thine; whereas they were not simply unspiritual but carnal. Oh how far is all this removed from that pure charity, which has not jealousy nor envy, and which seeketh not her own.[26] My daughter, this prudence is opposed to that sweet repose which the children of God should have in heavenly Providence.
One would think that the erection of religious houses and the vocation of souls were effected by the contrivances of natural wisdom; and I am willing to believe that for the construction of the walls and wood-work nature will suffice: but the vocation, the union of called souls, their multiplication, is either supernatural or is good for nothing. Things which God does by a peculiar grace we make too much an affair of state, and put too much worldly policy into. It is always the poor rejected ones who have had blessing and increase, as Anna, Lia, and the rest.
But, my dear daughter, we must remain in peace, in sweetness, in humility, in charity unfeigned, without complaining, without moving the lips. Oh! if we can have a spirit of entire dependence on the paternal care of our God in our congregation, we shall with sweetness see the flowers multiply in other gardens, and shall bless God for it as if it were in ours. What matters it to a truly loving soul whether the heavenly Spouse be served by this means or by another? He who seeks only the contentment of the Beloved is content with all that contents him.
Believe me, the good which is true good fears not to be lessened by the increase of other true good. Let us serve God well, and not say: What shall we eat, what shall we drink,[27] whence will sisters come to us? It is for the master of the house to have this solicitude, and for the lady of the apartments to furnish them; and our houses belong to God and to his holy Mother. Give, as far as you can, the spirit of a true and most humble generosity to our dear sisters, whom I salute with all my soul. You are ever more and more my dearest daughter, entirely well-beloved, and I am your most affectionate servant, &c.
B-III/26. To an Out-Sister of the Visitation: Nothing is little in God’s service; but her office has a peculiar importance.
2nd August 1621.
My very dear Daughter—I am extremely glad to know that you have stayed in the more particular service of Our Lord, in the house of his most holy Mother, in a condition that I consider one of great profit. I have chosen to be abject, says the prophet,[28] in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of the great, who are often not so good. You have been happy in having hitherto served God in the person of a mistress of whom God is master, and with whom you have had all kinds of opportunities of spiritual profit; but you are still more happy to go and serve this same Lord in the person of those who, to serve him better, have quitted all things.
It is a great honour, my dear daughter, to be charged with the protection of a house wholly composed of spouses of Our Lord; for whoever guards the doors, “turns,” and parlours of monasteries, guards the peace, tranquillity, and devotion of the house, and moreover can greatly edify those who have need to go to the monastery. There is nothing small in the service of God; but it seems to me that this charge of the turn is of very great importance and exceedingly useful to those who exercise it with humility and spiritual-mindedness.
I thank you for the communication which you have made to me of your contentment, and pray you to salute Mesdames de Moignon, and, when you see her, Madame de Villeneuve. Your humble brother and servant, &c.
B-III/27.To a Superioress of the Visitation (Mother Claude Agnes Joly de la Roche):God gives strength to effect all that he orders.
4th August 1621.
I know you sufficiently, my very dear sister, my daughter, to cherish you with all my heart in the love of Our Lord, who, having disposed you for the charge in which you are, has consequently obliged himself to give you his most holy hand in all the actions of your office, provided that you correspond on your part by a holy and most humble, but most courageous, confidence in his goodness. God calls to his service the things that are not as the things that are,[29] and uses nothingness for the glory of his name equally as abundance.
Remain in your abjection as in the robes of your superiorship, and be valiantly humble and humbly valiant in him who struck the master-stroke of his power in the humility of his cross.
A maiden or matron who is called to the government of a monastery is called to a great work and one of high importance, above all when it is to found or establish; but God extends his all-powerful arm in the measure of the work he gives us to do. Keep your eyes fixed on this great Saviour, and he will deliver you from pusillanimity of spirit and a storm.[30]
The sisters who are with you are blessed to be serving there, by their good example and humble observance, as foundation to this spiritual edifice. I am for ever your most humble and affectionate servant in Our Lord, &c.
B-III/28. To Mother de Chantal: Thoughts of the greatness of God: directions as to her stay in Paris and the reciting of the Office: for many things there is no need to obtain express leave from Rome; the Saint’s wishes as to the grille and the plan of his monasteries.
24th August 1621.
O my dear mother, God knows how joyful I was this morning to find my God so great that I could not even imagine his greatness! But since I am able neither to magnify it nor to increase it, I greatly desire, by God’s help, to proclaim everywhere his grandeur and his immensity. Meantime let us sweetly hide our littleness in this greatness; and as a little chicken, covered over with the wings of its mother, lies so warm and safe, let us lay our hearts to rest under the sweet and love-full Providence of Our Lord, and warmly shelter ourselves under his holy protection. I have had many other good thoughts, but rather by manner of outflowing of heart into Eternity and the Eternal One than by manner of reasoning.
God be praised that you are in your house. The difficulties that you have had over getting in, will confirm your staying there, according to the method which it pleases God to employ in his service.
I judge that it is expedient you should come back, with a sincere resignation to return to where you now are when the service of God shall require it; for it behoves thus to live a life exposed to trouble, since we are children of the trouble and death of Our Saviour. But you must not hurry yourself; because, as you say, the winter will not hinder your journey, as it is necessary that you should stay a little amongst your daughters who are in France. Alas! how do I affectionately deplore this absolute separation which takes this poor girl away from us, to remain at the mercy of the world. I can, however, do no more.
As to the Office, I am told that objection was made because for the chief feasts there were appointed the Psalms of Our Lady, with the chapter, verses, and prayer of the day. How subtle these objections are! The Fathers of the Oratory do far more; and in Italy many bishops have entirely composed the Offices of the Saints of their Churches. But it cannot be helped; we must let people talk as they choose; and to make all as smooth as we can, we must therefore simply say the Office of the Blessed Virgin, and at the end add a commemoration of the day; for against this there is nothing to be said.
We have obtained from Rome the continuation of the Little Office for a further ten years, after the expiry of the seven which we had already. My agent says that it is wrong to apply to Rome for things in which it can be avoided, and some Cardinals have said the same: for, say they, there are things which have no need of authorisation, because they are lawful, which when authorisation is asked for are examined in a different way. And the Pope is very glad that custom should authorise many things which he does not wish to authorise himself on account of consequences. But of this we will talk on your return.
I have had made here a beautiful plan for a monastery, which I will send you on the first chance; he who drew it is a very good artist, and has made it from the descriptions of monasteries which St. Charles got made, though accommodating himself to the Visitation. I think we must make as soon as we can, according to the convenience of places, all the monasteries so; and the lattice work always very close, and the wooden bars distant from the grilles; for it is a great satisfaction to talk in the parlours without anxiety. A rail must also be put behind the grille of the choir in the same way as in the parlour.
I am expecting M. Crichant, whom I will embrace with all my heart. May God bless you, my dear mother, and sanctify you ever more and more! I am for ever, my dear mother, yours, as you know.
B-III/29.To the Same: On charity to candidates who suffer under some corporal infirmity: superiors to be able to change their officers as they think best.
20th September 1621.
What do we will, my dear Mother, except what God wills? Let us allow him to guide our soul, which is his bark; he will make it arrive at safe port. I am very glad, my dear Mother, that you love the lame, the deformed, the one-eyed, and even the blind, provided that they wish to be of upright intention; for they will not fail to be fair and perfect in heaven; and if one persevere in doing charity to those who have their corporal imperfections, God will cause to come, contrarily to human prudence, a number of those who are beautiful and agreeable even in the eyes of the world.
Here are the Constitutions. No doubt if these unauthorised examiners and censors, who make so many questions about everything, can give themselves a little patience, they will see that all is of God.
Our sisters here are still doing well; we have good and amiable novices, whom I confessed with the others as “extraordinary” in August, and I find them to my liking.
It seemed good to put in the Constitutions that the superior can change the officers as she pleases during the year. Put this, I pray you, in the most proper place. May God fill you ever more and more with his most holy love! Amen.
B-III/30. To a Religious Sister of the Visitation (probably M. de Chastel): Mothers should aim at the eternal good of their children. The chief qualification for the religious life is not strength of mind, but innocence and humility.
13th December 1621.
I have extreme compassion for this good lady. Her disposition is only too good; or at least her good disposition is not sufficiently overcome by the supernatural in her. Alas! these poor temporal mothers do not sufficiently regard their children as works of God, but regard them too much as children of their womb; they do not sufficiently consider them as children of eternal Providence, and souls destined for eternity, but consider them too much as children of temporal bringing forth, and proper for the service of the temporal commonwealth. Well, if possible, I will write to her now, if I have ever so little leisure.
Since you are now settled in your new house, I have confidence in God that you say: Ah! my soul, fly to the mountain like a sparrow.[31] But you look too closely at your thoughts. What does it matter if your heart receives attacks of your ancient fears about temporal means? Laugh at these fears, and remain firm in the word of our Master:[32] seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things, necessary for this poor life, shall be added unto you. This is our port of safety: and allow no reflections and no buts about this.
What do you call a great spirit, my dear daughter, and a little spirit? There is no great spirit except that of God, who is so good that he willingly dwells in our little spirits; he loves the spirits of little children, and subjects them to his pleasure better than older spirits. If the lawyer’s daughter of whom you write to me is gentle, docile, innocent, and pure, as you tell me, take very good care not to send her away; for in whom dwelleth the Spirit of the Lord if not in the poor and innocent who love and fear his word?[33] We have here associated sisters of the black veil who do very well: but what does it matter if this one be not associated until she be capable of choir duties? It is for such persons that this rank of sisters has been arranged in the Constitutions.
When sisters have a good heart and a good desire, it matters not if they have not that great ardour of resolution; ardour sometimes comes from the natural disposition of the soul, as sometimes indifference does also; and God well knows how to engraft his grace on both one and the other in the orchards of religion.
But for all such occasions, you have Moses and the Prophets:[34] you have your very good spiritual father. Hear him, listen to him, and salute him affectionately from me. Live, my dear daughter, with that divine life, wholly commended into the hands of Our Lord. I am more and more entirely all yours.
B-III/31[35] To a Superioress of the Visitation: Directions how to behave towards a postulant whose parents had insisted on her entering into the convent: also of another postulant whose dispositions were not perfect.
About 1621.[36]
. . . Now as to the vocation of this young person,[37] I consider it good, though mingled with many imperfections as far as her spirit is concerned, and though it would be desirable that she should have come to God simply and purely, and because it is so good a thing to be entirely his. But God does not draw with equal motives all those whom he calls to himself; indeed few are found who come to his service solely and entirely to be his, and to serve him. Amongst the women whose conversion is illustrious in the Gospel, there was only Magdalen who came by love and with love: the adulterous woman came through public confusion, as the Samaritan woman by private shame; the Chananæan came to be relieved in her temporal necessity. St. Paul, the first hermit, at the age of fifteen, retired into his cave to avoid persecution; St. Ignatius of Loyola came through tribulation, and so with a hundred others.
We must not want to have all begin with perfection: it matters little how one begins, provided that one is quite resolved to proceed well or to finish well. Lia certainly entered unfairly into Rachel’s place with Jacob, but she behaved so well, so chastely, and so lovingly, that she had the blessing of being an ancestress of Our Lord. Those who were compelled to go in to the nuptial feast of the Gospel none the less ate and drank well.
The dispositions of those who come to Religion are chiefly to be judged by subsequent perseverance; for there are souls which would not enter if the world looked favourably on them, and which, however, are found well disposed to despise sincerely the vanity of the world. It is quite certain, as the history of the case tells us, that this poor girl of whom we speak had not generosity enough to quit the love of him who sought her in marriage, and only the contradiction of her parents compelled her to it; but it does not matter if she has enough right understanding of things to know that the necessity which is imposed upon her by her parents is worth a hundred thousand times more than the free use of her own will and fancy (read in Platus, On the Religious State, Chap.36, the answer which he has given to those who say they cannot tell whether they are called by God), and if she can truly say: I had lost my liberty had I not lost my liberty.
Now, my dear daughter, the way to help this soul, so as to make her know her good fortune, is to lead her as sweetly as one can to the exercise of prayer and the virtues; to display a great love for her on your own part and on that of all our sisters (taking no notice of the imperfection of the motive with which she entered); not to speak slightingly of the person whom she loved; and if she speak of him you must refer the matter to God, for instance by saying to her: God will lead him in the way which he knows to be best.
You ask me if an interview between the two can be permitted. I say that in my opinion it must not be altogether refused if it is much desired: but in the beginning you must give a sort of indirect refusal, and then when you see that the young person is quite determined to the blessed choice of God’s love, you can permit two or three interviews, provided that they consent to the presence of two or three witnesses. If you are one of these you must dexterously help them to say adieu, praising their past intentions, leading them in a different direction, telling them they are happy to have stayed in the path to which reason has brought them, and that an ounce of the pure divine love which they will bear to one another in future is worth more than a hundred thousand pounds of the love with which they had begun their affection.
There is a good history on this subject in the Confessions of St. Augustine, of two gentlemen who had entered into espousals with two maidens, who all four, in imitation of one another, having given up the idea of marriage, became Religious.
And thus, without making a show of fearing their interviews too much, you must little by little conduct them from the way of love into that of a holy and pure dilection. If this young person has a reasonable spirit, as you have sent me word she has, I am sure that she will soon find herself quite transformed, and that she will admire the sweetness with which Our Lord draws her to his nuptials, with their all heaven-scented flowers and fruits.
As to what the world will say of this vocation, there is no need to make any sort of reflection; for this is in no way the ground of her being received. I answer about this soul according to my sentiments; you will guide her as you will see best.
As to Mlle. N., I likewise say that you should let her come, although the choice of place shows some imperfection of human feeling or motive mingled with her vocation; as on the other side there may be some in the dislike which Sister de N. has to her coming away from there: but take good care not to tell her this disparaging thought of her which comes to my mind, for all the same she is a very good sister, whom I love very much, because, as I am sure, she does not live according to her feelings, aversions, and inclinations, which make her desire the greatness and glory of her monastery, but rather according to the cross of Our Lord, which makes her perpetually disown the movements of self-love. . . .
B-III/32. To Sister M. A. Humbert: Remedies against evil thoughts.
20th January [1622?].
To my very dear Daughter, my Sister Marie-Augustine Humbert—Do not trouble yourself at all about these extraordinary or terrible imaginations and thoughts which come to you; for according to the true knowledge which I have of your heart, I assure you before Our Lord that you can incur no sin by them. And to strengthen yourself in this belief, at the end of your morning exercise renounce by a short and simple disavowal all sorts of thoughts contrary to heavenly love; saying, for instance: I renounce all thoughts which are not for you, O my God; I disown and reject them for ever. Then when they attack you, you will have nothing to do but say occasionally: O Lord, I have renounced them, you know it. Sometimes you may kiss your cross or give some other sign that you confirm your disavowal; and do not vex yourself, do not worry yourself, since all this does not only not separate you from Our Lord, but gives you occasion to unite yourself more and more to his mercy. Go on then gently and sweetly serving God and Our Lady where you are called by their will. And may the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit be ever with you. Amen. My dear daughter, live in God sweetly and simply, with a continual love of your own abjection, and a great courage to serve him who to save you died on the cross.
B-III/33.To a Novice of the Visitation:Congratulations upon her profession.
Annecy, 24th January 1622.
And so, my very dear daughter, you are now at last on the sacred altar in spirit, to be sacrificed and immolated, yea consumed as a holocaust, before the face of the living God. Oh may this day be counted amongst “the days that the Lord hath made!” May this hour be an hour amongst the hours which God has blessed from all eternity, and which he has appointed for honour from all eternity! May this hour be founded in the holy humility of his cross, and end in the most sacred immortality of glory! How many desires will my soul make on this dear day for the soul of my dear daughter! How many holy exclamations of joy and happy omens upon that beloved heart! How many invocations to the most holy Virgin Mother, to the Saints and Angels, that they would honour with their special favour and presence this consecration of the spirit of my dear daughter, whose vocation they have obtained and whose obedience to vocation they have inspired!
I do not disjoin from your spirit, my dear daughter, that of dear Sister N., my well-beloved daughter. I unite it with yours in the same action: for as you know she found herself united with you in affection and love on the day of your Visitation, and it would seem that she then already immolated in resolution her heart with yours. How glad I am when I picture to myself that according to my hope they will announce to you in all truth that word of life-giving death: Ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God:[38] for, my dear daughter, on the truth of this word depends the truth of the event which afterwards they declare: But when Christ shall appear, who is your life, and the rest.[39]
I salute your dear soul and that of Sister N., and am ever in union of spirit according to God most singularly all yours.
B-III/34. To Mother de Beaumont, Superioress at Paris: She is to have an entire trust in God, and to be a loving mother and nurse to her daughters.
25th January 1622.
My very dear Daughter—I wish you with all my heart a great humility within a great courage, that your courage may be altogether in God, who by his goodness holds you up, and in you holds up the sacred charge which obedience has imposed upon you. I hope this, my dear daughter, and that you will be like Anna of old, who before she was a mother often changed her countenance, as being touched with a diversity of thoughts and fears, but having become a mother, says the Sacred Scripture, her countenance was no more changed,[40] because, as I think, she was at rest in God, who had given her to know his love, his protection, and his care for her. For thus, my dear daughter, up to now the anxiety about direction and the apprehension of your future superiorship have agitated you a little, and have often made you vary in thoughts; now that you are mother of so many daughters, you should remain quiet, serene, and always equal, reposing upon divine Providence, which would never have placed all these daughters within your arms and in your bosom without having in some measure destined you an assistance, a help, a grace, most sufficient and abundant, for your upholding and support.
The Lord, said Anna,[41] killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to hell and bringeth back again: the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth. O let us say, my dear daughter, like another Anna: the Lord chargeth and dischargeth. ’Tis true; for when he imposes anything on one of his daughters, he so strengthens her that he bears the burden with her, and she is as it were discharged of it. Do you think that a Father so good as God is would make you nurse of his daughters without giving you an abundance of milk, of butter, and of honey? On this point there can be no doubt; only take notice of two or three words which my heart is going to say to yours.
Nothing makes the milk dry up like sadness, fretting, melancholy, bitterness, sourness. Live in holy joy amidst your children; show them a spiritual breast of kind looks and gracious welcome, that they may joyfully run thereto. It is this that the Canticles signify in the praise of the Beloved’s breast: Thy breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments.[42] Milk, butter, and honey are under thy tongue.[43]
I do not say, my daughter, that you are to be a flatterer, a talker, or always laughing, but gentle, sweet, amiable, affable. In a word, love your daughters with a cordial, maternal love, a nurse’s and a shepherd’s love, and you will have done everything; you will be all to all, mother to each one and the refuge of all. It is the condition which alone suffices, and without it nothing suffices. My daughter, I trust that God who has chosen you for the good of many will give you the spirit, the strength, the courage, and the love for many. To him be honour, glory, and benediction for ever and ever. Amen.
I am unchangingly yours, and I trust that you in no way doubt it. Vive Jesus!
B-III/35.To Mother Favre: On unity of spirit amongst the houses of the Visitation: the soul that truly loves God must have no attachment to any particular work or plan.
2nd February 1622.[44]
I cannot think, my dearest daughter, that my Lord Archbishop will introduce any further laws into your house, since he has seen that those which have been laid down are, thanks to God, well observed. But if it please him to make some notable change, you must beseech him that he would deign to make his ordinances compatible with the holy uniformity which these houses ought to have in their form of living; in which those gentlemen whom you know will help you with their explanations and intercession. For, in truth, it would in my opinion be a thing far from edifying to separate and make different the spirit which God has meant to be one in all the houses. But I hope in Our Lord that he will give you the mouth and the wisdom[45] needed for this occasion, to answer holily, humbly, and sweetly. Live all of you in this sacred confidence, my dear daughter.
I wrote the other day to our sisters of Valence, and the dear, gentle little foundress is happy indeed to have to suffer something for Our Lord, who having founded the Church militant and triumphant on the cross, always favours those who endure the cross: and as this little being is to remain but a short time in this world, it is good that her leisure should be employed in suffering.
I am astonished at these good sisters being so fond of their charges. What a pity, my dear daughter! She who loves the Master alone, serves him cheerfully and almost alike in all charges. Daughters with such dispositions would certainly not have been good for celebrating the mystery of to-day; for if Our Lady had put Our Lord into their arms they would never have been willing to give him back; but St. Simeon clearly shows that according to his name[46] he had perfect obedience, receiving this sweet charge so sweetly and giving it up so joyously.
I also wonder much at that other sister who cannot be satisfied where she is. Those who have strong health do not depend upon the air, but there are some who cannot exist save by changing climate. When shall we seek only God? O how happy shall we be when we have reached that point!—for everywhere shall we have what we seek, and seek what we have. May God make you progress ever more and more in his pure love, my very dear daughter, with all your dear sisters, whom I salute, &c.
B-III/36.To Mother de Chantal: Questions and instructions as to the visiting of the houses and the foundation of Dijon. His opinion on the case of the Abbess of Port Royal. Description of the sisters whom he is going to send.
Early in 1622.[47]
The thought has come to me while writing to M. Berger, that perhaps my Lord Cardinal will make him your spiritual Father at Paris, since he is going to be made a cleric at the Ash Wednesday Ember days, and I think that the House would be well and willingly served by him. I beg you to take occasion when you enter or leave Orleans to see the Mother Prioress of the Carmelites, eldest daughter of Sister Mary of the Incarnation. When I was in Paris, twenty years ago she was not only my spiritual daughter, but my favourite; aged about thirteen, of a good, open, ingenuous disposition, as was also the mother superior,[48] who at that time made her first vow of virginity and her general confession to me. I am mistaken if you do not find at Moulins some sort of temptation on account of the singularity of Sister Marie-Aymée, but still I think it will only be a human temptation and requiring charity. M. Boucher, chancellor and theologian of Orleans, is my old schoolfellow, and has always had a great love for me.
Since the course of your journey from Paris to Dijon, passing through the monasteries, requires that you go to Moulins, and that the sisters drawn from here and from Grenoble meet you there, it is necessary to know exactly the time when we must send them, and what arrangements will be made; that is, where the notice which we shall require will come from; but all the same it seems to me that as it is only forty leagues from here to Dijon it will greatly lengthen the journey to go to Moulins. I do not quite know how far it is from Moulins to Montferrand, but if it be convenient enough I think that it would be a consolation to these daughters that you should go to receive from them their superior [Mother Favre] for Dijon, whom, as I foresee, there will be a difficulty in taking away, as you will see by the letter which she has written to me, and which I send with this. I have already given notice to Sister Marguerite Milletot, besides whom it perhaps would be good to send there also Sister Bernard Margaret, who has improved so much that at last she has been received to profession.
I am of the opinion of M. de Marillac that our sisters when going through the country should carry their crucifix with them.
I have seen the account of the consultation held about our very dear daughter, Madame de Port Royal, upon which there is nothing to say except that I think it marvellously punctilious to determine that on account of length of time and of superiorship, despite an interior protest and increasing distaste, this daughter is so strictly obliged to stay that she cannot do otherwise; for although this may be probable as a matter of conscience, yet it is not acknowledged by all, and besides, the Pope can dispense from it. I also consider the comparison of the perfection of the rule of St. Benedict with that of the Visitation somewhat narrow and unfair; for the comparison should be made between the rule of St. Benedict and the rule of St. Augustine, and although perhaps the rule of St. Benedict might still remain superior in perfection, yet the comparison would remove all contempt for the Visitation, that is, all temptation to contempt. But all this that I tell you about this consultation is by no means to be brought forward, but simply to be considered with humility, and the decision to be left with sincerity to Rome. Hence you must take care to tell this good daughter that she must not with her impulsive spirit defend herself or answer back, but in this at least she must follow the institute of the Visitation, and in any case she will be able from time to time to console her spirit, since she has leave to go to the Visitation; and I also hope that when she accommodates herself sweetly to the good pleasure of God, he will comfort her at last.
If you knew, my dear mother, how much I am occupied and distracted in this town through the departure of M. Rolland, you would not be surprised that I do not write to the dear souls whom my soul and yours love so much. President Amelot’s lady knows well, I am sure, that my heart is all hers before God and his Angels; I rejoice with her for the honour and happiness which her dear daughter Mary will have at this feast of Easter in making her first Communion. If I were there I should take it as a great favour to be her instructor in this action, which in truth is very important; the little book of Father Fulvius Androce on Confession and Communion contains many little points suitable for this, but since, as I think, the Rev. Father Suffren is at Paris, nothing can be wanting.
We will send then, when you tell us and when you so direct, sisters to accompany you to Dijon, according to the number which you may tell us to be necessary. We have thought for this purpose of Sister Marie-Adrienne Fichet, who has a good head and a good heart, as you know; of Sister Françoise-Augustine, from Moyran near Saint-Claude, whom I confess to be a daughter much to my liking, and if I mistake not entirely irreprehensible as to the interior and the exterior; of Sister Margaret Scholastica, of Burgundy, who is gentle, tractable, and sensible, a cousingerman of your assistant; of Sister Margaret-Agnes, who is from near Vienne, of good family, of good observance, and of an agreeable simplicity; of Sister Peronne-Marie Benod, a serving sister (soeur domestique), very gentle and willing, besides Sister Mary-Marguerite Milletot, who is to come from Grenoble, whom you know, and Sister Bernard Marguerite, the one from Dijon whom you sent us, about whose capacity there was indeed a doubt for some months, but who has since given full satisfaction. It must be considered whether you will think it better to have her professed here, or to have her sent to Dijon to be professed on the guarantee which would be given as to her capacity; for we thought that perhaps it would give satisfaction to have this done in the presence of her parents and friends, and so make her the first daughter of that monastery. So it will be for you, my very dear mother, to give us notice whether you want more or fewer sisters, and when they ought to start.
B-III/37.To a Superioress of the Visitation: On allowing benefactresses to stay in houses of the Visitation, and on receiving penitents: progress of the Institute: we must not defend ourselves or judge others.
1622.[49]
I see no objection to receiving Madame de N. or other benefactress of the kind, particularly when they want to leave the monastery no more, or at least want to leave it but seldom; for in this there is nothing contrary to good order.
I do not consider that monasteries of the Visitation must refuse all repentant women. Prudence must be tempered with sweetness, and sweetness with prudence. There is sometimes so much to be gained in penitent souls that nothing must be refused them.
It seems to me that the upright rods should be in the grille of the choir as in that of the parlour.
I think so, my dear mother—that it should be stated that we can with a little leisure provide for Marseilles. Our sisters will have written to you that sisters have been sent to Belley, and I tell you that in a little time some will be wanted for Chambery. Madame the Duchess of Mantua has strong desires for the advancement of our Institute; she is a very worthy princess, and so are her sisters.
Our Sister N. writes to me that some nuns, good servants of God, openly oppose her. I have written her a note to tell her to remain at peace. I will, with God’s help, never let this maxim leave my mind, that we must in no wise live according to human prudence, but according to the faith of the Gospel: Defend not yourselves, my dearly beloved, says St. Paul.[50]
We must overcome evil with good, bitterness by sweetness, and remain in peace.
And never commit the fault of contemning the sanctity of an Order or of a person for a fault committed by them in the error of an immoderate zeal. My dear mother, may God be for ever your one love.
B-III/38.To Mother de Chantal: Directions about her journeys. Total abandonment to the divine will.
Annecy, 22nd October 1622 [21?].
Examine for yourself, my best and dearest Mother, I pray you, the letters sent herewith, and see whether there is a probability that you can without greatly incommoding yourself give this so much desired satisfaction to these dear souls; for if it can well be done, I for my part not only consent to it, but should most earnestly wish it, particularly if it is true that coming from Dijon to Montferrand you would be able to see your dear daughter on your way; and still more if coming from Montferrand to Lyons it were on your way to visit St. Estienne de Forez; and I own that it would be a consolation to me to have news of these new plants, which God methinks has planted with his hand for his greater honour and service.
I must tell you, my dear mother, that this morning, having a little solitude, I have made an incomparable act of resignation, but one which I cannot write, and which I reserve to tell you by word of mouth when God gives me the grace of seeing you. O how blessed are the souls which live by the will of God alone! Ah! if from the mere tasting a very little of it by a passing consideration one have so much spiritual sweetness in the depths of that heart which accepts this holy will, with all the crosses which it presents, what shall it be with souls all steeped in the union of this will? O God, what a blessing to make all our affections humbly and exactly subject to those of purest divine love! Thus have we spoken, thus have we determined; and our heart has for its sovereign law the greater glory of the love of God. Now the glory of this holy love consists in burning and consuming all that is not itself, to reduce and convert everything to and into itself. It exalts itself on our annihilation, and reigns on the throne of our servitude. Oh! my dearest mother, how my will expanded in this sentiment! May it please his divine goodness to continue in me this abundance of high courage for his honour and glory, and for the perfection and excellence of this most incomparable unity of heart which it has pleased him to give us. Amen. Vive Jesus!
I beseech the Virgin Mary that she may keep you under the protection of her tender maternity, and your good Angel and mine that they may be your conductors, to make you arrive prosperously as far as the welcome of the poor father so specially yours, and of your dear daughters, who will all await you with a thousand desires, and particularly myself, who am to you in Our Lord neither more nor less than yourself. May God be ever our all. I am in him more yours than I could say in this world: for there are no words for this love there.
Well then, I think that a good month, or five weeks, will give an account of all these journeys (but I am supposing all the time that there is no peril from soldiers on the roads of those countries): after which I will tell you why, and how, I have at present no chance of writing more, though I am well, thanks to God. On the one hand, this bearer urges me extremely, that he may be able to catch you at Dijon; on the other hand, I am pressed for other good affairs, which I cannot give up. All goes well here, and I am more and more your most humble, &c.
B-III/39. To a Superioress of the Visitation, his Cousin: On the excellence of helping souls to advance in divine charity.
Annecy, 2nd November 1622.
I bless with all my heart the sacred name of Our Lord, for the consolation which his divine Providence gives to your soul in the place where you are, and for the constancy which it establishes in your affection. Doubtless, my dearest cousin, my daughter, he who wills to please only this heavenly lover, is everywhere well, for he has what he wants. Oh how happy you are, and will be ever more and more, if you persevere in walking in this path! And how perfectly agreeable will you make yourself to the Beloved of those souls whom he draws into your bosom to make them his spouses, if you teach them to look only into the eyes of their Saviour, to lose little by little the thoughts which nature of itself would suggest to them, making them think altogether of him.
O my dear cousin! what blessings for your soul that God has destined you to cultivate and manage his sacred seed-plot. You are the mother, the nurse, and the waiting-woman of these daughters and spouses of the King. What a dignity! For that dignity what a reward, if you carry this out with the love and the breasts of a mother! Keep your courage strong and firm in this undertaking, and believe very unchangeably that I cherish and love you without condition or reserve as my dearest cousin and well-beloved daughter.
I saw, only a month ago, our Sister N., but I saw very little of her; and yet I saw within her soul, and found that she was all full of good affections. Oh how well situated are the daughters of St. Marie of the Visitation, amid so many means and occasions of greatly loving and serving Our Lord! It is grievous to see the good sisters in these monasteries, exposed to so many distractions of arrivals and visits. My dearest cousin, my daughter, praised be God. Amen. And I am, yours, &c.
B-III/40. To Mother de Chantal: Superiors not to be guided by the human spirit, and not to be too eager to escape temporal anxieties.
1622, about June.[51]
I am back and in health, my dearest Mother, but without leisure to make you a long narration; it will suffice if I answer the principal questions which you have asked me. I believe, my dear mother, because I see, that all superiors want to have troublesome and eccentric sisters removed from their monasteries, for it is the nature of the human spirit only to be pleased with pleasing things; but I am entirely of your opinion that one should not open the door for a change of monasteries to those sisters who desire it, but only to those who without desiring it are for some other reason sent by superiors; otherwise the slightest unpleasantness which happened to a sister would be capable of disquieting her and making her change; and instead of changing themselves they would think they had sufficiently cured their trouble when they changed their monastery.
I am glad that you are lodged as you desire. I have answered Madame de Monfan’s and Madame de Dalet’s letters, written to me while I was at Turin; I have seen how these two ladies exercise our superioress at Paris, but I see no remedy except patience and confidence in God.
M. Sanguin wrote me a long letter, and got the Duke de Nemours to write to me, on the difficulties made about his daughter, but I have nothing to answer except that superiors on the spot must decide the matter, and not I, who can only get information from the statements of the parties, and who, moreover, am not a competent judge. I am much more scandalised with the contests which are going on between our sisters, the superiors of Moulins and of Nevers, for a certain thousand crowns which I would rather have at the bottom of the sea than in the minds of these daughters. Is it possible that persons brought up in the school of the folly of the cross are so attached to the prudence of the world that neither one nor other will yield, and that each can appeal to so many points of law? You must, however, try to stop the one who has the less right, provided that the spirit of the world still permit her to let herself be judged wrong; but I do not think this can be done before your arrival. The one at Nevers has not written to me about it, but the complaints of the one at Moulins prove that the idea of strict justice is deeply fixed in the mind of both one and the other.
I have almost the same aversion to the great desire which superiors have that their houses should be relieved by means of foundations; for all this springs from the human sense and the difficulty which each one has to carry her burden. It seems then to me to matter very little whether the house of Montferrand or that of Moulins be relieved by the foundation of Riom.
I am very glad of the satisfaction which you find in our Sister Françoise Augustine, and our Sister Parise, as also I am very sorry that the spirit of our Sister Valeret could not accommodate itself to the Institute. God grant her the grace of attraction to a vocation conducive to her salvation.
I have already written to you on the subject of the benefactresses, whom I would not, as you would not, like to be in great numbers; but still this must be arranged with charity and discretion. As to Mlle. de Vigny, since she is such a good soul as you say, she may be granted what she wants, but in future you must not receive benefactresses who want to make so many conditions.
The number of sick in the house at Paris is a great presage of the blessing which God desires to give there, although the flesh is averse to it. I should indeed have liked a longer life for Madame the first president’s lady, my dear daughter, but we must stop short and without a word before the decree of the heavenly will, which disposes of its own according to its greater glory. I am consoled by the sweet edification which she has left in the good example of her life: it was indeed wholly dedicated to the service of God, as I have known ever since I had the advantage of knowing her. I think the pious houses of Dijon and Burgundy will have lost much by this death, but it rarely happens that one profits without another’s loss. . . .
B-III/41. To a Superioress of the Visitation (Mother de Chantal?): It is best for nuns to be subject to the Ordinaries.
My very dear Mother—I find persons of consideration who strongly think and judge that convents should be under the Ordinaries, according to the old way restored throughout all Italy, or under the authority of religious men, according to the usage introduced four or five hundred years ago, observed throughout almost the whole of France. As for me, my dear mother, I frankly own to you that I cannot at present follow the opinion of those who would have the monasteries of women subject to religious men, in particular if of the same Order, as I follow in this the instinct of the Holy See, which when it can well do so hinders this subjection. Not that it has not laudably been so or still is so in some places; but that it would be still more laudably done otherwise; on this, however, there would be many things to say.
Further, it seems to me that it is no more unsuitable for the Pope to exempt the sisters of an Institute from the jurisdiction of the Fathers of the same Institute, than it was to exempt the monasteries from the ordinary jurisdiction, which had so excellent an origin and so long a possession.
And in the last place, I think that as a matter of fact it is the Pope who has subjected those good Religious women of France to the government of religious; but it seems to me that these good sisters of yours do not know what they are wanting when they would in the same way bring upon themselves the authority of the religious men. These are indeed excellent servants of God, but it is always a hard thing for sisters to be governed by Orders, which usually take from them holy liberty of spirit. My dear mother, I salute your heart, which is precious to me as my own. Vive Jesus!
B-III/42. To a Superioress of the Visitation: Candidates are to be judged not according to nature, but according to grace. Remarks on the form of profession.
My very dear Mother—At last God has willed that Sister N. should remain assistant by the majority of the votes, and he always wills the best; for she is a good, wise, steady person, and a true servant of Our Lord: a little hard and cold in countenance, but of good heart, brief in speech but to the point. We make but few prefaces, she and I, and little appendix either.
But to speak of our Sister N., I must tell you that she is a sister altogether admirable in words, in behaviour, in act, for in all things she breathes virtue and piety.
I am entirely of your opinion and that of our good Father N., as to our Sister N. Let a sister be of as bad a natural disposition as you like, but let her only act in essential matters by grace and not by nature, according to grace and not to nature, and she deserves to be received with love and respect, as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a wolf by nature but a sheep by grace. O my mother, I supremely fear natural prudence in the discernment of the things of grace; and if the prudence of the serpent be not tempered with the simplicity of the dove of the Holy Spirit, it is altogether poisonous.
I am astonished at those good Fathers who think that a person is bound to add that he or she is taking vows to superiors. If they looked at the form of profession of the Benedictines, which is the profession of the most ancient and numerous monasteries, they would have plenty of objections to make; for there is no mention at all made there either of superiors or of vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, but only of stability in the monastery, and of conversion of manners according to the rule of St. Benedict. Whosoever promises obedience according to the Constitutions of Saint Mary, promises obedience and observance of vows to the Church and to the superiors of the Congregation or monastery. In a word, one must remain in peace; for he who wants to listen any longer to all that is said will have plenty to do.
B-III/43.To a Superioress of the Visitation: One religious Order is not to despise another: the excellence of littleness.
My Daughter—Take good care not to respond in any way to those good sisters or their foundress, save by a quite invariable humility, sweetness, and simplicity of heart. Defend not yourselves, my dearly beloved:—these are the very words of the Holy Spirit, written by St. Paul.[52] There are sometimes human temptations amongst the servants of God; if we are animated by love we shall support them in peace.
If these good souls despise our Institute, because it seems to them less than their own, they go against charity, in which the strong do not despise the weak nor the great the little. It is true they are more than you; but do the Seraphim despise the little Angels? And in heaven, wherein is the image on which we should form ourselves, do the great Saints despise the less? But apart from all this, in brief, he who most loves will be most loved, and he who shall have most loved shall be the most glorified. Love God dearly, and for God’s sake love all creatures, particularly those who despise you; and then trouble yourself not.
The evil spirit exerts his efforts, because he sees that this little Institute is useful to the service and glory of God, and he specially hates it because it is little and the least of all; for he is an arrogant spirit and hates littleness, because it serves towards humility—he who has always loved pride, haughtiness, and arrogance, and who, because he would not stay in his littleness, lost his greatness. Labour in humility, in abjection; let people talk and act as they will. Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it,[53] and if God build it, they labour in vain that would destroy it. God knows when and with what souls he will fill your monastery. Remain at peace; and I am your, &c.
B-III/44. To a Superioress of the Visitation: A Monastery is a school of perfection: obedience is the chief virtue required; even prayer must be regulated by this.
My dear Daughter—I will tell you, as to the difficulty which this good sister has, that she greatly deceives herself if she thinks that prayer perfects her without obedience, which is the dear virtue of the Spouse, in which, by which, and for which he willed to die. We know by history and experience that many religious and others have been holy without mental prayer, but without obedience, not one.
You are right, my dear daughter; there must be no reserve or condition; for should we receive souls in that way the congregation would find itself quite full of the subtlest and consequently most dangerous self-love in the world. One would stipulate for communicating daily, another for hearing three masses, another for attending the sick every day; and by this means each one would follow her humour or her own object, instead of following Our Saviour crucified.
It behoves that those who enter should know that the congregation is only founded to serve as a school and guide to perfection, and that all the sisters will be advanced towards it by the most suitable ways, and that those ways will be most suitable which they do not choose themselves. “He who is his own master,” says St. Bernard, “is a scholar under a fool.” Let her then remain in peace in the arms of her mother, who will carry and guide her in a good path.
Prayer must be loved, but it must be loved for love of God. Now she who loves it for God’s love only wants as much of it as God wills to give her; and God wills to give only as much as obedience permits. If then this daughter (whom, however, I greatly love on account of the good that you tell me of her) wants to perfect herself after her own fashion she must be handed over to herself; but I doubt not, if she is really devout, and has the true spirit of prayer, that she will submit to simple obedience. She looks too far in advance when she says that she will accommodate herself for a short time to having only half an hour’s prayer, but that she could not promise it for ever. The true servant of God is not solicitous for the morrow; she executes faithfully what he wants to-day, and to-morrow what he then wants; and after to-morrow what he shall want then, without stipulating either for this or for that. It is thus that we should unite our will, not to the means of serving God, but to the serving him and to his good pleasure. Be not therefore solicitous for the morrow; saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? . . . For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore the kingdom of God . . . and all these things shall be added unto you.[54] This is to be understood of the spiritual as of the temporal.
Let then this daughter take a child’s heart, a will of wax, and a spirit stripped and despoiled of all sorts of affections save that of loving God; and as to the means of loving him, they should be indifferent to her. Live sweetly and holily amid the pains which you suffer under your charge, my dear and well-beloved daughter, and I beseech God to be the life of your soul. Amen.
B-III/45. To Mother Favre: She is to conduct her daughters variously according to the Spirit of God: they must resist the tendency to over-emulation.
My very dear Grand-daughter—In my opinion there will be no harm in letting this good sister communicate; indeed you must if possible take from the sisters of the congregation that imperfection, ordinary with women, of vain and jealous imitation. They must be confirmed if possible in not wanting to do all that others do, but in simply willing what others will—that is to say, not all to do the same exercises, except those of the rule.
Yes, let each one walk according to the gift of God; but let all have that one and simple design of serving God, all having one same will, one same undertaking, one same project, with great resignation about fulfilling it, each one according to the means which the superior and the spiritual father shall deem expedient; in such sort that those who communicate more often may esteem others no less than themselves—since we oftentimes approach closer to Our Lord by withdrawing through humility than by approaching at our own choice—and those who do not communicate so often must not let themselves be carried away by a vain emulation.
It is true that we must not permit the rule to be exceeded save rarely, and for reasons like to these. My dear daughter, how happy shall we be if we are faithful! My soul cordially salutes your spirit, which may God bless with his holy hand. Amen.
B-III/46. To a Mistress of Novices of the Visitation: She must do her best with simplicity, and confidently leave the rest to God.
God will inspire you, my dear daughter, as to all he wants from you, if in the innocence and simplicity of your heart, with an entire resigning of your inclinations, you often ask him in your heart: Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?[55] And I am glad that you have already heard his voice, and that you serve him in the feeding of these daughters.
Nor was it a good excuse to say: I have no breasts, I have no milk; for it is not with our own milk or our own breasts that we feed the children of God; it is with the milk and the breasts of the divine Spouse; and we do no more than point them out to the children, and say: take, suck, draw and live. Keep your heart thus then open and large, to do well all the service that shall be laid upon you.
In proportion as you undertake, in virtue of holy obedience, many things for God, he will assist you with his help, and will do your work with you if you will do yours with him; now his is the sanctification and perfection of souls. Labour humbly, simply and confidently at this; you will never receive from it any distraction which will be hurtful to you. That peace is not good which flies the labour required for the glorification of God’s name.
Live wholly for this divine love, my dear daughter, and know that it is with all my heart that I cherish your well-beloved soul, and never cease to recommend it to the eternal mercy of our Saviour, to whom I conjure you reciprocally to recommend me very often. I am all yours, my very dear daughter, &c.
B-III/47. To a Sister of the Visitation: What it is to live according to the spirit, and what according to the flesh.
How very reasonable is it, my dear daughter, that I should write to you a little, and with what good heart I do it! Would to God that I had the spirit necessary for your consolation. To live according to the spirit, my well-beloved daughter, is to think, speak, and act according to the virtues that are in the spirit, and not according to the sense and sentiments which are in the flesh. Of these latter we must make use, must reduce them to subjection, and not live according to them; but those spiritual virtues we must serve, and must subject to them all the rest.
What are these virtues of the spirit, my dear daughter? They are faith, which shows us truths entirely elevated above the senses; hope, which makes us aspire to things invisible; charity, which makes us love God above all things and our neighbour as ourselves, with a love not of sense, not of nature, not of self-interest, but with a love pure, solid, and unchangeable, having its foundation in God.
Look, my daughter: the human sense, stayed upon the flesh, causes us many times to fail in abandoning ourselves into the hands of God; we think that since we are of no worth God will make no account of us, as men who live according to human prudence despise those who are of no use. On the contrary, the spirit, stayed upon faith, takes courage amid difficulties, because it knows well that God loves, supports, and succours the miserable, provided that they hope in him.
The human sense would be engaged in all that is going on; and it so loves itself that it fancies nothing is good unless it has part therein. The spirit, on the contrary, attaches itself to God, and often says that what is not of God is nothing to it; and as it takes part in the things which are communicated to it through charity, so also does it willingly yield its share in things which are kept back from it through abnegation and humility.
To live according to the spirit is to love according to the spirit; to live according to the flesh is to love according to the flesh; for love is the life of the soul, as the soul is the life of the body. A sister is very sweet, very agreeable, and I love her tenderly; she loves me greatly, she favours me much; I love her in return for this. Who sees not that I live according to the senses and the flesh?—for animals which have no mind, and have flesh and senses only, love their benefactors and those who are sweet and agreeable to them.
A sister is rough-mannered, sharp, and uncourteous; but all the same she is very pious, and also desirous of improving herself and making herself more sociable; wherefore, not for any pleasantness I find in her nor for any self-interest, but for God’s good pleasure, I love her, I go to her, I serve her, I embrace her. This love is according to the spirit, for the flesh has no share in it.
I am distrustful of myself, and for this reason would greatly desire to be let live according to that inclination; who sees not that this is not according to the spirit? No, undoubtedly, my dear daughter; for while I was still quite young, and had as yet no spirit, I already lived so. But although according to my natural disposition I am timid and fearful, still I desire to try and overcome those natural passions, and little by little to do properly all that belongs to the charge which obedience, coming from God, has laid upon me; who sees not that this is to live according to the spirit? My dear daughter, to live according to the spirit is to do the actions, say the words, and think the thoughts, which the Spirit of God requires from us. And when I say thoughts I mean voluntary thoughts.
I am sad, and therefore will not speak; parrots and boorish carters act so. I am sad, but since charity requires me to talk I will do so; thus do spiritual persons act.
I am despised and get angry about it; just so do peacocks and monkeys. I am despised and rejoice; the Apostles acted so.
Hence to live according to the spirit is to do what faith, hope, and charity teach us, whether in temporal or in spiritual things.
Live then wholly according to the spirit, my dear daughter; remain sweetly at peace; be quite assured that God will help you; whenever trouble arises, lay yourself within the arms of his paternal mercy and goodness.
May God be for ever your all, and I am in him all yours; you know it well.
Your honoured father is well, and so are all that belong to you according to the flesh; thus be it with what belongs to you according to the spirit! Amen.
B-III/48. To a Sister of the Visitation: We can avoid sins, but must not expect to conquer every evil inclination: patience and perseverance required in the practice of charity and in the struggle against self-love.
I recall your letter, my very dear daughter, in which with so much sincerity you describe to me your imperfections and your troubles; and I should much like to be able to correspond with the desire which you have of learning some remedy from me; but neither does leisure permit, nor as I think does your necessity require it; for doubtless, my dear daughter, the chief part of what you describe to me has no other ordinary remedy than the course of time, and the exercises of the rule under which you live: there are in the same way corporal maladies of which the cure depends on a good order of life.
Self-love, the esteem of ourselves, false liberty of spirit, these are roots which one cannot fully eradicate from the human heart; one can only hinder the production of their fruits, which are sins; for their risings, their first shocks or movements, cannot be altogether prevented so long as we are in this mortal life; though we can moderate them and diminish their quantity and their ardour by the practice of the contrary virtues, and above all, of the love of God.
It behoves then to have patience, and little by little to amend and cut off our bad habits, suppress our aversions and surmount our inclinations and humours as occasion requires: for at last, my dear daughter, this life is a continual warfare, and there is no one who can say, I am not attacked.
Repose is reserved for heaven, where the palm of victory awaits us. On earth, it is necessary always to fight between fear and hope; but hope should always be stronger, on account of the omnipotence of him who aids us. Do
not then get tired of continually working for your amendment and perfection. Notice that charity has three parts—the love of God, affection for self, and dilection for our neighbour. Your rule assists you to practise all this well.
Many times in the day cast your whole heart, your spirit, and your solicitude upon God, with a great confidence, and say to him with David:[56] I am Thine, O Lord, save me.
Do not occupy yourself much in thinking what sort of prayer God gives you, but simply and humbly follow his grace in the affection which you ought to have for yourself. Keep your eyes well fixed on your unruly inclinations to uproot them. Never be surprised to see yourself wretched and loaded with evil humours. Treat your heart with a great desire of perfecting it. Have an indefatigable care to put it right when it stumbles.
Above all, labour as much as you can to strengthen the superior part of your spirit, not concerning yourself with feelings and consolations, but with resolutions, purposes and strivings, which faith, the rule, the superior and reason will inspire you with.
Be not tender with yourself: tender mothers spoil children. Be not tearful or complaining; be not alarmed at those importunities and violences which you feel, which you find it so painful to manifest: no, my daughter, be not alarmed, God permits them to make you humble with true humility, abject and vile in your own eyes. They ought not to be combated save by yearnings for God, turning of the spirit from the creature to the Creator, with continual affections for most holy humility and simplicity of heart.
Be kind to your neighbour, and in spite of the risings and sallies of anger, pronounce very often on occasion these divine words of our Saviour:[57] O Lord, eternal Father, I love these neighbours, because you love them, and have given them to me as brothers and sisters, and you will that as you love them I also love them. So above all, love these good sisters, with whom the very hand of divine Providence has associated and bound you by a heavenly bond: support them, cherish them and put them in your heart, my dear daughter. Know that I have a most particular affection for your progress, God having obliged me thereto.
B-III/49. To a Sister of the Visitation: On the renunciation of self in order to belong entirely to God.
It is the truth, my dear daughter, that my soul cherishes you most perfectly; and it is impossible for me, when I think of you, which is not very rarely, not to feel a very particular movement of love.
Well, it was absolutely required that the serpent should thrust itself by force into the hardness of the stone in order to strip itself of its old skin, and happily to renew its youth so as to be transformed into a dove. God be praised, my dear daughter, that you have suffered such dreadful pangs in bringing yourself forth in Jesus Christ!
Walk now holily and carefully in this newness of spirit, and take good care not to look back, for there would be extreme danger in that; and bless divine Providence, which had prepared you so amiable a nurse. Oh how good and gracious is God, my dear daughter! Truly I have had an incredible satisfaction in seeing how he has conducted you in the abundance of his love. Ah! then, never abandon him, and give entire liberty to your heart to unite and clasp itself unchangeably to his pleasure; for it is made to that end.
That this dear mother be superior I consent without difficulty; but that this could be done absolutely in the way you speak of I cannot see the way to, nor will it depend on me, who am of very little account here and of none at all elsewhere: I only repeat that as to my consent I give it, and besides will contribute what I can properly do for your intention.
But, my dear daughter, are we not children, adorers and servers of Heavenly Providence, and of the loving and paternal heart of Our Saviour? Is it not upon this basis that we have built our hopes? Do what he has inspired you for his glory, and doubt not but that he will do for your good what shall be best. Do not make terms with him: he is our Master, our King, our Father, our All; think of serving him well, he will think of helping us well.
And so, my daughter, to conclude, I will do all I can to give you this little satisfaction, though it is not much I can do: where you are I am sure they will do the same; but in heaven all will be done: you will be filled with consolations, by means which the Supreme Wisdom knows and sees, and which we know not.
Remain at peace, feed lovingly, carefully and faithfully this new dear infant which your soul has newly brought forth into the Holy Spirit, that it may strengthen in sanctity and increase in blessings, to be for ever loved of the Beloved. What further can I desire you, my very dear daughter? I am entirely, I assure you, your very humble, &c.
B-III/50. To a Superioress of the Visitation: Humility and sweetness the two chief virtues of a superior: “to ask nothing and refuse nothing” is the sum of the Saint’s teaching.
It is the truth, my very dear sister, my daughter, that you have greatly pleased me by the trouble which you have taken to write to me, since also, as I see, you are the one to whom God has disposed to have the charge of superior committed. You will be granted leisure to well prepare yourself, by an entire submission to heavenly Providence, and a perfect strengthening of heart to exercise yourself well in humility, and in sweetness or mildness of heart—the two dear wishes which Our Lord recommended to the Apostles whom he had destined to the superiorship of the universe.
Ask nothing and refuse nothing about all matters of the religious life; this is the holy indifference which will preserve you in the peace of your eternal Spouse, and it is the one only teaching that I want practised by all our sisters, whom my heart affectionately salutes, with yours, my dear daughter.
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[1] Thus the French: 1616. seems the true date. [Tr.]
[2] Job. 1:21.
[3] Cant. 2:16.
[4] Isa. 20:2.
[5] Ps. 44:11. , 12.
[6] Ancient tradition gives this as the name of the child whom Jesus took in his arms (Matt. 18. ). He was the Apostle of Aquitaine. [Tr.]
[7] John 20:17.
[8] Luke 24:49.
[9] Ps. 118:141.
[10] 2. Cor. 12.:9
[11] Ps. 132:1.
[12] Matt. 4.
[13] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[14] Matt. 6:34.
[15] The monastery at Grenoble was on the top of a hill. [Tr.]
[16] About £5000. . [Tr.]
[17] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[18] Matt. 21.
[19] Ps. 44:11.
[20] See Letters to Persons in the World. Bk. III. 8. , 9.
[21] Prov. 25:16.
[22] Luke 6:29.
[23] That is, do not anxiously want to see yourself so perfect. [Tr.]
[24] Rom. 12:3.
[25] The French has “29th May 1621. .” [Tr.]
[26] 1. Cor. 13.
[27] Matt. 6:31.
[28] Ps. 83:11.
[29] Rom. 4:17.
[30] Ps. 54:9.
[31] Ps. 10:1.
[32] Matt. 6:33.
[33] Is. 66:2.
[34] Luke 16:29.
[35] Part of this letter is given in Letters to Persons in the World. Bk. V. 17.
[36] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[37] Not the same that is spoken of in the first half of the letter. [Tr.]
[38] Col. 3.
[39] Words used in the ceremony of Profession. [Tr.]
[40] 1. Kings 1:18.
[41] Ibid. 2.
[42] 1:1. , 2.
[43] 4:11.
[44] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[45] Luke 21:15.
[46] Which signifies, obedient.
[47] The French has “1614. ,” an obvious error. [Tr.]
[48] The word “superior” seems to be a French editor’s mistake. [Tr.]
[49] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[50] Rom. 12:19. . The Douay translation has Revenge not: the Latin is non defendentes. [Tr.]
[51] The French has no date. [Tr.]
[52] Rom. 12:19. . So the French, and the Vulgate. [Tr.]
[53] Ps. 126:1.
[54] Matt. 6.
[55] Acts. 9:6.
[56] Ps. 118:94.
[57] From John 17.
