[A] St. Francis de Sales.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Grenoble, 1618.
It will be a great comfort to you, my very dear Sister, to see His Lordship,[A] and to hear that all the people here expect to become more fervent in the service of Our Lord by means of this house. God grant it may be so! What a consolation it is to hear that Sister Paule Jéronyme is fulfilling so well her very important charge. I hope all our dear Sisters will by a faithful and strict observance of our holy Rules advance every day in the way of Our Lord. To this fidelity, in the name of our sweetest Saviour, I exhort them, and I embrace them all in spirit with true and most sincere love. They should continue as the Rule teaches, and with earnestness, to pray for the health and the growth in holiness of his Lordship. And let them neither forget us, nor the other new and dear foundations that are being planted here and there by the hand of Our Lord; for these ought to be as dear to us as our own, since it is the divine Will that we dwell in perfect union of heart, as by the grace of God we do. Salute all our friends for me, especially dear Madame de la Valbonne, not forgetting my poor old Sister Anne Jacqueline, nor my friends the workmen, for whom I have a great liking.
[A] St. Francis de Sales left Grenoble to return to Annecy just at this time.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Grenoble,
26th April, 1618.
My poor Jéronyme,
I know all about your little difficulties with good Sister Assistant. You were like two children, but I see by your last letter you are now simple and frank as children ought to be with one another. What pleasure this gives me! It is just how I desire to see the heart of my dearest little Jéronyme. You must keep it up and make no reflections whatever on the past. As it helps you so much to tell me about your troubles, do so, my daughter, for I am very glad to know them. You will have to be very very generous in bearing with yourself and with others. Certainly, speak out fearlessly, in a spirit of charity and cordial confidence, to Sister Assistant of all you think proper. God be praised for the satisfactory way in which your dear novices are getting on. You should be continually helping them to advance, but do it gently, and bear with the little weaknesses which are in some. Yes, the Mistress can speak to them when necessary at their assembly and can send a young professed sister to fetch her work. Their letters ought to be given to her, who can doubt it? She can also speak to the novices during great silence but not without necessity. Should the number in the novitiate be considerable you must, in a spirit of charity, take what time you think necessary to satisfy them. I have a great affection for you, child. No, no; you must not say to the Sister Assistant, "Our Mother would not do that," unless it be in council, and then only if necessary and with great respect.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Bourges,
2nd February, 1619.
Only one word, my dearest Sister, for it is not long since I wrote to you, and I await good news of you. My own, thank God, is good. Our little house goes on peaceably, its good odour increasing. As to my children, I hope my daughter's marriage with M. de Foras will soon be arranged, and that she will settle in Burgundy.[A]
My son[B] gives me as keen a sorrow as ever a mother could suffer—the cause I will tell you when we meet. He is at court, brave and gallant as he can be, and they tell me, that he is resolved to conduct himself well and to make his fortune. My own wish is that he should do so with our good Prince, but I know not what he will do. My dear Father will help him. I am overwhelmed with letters that have to be answered, so I must conclude. O, my very dear Sister, may the great Jesus be our only love! Amen.
[A] This marriage never took place, for, though St. Jane Frances desired it, Françoise could not make up her mind to accept the gentleman.
[B] Celse Benigne, in whose character good and bad qualities were so mingled that he was at once the joy and the anguish of his mother, each time he risked the life of both his soul and body by the unfortunate duels in which he was so often engaged, nearly broke her heart. In order to avoid the seductions of Paris and the dangerous influence of his friends, the Saint was anxious to have him attached to the Court of Savoy, but her project did not find favour with the young Baron.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
July 9th, 1619.
My very dear Daughter,
This is only a line to announce the arrival of a good young lady[A] whom his Lordship and I are sending to you. She needs a home to retire to, and ardently desires to find it with us. Now, as we cannot have her here, we hope you will welcome her and look after her lovingly and charitably. She is a lady of quality and can give a good pension. She will not come to you for a fortnight, so that you may have time to get everything suitably ready for her. See that she has a little room with a very neat and comfortable bed and all things as we are accustomed to have them. Adieu, she will give you all our news. Do not expect his Lordship for the clothing ceremony. Alas! this good and dear Father feels far from well. Pray for him. I wrote to you the other day.
[A] The lady so charitably recommended to Mother de Bréchard was Mademoiselle de Morville (Madame du Tertre). Left a widow at twenty-two, she had long before given herself up to a life of vanity and worldly pleasure. Her parents, anxious to safeguard her honour and the future of her children, procured for her an introduction to St. Francis de Sales, who was then in Paris. The result of this acquaintance was that Madame du Tertre quickly renounced her unedifying life and asked to be admitted into a Visitation Monastery, not as an aspirant to religious life but as a secular benefactress.
Thinking it desirable to remove her to a distance from Paris, where the temptations to return to her former life might prove too strong for one so weak and so recently converted, St. Francis arranged with her family and with Mother de Chantal to ask Mother de Bréchard to give her a home in her convent. His solicitude was ill repaid. This volatile and mischievous young woman brought endless bitterness to his heart, and to that of St. Jane Frances, while she was the source of misery and contention in the community in which she lived. In due time, acting upon the advice of their holy Founder, who was ever too hopeful in his views about Madame du Tertre, she was allowed to make her profession, but she soon relapsed into her former disedifying and uncontrolled manner of living, thereby becoming the cause of great suffering to the Institute. A letter of St. Jane Frances' shows that her repentance at the end was genuine, and that she died happily in peace with God.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1619.
You ask me, my dear daughter, if we are poor. Yes, indeed we are, but I hardly ever give it a thought. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of God remains eternally as the foundation of our hope. He has said that if we seek His kingdom and His justice all the rest shall be added unto us. I believe Him, and I trust in Him. The extreme necessity in which we sometimes find ourselves gives us opportunities of practising holy confidence in God and rare perfection. Truly we already see how wise it is to adhere to Him and to hope in Him against all human hope, for our foundation has been a thousand times more successful than we dared to anticipate.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
September 29, 1619.
What a great consolation for you, my very dear daughter, to have the joy of a little visit from our dearest Father! It is such a relief that he is out of Paris, where the epidemic[A] is so bad that his departure was a delight to me. Although it surrounds us do not fear for us, daughter, only pray earnestly that we may accomplish the most holy will of our good God. I have every confidence that nothing will happen but what is His good pleasure, and what pleases Him pleases us. So if it is His will I shall often write to you, and I will address all my letters to his Lordship, who has desired me to keep him well acquainted with our news. I wish you could find out the best address for our letters and tell me also how you will send yours. It would be well to take advantage of M. Rousselet when he returns to this town, for he has a brother at Lyons.
I do not give you any news, dear daughter, for I have commissioned my nephew de Boisy to do it; and besides, you know it is a thing which is distasteful to me. One thing only is necessary—to possess God, and for this I have a burning desire. This alone is happiness. All the rest is mere smoke. Cling then with constancy to this holy aim. Write to me of your interior state: you will be reviewing it now.[B] O God, how I love that heart of my great and dear daughter! I long to see it generous, pure, perfect, in a word united in a holy union with the Heart of its amiable and adorable God. Adieu, my daughter, a thousand good mornings to you and to your dear flock. I do not know if his Grace of Lyons has returned: he will mayhap want to delay the change of your congregation into a monastery.[C] It is, however, expedient that it should be done before you are taken away. His Lordship will speak to you of this. But it must be managed very tactfully. One word in conclusion. Test your daughters well before their profession.
Adieu, my daughter. I am always yours in Our Lord. You know this. May He be blessed! St. Michael's Day.
[A] We read in the inedited "Foundations of the First Monastery of Paris": "In the years 1619 and 1620 God permitted a terrible plague to break out in Paris. Terror drove away not only the court but almost the entire population, who sought safety in flight. So deserted did this great city become that we are told the grass grew in the streets. As might be expected in such circumstances, the alms upon which our newly established Community subsisted entirely ceased, and to add to our misfortunes we were surrounded by infected houses. All day long we could hear the tinkle of the little bell that announced the passing of the death waggon in front of the house."
[B] The autumn has always been the season appointed for the annual Retreats of the Sisters of the Visitation.
[C] The Archbishop of Lyons, Mgr. de Marquemont, although the first to urge that the Visitation should have enclosure and solemn vows, was the last to put in force the Bull erecting it into a Religious Order. He held back in the hope of inducing the house at Lyons to undertake the reciting of the great Canonical Office.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1619.
I want you to know, my dear little daughter, what a great consolation your letter has been to me. You have portrayed your interior state with much simplicity, and believe me, little one, I tenderly love that heart of yours and would willingly undergo much for its perfection. May God hear my prayer, and give you the grace to cut short these perpetual reflections on everything that you do. They dissipate your spirit. May He enable you instead to use all your powers and thoughts in the practice of such virtues as come in your way. How happy would you then be, and I how consoled! Make a fresh start in good earnest, my darling, I beg of you. For faults of inadvertence and suchlike, humble yourself in spirit before God, and after that do not give them another thought. You will do this, will you not, my love? Ah, do! I ask it through the love you bear to your poor mother. For the rest, say out boldly everything in your letters; they always console me. Let nothing worry you. Always yours in sincerity. Pray much for me. May the sweet Jesus accomplish in you His holy will!
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
October 3, 1619.
My beloved Daughters,
The affection I bear you is my only motive in striving to serve and console you: I need no other spur, for that one is boundless. But God does not intend that we should see each other for the present, and we willingly submit our desires to His holy will. Meanwhile, let us prepare ourselves by a greater fidelity to observance to profit by the occasion should He arrange a meeting for us.
Above all things, dear daughters, dwell together, I beseech of you, in a great and magnanimous love of His holy will, and a gentle mutual support of one another, which will ravish the Heart of the sovereign Goodness: for our good Saviour has said that it is by our love for one another that we shall be recognized as His disciples.
No leisure for more—I recommend myself to your prayers. May God dwell habitually in your midst and heap upon you His choicest graces!
Yours always in Him. May He be blessed!
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
December 14th, 1619.
My dearest Daughters,
We are now beginning a new year, and with my whole heart I come to beg a favour of you. For the sake of the honour and privilege of being daughters of Our Lady will you not grant it to me? for all the affection of which I am capable is bound up in the asking. It is this, to make a strong and effectual resolve to walk in the way of exact observance, obeying simply, in all humility and meekness.
In the name of God, let not self-conceit be seen amongst you, nor desire of offices, nor of high places; but rather, in the knowledge of your own weaknesses and miseries, cultivate a great love of humiliations, of self-abasement, and of all things lowly. Never use sharp words one to another. Holy gentleness, cordiality, and union of heart should reign instead among you, so that a gracious affability may season all your words and actions, and no shadow of repugnance ever show itself. Do not think about whether you are loved more or less than another. Kill such little foxes, I pray you, for they will steal away the peace of your hearts. We should never desire to be loved, but believe that we get as much affection as God sees good for us.
Never make questions as to whom the charges are given; never desire them. The divine will ought to be the rule of our will and enough for us. Now, my dear Sisters, give the Holy Virgin, our Lady, the pleasure of seeing you serve our sweet Master, her dear Son, by being faithful to these little counsels which I give on their part, and in their presence. I ask this of you through the infinite goodness of the Son and Mother, while I beseech them to grant you a superabundance of graces and their eternal benediction. Amen.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
January 13th, 1620.
Ah! how is it, my darling, my dearest daughter, that you expect a severe letter from me? I tell you candidly, and glory be to God for it, your heart is too good to deserve scolding, and even if it were not, I have no inclination to scold. In a letter which I received from his Lordship speaking of the houses (of the Institute) that he has visited, he says: "To speak quite openly, at Grenoble I have found one who is a Superior altogether after my own heart." Now, you may imagine, my daughter, what good it did my heart to hear this. Yes, indeed I love you very dearly, but I can give you no better advice than to walk straight on in your own path, which is a good one, without turning to right or left. You are wonderful in the way you complain of yourself. Remember, that if God permits you to be so unfaithful, He allows these little negligences so that you may always have wherewith to humble yourself. When God consoles you receive His consolations quite simply, accepting alike good and ill. In a word, my daughter, you must unite yourself to God in everything, and by everything, and lead your daughters in the same way. As to a spiritual Father, nothing more can be done. You must continue to have patience for a little longer and God will provide you with one. Meanwhile be all things to your daughters, and then all will go well. It is a great consolation to hear that they are so good. Oh! Lord Jesus, pour down Thy graces upon this chosen company. Pray much for us. The choice of a house here depends upon his Lordship, and we are at our wits' end to find a suitable one; however, we hope to be settled this summer. Well, my daughter, God alone suffices; were He our only consolation, and did we never wish for any other, how happy we should be! Let us hold to this, for nothing else matters. Adieu, my love. Pray, and get prayers for my children, I beseech you. You are most truly, believe me, the very dear daughter of my heart.
[A] Such was the reputation for fervour of the Monastery of Grenoble that many distinguished members of the Society of Jesus, and of other Orders, spoke of it as a "Furnace of Prayer," and a "School of Virtues," but the humility of Mother de Châtel hid from her the great work that God was accomplishing through her means in her own community.
[The Saint tells her daughter of M. de Toulonjon's proposal of marriage.]
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1620.
My dearest Daughter,
Let us bless God who takes such care of His children who trust in Him. His divine Providence is arranging for you something that I think you will like: and for my part, it is altogether desirable to me. Your brother is going to see you and he will tell you about the gentleman,[A] whom you do not know but who has seen you. He is our neighbour at Monthelon, a fine straightforward, brave gentleman, rich too, and with a very well-appointed house. We are extremely pleased at the honourable way in which he comes to make his courtship. Tell me promptly and candidly, I beg of you, my dear daughter, if your affections are free, for if so, and that you continue as reasonable and submissive as you promised me to be in your last letter, you will be happier than you or I could have dreamt of. For the love of God, my darling, put your whole heart entirely into the hands of God and don't let yourself be prejudiced by any foolish talking, or taken up with silly thoughts and apprehensions. Let us act, for your happiness is dearer to us than it is to yourself.
If it please the great God to bring this affair to a satisfactory termination, verily you will be happy and well pleased, for this gentleman is all that I could desire for you. All the rest I leave for your brother to tell you. Do not speak about this matter to anyone, but pray and send me your answer as soon as you can. Now don't fail to do so. Write by two routes and promptly. In fifteen days I shall send to the coach office for your answer, and I beg of you to have it there for me. As regards other business, I have already asked you to urge M. Coulon to sell Foretz. Be sure to see to this; for we must have three thousand crowns in ready money, as I have promised that sum. Arrange that M. Coulon pays you in full, at latest within six months; urge him, and be careful to see that there is no unnecessary expenditure. I write in the greatest haste. God bless you, my child. Unite with me in praising and blessing Him always. I shall settle things to your best advantage, so have no fear, dearest daughter.
[A] M. de Toulonjon.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
March 12th, 1620.
I know well, my dearest Sister, how deeply you felt the news of my son's accident,[A] for your heart is so full of love for me that all my sorrows are sorrows to you. I did not mention it when writing because I did not think of it. God has given me the grace not to be very much upset by this news, which was broken to me bluntly enough. Indeed, it was an unlooked for happening, and one in which a wiser man than he could not have refused to come to the assistance of an injured friend. Such is the way of the world. All the same he got into trouble about it, without, however, being too much inconvenienced, and the affair is now all settled. The good gentleman whom the sergeant tried to take away was badly wounded and has not yet recovered; but thank God all the rest are on their feet again.
Your prayers will be of use to my son and he needs them. We are thinking of marrying my daughter[B] to M. de Toulonjon, the brother of Mme. de la Poivrière. The matter has been proposed to us through M. Dautesy. My nephew d'Effran and my son know him well, and they consider it a very advantageous match for my daughter and advise me not to refuse. The gentleman declared his intentions most honourably and with all deference. He is a frank, honest man.
Do not speak of this for the present, my love, but pray about it, for I fear my daughter's irresolution. She is a painful anxiety to me.
Our M. Lefevre has not come; if you can tell me where he is staying I would invite him, or indeed beg of him to come here; however, the chancellor is very likely to be with the King.
The girl I proposed to you as a lay sister lives near Moulins, but if you have others whom you yourself know, do not trouble about her, it does not signify. Your plan of treating with the Sisters for the Nevers foundation is, I consider, admirable. They have done the same at Orleans. But, my dear friend, see that everything is on a very secure footing and only treat with good subjects, such as you know they ought to be. For the rest visit and find out all about the place they propose selling to you before you purchase it, and arrange, if you can, as they have done at Orleans, to purchase in case it proves suitable, and if not desirable as a permanent residence, to rent it. What you tell me about the Carmelites wishing to take it keeps me in a state of uncertainty, for they are extremely prudent and have very competent people to help them. But the good Father of our Sisters (Bonsidat) can do much with the advice of the Jesuits. I think, or rather I fear, they may be very glad to put us off now that the Carmelites are coming. Indeed, we must put the affair into the hands of God and follow good counsel as you are doing. You should make quite certain of the consent of the gentlemen of Nevers and of the authorities of the town before taking the Sisters there; for this reason we must obtain it, at latest, by Easter, as it is so far from Nessy, and I think those for Orleans will be sent by Pentecost. By the way, you have not told me if they have sent you a mistress of novices; but as dear Sister Marie Hélène (de Chastellux) is doing so well I think you might do with her. Certainly, my child, if the Superior of Nevers is from Nessy that is enough. Don't urge Mgr. of Lyons, but let him do as he likes. Your spiritual Father can give permission for the departure of the Sisters.
You see I am writing in breathless haste. We are always overwhelmed with work here; but to-day it is because I have a heavy cold for which I was bled yesterday. You know how subject I am to these colds, but you need not be in the very least anxious about me. Would to God, my dearest friend, that you kept as well as I do, and that they took as much care of you! It distresses me that you have no one to look after you. May God in His goodness provide you with someone! Take what care you can of yourself, I beseech you.
I have had no news of his Lordship for a long time, but I know he is quite well. Thank God, I think he will soon go to Piedmont. M. de Boisy is coadjutor in the bishopric of Geneva. No more time. I salute your dear family and your hostess. I cannot write more. Good-bye, my dearest and best of daughters, for whom I have such a special love. Urge on your daughters gently in the way of holy tranquillity and recollection. Amen.
[A] The young Baron de Chantal had just been compromised, not in a duel, but in one of those sudden assaults so common at that period, in which he took part in order to defend a friend who had been attacked.
[B] Françoise de Chantal.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1620.
Listen to this, daughter dear. M. de Toulonjon finds himself free for eight or ten days, and off he is going to know whether you consider him too old to please you; for as regards everything else he is in hopes of finding favour with you. As for me, to be candid with you I see nothing to find fault within him, and even nothing more to wish for. I never before remember feeling such satisfaction about a temporal matter. Our Lord has given me this feeling. It is not so much this gentleman's good nature and good birth that attracts me as his mind, disposition, candour, his good sense, uprightness, and reputation. In a word, my dear Françoise, we may well bless God about this affair. In gratitude to Him, my child, you should try to love and serve Him better than you have ever done and to let nothing whatsoever prevent you from frequenting the sacraments and from practising humility and gentleness. Take the Devout Life for your guide and it will lead you safely. Do not lose your time over such little vanities as jewels and clothes. You are about to possess them in abundance, but, dear daughter, never forget that we should use the good things God gives us without being attached to them, and everything that the world esteems should be looked upon in this light. Henceforth, let your ambition be to be adorned with honour and modest discretion in the position into which you are about to enter. Indeed I am gratified that your relatives and I have arranged this marriage without you. It is thus that the wise act, and I should like always to be your counsellor. Besides, your brother, who has a good judgment, is charmed with this alliance. M. de Toulonjon it is true is some fifteen years your senior, but, my child, you will be far happier with him than if you married a foolish, inconsiderate young scamp such as are the young men of to-day. You are marrying a man who is nothing of all this, who never gambles, but who has passed his life at court and in the battlefield with honour and who has a high appointment from the King. You will not have the good judgment with which I credit you if you do not receive him cordially and frankly. Do so, my daughter, with a good grace, and be assured that God has you in His mind and will not forget you if you throw yourself tenderly into His arms, for He takes care of those who trust in Him.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris, 1620.
My very dear Sister,
I understand perfectly, and have never doubted but that your intention was upright. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think it your duty to mention, but, my love, do not worry yourself about such things, if they are not manifest faults. Leave them to the coadjutrix, who ought to do her duty in all humility and cordiality. Tell her from me that I will do all she asks me, but I cannot write to her this time. For God's sake observe the rules punctually, and have all of you but one heart and one soul, and so will your love be perfect in Our Lord. Give my affectionate love to my poor fat Sister M. M., and dear little M. Louise; both are in my heart. I wish all happiness to the two dear daughters Marie-Françoise and Anne-Marie; I pray God to give them and all of you the virtue of holy obedience, the mother of all virtues.
Be sure to tell the dear professed that they have a bigger share of my heart than they dream of. But as to the reception to the habit of Sister —— this child has not the conditions marked, why then have they given her their votes? They do not set sufficient value on fidelity to the Rule. Votes should never be given in the hope of amendment, you should see the improvement first before giving the habit, and the same with regard to Sister C. M.: she should not make her profession at the end of the year. Why! in truth she has only really conducted herself as a novice for six months, so she ought, I consider, to be kept back, and this will prove her perseverance and bring home to her that she does not deserve to be professed, and that with humility and submission, such matters should be left in the hands of the Superior, and the Sisters. By this prolongation of her trial, her virtue and her dispositions will be tested.
May God in His goodness give you all His spirit, and the grace to weigh well all our Rules, so that they may be observed and followed even to the most insignificant point, for in this our happiness consists.
Adieu to you, my dear Sister, and to all our dear professed. Let us love God and accomplish His will, I beseech you, my dearly loved daughter.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
11 August, 1620.
My very dear Daughter,
Having a little free time I make use of it to beg of you in the name of God to accept the judgement of the Bishop of Geneva, to whom you have referred this affair, and who considers that what was so deliberately settled on the house of Nevers should remain with that house. You, my dearest daughter, ought to be indifferent about such matters so long as we give you all you desire. Why should you trouble as to what use we make of your gift since quite sufficient is provided for your maintenance? If you keep to your holy desire of living amongst us and giving yourself entirely to God you must, if you please, trust his Lordship and show that you are satisfied with his decision. As for us, we desire neither law-suit nor contention, and a hundred times would we prefer to return all you have given us rather than retain it with the least accompanying unpleasantness: for we value peace with holy poverty incomparably more than all the goods this world can give us.
The Bishop of Geneva will not disclaim what I now say to you. I am a little surprised that, since his letters have arrived, we have received no news except that much pressure is being brought to bear on our Sisters of Nevers to induce them to return the money they have received. It is their Bishop tells me this. You understand, my very dear daughter, that if you desire to persevere, as I believe you do, you must please, now that you are acquainted with the views of his Lordship of Geneva, cease to discuss this matter.
Our poor Sisters of both houses are sorely afflicted at having to give ear to a style of conversation with which they are unacquainted—peace is more to them than such things. Let them have it, then, I pray you.
Believe me,
Always yours, etc.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Paris,
August 15, 1620.
Sir,
Your regard for the Bishop of Geneva and for our little Institute, together with the prudence with which you have always guided our Convent of Moulins, gives me hope that you will find a means of adjusting the opposing claims of the Bishop of Nevers and Madame du Tertre. The pregnant arguments you put forward bear, I acknowledge, great weight, but so do those of his Lordship of Nevers. I see much to consider on both sides. Yet I tell you frankly, and it seems to me that I am not unreasonable in my opinion, that, in consideration of Madame du Tertre's resolve to live with us, what she has so freely given ought to be left with the house of Nevers: otherwise she would have to make a virtue of necessity, and this we should be sorry to oblige her to do. But I am chiefly influenced by the fact that the authorities of Nevers only gave permission for the establishment of the Convent because Madame du Tertre accompanied her petition by a promise of ten thousand crowns, which promise was followed by the actual purchase in her name of a property, and the payment of a third of the foundation money; and on the strength of this the Sisters were received. Possession was afterwards taken of the house. The Sisters were installed by the Bishop, enclosure established, and the Blessed Sacrament reserved. Since that day the Divine Office[A] has been continuously recited. Thus, the foundation is, as you see, completely established. How, then, can Madame du Tertre, having undertaken the financial establishment of this house, now draw back without upsetting the whole affair? For as his Lordship of Nevers has upon two occasions plainly told me, the spiritual foundation cannot exist without the temporal.
Do you not see, Sir, that to do what this young lady wishes would mean ruining one of our houses to ensure abundance to the other house.
My very dear brother, may I, Sir, so call you? When writing to you, I have often thought of doing so because of my sisterly confidence in, and affection for you, and because of the obligations under which you have placed me. This I say simply and frankly, though perhaps somewhat unconventionally. Allow me Sir, my very dear brother, to tell you that the property is not ours to divide. As Madame du Tertre no longer wishes to adhere to her first resolve, she may be at liberty to take back what she has given, but I do not know what justice would have to say on this point. Still, putting justice aside, the Bishop of Geneva would surely not approve of our retaining one teston[B] that was not freely given. Oh! of that there is no doubt. But as she has entered amongst us, and as our house of Moulins is satisfied with the twenty thousand francs she brings, acknowledging that this sum is quite sufficient to provide the young lady with all she requires, and as the affair concerns our own houses, is it not better to follow the advice of his Lordship of Geneva and share the ten thousand crowns between the two houses? or at least leave ten thousand francs to Nevers, so that that house may not be ruined. It was upon the assurance of this from our Moulins sisters that those of Nevers decided to go to that town. Before God, how can we possibly put into the power of the Bishop of Nevers such a favourable pretext for sending the sisters away? Oh! can you not see, my very dear brother, how shameful it would be, and how prejudicial to the service of God? Although the houses are ours, and we have the principal interest in them, the agreement has been more to the advantage of this dear young lady than to us. For with her twenty thousand francs she possesses at Moulins all the privileges she could hope for were it fifty thousand, and besides, when there is just reason, in virtue of her title of benefactress, she is free to pass on to Nevers and there enjoy the same rights as are conferred on her at Moulins. This, in my opinion, is a very just arrangement and I most humbly beg of you to induce her to accept it. Use your influence with her, I beseech of you, for the honour and glory of God and of His Blessed Mother, and also for the love you bear our little Institute. Madame du Tertre desired to know the wishes of the Bishop of Geneva, and he has acceded to her request. Let her then accommodate herself to his views and live in peace. I appeal to you in the name of God, for I see no other way of settling this affair, and I own candidly that I can obtain nothing more from his Lordship of Nevers, who holds out for the full sum and writes about it in a very matter-of-fact way. I answer as God directs me, resolved through His grace to place all in His hands and to remain in peace and submission to whatever divine Providence ordains.
I beg of our Sisters of Moulins to do whatever justice demands. Oh! what a shame it would be to see our houses sueing one another! A thousand times rather would I prefer to see them overwhelmed with reproaches and poverty than that this should ever happen. If, dearest brother, after all these humble petitions and arguments, Madame du Tertre and our Sisters of Moulins wish to act against those of Nevers she must do as she pleases; but we shall neither blame them nor defend ourselves, for to do so would not be the will of God, and under these circumstances I am persuaded it would be better for one or other entirely to surrender its claim. Such, too, is the opinion of his Lordship of Geneva.
Oblige me by telling our Sister, the Superior of Moulins, that I have already written to her, as by accident she may not have yet received my letter. This, that I now write to you, will also serve for good Madame du Tertre, it being all I am able for, as I have a slight indisposition which is becoming habitual with me. I have no other wish than that she should be treated sweetly and cordially with all affection as she certainly merits. But, I assure you, Nevers was entirely her own free choice: I have ample evidence of this in her letters. God only knows all that has passed on this subject. Our poor Sister Superior may have appeared somewhat inflexible and shown how much she felt this rupture. But, dearest brother, in consideration for her position we must throw over this fault of weakness or surprise, the mantle of holy charity, that mantle which bears with all, excuses all, and hides all the defects of her children. These last lines are in confidence for your own ear only, your goodness and piety encouraging me to confide in you. I beseech of you in conclusion to use all the influence at your command in favour of peace and charity. Believe me, I am truly indifferent to everything except the glory of God.
I remain, Sir, very dear brother, with much affection,
Your humble and obliged
Sister and servant in Our Lord.