Letter 232. To the same

Paris, 3 March, 1620. Vive & Jésus!

My very dear Father,—Yesterday evening M. Deshayes* told me that he had at last found an opportunity of speaking

1M. Deshayes, friend of St. Francis de Sales since the year 160¹, was secretary to Henry IV. One day he acknowledged to the King that he had more love for the Bishop of Geneva than for his Majesty. ‘ That _ does not displease me,’ replied the King, ‘ but tell the Bishop from me that I wish to be the third in this friendship.’ to the Cardinal} about the great project,” and that he spoke to him just as he had done to the King® and M. de Luynes, and he found him also quite willing. But he said it was not a matter they wished to consider at present, that, this opportunity being hindered, unless a position suitable to your birth and qualifications could be offered, he would not dream of trying to induce you to come. If he thought it was only to let you administer the diocese and have the care of souls, without the right of succession to the bishopric, he would not propose it to you, for there were several learned doctors, such as M. d’Archides, M. Courteau, and many others whom he could employ in the administration of the sacraments and the other episcopal functions, and he talked no end of that kind which I do not remember. He said he felt sure that he (the Cardinal), who has a great regard for you, if he wanted to induce you to come here, could secure a fitting position for you; that all his family were very keen to have you made coadjutor (especially the General,* who has the greatest admiration for your probity), but, to them all, it would be the greatest comfort to have this post secured by this means for theirsons. The Cardinal, in his answer to M. Deshayes, spoke of you with great esteem and affection. He said that any influence he had he would use exclusively for you, that his illness made him absolutely resolved to do this, but that the result depended on the King and M. de Luynes. In a fortnight’s time he would make the attempt, and then he will inform him of it. This is the substance of what the excellent M. Deshayes told me last evening, and he bade me write to you, awaiting his doing so after he knows the King’s answer.

My very dear Father, beware lest the interposition of M. Berger does not take the control of this affair out of the

Good Pére Binet? salutes you cordially. His affection and esteem for you are beyond expression. He does not take the same view as our wise men here, and hopes very much you will come, provided things are fittingly arranged. I regret not having named him before. All I said to you in my last letter is from the lips of M. Vincent, but I think it probably was the result of the combined counsel of MM. Duval,? de Montelon, and Vincent, for they are always of the same opinion.

Now I must tell you quite frankly, my very dear Father, that in my last two letters I had a secret desire that you should think that the opinions, considerations and aversion of which I spoke to you were really much more than I expressed them to be. I took great care not exactly to lie, yet I was, all the same, conscious of a certain failing in candour; but when I wrote my first letter I was so pressed that I did not know how all at once to repair it. Then in the second letter, though I thought of it, yet I was conscious that I did not name the persons I spoke of above, and for this same reason I resolved to do it another time, but I forgot it. It weighs on me now that I had not told it to you. O my God! never permit me to fail in the candid truth and simplicity which I owe to my very dear Father. It certainly is not my wish to disguise anything. I have already told you my feelings in regard to this.

Our dear Mother of Port Royal® would like to hear if she

E is to make a retreat this Lent, and how she is to make it. If you do not send her word, she will make it as we do. Hers is a soul strong in Our Lord. She writes to me with a boundless largeness of heart, and wishes absolutely that I see all her letters—this I resisted, but I have had to yield.

I do indeed wish, my very dear Father, that, if it please you, you would make the [canonical] visitation and hold chapter at home [at Annecy] before the departure of our sisters, so that it may serve as a model for the other houses. We do not indeed ask for it to be held here, as we do not know when we shall get into our house.

We have been told that there is no need of a lawyer’s letter in order to negotiate with the house of Nevers. Our Sister Jeanne Charlotte [de Bréchard] will be able to draw up the little agreement, and it is sufficient if the superior destined for it receives her obedience. They also are under the impression that there will be no need to urge the Archbishop of Lyons to give his permission, as the superior being of Nessy, and the other sisters being taken from Moulins, no difficulty can be made here. But if you judge it more correct that the leave should be given before the sisters are taken from thence, we will apply for it. They need not advance the date of the coming of our sisters for the foundation: it can be deferred until St. John’s Day. I will not write any more this time. Salute affectionately for me, if you please, our very dear friends (you know them all), our poor sisters, my poor dear nephew, and all your dear brothers. May Jesus, our good God, fill your dear soul and animate it with His most pure love! We are going to see Him in the Blessed Sacrament; for we are doing like the grand [churches] and shall have Exposition and a sermon each there several days to help her by his sermons and counsels. Mother Angelique placed herself under the direction of the Saint, and even thought of quitting her title and her crozier to enter the Visitation, but St. Francis never would consent to it. Not being allowed to carry out her wish, she desired at least by an active correspondence to remain under his guidance while he lived. Happy for her had she always walked in the favour of this pure light and not fallen, as she afterwards did, into the hands of a guide of unhappy notoriety, the Abbé de Saint Cyran, who led her in the ways of error and schism.

day during these three days. The people come here in crowds. God be blessed, my true and very dear Father.

P.S.—I have had this letter by me until to-day. Meanwhile I have received a letter from our Sister Claude Agnes [Joly de la Roche] which tells me that you are very well, my dearest Father; I praise and thank our good God for it. This daughter is, I think, doing exceedingly well. I can read it between the lines of her letter. I always felt she would do well in authority. Verily it is a most difficult thing to make nature die out and out. Remember, please, to answer what our little superior of Bourges asks about that sister. I assure you you ought, if you please, kindly to communicate sometimes with these poor superiors who are so far away from us. Alas! they excite my compassion! Write to them two or three times a year, and also to poor Madame de Gouffier, I beseech you. I know indeed that you are full of love and charity for all these dear souls who belong to us, and that it is only leisure that you need, but I am quite sure that you will not be displeased with me if I beg of you to make a little effort to do this. You are so absolutely the best of Fathers that a little line dilates and consoles their hearts beyond words. Nature holds to that, but how can nature be altogether killed? So you see, my dear nephew [de Boisy] is coadjutor. God be praised. The business is done, and it is good in all respects. He wrote me a little note and I can see he is overflowing with joy. Ought we not in future to call him Monseigneur? Yes or no, if you please, my dearest Father. Oh! may God make you very holy in everything that regards you! Amen. The dear sisters here are all devotedly around our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. They salute you very humbly. I have many other things to say to you, but I must conclude, my always best of Fathers.

Here we are at recreation. The sisters are all calling out to me to assure you that they want to be very good. Little Sister Ronsin says she wishes to love nobody but God and you. The two to whom you last gave the habit _wish to be your dear daughters. They all want to be named, but I shut their mouths, for it is who will say the most. If the letter that you entrusted to M. le Serre was for Madame de Jordre, it has been sent on, but our sister de Gouffier knows nothing about it. I do not let her know that you write to Madame de Jordre, for if she knew, that would but increase her suspicion. Good evening, my true Father; we all beg your holy blessing.

Tuesday evening, March 3.²³⁴⁵⁶⁷

Footnotes

1. The Abbé Duval, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Paris. ↩

2. Cardinal Henri de Gondi, Bishop of Paris. After his death (1622) Paris became an archiepiscopal see. ↩

3. To induce St. Francis de Sales to live in France. ↩

4. Louis XIII. ↩

5. Emmanuel de Gondi, General of the Galleys and Chevalier of the Orders of the King. His son Cardinal de Retz was practically the Arch- bishop of Paris. The Gondi dynasty occupied the see of Paris for a century. hands of your dear friend. It consoles me to see that he is such a friend of yours. ↩

6. Pére Stephen Binet, S.J., born at Dijon, 1569, was successively Rector at Rouen, Paris, Provincial of Champagne, of Lyons and of France. During forty years no good work had been carried out in Paris or in almost any part of France in which he did not take part and encourage by his counsel. St. Francis de Sales, whose schoolfellow he was, kept up the most intimate relations with him. St. Jane Frances de Chantal honoured him with her confidence, of which her letters are an evident proof. ↩

7. Mother Angélique Arnauld, Abbess of Port Royal. This religious of incontestable merit had, at the age of seventeen, undertaken the reform of her relaxed community; and at twenty-eight she undertook the much more difficult reform of the Abbey of Maubuisson. The Bishop - of Geneva was asked to visit this house and was struck with the remarkable qualities of the young abbess. He applauded her design and remained ↩