Letter 349. To St. Francis de Sales

I have been awaiting our pilgrims to write to you, but, my very dear Father, they are too long in returning, and I am afraid you may be anxious about us. We continue, thank God, to get better; at least, I do, being all right again save for a slight weakness of sight and a pale face. So you will see me with spectacles, though I need them only at night. Good Pére Binét has given me his, and is delighted to be of service to me. This brings to my mind that I ought to make haste eagerly to observe my dear Rule, for to keep it perfectly is my sole desire.

Our poor sister the assistant has had a relapse of her chronic double tertian fever. She frightened us one evening; I thinkit was permitted that I might make an act of resignation, which, by God’s grace, I did very tranquilly, being ready to acquiesce in whatever was the divine good pleasure. Now the fever has quite left her, and she is slowly recovering; but it will be many months before she is able to take up the charge. I want, if you please, to hand it over to her, in order to see how she bears herself under it, and this will likewise give me a rest, so as to get stronger for the journey, and for whatever my very dear Father may be pleased to command me.

Madame de Boissieux has, they say, written to you of their request for the foundation at Dijon, about which these

LETTER 349 gI good souls feel so confident that they are preparing a house and furnishing it for the sisters. The Duchess de Bellegarde would like us to stay with her, and hopes, on this account, that her husband will not be at Dijon when the sisters arrive. She also manifests a great and affectionate desire that I should go there to begin the foundation. To this I replied that I would do as it pleased you to command me. I think the grande fille would be very suitable for it, awaiting our Lord’s employment of her elsewhere. She would only require a good second. Five sisters at least should go. You will think the matter out at your leisure. If you desire me to go, we will ask you to advise us as to their route, so that we may meet all together. Certainly if you take our sister of Montferrand?! there will be no need for me to go, unless to help her a little.

All goes from good to better, thank God, in our houses on this side. They expect wonderful things from our passing visit. May God make me worthy and fit to serve them according to His holy will! I have a great desire to do so. Our dear sister, Madame de Port Royal,” has been strongly opposed by M. Duval and the Curé of Saint-Merry, but not conquered. We expect them here to-day to discuss the matter. They always attend this meeting. I am very anxious that Pére Binet should see her, for I think the meeting will get him on its side, and if so, with those it already has, the good mother will be conquered. He ought to have been here to-day, but he is kept back by the dangerous, excitable state of the mob of this town. Yesterday anyone who resisted them was killed off-hand. The death of M. du Maine? has so exasperated them against the Huguenots that the gentlemen of the town had great difficulty in preventing a massacre. As you know, on such occasions the good often suffer for the bad. Yesterday they set fire to

Q¹ SAINT JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL

Alas! my very dear Father, our poor M. de Saint Jacques died on Tuesday. I feel his death greatly; God grant that wemay be prepared! M. le Blanc, one of the Vicars-General, is a very good man, and shows a kindly feeling for us. Maybe it would be well to ask for him. The poor Count de Fiesque has been killed; he died like a saint. Madame de Guise told me the other day that her husband had written to her that after his death all the world was trying to kiss his feet, his hands, to cut bits from his clothing, to have something that had touched his body—so does Our Lord honour the good. A few days before his death his dear widow wrote to me, begging of me to place herself and all that belonged to her in the hands of God to do with as He pleased. By this act God gently prepared her for what was coming. We are expecting her here. She desires, beyond what she can express, to put herself under your direction. I will see if she can make herself known to you by letters and with my assistance, as she has given me her confidence very fully. She believes that, for her, there is no other guidance save that of our spirit. She is truly deserving of help.

The other day I received the dear letter you sent me by M. de Ballon. In season and out of season your letters are extremely profitable to me. This little word from your heart has greatly consoled this heart. Oh! how I read it over and over again! Praise be to our great God, who makes us ever more perfectly His own! And may He be likewise blessed for the continuation of the recital of the little Office as it is settled for us in the Directory. Nothing, I think, ought to be changed until we see you, my very dear Father; for as bishops have the power of fixing the

Office why should we not keep to what you settled? I hope Our Lord will so firmly establish this poor little Institute and render the sisters so exact to observance that nothing will ever shake or change it. This is my whole ambition and desire, and nothing else do I see to recommend.

The dear little Godmother is not here. Almost everyone is in the country. Madame de Ville-Savin’s admiration for you continues to grow apace. To speak of you appears to be an ineffable consolation to her. She salutes you most affectionately.

The little Sister de Villeneuve+ is quite well. Verily those two sisters are fine characters! This one has our spirit so perfectly that she could not have it more.

Here is a letter to you from our poor sister the assistant. I do not know what it is about, she has written it unknown to me. I should have made a difficulty about permitting her to write again. She is full of virtue—a living rule; truly these are good souls.

My Father, I affectionately salute, if you please, his Lordship of Chalcédoine, our very dear brothers de Thorens? and the Chevalier,? our beloved sisters, Mesdames de la Fléchére, Charmoisy, and Madame la Présidente [Favre de la Valbonne], and the other friends. May God alone be the eternal and sole love of your heart. Amen.²³

Footnotes

1. Mother Angélique Arnauld at this time thought of resigning her abbatial office to enter the Visitation Order. ↩

2. Mother M. J. Favre, the then superior at Montferrand. ↩

3. The Duke of Mayenne, son of the head of the League, who was killed at the siege of Montauban. His name was worshipped by the people, and the news of his death occasioned the riot in Paris. the temple of Charenton and to several houses, the students joining them. In short, all the honest people are in great trouble. May God in His mercy put an end to it! I hope through His grace that the worst is over, but it will be a long time before all the damage done is repaired. If the King, as is hoped, makes his entry by the end of this month into Montfaucon, that will appease all. It is sad that such things should be! ↩