Letter 459. To Mother Marie Aimée de Blonay

Annecy, May, 16[2]3. Vive > Jésus!

My dear Mother,—[By the hand of a secretary.| Our very dear Mother begs of you to look at the letter she has written to the Bishop of Bourges, and if you consider her answer unsuitable to send it back to her, but if it is all right to close it and put it with the Paris letter. Should those she has written to-day not have gone, she would like you to put them all together unless you do not think them suitable, in which case let her know how they should be answered. Herewith is the plan she sends you; it can be added to or diminished by an arcade.

[by the hand of St. de Chantal.] You ought to geta copy of the scheme [for the buildings] that I sent to our sisters of Orleans, and, as soon as you can, send them this one with their returned plan. By sending it to Nevers it can, I think, be forwarded from thence.

That is a fault in the Directory [of the offices], for it was not my intention to prevent the Superior from reading whatever she chooses and the Rule says she may. The sisters who are longest professed should assist the Superior when she officiates; this has always been the custom, and it is stated in the Directory. The bursar has been in the habit of speaking alone through the curtained grille; still I think it is better to follow the Rule. I had not thought about it. Our Blessed Father showed us how to write of the death of the sisters as you find it in the Directory. The Directory for the Office of the Dead will be explained so that you can understand it.

As regards the decrees of the Chapter, they ought to be preserved. The Provost told me this yesterday. The thing is so simple that there is nothing to fear about it; we shall look through the article again and make it clearer. As to the faults, I am certainly of opinion that no one should see them except the professed sisters, and of those only the long time professed. But where are they to be kept when they are printed? for what is not printed is not preserved. Consider this matter.

We usually make the tunics of English frieze; if the bodices are not lined they will not be warm enough, at least so they say, and experience seems to prove it, sine for one or two who are not chilly you will find twenty who are. You must put clothing in the same category as food, we being established to receive the infirm, for such, in short, was his Lordship’s intention. The quality of the stuff does not signify, provided it is good; but the sisters say experience has taught them that what costs a little more lasts longer and is warmer.

Our Blessed Father settled that the sisters should have a conference every month. It is, we are told, the Council [of Trent] that ordered the lamp,} and all the reformed monasteries observe it. The expense is only four pots of oil. You have given me great pleasure by sending me all these points of which you take note. Continue to do so with the same directness with which I answer. I am very glad to know all your views, for, afterwards, in determining, I will draw up things in accordance with them. But think well now, for once I have finished, like our Blessed Father when writing the Constitutions, I’ll think no more about it; in short, will have done with it.

Look at the enclosed copy of the note I added to the letter of our Sister Superior of Paris. We have always been much worried at Paris, especially about the Office. They fear that the Archbishop of Paris, when making the [canonical] visit, will oblige them to the great Office, but I do not think so. In a word, the monasteries ought to keep united in favour of the little [Office]. This has come about through my imprudence at the beginning in not sending out these little articles, the better to enlighten them as to our Blessed Father’s wishes—and to abide by what he had settled. I did not think of it. Our ecclesiastical superiors here have decided that as it is written down it is best to keep to it, and I follow their advice.

I wish I had time to tell you of the surprise I gave our sisters by deposing myself.2 I said nothing beforehand to them about it, and they thought they had only to proceed with the election. I never saw such astonishment nor¹²

Footnotes

1. To give light to the dormitories during the night. ↩

2. According to the Constitutions of the Visitation the superior remains in charge only three years, after which, in presence of the Chapter, she lays aside the government of the house. However, by the formal order of St. Francis de Sales the Venerable Mother de Chantal had always been superior at Annecy until the year following his death, when, wishing to give an example of fidelity to observance in so essential a point, she, in her own person, carried out the Rule in spite of vigorous opposition. emotion. However, I did not yield, but followed the Rule. They held counsel amongst themselves without telling me, and came to the conclusion that they had committed a great fault and would, at the election, refuse to accept my deposition, and re-elect me as superior in perpetuity. I, knowing nothing of this, was taken aback when the ecclesiastical superior announced it aloud. I accepted the charge, not in perpetuity, but in accordance with the Rule. Afterwards I tried to point out to them their fault, but there was no means of persuading them of it. On the contrary, they were ashamed that they had not opposed me at once, and said I was not like other superiors, and that they were under obligations of gratitude to me for this and that— fiddle-faddle!—and that it was not the intention of his Lordship that I should be defosed, but rather, elected, that other monasteries wished to elect me as superior, which they would never allow. In short, if I had been their foundress or some important person, they could not have said more. Think this matter over, I beg of you, and see if there is anything else I ought to do, so that no bad consequences may result for the other monasteries; for nothing on earth must we do that would harm our Institute. Now I have told you all, and it comforts me to speak to you about our little affairs—I would naturally do it, but usually cannot find time. ↩