Letter 550. To the Reverend Pére de la Riviere

My Reverend Father,—The copy of the manuscript regarding our Institute has fallen into my hands, and I find it very incorrect. It was made in my absence from Annecy, and no one knew very well what was in it.

Ist. It was not the fact of going to see my daughter that made me resolve to remain [in Savoy], for our Blessed Father had made up his mind to employ me in the establishment of his Congregation five or six years before this marriage, which was not thought of then; but divine Providence made use of it to give me a pretext to retire to Savoy. By the death of the Saint’s sister, the late Mademoiselle Jeanne de Sales, whom he had confided to my care, divine wisdom chose to bring about this marriage (which would otherwise have been impossible) in this wise. At the moment of her death, I, being greatly afflicted thereat, was inspired by God to offer my daughter to the house of Sales, instead of the dear deceased. I did so in the manner of a vow, thinking that God had opened this door for my retirement, to shorten the years for me, because a vow made thus, in a moment of fervour and sorrow, would be more easily pardoned by my late father and my other near relatives, and I felt that God would give me strength to gain them over and to face all the numberless difficulties before me. By the guidance of God Himself, to whom be the glory and the praise, all this has come about. I had not intended to tell you these details, my very dear Father, but they have slipped from my pen, and I think it is as well that your Reverence should know the true account. It shows that this Congregation and its results have been under a very special guidance of divine Providence. However, I presume you will not mention all these particulars, nor others in which Iam mixed up. This favour I beg of you in your kindness to grant me, as in truth I am unworthy to be

A \ ne Ver 4 > as ale eee Ce 1 ri

BARONESS JANE FRANCES FREMyOt DE CHANTAL (1601) Aged 29 lyom the Original at the Visitation Monastery of Chambery named in the life of the Saint; for a long time I have been conscious of this.

zndly. Not only did Pére Bonnivard approve of this project for me, but likewise many other great servants of God, and when our Blessed Father made it known to me, which was not until some years after he had resolved upon it, I did not feel the very least repugnance to it.

3rdly. We were only three weeks together before we received subjects, and at the end of the year we were nine, all of whom were chosen souls and called by a special vocation. Pére Bonnivard, who preached at Annecy that first year, was of my opinion in this.

4thly. By the end of the year we wore our head-dress and habit, just as they now are except that the skirt of our habit was joined to the bodice and our sleeves were narrow. About the third year our Blessed Father advised us to make our habits like sacks and our sleeves wide, as we now wear them.

5thly. It is quite true that at the beginning, and for about five years, unusual and excellent practices of virtue, mortification, and charity were practised amongst us, and this with an incomparable fervour of spirit. Only the first professed, not the novices, were allowed to go out of the convent to perform these exercises of charity. But quite suddenly we found ourselves completely changed, and possessed of a desire for enclosure in accordance with the resolve our Blessed Father had made, as is set down in the manuscript.

6thly. He certainly had a great desire that we should remain under the title of simple Congregation, though with enclosure and public vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience as we now make them, but not solemn. His incomparable humility made him agree to the change, and, besides, our Lord made known to him that he wished us to be under the holy Rule of the great Saint Augustine. For this reason he used to say that, notwithstanding the repugnance of his own will, God had done His; and, all things considered, it was best that we should be erected into a religious Order, and that it made him very happy to feel that this had been accomplished.

wthly. I see, my very dear Father, that you have forgotten to mention why our Blessed Father gave us the little Office and desired so strongly that we should retain it. I will therefore send you his reasons, if I can, in his own handwriting. The most touching reason is that he bethinks himself that Holy Church, having dedicated one day in each week to the special worship of the most holy Virgin, would be well pleased with him for dedicating an Order entirely to her honour, wherein her praises would be continually sung. The preservation of this little Office is, my very dear Father, an integral part of our Institute. There is no doubt that it was by a special inspiration that this Saint dedicated our Congregation to Our Lady, and through an intimate devotion to and reverence for the mystery of the Visitation. He had intended to call us the Daughters of Saint Martha, when, quite suddenly, a few days before our commencement, he told us with manifest joy that we were to be the Daughters of Our Lady.

8thly. The monastery of Dijon, the eleventh in the Order, was established before our Holy Founder’s death, and since his death our sisters have been received at Marseilles, Chambéry, and Avignon.

othly. I see mention in the memoir of an ecstasy. This, I think, must have come about through some want of lucidity in my manner of expressing myself, or else they have forgotten what I said, for I know he who drew up the memoir is incapable of any insincerity. I have written to ask him from whence he learnt it, and, if he has had it from some good authority, I will immediately inform your Reverence; if not, this is what took place. The first time I visited this blessed Saint, after the interview at Saint- Claude, was at Sales. Now he told me that he waited for me on the road, in a barn, near the house, and that he remained alone there full three hours, during which, if my memory does not fail me, he had wonderful thoughts, great and extraordinary illuminations on the subject of ° my coming to him. He did not, however, tell me what they were, but a little later he said to me, ‘ In a year I will tell you my thoughts and my plans. Leave to me the care of the employment of the rest of your days, and I will be answerable to God for them.’

When I came back to him only two years later, he told me plainly the resolve he had taken, and I think what he had said to me the previous time had been inspired by our Lord. But as I had placed myself entirely in his hands, I had no curiosity to know more than he chose to tell me; so I can tell you no more about it, unless I say that I think it is very probable that God gave him great illuminations on this subject, with the foretaste and the mental certitude that this little Congregation would do much good and bear much fruit to the Church of God. He has said this often enough in many of his letters.

rothly. There is nothing more to tell your Reverence on the subject of our Blessed Father except that he never wished us to be under a general. His chief reason is given in the manuscript; he had many other forcible reasons which he told me when at Lyons, but this one, to my mind, is sufficient. When telling me, he added these words: “The happiness of religious houses of women does not depend upon being placed under the government of one sole head, but on the fidelity with which each individual sister unites herself to God by a perfect loyalty to the observances of the Institute.’ And he said that he would arrange many little ways of keeping our monasteries united and conformable to one another. We already practise some of them, but it is evident that he had others in his mind which it would have been quite necessary to come directly from him. However, God willed otherwise, and we must acquiesce. Alas! I did not ask him what these ways were, for I hoped that we should settle all that at Nessy. He told me that he would consult the Reverend Pére Antoine Suffren about all this, and so I begged this father to tell us anything he might have learnt from our Blessed Father. He has done so, and I will send you, if I can, what he has written on the subject.