Letter 780. To Mother Marie Aimée de Blonay

Superior at Lyons. [Grenoble] 16 May [1627]. Vive > Jésus!

. . . My very dear Daughter,—In a letter from Paris they tell me it is said there that our foundation at Bourg?

has been procured through sharp practice, by trickery and taking them unawares—as much as to say that we of set purpose slighted the authority of the Archbishop by having recourse to the Bishop of Autun to obtain the necessary permission. You know it was quite otherwise, and how we wrote to M. de la Faye;¹ you are aware of everything that happened in reference to it.

There was no keenness on our part, but the people of Bourg hurried it on because they wanted to secure Sister jurisdiction over the vacant see of Lyons. His Lordship granted the requisite permissions, as Madame de St. Loup appeared to have arranged everything in a satisfactory manner. Shehad seen St. Chantal at Annecy: the Saint had appointed Mother Favre superior of the new house, and would send with her five sisters as foundresses; and Madame de St. Loup proposed hiring a house until she could find a suitable one to purchase. The installation was made with much pomp (deference to the wishes of foundresses often obliged the sisters to submit to this). Henceforth each day the sound of the convent bell ringing for the religious exercises of the monastery rejoiced the inhabitants of Bourg and lifted their hearts to God. But apparently Madame de St. Loup showed no eagerness to make good the generous obligations she had taken upon herself. At last the day of reckoning came, and the good foundress, when she saw that the actual production of the money had become a necessity, became wholly unreasonable, and turned a deaf ear to every argument. She repudiated all her obligations with the exception of 4,000 francs, the dowry of her daughter, who had entered the novitiate of the Visitation. The monastery was in this plight when the new Bishop of Lyons, Mgr. de Miron, took possession of his see. He lost no time in looking into the affairs of his archdiocese, and, finding there was no adequate provision for the new foundation, for which besides he had no predilection, he at once cancelled the licence. Pending the departure of the community, his Grace ordered that the convent bell was to be silenced, Mass only to be celebrated in private, and the chanting of the Office to cease. The full sympathy of the people of Bourg went out to Mother Favre and her sisters during the time of these painful prohibitions, under which the quiet submission of the community was the edification and admiration of all. Before actually leaving, the nuns made a novena to know God’s will in their regard. At the end of this novena, Madame de Vigny, a widow lady who had been a generous benefactress to the monastery of Dijon and who held Mother Favre in high esteem, espoused her cause with great ardour, went herself to Lyons, saw the Archbishop, and so successfully influenced him that he withdrew his prohibition and allowed the nuns to remain at Bourg. God so visibly blessed the community after this that even in that first year it wanted for nothing, and received, besides, many valuable gifts for the projected church.—Unpublished History of the Foundation of Bourg.

Favre, who, they thought, was to be sent to Piedmont in the spring, and her relatives were very desirous to have her near them for some months. My daughter, it is not our spirit to make use of artifice nor to fail in respect to our prelates. See, I beg of you, that the truth and our innocence is made known through some friends. Salutations, etc.²³

Footnotes

1. Vicar-General of the archdiocese of Lyons and spiritual father of the sisters of the Visitation of Bellecour (Lyons). ↩

2. Madame de la Fléchére gave her own house at Rumilly for this foundation, which took place on September 29, 1625. St. Jane Frances de Chantal was herself present at the installation, and wrote the following in the Book of Vows of the new monastery: “May God in His goodness deign to pour on this new plant the waters of His divine grace, that it may grow in all virtue for His glory and the edification of its neighbour. By the command of Mgr. Jean Frangois de Sales I have brought our dear sisters here to begin with them this house. May it abound in all blessings, above all in that of exact observance with a spirit that is gentle, humble, simple.—SIstER JANE FRANCES FREMYoT.’ ↩

3. The history of this foundation is not without interest. Madame de St. Loup wished to found a monastery of the Visitation in her own town of Bourg, and to become its secular foundress. She undertook to give 30,000 francs for this object and to obtain the necessary licence. For this purpose she visited the Bishop of Autun, who at the time had ↩