Letter 808. To the Baroness de Chantal,1

Ah well! my most lovable and beloved daughter, ought we not in all events that God ordains lovingly to bless and generously to embrace His holy and sweet will? Yes, indeed, dearest little one, we must do so with all our hearts out of reverence for the Hand that sends them, however deep the wound or acute the pain. Now this is how I want you to act in your affliction. Your good husband was mortal, as we all are—and just think, my daughter, of all the occasions in which he risked his eternal salvation! Yet see the sweetness of our good God in giving him a death so Christian and so honourable that we may well trust he has entered into a life of glory and endless bliss. Lay hold of this real comfort, dearest daughter, and look forward to reunion with so admirable a husband where our intercourse with him will be exempt from all fear and filled with never-ending joys. Such was the happiness which, from the beginning, I hoped for in your marriage, and I can desire no other. Take care of yourself, dearest daughter, so that you may be able to educate in the fear of Our Lord the dear pledge which He has given you of this holy marriage and keep it as a trust, not letting it take too great a hold of your affections, so that the divine Goodness may, with all the greater care, be Itself all things to this dear little girl.

Iam comforted in the hope of seeing you on my arrival at Orleans, when I shall try to get permission for you to come into our house, for I know that will be a consolation to you. Meanwhile, I command you, dearest daughter, to take comfort and be assured that the ties which bind me to you never took such possession of me as now: for, putting aside my concern, from my undying love for my beloved son, I desire to give you all the love that God has put into my heart for him as well as what I already have for you. I beseech of Him in His supreme sweetness to be Himself your comforter. Seek, my daughter, your sole consolation in Him, and I assure you you will find it there, and that in abundance. I remain, with the greatest affection, your most humble Mother, etc.¹