Letter 839. To Mother Mane Héléne de Chastellux

My very dear Daughter,—May Our Lord bless you and all your holy community. There is no need to excuse yourself, for J am quite content that you should write to me as little as possible while I am visiting our houses, where I have hardly time to read my letters.

I shall be very glad to know when the good widow enters and how she gets on; I have a feeling that she will do well. It gives me great pleasure that you treat thus freely with the relations of our sisters, but I am strongly of opinion that you ought to be very careful in your choice of subjects. I heard about all that took place on your entrance into your new house.t_ You should show your gratitude to the gentlemen of the town corresponding with the devotion they have shown you. Thank God you are well lodged and owe nothing; that ought to satisfy you. A monastery is, to my mind, rich enough when it is thus. It is well, dearest daughter, to have great trust in the providence of God and little concern for temporal goods; this is a very important point, for God never fails those who trust solely to His goodness. What makes me hesitate about Cluny is the few sisters whom you seem to think suitable for it, and it appears to me the sisters of St. Ursula would really be of more use there than we. Still, you ought to take the advice of some servants of God, such as the Vicar-General, your spiritual father, M. de la Curne, or some of the Jesuit fathers; but be careful to choose persons who have no self-interest in the affair. If they approve of it, then choose from amongst your daughters the most suitable for establishing it in the true spirit of our Institute, or else take some from Moulins. Our Rules are not yet printed. I will send you what I have written about them; but do not show it elsewhere, because mistakes have been made in it, which I have corrected. Our ‘Book of Customs’ is printed; you shall have it with the rest. Now then keep joyous, you and all your little community. From my heart I hope that, with the blessing of God, you may ever advance, holding to fidelity on one side and liberty on the other. Yours, very dear daughter, etc.

P.S.—I am so overwhelmed with work that I am unable to write this myself, but you know you have my heart. Certainly you should give great encouragement to that good sister, but do it gently.

My dear daughter, since I wrote the above I have received your letter of the 23rd February. I shall not fail, please God, to go and see you, notwithstanding the plague. I will write a line to good Sister Grillet. She must consent to make known her entrance into the monastery. M. de la Curne can very well persuade her to do it, for her silence might be a precedent for the future and open the door to several inconveniences.¹

Footnotes

1. The translation of the community of Autun to its new monastery was carried out with the greatest solemnity. The Bishop ordered a public procession on the occasion, in which he himself walked, surrounded by the ' magistrates, the nobles, and an immense concourse of the people. ↩