Letter 851. To Mother Marie Aimée de Blonay, Superior of

the First Monastery of Lyons. [Paris] 8 May, 1628.

Vive > Jésus!

My dearest Daughter,—I am dictating this to one of our sisters because I am unwell to-day and not able to write; but if I let a fortnight pass without writing to you, you will worry about me. When I received the Vicar-General’s letters I sent them at once to M. Tonnelier and again earnestly recommended his affair to M. Berger. It will be a very great satisfaction to me, I assure you, dearest daughter, if you can render any little services to this good gentleman, to whom we are so much indebted for his fatherly care of our two houses. Indeed, I reverence him with all my heart. As to the ‘Conferences ’ of our Blessed Father, since M. Brun has seen a copy of them there is no doubt but that they have been printed; and it would be well to urge whoever showed them to him to say from whom he got them. It certainly was not from the Superior of Bourg, for she greatly dislikes them. Here they consider the printing of the [true] ‘Conferences’ a matter of importance. This was my reason for letting them be seen, so as to obtain the King’s patent for printing them, which will put a stop to all the other booksellers reprinting [the false ones], and those who have them for sale will have to give them up. I intend to keep my promise to M. Cceursilly on condition that he provides good paper, fine type, and a good reader. It is distressing to see the number of mistakes in the ‘ Book of Customs,’ chiefly in the sentences. As to the dedicatory letter, take it away, I beseech of you, and in place of it put what I sent you.t’ Thank you for your promptitude in sending the conveyance for our Sister [Favre]. I sincerely hope she will soon be at Dijon, so that she may see Mgr. de Langres. We hope to start from here eight days from now. May Our Lord ever bless you.

P.S.—My very dear daughter, our departure is arranged for next week. Think of my embarrassment; but do not worry about me. We shall talk all out, please God, the minute we meet one another. As to your elections, you have a brave daughter in our Sister Catherine Charlotte, and I think she will do admirably. I have no claim to the esteem of the Vicar-General. However, he is a worthy prelate, and I revere him as such. The Bishop of Geneva will not, I think, as I have already told you, agree to my being proposed for your election. As for myself, putting aside my desire for repose, I hold myself in a state of indifference, ready for anything that it may please God by means of His divine grace and my ecclesiastical superior to do with me. This I am able to say to you, my dearest daughter. I very humbly greet M. de la Faye and all our sisters.

The Mother of Saint-Etienne is certainly very much afflicted by the state of poor Sister Marie Elizabeth, which is deplorable. Give her all the sweet comfort and consolation you can. I hope to see you, but do not be too eager to obtain permission for me: I do not think that they will shut the door on me when I arrive. If they do I can go to the out-sisters’ room; for we must always honour and gently submit to the will of our ecclesiastical superiors.*¹

Footnotes

1. See Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances deChantal,p.152. London: _ Washbourne, 1917. ↩