Letter 869. To Mother Catherine Charlotte de Crémaux de la Grange

To Mother Catherine Charlotte de Crémaux de la Grange, Superior of the First Monastery of Lyons. {Moulins] 20 July [1628]. Vive > Jésus!

My very dear Daughter,—I knew the goodness of your heart would make you assist in every way in your power those poor sisters of Paray. Truly I feel great compassion for them, and will soon send a messenger to inquire how they are. If it is absolutely necessary for them to go elsewhere, I am asking Madame de Dampiérre (in case Madame de Ragny does nothing) to write to a farmer of hers near Paray so that he may receive them.

This dear lady has made us this offer solely out of charity and with a real desire that our poor sisters should retire thither in this emergency.1_ I begged our sisters of the Faubourg St. Jacques to let them know this, as I here cannot communicate direct with them.

We arrived here (at our monastery of Moulins) the evening before last, with poor dear Sister Superior of Nevers and one of her daughters. We went to within six leagues of Nevers to meet them, and will keep her for a week; she is a truly good and humble soul. At the end of this month we go to Auvergne, and hope to be at Autun about the 20th of August—from thence to Dijon, then to Bourg, unless your Archbishop, knowing of it, forbids them to recelve me; if he does, it will be a great grief to our sisters and to me, but we had better say nothing about it. From what I hear, if he continues in the same frame of mind, he will not wish me, I think, to go to your house any more. It will be hard on me, but there is no remedy for it. You will let me know somewhere en voute what I am to do; at any rate let me know at Bourg, for we ought not, it seems to me, to oppose him.

My very dear daughter, my sorrow about past things has not changed my heart towards you, nor towards our sisters, for I am persuaded that you did not realise the gravity of this fault, but I do indeed desire, and I feel it is necessary, that you should; otherwise it may entail evil consequences. I salute you and all our sisters. May God deign to live and reign in your dear souls, and may He be blessed.

P.S.—My daughter, I beg of you to let me know when the Father Provincial of the Jesuits arrives at Lyons, for I want to write to him. Meanwhile salute him very humbly on my part. I beseech your Charity to have these two packets and the letter safely conveyed to Pére Arnoux at Grenoble, and to let him know that they are from me.¹

Footnotes

1. The plague. ↩