Letter 1566

Circular letter + addressed to the Superiors of the Visitation,

Annecy, 4 July, 1638. Vive > Jésus!

My very dear Daughter,—I thank God that He has allowed me, before my death, to satisfy my great desire of giving our monasteries the new edition of the ‘ Book of Customs.’ It is enlarged by several necessary explanatory passages in reference to what we practise here as occasion or necessity arises, and what we know to have been the very definite intentions of our Blessed Father. Nothing is now wanting for my consolation and to crown my desire in this matter save one thing: the assurance that I expect from the affectionate goodness of our very dear sisters, the Superiors, and from their holy families, that they will lovingly carry out the observance with fidelity and exactitude; never departing one tittle therefrom nor from our holy Constitutions. Then, with trust in the divine mercy, I will gladly say, Lord, let Thy unworthy servant depart in peace. I beseech you, my very dear daughter, and all our dear sisters, unceasingly to implore this grace for me. Be assured that as long as I live I will continue to serve you, and when death comes, through God’s grace, it will find me with a whole-hearted love for your charities. My wish for all of you to complete your happiness is that you may enjoy an intimate union of soul with God and that you may be, in sincerity and affection, a united community by the perfect observance of your Rules and Constitutions. Believe me to remain with true affection, etc.

P.S.—My very dear daughter, I think I ought to tell you why I have delayed until now to distribute the ‘ Book of Customs.’ I should have done so last year, but for all the little objections and criticisms that have been made to me. It became necessary in consequence to have everything revised. The Archbishop of Sens, who is a holy prelate, to whom we are under great and endless obligations, has undertaken this. He has given himself the trouble to compare, word for word, all the documents which I have sent him, so that, as our Blessed Father said when he revised the Constitutions, we may leave nothing which can provide matter for fault-finding to such minds as enjoy cavilling and picking holes. To conclude, I hope some months hence that Our Lord will allow me the happiness of sending you the ‘Lives’ of our deceased sisters, the ‘ Foundations,’ the ‘Meditations ’ drawn from the writings of our Blessed Father for the annual retreats, and also our ‘ Little Customs’ of this monastery, together with several useful points which have been omitted in the printed ‘Conferences.’ I have collected these carefully from an approved manuscript which we have here. My wish is that you should be acquainted with absolutely everything which comes from our Blessed Father and has to do with the Institute, so that the daughters of the Visitation may all live on the good and wholesome bread of this holy and pure doctrine, so eminently suitable for them.4 God be praised.¹

Footnotes

1. Several monasteries preserve a copy of this circular signed by the hand of the Saint. That of Poitiers, having a more complete postscript than the others, is in preference reproduced here. ↩