Letter 1573. To Monseigneur Octave de Bellegarde

Vive >& Jésus!

My Lord,—I am told that you wish to know my opinion as to the abbatial? claim of one of our daughters.” Certainly [I consider] you should set your face against it, and never permit scandal to be given by such ambition and vanity in one of your daughters of our little Congregation—

St. J. F. de Chantal, vigilant and staunch guardian of the spirit of humility and simplicity bequeathed by St. Francis to his daughters, was indefatigable in her efforts to prevent any member of the Visitation from forsaking her Institute for such human considerations. The marvellously few instances of deflection from her teaching during the first half of the seventeenth century are a signal proof of how strongly she imbued her daughters with it. After her death the monasteries of the Order, through the interposition of the two Paris houses, obtained in 1676 from Louis XIV the confirmation of the former promise made by the Queen Regent, Anne of Austria, that no member of the Visitation should ever be nominated to a vacant abbey, thus putting an end both to the ambition of parents and the perplexity of vacillating daughters. On Colbert presenting the petition soliciting this favour to the King, Louis remarked: ‘It is only the Jesuits and the daughters of Holy Mary who would make such a demand.’

The texts of this petition and of the King’s reply are both preserved in the First Monastery of the Visitation at Paris——Unpublished History of the Foundation of the First Monastery of Paris.

established as it has been by our Blessed Father on the foundation of true humility. There was nothing he more desired than that it should always be distinguished for this virtue, and that every action of the daughters of the Visitation should breathe of it. I hope, Monsignor, that your fatherly remonstrances with this good sister will put an end to her miserable views. Most humbly I beseech of you to cut off from her all means of pursuing them, and forbid her absolutely to take any steps in the Nnatter. Alack! how great is her blindness, for, in my opinion, the loss of her soul would inevitably follow upon her leaving her monastery.

With all humility and respect, Monsignor, I most earnestly recommend to your paternal solicitude all these little houses that are so happy as to live under obedience to you, that they may always walk in holy candour and simplicity by the exact observance of the Rules of their Institute. JI address myself to you, Monsignor, freely and confidently, as in your kindness you have always been so courteous to me, and God will be the recompense of your care of them.¹²

Footnotes

1. France at this period possessed many rich abbeys, the greater number of whose inmates passed an easy and pleasant life. Fallen from their primitive observance, these houses were coveted by the families ofinfluence, who desired them for such of their daughters as they did not intend to provide for by marriage—a far cry from thence to the humble cloisters of the Visitation! It was, therefore, but natural that they should use all the interest at their command to procure the crozier rather than the cross for their relatives. ↩

2. Sister Jeanne Mad. Olivier de Leuville. ↩