Letter. To Mother Anne-Marie de Lage de Puylaurens

My very dear Daughter,—May the divine Saviour reign in us! Your messenger has not found us at Nessy, as we are at Turin. It is nearly two months since we left. My sister the assistant writes that she has been encouraging him to come this way, but according to the messenger, from whom we received your letters yesterday, his courage failed him. J wrote immediately to our sisters, the two Superiors of Paris, saying all I could to induce them to assist you as you desire. They are so good that I know if they can they will. Iam sending this letter to them, having no other means of conveying it to you, and I beg of the sister of the convent in the town to forward it to you at once. Write yourself and give them all the most forcible reasons and motives possible. Certainly, from the description you give of your requirements and the conveniences of this house, with the advantage in regard to the lods [& ventes]1 and amortisation,? there is no doubt but that you ought to purchase it, and you should make every effort to do so; all the more as your Bishop counsels it. That should have been enough without taking the trouble to send an express messenger to me to know my views. For, my very dear daughter, in those things in which I can only form my opinion by your judgment, and which do not regard the Institute, you ought always to do what seems to you best, with the advice of the ecclesiastical superiors and your sisters. Now,I think, since the Bishop of Poitiers so strongly advises not to lose this opportunity, and that you say he is kindly disposed towards you, it is very advisable to let him see that you are anxious to do all in your power to follow his counsel.

And, perhaps, that will encourage him to assist you or to go security for you.

I think you ought to write fully to our sisters, the two _ Superiors of Paris, explaining what security you will give them, and how you intend to pay them back the money they lend you. From what I know of them, I think they will assist you. However, I am aware of their being in debt, especially the [convent in the] faubourg. Can I say, therefore, if they will be able to find credit? You must sound them both. There is no doubt but that just at present money is scarce everywhere, and each one needs all he has; still, if it is to be had anywhere, it is in these great cities. If we were able we should most willingly help you. But God knows it is out of our power; and if we could give, we have four monasteries close to us: the second house, Pignerol, Saint-Amour, and this one, all in great need, so that we must help them, and it is more, almost, than we can manage. May God in His goodness provide the wherewithal! Two thousand livres were given for fhis Foundation, but everything isso dear! And we had to buy a house that cost us a good deal and is overburdening us, yet the Foundation looks as if it is going to be greatly for God’s glory. It has a great many postulants. As to our sisters of Lyons, I do not think they can help you; at least, there was no way of getting anything from them for our poor sisters of Saint- Amour, who are in trouble and need to be constantly helped.

The disturbance at Lyons truly pains me, for that house, which always was a model of observance and gave good odour within and without the Institute, is now, one sees, deprived of its fair name in the sight of all. Worse still, it is troubled and worried within from defective government, and by the bad advice which two or three sisters who have been recalled gave the Mother Superior, because, at least so it is said, they disliked Sister de Blonay, who did not raise them to the charges in the house which they wanted her to give them, They have so influenced the poor Mother de Sainte-Colombe, who, though very good and simple, is rather stupid, that they made her jealous, and turned her quite against our Sister de Blonay, on account of the sisters having shown so much affection for her and such anxiety about her during a very severe illness; after which illness, as soon as she had sufficiently recovered, they persuaded the Mother to get her out of the house under pretext of change of air, and because, as they said to the poor Mother, it was not good for the sisters to be so attached to their Mother. So Sister de Blonay was sent to Antiquaille [the second monastery of Lyons]. Soon after this the Community of Bourg elected her as superior, where she brought the blessing of God in her guidance of that poor house.

The house of Lyons continued in trouble, for the Mother? was not capable of governing, and her partisans kept up her animosity against Sister de Blonay. However, the Community, in their distress at losing her and seeing the unsatisfactory state of their house, asked to speak to the Cardinal [A. L. Richelieu, their bishop]. They informed him of the truth, after which he paid several visits to the convent to see what could be done.

Judging that the house was not in a good way and that the Mother had not the capacity to rectify matters, he deposed her and changed all the sisters in the various charges, with the result that the Mother, ashamed of herself, now keeps to her cell, and her adherents are still more put out. The rest of the house has quite recovered. Nay, even these poor ones who have been deprived of their charges are, each one of them, trying to do their best. They have

Mother de Sainte-Colombe died May 15, 1640, aged thirty-five years.— Archives of the Visitation of Annecy.

Our Sister M. Angélique [de Bigny] asks us for her pension; she forgets how hard we find it to keep going, and the promise she made me that we should only have to pay her the first year, and that her family would pay and would even give her four or five thousand livres. I am going to write to her. We have indeed the goodwill, but the power is lacking. She knows very well the charges on the house of Nessy; they are heavy, and if God did not bless it, it would succumb. I am writing to Moulins, which will provide the pension if her family does not pay it. My daughter, I am yours with unchanging affection. May God fill you with His graces. Amen.¹²³

Footnotes

1. The lord’s due in feudal times. ® The act or right of alienating property to a corporation ecclesiastical or temporal and their successors. ↩

2. The fault committed by Mother M. Marguerite de Sainte-Colombe was of the nature of those that inspired St. Bernard’s consoling words: “Is nota falla good thing when it makes us more humbleand more vigilant? Is it not truly God who supports the fallen one and who is Himself his tefuge when he finds shelter under humility?’ Such was the fruit Mother de Sainte-Colombe drew from her weakness during the two years she still lived at Bellecour. She made God alone her confidant and her consoler in the troubles which resulted from sending Mother de Blonay away. From henceforth she penetrated so deeply into the sorrowful mysteries of the Passion that it becameimpossible for her to desire any other happiness than the Cross and Calvary. Again verifying St. Bernard’s beautiful words: ‘ When the just fall into the hands of the Lord, by a marvellous disposition of His goodness, the very sin they commit leads them to a new justice, as says the Apostle: ‘‘ With him that loves the Lord all things work together unto good.’”’’ a mistress in their present Superior, and one who has borne her share of sorrow for the departure of Sister de Blonay. Such is, in brief, the history of the trouble at Lyons. It teaches us how careful we should be in the choice of superiors and never to be jealous of our predecessors, who have laboured, and, with the help of God, established the houses, when the sisters are grateful and dutiful to them; above all to those who have deserved it by their virtue and prudence in the fulfilment of their duty, as did our Sister de Blonay. She is truly a holy soul, straightforward and full of goodness. She feels deeply the affliction of the poor sisters of Lyons, and bears with great sweetness and charity the contempt and the vexation to which she has been subject by the action of these three or four sisters. It has been a consolation to me to see her peace and conformity to the good pleasure of God amidst all this persecution. Happy is the soul established in God and in holy humility; the winds of the storm are powerless to shake her. Would to God that I were asgood asshe! Iam saying too much, for if I do not close this letter I shall lose the post that goes to-day. You can receive six little girls. May God in His goodness assist you to purchase that place. Make every effort to do so, and write fully to our sisters, so that they will not be afraid of being burdened with the debt of the money they are lending you. ↩

3. For the little habit. ↩