Letter 1625. To Mother Marie Jacqueline Favre,» Superior of the Com-

en-Bresse. [Annecy, 1639.] Vive >h Jésus!

My dearest and beloved Daughter,—It has given me great consolation to know that your house held firm to the observance on the point of the election of a new superior. This rule is too important to be tampered with. I thank God for the choice our sisters have made of your dear self, and have confidence that He will bless your government. Take it up with a deep sense of humility and a total dependence on the sovereign and fatherly providence of our good God. Have recourse to Him in all your wants, in order that He may grace, who walking from virtue to virtue attain to a total self-surrender and to the possession of the sovereign good.’ In 1623 she was sent on the foundation to Avignon, where she succeeded Mother J. M. Compain as Superior. She prepared everything for the establishment of the houses of Forcalquier and Pont Saint-Esprit. Later she governed the communities of Marseilles and of Saint-Flour, and contributed to the foundation of Aurillac. Painful trials marked the last term of superiority of this generous Mother, and became the means of raising her to the high degree of perfection to which St. Francis had foreseen she would attain. She died July 22, 1658.— Année Sainte, vol. vil.

enlighten you as to His holy will, and that it may work in you and through you and you may repose in its care, without, however, neglecting faithfully to do on your side all that is in your own power. In any way that we can be of any service to you, have full confidence in our willingness. I will now tell you quite candidly what you, my dearest Sister Superior, and my well-loved Sister F. Augustine [Brung] {the sister Déposée] should do, so that no trouble may come either to yourselves or to your house from any want of that perfect understanding which ought to exist between you two, and the absence of which has brought about so much trouble in several of our monasteries. First, I beg both of you to practise very faithfully the advice given in the new edition which we send you of the ‘ Book of Customs.’ Try, moreover, to keep a holy liberty and a sincere confidence one with the other, for this tends to the glory of God, to perfect observance, and to the advancement of your sisters in holy perfection. There ought to be no general leave to speak in private with the sister Déposée. However, should some receive such permission, never ought the Déposée to give ear to any disapproval of the government of the Mother; and if by chance she is constrained to hear complaints of this nature, she should lead those who complain to love, esteem, and obey their Superior, whom she must always support. While the Superior on her part ought to uphold the sister Déposée in the good esteem of the sisters, keeping up in their hearts great love and gratitude towards her, and this not by flattery or obsequiousness, which would be contrary to the observance, but adhering to the Rule by a cordial respect without affectation or idle compliments. It would be very desirable that the sister Déposée should have no charge the first year [after her deposition]—I make an exception in case of absolute necessity. If you are obliged to have her as Mistress of Novices, the sisters who do not belong to the novitiate should not be allowed to go there. But, I repeat, it would be better to leave her free and give her leisure to withdraw a little into herself and apply herself to God, so that she may teach humility, gentleness, devotion, and submission with more utility by practice and example than she formerly taught these virtues by her exhortations to the sisters. To employ her here and there as necessity and occasion require may, of course, be unavoidable, and she ought to take her share in all the common work of the monastery. Let her be on her guard not to give any correction, and if, from old habit, she fails in this she should ask pardon of her whom she has corrected, as she would for any other failing. My dearest daughter, I know you will take these little cordial counsels from me in good part. They are not so necessary for you as they are for others, but it has just occurred to me to give them to you. May God turn all things to His glory and fill you and each one of your dear sisters with His holy love. Meanwhile I beseech you to implore the divine mercy upon me.

They [the sisters Déposées] ought not to be exempt from admonitions and corrections when they give occasion for them, and they should receive them humbly. However, on such occasions the Superior and the sisters, above all the young sisters that have charges, must comport themselves with more respect and reserve towards them than towards others. Neither the Superior nor the sister Déposée should listen to praise or flattery from the sisters, for that would put an end to peace. We must silence those who wish to act in this manner, and teach them true charity by discountenancing them. It behoves the Superior not to interfere with the regulations made by her predecessor, and if for some special utility she is obliged to change some of them, let it be done with all diffidence. It would also be kind of her to tell her reasons for so acting to the Déposée, taking great care not to grieve her. [Several words illegible.]

Let her not exempt herself from the ordinary lowly occupations of the observance, but serve as an example [to the community] in these things. If the Superior commits faults the Déposée should respectfully admonish her in private, and the Superior should so receive the admonition as to make her feel at ease in giving it, showing her both gratitude and consideration. In a word, the great rule is charity.¹

Footnotes

1. The history of this foundation has not preserved any details about this Mother except that she was the first novice received at the monastery of Bourg by the great Superior of the same name, to whom she was first cousin. ↩