Letter 1661. To Mother Anne Thérése de Préchonnet

LETTER 1661 To Mother Anne Thérése de Préchonnet, Superior at Rouen. Annecy, 14 December, 1639. Vive > Jésus! My ever dearest and beloved Daughter,—First of all let me assure you before answering your letter of the 24th of

October that I have already faithfully, point by point, answered your preceding letter, and sent my answer to Paris. You ought to have received it, I think, by now. As long as God gives me light and health you may feel quite sure that I shall never fail to answer your dear and most welcome letters. So long a time has your heart known my heart that I need say no more on this head.

Now as to your election at Rouen, I know well the generous frankness with which you so willingly promised your dear daughters to continue to serve them if your ecclesiastical superiors agree to it. I beseech you to neglect no means of securing this permission. Make use of the same influence with the Bishop of Clermont to keep you at Rouen another three years as I made use of to get you there. I have already written to Father Charles¹ [de Craffort], who, I see, does not object. After the death of their good Mother [M. Michelle des Roches] he would not allow our sisters of Montferrand to put off their election until your deposition had taken place, and in this he showed his usual wisdom and considerateness. He acted very prudently, for such a delay in the election would have had serious consequences in the Institute. Our good sisters have therefore elected Sister [A. Charlotte] de Cordes, who is a most virtuous religious, and their satisfaction with her will, I assure you, make up to them for their charity in still leaving your dear self with the good sisters of Rouen. I have already written them a line, but I shall write again, please God, for I can see very plainly how much you are needed where you are.

The sisters you propose to put on the election list are thoroughly good and virtuous. For Sister [M. Geneviéve] de Furnes and Sister [M. Agnes] Le Roy, you must apply to the monastery of Paris to which they belong. As to Sister A. Benigne Joquet, I do not think the sisters of Nevers will let you have her, for they are talking of founding a second monastery in that town. However, I hope you will need neither the one nor the other, and that permission will be given to put you on the list, and then you will be re-elected.

As to what you tell me, dearest daughter, of your foundation,! it seems to me that you will be giving it a good start if you provide the sisters you send with a part of the furniture. But I do not think it would do to send Sister Foras de Bernard as Superior. Though she may be very good, she has not, I consider, the talents or the suitability for government. But you might send your first professed, provided you are not impoverishing your own house too much by depriving it of so good a subject, for, if it can be managed, a sister of Normandy ought to succeed you after your second triennial.

My God! daughter, how heartily I laughed at what you tell me of the old ones procuring that the youngest ones should have the penances which they would not do themselves. They have had plenty of penances in their day, but they have forgotten this, for the love and habit of mortification has not taken root in them. You will see the answer I have given Sister J. Elizabeth Edeline, so I will not repeat it. In the name of God try to endue all these good sisters with that universal spirit which God has bestowed upon us, for it is a pity to see natural antipathies of nation against nation reigning in souls who are obliged to aim at the highest perfection. Oh! dear daughter, make them thoroughly understand that we are all daughters of God, whose love joins together and unites things most adverse. This divine Master wishes, through His law of grace and loving charity, to join all things as He wills: the wolf with the lamb, the lion with the leopard, and a little child shall lead them.? That is to say that temperaments of divers nations and parts of the earth should be but ONE in His divine love, more especially when sharing the same sheepfold and the same religious vocation. If the contrary shows itself in some characters it is a sign that the human and the natural reigns in them rather than what is of grace. So should those affected with this misfortune humble themselves profoundly and begin anew to mortify themselves, acknowledging that

Pray for me that I may imitate the virtues of these dear souls, for I believe it is for this, that I may reform myself, that Our Lord leaves me so long here below. I told our sisters the other day that I have no other malady than too much health. May the most holy will of God be done in all things and everywhere, and may His goodness give me the grace never to wish anything else.

Believe me, dearest daughter, with all the sincerity of heart that you know me to have, yours, etc.²

Footnotes

1. A second monastery of Rouen. * “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them.’—Isaiah xi. 6. truly they have not yet put the axe to the root, seeing that, as you say, this unwholesome plant so often throws out new shoots. If your charity thinks well to read this to them I should be very glad. I beg of them all to weigh the words of Our Saviour, who wished that His own might be all one, and let them imitate Him, who was no respecter of persons,? and who distributed His graces without distinction to all nations. What more have we to say, dearest daughter, than that, indeed, I expect your kind heart has been greatly afflicted by the death of the good Mother of Montferrand? The end crowns the work, and to the very end she has shown herself a soul of true virtue, although she was a little rigid and severe, while you, dearest daughter, are all sweetness and candour. It was this that made some minds refractory; but God is good and draws His glory out of everything. I consider the Institute has suffered a great loss in her death. Our sisters of Montferrand acknowledge with sorrow that only since they have been deprived of her have they known their loss. I hope she will intercede for us in heaven, where our good God so often takes to Himself the best subjects of our Institute. A deposed mother [A. Marguerite de la Luxiére] has died in Provence; she was professed of this monastery, and was truly a living rule. The good and virtuous Mother {[M. Henriette de Prunelay], Superior at Rennes, has also died, as you will have heard. 1 “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me: that they may be one as We also are one,’—John xvii. 11. 2 “In very deed I perceive that God is not a respecter of persons,’— Acts x. 34. ↩

2. Oratorian and Vicar-General of the Bishop of Clermont. ↩