Letter 1685. To Mother Madeleine Elisabeth de Maupeou,}

Superior at Caen. Annecy, 14 April, 1640. Vive > Jésus!:

So all goes well in your interior mansion, my dearest daughter, because your heart desires only its God and its

Rule. And, thank God, all likewise goes well in your exterior mansion, because fidelity to the observance and union reigns therein. You have not done wrong to buy the linen and lace for his Lordship: when it is for prelates and things for the Church we need have no scruple. But, the better to honour our holy observance of the Constitution which forbids selling or buying, you could make this little purchase through some lady or friend; though in truth it is no great matter, nor ought you to have any scruple about it.

We do not fail to ask God to give your father light to be converted from his errors. I am sure you must feel deeply seeing the risk of eternal death for him who gave you temporal life. But we must console ourselves by the thought that these souls are dearer to Our Lord than they are to us, and from out their misfortunes His providence knows how to draw glory; nor must we cease in humble prayer to implore His divine mercy.

You ask me to make a wish for yourcommunity. O Lord Jesus, what other wish can my heart desire for these most dear daughters than that it may please Thy sovereign goodness to bestow upon them the grace to walk from virtue to of thought was: ‘ The yoke of the Lord is sweet, and His burden light.’ Her character, which combined complete forgetfulness of self with great strength of mind, enabled her in a short time to be of good service to the Institute. During the six years that she governed the community of Caen, her charity to the poor monasteries of Lorraine was magnanimous. She and her community, finding it impossible to assist these indigent houses of the Order save by severe self-denial, imposed upon themselves several days of fasting in each week. When St. Jane Frances heard of this wonderful charity, tears filled her eyes and she cried out: ‘ See what the heart of a true daughter of the Visitation brings forth!’ On September 21, 1640, Mgr. Francois Fouquet founded a house of the Visitation at Bayonne with seven sisters from the First Monastery of Paris, who remained under the guidance of a temporary superior, Mother M. Geneviéve de Furnes, until the following year, when, at the urgent request of Mgr. Fouquet, his aunt, Mother de Maupeou, took over the superiorship, thus securing by her prudent government the success of the new foundation. On her return to her house of profession, in 1655, Mother de Maupeou was again elected superior. She was employed during her religious life in apostolic work with the Ursulines of Melun, the Jansenists of Port Royal, and the Magdalen Penitents. Before her death she had the happiness of seeing her aged father abjure the Calvinist heresy and die a penitent and loyal child of the Church.— Année Sainte, vol. vii.

virtue in Thy holy love by a sincere, a faithful, and a loving observance of all that our holy Founder has prescribed!

It is assuredly a very sensible joy to me, my daughter, to hear with what reverence and filial affection your community has welcomed the new edition of the ‘ Book of Customs’ in which the intentions of our Blessed Father have been set down.

There is no doubt that, if a lay sister is permanently invalided, you can receive a fifth in her place, since she is unable to do the work of her condition, although she still remains always in that condition. Yours, etc.¹

Footnotes

1. It needed many a hard knock and bitter trial to evoke the desire for religious life in the heart of Madame de Maupeou. Her parents were well-known figures in the French Court in the reign of Henry IV, her father being his Intendant of Finances. Forced to marry against her will, she was, for eight years, the victim of reckless passion. After this time, putting her hand to the plough, she turned to God with her whole heart and entered the novitiate of the First Monastery of Paris. This was in 1628, Henceforth, until her death in 1674, her one constant expression ↩