Letter 1756. To Mother Claire Madeleine de Pierre

Superior at Angers.

Annecy, 8 March, 1641. Vive > Jésus!

My dearest Daughter,—With all my heart I praise God for the edification you have received from our Sisters N. N.;

they are true servants of Our Lord, well grounded in the observance of the Rule. Thank God, you have been given such a good spiritual father. His wish that the novices should go outside to be examined for the profession is certainly not our custom. Our Blessed Father himself examined them at the grille in the parlour, but quite alone and with closed doors. Tell the good priest this quite simply, and as he is so full of affection for you he will, I think, let himself be overruled by this example. However, should he insist, you must on this point comply with his desire. Be very firm in keeping to the observance of the Rule, but do not be too unyielding and niggardly about temporal things. And, for the love of God, never reject infirm subjects if they have sound hearts and minds; nor ask a great increase of dowry because of their infirmities, unless for those to whom it will be necessary to give very exceptional relief. In a word, my wish is that it should be manifest that you are true daughters of our Blessed Father. Let us not, I beg of you, daughter, seek to shine nor keep up a great appearance; rather should we live humbly under the shelter of holy poverty, and if we do, it will be all the better for us, for God looks with favour on the humble, and we ought to wish to be hidden from all the world for the sake of one look from Him. I notice in the list of your charges that you have made an unprofessed novice, sacristan. You must not, please, do this, unless for some quite exceptional necessity. We must be satisfied to put them as aids to the sisters in charges, and give them the time of their novitiate for studying the observance and grounding themselves in the interior spirit. I am told you are getting over your delicacy of health, and I am very glad of it, for the attendance of the Superior at the community exercises is so important that it is impossible to exaggerate its necessity. Be present at them as much as ever you are able. Certainly, we Superiors are bound in duty to watch over ourselves, so that while serving others we are not unmindful of the eternal welfare of our own souls.

I congratulate our dear sisters on the profit they have found in the ‘Meditations for Retreat’ which have been collected here by our dear Sister [F. Madeleine de Chaugy]. All that proceeds from the mind of our Blessed Father, or is conformable to it, is peculiarly suitable for us.

You draw my attention to two weak points in the place they wish to sell to you; good air and gardens being absolutely necessary for cloistered religious. One of the chief cares of Superiors wishing to make foundations should be to procure a good situation for their monasteries. Our very honoured brother, the Abbé de Vaux, will give you good advice on this head. I am glad to have news of him; he is a faithful friend of the Institute, and he has a thorough and practical understanding of the spirit of our Blessed Father. You cannot be wrong in following his counsel. Salute him very respectfully, and all our dear sisters very cordially, for me. I beseech of them to ask Our Lord to prepare me for a happy death, that I may die in His love, His grace, and His fear. I am now of an age! when, it seems to me, all who have the charity to love me ought to wish this for me. And my wish for you and for all your dear little flock is that you may always grow in the love of God in which I am, Yours, etc.