Letter 1828. To Mother Marie Armée de Blonay

To Mother Marie Armée de Blonay, Superior of the First Monastery of Annecy. [Moulins, 164¹.] Vive > Jésus!

My very dear Mother,—The good priest brought me your dear letter yesterday. I thank God for your good health and for the comfort our dear sisters are to you. If I could love them more I would for that. Oh, how happy they are to live as they do in sweet peace and joy and

' Mother Frangoise Jacqueline de Musy, professed of Annecy, deposed of Montargis, was at this time elected at Moulins.

faithful observance! I pray God to increase in them His holy grace, so that they may ever walk more simply, more humbly, more faithfully, and that He may keep their good Mother in health.

What your Charity tells me of the procession at La Roche? is very consoling. See how our good God exalts the humble! This blessed Saint kept himself hidden, and God could not resist magnifying him. May His infinite goodness be for ever blessed!

I did not intend to write to you so soon again, for visitors take up all my time. But two matters call for a letter. First, the day before yesterday that incomparable soul, Madame de Montmorency, gave me her reasons for not taking the habit nor settling her affairs until the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, she will do it sooner if I tell her to do so, for her submission is admirable. Now, considering that if she takes the habit before the said time she would lose perhaps more than eighty thousand francs, I bade her be patient. That will not be difficult, but it entails this, my delaying here. There is no doubt about it. She will be greatly distressed if we leave before her clothing and before she has satisfied her pious desire for the distribution of her property, upon which she wishes to have my poor advice. And besides, I tell you in all sincerity, my dear Mother, that I am of opinion that the house here needs my presence for the winter. I cannot write on this subject, but you can guess what I mean. I had never yet met anything to match the behaviour of four sisters who are here. The community is good enough, but needs to be adjusted. This is all I can let you know about this house. Now, the second point is that for which M. Rioton, the confessor of our sisters of Paris, has come here. He tells me that everything has been written to his Lordship and to me also. The Queen, the Bishops of Sens and of Chalons, and our two monasteries all tell me of marvellous things; above all, his Grace of Sens, who will come here if he is not hindered by the affairs of his diocese and I do not go to Paris. It is, then, for our ecclesiastical superiors and for you, dearest Mother, to decide before God what you judge to be most for His glory on these two points, and you will let me know your decision as soon as possible in case it is settled for me to go to Paris. Weshould spend the month of October there, so as to be back by the end of November, and pass the winter here as our virtuous duchess wishes. We should then let her begin her novitiate and be her Mistress of Novices, though I am so unworthy and so far below her in virtue. For truly, dearest Mother, she is a grand soul, solidly virtuous, profoundly humble, and adorned with all excellence. In her coming our good God has indeed shown His fatherly care of our little Institute, for she will be to it in every way a strong column of support. Now, having told you my thoughts and their desires about me, I remain in peace and indifferent to all that it may please Our Lord to make known to me through superiors. May His divine goodness fill you and all our dear sisters with His holy love. I embrace them all. A word apart for our very honoured and very dear Father, the Dean, to whom I cannot write; but I beg of you to tell him what I have put down in this letter, so that he may give his opinion upon it.

I wrote the above yesterday, and now this morning I have received your letter of the 17th of August, by which I see you are greatly alarmed about me; but there is no occasion forit. It is your great love for me and that of our dear sisters that must needs make you anxious. Do not be uneasy, my good Mother, nor fearful of the length of our sojourn, for, by the grace of God, we shall not remain a day longer than is necessary to satisfy so many pious persons. We shall, however, have to pass the winter here; otherwise all we have done will be wasted and our journey be made useless. I beseech of you not to worry his Lordship about this matter, for we cannot, I assure you, turn a deaf ear to such a number of persons. Be comforted and only ask Our Lord to have me always in His holy keeping, that in all things I may do His will. I pray Him to fill you and all our sisters with His holy love.

Madame de Montmorency wishes you to keep secret her desire of taking the habit.

Footnotes

1. The inhabitants of La Roche, a little town situated four leagues from Annecy, had made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Francis de Sales. ↩