Letters 181–205

Letter 181

To Mother St. Gabriel. On an illness

October 1, 1674 I had an unremitting fever, accompanied by paroxysms, for nine or ten days, but I never believed myself to be in danger of death. Here I am now, thanks to Our Lord and His most Holy Mother, in an entirely new life which I ardently desire to use wholly in their love and service.

Letter 182

To Father James de IS Haye de Bonnefond, in Rome. He had informed the Saint of the concession of indulgences for the Confraternity of the Divine Heart of Jesus ( 1 )in the chapel of the

Coutances seminary

November 27, 1674 0 my dearest and beloved brother, what consolation your letter has given us! Eternal praise be rendered to the most adorable Heart of our good Jesus for having so well inspired yours! Immortal blessings be given the most amiable Heart of our Holy Mother for having guided you so well in this affair! Let all paradise redouble its prayers for the preservation and sanctification of our most Holy Father the Pope! (2) May Jesus and Mary fashion you perfectly according to their Heart, my dearest brother, inspiring and guiding you so well that you may do for our other houses, if possible, what you have done for the one at Coutances. (1). Father de Bonnefond brought back six Bulls of indulgences for the establishment of the Confraternity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the six seminaries of Caen, Coutances, Lisieux, Rouen, Rennes and Evreux. (2). Clement X (1660-1676).

Letter 183

To Father James de la Haye de Bonnefond, in Rome. On a defamatory

libel ( 1 )published against the Saint

December 12, 1674 Now I am involved in a new persecution, bloodier than all the others. My great benefactors, the gentlemen of the new doctrine, had a libel printed against me which they have distributed throughout the whole of France and in all. the communities of Paris. It deals with my writings on Sister Mary(2) and is full of falsehoods, calumnies and all sorts of marks of their prejudice. They charge me with thirteen heresies, namely: Arianism, Nestorianism, Monothelism, Jansenism, i n connection with four condemned propositions, and others. The cause of their anger is that everywhere I oppose their innovations, that I uphold the faith of the Church and the authority of the Holy See, and that I burned a hateful book written against devotion to the Blessed Virgin, at the end of which it said that we must by no means pray to her any more than to the other saints, and that she is not the Mother of God, even though she is called the Mother of Jesus. The author of this libel(3) is an abbe from M. de Sainte Marie's" locality, along with several others. (1). Lettre à un docteur de la Sorbonne, which gave the example and set the tone for a multitude of others, veritable farragos of silly statements, falsehoods scattered in profusion and circulated throughout France. St. John Eudes, faced with this torrent of abuse and its resulting mistrust, remained silent. One of his friends, Father de Launay Hué, powerfully and convincingly replied to all the attacks of Father Dufour, turning against the latter the accusation of heresy which he has brought against St. John Eudes. Cf. Joly, Life of Saint John Eudes, P. 202. Mary des Vallées. (2). The author of the libel in question was Father Dufour, the Abbé d'Aulnay. 'It is not my," says Martine, a biographer of St. John Eudes, "to express the harm done in the reputation of this apostolic man by that unfortunate document." (3). Father Faucon, called "de Sainte Marie," was a native of the borough of Aulnay in the diocese of Bayeux, Normandy. See Letter 123, note 1.

Letter 184

To the Priests of His Congregation. On trust in God in the midst of

persecutions

[1674-1675]

Let us be strictly on guard against losing our trust even in the slightest degree. We should offend the power and infinite goodness of our most adorable Father and our most amiable Mother i f , after having experienced so many effects of their incomparable charity, we lacked confidence i n them. They are raising up several powerful persons to uphold and defend us. I hope that this persecution is the final attempt of the rage of hell against us. You cannot imagine how many different calumnies the demon is circulating against me on all sides.' But in the midst of all this I sing with m y whole heart:

Live Jesus, my sole desire! Live Jesus, my whole delight! Live Jesus, my sweet Saviour! Live Jesus, God of my heart!

Live the Queen of my heart! Live Mary, Mother of love! Day and night I wish to sing The wonders of her all-good Heart!

(1). An illusion in the tempest aroused against the Saint by the Boniface petition and the libel of the Abbé d'Aulnay.

Letter 185

To Sisters Mary of the Nativity Herson and Mary of the Child Jesus de Bois-David. They were then with the Charity Sisters of Bayeux. The Saint importunes them to return to Caen.(1)

[1674] J. M. J.

I can add no more, my dearest daughters, to what I have already told you a number of times, which is that you should do everything in your power to return to the house of your Order and your vocation. Not so long ago I was speaking about this to his Lordship of Bayeux, and he told me that the last time he had talked with you, you seemed quite satisfied to remain where you were. If that is the case, I do not understand a word of what you write me; otherwise, keep reminding him of his promise, of your weariness at being so long outside of your own center, and of the fact that there are many nuns in his own diocese with whom he can replace you. Do not be content to speak once, nor four times, nor a dozen, but keep on entreating, supplicating and importuning him both verbally and i n writing.

I remain with all my heart, in Jesus and Mary,

JOHN EUDES, missionary priest of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. (1). See Letter 171, note 1. Sister Mary of the Nativity returned to Caen on February 8, 1 6 7 5 . Sister Mary of the Infant Jesus had been sent home the preceding Septem ber. Cf. Ory, op. cit., p. 189.

Letter 186

To the Superior of the Rouen Seminary. In answer to a letter urging

him to reply to the libel of the Abbé d’Aulnay

[1675]

A thousand thanks, my dearest and beloved brother, for the charitable and cordial letter you wrote me; I am most grateful to you and to those gentlemen who are noted therein. I beg of you to assure them of my gratitude and thank them profusely for me. Their zeal and goodness are most praiseworthy, but, because I can find no evidence in the holy Gospel that our divine and adorable Master ever used the ways and means indicated in your letter to defend Himself against the injustice and cruelty that He suffered at the hands of the Jews, I cannot bring myself to do otherwise than to try to imitate Him in His patience and silence: Jesus autem tacebat.(1) Perhaps God will raise up someone who can answer the libel.(2) Be that as it may, I gladly embrace all the crosses it may please God to send me, and I earnestly entreat Him to grant pardon to me and those who are persecuting me. My numerous sins are deserving of a thousand times worse ... (1). Matt. 26, 63, "But Jesus held his peace." (2). At a meeting held at the Abbey of Val-Richer, the friends of St. John Eudes decided that one of themselves would reply to the Abbé d'Aulnay's pamphlet. It was Father de Launay Hué, a doctor of the Sorbonne, who took his task upon himself and avenged the Saint of the unjust accusations levelled against him. Cf. Georges, Saint Jean Eudes, P. 349.

Letter 187

To Mother St. Gabriel. On afflictions

Oh, what a rich and enormous treasure is a great affliction when one uses it well! There is a vast difference between the sufferings of this world and those of purgatory: I. Because one does not suffer even a

thousandth part of what one ought to suffer here; 2. Because there is nothing which so greatly increases grace and divine love in the soul as the sufferings of this life-something which those of purgatory cannot do, since they serve only to satisfy divine justice for the punishment due to sin. I n short, there is nothing which gives greater glory to God and is more pleasing to Him than the sufferings of this world. That is why Our Lord said one day to Blessed Henry Suso that, if a man only knew the reward obtained in heaven for the most trifling affliction of mind or body that can be suffered in this world for the love of God, he would prefer to spend a century in a fiery furnace than to be deprived of this reward. I should not want a soul who desires to love God purely, however, to suffer from the motive of that reward, but rather because suffering is infinitely pleasing to His Divine Majesty.

Letter 188

To Mother St. Gabriel. On his grief during his disfavor ( 1 )with Louis

XIV

My little crosses would be as nothing on shoulders stronger than my own, which frequently bow in weakness under their burden. Pray to God that my humiliations may help me to cultivate some slight measure of true humility, and continue to pray, too, for my dearest benefactors to whom I am highly indebted. May it please God in His goodness to make great saints of them, in the blessed eternity, for the enormous benefits they arc conferring on me. (1). Because of Father Boniface's petition. See Letter 175, note 2.

Letter 189

To An Unknown Person. On his numerous duties during a mission.'(1)

[1675]

Though already advanced in age, I am preaching almost daily. I hear confessions and take care of an infinite number of things. All these hardships amount to nothing when one is sustained by the soothing grace of God and enjoys the consolation of seeing people correspond with what is being done for their salvation. (1). This letter was evidently written during one of the Saint's last missions, perhaps the one at Saint-Lô (1674-1675) which was his final one, and the success of which was complete.

Letter 190

To a Religious of Montmartre. The Saint assures her that he forgives

his enemies

[1674 or 1675]

I beseech Our Lord to forgive them for all the wrongs they have done me, which are not very considerable. Would to God they did themselves no more harm than me. One of them died suddenly a few days ago, which grieved me exceedingly because he was one of those who had helped circulate the libel against me. God grant that he may not fare badly for that! But if, unhappily, such were the case, there is nothing I would not do to redeem him, were it possible.

Letter 191

To a Religious of Montmartre. The Saint’s consolation in the midst of

his trials

Pray for me, my dearest daughter, for I have great need of it, being more laden with crosses than ever before. But the least of my sins is deserving of a thousand times worse. My consolation i s that God is ever God, that He always derives the greatest glory from all things, and that all the powers of earth and hell cannot prevent me from performing my sole duty, which is to love and serve m y most benevolent Saviour and my most amiable Mother.

Letter 192

To a Religious of Montmartre. The Saint's feelings toward his enemies.

I should be crushed beneath the weight of my sufferings if Our Lord and His Holy Mother were not sustaining me, but they are giving me an altogether singular strength, for which I entreat you to help me thank them. Help me, too, I beg of you, to pray a great deal for my benefactors, to whom I am most indebted for giving me such precious opportunities to practise the most beautiful virtues, particularly humility, obedience to the divine will, a love of Jesus crucified, and love for His most Holy Mother, also crucified with Him.

Letter 193

To Sister Mary of the Nativity Herson, His Niece. On trust in God.

Let us take care not to allow our spirits to become narrow and depressed through sadness and discouragement. Let us try, rather, to gladden, sustain and heighten them through trust, and through our love for Him Who is all love and goodness toward us.

Letter 194

To the Religious of Our Lady of Charity. On humility

Be very humble, my dear daughters, be very humble. Oh, how greatly do I desire you to be humble, for when you achieve humility Our Lord will abundantly infuse His graces into your hearts! A soul which is truly humble is indeed wealthy, for it possesses all; but a soul lacking in humility has nothing. It is like a sieve through which everything passes, and thus God takes no care to bestow and shed His graces on that soul, for they would be lost.

Letter 195

To the Community of Our Lady of Charity, in Caen. On preparation

for the feast of Pentecost

J. M. J. My dearest Sisters:

The Holy Spirit of our Jesus Himself wishes to prepare us to receive Him. The best preparation we can make is to humble ourselves unceasingly, purify our hearts and renounce our own spirit, which we ought to fear more than all the evil spirits in hell.

Ask Our Lord for this preparation for yourselves and us, my dearest Sisters. For my part, I never cease offering you to Him and His most Holy Mother, imploring them to accomplish in you the designs of their infinite goodness, and not to permit either you or us to thwart them in any way.

I am greatly comforted by what our dear Mother informs me of your fidelity and perseverence. Ah! what a crown of glory is prepared for those who persevere! May it please Our Lord Jesus, through the prayers of His most Holy Mother, to strengthen you more and more and to make you true daughters of Our Lady of Charity.

In them and for their sakes, corde magno et animo volenti, my dearest Sisters, I am Devotedly yours, JOHN EUDES, missionary priest.

Letter 196

To a Religious of Our Lady of Charity. The Saint consoles her

Your letter, my dearest daughter, pierces my heart with compassion. My consolation, however, is that your trouble is not a mortal one, but for the glory of God. No, my dear child, your soul is by no means in the state of death, and it will certainly not die the death of those to whom the Author of Life addresses these words: "Every man shall die for his own sin." (1) It will live eternally, to love and glorify its most amiable Redeemer for all eternity. Rid your mind, therefore, of all these thoughts which disturb you, and put all your trust in our benign Saviour and His most Holy Mother, both of whom love you far more than you love yourself, for they are all affection and love toward you. I implore them to grant you their holy blessing: Nos cum Prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria~.

(1). 2 Par. 25, 4

Letter 197

To Father Trochu, the almoner of His Lordship Dominic de Ligny,

Bishop of Meaux. Father Trochu had written to Father de la Haye, Su

perior of the Caen Seminary, with reference to the rumors being cir

culated about St. John Eudes in connection with Mary des Vallées

Caen, January 2, 1675 Since Father de la Haye is absent, I opened the letter you had written him, that I might answer it. A thousand thanks for all your benevo

lence toward our little Congregation, which I ask you to continue for the love of Our Lord and His most Holy Mother.

I am not surprised, Sir, by these calumnies which are going the rounds, for it seems as if all hell has been loosed against us. But the least of my sins merits a thousand times worse, and I have not the slightest doubt that Our Lord will derive the greatest possible glory from all this. I sincerely beseech Him to show mercy toward all these slanderers and calumniators.

It is a strange thing to say and believe that priests, who profess to live in the fear of God, should be so blind, so senseless and so hatefully impious as to say prayers and salutations, recite a special Office and celebrate Masses and feasts in honor of the heart of a poor girl dead these ten years,(1) who is neither canonized, nor beatified nor anything else. Do they not see that all the words of the salutation, all the anthems, responses, hymns and lessons of the Office and Mass are addressed to the Heart of the Blessed Virgin?

It is the blackest and most false calumny to claim that this good girl was a sorceress, and that she had been condemned as such by a judgment of Parliament.

All the other statements in your letter, too, arc utterly false, as are similar ones contained ina defamatory libel which has been spread against me. It is crammed with material taken from m y writings on the life of this good girl. But the authors have done just as the Huguenots do with books written by Catholics on controversial issues, taking only the objections and omitting the answers. So, too, has the author of this libel selected only what is hard to understand and liable to offend the reader in these writings on Sister Mary, without adding the ex. planations I have given. In addition, he has also inserted several ridiculous things taken from other accounts that I never wrote ... (1). This is a mistake. Mary des Vallées had been dead, as a matter of fact, for nineteen years. Father Costil who compiled the Annales de la Congrégation de Jésus et Marie adds that the letter sent him was not from the hand of St. John Eudes. Undoubtedly it was only a copy, which explains the error committed.

Letter 198

To His Lordship Francis de Nesmond, Bishop of Bayeux. On his re lation

with Mary des Vallées

[1675]

I, the undersigned, a priest of the seminary of Caen, do hereby declare to his Lordship the Most Illustrious and Reverend Bishop of Bayeux, my prelate, that several years ago, having assumed the obligation, by the order of His Lordship de Matignon, at that time bishop of Coutances, to become the spiritual director of Mary des Vallées, a native of his diocese, I felt that it was my duty, in order to give an exact account of the mind and soul of this girl, to assemble and write down all that I was able to learn about her, as much from various persons of outstanding doctrine and piety who had known or guided her several years previously, as from what I had learned since taking over her spiritual guidance. In doing so, however, I had not the slightest intention of compiling a book for publication, nor of submitting these writings as unquestionable truths. They were intended simply as memoirs, and as an account on which my superiors might pass whatever judgment they pleased. If I added my own reflections here and there, it was only to suggest to them a way of explaining and understanding these things. I never intended that anyone except my superiors should see these writings. If at present, then, they have fallen into other hands for I understand that certain persons claim to be in possession of them -it has happened through the negligence or disloyalty of some of m y friends to whom I had entrusted them, in good faith, to be examined only in private. These persons either took copies or allowed them to be taken without my knowledge and against my will. Then certain individuals of evil intent not only confused and identified them with other accounts which had already been written by others on the same subject, but they also garbled and altered them in several places in order to make it possible to give them sinister and criminal interpretations.

After all, I do acknowledge that I am neither impeccable nor infallible, but that of myself I should be capable of falling into all sorts of

errors if God in His goodness did not keep me from doing so. And I confess, with the great St. Augustine, that I am indebted to the grace of God not only for the little good I have tried to do but also for all the evil I have not done.

Furthermore, if in the writings which are really mine there is found any expression too positive, or any proposition not strictly in conformity with the common doctrine of the Church, I am ready and willing to make a sincere retraction, both verbally and in writing, and to submit all that I have written and shall ever write to the judgment and correction of the most Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, and particularly of his Lordship the b:shop, into whose hands I have delivered all my writings in order that he may pass judgment on them and make such disposition of them as it may please God to inspire him. I will yield entirely to his decision.

Dated at Caen this 25th day of June, 1675, JOHN EUDES, priest.

Letter 199

To Mother St. Henry, a Religious of Montmartre. On a libel publicly

circulated by the Saint's enemies

[December 1675]

... And yet withal, I am not lacking trials and crosses of various kinds. Yesterday I learned that there is still another libel being spread, as well as some new slanders, for which God be blessed. I beseech Him with my whole heart to make great saints of all my calumniators-or to state it better, of all my great benefactors.

Letter 200

To An Unidentified Person. On the ordeals to which the Saint had to

submit

April 20, 1676 ... As for my condition at present, I shall tell you, my dearest daughter, that since my last mission I have been laboring under several indispositions, but all that is nothing. I am better now, thanks to Our Lord. My good friends(1) never cease to benefit me, and I, thank God, never stop asking divine goodness to make great saints of them. (1). The persons who circulated libels against him.

Letter 201

To Mother St. Gabriel, a religious of Montmartre. On the value ot

crosses

I thank you, my dear good daughter, for your participation in my crosses; blessed be Our Lord and His most Holy Mother for them. I hope that, in their incomparable goodness, they will grant you a share in all the fruits and blessings derived from my trials through their great mercy. Oh, what an enormous treasure is the Cross which Our Lord so loved, and which His Holy Mother and all the saints embraced and bore so lovingly! Surely, if there were a more excellent way in this world to glorify God and please Him, Our Lord would have chosen it for Himself and given it to His dearest Mother and all His saints.

Letter 202

To King Louis XIV. Memoir dealing with the petition which Father

Boniface had addressed to the Pope, in 1662, in St. John Eudes' name

but without his consent, and which had displeased that monarch

[1675 or 1676]

I protest at your Majesty's feet, Sire, and before God, that the petition in question was never presented by my order nor with my consent, that I never knew what it contained, and that Father Boniface has never belonged to our Congregation.

He is a good Flemish priest who was formerly an Oratorian Father. He claims to have left them because he felt that they leaned toward those who were too mild in their condemnation of the book of Jansenius.

It is true that this good priest offered to handle the business of our Congregation when he was in Rome thirteen or fourteen years ago; but he promised me in writing to affirm on oath that I requested him not to involve himself in our affairs. It is evident, through two petitions which I turned over to the archbishop(1) and which were formerly presented for us, that never have we either desired or sought anything having reference to that petition. That alone seems sufficiently to justify our intentions. I cannot imagine what use our adversaries were able to make of that petition which they brought to light after it had been hidden for fourteen years, and against which they raised no outcry at that time, save to provide themselves with a means of constituting me an impostor. I t could not be detrimental to them at present, since the last petitions presented from me were in no way similar to it. Therefore it appears likely that, having discovered this old scrap of paper by some means unknown to me and realizing, furthermore, that I was strongly opposed to what it contained, they had me questioned at length, surmising indeed that I would answer simply, according to m y custom and my own mind, without suspecting the trap they were (1). His Lordship Francis Harley de Champvallon, the archbishop of Paris.

laying for me to cast doubt on my innocence through Father Boniface's petition.

Do not, Sire, allow the good faith of a priest in his seventies, who has been laboring half a century for the Church, to remain in doubt, nor a Congregation established by letters patent from the King, your father of glorious memory, to be suppressed. In the letters of establishment granted to us by this great King, he declares that he would willingly give his life for the accomplishment of such a holy work which could do so much for the glory of God. The Queen, your mother, has always favored us with her powerful protection, and because of your Majesty's kindness I have bad reason to hope that God was reserving for you the completion of a work begun by this great Prince and this holy Princess.

Prostrate, Sire, at your Majesty's feet, I ask this favor of you, and I hope that God, Who has given you such a just and upright heart, may render you the protector of innocence.

Letter 203

To Father James de la Haye de Bonnefond. The Saint urges him to

accept the position of visitor of the houses of the Congregation

January 4, 1678 I do not know why you are so reluctant to be made visitor so that you may take care of changes and other matters of the greatest importance. I entreat you, in the name of Our Lord and His most Holy Mother, to renounce your own opinion and give yourself to them, that you may accomplish their most amiable will.

Letter 204

To Father James de la Haye de Bonnefond. The Saint entrusts him with the duties of visitor.

January 28, 1678 I have requested Father de Bonnefond, our beloved brother, to make up my deficiency, and have committed all my authority to him so that he may remedy any shortcomings he may find, make whatever changes in superiors as well as subordinates that he may deem suitable, and renew in your hearts the desire to pay strict observance to the Constitutions in order that our most lovable Saviour and His most amiable Mother may be served, honored and loved in the Congregation in conformity with the purposes for which divine Providence established it in Holy Mother Church. I am asking all nay dear brethren, therefore, to receive our aforesaid beloved brother, Father de Bonnefond, in the capacity of visitor, and to render him all the honor, respect and obedience due those who act in God's place.

Letter 205

To His Lordship Francis Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris. The Saint requests the Archbishop to obtain for him an audience with King Louis XIV.

[November 1678] My Lord:

Prostrate at your Lordship's feet, I very humbly entreat you to grant me your holy blessing and to have the kindness to give your attention to the reading of this letter, the sole purpose of which is to implore you to allow some spark of that gracious benevolence which enables you to win all hearts to reflect on the least of all men, who takes the liberty of hoping to be, and of always having been, foremost in paying the honor and veneration due your Lordship.

But how does it happen, my Lord, if I may venture to ask, that I have the misfortune to have lost the honor of your good graces? Who

has robbed me of this precious treasure? Is there not some unpleasant tongue which has spread its venom against me?

For six years I have groaned beneath the weight of the King's disfavor for a fault of which I am, in truth, completely innocent, and from which you and you alone, my Lord, have sufficient power and kindness to deliver me. For, although I have spent my whole life-nearly fifty years--in the service of the Church and of their Lordships the prelates, not one of them is willing to take a step o r say a word in my defence except his Lordship of Coutances.(1) They all send me to his Lordship of Paris, saying that he is all-powerful and so kind that even his own enemies feel the effects of that kindness ...(2) (1). His Lordship Claud e Auvry, a former bishop of Coutances. (2). In the remainder of the letter, St. John Eudes begged Archbishop Harlay to arrange an interview for him with Louis XIV.