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Letter IX

Sacred challenge (cartel de d£fi) to my dear daughters of the Visitation of Sainte-Marie, as a good New Year's present for this year, 1614.* Francis, Bishop of Geneva.

THE life of man upon earth is a continual warfare. Our enemy is ever on the watch to surprise us, and he generally turns his battery against the weakest part of the citadel of our hearts, the place where he knows, by our frequent falls, the tendency of our perverse inclinations, our favourite passion, the one which does us the most injury, and yet the one which we least think of mastering, because it is agreeable to us, and because we natter ourselves in the belief that our losses therein are slight: but it is by this that our enemy makes his advance, and tries to surprise us and capture us if he can. Each one of you, therefore, must watch well over this weakest part of her soul, and in order to begin to give you some instruction on this spiritual warfare, my very dear daughters, I am going to point out to each of you in particular the failing as to which you must watch yourselves, and the fine which you must pay when you fall: but I desire that, having paid this fine, you should take a new courage to fight more generously at the first.attack, and that you should never lose heart in fighting, nor hope of conquering.

The general challenge. The frequent thought of God's word to Abraham:

  • Should this be 1613? Sister C. F. Roget (No. 6) is stated to have died 1 4th June 1613. [TrJ

Walk before me and be perfect* And in order that the exterior action may not engross the interior attention and intention, my dear daughters will make six returnings to God at times not occupied by meditation, Office, or reading, when the attention is already bound to be actually applied. The fine for each failure will be the verse: Et leata viscera Marice Virginis, quce portaverunt) &c.} and the protectors of the challenge, St. Antony, St. Bruno, and St. Francis of Paula.

Challenge for the particular examen.

  1. Universal love for the worship of God, and specially preparation for and attention to the divine Office, vocal and mental prayers, readings, sermons, and devout discourses; against the remembrance of the world and attention to temporal things: the fine for each failure, the Psalm, Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes, for the re- establishment of ecclesiastical perfection; with my Mother Jeanne-Franc.oise Fremiot de Chantal, Our Lady, my Angel Guardian, and St. Francis of Assisi.

  2. Interior recollection with our particular Saints and our Angel Guardian, in the time of silence, in solitude, in our cell, or other place unfilled by exercises which already require the mind's attention; against natural weariness and importunate distractions: as a fine for each failure, the antiphon, Sandi Dei omnes, for all prelates and pastors of the Church, with my Sister Marie-Jacqueline Favre, St. Joseph and St. Michael.

  3. Serious attention to ourselves and our charges;

  • Gen. xvii. I.

against the superfluous care of others' charges, and the looking after their affairs: as a fine for each failure, the Salve Regina, for all Christian kings and princes: with my Sister Jeanne- Charlotte de Brechard, St. Augustine and St. Catharine.

  1. Commiseration for the faults of others when we cannot justly excuse them: but we must not reveal them, nor ever speak of them, except to our superiors — the confessor or our Mother — for the amendment of them; against facility in speaking ill of our neigh bour: as a fine for each failure, the antiphon, Sancta Maria: with my Sister Anne-Jacqueline (Coste), out-sister, St. John Baptist and St. Paul.

  2. Sweetness and condescension towards all; against ill-humour and thought of self: as a fine for each failure, the verse: Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis, &c., for all those who are aspiring to Christian perfection: with my Sister Peronne-Marie de Chastel, St. John and St. Jerome.

  3. Indifference about the quality and quantity of food, as about everything else opposed to our sensuality; against softness and care of ourselves: as a fine for each failure, the Sub tuum presidium, for all the necessitous, vicious, and ill-living poor: with my Sister Claude-Frangoise Roget, St. Anne and St. Joachim.

  4. The frequent recollection of the presence of God at recreations and everywhere else; against exterior unquiet and interior wandering thoughts: as a fine, Dominus pars hcereditatis mece, &c., for all those who are consecrated to God: with my Sister Marie-Marguerite Milletot, St. Bernard and St. Agnes.

  5. The renouncing of our own will in everything and as to everything that we can, with promptitude of obedience to those who have authority over us; against self-will and our carnal liberty: as a fine for each failure, the prayer, Respice qucesumus Domine, for all captives and prisoners: with my Sister Marie-Adrienne Fichet, St. Peter and St. Magdalen.

  6. Loving acceptance of all sorts of corporal dis comforts and spiritual troubles, rejoicing in them; against immortification of the senses and false liberty: as a fine for each failure, a Pater and Ave, for all pil grims and strangers: with my Sister Claude-Marie Tiollier, St. Gregory and St. Clare.

  7. Fidelity and promptitude in working out our perfection; against irresolution and pusillanimity: as a fine for each failure, the antiphon, Beata Dei Genitrix Maria, for the conversion of pagans, Turks, and infidels: with my Sister Claude-Agnes Joly de la Roche, St. Alexis and St. Elizabeth.

1 1. Mortification of the senses, both interior and exterior; against every sort of eagerness and curiosity of spirit: as a fine for each fault, the Ave Maria, for the extirpation of heresy: with my Sister Marie- Aim^e de Blonay, St. Charles and St. Frances.

1 2. Simplicity, truthfulness, and candour; against envy, jealousy, and unstraightforwardness: as a fine for each failure, the verse: Monstra te esse matrem, &c., for the re-establishment of Christian perfection: with my Sister Marie-Marthe le Gros, St. Martha and St. Bernardino.

  1. Humiliation, lowliness, and contempt of self; against self-confidence and self-conceit: as a fine for each failure, the verse: Vitam prcesta pur am, &c., for courtiers, that they may enter into themselves in their no life of vanity: with my Sister Marie-Francoise-Avoie Humbert, St. Bonaventure and St. Catharine, Martyr.

  2. Affability and sociability amongst people of the world, with evenness of temper; against self-esteem and too great taciturnity: as a fine for each failure, the verse, Solve vincla reis, &c.: with my Sister Anne-Marie Rosset, St. Ambrose and St. Antony of Padua.

I 5. Watchfulness over one's actions, good active use of time, and abstaining from speaking of self or what belongs to self; against idleness and indulgence in vain and useless conversation (caqueterie): as a fine for each failure, the prayer, Eespice qucesumus, for all the wanderers of the earth: with my Sister Marie- Antoina Tiollier, St. Bridget and St. Barbara.

1 6. A perfect desire to please God and our superiors in our actions; against our inclination to seek self and to please the world: as a fine for each failure, the Regi sceculorum immortali, &c., for the exaltation of the holy name of God amongst all that live: with my Sister Anne-Francoise Chardon, St. Catharine of Genoa and St. Onuphrius.

  1. Not to complain of anything that may happen to us, such as sickness, discomfort, want of some temporal thing, nor even of our imperfections or slowness in perfection; not to be continually accusing ourselves, through humility, or rather through levity, and not to keep correcting our neighbour: as a fine, a De profundis for the souls in Purgatory: with my Sister De Gouffier, St. Antony and St. Reparatus.

-. xii.] Earlier Letters to Visitation. 1 1 1

Chapter 27 of 160