Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal. Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal
cannot be fittingly trained. Certainly, my love, I am altogether satisfied and consoled with your dear little Mother, who is with you; every one tells me how well she gets on and what you yourself continue to write about her gives me increasing pleasure, for I know with what sincerity you speak. I trust in God that she will be one day a great and worthy servant of His and that she will do good to many. She ought to steep herself ever more in humility and grow in resignation: help her according to your little lights, and tell her simply in all truth, what seems to you for her own good and for that of the house. God knows how sincerely I love her; I know her heart and how she feels under obligation to you, while you are conscious that the obligation is on your side. I am well aware of the help and profit that I receive from my coadjutrix; such is an inestimable blessing for superiors, who from the multiplicity of affairs cannot give sufficient attention to minor things which it is expedient should be remedied. Let me once more beg of you, my dear little Péronne, to further in every way you can my desire that our dear Sister's spirits are kept up, and without teasing her have an eye to her health; tell her frankly what is necessary, and see that she does it, for she ought to yield to you in this, just as you should obey her quite simply when she orders what she considers necessary for your health. You can humbly represent to her how much you feel able to do, but in such a way that she may have no reason to distrust or be displeased with you. It is better to exceed in charity than in labour, and for God's sake never give way to disquietude: do everything you can to get well, for it is only your nerves. I must conclude, for I am feeling somewhat indisposed. A hundred thousand loves to all our dearest sisters; indeed with all my heart I love your little flock. May their thoughts be ever set on their Spouse, and may they hold intercourse with Him like pure, sweet, simple, chaste doves. I embrace them all, big and little, lovingly and tenderly, in spirit, but above all do I embrace my well-loved Péronne. His Lordship salutes you and loves you tenderly. Vive Jésus.
[A] Mother Marie Jacqueline Favre.
XIV.
To Mother Marie Jacqueline Favre, Superior at Lyons.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Annecy,
January 4th, 1616.
Only one word, my poor dear daughter, for there is no time to write as much as I should wish. Hardly has one been told that there is an opportunity of sending a letter than they come to fetch it. For the love of God, my dear friend, do not allow yourself to be so easily carried away by your affections. Hold fast in God your spirit, your love, and all your pleasure. Keep your heart strong and generous, and interior joy will come back to you. We are not separated, my dearest daughter, be assured of this, and when it is necessary to think and speak of me accustom yourself to do so with a free and joyous spirit as if I were present to you. Ah! my love, to know that our good God is everywhere, and that He is always ready to be to us, Father, Mother, sweet and gentle Spouse, should indeed make us happy. I am very glad that you have taken Mme. de Chevrières for a mother;[A] she is a virtuous and useful friend and I greatly like her: offer her my humble respects. Our poor dear Sisters' Christmas carols are very nice. I love all these dear hearts: tell them so, darling, I beg of you. …
In your next letter say how you are really feeling, for I cannot say that I like to hear of your getting thin. My daughter de Thorens has written to me (illegible lines), speaks of the marriage of M. de Foras with Françoise. Madame is wrong, I assure you, my dear friend, in blaming his Lordship[B] for not writing to her. I see very little of him, and I cannot tell you how long it is since I last spoke with him: he is overwhelmed with business. However, if I see him I will ask him to write to her, and I shall do so myself, if possible.
Well, most certainly I pity the good Archbishop of Lyons with his rules: the poor man is worrying himself to death over them. Why on earth does he not fish where he knows there is plenty of water. Do not send the regulations that he has made for us without also sending the rules, and get to know as tactfully as you can what he is planning and the cause of this delay.
As to exterior mortifications, they are performed here in the right spirit and with devotion. You know them: Some prostrate across the doorway with face to the ground, others hold out their arms in the form of a cross, others again wear a cord round their neck, and ask pardon, or mention and deplore their imperfections out loud, ask for an alms and the like. However, I permit them but rarely, because frequency lessens their power, and when done with devotion they profit and mortify those who perform them, and edify the others. You can of course allow them, but only at the times set down, unless the Sisters ask your permission, and let this come from themselves (illegible lines).
They have come to fetch the letters. Good-day, dearest daughter. Always yours. Be humble in all things, and practice mortification of spirit. Vive Jésus.
[A] It was a common custom at this epoch to contract spiritual alliances as a mark of reverence, gratitude, and affection. It is of such an alliance that Saint Jane Frances here approves. Madame de Chevrières was a pious and devoted friend of the monastery at Lyons.
[B] St. Francis de Sales.
XV.
To Sisters Péronne Marie de Châtel and Marie Aimée de Blonay.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Annecy, 1616.
My dearest Daughters,
I will begin by answering your last letter, and then go back as far as I am able to the preceding one, saying, please God, what He wishes me to say to you.
First, then, my dear daughter, I'll tell you what Our Lord wants of you and of us all, a humble and tranquil submission to His most holy will in whatsoever happens, for everything is, without question, ordained by divine Providence for His glory, and for our gain; henceforth to be indifferent to health or sickness, consolation or desolation, the enjoyment or privation of what we most cherish, should be our aim. May our hearts have but one desire, that His holy will be accomplished in us and in regard to us. Let us not philosophize on things that happen to ourselves or to others, but, as I have already said, remaining sweetly humble, and tranquil, in the condition in which God has placed us. In pain patient, in sorrow enduring, in action active, without stopping to think whether we commit faults in this way or that, for such reflections are nothing but self-love.
Instead of all that, look at God, and take faithfully as it presents itself every opportunity of practising suitable virtues. When you fail through cowardice or infidelity be not disturbed, make no reflections, humble yourself in meekness and confusion before God, and then lose no time in rising up again by an act of courage and holy confidence.
Now, my daughter (Péronne Marie), and my little one (Marie Aimée), do thus; this letter is for you both in common, for I know that your hearts hide nothing from one another. In future, as I have so little leisure, I will always write to you together, unless you tell me that, for some particular reason, you wish me to answer you individually, in which case I will willingly do so, for I am at your disposal. Believe me, I love you with all my heart, and I have to bear my fair share in the mortification of your absence, though indeed you are more than ever present to me in spirit; but the good God has arranged it so, and all is sweet in His holy will.
You, my Péronne, and the little Sister, when you happen to be ill, receive relief willingly and graciously. And mind, in whatever form it comes, whether it be to rise, to go to bed, to eat, obey simply,