Power Programmierung/Power-Programmierung CD 2 (Tewi)(1994).iso/doc/mir/svp_txt

Text File | 1992-02-04 | 238KB | 4,118 lines

@HEAD1 = SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL
@HEAD2 = CORRESPONDENCE
@HEAD4 = 417. - TO SAINT LOUISE DE MARILLAC,<B^>1<D> IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, January 11, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I received three letters from you this week, which gave
me a consolation that God alone can express; He is the only one
who can give it to me. However, this consolation is missing now
and then because of what you tell me about the state of your
illness. I entreat you, Mademoiselle, always to do this and, when
you are able, have someone send a litter to bring you home. And
do everything you can to get well.
@TEXT6 = Seeing that those Gentlemen<^>2<D> want to communicate
in writing, do this, <MI>in nomine Domini<D>. Have the contract
drawn up in your name as Directress of the Daughters of Charity,
servants of the sick poor in hospitals and parishes, under the
authority of the Superior General of the Congregation of
the Priests of the Mission, the Director of the aforesaid
Daughters of Charity. And in the place where it is mentioned in
their little Rule, that they will depend on the Superiors in
Paris, [in whatever does not]<^>3<D> concern the hospital, you
can indicate the above-mentioned Superior. If they ask you for
the letters of establishment of this body, you will say that they
have no other than the power which has been given to the said
Superior, Director of the Charity, as is done everywhere,
especially in that diocese, in Bourgneuf,<^>4<D> on Madame
Goussault's<^>5<D> estates, I believe, although I am not very
sure about it, [and] in Richelieu, in the diocese of Poitiers.
@TEXT6 = You would do well to send for the Sisters in
Richelieu,<^>6<D> and to do so as soon as possible, because,
since the contagion is ending there, they can begin to work
again.
@TEXT6 = People are praying to God for you in many places in
Paris. Everyone is interested in your health; you would not
believe how much.
@HEAD4 = 418. - TO LOUIS ABELLY,<B^>1<D> VICAR GENERAL OF BAYONNE
@TEXT4 = January 14, 1640
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I thank God for all the graces that His Goodness is
granting to the Bishop of Bayonne,<^>2<D> which I see from your
letter of December 10, and I pray that He will continue to give
them to him. O Monsieur, how astonished those people are, in my
opinion, to see their prelate living like a real bishop, after so
many centuries of being deprived of such a happiness! Of course,
Monsieur, I have perfect confidence in the goodness of God, who
called the Bishop to the ministry in such an unusual way. He will
give him all the graces he needs to continue and to become
perfect in the way of life he has begun, and the good corporeal
angels He has placed near him will do the same. Alas! Monsieur,
what can we not hope for from a prelate who has so well regulated
his own life and that of his servants; who has given so many
corporal and spiritual alms in his diocese; who takes such care
of poor prisoners; who is blessed with the conversion of
heretics; who does not admit women into his house, or <MI>ad
proximiora sacri altaris;<^>3<D> who put together his council as
well as he could and is willing to act with its advice? What can
we not hope for, I repeat, with regard to the graces and
blessings to be granted to such a prelate and to those <MI>quos
vocavit in sortem operis ejus?<^>4<D> Indeed, there is no good or
assistance that you and he ought not to hope for from Our Lord.
@TEXT6 = Alas! Monsieur, how you embarrass the son of a poor
plowman, who tended sheep and pigs and is still in ignorance and
vice, by asking for his views! I shall obey you, nonetheless, in
the same sentiment as that poor donkey,<^>5<D> who on another
occasion spoke out of obedience to the man who commanded him to
do so, on condition that, as no one takes into account what is
said by fools, because of what they say, so neither His
Excellency nor you will pay any attention at all to what I shall
say, except insofar as His Excellency finds that it is in accord
with his own better judgment and yours.
@TEXT6 = Therefore, first of all, I shall say with regard to
religious in general, that I think you would do well to deal with
them as Our Lord did with the people of His time. Show them first
by example, as He did, how they are to live. A priest should be
more perfect than a religious as such, and a bishop even more so.
And after speaking to them by example for a considerable time
(Our Lord spoke this language to them for thirty years), He spoke
to them gently, charitably and firmly, without, however, using
suspensions, interdictions and excommunications against them, and
without depriving them of their functions. That, Monsieur, is how
Our Lord acted. Now, I have complete confidence that a prelate
who acts in the same way will be of more benefit to those sorts
of persons than all ecclesiastical censures put together. Our
Lord and the saints accomplished more by suffering than by
acting. That is how the blessed Bishop of Geneva<^>6<D> and,
following his example, the late Bishop of Comminges<^>7<D>
brought about the sanctification of so many thousands of souls.
@TEXT6 = What I am saying to you, Monsieur, may seem severe, but
what can you expect? I feel so strongly about the truths Our Lord
taught us by word and example that I cannot help but see how
everything done according to that teaching always succeeds
perfectly well, while things done the opposite way have quite a
different result. Yes, but they will hold a prelate who acts that
way in contempt. That is true, and must be in order to honor the
life of the Son of God in all its stages by our person just as we
do by our circumstances. However, it is also true that, after
having suffered for some time and as much as Our Lord pleases and
with Our Lord, He lets us do more good in three years of our life
than we would in thirty. But what am I saying? Indeed, Monsieur,
I do not think we can accomplish anything any other way. We can
make a great many regulations; we can employ censures; we can
deprive them of hearing confessions, of preaching, of taking up
collections, but with all that they will never mend their ways,
and never will the dominion of Jesus Christ be extended or
preserved in souls that way. On other occasions God armed heaven
and earth against men. Alas! what progress did He make by doing
so? And was it not necessary at last for Him to be humbled and
brought low before man in order to get him to accept the gentle
yoke of His dominion and His guidance? And that which a God was
not able to do with all His power, how will a prelate do with
his? That being so, Monsieur, I think that His Excellency is
right in not thundering excommunications against those religious
who own property, and even in not stopping so hastily those whom
he had once examined and approved, from going to do the Lenten
and Advent preaching in those country parishes in which there is
no church designated, because that would seem to them to be
extremely severe and more. The pastors and the people who are
especially fond of them would be annoyed. If someone is abusing
the ministry, <MI>in nomine Domini<D>, your reasonable manner
will be well able to remedy this.
@TEXT6 = As for the religious who you tell me is necessary in her
monastery and who, nevertheless, carries on intrigues and schemes
and can thus do harm to the other<197>I don't know how to answer
you there, Monsieur, because you do not explain yourself. If you
judge it expedient to write to me about it again, it would be
well for you to tell me in what way she is necessary and if she
is from an Order in which they transfer the religious.
@TEXT6 = That, Monsieur, is what I can say to you right now with
great haste and in a rambling way. You will excuse the
deficiencies in all that I say and will do me the kindness of
assuring the Bishop of Bayonne of my obedience and Messieurs
Perriquet,<^>8<D> Le Breton, and Dumesnil of my services. I am,
in the love of Our Lord, Monsieur, your most humble and most
obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 419. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, January 17, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu, <D>Mademoiselle, you oblige me to write
without a scruple! What! You have sent me no word at all about
the state of your illness! I beg of you, Mademoiselle, to let me
know exactly how you are so that I can send you a litter when you
are able to come home<197>as soon as your indisposition permits.
Oh! how necessary your presence is here, not only for your
Sisters, who are doing well enough, but also for the general
affairs of the Charity!
@TEXT6 = The General Assembly of the Ladies of the Hôtel-Dieu was
held last Thursday. The Princess<^>1<D> and the Duchesse d'Ai-
guillon<^>2<D> honored it by their presence. Never have I seen
the gathering so grand, and at the same time so modest. They
decided to take in all the foundlings. You may well suppose,
Mademoiselle, that you were not forgotten at the meeting.
@TEXT6 = I sent you word that it would be well for you to make
the stipulation as Directress of the Company of the Poor Village
Girls of the Charity, under the authority of the Superior General
of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission, Director of
the Congregation of the above-mentioned young women.<^>3<D>
However, Mademoiselle, I ask you to do that as soon as possible
and leave Angers immediately after you have signed the articles,
which I entreat you to draw up as soon as you can.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = I am writing to M. Lambert<^>5<D> to ask him to send you
your Sisters from Richelieu;<^>6<D> but, if everything is
arranged for you to come home, do not wait for them. Rather send
them a messenger telling them to wait for you in Tours, if you
think they will not be able to meet you in Angers.
@HEAD4 = 420. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, January 22, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I came back from the country last night and found the
letter you wrote to M. Dehorgny<^>1<D> on the fourteenth of the
month. Your letter makes me think that you are not receiving
mine. I have written to you every week and it is only three days
since the last time, which makes me think that my letters are not
being delivered to you.
@TEXT6 = Here is the answer to the principal matters about which
you wrote to me. First of all, with regard to the stipulations
[of]<^>2<D> the Directors of the hospital,<^>3<D> it seems to me
that you would do well to sign them in your own name, as
Directress of the poor Daughters of Charity, under the authority
of the Superior General of the Company of the Priests of the
Mission, Director of the above-mentioned young women. As for the
terms, I do not know what to tell you without having seen them,
except that if they wish them to correspond to their regulations
and expenses, I think they each need at least one hundred francs
or twenty-five écus.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = With regard to your return, I ask you to let it be as
soon as possible. Hire a stretcher and rent two good strong
horses. I would have sent you a litter, but I do not know which
you need, a litter or a stretcher. I entreat you, Mademoiselle,
to spare nothing and, whatever it may cost, to get what will be
the most comfortable for you.
@TEXT6 = The arrival of a gentleman of rank is causing me to lay
down my pen and so I must tell you that I am awaiting you with
the affection known by Our Lord and His Holy Mother. I am, in
their love, your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras, Directress of
the Daughters of Charity, presently at the hospital of Angers, in
Angers
@HEAD4 = 421. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, January 28, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I have been greatly consoled that you sent me word
concerning the nature of your illness and I hope that the air
will restore you to health. If you take a stretcher, as I wrote
you to do, because the coach<197>especially on the
cobblestones<197>from Orléans to Paris would be too hard on you,
it will suffice to have one Sister with you. You can have the
others come by water as far as Tours and by coach from there to
here.<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = As for Madame Turgis,<^>2<D> I am of the opinion that
she should be left there until the time you indicate and perhaps
permanently.<^>3<D> What you wrote to me as a difficulty is of no
consequence.
@TEXT6 = I forgot to tell you, with regard to your return, that I
would have sent you a coach were it not for three leagues<^>4<D>
of bad road between Chartres and Le Mans, which are impassable at
this season. Added to that besides, we cannot divert the coaches
from their ordinary route without raising a public outcry.<^>5<D>
@TEXT6 = I have told you my opinion concerning the stipulations
and the status you should assume in them.<^>6<D>
@TEXT6 = You would do well to bring along that good demoiselle
and the girls you mentioned to me.<^>7<D>
@TEXT6 = What I told you about your son<^>8<D> is true. If you
let me know the day you can be in Chartres, if you pass through
it, he will meet you there; and there, if you are strong enough,
you can take the coach.
@TEXT6 = You had better draw the money from there so that you are
not caught short on the way. We shall repay here the amount you
tell us.
@TEXT6 = I am hoping to see you in good health, and my desire is
that this may be soon, without however rushing you.
@TEXT6 = Enclosed is a picture that was printed at the Charity.
You are the first one to whom I am sending any. It was a painter
who had it engraved; it cost him eighty écus.<^>9<D>
@TEXT6 = Your Sisters are in good health, thank God, and are
doing good as well. And I, I am, in the love of Our Lord,
Mademoiselle, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras, Directress of
the Sisters at the Charity Hospital, in Angers
@HEAD4 = 422. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, January 31, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = The letter you wrote to me by someone else's hand, which
was delivered to me yesterday and which told me of your diarrhea
attack, made me quite anxious about the ailment you are
suffering. May God be blessed for that which is His Will! I hope
that in His goodness He will restore you to health and I am
redoubling the prayers for that intention. But what are you
saying about coming back by water, Mademoiselle! <MI>O Jésus!<D>
You must do no such thing! Please have a stretcher hired and rent
or, rather, buy two good horses<197>we will pay here what they
cost<197>and come home that way. I did that once, and the air did
me so much good that in less than three days I was so well that I
got into the coach of Madame, the late wife of the general, so it
seems to me.<^>1<D> M. Grandnom<^>2<D> has written about this, to
a man of rank in Angers, as you will see from his letter.
@TEXT6 = M. du Fresne<^>3<D> told me, on his own and without my
speaking to him about it, that it would be well for you to send
me a receipt for the two thousand livres he has of yours and some
word in a letter for him by which you direct him to place that
sum in our hands or in those of someone else of your choice.
@TEXT6 = Your son offered yesterday to come and see you in
Angers, but I did not judge that to be necessary. Let me know how
you feel about it.
@TEXT6 = Your Sisters are doing well. Anne, the older one, told
me that Marie<^>4<D> is too strict. Oh! how greatly we need you
here for the general running of affairs! I hope that, in God's
goodness, He will bring you back in good health. In the name of
God, Mademoiselle, do everything you can to that end and be as
cheerful as possible.
@TEXT6 = I thank God that our dear Sister Isabelle<^>5<D> is
better, and most humbly thank our dear Mother, the Superior of
the Visitation Sainte-Marie<^>6<D> for her remembrance of me. I
am going to celebrate Holy Mass for her and for her entire holy
Community.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I beg you once again to take
care of your health. I am, in the love of Our Lord, your most
humble and obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = I received the two letters enclosed some time ago.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras, Directress of
the Daughters of Charity of the Hôtel-Dieu of Angers, in Angers
@HEAD4 = 423. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON,<B^>1<D> IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, February 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I just received your letter of January 3 and have seen
from it the blessings Our Lord is bestowing on your labors. I am
thanking Him for them and asking Him to preserve you for many
years for His glory and for the good of this little Congregation.
And you, Monsieur, I entreat you to do what you can in that
regard. Moderate your labors and eat well. The little
indisposition you have just had comes from failing to do that, I
fear.
@TEXT6 = I paid the bill of exchange for the hundred livres you
obtained from M. Marchand<^>2<D> two months ago or thereabouts,
also the fifty livres in exchange, and will do likewise, God
willing, for all that you obtain. Please, Monsieur, do not fail
to draw what you need.
@TEXT6 = I praise God that you and the Reverend Father
Assistant<^>3<D> approve of the last plan I sent you and I
respect the modifications you brought to it. I shall examine it
more in detail and write to you at the first opportunity.
@TEXT6 = I think, Monsieur, that you would do well to work
unceasingly at the establishment in Rome and to rent some small
lodging or even buy some little house for that purpose, if you
can find one, for three or four thousand livres, however small
and wherever it may be, <MI>dummodo sit sanus.<^>4<D> What does
it matter if it is in one of the faubourgs since we do not wish
to carry on any public activities in the city! The district
outside the Vatican is not very far away. I have such trust in M.
Marchand's kindness; he will see that you receive that amount,
which we shall return from here at the appointed time. We must
become established there, I mean in the city or in one of the
faubourgs.
@TEXT6 = I am sending your letters to M. de Trévy and, to your
cousin, his letter and the three briefs from Rome.
@TEXT6 = Our Missionaries for the diocese of Geneva, five in
number, left three days ago.<^>5<D> One of them is to be sent to
you if you get the establishment.
@TEXT6 = With regard to the Bull concerning our consolidation as
in the last version, please send me the abridged draft I sent to
you. I shall write to you in eight to ten days to tell you
whether we should be satisfied with this last version, according
to the above-mentioned modifications, without waiting for the
brief. I shall likewise send you the order that Providence has
followed in the institution of our Company. I was unwilling to
have anything written about it until now, but I think it is God's
Will for us to act this way since it has been made known to us by
such a worthy authority.
@TEXT6 = I am, nevertheless, in the love of Our Lord and His holy
Mother, your most humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 424. - TO JACQUES THOLARD,<B^>1<D> IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare-lez-Paris, February 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I received your letter with inexpressibly great joy, and
that, for no other reason except that it was a letter from M.
Tholard who is dearer to my heart than I can say. However, I was,
of course, no less afflicted to read what you said about the
cross to which Providence has attached you, certainly not to be
the ruin of you, as you fear, but so that, as in Saint Paul,
<MI>virtus tua in infirmitate perficiatur<D>.<^>2<D> Since the
grace God gave him when his temptations were the strongest was
sufficient to bring that about, you have reason to hope that the
grace He is giving you is likewise sufficient and is apparent in
the purity of intention with which you begin your confessions, in
the fear you have of offending God in them, in the remorse you
feel when the violence of the temptation has deprived you of your
liberty and caused nature to succumb, <MI>vacando rei
licitae<D>,<^>3<D> and finally in your constant resolution to
prefer to die rather than do evil voluntarily. All of that makes
it evident that these happenings are not voluntary nor,
therefore, are they culpable,<^>4<D> for, as you know, sin is
such a voluntary act that, if consent does not enter in, there is
no sin at all in actions in which there seems to be matter for
sin. That is why the masters of the spiritual life think that
these happenings which occur in confession are not sins at all,
and do not require in our day that they be confessed.<^>5<D> I
know a holy priest right now who never or rarely hears
confessions without falling into these difficulties; and,
although that is so, he never confesses them except in his annual
confession. At that time he accuses himself, not of the substance
of the act, but of not having sufficiently detested the pleasure
that his miserable carcass takes in it and for fear that his will
may have contributed to the act in some way. And if you take my
word for it, Monsieur, you will never confess any of these
failings except at the same time and in the same way as this man
who is one of the best and most fervent priests I know on earth
and, what is more, he is recognized as such.
@TEXT6 = Yes, but it is not the same. That man has some sign
perhaps by which he recognizes that he was not free when he was
carried away by the violence of nature. However, I am not to that
point, for it seems to me that I could help myself. No, Monsieur,
do not believe that, because neither that impulse nor its effect
depends on your will. It could not prevent them when nature is
disturbed. Therefore the act is not voluntary in you any more
than it is in him, or in any other.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@TEXT6 = Yes, but I could get up and leave until the disturbance
has passed, or at least not ask the questions that bring me to
that point. I shall answer that if this happened to you somewhere
else or while you were doing something else that you were not
commanded to do or which was indifferent, you should leave the
place and stop what you are doing as soon as you become aware of
that emotion. But when it occurs while you are performing a holy
and divine action, which in our day every priest is obliged to
do, you are not permitted to leave the place, neither can you
stop what you are doing, nor cease to ask the questions necessary
for salvation on account of the emotion or because of the
emission which is wont to follow it, because the salvation of the
neighbor and your vocation are involved.<^>6<D>
@TEXT6 = Yes, but would it not be better for me to abstain
completely from hearing confession? <MI>O Jésus! <D>no. God has
called you to the vocation in which you are; He has blessed you
in it; He has preserved you. You have by this means greatly
extended the kingdom of God and have saved many souls and will
continue to do so after this with more grace and success, I
trust.
@TEXT6 = <MI>O Jésus! <D>Monsieur, and how would you be able to
make amends for the chagrin and the prejudice you would bear to
the glory of God and the souls whom He has redeemed by His
precious blood, if you were to give up what you are doing there?
Remember, Monsieur, that roses are not gathered except in the
midst of thorns and that heroic acts of virtue are accomplished
only in weakness. Saint Paul did not give up the work of God
because he was tempted, nor do we forsake Christianity because we
endure great and horrible temptations within it. And we are not
free to give up living because our life lies in the concupiscence
of the flesh, in that of the eyes, and in the pride of
life.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@TEXT6 = Yes, but I could suppress the emotion or its effect. You
would not be able to prevent the effect in the force of the
emotion without endangering your life. One of our Brothers died
from doing so and [we] have another one now who is running the
risk of doing the same. That is why the masters of the spiritual
life forbid the doing of violence to one's feelings in these
cases and [enjoin]<^>7<D> us to let this distress go as an
excrement of nature and continue to hear confessions without
being troubled.<^>8<D>
@TEXT6 = It would be well for you to pass over these matters as
lightly as you can. That is the first piece of advice that is
usually given, and that one be not troubled when one feels too
much pleasure.
@TEXT6 = The second is to try to turn your eyes away from the
faces and the other parts of the body of the female sex that
cause the temptation. And when the opposite happens, be assured,
Monsieur, that it will be when you are not free and your will is
weakened by the strength of the temptation. And do not be
troubled when you think that is not so.<^>9<D>
@TEXT6 = That, Monsieur, is what I must tell you before God and
in view of the doctrine and the teaching of the saints.
@TEXT6 = Do not be troubled by what you say your confessors tell
you about this matter. They are not enlightened enough and do not
have enough experience. Do not confess it any more except in the
way I have told you. I offer myself to answer to God for you. I
am, in the love of Our Lord, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 425. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Paris, February 4, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = You can well imagine the joy my soul experienced on
seeing your letter of January 28, but you cannot feel it. <MI>O
Jésus!<D> Mademoiselle, with what pleasure I am thanking God that
you are feeling better and how heartily I am begging Him to
restore your strength so that you can come back soon!
@TEXT6 = Oh! Mademoiselle, we shall be very pleased to receive
that fine gentleman among the ordinands. We shall lodge and serve
him as well as we can because of the good Abbé de Vaux<^>1<D> who
spoke to you about him, and in acknowledgement of the obligations
you have toward him, and which we all have because of you.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur Lambert sent me word that he was going to send
your Sisters from Richelieu in the trap belonging to the house.
If Our Lord gives you some inspiration concerning Barbe's taking
charge,<^>2<D> make use of her and send someone else in her
place.
@TEXT6 = Our good Sisters here are doing well, thank God. I was
comforted by their confessions which I heard three days ago.
@TEXT6 = I was quite preoccupied this morning during my prayer
with a lodging in La Villette.<^>3<D> I found that it has a great
number of advantages. The Pastor is offering us his rectory; we
shall see.
@TEXT6 = What shall we do about the sister of Marie, from
Saint-Germain,<^>4<D> who stutters? She seems to be a rather nice
young woman, but I do not know how intelligent she is. Her good
sister is urging us to accept her.
@TEXT6 = You said nothing to me about what I wrote you concerning
the stretcher.
@TEXT6 = I must lay down my pen to go to Mass. It is going to be
said at Notre-Dame for the Charity in Lorraine. Good day,
Mademoiselle. I am, Mademoiselle, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras, Directress of
the Daughters of Charity, presently at the Hôtel-Dieu, in Angers
@HEAD4 = 426. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN ANGERS
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, February 10, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I received your letter of the twenty-seventh of this
past month and it brought me so much consolation that nothing has
been able to make me sad since. Blessed be God that you are now
in better health and are planning your return! Oh! how welcome
you shall be and how eagerly you are awaited! I praise God that
the Ladies of that fine town are showing signs of accepting the
model of the Hôtel-Dieu Charity and I pray that He will grant
success to that holy enterprise for His honor.<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = Did I not send you the reports of the Ladies here,
Mademoiselle? I thought that I did and that you had received them
by now. If not, we shall send them on your return. Do not fail to
put them into practice. We often do it that way for the Charities
in the country. The time is short to have a copy made for you;
the messenger leaves in four days.
@TEXT6 = Your Sisters are doing well, thank God. We have admitted
two whom we shall be able to place with the others in two days. I
have been putting them off for a long time waiting for your
return.
@TEXT6 = These good young women from Lorraine do not last.
@TEXT6 = In six hours time I am expecting the daughter of M.
Cornuel.<^>2<D> He has left a revenue of six thousand livres to
the galley-slaves to undertake a way to help them.<^>3<D>
@TEXT6 = I am surprised that you said nothing about your Sisters
from Richelieu; they went to see you.
@TEXT6 = Now then, I shall finish with renewed acts of
thanksgiving, which I here again offer to God because, by His
grace, we shall be seeing you soon. I am, as I look forward to
that precious day, in the love of Our Lord.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@HEAD4 = 427. - <P8MI>A PRIEST OF THE MISSION<I^>1<D> <MI>TO
SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = Bar-le-Duc, February 1640
@TEXT61 = At each distribution of bread, clothes were given to
twenty-five or thirty poor people.
@TEXT61 = Recently, I clothed a total of 260 of them. But shall I
not tell you, Monsieur, how many I alone have clothed spiritually
by means of general confessions and Holy Communions in the space
of only one month? I have counted more than eight hundred. I hope
that during this Lenten season we shall accomplish still more. We
give the hospital a <M>pistole<^>2<D> and a half every month for
the patients that we send there; and because, among them, there
are about eighty who are more ill than the others, we give them
soup, meat, and bread.
@HEAD4 = 428. - TO ANTOINE LUCAS,<B^>1<D> IN SAINT-PRIX
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, February 21, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Blessed be God, Monsieur, for the grace He gives to you
and your Company of working so valiantly that Monsieur de
Cuménon<^>2<D> has written to me about it! But how are you,
Monsieur? Have you somewhat moderated your excessive fervor? I
beg you, in the name of Our Lord, to do so. If it should be that
you or any of your Company need some remedy after the mission,
please come back here. If not, take your rest where you are after
the mission. Then go and give the two small missions
simultaneously<197>not all by yourself, as you wrote to me. I
shall send you Messieurs Germain<^>3<D> and the young
Guérin,<^>4<D> or the first only, in place of M. Teluatz,<^>5<D>
whom you shall send back after the mission.
@TEXT6 = Can you find any cod, herring, butter, fruit, and
<169>four beggars<170><^>6<D> for dessert there? Write and let M.
Portail know what you need, please.
@TEXT6 = I greet your dear Company, and am, in the love of Our
Lord, Monsieur, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = Please take care of your health, and give M.
Louistre<^>7<D> charge of whatever remains to be done and set to
rights at the Charity. I beg you, Monsieur, to leave that job to
him. There are objections to the establishment of this Charity
and the Confraternity of the Rosary; and besides, the General of
the Jacobins<^>8<D> is reluctant to do it.
@TEXT6 = Our news is that M. Boucher<^>9<D> is better, that we
had eighteen retreatants yesterday and seventeen today, three of
whom are from the Sorbonne house.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lucas, Priest of the
Mission, in Saint-Prix<^>10<D>
@HEAD4 = 429. - <P8MI>JACQUES ROUSSEL<I^>1<D> <MI>TO SAINT
VINCENT
@TEXT41 = Bar-le-Duc, February 1640<I^>2<D>
@TEXT61 = You have heard about the death of M. de
Montevit,<I^>3<D> whom you had sent here. He suffered a great
deal during his illness, which was long. I can truthfully say
that I have never seen a greater, more resigned patience than
his. We never heard him say a single word indicating the
slightest impatience. His every word manifested an uncommon
piety. The doctor told us quite often that he had never treated a
more obedient and simple patient. He received Communion very
frequently during his illness, over and above the two times he
communicated by way of Viaticum. His delirium of eight whole days
did not prevent him from receiving Extreme Unction in his right
mind. The delirium left him when he was given that sacrament and
overcame him again immediately after it had been given to him.
Finally, he died as I desire and ask of God that I shall die.
@TEXT61 = The two Chapters in Bar honored his funeral procession
by their presence, as did also the Augustinian Fathers. However,
that which gave the most honor to his funeral were six to seven
hundred poor people who accompanied his body; each one had a
candle in his hand. They wept as much as if they had been at the
funeral of their father. The poor really owed him this
recognition. He had become ill healing their diseases and
lightening the burden of their poverty. He was always among them
and breathed no other air than their stench. He would hear their
confessions with such assiduity, both morning and afternoon, that
not once was I able to prevail on him to take the respite of a
walk. We had him buried near the confessional where he had caught
his malady and where he had amassed the many merits which he is
now enjoying in heaven.
@TEXT61 = Two days before he died, his companion fell ill with a
persistent fever that kept him in danger of death for eight days;
he is fine now. His illness was the result of too much work and
too great a zeal among the poor. On Christmas Eve, he went
twenty-four hours without eating or sleeping; he left the
confessional only to say Mass. Your men are flexible and docile
about everything, except the advice they are given to take a
little bit of rest. They believe that their bodies are not made
of flesh, or that their life is supposed to last only a year.
@TEXT61 = As for the Brother,<I^>4<D> he is an extremely devout
young man. He has looked after these two priests with all the
patience and constant attention that the most difficult sick
people could have desired.
@HEAD4 = 430. - <P8MI>A PRIEST OF THE MISSION TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Saint-Mihiel, beginning of 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = When I arrived, I began to give out alms. I find such a
great number of poor people that I would not be able to give to
all of them. There are more than three hundred in very great need
and more than three hundred others in dire poverty. Monsieur, I
am telling you the truth. There are more than a hundred who
appear to be skeletons covered with skin and who are so ghastly
that, if Our Lord did not give me the strength, I would not dare
to look at them. Their skin is like bronzed marble, and drawn
back so much that their teeth seem to be all uncovered and dry
and their eyes and face quite sullen. In short, it is the most
dreadful thing you could ever see. They search for certain roots
in the field, cook them, and eat them. I really have been wanting
to recommend these immense calamities to the prayers of our
Company. There are several unmarried women perishing of hunger,
and there are some young ones among them. I am afraid that
despair might cause them to fall into a greater misery than the
temporal one.
@HEAD4 = 431. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL<I^>1<D>
<MI>TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Annecy, February 1640]<I^>2<D>
@TEXT71 = Very dear Father,
@TEXT61 = Blessed be our Divine Savior, who fortunately has
brought us your dear children for His very great glory and the
salvation of many. Everyone is delighted with them in Our Lord,
but the Bishop of Geneva<I^>3<D> and I are indeed receiving an
inexpressible consolation from them. It seems that they are our
real brothers, with whom we feel a perfect union of heart, and
they with us, in a holy simplicity, openness, and trust. I spoke
to them and they to me as though they were truly Sisters of the
Visitation. They all have great goodness and candor. The third
and the fifth<I^>4<D> need some help to come out of themselves a
little. I shall speak of it to the Superior,<I^>5<D> who is truly
a man qualified for that office. M. Escart is a saint.<I^>6<D> I
have given each of them a practice. I am doing all that, and
shall always do it, God willing, with great love and in obedience
to you, very dear Father, and for our mutual consolation. Truly
there is much to speak of to those dear souls. The good Father
[Duhamel]<I^>7<D> revealed his difficulties to me with great
simplicity. He is virtuous and has good judgment, but it will be
hard for him to persevere. I entreated him to think neither of
leaving nor of staying, but of consciously applying himself to
the work of God, abandoning himself and trusting in His
Providence. I would like him to become stronger because he has
great promise. In short, they are all affable and gave great
edification in this town the three days they stayed here. They do
indeed bring to mind the spirit of my very dear Father.
@HEAD4 = 431a. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Mid-February 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = As for the Visitor,<I^>2<D> it is still the opinion of
our Superiors and us that he would be very helpful in the
preservation of our Institute. However, we all find great
difficulties with the means suggested for establishing him
because of the rebelliousness we know to exist in the spirit of
our Sister Superior, N.;<I^>3<D> it is everything we dread.
@TEXT61 = I can well see that we shall not succeed in the manner
suggested. We must try, if it is deemed advisable, to win over
the Prelates and the monasteries by gentleness, adroitly bringing
them to understand the matter and to see that it will not run
counter to the authority of the Prelates. Likewise, very dear
Father, it will be necessary for the Visitor to make tactful use
of holy humility and charity, and to keep hidden the authority he
has from the Holy See. Otherwise, he will not be able to do
anything. I wish that we were already worrying about giving him
advice. If God establishes this plan in gentleness, I trust that
it will be greatly to His glory. However, very dear Father, your
goodness will have to draw up the rules for the Visitor. You have
already given so much of your time, which is so dear and
precious, to this blessed affair, that I look on in wonder at the
way you have been able to find it in the midst of the pressure
and urgency of your other concerns. It is the holy love God has
given you for us that makes you do the impossible. We shall make
no move in this affair until we hear from you. May God direct
everything to the end His Providence has ordained!
@HEAD4 = 432. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [February 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = We are awaiting you with the affection known to Our
Lord. You will come just in time for the business concerning the
galley-slaves.
@HEAD4 = 433. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, Tuesday after Quadragesima,<^>1<D> 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I have received your letter of January 16. I praise God
that you have seen good Bishop Ingoli<^>2<D> and that he seems to
have scarcely any difficulty with the objection we made to the
suggestion his goodness offered us. We shall ardently await the
favors he has led us to expect. I am also praising God for the
kindness toward you which He has inspired in that good gentleman,
the Canon of Our Lady of the Rotunda.<^>3<D> I think we shall
have to satisfy him in the way he desires, in the matter that you
mentioned to me, if it is greatly useful. One gets settled as
best one can in the beginning. But if the conditions seem
detrimental to you, <MI>O Jésus! <D>Monsieur, he will not be
annoyed with you for telling him simply what we can and what we
cannot do.
@TEXT6 = It would be well to hope that the Saint Bibiana<^>4<D>
affair succeeds, but the matter is too difficult, and Our Lady of
Loretto in the Marches<^>5<D> is expensive and, still more, the
palace in which Cardinal Bichi<^>6<D> resides. I do not know what
to tell you about the little church of Saint John,<^>7<D> because
you did not tell me the price. As for Our Lady of Loretto and the
Bichi palace, they are beyond our means and you must not even
consider the help you were suggesting for the palace. I return to
what I wrote to you about a small, well-ventilated house, not too
far from the Vatican where, nevertheless, we can expand in time.
Even if it is not so near that holy place and there is no church,
it does not matter, for, since we are not working in Rome, we can
do without a church. A small chapel will be enough for us, unless
there is some indication that in time we may be engaged with the
ordinands; but we shall wait and see. At present, we are
responsible for all in the Kingdom who are ordained in this city.
@TEXT6 = I am not mentioning our principal business to you,
except that I find myself perplexed about the doubts that occur
to me and the decision to make concerning the last method I
suggested to you: whether it would be sufficient to make a vow of
stability and, with regard to the observance of poverty and
obedience, to proclaim a solemn excommunication against those who
have money laid aside in their own keeping or elsewhere. This
should take place in Chapter on a certain day of the year (at
which everyone would be obliged to be present and to hand over
what he had to the Superior). That is what the Carthusians do.
The same could be done against the disobedient; or else, whether,
instead of excommunication, we were to have them make a solemn
oath every year to observe the rule of poverty, chastity, and
obedience. I entreat you, Monsieur, to talk this over with the
Reverend Father Assistant<^>8<D> and, to find out whether the vow
of stability by itself constitutes the religious state. Everyone
here has so great an aversion for this state that it is a pity.
Nevertheless, if it is considered expedient, we shall have to do
it. The Christian religion was resisted everywhere in the past
and, nonetheless, it was the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Happy
are those who, <MI>confusione contempta<D>,<^>9<D> embrace this
state.
@TEXT6 = The secular clergy are receiving a great deal from God
at present. They say that our wretched Company has made a great
contribution to them by means of the ordinands and the gathering
of priests in Paris. There are many people of rank embracing this
state right now. M. de la Marguerie,<^>10<D> formerly the First
President of a Province, became a simple priest just ten days
ago. We have among the ordinands a Councillor from the Great
Council,<^>11<D> and a Master of Accounts,<^>12<D> who wishes to
remain such. They are becoming simple priests out of devotion. M.
de Mesgrigny,<^>13<D> Advocate General at the Board of Excise,
has withdrawn with M. Brandon<^>14<D> to Saint-Maur for that
purpose. We were not able to receive him into our house for six
months, as he was asking, because of the rule we have, with which
you are familiar, of admitting among us only persons who wish to
become members of the Company, with the exception of the
retreatants, who stay for ten days.
@TEXT6 = What shall I say about the talk you had with the
Ambassador,<^>15<D> concerning the Italian prelate you mentioned
to me, except that we have a rule and, by the mercy of God, are
exact in the practice of never getting mixed up in affairs of
State, or even discussing them.<^>16<D> That is: (1) because
<MI>quod supra nos nihil ad nos<D>;<^>17<D> (2) because it is not
fitting for poor priests such as we to get mixed up with or to
talk about things other than those concerning our vocation; (3)
the affairs of Princes are mysteries that we ought to respect and
not examine minutely; (4) most people offend God by passing
judgment on the things others do, especially important people,
not knowing the reasons why they are doing what they do; for when
one does not know the primary cause of some matter, what
conclusions can he draw from it? (5) everything to be done is
problematic except those things determined by Holy Scripture;
beyond that, no one possesses the dogma of infallibility in his
opinions. That being true, as it is, is it not great temerity to
judge the opinions and actions of others? (6) the Son of God, Who
is the model on which we are to mold our life, always kept silent
about the government of princes, although they were pagans and
idolaters; (7) He made known to His Apostles that they were not
to interfere curiously in matters concerning not only the affairs
of princes but also those of individuals. He said to one of them,
speaking of another: <MI>si eum volo manere, quid ad te?<^>18<D>
@TEXT6 = For all these reasons and an infinity of others, I beg
you, Monsieur, to keep to our little practice, which is never to
talk about, much less intervene in, the affairs of Princes,
either by word or in writing, and to inform the Ambassador, if he
does you the honor of speaking to you about it, that such is the
practice in our Little Company. Entreat him to excuse you if,
when he did you the honor of talking to you freely, you reported
the opinion of the public concerning the matter about which he
spoke to you and went beyond what we ought to do according to our
little Rules. And, in order to establish yourself more and more
in the exact observance of this little rule, I beg you, Monsieur,
to make your prayer on this matter, on the day after you receive
this letter or as soon as possible, on the points above and to
ask God in it to grant to the Company the grace of always being
faithful to the observance of this little rule. There will be no
need for you to send me a reply about this matter because I am
certain that you agree with everything I am saying and that this
practice is worth enforcing after this.
@TEXT6 = As soon as you have your faculty to become established,
I shall send you the priest and the cleric you request. If you
buy some house at a cost of only three or four thousand livres,
send us a copy of the contract, signed and sealed in proper form
to be used as a guarantee for those who will be giving us the
money. It will serve as a receipt for the letter of exchange you
will draw from our account, a month after this letter is
received. And as for that Piedmontese boy, we shall accept him
and have him study, if you send him to us and think that he has
what it takes to be a good Missionary.
@TEXT6 = I am sending you the power of attorney from M. Dehorgny,
Commander of Holy Spirit in Toul, to relinquish the house to the
Company <MI>causa unionis<D>,<^>19<D> together with an
attestation from the Vicar General of Toul, which will serve the
same purpose. I entreat you, Monsieur, to work on this matter
with your usual prudence and diligence. M. Le Bret<^>20<D> will
tell you about the difficulty this affair is undergoing because
of the opposition you have reason to fear on the part of the
General of Holy Spirit.<^>21<D>
@TEXT6 = I shall end this letter so that I may go to see good M.
Renar<^>22<D> who sent for me as he is gravely and critically
ill.
@TEXT6 = God has disposed of our good late M. de Montevit, whom
you knew at the seminary. His death came in Bar-le-Duc, where he
was reputed a saint, at the College of the Jesuits. They did us
the kindness of housing him with the other Fathers while he was
working for the corporal and spiritual nourishment of five or six
hundred poor people. These latter all accompanied him to the
tomb, two by two, candle in hand, weeping for him as at the death
of their own father. The Reverend Father Rector wrote me
noteworthy things about him.<^>23<D> M. Boucher replaced him, but
he has also fallen ill because of the great amount of work he
undertook for the poor. Brother Mathieu<^>24<D> returned from
there yesterday evening as well as from Metz, Toul, and
Verdun,<^>25<D> after having sent Nancy its share of the alms. We
are continuing to assist those poor people to the amount of five
hundred livres per month<^>26<D> in each of the above-mentioned
towns. But indeed, Monsieur, I greatly fear that we will not be
able to keep it up much longer. It is so hard to find twenty-five
hundred livres every month.
@TEXT6 = I recommend our deceased man and our sick man to your
prayers, together with the needs of our poor and I am, in the
love of Our Lord, Monsieur, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = <P10>V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.<^>27<D>
@TEXT6 = I jotted down what Bishop Ingoli requested but so poorly
that I am ashamed to send it to you. I ask you to fix it up, and
give it to him, Monsieur, and assure him of my obedience.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 434. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare-lez-Paris, March 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I received your letter of January 28 here at two
o'clock. It told me: (1) about our principal business;<^>1<D> (2)
about what M. Le Bret achieved with the Vice-Gerent with regard
to your establishment; (3) about what you told me of the churches
mentioned to you and the lodging; (4) about the offer made to you
by that good Canon from the Rotunda; (5) about the dispatches I
requested from you concerning marriage impediments; and finally
about what happened with Cardinal de Bagni.<^>2<D>
@TEXT6 = Now, with regard to the first point, let me say that I
think you would do well to waste no time in our principal
business according to the modification or change that I sent to
you in the letter of December 10, which you mentioned to
me.<^>3<D> His Eminence<^>4<D> sent me word that, when the
situation has changed somewhat, he will be able to write about
it. Nevertheless, do not fail to propose the matter the way it is
and please send me a rough draft.
@TEXT6 = As for the second point, I am heartened by what you say
M. Le Bret has accomplished with the Vice-Gerent. I think you
would do well not to waste any time on that matter.
@TEXT6 = As for the churches and the lodging, we are too poor to
agree to Our Lady of Loretto. I think you should keep to what I
wrote you. Buy some hospice at low price, but with a garden,
nevertheless, and in some place where we can expand with time.
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu! <D>what shall we do about the exchange? I
shall make inquiries as to whether we can send the money by some
ship from Marseilles; you do the same.
@TEXT6 = I see immense difficulties in the offer of the Rotunda.
Warmly thank that good gentleman who offered it to us.
@TEXT6 = I shall write to you later concerning the dispatches for
the invalid marriages.
@TEXT6 = I entreat you meanwhile, to tell Cardinal Bagni what I
had the happiness of telling him before. I hope he will some day
approve what we are asking.
@TEXT6 = In the meantime, I ask you, Monsieur, as I did in my
preceding letter, to observe exactly our little rule with regard
to never discussing State matters, mortifying the curiosity to
know and converse about worldly affairs. One of our Brothers, who
goes back and forth, carrying money into Lorraine for the poor,
told me that he finds it a great consolation when he is here in
this house, never to hear any news. He is very much astonished to
see the opposite practice in the religious Communities with whom
he stops. M. du Coudray<^>5<D> wrote the same thing to me from
Toul and said that we must retain this invaluable practice and
observe it.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Monsieur, I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 435. - <P8MI>A PRIEST OF THE MISSION<I^>1<D> <MI>TO
SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = Saint-Mihiel, March 1640
@TEXT61 = At our last distribution of bread, there were 1,132
poor people, without counting the sick, of whom there are a large
number. We assist them with food and appropriate remedies. They
all pray for their benefactors with such sentiments of gratitude
that a number of them weep with emotion, even the rich, who are
touched by these things. I do not believe that these people, for
whom so many and such frequent prayers are offered, could be
lost. The noblemen of the town have high praise for this
charitable work. They say openly that many would have died
without this help and voice the obligation they have toward you.
A few days ago, a poor Swiss gentleman abjured his Lutheran
heresy and, after having received the sacraments, died in a very
Christian manner.
@HEAD4 = 436. - TO A PRIEST OF THE MISSION
@TEXT4 = [Before 1642]
@TEXT62 = To the question addressed to him, as to whether it
would be advisable at the end of the missions to request
attestations of the work accomplished and the results achieved,
the Saint answered:
@TEXT600 = <169>that they would do well not to ask for any. It
was sufficient that God knew their good works and that the poor
were assisted, without their wishing to produce any other
proofs.<170><^>1<D>
@HEAD4 = 437. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [Between 1638 and 1650]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I am afraid you cannot refuse the alms that poor woman
is asking of you without some sort of failing in charity toward
your neighbor. I do not think that will oblige you to go to any
lengths to feed the child. She will have to have it placed at the
Foundlings; or if the mother nurses some small infant from a
titled family, she can have her own child cared for in the
country for half as much. In any case, God will provide for the
child and for your son as well, without your giving way to
anxiety about what will become of him. Give the child and the
mother to Our Lord. He will take good care of you and your son.
Just let Him do His Will in you and in him, and await it in all
your exercises. All you need to do is to devote yourself entirely
to God. Oh! how little it takes to be very holy: to do the Will
of God in all things.
@TEXT6 = [I am in]<^>2<D> the love of Our Lord, your most humble
servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 438. - <P8MI>A PRIEST TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Between 1639 and 1643]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = Having seen the letters coming from Lorraine, which you
sent to M. N., who showed them to me, I must confess that I was
not able to read them without weeping and, so copiously, that
several times I was forced to stop reading them. I praise our
good God for the paternal providence He has for His creatures and
I am asking Him to continue His graces to your priests who are
employed in that divine exercise. There remains only my regret at
seeing those charitable workers winning heaven and helping so
many others to win it, while I, in my wretchedness, do nothing
but crawl about the earth like a useless animal.
@HEAD4 = 439. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Thursday morning [Between 1639 and 1642]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I did not remember yesterday, when I sent you word that
I would come to your house today,<^>2<D> that I had orders from
the Archbishop<^>3<D> to go and see the Duchesse d'Aiguillon in
Rueil today with the Pastor of Saint-Leu.<^>4<D> See which would
be better: either tell the Sisters not to come or let Monsieur
Dehorgny or M. Soufliers<^>5<D> speak to them, and decide which
of the two. Meanwhile, I wish you a good day and am,
Mademoiselle, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 440. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Friday at noon [Between 1639 and
1651]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = For several days I have had five hundred livres which I
am sending you by this messenger because we owe it to you. Now
the Prior<^>2<D> has asked me for some three thousand livres he
gave us about three months ago without our asking him, to be
returned when he wished. And although he gave us silver money, he
is asking us for louis or weighted coin, which is the reason, it
seems, for which he gave us that sum. Now, we are caught a bit
unawares. Mademoiselle, could you lend us that amount? We shall
return it to you when you wish and try to convert it into money
of standard weight<197>I mean the three thousand livres I think
you still have. There is nothing in the world that you can be
more sure of, by the grace of God.
@TEXT6 = The meeting<^>3<D> has been postponed until Monday. If
you think it advisable to reprove Sister Marie Monique, do so.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am feeling better, thank God,
and am your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 441. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Monday at noon [Between 1639 and
1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = You did not send me word as to where the Abbé de Vaux is
staying. Do you not think it fitting for us to ask him to come to
dinner here? I would like you to be able to make the arrangements
for Thursday; if you cannot, I shall try to go and visit him at
his lodging.
@TEXT6 = It would be well to send word to that good Sister in
Angers to come right home. She may not find the Sisters in
Richelieu ready or they may have left.
@TEXT6 = I saw our Sister Henriette's<^>2<D> niece<^>3<D>
yesterday. Since things have happened the way they have, I think
it will be well to give her a try and for me to write to the
Bishop of Beauvais<^>4<D> in case she is brought to justice.
@TEXT6 = I no longer have any congestion or fever, since God is
so pleased. I am about to go out right now and shall try to have
the happiness of seeing you one day this week. I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 442. - <P8MI>A PRIEST<I^>1<D> <MI>TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Around 1640]<I^>2<D>
@TEXT61 = Among the people who made general confessions, I can
assure you that there were more than fifteen hundred who had
never made a good one. Moreover, for the most part, they had
wallowed in quite grievous sins for the space of ten, twenty, and
thirty years; they frankly admitted that they had never confessed
them to their ordinary pastors and confessors. Great ignorance
was to be found there, but still more, malice. They were so
ashamed to make known their sins that some of them could not make
up their minds to reveal them even in the general confessions
they made to the Missionaries. But finally, strongly impelled by
what they heard in the sermons and catechism lessons, they
yielded and confessed their faults frankly with wailing and
tears.
@HEAD4 = 443. - TO LOUIS ABELLY, IN BAYONNE
@TEXT4 = Paris, April 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I am writing to the Bishop of Bayonne<^>1<D> to say a
word about the subject you did me the honor of mentioning in your
letter, which is that the deceased Monsieur Fouquet<^>2<D> did
not agree for many years with everything the above-mentioned
Bishop thought about the establishment of women religious in
Bayonne. He told me some very important reasons for his
[disagreement], although I do not think I have ever made known to
him my opinion of the matter, which is quite in conformity with
that of his father. The disadvantages are considerable and the
good to be hoped for far less than the expectations you wrote to
me. Nevertheless, the Bishop is the one in charge, and I am too
bold in daring to tell you what I have told you. It rests with
the Bishop to identify the Will of God in this affair, as in all
things, and it is my responsibility to submit to it. That is what
I am doing and I submit to everything that you, Monsieur, will
advise him. I do so with all the humility and affection in my
power, I who am, in the love of Our Lord, Monsieur, your most
humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = I had the happiness of meeting your brother during the
course of an arbitration with M. de Cordes.<^>3<D> O Monsieur,
what a comfort it was to me!
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Abelly, Vicar General and
Officialis of Bayonne, in Bayonne
@HEAD4 = 444. - TO THE DUCHESSE D'AIGUILLON
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Monday morning [April or May 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Madame,
@TEXT6 = Messieurs de Liancourt,<^>2<D> de la
Ville-aux-Clercs,<^>3<D> de Fontenay,<^>4<D> and several other
persons of rank met here yesterday to begin working for the
nobility of Lorraine who are in this city.<^>5<D> You would not
believe, Madame, the blessings they all hope for you, because of
the great good you are doing for the men and women religious and
for the poor people of Lorraine. They said that if you had never
done any good but that, you could hope for a large share in the
eternal kingdom. We discussed the means of sending your 15,000
livres to that province. Monsieur de Fontenay, who has been the
Governor in Nancy, said that we should call in two companies of
cavalry to reinforce the convoy in which it is placed. M. du
Halier will be glad to do that if we write to him about it. It
will cost nothing, or little.
@TEXT6 = The saving will not be small for your poor if we can
change the silver money given to us into gold. There are 12,500
livres in silver money of rather poor coinage. Monsieur Chenevis
will not be willing to give us coin for coin, I am afraid. He
will give us pistoles for twelves livres there that he can get
here for ten. Nevertheless, I have instructed our Brother
Louistre<^>6<D> to find out about it this morning.
@TEXT6 = I am sending you the request we are presenting to the
Deputies of Amortizations.<^>7<D> The Bishop of Saintes,<^>8<D>
who is one of them, is of the opinion, Madame, that if you would
be so kind as to recommend the matter to those gentlemen, they
would exempt us, because he considers the case just. We make
mention in it of you, Madame. I most humbly entreat you to have
the request read to you and to examine the reasons we allege so
that you can speak to those gentlemen about them.
@TEXT6 = I most humbly ask your pardon, Madame, for all the
trouble I am giving you. The unequaled benevolence Our Lord has
given you for us encourages me to trust in you and causes me to
be, in His love and that of His holy Mother, your most humble and
most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = It will be my pleasure to let you know, when it is time,
so that you may take the trouble of seeing those gentlemen. I
shall give you a list of their names.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Madame la Duchesse d'Aiguillon
@HEAD4 = 445. - TO JEAN DE FONTENEIL, IN BORDEAUX<B^>1<D>
@TEXT4 = Paris, May 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I give thanks to God for the blessing He is incessantly
showering on your Company and your works and I most humbly
entreat you, Monsieur, to pray for the remission of my sins and
that I may die well.
@TEXT6 = Your goodness encourages me to trouble you too
frequently; I shall curtail this whenever you choose. I entreat
you, Monsieur, to add to all your previous kindnesses that of
sending the enclosed packages to Bayonne and to Dax by a safe
means and as soon as possible, and making use of me in return.
@TEXT6 = I am, in the love of Our Lord, for you, for the
Messieurs de Cruseau, and for all the men in your holy Company,
Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = I entreat you, Monsieur, to send the enclosed package to
M. Benoît,<^>2<D> at Notre-Dame de la Rose, near
Sainte-Livrade.<^>3<D>
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur de Fonteneil, Canon of
Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux, in Bordeaux
@HEAD4 = 446. - TO SAINT JANE FRANCES, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, May 14, 1640
@TEXT7 = Most worthy and amiable Mother,
@TEXT6 = I cannot thank you humbly or affectionately enough for
all the incomparable kindnesses you unceasingly bestow on our
Missionaries and on me. I am asking Our Lord to carry out this
duty Himself, dear Mother; may He be your reward. You have given
them furniture, dear Mother; may it please the goodness of God to
become Himself the furnishing and precious adornment of your dear
soul, so that it may shine like the sun in heaven as it does on
earth! We are in your debt as always, and at fault for not having
written to you sooner. The only reason for that, I think, was the
hope of writing from week to week to tell you the latest decision
concerning the Visitor. However, [the difficulties]<^>1<D> and
the importance of the matter will still hold things in abeyance,
for at least eight to ten days.<^>2<D> We thought it advisable,
however, to tell you, dear Mother, that the Commander<^>3<D> will
send you M. Roton, his chaplain, in ten to twelve days at the
most, with the latest decision he is to make with the Archbishop
of Sens.<^>4<D> And since the said Commander will explain the
state of the affair to you concisely, I will say nothing to you
about it, except: (1) that we recognize more and more the
usefulness of the Visitor's making visitations when necessary;
(2) that we think it is expedient for him to have the authority
the holy canons confer on a Visitor, independently of the
Ordinaries, and that he make use of it, yet without changing
anything in the rules, with all the respect, circumspection, and
deference possible; (3) that if you, dear Mother, write to the
.<|>.<|>. that they, or at least some that I know, use it in the
same way with regard to the Congregation of the Sisters of
Notre-Dame,<^>5<D> concerning the rumor of a Bull that their
Foundress had had written for some matter relevant to the affair
in question; (4) that the only remedy is that .<|>.<|>.<|>; (5)
that it would be more advisable to leave things as they are and
entrust them to the direction of Divine Providence than to act
otherwise; (6) that our worthy Mother is the only one to whom we
think Our Lord will make known His holy Will, since she is the
Foundress of this holy Order, His Divine Goodness being such that
He communicates to people with that title important lights
concerning the work He has entrusted to them.
@TEXT6 = These, dear Mother, are the thoughts we have at present
and about which we are to confer fully beforehand with the
Archbishop of Sens.<^>6<D>
@TEXT6 = I made the visitation in the city and the
faubourg.<^>7<D> I shall tell you how they are in the letter I am
sending you by Monsieur Roton.
@TEXT6 = To get back to your Missionaries,<^>8<D> I shall tell
you, dear Mother, that I think God has given you in one single
glance as clear a discernment as if you had formed them. O dear
Mother! to what a degree you are my mother and theirs, and how
fortunate they are, in my opinion, to have the happiness of being
near you and how fortunate I also am because you are so good to
me. I am, in the love of Our Lord, most worthy Mother, your most
humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Reverend Mother de Chantal, Superior
of the first monastery of Annecy
@HEAD4 = 447. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES TO SAINT
VINCENT<R><P9>Live Jesus!
@TEXT41 = [Annecy, May 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT71 = My very dear Father,
@TEXT61 = We received your letter of May 14 rather late. Believe
that the affection and desire God has given us to cherish and
serve your dear children produces no [state] comparable to our
love, which would be happy to have the power to do more. They are
so good that it takes little to please them. Moreover, the holy
edification and usefulness of their lives and their unceasing
work for the greatest glory of God and the profit of souls makes
everyone say that they have been sent by God and that M. Codoing
has the spirit of God.
@TEXT61 = Our very good father, the Commander,<I^>2<D> sent me
word that, if we wish, he will have the house in Troyes provide
two more priests and a Brother. God knows how gladly the Bishop
of Geneva<I^>3<D> will accept them. This diocese has 455 Catholic
parishes and 145 held by the heretics. That makes 600, and they
are large, densely populated parishes. Consequently, M. Codoing
says that it will take four years to visit all of them. You can
see, dearest Father, how profitably the increase in this blessing
will be put to use. Your dear children are delighted to find a
people so well disposed; may the Holy Trinity be glorified for
this! Oh, what a fine crown awaits you, dearest Father, and our
dearest father, the Commander, because of the good use he is
making of these faithful workers! I think this mission here will
put more souls in Paradise than many others, with the help of
divine grace.
@HEAD4 = 447a. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT61 = As for the Visitor,<I^>1<D> the reasons that indicate
his usefulness are so solid that they cannot be questioned.
However, since God has permitted that, unbeknown to me, so many
monasteries have been informed of this plan and are so strongly
against it and have expressed that to me, would I be able to join
in it without separating myself from them? And what would be the
outcome of that? I leave it to you to ponder, my very dear
Father. They would all stir each other up and then as you say,
they would inform the Prelates who would cut off their
communication with us. That, to all appearances, would cause a
great upset in the Institute, which is blessed with complete
peace and union as far as I can tell, and by the grace of God, I
know of no disorders except that which came about from the
dismissal of those Sisters from N.<I^>2<D> That was very
disturbing and must have greatly humiliated that Superior in the
eyes of the Bishop. Such things are bound to happen when one does
not follow the Rule.
@TEXT61 = Oh! very dear Father, I must confess that I am
perplexed when I consider the usefulness of the Visitor and when
I see that he cannot be established without an enormous upheaval
in the Institute, if it does not accept him. I cannot help
feeling that in this case he may do more harm than good and,
consequently, if the houses cannot be won over tactfully, that it
would be better to leave things as they are, in the hands of
Divine Providence, than to proceed further. These are my
sentiments and those of the Prelates.
@HEAD4 = 448. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, June 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Yesterday I received three of your letters at once: one
from the second, another from the third Sunday after Easter, and
the other from April 18, I think. Here, briefly, is the answer to
all three.
@TEXT6 = I praise God and am inexpressibly consoled because of
all that Our Lord is doing there through you, although we still
do not have what you are requesting with regard to our affairs.
But, may God be blessed for not seeing fit to grant it and for
all the good you are doing in the midst of it all! If the
principal matter is not settled during this pontificate,<^>1<D>
<MI>in nomine Domini<D>.
@TEXT6 = I thank God meanwhile that the Vice-Gerent has given you
verbal permission to buy a house in Rome and to establish
yourself there. I think those people are right who do not wish
you to be situated where the air is bad, or where you are too far
away. I entreat you, Monsieur, to pay heed to both, especially
the first. One must be satisfied with a little in the beginning.
If we can send you four thousand livres for that purpose, that
will be all. The title of the chapel will be the Most Holy
Trinity, please, and the house can be called the Mission.
@TEXT6 = Do you see any objection to accepting the alms people
give you for Masses? I do not think I see any problem in your
visiting the poor in the vicinity, or in your offering yourself
to the Vice-Gerent to receive ecclesiastics for retreat and
ceremonies. But all that in time, when you have the support I
shall send you, on learning that you actually have a house. If
matters are pressing in that regard, get the money from M.
Marchand and we shall repay it here. If not, I shall try to have
it sent to the Nuncio<^>2<D> or to M. Mazarini.<^>3<D>
@TEXT6 = I still have not seen the said Nuncio for important
reasons that I cannot write to you and I shall not be able to see
him personally until business matters both here and there are
settled. I shall try to have him visited this week by someone who
sees him often. He promised to do so and would already have seen
him, were it not for the fact that he has just returned from the
country.
@TEXT6 = What shall I say about Bishop Ingoli's
suggestion?<^>4<D> Nothing certainly, Monsieur, but that I accept
it, with all the reverence and humility in my power, as coming
from God. We shall do our best to undertake it, but we have
absolutely no one in either of the two Companies from the county
of Avignon. Nevertheless, I think that it is absolutely necessary
for the Bishop and the other two who are to accompany him to be
from the same Company.
@TEXT6 = Since writing the above, I have been to celebrate Holy
Mass. This is the thought that came to me: because the power to
send persons <MI>ad gentes<D> resides, on earth, in the person of
His Holiness alone, he has consequently the power to send every
priest throughout the world for the glory of God and the
salvation of souls, and all priests have the obligation to obey
him in that regard. According to that maxim, which seems
reasonable to me, I offered this Little Company to God, to His
Divine Majesty, to go wherever His Holiness commands. However,
like you, I think it is necessary for His Holiness to consent
that the direction and discipline of those sent belong to the
Superior General, together with the faculty of recalling them and
sending others in their place. Nonetheless, they shall see to it
that they are with regard to His Holiness like the servants of
the Gospel with regard to their master. If he says to them:
<MI>go there<D>, they will be obliged to go; <MI>come here<D>,
they will come; <MI>do that<D>, they will be obliged to do it. We
have few in the Company who have the talents necessary for a
mission of such importance, yet there are some,<^>5<D> by the
mercy of God.
@TEXT6 = I have not been able to talk to His Eminence<^>6<D>
about M. Le Bret's business matter. I shall speak of it to the
Duchesse d'Aiguillon, his niece. I greet the said Sieur Le Bret
with all the respect in my power and am his most humble servant
and yours.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Marchand, banker at the
court in Rome, to be sent, courtesy of him, to Monsieur Lebreton,
Priest of the Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 449. - <P8MI>JUSTE GUERIN, BISHOP OF GENEVA, TO SAINT
VINCENT
@TEXT41 = June 1640
@TEXT61 = Would to God that you could see the center of my heart,
for I truly love and respect you with all my affection. I
acknowledge myself to be the most obligated of all men in the
world to your charity because of the great benefits and fruits
that the Missionaries, your dear children in God, are producing
in our diocese. They are so great that I cannot put them into
words; they are unbelievable except to one who sees them. I was
an eye-witness of this on the occasion of the visitation I began
after Easter. Everyone is unanimous in loving, cherishing, and
praising them. Indeed, Monsieur, their doctrine is holy and their
conversation as well. They give great edification to everyone by
their irreproachable life. When they have brought their mission
to a close in one village, they leave for another and the people
go along with them weeping and saying, <169><M>O bon Dieu<MI>!
what shall we do? Our good Fathers are leaving,<170> and for
several days they continue to go and see them in the other
villages.
@TEXT61 = People from other dioceses are seen coming to confess
to them and admirable conversions are accomplished through them.
Their Superior<I^>1<D> possesses great gifts from God and
marvelous zeal for His glory and the salvation of souls. He
preaches with great fervor and great fruit. To be sure, we are
exceedingly obligated to Commander de Sillery for having provided
for their support. Oh! how admirable Divine Providence is for
having graciously inspired the heart of that good gentleman to
procure these evangelical workers for us! It is the good God who
has accomplished all this, without any human persuasion entering
in. He took into consideration our need and our unfortunate
nearness to the wretched city of Geneva.
@HEAD4 = 450. - TO SAINT LOUISE, IN LA CHAPELLE
@TEXT4 = [Between 1636 and 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Here is a fine young woman who has come from thirty-two
leagues away to see if she is suited for the Charity. Please
consider her. The man accompanying her is her father; he brought
her expressly for that purpose. And I, I am, in the love of Our
Lord, your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras, in La Chapelle
@HEAD4 = 451. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Annecy, between 1626 and 1641]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = Alas! my true and most dear Father, could it really be
possible that my God is granting me the grace of bringing you to
these parts! That would indeed be the greatest consolation I
could receive in this world, and this news is for me like a
special act of God's mercy on my soul, which I think would be
incomparably relieved by it in the midst of a certain interior
suffering which I have borne for more than four years and which
serves me as a martyrdom.
@HEAD4 = 452. - TO FRANCOIS DU COUDRAY, IN TOUL
@TEXT4 = Paris, June 17, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = We are sending everything we have for those men and
women religious.<^>1<D> You can see from the letter I wrote to M.
de Villarceaux,<^>2<D> which you will seal, how the Duchesse
d'Aiguillon feels about the distribution. It would be good
perhaps for you to take [it] to him.
@TEXT6 = Mathieu<^>3<D> is bringing you your little allowance and
you will adjust your expenditures accordingly. As for the two
thousand livres you received for the religious from M. de
Saint-Nicolas,<^>4<D> in the name of God, Monsieur, use none of
it for any other purpose under any pretext of charity whatsoever.
There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or
that permits us to do more than we reasonably can.
@TEXT6 = I shall say nothing to you concerning the business about
M. Fl[eury], except that I am very glad he talks things over with
M. Midot<^>5<D> and that you settle your differences with him
amicably as the need arises, whereas President de Trélon<^>6<D>,
who could moderate the little flare-ups, is removed from the
situation. It would be desirable for those gentlemen to approve
of matters being returned to their original state, but, since
Providence has disposed otherwise through that good and holy
prelate now deceased,<^>7<D> we must submit. Besides there is no
hope that justice will dispose things otherwise, nor is it
expedient to attempt to do so.
@TEXT6 = The visitations I have made up to the present in
Richelieu<^>8<D> and in Troyes<^>9<D> took place with so much
fruit and so many blessings that I could see the truth in what
they say about the Carthusians, that among the means by which
they maintain their primitive observance is the annual
visitation. That made me think that it is advisable for us to
make ours every year. Therefore, since I myself cannot go to make
them in Lorraine in person, I am sending M. Dehorgny. You are
well acquainted with his simplicity, piety, and exactitude to the
observance of the Little Rule of the house. I entreat you,
Monsieur, to receive him in this capacity and to have the same
confidence in him as you would in me. You know that it was you
who gave him to us, and are aware of his gratitude for that and,
moreover, of the esteem he has for you. I hope that you will act
in such a way that everyone in the house may profit from this
action, which is never carried out without great fruit and
blessings.
@TEXT6 = I just sent M. Lambert to our house in La Rose for the
same purpose and hope to go and do the same, around the middle of
autumn, with regard to Troyes, Geneva, and some other places, if
God gives me the health to do so. It is important that the
above-mentioned gentleman not be known in Toul for who he is, for
many reasons. He will give you news of us and tell you how I
embrace you in spirit with all the humility and affection in my
power. I am, in the love of Our Lord, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur du Coudray, Priest of the
Mission, in the house of Holy Spirit, in Toul
@HEAD4 = 453. - TO MOTHER FRANCOISE-ELISABETH
PHELIPPEAUX,<B^>1<D><R>IN SAINT-DENIS
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, the last day of June, 1640
@TEXT7 = Dear Mother,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = If the profession of our dear Sister de Chaumont<^>2<D>
can take place next Saturday, the day of your holy feast,<^>3<D>
I trust that Our Lord will grant me the grace of coming to serve
you, or else I shall come the next day, Sunday. If not, I cannot
do it on Monday, because I gave my word that I would be of
service to the little Chandenier girl,<^>4<D> who is to take the
habit that day at your house in the faubourg, and on Tuesday we
have our meeting for priests.<^>5<D> Wednesday I think I will be
able to leave for my trip of fifteen or twenty days.<^>6<D>
Nevertheless, I shall do what I can to wait for a Thursday, if
necessary. God knows how much I want to be of service to that
dear child and how much I am, in His love, dear Mother, your most
humble and obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mother Superior of the Visitation
Sainte-Marie de Saint-Denis, in Saint-Denis<^>7<D>
@HEAD4 = 454. - <P8MI>JEAN DEHORGNY TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Saint-Mihiel, June or July 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = Monsieur, I shall tell you astonishing things about
this town which would seem unbelievable if we had not seen them.
Besides all the poor beggars I mentioned, the majority of the
inhabitants of the town and especially the nobility are enduring
so much hunger that it cannot be described or imagined, and what
is most deplorable is that they do not dare to ask for anything.
There are some who pluck up their courage, but others would
rather die. I myself have spoken to people of rank who do nothing
but weep incessantly because of the situation.
@TEXT61 = Here is another even stranger thing. A widow, who no
longer had anything for herself or her three children and who saw
herself reduced to dying of hunger, skinned a grass-snake and put
it on the coals to roast it and eat it, since she could not find
anything else. Our confrere who lives here, having heard about
it, ran to her house and, having seen this, remedied the matter.
@TEXT61 = Not a single horse dies in the town, of any disease
whatsoever, that is not immediately carried off to be eaten. Just
three or four days ago there was a woman at the public almshouse
with her apron full of that kind of foul meat; she was giving it
to other poor people for scraps of bread.
@TEXT61 = A young woman had for several days been deliberating
about selling what was most dear to her in the world for a little
bread, and she had even sought opportunities several times. God
be praised and thanked that she did not find them and that, at
present, she is out of danger.
@TEXT61 = Another extremely deplorable case is that the priests,
who are all, thank God, of exemplary life, are suffering the same
want and have no bread to eat. Things are so bad that a pastor
who lives half a league from the town was reduced to pulling a
plough, harnessed with his parishioners in the place of the
horses. Is it not deplorable, Monsieur, to see a priest, and a
pastor at that, brought to such a condition. One no longer has to
go to Turkey to see priests condemned to ploughing the earth,
since they are reducing themselves to that at our doors, being
constrained to do so by necessity.
@TEXT61 = Moreover, Monsieur, Our Lord is so good that he seems
to have privileged Saint-Mihiel with a spirit of devotion and
patience, for amid the extreme poverty of temporal goods, they
are so avid for spiritual things that up to two thousand people
come to hear the catechism lessons. That is a big number for a
small town where the majority of the large houses are deserted.
The poor themselves are very conscientious about attending, and
about frequenting the sacraments. Everyone in general has a high
esteem of the Missionary who is here. He instructs and helps them
and one man considers himself fortunate to have spoken to him
just once. He also exerts himself with great charity and much
labor at the borders. He even allowed himself to be so
overwhelmed with general confessions and want of food that he
fell ill.
@TEXT61 = I am amazed at how, with the small amount of money he
receives from Paris, he can give so many alms both in general and
in private. That is where I see so clearly the blessing of God
who causes His gifts to multiply. What Holy Scripture said about
the manna came back to me: each family was to take the same
amount and there would be enough for everyone, whether there were
more or fewer people to gather it.<I^>2<D> Here I see something
similar, for our priests who have more poor people do not give
any less and yet are not left empty-handed.
@HEAD4 = 455. - <P8MI>JEAN DEHORGNY TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = Bar-le-Duc, July 1640
@TEXT61 = First of all, every week our Missionaries give a great
number of poor people linen, especially shirts. They take back
the old ones to have them washed, mended, and given to others, or
else they tear them into pieces to serve as bandages for those
with wounds or sores.
@TEXT61 = Secondly, they themselves tend a large number of people
suffering from ringworm. There used to be twenty-five of them
before on a regular basis and there are still twelve. This
disease is extremely common throughout Lorraine. In all the other
towns there is a proportionate number. Thank God, they are cared
for in such a conscientious and charitable way that all of them
are cured of it by a very effective remedy our Brothers have
learned.
@TEXT61 = Thirdly, our priests here lay out a considerable amount
of money<197>but it is well spent<197>on taking in the poor who
are passing through, for our Missionaries in Nancy, Toul, and
other places, very often refer groups of poor people to them to
be sent into France because this town is the gateway of Lorraine.
They also provide them with food and some money for their trip.
@HEAD4 = 456. - TO FRANCOIS DU COUDRAY, IN TOUL
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 10, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Mathieu has brought you your money. We shall find out
from the President<^>1<D> how things stand with M. de Fleury and
shall look into it.
@TEXT6 = I wrote to tell you that you must carry out the
distribution according to the orders of M. de Villarceaux and see
that the others do the same. I think you have the order he signed
and that you will follow it exactly. That, Monsieur, is what I
most humbly ask you to do. Also, obtain a receipt from each
monastery for what you give them.<^>2<D> With regard to the
distributions to be made in the other towns where there are
individuals from the Company, please instruct them to do the
same. They are to follow in their entirety the orders the
above-mentioned Sieur de Villarceaux gave you and obtain a
receipt for everything they give, because we must keep an account
of it so that, whatever the pretext may be, not a speck of it is
diverted or applied elsewhere. And please send me by way of
Brother Mathieu a copy of the accounts, signed by M. de
Villarceaux, and a copy of his orders, if there is one. Also send
me every month the amounts you have given out or ordered to be
distributed in other places. Never has greater order been seen
than what is being required and observed. You have mentioned
nothing concerning the number of poor country people who have
been given refuge in the town or the faubourg to whom you
dispense help. I show that to the good Ladies<^>3<D> every month
from all the other places. It is only from Toul that I have not
shown it to them for a rather long time. It gives them great
consolation. Last Saturday we spent two or three hours looking at
the other letters and they were extremely gratified by them.
@TEXT6 = That, Monsieur, is all I have to tell you at the moment,
except that I beg you take care of your health, and I ask this of
you with all the affection in my power through Our Lord, in whose
love and in that of His holy Mother, I am, Monsieur, your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur du Coudray, Priest of the
Mission, at the house of the Holy Spirit of Toul, in Toul
@HEAD4 = 457. - TO LEONARD BOUCHER, IN BAR
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 10, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord with you forever!
@TEXT6 = We have need of you here; please come at your earliest
convenience once you have received this letter. I am sending you
six écus for that purpose and am sending M. Dupuis,<^>1<D> the
bearer of this note, in your place. Please show him how you do
things and ask the Rector of the Jesuits<^>2<D> to offer him the
same kind hospitality he has offered you and to assist him with
his good and holy advice. The said Monsieur Dupuis is still young
and inexperienced, but very docile and pious. Place the money and
provisions you have in his hands and enjoin our dear Brother
David to regard him in Our Lord and Our Lord in him and to obey
him in the same way. Before you leave, obtain a receipt for all
the money you gave to the nuns and entrust them to the
above-mentioned Monsieur Dupuis. Take leave of the
Governor,<^>3<D> the Mayor,<^>4<D> the City Magistrates, and the
other leading citizens; and introduce and commend the said Sieur
Dupuis to them. As for what concerns M. Baptiste,<^>5<D> we shall
talk about that here, where I await you with an affection known
to Our Lord. In His love and in that of His holy Mother, I am
your servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Boucher, Priest of the
Mission, in Bar
@HEAD4 = 458. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, July 11, 1640
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I approve of what you wrote me; therefore, kindly do it
as soon as possible, Mademoiselle. Excuse me if I do not come to
see you today; I am anxious to get to the city. I shall send you
someone soon to hear the confessions of your young ladies and
would like to be able to do the same with regard to the points
you requested of me.<^>1<D> However, I do not remember a single
one of them, as I said what came to my mind at the time. If I
recall any of them by concentrating on them on my way to the city
presently, I shall write them down and send them to you.
Meanwhile, I wish you a good day and I am, in the love of Our
Lord, Mademoiselle, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 459. - TO LAMBERT AUX COUTEAUX, IN RICHELIEU
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 22, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Yesterday I received your letter, the date of which I
have forgotten, together with the ones [you] sent me from M.
Cuissot<^>1<D> and the official report of the visitation in La
Rose. O Monsieur, how distressed I am about the clash between
those two men. What shall we do about it? Is it not advisable for
you to bring both of them to an awareness of their fault,
especially M. B[enoît],<^>2<D> and to take the matter as an
opportunity to give a conference on the subject of how important
it is never to talk about people in the house outside or about
things that happen there. That is the reason for what has
occurred in La Rose. According to what M. Savinier<^>3<D> has
told me, and the things he made up in order to penetrate into
people's minds, to fix himself there and become indispensable to
them, it was the Vicar General who caused him<^>4<D> to act in
that way and brought things to the point where they are. Oh! no,
never must what is done inside the house be discussed outside.
Would it not be fitting at the end of the conference for you to
obtain a public promise from the Company and for them to give
themselves to God to act in this way?
@TEXT6 = Good M. Sa[vinier] is here; I am giving him the best
welcome I can. He is very eager to go back where he came from and
visit his home.<^>5<D> I have discussed with him the objections
to both and am standing firm; we shall see. What shall we do
meanwhile for that place?<^>6<D> I can see that we need another
Superior<^>7<D> and a priest in M. Gautier's<^>8<D> place. We
have a priest who is qualified. What do you think of our putting
M. Cuissot to take charge in that place and M. Chiroye<^>9<D> in
Luçon?<^>10<D> I find it difficult to do otherwise. Let me know
your opinion, please. There are two things to be considered here:
(1) whether M. Chiroye is capable of directing; (2) whether M.
Thibault<^>11<D> can be submissive; he is so at present with
regard to M. Cuissot and is satisfied and in fine trim. I ask you
let me know your opinion about this as soon as possible. In this
case, M. Benoît would come back to Richelieu or I would send you
someone else.
@TEXT6 = I am writing to tell M. Cuissot to take three hundred
livres for his furniture. We shall pay them here upon
presentation of his letter. As you see it, what would really be
needed for the three of them? Is Pierre Rogue, the shepherd who
was here in this house,<^>12<D> the one who is in Richelieu? I
would be pleased if he were willing to stay there, and I think he
needs to do so, because the people he is going to meet will
maintain his little vanity of mind; you take care of that.
@TEXT6 = The Bishop of Tours<^>13<D> has complained to me that
sermons have been preached in favor of the women in Chinon, said
to be possessed. He has assured me that they are not and that it
is not fitting to treat them as being so.<^>14<D> I did not know
what to say to him, except that I would find out about it. Please
send me a report and tell the Company to neither say nor do
anything contrary to the judgment he has made. In fact, judgment
concerning such things should be referred to him and no one may
perform exorcism in a diocese without the permission of the
bishop.
@TEXT6 = As for that good young woman, everything I have been
told about her makes me distrust her state of mind. I am sorry
that she is in Richelieu, and if she has no place to live in
Chinon, nor any relative who is willing to take the
responsibility for her, <MI>in nomine Domini<D>, I think you will
have to send her here.
@TEXT6 = Mademoiselle Le Gras would like you to take a trip to
Angers to make a visitation of her Sisters under the guise of a
simple visit.<^>15<D> You can take as a reason our business with
Pont de Cé<^>16<D> and the rent or custom dues owed us in that
locality.<^>17<D> You will be able to see Abbé de Vaux, who is a
very great servant of God and who has a similar love for those
Sisters. He is the Vicar General. You could speak to each one
privately and then give them a general talk, without its seeming
to be one. And perhaps it will be sufficient for you to see them
privately this time. I have been notified that the Gentlemen from
the Hôtel-Dieu have had dresses made for them from a finer
material. Look into that and see whether it would be advisable to
place Sister Barbe in Angers to take charge, to have Madame
Turgis come back to Paris, and to send Sister Isabelle, who is
the Superior of the Sisters, and still sick, to Richelieu, where
perhaps the air will restore her to health.<^>18<D> That is
Mademoiselle Le Gras' thought, and mine is to cherish you a
million times more than myself and to be, in the love of Our
Lord, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = M. Dehorgny came back yesterday evening from visiting
the Company in Lorraine. God blessed his trip abundantly and he
found things in good order, thank God, except for Toul where M.
[Colée]<^>19<D> is still trying the patience of good M. du
Coudray. O Monsieur, how obliged the Company is to humble itself
and to praise God for that employment and to ask His grace to
make good use of it! I shall try to have copies made for you of
the letters M. Dehorgny wrote to me about it and send them to
you.
@TEXT6 = Our Lord is protecting our Brother Mathieu in an
exceptional way, whereas He is allowing most people in that
region to be robbed, right before his very eyes, although he goes
there every month with twenty-five hundred livres. Last month he
had twelve thousand, the surplus being for the assistance of the
men and women religious who are dying of hunger in that district.
@TEXT6 = For two or three months now, God has done us the
kindness of bringing together some people of rank in this city to
assist the nobility here. His Providence provides us with six
thousand livres per month and a little more for this purpose. In
the name of God, Monsieur, let us pray and humble ourselves
greatly; I entreat you to help a poor Gascon to do so.<^>20<D>
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lambert, Superior of the
Priests of the Congregation of the Mission of Richelieu, in
Richelieu
@HEAD4 = 460. - TO PIERRE ESCART, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare-lez-Paris, July 25, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I most humbly ask your pardon for taking so long to send
you an answer and I promise to improve with the help of God.
@TEXT6 = Your letter consoled me more than I can say, because I
see the zeal Our Lord is bestowing on you for your own
advancement in perfection and for that of the Company. Continue,
Monsieur, in the name of Our Lord, to ask His Divine Goodness for
that grace and to work at your perfection seriously; <MI>tempus
enim breve est, et grandis nobis restat via.<^>1<D> O Monsieur
Escart, whom I cherish more than myself, how willingly I make
this same prayer to God both for you and for myself! What! My
misery is so great that I am still in the dust of my
imperfections; and whereas my sixty years of age should be a more
powerful incentive to work at amending my miserable life, I do
not know why it is that I am making less progress than ever. Your
prayers, Monsieur Escart, my dear friend, will help me in this
endeavor, as will those of so many good souls you see there. I
ask you for a Mass at the tomb of our blessed Father<^>2<D> for
this intention.
@TEXT6 = I do not know if the sight I have of my miseries is
bringing me to say what I am going to write to you. However, I
intend to mention it to you in the sight of God and in the spirit
of simplicity in which I think I reflected on it this morning
before God.
@TEXT6 = I shall tell you then, Monsieur, that I think the zeal
you have for the advancement of the Company is always accompanied
by a certain harshness, which even goes as far as bitterness.
What you told me and what you called laziness and sensuality in
some people revealed this to me, and especially the spirit in
which you said it. <MI>O mon Dieu! <D>Monsieur, you must be
careful of that. It is easy, Monsieur, to go from the deficiency
to the excess of the virtues, from being just to becoming rigid,
and from zealous to inconsiderate. It is said that good wine
easily turns to vinegar and that exceedingly good health
indicates an impending illness. It is true that zeal is the soul
of the virtues, but most certainly, Monsieur, it must be
according to knowledge, as Saint Paul says;<^>3<D> that means:
according to the knowledge of experience. And because young
people ordinarily do not possess this experiential knowledge,
their zeal goes to excess, especially in those who have a natural
asperity. <MI>O Jésus<D>! Monsieur, we must be careful of this
and mistrust most of the movements and outbursts of our spirit
while we are young and of this temperament. Martha murmured
against the holy idleness and the holy sensuality of her dear
sister Magdalen, and looked upon her as doing wrong for not
hurrying as she did to entertain Our Lord. You and I would
perhaps have felt the same way if we had been present. However,
<MI>O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei! quam
incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus!<^>4<D> There you see how
Our Lord proclaims the idleness and sensuality of Magdalen to be
more agreeable to Him than the less considerate zeal of Saint
Martha! You will tell me perhaps that there is a difference
between listening to Our Lord, as Magdalen did, and listening to
our little tendernesses, as we do. Alas! Monsieur, how do we know
it was not Our Lord Himself who prompted those two with the idea
of the trip you mentioned to me and the thought of the little
comforts they take? I am very sure of one thing, Monsieur, that
<MI>diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum<D>,<^>5<D> and I
have no doubt that those same individuals love the good God very
much. How could they have left their parents, friends,
possessions, and all the satisfactions they had in all of that,
to go and search for the poor sheep lost in the mountains, if
they did not love God! And if the love of God is in them, how can
we not be of the opinion that God is inspiring them to do what
they do and what they do not do, and that everything they do is
for the best, as well as what they do not do! In the name of God,
Monsieur, let us enter into these genuine sentiments and
practices and let us fear lest the evil spirit seek, by the
excess of our zeal, to bring us to a lack of respect toward our
Superiors and of the charity that we owe to our equals. That,
Monsieur, is where our less discreet zeal usually ends up and the
advantage the wicked spirit draws from it. That is why, I entreat
you, in the name of Our Lord, Monsieur, let us work to rid
ourselves of our attacks of over-zealousness especially when it
offends against respect, esteem, and charity. And because it
seems to me that the evil spirit intends to do that to you and to
me, let us try to humble our spirit, to place a good
interpretation on our neighbor's way of acting, and to support
him in his little weaknesses.
@TEXT6 = Yes, but if I support him, farewell to our little Rules;
not a single one will be kept again. And then you are aware, you
will tell me, that you gave me the responsibility of enforcing
the Rules.
@TEXT6 = To the first difficulty, which is the destruction of the
observance of the Rules, I respond that it must be enough for us
to make the Superior aware, with the respect and reverence we owe
him, of the failings we see and the inconveniences which ensue
and wait for Our Lord to take care of the situation, either by
means of the next visitation, in which one ought to report the
failings of the Community in general and of each person in
particular, indeed even those of the Superior, especially
carelessness in having the Rules observed. We also can inform the
Superior General and after that be at peace, confident that Our
Lord will attend to it, either by changing the officers or
because they themselves change through some retreat or meditation
in which God gives them light and strength to remedy the fault.
In a word, this should be entrusted to Divine Providence and we
should be at peace.
@TEXT6 = As for the second objection, which is that it is your
responsibility to watch over the Rule, I shall tell you,
Monsieur, that that is true. However, it is understood to mean
that one is to watch in the way I have mentioned above: tell the
Superior in a spirit of humility, meekness, respect, and charity,
and after that, if he does not remedy the situation, inform the
Superior General. And that is what you have done, but in a spirit
of bustling zeal, harshness, and even bitterness. It is that,
Monsieur, that we must always hold suspect in what we do; <MI>non
enim in commotione Dominus, sed in spiritu lenitatis<D>.<^>6<D>
If, after all this, things go on as they did before, we must
remain at peace. That, Monsieur, is what I ask you to do.
@TEXT6 = I hope, at the end of this autumn, to come and visit you
and then we shall talk about this at greater length, as also
about the trip you proposed. I beg Our Lord meanwhile, Monsieur,
to be the joy and peace of your heart.
@TEXT6 = Now then, Monsieur, I must close, telling you again that
I cherish you more than myself and that I have complete
confidence that after you have honored the humility and meekness
of Our Lord in a special way for some time<197>by affection, by
acts seasoned with that spirit of meekness and humility<197>you
will become, with the help of God, a totally apostolic man. That
is what I ask of Him with all the affection in my power. I am, in
the love of Our Lord, Monsieur, your most humble and most
obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Escart, Priest of the
Mission, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 461. - TO BERNARD CODOING, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, July 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Never have I had a sharper vision of my unworthiness for
the office I hold than right at this minute as I think about the
answer I have to give you, because of my wretchedness which kept
me from writing to you sooner. O Monsieur, how long will you put
up with me? Or when shall I mend my ways? To add the last straw
to my present misery, I lost your latest letter, at the bottom of
which our worthy Mother<^>1<D> was so kind as to write me a few
lines. Here is an answer to the letters of April 28 and the last
day of May.
@TEXT6 = I thank God for all the graces he has bestowed on your
little Community, which most certainly seem to me beyond all that
could be hoped for. I pray that He will continue to grant them to
you and that He will restore you to perfect health, unless He has
decided to sanctify your soul by indispositions of the body. I
entreat you, Monsieur, to do everything you can to get well. Oh!
how consoled I am by what you tell me concerning each of your
Company in particular.
@TEXT6 = I have written to M. Escart and, if I can, I shall do
the same for M. Duhamel. I spoke to the former all about what
you, and then he himself, wrote to me. He is a man filled with
the spirit of God, but harsh in his zeal, as you said. I wrote to
him in such a way that I hope he will make progress in meekness
and humility, that he will help good M. Tholard to regain his
physical strength, maintain the spiritual strength of good M.
Duhamel,<^>2<D> and finally that he will make good use of M.
Bourdet and that our Brother François<^>3<D> will do well. That,
Monsieur, is the prayer I am offering to God.
@TEXT6 = What shall I say about the ordinands, Monsieur? I am
grateful to you for having offered to shoulder the expense of the
first ordination; but I think we must acquiesce to what the
Bishop of Geneva<^>4<D> is suggesting, obliging each of them to
pay a florin a day, if that is enough after taking everything
into account. It has been noted that the expense of the Paris
ordinands comes to twenty sous a day. Included in that is the
expense of the increased number of Brothers needed, the wood,
small expenditures, and the change of linen. The big difficulty
is with the furniture; you will need two or three thousand livres
for that.
@TEXT6 = The Commander<^>5<D> recently expressed to me his
disapproval of our taking the liberty of raising objections to
prelates concerning the ideas they have for the good of their
dioceses. He said this because you were suggesting going to see
the members of the Senate<^>6<D> concerning the objections they
were raising, and offering to discontinue your missions if they
did not approve of them, even though the Bishop held an opinion
to the contrary. And surely he would say the same thing to me if
he were aware that you had objected to the said Bishop's ordering
each of the ordinands to pay a florin a day for his expenses
without the consent of the synod or the Senate. He did say that
it was an indication of your prudence, but that you need to act
with more simplicity. And, indeed, it will not put a strain on
the ordinands to give ten or twelve florins for their sustenance
during ordination. If the exercise of the ordinands is according
to God, why should they not take care of their own nourishment
while they are receiving this benefit from their prelate?
@TEXT6 = I think, Monsieur, that you would do well to submit to
the opinion of the said Bishop in this situation and in all
matters that would not affect our little Institute, which I am
afraid confessions in the town would do. That is completely
contrary to our little Institute. Our worthy Mother, if you will
please mention it to her, which I think will be a good idea, will
very easily get him to understand that. I trust he will agree. I
do not know whether we should exclude Annecy from the benefit of
the mission. I think that, if Our Lord gives the Bishop the idea
to have it, we shall have to do it. However, before, after, or
except for that, I do not consider it advisable to preach there
or hear confessions. That is the way we must understand the rule
not to work in the towns, because, in fact, that would prevent us
in time from going to the country.
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu<D>! Monsieur, how worried I am about your
little indisposition and how I wish some house or some place to
build one might be found in the better section of the city! That
faubourg, where the Capuchins are, I think, has a higher
elevation.<^>7<D> Such being the case, <MI>O Jésus! <D>we must
not think of establishing ourselves in any other town. We would
be too far away from the opportunity to serve the diocese.
Meanwhile, I shall ask the Commander to write [to] the Commander
of Annecy<^>8<D> who is so kind as to give you lodging, and to
thank him for it.
@TEXT6 = I do not see any assurance in dealing with the Duc de
Nemours;<^>9<D> he is a young prince; both titles hinder him. Our
Lord will give you some other opportunity, if He wishes. The
King's State goes as far as Geneva. Perhaps we shall find some
good there in time, when the Company is working in that region.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur, most willingly do I approve of your having
portable beds as you wrote to me. People will have something to
say, but where necessity demands, there is neither law nor reason
that should keep you from acting that way. How can anyone subsist
in those mountains without a bed in the winter? Not having one,
the Missionaries would either have to die or forego the mission,
especially in the winter. You will have to find some device that
will require only one good mule and that is where the difficulty
lies. At the beginning of the Mission, we used to do the same.
However, we gave up the apparatus because it was superfluous and
caused a great deal of trouble: one horse was not enough for the
small light cart we had. It just occurred to me that you could
have the furniture brought from one place to another by carts or
mules that you rented for that purpose. But, in order to do that,
it would be good to work in places adjacent to one another and to
take a portion of the diocese at the beginning of the year and
work there all year long. This would afford the advantage of
easily transporting the furniture from one place to another and,
in doing this, you would find the people well disposed because of
the proximity of the localities where the mission would be held.
We acted in that fashion, this year, in the valley of
Montmorency.<^>10<D> You would not believe, Monsieur, how much
better the people do, how much easier the Missionaries find it,
and how much progress they made by this means.
@TEXT6 = To do things this way, it is advisable that the Bishop
choose the sections of his diocese where he wishes the work to be
done and that you no longer change districts so much, as you have
been doing. I want to give this advice everywhere.
@TEXT6 = As for Masses being said in that region, alas! Monsieur,
I would indeed like to see that but I certainly do not see how.
Besides the fact that I have never seen anyone so inclined, the
extreme poverty of the age is greatly dampening enthusiasm for
alms and Mass stipends. Please indicate to the Bishop that I
would consider it a mercy from God to render service in that way
should the opportunity arise, and in any way in which he might
choose to honor me with his instructions, and that there is no
creature on earth over whom he has greater power.
@TEXT6 = Let us touch on the matter of your brother. I have done
what I could about it as far as Messieurs de Bullion<^>11<D> and
Tubeuf<^>12<D> are concerned, but to no effect. Just about a
month ago, a young lawyer from Agen, living in this town,
received the final rejection. It has been only six days since he
was here and told me that your brother should be satisfied that
everything that could be done about the matter has been done. M.
de Bullion said that if the King chose to take into consideration
such personal losses of the people in his service, half of his
revenue would not suffice.
@TEXT6 = What news shall I give you about us? The house is in
good health, thank God, as is the Company everywhere, except for
MM. Jegat<^>13<D> and Bastien<^>14<D> in Richelieu. However, the
former is starting to feel better.
@TEXT6 = The seminary is doing better and better, thank God. M.
Dufestel,<^>15<D> the Superior in Troyes, has asked me to allow
him to enter with M. Perceval,<^>16<D> who came the day before
yesterday for that purpose; they will enter tomorrow evening. M.
Savinier is also there.
@TEXT6 = The alms for Lorraine are still being distributed, by
the mercy of God. We have taken care of the towns of Toul, Metz,
Verdun, Nancy, and Bar, as well as Saint-Mihiel and
Pont-à-Mousson, where the destitution was so great as to be
unimaginable. M. Dehorgny has just visited the Missionaries
there. He has told me unbelievable and distressing things; the
people were even eating snakes.
@TEXT6 = God has done us the kindness of also using the Company
to assist men and women religious. The King is giving forty-five
thousand livres for that purpose, to be distributed each month
according to the order of the Intendant of Justice.
@TEXT6 = In this city, God has also granted us the mercy of
raising up a small group of people from the upper class to assist
the nobility in Lorraine and other people of high estate. Now
then, Monsieur, it is time for me to close by very humbly begging
you to take care of your health and that of the Company, and to
remember my miseries before God, so that He may be pleased to
grant me mercy.
@TEXT6 = I am, in His love, your most humble and most obedient
servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur Dufestel, Superior of the Priests of the
Mission in Troyes, has asked to enter the seminary. He is there
now with Monsieur Perceval.
@TEXT6 = I am sending you the receipt for the Bishop of
Alet's<^>17<D> hundred écus.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Codoing, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission of the Geneva diocese, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 462. - TO LAMBERT AUX COUTEAUX, SUPERIOR, IN RICHELIEU
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 29, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu!<D> how wholeheartedly I am giving thanks
to Our Lord for having restored M. Jegat's health! Please embrace
him, as I am doing as warmly as possible. I am also asking His
Divine Goodness to restore our good Brother Bastien's<^>1<D>
health. I also greet him very humbly and affectionately. If he
needs to take the waters, or if the doctor thinks the air would
be better for him, you can send him to us.
@TEXT6 = I sent M. Cuissot<^>2<D> a hundred écus for their
furniture. Please see to their sustenance.
@TEXT6 = You do well to act as you are doing toward that young
woman from Chinon;<^>3<D> you must take no notice of her. You
have seen from my last letter<^>4<D> how the Coadjutor of
Tours<^>5<D> feels about such people and the complaint he lodged
with us on that subject.
@TEXT6 = Oh! how consoled I am by your telling me that you are
going to work at your improvement, I mean the Community! Indeed,
Monsieur, you give me more consolation in that regard than I can
say. Frequent conferences and the practice of the virtues proper
to us are the most efficacious means for doing that. M. de
Savinier<|><^>6<D> was so touched Friday evening by the one we
had here that he said he had never heard anything that moved him
more. Oh! how I hope that the Company will benefit from this, and
that on my next visit, around the beginning or the end of the
autumn, I shall find it in good order, if Our Lord be pleased to
grant me that grace!
@TEXT6 = I shall talk to the Duchesse<^>7<D> about that funeral
in the church.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Monsieur. I am, in the love of Our Lord, your
most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 463. - TO SAMSON LE SOUDIER,<B^>1<D> IN LUCON
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 29, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I most humbly thank you for the letter you were so kind
as to write me. It gave great comfort to me, and also to your
brother<^>2<D> to whom I showed it. Oh! what a good young man he
is! Your father tried to tempt him; he stayed as firm as a rock.
He told me that if he were ever so unfortunate as to leave, he
was asking God to let him die at the door. He has finished his
two years in the seminary and is going over his philosophy with
M. Dehorgny so that he can study theology. He spoke so eloquently
to the man who came to see him on your father's behalf, that he
promised to send him his title and dimissory. He also spoke to
Baron Danti,<^>3<D> who is often here as well.
@TEXT6 = So much for him. Now then, Monsieur, what shall I say
about you? I cannot tell you how consoled I am to learn of your
fidelity to the observance of the Little Rule and of your love
for retirement and for living apart from the world and its
attractions. Oh! what a good Missionary and apostolic man that
will make of you! Keep it up, Monsieur, I beg of you, and
practice teaching catechism and preaching. Missionaries must
apply themselves to these tasks and although they do not
accomplish them as successfully as others do, according to the
opinion of men, it must be enough for them that they are doing
the Will of God and perhaps producing more real fruit.
@TEXT6 = There is no time for me to say any more to you and so I
am constrained to finish by saying that I am, more than I can
tell you, in the love of Our Lord and His holy Mother, your most
humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Le Soudier, Priest of the
Mission of Luçon, in Luçon
@HEAD4 = 464. - TO N.
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Sunday, July 29, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = The day before yesterday, I went to Saint-Denis and
asked the Mother Superior of Sainte-Marie<^>1<D> to make use of
her good graces with her dear sister, Madame de Hodicq.<^>2<D>
You will see what she sent me from the enclosed, especially at
the place where I have marked several lines. Be so kind as to let
me know whether, without taking that into consideration, we
should continue our little recommendations. I [add]<^>3<D> to
that, Monsieur, my most humble request that you will not divulge
the source of your information about what the good gentleman does
not wish to be said of him. Please do me the honor of believing
that there is no one on earth over whom Our Lord has given you
more power than over me. I am, in the love of the same Lord,
Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@HEAD4 = 465. - TO SAINT JANE FRANCES, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, July 30, 1640
@TEXT7 = My most worthy and very dear Mother,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I cannot tell you most worthy Mother, how ashamed I am
for having taken so long to answer you and how much I desire to
turn over a new leaf. This time I hope Our Lord will grant me the
grace to mend my ways for good. But indeed, worthy Mother, I
would consider the matter accomplished if you were to ask of God
for me the virtue of diligence, which He has given you in such
abundance. I hope for this from your charity and from His Divine
Goodness. Let us talk about the Visitor.<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = This time, dear Mother, you explained clearly, both in
the letter you so kindly wrote to our Mother in the city<^>2<D>
and in the lines you wrote at the bottom of M. Codoing's letter,
how you could not approve the authority that I told you the
Visitor<^>3<D> would need. Blessed be God that such is the case!
I submit to it with all my heart and consider it to be God's Will
made known through yours.
@TEXT6 = Apart from that, I confess to you, worthy Mother, that
what I had written to you on the subject was my opinion, but with
two conditions: one, that this Visitor would make use of his
authority only in extreme cases and to that end, a man would be
chosen who was gentle, wise, and full of respect for the Bishops.
Such a one is M. Coqueret,<^>4<D> Doctor of the Sorbonne, whom
the Bishop of Sens<^>5<D> had considered. He was recently elected
one of the three Superiors of the Carmelites and acquiesced to
that election because of the Cardinal's<^>6<D> insistence. He
possesses the three qualities I just mentioned to an eminent
degree and would have served as an example to the others. The
other condition is that he would have no power at all over any
house except during the visitation. In those two cases he would
have had the authority necessary to remedy certain matters, which
otherwise he would be able to do only with difficulty. In the
second place, he would never be able to assume nor perform the
acts of a Superior General. But as for the objection of
displeasing the Bishops, rest assured, dear Mother, that however
little you do, it will cause them a singular disappointment and
stir up a tempest. It is true that the scale will be smaller.
@TEXT6 = <MI>Jésus!<D> dear Mother, oh! what am I saying! Where
did my mind go while I was telling you what I just said? Indeed,
it seems that, however much I acquiesce with my will, I do not do
so with my judgment. <MI>O bon Dieu!<D> but I do and do so fully,
having only God's good pleasure in view. I submit to it both my
will and my judgment, not doubting, however, that it is God's
Will since it is that of our worthy Mother. She is so much our
worthy Mother that she is my only Mother. I honor and cherish her
more tenderly than ever a child has loved and honored his mother
after Our Lord. It seems to me that this affection reaches such a
degree that I have enough love and esteem to give to an entire
world, and that, indeed, without any exaggeration.
@TEXT6 = It is, therefore, in this filial spirit, dear Mother,
that I speak to you and ever give you thanks for all your
grandmotherly kindnesses toward your dear sons, your
Missionaries. I am, in the love of Our Lord and His holy Mother,
your most humble and obedient son and servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Reverend Mother de Chantal, Superior
of the First Monastery of Annecy
@HEAD4 = 466. - TO COMMANDER DE SILLERY
@TEXT4 = [1640]
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = Truly, Monsieur, one must confess that God is working
wonders in you! Indeed! your quickness to respond to the
movements of grace as soon as what is most agreeable to God is
proposed to you, and to efface, without suffering as a result,
all the reasons of your great and wise prudence, is, to tell the
truth, rendering God a continual sacrifice of excellent odor and
admirable edification for those who are aware of these beautiful
deeds.
@TEXT6 = I do not have words to thank you for the favor you did
in accommodating yourself to my humble suggestions concerning our
establishment in Troyes. I am as obliged to you as if you had
given me everything in the world, both because I thought it was
contrary to the simplicity in which our poor Company should be
established and because I fear that anything outside that
simplicity savors somewhat of the style of worldly men. It is not
that I myself do not fail in that regard quite often or that it
is not as clear as day that you practice this virtue to a greater
degree than I ever shall. I entreat you to trust that I say this,
believing it as truly as I am certain that I must die.
@TEXT6 = Once again, Monsieur, I thank you for having so kindly
condescended to my lowly opinion. I admire your humility in doing
so, which unites me to you with so great a tenderness that I
cannot express it.
@HEAD4 = 467. - <P8MI>CHARLES DE MONTCHAL,<I^>1<D> <MI>ARCHBISHOP
OF TOULOUSE, TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = Toulouse, 1640<I^>2<D>
@TEXT61 = I cannot allow these two Missionaries,<I^>3<D> whom you
sent to this locality, to take their departure and return to see
you, without thanking you. I do so with all my heart for the
great services they have rendered to God in my diocese. I could
not tell you the trouble they have taken nor the fruits they have
obtained, for which I am particularly obliged to you, since it is
in my favor that they have exerted themselves as they have. One
of them mastered the language of this region to the point of
winning the admiration of those who speak it and proved himself
an indefatigable worker. When they have had a little rest, I will
entreat you to send them back to us. I am getting ready to have a
retreat given to the ordinands and I have further need of their
help for that reason. Everything will succeed for the glory of
God, if you help us.
@HEAD4 = 468. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, August 9, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Here at last is the life of Saint Venerandus,<^>1<D>
which you asked me for.
@TEXT6 = I am not sending you the Nuncio's<^>2<D> letter yet and
have not dared visit him for the reasons I mentioned to
you.<^>3<D> I shall have that happiness upon his return from the
court.
@TEXT6 = We cashed the bill of exchange for 300 livres and paid
150 more for the exchange.
@TEXT6 = I am returning to the idea I already wrote to you, about
making the Good Purposes<^>4<D> the first year in the seminary,
simple vows at the end of the second, and a solemn one to end our
days in the Company many long years after having entered
it.<^>5<D>
@TEXT6 = I am so glad the Reverend Father Assistant<^>6<D> said
that this does not make one a religious; discuss it with him a
little more thoroughly.
@TEXT6 = I am awaiting the letters bearing your response to a
number of matters about which I have written to you:<^>7<D> about
the union of the Holy Spirit house in Toul; that of the two
priories in the diocese of Langres; the matter concerning a
monastery of Saint-François to be placed under the direction of
the Archbishop of Paris;<^>8<D> and I recommend to you a
dispensation in line with what M. Soufliers wrote to you and the
attestation <MI>in forma pauperum<D>.<^>9<D> I am, in the love of
Our Lord, Monsieur, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = I am waiting for a reply concerning Fernambuco in the
Indies.<^>10<D> I wrote to M. Le Bret in favor of the
Congregation of Sainte-Geneviève.<^>11<D> Assure him of my
obedience, and my esteem for those persons with whom he is
meeting. I told him that you would tell him about the holiness of
the reform of Sainte-Geneviève.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 469. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Monday at 10 o'clock [1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = I just this minute received the letter you wrote to the
Abbé de Vaux and find it well done, except that I think there
would be every reason to tell him that, if those Gentlemen want
the clause of dismissal, it is just for us to put in one
concerning the recall of the Sisters, when we shall see fit to do
so.<^>2<D>
@TEXT6 = It is a serious matter that people everywhere are
complaining that they are taking what is allotted for the sick.
We must make a rule that they may not, under any pretext
whatsoever, eat what is intended for the poor.
@TEXT6 = You would console me by passing on my recommendations to
good Abbé de Vaux, and my excuses for not having written to him.
Tell him that I shall do so by the next mail.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT6 = Did you receive a letter I sent you from our Sisters in
Richelieu? They sent you word, and M. Lambert wrote to me, that
there are two fine young women from there who have presented
themselves to become members of the Charity.
@HEAD4 = 470. - <P8MI>SAINT LOUISE TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Between 1640<I^>1<D> and 1644<I^>2<D>]
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = Madame de Verthamon<I^>3<D> did not fail to come and
see the Ladies. After having again made known more clearly that
those Gentlemen intended to make themselves absolute masters of
the entire work and, having said that she believed they would be
quite pleased to be given the means of declaring their intentions
openly, she still accompanied the Ladies as had been decided. The
said Gentlemen did not fail to make themselves understood. They
told the Ladies that they would grant them everything they wished
and even that they would have to present only a receipt, without
signing anything, for any money they might receive. They
themselves would take care of all the merchants' bills and, I
think, of the wet-nurses, too.
@TEXT61 = The Ladies gave her to understand also that they could
undertake or continue this work only so long as the original
arrangements lasted. This entire discussion took place in the
presence of the Chancellor,<I^>4<D> who, in conclusion, said that
he would put the High Court Judges' intent in writing and give it
to the Ladies. Good Monsieur Le Roy,<I^>5<D> when the Ladies saw
him and related all these proposals to him, told them that, if
that settled the matter, he would withdraw completely. If there
is anything else, the Ladies will tell you tomorrow at the time
you gave them, three o'clock in the afternoon.
@TEXT61 = I am, Monsieur, your daughter and servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>L. <P7>DE <P8>M.
@TEXT61 = I most humbly entreat you, Monsieur, to take the
trouble of letting me know whether you think it would be well for
us to notify Madame de Verthamon that you and the Ladies will be
here tomorrow. I am afraid she might get angry if we do not do
so, because she asked the Ladies when it would be.
@TEXT611 = <M>Addressed: <MI>Monsieur Vincent<D>
@HEAD4 = 471. - <P8MI>THE MARQUISE DE MAIGNELAY<I^>1<D> <MI>TO
SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = Some time ago, I wrote to Mademoiselle
Poulaillon<I^>2<D> to find out from Mademoiselle Le Gras if she
could be so kind as to furnish a good schoolmistress for the
girls in this locality.<I^>3<D> However, it is to be desired that
she be able to teach them a trade, because unless that is the
stipulation, the inhabitants of the district will be difficult
about taking them away from the schoolmaster, where it costs
scarcely anything and where they learn along with the boys. That
is a dangerous thing as well, as you know. We have a very good
pastor here who would like to see this good work established
while we are in the locality. Mademoiselle Le Gras sent word to
Mademoiselle Poulaillon that two could be sent, one of whom would
tend the sick of the Charity<197>bleed and give remedies<197>and
that they could be changed as in other places. We will accept any
conditions that you and she deem advisable. However, I would like
to know as soon as possible what they would expect to earn, so
that I can find out whether my daughter would be willing to make
a contribution. There is also a Hôtel-Dieu, which has some means
and from which something could be given. Do me the kindness,
Monsieur, as soon as you can do so, of sending to my home an
answer to the above, and of buying for me six booklets on
establishing the Charity.<I^>4<D> I owe you for many more. They
are to be sent to our good pastor in Halluin,<I^>5<D> where we
come from, and to several others of the locality who are trying
in our villages to revive this devotion, which the war had
somewhat brought to a halt. People remember well, and rightly so,
all the acts of charity your priests did there so effectively.
@TEXT61 = I entreat you to include me in your holy prayers, and
my daughter as well.
@TEXT61 = We are, Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient
daughter and servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>M<P7>ARGUERITE DE <P8>G<P7>ONDI
@TEXT71 = Nanteuil, August 21 [1640]<|><I^>6<D>
@TEXT611 = <M>Addressed: <MI>Monsieur Vincent, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission<D>
@HEAD4 = 472. - <P8MI>THE MARQUISE DE MAIGNELAY TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = I just received your letter. I beg your pardon for
being so importunate, but the need of our Charity<I^>1<D> is
urgent. The servant we have is so kind that, although she has
been paid up to the sixth of next month, she wishes to leave us
on the last day of this one; and I would not want to keep her one
hour, if she is unwilling. Since Easter, we have had few poor,
thank God; the largest number has been twelve; today I believe it
is nine; and sometimes, much less. We pay one hundred livres in
wages. Medicines and enemas are prepared here. I retain a fine
young woman to carry out the acts of charity that I cannot do as
generously as I should. In fact, I do not do any of them, for my
strength is diminishing. If the girl whom you are kindly going to
send us is a good young woman, we shall try to lodge her without
any cost to her; and I shall be greatly relieved about the fine
young woman I have in the house. If she does not know how to let
blood, it does not matter; she can learn. The woman we had
learned it in a short time; and then we do have a surgeon. If you
would be pleased to let this messenger bear a note to good
Mademoiselle Le Gras and send her this message, she could give us
the response.
@TEXT61 = I end as I began, asking your pardon and entreating you
for a share in your holy prayers, because I am, Monsieur, you
most humble and obedient daughter and servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>M<P7>ARGUERITE DE <P8>G<P7>ONDI
@TEXT71 = August 26, in the evening [1640]<I^>2<D>
@TEXT611 = <M>Addressed: <MI>Monsieur Vincent, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission<D>
@HEAD4 = 473. - TO LAMBERT AUX COUTEAUX, IN RICHELIEU
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare-lez-Paris, August 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I am most consoled by what you tell me concerning
Monsieur Chiroye and ask that you send him as soon as
possible,<^>1<D> without mentioning the reason why. You can tell
him that it is perhaps to take care of the Company in M.
Cuissot's absence during a trip he has to take, and give him some
good advice on how to behave in that situation. I will send you
someone else in his place, if M. Benoît<^>2<D> does not return
right away. I greet and embrace him in spirit with an
inexpressible tenderness.
@TEXT6 = You would do well to get rid of that young woman.<^>3<D>
Advise her not to amuse herself with all those notions she has
and to try to adjust to the way of life of the others. Neither
Our Lord nor the Blessed Virgin had all those ideas, and they
conformed to the common life.
@TEXT6 = Assure M. Perdu<^>4<D> that I received and sent his
information to Rome, and tell M. Dehorgny that his letters were
sent to the places to which they were addressed, and that I
commended that task to him most conscientiously. I ask him to
excuse me for not writing to him.
@TEXT6 = We are awaiting those two good young women from the
Charity<^>5<D> and shall return what you gave them. As for Barbe,
look into the matter.<^>6<D>
@TEXT6 = Your trip to Toul<^>7<D> is not judged advisable because
of the little time you can give to it.
@TEXT6 = God has taken good M. Fleury. Please pray to God for
him; and have everyone in the Company say a Mass for him. I am
asking M. Colée to let me know for how much he sold him his share
in the two small houses adjoining the hospital and what they are
renting for.
@TEXT6 = We are making the visitation here just now. Never have I
better recognized how important it is for us to make good use of
this interval for our spiritual advancement. Providence has given
it to us for that purpose. In the name of God, Monsieur, tell
this to the Company and that it is important for all of us to
make use of all the time we have for that purpose. Therefore, we
would do well to put off until some other time every other kind
of occupation, even preaching and visiting places where we have
gone to give a mission. We must endeavor to have God reign
sovereignly in us, and then in others. The trouble with me is
that I take more care to have Him reign in others than in myself.
O Monsieur, what blindness for me and how I beg God that people
do not imitate me in that respect! I am telling you this with
tears in my eyes. I am, in the love of Our Lord, your most humble
servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = Do not be troubled about the exaggeration you mentioned
to me.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lambert, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission of Richelieu, in Richelieu
@HEAD4 = 474. - TO SAINT JANE FRANCES, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, August 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = My most worthy and very dear Mother,
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu<D>, dear Mother, how my heart is moved at
seeing the goodness of your incomparable charity with regard to
your poor children, the Missionaries! <MI>O Jésus<D>! how
fortunate they are and how I hope they profit by it! In the name
of Our Lord, worthy Mother, continue your kindness to them and to
give your poor son and servant the share His goodness has granted
him in your dear heart.
@TEXT6 = I wrote at length to Monsieur Escart about a month
ago<^>1<D> concerning the matter your charity kindly told me to
mention to him. I hope he has received my letter and that it has
had some effect on his disposition, unless the temptation has
made too strong an impression on his imagination. The matter of
visiting his sister is important. However, because it runs
counter to one of our maxims, which is not to visit our
relatives, I ask him to put off doing so until some time when he
can go there on his way, coming or going.
@TEXT6 = What M. Tholard wrote to me about his temptation usually
happens to a large number when they first begin hearing
confessions, but little by little it disappears. We have a
general rule to continue, no matter what bad effect the
temptation may have during the confession.
@TEXT6 = With regard to M. Duhamel, I wrote to tell him that, if
residing in Rome with one of our Missionaries<^>2<D> or in Alet
with the ones who are there<^>3<D> does not allow him any rest,
then, <MI>in nomine Domini<D>, he may return to his home in this
city.<^>4<D> After he has spent some time at home, we will see
each other. He has a naturally restless disposition and will
never be at peace, no matter what situation he is in. A
distinguished and holy lady<^>5<D> in whom he had great
confidence, told me before she died that he would be lost if he
gave up his vocation. I do not think she meant through vice, but
through chance events to which she foresaw he would succumb.
@TEXT6 = What can I say to your dear heart about the good
Commander,<^>6<D> dear Mother? <MI>O Jésus<D>! he does not have
the slightest difficulty in the world, I repeat the slightest,
with what you wrote concerning the Visitor,<^>7<D> and certainly,
most worthy Mother, I assure you of the same on my own account.
The reason for this is that, since he and I were seeking in this
matter only the Will of God and believed that it would be
revealed to both of us by the will of our worthy Mother, I can
assure you, most kind and dear Mother, that we did not have the
least thought in the world contrary to yours, I repeat the least.
And I think, dear Mother, that I can assure you of the same thing
as far as the Mother in the city<^>8<D> is concerned. We are as
much at peace as if Our Lord Himself had told us what you wrote
to us. That is what made me realize that we sought in this only
the absolute glory of God. Since I have been in the world, I have
never seen or experienced in myself so great a submission of my
understanding and will as on this occasion. O dear and most
amiable Mother, you are to a sovereign degree our worthy and most
beloved Mother! No, it has reached such a point that there is no
word to express it to you. Our Lord alone can bring it home to
your dear heart.
@TEXT6 = Mother de la Trinité<^>9<D> wrote a few days ago, I
think it was only three days ago, that she considers it necessary
and hopes it will be done. And I shall whisper only to my worthy
Mother's heart that she wrote that she has had an inspiration
from Our Lord concerning the matter.<^>10<D>
@TEXT6 = That, most worthy, kind, and beloved Mother (I cannot
express it), is what I can tell you at the moment. <MI>O
Jésus<D>! I just remembered that I am forgetting to respond to
what you said to me, about our aspiring to join together priestly
and religious perfection. Oh! no, dear Mother, we are too weak to
do that. However, it is true that we are worried about finding a
means to preserve ourselves in our vocation. Some other time I
will tell my dear Mother the reasons why and the various ideas
that have come to us on this topic, so that we can have your
sound and holy advice.
@TEXT6 = I am, meanwhile, in the love of Our Lord, your most
humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = In the name of God, worthy Mother, let the last point in
my letter be told only to the dear heart of my Mother and to no
one else.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Reverend Mother de Chantal, Superior
of the first monastery of the Sisters of Sainte-Marie of Annecy,
in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 475. - TO BERNARD CODOING, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = August 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I received your letter of the fourth of this month. In
answer, I shall say that I adore the way God is guiding you in
the new work you are undertaking. I pray that He will make it
successful and allow us to know His divine Will on similar
occasions. I wrote to M. Duhamel to tell him that, if he does not
feel he can find rest in a change of person and place by going to
visit M. Lebreton in Rome or by going to Alet, <MI>in nomine
Domini<D>, he should return to his home in Paris. Tell him that
it would be well for him to let some time go by before he returns
to this house from his own. I told our worthy Mother<^>1<D> that
Madame Goussault told me, before she died, that he was lost if he
did not persevere in his vocation, not because of vice, but
because of the nature of his mind, which is uneasy everywhere
about everything. However, we have reason to hope that Our Lord
will keep him under His special protection, because of his fear
of offending Him. I ask you to write me his decision so I can
notify the places I indicated to him to receive him, and advise
them about this.
@TEXT6 = I wrote to M. Escart at great length the last
time<^>2<D> as you instructed me. I hope that if his ideas have
not changed any, my letter will have had some effect on him. And
if I can, I shall say a few words to him about it by this
mail.<^>3<D>
@TEXT6 = I am writing to M. Tholard about his difficulties in
confession.<^>4<D> He must not stop hearing confessions because
of that.
@TEXT6 = I wrote you a very long letter, I think, in care of M.
de Courcilly, the bookseller in Lyons. I believe you have now
received my letter.
@TEXT6 = I told our worthy Mother that neither the
Commander<^>5<D> nor I have ever had our understanding and will
so submitted to the judgment Our Lord has given our worthy Mother
as on this occasion concerning the Visitor; and that is true.
<MI>O Jésus<D>! Monsieur, we must abide by it.
@TEXT6 = So you are now living the life of the seminary in your
new lodging and giving the mission in Annecy. Well, then,
Monsieur, I adore Providence in that regard. I told the
Bishop<^>6<D> that the success of this will be the rule when we
need to make use of it hereafter in similar cases.
@TEXT6 = At present we are making the visitation here where
Messieurs Savinier, de Sergis, and Durot are living.<^>7<D> M.
Dufestel, the Superior in Troyes, just left the Seminary, where
he had asked to spend some time. O Monsieur, what an example you
have given posterity in that regard!<^>8<D> Monsieur Perceval,
who is a member of the Community in Troyes, kept his Superior company.
@TEXT6 = We have Messieurs du Coudray and the young Guérin<^>9<D>
sick in Lorraine. I commend them to your prayers and ask you to
help us give thanks and have others give thanks for the goodness
of God toward this poor, miserable Company. He has inspired a
good soul, who does not wish to be named, to donate twenty-five
thousand livres, partly in cash and partly in periodic revenue,
so that God may be pleased to grant us the grace of continuing to
become more and more attached to the spirit of the Company. O
Monsieur, is your heart not moved at seeing God's way of
consoling us temporally and spiritually? In the past, He willed
to sanction the Rule of Saint Francis <MI>viva voce<D>, and in
our time to confirm the spirit of this poor Company by blessings!
For it was for that purpose that this person told me God had
inspired her to do this. Only her son, who acted as spokesman,
another person, and I, know who she is. There is no one else I
can tell about it. <MI>O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et
scientiae Dei! quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus!<^>10<D>
O Monsieur! who will help us to humble ourselves lower than hell,
and where shall we hide ourselves at the sight of so much
kindness from God? We shall place ourselves in the wounds of Our
Lord, in whose love and in that of His holy Mother, I am,
Monsieur, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = I entreat you, Monsieur, to tell the Company never to
speak to anyone about this. Nevertheless, share it with our
worthy Mother and ask her to help us thank God for it.
@TEXT6 = I gave the three hundred livres you sent me to a
student, as you directed; five hundred to Madame de Menthon's
son, who is at the Academy<197>and I am sending you his letter so
that you can get them from his mother; and fifteen pistoles to
the bursar of Sainte-Marie in the city,<^>11<D> according to your
letter. Send me word if you receive or have already received
these sums.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Codoing, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission of Annecy, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 476. - TO PIERRE ESCART, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, August 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Although I wrote to you at length about a month
ago,<^>1<D> I shall not refrain from writing these lines to you
on this occasion to tell you that I still love you dearly. I
often think of the goodness of heart with which, I imagine, you
accepted what I wrote to you concerning the submission of your
judgment. I think, too, of the good use you are making of my
remarks. In that regard, it seems to me that you are acquiescing
in everything prescribed for you, even though it is directly
contrary to your own sentiments. O Monsieur, what a great
consolation that is to me and how, I imagine, it rejoices the
heart of God! Never have I seen anything that edified me more
than the lights Our Lord gave you on this subject last year
during retreat.
@TEXT6 = Our worthy Mother de Chantal sent me word that you were
told one of your sisters has apostatized. That touched me deeply.
However, I do not know how it is that I am having a little
difficulty believing that that is so. I am afraid the enemy of
your peace of soul may have suggested this idea to those who wish
to see you in your hometown, so as to persuade you to go there.
And because that may nevertheless be the case, I entreat you,
very dear brother, to put off the thoughts of that trip until, on
some occasion when you are passing by, you can see how things are
and if you can do her some good. Our Lord has witnessed to us how
much He approves one's staying at a distance from one's relatives
even though it be a question of distributing one's goods to the
poor or, indeed, even of assisting at the burial of one's father.
Moreover, we see how, from birth, and in the prime of His manhood
He fled his native land. All that, together with my own
experience of the prejudicial effect these visits have on a
priest, added to the rule we have and which is well observed, by
the grace of God; all that, I repeat, causes me to judge that it
is not advisable for you to go there expressly for that purpose.
Rather, it would be well for you to wait for some occasion that
Providence puts in your hands, by means of which you can visit
your relatives en route.
@TEXT6 = Yes, you will tell me, but perhaps I shall bring this
dear sister back to the bosom of the Church. You are right,
Monsieur, to say <169>perhaps,<170> because you have reason to
doubt it, and because, in thinking you will do her some good
unaided, you may inflict harm on yourself. Our Lord saw His
relatives in Nazareth, who needed His help to be saved. He could
have been of some benefit to them, and yet He preferred to leave
them in danger rather than go and visit them. He understood that
His Father would take no pleasure in it and wished to give this
example to posterity and instruct His Church in what should be
done in similar cases. I have admired many times the way Saint
Francis Xavier practiced this example of Our Lord. On his way to
the Indies, he passed quite close to his relatives without
visiting them.
@TEXT6 = Here is what you might do, however. You could write to
the Capuchin Fathers of Sion asking them to visit your good
sister and your other relatives and to do all they can to bring
back this dear sister and to have your other relatives make a
general confession. You might write to the latter entreating them
to take advantage of the grace that will be offered to them by
those good Fathers.
@TEXT6 = That, my dear M. Escart, is what I shall say to you for
the present, except that I greatly hope we may set about
stripping ourselves entirely of affection for anything that is
not God, be attached to things only for God and according to God,
and that we may seek and establish His kingdom first of all in
ourselves, and then in others. That is what I entreat you to ask
of Him for me, who am, in His love, [Monsieur],<^>2<D> your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Escart, Priest of the
Mission, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 477. - TO JACQUES THOLARD, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, August 26, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = The Lord knows the consolation I received from your
letter. In response, I shall tell you, Monsieur, that you must
not be troubled because of the temptations that come to you while
hearing confessions or because of their effects. That happens
naturally to some people when they see or hear the slightest
thing conducive to it; it happens to others through the
suggestion of the evil spirit, to turn us aside from the good
accomplished in this divine action. Neither in one case nor the
other do we ever offend God mortally or venially, so long as
these happenings are displeasing to us in the transcendent part
of our mind. Most confessors, or at least quite a number of them,
are tormented by these afflictions when they first begin this
work; but, little by little, these thoughts make no impression on
the imagination, <MI>quia in assuetis non fit passio<D>.<^>1<D>
In the early days of the Church, a holy bishop suffered these
trials when he was baptizing women by immersion. Having entreated
God a number of times to deliver him from these temptations and
not having been heard, he finally lost patience and withdrew to
the desert. There, God let him see three crowns, one richer than
the other, which He had prepared for him, had he persevered. He
would have only the least because he had not believed that He
would keep him from succumbing to the temptation since He was
permitting him to be tried in the duties of his vocation. This
example, cited for me one day by a Carthusian monk under whom I
was making my retreat at Valprofonde,<^>2<D> eradicated an almost
similar temptation I was undergoing in the exercise of my
vocation. I hope from the goodness of God, Monsieur, that it will
have the same effect on you, and that, if you persevere, you will
receive a special crown before God on that account. It is enough
for you to make an act disclaiming all those things when you
begin to hear confessions, and there is no need for you to
confess them, rather you should refrain from doing so. Therefore,
hear confessions in peace and have a greater love for the
goodness of Our Lord because He is not offended by these things
nor by anything that happens within us against our will.<^>3<D>
And never mind saying that the violence of the sensuality does
not allow you to make any act of denial during it, because it is
not necessary and almost impossible, at least in a perceptible
way. What Our Lord asks of us, is that we pass over such matters
quickly, yet in such a way that we do not neglect saying and
doing the things we should to help souls rid themselves of these
faults. Our Lord will be your guide and your strength in this.
Have complete confidence in Him and remember, Monsieur, that His
goodness gives me such heartfelt affection for you that He alone
can make you conscious of it. I am, in the love of Our Lord,
Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Tholard, Priest of the
Mission, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 478. - <P8MI>THE MARQUISE DE MAIGNELAY TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = God has sent us a servant for our Charity; she is a
virtuous widow from this faubourg. We shall give her a trial
because she is familiar with the neighborhood. I thought it
appropriate to see what she can do. Do not bother to send us the
woman for whom I troubled you so much. I know you will graciously
excuse me and do me the kindness of praying for my needs, which,
by the grace of God, are not small. But, in whatever state I may
be, I am, Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient daughter
and servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>M<P7>ARGUERITE DE <P8>G<P7>ONDI
@TEXT71 = August 29 [1640]<I^>1<D>
@HEAD4 = 479. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [August 29 or 30, 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I received this letter this morning before mine was
written and before the Marquise had seen your letters or mine,
because our Brother found that she had left. You can still have
that fine young woman and the girl from Lorraine make a retreat.
@HEAD4 = 480. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Thursday morning [August 30, 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I just wrote to the Marquise de Maignelay and sent her
your two letters of yesterday and today. I shall keep the young
woman here until I receive an answer as to whether she can make
five or six days of retreat.
@TEXT6 = Yesterday I lost a day going to visit the Duchesse d'Ai-
guillon and Madame du Vigean<^>2<D> upon the death of the
latter's son.<^>3<D> The said lady's retainers came to get me for
that purpose. However, I found that Our Lord had acted as the
mother's consoler in a supernatural way. Never have I seen the
reflection of God's strength in affliction as in that virtuous
lady. That and some important business of ours are taking a lot
of time away from our visitation, which, I fear, will not be
finished a week from today, Thursday. Consequently, I am afraid
it will have to take two weeks.
@TEXT6 = This young woman will bring you the present letter,
after I have received an answer from the Marquise,<^>4<D> and she
will show it to you. I am, in the love of Our Lord, your most
humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = I am very glad that you have some hopes for that good
girl from Lorraine and are putting her in retreat and keeping
her. I am afraid she is a little lazy.
@HEAD4 = 481. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Tuesday morning [August or September 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = Here are two young women from Richelieu, whom Providence
is sending you for your need. (It would be [good] to begin
putting them in retreat the first thing tomorrow,) since I am
thinking of sending for Louise, and Barbe,<^>2<D> if she is not
needed in Angers. We shall discuss that. If I can do so, I shall
come to see you immediately after dinner, so that I can return to
the meeting.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am, in the love of Our Lord,
your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 482. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Saturday morning [August or September
1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I have not decided about the journey you mentioned and
do not know who told your son that.
@TEXT6 = It is important that your Sisters in Richelieu do not
see M. Durot or the brother. We must very gently bring him to
understand that it is not advisable for us to have any
communication except for necessary matters.
@TEXT6 = I saw Madame de Souscarrière's<^>2<D> note, and shall
send the one you sent me to the Procurator General.<^>3<D>
@TEXT6 = I have given instructions concerning a house.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = I am very busy today with our visitation. Nevertheless,
I shall speak to Mademoiselle Lamy,<^>5<D> please God. In His
love, I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 483. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I shall speak to M. de Vincy<^>2<D> tonight about the
coach for tomorrow afternoon. I was not able to slip away today;
it is too late this evening, and tomorrow morning I have to go to
see the Bishop of Meaux<^>3<D> at Notre-Dame, concerning a matter
of great importance.
@TEXT6 = I am very much of your opinion concerning your new
Sisters, but a little sorry that there will be no more of them in
Richelieu, and I do not know how M. Lambert feels about it.
@TEXT6 = I shall see your Sisters in two or three days and shall
instruct them to obey Anne.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = I see very well that I will need to see your Sisters at
the Foundlings on Thursday, but I do not know if I shall have any
time for the Rule. We shall see. Therefore, you can summon them
for that day, please, or for Friday, which will be less
inconvenient for me.
@TEXT6 = Good evening, Mademoiselle. I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT6 = Send one of your Sisters to me tomorrow in the morning,
please, for the answer about the coach.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 484. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Wednesday morning [1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I just read the order of the day you sent me and think
it is fine. What made me see the matter differently was that I
was making no distinction among the Sisters' duties. Now this is
what I think would be good: the ones from La Chapelle and the
Hôtel-Dieu can observe it as it is; those from the parishes, the
Foundlings, and the galley-slaves should strive to observe it as
far as their duties allow. The one for the Sisters in the
parishes gives sufficient details. At the end, add to these lines
what you judge appropriate for the duty with the Foundlings, and
to the one for the galley-slaves, what is suitable for the
Sisters with the galley-slaves. However, in that regard, it is
well to find out what they do and put it down. Today, put down
the one for the Foundlings and send it to me. I will look it over
this evening.<^>2<D>
@TEXT6 = I think that Providence does not want you to go to the
Foundlings today. M. de Vincy needs his coach and I am fearful
about coming back so far from the Foundlings tomorrow, because I
shall be overheated after talking. Could you hold off until
Friday and summon the Sisters to your house in La Chapelle
tomorrow? I shall make my way there. If you are reluctant to
change the orders you have already given, do not hesitate to
borrow another coach and depart today.
@TEXT6 = I shall go to the Foundlings tomorrow, God willing.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. Send me the above-mentioned
order of the day this evening.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 485. - TO MOTHER DE LA TRINITE, IN TROYES
@TEXT4 = Paris, October 1, 1640
@TEXT7 = My very dear Mother,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I give thanks to the goodness of God, dear Mother, for
His restoring you to better health. I pray that He will preserve
you many years for the good of your holy Order and for your dear
children, the Missionaries, whom you have begotten in Our Lord in
the diocese of Troyes.
@TEXT6 = Our Mother Superior of Sainte-Marie<^>1<D> told me, dear
Mother, that she wrote to you about the new life of the late
Commander de Sillery. God took him to Himself on the feast of
Saint Cyprian, September 26, between noon and one o'clock, in a
most touching way.
@TEXT6 = At the beginning of his illness, during the attacks, he
changed somewhat becoming a little stubborn, but this was
apparent only in some childish actions on certain occasions. Six
days before his death, he became as wise, firm, and gentle as we
had ever seen him, and continued so until the blessed hour he
went to God filled with the spirit of God and submission to His
Will that was constant and admirable in my sight.<^>2<D>
@TEXT6 = He made his confession, a more or less general one, of
the most serious faults of his life, to the pastor of the
parish<^>3<D> and publicly received Communion from his hand by
way of Viaticum on this same day, the sixth before his death. And
six hours before he died, the death-rattle began and he had
difficulty expectorating. He gladly accepted Extreme Unction,
which he had told me to administer to him when I thought it
advisable. He received that sacrament with a very firm but
nonetheless tender devotion. He began and continued to make aloud
very frequent acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition. He
thanked his good angel for all the help he had given him
throughout his whole life, asked pardon of him for the misuse he
had made of it, and entreated him to assist him in the last
action he had left to do. He gave thanks to God many times for
the choice He had made of His holy Mother, for the graces He had
given her, and thanked her for all those she had obtained for
him, especially that of having accepted him as her slave. He
thanked God for entrusting Saint John to the Blessed Virgin and
the Blessed Virgin to Saint John. In addition, he thanked Him
many times for the Incarnation, life, and death of Our Lord, and
for having left us His Body on earth in order to unite us to
Himself, and also gave thanks that His kingdom would never end.
He asked pardon for all the misuse he had made of His divine
mysteries. Then he thanked the Holy Spirit for all the
inspirations He had given him and asked pardon for the misuse he
had made of them. He thanked the Eternal Father for the existence
He had given him and the Godhead in the Trinity for the glory it
possesses. He entreated God to increase His own glory, as well as
that which He gave Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, the angels and
saints, and especially our Blessed Father.<^>4<D> He thanked Him,
moreover, for having withdrawn him from the corrupt mass of the
world eight or ten years before, and for having brought him to
live a more solitary life. He thanked him further for the glory
He had given Saint John, the patron of his Order,<^>5<D> and all
the blessed religious, and asked pardon for not having lived in
it as a true religious. Also, in the midst of all that, which he
used to repeat now and then, he would often express his desires
of seeing God in these words of Saint Paul: <MI>Cupio dissolvi et
esse cum Christo;<^>6<D> <MI>veni, Domine, veni et noli
tardare.<^>7<D>
@TEXT6 = An hour before he died, he sent for M. de Cordes, one of
the three executors of his will,<^>8<D> and had him distribute to
his servants, in silver, what he had bequeathed to them in his
will, in union with the division of Our Lord's garments before
His agony. He gave all of them his blessing and a few
<MI>Misereres<D>. After that, he very gently gave up his blessed
soul to God.
@TEXT6 = And there you have, dear Mother, the method that God in
His goodness followed in His treatment of this servant of His,
who had such unparalleled confidence in you and whom you loved
and brought so often before God.
@TEXT6 = I asked his blessing for you, dear Mother, as I did for
Sainte-Marie and for ourselves. <MI>O Dieu!<D> dear Mother, how
willingly he gave it to you and with what unparalleled filial
esteem and confidence he spoke of your charity. The one he
bestowed on me was particularly consoling to me and makes me
hopeful that he will obtain mercy for me before God.
@TEXT6 = During those six hours, he wanted me to be near him
constantly, so much so, that he could not bear that I go to
another room, nor even receive any messages, and, about half an
hour before his death, wanted me to have my dinner near his bed.
And there, on the whole, dear Mother is what happened at the
blessed departure of this servant of God.
@TEXT6 = After his death, it was feared that his Order might
cause an uproar,<^>9<D> but they did not. Rather, everything took
place with the same peace and gentleness as it would have if he
had had children. The executors of his will were there at the
same time and took charge of everything. The following day, he
was buried, in the evening, according to the wishes of his
relatives, because he had directed in his will that his funeral
be carried out without pomp and without arms. As the cortege was
forming, I heard people saying: <169><MI>O mon Dieu!<D> what a
loss for the poor today!<170> And others said: <169>Oh! may he
now find in heaven the good he did for the poor.<170><^>10<D>
@TEXT6 = At present, the conversation in Paris is about this
beautiful death, and about the disposal of his property, which
everyone is praising except those who were expecting something
from it. He gave one hundred thousand francs to his
Order,<^>11<D> and to us what Monsieur Dufestel may have told
you, and made the poor of the Hôtel-Dieu his heirs. I forgot to
mention that he gave fifty thousand livres to a poor nephew of
his so that he might buy an office in the Parlement<^>12<D> or on
the Great Council, with the condition that it revert to the
Hôtel-Dieu in the event that he does not do so; and to another he
gave a pension of fifteen hundred livres, also with the condition
that it revert to the said Hôtel-Dieu.<^>13<D> He gave no thought
to the Visitors of the two Orders you know about, nor will I ever
have thoughts other than acknowledgement of the untold
obligations we have to you. I renew the offers of my obedience to
you and am, in the love of Our Lord, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = Since I cannot write to our dear Mothers of
Sainte-Marie,<^>14<D> I entreat you to show them this letter.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mother de la Sainte-Trinité, Prioress
of the Carmelite Monastery of the City of Troyes, in Troyes
@HEAD4 = 486. - <P8MI>SAINT LOUISE TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [October 1 or 2, 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = The friends of the mother of one of our
children<I^>2<D> are pushing hard to settle the lawsuit initiated
against her during her absence, and are asking us to propose what
we want to get her out of the difficulty. There is a benefactor
who is interfering, and the said woman's employer. I promised to
reply whether, in order to serve as an example for others, we
would proceed according to the law, which would completely ruin
her reputation; or whether we would take the more lenient way,
which would be to ask her to pay the expenses, to take back her
child, presenting some individual who is solvent and will
guarantee that she will do the child no harm but will raise him
as she should, and to give some alms to the house. Please let me
know the amount; I think that those who are interfering will pay
it. That is why I think we should either ask her for a good sum,
Monsieur, or, before making these demands, request that they fix
the sum themselves. Please, take the trouble to let me know all
this without referring it to others, because Monsieur Le
Roy<I^>3<D> has put the matter entirely in my hands.
@TEXT61 = I intend to act always in this work in obedience to
you, since you have charge of the Ladies, whom I would like to
meet at the house every week. If you agree, after you give me
your decision, I shall notify them to come there to resolve this
affair. Otherwise, kindly tell our Sister to notify them to meet
there tomorrow, Wednesday, at eleven o'clock, the time Monsieur
Bret is supposed to come and get the answer I am awaiting from
you.
@TEXT61 = Madame Turgis has arrived. Do you think it advisable
for the good Sister she brought with her to make her retreat
here, with the one who spoke to you at Sainte-Marie, or at the
home of the deceased Commander?<I^>4<D>
@TEXT61 = I told the good Sister from Saint-Germain that we could
not keep discontented people in the house, nor those who disedify
the other Sisters, and that, if she wanted to remain, she would
have to change that behavior and not count on going to serve the
poor, at least for several years.
@TEXT61 = Our money is all in French currency, and very little in
weighted coin. I indeed desire that God may be pleased to make
use of it, if such is His holy Will.
@TEXT61 = I saw Madame de Villeneuve.<I^>5<D> She told me that
she was being shown a house in La Chapelle. I have no idea
whether it is ours. Please give it some thought. I think we
should tell you all the inconveniences and what can be adjusted,
before proceeding, so that we will have no regrets about it.
@TEXT61 = I pray the goodness of God that nothing may hinder His
designs and that I may truly be, Monsieur, your most obedient
daughter and servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>L. <P7>DE <P8>M.
@TEXT611 = <M>Addressed: <MI>Monsieur Vincent<D>
@HEAD4 = 487. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Tuesday morning [October 2, 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = My thinking is the same as yours concerning the lawsuit
against that child's unnatural mother, and that you should make
her the propositions you mentioned to me, if the Ladies are of
that opinion. You could ask them to meet for that purpose.
@TEXT6 = I am going off to Rueil and will not be able to be
there.
@TEXT6 = It would be well, as you say, for the Ladies to meet
every week.
@TEXT6 = I am consoled that Madame Turgis has returned and bid
her good day.
@TEXT6 = You would do well to have those two young women you told
me about make a retreat, and to sound out the owner of your
lodging as to whether he is exposing the house for sale. Just the
day before yesterday I inquired whether there were any in La
Chapelle and asked someone to be on the lookout.
@TEXT6 = Take care of your health, I entreat you as far as in my
power, I who am, in the love of Our Lord, Mademoiselle, your
servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 488. - TO JACQUES CHIROYE, IN LUCON
@TEXT4 = October 6, 1640
@TEXT6 = Our good God wishes to make use of you in Luçon as
Superior of our little Community. I ask you, Monsieur, to accept
the responsibility for it, trusting that, by proceeding in the
spirit of gentleness, humility, patience, and zeal for the glory
of God in the Company<197>and through it, in the souls of our
good lords and masters, the good country people<197>His Goodness
itself will lead you, and your family through you. And because I
see that your dear heart will groan and will say to me upon
reading this letter: <MI>A, a, a, Domine, nescio loqui<D>;<^>1<D>
and, how can you give me this duty? To that, I have nothing to
say except <MI>sufficit tibi gratia Dei<D>,<^>2<D> that you try
to act as you have seen others do, and that you get all the
advice you can from M. Cuissot<^>3<D> whom we are sending to La
Rose as Superior. Well now, Monsieur, have great confidence in
God, really give yourself to Him, so that He may direct you and
be Himself the Superior. Obey Him well and He will see that what
you command is done. Have a particular devotion to the way the
Blessed Virgin guided Our Lord, and all will go well. Write to me
often and greet Messieurs Soudier<^>4<D> and Thibault. They will
find here the very humble entreaty I make them to excel in the
good example they will give the whole Company by their union and
submission, and Our Lord will bestow upon them a thousand
blessings.
@HEAD4 = 489. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, October 9, 1640
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Your letters are always particularly consoling to me,
even though we are making no progress, because I can clearly see
that it is not at all your fault. It is because God does not wish
it, and I have complete confidence that we shall see, in the long
run, that it was not expedient. May His Holy Name be blessed!
@TEXT6 = Business here did not permit me to see the
Nuncio.<^>1<D> As soon as matters there are settled, I hope to
have permission to do so. This is said for you alone and no one
else; however, patience; if we do not accomplish anything before
the arrival of Cardinal Bichi, we shall do what you told me.
@TEXT6 = In my opinion, you would do well to hold to the renting
of a small house or of two rooms that you can furnish while you
are waiting. It is better for you to have a little house, if you
can have a chapel in it.
@TEXT6 = You acted properly with regard to that good priest from
Béarn. They have never given any mission at all, except for one
of them who worked with our good M. Brunet,<^>2<D> and another
who gave half of one. I do not think there are twenty thousand
people or thirty thousand in the whole of Béarn. It is my opinion
that you should resist when you are asked something during the
month, and do so with your usual prudence.
@TEXT6 = I would very much like you to get the advice of several
people there concerning the vow of stability, as to whether it
constitutes the religious state. You wrote me that the
Assistant<^>3<D> is of the opposite opinion. It is alleged that
the Carthusians and Benedictines take only that same vow of
stability and yet they are religious. It is true that to the vow
of stability they add that of the conversion of manners, which
perhaps leads to that which constitutes the vow of religious
life.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = I am in no hurry to send you any men, because you have
no lodging yet, but mainly because I learned from your next to
last letter that the entire diocese of Rome is confined to the
city of Rome. I do not see the need except for the dioceses
nearby, or if there was a way to work with the ordinands and
retreatants.
@TEXT6 = I sent you the testimony concerning the poverty of the
people about whom Monsieur Soufliers wrote to you.<^>5<D> They
are from L'Hay, in the diocese of Paris. Here is another for the
people from the diocese of Poitiers about whom M. Perdu wrote to
you, or I for him. I do not remember the degree of the
impediment.
@TEXT6 = My most humble thanks for the extremely conscientious
attention you brought to the business of the religious women in
Chanteloup,<^>6<D> about whom Monsieur Féret<^>7<D> wrote to you.
A Gascon priest, who has gone to Rome with regard to the Bulls
for the Bishop-elect of Comminges,<^>8<D> was asked about the
same matter. You can tell him the state of the affair, and my
requesting you to work on it. If he wishes to join you or do
something on his own, act according to your usual charity. If
those gentlemen had known that you would take the matter so much
to heart, and work at it so effectively, they would not have
asked anyone else but you.
@TEXT6 = Thank you, moreover, for what you did for Commander
Harque. The evil you were told about him does not exist. The
deceased Grand Prior of France<^>9<D> employed him as intendant
of his estate and house. In that office, he comported himself, as
a matter of fact, with care and intelligence, and he did increase
the revenue, as they take great care to do in that Order.
However, no complaint came to his knowledge. He is, moreover, a
devout man and never fails to celebrate Holy Mass daily. If some
monk said something about him, perhaps they have had some legal
proceedings with him because of the proximity or crossing of
their property. Lawsuits always bring on some alienation and
lessening of esteem. Commander de Sillery thought highly of him
and of his piety, and he always struck me as a champion of God's
interests in all things.
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu<D>, Monsieur, is there no way to make
allowance for those two priories in Langres and to maintain them
in case of death, in the meantime? It is difficult to obtain the
consent of the Abbots, who are the Prince,<^>10<D> and the
Cardinal.<^>11<D> Although I suggested the solution you mentioned
of handing them over temporarily to someone in the Company, the
person gave me no answer in that regard, fearing perhaps either a
lack of faith on the part of that person or death. Mishaps have
occurred in a Community that way. The office of the theologian
and the parish in Luçon were taken away from that Community in
this way.
@TEXT6 = Our seminary is still growing, by the mercy of God, in
number and in virtue; and the rest of the Company is well enough,
thank God. The aid to Lorraine is still going on and the
assistance of the poor as well. We have here in the house ten
thousand livres to send there after our Brother Mathieu<^>12<D>
has finished his retreat.
@TEXT6 = God has taken the late Commander de Sillery. He died
like a saint, as he had lived since he withdrew from the cares of
the world. He left to the Company eighty thousand livres for the
seminary, in addition to the foundations in Geneva and Troyes.
@TEXT6 = The late Duchesse de Ventadour<^>13<D> left forty
thousand livres for the foundation of a mission; and a person who
does not wish to be known sent us, recently, twenty-five thousand
livres, the reason being, she said, that God may be pleased to
maintain in the Company the spirit it now has. O Monsieur, how
good God is and how admirable are the philters of His love! I ask
you to pray to God for all these people and help us obtain the
grace to carry out the wishes of that good soul, who is of modest
circumstances.
@TEXT6 = I am leaving for Rueil to try and pay my respects to His
Eminence.<^>14<D> If I can, and if I have the chance and the
time, I shall say a word to him about M. Le Bret's affair. I
greet the latter with all possible respect and affection and am
his servant and yours.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = Excuse me; I do not know how the enclosed items went
astray among our papers.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 490. - TO ETIENNE BLATIRON, IN ALET
@TEXT4 = October 9, 1640
@TEXT6 = Everything you wrote to me about your exercises gives me
consolation and shows me what a blessing it is to have capable
direction and good example before one's eyes.<^>1<D> Enjoy it,
Monsieur, <MI>in nomine Domini<D>. Aim unceasingly and without
respite to form yourself on that model and you will become more
and more a good Missionary. Always remember that in the spiritual
life little account is taken of the beginnings. People attach
importance to the progress and the end. Judas had begun well, but
he finished badly; and Saint Paul finished well, although he had
begun badly. Perfection consists in a constant perseverance to
acquire the virtues and become proficient in their practice,
because, on God's road, not to advance is to fall back since man
never remains in the same condition, and the predestined,
according to what the Holy Spirit says, <MI>ibunt de virtute in
virtutem<D>.<^>2<D> Now the way to do that, Monsieur, is to be
continually grateful for God's mercy and goodness to us, and to
have a constant or frequent fear of rendering ourselves unworthy
and of failing to be faithful to our little exercises, especially
those of prayer, the presence of God, examens, spiritual reading,
and the daily performance of some acts of charity, mortification,
humility, and simplicity. I hope, Monsieur, that the exact
practice of these things will finally make us good Missionaries
according to the heart of God.
@HEAD4 = 491. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Sunday morning [October 28, 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Be at peace about my health. The fever I had yesterday
has greatly lessened and I am going to take some medicine
directly, which, if Our Lord pleases, will cause me to perspire.
May His Holy Name be blessed!
@TEXT6 = I did not say to notify the Ladies; the officers will be
sufficient. And if you are getting along well where you are, I do
not think you should come to La Chapelle for this ceremony. Think
about it. I dread the thought of the coach for you. If you do go,
try a sedan-chair, please.
@TEXT6 = With regard to your business matter, I exclude the wood
merchant. Those people have a propensity for going bankrupt and I
know hardly any, except one in Troyes, who has not finally gone
under. As for the other, I would not know what to say, except
that this large number of new houses causes me to think he is a
contractor, and those people usually get their affairs all mixed
up.
@TEXT6 = I just asked M. Dehorgny whether we would need it; he
foresees that we shall. In two days, I shall make a decision
about it for you, if you do not find anything better, although
before God I see nothing more reliable.
@TEXT6 = By the mercy of God, we repaid ten thousand livres this
year, really a little short of fifteen,<^>2<D> and I hope that
what Providence has given us through the Commander<^>3<D> will
keep us from running into debt, except for the house we need to
buy for the Sisters.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = Enclosed is a letter a virtuous priest from Sedan wrote
to me. See if we can send a very good Sister. It is a
newly-Christianized area. The Duc and the Duchesse have been
Catholic for just a little while. Heresy established its throne
in that principality ninety years ago.<^>5<D> Oh! how I wish you
were in good health! But what can we do? Winter is here; we must
not think about it.
@TEXT6 = He is writing to Marguerite from Saint-Paul. I will not
give her the letter until I have seen you. If Barbe, from
Richelieu, were here, that would be fine. Think about the matter
a little, and about your health.
@TEXT6 = I am, in the love of Our Lord, Mademoiselle, your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 492. - <P8MI>THE TOWN MAGISTRATES OF METZ TO SAINT
VINCENT
@TEXT41 = October 1640
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = You have placed us under so great an obligation by
relieving, as you have, the poverty and extreme need of our poor
and our beggars, who are uncomplaining and sick, and especially
the poor monasteries of nuns in this city, that we would be
ungrateful people were we to remain any longer without expressing
to you our sentiments about it. We can assure you that the alms
you sent to this area could not have been distributed or used in
a better way than for our poor, who are in such great number
here, and especially as regards the nuns, who are without any
human assistance. Some have not enjoyed their limited revenues
since the war and the others no longer receive anything from the
wealthy people of the city who used to give them alms, because
the latter have been deprived of the means of doing so. All this
obliges us to entreat you, as we do most humbly, Monsieur, to be
so kind as to continue, both to the said poor and to the
monasteries in this city, the same assistance you have bestowed
up to now. It is a cause of great merit for those who are doing
such a good work, and for you, Monsieur, who are responsible for
it and which you administer with so much prudence and skill. You
will thus acquire a great reward in heaven.
@HEAD4 = 493. - TO LAMBERT AUX COUTEAUX, SUPERIOR, IN
RICHELIEU<B^>1<D>
@TEXT4 = Paris, October 29, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I wrote yesterday asking you to give Monsieur des
Noyers<^>2<D> a written statement<^>3<D> of what you would like
His Eminence<^>4<D> to be so kind as to grant you. And in this
letter, I beg you to do nothing about it, if he does not ask you
to do so. It would also be well for you not to complain, but
rather to express a most profound gratitude for the good things
he has done for us, as we are obliged to do.
@TEXT6 = I am, in the love of Our Lord, Monsieur, your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@HEAD4 = 494. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, All Saints' Day [1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = My slight fever obliges me to stay at home. I went out
last Tuesday with the intention of going to see you, but I became
more ill. Nevertheless, there are a great number of matters
demanding that I see you. There is a small property in La
Villette,<^>2<D> just about one acre, including the house and the
garden. It belongs to the parish of La Villette and comes under
that house for dues<^>3<D> and justice. It is the last house in
the village, beyond and on the same side as the church, from
which it is not so far as yours. They mentioned four or five
thousand francs. There is a main building or two, with a barn and
stable, country style, and it gets air on the side and in the
back. It is the only thing for sale in La Villette; see what you
think of it.
@TEXT6 = The Ladies in this parish<^>4<D> are complaining about
Marie and her way of acting and want someone else. How will we
discharge her and whom will you send in her place?
@TEXT6 = Whom do you have in mind for Sedan? I am being pressured
for a Sister. I have written that perhaps you will be going
there, but how can we expose you to so much danger in such a
season?
@TEXT6 = I do not know what to tell you about that fine young
woman from Angers, except that it is not your concern, seeing
that she cannot put up with so important a matter as that of
uniformity of habit.<^>5<D> Still I think we should wait a while.
@TEXT6 = Your son could be part of the mission in Le
Mont-le-Héry.<^>6<D>
@TEXT6 = The Duchesse d'Aiguillon is supposed to come and see you
the first chance she gets. Please keep things the way she likes
them. She will speak to the Procurator General<^>7<D> with regard
to relieving you of the children who have been weaned. I am, in
the love of Our Lord, your servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 495. - TO JACQUES THOLARD, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, November 13, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I received your letter and have read and reread it with
consolation, seeing the sensitivity of your conscience; and on
the other hand with sorrow, because you are not submitting to the
advice of that holy Prelate<^>1<D> and to what I said to you
concerning those miserable feelings that come upon you in
confession. In the name of Our Lord, Monsieur, hold firmly to
what we have told you. From whom can you learn God's Will better
than from that holy Prelate and, if holy humility allows me, from
him who is the interpreter of God's Will for you? <MI>O Jésus!<D>
Monsieur, <MI>absit<^>2<D> from you to ever reflect on all that
again, any more than on feelings of gluttony or on thoughts that
come to you at times; or on marriage, any more than on feelings
of despair. All those things are nothing but exercises for your
purgation, illumination, and perfection, and so that you can
sympathize with those whom you see in similar dispositions. Alas!
Monsieur, it is God's plan that those who are to help others
spiritually fall into the temptations of mind and body by which
others can be tormented. Therefore, submit your judgment to what
the Bishop and I have told you, please, and do not think about
and do not even confess these things. Scorn both these evil
suggestions and the wickedness of their author, who is the devil.
Be very cheerful and humble yourself as much as you can.
Ordinarily, God allows these things to happen to free us from
some hidden pride and to engender in us holy humility. They will
diminish in the measure that you humble your understanding, and
will disappear when you have made noticeable progress in that
virtue. Strive therefore to acquire it.
@TEXT6 = No rule obliges one to sin if the substance of the act
of transgression is not sinful in itself, or if contempt, bad
example, or disobedience do not enter in, when the thing is
commanded by virtue of holy obedience; but we do well to render
ourselves exact to it on the mission just as at home.
@TEXT6 = With regard to genuflections in the rooms, it suffices
to make them at the long intervals and not every time one leaves
and returns, and only in places where one sleeps.
@TEXT6 = And as far as your letters are concerned, they will
always be very dear to me. I think it would be well for you to
make them a little shorter and in brief paragraphs, so that I can
put the answer in the margin.
@TEXT6 = My little weak spells from a double quartan fever<^>3<D>
prevented me from writing to your mother. I will do so and will
send her the books you indicated to me.
@TEXT6 = Well now, Monsieur, I will close by telling you that I
receive an inexpressible consolation from you. You will
understand it in the presence of God. In His love and in that of
His holy Mother, I am, Monsieur, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Tholard, Priest of the
Mission, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 496. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, November 14, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = Your letters still console me, even though our affairs
are making no progress. I know that nothing can be added to your
diligence and that this is not due to you personally, to your
zeal, nor your handling of the matter. Our Lord has given you
both and is directing this matter according to the order of His
eternal Providence. Be assured, Monsieur, that you will see in
this situation that it is for the best and I think I can already
see it as clearly as the light of day. O Monsieur, how good it is
to let oneself be guided by His Providence! The problem here has
been that the one who has the power<^>1<D> did not approve of my
having forwarded the letter you sent me for the purpose of
informing His Holiness<^>2<D> about us, and he told me himself,
just three days ago, to wait for another one<^>3<D> and he would
take care of our business personally. So let us leave it at that,
Monsieur. And if you are able meanwhile to obtain permission to
have a small hospice in Rome, do so.
@TEXT6 = Work patiently with your shepherds;<^>4<D> what you told
me about them thrilled me with pleasure because you can say with
good reason that <MI>pauperes evangelizantur<D>.<^>5<D>
@TEXT6 = And in the midst of that, labor at our other little
affairs as we are doing here on our little Rules, which we are
adapting, as much as we can, to the ones you mentioned to me. I
think we shall decide to make the Good Purposes of living and
dying in the Mission, the first year in the seminary; the simple
vow of stability in the second year of the said seminary; and of
making it solemnly in eight or ten years, as the Superior General
sees fit. That will be equivalent, in a sense, to the faculty of
expelling incorrigibles. We will have to find some safeguards
with regard to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, such
as inflicting excommunication against proprietors every year. It
seems that the majority of our friends are leaning that way and
that differences of opinion are common in the religious state,
which we avoid in this manner, although we have reason to hope
for its spirit.
@TEXT6 = With regard to the Bishops, we submit to their
obedience, as the servants of the Gospel to their master, as far
as our external functions are concerned, and to their
punishments, for exterior faults outside the house. And the
Bishop of Meaux<^>6<D> wished us to submit to him, when faults in
the house are concerned, in three cases, namely, murder,
mutilation of limb of someone in the Company, and lechery in the
said house. For domestic discipline, government of the
Congregation, election and resignation of officers and transfer
from one place to another, and visitations: all those matters
will depend on the Superior General. What do you think of all
that?
@TEXT6 = We are working, from this side of the mountains, on
obtaining consent from the General of Holy Spirit<^>7<D> for the
union. I am sending you the power of attorney, from the one who
was appointed by him, to tender his resignation in favor of M.
Dehorgny.<^>8<D> Please have it recognized as soon as possible
and take care of the creation (?) of the hundred écus pension he
reserved for himself. We are in agreement with the town of Toul,
although the matter has not yet been committed to writing. I ask
you, Monsieur, not to waste time on that and not to tell anyone
whomsoever what I wrote to you concerning the letter you sent me
to inform His Holiness, nor what I was promised.
@TEXT6 = I am, nevertheless, in the love of Our Lord, your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = Thank you for the care you are taking of the young women
about whom M. de Saint-Aignan<^>9<D> wrote to you. Please
continue.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 497. - TO PIERRE ESCART, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, November 14, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I received your letter with a very special consolation,
seeing how you accepted what I told you about the difficulty you
are having with regard to M. C[odoing]. O Monsieur, how I thank
God for that, as also for the zeal he has given you for the
observance of the little Rules, and for the advancement in virtue
of the person you mentioned to me. But because zeal like other
virtues becomes a vice through excess, we must be careful not to
let ourselves fall into this labyrinth; for zeal which goes
outside the enclosure of love of the neighbor is no longer zeal,
but the passion of antipathy. I admit that the beginning may have
been zeal, but the excess caused it to degenerate into what I
have just told you. The proof is that neither what our worthy
Reverend Mother<^>1<D> said to you, nor what I wrote you, nor the
fact that you were told that others did not support what you
wrote in your last letter to me<197>none of this has rid your
spirit of the feelings (would that it were only feelings!) but
has not even dispelled or changed the opinion you have of him.
That is why, Monsieur, I most humbly beg you to think about the
matter seriously before God and about what I am going to say to
you, namely, (1) that Our Lord imputes to Himself the contempt in
which you hold that individual; <MI>qui vos spernit me
spernit<D>;<^>2<D> (2) that what He appears to have denounced the
most in the Gospel are rash judgments; (3) that He pronounced a
number of maledictions on people who judged their neighbor
rashly; (4) that He was accused of being a vain man, a lover of
self, allowing people to pour ointments on His head; that those
who drew near to Him proclaimed Him a man who ate sumptuously,
drank wine, and who did not observe any rule of Moses or make His
Apostles observe them, allowing them to pick ears of corn and eat
the grains on the Sabbath day; that He did not teach His
disciples to pray as Saint John did. Now, who spread these
rumors? It was His own disciples, or one of them. Why so? It was
because they had not recognized, in the beginning, the spirit in
which Our Lord was doing those things. And because it did not
resemble their own, they did not, in the beginning, confront
their feelings, which so obscured their reason that it was no
longer able to distinguish the appearance of truth or of
falsehood. Thoughts in conformity with their feelings and their
marred reason crowded in on their imagination, and
<MI>inde<D>,<^>3<D> little by little, contempt, hatred and
everything ensuing from them appeared. <MI>O Dieu<D>! Monsieur,
how rightly did He who saw all that cry out so strongly against
rash judgments, and how right you are to fear that what you told
me about that person may have begun with some natural antipathy
or with a strong tendency to zeal, which, through too harsh a
spirit, has become less circumspect! In the name of God,
Monsieur, think about it; and even though you will not believe
what I am telling you, at least entertain the doubt that it may
be so, seeing that you are the only one who holds that opinion,
and that the Bishop,<^>4<D> our worthy Mother, and those who are
near him, who see and observe him as you do, tell me the
contrary. And in this doubt, <MI>O Jésus! <D>Monsieur, you are
obliged to do all you can to free yourself of these opinions, to
humble yourself greatly in that regard and to allow no longer a
single thought contrary to the esteem, charity, and submission of
spirit that you owe to the said Gentleman. Bless God, however,
Monsieur, since you do not sin by defect, but rather by an excess
of a virtue, because it will be less painful to moderate your
zeal than to acquire it if you did not have it. Pray to God for
me, please, who have none at all for my advancement in the virtue
that He has given me.
@TEXT6 = I am, in His love and that of His holy Mother, your most
humble and obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = I entreat you, Monsieur, to make a few meditations on
what I have said to you and to send me the resolutions Our Lord
gives you on this subject.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Escart, Priest of the
Mission, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 498. - TO BERNARD CODOING, IN ANNECY
@TEXT4 = Paris, November 15, 1640
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I wrote you a long letter about a month ago; there is
little left to tell you at present.
@TEXT6 = I had the four hundred livres sent to those two young
men from Annecy who are studying in Orléans and had them given to
the Sisters of Sainte-Marie<^>1<D> from the Paris house for that
purpose.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur Duhamel wrote to me from Lyons, eight or ten
days ago, that he wished to see me two leagues from Paris; I have
not heard anything about it since.
@TEXT6 = I sent you word, I think, about the demise of the late
Commander de Sillery. His death corresponded to his beautiful
life. He went to heaven like a monarch going to take possession
of his kingdom, with an indescribable peace, confidence,
gentleness, and strength. O Monsieur, what a great servant of God
he was! I was recently telling His Eminence what I just told you,
and that, for the eight or ten years I had the honor of being
near him, I never saw in him a single thought, word, or deed that
did not have God as its aim, directly or indirectly, not even one
thought of impurity in all the cordial communications he had at
Sainte-Marie; and he assured me of that many times.<^>2<D> O
Monsieur, how good God is to those who detach themselves from the
affections of the world to unite themselves to Him!
@TEXT6 = I most humbly greet the Company and am, in the love of
Our Lord, your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Codoing, Superior of the
Priests of the Mission of Annecy, in Annecy
@HEAD4 = 498a. - <P8MI>SAINT JANE FRANCES TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = November 24, 1640
@TEXT61 = I cannot doubt that there is need of an Apostolic
Visitor to preserve uniformity in the Institute and to prevent
changes. If that does not come about during my lifetime, I will
leave very express and exact statements about it, which will have
to be well digested and consulted. This will come about through
the assistance of your goodness and of people qualified to do it,
for, since I know that people are always wanting me to speak my
mind, I shall do so plainly, but not so as to take a stand on
what I say.
@TEXT61 = Now, I think, very dear Father, that we must take the
time to pray hard and weigh the affair<197>as well as how and
when it is to be realized<197>for I even think that the reason
that made those Gentlemen decide to put the matter off still
holds. Sister Superior wrote telling me that it was a secret she
dared not put on paper. I almost think that this may be what our
Blessed Father did not want; now may God preserve us from it! Do
you not think that I am being inspired, very dear Father? I would
be very glad to know if, with regard to that person, it is not
advisable, indeed necessary, to let the matter wait until it is
no longer on her mind. I trust you understand me, and there is
scarcely any hurry, since the monasteries are still fervent in
their observances, thanks to Our Lord.
@TEXT61 = I sometimes think that, if Our Lord grants me a little
longer life, I ought to send our confessor to visit our
monasteries in order to examine the state of their observances,
and to bid them my last farewell, so that I might take news from
them to our Blessed Father. This pretext would give no offense
and, since he is known and esteemed by a large number of our
houses, at least the principal ones, he could gently slip in some
ideas about the necessity of a few visits in order to maintain
uniformity and, if it was thought advisable, he could show the
letter I had written to them on the subject,<I^>1<D> which had
been approved by all of you. I trust that the majority would
concur with the idea; at least, they would keep the secret until
we had won over our Prelates, whom I cannot bring myself to
believe would not acquiesce, if the matter were communicated to
them properly, as could be done by the Bishops of Sens, Bourges,
and Châlons, and by you, dearest Father. Once a year, several of
them go to Paris and, by winning over a certain number, they
could enact a decree of their commendations that could be
communicated to some others with favorable letters such as they
judge advisable. For, if this establishment does not come about
by common agreement<197>of the principal ones, of course<197>it
would bring trouble to the Institute. I think that it would be
better to wait until some need arises by way of some disorder
that cannot be rectified by the means ordained in the <169>Custom
Book.<170>
@TEXT61 = I am putting down here everything that comes to my mind
in the presence of my dearest Father's spirit. I know he bears
with me graciously, for alas! how do I know what I am saying?
These important affairs are not suitable for weak minds like
mine. Most certainly, I make too great demands on your time, but
it is the goodness of your fatherly heart that gives me complete
confidence. Best and dearest Father, beseech the Infinite
Goodness to receive me, when I depart this life, into the arms of
His gentle mercy. I am.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@HEAD4 = 499. - <P8MI>SAINT LOUISE TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [November 28, 1640]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = Madame de Liancourt<I^>2<D> told me she would send for
me tomorrow around eight o'clock. I most humbly entreat you to
let me know if there is anything that could keep me from going to
see her, and to remember what I told you today with regard to our
Sisters. It was on such a day as tomorrow, five or seven years
ago, that the first ones began to live in community, although
quite poorly. I had a thought this evening that delighted me. It
was that, since, by the grace of God, they are better than they
were in the beginning, that after the few years I hope to remain
on earth, the one whom God will give them will draw down upon
them more blessings by her good example. That is what I desire
with all my heart and ask of our good God, and that I may be
until my last hour.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@HEAD4 = 500. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [November 28 or 29, 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = There is nothing to keep you from going to see Madame de
Liancourt, whom I greet most humbly.
@TEXT6 = I will try to arrange the meeting for our Ladies for
next Monday, since I cannot do so any sooner. Never have I had
such a strong feeling of God's guidance of your Sisters as I have
recently.
@HEAD4 = 501. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Monday morning [Around 1640]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I did not receive the letter you wrote to M. de Vaux in
answer to his which I am returning to you; I did have the one you
wrote to Richelieu, which I just sent. When I see the
first-mentioned, I will tell you my opinion, and we shall discuss
what the said Monsieur de Vaux wrote to you and talk about the
little children.<^>2<D> We must hold a general meeting<^>3<D> as
soon as possible.
@TEXT6 = I ask you, in the meantime, to take care of your health.
I am, in the love of Our Lord, Mademoiselle, your most humble
servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT6 = I think there would be more humility in calling the
Daughters of Charity by the title of Sisters rather then
Daughters.<^>4<D> That is what they do at Sainte-Marie.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 502. - <P8MI>THE TOWN MAGISTRATES OF
PONT-A-MOUSSON<I^>1<D><R><MI>TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = December 1640
@TEXT61 = The fear of seeing ourselves deprived, in a short time,
of the alms it has pleased your goodness to distribute to our
poor, causes us to have recourse to you, Monsieur, in order to
procure for them, please, with as much zeal as heretofore, the
same assistance, since the need is greater than it has ever been.
Two years ago the harvest failed; the troops have used our young
wheat as feed; the never-ending garrisons have left us only
objects that arouse compassion; those who were comfortable are
reduced to beggary. These are motives as powerful as they are
true to animate the tenderness of your heart, already full of
love and pity, to continue its kindly influence on our five
hundred poor. They would die in a few hours, if, unfortunately,
that kindness were to fail them. We entreat your goodness not to
allow this extremity, but to give us some crumbs from the
superfluity of the other towns. You will not only bestow alms on
our poor, but you will draw them out of the jaws of death and
make us deeply obliged to you.
@HEAD4 = 503. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saturday morning [1640 or 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I think, Mademoiselle, that Sister Vincente<^>2<D> from
Richelieu is to be preferred in this situation. And then, that
young woman needs an important duty to satisfy her quick mind.
She is a very fine young woman, with a good reputation in her own
region and has perseveringly served her mistress for seven or
eight years. That poor woman is inexpressibly pained by her
absence. There are some persons that do not adjust at first to
every little rule. Time takes care of everything. I experience
that situation every day among ourselves.
@TEXT6 = I am filled with esteem and affection for that
work.<^>3<D> This morning, I thought of sending for M. Lambert,
the Superior in Richelieu, to be of service to that work and to
all our Charities, but it is not yet time.<^>4<D>
@TEXT6 = I will take a look at the house.<^>5<D>
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 504. - <P7M>TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT62 = Vincent de Paul wants to know what the number of
foundlings is and if it is possible to have wet-nurses at the
price he mentioned; that would encourage everyone.
@HEAD4 = 505. - TO CHARLES OZENNE,<B^>1<D> IN TROYES
@TEXT4 = January 14 [1641]<^>2<D>
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = <MI>Mon Dieu<D>! Monsieur, how sorry I am about good
Monsieur Dufestel's<^>3<D> illness. I entreat you, in the name of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, Monsieur, to have him well taken care of
in every way possible. I have no doubt that you and the whole
Company are doing that with all the charity imaginable; however,
please have him carefully examined by the best doctor and spare
nothing for him. <MI>O mon Dieu! <D>Monsieur, how I would like to
be with you to support you in the care and assistance you are
giving!
@TEXT6 = Our Lord has been pleased to reward good Monsieur de
Sergis for his labor; I will let you know how in two or three
days.<^>4<D> Meanwhile, please pray to God for him.
@TEXT6 = Tell Monsieur Dufestel that we shall let him know later
if it is appropriate for him to make use of the nephew of the
Bishop of Troyes<^>5<D> to get payment from Monsieur de
Saint-Armand, and that, nevertheless, we shall continue the
payment, as well as the Commander's<^>6<D> annuity. Tell him also
that I really think we shall have to make an effort, through a
friend, to obtain the house he spoke to me about and that we must
not waste any time. Good Monsieur Gouault<^>7<D> will continue
his assistance with that as with all things, as I am asking him
in his goodness. And I shall earnestly request the place he
discussed with me, now that that good confrere is back.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur du Coudray has not yet returned. I am very
worried about him, because he should have been here ten days ago.
@TEXT6 = We have one of your relatives here by the name of
Hurtel.<^>8<D> He wishes to give himself to Our Lord in our
Little Company. And I, I greet good Monsieur Dufestel and embrace
him in spirit with all the humility and affection in my power, as
I do all the rest of your family. I am, in the love of Our Lord,
Monsieur, your most humble and most obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Reverend Mother Superior of the
Visitation Sainte-Marie of Troyes to be delivered to Monsieur
Ozenne, Priest of the Mission, in Troyes
@HEAD4 = 506. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Thursday morning [January 31, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I cannot thank you as humbly and affectionately as I
would like, for your assistance in our need. I beg Our Lord to
reward you and to increase His love in you. I just told someone
to send for the notary tomorrow to draw up a statement of that
sum for you and I will try to give you some money we owe you as
soon as possible.
@TEXT6 = I was thinking of coming to see you today, but they
think I should be bled a second time. If I can do so, it will be
tomorrow, God willing. We have many things to discuss with you;
the most urgent is the one concerning the Sister for Sedan.
Please send for Marie, from Saint-Germain, and speak to her and
see whom you will put in her place. She must leave in five or six
days and I must send the final decision to the Pastor of
Saint-Germain.<^>2<D>
@TEXT6 = The meeting went well enough in my opinion, thank God.
In His love, I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 507. - TO LOUIS LEBRETON, IN ROME
@TEXT4 = Paris, February 3, 1641
@TEXT7 = Monsieur,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I have not written to you for a long time. My journey
from Richelieu, the urgent business matters I found upon my
return, and the illness I had afterwards, together with my usual
laziness, are the cause. Hereafter I shall write my letters to
you more often, with God's help, which I hope for.
@TEXT6 = The account you gave me of your mission in the diocese
of Porto consoled me greatly, and more than I can tell you. I
have one remaining difficulty about it, to know why you stay so
briefly in each place. The maxim of the Mission is to stay and
work on the spot until every soul has fulfilled his obligation or
not, which we have had to do because those who have the greatest
need of it are always <MI>ad feces<D>.<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = I spoke to the Duchesse d'Aiguillon about your
suggestion to be made to His Eminence<^>2<D> concerning our
foundation in Rome. I have no answer yet.
@TEXT6 = I am greatly consoled by what you wrote to me: that
Cardinal Bagni<^>3<D> has thought of us with reference to that
chapel, and I entreat God to sanctify his dear soul more and
more.
@TEXT6 = I would not know what to tell you about the various
suggestions you made to me concerning those chapels and the
different places you proposed, except that I entrust the whole
matter to the Providence of God and to the good advice that
persons kindly disposed toward us could give you there. I cannot
tell you how much alms have diminished here and the difficulty of
finding any loans. Everyone is being affected by the misery of
the age. We are patiently awaiting the decision of His Eminence
and the timing of Providence with regard to our establishment.
@TEXT6 = No one has asked me for the money you told me you drew
there.
@TEXT6 = I am also waiting for the opportunity to speak and have
others speak in reference to the Abbots on whom the two priories
depend,<^>4<D> in order to obtain their consent regarding the
union. We got along well with the man who held the authority of
General de la Terrade from Holy Spirit, concerning the house in
Toul, and were told that he was working to obtain his consent, as
you informed me.
@TEXT6 = Here are some letters and notes from the Bishop of
Geneva<^>5<D> concerning his plan for a seminary, whose direction
he wishes to give to the Missionaries we have in his diocese.
Take a look at these letters and his note and the one from
Monsieur Codoing; seal the letters and deliver them to those to
whom they are addressed; and do all you can, please, for the
success of his plan. See how important it is in so many
circumstances that there be an establishment of the Company.
@TEXT6 = The Reverend Fathers<^>6<D> with whom you communicate
most familiarly there are writing back everything you do and
everything else that is done to you; and they are making it known
here. Please be careful about that. I am not speaking of the
Jesuit Fathers.
@TEXT6 = I almost forgot to tell you, concerning the plan of the
Bishop of Geneva, that it seems fine to me in all its extent,
except with regard to the children he wishes to be raised there.
Up to now I have not heard that any like that have succeeded for
the good of the Church. And experience has shown us the contrary
with regard to those in Rouen, Bordeaux, and Agen.<^>7<D> I shall
write my humble opinion about it to the holy Prelate or, in any
case, to Monsieur Codoing, but the objection will not be made by
you from there, please.<^>8<D>
@TEXT6 = Write to both of us, please, and give us an account of
what you have done.
@TEXT6 = I received and sent to Richelieu the indulgences and the
dispensations you had obtained for them. I wrote to tell you that
it is not thought advisable here for us to employ or negotiate
with the man whose letter you sent me concerning our affairs. And
the one who can do it says that he will take care of our affair
in a little while.
@TEXT6 = I have had the honor of seeing His Eminence only once,
and of saying just two or three words to him since my return.
When the opportunity presents itself, I will say a word to him
about the Seigneur who is our patron there and assists us with
such charity. I entreat you to renew to him the offers of my
obedience, and to Monsieur Marchand also, as this new year
begins.
@TEXT6 = I hope you received the foundation of
Saint-Eutrope<^>9<D> and that you will continue to see to the
success of that affair.
@TEXT6 = The Prelates all seem to want to have seminaries of
priests, and of young men. The Bishop of Meaux, who is approving
of a foundation being made for us in his diocese, wishes that
sort.<^>10<D> And it seems fine to me with regard to clergy only.
The Bishop of Saintes<^>11<D> is offering us the same thing. And
thus God will make use of this Company: for the common people,
through the missions; for the clergy who are starting out,
through ordinations; for those who are already priests, by not
admitting to benefices or vicariates anyone who has not made his
retreat and been instructed in the seminary; and for benefactors,
through the spiritual exercises. May it please the Divine
Goodness to grant us His grace to succeed!
@TEXT6 = The Company is increasing in number and in virtue, by
the mercy of God, which everyone recognizes and which was
apparent to me during the visitations. I am the only wretch who
keeps on heaping new iniquities and abominations on myself. O
Monsieur, how merciful God is to put up with me with so much
patience and forbearance, and how weak and miserable I am to
abuse his mercies so greatly! I entreat you, Monsieur, to offer
me frequently to His Divine Majesty.
@TEXT6 = The alms for Lorraine are still coming in, by the mercy
of God. Our Brother Mathieu<^>12<D> takes 2,500 livres there for
the poor every month, and 45,000 livres for the men and women
religious. And today we are having the meeting for the assistance
of the poor nobles who are refugees. We distributed one thousand
or so livres to them last month, and hope that we will distribute
as much today.
@TEXT6 = God has taken our good Monsieur de Sergis. I am writing
to you about it in a separate letter.
@TEXT6 = There you have our little news. I always receive yours
with consolation and I am, in the love of Our Lord, Monsieur,
your most humble and obedient servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL<R>i.s.C.M.
@TEXT6 = After the man to whom the Bishop of Geneva is writing
has seen that what he says about this Little Company can be of
service there, how about your borrowing the letter from him to
communicate it to Bishop Ingoli and those whom you judge
advisable?
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Monsieur Lebreton, Priest of the
Congregation of the Mission, in Rome
@HEAD4 = 508. - TO ADRIEN BOURDOISE<B^>1<D>
@TEXT4 = February 6, 1641
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = The young priest named M. Clauset, who left here and
asked to enter your house, is full of good will and worthy of
your doing him the charity he is asking of you. Just four or five
days ago, I advised another priest, who is leaving Saint-Gervais
and has just made his retreat in our house, to request the same
favor of you as the first. He has let me know, since then, that
you have granted it to him. As often as I have the opportunity to
direct anyone to you, I do it, and entreat you also to kindly
allow it, and what is more, not to make any objection to
receiving all those from here who wish to leave and ask you if
they can enter your house, and that, without asking my approval.
If any one of your boarders presents himself to enter our poor,
weak Company, I also entreat you most humbly, Monsieur, to allow
us simply to accept him. I mean your boarders and certainly not
those who have the happiness of being bound to your holy
Community, which I esteem one of the holiest in the Church of
God, and in which I would deem myself most fortunate to be, if
Providence had not attached me to this one. If I do not have this
happiness in fact, I have it in my esteem and in my attachment to
being, in the love of Our Lord and His holy Mother, Monsieur,
your.<|>.<|>.<|>.
@HEAD4 = 509. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Thursday morning [February 7, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The lady officers of Saint-Germain-de-l'Auxerrois were
here at the house yesterday to remonstrate strongly with me about
our Sister Marie,<^>2<D> not so much in order to keep her as to
get some Sisters who know how to serve and to make up the
compounds and remedies. Marie's companion does not know anything,
not even the houses of the Ladies so as to give them information.
They are asking for the one who was taken from them and is at
Saint-Etienne,<^>3<D> and for Vincente. It is up to you to see
how you can remove that Sister and which other you can put in her
place, or give them someone else who knows how to make up the
compounds and has some experience. This situation shows us how
necessary it is for you to come to this parish and for all your
Sisters to be well-trained.
@TEXT6 = Yesterday I saw the house that I had mentioned to you,
in the faubourg Saint-Martin, but there is not enough room. It
would be good, as you say, to have one for yourselves as soon as
possible, but that is not so easily found. In the meantime, you
will have to take the first one that is offered for rent.
@TEXT6 = Let me know, as soon as possible, please, about the
choice of the Sister and about sending her, so that you can
withdraw Marie in order to have her begin her retreat and leave
next Monday. I am ashamed of how far behind we are with regard to
that good lady from Sedan.
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am, Mademoiselle, your most
humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 510. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Thursday, at two o'clock [February 7, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = I think, Mademoiselle, that I did not make myself well
understood concerning the Sister we must send to Saint-Germain. I
wrote you that those Ladies are requesting the one you took from
there and placed at Saint-Etienne. It is up to you to see if you
can give them that one or some other who comes near her in
experience. If you send them that one today, the Pastor<^>2<D>
told me yesterday that he would send Marie back to you this very
day.
@TEXT6 = It is true that the need we have for well-trained
Sisters is very important to me.
@TEXT6 = As for the lodging in that parish, we must rent one at
any price, while waiting for the opportunity to buy one, as the
kind we need does not turn up every day.
@TEXT6 = I still see a little of the human in your feelings as
soon as you see me ill. You think all is lost, for want of a
house. O woman of little faith and acceptance of the guidance and
example of Jesus Christ! For the state of the whole Church, this
Savior of the world refers to His Father with regard to rules and
order, and for a handful of young women whom His Providence has
manifestly raised up and brought together, you think He will fail
us! Come, Mademoiselle, humble yourself very much before God, in
whose love I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT6 = I was bled today, but I am feeling much better because
of it, thank God.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 511. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [February 8, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = Blessed be God that that good Sister Marie<^>2<D> has
made up her mind! All for the best, since you think the one from
Beauvais<^>3<D> has the natural aptitude to become capable of the
work at Saint-Germain.<^>4<D> <MI>In nomine Domini<D>, send her,
please.
@TEXT6 = Monsieur Jourdain,<^>5<D> whom I intended to send to
Montmorency tomorrow, is unwell. Nonetheless, your wet-nurse
will, please, attend to your little children for only seven or
eight days. I lost the note you sent me concerning the
meeting.<^>6<D> Please take the trouble of writing me another.
@TEXT6 = I wish you good day and peace of mind. I am, in the love
of Our Lord, your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D<P8>EPAUL
@HEAD4 = 512. - <P8MI>SAINT LOUISE TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT71 = Monsieur,
@TEXT61 = Our good Sister Marie is here at last, full of good
will. I find her a little tired from the work she has had for
eight days, and greatly fearful of departing all alone and of no
longer finding herself with her Sisters. But she accepts all that
in a good way, without complaint or without any opposition to
being obedient. She just seems very fearful. I, however, am less
docile, because the resolution that I think you made of never
sending anyone alone has remained so strongly in my mind that it
appears necessary to send someone with her. She may become sick
on the way or, once there, she may encounter wicked people who
think ill of her and may do her harm. And then, since one is not
without feeling, and it is not a small matter that these fine
young women have given up everything, she may become very sad,
and not being able to get the weight off her mind, we can fear
discouragement. I am also afraid that such a situation may harm
the others, who will say that we do not care much about the
Sisters since we let them go all alone. All these reasons,
Monsieur, cause me to take the liberty of entreating you to think
about this matter, and to see if there is some way she can serve
as an example to the others to encourage them. The journey will
not cost a great deal, for, besides the ten écus she brought a
week ago, she brought as many more yesterday. As for their
expenses, since they do not spend much on food, I think the
little that people give to one of them will help support the
other; and they will work to earn the rest. For, although she had
a lot of work and sick people at Saint-Germain, she still did
laundry for others and earned something.
@TEXT61 = I was thinking, Monsieur, if you approve, of giving her
our big Sister Claire. She is the one who went to see you at
Sainte-Marie about being received<197>her mother brought her
there. She has a rather docile disposition, and I think they will
get along well together.
@TEXT61 = I most humbly entreat you to take the trouble of
letting me know if you want it this way and the day they can
leave, and whether I should have their place reserved in the
coach.
@TEXT61 = I am very sorry to bother you during your illness,
which I entreat our good God to cure. I am, Monsieur, your most
humble daughter and most grateful servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>L. <P7>DE <P8>M.
@TEXT31 = February 9, 1641
@TEXT61 = The Sister I am suggesting to you to go with Sister
Marie Joly knows how to read, and she does not; she could teach
school to the poor little girls. If you should think of another
Sister, please tell me her name, and so, by this means, give our
good Sister Marie a companion.
@HEAD4 = 513. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [February 9 or 10, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = I approve of your idea with regard to sending two
Sisters, provided the second knows how to teach school, and that
is something I doubt. It would be good for you to instruct her. I
have some other objection as far as their maintenance is
concerned. If that Sister does not teach school, would it not be
better to send someone else who is less necessary in this city?
@TEXT6 = Good day, Mademoiselle. I am feeling better, thank God,
and am your most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 514. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = [February 10, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT6 = Here is the copy of the letter I wrote to the Duchesse
de Bouillon<^>2<D> and to the Reverend Capuchin Father, in
Monsieur de Rozière's absence. See if there is anything to be
added or deleted.
@TEXT6 = I forgot to tell you, as far as the money is concerned,
that, if you give them the twenty écus Marie brought, I think
that would be fine, but most of it should be in gold and they
should fix a place for it in their clothes.
@TEXT6 = Send these letters back to me within the hour, please.
@HEAD4 = 514a. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saint-Lazare, Monday at noon [February 11, 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = I most humbly thank you for the care you take of me. I
am feeling fine, thank God. M. Delorme saw me yesterday and
prescribed a dose of medecine for me; I took it today. I have no
more fever, and almost no more swelling in my cheek, so that, by
the grace of God, it will depend entirely on me whether I do
penance for my faults. It seems the Lord has been pleased to give
me the time for it.
@TEXT6 = I reserved and paid for two places in the Sedan coach.
It leaves tomorrow at ten o'clock. Have our Sisters ready to
leave at nine o'clock, please. I am quite disappointed about not
seeing them. Assure them that I will see them with the eyes of my
spirit and that, tomorrow, God willing, I hope to say Mass for
their intention.
@TEXT6 = I wrote to the Duchesse<^>2<D> and the Capuchin Father
who is there, according to what you told me. One difficulty
remains: I have been told that people are afraid there may be
some prohibition concerning communication with that town. That is
why I wrote to the Duchesse d'Aiguillon and asked her to let me
know if there is any danger in sending these Sisters. I am
waiting for her answer, and because she may perhaps not have the
time to see my letter I requested one of the Chancellor's<^>3<D>
servants to find out from him and send me word.
@TEXT6 = Nevertheless, have them ready to leave at the time I
said, please.
@TEXT6 = I am sending a priest from here to hear that good young
woman's confession. I am, in the love of Our Lord, Mademoiselle,
you most humble servant.
@TEXT5 = V<P8>INCENT <P10>D<P8>EPAUL
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras
@HEAD4 = 515. - <P8MI>SAINT LOUISE TO SAINT VINCENT
@TEXT41 = [Before 1650]<I^>1<D>
@TEXT61 = Our good God has been pleased to add to the consolation
His Goodness has bestowed on me through your charity by showing
me, in another individual, that His Providence does not disdain
sinners. He sent me Madame de Marillac<|><I^>2<D> to tell me that
she believed I was short of cash. She begged me to speak to her
freely, so that she might give me the support her
mother<|><I^>3<D> had offered me, which was a certain sum every
year. I admitted to her quite frankly the difficulty I was having
and that I would not need anything if my son had some occupation.
@TEXT61 = She wanted to see you about the matter but you had gone
out, to find out from you, Monsieur, how the Bishop of
Beauvais<|><I^>4<D> had received the suggestion she had made to
him, and his opinion on this subject. Because she does not know
how she ought to talk to him about it, and since he is supposed
to leave tomorrow or the day after, she and I most humbly entreat
you to take the trouble of writing her a note about the matter, I
mean to Madame de Marillac, if you think it advisable. She wished
you to do that for fear that you might have to tell me something
that might sadden me.
@TEXT61 = I do not know if it is my pride that makes me sorry for
the trouble I cause other people. I should be better, since I
have the honor of being, Monsieur, your most humble daughter and
most grateful servant.
@TEXT51 = <P8>L. <P7>DE <P8>M.
@HEAD4 = 516. - TO SAINT LOUISE
@TEXT4 = Saturday morning [Between 1639 and 1641]<^>1<D>
@TEXT7 = Mademoiselle,
@TEXT6 = The grace of Our Lord be with you forever!
@TEXT6 = It would be well for you to continue with the usual
meditations and to give a special one to that fine young woman
concerning her entrance into the married state:
@TEXT6 = (1) Reasons that a wife has to live well with her
husband, on which subject you will quote her three authorities.
The first, what Saint Paul said,<^>2<D> that the husband is the
head of the wife and, therefore, that it is up to her to have the
same dependence on her husband that the members have with regard
to the head; (2) what the same Saint Paul said to women, that is,
that they are to obey their husbands; (3) that God said a woman
must leave father and mother to follow her husband.
@TEXT6 = The second point is namely in what the good life of a
woman with her husband consists. Now, it consists in loving her
husband more than anything after God; in the second place, in
pleasing and obeying him in everything that is not sin.
@TEXT6 = The third point is some means for a woman to obtain the
grace to live well with her husband: (1) to ask it of God; (2)
not to allow in her heart any thought that might lessen her
esteem for him; (3) never to say or do anything that might
displease him; (4) to propose to herself the example of some
married woman who lives well with her husband; (5) to have
devotion to honoring the marriage of Saint Joseph and the holy
Virgin.
@TEXT6 = You do not trust enough. Have confidence that Our Lord
will do as He pleases with your son.
@TEXT6 = You must carry out what you promised for Angers,
although it is contrary to your feelings.
@TEXT6 = If I can do so, I shall go to La Chapelle tomorrow or
send someone there. Good day, Mademoiselle, I am your servant.
@TEXT5 = V. D.
@TEXT60 = <MI>Addressed:<D> Mademoiselle Le Gras