Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de ChantalChantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint
Religion
Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
Chantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint
Chantal, Jeanne-Françoise de, Saint, 1572-1641 -- Correspondence
[B] St. Jane Frances' insistence on the simple Catechism instructions
was peculiarly applicable to the time in which she lived, for the
Jansenist heresy, added to the errors of Protestantism, gave rise to a
subtle and questioning attitude of mind, and women, misled by their
masters in error, set themselves up as Doctors in the new heretical
schools of learning.
XXVI. _To Madame de la Fléchère._[A]
Vive [+] Jésus!
ANNECY, 1617.
Oh! may our most good and sweet Saviour be the strength and life of your
soul, which is dear to me in very truth beyond all others, with, as you
know, one exception, which does not bear comparison. Ah! my Sister, let
us by faithful obedience press forward, enlarging our love for this all
lovable Saviour. No, we have it not in our power to render Him a
service, we are of too small account for that, but in the name of His
Goodness let us do all we can to please Him, depending on Him, and on
His Providence, so that it may be our sole support. I have no time to
write, but I must send you this line to content my own heart and to
salute yours. Adieu, and good morning, my Sister all dear to me.
FOOTNOTE:
[A] In writing to a mutual friend, M. Philippe de Quoex, St. Francis de
Sales says of Madame de la Fléchère: "With the exception of Madame de
Chantal I do not think that I have ever met in any woman a soul
stronger, a mind more reasonable, a humility more sincere." Madame de la
Fléchère lived at Rumilly, and was a lifelong friend of St. Jane
Frances, to whom she gave her château for a Visitation foundation, which
Convent her daughter Françoise de la Fléchère in later years governed.
Madame de la Fléchère was received into the Order on her deathbed.
There are no less than sixty letters extant from St. Francis de Sales to
Madame de la Fléchère.
XXVII. _To Sister Paule Jéronyme de Monthoux,[A] Mistress of Novices at
Annecy._
Vive [+] Jésus!
GRENOBLE, 1618.
I have received all your letters, my poor dear daughter; they came in
two sets and you have had replies to the first five, but I still have
four by me with questions to answer.
There is no doubt whatever that the novices should have recourse to
their Mistress in every matter, which the Rule says they are to treat
with her, and it is but fitting that they should be as exact as possible
on this point. Sister Assistant should give her instructions through
you: for to act otherwise would be very prejudicial to them.
Yes, you do well to tell me the more important things, but you do wrong
to call me a Saint. Take it to confession, and never do it again. My
God! I am nothing but a sink of miseries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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