The Chevalier's daughter : $b or, An exile for the truthGuernsey, Lucy Ellen
History
The Chevalier's daughter : $b or, An exile for the truth
Guernsey, Lucy Ellen
France -- History -- Louis XIV, 1643-1715 -- Juvenile fiction; Historical fiction; Huguenots -- France -- Juvenile fiction
After the service we breakfasted together, while one of the nuns read
aloud the life of some juvenile saint or other, of whom I remember no
more than that she sat all day in the hen-house and wept for her sins,
and gave large gifts to the poor out of the property of her worldly
father and brother, who opposed her vocation. *
* I cannot now place this paragon of goodness, though she is no
creation of mine. My impression is that I found her in the lives of the
Franciscans.—L. E. G.
After breakfast my companions went to the gardens for an hour's
recreation, but I was called into the private apartment of the Mother
Superior. I found the good mother seated in her chair of state,
attended by a nun and another lady in a semi-conventual dress, whom I
found was the famous Mary of the Incarnation.
This lady was born of a family named Guyard. Married at eighteen, not
very happily it seems, her husband died after two years, leaving her
with a young son. But she was far too pious to concern herself with
the care of her infant, so she turned it over to her sister and busied
herself with all sorts of penances, meditations, and ecstasies in
washing dishes, scrubbing floors, and, in short, performing all sorts
of work to which she had no call, while the work which Providence
had put into her hands—that of caring for her baby—was delegated to
another. For a good while, the love she still cherished for this
child kept her from the cloister, but at last she made a profession
and adhered to it, though the boy, half crazed by his loss, made his
way into the refectory of the convent, and with tears and screams of
anguish besought the nuns to give him back his mother. The poor young
fellow went to the bad altogether afterward, and no wonder. One would
not expect him to have much regard for religion.
Having, however, conquered the last small remnant of natural affection
which remained in her heart, she was rewarded by a wonderful vision, in
which she was advertised that the Virgin called her specially to Canada.
Thither she repaired, in company with several other Ursuline nuns, and
the famous Madame de Pellice, who made a mock marriage in order to
carry out her devout schemes. She remained in Canada many years, and
having come to France on some important business, was returning, having
in charge twenty young women and two nuns.
I can see her this moment as she stood behind the Superior's chair. She
was a handsome woman still, with bright eyes and a commanding presence,
and, I must say, very little appearance of humility about her. I think
I never saw a face and manner more expressive of spiritual pride
and conscious sanctity, and this appearance did not belie her. She
possessed great ability for all sorts of affairs, a keen penetration
in regard to character, and withal a good deal of real kindness and
charity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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