The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the IncarnationAnonymous
Religion
The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation
Anonymous
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Indians of North America; Marie de l'Incarnation, mère, 1599-1672
When all the preliminaries seemed satisfactorily concluded, it was found
that an intimate friend of Madame de la Peltrie's had, at the last
moment, revoked a promise to accompany her, alarmed, it would seem, at
the perils of the voyage and the anticipated hardships of life in Canada.
The circumstance was embarrassing, as little time now remained to seek a
substitute, but the difficulty was removed in a manner as satisfactory as
it was unexpected. There was just then in Tours a young person of
respectable position and great piety, who, for the previous six years,
had been determined on consecrating herself to the service of God and her
neighbour in religion, but had deferred the execution of her design,
merely because uncertainty as to the particular Order she was destined
for. By the arrangement of Providence, her confessor, a Jesuit, happened
likewise to be at Tours precisely at the moment of the nuns' perplexity,
and, hearing of it, he suggested to them that the lady in question would
very probably answer their purpose. She was at once presented to the
missioners, and, on being asked by Madame de la Peltrie, whether she
would consent to go to Canada as her personal companion, she promptly
replied that her intention had been to become a nun, but that, since the
Almighty was pleased to offer her so glorious an opportunity of
sacrificing her life for Him, she would accept it with joy and gratitude.
Her family name of Charlotte Barre she exchanged later for that of Mother
St. Ignatius, under which we know her as the first sister professed at
the Ursuline Convent of Quebec.
Another attempt was still to be made by the enemy of souls to frustrate
the design of the Mother of the Incarnation, and her natural affections
were again the arms which he tried to turn against her. Intensely grieved
at the news of her intended departure, her sister employed every
imaginable argument to prevent it, and, finding all else fail, appealed
once more to her love for her son. She declared that if his mother
forsook him, so would every one else, beginning with herself. Threats
producing no impression, she went to the length of actually revoking the
small pension which she had agreed to settle on the boy, as a kind of
compensation to his mother for her services. But all was in vain: nothing
could shake her courageous soul. One last effort remained: it was to
apprise Claude Martin of his mother's intention, and inform him at the
same time, that she was to pass through Orleans, where he was then
studying, so that if he pleased he could have an opportunity of seeing
her and working on her feelings. The hint was not lost on him, as we
shall presently see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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