Vive ✠ Jésus!
Annecy.
June, 1616.
My own dearest Daughter,
You and all the dear Sisters to whom I am in debt must needs be perpetually pardoning me. Only at the last moment are we told of an opportunity to send letters, and having no time to get mine ready beforehand I am constrained to write in a breathless fashion. They have just come to say that Sire Pierre sets out to-morrow. Patience in all things! However, as I want to write to our sisters, and very fully to you, and very particularly to my son M. Michel, those letters I will send by the chaplain. You now know for certain what are our good Lord's intentions regarding the Religious question: I mean the conversion of our Congregation into a Religious Order, with the conditions laid down for us, which are all excellent, and about which our resolution is unalterable. This step has been before the Archbishop of Lyons for a long time, and he did not wish it to be known. But what does it matter to us, I pray you, whether our vows are solemn, or made as they are in public, or whether we are to be called a Religious Order or a Congregation? Such things do not signify at all. We have always shown that we are willing for it on condition that nothing whatever is changed as to the end of our Institute or the means of attaining that end, to which, thanks be to God, we have, up to this, adhered for His glory and the salvation of our neighbour. We do not ask or seek to be brought forward, and only wish to be left as we are, content to remain in our littleness, and infinitely preferring it if the glory of God does not demand otherwise.
Now, dearest daughter, your mind will be clear on this subject, and you can satisfy those who make inquiries. I greatly desire that our good Father Rector, a man of great virtue and capability, should know all, and give his opinion on the whole matter to the Bishop, who is anxious to have it. His last letter to me gives the impression that he thinks quite the reverse of the above. For the rest, dearest daughter, if you have an opportunity get the Archbishop to write and tell his Lordship how he means to act in regard to the Bishop's last letter, for this is of importance to the affair in Rome; but do not let him see any eagerness on your part or that you have been asked to do this. Enough on this subject.
What a grace has not the good God done us these six years in having called us to true perfection by a manner of life so fitting to our sex. Ever blessed be this divine Saviour. I tried to-day to renew my heart fervently so as henceforth to live in accordance with God's holy will. My great longing for you, who are so dear to me, is that you may bravely cast aside all that is not of God, and having but one heart, that you may keep it exclusively for the one Saviour, who has given His dear life to win our love and our salvation....
Let us have a great love for our Sisters and bear gently and sweetly with their little miseries and weaknesses, without which we shall never be, and thus make good use of the first-fruits of the spirit which God has diffused on us here, and on you.
What joy took possession of my heart yesterday, dearest daughter, when I caught a glimpse of a chance of seeing you again, and what noise and excitement at recreation when I gave the news of your coming! Truly it is delightful to see how they all love you. Don't you think that it is quite necessary for me to keep my pleasure to myself in case you do not come, for they would all be so disappointed? Alas! my poor Péronne, if she is not cured she must come back to Annecy, for she will be useless to you and the change of air may be good for her. God knows how welcome she will be, but I fear you will miss her for your little ménage: however, God will provide.
I hope you will not give the habit to the good N. until she has completed her six months. If I have time I will write her a little note; if I cannot, her humility will bear with me, and her charity will be indulgent to me. I beg of her to ask God to grant me the grace of being entirely His.
A thousand salutations, daughter darling, to you and all your dear flock (a little special word to our two).[A] Remembrance also to the Rev. Father Rector, to my dear nephew, and to whom else you please. Aye, truly sister de Gouffier may well be admired! I shall write to her by the chaplain when he returns. She is only losing her time, and I am astonished that she has not written to me. Yes, indeed, she is losing her time. Adieu, my darling, this holy day of the Feast of St. Claude.