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.
[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.