Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

by Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal

When writing to me he has often asked me to remind him when we met to tell me what God had given him in prayer. When I did so he would say, "These things are so impalpable, so pure, so intangible, that one cannot explain them when they have passed, only their effects remain in the soul."

For several years before his decease there was left him little leisure for prayer, as business overwhelmed him, and one day when I asked him if he had any time for prayer, he said: "No, but I do what is the same." In such wise he held himself always united to God, saying that in this life work and labour are prayer. And most certainly his life was a continual prayer. Though, from what has been said, it is easy to believe that the delightful union of his soul with God in prayer was not his only enjoyment. Oh! indeed it was not, for however the will of God was presented to him he equally loved it. And in his last years he had, I believe, attained such purity in his love that all things were the same to him so long as he saw God's will in them. There was nothing in the world, as he used to say, that could give him any satisfaction out of God. Thus he lived, as was manifest to those who knew him, no more in himself but truly Jesus Christ lived in him. This universality in his love of the will of God was the more excellent and the purer by reason of the clear light which God diffused in his soul, and because of it his soul was neither subject to change nor to deception, and by it he perceived in himself the first movements of self-love which he faithfully suppressed the more perfectly to be united to God. He told me, that, sometimes in the depth of his greatest afflictions, he felt consolations beyond comparison more sweet than at ordinary times, for by means of this intimate union with God things most bitter became to him most sweet.

But, if your Reverence wishes to see clearly the state of this holy soul on these points, read, if you please, the three or four last chapters in the "Divine Love."[B] All his actions were animated with the sole motive of pleasing God, and truly (as he says in this sacred book) he asked nought of heaven nor of earth but to see the will of God accomplished. How many times has he not repeated over to me those words of David: "O! Lord, what have I in heaven, and besides Thee what do I desire on earth? Thou art my portion and my eternal inheritance." He lived on the principle that what was not God was nothing to him. His eminent virtue and that universal indifference which was remarked in him by all were the product of this perfect union. I never read those chapters which treat of it in the ninth book of "Divine Love" without seeing clearly that as occasions arose he practised what he taught.

That admirable but little known maxim, Ask for nothing, desire nothing, refuse nothing, which he faithfully carried out to the very end of his life, could not originate with one who was not entirely indifferent and dead to self. In regard to his actions such incomparable equality of mind did he possess that there was no changeableness in his attitude. He unquestionably felt keen resentment when subjected to rudeness or insult, above all when God was offended, or his neighbour oppressed; but on such occasions, as is mentioned in his memoirs, he exercised complete self-control and would retire into himself with God and remain silent. Yet he none the less set to work, and that promptly, to remedy the evil, for he was the refuge, the succour, the support of all.

Because he had acquired a perfect mastery of his passions, there reigned in his soul complete submission to God, and in his heart an imperturbable peace. "What is there that could disturb our peace?" he said to me at Lyons. "When all is in confusion around me it does not trouble me, for what is all the world besides in comparison with peace of heart?" This power was the outcome of his intense and virile faith, for he regarded all things, the least and the greatest, as ordained by that divine Providence in which he reposed with more tranquility than a child on its mother's bosom. He used to say that Our Lord taught him this lesson from his youth, and that if he could be born again he would despise human prudence more than ever, and would let himself be still more entirely governed by divine Providence. He had very great illumination on this subject, and conveyed it forcibly to the souls he counselled and governed. All the undertakings God committed to him he placed under the protection of this supreme government, and never was he more certain of an affair or more content amidst vicissitudes than when he had no other support than God. On the contrary, when human prudence foresaw the impossibility of the execution of a design his firm confidence in God alone remained unshaken. Therefore did he live without solicitude. I remarked this to him when he had made up his mind to establish our Congregation, and he replied: "I have no light as to how to do it, but I am sure that God will do it"; and so it came about, and that far more quickly than he anticipated. Speaking of this confidence in God, I remember once many years ago, when attacked with a violent temptation, which he bravely resisted, he wrote to me: "I feel very much under its pressure. It seems to me that I have no strength to resist and that I should succumb if the occasion were presented to me, but the weaker I feel the more do I trust in God, and I assure myself that were the object to present itself, I should be invested with the power of God, and that my enemies would be as lambkins before me."

Our Saint was not exempt from the stirrings of passions nor did he wish nor think it desirable to be so. Except for the purpose of governing and checking them, which he said gave him pleasure, they were disregarded by him; and he looked upon them as excellent opportunities for practising virtue and establishing it more solidly in the soul. His own were so absolutely under his control that they obeyed him as slaves, and in the end hardly showed themselves at all. His was a manifestly bold and generous soul, very dear Father, strong to bear burdens and responsibilities and to carry out the undertakings with which God inspired him. Nothing, as he said, could induce him to abandon these; not an inch would he abate, and he had a courage that conquered all difficulties.

Certainly such perseverance as his, required wonderful strength of mind, for who has ever seen him out of humour, or losing one iota of self-control? Who has ever seen his patience ruffled or his soul embittered against any one whomsoever? and all because he had a guileless heart.

That he was gentle, humble, and gracious none could fail to remark. His mind was clearer, freer, and broader than any other I have come in contact with; the prudence and the wisdom natural and supernatural with which God had endowed him were excellent and solid.

Our Lord indeed forgot nothing in perfecting His work. "Charity," as he says, "entering into a soul brings with it every other virtue sweetly and unostentatiously in the degree and measure by which charity animated it." He made no mysteries, and did nothing that might excite admiration; there was no singularity about him, no display of great virtue to exalt him in the eyes of the vulgar. He walked the common way, but in so supernatural a manner that it seemed to me that of all to be admired in his life this was the most admirable trait. He had no affected ways, neither casting up his eyes nor closing them, but he kept them modestly lowered and made no unnecessary gestures. His face, passive, sweet, and grave, portrayed the profound tranquility within.

Whoever observed his outward bearing was unfailingly impressed. Whether at prayer, reciting the office, or saying Mass, his countenance shone with angelic splendour, but it was above all at the consecration of the Mass that it seemed to radiate. This has been remarked to me a thousand times. He had a special devotion to this adorable Sacrament. It was his true life, his sole strength, and when carrying it in Procession he looked like one on fire with love. As his outpourings of love when before the Divine Sacrament, and his wonderful devotion to our Lady are treated of elsewhere I will not speak of them here.