Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

by Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal

The peculiar obedience we owe their Lordships, our prelates, is a special virtue of our Institute. They ought to be its protectors and consequently cannot command us anything at variance with it. Many a time has our Blessed Father exhorted us to be on our guard against opening the door to any change, for with it all will go. Not even in things of small importance would he have us yield, for little changes open the way to greater, and if we want to keep intact what we have received, and what has been so wisely instituted, we must change nothing. Old established customs, though but mediocre, are better than new ones that appear to us more desirable. Above all he charged Superiors to take heed to this, and insisted that the good or evil estate of their monasteries rests in their hands; that care and attention to their duty should, in them, be universal; that they ought not to neglect even the most insignificant points; and said that their love, cordial support, and zeal for the perfection of the Sisters in exact observance would make their monasteries abodes of happiness, and preserve their Institute. We must aspire, then, to nothing more and to nothing less than what is prescribed for us. All these words of Our Blessed Father should be engraven on our hearts and practised literally. If, however, times and places demonstrate the necessity of accommodating in some point, and the change affects in no way the Rules, Constitutions, and Customs essential to the conformity of the convents, such change can be made. But we should first consult the Spiritual Father, some capable and pious persons, and the old established monasteries of the Order, above all Annecy, which latter, after having maturely considered the proposition, should confer with the monastery of Lyons, so that the changes introduced may not be made lightly, nor except when of great utility for the welfare of the monasteries and in cases of evident necessity. Another grave fear entertained by Our Blessed Father was, lest the spirit of worldly prudence and wisdom should glide in amongst us. Here also then should we be on our guard, for it would be our ruin; above all if it crept in in regard to the election of Mother Superiors and of those Sisters who have the chief charges in the monasteries. Most careful and conscientious should the Sisters be on this point, never receiving any Superior but her whom they themselves have elected; for this the Rule commands. Make no account on these occasions of certain natural or acquired talents, of the gift of speaking well, of fine presence, of certain attractive qualities, of brightness of manner, of nobility, or of many years of priority in age or in Religion, nor of such qualities which if they be not accompanied with what is solid, should not be considered by us. Rather let us choose those who have discretion and good judgement, who are simple, sincere, humble, who have zeal for the observance. Not those who abound in their own sense, for such as are affected with this malady usually discredit the spirit of religion in order to introduce their own. We should employ those who do not seek the higher charges, judging themselves unworthy of any.

Such sisters will do admirably all that obedience orders and the spirit of God will govern in them. Believe me, this point is of great importance, my dearest Sisters. Be faithful to it, then, I beg of you.

In the same way must we dread human prudence and human considerations in the reception of subjects (the good choice of which is essential for the preservation of the Institute); above all of subjects who are infirm or defective in body. You will tell me that this has been so often recommended in our writings that there is no need for me to speak of it here. Yes, this is true, yet I cannot refrain from repeating myself, because I see that this article on the reception of those who have some bodily defect is often combated by wise persons, and is quite contrary to natural prudence, which sometimes furnishes so many good reasons that poor charity has trouble enough to hold herself above it. Wherefore, to observe this point intact we need great courage, and we should often call to mind that it is the end of our Institute, and the desire of desires of our holy Institutor, as is shown by his warning to those who infringe it. And see how by this law he has provided us with a means of practising the two cherished virtues of our Congregation to which he so constantly exhorted us: gentle charity towards our neighbour, and love of our own humiliation. All that can help us to gain these virtues ought to be very dear to us, since they are the foundation and mainstay of the whole spiritual edifice of the Visitation. Let us then cleave to them, humbling ourselves more and more, so that we may accept lovingly and with a welcome all that is abject in the eyes of the world. Thus may we esteem ourselves very poor and little in comparison to others, desiring no other excellence than not to excel, depending wholly on the good pleasure of God, seeking in all things only His glory, for this, as you know, is the characteristic of the daughters of the Visitation. Oh! my dearest daughters, how we should prize it! It is the one thing worth caring about. For the love of God, let us preserve it in its entirety, and beware of the desire of excelling and of self-esteem, which would rob us of it. Continually bear in mind all that our Blessed Father has both left us in his writings and said to us on this subject, so that our undertakings may be adorned with this holy virtue. I shudder as I write and cannot keep back my tears from the fear that some day this spirit will be lessened or lost. Oh my God! permit not this, but rather let our Institute cease to be. My Sisters, I entreat you to be faithful. When I recall the labours, cares, and pains through which our holy Founder established and confirmed us as we now are, and his intense desire that this spirit should continue unimpaired, I feel that I would willingly give my life to preserve it. With all the strength of my soul then I say: Be jealous of it, for it is the supreme means of drawing down upon us the grace of God, in whose hands Our Blessed Father has left us with the assurance that within the paternal Arms of the sovereign Providence of God we shall never lack grace to maintain our Institute in its first fervour, provided we are faithful to its spirit.

When at Lyons he gave me the good and solid reasons on which he had formed his final resolve to leave us under the authority of their Lordships the prelates. He added, with a deep and humble sense of confidence: "Jesus Christ will be your Head and your Protector—the happiness of your Congregation will not depend on being placed under the government of one Superior, but on the fidelity of each Sister individually, and of all together, to unite themselves to God by an exact and punctual observance." These are very consoling and striking words, full of faith as they are. I am aware that they are in the Book of Customs, yet I feel impelled to quote them again here, for I should like to write them in a hundred places, and above all in the depths of your hearts. We should look upon them as the last will and testament of our holy Founder, and by faithful practice keep them inviolably. In them we shall find our happiness and the one and only means of preserving untarnished the spirit of our Institute, which is a spirit strong and finely tempered. By means of them shall we also learn how to hide ourselves and how to dwell in peace in the paternal bosom of our good God, humbly trusting that these his words will produce deeds. So we must not be anxious, no matter what happens to us, but remain ever tranquil, striving with the assistance of divine grace not to philosophize on what may never come about. For our Blessed Father said to me: "To maintain our Congregation we may search in vain amongst human means for any better way than our Rule."

He likewise told me that he intended to put things still more plainly, so as to secure that unity and conformity amongst the monasteries and that spirit of humility, with all of which God had already so abundantly blessed them; for he longed above all things that they should continue as they are. He ordered me to see that, to the permissions for foundations given by the Bishops, the article on "Foundations" which is in the Book of Customs should be added. The principal exterior means that he judged suitable for keeping up union was conformity to and correspondence with Annecy in everything regarding the complete observance received from him. "Although," he said, "it is established in a small town, it has nevertheless been the will of divine Providence that the germ of the Congregation of the Visitation should be formed there, and there receive its law and foundations." Wherefore the other monasteries of the Visitation are always to acknowledge the house of Annecy as their mother and source, and maintain with it the closest union of charity, conforming themselves entirely to it, having particular intercourse with it, and referring to it in order to be instructed in the doubts and difficulties which may arise in practising the Rule and Customs. Such, I assure you with entire truthfulness, was his express wish, and he informed me of it in a manner full of graciousness and wisdom. Conformity to his wishes, and likewise the happiness which this monastery possesses in being the depository of his holy body, will always induce the other houses to keep up an affectionate union with us here. And as he asked this on your parts so did he desire that Annecy should make you all a return of unstinted service, giving both materially and of its members with a great zeal and a large-hearted affection, while keeping up the observance even to the most minute regulations conscientiously and exactly, so that here it may be always found practised in its pristine vigour and integrity.

I must not omit to repeat these words of his, also said to me at Lyons: "It is by a special providence of God that the Jesuit Fathers have so great an affection and charity for us. We should value this and return it, holding them in singular respect and giving them our confidence, for they will be a great help to us. It is not, however, necessary so to attach ourselves to their Order as to lose our liberty, for this we must jealously guard. Neither should it prevent us from union with other Orders with which we ought to keep in touch, for our Congregation should have a universal spirit"; and again: "I do not mean that those who counsel our Sisters are to change their exercises or their manner of carrying them out, for there must be no change, and in this they must be firm."

Such is almost word for word what I learned from his lips, and to know his will is sufficient, I feel assured, in the goodness of your hearts, to render you docile to it. For me, it but remains to urge you to this, not only exteriorly, but what is of far more consequence, interiorly, in the spirit, to be cordial, gentle, humble, artless, poor with a poverty which keeps us to a holy medium in everything, avoiding superfluities and all that savours of ostentation. To all this I affectionately entreat you with all the earnestness of which I am capable. I cannot truly bring my letter to a close without congratulating this dear convent of Annecy on the privileges and graces with which eternal Providence has been pleased to favour it in rendering it lovable and worthy of respect to all the other houses, for where will true daughters of this Order be found who hold it not in high esteem and who envy it not its privileges, above all that of being the dear guardians of the sacred body of its Founder?—verily, a most precious grace, for which it ought unceasingly to offer the sacrifice of praise to the divine Majesty. But, my very dear daughters, what, think you, ought to be this sacrifice of praise in thanksgiving for so great a benefit? None other surely than the constant and persevering offering of a very exact and holy observance to all contained in the Institute, so that it will always there be found practised in its perfect vigour and integrity. See, my dear daughters, to what our birthright obliges us.

Let us then remain very humble, very poor in our own esteem, and in holy fear before God, showing our appreciation of the dignity conferred upon us not by esteeming ourselves above others, which would but turn to harm the priceless gifts we possess, but rather by being the most humble, the most lowly, the most faithful of all.

May God grant us this grace! Amen.