Writing from Bourges, 1628, to Mother Favre, who had just been elected Superior of the Second Monastery of Paris, St. Chantal says: "Your good Father (St. Vincent de Paul), for whom I feel so much reverence and affection, thanks me for the gift we have given him of you. This is, I think, to forstall your being taken away. I shall see to it with the Bishop of Geneva and with you yourself. What a rogue you are! But all the more are you my truly loved daughter, for whom I have an incomparable affection. I send my salutations to whoever you wish. God be blessed!"
LXXX.
To Sister Anne Marguerite Clément at Orleans.
Vive ✠ Jésus!
Dijon, 1628.
Yes, indeed, my dearest daughter, God should be all in all to you. The one cherished good of the soul is to be alone with her God. Remain in this state of simple detachment, loving and obeying Our Lord in the person of your Superior and following blindly her guidance and her commands. I know full well that you have given me your heart and that God has lodged it in mine, and this is why I hope nothing may ever take it thence. Through His grace we have been trained in the same spirit and vocation in this world; may we continue together to love and praise the supreme Beloved of our souls for all eternity. Since God has deprived you of the power to use the intellectual faculties of your soul, do not attempt to do so, but acquiesce in His good pleasure. Be as a child in the arms of its nurse, letting God do just as He likes with you through holy obedience, and try little by little to forget self. I do not think there is any other means of securing stable peace of soul than the giving oneself up absolutely, in order to be led and directed by obedience.
Yours, etc.
LXXXI.
To Mother Catherine-Charlotte de Crémaux de la Grange.
Vive ✠ Jésus!