LETTERS TO MADAME DU TERTRE FROM ST. JANE DE CHANTAL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LETTERS TO MADAME DU TERTRE FROM ST. JANE DE CHANTAL

(MARIE-AIMÉE DE MORVILLE)

 

Francis de Sales/Jane de Chantal: Classics of Western Spirituality

 

The correspondence with Marie-Aimée de Morville (1598— 1632) reveals Jane as a guide for those whose perspective is thoroughly "worldly. This young widow became the secular foundress of the Visitation of Moulins and took the religious habit as a result of familial pressure. Her case is one of the few examples of the reception of a candidate into the Visitation on other than purely spiritual grounds. Apparently, the young Madame du Tertre was relegated to the cloister to avoid the scandal raised by a romantic liaison following her widowhood. Her high-placed family, two cardinals and a leading Jesuit of the day, asked Francis de Sales to give her asylum in one of his monasteries . . .

 

She took the habit and was professed at Moulins. Although she professed a desire for the values of religious life, the ambivalent novice could not for a long time bring herself to conform her behavior to the code that such a life implied. She insisted on retaining for herself the privileges reserved for foundresses who had not received the habit, and continually enlarged her sphere of independent operation. She dressed grandly, entertained visitors in the elegantly appointed house she occupied on convent grounds, several times tried to set fire to the house, and stirred up rivalry between two towns by promising and then withholding money for a new foundation of the order, thus involving Jane and Francis (quite without their consent or knowledge) in awkward diplomatic machinations. She made life so difficult for the community that Jane was obliged to write her stern letters and even go to Moulins herself in 1623 to try to reason with her. The young woman solicited and obtained a papal brief granting her secularization. Jane encouraged her to do this, knowing that she was not in her place and upsetting the community. But Marie-Aimée's efforts to return to secular life were blocked by the Paris Parliament.

 

For thirteen years she troubled and taxed Jane's ingenuity and generosity. Then, fifteen months before her early death, she had a dream of such vividness that she underwent a dramatic conversion, tore up the document which had secured her privileges as foundress and entered the novitiate with sincere heart and intentions she clung to tenaciously for the brief remainder of her life.

 

 

 

[Annecy, 8 June 1632) I have just come from holy communion, my dearest daughter, where I praised and thanked God who in His Infinite Goodness was pleased to call you back to Him so powerfully. begged Him with all my heart to hold you securely in His hands so that nothing could ever again draw you away from Him. For this, in all humility, I count on His grace and your faithful cooperation, my dear. I am confident that in the goodness of your dear heart you will never forget such abundant mercy. Think often of the sacred counsels given by the Princes of the Apostles, for they frequently exhort us in their letters to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, and to assure our vocation by good works.

 

Dearest daughter, it seems to me that the experience of your past misery should keep you in holy fear of falling again and make you very watchful over yourself, in order to avoid all dangerous occasions, especially those which have been most harmful, such as conversations, confidences, affections, contact with people from the outside, even with spiritual persons, except for rare and necessary occasions. You would be happiest if you could be satisfied with the instruction of your good Mother [M. Angélique de Bigny] who, besides her capabilities and charity, has a special love for you. And I think that the tears she has shed over you, the fasts, austerities and prayers that she has offered for you, have touched the Divine Heart and helped bring about your conversion. I'm sure that God will show her all that is necessary for your happiness. Never doubt that through her, His goodness will guide you safely. I am convinced that whoever gives up following the guidance of her Superior stops following that of God as well.

 

Finally, dearest, I want you to apply yourself to doing rather than learning. In the Institute, we have a wealth of the most solid instructions that we could ever wish for and which are uniquely suited to lead us to the very high perfection our vocation calls us to. From now on, let your joy be to read and practice these instructions faithfully. I beg you to do this, my dearest Sister, so that by these means you may offer to the Divine Goodness fruit worthy of the graces He has given you, and, by the exact observance of your vows, inspire the whole Institute by your true conversion. This will make up for all the sorrow and humiliation the Institute suffered by your past disorderly life, and we shall be greatly consoled, especially I who even now am comforted by the acts you have so generously performed. It would be impossible for me to harbor the least resentment toward you, my dearest daughter, for the past. You may be sure that I hold you in the very center of my heart, where I want to love you perfectly as my own most dear daughter. Know that you will receive from me, and from the whole Institute, only love and proofs of sincere affection.

 

I think it would be good if in a few months, persevering in your good resolutions, you let the whole Institute know in a few humble words the sorrow you feel for your misdeeds of the past. You did well, dearest daughter, to give your heart and your entire being unreservedly to God; you will see that His Providence will not fail you and that He will never allow you to want for anything.