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VENERABLE MOTHER

Jeanne de Matel,

Tlfttologtcai Union t
LIBRARY J
Chicago, W /

Translated From the French
by

REV. F. G.,

A Father of the Society of Jesus.

Imprimatur

JOANNES C. NERAZ,

Episcopiis Sti. Antonii.

San Antonio, Texas, July 2d. 1889.

.••■■v

1 ' ■» •.

VENERABLE MOTHER

JEANNE de MATEL,

FOUNDRESS OF THE ORDER OF THE

INCARNATE WORD AND THE

BLESSED SACRAMENT.

Her Life, Spirit and Works,

BY THE

Abbe P. G. PKNAUD,

HONORARY CANON, SUPERIOR OF THE LITTLE SEMINARY AT

FELLETIN (CRETJZE), AND OF THE CONVENT OF

THE INCARNATE WORD AT EVAUX.

The Word was made of flesh and dwelt among us."

—St. John I. It.

VOLUME SECOND

San Antonio, Texas :
Maverick Printing House,

1890.

--'"-.

•

;■

■

*.v

s>j

BOOK FIFTH.

JEANNE DK MATEL AS FOUNDRESS.

CHAPTER I.

JEANNE DE MATEL AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.

In the preceding book we have seen Mother de
Matel enriched with the science of contemplation, and
enriched, as it were, with a heavenly aureole.
These privileges were not designed by God as merely
supernatural ornaments of her soul ; they were, by
their character and their splendor, a consecration and
an authentic sign of her mission. We must then
come down from those heights to which we have
followed her, and study her in the religious point of
view, and as a foundress.

Jeanne gives us her idea of the religious life as she
had conceived it, in establishing her Order : "My
intention was not to injure other religious, but to join
my bark to theirs in order to bring to the safe haven
of the religious life the young souls whom Thou dost
take with the net of Thy grace in the sea of the
world.

' ' They cannot escape that sea unless they are
aided by other poor, simple souls, even as the fish are
drawn out by the fishermen. And as these nets do
not force their inclinations, they are led more to one
Order than to another, God leaving them free to
choose that which best pleases them."

When she describes the grace of this vocation, she
makes vise of the most vivid colors and the most
charming figures : ' ' The Lord Jesus came into the
world to give great power to His Gospel in those who
should announce and follow it ; especially to those
virgins who would have the courage to accept His
invitation literally : " He that can receive it, let him
receive it," * and become spouses of the King. He
shares His treasury with them. He makes them
repose on His bosom, that is whiter than ivory. It is
their dovecot in which the}^ have their nest, where
they enjoy a divine repose, untroubled by the noise
with which the world, the flesh and the devil seek to
disturb their happiness."

In her conferences Mother de Matel willingly
dwelt on this subject. She has left her daughters
beautiful pages in which she exalts the privileges of
virginity and the dignity of spouses of the Incarnate
Word with the vigor of a Bourdaloue and the unction
of a Francis of Sales. And with what fervor she
comments on that title of spouse ! how well she makes'
us feel its appropriateness and its truth. The Church
has consecrated the title, and therefore it is well
founded. In the spiritual nuptials of the religious
life, as in earthly unions, the spouse gives herself up
to the groom, and the tie is eternal, since the groom
can not die : ' ' The spouse can never regain the
liberty which she has vowed to Him ; what she has
given up in consecrating herself, she can never take
back again. One word spoken by such a virgin at her
consecration has exhausted all her generosity."

On this glorious inability of the religious to
resume or to increase her gift of self, Jeanne capatiates
in this moving strain: "The soul that retains the

* Matt. XIX, 12.

power of making fresh gifts to the one to whom it is
engaged, has, if I may so express it, only promised its

fruits, reserving to itself the ownership of the tree-
that produces them, and thus is free to cultivate it as
it wishes and to dispose of those of its products that
are not included in its promise. But the virgin of
whom we are speaking carries her generosity towards
her beloved farther : she gives Him the tree that
produces the fruit ; she even deprives herself of the
hope of plucking the fruit, or of deciding when it has
reached maturity. May I not say that she has even
deprived herself of the sweet pleasure of presenting
it herself to the beloved ? He has transplanted the
tree with His own hand into His garden, of which He
alone is master ; everything that it may produce
henceforth, even to its leaves and its sterile flowers,
belongs to Him. He will cultivate it as He likes
best ; He may give to other trees near by a care
which He denies to it ; He may allow it to languish
and wither for want of the water that would
invigorate it, whilst others are refreshed at the proper
times ; He may scarcely look at it, or may bestow
upon it only a glance of indifference or contempt.
What need I say more ? He may pluck the blossoms
that seem to promise good fruit as though He feared
that it might merit His esteem and afford Him
pleasure ; or He may gather the fruit before it is ripe,
or leave it a prey to the insects that feed upon and
spoil it. And, as though to punish it for a sterility
that. He has Himself caused, He may seem as though
He were about to cut it down and cast it into the fire.
In all this He but uses the right that He has acquired
to the tree by the absolute and unrestricted gift
made to Him. The only thing that remains to the
donor is the desire to correspond to the wishes of his
new master and to receive unresistingly the culture
which He may wish to give.

" To Him, then, it belongs to dispose of your per-
son in absolute mastership. All the good you do
belongs to Him even before you offer it ; it is the fruit
oi the tree which you have given Him, and which He
permits you to gather and hand over to Him. He
Himself takes it by the hand of your superior when
you obey her, because she represents Him ; He makes
over His right to the sister who asks of you a service
that you are able to render. You need not, therefore,
praise yourself for your generosity, nor pretend to
claim any gratitude, since it is not you who grant the
favor, but He to Whom it belongs."

Jeanne says elsewhere : " When there is question
of the tabernacle which the Lord may choose for His
dwelling and delight, we can but be silent. It is the
Holy of Holies of which that of Solomon's temple was
but the shadow. It is the new heaven, the new earth
of which St. John speaks in the Apocalypse.* It is
the new Jerusalem which her Spouse, the Word, pre-
pares and adorns, f And it is the temple where the
God of all majesty receives the worship that is always
agreeable to Him, and where the altar always smokes
with an incense that arises before Him, and with
which He is pleased. David desires, as a great favor,
to visit the temple of the Lord, and to be the witness of
His glory. \ The virgin already enjoys this happiness;
she possesses God, and is possessed by Him, and tastes
with Him the pleasure conferred by the sight of
divine beauty. She is the throne of Sapphire beheld
by the prophet Ezekiel,§ and that which was seen by
Isaiah, before which the Seraphim veiled themselves. ||
She is filled with the divine majesty. She is hidden
with Jesus Christ in God."

* Apoc, XXI., 1.
t Ibid, XXI., 2.
1 Ps. XXVI., 4.
\ Ezek. I., 26.
Isaiah VI., 1.

Mother de Matel has many other charming and
instructive pages on the relations of virginal souls
with the Savior. We shall make a few quotations
from them: "The glass of our mirrors, though well
polished, often mislead us, and deceive us as to our
defects ; if they show us our ugliness, they do not
remove it, and do not confer beauty instead. Whereas,
in this divine mirror, the virgins who gaze therein
are purified from all stains, and, in their contempla-
tions, receive an admirable reflection of splendor and
beauty. The more they consider themselves therein,
the more beautiful they become, and the more pleas-
ing to their Spouse, who increases their love as they
grow in beauty. They have a glorious privilege,
above all other saints, of gazing closely in this virginal
mirror ; it is a fruit which their divine Spouse confers
on their integrity, and one more addition to the favors
which He grants them, that they may increase in
loveliness. But their beauty increasing their love,
and their love doubling the attention with which they
inspect the living mirror, they receive in turn regards
that enlighten them by the brilliancy that is shed
upon their souls, so that, between Him and them,
there is a continuous reflection of reciprocal glances
that make them proceed uninterruptedly from light to
light."

This life is perfected only in heaven, but, com-
mencing on earth, it already has the harmony of
eternal canticles. " The supreme goodness gave me
to know that the harp on which the virgins chant the
canticle of the Lamb is the Heart of the Lamb — of
Jesus Christ, to whom they are inseparably united.
He gives them His Heart as a harp, a symbol of the
Ten Commandments, which He perfectly fulfilled, as
well as the counsels and intentions of Divine Love ;
He wishes them to imitate His fidelitv. He is also

their lute, uniting with their voices in an admirable
and loving" accord. These hearts constitute a melo-
dious music and a divine harmony ; they unite and
vibrate mutually, but the first movements spring from
the Heart of Jesus."

Mother de Matel loves to represent the religious
community under the apocalyptic image of the
heavenly court of the Lamb. From this thought she
draws vigorous doctrine concerning the good govern-
ment of a convent. The Superioress represents the
Lamb ; she must be a throne of the purest ivory,
crowned by the rainbow, symbol of peace ; to govern
well she must excel in wisdom ; to conduct and feed
her flock she must have seven shining and abundant
horns ; the seven works of mercy are the horns of
David ; she must have seven wings, being filled
with the seven gifts prefigured by the wings.

"The other lour mothers represent the four sym-
bolic creatures — the four evangelists — and are all eyes,
because they must watch according to their office;
the}' must see well that they may advise well, for the
greater glory of God, and the progress of souls. They
must be the four rivers that flow in the paradise of
religion and water it, but they must flow from the
throne of God, clear as crystal. Their spirit must be
free from self-interest ; God must be their all in all.

' l The Assistant must be an eagle prompt in the
flight of regular obedience, always gazing fixedly on
the rising sun, the .Superior, exciting others to
obedience. The Mistress of novices must have a
countenance of light and benignity to lead novices by
her goodness in the path of the Lamb, Who is all
sweetness and benignity.

"The Mother Procurator (the treasurer) must be
prudent as the ox, and, like it, working strongly,

sacrificing her own wishes to the good of the Order,
foreseeing and providing for the necessities of the
house.

" As for the Mother Portress, she must be like the
lion, with eyes always open to see whom she admits
or dismisses, that she may be faithful to the Lamb
whom the Superior represents, and that nothing may
be received without her knowledge, and nothing may
leave the Convent without her permission ; not a
letter, not a present.

' ' The twenty-four Elders are the twenty-four
choir-sisters, clad in the whiteness of their innocence,
crowned with perfect charity, faithful to the least sign
of the Superior." *

Mother de Matel finds a still more admirable
exemplar of the religious life. She sees its type and
model in the Holy Trinity, the Incarnate Word and
the Blessed Sacrament.

' ' Thou wast pleased to lift my spirit to Thy
adorable Trinity, source, prototype and excellence of
all religion and of all religious. The Father is the
General, the Son the Provincial; the Father engenders,
but is not engendered ; He is not produced, but He
produces the Holy Ghost. The Son is engendered of
the Father alone, with Whom He produces, as one
principle, the Holy Ghost, Who is the Guardian
receiving and retaining to Himself the production of
the Father and the Son. This divine Order is God.
These three Persons are one divine Society, dwelling
the one in the other in their divine circumsession, and
in their ineffable relations ; a cloister immense in its
expanse, sublime in its height, infinite in its extent,
abyssmal in its depth.

* First scheme of the Constitutions.

" God is in His essence a pure act ; rich poverty,
in which essentially and eminently is divine richness !

1 ' The divine Father, source and origin of purity and
virginity, contemplating Himself, without departing
from Himself, begets eternally His Word. By the
love which is common to the Father and to the Son is
produced the Holy Spirit, Who embraces the Father
and the Son, and is the most pure term of the virginal
and divine production. O, divine virginity ! O,
divine fecundity ! O, essential purity !

' ' What is here obedience is there divine liberty
and excellent order. The Father has no origin save
in Himself ; He is the principle of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. The Son is, with the Father, the principle
of the Holy Ghost. O divine Order which is unchange-
able. The Father, Who is General sends the Son with
out dependency; the Son comes without subjection; the
Hoi}' Ghost effects the work of the Incarnation. The
Son returns to heaven, and, with the Father, sends the
Holy Ghost, Who, being unconstrained I^ove, and
most free, comes of the same will by which He is sent
by the Father and the Son. O, divine obedience ! O,
faithful fidelity ! Equality well ordered, distinct
procession ! O, religion and religious, without parallel
in eminence, source of all religion and of all religious,
human and angelic ! "

Continuing her contemplation, Mother de Matel
passes to the mystery of the Incarnation. " O,
Divine Word, what hast Thou done ? A religion that
represents divine religion ! Thou comest to take a
body and soul in a virginal manner, in poverty and
obedience. Thou art the Word incarnate, with the
concurrence of the Father and the Holy Ghost. What
obedience wilt Thou practice ? All that is ordained
to Thee from moment to moment by Thy Father.

Thy human subsistence seems annihilated as though
Thou madest use only of the person of Thy Mother.
Whither Thou goest Thou art borne by her ; her
respiration gives Thee breath, her life is Thine. O,
poor Savior, Thou livest on the alms of Thy Mother,
whom Joseph sustains by his labors. Art Thou not a
little Lazarus, living by the crumbs, the drops of
substance of the body and blood of Thy holy Mother ?
Immensity enclosed in that virginal cloister. Holy
Virgin, animating Thy Son, thou art all chaste ; two
Virgins who produce in Saint Joseph sentiments
of virginal poverty. Saint Joseph is the guardian of
your holy society. He Who as God was not subject
to His Father, becoming man, is subject to Him, and
to the Blessed Virgin, by the order of His Father,
which love has prompted Him to embrace. Jesus
Christ, God and man, Incarnate Word, what an
admirable religion I behold in Thee ! As Word, a
General ; in Thy soul a Provincial ; in Thy body
Guardian of the Divine fullness ! In Thee, O Jesus
Christ, is all plenitude. In the bosom of Thy holy
Mother I see this excellent religion. Thirty 3Tears
with her, what exercises of a religious noviceship
didst Thou not accomplish ? "

Mother de Matel follows up these religious exercises
in the mortal life of the Savior, and then, passing to
His Sacramental life, she continues: "After spending
three years on the mission with Thy Apostles, Thou
wouldst consecrate Thyself, body and soul, a perfect
holocaust on Calvary, and having to do it in a public
and bloody manner, Thou wouldst give Tltyself impas-
sably, though still mortal, in £he last Supper, establish-
ing the last Order on earth, the abridgment of all others.
It is in the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament, that
Thou art the Religion, and the Religious, more strictly
even than in Thy Mother's virginal bosom. Although

glorified and immortal, Thou art as in death, as a lamb
that is sacrificed, with Thy Sacred Wounds; confined,
without Thy local extension; having eyes and not see-
ing, ears and not hearing; and so with Thy other senses ;
Thy holy soul not operating through them; having Thy
body as though it were a spirit, even to the end of the
world.

"O infinite God! O infinitesimal cloister! A
particle contains Thee ! What chastity ! Such that being
truly flesh and blood, Thou art there purely, spiritually,
virginally. This is the flesh that is the food of
virgins. Thy blood the wine that engenders virgins.

' ' Thy poverty is reduced to a particle that is scarcely
appreciable, and even then is but a shadow, an accident
that hides Thee. What necessity would we not suffer
Thee to experience, wert Thou capable of suffering ?
Thou wouldst be a Lazarus, all covered with sores, and
languishing at the door of our hearts, begging a crumb
from our compassion or remembrance. Our ungrateful
hearts often refuse Thee and send the hungry dogs of
our passions to increase Thy pains and to drive Thee
away.

' 'And here we see the most incomparable obedience
that has ever been or shall be. Kvery priest can cause
Thee to descend at will, and where and when he wills,
if he have but bread and wine at hand, even for the
diabolical incantations of sorcery. Thou remainest in
any place till the resolution of the sacred elements,
though it were in the bodies of dumb beasts, and
sinners are worse ; Thou knowest it, Thou seest, Thou
endurest." .

From principles so assured, from views so elevated,
great duties are devolved on religious souls. Jeanne
does not leave her daughters ignorant of them ; and
because specially devoted to the worship of the Incar-

nate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament, and being hon-
ored in that vocation, she wishes them to be foremost
in these duties. The Incarnate Word tells them in
particular: "Be ye perfect, even as My Heavenly
Father is perfect, and be ye holy, even as I am holy.
As My Father sent Me, so I send yon, to do His will.
He sent Me into a cloister, where I remained so long
as He willed. After which, a true religious, I was
like a novice, obeying St. Joseph and My holy Mother
most perfectly in perfect chastity and poverty. At
the Jordan I made My profession before the Holy
Trinity and John the Baptist. Though chosen super-
ior of angels and men, I behaved as though I were
inferior to all other creatures, annihilating myself; and
all My mortal life was an annihilation. And, now that
I lead an immortal life, that I may prove that My love is
greater than death, though glorified in Heaven, I choose
to remain in the Blessed Sacrament as though dead.
It is precisely that I may be the form and end at which
religious must aim, who are by an especial privilege of
My providence, My disciples, My daughters, My
spouses. They must be the basins of the fountain, that is »
Myself and My Blessed Mother.

"They must always purify themselves, they must
always enlighten ; I wish them to be daughters of
light, that they may receive Me as King. They must
be a continual presentation to My Father, leaning
through love on Me. As My Humanity renounced its
personality, they must renounce themselves and live
only in Me, to Me, through Me and for Me, and all
their love must be crucified. If they are nailed to this
cross of love, they shall be My dear spouses, and true
imitators, and through them I will draw many souls.
Let them be little in their own eyes, as the grain of
mustard seed, and they will be the Kingdom of My
love.

" O Jesus, vouchsafe to us this grace, through the
intercession of Tiiy Hoi)' Mother and of all the Saints
in Heaven. Amen."

We have given elsewhere some of Mother de
Matel's thoughts on St. Joseph. We shall give here
in brief the considerations by which she strove to
render the devotion towards this great saint practical
in a religious point of view.

She makes this dialogue between the Savior and
His spouse.

"Imitate Joseph," He tells her; "his sanctity is for
every state of life; it is specially that ot thy own, by
virtue of which, like him, though in an inferior degree,
thou art dedicated to My service and glory. I^ove
Me with his love; serve Me with a fidelity and
constancy like unto his.

" Thou dost ask of me, O God, a love equal to that
of Joseph ! Is that possible for me?

" I do not ask for a love that shall be equal \ if
thou canst no.t love Me with all his love, love Me, as
he did, with all thy heart ; that is, be not content to
deny thyself what would destroy thy love, 'but even
that which would weaken it. Be not satisfied even
with this, strive to rise higher ; do not wait till I
command a sacrifice of thee, let it suffice thee that I
make known My desire. Canst thou not go so far as
to make no difference between the things that I
command and those that I desire ?

" Thou couldst wish to render to My person the
same services that I received from Joseph; I have
provided beforehand for thy wish, in telling thee in
My Gospel that I would look upon what thou dost
for the least of the faithful as done to Me. By the
grace of adoption, which I acquired for them at the

cost of My blood, they have become My brethren.
Wouldst thou not look upon a service rendered to
a brother as done to thyself? And yet, what is thy
love compared to that which I had for men ? They
are but as one body, of which I am the head.

' ' The persons with whom thou livest are also
united to Me by a special bond, in their quality of
spouses ; can they be aught else but dear to My
heart ? Thou art aware that in all things spouses
are one.

"Thy rule requires thee to keep in mind this truth,
which gives thy companions a distinguished place in
My Church, and which, according to My martyr
Ignatius, confers on them a rank next to the priests
of My altar. In thy sisters, then, thou mayest find
means to content thy desire to serve Me, as did Joseph.
It is true, thou wilt not find the same sensible pleasure
experienced by Joseph when he served Me in My own
person, but, because thou canst not have that advan-
tage, wilt thou refuse to serve those who represent
Me, and who are dear to My heart ?"

Jeanne continues these reflections by a com-
mentary from which all Christians may draw profit,
and by applying them to a religious life.

" You see, my beloved sisters, the distance that
exists between us and Jesus Christ deprives us only
of a sensible pleasure which would make the exercise
of our love towards Him more easy and sweet.

' ' I venture to say that, if our faith, which teaches
us that Jesus Christ is in our hearts, did not suffice to
make our charity constant, then His very presence
would not be enough to keep us so."

Having solidly and earnestly established this truth,
Jeanne proceeds : ' ' You may say that there is one
kind of service that you can never have occasion to

render Him. In fact, Joseph worked for Him alone,
and in His sight : lie nourished and supported Him by
the sweat of his brow ; he delivered Him from the
fury of Herod. Who amongst us can be so happy as
to enjoy this favor ? Yourselves, my dear sisters, if
so you will.

1 Who prevents you from doing for Jesus Christ
that which you do ? No state is more apt for this,
than that of the religious. Do we not work for Jesus
Christ when we do nothing but what He wills, and
all that He wills ? I may say that to accomplish His
adorable will is the only service that we can render
Him: He dispenses us from all else. He does more,
He rejects all else. Besides, is he not in our midst;
does He not occupy an apartment in this same house
in which we dwell ? Can we deny to Him a sight
sufficiently penetrating to traverse the space that
separates us from Him ?

' ' Moreover, I insist that you are free to render to
Jesus Christ the services which seem denied to you by
the poverty and solitude that you profess. Will you
say that Jesus Christ can not be nourished, supported
or preserved from death save in the persons of the
poor ? There is another life much more precious in
His eyes, much dearer to His heart, which He wishes
to live amongst men. You perceive that I allude to
the life of grace. The mere mention of this life, which
causes Jesus Christ to live and reign in our souls,
makes you see that the glory that Joseph had in
nourishing, supporting and preserving Him from death
is not so exclusively his but that you, too, can share in
it by the sweat of your brow ; that is, by your
mortification, and especially by your good example
and regularity ; you can do so also by your prayers.
' l But that which Joseph co Jd not do is in your
power, by a privilege that you can not too highly

prize. You can give birth to that life which He did
not think too highly purchased at the price of a whole
life of humiliation and suffering, ended on the cross.
And yet more : you can continue it even after your
death. You ask me how this may be. By perpetuating
in your Convent the love of regularity, which your
example will preserve from relaxation, and by which
it will continue to be an asylum ever open to innocence,
that is to say, the life through which Jesus Christ
lives and reigns in hearts will be preserved, perfected
and strengthened against all death.

. "St. Joseph was entitled father of Jesus Christ,
and Jesus assures to us, not alone the title of His
sisters, but even that of His mother ; first, in yourselves,
where He will be born of your love ; and, secondly, in
others, in whom you will cause Him to be born by
your examples, your good advice and your prayers."

Profoundly impressed with the excellence of the
religious life, Mother de Matel could not suffer those
who had embraced it to cast a look backward in regret
for the trivial advantages of the world, or in calculation
of pretended sacrifices. "What then," said she to
her daughters, " are the great advantages which we
sacrifice in religion when compared to what it gives us ?
Without counting the hundred-fold even in this world,
which, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, we
find in religion ; without reckoning the means of
salvation which it offers, and which no one at the
critical moment would exchange for all the crowns 01
the world ; without speaking of these inestimable
advantages, is there anything nobler, grander, in the
eyes of faith than to be spouses of Jesus Christ ? This
title alone, when we have the honor of bearing it,
should eclipse all others and cause them to be forgotten,
or remembered only to be despised."

Jeanne would not have her daughters find
satisfaction even in those relations with the world
which are authorized by the rule.

"Many seculars," she says, "without regular
occupation, find a recreation in our parlors, and
unfortunate are those religious who take pleasure in
entertaining them ; the)- ruin themselves unless they go
there only through obedience and in a spirit of
mortification. For, their heavenly Spouse, Who stands
near, looks on them through the cloister grating with
unspeakable jealousy, and bids them depart in haste
and return to their heavenly exercises and to divine
meditation." "Forget," He tells them, "the things
of the world ; it is a winter without fruits, with
devastating rains that withdraw into broken cisterns
or into streams that find their way below. Our garden
has fountains the .sources of which are divine. My
Father and I are the sources of the Holy Ghost, Who
proceeds from Us." He shows to all in general its
fruits and flowers, and to each one He says: "Rise
up, my daughter, and enter My garden, to rejoice there
in innocence. Come and be a dove without guile ;
leave that to worldlings. . Come to thy cell, which is
like a hive of honey, and which is aptly compared to a
hole in the cliff, and to ruins. Its poverty conceals the
riches of heaven. I dwell there with thee ; I, in
Whom are all the treasures of science and the wisdom
of My Father. I do not recall thee from the parlor to
the cell that thou mayst bring back with thee the
vanities which thou hast seen there. I^et them vanish
in the moment thou lea vest it ; turn not back thy
thoughts, as did Lot's wife, to see the burning of Sodom.
I long to hear thy voice, which to me is sweet and
delicious music ; thou shouldst not sing or speak save
in my praise." *

* Autobiography.

Mother de Matel did not ask only that her
(laughters should edify the world in those relations
which necessity imposed upon them ; she wished the
outward reflection of their interior joy of soul to be a
convincing proof of the happiness of their state.
" Sadness in a religious can scarcely give edification to
seculars, since they will generally attribute it to a
regret for having taken up the yoke of the Lord ; and
thus those will be repelled who might be inclined to
embrace the state, and others would be led to think
that all is not true that is said of its happiness, or that
it is at best but an exaggeration and a pious fraud in
defense of religious houses. It is, then, for the glory
of the Gospel that they who dwell in them should
prevent this scandal by persuading people of the
world that true and pure happiness can be found only
in the literal practice of its maxims ; and this can be
done only by the content which they themselves are
made to witness. Oh, how many in leaving a religious,
whom they know is bearing the sacred yoke with a
generous heart, and wdio unite in their eyes modesty
with a holy joy, are forced to exclaim in their hearts,
whilst sighing over their own unhappy lot : " Happy
they who are called to bear it ! True happiness in
this world is for them alone." *

" Mother de Matel would not permit the titles and
distinctions of wordly honor to cross the threshold of
the convent, to be esteemed therein ; she recommended
those who had once borne them to cause them to be
forgotten in their greater simplicity, modesty, and their
readiness to accept and seek the lowest offices of the
house." On the same principle she recognized in the
elders of the Congregation no other privilege save that
of a greater perfection and a more scrupulous fidelity.
' ' Their privilege shall be to be the foremost in every -

* The Beatitudes.

thing, as much as their strength may permit; to be
more humble, more docile, more yielding in obedience.
This is the favor accorded to them b}r the divine
Founder of the Order; a privilege from which He alone
can dispense them, as He never will, since there can
never be a reason for so doing. How could He permit
them to shake and finally overwhelm the edifice of
which He was the divine Architect, and of which, by
virtue of their age, the offices they have held, and the
respect in which they are held, they should be the
firmest pillars ? Besides, the longer they have resided
in religion, the school of virtue, the greater the pro-
gress they should have made in humility." She urges
the same recommendations on " superiors, and on all
those who by their office have authority over others."

From this point of view she sees no limit of effort,
or of perfection, at which they may stop. Mary
Margaret was a model superior, a saint. Mother de
Matel does not hesitate to give her a lesson : "In
exhorting those who are committed to your charge,
you yourself must serve as example, divesting yourself
of every thing that is dearest to nature. Your sister,
Helen of Jesus, has as much affection for you as you
have for her. I deem it expedient in Our Lord that
you mortify the one the other, until I find you both
detached from all that is not God."*

Jeanne had all her life exercised herself too well in
holy indifference, not to see that it was one of the
foundations of religious perfection. "Indifference," she
tells her daughters, " is at once the most perfect, and
the easiest and surest way, since it is without fear and
without desire, and places the soul entirely under
the direction of God. By this, I mean indifference of
the will, and not of feeling. A thousand reasons, even

* Letters. (October, 1611.)

in your own interest, require of you this holy indiffer-
ence ; but I mention only that of your consecration,
which incessantly says to you: Remember that you
no longer belong to yourselves, but to Jesus Christ.
Be satisfied, then, with what He will do, or not do, in
you. Let your only desire be not to oppose His opera-
tions, whatever they may be, and to strive to co-operate
with all your might.

" Instead of complaints, let nothing escape your
lips but those words with which the people acclaimed
the miracles which they witnessed during His mortal
life: He has done all tilings well. Say them to yourself
when He afflicts you; when He despises you ; when He
leaves and abandons you to the assault of your enemies;
when He blinds you with the flash of His anger in the
midst of your most anxious service. Say it, and say it
with an intimate conviction: Yes, He does well so to
treat me, and I approve all the severity that He ex-
ercises upon me. Amen, so let it be. It is the canticle
of assent sung forever by the heavenly choirs ; never
tire of chanting it with them."

The pious foundress often recurs to the unhappy
influence of a tepid soul in the religious life ; one feels
that she fears its presence in her family as a terrible
evil. ' ' The first fervor is allowed to relax little by
little. The maxims of the Gospel, once so sweet in
practice, become intolerably hard to the tepid soul ; she
abandons them. Would to God that she stopped there ;
but she goes farther. She approves and encourages
those who follow her example as though she desired
them to imitate her. She excuses coldness, resent-
ment, petty revenges. Let them question her on
things in which pride or self-love are alone interested,
and those passions will always find in her a defender ;
she herself begins by consulting the maxims of the
world. It is in them that she finds the counsel which

•20

she gives. O, my dear sisters, from how many com-
munities subordination, peace and union are banished,
in order to give place to independence, trouble and
discord, because of such wicked approval and advice !
Does not such a religious merit the name of an emis-
sary of Satan, whose designs she favors ?"

We have seen that on occasion Mother de Matel
could be severe and firm in dismissing those subjects
in whom she recognised no real vocation. But, pro-
foundly convinced of the excellence of the religious
life, she looked upon unfaithfulness to one's vocation
as an irreparable misfortune, and she neglected nothing
to confirm those who wrere called to it ; she did not
allow herself to be discouraged by a passing forget-
fulness, as the following incident will demonstrate, in
which we see at once her discernment and her clem-
ency of spirit. It was subsequent to the return of the
community to its convent in Paris, 1649.

' Two of Thy daughters, O, Divine I^ove, who had
not received grace from on high, because they had
not been retiring like the others, no longer beheld
Thy flowers, nor tasted of Thy honey ; they saw only
gall and seeming leaves, that fell away through their
want of devotion.

" One had herself adroitly removed by her nurse,
and the other, to escape from her vocation, artfully
gave her parents to understand that she had lost it.
Who would not hwe judged that these two* deserved
to be separated and rejected from the community,
since they had rendered themseves unworthy of the
honor Thou hadst intended for them ? Every one
despaired of their recovery, except her who loves to
hope against hope, and who is bound to imitate Abra-
ham, who trusted in God, and it was reputed to him
unto justice.* I believed in Thy goodness, though it

* Genesis, xv. 6.

should not be reputed to me unto justice, that my daugh-
ters would not be forsaken by Thy mercy, which re-
stored them to their mother. And their mother present-
ed them to Thee, giving their parents reason to hope
that their sickness was not unto eternal death, but a
striking proof of Thy sovereign goodness and power,
and of the truth of the promise I had made that they
would become religious at the time that I had pointed
out. They showed so much fervor that they begged the
holy habit of me, of the Mother Assistant, and the
Mistress of Novices, with sighs and tears, for forty days
together.

"On the octave of the Epiphany, 1650, the first
received the habit ; the second, recognizing that she
had done, in intention, what the prodigal son had done
in fact — asking to go into a foreign country far from
the mansion in which Thy love had produced the
sanctity that becomes Thy daughters — dissolved in
tears, gave utterance to sobs and sighs and groans.
She clung to my knees, whilst the weight of Thy love
and my maternal affection bent me down and on her
neck, embracing her and accepting her with a tender-
ness that oppressed me in a way that I could not
understand. She took the holy habit on the Thurs-
day within the octave of Thy glorious resurrection.

' ' I entreated the angels to praise Thee in their
heavenly canticles, and I invited all the Sisters, my
daughters, to share the joy which should be common,
of seeing their sisters return to the happiness which
they had wished to forfeit, ignorant of the precipice
into which they were about to fall, because abyss
calls unto abyss, when we abandon the vocation to
which Thy Spirit calls us." *

* Autobiography.

An exposition of the virtues of this good Mother
will, farther on, complete this chapter by exhibiting
to us religious life in one of its best exemplars. Let
us now study the special character and spirit of her
work.

CHAPTER II.

THE ORDER OK THE INCARNATE WORD — ITS CHARAC-
TER, CONSTITUTIONS AND SPIRIT.

The entire life of Jeanne de Matel is but one
continued recital of the foundation of the Order of the
Incarnate Word. She was manifestly prepared for the
work from her very infancy, and its accomplishment
was her life's mission. What is her place, her
distinctive sign, in the holy phalanx of founders of
religious orders ?

Our Lord has frequently made it known in a
way very glorious for her ; she acknowledges it with
enthusiastic tenderness : " Bending down towards me
(it was on the feast of St. Peter of Alexandria, one of
the defenders of Christ's divinity), Thou madest me
understand, dear Love, that, amongst many others,
Thou hadst chosen me, most unworthy, to give a more
extensive view of Thy Incarnation, and to exhibit that
eternal splendor which Thou receivedst from Thy
Father, of Whom Thou art the image and the figure of
His substance. Thou neededst not to beg of the zeal
of Thy creatures, whether in heaven or on earth ; but,
in Thy incomprehensible wisdcm and goodness, Thou
didst inspire St. Michael in heaven and St. Peter
of Alexandria, and a young maid in France, to maintain
and show forth Thy true divinity. I thank Thee, O
divine Love, for having associated me in the commission
of St. Michael and St. Peter of Alexandria, to combat
Lucifer and Arms."

In another contemplation, after having shown her
Mary, "destined from all eternity to be His Mother,

and, because of her mission, the object of the fury of
the infernal dragon," He adds : "My grace wills to
make thee also My Mother in a marvelous way : one
that shall cause thee, by a mystic labor and an
extension of the Incarnation, to give birth in the
Church to Him Whom My Mother bore in Bethlehem.
In spite of the anger, the rage and fury of the demon,
and the contradictions of men, I have given to thee the
eyes and the wings of the eagle to see Me in the bosom
of My Father, in the source of divine splendor."

In the midst of the combat, the assurances of the
heavenly Spouse are reiterated : ' ' My daughter, it is I
Who have established My Order ; men can not prevent
My eternal designs. It is in virtue of My Blood, and
by the power of My word, that I shall found this
tabernacle. . . I will arise in My might, and shall
prove to human wisdom that I know how to lift up the
weak, and overturn the proud, who think that they
alone should be observed ; I will raise up the humble,
who seem as though they were not. The Scribes and
Pharisees, together with the priests, thought to destroy
My doctrine and to banish Me from the world by My
death. They were mistaken, for by My death I
established My design, and My testament was valid.
So, too, My daughter, because men think to prevent
the establishment of My Order, I will build it up, and
by My Blood, and My Word, you shall be established;
and as daughters of the Incarnate Word shall inherit
His goods and graces. By My Blood you shall be
purified, nourished and adorned. Be faithful to My
Love." What tenderness ! what a presage ! what
grace !

On the 4th of July, 1625, two days only after the
beginning of the Congregation, Mother de Matel had a
vision in which she was clearly shown the establishment
of her Order at Lyons, on Mount Gourgillon. But this

prophetic vision seems to have had a wider scope than
its immediate object, and to have embraced the whole
future of the Order, as our readers may judge for

themselves.

"Thou didst show me a holy mountain, at the
summit of which I beheld Thy Eternal Father, Who
bore in His bosom all the daughters of Thy Order,
saying that He would beget them, not of flesh and
blood, nor of the will of man, but of the divine will.
In behalf of these births, in time, by grace, Thou didst
explain to me, Thy natural and eternal generation,
saying : ' In this establishment, I, Who am the
Incarnate Word, will give extension to My Incarnation.
I will dwell with you, and you shall see My glory
equal to that of My Father, Who begot Me in divine
splendor, or before any creatures were. Thou shalt
find me full of grace and truth to accomplish in thee
and in My Order all the promises that I have made,
now make, and shall make to thee.' " *

"The Father of lights," says Jeanne in another
part of her life, " being pleased to enlarge my soul,
bade me consider the Incarnation of the Word, and
that the Order He willed to found should be its exten-
sion ; that, although I had not studied in the schools
of the world, I was not the less instructed, as His
Word was my teacher, and I His pupil ; that, by a
goodness wholly paternal, He had given me to His
Son as a daughter of miracle ; that the adorable Savior
would be to me father, spouse and son at once, by a
species of birth, in the founding of the Order of the
Incarnate Word."

"Since My ascension," said the Savior to her,
' 'there have been in the Church Orders dedicated to My
Mother and to different saints ; but amongst so many

* Autobiography.

ort

there are none that have discovered this rich treasure,
and that are consecrated to My Person as that one
shall be which thou art to institute, and on which I
shall confer great blessings." *

' By a singular grace " — it is Jeanne who speaks —
' 'my Savior told me that He would give Himself to me,
by making in me an imprint of Himself and an image of
His goodness, so as to be within me a Gospel of Love.
I asked Him to explain this to me. He answered
that the Gospel of power had been given to the
apostles in the miracles they wrought ; that the Gos-
pel of wisdom belonged to the doctors, whom He had
constituted masters of the world, to teach His doctrine
and explain His word ; that to me the Gospel of L,ove
was reserved, that I received it in receiving the Word
that came to me, as is said in St. L,uke : Factum est
verbum Domini super Joannem. " f

It is, then, undoubtedly true that the foundation
of an Order, under the title, and in honor of the Incar-
nate Word, entrusted to Jeanne, may be legitimately
regarded as a new manifestation, and, under the cir-
cumstances that attended it, a loving prediction of the
God-man. This is its first and most special character-
istic ; which forms its chief honor, distinction and
privilege.

Jeanne took a holy pride in this, and loved to
recall it to her daughters.

"Your hearts, my dear daughters, enjoy the
sweet satisfaction of being singularly devoted to the
service and glory of the Incarnate Word, and of being
created truly for that noble end. You can not but be
aware that a similar destiny is a part of the glory of
Mary, His holy Mother. God forbid that I should be

Autobiography.
+ St. Luke, iii., _'. The word of the Lord came to John.

so rash as to institute a comparison of equality between
her and you ; her relation to the Incarnate Word is
superior to any other that one could have with Him.
But that does not prevent our Congregation, by a
singular effect of His goodness Who became man in
her bosom, from glorying in relations which it does
not .share with any of the other Orders that give such
glory to the Church.

" All, I acknowledge, are instituted to the glory
of the Incarnate Word ; but, if I may so express
myself, they procure it under the banners of certain
saints whom they have taken for guides, and whose
livery they wear. . . . We, my dear sisters, follow no
standard save that of the Incarnate Word. We have
no other Founder but Him. O my dear daughters,
you call me mother, and I venture to say that I
deserve the name, because of the tender love I have
for you, but yours would be a great mistake if you
gave it to me as the foundress of the Order. Have I
ever called it by an other name than that of the
Incarnate Word ? It is, then, truly His Order, and it
is thus that He always speaks of it, as you may see
in my writings* in which I have always given His
own expressions with the greatest exactness. It
would be a sacrilege for me to call myself its insti-
tutor. I have been but the instrument that He
used to found it Himself.

11 Bnjoy, then, my dear sisters, the sweet consola-
tion of believing that the Order, of which you are
members, is what its name indicates, the Order of the
Incarnate Word, whom it recognizes as its sole insti-
tutor. Note, too, that it is from the Incarnate Word
that it takes the habit with which it is invested. You
must, my dear sisters, believe me when I assure you
that, with the exception of that which the Church has
wisely prescribed in regard to the religious habit,

everything else was dictated to me by the Incarnate
Word, and given in symbols under which He was
figured.

1 ' Remember, my dear sisters, what I have told
yon of His designs in the founding of the order ; yon
will see that what he intended was by this means to
be born anew into the world, and, to manifest Himself
a second time. Hence, He gave His Mother as the
principal protectress of the Order."

The Order of the Incarnate Word, and it is its
second special characteristic, has divinely received in
its foundress, and for itself, an apostolate. Its very
name is a sermon ; in our days it is the affirmation in
a living work of the great Catholic truth, from which
all others radiate, which has its analogies in the
human soul, its prefiguration in the sciences, and the
laws of the universe ; The Word was made flesh.
" Thou art," he says to her, " a vessel of election to
bear my light to the end of the world. Do not allege
your sex an excuse, that you are not a preacher to
announce My word in the Church. Thou shalt
announce it in the way that I have ordained for thee ;
thou shalt testify of Me before kings, that is, the
priests and doctors, in whose presence thou shalt not
be confounded." On another occasion it was the same
thought under a different figure : "I have made
thee a vessel to bear from distant lands the bread and
grain wherewith to nourish whole provinces. Carry the
bread of life out not only for those who shall have the
happiness to follow thee in so noble an enterprise, but
for a wrorld of persons who have never known the obli-
gations which they owed to the Word, Who became
flesh for them. This Institute shall be established for
the glory of the Sacrament of Love ; it will give life
to main- souls." *

* Autobiography.

Our Lord was equally explicit in a vision which she
had in 1648, concerning the apostolate reserved for her
writings and work. " I saw," says she, " a tabernacle
of crystal, chased and framed in gold ; it opened from
above. My daughter, thou art the tabernacle of crystal
in which I am pleased to enter, to dwell, and from it to
spread My light. Tabernacles of gold and silver are
not adapted to the sun as this one is. Many souls are
like wood, others like silver or gold ; they fructify
like wood, sound like silver and are as gold in the proof.
But all these because they are not transparent do not
make Me clearly knowu. I have shown thee that thou
art a crystal, but remember that' thou art fragile as
glass. Thou makest Me known because thy simplicity
makes thee transparent ; I make Myself known through
thee as in a mirror ; I inclose thee lovingly in gold, I
resound by thy spirit, thy pen, thy tongue as by
silver, argentum electum li?iguajusti.y'*

The light that enlightened Jeanne as foundress had
its increase and progress. In 1625, when she began
the Congregation, she knew the general plan, the
essential ends; she did not yet know the name, and the
first project of the Constitutions then bore the title :
Constitution of the Religious Institute of the daughters of
the Lamb fesus.

The Lamb Jesus ; the contemplative piety of Mother
de Matel finds delicate play in commenting this name.
It is already, of course, the Incarnate Word, but she
sees Him as ' ' the Lamb offered up to the heavenly
Father from the beginning of the world ; the Lamb of
the Jewish deliverance, freeing Israelite souls from the
bondage of Satan in the religious Institute;" the Lamb
of the crib, sought out by the shepherds ; the immortal
Lamb of the new Jerusalem, seen by St. John in the

* Autobiography. Prov. X., 20. The tougue of the just is as choice
silver.

;U)

Apocalypse ; the Lamb whose blood bleaches the
garments of the guests invited to the eternal nuptials.
And from these different aspects she derives that general
spirit ol adoration, of imitation of the Word, which is
the character of the Order.

When Our Lord had given her His full instructions,,
the Constitutions were definitely drawn up and sub-
mitted to the authority of the Church. They were
approved by Urban VIII, and confirmed later by
Innocent X. It is time that we should make them
known by an abstract.

The Sovereign Pontiff, Urban VIII, in erecting the
Congregation, formally gave it the name of Order of
the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament, and
indicated five principle ends : the increase .of divine
worship ; the good cf souls by the instruction of youth,
and by zeal for the conversion of sinners ; the adora-
tion and imitation of the Incarnate Word ; a special
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and to the Blessed
Virgin.

The persons, young women, or widows, who seek
admission, must be in such a condition as to enable
them to fulfill the ordinary functions of the religious
life, to live quietly and virtuously in a community,
without trouble for themselves or others. The year
of noviceship is preceded by three months of postu-
lency before taking the habit. It is prolonged for three
years iefore the profession.

The religious recite, or, on certain days, chant the
little office of the Blessed Virgin ; but, during the
most of the octaves, and on many feasts, they say the
Roman office. On all Thursdays not included in the
above, they recite the office of the Blessed Sacra-
ment, and, on Saturdays, of the Immaculate Concep-
tion. It is unnecessary to add that the constitutions

prescribe prayer, spiritual reading, the reception of
the Sacraments, and the practices usual to other com-
munities.

The profession consists of three vows. The relig-
ious have nothing of their own, they can use nothing
without general or particular permission, and must be
ready to give up at the will of the Superior that which
is at their disposition.

The love of poverty must always show itself, and
the community itself must be restricted to those
resources that are necessary to support the charges
incumbent on it.

Devotion, humilit3r and mortification are recom-
mended to the sisters as the guardians of their chas-
tity. Obedience must be the gauge of their religious
perfection, and they must practice it with, exactness,
punctuality, humility, courage, cordiality, without
acceptation of persons or employment, seeing always
Our I^ord in the one who commands. The constitu-
tions recommend a great spirit of charity.

Twice a year they renew their vows of profession.

The houses of the Order are subject to the cloister
according to the canons of the holy council of Trent.

They rise at five o'clock. The cells must be
simply furnished, and must not be locked. Fire is
allowed only in cases of necessity.

The abstinences are those imposed by the Church
on her children. Out of paschal times a weekly fast
is enjoined on such as are not dispensed b}T health or
occupation. The use of penances and mortification is
regulated by prudence and discretion, according to
temperaments and labors. The culpa and the chapter
are used as in the majority of religious communities.

For menial services the rule admits lay-sistersr
who take part in the religious exercises of the com-
munity, and have special practices necessa^ to their
sanctincation.

A kind of inferior noviceship is also recognized,
under the name of Little Sisters of the Child Jesus,
and Little Daughters of the Blessed Virgin, to which
children ma}- be admitted who are too young to
be received into the Order, but who are desirous of
being trained in its spirit, and of wearing its livery.
Their obligations and privileges are determined.

Boarding schools may be established in the con-
vents to promote the Christian education of young
girls, one of the ends of the Order.

The ordinary Superior of each convent is the
Bishop of the diocese in which it is situate. The
Superioress has the general superintendence and the
principal interior government of the house in spiritual
and temporal affairs. She is aided by an Assistant, a
Mistress of Novices, and a Treasurer, in their respect-
ive offices. She is elected for a term of three years.
Important affairs are considered in an assembly of all
the choir sisters.

This is what the pious foundress writes to a
religious on the dispositions required of one who would
be admitted to the Order, and of the spirit which she
desired to see prevail therein : "I have endeavored
to make the Sisters understand that the spirit of this
Institute is one of injiocence and charity, and of a per-
fect imitation of the virtues practiced by the Incarnate
Word on earth. He has manifested the excess of His
humility in His Incarnation, by an ineffable abnega-
tion ; His love and obedience by dying for all men.
After His death He would prove that divine love is
stronger than death, by shedding the blood that

remained in the Sacred Heart. It is from this heart's
blood that the daughters of the Incarnate Word are
born ; as the latest comers in the Church of God, they
should be the most fervent. Pray to Him, Reverend
Father, that they may be humble and faithful to their
vocation ; that by mortification they may imitate
their Spouse, who is a Spouse of blood ; that, as they
cannot shed their own for His name, since the faith is
established and freely professed, they may at least be
consumed by an ardent charity, with the fire that He
came to kindle in the world, and which He desires
should burn on the altar of our hearts.

' ' One of the principal dispositions which the
Incarnate Word requires in those who enter His
Order, is to come through love, ready to deprive
themselves of all things, and to be perpetual holo-
causts for Him who was a victim for them.

' ' Your Reverence desires to know what is the spirit
of the Order. It is a gentle one ; the rule of St.
Augustine, therein observed, not being austere. Great
strength is not required for admission. The functions
practiced are sanctified rather in their ends than by
corporal pain ; the weak are not easily received, because
they cannot be engaged in the instruction of youth ;
when they are once' received they are not dismissed ;
charity is exercised in bearing with them, and they
merit by their patience."

The following letter, written by Jeanne to her
religious, may be regarded as a compendium of the
spirit which she desired in the Ofder. She begins by
making the Incarnate Word speak to them :

' ' My Weee Beeoved Daughter : —

' ' Listen to your Spouse, Who tells you : You
belong to Me in a special manner ; I gave Myself to
you through love ; keep Me, I am }Tour Incarnate

Word ; I wish to be buried in }^ou. Remain in Me
Who am the true vine, planted by My Father, Who
loves you, if only you love Me with the love you owe
Me, of Whom I will ask for you the light and glory
that I have with Him. Where I am, there I would
have you to be. As I was the grain of wheat buried
in the ground, and dead, that I might bear fruit, you.
too, will be, and by My grace you will bear fruit, and
your fruits will be to eternal life. If you are oppressed
by imperfections, come to Me and I will relieve you.
Learn of Me meekness and humility of heart ; take
up My yoke that is sweet indeed, and My burthen that
is light indeed, and you will find peace of soul, not-
withstanding your troubles, which I make My own.
If they have persecuted Me, should you not feel honored
in being treated in like manner by those who will
consider themselves as thereby doing service to God ?
They know not the designs that My Father and I
entertain."

She continues : ' ' The Incarnate Word, my dear
daughters, being the word of the Father, speaks to all
those souls whom He desires to instruct, and especially
to those whom He intends should teach. Headdresses
to all of us these beautiful words ; they are a lesson to
us ; let us do and teach, since His goodness has called
us to this office ; to be great in heaven, let us be little
in this world. Our Heavenly Spouse says to all of us,
be holy, because I am holy ; be perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect. It is by the help of His
grace that we shall imitate Him and share His holiness
and perfection, loving Him with all our heart, with all
our soul, with all our strength, and our neighbor as
ourselves.

" It is in His divine love that I receive you all as
my very dear daughters and honored sisters, and that
I embrace you cordially in the heart of the Incarnate

Word, and in the virginal heart of His Holy Mother,
to whom. I transfer all that is given to me. I have
taken her for our Sovereign Mother, since she is the
Mother of our Royal Spouse, Who gave her to us ; she
will not reject us, but will take us all to her maternal
bosom. Let us, with our father St. Augustine, say
that we have for portion the wounds of the Son and
the breasts of the Mother. What more could we ask
for in heaven or on earth ? In the Incarnate Word we
have everything. It is in this All that I am, and shall
ever be, my honored and beloved daughters, your
humble servant and good mother,

" Jeanne de Matel."

Let us listen once more to the mother insisting on
the spirit that she desires to instill in her daughters.
It is their most precious inheritance, and for all
religious souls has its lesson and its grace.

' ' The daughters of my Order must have for their
souls' highest aim the Kingdom of God, that is the
Word, and they must suffer here below for justice'
sake, and then all will belong to them, and they to the
Incarnate Wrord. They must fulfill all justice in
imitation of the Incarnate Word and of His Precursor,
overcoming all difficulties, renouncing themselves ; let
them bear the cross; let them follow the Incarnate
Word ; let them die daily, but for Him, in continual
mortification, that they may lose their soul through
love of Him, and for His love, that in the next life they
may find it again in love." The same doctrine flows
ever from her pen. To the first five professed of the
Order she writes, and in them to all: " Remember that
you must be dead to all that is not God, and at all
times you must be ready to shed your blood for Him
Who has clothed you with His precious blood, that

you might be courageous in combating all sorts of
enemies. ' '

And elsewhere :

' ' O my dear daughters, little as it is, how great
our Congregation would be if pride could not enter
therein, and humility should establish its reign in all
our hearts ! My divine I,ove told me that I

should bring forth a number of holy daughters, who
would live a heavenly life, like sapphires divinely set in
the Order of the Incarnate Word, which should be a
bosom of ivory like that of the Spouse of the Canticles.'*

In many a page that is full of strength and
authority, Mother de Matel shows her daughters how
they should bear contradiction and receive graces.

' ' One morning, being at prayer, and recommending
my daughters to God, subject as they were to the
persecution of relatives who tried to turn them from
their holy resolutions, my divine Spouse told me that
they were under His protection, and that those whom
He had called should persevere. He showed them to
me drinking milk, but on close observation the milk
seemed to be blood. I' asked my Spouse the explana-
tion of this change. He answered that afflictions are
milk to those who rightly consider them, but toothers
are blood ; that the good go straight to God, seeing
but Him. . . . The souls that belong to the world,
not seeking God, encounter nothing but trouble ; but
God looks down on those who suffer for love of Him,
and gives them the milk of consolation.

"The others are always in pain, because they
experience the avenging hand of God, Who justly
punishes them ; it is they who oblige Him to this
severity, though He is inclined to show us only'mercy.

' l So, too, a nurse having too much milk seeks a
child for her own relief. If the child is content to feed

quietly, it draws forth milk, but, if it maliciously bites
the breast, it brings the blood. And so it is with
many. . . . Jesus Christ offers Himself to all,
especially to religious souls, his bosom overflowing with
the milk of His grace, and with this delicious food He
wishes to nourish them. Many turn aside from His
tender and loving bosom, whilst some approach only to
bruise and tear it. How many are they who turn the
milk of His mercy into the blood of His justice, by
their evil intentions.

" I repudiate those of my daughters, who, in the
Order of the Incarnate Word, have not a right inten-
tion. . . . Tesus Christ, who is all equity, will
withdraw from them the milk of His mercy ; He will
offer and give it to those who have a single heart and
right intentions."

Like St. Francis of Sales, like Our Savior Him-
self, Mother de Matel wished to attain mortification of
the body through that of the spirit, but she did not
neglect to assure victory for the soul by fighting the
senses.

" Oar rule, though it proposes nothing that this
miserable body should dread, does not fail to mortify
it, almost without its perceiving it ; each stroke seems
inappreciable, but they return so frequently that at
last it feels them without reflecting on a weakness to
which it finds itself finally reduced. ... Hence,
my dear sisters, do not allow yourselves to be dis~
couraged at the sight of other Institutes which make
profession of greater austerities than are practiced in
your own. For, without mentioning that it grants you
permission to practice them yourselves, always with
the requisite permission, it causes you to exercise
another, which mortifies you all the more that it is at
every instant of the day, and to which it would be
strange that you should be insensible.

' ' But if the leniency of the rule and the discretion
of those who direct you does not satisfy the desire that
some have for exterior mortification, let them gratify
themselves by embracing interior mortification. This
is a vast sea, into which they may cast themselves with-
out fear of shipwreck, where they will need no pilot,
and may spread all sail

"Permit no partiality," she writes to one of the
superiors, "no attachment, no singularity. In the
early Church they were but one heart and one soul,
persevering in prayer. Love ye one another in holy
love. May each of my daughters say in truth : ' I
am all to my beloved, and He is all in all to me.' " *

Already, in 1669, a confraternity was established,
entitled the Confraternity of the Incarnate Word, in
the Convent of Lyons, in order to associate pious souls
n the spirit of the Order, and in its merits and prac-
tices. Erected first by Monseignieur de Neuville, it
was approved, definitely established, and enriched
with indulgences by a brief of His Holiness, Clement
X., June 20th, 1670. The exterior badge of the asso-
ciation is the red scapular, in imitation of the scapular
of the religious, to be given by a priest duly author-
ized. The confraternity still exists. By a concession
granted June 11th, 1877, the confraternity erected in
the chapel of the Incarnate Word at Kvaux (Creuse)
is enriched with the same indulgences granted to the
old association. We believe that it is the same with
other convents.

Although the convents of the Order are independ-
ent of each other, Mother de Matel had indicated in
her project of the constitutions, drawn up in 1625, a
measure that is followed in other congregations, and
which is eminently favorable to unity of views, and to

* Letter to Sister Calvary G6rin.

fraternal charity. "All the convents shall have a
respect for the one first established, and have recourse
to it iii doubt, and for affairs of the Order, in order to
be enlightened from the original source. They shall
respect, therefore, new regulations made for the good
of the Order, and they shall not make or obey new
statutes, nor change or lessen them without notifying
the first convent ; in all things they will conform to its
decisions.

' ' Each convent shall be obliged to send it yearly a
written account of the principal things that have
occurred in the preceding twelve months, in the form
of annals, that may serve as matter for the Order, and a
copy of such letter shall be kept in each convent in a
book for that purpose, that it may serve as a history of
successive events." *

When we read the accounts which Mother de Matel
gave to her Superiors in virtue of holy obedience, we
experience some little trouble in view of the promises
made to the Order. It is impossible to suspect illusion
or fraud ;' the character of the foundress, her simplicity,
her humility, her candor, the graces evidently granted
to her intercession, the testimony of all who knew her
attest it ; she has written, she has said nothing but
what she had heard. On the other hand, the history
of the Order, however great it has been, does not seem
to correspond to these promises. What, must then, be
our conclusion ? That our impatience misleads us ; in
the eyes of Him to Whom the centuries are but as one
day, the time at hand is not always to-morrow. Do
not the sacred writers speak of the end of the world as
imminent ? Are not the times that have elapsed since
Our Lord to them as a day that is prolonged ?

* First project, ch. 2, 4, and 5.

This seems to be the way in which Our IyOrd
wished to be understood in a magnificent revelation, in
which, alluding to the prophecy of Jacob to Judah his
son, He compares Jeanne to a lioness: "The lion
and the lioness awake their j'oung by their roaring ;
the children who shall be born of the sacred nuptials
that I have contracted with thee, shall be awakened by
the loudness of our voice and the awe of our words,
especially in the establishment of our new Order in the
Church, and we shall make the world resound with a
salutary roar that shall rouse men from the slumber
into which they are plunged. . . . The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, said Jacob to his son.
That sceptre, it is I, thy King, and thy Kingdom. I
have given myself to thee as spouse ; I will give
myself to the Order that I shall establish by thy
means. I shall come, as it were, again into the world
for the good of many souls who await Me.

" My daughter and My spouse, this second coming
of the Word, Myself, do not doubt it, shall be before
the reign of the militant Church shall have ended." *
In a letter to the Abbe de Cerisy, Mother de Matel
writes these astonishing words : ' ' He Who can not
deceive has assured me that the gates of hell shall never
prevail against this Order, however great the rage of
the demons and the contradictions he may excite
against it."

The prediction has not failed. We shall »see the
Order of the Incarnate Word, in the lifetime of its
foundress, fearfully agitated. One wing ot the edifice
wavers, and the whole, humanly speaking, should fall,
but the work of Jeanne remains. During a whole
century, as Jesus Christ in the day of His exile and

* Autobiography.

passion, and as the Church in the Catacombs, the
Order remained hidden or obscured, contemned or
assailed.

The storm of the revolution passed away ; mighty
oaks fell never to arise again, and this last comer, in
appearance so feeble, the Order of the Incarnate Word,
sees its broken stock put forth fresh shoots among the
ruins. Let us hail this resurrection which we behold,
and which gives no uncertain sign that it is the dawn
of a glorious life.

CHAPTER III.

THE COSTUME OF THE ORDER OF THE INCARNATE

WORD.

•

We have seen, how in a series of visions, Our Eord
indicated the details of that costume that was to be
borne by the daughters of His Order. Mother de
Matel gives many explanations of the allegorical
meaning of the colors of the Order — the blue of the
tunic, the white of the exterior habit, the scarlet of the
scapular and mantle. We reproduce a few :

'.' In this dress is represented the vesture of the
strong woman clad in strength and beauty.

"The first color, red, represents strength ; white,
the greatest purity ; the blue of the tunic is the color
of the Eternal Father and of the Blessed Virgin; it is the
interior life which will make the Bridegroom give His
Heart to the Spouse, and cause her to live on the last
day. This, Our Savior, is the true Joseph, clothed in a
variegated robe, of blue, because He is of heaven ; of
white, because He is the brightness of eternal light ; of
red, because He is truly man, of the most pure blood of
Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin.

1 ' This habit represents great mysteries in the Holy
Trinity ; the blue is the Eternal Father, Who has
always, remained in the heavens, not manifesting Himself
sensibly as the other Persons ; the Son, all white, is
the splendor of the Father and the brightness of eternal
light ; the red is the Holy Ghost, the fire of love.

' ' These three colors also form the rainbow that
was seen to surround the throne of God. Everv one

of the religious should be the throne of God and of the
Lamb, and should have His colors, even as the lambs
of Jacob were variegated like the rods in the troughs.
God is a fountain, the Savior is the rod of the Eternal
Father, the true Jacob, by whom He came into the
world, since the Son it was who made known to us
the Father.

' ' These colors are also those worn by Our Lord in
His passion ; the blue of His bruised flesh, the white
of Herod's robe, the red of the purple mantle.

1 ' These three colors show Him the true sovereign ;
blue for the heavens, white for the world, red for hell.
By the divine wrath all sorts of men shall be prostrated
at sight ot the Lamb. The blue denotes the assurance
and loyalty of the citizens of heaven ; white, the
hope of those on earth ; red, that there is no pardon
for those in hell. The religious must be a heaven, in
which the will of God is accomplished ; she must be
the earth, to produce lilies in profusion, with which the
great Solomon shall be more gloriously clothed than
was the other Solomon in all his ornaments ; He will
even feed on them, according to the saying, what
pleases, feeds. The red is the jealousy of the Spouse,
more enduring than hell, w7ho comes that He may be
loved with a love singular and without end." *

We shall cite here some passages from a chapter
consecrated to the mystical meaning of the colors of
the Incarnate Word, and the different parts of the
costume.

"What a favor, O divine Love, Thou hast con-
ferred on the daughters of Thy Order, in bidding me
to clothe them in red and white, thus granting them
what was said by St. Paul : ' Clothe yourselves with
Our Lord Jesus Christ.' It wTas to honor on earth, to

* First project of the Constitutions.

represent and announce in these last times the excess
o( love that caused Thy sorrowful passion ; that, in
seeing the white we might admire Thy innocence,
striving to imitate it ; that, in the red, we should recall
the obligation contracted by us to offer ourselves with-
out ceasing, should Thy glory require it, even to
death, for Thee who died for love of us

" The red scapular that we shall wear will be the
figure of Thy cross, dyed with Thy blood, by which
Thou didst reconcile heaven and earth

" The crown of thorns, inclosing Thy name, and,
beneath, the heart in which is written Amor mens, my
Love, will be the protest of Thy daughters to love
naught but Thee."

Jeanne received a touching communication on these
words, Jesus Amor mens, inscribed on the scapular
of the Order. On a certain feast of St. Michael, being
elevated in spirit near this archangel, she rejoiced in
his glory and congratulated him on the triumphant
affirmation of his name : Michael, (Qnis nt Dens). *
Through a grand courtes}r, this glorious prince and the
angels answered : Jcsu, amor mens, Jesu, amor mens, f
And then, as it were like an echo, answering them-
selves, they again said : Jesu, amor mens. I wondered
at the reiteration, but St. Michael said to me : ' Even
as the Divine Word honored me by this divine name,
of which He loves the repetition, so He wishes thee to
be honored and praised by the elect, bearing on thy
heart, Jesu, amor mens. These are grand words, and
as wonderful as : Quis nt Deus.,}

Continuing to instruct Mother de Matel on the
mysterious meaning of the scapular, Our L,ord told her

* Who is like unto God ?
f Jesus, my love.

one clay: "Note that this part of the habit of the
Order resembles the Ephod and the Rational worn by
the high-priest of the old law when he entered the
sanctuary. In the Rational he wore the names of the
twelve chiefs of the twelve tribes of Israel ; but what
help could he expect of them ? And the rich em-
broidery, together with the valuable gems of the
Rational, were they worth the thorns that encircled
My head, or the nails that held Me to the Cross, as
emblazoned on thy scapular ? But what I particularly
love in the scapular of My Order, is to see in the midst
of the thorns, and underneath My name, a heart
burning with love. It is upon this heart that My eyes
love to rest, because I look upon it as the symbol of
the hearts of My spouses ; this heart tells Me that I
am their only love. Could they consecrate their heart
to one who would love them more ? They find in Me,
in a sovereign degree that Doctrine and Truth of which
the Rational of Aaron bore only the names. In Me is
all the beautiful and the good : I am beauty and good-
ness itself.

" If they do not wear this symbol of their
love in vain, if I dwell truly in their heart, if I
am their only love, that heart shall be a pro-
pitiatory, and the true Hoty of Holies, an altar of
which I will be the victim, always immolated
though living, a victim without spot, and of pleas-
ing savor to My Father, to Whom I will offer

M3rself, in their name, by the Hofy Spirit

Their heart shall be to Me an asjrlum where I shall
repose in assurance, and the constancy of their hearts
shall hush the complaint of My own. I shall no longer
sa}^ : ' The birds of the heavens have nests, in which
to place their young, and the foxes have holes; but the
Son of man hath not where to lay his head.' * Accord-

* St. Math. VIII, 20.

ing to another instruction of the Lord the scapular was
to be regarded as a summons to ' patience and to
interior and exterior purity.' "

The cincture also is full of teaching and promise:
' 'My daughter, ' ' said Our Lord to Jeanne, ' 'speak to thy
daughters of the red cincture that I gave them to wear.
Tell them not to regard the material, poor and com-
mon as it is, it should be to them more beautiful and
rich than if it were of cloth of gold, and adorned with
precious stones, for it is the symbol of the cord which
My enemies made use of to hale Me to death for love
of them. That cord bound My body so tightly that it
penetrated My flesh, and bore away shreds when it
w7as torn off in order to attach Me to My Cross. But
those cords have disappeared and do not receive the
ho'nors paid to the other instruments of My Passion,
and which are rendered to the chains ot My Apostles.
Teach thy daughters, dear Spouse, that My Providence
has relied on their zeal to honor the red cincture that
I have given them. They can not wear it without
remembering that I was bound, as criminal never was,
and for their love. Those cords that caused me such
tortures were the loving cords that I had prepared with
which to draw and bind them to Myself. Can they
ever wish to sever them ? Can they desire to weaken
them? Let them remember that it is love, the most
tender, and the most generous that made them; this
thought will render them holy and inviolable.

' ' This vestment will be dearer and more honored
when they recollect the cruel and shameful captivity to
which I subjected Myself in order to purchase for them
eternal freedom. I promise that it shall be their
portion if they preserve the purity merited by My
Blood, with which they are covered, and, as it were,
clothed. The mystic habit that I have given them

will make Me regard them with complacency, and I
will lead them into My glory. ' '

As to the mantle, we remember the indications that
Jeanne received, and how Our Lord answered her
doubts and her fears of mockery.

' ' The red mantle that I have given thee, ' ' He says
later, ' ' shows you by its loving shelter that you are
My beloved spouses. It is a regal and a sacred mantle.
It is the royal purple." On another occasion, He
says: ' ' My daughters assume the red mantle only, after
their profession, when they are crucified with Me,
because I wore a similar mantle only when I was to be
crucified I" * . . . . How glorious and dear this
connection !

There is nothing in this beautiful vesture, even to
the sandals, that is not symbolic and does not breathe
of duty. " Our feet are shod in red," says Mother de
Matel, " to make us understand that we are to assist
thee in treading the wine-press of Thy love."

* Autobiography.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FATHERS OF THE INCARNATE WORD.

11 Our worthy mother," say the daughters of Jeanne
de Matel, in the preface to a work that we are about
to analyze, ' ' had made long and fervent meditations on
the three states of life that the Incarnate Word had led
for our instruction : His hidden life in the house of
St. Joseph ; His penitential and solitary life in the
desert ; His active life amongst men in the last years
of His sojourn on earth. She felt herself inspired to
establish a seminary and community of regular priests,
who, by their state, should, like the religious of her
Congregation, be specially devoted to the worship of
the Person of the Incarnate Word. ' '

It is of this Institute of the Fathers of the Incarnate
Word and of the Blessed Sacrament that we are now
to speak.

After long reflection Jeanne drew up a plan of
Constitutions in accordance with those that the Church
had sanctioned for her religious. But, ever humble
and prudent, she would not rely on herself, but sub-
mitted her plans to Rev. Father Carre, one of her
directors. The pious and learned Dominican fully
approved her idea, and willingly took upon himself the
charge of revising and correcting what she had
proposed. And thus were written the Constitutions
of this second branch of the Order of the Incarnate
Word. We give a methodical and succinct abridge-
ment of them.

The Fathers of the Incarnate Word are priests and
religious clerics, who live in Community. They look

upon the Incarnate Word as their chief patron, and on
the Blessed Virgin as the Mother-General of the Con-
gregation. They must have great devotion to the holy
Apostles and to the angels, especially to St. Michael
and St. Gabriel, and to the holy persons who had

intercourse with Our L,ord.

•

From the fundamental idea of the Congregation, the
imitation of the three states of life of the Incarnate
Word, Jeanne derived the following ends of the
Institute :

1. As Our Lord passed thirty years of His life
in humility, in labors, and in the exercise of charity
towards St. Joseph, whom He nursed during a long
sickness, the Fathers of the Incarnate Word will be
hospitable inasmuch as. circumstances may admit.
They may receive travelers and the poor, in case of
need, offering them shelter, a few days of rest, and
good advice.

But the most touching and perfect hospitality is
that which is given to souls. Hence, Mother de Matel
wished that the houses of the Fathers of the Incarnate
Word should be houses for spiritual retreats :
"The poor as the rich, seculars and ecclesiastics,
according to their means and faculties, shall be wel-
come to these holy retreats, when they desire to enter
there in order to make a serious review of themselves."

2. So as to imitate the Incarnate Word in His
solitary life in the desert, Jeanne insisted on the Fathers
devoting themselves, as much as possible, to interior
exercises, to study and prayer. She wished them to
be men of prayer and of steady application. In remem-
brance of the practices of the Cenobitic life of the
deserts of the Thebais, she desired that in their garden
there should be separate oratories, with cells, into
which the religious could retire from time to time, the

better to separate themselves from distracting occupa-
tions, and from all noise, to study and pray, alone with
God.

3. In memory of the public life of Our L,ord, and
to imitate Him, Mother de Matel called her religious
to the apostleship. They would give missions in* the
parishes at the invitation of the curates and bishops,
whom they would feel honored in assisting. "They
must be desirous of shedding the last drop of their
blood for the salvation of souls who have cost so much
to Jesus Christ, and, meanwhile, if they are competent
and their superiors send them, announce the truth in
villages, towns, the mountains, and even in armies."

But amongst all other forms of the apostolate
there was one that Mother de Matel regarded as an
essential function of the Congregation of the Fathers
of the Incarnate Word, the education of youth. " One
of the important services," she says, "that the Con-
gregation can render the Church, is the education
given to youth." And in another place : " The good
education of youth being, as it were, the soul of this
Congregation, the Superiors will be careful to provide
good masters."

Jeanne considers this work from a double point of
view. They will receive into the houses of the Order
"boarders, as many as may present themselves, and
for whom there shall be accommodations and a suffi-
cient number of religious for their care and instruction. ' '
But, this function, common to other teaching Con-
gregations, does not suffice for her heart, burning with
charitable zeal. She saw around her a great number
of children, whose families, ruined by war and the evils
of the times, could not give them an education, to the
great loss of the Church, and of the common good.
She adopted them and grouped them under a touching

name, as a spiritual family of the Incarnate Word :
' ' As amongst the nobility there are poor as well as
rich, and others but moderately well to do, they will
receive the one and the other, exercising zeal toward
all, as much as possible, in imitation of Christ and His
apostles. Children may be received at the age of
seven years, and remain in the convent until they are
able to serve the Church and the King. These young
nobles were to be called Children of the Holy Family.
.... When they find boys of talent and docility,
even though they be not noble, the Fathers should
receive them and take great pains to bring them up in
piety and learning."

And then what touching interest she takes in the
w7ork : "In order to increase the number of students
.the Fathers shall rather diminish other charities than
fail in this, living frugal^, so that by temperance,
economy, mortification of the palate, and manual labor,
they may assist poor youths in their education and in
the necessaries of life."

Speaking of the brothers who are occupied in
exterior services, and in the guardianship of the
students, she recommends that " when they succeed in
these employments they should not be removed to be
engaged in others. That being the most important,
they should be continued in it so long as the}' are
faithful in the religious life, and their health per-
mits it."

The same spirit of intelligent and devoted charity
is seen in the regulations which she gives for the
direction of youth, and the Fathers of the Incarnate
Word had only to understand fully the prescriptions of
their Mother in order to become excellent instructors
in every respect.

4. The imitation of the Incarnate Word does not
consist simply in the profound study of His mysteries ;

A should be animated by a constant contemplation of
His divine Person. To reproduce Him in their lives,
the fathers shall become the familiars of His Court,
and approach Him as nearly as possible. Hence,
preceding in her desires and prescriptions the rules of
more modern Institutes, and mindful of the title given
to her Order b}T authority of the Church, she calls her
fathers the Religious of the Blessed Sacrament.

" In all established houses and Convents there shall
be Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and
no one shall be exempt by night or day. The fathers
and brothers shall take their turn, two by two, to pass
half an hour before the Blessed Sacrament. They
shall wear the cord around the neck during the hour
or the half hour, as the Superior may determine.
They shall make the act of reparation, inclining
profoundly and humbly, interiorly as well as exteriorly,
holding a lighted candle in their hand. They will
pray for the restoration of the faith in England, and
for all the needs of Holy Church.

' Towards the end of the half hour, or at the third
quarter, one of the two fathers or brothers shall go to
warn or awake those who have to replace them. The
signal will be five strokes on the great bell, so that the
new adorers shall come with fresh ardor to occupy
their places, animated by a fervent zeal to repair,. as far
as they can, with the help of divine grace, all the
injuries that the Person of the Incarnate Word receives,
and has received, in the Blessed Sacrament, by
numberless ungrateful creatures, or by those who are
blinded by the errors into which they have fallen, or
who have been born in infidel lands."

In Mother de Matel's plan, the Order of the Incarnate
Word comprises priests or clerks, brothers converse,
and lay-brothers or laymen. After two years of

noviceship they are admitted to profession, " and will
make solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,
and of living and dying in the Congregation of the
Incarnate Word." The fathers^wear a white soutane,
the red scapular, on which is embroidered a crown of
thorns in green silk, inclosing the name of Jesus,
surmounted by a cross, and beneath, a heart pierced by
three nails, with the wrords, Amor mens. The cincture
is of red leather, in memory of the cords that bound
Our Iyord in His Passion. The choir mantle is red.
Out of the house they wear a black cloak over the
soutane.

The discipline of the Order does • not call for
extraordinary exterior penances ; the fast of Friday
and the discipline on certain days are at the discretion
of the Superior, who should carefully take into account
the occupations and health of his subjects.

The daily religious exercises are prayer, a visit to
the Blessed Sacrament and the recitation of the office
by chant or otherwise. The spirit of silence and
retreat is one most urged by the rule, which seeks to
favor prayer and work. To promote this, the Con-
stitutions prescribe to the fathers a retreat every three
months, or at least twice a year.

The Fathers of the Incarnate Word, in the founda-
tion of their houses, and in the exercise of their
functions, are entirely subject to the Ordinary. The
vow of obedience in the profession is made to Our
Holy Father the Pope, and to the Bishop of the diocese
in which they are, so that the Holy Father and the
Bishop dispose of their goods, their liberty and their
life, when, and as they think proper, for the defense
and propagation of the faith.

Each house is governed by a Superior, nominated
by the Provincial, but to be accepted or confirmed by

two-thirds of the fathers of the community to
which he is sent ; he shall have been professed for at
least six years. The same Chapter, by an absolute
majority of votes, assigns him four consultors, "on
whom the community depends in spiritual and temporal
matters." The Superior and consultors hold office for
three years, and appoint the principal officers of the
house, such as Treasurer, Procurator, etc.

To form a province there must be fifteen houses,
of which three are for the novitiate, probation and
studies. Several provinces are united as a nation, if
need be.

The Order is under a General, who appoints the
national superiors for a three years' term, and they
name the provincials, who hold office for four years.
The General has for assistants a Procurator-general,
and council, a Treasurer-general of the Order and a
Secretary.

Every six months, in each house, the consultors and
the fathers who appointed them ' ' assemble to take an
exact account of the good or bad conduct as well of the
Superior as of the consultors, and other officers, and
during eight days will examine the books and archives,
appointing a commission of the most expert to that
effect." The Superior will give the seals to the Dean,
and he and the consultors will retire, not speaking to
any of the house during the eight days ; the inferior
officers continue in their employments.

11 After sufficient examination they will gladly con-
firm those who have been found faithful, and they
will depose those who may have been found in fault,
or who have been careless in their duties. Should
there have been any falsely calumnious charges, the
Visitor or the Provincial Chapter reverses the decision,
and banishes the calumniators from the Congregation."

The Provincial Chapter is formed of delegates from
each house named in the assembly above mentioned.
This Chapter proceeds with regard to the Provincial
and other officers of the province as was indicated for
the-chapter of each particular house, and, at the stated
times, names the consultors and colleagues of the Pro-
vincial, deposes or replaces them as may be required.
It elects two of the most ancient of the fathers,
exclusive of the Provincial and those in chapter, to
attend the National Chapter; the Provincial never leav-
ing the province without the express order or com-
mand of his superiors. The same rules are observed
in the National Chapter for the formation of the General
Chapter.

This is a summary of the Constitutions laid down
by the foundress for this branch of the Order of the
Incarnate Word. The most ordinary respect for the
mission which undoubtedly she had received from on
high, the approval of prudent men, and of the enlight-
ened directors of the time,forbidusto suppose that they
were written except by a special inspiration. And
then, setting aside such an injurious hypothesis, can it
be believed that in God's designs they were destined
to remain a dead letter, without fruit to His glory aid
the salvation of souls ?

It is certain that up to this time the Order of the
Fathers of the Incarnate Word has remained a mere
project. The work was about to be commenced, M.
de la Piardiere, named Superior of Paris, bad taken it
to heart and had begun to put in execution by the
purchase of a house. His son, as postulant, had even
asked on his knees from Mother de Matel the habit of
the Order, when the civil wars and their consequent
disorders, the death of Father Carre, and the departure
of the foundress from Paris, first delayed, and finally
compelled the abandonment of " an establishment,

which, according to appearances, was on the eve of
accomplishment, being- assured of protection and of
suitable subjects to form a community, and which the
great ones of the world were pleased to support with
their authority."

The project has been taken up in our times by a
missionary of great reputation and virtue.

A venerable 'religious of the convent of Evraux
writes to us that " the Abbe Combalot had always
dreamed of the founding of the Fathers of the Incarnate
Word. He had erected a beautiful little church, finely
decorated, furnished and provided with rich ornaments
and sacred vessels, and a house containing twelve cells,
to receive the fathers, all at his own expense.

1 ' Monseigneur de la Tour d'Auvergne, who greatly
loved the Incarnate Word, desired the establishment
of this Order. Encouraged by this venerable prelate,
his friend, and by a beautiful letter that he received
from Rome, Father Combalot set to work. He was
stopped by sudden and unforeseen circumstances.

Monseigneur Fruchaud, who died Archbishop of
Tours, had, during his sojourn in the diocese of
Limoges, earnestly approved the idea of constituting
the Order. ' ' I have always wished to see the Order
of the Incarnate Word erected for men, because I
profess a true devotion for Mather de Matel," wrote
the Provincial of a great Order to a venerable prelate
who had communicated to him his thoughts on the
subject. But a greater argument for faithful souls
who may read these pages will be found in the bene-
diction given by a venerated Pontiff, Pius IX., to the
project of restoration. We give an extract from a
letter which this great Pope caused to be written by
Monseigneur d' Aquila : "I have had occasion to lay
before the Holy Father, in a private audience, the

beautiful plan of the Abbe Combalot for the congre-
gation for the Missionaries of the Incarnate Word,
which lie designs to establish, and I can assure you
that he heard the project with pleasure, praised the
measures taken to that end, and sends his special
benediction that the work may be resolutely can
to a successful issue.

" In the course of the conversation, His Holinc 3
said : ' Ah, yes, the Abbe Combalot is a zealous
missionary and does a great deal of good, but he
should be a little less advanced in years, that he might
see the fruits of the Institute which he proposes to
establish.' I remarked that, although advanced in
years, his mind, his heart and his love for the Church,
were still young. "True, true, said His Holiness,
and he repeated his benediction.

1 ' Please to communicate this account to the Abbe
Combalot, together with my respect and best wishes
for his enterprise. The project is truly fine, and I
wish him health and man}- years of life in which to
realize it, now that he knows that it has received the
blessing of the Vicar of Christ."

Why, then, should not this project be realized?
It may be said that there are too many religious con-
gregations in the Church. But this objection has not
more weight now than it had against the last, the next
fto the iast, or any other society founded in the Church,
against which there was no other argument, and
which it failed to prevent.

Who can be ignorant that, with an appearance of
similarity of aim and means, God diversifies the end
and mission, as in nature trees of the same class, but
of different species, profusely serve our needs and
pleasure.

Have not the great families of St. Dominic and St.
Francis a number of points in common ? At first
sight, would not one think them the same ? And yet
they are only sisters, and Providence, in bringing
them into the world at the same time, seems to
warn us against vain fears of divine profusion.

On the other hand, the Order of the Incarnate
Word and of the Blessed Sacrament, as Jeanne con-
ceived it, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, and
as we have sketched it in these pages, is far from
wanting a special character. To offer to priests, in
houses set apart to this end, a place of recollection,
furnishing them, meanwhile, with substitutes who
meet their responsibilities in their absence ; to favor a
life of solitude and labor for those sonls who desire it ;
to consecrate one's self not to the education of an impov-
erished nobility, but to the collection and preparation
for the priesthood of poor children and young men,
who could never attain to it otherwise, on account of
the poverty of their families ; to concentrate for this
noble purpose the entire force of a congregation, its
influence and zeal, is not that an end that indicates
a spirit sufficiently great to characterize a work ?

And, who may affirm that these three great func-
tions intended by Jeanne in order that it should
reproduce the Incarnate Word in His triple life,
laborious, solitary and evangelical, instead of being •
parts of one soul, are not to be different lots divided ,
amongst members of the same family, who should thus
be truly the Incarnate Word under different aspects,
living these lives simultaneously in hearts that are
grouped together in the same love. This living
synthesis, uniting in itself the labors and graces of differ-
ent Orders, as Christ unites in Himself all the features

*
of supernatural beauty that are divided out amongst
the saints, is it an impossibility ? can it never become
a reality ? #

This is not the thought of the pious daughters of
Mother de Matel. They long for the day that shall
complete the family of which they are the first mem-
bers, according to the divine plan of the Incarnation,
which caused an Immaculate Virgin to be born into
the world before it budded forth a Savior. Trusting
in their hopes, we do not hesitate to say that we have
shared them, and that the desire of communicating
them to other souls, and of hastening their realization,
had its part in inducing us to undertake the present
work.

BOOK SIXTH.

LAST VICARS OF JEANNE DE MATEL, AND HER
DEATH— 1655-1670.

CHAPTER I.

FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE CONVENT OF EYONS
TO THE THIRD VOYAGE OF JEANNE TO PARIS —

1655-1663.

We left Mother de Matel, towards the end of 1655,
when she had founded the Convent of Lyons, and
might fairly be supposed to be at the end of her trials.
It was but seeming ; enlightened from on high, she
knew that the hour of her greatest contradictions was
striking.

In approaching this period of her life, let us
frankly say that we are not in the least tempted to hide
the truth or to conceal it by our reticence. That, in
the ingratitude and persecution of which she was the
victim, the deed often surpassed the intention ; that
some of the agitation was owing to misunderstanding,
to ignorance, to natural defects of character, or to
weakness, we do not deny. God saw all and judged
it. But we should think that we insulted the

Order of the Incarnate Word, if, to extenuate the
faults of some of its members, we were to deprive the
foundress of the halo of her passion. The Evangelists
did not seek for excuses, they gave facts. After
all, if we find in this afflicting episode the denial of

Peter, we do not see the treason of Judas. And was
it not said of the Apostolic Order the first, the' holiest
of all others, and in time devoted even to martyrdom,
that : " Discipuli omnes relido eo fugerunt" *

"To understand fully this melancholy history,"
very judiciously observes the author of a notice of the
Order, " we must not forget that, being divinely called
to a kind of new introduction of the Incarnate Word
into the world, Mother de Matel had to experience in
her own person His human states and mysteries. So,
if the Convent of Paris had a legitimate pretension to
be her Jerusalem, borrowing too much of the spirit of
the Jews, it raised for her a Calvary. For, having
insisted on a Messiah, glorious in his temporal posses-
sions, it lost its riches, together with the Messiah, after
ignorantly crucifying Him in the person of Him Who
gave it an existence." f

The Convent of Paris had continued to prosper
under the direction of Mother of the Holy Ghost
Nallard : " She was a woman of more than ordinary
worth, who for many years had made a vow always to
do that which God would show her to be the more
perfect. She had a wonderful talent for governing
souls, and for gaining the confidence of all those who
had anything to do with her." % .Her death in 1655
was a great loss to the Order, and the beginning of
serious disorders in her Convent.. Mother de Matel
was supernaturally warned of the event : Mother
Nallard appeared to her on the day of her death, and
respectfully knelt down as though to receive her
blessing. " My daughters," said Jeanne, after the

. * Matt. XXVI, 56. " Then the disciples all, leaving him, fled. "

f "The Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament," by
Father Joseph of Jesus. We shall often have occasion to refer to this
work.

% Iyife by a Jesuit Father.

apparition, " How I fear the letters that are coming !
What an affliction ! " She was not mistaken. The
news quickly came that the beloved sister had been
carried off after twenty- four hours of sickness. Jeanne
seemed more desolate than ever before, unless, perhaps,
at the death of Elizabeth Grasseteau, and she felt
obliged to excuse her sorrow by recalling the tears of
St. Paul at the death of his friend, "though I was
resigned to the divine will," and the supplications of
Our Lord in His agony, though he was ready to drink
the chalice of His Passion and death.

The sisters of the Convent of Paris, in announcing
her death, entreated Jeanne to choose them another
Superior from one of the houses of the Order, but she
thought it useless to borrow elsewhere the aid they
had at hand. She wrote to the Prior of the Abbey
of St. Germain, Dom Spinaci, to be so kind as to see
to the replacing of Mother Nallard, and intimated as
her choice Jeanne de Jesus Belly. Intimidated by her
own youth — she was scarcely twenty-three years old
— the sister, whose worth and rare qualities were well
known to the foundress, believed herself incompetent
for the office. It would have been more comformable
to simplicity and to the spirit of submission to have
accepted the decision of Providence. She could not
make up her mind to do so. It became necessary to
choose another Superior, and the choice fell upon
Jeanne of the Passion, Fiot, who accepted. But the
burthen soon seemed to her too heavy ; she begged
Mother de Matel to relieve her, and the latter had to
seek a Superior in another house. She wrote to the
Right Rev. Bishop of Grenoble for permission to draw
two sisters from the convent under his jurisdiction,
one of whom would be Superioress at Paris. The
prelate left her completely at liberty in her choice
and dispositions.

What was not her astonishment on seeing the
Superioress of the Convent of Grenoble and four other
religious arriving from that convent in the autumn of
1656. The government of Mother Theresa Gibalin
had not been as prudent and discreet as was requisite
in a new foundation, and so, notwithstanding the
opposition of many of her religious, and even of the
Bishop, Mother de Matel had insisted on her being
replaced in her office, after the two triennial terms,
according to rule. Mother Calvary Gerin was called
to the succession in 1650.

Several letters of Jeanne show that at first she
fully enjoyed the confidence of the foundress.
" Mother Gerin of Calvary," says Sister de Belly,
who was in a situation to know her well, ' ' was filled
with the graces of heaven and earth so long as she
was submissive to our worthy Mother, but, since she
has withdrawn herself, especially since the contract
of compromise which she brought about at our convent
in Paris, August 18th, 1663, contrary to the inten-
tions of our worthy Mother Foundress, the Incarnate
Word seems to have visibly taken away His favor
from the said Mother Gerin. Already, in 1655, a
discreet warning revealed in Jeanne anxieties that
were afterwards but too well justified. My confi-
dence in the Providence of the Incarnate Word is
well known in His Order," she wrote to her ; " this
I have received from His goodness, but that does not
exclude prudence, which dictates that all should be
done discreetly, and wisely weighed and measured in
the balance of the sanctuary." And then, alluding to
her desire to fill the convent with religious, accepted
without discretion, and without regard to the neces-
sary resources, she says : ' ' Take care hereafter not
to receive any without a sufficiency to clothe and feed
them. I do not share your zeal, being content with

eight professed, four of whom I left at Paris ; I still
refuse others at Lyons, fearing to burthen the con-
vents."

Evidently Mother Gerin was rather rash. How-
ever that may be, her appearance on the scene at this
juncture in the general history of the Order, is the
first station in the sorrowful way in which Mother de
Matel was about to enter, never to leave it until she
returned to God.

Having learned the intentions of the foundress,.
Mother Gerin persuaded the Bishop of Grenoble that it.
would be but proper for her to accompany her daughters
to Lyons ; she would also enjoy the consolation of
seeing Mother de Matel. And so, taking with her
four subjects whom she selected, and without permis-
sion of the foundress, without even warning her, she
set out for Lyons. On seeing her, Jeanne gently said :
' Truly, my daughter, what have you done ? I asked
for two religious, and you are five, without inquiring
whether I am able to support the expense, and without
knowing from me whether it is for the good of the
Order. You should not have acted thus." The
reprimand was not severe for so serious an infraction
of the rules, and of the respect due to the foundress.
The cunning sister was let off very easily, though she
attempted a justification that would have- justified
nothing save to the charity of Mother de Matel.

But, divining the thought that suggested this
manoeuvre, Jeanne resolved to expose it. She returned
to her first idea of putting Sister de Belly at the head
of the convent of Paris, and to strengthen that hive,
determined to send there two of the religious who
had been brought to her, retaining the other two.
The Superior of Grenoble had to return to her post.
But, as she was ambitious of governing the Convent

of Paris, she did not go without instructing the
religious, who were devoted to her, how they should
act in order to second her designs.

Accompanied by Sister Gravier, on the 24th of
November, they joined a pious company from Prov-
ence, and reached Paris on the 4th of December, 1056.
Mother de Matel had enjoined her secretary to see the
Prior of St. Germain, and, informing him of her nom-
ination of Sister de Belly as Superior, to request him to
impose the office upon her in spite of all repugnance.
Jeanne de Belly perceived that a fresh refusal would
be to resist the ordinance of God ; in submission, she
took the post of authority, and in humility the first
place. This was entering by the right door, and her
direction was speedily blest. The name, the piety,
the intelligence of Mother de Belly, gained for the
Convent of the Incarnate Word- the sympathy of the
great and the generous. The convent, soon enriched
by subjects remarkable for their birth and for other
good qualities, assumed an importance that it had not
previously had." *

From I^yons Mother de Matel sustained and directed
her daughter, and helped her in the difficulties of her
government. Having learned that the door of the
convent had been too easily opened for the entrance of
subjects destitute of the necessary guarantees for their
religious fidelity, or who had come impelled by the
necessities of communities destroyed during the war,
she wrote : " May the Incarnate Word be our all in
time and in eternity. It is the maternal and heart-
felt salutation of your loving Mother, who is somewhat
relieved from her constant sore eyes, so that, wi-th her
own hand and pen, as from her heart, she may assure
you that your fidelity in her convent will be rewarded

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

Cti

by Him Who is truly the faithful witness, as St. John,
His beloved, writes in the Apocalypse:

"Remember that I refused to Father Carre, with
whose merit and virtue I was well acquainted, entrance
for religious of different Orders, Abbesses, Prioresses
and others, who wished to be received as boarders, one
of whom would have paid 1500 livres pension money,
with only one maid to serve her, and to whom I owed
some obligations, because I knew that it was not the
will of the Incarnate Word.

" I am still of the opinion that we should not
receive great personages as boarders. The Incarnate
Word said to His Apostles: Suffer little ones to come
to me. When He wanted to teach the people He
commanded the Apostles to move away that He might
avoid the crowd ; He lived thirty years with His Holy
Mother and St. Joseph. I do not blame those who like
to have a numerous community; it is their spirit." . . .

Jeanne spent the year 1657 in directing Iger different
convents, especially in strengthening that of Lyons,
where her presence and direction planted the seed of a
vigorous religious life. Calumny still pursued her, going
so far as to spread libellous reports against her. She
defended herself only by patience and prayer. This
was her sole revenge. One of her historians says :
"She was like a rose amidst thorns, diffusing the
sweet odor of her virtues. To love and to suffer were
her only desire." On the other hand, her soul
remained attentive to the communications from heaven,
though the vision of glory was frequently shaded by
the darker tints of the future which she foresaw.

In the course of the year 1658, before being
dragged to the pretorium and Calvary, Jeanne had a
hosanna of passing joy and triumph. She was sum-
moned to Roanne for the settlement of certain famjly

affairs consequent on the death of her brother-in-law,
and with the additional attraction of a possible foun-
dation in that city. This project had long- been one 01
her cherished dreams. She wished to consecrate to it
all that she could dispose of after the accomplishment
of so many works. The convent at Roanne would
complete the mystic number of her houses by which
she wished to honor the five wounds of Our Lord.
There she would retire to receive the habit, end her
days in solitude, in forgetfulness of self and the world
of affairs; there where she had received her being, and
where, as a child, she had been prepared by so many
graces from God.

Full of this thought, Jeanne started for Roanne,
attended by Sister Gravier, her faithful Secretary, who
had returned from Paris. Let us listen to the account
of her happiness: " My joy was great at witnessing
the increase of devotion in the place of my birth, and I
was inexpressibly happy in adoring Thee in the parish
church where I had received the life of grace in the
sacrament of regeneration.' I renewed my prayers to
Thy fervent and holy deacon, the first of Thy martyrs,
St. Stephen, who had conferred on me so many favors,
heaven having been opened to me so often in his
church ; I recalled the multitude of graces that I had
received in the course of twenty-nine years. Thou,
my divine benefactor, added to them new ones.

"On seeing this devout people, I remembered the
tender love that St. John Chrysostom had for his people
of Antioch, whose pastor he was. Having nothing
equal to his dignity, I had the love of a shepherdess
for Thy sheep and lambs with whom I am joined, in a
holy and angelic manner, in a pious and more than
natural companionship. Every thing charmed me,
and I no longer felt my infirmities so sensibly. I
seemed to have received new health and strength to

carry on Thy Order, and to promote Thy glory, the
zeal o\ which so inspired the Curate and all the clergy
of Roanne, the nobility, the great and little, as to fill
me with satisfaction." *

Jeanne remained in her native city more than three
months, from the 2d of May to the 8th of September,
living in the house of her sister, near the church of St.
Stephen. She frequently visited the college chapel,
where she had received so many divine favors and had
been so wisely directed. On the feast of the Nativity
of the Blessed Virgin, "after having," as she says,
" communicated in the chapel of the Rosary, with an
abundance of tears of joy, I received the blessing of
the Curate, whom I regarded whilst there as my dear
pastor, and took leave of those wise and pious clergy-
men. To my great confusion, I experienced a great
unwillingness to bid them all farewell, until I had
crossed the Loire, when Thou didst dry my tears,
telling me that Thou hadst permitted this tenderness
to show me that I was the spiritual daughter of that
holy people, and their true fellow-citizen ; that Thou
hadst blessed them and wouldst continue to do so even
to the end, fulfilling the promises made to me for Thy
glory and their sa notification." * These were the
promises to which she alludes : ' ' Roanne shall receive
great favors from My goodness, because it is the place
in which thou didst receive great graces ; it is My
good pleasure to give it a share of My bounty, because
I am good to thee, and I reward those who love
thee." * These touching* words are Jeanne's spiritual
testament to her native city ; may Roanne be ever
worthy of them.

On arriving at Iyyons, after a favorable journey,
Mother de Matel found many sick, so that she was
forced to assume again the office of cook, and to

• Autobiography.

undertake nearly all the employments of the Convent,
without omitting her interior exercises, or her appli-
cation to the holy mysteries, wrapt in mystic sleep in the
midst of the pots and pans of the kitchen. Thus did
the worthy Mother unite the offices of Mary and
Martha." * t

Whilst she was engaged in strengthening the Con-
vent of Lyons by the example of a strong and deeply
rooted humility, the demon of pride was working the
ruin of that in Paris. Mother Gerin, as we have said,
had charged the two sisters sent to that city to repre-
sent her as the one best adapted to advance the prosper-
ity of that house. They were faithful to their mission.
" It was," says an historian, more acquainted with
the facts, and therefore more capable of judging them,
' ' neither cabal nor intrigue on their part ; it was sincere
zeal and conviction." We are willing to believe it,
but all the more earnestly do we subscribe to the
reflections which follow the excuse : " It is on this
same principle that parties are so often formed in
communities which always end in degeneration, and
are attended by the most deplorable consequences."

Ever diffident of herself, Mother de Belly was
easily persuaded that another wo aid more usefully
occupy the post to which, against her own will, she
had been called. On the other hand, M. dela Piardiere
being on the point of setting out for Grenoble, they
proposed to him to anticipate the time of election by
three months, so that he could bring the new
Superioress back with him. He consented. Mother
de Belly then was deposed before the end of her term,
Mother Gerin of Calvary being elected in her place,
and the transaction was ratified by the Prior of St.
Germain. And this, strange to say, was done without

* I,ife by a Jesuit Father.

consulting the foundress. The Convent of Paris was
to pay for this infraction of the simplest rules of
prudence, of submission and respect, by a disturbance
of its peace at first, and, finally, by its existence.

Mother de Belly wrote to the foundress what had
been donej M. de la Piardiere took charge of the
letter, and conversed with her on the subject on his
passage through Lyons. "My daughter de Belly,"
said Mother de Matel, " warns me too late. If she
had told me sooner, I myself would have tried to go
to Paris. Why have they precipitated this affair ?
My opinion is that Mother de Gerin is not at all suited
to the post at Paris. The more I think of it, the less
inclined am I to consent to it. I have asked God to
make known to me His will ; the Holy Spirit tells me
that if she goes there she will ruin the convent." She
mentioned another religious on whom she had fixed
her eye. "Since you are going to Grenoble, you
would do well to take her instead of Mother Gerin."
M. de la Piardiere objected that, as things were, it
was impossible to retrace his steps. "Be it then as
you think best," answered Mother de Matel ; " but I
do not believe that you are very well satisfied, and
God grant that you do not soon have reason to repent."

M. de la Piardiere did not yield, and brought
Mother Gerin back with him from Grenoble. The
latter was overjoyed at her success, and during her
stay at Lyons developed her plans, brilliant plans she
thought them to be, for the prosperity of the Paris
house. Through respect for the decision of legitimate
authority, through charity, and that she might not
seem willingly to discourage her, Mother de Matel
was content to say : " My daughter, let us do nothing
hastily, or without consulting the Lord."

The new Superioress of Paris was not one to profit
by such counsel. The Jesuit Father, whose account

we are following closely, as the only guide who can
enlighten us on the subject, says of her : ' ' She was one
of those persons who live in a constant illusion, and see
a pious motive in whatever flatters their inclinations.
They do not wish to deceive, they are deceived ; they
are not hypocrites, they are presumptuous. They
think that their views cannot but be correct ; hence
they are obstinate in their way, and in their own mind
everything they do is done with a pure intention.
They see the glory of God in everything that con-
tributes to their own. In a word, their conduct has a
good intention, as though inspired by the purest zeal,
and yet bears all the appearance of the most egregrous
self-love. Combine with this a nature that is restless
and impulsive; and you have more than sufficient to
overthrow a community." The portrait is drawn by
a master hand ; but, what a misfortune for the family
or the house that is committed to the guidance of such
a soul.

At first all went well. So long as Mother de Gerin
reposed on the reputation that had been made for her,
the predictions of Jeanne appeared vain, but no sooner
did she begin to act than she made herself known.
Her first care was to remove the two religious who
had so zealously given her a name at Paris, and to
summon from Grenoble two others better suited to
her purpose. Conscious that Mother de* Matel did
not approve of changes that were suggested by mere
caprice, she dispensed herself from asking her
approval. Without examining seriously into the state
of the house, she began to change its arrangements,
overturning one day, at a new expense, what she had
inconsiderately erected the day before.

The spiritual interests were directed in a like
maimer ; and she did not hesitate to dry up the source
of vocations, by unreasonable refusals, any more than

to ruin the house by useless expenses. " It is of no
avail to argue with such characters; one must be abso-
lute." She ruled her inferiors with such haughtiness
and severity that they did not dare to contradict
her. *

Seculars, being more free, did not fail to talk. The
families of postulants refused without reason, -or of
those who were imprudently admitted, did so very
freely. M. de la Piardiere, who at first had tried to
defend her, found himself obliged to remonstrate. She
punished him by sending to Lyons two of his relatives
who had been brought up in the Convent of Paris, and
who were desirous of consecrating themselves to God.
He recognized at last that he had done wrong not to
respect the advice of Mother de Matel, and concluded
to seifd her word to come to Paris. He, himself,
would have gone to invite her to make the journey, t
but that pressing business took him to Touraine.

At Loches he was attacked by a contagious disease,
contracted in visiting and consoling the sick, and died
regretting that he could not repair what he regarded as
an injury done to Mother de Matel, and that he could
not found a Convent of the Incarnate Word at Loches.
The Daughters of the Incarnate Word have always
venerated his memory, as of a friend to the Order. No
one was more sincerely attached to the foundress, nor
more zealous for the progress of the Institute. A man
of lively faith, as proved by his fidelity to his vocation,
and by his works, he joined to a spirit of great piety a
generous and charitable heart, open ever to the inspira-
tions of grace. In one word, he was a holy priest.

His premature death — he was but fifty years old —
was a great misfortune for the Incarnate Word. It left
the convent of Paris without direction at the very time

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

that it was most needed. Jeanne accordingly saw
herself obliged'to leave her quiet retreat, and to goto
the relief of a state of things that could not be pro-
longed without danger. She yielded to the necessity,
and prepared for her departure. One only considera-
tion softened the bitterness of the sacrifice, and that
was the certainty that she lett the Convent of Lyons
under the guardianship of one capable of preserving
the spirit of fervor, and of governing with wisdom and
zeal.

Two years before, in March, 1661, she had sum-
moned from Avignon Sister Helen of Jesus Gibalin de
Villard, who, with her sister Margaret Mary, was the
soul of that convent, and, after having fulfilled several
offices, had been made Mistress of Novices. The sepa-
ration was painful to the two sisters, but. as true
daughters of obedience, they were resigned, and Sister
Helen of Jesus, ■ on reaching Lyons, was made
Superioress. She was given, for assistant, Sister
Louise of Rhodes, who accompanied her from Avignon.

" Mother de Matel executed an act by which she
obliged herself to pay to the Convent of Lyons the
interest of the principal which she had promised in
the contract of foundation, and she names the six
religious, of whom, according to custom, she had been
granted the nomination, and, having regulated all the
spiritual and temporal affairs, she was ready to set out
for Paris. She left her beloved community of Gour-
guillon the 3d of May, 1663, giving all her sorrowing
daughters to understand that she did not expect to see
them again in this world. She took with her Sister
Mary Chaud, and Sister Mary Ann de Becy. The
Rev. Prior Bernardon, the faithful companion of her
previous journeys, also attend her on this occasion."*

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

The citizens of Roanne hoped that she was coming
to realize their hope and hers by endowing a convent
of her Order in their city. Many families were pre-
pared to make sacrifices to this end, and vocations to
the new Institute were on all sides declaring themselves.
" Mother de Matel, more than others, desired to do
what the\^ asked of her. She was moved by the tears
of many young maidens, who cast themselves at her
feet, imploring this happiness. She mingled her tears
with theirs ; she gave them hopes, but, not being able
at the time to bind herself to more, she continued her
voyage." *

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

CHAPTER II.

MOTHER DE MATEL AND THE CONVENT OF PARIS.
PERSONAL TRIAES AND PP:RSECUTlONS.

Mother de Gerin, concealing her displeasure at the
appearance of the foundress, rendered her all the
honors due to her title, and came to meet her with all
the community, but she was embarrassed, and could not
prevent herself from showing coldness in the reception.
Jeanne, at the first glance, understood the salutation,
but, with her habitual humility, she did not let it be
seen. " May God be with us," she said to her
daughters, on her meeting them ; "I pray with all my
heart that He may bless us, and that His spirit may
rest on you and me, that we may all accomplish His
holy will."

On leaving Lyons, Jeanne had said to her compan-
ions: " I am going to my execution." It began on the
very day of her arrival. Mother Gerin had promised
herself to add to the splendor ot the house ; she sought
means to increase the revenue. This anxiety led her
into an unfortunate step. She persuaded herself, and
then the friends of the Order, the Community and the
new Prior of St. Germain, Dom Ignatius Philibert, that
at all cost Mother de Matel should be induced to
renounce the right conferred in the act of foundation of
naming six religious for the Convent of Paris, and be
satisfied with one. Moreover, she should be persuaded
to endow that convent with all that remained of her
patrimony.

Such pretensions were contrary to all reason and
justice, and the least tact would have prevented her

from fatiguing the foundress on the very day of her
arrival. But impatient zeal is always indiscreet ;
Mother Calvary sought the first chance for an interview,
and in the conversation exaggerated the bad condition
of the temporal affairs. Then, having made known
the arrangement agreed upon, she added that the new
Prior of St. Germain might close the convent unless it
were consented to. She ended by saying : ' ' Think
of it, Mother ; you will be responsible before God for
all the harm that you may cause us."

Mother de Matel, without feeling wTouuded at such
language, answered : " My daughter, so far Superiors
have seemed satisfied with me ; I shall await the one
whom you have named, and I will hear what he has to
say, and I am resolved to do all that is just and
reasonable ; but I do not think that he will be apt to
ask anything that is to my prejudice." Then, having
recalled all her maternal affection for the Convent o*
Paris in particular, and the Order in general, she
added, with a sigh : ' ' Ah. my daughter, how much
it has cost me ! God alone knows how many tears I
have shed, and what I have suffered. I see that you
are not very grateful."

Jeanne was not slow to perceive that the direction
of the Superioress was drawing the Convent of Paris
into a path where the blessings promised to communi-
ties animated by the spirit of faith and humility could
not attend it. The poor sister forgot herself so far as
to order novenas for the conversion of the foundress,
whom she represented to those without the convent,
as to those within, as weakened in virtue by her
attachment to riches. If there had been question
only of her own reputation and advantage, Jeanne
would have kept silence ; but she was bound in con-
science to protect the convent and the Order. She

proposed, then, at the elose of Mother Genu's three-
years term, to send her to another post.

The Superioress had foreseen this. Not having
succeeded in persuading the foundress, she brought
forward some of the friends of the Order. At her
instance they called on the Prior of St. Germain, and
represented to him that he ought not to let the affair be
delayed, that the death of Mother de Matel before its
termination might deprive the Order of the money still
at her disposal. In particular, they urged him to
oppose any measure which, by the removal of Mother
de Gerin, would commit to Jeanne the government 01
the house. Was it becoming that religious should be
governed by a secular ?

Dom Philibert consented to everything. Not
knowing Mother de Matel, save by the portrait they
had drawn of her, he expected to find her absolutely
opposed to any thought of generosity towards the
Convent of Paris. He was greatly astonished to hear
her fix, as the sole limit of her concessions, her con-
science and the good of the Order. He asked her to
sign a paper in accordance with his demands, and the
conditions were agreed upon. Jeanne proposed, on her
side, in the interest of the Convent of Paris, that
Mother Gerin should be sent to Grenoble at the
expiration of her term ; but Dom Philibert could not
see in this proposition anything more than an inspi-
ration of jealousy.

In the minutes of the act consented to b}T Mother
de Matel, ' ' all the houses and gardens which she had
acquired in Paris were ceded in perpetuity and unre-
strictedly to the convent. Besides, she granted it a
new fund of 2000 livres of rent, with this sole
charge, that, during her natural life she should be
allowed to live there, with a virtuous maid to serve

her ; that she should be fed and lodged, in health or
sickness ; that in case she should wish to be received
as religious, she should be admitted without dower ;
that if she should be obliged to go to live in some
other convent, that of Paris should give her a pension
of 300 livres, and, lastly, that they should receive,
without dower, the young de Brecy and another of
her relatives, should they desire it, and be found fit
according to the constitutions. This should be exclu-
sive of the six religious whom she had the right to
nominate in quality of foundress." *

lC>J

The minutes of this donation were carried to the
Prior of St. Germain, who appeared disposed to accept
it. He had a copy of the different titles and contracts
concerning the property in Paris given him, and sent
the whole to the Superioress.

The drawing up of the contract did not satisfy her ;
she thought they could do better. She wrote out an-
other project, and Dom Philibert, notwithstanding his
repugnance to disturb Mother de Matel, now that he
knew her better, consented to present it. He did it
with great delicacy. " Mother," said he, in the course
of the conversation, your ' ' Order has given you great
trouble. You would do well now to think of rest,
and leave the interests ol the convent to the Super-
ioress, who appears to be zealous and intelligent. It
would, however, be important to make a declaration
of the property that you leave to this house. It seems
to me that some articles of the project that you sent
me might be omitted, and others added. This is the
plan, such as I conceive it," and he read to Jeanne the
sketch of the plan as drawn up by Mother Gerin and
her consul tors.

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

There was no longer a question of the right of
nomination by the foundress. The donation of the
different pieces of property was said to be " for the
acquittal of her conscience;" and, under the pretext of
guarding against any possible claim on the part ot
Mother de Matel's relatives, they did not hesitate to
insult her by transforming the gift of properties,
bought by her own patrimony, into a restitution !
" Father," she said, after reading it, "in this paper
there are falsehoods that I neither can nor ought to
suffer. How can I sign a paper that declares me to be
possessed of another's property ? Never have I been
accused of such a thing, and never can it be proved of
me." In his own mind the Prior was of the same
sentiment; still, he essayed to persuade her, but, not
succeeding, he left her to report his failure to the
Superioress. She hastened, at once, by all sorts of
arguments, by flattery and prayers, to bring the
foundress to consent. It was useless. "Leave me,"
said Jeanne, " it is you who have drawn up this paper ;
I can never subscribe to the falsehoods that it con-
tains."

One understands the outraged delicacy of Mother
de Matel at the thought of allowing such a suspicion
to rest on her memory; one that would represent the
Order as a thing that was of mere personal and human
interest. But, even though this were an exaggerated
fear, was it not most unbecoming to forget her advanced
age, her virtues, her labors, her life and her patrimony
expended for the good of the Order, her title 01
foundress, all that called for the greatest respect ?
Mother de Gerin could not see this. She waged
against her, by herself and by others, whom she had
adroitly gained over to her side, a long and relentless
assault. Going still farther, she skilfully kept away
the friends of Jeanne, through fear of their influence ;

and, when a refusal would have been too bold, or have
been taken amiss, she accompanied her to the parlor,
not ashamed to conceal her mean suspicions under
the pretext of an attentive interest in her least actions.

It was not without a merciful design on the Order
of the Incarnate Word that Providence permitted this
trial and those that followed. Many beautiful pages
enrich its annals, and who knows but what the virtues
related in them were the glorious compensation for a
fault, altogether personal besides, in the first days.
Mother de Matel was made to leave, in her heroic
example, better than all prescriptions, two rules
essential to the religious life : Never to reveal outside
the troubles of the community ; in the community, no
matter what happens, nevet, by confidences that are
ahvays dangerous, to make known wounds that one soul
may inflict on another.

And, as Mother de Matel did not accuse these her
daughters to others, neither did she do so in her own
heart. She did not allow a single word to escape her
that could diminish the authority of the Superioress,
and, if some kept apart from her through weakness,
rather than malice, she understood their feeling, and
scarcely made them a maternal reproach, while she
pardoned them.

Not being able to procure the signing of her famous
contract, Mother Gerin had recourse to a childish sub-
terfuge. She sought to entreat from Jeanne a promise
to give her property to the Convent of Paris. She
imagined that, when once this promise was made, they
would have the right to exact Mother de Matel' s
signature, and it would then be true to say that she
consented to this donation and restitution of rents for
the acquittal of her conscience, since she would be under
the obligation of a promise. It was to this intent she
had Mother de Matel visited at intervals by a religious

whose authority she thought would triumph over her
resistance. Referring to the paper that they wished
her to sign, he ventured to say : " You are obliged to
do it for the glory of God, for your own honor* s sake,
for the consolation of your daughters, and for the edi-
fication of the people."

Jeanne knew how to be firm when it was necessary :
" Father," she answered, l< I see nothing in what you
have said that can determine me to sign a contract that
contains falsehoods, and which is to my prejudice. I
have examined myself before God, and I can bear
witness of myself that I have never held the property
of others. I have never touched the dowries of my
daughters, and I owe them no restitution. Since I
founded them, I have lodged, furnished, fed and
maintained them in health and sickness, in time of war
as well as peace, present or absent. I have never
received foi them but two thousand livres from the
Chancellor ; that sum was expended in building the
Church, and I have accounted for it. I have not
repented of having done them good ; on the contrary,
I am disposed to do more for them. All that I have
said is merely to prove to you that, having nothing that
belongs to them, nor to anyone else, I am not obliged
to restitution. The terms of the contract, therefore,
that you would have me sign, are injurious. I reject
it as dangerous to the existence of this house, which
might eventually be prosecuted for having monies that
did not belong to me." We may here remark the
supernatural prudence of Jeanne ; the fear of this
danger was to be amply justified by events.

The conversation was prolonged for three hours,
when the Superioress transformed it into a tragedy.
Wearied of standing sentinel at the door to prevent
interruption, she entered the parlor, and, casting her-
self at the feet of Mother de Matel, implored her to

-2

sign a promise of donation to the convent, assuring her
that she could keep it in her own hands until the
authentic act should be executed. " Why.' said
Jeanne, "would you have me act in this underhand
way ? All that I have done for my convents. I have
done publicly and legally. Why should you be so
suspicious ? Who. more than myself, can desire the
good of this house ? The religious, who was present
at this scene, had knelt down and was praying : Jeanne,
in her confusion, imitated him, and at last, not con-
vinced, but overcome, she signed the note that the
Superioress held out to her, which contained these
words : "I promise God to give my daughters of
Paris the houses that they occupy, and 2000 livres of
rent.'*

This victory for the moment filled the intriguing
Superioress with a childish joy. Relating it as though
it were a stroke of Divine Providence, she added :
* ' This is to what we have been reduced by the present
state of our foundress, and the stratagems we are
forced to employ. Her mind is much weakened, and
we have to have recourse to tricks." Jeanne had
wished to be surfeited with opprobrium, and to pass
for a fool : she had reason to be satisfied, and, in fact,
she rejoiced before God.

But, if sne was not tired of suffering. Mother Gerin.
encouraged by this partial success, was not tired of
preparing for her new trials. She wished by all means
to obtain her signature to a contract such as she had
conceived it. and. to render the resistance of Jeanne
odious, she spread the report that, unless it were done,
the Prior of St. Germain would close the convent. This
news spread consternation in the community. Sister
de Belly owed everything to Mother de Matel. she had
not ceased to venerate her. and she had kept apart from
her in a spirit of prudence that was too human, but

now she could hold out no longer, and came to her all
in tears. Jeanne was praying before the Blessed
Sacrament; she called her aside. "Oh, Mother, what
do I hear! They are going to close our convent,
because you refuse to declare your intentions in our
regard? Oh, Mother, save us!" Jeanne saw that
Sister de Belly gave utterance to the common thought.
She cast a tender glance upon her, and once more
renewed the protestation so often repeated, of her
sincere disinterestedness, of her affectionate dispositions
towards the Convent of Paris. " Have I not for you
deprived myself of everjT thing, and reduced myself
gladly to poverty, although, in obedience to my
superiors, I have not as yet pronounced the vow ? I
ardently desire }Tour spiritual good ; I have at heart
the temporal prosperity of the house. I only ask to be
allowed to act according to the lights that God has
given me." Then, casting her prophetic eye upon
the future, she gave utterance to one of those terrible
predictions that she was so often to repeat with tears.
' ' Daughter, daughter, I was groaning there ; I was
pra}4ng Our I^ord to enlighten those persons whom
Mother Calvary is influencing, but I fear that I shall
not prevail. They will not believe me. Ah, what
grievous misfortunes are about to befall this house for
having been so eager for temporal goods." The
Superioress was made acquainted with this interview.
Intimidation had failed, she erected new batteries.

The Prior Berardon had followed Jeanne to Paris
and continued to be her confessor. He had been long
acquainted with her interior state, and so entirely
deserved her confidence that she consulted him even in
temporal affairs. Mother Gerin took it into her head to
deprive her of this help. She denounced him to Dom
Philibert as a dangerous man, whose obstinacy encour-
aged Mother de Matel. She succeeded so well that

the Prior sent for M. Bernardon, and, after many
reproaches, forbade him to confess his old penitent or
to say Mass in the church of the convent. In his agita-
tion M. Bernandon came and told everything to Jeanne,
declaring that he could no longer visit her; and, in fact,
some days after he left without saying farewell.

The confessor of the community, at that time, was
a young priest who had every confidence in the
Superioress, and was desirous to serve her. He had
little experience of souls. Without taking into account
the extraordinary ways in which she had been led, her
supernatural lights, the decisions of her previous
directors, he treated her as a novice, and repeated, by
way of exhortation, the lesson that had been taught to
him, the harm done to the community, the account
she would have to give for her opposition, the bad
reputation she was making for herself, and even forbade
her to communicate without applying to him, each
time, for permission. He had given her clearly to
understand that he would think it no harm to refuse
her; but the humility of the holy foundress disarmed
him, and she did not think this daily act of obedience
too dear a price to pay for a favor which the Incarnate
Word did not allow her once to miss, according to His
promise.

There was another privation by which Jeanne could
be made to suffer, and it was not spared to her. Sister
Francis Gravier had been her companion in all the
vicissitudes of her life, and served her as secretary.
'In spite of the persecution of her family, she had
given herself to her when she was fifteen years old,
and now for forty years had served her in everything
with the greatest zeal and fidelity."* They deter-
mined to remove her. Mother Gerin found good reasons

*Life by a Jesuit Father.

for sending Sister Gravier away for a few days; they
were ever the same ; it was necessary to leave Jeanne
to the freedom of her own inclinations. Dom Philibert
consented, and sent one of his religious, Dom Arsene,
to communicate their decision to Mother de Matel.
The envoy found her as usual, with her crucifix in
hand, relieving her heart in loving colloquies. With-
out any preamble, he said : "I have the orders of the
Superior to remove Sister Gravier from the convent for
some days ; he judged it necessary for the good of the
house." " Father," answered Jeanne, "I have a
profound respect for the authority of the Superior, and,
if I were alone concerned, I would make the sacrifice
without another word, no matter how much I needed
her services. But, we must not forget that she is one
of the oldest of the Congregation. She has abandoned
everything for the good of the Order ; she has shared
my labors and sufferings in its establishment. I had
promised her parents to make her a religious ; up to
the present time I have not been able to give her that
consolation, but would it not be a crying ingratitude
to repay her affection and sacrifices with exile ?"

Without attending to her representations, Dom
Arsene had Sister Gravier summoned and intimated
the decree. " Father," said the poor girl, weeping and
casting herself at his feet, ' ' inflict whatsoever penances
you please upon me, but do not separate me from so
good a mother." The religious was moved ; he tried
to soften the hardship by exhorting her to patience,
promising that the separation should be but for a few
days only. Madame de Cogneux, one of the friends
of the Order, willingly received her for a while, until
all should be arranged. No confidence could be
placed in such promises ; the two friends knew it but
too well, but against such a decision resistance was
useless. Mother de Matel tenderly embraced her

faithful companion : ' ' So, my daughter, submit to the
will of God, and ask no help save that of His grace,
and be faithful to His love. ' '

Sister Gravier left the convent and Madame
Cognieux received her. This new victory did not have
the results that the Superioress had expected. We
shall see her resorting to fresh intrigues, in favor of a
project inspired by self-love, under the specious appear-
ance of a zeal that was too bitter to have come from
God.

CHAPTER III.

MOTHER DE MATEL AND THE CONVKNT OK PARIS.

PERSONAL TRIALS AND PERSECUTIONS

CONTINUED.

Madame Dumas heard from M. Bernardon, as he
passed through Roanne, the vexations to which her
aunt was subjected. Her husband insisted on her
going to Paris to judge for herself, and accordingly
she set out, accompanied by M. Severat, her relative,
and a nephew of Mother de Matel.

Jeanne, as usual, discreetly covered over the faults
of the Superioress, and made no complaint. Mother
Gerin was not so reserved. At first she was alarmed
and startled by their unexpected visit, but she soon
gained over the relatives of the foundress, by her
attentions, and they recovered from the anxieties that
had suggested the voyage. She gave Madame
Dumas to understand that, if she could induce her
aunt to sign the famous contract, she would be left
in undisturbed possession of a remnant of the patri-
mony, then in her hands, subject to a small pension in
behalf of Sister Gravier. The good lady was not
insensible to a proposition that would improve her
own position. So, when Sister Gravier called on her
to enlighten her on the true state of the case, she
found her almost entirely gained over to the views of
the Superioress, and met with a very cold reception.

Under pretext of taking precautions against the
future, the Superioress returned to her first idea of the
contract. The better to gain her point, it was agreed
that they should promise Mother de Matel all that she

asked, as preliminary conditions to the act, with the
intention, on reading it to her, to pass lightly over
those articles that could give her offense. Then there
occurred a deplorable scene. A notary was summoned
on the 18th of August, 1663, and, without attending
to the observations of Mother de Matel, he drew up
the contract in the parlor, in presence of the Prior,
Dom Philibert, his secretary, Dom Arsene, the coun-
sellor, Poncet, and Mother Gerin. Jeanne asked to
see the contract, and it was hastily read to her ; in
vain did she try to rectify some assertions, to protest
against some dispositions ; the notary did not pause,
and the conspirators contented themselves with
remarking to her, ' that it was late, that they must
hurry, and that all should be right."

" O, my God," said Jeanne to herself, recalling to
memory the Passion of her Spouse, ' ' the Jews saluted
Thee as King, while smiting Thee on the face ; they
cover me with flattery in this* paper, they proclaim me
foundress and institutrix of the Order ; and when I
open my mouth to speak in favor of truth and justice,
I am a nobody. Be Thou eternally blessed, O God of
my heart."

After the lecture, the Prior and his secretary signed
the act, and then invited Mother de Matel to affix her
signature. S he refused. "lean not do it ; you have
paid no attention to my protests against certain clauses
which I regard as injurious to my reputation and to
the Order itself." — "Those words," said the Prior,
"have been inserted to serve as a guarantee against
any possible reclamation of your family, and the note
that you signed, promising before God to make the
donation to the monastery, justifies you." "But, who
knows of this note ? No mention is made of it, and
though you promised me, there is no allusion made to
it. The first quality of every contract is, that it should

be clear," she insisted, and pointed out that the sac-
rifice exacted of her was not necessary to the security
of the house. Then the Prior, tired out by her protests,
rising, said : " Mother, sign ; I command it."

"Dom Philibert was not her Superior, since she-
was not a religious ; but obedience, which she had
always practiced, though she had not taken the vow,
overcame her repugnance. She went down on her
knees to offer God the sacrifice of her own judgment,
and she signed the contract as it was." *

Mother Gerin thought that she had gained a great
victory. It was soon to be seen that the surest pledge
of blessing to a house is the spirit of simplicity and
obedience, and the most skillful human combinations
are no substitute for it. God soon showed that the
trials of Mother de Matel were not the legitimate con-
sequences of her persistence, but were permitted for
her sanctification. She had hoped that in return for
her concessions she would regain the presence of her
old secretary, Sister Gravier, desirous on her side to
rejoin her. The Superioress lost no time in contriving
her banishment to Lyons. Her pretext to Dom
Philibert was the peace of the convent ; to Mother de
Matel she pleaded the will of Dom Philibert. The
want of means for Sister Francis Gravier might be an
obstacle ; she appealed to the same authority, as a
decisive argument, to impose on the foundress the
settlement of an annual pension, to be paid to her b}-
Madame Dumas, who would keep in her own right
the sum of 4000 livres, of which she was the deposi-
tory. Mother de Matel was thus herself made the
instrument to send away those who were dearest to her,
and, by depriving herself of her last resources, to destroy
all possibility of freeing herself from the situation in

* Iyife by a Jesuit Father.

which she was placed. But her submission to the will
of Providence would have been sufficient to keep her.
" She had been conducted in this path of suffering by
the will of God ; she would not leave it without afresh
order from Him." *

Notwithstanding her tears and entreaties, Sister
Francis Gravier had to set out for L,yons. One more
of her daughters, one of the oldest in the Congregation,
Sister Mary Chaud, remained with Mother de Matel ■
she had not yet made her profession. Being very
much attached to her, she was displeasing to the
Superioress, who sought a pretext to send her away.
Mother Calvary found such a reason in the frank and
somewhat rude remarks which Sister Mary Chaud
made in favor of Mother de Matel. But, as the sister
was very favorably regarded outside, she feared the
bad effect of her departure, and this consideration was
more efficacious than the representations of Mother de
Matel on the virtues of her companion, and the forty
years of services she had rendered to the Order.

As for Sister de Belly, as she had been careful not
to oppose the Superioress, she had been given to
Mother de Matel as a secretary, in place of Sister
Gravier. Our historian says that "she feared one and
loved the other, and so allowed neither one to perceive
her real sentiments, which she had never changed. If
she had freely condemned the Superioress, or openly
defended the foundress, she would have been pre-
vented from doing what she was inspired to do by
a sense of duty that she had never forgotten." *

This conduct, in which, perhaps, human prudence
had too great a share, was for a time a new source of
grief to Mother de Matel. Deceived by the apparent
reserve of one whom she so tenderly loved, she was

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

pained by the thought that her daughter had accepted
the office of a spy on her words and conduct. One
day, no longer able to suppress her sorrow, she affec-
tionately reproached her. It was the last drop to the
brimming cup. " Mother,'' she answered, giving way
to her tears, " I am more to be pitied than you think.
Until this moment I have concealed in my own bosom
the weight of sorrow that oppresses me; but I can no
longer bear it, I must cast it off. Although fear has
prevented me from manifesting it, I have always loved
you as I should. I was a coward, but not unfaithful.
Your daughters in this house are nearly all of the
same sentiment. One person alone is the cause of all
your suffering, and even she thinks herself inspired by
zeal ; God grant that she may recognize her injustice."

The explanation was balm to the heart of Mother
de Matel, who consoled Mother de Belly and restored
to her all her confidence. The pious sister tried, on her
side, to comfort one who entertained for her a mother's
love. " She spent with her all the time that was left
after her other employments, and, to recreate her, some
times sang the canticles she loved, and, at others, read
such things as suited her state." *

Mother Gerin, sincerely devoted to her Order, as
we must confess, despite her faults, was not long in
receiving a first chastisement that reacted on the con-
vent. She had at heart the registration of the letters
patent of the Convent of Paris. Many unsuccessful
attempts had been made in this direction. She
endeavored to engage M. Seguier to conclude the
affair, but the Chancellor, being offended by what he
had heard of her conduct, would have nothing to do
with it. This was enough to anger still more the
Superioress. Henceforth it was enough to know

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

that Jeanne favored any step to set her against it. Thus,
she refused as postulants, because they were presented
by friends of Mother de Matel, a young lady of illustrious
birth, of great merit and solid vocation, a niece of M.
de Lamoignon, the first President of Parliament, and,
later, the two daughters and niece of M. Maurin, a
person of distinguished birth, employments, and con-
nections.

These and other similar extravagances opened the
eyes even of those who had most esteemed her. Her tri-
ennial term was about to expire, and it was evident
that she would not be re-elected. She wished at least
to influence the choice of the Superioress and succeeded
in securing the election of Mother Sorel, who was in
charge of the Convent of Grenoble, and whom she
went to replace, 1665.

Her name will not appear again in these pages.
We have not thought well to conceal it, as those who
have preceded us ; we have wished neither to screen
her fault, nor to diminish her blame. Why, indeed,
should we, whilst recognizing her good intentions, be
blind to her want of honesty ? Why should we not
have confidence in our readers ? Jeanne spread the
mantle of mercy over the want of judgment, the illu-
sions and faults of her daughter; so mothers do. But it
was our duty to see and to make known the patience
and sweetness of the mother, and in doing this we
wished to instruct and to edify. If the religious life
sometimes suffers from the sallies of a nature that is
guilty of weakness, we must be made to see what
heroism of charity, humility and mutual support it
engenders to counteract them. The world, on the
other hand, has no right to cry out, and to condemn
them ; that which wounds us is common to it. It
creates, it too often applauds such proceedings ; in its
.service many have abused them, or cruelly suffered by

them. If, once in a way, they scandalise us in the
cloister, it is because they are in such contrast with its
habitual smoothness, and the calm and serene reg-
ularity of its life.

The new Superioress had, at first, the greatest
regard for the foundress, and gave her a great pleasure
in the recall of Sister Gravier. But hers was a feeble
nature, afraid to disoblige, incapable of making a
stand, with whom every one was in the right, and no
one found justice. This they knew, and she was not
long in proving it.

Sister de Belly asked her to rectify the contract
imposed upon Mother de Matel. She saw in this a
satisfaction due to the foundress, and a pledge of the
benediction of heaven ; eminent lawyers had found in
it clauses that might eventually be prejudicial to the
convent. Mother Sorel was eager to comply with
her request. She proposed the change to the Prior ot
St. Germain ; Dom Philibert, on his part, sent Dom
Arsene, his secretary, to give his reasons for main-
taining the contract. She accepted them, as she had
previously agreed to the contrary reasoning, and,
partly through her natural irresolution, partly through
a fear of angering Mother Gerin, she left things as
they were, and contented herself with repaying
Mother de Matel with good words and a display ot
affection.

In the same way she compromised a much more
serious affair. Madame de la Chambre, a devoted
friend of Mother de Matel, had secured for the Order
the sympathies of M. du Bourg, the Master President
of the Parliament of Bordeaux. Mother de Matel, by
request of the Superioress, had resolved to emplo}^ his
influence in securing the homologation of the letters
patent for the foundation of the convent. M. du

Bourg seemed honored by this confidence, and took
the affair to heart. The letters were invalid by pro-
scription ; he succeeded in obtaining permission from
the Dean of the Counsellors to have them brought
up again for reinvalidatiou. M. de Harlay, the Pro-
curator-General, to whom he gave the documents,
promised him a favorable issue, but, as he was then
engaged in a personal suit of much importance, M. du
Bourg thought it best not to urge too earnestly the
execution of his promise.

Mother Sorel lost all by her impatience. Being
persuaded that M. du Bourg would not be earnest in
his action, and that M. Iyemoiue, the confessor whom
Mother de Matel had requested to see him on this
affair, took little interest in it, she withdrew the
papers confided to M. du Bourg. When, after serious
remonstrance on her imprudence, she would have
restored them, it was too late ; M. du Bourg was so
much hurt that he refused to have anything more to do
with it.

This mistake was the more to be regretted, inas-
much as a short time afterwards Parliament passed a
decree " forbidding the reception of any letters of insti-
tution, and the reception of postulants in any convent
for either sex, or of novices to their profession, until
such houses had produced their titles, and the original
contract for the foundation, with an exhibit of their
temporal state before a commission deputed by the
court for the visitation of convents." After this decree
they had to give up all hope of a registration.

Wearied out by these struggles, Mother Sorel
thought only of quitting Paris. At Grenoble she had
left an excellent name, the presence, of her family
assured her great influence, and Mother Calvary had
not proved a success. Influential persons, notably M.

Ribert, Counsellor of the Parliament of that city, a
^zealous friend of the convent, in which he had three
daughters as novices, urged Jeanne to restore to them
Mother Sorel. "She has taken away with her the
peace and tranquillity that reigned in this community ;
Mother Gerin has brought poverty, and constrained
parents to use all their credit to remove their daughters.
There is but one remedy to so great an evil, but one
means of closing the wound ; it is the return of Mother
Sorel. If your charity refuses our humble request,
the house will have to be closed."

Jeanne had to yield to these instances. She would
have wished to commit her convent at Paris to the
guardianship of Mother Mary Margaret Gibalin de
Villard, whose eminent sanctity, intelligence and
sweetness had made the Convent of Avignon a model
for all the communities of the city, a sanctuary ot
piety, humility and charity. The Archbishop would
not consent. ' ' Then the foundress cast her eyes en
Mother de Belly. As though prescient of the trials
that awaited her, the pious sister long resisted, but,
yielding finally to the prayers and authority of Mother
de Matel, she accepted, through obedience, in spite 01
her repugnance, the heavy burthen imposed upon
her. (1667)." *

Immediately after her entrance into office, she set
about that which she had advised — the reformation ot
the contract imposed upon the foundress. Her just
and loyal heart told her how wrong it was to represent,
as a restitution enjoined by her conscience, that which
was a gift of Mother de Matel' s simple, generous will ;
to declare her released from a sum of 18,000 livres, as
though it were a debt remitted, when the accounts
clearly showed how it had been employed ; and to

* I,i fe by a Jesuit Father.

deprive her of the nomination of six religious,
accorded by the contract ot foundation, at the ver^
time that she had tripled that foundation. She
insisted on this with the new Prior of St. Germain, but
in vain. Influenced by Dom Arsene, who still resided
in the monastery, the Prior refused to reopen the affair.

This check was soon followed by another no less
sensible. Notwithstanding the decree of which we
have spoken, and the urgent representations of their
families, the postulants and novices of the Incarnate
Word had persisted in their refusal to leave their
beloved solitude. Touched by their perseverance, and
anxious for the future of the house, Mother de Belly
endeavored to obtain permission for them to make
their profession. She appealed to the most influential
personages, but uselessly. To all her solicitations they
opposed delays, until the majority of the families, tired
of a situation that seemed as though it would never
change, obliged their daughters to quit the convent.

For Mother de Matel this was a great grief. She
never ceased her sighs ; holding in her hands the
crucifix, and kissing it, she would say: " O, my
God, must these young victims, destined to Thy
service, return to the world from which Thy merciful
goodness had withdrawn them ? Take them, O Lord,
under Thy protection, and permit them not to perish."

Mother de Belly wished to compensate the foundress
in some measure for all these trials by procuring her
the permission, refused to her daughters, of making her
profession. M. d'Imonier, her relative, was secretary
to the Cardinal de Vendome, legate of the Holy See.
By his intervention, she received, on the 6th of July,
1668, a bull, authorizing Mother de Matel to make
her profession whenever she pleased, and dispensing
her from the year of noviceship. In this document

the Holy See again proclaims her foundress and
institutrix of the Order of the Incarnate Word.

This favor filled Mother de Matel's heart with joy;
but, obeying the rule that she had set for herself,
she would not profit by it without consulting her
directors. Considering the precarious state of the
house, and the exigences of a situation that might
make her freedom from vows useful to the whole Order,
they all advised her to await the enregistration of the
letters patent. This delay, says an historian, caused
her many tears, but the love of obedience overcame
her regrets. Her regrets were the more poignant,
because, by an interior light, she knew beforehand the
inutility of all efforts, at that time, to regulate the sit-
uation for the Convent of Paris.

And yet, humanly speaking, there was almost a
certainty of success. "It is surprising," says an his-
torian, "that the affair should have held out so long,
when we consider the number and rank of those who
favored it. Besides those already mentioned, the
Duchesses d'Harcourt, and de Noialles, the Mar-
chioness de Rogant, Monsieur and Madame de Rossig-
nol, the Abbe d'Argentan, the Princess de Conti,
were so many supports on whom the Daughters of the
Incarnate Word could rest their hopes. The Duchess
de Noialles had spoken in their favor to the Arch-
bishop of Paris, and that in the wannest terms.
"Their church," she would say, "is my little parish.
I see there God well served. The Divine Office is
celebrated with a regularity and fervor that delight
me ; if you wish to oblige me, you will declare your-
self in favor of that community." *

M. de Perefixe gave assurance that there was noth-
ing to fear. The Bishop of Bazas, on his part,

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

employed all his authority, the influence of his virtue,
and the activity of his zeal, in gaining to them the
prelates of his acquaintance. Through his means, the
Procurator- General, and M. de Morengis, specially
deputed for the affairs of religious houses, promised
their favor, and the Duchess of Orleans herself cast
into the balance the weight of her recommendation in
their behalf. "But," says the historian just cited,
1 ' all arms of flesh are too feeble when God withholds
His hand. And so Mother de Matel continued to sigh.
From all parts they hastened to her with good news ;
they were contradicted by an interior oracle that
warned her of calamities visible to no one else.
" Alas," she would say, " all the favors of men cannot
gladden me, when God reveals to me only an abyss.
Ah, what will become of this unfortunate house ! "

1 ' These fears were but too well founded ; the storm
was brewing, and, after so many trials, God reserved
for her last moments the hardest of all, the entire ruin
of the convent so dear to her. ' - *

* L,ife by a Jesuit Father.

CHAPTER IV.

JEANNE DE MATED AND THE CONVENT OF PARIS.
TRIADS OF THE HOUSE.

On the 19th of March, 1670, the Parliamentary
Commission charged with the visitation of religious
houses called at the Convent of the Incarnate Word.
They found everything in good order, and made a
favorable report to the Archbishop.

Nevertheless, there being a rumor to the effect that
the house was to be suppressed, or its status modified,
Mother de Matel thought proper to take measures in
consequence. She put in the hands of the Commission a
declaration whereby she made known to the Arch-
bishop that, in case of its suppression, " she intended
to reserve, and by these presents "did reserve, all the
means that she had given to the foundation, of what-
soever kind, to be by her disposed of as property of her
own." By the advice of prudent friends she added to
this precaution, and, for all eventualities, a donation
of all her goods, in the present, and in the future, to
Sister Francis Gravier, with a protest before a notary
against anything prejudicial to her rights, to those of
her convent, and of her institute. Finally, she again
presented a petition to the Parliament for the homolo-
gation of the letters of the King, granted in 1643, and
since renewed.

These were wise measures. But intrigue, passion
and weakness were about to combine for the ruin of
a house that was the fruit of so much devotion and
sacrifice.

100

The Parliamentary Commission had brought to the
notice of the Archbishop a number of religions houses
that were without letters of institution, assured
resources, obliged to receive as boarders persons of the
world whose habits were ill adapted to the regularity
ot a religions community. Their opinion was, that it
would be prudent to suppress these convents, and to
reunite the members in one common house, the Superior-
ess of which should be named by the Ordinary. M.
de Perefixe approved this suggestion, and thought of
naming to the charge in question, Mother Elizabeth
Petit, called Mother of St. Ursula, a religious of the
Convent of the Assumption, Rue St. Honore. " Fif-
teen years before, she had left her convent to
found in St. Germain a house that had never flourished.
The Most Reverend Archbishop had often promised her
a better situation. It was on her that he cast his eyes
as the Superioress of the new house, in which it was
contemplated to reunite the suppressed religious. As
he had been informed that the Convent of the Incar-
nate Word was the largest and most convenient, he
resolved to select it for the reception of the remnants
of the dispersed communities." * The Archbishop
sent a notice of the intended arrangement to the Sisters
of the Incarnate Word. In proposing it, he assured
them that it would entail no burden on them, since
Mother Elizabeth and her two nieces, who were to
accompany her, would bring their dowries. The
Superioress wished to take the sense of her own com-
munity, and at once spoke to Mother de Matel. " Ah,
my daughter," said the foundress, weeping, "how
this house will be upset ! It would seem as though
everyone could lay claim to, and appropriate it, and
yet I gave it to you alone. It wras not without reason
that God revealed to me nothing but abysses when I

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

have prayed for you. *The affair of which you speak
will suffer much contradiction ; if it succeed, I will give
praise to' God."

This was not blaming the design of the Archbishop,
and the community and its friends in the world found
it acceptable. Mother St. Ursula was a woman of
merit and virtue. " She had formerly wished to con-
secrate herself to God in our Order," said Jeanne. " I
have always had great affection for her, and perhaps,
Our IyOrd wishes to restore what had onCe appeared to
have been taken away from us. ' '

They had not taken the intrigues of others into
account. The Convent of the Incarnate Word had
once given hospitality to a religious of Burgundy,
called Madame Lenet. She had come to Paris to assume
possession of a Priory of the Benedictines, of St. Mag-
dalen which, had been conferred on her. These
religious desiring for their Superioress, a member of
their own Order, had opposed her intrusion. The
cause was pleaded before Parliament. Whilst await-
ing its decision, Madame Usenet had obtained of its
Superior permission to reside in the Convent of the
Incarnate Word, and had sought to conciliate its
sympathy. When she lost her suit, instead of return-
ing to her old Convent at Chatillon, as she had been
ordered to do, she contrived to remain on the spot,
and to wait, in the Convent of the Paraclete, a favorable
opportunity of realizing a hope, that she had conceived,
of one day governing the house of the Incarnate
Word.

Madame Lenet had artfully gained, to the cause of
her ambition, the Prior of St. Germain, and, although,
by an act of the 20th of September, 1668, which placed
the Faubourg St. Germain under the jurisdiction of
the Ordinary, this religious had no longer any authority

102

over the convent, yet, as Vicar-General of the Arch-
bishop, he possessed a certain influence, which, unin-
tentionally no doubt, he used for the ruin of the house.

Wishing to insure the direction to Madame Lenet,
he began by trying to circumvent Mother de Belly and
Mother de Matel. M. Lenet, the brother of the pre-
tendant, and a gentleman of the house of the Prince de
Conde, often came to visit them. He set himself to
work to depict the dangers that threatened the convent,
and offered them, as a powerful support, his influence
with the Prince. The Prior, on his side, played the
same game. He represented himself as very anxious
for the welfare of the house, and advised them to
receive the members of other Orders in order to increase
the personnel. The one and the other seemed to
expect a proposition in favor of Madame Lenet, which
no one thought of making. Meanwhile, they heard of
the Archbishop's intention in regard to Mother St.
Ursula, and resolved to take prompt measures. M.
Lenet asked, as a special favor, that the Prince de
Conde should obtain for his sister the nomination of
Superioress to the" Convent of the Incarnate Word,
and the Prince promised to do so. The Archbishop
strove to evade the request, but in vain. He complied,
to his great regret, and gave notice thereof to Mother,
de Matel. A few days after he published an order
suppressing all the little communities, and naming the
Convent of the Incarnate Word as the asylum of the
religious. The Parliament, in turn, passed an act
which was made public on the 17th of July, 1670. It
was there said that the convent would remain estab-
lished under the name of the Incarnate Word, to be
governed by religious of St. Augustine, but no novices
should be received until further notice. The furniture
belonging to the suppressed convents should be con-

10.",

veyed there, and the pensions of the religious should
be paid to it.

This mingling of religious meant ruin ; the intrusion
of such a person as Madame L,enet, could only hasten
and consummate it. Mother de Matel called together
the friends of the Order, who were then in Paris, many
being absent. All were of opinion that the last stroke
should at least be warded off, by asking of the Arch-
bishop permission to elect a Superioress, and in case of
a refusal, to give the three juridical summons, after
which they could safely proceed to an election. Neither
the prelate, who had gone to the country, nor his
Vicar-General, having answered the first two citations,
they appointed the day and the hour for the election.

At the third citation the Vicar-General, with the
Promoter of the Archbishop, came to the convent. He
ordered Mother de Belly to render her accounts.
"Father," said she, "I will do so as soon as the
Superioress, whom we are about to elect, shall be
installed. Besides, although I greatly respect the
Promoter, I do not recognize his right here, and I am
surprised that, you have given him the trouble to come,
for you know that through the grace of God, we have
been guilty of no crime." — "It is not as Promoter that he
is present, but as an official, desirous to know how you
are disposed." — " To defend our rights," answered the
Superioress, " and to maintain our constitutions in so
much as we are able, we enter our protest against all
that may be attempted to their prejudice." The
Vicar-General ceased to insist, and withdrew.

Before long they learned the arrival of Madame
Lenet, and of her approaching installation. Mother
de Belly hastened to send for a notary, for an ecclesi-
astic as witness, and for the Prior of Abbeville to pre-
side, and to say Mass. The usual prayers having been

104

said. Mother de Belly publicly laid down her charge,
and the sisters gave their suffrages to Mother of the
Cross, tie la Yespiniere, a professed of the Convent of
Paris, then at Lyons ; she had been previously notified
to come without loss of time.

The last formalities had scarcely been completed,
when a great noise was heard at the door of the con-
vent. Two carriages had arrived ; one brought the
Prior of St. Germain, Vicar-General, his secretary,
Doni Arsene, his bailiff and an official of the Arch-
bishop ; the other, which belonged to the Princess de
Conde, contained Madame de Tourville, Madame
Lenet and her brother. The annals of the Order have
preserved the details of the lamentable scenes then
witnessed, and in our turn, wTe shall conceal nothing of
the long martyrdom, the recital of which makes us
assist two centuries in advance at the horrors of modern
evictions.

The religious understood the assault they were
about to undergo. The Prior summoned them to the
parlor. When the act of election had been drawn up
and signed, after recommending themselves to the
Lord, they went, pale and affrighted, as to their
execution. "By order of the Most Reverend Arch-
bishop," said the Prior, "in quality of his Vicar-
General, I am here to install, as Superioress of this
house, Madame Christine Lenet, professed religious of
the Convent of Chatillon-sur-Saone, in the diocese of
Langres." The official read the order of obedience
from the Archbishop. It was listened to in perfect
silence. Mother de Belly then spoke in the name of
the Community :

1 ' We entertain for the Archbishop the greatest re-
spect,but, without derogating therefrom, we are obliged,
in defense of our rights, and in obedience to our consti-

105

tuitions, to declare that we can not receive, still less
recognize, Madame Iyenet as our Superioress. Not
only she does not wear our habit, and does not belong
to our Institute, but we have just held our election ;
the Reverend Mother of the Cross, ancient professed of
this house, has been chosen Superioress."

This protest astonished the Prior ; all the religious,
on being interrogated, confirmed the declaration. The
official was so carried away by his anger, that he called
them impudent rebels, and the Prior ordered the door
of the convent to be opened. Mother de Belly refused,
and declared that the community appealed from the
Archbishop to the Primate of Lyons. The Prior
threatened them with interdict and excommunication ;
the threat was of no avail. He repeated his order ; no
attention was paid to it. Addressing himself to
the portress, he commanded her to open. She answered
that she had not the keys. Then there was an out-
break of threats and insults in the little Sanhedrim that
assailed the grate. The religious, having done their
duty, went to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

Alarmed by the noise in the parlor, Mother de
Matel had approached. When she heard the threats
that intimated the deprivation of the Sacraments, she
broke out in sobs and supplications, preferring every
calamity to the loss of communion. Being assured by
Mother de Belly that it was an idle menace, broken
down and overwhelmed, she withdrew to her cell,
where she cast herself in supplication at the feet of the
Crucifix. The religious in the choir, hearing the noise
of the workmen who had been called in to break down
the doors with hammers, came to take refuge beside
her, and to seek a last consolation by sharing their
sorrows.

The doors of the church and of the convent did not
hold out long. A rush was made ; the two ecclesiastics

106

who had assisted at the election, barely made their
- .ipe. but the notary, who at the summons of Mother
de Belly, had drawn up a report of this violence, was
still in the choir. Madame Lenet is introduced, fol-
lowed by a tumultuous crowd. Finding that the
sisters were absent, the Prior ascended to the room of
Mother de Matel : the official, meeting Mother de Belly
at the door, rudely pushed her, saying : ' % Make your
adieus, you are to be sent where you deserve : hurry. '
Calm, answering never a word, Mother de Belly cast
herself at the feet of Jeanne, asked her blessing,
embraced her tenderly, and bade her farewell. She
was never to see her again. " Alas." she afterwards
wrote, " if I had thought tnat we were to be separated
forever, who could have torn me from her side ? I
would have defied the whole world to do it : they
would have been obliged, either to leave me there, to
drag me away with her, or to kill me in her arms. ' '
Jeanne, too, was broken hearted: " Reverend Sir," she
said, with supplicating tears, ''you cut cff my right
arm when you drag away my daughter ; would you
have me die of grief? ' All was useless. Mother de
Belly was forced away to the choir where the other
religious were made to rejoin her.

When the Prior had succeeded in gaining silence.
he caused the religious to take their seats, and assum-
ing that of the Superioress, seated Madame Lenet at his
right. After reading again the letters of obedience
from the Archbishop, he addressed himself to Mother
de Belly, who, in quality of former Superioress, as well
as by her zeal, and the affection of the sisters, was
made the mouth piece of the Community, and com-
manded her to salute Madame Lenet. ' ' As my sister in
Jesus Christ, yes ; as my Superioress, I can not. hav-
ing already a Superioress legitimately elected." The

hi;

others joined in the refusal. The noise recommenced.
M. Lenet, approaching Mother de Belly, entreated her
to give the example of submission, assuring her that
she would gain by it. The exasperated Prior ex-
claimed that the rebels should be driven out. "But
first," speaking to Mother de Belly, "give up your
accounts." — 'I will do so, Father, when my Superi*
arrives.'1 " Go, and pack your things, and prepar
leave." — " I need onlv mv crucifix, that will suffice."

M. Lenet once more tried persuasion, represent-
ing the state to which she would reduce herself. "Sir."
she answered. " I submit myself to the will of God.
My desire is to remain here, but, if necessary, let them
exile me. Jesus Christ teaches us that we cannot
serve two masters. ' ' The Prior also resumed his plead-
ing and gentleness: "Reverend Father." answered
Mother de Belly. ' ' I am ready to obey you in all that
I can. But here there is question of the rights of the
Community and of the whole Order ; we must defend
them : in my place you would do the same. ' ' The
official, who throughout had given evidence of an
intemperate and choleric zeal, interrupted their conver-
sation and ordered Mother de Belly to be driven out of
the convent. Restraining her grief, she bade farewell
to the sisters, but, when she was outside, her sobs and
cries broke forth. She clung to the gate of the con_
vent, kissing it again and again, and wetting it with
her tears. She had to be draped awav bv force, and
flung into the carriage that conveyed her to the hos-
pital ^here Mother St. Ursula awaited her. The
choice of her place of exile was an attention of the
Archbishop, who blamed the intrusion of Madame
Lenet. which he had conceded to the insistance of the
Prince de Ccnde ; and he did not dissemble his sym-
pathy for the Sisters of the Incarnate Word.

108

With the expulsion of Mother de Belly ended the
most exciting part of the struggle. The Prior and the
official had accompanied her, and given orders that
she was to have intercourse with no one. The other
religious, left to themselves, retired in consternation to
their cells, and Madame L,enet, renouncing all expecta-
tion of a submission that was refused her, was satisfied
to remain a mistress among ruins.

On the next day began the migration of the sup-
pressed religious to the house of the Incarnate Word.
On that and the following days there was a constant
succession of new colonies, conducted by the officials,
knocking for admission.

' ' The grief was equal amongst the strangers and
the religious of the Incarnate Word. The former,
driven from their homes, obliged to accommodate
themselves to new usages, and subjected to the humors
of a woman who received them unwillingly, bitterly
deplored their unhappiness. The latter, who beheld
their Community converted into a numerous assemblage
of different institutes, with a stranger domineering over
them, were inconsolable." * As the Archbishop, per-
haps to embarass Madame I^enet by raising up diffi-
culties for her, had assigned no fixed revenue for this
crowd, the resources in the beginning often fell
short. The intruded Superioress, attentive to her own
case, did not hesitate to take what belonged to the Sis-
ters of the Incarnate Word in order to relieve the
wants of the unfortunate new comers.

The situation of Mother de Matel was soon, though
vaguely, known in Paris. Her friends were greatly
concerned, but they could not know the whole truth.
When Mother de Matel was called to the parlor,
Madame Lenet's invariable answer was that she was

* I^ife by a Jesuit Father.

109

unwell. As for Mother de Belly, there was a formal
prohibition against all intercourse with her. Many
ladies of the first families, understanding the situation,
made open complaint to the Archbishop ; permission
had to be granted to visit her. Through her they were
made acquainted with what had transpired previous to
her expulsion, the secret correspondence she had con-
trived to open up with Jeanne, and the unhappy situa-
tion of the foundress and of her daughters. It was
agreed that steps should be at once taken.

Copies were sent to the other houses of the appeal to
Lyons, of the sworn report of the election of Mother of
the Cross, and of the intrusion of Madame Lenet.
They sent, as they were invited to do, their power of
attorney to an appointed agent, who should act in the
name of the whole Congregation. When the Prior
received a copy of this act served on Madame Tenet,
he hastened to the convent with the official to have it
revoked. The sisters were in the refectory. The
official, with his accustomed impetuosity, had Sister of
the Blessed Sacrament Alouis summoned, who, since
the departure of Mother de Belly, had become the right
arm of the foundress, and the soul of the opposition.
" Do you recognize this paper, and did you sign it?" —
" Yes, sir." — Then, seizing her by the arm, he said :
" If you do not recall it at once, I will have you con-
veyed to the prisons of the Archbishopric." Alarmed,
but protesting that she would take nothing back, she
ran to the cell of Mother de Matel. The official fol-
lowed her ; but the aspect of that venerable woman,
and her gentle remonstrances, seemed for the moment
to calm his anger. He contented himself with threats,
promising to return in eight da}Ts, and to act with the
last rigor if the act of revocation were not signed.

Sister Gravier, agitated by the scene, wrote to
Mother de Belly all that had occurred, begging her

110

to submit, at least outwardly, and not to prolong a
useless resistance. Such, certainly, were not the senti-
ments of Mother de Matel, nor yet those of Mother de
Belly, who found in the letters of the foundress a firm
support to her courage : " God is the master of all,"
she answered. "We defend justice; what have we to
fear ? Duty must be done, and the rest be trusted to
Providence."

Perhaps the violence that we have just detailed
was less trying to the Sisters of the Incarnate Word,
and to Mother de Matel, than their daily vexations.
They were subjected to ever increasing exactions;
they were assailed by threats ; the}^ were to be im-
prisoned, to be deprived of their veil, to be cast in the
street. Mme. Lenet looked upon them as disobedient
religious, and treated them accordingly.

Mother de Matel, so venerable, so advanced in
years, was not more respected than the rest. Her
friends resolved to deliver her from this situation
without consulting her. The Archbishop of I^yons,
then in Paris, approved and favored the project. He
sent his secretary to ask her to visit his hotel for a
short interview. They dared not refuse him, and
Jeanne, suspecting nothing — for, had she been warned,
she would never have consented to separate from her
daughters — entered the carriage of the Archbishop,
attended by her faithful companion, • Sister Gravier,
and was first driven to the hotel d'Harcourt. Mme.
de Villeroy met her there, revealed the stratagem
resorted to for her deliverance, and presented her to
the Archbishop. The prelate held a long conversa-
tion with her, declared his sorrow at beholding her
the mark of persecution, and promised to endeavor to
bring it to an end. She would gladly have been
detained in the hotel de Villeroy, but life in a house
occupied by the Archbishop and his suite was not one

to suit her love of solitude and humility. Besides, it

was necessary for a time to conceal her from the pur-
suit of the Prior and the friends of Madame L,enet,
already anxious, no doubt, on account of her absetu e
and the noise that would be made when it should
become known how a person held in so great venera-
tion had been persecuted. The agent of the Community
had foreseen the case, and had chosen an apartment in
a quiet quarter.

CHAPTER V:

LAST DAYS OF MOTHER DE MATEL — HER DEATH.

The departure of Mother de Matel was a great dis-
appointment to her persecutors. The Prior and the
official, being* informed of the fact, went to the con-
vent, and, breaking open the door ot her room, took
possession of all that they found there. By their
orders a search was immediately instituted to ascertain,
the place of her concealment, and, when it failed, their
anger was visited on Mother de Belly ; they resolved
to remove her to a greater distance, and to treat her
with greater rigor. She was transferred to another
convent outside the Faubourg St. Germain, the name
of which she was not allowed to know. The Prior
himself chose for her the remotest and most incon-
venient cell, and forbade her to speak with any one
without a permission to that effect signed by him-
self. Good Mother St. Ursula had the carriage fol-
lowed, and thus ascertained the place of her exile,
which she made known to the Sisters of the Incarnate
Word ; and thus Mother de Matel learned this new
increase of persecution.

The apartment selected for her own retreat was in
the house of a secular, in the fourth story, inconven-
iently placed just beneath the roof, where she had
much to suffer. The heat was excessive ; being unpro-
vided with linen, she could not remove the perspiration
with which she was covered, and, as it dried upon her,
her rheumatic pains, already severe, were greatly
increased. Her friends relied on the agent of the
Congregation, and he, counting on a speedy solution of

L13

the difficulty which would permit Jeanne's return to
the convent, had not paid due attention to this tempo-
rary refuge. Our Ivord permitted the misunderstand"
iug so as to increase the martyrdom and the merit of
His servant.

But her most intolerable suffering was in her ina-
bility to be present at Mass, and to receive the Holy
Communion, which for so many years had been the
daily nourishment of her soul. Her room was too far
distant from the church, and her limbs, now much
enfeebled, were not able to sustain her. In the begin-
ning Sister Gravier had provided her a sedan chair, but,
as their money soon gave out, she was obliged to
renounce the happiness of being present at the holy
mysteries. Her health, already shattered, became
worse and worse, and a mortal languor supervened-
Unable to take any nourishment, Jeanne often suc-
cumbed to weakness, and could scarcely utter a word.
Sister Gravier, fearing that her end was nigh, resolved
to have her brought back to the convent. There she
could at least have the companionship of her affection-
ate daughters, who would be inconsolable if they could
not receive her last breath ; there, too, she would regain
those spiritual helps, the loss of which was now her
greatest privation.

Informed of this desire, Madame Lenet, to whom
the absence of the foundress was the ever impending
cause of new trouble and blame, at once sent her
brother to express her readiness to receive her.
Mother de Matel, almost dying, was placed in a
sedan chair. It was necessary from time to time to
stop on the road, so great was her weakness, and her
inability to support the least fatigue. At last, and
with great difficulty, she reached the convent. All her
daughters came to meet her, tears in their eyes, of joy
at her return, and of sorrow for the wretched state in

114

which they found her. Madame L,enet was not the
last to approach her. Mother de Matel collected all her
remaining strength to testify her gratitude for this
demonstration of sympathy. As she passed the door
of the choir, she wished to stop and bend her knee in
adoration of Him whom she had so longed to regain.
In this short interview with her Lord, they beheld her
countenance inflamed, and her strength visibly return.
She was then conducted to her room and laid in her
bed.

From this moment until the next morning she
remained with her eyes closed, speaking to no one,
and the first word she uttered was a request to receive
Holy Communion. It was brought to her about 7
o'clock as Viaticum, in the belief that her end was
nigh. As soon as she beheld her Consoler, she adored
him with even* mark of love. Then, addressing
Madame Iyenet, she said: "God, who will be my
Judge, and who is here present, is witness to that pure
zeal for truth which bids me speak. You have come,
Madame, to disturb our Order by your entrance into
our house. If, after my death, it is ruined and
destroyed, I will call you to an account on the day of
judgment. Beware; I lay its loss upon your con-
science. You may deceive me, God you cannot
deceive. He it is w.hom you assail, and to Him will
you have to account. He will find you wherever you
may be. Remember that you have a great account to
render Him." *

These terrible words were pronounced with all the
majesty of holiness. Madame Iyenet seemed moved,
and promised, with tears, ' ' that in the future she would
make good use of the honor of being in so holy a
house, and that she would render it all the service in

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

115

her power ; it should not be. her fault if it were closed."
Jeanne then asked her, in the name of God, no more to
ill use her daughters, not to keep away postulants, and
to restore to her *" Mother de Belly, her daughter."
vShe promised everything, and did nothing.

"After Mother de Matel had thus satisfied her
zeal for the house of God, she most humbly begged
pardon for the bad example she might have given.
She recited with great fervor the Lord's prayer, the
Angelical Salutation, the Credo and the Conjiteor, and
when the priest advanced, holding the sacred Host in
his hands, she had them take her from the bed, and,
kneeling on the floor, she exclaimed : ' Come, O God
of love ; come and restore peace to my soul, which can
not exist without Thee. Oh, how hard it is to live
away from Thee ! Come, appease my hunger and
console my unhappiuess.' After uttering these tender
words, she received Holy Communion, and remained
for a long time in deep recollection. They then saw
that the bread of angels was her sole remedy, for, from
that time she was better." *

On that same da}^ she asked for the habit of the
Order, but, far from acceding to her request, the Prior
purposely refrained from visiting the convent. The
confessor, on his part, influenced by Madame Lenet,
and regardless of the privileges accorded to Jeanne,
and her habitual custom, refused to renew the
communion, her onh' strength, before the eighth da}'.

Her weakness increasing, her daughters saw her
danger, and entreated Madame Lenet to call a physician,
naming M. de la Chambre. He knew Jeanne, and he
was intimate with the Chancellor ; that was sufficient.
They then mentioned another, M. Mirabeau, the

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

116

physician of His Highness the King's brother ; he
would attend gratuitously. That consideration was
calculated to persuade her, but she did not yield,
saying that the disease was not serious, and that she
would make her own selection at the proper time.
"And, in fact, "says one of Jeanne's biographers, "a few
days afterwards she introduced a young man, not very
well known to the faculty, and who had to gain experi-
ence at the expense of his patients. ' ' He began by order-
ing medicines that were harmless enough, affirming, even
to the last moment, that everything was going on well ;
but, when the evil became desperate, he overwhelmed
the poor patient with violent remedies, of which the
sole effect was to exercise her patience and exhibit her
submission. A pious lady, the friend of the house,
being informed of the situation, sent her own physician ;
he was refused entrance. In fine, a doctor of Lyons,
who had come to Paris on business, and was intimately
acquainted with Mother de Matel, having learned her
danger, entreated admission, if only on the score of
friendship. Madame Lenet would make no concession.

This wicked woman had even the cruelty to refuse
nearly everything that was asked for the venerable
patient. She insisted on her being left to herself, a
prey to violent fever, and wo aid allow the house to be
put to no expense for remedies, with the exception of
twenty cents in ten days for the making of a few bowls
of broth. But this did not prevent her from affecting
a great appearance of interest in her visits, and from
complacently boasting her good offices.

Jeanne bore all without complaint, but she never
ceased to beg for communion, and for the habit of the
Order. It was still deferred. At last, on the 4th of
September, she was permitted once more to be united
to her Savior. In the afternoon of the same day, the
Prior visited the convent. He was in the parlor when

117

one of the friends of the foundress, Madame Rousseau,
came to ask permission to enter the cloister to visit her.
He would willingly have refused, but Madame Rousseau
was an influential person, and he dared not. ' Well,
dear Mother," said the visitor, "how are we?" —
"Very ill," was the answer, "and they will not
believe it." — "But; dear Mother, do you wish to die
without receiving the habit of the Order of the
Incarnate Word, which you have conferred on your
daughters?" — "Ah, Madame," said Jeanne, with a
sorrowful glance, " I have so often besought it of the
Prior, and have not obtained it ! No doubt he deems
me unworthy. I submit myself to the will of God ;
He knows what a sacrifice I made in not taking it
when I invested the first daughters of the Order. I
have never ceased to sigh for this happiness, but, His
will be done. Pra}^ that He may have mercy on me."
Madame Rousseau, greatly moved, returned to the
Prior, and, with great earnestness, represented to him
how extraordinary it was to refuse to the foundress of
an Order what in such an extremity was granted to
the youngest postulant. The Prior was vanquished,
and decided to proceed to the investiture ; the confessor
could not be warned in time, but Providence provided
a witness in M. Mandeau, an ecclesiastic and a relative
of Mother de Belly, who happened to be there at the
moment. It was a great consolation to Mother de
Matel to be able to speak to him for a few short
minutes of " her beloved daughter ;" to confide to him
her grief; to manifest her loving sentiments of patience
aud union with Jesus Christ. She did this with so
great unction that M. Mandeau was moved to tears,
and afterwards declared that he had never heard
anything so touching and so elevated.

When the Prior had blessed the vestments accord-
ing to the ceremonial. " Sister Alouis, who would not

suffer Mother de Matel to receive them from the hands
of Madame Lenet, adroitly took possession of them,
and had the glory of investing the most worthy postu-
lant that the Order ever has had or ever shall have.
The illustrious novice received them with exceeding
fervor, answering everything with the greatest presence
of mind; and, throughout, appeared penetrated with
the sanctity of an action which brought her so much
consolation. She received as her name in religion
that of Sister Mary of Jesus, according to the choice
which she had long ago made." *

All the daughters of Mother de Matel, and all the
other religious, had been present at this touching cere-
mony. The}- congratulated the holy novice on her
happiness, and she responded to their felicitations,
allowing her joy to overflow. And yet this joy was
incomplete. She longed to make her profession, as she
had been expressly authorized to do, but the Prior
would not hear it spoken of. In answer to repeated
solicitations, he did not hesitate to make this favor
conditional on her revocation of the donation made by
Mother de Matel to Sister Gravier. She refused the
odious demand, such was the energy of her soul to the
very end, and such her contempt for duplicity and
compromise in matters of conscience.

Mother de Matel had experienced the grief of long
expectation, and of refusal. Our L,ord willed that she
should be consoled, and that once more she should
owe it only to Him.

On the 10th of September, the Prior was just leav-
ing the convent much irritated by the resistance made
to his plans, when M. Colombert presented himself at
the door, and, as a friend of the dying Mother, asked
permission to enter the Convent of the Incarnate Word,

• Life by a Jesuit Father.

L19

and, in case of urgency, to receive the vows of the
foundress. Then occurred an astonishing thing. The
Vicar General, till then inexorable, granted his request
at once. The religious, with reason, considered this
unhoped for concession as an admirable stroke of Prov-
idence. Our Lord had promised that Jeanne should
come to Him in the .glory of a professed religious ;
contrary to all hopes, He was about to realize His
promise.

" M. Colombert was received as an emissary from
Heaven, sent to crown the desires of the holiest of
mothers.

" Previous to his arrival, they had administered
Extreme Unction to the sick religious, who appeared
to be sinking. On receiving the sacrament, she
renewed the expression of her piety. Although she
had confessed that very morning, she wished to renew
the confession, and to beg pardon once more of her
daughters for her bad example, giving to all her
maternal benediction, and repeating her salutary warn-
ings to Madame Lenet." *

The Sisters of the Incarnate Word, feeling that
they were about to become orphans, being no longer
under any illusion on that point, gave free vent to their
tears.

The arrival of M. Colombert was a ray of joy in the
gloom of their sorrow ; Mother de Matel, especiall}-,
seemed to be buoyed up in her consolation. The
danger was pressing ; they made haste to proceed with
the ceremonial of the vows. Madame I^enet could not
respect the sanctity even of that solemn hour. Sister
Alouis, as at the investiture of the habit, had taken
possession of the veil, and had aided the celebrant to

* Iyife by a Jesuit Father.

L20

place it on the head of the venerable professed.
Madame Lenet, considering this an infraction of her
rights, would, had she not been prevented, have
snatched it off, in order to replace it with her own hands.
Notwithstanding her weakness, Mother de Matel
wished to testify her joy by intoning the Tc Deuni.
From this moment her submission to the orders of the
physician and the infirmarians was still more perfect ;
she received with a humility that could not be sur
passed the attentions that were paid to her, in her
respect for the vows of poverty and obedience which
she had just pronounced.

It was now 7 o'clock ; the grace of her consecration
seemed to have brought some relaxation to her suffer-
ings. Her grand-niece, Sister de Becy, who was still
a novice, said, laughingly: "Now you are happier
than I am ; now that you have made your holy pro-
fession, I hope that you will wTork for mine." — " I
should be happy to do so, did God permit it," was the
answer. "Let us pray that His holy will be done."
Madame L,enet seemed unable to forego troubling the
peace and recollection of her last moments. One can
scarcely believe that she renewed her importunities to
have the grant to Sister Gravier revoked, and, beside
the dying bed of Mother de Matel, threatened the poor
sister to make her pay dearly for an act extorted, as
she pretended, against all justice. She then left the
apartment with these words, accompanied by angry
gestures directed towards the astonished assemblage.

The doctor arrived about 8 o'clock ; they gave him
an account of the symptoms that had caused their
anxieties in the afternoon, and of the effect of his
prescriptions. He still assured them that the sickness
was but trifling, and ordered a new remedy which
should be infallible. Mother de Matel had scarcely
taken it when all her sufferings were redoubled. Her

daughters had resolved to pass the night with her, but
towards 10 o'clock there seemed to be a slight amend-
ment, and, at the instance of the confessor, who
promised to summon them if the danger increased,
they retired. He alone remained with vSister Gravier
and Sister de Becy.

For. some hours Mother de Matel had been more
quiet. All at once, raising her voice, she said, in a
firm tone : " No, no, I will not." — These words she
repeated three times, and with the same earnestness.
Sister de Becy, thinking that she was dreaming, or
delirious, silently approached the bed, and, in a low
tone, so as not to interrupt her sleep, if she were
sleeping, whispered : ' ' Mother, what is it that you
will not ? " " Sin," answered Jeanne, " it is sin that
I will not, my daughter." The demon, then, even in
that last hour, attempted a supreme assault against
that soul that had so frequently vanquished him, and
that was to free so many others from his sway.

A minute later, Sister Gravier approached to offer
her a drink. " Oh," said the holy Mother, " silence !
Jesus, Mary and Joseph are here. . . . Do you
not see them ? . L,et us go ; they invite me to

enjoy with them eternal repose."

These were her last wTords. They hastened to
summon her daughters. When they were assembled
together, the confessor began the prayers of the
agonizing. It was then ' 1 o'clock of the 11th of
September. A heavenly joy shone on the countenance
of the dying saint. She raised her hands as though in
answer to some loving invitation, and emitted a sigh.
It was the sigh of her enfranchisement here below ; it
was the first sigh of her love at the gate of heaven.
She was in her 74th year of her age, when she gave
back her soul to God.

122

A few days before, near the altar railing, a great
light had been seen, which, coming from four different
quarters, and forming a sphere, had stopped in the
middle of the choir before the prie Dieu of the
Superioress ; it had then proceeded towards the
chamber of the invalid, disappearing near her bed.
Two religious, wTho had followed it, saw it, as well as
Mother de Matel, and bore witness to the fact. ■

The religious of the Convent of Avignon were
warned in the night by the bell, which tolled of its
own accord, for the passing away of their foundress ;
the same thing occurred in the Convents of L,yons and
Grenoble. Several persons, and in particular some of
her confessors, declared that, at the moment when she
expired, they had seen her in the habit of the professed,
and radiant with glory. The very night of her death
she appeared in a dream to Mother Mary Margaret de
Villard. As the first who had received the habit of
the Order, she recommended her to -show herself its
Mother, and she gave her the book of the Constitutions.
Doubtless Mother Mary Margaret would have attached
no importance to this, had she not, on awaking, found
the book in her hands.

The death of Mother de Matel was the cause of
great grief to her daughters, who, in the circumstances
in which they were placed, felt themselves doubly
orphaned. Their sorrow found a sympathetic echo in
the hearts of their friends. Madame I^enet refused to
grant permission for an artist to draw the portrait of
the foundress ; she suppressed the letters of announce-
ment which. the Sisters of the Incarnate Word addressed
to the persons of their acquaintance. But she could
not prevent the crowd that pressed around her remains,
and that filled the church. The voice of the people

123

was raised aloud to proclaim the merits of the illus-
trious deceased, and the graces obtained through her
intercession.

Many hesitated not to denounce Madame Lenet,
who, pursuing her victim even after death, could
scarcely be persuaded to allow the church to be draped
in black, and to permit a pall over the coffin,
emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the Order.

After the funeral ceremonies, the religious opposed
the interment until the body should be opened, and
the heart removed, to be sent to the Convent of Lyons.
Madame L,enet resisted this for two days ; the resist-
ance only served to augment the public veneration for
the Holy Mother, as she was already called. Indeed,
her countenance during all this time, retained a rosy
coloring, and her body exhaled a sweet odor. An
immense crowd attested the fact, for they witnessed it.

Finally, on the third day, " M. and Madame de
Rossignol, accompanied by a number of persons of the
first distinction, who had only learned the decease
through public rumor, visited the convent, and
demanded permission to enter and see more closely
the remains of their beloved friend, whose death had
much surprised them."* Their request could not be
denied. Madame de Rossignol warmly supported the
proposition of the religious, and had it granted.

The surgeon charged with the autopsy, on ex-
amining the heart, exclaimed: "Here is a heart
that has suffered much!" He pierced it, so as to free
it of blood, but the liquor that issued was as yellow as
gold. Certain mysterious words which escaped him
in the operation, and Mme. L,enet!s opposition, gave
rise to a suspicion that Mother de Matel's death was

* L,ife by a Jesuit Father.

VIA

hastened by a crime. The Order of the Incarnate
Word has never consented to echo this supposition.

After another funeral service, the precious remains
were interred at the foot of the altar in the presence
of an immense crowd of people. Some time after, an
inscription was placed npon the tomb by which it
might be recognized. The Abbe Colombert conveyed
the heart, inclosed in a leaden urn, to the Convent of
Lyons, where it was received and preserved with
great veneration.

The sorrowful drama of her last days came to its
close, but death descending on this Calvary could not
prevent the radiance of her glory. Let ns pause in
pious recollection and affectionate veneration in
presence of this victim. The time has come for us to
contemplate the brightness of her virtues and
character, and her greatness of soul. So, in the
twilight of the evening of His sepulture, the friends
of the Master rehearsed His goodness, His miracles,
His promises, whilst calmly awaiting His resurrection.

BOOK SEVENTH.

THE PORTRAIT, THE SPIRIT AND THE VIRTUES OF
MOTHER DE MATEL.

CHAPTER I.

THE PORTRAIT AND CHARACTER OF MOTHER DE

MATElv.

The long route which we have pursued in the
company of Mother de Matel has made us intimate
with the secrets of her soul. We have heard her
speak, we have seen her in action, her prayers, her joys,
her trials, her labors have, like so many lines, sketched
her portrait, and revealed to us her heart. What we
have experienced from a voice now hushed, at the
faint recital of her life, to us only a far off murmur,
others who had known her more near, and had been
enkindled by her glances, felt more sensibly. They
shall associate us with themselves in their admiration,
and shall give us their testimony.

The portrait, which we are about to extract from
one of her biographers, corresponds so closely with the
facts that we can not pass it by.

' ' All those who have read her life have recognized
a soul prepared by the grace of God from her earliest
infancy, attentive to every duty, having no taste but
for prayer, no attraction save for crosses and humil-
iations ; courageous in following in all things the will
of God, indefatigable in labors, dauntless in difficulty,

126

firm in reverses, indifferent to success, forgetting
equally the injuries that she received and the gratitude
she deserved ; always enriched by supernatural
knowledge, always docile and submissive to the judg-
ment of others. The}' must have admired her charac-
ter, so straightforward and sincere ; sensible to the
miseries of others, ardent to do good, insinuating
without subtleness, accommodating without weakness,
polite without affectation, simple in conversation, easy
in manner, solid in sentiment. They have been led
to praise her conduct, so uniform and consistent ; as
fervent in the midst of the most severe trials as in
the sweetest consolations ; as exact in the least prac-
tices of piety, when embarrassed by the distractions of
business, as in the solitude of perfect -repose ; as
reserved when God alone saw her as when the public
had its eyes fixed upon her ; neither nattered by the
confidence of the great, nor rejecting the friendship
of the lowly, and finally, of which the example is so
rare, as good a friend after the blackest ingratitude as
though she had received proofs of the most ardent
zeal." *

Tacitus could not have spoken better. This living
portrait, in which the aureole of sanctity harmonizes
with the golden crown of intelligence and the flame
of a great heart, is full of truth. It is Mother de Matel
to the life.

Another biographer says of her : ' ' She was of
moderate stature ; she had a grand and noble appear-
ance, a countenance regular in its outline and features,
a body well proportioned; and all these qualities were
set off by an humble modesty, great sweetness and
simplicity. She was always ready to oblige others,
and thus conciliated the good will of those who knew
her.

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

L2'

"As to the qualities of the soul, she possessed
them in the highest degree. She was affable to all,
contemning no one, and esteeming herself worthy of
the contempt of all. She had a singular love for those
who were sincere, and she herself was so perfectly
open that, even when treating with those whom she
knew were trying to entrap her, she would conceal
nothing. . . . Her humility was proof against
honors and applause ; she attributed to compliment
the praise which justice accorded to her merit ; always
regardless of the good which was said of her, she
thought only of that which she ought to do."

We have frequent^ had. to quote the opinions of
Father Gibalin. The following attestation, written
on the 20th of February, 1634, finds here its place.
Let us not forget that it comes from one who was
regarded, in his time, and by his whole society, as a
most skillful director, a theologian of sure judgment,
and of consummate prudence.

' Having been requested to give my appreciation
of the life and conduct of the pious and noble lady,
Jeanne de Matel, institutrix and foundress of the
Congregation established in Lyons by the name of the
Incarnate Word, I fear to say too little if I respect
the public belief, and that I may seem to say too
much in my regard for tke exact truth.

" I have sought information from lour Fathers of
our Society, and from several others of different
Orders, all men of great virtue and of singular capacity,
who have been the confessors and directors of this
noble woman, and, moreover, I have seen the opinion
which many others have had of her piety, committed
to paper and signed with their blood. • Yet, I will
say nothing on the testimony of such, irreproachable
witnesses, but only what I myself have learned in these

1 28

last years, and it is the more worthy of belief because in
the five preceding years I had shown myself slow to
credit what I had heard of the life of this good
woman

' Her perfect knowledge of spiritual and divine
things, her marvelous facility in explaining the mys-
teries of faith, and her special understanding of the
Scriptures, prove that she has been taught in a private
but sublime school. For several months I have
examined, with theological strictness, the great and
divine things which she has written about God, by
command of her confessors and superiors, and I have
found nothing that was not conformable to the faith,
and to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, or that did
not breathe piet}r.

11 To this gift of wisdom and intelligence, God has
added that of the word. She imparts devotion to the
soul of her hearers, with such strength and sweetness
as to make wonderful concessions, and to fill them
with divine love, in her familiar conversations. This
beautiful talent is embellished by others that more
especially concern sanctity ; as the gift of pra}rer,
trom which she derives such brilliant lights ; that of
tears, that flow continually from her eyes ; a heart
almost constantly inflamed ; an ardent love of Jesus
Christ, Whom she receives in daily Communion by a
special privilege from the Sovereign Pontiff ; an
inflexible courage in adversity, intrepidity in diffi-
culties, constancy in difficult enterprises that regard the
service of God, an extraordinary care and zeal for the
salvation of souls, a low and poor opinion of herself,
and, finally, great innocence, accompanied by a sincere
and simple candor in manifesting her conscience, which
has been admired by all those to whom she has laid it
open, so that it seems impossible that the Angel of

12(.)

Darkness should be concealed in the midst of sucfa
light

" I attest, before God, that all this is true.

" In faith of which I have signed these, and have
had affixed the seal of our Society.

" Joseph Gibalin, of the Society of Jesus."

No one can deny that M. Bernardon, Prior of
Denice, was one of those who had the opportunity of
forming a true judgment of Mother de Matel. As we
have seen, he was the frequent and devoted companion
of her journyes, the witness of her joys, her trials and
her foundations. This is his statement, a few years
after her death. "I, the undersigned, having fre-
quented, for more than thirty years, the society of the
late noble and pious lady, Jeanne Chezard de Matel,
institutrix and foundress of the order of the Incarnate
Word, and of the Blessed Sacrament, and having had
the honor to accompany her in several journeys,
amongst others in those which she made to Paris,
Grenoble and Avignon, to found there convents of her
Order, and having often had the care of her conscience.
I attest and certify to my having always recognized in
this illustrious person a fine mind, a solid judgment, a
most happy memory, a noble and generous heart, con-
formably to her birth, extraordinaty virtue and piety,
angelic innocence, a perfect knowledge of spiritual
and divine things, a wonderful facility in explaining
the mysteries of the faith, and a special understanding
of the Sacred Scriptures, as is proved by the beautiful
and learned writings which she has left us. In faith
of which I have signed this attestation, Lyons, June
4, 1668. Bernardon, Prior of Denice."

Nevertheless, as the Incarnate Word on the one
hand charmed the multitude by the visibly divine
character of His mission, and on the other beheld

L30

doubt and faintheartedness trying to weaken and gain-
say it, so God sometimes permitted a cloud in the mind
of certain souls concerning the eminent gifts of His
servant, that He might be obliged to intervene directly
in her justification. We give here a beautiful illustra-
tion of this remark :

"In 1653," as Mother de Belly tells ns,- " the
Abbe de Saint-Just had one da)' a doubt whether
Mother de Matel was led by a good spirit. He made
known his thoughts to Reverend Mother Mathieu,
Superioress of the Religious of St. Elizabeth, at Paris.
This Mother was of eminent virtue and specially fav-
ored by God ; she was looked upon as a saint. M. de
Saint-Just, her director, had entire confidence in her.
He ordered her, then, in virtue of holy obedience, to
pray God to make known the spirit in which Mother
de Matel acted, whether she was led by the Holy
Spirit, or deceived by that of darkness. The good
religious obeyed her director in all simplicity and read
iness., and asked Our Lord wrhat He would have her to
say to M. de Saint-Just to dissipate his doubts in refer-
ence to Mother de Matel.

' Our good Lord, wishing to make known to Rev-
erend Mother Mathieu how pleasing her obedience was
to Him, answered her: 'Learn, my daughter, that
there is no one in this world who is more pleasing to
Me than Mother de Matel ; that she is a child of bene-
diction, who pleases Me by her purity, and by the low
opinion she has of herself ; she does not attribute any
good to herself, and gives to Me the glory of the
graces which I communicate to her in consequence of
My love ; her faithfulness in corresponding to them
makes Me in return more liberal. I have se'it heavenly
spirits to attend and instruct her in My truth and will.
No one can take part against this beloved daughter of

I'd

My heart without being- against Me ; assure your
director of this.'

"This, true daughter of obedience reported these
words to M. de vSaint-Just , who again ordered her to ask
•of God a sign that these words truly came from Him.

11 Mother Mathieu obeyed as promptly as she had
•done before, and Our L,ord answered her : ' Thou shalt
have no other sign than this : I wijl prevent thy
•director from offering up the Sacrifice of Mass, and
will keep him thus, without his being confined to his
bed, until he unhesitatingly believes what thou hast
told him from Me.

" At that very moment the Abbe de Saint-Just found
himself, though without pain, paralyzed in. such a sort
that he could not celebrate Mass, nor even enter the
chapel, which was on a level with his room. He
remained four or five days in this condition. His pen-
itent, having learned what had happened, wrote to him
begging that he would cause himself to be conveyed to
the convent.

" M. de Saint-Just accepted the invitation, and had
himself borne in a sedan chair to the Convent of the
Religious of St. Elizabeth. Mother Mathieu told him
what Our Iyord had said, and made him see that his
partial paralysis was the sign that he had asked for.
M. de Saint-Just was much surprised, and admired the
goodness of God in his regard. He renounced all
doubt of the virtues of Mother de Matel, and acknowl-
edged that she was led by the good Spirit. His strength
at once returned to him, and the next morning he
offered up Mass as usual ; the consolation then granted
to him was so great that he could scarcely finish the
Holy Sacrifice.

"M. de Saint-Just communicated these facts to
the Reverend Fathers Gibalin, Dulieu, de Barri, and

132

to several other Fathers of the Society of Jesus, as well
as to M. Deville, the official of the Archbishop of
Lyons.

The history of Mother de Matel has shown us that
she had intercouise with the Court, with many great
personages of the world, and with illustrious prelates.
The Bishop of Condom had the greatest veneration for
her sanctity, and was so assured of the efficacy of her
intercession with God, that when he was at Paris he
went frequently to see her, and wrote to her almost
every day, that he might be regularly informed of the
favors she received from heaven. Amongst the pre-
lates who took great interest in the Order of the Incar-
nate Word, we may also mention, with the Bishop of
Nimes, those of Lodeve, Amiens, Dole, Chartres,
Grenoble, the Archbishop of Toulouse, and others. It
cannot be questioned that, in her quality of foundress,
and through her piety, Jeanne exercised great influ-
ence on many celebrated persons in the Church of her
time. Her habitual discretion in her writings, and the
loss of nearly her entire correspondence, through an
ignorance greatly to be regretted, leave us but few
authentic proofs of its extent. But the}- suffice to
show that she was associated in the apostolic preoccu-
pations of St. Vincent de Paul, M. Olier, of many holy
priests, fervent Christians and illustrious religious,
and was a confidant of their zeal. "If M. Vincent
unites himself with the Fathers of the Mission of
Provence," she writes to M. de Cerisy, * their
first institutor, "and they are my intimate friends. M.
Olier was the first to conceive the thought ; he is a
saint, and a great friend of mine. In passing through
Valence, on my return from Avignon, he told me that
M. Vincent had sent for him to Paris to effect the
union, and that he wished to have my opinion on the

♦Grenoble, June 17th. 1648.

subject. I told him to do it, tfiat it would be to the
greater glory of God, and more to the benefit of souk
than any one could conceive ; that, after having long
meditated on it, and offered it up to Our Lord, I felt
myself proved, nay, urged to counsel it. If M. Vin-
cent can unite with these gentlemen, the Holy Ghost
will impart rich graces to the union ; He will bless
them and multiply them. M. Olier is a saint ; I may
say it, because I am not ignorant on that point.''

We have seen the share that she had, through her
advice, in the formation of the Dominican Noviciate at
Paris. She inspired, encouraged, and sustained Father
Carre in that work, which gave to the Church, in the
lifetime of the foundress, many holy missionaries, and
to the Order many distinguished superiors, and one of
its generals.

It would be a great mistake to suppose that the
habit of divine contemplation, and her elevation of
mind and thought made Mother de Matel less attentive
and apt for the multiplied cares that attend the govern-
ment of a house. This admirable woman, who would
be seized by the raptures of ecstacy, whilst occupied
with the kitchen furnace, exercised, afar off, as well as
when present, a minute vigilance on the temporal
affairs of her houses, and showed herself well-informed
in the petty details of housekeeping. Let us take, for
instance, this confidence made to M. Bernardon. at
Lyons, when Jeanne was cook at Paris:. " I beg you
to believe that the Sisters of Paris, who are not the best
managers of the day, are not a little astonished at the
expenses of Sister Mary Chaud; as for myself, I used to
support twenty-four persons, and keep them in good
condition, with what she expends on twelve ; and kept
more fires than suffice for thirty in the best houses in
Paris. When I was at Lyons I kept a better table for
thirty persons, and at half the expense for wood, char-

134

coal and fagots. I left behind me the half of the pro-
vision that had been made for two years' consumption.
Sister Elizabeth managed better. Sister Mary is like
one who throws away the flour to save the bran ; she
would ruin herself, and yet never have a good meal.
I do the cooking, being Procuratress now for two years;
all our Community is not only in good health, but there
is not in Paris a convent where the inmates are in bet-
ter condition than in that of the Incarnate Word, and
yet we do not use one sack of charcoal, nor the fourth
part of the wood bought by Sister Mary. I give at
every meal three dishes well prepared. . . . This
I tell you for yourself, for I do not wish to put myself
forward as a good cook, or as the strong woman who
set herself to important things without forgetting the
use of the distaff."

How charming, and yet how edifying ! It was this
intelligent care of temporal affairs that enabled Jeanne,
with comparatively limited resources, to provide for the
foundation of her houses, and to bear alone the burthen
of supporting the Convent of Paris during the civil
wars. She tried to instill this same prudence in her
daughters. Speaking of one of them in a letter to Sis-
ter de Belly: "I recommend her to be economical,
and that her accounts should be according to the in-
tentions of the Incarnate Word, who bade His Apostles
to gather up the remnants of the bread that was mirac-
ulously multiplied. It is this that makes me consider
the account that we shall have to give of all that He
has committed to us, spiritual or corporal, temporal or
eternal. Recollect that I paid 800 livres for the rent
of M. Lalive's house, and, besides, supported my
daughters, Sisters of the Passion, of the Holy Ghost, of
the Cross, Gravier, Meunier, Constance and others,
without other resources than those which the Incarnate
Word afforded. I gave 1.00 crowns to the celebrant of

1 85

the Mass ; I provided for the Church, and for three-
boarders who did not repay me. I was at the service
of everyone, but my imperfections were more numer-
ous than my offiees, and vitiated them to my confusion,
which is beyond all comparison, as I see myself in
prayer. ' '

The natural qualities of Jeanne we can clearly see.
and it is the unanimous opinion of her biographers,
were quite up to the level of the supernatural privileges
imparted to her. .

"I affirm," writes Father Gibalin, "that, during
several years that I had the direction of her conscience,
I recognized in her a quick and penetrating mind, a
happy memory, a marvellous facility of expression, a
good disposition, frank, ingenuous, candid, without
gall or melancholy, and all the good qualities that can
be required for the cultivation of virtue."

Father Bossieu, her contemporary and first biogra-
pher, says : "If, after having given what others think
of Mother de Matel, I should essay, briefly, to draw
her portrait, I would say that everything was grand in
her, mind, heart, countenance, air and manners ; that
the gravity that was seen in her had nothing of rude-
ness or pride. : . . She may be proposed to all the
world as a model of perfection in the order of nature,
and of grace."

But the natural quality that most astonished
Jeanne's contemporaries, and best served in her the de-
signs of grace and her own ardor, was the winning-
speech mentioned by Father Gibalin. Besides all the
human conditions that can increase such a gift, Jeanne
saw it grow in her, by a supernatural influence, till it
became truly a great power.

"Speak, my beloved," our Lord often said to her.
" I will make nets of thy words, in verba tuo laxabo

136

rete.* "I will allow myself to be captured by thy
affectionate words; I wish them to be nets to catch hap-
pily many souls. It was for this that I gave thee the
grace to explain thyself, to insinuate thyself into the
affections of those who listen to thee, and who, in their
admiration, say : ' She does not speak as other women !
God speaks in her! .... I have ma'de thee a
hook with which to catch hearts, as so many fishes in
the sea of this world." t

It seems that certain persons thought that Jeanne
spoke too willingly and too much of the things of God.
Our Lord reassured her by a magnificent eulog}^ on
the Word : " My daughter, My Father speaks eter-
nally, and utters His Word, Myself. My divine Father
created time and the centuries through Me, the Word.
By the Word He created the world and all creatures.
I adorn and embellish them through the Holy Ghost.
He fills them by the Word. By His word He expelled
Adam from Paradise ; by words he has repaired the
wrong and regained what Eve had lost by her word.
By words He revealed His designs to Abraham, to
Moses, and to all the patriarchs and prophets ; by the
Word, His eternal speech, He has manifested Himself,
taking on human nature."

On another occasion. Our Lord, answering the
same objection, said : " My daughter, little fountains
are inclosed, the rivers have their beds and channels,
but the ocean is broad and has no bounds. The
prophet Isaiah repented of having kept silence. The
excuses of Jeremiah were not available to dispense
him from repeating what God had told him to
announce to the people. Nearly all the prophets, for
having announced My word, have suffered contempt,
injuries, and some have been put to death." ....

Luke, v. ">.
f Letters.

> t

Except in the days of her youth, the virtue of the
Apostle of the Incarnate Word does not appear to have
been subjected to those temptations that arise from
the senses, or the appeals of earth. It is in the super-
natural region of the interests of Jesus Christ that the
combat was waged. "Temptation and lapses, which
frequently occupy so great a place in the career of
great souls, are not here the principal thing. Jeanne's
nature, more affectionate than impassioned, sweet
rather than violent, more devoted than rebellious, did
not disturb her by violent conflict. Her love was
tender and habitual. Her attraction was the Word
Incarnate. This includes all that can be said of her.
In Him and for Him she thought and felt, lived and
died. From her first to her latest sigh, there was no
place but for Him." *

She loved Him so tenderly, she studied Him so
closely, that her soul took on a habit of divine calm,
of a tranquil sorrow. That state of contradiction,
which we may say was the ground on which the
Savior cast the precious pearls of His consolations and
favors, gave to her countenance a something undefiu-
abty plaintive and sorrowful. " It has always seemed
to me," wrote one of her directors, "that you had
little call for more sorrow, but much need of joy."
Her soul caught, as it were, a reflection from that of
Jesus, who, in possession of the beatific vision through-
out His life, was all His life crucified and in martyr-
dom. No smile is there ; tears are her food by day and
night.

Jeanne had a sweet and affectionate disposition,
Jesus and Mary making for her, to use her own
expression, "a path of sweetness, a way of milk and
honey." t "But," and again it is she who speaks,

•

* Ernest Hello.
f Autobiography.

1 38

" her quickness seemed as lightning when her zeal
speaks to those "who oppose the glory of her beloved,
the Word.'

Milk and honey, powder and flame, such was the
soul, such the heart of Mother de Matel. v But she is of
herself the most faithful painter, the best witness, and
the study of her writings shall make her better known
to us.

* Autobiography.

t There is an authentic portrait of Mother de Matel. Photographic
copies of that pure, sweet and intelligent countenance can be procured
from the convents of the Order.

CHAPTER II.

THE WRITINGS OF MOTHER DE MATEL.

As long as Cardinal Richelieu, Archbishop of
Lyons, lived,' Jeanne, obedient to the order of her pas-
tor, continued to send him trfie journal of her life.
When he died, Fathers de Lingende, de Crest and
Conde, her directors and confessors at Paris, and Father
Gibalin, all of the Society of Jesus, commanded her to
continue the work. Monseignieur de Condom enjoined
the same. Jeanne had to obey.

And yet it was not solely in submission to them,
her directors and superiors, that Mother de Matel con-
signed to writing the graces and lessons received from
on high. Our Lord Himself had imposed that law.
"My dear daughter," He one day said to her, "the
beloved Disciple has written down the visions and
favors which I communicated to him, ursred'and

inspired by the spirit of truth. That spirit wishes you
to write those which My love has communicated and
shall communicate to thee. Remember, daughter, that
I told thee, more than twenty years ago, that thou art
a pen in the hand of one rapidly writing. * It was
not without a singular disposition of Provi-
dence, that, when still a child, on opening the
book of the Hours, thou didst generally fall upon that
text of the Psalms : * Eructaiit cor meum verbuni
bo?i?im, dico ego opera viea regi, lingua mea calamus
scribo velociter scribeniisy To which Jeanne answered
by this prayer of humble simplicity : ' ' Do as Thou
wilt, agreeably to Thy promise that I write always ac-

*Ps. XLIV., 2.

140

cording tq thy spirit of truth. Dear Love, grant me
the favor that in writing Thy marvels I ina)T not em-
barrass the minds of those who may read with as sin-
cere an intention as that with which I write, namely,
to obey Thy will, to promote Thy glory, and the good
of souls." *

The Savior, who inspired her work, did not dis-
dain to be its apologist, and on different Occasions, He
said to her, " Bene scripsisti de Me," j words that He
had also addressed to the Angel of the Schools.

On the evening of All-Saints, 1636, in an affec-
tionate communication to her, He said " that He
wished that these writings should, by a divine dispen-
sation, be useful to souls, and for the good of His
daughters.1 '

On another day, September 7th, 1644, Mother de
Matel had contemplated the happiness of
Heaven, and the wonderful ingenuity of
divine love in communicating itself to the
elect : " My soul, ' ' said she, ' ' suspended in admiration,
and in the consideration of these graces, cried out :
Generationem ejus qiiis enarrabit, % Who shall recount
this generation of God in the glory of His saints ? My
Divine Love answrered me that it should be myself who
should astonish the world by my discourses and writ-
ings ; that I should exalt the glory of this good God,
who never appeared so great as when He made use of
weak and little things to further His designs."

The skilled and pious directors of Mother de Matel
had asked themselves " if, whether among the things
attributed to the Holy Spirit in her writings there was

* Autobiographj\

f Thou hast written well of Me.

t Isaiah, I, III., 8.

1 4 1

not, perhaps, something of her own?" and " she ought
to fear," they thought, " all that came from her own
affection." "I, too, am as much afraid of them,"
writes Jeanne to one of them, ''and, therefore, after your
letter I shall willingly cease to wish to write as I do.
But I had understood that I could do it without fear,
in obedience to you all, my Fathers, and because it was
the will of the Holy Ghost to make use of me to ex-
plain His graces." She adds : " Never had I the in-
tention of being learned, and I never will, so much as
to be loving, even beyond all saints, if so it could be.
according to the Divine will." *

When one has perused the writings of Mother de
Matel, though only in the extracts found in these vol-
umes, one understands the justice of that word of Our
Lord by which He would reassure her against her own
weakness. " If the Holy Spirit did not direct thee, in
what a labyrinth wouldst thou not enter, writing so fre-
quently of divine mysteries that cannot be known b}'
a young person who has never studied, without the
unction of that Spirit who illumines thee with such
light." f " Lam obliged," she says, " to confess that,
out of prayer, I learn nothing, but, when I have issued
from it, I take my pen, and, without consulting an-
other book than my Bible, I write for hours together ;
and, notwitstanding the rapidity with which I write,
my hand sometimes cannot keep up with the flow of
thoughts that come to me suddenly and of themselves,
like flashes of lightning. " . . . .

One day Our Lord Himself explained to her the
nature of these sudden and wonderful illuminations of
her mind. " He told me that it is not so much the
number as the richness and nobility of the light that

* Letters to Father Jacquinot.
Autobiography.

142

we should esteem. One diamond may be worth all
that is in the shop of a jeweler, if the rest are but
jewels of mean value. But, if the diamond could mul-
tiply itself, and, by a multitude of reflections, produce
new diamonds, then it would be a treasure in itself.
My daughter, the lights and graces which I communi-
cate to thee are expressed in this comparison. In
fact, in one word that He made me understand, or in
one truth that He would teach me, I would discover a
number of others. These lights grow by a marvelous
multiplication, which neither reading nor study could
effect, and I have often experienced it."

"I am the light," said Our Lord to her, one
Epiphany, applying a prophecy made concerning Him-
self, "who shine before thee, on thee, in thee, around
thee, and after thee. Kings and peoples shall walk in
the light of thy writings, a light that comes from Me.
I receive thy presents, I give thee Myself, Who am Para-
dise." * Another time he says : " By that love that
burns in thy bosom, and by that understanding of
Scripture that I give thee in reading it, it must be seen
that it is I Who conduct thee, Who open thy eyes, at
the eating of the bread as for the disciples of Kmmaus.
To fulfill the Scripture I willed to die ; if I were again
mortal, I would die, if necessary, to verify the
writings that the loving Spirit and obedience have
made thee write." *

We can understand how the contemporaries of
Mother de Matel, witnesses of her virtues, witnesses of
the extraordinary graces by which the L,ord seemed to
countersign her words, collected this treasure with a
veneration that has never failed in the succeeding cen-
turies. When giving her portrait, and in her life, we
have cited the judgment formed of her by her directors

* Autobiography.

11 :j

and by persons eminent for their virtue and science.
We now produce the opinion of one who was connected
with the highest interests of the Court and the State :
"The Chancellor of France, Peter Seguier, as intrepid
a defender of the truth as ever lived, could not read
the writings of Mother de Matel without tears. He
loved their simplicity and enjoyed their unction, and
he acknowledged that they had no slight share in
detaching him from the vanities of the world, and
making him love and serve God." *

The daughters of Mother de Matel had the deepest
veneration for the writings of their holy foundress. In
reading her life, we are moved by a detail, which here
finds its place. From time to time the hand that
has arranged the pages in order pauses. What is the
reason ? She has found a page misplaced, and apper-
taining to a previous date. Shall she make the
sacrifice? No; she inserts it there, and, to explain
this anachronism of filial piety, she adds a note, as did
Mother de Belly when she put a leaf of March, 1635,
in the year 1671. " Having come across these ten
preceding lines, written b5r the hand of our pious
Mother, Jeanne Chezard de Matel, our foundress and
institutrix of the Congregation of the Incarnate Word,
the respect which I have for this worthy Mother, and
the veneration that I have always entertained for her
solid virtue, joined to the esteem that I have for her
writings, one that is shared by all persons of merit, and
by others, have induced me to place this fragment in
the book of her writings, fearing that it might other-
wise be lost among other papers. Sister Jeanne of
Jesus de Belly, official secretary of our Community of
Paris."

The most incontestable proof of the respect of the
Religious of the Incarnate Word for the writings of

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

144

their Mother are the tears that we have seen shed, the
sobs that were heard during the visitation of the Cardi-
nal, which seemed to threaten their loss. Still greater
is that of the pious care with which, during two
centuries, they have laboriously handed down from
house to houses copies of her writings, and the vigilance
with which they have guarded them.

Writing through obedience, without any thought of
self-love, without any literary pretensions, it is easy to
conceive that Mother de Matel was absolutely indiffer-
ent to style. "She writes as one does when writing
for one or two persons only. She wrote things as they
appeared to her, being absolutely indifferent to the
manner. Her phrasing is often obscure, intricate,
heavy, sometimes unintelligible." *

And yet, beautiful language, though all unsought,
often comes naturally to her. Her thought becomes
animated, it colors and adorns itself as a Queen.
Among all the orators of holy renown, who has ever
more intimately united richness and exactitude than
she has in this passage, where she describes the value
of tears.

•"Dear Spouse," said my Savior, "tears are ac-
counted in heaven more precious than are on earth
oriental pearls, and the jewels so much prized by men.
They are only the adornment of the body during this
mortal life, but the tears shed for My love are trans-
formed into meritorious pearls, that embellish the soul,
and adorn the body, after the general resurrection.
During the life of eternity, in the Louvre of glory in
heaven, tears are admired because there they can not
be produced. It is a place of happiness, on entering
which the blessed are crowned, after I have dried,
their tears at the close of their mortal life.

* (Euvres Choisies. Krnest Hello.

lib

"The tears of the voyagers of life increase the
accidental joy of the saints who comprehend them.
The souls of those holy doves are pleasing to the saints
who gave them the example of complaining the absence
of a Majesty Whom they loved, and Who, from all
eternity, loved them to their beatification. The saints,
offer these tears a sacrifice to the God of goodness, as
David offered up the water which his soldiers, to do
him pleasure, had sought at the peril of their lives.

"I accepted that offering, but still more the tears
which love produces, and renders meritorious for the
life eternal. Magdalen shed tears in proportion to her
love ; she loved much, she wept much ! The tears of
Peter wTere as the bitterness of his contrition, and in
the end his happiness was measured by the bitterness
and sorrow of the way. Such tears are pleasing to
My Angels, w7ho are ministering spirits of fire and
flame. They draw7 near to contemplate those wonder-
ful wraters flowing from loving eyes, begotten in heaven
like themselves, spiritualized by My grace.

" Spiritus Dei ferebatur superaqnas ; * In the
beginning, the spirit of God moved over the waters.
If, through an impossibility, I were not He from whom
He proceeds, inseparable by nature ; or, if I were not
that God -man on Whom He w7as to rest, as on the
masterpiece which He had wrought in a virginal bosom,
seeing My shoulders and My bosom covered by tin-
tears, f He would fly in the form of a dove to the
borders of those waters.

"And I, daughter, have descended into the val-
leys, passing over the angels, who are mountains, in
order to lift to the throne of glory human nature cov-

* Gen. I, 2.

t We have seen that Our Lord had shown Himself to Mother de Matel
wearing a baldric of her tears transformed into bright pearls.

14G

ered with tears. . . . These tears I will wear, even
on solemn festivals, in the presence of angels, who re-
joice, in imitation of their King, on seeing the tears of a
penitent who is converted and does penance. " ■* .

Is it not as though we were listening to Bossuet in
his grand apostrophe to Satan on a feast of the Immac-
ulate Conception of Mary. . . . ''Thou didst
think to overthrow human nature through a woman,
weak, and easily deceived, as a young girl, forgetful
that she was a minor, and that God, her guardian,
would guard her inheritance. O, savage beast, thy
envy was not hid from this good Father ; He will know
how to punish th}r malice that would destroy the most
beautiful creature of His hands. Ah, he did not create
her that thou shouldst be allowed to destroy her by
snares which He too well knew. He will cover thee
with the veil of ignorance, for He sees that thy envy
and malice would exterminate this beautiful plant
which He transplanted from the plains of Damascus to
the garden of His terrestrial paradise. He will gather
the seed and germ of this original justice, the germ of
immortality. He will preserve it in the bosom of St.
Anne, and from it shall be conceived the Holy Virgin,
without stain of original sin."

If, occasionally, Mother de Matel subjects her com-
position to the vigorous rules of logic and order, it is
not through skill, bat because so it came to her.

Such, for instance, is her commentary on the won-
ders wrought by the three fiats in the Creation, the In-
carnation, the Passion :

'•' The first was in the creation, God producing crea-
tion from the abyss of chaos, by the sole movement of
His will. The second was pronounced by the Blessed

* Autobiography.

147

Virgin consenting to the word of the Father, when the
Word was made flesh. The third was uttered by the
God-man in the Garden of Olives, yielding Himself to
all the rigor of the justice of His Father."

One of the greatest beauties in her writings is that
which consists in the use of the Sacred Scriptures them-
selves. As we have already said, the Scriptures were
the golden key with which her Spouse opened to her
the door of His adorable mysteries ; it is not singular,
then, that she should use them to open to her brethren
the sanctuary to which she had been admitted. Di-
vinehr instructed in her conversation with her Savior,
Mother de Matel knew their different senses, and, like
the Holy Fathers, adapts them easily to her thoughts,
with an art the more surprising that it seems so uncon-
scious and without effort. The Scriptures to Jeanne
are like a great river that flows through the plain of
her soul, from one end to another ; she goes to the
source and draws limpid and irrigating waters at her
liking. Not a hidden corner of her domain escapes the
influence, not a blade of grass remains unrefreshed. Or,
if so you prefer it, her Divine Spouse has opened for
her His treasure and displayed His diamonds. The
expert jeweler knows their value ; without hesitating
she takes them by the handful, just as she needs them,
and sets them every one in their place. Yet more, she
adapts them so well to her work that the jewels and
the stuff to be enriched appear to be one. The setting
suits the diamond so well that no one would care to
separate them.

One beautiful passage among a thousand will give ■
an idea of her great art. Jeanne de Matel is making
Our Iyord speak in celebration of His royalty : ' 'Jndah
is My royal stock. I am King in Judah, in the bosom
of My Eternal Father, Who communicates to Me His
essence. I confess that I am His true and well-beloved

148

Son in Whom He is well pleased. I am King in Judah,
because I am of the line of Judah. I am the true King
of Kings. I bear upon My thigh : Rex regum et
Dominus Dominantium, * as well as on my robe. I
am King by My eternal generation, King by My tem-
poral birth. I am the conquering lion of the tribe of
Judah, t the root of David, the Lord Jesus, God and
man, who sleep with open eyes. Sleeping, I looked
upon death to vanquish him in the tomb and in limbo."

It may, then, be truly said "that this great soul
plunged herself in Scripture as a fish in the sea, and,
like a fish, found life in the abyss. For her, nothing
is past, nothing is dead ; all is living, all actual, all
contemporary. The mysteries which she relates seem
to pass under her eyes, and exhale a certain spirit
which she makes us breathe and feel. The words
which she cites from Scripture seem to be read by her
for the first time as she cites them, so fresh is their
impression, which, in turn, she makes her reader feel,
so contagious is that freshness. The spirit never
tires. It prevents the letter from tiring. It is unex-
pected in its movement, and fruitful in its love.

"This great interest which attaches itself to the
quick emotion of the soul, related at the very instant
of their conception and caught at their birth, is never
absent from the writings of Mother de Mate!." J

This facility in appropriating the thought, and
especially the text of Sacred Scripture, was such that
it became as a scatfdal to certain over-didactic persons.
' I complained to my divine Love because some said
that my applications ot Scripture were not literal. To
which the Savior, my good Master, answered: ' 'The lit-

• Apoc, XIX., 16, King of Kings and Lord of IYords.

t Apoc, V., 5.

jCEuvres Choisies, Krnest Hello.

149

eral sense, with the exception of what is historical, is little
known by men, God having reserved that to Himself.
The prophets knew very well what they said, but they
did not always know what God meant in what they

said Thou hast the happiness of possessing

Me, and in Me thou hast all the senses that are in
Scripture, which I develop in thy intelligence as they
are needed for thy advantage and for the edification of
thy neighbor. Hence have I made of thee archives in
which thou findest that multitude of Scriptural expres-
sions that astonishes those who read thy writings."

The writings of Mother de Matel are, therefore,
like succulent fruits from the garden of Holy Scrip-
ture. Can we be surprised that they should savor of
the soil in which they grew ? Or, rather, like the
Scripture itself, they are an exquisite manna of vary-
ing taste.

From time to time her writings are like the
accents of a lute, and as a burning lyric. Is she med-
itating on the arisen Savior on an Easter morn ? Her
contemplation seems to commence as with the notes
of a clarion of victory. "My Emperor, and my God!
Arise, my glory! Arise glory of mankind! Arise, glory
of the Angels! Arise, glory of the living God, Thy
Father, Who rouses Thee from Thy sleep by His Holy
Spirit, one God with Him and Thee, Whom with Him
Thou producest within. Arise by Thy power ; give
life to Thy body, Thou who has given it to all that
liveth! Arise, Olight, by thy essence and excellence!"

Meditating on the sanctification of St. John in the
mystery of the Visitation, she apostrophizes the divine
Infant.

" L,ittle Lion, borne in the bosom of Mary, ascend
with her the mountains, of which Thou art King ; go

* Tyetters.

150

seize Thy prey in the entrails of his mother ; prove that
Thou art alert and skillful, and by a holy stratagem
despoil hell of its pre}' ; snatch this lion from the
talons of original sin. Thy mother is a lioness who
will awake him by her roaring."

And what grave and severe solemnity there is in
this page on the stay of Our Lord in the desert : " The
Holy Ghost, wh-o had rested on this Nazarene, on this
Holy of the Lord, sends Him forth into the desert to
fast for forty days and forty nights ; to be tempted by
Satan, and to dwell by Himself on the miracle of the
Jordan ; for forty days and forty nights He makes Him
dwell with the beasts. The angels do not show them-
selves to us until after His fast and victory, and then
only to wait on Him at table ; we hear not their angelic
music; they speak not, they intone no Glo?ria as at His
birth in the stable. For there are no shepherds in
this desert watching their flocks, to be invited to see
the Lamb who is their good Shepherd.

"The desert is the place of trial of Our Lord's
fidelity to His Father ; it is the arena in which he tries
weapons with the revolted spirits whom He was to
vanquish after having essayed their strength, their
ruses, their malice.

' ' The desert is rude and frightful ; divine love can
alone soften it. The love which this child of prayer
has for the glory of His Father, and for the redemption
of men, pressed Him to do and suffer anything to
satisfy hungered justice in just rigor, and to acquire by
His sufferings beatitude for us, which to Him was
essentially due !"

At other times, what sweetness, what unction !
This page, on the Love of God, would seem to have
been written by the pen of St. Francis of Sales :
" When first I thought of Thee, my dear Love, I saw

151

in Thee a mother whose breasts were overflowing with
the abundance of her milk. It flows from her whilst
her infant, distracted by some amusement, seems to con-
temn it ; but she clasps him gently to her bosom, and
by caresses invites him to draw again from that fount
which her tenderness keeps open to him. If her child
complies with her desire, her joy is perfect, and she
gives forth streams of milk ; if he holds back, or tries
to escape, she hastens to make it flow upon him ; that
liquor which is his nourishment, and in which, so to
speak, she would drown him." *

Wishing to encourage the love of contradiction and
suffering, she proposes the example of the Savior,
Whom she has just been contemplating "in a sublime
suspension ;" how full of unction and tenderness her
appeal ! ' ' The bosom of the divine Father, (in the
eternal generation) and that of the sweet and holy
mother (in the time of the infancy) were full of delight;
but the breasts of the cross were full of bitterness and
affliction to the Savior. I saw how, after having been
surfeited with opprobrium, He was called to the bosom
of glory. . . . To imitate Him, we must, with
Him, feed at the bosom of the Cross, loving, for love of
Him, contradictions, sufferings, death itself, to merit
being lifted up to the bosom of glory and of the
divinity."

The sublime is frequent in the Holy Books ; human
language is less frequently rich in it ; it is not a con-
tinuous gift even to the greatest minds. It is gen-
erally unexpected ; it is a lightning flash in a calm
sky, a clap of thunder, a boldness of expression or
thought that startles. Mother de Matel is often sublime
after this manner.

. St. John arrives first at the empty sepulchre of Our
Lord. He does not enter. Why ? "St. John was a

* Autobiography.

1 52

holy eagle, and, on not finding the body, is baffled at
losing his prey."

The Apostles go fishing after the Resurrection ;
what mystery is here? "It is this: that the
Apostles were not only to catch souls, but Jesus Christ
Himself. He had said to them: ' Follow me, and I
will make you fishers of men.' But, O wonder ! He is
Himself their catch. They take a God-man, Who is
well content to be captured by them. He Who swims
in the ocean of the divinity darts in a miraculous
maimer into the net of the Apostles, and gives them
the power of reproducing Him in the consecration of
the bread and wine, and of retaining Him there."

Is there question of attaching pious souls to Jesus ?
" Since you must be travelers, do not regard too closely
the earth that you press with your feet ; that is, be in
it only through necessity, not affection. Be sacredly
attached to your divine Love. He should suffice for
you, since He is sufficient to Himself."

Recalling the beautiful answer of St. Thomas
Aquinas to Our Lord, Who asked him what reward
he desired : ' ' None other than Thyself. " " Thou art
an abyss," she exclaims, " and thou askest for another
abyss, abyssus abyssuminvocat."

" Thou shouldst be a transparent crystal, in which
I would dwell," said Our Lord, speaking of the Holy
Communion. "It is a relic of My Holy Mother, My
sacred Body, which I give thee every day, enshrining
Myself in thee." And, drawing from this a conclusion
in favor of confidence in the confessor: "Must not
the Father inspect the crystal to see whether there be
any spot there, that, by removing it, he may see Me
lodged in thy heart? "

Speaking of the glories that Maty derived from her
maternity : "I may say that Mary signs with her Son

Jesus Christ. Mary uses her Sou as a seal which
guarantees the excellency that is her right as Mother
of the God-man." Instituting a parallel between the
Annunciation and the Purification : " The Holy Ghost,
wishing to make of the Incarnation a marvel, did not
reveal to Mary that the Word came with a sword. In
His first entry, the Word concealed the sword, now the
Holy Spirit draws it forth, and pierces her soul, that
soul of Mary that had thrilled in her Savior."

David sacrificed the water of the cistern, which
three of his brave soldiers had sought at the peril of
their lives. " It belongs to Jesus Christ alone to
drink the blood of His martyr, and to give of His own
to be drunk, He alone being Sovereign by essence, by
excellence, and by love."

The Savior carries the burthen of all mankind, but,
" He carries the elect on His bosom, as the objects of
His love ; He aids them by the gentle glances of His
loving eyes. The wicked, though heavy, He carries
on His shoulders with suffering." " Thou showest
mercy somewhere," she sa3^s, "because Thou art
mercy."

What a beautiful passage, that on St. Magdalen !
" Magdalen so loved rJerfumes, that she became one."
And, elsewhere addressing her: "Come, Magdalen,
and open a siege against the holy city. Dig trenches
in thy humility, fill them with thy tears, swim over,
enter, without opposition, the city of love ; thou shalt
encircle it with thy tresses ; one hair alone would
serve to breach it. To be victorious, aim straight at
the heart of Jesus. Thou wilt make spoil of His
loving delight."

But the special subject of Mother de Matel's pen
and word would appear to have been grace. Living

154

habitually so near heaven, she seems to have caught
its poetry and its coloring, so full of charm.

"On the Sunday, Octave of Easter,* I beheld a
multitude of thoughts in all sorts of colors ; and, as
the flowers were slight and weak, I knew that it was
a symbol of the feebleness of our thoughts compared
to the strength and sublimity of those that God enter-
tained for our love in the work of the Redemption. I
recognized God's goodness in receiving these same
thoughts that we offer Him, being pleased with the
little flowers when they spring from a heart filled
with His love."

Figures crowd her writings. Her thoughts "are
bees that collect honey ;" the word of the Lord " is an
aromatic wine that draws them." His opened side is
" the hive into which they swarm, knowing that they
will find there the honey of the divinity."

Jesus Christ, after Communion and the disintegra-
tion of the Sacramental species, is " a pilgrim stripped
through love, covered only by a fragment of bread,
and asking a lodging of the soul that has received
Him. To her the Savior on the cross is ' ' a Phoenix
who dies in the air, multiplying Himself in death, and
coming to life again by divine power, with a multi-
tude of others to whom His death gives life."

In His baptism on the banks of the Jordan, He is
"the tree of Paradise, planted near the current of
waters, bearing fruits of happiness and leaves of
health."

St. John is "the Secretary" of the Incarnate
Word, inducted into office on Mount Calvary.

Imploring Our Lord to free her from her defects :
1 ' Can Thy divine charity and Thy human and loving

* Easter, 1636.

l :^

courtesy bear to see in me what is displeasing to
Thee, and not remove it? Jacob lifted and removed
the .stone that prevented the sheep of Rachel, whom
he loved, from drinking."

Speaking of vSt. Thomas: ((I prayed him to be
the forerunner of Thy Majesty to my soul."

She collects and lingers on this beautiful word of
Our Lord: "Daughter, love is a master key. It
opens what is closed to others. My Father has one
key, love has another, and thou holdest it ; hence,
thou hast entered into Me, and I into thee to give
thee life."

Like all pure and simple souls, Jeanne preferred
figures and comparisons drawn from nature. The
fields, the flowers, the dew, the sun, the stars, the
verdure, the dawn, served to reproduce supernatural
facts and the history of souls.

' ' God has made three auroras ; the first is the
dawn of nature in Adam, and it ended not in day but
in night. The second was the dawn of grace in
Mary, which led us to the Sun of Grace. The third,
that of Jesus Christ, is the aurora of glory."

' l The Virgin Mother is incomparable ; she is that
shepherdess who gave to the world the Lamb, the
Lord of the nations. This Lamb is a Pastor likewise ;
yet He submitted to the guidance of this innocent
shepherdess, who by her diligence found Him, and
by her beauty drew Him to her bosom."

Her mission appeared to her under the figure of
the gentle and mysterious Ruth. " I am Thy Ruth,
Thou saidst to me ; I glean after Thy holy reapers, to
whom Thou hast recommended that they leave me in
abundance the ears of Thy grace and light, in the
path in which Thy goodness makes me walk." *

* Autobiography.

156

Speaking of the graces which she received at the
crib during the Octave of Epiphany : 4 ' During the
whole Octave, Thou didst treat me royally and
. divinely, making of my heart Thy censor, becoming
my King and Pontiff with a grace too admirable for
my pen to describe." *

With what grace Mother de Matel presents some
single detail or feature. Her pious and meditative
soul makes a poem out of a word, a seemingly
unmeaning syllable. We give one instance. God is
condemning man in the terrestrial Paradise.

"Thy mercy arrested the course of Thy justice
until noon ; f in summer, it is the hour when we
pause in our fatigue. We walk slowly. Thus didst
Thou, walking in the terrestrial garden, say to Adam :
1 Where art thou ?' giving him the opportunity of
recognizing the extremity to which sin had reduced
him, that he might ask of Thy mercy, forgiveness."

On the feast of Our Lady of Snows, she calls to
mind the candor of the Immaculate Virgin : "If all
the Saints are bleached in the blood of the Lamb, how
white must be the Mother who gave her blood to the
Lamb ! Not every creature can see her candor, still
less comprehend it. God alone can say to her : Tota
pulchra es arnica mea." \

In acknowledging something received from the
brother of M. de Cerisy, she writes thus graciously :

' ' My Dear Son in Our Lord :

1 Mothers are not blamed when their children are
beforehand with them, for they are still first in love

* Autobiography.

t Domini Dei deani bulentis in Paradiso ad horam post meridiem.
— Gen., Ill, 8.

\ Cant., IV., 7. " Thou art all fair, my beloved."

167

and tenderness. God has given them no command to
bind them, but he has to the children, promising them
a long life in the land, and the enjoyment of an
eternity in heaven. The text which you cite from the
prophet in the Gospel makes you acknowledge that a
mother can not forget her children ; and, even though
the mother, by nature might do so, the mother by
grace can not. They are present to the eyes of her
spirit, when absent to those of the flesh, and although
your humility would conceal your virtues, you can not
hide them from your brothers, and still less from your
Mother, who loves you through that justice which you
call goodness. She could not diminish her affection
without appearing unjust in the sight of heaven and
earth. Pray for her, and believe that she is, with all
her heart and unchangeably, my dear son, your humble
servant and good Mother and Sister, Jeanne de Matel."

The same graceful and ingenuous humility is revealed
in these lines, the beginning of her correspondence with
Father de Meaux, Rector of the College of Roanne,
when he became her director : ' 4 Since the Holy Ghost
desires, through your Reverence, to purify His temple,
lodging there that most holy tabernacle, which He
had fashioned in a virginal bosom, the precious body
of Jesus my Spouse, it seems to me that He would have
me become as matter in \^our hands, to be worked up
as the Divine Master may inspire you. For, to myself
I seem a piece of wood, weak and rough, that needs
planing ; a heart strong and hardened in its inclina-
tions, that needs the hammer of firm command ; a
spirit of gold, since the good God wishes it to be
charity, which is Himself, this metal requires fire for
its purification, even to the extinction of its least
defects. Oh, how far removed I am from all these
perfections ! And yet, I must reach them, and assume
new courage to follow whither you choose to order

158

me. I wish it, my Lord, since Thou dost will it, and
I supplicate Thee to aid Thy laborer, my dear Father
de Meaux, to work Thy vineyard. This you will not
refuse, Reverend Father, for the Father of the family
will render unto you according to your charity."-

This good religious having fallen sick, she wrote
to ask news of his health, and to console him, but
with all delicacy and grace. " My letter would tire
you, if I made it long ; I will shorten it that it may
tire you the less. Nor do I say this inconsiderately. In
your charity you sawr that you could be to me a father ;

but to fathers trouble is a diversion The

thorns that I suffer for you, my dear father, are to
me as roses ; I offer myself to my beloved Spouse,
begging Him to make me a lily among thorns. Get
well, and I will say a hundred laudate Dominum omncs
gentes. This was another promise which I made
yesterday in my thanksgiving, if you recover your
health. See if I am not a true daughter." A little
later, encouraging him to be resigned : ' ' Your resig-
nation must obtain from God what Abraham's did ;
offer yourself up as a holocaust. If it were God's will
I would be the ram to die for your Reverence."

To a young girl, Miss de Serviere, who had just
taken the little habit of the Order, she writes : " My
dear child, and my Isaac, since you are my laughter, *
be of great courage in offering yourself up a sacrifice
on Calvary. It is the eternal Providence that has
given you this mystery with the name Calvary. The
ram, who is the Incarnate Word, offered himself to the
Divine Father for you ; His death is your life, and you
can only live eternally, because in time He died for
you." A touching allusion, in which Mother de Matel's
piety brings together the recollections of the sacrifice

• Isaac signifies laughter.

ir><.)

of Isaac, that of the cross, and the mystic immolation
of a child.

Here is another acknowledgment, sent to one of her
confessors, a model of graceful writing : ' The Hours
which your Reverence has sent me would cause me
mortification if I possessed the virtue of the Blessed
Aloysius of Gonzaga, because they are gilded ; but,
being far from that, I have used them in the spirit of
charity, cordially accepting them from you, even as he
in the spirit of humility refused that part of Saint
Thomas that was gilt. In virtue of charity I accept
them, and will say them. in honor of Him whose head
is of gold; of her who is seated at His right hand in
vestitu deaurato, and, still more, ciracmdata varietate, *
a variety in which I see humility resplendent. I hope
that my only Spouse and my dear Mother will, by their
grace, make my words golden, so that the interior may
be gilded with a heavenly and divine gold, as the
exterior is with a terrestrial and human one."

Speaking of the masqueradings in use on the days
of the carnival, she finds an ingenious and unexpected
condemnation of them : " The devil was the first to
invent masks, by -taking the form of the serpent. And,
next, Adam and Eve not onfy covered their faces, but*
their shame, by a mask of seeming purity, when the}'
committed an evident impurity, b}^ hiding from Him
who had created them."

Note how beautifully she comments on the words
of Magdalen seeking the Savior in the garden :
' ' IyOrd, if Thou hast hidden in Thy garden the flower
that I adore, and for which I am anxious, tell me where
Thou hast placed it. Tell me where I may gather that
rose, the thorns of which have caused me such keen
pain. Refuse not a favor that I seek with so many

* Ps., XL., 11.

160

tears. It is a pomegranate that can cure me with its
acid sweetness. . . . If Thou wilt not permit me to
bear away the flower, suffer that I water it. I have a
fountain in my eyes. Where have You planted it ? It
is my tree of life."

This richness in the writings of Mother de Matel,
even in a literary point of view, is the more remark-
able because she acknowledges that she had not been
carefully educated. Finding some difficulty in trans-
lating a word from the Holy Books into French, she
somewhere says : " French terms do not usually pos-
sess the grace of the Latin of the Holy Scripture ; hence
this word is hard for me to translate into French, of
which I know very little, never having tried to study
it, nor being possessed of any learning, but to love
Thee, divine Love, who hast deigned to be my
teacher." *

If, from the heights to which Mother de Matel leads
us, revealing the dogmatic side of truth, we descend
to the lower, but still luminous regions, of her moral
applications, which are more easily accessible, we
behold a new aspect. The high summits decline, the
voice of great waters is hushed ; it is an undulating
plain of soft murmurings. The eagle has furled his
vans ; the hen, affectionate and agitated by her charm-
ing solicitude, has assembled her brood, covering and
warming them ; teaching the ways of that heaven of
which she has just contemplated the profound mys-
teries, the ravishing beauty ; it is the ecstatic who
becomes a school-mistress in the house of God, spelling
with children the first words of the great book of life,
which in her meditation was wide opened to her,
Jesus Christ desirous of living again in souls.

And yet, if the style of Mother de Matel, become
the directress of souls after having been their doctoi ,

* Autobiography

1()1

flows more calmly and tranquilly, one feels in reading
her spiritual works a hidden warmth that issues from
them, penetrating and vivifying. There is so much
good sense and faith in her words that we are obliged
to say, how right she is! One perceives such an unction
that we are as much attracted by her reproaches as by
her exhortations. Frequently, her words are trenchant
as a sword ; when you least expect it, she strikes, and
she reaches the very marrow of the soul, cutting off
the attraction to evil, or the negligence that is ready
to fix itself there through irreflection or habit.

She has just spoken of the Guardian Angels, and
of the respect we owe them : " We seek to avoid only
the eyes of men, witnesses easily deceived ; they see at
most the outward shell of our actions, and, if we suc-
ceed in shunning their presence, we dare everything.
But, meanwhile, we have near us a witness who pene-
trates the secrets of our heart, and reads its innermost
recesses. No one has seen us, we say, complacently.
No one has seen us? Well, enjoy the esteem of men
whose contempt you deserve ; let them praise you,
because they do not know you as you are. In the
approbation which they confer, forget yourselves, if
you will, blind yourselves so far as to recognize in
yourself what has never been. There is a Judge of
your actions,. Who has seen wdiat was invisible to men.
and who sees in 3tou no trace of what they praise you
for ; He alone will be heard in that examination that
must be made of your life."

Pursuing with her reproaches the religious who
cares little for her rule, and in self-defense instills the
same contempt into others: "You have triumphed,
I grant it, but under what standard have you fought ?
Is it the standard of the heavenly militia, or that of
the infernal legions ? Judge it yourselves by him who
has reaped the whole fruit of your victory, and blush."

L62

What more striking than this sentence passed by
the most tender of mothers against those daughters
who should be unfaithful to the rule : "May these rules
be for you sacred and inviolable ; may there be not a
single one among you who does not regard herself as
specially charged to keep them unchangeable, and, so
to say, eternal in the house in which she dwells. Thus
will you not only bear the august name of spouses of
Jesus Christ, but the world itself will be glad to give
it to you, because it will see that you maintain that
glory. I have the sweet confidence that you will
never abandon it. But, anathema, yes, anathema to
her who first would meanly attempt to weaken it by her
example, and, especially, by her maxims. Let her first
perish, before she undertakes to make the glory of -the
Incarnate Word perish, of an Order that He has erected
in this world only that He might shine in greater
splendor."

But, no matter how great the beauty of the writings
of Mother de Matel, we must not even it with that
beaut)- of speech that we have noticed as commended
by her biographers. Those who have heard the
princes of eloquence, the Bishop of Tulle, for instance,
or Monseigneur Bertaud, whose oratorical genius had
something akin to the contemplative spirit of Mother
de Matel, and who have afterwards read the cold report
or analysis of their discourses, can alone form a just
idea of our disadvantage in this respect, as compared
with the opportunities of her contemporaries. In
listening to Mother de Matel, it was as to a flood of
divine eloquence, or as though x door had been opened
into heaven. Then, returning to himself, when the
hearer wished to analyze, he found only some remnants
of these ineffable riches, and Jeanne, herself, on trying
to put to paper the treasures which she had scattered
broadcast, found it impossible.

163

The writings of Mother de Matel have been re-
proached with such a profusion of thought that it
seems to lose itself in repetitions, negligences and
incessant involutions. This is only apparently so.
Examine thoroughly, and you will find that the great
contemplative, whilst seeming to lose the thread of her
discourse in some pious distraction, was all the while
pursuing the tenor of a way perfectly ordered. But the
order is rather in the thought than in the language.
The subject which she treats does not present itself to
her, as to us, in the unity that belongs to the head of
a chapter, or the annunciation of a division. Behind
the picture which she draws, there are, in a second or
a third plane, others that engage her attention. They
are, to her, incessant visions, to which she is ever
recurring. It is the Holy Trinity, with its grandeur
and operations. It is the Word, in the mystery of His
Incarnation, the angels with their prerogatives. These
great subjects are present to her ; how can she refrain
from speaking of them ? She is constantly bringing
them forward, or, rather, they thrusf themselves for-
ward in her discourse, as in her meditation, and so it
is, that, always seeing them, she appears to forget
herself in repetitions.

In connection with her writings, Mother de Matel
has preserved an interesting anecdote in which we
once more see the supernatural that mixes itself up
with all her works. We have remarked w7ith what
constancy Sister Gravier accompanied the foundress,
sharing all her journeys and visitations. It was to her
that was committed the providential mission of per-
petual secretary of the illustrious seer. Thus it was :
"In the year 1633," says Jeanne, "this secretary
observing that I had a fluxion of the eyes, by which I
was prevented from copying neatly what I wrote with
great difficulty, besought the great St. Joseph, of his

164

charitable pity, to enable her to decipher easily my
handwriting, so as to copy it for me, which seems to
have been granted ; for, in a few days she wrote so
perfectly that she closely imitated my writing, and
could easily read what before she had difficulty to
understand. And no one else has been able to be so
assiduous in this service and assistance since 1633,
because I cannot dictate, but must write with my own
hand, which can scarcely follow the light that instructs
and guides me ; moreover, the infirmity of my eyes has
rendered my handwriting since then more difficult to
decipher, and no one could read it did she not copy it
off neatly." *

This confidence of Mother de Matel's explains to
us, as remarks one of her daughters, and we take note
of it in passing, how errors may, and necessarily
must have slipped into her writings, either at the time
of her dictation, or when, her hand not being able to
keep pace with her inspiration, she was not properly
interpreted by her secretary, or when her suffering did
not permit her to read over and correct what she had
written. So, too, may be explained the difference
between certain of her treatises, of which some, full of
method and sequence, were set in order after a first
sketch, whilst others are somewhat incoherent, and
are the results of a dictation of hurried thoughts, not
afterwards revised.

In conclusion, let us say a few words on the
authenticity and the moral integrity of Mother de
Matel's works. These two characters are guaranteed
by the reputation which they enjoyed, even in the life-
time of their authoress. At a time when religious pre-
occupations engrossed all minds, a writing of the
Lyonnese seer was a treasure to the most elevated

* Autobiography. .

L65

intellects. Those who were the first to enjoy the
feast hastened to share it with others ; they made
copies of the precious manuscript, and the Sisters ot
the Incarnate Word often derived their first knowledge
of these riches by communications from the outside.
Thus it was that Mother de Belly, that woman of mind
and heart, who labored so intelligently to preserve and
put in order the writings of the foundress, declares that
she obtained and transcribed the treatise of the four
marriages, one of the most beautiful, "from a copy
taken in 1623 from the original, by M. Antoine de
Vichi Champron, Count of Saint-Jean of Lyons,
nephew of the Marquis d' Bvaine, both of them friends
of our venerable Mother." In comparing the different
manuscript editions, and the different treatises, we
remark a conformity of form and detail which proves
their common origin and guarantees their integrity.

Little by little, and in the course of their founda-
tions, the several houses took care to gain for themselves
a treasure of which they knew the value. These copies,
carefully revised, and sometimes the originals, were
preserved, as we have said, with the greatest care.
When the Order began again to nourish, the convent
of Kvaux, in the diocese of Limoges, made for its own
use an edition of the writings preserved during the
Revolution and taken to Azerables, the first foundation,
by three ancient sisters, who had belonged to the Con-
vents of Avignon and Lyons. It is on these, of certain
origin, and on an edition of the autobiography, furnished
by the Convent of Lyons from the original text, that we
have written this history. *

* Every facility has since been offered to us by the Convent of Lyons to
acquaint ourselves with the original text itself, and with the most ancient
copies. We intend to profit by this favor in the next edition, and in the
works that we design, to the end of making known, as it deserves, the
Order of the Incarnate Word, its members and the writings of its foundress.

CHAPTER III.

SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY OF JEANNE DE MATEL.

The Spirit of God has said of the Saints that their
tomb is a pulpit, and their silence in death a sermon.
The loving songstress of the Incarnate Word has
merited this grace. Her lips are closed, but her works,
her writings, still live and speak. She speaks especially
in her virtues.

In the path which our readers have traversed with
us, they must surely have felt their souls touched by a
secret and holy charm ; Jeanne, to whose gentle conver-
sations we have listened, whose friends and disciples
we have become, is so good, so holy! Before closing
this pilgrimage, before separating from her,- we must
open the perfumed vase of her heart, and, from her
virtues, observed one by one, at our ease, form a
bouquet that we can keep.

Let us first gather a few of her thoughts on the spir-
itual life. Uniting them to those that we have already
met in the course of this work, we shall have the
portrait of Mother de Matel, as an ascetic, theologian,
and a directress of souls.

What a beautiful analysis does she not give us of
the process employed by Our Savior to gain us to
Himself! "My divine Love explained to me the
means which He uses to catch souls, and make them
His prey. He told me that His sacred body, on
account of the wounds caused through His love, and of
which He preserves the principal ones, even in His
state of glory, had become as a net which he cast in
their path. This net, so different from others, which

167

we avoid when we notice them, we must attentively
consider, in order to be captured, for then, far from
trying to escape it, we should fear not to be taken.

" But, He employs other weapons to secure His
prey. He told me that His soul was as a bow, of which
His divinity was the arrow, to wound souls, and that
His wisdom was as hands with which to hold them
with as much gentleness as strength ; thus it was that
He caught His prey on which He complacently fed." *

Considered from this point of view, the conduct of
souls is a kind of holy conspiracy with the most ardent
desires of the Savior.

On this ministry Mother de Matel has some
touching thoughts, and the confidences of Our Lord are
full of consolation for the priest : " Thou art the vine-
yard spoken of in the Canticle of Canticles, the Savior
said to me ; it belongs to the Prince of Peace, but He
entrusts it to others for its care and cultivation, con-
tenting Himself with its fruits." . . . "These
faithful laborers," she adds, in the name of all those
who are the objects of this pious care in the Church,
' ' will be liberally and magnificently rewarded for their
pains, by this lovingly jealous King, not in His divine
nature, which is essentially good, but through a special
favor to myself. The least of the services they have
done for me will be repaid by a thousand graces and
favors." •

Temptation, especially those humiliating revolts
of the flesh, is one of the great trials of souls desirous
of remaining faithful to their Savior. This is the
consoling point of view from which Mother de Matel
considers this mystery: "Jesus Christ could not,
because of the dignity of His person, be subjected to

such temptations. He did not, therefore, glorify His

* Autobiography.

L68

Father by such combats, and yet He desired to glority
Him in all ways. Hence, that which He did not
experience in His physical body, He would undergo
in His mystic body ; that is, in the faithful, of whom
He is the head, in whom, as His members, He really
suffers what they themselves suffer."

What is sin ? Mother de Matel, as usual, regarding
the question from the highest point of view, and
seeking light in God, answers : " God is love ; He
does all that He wills in heaven and on earth by His
love. That which is done without His love, is
contrary to His good will ; it is sin, the object of His
hatred. As He essentially loves Himself, for He is
essentially love, He hates sin, which is opposed to this
essential love. God desires that man, whom He
loves, should receive the love subsisting in Him. Sin
alone is the unfortunate failure, the nothing which the
Word did not make ; it is the execrable defect, the
object of God's hatred, Who is obliged to punish it
with eternal justice. This punishment is foreign to
the divine love, which is not inclined to punish.

' If God were mortal, He would Himself die
before He would see the death of a sinner, a death
which is sin. This death God has not made ; it
entered the world through the wicked envy of the
demon, and the disobedience of man. Michael
banished it from heaven when He vanquished Lucifer,
the raging dragon, who drew with him the third part
of the stars. God was not satisfied with sending His
angels to banish it from the world ; He sent His only
and well beloved Son, who is His own dear life, to
drive out this death and to precipitate it into the abyss."

On this same subject she has words that resound
and startle like a clap of thunder : <lSin ismothing-
ness, or a failure, which, not having subsistence, still

•

n;(.)

offers an unfortunate resistance. Physical nothingne-
opposed to being, does not resist, since God creates
being from nothing ; but he does not produce love in
sin. Having enumerated to her many proofs of His
goodness, even towards the bad angels and demons,
Our Lord said to her one day : ' What is more
admirable, is, that, essentially hating sin, I leave this
nothing, My capital enemy, reigning in the angels
and men in hell. My goodness makes Me suffer thi>
nothing that I have not made, and that I will hate
eternally in man and angel. As I love My essence,
so do I hate sin."

In the chapter, Jeanne de Matel and the Life of
God, we have seen beautiful theological developments
of grace. Let us, in passing, secure this thought :
* ' Charity is an ocean on the way of saintly traffic ;
charity is a path that leads the soul to the term of
payment for its merits, and the surplus that God adds
to it."

And this is how Our Lord celebrates His mysteri-
ous union with souls : "I am the grafted Word ;
this is the season for grafting the trees of earth ; and it
is the one in which I wish to graft Myself on thee,
and on those whom thou dost recommend. I wish to
draw to Myself thy whole substance, and to change
thee into Myself, for without Me you are wild trees
bearing fruits spoiled by the worm of self-love, which
cannot be pleasing to the taste of My Father, until I
change you into Myself by My own power." *

Under the title, Way of the Saints, Jeanne gives
us, by way of commentary on the beginning of the
Sermon of the Mount, a striking abridgment of the
code of perfection, which we shall find more devel-
oped, and under a different form, in the Treatise on

* Letters to Father Jacquinot.

170

the Beatitudes. " The way of the Saints," she says,
' is that pointed out by the Savior in the Beatitudes

of the Gospel The first is poverty of

spirit, which requires a complete spoliation to corre-
spond with divine simplicity, and for the possession of
the kingdom of heaven invisible to the eyes of the
body. We must brush off the dust of the world ; heaven

and earth cannot coexist in the same heart

Hence the saints have said that their portion was in
the land of the living. They were made poor in the
land of the dying. Their kindness makes them
possess the land, that is, the Humanity of the Incar-
nate Word No one troubles the posses-
sions of the kind-hearted, because no one attacks
them but is won by their good nature. The tears of
the saints merit the consolations of heaven. They
weep ; (1) because they see themselves still far from
the kingdom of God, tor which they sigh ; (2) because
divine truth a»d eternal life are despised ; (3) because
they are children who do not behold their father and
mother : God and the Blessed Virgin are hidden in
the heavens. Happy tears distilled on earth, to be
, the sources of a thousand holy desires !

" Famished souls hunger for the bread of God, the
doing of His divine will. They hunger and thirst for
justice, and the God of their heart feeds them with
food that satisfies them, and strengthens them to
enter on the path to heaven which is so difficult of
ascent.

" The merciful have pity: (1) For the afflictions of
the Savior, the most afflicted of men ; (2) for those
hearts that are beset with trouble ; (3) for the corporal
necessities of their neighbor. . .

" Those who are pure of heart shall see God,
because they are cleansed and purified, and desire only

171

to see Him. The eye asks but for light, in which
alone it takes pleasure ; light is its object, and the
heart, which is all eye and light, can occupy itself only

with the divine light. This purity of heart is acquired
by regeneration in water, and by the sweetness of the
Spirit, which is fire.

" The peacemakers, having already conquered their
enemies, and ended their combats by glorious victories,
enjoy beforehand the inheritance of their Father. . . .
And those who suffer persecution for justice sake are
blessed, for their sufferings are not in expiation of sin,
but for the advancement of the glory of God. In the
first beatitude they receive heaven in exchange for the
goods of the world, which they despise, but in this last
they acquire it by their sufferings, endured in the cause
of Jesus, Who gained it by His cross."

During the Octave of the Epiphany, 1(337, Our
Lord explained to her in a sensible form, "the differ-
ence of state in souls, which are all bound by different
chains."

" The first chain is of iron, which binds and weighs
down the obstinate sinners of this world, and the
damned in hell. The second is of lead, which may be
softened and melted by fire ; it binds these souls that
are in mortal sin, but are not obstinate. . . . The
third chain is of bright gold, which is rather an orna-
ment, a crown, and a collar of rank, than a bond. This
chain belongs to those who follow God through love.
The fourth, which is marvelous, is composed of light,
and is not heavy like that of gold. The souls bound
by it are enlightened, not chained. They are led by
the splendor of eternal light, the Word, their way, their
truth and their life."

The theologian of the Incarnate Word stops at this-
resplendent figure, and, ravishing from the heart of her

172

Spouse the secret of His operations of love in these
privileged souls, she gives us an account which is too
faithful not to have been read in her own heart.

1 ' God dwells in such souls and reproduces Himself
as often as He illumines them, giving them a strong
and sweet love. To these fortunate souls He gives a
share in His joy, as to His well-beloved spouses.
Together with light they receive the sacred unction
of queens. This light gives them an impulse towards
the desire of eternal glory. They are bright as the sun ;
they are clear, white and silvery as the moon.

u The sun has no color, only light. These souls, so
happily bound, have neither color nor tint of created
things, only the white of innocence. Although
voyagers, they enjoy beforehand the wages of beati-
tude, by their communication with the I^amb, who
conducts them to the fountains of life, and by the light
that emanates from His brow and eyes. And, as light
was made for the eye, and the eye for the light, so
these souls belong only to God, and are all for God,
and God is all to them, as though all for them
alone

"The divine Majesty, seated in the soul as on a
throne, sheds His loving rays throughout His court.
The soul basks in the light that falls directly upon it
without dazzling it, because the Holy Spirit produces
in it an admirable cloud, that serves it for shade and
delightful refreshment, and meanwhile it rests and
reposes in the noon-tide of purest love, having gathered,
in an abundant measure, the fruits of the divine bene-
diction. This cloud seems to dissolve gently, and
distill an agreeable dew, which infiltrates into the soul
and causes the germination of numberless graces. The
Savior, Himself, is found amongst them, according
to the desire of the Prophet : Roralc, cceli desuper et

nubes pluant justum ; aperiatur terra el germinet
Salvatorem. *

" The Sacred Humanity finds itself in an admirable
way present in such a soul, an extension of the loving
Incarnation, producing wonderful unions, which are
new favors. Whilst it dwells in the soul, it is the
light of that little world, according to the words of the
Savior. In that happy time Jesus Christ causes the
soul to work wonderfully by His light. He produces
in it a day of which the joy is very great, and all the
powers of the soul exclaim : Hcec dies quavi fecit Dom-
imis, exnltemus et Icetemurin ea." f

One of the essential elements of the Christian life is
the spirit of sacrifice. Sacrifice is the due of every
hour. It is all important, therefore, to know how to
accept it, and to offer it up in such a manner as to
make it profitable. " God made me see the difference
that exists in sacrifices. Although Abraham had only
the will to offer up his son, God rewarded him abund-
antly. Jephta, on the contrary, sacrificed in reality,
and yet God did not receive his sacrifice as He did that
of Abraham, because the father of the faithful was
induced rather by the desire of pleasing God, and not.
as in the case of Jephta, by the fear of displeasing
Him. ....

' There are souls that sacrifice for their own inter-
est, in thanksgiving for favors received, or for evils
avoided, or to obtain new graces, and this is not
simply for the divine glory. .God accepts such sacri-
fices, and receives them in the odor of sweetness, but
He does not consume them, and, if I may so express

* Isaias, XIV. 8, " Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let
the clonds rain the just ; let the earth be opened and bud forth the Savior."

f Pp., CXVIL, 24. " This is the day which the Lord has made: let us be
glad and rejoice therein."

174

myself, He is not nourished by them as by those that
are presented by large and generous souls, impelled
solely by zeal for His glory, as was Ettas.1 '

This spirit of sacrifice does not consist with indif-
ference, and Jeanne could not tolerate indifference and
tepidity. " Let us banish from our hearts all indiffer-
ence to the interests of Jesus Christ ; let us be alive to
all that interests His glory. Let us grieve, or rejoice,
according as we see Him outraged, or abandoned, or
when we see zeal in defending and augmenting His

glory To witness with a tranquil eye the daily

loss of His glory, or the still greater diminution that
threatens it, is that fighting under the banner of St.
Michael ? There was not one of his angels who did
not march to the conflict with Lucifer ; those of whom I
speak are only spectators, and it is indifferent to them
on which side victory is declared. What a monster
such a Christian appears ! "

The first quality 'of sanctity is courage ; discourage-
ment peoples hell. Hence Jeanne de Matel does not
hesitate to insist on the harm that discouragement
works in the soul.

" My imperfections following me as the shadow
does the body, for there is no shadow where there is no
light, and when the body is not illumined, my sxml
was grieved and discouraged, and, though this seemed
to have some foundation in myself, yet was it pure
cowardice. God made me understand how this dis-
tress and discouragement injured me, by recalling the
wrords of David : ' The iniquity of my heel, or my
way, shall envelop me.' This iniquity is no other
than the faults on which we dwell constantly after
having committed them, though only through weak-
ness, and because despair of correcting them, when we
fall in spite of our resolutions, prevents us from striv-

175

ing to correct them. I saw that this distress was the
source of that weariness which induces the soul, whose
courage is weakened, to draw back from the combat ;
she no longer wants to fight, and remains in her own
weakness. A soldier who hides because he fears
danger is a coward, and unworthy of his profession.
David, who was accounted a great captain, thought
liimself dishonored when he turned his back, not only
on the enemies who invaded his country, but on those
who waged war against his innocence. It was
especially in this last warfare that he was skilled,
"because God had taught him how to wield to advan-
tage the arms that he employed. It is for this that he
thanks Him in these words : ' Blessed be the Lord
my God, Who teacheth my hands to fight and my
fingers to war ; my mercy and my refuge, my support
and my deliverer.' * The warrior king was humble,
therefore did he trust in God. Fear causes great dam-
age to an army ; discouragement does no less for the
soul in which it inspires a fear that makes it shrink
from everything. It makes it act as did Adam when
God asked where he was, after his sin.

" When the soul has sinned, it draws back from
the approach of God. Fear and mistrust sometimes
lead it into despair, as with Cain and Judas. This last
sinned more by his despair, which was the iniquity of
his heel, than by his treason, criminal as that was.
The Blessed Virgin, full of courage as of innocence,
was, from the instant of her conception, an army in
battle array ; she crushed the head of the serpent who
lay in wait for her heel, t and, by her great confidence
in Him who gave her the courage and heart to attack
the dragon, she carried confusion into hell. That
God, in Whom she trusted, gave her strength to

*Ps., CXI.III., 1 and 2.
-\ Genesis, III., 1">.

176

triumph over everything. She always marched gen-
erously towards perfection, growing like the dawn
which increases to the fullness of the perfect day, never
having been arrested by all the snares laid for her by
the demon. Her heel has crushed the head of the
prince of darkness, with an ease that proved the weak-
ness of her enemy. Such is the victory the soul may
expect which dismisses from its heart all distrust.

11 Are you ignorant, I would say to it in such mis-
trust, of the power of Him who is your Spouse ? What
can you not do when He sustains you? Why, then,
be troubled by fear? Behold Him, the King of glory,
who comes to you invested in His Strength, to over-
throw y our enemies, who are His own. Learn to know
yourself, and you shall find that, in the strength that
He communicates, you are as an army in battle array, *
and that, like the Spouse, you can challenge your
companions to find weakness in you, that they may
compare you to the choir of an army which not only
pleases by the beauty of its notes, but inflames its
courage ; your step alone appals your enemies, and
delights your Spouse, who already crowns your
victory, the result of the confidence through which you
triumph over everything in Heaven and on earth."

In studying Mother de Matel as a contemplative,
we saw to what a degree of union she had been raised .
We cannot, then, be surprised that in such a school she
should have learned how to console those who are
afflicted with dryness and spiritual desolation. It is
thus she speaks of the different states of the soul in its
relations with God.

" When a soul awakes to devotion, it makes itself
little, saying that it knows nothing, and that it wishes
to be instructed in virtue. When it has been freed

* Canticle, VI., 0.

from its vices and evil inclinations, it hears an interior
voice, which sings of the glory of God in the highest
and peace to men, of good will. Then it begins to
grow in years, prudence, wisdom and strength before
God and men.

"Having, through divine favor, arrived at a sub-
lime degree, she ascends the mount of perfection, and
detaches herself from all creatures by a great gift of
prayer, in which she is transfigured in company of her
favorites, the meekness of Moses, the ardent zeal of
Klias, the faith of Peter, the hope of James, the loving
charity of John. Her countenance is like the sun, for
God illumines it ; her vesture is white as snow, for she
loves nothing that is not chaste and pure. God shows
her clearly that she is His beloved daughter, in whom
He is and has been well pleased. The soul thinks
only of the excessive love of the divinity become man,
and of the humanity become divine. Faith exclaims :
Oh, how good it is to be here ! Let us make three
tabernacles ; meekness, zeal and the glory of the living
God must dwell therein.

" After this state of light and joy, the soul falls to
the ground, not through sin, but by the splendor of the
light and the power of the divine voice. The Savior
has to touch its feeble powers, and strengthen them,
saying : Fear not, lift up thy heart, but do not chant
the triumph of life before thou hast vanquished death.
Silence must be kept until the day of the true resurrec-
tion, which comes after the death of all imperfections.

" In the meantime, she must descend the mountain.
and humble herself. Intense and severe sufferings
must be undergone ; fears, coldness, disgust, darkness,
desolation, death to self and to all consolation. The
soul complains of this abandonment of the divine
Father, which subjects her to the anguish of death.

17S

and almost leads her to the gates of hell, for she is in
palpable darkness. . . . Finding no safety in herself,
all is affliction. The cross is alone her rest, though a
painful one, and she chooses it." . . .

After this exposition of the state of desolation, dry-
ness and darkness, Jeanne addresses to those who, like
herself, have experienced them, words of consolation
and encouragement.

" The Apostle says that no one can be crowned who
has not legitimately fought. We must fight, we must
make a great and ample provision of patience. Who
can lose courage, who has seen Jesus Christ carrying
His cross, and nailed to it ? Is not the affliction which
thou sufferest a sign of His love? .... If the
soul is resolved to please God, for love of Himself, she
will make little account of all that is not God, or for
God, knowing that she is of Him, by Him, to Him and
for Him. Let her say : This night, which Thou
hast permitted, is my illumination and delight, I am
glad to suffer, since Thou hast justly ordered it.
Darkness shall not separate me from Thee, neither the
day of prosperity, nor the night of adversity.
It is in the desert, and in the path of dryness, that
Thou art admirable in Thy love, making holy the soul
who is deprived of delight. For Thy love I suffer this
aridity, which is a great mercy, consuming the imper-
fections of self love.

"The faithful soul that so behaves herself in
abandonment, is the well-beloved of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost."

Distractions are another trial to souls given to
prayer. Mother de Matel thus speaks of them : " My
divine Spouse, in His goodness, deigned to show me
how we should profit by distractions in prayer. We
must, then, He said, praise the divine permanency,

17(.)

remembering that God is unchangeable, and that
creatures are subject to change, and so humble ourselves
for our inconstancy. He added that we might imitate
those hunters who, having missed the greater game
which they sought, take that which they find, though
little, even small birds, of which they make delicate
dishes, which they serve up to invalids.

" A soul that is distracted in prayer is sick, whether
the distraction springs from unfaithfulness, or conies as
a trial from Him who wishes to see her perseverance in
prayer. She must try to banish distractions, even as
Abraham tried to drive the carniverous birds from the
victims ; this she can do by humbling herself on seeing
her want of fervor, and in thus offering herself an
humble and afflicted sacrifice on account of the
distractions that buzz like flies through her mind ; for,
as says St. Augustine, flies do not rest upon a
boiling vessel. Her contrite heart and humble spirit
will be a sacrifice which God will not reject. By such
conduct she accomplishes His will, and offers Him her
good desires, like little birds, which the fire of her
love renders worthy of His taste. ' '

Jeanne has some beautiful pages on the effect of
humility and pride upon the destinies of souls : "Saul
is anionted and crowned King, b}^ Samuel, as is David
also. Saul seems much more humble than David, for
be excuses himself, and refuses the honor, whilst David
accepts it. The humility of Saul is rejected, while
the seeming vanity of David is crowned ; for ^aul was
humble only in appearance, David was so in fact.

" Pride led Saul to desire the crown, and this same
pride, when he considered only himself, led him to
refuse it, because he did not find in himself the strength
to sustain its weight. David, on the contrary, confiding
only in the power of God, who offered it, accepted ;

ISO

and, counting only on Him Who had placed it on his
head, never hesitated at the most painful and hazardous
actions, when there was need to defend its glory.

11 Saul had only a low feeling for God, and a high
opinion of himself. When he found himself suddenly
elevated to the sovereign dignity, he forgot himself in
his unexpected change of fortune. Thus he acted from
his own judgment, without attending to the oracles of
Samuel. His faults may appear light in comparison to
those of David, which included adultery and homicide,
but it must be noted that Saul sinned in a spirit of
independence and revolt against the will of God.
Moreover, when rebuked by the prophet, instead of
acknowledging his fault, he tried to screen it by his
excuses, which was the cause of his losing the throne.

11 David behaved differently, even in his sin, which
was most enormous and odious. This had its origin in
human weakness. But this excuse the criminal would
not advance to diminish his guilt; it was enough that
Nathan should reproach him, for him to condemn
himself: ' I have sinned against the Lord.' He does
not ask the prophet to continue to honor him before
the people. He can only accuse himself and repent."

One of the most beautiful of all the treatises of
Mother de Matel, is that of the Eight Beatitudes.

She considers the spiritual life as a temple that is to
be built. " The foundation on which I shall rest the
columns of the temple is the Faith. On this shall I
place the eight Beatitudes, which shall be eight pillars.
Two shall face the Kast, two the West, two the North,
and two the South. The wall inclosing the area of
the temple shall be hope ; I shall speak later of the
pavement and the gates."

We here give a rapid analysis of the treatise, and of
the doctrine which it teaches.

1X1

The first column is peace.

Jeanne exhibits God everywhere, seeking to estab-
lish peace ; in heaven, disturbed by the revolt of the
angels ; in the world, after the entry of sin. He has it
sung above the crib of the Incarnate Word. There arc-
three kinds of peace : peace with God, which confer.-,
grace ; peace with one's self, which arises from the
calming of passions, and submission to the divine will.
and peace with the neighbor, which we should try not
only to preserve, but to establish everywhere around us.

The second column is gentleness. Gentleness or
kindness was the victorious weapon with which Jesus
Christ conquered His Kingdom, and the Apostles the
universe. By it we shall gain souls ; we shall win the
love of the Blessed Virgin, so gentle and humble ; we
shall possess Jesus Christ, and guard our souls.

The third column is poverty. By freeing the soul
from all attachments, it confers the liberty that is
necessary to aspire to the celestial inheritance ; even
here below, heaven becomes its only treasure, God its
sole master. In order to be perfect, this poverty must
renounce not only all earthly goods, but even the
most innocent pleasures, the consolations of piety.
one's own will ; in a word, all that is not God.

The fourth column is purity of heart, a total and
absolute purity which cuts off all that is contrary to
God. Amongst all the exercises of piety, this, per-
haps, is the most repugnant to us, and 3-et, that alone
would suffice to arrive at high perfection ; and, after
all, with all the helps at hand, purity of heart
is easier for us than for many others who have attained
it. If we are far from having it, wTe owe it to our
cowardice ; let us practice good will, be simple and
straightforward, an enemy to slight faults, and the
Holy Spirit will supply us wTith the means of rising-
higher.

182

The fifth column is mercy, so often praised in Holy
Seripture as one of the attributes of God, and so
recommended by the Savior. We must exercise it
towards God, aggrieved by our sins, our negligence
and our meanness, consoling Him by our ardor ; then,
towards our neighbor, whom Our Lord gives us that
we may help him in his material and spiritual need>
especially by prayer and by mortification, which
associates us with zealous works ; by instruction and
example, by mutual edification, so precious a help to
the community ; by a pious and vigilant discretion in
all necessary intercourse with the world.

The sixth column is that of holy tears. We should
weep because earth is an exile. We should weep for
our sins, for the danger of falling again into them,
in terror of the judgments of God, and the uncertainty
of salvation. And yet this holy sorrow must be
accompanied in the soul b}- a sincere joy for the glory
of Jesus Christ, His perfections, the majesty of His
second coming. If we sincerely love our neighbor,
we shall find a cause for our tears in his miseries of
soul and body, with wrhich a generous charity will
cause us to sympathize ; wre will take a livery interest
in the conversion of sinners, asking light to their
blindness, strength to put an end to their hesitancy,
and to raise them from their fall. We shall have
compassion on just souls who are tempted, on infidels
and heretics, and we will come to their assistance.
In reading this chapter of the Beatitudes, we may
recognize that spirit of zeal which dictated to one of
the princes of mystic theology of our times, Father
Faber, the beautiful pages of his All for Jesus.

The seventh column is hunger and thirst for
justice. In this chapter Jeanne makes war against
"those weak and imperfect desires for perfection,
which never manifest themselves in any generous

is:;

effort." — "A man impelled by great hunger and thirst,
is restrained by no fear of danger. Thus it is witha
soul possessed of a hunger and thirst for justice."
The contrary state is in opposition to the advances
made to us by Our Savior in His promises ; it is a
" dangerous, and, perhaps, a criminal state, one that is
morally impossible, according to the unanimous senti-
ment of the Holy Fathers, who do not hesitate to say
that not to advance in perfection is to go back." The
religious who should resign herself to it would
weakly abandon what she had sought, would retract
her holy engagements, and renounce the end of an
Institute in which she had placed her glory and hap-
piness.

The love of perfection has, even here below, its
sweetest recompense ; it places the soul in an antici-
pated heaven by the affectionate familiarity which it
establishes between her and God, by the testimony of
her conscience, by the confidence that results there-
from, by the • sentiment of the love that inundates
her.

This hunger and thirst show themselves by a
constant fidelity in little things. Jeanne develops
this essential point by serious considerations, which
would alone form an excellent treatise on the subject.

The eighth column is persecution for justice sake.
It is the absolute renunciation of all that can flatter
nature and self-love ; persecutions are the crown of
sanctity, the finishing touch to our portrait of Jesus
Christ, whether they are directed against us directly
on His account, or indirectly on occasion of our virtues ;
they happen everywhere, even in regular communities,
on account of imperfections, defects of character, or
through an imagination that creates evils for itself.
The sources of these different sufferings, which are

1S4

indispensable to the faithful, are the devil, the world
and our passions. We suffer persecution for the sake
of justice, when, in the midst of spiritual trials, we
remain faithful to our duties without suffering our-
selves to give way : k ' These trials thus become the
touch-stone of pure love, and are a great favor.1' We
suffer persecution for justice sake when we resist our
passions with energy and constanc}' ; when we sub-
missively accept in our state, our relations, our
diseases, that which mortifies and grieves us ; when we
suffer for God's sake, or relieve with moderation the
incommodities of the season, and the fatigue of our
labors.

Regarding humility as the pavement of the spiritual
temple, which she is building to the Incarnate Word,
Mother de Matel gives us on that virtue a treatise
which is a masterpiece, God communicates Himself
by preference to the humble ; it is through them that
He acts, in them that He reposes. He has for them a
most tender care. The Word, having made Himself
by His Incarnation a man of humiliation and sorrow,
is the more inclined towards humble souls. The
humble soul is a joy to the Savior, who espouses his
interests. The practice of humility is a summary of
gospel morality, a key to the Kingdom of Heaven for
the Christian as for His Master; a sure means of resem-
bling Jesus Christ, and of becoming one of the jewels
of His crown, the guardian of innocence and virtue, a
buckler against human respect, an incessant appeal for
the abundant graces of God, an open fountain for the
sinner, a sure presage of salvation. And how, on the
other hand, can we allow ourselves to be overcome by
pride, which displeases God, renders our prayers of no
avail, and causes the sufferings and death of Jesus
Christ ! How can we thus shut off all access to our
heart, dare to rob Him of His glory, expose ourselves

185

to the sharpest shafts of His anger, and disarm our-
selves in the face of temptations the most delicate !

Mother de Matel, in this connection, insists on the
advantage and necessity of combatting sensual inclina-
tions by the interior and exterior exercise of humility.
This, as she proves, is a sovereign remedy, too fre-
quently forgotten by souls that desire to remain pure.
Humility and confidence, these are the two wings by
which we may lift ourselves above the filth of the
senses.

She ends the chapter by wise counsels to superiors
on the exercise of authority.

The crowning of the spiritual temple is charity.
Enumerating the principal motives of our love of Jesus
Christ, Mother de Matel insists on the following,
which we can merely indicate : God desires it ; — He
employs His authority torealize that desire ; — He sets
this as the price of man's happiness in time, and his
glory in eternity ; — He proposes the model, having con-
stituted His Son the object of His complacency and
tenderness, and occupying Himself solely on earth
through the Holy Spirit, with drawing all hearts, and
procuring His glory ; — He has made this the condition
of His love for men, the possession and love of Jesus
Christ being the love of the personal and living God
for a soul ; — finally, Jesus Christ Himself solicits it by a
most sweet and touching plea, and He has deserved it
in every way, and does not cease to earn it in heaven
where He does not cease to love us.

It is in this chapter that are found most precious
views on the misfortune of a soul that does not sin-
cerely love Jesus Christ ; — on pra}rer made in His Name,
and in union with Hka, regarded as Head of the
mystic body of the Church, as Redeemer, as the Spouse
of the religious soul ; — on the vain fears of those who

ISO

fear the sanctity that is incumbent on the spouses of
Jesus Christ, and who cast themselves blindly into the
world, on the pretext that their salvation will be there
more easily secured ; — on the sanctification of suffering,
and, in fine, on the Holy Eucharist, the Passion, and
the happiness of heaven, particularly as sought in view
of Jesus Christ.

This treatise on the Beatitudes, which forms by
itself a volume of the manuscript works of the pious
foundress, is, as we see, a complete treatise on the
obligations of the Christian life, and the duties of the
religious soul. The purest and sweetest doctrine flows

as in a full stream in these touching pages

It is in turn a flame that burns, or a wave that
cools ; it is always the strongest, the most tender love,
expressing itself in affectionate considerations drawn
from the meditation of Holy Scripture, and at the foot
of the Tabernacle. On the day when the writings of
Mother de Matel acquire the publicity they deserve,
I can promise ray readers a very great profit in perus-
ing them.

CHAPTER IV.

HER FAITH.

This chapter, it would seem, should be the longest
in the life of Mother de Matel, and it will be the
shortest. The reason is very plain. The foundress of
the Order of the Incarnate Word was so diligent in
deriving from faith the inspiration of her designs, and
the motives of her works, that to do justice to her
spirit of faith would be to write again the story of her
life.

The habit of heavenly communications had replaced
in her the mystic and half-veiled light of exile by an
almost face to face sight of the celestial country. " She
had ever," says one of her historians, "a faith so lively
and so firm, that in all things she was guided by the
authority of the eternal truth. Her spirit, the extraor-
dinary perfection of which was admired by the most
enlightened, had the simplicity of a child in the things
of God. The pleasure found by some in doubting the
mysteries of religion, the difficulties which the}* dis-
cover, the assurance with which the}^ contemn certain
principles of the interior life, were so many wonders
which she failed to comprehend. One of her greatest
cares was every day of her life to offer up her good
works and prayers for the conversion of heretics, and a
salutary increase of faith in all believers. " * At the
end ot a meditation on the Resurrection of Our Lord,
having recalled the faith of the Apostles, and the hes-
itancy of St. Thomas, she adds : "As for myself, I
have so much facility to believe all the mysteries of

* L,ife by a Jesuit Father.

188

our faith, that even the most obscure, if I may so say,
are to me the most credible. I adore them in al
humility."

She has left many sublime pages on the mysteries.
Perhaps none are more moving than that which she
wrote on the feast of St. Peter of Alexandria, Novem-
ber 26th, 163S. Her contemplation, had turned on
the affirmations of the Nicene Creed, on the Divinity
of the Word, His life, His death, His Church. She
interrupts her work to transcribe this profession o
faith, from beginning to end, signs it with her blood,
and adds : " Eternal Word, I take exceeding pleasure
in professing this admirable symbol, which the Holy
Ghost, proceeding from Thee and the Father, dictated.
He is the Spirit of Truth who teaches the Holy Cath-
olic Church, of which I am the daughter, and in
which, with Thy grace, I wish to live and die ; this
heliefaud confession I have' written and signed with
my blood, as an irrevocable profession that I should
wish to seal with my death." Then, thrilling with
enthusiasm for the faith, and desirous of associating
her daughters in her ardors : " O, my I^ord, and my
God, how happy the martyrs were in being Thy wit-
nesses ! pow I envy them, without wishing to
deprive them of their glory ! May my life, and that of
the daughters of Thy Congregation, be a perpetual
martyrdom ! "

It is one of the most certain marks of the spirit of
faith in a soul, a particular grace accorded to the
saints, to be able to rise from the presence or remem-
brance of earthly and temporary things to the thought
or anticipation of heavenly and eternal riches.
There is nothing in this world, even its unliappiness
and deformities, or that worst of all, its uncleanness,
sin, which can not help the exiled soul in its pilgrim-
age to rise to the splendors of grace and glory. Thus

it was that the contagion that ravaged Lyons in the
absence of Mother de Matel became an occasion oj
raising her soul to God in a vigorous expansion of love
by her gratitude, and a desire full of maternal and
prophetic tenderness for her Order.

" On the day of St. Roch, 1636, being unwell, and
considering that everyone was invoking this saint to
be delivered from the epidemic, love furnished me a
new industry, and made me ask for a novel contagion,
in which, by a divine contact, we might receive not
this evil (the plague), but that ardor which causes
the death of the senses, and that fire that sanctifies the
soul. This contagion exists between the three divine
Persons, and the Word introduced it into the world,
by the contact of His Humanity, curing the soul, and
purifying the body. I could say : His love makes
me chaste, His contact makes me pure.

" I thanked my Spouse that, during the deluge of
this tempest of evil, He had sent me away from Lyons
as a dove, and had brought me back to the Ark of the
Congregation, after the plague, with the olive branch 01
the Incarnate Word, that name having been made
known to me in my journey. I asked that I might
bear this olive branch all the days of my life, and that
it would please the divine Father not to let me be
deprived of it at the hour of my death, that I might
know Him for all eternity. I begged that it might be
given to all the daughters of the Order, as He had
handed it down to all generations, from Abraham's
time to the day when He became Incarnate.
I prayed that He might be pleased to purify all those
who should love the Order for love of Him, a grace
that I besought for them, together with a contagion of
grace."

The solicitude of Mother de Matel, influenced by
the spirit of faith, descends to the most touching

190

details. Here is a beautiful instance : Through respect
for the sanctity of the union which, as spouses, the
religious contract on the days of their betrothal, and
their spiritual nuptials with the Savior, she often
insists in her writings on the antiquity and propriety
of the family feast usual on such days in the majorit}^
of communities. She makes it a law to her daughters.
One may smile, but it is edifying.

Jeanne sees God, seeks God in the most insignifi-
cant creatures ; it is not surprising, then, that she
should easily recognize His action in His ministers.
By the following true and ingenious comparison she
accounts for the affectionate confidence entertained by
a penitent for the confessor : " It is not strange that
the infant should turn to its wet-nurse as quickly as to
its mother, since the latter does not visit it as often as
the former when it is yet an infant ; but, when it is
older, it knows that the mother had it nursed to her
own sacrifice, and loves her the more, without
diminution of that reasonable affection which it owes
to the nurse, and wrhich is no longer one of greed,
since it no longer needs nourishment. That is meant
for heaven, for, so long as you are on earth, you are
infants. " * A child she remained, and with a charming
ingenuousness of faith. She never took a resolution,
or began a work, without having long " consulted the
oracle." Her life was spent in listening to the In-
carnate Word, in obeying Him, and causing Him to
live in her, and in her work.

* Letters to Father de Meaux.

vT*

CHAPTER V.

HKR HOPE AND TRUST IN GOD.

Faith reveals to the Christian the horizon of
eternity. She shows him God, the Sovereign Lord
and Master, a tender Father, Friend and Redeemer,
Sanctifier and Author of endless glory. At this sight,
the soul seizes with a strong hand the helm of hope,
and confidently steers for heaven. So it was with
Mother de Matel.

' ' Her confidence in God was so entire that, never
having undertaken anything save by His orders, she
never expected success but from Him. Never before
had so many persons, and of the highest rank, inter-
ested themselves in the examination of a pious young
woman. To submit herself without anxiety to these
examinations, she had need of a confidence that love
of the truth can alone inspire. This virtue was the
more necessary to her, having to commence, without
any great support, an Order which from the begin-
ning, met with great obstacles ; and, had she not
greatly hoped in God, how could she have resisted the
rude attacks of an envious cabal at Paris." * -.

The more she mistrusted her own resources, the
more she felt capable of doing when trusting to God.
Some time before the foundation of the convent at
Paris, she* wrote to M. de Cerisy : "I will not go to
live at Paris except in a house bought or rented by
myself, with the right to live in community with the
Blessed Sacrament and the cloister ; it would be leav-
ing Paradise to enter Purgatory ! I have not so much

* Life bj- a Jesuit Father.

192

zeal for suffering, unless, indeed, God shows it to be
His holy will. In that case I would go down even to
the gates of bell, hoping that one abyss would invoke
another, and that torrents of sweetness would in their
overflow overcome the deluge of bitterness that deso-
lates these dark dungeons.

1 I was in such indifference," writes Jeanne, "in
the Easter week of 1633, " that all that was not God
excited no feeling in me. Honors, contempt, praise,
calumny, injuries and afflictions, all were alike to me,
and I was affected by nothing, not even by the fury
with T$hich I was then persecuted. I could lose
myself so happily in God that my soul was drowned,
as it were, in that sea of goodness, so that it could
not, I will not say love, but even think of aught but
His pure love."

How could this feeling of her soul be other than
deep and constant, when Our Lord took it on Himself
to create it, with all the vigilance of a devoted
teacher.

' One day, being elevated in spirit, I saw the
heavens open, and in them a magnificent temple, with
the ark of the covenant, the propitiatory, and the
Cherubim covering it with their wings. This
vision greatly rejoiced me. My divine Love
presented me the key of David, telling me that with
it I might open, when I wished, this magnificent
temple, where was the ark of the covenant, before
which I made my meditation.

' I understood that this precious key was loving
confidence, through which, with wonderful ease, I
would obtain of my Love the gifts and graces that
His charity pressed Him to grant me gratuitously. I
understood that this confidence was the pearl beyond
price of the Gospel, to purchase which we should sell

L93

everything ; that is, detach ourselves from everything
created, so that God may take complacency and
delight in us. It is the hidden manna of which John
speaks, which has every variety of savor, imparts a
sweet taste to everything, and makes us find sweet-
ness and pleasure in God, who satisfies every desire of
our heart. It is also the ' new name ' that God gives
to the soul whom He loves, a name that is more
glorious than that of son or daughter, for it is that of
a spouse, and a well-beloved spouse, in whom He
takes especial delight."

Let us still listen to this canticle of confidence and
divine hope, as chanted by Mother de Matel : " My
soul found herself strong as a wall, fortified by the
omnipotence of the Beloved, Who was Himself,
according to the expression of the Prophet Zachary, an
advanced wall of fire to defend the approaches. She is
continually nourished and protected by the two natures,
which are like two breasts, to which her mouth is
glued, where she finds a heavenly manna, far superior
to that which fell in the desert for the Hebrews.
These two natures are also as bulwarks to her. behind
which she is safe from the attacks of her enemies."

If Jeanne's confidence in Our Lord was like that of
a simple child, the goodness of Our Lord entered into
every detail of her needs, with maternal tenderness,
and dried her tears with affectionate solicitude. In
1636, the Vicar General of the Cardinal of Lyons,
fearing to displease his Eminence, excluded the Chapel
of the Incarnate Word from the list of those at which
wrere to be held the devotion of the Forty Hours in
behalf of the King. This solitary exception, and the
consequent privation of graces for the house, deeply
grieved Mother de Matel. She complained of it to Our
Lord with many tears : "Remember," — said He, "that
men refused Me a lodging in Bethlehem," and then He

104

added, "he who, through fear of displeasing the Car-
dinal, did not name you for the Forty Hours, shall not,
on that account, see the end of those prayers." —
" I prayed for him," says Mother de Matel, "but I
could not obtain a prolongation of his life." The
prediction was realized, the Vicar General fell sick a
few days afterwards, and died before the close of the
prayers.

"One day, when, in great affliction, I was repre-
senting my infirmities to my divine Love, He appeared
to me, bearing a heavy cross, and a crown of thorns on
His head, but it was verdant. His dress was of the
color of amaranth and faded purple, mixed ; still it had
a certain richness. His countenance was pale, but
kind and grave ; His eye, though dying, was very
pleasing ; it was that of a pensive and busy person.
He was passing through a crowd of people, and coming
to my help. My heart was filled with great confidence;
gradually it lightened, and all the remainder of that
day I could scarcely refrain from breaking forth."* —
" One day, on awaking, I heard the words of my
Spouse, Who invited me to do as did the Royal Prophet :
Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall sustain
thee." t

The attentions of Our Lord so won the confidence of
His spouse that she feared sometimes that she was too
familiar. " Once I was seized by a loving fear lest that
my way of treating Our Lord was too bold, and culpable
because of its seeming want of respect. I asked Him
whether my freedom pleased Him ; He answered me
that such confidence could come only from Himself;
that it was inspired by my love ; that I could continue
to appeal to Him for everything I wanted. My Beloved

* Autobiography,
t Ps., 1,1V., 23.

1!).-,

invited me to fly, like the royal eaglet, to the source of
divine light, and to swoop like a great eagle upon its
prey, on His sacred body, seizing it strongly in the
Blessed Sacrament. This most divine Spouse showed
me such love that He closed the interview by these
words, that reveal the excess of his goodness : 'My
daughter,' said He, ' have no difficulty in letting your-
self be loved by Me, and cease to fear the familiarities
that My love inspires thee to take with Me.' " *

And yet, God so permitting it, doubtless to test her
confidence, and to preserve her humility, Jeanne
always had a lively sense of her imperfections, accom-
panied by a profound sorrow, which sometimes over-
whelmed, and, for a moment, overcame her. This Our
Lord Himself noted in His interviews with His faithful
servant. " I seem," said He, "to smite thee for thy
faults, with the scourge of reproach, and the rod of
sorrow. ' ' But, docile to the voice of her beloved Spouse,
she consoled herself by looking on Him, hearing Him,
and, especially, receiving Him, and confidence prevailed.
Her correspondence with Father de Meaux places this
feature of her spiritual physiognomy in an especial
light, and enables us to be present at the touching
spectacle of a loving soul, timid and gentle, ever ready
to fear her weakness, and ever ready to be comforted
by God, Who reserved to Himself the right of being
her only support, and willed that she should know it.

* Autobiography.

CHAPTER VI.

HER U>VE OF GOD.

The elevation of the soul to God in love is one
of the elements of contemplation. It was impossible to
study Jeanne de Matel, in her divine communications,
without speaking at the same time of her love of Him,
hut we desire to do so more fully.

Iu generous souls the love of God is in proportion
to their knowledge of the beauty and goodness of the
Beloved. As in the Trinity, the Word, the intelli-
gence of the Father, has a priority of reason over the
Holy Ghost, that lien of love who unites them, so, in
the order of sanctity, God reveals Himself in order to
be loved. And, if love increases with knowledge, who
could more than Mother de Matel love Him, with her
knowledge of His beauty and His love for man ? Her
writings are a ne^er ending eulogy of the splendors
of the Word, a perpetual chanting of His tenderness
in our regard.

" God revealed to me, September 7th, 1644, in a

high contemplation, that His desire to communicate

Himself is so great that, did we not know that He is

impassible, and that His infinite wisdom is infallible,

we would deem His love to be a holy folly and an

extreme passion.

' ' I understood that love leads at once to a division
and to a union, because he who loves would share
himself, and go out of himself, so as to communicate
and unite with his object, make himself one with it,
and, not being able to do as he desires, he would
attach and bind himself to it."

\<r

Having1 contemplated the application of this law to
God, in Whom the unity of essence comports with
"the division of self" in the distinction of persons,
she follows it in creation and the Incarnation.

" Without affecting His unity, God works outside
Himself, and shares His perfections with creatures by
an admirable division, whilst still remaining within
Himself in all the immensity of His greatness and
attributes. For this division is not made by parts
being taken from the being of God, but by a partici-
pation of similar perfections which God communicates
to creatures in giving them being. Besides, impelled
by His love, He desires to collect, as it were, these
divLsions and shares of His goodness, and bind Him-
self to reasonable creatures, who are alone capable
of the bond, drawing them to Himself and giving
Himself to them. There is a continual attraction of
God to creatures, and of creatures to God, through the
medium of charity.

' ' The infinite love of God was not content with
these divisions and bonds. He has invented a means
whereby, though indivisible in Himself, He can put
Himself in a state to suffer, in some sort, division and
bonds. This He did in the Incarnation, through
which, having become man, He has experienced in
His soul the divisions of love, by the diversity of His
affections and the emotions of His heart, and in His
body by His wounds."

We should have to transcribe all that Mother de
Matel has left us, did we aim at citing all that she has
written on her love of the Savior ; we shall select a
portion only.

' ' O Lord, Thou hast been made a malediction for
all, and particular^ for me ; I will not refuse con-
tempt and sufferings, only praying not to be

198

abandoned. With Thee, divine Love, I can do all
things. If Thou consolest me, if Thou wilt be my
contempt, my sorrow, and my poverty, I shall be too
happy in that state. He who has God has every-
thing ; he is too avaricious to whom God is not
enough. My sufficiency is of Thee, and in Thee, nry
Love and my all

11 Dear Love, in Thy hands is my lot, in Thy eyes
my resource, in Thy bosom my treasure ; it is well
with me wherever Thou art. . . . . Speak,
Lord, for Thy servant is silent that she may listen to
Thee in peace and quietness. She wishes to see but
Jesus of Nazareth, her beautiful Spouse. Unite me to
Thee, bind me with Thy bonds ; I would be Thy
captive. If I am dumb as a fish, enlace me in Thy
meshes ; in Thee I will find my food and my element,
Who art the immense ocean where my spirit would
wander and lose itself. Thou art my life, my gain is
but in Thee.

" I wish to be able to say in truth that all that is
not Thyself, my Love and my God, is and should be
nothing to me. To suffer, or to die ! To suffer for
Thee, to die to myself, so as to live but in Thee, of
Thee, for Thee and by Thee !

" O, Incarnate Word, our love and our stay, we
should wish to be crucified head downwards, so as to
have our eyes towards the heavens, like him who said
to Thee, that, knowing all things, Thou couldstnot be
ignorant that he loved Thee with unspeakable love,
such as Thou askedst for.

" Waking or .sleeping, I cannot forget Him Who is
my sole love. His goodness so engages my affections
that night to me is clear as the day, being able to say,
with the spouse of the Canticles: I sleep, and my heart
watches with such love that it cannot lose the presence
of m}' divine Love."

199

In one of His communications to His servant, 163 I,
*Onr Lord applied to her the praises of the Groom to
His spouse in the Holy Canticle : "I belong to Thee, ' '
answered Jeanne, in loving rapture, ''and all those
beauties Thou admirest are not mine, but Thine, and
from Thee. . . . Come, my Beloved, take me out
of this city of much trouble ; for all that is not Thine
is to me but refuse, and such I esteem it that I may
gain Jesus Christ. Let us go forth into the wide field,
the immense bosom of Thy Father. Let me be dead
to all, that I may live hidden in Thee. Let us dwell
in the hamlet of Thy Humanity, now in one wound,
now in another. If Thou wishest me to serve my
neighbor, pour into me the oil of Thy grace. I will
be Thy Christopher, for Thou shalt not leave me,
source of all grace ; being within me, Thou shalt recon-
cile souls. Let us arise at early dawn, and go to the
vineyard.

" First let us see whether our own is flourishing,
and whether the flowers give hope of solid fruits, and
if the pomegranates are blooming by Thy grace. That
can be done ; help me betimes, live in the midst of my
heart by the sweetness of Thy divine countenance, be
my aim and my end. Contemplating Thee, I shall be
aided by the attraction of Thy divine presence. But,
if Thou shouldst wish to be a little child, cling to my
bosom in places retired from the common tumult. There
I will feed Thee plentifully. The mandrakes have
rendered their odors ; may all that is in Heaven and
on earth be Thine, my Beloved ! As for myself, I
have destined for Thee all things old and new\

" Who will give me, O Brother, O Incarnate Word,
nourished at the bosom of the Virgin, to find myself
alone with thee, freed from all care, far from the

200

presence of those who might distract me in the attention
I owe Thee." *

We have often heard Mother de Matel styling her-
self a "little child." Her humility loved this title,
but her simplicity loved it more. In fact, one may say
that her effusions of love for Jesus have the caressing
simplicity of a child, prattling on the knees of its
mother.

Let us hear her as she clings in spirit to the Incar-
nate Word, on the feast of the Ascension, trying, as it
were, to delay a little His flight into Heaven : " The
door of Heaven must be opened to no one, but through
Thee. The first Adam closed it, and Thou, the second
Adam, wonldst and shouldst open it ; Thou art its key.
If I could, I would attach Thee to my cincture. . . .
No, I should fear. some thief, if for a moment I were to
forget it. I would bear Thee around my neck. Thou
shouldst be my priceless collar, my Agnus Dei. My
devotion would attach itself to Thee without fear of self-
love, since it would be holy. Bearing God in my bosom,
I would be a copy of the Paternal bosom, holding in
myself, and all for myself, the only child of my heart.
This I may say, since Thou hast promised that they
who do the will of Thy Father shall be to Thee
brother, sister, mother. Thou canst not speak falsely.
I take Thee at Thy word, which I will keep."

O, amiable familiarity, sublime simplicity ! And
here, in sudden contrast, are the ardors of a divine
passion bursting forth : " Consent, then, divine Love,
that I lodge Thee in my bosom, as an odoriferous
bouquet, as a cordial liquor, or I will die unless Thou
comfort me. Be my portion and my possession, as the
God of my heart. I do not desire heaven, and I am

* Letters.

20:

not happy on earth, but in Thee alone, my divine
life."

Meditating one day on the mystery of the Incarna-
tion, she asked the Archangel Gabriel to obtain for her
of Our IyOrd the title of slave. The Archangel an-
swered : "Offer thyself as a victim." This word
moved her to tears. "It was told me that to offer
one's self as a victim was more than to offer one's self
as a slave. The difference between a victim and a
slave consists in this, that the slave is bought only to
serve the buyer, whereas the victim is to be put to
death and entirely consumed at the will of him who
takes or buys it, or to whom it has rendered itself." *

On the feast of St. Peter of Alexandria, 1636, she
relates that, as she was thinking of the words spoken to
him by the Savior : " Arius will rend My robe," " I
admired the patien.e of this good and gentle Son of
God. I had great compassion for the sufferings of this
lover of men. Desirous of clothing Him in glory, I
could have wished to be all brightness, to repair, if I
could, the affront of the impious Arius." Then, ad-
dressing the Savior, her confidence assumes the tone of
a sublime indignation against the profaner of the
divinity of the Word. "This detestable Arius
offended Thee grievously in wresting from Thee, so
far as he could, the right of the only Son who reposes
in the bosom of the Father. He gave the lie, in a
manner, to the eagle of the Evangelists. What a
blasphemy this heretic vomited forth, destroying the
divine filiation, snatching this well-beloved Son from
the bosom of the Father who engendered Him ! '

We have seen in her life with what fervor she
offered to the Incarnate Word her consecrations and
her vows. Several formulas are preserved in the

* Autobiography.

202

houses of the Order, of which some are written in her
blood. The following is one of the earliest in date,
and of the most complete and touching : " My
Creator, and my most merciful Savior, it is from Thee
that I have received all that I have in nature and
grace. My soul and my body are the work of Thy
hands. If there be any virtue in me, it is the effect of
Thy mercy, and of the grace that Thou didst merit for
me by Thy death and Passion. I restore to Thee and
give in duty and in love all that Thou hast given in
mercy and charity. I abandon and cast myself wholly
into the bosom of Thy divine Providence. I submit
myself by an entire and irrevocable renunciation to
Thy divine will. I renounce from this moment, with
all the fullness of my free will, all my inclinations,
judgment and will ; all honors, riches, dignities and
satisfactions, and, in general, all friendship of creatures,
in so far as they might impede the execution of this
vow.

"Behold me, Lord, deprived of all will, affection
or desire ; what wouldst Thou that I do ? I want
nothing, I wish nothing, I desire nothing but Thy
most holy will ; but to Thee I leave all will over me.
If Thou wishest that all my life I should be in grief
and ignominy, I wish it. My paradise, my inherit-
ance, my pretension and my sovereign good is to do
Thy will, so sovereignly amiable, which I adore and
embrace with all the extent of my affection, in ignom-
iny and in poverty, as in peace and prosperity ; in
interior and exterior sufferings, as in consolation and
joy; in sickness and death, as in life and health.

' ' God of love and most amiable Savior, Thou shalt
be eternally the sole object of all my affections and
pretensions. And, as I am certain that I can not
better find this will on earth than in the love and
honor that we owe Thee in the most august, most

k20:s

amiable and most adorable Eucharist, it is there that I
again make myself Thy slave, and, as such, prostrate at
the feet of Thy divine goodness and majesty, hidden in
this ineffable Sacrament, I give and abandon myself
once more ; I offer, dedicate and consecrate myself, in
duty and love, my very sweet Savior, in Thy Throne of
love, in this sacred, holy and divine Host, which I
adore with all the affection of my heart, with all my
soul, all my strength, promising to live and die in this
love, to labor with all my power that all the world
may know, love and adore this wonderful mystery ol
Thy infinite love. I cast away all care for myself, and
I desire in future that all my care, my thoughts, words
and actions may be for love of this memorial of Thy
sacred love.

' ' Most loving and most amiable Savior, grant me
the grace to accomplish and to persevere inviolably in
this love, vow and renunciation, which I attest, confirm
and notify with my signature, in Thy presence, in that
of the glorious. Virgin Mary, of glorious St. Joseph
and of my angel guardian.

"Jeanne de Matel."

Jeanne's life never falsified these words. " Her
love of God," says an historian, "was always most
tender and ardent. One could not speak to her of
His goodness without exciting her, and when she
spoke of it she moved the most insensible. All the
time left her after her affairs, and even that which
she should have devoted to sleep, she consecrated to
a sublime prayer in which she satisfied her heart by
torrents of loving tears ; or, rather, this prayer was
never interrupted, for in the greatest distraction of
business one could see that she could hardly restrain
the feelings of a heart always occupied with God.

In the trials to which we saw Mother de Matel
exposed after her last return to Paris, deprived of all

204

consolation trom creatures, she was the more united
to God. In her room she had only pictures that rep-
resented the different circumstances of the Passion of
Our Lord. These kept her company in her abandon-
ment ; they engaged her eyes, while her heart was
strengthened and consoled." *

" Is a natural inclination, in which there appears
nothing wrong, an enemy so dangerous that one
should, at the instant it reveals itself, take up arms to
destroy it ? Yes, without doubt, and when one does
not do so, either he does not love Jesus Christ, or he
has so feeble a love that it is on the point of expiring.
This is the teaching of all the masters of the spiritual
life, ancient and modern. An inclination of the kind
distracts and occupies the mind, agitates the heart,
and raises a rival to Jesus Christ." These reflections,
drawn from a manuscript commentary of the works of
Jeanne, were inspired by the account of a fierce strug-
gle sustained by her heart to preserve for her Spouse
a place contested by none. " I have been for several
days in trouble on account of certain natural inclina-
tions and tenderness that I felt for some persons. Not
being able to suffer in my heart any affection but that
for my divine Spouse, although I was not guilty in
this affection, since it was not free, I did not cease to
weep much, and to combat it with the help of the
divine love, that I might love Him alone. This love
was finally victorious, and He showed me a white
carpet, spread upon the ground, all sown with flowers,
and on which there was, besides, a rich crown of

precious pearls My divine Love told me

that it was a reward for the violence on which I had
at once resolved ; that the carpet had been prepared for
me, that I might walk as a queen or empress, wearing
the crown offered to me."

* I,ife by a Jesuit Father.

205

The love of Jesus Christ was indeed king in the
heart of Mother de Matel. He reigned as Master,
and her thoughts and desires went beyond her action-,.
" My daughter," said Our Lord one day, to her,
' ' formerly I asked thee to make me an offering of the
praises given to thee by creatures, to make up for
those which thou omittest to give Me ; now I wish
thee to present to Me all the affection that is had for
thee." The love that Jeanne had for God flowed at
once like a flood into this new channel opened to it.
" O my Love," she exclaimed, " I wish that all infi-
dels, heretics and other sinners would have an affec-
tion for me, that I might give it over to Thee." *

In all mysterious revelations made to the saints
there is always something that belongs to themselves ;
namely, those personal and intimate favors which God
intends should compensate the soul for the sacrifices
it has to make in the path He has chosen for it, and
to excite its confidence by a familiar pledge of His
tenderness. In this, divine order has not changed.
Bven in our days, on the mountain of La Salette, and
at the foot of the Pyrenees, after the supernatural
communications confided to the children chosen by
her, which were to be the theme of their apostolate,
Mary makes them a personal communication and con-
fides a secret to them.

Jeanne de Matel, so tried and opposed in her
works, so abandoned in appearance, was the object of
the tender caresses of the Incarnate Word ; this we
may well affirm since she says so herself. But these
favors exciting in return her love, there arose an
ineffable struggle worthy of heaven's regards.

Let us add some other instances to those we have
-already given, when studying her contemplative life.

* Letters to Father de Meaux.

206

On the feast of St. Catharine, 1636, after com-
munion, she gives way to loving expressions and
desires, interrupted by exclamations : ' ' My God,
and rny King, since Thou deignest to call me Thy
heart, I will call Thee my Love." And Our Lord
told her that not only He would give her half of His
kingdom, but Himself, in ineffable embraces.

Some days previous, the 6th of November, she had
been taken into the intimacy of the Word : "I was
admitted to the enjoyment of His divine love, that is,
the Incarnate Word kindly and firmly conducted me
into the temple of divine love in the bosom of His
Father, of which He is the seal and the secret." There
the Word seemed to inhabit the house of the Archer.
She contemplated the mysterious flight of arrows,
discharged by the Incarnate Love at the hearts of the
Saints, and which give them so much joy. She, too,,
wishes to be wounded, and in her transport she cries
out to the divine Archer, in ecstatic ardor : " Love,
since the bow is bent I am ready to receive the dart."

' ' My divine Love told me that, if formerly He had
taken pleasure in the heart of St. Gertrude, now He
took it in mine, in which He had established His
dwelling, because my love drew Him ; and that, if I
was not, like Magdalen, several times a day lifted up,
body and soul, into Heaven, I was, at least, in spirit,
and higher from day to day." *

Once, on a feast of the Transfiguration, after having
received Communion, she went into an ecstasy, and,
looking on the transfigured Savior, she heard these
words : ' ' My daughter, Peter asked only three taber-
nacles, I have five." She had offered up her Com-
munion for herself and four other persons. She desired
to place herself in the wound of His left Foot, as in a

* Autobiography.

207

tabernacle. He said : "My daughter, I have taken
thy heart ; Mine belongs to thee by My love."

" My Spouse, all love exhorted me," she writes,
" to say in holy confidence : My God, my sole desire
is that Thy law should be graven in the depths of my
heart. I offered myself to keep this law already written
in my heart, by the strength of my love alone. ' I
presented my heart and my bosom, that my Beloved
might impose Himself there as a law of love. I felt
that He rooted Himself there as a standard of love, and,
my heart being sensibly wounded, I wished to support
myself that I might more firmly bear the divine opera-
tion ; but a weakness wholly overcame me. All the
Community, then in choir, perceived it and were much
troubled, thinking me dead. My daughters carried
me off to bed, and tried to relieve my illness, not
knowing the extreme delight which I was then
receiving.* — Thou didst present me a cross, like in
form to that of St. Andrew ; A diamond nail strongly
and richly fastened together the two pieces of wood
that composed it. Thou madest me understand that
the opposition of men rendered me firmly and gloriously
united to Thee, but in a union to be compared to the
diamond."

One day, when she had been subjected to bitter grief
by an unjust interpretation of her words, Our I^ord
showed her an altar, before which lay a multitude of
persons who had been decapitated ; by an invisible
power their heads were restored to place, and their
whole persons, far from exhibiting any trace of their
execution, were resplendent with glory: * " My
daughter," said Jesus, "hast thou the courage to be
beheaded for me?" — "Inspired by the spirit Thou
gavest to Thy martyrs," continues Jeanne, " I said to

* Letters to Father Jacquinot.

208

Thee : I wish I could have the happy lot to be
beheaded for Thee, O, most amiable Incarnate Word."
— " Daughter, since thou wouldst give thy head for Me,
I tell thee that there are persons who have beheaded
thee, not physically, but morally, by esteeming thy
visions to be folly ; but I will show that my folly is
wiser than the wisdom of the .world. I rank thee with
the martyrs who have given their heads and lives
for Me." *

A martyr ! Jeanne would have wished to be one in
reality. When, in the course of her contemplations,
ordered according to the liturgical cycle of the mys-
teries and the saints, she found herself in the presence
of those who have joined to the lily of virginity the
palm of martyrdom, it is seldom that she is not trans-
ported by an ardent desire to be associated in the
bloody testimony of their love. On the feast of St.
Agatha and St. Dorothy, for instance: "Those
virgins," she says, " clad in white and red, appeared
to me very lovable, attracting me to them, to praise
Thee with their canticle, following Thee everywhere,
their milky way, after the Virgin, Thy Mother. I
desired to be of their number, and, like them, to shed
my blood, since Our Spouse is white and red." *

Again she says : ' ' Happy should I be were I made
worthy to die for the Incarnate Word, whom love
made the Word Incarnate. Oh, were that grace and
honor mine, to shed the last drop of my blood in testi-
mony of the Divine Word, how joyous would be my
love."

Not being able to witness with her blood, her love
of God exhibited itself so frequently by copious floods
of tears during her prayer, that, in the last years of
her life, her sight was seriously weakened. " I can

* Autobiography.

209

not express my mortification in being obliged, through
obedience, to repress my tears, so as not to lose my
eyesight, as they feared would be the case, unless I
diminished the flow. Unable to read or write, I dared
not even pray with fervor, because I found that, when
once the flame was kindled by the Holy Spirit in my
soul, the water flowed copiously : Flabit spiritus ejus
et fluent aqua." *

Elsewhere we have spoken of the mystic ardors by
which this flame of the Holy Spirit exhibited itself
interiorly. Here we shall cite only this avowal : ' ' The
fire Thou didst enkindle in my bosom was so ardent
that it became a furnace always heated. My blood
was all burned up, according to the physicians."

The Spirit of God had then realized in Mother de
Matel the mysterious effects of His presence. He was
a flame, a source of living water, love : Fous vivus,
ig?ns, charitas.

* Ps., CXI/VII, 18 : " His wind shall blow, and the waters shall run."

CHAPTER VII.

HER CHARITY TOWARDS HER NEIGHBOR.

" The second commandment," says Our Lord, "is
like unto the first : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." In Jeanne de Matel, as in all the saints, the
love of God begot a charity without limit for the
neighbor.

The sacrifice of temporal goods is that which costs
less to sincere love. Jeanne was so liberal in her alms-
giving that her friends were sometimes made uneasy.
She did not share their fears, and preferred to owe to
Providence rather than to more or less prudent
industries, the resources of which she disposed. One
day she learned that a young lad}^ of her acquaintance
was trying to interest in her favor some persons of
distinction ; fearing that, unless she were assisted, she
would not be able to maintain her daughters and sup-
port the convent. Jeanne was then at Paris. She
answered to those who spoke to her on the subject :
' I did not ask the good young lady to render me
that service. I do not put my confidence in men,
but in the Providence of the Incarnate Word, Who
never forsakes me." "In that," says the author
whom we quote, "she was very different from some
persons who, in order to do charity, overwhelm the
most charitable with their solicitations."

The historians of Mother de Matel relate an
instance of her liberality and disinterestedness that is
almost heroic. It was shortly before the Community
of Lyons was erected into a convent. Jeanne's means
being nearly exhausted by her previous foundations

211

and the expenses occasioned by the two sieges aiul
the famine of Paris, she had need to manage her
resources. She learned that at Roanne there was a
man abandoned by his family, all whose goods had
been seized for debt, and were going to be sold. vShe
at once felt herself inspired to come to his aid, had
the act of confiscation suspended, paid the debt of the
prisoner, 5665 livres, and restored him to liberty.
This alms, given on the feast of St. Michael, was so
pleasing to God that He loaded Jeanne with His
favors, called her His * ' little liberator," and invited
her to participate in the happiness and glory of His
angels.

During the war at Paris, 1649, the misery was
frightful. ' ' Mother de Matel gave signal proofs of
her zeal and charity. Desirous of procuring peace to
the unfortunate city, she sought it of Our Lord with
tears and vigorous mortifications. She engaged Dom
Jacques, Procurator of the Cistercians, to compose a
book containing different prayers asking peace of the
Incarnate Word through the intercession of His
august Mother. She had images of the Blessed Virgin
struck off, below which was a prayer asking the cessa-
tion of the troubles. In this and in the printing of
the books she expended as much as 500 livres." *

Not content with thus exercising charity towards
the people in general, she visited daily the houses of
the bashful poor, and distributed to each what was
requisite to secure them from hunger, and from the
cold, which that winter was very severe.

But, to be more intimately initiated in her deeds
of charity, we must read what remains to us of her
correspondence. There we find her attentive to all
the needs of those with whom she is acquainted, or

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

212

from whom she receives benefits, and, of her own
accord, recommending them to her Spouse. There is
nothing of grave interest going on about her, or in
the church, which she does not adopt and favor by her
zeal.

She was so good-natured that in certain respects
she had to guard against it as a danger. Some lines
we have from her pen, which clearly reveal this dis-
position of her heart.

M Adorable Providence, how wise Thou art in Thy
ways. If I had followed my own good will in Paris,
I would have mixed myself up in many pious
intrigues ; my frankness would not have permitted
me to dismiss those who came to me for counsel as
much from curiosity as from piety. They would have
persuaded me to pray to Thee for affairs that had
rather the appearance than the substance of devotion.
They would have besieged me hadst Thou given or
permitted the least light to their darkness ; that
which would have begun in a charitable intention
might have ended in self-interest. I would not have
liked to displease any one, thinking to do all for Thee
and to gain all for Thee ; my natural inclination to
satisfy all those who seem desirous of confiding in me
would have overwhelmed me with the affairs of
others." Jeanne intended in these words to confess a
weakness, but she rather reveals the goodness of her
heart.

Where Jeanne's charity is more strikingly visible
is in the indulgence which she grants to those who
wished to do her wrong, or impede her work. On
her return to Paris, .she was, as we have said, the butt
of persecution for two persons who, in their foolish
pretensions, aspired to direct the Congregation.
Deceived in their calculations, they carried their

218

anger to that extent that they endeavored to destroy
the house by depriving it of its religious and boarders.
Jeanne does not even name them. After a brief
mention of the fact, she adds : " My dear Love, as I
have no bitterness in my heart for those who have
made me suffer, I do not wish my pen to specify and
detail the evils they would have caused me." *

This, too, is the way in which she judges the action
of a Vicar General, who had shown himself much
opposed to the establishment of the Order : "I have
no animosity against him, knowing that men abound
in their own sense, and can resist one design or estab-
lishment,and favor another, without displeasure to Him
Who inspires both, not recognizing His inspiration,
except in the one which they prefer and protect.
Angels and saints have opposed each other in all
holiness, not knowing the decree of the Sovereign
whilst resisting it." *

In this gentleness can we fail to recognize a soul
solidly fixed in God, and soaring above human passions
and selfish calculations ?

Always discreet and attentive to conceal the names
of those who made her suffer when she could hope to
keep them secret, Jeanne has sometimes allowed, like
sobs, the echoes of her grief to escape her, caused by
unfaithfulness to God, or by ingratitude towards her-
self. But the cry of affliction is always quickly followed
by the appeal for forgiveness : " My very dear Love*
Thou didst permit a note to be brought to me, which
troubled me, and changed my joy to sorrow, because I
saw their inclinations, which I could not approve ;
they were from the spirit of flesh and blood. ... I
recognized ingratitude, which I pardon with all my
heart, from persons whom Thou didst give to my

* Autobiography.

214

bosom. I have not had, and have not now, for them,
any but peaceful thoughts, which double the flame of
my charity for them ; I desire for them a peace and joy

that may surpass all things." *

11 Dear Love," she says in her life, "St. Paul, the
Apostle, teaches us that we must heap hot coals on the
head of our enemy, by returning good for the evil that
he intended us. I wish to follow his advice." And
she did so with an ardor that was truly edifying. Her
intercourse with Heaven often served to turn aside
from her persecutors true evil, the wrath of God :
" Weeping before Thee for the faults that a certain
person committed against Thee, Thou didst show me a
bow of iron, four digits in breadth ; the arrow fixed to
the bow was of gold, the point being very sharp and
stained with blood. I understood that Thou didst
wait patiently, not discharging the arrow, but holding
it. On two other occasions I saw the lightning, which
Thou seemedst to dart against the one who made me
suffer. I offered to receive it myself. This Thou
wouldst not permit, but, skillfully turning it aside, I
saw it fall in the water." *

Jeanne was kind to her persecutors, because what
she especially loved in her neighbor was his soul. By
the spirit of her Order, by her mission, as we have said,
she had the vocation of the Apostolate. Thus, anxiety
for the salvation of souls always attended her, and God
publicly associated Himself thereunto. He nearly
always accompanied the gift that was personal to her-
self with one that was useful to her neighbor.

He had just summoned her in spirit to the
nuptials of the Lamb, and chosen her for spouse,
promising her a numerous generation of spiritual
daughters. He continues to address her : " He told

* Autobiography.

215

me that my hair should be, like the purple of the King,
stained in the conduits, because I was sprinkled by the
flowing blood of the Savior, receiving Him every day
in Communion, and through the absolution ; that
he made my heart a canal, and my mouth a scarlet
ribbon, colored by the Precious Blood, as much for his
pleasure as for my sanctification, and to pour forth
through me, as by a channel, His liberality towards
souls purchased by this Precious Blood.

" As St. Theresa was a channel of grace for her
Order and for many souls, His goodness had chosen
me to distribute his wonderful favors."

A little later: "He told me that I was the
daughter of His glory. He would not give it to
another. The time would come when the favors He
granted to me should be as strong darts to wound
hearts with His divine love. I remembered what He
had said twenty years previously, that I should be His
standard bearer, and that, on seeing me carry His
banner, many should be enlightened, and should
combat for His glory."

Elsewhere she says: "Thou didst show me a
man-of-war, fully equipped, in which they raised two
standards ; by the help of a supernatural wind it navi-
gated the sea without my being able to see any pilot
who governed it. I understood that Thy Invisible
Spirit directed it, and I heard the words : Navis
institoris de louge portans panem suum* My daughter,
thou art this ship, equipped by My grace, armed with
My love, and guided by the Spirit who governs My
Church. I have set in thee two standards, the love of
God, Who loves thee, and the love of thy neighbor." f

* Prov., XXXI., 14., " She is like the merchant's ship, she bringeth her
bread from afar."

f Autobiography.

216

And hence what sorrow on seeing the sufferings of
souls ! Meditating on the Passion of the Lord before
Caiphas, and the words of his servant : Prophesy
who struck thee ; "she understood that sinners do
this and more. For, it was said to her, priests are
My lieutenants, representing Me in the confessional,
like a good physician who wishes the wound made
known to him that he may cure it ; and sinners do the
contrary. They are covered by so many, and, having
struck Me in them, they seem to challenge Me to
prophesy their guilt ! Then she felt herself struck
with grief, melted to tears of compassion, on seeing
the sick conceal themselves, and mock the Sovereign
Physician." *

We have often drawn attention to the happy influ-
ence exercised by Mother de Matel on those who
came in contact with her. Our readers have not for-
gotten the high degree of sanctity to which, animated
by her burning words, was elevated M. de Belly at
Avignon, and M. de la Piardiere at Paris. But we
must insist a little more on this striking character in
her life, and relate a number of analogous facts pre-
served by her first historians.

'' M. de Priezac, Counsellor of State, and one of
the brightest geniuses of his time, made great progress
in holiness under the guidance of Mother de Matel.
He was much enamored of a young lady who destined
herself to the Order of the Incarnate Word, and he
wished to espouse her. This thought, which he had
not originated, which he even withstood, troubled
him a long time ; he made it known to the foundress.
She did not answer ; but, putting herself in prayer,
she earnestly begged Our Lord to remove from the
heart of her friend a sentiment very natural in itself

* betters to Father Jacquinot.

217

and very innocent, and to substitute therefor a pure
affection for the Queen of Virgins. M. de Priezac
was instantly delivered from the thought that troubled
him, and his devotion for Mary declared itself so
strongly that he resolved to compose a book on the
privileges of the Mother of God. He sent1 its pages
to Mother de Matel, begging her to correct them
before they were put in press ; and, after the work
was printed, he publicly made known that it was
owing to the counsels of that incomparable mother,
for so he always called her." *

This work of M. de Priezac, "On Twenty-four
Privileges of the Mother of God," received, in two
letters that have come down to us, the sincerest
eulogy of Mother de Matel. The author having paid
her the compliment of a copy, she said : " It is a
present that is worth a treasure, and which we cannot
sufficiently esteem but by declaring that it is full of
evangelical pearls which we should sell all to pur-
chase. The skill is worthy of the matter ; the useful
and the pleasing are admirably united ; devotion and
eloquence, so seldom joined together, are here in
unison, and there is nothing, even to the expressions
and the least words, that is not bright and striking.
Because your mind is filled with ideas of the true and
perfect beauty of Our Savior, you have so filled }*our
book with beauties that it is impossible not to
love it."

" M. de Rossignol, Counsellor of Accounts, came
regularly to open his conscience to Mother de Matel ;
she inspired him particularly with a tender devotion
for the mystery of the Incarnation, and the august
Sacrament of the Altar. He sometimes passed sev-
eral hours at the feet of the Hoi)* Victim, lost in

*Life by a Jesuit Father.

218

adoration, and to the end of his life he was a finished
model of all Christian virtues."

More remarkable than all these was the ease of a
protestant named Dulaurier, a painter by profession,
who, having had occasion sometimes to see Mother de
Matel, expressed his desire to paint her portrait,
because, as he said, her features were of such regular
beaut}-, and that he had never seen so faultless a coun-
tenance. The difficulty was to gain her consent, and
no one ventured to propose it. One sister, more cour-
ageous than the rest, spoke of it to her. At first she
exclaimed against it, and would not hear of it. But
the sister, without being disconcerted, after having
exposed her reasons, added : ' ' How do you know,
Mother, but this is the means by which the Incarnate
Word designs to effect the conversion of this heretic,
since >ou will thus have an opportunity of reasoning
with him, as the Son of God had with the Samaritan
woman ? "

" Mother de Matel felt all the value and weight of
such a happy hope. She recollected herself for a
moment, and then said that the painter might come
when he would. Dulaurier, apprised of her consent,
lost no time in appearing in the parlor. Whilst working,
he perceived that Mother de Matel' s countenance
changed from time to time, so that he could not fix the
resemblance. This he mentioned, saying : ' Mother,
I fear I shall not succeed ; it seems to me that there is
something extraordinary going on in your soul.' From
this she took occasion to open a controversy, in which
she proved so plainly the falsity of his religion that he
was obliged to avow that all those who followed it
were in error. ' Pray to the Lord, my good Mother,'
he added, ' that He may grant me the grace to carry
out the resolution I have formed of forsaking it to
embrace the true religion.' Mother de Matel promised

2V.)

all that he asked, and exhorted him to be faithful to
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Who had already
touched his heart.

" Some days afterwards, Dulaurier returned to finish
his work. Mother de Matel urged him once more :
' Since you now know the truth, you must embrace it, and
prepare at once to abjure your heresy.' He answered
that it could not be so quickly done ; that he had a law
suit on hand, which was on the point of being decided,
.and that his abjuration should at once follow. 'Believe
me,' she replied, ' the Holy Ghost is an enemy of all
delay ; you may die. Do not put off a work on which
depends your eternal salvation.' He agreed to all that
she said, but retired, without concluding, anything to
await the end of his suit.

" The next day he gained his process. His joy was
extreme ; hurrying back to his lodgings to announce
the news to his wife, he said : ' The suit is gained,'
and fell dead at her feet. When Mother de Matel
heard what had happened, she at once called on the
poor widow, who was prostrated by grief, and tried to
console her. She informed her of what had passed
between them on the preceding day, and of the good
disposition of her husband to embrace the Catholic
faith. She succeeded so well that the widow, her
daughter, and her brother-in-law were converted ;
three days later they publicly abjured their errors and
entered the true fold of the Church, in which the}- had
the happiness to die." *

Zeal £ar souls does not restrict itself to seeking
and using means to save them. He who burns with
this ardor, like the Apostle, would be anathema for the
sake of his brethren ; or, like a great saint, he would
remain eternally prostrate at the gates of hell, if he

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

220

could thus keep that abyss closed to sinners. Jeanne
belonged to the heroic family of those who entertain
this ardor tor souls. "On the festival of the fervent
Apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier, my soul,
humbled at sight of its sins, was, by a sentiment of
justice, impelled and pressed to make Thee honorable
reparation, not only for myself in particular, but for all
sinners. I offered, through a zeal that I could not
explain, to suffer punishment for all, even the flames
of hell, so as to satisfy the Divine Majesty, offended by
all, provided I should not be, in Thy indignation,
deprived of Thy grace, nor of loving Thee perfectly,
and of adoring Thee in spirit and truth."

The love of the priesthood, and the desire of holiness,
are met with on every page of the life of Mother de
Matel. In her every thanksgiving, in her prayers on
all occasions, she recommends priests to the Savior,
and He witnesses how pleased He is with this spiritual
intention and patronage. He makes her His deputy
to them, His apostle : " Daughter, say to my priests,
if in their day, which is brief, they try to please Me,
in Mine, which is eternal, I will please them." —
' ' Daughter, My grace being in thee, I am pleased that
thou shouldst pray for My priests ; for this sweet liquor
distilling into them, thy words, which are the messen-
gers of My grace, are a gentle effusion on their heads,
and by this oil they are enlightened and rejoiced.
They are consecrated anew on coming to offer My
sacrifice." *

What must we say concerning Jeanne's maternal
affection for her daughters ? What solicitude for their
spiritual and temporal interests! We. have seen her,
during the war, an indefatigable provider for the lambs
of her flock, and, in# her journeys, pursued by anxiety

• Letters to Father Jacquinot.

221

for their wants. Her vigils, her fatigue, her prayer^
are all devoted to them; next to Jesus and the Church,
they are the objects ot her tireless love. No trouble
reaches them without wounding her, no suffering of
theirs escapes her. She gains and governs them ' ' with
the honey of a charitable and motherly treatment, that
binds them more strongly than the vows of religious." *

" Kvery time that I have to leave one of my con-
vents, I suffer greatly on account of my union of heart
with ni3r daughters." f She serves them with her
hands in their houses, and personally sees to the
preparation of their meals. To form them to the
virtues of their state, and to make them faithful to
their vocation, she presses, she exhorts them. Coming
down from the heights of contemplation, she spells
with them the primers of the divine science, and makes
herself all to all, that she may gain all to Christ. And.
if one shows herself ungrateful or forgetful of her
benefits, if her old age is filled with bitterness, she
suffers without accusation, without complaint. Her
love neither tires, nor is troubled, nor draws back. She
is a Mother.

We reproduce the following letter, written to the
Sisters of Lyons to wish them a happy new year. We
find in those maternal accents that sentiment of predi-
lection that drew her more tenderly to the convent of
x- that city, and which so frequently betrays itself in her

writings :

' ' My Very Dear Daughters :

" May the Father of Mercies, and the God of all
consolation, bless you all. This is ni3T cordial and
affectionate salutation.

* better to M de Nesmes.

fLetters to Sister Theresa of Calvary.

•).)•)

11 It would be necessary to be without the name
and the bowels of a mother to forget those whom the
divine goodness has made me engender. The more
removed they are in body, the more present they seem
to be in spirit by the continual solicitude of a mother's
heart, and by a singular affection. Rebecca had peace
in herself, having to be the mother of two peoples
whom she bore within her ; the younger of her sons
was to be the blessed of the Lord. The Congregation
of Lyons is to be the youngest in the religious birth.
I am drawn to it with a love that is stronger than
death. The holy mountain * is my beloved Zion and
my dear Jerusalem. If I saw it abandoned, I would
lament as the sorrowing prophet. Take care lest inde-
votion, the infidelity which we commit, should cause
the guardian cf Israel to retire. Renew your fervor in
this beginning of a new year. "

How many were not her recommendations, her
encouragements to piety, fervor, renunciation and love,
addressed to her spiritual family ! It is the burthen of
all her correspondence. From the care of souls .she
passes easily and naturally to that of health, and there,
too, how ingenious and touching she is! " My dear
daughter," she writes to Mother de Belly, I ll recom-
mend the care of your health ; do not fatigue yourself
more than you can help. You know how many tears
I have shed to procure it for you. Let your service be
reasonable ; it is the advice of the Apostle." She
sends her for a time Sister Francis Gravier : " When
she goes out on commissions, which she undertakes
for the glory of God, and to prove to me a fidelity that
I do not doubt, I beg you not to let her leave the
house without a broth, or something that may
strengthen her."

* Gourgillon.

223

When she would hear of the sickness or death of
one of her daughters, Jeanne compared her grief to that
of Rachel; and, indeed vshe felt all its anguish and desola-
tion." I confess," she writes to Mother Mary Margaret
on one of these occasions, " that the goodness and wis-
dom of the Lord spare me by taking my daughters away
when I am not there to witness it. I am like Agar
for her Ishmael, I cannot bear to see my daughters die.
I do not give this as a mark of perfection, but one of
strong feeling or desolation, which you should not
imitate. I would not have the strength to bear so
many deaths ; the sight would kill me." Her afflic-
tion was so great that God would sometimes intervene,
in a sensible manner, to console her. It would happen
that, in convents at a distance, when death had chosen
new victims, the}' w7ould delay communicating the
news, knowing how much she would feel it. But it
became too evident that Jeanne was always supernat-
nrally warned of what they wished to conceal from
her : ' ' Our Community knows that they always come
to bid me good-bye in one place or another, by some
certain sign, when I have not had the prayers said
wdiich are of obligation in all convents ; and this hap-
pens when there is a delay in announcing to me their
death." *

But the greatest mark of affection given by Jeanne
to her Order and its daughters, we hesitate not to say,
wras the one alluded to in the following lines written to
Mother Margaret, after the first civil war of Paris:
** If I had taken the veil, the convent at Paris would
have been destroyed, as has happened to eight other
houses in the last four years; the house of Lyons would
have been sold, and Grenoble would have covered you
and me with confusion, if, indeed, we love the Incarnate
Word."

-i: Autobiography.

224

"It is a humiliation for me to be deprived of a
happiness which I have procured for yourselves ; but,
for my daughters, it is a glory to have had a mother
who suffers more than she did who desired her sou to*
reign, though it cost her her life. I would give ten
thousand l\ves, if I had them, for rny daughters1 sake."

The affection she entertained for young girls, and
her zeal for Christian education, are touch ingly shown
in the first project of her Constitutions, 1625.

In addition to the solemn vows of religion, they will
take two others : The first one of perpetual cloister.
The second, never to give their vote for a.
proposition to abolish teaching in the Order ; for
teaching is the wool and the fleece they should fur-
nish''— as daughters of the Lamb Jesus — "and one
that will not fail to receive the dew of heavenly grace.
The Hoi}'- Ghost will weave thereon the golden words
of Jesus, more precious than gold and topazes ; He will
imprint His immaculate law in hearts, He will convert
souls to God, He will perfectly plant the faith, and
form these young seculars to all sorts of virtues." It
was for the Sisters of the Incarnate Word a beautiful
programme, a touching promise, a hoty appeal.

Mother de Matel returns to the consideration of
this vocation with special grace, and wonderful
examples : ' ' Our Spouse is not content with His
spouse placing Him on her bosom for her special salva-
tion, but on her arms, bearing little children to salva-
tion, educating them by good example and sound
doctrine, instructing and encouraging them ; for the
religious of this Order should all be flaming lamps, in
imitation of St. John the Baptist, the precursor of the
Lamb.

" One should be queen of queens, even as the Spouse
is called King of Kings, conquering and ruling one's

22o

self, to rule others afterwards by angelic mod'-*
then, in the presence of that rising sun, "walking in
the light, always upright, calling the little birds, their
daughters, to the great field of Christian doctrine, and
to all kinds of virtue." *

The history of Mother de Matel has preserved for
us a beautiful proof of the sympathy which she had
excited in the hearts of the children confided to her
care. In the early days of their residence at Lyons,
when the plague was desolating the city, the Sisters
insisted on their foundress leaving the place. One of
the arguments employed to convince her shows how
good she was, and how beloved : " If you should be
attacked, what will our pupils do ? Say, will it be
possible to prevent them from visiting you, whom they
so tenderly love ?" Such a fear was an eloquent pane-
gyric on Mother de Matel.

The same feeling is revealed in a touching avowal
made by Jeanne. During the siege of Paris, when her
daughters were obliged to leave their house, one of her
greatest troubles, among the many that beset her, was
to see herself for a time separated from her pupils :
" One thing that mortified me was to see four of our
boarders withdrawn by their parents, two of whom
were deprived of the little habit. And, as Thy justice
has always permitted my heart to be afflicted when my
pupils were taken away, I was much grieved because
of my tenderness and their gratitude. " f If death took
one away from her, she was as much affected as though
she had lost one of her own daughters. Thus it was
that she wTas weeping in the Dominican church of St.
Thomas for one of her pupils, when the Seraphim came
to console her for the death of Sister Catharine of

* First project of the Constitutions.
f Autobiography.

226

Jesus, de Richardon, who expired at Avignon on Holy
Thursday, 1649.

In the service of these young children she did not

hesitate to jeopardize her own health : ktM. Seguin,"
she writes to M. de Cerisy, then delegated Superior of
the Convent of Paris, — " came to see me, when I was
ill with a great oppression on my chest that scarcely
allowed me to breathe, a palpitation of the heart, and
a great swelling of the limbs. These infirmities were
occasioned, perhaps, by my sins, and by sitting up for
ten days with the little de Fruge, who had a continual
fever, one that they thought was dangerous for the
others. I had her brought to me and laid by my side,
that I might take more care of her."

In the case of another sick child of six years, for
two mouths eaten up by the small pox, with a series of
sores on her throat, shoulder, arms and legs, Jeanne
wrote from'* Lyons to Mother Nallard, Superioress of
the Convent of Paris : ' ' The doctors wished to write
to her father that they praised God for having pre-
served his child in an illness which few could have
borne. This is the consolation they give me in so
much suffering. They are all astonished that I am
not in bed after so many tears, vigils and anxieties."

She had brought to Lyons a little daughter of M.
de la Piardiere : " Marie is very well, having neither
cold nor sore eyes. I, myself, warm her feet and care
for her as for the pupil of my eye." How beautiful it
is to see this venerable woman, sixty years of age,
initiated in the great mysteries of God, in constant com-
munication with heaven, entering with the greatest sim-
plicity into all the details of a mother's solicitude for
little children, of whom she writes elsewhere : " The
little boarders are they who are most fit to be called by
that Savior who said : ' Suffer little children to come
unto Me.' "

^27

To these beautiful examples Jeanne added bet
counsels: " I^et us remember, for our great consola-
tion, that the youth confided to us is that part of His
flock which the Incarnate Word most tenderly cher-
ished, and which He wished to have specially led unto
Him. This, my dear Sisters, is the honorable com-
mission entrusted to us. Can we fail to bring to it all
the exactness of which we are capable, or regard it as
a burthen from which every one would wish to be
freed?1'

Piously anxious to ensure the salvation, and, on
occasion, the vocation of young persons destined to grow
up in the houses of the Incarnate Word, Mother de
Matel multiplied her counsels to her daughters, that
their lives should be a constant lesson of edification,
and an appeal to virtue: "Your example alone,
more efficacious than words, will teach the importance
and practice of modesty ; and, what is still more
advantageous, it will inspire its taste. This instruc-
tion by example is the more necessary because we are
always before the eyes of these young ladies, or of the
servants whom we instruct, and we are thus always
exposed to their criticism. It is also the most effica-
cious means of imparting a love of religion, and in this
way to wrest from the world slaves whom the devil
already looked upon as his prey. Oh, how many have
lost their vocation to that holy state, or to whom God
has not been able to make Himself heard, because
they have passed their 3'outh in houses in which the
rule was not strictly observed, and the maxims of the
world were too much heeded and followed. I hope
that the Incarnate W7ord, to whose glory we are con-
secrated, and whose zeal for souls we should repro-
duce, will preserve us from such prevarication, and
that, if the young persons who are entrusted to us are
not incited by our example to a total divorce from the

228

world, they may at least learn to live in the world
without loving- it, and conceive for its maxims that
horror wliich all Christians should. entertain."

It is not seldom that the wrorld calumniates the
sacrifice which a young girl makes of family happi-
ness, and the exchange which she makes of its duties
for others still more holy, and reproaches the religious
state with drying up the source of filial affection, and
withering the heart. As though grace did not always
elevate and sanctify all that it comes in contact with I
As though the masters of the spiritual life did not
teach that in religion we must love those more whom
we loved in the world, and love no one the less ; that
religion transforms affection, but does not suppress
it ! As though they did not point out to souls
consecrated to a religious life, as examples of tender-
ness towards those whom they have left, the love
which the blessed have for their brethren on earth, and
that which Jesus Christ had for His disciples after the
resurrection. I^et them listen to the holy solicitude
which the cloister confides to heaven, the evidences of
supernatural love to which it gives expression. What
more conclusive on this point than the following letter
of Mother de Matel to her sister, Madame de Grimeau :

" Madame, My Dear and Only Sister :

" May He, Who gave us one blood, reunite us in one
glory.

" My heart, that was oppressed in bidding you
farewell, did not permit my mouth to express my feel-
ings on so sudden a parting. Not having been able
to see enough of you after a separation of nearly seven-
teen years, I have no words to describe the sorrow of
that privation, which would cause me great confusion
before God, did He not permit me to love you as my
beloved sister, whose sufferings I feel more than my

229

own. I^love makes the soul dwell rather there where
her affection is than in the body which she animates
and informs, then I live more in you than in myself.
This last sight of you, transitory as it was, has lit in
my soul a flame that rivers could not extinguish. I
experience the truth of that saying of David, that it is
a good thing when nature and grace combine to insti-
tute a perfect love, not between two brothers, but
between two sisters. I did great violence to myself in
depriving myself so soon of those things at Roanne
which I prize next to the divine. It was for God that I
hastened my departure, and, .seventeen years ago, left
the house of my father, and tore myself from the bosom
of so good and holy a mother, whom may His good-
ness have received to glory. Dear sister, let us imitate
her virtues and hope to see her in heaven. If divine
Providence allows us once more to meet in this life, you
will find that an elder loves her younger sister as
Joseph loved Benjamin." *

Mother de Matel took care not to forget, in her
charity, the holy souls in purgatory ; she gave them a
large part in her prayers, as wre have seen on the occa-
sion of the death of her mother, her friends and her
daughters. Once, on the feast of All-Souls, her con-
fessor recommended her to do holy violence with Our
Lord in their behalf. " Ah, Father," said she, " that
I will." She went to Communion. She was so
inflamed before the Mass began that she could not
pronounce the words of the penance imposed upon
her. Burning with ardor, she presented herself at the
holy table. Having received Our I^ord, she said to
Him : ' ' Thou shalt not enter my heart until Thou
hast delivered the souls in purgatory, who will go to
praise Thee, since me Thou leavest still in this wTorld.'v
Then, turning to the angel guardians, who seemed to

* Letters (August 12th, 1648).

230

her to be desiring the freedom of the souls they loved :
"Oh." said she, "present to the Father this, His
Son, Whom I have just received, and tell Him that I
go their security." She heard then : " The nuptials
were celebrated yesterday ; the first table was for the
Church triumphant, the second for the Church mili-
tant, the rest is for the Church suffering. There are
as many viands for them as for the others." She
pressed the Savior yet more, saying : " Take me off
the book of life, so let me suffer for them." It seemed
that He said to her as to St. Catharine, Thou shalt
have much to suffer. And so she wished it to be. *

God did not hesitate to reward her charity for the
dead by supernatural manifestations of His tenderness.
k On the 28th of November, 1636," as she relates,
' I had been praying for a woman who had died that
morning. Shortly after, I saw, being elevated in
spirit, an angel guarding a dead body with heavenly
care. I then saw a woman as though suspended, her
hair all floating; she was crowned." The reflections
with which she accompanies the recital of this vision
are touching, and show her goodness of heart for the
poor and lowly. "This vision made me understand
that in}- prayer had been answered, and that the woman
was at peace. Her poverty was changed into riches,
her contempt to honor, her sufferings to happiness,
her lowliness to greatness, since she wore a crown.
These wonders .show that God is no accepter of per-
sons, and that the poor who consent to poverty by
submitting to it can look forward to beatitude, and
that they will be kings for all eternity."

How good God must be Who is the author of so
much goodness and love in the saints!"

• Letters to Father Jacquinot.

CHAPTER VIII.

HRR PIETY.

The exercise of charity did not diminish in Jeanne
the love of prayer. During her sojourn in the Convent
of Paris, all her time not employed in the salvation of
her neighbor, or in the service of the house, was spent
at the foot of the altar ; to indemnify her for the dis-
traction caused by so many visits, she would prolong
her prayer until midnight, which did not prevent her
from rising at four o'clock in the morning. In these
happy moments, profiting by the silence of creatures,
she would give herself up to the transports of her
fervor ; she would console herself with her divine
Master for all the disquietude caused to her by the
false zeal and pharisaical scandal of those who were
astonished at her conduct." *

There were times when, by order of her physi-
cians, Jeanne had to make efforts to abstain from
prayer ; her weakened sight did not permit, either,
that she should occupy herself in pious reading.
" I would then," says she, "engage in vocal prayer,
as Thou knowest that I can do, saying my Rosary
several times, day and night, walking to and fro in
my room, since I could not stand the open air. Often
I would visit Thee in Thy abode of Love, Thy sacred
and most beloved Eucharist, standing or sitting down ;
my knee being affected for a long time, I could not
kneel." t

• Life by a Jesuit Father.
f Autobiography.

Without losing- in the slightest degree her
respect for the house of God, she had accustomed
herself to believe that she was a servant in the house of
a master, long served and devotedly loved. From
this followed, as a consequence, great familiarity, in
which is revealed a faith, which, though strange in
appearance, was deeplj' rooted. Speaking of the
period to which we have just referred, she says :
"Thy loving charity permitting me to walk about, I
do so in the church when it is closed, or else in the
choir, with the intention of doing as is usual in pro-
cessions ; I invite all the angels and saints to join me,
and to offer my prayers to Thy adorable Majesty,
uniting my intention to theirs in conformity to Thine.
If I pray standing, I see Thee as did St. Stephen ; if
sitting down, I consider Thee seated at the right hand
of Thy Father, or as at the supper ; if I am prostrate,
I regard Thee at the feet of Thy Apostles, or in the
garden of Olives, begging Thee to pray for me, to
suffer me to wipe off the bloody sweat, and to give me
of that blood which flowed to the ground." *

Her grateful soul would not allow her to lose any
occasion of stimulating herself by the remembrance of
graces received. In 1636, on the evening of All-
Saints, we find her in the chapel of the convent,
humbly prostrate at the foot of the altar, beseeching
her divine Spouse to renew her baptismal innocence,
4 'which she feared to have dimmed or stained." She
held herself bound in gratitude for being born in the
Octave of All-Saints. ...

Jeanne had arrived at so great a height of the con-
templative life, that, as we have seen, she was favored
by an almost continual presence of the Holy Trinity.
She asked herself how she should recognize these

* Autobiography.

233

favors. Our Savior taught her to divide the twenty-
four hours of the day into three parts of eight hours
for each divine Person. " In the evening, about eight
o'clock, thou wilt adore the Father, in spirit and in
truth, begging Him to permit thee to converse with
Him until four o'clock in the morning; thou wilt con-
template the divine Father in the secret of His glory.
Thou wilt pray Him to renew in thee what happened
in the night when His right hand delivered the
Hebrews, destroying all evil spirits of the night, over-
coming the world and all that keeps thee in the cap-
tivity of thy enemies, and causing thee to pass dry-shod
over the Red Sea of thy passions. Thou wilt beseech
the Blessed Virgin, the beloved daughter of the
Heavenly Father, to supply thy insufficiency with
Him, and to order three choirs of the angels to adore
Him for thee, together with the multitude of the saints.

"From four o'clock to noon, thou wilt adore, in
spirit and in truth, the Second Person, who descends
a heavenly and divine manna, on the altars on which
they consecrate.

' ' During this time thou shatf pass in spirit through
the world, where masses are said, admiring the love
that causes the multilocation of My body, blood and
soul, inseparably from My Person, to whom the}- are
hypostatically united. Beseech the Blessed Virgin,
My august Mother, to supply for thy ignorance by
the science with which she is filled, and to order three
others of the angelic choirs, and all the saints, wrhose
queen she is, to satisfy for thy omissions.

" From noon to eight o'clock, thou wilt adore the
Third Person, the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the
Father and Me, our mutual love, our common flame.
He wishes to infuse into thee many graces ; He is the
zephyr that caresses thee, whom the Spouse desires so

234

ardently. I implore Him fervently to banish from,
thee all coldness, to consume thy heart with living
flames. Thou art aware, my daughter, that this Spirit
cured thee, and sustains thee in thy infirmities, and
that He nourishes thee with the milk of His charity
for thee, because thou art His beloved. Ask My
worthy Mother, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, to
order the three other choirs of angels and all the
saints to assist them." *

Jeanne says elsewhere :

" I had great devotion for this Spouse of charity,
having heard that He inspired preachers. When only
seven years of age, I wanted to go to church to see
Him in the form of a dove at the ear of the preacher,
but I did not tell my thought to any one."

There is no true piety without a sincere and filial
love for the Church, and especially, in our day, for the
Church, speaking, suffering:, in the person of its august
head, our Holy Father, the Pope.

Jeanne's whole life was an act of affectionate sub-
mission to the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ, and
His Vicar. That tenderness often overflows in her
writings; she affirms it in accents of ineffable sweet-
ness : "Thou madest me understand, Dear Love,
that Thou bestowest on the Sovereign Pontiff the
treasures of Thy merits, and those of Thy saints, and
that the souls of the faithful were united in the bosom
of the Pontiff, to receive there the divine operations
and different forms, through the only Spirit of Thy
Father and Thee, the Holy Ghost, who governs the
Church in the person of the Roman Pontiff. What a
joy to my soul to be a daughter of the Church. It
was Thy goodness that conferred this grace which I
esteem so great."

Autobiography.

235

It was mostly at the foot of the Tabernacle that
Jeanne received the heavenly favors. It was there
that she was rapt, enlightened, consoled, warned.
Hut, even when not in such extraordinary communica-
tions, her life was passed under the action of the real
presence of Jesus in the Blessed vSacrament. ' ' Thence
it is," she writes, giving her own history without
saying so, " that from behind those veils that conceal
that which is terrible in Thy divine Majesty, as through
a window, as says the Spouse in the Canticles, Thou
directest thy loving glance upon us, and Thou comest
forth to communicate Thyself to souls who do not
oppose the effusion of Thy tenderness. Oh, how
liberal Thou must be to them, since Thou hast
bestowed them on me with such prodigality.

' ' Thy sacred Body is in this Sacrament as a sun
that darts on me rays full of light ; and from Its
adorable wounds, or, rather, from every part of It,
there flow torrents of graces and delights, as from so
many canals to inundate me."

Our Lord condescended, from His Tabernacle, to
be her catechist, and to teach her to pray, as He did
for His Apostles.

"Thou dids't tell me, O my divine Master, that
Thou wouldst instruct me how to please Thee in
hearing Mass.

At the Introit, I was to regard myself without
subsistence or existence, in my nothingness, as before
Thou createdst me ; — at the Epistle, I was to represent
myself as receiving from Thee being and existence ;
— at the Gospel, the regeneration by which I am
daughter of the Heavenly Father, by adoption,
capable of participating of the Sacraments, and of
instruction in the things of faith, and of the Holy
Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Religion.

236

At the Credo, I must make profession of that
same faith in all conformity with the sentiment of the
Church ; — at the Preface, I must be disposed to die for
Thy Holy Name, and for the truths that I believe.

' ' At the Consecration, I must be as a victim that
is to be sacrificed and destroyed as are the bread and
wine ; receiving lovingly on rny body, my blood and
my soul those divine and all-powerful words which
the priest pronounces on the elements, desiring to be
transubstantiated in Thee, as far as that ma3r be,
dying the death of love, which Thou esteemest so
much, a death invented on the night of the Supper,
which, by the power of divine words, substitutes for
the destruction of the substance of the bread and wine,
a living God, a glorified man.

11 Afterwards. Thou didst tell me that, when the
-priest puts the particle of the Host into the chalice, I
should bury myself in Thy blood. At the communion
•of the priest, I must arise to Thy glory in a new life,
4n virtue of this living and vivifying bread." *

What can we say about her fervent communions !
Htrr correspondence and writings are but an incom-
plete summary of the dispositions which she brought
to them, of the ardor that consumed her, of the graces
which she then received.

The Savior taught Jeanne that He had been pre-
figured not only in Isaac, but in Ishmael, " since He
emed abandoned by His Father for the sins of the

world He gave a loud cry, the voice of

which was heard : the pit that had the source of living
water was opened, that is to say. His side. The
angel who shows us that admirable fountain is St.

John In the Sacrament of the Eucharist,

is He not an Ishmael, since He is there rejected by

* Autobiography.

nearly all nature." Then, drawing; her to the divine
banquet, Our Lord continues : " Sarah is the Blessed
Virgin, who has always borne the beautiful name,
Lady. Thou art Agar, My beloved, who receivest
thy Ishmael daily in the Blessed Sacrament. Km brace
Him in that state in which He is rejected by the
majority of men ; sigh and weep over this dishonorable
abandonment, and pray for the conversion of the
world. It is there that thy heart should break forth
in love, and in accents so powerful as to rise to the ear
•of My Father and greatly move Him. Admire this
fountain of love, this blood collected in the Kucharistic
cup ; drink full draughts of this torrent of delight,
this nectar from Paradise, this milk in which the kid
is seethed. I am the Angel who bear the key to these
waters, and open them for thee, and cause them to
overflow for the solace of afflicted souls burning with
My love." *

One day, when her confessor had not given permis-
sion for communion — it was previous to Father
Jacquinot's decision in favor of daily communion — she
was hearing Mass, fervently uniting herself with the
■Celebrant, and saying to Our Lord: "My Love,
Thou didst invite me the other day to enter Thy gar-
den, that is, the soul of the priest who sa}rs Mass.
I answered, behold, I am ready. I was not rejected,
for, at the elevation, nnT divine Love caused me to hear :
* Daughter, it is not on bread alone that man liveth,
but on every word that eometh from My mouth, that
is, the fulfillment of My will. I told thee before, that
I could make My loved ones communicate without the
sacramental species.' I then felt in my mouth a taste
full of sweetness, that did not last long, but which
made me think that it was the Holy Communion given
to me by a divine word.

* fetters to Father de Meaux.

238

11 The next morning I was awakened by an interior
flame of divine Love that burned my bosom, and I was
filled with consolation, but always disposed, in spite
of my desires to be kept away again, if my confessor
decreed it. But my divine Love, it seemed, was
anxious. Then I received : but He alone knows the
graces He imparted in that communion. I saw a
green veil surrounded by gold embroideries, and He
exhorted me to confidence. After that, I saw a great
number of red ribbons, fit to be links or nets of love,
and he made me understand that the words that my
heart expressed by my mouth were nets that captured
Him.

" I then saw something red that resembled a couch
or a litter, and I heard these words : ' It is ardent
love, empurpled by My blood, where I wish thee to
repose.' The divine Love knows how, all that day,
He kindled that fire in my bosom, saying: 'This,
my daughter, is the recompense of thy desires and thy
willing obedience. This delay has made thee the
more ardent. One loses nothing by loving Me. I
know how to double in one day what is taken away in
another.' "

Jeanne has left for us the method taught to her by
Our Lord, " of preparing herself for Holy Communion,
and of hearing Mass in the character of a mendicant."

"On awaking," she says, "after having adored
Thy Majesty, I prayed the Holy Patriarchs to give me
their faith, that I might approach the Holy Sacrament,
which is the mystery of faith ; — the Holy Prophets, to
give me their hope which was not confounded, since
Thou didst fulfill and verify their prophecies ; — the
Holy Apostles, for that charity which they received of
Thee and of the Holy Ghost, who is fire and light ; —
the Holy Martyrs, for constancy, because they died

>r.v.)

confessing Thy name, and scaled their faith with their
blood ; — of the Holy Doctors, the intelligence of Thy
mysteries ; — of the Holy Confessors, piety and devo-
tion ; — of the Holy Anchorites, the tears of a loving
contrition, that union with Thy Love that makes the
soul one with Thy Spirit ; — of the Holy Virgins,
purity, to receive Thee virginally, Who art the wine
that germinates Virgins, and the crown of Virgins ; —
of the Holy Widows, perseverance in Thy service and
love ; — of all the Saints who have sanctified them-
selves in the state of matrimony, patience, of which
Thou dost give an example in bearing with the insults
of sinners ; — of the Holy Innocents, interior and
exterior innocence, that I may approach Thee, who art
without stain.

' ' I ask of the Holy Angels the humility which
they practice in their deep abasement before Thy
adorable Sacrament ; — of the Holy Archangels, purity,
since they are friends of Thy most pure Majesty ; —
of the Holy Principalities, nobleness and generosity of
heart, that I may be united to Thee Who art the King
of Kings, and Lord of Lords ; — of the Hoi}7 Powers,
strength against my enemies, and weapons of light,
that I may approach Thee, the Lord of battles ; — of
the Holy Virtues, the ornaments that become a royal
Spouse, to be agreeable to Thee, O divine Spouse, Who
art the God of virtues and the King of glory ; — of the
Holy Dominations, the mastery of my passions, to
receive Thee, O sovereign God, Whom they respect-
fully adore ; — of the Hoi}' Thrones, peace and
quietude, to be the throne of Thy pacific Majesty ; — of
the Cherubim, wisdom and knowledge to know and
adore Thy splendor in humble intelligence of Thy
-will ; — of the Holy Seraphim, ardent love, that I may
lodge Thee in my heart, O Lord, Who art come to

240

bring Thy divine fire into the world, that it may buna
in our hearts and make us perfect holocausts.

1 ' I ask my good angel to accompany me in all my
devotions, and to lead me to the Blessed Virgin, Thy
worthy Mother, asking of her all that I need, that
Thou mayst dwell in me, and transform me in Thee.

"I pray to Thy sacred Humanity, asking of it
sweetness and benignity.

' ' Of the Holy Ghost I ask that He ma}^ invest me
with virtues from on high.

"Then, addressing myself anew to Thee, divine
Word, I ask divine wisdom to converse with Thee,
without becoming tired of that excellent conversation,
and that I may not communicate through custom, but
through a loving desire to be changed and transformed
in Thee, dwelling with Thee as Thou dwellest in the
bosom of the Father.

1 ' I make my thanksgiving, and return by the same
steps by which I rose, praying Thee to treble the.
glory of the Church triumphant, to multiply the grace
of the Church militant, and to deliver from their pain
the Church suffering, if that may be and it please
Thee. I pray for the Pope, for the King, and for the
union of Christian princes ; for the conversion of here-
tics and the heathen, and that all may come to Thy
true fold, according to Thy will, most holy and only
Pastor."

Holy Communion was for Jeanne truly a source of
grace and life. She came to it depressed, she was
lifted up ; she came sorrowful, she found joy ; she
carried to it indecision and obscurity, and she bore
away light and strength. This confession we meet on
every page of her life : "I communicated, and I can
not express the content that I experienced. I telF

241

you, my dear Father, my heart several times throbbed
almost to bursting, that it might expand more to the
influence of the divine Love. For three quarters of
an hour I remained in an ecstasy, and would have
remained longer, had I not bethought me of going to
hear the sermon." *

On another occasion: "I was so inflamed that
my heart melted within me. The fire within was so
great that there was an interior agitation, and my
heart beat rapidly, not through fear, but with the
ardent desire to possess my sacramental food." And,
to allay the ardor, the Father had to advance the time
of giving her Communion. *

And elsewhere: "I communicated in great
peace, and with feelings of inexpressible love, which
even induced a sweet ecstasy, lasting until the end of
the students' Mass. During the enjoyment of this
divine repose, my heart was so expanded that I
remained there, scarcely able to breathe, so much did
the interior joy lift up a heart which the previous sor-
row had depressed to that extent that I could breathe
but with difficulty.* After Communion, I was so
united to the Blessed Sacrament that I suffered much
when, two hours later, I had to rise."

" My daughter," said the Blessed Virgin to her one
day, after Communion, "I have done for thee what
Rebecca did for Jacob. Many elder born have not the
good things that thou hast ; though the}' have done
more generous things than thou, I have obtained the
blessing of the eternal Father by the venison of
divine Love. I have offered up my Lamb as a feast to
His Father, who found it delicious. It is with Him
that thou art clothed. Oh, what a robe ! And.
though the voice is feeble, being one of imperfections,,

:;: Letters to Father de Meaux.

242

yet is it true that the Father regards that less than the
habit that clothes thee : it is His First-born, this
Immaculate Lamb."

Mother dc Matel. by a privilege rare at that time.
- permitted to receive Communion daily, and kept
up that pious practice for more than forty years. With
how much fervor and spiritual profit we may conceive,
judging from the light by which she was filled, the
consolation with which she was inundated eonstantly
duriug her thanksgivings : this is what is meant by
that confidence which she made one day in an unre-
served conversation with Mother de Belly. It was at
the time that Mother Gerin. having dismissed the
Prior Bernardon. imposed upon her a confessor of her
own selection, who had determined to interdict her
daily Communion, and. in the meantime, tortured her
in the confessional, making it. as she confessed, "a
terrible tribunal." ' Wishing to prepare her in some
measure for the sacrifice, the good sister said one day :
'"Mother, if they perceive your fear, they may say
that you have made a habit of frequent Communion,
and. because you have become attached to it. they may
take pleasure in depriving you of it 'so as to try you
more." — "Oh. my daughter, she answered-
although it is nearly forty years that I have the happi-
ss of communicating daily, I have not done so once
;igh custom, or against the intention of my
superiors : and even now that I speak to you. I am
- hungry for the bread of angels as I was the first
e that I had the joy of receiving it

" This salutary hunger made her submissive to all
the exactions of her co'ifessor. * " says one of her biog-
rapher- '" Every day she asked, with great humility
and admirable fervor, permission to approach the holy

. Father de Meaux.

■1\.\

tabic. This exact and constant submission disarmed

the confessor, and he did not once dare to deprive her
of Holy Communion."

If, according to His promise, the Incarnate Word
protected her against the evil design which they had
concerted to deprive her of the divine nourishment, the
strength of her own desire and faith supported her
against her infirmities.

" Once, when confined to her bed by a cold in the
chest, followed by inflammation and a violent fever,
they tried to persuade her to intermit her Communion
that she might partake of some food. Her cough had
prevented her from sleeping during the night : she was
exceedingly thirsty, because, according to her custom,
she had taken nothing since eleven o'clock. Sister de
Belly, who was at her bedside, seeing her much weak-
ened, and knowing that the confessor, whose permis-
sion was needed, would not ccme until very late, said :
1 ' Mother, in the state in which you are, you should
not receive to-day. Deprive yourself to-day for the
sake of the Community ; they tremble for your life.
You are worse than you think yourself, and you would
offend God by this self-destruction. You should have
some deference for your daughters . if vou wish, bv
your example, to induce them to submit, on occasions,
when they should die, to their own will."

Mother de Matel became agitated at this proposal.
" Daughter." said she, "if you but knew with what
ardor I long for Holy Communion, you would take
care how you opposed it with such pressing solicita-
tions. Xo matter how weak I am, or seem to be, no
matter how difficult I may find it to walk. yet. if to
have that happiness I had to walk on hot coals, I
would not hesitate to do so. This I tell you that you
may understand the desire which God inspires me

24 I

with to unite myself with Him in Holy Communion,
All the reasons in the world could not persuade me to
deprive myself of my sovereign good. It is all my
happiness in this world. What would become of me
if I were to lose it ? If I were permitted to receive
this sacrament of love every time I breathe, I do not
know what I would not do to obtain it." * To such
a desire they could but submit, and the}' insisted no
longer.

"It is surprising," says one of her historians,
" that her long sickness, her frequent voyages, the
multitude of affairs that she often had on hand, should
never have seemed to her sufficient pretexts to inter-
rupt a practice which demands so great a preparation."
But is it not more surprising, perhaps, that, except in
her last sickness, circumstances independent of her
will should never have rendered the pious practice
impossible ?"

Our Lord, in the course of time, chose another holy
daughter, His spouse, as was Jeanne de Matel, of a
celebrated Order, to reveal to her, and through her to
the world, the infinite treasure of His heart. But she
who had received the mission of causing the riches of
the Incarnate Word to be better appreciated in the
world could uot neglect that better part of this
treasure, in His Humanity, and Jeanne de Matel had
already chanted the vSacred Heart when Our Lord
invited Margaret Mary to make it known to men.
" Having put an end to our misfortune, He opened to
us happiness. Having said Consummatum est, He
inclined His head to give us a sign that in his bosom
was our felicity, that a lance could open the Holy of
Holies ; and so it did, but with such address that it
laid open to us that heart which desired to be the
object of our hearts for time and for eternity.

* Life }>y a Jesuit Father.

24i

" It is no longer a closed door, though oriental ; it
invites courageous souls to enter, giving them the
rank of princesses of Juda. These lionesses find there
their prey ; they are in possession, not only of royalty,
but of the sacred Priesthood. This Holy of Holies is
opened for their entrance, not only once a year, hut
every day. I am resolved to be an eaglet of this royal
heart ; I will fix there the gaze of my intellect. It is
my prey ; I will grasp it strongly with the talons of
His will and mine."

And not only has Jeanne de Matel sung the Sacred
Heart, but she contemplated it ; she fixed therein her
habitation. In giving an account of a contemplation
on the baptism of the Savior, she says : " He showed
me how all the flood, even the sea of my weakness,
could not quench the fire that consumed Him. And,
to make me understand what He said, He appeared to
me in a vision, showing His bosom and side widely
opened, telling me to remark how they were burned.
I am unable to give utterance to the feelings which I
experienced at this spectacle. I said to Him : ' Since
the fire has so burned everything that I see neither
heart nor other organs, I understand the mystery to
mean that I should take their place. I am ready. I
give Thee my heart and all that I am. I no longer
belong to myself, but to Thee, O, incomparable
Love.' "

Once, on the feast of St. Ivouis, she complained to
Our I^ord of the long delay in the realization of His
promises ; the dear Lord answered her complaint by
this ineffable favor : " This Love, so full of goodness,
at once invited me to enter His heart, as the hospital
of grace. I entered, but as a beggar, in great need.
His opened .side was the entrance ; He told me that
I should find there a couch on which to repose my

240

weakness and infirmities; my table, my food, my light,
my medicine, and all that a siek person needs."

Having admitted her to the intimacy of His Sacred
Heart, Onr Lord described its riches, and showed them
as the true piscina of the law of love, into which five
fountains poured their waters. " A fountain of water,
to wash away sin, and extinguish thirst ; a fountain of
oil, to anoint the sores of the sick, being the child of
oil. Filius old, unction itself; a fountain of wine, for
He is the true vine, and the wine that rejoices and
strengthens the heart of the sick ; a fountain of milk,
of innocence, candor and simplicity. The fifth is of
blood, which justifies, cures and vivifies."

Thus Jeanne had mysterious intuitions of the
devotion to the Sacred Heart. For her the love of
Jesus did not remain in the indefinite region of feeling ;
it wTas personified. The love of Jesus is the heart of
Jesus. In her turn, it was the heart of Jesus which
she loved, invoked, consoled and sought as her refuge.
Let us listen to her effusions and exhortations, and
they will seem to have been caught from the burning-
lips of Margaret Mary, as she issues from one of her
visions: "O, sweet and tender Jesus, it was then,
when I was not, and man)- centuries before my birth,
that I was so unfortunate as to wound Thy heart !
And that which should render mine the more incon-
solable, is that Thine suffered only because it loved
me. Oh, who will give me tears enough to bewail so
cruel an ingratitude ? But, if it be not in my power
to make them flow in that abundance, I can at least
make reparation by giving Thy heart as much joy as I
have inflicted sorrow. Come, then, come, O Lord
Jesus, without delay. Everything within me clamors
for Thy presence ; come and fulfill in Thy spouse all
Thy will, Thou shalt meet with no resistance. Happy,
a thousand times happy, will she be if Thou shouldst

24'

find her, in constancy and generosity of love, worthy
of being for Thy Heart a place of repose and consola-
tion against the sorrow with which so many hearts
overwhelm it ; alas, her own till now has resembled
them too much."

And, farther on : — " Oh, my dear daughters, if
heaven could be a place of regret, shame and confusion,
what would not be the regret, shame and confusion
of a soul, on entering there, at the sight of the Heart of
Jesus Christ, that Heart which has always loved her,
or, rather, which has been a victim of its love for he**
at every moment of her life, without exception ; that
Heart, whose tenderness she knew not, but which shall
then be shown to her with a clearness no longer
dimmed by the obscurity of faith ; that Heart, in fine,
in which Jesus Christ will no longer be satisfied to
allow her to put her hand, as for the incredulous
Apostle, but into which He will sweetly invite her to
enter, through the wound which He received at the
hand of I^ove itself. What regret, I repeat, what
shame and confusion for that soul forced to see that
His Heart, not only, through her fault' enjoys too late
the consolation which He had so dearly purchased,
and which He had so ardently desired, but that He
never can enjoy it, such as He had promised it to
Himself."

Bvery where we find this same doctrine and worship
of the Heart of Jesus, symbol of His I^ove, organ of
His IvOve. "You know it now, my daughter, that
insatiable love which never said enough. You know
this love, this persecutor, or, if I dared to use the
word, this tyrant, of which He began to experience
the severity when He began to live, and of which, in
the whole course of His life, He could not, for one day,
nor for one moment, escape the suffering. It was His
Heart, which, touched and softened bv the extreme

248

misery in which He saw us involved, thought it could
never do enough to free us, to prepare for us the
means not to fall back after our deliverance, or re-
sources to emerge again should we be so ungrateful or
rebellious as to precipitate ourselves once more. This
is the persecutor that ever pursues Him ; His Heart
that loved us, and solely because it loved us."

We should still have to speak of Mother de Matel's
devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the angels and saints,
but we had to do so as opportunity offered in those
chapters in which we exposed her theological views on
different subjects. To these we beg to refer our
readers.

CHAPTER IX.

HER HUMILITY.

One of the best fruits of contemplation is humility;
for the nearer we come to God the more we see that
He is all goodness and power, and that the creature is
infirmity, misery, often sin. This is the reason of
Mother de Matel's humility.

Mother de Belly has given us her impressions of
the simplicity of Jeanne in Avignon, when all the
nobility of the place crowded around her with respect,
at the time she went there to establish the convent.
" She wore a simple black camlet, with long sleeves,
and a double band that hid her hair, and even her eye-
brows. Over that she had a cap of black taffetas and
a crape veil, with a simple kerchief. She never wore
any other dress wherever she might be."

But true humility is in the heart, and there we
must study it.

They who are strangers to the ways of God might
have some difficulty in reconciling in Mother de Matel
sentiments of profound humility with her accounts of
the great favors done her by her divine Master. She,
herself, has, without designing it, answered the
objection in this page, which we borrow from her life:
" Immortified nature listens to nothing so willingly as
to praise, although, for the most part, it is flattery
rather than truth ; but that which the Heavenly
Spouse gives to the soul who loves but Him alone,
and who consecrates to Him all the affections of her
heart, has not this fault, because, being truth itself, He
can not praise that which is not truly worthy of being

250

praised. Hence, there is no music so sweet to the ear
of the beloved soul as the praise of her Spouse ; and
the tear of self-complacency, in esteeming herself
above others on that account, does not diminish her
pleasure, because she does not attribute to herself
anything- that she has. She acknowledges that the
virtues and beauty which draw down upon her the
complacent regards of her Spouse are gifts that come
from Him, and which she can not continue to retain
unless He preserves them to her.

' It was this sentiment that, through His good-
ness, penetrated 1113- heart when He did me so many
favors, and unveiled to me the beauty of my soul. I
regarded myself as one whom He had gratuitously
chosen, to have admired in her the infinite riches of
His power and mercy, and then all my joy was to see
that, through me, His divine perfections were known
and celebrated." * Such is the humility of the saints.
Jeanne adds, a little further on : " On hearing these
words my soul humbled herself ; but the more I
lowered myself the more He exalted me. 'I wish, '
He continued, ' that thou shouldst bear the crown
and the name of Queen, being exalted like another
Esther to a more august majesty by the union which
I, the Incarnate Word, the King of Kings, have con-
tracted with thee. This union is so admirable that
our goods and titles are common to both.'

The tender effusions of the Savior, the mystic por-
trait of the spouse, borrowed from the Canticles, and
applied to Jeanne, were but commentary on this touch-
ing assurance. After having repeated some of the .
most striking points, she pauses, as though overcome
and vanquished, always answering the praises of the
Savior by the hymn of her humility. "Thus, O Jesus,

* Autobiography.

251

didst Thou please to praise Thy spouse, by giving h< r

the same praise that the spouse of the Canticles received
from her companions. But what did I answer Thee,

0 most tender of vSpouses ? That which she answered ;
All that in me merits Thy praise, from Thee alone did

1 receive it, to Thee alone do I return it entire. My
Beloved is all to me, and I would be all to Him. So
did I answer the evidences of Thy love ; I was all
confusion, because I recognized myself wholly
unworthy." *

This proof of true humility, that begins by exalting
the divine munificence, she had in a high degree. vShe
loved to respect Mary's hymn of gratitude. "God
has regarded the humility of His handmaid, He hath
done great things to me ; what I am is the work of His
might." And in this she was faithful to the inten-
tions of the Savior. l ' My divine Spouse taught me
clearly that His friends, who draw back in false
humility, and stand on ceremony with so great a
majesty, displease Him. A shepherdess who has been
honored with the crown of a queen, and with the rank
of spouse of a powerful monarch, would be uncivil and
indiscreet if she were unwilling to approach the king,
her spouse, under pretext of her low condition. The
one who carries respect so far as to refuse presents
offered in pure friendship, because the}' are too great
for him, by his refusal disobliges the one who gives
them ; it would even seem as though he feared to be
obliged in gratitude to his benefactor ; it is not, then,
true humility." . .

But if, in the eyes of her grateful faith, she was " a
queen, anointed, crowned and strengthened against
her enemies " by the hand of the Savior, she loved to
call herself ' ' a little child that does not know its

* Autobiography.

252

letters ;" to proclaim herself weak, miserable and
unfaithful. She goes into ecstasy and rapture at the
thought that the contrast between the goodness of God
towards her and her own miseries might some time
become a theme of wonder and praise for future gener-
ations. A wonderful sentiment, itself, as she says, a
new grace of her Spouse.

"Since the beginning of the world it has never
been heard of that I have treated with any one so
familiarly, so continually, without being repelled, as
with thee, My dear spouse ; and the wonder, which
they can never sufficiently admire, is that, in all My
caresses and the sublime knowledge that I have
imparted to thy soul, I have always left thee a clear
view of thy faults and nothingness, .since thou seest in
thyself nothing but the operations of My grace and thy
own defects. This is what preserves in thee a pro-
found humility, and a low7 opinion of thyself, My love
for thee not permitting that thy heart should be inflated
by vanity for the favors thou receivest from Me, thy
beloved Spouse. ' '

Mother de Matel thus ingenuously relates a con-
versation with Father Jacques George, of the Society
of Jesus : "I met him at the door just as I was ringing
for a confessor. He stopped me, and told me that your
Reverence — she was writing to Father Jacquiuot — had
let him know that Our I^ord had given me great
graces ; I did not deny it. And he said that I should
all the more keep myself in fear and humility. I
answered that I did not believe that I thought the better
of myself; that His Majesty often showed me my
faults, and Himself kept the chapter of my culpas ; that,
above all, I desired humility, frequently assuring Him
that I would be more content with humility alone,
?.han with all other extraordinary favors, if that virtue

25:;

were wanting." An avowal the more precious,
because, as Jeanne thought, it was communicated under
reserve of the greatest discretion.

When, during her sojourn in Paris, the highest
intellects came to seek light of her, and retired
charmed with her vivacity of mind, her sure judgment,
her facility of speech, what opinion did Jeanne have
of herself? "I thought," she tells us, " that Thou
hadst taken away from me three-fourths of the beauti-
ful thoughts Thou didst give me in Lyons, and hadst
dulled the point of that mind which many had admired;
but then those admirers had never been able to per-
suade me that I was worthy of their praise, and all
their compliments had never concealed from me the
sight of my own nothingness, nor produced in me a
thought that I had deserved Thy favors. I always
recognized that they proceeded from Thy goodness." *

Jeanne never ascended the heights of contempla-
tion without being accompanied by humility. In the
midst of her relations of grace and tenderness, of
which she is the object, she suddenly interrupts her-
self : ■ ' Ah, flee, my Beloved, flee, imitate in the swift-
ness ol Thy flight the agility of the deer, and the young-
stags ; retire to the mountains where they collect
scents and perfumes. Carry Thy favors to souls who
merit them more than I do, and by the odor of their
virtues invite Thee to take in them complacency and
delight. I acknowledge that these favors do not
cause me to forget my own nothingness, but I fear
that I can not correspond to them as I should, with the
innocence, of a faithful lover.

" I solicited my Spouse, therefore, to flee, and to
take up His abode in the aromatic mountains of the
heavenly spirits, or in some soul elevated above the

* Autobiography.

254

world, where He would find more fidelity and corres-
pondence with grace. I said it in great confusion,
seeing myself unworthy of His divine embraces,
humbling myself, and saying, with St. Peter : ( Depart
from me, O Lord, for I am a great sinner.' "

Jeanne's humility, like her heart, was .simple and
ingenuous ; to express herself she used the truest and
tenderest accents. In a movement of love, she said to
the Savior: "Come to me or draw me to Thee."
She stops suddenly and corrects herself: " Forgive,
Lord, my too great boldness! Do to me as they do
with those children whom they wish to make polite ;
when they come in without saluting, they are made
to go back to the door, and to do what they had for-
gotten. In speaking of love, I had forgotten fear.
Love is blind, he comes in by the door that he finds
open. Thy benignity came to me first ; I seemed to
have wings to fly to Thy arms. But the majesty that
is in Thee stays me, and makes me keep at Thy feet
like another Magdalen, speaking only by my sighs
and tears. I confess, O Lord, that I am the sinner of
the universe, but Thou art the Savior of all. Thou
canst remit and forgive more than I commit ' or
offend.' '

The remembrance of Magdalen, by a touching
contrast, keeps her in thoughts of humility. " Holy
lover," she says to her, "Jesus, our Love, has pardoned
more sins in me than in thee ; to me, then, He has
shown more mercy. As soon as thou didst know Him,
thou lovedst Him, and didst offend Him no more ;
and I have continued to offend Him.

' Employ me in all offices ; and, if there be one in
Thy house that is mean, I choose to be the meanest of
Thy servants, and I would despise the first place in
the world were it offered to me."

25£

" Pray to me for all sinners," said Our Lord to her,
on an Octave of the Blessed Sacrament. " An, God of
mercy, I will pray for myself, who am the greatest
sinner on earth ; that is my thought. Did all sinners
receive the graces that Thon givest to me, they would
do the good that I do not, and would not do the evil
that I do ; for which I humbly beg Thy pardon." *

One day she heard Our Lord say to the saints that
in ther He designed a miracle of love. This word
miracle humbled her greatly, and the Savior had to
make her quickly feel " with what powerful grace He
supported her, and that of herself she did nothing, and
had no virtue."

Father de Meaux, her confessor, caused her a sim-
ilar pain by engaging her to continue in "what he
called the solid virtues;" the word virtue frightened
her, *' ' for, ' ' said she, ' ' by the sight Thou hast given
me, I have never seen virtue in myself; if sometimes I
have practiced any, it was through Thyself, my divine
Love, even as a writer holds the hand of a child to
make him form his letters. I find no other comparison
at present more proper to express what Thou dost in
me." *

Because she was truly humble, Jeanne feared to
appear so ; sometimes, however, her feelings over-
came her, and, deceiving her vigilance, manifested
themselves. On the feast of the Epiphany, 1653, on
leaving the holy table, her mind was lost in deep
confusion, and she retired to a corner behind the
door of the chapel, whilst her daughters, candle in
hand, renewed their vows before the Host, before
communicating. The sight added to her confusion :
1 Lord," said she, "I have chosen to be the last, the
servant, the cook, the scullion in Thy house, and

* Autobiography.

256

these low offices, these humiliations please me better
than crowns and an empire. In imitation of Thee, I
kiss in spirit the feet of Thy spouses." With this
thought, seeing one of her daughters kneeling just
before her, and, thinking herself nnperceived, she
gently lifted her mantle, and, kissing her feet with
respect, remained profoundly prostrate. She protested,
at the same time, her entire submission to the will of
God for as long as He would please to deprive her of
the consolation of making her vows.

' ' On the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, of the year
1633, on which Sunday the Church reads the Gospel of
the Publican, considering myself as a criminal before
God, I wished to wean myself from all the sweetness
that I enjoyed, and, hiding myself under the stairs by
which the priest ascends to give us Communion, I shed
tears in such abundance that I collected them in my
hands to offer them to my God."

In one of the most beautiful chapters on the Beati-
tudes, on the love of Jesus Christ, having spoken of
the strength received from the Heart of Jesus by a
sinful soul, when it returns to God and invokes with
confidence His holy Name, Mother de Matel pauses,
and says : " Ah, my dear daughters, is it not to this
that I myself must have recourse, after having pre-
sented it to the ungrateful soul who has lived without
love for Jesus Christ, in the dreadful portrait that I
have just drawn for you ? Alas, I say it to my shame.
I have depicted my own unworthy and wicked heart.
The name of Jesus, which I have dared to invoke with
His Father, has lost on my lips all its sweetness, and,
far from asking pardon for me, it has been obliged to
ask my just condemnation. How could I hope that it
would prove favorable, when I had the temerity to pro-
nounce it before love had graven it on my heart ? "

•2.77

The Savior had to reassure her against the feelings

resulting from those slight defects which escape th<
purest souls. "Thy Beloved," He says, " comes into
thy garden of nut trees ; they are your imperfections
at first rough and bitter. But, with the help of My
grace, I transform them into My own sweetness, caus-
ing My mercy to flow from these imperfections even as
oil is expressed from the nut."

It was impossible for a soul elevated so high in
these supernatural regions, on its descent not to
become the subject of the raillery of the incredulous,
and the insults of the wicked, when it began to stam-
mer forth some of these mysteries. Her visions were
often treated as foolish dreams or frauds. Nature was
ready to feel aggrieved, but grace drew from it joy.
On one of these occasions, Jeanne says : " My soul
found itself filled and transported with an extraordi-
nary joy. Promenading my chamber, I said: L,ord>
how happy I should feel were I to be accounted a fool
by men, if only my folly did not offend Thee." *

Jeanne, as we have said, in her candid simplicit}',
in her childish humility, that did not permit her to
see or seek herself in the most extraordinary graces,
had great facility in speaking of the things of God.
At first, the world was inclined to be offended and
mistaken. So it happened at Grenoble, when she went
there to make the foundation. Some of those who
sought interviews with her did so rather to satis fy
their curiosity than with a view to edification, or,
desirous to find a pretext for diminishing her credit,
they published that vanity was the source of her com-
munications on the things of God, and they repre-
sented her as a woman without discretion, speaking
when she had better have kept silent. Providence
•

* Autobiography.

258

permitted this little storm, in order to procure for His
pious servant an opportunity of being" defended by a
voice oi authority , a certainty of doctrine, a firmness of
conviction, at which doubt should disappear. If
Mother de Matel had not been disparaged, we should
not have had, perhaps, so eloquent a tribute to her
interior spirit, her wisdom, her virtues, and, especially,
to her humility.

The Prior du Croisil, knowing that Father Gibalin
had for a long time directed Jeanne in spiritual things,
wished to learn of so experienced a theologian, so con-
scientious a priest, what he should think of the unfa-
vorable opinions then circulating in Grenoble. He
received the following letter : "I have never doubted
that Rev. Mother de Matel would meet with contra-
diction in her pious and generous designs ; that he who
has ever opposed the Incarnate Word would employ
all his stratagems to impede the glory this holy
woman would procure Him. He does so now the more
insidiously, because he makes use of those who should
defend what they attack under the false plea of specious
piety ; but, as this enemy has been defeated every-
where, so shall he be at Grenoble.

4 ' I have no fear of Mother de Matel's courage in
tlie contempt with which she is treated; the Incar-
nate Word, Who has chosen her for His dearly beloved
daughter, to show in her the wonders of His grace,
will silence this contradiction, and, perhaps, make her
opponents understand that it is He Whom they attack
in their false zeal. Time will show. I shall only
say. Reverend Sir, in answer to your letter, that they
who think themselves very wise in being offended at
the frankness and simplicity of Mother de Matel, and
in disapproving of her readiness to speak of the things
of God, are mistaken. Such persons would conduct
all souls in their own way, and according to their own

259

humor, not perceiving that the Spirit of God, one in
Himself and simple, is varied and multiplied in Ili^
effects ; and, as in the order of nature He acts
diversely, according to the variety of natural causes,
so, too, He acts with no less diversity in the order of
grace.

"Moreover, these gentlemen would constitute
virtue where it is not, namely, in keeping silence on
the things of God. I can not see that perfection con-
sists in not speaking of God, nor in an unwillingness
to do so ; on the contrary, it seems to me that there
is nothing more pious than so to speak, provided one
does so simply, candidly, without affectation or self-
pride.

" If Mother de Matel were to converse of the
trifles of the world, or were affected in her discourse,
I would look upon it as a manifestation of self-love ;
I would say that she had no interior spirit ; no true
spirituality in her. But I observe that she speaks of
the things of God with so much simplicity that the
most critical are constrained to admit that there is not
the least appearance of affectation in what she says ;
her conversations, no matter how long they may be,
instead of dissipating the spirit or preventing recollec-
tion, maintain it. And, certainly, perfect recollection
consists in having the spirit alwa}rs fixed on God, and,
if one is always speaking of Him, it is a sign that one
wishes to think of nothing else.

" The conversation of Mother de Matel is not the
fruit of study, or of an acquired knowledge, it is the
result of light gained in prayer ; and, as proof of this,
I adduce the many singular conversions wrought in
those who listen to her.

"I would ask those gentlemen what proof of
recollection they find in a mournful silence, the

•2(H)

especial fruit o( melancholy or ignorance. When they
visit Mother de Matel, through curiosity, or to criti-
cise her, or lor some worthy and pions motive, would
they have her dismiss them with a severe countenance,
or be entreated before she would speak to them, be
on her guard against them, or refuse to speak, except
with the ignorant, whom it is easy to deceive ? Is it
not better that she should speak when desired to do
so ? They can see that the source is inexhaustible ;
that they are original things ; that she does not hesi-
tate to speak before any one ; that she does not blush
for the Gospel, and does not fear the censure of men.
Are they not obliged to acknowledge to themselves
that it is something wonderful ? For my part, I must
frankly confess that what has most convinced me
that this soul is led by the Spirit of God is, that a
woman, who, for thirty years, speaks continually of
God, writes whole volumes on spiritual matters, com-
municates with all sorts of persons, converses with the
most learned and skillful, with critics the most
acute, has, nevertheless, never been found in any
error, whether in writing or in speech ; has always
been admired for her knowledge, and has been
reproached with nothing save speaking too much of
God ; which is to say that God occupies her too
wholly, and communicates Himself too much to her.

"I see what may seem offensive to these gentle-
men ; it is that favors received from God should be
concealed for the sake of humility, following in that
the example of the saints and of Jesus Christ Himself;,
but, if it were necessary always to conceal the graces
of heaven, we should never know what passes in the
saints. This young person, who has never studied,
has not been able to learn save in the school of the
Holy Ghost ; if she can not speak of divine things,
without letting some little of her own heart be seen..

261

should she on that account be condemned to silence?
Then was it also necessary that the Apostles should
not speak of the things of God, since they could not do
so without letting it be perceived that they had learned
them through an infused knowledge. The same must
be said of all those saints who have spoken in a
language beyond their natural capacity.

' ' On the other hand, humility is much less offended
by the sincere candor which they blame than by a
silence that has for cause, .self-love. The soul that
regards the graces it receives as its own, and who fears
that if they be discovered it would deserve to be hon-
ored, hides them as a treasure ; but, on the contrary,
a soul that regards them as favors from heaven, and
takes no glory in them, is not at so much trouble to
keep them secret. If Mother de Matel had any vanity,
she would, no doubt, be content with being secret and
important ; but she abhors all duplicity and affectation.
She brings forth the things of God as she received
them, in all simplicity ; she asks for no glory save
His to Whom it belongs. One can be silent in pride,
and speak in humility. It is not surprising that in
the flow of conversation, and in an emotion that
carries one away, amongst a million of graces received,
some should be manifested ; this has been seen among
the saints. They have spoken when the Spirit of God
pressed them to speak. It is well known that women
have been consulted as oracles by the. greatest doctors.
Had they been dumb till then, or had they disdained
to speak except to those great men ? Or else, did
they only answer when questioned, and how is it that
we have preserved their writings ? Or, again, is ther
more harm in speaking than in writing ?

' ' The Savior of the world has taught by His
example that one can keep silence, or can speak in a
way to glorify God ; He was silent for thirty years.

262

and how often afterwards did He not speak of Himself ?
It is true that our life shonld be hidden in Jesus
Christ, but they little understand this saying who
infer that the eye of man is never in any way to be
enlightened by our virtues. The sense of this maxim
is. as the contemplatives say, that the interior should
be the principle of all our action ; and that interior is
the hidden fire of the love of Jesus Christ, of which
we can never discern but a few. sparks. And this is
what takes place in Mother de Matel, for they are
mistaken who suppose that she displays all the riches of
her soul ; but a few signs are allowed to appear.

'I conclude, then, that we are neither to blame
great reserve nor great readiness in such matters ;
both may be good, or both bad. Judgment must be
left to God, or to those persons who know the soul in
question fully."

This answer had its due effect. It reduced to
silence those who had suffered themselves to be preju-
diced. Indeed, one little knew' Jeanne who was
capable of believing that she sought her own advan-
tage in these conversations on the things of God. When
the knowledge of her supernatural states began to
spread, she suffered greatly from the sensation that it
produced. Resolved on seeking flight in solitude, she
consulted her directors ; she addressed Our L,ord in
affectionate protestations of humility. " O, my God,
seat Thyself in my heart, et non commovebitur; be first
in its thoughts, words and actions, and be also the last,
covering the fire that Thou hast lit on the hearth of
my heart with the ashes of humility. She desires to
glory in mockery and to rejoice thereat ; and humbles
herself before Thee because of praise, to Whom she
returns it, to Whom it is due, O, her all." *

* Letters to Father Jacquinot.

263

Yet more, being ordered to write the daily journal
of her thoughts, actions, feelings and favors, Jeanne
did so in a sober, concise and nervous style. In read-
ing her letters to her directors, you feel that she is
unwilling to enlarge, to speak long of herself, and by, a
ruse of her humility, she does not put herself forward
in the first person, but speaks always as though there-
were question of another.

She frequently did not hesitate to sustain severe
struggles to defend her desire of being hidden, against
counsels less severe. During her sojourn in Paris she
had revelations on important points concerning the
House of Orleans, the King and the Queen, and the
verification of certain points gave assurance of the
truth of the whole prophesy. She says : " My Secre-
tary, who knew what Thou hadst revealed to me, often
pressed me to make the secret known to Madame de
Cressay, who loves me, as I honor her, that is, greatly.
She has even solicited me very often to go to the
Royal Palace, saying that I retarded the glory of Thy
Kstablishment, in not telling the Queen what Thou
hadst said of her, of our King and the Duke of Anjou.
Her words were of no avail to make me quit my
retreat. She would say : Your enemies do you
harm in the Queen's mind, telling her that you give
the habit to your religious and do not take it yourself :
in her presence they blame you for what they do not
understand. You have the key to hearts, and you do
not use it. Do you not fear to bur)' talents with
which God has so liberally endowed you ? ' The more
she urged me, the less was I inclined to do what she
sought ; my only happiness was, and is, to be hidden
to all visible things, that I may be seen by Thee only,
my Love." *

* Autobiography.

264

When her daughters were witnesses of some of
those exterior manifestations by which God revealed
the interior graces with which he filled her, they gen-
erally did not venture to speak to her of them, lest
they should grieve her. If her directors obliged them
to do so, she made little of it. "I laugh at my daugh-
ters." she says, "when they tell me that they have
seen lights, or perceived odors that seemed to them
supernatural. I do not attend to these visible signs,
but to the invisible mysteries that Thou work est in nry
soul, whilst these things are seen or inhaled by those
whom Thou makest witnesses of Thy goodness to me ;
who am most unworthy of them." *

Perhaps no one was better acquainted with the
beauty of Jeanne's soul than Father Gibalin, and,
because his rectitude, perspicacity and good sense are
so manifest in the testimony that he gives of her, we
love to quote him once more on her repugnance to
show herself, as we did on her repugnance to speak
through vanity. This is how he wrote to a friend of the
Order, the Abbe de Chusy, some days after the departure
of the pious foundress on her second journey to Paris:

' ' Mother de Matel did great violence to herself,
and wept copiously. I have never seen her so cast
down in any affliction that has befallen her, not
because she left her daughters, to whom she has
always shown a truly maternal affection, nor from any
other consideration whatever, but because she found
herself obliged to quit the holy solitude in which she
was hidden, in order to appear in the great world.
She goes to the Court as others go to the Cross, and
to applause as to death. This soul is the humblest
that I have ever seen or known. She rejoices when
she is blamed, and when calumnies, even the greatest,

Autobiography.

:rv

261

assail her, and when she is reduced to a little room,
and known but to few ; but she weeps, sighs, is
afflicted, inconsolable, even to the loss of sleep and
appetite, and to the danger of her health, when they
make her appear in the finest scenes in France, and
lead her as in triumph to receive the applause that her
virtues merit, and the extraordinary graces received
from God seem to demand. Oh, how great is her soul
before God, and how little in her own eyes!

" If I had to speak to you of the singular virtue of
this holy Mother, as may perhaps be necessary on
some occasion, what wonders I should have to tell,
and how the world is deceived when it thinks that she
is vain! . . . After having treated so often and
so openly with this candid soul for six years, having
studied her conduct, and pondered long and often on
the sources of such light, and of favors so extraordi-
nary from Heaven, so freely bestowed on her, I have
not been able to find any, next to the grace of God,
but her profound humility in the reception and use of
grace, and her absolute confidence in the divine good-
ness. What marvels have I not seen in this regard,
and how often have I not been filled with joy on this
point !"

The humility of Mother de Matel was not less
apparent in her intercourse with her directors. She
generally promised them obedience in all things pos-
sible, and Our Lord agreeing thereunto, submitted
His action to their will. "My gratuitous action in thee
obeys him," said He, speaking of Father de Meaux,
"he commands Me, the Heaven of tin' heart, to with-
draw the waters that are read}- to make a deluge of
thy tears ; they at once retire, and return when he
permits, as for Klias." The good Father, in a feeling
of humility, having thought of renouncing the direc-
tion of this chosen soul, she wrote to him, with a

266

humility still greater, and that could not fail to con-
quer : " O, Reverend Father, I know that I do not
deserve the entire loaf of the favorite daughter,
accepted in Jesus by your Reverence ; but say that I
may be as the least at your feet, to receive the crumbs
that you will bestow in your charitable looks. If you
will not give me the entire loaf in your absolute com-
mands, which are to me a delicious repast in the
higher will, I am determined to climb the mount of
perfection at the cost of death upon the cross, by the
knife of abnegation and interior mortification. Take
it and perform the office of the priest.

Her correspondence with Father de Meaux exhibits
to us a continual struggle with herself to arrive at that
absolute confidence that keeps secret no grace received ;
as for imperfections, she was ever ready to confess and
even to exaggerate them. What attention to realize
the image that Our Lord had presented her of the
dispositions she should have in this regard ! ' ' My
daughter, thou must put and hand over thy soul into
the hands of thy Bishop and Pastor. I have it in My
hands, as being thy Sovereign Pastor, I put it in those
of this Father, thy Pastor." Then I had a vision so
delicate that I can not make it known in all its subtlety,
for it was not of the imagination, but of the intellect ;
my soul was as a little child in the arms of my Spouse;
pressed to His bosom, I felt His sweet breath, and then
He put me in your arms with the same gentleness that
He held me in His own." *

Our Lord had the humility of His beloved daughter
so much at heart that He made her find occasion to
practice it there where she should rather have expected
consolation and esteem. Father de Meaux, whose
direction had been so useful to her, and who had so

* Letters to Father de Meaux.

267

great a veneration for her virtues, often mortjfied her
by his persistent endeavor to renounce her direction.
"This morning, after Communion," she writes, ' I
said to my love : ' What ! how is this ? The more
Father Rector rejects me, the more do I want him as
director, no matter how much he mortifies me.' I
then heard : ' Daughter, when I rejected the Cananean,
she was more strongly drawn by My Father ; when
the Father rejects thee, I draw thee more strongly to
him, so that he is vanquished.' "

When, on her first voyage to Paris, the Fathers of
the Society of Jesus suddenly refused her direction and
support, thus compromising her in the eyes of others
who knew not the motives of their conduct, Jeanne
was not troubled nor cast down ; she kept herself
humbly at the feet of her divine Master: "Is it I
who through ambition have presumed to institute an
Order ? Or is it Thou in Thy incomparable goodness
Who has inspired and destined me to this work ? If it
be I, then, O Lord, fear not, if I may say so, to con-
found me in time ; the fault would be one of ignorance
rather than malice. I have protested at Lyons that I
did not seek my own glory, when some one, fearing
that I would not succeed, said : ' If you were known
only at Roanne, the shame would not be so great.' I
told him, besides, that I would be content to be
shamed, not only in Lyons. and Roanne, but in all the
world, for Thy love's sake. I feel now the grace and
courage to suffer a universal confusion before all sorts
of persons." *

We have related how Mother of Calvary undertook
to satisfy the desire that Jeanne had always entertained
to be covered with opprobrium and to be accounted a
fool. Mother de Matel daily rejoiced at the foot of the

* Autobiography.

268

Crucifix. " Now, at last, O Lord, I have come to be
despised. I thank Thee for having procured for me
the abasements that make me like to Thee. I desire
them and love them more than ever. Draw Thy glory
from this, that the daughters Thou hast given me are,
without their intending it, the occasion. Forgive
them and make them worthy of Thy love."

Ma\- these precious seeds of humility be the inherit-
ance of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, and may the
virtues of the Mother live forever in the daughters !

CHAPTKR X.

HER PATIENCE.

The life of Mother cle Matel was one continued
exercise of patience. From her earliest childhood she
had been subject to suffering1 ; but when God had
introduced her into the way of contemplation, He was
careful to mingle pain with consolation, and even per-
mitted that His favors and consolations should them-
selves be the cause of suffering. " Thou knowest, my
dear Love, that my frequent raptures and continual
ecstasies caused me six long illnesses, lasting many
years. I did not tell my physician that my continual
fever was occasioned by them. I took the remedies
that he prescribed, and joyfully suffered great pains
and all the ardors of the fever." *

Adopting and commending the sublime challenge
of the Apostle, she exclaims, after having allowed us
to perceive some of her corporal pain : " May my
headaches, which I have bornefor twenty years; may
the disease of my eyes, which I have suffered now for
more than twelve years; may the disease of the stone
continue until my death; may the acute pain which I
experience in my bowels, torment me as much as Thou
pleasest; may ni}T disgust at all food endure through
life; but may it please Thee to bless the end as Thou
hast the beginning. I mean my birth; all the rest is as
nothing." *

In another place, she says : "Several persons,
witnessing my continual sicknesses, had great com-
passion for me ; but I, who in my devotion had more

•;: Autobiography.

270

joy than I experienced pain in my afflictions, laughed
at the sufferings that were charmed by Thy love, and
considered them as so main' rounds of the ladder by
which I would mount to heaven." * And, later, she
says : ' ' The afflictions that I suffer for so many years
would have been the death of man}-, but Thou didst
sustain me by the bread of the strong."

It can not, then, be doubted that disease in its most
severe forms was the inseparable companion of Mother
de Matel, and her language and activity prove that her
patience was equal to her sufferings.

But the most beautiful proof of her patience is
undoubtedly found in the history of the struggles in
which she was engaged when founding her Order,
installing the different houses, and defending their
temporal and spiritual interests. Our readers have
read this history, they remember its vicissitudes.
What constancy she needed not to be discouraged ;
what patience, not to wash ill to the authors of these
contradictions, to renew so frequently the attempt to
solve difficulties, so often overcome and ever recurring.

What was particularly painful, was that the in-
trigues of her enemies stooped to the lowest means,
and sought to deprive her of the love and obedience of
her daughters. A certain person succeeded but too
well with one of them with wdiom he had frequent
interviews, and in whom he insinuated his own senti-
ments. Mother de Matel had been a mother to her,
and had brought her up from childhood. Having
recognized in her great talents, she had entrusted to
her important offices, which she had successfully filled. ,
In consequence of conversations with this enemy of the
foundress, she suffered an entire change ; she was no
longer an humble and obedient religious, but a proud

* Autobiography.

and passionate daughter. Mother de Matel suffered
all in silence, because the offense was a personal one,
and always testified for her the same love and cordial-
ity. The other religious, seeing their Mother so kind
and patient, and on the other side so much ingratitude
and passion, sometimes said to her: " Mother, your
goodness is excessive towards one who does not love
you as she should." But it was Mother de Matel's
habit not to give way to resentment, hoping that God
would one day restore to her her daughter ; and yet
they could see no change. The foundress, who
keenly felt this estrangement, and wished to bring her
back to her duty, met her one day, embraced her with
all a mother's tenderness, and said, in loving sorrow :
' ' My daughter, too many witnesses have concurred to
convince me of what I would not hitherto believe ; you
have been false to me. But they shall not prevent me
from protecting you, and you shall not even be put in
penance." Mother de Matel allowed her tears to flow
freely, more in compassion than in sorrow7 for the
offense. The religious, recovering from her blindness,
acknowledged her fault, and openly confessed that she
had offended the Lord in following the evil counsels
which they had given her against her Mother and
benefactress.

She did not stop there, but, in a letter to the one
who had deceived her, that was destined to become
public, she did homage to the good Mother. After an
humble acknowledgment of her fault, she adds : "I
pass for a Judas in the house, and wherever my sin is
known. It is only Reverend Mother, whom alone I
have offended, who has the goodness to suffer my
presence, to my greater confusion. ... I recog-
nize, more than ever, that she is led by the good
spirit, bearing my calumnies with so great patience.

272

She has never spoken of yon but in terms of great
esteem, as I have often told yon."

This mistaken sister, brought back by the patient
indulgence of Mother de Matel, ever after led a life of
edification and perfect submission.

By one of those contradictions common to persons
of little judgment, Mother Calvary Germ, when
Superioress of the Convent of Paris, was sometimes
prodigal of caresses to the foundress, that agreed ill
with the general course of her evil proceedings. She
called her her* good Mother, and herself her Benjamin.
These senseless demonstrations wearied her more than
all the rest ; one day she could not refrain from saying
to her : ' ' You caress me with one hand and smite me
with the other." This wras the only vengeance that
she took for conduct that was without example. And,
since this unfortunate episode is once more before ns,
we may be excused if we insist a little, to the glory of
the holy foundress.

Mother de Matel was never more humbled and
despised than at this period, God permitting it for her
greater perfection. We have described these painful
scenes. Sister Jeanne of Jesus de Belly was witness to
them, and, in an astonishment that was like to that of
the friends of Job: "I remembered," she. says,
" when she was sought by all, when she was a famous
oracle, whom all alike came to consult. Esteemed at
Court, and venerated by the people, the highest and
the least were honored by her acquaintance. I com-
pared her past greatness with her present state of
humiliation, in which, without any change in her
merit, she was despised and abandoned by nearly all,
through the intrigues of a woman devoid of talent.
She was looked upon as one whose mind was enfeebled
by age, incapable of conducting any affair ; if she

wished to give counsel, or to speak as the Spirit of

God inspired her, she was not listened to, or heard in
cruel compassion for what was held as delirium."

"Mother de Mated," says one of her historians,
"suffered all with great constancy, and would not
allow any measure to be taken to undeceive the publi< ,
and to free herself from vexation. Madame de Ville-
'monteil, who for some time had retired to the Convent
of the Incarnate Word, had frequent conversations
with her that the Superioress could not prevent. In
these interviews she sought her own spiritual profit,
but she at the same time tried to administer consola-
tion. She told her one day that she should complain
to the Chancellor, Seguier, of their coutluct towards
her, and that she would support the appeal with all
her influence. The foundress rejected the offer with
a kind of vivacity, and answered : ' Madame, how-
ever great the cause given to me for dissatisfaction, I
could never resolve on the step that you propose. Do
you forget that they are my daughters ? How could I
wish to bring down persecution upon them ? Ah,
Madame, it is a strange thing to be a mother, as I
am.' " *

Nor did Mother de Belly meet with better success,
when, unable longer to endure the spectacle before her,
she one day entreated her to suffer that an appeal
should be made to the friends of the Order. " I forbid
it, my daughter," said Mother de Matel ; " you could
not give me a greater pain. My beloved secretary had
made the same proposal, and would have committed
the same error, had I not prevented her. The Lord
wishes to try me ; it would be a sin to counteract His
designs. If my daughters cause me suffering, it is to
them alone that I should complain ; I love them too

::: Life by a Jesuit Father.

274

well to expose them to blame ; I should prefer to suffer
even more, if necessary." In vain did Mother de Belly
represent that her present humiliation might prejudice
the Order, and that she was thus in conscience bound
to put an end to it. "No, no, my daughter," she
answered, " my hour has come to suffer ; it is my part
to be faithful. Perhaps I am too quick to complain,
but you must not heed me, and you must not think
me desirous to remove the evil that I bear. No,
daughter, it is rather for yourselves that I grieve, than
for myself, who have but a short time to live."

It was not only an example of patience that Mother
de Matel was thus giving to her daughters, but, as we
have said, a Tar more precious lesson, teaching them
not to admit outsiders to a knowledge of what trans-
pired in the Community. It was equally in vain that
the most devoted friends of the Order, even religious,
as Father de la B'arre, a Jesuit, tried to persuade her
to adopt this means. And, one day, as Sister de Belly
insisted more than usual, she answered her firmly,
revealing the secret of her admirable patience : ' ' Con-
sider the example of the Incarnate Word in His Pas-
sion ; did He flee ? Did He avoid the persecution and
fury of His enemies? Did He not prefer to be
accounted weak-minded, a fool, rather than to act con-
trary to the orders of His Father ? He is our model,"
They could but respect her love of the cross, and the
delicacy of her maternal discretion.

But she could not wholly prevent a rumor of this
strange treatment from passing the walls of the convent,
and becoming known to her friends. As soon as Madame
Seguier received the information, she hastened to her,
and complained with lively affection that she had not
been directly apprised, gently reproaching Jeanne with
a want of confidence in her.

275

"At first, Mother de Matel was unwilling to
acknowledge the truth, but the noble lady pressed her
so. that she had to own to her suffering. .She did so
with all possible moderation. Far from laying the
blame on any one, she represented her afflictions
benefits from God, and expressed so lively a joy in
suffering for Him that the good lady was extremely
edified. ' You see, Madame,' said Jeanne, ' that it was
useless to reveal to you the troubles of which you
speak. They are graces with which Heaven wishes
to favor me. ' I beg you not to seek to diminish them.
It is the greatest mark of favor that you can show
me.'"*

And in this patience Jeanne was consistent with
herself. Long since, when crushed under the weight
of trial and suffering, she had asked for an increase of
her cross. One day, in order to recompense her
desire of pleasing Him, Our Lord haci said that, if she
asked for it, He was disposed to give her half of His
kingdom. Moved by this loving declaration, she sa}~s :
' I answered, that I asked for sufferings in this world.
Thou didst say that they were Thy kingdom in Thy
mortal life, at the end of which Thou hadst received a
crown that was fixed deeply to Thy head, and that,
since I desired that portion of Thy life, Thou wouldst
share it with me." f

As happens in strongly tempered characters, who
are gentle by virtue, rather than by nature, patience
did not exclude firmness.

The Coadjutor of Paris, passing by the convent in
the Faubourg Saint Germain, at the moment when
provisions were being taken into the convent, wished

* Life by a Jesuit Father.
f Autobiography.

to profit by that occasion to enter it. To the respect-
ful observations made to him, he replied that it was his
right. Mother de Matel was present. As this pre-
tension was opposed to the authority of the Bishop of
Met/., who had jurisdiction over the Faubourg and the
convent, she refused her consent. She had observed
every mark of respect and humility, but her firmness
wounded the Coadjutor, who revenged himself by
contemptuous words and unbecoming remarks. Jeanne
was informed of it, and repaid his proceeding by
giving the prelate a larger part in her prayers.

The same firmness is seen in her relations with her
daughters, when she feared that her silence would
authorize abuses, or when she noticed proceedings
that would compromise the spirit of the Order, a
beginning of ingratitude or of resistance to authority.
Then, her words, usually so sweet and gentle, became
sharp and vibrant as the strokes of a scourge. She
writes to a Superioress, who had allowed the reputa-
tion of her house for regularity to be endangered :
' l Twice since Christmas I have warned you of what
was said of my sheep ; you received 1113^ warnings as
dogs do who bite at the stone which is thrown at them,
and not at the hand that threw it. At present I hear
that you say your Mother leaves you in want. She
who says so has made herself unworthy of the charity
which your Mother exhibits to her daughters on every
hand. What crosses come to her from the four
quarters of her four houses ! The greatest criminals
are dismembered by four horses only, she is quartered
by four houses ! If they thus form for her a cross of
St. Andrew, she will salute it as being good for her,
and in the spirit of charity she will unite herself to
her all, the Incarnate Word." The lesson was bitter,
but the point of the arrow was softened by her
resignation.

277

The gift of consolation is the natural fruit
Christian patience. Accustomed to suffer for God, to
find in Him her help, the soul becomes familiar with
the turns of that mysterious road that leads from earth
to heaven, and acquires a holy skill in conducting
others. Jeanne had that grace, and willingly made
use of it in her life. It is touching to see her, in the
flower of her youth, so timid and so humble, encouraging
and sustaining her confessor, Father de Meaux, in his
sufferings, that veteran of the priesthood and of the
religious life. "My good Father, Our Lord became
impassable only after delivering His Body to the cros>.
subject to the power of tyrants and cruel executioner.^.
But, when they thought him exterminated, He was
then most strong. . . . They tell me that you are
worse. Well, you must not, therefore, lose courage,
but increase it. Remember that it behooved Christ
to suffer. Blessed are they whom He finds worth}' to
imitate Him. It is told of Him that, when He was
afflicted, He looked if there were any to offer consola-
tion, and there was no one to grieve with Him. Your
Reverence has many wTho do for you almost as much
as was done for St. Peter in prison. . . . My good
Father, have patience and courage, that you ma}' cull
the roses of your good example from the thorns of your
sufferings. Submit yourself to the divine Jesus, our
Love." *

Jeanne, we see, was already mistress in the science
of the cross; she knew how to console and to encour-
age, because she had already learned to suffer. It is
the law of the Gospel, as ever : " Ccepit facere ct
docere." f

::; betters to Father de Meaux.

f Acts I., 1 " He beeau to do and to teach."

CHAPTER XL

HER MORTIFICATION AND OBKDIENCE.

On the day that the Convent of Paris was blessed,
■ ' whilst the Rev. Father Prior was placing the cross
on the door, Sister Elizabeth Grasseteau saw Thee
planting in my heart a cross, as a New Year's gift, on
that, the first da)' of the year, establishing in me an
interior convent, through the cross. That cross I
adored in Thy hands, and I received it as a precious
present ; that cross crucified me, not Tor a day, but
during several years ; I can not express its pains,
because it is at once a pain and a delight to be united
to Thee." *

Jeanne, like all the saints, loved the cross too well
not to seek to make it heavier by voluntary mortifica-
tions. We have related in our first volume the
mortifications of her youth ; our readers will recollect
howT, by iron chains, disciplines, fasts and privations
of every kind, she had made a living wreck of her
body. This love of corporal penance was carried so
far that her directors, taking into consideration her
habitual bad health, were often obliged to moderate it.
She appealed to Our Lord, but He was on the side of
moderation and prudence.

" The divine Master, the Holy Ghost," Jeanne con-
fesses, "desires that your Reverence should first correct
the defects of the queen and mistress, the soul, before
those of the animal flesh, her servant and slave, as I
understood yesterday, when I seemed troubled because
your Reverence would not give me back my chain.

Autobiography.

27<)

1 My daughter, who gives me the most pleasure, the
one who trains my Queen, or he who trains my horse ?
By this I understood that yon pleased I lis Majesty
more by correcting the imperfections of my sonl rather
than those which belong to the body." ::

Not only did her confessors unwillingly permit
extraordinary mortifications, but they were obliged to
forbid her abstinence during Lent, and to abate the rigor
of the fast, to her a great humiliation and a great
grief. "I passed Lent as sorrowfully as in preceding
years," — she speaks of 1658 — "not being allowed to
abstain, nor to fast with strictness ; and that sorrow-
increased when I listened to the preface of the Mass. ' ' f

Her health was nearly always bad. Speaking of a
physician of Roanne, M. Falconet: "I owe him,"
she writes, "obligations greater than I can express
for having, after God, brought me six times out of
sickness which was believed to be mortal, when I was
still living in my father's house." J

It was not much better after she had left it. We
know that her nights were generally sleepless. " The
multitude of occupations, ' ' she writes to Father Cosme,
"visits ordinary and extraordinary, steal nearly the
entire day ; in the evening I find myself so overcome
by headache and weakness that I cannot write a letter
without being rendered incapable of an hour's sleep."
It was often midnight, and even later, before she
could get to sleep, and she always rose at an earlv
hour. Her weariness had become so excessive that
they had forbidden her to rise so soon. But, so far
from being a concession to sensuality, the order was a
mortification, and the Spirit of God would choose that

* Letters to Father de Meaux.

f Autobiography.

t Letter to Bishop of Nimes. 163>9.

280

hour, passed in continual prayer, to visit her with His
sweetest favors.

Although eager for mortification, and anxious to
suffer for love, Mother de Matel cheerfully submitted
her desires to the guidance of her directors. Speaking
of her infirmities, she says: "If my indiscretions
increased them it does not much matter. Thon know-
est, my dear Spouse, that I did not want to disobey
my confessors, in fasting, in performing more penance
than the}- allowed me, however great my desire to do
so." *

Jeanne exercised over her will and inclinations the
mortifications which she was not allowed to practice
on her body. During nearly the whole time of her
second sojourn in Paris, she applied herself to the
care of the kitchen. Attracted by the recollection
and contemplation which she enjoyed in these vulgar
occupations, she would willingly have resigned the
care of exterior things. Of this she complained to St.
Michael and the angels : " Assembling, as it were, in
a chapter or council, they concluded, in common with
the blessed, that I should remain and be confirmed in
the office of cook of the Convent of the Incarnate
Word : and that He, together with the angels, had pre-
pared and given the manna to the people of Israel,
<luring their forty years' stay in the desert." *

One of Mother de Matel' s greatest mortifications,
as we may easily conceive, when we reflect on her
attraction for prayer, was the obligation consequent on
the interests of her work and her reputation for
sanctity, of being incessantly in communication with
the world. From such interviews she returned broken
with the fatigue of long sitting which, increased her
physical sufferings, troubled by the faults which she

• Autobiography.

281

feared to have made during those hours that might
have been passed in prayer, and, as it seemed to her,
less disposed to that pious exercise. Thus she did not
hesitate to declare : "I am exceedingly mortified
when obliged to be at the grating." But, on the
•other hand, she was so zealous for souls, so good and
condescending ! She did not dare to withdraw herself
from exactions that her heart ratified, but which in
her humility she ascribed to human respect.

Her spirit of mortification is signally displayed, and
in the most edifying manner, in the disposition with
which she went to Roanue, and dwelt there for a time,
■on her return from Paris in 1653. ;'As we drew
near," she says, " my soul was inexpressibly depressed,
fearing the applause of my compatriots, and being
more sorrowful than I can say. The Abbe de la
Piardiere, our escort, observing it, asked me whence
came the sadness that appeared in my countenance.
Being nty confessor, and one to whom I owed so much,
and in whom I placed such confidence, I answered
that it was the divine wisdom that ordered or per-
mitted this state, which I preferred, because it
detached me from all that flesh and blood might incline
me to, and that I would deprive myself of the happi-
ness of seeing my only sister, whom I had not seen
more than two or three hours altogether in twenty-
five years, if that, rather than the joy of meeting
her, would please Thee more. Thou wast content
with this disposition in which I kept myself interiorly,
during the four days that we lodged with her, not-
withstanding the visits, and the joy which the people,
together with my brother-in-law, Grimant, testified
by their cordiality and liberality. My soul, united to
Thee, could not enjoy their applause. I experienced
two contradictor feelings ; an apparent and willing
satisfaction, so as to grieve no one, conversing with

282

all as though Roanne were to me a terrestrial para-
dise, and yet, during their acclamations, my soul was
as a stranger amongst my kindred." *

It would seem that Jeanne had no violent assaults
to sustain in defense of the angelic virtue ; but her life
offers some traces of such combats imposed 011 her
delicate conscience, to preserve her in humility, and
to purify her love. Even when God caused her to
voyage in full sail on the ocean of consolation, He
permitted some storms. ' She found herself troubled
by disagreeable thoughts and imaginations, at which
she was much astonished, though she did not dare to
ask to be delivered from them, knowing that God
used them for her humiliation, after having been for
so many years free from them. She often said that
she suffered violence ; her divine Love did not fail to
console her from time to time, but not so exclusively
as before, which caused her to fear that she had given
cause for this abandonment.

On the feast of the glorious virgin and holy
martyr, Agnes, 1G22, she complained of the trouble
caused in her by these imaginations, and it was
answered her : ' ' Daughter, why do you wish to
withdraw from the conversation of these persons on
account of such imaginations ? Did not St. Jerome
have them also ?" On the feast of St. Dorothy, she
was again subjected to them, even during Holy Com-
munion. Greatly confused, she repeated the words of
the Apostle, " Infelix Ego." \ She then heard:
' Daughter, for many years you have been free from
such imaginations, and it seemed to you that you
would never experience them. I kept you as a pure
spirit, in the body, as regarded them; but as,since Easter,

* Autobiography.

t Rom., vii., 'Ji. " Unhappy that I am/'

I have wished to subject thee to a strict obedience, ill
little rather than in great things, and this more fre-
quently, and have lately made thee suffer an extreme
poverty of thought, to which thou hast great repug-
nance, .so, now, I wish thee to undergo the same
repugnance through these imaginations, and that thou
shouldst gain by experience in combat the prize of
chastity. Being in the world, it seems more difficult
to thee ; courage, daughter. ' No one,' says My holy
one, St. Paul, ' shall be crowned unless he has legiti-
mately fought. ' Thou truly believest what the virgins
said to the tyrants who threatened them with the
deprivation of their virginity : ' Our crowns shall be
doubled.' Their enemies were visible. Daughter,
thine shall be more illustrious, combating even invisible
enemies, who, as traitors, are the more dangerous, and
their confusion shall be the jjreater when vanquished,
and the victory over them the more glorious." *

But, according to the saints, the greatest mortifica-
tion of the religious is obedience to the rule. Mother
de Matel left this example to her daughters. Far
from complaining of the rigors of obedience, she
showed herself eager for it, and she excited the zeal of
her directors to keep her under the sacrificial knife :
" My dear Father, continue, I pray you, to cultivate
the vineyard of the heavenly Noah, who seems to
inebriate Himself with the wine which the press of His
Love causes to boil in, and flow from, my heart, so
long as it continues to free itself from self-love.
Continue, then, in these thoughts, and, especially, in
these acts. Be zealous to prune whatever is super-
fluous, even though nature should complain ; this is
natural to the vine, for the divine Sun, by His heat,
dries my teais, as He does those of the vine after the
pruning knife of the gardener. Bind me, as you think

* I,etters to Father Jacquinot.

284

best, to the holy wood of obedience ; for what you
bind shall be bound, and what you loose shall be
loosed. I promise it again, and, by the help of my
Spouse, will keep my promise. I would that it might
be even to the death of my imperfections, but I will
say even to the separation of soul and body." *

"Whenever," she writes to one of her directors,
' % your Reverence addresses to me these, or similar,
words: 'Do what you will,5 it gives me so great a
pain of mind, and even of body, that if I could make
3rou feel it yourself, I think that you would never leave
me to my own will, unless it were the same as your
own, which I take to be the will of God." *

"I beseech you," she writes again, "to leave no
imperfection of mine without its reprehension ; for all
that takes place in me is ^imperfection. And you, my
dear Father, taking the place of my Jesus, must scan
them seriously, with the eye of the physician, since
He has given you knowledge of me ; assume the part
of the apothecary and make me take the medicine that
I need, however bitter. And, if pride, or some other
tumor, swell my heart, or if my mind be lifted up, use
the lancet, a sign or a glance of your eye indicating my
disease. I wish so to be bound that I may not draw
back when you come to do as I request, and as God
commands, since His desires are commands to those
who love Him."

And yet this complete obedience, it is needless to
remark, was not without sacrifice. What struggles,
what anguish, what hesitations, disturbed like waves
the surface of that soul, which was, in its depths, so re-
signed and submissive ! And how the I^ord loved to
'-how Himself sensible of the generosity of His Spouse,
ind of her efforts ! One day, after many tears and

* betters to Father de Meaux.

2Sr,

much anguish, she had resigned herself to being de-
prived of her Communion by her confessor, and tried to
repair the loss by a spiritual Communion : ' ' Daughter, ' '
said Our Lord to her, ' ' behold Me here as I was with
St. Matthew ; all My saints are with Me, make us a
great feast." — "Then, my dear Love," said Jeanne,
perceiving His meaning, "behold me ready to be
transformed, even to be transubstantiated into Thee." —
' ' Then," she continues, ' ' I was in the midst of delights
with all the Heavenly Court, and my King the High
Priest, who rose up amongst them, sajjing : ' I have
a bread to eat which thou knowest not ; it is with
thee, My daughter.' — ' What is that, My beloved ? ' —
'Thou must do the will of My Father.' — 'I am
ready.' — Having said this, I felt as though I had
become a sacrificial feast, made by the High Priest,
Jesus Christ, of which He and all the saints partook." —
" In these colloquies," she says, K He was present to
me in a mental vision, as an open heart, in which was
a crucifix formed of the substance of the heart, or,
rather, changing the heart into itself, leaving only an
exterior covering to the crucifix. Some one, whom I
did not see, held Him in his hands. He seemed to
say to me : ' Knowest thou this heart ? ' — 'I am not
certain.' — ' So one has to be.' — ' I am willing.' — ' It is
I, my beloved. Love and obedience have always
crucified My Heart.' " *

Love and obedience were the crucifixion of Mother
de Matel.

* Letters to Father de Meaux.

CHAPTER XII.

THE POWER OF HER INTERCESSION.

When a soul has risen to an eminent degree of
virtue, God usually consecrates it by exterior signs of
sanctity. He gives to it a grace of intercession,
which, in a greater or less measure, associates it with
His power.

The life of Mother de Matel proves that she
certainly possessed this privilege. In this chapter we
shall bring together facts that make the proof evident.

Father Ignatius, as we have seen, had shown Jeanne
every attention whilst she stopped for a few days at
Orleans on her first journey to Paris. The good
father received his reward. He had held with her
long and daily conversations on spiritual things, and
was never tired of admiring the favors with which she
had been graced. He finally said to her : ' ' Daughter,
you are, I think, the one creature in the world whom
God most favors. Since I have spoken with you I
have been freed from a spiritual trouble that has made
me gray-haired, young as I am. Neither retreats, nor
mortifications, interior and exterior, had brought me
any relief. I admire that purity with which God has
endowed you, which is transfused into those who treat
with you." *

Father Ignatius died some months later, in perfect
peace, and with a heart burning with the divine love
which he had inspired in his interviews with Jeanne:
de Matel.

* Autobiography.

287

The Reverend Fathers Pontian and de Meaux had
"been despaired of by the physicians ; Jeanne declared
that God's decree was only conditional, and by her
prayers had it suspended. The two religious always
held themselves indebted to her powerful intercession
for the recovery of their health.

When she had learned by private revelation the
approaching death of Monseigneur Miron, Archbishop
of Lyons, she was urged by M. de Neuville to obtain
of Our Lord the succession for Monseigneur Alphonse
de Richelieu, then Archbishop of Aix. She was
assured that her prayer was granted ; this was indeed
the case, but the obstacles interposed by this prelate
to the establishment of the Order verified the additional
words of Our Lord to her : ' : Thou shalt be like the
daughter of Jephtah, destined for sacrifice."

The two children of M. de Serviere, who was
ambassador to Piedmont under Louis XIV., were
dangerously ill. Jeanne, moved by the tears of the
father, asked and obtained their recovery. On several
occasions M. de Serviere attested that he was indebted
to the holy woman for the lives of his children.

On the feast of St. Clement, 1629, she says : " I
was praying Thee for our Holy Father the Pope,
Urban VIII., and Thou didst communicate to me the
pleasure that he gave Thee in the establishment of Thy
Order, assuring me that he would favor and approve
it. Taking confidence from Thy goodness, I prayed
that His life might be prolonged for fifteen 3^ears for
the greater increase of his merits, and Thou didst not
refuse me." *

Her certainty on this point was so great that
during this period she never failed to protest against
the rumors that the pious Pontiff was about to die.

* Autobiography.

288

In 1663, Reverend Father Mil lien, a Jesuit of the
house in Lyons, was taken ill, and was soon at the point
of death. They had already selected the spot for his
burial. Jeanne knew him well, for he had taken a
special interest in the Order. She betook herself to
prayer, and entreated Our Lord to leave him yet awhile
in the world, representing that so he could increase
his merits. " Thou gavest me," she says, " a foretaste
of the glory prepared for him. I said I did not doubt
of the happiness destined for him, but that Thy Provi-
dence could preserve it for him after the few years that I
requested for him, that he might serve Thee. Thou
didst grant my request, for which I thank Thee, O my
divine Savior." *

As long as he lived Father Millien proclaimed
himself indebted to Jeanne's prayers for his recovery,
and his brethren partook of his conviction.

Mother de Matel had often assured the Chancellor,
M. de Seguier, that the Incarnate Word would reward
him for the protection he had extended to the Order by
protecting him in turn. During the civil war he had
occasion to verify this promise, and to experience in
pressing danger the power of Jeanne's intercession
with God. The people, having revolted, and, being-
instigated by malicious persons, had rushed in pursuit
of him. As he passed the Hotel de Ville, Seguier
sought refuge within, and hid himself as best he could.
The maddened crowd followed him, seeking him
everywhere. Shrinking behind a partition of old
boards imperfectly joined, the fugitive could see every
movement of his enemies, and hear their threats. He
remembered the words of Mother de Matel, and,
recalling the good he had done to the Order, he
invoked the Incarnate Word, and escaped uninjured.

* Autobiography.

289

The following fact is related by one of the most
ancient of the historians of Mother de Matel : " M.
de la Piardiere, with whom Mother de Matel and her
Community lodged during the war, had confided to
her care his only daughter when he left to take
possession of his abbey. This mark of confidence
had excited the jealousy of his sister-in-law, and she
lost no occasion of manifesting it. She gave proof of
it on the first day of the year 1653. The sacristan,
having forgotten to provide wine for the Mass, applied
to this lady, who resided in the same house ; she was
humbly requested to come to their assistance on this
one occasion only. She sent word by the cook that
she only had some of de Condrieux, which she was
reserving for the Epiphany. Mother de Matel was
sensibly hurt when she heard the incident, because
there was question of the service of God. Still, she
did not allow the lady to perceive it, and, providing:
herself elsewhere, was content to pray for her.

" On the eve of the Epiphany, when they tapped
the barrel of wine in preparation- for the feast, it \va«
found as dry as though it had never been filled. The
servant wTho kept the keys of the cellar was very much
alarmed : the lady had thought that she could have
every confidence in her servant, who had been brought
up in the family of M. de la Piardiere, being the
daughter of one of his farmers.

14 The poor girl, who was eighteen years of age,
was inconsolable, and her tears ceased not to flew,
which did not prevent her being accused of havirg
drunk the wine with the help of her friends. The
suspicion so worked upon her that she fell dangerous!}
ill. She received the last sacraments, and, when she
had communicated, again assured her mistress of hei
innocence, saying that in her then sad state she oughl
to be believed. The lady, entering into herself,

290

reflected that God, perhaps, had wished to punish her
for having refused that wine for the sacrifice of the
Mass. The thought softened her heart, and she ceased
troubling the poor girl, whom Mother de Matel
frequently visited, exhorting her to patience, and
exhibiting great compassion for her. Being restored
to health, the servant declared that she owed it and her
justification to the prayers of Mother de Matel, who
had alwa}'s assured her that God would make known
her innocence if she bore her cross patiently, and had
confidence in Him."

The following incident transpired in the last years
that Mother de Matel passed in Roanne. There was
in that city a child that was blind from its birth. In
1625, its mother, encouraged by the reputation that
Jeanne had acquired by her contemplative life, brought
it to her. Moved by the mother's grief, the pious
friend of the Incarnate Word took from her bosom a
silver reliquary containing relics of St. Ignatius and
St. Theresa, recommending her to touch with it the
eyes of the child for nine days consecutively, and
promising to remember it in her prayers.

Two days afterwards the eyes of the child were
opened to the light. The happy mother everywhere
proclaimed her gratitude. The evil had been well
known, the cure was easily verified. The precious
reliquary, together with an appeal to Jeanne's prayers,
soon became a remedy which was sought for every
need. Mothers, especially in dangerous childbirths,
owed to it a happy delivery. Indeed, it was unheard
of that anyone having recourse to such protection had
failed to experience a speedy and complete relief.
Popular gratitude did not mistake the source of these
graces, and the use of the reliquary was regarded as
only one of those pious stratagems employed by the
saints to screen their humility. We know how in our

291

own times the venerable Cure of Ars used to attribute
to St. Philomena the favors which God granted to his
intercession.

It would seem as though Mother de Matel owed to
the protection to which she herself was indebted at her
birth this special gift which the pious mothers of
Roanne attributed to her. We shall cite one other
example :. Madame Catherine de L,ormiere, daughter
of Madame de Briolai, could not, according to Mother
de Belly, preserve any of her children at their birth.
Being on the point of again becoming a mother, she
went writh Madame de Briolai to recommend herself to
the prayers of our foundress. As soon as the grate of
the cloister was opened, they threw themselves on their
knees, entreating her to bless the child expected in the
family as a hope and a consolation, that God might be
pleased to preserve it. Our Reverend Mother held off
for a time, but her humility was obliged finally to
yield. She gave the required benediction and prom-
ised to pray for the mother and the child. Madame de
Lormiere attributed to her prayers, not only the birth
and conservation of her son, but also that of three
other children with whom God blessed her marriage.

The following anecdote may excite a smile, and
may be regarded as only a happy coincidence. Still
we shall preserve it ; the simple faith of which it is the
evidence will edify those souls who know how good
Providence is to the saints in little things as in great :

" On the day before the eve of St. Michael, 1648,"
says Mother de Matel, ' ' the Sister who cooked for the
house had so great and inflamed a swelling in the eye
that she was obliged to keep her bed. On the feast
of St. Michael, as I did not think of praying to him,
nor yet to St. Raphael, for the relief of the poor Sister,
she determined to complain so loudly all the night

292

L6ag that the compassion which I always have for rny
daughters would oblige me to intercede for her.
Towards four o'clock in the morning I changed my
mind, saying to this holy angel, who is called the
Remedy of God .• ' The Sister has prevented me from
sleeping till now ; I beg of you to relieve her that she
may sleep, and so may I.' At once the Heavenly
Physician pierced the tumor, and that so happily that
the surgeon, coming towards seven or eight o'clock to
lance the swelling, found it so well opened that he
had no need to touch it. A few days later, be asked
me whether I wished him to apply the cautery to the
sore which the Sister had had in the eye since her
childhood, that is, nearly all her life, a consequence of
the small pox. She was afraid that she would have
to suffer greatly, but, strange to say, when the surgeon
applied it she did not feel it." *

A celebrated fact, which caused a great sensation
in the religious world at Paris, was the cure of Iviicretia
de Belly, whom wre have seen attaching herself to
Jeanne at the time of the foundation at Avignon.
From Grenoble, whither she had been sent, she was
summoned to Paris, just before the blockade of 1649,
to take the religious habit ; she was then dangerously
ill. When the sisters returned to the convent, after
peace had been declared, two of them had to remain
at M. de Rossignol's to nurse her. It was a continuous
fever, with paroxysms, accompanied by a fluxion of the
chest. She was reduced to a skeleton ; the bones
pierced the skin in some places, and the surgeon was
afraid to open a vein lest she should expire. M. de la
Chambre, physician to the King, and M. Felix, her
doctors, after having exhausted all their remedies,
finally said, on consultation, that she could not live.

* Autobiography.

293

l « A|A

Towards the middle of May, the Sisters who
nursed her, seeing that she had lost consciousness and
could not move, thought her dead ; they gave notice
to the convent at Faubourg St. Germain, and asked
for a winding sheet in which to bury her. M. de la
Chambre, meeting M. de Priezac, a counsellor of state,
and one of Jeanne's friends, told him that there was
no more hope for Sister de Belly, and that Mother de
Matel should be told as soon as possible.

" They took a carriage, and went to seek her in the
church of the discalced Augustinians, where she was
praying. M. de Priezac accosted her, and, with an
air of the greatest sympathy, announced the painful
news. The foundress did not seem moved, but
calmly said : ' I have no doubt that, according to the
rules of Hippocrates, my daughter de Belly can not
live, as you say, but I have still hopes that she will
not die of this sickness.' — ' What ! ' said M. de
Priezac, 'will the incomparable,' — so he always
named Jeanne, resist the will of God, Who, according
to appearances, and the judgment of physicians, calls
this daughter to Himself?' — 'I promised Him,' she
answered, k and her parents,, that I would give her
the habit of the Incarnate Word. I venture to say
that the love of the divine King will not contradict
me, and that He will leave her to me. I will not
cease weeping at His feet till He has cured my
daughter.' Mother de Matel kept her promise ; for
three days and nights she never stopped praying and
weeping.

' ' Sister de Belly finally recovered the use of her
senses ; she no longer suffered from fever, and was
able to walk. People flocked to see her through
curiosity. M. de la Chambre, better than any other.
understood the wonder of this speedy cure, and called
her the resuscitated. She would no longer defer her

294

return to the convent ; Mother de Matel conducted
her there, and, at the end of May, conferred on her the
habit. M. de la Chambre assisted at the ceremony,
and in the presence of Madame, the Chancellor's wife,
and that of the Marshal de Toussi, and the Marchioness
de Roy ant, said : ' Observe well that Sister ; she is a
dead person resuscitated, in the last fifteen days, by
the prayers of Mother de Matel.' " * — " He was incon-
ceivably surprised," says Jeanne, " to hear the voice
of the sister, admiring alike the physical vigor and the
presence of mind that appeared in her during the
ceremony, which in the Order is a long one, but one
that is so beautiful and symbolical that it does not tire.
It was Thy Holy Spirit that dictated it, Divine Love, "f

" The Abbe Saint Just, one of the greatest defend-
ers of Mother de Matel at Lyons, who had often spoken
of her as a soul very high in the knowledge of spiritual
things, had come to Paris a little before the civil war.
The curate of Saint Sulpice was his intimate friend.
He called on him soon after his arrival. He found
with him that assembly of jealous souls of whom we
have spoken, and he joined the conference. They
were discussing Mother.de Matel, and they criticised
her in such a way that he allowed himself to be
ensnared, and consented to become the severe censor
of one who had always had in him a filial confidence.

" God punished him for his presumption, for soon
after he fell ill of an unremittent fever. He grew
weaker day by day, and the doctors so far despaired of
him as to say that he could not recover but by a
miracle. He was told that it was time to prepare for
death. Then it was that he bethought him that he
had sympathized with the enemies of Mother de

• I,ife by a Jesuit Father,
t Autobiography.

295

Matel ; he bitterly reproached himself for his pusil-
lanimity, and became at once convinced that his illness
was the punishment sent to him therefor. These
thoughts caused him great anxiety. To free his mind,
he dispatched one of his friends to call on Mother de
Matel for him, to make known the state in which he
was, to recommend him to her prayers, and to say
how much he desired the consolation of speaking to
her once more before he died.

1 ' The commission was punctually performed. The
Mother Foundress, who was then with her daughters
at M. de la Piardiere's, answered the messenger :
' Although I observe the cloister of the house, as
there is question of satisfying my Father Director, (so
she called the Abbe Saint Just), I will leave my retreat.
If God in His goodness answers the prayers that I
have offered up in his behalf, he will not die of this
malady, and I will yet see him Grand Vicar of Lyons.'

" So, accompanied by Sister Grayier, she went to see
the Abbe de Saint Just. She found M. de Priezac in the
room, who said to her : ' Mother, he is very low, and
they think that he will soon expire.' Mother de
Matel replied : ' I am confident that he will not die
of this sickness.' Then, approaching the sick man,
she said aloud : ' Courage, Reverend Sir ; I hope
that you will not die of this sickness, though it has
brought you to the last gasp. Promise the Incarnate
Word that you will protect His house in your city of
Lyons, and that you will free your mind of all that
displeases His divine Majesty."

"The Abbe, returning suddenly to himself, said,
with a strong voice : ' Yes, Mother, I do so promise, if
God permits me to recover.' At the same time he
excused himself to her, with great sorrow, for his
imprudence in joining the faction that had opposed

296

her. Mother de Matel then said : ' I assure you that
I have never had the least resentment either against
you or against those who are working against me.
Think only of regaining your strength, so as to devote
your life the sooner to the glory of God in Lyons.'

11 From that happy moment the Abbe de Saint Just
was entirely freed from suffering. This sudden change
caused as much surprise as joy at the Hotel de
Villeroy. * The grateful Abbe did not fail to make
known everywhere that, after God, he owed his life
to Mother de Matel, and he once more became her
most zealous defender and the most sincere admirer of
her virtues." f

One of the cures that caused Mother de Mate! the
most exertion was that of the little daughter of M. de
la Piardiere. This little one had accompanied Mother
de Matel on her second return to Lyons. Scarcely six
years of age, she fell dangerously ill ; a malignant
fever and the smallpox, by which she was attacked,
were complicated with other symptoms, so that the
physicians despaired of saving her. Jeanne was in
desolation ; the maternal relatives of the child had
been displeased by her removal from Paris, with the
long journey, and had openly denounced the decision
of M. de la Piardiere as a great imprudence. A miracle
was needed ; she asked it with floods of tears, inces-
sant prayers, and she obtained it. The sick child
regained her health ; the grievous consequences that
remained after her sufferings also disappeared, in such
a way as to be deemed miraculous.

Many other surprising cures are related as due to
the prayers of Mother de Matel. At Lyons, the niece

* The Abb6 de Saint Just was the brother of M. de Villeroy, who had
been Archbishop of Lyons.

f Life by a Jesuit Father.

29'

of M. Deville had the falling sickness ; she cured her
by applying" to her head the image of the Blessed
Virgin and the Gospel of St. John. In 1643, Sister

Gravier, falling from a scaffolding, incurred such a
fracture of the skull that, on account of the lateness of
the hour, the surgeon, contenting himself with provis-
ional remedies, announced that he would return in the
morning to perform the operation of trepanning.
Jeanne first put herself in prayer, and then, coming to
the sick sister, said: "Courage, my daughter, you
will not undergo an operation, and you will recover."
Then she placed her hand on the head, and the patient
at once said : . " Mother, I no longer feel any pain."
When the surgeon came in the morning, he found that
he was not needed, and he declared that the cure was
effected b}^ a miracle.

In 1646, a gardener of the Faubourg Saint-
Germain, named Michel I^e Mirre, was in a desperate
condition ; he had received all the sacraments and was
despaired of by the physicians. Not being able to
make up his mind to die, he said to his wife : " Ah,
if Mother de Matel would only come to see me, I
should be cured." His words were reported to Jeanne,
and she was asked to give the poor man satisfaction.
She consented, but with difficulty, as she would have
to leave the cloister. Arrived at the house of the
gardener, she said to the dying man: "Well, my
friend, are you not resigned to the will of God ? ' '
" Yes, mother," said he, " but I have so many children
who are not established, and so many affairs to
arrange, that I should not like to die just now. Pray
God for me, and bless me." This Mother de Matel
did, and the pains at once ceased. "I hope," said
she, on withdrawing, " that you will live long enough
to settle your children. Bring them up in the fear
and love of God." Michel L,e Mirre continued in

298

robust health until the time which he himself had
assigned to Mother de Matel.

Mother Mary of the Holy Ghost Nallard had a.
tumor on her knee, which her spirit of mortification
induced her to conceal. In the month of August,
1648, the evil developed so much, and the inflamma-
tion was so great, that she could no longer keep
silence. The surgeon who was called in found the
case a very grave one, and, recognizing the danger of
mortification, declared that an operation was necessary.

. Mother de Belly relates that " Mothe# Nallard,
addressing the foundress in presence of the surgeon,
said : ' I have such confidence in your prayers that
I believe that God will cure me if you ask Him.'
Our mother, wrho suffered in her heart all the pains of
her daughters, promised. The surgeon, who was
named Prioult, also begged her prayers, for "he feared
to operate.

" On the day fixed for the operation, our venerable
foundress communicated, and made all her daughters
do likewise, to ask of God that He Himself would
guide the hand of the surgeon. When the latter was
about to commence the operation, our Mother Foundress
said : ' How long do you think it will take before
the patient is cured?' — 'It will be well if she be
able to walk in six months.' — ' If Our L,ord grant
her the grace to go to Mass on the approaching
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, what would you say ?' —
1 It would be an evident miracle, for, according to the
rules of surgery, it would be impossible.'

" The surgeon made an incision in the form of a
cross. The overture was so large and deep that a
small loaf of bread could have been inclosed in it.
And yet, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin, our dear Mother Nallard had the happiness of

299

communicating with our Reverend Mother Foundress
and the Community, the Communion being offered tip
in thanksgiving for the cure effected. The good
mother was completely restored, and felt no more
inconvenience or weakness, though she remained
kneeling in prayer for several hours. She openly
declared that for her life and health she was indebted
to our worthy Mother Institutrix, and the surgeon
published everywhere her great credit with God."

Mother de Belly adds that God wished M. Prioult
himself to experience the effects of our venerable
mother's prayers.

" Two years after the cure of Mother Nallard, the
good doctor was seized by a severe unremittent fever,
with paroxysms, inflammation, an oppression of the
chest and pleurisy. He was abandoned by the
physicians, who, despairing of his life, had the last
sacraments administered to him. In this extremity
he remembered the credit that our worthy mother had
with God, and sent to ask her prayers that he might
be cured ; this, of her charity, she did, knowing how
necessary the good doctor was to his family. Heaven
heard her prayers, and in a short time M. Prioult
recovered. He came, with his wife and children, to
return thanks to our Mother Foundress, whom ever
after he revered as a saint."

The following is the account of another cure; taken
from the same authentic source, and attributed to the
intercession of Mother de Matel.

It was in 1669, the year that preceded that of her
death : " The Reverend Father Le Blanc, Abbe, and
General of the Reverend Fathers of Sainte Genevieve,
canon regular of St. Augustine, having fallen sick, was
in danger of death. His great age gave his physicians
little hope of his recovery, and the}' abandoned the

800

case. In this state the good Abbe thought only of
preparing for the death to which he was approaching,
when he felt inspired to make his extremity known to
the Reverend Mother Institutrix,in whom he had special
confidence. He sent two of his religious to beg her,
in his name, to recommend him to our Lord. She
promised them to make a novena, which she would
begin, adding the hope that she entertained that, in the
goodness of God, the Reverend Father would not
succumb to that malady.

" Shortly after, he himself came to thank her for
her prayers, to which he attributed his recovery. He
survived our worth}' mother more than four years."

The following lines reveal a whole series of graces
obtained by a pious practice, in which can be seen the
eucharistic soul of Mother de Matel : " When there
were any sick in our Convent of Paris, who found
themselves in danger of death, our worthy mother had
recourse to the heavenly Physician, received Him in
Holy Communion, and then bore Him at once in her
bosom to our dying sisters, beside whose bed she
would make her thanksgiving. She would ask their
cure with so great confidence in her divine Love that
He accorded it, and, of those for whom she thus prayed,
not one died.

When they recommended to her other sick persons,
despaired of by the physicians, she would ask St.
Raphael to visit them for her and cure them. If,
when praying for their recovery, she could not weep
before her divine Spouse, it was a proof that God
willed to take them from this world. Then she would
say to the- Sisters : " Pray for such, or such a one,
for Our Lord will not hear me." It was an augury of
their death. *

Extract from the Critiques of Mother de Belly.

30J

In many instances the prayers of Jeanne procured
the deliverance of energumens and of those obsessed
by the devil. The famous Father Surin, of the
Society of Jesus, whose merit and strange trials are so
well known, testified in many letters that he wrote
from Bordeaux to Mother de Matel, in whom he had
a particular confidence, that he attributed to her inter-
cession with God the tranquillity that he then enjoyed.

But, a more astonishing prodigy, attested by a
number of witnesses, occurred at Lyons in 1635. A
little child, nine years Old, the son of Madame Soleil,
had been dead for several hours, and was about to be
buried. Jeanne, who was well acquainted with the
afflicted mother, came to visit and console her. After
a long interview, she approached the corpse, and,
calling the child by name, invited him to come and
dry the tears of his mother. He at once rose up in
full life and health. They immediately raised the
cry of miracle, and Mother de Matel in vain com-
manded silence. The fact became public.

After her death the same favors continued to attest
her power with God.

A young lady of the Faubourg St. Germain, named
Dubos, for two or three years had been suffering from
a disease that was gradually consuming her, and lead-
ing her to the grave. She had in vain had recourse
to remedies and prayers ; the malady only increased.
When she heard of the death of Mother de Matel,
whose virtue she well knew, she felt herself strongly
inspired to ask for some object which had been used
by her, and to make a novena in her honor. They
gave her one of her neckerchiefs, which she put on
with great respect. She had worn it but a few hours
•when she felt herself entirely cured.

302

The same thing happened to another person, who-
had lost her sight. She had recourse to the same
remedy, and was at once relieved.

An only daughter of M. Bignon, the Advocate
General, about fifteen years of age, was attacked so>
violently by small-pox, that, notwithstanding the
skill of the best physicians, there was no hope of
saving her. One of the chaplains of His Royal
Highness, the brother of the King, Abbe Sigouin, de
Sisteron, happened to be calling on M. Bignon for
some business affair. He became acquainted with the
family affliction, and, as he had very well known
Mother de Matel, he thought of recommending the
sick child to her, and that very day she was somewhat
better. When, the next day, he called to hear how
she was, he related his act of confidence. The whole
family then joined their prayers to those of Abbe
Sigouin, and on that same day Miss Bignon was
restored to perfect health.

The Viscountess de Marcilly had been led to the
brink of the grave by a hemorrhage which science had
combatted in vain. She sent to ask Mother de Belly
to make a novena for her in honor of the pious found-
dress. Mother de Belly and Sister of the Blessed^
Sacrament Alouis began it, and promised in the
name of the sick woman that, in case she were cured,
she would in thanksgiving make a pilgrimage to the-
tomb of their mother. The cure was at once effected,
and two days later Madame de Marcilly came to fulfill
the promise made in her name.

A woman named Nicole Mille had her face swollen
and full of pain in consequence of erysipelas that had
attacked that part. The evil had lasted three months.
Having learned that they were digging a grave in the-
house of the Incarnate Word at Paris, then occupied.

:>m

by the Benedictines, for a religions of that Order, and
that, in the course of the excavation, the coffin of
Mother de Matel would be exposed, she besought them
to allow her to see and touch the remains of the ven-
erable foundress. She was confident that she would
thus obtain relief. Her hope was realized.

The memoirs of Mother de Belly tell us that, ' ' in
conformity with the desires of Madame Mille, the
sexton broke off half of a little plank forming part of
the coffin of our Mother de Matel. One of the persons
present, Marie Beche, touched the leg of the corpse,
which did not appear to her to be deprived of the flesh,
though fourteen years had elapsed since her burial.
No disagreeable odor was exhaled, and she was still
clothed in the habit of the Order. Her robe was a little
rusted, and her red scapular blackened at one end, next
to the wall, where, in bad weather, there was such an
accumulation of water that it had to be bailed out.

' ' Madame Mille having returned thanks to God for
the cure just obtained through the intercession of
Mother de Matel, the plank was restored to its place,
and the sexton cast some earth upon the coffin of our
illustrious mother."

In 1703, Sister of the Blessed Sacrament Alouis, of
whom we lately made mention, the same who, in the
investiture and profession of Mother de Matel, had the
honor of imposing upon her the veil of the Lord's
spouse, felt herself attacked by an intolerable pain in
the side. She could not, as she says in an attestation
wrhich she has left of the cure, " make any movement,
kneel, kiss the ground, cough, breathe or sneeze with-
out great suffering." She felt herself inspired to have
recourse to the intercession of the holy foundress.
•Going to the oratory where the heart was preserved,
.she made an act of reparation for all the faults she had

304

ever committed against her, and prayed her to obtain
her cure of the Incarnate Word. She daily renewed
this pions practice for nine da}Ts. ' ' On the last day of
the novena," she says, " I still felt the pain, but my
hope and confidence were strengthened. As I was
reading in my cell, after having said my beads, I felt,
about one o'clock, a slight movement in my side, and
then I heard an interior, but very distinct voice, that
said : ' You do not think yourself cured.' With that
I arose and made all those movements that were before
so painful to me, and, feeling nothing more of the pain,
I thanked the Lord, and our good mother who had
prayed for me."

The author may be permitted to insert here the
testimony of his personal gratitude.

In the month of October, 1882, a young girl, in
spite of the most solicitous affection, was brought to
the doors of the tomb. Her father, a skillful physician,
thought the situation so grave that he sent in the
middle of the night for the last succors of religion.
This was the state of things when, in the morning, in
answer to the call of friendship that summoned me to
that bedside, I felt niyself inspired to appeal to
Mother de Matel, whose Life was then in press, and
of whom a relic, by a remarkable coincidence, was
then in possession of the sick maiden. All along the
way I conjured her, and her daughters received to
glory, to intercede for the life of the child, and I prom-
ised, in case our prayers were heard, to recommend to
Christian piety the following invocation : Mater
Immaculately Mater Verbi Incarnati viventis in Eucha-
ristia, ora pro nobis. * The cure would be as a conse-
cration of the formula. On the same day there w7as

* .Mary Immaculate, Mother of the Incarnate Word, dwelling in the
Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.

305

visible improvement, and on the following day the
situation, so lately reputed grave in the extreme, con-
tinued to change to a state of perfect health.

The prayers of Mother de Matel, so frequently
powerful for the good of those who had recourse to
them, were not less efficacious in those dangers that
concerned the people and the state. The chapter in
which we shall .show her relations with the royal house
of France will afford us many such examples. We
give a striking one here :

' ' The fires of civil war having broken out afresh
in 1651, disorders increased daily in Paris. Monseig-
neur de l'Kstrade, Bishop of Condom, a particular
friend of Mother de Matel, found himself shut up in
the unfortunate capital. A witness to the horrible
excesses of the seditious, his only consolation was a
visit to the Hotel Piardiere — the temporary convent of
the Incarnate Word — to weep with the foundress over
the evils of which he gave her the description. The
revolted people had already set fire to the Hotel de
Ville. The streets were full of armed men, who
accounted the most horrid murders as glorious feats of
arms. The houses of the great were often insulted, and
M. Seguier,the Chancellor, ever loyal to the government,
had the greatest difficulty in escaping from the public
fury.

'' Finally, the army of the Prince de Conde was
encamped near the gate Saint Antoine, and prepared
for the assault. M. de Condom came to warn Mother
de Matel, and to depict the universal consternation
which this last circumstance caused to good citizens. —
" If you do not hasten," he said, " to disarm heaven
by your prayers, the fatal day that threatens us will be
the ruin of France." More sensible than any other to
the misfortunes of her country, Mother de Matel

306

resolved to do gentle violence to the Lord to avert so
deplorable a calamity.

" On the daj- fixed for the assault, July 2, 1652,
she assembled her daughters in the morning and
exhorted them to redouble their prayers for peace ; she
forbade them for any reason whatsoever to interrupt
her in the prayers in which she was about to engage
to the same end. At eight o'clock in the morning she
entered the chapel, and remained there prostrate until
ten o'clock at night, without once changing her posi-
tion. Her religious, fearing for her health, thought
themselves absolved from further obedience to her
order, and approached to oblige her to partake of some
food and repose. Her handkerchief and dress were
;vet with her tears. They tried to lift her to her feet,
but she could no longer walk, and they were obliged
to carry her to her room and to put her to bed." *

This is what took place during that long supplica-
tion : Jeanne had seen "by an intellectual light, the
Mother of Beautiful Love, as though about to quit
Paris, carrying with her the child of Love, and Love
Himself. ' ' f Then it was that she cast herself on the
ground as if to arrest His flight, and entered into the
greatest desolation. The struggle was long, but at
last Jeanne triumphed, and Mary gave her, as to
the city and the religious, assurances that were justified
in the future.

"The next day Monseigneur de Condom came to
visit her as usual ; he was much surprised to find her
indisposed, and inquired the cause. Mother de Matel,
with great .simplicity, gave him an account of what
had occurred the day before. ' The Prince de Conde

* Life by a Jesuit Father,
t Autobiography.

307

will not die in this war ; I have prayed for him, and
God has revealed to me that he will return to the
obedience that he owes to the King. The Sovereign
Goodness has listened favorably to the proposals of
peace that I have ventured to make, and I venture to
say that you will soon see the effect of the promises
with which he has honored my constancy.' The
prelate replied : ' I hope, my daughter, that your
confidence may not be deceived, but I must tell you
that for the present there is no appearance of peace ;
on the contrary, everything seems to announce a long
war. Therefore, I entreat you by fervent prayers to
try to arrest the wrath of heaven, which seems more
and more incensed against us. '

"The prelate spoke in this way because he was
instructed of the bad way in which things stood. The
streets of Paris presented nothing but scenes of horror.
In the midst of an infuriated people one could see but
heaps of dead and dying men, who had been killed or
wounded at the combat of the gate of St. Antoine,
where the Prince of Conde had run the risk of losing
his life. And yet, but two days later, against all
hope, the deputies of the city and the envoys of the
Court met in conference at St. Germain-en-Laye, and
concluded a peace. The news was astounding to the
Parisians, and it was publicly said : ' Some holy soul
has obtained this miracle, for it is not natural that a
war of such a nature, and so obstinate in spirit, should
end so abruptly.'

" Monseigneur de Condom encouraged this thought
by making known to everyone whom he met the debt
which the public owed to Mother de Matel. The
event impressed still more deeply in the soul of the
prelate the esteem with which he had ever regarded
the illustrious servant of God. Thenceforward he

308

never failed to consult her in all his affairs, and
followed her advice with blind submission." *

Since we are establishing by facts how near Jeanne
was to God's heart, we must not forget the penalties
with which he often visited her persecutors. Some
there were who beheld with pain the veneration in which
she was held by M. de la Piardiere, and the influence
that she exercised on his spirit and piety. They made
every effort to detach him from the little Community
of Paris, and from its foundress. One of them, a priest*
so far forgot himself as to tell him that the Church was
not governed by the distaff. He was almost at once
taken dangerously ill, lost consciousness, and died
without the sacraments, after four or five days, in which
so great was his delirium that they were obliged to
keep him bound. Three others, in whom nothing
presaged an early end, died in the year succeeding
their unjust opposition, and many were forced to
renounce the charges and dignities which they had
suddenly become unable to fulfill.

In the next book we shall see the hand of God
bearing heavily on other persecutors of His servant
and enemies of her work. And thus becomes justified
the saying of Mother de Belly, ' ' that it was sufficient
to love and oblige Mother de Matel to be enriched,
with graces, but that those who caused her suffering
were always visibly punished."

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

CHAPTER XIII.

HER SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.

The supernatual knowledge of the future is
another of the marks of holiness. Jeanne de Matel
had her brow adorned by this aureole.

A singular circumstance assures to the different
predictions of Mother de Matel the guarantee of
incontestable authenticity. They form a part of the
writings of the illustrious contemplative ; now,
amongst the facts and visions which she recounts,
many are several times related, and at different dates.
Her papers were read by a number of persons ; fre-
quently, those to whom they were communicated
confiding them to others, they ended by remaining in
the possession of hands that were piously indiscreet.
"When I came to Paris, in 1632," says Mother de
Matel, " I found much to say. When I returned to
Avignon, towards the close of April, 1640, Sister
Francoise Gravier wept because they had abstracted
some of my papers. As for myself, they were a
subject of much indifference, as they still are." *

Under such conditions, how are we to distinguish
authentic predictions from such as might have been
made after the event ? When, for example, Mother
de Matel, in her Life, written by order of Cardinal
Richelieu, recounts her visions on the triumphs of
Louis XIII., her predictions on the birth of Louis
XIV., the assurances she had received on certain
details concerning the establishment of her Order, the
Fathers Jacquinot, Voisin, de Meaux, Gibaliu and

* Autobiography.

310

other trustworthy persons, whose testimony she
invokes, and whose names are mentioned in her
writings, were still living. The manuscript of her
first confidences was, perhaps, still in their possession,
but in any case they could not have forgotten the
substance of facts of so great importance. And yet,
not only did they not protest, nor withdraw their
confidence from Mother de Matel, but, on the contrary,
when occasion offered for explanation, they rendered
full homage to her sincerity.

We will not speak of Jeanne's predictions con-
cerning the birth of the Order. Her whole life is a
proof that she received frequent revelations on the
subject, that she knew beforehand the greater part of
the difficulties, and that she had a prophetic certainty
of the final triumph. Let us give here a certain
number of particular facts.

Some time before her first journey to Paris, Mother
de Matel, having occasion to write to Rev. Father
Benoit, priest of the Oratory, declared that, when she
should go there, there would be a great commotion,
"somewhat similar to that caused by our Lord on
entering the temple of Jerusalem." * This prediction
is found recalled in the Life written for Cardinal
Richelieu. Father Benoit was then at Lyons, and
Jeanne appeals to his testimony. And this annuncia-
tion of an event so improbable, at a time when the
infant Order was hiding in a suburb of Lyons, was
fully realized ; our readers will grant this when they
recall the agitation that was excited around Jeanne
at the instigation of Mile, de Sainte-Beuve, as we have
related.

Towards 1630 or 1631, M. de Nesme, a theologian
of Aix, who had followed Cardinal Richelieu to

t Autobiography,

311

Lyons, came to announce to Jeanne that "the prelate-
would soon be Archbishop of Paris, partly because of
his power in France, partly because the Archbishop
of Paris was very unwell, and that he could not live."
" He will live longer than you think," said Mother
de Matel, "and so will the Pope. The Incarnate
Word, Who has the keys of life, will prolong their
days as for Ezechias."

" M. de Nesme is still living," says Jeanne, in the
chapter in which she records the fact ; "he can testify
to my assurances, and how, when he often came to tell
me the Pope is about to die, I would say :
' Reverend Sir, I do not believe it ; he can make many
Cardinals without fear of dying. That which is said
of his horoscope, that he will die suddenly (it was
then a common report), will not prove true. ' These same
things I said to Reverend Father Gibalin many times
during the year 1638. ♦Pie is still alive to witness to
this truth as well as to many others." * Pope Urban
VIII. in fact, did not die until 1644, and the Arch-
bishop of Paris in 1654. Jeanne was equally explicit
concerning the elevation of de Seguier. Before her
departure for Paris, in the month of November, 1632,
she saw Our Lord giving him the seal of State. On
arriving at Lyons, at the close of the same month, she
recounted this vision to Father Gibalin : "I told him
that Thy Majesty wished to make Seguier Grand
Chancellor of France. He answered : ' Daughter,
the Chancellor is not dead, and the office is for life.' —
' Father,' I replied, 'I know nothing about such offices,
but this is what I understood from Our Lord, who
showed me the seals.'

"In the month of February, 1633, Father Gibalin
came to see me, and said : ' Mother, M. Seguier is

* Autobiography.

112

guardian of the seals, but he is not Chancellor, the
offices are distinct.' — 4 Father, I saw them united in his
'person. Our Lord has always accomplished what He
has said to me ; you will see His words verified, I have
no doubt.' It all happened as she had predicted.

This dignity was often disputed to Seguier, and
twice his enemies succeeded in depriving him of it :
"Be not grieved," said Mother de Matel to the Chan-
cellor's wife, who had come to announce the misfortune.
' ' The Incarnate Word wishes to try his virtue and
yours, but the seals will be restored to him never to be
taken away again." Very soon after, in fact, the
King rendered homage to the fidelity of his magistrate,
and restored him to his dignity. When, twenty years
after, finding himself dangerously sick, Seguier had
the seals conveyed to him with his thanks for the great
honor that he had constantly shown to him, Louis
XIV. refused to receive them, or to dispose of the
office until God had called him to Himself.

We give one more example of the gift of prophecy
accorded to Mother de Matel ; it is contained in the
Life, written by herself.

" M. de Bousquet came one morning to say Mass
for us ; I saw on the paten a cloud in which were
agreeably blended blue and white. I then compre-
hended that Thou wouldst elevate him to a dignity
which he did not then have. Some time after, Thou
didst give me the assurance that Thou wouldst raise
him to the Episcopacy by a heavenly grace, prefig-
ured by the cloud. I hinted as much to him that
day." . . .

Nor was Jeanne deceived. M. de Bousquet was
made Bishop, ' ' contrary to the expectations of his
friends and enemies ; the former had given up the
hope, the latter were trying to prevent it, and all had

313

reason to say that there is no counsel as against Thee.

my Lord and my God." *

In one of her journeys to Avignon, the Countess de

Servieres confessed to Jeanne that she greatly disliked

her daughter's entering the Order, and yet, how could

she resist a vocation which evidently came from God ?

The child, then only thirteen years of age, was so

determined to become a religious, that she could not

be induced even once to leave the convent. Fearing

that exterior beauty would prove an obstacle, she had

endeavored to scar her face, and one night she had

caused all her hair to fall beneath the scissors, so as to

have a pretext for not going into the world.

Her mother gave these details to Jeanne, and, with
flowing tears, described her mental struggle. She could
not resign herself to sacrificing her daughter to a
vocation that she admired, and to the Order that she
loved, and yet she feared to offend God by her resist-
ance. What rendered her grief the more bitter was
that she had no other daughter, nor did there seem
any likelihood of having any, since nine years had
elapsed since her last being a mother. Jeanne listened
kindly, and showed her that the freedom of one's
vocation is a sacred duty of the family, and how
serious was the calling of her daughter. Then, col-
lecting herself for a few minutes, she said : " Madame,
be consoled. Hope with me that the Incarnate Word
will give you another daughter to replace the one
whom He removes, only to preserve her the better for
you, by assuring her salvation." — " Do you guarantee
this, my dear mother," said the countess. — '" Yes,
madame, for I know how good God is ; trust in Him,
and offer Him your only daughter. You will imitate
the Father of the Faithful and will draw down many

* Autobiography.

814

graces upon your illustrious family." The virtuous
lady, as she herself used to relate, found herself all at
once encouraged, and had no longer any difficulty in
consenting to her daughter's wishes. The prediction
of Mother de Matel was realized ; but, as though God
wished to make its accomplishment the more evident,
it was only after the religious profession of her
daughter that Madame de Serviere'spra3Ter was heard.
The child of miracle came to replace on the family
hearth the child of sacrifice ; the happy mother was
deeply grateful, and her veneration for Jeanne much
increased.

Cardinal Richelieu, Archbishop of Lyons, could
never resolve to favor her works. Feeling, however,
that her ways were supernatural, especially since the
test to which he had subjected her in her writings,
"he one day asked her to question Our Lord about
him, and to report faithfully to him whatsoever she
might learn. She obeyed, and, when the prelate a
second time asked what God had communicated to
her, she hesitated at first, and had some difficulty in
answering, fearing that his Eminence would be offended
by the truth. The Cardinal perceived her embarrass-
ment, and said to her in Latin, knowing that she
understood it : ' Well, are there no more oracles in
Jerusalem ? Whence is it, daughter, that the oracle
will not speak ? I will not leave this place until you
have satisfied my curiosity.' She could no longer
resist ; she then, with her usual simplicity, made
known what Our Lord had often manifested to her on
the subject : ' I have always been interiorly warned
of the obstacles which your Eminence would interpose
to the establishment of the Order in Lyons. God has
chosen you to try the patience of His daughters, and
yet the Incarnate Word has assured me that His Order
should one day be established in this city.' She ended

316

by announcing that he would die of dropsy, which was
contrary to all appearance, since at that time he was of
a contrary temperament." *

Our readers have not forgotten how Mother de
Matel warned Monseigneur de Miron, Archbishop of
L,yons, several months before, of his approaching
death. The same prophetic sight was given to her at
divers times. In 1653, on occasion of her departure
for Lyons, Mother de Matel had to transact some busi-
ness with Reverend Father Yvant, Prior of the Benedic-
tine monastery on which depended the Convent of the
Incarnate Word. She clearly saw that he had but a
short time to live, although nothing indicated in him
an early death, and, in leaving the parlor, she said so
to her daughters. Some days afterwards she was told
that he had died suddenly.

We have already related the predictions of Mother
de Matel about the death of Francis de Thou, and
how she announced, in 1644, that Richelieu would not
pass beyond Narbonne, that he would be obliged to
return to Paris, and would there soon die.

In the beginning of the month of May, 1643, M.
de Saint-Germain, Counsellor of the Parliament of
Grenoble, who had at first been opposed to the estab-
lishment of the Order of the Incarnate Word in that
city, called on Jeanne to assure her of his future good
will. In the course of the conversation she told him :
"Louis XIII. will die in a few days." He was sur-
prised, though the King was then in a serious state,
for, according to certain predictions, he was to live
for many years more.

To the same class of prophetic gifts must we refer
the manifestations made to Mother de Matel of the

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

316

death of friends, dear to her piety, that occurred at a
distance. This consolation was frequently granted to
her in the case of her daughters. In 1659, she saw
Our Lord, with banner in hand, conducting, inRoanne,
persons who seemed drawn by His love. She knew
that one of these was ascending to heaven. Two
days after she received a letter announcing the
decease of a holy lady, her cousin, who had died in
the odor of sanctity, and to whom she was bound by
ties of piety and confidence, even more than b3r those
of blood.

Yet another fact of the same kind : " One night,"
she says, "during the fortnight of the Jubilee, I was
borne in spirit to the chapel of the Archbishopric at
Lyons, where I saw the late Cardinal (Richelieu). He
was bare-headed, vested in the habit of the Carthu-
sians, having, over that, an alb. He came to me, and,
with great courtesy, presented me the Te Igitur, that
is, the Canon of the Mass, begging me to recite for
him as much as I could of it ; I accepted the book,
kneeling respectfully, but, as he saw that I did not
read quickly, he requested it back again.

" At dawn of day I entered our church, where,
finding myself alone, I ascended the altar and took
the Te Igitur, which I recited for him with the excep-
tion of the words of consecration. After which,
having had a Mass said for his intention, I engaged in
prayer, when again he appeared to me, thanking me,
and testifying his pleasure on seeing me recite the
prayers for him. When I arrived at the sacred words,
I begged Thee, Eternal Pontiff, to pronounce them to
Thy glory, and to satisfy all that was desired by
this Cardinal, so dear to my heart, even after death.
This I suppliantly beg again with all the love and

317

zeal which Thou givest me for him, and that I have
always entertained." *

Some years before her death, during the trials to
which she was subjected by the capricious and haught}'
temper of Mother Gerin, Jeanne had a distinct fore-
sight of the fate reserved for the Convent of Paris,
and could never banish it from her mind. One day,
seeing her absorbed in sorrow, Sister Jeanne de
Jesus de Belly ventured to ask the motive. " Alas,"
said she, "God alone can understand what I suffer.
I pray to Him, night and day, to forgive my daughters
the evil they occasion me, and I do not find myself
heard on high. He shows me naught but evil in the
future ; ah, what will become of this house ? I can-
not help weeping over it, as Christ did over Jerusalem. "
And yet, at that time, to all appearance, the convent
was solidly established. The number of the pension-
ers was always on the increase, and vocations were
numerous ; the Church, repaired and embellished,
was crowded at all solemnities. The religious had
instituted the chanting of High Mass on the principal
feasts of the year, and on the first Sundays of the
month. There were sermons by renowned preachers,
music, decorations ; nothing was spared to attract the
people. This apparent success was an illusion ; but
Mother de Matel, even while taking part in these
manifestations, knew that God saw the heart, and
reserved His grace for the pure and humble inten-
tion. "Daughter," she would say to Mother de
Belly, " I would think, with you, and with our friends,
that this edifice is solid, if God had not shown me that

they have counteracted His designs Ah ! if

they had but listened to me, God would be content,
and all would have been well."

* Autobiography.

318

We have seen in her Life that the same dark pre-
sentiments accompanied her even to her death bed.
During her last illness her daughters tried to inspire
her with hopes of her recovery and of the future of
the house. c< No, no," said she, " I shall die, and you
will all be dispersed. All the houses of the Order will
combine to defend your rights here, but in vain."
Some hours before her death, she cast a sad glance on
Sister Gravier, and said : ' ' Daughter, how you will
have to suffer after my death ! Tbey will put you in
prison, they will torment you greatly, but be faithful
to God, Who will befriend you against those who
afflict you, and pray to Him for me, who am your
mother. I will never forsake you." All these pre-
dictions were to be realized.

CHAPTER XIV.

JEANNE DK MATEI, AND THE ROYAL HOUSE OF

FRANCE.

The subject which we now approach has a special
interest, and we have not hesitated to detach it from
the chapter consecrated to the prophetic gifts of
Jeanne de Matel ; it connects her supernatural action
and the history of the Order with the annals of our
country. One cannot doubt, indeed, that the holy
foundress was frequently favored with visions con-
cerning the events of her times, and that, by her
prayers, she gained important graces for her country
and for the royal house of France. Her own testi-
mony, impressed with the seal of truth, the consenting
silence of witnesses whom she invoked and named,
confronted by recitals with which they were perfect^
acquainted, their positive declaration when occasion
offered, all* confirm the authenticity of the facts that
we are about to relate.

Louis XIII. had succeeded Henry IV., his father,
in the year 1610. His majority was declared in 1614,
and in 1615 he espoused the Princess Anne of Austria.

His reign, especially in its first years, was full of
difficulties and pregnant with sedition. Protestantism
nattered itself that it could conquer, by force of arms,
the prestige of which it had been stripped by the
abjuration of Henry IV., and, concealing under the
mantle of religious zeal personal hatreds and ambi-
tions, many great lords had lent it the support of
their nobility and valor. The Rohans, Montmo-
rencies, the La Rochefoucaulds and Soubises, all the

320

most glorious names of France, are found in the
annals of a revolt that had its generals, admirals, an
army organized and well provided.

In the beginning ot the year 1621, the Calvinists,
who, in Beam and in the south, had been forced to
submission, in a campaign in which Louis had fought
in person, began to agitate in most of the other
provinces, and, in spite of the King, held seditious
assemblies in La Rochelle. All efforts to calm or
intimidate the .seditious having failed, war was
resolved on, and the King once more put himself at
the head of his army, in the month of April. The
contest wras prolonged throughout the year ; Montau-
ban resisted capture, and, when Louis XIII. re-en-
tered Paris, in the month of February, 1622, having
sent his troops into winter quarters in Guyenne, he
left the south a pre}- to exalted fanaticism, which
betrayed itself on every favorable occasion in murder,
incendiarism and massacre.

This religious war, one of the worst that, for a
long time, had desolated France, was a cause of great
anxiety to good Catholics. Persuaded that the con-
tinuance of power in the same royal family was the
necessary condition of security and order, the nation
desired to see the union of the King and the young
Princess Anne blessed with issue, and prayed to
heaven for the birth of a Dauphin on whom it could
build its hopes.

In 1621, the Reverend Fathers Coton and Jacqui-
not, who shared the preoccupation of Catholics in
France in this double question, had recommended it
to the prayers of Jeanne, whose acquaintance they
had made at Roanne. Our Lord let her know that
He had accepted her prayer, that He would make the
arms of the King like a ' ' barbed arrow, and that his

321

■sword should prevail." He promised to bless him
" Tor love of vSt. Louis, his aneestor, and in memory
of the clemency of Henri IV., his father." — " lie
will have children," added the vSavior ; 'they are
already born in My thought, to whom all things are
present. I love the King, because he hates iniquity
and loves justice." And He commented, applying it
to him, a part of Psalm 44.

On the eve of St. Lawrence, Jeanne was insisting
with her divine Master, asking victory for the King,
who had as yet no rest, and for the people. vShe saw,
during her prayer, "Louis XIII., like an eagle with a
helm on its head," and our Lord said to her:
' ' Daughter, do you see this King who is an eagle ?
He will not rest until he has vanquished his enemies,
and humbled his rebellious subjects, and especially the
heretics, to whom he wishes to show the sun of truth
and of the Catholic faith. It will be long before
peace is made." *

Peace did, indeed, make itself waited for. After
alternate negotiations and contests they were in the
year 1627. The King of England, Charles I., jealous
of her maritime power, had declared war against
France; his minister, Buckingham, with a fleet of ninety
vessels and about 10,000 men, disembarked, on the
20th of July, on the Isle of Rhe, and occupied it, with
the exception of Fort de la Prie and that of St.
Martin, which he had to besiege.

During all this year Jeanne followed, in a series of
visions the destinies of France on the field of
battle. " One day," she says, " I saw the heavenly
hosts in arms inwrought wTith silver, for the succor of
the royal armies. Some days before All Saints, Thou
saidst to me: ' Daughter, I will vanquish Bucking-
ham. St. Martin assured Me that in a short time

* Autobisroraphy.

322

he would see that the King obtained the place of
which he was the patron, Fort St. Martin.' "

On another day, October 25th, whilst she was pray-
ing in the Church of the Minims, to St. Genevieve
and St. Denis, for France, St. Michael appeared to
her as the protector of that nation, and promised her
great triumphs for the King, whom God called to
repair the ruins made by heresy.

The reign of Louis XIII. verified these predictions.
As for Buckingham, he had to retreat before the valor
and perseverance of the French, and, November 17th,
re-embarked, with the loss of half his army.

These supernatural visions on the affairs of France,
which were vouchsafed to Jeanne, caused her friends
to desire that she should employ her credit with God
to obtain the birth of a prince destined later to take
up the inheritance of St. L,ouis. Reverend Father
Voisin, a nephew of Father de Villard, her former
confessor, had heard her once speak of a vision, in
which our Lord, showing her a " tree of fleurs de lis,'"
told her : ' ' Daughter, this tree is the generation of
Louis XIII." This he had testified to, and he since
renewed the testimony. Hence he came to see her, on
the 27th of September, 1625, and said: " Pray to
our Lord that He may accomplish the promises that
he made to you in regard to their Majesties. When
shall we see this tree in flower ? "

It was agreed that the Father should say Mass for
this intention on the following Sunday, October 3d,
in the chapel of Notre Dame de Chazant, at which
Jeanne was to assist. On the appointed day she was,
in the morning-, rapt in God, praying in her oratory
for the King and Queen that they might have children.
The Savior said to her : "I will magnify my mercy
on thy Queen, and will visit her as I did Elizabeth,

323

making her a mother. I have pity on the humiliations
of the good princess." Although it cost her much to
interrupt the ecstasy, she wished to be present at the
rendezvous; and, on the way, remembering what Father
Voisin had told her a few days before : ' ' Be sure that
it is God Who speaks to you," she began to doubt
whether she was not mistaken. But, as she crossed
the threshold of the church, she heard the words: " On
whom shall rest My Spirit if not on her who humbles
hepself before Me, on her who trembles at My words."
And, in the middle of the church, a voice said to
her: " Justus germinabit sic ut liliuni; My daughter,
Louis the Just shall bloom like the flower of the
lily." *

It was on this occasion that Ihe fall of La Rochelle
was foretold to her : ' ' Thou gavest me to see a sword,
environed by rays such as those that surround the
heads of the saints ; the colors of the rays were like
those of the rainbow. The sword was borne by a
celestial power ; it was in a sheath of black velvet.
Thou saidst to me : ' Daughter, this is the sword of
Louis XIII., which shall be victorious at La
Rochelle/ " — "And," said Jeanne, "I did not know
that he was going to La Rochelle, for, at that time, I
knew nothing of the things that were being done in
France."

A voice from the tabernacle gave utterance to these
words, which corresponded to an anxiety that daily
occupied her, and consecrated a kind of aliiauce between
the throne and the Order of the Incarnate Word : "I
wish to feed amongst the lilies. I will establish My
Order after the victories and blessings which I will
bestow upon the King and Queen." *

Father Voisin, after having obtained this confidence
from Jeanne, ordered her to put it in writing: "I

* Autobiography. .

324

obeyed liim that same month, on the 6th of October,
and kept it amongst my writings. . . . The plague
having broken out at Lyons, I was commanded to go
to Paris. I left my writings in a little box, which I
did not again see until my return from Paris, in the
year 1632. On seeing the paper on which I had
written the revelation concerning the Dauphin T tore
it up. This is the reason of my fault : There was at
Paris a religious, who was esteemed a prophet. One
day I assured her that we must hope and pray that the
Lord would give a Dauphin to our good Queen, and
the religious said : ' Not at all, not at all! She wijl
never have a child.' In tearing up the paper I felt
some repugnance, but I said to myself : ' The good
Mother has more light than I have.' Divine Provi-
dence did not allow7 me entirety to destroy it, so that
Reverend Father Gibalin, wishing to see all my
writings, in 1633, on reading them, found the pages
that remained." What a singular proof of truth and
authenticity in this simple and candid recital !

In 1637, the prayers offered up in France for so
many years that the Lord might give an heir to Louis
XIII., were finally answered. This is what one of the
historians of Mother de Matel tells us of her part in the
great event, according to an account left by herself:

" In 1637, from the month of September until the
end of the year, during many consecutive nights, it
vSeemed to her that she was introduced into the Louvre ,
and to the presence of their Christian Majesties, and
that, when she would have humbled herself before
them, the King and Queen, on the contrary, respect-
fully bowed down before her. At first she regarded
this as the dream of a fantastic imagination, and as
having no reality, but, as the same appearance was
repeated many times in her sleep, she remembered that

8215

God sometimes makes use of this way of instructing
His servants.

11 Conversing once with the Abbe de Saint-Just,
Antoine de Nenfville, Viear General of Lyons, she told
him by way of recreation : ' Explain to me my
dreams, and I will explain yours, if you have any. It
shall be with us as with Joseph and his brothers, except
that you will certainly not envy me the happiness that
I enjoy in dreams, for, I know not how it is, but nearly
every night I find myself in the Louvre, and my kind,
not to say respectful, reception b) their Majesties puts
me in confusion.' — ' Believe me,' said the Abbe,
4 that is a sign of your future greatness.' — ' I shall talce
care not to think so, ' replied Mother de Matel ; ' it is
too contrary to my inclinations. I would require the
same spirit that Kliseus asked of the prophet Elias"; I
am too simple and candid to live at the Court.'

1 : The Lord did not allow her long to remain in
uncertainty ; He revealed to her that the Queen was
about to have a son, and that the marks of respect
paid to her in dreams by their Majesties, were to make
known to her that they owed so great a benefit to her
prayers. She communicated what she had learned to
Father Gibalin, and required of him inviolable
secrecy ; the consoling news had not yet been spread.

"Father Jean Roux, a Jesuit, was the first to
receive the notice, a few days later, in a letter from a
friend at Court. Father Gibalin, in the excess of his
joy, could not refrain from letting Father Roux per-
ceive that Mother de Matel, for several years, had known
that the Lord would give children to the King. He
said too much not to excite the curiosity of Father
Roux, and not enough to satisfy it. Importuned by
his frequent interrogations, he asked Mother de Matel
whether she would object to his explaining himself
more fully.

326

''The humble foundress was in despair at his
having already said so much, and implored him, with
tears, to be more discreet in future, or she would not
have the same confidence in manifesting to him her
interior. ' I do not wish,' she said, ' to be accounted
a prophetess at Court. I returned from Paris with
my secret ; although I had had some access to the
Queen, I never spoke of it to her, for the greatest
mortification that could be visited on me would be
that of being regarded by the public as a prophetess.'

"Father Gibalin, seeing her extreme displeasure,
refused to say anything further to Father Roux, who
was fully determined to advise the Court." *

Jeanne had, by her prayers, contributed to the grace
granted to the Queen. She continue d to pray for her,
and for the happy birth of the child sent to her from
heaven. " My expectation was not in vain, nor
was I deprived of the joy of seeing the Dauphin ; for,
on the night between Saturday and Sunday, December
5th, 1638, I saw the blessed child. The sight caused
my soul such jubilee that the sisters perceived my
extraordinary joy without my telling them its source."
She writes elsewhere : ' ' My divine Love was pleased
to show me the Dauphin being born that night, and
that so clearly that the vision still remains. Having
communicated, I was so joyful that I could not con-
tain myself; I had to leap and dance, as David did
before the ark of the L,ord. ' ' Jeanne continues : ' ' The
sister who is now writing to my dictation called the
others, and said : ' Come, see our Mother, her face is
shining.' She often importuned me to tell her the
grace that God had granted me that morning, threat-
ening to get Father Gibalin to order me to write it
down. The Father came that afternoon, and the

'■'■ Life by a Jesuit P"ather.

327

sister, together with others, asked him to press me to
make known, at least to him, what had occurred that
morning. The Father, as usual, urged me to tell him
what I was obliged to reveal as to my director. I then
told him that the Dauphin was born." *

Of all these circumstances, in which is ineontestably
revealed her supernatural intervention in the birth of
Louis XIV., we have an absolutely authentic proof in
the following letter, intended for the Court, serving as
a basis of informations that could have been made,
written by a man of recognized gravity and holiness,
and, consequently, having a character of incontestable
truth.

Father Gibalin, wishing to interest the Court in the
erection of the Order of the Incarnate Word, some
months after the birth of the Dauphin, wrote to the
Marchioness de la Flotte, lady of honor to the Queen :

"Lyons, August 3, 1639.
11 Madame : — Being commissioned by Monseig-
neur the Bishop of Nimes to transmit to you the
letter in which he begs you to plead before their
Majesties for the establishment of the Order of the
Incarnate Word, I would think myself guilty were I
not to assure you, Madame, on my oath, that I am
obliged in conscience to testify, as director of Miss de
Matel, that she obtained Monseigneur the Dauphin
as a special gift of the Incarnate Word, Who promised
him to her, to be followed by the institution of the
Order, on the 3d of October, 1627, on which day
Father Voisin heard her confession and gave her Com-
munion. After she had emerged from her ecstasy,
being adjured by him to reveal what God had said to
her, promising to keep the secret, she told him that
the Incarnate Word had promised to visit the Queen,

* Autobiography.

828

and to magnify His mercies upon her, as He had done
fbrvSt. Elizabeth, the mother of St. John, the Precur-
sor, and that He would give her a Dauphin, having
pity on her humiliations, which He regarded, to make
her a Oueen-mother. The said Father commanded
her to write down this promise, and many others made
in favor of their Majesties, which she did on the 6th
of October, 1627, which paper I have kept for ten
years awaiting the fulfilment of the promise. Seeing
it realized, I showed the said paper to Father Voisin,
asking him whether he recollected what was there set
down. He answered in the affirmative, and signed it
with his hand as a true fact, and he is ready to con-
firm it by oath, assuring me that this young person is
candor itself, and the most exalted soul in the Church
of God. For myself, Madame, I sincerely affirm that,
having directed her conscience for six years, and
attentively considered what passed in her life and
prayers, I have admired the light given to her by
the Incarnate Word ; and, having taught theology for
eight years, I find myself far from having the knowl-
edge and lights of this maiden, and I have examined
them with the greatest theological rigor, finding
them as true as they are wonderful.

' Let us bless Him who chooses weak maidens to
exhibit His power ! He is the same, Madame, Who
lias promised to glorify, before His Father and His
angels, those who procure His glory before men ; as
they have not feared to seek His honor during time,
He will honor and glorify them throughout eternity.
This honor I wish, Madame, for you, as
" Your humble, &c,

"J. Gibalin du V. S. J."

It would follow from the following relatioti of the
pious seer, that, in his death, Henry IV. was visited by
a ray of# divine mercy. Jeanne writes to Father de

?,'2\)

Meaux : "On the 23d of October, * whilst sleeping,
I seemed to be praying in the Church of the Capu-
chins. I saw three or four persons entering the choir,
amongst whom was the King of France, but he did
not seem to be Louis XIII. He resembled his father,
Henry IV. I had a feeling of consolation in seeing
him so devout to the Blessed Sacrament. In the
morning I was not surprised, thinking it to have been
Louis XIII., for I knew the piety of that prince. But
afterwards, on opening a letter in which I was requested
to learn of Our Lord the state of the soul of Henry
IV., I at once recalled the vision that I had had in my
sleep, and I seemed to understand that it was he who
was in grace with God, Who had listened to the
prayers of some souls, and had remembered his clem-
ency towards his enemies become his subjects.

" I have been reminded of what St. Gregory did for
Trajan, though I did not learn that Henry had been
freed from Hell after his death ; that must have been
at the moment of his last breath."

Her Life shows that the thought of the royal
family was a frequent one in the prayers of Mother de
Matel. We shall give one charming example : In
1652, having gone to the church of the Theatins to
adore the Blessed Sacrament, there exposed, she was
obliged to sit down through weariness : " My daugh-
ter," said our Lord, "thou art between two of My
servants, thy spiritual children, who are kneeling;
whilst thou art seated ; you three are my flairs de lis.
Offer it to me and render me that homage which the
Queen and her two sons would give me, were they in
the church.' ' " I did so as well as I could ; I offered
them to Thee, my Lord and my God, not only in that
«:hurch, but even-where that I prayed, and wherever

*162I.

330

I shall pray. Bless the mother, bless the sons, those
two worthy princes, whom thou recommendedst to me
before they were born, in 1628 and 1634, placing them,
as stalks of the lily, upon my shoulders, to offer them
to Thee, and to have them in charge." *

During the campaign of Italy, in 1630, the feeble
health of Louis XIII. wras severely tried. "In the
month of September the King fell sick at Lyons. For
some hours he was in the greatest danger ; all France
thought itself lost. Against all hope he recovered his
health." f

Father de Lingeudes had heard of the danger, and
had instantly warned Jeanne, recommending her to
redouble her prayers for his Majesty. " I asked that
health of Thee by virtue of Thy Holy Sacrament ; for
several days and nights I prayed before that throne of
grace. I conjured Thy goodness to restore the health
of our King, which Thou didst not refuse me." These
last words, in their humble reserve, are the more
worthy of note in that the King actually attributed
his recovery to the Blessed Sacrament.

" On the 12th of February, 1860," relates Jeanne,
" having left the church for the kitchen, through the
affectionate care of my daughters, who assured me that
I had been more than two hours in prayer, Thou didst
lift my soul to Thee in the presence of two sisters, who
were with me, Sister Catherine Fleurin and Sister
Marie Chaud. They waited until I was in a state to
speak and eat, it was about nine or ten in the evening,
and then asked me what had happened, and what I
had heard in my rapture. I thought that Thy wisdom
enjoined me to say that a son of the King * had come
to thank me for the prayers I had offered to God for

* Autobiography.

t History of France. Dareste. Vol. V., p. 135.

him, in the year of his affliction, when an accusation
had been made to the King that, if verified, would
have made him incapable of inheriting the crown
. In this vision, his blessed soul, after having
testified his gratitude, and the joy that he had in being
in the way of salvation, gave me to understand that the
life of this world is but a breath, saying : ' This life-
is but a small thing, and one should not be attached
to it.' He said no more, and left me in great
peace, without saying whether he was in purgatory, or
just leaving it; I did not think to ask him." * We
know7 that Gaston d' Orleans had died ten days
previously, in his Castle of Blois, where his soul, so
long agitated by political intrigues, had sought peace
in its last years in the exercise of a sincere piety.

The Queen neglected no occasion of testifying to
the Foundress of the Incarnate Word how full her
heart was of gratitude since she had learned how
indebted she was to her prayers. In 1654, not know-
ing whether the Community had been able to leave
their convent, become uninhabitable on account of the
war, and whether they had found an asylum, she ordered
Madame de Beauvais to send word to Mother de Matel
that she might retire to the Royal Palace, to remain
there, with her religious, until the troubles excited by
the war were appeased. Madame de Beauvais
dispatched an express to communicate the Queen's
intentions to the foundress. The humility of
Mother de Matel suffered greatly from this distinction,
and she was glad to be able to avoid it. She wrote to
Madame de Beauvais that Divine Providence had
lodged her and her Community in a house that she
might well esteem a royal palace, since she had the
daily consolation of approaching there the King of
Kings in holy Communion; and so they should not be

* Autobiography.

OOZ

displeased if she did not accept the offer so kindly
made to her on the part of the Queen. M I should be
greatly obliged," she adds, " if you would present my
humble thanks to her Majesty for the honor she has
l>eeu pleased to show us, and to assure her of our con-
tinual prayers for her preservation, and that of the
King." *

Happy the times and happy the people when those
who govern have such solicitude for the piety of their
subjects, and when the gratitude of those who obey
associates itself willingly with the submission enjoined
by religion and conscience !

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

"^Mi^"

BOOK EIGHTH.

THE WORK OF MOTHER DE MATEL CONTINUED TO OUR

TIMES.

CHAPTER I.

THE WORK OF MOTHER DE MATEL UNTIL THE REVO-
LUTION.

Some days after the death of Mother de Matel, the
Prior of Saint-Germain proceeded to raise the seals
affixed to her chamber. Instead of the expected
treasures, they found only a few old garments. Sister
Gravier was driven from the house, cited before the
law for evil treatment of the foundress, and embezzle-
ment, arrested on false testimony, and cast into prison.
She resolutely refused to renounce the donation. Her
innocence was finally recognized, and she was set at
liberty.

The prophecies of Mother de Matel concerning the
ruin of the convent were equally well verified. Mother
de Belly, by the advice of many persons, consented to
recognize Madame Usenet for Superior, on condition
that she would assume the habit of the Order, and that
after her death the right of election should be restored.
But, as the other religious refused submission, the
Prior of Saint-Germain, having become administrator
of the diocese during the vacancy of the see, after the
death of Monseigneur de Perefixe, published a man-
date wrhich adjudged the goods of the convent to the
general hospital, for the benefit of the poor. The

334

King, being misinformed, granted letters conformably,
and the administrators of the hospital instituted vig-
orous measures to have the letters en registered.

Mother de Matel had foretold that the four houses
would unite to sustain the rights of that of Pa.ris. In
fact, there soon appeared on the scene Mother de la
Yerpiuiere, named Superior, to represent the Convent
of Lyons, the Mothers Mary Margaret Gibalin and
Robert of the Presentation, of the Convent of Avig-
non. They brought the favorable decision of the
Primacy of Lyons, confirming the election made by
the religious, and dispossessing Madame Lenet of her
pretensions. At the same time came Mother Gerin
from Grenoble, with another professed. They could
not be received in the convent, and Madame de Ros-
signol procured them an apartment in the city.

But Mother de la Verpiniere having died, the
other religious entered the convent for the interment,
and Madame Lenet, seeing their grief at having to
leave it, suffered them to remain. There was great
question of making a compromise with her ; the
friends of the Order leaned to that opinion, and had
discussed the conditions that seemed acceptable. They
saw therein the advantage of putting an end to an
unfortunate state of things, and of uniting all parties
in one common effort to destroy the pretensions of
the administrators of the general hospital. Mother
Gerin would never consent to propose an accommo-
dation with Madame Lenet before judgment rendered
by the Superior Chamber, before whom the case had
been carried, and her obstinacy finished, as it had
begun, the ruin of the house.

All Paris took sides in the cause, in which were
concerned the interests of the religious of the Incar-
nate Word. M. de Rossignol had worked strenuously
in its favor, and many of the Counsellors, at first

335

prejudiced, were made to see the justice of their
cause. It was warmly pleaded, proofs in hand, by M.
du Reze. But the First President, anything but
impartial in the affair, supported a contrary conclu-
sion, pleading the authority of the King and the
Church, who had decided it, and to whom, he said,
they should leave the whole responsibility. There
was one thing remarkable. One of the arguments
that he urged, and on which he most insisted, was,
that, according to one of the contracts, these goods
appeared to be a restitution, and, as such, naturally
reverted to the poor. Mother de Matel, then, was
right in her earnest rejection of this clause. At the
same time, confiding more in measures than in argu-
ment, the President had taken care to introduce to the
Assembly a great many Counsellors little instructed
in the case, and who formed their opinion after him.
Finally, a judgment of September 4th, 1671, gave to
the general hospital all the goods of the suppressed
houses, beginning with that of the Incarnate Word,
subject to the condition of providing for the food and
support of the surviving religious. Hence, a few
days later, squads of archers might have bee* seen
carrying across the city the furniture of the pillaged
convent. The religious, in their turn, were borne off
as though they were criminals. They were at prayer
in the choir when men, armed with swords and
spears, entered to seize them. One can easily con-
ceive the trouble and fear of the unfortunate sisters.
The soldiers brutally took hold of them, throwing
them out one after the other, and bruising them with
blows. They were conveyed in different carriages,
escorted like criminals through the different streets
of Paris, to the hospital of La Pitie, where they were
crowded, four or five together, in rooms scarcely large
enough for one.

336

The religious of Avignon and Grenoble did not
delay returning to their own convents. The others
beheld their captivity prolonged; but they sanctified it
by a resignation, a piety and sweetness that won the
admiration even of their enemies. Finally, having no
more hope nor resources, they came to L,yons to shelter
there the last remnants of a Community that had
caused such pain in its foundation, and such sorrow ; a
theatre in which were exhibited the most crying
injustice and the most heroic virtues. And thus
were fulfilled, in this Jerusalem of Mother de Matel,
the predictions which she had uttered with so many
tears.

And yet, it is not the only example of a great
work, willed and blessed by God, succumbing to the
stroke permitted by a mysterious and inscrutable
design. Who, to cite but one instance, was ever more
sure of his mission as founder than the illustrious
patriarch of monastic life in the West, St. Benedict ?
Yet, "a nobleman, whom he had converted, and who
enjoyed his familiarity, found him one day weeping
bitterly. He remained a long time contemplating
him; £hen, seeing that his tears ceased not to flow, and
that they arose not from the ordinary fervor of prayer,
but from a mortal grief, he inquired the cause. The
Saint answered : 'All this monastery that I have
built, all that I have prepared for my brethren, has
been delivered over to the pagans by a judgment of
God all-powerful. Scarcely have I obtained the safety
of their lives.' L,ess than forty years later, the
destruction of Monte Cassino by the Lombards verified
the prediction." *

But, if the justice of God, impenetrable in its
designs and jealous of its rights, had permitted the

Montalembert. Monks of the West.

ruin of the Convent of Paris, it was not slow to inflict
terrible chastisements on those who had accomplished

it. The memoirs written shortly after the event bear
witness to the impression felt by contemporaries.

" vScarcely had the fatal decree been issued which
despoiled the convent than the First President, who
had been its chief author, suffered a very considerable
loss. A storm at sea destroyed twenty vessels, in
which was involved the greater part of his fortune.
The grief that he conceived shortened his days; lie
died not long after in the greatest pain. The Pro-
curator General was even worse treated ; he lost,
almost simultaneously, his father, his wife and his son.
with thirty thousand livres of rent, which his father, in
dying, left to a woman whom he had secretly married,
and by whom he had three children. Three Coun-
sellors, who had voted through prejudice or passion, died
suddenly after the decision of the process. No one in
Paris failed to understand these events, and it was
publicly said that from Heaven Mother de Matel was
having justice administered to those who had done
injustice to her.

" Madame Lenet had been obliged, like the others, to
leave the Convent of the Incarnate Word. She looked
about for some time in search of an honorable resi-
dence, was abandoned by the Prior of St. Germain,
and ended by obtaining the priory of Benedictines de
Mousson, on the frontiers of Champagne, certain con-
ditions being stipulated, which she did not observe,
whence resulted a lawsuit, which she lost, together
with the benefice. She had no more resources. She
died in poverty and misery, ravaged by a hideous and
humiliating disease, that caused her flesh to fall in
shreds, and left her for some days living in the midst
of the horrors of corruption.

• > • > n

" The official who had exhausted his anger on the
religious of the Incarnate Word was bitten by a mad
dog, and when he was hastening to seek a remedy in
sea-baths, was stabbed by assassins without any one
being able to discover the authors of his death.

" Finally, the Prior, after having lost all his credit,
became an object of contempt even to those whom he
had so long deceived, and died, deprived of all human
consolations, to render before the tribunal of God a
terrible account of the unj ust violence that his passion
had led him to exercise." *

The Order of the Incarnate Word had lost, in the
Convent of Paris, one of the jewels of its crown. But,
more precious than all those that it had lost, was the
body of its venerable foundress, which it had to leave
in a soil henceforth estranged from it.

" Everyone knows," says a notice drawn up by the
religious of the Convent of Avignon, "that the haste
with which our sisters of Paris were forced to leave
the convent of our Order in that city, did not permit
them to remove the body of our worthy mother, and
that, with the exception of the heart, inclosed in a
leaden box and transmitted to the Convent of Lyons,
the rest remained in the custody of the religious of the
Abbey of Panthemont, because the convent which we
abandoned became an adjunct to their own," Rue de
Grenelle, Faubourg de Saint-Germain.

"It was situated," says the Abbe Gravier, "be-
tween the streets of Sevres and Cherche Midi. To-
day the site is occupied by the house of the Fathers of
the Society of Jesus, by that of the Daughters of
St. Thomas of Villeneuve, a Protestant temple, as it is
said, and a barrack of military correction, in which,

I,ife by a Jesuit Father.

339

"before 1830, was the chapel of the religious, as is
attested by the widow of an old Colonel, Madame de
Collardeau-Laferet, benefactress of the Convent of
Azerables, who had seen it." *

The religious of Panthemont, having built a new
church, had the bodies which were buried in the old one
removed. This ceremony "was performed in the
presence of the Commissioners of Paris, the deputies of
the clergy, the Abbe de Citeaux, Superior General of
the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and of the whole Com-
munity." The Abbess caused the tomb of Mother de
Matel to be opened, situated in front of the steps of the
high altar, and recognized by the epitaph there
engraved. She herself collected the bones, and even
the dust of our venerable Mother, says the notice of
Azerables, copying the proces-verbal of the translation, t
and placed them in a new coffer which she had had
prepared, and which she had conveyed, under her own
eyes, to the vault destined for abbesses, with every
mark of the greatest esteem and distinction, and she
had them sealed with her seal in presence of the wit-
nesses above mentioned.

"But the Incarnate Word would not forever deprive
His Order of so precious a treasure, and He chose as
His instrument a member of that society to whose
efforts, after our holy Mother, we are indebted for its
establishment, and who, even after its dispersion, cares
for all our wants. We mean Father Caranave.

' ' This Father, full of zeal for the increase of our
Order, and in particular for that of our house at
Avignon, and especially for the glory of our Mother,
being in Paris in 1771, felt himself interiorly urged to

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament, by Father
Joseph de Jesus.

f Taken from an authentic copy ot these divers proces-verbal.

;uo

procure that deposit, which it was not natural that
strangers should retain in their possession. But the
enterprise seemed difficult of execution, because of the
veneration in which the holy body was held by the
religous of Panthemont. Nevertheless, he resolved to
attempt it, and, by way of occasion for entering into
negotiation with them, he seized the pretext of a visit
to their Abbess, Madame de Betizy de Mezieres, whom
he had formerly known at Chambesy. The Father,
being well aware of the frequent but unavailing meas-
ures that we had taken to obtain what he wished to
ask, felt himself interiorly moved to enter the church
before going to the parlor, that he might pray at the
tomb in which was preserved the relic of which he
sought the restitution in our behalf.

" After having followed the inspiration, he saw the
Abbess, and, during the interview, he caused the con-
versation to turn on the Order of the Incarnate Word,
on our Convent of Avignon, which he was pleased to
praise, and, finally, on our holy foundress, and then
made known our desire to possess the precious remains
resting in her church.

' ' Of these desires the Abbess could not have been ig-
norant, since she herself had resisted them, and so it was
but timidly, notwithstanding his zeal, that Father Cara-
nave ventured to renew their expression. But the day
had finally arrived when the Incarnate Word willed to
reunite the Mother to those whom she had given Him
for spouses. In this first interview, Father Caranave
succeeded in obtaining, if not the full consent of the
Abbess, at least a hope that she would one day fulfill
our hopes. This favorable beginning reanimated the
zeal of the Father, and caused him to resolve to spare
no effort in bringing the affair to a happy issue.

"In order not to mistake the finger of God that
appeared in this affair, so interesting to us, and that in

84 1

a way to call for all our gratitude, we repeat that,
humanly speaking, success seemed impossible, on
account of the singular veneration in which the Abbess
and- her whole Community held the precious and
respected deposit, which they regarded as the safe-
guard of their convent and a source of benediction to
the Community. . . . But God, Who conducted
the enterprise, and Who holds the hearts of men in
His hand, changed those of the sisters, and the
Abbess, whose goodness towards us we can not
sufficiently thank, consented for herself and for her
Community. This success cost much care and fatigue
to Father Caranave, residing, as he did, far from Paris,
and being obliged to make frequent voyages to that
city during the eight months he employed in its
achievement. He once wrote to us that it cost him
more trouble than he would need to take in founding a
convent, but that he would be abundantly recompensed
by succeeding in the enterprise, which would serve as
a lasting proof of his attachment to our Order, and to
our house in particular. It must also be one of per-
petual gratitude on our part.

(< As soon as the Abbess had given her consent,
she had, in concert with the Father, a second proces-
verbal drawn up on the 4th of May, 1772, to withdraw
the body from the vault. He entered the convent in
company of the Abbe de Citeaux, the Abb6 Lombard,
two notaries, and a cabinet maker, with" planks all
prepared for a new coffin, the old being almost all
rotted away by the dampness of the vault. After
having verified, by aid of the first proces-verbal ', the coffin
which they sought for, it was opened in presence of
the witnesses I have named. It was found that the
bones had greatly crumbled in the dampness of the
tomb, and after the lapse of a century. There
remained, however, one thigh-bone, and two or three

842

ot the arm, or fore-arm, nearly entire, one large one,
supposed to be a shoulder-blade, an upper part of the
skull, and some small bones.

11 In order to risk no loss of the precious relics,
they determined to leave them in the old coffin, which
was inclosed in the new. After having fastened,
corded and sealed it, they enveloped it in a waxen
cloth. All these details are more minutely described
in the proces-verbal, preserved in our archives, which
was signed by the Abbess and her Community, as well
as by the witnesses.

' ' The precious case was then committed to Father
Caranave for safe custody. After having examined
the several ways in which it could be expedited for our
earliest gratification, he concluded that, with proper
precautions, the diligence would be at once the quickest
and the least expensive. With the consent of the
Nuncio, he dispatched it by that conveyance on the feast
of Our Lady of Angels, and under this holy guardian-
ship it reached us on the 13th of August, feast of the
death of the Blessed Virgin, which caused us to remark,
with sentiments of gratitude, that the Most Blessed
Virgin, our holy Mother, continued to favor her faith-
ful servant with her protection, who, under her
auspices, notwithstanding all obstacles to her designs,
arrived, in 1639, at Avignon, on the day of the Presen-
tation in the Temple, and there gave the holy habit of
the Order to her first five daughters, on the Octave of
the Immaculate Conception.

' c We cannot express the sentiments with which
we were penetrated on the reception of the precious
treasure. Our Reverend Father Superior had recom-
mended us not to give too much demonstration to our
joy; we obeyed, but with difficulty, and, we confess,
not without great self constraint. But in private we

were recompensed by the sentiments of tenderness and
respect excited in us by the presence of a body so dear
to our hearts. Since the happy day on which we
became possessed of it, there is not one of us who has
not experienced a sensible consolation in praying
before the precious remains of a Mother so worthy of
our love.

''After having, to satisfy our first ardor, kept them
for a few days in our Community room, they were
placed in the upper sacristy till the 25th of August.
On that day, M. Maliere, the Vicar General, M. Rigaud,
the Promoter, M. Philippe, Secretary and Chancellor of
the Archbishop, M. Patasse, our confessor, with two
other priests, a notary, and the Commander de la
Bailie, in the character of friend and protector of the
convent entered in order to draw up a third proccs-
verbal for the verification of the casket, based on the
two preceding ones sent to us from Paris. This
formality, from which we could not be dispensed,
lasted four hours. Those gentlemen found everything
in order.

4 ' We awaited with impatience the opening of the
coffin, and our hearts thrilled with joy in the hope of
seeing the precious treasure there inclosed, when the
Promoter, in a firm voice, declared that it was not to
be opened ; that an imprudent zeal was not to forestall
the judgment of the Church ; that we must patiently
wait, and fervently ask of God to glorify His faithful
servant on earth. These words were to us a thunder-
clap ; but we understood their wisdom, and we
acquiesced, in the hope of putting no obstacle to the
glory of a Mother so worthy of our greatest sacrifices.
This caused us to renounce the sweet and pious
curiosity of seeing the precious remains.

"After reading the proces-verbal, the casket was
restored to its former state, the seal of the Archbishop-

344

affixed, and it was replaced in the sacristy until the
11th of September, the anniversary of the death of
our blessed Mother. On that day, a catafalque was
erected in the choir, on which was laid the coffin,
covered by a mortuary cloth ; the altar was draped in
black, and lighted with many candles. During the ser-
vice, which was most solemn, several priests, vested in
black, appeared at the altar. Our sisters chanted the
Requiem Mass with all the exterior zeal possible ; but,
in the depth of their hearts, they invoked, with tender
confidence, her for whom the sacrifice was offered.

"After the last absolution, which followed the Mass,
our Reverend Mother de Saint Regis de Blanchety, the
Superioress, Mother de Saint Maurice de Montaigu,-
Assistant, and Sister de Saint Stanislas de Blanchety,
Mistress of novices, had the sweet and honorable con-
solation of carrying, the casket, followed by all the
Community, in their choir mantles, candle in hand,
singing the Miserere, to one of the interior chapels,
where it was inclosed in the thickness of the wall,
which is the same as that of the church. The door of
this inclosure was then locked with a double key,
which the Superioress keeps, and there it is that we go
to pay assiduous court to our good Mother, who will
not fail, we trust, to give us proofs of her tenderness."

We shall take up again the history of those precious
remains.

Let us now briefly recount the history of the Order
of the Incarnate Word up to the Revolution. We shall
borrow the details from the notice of the Order, which
we have been quoting, abridging them, however.

The direction of the house at Grenoble had not
been altogether wise and prudent. To relieve the
situation, Mother Sorel, in 1088, conducted a part of
the Community to Sarrian, under the patronage of the

345

Duchess de la Roche-Guyon, who had always coveted
the title of foundress. Four years later, those who
remained were obliged to join the little colony, and
then, on account of the smallness of the place, the
reunited Community went to seek another establish-
ment at Orange. Ten years later, when this place
was ceded to the Calvinists, as a city for their religion,
they went to Roquemaure, for which reason the convent
has not been accounted a foundation rightly so called.

' ' It was the Convent of L,yons that had to complete
the mystic number of houses revealed to Mother de
Matel. In 1697, it made a foundation at Anduze.
The pious colony was conducted by Mother Louise de
Rhode, and placed under the direction of Reverend
Mary of the Mother of God, of whom extraordinar}'
things are told. In that country, ravaged by heresy,
where passions were as burning as its sun, tribulations
were necessarily long continued ; yet, the virtues of the
spouses of the Incarnate Word triumphed, and gained
for them the veneration of the most estranged. At
that time the country was torn by civil war, and
Anduze infested by the Camisards, the 'obstinate
enemies of religious orders ; every kind of enormity
was to be feared at their hands. And }'et, when, by
the fears they inspired, the besieged convent was left
almost destitute of aid, one of these fanatics, van-
quished by the respect which true piety begets, caused
bread and wine to be passed over the walls to diminish
the sufferings of those holy women.

"A no less dangerous trial that the convent had
to undergo was that, shortly after its foundation, by
order of the King, it was forced to give asylum to
many Protestant women and girls confined there, who
threatened sack and fire to those who ministered to*
them with all the delicacy of charity. Thanks to God,
regularity was maintained, and, with it, fervor, in spite

346

of the obstacles they had to encounter, or rather
through the providential existence of those obstacles.

The memory of the pious daughters of the Incar-
nate Word is still preserved in Anduze, and seems,
like an aureole of imperishable glory, to shine above
the ruins of the convent.

"Lately," writes the Curate to the religious of
Lyons in 1875, "I was administering the last sacra-
ments in your ancient chapel. The flags are the same ;
the place of the sanctuary lamp is still to be seen —
how sad it all is ! ' May the Incarnate Word, the
light of the world, shed His most burning rays on
those places watered by the sweat and blood of virgins
who consecrated themselves to Him.

"Anduze and Roquemanre were situated in the
actual circumscription of Gard, in the diocese of Nimes ;
with the Convents of Avignon, Lyons and Paris, they
form exactly the five stations which the venerable
Mother had seen in the five wounds of the Savior,
perhaps to indicate that those convents should be over-
thrown by the spirit of evil and torn away from the
crucifixion of the Savior.

' ' The first four had persevered in a perfect observ-
ance of the rule when the hour struck for their ascent
to Calvary. The Convent of Avignon, in particular,
was one of the most flourishing and most beloved in
that city. The memory of the daughters of the Incar-
nate Word, many of whom sealed their faith with
their blood, has remained fresh and green in the
Catholic city.

1 ' These ancient houses no longer exist, the
destructive ploughshare of the red revolution has
scarcely left a vestige behind. As pure victims, their
ruin was required as an expiation by the thrice holy
justice of God, before Whom we answer, the one for

347

the other. What reparation to the Lord could be
offered by .so many other bodies, gangrened and expir-
ing, by a twofold death, with the century of corruption r
But these, immolated in the wounds of the Savior,
contained the germ of a glorious resurrection. ' And
who knows,' says a daughter of the Incarnate Word,
' whether, as once Herod pursued to the death the
children of Bethlehem, seeking that of the newly
born Son of God, the object of his fear and hate, so,
now, the demon conspired, by the destruction of the
religious orders in France, to envelope with them that
of the Incarnate Word, of which he foresaw the power
and wonderful works in the last days of the world. '

Suppressed, as were all the other Congregations, by
the decree of 1790, the Order of the Incarnate Wrord had
to pass through the land of exile before it could
re-enter Israel. There it now dwells, and the Chris-
tian world, we hope, will see its glory increase.

* The Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

CHAPTER II.

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ORDER OF THE
INCARNATE WORD.

A constant tradition attaches to the ancient Church
of Limoges a glory of which it is proud. Its first
Bishop, St. Martial, was that little child whom Jesus
showed to His disciples, after having blessed it, and
pressed it to His bosom, on that day when he wished
to give them, in the simplicity and innocence of
childhood, a t}^pe of humility and submissive con-
fidence. That benediction and tender embrace have
borne, in our day, one of their sweetest fruits when the
Incarnate Word confides to the little boy, become His
Apostle and the Pastor of a great people, the cradle of
that arisen Order that bears His name.

God makes use of the storm to carry the seeds of
the flowers from one to another shore ; when He wills,
He makes revolutions serve to transplant and reinvig-
orate His works. It is the history of the restoration
of the Incarnate Word, which we are now about
briefly to relate.

The parish of Azerables, in the canton of Souter-
raine, is situated on the confines of three departments,
the Haute- Vienne, the Indre and the Creuse. Attached
to the latter, it forms a part of the diocese of Limoges.
It was there that was born, on the 26th of July, 1761,
in the village of Mondiou, the future restorer of the
Order founded by Mother de Matel ; there it was that,
under her ministering hand, was to be planted anew a
branch of that wonderful tree, itself to become a great
trunk.

349

The Abbe Denis had been obliged to leave France
in 1792, to escape the alternative of a criminal oath or
the scaffold. With three of his fellow priests, he
directed his steps to Italy ; first, in Chambesy, then in
Bologna and Ravenna, he tasted the bitterness of exile,
and courageously endured it. During his stay in
Ravenna, ' ' lodged in a convent dedicated to the holy
martyr of that city, Apollinaris, he imbibed a great
devotion for that great Bishop," one of the first and
most glorious witnesses of the Incarnate Word.

But, when a decree permitted the return of the
exiles, the Abbe Denis did not hesitate to confront the
last convulsions of the revolutionary hydra, to carry
succor to souls so long abandoned, in the labors of the
ministry, and to tread again, with the companions of
his exile, the road to his country. When almost at the
end of their journey, they were arrested as suspects,
and cited before the tribunal of Gueret. Cast into
prison, the Abbe Denis confessed in chains the faith
that he had confessed in proscription and in exposing
himself to death. For entire acquittal, he was offered
the oath of the constitution : "I have not come three
hundred leagues," he replied, ''to sell my conscience."
Chained like a malefactor, he was led back, from
brigade to brigade, to the Italian frontier.

Abbe Denis re-entered the Convent of Apollinaris,
where, to satisfy his zeal, they assigned him a con-
fessional in a convent of religious, for the benefit, no
doubt, of exiled French ladies. There he made the
acquaintance of the worthy Mother of the Holy Ghost,
Chinard Durieux, professed of the former Convent of
the Incarnate Word at Lyons, an exile like himself.
Filled with hoi}7 enthusiasm for her Order, the good
religious often conversed with him on the subject ;
still they do not seem to have determined on airy plan

for the time when they would be free to re-enter their
unfortunate country.

"At last their exile had an end; the Revolution was
extinguished in its own excesses, and they could
return to France. They arrived at I^yons on the 8th
of October, 1801. The Abbe Denis persuaded Mother
Durieux to await in that great city, in the bosom of
her family, the time appointed by divine Providence.
As for himself, he wrent to evangelize Azerables, his
native parish, of which, shortly after, he was appointed
curate. At first they kept up a regular correspondence,
which, we know not how, was soon interrupted, so
much so that they lost each others address." *

The Abbe Denis had, by nature and by grace, and
through the trials of exile, a character of which the
leading traits seemed to disagree, but were in reality
in perfect accord. When still a child, by what was
thought a miraculous intention, he knew that he was
called to the priesthood : "If the gift of the tongue
was wanting to him, at least a ray of sanctity illumi-
nated his calm and serene countenance. ' ' * He re-
ceived sensible favors from God, signs of what he
would have to perform, though he did not suspect it.
His prayer became remarkable, and the transports of
his soul, making themselves known exteriorly, pro-
cured him the reputation of a saint. It was said that
the angels lifted him up when he was at the altar ; as
to the fact of the elevation itself, it has been attested
by persons worthy of faith: On one occasion, in par-
ticular, during the High Mass at Christmas, he was
elevated for ten minutes in sight of all the people.

To these divine favors he corresponded by a pro-
found humility and an admirable mortification. Hi*
disciplines were to the blood ; for couch he used the

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

351

floor of his apartment or the pallet of his bed. Being
the curate, in order to conceal his austerities from
others, he permitted no one to enter his chamber.
He forgot himself so completely that once, when,
after the soup, the servant forgot to serve the rest of
the dinner, he did not recollect that he had not eaten
it, and remained for some time interiorly occupied
with God."*

Such extraordinary tokens of fervor would naturally
attract the attention of a Christian people, and the
parish of Azerables, one of the first opened to worship,
soon saw a considerable number of souls drawn to the
good Father. Amongst these were three pious girls,
the Misses Mollat, from Lauriere (Haute- Vienne),
Jouannin, and Gayaud, from the Canton of Dun, in the
Creuse. In the worst days, they had, in the restricted
circle of their influence and relations, contributed to
the preservation of the faith in the people about them.
They had, at the risk of their life, provided asylums
for outlawed priests, and had not feared to brave the
dangers and darkness of the night in order to be
present at the holy sacrifice of the Mass. They were
filled with joy when they heard of the return of the
Abbe Denis, and hastened to Azerables. The sight of
the venerable priest at the altar had upon them the live-
liest impression, and at once inspired the desire never
to quit the happy parish."

" Urged by these three pious maidens, who wished,
under his guidance, to lead a life wholly detached
from the world, the Abbe Denis assembled them
together, in 1806, in an humble house, for the practice
of the common life. Guided solely by the inspirations
of grace, he had rules drawn up for a hospital life,
according to the light that had been communicated to

* Order of the Incarnate Word and the Blessed Sacrament.

352

hini by two theologians of Saint-Sulpice, MM. Httgon
and Bandry ; and, with the approbation of Monseigneur
Dnbourg, of holy memory, he summoned his first
daughters to take the habit ; they pronounced their
vows on the 5th of July, 1807. Was he already
inclined to adopt the name of the Incarnate Word ?
Was he hesitating ? However that may be, during
the holy Mass, which formed part of the ceremony,
he distinctly heard, in spirit, these words : ' Begin
again in these virgins, whom thou offerest me to-day,
the Order of the Incarnate Word ; that is the name I
wish thee to give them, and no other.' There could
no longer be any doubting.

' ' The good Father began to accustom them to the
practice of abnegation, poverty aud obedience ; then,
when he had recognized their virtue, he opened a free
school, and soon a boarding school, the direction of
which was entrusted to Mother Theresa Mollat, who
was named Superioress, and who united to an exper-
ienced judgment a more cultivated intellect than those
of her companions. Sister Magdalen Gayaud had, for
her mission, the visitation of the sick, and Sister Clara
Jouannin was charged with giving catechetical in-
struction ; seven other young persons dwelt in the
house with them.

' ' Our good sisters had to endure all sorts of priva-
tions in their modest habitation, and yet, to the
hunger, caused by a poverty more strict than they
were engaged for, they added fearful austerities. They
devoted themselves, as victims of penance, to
expiate, as much as possible, the crimes
of the Revolution. Hence, they obliged them-
selves, by day and night, to the perpetual adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament. Every day, during
the holy sacrifice, one of them held up a large crucifix
to the gaze of all, as an invitation to make honorable

<>r<

reparation to the divine Savior for the outrages com-
mitted against him, especially in France, during the
late years of disorder, impiety and blasphemy. They
often made the way of the cross, this exercise supply-
ing for them the canonical hours. The time which
they snatched from prayer was employed in gaining a
bread so black that it is said the very dogs refused to
eat it. Yet, the Father who broke for them daily the
bread of the divine Word stripped himself of every-
thing to aid them to live. Without experience to
moderate their own zeal, having only the zeal, no less
fervent, of their director, many so far injured their
health that they never regained it.

" One day the good Lord- wished to show them that
he was satisfied with their pious excesses, or rather,
according to the interpretation of Father Denis, to show
that this little work, so humble in its commencement,
would have a great and brilliant extension. It is
related that, when they were going one night to the
parish church, whither they often went barefooted in
rigorous weather, they saw the drops of holy water,
with which one of them sprinkled her companions,
changed into sparks of light.

"The little house, having become entirely too
small, the courageous sisters did not hesitate to work
themselves, to the full extent of their strength, at the
erection of another, large enough for the requirements
of the religious life. The workmen of the parish
offered themselves for the labor with remarkable good
will. The good Father Denis laid the foundations in
the month of March, 1811, with ceremonies in which
the neighboring clergy and the local authorities were
invited to participate. , This was sufficient to excite
ill will. The Incarnate Word, Who does not give
His blessing without adding the prick of the thorn to
the consolations of grace, permitted the tempter to

354

raise contradictions that changed their hope into the
tear of ruin. The Government intimated an order to
discontinue the work. But steps were taken to obtain
from the Emperor a recognition of the Community,
and, in spite of all ill will, it was approved on the
23d of July, 1811, on the feast of St. Apollinaris, to
whom Father Denis liked to attribute the success." *

The little Community of Azerables, by its edifica-
tion and virtue, might well be the young stock on
which should be grafted to new life the Order of the
Incarnate Word ; to be that Order itself, to have its
savor and fruit, it needed the authentic approbation
of the Church and of God, Who gives life, with its
privileges and graces. Providence supplied, in a
touching way, by a kind of transfusion of the gener-
ous sap of the ancient trunk, derived from the purest
source. Already some religious, belonging to other
dispersed congregations, had tried to find a refuge in
the humble Community of Azerables. The attempt
had been useless ; they could not arrive at an under-
standing:.

l6'

1 ' It was now nine years since they had begun to
take the vows in the new house of the Incarnate
Word, when Father Denis, having renewed his cor-
respondence with Mother Chinard-Durieux, invited
her to Azerables. She gladly accepted the invitation,
bringing with her the costume, the rules and consti-
tutions, the directory, and all that she could collect of
the monuments of the Order. The venerable Mother
arrived on the 28th of October, 1816, the festival of
the holy Apostles Simon and Jude, and was received
with acclamation. They gave her at once the office
of Mistress of Novices, with the power to make in the
house all the changes she thought proper to render it

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

355

conformable to the former Communities of the Incar-
nate Word. On the 2d of February, all the sisters,
ten in number, who, till then had worn a black robe
with a red cincture, adopted the ancient costume.
The Vicar General of Limoges, M. de Montclare,
presided at the ceremony. The Superioress laid
down her office in favor of Mother of the Holy Ghost,
Chinard-Durieux, who was elected by ballot, and
remained Superioress until her death, the day of the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, September 8th, 1819.

"Mother de Quiquerant-Baujeu, in religion,
Sister Mary Victor- Angelica, formerly a religious of
the Convent of Avignon, having heard, through the
newspapers, the restoration of the Order, started at
once, against the entreaties of her family and friends,
and arrived at the presbytery on the 20th of October,
1818. She had said to herself that, if at first she were
refused, it would be a sign of the Divine will that
she should insist and remain, but, on the contrary, if
she were honorably received she should return.
Clothed with the dress of the world, over the costume
of the Incarnate Word, she presented herself, and,
without saying a word, opened her robe sufficiently
to disclose the habit, as sole annunciation of the
object of her visit. Had the Lord revealed the dispo-
sitions of her soul to the Curate ? He answered her
in a rough and angry tone : ' What do you want
here? I have no room for you.' — 'He to Whose
Order I belong,' she answered, 'was born in a
manger ; give me a place in your stable and I shall be
content.'

' ' This excellent religious was no less estimable
than Mother Chinard-Durieux, although, having been
able to conceal herself in Avignon, she had escaped
the rigors of exile. As it was principally due to her
noble father that the Order owed the favor of possess-

356

ing the body of Mother de Matel, she had the merited
privilege of guarding the sacred deposit during the
dispersion. * She brought it with her to Azerables,
together with all that she had been able to collect of
the writings of the holy foundress. On entering the
Community, she exclaimed, with the holy Simeon at
the Temple : ' Now, O Lord, Thou dost dismiss Thy
servant in peace, since my eyes have seen the Incar-
nate Word in the restoration of His Order. And, in
truth, she survived only three months, and then went
to receive the reward promised to those who perse-
vere to the end.

1 '- A few days after the arrival of Mother de
Ouiquerant, Sister St. Paul Deschamps, professed of
the former Convent of the Martyrs of Gourguillon,
came to join the preceding, as a third witness of the
canonical restoration of the Order in its ancient spirit.
She would willingly have yielded to the instances of
Mother of the Holy Ghost, who wished her to go
with her in 1816, but the hope, which some of her
companions entertained, of restoring their old convent,
alone kept her back. But, towards the close of 1818,
feeling the infirmities of old age, she decided to
depart, being desirous of dying in the Order, of which
she did not hope to see the restoration in Lyons." f

Thus the Order of the Incarnate Word saw itself
resuscitated. Through respect for the first rules, and
the habits adopted in the first years, the new convent
continued, with dispensation of the cloister, to visit
the poor and the sick. ' ' With the divine blessing,
the house at Azerables grew more and more, despite
its contracted means, or, rather, enriched by its
poverty. Not only were they obliged, in 1819, to

* She was at the Conveut of Avignon when the remains of the vener-
able foundress were translated, in 1772.

t The Order of the Incarnate Word an d of the Blessed Sacrament.

357

add a new building to the former, but it became neces-
sary to send forth colonies. From this little Com-
munity, so feeble in its beginning, and troubled in its
existence, which the ecclesiastical authorities several
times threatened to end, have issued, directly or indi-
rectly, all the convents of the Order actually exist-
ing." *

It does not enter into our plan to give the detailed
history of the foundation of those houses, nor of their
life ; we shall merely give their names. But the
nomenclature, no matter how summary it may be,
seems the necessary conclusion of this work.

* The Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

CHAPTER III.

THE ORDER OF THE INCARNATE WORD FROM ITS
RESTORATION TO OUR OWN TIMES.

Ail attempt at a foundation was first made at Saint-
Benoit-du-Sault, diocese, of Bourges, but it did not
succeed. It was at Kvaux, in the Creuse, that Divine
Providence had willed to plant the first swarm from
the new hive.

A venerable religious of Saint-Alexis de Iyimoges,
Mother Mary of Jesus du Bourg, of an old and Christian
family of Toulouse, a niece of the Bishop who had
twice sanctioned the restoration of the Order, was the
instrument that God chose for this work. Obliged, by
her superiors, to a change of air, on account of her
health, in one of her journeys she made the
acquaintance of Miss Fanny du Rivaux. This pious
lady had received from her father an important piece of
property, formerly belonging to a Genovesan convent,
" a large and fine house," well situated, a vast garden,
but at that time "in devastation." Having heard of
the Order of the Incarnate Word, she desired to con-
secrate the property to it. She communicated her
intentions to Sister Mary of Jesus, and invited her,
with the consent of the Bishop, to spend a few days
with her at fivaux, to advise her in the affair. Madame
du Bourg passed by Azerables, had an interview with
Father Denis, and found herself set apart to begin the
foundation.

They succeeded in acquiring the rest of the
property in the possession of others besides Miss du
Rivaux. The Community was approved by an

359

ordinance of June 20th, 1827, and the work was begun.
Three sisters came from Azerables; a free class, a
school and a boarding school were opened. Postu-
lants presented themselves, and the house was
gradually, by wise additions, fitted for its new destina-
tion. "It is the first house," writes Mother du
Bourg, in the month of July, 1828, "since the
restoration of the Institute, in which the rule can be
strictly observed, since the cloister was established
from the very first." An authentic and touching
tradition is preserved regarding this convent. When
Father Denis came to visit it, even before he had
entered, he gave, without having seen it, its exact
description. And, as he went over it, examining the
details, he recognized a house that St. Apollinaris had
formerly shown him as one that would belong to the
Incarnate Word.

Mother du Bourg had a great part in the installa-
tion ; it may be said that she was its soul. She
exercised the various functions of Assistant, Mistress of
Novices, and Treasurer. She could speak of the
Incarnate Word and His work only in the most
enthusiastic terms : ' ' You will be, perhaps, surprised, ' '
she writes, on the 29th of August, 1831, "that I do
not enter the Order ; but I have many reasons that,
for the present, prevent me. The future is in the
hands of God. 1st. I feel that the Lord does not wish
it. 2nd. I am more certain of avoiding the first place,
for which I am incompetent. And then, business
undertakings and many journeys."

She had then in her mind a plan, by which the
Incarnate Word "should be established in various
branches," embrace all states, and all vocations." —
"The first branch, which already exists, and is
cloistered, occupies itself with the education of youth
and in free schools for the poor. There will be

360

another branch with a different rule. The religious of
this branch will consecrate themselves to the education
of the young, to the service of the poor, and the care of
the sick. They will be especially employed in cities
destitutely resources, in small places, in the country.
Finally, the third Order will be composed of people of
the world, of all states and conditions."

The Order of the Incarnate Word, more than any
other, by its name, the views of its foundress, the
predictions made at its birth, has inherited all the
tenderness and all the solicitudes of the Heart of
Jesus. Nothing, then, forbids it to embrace new
works, to accommodate the traditions and spirit of
other daj^s to the needs of the present. It has only to
imitate the Church, and allow itself to be guided b}-
her. But the thought of Mother du Bourg seemed to
aim at constituting in the old work a new Congrega-
tion, which, preserving the name, should break with
its unity. At all events, the Order of the Incarnate
Word did not think itself called, then, to extend the
sphere of the providential action traced out by its rules
and constitutions. Mother Mary of Jesus, therefore,
followed elsewhere the attraction of God, and founded
the now flourishing Congregation of the Savior and
the Blessed Virgin.

The Convent of fivaux, thanks to its position in
the centre of a sympathetic and Christian population,
to its religious traditions firmly established, to the
wisdom of its mothers, the piety of its daughters, and
especially to the blessing of God, does good in peace
and strength, and seems destined to occupy, in the
plan of the resuscitated Order, the place once held by
its sister house of Avignon. Our pen, it will be con-
ceived, is here cramped in its eulogy. Let us be
satisfied to point it out to souls enamored of recollection,
sacrifice and fervor, as one of those blessed oases,

361

where the foot sometimes stumbles, it is true, on the
pebbles of the path, where the thorn of duty may cause
the tears of the heart, but where God holds the first
place, receives much devotion, and sows many joys.

Whilst the Convent of fivaux was being built up,
and taking the first place in the order of foundations,
" at Lyons, they had in vain attempted to re-establish
the old convent. It was necessary to go to the new
Bethlehem, to draw, thence in unity of origin, that
spirit of holy lowliness which confounds the prudence
of the wise, and is proper to all that touches the Word
made flesh. A pious and fervent ecclesiastic of Lyons
consecrated to this work his zeal, his fortune, talents
and life, without desiring other title than the simple
name of Almoner. By a happy inspiration, M. Galtier
sent to Azerables the one amongst his spiritual
daughters whom he deemed most fit for the enterprise,
and the choice was fortunate. She remained many
months in the house, took the habit, and then returned
to go with her director to seek a shelter for the new
Convent of the Incarnate Word under the shadow of
Our Lady of Fourvieres. The elements assigned to
her in the beginning were very feeble, but the order of
Providence had been followed, and that proved suffi-
cient for success.

"The Convent of Lyons, founded in 1832, soon
became one of the most flourishing in that large city.
With the heart of the foundress, it possesses mam- of
her writings, to be found nowhere else." * " There are
preserved two autographic copies of the vows of the
holy Mother, written and signed with her blood —
her chaplet — scapular — her prayer book ; another,
which she used, entitled The Holy Favor of Jesus — one
of her dresses. The chapel of the convent enjoys, as

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

362

did the old one, the daily plenary indulgence of Our
Lady of Fourvieres.

"Already, in 1840, this house could give of its-
spiritual and temporal superabundance, and endow
Belmont, in the department of the Loire, with a con-
vent and school, that are quietly prosperous.

" In March, 1852, by formal consent of the Holy
Father, it sent to Texas, of the United States of
America, a first colony of religious, at the request of
Monseigneur Odin." * The Convent of Brownsville,
after having almost miraculously escaped the horrors of
the civil war, was, in 1867, almost overthrown from
top to bottom by a fearful tempest. Thanks to the
sacrifices of other houses of the Order, and to the alms
of Christian charity, it has been rebuilt, better than
before.

The successor of Monseigneur Odin, Bishop Dubuis,
long nourished the project of founding, at Victoria, a con-
vent of the Incarnate Word; the central position of that
town gave him the hope that the establishment would
effect much good. " The courageous Mother St. Clare,
who had presided at the foundation of Brownsville,
undertook, in 1869, a voyage to Europe with the inten-
tion of recruiting subjects for the new foundation.
With this intention, she did not fear to land -on the
shores of Protestant England, and found there, in fact,
Irish postulants. In August she was in Lyons. In
June, 1864^, her colony crossed the ocean. On the 18th
of December of the same year the Bishop proceeded to
Brownsville to preside over the elections of the two
establishments, and to take back with him the subjects
destined for the foundation of Victoria. Mother Saint
Ange was retained as Superioress of the former convent,
and Mother St. Clare sent, with four sisters and two

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

lay-sisters, to work at the second house, where they
were warmly expected. " *

As generally happens, the work grew in the midst
of trials, but, purified and strengthened by them,
Victoria is the most flourishing house of the Order in
Texas.

In writing these pages, we had asked of the pious
daughters of the Incarnate Word at Lyons some notes
to guide us in the account of the foundations made by
their house in the New World. We transcribe fhem
here. This simple exposition, besides making them
colaborers in a work in which they have taken a sisterly
interest, will explain, in a natural manner, by what
providential ways the Order was led to extend the
sphere of its work, and to open its tent to shelter new
wants.

"Some years after the foundation of Victoria, a new
colony was sent to Corpus Christi. That city, which
is the see of a Bishop, since Texas was divided into
three dioceses, possessed no establishment in which
children could receive a Catholic education.

"The city of Houston, which, by its singularly good
situation, is destined to great importance, and of which
the population is yearly increased by thousands of
inhabitants, beheld Protestant schools multiplying and
not a single Catholic institution to counterbalance the
influence of heresy. Monseigneur Dubuis wished, at
all hazards, to master the situation. He had recourse
to the Incarnate Word. Victoria, which recruited its
numbers rapidly, furnished excellent subjects, whose
devotion and success soon placed them in the first rank
of Catholic schools, whilst their fervor established the
convent on a solid religious basis.

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

£64

4 ' The institution of the Sisters of the Charity of the
Incarnate Word dates from the year 1866. It was iu
this year that Bishop Dubuis undertook a voyage to
Europe, having, for chief motive, to take back with him
Sisters of Charity, to whom he could confide the care
of the sick, and of abandoned children. The efforts of
the holy prelate were not successful ; only one Com-
munity promised him subjects, and even these, at the
moment of departure, were refused to him. At this
news, the heart of the venerable Bishop was pierced.
He could not endure returning to protestants, to whom
he had promised that in Catholic countries he would
find religious who would forsake their country in order
to devote themselves to the care of their sick and their
orphans. A prey to these sad thoughts, he came to
our Reverend Mother Mary Angelica, the venerable
restorer of our Convent of Lyons. He begged her to
do for the suffering members of Jesus Christ what she
had already done for souls plunged in the darkness of
ignorance ; to give to his distant mission Sisters of
Charity, as she had already sent religious, devoted to
prayer and to the education of youth. To attain this
end, he proposed to our worthy Mother to give to
some souls of good will, who had consented to follow
him, the rules of the Third Order of the Incarnate
Word, with a religious habit that should gain respect
for them in the unbelieving land in which they would
exercise their devotion. The heart of our venerable
Mother was too well ordered not to enter into the
trouble of the Apostle of Texas ; she could not resist
his prayers, and, with the sanction of the Archbishop
of Lyons, she received into our house, until the time of
departure, the first three subjects of the new Congre-
gation, to which was given the name of the Charity of
the Incarnate Word. Our constitutions, directory,
ceremonial, and book of customs, were put into the

hands of the sisters, that they might study them at
leisure, and see in what the works to which they were
about to consecrate themselves would permit them to
conform.

"Arrived in their mission, the Sisters of the
Charity of the Incarnate Word occupied themselves at
first in the care of the sick ; the confidence which they
inspired was such that, in a short time, a large and
splendid hospital was built for them, in which, whilst
tending the body, they do great good for souls. At
different times we have been able to forward recruits to
Galveston. By help of these reinforcements, they
have been able to begin an orphan asylum. When
the sisters go to collect for the subsistence of their
children, who are entirely dependent on them, they
need but show themselves to receive abundant alms.

' ' Within three years of their departure from
France, the Sisters of the Charity were enabled to
found a new center of works of mercy at San Antonio,
an important city that has since become the see of a
Bishop. They established there, as at Galveston, an
hospital and an orphan asylum, but their most fruitful
work is that of small schools in the surrounding-
region. The sisters are sent out, three or four
together, in the most considerable settlements, to
instruct the children ; they remain dependent on the
house at San Antonio, the Superioress of which
visits them successively, and to which they return for
the vacations. These small schools do a great good,
without requiring sacrifices, which the mission would
be unable to make, and thus afford to a great number
of souls the advantages of Christian instruction.

"Doctor Arthaut had been charged by the Gov-
ernment to direct a new hospital for the insane which
was being erected in the outskirts of Lyons. He was

366

acquainted with the remarkable aptitude for this kind
of ministration possessed by one of the sisters of the
Charity of the Incarnate Word, who had served for
many years in the hospital of Antiquaille, in this
difficult function. The good doctor, who is deeply
religious, came to ask of our Reverend Mother
whether it was possible to recall her to France when
the new establishment would be opened, and to
confide its care to the Sisters of the Charity of the
Incarnate Word. Our worth}* Mother gave him her
promise, and, on the '2d of August, 1875, our sisters
entered the Asj'lum of Bron, where they do good and
prosper, in spite of the ill will of the radicals, who are
forced to admire their devotion.

11 Our sisters of Bron, as they depend on the civil
administration, could not receive and form subjects at
the asylum. For some time the house of Lyons
served them as a house of recruiting, but this was but
provisionally. Shortly after their installation at Bron,
they bought, at Ville urbane, a neighboring locality, a
property on which to establish their Novitiate ; there
the numerous subjects sent to them by Providence
pass the first part of their religious probation, await-
ing- the time when they shall be prepared to essay the
life of devotion to which they seek to consecrate
themselves.

"In 1876 the Superioress of Galveston came to
France with the rules which the Sisters of the Charity
had drawn from ours, and which they had observed
for ten years. Bishop Dubuis, who had interested
himself in this redaction, wished that our venerable
Superior should give them a final revision before
they were printed ; this was done that same year."

Whilst the house of Lyons was extending its roots
in the new world, that of Azerables was adorning its
trunk, as yet frail, with green branches.

307

" Monseigneur de Tournefort, on one of his visits
to Azerables, decided that it was necessary to make
new foundations, so as to diminish expenses by
decreasing the number of subjects. It was determined
to establish convents at Saint-Junien and Saint- Yrieix
in the Haute Vienne." *

The house of Saint-Junien was founded in 1834,
that of Saint- Yrieix in 1836. The first Superiors of
these two houses, Mother Saint Augustine Gravier
and Mother Saint-Etienne Moreau, had each a difficult
task. " Having bought but ruins, they were obliged
to build houses with scarcely other resources than
their own labors, or other support than that of Provi-
dence. At Saint-Junien even bread was wanting, and
for several months the sisters had only potatoes for
their principal food. Many broke down under the
strain. Notwithstanding numberless and incessant
difficulties, the two houses have not ceased to advance,
and they prove that the nothingness of our humility,
by calling down the gifts of God, is a foundation more
solid than the weak support of men." *

The colonies founded by the house of Azerables
have not been slow in producing, in their turn, new
generations, who pursue their way in humility and
charity. The house of Saint-Benoit-du-Sault (Indre)
failed in the first attempt at establishment, as though
God wished to reserve the right of seniority for that of
Evaux. By a touching coincidence, it was Ivvaux that
gave it life in 1852. The ancient Benedictine convent,
with its magnificent outlook, its vast inclosure, its
dependencies, has become once more the house of
prayer, and of zeal for the help of souls, especially in
the education of 3'Otith ; it is surrounded by the sympa-
thies of a faithful population, and prospers under the

* Order of the Incarnate Word and of the Blessed Sacrament.

36S

eye of God. fivaux also founded, in the next year,
Chatetus-Malvaleix (Creuse). The Convent ofSaint-
Junien, in 1863, sent some of its daughters to Grand-
Bourg (Creuse), and from this last the winds cf grace
wafted the precious seed of the Order to Limoges, in
1872, and, two years later, to Sancerre (Cher).

This is the list of the new houses of the Incarnate-
Word, in the order of their foundation :

CONVENTS.

Azerables (Creuse), in 1807.
fivaux (Creuse), in 1827.
Lyons (Rhone), in 1832.
Saint-Junien (Haute Vienne), in 1834.
Saint-Yrieix (Haute Vienne), in 1836.
Belmont (Loire), in 1840.
Brownsville (Texas), in 1852.
Saint-Benoit-du-Sault (Cher), in 1852.
Chatetus-Malvaleix (Creuse), in 1853.
Le Grand-Bourg (Creuse), in 1863.
Victoria (Texas), in 1866.
Houston (Texas), in 1870.
Corpus Christi (Texas), in 1871.
Limoges (Haute Vienne), in 1872.
Sancerre (Cher), in 1874.
Hallettsville (Texas), in 1881.

HOUSES OF THE CHARITY.

PRINCIPAL CENTRES.

Galveston (Texas), in 1866.
San Antonio (Texas), in 1869.
Bron (Rhone), in 1875.

369

And now let us close this book by paying a tribute
of gratitude to the holy priest, who received from on
high the mission of restoring to the Church the jewel,
lost for a time, that had been shown to Mother de
Matel as one of the gems of the pontifical tiara.

'' M. Denis is, as ever, the holy priest," wrote, in
1825, Mother du Bourg, a competent judge in such
a case ; "he lives rather in heaven than on earth, and
is often in ecstasy and rapture. He is one of the souls
on earth most favored by God. It is astonishing that
in the midst of so much business he still finds time for
contemplation." Touching things are related of his
power with God. Mother Saint-Paul Deschamp was
attacked by a severe and obstinate leprosy, which
resisted all the resources of art ; Father Denis made the
sign of the cross, with bis thumb, on the hardened
flesh, and the evil disappeared, the mysterious mark of
the thumb alone remaining.

In 1832, named titulary canon of the Cathedral of
Limoges, at the age of 71, he was admired as a model
priest. ' ' Silent in the sacristy, where he behaved with
the modesty of an angel, when he had to remain there,
he never uttered one idle or useless word. Interiorly
absorbed, he paid no attention to what passed around
him. His docility to the master of ceremonies was
that of a child ; but, in his stall, his immobility was
that of a statue. A young deacon, now Vicar Apostolic
of Su-Tchuen, Monseigneur Pinchon, after having
assisted him at the holy sacrifice, said : ' How famil-
iarly that good old man speaks with God ! He is truly
a saint! Oh, how I would like to have that freedom of
spirit with Our Lord!'

' The weight of years making his charge of canon
too heavy for him, by the difficulty in attending the
choir, a last impulse of charity made him resolve to

370

return to Azerables ; he wished to be useful by sharing
the emoluments of his office with his spiritual family.
In 1847 he retired to his beloved convent, and there
returned his soul to God on the 12th of November,
L856, in the ninety-sixth year of his age. His body
rests in a little tomb at the northeastern angle of the
cemetery." *

* Order of the Iucarnate Word aud of the Blessed Sacrament.

APPENDIX.

We think it our duty to give the necrology of the
first sisters who took their vows with Mother cle Matel
in 1635.

" Sister Elizabeth Grasseteau, after a life remark-
able for its great innocence, died at Lyons, in the odor
of sanctity, June 21st, 1646.

' ' Sister Francis Gravier, whom the foundress had
chosen for her secretary, an employment that enabled
her to render the greatest service to the Order, died at
Lyons, July 2d, 1675.

"Sister Mary Nallard, long engaged in the embar-
rassing office of Superioress, never lost any of that
religious simplicity that is so seldom united with
authority. A death, precious in the sight of God,
crowned her life in the Convent of Paris, of which she
w7as Superioress in 1655.

"Sister Catherine Richardon strove to follow her
model, the Incarnate Word, in the continual exercise
of obedience. She died at Avignon in 1649.

"Sister Jeanne Fiot, after having been chosen to
establish regularity in three convents, at their founda-
tion, obtained permission to end her days at Avignon,
where she died the death of the just towards the end of
December, 1691.

"Sister of the Cross de la Verpiniere, who sacrificed
the greatest worldly advantages to walk in the footsteps
of the Incarnate Word, was Superior of the Convent of
Paris when God called her to Him, July 29th, 1671,
some months after the death of the foundress.

"Sister Mary Chaud, who shared for a long time
with the foundress the persecutions excited against the
Order at Paris, died there, in the exercise of heroic
patience, July 10th, 1688.

" Sister Francis Coulomb died without having been
able to consummate her sacrifice by the religious
profession." *

* Life by a Jesuit Father.

^jp

EPHEMERIDES

OF THE LIFE OF MOTHER DE MATEL.

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is not known, or that
the fact took place in more than one year at that date.

JANUARY.

1. * — Communications on the Incarnate Word.
1. 1642 — Jesus Christ appears to Jeanne in the Com-
munion, and covers her with His Blood.

1. 1644 — Cloister established in the Convent of Paris.
1; 1652 — Our Lord offers Himself as a New Year's

gift to Jeanne.

2. 1625 — Ecstatic sleep for two hours.

6. 1625 — Our Lord offers her the cross, and reveals

to her the excellencies and trials of His

Order.
6. 1652 — Our Lord declares that He is her habit, and

consoles her for not being a religious.
6. 1658 — Our Lord introduces her to the Divine cellar,

and pours out for her a royal wine.
15. 1625 — In an ecstasy she receives an order to give

a red mantle to her daughters.
18. 1643 — A sweet odor accompanies her, signifying

the efficacy of her prayers.
21. 1644 — After a fall, she reposes on the bosom of

Our Lord.
21. * — Contemplation on St. Agnes.
24. * — Contemplation on St. Paul.

FEBRUARY.

5. * Contemplation on St. Agatha.
5. 1636 — MaryT Margaret, obeying Jeanne, hears the
voices of the Angels.

374

IS.

19.

20.

1650-

6. * — Contemplation on St. Dorothy.
12. 1660 — Gaston d'Orleans appears to her.
24. * — Contemplation on St. Matthew.

26. * — She is instructed on her mission as Apostle
of the Word.

MARCH.

7. * — Contemplation on St. Thomas of Aquin.
9. 1626 — Death of her mother.

12. * — Contemplation on St. Gregory.

18. 1653 — Return to the convent after the second civil

war.
-Contemplation on St. Gabriel.
-Contemplation on St. Joseph.
-Vision concerning M. de la Piardiere, and

his vocation to the priesthood.

24. 1639 — Vision of the approaching foundation of the

Order.

25. * — Contemplation of the Incarnation.

APRIL.

9. 1639 — St. Leo invites her to go to Avignon.
11. * — Contemplation on St. Leo, the Preacher of
the Word.

22. 1640 — She gives for the first time the little habit

to Miss de Servieres.

23. 1640 — She quits Avignon, after the foundation.
30. 1627 — She learns the approaching death of Mon-

seigneur Miron, and that she will go to
Paris.

MAY.

2. 1641 — A luminous cross rests on her head.

3. 1654 — Vision of a lamb in a forest.
3. * — Contemplation on the cross.

3. 1663 — Departure from Lyons for the last time.

13. 1650 — Death of Madame de la Piardiere.

375

14. 1650 — Jeanne sees Madame de la Piardiere in

glory.
18. 1643 — She leaves Grenoble for Avignon.

20. 1643 — Second entry into Avignon.
25. 1658 — Last journey to Roanne.

27. 1643 — Second departure from Avignon.
30. 1649 — Investiture of Lucrece de Belly.

JUNE.

2. 1643— Return to Grenoble.

3. 1643 — Commencement of the Convent at Grenoble.
6. 1625 — Vanquished in an ecstasy, she consents to

commence the Order.
11. 1646 — Death of Elizabeth Grasseteau.
14. 1635— First vows.

21. 1637 — Our Lord instructs her on the lost drachma.

22. 1625 — Decision of Father Jacquinot in favor of the

projected Order — Our Lord shows her
the Scapular of the Order.

23. 1625 — Our Lord, in the Ostensorium, bends towards

and blesses her.

24. * — Contemplation on St. John Baptist.

28. * — Vision on the difficulties of the foundation.

29. * — Vision on the impotence of her enemies,

and on Notre- Dame du Puy.

29. * — Contemplation on St. Peter.

30. 1632 — Vision on St. Paul — She is elevated with

him.
30. 1643 — Departure from Grenoble for Lyons.

JULY.

2. 1625 — Departure from her father's house.
* 1652 — Long supplications for peace.

4. 1625 — Ecstasy and vision concerning the moun-

tain Gourguillon.
6. 1668 — Bull dispensing her from the ordinary
delays of the novitiate and the profession.

376

'2'2. 1635 — Apparition of the Child Jesus to Mother
Mary Margaret.
— Contemplation on St. Mary Magdalen.
26. * — Contemplation on St. Ann.

30. 1627 — Last interview with Monseigneur Miron.

31. * — Contemplation on St. Ignatius.

AUGUST.

-Contemplation on St. Dominic.

-Death of Monseigneur Miron.

-Contemplation on the Transfiguration.

-Jesus takes her heart before the Communion.

-Second departure for Paris.

-Vision concerning Louis XII.

-Vision on the mystic clock, and the hour of

the advent of her Order.
-Second arrival at Paris.
-Contemplation on the Assumption.
-She asks for the contagion of holy love.
-Our Lord, in the arms of His Holy Mother,

presents her two golden keys.
-The lamentable scene of the contract.
-Contemplation on St. Bernard.
-She begins to communicate daily.
-She sees herself dressed in white, and bap-
tized in the Precious Blood.
24. 1634 — Our Lord applies to her the praise of the

strong woman.
-Contemplation on St. Bartholomew.
-Our Lord invites her to enter His side, as

an hospital for the poor.
-She is elevated to the rank of Mystic

Spouse.
-Vision of the table, the statue, and the

mysterious chandeliers.
-Contemplation on St. Augustine.

1627-

().

/ .

1643-

y.
12.

15.

1643

15.

16.

1636

16.

1643-

18.

1663-

20.

22.

1620-

24.

1620-

24.

2.").

1620-

26.

1620

27.

1620

28.

377

SEPTEMBER.

4. 1670 — Her Investiture.

5. 1638— She sees Louis XIV. on the night that lie

is born.
7. 1642 — Our Lord assures her of De Thou's salva-
tion.

-He praises her writings.

-She leaves Roanne with great emotion.

-Contemplation on the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.

-Her Profession.

-Her death, precious in the sight of God.

-Our Lord objects to her renouncing the
foundation at Lyons.

-She leaves Lyons for Paris.

-Contemplation on St. Matthew.

-The Blessed Virgin, in the form of a shep-
herdess, invites her to come to Lyons.

-Communication on St. Michael — The angels
sing the Jesut amor meus.

-Contemplation on St. Jerome.

OCTOBER.

-Contemplation on the Holy Angels.
-The birth of Louis XIV. promised to her.
-Contemplation on St. Francis of Assissium.
-Second departure from Paris.
-Contemplation on St. Luke.
-First visit of Monseigneur de Neuville to
the house at L3fons.
21. 1655 — St. Ursula treats her as a sister and encour-
ages her.
23. 1621 — She learns that Henry IV. is saved.
31. 1643 — Entry into the Convent of Paris.
31. 1654 — St. Peter carries a lamb ; she is invited to
the sacrifice.

1644

1658

10.

1670-

11.

1670

13.

1644.

14.

1628'

21.

23.

1653

29.

30.

1627-

18.

1653

18.

20.

1655

37S

NOVEMBER.

1. 1639 — Arrival of the first sisters at Avignon.

1. 1643 — Blessing of the convent at Paris.

1. * — Numerous favors.

6. 1596 — Her happy birth.

". 1639 — Vision of the instruments of the Passion —

in flame.
6. 1639 — She enters into a rapture in the parlor, and

her countenance becomes luminous.

17. 1639 — Departure for Avignon.

18. 1642 — St. Denis calls her to Paris.
21. 1639 — Arrival at Avignon.

25. * — Contemplation on St. Catherine.
29, 162> — First arrival in Paris.
1632 — Departure from Paris.

29. 1643 — Our Lord causes her to repose on His bosom.

30. * — Contemplation on St. Andrew.

DECEMBER.

3. * Contemplation on St. Francis Xavier.

3. 1641 — Cardinal Richelieu carries off her papers.

4. 1635 — Arrival of Mary Margaret and her com-

panions. ,
6. 1640 — She sees St. Peter near the grating in

Avignon.
N. 1619. — Great light on the Immaculate Conception.
The Order engaged to defend it.
11. 1632 — Second entry into Lyons.
13. * — Contemplation on St. Lucy.
15. 1619 — The Blessed Virgin indicates her first
house.

15. 1639 — First novices at Avignon.

16. 1640 — First profession at Avignon.
lv. 1643 — Mysterious dedication.

21 1618 — Communication of the Holy Ghost in an
ecstasy.

379

21. * — Contemplation on St. Thomas.

21. 1641 — She sees Jeanne de Chantal in glory.

24. 1639 — Our Lord compares her to Ruth.

25. * — A day of great favors.

26. * — Communications on St. Stephen.

27. — Communications on St. John.

28. 1643 — Apparition of the Sacred Heart of Our

Lord.
28. 1643 — Spiritual familiarity with the Holy Inno-
cents.

Index to Second Volume.

BOOK FIFTH.

Jeanne de Matel, Foundress.
CHAPTER I.
JEANNE DE MaTEE and The REEIGIOUS Life . . . Page 1
Idea of the religious life. — The net. — The Sacred Heart
and the dove-cote. — The Spouse. — Generous inability to draw
back. — Complete self-abandonment. — Beautiful consequence. —
Biblical images. — The virginal mirror. — Heavenly music. — A
convent, the court of the Lamb. — The religious life in God. —
The religious life in the Incarnate Word. — The religious life in
the Blessed Sacrament. — Obligation. — Imitation of the life of
Jesus Christ. — Poverty, chastitv, obedience, light, crucifixion.
— St. Joseph, model of the religious life. — The world forgotten.
— The parlor. — The edification of their happiness. — Worldly
titles. — The privileges of the elders. — Holy indifference. —
Relaxation. — The flax still smoking.

CHAPTER II.
Character, Constitution and Spirit of the

Order of the Incarnate Word Page 23

Truth of Jeanne's mission as foundress. — Affirmed by Our
Lord. — Prophetic views. — The Order an extension of the Incar-
nation.— The Gospel of Love. — Its second character, its Apos-
tleship. — The tabernacle of crystal. — First name of the Congre-
gation.— Summary of the Constitutions. — Spirit of the Order.
Imitation of the Incarnate Word ; union with Him. — Letters of
Mother de Matel on that Spirit. — Sentiments in time of contra-
diction and of grace. — Milk and blood. — Exterior mortifica-
tion.— Interior mortification. — Confraternity of the Incarnate
Word. — Bond" of unity. — Promises, the future.

CHAPTER III.

The Costume of the Order of the Incarnate

Word Page 42

The vesture of the strong woman : strength and beauty. —
The robe of Joseph.— The Holy Trinity.— The rainbow of God's

382

Throne. — The colors of the Passion. — The Three provinces of
Christ's Empire. ''Clothe yourselves with Jesus Christ." —
The scapular, figure of the Cross. — Amor mens. — The Ephod
and the Rational. — The Propitiatory. — The Cincture. — The
cords of the Passion. — The royal purple.

CHAPTER IV.

The Fathers of the Incarnate Word Page 48

Project of the Constitution drawn up by Mother de Matel. —
Summary. — Hospitality. — Solitude, prayer, work. — Apostolate
and education. — Perpetual adoration. — Costume. — Personnel. —
Regime. — Hierarchy. — Essays of establishment. — Has the hour
come.

BOOK SIXTH.

Last Years of Jeanne de Matee and Her
Death (1655-1670.)

chapter i.

From the Foundation of the Convent of Lyons

to Jeanne's Third Voyage to Paris (1655-1663) Page 60

No Concealments. — Death of Mother Nallard, Superior at
Paris. — They seek her successor. — Sifter of Calvary Gerin. —
Her antecedents. — First triennial term of Mother de Belly as
Superior of Paris. — Project of foundation at Roanne. — Voyage
and sojourn of Mother de Matel. — Promises of Our Eord. —
Occupation of the Foundress. — Sister of Calvary Gerin named
Superior at Paris. — Her character. — Jeanne's opposition. —
Management of Mother Gerin. — Death of M de la Piardiere. —
His eulogy. — Third voyage of Jeanne to Paris.

CHAPTER II.

Mother de Matel and the Convent of Paris. —

Personal Trials and Persecutions .... Page 75

Reception of Mother de Matel. — " I go to my execution." —
Unjust pretensions of the Superioress. — Jeanne refuses to sign
a contract injurious to her own name and to the Order, and
dangerous. — Their insistence. — Beautiful example of religious
discretion and charity. — Pressed to sign an act of donation. —
She is satiated with opprobrium. — Deprived of Father Bernar-
don's counsels. — Sister Francis Gravier removed from her.

383

CHAPTER III.

Same Continued Page 87

The relatives of Mother de Matel at Paris. — Signature of the
odious contract. — vSister Gravier sent to Lyons. — Sister Mary
Chaud. — Sister de Belly. — A fresh trait of Mother de Matel's
discretion. — Refusal to enregister the Letters Patent. — Mother
Germ sent back to Grenoble. — Mother Sorel succeeds her.
Her character. — Registration of the Letters Patent again com-
promised.— Decree of Parliament concerning some convents. —
Mother de Belly again elected Superioress. — She can neither
change the contract, nor enregister the letters. — Jeanne author-
ized to make her profession without noviceship. — Why she
does not profit by it. — Human patronage of the Convent of
Paris. — Opposition of Heaven.

CHAPTER IV.

Jeanne de Matel and the Convent oe Paris. —

Its Troubles Page 99

Precautions against the possibility of suppression. — Resolu-
tions on account of insufficient foundations. — Mother Saint-
Ursule. — Madame Lenet. — Her intrigues. — Suppression of
small communities. — The Convent of the Incarnate Word to
receive the homeless religious. — Election of a Superioress. —
Intrusion of Madame Lenet. — Firmness of Mother de Belly and
the sisters. — Mother de Belly expelled from the convent. —
Protest. — New vexations. — Jeanne's friends effect her removal.

CHAPTER V.
Last Days of Mother de Matel.— Her Death . . Page 112

Disappointment of the persecutors. — Mother de Belly suf-
fers ou that account. — Mother de Matel badly lodged. — Her
sufferings. — Brought back to the convent. — Receives the Holy
Viaticum. — Her words to Madame Lenet. — Her fervor. — The
physician assigned her. — How Madame Lenet tends her. —
Again Communicates, and takes the habit. — Receives Extreme
Unction. — Makes her profession. — Her joy and her sufferings. —
The tempter at the death bed of a saint. — Vision of Heaven. —
The departure.— The globe of light.— The death bell.— The
vesture of glory. — The book of the Constitutions. — Grief caused
by the event. — The voice of the people. — Persecution after
death. — Odor of sanctity. — The heart. — Sepulture.

384

BOOK SEVENTH.

Portrait, Spirit, and Virtues of Jeanne de

Matel.

chapter I.

Portrait of Mother de Matel Page 125

Portrait by a former historian. — Supernatural qualities. —
Appreciation by Father Gibalin. — Doubt of the Abbe de Saint-
Just. — Appreciation by M. Bernardon. — Her soul depicted in
her letters. — Aptitude for temporal affairs. — Other supernatural
qualities. — Her attractive conversation. — Character.

CHAPTER II.

The Writings of Mother de Matel Page 139

She writes b}r obedience. — "Bene scripsisti de me." —
Disinterestedness. — Supernatural source. — The diamond multi-
plied.— Veneration of her contemporaries. — The Religious of
the Incarnate Word. — Absence of studied style. — And yet its
beauty. — Examples. — Sacred Scripture once more. — The won-
derful archives. — Varied tone. — Enthusiasm; Examples. —
Unction and sweetness ; Examples. — The sublime; examples. —
Grace ; examples. — Comparisons. — Treatises on morality and
direction. — Their characters. — Her writings a feeble echo of
her speech. — Apparent defects. — Perpetual Secretary.— Authen-
ticity and integrity.

CHAPTER HI.

Spiritual Theology of Mother de Matel . . . Page 166

She still speaks. — The divine net. — Water. — The guardians
of the vineyard. — Temptation. — Sin. — Grace. — The way of the
Saints. — The four chains of souls. — Pure love. — Sacrifice. —
Indifference to the glory of God. — Discouragement. — Ascension
of souls. — Dryness and interior desolation. — Distractions. —
Pride and humility. — Treatise of the Eight Beatitudes. —
Analysis of that work. — Peace. — Kindness. — Poverty. — Purity
of heart. — Mercy. — Tears. — Hunger and thirst for justice. —
Persecution for justice sake. — Humility. — Sensual inclinations.
— Love of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER IV.

HER Faith Page 187

Shortness of this chapter. — The simplicity of her faith. —
Pious anxiety of her faith. — Its humility. — The Credo signed

385

in her blood.— God everywhere. — The heavenly contagion.—
The feast of the espousals and religious nuptials. — The mother
and the nurse.

CHAPTER V.

Her Hope and Confidence in God Page 191

His Order a work of confidence. — Its energy. — Holy indif-
ference.— The key, the pearl, the manna. — Divine support. —
The Lord sensible to her tears. — Bearing the cross. — The spur
of clemency. — Holy liberty. — The rod of sadness.

CHAPTER VI.

Her Love of God Page 196

Knowledge leads to love. — The holy folly of the Word. —
The two movements of love. — Tender effusions. — The little
girl. — The key, the necklace, the Agnus Dei. — Overwhelming
passion. — The slave and the victim. — Arius. — Consecration. —
Struggle against natural inclinations. — Ineffable struggle. —
"My heart! My Love ! "—The house of the Archer.— The
heart of St. Gertrude. — The law of love sensibly graven on the
heart of Jeanne. --The union of the diamond. — Martyr to suffer-
ing.— Martyr to desire. — Tears of love. — Flames of Love.

CHAPTER VII.

Her Charity towards Her Neighbor Page 210

Sacrifice of money. — Beautiful example. — Love of the
people. — Habit of sympathy and condescendence. — Indulgence
and goodness. — Love of souls. — Canals, sins, the standard-
bearer, the ship. — Grace of conversion. — M. de Priezac. — M. de
Rossignol. — Dulaurier. — Heroic desires. — Love of the priest-
hood.— Love of her daughters. — Love for young girls. — Touch-
ing examples. — Counsels. — The souls of Purgatory.

CHAPTER VIII.

HER Piety Page 231

Habits of prayer. — The house of the Father. — Gratitude for
graces received. The feast of the Holy Trinity. — Devotion to
the Holy Ghost. — Devotion to the Pope. — At the foot of the
Tabernacle. — Method of hearing Mass. — Ishmael and Agar. —
Spiritual Communion. — Sacramental Communion. — The beggar
of the Communion. — The fountain of life and grace. — Fervor. —
Holy desires. — The Sacred Heart. — She is its songstress. — She
dwells in it. — The hospital of grace. — The five fountains. —

886

Tender effusions. — Affectionate exhortations on devotion to the
Sacred Heart.

CHAPTER IX.

Her Humility Page 249

Her simplicity in dress. — Apparent contradiction. — The
magnificat of humility. — Proud humility. — Feeling and con-
fession of her own misery and nothingness. — Humility in the
midst of spiritual consolations and favors. — Simple, candid,
tender humility. — Humility betrayed. — Humiliations. — Her
williugness to speak of God. — "Love to be ignored." — Pane-
gyric of her humility. — Submission aud dependence on her
directors. — Diffidence of self. — Calmness in opprobriums.

CHAPTER X.

Her Patience Page 269

In sickness. — Efforts to found the Order. — The heart of the
Mother and its trials. — The Convent of Paris, theatre of her
patience. — Her refusal of ail relief. — The contract of suffering.
— Her firmness. — Her gift of consolation.

CHAPTER XI.

Her Mortification and Obedience Page 278

The cross planted in her heart. — Corporal mortifications. —
Docility in mortification. — Mortification of the will. — Mortifi-
cation of the parlor. — Spirit of mortification in festivals. —
Mortifying buffets of Satan. — Obedience. — Holy eagerness. —
The sacrificial feast.

CHAPTER XII.

Her Power of Intercession Page 286

Father Ignatius. — Cure of Fathers Pontian and de Meaux. —
Of the children of M. de Servieres. — Promotion of Cardinal
Richelieu to the See of Lyons. — Cure of Father Millien. —
Seguier saved from a great danger. — Just fication and cure of a
servant girl. — Cure of one born blind. — Help to mothers of
family. — The remedy of God. — Cure of Lucretia de Belly. — Of
the Abbe de Saint-Just. — Of Marie de la Piardiere. — Of another
child.— Of Sister Gravier.— Of Michel Lemirre.— Of Mother
Nallard.— Of M. Prioult— Of Reverend Father Le Blanc—
Of other persons. — Of Madame Marcilly. — Of Sister of the
Blessed Sacrament Alouis. — Of Father Surin. — Of young du
Soleil. — Of Miss Dubois. — Of Miss Bignon.— Her efficacious
prayers for the people. — Chastisements of her persecutors.

387

CHAPTER XIII.

Her Spirit of Prophecy Page 309

Guarantee of authenticity. — vShe knows that she will go to
Paris. — She foretells continued life to the Pope, and the Arch-
bishop of Paris. — Announces Siguier's elevation. — Foretells to
M. de Bosquet that he will be a Bishop. — Consoles Madame de
Services by predicting the birth of a child. — Predictions con-
cerning Cardinal Richelieu of Lyons. — Predicts approaching
death of a religious. — Supernatural knowledge of De Thou's
conspiracy and death. — The death of Louis XIII. — That of a
holy lady. — Sees Cardinal Richelieu after his death. — Predicts
the fate of the Convent of Paris, and that of her daughters.

CHAPTER XIV.

Jeanne de MateIv and the Royai, House of

France Page 319

Situation of France under Louis XIII. — Wars of religion. —
Visions in regard to the war. — Siege of La Rochelle. — The tree
of the fleurs-de-lis.— Justus germinabit sicut lilium. — Birth
of Louis XIV. — Jeanne's visions on that occasion. — Henry IV.
— The fleur-de-lis. — Illness and cure of Louis XIII. — Gaston
d' Orleans. — Kindness of Anne of Austria for Mother de Matel
and her daughters.

BOOK EIGHTH.

MOTHKR DE MATEL'S WORK DOWN TO OUR TlMES.

CHAPTER I.

Mother de Matel' s Work Down to the Revo^u-

Sister Gravier ill treated. — The goods of the convent
adjudged to the general hospital. — The Order's opposition. —
The cause pleaded in Parliament.— Brutal expulsion and dis-
persion of the religious. — Chastisement of those who were
concerned in the ruin. — First translation of the remains of the
foundress. — Their translation to Avignon. — Translation of the
foundation of Grenoble, to Sarrian, then to Orange and
Rocquemaure. — Convent of Anduze. — Destruction of the Order
at the Revolution.

388

CHAPTER II.

Restoration ok thk Order of the Incarnate

Word , Page 348

The Incarnate Word and St. Martial.— The Abbe Denis.—
His two exiles. — His return. — Named Curate of Azerables in
the diocese of Limoges. — His fervor. — He founds a Community.
— Its edifying life. — Progress and obstacles. — Mother of the
Holy Ghost Chinard-Durieur, formerly of the Incarnate Word,
of Lyons, comes to Azerables. — The habit and Constitutions of
the Order assnmed. — Mother Ouiquerant-Beaujeu comes from
Avignon. — She brings the remains of the foundress. — Mother
Dechamps comes from Lyons. — The grain of mustard seed.

CHAPTER HI.

The Order of the Incarnate Word from Its Restora-
tion to Our Own Times Page 358

Foundation of Evaux. — Madame Dubourg and Miss du
Rivaux. — Foundation of Lyons. — The Abbe Saltier and Mother
Mary-Angelica. — Foundation of Belmont. — Foundation of
Brownsville. — Bishop Odin. — Foundation of Victoria. — Bishop
Dubuis and Mother St. Clare. — Expansion of the foundation of
Lyons.— Foundation of Corpus Christi. — Foundation of Halletts-
ville.— Sisters of the Charity of the Incarnate Word. — Founda-
tion of Galveston. — Foundation of San Antonio. — The little
schools. — Foundation of Bron. — Expansion of the foundation
of Azerables. — Foundation of Saint-Junien. — Foundation of
Saint-Yrieix. — Foundation of St. Benoit-du-Sault. — Foundation
of Chatelus-Malvaleix. — Foundation of Grand-Bourg. — Foun-
dation of Limoges. — Foundation of Sancerre. — List of the
houses of the Order in 1882. — Last years and death of Father
Denis.

Appendix Page 371

Ephemerides Page 381

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

AGNES (Saint). Vision on the day of the feast, Vol. I., p. 364.

Aems. See love of neighbor.

Aeouis (Sister). Cured through prayers of Jeanne, Vol. II.,
p. 303.

Ambrose (Saint). Motive of Jeanne's devotion to the holy
doctor, Vol. I., p. 363.

Angers (Holy). Jeanne's devotion to the Holy Angels, Vol I..,
p. 325 and following. Thoughts on the Holy Angels,
Vol. I., p. 328. Office of the Holy Angels, Vol. I.,
p. 330. Their presence, Vol. II., p. 161.

Ann (Saint). Jeanne consecrated to her, Vol. I., p. 7.
Thoughts on St. Ann, Vol. I., p. 338.

Anne of AUvSTria. Shows herself favorable to the Order,
Vol. I., p. 171. Her good will towards Jeanne and
her daughters, Vol. II., p. 331.

Assistant. What she is in the Community, Vol. II. , p. 6.

Avignon. Foundation of the Convent, Vol. I., p. 140. The
remains of Mother de Matel transferred there, Vol.
II., p. 342.

AzerabeES. Foundation of its convent, Vol. II., p. 354.

Beatitudes. Treatise on the Beatitudes, Vol. II., p. 180.

BEEES. They announce of themselves the death of Jeanne,
Vol., II., p. 122.

BEEEY (M. de). His conversion, Vol. I., p. 149. His love for
the Order of the Incarnate Word, Vol. L, p. 150.

BEEEY (Sister Jeanne de). As a child attaches herself to
Mother de Matel, Vol. I., p. 153. Sent to Grenoble,
thence to Paris, Vol. I., p. 205. Refuses the Superior-
ship, Vol. II., p. 62. Accepts, Vol. II., p. 65. Abdi-
cates, Vol. II., p. 69. Her delicate situation during
the persecution of Mother de Matel, Vol. II., p. 82.
Again named Superioress, Vol. II., p. 95. Her trials,
Vol. II., p. 96. Her cure obtained by Jeanne, Vol. II.,
p. 292.

890

Belmont. Foundation, Vol. II., p. 362.

Bernardon (M.). He sees Jeanne environed D3' light, Vol.
I., p. 132. He sees her transfixed by an arrow, Vol.
I., p. 158. Obliged to quit Paris, Vol. II., p. 84. His
testimony in her regard, Vol. II., p. 129.

Bertin (Father). The erection of the Order, Vol. I., p. 97.

Bethisy de Mezieres (Madame de). Her part in the trans-
lation of the remains of the foundress, Vol. II., p. 340.

Bishops. Their confidence in Mother de Matel, Vol. I., p. 144.

Blaise (Saint). Jeanne's devotion to the Saint, Vol. I., p. 363.

Bonvalot (Father). Recognizes the vocation of Catherine
Fleurin, and the truth of her communications, Vol.
I., p. 67.

Bouffix (Abbe). Prior of Croisil; his piety, Vol. I. p. 175.

BousouET (Abbe). Jeanne predicts his elevation to the Epis-
copacy, Vol. II., p. 312.

Bracelet (Dom). He sends the deed of erection for the Con-
vent of Paris, Vol. I., p. 186. Canonically establishes
it, Vol. I. p. 191.

Caraxave (Father). His part in translating the remains of
Mother de Matel, Vol. II., page 339.

Carmel. Jeanne thinks of entering that Order, Vol. I., p. 46.

Carre (Father). Called to direct Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 101.
Light that he receives, Vol. I., p. 102. Insists on her
return to Paris, Vol. I., p. 182.

CaTharixe (Saint). Jeanne prays to her that she may learn
to read, Vol. I., p. 14.

Cerisy (Abbe de). His part in the foundation of Paris, Vol.
I., p. 181. Named Father Superior of that convent,
Vol. I., p. 191.

Chaud (Sister Mary). Her decided attitude in Jeanne's per-
secution, Vol. II., p. 90.

Chastisemexts. Inflicted on Jeanne's persecutors, Vol. II.,
p. 337.

Chixard-Durieux (Mother). Comes to Azerables, Vol. II.,
p. 354.

Clare (Saint). Her interest in the Order of the Incarnate
Word, Vol. I., p. 355.

Cohox (Bishop). Presides at the first investiture, Vol. I. p. 146.
His appreciation of Mother de Matel, Vol. II., p. 132.

COLOMBERT (Abbd). Presides at Jeanne's profession, Vol. II.,
p. 119. Conveys her heart to Avignon, Vol. II.,
p. 124.

391

Communion. Jeanne's first Communion, Vol.!., p. 17. Daily
Communion, Vol. I., p. 57. Kxhortation to fre-
quency, Vol. I., p. 297. Her dispositions for holy Com-
munion, Vol. II., p. 286. Method, Vol. II, p. 288.
Effects, Vol. II., p. 242. Holy desire, Vol. II., p. 243.

Company OffjBSUS. See their different names. Her relations

with, Vol. I., p. 58. How, for awhile, abandoned by it,

Vol. I., p. 92.
Confidence. See Hope.

Confraternity of the Incarnate Word, Vol. II., p. 88.
Constitutions of the Order, Book V., ch. 2.
Contemplation. Jeanne's first call, Vol. I., p. 16. She

receives most wonderful communications, Vol. I., p.

50. Its nature; kinds; that of Jeanne; reality;

degrees; various phenomena. See Vol. I., Book IV.,

ch. 1.
Convent. Of various cities. See their names.
Costume. First indication, Vol. I., p. 52. The mantle, Vol. I.,

p. 62. Indication of scapular, Vol. I., p. 67. Significa^

tion and symbolism of various parts, Vol. II., Book

V., ch. 3.
Cotton (Father). His interviews with Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 61.

His veneration for her, Vol. I., p. 61.
CREST (Father de). Decides the vocation of Mother Mary

Margaret, Vol. I., p. 123.
CROSS. Cross and Passion of Our Lord ; her meditation of,

Vol. I., p. 286. Beautiful thoughts, Vol. I., p. 288. The

breasts of the cross, Vol. II., p. 151.

Demon. Assaults Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 70. Knows the divinity of
the Incarnate Word,Vol. I., p. 283. Tries to confound
her, Vol. I., p. 327. His revolt against God, Vol. I.,
p. 329.

Denis (Saint). Appears to Jeanne, Vol. I., pp. 181.

Denis (Abbe). His life, exile, part in the restoration of the
Order. (See Vol. II., Book VIII., ch. 2).

Directors. Their part in the foundation of the Order, Vol. I.,
p. 58. Office of the Director, Vol. II., p, 157. His
merit, Vol. II., p. 167. Affection deserved by him,
Vol. II., p. 190. Humility in his regard, Vol. II., p.
265. Obedience to him, Vol. II., p. 2S3.

Discouragement. (See Hope).

Discretion (Religious). See Religious Life.

Distractions. Jeanne's thoughts, Vol. II., p. 178.

392

DRYNBS3. Jeanne often experiences it, Vol. I., p. 253. Her
doctrine on the subject, Vol. II., p. 178.

Dvbourg (Mother). Her part in the foundation of the Con-
vent of Evaux, Vol. II., p. 358.

DueauriER. He paints her portrait ; her zeal for him,
Vol. II., p. 218.

Dupont (Father). Becomes her director, Vol. I., p. 61.
DuprE (Madeline). Her history, Vol. I,, p. 176.
Econome. See Treasurer.

Ecstasy. Frequent in the life of Mother de Matel, Vol. I.,
p. 245.

Eucharist. See Beessed Sacrament.

Evaux. Foundation of the Convent, Vol. II., p. 358.

Faith. Her faith. See Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 4.

Fathers (of Incarnate Word). See Vol. II., Book V., ch. 4.

FiGEANT (Marie). 'Jeanne's second companion, Vol. I., p. 51.

Firmness. In her difficulties with Mother Germ. See
Vol. II., Book VI., ch. 2 and 3.

FioT (Sister Jeanne of the Passion). Comes to Paris, Vol. I.,
p. 184. Named Superior, Vol. II., p. 62.

FeEURIN (Sister Catherine). Attaches herself to Jeanne,
Vol. L, p. 63. Her visions on the foundations of the
Order, Vol. I., p. 63. Raptures, Vol. I., p. 64. Her
insistence, Vol. I., p. 65. Entrance into the Congre-
gation, Vol. I., p. 70. Sent to Paris, Vol. I., p. 113.
Takes the habit, Vol. I., p. 120. What she was, Vol. I.,
p. 227.

FloTTE (Marchioness de). Influences Anne of Austria in favor
of the Order, Vol. I., p. 171 Letter of Father Gibalin,
Vol. II., p. 327.

Francis of Assissium (Saint). Jeanne consecrated to him,
Vol. I., p. 7. His glories, Vol. I., p. 356.

GERIN (Mother). Her character, Vol. II., p. 63. Her ambi-
tion, Vol. II., p. 64. Elected Superior of Paris, Vol.
II., p. 69. Her portrait, Vol. II., p. 71. Her admin-
istration, Vol. II., p. 71. Indiscreet insistence with
Mother de Matel, Vol. II., p. 76. (See Book VI., ch.
2 and 3). She goes as Superior to Grenoble, Vol.
II., p. 92. She prevents all compromise at Paris,
Vol. II., p. 334.

Germain (Faubourg Saint). Its state before Jeanne erected
there her convent, Vol. I., p. 186.

393

GiBAIrIN (Father). His opposition to the Order and subse-
quent conversion, Vol. I., p. 110. Kffect of his knowl-
edge of Jeanne's supernatural communications, Vol.
I., p. 117. He confesses himself her pupil in theology,
Vol. I., p. 256. His authentic testimony, Vol. II., p.
127. He testifies to her humility, Vol. II., pp. 258, 204.
His letter on her supernatural visions concerning
Louis XIV., Vol. II., p. 327.

Geory. Theology of, Vol. I., p. 290.

God. vSee Trinity.

GoNDiQohn Francis de). His character, Vol. I., p. 103. Delay
in approving the Order, Vol. I., p. 104.

GouRGlEEON. Origin of the name, Vol. I., p. 130.

Grace, Theology of, Vol. I., p. 2G0. Union with, Vol. II.,
p. 167.

GRASSETEAU (Sister Elizabeth). She follows Jeanne to Lyons,
Vol. I., p. 100. Her attachment to her vocation, Vol.
I., p. 118. She sees Jeanne reclining on the bosom of
the Incarnate Word, Vol. I., p. 190. Her death, virtues;
Jeanne's regrets, Vol. I., p. 199.

Gravier (Sister Francis). She sees Madame de la Piardiere in
glory, Vol. I., p. 207. Separated from the foundress,
Vol. II., p. 84. Sent to Lyons, Vol. II., p. 89.
Returns to Paris, Vol. II., p. 93. Episode in her
office as Secretary, Vol. II., p. 109. Cure obtained
by Jeanne, Vol. II., p. 297. Predictions in her
regard, Vol. II., p. 318. They are verified, Vol. II.,

p. OOO.

GrenobeE. History of the foundation of the Convent, Vol. I.,
p. 169. Its trials, Vol. I., p. 179. Translation of the
foundation, Vol. II., p. 344.

Guesnay (Father). His part in the establishment of the Order,

Vol. I., p. 135.
Heart (Sacred). It is shown to Jeanne, Vol. I. , p. 239. Wound

of, Vol. I., p. 288. Jeanne's devotion to, Vol. II.,

p. 244.
Heei*. Jeanne's fear of it when a child, Vol. I., p. 12.

Hope. The evil of discouragement, Vol. II., p. 174. Hope of
Mother de Matel ; see Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 5.

Humility. Of Mother Mary Margaret, Vol. I., p. 122. Of
Mother de Matel, Vol. I., p. 156. Thoughts on, Vol.
II., p. 179. Its eulogy, practice, Vol. II., p. 184.
Humility of Jeanne ; see Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 9.

394

Ignatius (Saint). Thoughts on him and on his mission, VoL
I., p. 356.

Icxatius (Father). Reception of Jeanne at Orleans, Vol. I.,
p. 87. Graces obtained for him, Vol. II., p. 286.

Incarnation. Figured in a vision, Vol. I., p. 285. Superuat-
ural view and theology of the mystery ; see Vol. I.,
Book IV., ch. 3.

In difference. Sentiment of the religious life, Vol. II., p. 18.
Culpable indifference, Vol. II., p. 174.

Innocents (Holy). Jeanne's devotion, pious alliance, and
thoughts upon them, Vol. I., p. 853.

Jacquinot (Father). First direction of Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 59.
Decides on her vocation, Vol. I., p. 67. Seems to
condemn her, Vol. I., p. 92. Through obedience,
abandons her for a while, Vol. I., p. 94.

Jeanne (Saint) de Chantal. Her spiritual union with Jeanne,
Vol. I., p. 360. Jeanne's vision of her, Vol. I., p. 361.

JEROME (Saint). Appears to Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 362.

Joachim (Saint). Thoughts on him, Vol. I., p. 339.

John (Saint, Evangelist). Jeanne's thoughts on him, and his
privileges, Vol. I., p. 343. The Secretary of the Incar-
nate Word, Vol. II., p. 154.

John (the Baptist). The patron of contemplative souls, Vol.
I., p. 341.

Joseph (Saint). Thoughts of, Vol. I., p. 336. Model of a relig-
ious soul in its relations with the Incarnate Word,
Vol. II., p. 11.

JUST (Abbe de Saint). His coldness to Jeanne on her return
to Lyons, Vol. I., p. 220. How God answered his
doubts of her spirit, Vol. II., p. 130. His cure
obtained by Jeanne, Vol. II., p. 295.

Kindness. Its eulogy, Vol. II., p. 181.

Laeande (Madame de). Wishes to be foundress, Vol, I , p. 98.
Renounces the hope, Vol. I., p. 104.

Latin. Her supernatural acquaintance with the Latin of Holy
Scripture, Vol. I., p 81.

LENET (Madame de). History of her intrusion. See Vol. II.,
p. 101, Book VI., ch. 4. Her conduct during Jeanne's
last days, Book VI., ch, 5. Her unfortunate end,
Vol. II., p. 337,

Leo (Saint). He gives the signal for the foundation of the
Order, Vol. I., p, 135.

:;<)7

Naeeard (vSister of the Holy Ghost). Goes to Paris, Vol. I., p.
184. Her piety and death, Vol. II., p. 61. Cure
obtained by Jeanne, Vol. II., p. 298.

NEUVII/CB (Monseignettr de). Delays the foundation of Lyons,
Vol. I., p. 219. He makes the foundation, Vol. I.,
p. 220.

Novices (Mistress of). Vol. II., p. 6.

Obedience. Of Mother de Matel, Vol. I., pp. 105, 159. vSee
Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 11.

OUER (M.). Slight difference with Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 211.
Her veneration for him, Vol. I., p. 212; Vol. II.,
p. 132.

Pardon of Injuries. See Kindness, Patience.

Paris. Jeanne arrives at Paris for the first time, Vol. I., p. 88.
She leaves it, Vol. I., p. 10G. Catharine Fleurin sent
there, Vol. I., p. 113. Mary Margaret goes to aid
her, Vol. I., p. 127. Account of the foundation of
the convent there, Vol. I., p. 181. History of the
convent and of its ruin. See Vol. II., Book VI.
Jeanne's predictions in its regard, Vol. II., p. 317.
Their accomplishment, Vol. II., p. 333.

Pareor. How one should go to it, Vol. II., p. 16.

Passion of Our Lord. See Cross.

Patience. Jeanne's patience, Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 10.
See also Sufferings, Triaes, etc.

Paue (Saint). Thoughts on St. Paul, Vol. I., p. 348.

Penance. See Mortification.

Peter (Saint). Thoughts on him, Vol. I., p. 345.

PiardiERE (M. de la). Jeanne leads him to piety, Vol. I., p.
194. His kindness towards her, Vol. I., p. 203. He
shelters her during the blockade of Paris, Vol. I., p.
203. Jeanne recognizes his vocation, Vol. I., p. 206.
He is ordained priest, Vol. I., p. 209. Named
Superior at Paris, and induces Jeanne to return to
Lyons, Vol. I., p. 215. They seek to turn him
against her, Vol. I., p. 223. Presides at the first in-
vestiture at Lyons, Vol. I., p. 227. His death and
character, Vol. II., p. 72.

PiardiERE (Madame de la). Her virtue and Christian death,
Vol. I., p. 206. In glory, Vol. I., p. 207.

PiETY. Her precocious piety, Vol. I., p. 11. Its different
forms. See Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 8.

Peague. At Lyons, 1628, Vol. I., p. 84. At Grenoble, Vol.
I., p. 179.

398

Poire (Father). His good will for Jeanne and the Order, Vol.

I., p. 108. \

Portress. What she is, Vol., II., p. 7.

Portrait. Of Mother de Matel. See Vol. II., Book VII.,

ch. 1.
Poverty. In the beginning of the Order, Vol. I., pp. 71, 139.

Its eulogy, Vol. II., p. 181.

Prayer. Jeanne's attraction for, Vol. I., p. 45. Power of
her prayer, Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 12.

Prayer (Mental). Jeanne learns it in the school of Our Lord,
Vol. I., p. 38.

Predestination. See Vol. I., p. 7; Vol. I., p. 264.

Pride. See Humility.

Priesthood. Jeanne's love of it, Vol II., p. 220.

Profession (Religious). See Reeigious Life.

Prophecy. Jeanne announces the death of Monseigneur de
Miron, Vol. I., p. 84. Sees at a distance a step taken
in favor of the Order, Vol. I., p. 114. Another sim-
ilar fact, Vol. I., p. 131. Predicts death of Richelieu,
Vol. I., p. 164. Foresees conspiracy of Cinq-Mars,,
Vol. I., p. 163. Knows the dispositions of M. de
Saint-Just, Vol. I., p. 220. Her spirit of prophecy,
Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 8.

PURE (M. and Madame de). They receive Jeanne at Bermont
and escort her to Paris, Vol. I., p. 85.

Purity. How Our Lord guarded Jeanne's, Vol. I., p. 24. Its
eulogy, Vol. II., p. 181.

Purgatory. Souls of Purgatory, Vol. II., p. 229.

Quiouerant-Beaujeu (Mother). She goes to Azerables, Vol.
II., p. 355.

Rapture. Frequent in Jeanne's Life, Vol. I., p. 233.

Reading. Influence of good reading, Vol. I., p. 15.

REUGIOUS (Life). Jeanne reforms the religious of Dorien, Vol.
I., p. 86. Inconvenience of priests interfering with
interior life of religious houses, Vol. I., p. 112.
Mother de Matel't, views on the religious life. See
Vol. II., Book V., ch. 1. A religious unfaithful to
her rule, Vol. II., p. 161.

REVEE (M. and Madame de). Assume the initiative in founding
the Convent of Grenoble, Vol. I., p. 169.

Richeeieu (Cardinal Minister). Writes to his brother about
Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 158. Visits her, Vol. I., p. 164.
His death, Vol. 1, p. 167.

895

LiNGENDES (Father de). Directs Mother fie Matel, Vol. I.,
p, 91. Sustains her in her abandonment by the So-
ciety, Vol. I„ p. 93. Has justice done to her, Vol. I.,
p. 96. Works for the establishment of the Order,
Vol. I., p, 99. Advises her not to take the habit, Vol.
I., p. 204.

LONGUEVILEE (Duchess de). Protectress of the Daughters of
the Blessed Sacrament, and desires their union with
the Incarnate Word, Vol.1., p, 99.

Louis de Gonzague (Saint). Jeanne's devotion to him, Vol.
I., p. 357.

Louis XIII. Jeanne's prediction concerning him, Vol. II.,
p. 315. His wars, Vol. II., p. 319. Other predictions
concerning him, Vol. II., p. 320. She obtains his
cure, Vol. II., p. 330.

Louis XIV. When a child signs the Letters Patent for the
Convent of Grenoble, Vol. I., p. 171. .Supernatural
intervention of Jeanne in his birth, Vol. II., p. 322.

Love (of God). Jeanne's love of Him as a child, Vol. I , p. 13.
Ardor of that love, Vol. I., p. 38. Examples of her
daughters' love, Vol. II., p. 21. On the love God
has for us, Vol. II., p. 145. Love that suffices, Vol, II ,
p, 145, Love a pass-key, Vol. II., p. 150, Love of
God for souls, Vol., II„ p, 184, Its excellence, Vol.
II„ p. 185. Jeanne's love of God, Vol. II., Book VI.,
ch. 6,

Love (of the neighbor). Love of the poor, Vol. I., p. 47. Love
of Jeanne de Matel for her neighbor, Vol. II , Book
VII,, ch. 7.

Lucy (Saint), Appears to Mother de Matel, Vol. I., p. 363.

Lyons. House of Lyons seen in a vision, Vol. I„ p. 81. State
of the Congregation during her first visit to Paris,
Vol, I., p. 105. Return and stay in Lyons, Vol. I.,
p. 106. Petition of the Lyonnese to the Cardinal
Archbishop, Vol. I., p. 115. Several religious leave the
house, Vol. L, p. 116. Fervor of the others, Vol.' I.,
p. 118. Jeanne's benediction on the house, Vol. I.,
p. 119. More defections, Vol. I., p. 154. Weakening of
the fervor, Vol. I., p. 154. Account of its foundation,
Vol. I., p. 223. New foundation, Vol. II., p. 361.

Magdalen (Saint). Jeanne's familiarity with her, and her
thoughts on the Saint, Vol. I., p. 350. She speaks of
her, Vol. II., p. 153.

396

Marriagk. Jeanne called to the mystic marriage, Vol. I.,
p. 247.

MATEE (M. de). His family; his character; Vol. I., p. 9. He
resists her vocation, Vol. I., p 20. His behavior on
her leaving his house, Vol. I., p. 71. He insists on
her returning to take her mother's place, Vol.I.i
p. 76. His reception of her at Paris, Vol I., p. 88.

Matee (Madame de). Trials and protection, Vol. I., p. 69.
Jeanne's feelings for her, Vol.1., p. 48. She consents
to her daughter's departure, Vol. I., p. 69. Her sick-
ness, Vol. I., p. 74. Her edifying death, Vol. I.,
p. 74. Her piety, Vol. I., p. 75.

Meaux (Father de). His direction, Vol. I., p. 60. How and
why he is removed from Roanne, Vol. I., p. 61.
Jeanne's letters to the Father, Vol. II., p. 157. She
obtains his cure, Vol. II , p. 287.

Mercy. Its eulogy, Vol. II., p. 182.

Michaee (Saint). His intervention in a spiritual phenomenon
of Jeanne's life, Vol. I., p. 41. How he becomes pro-
tector of the Order, Vol. I., p. 61. He appears bear-
ing a sword and scales, Vol. I , p. 98. Often appears
to Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 331. What God teaches her of
this Holy Angel, Vol. II., p. 23.

MiEEiEN (Father). Vainly solicits approbation of the Order,
Vol. I., p. 114. Jeanne obtains his cure, Vol. II., p. 288.

Miron (Bishop). Named Archbishop of Lyons, Vol. I., p. 77.
First opposition to the Order, Vol. I., p. 78. First
interview with Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 78. Recognizes
the truth of her mission, Vol. I., p. 80. Presses the
erection of the Order, Vol. I., p. 83. Jeanne warns
him of his approaching death, Vol. I., p. 84. His
death, Vol. I., p. 84.

Morix (Father). Charged to examine Jeanne's mission, Vol.
I., p. 79. vSupports the application for the bull for
Paris, Vol. I., p. 96.

MorTieicaTion. Early spirit of mortification in Jeanne, Vol.
I., p. 14. Perseveres even in her tepidity, Vol. I., p.
19. Her exercises of mortification, Vol. I., p. 46.
See Vol. II., Book VII., chs. 10 and 11.

Mysticism. Inconsequence of those who reject it, Vol. I.
p. 254.

401

TKARS. Jeanne receives the gift of tears, Vol. I., p. '.VI. The
baldric of tears, Vol. I., p. 100. Their value, Vol. II.,
p. 144. Tears of the Saints, Vol. II., p. 170. Their
eulogy, Vol. II., p. 182. The gift of tears, Vol. II.,
p. 208.

Temptations. Jeanne's in youth, Vol. I., p. 21. Their nature,
Vol. II., p. 167.

Theoeogy. Divinely communicated to her, Vol. I., p. 15.
See Vol. I., Book IV. Her spiritual theology. See
Vol. II., Book VII., ch. 3.

ThErrsa (Saint). Sisterly interest, Vol. I., p. 359.

Thomas (Apostle). Jeanne's devotion to, Vol. I., p. 349.

Thou (De). Jeanne warned of the conspiracy, Vol. I,, p. 163.
Reassured of his salvation, Vol. I., p. 165.

Treasurer. (Econome.) Her charge, Vol. II., p. (5.

Trinity (Holy). Inclines to Jeanne and dwells in her, Vol. I.,
p. 42. Baptizes and regenerates her, Vol. I., p. 56.
Her theological views on the mystery. See Vol. I.,
Book IV., ch. 2. An image of the religious life, Vol.
II., p. 7. Jeanne's homage to, Vol. II., p. 232.

Urban VIII. Jeanne asks and obtains for him a prolonged
life, Vol. II., p. 287.

Ursuea (Saint). Encourages the foundress, Vol. I., p. 358.

UrsueE ('Mother St.). Her kindness to the daughters of the
Incarnate Word in the last days of the Convent of
Paris, Vol. II., Book VI., ch. 4.

VEDENE (Madame de). Her friendship for the Order, Vol. I.,
p. 139.

VerpiniERE (Sister de la). Elected Superior of the Convent
of Paris, Vol. II.. p. 104.

VijuX,ard (Sister Mary Margaret Gibalin du). Preparation for
her vocation, Vol. I., p. 122. Sent to Paris, Vol. I.,
p. 126. Chosen Superior of first convent, Vol. I., p.
137. Arrival in Avignon, Vol. I , p. 138. A little
difference with Jeanne, Vol. I., p. 142. Her humble
submission, Vol. I., p. 143. Apparition of Blessed
Virgin, Vol. I., p. 143. How Jeanne tests her humility,
Vol. I., p. 151. She takes the vows, Vol. I., p. 156.
How she governs the convent, Vol. I., p. 172. Appa-
rition of Child Jesus, Vol. I., p. 173.

Vieeard (Sister Helen Gibalin du). Enters the Order, Vol. I.,
p. 122. Placed at the head of the house at Lyons,
Vol. I., p. 184. Goes to Avignon, Vol. I., p. 199.
Named Superior at Paris, Vol. II. , p. 73.

402

Vincent dk Paul (Saint). Known by Mother de Matel, Vol.
L, p. 201).

Virgin i^The Blessed). Her part in the first design of the
Order, Vol. I., p. 57. Constituted its mother and
queen, Vol. I., p. 107. Appears to Mother Mary
Margaret, Vol. I., p. 143. Obtains for De Thou the
grace of a happy death, Vol. I., p. 165. Figures of
her greatness, Vol. I., p. 278. Jeanne's views of her,
her grandeur, mission, etc. See Vol. I., Book IV., ch.
5. Her sorrows, Vol. I., p. 316. Immaculate Concep-
tion, Vol. I., p. 317. Satan defeated in that mystery,
Vol. II., p. 146. Jesus Christ the seal of Mary, Vol.
II., p. 153. Mary His shepherdess, Vol. II., p. 155.
Her candor, Vol. II., p. 156.

Virginity. Jeanne's love for it as a child, Vol. I., p. 14. The
idea that Our Lord gives of it, Vol. I., p. 133.

VIRTUES (of Mother de Matel). See Vol. II., Book VII.

Visions. Vision of the crown of thorns, Vol. I., p. 50. Of
the column and compass, Vol. I., p. 51. Of spiritual
baptism, Vol. I., p. 52. Of the chapel, statue,
etc., Vol. I., p. 54. Of the three chalices, rod
and the three crowns, Vol. I., p. 55. Of the chalice
of flowyers, Vol. I., p. 56. Of the twelve tongues of
flame and twelve doors, Vol. I., p. 56. Of the Ecce
Homo, Vol. I., p. 62. The fold without a door, the
sheep without a shepherdess, Vol. I., p. 64. Of
the crown and doves, Vol. I., p. 64. Of the crown
of the scapular, Vol. I., p. 67. Of Our Lord in the
Ostensorium, Vol. I., p. 68. Of the picture, sun and
Notre Dame de Puy, Vol. I., p. 69 Of the dolphin
on the beach, Vol. I., p. 77. Of Mount Gourgillon,
Vol. I., p. 81. Of the wine press, Vol. I., p. 91. Of
St. Michael, St. Denis and St. Jerome, Vol. I., p. 98.
Of the baldric of tears, Vol. I., p. 100. Of the
lambs of Father Carre, Vol. I., p. 102. Of the heaven
covered with manna, Vol. I., p. 105. Of the temple
and city, Vol. I., p. 114 Of the flame and rose tree,
Vol. I., page 120. Of the garland of sapphire and
stars, Vol. I., p. 134. Of the wonderful trumpets,
Vol. I., p. 184. Of the heart of Jesus in the form of
a rose, Vol. I., p. 145. Of the tiara, Vol. I., p. 155.
Of St. Denis officiating, Vol. I., p. 181. Of the two
golden keys, Vol. L, p. 186. Of the instruments of

399

Richeweu (Cardinal Archbishop). I f is opposition to Jeanne
and to her Order, Vol. I., p. 100. Refuses Father

Millien, Vol. I., p. 114. His severity when starting
for Rome, Vol. I., p. 110. Another refusal, Vol. I.,
]). 128. Visits the convent at Lyons and seizes the
papers of Mother de Matel, Vol. I., p. 150. Recog-
nizes their truth, Vol. I., p. 102. Persists in his
opposition, Vol. I., p. 102. Regrets it when dying,
Vol. I., p. 213. Jeanne's prediction concerning him,
Vol. II., p. 314. He appears to her after death, Vol.
II., p. 310.

Roanne. Jeanne born there, Vol. I., p. 7. Reception on her
passage in 1053, Vol. I., p. 218. Same in 1058, Vol.
II., p. 00. Jeanne's blessing on the city, Vol. II.,
p. 08.

Rocheguyon (Duchess de la). Wishes to be foundress, Vol. I.,
p. 98. Her proposition, Vol. I., p. 137. Presents
Mary Margaret to Anne of Austria, Vol. I., p. 137.
Receives Jeanne and daughters in her house, Vol. I.,
p. 182. Can not become foundress, Vol. I., p. 18S.

Rossignoe (M. and Madame de). Receive the Community
during the blockade of Paris, Vol. I., p. 203. Jeanne's
influence on his sanctification, Vol. II., p. 217. Their
action at her death, Vol. II , p. 123.

Roux (Father). His conversion to the Order, Vol. I., p. 131.

Ruee. See Obedience.

Sacrifice. Spirit of, Vol. II., p. 173.

Sacrament (Blessed). M. de Belly's love of, Vol. I., p. 150.
Thoughts on the Blessed Sacrament. See Vol. I.,
Book IV., ch. 4. The model of the religious life,
Vol. II., p. 9. The consecration compared to a catch
of fish, Vol. II., p. 152. The Eucharist a relic, Vol.
II., p. 192, Jesus Christ a pilgrim, Vol. II., p. 154.
Jeanne's devotion to Blessed Sacrament, Vol. II.
p. 235.

Sacrament (Daughters of the Holy). Establishment of their
Order, Vol. I. p. 99. They fail to unite with the
Order of the Incarnate Word, Vol. I., p. 100.

Sadness. What Jeanne thought of it, Vol. II., p. 17.

Salvador (M. de). His part in the erection of the Convent of
Avignon, Vol. I., p. 141.

Sanctity. Jeanne's idea of, Vol. I., p. 255. Way of the
Saints. Vol. II., p. 109.

Satan. See Demon.

400

Scarron Bishop* of Grenoble. Good will towards Jeanne

and the Oriler, Vol. I., p. 170.
Scripture iHoly!. Supernatural knowledge of. Vol. I., p. 31.

A means of Divine Communication, Vol. I., p. 31.

Writings of Jeanne rich in. Vol. II., p. 147.

Seguier Chancellor*. First interview with Jeanne. Vol. I., p.
165. His veneration for her. Vol. I., p. 166. He
asks her to suppress the Convent of Lyons. Vol. I..
p. 198. Contributes to its foundation. Vol. I., p. 223.
His esteem of her writings, Vol. II.. p. 143. Saved
from danger by invoking her, Vol. II., p. 288. She
predicts his elevation, Vol. II., p. 311.

Separation. Supernatural separation of her mind and soul.
Vol. I., p. 4".

Servieres (M. and Madame de). Jeanne's letter concerning
their daughter. Vol. I., p. 156. Their children cured
through her prayers. Vol. II.. p. ±27. Predicts the
birth of a second daughter, Vol. II., p. 313.

Six. Its grievousness, Vol. I., p. 270: Vol. II., p. 168.

Sleep Spiritual). Mystic, frequent in life of Jeanne. Vol. I.,

p. 242.

Sisters 'Little, of Child Jesus). Their institution. Vol. I., p.
151. Miss de Servieres the first one. Vol. II.. p. 313.

Sisters of Jeanne de Mateli. Opposed to her vocation, Vol.
I., p. 69.

Solitude. Her love of silence and solitude. Vol. I., p. 44.
Spirit of recollection and solitude, Vol. I., p. 51.

Sorel Mother). Her entry into religion. Vol. I., p. ISO.
Elected Superior of the house in Paris, Vol. II.. p.

92. Her administration and character, Vol. II., p.

93. Returns to Grenoble, Vol. II., p. 91

Soul of Jesus . Vol, I., p. 2>2.

Spirit Holy. Gift of Holy Spirit as consoler. Vol. I., p. 56.

Jeanne offered to Him by Blessed Virgin, Vol. I., p.

57. Her homage to him. Vol, II., p. 233.
Spirit of Mother de Mateli. See Book VII.
Sufferings. Also see Trials. Sufferings of Jeanne, Vol. I.,

p. 40.
Superior. Her image, Vol. II., p. 0. Obligations, Vol. II..

p. 18.
Suspensions. See Raptures and Ecstacy.

'»

10:

the Passion, Vol. I., p. 190. Of the mysterious
repose, Vol. I., p. 190. Of the opening in the heart
and the crowns, Vol. I., p. 191. Of the divine shep-
herdess, Vol. I., p. 215. The dove and the eagle,
Vol. I., page 237. Of the incarnation, Vol. I., p. 238.
Of the lamb leaping, in the forest, immolated, Vol. I.,
p. 240. The heart and the lily, Vol. I., p. 241. Of
the couch and the golden chains of contemplation,
Vol. I., p. 240. Of the pit of divine science, Vol. I.,
p. 250. Of the vSacred Humanity and the tent, Vol. I.,
p. 272. Of the fountain with silver tubes, Vol. I., p.
273. Of the divine mother, Vol. I., p. 286. Of the
sea, the 'fisherman and the jewel, Vol. I., p. 321.
Of the repast of blood and milk, Vol. II., p. 30.
Of the temple and key, Vol, II., p. 192. Of bearing
the cross, Vol. II., p. 194. Of the white carpet, Vol.
II., p. 204. Of the altar and the beheaded, Vol. II.,
p. 207. Of the bow and the thunder, Vol. II., p.
214. Of the ship, Vol. II., p. 215. Of the veil and
the snares of love, Vol. II., p. 238. Of the heart and
the bowels on fire, Vol. II., p. 245. Of Cardinal
Richelieu, Vol. II., p. 310. Of the luminous sword,
Vol. II., p. 323. Of Henry IV., Vol. II., p. 328.

Vocation. How the demon attacked that of Jeanne, Vol. I.,
p. 70.

Vows. Jeanne the object of a vow before her birth, Vol. I., p.

7. Solemnization of the first vows, Vol. I., p. 119.

Effects of the vows, Vol. II., p. 2.
War. First civil war under Anne's regency, Vol. I., p. 202.

Second civil war, Vol. I., p. 213. Jeanne intervenes

by prayer, Vol. II., p. 320.

Word Incarnate. (Jesus Christ.) Views on the Incarnate
Word. See Vol. I., Book IV., ch. 3. The model of
the religious life, Vol. II., p. 7. His Resurrection,
Vol. II., p. 149. His stay in the desert, Vol. II., p.
150. He bears the just and sinners, Vol. II., p. 153.
Pilgrim in the Eucharist, phoenix on the cross, Vol.
II., p. 154. How he catches souls, Vol. II., p. 160.

Word Incarnate (Order of.) For the establishment and
different foundations, see index, and names in this
table of contents. The name giyen by our Lord,
Vol. I., p. 52. Why the establishment was so contra-
dicted, Vol. I., p. 55. A special school of perfection,

404

Vol. II., p. 10. Character, constitution, spirit. See
Vol. II., Book V., ch. 2. Love of Jeanne for her
daughters, Vol. II., p. 220. Their vocation, education
of girls, Vol. II., p. 224. The Order at the Revolution,
Vol. II., Book VIII., ch. 1. Its restoration, Vol. II.,
Book VIII., ch. 3. Houses in 1882, Vol. II., p. 368.

Wounds (of Love). Frequent phenomenon in Jeanne's life,
Vol. I., p. 243.

Writings (of Mother de Matel). See Vol. II., Book VII.,
ch. 2. The Cardinal at Lyons seizes them, Vol. I.,
p. 159. Recognizes their truth, Vol. I., p. 162. They
are returned, Vol. I., p. 219.

FINIS.

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CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL UNION

3 0311 00132 7951

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BX 4500.8 .Z8 P461 3 1890 v.
Penaud. P. G.

Venerable Mother Jeanne de
Matel, foundress of the

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Full text of "Venerable Mother Jeanne de Matel, foundress of the Order of the Incarnate Word and the Blessed Sacrement : her life, spirit and works / by P.G. Penaud ; translated from the French by Rev. F.G."

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