1. 1. LIFE of the Reverend Mother -~.L.~-s~ ,,.., ,_~ ..;~~- !~ ~~~ . JEANNE CHEZARD de MATEL Foundress of the Order of the Incarnate W ord and the Blessed Sacrament A ccording to ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS by The Reverend Mother Saint Pierre of Jesus, Superioress of the Mona;tery at Lyons, France ~ an s lated from the Original French - by HENRY CHURCHILL ~' S. J . CHAP~A IN OF LOYOLA UNIVERSITY , NEW ORLEANS, LA. Author of "A nglican Ordinations," "What Times, Vhat Morais," .:Heaven Op e n to Souls, , "American Liberty Enlightening the World " ' CONVENT OF THE INCARNATE WORD SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS ST. MARY'S SEMINARY LIBRARY Perryvllle, M Issouri
2. 2. , Chicago, Ill.
3. 3. Copyright, 1922 SISTERS 01 by Mother d e Bly in her Man uscript Memoir. Pa rt I, Cil , I.
4. 30. BinTH-EARLY YEAUS fruit of benediction, and six weeks later Jeanne de Matel 'n1s havpily born to the 'yorld on :November 6, 1596. " Te haYe alreacly seen how by a piovidential concidence, - Fac- ~imile of the record of Baptism of Jeanne Chezard de n1atel taktn from the parish register of the Church of St. Stephen at Roanne. there presented themselves two poor children who were to hold the babe at the Baptismal font. That very day '"Jeanne was placed in the hands of innocent poverty to receie the Sacrament of Regeneration in the parish church of St. Stephen at Roanne.m Fr~nn that moment the sponsors became inmates qf the house where they were educated and brought up in the fear of God until they reached the age in which they were capable of earning a livelihood. 1.Autograpllic Lif, ch. II.
5. 31. 6 LIFE OF JEANNE CHEZARD DE :MATEL All Roanne, which had shared the affliction of Mr. and lfrs. de Matel, was filled with joy by this birth. Ancient memoirs even tell us that enernies were reconciled on the occasion of these general rejoicings. This was a happy augury of the blessings of which this child would be the object. Other rernarkable traits revealed themselves in the singular goodness of her character. Her nurse testified that she never heard the child cry during the year which she had care of her. - This nurse., when obliged to go out, feared not to leave her alone in her cradle; and on her return would find the child awaiting her with smiles and caresses. Ladies, attracted by her arniability, would take the child to their homes and she would make no resistance. She captivated all by her charming disposition, and, at the same time, astonished tbem by her- precocity. At nine months she walked alone and spoke distinctly. Her nurse affirmed th at she said: "lfamma, take care that I speak correctly.m The development and vivacity of her intellectual facul- ties were no less Jldmirable. From this awakening, things of the supernatnral order interested her singularly. What to do to enter Paradise, the way that leads to it, or occu- pation in it, were thoughts that aroused her childish anxiety. She asked questions e.specially from her godmother. The latter who was only six years older than he1 goddaughter, replied : "To get to Heaven, we must walk on a plank wh ich is no broader than a liair of our head."2 Truly a graphie illustration to show that the path to Heaven is narrow ! Jeanne wns disconcerted and asked how she could walk on this plank since she weighed more than a har eould snstain. The yonng catechist reassured her and said: "It i:;:; easy for the good, but the bad fall into an abyss which is below and is enlled hell."3 'Vhen she asked whai we do in Paraclif'e, the answer was that the Blessed are always Reated in glo1y. 1.'he vivacity of the ehi1d became alarmed: iAutogrn p ll ic Li fc, ch . I I. 2/.ntographi c Li fc, c h . III. 3lh icl cm.
6. 32. BIRTH-EAULY YEARS ,... "H ow cquld she stay sitting still forever ?" The presence of the good thief in Heayen eaused her to clread lest God, being so good, He might let Paradise be robbed. Thanks to such naiYe thoughtsl grace caused the soul of Jeanne to he penetrated "ith horror for sin which leads to hell, and witb loYe for goodness which condncts to Heaven. In order not to weary imprudently an intelligence which was already too actire, Madame de Matel was umYilling that her daughter should learn to read before the comple- tion of her sixth year. Thus it was necessary for the child to memorize the pra.rers which she desirecl to recite. Vhen her father wished to keep her on his lap, a thing not easy in the case of his restless and petulant daughter, she would say, "I will stay with you on condition that you 'vill teach me the prayer which says that Our Lady is the palace of ~1 esus Christ, and the prayer to my good angel.m At the time these were ~Jeanne's favorite deYotions. Her confidence in the Blessed Virgin was so great that she had recourse to her in all her little afflictions, "promising to serve _her well if she delivered her from them."2 She even prayed to her to teach her dancing "becanse she did not wish to learn this from meii.m Great was the happi- ness of the pious child when she was permitted to learn to read. She recorded this memory in her autobiography: "r bounded with joy when I learned that my sixth year was completed. You know, dear Lord, with what feror of spirit I prayed to St. Catherine, Yirgin and :Martyr, to obtain for me the graee to learn to read soon, for Your glory and my salvation. I outstripped all the children of my age and surpassed the expectations of my parents whose love for me, which was already too great, now redoubled."4 Vhilst Jeanne saw the tenderness of her parents re- doubled on the occasion of her rapicl progress, God caused to shine in her mind, by means of the science which He reYeals to the lowly, the first gleam of one of those renrn1k- able graces 'Yith which He wishecl to faor her. She found 1Autograph ic L ife, ch. II I. 2I b idem . 3l bidem . 4l b id e m.
7. 33. 8 LH~E OF' .JEANNE CHEZ.AUD DE :MATEL a dozen detached leaves from the life of St. Catherine of Sienna and read them with avidity. Tt is there said that the Saint practiced the connsels of the Gospel. From this ~Jeanne conelnded that the Saint nrnlerstood Latin, and thinking tlrnt the Go~pel eould not 1Je iead in any other langnage, she immediately exclaimed: "Lord, if I nnder- stood the Latin of the Gospel, like this Saint, I would love You as much as she did.m She thought no more of what she thus said, but J esns took cognizance of her words. The day will corne when He will fulfill the condition which she has laid down and He will say to her: "I have done what thou hast desired of Me; now give Me what thou hast promised."2 At the age of seven ~leanne heard a sermon in which the preacher extolled the lJrerogatives of virginity. An ardent desire to possess this privilege :fired her young soul. At all costs she must particip~te in those favors. By desire, she ran in the steps of the Divine Lamb, to follow wherever He went in the fields of Heaven. 'l'his virginal advantage was not the less appreciated by the li ttle objector who rP-joiced in finding means .to escape from eternally sitting with the Blessed in Heaven. She askedwhat she must do to be a virgin. 'rhenceforward she so firmly resolved not to marry that when a projec.t of a union for her came to her knowledge, she retired to weep over what she considered to be a misfortune. This love of virginity, although borrowing. childlike al- lurements from ~Jeanne's tender years, came nevertheless, from Heaven and in due tne engendered in her soul an attraction for mortification which is its custodian. Hence- forth she fasted on the vigils of all the great feasts. Having reached the age of ten, she 'vished to fast during the whoh~ of l,ent. She says in her autobiographJ:: "I did this 'vith g1eat courage, nlthough my intention was not pnrified, for T hay human respect from doing this. Hitherto, all Roanne had admired her piety. From her tender childhood, she had sh"wn such a desire of becoming a religions, that, as she thought, she should not allow her lukewarmness to be seen. Yhat she thonght she was concealing, was visible to all. Yhen heretofore, there had been opportunities to appear in company, she had always yielded to her aunt or to her younger sister her rights as the- eldest daughter of the house; now she rarely made any objection to accept invita- tions to evening parties. She could easily bave found a way to refuse her company but she did nothing of the. kind and readil~T acceded to the slightest requests. Then, in order to calm the reproaches of her conscience, she said to God: r will be most mindful of Yon during the dance.m As soon as ~Jeanne appeared at these worldly reunions, Our Lord made Hirnself known to her, as she relates: Yith a presence which was ipxhdble to the e.res of my body but v:;ible to the eyes of my spirit which kept saying in a char- itable tone: 'Y1rnt a fine figure you eut in the dance!' At these words, I blushed with shame; neYertheless the next uring these 1minfnl colloquies, what about the gaiety of the obstinate pleasure-seeker? Did her frolicsome corn panions surmise the secret of those interior contradictionf:? By no means, nothing exterior betrayed these combah:; i11 lier soul. As she tells us, "I watched over my interior and exterior.m 'Vhen she was alone, the struggle came back mo1e te1ribly and dedsively. 'J'he battle was being wagf:d, not for these passing pleasures, but for her vocation itself. On the one hand, the fear that by her neglect she mjght become criminal in the eyes of God and even of man, made her apprehensive of resisting the attraction which she had always felt for the religions life. On the other hand, the .fervent love that she formerly felt for solitude and morti- fication which she had considered the sweetest joys of life, was now replaced by disgust and pusillanimity. She feared that she could not endure the rigors of the cloister and she was alarmed at the thought of being confined there fmever. "I could not resolve," she says, "to face the austerity practised, as I thought, in religion. I suffered no tempta- tion and I had no thought of marriage. You had exempted me from every sensual sentiment and I had no knowledge of such things, but I dreaded to be shut in all my life, and T desired to be able to enjoy my liberty and freedom with- out anv feai of constraint.''3 .. . While a prey to these perplexities, the ungrateful child sometimes went so far as to regret that she had received so many special impulses of grace. "Oh, if I had not been born where devotion and piety were nurtured, I would not have giyen myself up to its practice. And if I bad not seen that little girl who lent me tbe book recording the miracles of Your Holy Mother, I would not uow be a prey to the . annoyances and sorrows in which I am entangled, as a eonsequence of following thm;e devotions. Alas, my God., l A utog r a phie Life, c h. VIII. 2lbidem. :nbh1em.
8. 45. 20 LIFE OF JEANNE CHEZ.ARD DE llATEL if to deliver me from anxiety You would only make my father and mother say decidedly that they are unwilling for me to enter a couvent, I would be relieved of the appreheusions I feel lest I may have been unfaithful to You, and also of the shame I would suffer in the eyes of those who have known my aspirations.m However, grace had the last word. "Alas! what am I saying? Dear Lord, pardon a child who is tempted aud troubled, and asks for what is contrary to her wel- fare. My God, I do not want to leave You and I do not waut to yield to these temptations, but give me strength to surmount them. I abandon myself to Your mercy. Have pity on me, although I am so unworthy of it.m Wbile thus tempted from within, Jeanne was also tor- mented from without. A woman in the service of her aunt, manifested a worldly affection for her. On many occasions she argued that she would do wrong to sacrifice her priv- ilegcs as the oldest child of her family, to become a religious; that she was too highly gifted to shut herself up in a cou- vent; that from her first sojourn in that locality, all saw her but to admire her. This flattery made an impression on a spirit already shaken, but Jeanne's pride did not permit her to show it, and she non-plussed the worldly- wise woman by replying with apparent firmness, "No, I wish to be a religions." A cousin also spok~ to Jeanne-in the same strain. This very frivolous young lady was most eager to bring her fnto contact with her own girl friends and thereby induce her to take part in their vain amusements. One day, with an indiscretion equal to her 1evity, she confidentially related to Jeanne some of the criticisms which she had heard others pass upon her; they rema.rked that she did not now enter into the intentions of her own ~other, in giving so little of ber time to ber sick aunt and they thought that Madame de Matel had no cause to fear that Jeanne would be a religions. She added, with many caresses: "I beg you Hot to enter a couvent. 'Vlrnt wonld you do in a cloister? 1A n tographic Life, ch. VIII. 2Tbicl em.
9. 46. THE EPOCH OF STRUGGLES 21 Hemain in the world with us." "I make no promise," replied Jeanne, 'God calls me, and I will not be unfaithful to Him.''1 This time her words came from the heart. There was in the tone and manner in which she expressed herself, something that made her cousin realize that nothing would turn her away from her vocation. Unconsciously, this young feather-brained cousin irre- vocabl~y strengthened ,Jeanne in her vocation, for the startling revelation suddenly enlightened her. To render herself agreeable to creatures, she abandoned God and by her very infidelity to Him, she even displeased her friends. Her straightforward mind recognized ber own miscalcu- lation and she said : ''Dear Lord, it is right for creatures to be disgusted with one who does not love as she ought her own Creator and theirs, and who from vain com- placency wished to abandon her Creator to adhere to them.m Jeanne immediately resolved to return tQ her mother and resume her former life of prayer and mortification, and to break away from all that would withdraw her from God. She was determined to profit by the painful experi-. ence of her own weakness. Relying on God's goodness, she said to Him: "It is in Your mercy that I place my hope ! I make You no pr01nise to fight with generosity. -nrithout You I can do nothing. You shall do all.m This humble avowal gave complete success to the de- signs of Providence. The indispensable foundation for the spiritual edifice was now solidly and deeply established. The intimate know1edge of the little or nothing she could do of herself, would aid her, through her whol life, to ascribe to God the numberless benefits which she would receive from Him. lfany arguments were brougbt forth to compel Jeanne to alter her resolution; the inadvisability of undertaking a journey in the midst of the rigors of winter, etc., but she remained firm and nothing could make her defer her departure. After her return - to the paternal roof, she 1Autographic Life, ch. IX. 2Ibidem. 3Jbidem.
10. 47. 22 LIFE OF JEANNE CHEZARD DE MATEL suffe1ed for some time from the wounds inflicted on her :--;oul. She thought she read blame on every face, and that all shared the discontent which she felt with herself. 'Hie Divine Physician was to be the healer of these wounds. "On the first Sunday of Lent," relates Jeanne, ''it pleased You, 0 my Divine Flame, to enlighten me and to convert me entirely to Yourself. Yon then gave me a share in the victories which You did gloriously gain in the desert, and, on that day. You said to me: 'Place thy trust in lfe, I have vanquished thine enemies.' m The word of God is ever true and efficacious, it accom- plishes what it cornrnands. The struggle 'vas over and vic- tory was on the side of ~Tesus. )"e slrnll now see Him lavishing upon her the riches of His love and grace, to enrich His dear conquest, and dispose her for the realization of His designs upon her. lAutographic Life, ch. IX.
11. 48. CHAPTER Il I The Fruits of Victory 1615- 1618 Jeanne was not fullv aware of the numberless blessings~ ~ promised by the ..,.ord "..hich had delivered her from danger and put her enemies to flight. The :first effect produced hy her reawakening. was the arousing of indignation against herself. She fe1t so deeply her ingratitude to God, shown by her unfaithfulness to her pious practices, that she wished Ilis justice would pursue her with the utmost rigor. But the more she longed for severity, the more J esus showed His tenderness. 'rhat ! dear Lord/' she exclaimed, "You caress her who only a month ago said to You: 'Vhy do You call me to be devout?' and who seemed angry be- cause Your goodness had thought of her from eternity ! . . . It is not right for an ingrate to receive so many sweetnesses and to be treated "..ith lm..e: lea"e me in fear. and chastise my infidelities by the prfration of all con- solations, except such as are necessary for my salYation.'-1 The issue of this struggle was not doubtful. The humble and repentant lo-ve which stripped itself, coulcl not pre- Yail against the generous and all powerful love which ,-dshed to gfre in abundance. These outpourings of an humble and contrite heart. far from hindering the lansh- ings of the God of mercies, only increased them. Xone could then foresee the length to which these divine liberal- ities would go. On the fi rst ~Jonday of Lent. in the year 1615, .Jeanne was assisting at ~lass. profoundly recollected and atten- tfre to each prayer of the priest. To he:r' intense aston- if'hment she understands. after the reading of the Epistle. the liturgical language. . . At the same moment. God vividly recalls to her mind that twelYe years before, she bacl assured Him that if He taught her to understancl J,Auto~raphic Life.1 h, X. 23
12. 49. 24 LU'E OF JEANNE CHEZ.AUD DE 1IATEL the Latin of the Gospel, she woulcl love Him as much as did St. Catherine of Sienna. She was now commanded to. fulfill her promise. Our Lord bad bestowed on ber the gift of understandiug the Latin language and the mystical ~ense of the Roly Seriptures. ':rhese were singular favors. The education of women, cven in the great age of Louis XIV, ordinarily included 011ly vel'y limited instruction. Fortunately, at that time there was, at least, no educational law which blocked the eareer marked out by Providence for girls of high 01 of mo(lest birth. If some snrpassed their cornpanions in 1iter- my achievements, they owed these advantages to exceptional situations: their natural aptitudes had attracted the at- tention of a friend or interested the zeal of a relative. Not a few were under obligations to a priest for their eminence in literatnre or in the sciences. Madame de Sevigne lrnd her Abb de Coulanges, and witt:v dames of that epoeh rejoiced in the atmosphere of Port-.Royal. But .Jeanne de lfatel had no such aids. And yet none the less 1-!he became a great writer, and, above all, a consummate theologian. 'I'his "~ealth of science which came to ~Teanne as quick as lightning and which was as lasting as the source from which it flowed, was., as is readily seen, more than a celestial condescendence. It was a means to the end proposed by the Incarnate 'Yord. Jt was the characteristic mal'k of His special grace, the radiant sketch of His mvn super- natmal physiognomy. 'I'he Lord had predestined her to hecome, in a special nrnnner, the sponse of the Snbstantial 'Yord of the Father, and He gave her intelligence with 1eganl to God's revea1ed wonl and even to the language in which the Chnl'ch p1rse1ves it. 'J'he "'Y01