Selected Letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal

My brother de Thorens, said St. Francis to one of his friends, "travelled last month into Burgundy to fetch his little wife, and brought back with her a mother-in-law whom neither he is worthy of having nor I of serving. God has given her to me. She has come to be my daughter in order that I may teach her to die to the world and to live to Jesus Christ. Urged by God's design over her she has left all, and has provided for all with a strength and prudence not common to her sex, such that in her every action the good will find wherewith to praise her and the wicked will not know in what to blame her." In a letter the holy Bishop expresses himself as follows: "The Queen Bee of our new hive, because she is so eager in the pursuit of virtue, is much tormented with sickness, yet she finds no remedy to her liking save in the observance of her Rule. I have never seen such singleness of intention, such submission to authority, such detachment from all things, such acceptance of the will of God, such fervour in prayer as this good Mother shows. For my part I believe that God will make her like unto St. Paula, St. Angela, St. Catherine of Genoa, and the other holy widows." Writing elsewhere to one of his relations he says: "I feel unutterable consolation in seeing the moderation of our dear Mother in regard to all the obstacles that come in her way and her total indifference to the things of earth. In all truth I may say that, proportionately to the graces received, a soul could not arrive at higher perfection. I regard her as an honour to her sex, one who with the science of the Saints leads a most holy, hidden life concealed by an ordinary exterior, who does nothing out of the common and yet is irreproachable in all things." Once again, writing to a Bishop in answer to a letter about Mother de Chantal, St. Francis says: "I cannot speak but with respect of this most holy soul which combines profound humility with a very broad and very capable mind. She is simple and sincere as a child, of a lofty and solid judgement. A great soul with a courage for holy undertakings beyond that of her sex. Indeed, I never read the description of the valiant woman of Solomon without thinking of Mother de Chantal. I write all this to you in confidence, for this truly humble soul would be greatly distressed if she knew that I had said so much in her praise."