(A.D. 1447.)
[Roman Martyrology. Her festival was celebrated with proper office
at her convent in Ghent, by permission of Clement VIII.; and Paul
V. extended this privilege to all other convents of her order. She
was canonized by Pius VII., in 1807. Her life was written by Peter à
Vallisus, [or] de Rheims, for many years her confessor, in French, and
it was translated by Etienne Julliac, a contemporary, into Latin; and
an epitome of her life was written by Jodocus Clichthrove.]
Colette Boillet, a carpenter's daughter, was born at Corbie, in
Picardy, on Jan. 13th, 1380. Her parents gave her at the font the name
of Nicoletta, and this has been contracted into Colette, the name by
which she is now usually known. From her earliest infancy she seems
to have been singled out for a special work, and her young soul, from
the first, opened to divine grace, as a spring flower to the sun. At
the age of seven, she yearned for a retired life, and she fashioned
for herself a little oratory in the back premises of the carpenter's
wood-yard, into which she retreated for prayer, and there spent many
hours in communion with God. When her childish companions sought her
that they might draw her into their sports and pastimes, she hid under
her bed; but when anything was really wanted of her, or any of her
companions were in trouble, she was at once at hand to assist and
console. If a poor person came to the door whilst the family was at
meals, she would rise and give him her share.
In 1402, at the age of twenty-two, Colette bade farewell to nature,
to her friends, to all of life that was most lovely, and enclosed
herself in an anchorite's cell, built against the walls of the church
of Corbie. These voluntary recluses were common in the Middle Ages.
Those who desired to live this life of seclusion, entered living into
these tombs, which were built up, leaving only a window open, through
which they were fed and communicated. Throughout all Picardy the fame
of the austerities of Colette spread, and many sought her counsel and
prayers. Fearing that her humility would suffer, for three years she
maintained a complete silence, only opening her window to receive the
Holy Sacrament. At length the call came, which it was impossible for
her to resist. Henry de la Balm, her confessor, saw in a dream a vine
full of leaves, but fruitless; then came Colette and pruned the vine,
and it began to yield abundantly. Shortly after this Colette saw, in
vision, a great tree growing in her cell, laden with golden fruit, and
numerous saplings springing up about its roots. Fearing a deception of
Satan, she tore up the young plants, but there appeared more in their
place. Then she thought God summoned her to reform the Order of the
Poor Clares. But she still hesitated; whereupon she was struck blind
for three days, and after that for three days dumb. She hesitated no
longer, but came forth ready, in God's name, to undertake her mission.
She left her cell with regret; turning at the door, and kissing the
threshold, she sobbed forth, "Oh, dear little home, farewell! farewell
my joy and repose! Oh, if men knew how much happiness I have enjoyed in
thee, they would desert palaces to inhabit thy narrow walls."
It was the close of autumn in 1406. The vines were heavy with grapes,
the trees had put on their many-coloured autumnal tints, and the last
shocks of yellow harvest were being gathered in. For four years, in
her seclusion, she had seen nothing of all this, only the golden light
playing on the wall of her chamber, sometimes pale, and sometimes
burning as flame, and the blue sky and the drifting clouds, now dark
grey with winter rains, and then white and fleecy in summer light.
Colette had written all that she had deemed expedient for the
reformation of the Franciscan Order; she placed her writings in a
pouch attached to her girdle, and on foot she started for Nice, where
Benedict XIII. resided, on account of the schism. The pope received
Colette with honour; she made profession of the rule of S. Clare at his
feet, and he appointed her superior-general of the whole order; naming
Henry de la Balm, her confessor, as assistant for the reformation of
the Friars of S. Francis.
This young and feeble woman now set her hand with incredible energy to
the accomplishment of her task. She traversed France, Savoy, Germany,
and Flanders, meeting in some places with violent opposition as a
crazy fanatic, but in other succeeding in establishing a reform. The
provinces of France were ravaged by war, and all the evil passions of
wicked men were let loose; but Colette walked through all dangers,
relying on Divine protection, and never relying in vain. She was
accused of heresy, and even of unchastity, but she was not crushed by
slander, despising reproach as she had defied danger.
In 1410, she founded a convent at Besançon; in 1415, she introduced a
reform into the convent of the Cordeliers, at Dole, and in succession
into nearly all the convents in Lorraine, Champagne, and Picardy. In
1416, she founded a house of her order at Poligny, at the foot of the
Jura, and another at Auxonne. "I am dying of curiosity to see this
wonderful Colette, who resuscitates the dead," wrote the Duchess of
Bourbon, about this time. For the fame of the miracles and labours of
the carpenter's daughter was in every mouth.
In 1422, Colette started for Moulins to meet the duchess, and to found
there a religious house. The Duchess of Nevers summoned her into her
duchy, and she obeyed the summons. It was on her way to Moulins that
she met another maiden, also acting under a special call, though one
of a very different nature. One maiden was called to wear cord and
veil, the other to gird the sword and wear the casque. It was Joan of
Arc, then on her way with Dunois at the head of an army to besiege
Charité-sur-Loire. In Auvergne, Colette converted Isabeau de Bourbon,
and at the age of nineteen the young princess exchanged her diamonds
for the knotted cord of S. Clare.
After having founded the convent of Le Puy, at the request of Amadeus
VII., Colette carried her reformation into Savoy. On the north shore
of the Lake of Geneva, she found a still sweet spot, itself silent and
secluded as a monastery, its white walls reflected in the deep blue
of the lake, and looking out on a range of snowy mountains. At Vevey
she rested to look around her, relax her weary soul, and breathe in
the soft air, sweet from the fields of narcissus. But God had not yet
called her to rest. From all sides devotees came to her,--the Duchess
of Valentinois, the unfortunate Jacques de Bourbon, in turn jailor and
prisoner of his wife, Jeanne of Sicily, with his children, who, having
tasted the life of the cloister, found it was so sweet, that they
abandoned for it the pleasures and ambitions of the world.[26]
[26] Jacques II. of Bourbon, Count of la Marche and de Castres, married
to Jeanne Q. of Naples and Sicily, was imprisoned by his wife, but
escaped, and becoming a third Order brother of S. Francis, at Besancon,
died there, Sept. 24, 1428.
After having spent two years at Vevey, Colette went to Nozeroy, to the
princess of Orange, and remained with her till 1430. Philip the Good,
Duke of Burgundy, recalled Colette to Flanders, where she founded
several houses, and glorified God by many miracles. In the memoirs
of Oliver de la Marche, a Burgundian gentleman of this time, occurs
the following notice of S. Colette; "En celui temps, régnoit une
moult sainte et dévote femme, religieuse de Sainte-Claire, au pays
de Bourgoigne, nommée soeur Colette. Cette femme allait par toute la
chrétienté, menant moult sainte vie, et édifiant maisons et églises de
la religion de Saint François et de Sainte Claire. Et ai été acertené,
que, par son pourchas et par sa peine, elle avait édifié de son temps
trois cent quatre-vingts églises."
It would seem almost as if Colette had a natural love for mountains, so
generally do we find her returning to them, and laying at their feet
the foundations of her dearest homes. Perhaps the mystery of their
blue-veined valleys, and the wondrous changes wrought by the sun and
clouds on their sides, filled her with a sense of love and awe. But it
was not from among the mountains that she was summoned away. The call
to the everlasting hills came to her on the flats of Flanders, in the
city of Ghent. There she died on March 6th, 1447, laying herself down
to repose as gladly as the weary labourer in harvest time, who returns
to his home and to sleep after a day of incessant toil.
When the Emperor Joseph II. suppressed many religious houses in his
dominions, in 1785, the Poor Clares of Ghent took up the body of S.
Colette, and traversing France, laid it beneath the mountain shadows
at Poligny. The holy relics were secreted at the time of the French
Revolution, and on the return of tranquillity, they were placed in the
parish church; but the Poor Clares having re-established themselves at
Poligny, the bones of the saint have been restored to them.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
March 7.
SS. PERPETUA, FELICITAS, SATURUS, AND COMPANIONS, _MM. in Africa_,
A.D. 203.
S. EUBULUS, _M. at Cæsarea in Palestine_, A.D. 308.
S. PAUL THE SIMPLE, _H. in the Thebaid_, _4th cent._
S. GAUDIOSUS, _B. of Brescia_, _circ._ A.D. 445.
S. EASTERWIN, _Ab. of Wearmouth_, A.D. 785. (_See S. Benedict
Biscop, Jan. 12th; p. 172._)
S. THOMAS AQUINAS, _Doct., O.P., at Fossa Nuova_, A.D. 1274.