On one occasion, some one speaking to him, my Sisters, of your
"Congregation," said: "But what do you mean to do with all this crowd of
women and maidens? Of what use will they be to the Church of God? Are there
not already enough of such institutions into which these applicants might
be drafted? Would you not be doing better if you were to establish some
College for the training and education of Priests, and spend your time on
them instead of on these persons to whom one must repeat a thing a hundred
times before they can retain it? And then, after all, if they do, it is a
treasure buried, a candlestick under a bushel. Is it not a case of painting
on water and sowing on sand?"
Our Blessed Father, smiling graciously, answered with his extraordinary
serenity and sweetness: "It is not for me to work with costly materials;
goldsmiths handle the precious metals, potters only clay. Believe me, God
is a skilled workman; with poor tools He can accomplish wonderful work. He
is wont to choose weak things to confound the strong; ignorance to confound
knowledge, and that which is nothing to confound that which seems to be
something. What did He not do with a rod in the hand of Moses? With the
jaw-bone of an ass in that of Samson? With what did He vanquish Holofernes?
Was it not by the hand of a woman? When He willed to create the world, out
of what did He form it, save nothingness? Believe me, great fires are often
kindled from small sparks. Where was the sacred fire found when the Jews
returned from their captivity among the Medes? In a little mud!
"This weaker sex is deserving of being treated with great tenderness; we
must take much more care of it than we do of the stronger one. St. Bernard
says that the charge of souls is for the weak far more than for the strong.
Our Lord never refused His assistance to women. He was generally followed
by several of them, and they did not forsake Him on the Cross, where he was
abandoned by all His disciples excepting His beloved John. The Church
who gives the title of devout to this sex does not hold it in such low
estimation as you do.
"Besides, do you reckon as nothing the good example which they may set
wherever God calls them? Is it unimportant in your opinion to be a sweet
odour in Jesus Christ, an odour of life eternal? Of the two requisites for
a good pastor, precept and example, which think you is the most estimable?
For my part I think more of an ounce of example than of a hundred pounds'
weight of precept. Without a good life doctrine turns into scandal; it is
like a church bell, it calls others, but itself never goes in; hence the
reproach: _Physician, heal thyself_.
"Even if holy women only served as perfumes for the Church they would not
be useless. A great deal of incense is employed by her in her ceremonies!
"It is true that there are, as you say, a great many other Congregations
already in the Church, into which some of those who are enrolled in this
new one might enter; but there are, besides, many in the Visitation who,
on account of their age or infirmities, or because of their feebleness
of constitution, though they be young, are quite incapable of enduring
the bodily austerities imposed by other Orders, and therefore cannot be
admitted into them. If we receive into this one some who are strong and
healthy, it is that they may wait upon the weak and delicate, for whom this
Congregation has chiefly been instituted, and to put in practice that holy
command: _Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of
Christ._[1]
"As for your exhortation to me to think about forming a Congregation of
Priests, do you not see that that is already planned by M. de Berulle, a
great and faithful servant of God, who has far more capacity for the work,
and much more leisure also, than I can get? Remember how heavily burdened
I am with the charge of a diocese, in which is situated such a place as
Geneva, the very fountain-head of the errors which are troubling the whole
Church. In conclusion, let us leave great designs to great workmen. God
will do what He pleases with my little plan."
[Footnote 1: Gal. vi. 2.]