On one occasion when the Sisters of the Visitation had made a foundation
in a city famous for the piety of its inhabitants and in which there
were already a number of Religious Houses highly esteemed for external
austerities and severe discipline, they met with much criticism and even
harsh treatment on account of their own gentler and apparently easier rule.
In the end, they made known to Blessed Francis what they had to put up
with.
I ought, perhaps, to say that, among other ill-natured remarks, they had
been reproached with having strewn a path of roses to lead them to Heaven,
and with having brought our Saviour down from the Cross; meaning that they
did not practise many corporal austerities. Those who said this quite
forgot the fact that this Order of the Visitation was founded for the
reception and consolation largely of women, whether young or old, weak in
bodily health, though strong and healthy in mind, whose feeble frames could
not support the external rigour demanded by other Communities.
Our Blessed Father, as I told you, having heard from letters addressed to
him by the Superior, of the harsh treatment and sufferings of his poor
daughters, wrote to her several times on the subject. The following words
of his are especially remarkable for their beauty:
"Beware, my daughter, of replying in any way whatever to these good
Sisters, or to their friends in the world, unless, indeed, you do so
with unalterable humility, gentleness, and sweetness. Do not defend
yourselves,[1] for such is the express command of the Holy Ghost. If they
despise your Order because it appears to them inferior to theirs, they
violate the law of charity, which does not permit the strong to despise the
weak, or the great the small. Granted that they are superior to you, do the
Seraphim despise the little Angels, or the great Saints in Paradise, those
of inferior, nay, of the lowest rank? Oh, my dear daughter, whoever loves
God the most will be the most loved by Him, and will be the most glorious
up in Heaven. Do not distress yourself, the prize is awarded to those who
love."
[Footnote 1: Rom. xii. 19.]