Our Blessed Father used to praise very highly the conduct of Blessed
John of Avila as having been prompted by great strength of mind, and
extraordinary forgetfulness of self in that his zeal made him not only
love his neighbour as himself but even more than himself. I will give you
an instance of this in Francis' own words, addressed to Theotimus: "The
Blessed Ignatius of Loyola, having with such pains set up the company of
Jesus, which he saw produced many fair fruits, and foresaw many more that
would ripen in time to come, had, nevertheless, the nobleness of soul
to resolve that, though he should see it dissolved (which would be the
bitterest pain which could befall him) within half an hour afterwards,
he would be stayed and tranquil in the Will of God. John of Avila, that
holy and learned preacher of Andalusia, having a design to form a company
of reformed Priests for the advancement of God's glory, and having
already made good progress in the matter, as soon as he saw the Jesuits
in the field, thinking they were enough for that time, immediately, with
incomparable meekness and humility, renounced his own undertaking. Oh, how
blessed are such souls, bold and strong in the undertakings God proposes
to them, and withal tractable and facile in giving them up when God so
disposes. It is a mark of a most perfect Indifference to leave off doing a
good work when God pleases, and to return, our journey half accomplished
when God's Will, which is our guide, so ordains."[1] I may tell you, my
Sisters, that you have only to change the name of John of Avila into that
of the Blessed Francis de Sales, and you can apply to an event in his life
these very words. I know that he had in his mind a scheme of forming a
Congregation of Priests, not bound by monastic vows, something on the
pattern of your Order of the Visitation in its beginning; but, of course,
conformable to the calling of the Priesthood. Hearing, however, that
Pierre de Berulle, that faithful servant of God, afterwards a Cardinal,
had established the Congregation of the French Oratory, now so greatly
distinguished for its piety and learning, he abandoned his enterprise,
rejoicing that God should have given this holy commission to one less busy
than himself, and therefore more capable of ordering all things in this
holy Society, and thus promoting the glory of God. I have said, that he
meant to take the Visitation as a model of this projected Congregation of
Priests, intending them to develop, and to prosper side by side. I must
add, however, that even before the formation of your Congregation he had
made an attempt in the same direction by drawing together a little company
of hermits on the gloomy but holy mountain of Notre Dame de Voiron, and
preparing for them laws and constitutions in the observance of which they
have lived with great sanctity ever since.
You know also that his zeal was so condescending in its nature, and that he
was so little wedded to his own opinions, that, though the Visitation had
flourished for four or five years with great edification to others as well
as to itself, yet as soon as His Grace the Archbishop of Lyons, afterwards
Cardinal de Marquemont, had represented to him that it would better for
it to be re-constructed with vows and enclosures like other Orders, he
consented to change its whole constitution.
Speaking of great works undertaken for the glory of God, which, owing to
the illness or death of their founder or head, sometimes seem in danger of
falling to the ground, Blessed Francis said: "There are some undertakings
which God wishes to be begun indeed by us, but completed by others. Thus
David gathered together materials for the temple which his son Solomon
built, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius Loyola, sighed for the grace
of martyrdom, and sought for it by all possible means; yet God would not
crown them with it, contenting Himself with the offering of their will.
"To submit ourselves simply and cheerfully to the Will of God in the
failure of undertakings which concern His glory is an act of no small
resignation."
[Footnote 1: Book ix. chap. 6.]