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"You have to walk in simplicity".

Lettre autographe signée à Mme d’Albert, 1696

1696130 x 190 mm

A long, beautiful letter of spiritual direction.

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A long and beautiful letter of spiritual direction.

"Meaux 2nd of the year 1696
You have done well, my daughter, to accept the job you have been given, and you must continue to do so as long as your health does not suffer.
The love of retreat is sometimes in the heart without being sensible and elsewhere it is no better, because it is part of retreat that the will is so strong in itself, and the soul in such great recollection that the senses do not enter into it.. If we had given you the novices, you would have had to accept with submission: now rest easy.
Basically, there was nothing in the affair of [Villarceaux] that should trouble your conscience. If you have not acted with the degree of perfection that God demanded, it is because you are a weak and sinful creature; and there is no need to be surprised. Humble yourself; do not be discouraged, and think no more about it.
When you have acted and spoken in the moments according to the movements of your conscience, don't worry any more: Self-love, which you fear so much, arouses these worries, and wants to be too sure of having done well; but true charity abandons everything to God.
As regards discussions on the subject of one's neighbour and his faults, the definite rule is to speak about them only to those to whom it is useful to do so, either to make them aware of a truth by an example, or to advise with them on the means of correcting those who are lacking, when their opinion may be useful.
St Augustine's rule about wanting people to be pleased with us is good and very sufficient.
It is a kind of self-love to reason so much about self-love. Self-love wants to appear enlightened by the discovery of the vices of self-love, in which it finds a penetration that satisfies it. I prefer a kind of self-forgetfulness to lamenting the faults of one's self-love, and this forgetfulness only comes to us when we are full of God.
I do not at all agree that we cannot, when prudence and necessity require it, do actions that result in our fellow man being deceived: for example, a false march to hide from the enemy. If the next person is deceived, then it's their fault. Why does he rush to judgment? Why does he not watch, if it is good? Why is he unjust, if it is evil? Why is he curious, and wants to know what doesn't suit him? You don't have to tell him your secret or that of your friends. Why doesn't he keep within his bounds? To tell the truth, I would not want to be subtle at all, or to disguise myself at all times, for that would be to take an artificial approach; but when there is reason and necessity, I will not hesitate to go in a direction where I do not want to go any further, to take on a garb that makes me unrecognisable, and to evade the pursuit of an enemy. This is not the same as speech, which is the natural expression of thought and should never be contrary to it. The other signs are equivocal; and in speech itself, general expressions can be substituted for precise ones. This is not misleading your neighbour; and if he makes a mistake by rushing to judgement, it is his fault and not yours. The authors you allege to me go beyond the matter: St Augustine pushed it as far as it needed to go, and no more is needed.. Did anyone dare to blame the Christian who took the clothes of a girl, or the girl who took the clothes of this young Christian? Nevertheless, they deceived the expectations of brutal people who hoped for anything other than what they found [*]. We must love the truth; but the truth itself wants to be hidden by innocent means from those who abuse it and to whom it is harmful.
You are right about the writings of pagans and profane people.
By dint of fearing pride in reading the great works of the saints, one would come to fear it even more in reading the word of Jesus Christ. We must walk in simplicity: sometimes there is great pride in fearing pride so much: we must become familiar with our nothingness and then when we rise it is without leaving this bottom.
Mme de sainte-Gertrude's feelings are good.
It is true that there are states very similar to that of the souls in Purgatory, and God throws certain souls into them: he must be praised for this.
Saint François de Sales considered it indifferent whether one did things with attraction or without attraction. There is always a hidden attraction that is followed: the main thing is to love, that is, to conform to God's will [**] .
To love God without knowing why, or rather without feeling why and without knowing distinctly, is a beautiful love.
I very much approve of the passage which transports our heart from the love of the natural body of Jesus Christ to the love of his mystical body. St Bernard's thought is ravishing [***].
The taste which St Catherine of Genoa finds so bad is a taste which, by occupying itself with itself, disoccupies us with God; but God, who gave it to her, taught her to detach herself from it, that is to say not to place her happiness in it, but in God. These refinements are very delicate; although God inspires certain souls, those who take things more simply and simply are no less valuable. In general, it can be said that purely sensible tastes are very dangerous; but when taste is found in the place where truth is also found, it is good and desirable and should not be distrusted.
I'm back in good health, if that's what you want to know.
I don't foresee any business preventing my return at the beginning of Lent. I have not yet set a date for my departure, but it will be soon [****].
I think it is very good that you are doing translations: that will not take you out of the spirit of prayer, any more than the job to which obedience commits you, and for which I give you credit. My regards to Mme de Luynes. Our Lord be with you all the evening.
J-Bénigne de Meaux.

Marie-Henriette-Thérèse d'Albert de Luynes (1647-1699) : daughter of Charles-Louis d'Albert second Duke of Luynes, favourite of King Louis XIII, and Marie Seguier his first wife. Raised in Port-Royal with Marie Louise de Luynes, his elder sister, they both made profession in Jouarre Abbey. Jacques Benigne Bossuet, then a simple ecclesiastic, made the sermon of his profession of vows on the 8th but 1664. He also composed the Discourse on the hidden life in God for Louise de Luynes. Their father, who was close to the Solitaries of Port Royal, had a château built at Vaumurier on land belonging to the abbey, where he received Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. Marie-Louise de Luynes and then her sister were appointed to the priory of Torcy. Mme d'Albert died there "suddenly in appearance on 4 February 1699, as described by Bossuet in the epitaph he dedicated to him:

Here lies Marie-Henriette-Thérèse d'Albert de Luynes.
She preferred honors
Of a birth so illustrious and distinguished
The title of bride of Jesus Christ
In mortification and piety.
Humble, inner, spiritual
In all simplicity and truth,
She joined the peace of innocence...
To the holy frights of a timid conscience.
Faithful to the one who, almost from the moment he was born..,
He had put contempt for the world in his heart,
She was for a long time the example
From the holy and famous monastery of Jouarre,
Where did you come from in this house
To accompany a beloved sister,
There she died the death of the righteous...
February 4th, 1691:
Suddenly on the surface,
Indeed with the same preparations
That if she had been warned of its end...

All the letters addressed to Mrs. Albert shed important light on the thought of Bossuet; they were quickly integrated into the complete works of the author under the title : Letters to Mme d'Albert de Luynes, nun of Jouarre Abbey.

IMPORTANT DOCUMENT.

Correspondence from Bossuet. Tome 7, Ch. Urbain and E. Levesque, no. 1321.
Formerly in the Morrison collection, reproduced in the catalogue: 2nd series, vol. I, p. 260

* reference to the soldier Didymus (c. 304), who rescued the virgin Theodore from the evil place where she had been put and then suffered martyrdom with her. Corneille made him the subject of his tragedy Theodore, virgin and martyr in 1645.

**A treatise on the love of GodBook IX, Chapter IV

***After having shown that the holy women who came from the tomb poured their perfumes, not on a part of Christ's body, but on his entire body (by which he means the disciples), Saint Bernard adds "Quea membra nisi plus illo crucifixo corpore Christus diligeret, pro his ullud crucifigendum non tradidisset".

****Bossuet had travelled to Paris at the end of December 1695. He was preparing to go there again on 6 March, to return to his diocese at the beginning of Lent.

 

1696.In-8, Sheets,130 x 190 mm,12 pages.

black ink, leaves mounted on paper frames.
Missing in the middle of the first leaf affecting one word on each page.

Bio

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

(Dijon, Kingdom of France: 27 September 1627 - Paris, Kingdom of France: Death 12 April 1704)

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