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LIFE OF M. OLIER.

^ii)il obBtat

Imprimatur.

D/e SI'"" Mail, 1885.

Eduardus S. Keogh, C^«^. Ora(.
Censor Deputatus.

Henricus Edqardus,
Card. Archiei), Westmonast.

*** Any profits that may be derived from the sale of
this book will be applied in aid of ecclesiastical
seminaries.

VjV

THE LIFE

JEAN-JACQUES OLIER,

FOUNDER OF THE SEMINARY
OF ST. SULPICE,

EDWARD HEALY THOMPSON, M.A.

Tempui est ut incipiat judicium a domo Dei.

1 Pet. iv. 17.

ilitljj antj €nlars£ti ©tiition

UNIVCrvSITAS S. PAUU

BiSLiOTHtQUE - LWAW^
2S3 MAJH OTTAWA

LONDON:

BURNS AND GATES,

Granville Mansions, Orchard Street, Portman Square.

1885.

SEMINARIUM
^AVIENSN^.

THE SFXULAR CLERGY

OF ALL KN(JLLSH-SPKAKING COUNTRIES

THIS LIFE OF

A GREAT PASTOR OF SOULS,

A TRUE AMI INTREPID REFORMER,

AND

THE FOUNDER OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL SEMINARY

WHOSE PRAISE IS IN ALL THE CHURCHES

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY

INSCRIBED.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THIS Life of the holy Founder of the Community and Seminary
of St. Sulpice is grounded ahiiost entirely on the great work
of the Abbe Faillon, which may justly be styled one of the most
complete and exhaustive biographies which were ever written. That
work was first published in two volumes, but was subsequently
extended by the author into three ; and it is on the lines of this
enlarged edition that the present Life has been constructed.

In utilising the materials so abundantly provided, the writer, while
abridging or condensing some of the numerous extracts from M.
Oiler's writings which admitted of compression, or incorporating
the substance of them in the narrative, has proceeded uniformly on
tlie plan of giving all interesting details, whether historical or per-
sonal, and has not unfrequently introduced into the body of the
work some of the striking traits contained in the copious notes with
wliich M. Faillon's volumes are furnished. To represent the man
and his mission in the world, — to bring out in full relief the idea
with whifh he was possessed and the principles by which he was
guided, — has been his main endeavour ; he has, moreover, made it
a special object to preserve what constitutes an attractive feature in
the original work, the notices of M. OUer's contemporaries, many of
whom were persons not only distinguished for eminent spiritual
attainments, but favoured with high supernatural gifts, and has been
careful to retain all such incidental particulars as serve to illustrate
the state of -eligion in France and what may be called the religious
habits of society at the time. For this reason, among others, he has
given in foot-notes a short account of some among the most famous
shrines of our Lady and other places of pilgrimage which were the
objects of popular devotion ; and it has been a matter of no slight
interest to him to observe in how many instances that devotion has

via

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in the present day re-nssumecl its ancient forms in defiance of the
prevailing impiety and unbelief.

M. I'aillon enjoyed one inestimable advantage, as corr; pared with
M. Olier's previous biographers, in having access to the Mhnoires
wliich the servant of God composed in obedience to his director, the
I'erc Hat.iille ; a task which he performed with all the simplicity and
sincerity of a child. These Memoires were of two kinds : one
recording the lights vouchsafed him on a variety of religious sub-
jects ; the other containing, together with many notable passages of
his liio, a particular account of the dealings of God with his soul,
his interior trials and su[)ernatural favours, and the mysterious ways
by which he was prepared and fashioned by Divine grace for his
extraordinary mission. The first was composed with the persuasion
that it would one day be jmblished, and serve to the edification of
souls ; the second was Intended for the eyes of his director alone, a
fact which it is necessary to note, as explaining why we find him
entering into so many personal details, and employing terms which,
but for the positive command of his spiritual guide, would have
been repugnant to the humility of one who regarded himself with so
little esteem. Each sheet, as it was written, was put into P.
Bataille's hands, who, after the death of his saintly penitent, com-
mitted the whole of the papers to the keeping of the Directors of
the Seminary.

In the latest edition of his wcrk M. Faillon was enabled to make
use of some Important materials with which he was previously
unacquainted, and which came into his possession in a remarkable
manner. Frequent mention is made in this history of the holy
widow, Marie Rousseau, to whose prayers and counsels M. Olier
was so deeply indebted in the matter both of his conversion and of
his vocation, and who took so prominent a part iri the establishment
of the Seminary and the reformation of the parish of St. Sulplce.
In his Memoires the servant of God had said that by order of her
director, the P^re Bataille, who, as we have seen, was also his own,
she had set down many things in writing ; but her papers were
supposed to have perished, as none of M. Olier's biographers, not
even M. de Bretonvllliers, had mentioned them, and no allusion
had been made to them by other Sulpicians in later times. They
were destined, however, in the good Providence of God, to be
recovered by what seemed the merest accident. M. Faillon was
meditating the preparation of a new edition of his vork when, in

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1867, an ecclesiastic who had been a student of the Seminary, dis-
nppointcd at not finding a certain Director whom he wislicd to
consult, enquired what other j)riests were in the house, as he was
unwilling to leave without conferring with some one on the matter
about which he had come. He was accordingly referred to the
Abbd Faillon, wh )m lie had not seen for thirty years. In the
course of a conversation which appeared to have nothing in it of
interest to a man of studious habits like the Abbe, the ecclesiasiic in
question happened to remark that the lUhliothlniue Nationale pos-
sessed the manuscript Memoires of Marie Rousseau, an announce-
ment which took M. Faillon by surprise, as ho had instituted a
diligent search for any materials which might be available for his
projected work. Even then he experienced considerable difliculty
in finding the precious writings, as they were not entered in the
catalogue of the Library under their proper heading. At length his
efforts were crowned with success, and he had the satisfiction of
seeing lying before him no less than thirteen manuscript volumes in
quarto, each containing from a thousand to twelve hundred closely
written pages. The handwriting, rot always Marie's own but that
of her amanuensis, was hard to decipher, the style was rugged and
confused, and no order was observed in the choice of subjects,
which had been jotted down day by day just as they were suggested
to her mind, without any regard either to method or to sequence.
Nothing daunted, however, by the difficulty of the task, M. Faillon
read the papers through and, pen in hand, made such extracts as '
deemed suitable for his purpose; and with them he enriched his
last and greatly enlarged edition of M. Olier's Life.*

Marie Rousseau had delivered her writings to P. Bataille, paper
by paper, as each was finished, but, on his quitting the Abbey of St.
Germain and, indeed, the Reform of St. Maur itself, he, by order
of the Chancellor, Pierre S^'guier, who had himself often profited by
the lights of the saintly widow, restored them to her. She subse-
quently consigned them to the charge of the Chancellor, at whose
death they passed into the possession of his grandson, Henri-Charles
du Cambout-Coislin, Bishop of Metz. This prelate, who was the
Abb^ commendataire of St. Germain - des - Pres, bequeathed the
manuscripts to that wealthy abbey, wealthy no less in its literary

The work vas completed by M. Faillon and got ready for press, but was not
given to the world till after his death, which took place on October 25th, 1870.
It was published in 1873.

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stores than its temporal possessions, from which at the Revolution
they were transferred, with all the other contents of the abbatial
library, to the Bibliothbque Nationale.

The writings extended from the year 1640 to the year 1649, the
very interval of time during which M, Olier composed his own
Mtmoires ; and some things which he had not mentioned, o** had
not explained, were related or were elucidated by this singularly
gifted woman, Especially was this the case in respect to certain
interesting details concerning the persona! history of the servant of
God and, above all, to his extraordinary successes in reforming the
vast suburb of Paris so notorious for its immorality and imniety.

The present writei feels that he will have done good service if the
account which he has here given of the life and labours of this great
man — his eminent virtues and marvellous gifts — shall induce the
reader to peruse or, lather he would say, to study M. Faillon's admi-
rable work. It is no common biography. Replete as it is with a great
variety of n. jving incidents, it is a verv mine of spiritual wealth.
The notes which are affixed to every chapter would themselves
form an interesting and instructive volume. " It is a book," wrote
Cardinal Wiseman to the Abb^ Faillon, " which cannot be read too
often, and which may always be read with renewed profit. Accept,
then, the assurance of my lively gruMtude for the very great service
you have rendered to the clergy and to the Church by your valuable
work."

That the spirit of M. Olier still lives a-id reigns in the Seminary
which he founded, will be evident to any one who will make himself
acquainted with the biographies of some among the many holy men
who in recent times h.*ve illustrated the Community by their deep
spirituality, fervenc piety, and sacerdotal zeal, as well as by their
solid learning : e.g. M. Mollevaut, Superior of the Solitude ; M.
Hamon, Cure of St. Sulpice; M. de Courson, 12th Superior General
of the Seminary j M. Teysseyrre, Founder of the Petite Commutiauti
des Clercs de Saint-Sulpice ; and M. Faillon himself, autlior of many
biographical and histo-ical works ; to whom may be added the young
martyr of the Commune, Paul Seigneret, tonsured clerk and semi-
narist.* Men animated by such a spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice
are well fitted to cope Virith and, as it may be hoped, to withstand
and overcome the machinations and assaults of the atheistic crew

* See the toucliinor memoir of his life and death, an abrid,£;ed translation of
which was published by Washbourne in 1873.

A dvertisenient.

Olier sur les Vertus
dont il fut favorise,

which is permitted by God, whose ways are unsearchable, to sway
the destinies of France in these deplorable times.

M. Olier's "Complete Works" werp collected and published by
the Abbd Migne in 1856. The list is as follows : —

Introduction \ la Vie et aux Vertus Chrv-itiennes.

La Journde Chrelienne.

Explication des Ce'r^monies de la Grand' Messe.

Cate'chisme Chretien pour la Vie Int^rieure.

Traite des Saints Ordres.

Lettres Spiritaelles. (260 in number.)

Extraits des Memoires manuscripts de M,

Chrdtiennes et les Graces Particulieres

recueillis par I'Auteur de sa Vie.
L'Ef'irit d'un Directeur des Ames.
Regulae artis artium, quae est regimen animarum.
Avis salutaires aux Ministres du Seigneur.
Examen sur les Vertus Chr^tieiines et Eccl^siastiques.
I-ietas Seminarii.

Discours sur Saint Frangois de Sales.
Sentiments sur les Grandeurs de Saint Joseph.

An additional work entitled Vie Interieure de la TrhSainte
Vierge, composed of various writings on the virtues, glories, and
special prerogatives of the Immaculate Mother of God, which were
found among M. Olier's papers, was published in 1875 with the
approbation of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, who declared it to
be " greatly calculated to inspire souls with devotion to the Blessed
Virgin and to lead them to the imitation of her virtues." An earlier
edition, which contained passages of a dubious character, was with-
drawn from circulation aanost immediately after it had been issued.
Consisting of numerous detached fragments, which had never been
subjected to the author's revision or prepared by him for publication,
this collection of writings, loosely put together, attributed to him
ideas and opinions which he had nevei deliberately adopted, and
made him responsible for expressions the inaccuracy of which, on
careful re-perusal, he would have detected and amended. The work,
as now corrected and bearing the imprimatur of ecclesiastical autho-
rity, is entirely free from all such blemishes, and is interesting as
conveying M. Olier's personal views and reflections on the mysteries
of which it treats.

V ■ - IcvBHSfW'.IIMIMBI, ».^W!»?PJpWpi!l)(llUl.fHUI.(!«"lfl, (IFiimilM.l IP|IP»1

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The following remain still in manuscript: — i. Traitd des Attri-
biits de Dieu ; 2. Des saints Anges ; 3, De la Creation dii Monde ;
4. Le Maltre des Exercises ; 5. Sur I'Oraison Dominicale ; 6. De la
Vie Divine; 7. Pandgyriques de plusieurs Saints; 8. M^moires,
9 or 10 volumes.

The first edition of this biography formed the 20th and concluding
volume of the series published by Messrs. Burns and Lambert under
the general title of the "Popular Library," of which the present
writer was, after the issue of the fi/st four volumes, the sole remain-
ing editor.

The present revised and much extended edition was undertaken
in responsvi to recommendations which had reached the writer from
more than one influential quarter, together with the expression of an
earnest desire that the work should not be allowed to fall into
oblivion. He has therefore ventured to reproduce it in a form more
worthy of its subject and better calculated, as he hopes, to engage
the attention of the English-speaking public.

He trusts he may be excused for citing here the gratifying testi-
mony to the merits of the first edition, which he received from the
late Very Reverend Paul Dubreul, D D. Superior of the Seminary
of St. Sulpice at Baltimore, U.S., including as it does a spontaneous
expression of approval on the part of the Abbd Faillon himself.
The letter from which the following extract is made is dated May
2ist, 1865.

"Allow me to address to you the sincere thanks of the
Community over which I preside for the real service you have
rendered to the English-speaking clergy by the two very inte-
resting Lives which you published some time ago : one of St.
Charles Borromeo and the other of M. Olier. In reading the
latter, we have felt the happiness of children at finding a per-
fect likeness of a venerated and beloved father ; and, in listening
to both your biographies, everyone in the Seminary has pro-
nounced them to be, not only an excellent contribution to
English Catholic literature, but a real good work accomplished
towards the edification lind the sanctification of the clergy.

" It is grateful to me to add, as it will be to you to know,
that a few years ago, having among us, in Baltimore, the

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xui

author of M. Oiler's large life, in French, 2 vols., from which
you have so successfully drawn your own sketch, we read your
production to him, but at the same time translating it rapidly,
which, no doubt, detracted much from the eflTect it produces
on all those who can understand it in English ; nevertheless,
he expressed himself highly pleased with the work, and I
remember having heard him say, ^ I like this Life at least
as much as mv own abridgment.* It is really an excellent
Life/"

In conclusion, the writer desires to render his grateful acknowledg-
ments to the Rev. Father Keogh, of the London Oratory, for his
kindness in undertaking the office of censor and for the completeness
with which he has executed his toilsome task ; for, not content with
bestowing his careful attention on matters which lay within the
limits of his official cognisance, he has been pleased to extend it to
the minutest particulars; so that, if the work prove to be excep-
tionally free even from typographical errors, the result is largely
owing to his close and patient revision. For this liberal aid the
writer feels that no ordinary thanks are due.

Pery Lodge, Cheltenham.
Feast of Corpus Christi, i2,Z$.

* This abridgment of M. Faillon's work the present writer has never seen, and
was not aware of its existence until he received Dr. Dubreul's letter.

' -*"}<"]* '' H n uwMviwfmififfffmiirif^miimKfiF

LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF SALFORD.

"Bishop's House, Salford,
''June 1 8///, 1882.

"My dear Mr. Healy Thompson, — I am very glad to
hear that you are about to publish a larger and fuller Life of
M. Olier. Raised up as he was by God to reform the secular
clergy of France, M. Olier is a character that will always
repay deep study. The education of the clergy is a work that
must continue through all time, and those great men who
have had a special and acknowledged vocation to undertake
and carry it on in times of great difficulty must always stand
out as landmarks in the ecclesiastical life of the Church and
as models for imitation, or, at least, as examples for the en-
couragement of those who live in another age and in other
countries.

" M. Olier is the type upon which the highest kind of French
ecclesiastical life has been formed. It has in it much that
is characteristic of the nation and peculiar to it. There is a
certain military raideur and precision which belongs to the
French people, and which always enters into their system of
training. But, having said this, I have taken the only excep-
tion I could take against the Life of M. Olier, as a model in
all respects for the English clergy. Exclude the elements
which are peculiarly national and French, and all that remains
is thoroughly appropriate to our present English needs.

"M. Olier's Life is a perfect mine of ecclesiastical thought
and suggestion. I wish all our Ecclesiastical Colleges pos-
sessed many copies of it, so that it might form a kind of text-
book both for superiors and for ecclesiastical students.

Letter of the Bishop of Salford.

" I like treatises on perfection and upon the various virtues,
and I have read a good many of them ; but I must confess
that I find nothing so useful, so helpful, and so interesting as
the study of virtue in the concrete. To read the precepts and
rules of the ecclesiastical life is, no doubt, profitable, but
nothing is so apt to influence a person as to see them observed
and practised in daily life. M. Olier's Life is a treatise on the
perfection of the sacerdotal life reduced to practice. He was
go bound by his position to make the ecclesiastical spirit his
special study, that his Life abounds in the most apposite re-
marks, in profound reflections, and in most happy suggestions.
It is the portraiture of the intellectual and spiritual life of a
saintly man whose distinctive and exclusive vocation was the
education and elevation of the secular clergy.

" I consider that your determination to give a lengthened
and detailed Life of this great servant of God is a very wise
one. A short Life may suffice for a brilliant historical sketch ;
it may be all that the multitude will have the time or the
inclination to read. But the Life which is to work itself
into the lives of other men, the Life which is to form their
character and to become the subject of their constant admira-
tion and imitation, must be detailed, and, so to speak, personal
to the last degree. I remember, a few years ago, asking Lady
Herbert to undertake the translation of the Life of the Vene-
rable Bartholomew de Martyribus by four authors. It was pro-
posed to cut it down to the dimensions of your first Life of M.
Olier. I resisted, and urged that it should be given in all its
fulness of detail, and the consequence has been that Lady
Herbert's large Life of this wonderful servant of God has
become a standard work on the ecclesiastical spirit and a perfect
treasury for Priests and Bishops.

" Your large Life of M. Olier will become a companion
Life to that of the holy Archbishop of Braga, and will form
one of that series of profound works which is much needed in
England for the formation and perfection of the ecclesiastical
spirit.

I feel sure that the English clergy, indeed the clergy of all

XVI

Protestation,

English-speaking countries, will be extremely grateful to you
for giving them such a work as the one you have now finished.
"Wishing you every blessing, and with many thanks, believe
me to be, my dear Mr. Healy Thompson, your faithful and
devoted servant,

"►t« HERBERT BISHOP OF SALFORD."

PROTESTATION.

In obedience to the decrees of Urban VIII. and other Sovereign
Pontiffs, we declare that all the graces, revelations, and supernatural
facts related in this work have only a human authoiity, and that,
in all we have herein written of the holy life and exalted virtues of
Jean-Jacques Olier, we submit ourselves without reserve to the
infallible judgment of the Apostolic See, which alone has power and
authority to pronounce as to whom rightly belong the character and
title of Saint.

i i;

CONTENTS.

Dedication ....

Letter of the Bishop of Salford

Protestation

PAGR
V

vii
xiv
xvi

PART I.

Conversion anti Uocatton,

CHAPTER I.
Early years of M. Olier. His Conversion.

PAG(

His parentage ; birth and baptism at Paris. Indications in childhood of his
future vocation. His singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin. His great
natural vivacity. Removal of his family to Lyons. He attends the
classes of the Jesuit Fathers. A perilous feat. He is tonsured and put
in possession of a benefice when eight years old. Presented to St.
Francis de Sales, who foretells his future services to the Church.
Receives the blessing of the dying Saint. Effects of sin on his intel-
lectual faculties. A narrow escape from drowning. He desires to
embrace the religious life. Returns with his family to Paris, and enters
the University. His success at the College d'Harcourt. Attends the
schools of the Sorbonne. Is made Abbe of Pebrac at eighteen years of
age ; becomes a fashionable preacher. His worldliness and ambition ;
distress of his parents. Marie Rousseau : her history and aspirations.
Her first acquaintance with M. Olier ; his conversion made the subject
of her prayers. M. Olier goes to Rome to study Hebrew ; his sight
becomes affected. Makes a pilgrimage to Loreto ; is instantaneously
cured, and receives the grace of a comulete conversion

A^isai^^ii-'i-iiif,-:.

=QC

XVIU

Contents.

n ii

CHAPTER II.

COMl/IENCEMENT OF HIS APOSTOLIC LIFE. HiS VOCATION AND
ELEVATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD.

FAGU

Death of his father ; he is summoned home. His mother's treatment of him.
His heroic charity in instructing the outcasts of Paris and poor scholars.
Consequent anger and scorn of his relatives and acquaintances. Influ-
ence of his example. Supports his cousin, Mile, de Bussy, in her deter-
mination to become a Carmelite nun. His liberality to the church of
Notre Dame. He kisses the feet and the sores of the poor ; a touching
instance of this. Avoids all public display. Pilgrimage to Notre Dame
de Chartres. His secret austerities. Finds a counsellor in the Mere
Desgranges ; his letter to her. The Mere Agnfes de J^sus is bidden by
our Lord and His Virgin Mother to intercede for his sanctification. He
makes several pilgrimages to ascertain his vocation. Sermon at St.
Paul's, Paris. His vocation ^hown him in a dream. Takes St. Vincent
de Paul as his director. Is employed by him in giving country missions.
Prepares for the reception of holy orders ; is ordained priest ; his first
Mass. Profession of Mile, de Bussy. He vows a perpetual servitude to
the Blessed Virgin ; his pious veneration of her images. The Conferences
of St. Lazare ...... . . i8

CHAPTER III.

Supernatural visit of the M^re AgnI;s de J^sus. Mission in
AuvERGNE. Attempted Reform of the Abbey of P^brac.
Death of the M^re Agn^s.

M. Olier's preparation for evangelizing the parishes dependent on his abbey
of F^brac ; his associates. Retreat at St. Lazare ; apparition of a
Dominican nun. Commencement of the mission ; M. Olier's charity
and zeal ; his great humility. Visit to the convent at Langeac ; recogni-
tion of the M^re Agn^s ; she announces to him his vocation. Her
counsels and admonitions. Deplorable state of the Abbey of Pebrac ;
M. Olier's efforts at reform. Arranges a plan with M. Alain Solminihac.
Interference of the steward ; the monks appeal to the Cardinal de la
Rochefoucauld ; the plan for the present defeated. M. Olier opposed
to the mitigated reform of Ste. Genevieve. Success of the mission in
Auvergne. The M^re Agnfes takes him for her spiritual guide ; effects
of their holy intercourse. He is summoned to Paris by the P^re de
Condren ; takes a last farewell of the M^re Agnis. Her death super-
naturally revealed to him. Her angel-guardian bequeathed to him as the
angel of his office. A voice from the Tabernacle consoles him. His
letter to her bereaved religious. He sells his carriage and horses. Is
offered a bishopric. Note on the apparition of the M^re Agn^s and on
her relics .........

Consents.

XIX

CHAPTER IV.

PkRE DE CONDREN. M. OLIER TAKES HIM AS HIS DIRECTOR.

Extraordinary gifts of this holy man. Testimonies rendered thereto. His gift
of personal influence ; he is withheld from writing. His disciples. His
prescriptions respecting the study of Holy Scripture. His advice to
the Bishop of Comminges. St. Vincent de Paul urges M. Oiier to
accept the offered bishopric ; P. de Condren has other designs regarding
him. He is moved to take the Father as his director. His special
devotion to the Blessed Sa^ iment. His practices of piety to the
Blessed Virgin ; keeps Saturday as her festival. Declines proceeding to
the doctorate. Desires to go on the Canadian mission ; is enjoined by
his director to engage in country missions. Makes a preparatory re-
treat ; the lights he receives as to Jesus being really present in souls.
P. de Condren's maxims and form of prayer, subsequently adopted in the
Seminary of St. Sulpice. Dangerous passage of the Seine . .

CHAPTER V.
Second Mission in Auvergne.

M. Olier takes part in a retreat given to the inmates of the Hopital de la Piti^.
Marriage of his eldest brother. Reproaches of his family. Commence-
ment of the second Auvergne mission. Fervour of the people. Effects
of M. Oiler's preaching. His humility, love of poverty, and charity to
the poor. His way of teaching children. Assiduity in prayer, pen-
ances, and transports of divine love. His letter imploring an additional
supply of priests. M. Meyster : particulars of his conversion ; P. de
Condren's estimation of him. Missions conducted by M. Amelote and
others. Success of the Auvergne mission ; its permanent elects. Violent
opposition at P^brac ; M. Olier's life threatened ; subsequent conversion
of his chief enemy. Co-operation of the country clergy. Conference
established at Le Puy. M. Olier's self-reproaches and scruples of con-
science. Instances of his disinterestedness and poverty of spirit. Marie
de Valence : her devotion to the Adorable Trinity ; constant prayers for
the secular clergy. M. Olier's alarming illness and remarkable recovery.
He is visited by his mother and youngest brother. Affection shown
him by the poor. Death of his sister Marie. Retreat at Tournon ; he
receives the gift of a higher order of prayer and of a more perfect depen-
dence on the Spirit of Jesus. Carriage upset in returning to Paris. His
reception there. M, du Ferrier's account of his mode of life in the
world, and of the effects produced in him by associating with M. Amelote
and others. Various missions in and about Paris. A triumph over
human respect ........

'il

Contents.

CHAPTER VI.

The Nuns of La R^:GRn'PikRE. PfcRE Bernard. Pierre de
Qu^RioLET. Adrien Bourdoise. MISSIONS IN Brittany,

PiCARDY, &C.

PACK

M. Olier visits his priory of Clisson ; makes frequent pilgrimages to Notre
Dame de Toute Joie. Tiie convent of La R^grippiire ; irregular lives
of its inmates. M. Olier takes up his lodging in their hen-house ; agita-
lion among the nuns. He is invited to preach ; conversion of the Soeur
de Vauldray and others. Repairs to Nantes ; is detained by illness.
His spiritual relations witbthe M^re de Bressand and the Soeur Boufard.
Birth of Louis XIV. ; incident connected therewith. The Soeur Fran«
9oise-Madeleine de la Roussi^re : miraculous favour vouchsafed to
her. M. Olier prosecutes the reform of La R^grippiire ; visits the
Abbey of Fontevrault. Rer.umes his theological studies. Claude Ber-
nard " the Poor Priest : " his singular character. Pierre de Qu^riolet :
his evil life and conversion ; his meeting with P. Bernard. Adrien
Bourdoise : his zeal for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline. In*
stance of his pleasantry. His reception of M. Olier and companions.
Mission at Marchefroy ; a practical sermon. Mission at Illiers; conver-
sion of the Bellier family. Fran9oise Fouquet : her purity of conscience
and patience under suffering. M. Olier is nominated Coadjutor to the
Bishop of Chalons ; declines the offered dignity ; appointment of M.
Vialar. The associates choose M. Amelote for their superior. Mission
at Amiens ; conversion of a Swedish colonel and his men ; his death ;
fervour of the soldiers. The Corporation of the city offer the missioners
an extraordinary mark of honour. Strange accusation against M.
Meyster. Mission at Montdidier ; the Illumhihs of Picardy ; their con-
version. Mission at Mantes ; its results. M. Bourdoise instructs M.
Olier and his associates in the ceremonies of the Church. The Abb6
Saint-Cyran tries his arts on them and on M. Bourdoise. Encounter
between the latter and the Cardinal de Richelieu ; admirable behaviour
of the Ducbesse d'Aiguillon ......

CHAPTER VH.

Trials of M. Olier, Interior and Exterior. Death
of p. de condren.

M. Olier's aspirations after spiritual perfection. His two petitions to God.
His extraordinary trials ; withdrawal of spiritual gifts ; suspension of
bodily and mental powers ; interior darkness and distress ; fears and
scruples of conscience ; temptations to vainglory. He is contemned
and derided ; interdicted from preaching and hearing confessions.
Apparent estrangement of P. de Condren. Marie Rousseau called to

Contents.

XXi

fAUK

co-operate in the erection of tlic Seminary and the reformation of the
p,.ri.-h of St. Sulpice. Takes P. Hataillc as licr director. Ilcr interview
with r. de Condren ; frfquent communications with him. His long
conversation with M. du Ferrier ; he discloses to him his designs respect-
ing hims' If and his associates. His last hours and death ; public recog-
nitions ot his sanctity. He appears in glory to M. Olier and to M.
Meyster ...... i . .

103

CHAPTER VIII.
Attf.mpted seminary at Chaktres. Reform of La R^oRiPPikRK

COMPLETED. M. OLIER DELIVERED FROM HIS TRIALS. DISSOLU-
TION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT AT CHARTRES.

Failure of the French Oratory in providing ecclesiastical semin.iries ; a matter
of congratulation. M. Olier and his associates retire to Fpernon. His
visit to the cathedral at Chartres ; he is partially relieved from his trials.
Takes as his director M. Picote!;, the first of the associates to be brought
into close relations with Marie Rousseau. His adventure with highway-
men. M. Oiler's letter to the Socur de Vauldray on adoring the Will of
God. Mission at Chartres. The associates fail in founding a seminary
in that city. M. Meyster retires from the society. M. de Foix and M.
du Ferrier make a pilgrimage to Notre Dame des Ardilliers. Accompany
M. Olier to I^ Rdgrippiire. The Soeur de la Troche : her obstinate
resistance and conversion. Enclosure of the convent grounds. Comple-
tion of the reform. Return to Chartres. Dissolution of the establish-
ment there . . . . . . . .115

CHAPTER IX.
Seminary of Vaugirard. M. Olier's State of Union with God.

Mme. de Villeneuve : she advises the associates to establish themselves at
Vaugirard. Opposition on the part of M. Olier and others. He receives
a divine illumination on the subject. Withdrawal of all his associates
except M, de Foix and M. du Ferrier. They engage a house at Vaugirard.
M. de Foix chosen superior. They place themselves under the guidance
of P. Tarrisse ; his character and virtues. M. Olier takes P. Bataille as
his personal director ; grief of the latter at the state of the parish of St.
Suipice. Marvellous change in M. Olier : his state of union with God ;
his interior light and joy ; his supernatural gifts. He makes a vow of
servitude to Jesus. The Three Solitaries solemnly consecrate themselves
to the Blessed Trinity at Montmartre. Letter of M Bourdoise, and the
reply. He visits Vaugirard. Extraordinary influence exercised by Marie
Rousseau. M. Olier's gift of science and eloquence. Providential suc-
cours. M. de Bassancourt visits Vaugirard, and remains. M. Amelote
applies, and is refused ; his true vocation. M. de Sainte-Marie joins the
community ........ 124

XXll

Contents.

CHAPTER X.

Spirit of the Sf.minary of Vaugirard. M. Olier's Instruc-
tions AND Personal Influence.

fAGB

Cardinal de Kichelieu offers the associates his ch&teau or Rucl. M, Olier
elected superior. MM. de Gondrin, de Queylus, de la Chassnigne, de
I'ouss^, d'llurtevcnt, dc Cambrac, and others join the community at
Vaugirard. M. Copin requests tlie associates to take cliargc of ihe
parish ''iring his absence. M. de Rochefort's donation of his house.
M. Olier's grace of .Scriptural exegesis. His deep sense of his own
nothingness. Opposition to his undertaking on the part of good men.
Failure of all past attempts to establish ecclesi.nstical seminaries in France.
M. Olier the first to succeed. Begins to write his Mi'moiies, His instruc-
tions to hii ecclesiastics. Reniuval of their doubts and perplexities.
Killing the old man. Union with Jesus Christ in His acts and intentions.
Spiritual state of the community. Brother Claude : his exalted sanctity
and extraordinary gifts. His first meeting with M. Olier. Insight of
the latter into the secrets of hearts. Lights vouchsafed to him in preach-
ing. Application of his words to individual souls. Request of his cousin,
Mme Dolu de Dampierre ; how received by him. Instructions to school-
mistresses and scholars . . . . . . .141

I !l

CHAPTER XI.

M. Olier accepts the pastoral charge of the parish of St.
SuLPicE. Removal of the Seminary from Vaugirard to
Paris.

The parish of St. Sulpice. M. de Fiesque offers to resign it to the associates.
They refuse to entertain the proposal. M. du Ferrier consults Marie
Rousseau ; her preternatural knowledge. She disposes M. Olier in favour
of the project. He discusses the subject with M. de Foix and M. du
Ferrier. Decisive approval of P. Tarrisse. Opposition of friends; espe-
cially of M. Renar. M. Olier and his two colleagues alone in favour of
the undertaking. Interposition of three religious ; all objections removed.
M. Olier enjoined by his directors to accept the office of Cure ; his motives
in consenting. The three special objects of his vocation. Approval of
the Abb^ de St. Germain. M. Olier makes a solemn vow of devotion to
the service of the parish. Remonstrances of his family ; his charitable
judgment of their conduct. His sentiments on the pastoral office. Makes
a retreat under P. Bataille. M. de Fiesque resolves to quit the parish.
Hurried removal from Vaugirard. M. Olier provisionally inducted.
His first official act. Establishment of the Seminary ; the respect and
confidence with which he is regarded. He is seized with an alarming
illness ; its effects on his soul. His sudden and complete recovery. He
is installed Cur^ of St. Sulpice. His twofold vocation. Summary of
his Meditations during Retreat . . . . .158

ConUnts.

xxiu

; INSTRUC-

PART II.

IXcform of t!jf ©aris!) of St. Sulpicc.

CHAPTER I.

Frightful State of the Parish. M. Omer establishes a Com-
munity OF Parochial Clergy. Resto.<ation of Ecclesias-
tical Discipline.

*KQn

Decay of faitli in Europe. The F.tubourp; St. Germain ; prevalent impiety and
liatred of religion. The practice of magic. General lawlessness. Evil
effects of the annual fair. State of the church and its ministers. Im-
moral and irreligious lives of the chief inhabitants. M. Olier's address
to his parochial cle''gy. Its partial effect. M. du Ferrier made superior
of the community. M. Olier's kindness and liberality to the old clergy.
The spirit of poverty and self-sacrifice in the community. M. Olier's
personal example. Exclusion of females from Presbytery and Seminary.
Equality observed among the clergy. Obedience to superiors, and con-
formity to rules. M. Olier's instructions. Division of the parish into
districts. M. Olier's maxims for confessors. Selection of patron saints.
He invites the religious Orders to assist him at Easter. His vow of per-
fection. Emulation inspired among the members of the community. His
one dominant desire, the sanctification of the sacerdotal Order. Re-
quested by the Cur^s of Paris to provide them with priests and rules of
conduct. Consulted by Bishops on establishing seminaries in their
dioceses. Resolution of the Queen Regent respecting nominations to the
episcopate ........

i8i

CHAPTER II.
M. Olier's Reforms at St. Sulpice.

His expoEition of Christian doctrine. Unceasing prayer for his flock. Cate-
chetical teaching. His manner with children. Careful training of
acolyths. Associations of young girls. Instructions to servants, street-
beggars, and the aged poor. The General Catechism. Short discourses
for workmen. Examination of school-teachers and midwives. Sacri-
-v^ious practice of the Lutherans. Public and private conferences for
Protestants. P. V^ron : his character and style of controversy. Violent
conduct of tha Calvinists. M. Olier visits the Protestant minister,

> rt|. j-'-'*'J3s::r:mr*'_VTr.* •

yijiiiiv.j|WiiflPj||«J,ip

('!

I /

■f

ipi

XXIV

Contents.

PACK

Aubertin, op his deathbed ; false charge founded thereon. Instance of
fanatical cruelty. Erection of a bookstall. Imjiortance attaclied by M.
Oiler to the sacrament of Confirmation. His zeal for souls. Fervour in
preaching ; effects thereof. Conversion of a merry-andrew. Reform of
guilds. Revival of piety among the people. The church crowded , 20O

CHAPTER III.
M. Olier's Reforms continued.

Revival of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Renovation of the church,
and regulation of the Divine Olfices, Public observance of the Canonical
Hours. Early Masses. Visits to the Tabernacle. Institution of the
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. Rebuke to the Princesse de
Cond^. Exposition and solemn Benediction, The Forty Hours' Adora-
tion. Infrequent communion and indevotion to Mary among the effects
of Jansenistic teaching ; M. Olier's counter-teaching and practice. Pre-
paration for first coinmunion ; sample of his addresses to the young.
Anne-Auger Graury : his holy death. M. Olier's love of the poor and
indulgent charity. Brother John of the Cross : how he obt^iined the ti'le.
Alms-bags refilled. Reorganization of the Confraternity of Charity,
Mme. Leschassier and her daughter. Introduction of the Sisters of
Charity, Confessors forbidden to give alms to their penitents. Suppres-
sion of infamous houses; asylum provided for the penitent. M, Olier's
grief for the loss of souls. Efficacy of his prayers and penances. Awful
death of an abandoned woman, M, Oliti's courage in protecting and
rescuing innocent girls, Kis zeal for the sanctity of marriage ; prepara-
tory instructions. He is offered the parish of St. Jacques du Haut Pas
by the Queen Regent ; dissuaded from accepting by Marie Rousseau.
M, Cretinet, P, Yvan: his character and virtues. Retreats for clergy ;
rules strictly enforced ; case of the Abb^ Vallavoire, Conversion of a
Canon. Outrage on a country Cure ; M, Olier's energetic action in his
behalf. His Considerations on the Canonical Hours . . .213

CHAPTER IV.
Attempt to expel M. Olier from St, Sulpice.

Opposition to the Seminary on the part of the Abbe de St. Germain and
others, M, Olier's tranquillity under expectation of persecution. His
plans thwarted by the church- wardens. He purchases a site. Renews his
engagement at Montmartre. Encouraged by an interior voice. The
monks of CHsson claim possession of the Priory : judgment given in their
favour. M. de Fiesque formulates a charge against him. Vexatious pro.
ceedings of the church-wardens. M, Olier insulted in presence of the
Blessed Sacrament. Prince Henri de Bourbon sides with his adversaries.
M. Olier's reliance on Providence. Despondency of his colleagues.
Treachery of servants. Conspiracy of libertines and profligates. Attack

V r,^-*l^-*^ --Mliy

. wf *"*■•** *•*•**

Contents.

XXV

PAGB

on the Presbytery. M. Olisr seized and dragged out. Has a vision of
St. Sulpice consoling him. St. Vincent de Paul menaced and struck.
Courage of M. Pons de Lagrange. M. Olier is conveyed to tlie Luxem-
bourg. His humility and charity. Closing of the church . . 237

CHAPTER V.
M. Olier re-instated in his Pkesbytery. The Seminary

•JRECTKD into A COMMUNITY.

Petition to the Council of State referred to the Parliament of Paris. M.
Oiler's cause advocated l)y high and influential personages. His simple
piety and trust in God. The Parliament orders his re-instatement.
Kenewal of the tumult ; attempt to burn the Presbytery ; arrival of the
royal guards and flight o*" the rioters. The Pailiament takes active
measures. M. Olier resumes his preaching ; a strange interruption.
Restoration of a dying woman. An audacious demonstration ; decree
of the Parliament against its authors. M. Olier's continual supplication
for his flock. Return of the dispersed clergy. M. de Queylus joins the
con;munity. M. Olier publicly insulted by Prince Henri de Bourbon ;
his generosity and charity to his enemies. He is urged to quit the parish
and accept the bishopric of kodez ; his admirable replies. He submits
the matter to the Abb^ de St. Germain ; M. de Ficsque raises his
demands ; the aflair definitively conclud?d. Liberality of M. Olier and
his friends. Generous conduct of M. de Barrault. M. Corbel sent as a
novice to Pebr?c ; his simplicity and spirit of obedience, Perverseness
of the Prior. M. Olier exchanges the abbey for that of Cercanceau ; his
motives for so doing. His filial piety. Formal act of association.
Cordial co-operation of the Abbe de St. Germain. Erection of the
Seminary into a Community. M. Olier's reliance on God alone . 247

CHAPTER VL
Revival of Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

M. Olier's resumption of pastoral labours. The Community recruited by
men of good birth. Devotion to the Blessed Eucharist the sure and
abiding source of reformation. Its transforming power. God sends
men endowed with a special grace for the ntcds of the Church. M.
Olier raised up to revive devotion to the Blessed Eucharist in France.
Favoured with divine lights and graces. Suppression of disorders.
Increase of communicants. Seven lamps kept burning before the
Tabernacle. Sacrilegious robbery at St. Sulpice. Public act of repara-
tion. Discovery of one of the culprits. Memorials of the crime.
Association of Perpetual Adoration. Beauty of the offices in the church.
Marvellous influence exerted by M. Olier through the indwslling
presence ot Christ. Examples of this. He repudiates all personal

XXVI

Contents.

PAHB

merit. His life conformed to that of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Priests living Tabernacles. Their vocation and office a ground of self-
abasement. The parish of St. Sulpice a pattern to all France . . 264

CHAPTER VII.
M. OLIER'S influence with the GENTLEMEN OF HIS PARISH.

The Company of the Passion. The Baron de Renty. The Marquis de
F^nelon. M. du Four. A penitent malgri lui. M. Olier's influence
with military men. Effects of their example. M. Olier's treatises on the
interior and Christian life. The mania for duelling ; deathbed of M.
La Roque-Saint-Chamarant. M. Olier's severe measures against the
practice. Public protestation of the Company of the Passion. Adopted
nnd enforced by high authorities. Edict of Louis XIV. Obloquy
incurred by the Marquis de Fenelon ; his heroic virtue ; deathbed of his
son. Results of M. Olier's exertions for ihe sanctification of the gentry ;
formation of lay communities. Effects produced on French society ;
testimony of M. de Saint-Evremond ..... 281

CHAPTER VIII.

M. OLTER'S INFLUENCE WITH LADIES OF RANK AND OTHERS.

His discourse on the vanity of all earthly things. Denunciation of self-dis-
play and immodesty in dress. Devotion to angel-guardians. Rebukes
to fine ladies. Restoration to life of a girl apparently dead. Mme.
Rantzau : her gift for converting Protestants. Instance of the piety of
the Duchesse d'Aiguillon. Mile, de Portes : story of her vow ; she is
confirmed in her vocation by M. Olier. Respect shown by him to the
Due d 'Orleans. Conversion of Prince Henri de Cond6 ; his death.
M. Olier's letter to the Princess on the spirit in which she should spend
\ r days of mourning. His instructions on the right use of worldly
grandeur. Addresses to the rich and great. Admonitions to seigneurs,
Leiter of the Baron de Renty respecting a mission in his domain. The
Marquis de Fenelon establishes a community of missionaries at Magnac.
M. Olier's letter to M. Couderc, their superior

292

CHAPTER IX.
M. Olier's relations with Charles II.

His const.int intercessions for England. He desires to join ihe English
mission. The Abbd d'Aubigny : his early life. How he was brought
into relations with St Sulpice. Marriage of the Princesse Anne de
Gonzague ; her penitence, subsequent relapse, and final conversion.
The Abbe takes M. du Ferrier as his director ; the happy effects
thei'eof. Introduces M. Olier to the King. His influence with Charles.

Contents.

XXV II

PACK

Receives a Cardinal's hat on his deathbed. M. Olier has conferences
wUh the King ; begs liis community to help him with their prayers.
The King's expressions of confidence in his teaching ; his secret abjura-
tion of Protestantism. M. Olier promises to supply him with soldiers
to regain his kingdom. Charles's relapse ; his expressions of remorse.
His sorrow on hearing of M. Olier's death. Relics and papers found
after the King's decease. His obligations to M. Olier. The Marquis
of Worcester and the Earl of Bristol : their prevarication. M. Olier's
vocation a hidden one ; hence the slight recognition of his works and
merits .........

307

CHAPTER X.
Further Examples of M. Olier's Pastoral Zeal.

Crowded state of the church. M. Olier's desire to erect a new one. Pro-
posal adopted by the parishioners. Design approved by the wardens.
A narrow escape. Commencement of the building. The work inter-
rupted by the troubles of the Pronde. Conversion of a house into a
chapel of ease, and its dedication to St. Anne. A specimen of P. Veron's
method of controversy ; unfruitful of results. Clement the cutler and
Beaumais the draper : their powers of disputation and extraordinary
success. M. Bourdoise's protest against the inertness and laxity of the
clergy. M. Olier's efforts to abate the disorders of the Fair of St.
Germain. Conversions of comedians. Moliere's troop obliged to leave
Paris. M. Olier's influence with people of the world. Instructions
to fathers of families, shopkeepers, and artisans. He publishes his
Christian Day. Retreats to women. Employment of ladies and others
in various works of charity. Mme. Le Bret and Mme. Tronson. The
Maison d'Instruction. Mile. Leschassier : her remarkable talents and
charitable labours. Orphanage for girls. Periodical meetings in con-
nection with the several institutions. Zeal of the parishioners. M.
Olier's devotion to the Holy See ; his happiness at being under its
immediate jurisdiction. He instructs his people in the ceremonies of
the Church. Revival of pilgrimages. Increased respect for the clergy.
Instances recorded by M. du Ferrier. Testimony to the reformation
efft ted by M. Olier and his colleagues . . . • 3'7

CHAPTER XI.
M. Olier and Jansenism.

■Zeal for reform taken as a sign of sympathy with the Jansenistic party. M.
Olier accused of favouring it ; his public protestation. Insincerity of
the innovators. M. Olier's letter to the Marquise de Portes, warning
her against them. Brother John of the Cross in danger of being
insnared. Timidity and disaffection of clergy and others. Hostility of
M. Copin to M. Olier and the Sulpicians. Disgraceful tactics of the

i^mii&:

•SRSSSV

;t «

xxvm

Contents.

Jansenistic faction. M. Olier accused of false doctrine ; his defence.
Attempt of the Oratoriaiis to establish a house in hia parish. P.
S^guenot and P. Desmares inhibited from preaching. The Abb^ de
Bourzeis : his duplicity. Perversion of influential laity. The Due and
Duchesse de Liancourt sign a formal protestation of obedience to the
Holy See ; fraudulently accepted by the Jansenistic leaders. Discus-
sion on gra-je at the Presbytery of St. Sulpice. M. du Hamel : his
system of public penance. The solitaries of Port Royal de& Champs.
M. Oiler's discourse against Jansenistic doctrines and practices. Fury
of the party. Desmares publishes a formal charge against him. Jan-
senistic teaching dis'aonouring to God. The Fire Propositions. Appeal
to Rome. The Bull Cum occasione. Dishonesty of the innovators.
They attempt to use the Parisian Congregation of the Propagation of
the Faith for their own purposes. The manceuvre defeated. The Abbd
d'Aubigny refuses to be a party to it. Weakness of the Archbishop
of Paris. Cardinal Mazarin dissolves the Congregation. The Due de
Liancourt refused absolution. M. Arnauld publishes his Utter to a
Person of Condition ; its misrepresentations. His second Letter con-
demned by the Sorbonne. Death of the Duke and Duchess. Recanta-
tion of the Abb^ de Bourzeis. M. Olier's vigilance and zeal. His
precautions to guard the Seminary against the introduction of false
doctrine. Testimony of Fenelon to its loyally to the Holy See .

FAGB

335

-^»i

■ \i ■

CHAPTER Xn.
M. Oi.iER's Conduct during the Troubles of the Fronde.

Causes jf the rebellion. Favoured by the Jansenists. The Cardinal de
Retz. Day of the Barricades. Peace temporarily restored. Recom-
mencement of hostilities \ the Court leaves Paris. Parliament denounces
Mazarin. The Jansenists take part with the insurgents. M. Olier's
penances, and exhortations to his people. His measures for the relief
of the destitute poor. His exhaustless charity. Perilous visit to St.
Germain-en-Laye. Distribution of alms. Lenten dispensations. End
of the First War of Paris ; return of the Court. M. Olier resigns his
benefices. Relaxation of morals ; remedies adopted by M. Olier ;
mission given by P. Eudes. Dearth of provisions ; sufferings of the
people. M. Olier organizes a system of relief. The Company of
Charity ; its operations. Establishment of orphanages. The Council of
Charity. Arrest of the Princes de Cond^ and de Conti ; conduct of
the Princess, their mother ; her death. Louis XIV. at St. Sulpice.
War in the provinces ; the young Princesse de Conde. Flight of
Mazarin ; liberation of the Princes ; their reconciliation with the Court.
The Queen Mother asks counsel of M. Olier. His letter of advice to
her. Rupture between the Prince de Conde and the Court. Renewal
of the war. Mazarin resumes the conduct of affairs. The Due
d'Orleans joina the Prince de Conde ; the Jansenists offer him aid. Paris
again threatened ; encounter between Conde and Turenne ; disorders

Contents.

XXIX

PAGE

within the city ; attack on tlie magistracy. General reaction ; uncondi-
tional surrender of the capital. M. Olier opens asylums for homeless
girls and destitute nuns. His prayers and austerities to appease the
wrath of God. Reproved by the Blessed Virgin for intermitting his
acts of intercession. The people moved to contrition ; restoration of
pe.ice. The Queen Mother's vow. Establishment of the Filles du
Saint-Sacrement. The Mere Madeleine de la Trinite : her supernatural
cliarity ; the Nuns of Notre Dame de Mis^rico'de. Banishment of the
Due d'Orleans. Mme. de *^aujeon. Repentance of the Duke. Piety
of his daughter, the Duchesse d2 Guise. Conversion of the Prince de
Conti ; his close relations with St. Sulpice ; abjuration of Jansenism.
Last days of the Prince de Cond^ . . . • .

360

CHAPTER XIII.
Pilgrimages and Jouknkvs. M. Olier resigns his Cure.

M. Olier's failing health ; his reluctance to take repose. lie visits Chatillon-
sur-Seine, Clairvaux, Dijon, and Citeaux. At Beaune makes acquaint-
ance with the Venerable Marguerite du Saint-Sacrement ; their spiritual
relations ; devotion to the Sacred Infancy at St. Sulpice. Journey to
Saint-Claude ; perils and discomforts on the way ; he venerates the body
of the Saint. Visits the tomb of St. Francis de Sales at Annecy ; receives
a divine intimation. Anne-Marie Rossat : her spirit of obedience. M.
Olier passes by Geneva ; at Grenoble sees again the Mere de Bressand,
and mikes acquaintance with Mme. d'Herculais ; her life a miracle of
prayer. Sojourns at the Grande Chartreuse. Visits Saint-Antoine de
Vienne ; at Valence confers with Marie Tessonniere ; M. de Breton-
villiers's account of the interview. Passes on to Avignon, visiting on his
way the Mire Fran5oise de Mazelli. The Holy Places of Provence.
At Aix the Mfere Madeleine de la Trinite by his direction resigns
her office of superioress. Returns to Avignon ; visits the Mire de St.
Michel ; their mutual veneration. Proceeds to Nimes and Montpeliier.
Letter to M. de Parlages. Passes on to Clermont-Lodive and Rodez.
Visits the tomb of St. Martial at Limoges. M. Olier's recollection and
detachment. Constancy in prayer. Tender charity to the poor,
Instance of its abuse. His humility and simplicity. He destroys an
immodest picture. Makes a retreat at Meulan. Visits Chartres and
Notre Dame des Ardilliers. Grooms a traveller's horse. Completes the
reform of his priory of Clisson. Visits the tomb of St. Vincent Ferrer
and the shrine of Ste. Anne d'Auray. Farewell to the nuns of La
Rigrippiere. Visits Marmoutier, Candes, and Tours ; his devotion to
St. Martin. Irregularities of his parochial clergy corrected by M. du
Ferrier. M. Olier takes up his abode in the Community house. His
habitual recollection in God during his journeys. Tlieir effect on tlie
provincial clergy. He is seized with a violent fever. Resigns his
parish. Makes his will. Improvement of health. M. de Bretonvilliers
appointed Cur^. M. Olier's self-accusations .... 389

wmmm

XXX

Contctits,

PART III.

W^i Communitg anti tfje Seminars.

CHAPTER I.
God's Design in the Establishment of the Seminary.

PAGf

M. Olier's vocation ; its importance. He is called to fulfil the object which
the Oratory had failed to effect. The active concurrence of PP. Tarrisse
and Bataille. M. Olier and his colleagues destined to accomplish in
part the special work of St. Benedict. The Seminary designed to form
clergy for the whole of France. God's promise to Marie Rousseau ; its
rapid and permanent fulfilment. Marvellous survival of the Seminary
to the present day. Its dependence on the Blessed Virgin. Commis-
sioned to rekindle the fervour of piety among the doctors of the Church,
ntended to be the model to other seminaries. Difference of its plan
from that of St. Charles Borromeo. Instituted to revive loyalty and
devotion to the Holy See ; and obedience to the Prelates of the Church.
M Olier's teaching on this subject. The prerogatives of St. Peter per-
petuated in the Popes. The dignity and power of the Episcopate ; the
channel of graces to the Priesthood and people. Poverty of the Semi-
nary ; its strict enforcement. M. Olier and his colleagues reduced to
great straits. They refuse the direction of religious houses and other
extraneous works. The et'or'-s of the Jansenists to introduce their errors
into the Seminary defeated. Case of M. de Gondrin . . .413

CHAPTER II.
Establishment of the Seminary. Its Interior Spirit.

La Belle Image. The Seminary of Vaugirard re-established; fervour of
the clerics. Provisional buildings at Paris. M. Olier is favoured with
divine illuminations respecting the future Seminary. The Blessed
Virgin shows him in an ecstasy a model of the building. His perfect
reliance on the Providence of God. Offer made to M. du Ferrier ; its
collapse. Munificence of the brothers Souart and of M. de Breton*
villiers. The work commenced ; description of the building, and of the
chapel. Devotion to the Interior Life of Jesus the first spiritual founda-
tion of the Seminary. Devotion to the interior life of Mary, the second.
Mary the channel of all graces. St. John the Evangelist a special

Contents.

XXXI

patron of the Seminary. Masses for the intentions of the Blessed
Virgin. Other patrons : St. Joseph, the Apostles, St. Dominic, St.
Francis of Assisi, St. Francis of Paula, St. Mar n of Tours, St. Denis,
St. Ambrose, and St. Gregory. The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin
the principal feast of the Seminary. Her answer' to M. Olier in prayer.
The royal letters-patent registered by the Parliament. The President
Mol^ chosen civil patron of the Seminary. Retirement of P. Bataille ;
death of P. Tarrisse, and of Marie Rousseau ; M. du Ferrier's testimony
to her virtues ........

PAGE

427

IRY.

PAGf

hich
risse
ih in
form

; its
inary
imis-
urch.

plan
r and
urch.
per-
the

jemi-
to

ather

rrors

413

CHAPTER III.
M. Olier's Method of Spiritual Training.

M. Godeau's commendation of the Seminary. M. Olier's exalted idea of
the ecclesiastical state. M. de Lantages. The virtues proper to clerics :
simplicity and modesty ; humility ; mortification of the senses. Perfec-
tion of M. Olier's own practice. Condemnation of indiscreet austeri-
ties. Virtues continued : interior mortification ; obedience and fidelity
to rule. M. Olier's spirit of self-abasement. His dislike of self-dis-
paragement. The Blessed Sacrament the source of divine life and virtue.
M. Olier's teaching on prayer. Meditation on the Gospels. Reverence
for the Scriptures. Observance of the ceremonial of the Church ; study
of its hidden meanings. Training of the clerics in parochial functions.
M. Olier's letter to M. de Sive on deferring his ordination ; the spirit in
which it was received. His reprimand j M. de M^liand. The Prince
de Conti rebuked by a seminarist. Frequent catechisings. Educational
communities. Fervour and regularity of the seminarists. Formation of
pious and instructed priests. True motives and dispositions for study.
Three kinds of knowledge. Rules for conducting public disputations.
The perfect Christian student represented in M. Blanlo and M. de
Pouss^. M. Olier's treatises ; their nature and style. His Spiritual
Letters. His writings published anonymously. The method of prayer
approved by him ....... 444

IRIT.

CHAPTER IV.

jr of
with
essed
trfect
its
pton-
jfthe
|nda<
bond,
lecial

The Community of St. Sulpice : its Constitution and
Interior Spirit.

I M, Olier's reliance on Divine Providence for supplying subjects. Vocation
of M. Souart. The tragical end of M. Meyster. M. de Bretonvilliers :
M. Olier's eulogy of him. M. Tronson : his wonderful gifts. The
Interior Seminary. Protestation to be made by every member of the
Community. The spirit of servitude. Practical rules ; schedule of self-
examination. Pietas Seminarii; illustrative of the spirit of the Seminary.
M. Baudrand's summary of M. Olier's teaching. Instructions on the use

SSi

XXXll

Contents.

PAOI

of worldly goods. The spirit of obedience exemplified in M, d'Hurte-
vent and M. de Lantages. M. Oiler's care for the health of his subjects.
Est ' lishment of the noviciate at Avron. Transferred to Issy. Chajiel
of Our Lady of Loreto. Its destruction by the Communists ; its
restoration.
Jansenism unable to gain a footing in St. Sulpice. M. de Foix made Bishop
of Pamiers ; becomes a supporter of the Janscnistic party ; as do three
other prelates. Their dissimulation. M. du Ferrier quits the Seminary ;
his subsequent fortunes. Retirement of his brother, M. de Cambiac.
EfTorts of the Jansenists to subvert M. Oiler's authority in the Seminary.
Their attempt to bring the Oratorians into the Faubourg. The Blessed
Virgin assures M. Olier of her protection ; he institutes a practice of
devotion in perpetual memory thereof. Other favours conferred upon
him. Interview with the Due d'Orleans ; the Orttorians interdicted
from establishing themselves in the parish of St. Sulpice .

471

CHAPTER V.

OliJECT OF THE COMMUNITY OF St. SULPICE.

Papal Approbation.

Episcopal and

The Community not a Congregation ; created solely for the clergy. Divine
intimations thereanent ; in accordance witii P. de Condren's instructions.
M. Olicr submits the rules and general plan of the Seminary to the
collective Episcopate. Summary of his Memorial: the clerical order
necessary to the existence of the Church ; the Bishop the true Superior
of the Seminary ; the directors their delegates ; auxiliary priests ; the
seminarists; the necessity of mortification and of the interior life. Resolu-
tions of the Bishops. Directors of seminaries dismissible by them. Other
seminaries modelled after that of St. Sulpice. M. de Chansiergues,
founder of the Seminary of St. Louis ; his austere and laborious life.
M. Ignace de la Dauversi^re establishes a community of priests. M.
d'Entrechaux, a model of perfection. Direction of a Seminary a special
vocation. The Priests of St. Lazare and of other Communities employed
by the Bishops. The seminaries founded by Sulpicians comparatively
few. This in accordance with M. Olier's counsels. M. Tronson's
declarations on the subject. M. Olier unable to comply with applica-
tions from Bishops of other countries. The Seminary approved by the
Holy See. Testimony of the French Episcopate to the services rendered
by it to the Church . . .....

495

CHAPTER VI.
Establishment of Provincial Seminaries.

Erection of seminaries at Villefranche-en-Rouergue and Rodez ; great and
permanent results. Liberality of M. de Queylus. Lamentable condition

Contents.

xxxiii

FAOB

ts.

)el
its

lop

ree

ry ;

iac.

ary.

ssed

e of

ipon

icled

PAGE

471

\L AND

Divine

ctions.

to the
order

iperior

fs ; the
.esolu-
Other
:rgues,

jus life.

Is. M.
special
^ployed
ratively
lonson's
ipplica-
by the
;ndered

495

Jeat and
jndition

of the diocese of Limoges; erection of seminary. M. Lascaris d'Urf^,
the Bishop ; his humility, charity, and reverence for the priesthood. St.
Vincent Ferrer bids M. Olier found a seminary at Nantes. Regulations
respecting candidates for orders. The course of instruction. Tiie Sul-
picians obliged to quit Nantes. M. Ren^ L<5veque ; the Seminary of
Nantes incorporated with his community of St. Clement ; his life of
mortification and penance. Contentions caused by the Jansenists ; the
.'^ulpicians resume the conduct of the seminary. M. Olier's labours for
the country clergy. Erection of a semin.iry at Aix ; marvellous cure of
M. Philippe. Tiie Archbishop's appeals to M. Olicr for assistance ; causes
of their failure. The Seminary of Avignon ; M. Olier's deference to
episcopal authority. Difficulties attending the foundation of a seminary
at Viviers ; the Sulpicinns undertake its direction. The beneficial results
to both clergy and people. M. OHer visits Our Lady's shrine at Saint-
Agrive. Effect of his address to the clergy ani laity of Le Puy. Erec-
tion of seminary under M. de Lantages ; abundant results. Seminary of
Clermont ; preparation of candidates for orders. Seminary of St.
Flour ; deplorable state of the diocese. Results of M. Eymire's govern-
ment. Seminary of Notre Dame de I'llermitage under M. Planat.
OfBesan9on; its superiors. Of St. Ir^nee de Lyon; M. d'Hurtevent
its first superior. Of Amiens ; of Clermont-Lodive ; M. Olier with-
draws his priests ; his letter to the Bishop. The Due d'Orleans desires
to found a community of priests at Biois ; M. Olier's letter to him ; the
design frustrated by the Jansenists. Instances of M. Olier's self-abase-
ment. St. Vincent de Paul's eulogy on the Sulpicians . . 511

CHAPTER Vir.

Various Missionary Enterprises, Foundation of the
Colony and Seminary of Montreal.

[M. Olier is urged to accept the bishopric of Babylon. Desires to go as Vicar-
Apostolic into China, His prevision of the Seminary of Foreign Mis-
sions. He organises a mission to the Protestants of the Vivarais and the
Cevennes. Is urged by the Bishop of Le Puy to accept his see ; fervour
of the canons and other clergy ; generosity of M. de Bretonvilliers. M.
de Queylus made Cur^ of Privas. Extraordinary results of the mission
in that town. M. Jean-Pierre Couderc : his controversial powers.
Missions at Jaujac, Viviers, and Thueyts ; their signal success. Associa-
tion of the Blessed Sacrament established at Le Puy. Mission at Alais.
M. Olier contributes to the restoration of ruined churches.

His design of founding a settlement on the Island of Montreal. Meet-
ing with M. de la Dauversi^re. Society of Our Lady of Montreal ; its
nature and objects. M. Paul de Chaumedy-Maisonneuve and Mile.
Manse. Departure of the colonists. The Island consecrated to the
Holy Family. The first Mass. Perils and hardships. Marguerite
Bourgeois : her heroic charity. Endeavours to erect an episcopal see
temporarily defeated. Foundation of a Community ; M. de Queylus

XXXIV

Contents.

PA1«

mode superior. Martyrdoms of M. Le Maistre and M. Vignol. The
Iiland made over to the Sulpicians ; burdensome conditions. Disin-
terested conduct of the Community ; testimonies to the results of their
teachings and labours. Montreal erected into a bishopric. Arrange*
ments with the British Government. Foundation of the Grand
S^minaire • . . . i • > .

536

(JTonclusion*

CHAPTER I.
M. Olier's Last Illness and Death.

II >

His tranquillity under painful disorders. He is summoned to Blois ; obliged
to retire to P^ray. His anxiety respecting Charles H. of England.
Devotion to the Holy Cross. He is struck with paralysis and conveyed
to Paris. His unalterable patience and desire of suffering. He is
afflicted with interior darkness and desolation. Visited by the Queen
Mother. His rapid progress in sanctity. Vision of Jesus bearing His
Cross. His perfect conformity to the will of God. His malady
alleviated by the Blessed Virgin. He visits the church of Notre Dame ;
resigns his various offices ; the Bishop of Grenoble desires to have him
as his coadjutor. He tries the waters of Bourbon ; visits the Duchesse
de Montmorency at Moulins. Is favoured with a vision of the Blessed
Virgin. Enabled to say Mass. His last public appearance in the
church of St. Sulpice. His absorption in God. Active interest in
religious matters. Pilgrimage to Notre Dame du Pu '. Unites the
church of St. George with the seminary in that city, ana takes the
title of its Cur^. Authenticates the Saint's relics. The Nuns of the
Visitation : M. Olier refuses to allow his priests to hear their confess
sions or publicly preach to them. Instances of his humility and
meekness. Last visit to the tomb of the M6re Agn^s ; translation of
her remains. Pilgrimages to Notre Dame des Anges and Ste. Fare.
Instance of his considerate kindness. His devotion to the Resurrec-
tion of our Lord. Aspirations of divine love. He designates M. de
Bretonvilliers as his successor. His last instructions and admonitions.
His deathbed. St. Vincent de Paul present at his departure. The
Saint's address to the priests of St. Sulpice. He presides at the election
of M. V 'Uer's successor.

Exposition of his body ; he is beheld in a dream ; popular testimonies
to his sanctity ; print of a cross on his forehead. His obsequies ;
funeral sermon of M. Maupas. Eulogium passed on him at tlie Con-
ference of St. Lazare. Inscription on his tomb. Desecration of his
remains at the Revolution ... ...

557

Contents.

XXXV

CHAPTER II.

SUPERNATURAl, GIFTS AND CtRACKS.

M. Olier's personal appearance and intellectual powem. His gift of reading
men's hearts. Several examples. Instance of his marvellous discern-
ment in the case of a young lady of rank. Extraordinary influences
exercised by him ; case of the Mire de St. Gabriel. His power of reliev-
ing mental suffering ; ctse of Mile, de Rogu^e. Gift of healing diseases ;
cases of the M^re de St. Gabriel ; M. de Villars ; and Mile. Manse.
Appearance of M. Oiler after death to the Soeur Maillet ; his predictions
fulfilled. Miraculous cures of a deaf priest ; the marine, Pierre Tres-
cartes ; the Sceur Marguerite Vieillard ; the Canons Boucaut, Colomb,
and De B^get ; the Sceur Anne Feuiha ; M. N^ron ; Mme. Rousset ;
nnd Mme. de I'Espinasse du Passage. Recent miraculous cure of the
Sceur Dufresne ; affidavits of medical men. Protestation of .he writer

PAr.i

583

Additional Notes
Index.

599
607

mmmmmmmmm

mmmmm

CONVERSION AND VOCATION.

J(immmtm

■Mi

immm

of p

biog

on tl

he a

highe

name

was J

toH<

d'lva

Godi

paren

to pn

perfor

their t

The

' third s

I Saturd

I baptisr

I family.

being t

[Would 1

*Inth
|as also ir
VetOHii SOI

LIFE OF M. OLIER.

CHAPTER I.

HIS EARLY YEARS. HIS CONVERSION.

IT would be little in accordance with the spirit or the mission of
one who from early manhood was conspicuous for his love
of poverty and his contempt of the world and its belongings, if his
biographer were to commence the history of his life by descanting
on the splendours of his ancestry. Suffice it, therefore, to say that
he came of a distinguished family, which had borne many of the
highest offices in the State and had gained itself an honourable
name in various departments of the public service. His father
was Jacques Olier de Verneuil, Secretary and Maitre des Requites
to Henri IV., who, in the year 1599, espoused Marie Dolu, Dame
d'lvoy, in Berrj', As is often observable in the case of those whom
God has chosen to accomplish any great work for His glory, both
parents, although (as we shall see) they showed a culpable eagerness
to promote their son's worldly advancement, were diligen*^ in tho
performance of their religious duties, and edified their household by
their truly Christian virtues.

They had eight children, four sons and four daughters. The
third son, who is the subject of this biography, was born at Paris, on
[Saturday, September 20th, 1608, and on the same day received in
baptism the name of Jean, by which he was always called in his own
family. But in the world he was known as Jean- Jacques, the latter
being the name of his patron, St. James the Less, which he took, as it
[would appear, at his confirmation.* In his Memoires M. Olier says,

* In the Dictionnaire de Biographie Chritiennt published by the Abbe Migne,
las also in the short Life prefixed to M. Olier's collected works, he is called the
|j£<w»i(' son ; but in neilher of these publications is allusion made to another son,

I A ""r

4 Life of M. Olier.

borrowing the language of St. Paul,* " I renounce every relationship
according to the flesh. Thanks to the mercy of God, \ am dead to
the generation of Adam. By baptism I made profession of death to
my first birth, and I no longer live but for the second, which is truly
glorious, seeing that by this generation I have God for my father,
the Church and the Blessed Virgin for my mother, our Lord for my
elder brother, all the Saints for my brethren, and the angels for my
servants. O my God and my Father, grant me the grace never to
esteem this world or its grandeur, which I am convinced is only
vanity and folly."

Almost immediately after his baptism he was put out to nurse in
the Faubourg St. Germain, and, what is worthy of remark, in the
very parish with which his fame is for ever associated, that of St.
Sulpice ; as though (to adopt his own words) God was pleased that
he should breathe in his earliest infancy the air of the place in which
it was His will that he should serve Him in his maturer years. The
street to which he was taken was called the Rut Sulpice,t and
pious affection did not fail to note that as, wlien that prodigy of
theological science, the great St. Thomas Aquinas, was a child, the
surest way of quieting him was to put a book into his hands, so the
infant who was destined in after life to shed such lustre on the priest-
hood was never better pleased than when he was carried by his
nurse to the neighbouring church. The sight of its interior was sure
to stop in an instant all cries and tears, when caresses and other
attempts at diversion had failed of effect This result, indeed, may
be attributed to the natural force of novelty and change of scene on
the mind of a little child, and not to any immediate influence of
divine grace ; but not so a circumstance which M. Olier has himself
recorded. He was in his seventh year when, being in a -- '. .rch for

Rene, of whom we find incidental mention on more thai; one occa^^i ; "e was
evidently older than Jean-Jacques, as, not only is he always named Ls,!' 'o ..m,
but when Mme. Olier presented her three sons, including Rene, to St. Fiar.^i- de
Sales, she expressly calls Jean-Jacques the youngest. Ren^ died while M. Olier
was preaching his first mission in Auvergne, and this may be the reason why the
writers in question make no allusion to him, and designate Jean-Jacques as the
second son. M. Faillon makes no explicit statement on the subject.

The eldest son was Fran5ois, called de Verneuil, and ihe youngest Nicolas-
Edouard, called de Fontenelle, whom M. Olier himself speaks of as his second
brother, because, as already intimated, his elder brother Rene was dead.

* 2 Cor. V. 16.

t Known also as the Rue des Canettes from a sign on one cf the houses,
probably a tavern.

His Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. 5

the purpose of hearing Mass, at the moment the priest passed on his
way to the altar, the thought suddenly flashed upon him, how pure
and holy must they be who are set apart to offer the Adorable
Sacrifice. So deep was the impression made on his soul that it was
never afterwards effaced. It seemed, he says, to his childish mind
as thougli priests must live a life wholly hid in God ; so that it was
with wonder he saw them act like ordinary men while performing
their awful function. Anything, even though it were but a move-
ment of the head, which indicated that they were conscious of
visible things around them was a surprise and a shock to him ; he
thought they Wv e angelic beings the moment Lh';y had vested,
or, at least, as soon as they had ascended the steps of the altar.
It was, indeed, a childish ignorance, but it was no less an earnest
of his own future vocation, and of the mission which, ^n the provi-
dence of God, he was designed to fulfil in sanctifying the clergy of
France.

The devotion which his parents, and especially his father, enter-
tained towards the Blessed Virgin was shared and, indeed, surpassed
by this pious child. It was a pleasure to him to reflect that his
mother's name was Marie, and thp.t he was born in a street called
Notre Dame d'Argent* He never began his lessons without invok-
ing the aid ot his august Patroness, and it seemed to him as though
he were unable to learn anything by heart unless he first repeated a
Hail Mary. He would go and tell her in his childish way every-
thing he was about to do, and ask her consent, preferring to act
always, not as from any motive of his own, but simply at her bidding.
When he had new clothes, thovigh it were but a single article of dress,
he would present himself humbly before her image in the Cathedral
of Notre Dame, and beg her never to let him offend her Divine Son
as long as he should wear them. As he grew older he was tempted
to omit this ceremony, as something irksome and absurd, which
nobody thought of performing except himself; but he declares that
he was very soon punished for his negligence, for scarcely a day was
allowed to pass before his new clothes were lost, or torn, or visited

* So called from the silver image which was placed in a niche at the corner of
the street by Francis I., in reparation for a sacrilegious outrage committed by the
heretics. This image, however, having been stolen and replaced by another of
less costly material, the street gradually resumed its old name of Roi de Sicile,
vhich it took from Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence and King of Naples and
Sicily, who had a mansion in it.

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SmRwOSVPII

6 Life of M. Olier,

with some disaster, which he took as a warning not to refuse this
act of homage to his heavenly Benefactress.

When he was eight years old he was put to school, where he
displayed a quickness and a power of comprehension very remark-
able in so young a boy. At the same time his natural liveliness
of disposition began to develop itself in ways which gained for
him among his elders a character for unruliness and insubordina-
tion which he scarcely deserved. He seems to have been one of
those children whose faults are attributable rather to an exuberance
of animal spirits, and an inability to control their physical energies,
than to any spirit of disobedience or habitual self-will. The result,
however, was, that he was always running risks and getting into
trouble. His own account of himself is, that his recklessness and
want of thought were so great that, but for the special interposition
of Providence, he must frequently have been killed or crippled for
life. "I never looked where I was treading, or whither I was
going; T was for ever falling down, or running against something,
and hurting myself. Once, I remember, I tumbled into a well,
and had a most narrow escape of my life ; at another time I fell
with my head under a cart-wheel, which would have crushed it to
pieces, but that for some unexplained cause the horse suddenly
stopped. I was the source of continual anxiety to everybody in
the house." With his mother he seems not to have b^en a par-
ticular favourite, and she thought to bring him into subjection
by constantly chiding and chastising him ; a method of proceeding
which was calculated to have anything but a salutary effect on a
high-spirited boy. " My mother," he says, " never gave me a
moment's peace. No doubt I deserved such treatment, and I
most humbly beg God's forgiveness, and her's too. I pray our
Lord that I may contrib'ite as much to the spiritual relief of my
parents as I gave them trouble."

In the year 1617, his father being raised by Louis XHL to the
honourable post of Intendant of Lyons, the family quitted Paris
and took up its residence in that city, where Jean-Jacques, with
his brothers Frangois and Rend, attended the classes of the Jesuit
Fathers.* There his fearless and adventurous spirit soon found
an occasion of indulging itself. One day, when playing with a

* In the August of 1621, M. Olier's father was sent to Aix in Provence to
procure a subsidy from the States General of 100,000 crowns, wherewith to carry
on the war against the Huguenots, who were endeavouring to set cp a Republic

■■«

He is presented to St. Francis de Sales. f

bird, it escaped from his hands and flew on the roof of the house
In an instant he had made the sign of the cross and, invoking his
angel-guardian, had sprung f-:;.. a window upon the roof and
secured the truant ; not, however, without raising a cry of alarm
from those who had witnessed the hazardous feat, for the window
from which he had leapt, and which was on the third storey, was
below the level of the adjoining roof on which he had succeeded
in alighting, and, had he missed his footing, he would have been
dashed to pieces on the pavement below. ''My master," he writes,
" whom the noise had summoned to the spot, and who was seized
with terror when he beheld my perilous position, punished me as
I deserved; nor to this day can I think of the danger I so
recklessly incurred without a shudder, and a fervent thanksgiving
to God, who bestowed such fatherly care upon me at a time when
I was quite unconscious of His mercies. May He grant me grace
to expose my life as freely in His service as I then did for my
own pleasure."

Being destined by his family to the ecclesiastical state, he had
received the tonsure when he was eight years old, and, through
an abuse which prevailed in France in those days, he had at the
same time been put in possession of a benefice. But his restless
activity and the heedlessness and almost violence of his disposition,
which, instead of diminishing, increased as he grew older, appeared
to his parents so incompatible with the moderation, gravity, and
recollection which befit a priest, that they began to have serious
misgivings on the subject of their son's vocation, and were pre-
paring to turn their thoughts to some other profession, when their
doubts were set at rest and their minds reassured by the authorita-
tive voice of the great Bishop of Geneva, St. Francis de Sales.
This holy prelate, on his occasional visits to Lyons, had been
struck with the piety and rectitude of the Intendant, and had
admitted him to his intimate friendship. The mother of our youth,
fearful of offending God by thrusting into the sacred ministry one
who was destitute of a true vocation, opened her heart to the
Saint, and besought him to make the matter a subject of special

in France ; and M. Faillon is of opinion that it was then that M. Olier, who
accompanied his father, paid the visit to the tomb of St. Mary Magdalen of
wiiich he makes mention in his Mimoires, and was shown the head of the saint,
liaving that portion of the flesh still uncorrupted on which our Risen Lord had
laid His hand when He said to her, "Touch Me not."

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Lt/e of M. Oher.

prayer, in order to ascertain the Divine will. Francis acceded to
her request, and the result we learn from M. Chaillard,* one of
M. Olier's personal friends, who was present on the occasion. He
had gone to assist at the Saint's mass in the chapel of the Visitation
Convent at Lyons, when, on Francis leaving the altar, Mme.
Olier presented her children to him for his blessing. The Saint
embraced them one after another, and began speaking with affec-
tionate interest about them all, when their mother interposed with
renewed expressions of uneasiness respecting the youngest, Jean-
Jacques, who, slie said, was an unruly, headstrong boy, on whom
correction was thrown away. "Well, well," said Francis mildly,
" we must not be hard upon young people ; high spirits are not
a sin ; and now take comfort from what I say, for I tell you that
God has chosen this good child to promote His glory and to do
great service in His Church." He then laid his hands on the
boy's head, embraced him tenderly, and gave him his benediction.

Nor did the holy prelate's solicitude for the child end thus ; he
wished at once to aid in bringing about the accomplishment of
his own predictiotL He had long entertained a design of resign-
ing his bishopric to his coadjutor, and retiring to a hermitage,
beautifully situated on the borders of the Lake of Annecy, which
he had caused to be restored. Here he intended devoting the
remainder of his days to the training of young ecclesiastics; five
or six cells were already constructed, and of one of these it was his
wish that Jean-Jacques should be the occupant. He desired to
have the boy always with him, and this desire was fully reciprocated
by young Olier himself, who, from the day that St Francis adopted
him, in a manner, as his child, never called him by any other
name than the endearing one of lather. But this design, which
was so full of promise both for the Church of France and for our
pious youth, was not destined to be realized : a few days after,
the labours of the Saint had ceased on earth, and he was gone
to his glorious rest in Heaven. Francis was at this time in the
train of the Duke of Savoy, whom he had accompanied to Avignon
on his way to meet Louis XHL at Lyons. M. Olier would fain

* M. Chaillard was subsequently doctor in theology, Protonotary of the Holy
See, and Cure of Villefranche in Beaujolais. The P^re de Nolay renders similar
testimony, and reports the Saint's words, as given above. The incident was
represented in a painting which, M. Faillon avers, may still be seen in the church
of Ste. Madeleine at Besan9on.

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Divine Favours and Mercies. g

have had the Saint occupy a portion of his house, which was
very spacious and close to the Convent of the Visitation, but
Francis declined this and other similar ofTers of hospitality, by
saying that, having foreseen the difficulty there might be of pro-
curing suitable quarters, he had already engaged a lodging; and
it was then discovered that he had fixed upon a little room
belonging to the gardener of the convent, which was a very temple
of the winds, and, moreover, was troubled with a smoking chimney.
To all renewed offers of better accommodation the Saint did but
pleasantly reply that he was never better than when he fared
badly. In this comfortless apartment Francis de Sales was seized
with his last illness, and hither thronged all the friends of the
great Bishop, to beg his prayers and receive his enediction. In
the crowd came Mme. Olier, with her children ; it was the feast of
St. John the Evangelist, Jean-Jacques's patron, and when Francis
heheld the child of his election kneeling with tearful, earnest
countenance at his bedside, can we doubt that the dying Saint, as
he gently raised his hand and blessed him, poured out upon him
all the tenderest feelings of a father's heart, and consecrated him,
as it were, for ihe accomplishment of a work which himself had
not had time even to commence :* M. Olier, as may be supposed,
ever throughout his life had recourse to the Saint's intercession
with the most assured confidence; and, as we shall see in the
course of this history, he believed that to him he was indebted
for numerous and extraordinary graces.

Our youth had now reached his fourteenth year, a critical age for
one of his impetuous nature and ardent temperament ; but we have
his own testimony to the fact that he was withheld by a peculiar
operation of Divine grace from falling into irregular courses. If he
were unhappily guilty of any infidelity, a cloud seemed to settle on
his mind, otherwise so lively and active, and he was unable to apply
himself to his studies. " I observed," he says, " that I lost all
capacity of learning when I was out of the state of grace. No sooner
did I commit any sin than my unders<:anding seemed to become
blocked and offuscated ; and I could neither apprehend nor retain
anything until I had been to confession. I remember well that,
when I had to pass a public examination, I was obliged for a con-
siderable time before to be careful to keep myself in the state of
grace ; and nothing at this time surprised me more than to see
persons living in sin who nevertheless were good scholars and able

,»A,vi;ac:*-

■'».. »,. ►■

Life of M. Olier.

I '

■ 1

to learn with facility, I wondered how this could be, imagining that
everybody was affected like myself." So marvellously • as God
pleased to guard this chosen soul from contracting early habits of
sin ; nor were these the only signs of the special protection with
which he was favoured. One day, in his sixteenth year, he had
swum across a wide river, intending to rest himself on the other
side ; but, finding strangers unexpectedly on the opposite bank, he
attempted, from a motive of modesty, to return without recovering
breath. Scarcely, however, had he reached the middle of the stream
when he felt himself completely exhausted and unable to proceed.
He was in the very act of sinking, when his foot caught the top of a
stake which was fixed in the bed of the river, and on this he suc-
ceeded in steadying himself until assistance was rendered him. A
deliverance from death, which depended apparently on so slight an
accident, made a deep impression on his mind.

About this time he felt a strong desire to embrace the religious
life, and his first attraction was towards the Carthusians, many of
whose houses he visited as opportunity served ; he next turned his
attention to the Franciscans, and even went so far as to beg them
to receive him ; but it was the will of God that he should sanctify
himself, and be instrumental in sanctifying others, in the secular life.
At Lyons he finished the course of studies included in the humani-
ties ; and, in 1625, his father being promoted to the high office of a
Conseiller d'etat, our youth returned with his family to Paris, where
he was jptered at the far-famed University in that city. He had for
his professor of philosophy one of the ablest men of the day, Pierre
Padet, of the College d'Harcourt ; and of the manner in which he
acquitted himself in his new studies it is sufficient to say that it fully
corresponded with the expectations which his friends had formed of
him. A public act, which he kept in L,atin and Greek, extending
over the whole course of philosophy, was crowned with universal
applause ; and his professor paid him the compliment of declaring
that in maintaining his thesis, as well as in his replies, he had
achieved the highest success.

On leaving the College d'Harcourt he attended the schools of
the Sorbonne, where he equally distinguished himself. His father
spared no expense to obtain him the advantage of the best instructors,
and gave him as his master in theology one of the most celebrated
doctors of the time, Nicholas Le Maistre, who in the subsequent
reign became Bishop of Lombez. Under the direction of this

He Becomes a Fashionable Preacher.

learned and pious divine the young Olier made himself profoundly
acquainted with the scholastic writers, and at the same time acquired
a sound knowledge of Greek, which was of no little service to him
in the study of the Holy Scriptures as well as of the Greek Fathers
of the Church.

The honours he reaped at this time were so much the more
flattering to his parents as they were due entirely to his own talents
and exertions, and they began to indulge the most sanguine hopes
of the distinguished part he was to play in the world. With his
birth, connections, and personal advantages, it seemed to them that
their son might attain to the highest dignities in Church and State.
A miserable spirit of worldliness took possession of them, the more
miserable and odious as exhibited in persons who made profession
of piety, and who, indeed, under ordinary circumstances were accus-
tomed to act from high religious motives. Not only did they cast
about how best to secure the favour and influence of those who
might further their child's advancement, but they even endeavoured
to excite ambitious views in the youth himself, suggesting to him
many little ways by which he could recommend himself to notice
and promote his worldly prospects. Even while at Lyons, his father
had procured him a second benefice, that of the Benedictine Priory
of La Trinity at Clisson in the diocese of Nantes ; he now obtained
for him the richer preferment of the Abbey of Pdbrac, belonging to
the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, in the diocese of St. Flour (of
which we shall hear more in the sequel), and to this was soon added
a second priory, that of Bazainville, in the diocese of Chartres.
Besides these substantial dignities, he was at the same time elected
Honorary Canon of the Chapter of St. Julien de Brioude, a distinc-
tion which he shared with two bishops and a brother abbot. This
was in 1626, when he had attained his eighteeuth year; and now, in
his quality of Abbd, although he had not yet received holy orders,
he was entitled to preach ; and, as preaching would be a means of
exhibiting his talents before the world, he ascended the pulpit, and
delivered himself of brilliant orations which gained him an extensive
popularity, and were the especial delight of his infatuated mother,
who, although, as it has been intimated, she had hitherto shown him
no particular affection, could not resist the charms of an eloquence
which tickled the ears and won the applause of th? intellectual
crowd. Now, at length, she seemed to have become sensible of
her son's good qualities, when, as he says, " I had a throng of fine

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Lt/e of M. Olier.

:■ I

I'i

• IM

people about me, and was all the fashion, preaching beautiful
sermons, abounding in rhetorical tropes and vain conceits, but in
which not a word was uttered against the manners of the world, its
pride and its covetousness."

Jean-Jacques had now entered on h-s career of ambition, and, it
must be added, of dissipation, with all the habitual ardour of his
character. He was determined to become a great man, and to
become a great man he must pay court to the great ; and this could
only be effectually accomplished by frequenting their assemblies and
mixing in the high society of the capital. Behold, then, our future
reformer as the gay young Abb^, the graceful courtier, the brilliant
wit, the writer of epigrams, the utterer of smart sayings and pretty
compliments in salon and in boudoir, with his retinue of servants,
his couple of carriages, and his well-appointed household ; for his
parents grudged no expenditure which could help to give him con-
sequence and conduce to his advancement. And well did the
young man respond to their liberality : his address and good looks,
the ease and frankness of his manners, the charm of his conversa-
tion, his incontestable abilities, joined to the consideration in which
his family were held, obtained him a ready admittance into the
highest circles; and so he enjoyed life, and made full use of his
liberty, and was fast becoming an accomplished man of the world
and a lover of its pleasures, if not a sharer in its vices ; till at last
his parents were filled with dismay at his dissipated habits, and
av/oke, as from an evil dream, to behold their child about to plunge
into a vortex of sin, to the very edge of which they had themselves
beguiled him by their criminal vanity and folly.

His mother; who, though not insensible to the world's attractions,
had a great horror of sin, was deeply distressed, and never ceased
to pray with tears to God for the conversion of her son ; many holy
souls also, who mourned in secret over the miseries of the time,
made the young Abbd the subject of their intercessions ; but there
was one pre-eminently to whose prayers M. Olier always attributed
th .Tiercy he obtained, and who is so remarkable a person in herself,
and plays so important a part in this history, as to call for more
particular notice. This was Marie de Gournay, widow of David
Rousseau, one of the twenty-five licensed victuallers of Paris. A
country-girl of mean parentage, she retained in her married state,
when she might have lived in ease and comfort, her predilections for
a hard and simple life ; and her humility was equal to her love of

Marie Rousseau.

poverty. So vile and little was she in her own eyes that she couUl
not endure to spend upon herself; her clothes were never of the
newest, and her food consisted for the most part of scraps which
others had left. Her one sole study was to imitate the Blessed
Mother of God, and in all things to conform her interior dispositior.s
to those with which that incomparable Virgin performed her ordinary
actions. 1' earful of attracting the esteem of others, she avoided
everything which might obtain her the character of being a person
of piety, and during the twenty years she pursued her avocation,
engaged continually in waiting on her guests, she never testified by
.speech or manner the intimate union she enjoyed with God. Not
but that numbers who frequented the house were indebted to her
for many spiritual blessings ; and by some timely word, apparently
of the simplest and most ordinary kind, she led many a hardened
sinner to repentance on whom reproof and admonition had been
expended in vain ; still no one would have susoected the extra-
ordinary sanctity that lay hid beneath an exterior in nowise distin-
guishable from that of a thousand other women of her class. At
her husband's death she chose for herself one of the most uncom-
fortable rooms in the house, for it was so situated as never to be
free from noise and bustle, from which she suffered much ; but there
she made a solitude for herself in which to commune alone with
Him who was the one object of all her thoughts and affections.
Her constant prayer was that God would take her to Himself; and
so great were the satisfactions she derived from the reception of the
Holy Eucharist, that It seemed to serve her for meat and drink, and
she sometimes passed whole days without any other nourishment.

This poor woman, so humble in her origin, leading so obscure a
life, and engaged in a calling which might have seemed singularly
unfavourable to the attainment of spiritual perfection, had been pos-
sessed from her childhood with one longing desire, — that she might
be instrumental m training and forming holy pastors, devoted to the
cause of God, and in such ways as He in His sovereign wisdom
should be pleased to ordain. For the fulfilment of this desire she
offered up her prayers, her fastings, and her continual mortifications.
One object of her devout aspirations she had already seen happily
accomplished. The Benedictine, Abbey of St. Germain-des-Prds
had long stood a dreary monument of departed glories, and its
church had become well-nigh deserted. Thither she frequently
went to pour out her heart to God in fervent supplications that he

iii-'.fit3aAi.'^_ .^v-ju' >i «Jt%i*tt

^ii^^^l-s^i^.ll^i.....

Life of M. Olier.

t M

» M

would revivify this once famous monastery by restoring holy dis-
cipline and renewing the ancient spirit of the Order ; and at length
she had the consolation of witnessing the great reform of St. Maur
established within its walls. This was cfTectcd in the year 1631, by
the venerable Dom G.dgoire Tarrisse, the first Supeiior-General.*
But this reform was to her but an earnest of the great renovation
which her soul desired, 1 for which she was ever praying, — the
sanctification of the whole clerical body, and, in particular, the conver-
sion of the vast parish in which she lived, so notorious for its impiety
and wickedness. Now, she was constantly meeting in the streets
a number of young clerics whose manners were a scandal to their
profession. While leading a wholly secular life and squandering the
revenues of their benefices in worldly pleasure and amusements,
they were not ashamed to appear in clerical garb, and, simply from
a motive of vanity and ostentation, to display themselves in habits
of violet satin which their ecclesiastical position did not entitle them
to assume, t Conspicuous among the.se was Jean-Jacques Olier,
He was then in his twenty-first year, and one day when he was
returning with a party of friends from the fair of St. Germain, a
woman apparently of the lowest order, in a v e expressive of deep
emotion, said to them, as they were standin tavern door, "Ah,

Sirs, I have long prayed for your conversion, and I hope God will
even yet hear my prayer." It was Marie Rousseau, whose per-
severance and confidence in God were at length to have a most-
complete reward ; for we learn from M. Olier himself that of five
or six young Abbds, all of good family, who frequented a house by
the side of St. Sulpice's church, separated from her own only by a
wall, there was not one who ultimately did not yield to grace and
quit the world to follow Christ. It was the first time that her atten-
tion had been drawn to the man who was destined by God to fulfil
the object of her life, and she knew not why, but henceforth she
made him the constant subject of her prayers. For himself, it
would seem as if from that moment he felt moved to abandon the
gay life he was leading j he was no longer at his ease, and would say

* The Reform of St. Maur was commenced in the Abbey of St. Augustine at
Limoges in the year 1613, and was confirmed by Gregory XV. in 1627. The
Congregation thus named comprised more than 180 abbeys and priories, and was
governed by a Superior-General, who resided at the Abbey of St. Germain-des>
Pr^s. The reform had the powerful support of Cardinal de Richelieu.

+ Violet being the colour proper to bishops and prelates.

His Pilgrimage to Lorcto.

to his companions, " Somebody, I am sure, is pleading for me." The
heavenly Mother for whom, amidst all his frivolity and sin, he had
retained a tender devotion, had on her part not forsaken him ; many
of her holiest servants joined their prayers to hers j and now grace
after grace was knocking at his heart, and, though eighteen months
elapsed before his conversion was completed, the struggle with him-
self had alrer.dy begun. " I did not love the world," he says ; " I
could not find any satisfaction in it, yet I was for ever falling, despite
tlie sweet attractions of God's love. His unceasing solicitations, and
the poignant remorse I was sure to suffer after sinning, nay, not-
withstanding I sought the powerful aid of the sacraments of the
Church."

Such was his state of mind when he determined on going into
Italy, not for any object connected with his spiritual interests, but
from a motive in which a desire of worldly distinction had a con-
siderable share. Having lost the grace of God, he had acquitted
himself only with ordinary success on the occasion of taking his
degree of bachelor of arts, and he was resolved to recover his supe-
riority. It was his ambiti i to excel, and to do something which
should exalt him above tic common herd of scholars and learned
men ; he therefore conceived tbe design of making himself master of
Hebrew, with the view of maintaining some of his theses in that
language at the Sorbonne. Only at Rome could he obtain the
instruction he needed, and to Rome accordingly he repaired. But
God had other designs respecting him. Scarcely had he arrived in
the Eternal City when he was troubled with an inflammation of the
eyes, which effectually prevented all application to study, excluded
him from general society, and induced an apprehension that he
might altogether lose his sight. The most skilful physicians failed
to arrest the progress of the malady, and at length, all human means
proving without avail, the sufferer bethought him of having recourse
to supernatural aid, and he resolved to make a pilgrimage to the
Holy House of Loreto, so famous throughout Christendom for the
innumerable miracles of which it was the scene.*

He left Rome towards the end of May 1630, and notwithstanding

* For a detailed account of the Santa Casa, or Holy House, of Loreto, as well
as of the evidences on which the tradition rests, the reader is referred to Provost
Norlhcote's Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna and to two valuable Lectures
tnWi\tA Loreto and Nazartth by the late Father Hutchison of the London Oratory.

The distance of Loreto from Rome is about a hundred miles.

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f 'i

Life of M. Olier.

the increasing heats, he, in a spirit of penance, retained his winter
dress and commenced his joiirney on foot Unaccustomed to
laborious exercise, and enfeebled by the remedies which had been
employed to mitigate his disorder, the fatigue, especially for the few
first days, seemed too much for his strength ; but he refreshed and
encouraged himself with continual communings with God and His
blessed Mother, sometimes reciting the rosary, at others composing
pious canticles in honour of the Queen of Heaven. There re-
mained but one day more of his arduous journey when he was
attacked by a fever which compelled him to stop upon the road j
and when at length it abated, and he again resumed his way, his
bodily powers but ill corresponded with his ardent desire to reach his
destination, and it was with the utmost difficulty he could drag him-
self along. The nearer, however, he drew to the holy place the
more his soul was filled with interior consolations, and when at
last he beheld froir, a distance the great church of Loreto he experi-
enced the liveliest emotions of tenderness and joy. " My heart," he
says, " was wounded iis it were with an arrow, and all inflanied with
a holy love of Mary.'

On entering the town, his companions would have sent immedi-
ately for a physician, but such was his impatience to throw himself
at the feet of the miraculous image that they did not venture to
oppo:;e his wishes. On his way he was accosted by a woman
possessed by an evil spirit, who, though he wore no cassock nor had
any other distinguishing mark about him, cried to him in Italian,
** French abb^, be converted, and live as a man of God, or it will
go ill with you." On entering the church, he threw himself on his
knees, and, with his countenance bathed in tears, implored the
Immaculate Virgin that, should he ever be in danger of falling again
into sin, she would obtain for him the boon of death. At that
instant he was completely cured; the fever left him, so that the
physician whom his friends had summoned found his pulse so
moderate and regular that he supposed he had finished his journey
in a carriage ; and, as the eyes of his mind were divinely enlightened,
so those of his body were miraculously healed : the disorder had
ceased, and never troubled him more. At the same time he re-
ceived an extraordinary gift of prayer, and passed the whole night
within the church in fervent supplications, with abundance of tears,
Into the Holy House itself he did not dare to enter until he had
c.eansed his soul by a humble confession of his sins.

:'f

His Conversion.

The supernatural graces with which he had been favoured at this
holiest of shrines, wrought so complete a transformation in him that
he could scarcely recognise himself as the same person. " It was in
this sacred spot," he writes, " that I was born again to grace through
the prayers of the most holy Virgin ; that Mother of Mercy brought
me forth to God in the very place wherein she had conceived Christ
Jesus in her chaste wo nb." He returned to Rome as he had come,
on foot, occupying himself by the way in adoring God for his great
mercies and extolling the glories of his august Patroness.

■/.■i>;?^' ii"s-3^i" j'j-,Sui/S?i '.i^/':A\^:!j^

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CHAPTER II.

COMMENCEMENT OF HIS APOSTOLIC LIFE. HIS VOCATION,
AND ELEVATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD.

LONGING to give himself entirely io God, and fearing to lose his
^ soul should he return to the world, the Ahh6 Olier had
thoughts of entering the monastic state in some convent of Italy.
To this end he visited several Carthusian houses, and especially that
in the Isle of Capri ; and all he there witnessed of the angelic lives
of the inmates only inflamed his heart with a more ardent desire of
giving himself up to divine contemplation. Strong, however, as was
his attraction to the solitary life, he was still in doubt as to what was
the will of God respecting him, when an event happened which
summoned him back to France. This was the death of his father,
after a long and painful illness, which he had borne with the most
exemplary patience, exhibiting throughout the same tender devotion
to the most holy Virgin for which he had been remarkable all his
life. The loss of one he so dearly loved deeply wounded the young
man's sensitive and affectionate heart, and for a day and a night he
never ceased giving passionate vent to his sorrow.

His mother was most urgent for him to return, and, with that
mixture of piety and worldliness which is frequently to be found in
imperfect souls, she was equally anxious that he should be a model
of ecclesiastical virtue and at the same time aspire to the highest
ofifices in the Church. For two of her sons she had already provided
to her perfect satisfaction. The eldest, Fran(^ois Olier de Verneuil,
had been made Maitre des Requetes, while her youngest son,
Nicolas-Edouard Olier de Fontenelle, had succeeded his father as
Grand Audiencier of France ; and it was now the desire of her heart
to see Jean- Jacques occupying the honourable position of Almoner
to the King, which she had been for some time soliciting for him.
That there was a large fund of worldliness in his mother's character

His devotion to the Poor.

lose his
ier had
)f Italy,
illy that
;lic lives
desire of
r, as was
jvhat was
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lis father,
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jdevotion
|k all his
.e young
night he

there, unhappily, cannot be a doubt ; even her affection for her child
and the estimation in which she held him seemed to vary with the
hopes she entertained of his success in the world. Thus she
received him on his return with the most lively demonstrations of
regard, protesting that he was now her only consolation and support,
and lavishing every manner of endearment upon him, so long as she
thought he might second her ambitious views ; but no sooner did she
perceive that honours and distinctions had no longer any attraction
for him than her behaviour altogether changed ; for he never for an
instant wavered in his resolution to withdraw entirely from the world.
"Although," he says, "I made no outward demonstration, yet from
the moment that God called ne at Loreto my only pleasure was in
communing with Him ; all else was a burden and a torment to me.
My longing desire and the very end of my being was to speak of God."
Still he kept silence, and for nine months led a hidden life, revealing
his intentions to no one except his confessor ; until on Christmas
Day, after making a general confession of his past life, he openly
avowed his determination to belong henceforth entirely to God and
to devote himself unreservedly to His service.

As though to make his rupture with the world as irrevocable
as possible, he proceeded to commit an outrage on conventional
proprieties such as it never overlooks or pardons. He, a young,
high-bred, refined, accomplished gentleman, but lately one of its
most favoured votaries, began to make himself the friend and
associate of the vulgar rabble, and that openly and even, in appear-
ance, ostentatiously, as though to defy public opinion, and set it
utterly at nought. And, in truth, he seemed to be beside himself,
like the great Patriarch St. Francis, when, in obedience to the divine
call, he stripped himself of his clothes before his fathc ' face, and
went forth into the world an outcast and a beggar, having left all for
Christ; he felt (he says) impelled by a movement of zeal which he
could not have resisted without a consciousness that he was opposing
the grace of God and neglecting that on which his perseverance in
his vocation depended. He entered, then, on the practice of an
apostleship the like of which the gay world of Paris had never
witnessed. Day after day he went into its crowded streets, and,
selecting the most miserable objects he could find — the more ragged
and squalid the better to his taste — with a sweetness and a tender-
ness which nothing but divine charity could have taught him, led
them in a troop to his mother's house, where he instructed them in

ViH-=;i£L.'iW. X^\

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the truths of salvation, and distributed alms among them according
to their needs. Not being a priest, nor, indeed, even in holy orders,
he could but prepare them for confession, and then send them, under
the charge of a trusty servant, to a young and devoted priest with
whom he was united in the closest ties of friendship. This was
FranQois Renar, son of a Maitre des Requetes, who, despite a
natural repugnance for hearing confessions, discharged this charitable
office at the church of the Capucins du Marais, where he remained
daily in his confessional from six o'clock until noon. The sck,
M. Olier caused to be conveyed to the hospital, himself accompany-
ing them. At the same time he devoted himself to the instruction
of young scholars, and especially such as aspired to the ecclesiastical
state, assembling them together for this purpose in his own apart-
ments. This act of charity was even more obnoxious to his friends
than the care he expended on the poor, as to their mind there was
something especially derogatory in performing the part of a school-
master, and that towards persons who were every way his inferiors.
They could no longer keep any measures with him, but gave full
vent to their indignation and contempt, and at length proceeded so
far as to drive his beggars and his scholars out of the house, and
compel him to transfer his reception-room to a part of the premises
which, as he says, reminded him of the stable of Bethlehem.

Had this, however, been all, the world at large might have ignored
his eccentricities, and even have regarded them with a patronizing
pity ; so far, it might appear, he had had the decency to withdraw
himself and the objects of his folly from the public eye, and retreat
with them into the privacy of his maternal dwelling. But as yet it
had formed no adequate conception of the audacity with which he
was prepared to brave its wrath and set it at defiance. Soon this
madcap of an Abb^, as he came to be regarded, might be seen, in
open day and in the most frequented places, surrounded by a crowd
of wretched people, whom he was instructing, or with whom he was
conversing, or to whose tale of sorrow he was listening, with the
same animated air, the same unconscious grace, the same interested
attention, for which he was distinguished when, but a few short
months ago, he paid his nightly devoirs at the court of fashion, wit,
and beauty. It may readily be conceived what rage and scorn such
conduct would provoke in his old acquaintances, the more as he was
plainly invulnerable to all the shafts of ridicule that were launched
against him. One day he was catechising a poor man at the door of

Anger of his Family.

pite a
.ritable
nained
e sJck,
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siastical
n apart-
1 friends
lere was
I school-
inferiors,
^ave full
eeded so
luse, and

Notre Dame, when a cavalier, richly dressed, approaching the
servant who accompanied M. Oiler, said to him, in a voice loud
enough to be heard by all around, "Tell your master he is mad 1"
The young Abbd heard the woras, but continued his instructions
with an expression on his countenance of such sweetness and
humility as would have covered any generous-hearted person with
confusion. Faithful to the light within him, he minded neither
taunt, nor sneer, nor affronts that were still more hard to bear ; his
courage never quailed, his ardour never cooled, and, if ever he offered
apology for his singularity, it was in some such simple words as
these : " The rich and the great never want for instruction, there are
plenty who are ready enough to act as their teachers j but the poor,
who for the most part are far better disposed, are overlooked and
abandoned, because in them vanity finds nothing on which to feed."

Scoffers, of course, there were, numerous enough ; nor were there
wanting those good worthy men, after their fashion, who shook their
heads or smiled significantly when the young Abba's name was
mentioned, and gravely lamented, or loudly condemned, his strange
misguided zeal, the mere vagary, as they esteemed it, of an ill-
balanced, enthusiastic mind. But a few generous souls there were
whom the example of such heroic charity roused to emulation; so
that not many years elapsed before the sight of young men, well and
even nobly born, teaching beggars and outcasts was no longer a
novelty in the streets of Paris. Among the first was M. Renar, the
young priest already mentioned ; but all were not endowed, especially
at the outset of their labours, with the holy shamelessness of our
Abbe. One, in particular, there was who would move to a distance,
or escape into a house, if he saw any of his old acquaintances
approaching ; but M. Olier gently reproached him for his cowardice,
showing him the folly of being ashamed of caring for th.i poor, if we
would not have the Son of God ashamed of us before His Father and
the holy angels.

Mme. Olier, and his relatives generally, as we have seen, regarded
the occupations in which he was engaged as a dishonour to the
family, and their dislike of his proceedings was not a little aggra-
vated by an event which now happened. His cousin, Mile, de
Bussy, a young lady on whose wealth and beauty they had reckoned
for obtaining the honours and advantages of a great alliance,
announced her intention of entering the convent of the Reformed
Carmelite nuns ; and in this intention she had the encouragement

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Life of M. Glier.

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and support of M. Olier. The opposition she encountered on
the part of her friends was violent and prolonged, but it was met
by a resistance no less determined, and in the end triumphant,
on the part of the young Abbd This was a crime not soon to
be forgiven by his family, and their resentment showed itself in
renewed insults and reproaches. M. Olier bore all with the utmost
patience, believing, in his humility, that his friends were animated
by a purer intention in opposing, than he himself was in pursuing,
his charitable labours. When his mother treated him with more
unkindness than usual, he would go to the church of Notre Dame
and, throwing himself on his knees before our Lady's image,
would say, in the anguish of his heart, "I take thee for my
mother, most holy Virgin, for my own rejects me ; O Mary, deign
to be a mother to me." His devotion to the Queen of Heaven
had never ceased to express itself in modes very similar to those
which he had adopted when a child. If he happened to have
anything that could be called beautiful or costly, it was sure to
find its way to the church of Notre Dame. His cousin, on leaving
the world (he says) must needs stuff his wardrobe with her diamonds
and jewellery, and other cast-off vanities, but they were soon dis-
tributed among the different churches of the capital, and a large
proportion was expended in the decoration of the cathedral of
Notre Dame.

Desirous, and even careful, as he was to avoid annoying his
relatives needlessly, M. Olier set no bounds to his fervour so far
as the mortification of his own natural inclinations was concerned ;
and the same charity which impelled him to brave the scorn of
the world for the sake of the poor and miserable, led him to the
performance of acts still more extraordinary and heroic. After
teaching some ragged begg?r his catechism he would kneel and
kiss his feet; and, were the object of his love and compassion
afilicted with any noisome sore, he would beg to be allowed to
kiss it also j nay, he would apply his lips to loathsome ulcers the
very sight of which filled the passers-by with horror. One of his
biographers, M. de Bretonvilliers, relates that on sixteen different
occasions he was himself an eye-witness of this marvellous act of
charity. After a visit to his favourite church of Notre Dame it
was not unfrequently his custom, on going out, to kiss the feet of
all the poor he found at the door or within the enclosure, as well
as of all whom he met on the bridges and in the streets ; for he

His heroic charity.

beheld Jesus Christ in His suffering poor, and by an impulse
which he seemed unable to resist he did Him homage in their
persons. "How sweet it is," he wrote, "to obey Thee, O my
God, and how fully dost Thou render a hundredfold to those who
profess to be Thy faithful servants ! For I cannot say I am wholly
Thine save that I have always striven to obey Thee from the
moment of my conversion. Never could I endure to deny Thee
anything when 1 had the means and the power, and my mind
and heart have ever cleaved to Thee, young as 1 was in Thy
divine service. St. Paul said that from the time of his vocation
he condescended not to his own will, his own judgment, the
inclinations of flesh and blood : * ah ! would to God that this might
be my case also, who am wholly proud, nay, wholly made up of
pride ! My sweet Jesus, such as I am it is in Thee I receive all
these graces, and it is for Thee, my All, that I desire to do all,
say all, and write all ; Thee only I love, who referrest everything
to Thy Father, for whom I'hou Uvest."

This true servant of the Lord, however, was as humble and
obedient as he was ardent and courageous, and at a word from
his confessor, who suggested to him that such extraordinary acts
of charity, performed so publicly, might have the effect of exciting
notice, and drawing attention to himself, he instantly abandoned
the practices of which we have spoken. He no longer kissed the
sores of the poor with his bodily lips, but he kissed them still,
he says, in spirit. "For," he adds, "our interior ought to be
greater than our exterior; and what we do exteriorly ought to
appear to us so little, in comparison with what we desire to do
in our interior for God's great majesty, as to make us blush for
shame. Thus what we do will be full of humility and charity,
the two conditions which ought to accompany all our actions, and
which constituted the spirit in which our Lord performed every-
thing He did." But though he was careful to avoid any public
display, yet when he was walking in the country, in places where
there was no danger of incurring notoriety, he would kiss both the
feet and the sores of the poor he met, never omitting to bestow
an alms upon them; and he believed that these meetings were
ordered by a special providence, so as to afford consolation to
the sufferers as well as edification to himself. One day he met
three poor persons one after another, in whom his piety recognized

• Gal. i. IS, 16.

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Life of M. Olier.

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a likeness to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. "The first," he says,
" who passed was an old man, the next was a good woman, the
third a young man. I questioned them as to their faith, and
received satisfactory replies. The last of them, who represented
to me Jesus Christ, affected me much ; his body was frightfully
burned, one arm shrunk and withered, and even bared to the
bone. I asked him, among other things, how he met with such
an accident ; he told me it was through endeavouring to save his
children from the flames. Nothing could have corresponded more
perfectly with my imagination ; the hkeness between this poor man
and my Saviour covered with wounds in endeavouring to save His
children, moved me deeply. ' Ah ! God bless you,' I answered
to every word he spoke. After I had consoled him and invoked
God's blessing on him, he went away much comforted, nor was
I less so, for he had let me kiss his sores."

Another feature in the circumstance which pleased M. Olier was
that this poor man told him he came from Notre Dame de Chartres,
as he felt he had thus an opportunity of thanking our blessed Lady,
in the person of this poor sufferer, for the mercies she had lately
shown him at that celebrated shrine. Not long after his return from
Rome God was pleased, for his greater purification, to visit him
with a most grievous trial. It was his habit to confess and receive
communion every day, but so sensitive was he to every little imper-
fection, and so scrupulous did his conscience become, that at last
he confessed as many as three times in a morning, and would even
summon the priest from the altar, when he was preparing to aay
Mass, that he might give him absolution. This was the Pbre Dufour,
Chaplain of St. Paul's, who had been almoner to St. Francis de Sales.
In vain did the good priest endeavour to remove his scruples by the
suggestion of all the motives applicable to such a case ; although he
implicitly obeyed every direction given him by his confessor his fears
remained, and only the Hand that had smitten him could give the
relief he needed. He resolved once more to have recourse to the
Mother of Mercy, and to seek her aid at the shrine of Notre Dame
de Chartres,* which had been the resort of pious pilgrims from time

* The history of this celebrated shrine dates (strange to say) from pagan times,
l)efore the birth of Christ. Tradition says that on the height where now stands
the cathedral church of Chartres, there was, in time anterior to Christianity, an
altar dedicated to "the Virgin who should bear a son — Virgini pariturce." This
expectation of a Deliverer, the son of a virgin, is proved by incontestable monu-

His secret austerities.

immemorial. It was the middle of winter when he left Paris, in
true pilgrim guise, on foot ; but such was the ardour of his devotion,
and so pleasing to his heavenly Patroness was the simplicity of his
faith, that from the moment he entered the cathedral church, even
before he had visited the subterranean chapel in which her image
stood, he found himself deHvered from all his scruples.

The reader will not need to be told that proportioned to his
tenderness towards others was his severity towards himself. Very
high sanctity is usually accompanied with extraordinary mortifica-
tions, and the subject of this biography was no exception to the
rule. The gay younj, Abb^, whose life had been all softness and
delicacy, who affected magnificence, not from a vulgar love of dis-
play, but because it gratified a refined and elegant taste, now dealt
hardly with himself, content with the bare necessaries of life that
he might have the more to bestow in alms upon the poor, and kept
aloof from society that he might have more time for prayer. His
austerities were practised with all the secrecy possible, but his ser-
vant discovered that he was in tlie habit of removing the mattress
from his bed and lying on the palliasse, restoring everything to
its place in the morning, in order to escape observation ; and so
effectually were his precautions taken, that it was some years before
this practice became known to any but the confidential servant in
question. In short, he was as ingenious in contriving mortifications
and as indefatigable in denying himself as men of tae world are
studious of their ease and unwearied in the pursuit of pleasure. Nor
was this love of solitude and mortification the effect of an over-
wrought imagination or an indiscreet zeal ; he was but following
the leadings of divine grace and preparing himself for the work to
which God was calling him. He had a mission to perform in the
order of Providence — a mission no less than that of reforming and
elevating the clergy of France — and he was now being tried and
fitted for the office. A vocation so extraordinary demanded extra-
ordinary graces and a perfection of holiness corresponding thereto.
This Is the clue to his conduct during the interval we are now con-

ments to have 'videly prevailed among the nations, whether as a remnant of the
primitive patriarchal faith, or by reason of a special revelation, or that it was
derived from »he Jews who, subsequently to Alexander's conquests, were dispersed
about the world, carrying with them their Sacred Books translated into Greek.
Altars with a similar import are also said to have existed in several other places ;
as, for example, at Nogent, Autun, Dijon, &c. In Christian times the shrine
of Notre Dame de Chartres became a most frequented place of pilgrimage.

Life of M. Olier.

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sidering, and may prepare us for all that is supernatural in the
accounts that follow.

Ever since the change that had passed upon him at Loreto, M.
Olier had been travailing, as it were, in the throes of a second con-
version, and a few holy souls were specially called to assist at the
birth. Of Marie Rousseau we have already spoken ; of another M.
Olier made the acquaintance when visiting his abbey of P^'brac in
the year 1631. In the M^re Desgranges, Superioress of the nuns
of Notre Dame de Brioudc, whose venerable age and exalted virtues
inspired him with a filial reverence and affection, he seemed to
behold a representative of that heavenly Mother to whose love and
service he was so eminently devoted ; and the admonitions siie gave
him were received with as much docility r.i though tliey had come
from the lips of the Blessed Virgin herseif. In a letter he addressed
to her, and which has been preserved, he begs her, in the most
earnest terms, to continue still to nourish his soul with her salutary
counsels, and to obtain for him a more perfect love and devotion to
Jesus and Mary. ''Teach me," he writes, "to love thy All, thy
great God, whom I do not dare to approach, being in myself so
unworthy. Speak to Him for your child, and, if you would have
him follow you, teach him the way in which he ought to speak.
My very dear mother, I am without voice, without speech, because
I am without love. * T/ie Spirit of the Lord,' who is in you, ' /lath
knowledge of the voice? * When you have obtained me His presence
and His holy union, I shall not ask you how I must speak. O Jesus,
Father of Love, and thou, Mary, mother of fair love, together with
thy spouse, St. Joseph, obtain me this holy love. O love, which
residest so fully and supremely in these three persons, give thyself
to thy poor little, but alas ! unfaithful and ungrateful slave. O love,
shut thine eyes, O mercy, open thy bosom, look not on my crimes.
Remember what you are and not what I am. Take me, guard me,
consume, devour me in yourselves, and then I am content. O fire
of Heaven, I cannot live if thou dost not animate me ; my life is
death without thee."

But the person who was directly commissioned by Heaven to
intercede for the future founder of St. Sulpice, was the Mere Agnes
de Jdsus, Prioress of the Dominican Convent of St. Catherine at
Langeac, who was, and is still to this day, held in the highest

* Wisdom, L 7.

His sermon at St. Paul's.

veneration throughout Auvergne, Velay, and the neighbouring pro-
vinces, and whom the Holy See has colemnly declared to have
practised all Christian virtues in an heroic degree. This holy nun
never ceased her prayers for the sanctification of the clergy and the
conversion of the poor country-people, who, for want of zealous
pastors, were plunged in ignorance and vice ; and one day, when
she was beseeching her Divine Spouse, with many tears, to close her
earthly exile and admit her to His presence, our Lord said to her,
" I have still need of thee for the sanctification of a soul who shall
promote My glory." * Shortly afterwards, the Blessed Virgin,
towards whom the ML'rc Agnes entertained a devotion remarkable
even among saints, appeared to her, clothed with light, and
said, "Tray to my Son for the Abbe of P^brac." Pdbrac was only
four or five miles distant from Langeac,t but the Mfere Agnes had
never seen M. Olier nor even heard his name ; and it was not until
three years afterwards that they beheld each other, and that in the
manner and under the circumstances which will be related in the
next chai)ter. Meanwhile she offered, not only her most fervent
prayers, bet her extraordinary austerities, for the sanctification of
the soul which had been thus commended to her charity ; and such
was the ardour with which she sought to satisfy the Divine justice
by her sufferings for the sins of which that soul was guilty, that (as
we learn from M. Olier himself) she scourged herself so cruelly that
the walls of her cell were sprinkled with her blood.

At this time M. Olier had no director,J nor was he aware of the
necessity of such a guide, in order to determine his vocation and

* Vie de la VMrable Mire Agnis de Jt'siis, par M. de I.antages, Pictre de St.
Sulpice et Premier Sup^rieur de Notre Dame du Puy. P. iii, C. xii. 2. A new
edition of this marvellous Life, revised and enlarged by the Abbe Lucot, was
published in 1863.

t M. Faillon says two leagues, but in the letter cited by him (P. i, L. v. 15)
M. Olier says one league. The distance was probably about a league and a half;
as, indeed, may be gathered from a passage in he Life of the Mere Agnfes, to
which reference will be made in chapter iii.

t It is hardly necessary to state that the office of a confessor is simply to
administer the sacrament of penance ; that of a director, to guide the soul in the
ways of the spiritual life. Of course, the two may be combined in the same person ;
and when the ordinary confessor happens to possess the qualifications necessary
for the difficult office of direction, such combination is deemed highly desirable ;
but in themselves they are essentially distinct. Every pious Catholic, in a matter
of difficulty which concerns conscience, would consult his confessor, or any other
good priest, but (whatever expressions may be used in common parlance) this does
not constitute him a director. See F. Baker's Sancta Sophia, T. i. S. ii. C. ii. 3.

Life of M. Olier,

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make progress in spiritual perfection. He was still doubtful whether
it might not be God's will that he should enter some reformed
religious Order, and to obtain the light he needed he ceased not to
implore the aid of his heavenly Patroness. To this end he made
several pilgrimages in her honour ; besides repairing to Notre Dame
des Vertus, Notre Dame des Anges, and other noted shrines in the
neighbourhood of Paris, his devotion led him to go twice, on foot,
to the famous sanctuary of Notre Dame de Liesse in the diocese of
Soissons.* It was his habit thus to prepare himself for the more
worthy celebration of her feasts, and one of these occasions was in
the month of August, 1632 — during, therefore, the exhausting heats
of summer — in preparation for the festival of the Assumption. He
went, accompanied by his servants, chanting litanies on the way, or
composing, as was his wont, simple canticles in her praise. He
wished, moreover, to recommend to her the success of a sermon he
was to deliver on that day in the church of St. Paul at Paris. He
was subject at this period to a feeling of nervous trepidation when-
ever he had to preach in public, which distressed him the more that
he feared it was occasioned by a secret desire of human esteem.
Many times he made an offering of himself to God that, if such
were His will, he might suffer the confusion of beinc; unable to pro-
ceed; but no such result ever followed, although the agitation
remained. On the day in question, while mounting the pulpit, he
was more than usually disturbed ; nevertheless he began his sermon,
and continued it for some time without the slightest hesitation, when
he suddenly ] i; all presence of mind; but, confident in the assist-
ence of his powerful Patroness, he went on giving utterance to what-
ever came to his lips, although he knew not what he was saying,
and so it was that, without any sensible effort of memory or thought,
he delivered himself of all he had prepared, and that so fluently
and so powerfully, that no one but himself was aware of his em-
barrassment. Of this the parish register bore witness, for there it

* The origin of this sanctuary of Our Lady of Liesse, or Gladness, is attributeil
by tradition to three crusader knights of Laon, who, after boldly confessing the
faith before their Saracen captors, were released from prison liy the Sultan's
daughter and miraculously transported to their own country. On the spot where
they found themselves they built a church in thanksgiving for their deliverance
and placed within it the image of the Blessed Virgin, which, after being roughly
fashioned by their own hands, had been finished by heavenly aid. 'J'he whole
story, which dates from the middle of the twelfth century, forms No. 13 of
Catholic Legends, published among the volumes of the " Popular Library."

His Vocation shown him in a Dream.

stood recorded that on Sunday, Auj^ust 15th, 1632, being the feast
of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, M. Jean-Jacques
Olier preached in the afternoon before a full audience, and acquitted
hiimelf excelUntly well and learnedly.*

It was the will of God that the reform of the secular clergy of
France should proceed, not from any religious Order nor directly
from the Kpiscopate, but from 1 member of their own body. All
the founders of seminaries and all whose special vocation it was to
labour for the sanctification of the ecclesiastical state were secular
priests ; as, for instance, St. Vincent de Paul, Ptjre dc Condren, and
Pl're Eudes. 'I'o a participation in this great design M. Olier was
now to be called. It was in the November of 1632 that he received
his first intimation of the Divine will, and that by means of a dream,
although, as he says, he did not understand its full significance till
six years after »vards. Tliere was a good and holy priest who had
shown much solicitude for his spiritual interests, and, when he was
on his deathbed, M. Olier begged his friend to remember him when
he came before God, and obtP'n grace for him to know his vocation.
Two or three nights afterwards he saw, in a vision, Heaven opened,
and beheld Pope St. Gregory the Great seated on a lofty throne and
below him, on another throne, St. Ambrose; below these, again,
were the seats of the priests, one of which, under the latter saint,
was vacant ; and still lower, and even far lower, he beheld a number
of Carthusian monks, as though to complete the hierarchy. From
his fifteenth year (as has been related) M. Olier had been attracted
towards the Carthusian Order, but this vision seemed to tell him
that it was the will of God that he should serve him in the ranks of
the clergy, whom those great saints had illustrated by their virtues
and elevated by their labours. The seat left vacant below St.
Ambrose seemed to be reserved for one who, with a zeal akin to
that of the holy prelate, should devote himself to the exaltation of
the sacerdotal order and at the same time remain as much separated
from the world as though he were a spiritual child of St. Bruno.
This vision, which occurred on two successive nights, left a deep
and lasting impression on his mind and was not without an imme-
diate effect of a decisive character. He had no longer any desire
of the monastic life, and, going the next day, as was his custom, to
vespers at the house of the Carthusians, he felt within himself such

• K

II eut un bel auditoire, tXfU tres-bien et Ires-doctemeut.^

Life of M, Olier.

a repugnance to their particular vocation, that he never entertained
the thought again, although he preserved the utmost respect for the
monks themselves, and took great pleasure in visiting them and
assisting at their offices, -n order to unite himself to their prayers
and endeavour to participate in their spirit.

The question of his vocation thus finally settled, M. Olier placed
himself under the immediate direction of St. Vincent de I'aul, whom
he henceforth took as his confessor and spiritual guide. Near con-
tact with such a spirit could not fail to kindle fresh ardour in our
Abbd's breast. Instead of resuming his theological studies, his
desire now was to labour for the salvation of the poor country-
l)eople, and this desire the Saint enabled him to fulfil by associating
him with his Priests of the Mission,'*' although he was not affiliated
to the Congregation. Acting under the direction of these Apostolic
men, he catechised and preached with a zeal that never tired ; how-
ever exhausted he might be after the arduous duties of the day, if
he met a poor man on the way he would stop and speak to him of
(}od ; and this practice, it may be observed, he continued through-
out his life until his paralysed condition obliged him to desist.
When journeying from place to place he would turn aside from the
road to converse with the peasants in the fields, regardless of the
fatigue, and even privations, to which he thus exposed himself, for
not unfrequently night overtook him while engaged in these labours
of love, and he would be compelled to find shelter in a hovel. He
had not lost his affection for beggars ; for if he met with any in
the streets he would take them with him to his lodging and, after
ministering to their temporal wants, apply himself to the relief of
their spiritual necessities, preparing them to make a general confes-
sion with a sweetness and a patience that nothing could disturb.
He also provided missions and retreats out of his own private means,
not only for the places from which he derived any emoluments, as
Bazainville, Clisson, and Verneuil, but for several parishes in the
neighbourhood of Paris.

Some months having been devoted to these missionary labours,
M. Olier, in obedience to the counsels of St. Vincent de Paul, retired
to the house of the Priests of the Mission in order to prepare for
the reception of holy orders. To these truly spiritual men he would

* The Priests of the Mission or, as they were indifierently called, the Priests
of St. Lazare, instituted by St. Vincent de Paul, were erected into a Congregation
by Urban VIII. on the I2th of January, 1632.

His Reception of Holy Orders.

naturally have had recourse for the purpose, but, in fact, he had no
choice in the matter; for on February 21st, 1631, a mandate had
Dcen issued by the Archbishop of Paris,* at the instance of M.
Augustin Potier, the zealous IJishop of Peauvais — to whom the
matter had been earnestly recommended by one of the most remark-
able men of the day, M. Adrien Bourdoise, of whom we shall hear
more in this history — ordering every candidate to enter into a retreat
of fifteen days preparatory to receiving ordination ; and on the 8th
of January in the following year it was further prescribed that the
exercises should be provided by the Priests of the Mission. The
Priory of St. Lazare had just been ceded to them by the Canons
Regular of St. Victor, with permission of the Archbishop, on the
express condition of their rendering this service to his diocese; a
condition which was subsequently confirmed by the Sovereign
Pontiff.

On the 1 2th of March, 1633, M. Olier received the sub-diaconate,
and on the 26th of the same month the diaconatc ; and, finally, on
the 2ist of May, being the Saturday before Trinity Sunday, he was
ordained priest by M. Etienne Puget, Bishop of Dardania, who was
also at the time Bishop Auxiliary of Metz and subsequently became
Bishop of Marseilles. But, not content with making the ordinary
retreat, he desired, like other good and pious priests, to employ some
considerable time in "adorning" (to adopt M. Faillon's words) "the
interior sanctuary of his heart before offering for the first time the
Lamb without spot." Accordingly, he spent an entire month in
a course of spiritual exercises, intermitting all other occupations.
On the feast of St. John the Baptist, whom he always regarded as
his patron no less than St. John the Evangelist, he said his first Mass
in the church of the Carmelite nuns of Notre Dame des Champs ;
and on the same day and in the same place Mile, de Bussy made
her religious profession, M. Olier himself preaching the sennon.
Sister Magdalen of St. John Baptist — such was the name she took
in rehgion — during the forty years she passed, first in Paris and after-
wards at Limoges, was a model of sanctity to all around her, and it

* Jean-Fran9ois de Gondy (uncle of the notorious Cartlinal de Retz) first Arch-
bishop of Paris, that see having been erected into an archbishopric by Gregory
XV. in 1622. The suffragan sees were those of Cliartres, Meaux, and Orleans;
to which was subsequently added that of Biois. The cliaracter of tliis prelate,
with its inconsistencies and weaknesses, is well and fairly described by M.
Chantelauze in his interesting work entitled St. Vincent de Paid et les Gondi,
chap. iii.

wmmmnmennmmam^mmK

Life of M. Olier.

was observed that she seemed to share in an eminent degree her
cousin's profound devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and his tender
love of Mary.

This love and confidence in the holy Mother of God seemed to
increase and intensify in his heart from the day he approached the
altar. Persuaded that to her, after God, he owed everything in the
order of grace, he vowed to her a perpetual servitude, desiring that
all he possessed should be at her disposal. He could refuse nothing
to those who pleaded in her name. If he had no money about him
he would give away his handkerchief, or a book, or a medal. " They
are the servants of the great Queen," he would say, " I cannot resist
them." It was his delight to have some representation of her before
him, whatever he was engaged in j and he never omitted to salute
her image wherever he met with it ; a practice which he continued
as long as he lived. He always passed in preference through the
streets in which such images most abounded; they were, in fact,
very numerous in Paris, as the citizens, by way of a protest against
Calvinistic impiety, had placed them at many of the corners, and
also on the fronts of their houses. He seemed to know instinctively
where they were, without being at the trouble of looking for them,
and would point them out to his friends in hidden nooks and niches,
in order to excite their devotion. Indeed, one of them used to call
a street which led to Notre Dame the Rue de I'Abb^ Olier because
he loved to pass that way on account of the numerous images of our
Lady which adorned it.

These friends were, for the most part, young ecclesiastics of good
family, who were also under the direction of St. Vincent de Paul ;
and it was for their benefii. and at their desire that the famous Con-
ferences of St. Lazare were instituted, which became the source of
80 many blessings to France. The object was mutual edification and
sanctification in the priestly life ; and among the first promoters (as
we learn from the Life of the Saint) * was the Abbd Olier. The
inaugural meeting took place on June 25th, 1633, and the second on
July 9th, when it was resolved that the Conferences should continue
to be held on every Tuesday throughout the year; a resolution
which received the approbation of the Archbishop. Numbering at
first only a few young and zealous priests, most of whom became
celebrated in after life, these weekly assemblies were ultimately

* Saint Vincent de Paul: sa Vie, son Temps, ses CEuvres, son Influence. Par
M. I'Abbe Maynard, Chanoine Honoraire de Poitiers. Vol. ii. chap. iil..

Con/eretices of Si. Lazare.

ned to
,ecl the

in the
ng that
lothing
)Ut him
» They
ot resist
r before
;o salute
)ntinued
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in fact,
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ibering at
became
iltimately

frequented by the ablest and most devoted of the younger clergy of
Paris. To the success of these reunions, as well as to the further-
ance of the objects for which they were begun, M. Olier contri-
buted not a little, both by introducing numbers of young men
to the Conferences and by himself instituting (as will hereafter
appear) similar assemblies in other localities. They were confined
to the secular clergy, n member of a religious Order being
admissible.

( 34 )

CHAPTER III.

SUPERNATURAL VISIT OF THE MkRE AGNkS DE jkSVS.
MISSION IN AUVERGNE. ATTEMPTED REFORM OF THE
ABBEY OF P£BRAC. DEATH OF THE M^RE AGNkS.

EVER since his elevation to the priesthood M. Olier had
desired to evangelize the parishes which were dependent
on the Abbey of Pdbrac ; but, before entering on his labours, he
sought to imbue himself thoroughly with the truths which he was
about to announce to others. For some time he had been unable
to apply his mind to study, and he now resolved not to have
recourse to books, but to occupy himself entirely with prayer.
" Prayer," he writes, " is my great book ; and a passage I once
met with in St. Gregory Nazianzen has confirmed me in this
conviction. Preachers, he says, ought not to venture to mount the
pulpit until they have ascended the steps of contemplation ; they
ought to behold in God, and to derive from Him, the truths which
they preach." The more he read in this divine book the more
intense became his thirst for the salvation of souls ; and he suc-
ceeded in getting together a band of missionaries such as has been
rarely witnessed. They were all young men of good family, and
among them were his cousin, M. de Perrochel, afterwards Bishop
of Boulogne, and an ardent lover of poverty and of the poor ; M.
de Barrault, nephew of the Archbishop of Aries ; and M. Renar,
of whom mention was before made. The whole band was, by M.
Olier's desire, placed under the direction of an experienced Priest
of the Mission

All being now arranged, he retired to St. Lazare for a ten days'
preparatory retreat ; during which, by the advice of St. Vincent,
he preserved complete seclusion and perpetual silence, keeping
apart from the rest and not even availing himself of the usual
liberty of speaking in the hours of recreation. It is at such seasons

Visit to the Convent at Langeac.

y^sus.

■)F THE

Uer had
^pendent
bours, he
h he was
;n unable
to have
h prayer.
[e I once
in this
lount the
on; they
[ths which
ithe more
he suc-
has been
[inily, and
is Bishop
poor; M.
;. Renar,
as, by M.
;ed Priest

ten days'

Vincent,

keeping

Ithe usual

Lh seasons

that God has been pleased to favour the souls of His election with
signal supernatural graces, and it was now that there happened to
M. Olier the most extraordinary event of his life. He was alone
in his chamber, engaged in prayer, when he saw before him a
female figure in the garb of a nun. Her countenance wore an
expression of exceeding gravity and sadness. Her hands were
crossed upon her breast, and in one she held a crucifix, in the
other a rosary. By her side, but somewhat behind her, kneeling
on one knee, appeared an angel of surpassing beauty, who with
one hand bore up the folds of her mantle and in the other held
a handkerchief, as though to catch the tears she shed. " I weep
for thee," she said, in a tone of deep afflict'on, which went to Pt.
Olier's heart and filled it with a sweet emotion. These were the
only words she uttered. So majestic was her bearing, and such
reverence did the angel pay her, that he believed it was the Virgin
Mother who stood before him, and, though he remained seated,
he cast himself in spirit at her feet. He thought that in showing
him the crucifix and the rosary she meant to teach him that the
cross of Christ and devotion to His holy Mother must be the
means of his salvation and the rule of his life. The apparition
was repeated shortly after, and it was on this second occasion
that M. Olier became convinced that the figure was that of a
person then actually alive, and also, from her habit, that she was
a religious of the Order of St. Dominic.

His desire to go at once in search of his mysterious visitor was
very strong; but, as all the preparations for the mission were
finished, he was unable and, indeed, unwilling to interpose any
delay. On his way, however, with his companions to the scene
of their labours, his mind was on the alert to receive any intimations
that might serve as a clue to further inquiry, for he was persuaded
that sooner or later Providence would bring him into personal
relations with the object of his search; and when, on reaching
Riom, a town of Auvergne, some fifty miles from Langeac, he
heard people speak of the Mere Agnbs as a marvel of sanctity,
and found that she was the Prioress of a Dominican house, he
began to think that, perhaps, it was this holy nun who had
appeared to him at St. Lazare. This conjecture took more definite
shape in his mind the nearer he approached the neighbourhood of the
convent and the more he learned of her sanctity ; and he resolved
to go and see her as soon as he could obtain the necessary leisure.

:^i

Life of M. Olier.

The Abbey of Pdbrac was situated in the depths of a mountain
gorge, near the bed of a torrent which falls into the AUier, and
there, in the heart of those savage wilds, the missionaries com-
menced their labours, passing from village to village and from
hamlet to hamlet, proclaiming the kingdom of God and calling on
all wanderers to return. M. Olier preached every day, and only
left the pulpit to finish in the confessional the conversions he had
begun by the force and unction with which he spoke. Then would
he assemble the poor people together with all the affection of a
father, wait upon them himself with head uncovered, and, when
their wants were satisfied, make his own meal of the scraps that
remained. Those who were unable to attend the church, or had
wilfully absented themselves, or had not yielded to his persuasive
exhortations, he would seek out in their own homes, or wherever
they were to be found, consoling, admonishing, and conquering,
by sheer gentleness and sweetness, souls whom rebuke or menace
would have confirmed in their impenitence. In fine, not content
with having devoted his days to toil, he would often spend a
considerable portion of the night in prayer. One thing this lowly
priest had asked of God with earnest supplication, and God had
granted his request : it was that in all his charitable labours he
might pass for a person of no account, and that the credit ot
what he did might be given to another. It was, therefore, with
a joyful satisfaction he observed that, both on the journey and at
the scene of his ministrations, no one regarded him as the leader
and promoter of the expedition ; particularly as his whole manner
and bearing were so simple and retiring, and he was continually
employed in attendance on the poor and in other humble avoca-
tions. M. de Perrochel was the one to whom all looked as the
principal conductor of the mission; to him, as to the chief, all
deference was paid, and to him was the merit of the work referred.
*' He passed," says M. Olier, " for what he was and since has
proved himself to be, a messenger sent from God, a veritable
Apostle, yea, a living image of our Saviour Jesus Christ." If
these words were applicable, as doubtless they were, to the future
Bishop of Boulogne, the eulogium they convey was at least as
justly due to his saintly friend.

All this time M. Olier had not forgotten his visitor at St. Lazare,
and at length he took advantage of a favourable opportunity to repair
to the village of Lanjjeac, which, as has been said, was between four

Interview with the Mere Agnh,

ntain

and

com-

from

ig on

only
le had
would
1 of a
, when
)s that
or had
suasive
herever
luering,
menace
content
spend a
lis lowly
3od had
lOurs he

;redit ot

ire, with
ly and at

le leader
manner

|ntinually

ie avoca-
as the
:hief, all
referred.

|ince has
veritable

Irlst." H

.e future

least as

, Lazare,

to repair

Iveen four

and five miles distant from the Abbey of Pdbrac. Meanwhile it was
observed with surprise by the nuns tliat the Mbre Agnes seemed to
have a supernatural knowledge of the movements of a body of priests
who were on their way to give a mission in Auvergne, and she spoke
in particular of M. Olier, and of his coming to the convent, with a
pleasure which was the more unaccountable as they knew she had
never seen him in her life nor had the slightest personal acquaintance
with him. It was with scarcely less surprise that M. Olier, on
arriving at the village inn, received a visit from a lay-sister of the
convent, who came to salute him in the name of the Mother Prioress.
This act of courtesy naturally led to his paying a visit in return to
the Priory, but, to his disappointment, the Mfere Agnfes did not make
her appearance in the parlour. She had commissioned the Sisters,
however, to present him with her rosary, as a mark of her esteem, a
circumstance which they did not fail to notice and remark upon ;
while to M. Olier himself this gift of a rosary came as a strong
presumptive proof that the donor was one and the same person with
his mysterious visitor. He repaired to the convent several times,
and still no Mere Agnes was visible. At last she came into the
guest-room accompanied by one of the Sisters; but her veil was
down, as is the custom of the Order, and she began to converse with
M. Olier as with an ecclesiastic whom she knew only through the
report that had reached her of his zealous labours in those parts.
Desirous, however, of satisfying himself as to whether she was the
actual person who had appeared to him, he begged her to lift her
veil. She did so at his request, and he beheld once more before
him the countenance of her who had visited him in his lonely
chamber at Sl Lazare. " My mother," he said, *' I have seen you
elsewhere." "True," she replied; "you saw me twice at Paris,
where I appeared to you during your retreat at St. Lazare. I was
directed by the holy Virgin to pray for your conversion, God having
destined you to lay the first foundations of ecclesiastical seminaries
in France."

At these words, and at the thought of the solemn mission to which
he was called by God, M. Olier, in his humility, remained like one
astounded ; but when the Mbre Agn^s went on to relate how, in
obedience to the Divine command, she had for three years offered
up her prayers and penances in his behalf, he gave full expression to
the feelings of gratitude which filled his heart, and earnestly implored
her to continue by her counsels the work of sanctification she had

!
I

■if
ill

^Bl

Life of M. Olier.

already begun in him. She, on her part, was equally affected ; and
from this moment was established that confidential intercourse
between these two holy souls which conduced most powerfully to the
spiritual perfection of both. Agnes availed herself of every oppor-
tunity to draw his attention to any imperfection she observed in his
conduct, exhorting him particularly to the practice of humility and
self-renunciation, and, above all things, of interior mortification, as
being the very basis and support of the spiritual iiie. Her constant
wish and prayer for him, as she again and again assured him, was
that he might be favoured with an abundance of sufferings and
crosses, and she never ceased imploring the blessing of Heaven as
well on his present labours as on his future vocation. While M.
Olier preached and ministered to the country people, the M^re
Agnbs, in the solitude of her cell, offered herself as a victim to God
in his and their behalf, and for the whole people and clergy of
France.

One subject there was which, even at their first interview, Agnes
did not neglect to press upon him, the reform of his Abbey of Pdbrac,
promising that while he worked she would pray. This religious
house had long presented a deplorable spectacle ; all remnant of
ancient discipline had disappeared, and the utter contempt of
monastic rules had been attended with the introduction of every
manner of disorder. M. Olier had already directed his attention to
the matter, and had even put St. Vincent de Paul in communication
with M. Alain de Solminihac, in the hopes that he who had begun
so successfully the reform of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in
his own abb 3) of Chancellade, in Guyenne, would undertake a
similar work at Pebrac* But, as the Abbe was unable at that time
to supply the required number of religious to fill the places of the
ejected monks, the contemplated arrangement had never been con-
cluded. During his present visit, however, M. Olier had witnessed
with his own eyes such irregularities on the part of the inmates of
the monastery as caused him the deepest affliction. That the evil
was great he had been well aware, but the scandalous reality far
exceeded anything he had previously conceived, and he did not
hesitate to declare that not even the poor neglected peasantry had
more need of reformation than these unworthy professors of the

*The Abbe de Chancellade commenced his reforms in the year 1622. He was
nominated to the bishopric of Cahors by Louis XIII. in 1637, and died December
31st, 1659. He was a man of most austere and saintly life.

The Abbey of Pi^brac.

religious life. By the most touching appeals and, failing these, by
the most alarming representations of their guilt in the sighc of an
offended God, he endeavoured to recall them to a sense of their
responsibilities ; but in vain. The defence they set up for themselves,
and on which they rehed for their justification, was that they were
bound, not by the positive rules of their Order, but simply by the
measure in which those rules were observed by those who received
their vows ; declaring that at their profession they liad formally
protested that they understood them and took them, not according to
their literal import, but in the sense in which they were actually
fulfilled by the Community at the time. To this, however, it was
replied that an individual has no power to frame a rule for himself,
nor a superior of an Order to dispense with its essential vows;
neither has a bishop any such power. These representations, coupled
with the earnest entreaties and remonstrances of M. Olier, at length
so wrought upon them that two-thirds of their number — twelve out of
eighteen — had begun to show a disposition to accept a reform when
the Mere Agnes laid strict injunction on him to accomplish the work
on which he had entered.

Accordingly, on June ist, 1634, he wrote to the Abbe de Chan-
cellade, beseeching him, with a sort of passionate earnestness, to
undertake the reform of his monastery, and promising on his part
to consent to any sacrifices which the Abb^ might require. Such
an appeal, couched in terms of the deepest humility, produced so
powerful an effect on the mind of Alain de Solminihac that, instead
of communicating with M. Olier through one of his religious, as had
been suggested in the letter, he set out immediately for the Abbey
of P^brac, in order to confer with the writer in person. An arrange-
ment was speedily effected between two men whose object was
simply to promote the glory of God at the price of any labour or
loss to themselves. M. Olier offered to surrender the whole revenue
of the abbey, together with the abbatial residence and all the bene-
fices attached, which were capable of supporting as many as fifty
monks ; at the same time he resigned his priory of Vieille-Brioude,
in order to its being henceforth incorporated wirh the Abbey of
Pebrac. Alain, on his own part, undertook to provide such of the
present inmates as were unwilling to embrace the intended reform
with adequate pensions for their lives ; and, the monks agreeing to
this, M. Olier proceeded without delay to put the buildings in ..om-
plete repair, preparatory to delivering them up to the new occupants.

I ;l
il

ill

- 1\ «.«».« .J

.,..jt..

'y*>*,>v^^*.«f '

mmmm

Lz/e of M. Olier.

i* '

But the spirit of evil, seeing his domains invaded and his power
about to be restrained, instigated one of the principal farmers of the
abbey lands to oppose, and for a time to defeat, the contemplated
reform. This man, who was virtually the steward of the monastery
and supplied the house with provisions, fearing that his profits would
be diminished by the intended changes, insisted so strongly on what
he was pleased to call the injustice of the whole proceeding and the
injury that would accrue to the abbey, that the monks, one and all,
resolved to withdraw their consent, and neither to accept the pro-
posed reform nor to quit a monastery where they had hitherto lived
at their ease, free from control or interference of any kind. Their
measures were taken with an astuteness and a dissimulation which
for the time were successful. It so happened that a Work having a
similar object, but of a less severe character, was being urged for-
ward at Paris by the P^re Faure, Superior of the Congregation in
that city, with the powerful sanction of the Cardinal de la Roche-
foucauld, Abbe de Ste. Genevibve, who had been commissioned by
the Holy See to reform the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in
France. To th^ good and zealous men the monks of P^brac now
made a vehement appeal, and on the 1st of August presented to the
Cardinal a formal protest against the act of M. Olier ; declaring it
to be destructive of the true interests of the abbey, and begging
that it might be reformed on the model which was advocated by P.
Faure and sanctioned by himself. Unhappily, they found a ready
supporter in one whose constant endeavour it seems to have been
to thwart the servant of God in his highest aspirations and noblest
works. The representations of the refractory monks were seconded
by no less a personage than Mme. Olier, who was unwilling that so
valuable a piece of preferment should be lost to the family, and
dreaded, moreover, lest, to induce his religious subjects to acquiesce
in his projected reforms, her son should himself take the habit, as
indeed he had actually proposed to do. In consequence of this
determined opposition the Cardinal summoned M. Olier to Paris,
for the purpose of conferring with him on the proposed changes in
the abbey, and forbade him meanwhile to proceed any further in
the business against the expressed wishes of the monks, or to admit
any persons to profession, under pain of their vows being declared
null and void. But whether P. Faure was unable to send the
necessary number of religious, or that M. Olier refused his consent
to what he deemed a partial, and therefore an imperfect, correction

His Relations with the M^re Agnh,

of a scandalous abuse, so it was that the hopes he had cherished
were for the present entirely frustrated, and the monks of his abbey
were emboldened to persist in their irregular conduct. Without
doubt, he was opposed at this time to the mitigated reform of Ste.
Genevieve,* but this difference of opinion did not prevent P. Faure
and his religious from entertaining the deepest respect for M. Olier,
as is plain from the terms employed in the annals of the Congrega-
tion, where he is characterized as " a holy priest, whose memory is
in benediction among all good men; a pastor who wns animated
with a zeal equal to his virtue, to maintain the honour and worship
of God in all the churches which Providence had placed under his
control."

Meanwhile, during all these anxious negotiations, the work of the
mission had been proceeding with astonishing success. In the
dioceses of Saint-Flour ai d Le Puy the people received the word
of God with an avidity which seemed rather to increase than to
diminish with time, and conversions were everywhere both numerous
and striking. These spiritual conquests filled the soul of the Mbre
Agn^s with joy and exultation ; nor was she less consoled by the
fidelity with which M. Olier responded to the graces which she had
obtained for him by her prayers. With such courage and ardour,
indeed, did he follow along the way of perfection that, at the end
of the six months during which the mission lasted, he appeared to
her quite another person to what he had been at the beginning, and
she returned most fervent thanks to Mary, to whom, after God, she
attributed the marvellous change. All the characteristic faults of a
hasty and impetuous nature seemed to have been subdued and

* When the reform of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine was first contem-
plated, the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld had designed to separate them into
several independent houses, and in the year 1630 had commissioned the Abbe
de Chancellade to reform all the monasteries in the more distant provinces. But
P. Faure, Superior of the Paris Congregation, judged that it would be better to
have but one corporation, and succeeded in drawing over the Cardinal to his
opinion ; and the arrangement between M. Olier and the Abb^ de Chancellade
was made the occasion of obtaining his authoritative interference. Accordingly,
on March 1st, 1635, the Cardinal ruled that all the monasteries of Canons Regular
in France should be incorporated with that of Ste. Genevieve, and forbade other
houses to receive any religious but such as were sent by the Paris Congregation ;
and two years afterwards he expressly ordered the houses tha'. had accepted the
stricter reform of the Abb^ de Chancellade to unite with that Congregation. This
led to much division and confusion, but the four monasteries reformed by the
Abbe continued nevertheless to observe the rule which he bad introduced.

t 1

».»»\»„»4j»> \,ip\%r*'t..f

•P^PfB"*

u,i

Life of M. Olier.

eradicated, and he had become altogether an interior man. Per-
ceiving this, and that he was dce[)ly conversant with all the more
intricate ways of the spiritual life, she took him henceforth for her
director, and confided to him the secret trials of her soul. " Here-
tofore," she said, " I have regarded you as the child of my prayers
and my tears ; but now I look u{)on you as my father and my guide."
He was the master-workman destined in the providence of God to
put the crowning stone to the spiritual edifice : under his direction
the Mere Agnl's entered on higher and hitherto untrodden patlis of
perfection, and enjoyed a light, a peace, and a satisfaction such as
she had never experienced since her entrance into religion. Thus
was M. Olier enabled to render back in kind the benefits he had
received through the i)rayers and mortifications of this holy nun, and
the union which henceforth subsisted between them, and the know-
ledge they mutually obtained of each other, became, in the order of
Providence, the means by which the sanctity of these two chosen
souls waa made known to the world. For it was M. Olier who,
more than any other person, contributed to inspire the faithful, and
especially the clergy, of France with an exalted idea of the heroic
virtues and supernatural gifts of the Venerable M^re Agn^s ; while,
on the other hand, it was the Ml're Agnbs who, divinely enlightened
to discern the high qualities and great spiritual endowments of this
young priest, foresaw and foretold the nature of the mission he was
destined to fulfil and the extraordinary and complete success with
which it should be accomplished.

The time, however, was near at hand when the friends who had
been brought together in so wonderful a manner were to be separated,
never to meet again in this life. M. Olier (as already stated) was
summoned to Paris by the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, and about
the same time he received a communication from P^re de Condren,
Superior of the Oratory, urging his immediate return, on account of
an affair which very nearly concerned the glory of God. It was with
a most lively feeling of grief that the Mbre Agnbs heard of her
director's intended departure, but anything which involved the
sacrifice of herself was by this true daughter of St. Dominic readily
welcomed as an occasion of conforming herself more entirely to the
Divine will, and she bade him go at once without delay. On taking
leave of him she presented him with her crucifix, saying, •• All the
time you have been here I have ceased to beg of God that He would
take me to Himself, but now I bid adieu both to the parlour and to

,»»—«H*K"«'-'^. *-?»•■% ^•"■•"•■^

The Angel- (guardian of the Mire Agnh. 43

the world ;" and, quitting the apartment, she went and threw herself
on her knees before the IJlcssed Sacrament. There, in the hearing
of her nuns, she thanked God and His Virgin Mother for having
been permitted to accomplish the work she had been set to do, and
for which her life had been prolonged on earth ; then, praying with
great earnestness for him who had been so long the subject of her
special intercessions, she besought her Heavenly Spouse no longer to
delay her departure to Him, but to admit her into the number of
those who bless and adore Him for ever.

A few days after this final farewell, namely on October 12th, 1634,
the Mbre Agnes fell sick, and, availing herself of the short time that
still remained to her, she wrote to P. de Condren, begging him to
undertake the spiritual direction of M. Olicr. She wrote also to
M. Olier himself, announcing to him that her life was drawing to its
close. 'I'lie prediction was speedily verified, for on the 191I1 of the
same month this saintly woman expired in the thirty-second year of
her age. The event was revealed to M. Olier in the extraordinary
manner which he has recorded in his Memoires. On several occasions
the Mfere Agnbs had commissioned her angel-guardian to conduct
him along the perilous paths which he often had to traverse in the
dusk of evening on his return to his lodging at Pcbrac, which was
distant more than four miles from the convent at Langeac, and he
had been permitted to behold the tall majestic form of this heavenly
guide preceding him on his way, and protecting him from the violent
storms which were raging close around, so that not even a drop of
rain fell upon him. At the very hour when the venerable mother
expired, M. Olier was returning to Paris from his Priory at Pazain-
ville, when he was suddenly thrown from his horse and found himself
unable to rise. Believing it to be a punishment for not having
addressed any words of exhortation to a poor peasant he had just
passed — which, he says, he never neglected doing without a feeling
of compunction — he placed himself by an effort on his knees and,
with tears of anguish, besought God to pardon his infidelity. What
next occurred shall be related in his own words : —

" I had remounted my horse, when lo ! an angel lighted upon me
from the height of heaven, with the swiftness and force of an eagle
pouncing down upon its prey ; his wings, which encompassed me,
extending very far beyond what was needed for my protection. At
the same moment I heard these words uttered by my angel-guardian,
the one who had been with me ever since my baptism : ' Show due

Life of M. Olier.

honour to the angel who has come to thee, and who is now bestowed
upon thee. He is one of the highest ever given to a creature upon
earth, and I am myself filled with veneration for him.' Once before,
on approaching this same spot, when I was on the mission, I had
experienced certain caresses and sweet impressions of joy from the
good angel of the parish, but he had not inspired me with the respect
and sense of his greatness which this one did. . . . This angel who
has been gi ; en me as a very special boon, for which I can never return
sufficient thanks to God, is a seraph ; as, indeed, appears from what
the Soeur Agn^s said before her death. I remember that, on passing
along the streets of Paris a little while after, when they were full of
people, I seemed to see the other angels pay him great reverence and
homage." And again, writing in 1647, ^^ says, "This angel is not
my angel-guardian ; he is the angel of my office, not of my person ;
his wide-spreading wings were designed to show me that he was to be
the protector of many others who should be associated with me ; and,
in fact, the company of holy ecclesiastics whom God has given me
has experienced his assistance and protecting guardianship from the
first."*

Such was the legacy which, God permitting, this holy nun
bequeathed to him who had been to her, in the spiritual order,
both a son and a father ; but it was not till some days after that
he learned the real significance of the vision he had beheld. He
was in the confessional at the church of St. Paul on the morning
of All Saints, 1634, when the tidings of her departure reached him.
Deeply affected, he went on the instant to pour out his soul's
complaint to Jesus in the Tabernacle ; and, believing that where
Jesus is there also are His saints, he addressed himself to the
venerable mother, begging her who during life had shown such
sympathy for his sorrows to obtain him consolation in his affliction.

* The above extracts from M. Olier's manuscript Memoires will be found in the
latest edition of tlie Life of the Mere Agnes (P. iii. C. xii. 11,12), having been
furnished by M. Faillon, who had not embodiiid them in his work. The reader
who is acquainted with Boudon's Divotion aiix Neuf Chxiirs des Saints Anges will
not fail to be reminded of that charming little book in the circumstance here
related ; which, indeed, is but an exemplification in actual fact of the doctrine of
his pious treatise.

It is hardly necessary to observe that, in any visions of angels with which holy
persons have been favoured, the bodies in which these blessed spirits appeared,
albeit in some sort composed of matter, were no integral portion of their nature,
as in the case of the human body, which is a constituent portion of the perfect man
but were simply assumed for a time and for a purpose.

'n
Bi(

nd in the
ing been
reader
^es will
nee here
ictrine of

lich holy

jpeared,

nature,

feet man

He sells his carnage and horses.

Then he heard in his heart, as it were, these words proceed from
out the Tabernacle: "Grieve not; I have left you my angel."
"Immediately," he says, "my tears were dried, and I felt no
longer capable of grieving, for in my ignorance I had believed that
we ought to weep and lament, were it or' / as a sign of the affection
we bore the dead ; but this is but a vain custom of the world, as
if the saints were not infinitely the gainers by quitting this mortal
life." Having thus consoled himself, he sought to console in his
turn the bereaved religious of Langeac. " My reverend mothers,"
he wrote, "Jesus Christ abandoned by His Father, the Mother
bereft of her Son, be your consolation and support. Yours is no
common sorrow, and you may well be allowed to mourn awhile
for the loss you have sustained ; and yet in one thought we may
aU find comfort, that ^ i jd Himself is the gainer by our loss. He
now possesses fully and entirely a soul of which, so long as she
was unconfirmed in grace, He may be said to have had but a
sort of precarious tenure. O my mothers, how can we be losers
in that which enriches the very majesty of God? You have lost
a sister and you have gained a saint. Besides, ought you not to
rejoice in the happiness of your mother? It were vain to mourn
over her body, for it awaits the glory of Heaven ; and vainer still
to mourn over her soul, for she possesses it for evermore. To
weep and lament, when the first gush of natural sorrow has had
its vent, is like regretting and deploring the bliss she now enjoys ;
it is as if you grudged your mother her eternal repose, and would
disturb even Paradise itself with your lamentations." He then
bids them take heed that no relaxation of discipline creep into
the convent, now that their holy superior has left thpm, enjoins
them to wean their hearts from creatures, however holy they may
be, and concludes by taking his lesson to himself in terms of the
lowliest self-abjection,*

As though the more effectually to guard against the consequences
he dreaded, from the death of his saintly adviser he set himself
to practise with increased devotion the counsels of perfection, and
especially that of holy poverty, which she had so constantly and
so strongly inculcated Hitherto, by the advice of St. Vincent
de Paul, he had retained his carriage and horses, although in

* An old copy of this letter is religiously preserved by the Dominicanesses of
Langeac, together with a china bowl and saucer which M. Oner used when
visiting the Mere Agnfes, and a silver chalice which he gave to the cunvent.

:iki

Life of M. Olier.

continuing

to use them he diil violence to his own feelings.
" From the moment I gave myself entirely to God," he wrote, " it
has been a misery and torment to me every time I got into my
carriage. I cannot wear the world's livery or follow its fashions ;
its retinues, its lacqueys, its equipages, — everything of which it
makes most account is repugnant to me, and I suffer a sort of
purgatory every time I think of a troop of attendants and a servant
to walk behind me." But now, by permission of his director, he
sold both cariiage and horses, and expended the proceeds on the
poor or in supplying fresh missions for country places. He
retained only one domestic, and even with that one he would
have dispensed but for the express injunction of St Vincent.
This was towards the close of the year 1634.

The reader will not have forgotten the dream M. Olic- had,
in whirh he saw St. Ambrose sitting on a throne, with a place for
a priest vacant below him. He had ever since felt a particular
devotion for thi" great prelate, and had made a practice of medi-
tating on his virtues and actions as the -nodel he wished to have
ever before his eyes in the event of his being raised to the
episcopate. Now, there was a holy bishop* who had conceived
bO high an opinion of IvI Olier's piety and 7c;al, that he was
intending to beg the King to nominate him as his coadjutor and
successor. The mniier had been made the subject of prayer for
many years, and at length his choice had fallen on this young
ecclesiastic This was the business on which (as already men-
tioned) P. f'a Condren had urged his immediate return to Paris;
and how and why it terminated in a refusal on M. Olier's part
will be seen in the next chapter.

ArrARITION OF THE MfeRE ACNfeS AT ST. LAZARE.

The Mfsre Agnes appeared ♦" M. Olier, not in a vision, whether of a sensible
or an imaginary kind, hut in actual bodily form. It was, in fact, one of those
marvels of bilocation which are sometimes to be met with in the lives of saints.
While the inteiview lasted, and tor some hours longer, she lay in her cell motion-
less and, to all appearance, lifeless, so that M. Komeuf, the physician of the
convent, believed that her spirit had fled. Vie de la Ven. Mhre Agnls, P. iii.
C. xii. 4. n.

* Probably, as after-events show, M. Bernardin de Corneillan, Bishop of
Rode2.

Relics of the Mere Agnh.

Besides the testimony of M. Olier liimself, whose veracity is unimpeachable,
there are still extant the depositions of twenty-four persons of the highest
character, who declared their full and entire belief in the apparition, the par-
ticulars of which they had heard from his own lips, and who vouched for the
general notoriety of the occurrence at the time. But that which invests it with
authority in the minds of Catholics is that in the course of the proceedings at
Rome, preparatory to the canonization of the Mere Agnes de Jesus, the appari-
tion formed the subject of a long and searching enquiry on the part of the Sacred
Congrefjalion of Rites, at the end of which the Sub-promoter of the Faith
summed up by saying that its truth was beyond dispute : Dubitari nequaquam
potest qitin vera Jncrit appmitio.

The rosaiy which the Mire Agnts gave to M. Olier was much prized by
him, and he mentions it n>ore than once in his MSmoires, lie gave it eventu-
ally to his penitent, Alnie. de Saujeon, who bequeathed it to the Seminary of
St. Sulpice. But, as she died greatly in debt, it would appear that it passed,
with the rest of her effects, into the hands of her creditors ; for when the noted
theologian, V. Miissoulie, cnquivcd about it in 1704, ten yenis after Mme. de
Saujeon's death, M. Leschassler, who was fourth Superior of St. Sulpice and
wrote the Life of M. Olier, published by P. Giry, replied, " We have it not."

P. Massoulie himself possessed another rosary which had belonged to the Mere
Agnfes, and which, he says, he kept as a sacred treasure.

From the Processes in the cause of the Venerable Mere Agnes (1722) it appears
that, when she visited M. Olier ^t St. Lazare (probably ^|^e second time), slie
left her crucifix on the table at which he was sitting, as d pioof that he was not
the victim of an illusion. M. Palade, nephew of \\. Terrisse, w|io was Cure of
Langeac and confessor to the Mere Agnfes, adds, in nis aeposition, that M. Olier
missed the crucifix before setting out on the Auvergne mission, and that it was
restored to him by Agues when he saw her in her convent. Vie de la Ven.
Mire Agnh, P. iii. C. xii. 5. n. Tnis was the case, no doubt, with the rosary
also.

The crucifix is still in the possession of the Setiiinary of St. Sulpice, as we
learn tiom a note appendeil l)y the editots to the tiist volume of the latest edition
of M. Faillon's work. That generally accurate writer had been led by M.
("lainier, author of a short biography of M. E.nery, to suppose that the crucifix
had been lost beyond recovery iu the Great Revolution ; but this was not the
case.

Another crucifix which had also belonged to the Mtre Agnes and which, in
1670, was given by the nuns of I-Hllgcac to M. de Bretonvilliers, M. Oiler's
immediate successor .at St. Sulpice, is still preserved at the Seminary. It had
been seen to shed blood, and, like the former, was instrumental iu obtaining
many miraculous favours.

In May, 1 871, when the Seminary at Issy was pillaged by the Communists,
these venerable relics were secretly conveyed by a faithful domestic to the
Solitude, or House of Retreat, where, however, they were exposed to a second
peril, for the room in which they were deposited was struck and reduced to
ruins by the bomb-shells which for several days fell upon the building. Strange
to say, both were afterwards found intact.

The Mfere Agnis also presented M. Olier wlili Die handkerchief which he had
seen iu the hand of the angel, at the time of her Hiiraculous visit to him at Si.
Lazare. In the year 1718 it was still preserved JM lIltH I'liMry-

( 48 )

CHAPTER IV.

PtlRE DE CONDREN. M. OLIEP TAKES IIIAf AS HJS

DIRECTOR.

THE Pbre Charles de Condren, who succeeded Cardinal de
BdruUe, its founder, as Superior, or General, of the French
Oratory, was a man of rare sanctity and an eminent master of the
spiritual life. His genius lay in forming young ecclesiastics for the
duties of their sacred ministry, and no one exercised so powerful an
influence in preparing the way for the reformation of the clergy of
France. The veneration in which he was held by many of the
greatest and holiest persons of his day was unbounded. Bossuet
called him that '* illustrious Father, whose very name is redolent of
piety, whose memory, ever fresh and ever new, is sweet to the whole
Church, like a compound of many perfumes." Cardinal de BeruUe,
himself remarkable for his Apostolical virtues, and to whom numbers
of zealous and saintly men — inclv ling St. Vincent de Paul, Pbre
Eudes, and M. Bourdoise— resorted for instruction and direction,
entertained so high a reverence for P. de Condren that, as he passed
his room-door, he would stoop and kiss the stones on which he had
trod, and was in the habit of writing down, on his knees and with
head uncovered, anything he had heard from his lips. St. Vincent
de Paul (as M. Olier relates) was used to speak of him in terms of
admiration which almost seemed exaggerated, and, when he heard of
ris death, cast himself on the ground and, striking his breast, accused
himself, with tears, of not having honoured so holy a man as he had
deserved. St. Jane Frances de Chantal, after a few interviews &l.e
had with him, pronounced upon him an eulogium such as it would
: difiicult in words to surpass. " If God," she said, " gave to the
Church our blessed founder (St. Francis de Sales) for the instruction
of men, it seems to me that He has made Pere de Condren capable
of instructing angels ; '" and, indeed, one of his biographers, whose

Pere de Condren,

work is still in manuscript, thus speaks of him: "God made him
(||fjt he might form saints, and gave him the power of conducting
lliem to the most sublime perfection. There was no way of sancti-
jjiflllon, however extraordinary, which he did not comprehend at
f/(|pe, and he was acquainted with so many kinds that he believed the
\\\\\\\\W^ of saints in our days, although more hidden, to be equal to
thdt 6/ the first ages of the Church." Lastly, M. Olier himself
speaks thus of him : " His exterior was but the appearance, the mere
husk and shell, of what he really was, being inwardly altogether
another self, the very interior of Jesus Christ and His hidden life ;
so that it was rather Jesus Christ living in P. de Condren than P. de
Condren living in himself. He was like the Host upon our altars ;
externally we see only the accidents or appearances of bread, but
interiorly it is Jesus Christ. Thus it was with this great servant of
our Lord, so singularly beloved of God. Our Lord, who dwelt within
him, prepared him to preach the Gospel, to renew the primitive purity
and piety of the Church ; and this it is which this great man desired
to do in the hearts of his disciples during his sojourn in the world,
which was hidden and unknown, like the sojourn of our Lord
Himself among men. . . . The sublimity of his lights was something
marvellous ; they weni so far beyond the reach of ordinary intelli-
gences that it was not possible to commit to writing all the truths he
uttered, so holy were they, and so removed from the gross and
common way of conceiving and apprehending things, for he had
received them by infusion.* And, as it is laid down in theology
that the light of angels is of such a nature that the lower angels
cannot compass without miracle the extent of the light of the higher
angels, so was it with his light in respect to ocher intelligences. On
quitting this great man, one could only say, ' Oh, how wonderful
this is ; blessed are they who gather up the crumbs that fall from
this heavenly table ! ' "

His conversational powers were of the highest order, but God
seems to have withheld from him the faculty of expressing his
thoughts on paper; or, if he possessed it, he was unwilling to
exercise it from motives of humility and in obedience to thi; iMvine
will. When pressed by M. Olier on the subject, he replied that God

* Doctrines are said to be infused v/hen they are imparted to the intelligence by
the Spirit of God without the aid of study, oral instruction, or any other of the
ordinary means by which a knowledge of divine truth is commonly acquired,

1 j '

! . H '

Life of M, Olier.

would recompense a hundredfold tl se who mortified themselves in
something for his sake, and that con lonly they who refrained from
writing, out of love for Him, received as their reward the gift of
enlightening souls, a gift far more advantageous to the Church than
that of writing. Yielding, however, to the solicitations of his friends,
for whose profit he was always ready to sacrifice his own inclinations,
he at last consented to gratify them, and for this purpose retired with
a lay-brother, who was to act as his amanuensis. Every morning for
fifteen days he composed himself to dictate, having first begged light
from Heaven ; the brother held his pen in hand ready to commence,
but, after a moment's silence, he only said, " Let us wait till to-
morrow," for God seemed to close his mouth, and he could find no
ability to express himself. Sometimes he would say laughingly to
those who urged him to write, *' Look now, the Apostles wrote a very
few epistles in their lifetime, and I must have written more than a
hundred."* Conversing, oral teaching, direct personal influence,
this was the gift of which he was possessed in an extraordinary
degree. He was known sometimes to converse with different persons
for as many as fourteen hours together, and such grace accompanied
his words that few left him as they had come. It was not the
brilliancy, or the eloquence, or the originality of what h'' said wfeich
wrought such marvellous effects; the secret lay in this-— that h«
spoke as ono who lived in God and (I'/d in him; he h*d the
tinction of the Spirit. Sinners wer^* converted, heretics were
reclaimed, the tepid felt their hearts wi/j/lie with divine lo^e, \jj^
good and the zealous were enlightened and directed in the ways of
perfection.

Such was the man who now summoned our Abb^ back to Paris.
It was P. de Condrcn's vocation (as we have said) to form you'r
ecclesiastics for their holy state, and before M. Olier *t"nt or the
mission to Auvergne he and five others had regular-y attet*ded hi*
prvate cotuerecces. As most of them subsequently \.<y/\. an active
]->art in the estaoiishment of the Senainary of St. Sulpice in conjunc-
laoa with M. Otier, it will be weil to say a few words respecting them

* A wsimbc^^ of his letters was collected and published after his death, to whicli
a few additions were sabsequently made. Tlie two volumes, edited by his
bifigrapher, the Abbe I*in, and entitled CEtivres Completes du F. Charles de
Comdrvn (Par's: Guyotet Roidot, 1S57-8), comprise, together with some Discours
and <Khei- writiags, a treatttse on V Idee du Sacerdoce ct du Sacr'fu,: de Jesus-Christ,
which, thougn ncc actually composed by the servant of God, contains the suuslance
of his teaching and is pervaded by his spirit.

Pere de Condrens Disciples.

here. M. de Caulet, Abb^ of St. Volusien de Foix,* and son of a
President of the Parliament of Toulouse, was a man of a singularly
detached and mortified life ; he was one of P. de Condren's first
disciples. M. du Ferrier, who had come to Paris solely with the
hope of c jcaining preferment by means of his high connections, was
so deeply impressed with the piety of M. de Foix that he also was
led to put himself under P. de Condren's direction. Associated with
these were two brothers, named Brandon. The elder, who was a
widower,! had relinquished his post of councillor of state to dedicate
himself to the service of the Church ; he was afterwards Bishop of
Pdrigueux. The younger, who was called M. de Bassancourt, had
also given up a high civil appointment with the intention of entering
religion ; though possessed of considerable property, he was remark-
able for his humility and simplicity, and his manners and conversation
were so engaging that he was the delight and ornament of the little
society. PerhajJS the ablest man of the five was M. Anelote, whom
P. de Condren had chosen to instruct MM. Brandon and Dc Bassan-
court in theology. As though he had been made acquainted with
the designs of God regarding him. P. de Condren had sought him out
on his arrival in Paris and paid him repeated visits, with the view of
inducing the yociing man to coxt^ and see him in return, but for
some time M. Arrj^ote withstood all the father's attempts to gain
his confidence. So far from being drawn towards him, he felt a
particular repugnance both to his person and to his counsels, and
t«pt alotif from him as much as possibk. At Icaigth, vanquished by
■w*t; charm of an address which few who came within the sphere of
•: ictr2«ctif>ns could resist, he inquii^ed ■of the holy man what he
w ' ' ' e nim to Co, P. de Condrcai replierl oy prescribing him
a . - , ,: -iC ,he direct oppK)site of tl^tat wh.«ch i<e had laid down for
ruiimaelf. Hitherto he iiad spent his whole time ini study ; he was
now forbi<iai<n, for the space of a year, to cio mor^ tnan read two
chaf>ters of Koly Scriptirf>i every day, ^me from the fJftd Te .cament,
the «her from -.he New. He was to read tbcae on feis knees, with-
out anw conriMictary ; \r the one, adorin;j G>>d the father preparing
tlie worid for #»« coming of His Son, anr: - *^'- -.-^ listening to
Jesus Christ, v«^ desires Hinaself to be our ... -. ;_uj. This rule,
however, i»as n«r confined to M. Anaelote, the other d»ciples of P.
de Condrest foliuwed it equaiay.

Hence called M. de Foix, front lie riame o'' his aubey. He i^ecsune Bi^uop
of T'amiers in 161^.
t He had marrj«d a niece of the Clianc lor Seguier.

' I

Life of M. Olier.

Enlightened by the Spirit of God, P. de Condren knew that these
were the men whom He had chosen for supplying the great need of
the Church. He knew that the work was to be accompHshed by
simple priests, if only to offer to their subjects an example of that
abnegation which it would be their endeavour to inculcate; and,
although he rigorously abstained from even hinting at the motive by
which he was actuated, he spoke repeatedly to his disciples of an
important office in the Church to which God had destined them,
and for the fulfilment of which it was His will that they should not
aspire to the episcopate. Accordingly, when he was requested by
Cardinal de Richelieu to recommend persons whom he deemed
most worthy of that dignity, he mentioned some by name but added
that there were others, not less competent, whom our Lord designed
for a work of great moment, and about whom therefore he must be
silent ; and on that Minister promising the Grand Master of Malta a
bishopric for his nephew, the Abb^ du Ferrler, P. du Condren said to
that young ecclesiastic, " You must not think of a bishopric ; it is the
will of God to give you something to do which will not be less advan-
tageous to the Church." The veneration with which he inspired his
disciples forbade their asking any questions, and, in fact, it was not
until eight days before he died that he began to speak openly on the
subject. The reason for this reserve he himself intimated when, in
a letter to M. Barth^lemi de Donnadieu, the Bishop of Comminges,
who wished to establish a seminary in his diocese, he said, "You
will not forget that this is not a matter to be talked about. The
things of God are kept in the secrecy of His Spirit ; to publish them
to the world is to reveal them to the devil, who is able to frustrate
them by means of those who lend themselves to his malice."* No
sooner, therefore, had he learned that there was a design to raise M.
Olier to the episcopate than, fearing lest he should be lured away
from the path which Providence had marked out for him, he wrote
to him, as we have seen, to come at once to Paris.

M. Olier, although he had become one of P. de Condren's dis-
ciples, was still under St. Vincent de Paul's direction ; and, whether
he was ignorant of the purport of the letter which the Mere Agnes
had written to P. de Condren, or that he waited for some clearer
intimation of God's will before withdrawing from so revered a guide,
and one to whom he owed so much, he continued to have recourse

* So also St. Vincent de Paul used frequently to say that a good work divulged
before the time was half ruined.

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to him during the remainder of 1634, and for a portion of the follow-
ing year. And here we cannot but admire in what special and
unexpected ways God deals with those whose desire is simply to do
His will ; great saint as he was, and most experienced and enlightened
in the conduct of souls, Vincent de Paul was suffered to remain in
ignorance of the designs of Providence in regard to M. Olier, so that
he urged him very strongly to accept the bishopric which was offered
him, and laboured assiduously to overcome his scruples. He was
the more moved to adopt this course because, from t'le knowledge
he had of the secrets of his soul, he was aware that he was in a state
of extreme spiritual distress and despondency, with no heart to
renew his missionary labours. This interior desolation was, indeed,
of a kind which he had never before experienced, and, as he found
no relief in any of the remedies prescribe 1 by his director, he
resolved to go into retreat for the purpose of imploring the Divine
assistance. His fidelity had its reward ; for when his abandonment
seemed most complete he heard an interior voice saying to him,
" P. de Condren will give thee peace," and at the same instant
an indescribable calm pervaded his soul, and all its agitations
ceased.

To P. de Condren, accordingly, he now betook himself, for to him,
and not to St. Vincent de Paul, God had entrusted the task of
perfecting the future founder of St. Sulpice for his important mission.
St. Vincent resigned the charge of him, not only willingly but joy-
fully, into the hands of the superior of an institute to which in times
past he had himself resorted for instruction and guidance ; and
as our Abb^ ever retained the same deep veneration for his old
director, so did the saint's affection and regard for the young priest
remain undiminished. He still continued to press upon him the
acceptance of the bishopric, made it the constant subject of his
prayers, and even went on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Chartres in
order to ascertain the Divine will. But M. Olier was now under
obedience to P. de Condren, and the reply of that holy man was
ever the same, — that he should make the matter a subject of frequent
prayer, for that he saw in him great obstacles to his becoming '^.
bishop, which our Abbe, in his humility, understood to mean that
his faults and deficiencies were such as disqualified him for so
weighty an office. "The Pere de Condren," he said, "made me
pay frequent visits to Notre Dame, in order to enable me to know
the will of God, which it was necessary should be expressed with a

' J^ - ■ -yif* -j».r.Ji»tf«<«^»v- -l^ j>**> '-^* *

.-•I .. -..*

Life of M. Olier.

clearer light than is usually required, on account, as T believe, of the
great faults which he observed in me. He was as enli^litened as an
angel, and he judged that my vocation was not sufficiently pro-
nounced for him to disregard the impediments which he perceived
in me ; such as defect of judgment, of discretion in conduct, of piety,
genuine zeal, science, experience, — in fine, of all those qualities
which are essential to that position ; as also because our I.ord had
blessed my labours in the missions witli which He had charged me
up to the present time. What leads me to think that he looked for
some particular signs, either interior or exterior, for which he made
me pray so much, was the great maxim by which he guided himself:
to wit, that in ordinary vocations, if there were notable impediments,
much heed must be paid to them — such, for example, as mine, in
respect to the ordinary vocation which this prelate was setting before
me by himself asking to have me for his successor — but that, on the
contrary, such impediments were not to be regarded when the voca-
tion was manifest and extraordinary, such as he would have wished
to consider mine on this occasion, in order to be able to close his
eyes to my faults and imperfections."

And yet there were times at which his director let fall expressions
which might have shown him that he was actuated by another and a
secret motive ; for he would say to him, " God has other designs
respecting you ; they are neither so brilliant nor so honourable as
the episcopate, but they are fraught with greater advantages to the
Church." The more also he consulted God in prayer, the more
profoundly convinced he became of his own unfitness for the
episcopal office. Once, in particular, after making his morning's
meditation with much aridity and a distressing inability to occupy
himself with the mystery of the day, which was the feast of the
Purification, it seemed to him that he ought not so much as to enter-
tain the thought until he had arrived at a state of pure and perfect
union with God, so far removed (he says) from his present "gross,
unspiritual condition." A similar impression was made on his
mind on another occasion, when he had retired for prayer to the
church of St. Germain-des-Prds ; and the same day, though he does
not relate how it came about, the intention of raising him to the
episcopate was for the time abandoned, and he was relieved of a
business by which his mind had been greatly harassed and
perplexed.

The two devotions which especially characterized the French

His devotional Practices.

Oratory were the Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacr.iment *
and a singular love and veneration for His Vir>;in Mother ; and
these also, is we have seen, were remarkably developed in M. Olier
even from a child. P. de Condron never ceased inculcating on
his disciples this admirable truth— that to be a priest was to be an
unceasing adorer of the Blessed Sacrament ; and such was the
fervour uliich his xhortations enkindled in the hearts of his
disciples that henceforward the one desire and object of th ii lives
was, both by their own example and by direct precept and instruc-
tion, to spread abroad in all places a particular devotion to the
August Victim who dwells continually on the altar. " I longed
to be bread," writes M. Olier, "that I mignt be changed into
Jesus Christ ; I wished I were of the nature of oil that I mi^ht
be always consuming before the Most Holy Sacrament ; and I
remember that, whenever I returned late from the country and
went, as was my custom, to salute our Lord at Notre Dame, on
finding the church closed, I used to cor ^le myself by lookin'^ into
the interior through the chinks of the doors ; and, seeing the lamps
burning, I would say, 'Ah, how happy are you to be Uil consuming
to the glory of God, and burning perpetually to serve Him as
a light ! ' "

P. de Condren also encouraged him to continue all the little
pious practices by which it had been his wont to testify his love
and devotion to Mary, and thus many things which he had been
in the habit of doing only as occasion served or inclination
prompted now took the form of regular observances. Every
Saturdav he went to say Mass at Notre Dame, and he never
quitted Paris, or returned to the city, without paying a visit to
the same church. He made a practice also of begging the blessing

* P. de Condren instituted a society called the "Company of the Holy
Sacrament," which numbered among its members ecclesiastics and laymen of
evecy rank, from prelates and princes to merchants and shopkeepers. Its object,
besides promoting increased devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, was to relieve
the poor and afflicted and to aid in every charitable work. It met every
Thursday, in the afternoon, when some ecclesiastic addressed to the assembled
brethren a few words of exhortation, reports were made, and alms were collected,
often to a very considerable amount. It contributed funds also towards founding
three bishoprics in the East and furnishing the prelates with all that was neces-
sary for their arduous mission. "These meetings," says M. du Ferrier, "pre-
sented a picture of the humility and charity of the primitive Christians." The
Company, which had affiliated associations in all the great towns, was suppressed
— for what reason does not appear — by Cardinal Mazarin shortly before his death.

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Life of M. Olier.

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cf his august. Benefactress every time he went out of his room or
re-entered it, lay down on his bed or rose from it, and (as was
noticed in his childhood) he always made her an offermg of every-
thing he had about him that was new. Before putting himself
under the direction of P. de Condren, he had been accustomed
to keep the Saturday in every week as a festival m her honour,
and to abstain from doing anything he would not have done on
a day of obligation; but, fearful of carrying the matter to an
excess, he had not prevented those about him from pursuing their
usual occupations. Now, however^ with the approbation of P. de
Condren, he never wished any who were in his employment to do
servile work on Saturdays, and that at whatever inconvenience to
himself, though, indeed, he remarks in the simplicity of his faith,
"I observed that when I let them work they were sure to do
some damage.''

While detained at Paris, he began to resume his studies with
the view of taking his doctor's degree, but, finding that his various
practices of piety interfered with his reading, and having some
scruples on the subject, he sought the jOint advice of P. de
Condren and St. Vincent, for he still regarded the latter as in
some sort his director. They bade him follow the attractions of
grace, and accordingly he retired from the theological course — of
which, in fact, he had no need — and abandoned all idea of pro-
ceeding to the doctorate. This determination, which was also
approved by M. Nicolas Le Maistre, his former master in theology,
M. Olier applauded all through his life. "I escaped," he says,
"what might have been an occasion of pride, and at the same
time I did honour to the Cross ; for when it is seen that the
people profit by the discourses of an unlearned person like me,
any ray of light I may have will be attributed, not to the science
of the schools, but to the mercy of God."

Being now free to give full scope to the evangelical zeal with
which he was devoured, he experienced an ardent desire to go as
a missionary to Canada, and it needed all his personal reverence
for P. de Condren and the sense he entertained of the obedience
which was due to such a director, to prevent him from putting his
design into execution. That holy man had other views for him
and his companions. He wished them to behold with their own
eyes the spiritual destitution of the people, and the urgent need
there was of good and faithful pastors ; and to this end his purpose

• I

Retreat under Pere de Condren»

was to send them into ijuch place;; as were worst provided in this
■/espect, and especially into parishes in which some great scandal
had occurred. It was his object also that they should become
thoroughly versed in the duties of the ministry before proceeding
to instruct others therein, and by their successful labours should
have gained the general confidence of both clergy and people
before laying the loundations of the seminaries which he foresaw
they were to establish; and, in fact, the provinces in which M.
Olier was first invited to erect his houses were those in which the
missions he had conducted had made him best known : namely, Le
Vivarais, Le Velay, Auvergne, Bretagne, and Picardie. Country
missions, therefore, were what P. de Condren now enjoined, and,
though he still maintained a strict reserve as to his ulterior designs,
he would say to them from time to time, as they made report of
their progress and sought his advice or correction, " We must go
on with these for the present, and afterwards we shall accomplish
something better." He made the s?me remark to each of them,
but "no one," says M. du Ferrier, "ventured to ask him any
question."

During the first months of 1635 M. Olier had taken part in
several missions, including that of Cr^cy, but Auvergne, the scene of
his former success, was the quarter to which his desires were all
directed. He would already have resumed his labours in that pro-
vince, but had been deterred by a scruple of conscience ; deeming
himself to have been guilty 0/ an infidelity to grace because he had
not joined the Vincentian Fathers when they went to preach in the
C^vennes. However, towards the end of March, 1636, he resolved
on making a preparatory reire^t, under the direction of P. de Condren,
in a country-house near Paris. This retreat was the occasion of his
receiving interior favours such as he had never yet experienced ;
certain spiritual maxims were impressed upon his soul with so much
force and vividness that throughout all his after-life they seemed to
act like a spur to urge him on to unceasing progress in the way of
perfection. He performed the exercises quite alone ; his director
did not give him any subjects for the four m.editations he was to
make every day, for an hour each, but left him entirely to the
suggestions of the Holy Spirit ; neither did he pay him more than a
single visit during the v/hole time, being unable to quit his duties in
the city. *' This retreat," he says, " was the commencement and, as
it were, the foreshadowing of all that has since befallen me. It was

n J

Life of M. Olier.

now that I began to have manifest experience of the guidance of
that Divine Spirit, and of the care He has taken of me ever since. I
remember that I then learned, for the first time, and to my great
astonishment, that Jesus Christ is really present in souls. I was glad
to be enlightened on the subject of this great truth by my director.
* Yes,' he said, ' our Lord is really present in our souls : Chrisfum
habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris.* Per fidem, hy faith: that is,
faith is the principle of His indwelling, and His Divine Spirit forms
Him in us together with His virtues : donee formetur Christus in vobis.'f
He then said, ' Since this is so, henceforth you must unite all your
a :tions to the Son of God in one of three ways : either by affection,
or by disposition, or simply by faith. If you have a sens' ble experi-
ence of Christ's presence, unite yourself to Him by af.ection. If you
have no sensible experience, unite yourself to Him by disposition ;
that is to say, endeavour to have m you the same thoughts and
dispositions as those with which He performed the same actions ;
and when you are ignorant of His dis^. ositions, or are unable to form
them in your soul, unite yourself to Him simply by faith ; that is to
say, join in spirit your actions to those of the Son of God, which you
will thus offer with your own.'"

These maxims fcrmed the ba.'is of the perfection which M. Olier
subsequently inculcated in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. P, de
Condren also gave him a form of prayer which embodied the great
truth he had taught him, and which M. Olier left at his dea^h for the
use of the Community. It ran thus : " Veni, Domine Jesu [t'ivens in
Maria], et vive in hoc sen'o iuo, in plenitudine virtutis tuce, in perfec-
iione viartwi tiiarum, in sanditate Spiritus iui \in veritate virtutum
tuarum, in comniunione mysteriorum tuoruni], et dominare omni adversce
potesiati, in Spiritu tuo, ad gioriam Patris. Amen — Come, Lord
Jesus [who livest in Mary], and live in this Thy servant, in the
plenitude of Thy power, in the perfection of Thy ways, in the sanctity
of Thy Spirit [in the truth of Thy virtues, in the communication of
Thy mysteries], and by Thy Spirit overcome all hostile power, to the
glory of the Father. Amen." J "This prayer," wrote M. 01ier»
"contains all the requests that can be offered to our Lord for the
perfection of the soul. First, we beg Him to live in us, not only

* "That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts." Eph. iii. 17.
+ "Until Christ be formed in you." Gal. iv. 19.

X M. Olier added the words between brackets for the use of the Seminary,
where it is still recited every morning and evening in almost the same words

Dangerous passage of the Set fie.

according to His ordinary power, as He does in Christians generally,
but in the plenitude of His might by the entire destruction of the
old man in us and the establishment of His empire in our hearts,
inculcating and maintaining His verities with force. We beg Him
also to live in us in the perfection of His ways, that is to say, that
He would inspire us with the most perfect sentiments of His love
and fill us with the purest dispositions of His Spirit, as victims to the
glory of God. This is the chief work and perfection of religion, and
this was the profession which our Lord made .vhen He came into
the world, as St. Paul declares.* We add, ' Live in us in the sanctity
o\ Tliy Spirit, by which is meant that the Holy Spirit separates us
from creatures and unites us to God alone: this, indeed, is the
signification of the word sariciiiy. In fine, we beg Him to live in us,
to rule and reign in us, by the power of His Spirit, over all hostile
powers, as the flesh, the world, and the evil one.' "

At the close of his retreat he took as the subject of his meditation
devotion to ♦he Blessed Virgin, which he made in a chapel dedicated
to her. His august Patroness favoured him with many consolations
and, as he believed, gave evidence of her motherly protection by
delivering him from imminent danger when crossing the Seine on his
return to Paris. The boat was overloaded with both men and horses,
and, as the wind was boisterous, M. Olier became alarmed; but,
perceiving an image of our Lady attached to a house on the bank
for which they were making, he said to M. de Foix, who was with
him, " There is nothing to fear ; the Blessed Virgin sees us ; " and
his alarm at once subsided. On beholding once more the towers of
Notre Dame his soul was inundated with joy, and he felt again all
those tender emotions of \ove and confidence in Mary which he had
experienced when he first came within sight of the holy shrine at
Loreto.

* rieb. X. 4-7.

■ I *

1: ' ;

I:..

( 6o )

CHAPTER V.

SECOND MISSION IN AUVERGNE.

PREPARATIONS were now made for a second mission in
Auvergne, but meanwhile M. Oiler gratified his zeal for souls by
assisting at a retreat given by certain of the ecclesiastics who attended
the Conferences of St. Lazare to the inmates of the female peniten-
tiary, called the H6pital de la Piti^. It was to the members of the
Conferences that he also looked to supply his little band of mission-
aries, and to these St. Vincent de Paul added a few of his own
experienced priests. The family of M. Olier v.ere occupied at the
time with the preliminaries of a marriage between his eldest brother
and Marie Roger, daughter of Nicolas Roger, Chamberlain to
Queen Marie de M^dicis. The affair was regarded as one of great
importance, and but for our Abbd it would probably never have been
successfully accomplished ; for, unknown to his mother and brother,
he had made it a special subject of his prayers, and of those penances
which they abhorred. He was pressed to stay for the nuptials,
which were fixed for an early day, but the mission was now fully
organised, and nothing would induce him to delay his departure even
for an hour. He was present at the signing of the marriage
contract, but on the very eve of its solemnisation he left Paris. His
relatives, and especially his mother, who had never beco-ne reconciled
to the kind of life her son had adopted, so different from that which
she had contemplated for him, were supremely indignant at what
their pride took as an affront, and reproached him bitterly with the
degradation of going to preach to wretched country-people when he
might have been a bishop. His mother's unkindness wounded him
deeply ; but, repairing to Notre Dame, as usual, to take leave of his
heavenly Patroness, he felt himself amply consoled for the loss of
earthly affection by the evidences which that tenderest of mothers
was pleased to give him of her approval and love.

M. Oliers fervour in preaching.

It was after Lent, in the montli of April, 1636, that the missionary
expedition sec out from Paris. M. Olier performed the whole journey
on horseback, a mode of travelling to which he was not accustomed;
the rest were in a coach ; and for the whole ten or eleven days of
their journey (he says) they had neither sun nor rain, the sky remain-
ing obscured with clouds. Their labours commenced on the Sunday
within the octave of the Ascension, in the church of a priory de-
pendent on the Abbey of Pt'brac, called St. II pise. The peasants
assembled in crowds from twenty miles round, and so great was their
fervour that many did not care to take any food all through the day,
and numbers passed whole nights in the church or lay down in the
jjorch, waiting three or four days together before they were able to
make their confession. It was now the month of May, and the heat
was intense ; net only the building itself but the churchyard also
being filled with people, who blocked up the doors and clung to the
windows in their eagerness to catch the words of the preacher.*

The mission was conducted by the Vincentian Father, M. Portail,
who in age and experience ranked in the Community next to the
Saint himself, but it was by M. Olier that the principal sermons
were preached. 'J'he effects produced were truly astonishing, and to
no one more than to the preacher himself. Before every sermon he
knelt in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, then, rising with his
soul filled, as it were, with light and all on fire with divine love, he
gave vent to the flames that devoured him in burning words which
kindled a corresponding fervour in the breasts of those who heard

* Such instances of fervour are by no means rare in tlie history of Home
Missions ; indeed, they are rather the rule than the exception in a Catholic popu-
lation. The remarkable feature was that a devotion so extraordinary should have
been manifested in districts destitute of pastors, or provided only with such as
were a scandal to their flocks. The Tablet newspaper, of August 14th, 1858,
contained an account of precisely similar scenes in the parish of Headfort, in ihe
Archdiocese of Tuam, during the three days of Jubilee. No less than 4,100
persons received Communion, many of whom had waited patiently for the entire
three days and nights. The parish being unprovided with a Catholic chapel, Mass
was said in a thatched barn or shed. The Archbishop sat for two days hearing
confessions, in the open air, ensconced in a corner and surrounded l)y a crowd of
fervent penitents ; while on seats, in and about the shed, twenty-five priests
attended on the faithful, who knelt in humble groups, on the stones and gravel,
quietly expecting their turn. On the last day of the Jubilee, the Archbishop, after
administering Confirmation to about 900 persons, mounted on a table and
addressed the assembled multitudes ; the yard, the walls, the roofs of the houses,
and every conceivable place from which there was even a chance of catching the
voice of the preacher, being covered with human beings.

Life of M. Olier.

him. Before he went into retreat he had laboured under an appre-
hension that his health was unequal to missionary work, and his
physicians had assured him that the weakness of his chest would
always prevent his being able to do more than give a short exhorta-
tion to religious at the grate. But now he describes himself as
feeling stronger after preaching than he was before, and in after-life
he was able to speak of himself as one of the most robust in the
whole Community. From M. Bdget, one of his fellow-labourers, after-
wards Dean of the cathedral church of Le Puy — we learn both the
almost incredible amount of work which he was able to perform and
also the great personal humility which appeared in all his actions.
'• In this mission of St. Ilpise," he writes, " M. Olier chose the least
commodious room in the house in which we lodged ; it was situated
immediately under the roof and very meanly furnished. During our
repasts, which we always took in common, he stcod and read a
chapter of the New Testament, with his head uncovered, eating
nothing until we had all finished. While the rest took their
recreation he would employ himself in distributing alms to the poor
of the place ; this was his uniform practice after dinner, his object
being to dispose them favourably for the catechism, which generally
followed. After reciting Vespers he went Into the confessional ; and
it was always the poorest and most wretched who came to cast them-
selves into his arms, as into a secure harbour of charity."

Not content, however, with receiving all who came to him with a
father's tend'.rness, he would go forth to seek such as were unwilling
or unable to attend. He might be seen climbing the steepest hills,
under a burning sun, in search of wanderers from the fold ; and,
had they who watched him from below followed on his footsteps,
they would have found him in one of those dismal abodes, half dens,
half hovels, which the peasants of those parts inhabited, and where
lay some sick and destitute creature in a state of abject poverty, filth,
and misery, such as it would be difficult to imagine. But nothing
daunted or repelled his ardent charity. The necessities of these
unhappy beings evoked his warmest sympathies, ^nd he lavished on
them all the care of a mother or a nurse ; feeding them with his own
hands, content himself with such scraps as they left, dressing their
sores, washing their linen, in short, performing for them any office
however menial and revolting, even (as it is expressly stated) to the
combing of their heads. Then, having thus prepared the way to
their hearts, he would return another day and instruct them in the

His assiduity in prayer.

«3

doctrines of salvation, of which for the most part they were ignorant.
Neither did he fail to provide for their future needs, for, after the
example of St Vincent de Paul, he established at Pdbrac a con-
fraternity of charity for the relief of the sick and poor. His love of
poverty, indeed, >\hich he regarded as the livery of Jesus Christ, was
visible in his own person and attire. The materials of his dress were
of the simplest kind, and under his cassock he was not ashamed of
wearing clothing so old and threadbare that the poorest country-
people would not have cared to have it as a gift

One office, however, there was in which he took singular delight,
and Tor which he seemed to have a special gift ; it was that of teaching
little children. So far from its being to him a wearisome task, or
a duty which charity alone might have led him to discharge, he
appeared to enjoy it as a sort of mental recreation after the more
laborious exertion of preaching and hearing confessions ; while the
ease and simplicity of his words and manner, the afTectionateness,
the gentle condescension, almost humility, with which he addressed
the very youngest of his audience or drew from them responses to his
questions, and the ingenuity with which he contrived to blend
amusement with instruction, won the admiration of all who heard
him. By daily catechisings and devotions suited to their age he
prepared them for a general communion, which they made with a
fervour and a recollection which drew tears from the beholders.
This great act was preceded by a solemn renewal of their baptismal
vows, in which he made them repeat several times, and in a louder
tone, the promise to honour their father and mother in the words of
the fourth commandment ; after which they went through the parish
in procession, with a modesty and a piety which showed how deep
was. the impression which his teaching had made upon them.

Nor all this time did he neglect his own sanctification ; all the
moments he had at his command were given to prayer. M.
Valentin, a priest of Le Puy, who accompanied him throughout
the mission, relates how he never failed to say his office on his
knees before the Tabernacle, wherever there was a church in which
the Blessed Sacrament was reserved, and on one occasion walked
twelve miles under a burning sun in order to enjoy the privilege
of offering the Holy Sacrifice. In the evening, after saying matins
of the following day, he continued at prayer until he was summoned
to supper, and he went (says the writer) as though he were walking
to execution, being often heard to murmur with an emotion which

* i

Life of M. Olier.

excited like feelings of love and compunction in the hearts of his
colleagues, ^^ Amor mens crucifixiis est — (My Love was crucified)."
Deeply convinced, moreover, that to impetrate the grace of con-
version for others it was necessary to deal hardly with himself,
he joined penance to prayer, and chastised his flesh by frequent
disciplines and the use of a hair-shirt and a pointed girdle which
he carried secretly with him. A zeal so devoted could not fail to
draw down blessings on himself as well as on the objects of his
charity, and it was during this mission that he began to experience
those extraordinary movements of grace with which he was after-
wards so habitually visited. At St. Ilpise, on Whit-Sunday, being
about to retire to rest after the fatigues of the day, he felt himself
moved to pray, and at the same instant he was seized with so
violent a transport of divine love that, completely overpowered, he
was fain to throw himself on the ground, unable to do more than
utter these words : " Love, love, love, I die, I cannot bear this
flame." Instead, however, of taking complacency ir these heavenly
favours he made them an occasion of self-humiliation, accounting
them only as proofs of his own weakness and imperfection. " I was
too greedy of such caresses," he says, "and God was pleased, in
condescension to my infirmity, to bestow these little sweetnesses
upon me, which, in truth, were not suited to me, as a mother humours
a sickly child by giving it sugar because it cries for it, though in itself
unwholesome."

But while he thus reproached himself with weakness, his instruc-
tions and example, and, doubtless more than all, his prayers and
mortifications, were fraught- with the most powerful effects ; and the
labours of the missionaries became in consequence so onerous that
he wrote with the greatest urgency to Vincent de Paul and the
clergy of the Conference for a fresh supply of priests. The actual
number of missionaries who had accompanied him from Paris was
not more than five or six, but, under the influence of his example,
several priests of the neighbourhood had come to his assistance.
There was immediate need, however, as he represented, of twice
as many. He concluded his letter which is dated June 24th, 1636,
with these soul-stirring words : " Blessed be God, who commu-
nicates Himself so bountifully to His creatures, and particularly to
the poor I For we have remarked that it is in them that He
especially dwells, and for them that He requires the aid of His
servants, in order to accomplish by their ministry what He is not

f ■''?r

M. Meyster.

wont to do alone, I mean the instruction and complete conversion
of His people. O Messieurs, refuse not Jesus this aid ; it is only
too great an honour to labour under Him, and contribute to the
salvation of souls and to the glory which will accrue to Him thereby
for all eternity. You have made a happy beginning, and it was your
example which first led me to quit Paris : persevere, then, in this
divine work, for truly there is nothing like it on earth. O Paris,
Paris, thou beguilcst men who might convert whole worlds. Alas, in
that great city, how many good works are rendered fruitless, how
many conversions frustrated, how many holy discourses wasted, for
lack of those dispositions which God gives to the simple ! Here a
single word is a sermon ; the poor country-people of these parts
have not despised the word of the prophets, as is done in cities ;
whence, with very little instruction, they become filled with benedic-
tions and graces. And this is what I may be permitted to wish you
in the Lord, seeing that in His love I am, Messieurs, your most
humble, most obedient, and most grateful brother."

St Vincent was about to respond to this appeal when Louis XHL
applied to him for an additional number of chaplains for the troops
required for active service in Picardy, and he was therefore unable
to spare any members of his Community. Under these circum-
stances, several of M. Olier's personal friends hastened to share his
toils; among whom were M. de Perrochel, M. de Foix, and M.
Meyster, the last of whom subsequently became one of the most
celebrated missionaries of the time. He was a native of Ath, in the
diocese of Cambrai, and had been tutor in a family of distinction,
where he led a life of worldly dissipation and occupied himself
solely with unprofitable studies and pursuits. One day, while
endeavouring to recover a bird he had shot and which had fallen on
a frozen piece of water, the ice suddenly broke under his feet, and in
spite of all his struggles he was unable to extricate himself. He was
in the greatest peril, when he heard a voice, as in the air, say
distinctly, " You would not do as much for Me." Struck with com-
punction, like another Paul, he cried aloud, " Lord, I will do much
more ; " and, redoubling his efforts, he succeeded as by miracle in
escaping a watery grave. From this moment he broke with the
world, led a life of poverty and mortification, and applied himself
solely to the study of the Sacrtd Scriptures and of the Fathers.
The zeal with which he was inspired for the conversion of sinners
led him, in the first instance, to attach himself to St Vincent de

!l^

Life of M. Olicr,

Paul, who, in the year 1634, admitted him into his Congregation ;
but, the Priests of the Mission not being at that time bound by any
vow, two years later he withdrew from the Community and placed
himself undei the direction of P. de Condren. That saintly man, in
wiiting to M. Olier at this time, expressed himself thus re^'pecting
him : " M. Meyster seems to me to be one of those men who ought
to be left to the Divine guidance ; the Spirit of our Lord must not
be bound in him, neither must he be made to conform to the rules of
othevs. Our part is to treat him with reverence, and to humble our-
selves in the consideration that we are not worthy of the grace which
God has bestowed upon him. Nevertheless, we ought to furnish
him with matter for the exercise of his zeal by affording him oppor-
tunities of wo 'king." Other friends and colleagues of M. Olier, who
were not directly associated with him, undertook similar labours in
other parts of the country.

Writing to M. Barth^lemi de Donnadieu, Bishop of Comminges,
who was an intimate friend of M. Olier, P. de Condren, after speak-
ing of the wonderful fruits which the missions were producing and
were destined thereafter to produce, among both priests and people
— conducted as they were in a spirit of such genuine humility and
self-sacrifice— mentions that M. Araelote and M. de Bassancourt
were setting out on a mission to Saintonge on foot and unattended,
with staff in hand, like true Apostles of Jesus Christ, and would pro-
ceed at first on a pilgrimage to Notre Dame des Ardilliers. In fact,
they laboured, as we learn, with great success at Champ-Dolent, of
which M. Amelote had been for some time Prior, but had never
as yet visited his benefice. Such was the school in which, as P. de
Condren had designed, the men who were chosen to awaken the
dormant zeal of their brethren in the ministry were disciplined and
trained for the sublime mission which God intended them to fulfil in
the Church of France.

But to proceed. Everywhere, as at St. Ilpise, the success of the
missions surpassed all expectation. No sooner had the little band
of apostles entered a district than the people flocked from all parts
to hear them, regardless of heat and cold, and of the privations and
even hardships which they had to undergo. Many brought provisions
with them for three or four days, lodging the while in barns and out-
houses, where they might be heard conversing together in the evening
on what they had learned during the day. Nor was this a merely
passing interest; for long after, the peasants would act the part of

Violent opposilion at Pdbrac.

missionaries in their own families ; farmers and labourers woiild sin^
the mission hymns while working in the fields, and question each
other on the several points of doctrine and duty in which they had
been instructed ; in particular, it was observed that devotion to the
Blessed Virgin increased among the people, and they might be seen,
with their beaas in their hands, saymg the rosary as they went to
their daily labours or returned. Thousands who had neglected the
requirements of religion and morality for years now .nnde their peace
with God ; heretics were reconciled to the Church, and sacrileges of
long standing repaired by a good and general confession ; ill-gotten
goods were restored, enemies reconciled, lawsuits amicably terminated
— with which work of charity one of the missioners well fitted for
the task was particularly charged — while whole families, heretofore
divided by hatred and strife, were reunited in the bonds of love ard
amity. Such were the ordinary results of a mission, sc that those
pastors who cared for their flocks rivalled each other in their anxiety
to obtain for their own people an advantage the value of which was
manifested in the effects that were everywhere produced.

Nor was it the peasantry only who profited by the labours of these
zealous men, the higher classes also responded to the call ; and,
though the instructions were of the simplest kind and conveyed in
homely language, the grace of God so touched their hearts that none
evinced a greater fervour of devotion or a deeper thankfulness for
the mercies they had received; many (as we learn from M. C .r)
shedding tears at the departure of the missionaries and being hardly
willing to let them go. There seems to have been only one quarter in
which a different spirit prevailed, namely, at Pdbrac. Certain of the
richer inhabitants who farmed the abbey lands at a rent considerably
below their value, and were therefore as little favourable to a change
in the administration of the funds of the monastery as to a reforma-
tion in their own irreligious lives, commenced a course of systematic
opposition to M. Olier of a very vexatious character. They got
together a rabble composed of the most lawless persons in the
neighbourhood, and endeavoured by menaces and violence to prevent
the lands being taken at a higher price. The better disposed were
withheld from interfering by a dread of the numbers and influence of
those who were opposed to them ; the more so as the leader of the
malcontents was a man who had rendered himself the terror of the
country round by his crimes, particularly by an attempt he had made
to assassinate one of his adversaries, M. de Montmorency, in his bed.

Life of M. Olier.

A similar fate was prepared for M. Olier, but was providentially
averted. He was returning one evening, alone and badly mounted,
from one of his visits of charity amoog the poor country-people, when
he found himself suddenly confronted by two men on horseback,
accompanied by another on foot, who seemed to be acting in concert
with them. They were about twenty paces in advance, and as soon
as they saw him they drew each a pistol from his holster and prepared
to dispute his passage. It so happened, however, that at this point
in the road there was a bridle-path which led to a little chapel, in
front of which M. Olier had catechised a group of peasants three
days before ; into this he now turned, and had not proceeded far
when he was joined by another priest, who, while riding in the
valley below, had mistaken the glare of the pistols for the flashl;ig of
a sv/ord and had hastened at full gallop to the spot. With a courage
which seemed like an inspiration he cried to M. Olier to go boldly
forward,, and, \ utting spuis to their horses, the two rode straight up
to the men, who thrust back their pistols into the holsters as they
approached and allowed them to pass unmolested. To all this
violence and harassing persecution M. Olier opposed only prayer and
penance, a most courageous patience, and an entire submission to the
Divine will ; and God, who never fails those who put their trust in
Him, was pleased to manifest His approval by an extiaordinary
grace. At the end of an alarming illness with which (as we are
about to see) he was attacked after the termination of ihe missions,
the very man of whom mention has been made as being the chief
instigator of the persecution came, accompanied by his wife and
daughters, to visit him a^ he lay on his sick-bed and to implore his
forgiveness for all the sufferings he had caused him. This circum-
stance, which, as may be supposed, wrs the source of peculiar
consolation to M. Olier, he interpreted as a special call to resign
himself with renewed confidence into the hands of God.

But that which caused the grei^test joy to a heart burning with the
love of souls was the 'cal with which the country-clergy, not only
co-operated in the immediate work of the mission, but laboured to
carry out its objects amongst their flocks and to render permanent
the effects which had already been produced. It v/as thus that M.
Olier entered en his destined office of an ecclesiastical reformer.
The parish priests began to preach and to catechise with an earnest-
ness and an assiduity which may be said to have been unprecedented
in those parts ; while a considerable number of cathedral canons and

Self-reproaches and scruples of conscience. 69

priors of convents who hitherto had regarded their obligations as
fulfilled in a discharge of the routine duties of their office, now
deemed themselves responsible for the spiritual condition of the
people among whom they lived, and especially of the inhabitants of
those places which were dependencies of their church or monastery.
The canons of the cathedral church of Le Puy were eminently
distinguished for the activity they displayd, and at the suggestion of
M. Olier weekly conferences were established, after the model of
those of St. La.'^iire, with which the local clergy also became associated.
Other chapters soon followed their example ; so that in three or four
neighbouring dioceses there was always a large body of ecclesiastics
engaged in instructing the people, hearing confessions, visiting the
prisons and the hospitals, conducting missions, preparing candidates
for orders, and acting as the pioneers of the bishop in his visitations.
But, so far from taking to himself the credit or the merit of these
successes, the servant of God would not even rega'-d them as the
results of his preachings and exhortations. " I cannot help thinking,"
he said, " that this marvellous change is due to the prayers of the
Sceur Agnfes, that holy soul, who prayed so much to God to appease
His wrath and convert the people of these parts. The P^re de Con-
dren was wont to say that very often all the fruit produced by a sermon
is attribuiable to some poor lowly woman in the church, and that all
which the preacher, who is but the channel of God's grace, has for
his share is mere vanity. May God," he added, " preserve me ever
from this vanity, and forgive me all I have had of it in the past ! "

All the time the servant of God was labouring so zealously in these
missions he was tormented with remorseful scruples of conscience,
fearing that he was unfaithful to grace. Often during the day he
would throw himself on his knees and, with sighc and tears, would
say to God, "O my God, whose power is infinite, repair by the
inexhaustible resources of Thy wisdom the loss which Thou sustainest
by my infidelities ; send into these regions men who will serve Thee
better than I ; to them I yield all the glory which Thou didst offer
me, so only that Thou dost not suffer." It was during the course of
these same missions and while he was undergoing these interior irials
that, while saying Mass one day at Clermont, he felt moved to offer
to our Lord the people of Le Velay, Le Vivarais, and Auvergne, and
at the same moment it seemed to him that God charged him with
the care of these provinces; and, in fact, he afterwards had the
consolation of labourmg there for the re /ival of religion and piety.

Life of M, Olier.

not only by the missions which he set on foot on their behalf, but
also by the seminaries which he established at Viviers, Le Puy; and
Clermont, and which, by giving to these heretofore forsaken provinces
an uninterrupted succession of zealous pastors, perpetuated the good
which he had himself in person endeavoured to accomplish.

In the autumn of 1636 M. Olier gave a letreat to the clergy of the
diocese of St. Flour, as well as to the candidates for ordination, at
his own Abbey of P^brac, assisted by members of the Conferences of
St. Lazare. He himself bore all the expenses of their maintenance
daring the time, and also supplied out of his liberality considerable
sums in aid of such parishes as from their poverty Siood in greatest
need of assistance. The influence he exercised and the confidence
he inspired may be taken as the measure of the estimation in
which he was held for his sanctity, ard especially for his humility
and disinterestedness, of which we find the following instances
recorded. While at St. Ilpise he requested his grand-vicar, a
religious of his own abbey, to fetch some papers from P^brac for
which he had occasion, and, on his objecting, M. Olier rebuked him
somewhat sharply; but a few hours afterwards, thinking he had
spoken with needless severity, he sought out the ecclesiastic and,
throwing himself at his feet, begged his forgiveness. The Bishop of
St. Flour having convened an assembly to iCgulate the proportion of
tithes to be paid by the several benefices of the diocese to the
mother church, the prelate himself, as well as the assessors generally,
proposed to exempt the Abbey of P^brac, in consideration of the
mode in which the Abbot expended its revenues. But M. Olier,
who was present, gave expression to his disapproval of the measure
in terms which inspired all who heard him with a still higher opinion
of his virtues. "It is not right," he said, "to exempt abbots, who
generally enjoy large revenues and do nothing, at the expense of poor
curds, who work hard and have a very small income." An ecclesi-
astic who was charged with overlooking the accounts of the farmer-
general of his abbey brought him the schedule for his inspection,
together with a sum of 5,000 livres which was due to him. M. Olier
put his signature to the account, without examining it, in spite of the
ecclesiastic's remonstrances, and devoted the whole of the money to
supplying fresh missions ; and such was his liberality that during the
eighteen months they lasted he expended more than 16,000 livres in
the support of the missionaries and the relief of the poor. He was
as forgetful of himself as he was careful for others. When he went

.^k'jL^'iiM^iJA

His alarming illness.

to Vieille-Brioude, in the neighbourhood of which were several
dependencies of his abbey, it was observed that of the two beds
which were in his apartment he chose the smallest and worse
furnished, leaving the other to the priest who accompanied him.
His only complaint was of being treated with too much condescen-
sion, and not being allowed to practise evangelical poverty ; and M.
Rebou', Archpriest of St. Flour, relates that in the several journeys
he took with him M. Olier w:is so occupied with God that it was
necessary to remind him of the hours for meals.

It was about this time that he made the acquaintance of Marie
Tessonnifere, commonly called Marie de Valence, from the town in
which she lived. This poor widow, who was more than sixty years
of age when M. Olier first saw her, was held in the highest esteem by
the Cardinal de B^ruUe, St. Vincent de Paul, and other distinguished
personages of the day ; and St. Francis de Sales, by a bold figure of
speech, declared her to be a living relic. Her veneration for the
servant of God and the confidence with which he inspired her were
such that she laid open to him all the secrets of her soul as she had
done to no one since the death of her saintly director, the Pfere
Colon; while M. Olier, in his turn, derived great spiritual profit
from his converse with her. She had a particular devotion to the
adorable mystery of the Ever- Blessed Trinity, and M. Olier believed
that to her he was indebted for a share in the same dominant attrac-
tion and peculiar grace. Like so many other pious persons at this
time, she had felt herself especially moved to pray for the secular
clergy, begging our Lord to endue them with piety, science, purity of
intention, ardent zeal, and detachment — in a word, with all the Apos-
tolical virtues — and, as though she possessed a supernatural insight
into M. Olier's future vocation, she assured him that he was destined
by God to do a great work for His glory. He, on his part, seemed
to see in her angelicd life an impge of that of the Immaculate Mother
of God ; and, moved to compassion for her great poverty, he, with
the approbation of P. de Condi on, bestowed on this holy widow a
pension of a hundred livres a year.

The missions were on the point of closing when M. G'ier observed
to one of his friends that he only needed a fortnight's illness to be
assured that God had accepted their labours. The token was not
long wanting. On the evening of the last day of the mission which
had been given at La Motte-Canillac, a little torn in Auvergne, when
he was on his way back to Langeac after preaching the final sermon.

Life of M. Olier.

he experienced a sudden calm in his soul, together with an entire
cessation from all pain, a circumstance so unusual with him that it
filled him with alarm ; for crosses (he says) had become his strength
and support, and he felt as if God were forsaking him. But he was
speedily reassured ; for on entering the convent chapel he was seized
with what to his friends and the physicians seemed like a mortal
illness. For himself, however, he was persuaded of the contrary,
for, on the instant that he felt the first stroke of the malady, he com-
mended himself to the holy Bishop of Geneva, and, although he was
fast sinking into a state of somnolency, he seemed to hear a voice
within him which blessed him and assured him that his sickness was
not unto death. " I shall not die," he feebly uttered, at the same
time begging M. de Foix, who was with him, to fetch the Blessed
Sacrament. This he was able to do, even at that early hour (for it
was two o'clock in the morning), because the chaplain's room, in
which M. Olier was lying, opened into the chapel, and thus he had
the consolation of receiving Communion. But it was found impos-
sible to receive his confession, as he could only make inarticulate
sounds and soon lost the power both of speech and of hearing ; so
that all which could be done was to anoint him with the holy oils.
For days he lay in a state of complete stupor, unconscious of every-
thing that was passing around him and perfectly insensible to pain,
even vhen the doctors bled him, or, rather, according to the bar-
barous method of those times, stabbed him with their lancets. While
in this condition it occurred to M. de Foix to try whether the holy
and beloved Names of Jesus and Mary would have any effect in
rousing him from his lethargy ; when no sooner had he pronounced
the sacred syllables than the apparently dying man responded to the .
sound, though still like one who was wandering in his sleep. To aught
else he was insensible, but these blessed Names (he says) could do
'vhat a thousand knives and lancets could not do ; they penetrated
to an interior region of the soul which the stupor of the mind and
numbness of the body had left unaffected.

His mother, on hearing of his danger, hastened with her youngest
son to his assistance, but did not arrive until he was convalescent ;
his health, however, was far from being re-established when he was
afflicted with a complaint in the knee, brought on, it was supposed,
by his long-continued prayers. The doctors were ready again with
their lancets, but apprehensive, as he well might be, of being crippled
for life, if he trusted himself in their hands, he betook him to Her

Retreat at Tournon.

wiio was his constant refuge in all trials, and made a vow to Notre
Dame de Bon-Secours at Tournon,* whither he had himself conveyed,
all lame as he was. And now his mother beheld what must have
been a new and striking spectacle to the haughty town-bred lady.
On the day of M. Olier's departure from Langeac, the poor of the
neighbourhood collected to the number of three or four hundred and
accompanied him some distance on his way. *' He has been to
Paradise," they cried, '• and has come back again." He was glad, he
says, that she should witness this demonstration of affection, if only
to put her out of conceit with a heartless world. His sister, who was
greatly averse to the life he had chosen, had died at Paris during his
illness, and he could not but contrast her condition with his own.
In the heart of a great metropolis, and in the midst of a large circle
of acquaintance, she had been suffered to expire without a friend to
assist or console her, while he, who had forsaken the world and broken
all the ties of family, found friends and brethren without number —
clergy, religious, and the poor of Christ — as in a very desert ; thus
verifying that word of the Lord, that he that hath left house, or
brethren, or sisters, or mother, for His Name's sake, shall be
recompensed a hundred-fold.f

In a *ew days his knee was perfectly cured, without the aid of any
other remedy but that of invoking the Blessed Mother of God. and
he was able to undertake a retreat of fifteen days with the Jesuit
Fathers at Tournon, which he passed in complete solitude. It was
then that he received the gift of a higher order of prayer than he
had hitherto practised, that of interior recollection in God without
exercise of the discursive faculty. He also learned a more perfect
and complete dependence on the Spirit of our Lord in the direction

* Within one of the old Gothic gates of Tournon was a vault, open towards the
town, in which was a painting of the Blessed Virgin, honoured under the title of
Notre Dame de Bon-Secours. It was frequented as a sort of oratory by the
people round, novenas were performed in it, and many cures were wrought. On
the feasts of our Blessed Lady it was always gaily adorned, and from time
immemorial had formed one of the stations of the procession on the Rogation
Days. The ancient gate and the oratory have disappeared together, but the
painting has been preserved in an adjacent house, and is every year exposed to
the piety of the faithful on occasion of the RogaMon procession, which still makes
its halt at the accustomed spot. The Virgin Mother is represented as seated on
clouds and holding the Infant Jesus on her lap. M. Faillon remarks that the
people much regret the destruction of this old oratory, and that there is good
reason to hope that it will be replaced by another of modern construction.

t St. Matthew xix. 29.

Lt/e of M. Olier.

of his every word and act. Hitherto he had endeavoured in all
simplicity to follow the movements of grace, but he had not as yet
so perfectly conceived how absolutely the Spirit of Jesus ought to
be the animating principle of all our words. It was at the same
time shown him, as in a figure, what his vocation was to be. While
making his prayer on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, he seemed to
behold a man continually on his knees before the Tabernacle, while
troops of priests, fully equipped for work and burning with zeal, were
climbing mountains like lions and spreading devotion to the Blessed
Sacrament in the wildest and most desolate regions.

After his retreat, his health being sufficiently restored, he set out,
accompanied by his mother, on his return journey to Paris. On the
way the carriage was upset into a deep hollow, where, but for the
special interposition of Divine Providence, both coachman and
horses, he says, must have been either killed or maimed. Instinc-
tively, he exclaimed, " O Jesus, my Love ! O Jesus, my Love ! " and
neither coachman nor horses received the slightest injury. The
fame of his Apostolical labours had preceded him, and on reaching
Paris his humility was shocked by the respect and consideration
with which he found himself everywhere received. St. Vincent
de Paul said to him, as he clasped him in his arms, "I know
not how it is, but the blessing of God accompanies you wherever
you go." It was now the spring of 1638, and, had he followed
the promptings of his own zeal, he would have returned without
delay to his beloved missions; but P. de Condren, who never
lost sight of the great object he had in view, kept him at Paris
with other members of the little community, giving him from time
to time occupation of the kind he most desired in or near the
capital.

Others, his former colleagues, he sent into the country, away
from the distractions of Paris, that they might be more perfectly
trained, under the direction of M. Meyster, for the work to which
they were designed. Among these was M. du Ferrier, who, in his
Mkmoires (still in manuscript), describes his state of mind at the time
and the beneficial effects that were produced upon him by the good
example of his companions. "I was then," he writes, "to use St.
James's expression *« double-minded man^* or, as the Prophet says,
' a speckled bird^ + a bird of two colours, wishing to serve God with-

St. James i. 8.

t Jeremias xii. 9.

^^^■Vi »i^I*.«. tf fid -1

, ''i.:-.",i™.aa i-vJiAL'

A triumph over human respect.

out renouncing the world. After spending the morning in study and
a few short prayers, I went to dine, by the order oi my uncle, who
was Grand Master of Malta, with the Abbd de St. Vincent, agent of
the clergy. He kept open house, and, as he was a fine gentleman,
all the great world, courtiers and prelates, were his constant guests.
After dinner they amused themselves with chess, backgammon, and
ninepins, all which were considered as permissible for ecclesiastics,
so that they did not play at cards. Some went for a stroll, or to
hear the news of the day. God put it into the heart of P. de
Condre o withdraw me from Paris, away from all this frivolity, and
to send me, with M. de Bassincourt and M. Amelote, to Champ-
Dolent, in Saintonge, there to pass the summer and prepare for sciying
my first Mass. The Abb6 de Se'ry came with us. M. Amelote, a
pious and learned man, was my director, and he set me to read and
meditate on the 21st chapter of Leviticus and the Epistle to the
Hebrews ; we lived in great quiet, dividing our time between prayer,
saying office, study, and recreation. This retreat waj very useful to
me, and made me lament the loss of so many days vvhich I had ill
employed ; it served also to make me sensible of the many miserable
attachments of my heart. It was St. Mark's day when we reached
Saintonge, and we spent the night at St. Jean d'Ang^ly. They gave
us for dessert some cheese and several plates of sweetmeats, there
being no fruit then in season. My three friends, mortified and
abstemious, contented themselves with a little cheese, while I, on the
contrary, who was accustomed to gratify all my tastes, ate nothing
but sweetmeats, urging them to do the same, but they touched none
of them. That night, when we had lain down, through the mercy of
God — obtained, doubtless, by the prayers of His three servants whom
I had scandalised — my eyes were opened, and, sensible of my past
gluttony, I began to have a detestation for it, and made a resolution
to despise for the future whatever gratified my senses. I mention
this to show the good which persons of a mortified life effect by their
example."

In a mission which M. Olier and his friends undertook at this time
in the environs of Paris, they had to pass through St. Germain's,
where the King and his court were then staying, and M. Olier, whom
all the world regarded as on the way to a bishopric, proposed
that, to put in practice that love of evangelical poverty which they
possessed, they should go in one of the common cars of the country,
instead of in a coach, as they had hitherto done. It was represented

I//
1/

Life of M. Olier.

to him that, as some of the ecclesiastics had acquaintances among the
courtiers, such a style of equipage would only excite ridicule and
draw down contempt both on themselves and on the object in which
they weie engaged. But the servant of God replied, "Our Lord,
when He rode into Jerusalem on an ass, showed us what account we
ought to make of the world's opinion ; nay, was not He who is
Wisdom and Sanctity Itself mocked and derided ? Were not the
Apostles laughed to scorn when they announced the Gospel? No,
no \ let us not stand haggling, but go forward." So they went, as
he wished, in an open car, and God accepted the humiliation and
blessed their labours with extraordinary success.

( n )

CHAPTER VI.

THE NUNS OF LA R&GRIPrikRE. PkRE BERNARD. M. QU£-
RIO LET. M. BOURDOISE. MISSIONS IN BRITTANY^
PICARDY, ETC

ON his return to Paris M. Olier prepared himself for a
fresh campaign by a spiritual retreat. Two missions were
proposed to him, and, his director being away, he resolved, after
consulting God in prayer, to go into Brittany. He repaired accord-
ingly to his priory of Clisson, intending to join M. Meyster in
Saintonge, where the latter was engaged in giving missions, but a
severe cold obliged him to defer the journey. To spend the time
with greater profit to his soul, he went through all the exercises of a
retreat, visiting frequently the chapel of Notre Dame de Toute-
Joie,* a place of pilgrimage in the close vicinity of the monastery,
where he did not fail to receive many consolations at the hands of
his heavenly Patroness. He took occasion, also, to hold frequent
conferences with the clergy of those parts.

While thus recruiting himself, he learned that at the village of La

* This chapel was originally erected by Oliver de Clisson, father of the Con-
stable, in thanksgiving for some happy news he had received on the spot. It
became a frequented place of pilgrimage ; thirteen or fourteen parishes going to it
in procession at different times of the year. During the war in La Vendee it
was delivered to the flames, hut, though only the walls remained standing, it was
not altogether disused as a place of prayer, and a young girl of the neighbourhood
undertook to collect alms for its reconstruction. For several years she might be
seen sitting among the ruins and holding out her hand to the passers-by, especially
on fair and market days ; she employed herself meanwhile in spinning, giving
utterance to her complaints in a mournful song. Many laughed at her, some
insulted her, few gave her anything, but she continued spinning and singing,
neither abashed nor disheartened. At length, when peace was restored, she took
a little image of the Blessed Virgin in her hand, and went about the country
begging for the chapel. Some gave her money, others promised timber for the
building ; after a while, some of the better sort contributed more largely, and the
chapel was restored. At the present day it is still a place of much resort to the
faithful

Life of M. Olicr.

R^grippilre, distant six miles from Clisson, there was a priory of
nuns of the Order of Fontevraiilt,* who, through their worldliness,
frivolity, and contentiousness, had become the scandal of the neigh-
bourhood. The relaxation of all the bonds of discipline, entailing,
as it did, the total loss of the interior spirit of religion, had brought
a host of all the usual abuses in its train. Yielding to an impulse of
zeal, M. Olier, now sufficiently recovered, repaired to the convent
and, without disclosing his name, begged the hospitality of the house
for himself and an ecclesiastic who accompanied him. It was the
20th of July, 1638. An intermittent fever, which had assumed the
character of an epidemic, prevailed at that time in the district, and
the nuns, supposing them to be persons who were seeking a refuge
from its attacks, and apprehensive themselves of taking the disorder,
refused them admission. The man of God made no complaint but,
retiring quietly from the gate, went and took up his quarters in a
dilapidated hen-house which he had observed on his approach to the
convent. The servants, out of respect for the habit he wore, did not
venture to disturb him, and there accordingly he remained, abiding
God's time. The humility which he had shown under the rebuff he
had received, the modesty and charity which appeared in all his
words and demeanour, and his continual application to prayer, were
not lost upon those who were without the walls, and the favourable

* The order of Fontevrault was instituted by B. Robert d'Arbrisselles. Besides
the Abbey of De la Roe, or De Rota, for Canons Regular of St. Augustine, he
founded for women, in 1099, the great monastery of Fontevrault {Fons Ebraldi) in
Poitou, under the rule of St. Benedict. The number of religious increased so
rapidly that he soon had to erect other houses. Among them was one for young
women and widows, another for the leprous and diseased, and a third for fallen
women who, on their conversion, desired to consecrate themselves to God. The
chief peculiarity of the institute was that, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, to
whom on the Cross her Divine Son had given authority over St. John, the monks
were, equally with the nuns, put under obedience to the mother abbess, who was
also the general of the Order, a regulation approved by the Pope. The houses
for women were at a distance from those of the men. The rule of St. Benedict
was observed in all its strictness ; the law of enclosure being so rigorously
enforced that no priest was permitted even to enter the infirmary in order to visit
the sick, who, in their very agony, were carried into the church, there to receive
the last sacraments. Before the Revolution there were some sixty houses, or
priories, in France, divided into four provinces, and there were two in England
previously to the schism.

Dr. Lingard shows that it was not uncommon among the northern nations to
have both monks and nuns governed by one and the same superior, either abbot
or abbess. History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Vol. I.
pp. 193-198.

•1

The Nuns of La R^grippi^re.

opinion they entertained of the priestly stranger was speedily com-
municated to the inmates of the house. It was not long, therefore,
before a message arrived from the nuns, inviting him to take up his
abode in the rooms allotted to guests. But M. Oiler simply and
mod< stly replied that he begged the ladies would not trouble them-
selves further about his accommodation, for that his little lodging
was everything he could wish.

The report of the unknown priest who had established himself
in the nuns' hen-house, and would not move out, was soon noised
abroad, and one of the magistrates of a neighbouring town was
curious to see the intruder. Now, it so happened that the magistrate
in question was an intimate friend of the Olier family, and he no
sooner beheld our Abbd in his strange retreat than he hastened to
inform the nuns who and what manner of man it was they had shut
their doors upon. If before they had been anxious to retrieve their
error, it now appeared as if they could not reproach themselves
sufficiently for their want of respect to so great a personage, and they
entreated him to do their house the honour of occupying the most
commodious apartment it afforded. But this priest of the Most
High knew well on what errand he had come ; he had come to do a
work for God, and he would do it in the way God willed. Thanking,
therefore, with all courtesy those who had conveyed to him the
flattering message, he answered, in language to which their ears were
but little accustomed, "Jesus, my Master, was pleased to be born in
a stable, and to lie long time in a manger; it would not be fitting,
therefore, that I should be in a hurry to quit a place in which I fare
so well." Disconcerted, as well as surprised, at a refusal so
unexpected, the nuns desired at least that the fowls should be
removed from the miserable lodging he had chosen. " No," replied
he, with a pleasant smile, " these poor birds have done nothing for
which they should be driven out ; and, if the crowing of a cock could
convert the Prince of the Apostles, I do not despair but that God
may make use of the same means to bring rbout at last my own
conversion."

And now a strange feeling began to steal over the inmates of this
unhappy house, a mixture of curiosity and fear, with a slight addition
of compunction. What was this man come for ? Why had he set
himself down as if to watch and wait for something that was going to
happen to them ? What had he to say to them ? Had he come to
convert them ? But they would not be converted— at least not yet.

Life of M, Olier.

The vainest nun in the house, the gayest, proudest bird among them
all (as M. Olicr describes her), young, handsome, and clever, who was
for ever receiving visits from her acquaintances among the admiring
noblesse^ was seized with a desire to go and talk with him ; but,
unwilling lo forsake her pleasures, she thought to arm herself before-
hand by making a bargain with Ciod that she should have three years'
reprieve before she was converted. To reach M. Olier she had to go
by the convent chapel, and, as she passed, a voice seemed to speak
to her heart, and to say to her that her hour was come. When she
saw the \ \y man, she thought she beheld the saintly Bishop of
(Jeneva, and, dee[)ly moved, resolved at once to change her life.
Hastening to the Superioress, she said, " Mother, my apostle is come ;
I must surrender ; I can delay no longer." A conversion so un-
looked-for and surprismg caused a general sensation, and M. Olier
was asked to preach on the following day. He consented ; and such
grace accompanied his words that, not only the Soeur de Vauldray,
the religious in question, but several others determined to make a
retreat of ten days, accompanied with a general confession, a pro-
ceeding of which they had previously had not the slightest intention.
The lesson he had learned in his recent retreat was still uppermost
in M. Olier's thoughts, and several times daring his discourse he
repeated the expression, '■^ Plaire d. Dieu — to please God." The
words made a strange impression on his hearers, haunting their
memory like some sweet and solemn tune, so that, instead of the
snatches of songs and scraps of worldly gossip which it was usual to
hear the nuns repeating up and down the house, they went about
saying, " Plaire d Dt'ei/, Plaire h Dieu." Of forty nuns, fourteen
were united in a firm determination to live henceforth as true religious.
It was St. Mary Magdalen's day, and on the morrow they commenced
their retreat, which terminated accordingly on the ist of August,
dedicated to St. Peter advincula ; a coincidence from which M. Olier,
who had a particular devotion to those two great patrons and models
of penitent souls, did not fail to draw the happiest auguries. He
had no difficulty in bringing back these fourteen religious to the
observance of community life, which had been virtually abolished in
the house, and in banishing from their breasts the spirit of
appropriation {propriete\ that fatal source of dissipation and often
even of disorder in a convent.*

* It is not easy to render the term profriMhy any corresponding English word.
It signifies that which is the very opposite of the spirit of community life, viz..

The S(£ur Donfard.

Before M. Olicr could complete the reform he had hcRun at T.a
Kdgrippi^re, he was obliged to leave for Nantes, proposing to go
thence (as has heon said) to the assistance of M. Meysler in
Saintonge, and afterwards to return to Paris, liut his presence being
still needed for tiic confirmation and guidance of the religious who
had yielded to grace, God allowed him to be attacked by the
epidemic already mentioned, which detained him in Hrittany until
the beginning of the following year. He was taken ill on the
Nativity of the lilessed Virgin, a circumstance which he regarded as
a special token of her favour; "a recompense," he writes, "for my
small labours the most precious a Christian can receive." From a
spirit of devotion to that heavenly MothL/, he always reckoned the
years of his own life from her birthday, and her Divine Son (he says)
never failed on that day to bestow some blessing upon him. His
intention had been to remain at his I'riory of Clisson, to which he
had retired from Nantes, until his health was fully re-established, but
he was so strongly urged to return to the latter place by Marie-
Constance de Bressand, Mother Assistant of the Convent of the
Visitation, that he complied with her request. The only accom-
modation the good nun could offer him was a room in the gardener's
cottage ; but this, she well knew, would be exactly to his t.iste,
especially as it resembled the lodging which St. Francis de Sales had
occupied at Lyons during his last illness. Indeed it was all for the
sake of this great prelate that he accepted the invitation. The M^re
de Bressand, before entering religion, had enjoyed the happiness of
being under the saint's direction, and M. Olier hoped to derive much
edification from her reminiscences of his habits and conversation,
particularly in all that concerned the spiritual life. Nor was he
disappointed in his expectations ; while she, on her part, seemed to
perceive in him so large a measure of the lights and graces of her
saintly director that she was moved to take him as the guide of
her soul.

It was at this time also that he was brought into spiritual relations
with another very holy woman, the Sceur Marie Boufard, who was
then living in the world in a state of great poverty and confirmed
ill health, but who subsequently, through his assistance, entered the
Convent of ihe Visitation as a lay-sister and died, in the odour of
sanctity, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. She supported

when religious, instead of possessing all things in common, love to appropriate
something to themselves, whether lor use or in possession.

■M'^;ii

:'■/•■' » ■fvpl

Lt/e of M. Clier,

herself by keeping a school, and such was the reputation in which
she was held that people came from all parts to consult her on affairs
of importance. Like M. Olier, she had a profound devotion to the
Most Holy Sacrament and a tender love for the Blessed Virgin, and,
as God led her by extraordinary ways and lavished extraordinary
favours \ipon her, the fear of being deluded caused her to accept with
particular joy the guidance of one who was competent to direct her
with safety along those heights of perfection to which she w?s called.

While he was at Nantes, M. Olier received the tidings that a son
had been born (September 5th, 1638) to Louis XII L and Anne of
Austria, and consequently an heir to the throne of France. A
matter of so much importance had been made the constant subject
of his supplications to Heaven, and his joy and thankfulness were
proportionately great. In this behalf he had offered to God, not his
prayers only, bnt his penances also ; in reference to v/hich M. Faillon
relates a litile incident which is not without its value. M. Picot^ —
of whom more will be said hereafter — was passing one day through
the court of the Louvre, on his return from visiting the Queen
Mother, who held him in high esteem, when the boy-king perceived
him and begged to be remembered in his prayers. " Sire," replied
the simple-hearted priest — as though to assure Louis that his request
had been a superfluous one — " you have cost me, and M. Olier too,
many a good scourging." M. Olier's solicitude for the interests of
religion — it may here be observed — made him so anxious that the
future monarch should be educated in a truly Christian manner that
he would not have shrunk from the responsibility of acting himself as
the young Dauphin's preceptor ; and, as it appears, he even expressed
a willingness to undertake the onerous office.

But to return. During his stay at Nantes M. Olier became the
witness of a miraculous circumstance, and one that from its nature
would affect him very powerfully. There was in the Convent of the
Visitation a nun named Frangoise-Madeleine de la Roussifere, who
was consumed with an insatiable hunger for the Divine Eucharist.
On the evenings before receiving Communion she might be observed
all sighing and panting for the Bread of Life, which to her was the
very meat and drink of her soul ; her countenance was in a flame,
and the perspiration stood in drops upon her forehead, even in the
depth of winter. One day, when M. Olier was saying Mass as usual,
and was about to communicate this Sister, the Sacred Host deta "bed
Itself from his fingers, and went of Its own accord into her mouth,

Reform of La Rdgrippicre.

he
re
le
lo
It.
Id

as though hastening to satisfy the longing desire of so ardent a soul.
The parish priest of Nort likewise beheld the same extraordinary
manifestation of the Divine favour to this holy nun.

M. Olier profited by the delay to follow up the work so auspiciously
begun at La Regrippibre. He visited the convent on several
occasions, and addressed the religious in letters which were scarcely
less effectual than his presence and oral exhortations. The Soeur de
Vauldray remained stedfast in her good resolutions, and showed a
most admirable courage amidst all the discouragements and sufferings
she had now to endure from those who maintained their spirit of
independence and refused to submit to the yoke of discipline. But
a reform such as alone would satisfy the zeal of God's servant was
not to be brought about in a few duys or even months : how he
succeeded in the end we shall see hereafter ; but meanwhile the state
of this religious house was a matter of deep anxiety to him ai.d the
subject of his constant prayers. It was to the ScEur de Vauldray
that he looked as the instrument, under God, by which the change
was to be effected, and, with P. de Condren's permission, he continued
to correspond with her in the capacity of her director, even after his
return to Paris. Providence also assisted him in an unlooked-for
way. In the beginning of January, 1639, he felt himself sufficiently
recovered to leave Nantes, but he was unequal to a journey on horse-
back — which, as he had sold his carriage, v/as now his only means of
travelling— especially in the middle of winter. In this perplexity, he
betook himself to his usual resource of prayer, when a gentleman of
the country, who was aware of his embarrassment, offered him a seat
in his coach and six, only begging to be allowed to go a little out of
the way to visit an abbey with the Superioress of which he wished to
confer. This was no other than the Abbey of Fontevrault, the
mother-house of the convent at La Rdgrippifere. M. Olier had thus
an opportunity of preferring a petition for the success of which
nothing less than a personal application would have sufficed rie
knew that in the neighbouriiood of Fontevrault there was a nun, pious
and prudent, and every way qualified, on whose co-operation he
could rely for completing the reform which he had so much at heart.
This nun he now begged the Abbess * to send to La Regrippi^re.

• Jeanne-Baptiste de Bourbon, natural daughter of Henri IV. From her child-
hood she was remarkable for piety, and on becoming abbess of Fontevrault she
m.anifested all the virtues of a perfect religious. Such was her love ot poverty
and mortification that she shrank from no employment however menial ; washing

Life of M. Olier.

It was not without some trouble that he obtained his request, but the
result amply proved both the justice of his representations and the
wisdom of yielding to them.

On reaching Paris, M. Olier hastened to confer with P. de
Condren, whom he had not seen for six months ; and it was with an
inexpressible satisfaction that he found his method of prayer, and his
mode of disposing himself thereto, approved by so gifted a master of
the spiritual life. Under this Father's direction, he now resumed
his theological and scriptural studies, but his attraction to prayer was
so strong that he asked and obtained permission to make a second
hour's meditation in the evening, except on certain days, when, for
the sake of study, it was not to be prolonged beyond half-an-hour ;
but by the mercy of God (he says) he never omitted the full hour's
meditation in the morning, howevei he might be employed.

The course of this history now introduces us to thr.e men,
perhaps the most remarkable of their time, at least for what may be
called their holy eccentricities. The first is Claude Bernard, con-
verted by the Bishop of Belley, who distributed all he possessed
among the poor, and was himself commonly called " the Poor
Priest." He was a person of original genius but of great singularity
of character, and one who seems to have been sent into the world
for the purpose of condemning and confounding its maxims and
notions by what to many would appear to be an indiscreet display of
the folly of the religion of the Cross. His delight seemed to be to
defy the opinion of the world and to affront it in every way which
his zeal could prompt or his wit devise. Human respect, human
prudence, worldly propriety, what men called wisdom, he absolutely
scorned, ; .:d he gave expression to his scorn in a way which, in its
turn, excited the world's contempt ; so that, while his friends, and all
who were acquainted with his real character, knew him to be a man of
great intellectual acuteness, thorough earnestness of purpose, and a
most saintly life, to people in general, who knew only just so much
of him as he was pleased to let them see, he looked more like a
buffoon or a madman. Between this good but eccentric man and
M. Olier there sprang up a peculiar friendship, based on the know-

(

the dishes, sweeping the cloisters and the kitchen, waiting on the sick night and
day, and assisting the dying. Her accomplishments were no less remarkable.
Her ordinary reading consisted of one of the Latin Fatliers, and she composed
several treatises of theology and philosophy. She died on the i6th of January,
1670, at the age of sixiy-two, having been abbess thirty-three years.

Pierre dt Queriolet.

ledge of each other's estimable qualities, and especially on their
common zeal for the honour of God, their tender devotion to Mary,
and their love of the poor.

The second is Pierre de Qudriolet, who, while leading a life of
habitual impiety, had been converted in the manner about to be
related. He came at this time to Paris to see P. Bernard, out of
respect for his sanctity, and it was from his own lips that M. Olier
learned the following particulars,* in the presence of St Vincent de
Paul, P. de Condicn, and the other ecclesiastics with whom the
reader has been made acquainted. '• You will agree," he said, '* in
regarding me as an example of the extraordinary mercy of God
when you have heard the narrative of my horrible crimes. Up to
the "ige of thirty-five I passed my life in the practice of every kind
of abomination, and in the habitual profanation of the sacraments,
whi'^.h I received that I might have the appearance of being a good
Catholic. At last I was possessed with so unaccountable a hatred
for the Person of Jesus Christ that I left the kingdom in order to go
to Constantinople and turn Mahometan. I had ascertained that an
envoy from the Grand Turk was at Vienna, and I made haste that I
might be in time to accompany him on his return ; but the infinite
mercy of God determined otherwise. While passing by night
through a forest in Germany I fell into the hands of robbers, who
killed my two attendants. Seeing their guns levelled at me, I made
a vow to visit the shrine of Notre Dame de Liesse, if God would
deliver me from this peril. I was delivered ; but, alas ! I did not
the less persist in my impious intention, and hurried to Vienna for
the purpose of joining the envoy ; but he had taken his departure.
In the hope of overtaking him, for he had left only the day before, I
took boat on the Danube, and reached the confines of Hungary,
where I was stopped for want of a passport. I then repaired to
\ cnice, waiting an opportunity to embark for Constantinople, and
with this view I enlisted as a soldier of the Republic in the garrison
of the place from which the vessels sailed. For six v^'eeks it pleased
God that no vessel left for Constantinople, and, being tired of the
life I was leading, I deserted, regardless of the peril I was incurring,
and returned to France. At Paris I heard of the death of my father,
hastened by his distress at my unhappy determination, of which he
was aware. I then turned Protestant, thinking it more for my

* They were taken down by M. du Ferrier at the time, and are to be found in
his (unpublished) Memoira.

Life of M. Olicr.

interests ; but, as I was destitute of all religion, on my family ofTer-
ing me what appeared greater advantages I again professed myself
a Catholic. I resumed my practice of making sacrilegious com-
munions, accompanied with the most frightful profligacy. Though I
did not drink to intoxication, yet the quantity of wme in which I
indulged kept me in such a state of excitement that I was always
engaged in some quarrel. I seemed to have an insatiable thirst for
human blood, and killed several persons in encounters and duels.
As a protection to myself, I purchased the situation of councillor to
the Parliament of Rennes, although I had no knowledge of law.

" In the midst of these detestable enormities God twice preserved
me from death, but I only became more impious and violent than
before. Thus, on one occasion, after I had been vomiting forth
most horribl'j blasphemies against God, the chamber in which I lay
was struck with lightning, which tore away the roof of the house, the
ceiling of the room, and even the top of the bed, leaving me exposed
to a storm of rain ; but I only commenced blaspheming anew, defy-
ing the lightning and Him who sent it. A feeling of remorse, how-
ever, followed ; I had thoughts of changing my life, and went and
begged the Carthusians to receive me into their Order; buc on the
third day I took my departure without a word of farewell. From
that time I became an absolute atheist, believing neither in God nor
in devils, neither in Heaven nor in Hell,"

It was the time at which the diabolical possessions at the Ursuline
Convent of Loudun * were agitating all France, and, being on his
way to the town, Que'riolet thought he would go and witness the
exorcisms, which to him, denying as he did the existence of devils,
were a mere piece of jugglery, and he went (he says) as he might to
a comedy, from no other motive than the desire of amusement.
The exorcism had nearly terminated when one of the possessed,
turning towards him, or, rather, the demon who spoke by her mouth,
began giving vent to the most horrible blasphemies against God,
accusing Him of injustice, in that He had condemned so many
millions of angels for one only sin and yet showed mercy to the
most wicked of men, who had committed the most dreadful crimes
without number; having delivered out of his hands that wretched
blasphemer and atheist, who had made a vow to Our Lady of Liesse
which he never performed, and was altogeiher undeserving of that

* A full account of these diabolical possessions is given in the work of P. Suria
entitled, Triotnphe de l^ Amour Divin sur Us Puissances de fEnftr.

Meeting of Qud violet and P. Bernard.

Virgin's pity. This reproachful mention of his vow, of which he
had never breathed a syllable to mortal being, fell upon his soul witli
a force more startling than that of the thunderbolt which had
awakened a passing feelinrj of compunction within him, and, rushing
from the place, he sought a neighbouring chapel and there, with his
face to the earth, gave free course to his sorrow. Those who saw
him thought he had been seized with sudden illness and would
have raised him irom the ground, but his countenance, all bathed in
tears, showed the nature of his emotions, and he was left alone.
All that night he lay on the floor of his chamber, bewailing his sins,
and on the morrow he made a general confession of his whole life.
The first act of his new existence was to repair to Liesse in fulfilment
of his vow ; he dismissed his servants, gave all he had about him to
the poor, put ^ sggar's dress, and made the whole journey bare-
footed and bare-headed, asking alms by the way and weepii.g
unceasingly for his crimes. From L,iesse he went, in the same
manner, to La Sainte Baume, in Provence, to obtain through the
intercession of the holy Magdalen some portion of her spirit of
penance and her love of Jesus. Returning to Rennes, he sold his
post of councillor, and devoted his whole fortune to the relief of the
poor and suffering, whom he frequently visited both in the hospitals
and in the prisons. At length, after going through a course of the
severest penance, he decided, by the advice of his director, on t:aking
holy orders, and was ordained priest on the 28th of March, 1637.
To the day of his death he persevered in the practice of the most
rigorous mortification, condemning himself never to raise his eyes
from the ground, making eight or ten hours' prayer a day, and taking
scarcely any food from Thursday at mid-day until Sunday at the
same hour. He died on the 8th of October, 1660.

"VVe have said that he had come to Paris to make tho acquaintance
of P. Bernard ; rhe manner of their meeting is too characteristic to
be omitted. We give the story as P. Bernard himself told it to M.
du Ferrier. "As I was going," says he, "in the direction of the
Carthusians, I saw a man coming towards me, covered with dust,
with his cassock tucked up, as sorry a looking figure as you can
conceive ; he stopped me, and asked if I could tell him where a
certain M. Bernard lived, who went by the name of the Poor Priest.
I inquired if he knew the man, and what he wanted with him. * I
am come,' said he, ' to make his acquaintance, for they tell me he is
a good man, but a little crack-brained' Feeling somewhat surprised

Life of M. Olier.

at this observation, 'I do not know,' answered I, 'that you are much
wiser than he is.' 'Perhaps,* continued he, 'you are yourself the
very man I am seeking.' 'Yes,' replied I, 'the very man.' Upon
which he seized me in his arms, saying, ' I am Qudriolet ; I am
come all the way from Brittany to have the pleasure of seeing you.'
I cordially returned his embrace, for I knew him well by reputation,
as having been converted at Loudun by means of the devil who had
possession of the nuns."

The third of these eccentric but eminently holy men is Adrien
Bourdoise, of whom mention has been made before in this history.
He was the founder of the Seminary of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet
at Paris, and appears to have been raised up by God to perform the
ofifice of pioneer in the work of ecclesiastical reform. Consumed
with grief at the scandals which everywhere prevailed, and especially
at the decay of ecclesiastical discipline, he lifted up his voice, like
another John the Baptist, and called on men to do penance ere the
wrath of God fell upon them.* Ignorant of fear and utterly regard-
less of what was said or thought of him, he spared no one, whatever
might bs. lis station, but spoke the truth plainly and without disguise,
in season and out of season, with a freedom and a bluntness, a
power of sarcasm, and sometimes even with a caustic facetiousness,
which, while it irritated or moved to laughter, often succeeded in
mitigating or repressing the evil he denounced where a milder
manner and a more polished address would have failed of effect.
So secularised both in spirit and in manners had the clergy become
that they were not distinguishable in dress or demeanour from ordi-
nary laymen, going about with moustaches and boots, like mere
men of the world ; indeed, it would seem that on occasions they did
not take the trouble to put on their ecclesiastical attire even when
performing the sacred duties of their calling. Going one day with
M. Brandon, M. Amelote, and M. de Barrault into the abbey-
church of St. Denis, M. Bourdoise caught sight of a man in the
sacristy wearing a coat and short cloak, and booted and spurred,

• His character is aptly portrayed in the following distich :

** Hie fuit Elias more, et clamore Joannes,
Ore Nathan, curd PauUis, amore Petrus." *•

A Life of this remarkable man is still a desideratum. There is a short memoir of
him in manuscript (composed from a larger work, also in manuscript), which M.
Faillon pronounc :s to be a masterpiece of biography.

p'» -*<''*v^""*^^i»'"'"

jmmmmm

wmmm

Adrien Dotirdjlse.

who was hearing the confession of a priest vested in alb and stole.
Immediately he went in search of the Prior, and said to him, "Come
here, my father ; come here, and see a soldier confessing a priest ! "
This stroke of severe pleasantry, as it may be called, had the desired
effect, for the Prior instantly gave peremptory orders to the sacristan
never to allow such scandals for the future.

Zealous and single-minded himself, he was impatient of the want
of these qualities in others, and such men were peculiarly obnoxious
to his raillery and wit ; but where he perceived genuine earnestness
and a heart-felt love of God it seemed as if he could not sufficiently
express his admiration and sympathy, and all the hidden sweetnrss
and kindliness of his nature was allowed to gush forth with an over-
flowing abundance which would have astonished those who knew
only the more obvious and less engaging, though not less estimable,
portions of his character. The apparent severity and almost rude-
ness of his speech and manner, * particularly when he wished to
try a man's worth, may be inferred from the following incident.
Knowing the zeal and piety of M. Olier and his friends, he wished
to be better acquainted with them, especially with a view to con-
ferring together on the obligations of the clerical state. The mode
he adopted for gaining his object was such as would have occurred
to none but himself. One morning M. Olier, accompanied by M.
de Foix and M. du Ferrier, went to St. Nicolas, the model parish-
church of Paris, for the purpose of saying Mass. They waited on
M. Bourdoise, who received them courteously, but, when they men-
tioned the object of their visit and asked permission to say Mass, he
replied, "No, gentlemen, I am sorry to refuse you, but you must
have more of the look and demeanour of ecclesiastics before I can
let you approach my altars." The young priests, imagining that so
holy a man had perceived some impropriety or defect in their
manners and conduct, reproached themselves accordingly and
thanked him for his rebuke. This was just what he wanted ; he
continued the conversation, and soon their hearts were all a-glow
from the affectionateness with which he spoke to them and the
warmth of divine love which animated all he said. It need not be
added that all three said Mass that morning at St. Nicolas. From
that day a firm friendship was estab'.ished between M. Olier and M.
Bourdoise ; arid, if our Abbd honoured the Superior of the Oratory

* To wit, he one day reproached St. Vincent de Paul for his pusillanimity,
and called him z.poule mouilUe (a chicken-hearted fellow).

«■

Life of M. Olier.

as his spiritual father and guide, he now accepted the Rector of St.
Nicolas as his master in the clerical life.

M. Bourdoise was not long in finding work to be done by M.
Olier and L.. friends. In a little mission he had been giving at the
ch&teau of the Presidente de Herse,* mother of M. F^lix Vialar,
one of M. Olier's associates, who was also his cousin, he had become
acquainted with the spiritual destitution of the surrounding villages.
The chateau stood in the parish of Monchefroy, near Houdan, in
the diocese of Chartres; and hither he now sent our Abb^ and
others to evangelize the neighbourhood. They found an admirable
coadjutrix in the mistress of the mansion, who, in her zeal for the
reformation of the clerical body, had contributed largely towards the
establishment of exercises for the candidates for orders both at
Chartres and at Paris. One day they had scarcely begun dinner
when M. Bourdoise put to them what appeared a whimsical ques-
tion. " May I ask," said he, " whether these gentlemen wlio have
been preaching with so much fervour have each done tiieir sermon
(avaient fait chacun leur sermon) to-day ? " " How can you ques-
tion it?" was the reply. "I question it," he rejoined, "until the
fact be proved. We have already had our first course, and here is a
crowd of poor people who have come twenty miles and more to
hear you preach, and who have not a morsel of bread. Unless
we give them something they will faint by the way. Now, then,
gentlemen, let us do your sermon {faisons voire sen/ion) .-■[■ let us
give them the rest of our dinner, and content ourselves with a little
(dessert." The proposal was adopted, and instantly put in execution,
to the edification and, no doubt, entire satisfaction of the poor
villagers.

Shortly after, M. Olier gave another mission at Illiers, a small
town near Chartres, which was attended with unusual effects, not
only among the poor and working classes, but also among the higher
ranks. The family of a M. Bellier, one of the Queen's officers and
otherwise well connected, afforded a striking instance of this. He
had some property in the neighbourhood, and his family consisted of
four sons and two daughters. So deep was the impression produced

* Charlotte de Ligny, widow of the President de Herse ; she had been under
the direction of St. Francis de Sales, who held her in the highest esteem.

+ The double meaning oifaire sermon cannot be fitly rendered in English by a
single phrase ; but what M. Bourdoise may be said to have wanted was a practi'
tal sermon.

t >

Franfoise Fouquet.

by M. Olier's sermons that both daughters eventually entered the
Order of the Visitation, and their two elder brothers also embraced
the religious state. The third died young; the fourth, who was a
most fervent Christian, died soon after marriage, and his widow
consecrated herself to God in the Congregation of the Sisters
of Providence.

It was while engaged in this mission that M. du Ferrier discovered
one of those holy souls thousands of whom, it may be believed, have
lived and died in obscurity, and whose supereminent sanctity is
known only to God and His angels. He was summoned to attend
a poor blind woman who was lying dangerously ill. Her name was
Frangoise Fouquet, and she was fifty-two years of age. She made
her confession, but in a manner so spiritual, with so keen a discern-
ment of her faults and of her infidelities to grace, that he was filled
with astonishment and admiration. Her compunction for what
hardly amounted to a defect or an imperfection affected him power-
fully. He found, too, that she had a thorough knowledge of all
those profound truths which had formed the subject of P. de
Condren's conferences; and all this joined with the most exalted
virtues. She had become blind when twelve years old, at which
time also she lost her mother. Her father, who was a vine-dresser,
took another wife, who treated her unkindly, driving her from the
house at dawn of day, when her father was gone to his work. The
child went and sat under a tree, crying and thinking of God ; ready
to receive her father when he returned in the evening. Yet she
made no complaint, and to the day of his death her father never
knew how cruelly she was treated. When he died her step-mother
turned her out of doors; on which she went, accompanied by a
cousin, on a pilgrimage to some of the famous shrines of the country,
praying God to restore her sight. But, perceiving that it was His
will that she should remain blind, she returned to lUiers, where she
was able to earn a few pence by spinning, living the while on bread
and water. The church was so near that she was able to spend a
large portion of the day before the Tabernacle. For five or six years
she had taken a little orphan girl, a relative, to live with her, whom she
brought up in the faith and fear of God, the few pence she earned
serving for their joint maintenance. She had never been favoured
with any extraordinary graces, but she was wholly occupied with the
presence and love of God. The purity of her conscience may be
estimated by Vao faults of which s^e accused herself in conversation

Life of M. Olier,

with M. du Ferricr. The first was that, a neighbour having been
crushed by a waggon, she had prayed and then touched him, and he
was instantly healed ; this, she thought, betokened presumptuousness
and pride. The other that, on some mischievous person thrusting
a piece of dung into her mouth, she had made a movement of
repugnance, forgetful, as she said, of the gall and vinegar which her
Saviour tasted upon the cross. One thing there was which for a
while perplexed M. du Ferrier, that when he asked her whether from
her heart she renounced the world, and put aside all desire of
remaining in it, she replied, "I never give it a thought." On
his repeating his question in mother form, and asking her whether
she did not deem those miserable who 'oved this earthly life, full of
so many occasions of sin, her reply was still the same : " Sir, I never
give it a thought." A third time he said, " Fran^oise, let us renounce
the world, and all that belongs to it ; and let us abandon ourselves
entirely to our Lord, that He may separate us from it." And then
came an answer which explained all : *' Ah, Sir, excuse me ; I do not
wish so much as to think of the enemy of my Saviour." M. du
Ferrier ascertained that for two days her sole sustenance had been a
little water, which she was able to imbibe, through a quill, out of a
bottle which stood by her bedside. He bade her landlady send for
some soup for her from his lodging, but the girl who was deputed to
fetch it took alarm at the numbers she saw gathered about the door, and
retu ned without fulfilling her errand, so that the poor creature was left
for a third night with nothing but her water-bottle. So far, however,
from uttering any complaint she made excuses for the girl, and declared
that she had suffered no inconvenience, and did not wi?*" that any
one should be put to any trouble on her account. She died on the
day she had predicted. By some she was held to be a witch, because
she cured so many sick persons by touching or praying for them, but
the crowds that flocked to pray beside the humble pallet on which
her body lay showed that the faithful people had not failed to discern
in that poor afflicted woman all the lineaments of a true and exalted
sanctity.

M. Olier was still in the full career of missionary zeal when he
received a missive which obliged him to repair at once to Paris.
This was a royul nomination to the Episcopal coadjutorship of
Chilons-sur-Marne. The Bishop of that see, Henri Clausse de
Marchaumont, was overwhelmed at the appalling condition to which
the total loss of discipline had reduced his diocese, and had long

•tmv.Cjl' ^^ '^

( I

He refuses a bishopric.

desired the Citablishment of an ecclesiastical seminary. He had
addressed himself with this view to M. Uourdoise, both personally
and through his grand-vicar. The latter wrote thus : — '* The least
of the ecclesiastics of Paris would here be worth their weight in gold.
How many jwor souls are perishing in these parts through the
neglect of their pastors, who are ignorant, and more than ignorant,
but whom it is impossible to remove from their benefices ! " M.
Uourdoise, however, was unable to supply the urgent need, and the
Bishop then turned his thoughts to M. Olier, as the man most
capable of effecting a reform which his own advanced age did not
permit him to undertake. Accordingly, he solicited tlie Cardinal de
Richelieu to recommend M. Olier to the King as his coadjutor.
That great minister, who, whatever his faults, had an earnest zeal for
the honour of the Church and the good of the realm, not only
readily acceded to the Bishop's request but urged the appointment
with all the force of his authority. "Sire," he said to Louis XHI.,
*• in recommending M. Olier, I feel that I am proposing the man
who, of all others, is the most fitted to fill this important see ; and I
even venture to assure your Majesty that in the whole kingdom I
know no one who by his intelligence, piety, and prudence is more
capable of doing honour to the Episcopate." An eulogium so
emphatic did but express the unanimous sentiment of all good men,
and in the July of 1639 the nomination received the royal assent.

In the estimation of the public the matter was now concluded, but
the intended bishop was of quite another mind. P. de Condren's
response was still the same : " God has other designs respecting you ;
they are not so brilliant or so honourable, but they are fraught with
greater advantages to the Church." And this response was under-
stood by M. Olier, in his humility, only as a signification of his
unworthiness. " The dignity of which you speak," he wrote, in reply
to the clergy of Le Puy on a future occasion,* "supposes great
talents, which far exceed my capacity. I pray our Lord that He
will give me grace to remain of the number of His least and lowest
servants in the holy work of missions, and not compel Him to
exclude me from it. Beg Him, Messieurs, to give me a share in
those holy qualities which are necessary for the discharge of this
Divine office ; among others, a great reverence for God, a great love
of my neighbour, a great annihilation of myself, and a perfect death
to the world, without which I should not dare to call myself a priest

• See note, page 120.

Life of M, Olicr.

or your brotlier." He therefore returned the brief to the Cardinal
with all suitable acknowledgments; but the Cardinal declined to
accept his refusal, and he was obliged to request a private interview,
for the purpose of explaining the motives on which he was acting.
A disinterestedness so rare, especially as a peerage was attached to
the see i i question, struck the minister with admiration, and he did
not refrain from giving public testimony to the respect with which he
regarded him.

1 laving failed to obtain M, Olier for his coadjutor, the Bishop of
Chdlons endeavoured at least to secure for his diocese the services
of one who had taken an active part in the same labours of charity,
and was known to possess a large share of his devotion and zeal.
The prelate's choice fell on M. F<51ix Vialar (of whom mention has
been already made), to our Abbd's extreme joy and satisfaction ;
feelings which, it is scarcely necessary to say, were not reciprocated
by the members of M. Olier's own family, who were loud in their
condemnation of what they deemed his obstinacy and folly. His
mother especially set no bounds to her resentment, which became
still more exasperated when, shortly after M. Vialar's nomination and
before he had even received the bulls, the Bishop of Chdlons died,
and he became the occupant of the see. But M. Olier, foreseeing
the storm, had left his mother's mansion and gone to reside at St.
Maur-les-Fossds,* in a house belonging to M. Brandon, where he
and his friends were in the habit of staying during the intervals of
their Apostolic labours. It was now that, by P. de Condren'c
advice, they chose one of their number to be the head of their little
community; the individual selected was M. Amelote, who, young
as he was, for he had not yet attained his thirty-second year, had
acquired a decided influence over the rest by his greater know-
ledge and experience, and a judgment singularly matured ; and
accordinplv i , was under his direction that the succeeding missions
were conducted.

Tne first was that of Amiens, the occasion of which was an acci-
dental sermon preached by M. Meyster, which threw the whole town
into a ferment. The Bishop, M. de Caumartin, invited M. Olier to

• There was in the Abbey of St. Maur-les-Fosses a shrine of the Blessed
Virgin, which was a frequented place of pilgrimage. It went by the name of Our
Lady of Miracles, and such was the veneration in which it was held that the
monks of St. Maur never entered it except barefooted. M. Olier himself received
riany tokens of the Divine favour in this privileged spot.

Conversion of a Sivcdish colonel.

give a mission in the cathedral, but he was so absorbed in the study
of Holy Scripture, in which the Spirit of God favoured him with
extraordinary lights, that he hesitated to accept the invitation. In
obedience, however, to P. dc Condren's injunctions, he proceeded to
Amiens, accompanied by MM. dc Foix, du Ferricr, dc Bassancourt,
Ikandon, and three others. It was a new and untried experiment,
as, like the Vincentians and the Oratorians, they had hitherto con-
fined their ministrations to villages and hamlets, and many grave and
prudent persons strongly condemned the enterprise. But it was
soon apparent that the blessing of God was with them, for their
labours were attended with unprecedented success. The cathc i...I
was crowded all through the day, and such multitudes besieged the
confessionals that it was necessary to call in the aid of seventeen
priests of the city.

Many notable conversions took place, the most extraordinary
being that of a Swedish colonel, a Protestant, who was in command
of a troop of horse in the town, consisting of eight hundred men ;
extraordinary, not only in itself, but in the effects it produced on
others. M. Meyster learned that he was dangerously iil, and went
late one evening, accompanied by M. du Ferrier, to visit him. They
had some difficulty in gaining admission, as the colonel had given
express orders that no priest should be permitted to enter his
chamber, but, on their persisting, the mistress of the house, who was
favourably disposed, allowed them to pass, and they found him lying
in bed, with his wife and fifteen or twenty of his men sitting round
the fire. The missionaries were civilly received, but, on M. Meyster
telling the sick man that he had come for the purpose of offering?
him his services, he was met with the reply that he had no need
of his instructions, that he was quite content with the religion in
which he had been born, and wished to be left at peace. M. du
Ferrier was greatly disheartened at this reply, but M. Meyster, asking
for a light, produced a miniature in a case and, showing it to the
Swede, inquired what he thought of it The man answered that it
was very beautiful " It is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
said the priest ; " will you not salute it ? " The colonel did so in
military fashion. Then, turning to his companion and to a young
and devout Catholic who happened to be present, M. Meyster said
*' Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin for his conversion ; " and,
making all kneel down with him, he recited the Litany of Loreto.
When it was ended, he laid both his hands on the shoulder of the

' i.^:

Life of M. Olier.

I !

sick man, and said, ** I am here to tell you from God that you must
no longer delay your conversion." ** Yes ! " replied the man ; " I
wish to be converted, seeing it is the will of God." " But," resumed
M. Meyster, " I mean that you should become a Catholic j " and, to
the astonishment of all, the man continued, " I wish to be a Catholic,
a Roman Catholic, with my wife and children, and to abandon
the religion I have hitherto professed, and which I now believe to
be false." M. Meyster received his abjuration on the spot, heard
his confession at his own earnest request, and gave him absolution.
The next day the Bishop of Amiens went and administered Con-
firmation to him.

One remarkable circumstance remains to be told. Three days
afterwards, M. Meyster was hearing confessions late at night, when
(it being ii o'clock) he was called away to take a little food, in
order that he might not be prevented celebrating Mass the next
morning. He was in the act of saying grace when he suddenly
stopped, threw on his cloak, and saying, '• This is no time for eating,
the colonel is dying," hastened out of the house. All was silent
when he reached the sick man's lodging, and he was assured that
there was no alteration for the worse. Proceeding, however, to his
room, the Swede no sooner saw him than he cried, '* Ah 1 Sir, help
me." M. Meyster begged him to join in spirit with the acts of faith,
hope, and charity which he himself repeated aloud, and gave bi.r
the last absolution. The man warmly expressed his gratitude, and,
praying God to bless his benefactor, he expired. So quickly had all
been dispatched that M. Meyster, after reciting the prayers for the
departed, had time to eat his supper before the clock struck twelve.

During the three days which elapsed after his conversion, the
colonel had acted the part of an apostle to his men, and with such
success that many of them were converted. The work thus begun
was concluded by M. Olier and his colleagues, and, indeed, by the
men themselves, for they who had yielded to grace became mis-
sionaries to their comrades, and a strange, and an almost incredible,
spectacle was to be seen in the streets of Amiens. When the priests
emerged from their lodgings in the early morning they found them-
selves surrounded by bands of soldiers, complaining that they were
unable to get near the confessionals, around which penitents ha^
been gathered, several ranks deep, two hours before daybreak. The
missionaries explained that they must in justice take all comers in
turn, and that they could not therefore show them any preference ;

^rr.'^'^'.fwvrff, ti'"

TAe lllumifiJes of Picardy.

on which, to excite their compassion, and, as though to compel the
priests to hear them, the men began telling their sins out aloud, and
such as were Catholics numbered up the years that had elapsed
since they had been at confession. *' We may have to rnour*; horse
any day — any hour," they cried. " Are we to go to be killed before
we have got absolution?" An ap;^aal at once so piteous and so
vehement could not fail of its effect. The people were so moved by
their fervour that they gave up their places to the soldiers, and they
made their cr'nfession. Three days afterwards this very troop fell
into an ambuscade, and was cut off to a man.

So great was the enthusiasm which these extraordinary conversions
caused in the town that the corporation of the city proposed sending
the missionaries a present of wine and sweetmeats, the customary
mark of honour shown to the Governor of the province on occasion
of his official entry. As M. Olier and his friends never received
presents, and would have been puzzled how to dispose of six large
pewter vessels full of wine, with the city arms thereon, to be presented
by as many town-sergeants in their scarlet robes of office, they sug-
gested that the whole should be carried to the public hospital for
the use of the inmates. However, there were not wanting those who
made the very success of the missionaries the occasion of a charge
against them. Some monks of the place, jealous of the influence
acquired by these secular priests, went to the Governor, the Due de
Chaulne, and gravely represented that M. Meyster had obtained this
ascendancy over the inhabitants in order thai he might deliver up
the town to the King of Spain, whose born subject he was. The
Governor was foolish enough to listen to these envious counsellors,
and actually wrote more than once to the Cardinal de Richelieu
apprizing him of the threatened danger. The Cardinal, however,
was too sagacious to be so easily imposed upon, and, after communi-
cating privately with the Intendant of Picardy, who was the brother-
in-law of M. Brandon, to ascertain the truth of the matter, informed
M. le Due that he need not be under any alarm.

This mission, which lasted five incnths, was followed by another at
Montdidier. Here they took up their abode at the Hotel Dieu,
served by Sisters who were known throughout France as the
Illumineis of Picardy. Besides the deplorable illusions into which
they had been betrayed by their former director, the notorious
fanatic, Labadie, much disunion pre^'ailed among them. Moved
with compassion for their miserable condition, P. de Condren

UNIVERSITAS S. PAUU ®

IIBLIOTHEQUE - L.IRAW
2SS MAJ^, OTTAWA

Life of M, Olier.

counselled the missionaries to observe great moderation and charity
in dealing with these "foolish virgins," bidding them comport
themselves among them like St. Paul among the Corinthians, know-
ing nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Acting faithfully
on this counsel, the influence of their daily example was so effectual
that the nuns, one and all, made a general confession, their eyes
were opened to discern their dangerous errors, and peace was
restored to the community. On learning the wonderful change
which had been wrought, the Bishop desired to make M. du Ferrier
Superior of the Hospital, a post which was then vacant, but by P. de
Condren's advice he declined the office, on the ground that he was
not endowed with sufficient spiritual insight to undertake so respon-
sible a position as that of director of religious, and was qualified only
to conduct the faithful along the ordinary paths of the Christian
life.

At the close of this mission M. Olier and his associates were
invited to Abbeville, but P. de Condren, fearing iest .>■-•' might be
overburdened with work, bade them return to iaris. After a few
weeks' repose, instead of resuming their labours in Picardy, they
went, at the invitation of the Bishop, M. i^l^onor de Valencd,
to Mantes, in the diocese of Chartres. This was in the month of
July, 1640. The fruits were, as usual, most abundant; they suc-
ceeded in terminating amicably as many as five hundred law-suits ;
an event so astounding that certain interested persons accused the
missionaries before the Parliament of Paris of making the occupation
of a lawyer a sin beyond the grace of absolution. To these wise-
acres the Chancellor simply replied that the Parliament of Paris had
nothing to do with the sacrament of penance.

The labours of the missionaries were not confined to the a tv.
their zeal extended also to the clergy. Already they contempl? ■ ;»
jirodigious work — the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline throij^i -
out the whole sacerdotal order. This appears from a letter addressed
to them by M. Fran9ois de Harlay, Archbishop of Rouen, in which,
referring to a book they were about to publish for the instruction of
the clergy, he proffers his advice as to the nature of its contents and
promises at their request to give the work his personal revi-ion. It
was probably with a view to this publication that, after the mission at
Mantes was concluded, M. Olier and his friends retired to a country
place that belonged to one of them at Loreau, near ^pernon, in the
diocese of Chartres. Here they were visited by M. Bourdoise, who,

M. Bourdoise and the Abbi de St. Cyran. 99

ever consumed with the desire of communicating to other priests
what he called the parochial spirit, began at once to give them a
lesson on a subject of which, by their own confession, they had
very little knowledge. Ever on the move, and engaged continually
in giving missions up and down the country, they were but imper-
fectly acquainted with the ceremonies of the Church, the manner of
performing the more solemn functions, and, in short, the whole art,
as it may be said, of regulating a large parish church. M. Bourdoise,
to his great surprise, found that they each said Mass and performed
their other devotions in the chapel of the house, instead of repairing
to the parish church, and he proposed Xtizc they should all go forth-
with and solemnize High Mass in the face of the congregation, it
being St. Matthew's day (September 2r, 1640). With his charac-
teristic energy he instantly set every one his part, and High Mass
accordingly was celebrated, with all the prescribed ceremonies, to
the great edification of the people and, it may be added, the no
small surprise of the chief actors themselves, who scarcely knew how
they had been able to acquit themselves so well Solemn Vespers
were improvised with equal rapidity and equal success, P. de Con-
dren, who had come to Loreau, assisting with the rest. The lesson
learned that day was not forgotten ; wherever they went the parish
church was now their centre and their place of resort ; the ceremonial
of the Church was accurately studied, and every endeavour used to
celebrate the Divine offices, not only with befitting decorum, but
with all possible solemnity. The example became contagious: a
taste, or rather a zeal, for the beauty and decorum of God's house
began to spread among the clergy, and soon the progress of the
missionaries through the country might be traced as much by the
order that reigned in the sanctuary as by the devotion of the people.
Delighted with the docility and earnestness of his disciples, M.
Bourdoise invited them to frequent the church of St Nicolas du
Chardonnet whenever they were at Paris, and it was there that they
perfected themselves in the ecclesiastical chant and ceremonies.

There was, indeed, a danger for a time that these cordial relations
might have been interrupted through the intrigues of the too famous
Abbd de Saint-Cyran, and the subject is worthy of notice, as indi-
cating what first gave occasion to the repugnance which M. Olier and
his associates entertained for this disingenuous leader of the Jan-
senistic sect. With a subtlety only equalled by his arrogance, he
sought, in private conversation, to im bue the m inds of these eccle-

SEMINARIUM
^rAVIENS\5.

v-iBSViiiX^^d-'J

lOO

Life of M. Olier.

siastics with a low opinion of the Council of Trent, as though it had
not been guided by the Holy Spirit and had shown no true under-
standing of the doctrine of grace. Having failed with them, he tried
his arts on M. Bourdoise, who was not conversant with the particular
points in dispute, and by adroitly insisting on the necessity of
restoring ecclesiastical discipline, as practised in primitive times — a
subject on which he knew his hearer to be peculiarly susceptible
— he succeeded so far as to produce a certain confusion in his
mind.* But it was not long before this good man became aware
of the trap which had been laid for him, and broke off all personal
intercourse with Saint-Cyran. That arch-deceiver, however, did not
relax in his efforts to insinuate the virus of his teaching among the
inmates of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet, and contrived to get one of
his partisans admitted into the seminary. Warned by M. Amelote
of the real character and designs of this secret traitor, M. Bourdoise
eventually dismissed him but, unfortunately, not before he had suc-
ceeded in perverting one of the most promising members of the
community, Claude Lancelot, who afterwards distinguished himself
in the world of letters and ranks among the foremost of the Port-
Royalist divines. It is a satisfaction, however, to le.^rn that, despite
this untoward event, there was never any actual estrangement
between M. Bourdoise and P. de Condren's disciples, and that M.
Olier, in particular, continued to regard him with the same filial
affection and esteem.

An anecdote is related of M. Bourdoise so characteristic of his
contempt for human respect and his uncompromising ecclesiastical
spirit that it may well be inserted here.

One day, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon,t niece of Cardinal de Riche-
lieu, went to hear Mass at St. Nicolas, and her attendants placed her
cushion within the sanctuary. Whereupon, M. Bourdoise with his
own hands removed it into the choir, at the same time respectfully
signifying to the Duchess that the sanctuary was not the place for the
laity. When the Cardinal was informed of the circumstance he sent
for the Rector. M. Bourdoise at first refused to go, saying that he

* Vesprit un feu embarrasse are the words employed in one of the earliest
(manuscript) biographies of M. Bourdoise.

f She had been left a widow at the age of eighteen. Being compelled by her
rank and the affection with which the Queen regarded her to remain at Court, she
nevertheless spent a large portion of her time at the Carmelite convent, to which,
but for her uncle, she would have retired altogether, and distributed her wealth
among destitute parishes, hospitals, and prisons.

'rT»'W^''';f^-

AI. Bourdoise and Cardinal de Richelieu.

lOl

had not the honour of his Eminence's acquaintance, and that the
message must have been intended for some one else. However,
not only did he rec.l.v, a second summons, but a carriage was sent
to convey him to the Cardinal's hotel. Of this M. Bourdoise would
not avail himself, but proceeded on foot, and was at once admitted
to the great man's presence, when the following dialogue ensued.
"So it was you who turned my niece out of the choir?" "No,
Monseigneur, it was not I." " Why, is not your name Bourdoise ? "
" Yes, Monseigneur." " It was you, then, who put that affront upon
her." " Pardon me, Monseigneur." " Who, then, was it ? " " Your
Eminence and the prelates in council assembled, who interdicted
the laity, and particularly women, from entering the sanctuary, in
order that the clergy might have free space for their performance of
the sacred functions." * The Cardinal was taken aback at this
unexpected rejoinder, and was not very well pleased. The Duchess,
liowever, to her credit be it said, received the rebuke in good part,
and treated M. Bourdoise ever after with especial regard. She went
frequently to St. Nicolas, proved herself a great benefactor to the
seminary, and did not forget it in her will.

* Referring to the 4th canon of the Council held at Tours, in 567, which forbids
laymen to stand among the clergy near the altar during Mass or Office, Fr. Bridgett
writes, " The reasons for excluding the lait/ were not Pharisaic pride and the assump-
tion of special sanctity on the part of the clergy, but motives of decency and order.
Had the laity been admitted to the sanctuary, psalmody would have become almost
impossible. Not the humble and devout, but the proud and worldly, would have
coveted these ' first places in the synagogue,' and unseemly contests would have
arisen, besides scandal to the poor and other inconveniences which may easily be
imagined." History of the Holy Eucharist in Great Britain, Vol. i. chap, ii.

( I02 )

CHAPTER VII.

TRIALS OF M. OLIER, INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR.

OF P. DE CONDREN.

DEATH

HITHERTO we have seen M. Olier in the full and vigorous
exercise of all his natural powers, bodily and mental,
favoured of God and honoured among men. He had encountered
obstacles and contradictions, but they seemed ever to give way
before him. He had undergone many interior trials, but they were
of short duration, and he came forth all the stronger for the contest.
He had been sick and disabled, but he was restored speedily and as
by miracle. Entire freedom from pain and inward affliction he
seems never to have enjoyed, but his sufferings neither attracted
attention nor incapacitated him for severe and prolonged exertion.
Over his immediate friends and associates he exercised a powerful
influence; as a missionary he achieved extraordinary success; in
short, he had acquired the highest reputation as well for his abilities
as for his virtues. But in all this there was danger, and he knew it ;
the consideration with which he was regarded was a perpetual
martyrdom to him, and he trembled lest he should yield to the soli-
citations of vainglory by which he was, unceasingly assailed.

It was during the illness he had in Auvergne, at the close of the
mission of 1637, that his eyes (he says) began to be opened, and he
was enabled to perceive how much of self-love mixed itself up with
everything he did. The sight of what he was filled him with dismay,
and he became possessed with an intense desire of being wholly
united with God, so that he cared not what might befall him if only he
could attain to this blessed state. His soul was assailed with foul,
afflicting thoughts, and often during the day he felt moved to repeat
those words of the royal Psalmist : " Create in me a clean hearty O
God^ and renew a right spirit within vie;" his confessors, too (he
says), guided by Divine Wisdom, used frequently to give them as his

* Psalm L. 12.

M. Oliers extraordinary Trials.

103

sacramental penance. Sometimes, after one of his severest paroxysms,
he would conceive a profound idea of the soul perfected in God, and
rould experience a powerful attraction to aspire after such a state.
In his solitary walks this idea would recur to his mind, and, raising
his eyes to heaven, he would say, all bathed in tears, " O life divine !
life divine ! when shall I live only of God?" In July, 1638, while
in retreat, preparatory to going to Brittany, he was moved to make
two petitions : first, that the vexations and annoyances he was then
enduring in consequence of certain legal proceedings in which he
was involved, as well as from other causes, might be exchanged for
spiritual trials more beneficial to his soul ; and, secondly, that the
good opinion which men had of him might be turned into contempt.
And now both of his requests were about to be granted. God would
raise him to a still higher degree of sai.ctity ; He would empty him
entirely of self, and form within him the life of His dear Son ; and to
this end He subjected him to humiliations the most painful to pride
and self-love. He withdrew from him, not only those spiritual gifts
for which he had been conspicuous, but the exercise of his natural
po'vers and faculties. At times he lost the use of his bodily limbs ;
thiy would suddenly refuse to obey the motions of his will, as
though God would jhow him by actual experience that we live and
move only in Him. Sometimes he trembled and staggered as he
walked, at others he was unable to put one foot before another ; he
could not lift his food to his mouth ; he wondered (he says) to see
others eating with such facility, while everything he took seemed as
if it were put into a lifeless body. His mind was at the same time
affected with a similar torpidity : his memory and understanding
failed him ; often he knew neither what he said nor what was said
to him ; he felt (as he describes it) like a deaf man in a crowd,
neither hearing nor comprehending what was going on around him.
He would have a clear perception of what he was about to express,
and would have begun to put his thought into words, when in an
instant it would pass from him, and he no longer recollected what
it had been in his mind to say • and this, not merely on subjects
of high import, but in the commonest things, and while in easy con-
verse with a friend. He seemed also to have forgotten the art of
writing, and would be hours accomplishing three or four lines, and
those (as he adds) all awry. He would suddenly forget where he
was going, and the names of the persons he wished to see; he
would lose his way in the streets, so that he was obliged to be

11,'MiJiwirwjiinuwwf).

104

Life of M. Olier.

always accompanied by a servant. His mother, seeing him in this
miserable state, told people they would take him for an idiot or a
fool; while he, on his part, offered himself to God to depr^ ': him
altogether of his senses if such were His holy will.*

*' Our good Master," he says, " withdrew His succours, not only
from the natural faculties of my soul, but also in regard to His super-
natural gifts. The soul elevated in grace and, as it were, naturalised
in charity, looks upon these succours as if they belonged to it : it
believes falsely, and lets itself be secretly persuaded, that this grace
is a thing of its own and its own property, like the wings which grow
naturally on birds and are a part of themselves. Hence it follows
that it esteems itself and prides itself on these gifts. Hitherto I
had regarded them as attached to my person, and, when God with-
drew them, I was left in a strange state of darkness and dryness.
Always empty of God, at least sensibly, filled with sentiments of
pride and self-love, encompassed with human respects, harassed
with fears, I was for ever seeking to know wh at the world thought
of me ; whether I passed for an ignoramus and a fool, a man desti-
tute of piety, charity, and patience. I could think of nothing else,
nor drive such thoughts out of my mind. These feelings of pride
and human respect, which everywhere pursued me, were a perpetual
crucifixion to me, because I seemed to consent to them. In my
inmost soul I wished to do everything for God, and my greatest
torment was the having been unfaithful to Him in the slightest
matter, or persuading myself that in my actions I had taken any-
thing to mysei*"."

He says tne same of the blessings which had accompanied his
ministry : how he had been tempted to think that they were attached
to his person, and how it pleased God to undeceive him by showing
him that the gifts he had possessed were not his own, and that,

* Extraordinary as these trials were, they are not of unfrequent occurrence in
the spiritual life of chosen souls. Boudon describes the state to which P. Surin
was reduced in very similar terms. "For a long time" (he says) "he was
unable to read, and for nearly twenty years unable to write. He could neither
dress nor undress himself, and was obliged to lie down in \ivi clothes. All food,
however excellent, was tasteless to him ; wine was to him like pure water. For
eight days he remained dumb, unable to make his confession except by signs ;
and such was the extremity to which he was reduced that he could not even
walk, had hardly any use of his hands, and for fifteen years could not see things
distinctly." V Homme de Dieu, Part iii. chap. x. The state of his mind corre-
sponded with that of his body, and he was regarded as a madman.

His extraordinary Trials.

lo:

•

deprived of His aids, he was powerless. He was unable to preach ;
often, when directed to do so, he could find neither ideas nor
language ; if he attempted to expound a text of Scripture, he
became so confused and the terms he employed were so ill chosen,
that he was obliged to desist. Yet on one occasion (he says), as
though God would not have him wholly discouraged, he delivered a
discourse before a large audience with more than his usual facility.
In the confessional he did not know what to say to his penitents,
and in his misery could not refrain from deploring their ill fortune
in having recourse to so incompetent a guide. With all this was
conjoined great interior darkness and distress. He seemed to be
abandoned by God, r.nd his soul was filled with disquietude and
fear. If he opened the Gospel, or any spiritual book, his eye was
sure to light on some passage which spoke of the narrowness of the
way of salvation and the judgments of God on the wicked ; while
the name of Judas was like the stroke of a dagger to his heart.
" Ah, Sirs ! " he once said to his colleagues, " you may think that
the traitor is mentioned only four or five times in Holy Scripture,
but his name occurs more than twenty times." He felt as if he
were himself the Judas of the little company, and the thought was
never absent from his mind. One day, when saying Mass at the
high altar, having to read this hated name, he was seized with such
an agitation that it was with difficulty he could proceed. He was
harassed, moreover, with scruples of conscience, so that (as he
declares) he was a torment to his confessor, his colleagues, and to
everybody. If any one spoke of the marks of reprobation he recog-
nized them all in himself; everything that fell from the mouth of
his director, or of anyone else, seemed to condemn him j nothing
was capable of affording him consolation.

The name of God recalled to him only a cruel, arbitrary, inexor-
able being, whose pleasure it was to make his creatures suffer ; while
the mention of Hell had a certain terrible fascination for him, as
being the place to which he was destined for all eternity. Although
he remained constant in prayer he received not a single ray of light
or comfort ; he could not lift up his heart to God, and shrank from
presenting himself before the Tabernacle.* The only devotion of

* The fo'ilowing passage which fell under the writer's observation while
engaged on the above account of M. Olier's interior sufferings may aptly be cited
here. It occurs in a touching narrative of God's dealings with a holy Tertiary
of St. Francis which appeared in the pages of the Month, February, 1882

W«WP»^IPW»WlliW"F*'lfl|l, I|»J1W:,IM«"«

lOO

Life of M. Olier.

Ill

which he was capable was that of the rosary, which he vowed to
recite daily for a year, in order to recover the presence of the Holy
Spirit, of which he deemed himself deprived. He experienced also
n sensible satisfaction in making a pilgrimage ; but in all things else
he felt as though his heart were dead within him ; he seemed (as he
says) to have sunk utterly back into his own nothingness. One day
P. de Condren assured him that all these things were but pains and
trials, to which he answered, " Would to God they were but pains,
and that they might even last for all eternity ! So that I were not
abhorred of God I should not distress myself ; " and, in saying this,
tears fell in large drops from his eyes. In his anguish he took refuge
in one of the chapels of Notre Dame where hitherto he had received
only caresses of divine love, but there also he found no consolation,
and he could only lie with his face on the ground and prostrate
himself interiorly before the Majesty of God. All the favours
and consolations he had enjoyed were now to him but mere delu-
sions ; he believed that he was the object only of the hatred of God,
and so dreadful was the thought that his whole appearance was
altered, and his countenance became so pale and haggard that it

" When Almighty God bestows marvellous and shining graces upon great souls,
He is never slow in visiting them with overwhelming and searching trials alsoi
which lay bare the inmost thoughts and intents of their hearts, rooting up and
destroying every fibre of self-confidence and self-love. Such trials are, in fact,
surpassing tokens of His Divine predilection. . . . Not only did good men who
stood in God's place to her, stand aloof and add to her sufTerings, but God
Himself appeared to desert her. The consolations of which before she had so
abundantly partaken were almost wholly withdrawn. She was assailed by
painful scruples, tormented with dryness, desolation, and darkness of soul, and
violent temptations against faith and hope assaulted her. Above all, the fearful
thought that she was not among the number of the elect was continually before
her."

The biographers of St. Francis de Sales relate how he suffered from a similar
dread of reprobation. He was tempted to think that the spiritual dryness and
insensibility that afflicted him was the punishment of some grievous sin, by
which he had lost the grace and friendship of God and had become an object of
His wrath and hatred. In spite of all his prayers and protestations of fidelity and
Jove, the terrible thought continually recurred ; he could not banish it from
his Ind, and nothing gave him comfort or relief ; so that he remained sunk in
a state of profound melancholy and spent whole days and nights in weeping and
lamenting. His features showed the mental tortures he was enduring ; his
countenance became pale and emaciated ; he could neither eat, drink, nor
sleep ; he could scarcely walk or sustain himself on his trembling limbs.
MarsoUier, quoted by M. Faillon, Part i. Liv. vii. chap. vi. n. Hamon, Liv
i. chap. iii.

He is contemned and derided.

107

was feared he was sinking under some fatal disorder. His sleep
was disturbed with horrible drernis ; he would awake in the night
and think he saw devils at the foot of his bed, ready to dr.ig him
down to Hell. The particular temptation with which he was
assailed was, not to do evil, but to perform extraorc'inary acts and
practise excessive mortifications, which might be tie occasion to
him of vainglory ; and once he heard a voice accising him of
pride, in tones so terrible that he remained shuddering and tremb-
ling in all his limbs.

This depression of spirits and loss of capacity provoked animad-
versions of the most humiliating kind. It was supposed that he now
bitterly regretted having refused the coadjutorship of Chdlons, and
that this was the cause of his melancholy and want of energy. The
King, the Cardinal de Richelieu, as well as the bishops and others
about the court, indulged in many a jest at his expense, and he
became (he says) the laughing-stock of the whole town. His col-
leagues shared the general opinion ; they looked upon him as a
vain-glorious man, who wished to gain a character for disinterested-
ness but had broken down in the attempt M. Amelote, who was
now (as has been said) the superior of the little community, wishing
to try of what spirit he was, would laughingly ask him whether he
had ordered his equipage yet, and what number of servants he
intended to have in his train. These bantering questions, so little
in harmony with the sentiments of compunction and self-reproach
with which his soul was filled, jarred painfully on his feelings; and
one day he replied, "Ah! father, such thoughts are far from me ; I
wish only for a hole in which to do penance for my sins." He
was now convinced that there was an intention to exclude him from
the society ; in fact, M. Amelote had one day told him to do as
he pleased, and go where he would, for they had nothing to say
to him ; and on another occasion had advised him to resign his
benefices, and hide himself in that hole he talked about. All this
he bore with the utmost meekness, and in his humility deemed him-
self deserving only of contempt. So far from taking offence at M.
Amelote's treatment of him, he regarded him as his truest friend,
who occupied himself with his spiritual interests as though they had
been his own, and was favoured with particular lights respecting the
state of his soul. The truth, however, was that both M. Amelote
and the rest wholly misapprehended M. Olier's character and con-
duct ; they thought they perceived in him an arrogant and intract-

''iiMii^iiiiii|ii|uwnni!lll|ll!PR9i«^l|iipHiisiit|i|Jij;iii«|i;i||ili

loS

Life of M. Olier,

able temper, and believed that God had withdrawn His Spirit from
him and refused any lonpcr to bless his ministrations. This
apparent pride and haughtiness of manner was, indeed, not alto-
gether imaginary ; M. Olier was himself most painfully conscious
of it, but it seemed as if his movements were not subject to his
own control, and that, in spite of himself, he had at times the air
of a man full of his own conceits. The result was that he was
interdicted from preaching and other similar employments, even
to the hearing confessions, except in tases of absolute necessity ;
to aH which he silently submitted, without seeking an explanation or
attempting to justify himself.

Such were the extraordinary trials to which this holy man was
subjected for the space of two years ; and if we look for a reason in
the designs of Divine Providence, over and above his personal
sanctification, we may find it in this : that it might be proved
beyond all dispute that he who was to inaugurate the great work of
ecclesiastical reform was chosen for the office, not by men, but by
God. M. Amelote had been preferred before him by his asso-
ciates ; M. Olier had become the object of suspicion and contempt ;
and yet he it was, and not M. Amelote, v^o was destined by God
to be the founder and first Superior of Community and Semi-
nary of St. Sulpice.

Even P. de Condren apparently fell in with the general opinion,
and for the two last months of his life seemed to withdraw his
confidence fVom him. This to M. Olier was the greatest blow of
all, for he no longer experienced the same consolations in his
direction which he had hitherto had, and was left, as it were, in a
state of complete abandonment. Herein, however, he recognized
the hand of God, who would have him cease from all dependence
on creatures, however holy, and adhere to Him alone. And yet,
for all his coldness and reserve, it would appear that this master of
the spiritual life discerned in the state to which his pupil was re-
duced, only a further proof of God's love and favour towards him
and one of the stages in that course of perfection along which he
was being led. In the very last interview which M. Olier had with
him in December, 1640, he spoke much of the adoration of Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament, as being the peculiar devotion of priests
and that which he should labour most to propagate ; bidding him
pay particular honour to that angel of the Apocalypse who will
come at the end of the present dispensation and is described as

Marie Rousseau s Vocation.

109

castinp on the earth the fire with which he had filled his censer
from the heavenly altar. He spoke also of the singular graces with
which God had gifted individual souls. M. Vincent (de Paul), he
said, was remarkable for prudence, M. Amelote for wisdom, while
his own peculiar gift he considered to be that of a childlike spirit ;
and, on M, Olier asking what was his particular grace, he answered
that it was the same as his own ; that (as M. Olier himself writes)
God would have him conduct himself after the manner of a child,
without care or deliberation, with all simplicity, casting himself into
His arms, as into those of a father j desirous only of pleasing Him,
loving Him, praising Him, seeking only His glory, and willing to be
himself despised. P. de Condren added that he should take as his
director the Infant Jesus : a suggestion the more remarkable that
M. Olier, unknown to his spiritual guide, had begun to practise
this particular devotion from the time that P. de Condren appeared
to become estranged from him.

It was now that Marie Rousseau began to take a prominent part
in promoting the twofold object which she had so long cherished in
her heart — t' e erection of a seminary for the training and educating of
priests and i lie reform of the parish of St. Sulpice. For some time
past she had known by divine revelat'on that this object was on the
eve of accomplishment, and had felt a strong conviction that God
was calling her to co-operate with Him in the furtherance of His
designs ; that it was she whom He had chosen as His instrument for
urging upon the destined ministers of His will the duty of fulfilling
their vocation, and assuring them of success despite all the opposition
that could be raised against them. Nevertheless, perceiving clearly
as she did the immense difficulties that would have to be encountered,
she shrank from yielding an interior assent to the call. Again and
again she besought the Lord with tears that He would not lay this
charge upon her. Who was she that she should be an Apostle to
the priests of God ? She was but a poor weak woman, and would
be treated as a wild enthusiast, or her motives would be miscon-
strued, and she would be repulsed with scorn. This struggle con-
tinued for several years, until her director, P. Armand, of the Society
of Jesus, who from time to time had bidden her offer her communions
for this intention, at last engaged her to make an act of consecration
by which she bound herself to devote all her energies to the holy
enterprise and to the assistance of those to whom God should entrust
the conduct of it.

Life of M. Oiier.

I I
I \

On the 8th of December, 1638, P. Armand died, and she was led
to take as her director P. Hugues Bataille, a Benedictine of St.
(lermain's Abbey, of whom we shall learn more in the sequel. With
P. de Condren this holy widow had never had any direct communi-
cations, although, through the medium of P. Je".!! Chrysostome, of
the Third Order of St. Francis, a man universally esteemed for his
great spiritual discernment,* they had asked counsel of each other
and begged each other's prayers for their several intentions. One
day, however, that she was in the church of the Oratory, in the Rue
St. Honor^, where P. de Condren was then residing, an interior voice
said to her, " Here is your father," the meaning of which at the time
she did not apprehend. But in the month of March, 1640, a mes-
sage was brought her from P. de Condren by P. Jean Chrysostome
and F. Jean-Baptiste, a Brother of the same Order to the effect that
he wished to speak with her, and that, if she did not come to him,
he would go to her. Accordingly she repaired to the Oratory in
their company.

The interview took place on the 6t,h of the same month, and, as it
was the first, so also it was the last, which ihese privileged souls held
together. For more than two hours P. de Condren gave vent to the
thoughts with which his soul was habitually engaged, discoursing
sublimely of God and the beauty and glory of the Most Holy
Trinity ; and then he turned to the subject which lay closest to his
heart, tl:e foundation of seminaries in which the clergy might be
sanctified for the duties of their holy office, and said that he had it in
his mind to wriie four t'- jatises for the use of ecclesiastical students,
and intended to retire for that purpose to the Gratorian house of
Notre Dame des Vertus. Before leaving him, Marie Rousseau urged
him to fulfil his intention without delay, and, on the Father replyir-.g
that he should begin that very Lent, she told him that he might,
indeed, think of doing so, but that he would never put his design
into execution, and would not witness even the beginning of the work
on which it had pleased God to impart to him such luminous ideas.

As Marie Rousseau had forwarned him so it came to pass. Lent
sped away, the year advanced, and yet he had not put pen to paper*

* A Life of this holy man was written by Buudon and is among his collected
works. Whether P. Jean Chrysostome was ever formally declared Venerable the
present writer has been unable to ascertain. French biographers are apt to give
this appellation to saintly persons in the general, and not in the technical and
authoritative, meaning of the term.

p. de Condi en discloses his designs.

1 1 1

She had now become fully aware, — as, indeed, had been dimly dis-
closed to her before, — that the men who were destined to accomplish
the work which had been for years the subject of her prayers would
be chosen from among P. de Condren's disciples, and that he was the
father of whom the voice had spoken to her. Frequent communi-
cations took place between them, through the usual channel, on the
one great tneme of common interest, and Marie Rousseau never
ceased importuning the holy man to speak what was in his mind, for
that his time was short. But it was not until the very day before he
was seized with his last illness that he opened his lips on the subject
which was ever in his thoughts, and even then, as it appeared, more
by accident than from premeditation, M. du Ferrier had gone to con-
sult him as usual, when, in the course of conversation, the Father
repeated a remark he had before made, that there was a still greater
work to be done than that in which he and his companions were at
present engaged ; and, on M. du Ferrier inquiring what greater work
there could be than that of converting sinners, he replied, " I will
tell you." M, du Ferrier, howevei, fearing that he had asked the
question from a motive of mere curiosity, would have had him be
silent, but he said, " No, make yourself easy, it is not c riosity ; it is
an effect of the Providence of God, who would have me at length
make known to you what it is He requires of you. The time is come."
He then appointed an early hour on the following day for pursuing
the conversation. On returning the next morning, M. du Ferrier
found the Baron de Renty with the Father, but, on the latter observ-
ing that the young priest was faithful to his appointment, M, de
Renty took his leave. When they were left alone, P. de Condrcn
proceeded to show that the effects of the missions, great as they were
at the time, were not as lasting as they otherwise might be, because
of the lack of zealous pastors. It was useless (he said) to endeavour
to change those who had been raised to the priesthood without due
preparation ; it was necessary to educate an entirely new race of
ecclesiastics, and this could be effected only by means of seminaries,
such as the Council of Trent had enjoined. M. du Ferrier pointed
to the attempts which had been made at Toulouse, Bordeaux, and
Rouen, but which had failed notwithstanding all the exertions of
Cardinals de Joyeuse and de Sourdis. The Father, however, in
return showed him the reason of this failure, maintaining that the
youths admitted into an ecclesiastical seminary ought to be of such
an age that it might be possible to judge of their character, and, after

%■

-it

112

Life of M. Olier.

•

due trial, to determine whether they possessed the necessary qualifi-
cations. He entered at some length into the subject, and assured
M. du Ferrier of the Divine assistance, and of entire success, if only
the undertaking were commenced at once, and before the demon of
discord had introduced dissensions into the clerical body. This he
said with a prophetic eye to the evils with which the Jansenistic heresy
was about to afflict the Church ; and he ended by counselling him
to avoid contentions and " strifes of words," and never to espouse
any side but that of the Holy See.

Ten o'clock struck while he was speaking, and the Frfere Martin,
his assistant, came to remind him that it was time to say Mass. He
bade him wait awhile, and the Brother retired. At eleven he came
again, when, to M. du Terrier's amazement, who knew with what circum-
spection the holy man guarded every word he uttered, P. de Condren
said to him, *' Brother, if you knew what I was about you would not
be so urgent ; for I am engaged upon something even of greater con-
sequence than that you would have me do." He continued discours-
ing till noon, when he said, "Brother Martin will be losing all
patience ; we must reserve the rest till to-morrow ; " but when the
morrow came he was too unwell to receive visitors, and M. du Ferrier
never saw him again. On his making the others acquainted with
what had been said to him thus far they received his report with joy ;
M. Amelote, however, expressing some surprise that P. de Condren
had never spoken to him on the subject. In the evening, M. du
Ferrier, fearing that the Father might die before he had concluded
his instructions, sent in a note to the priest who was in attendance
upon him, begging him to entreat the sick man, if God should call
him to Himself, to bequeath his spirit and his lights to some one
who should be able to supply what he had left unsaid. The result
of this appeal we shall presently see.

On the morrow, being the 7th of January, 1641, P. de Condren
died. His last hours were troubled with the thought of the evils
which the Jansenistic heresy was about to introduce into the Charch.
" I foresee a schism," he said to the assembled Fathers ; " and in
two years it will disclose itself." His soul, like that of his Saviour,
was inundated with a mortal sadness, and so profound a sense had
he of the purity and holiness of God that it seemed to be more than
he could bear, deeming himself only worthy that his body should be
exposed upon a gibbet as a warning to all evil-doers. At the same
time those who were gathered round his bed felt their hearts filled

p. de Condren appears in glory. 1 1 3

with an ineffable peace and joy, as he spoke to them of the things of
God with an elevation and aii eloquence such as even he had never
before displayed. No sooner had he departed than the world seemed
at once to recognise the consummate sanctity of one whose life had
been hidden from its sight His virtues became the theme of every
tongue. Louis XIIL, disregarding the express wishes of the deceased,
ordered his obsequies to be conducted with unusual honours, and,
by the command of the Queen, M. de Virazel, Bishop of St. Brieuc,
delivered the funeral oration. The people flocked in crowds to pray
beside the bier on which the body lay in the church of the Oratory,
and gazed with admiration on the saintly countenance lit up with a
glow of colour which it never wore in life ; and, indeed, when P.
Bernard, with others, unclosed the eyelids, the orbs were filled with
such a lustrous brightness that they exclaimed he was not dead.

P. de Condren, as has been said, passed away on the morrow of
the Epiphany, and that very night he appeared to M. Olier in a halo
of brilliant light, and told him that he left him the heir of his spirit
and his counsels, in conjunction with two others whom he named,
one of whom was M. Amelote. On the night also of his burial he
appeared, clad in his sacerdotal vestments and surrounded with
glory, to M. Meyster, who had an intention of leaving the society,
bidding him abandon his design, for that God Himself would bring
about a separation, seeing that He destined his colleagues to take
part in the establishment of a seminary, which should be the source
of the greatest benefits to the Church ; a seminary, the directors of
which should be bound, not by vows, but by ecclesiastical rules in
obedience to their bishops. M. Meyster communicated to M. du
Ferrier all that the Father had said to him, which tallied exactly
with the instructions he had himself receiv . from him when alive,
although M. Meyster had not heard a word previously on the
subject.* M. Olier, however, kept his own counsel ; and it is only
from the Memoires which he composed by order of his director,
and solely for his inspection, that we incidentally learn the nature

* With reference to these appearances of P. de Condren after his decease, M.
Faillon is anxious to show (B. vii. n. o) tliat M. Olier and his associates were
very far from being ready believers in the marvellous. P. de Condren himself
discouraged anything approaching to credulity, and M. Olier had so great a dis-
trust of imputed supernatural gifts or extraordinary states of prayer that he bade
his followers maintain a strict silence concerning such things, and was strongly
opposed to their taking part in exorcisms, except in cases of necessity, because
of the imminent danger either of deception or of delusion.

114

Life of M. Olier.

of the revelation that was made to him. All the time that the body
of P. de Condren lay exposed in the church of the Oratory, and on
the day of his funeral, M. Olier felt himself (as he says) more and
more penetrated with that spirit of self-annihilation which was so
conspicuous in the deceased; indeed, he was so wholly engrossed
therewith that it formed his sole interior occupation. Meanwhile
his spiritual trials still continued, and his associates little suspected
that the man so humiliated and so meanly regarded was he to whom
they must look for the accomplishment of the great design nov
communicated to them, and in which some of them were destined
to bear a part.

J !

( "5 )

CHAPTER VIII.

attempted seminary at chartres. reform of la
r£grippi£:re completed, m. olier delivered from
his trials.

ONE principal end for which the French Oratory had been
instituted was the education of ecclesiastics, but Providence
had other designs ; and, contrary to the mind and will of the founder,
Cardinal de B^rullej it was employed almost exclusively in the con-
duct of missions, the performance of parochial duties, and, more than
all, in the management of schools. So opposed was this last to the
intention of the Cardinal that he would have had the Pope (Paul V.),
in his Bull of institution, expressly prohibit the Fathers from con-
necting themselves with anything of a purely scholastic nature;
but no such clause was introduced, and, instead of establishing semi-
naries for priests, the French Oratorians undertook the direction
of numerous schools. So far, indeed, were they from wishing to
engage in what their founder intended to be their chief occupation,
that they even allowed P. Eudes to leave them rather than second
his designs in that direction. In this we cannot but discern the
protecting hand of Providence; for, after the death of P. de
Condren, the Oratory (as is well known) became one of the strong-
holds of Jansenism, and, had its members at that time had the
education of the clergy in their hands, the greatest evils would
have resulted to the whole Church of France. P. de Condren
seemed to have a divine intimation of this ; for it is very remarkable
that, with the strong sense he entertained of the urgent need of
ecclesiastical seminaries, he did not engage the members of his
own Community in the undertaking, but got together a separate
company of priests whom he destined for the work. True it is
that at one time (1637) he had a design of founding a seminary at
the Abbey of Juilly, in connection with the Oratory, towards which
M. Olier contributed, but the institution, in fact, never became
anything more than a school.

'^^^^v^^rr'r^:'si;sr^-^

ii6

Life of M. Olier.

The little band of priests, now informed as to their true vocation,
resolved to abandon the field of missionary labour and, retiring
first to Loreau, then to li^pernon, in the diocese of Chartres, gave
themselves up to prayer and instruction of the people, until Provi-
dence should open out a way for the execution of their design. It
was now that M. Olier obtained at length some relaxation of his
trials, from which, however, he was not entirely delivered until the
end of the same year. It was in the cathedral church of Chartres
that (to use his own expressions) he first began to breathe interiorly,
and to recover that exterior cheerfulness which had been natural to
him previously to his afflictions. His companions were astonished
at the change, though they little suspected the cause. We have
seen that he laboured under a continual dread that all his actions
were defiled with a secret pride and self-love. He had been
visited with a most vivid perception of the malice of the sin of
pride : how it robs God of His glory, and sacrilegiously despoils
His altars of that in which He most delights — the adoration of the
heart and will ; and the sight had filled him with a horrible fear.
But on the octave of Corpus Christi, having risen an hour or two
earlier than usual and repaired to the cathedral, when the famous
bells of Notre Dame began to ring out sweetly and solemnly in
honour of the Sacramental Mystery, his mind, as by a sudden and
divine illumination, apprehended the immense glory which God
receives during that great festival, when Jesus is enthroned on a
thousand altars and is offered to His Eternal Father in union with
the homage of all true believers throughout the world. His soul
was transported with joy, and with the joy that he experienced came
also the reflection that his heart, too, shared in this universal
homage; that it, too, rendered praise and glory to God. The
thought seemed to remove a heavy burden from his mind, and he
found relief to his feelings of lOve and devotion in a gush of tears
to which he had been long a stranger. From that moment his fears
diminished, and gradually departed.

God also was pleased to grant him, in the person of M. Picot^,
who was a member of the community, a director in whom he could
repose entire confidence and from whom he experienced all the
affection and sympathy of a father. This good priest had been
deputed, among others, by the King to enquire into the affair of the
Loudun possessions. He went with a mind prejudiced rather than
otherwise against the reality of the manifestations, but returned per-

M. Picote and the Highwaymen.

117

fectly convinced. His opinion, it may be added, was shared by M.
Meyster and M. de Foix, the former of whom investigated the matter
at the instance of the Bishop of Saintes. For some time after, M.
Picotd was afflicted with great interior sufferings, which left him no
peace night or day. In his distress he sought the aid of M. Laisn^
(ie la Marguerie, formerly a Counsellor of State, who, on the death
of his wife, had received holy orders. M. Laisnd, being a novice in
direction, felt that he could render M. Picotd no assistance and took
him to Marie Rousseau, in whose spiritual discernment he had the
greatest confidence. He was thus the first of the associates to be
brought into close relations with Marie Rousseau, and by the help
of her prayers he was delivered from his trials. This led him to take
other members of the little community to visit that holy woman
simply for the purpose of edification, and she, on her part, made no
allusion to the designs of God regarding them. M. Olier, indeed,
was not in a condition at the time to discuss such questions, or to
engage in any exterior matters at all. But it would appear that at
some of these interviews his state was made the subject of conversa-
tion between his associates and Marie Rousseau ; for in his Memoires
he writes, " During the time my trials lasted, when I was forsaken
and derided by everybody, and was looked upon as a person who
had not only lost his senses but was given over to reprobation, she
alone maintained that I was not what they imagined me to be ; she
and M. Picotd believed me to be in the grace of God." In this good
j)riest, accordingly, M. Olier found one who seemed to be super-
naturally enlightened respecting the dispositions of his soul, as though
God, who alone knows the secrets of the heart, had communicated
them to him, and he was able to entrust to him the conduct of his
affairs, temporal and spiritual, without the least reserve.

An amusing instance of the simplicity of this worthy man is related
by M. du Ferrier, which, though it occurred at a later date, may be
given here. Having gone from Paris to Orleans, of which city he
was a native, he was stopped in the Vale of Trois Croix by six
mounted highwaymen, who, with the politeness which in that age
characterised these gentry, begged he would favour them with his
purse. Suspicious of no evil design, M. Picotd no sooner heard the
request than he replied, " Willingly, good Sirs, and with all my heart."
Then, taking out his purse, m which there were five or six crowns,
he emptied the contents into his hand, and, presenting it to them,
said, " I wish it was a better one, for your sakes." Half surprised.

ii8

Life of M. Olier.

' \

half indignant, the men asked him what he meant. " Why," said he,
" I thought you asked me for a purse, and here is one at your service."
The unaffected simplicity of the reply so delighted them that, burst-
ing out laughing, they said, " Tht^t joke is worth all your money ;
pray, Sir, keep your purse ; we have no wish to deprive you of it ; "
and, so saying, they gallopped off, still laughing with all their might.
The death of P. de Condren might naturally have been expected
to be a fresh source of sorrow and distress to M. Olier, but he
accepted it in a spirit of perfect resignation : proof, if any were
needed, that the interior trials through which he was passing came
from God. Thoughtful, however, of others, he wrote to console the
Soeur de Vauldray, who was suffering from a bereavement of a much
less grievous kind.* " Ah, well, my dear daughter," he said, " if
we are to be troubled about every misfortune that happens to us, we
shall never have any peace in this world. I will tell you what has
befallen myself. My dear father and master has been taken from
me by the appointment of the Divine Will, which is our dear mis-
tress both in privation and in abundance, in aridities as much as in.
sweetest consolations. He it was who aided me so much in apply-
ing myself to God, which is what I most value and desire. He it
was who encouraged me so much to help you, you yourself in par-
ticular, and commended the convent of La Rdgrippifere to my care.
He it was from whom I learned so many good and holy things. Ah,
well, my sister, is not the Will of God worth as much as that saintly
man, who possessed nothing save through the holiness of that Divine
Will? Cannot that Will supply all which It has taken away? Can
It not do as much good of Itself as It did by means of another ?
My dear daughter, let us adore the Will of Jesus, let us adore that
beloved Master : it is for our sanctification that He permits us to
meet with such thorny trials."

* It had been P. de Condren's wish that M. Olier should relinquish the
direction of the nuns of La R^grippibre, as not being compatible w^h the work
to which he knew that he was destined, and confine himself to writing ta them a
few times in the year. M. Olier accordingly obeyed, and P. Chauveau, a Jesuit
Father, undertook the office of director. But the Soeur de Vauldray, who w.i.s
unable to reconcile herself to the loss of one whose counsels she felt to be needful
to the health of her soul, fell into such a state of darkness and desolation that the
Father, fearful of subjecting her to too severe a trial, withdrew his prohibition.
From a letter which M. Olier wrote to her, it appears that she had a great repug-
nance to eating off pewter instead of silver, to which she had been accustomed.
This may be taken as significative of the utter secularity in which the community
had been sunk.

. >m'i I! wiwM^nwfBfP!"

'V f

Faihtre of the Chartres Seminary.

119

By the desire of M. de Valenc<5, Bishop of Chartres, the little
band of priests, eight in number, gave a mission to the inhabitants
of the town, during which M. Olier preached four or five times on
the glories of Mary with all his accustomed power. So great was
their success that the Bishop invited them to take up their abode in
the city, with a view of conducting the regular retreats provided for
the candidates for orders. To this they gladly consented, under the
idea that it would gradually lead to the establishment of an ecclesi-
astical seminary. Accordingly they engaged a house in the parish of
Ste. Foi, close to the cathedral, furnished it at their own expense,
and ijok upon themselves the entire support of the candidates as
long as the exercises lasted. Their hope was that some of these
might be induced to remain with them, in order to being more
perfectly instructed in their priestly duties ; but nothing of the kind
followed. Notwithstanding their charity and zeal, and the edifying
example of their lives, not a single individual joined them during
the whole eight months they spent at Chartres. The parishioners,
moreover, had conceived a prejudice against the undertaking,
simply, as it would seem, because it was one with which they were not
familiar ; but, whatever the cause, the attempt to found a seminary
met with no encouragement Their labours, however, had not been
altogether fruitless. M. Olier, struck with the devout behaviour of
a youth who was constant in his attendance on the exercises of the
misoion, took particular pains in insi^ructing him. On the departure
of his spiritual master, this pious youth set down in writing all the
principal maxims which he had learned from his lips, and drew up
a plan of life in accordance therewith, by which he regulated the
actions of each day. Thus M. Olier had the happiness of being
instrumental in providing the parish of St. Saturnin at Chartres
with its celebrated Curd, M. Gilles Marie, whose edifying Life has
been given to the world.

Left thus without occupation, these zealous men employed them-
selves as best they could in the several parishes of the city, until
God should more clearly disclose His will to them. M. Olier
devoted himself in particular to catechising the children, whose pro-
ficiency he rewarded by distributing among them little presents
which the Soeur de Vauldray sent him for the purpose. The ill
success, however, which had attended their efforts began to produce
an unsettled feeling among the associates, and it was soon apparent
that the community had arrived at a crisis in its affairs. M. de

^l^-l..r'!£ ^''''^rary.^.^'?^-p^>^^*|h3|gg^.^ f ^^

120

Life of M. Olier.

\ i

Foix and M. du Ferritr, whom business had taken to Paris, were
on the point of returning to Chartres, when M, Meyster, who at
this time retired from the society, said to them, while at dinner, in
a tone of great earnestness, " My dear friends, you are losing your
time ; you are not doing what God requires of you. He disap-
proves of your remaining at Chartres, and I am bidden to tell you
so." He added that M. Anielote was called to other labours. His
words had such effect upon them that, rising from table, they went
at once to consult the Fathers of the Oratory at St. Magloire, and,
acting on the advice they received, they resolved, instead of return-
ing to Chartres, to proceed on a pilgrimage to Notre Dame des
Ardilliers,* near Saumur in Anjou. It was at the same time agreed
between them that they should not speak of the matter on the way,
but should make it simply the subject of prayer, and ^eave the issue
in the hands of God.

At this juncture t M. Olier also arrived in Paris, before the feast
of the Assumption, for the purpose of settling a difference with the
Prior of his abbe- whom the monks had, in defiance of all right,
just nominated to the office. While there, he received a visit from
the Abbess of Fontevrault, Jeanne-Baptiste de Bourbon, who begged
him to repair in person to La R^grippibre, with a view to complet-
ing the reform which he had so auspiciously commenced. Nothing
could be more in accordance with his wishes, and he followed his two
friends to Saumur, with the hope of inducing them to accompany
him into Brittany. He was especially anxious to have the co-opera-
tion of M. du Ferrier, as he relied upon his assistance to effect a
conversion in which he had himself entirely failed. It was that of
a nun whom he describes as the haughtiest and most self-sufficient
in the house, and who had conceived a great aversion to him, either
because of his success with the Soeur de Vauldray, who had been
the leader of the opposition, or because (as he says) she despised

* This celebrated pilgrimage owed its origin to the following circumstance.
A peasant, while digging in a field, found a little image of Notre Dame de Pitie,
by which many miracles were wrought. A chapel was built over the spot where
it was found, which became much frequented by the faithful. This chapel was
served from the year i6l6 by the Fathers of the Oratory, to whom it belonged.

+ It was about this time (according to M. Faillon) that, on the demise of the
Bishop of Le Puy, the Chapter begged the King to nominate M. Olier to the
vacant see ; in which they were warmly seconded by the very persons who had
been the authors of the violent opposition which he encountered during his mission
in Auvergne.

l\ ^

• *-•«- «-> ,»*^» fv,*-*"-* , t

*i*»(^<^i^b>i-*wv»>

Conversion of the Sosur de la Troche.

131

what she regarded as want of spirit in him. She it was, in fact, who
upheld the rest in their disobedience and disorders. His two friends
consented, and they arrived late one October evening at the con-
vent, where they were well received. The Superioress and elder
nuns, together with the fourteen whose conversion M. Olier had
effected at his first visit, came at once into the parlour. There
were two grilles^ at one of which M. Olier stood, at the other M. de
Foix. M. du Ferrier remaining apart and saying nothing, the
Sisters called him the " Abbd of silence ; " but they were soon to learn
that he could speak, and with irresistible efi'cct. That evening M.
Olier was seized with one of his fits of timidity, and said to his com-
panions, " Three years ago I had the courage to preach to these
religious, and now I protest to you I should not venture to open my
mouth." But in the morning, rising an hour before the rest, he took
for the subject of his meditation those words of our Lord, " They
shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth" * of which his mind
had been full the evening before, when he was proceeding to the
convent. The result was such an accession of strength and light
that, when, on his wav to say Mass, the Mother Prioress requested
liim to preach, he at once consented, and delivered himself with so
much unction and power that the hearts of all were touched. They
who did not yield to grace on that occasion were brought to con-
trition by a second sermon on the following day, and begged, with
many sobs and tears, to be heard in confession.

M. Olier, however, was right in his conjecture that the presence
of another priest was needed to effect the conversion of the nun to
whom allusion has been made. On the second morning after their
arrival, M. du Ferrier, who was about to depart for Clisson, was on
his knees before the high altar, preparatory to saying Mass, when
the Soeur de la Troche (such was the name of the nun), who had
been watching him through the grate, sent the sacristan to beg him
to offer the Holy Sacrifice for her intention. Acting on a sudden
impulse, M. du Ferrier, who was naturally of an obliging disposition,
refused, in a way which, on after-reflection, surprised and confounded
him. The sacristan, thinking he had not heard or did not under-
stand the request, repeated it ; on which the priest replied, '• I tell
you I will do nothing of the kind." So stern a refusal, coming from
a man whom she regarded as gifted with a divine discernment, struck

* St. John iv. 23.

>>.~ . «>.».. i y.. ^ ,,^ ^ ,,^,,..,j^^ yy.»y^/a..*ryf.,,.»..^, , .11 ,., ..,. .. . ^

iW./4^ .^ A ...VA.V.^r^

122

Life of M. Otter.

the Sister with a sort of terror : she thought she was lost beyond
rei)entance and, throwing herself on the floor of her cell, shed a
torrent of tears. She then begged one of the nuns who had been
converted on the occasion of M. Olier's first visit to procure her an
interview with M. du Ferrier ; but, finding that he had departed for
Clisson, she was seized with such a paroxysm of grief that M. Olier
despatched a messenger after him to bring him back to the convent.
No sooner had M. du Ferrier returned than the Sxur de la Troche
made a public confession of her pride and obstinacy, avowing, to
her shame, that hitherto she had encouraged the rest of the religious
in the violation of their engagements, but protesting that for the
future her only desire was to lead a life of obedience, and to fulfil
the obligations of her state in silence and recollection. The others
who had still held out followed her example ; all insubordination
was now at an end : moved by M. du Ferrier's powerful exhortations,
they one and all embraced each other, and perfect harmony was
restored by a solemn act of reconciliation before the Blessed Sacra-
ment At the request of the Abbess, to whom a report had been
sent of all that had occurred, M. Olier and M. du Ferrier remained
for a month at the convent, during which they instructed the nuns
in the practice of mental prayer, and in all the duties and require-
ments of a community life.

One abuse there was which M. Olier now succeeded without
difficulty in abolishing. Within the convent domain was a thick
wood, in which the nuns were in the habit of walking, and where
also there was a pond which afforded them the recreation of
fishing ; b ' ; strange to say, this wood had no inclosure, so that it
was open to sportsmen and other intruders. M. Olier had no wish
to deprive the nuns either of their walks or of their fishing, but he
insisted on the grounds, which were extensive, being properly in-
closed ; and this accordingly was done by the erection of a wall,
which exists at this day.

This long-desired reform being at last happily effected, the two
priests retook their way to Chartres, whither they had been preceded
by M. de Foix. In passing through Angers, M. Olier was enter-
tained by M. Gui Lanier, Abbd of Vaux, in Saintonge, a holy and
zealous priest, to whose particular charge he committed the convent
of La R^grippifere. From Angers he repaired to Tours, where, on
the nth of November, he had the satisfaction of assisting at the
magnificent ceremonies observed in honour of the great St. Martin,

Dissolution of the Society.

1^3

whom he had always held in singular veneration for his heroic
humility and self-abjection. During this journey he was favoured
with ■ a greater calm in his soul than he had enjoyed since the
commencement of his interior trials. He met with a confessor to
whom he could open himself witliout reserve, and from whom ho
received such helps and encouragements that all his doubts and
obscurities vanished, and he beheld with a clear vision the road
along which he was to walk. On reaching Chartrc^, he found the
greatest differences of opinion prevailing among his associates as to
the course to be pursued, and it soon became evident to him that a
dissolution of the community was impending. M. de Foix strongly
urged the necessity of abandoning the establishment at Chartres, as
having failed in the object for which it was designed, and to this
opinion M. Olier himself inclined ; but it was as strongly contested
by others of the society. In the midst of these debates M. du
Ferrier, after imploring the assistance of the Blessed Virgin in the
subterranean chapel of Notre Dame de Chartres, went to consult the
Mfere Gabrielle, a Carmelitess, sister of P. de Condren. She was
under the spiritual direction of M. Amelote, to whose judgment in
the matter in question she would naturally defer, but this did not
render M. du Ferrier, who placed the greatest reliance on her piety
and prudence, less desirous to obtain the benefit of her advice. On
learning what P. de Condren had said to him before his death, on
the subject of which that great man had never uttered a word to M.
Amelote, she replied without hesitation that, if the latter decided on
breaking up the establishment, M. du Ferrier might take it as a sign
that it was the will of God that he should associate himself with V .
de Foix and M. Olier in the endeavour to found an ecclesiastical semi-
nary. The very next day M. Amelote pronounced in favour of a
dissolution of the society, and from that moment M. du Ferrier
became convinced that this ecclesiastic was destined to have no part
in the work of which P. de Condren had spoken. The friends,
however, continued to live together in perfect amity and concord
until the translation of the Bishop of Chartres to the archbishopric
of Rheims determined them to quit the place.

•\

( 124 )

CHAPTER IX.

SEMINARY OF VAUGIRARD. M. OLISR'S STATE OF UNION

WITH GOD.

\ 1

! 1

MEANWHILE M. Picot^ had gone to Vaugirard, a village in
the close neighbourhood of Paris, to assist Marie Luillier,
Dame de Villeneuve, who had the superintendence of an establish-
ment the members of which were engaged in the management of
schools in country-places. It had been commenced at the sugges-
tion of St. Francis de Sales, who was her director, and with the
active co-operation of St. Vincent de Paul ; and from the difficulties
and trials which the institution had encountered its members had
obtained the appellation of the Sisters of the Cross.* Mme. de
Villeneuve, like so many other devout persons, had long made the
reformation of the clergy the subject of especial prayer ; and on hear-
ing from M. Picot^ an account of what was passing at Chartres she said
at once, "* Perhaps our Lord would have you establish yourselves at
Vaugirard." M. Picotd would have taken no notice of the remark,
but she pursued the subject, representing the facilities and advan-
tages which such a situation offered : its seclusion, and yet its close
proximity to the capital : the assistance they would derive from the
Cur($, M. Copin, who would willingly place the parish church at their
disposal ; while for herself, she would engage to give them all the
aid in her power, even to their entire maintenance, if that were
necessary. Her earnestness had its effect on M. Picote, and, after
recommending the matter to God, he wrote to his friends at Chartres,
and in particular to M. de Foix. When his letter was read there
was but one opinion of its contents, and an immediate answer was
returned that the proposition was neither feasible nor reasonable.
But on M. de Foix going to Paris, he was induced by M. Picotd to

* Through the exertions of M. Olier, the Sisters of the Cross were established
in several towns where he had been engaged in giving missions, in order to per-
petuate the benefits which had been derived from the ministrations of himself and
his fellow-labourers.

Divine Illuminations.

125

hear what Mme. de Villeneuve had to say on the subject, and her
representations, combined with those of M. Picotd, who was now a
strenuous advocate of the plan, had the effect of bringing him entirely
over to her views. As for M. Amelote, he regarded the whole scheme
as a piece of extravagant folly, but, considering that his friends had
need of retirement and repose, he advised them to repair to Vau-
girard for the good of their health. The jubilee was about to be
observed in the parish, and, as there was a lack of confessors, M.
Picotd begged M. du Ferrier to come and help him, with the ho^^e
of enlisting his services also in the cause he had so much at 'icia t.
Mme. de Villeneuve, moreover, availed herself, for the sa' j j ' ;-
pose, of the influence of the Abb^ de Pormorant, who, like herself,
was devoted to the Christian instruction of youth; but nothii.^ that
was said to him had any effect on M. du Ferrier until, while saying
Mass in the church, at the moment he communicated he found him-
self possessed with the conviction that Vaugirard was the place which
God had chosen, and that he must abandon himself entirely to the
Divine will.

Their next endeavour was to gain over M. Olier, but the attempt
did not meet with the success expected. Yielding to the solicitations
of his friends, he returned to Paris, but was found to be more entirely
opposed to the projected establishment than even they had been, and
expressed himself accordingly. At the request, however, of M.
Picotd, his director, he consented to commend the matter to God,
and in the beginning of December, 1641, retired for that purpose to
a country house at Notre Dame des Vertus, near Paris, where M.
Picot^ continued to visit hira While in this retreat the Lord was
pleased to speak to him in vision, after a manner of which he had
hitherto had no experience. It was on the 5th or 6th of the same
month that, being absorbed in prayer, he seemed to behold in spirit
the Eternal Father bearing in his arms a company of ecclesiastics
who were the objects of His tenderest care ; and at the same moment
there rose to his lips, with a significance he had never before realized,
those words of David : " Qui regis Israel^ intende; qui deducts velut
ovem Joseph— {GivQediX, O Thou that rulest Israel; Thou that leadest
Joseph like a sheep)." * He was about to mount his horse and return
to Pans, in compliance with a message he had received from his associ-
ates, when he was moved (he says) to return to his chamber, and there,

* Psalm Ixxix. i.

>Ji

''-.V ^^ ^ ,i5^4

AilVX.Wllt«b.B V

126

TifeofM. Olier.

casting himself on the floor and abandoning himself without reserve
to God, he supplicated an outpouring of His love on those who were
to be united with Him in the fulfilment of His designs, and, as in
reply to his petition, there came vividly before his mind the words of
the Divine Son to His Eternal Father : ^* Mea omnia tua sunt, et tua
mea sunt — (All My things are Thine, and Thine are Mine)."* He
prayed for all with whom he had been associated at Chartres, and
offered them one by one to God ; and then an interior voice seemed
to speak to him, and to tell him that some of these, and in particular
M. Amelote, were destined for other spheres ot labour. From that
moment his course was clear before him.

By this time the community was entirely broken up, and its mem-
bers were living separately at Paris. M. Olier, encouraged by the
heavenly vision, would have re-assembled them for the purpose of
laying the foundations of a future seminary, but the failure at Char-
tres withheld them from making a similar attempt, and especially
in a mere village like Vaugirard. Besides, they had not recovered
sufficient confidence in M. Olier since his state of trial, and were
less disposed than ever to listen to his counsels. The result, there-
fore, was that, with the exception of M. de Foix and M. du Ferrier,
all his old associates withdrew from him, some accompanying M.
Amelote, who, while at Chartres, had resolved on quitting the society,
to Rouen, where he had been invited to take part in a great mission
given by Pbre Eudes. M. Olier, however, nothing disheartened, lost
no time in procuring a house at Vaugirard, near the parish church,
and then prepared to enter on his new mode of life by a second
retreat at Notre Dame des Vertus, where he had received so many
favours. It was a peculiar satisfaction both to himself and to his
two associates that their future residence should be in a place especi-
ally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin ; the church also possessed a
miraculous imaget of his beloved Patroness, before which it was his
daily habit to pray, and he never left the sacred building without
first saying an Ave Maria at its feet.

With such expedition were all the arrangements completed that
they were able to take posssession of their new abode in the begin-
ning of January, 1642. It was a mean-looking building, so small and

* St. John xvii. 10.

+ This image was broken to pieces at the Revolution, and local tradition avers
that the perpetrator of the sacrilege received a wound in the arm from a splinter
of the wood, which long remained unhealed.

His Directors.

127

inconvenient that, to make room for the ecclesiastics whom they
hoped to receive, it was necessary to partition off a few cells in an
adjoining dovecot, and even the best apartment in the house scarcely
deserved the name. They were but three in number, of whom M.
de Foix was regarded as the head, M. Picot^, who was engaged at
the establishment of the Sisters of the Cross, not being in a condition
to join thern ; and, as they had exhausted their private resources in
the expenses incurred at Chartres, they were obliged to practise the
strictest economy. They had no servant, but performed all the
offices of the house with their own hands, while for their daily meals
they were dependent on the charity of Mme. de Villeneuve, who (as
we find from M. du Ferrier) used to send them soup and bouilli in
a little tureen for their dinner and a few slices of roast mutton for
their supper. Their occupations consisted in prayer, the reading of
Holy Scripture, and study ; they recited the collect of the Blessed
Sacrament at the beginning of every conference, and even a portion
of the time set apart for recreation was spent in adoration before the
Tabernacle. Thus they waited, ignorant of God's intentions, but
assured that He had special designs regarding them and prepared
simply to fulfil them, whatever they might be.

Nor was it long before God made known His will. Since the
death of P. de Condren they had had (properly speaking) no director;
but, a few days after taking up their abode at Vaugirard, they placed
themselves under the spiritual guidance of one who has been already
mentioned, Dom Gr^goire Tarrisse, Superior-General of the Bene-
dictines of St. Maur. He was a man of extraordinary virtue and
sagacity, and, as such, was held in the highest esteem by som^ of
the greatest personages in France. Though indifferent to all merely
humai interests, it was under his auspices that the Abbey of St.
Germain-des-Prds became celebrated for the many learned and
accomplished writers who in the several departments of literature,
science, and art exercised so powerful an influence in their day.
And here, with M. Olier, we cannot but admire the watchful care
which the good Providence of God exercises over those who simply
surrender themselves into His keeping. When first he devoted him-
self to works of active charity he was given for his director St.
Vincent de Paul, Superior of the Priests of the Mission; then,
when the time arrived that he should be more deeply instructed in
all that concerned the interior life, he became a pupil in the school
of P. de Condren, who, perhaps, of all men living had the pro-

mm*

mu^^mmmmm

128

Life of M. Oh'er.

■)

'li

roundest knowledge of spiritual things; and now, when God would
draw him nearer to Himself and admit him to the sweetest caresses
of His love, he was favoured with the intimate friendship of this
holy Benedictine, who was a very model of prayer, mortification,
and detachment from the world. For his own particular director
he had another eminent Benedictine, P. Bataille, Procurator-General
of the Order, of whom he says that he possessed greater lights for
the regulation both of the interior and the exterior life, and a more
decided gift for advancing souls in the ways of perfection, than any
one he knew.

In his Memoires M. Olier frequently adores the wonderful Provi-
dence of God in having brought him and his two associates into
such close relations with the very men whose influence and protec-
tion were to prove of the utmost importance to them in the work
they were chosen to accomplish, though as yet they knew it not, —
the reformation of the parish of St. Sulpice and the erection of the
Seminary which was to bear its name. The state of that parish was
a subject of poignant affliction to Dom Gr^goire, and the more so
because, endeavour as he might, he was unable to apply an effectual
remedy to the frightful scandals which he beheld around him ; while
P. Bataille was so penetrated with a sense of the outrages which day
and night were being perpetrated against the Divine Majesty that
he had offered himself as a victim, even to blood, if God required
the sacrifice, in reparation of the evil and for its utter extirpation.
This devoted servant of God had originally made his religious
profession in the Cistercian house at Cluny, but had been attracted
to St. Germain's by the great reform of St. Maur, and there he
remained until he had witnessed the marvellous transformation
which was effected in the parish and the firm establishment therein
of the Seminary which was to be the source of infinite blessings to
France, when he left the Benedictine community and returned to
his former Order ; as though (to adopt M. Faillon's words) his
mission at St. Germain's had been fulfilled and nothing further
remained for him to do. P. Tarrisse, again, departed this life as
soon as these great works were accomplished and before the con-
struction of the Seminary had even been commenced. To these
men M. Olier was mainly indebted, under God, for the success
with which he was enabled to communicate to others the spirit with
which he was himself animated, and to surmount the formidable
obstacles which his zeal encountered. Indeed, it would seem that

His state of union with God.

129

eighteen months before, when his state of humiliation was at its
lowest, and he appeared to be abandoned by all, he received a divine
intimation that to Dom Grdgoire Tarrisse and Dom Hugues Bataille
he was to look for guidance and support. How it came about that
he and his associates were led to communicate to these religious
cheir design of founding a seminary we are not told, but they were
no sooner made acquainted with it than they exhorted them to
persevere, assuring them, with a confidence which only the Spirit of
God could have imparted, that they were called to do a work which
would be of the greatest service to the Church ; and in this they
were seconded by St. Vincent de Paul and the celebrated Jesuits,
PP. Hayneuve and Saint-Jure.

But that which most clearly marked the Divine approbation was
the marvellous change which was produced in M. OUer himself.
From the moment of his arrival at Vaugirard, not only was he
entirely delivered from his alflicting trials, but he was visited with
the most consoling proofs of God's love. He experienced that
blessed and utterly supernatural effect of Christ's indwelling pre-
sence which is accorded only to a few most favoured souls — pre-
pared for so transcendent a boon by first passing through a state of
extraordinary humiliation — and of which St. Paul speaks, when he
says, ^^ I live, now not /, but Christ liveth in me."* In M. Olier
these words were literally fulfilled. His soul, nay, his very body,
became the sensible habitation and organ of Jesus Christ moving in
him and operating by him ; so that he no longer spoke or acted as
of himself, but only with the concurrence and by the disposal of
Him who lived within him. His state, as he describes it, was now
the precise opposite of what it had been in the time of suffering.
He felt the presence of the Spirit that ruled him in the exercise of
all his natural powers and faculties; not only in his speech and
general bearing, but in his very gait and each particular gesture ; so
that they who beheld him were astonished at the composed, self-
possessed demeanour of one whose movements had always displayed
a certain precipitancy and absence of control. M. Tronson, in the
work entitled L' Esprit de M. Olier, thus writes: "The Spirit of
our Lord rendered Itself such absolute master of his heart, and
took such complete possession of his soul and all his faculties, that
It no longer permitted him the slightest movement save in depend-

• Gal. ii. 20.

^-^•v^-'Wif^ Rr7r«''WF»'3^w "ww^r-

'•'j-ffivy

,W7^'

'^'*'^?-"wr^

130

Life of M, Olier.

\ ■ \

\ \

III

ence on Itself and with Its concurrence. It showed Itself in his
very eyes, his tongue, his hands, making him act, or preventing him
from acting, according to Its pleasure." The Spirit of Jesus was the
soul of his soul, and the informing, animating principle of his whole
life. If he set himself to write, It dictated his words and seemed
even to guide his pen. And this presence and influence was abiding
and continual. "If I leave It (he writes), It immediately follows
me, and again takes possession of me the instant I give myself to It,
whether at home or abroad, in action or in repose ; whether alone
or with others this Divine Spirit is with me everywhere." *

He experienced the same marvellous change also in his mental
powers and supernatural gifts. Instead of the darkness and con-
fusion in which his soul had been involved, it was now filled with
light ; his thoughts were clear and distinct, his tongue unloosed ;
that distressing dryness from which he had suffered so much was
succeeded by an influx of the sweetest spiritual joy, and his mind, no
longer occupied with its own miseries, was able to raise itself to God
with the utmost facility and the liveliest affection. " I remember,"
he writes, " that during my trials one consoling thought occurred to
me, that if God should deign to make use of me in His service — an
event of which I had no expectation — at least it would be plain Who
was the agent My state of abandonment taught me that whatever
good we possess is from God alone, and that the absence of it is all
that is our own. What I now possess is not my own property, it
does not belong to my soul ; it is a grace, a mercy, for which I did
not look, and of which I am utterly unworthy. Then I was wholly
without direction, whether interior or, I might almost say, exterior ;
now the goodness of God gives me all the counsel I can desire. If
two things presented themselves for me to do I had no power of
deciding, there was nothing to determine my choice ; now I am
scarcely ever at a loss. I am guided interiorly like a child tended
by a father of consummate wisdom and perfect goodness. This
takes place in the depth of my soul by a divine operation inexpres-
sibly delicate, and which the devil cannot counterfeit. Sometimes

* This statement lias nothing in common with the doctrine of the false mystics,
as if it were meant that the soul, in such a state of union, loses its liberty of action,
and consequently can no longer sin, even venially, and is incapable of falling from
grace. In the case of M. Olier himself the extraordinary aids of the Holy Spirit,
although habitual, were not always available, and were sometimes suddenly with-
drawn. The true Catholic doctrine will be found explained at length in the
Catechisme Spirituel of P. Surin, Part I, chap. iii.

M..

His vow of servitude.

131

it is a movement, sometimes a voiceless word, making itself heard
more distinctly than any utterance. For God, who is the Word,
renders Himself more sensible to our souls than man can do by
articulate speech. O Divine Substance, who art word, light, power,
love, O Divine Being, be Thou praised, exalted, and blessed for
ever ! "

This supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit became more con-
stant from the day on which he made himself by solemn vow the
servant of Jesus Christ, abandoning himself without recall to be at
His entire disposal, with an utter dependence on His Spirit in mind
and body, even to the smallest things. The first time he felt a
desire to take this servitude upon him was during his state of suffer-
ing, and especially within the octave of the Epiphany, 1641, three
days after the death of P. de Condren, who had made the same
vow, although M. Olier was not aware of the fact. His confessor,
however, had advised him to wait a year, and it was not until the
January of 1642, shortly after his arrival at Vaugirard, and on the very
day on which he and his associates took P. Tarrisse for their spiritual
guide, that he made the irrevocable engagement " From the
moment I made this vow," he writes, " I have been able neither to
speak nor even to think of God save in dependence on the Spirit of
my Master, who possesses me and applies my soul to what He wills.
Heretofore I believed such a state of subjection well-nigli impossible.
It is the Spirit of my Master alone which now enables me to practise
it, and, although this dependence is universal and unceasing, it is
nevertheless full of peace and sweetness. This, indeed, is a true
characteristic of the Spirit of God, which, great as It is, accommodates
Itself to things so mean as the guidance of a vile and miserable
sinner. The vow of servitude to the Spirit of Jesus demands like-
wise an absolute confidence and an abandonment without reserve
into the hands of this blessed and faithful Master, who is all-wise,
all-powerful, all-good, and who by His perfections supplies for our
blindness, our weakness, and our self-love, which too often, alas !
are the directors we consult. . . . Blessed are the rebuffs which pro-
duce such sweet caresses! If the world knew how sweet His
service is, if it only knew Him, all would follow after Him. O
my good Master, make Thyself known and loved ; make others
taste how sweet and lovable Thou art"

Such were the extraordinary ways by which it pleased the Holy
Spirit to lead this favoured soul. God, who desired to pour down

132

Life of M. Olier,

\\\

S I

upon him the ahundance of His graces, would liave him on his part set
no bounds to his generosity and devotion. He had chosen him for
the high office of sanctifying tliose who were called to minister at
His altars, and it was His will that he should have experience of the
extraordinary operations of His love, in order that he might be able
to bring otliers, each according to the measure of his grace, to a
state of union with His dear Son, albeit after a simpler and more
common manner.

The " three Solitaries of Vaugirard " (as they were called), never
for a moment doubting the designs of God, had no sooner entered
their retreat than they proceeded to consecrate themselves to His
service and form themselves into a community. As the end which
they proposed to themselves was to promote the glory of the Most
Holy Trinity by means of the sacerdotal order, they desired to take
as their only bond of union the ineffable love of the Three Divine
Persons. In this they followed the counsels of P. de Condren, who
had forbidden their binding themselves by any vow. In furtherance
of their design they resolved to go together on a pilgrimage to
Montmartre, and there solemnly consecrate themselves to the work
to which they believed they had been called. The form of consecra-
tion, which was approved by P. Bataille, ran thus : " Three priests,
feeling themselves called in the unity of the Spirit to the service of
God and His Holy Church, to form for Him ministers who may
worthily promote His glory, honour His Son Jesus Christ, and love
His members, have resolved, in honour of the Divine Society of the
Three Persons, indivisible by the unity of Their essence and Their
holy love, n bind themselves by a sacred promise never to abandon
or to depart from the design which it has pleased God to manifest
to them and even to confirm by numerous signs. If any one among
them should deem himself called by the goodness of God to serve
Him apart from the others, he shall be free to do so only with their
mutual agreement and consent. This it is which they desire to
promise, in the presence of the three martyrs, St. Denis, St. Rusticus,
and St. Eleutherius, devoting and consecrating themselves, after the
pattern of the same blessed martyrs, as living victims, to the honour
of the Most Holy Trinity, the glory of Jesus Christ, and the exalta-
tion of His Church."

It had been the constant prayer of M. Bourdoise that three priests
might be given to the Church who, in honour of the Three Divine
Persons, would unite to raise the sacerdotal order, in France from

M. Doiirdoise visits Vaitgirard.

133

the degradation into which it had sunk ; and now, unknown to him-
self, his prayer had been fulfilled. Hearing, therefore, that M. Olier
and his two friends had established themselves at Vaugirard, he
wrote to them in the following terms : ** Oh, that God would give
us three faithful men whose sole aim it should be to do His will, and
in His own way 1 Oh, that there were found three priests so filled
with love for the Church as to be willing to trust her in all those
rules which have been dictated to her by the Holy Ghost, and to
espouse her cause against the world and all its customs j three priests
who, when the rules of the Church are put before them, will not
reply, ' This is not the custom ; we do otherwise. What would
people say ? — they would laugh at us. Let us leave things as we
find them ; we are not wiser than those who have gone before us.' "
And then from that narrow house at Vaugirard there came a reply
after his own heart : " Come here, and you will find three such
priests as you are looking for, if only you will teach them the things
which the Holy Church has ruled. Nor custom nor aught else
shall prevent those rules being faithfully obeyed, with the help of
God's grace, which we entreat you to ask Him to give us."

Accordingly, M. Bourdoise went to see his friends at Vaugirard,
and many, doubtless, were the pious witticisms in which he indulged
relative to the dovecot and its expected occupants, as he shared the
contents of Madame de Villeneuve's little tureen. The house and
all its arrangements — no servants and an empty larder — with a
plenteous allowance of prayer and meditation, must have been
thoroughly to his taste. Good advice, too, we may be assured, was
liberally bestowed, and that in the plainest and often not the most
complimentary terms. " We admired the dealings of God with him,"
says M. du Ferrier, " in that off-hand bluffness which was natural to
him, but we tried to conduct ourselves with a little more graciousness
of manner." M. Bourdoise, however, was a thoroughly practical man,
and the three weeks he spent with his friends were employed in
giving them instructions in all that concerned the ecclesiastical
regimen, down to the smallest minutiae of chants, rubrics, and cere-
monies, with explicit directions as to their personal attire, the wearing
of their hair, and their demeanour and conversation generally. His
opinion was that they should occupy themselves very little with the
spiritual direction of women, but apply their whole energies to the
forming of ecclesiastics. His zeal and his firmnes continued to be
of the utmost service to the young associates ; he put into their

' «

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K h

134

Life of M. Olier.

hands from time to time certain manuscript treatises which he had
composed for the use of priests living in community, and never
ceased to testify towards them on all occasions the sincerest friend-
ship and esteem.

But the person from whom they received the greatest assistance
and support was Marie Rousseau, to whose prayers and lights they
had never ceased to have recourse in all their doubts and discourage-
ments. " This poor woman," writes M. Olier, '• though of low
extraction, and of a condition in life which it is almost a disgrace
to name, is nevertheless become the adviser of persons the most
illustrious by birth "nd rank, and the guide of souls the most exalted
in virtue. Even princesses have recourse to her counsels, and
recommend their most important affairs to her prayers. The
Duchesse d'Orldans, the Princesse de Cond^, the Duchesses d'Aiguil-
lon and d'Elbeuf, the Mardchale de la Chatre, and many others
count it an honour to visit her ; indeed, I have known a lady of the
highest rank afraid of even going into her presence. Souls the most
advanced in the ways of God seek lessons of perfection from her
lips ; men *" the most Apostolic spirit go to consult her before
entering ou any enterprise which they have in contemplation. P.
Eudes, that famous preacher, the wonder of our age \ P. de Condren,
General of the Oratory ; Mile. Manse, raised up by God to lend her
fostering care to the infant Church of Canada ; M. le Royer de la
Dauversibre, to whom that Church owed its first establishment ; M.
du Coudray, devoted to the missions of the Levant and the defence
of Christendom against the Turks ; Dom Jacques, the Carthusian,
the bold rebuker of vice in the wealthy and the powerful, — when
these, and so many others of the most zealous servants of God who
at this day adorn the Church of France — statesmen and magistrates,
including the Chancellor Siguier — are to be seen seeking counsel of
this wise and holy woman, we might think we beheld the ' Virgin
most prudent ' once more directing the Church of her Divine Son
and guiding His Apostles after His Ascension into heaven. Such
is the influence she exerts over the hearts of men that in a moment
they are completely changed ; there is none so holy but in convers-
ing with her he derives fresh courage for God's service and the
salvation of his neighbour ; persons the most eminent for their
sanctity have experienced the most surprising effects ; and all from
a few simple, common words. When consulted, her replies are
short ; she never enters into her reasons for the advice she gives ;

The change wrought in him.

133

she does but say, ' God would have you do this or that.' Sometimes
she gives advice contrary to that of men most enlightened with the
wisdom of God, without being able to explain the reasons for her
replies, and mature consideration has invariably brought them to
acquiesce in her judgment. In her would seem to be visibly dis-
played the absolute power of God ; she has but to speak, and at a
word all that she ask or wishes is done ; and that without any of
those exterior advantages of appearance, address, or manner by
which such influence is usually accompanied."

This holy woman had abstained, in obedient to her director, P.
Bataille, from disclosing to the disciples of P. de Condren the lights
she had received in prayer as to God's designs regarding them.
But the subject was never absent from her thoughts ; it was the one
absorbing interest of her life, and she was always labouring to pro-
mote it. As we have said, she had been among the very few who
retained their high esteem for M. Olier at the time he was con-
temned by all the world ; and when, after his retirement to Vaugirard,
God restored to him all his former powers, she never rested until
she had disabused the minds of his late associates and once more
collected them about him. She sought out each singly, and urged
him to go and judge for himself whether the Abbd Olier were such
as he had come to regard him. Several accordingly went, and when
they saw and heard him they could not disguise their astonishment.
It was but a few weeks ago that they had seen him stand dum-
founded in the pulpit when desired to address the people, and now
they heard him expounding the mysteries of the faith in language so
sublime, and with so much authority and command, that it was
with difficulty they recognized him as the same person, saying one
to another, *' Oh, what a change is here ! the hand of the Most High
is manifest; never man spake more eloquently of the things of
God 1 " Those among them especially who had been disciples of P.
de Condren seemed to find again in this lately despised priest the
lights, the wisdom, and the virtues of their holy master, and they
could not refrain from loudly testifying their astonishment and
delight even to M. Olier himself. *' I am confounded," he writes,
*' when I think of it : that I, a vile worm of the earth, so mean and
despicable that I wonder I dare make my appearance before the
world, should be listened to with surprise and admiration by those
to whom but yesterday I was the object of contempt and ridicule
But well may they be surprised, for I am amazed at myself, knowing

136

Life of M. Oiier.

as I do my ignorance and dulness, and so long assured as I have
been, in the mercy of God, of my own blindness and utter nothing-
ness. And yet it is true I have no difficulties on any subject ; on
the contrary, I receive the clearest lights respecting truths of which
I had never so much as heard, and of which the greatest theologians
amongst us are astonished they should have remained in ignor-
ance, in spite of all their science. It is now that I behold
accomplished the promise of the deceased Father-General, that I
should be one of the inheritors of his spirit. I cannot doubt it :
things which I heard him formerly say, and which at the time I was
incapable of comprehending, are now laid open before me with a
clearness exceeding the brightness of the sun."

Providence, too, in a marvellous way gave Its approval to the new
institution ; and that so notably, that men were constrained to
confess that God was there. Every day M. Olier saw visibly
fulfilled before his eyes the intimation conveyed in those words
which had been so forcibly presented to his mind during his retreat
at Notre Dame des Vertus : " J/m omnia tua sunt^ et tua mea sutit"
His tongue seemed to possess a wonderfully persuasive power; nay,
lie no sooner even wished a thing than it was done. Conferring one
day with his colleagues — and it was the first time that the subject
had been mooted — on the need they had of a practical man of
business who could transact their temporal affairs for them, at the
very moment he was speaking, there came a rap at the door, and he
beheld standing before him the very person whose help they needed,
who had come to oflTer himself to the community, to assist them in
any way they might require. "I declare," he says, "that never in
my life was I more confounded or more amazed at the goodness of
God than at that moment. I could not restrain my tears, and in
spirit annihilated myself before the Divine mercy." Then, too,
began to be realized those other words which had risen to his lips
when he had beheld in vision the Eternal Father : " Qui regis Israel,
intende; qui deducis veiut ovem Joseph " All the tenderest care and
nurture which a parent could bestow upon his children was sensibly
lavished upon him and his associates; their wants were supplied
with a bountifulness and a loving solicitude which was even in
advance and in excess of their requests or desires. All things
seemed to work together for their good ; the services they received
from others, so far from being rendered grudgingly and as of con-
straint, were offered from a motive of charity and out of the abun-

^Wlg"^

Af. de Biissancourt.

^:^i

(lance of the heart ; and they who lately had held aloof from him
now seemed to find their satisfaction in heajjiiv,' kindnesses upon
him. His father had left a lawsuit on his hands, which (as usual in
such matters) appeared interminable. His opponents had refused
all accommodation, when one clay, to his surprise, thty begi^cd him
to forego further proceedings, and yielded all his demands.

Gradually also new members began to offer themselves to the little
community. How one of these was gained we learn from M. Olier
himself. They had need of an accomplished theologian, and the
matter had been made the subject of their united prayers. Now, it
happened one day when he and M. de Foix were on their way back
from Paris, that they met an ecclesiastic of high repute for his theo-
logical science, who had been to see them at Vaugirard, and was
returning. M. Olier, in his humility, stepped a little aside, to allow
M. de Foix (who at that time was superior) to speak to one whom
he knew to be a person of no ordinary ability. Hut M. de Foix
obliged him to come forward, and, against his will, M. Olier found
himself drawn little by little into the conversation. Then, abandon-
ing himself (as he says) to the Spirit who ruled him, and speaking
the words that were put into his mouth, he gave utterance to thoughts
so high and holy, and expressed himself with so much energy and
command, that the ecclesiastic was moved in an extraordinary way.
M. de Foix himself was equally astonished at his companion's elo-
quence and at the effect it produced. Indeed, as M. Olier avers,
no one was more surprised than himself ; but, he adds, " the Divine
Spirit hides Himself in what is meanest and most abject, to show
that the creature has no part in His works, seeing that He operates
them by instruments so incompetent and so contemptible." The
result was that the ecclesiastic in question, whose name is not men-
tioned, but who proved to be the very person of whom they stood
most in need, joined the community, and for several years taught
theology and philosophy to the inmates of the Seminary.

About this time also the attractions of the same marvellous grace
drew to the community another ecclesiastic who, though not possessed
of equal theological science, was remarkably well versed in the
Sacred Scriptures, and had an extensive and accurate knowledge of
all that related to the duties of the ministry. This was M. de
Bassancourt, already known to the reader as one of M. Olier's early
associates, and a man of considerable powers. After the dissolution
of the community of Chartres he had accompanied M. Amelote on

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138

Z^/^ ^il/. (9//^n

his mission into Normandy, and on his return to Paris lost no time
in paying his friends a visit at Vaugirard. They had felt the want
of him, at least they had a great wish that he should join them — for
(says M. Olier) '* we wanted only God " — but they had small hope
cf winning him, knowing how strongly he was attached to M. Amelote.
Nothing, indeed, was furthe. from his own thoughts. He went to
see them simply for old affection's sake, and almost for the amuse-
ment of the thing, and began by rallying them in a good-natured,
humorous way on the wonderful reform they were about to effect in
the clergy, settled down as they were, like so many hermits, in that
obscure little village. But after he had listened a while to M. Olier
his manner completely changed, and he said, " My friends, I am
convinced that I shall be more sure of finding our Blessed Lord
among you than in my mother's house. No, it is not among their
relatives that ecclesiastics are visited by His Spirit My choice is
made ; I pray you give me a ceil, and let me stay with you." Then,
aware that the house was full and seeing the dovecot at the back, he
begged them to let him occupy it. " You may do as you please,"
he said in his usual lively manner, ** but go back to my mother I
declare I will not : I sleep here to-night." They took him at his
word, called a conference immediately, and then they told him he was
their friend, their brother, and they could not deny him a request
made with such a grace.

This resolution on the part of M. de Bassancourt created much
sensation at Paris, where his family were held in high consideration,
but the public attention was even more arrested by what next followed.
M. A-melote himself paid a visit to Vaugirard and desired to be
admitted into the community. This was the < ccasion of much
embarrassment to M. Olier and his colleagues. On the one hand
they were reluctant to exclude an old associate of whose virtues and
abilities they had so intimate a knowledge, but, on the other, they
were convinced, from what both M. d'A Ferrier and M. Meyster had
said, that he did not possess the requisite vocation. Such, therefore,
was the answer they returned. M. Amelote, however, was not so
easily repelled, and renewed his solicitations with redoubled vigour,
pressing his suit more particularly on M. Olier, who (as we shall see)
shortly became superior. There was no one for whom the servant
of God entertained a warmer admiration, nor had the words of P. de
Condren lost any of their effect with him, when, on occasion of his
appearing to him after his death, he told him that M. Amelote was

■wrTiaf.MiM'

< ^ I* l> M

ii\ i r i !<■ A' i

M. de Sainte-Marie.

139

one of the two persons whom together with himself he had left
inheritors of his spirit. But neither had he forgotten that interior
voice which, in his retreat at Notre Dame des Vertus, had assured
him that this ecclesiastic was destined to serve God elsewhere.
Nothing, therefore, could shake hi- resolution. M. de Bassancourt
was most urgent in his friend's behalf, offering to endow the seminary
with an income of 4,000 livres if he were received among them.
Mme. de Brienne, also, wife of the statesman of that name and one
of M. Amelote's penitents, persevered for three years in repeating the
same request, even engaging the Queen Regent to use her influence
in the matter ; but all to no purpose. M. Olier was willing to endure
any amount of obloquy rather than go against what he believed to
be the will of Cod ; and, in fact, his refusal to receive an ecclesiastic
of such undoubted merit was made the subject of many injurious
remarks, certain ill-natured persons not scrupling to aver that it was
founded on a jealous fear of having a rival in the community. M.
Olier held his peace, never disclosing to any one except to his
director, and that under obedience, the motives which determined
him in his opposition ; for he could not have done so without at the
same time making known the divine illuminations with which he had
been favoured. His conduct was justified by the event. The
institution in which M. Amelote was called to labour for the glory
of God was that of the Oratory, which he entered eight years later,
and where he contributed more than any one to uphold the doctrines
of the Church against the pestilential errors with which, unhappily,
the greater part of that Congregation became infected. At the
request of the French clergy, he published a version of the New
Testament in opposition to that of Mons, 100,000 copies of which
were distributed by the order of Louis XIV. He also composed
several treatises against the Jansenisiic heresy ; among others a
Defence of the Apostolical Constitutions, and a Treatise on Grace, in
support of the condemnation of the five propositions. His attach-
ment to the faith and the persecutions he underwent in its defence
endeared him still more to M. Olier, with whom, and with the com-
munity generally, he continued till the day of his death bound in the
closest ties of friendship.*

M. de Bassancourt was followed by M. Houmain, more commonly
known as M. de Sainte-Marie from the name of his priory, an ecclesi-

* M. Amelote wrote a Life of Pere de Condren anu also of Sceur Marguerite
du Saint-Sacrement.

,PI»llJl»,"A'*,*|,WiW!-"*WillW'"''*W'''WvP'^"''F-^W ' HWfWJWIPf ',!WW!

140

Life of M. Olier.

astic of great merit and talents. He was of a good family, and
being of a delicate constitution, had been so daintily nurtured that
before joining M. Olier in the missions he was afraid of the slightest
exposure to cold or damp. His room was matted and carpeted,
and furnished with double hangings of cloth and paper. But no
sooner had he embraced the laborious life to which God had called
him than his health seemed to undergo a complete transforma'.ion ;
he slept on the ground like the rest, and bade adieu for ever to all
his self-indulgent ways. He had been a witness of the humiliations
which M. Olier had endured during his time of trial, and on visiting
him at Vaugirard, he was so moved by his words that he resolved
not to leave him.

( 141 )

CHAPTER X.

SPIRIT OF THE SEMINARY OF VAUGIRARD. M. OLIER'S
INSTRUCTIONS AND PERSONAL INFLUENCE.

J HE three prieslrt had been but a short time at Vaugirard when
Cardinal de Richelieu, hearing of the new establishment
surmising that its originators, with whose merits and — what
was of no smrll importance in his eyes — wjipse high connections he
was well acquainted, were among those to whom P. de Condren had
alluded in conversation as destined to vender great services to the
Church, sent his niece, the iJuchesse d'Aiguillon, to pay them a
visit in his name. He had it in contemplation to lay the foundations
of a general Episcopal seminary, and in his own mind had fixed
upon M. Olier and his associates as the men whom he wished to
employ in the execution of his plans. He commissioned his niece,
therefore, to express to them his regret that they should be so ill
accommodated In tneir present dwelling, and to offer them his own
chateau of Ruel, where they should be at liberty to live in as com-
plete retirement as they pleased ; engaging at the same time to assist
their undertaking with alj his nersoiiaj influence and the whole
weight of the royal 4Ui|ionty. So gracious an offer was received
with all the respect attd gratitude it deserved, and, had they not
been resolved to rest on no other support but that of Cod alone, they
might have recognized in this proposal of the great statcoman a
providential dispensation in their favour. But they desired to have
no human patron, and begged the Duchess to represent with all
humility to the Cardinal that, having fixed upon the village of
Vaugirard as the place where they could insure the greatest seclu-
sion, they should find it difficult to follow their vocation in the
house of a prime minister ; and that the meanness of their dwelling
rendered it only the more suiubie to their purpose.

I -a

■HlP>*;||iP»!|l#i^,JJ(!ifl5Wfp!l|WW^W!Bfwpp»I^ilWi

Life of M. Olier.

The Cardinal, far from manifesting displeasure at such a replj/j^
sought only how to give them further proofs of his confidence and
respect, particularly in regard to M. Olier, who was now (liejr riiPOl'
nized head At first, as was said, M. de Foix had a( tet| rts Bl(|/6fjf?f
of the little community, but he soon insisted on resignifif^i Ms rj/fif^e,
and M. Olier, on whom God had plainly -"at the seal of IJis apjjiuvfll,
was with one voice elected in his room. The credit .vhi<;h IiIm v\\W
duct in this matter had gained him at Court, and the eHtliiiollon Itt
which he was held by the powerful minister, attracted public ndentlon
to him and his associates, and miiny young ecclesiastics of merit
were led to join them. The first to be received al Viiii|^iiiinl were
M. Louis-Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin, then in his twenty-third

• In the Mhnoires of M. du Ferrier we have an anecdote of this great man
which may surprise those who know him only as the astute politician or iron-
handed statesman. M. Meyster, after paying a visit to his friends at Vaugirard,
went to see the Cardinal, who for several years had desired to couvei~e with so
eminent a missionary. On this occasion he oftered M. Meyster more than a
million livres for the use of the missions, and, to his astonishment, met with a
decided refusal. A circumstance so unexpected deeply moved him, and even
filled him with alarm. "But, Monsieur," he said, "has God revealed to you
that I am reprobate, and that He will not accept anything at my hands ? Tell me,
I pray you, do you think that I cannot be saved in the position I occupy ? " " My
lord," replied M. Mieyster, "we have spoken on the subject several times with P.
de Condren." "And what conclusion did you come to?" asked the Cardinal.
" We were agreed," was the reply, " that you had at your command one means of
making sure your salvation, and that ""is the power of upholding the rights of the
Churcli and procuring the nomination of good men to bishoprics." " I declare
to you," said the Cardinal, " that I am so entirely of this sentiment that I never
dream of selecting any but the most worthy and most capable men, without regard
to the solicitations or the services of relatives. I know of how momentous a
nature the matter is, and am convinced that a man would incur damnation who
should nominate to a benefice out of consideration for friends, or on account of
services rendered by relatives, as much as if he were to sell it to the highest
bidder." And, in fact, to this great minister was due the alteration that was
made in the briefs of nomination to bishoprics and abbeys. He cancelled the
fallowing wore J which before had been inserted ; ** Et pour reconnattre les bans
et agrJables set-vices rendus — And in acknowledgment of good and acceptable
services rendered,"

Truth, however, compels us to add that, notwithstanding this protestation, the
Cardinal had taken care to provide himself with the abbeys of Citeaux and Cluny,
and nearly nil the great abbeys of France ; and thai, in direct violation of the
decrees of the Council of Trent, which had forbidden that any of the principal
abbeys of an Order should be held in commendam (Comte de Montalembert : —
Les Moines d" Occident; Introduction^ p. clxvi.) It may be that he considered
himself un exception lo the rule, as being " the most worthy and most capable "
man in the kingdom.

Donation of M. Rochefort,

143

year, who two years later was promoted to the Coadjutorship of
Sens,* ard M. Gabriel de Thubiferes de Queylus (or Caylus), Abb^
of Loc-Dieu, who was afterwards one of M. Olier's most distinguished
colleagues. These were followed by M. Pierre de la Chassaigne,
Provost of the Chapter of Brioude, who entered the Society early
in the year 1642. The next was one of whom we shall have fre-
/|iient mention in this memoir, M. Antoine Raguier de Poussd. He
was the intimate friend of M. de Gondrin, and the account which the
latter gave of the sanctity of M. Olier and his great spiritual discern-
r",ent inspired him with a strong desire to see so extraordinary a
man. Accordingly, he went to Vaugirard, and a few minutes' con-
versation with the servant of God sufificed to lead him to beg with
all earnestness to be admitted among his disciples. To these
were soon added M. d'Hurtevent, who died Superior of the Seminary
of St. Iren^e at Lyons, M. de Cambiac, brother of M. du Ferrier,
and several others. All these bad concluded their studies in letters
and philosophy, and had arrived at an age which enabled the
directors to judge of their vocation : such being the express condi-
tions which P. de Condren had prescribed in the instructions which
he gave to M. du Ferrier before he died.

The community, which had consisted at first of only three indivi-
duals, now numbered twenty f members, but the Providence of God
had not failed to provide them with an adequate dwelling. Indeed,
in nothing was the munificence of the Master whom they served
more conspicuously displayed than in what occurred in this matter
of a habitation. M. Olier and his associates were not destined to be
long confined to the narrow and incommodious building which they
had chosen on first coming to Vaup^irard. They had been but a few
days in the village when M. Copin, the Cure, requested them to
take charge of the parish for a fortnight during his absence in Paris ;
an absence, however, which was prolonged to a space of nine
months. This circumstance not only placed another house at their
disposal, but was providentially so ordered as to afibrd them ample
opportunity for giving the younger ecclesiastics a thorough, experi-
mental knowledge of the duties of a parish priest, including preach-

* Sad to relate, M. de Gondrin was dismissed from the Seminary, for reasons
which will hereafter appear (P. iii, C. I.) and, on succeeding to the see of Sens,
became an ardent supporter of the Jansenists.

t Including, that is, M. du Ferrier, who acted as parish priest in the absence
of the Cure, M. Copin, and M. Picote, who was still engaged in assisting Mme.
de Villeneuve in the management of her institution.

•^mmmm

fiVllfW

144

Life of M. Olier.

! '

ing and catechising. Their ne> piece of good fortune was far more
remarkable. Near to the churc stood a large house with an exten-
sive garden, surrounded by a wall newly constructed. Finding that
the tenant, who was an official in the royal stables, never resided in
it, they proposed that he should sublet it to them. This, however,
he declined to do, but insisted on their taking up their abode in it,
all furnished as it was, merely stipulating that he should be permitted
sometimes to come and say his rosary in the garden alleys. The
house belonged to M. de Rochefort, Seigneur of Souplainville and
Grand-Vicar of the Archbishop of Auch, where he resided ; and, as
it was very commodious and in all respects suitable to a large com-
munity, they made overtures to him for the purchase of it. But
here again they were met with a refusal, the good man protesting he
would not let them have it at any price, and begging them to accept
it as a gift. This, however, they absolutely refused to do ; and, as
he saw the uselessness of persisting, he affected acquiescence, and
made over to them the house with all its appurtenances, which com-
prised several '.cres of vineyard and meadow-land, for the nominal
sum of two thousand crowns, the land alone being fully worth the
price. And then, when they proceeded to pay the purchase money,
he would not accept it, declaring that, as he had b' lueathed them
the amount in his will, he preferred leaving it in their r;ands, with-CMit
charging ihem interest.*

They had now, therefore, 'wo ^*tablishments. S'^me of the
rommunity remained at the presbyN /y for the discharge of parvthial
duties, the rest took up the-: residence at th<p house of M. de Rocr-e-
fort, where they conducted all their spiritual exercibes with tr«
utmost regularity. 1 hey began, in fact, to put in practice the

* On ihe iSth of March, "1643, M. Olier and M. de Foix bought the ^Kxue
adjoining that of M. de Rochefort, but the contract of sale wm aot isoociuded
with M. ie Rochefort himself till July 4th in the same /ear. Oti the 2mi of
March, 1096, \ thiri tenement was added, and the three buffings, united siaim*
quentlj? into J»e, foinied the Little Seminary of St. Sulpice until the year Vfff^
when it was occupied by a conrmmaity of poor scholars, called the Roberlins.
In 1453 tbe lands were sold by M. Olier 10c 5,000 livres. At the Revolution the
howe wa^ seized as national property, and iu part demolished. M. Emery, how-
ever, who was thft ninth Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, made great
personal sacrifices » order to re-purchase it ; and there at this day may be seen
ibe chamber occupsed iy M. Olier, now converted into a chapel, it subsequently
became tbe property oi the Jesuit Fathers, who placed an inscription under the
bust of M. '.Mier commemorative of his having there commenced the Seminary
and Commanity of St. Sulpice.

Opposition to his undertaking.

145

; far more
an exten-
iding that
esided in
however,
lode in it,
permitted
ys. The
iville and
; and, as
irge com-
it. But
esting he
to accept
; and, as
mce, and
lich corn-
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i^orth the
c money,
ed them

, YftthOUt

of the
Danithial

Rocr<-
■ ith UJf
:ticc the

the >oage
■yjnciiided
lie 2aci of
ted ssitjse-
^ear 1739^
l^obertMS.
•lution the
lery, howr-
lade great
ly be seen
)sequently
under the
Seminary

principal tuV:6 which were afterwai .Is observed both at St. Sulpice
and in the seminaries established in the provinces. Thus, every
evening the seminarists were given their subjects for mental prayer,
and every morning they spent an hour in making it. In the after-
noon there was a conference on Holy Scripture, at which the
directors, unless otherwise employed, were invariably present, a
custom which continued to be loUowed at St. Sulpice. M. Olier
was usually the principal expounder, and the profundity of his theolo-
gical knowledge, together with the :irofound irrsight into the mean-
ing of the Sacred Writings of which he now gave evidence, struck
all who heard him with astonishment ; so that they who but lately
had acted as his instructors voluntarily placed themselves in the
ranks of his disciples. In ail this the humility of the servant of
God became only the more apparent, while his rightful position as
head of the community was more muisputauiy recognised. " My
greatest joy," he wrote at the time, "is to see that every one is per-
suaded that what I say is not of nnvself, but of God only. I rejoice
thereat, and I rejoice the more in perceiving that of all that is done
in our little community nothmg is ascribed to any one of us, but God
alone is acknowledged as doing all things here. There is not one
among us who can give th*; world occasion to say, ' He did this or
that.' Blessed be God, wao would alone be glorified in His own
work ! Sometimes I see my nothingness and that of the whole
company in a light so fall and clear, I am so convinced of my
incapacity and my powerlessness to do anything for God, that I feel
as if all were lost, as if the whole society were going to ruin, because
there is nothing in us which can enable us to endure a moment
longer. These convictions of our nothingness, filling me with dis-
trust of ourselves, make me iook to God as the only preserver of our
society at every instant of irs existence."

M. Olier had been forewarned as to the opposition which the new
insatution would have to .ncounter, aird that to God alone must he
look for succour and sun inert ; indeed, it might have been expected
that an undertaking b^pua simply frcan supernatural motives and on
supernatural grounr ild not command general confidence and

-espect, even am. .... ^. .jd men. Why (it was said) abandon the
held of missionary .atncmr, in wrhicli so much had incontestably been
accomplished, i sake of an uncertain and speculative good

which experience t«hi proved to be unattainable ? Many also who
at first had e«mcsd a warm interest in the work disapproved of M.

146

Life of M. Olier,

Oiler's measures, and augured ill of its success. Others, who were
admirers of his zeal and abilities, and had f^xpected great things from
him, protested loudly against the infatuation which led him to bury
his talents in retirement and obscurity. The Grand- Vicar of the
Archbishop of Paris, when M. Olier paid him a visit, gravely pro-
posed that he should establish himself at Rome, and there inaugurate
an institution which should extend itself throughout the Church.
"St. Peter and St. Paul," said he, "did not remain shut up in Judea,
— they went to Rome ; and thither also ought you to go. Yes, I
repeat it, you must go to Rome ; indeed you must. Now attend to
what I have said." In such an address voice and manner are every-
thing, and the reader will be at no loss to supply them. "This
speech," says M. Olier, "surprised me not a little, as coming from
such a person and delivered with so much assurance ; " but it had
no other effect upon him.

At the root, however, of all these objections and counter-suggestions
lay the fact that every endeavour hitherto to found an ecclesiastical
seminary in France had proved a failure. Eighty years had now
elapsed since the Council of Trent enjoined the erection of semi-
naries for the education of the clergy ; many provincial councils at
different times had repeated the injunction; and yet nothing had
been done. In some dioceses the chapters had refused to move in
the matter ; in others the injunction had simply been disregarded,
or the question had been left pending. By dint of repeated remon-
strance and entreaty M. Bourdoise, the Doctor Duval, and some
others had succeeded, in 1625, in bringing the subject before the
General Assembly of the Clergy, and it was proposed to establish
four seminaries for the whole of France ; but, although the proposi-
tion met with a favourable reception, it appeared in the end so
difficult of execution that it was judged better to leave each bishop
at liberty to provide for his own diocese in such way as seemed to
him most advantageous. The question was wliat form should be
given to the seminaries, and to whom the government should be
confided. It had been the intention of the Council of Trent, as
also of those provincial councils in which the subject was discussed,
that the candidates for the ecclesiastical state should be received
into the seminaries at an early age ; but whether the selection of
subjects had been unfortunate, or those who undertook their direc-
tion were wanting in the necessary qualifications, the institutions
had cither become extinct or had degenerated into mere schools.

His acknowledged success.

St. Vincent de Paul, indeerl, in the year 1636 had established a
seminary at the CoUdge des-Bons-Enfants, but even he was forced
to confess that, owing to the youtlis being admitted before their
character was sufficiently pronounced, the experiment had resulted
in no permanent advantage to the Church. From the same high
authority we learn that other attempts had met with no better
success; that the seminaries of Bordeaux, Agen, and Rheims were
deserted, and that the Archbishop of Rouen had failed in realizing
half a dozen vocations out of all the numerous young men on whom
he had expended so much l;ibour and care. To which it may be
added that the seminary founded by M. de Ventadour in the
diocese of Limoges had not produced a single priest during the
whole twenty years it was in existence.

The Oratorians (as mentioned in a previous chapter) had been
equally unsuccessful. Their house at Paris (formerly the Abbey of
St. Magloire), which twenty-two years before had been erected into
a diocesan seminary, had not fulfilled its object, and they had found
themselves obliged to confine their exertions to giving lessons in
theology to such of the pupils in their schools as were intended for
the ecclesiastical state, and providing them with a retreat of ten days
previous to ordination ; which was all that bishops the most remark-
able for their zeal were able to accomplish. Even M. Bourdoise,
who for more than thirty years had devoted all his energies to sup-
plying the crying need of the Church, had succeeded only in forming
a community of parish priests at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet;*
and when to these we add such prelates at St. Francis de Sales and
M. Alain de Solminihac, Bishop of Cahors, each of whom had made
the attempt and had failed, we cannot be surprised that, on M.
Olier and his associates commencing their establishment at Vau-
girard, it should be regarded as a mere chimerical undertaking.

The remarkable success, however,' which attended the new
institution speedily led to an entire change of opinion, and it began

* M. Bourdoise and the ecclesiastics associated with him long remained with-
out any fixed aljode, and their poverty was so great that they wanted even the
most ordinary pieces of furniture, making the shutters of their windows serve them
for tables during the day. Cardinal de Retz employed them in '"^tructing the
younger clergy to say Mass, manage schools, &c. ; and tlie Bisliops of Beauvais and
I^on also commissioned M. Bourdoise to take the direction of ecclesiastics belong-
ing to their dioceses while resident at Paris. The Community of St. Nicolas du
Ciiardonnet was incorporated in the year 1631, but it was not until the 20th of
April, 1644, that it was erected into a Seminary.

148

Life of M. Olier,

to be acknowledged on all hands that, if any one wore able to carry
into execution a work which hitherto had appeared impossible of
accomplishment, M. Olier was the man. And, in fact, to him
belongs of right the tiilc of the founder of the first seminary ever
erected in the land of his birth, if by founder be meant one who
succeeds in maintaining what he has established,* In this was
fulfilled the prediction of the M^re Agnes de Jl-sus, when (at their
first interview) she assured him that God had destined him to lay
the first foundntions of ecclesiastical seminaries in France. True it
is that St. Vincent de Paul had made a beginning, but, by his own
confession, that beginning had no permanent results. However, he
was not to linger long in the rear ; for in this same year, 1642, with
the approbation and assistance of Cardinal de l-lichelieu, who gave
him a thousand crowns for the work, he made his first essay in
establishing a greater seminary, by admitting twelve young men into
the Colle'ge des Bons Enfants. Shortly after, the same great states-
man encouraged P. Bourgoing, General of the Oratory, to commence
three seminaries of the same kind, — one at Toulouse, a second at
Rouen, and a third at Paris ; but the first did not last more than a
year, the second was not of much longer duration, and the third had
scarcely been opened when the Cardinal died, before he had pro-
vided the necessary funds for its support.

But to return to M. Olier at Vaugirard. The foundations which
it was his design to lay were such as should be sunk deep in the
interior man, and these were, in Scripture language, the putting off
the old Adam and putting on Christ. These were the great prin-
ciples which he followed in his conduct of souls and on which he
grounded the whole perfection of his society. "We were fully
agreed," writes M. du Ferrier, *' that no good can be expected from
a seminarist unless he be firmly convinced that, to live a Christian
life and thence ascend to the ecclesiastical state, he must die to
Adam and live to Jesus Christ. This it is which must be inculcated
on all who come to us ; if they have no relish for this it is useless to
look for any good from them ; we can but say to them, * Ideo vos

* The Abb^ Faillon is at the trouble of establishing this fact at some length, in
refutation of those wlio have given the precedence, in point of time, to St. ^'incent
de Paul, M. Bourdoise, and others. He shows, also, how M. Olier's Iaboiir.> were
destined, as P. de Condren had foretold, to inspire the Congregation of the C i atory
and other societies with a corresponding zeal in the erection of ecclesiastical
seminaries.

Crucifixion of the old man.

149

non auditis, quia ex Deo non eslis ,• ' * we can but r( mind them of
the words of the Apostle to his Roman converts, ami say to them,
•Ktu V ye not that all we who arc baptised in Jesus Christ are
baptised into His death, and are buried wi:h Him, and with Him
are risen again, that we may live the life, not of the old man, but of
tlu' new ; a life of death to everything which nature, the senses, and
the world luvi and esteem ; a resurrection life, conformable with
the life of Jesus Christ, whose Sjjirit we have received ^ ' " f

It was at this time that, in obedience to his director P. Bataille,
he began to set down in writing the particular graces which he
received from God, and ail the more notable circumstances of his
life, so far as related to the progress o( his sanctification. We are
enabled, therefore, to give in his own words the instructions which
in conversation and otherwise he imparted to his ecclesiastics.
" Speaking one day " (he writes) •' to our young associates on the
necessity of crucifying the old man that the life of our Lord may be
made manifest in us, I said that "n order to give Jesus Christ com-
plete liberty to act within us, we must crucify the flesh by poverty,
suffering, and mortification ; that never would I le enable us to make
acts of humility unless we mortified the spirit and the movements of
our own pride. Whereupon one of them said to me relative to the
subject of poverty, * Is there, then, no difTerence between counsels
and precepts ? Wherein do they differ, if the renunciation of the
goods of fortune, which appears to be only a counsel, is nevertheless
necessary to us all ? ' God suggested to me the following reply : ' In
this matter of renunciation two things must be considered — interior
detachment and actual despoliation. The first is of precept ; the
second is of counsel. The first is in such wise necessary that with-
out some degree of interior detachment from earthly goods we cannot
save our souls; according to those words of our Lord which are
addressed, not to any individual in particular, but to every Christian :
Every one of you that doth not renounce all that he posses set h, cannot
be My disciple.^ % We must live in the midst of worldly goods, and
even acquire them, as if we possessed them not, without allowing
our affections to cling to them by any disorderly attachment of the
heart Whereas that which is of counsel is actually to part with
these same goods, because of the difficulty there is in not loving
them when we possess them ; as if our Lord said to us, ' I counsel

"Therefore you hear not, because you are not of GdcI." St. John viii. 47.
t Comp. Rom. vi. 3-5. J St. Luke xiv. 33.

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ISO

Life of M. Olier.

you to part with your goods in case you cannot possess them without
loving them.' This appears in those words addressed to a certain
young man who loved his possessions : Go sell what thou hast, and
give to the poor* God commands even this exterior renunciation
when there is evident peril of sin.

"A few days ago a question was put to me to which I will here
give the answer, as it does not seem to have come from myself.
One of our young associates, experiencing some difficulty in giving
up the habits of the world, and particularly in the matter of his hair,
asked me why we have such an attachment to mere trifles. I replied,
on the moment, that it has its source in self-love, and i:i the great
desire we have of pleasing the world and possessing a share in its
esteem and affection, one of the strongest and most deeply-rooted
desires in man, who is made up of pride. Now, the hair having been
given him for ornament, and conducing to a comely appearance
and consequently to making him well regarded and agreeable in the
eyes of the world and of himself — th's is why we are so extremely
attached thereto. Wiien it is cut off we feel it keenly, as thougli we
had been shorn of a portion of our self-love, and our pride had been
maimed and mutilated ; for one of our means of attracting the love
and esteem of the world has, in fact, been destroyed. The pain we
feel is a measure of the desire we have of making an appearance,
and being admired and loved by creatures. This it is to which we
must die, as I am constantly saying, seeking the love and esteem of
no one, that v/e may do no wrong to our God, who alone ought to
fill all minds and all hearts."

M. Olier exhorted his followers to kill the old man t only that he

* St. Matthew xix. 21.

+ A ludicrous story is told in connection with M. Olier's frequent repetition of
this phrase. One day he was exhorting his followers with his usual energy, and
of.en repeated the same expression: " II fatit faire niourir le vieil hotnme — (We
must put the old man to death)." The gardener's wife happened to be listening
at the door, and, thinking that "the old man" meant her husband, hastened in
a state of great consternation to apprize her spouse of the fate that awaited him.
Terrified at his wife's report, the old man resolved to quit the house that very
day, and, going to M. Olier, he r,aid with a voice almost choked with fear, " Oh !
Sir, pray give me leave to go ; my w.fe has told me everything ; I wish to live a
little longer; I know all your design." "What design?" asked M. Olier.
" Oh ! you know better than I can tell you." " But, my good friend, what do you
mean?" " Why, did you not say that the old man must be put to death? I am
old, it is true, but old age is no crime, and I am still able to support myself"
Despite the evident terror and agitation of t'le poor gardener it was impossible

Union ivilh the Intentions of Christ.

i^i

might establish within them the life of Jesus Christ, the new man,
created in justice and true holiness. This was the point to which
all his addresses were directed. With the affection of a father he
applied himself to the removal of any doubts by which their minds
were perplexed or disturt ed, as well as to the mitigation in practice
of the apparent rigour of his maxims ; and always with eventual
success. There was amongst them an ecclesiastic of excellent dis-
position and an accomplished theologian, but he had come filled
with his own ideas and furnished vnth a system of piety devised by
himself. His mind revolted at the pure spirituality proposed to him,
and he combated it with all the appliances of his theological science,
'i o punish him for his attachment to his own views, God permitted
him suddenly to lose all recollection of the knowledge he possessed ;
and when he endeavoured to reason on any subject he became
bewildered and confused. Sensible, at last, of the miserable state
to which his pride had reduced him, and unable to resist the force
of truth, he confessed himself v:.nquished ; and immediately God
restored to him all that, in chastisement of his obstinacy. He had
taken from him. and he became one of the humblest and most
obedient in the community.

The very spirit of the seminary was that of union with Jesus Christ.
"Explaining one day," writes M. Olier, "a number of questions
which had been put to me on the necessity of uniting ourselves with
our Lord in our actions, I said : — ^^'hen we unite ourselves to Him
by faith, that instant we ^re clothed with His intentions ; He resides
within us only to be entirely ours, to the end that His Father may
be glorified by us; and our works, done by the movement of the
Holy Spirit, become invested through Him with a marvellous sanctity.
Wh.at more easy than to say to God, at the beginning of all our
actions, * My God, I renounce my own disorderly intentions, and I
give myself to Thee, to perform my actions in Thy intentions, which
are infinitely adorable ' ? We may unite ourselves to the intentions
He had in doing works similar to our own ; as, for example, when
He ate, drank, slept, conversed, prayed, and the rest. Although
you know not what those intentions were, do not the less consent to
all, and desire them such as they are in themselves, and as God

for M. Olier and his companions to refrain from laughing ; but it was no easy
matter to persuade him that the "old man" whose death M. Olier had so
veiiemently demanded was nothing else but that corrupt nature which every one
ought to endeavour to mortify in himself.

•PH

152

Life of M. Olier.

knows them. The Eternal Father, seeing you would desire to have
all the intentions of His Son, and that you would be glad to give
expression to them in your interior, if you were capable, will regard
your actions with great complacency. We may unite ourselves with
the intentions of the Son of God even in actions which He never
ijerformed exteriorly on earth, for He offered them all previsionally
for us. In constituting His Church He designed to make it perform
all its works to the glory of His Father ; so that all Christians, with-
out: a single exception, are but the executors of the designs and
intentions of Jesus Christ.

"To all my instructions," he adds, "I bring no other preparation
but that of renouncing myself and my own knowledge, waiting for
what God may please to g've me for the good of His children; and
this way of acting is so efficacious and so powerful that I see them
making far greater advances in three weeks than I made myself in
eight or ten years, during which I was ignorant of the ways which it
is necessary to follow in order to arrive purely at God. I pray our
Lord to continue His graces both to them and to myself; but, if
they go on as they have begun, I cannot help persuading myself that
they must become saints. I firmly believe that God regards the
whole community v.'ith complacency, because of the purity with which
it walks and the zeal with which it labours in His service. I may even
say, in passing, that, having the consciences of all in my keeping, I
have been a considerable time without remarking in any one of them
a single venial sin. There is no longer any question here of the
things of the world, or of aught that may content the flesh, any more
than if we were living the life of the saints after the resurrection."

The conversion of the Canadian Indians had long been an object
of the deepest interest to M. Olier, and it was in this same memor-
able year (1642) that he first made the acquaintance of one who, by
his prayers and personal exertions, contributed most effectually to
the success of that holy enterprise. This was Claude Leglay, or,
as he was always called, Brother Claude, a native of Lorraine ;
of whom it is sufficient to say that his low estate and exalted sanctity,
combined with the extraordinary influence which he exercised over
the good and great, render him worthy of being classed in the same
category with Marie Rousseau. His condition in life was that of an
artisan, and he had come to Paris, with his wife and family,* to

• More particulars respecting this remarkable man will be found in the Life of
M. Boudon. He died at an extreme old age. His wife, who survived him, was

Brother Claude.

escape the effects of the dreadful famine which was then desolating
his country. Desirous only of serving God in lowliness and
obscurity, his piety and virtues acquired him a reputation, and even
a celebrity, which equalled, if it did not surpass, that of any of the
most accomplished masters of the spiritual life. His knowledge of
Divine things was truly marvellous in one who was, not only
illiterate, but compelled to labour for his daily maintenance, and
could have been imparted to him only by the immediate teaching of
the Holy Spirit. Persons distinguished both for their piety and
their rank in the world went to hear and to converse with him ;
and on Sundays and other holidays, when he was not engaged in
his work, a long line of carriages might be seen standing in the
humble street in which he lived. Men who were reckoned the
oracles of the day in religious matters were in the habit of consult-
ing him, and in 1641, when M. Le GaufTre succeeded P. Bernard in
the conduct of those works of charity to which the Poor Priest had
devoted himself, Brother Claude was induced, after much entreaty,
to enter the service of that good pastor for the purpose of assisting
him in his labours. It was then that the more supernatural portion
of his life began to develop itself. Although naturally of a lively
disposition, he was inwardly so occupied with God as to be at times
wholly withdrawn from this outer world. In the crowded streets of
Paris he remained insensible to all the din and tumult around him ;
he neither saw nor heard aught of the thousands who were crossing
his path in all directions ; in truth, he was as unconscious of their
presence and proximity as if he had been traversing a lonely, silent
heath in utter darkness. He was jostled, struck, thrown to the
ground, run over, trampled on; in an instant he was on his feet
again, and, though often bruised, and even, in appearance, injured, he
seemed to be protected and preserved from harm by an invisible
hand. He had in him the very spirit of Elias in rebuking and with-
standing evil, and a heart filled with an impatient desire to quit the
world and go to God ; " such," says M. Olier, " as the souls of the
blessed might be supposed to have if they revisited their mortal
bodies."

On the i6th of July, 1642, being the feast of our Lady of Mount

largely indebted for her support, after her husband's death, to the bounty of the
Community of St. Sulpice. She was permitted to reside in a house at Vaugiranl
belonging to the Society, and M. de Bretonvilliers left a sum of money to lie
expended upon her from time to time according to her needs.

h 4 1

! ; 1

' 5

154

L?/e of M. Olier.

Carmel, M. Olier went to say Mass at Notre Dame dcs Champs,
the church of the Carmelites.* There was a gathering of the friends
of the Canadian mission, and among them were several who were
jireparing to go to Montreal. Brc .^r Claude was also present, and
by a particular movement of the Holy Spirit — for he had no know-
ledge of M. Olier's vocation — he was led to pray all through the
Mass for two things : first, that the priest then offering the Holy
Sacrifice might attain to a perfect union with God ; secondly, that he
might become a great captain in the army of Christ, to marshal
soldiers in His service. At the same time he conceived a strong
personal affection for him, and, on meeting M. Olier in the after-
noon of the same day, he declared that in him he had at length found
the friend he had long been seeking. From that moment these two
holy men remained bound to each other in the closest ties of unioa
In this circumstance M. Olier did but find another occasion of
humbling himself, and confessing his own vileness. " It has made
me feel," he says, " more than ever that in my very self I am mere
nothingness and sin, worthy only of being hated and accursed of
God. Bpt I see, with a clearness exceeding that of day, that there
io something in me which is not myself: this it is which constrains
these holy souls to come to me, and to speak words of benediction
directed truly to our Lord."

But not only did M. Olier exercise an extraordinary influence
over those with whom he was brought into contact, he seemed to
possess a supernatural insight into the secrets of men's hearts.
Scarcely had they who came to consult him opened their lips, when
he knew, as by a divine instinct, the nature of their requests and the
state of their souls. One of the members of the community, yield-
ing to the suggestions of others, had formed the design of quitting
the society. Dissatisfied, however, with himself, he went to M.
Olier and begged him to tell him his faults. In an instant the
servant of God perceived what was in his mind, and laid open
before him his intentions in such fulness of detail that, struck with
astonishment, the man went about among his brethren declaring

• An interesting account of the negotiations by which the Priory and Church of
Notre Dame des Champs, which had belonged to the Benedictine Order, came
into the possession of the Carmelites, on their first introduction into France in
the year 1604, is given in the first volume of the Abb^ Haussaye's valuable
history of the life and times of Cardinal de Berulle. The church was taken down
to make rooni for a street called subsequently Du Val de Grace, and only the
vestibule was preserved, which at the present day forms the chapel of the convent.

miiivririiiitiii ,.

His interior lights.

155

that M. Olier had disclosed to him all the hidden thoughts of his
heart. And so it was continually. He would feel himself moved
to speak with peculiar earnestness on some particular subject, and an
hour or two afterwards one of the community would come and tell
him that the words he had uttered had gone home to his conscience
with a force he could not resist. He would address himself to some
of his young ecclesiastics when he had made his thanksgiving after
Mass, and their souls would be set on fire with divine love, and they
would be filled with an intense desire of ofiering themselves like so
many living victims on the altar of God. V>y the help of the light
within him he would solve the deepest questions of theology : some-
times on the instant ; at others, as though to remind him that the
knowledge he had was not his own but the mere gift of God, he
would be left awhile in darkness, and then, as with a sudden flash,
the truth would dart into his mind, and all would be clear to him.
" This," he says, " is my daily experience, whether in conversation
or in hearing confessions. The clearness of the light varies with
different persons, but to all I answer according to their respective
needs, with no other preparation than that of renouncing my own
spirit, waiting for whatever it may please God to give me for the
good of His children."

The same thing happened in his public preaching. One day, in
particular, — it was the Eve of the Annunciation, 1642, — he was
desired to go and prepare the people for a worthy celebration of the
feast He went at once, but with his rnind as if in a state of blank ;
he felt unable to utter a word. Twice he was on the point of avow-
ing as much ; but, accustomed to this feeling of incompetency, he
resigned himself with all simplicity into the hands of Him who gives
sight to the blind and makes the dumb to speak. Immediately his
mind was filled with light, and he spoke with so much power and
fervour that his auditors were deeply affected, and himself not least,
at the sweet and holy things that fell from his lips as he discoursed
of Jesus and Mary. Such wai, the effect of his exhortation that in
the morning the people came in crowds to confession and com-
munion, and it was between one and two o'clock in the day before
all had finished. His words also had often a wonderful application
beyond his own knowledge or intention. Thus, one Sunday, in the
fervour of his address, he broke out with a panegyric on the sanctity
of the great Patriarch St. Francis. Now, it so happened that at that

■■M

156

Life of M, Olier.

I^2l

very moment, unknown to him, there came into the church a friar
of the Order who had gone back into the world The poor culprit
was covered with confusion, and, following M. Olier into the sacristy,
stood before him with eyes cast down and as if speechless with
shame and remorse ; so cut to the heart had he been by the impas-
sioned words of the preacher, which seemed to have been directed
at himself.

Another instance was still more remarkable, and is characteristic
both of the man and of the times. It was the feast of St. James,
and he was preaching on the Gospel for the day, inveighing
with his accustomed energy against those who, like the mother of
Zebedee's sons, seek to promote their offspring to high places in
God's kingdom for the sake of the emoluments and dignities attach-
ing thereto. " Verily," said he, '* the altars of Jesus Christ would
be deserted, and the churches left empty, v/ere it not for the pride
and self-love which urge so many to enter the ecclesiastical state."
Then, lifting up his voice and carried, as it were, out of himself by
the indignation which worldly vanity and ambition ever excited in
his soul, he exclaimed, " Had this blessed Apostle been in my place,
and were he standing at this moment in this pulpit, he would have
preached against his own mother, and with Ms own lips have de-
nounced himself for having suggested the unhallowed request which
she had preferred in his behalf." In the midst of his harangue
therf came into the church his cousin, Mme. Dolu de Dampierre,
accompanied by her two sons. M. Olier saw her enter, but had no
suspicion of the object of her visit, which was nothing else but to
request him to use the influence he possessed at court to obtain
preferment for her children. When the sermon was ended, the
lady, nothing daunted by what she had heard — in all probabiUty
perfectly unconscious of any application the discourse might have
to herself, or regarding it as nothing more than one of those un-
meaning oratorical displays which it had not unfrequently been her
lot to witness in other places — paid her i* ended visit, and preferred
her request with all the confidence imaginable. The reader will
not need to be told what kind of reception she met v.'ith from her
relative ; it is sufficient to say that she retired in tears, which, we
may hope, had their source in true compunction and not in a mere
feeling of mortified pride.

The inmates of Mme. Villeneuve's establishment, as well as the

Instructions to school-mistresses and scholars.

157

children under their care, were the objects of his tender solicitude,
and we read of his collecting both mistresses* and scholars together,
and making them an exhortation which produced the liveliest effects,
and on none more sensibly than himself. He spoke to them of the
Holy Spirit, experiencing (as he says) a peculiar delight in making
Him known to souls. He adds that he scarcely ever preached on
any subject without himself, in the course of his address, deriving
lights concerning it which he had not enjoyed before ; and he
instances a sermon he delivered on the feast of the Transfiguration,
in which thoughts were suggested to him infinitely surpassing any-
thing that had occurred to his mind in his previous meditations.

* Among tliese was Mile, Bellier, whom the reader will recollect as having
been led to retire from the world by M. Olier's preaching during the mission at
llliers. In 1651 she entered the Order of the Visitation.

( 158 )

CHAPTER XI.

M. OLIER ACCEPTS THE PASTORAL CHARGE OF THE PARISH
OF ST. SULPICE. REMOVAL OF THE SEMINARY FROM
VAUGIRARD TO PARIS.

A FEW months only had elapsed since the establishment of the
seminary at Vaugirard, and the Providence of God, to which
M. Olier and his companions had wholly surrendered themselves,
was already opening a way to the fulfilment of their designs, under
circumstances which set at complete defiance all human calculations.
The parish of St. Sulpice was the most extensive in the metropolis,
being a sort of city in itself, under the jurisdiction, civil and ecclesi-
astical, of the Abb6 de St. Germain,* and had become the very
cesspool, not only of Paris, but of all France, the home and the
haunt of all that was foul and iniquitous. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon,
who resided within its limits, horrified at the disorders which met
her eyes at every turn, had prevailed on the priests of the Con-
ferences of St. Lazare to give a mission in one of its quarters. This
had taken place in the preceding year, 1641, under the conduct of
M. de Perrochel; but, although much good was effected in the
immediate locality — the concourse being so great that the mission
was obliged to be transferred to the abbey-church of St. Germain
— it did but reveal more distinctly the enormity of the evil and the
hopelessness of providing an adequate remedy by ordinary methods.
At length the Curd, M. Julien de Fiesque, determined in his despair
to relinquish the benefice whenever he could meet with a worthy
successor. His thou'^hts adverted to M. Olier, with whom he was
personally acquainted and for whom he entertained a particular

* It included the present parishes of St. Sulpice, St. Germain-des-Pr^s, St.
Fran9ois Xavier, Ste. Clotilda, St. Thomas d'Aquin, and Notre Dame des Champs,
not to mention the parish of Gros Caillou and the Hotel des Invalides. The
population numbered over 4So,cxx3 souls, being greater than that of any city or
town in France, with the sole exception of Paris.

3.i^;/--:jr^^ifcA,.<;

m he was

Marie hoitsseaus preUrnatural knowledge. 1 59

respect; many also had begun to speak of the new institution at
Vaugirard, and of the devotion of its dircctorfj ; and he seemed to
see in these men, detached from the world and living solely to (lod,
the only persons capable of executing a work which, with all his
good intentions, he had proved utterly powerless even to attempt.
An opportunity soon presented itself of soundin^j their dispositions.
Every year, on St. Mark's day, there was a procession of his parish-
ioners to the church at Vaugirard, and, as M. Copin was still absent,
it fell to the lot of the little community to preside at the usual
ceremonies. But, if M. de Fiesquc had conceived any hopes that
his proposition would be favourably entertained, he must have been
greatly disappointed, for, on the part of both M. Olier and the rest,
he met, not only with a decided refusal to undertake the charge,
but with a positive reluctance to speak on the subject. Circum-
stances, however, shortly after enabled him to renew his overture.
Vaugirard lying on the borders of Paris, some of the parishioners
of St. Sulpice came to make their confession to M. Olier and
his priests, and M. du Ferrier was accordingly deputed to ascertain
from the Cure whether he had any objection to their receiving his
people. M. de Fiesque gave his cordial consent, and took occasion
at the same time to repeat his proposal. *' If," said he, " your object
be to labour for the good of souls and to form a community of
priests, why put people to the trouble of going so far to seek you ?
Come here, where you will have everything you lack at Vaugirard,
and your friends will be near you. Besides, it will be an accommoda-
tion to me. Let M. Olier make over to me his priory of Clisson in
Brittany, of which I am a native ; the benefice brings in 1,600 livres ;
add thereto a pension of 1,400 livres, and the matter is settled."
M. du Ferrier, however, could hardly listen to him with patience,
and so they parted.

Now, Marie Rousseau (or Marie de Gournay, as she was indiffer-
ently called) resided near the church of St. Sulpice, and it occurred
to M. du Ferrier that he would pay her a visit and acquaint her with
the proposal which had been made to him ; when, to his astonish-
ment, he found that she was already in possession of all that had
occurred. " This morning, at nine o'clock," said she, " you were
with M. le Cur6 ; he was the first to begin the subject about resign-
ing his parish, and begged you to obtain M. Olier's concurrence ; "
and she proceeded to relate in detail everything that had passed.
This circumstance, as showing that the project was one in which

160

Life of M. Oiler.

Heaven was iiUcrcstcd, no doubt contributed not a little towards
preparing M. du Ferricr's mind for a favouvable consideration of the
Cure's proposal. And here it may be mentioned that M. du Ferrier
had conceived a strong prejudice against Marie Rousseau on account
of the extraordinary graces with which she was favoured, and all the
more because she was held in high estimation by many distinguished
persons. He feared there might be, not only illusion, but some-
thing of vainglory, and had no wish to make her acquaintance.
However, he had so far yielded to the remonstrances of M. Olier
and M. Picotd as to go on several occasions to see her, but some
time elapsed before he succeeded in finding her at home ; at wnich,
he says in his Memoires, he was all the better pleased. At last he
found her within, and she then informed him that every time he
had set out to visit her she had received a divine intimation of his
coming, and had been admonished to leave the house before he
reached it. And certainly (he adds) she was made acquainted in
some mysterious way with his movements, for one day s'.ie had told
him that a conference he had prepared for the seminarists, and which
no one had seen, was too strongly worded, and had suggested the
mode in which it might be cori-ected.

Ever since M. Olier and his associates had taken up their abode
at Vaugirard, Marie Rousseau had made their removal to St.
Sulpice the subject of her continual pleadings with God. On Sun-
day, the 1 8th of May, while thus engaged, she felt herself interiorly
moved to make known to M. Olier what had been revealed to her
in prayer. Accordingly, she went to him and said that the proposal
which M. de Fiesque had so often and so persistently urged upon
him was the means provided by God for carrying into effect the
work he had been called to do, — the evangelisation of a vast parish,
to the saving of numerous souls, and the formation of a seminary
whiv-h should be the parent and the model of similar institutions
throughout France. The effect of these representations on the part
of one in whose judgment he placed the greatest confidence was to
dispose M. Olier in favour of the plan proposed, and, on his com-
municating the change in his sentiments to M. de Foix and M. du
Ferrier, the three discussed the subject together ; the former marking
down with a pencil, on the back of a letter, the reasons for and
against, with the view of consulting their director P. Tarrisse.

At an early hour the next morning M. du Ferrier repaired to
Paris, where he said Mass, and then took post to Vendome, where

-"T"'".^-' « -fT ■ >""

Opposition of Friends.

i6i

keir abode
al to St.

On Sun-
interiorly
ed to her

proposal
ged upon
effect the
ist parish,

seminary
istitutions
1 the part
ce was to

his com-
nd M. du

marking
; for and
se.

paired to
ae, where

P. Tarrisse, with P. Hataillc, was holding a general chapter of his
Congregation. Day had not dawned when M. <lu Furrier left
Vaugirard, and on his way he beheld a meteor wliich seemed to
explode directly over St. Sul[»ice, and, although he knew it was but u
natural phetiomeno-i, it recalled to his memory the words of our Lord
to His disciple". : "/ saw Satan ltk( li^htnitii^ falling from fteaiin" *
and he accepte:' it as a sign that Clod would succour His Church,
and defeat all the power and malice of the devil. It was evening
before he reached Vcndome, and he proceeded at once to lay the
matter before the Father. His reply was direct and decisive : tliat
the hand of Providence was visible in the opportunity that now
presented itself of establishing a model seminary for the whole of
France, and that the affair should be prosecuted without delay.
He added that they might rely on receiving all the assistance which
his Congregation could render ; at.d this was not small> for, the
parish of St. Sulpice being dependent on the Benedictines, under
the Holy See, and altogether exempt from the jurisdiction of the
Archbishop, the affair rested ent' ely with themselves, and there
was no occasion to obtain the approval or sanction of that prelate
or of his council ; a proceeding which might have been attended
with difficulties and have provoked opposition, as it would have
been necessary, not only to convince them of the feasibility of the
undertaking, but to obtain their approval of the persons to whom
its administration should be confided, as well as of the rules af '
practices, both disciplinary and devotional, to be adopted by the
community. Fortified by this decision, M. du Ferrier, on his return
through Paris, lost no time in calling on M. de Fiesque and receiving
from him a verbal assurance of his readiness to resign his parish
into M. Olier's hands on the conditions which he had himself
proposed.

No sooner did it become known at Paris that the community of
Vaugirard were about to undertake the pastoral charge of St. Sulpice
than the greatest dissatisfaction prevailed. So strong was the con-
viction that the reform of a parish so extensive and so depraved
exceeded the powers of M. Olier and his associates, that even good
men conspired together to crush the project at its birth. But here
again the supernatural knowledge manifested by Marie Rousseau
came to their rescue. On the 22nd of May she knew by an interior
light that at that moment two ecclesiastics at the other end of Paris

* St. Luke X. 18.

l62

Life of M. Olier.

1 1

Avere concocting measures for the overtnrow of the design ; and she
imparted the fact to a person who lived with her. The next day
one ot these very ecclesiastics came to confer with her, and was met
on his appearance with these words, uttered with her usual simpli-
city ; " So, Sir, a pretty business this in which you are engaged ;
you want, then, to frustrate the work of the Lord. Yesterday,
between four and five o'clock, you and such a one (mentioning his
name) were busy enough at it. I saw how the devil, who is bent on
upsetting the work, succeeded in warj)ing your mind ; but take care
what you are r.bout." These words produced so complete a change
in the dispocftion of her visitor that he went to Vaugirard, and
himself pressed M. Olier and his colleagues to take charge of the
parish. Some even of their own immediate friends exhibited mucii
indignation at their presumption and temerity, for such they regarded
the at'empt to grapple with an evil of so tremendous a magnitude;
and M. Renar (of whom mention has been before made) proceeded
to Vaugirard for the purpose of remonstrating with them. They
listened to his protest, which was couched in no gentle terms, and
thanked him for his counsel, but assured him that they had not
acted without consulting the Divine will ; adding that they deserved
all the ill-success and confusion which he predicted, but that they
begged him to pray to God that they might have grace to profit by
their discomfiture. " Ah ! " exclaimed he, " thr^t is just what I said :
when they are warned of their imprudence, they will think they set
all straight by mr.king an act of humiliation ; and yet good people
will be despised, and piety itself decried, because these gentlemen
are pleased to undertake v;hat they will never be cble to accomplish."
When M. Olier first acceded to M. de Fiesque's i)roposal it
formed no part of his design to undertake the office of Curtf, and
he begged several of his colleagues to accept the charge, but they
one aitei' another declirad. By some, including (it need hardly be
said) Marie Rousseau, he was strongly urged ro take the office
himself, but his humility impelled him to refuse. He was afraid of
the consideration and honour which such a position would bring
with it, especially on the part of the great people of the Faubourg,
and he prayed God with all earnestness to deliver him from so great
a peril. On the Eve of the Ascension, May 28th, he went to consult
Marie Rousseau, who at once, and without hesitation, decla'-^'d that
he was himself to be Cur^ of St. Sulpice ; that such was the will
of God, and that no opposition could prevent it. She bade him,

Interposition of three Religions.

theroforc, abandon himsell courageously to the Divine pleasure, and
not be disheartened, even if nil his friends and associates were to
forsake him and follow other vocations. Siic told him at the sime
time that a person who was opposed to the undertaking would
induce M. de Fiesque to increase his demands ; which, in fact,
came to pass as she said, for he subseciuently required his pension
to be raised to i,8oo livres.

With the exception of his three original colleagues, all the priests
of the little community were of opinion that the charge of a parish
so vast in extent and so notorious for its demoralisation would be too
-^avy a burden, particularly as coupled with the establishment of an
. rclesiastical seminary in the suburbs of Paris. Their resources
were exhausted by the attempts that had been made, first at Chartres
and afterwards at Vaugirard, and the two projects combined would
involve a large exi:)enditure, for which they saw no prospect of being
able to provide. In vain did Marie Rousseau bid tlicm trust in God,
whose will tliey would be fulfilling : she could offer no guarantee
for the success of the enterprise except her own assured convic-
tions ; and in these they reposed no confidence. Nearly a month
had now elapsed and the affair had made no sensible progress, not-
vvithstandmg renewed importunities on the part of M. de Fiesque,
when an end was put to all further debating through the agency of
three religious who had been Marie Rousseau's directors^^and whom
she had made acquainted with the lights she had received from
tin> ; to time in connection with the matter in dispute. These were
P. Andre of the Petits Augustins, who was highly esteemed by
persons of piety for his great spiritual gifts, and who had known
Marie for fourand-twenty years; the Pere IgPice, a Discalced
Carmelite, who was believed to have been favoured with heavenly
communications, a man for whose virtues M. Olier entertained the
deepest respect, styling him. a great servant of God, of singular
sweetness and simplicity, whose life was truly hidden in Christ; and
a Jesuit Father, whose name is not given, but who had been for a
while the guide of her coul after P. Armand's decease. Going wO
Vaugirard to confer with the ecclesiastics there, these three religious
enumerated so many instances in which she had made known to
them the will of God in matters of the greatest moment, that the
prejudices of those who had been ignorant of her merits were
entirely removed, while they who had be.n adverse to the proposed
transfer to St. Sulpice withdrew their opposition, and it wus defini-

164

Life of M. Olier.

lively determined to conclude the negotiation with M. de Fiesque
without luriher delay. The only diflficulty which remained lay in M.
Olier's unwillingness to accept the charge of the parish. St. Vincent
de Paul and M. Bourdoise had from the first been urgent with him to
do so,* and, on his still hesitaiing, P.P. Tarrisse and Bataille, as his
directors, ordered him, under obedience, to accept the office.

No longer doubting the Divine will, the servant of God cast him-
self at the feet of his heavenly Patroness and begged her to aid him
in bearing the burden ; henceforth there was no indecision or dis-
trust. Was it objected that so srnall a body of priests would be
unable to cope with an evil of such gigantic magnitude, he answered
that God, who had inspii.id himself and his little band with the
courage to undertake the work, was able to impart the same grace to
others also, and that, if with twelve Apostles He had subdued the
world, He would not fail, even by their ministry alone, to win to
Himself this single parish, if such were His holy will. Was he
warned of the injury to health which so heavy a charge would
entail, his reply was simply that to do God's will we must sacrifice even
life itself, and that there could be no greater happiness than to die
in the exercise of charity. ''If Jesus Christ," he said, "was pleased
to give His life for the glory of His Father and the salvation of men,
who shall prevent me from sacrificing mine for the glory of the same
God, and to secure to souls the possession of those graces which He
purchased for them by His death ? " Moreo'er, a profound convic-
tion now possessed him that at length the designs of Providence
which had long ago, and all through his life, been intimated to him
with more or less distinctness, were about to receive their consumma-
tion. He called to mind the dream which had left so indelible an
impression on his memory when, nine or ten years before, he had
seen Pope St. Gregory the Great on a lofty throne, with St. Ambrose
seated below him ; while below again were seats for priests, with a
vacant place immediately beneath the latter saint, and below all,
and, as it seemed, even far below, were ranged a number of Car-
thusian monks ; and now he understood its import in its full signifi-
cance, and it was shown him that the reform of a parish so notorious
for its wickedness as that in which he was called to labour, would
be an example and a model for similar reforms, not only in Paris,
but throughout the realm. At the same time, as appears from the

* In the processes of his canonization, St. Vincent is represented as having been
instrumental in causing M. Olier to accept the charge of the parish of St. Sulpice.

Conchtsion of the 7icgotiaiion.

i6 =

writings he has left us, there was unfolded before him the whole
scheme of his vocation, involving as it did these three great objects :

1. The instruction and reformation of the people, high and low.

2. The introduction of the highest Christian maxims into the
schools of the Sorbonne, by means of those seminarists who should
jjroceed to the doctorate.

3. The formation of young ecclesiastics for all the functions of the
sacred ministry.

It was on June 25th, during the octave of Corpus Christi, that the
agreement for the transfer of the parish was finally concluded, of
which, however, M. Olier was not to have actual possession until the
arrangement had been sanctioned by the Holy See. But so assured
was he of the Divine will that, with the approval of his director, P.
Bataille, he had already hired a house adjoining the Presbytery,
where he was preparing to receive the ecclesiastics who had been
admitted at Vaugirard. On July 31st he had an interview with the
Abbe de St. Germain, Henri de Bourbon,* who welcomed him with
every demonstration of regard. On the same day he made a solemn
l)rotestation of perpetual devotion to the service of the parish on
behalf of himself and his colleagues ; and he notices, as a remarkable
coincidence, that twelve members of his society came also on that
day to the church of St. Sulpice for the same purpose, without having
communicated v'ith each other, as though to ratify severally, one by
one, the oblation which he had made in the name of alLf

* It is worthy of note in how many instances men like this Abl^/J de St.
Germain were constrained, as it were, to co-operate in the reform of those very
abuses of which they were themselves the most flagrant examples. Henri de
Bourbon, Marquis de Vemeuil, was a natural son of Henry IV. Although he
had never received holy oiders, he was given the see of Metz, and held nine rich
abbeys in addition to that of St. Germain, the revenues of which he squandered
in luxurious living at Paris, even at a time when the people of his diocese were
dying by thousands of famine. In i6;8 he married. Many of the great abbeys
of F-ance were held by laymen and even by Protestants : that of Fontgombault,
for instance, was in the possession of ^ Protestant family for nearly a hundred
years {Histoire Du Berry, T. I. L. XI.). ' )ften, too, they we^e farmed out by the
holders in order to raise money for their lavish expenditure. For some very gross
examples of this iniquitous and most scandalous abuse of ecclesiast.cal patronage
the reader is referred to Montalembert, Les Moines d" Occident: Introduction,
Chap. VII. p. clxi.-clxvii.

t This act seems to have been accepted by the Divine Goodness, for from M.
Olier's days to our own the Cur^s of St. Sulpice have always been .nembers of the
Community. Indeed, so essential t® the spirit and object of ihe institute has this
connection between the seminary and the parish been considered, that in 1802,
when the house was takeu down, M. Emery, the Superior, preferred purchasing,

■.:..l.-';t;wfj?i'^

I i

I '

1 66

Lt/e of M. Olier.

The position of parish priest had become so contemptible in the
eyes of the world, or, in other words, of worldly ecclesiastics, that no
one of good birth would condescend to assume the office. Persons
of quality who entered holy orders were content with nothing short
of being bishops or abb^s, or of possessing some benefice which
yielded revenues sufificient to enable them to live in affluence,
frequent the Court, and make a figure in society. Even the largest
and mos important parishes in Paris, as we learn from P. Rapin, ci
the Company of Jesus, were served by priests who had been brought
from the provinces ; a Cur^ being regarded as belonging altogether
to an inferior caste. It was, therefore, with infinite disgust that M.
Olier's relatives learned that, after refusing a bishopric to which a
peerage was attached, he had actually accepted the charge of this
country parish, for so they regarded one of the faubourgs, or suburbs,
of Paris. That a scion of their house, who might have appeared at
Court with all the pomp and circumstance of a prelate of the Church,
should be seen walking the streets of the capital in the garb of a
humble Cur^, appeared to them a studied personal affront. They felt
themselves positively aggrieved and outraged by conduct so unseemly,
ana his mother, accompanied by his eldest brother, went to Vau-
girard for the purpose of formally remonstrating with him on the dis-
grace he was bringing on himself and his family. Finding all their
expostulations unavailing, Mme. Olier, in her indignation, forbade her
son ever to set foot again inside her doors ; while that true child of
God, though deeply wounded in heart, so far from imputing blame,
sought even to excuse the unkindness with which he had been treated.
■ 'I can hardly bring myself to tell you," he said, writing to P. Bataille,
" what I have suffered from my mother and my eldest brother ; and
yet I will say nothing to their prejudice, for they only do what they
think is right. They are far more free from guilt than I am in my
most ordinary actions. I believe them to be quite innocent in this
matter ; they think I am doing something unbecoming a man of
my birth." His youngest brother alone seemed capable of appre-
ciating his conduct, for, thanks to M. Olier's counsels and assistance,
he had unlearned and now estimated at their due value the false
maxims of the world.*

at his own expense, a building within the limits of the parish to accepting a more
commodious habitation, which was ofTered him on peculiarly advantageous 1>erms
in another quarter of the town.
* M. Olier had the happiness of leading his eldest brother to repentance, and

His sentiments 07i the pastoral office. 1 67

The following extract from the Mimoires of this devoted pastor
will show with what sentiments he entered upon the sacred duties of
his ministry : —

" I remember saying to one of our missionaries, more than six
or seven years ago, that the fruits produced by missions were but
an earnest and a beginning of 'that which must be done in the
Church at large. The mission serves only to purify hearts and
lead men to repentance, not to inculcate Christian sentiments and
teach Christian practice. This must be done by familiar addresses,
catechisings, meditations, and retreats. I experience in myself such
a vehement desire of exhibiting to men the vanity of the world, the
obligation which lies upon us of dying to its maxims, its manners, its
laws — in a word, to everything which is not God and Jesus Christ,
His Son — that I am unable to restrain it; it excites in me sometimes
a sort of holy rage ; it is a participation of the horror which Jesus
Christ had for the follies and vanities of the world. I feel such a
passionate desire to expose them before the eyes of men that I see
no other means of satisfying it than by availing myself of the occa-
sion offered by Providence in the parish of St. Sulpice. This desire
becomes still more inflamed when I reflect that all our greatest people
reside in that parish ; and then I rejoice at having the opportunity,
so long coveted, of showing them their vanity and disabusing them
of their errors. All our Company are burning with the same zeal, and
long to go into that faubourg and make God known there. Ah ! if
the exercise of the pastoral office inspires us with such sentiments of
zeal and devotion as the mere prospect of it has generated in our
hearts, I hope that our great Master will find therein His honour
and glory. ... I experience such a mighty desire to save all the
world, and to spread abroad zeal for the love and glory of God in
all hearts, that fain would I have a thousand emissaries whom I
could send to carry everywhere the love of Jesus Christ My heart
is all consumed with zeal when I think of the profession which the
prieats of our little society will make — a profession of servitude to

of disposing him for death. Frangois Olier died in the month of March, 1644,
after filHng the offices of Maltre des Requetes, President of the Grand Council, and
Director of Mines. His youngest brother, Nicolas- Edouard, who was indebted to
him for many acts of generous affection and solicitude, died suddenly on the 27th
of November, 1669. In the GMalogies des Mattres des ReqiiHes he is described as
Counsellor of State, Secretary of his Majesty and of his finances, Grand Audiencier
of France, Seigneur of Fontenelle, of Maison-sur-Seine, of Touquin near Rossy
in Brie, &c. His wife was Mme. Ren^e de Thurin.

■i4 Ji^.'-V.-^t^-

*:*-v^--^

1 68

Li/e of M. Olier,

Jesus Christ and to the Church His spouse. She is a spouse whom
He loves supremely ; a body all of whose members He has espoused,
that He may give Himself to each one in particular with as much
love as to all united. Who would not wish to love her whom Jesus
Christ so loves ? Who would not wish to serve her whom He Him-
self does not disdain to serve? Therefore it was tl.?t 5t. Paul
said,* ' VVe proclaim ourselves your servants for the love of Jesus
Christ' And so we also have had the thought, through the mercy
of God and in conformity with the sentiments of our Lord who
came to be the servant of His Church, of dedicating our labours to
her irrevocably in this parish, ever ready to shed our blood to the
last drop, after His example. I pray Him to order our life in this
wise, that we may devote ourselves to the salvation of His flock
in very deed, and not by word or writing only." And again, he says
that, when hearing confessions one day at Vaugirard, he regarded
himself as the servant of every soul that came to him, and it was
signified to him interiorly that this was the spirit which should
animate him in his parochial duties at St. Sulpice : " I ought to
look upon every soul as my queen, and consider myself as the com-
mon servant of all, ever ready to minister to every one according to
his needs, being verily and indeed the servant of the whole Church,
and of the parish of St. Sulpice in particular. I am no longer my
own, I am the property of all, having sold and devoted myself to
their service."

On the 4th of August, in order to prepare himself for entering on
the duties of the pastoral office, M. Olier commenced a retreat t under
the direction of P. Bataille, in which he was inspired with an extra-
ordinary love of crosses and humiliations, and with an intense desire
to suffer a thousand deaths, if thereby he might promote the glory
of God and the sanctification of souls ; regarding himself, in his
sacerdotal office, as another Jesus Christ, sent by the Eternal Father
to make the continual sacrifice of himself for the good of his flock.
It was at the same time revealed to him that grievous trials awaited
him in his new position.

He was still in retreat when information was brought to him that

* Comp. 2 Cor. iv. 5.

+ A summary of his meditations during this retreat, as committed to writing by
himself, will be found appended to this chapter. They exemplify, in a remark-
able manner, the spirit with which he was animated in undertaking the pastoral
charge, and which he succeeded in infusing into the members of his community.

Inihiclcd as Cure' of St. Sulpice.

169

M. de Fiesque, wishing to avoid all explanations with his parish-
ioners, had suddenly resolved on quitting St. Sulpice before the
feast of the Assumption. The news had not taken him by surprise,
for, while engaged in prayer, the Blessed Virgin had said to him, " It
is my wish that you should assist at my triumph ; " in allusion to the
solemn procession which would be made in her honour at St. Sulpice
on that day. Several of his colleagues were averse to anticipating the
approval of the Holy See, but the Benedictines of St. Germain, unwill-
ing to let ' parish remain without a pastor, desired that he should take
provisional possession without delay, and fixed the loth of August,
beingthefeast ofSt. Laurence, for his induction. P. Bataille also gave
his counsel to the same effect. Accordingly, without further prepara-
tion, M. Picot^ and M. du Ferrier proceeded to take up their abode
in the Presbytery ; the removal being conducted with such haste that
they had not even time to lay in provisions. This was on Saturday,
the 9th of August, and the next day M. Olier was to enter on his
ministrations. Providence, as he says, seemed to give Its approval
of what was being done, for, having need of one on whom he could
rely for managing some affairs of importance relative to the transfer,
a person came and offered his services who was so eligible in every
respect that, had he had a thousand to choose from, he declares he
could not have made a happier selection. The Saturday was spent
by him in paying visits of respect to some of the great ladies in the
parish, but, previously to setting out, he went to present himself
before his heavenly Patroness in order to know her will and obtain
her blessing. " It seemed to me," he says, " as if she wished me to
look upon those I visited simply as her representatives ; and this is
what I sensibly experienced. I paid no regard to creatures, my
mind being occupied with the thought of the Blessed Virgin, and of
her alone, all the time I was addressing them." He then blesses the
Divine goodness for prompting an act of thoughtful kindness which
relieved him of a heavy sorrow. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon came
and offered to go, with the Princesse de Cond^ and other ladies, to
call upon his mother, and by their personal civilities endeavour to
appease her anger, and make amends to her for the loss of honour
which she conceived she had incurred by the conduct of her son.

M. Olier had hoped that P. Tarrisse, as Superior-General of the
Benedictines, would have been present in person at his induction
and given him formal possession of the church, but, being absent
from Paris at the time, he was represented by P. Bataille and another

170

Life of M. Olier.

■ \ !

religious. When they led him to the altar and he stooped to kiss it,
he seemed (as he says) to become at that moment the spouse cf his
Church ; he felt as though he were charged with the sins of the whole
flock, and bound henceforth to share its sufferings and woes, to be
its advocate and protector, and to have only one object and one will,
that of procuring it all imaginable blessings and investing it with all
possible beauty ; that, as St. Paul says,* he might present it to God
without spot or wrinkle. " Ah, my God," he exclaims, " what a grace
to choose me from the midst of sinners, from the dregs of humanity,
from the mire and filth of my sins, to exalt me to this high, holy,
and divine dignity of pastor and s[)ouse of the Church ! To Thee
alone does this dignity and title of right belong. How blind is the
world, how depraved, miserable, and ignorant, which judges so
unworthily of the true glories of God, when in its blindness and
stupidity it thinks that a cure of souls is nothing — that it lowers the
dignity of a man of good birth — and believes, vile and wretched as
it is, that an origin which dates from Adam, mere birth, accompanied
with imaginary goods, riches and honours, is something worthy of
esteem ! "

The first act of his pastoral office was performed at his youngest
brother's house. A gentlewoman belonging to the household, who
believed herself to be indebted to his prayers for her deliverance
from a grievous malady, having married a parishioner of St. Sulpice,
M. Olier was invited to the nuptial feast, and at the end of the repast
he felt moved to give the newly wedded couple some instructions on
the duties of their state ; thus changing, as he says, the tasteless
water of earthly pleasures into the rich wine of God's word. He
seemed to receive a particular grace for the occasion, the influence
of which was felt by all present, the husband testifying to the joy of
his soul in terms suggested by the Gospel : " You have given us a
delicious draught, far better than the first ; you have kept the good
wine to the last."

On the feast of the Assumption took place that event which was to
be the source of untold blessings to the Church of France, the
establishment of the Seminary and Community of St. Sulpice.
Early in the morning the ecclesiastics of Vaugirard repaired to the
residence prepared for them, and later in the day High Mass was
celebrated, at which, by P. Bataille's express desire, M. Olier,
surrounded by his clergy, offered the Holy Sacrifice and afterwards

* Eph. V. 27.

Establishmenl of the Seminary.

171

conducted the procession in honour of the Queen of Heaven. All
through the Mass, and especially at the moment of communion, he
had so intimate a sense of the presence of our Lord that his soul
seemed to swoon and grow faint with the excesses of divine love. *' I
had no longer either strength or feeling," he says, '* and the thought
of the most holy Virgin throned in glory served but to increase
the flames, and to kindle stiil more those consuming heats." lie
preached the same day, taking for his text the first words of our
Lord's Sermon on the Mount : " Deati pauperes spirilu, </uom'am
ipsorum est regnum cceloruin."* "To-day," he began, "this pro-
phecy of our Lord Jesus .iceives its great fulfilment, whereon we
behold exalted into heaven her who was the humblest of creatures
on earth." His heavenly Mistress seemed to rejoice in making him
a sharer in her glory on this her day of triumph. Swept away for
ever from the memories of men were the humiliations by which the
servant of God had been tried in the day of his abasement, and they
who had despised and mocked at him now came and did him
rever-i-nce. Persons holding office in the State, several even of his
own relatives, whose influence might prove of the greatest advantage
to the cause of religion, were forward in testifying their admiration
and respect. The members of his own immediate family were filled
with amazement when they perceived how one who fled from
honours and the notice of the great was pursued with praises and
applause, when they heard themselves congratulated on possessing
such a relative, and beheld men and women high in rank and repu-
tation hastening to offer him their services or place themselves
under his direction. He meanwhile, though he blessed the good-
ness of God in thus removing obstacles from before him, and giving
him that support and authority which he needed in the execution of
his arduous ofiice, nevertheless estimated all these tokens or pro-
mises of success at their true value; and when, on the 27th of
August, the feast of the Translation of St. Sulpice,+ he preached

• " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." St.
Matthew v. 3.

t The translation of the relics of St. Sulpice from the monastery at Bourges
took place on the 27th of August, 1518; and, owing to the numerous miraculous
cures which continued to be wrought at the shrine, that day was observed by the
people with greater solemnity and devotion than the feast of the Saint, which
occurred on the 17th of January. In M. Oiler's own days, the iron bedsteads
were still to be seen, in the vaults of the church, on which the sick were laid to
pass the night before the Saint's relics.

ii^ibW", .-.■.^.-.■'u.

172

Life of M. Oiicr.

before a crowded audience, among whom were many doctors of the
Sorbonne and other ecclesiastics, on the greatness of the sacerdotal
office and the duties of the pastoral charge, anr'. men celebrated for
their theological science thronged about liim to express the satisfac-
tion with which they had listened to his address, so far from showing
contentment at the effect he had produced, we find him saying, in
that record of his life to which such constant refe'cnce has been
made, " It seems to me that as yet I have not preached in the full
light of God, and in the energy of His pure word, as by His mercy
I did heretofore. I hope that Jesus Christ, my Master, will one day
bestow this grace upon me, and I have a confidence that He will.
This will be when I shall have received my bulls of institution from
Rome, for that is the time at which I begged God to give me His
Spirit that I may be able to acquit myself of the charge intrusted to
me. Indeed, 1 feel that I am awaiting this assistance, and that, if I
now perform the functions of parish priest, it is but by anticipation,"
The Bulls of institution to which the servant of God attached so
much importance arrived, as he had hoped, within the octave of our
Lady's Nativity, a circumstance which afforded him a sweet and
lively satisfaction ; and, as always happened to him on that festival,
he experienced a sensible renewal of zeal and fervour. But he was
to be fitted and prepared for the discharge of his sacred office by a
favour (as he regarded it) of quite another kind, — a sudden and very
grievous malady, which brought him to the borders of the grave,
but only (as his biographer expresses it) to exliibit in a clearer light
the perfect renovation which was being wrought within him. Of
that interior work of grace he writes in his Memoires, " I may say,
to the glory of God, that this malady was extremely profitable to me
in helping me to die to the world and to myself, sweetly disposing
me to live only for God — the life that may be truly called a new life,
the life of the Resurrection. During this illness I felt throughout
my body a great weakness and sinking, which I offered to my God,
with great joy, for the salvation of souls, enduring it with much
patience and love. In this state, I beheld myself as brought to
naught before God, like a poor victim, covered with all the sins of
the world and praying for their remission with my whole heart. God
permitted that during all that time I should experience most im-
portunate temptations of secret pride and self-love, in order that I
might die thereto, having henceforth no object save His glory, no
de.sire save that of honouring Him by serving Him, free from all

If is twofold vocation.

173

s'^lf-seeking. For it pleased the Divine Goodness to change those
dispositions in which I had been during the course of my iUncss,
and to say to inc on the 21st of September, the feast of the glorious
St. Matthew, that it was His will that I should enter on a new life :
that I should be more gentle, more patient, more charitable than
ever ; that I must renounce every sensible satisfaction in this life,
according to what I have heretofore observed in the life of such
("hristians as are dead to this present life and live only for the other,
experiencing no consolation or joy except, like the blessed, in the
sight of God and the interests of His glory. And, through this same
goodness, God renewed in my soul the disposition in which He had
called me to His divine service; to wit, a very great desire of His
ulory, founded on my own annihilation, endeavouring to promote
in every possible way the great glory of God, without myself appear-
ing therein in any manner whatever, without being myself spoken
of or thought of in any way, attributing all the honour and glory
of His work to God alone, without the creature having any part
therein."

Such were the sentiments with which the soul of this true priest of
God was filled, as he lay under the weight of what appeared to be
a mortal illness ; and, indeed, the rumour was widely spread abroad
that M. Olier was dead. But for himself, he was all along assured
that he was not doomed to die ; for, as he told his director, P.
Bataille, he had received a divine intimation, some time be.'bre, that on
the day on which he attained his thirty-fifth year he should be made
a bishop, which hie interpreted to mean a pastor of souls.* And
strange to say, contrary 10 all appearances, on the 20th of September
the malady left him as suddenly as it had seized him, and on the
2ist he was formally installed as Cur^ of St. Sulpice, Dom Tarrisse
now presiding at the ceremony. It was like a resurrection from the
dead, so unexpected and so complete was his return to health and
to vigorous activity ; as though he was now at Itngth entering on the
life to which the Providence of God had destined him.

The work which M. Olier was called to do was, as we have seen,
twofold ; for he was not only to establish a seminary for the training
of ecclesiastics, and to unite therewith a community of priests who
should discharge all the ordinary functions of parochial clergy, but
with this double task, hitherto found impracticable, he was to com-

* "Episcopum vero, id est, inspectorem, visitatorem, et (ut I.aiiae verlunt
(|uidam) curatorem." Estius in B. Petri Epist. I. c. ii. v. 25.

[41

174

Life of M. Olier,

bine another from which the stoutest hearts might well have shrunk
back appalled, that of reforming the most vicious parish in the whole
city of Paris. The several works went on together, but for the sake
both of clearness and of completeness we shall treat them sei)arately,
and, reserving to the third part of this biography the history of the
measures he pursued in the formation and sanctification of his clerj^y
and of his successes in establishing seminaries in various cities of
Fran j, shall confine ourselves in that which follows to an account of
his Apostolic labours in the evangelisation of the people committed
to his pastoral care.

SUMMARY OF M. OLIER'S MEDITATIONS DURING HIS RE-
TREAT, PREPARATORY TO ENTERING ON THE PASTORAL
CHARGE.

"On the 4th of August, being the feast of St. Dominic, my director gave me
for my subject of meditation the importance of succouring souls, and the zeal I
ought to have for their salvation, after the example which the Son of God left to
all the pastors of His Church. Addressing myself, then, to prayer, I saw that
this great love of our Lord for souls had its source in that which He bears His
Father. That the glory of His Father is His great and only desire, and that,
sieing souls who might glorify Him eternally. He loved them from this motive ;
He willingly left the bosom of His Father, He quitted His own proper glory, and
huml)led Himself even to conversing with men, not disdaining to share their
poverty. Tiiat to render them capable of honouring and glorifying God His
father, He endured so many labours, watchings, and sufierings, and in the end
the ignominious death of the Cross. That, as this death would open Heaven to a
multitude of souls who should render to God an immortal glory, He would for
this end have given a hundred thousand lives, and have suffered a hundred
thousand deaths. Nay, more ; that His deaih appearing to Him as nothing in
comparison with this glory, no pains, no sufferings were sufficient to satisfy the
immense desire He felt of promoting it.

" While I was occupied with these thoughts, it pleased the goodness of Jesus,
my only Master, to communicate to me something of these sentiments, so that I
felt my heart all on fire, and experienced the most ardent desires to give my God
a thousand lives, and a hundred thousand millions of lives, if that were possible,
to procure some accession to His glory. This divine communication, which came
to me quite suddenly, lasted almost the whole time of my prayer ; there was no
circumstance in the life or death of my Master which, as I contemplated it, I did
not desire closely to imitate, and which I did not resolve to practise, with the
approval of my director. My Saviour not only desired to die a thousand times
for His Churcli, He desired also to give Himself to her as food ; and this He
accomplishes daily in the Most Holy Sacrament. Of this de.-ire, likewise. His
gci dness made me partaker. If I have not the happiness of shedding my blood

His Meditations during Retreat.

175

fur the Churcb, I will be, at least, lier living victim, to serve for her nourishment ;
I must po-i»css nolliing wiiich is not hers, — al)ove all, my woihlly ^;oo<ls, which
niust be devoted to the support of the poor of ihis great parisii. It shall be my
desire, moreover, after having given the day to labour, to spend the night also in
prayer before the Most Holy Sacrnuicnt. I entreat my din-ctor not to deny me
this favour, fur which I have >ighed so long — at least, togr.mt me the boon some-
times. I desire to imitate in this the piety of my good Master towards I lit
Father, and to be like tliosc lamps whose lot I have so often envied, that my life
may he consumed ft)r the glv)iy of God and of Jesus Clirist His S'>n.

"This morning, when preparing to say Mass, I felt in my heart an ardent
desire to be in as many places as there are Ilostn in all the worlil, that everywhere
I might glorify CIcmI : this also is the disposition of my Jesus, the Host (or
Victim) of God, As I was about to offer the Holy Sacrifice in honour of the
great St. Dominic, who, by means of his Order has L.en, as it were, dispersetl
and multiplied throughout the world for so many ages, as often as there have been
good religious in his community — wliich is as a vessel of fire to burn and consume
heresies and rekindle fervour in the hearts of the faithful — I be-out;lU God tliat
He would bestow on all parishes, and on every place where my Master reposes in
the Tabernacle, good pastors who should be ever vigilant in guarding and honour-
ing this divine and adorable treaHure, and should know how to dispense it in a
manner worthy of its infmite sanctity. O Lord Jesus, true Pastor of the universal
Church, apply a speedy remedy to her needs ; raise up men who may renew the
divine Order of St. I'eter, the Order of pastors, with as much love and zeal as St.
Dominic established his Order in Thy Church. Inflame with the fne of Thy love
and of Thy devotion others, again, who may carry and spread it through all the
world. Were I not so wretched and so proud, were I not a very sink of fdlh and
corruption, how willingly would I offer myself to Thee to be employed in any
wny that might please Thee for the good of Thy Church ; how heartily would I
offer and devote myself, even as at this moment I do, as a worthless vessel to be
])ut to any use, and to become whatsoever Thou willes^l I am Thine without
reserve. I am Thy slave, O my Jesus. I have vowed to Thee an absolute
servitude, and what I have done is irrevocable ; and now I give myself up anew
and for ever, not reserving to myself any right to revoke the offering which I
make of myself to Thee. Dispose of me according to Thy good pleasure, as an
absolute lord and master disposes of his servant and his slave. Of myself I can do
nothing. Thou only, O Lord, who art almighty, canst produce anything out of
my wretched nothingness.

"On the second day of my retreat I had for the subject of my meditation this
truth : The pastor of souls must be a Jesus Christ on earth. Our Lord showed
me that I must produce fruit in souls by example ; that they are not to be ruled
by commanding, but by touching hearts by means of all the Apostolic virtues, and,
above all, by sweetness and humility; that being, as I am, the greatest sinner, I
must be the most humble of all my flock ; being burdened, moreover, with the
innumerable sins af all this people. This good Master di.sposed me yesterday,
during the reading at supper, to this last thought of which I speak, drawing my
mind to dwell on the command which God gave St. Peter, the universal pastor of
the Church, — to eat of all the creeping things contained in that mysterious sheet.*
Whence He taught me that, participating in the sins of the whole Church, I ought

* Acts X. 10-16.

176

Li/e of M. Olier,

to do penance for her, and weep for her sins as for my own, seeing that I am her
spouse ; for tlie spouse shares the debts as well as the goods and possessions of
his consort. It is also said that this holy Apostle wept continually, not only for
his own sins, but likewise for the sins of his spouse ; for whom he implored
pardon, giving her at the same tin^e an example of penance, that she inight
imitate him in weeping for her own sins : the true and lawful wife ever shares the
sentiments of her husband.

" I learned also that our Lord, seeing Mirnself loaded with the sins of the whole
world, refused all consolations during His mortal life : never once v.'ss He seen to
laugh ; and not even the society of His holy Mother could divert Him from this
abiding sorrow. He went on His way as though the impetuous torrents of our
sins were perpetually rushing ia upon Him and overwhelming Him ; He wept
without ceasing in His Heart, doing penance for His people, and imploring
pardon continually for them in His prayers For although these were not the only
afTeclions m which His soul was engaged, seeing He was filled also with the love
and praises of His Father and with gratitude for the blessings granted to man,
yet the spectacle of our sins was ever before His eyes, and this kept Him con-
tinually plunged in affliction. As I entertained myself with these thoughts, it
pleased the goodness of my Master to communicate to me this interior disposition,
and I scemeci to be wholly possessed with it, feeling expeiimentally, not only this
speci js of sadness, but also the deep humility in which I ought to live, and the
lowly sentiments which ought to accompany that state ; in fine, it seemed to me
that I ought to be prepared in mind to suffer with the most perfect sweetness
every conneivable outrage of which I might be made the object.

*' On the third day of my retreat, continuing my meditation on the imitation of
our Lord, of whom I was to be the living representative before the eyes of the
faithful, I perceived that I ought to imitate His modesty. Now, this modesty
has for its principle the respect due to God, and proceeds from the Holy Spirit,
who, when He has possession ot the body as well as of the soul, composes and
keeps it in a state of perfect recollection, thereby inspiring all beholders with
piety, and darting forth as many arrows of the love of God as there are hearts
susceptible of the movements of charity. It must not be mundane in its nature,
or the effect of self-complacency : this is the aHected modesty of the old man ; on
the contrary, it must be a virtue of the new man, an exterior composure which
has its source in that of Jesus Christ Himself, who, dwelling in us, dilTuses it over
our whole person, regulating 01 r exterior after the pattern of His own — our very
gait, our manner of speaking, eating, and all else : this is v/hat is called Christian
modesty. The excellence of this virtue appears in the powerful results which it
produces, as in winning hearts and leading them to God ; in a word, all those
admirable effects of which St. Paul speaks (2 Cor. x. i) when he beseeches the
faithful 'by the modesty of Christ,' so mighty in inPuence over the minds of men.

"To-day I was taught that in the mystery of the Trunsfiguration, which we
celebrated yesterday, our Lord spoke of His cross to show that He came princi-
pally with this object, to preach it to men, and that, moreover, as an excellent
Master, He came to teach us the practice of it. This is why it is written in the
Gospel of the day (St. Luke ix. 30, 31), ' Dicehant * excessum ejus — They spoke of
His decease : ' here ia the teaching of the Cross ; ^ quern compleUtrus erat in Jeru-

* Quoting fro.n memory, M. CMier wrote I.oquthatur instead of Dicehant, his mii.d, no doubt,
reverting to the words loquebantur cum iilo in the previous verse.

His Meditatiojis iuring Retreat.

1/7

saUm — wbicli He should accomplish in Jerusalem :' here is the confirmation of
tne teaching by example. Yesterday, in my prayer, I beheld our Lord trodden
under foot, struck, thrown to the grounc, by the Jews, and I beheld myself in the
same condition, treated in like manner by the world. At the same lime I con-
templated the interior disposition cf our Lord, whilst He v;as enduring all these
afflictions and sufferings. It was all ineffable sweetness and patience, a continual
s.iying to Himself that He well merited this treatment, seeing He had taken the
sins of all upon Himself; I saw that He had laden Himself, not only with the
sins which men have vommiited against Goc!, but with all those of which they
liave been guilty towaids their neighbour, as robbery, treason, all the infidelities
which thieves, servants, and subjects can commit against men, masters, and king ,.
Now, as a thief, or a faithless servant, taken in the very act, is maltreated and
loaded with insults and ignominies, I learned that our Lord, having loaded Him-
self with all thece kinds of sins, was pleased to bear the penalty and the just
chastisement of them with equal sweetness and patience, and that so I also ought
to resolve to bear all kinds of ignominies and insults, (.eeing that I was taking on
myself the sins of all my flock, and to abandon myself as a victim into the hands
of Divine Justice, to receive on my own person the chastisements destined for
them.

"I cannot refrain from manifesting the love which our Lord gave me for His
Cross during my pr.iyer, and the great joy He caused me to experience in assuring
me that in roy ministry at St. Sulpice, on which I am about to enter, I should have
a large sha'e in it. This assurance quite transported me with joy, and constrained
me to ofTer myself to His love with ardent aspirations and words like those of St.
Andrew : • O bona Crux, diu desiderata I — (O good Cross, so long desired !).'
To confirm me in the promise of this grace, it pleased God to renew before my
mind the vision of a cross which He had already shown me, and which I am to
carry when it is His will to lay it on my shoulders. I believe it is approaching,
for I have heard that there is n certain person who is violently incensed against
me, and threatens to publish libels against us, of which our director, it would
appear, has already had some intimation. This morning, when I was engaged in
fervent prayer, and was meditating on self-abandonment to crosses and sufferings,
word was brought me that the Cur6 of St. Sulpice had retracted his promise con-
cerning the transfer of his parish ; then, without experiencing any movement of
disappointment, I said to the bearer of these tidings, ' This news is very welcome,
blessed be God for all things! * The goodness of my Master is thus pleased to put
me in dispositions the most fitting to receive such crosses as on thatp!>.rlicular day
I le had designed for me. The news, however, proved to be false.

"Ah ! Lord, now that I see myself charged with the sins of all this people, said
to be the most depraved in the whtle world, if in Thy mercy Thou wouldst inspire
me with those sentiments of humility, confusion, and self-annihilation which I
ought to have by reason of this burden, O my Saviour, I would imitate Thee in
Thy deep humiliation. Alas ! ought I not to take great nhame to myself, that,
being Thy representative in the Church, I should have nothing in me which
represents and reflects Thy virtues? On Friday, August 8fh, in my morning
prayer, I had so clear a perception of my own nothingness, and so intimate a
conviciion of it, that I said to my Master, that, but for my hope that He would
Himself support for me the burden about to be laid upon mc, I should fly to the
ends of the earth rather than accept it, having in myself only nothingness, blind-
ness, ignorance, weakness, and an utter incapacity to do Him any service. It

■i-ii-i^a.!ir>i^":-;'''i/' .

S,-'.'::£'.^;kij« ii.'''«'t:i.':.

..-^rj'-V-!' --,' n •',^"1 ^-

178

Life of M. Olier.

seemed to me that our Ix>rdhad inspired me with an utter horror of worldly honour;
I earnestly implored Htm to give me death rather than the praise of men, which I
can in no wise accept ; for my Saviour lived and died in the midst of confusion and
contempt. Moreover, all my desire being to procure the glory of my Master, I
cannot experience a greater pain than in receiving honour, seeing it is a good
which belongs only to my God. Alas I O my God, to Thee be all honour and
glory, and to me all confusion. If I could steal from Thee all the ignominy Thou
endurest, and could restore to Thee all the honour of which Thou art robbed, I
should be content. Vouchsafe, then, to be honoured by my confusion, seeing it
is Thy pleasure to employ me for Thy greater glory, aiid that Vhou desirest to
ground it on my humiliation as a parish priest, a charge now fallen into contempt
with all the functions belonging to it ; in nne, on the ignominy which has always
been promised to me in this condition.

"I am not astonished at the love which ought to be felt for the Church, and
for the meanest cf creatureb, so far as such creature is a portion of that august
body ; for what more admirable than the Church ? Rather, I am unable to con-
ceive how it is that one does not die of lovc for the faithful, seeing that each shall
be one day a component part of the Church triumphant, which shall praise the
greatness of God to all eternity. While I was full of these thoughts they brought
me a poor child, begging me to bestow some alms upon it. I do not know what
I did not feel ready to do for it, regarding it as a member of that Church so
admirable and so divine, that kingdom so perfect, that throne so magnificent of
the adorable Majesty of God. O Goodness ! what shall we not be willing to do
for Thee ? How readily would I shed my blood for Thy love, — yea, and if it were
mme, the blood of all creatures 1 "

orldly honour;
' men, which I
confusion and
my Master, I
g it is a good
.11 honour and
jnominy Thou
art robbed, I
ision, seeing it
ou desirest to
into contempt
ch has always

! Church, and
>f that august
inable to con-
hat each shall
ill praise the
they brought
}t know what
at Church so
nagnificent of
willing to do
and if it were

IPart tt

REFORM OF THE PARISH OF ST. SULPICE.

'.f

( iSi )

CHAPTER I.

FRIGHTFUL STATE OF THE PARISH OF ST. SULPICE. M.
OLIER ESTABLISHES A COMMUNITY OF PAROCHIAL
CLERGY. RESTORATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL DISCI-
PLINE.

IN the first half of the 17th century the immorality and impiety
which prevailed throughout Europe — consequent on the loosen-
ing of all the bonds of society which had attended that great revolt
against the authority of the Church commonly called the Reforma-
tion — had reached such a height in France that, confounded at the
spectacle which everywhere presented itself, wise and holy men had
begun to fear that their country was about to lose the light of faith^
as had befallen most of the northern nations. Thus St. Vincent de
Paul, writing to M. d'Horgny, Superior of the Mission at Rome,
says, " I fear that God is allowing the faith gradually to perish from
among us on account of the depravity of manners, the novel opinions
which are spreading more and more, and the generally evil state of
things. During the hundred years last past it has lost the greater
part of the Empire (of Germany), and the kingdoms of Sweden,
Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Ireland,* England, Bohemia, and
Hungary. The loss of these Churches during the past hundred
years gives us cause to fear that in another hundred years the
Church will have altogether disappeared in Europe. For what we
know, it may be the will of God to transfer the faith to heathen
nations, which perhaps have preserved the innocence of their
manners more than have the greater part of Christians, who have
nothing less at heart than the sacred mysteries of our holy religion.
For myself, I confess, this has been my opinion for a long time."

Of this demoralisation and corruption the quarter of Paris in
which M. Olier was called to minister was a flagrant exemplification.

That is, through the political ascendancy of Protestant England, for the Irish
people had remained devotedly loyal to the Church.

'■)iir|»[t»«,Hi|«t^

l82

Life of M. Olier.

The Faubourg St. Germain, which constituted the largest portion of
the parish of St. Sulpice, was notorious at the time for the number
of professed atheists and libertines who had made it their abode.
In the previous century it had become the stronghold of the Cal-
vinists ; it was there they had erected their first conventicle, and
had made their first public and most daring demonstrations. Hither
they had continued to resort from all sides during the contest which
desolated France, and such was the success of their proselytising
efforts that this quarter of the town had acquired the name of the
Little Geneva. The effect had been to undermine and destroy the
faith of the people, to inspire them with a hatred of priests and a
contempt for religious, and to make them regard whatever was
expended in the support of the clergy and the decoration of the
churches as so much which might have gone towards maintaining
themselves in idleness and debauchery. The most horrible blas-
phemies were openly promulgated, while the essential doctrines of
Catholicism, and even the first principles of natural religion, were
rejected with scorn and derision. Christianity, in short, had come
to je generally regarded as an invention of the governing powers,
and its ministers as impostors or the paid agents of tyranny.

This monstrous impiety, with an inconsistency not uncommon,
was associated with the most revolting superstition and a syste-
matic practice of magic. Books on the diabolic art were publicly
sold at the very doors of the church ; and, shortly after M. Olier
entered on the duties of the parish, the Bailly of the suburb, being
in pursuit of three persons accused of sorcery, and mistaking ^ne
house for another, found an altar dedicated to the evil spirit, with
these words inscribed upon it : " Gratias tibi, Lucifer ; gratias iibiy
Beelzebub ; gratias tibi, Azaree/."* The altar was a sort of travesty
of that consecrated to Catholic worship ; the candles were black,
the ornaments about it were all in keeping with its infernal object,
and the book of prayers, as in mockery of the Missal, consisted of
diabolical incantations. The Bailly took possession of the book,

* •* Thanks to thee, Lucifer ; thanks to thee, Beelzebub ; thanks to thee,
Azareel."

The impious men who at the present day, in France and Italy, pay public homage
to Satan and invoke his aid cannot be said to believe either in his existence or in
his power. They simply use his name as the symbol of their hatred of the Chris-
tian religion and of God. He is to them the impersonation of rebellion against the
Supreme Lord of heaven and earth. But they are none th^ less his agents and
his dupes.

State of the Parish.

■Rj

icommon,

but the affair was not prosecuted further on account of the numbers
and position of those who were implicated. So prevalent also at
this time had become the study of abirology that P. de Condren
had thought it necessary to make himself acquainted with the
mysteries of that false science, in order more effectually to disabuse
the minds of those who were addicted to it, and at the request of
Cardinal de Richelieu had even published a treatise to expose its
folly and wicKedness.*

But, though impiety and superstition abounded to so fatal an
extent, these were but secret and partial evils as compared with the
violence, the riot, the debauchery, the general lawlessness, for which
this unhappy parish had gained so infamous a notoriety. The long-
continued civil wars and the scandals of a dissolute court under
preceding reigns had rendered Paris one of the most demoralized
cities in the world ; while the insufficient protection afforded to life
and property by the municipal authorities had left the inhabitants a
prey to bands of robbers and marauders, who traversed the streets
at nightfall and set both laws and police at defiance. So intolerable
at length had theee outrages become that the citizens were ordered
to keep weapons in their houses and hold themselves in readiness
to sally out to the aid of the armed patrol. Compelled thus to seek
a retreat from the vengeance of the laws, these miscreants took
refuge in the Faubourg St. Germain, where they were sure of find-
ing perfect security. Pursuit was no longer possible ; for the whole
parish enjoyed an immunity from the control of the magistracy of the
city, being (as it has been said) subjected to the peculiar jurisdiction
of the Abb^ de St. Germain, by whom justice was feebly administered
and most inadequately enforced. Moreover, the fair f which was
held in this quarter, and which lasted two whole months in the
year, conduced beyond all calculation towards fomenting the dis-
orders. No tolls being exacted, vendors flocked thither from all
parts of the country to display their wares ; thieves, mountebanks,
strollers, jugglers, — every panderer to vanity and crime was there to

* Tliis treatise is given in the collected edition of liis works to which reference
has been made.

t The reader will not have forgotten that it was from the fair of St. Germain M.
Oher and his young companions were returning when they were accosted by Marie
Rousseau. It was opened annually on the 3rd of February, and commonly lasted
till Passion Sunday. It retained its popularity till the year 1763, when a fire
broke out and destroyed all the wooden structures which formed the shops and
saloons.

,.i,.ia.s^!,J-i^*-

'S^r~%

'/■'

(

184

Life of M. Olier.

ply his trade or exhibit his dexterity ; booths were set up in the
public thoroughfares ; the people assembled in crowds, especially
in the evenings, when the concourse was greatest, and the whole
region became one wild scene of revelry and carousal, riot, frolic,
and sin. Brawls, too, and assassinations were frequent ; and such
was the rage for duelling, which in the midst of so much license
could be practised with the utmost facility and impunity, that during
M. Olier's administration of the parish seventeen persons were mor-
tally wounded in one week.

This frightful picture would be very incomplete without some men-
tion of the condition of the clergy and of their ministrations. Amidst
al! this vast and lawless population the principal church was no larger
than would have been suitable for some country village; and yet,
small as it was, it was far too spacious for the congregation that fre-
quented it. The interior was dirty and ill-kept ; the pavement of the
floor broken and uneven; the high altar naked and desolate; the
walls were destitute of all ornament ; and there was not even a sacristy,
properly so called, to which the clergy could retire. In the celebra-
tion of the Divine Mysteries no order or punctuality was observed ;
the priests vested before the altar, and a bell, suspended at the
entrance of "ach chapel, was rung to warn the faithful that Mass was
beginning. The guilds were so numerous, and their meetings were
held so frequently, that the clergy who had to attend their frivolous
ceremonies were unable to devote the necessary time to the duties
of the parish. The burial-ground, which was contiguous to the build-
ing, but unenclosed, was the favourite haunt of idlers and drunkards,
while — will the fact be credited? — a tavern was kept in the very
vaults of the church, to which even communicants were in the habit
of resorting before returning to their homes ; for an evil custom had
grown up of the priests going there to give blessed bread and, what
was a still more crying abuse, to receive what was called the confes-
sion-fee. But the scandal did not end there. The clergy them-
selves, instead of endeavouring to stem the tide of corruption, were
foremost in setting an evil example to their people ; and we learn
from M. Bourdoise — in these express terms — that often, after offering
the Tremendous Sacrifice, they spent the remainder of the day in
this tavern in the vaults, eating and drinking to excess. When such
were the priests who served the altar we cannot wonder that the
officials about the church — the organist, the ringers, and the rest —
were models neither of morality nor of religion. The suburb, in

r ■ p^T'^f*'^ ^lUVW^

Irreligion of the chief laymen.

1 8s

«hort, was a sink of iniquity, and its church was become a den of
thieves. " To name to you the Faubourg St. Germain," wrote M.
Olier to a certain bishop, " is to express in one word all the mon-
strous vices that prey upon humanity." *

If the men to whom he would naturally have looked for co-opera-
tion in his pastoral labours were so little qualified or disposed to
lend him their aid, he was to find no support or consolation in the
great laymen of his parish. So far from his being able to look to
them for sympathy and aid, they proved to be the most powerful pat-
rons of evil and the most formidable opponents of reform. From the
time that the Court took up its abode at the Louvre, all the great
lords had built themselves mansions in the Faubourg St. Germain,
and their presence was anything but an advantage to the cause of
morality and piety. On the contrary, such was their utter neglect of
the most sacred duties that, according to the different memoirs
which have been consulted in this history, there was scarcely a noble
house in which parents had their children taught the knowledge of
Jesus Christ and His religion. The princes of the blood-royal had
only too closely copied in their own practice the deplorable examples
of preceding reigns. Gaston, Due d'Orl^ans, brother of the King,
who resided in the palace of the Luxembourg, was notorious for his
impiety and, especially, for his habit of profane swearing ; so that
P. de Condren had said — in allusion to his being heir-presurr.ptive to
the crown — that God would sooner work a miracle than allow such a
blasphemer, or his issue, to reign as sovereign of France : a predic-
tion which seemed to find its fulfilment in the birth of a Dauphin
three-and-twenty years after the marriage of Louis XIIL with Anne of
Austria. The Duchesse d'Orldans, Marguerite de Lorraine, was,
happily, a woman of sterling virtue, and succ ded ultimately (as we
shall see) in reclaiming her husband from his evil courses, but at the
time of which we are now speaking she was, as M. Faillon styles her,
" a lily among thorns." A similar account may be rendered of the
Princesse de Conde, Charlotte-Marguerite, daughter of the Constable

* M. de Bretonvilliers, in his Life of M. Olier, calls it *'le cloacquedetoutes les
inechancet^s de Paris, et une Babylone." The Pfere Giry declares it was "le lieu
de retraite des libertins et de lous ceux qui vivaient dans I'impurit^ et dans le
d&ordre." M. Baudrand in his MSmoires describes it as "un abime de d^sordres :
I'h^rdsie, I'impiet^, le libertinage, et I'impurit^ y regnaient ; le peuple y dtait dans
la derni^re ignorance de nos mystfcres et de ses obligations. " And the Dominican
Pire de Saint-Vincent writes that " les vices et le libertinage y regorgeaient de
toutes parts."

^W A-ip^^^ i*^*?-*^'"^. J*' 1 ' ' ^**

i86

Life of M. Olier.

Henri de Montmorency and wife of the Prince Henri de Bourbon,*
whose h6tel was also in the parish of St. Sulpice. Her husband will
be found taking an active part in the attempts that were made to
expel M. Olier from his parish in order to put a stop to the reforms
he had begun ; while her children and, in particular, Louis de Hour-
bon, Due d'Enghien, who was afterwards the Great Condd, had the
misfortune of being brought into intimate relations with that versatile
genius, the Seigneur de Saint-Evremond, who, if not a scoffer, was an
avowed unbeliever.

And this, then, was the soil which the servant of God was called
to cultivate, and these were his foUow-labourers and patrons ! Not
that it need be presumed that all the clergy of the parish had become
so utterly depraved and so lost to all sense of shame as the above
description would imply — indeed, the contrary incidentally appears
— but few there were among them who possessed the true sacerdotal
spirit, or who had any but a low professional view of the obligations
of their sacred calling. His first efforts, therefore, were directed to
raising these men out of the depth of degradation, or, at least,
rousing them from the state of apathy, into which they had fallen
by placing before them a higher and a holier standard ; and to
this end he would fain have led them to adopt a community
life. But here, as may be well imagined, he encountered the most
determined opposition ; and there was cause to apprehend that,
if he persisted in the attempt, an insurmountable wall of separa-
tion would be raised between the parochial clergy and the ecclesi-
astics whom he had brought with him from Vauj^' -"-d. His heart
sank within him at the prospect that presented itself, and he was
often tempted to throw up his office in despair. But the grace of
God sustained him under the trial. It was given him to see that
he must follow in the footsteps of our Blessed Lord when He
conversed with men. " He was content " (he writes) " to preach
and exhort the people and teach His disciples, who in turn were
to teach the world and deliver it from sin. My Divine Master
will vouchsafe to remove all obstacles from my path, and He
inspires me with a hope that for Him and through Him I shall gain
an entrance even into the hearts of the great people of this parish."
He did not therefore relax his endeavours but, committing himself
to God, summoned all the parish priests together and urged the

* Called indifferently Prince Henri de Bourbon and Prince Henri de Cond^
and sometimes also Prince Henri de Bourbon-Condd.

1^^^! . .

1 1

Address to the Parochial Clergy.

187

proposal upon them in an address the substance of which he has
left us in his writings.

He spoke of the irksomeness of a priest's existence when leading
a solitary life in the world ; the teasing distractions from which it is
impossible for him to escape, and which haunt and hang about him
even in the performance of his most sacred duties ; the time, the
thought, the care he must expend on the mere bodily wants of food,
lodging, and clothing ; and, on the other hand, he enlarged on the
benefits which those who are specially set apart for God's service
derive from associating with each other, as contrasted with the evils
of mixing in secular society. " The association of priests with each
other," he said, " is always of great advantage, since, as the Wise
Man * expresses it, by such companionship the tepid are warmed,
the blind are enlightened, the weak are strengthened ; whereas inter-
course with seculars, their conversation, their example, can have no
other effect but that of chilling their hearts for the service of God.
Sheep newly sheared go close to one another for warmth, and thus find
shelter from the cold air that surrounds them. So ought priests to
impart warmth to each other by their holy conversation and their
mutual conferences, and defend themselves against the chilling in-
fluences of the world, amidst which their state obliges them to live."
He then descanted on the principle of association in general, whether
in cities or in families : that it has the approval and sanction of
Heaven and is, as it were, an image of the Indivisible Unity of the
Three Divine Persons ; that in the beginning of creation God formed
the community of angels, consisting of three hierarchies, themselves
also a figure of the same ineflTable mystery and the order and com-
munication subsisting therein ; and that, all on fire with the love of
God and glowing with mutually engendered heat and fervour, these
blessed spirits cry continually, " Holy, Holy, Holy." " Now the
priests of God," he continued, " are His visible angels, whom He
invites to join together in serving and honouring Him. He would
have them mutually inflame each other with divine love, speaking
one to the other of His perfections, extolling His goodness, adoring
His greatness, and glorifying with one accord His infinite sanctity.
Seeing, then, that God desires to be honoured by societies, let us
not refuse Him this glory : Venite, exultemus Domino, jubiUmus Deo
ialutari nostra ; t and all together, with one heart, one voice, one

* Comp. Eccles. iv. 9-12.

t "O come, let us exult in the Lord, let us rejoice before God our Saviour."
Psalm xciv. i.

i88

Life of M. Olier,

r a f

mouth, offer to the Divine Majesty our jubilations, our praises, and
our homage."

On some few of his auditors tliis discourse produced the desired
effect, but the greater part, including the oldest and best qualified of
M. de Fiesque's former colleagues, refused to acquiesce in the plan
proposed. Foiled, therefore, in his endeavours to persuade the
parochial clergy to live with him in community, he sought to recruit
his establishment by an addition of fresh members and, as usual,
had recourse to the powerful assistance of the Blessed Virgin ; beg-
ging her to gather about him a company of ecclesiastics who, in a
spirit of entire disinterestedness and detachment from the world,
would be content to regard the community, not as the vestibule to
honours and preferment, but as a school of sacerdotal science and
virtue, where they might labour solely for the glory of God. His
prayer received a speedy and an effectual answer; for the community,
which was composed at first of the twenty ecclesiastics who had
removed from Vaugirard, of seven or eight others who had since
joined them, and of four of the parochial clergy of St. Sulpice, soon
numbered fifty members, all men conspicuous for their zeai and
fervour. M. du Ferrier was made supeiior of the community ; to
M. de Foix was committed the general superintendence of all that
concerned the relief of the poor ; while M. de Bassancourt regulated
the service of th*^ altar and whatever was connected with the order
and beauty of divine worship ; all three acting as M. Olier's repre-
sentatives, and under his direction and control.

Their life was now ordered according to the strictest rules of
ecclesiastical discipline. All the fees received in the ordinary course
of their ministry were to be thrown into a common fund, and each
was to be content with what was suflScient to provide him with food
and clcdiing. M. Olier particularly enjoined that no fee should be
charged for administering the Holy Viaticum, and that on no account
should money be accepted in the tribunal of penance, an abuse
which prevailed in certain parishes, both at Paris and elsewhere.
Finding themselves thus deprived of what they had come to regard
as the rightful emoluments of their office, the parochial clergy
called on M. Olier to indemnify them for the loss. This he con-
sented to do, but at the cost of nearly all the remaining fees to which
he was entitled. On accepting the charge of St. Sulpice, he had
resolved to resign his abbey of Pdbrac and his priory of Bazainville,
but, having surrendered the customary fees, he would have found
himself destitute of wherewithal to support his community had he

Poverty of the Community.

189

put his design into execution. Nevertheless he would have made
the sacrifice but for the remonstrances of his directors, who repre-
sented the need he had of the revenues of these benefices in order
to carry out the reform of the parish with the help of his associates.
The opposition he encountered in no wise diminished his affec-
tionate solicitude for those who were its authors ; on the contrary,
it seemed to operate as a motive for lavishing on them every mark
of confidence and respect. His generous faith and love of mortifica-
tion conspired to make him regard as his best friends those who
gave hiuj occasions of suffering ; and we read in his Memoires that
he offered on their behalf to God all the pains he endured in a
severe illness with which he was at this time afflicted, and expressed
his readiness to undergo much greater sufferings for their sakes.
So far, too, was he from showing a preference or giving a precedence
to the members of his community that he maintained all the parish
clergy in their tormer rank and office, and, for fear that they might
be led to go elsewhere and fall into worse disorders, he even increased
their stipends without making any exceptions. He strove, in turn,
to win their regard and confidence by every manner of kindness
and attention in his power ; always paying them honour, as the
oldest of his clergy, inviting them to his table, consulting them on
the management of parochial affairs, and informing himself as to
their circumstances, so that all might be properly provided with
clothing, lodging, and furniture, as well as supplied with whatever
was needful in case of illness. The consequence of all this privation,
on the one hand, and of liberality, on the other, was that the Com-
munity were constrained to embrace a life of evangelical poverty ;
the priests who had private means contributed out of their superfluity
to the support of their less provided brethren,* and by common
consent a rule was adopted not to accept from the poorest parish-
ioners the customary fees. From M. du Ferrier we learn the sort
of diet which was usual among them. " It was endeavoured," he
writes, "to accustom oui priests to a frugal and simple mode of
living. At dinner they had a basin of soup and a small plate of
boiled meat, without any dessert, and in the evening a little roast
mutton." M. Bourdoise, indeed, was disposed to banter them on
the subject of their viands, as being too luxurious for the future

* Thus M. Joly, a most exemplary priest, who afterwards became Bishop of
Agen, not only was maintained free of cost to himself, but received 300 crowns a
year for the support of his parents, who resided in Lorraine.

igo

Life of M. Olier.

' i

village Curd, who would never be able to afford himself such dainty
fare in a poor country parish. But, after all (as M. du Ferrier
observes), he was fain to confess that anything less sufficient would
not have been expedient, seeing that all fared alike.

M. Olier himself presented an edifying example in his own person
of that simplicity of life and love of poverty by which he wished his
institute to be distinguished ; appropriating nothing to himself of
all the proceeds of his benefice, but applying one portion of them to
the relief of the poor, another to the maintenance of the clergy, and
a third to the support of the community ; thus (as he says) giving
to those who were in want, and supplying those who wanted not
with means for giving to our Lord, whether in His Church or in His
poorer members. His dress, like that of the rest, was such as
became the priest, but always of the simplest kind, his habit being
of common serge, and his under-garments of materials still coarser ;
neither would he permit his surplices to be trimmed with lace ; a
rule which has continued to be observed in the Seminary down to
the present day.

To take away every occasion of scandal, on which the dissolute or
unfriendly might seize, it was forbidden to give admission to females
under any pretext whatever. At first, indeed, M. Olier collected the
ladies of the parish together for the purpose of consulting tb^^m on
the pious and charitable works which should be established in the
Faubourg, but from the year 1643 they were admitted only into the
exterior parlours and into one of the rooms in the Presbytery set
apart for such meetings, and were not allowed entrance either into
the Seminary or into the house of the Community. So strictly,
indeed, was the prohibition enforced that M. de Bretonvilliers, when
he was ill, would not permit his own sister, the Prdsidente de
Bailleul, to come into his chamber, and, although she had got as
far as the ante-room, she was obliged to go down again ; and M.
Picotd, who lodged near the great gate of the Seminary, could not
obtain permission to see his penitents in his room, although he was
unable to descend the stairs without great bodily pain. M. Olier
also made it a rule that ecclesiastics who were summoned to the
parlours by females who sought their advice, should always present
themselves in surplice and square cap, and that the interview should
be short and quickly despatched.

In order to make his clergy look upon themselves simply as the
servants of the people, devoted to their spiritual interests^ he would

! i

Observance of discipline.

191

have no distinction observed between one priest and another ; all
were equally to employ themselves in the various functions of the
ministry, each in his order performing those offices which, in the
eyes of the world, were esteemed the least honourable. No one,
for instance, was to be dispensed from carrying the cross at funerals,
accompanying the priest when called to adrrinister Extreme Unction,
or walking before the Blessed Saciament with the bell when It was
borne to the sick and the dying. This last-mentioned office was
always to be performed by one in priest's orders, who was to
see that the bystanders bent their knee in adoration, and, if any
neglected this mark of homage, he was then and there io admonish
them of their duty ; a practice which v/as continued without interrup-
tion until the Revolution.* Ecclesiastics, whether beneficed or other-
wise, who, with the permission of their bishops, came into residence
for a while, to be more perfectly instructed in their pastoral duties,
were subjected to the same discipline. The wills of all were to be
in entire submission to the will of the Superior, who — to use M.
Olier's forcible metaphor — was to hold them at his disposal like so
many arrows in a quiver, either to remain by his side, or to be sent
hither and thither at his pleasure. They were to yield a ready
obedience, not only to the Cure himself, but to all who shared his
authority ; to the Superior of the Community, the sacristan, the
master of ceremonies, and the very doorkeeper, in all things which
concerned their respective offices and were in accordance with the
rules. Even bishops who might v/ish to go into retreat, or to have
the benefit of a quiet habitation when affairs detained them at Paris,
were obliged to conform to all the regulations of the house ; as, for
instance, in being present at morning prayer and observing the
canonical hours. No one was exempted without positive neccosity ;
and such was the regularity and order which prevailed that they who

Even as late as the second half of the iSth century, an instance is on record
of a priest of St. Sulpice, who wn5 preceding the Blessed Sacrament, stopping with
his own hand a cabriolet the driver of which had attempted to pass without paying
the accustomed mark of respect. The man, it may l»e added, had to make public
reparation for his offence.

In all this there was nothing remarkable or singular ; it was but a remnant of
the devotion which had bean inherited from the ages of faith ; kings and emperors
having been wont, on meeting a priest bearing the Viaticum to the sick, to alight
from their carriages and, placing them at the disposal of their Incarnate God,
themselves accompany Him on foot: an act of piety which Cardinals and the
Sovereign Pontiff himself have never failed to observe down to the present day.

mmmm.

mmmm

I-'

192

Life of M. Olier.

( i
L:

were prevented from attending by other avocations were careful to
make up the arrears of the exercises they had been compelled to
omit, as soon as they found themselves at liberty. This fidelity M.
Olier assured them was the surest means of maintaining a spirit of
recollection and union with God in the midst of occupations, how-
ever multifarious and distracting; and that without this spirit of
recollection and of union there could be no fruit, whether in preach-
ing, hearing confessions, holding spiritual conferences, or performing
any of the other duties of their ministry. His instructions on all
these points, as well as on union amongst themselves, charity
towards the poor, sweetness and patience with their parishioners, love
of humiliations, and zeal for the salvation of souls, formed a volume
of considerable size.

Looking upon his parish as God's estate which he was set to
administer, M. Olier divided it into eight districts, dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin under the titles of her respective festivah. These
eight divisions he assigned to as many of his oi<; ; s\io had the
especial charge of the inhabitants within its limits, associating with
them ten or twelve others as their coadjutors. A list of the several
households, with a statement of their necessities, spiritual and
temporal, was to be kept by the priests of each quarter, and to
be revised every three months. They were to make themselves
personally acquainted with the poor and ignorant, to see': out
those who neglected the sacraments, or gave occasion of scandal by
their immorality, and apply a remedy to all such disorders. For
this end also he appointed in each street some person of piety
whose duty it was to give information as to any haunts of vice and
iniquity, in order to their suppression. From these lists he compiled
a general survey of the whole parish, as recommended by I ;>e Prul
v., under the title, De statu animarum, a form of which \ . . a'vn
up by St. Charles Borromeo and inserted among the Acts ' ne
Church of Milan. So careful was he to provide for the needs of the
sick and dying that he strictly charged the priests of each district to
see that all who were in danger of death were visited every day, and
that those whose state was precarious were not left for two days
together without spiritual assistance. Besides these priests of the
districts, there were others whose special duty it was to administer the
sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Extreme Unction ; )thers were
appointed to baptize and solemnize marriages ; others to bury the
dead ', or, again, to be in readiness to give advice to the people and

«'-'l

Maxims for Confessors.

193

receive their confessions at any hour of the day. In short, each
hnd his particular ofifice assigned to him, and a complete system was
thus organized which might be made to bear with most powerful
effect on all the wants of so vast a parish.

Even the time of recreation was made subservient to the purpose
of mutual edification and instruction. After dinner it was the
practice to propose to the Superior any questions arising out of cases
of difficulty which had occurred in the parish, whether relating to
some point of morality, controversy with heretics, or the conduct of
souls. If the Superior were in doubt as to ttic solution, he com-
missioned some doctor of the Community to go to the Sorbonne and
obtain a reply, which he was to communicate to the assembled
members at supper-time. These conferences were of the greatest
service to all, being equivalent (says M. du Ferrier) to a large
amount of study. One principal advantage, however, was that they
conduced more than anything else to establish in the Community a
thorough unity of spirit in all that concerned the direction of souls.
M. Olier, in concert with the rest, drew up a series of maxims or
general principles, which might serve as the basis and touchstone of
all their decisions, and to which individually they should be bound
to conform. Among these were two which bore directly on one of
the greatest practical evils of the time. It was laid down as a rule,
from which no one should be at liberty to depart, that absolution
should be refused to such as remained in a proximate occasion of
sin, and that in the case of habitual sinners absolution should be
deferred for eight or fifteeu days.* These regulations were rendered

* This statement seems to call for remark. No theologian now holds that a
person who for the first time confesses a habit of sin is to be refused absolution.
Yet such a person is technically called habitudinarius. Therefore, it would be
incorrect to state broadly that habitual sinners ought not to be absolved, or their
absolution deferred. The principle of St. Alphonsus is this : Absolution ought
always to be refused to recidivi (relapsing sinners), unless they show extraordinary
signs of contrition, to counterbalance the primd facie presumntion against them,
arising from the habit. However, amongst these extraordinary signs of contri-
tion he reckons some which are by no means extraordinary, in the sense of being
infrequent ; as, for instance, spontaneous confession, that is, the penitent's coming
to confession without external motive : e.g. at other times than Easter, or Christ-
mas, or other principal feasts of the Church. On this principle, absolution may
at once be given to a recidivus who comes to confession of his own free will,
supposing, of course, that the priest also sees in him the ordinary signs of contri-
tion. No such rule, therefore, as M. Olier made could possibly be made now, how-
ever justifiable it may have been under the particular circumstances at the time.

[This note was supplied by the late Father Dalgairns of the London Oratory.]

194

Life of M. Olier,

necessary by the lax morality then in vogue among the professors of
casuistry, and by the dangerous facility with which many confessors
administered the sacrament of penance. This abuse had led to
another no less pernicious, — an excessive severity, calculated to drive
souls to despair. M. Olier would have his priests observe the true
and salutary mean between the two extremes, and gave them for their
guidance the Instructions of St. Charles Borromeo to the Confessors of
his Diocese, included among the Acts of the Church of Milan, which,
under his directions, were now published for the first time in France.
The edition was dedicated to the doctors of the Sorbonne, and was
productive of untold benefits to the Church. The Instructions
became the standard book of authority in the Seminaries, and,
eventually, among the whole body of the clergy, who, in 1657,
caused them to be printed at their own expense. M. Olier also
constituted St. Charles patron of his parish priests, and obtained
from the Holy See a plenary indulgence for his feast day ; and yet
he did not propose him to his clergy as the model of the pastoral
life, considering the virtues he exhibited so lofty and sublime as to
be inaccessible to the ordinary grade of priests. He preferred St
Martin, whose life was of a less austere and rigorous cast, although
he practised mortification and abstinence in such measure as his
condition allowed. With him he joined, as examples of evangelical
peace and sweetness, St. Sulpice, surnamed Le Debonnaire, and his
own spiritual father, Francis de Sales, the holy Bishop of Geneva.

Soon after his entrance on his pastoral duties, when already an
evident impression had been made on the people but before he had
obtained his full complement of auxiliaries, he felt how impossible it
would be, with the number of priests at his disposal, to provide for
the spiritual wants of the faithful during the Paschal season. In his
perplexity, he addressed himself to St. Sulpice, as patron of the
parish, on his feast day, January 17th, 1643, ^^^h a confident
assurance that he would be heard. Nor was he disappointed
therein; for the thought came into his mind to invite a certain
number of the doctors of the Sorbonne to lend him their aid, and
also to apply to the Superiors of the several religious communities in
the Faubourg for priests who were qualified to hear confessions.
Hitherto, unhappily, there had existed but little concord and joint
action between the religious of the Faubourg and the clergy of St.
Sulpice ; the latter looking upon those wtiom they ought to have
regarded as their natural allies and coadjutors rather in the light of

•■ /

His vow of perfection.

195

rivals and inconvenient neighbours; and thus, instead of working
together for the spiritual Z'~^ of the people, the two parties were
for ever wrangling with each other about thei- respective rights and
privileges. This miserable state of things was henceforth to cease.
Sensibly touched by the charity and zeal of the new pastor, the heads
of the religious houses cordially responded to his appeal and sent
each two competent priests to assist him in his Easter duties. Fear-
ing, however, that all these doctors and religious, the latter being
members of different Orders, might not follow the same system of
spiritual direction, and that injurious effects might thence ensue, he
assembled them together three days previously and laid before them
in detail the maxims and instructions which St. Charles had given
for the guidance of confessors in the tribunal of penance. Thus a
general uniformity of practice was established with the happiest
results. "These good religious," he wrote, "who are associated
with us have entered thoroughly into our views and sentiments.
There is no diversity of principle between priests and religious ; all
are at one ; all follow the same maxims ; and, however various their
exterior may be, all are perfectly united in their interior dispositions.
God has chosen these holy souls to be our succour and support in
this time of desolation. Ah I all that is needed is charity, simplicity,
and humility : this it is which wins hearts, and nothing can resist
the Spirit of God, who binds together all things in Himself." M.
Olier entertained a sincere love and admiration for all the religious
Orders, but he specially affected the two novitiate houses of the
Dominicans and the Jesuits, in which sound doctrine and solid
piety flourished side by side ; and he would often say that, if the
Divine Mercy shed down so many graces on his parish and effected
every day so many fresh conversions, they were the fruit of the
prayers of those two holy Communities.

One rule M. Olier had prescribed to himself, to which he ever
faithfully adhered, that in all things he should set the example
to his ecclesiastics. To this end he lived with them in common,
took part in the same exercises, and was ever among them as one
of themselves. Like a good pastor and a true superior, he was
ready to sacrifice his goods, his health, his life, for those of whom
he had the direction and the charge. Mindful of the vow of per-
petual servitude which he had made to his parish, he regarded his
people as the rightful masters of his time, his person, and all that
he possessed, to make such use of them as their needs required ;

■^

T96

Life of M. Olier.

and, absolute and all-embracing as such an engagement was, it
never caused him the least disquietude, — proof incontestable that it
had the approval of God. Convinced, moreover, that in his twofold
character of pastor and superior he could not present before others
too high a standard, he made, in addition, a formal vow of doing
from that moment whatever he believed to be the most perfect.
This heroic determination, which made itself felt in all his actions,
enkindled a corresponding degree of zeal and fervour in the mem-
bers of his Community ; and though, in obedience to the light he
had received in his retreat, he never addressed any of them in terms
of command, nevertheless he obtained from them the most generous
sacrifices by the sole ascendancy of his example. Were it question
of visiting the sick, hearing confessions, preaching the word of God,
he was always ready to take the place of his colleagues and spare
them labour and fatigue. It was his desire that the priests who had
come with him from Vaugirard and, in particular, M. du Ferrier,
whom he had made superior of the Community, should display a
similar spirit ; and in this he was not disappointed, as the following
instances may show. One night the porter informed M. du Ferrier
that a sick person required the immediate attendance of a priest ;
after learning the particulars of the case, which the porter was in-
structed always to obtain, he sent him to one of the Community
whom he deemed most fitted for the office, with a request that he
would go forthwith and visit the sick man. The priest, however,
feeling himself somewhat indisposed, begged to be excused at so
late an hour ; upon which, without further delay, M. du Ferrier went
himself. The next morning, when the priest heard that the Superior
had discharged the office he had himself declined, he was extremely
distressed, and the more so when, on going to express his regret at
what had happened, he was met only with an apology that he should
have been disturbed at a time when he was not quite well. When
the same thing had occurred seven or eight times in other cases,
such a spirit of generous emulation was aroused in the Community
that every summons, whether to attend the sick or to perform any
other ministerial duty, was obeyed with the utmost alacrity, and no
one, for any consideration whatever, would have suffered another to
supply his place. A few months after the establishment of the
Community, one of the members, M. Corbel, who of his own choice
had undertaken the task of awakening the inmates in the morning,
was sent by M. Olier to Pdbrac, to pursue the work of reformation

His one dominant desire.

197

so much needed there. Nevertheless everything went on as usual,
and it never occurred to any to inquire who it was that knocked at
their door and placed a light in their room, until one day, at recrea-
tion, they began to speculate among themselves who it could be,
and, as one after another denied all cognisance of the matter, they
discovered that it was the Superior himself who, for five or six weeks,
had volunteered to perform the troublesome office. This little
incident had a most powerful effect in quickening the zeal of the
Community and stimulating its members to still greater efforts of
self-denial.

The one dominant desire of M. Olier's heart, the one engross-
ing purpose of his life, in fulfilment of the mission he had received
from God, was the sanctification of the St»:erdotal order and, by
means of the pastors, the renovation of the flock. His own
words will best exhibit the sentiments which animated him.
"0 Lord," he writes, "if we behold the Orders of Thy saints
reflourishing, if we see prayer reigning supreme among the Car-
melites, zeal for souls among the Dominicans, the love of God
among t le Augustinians, the spirit of retirement and death to the
world among the Benedictines, in fine, if we see all the Religious
Orders regaining their pristine fervour, shall Thy own alone be left
desolate? Wilt Thou not build up again Thy house, which has
fallen into ruin ? Lord, Thou art its head, Thou art its founder :
other Orders have men for their patrons ; wilt Thou leave Thy own
to perish ? O Lord Jesus, true Shepherd of the Universal Church,
apply a speedy remedy to her needs ; raise up those who may renew
the divine Order of pastors, with as much zeal and love as St.
Dominic showed when he established his Order in Thy Church.
Enkindle with the fire of Thy love and Thy religion men who may
carry and disseminate it through the whole world. If I were not so
wretched and so proud, if I were not a very mass of filth and defile-
ment, willingly would I offer myself to Thee to serve Thee in Thy
Church in whatever way might please Thee , in all the fullness of
my heart would I devote and abandon myself to Thee, as henceforth
I do, like a broken vessel. I have vowed to Thee an absolute
servitude, and I have done so beyond recall. I am Thine without
reserve; and now I give myself to Thee anew, without retaining
any right whatever to revoke the gift which I make of myself to
Thee. Thou wilt dispose of me according to Thy good pleasure,
as a lord and master disposes of a vassal or a slave."

198

Lt/e of M. Olier.

In all, therefore, that lie undertook M. Olier had rega-d, not only
to the reformation of his own people, but also to the good of the
Church at large ; and his joy and thankfulness may well be imagined
when, only fifteen days after his installation at St. Sulpice, he received
a visit fiom an ecclesiastic who had been deputed by the parochial
clergy of the metropolis to assure him of their sympathy and con-
fidence, and to beg him to attend their monthly conferences. They
at the same time requested that he would make them acquainted
with the rules he had adopted, that they might profit by them in the
conduct of their own parishes. Indeed, scarcely had the first year
of his ministry expired before several of the Parisian Cur^s begged
him to provide them with priests to assist in the evangelisation of
their parishes ; and, as the members of his Community were under
no engagement to remain at St. Sulpice, he was able in some
instances, with the sanction of ecclesiastical superiors, to comply
with the request. In all this he seemed to see (as he says) that in
making him Curd of St. Sulpice it was the will of Heaven that the
other parishes of Paris should be modelled after the fashion of his
own.* " God be blessed " (he continues) *' that I have found favour
in the eyes of these my brethren, and may He give me grace to be
faithful to His mercies. For myself, I shall ever abide in my own
littleness : this it is, as I clearly see, which has gained me their hearts.
O my God, how mighty is Thy Spirit ! what powerful effects does It
produce in souls ! In speaking to them, I am sensibly conscious
that it is Thy Spirit within me which speaks to them, and in the
presence of these great doctors I feel like a child of whom Thou
art pleased to make use for communicating to them Thy
lights."

M. Olier was still only in his thirty-fi'th year, and it was with sur-
prise and confusion, inspired by the sense he entertained of his own
ignorance and unworthiness, that he found himself consulted by
persons of greater age and experience than himself, some even holding

♦ Thus Abelly, who in the year 1644 became Cur^ of St. Josse and was after-
wards Bishop of Rodez, says, in his Life of St. Vincent de Paul, that the institute
founded by M. Olier became the model on which other parishes were organised,
with the admiration and applause of all Paris ; and, indeed, he was himself the
first to follow M. Olier's example in forming his clergy into an ecclesiastical com-
munity. M. Godeau, Bishop of Vence, writing in 1660, says that in the greater
number of the parishes of Paris the clergy adopted the plan of St. Sulpice,
and lived together in community to their own edification and that of their

people, .j: ,.y;. ■- i •.• ...:.'.-.( ., J.y t.,.j-\. j'-iJ^ i„i.tl<U4 l.!-:'-*.- i.l.i'ij. ..■-■

•• ;

His counsel sought.

199

respoiisible offices in Church or State, on affairs of the highest
moment. Thus, in this present year (1643), several of the Bishops
most conspicuous for their activity and zeal sought his advice on the
subject of establishing seminaries in their dioceses ; and, after the
death of Louis XIII., which occurred on the 14th of May, the Queen
Regent resolved that no ecclesiastic should be nominated to the
episcopate who had not passed some years in the seminary of St.
Vmcent de Paul or in that of St. Sulpice.

( 200 )

CHAPTER II.

M. OLIER'S REFORMS AT ST. SULPICE.

'T"^HE Apostolic life which M. Olier and his colleagues presented
X to the world must, no doubt, have had a great effect in pre-
paring minds for the reception of their ministry, but example was not
sufficient for a people so utterly depraved and hardened in vice as
were a large majority of the inhabitants of St. Sulpice. What they
needed was the Gospel of an Incarnate God preached in all its
sublime simplicity, for this alone has power to vanquish and trans-
form the hearts of men, whatever may be their position in life,
learned or unlearned, rich or poor. M. Olier would, therefore, have
Christian doctrine taught and expounded in its plainest form, and the
teaching and the actions, the divinely human actions, of the Man-
God set before the people as the source and spring whence alone they
could derive the light of truth to guide their steps and the grace to
overcome themselves and save their souls. And to example and
teaching he added one thing more, without which all else would have
been of little or no avail, prayer — fervent and unintermitted prayer.
Not content with humbling himself before God for the sins of his
people, he never ceased imploring Him to grant them His pardon
and His grace ; beseeching our Divine Lord (as M. Faillon has it)
" by all the steps He took in His weary journeys on earth, to turn
away the feet of sinners from the paths of vice ; by His fastings. His
hungering and thirsting, to give them a distaste for the gross plea-
sures of eating and drinking ; by His sorrows, to inspire them with
a hatred of the criminal joys of sin ; by His holy words, to put to
silence their evil discourse ; by His self-abasement and humility, to
destroy their pride and vanity ; by His death, to restore them to life;
in a word, to apply to sinners the good He had wrought for them,
and put an end to the evils which were so dominant in his parish,
especially to those vices which were making the greatest ravages,
gluttony and impurity."

Instructions to the people.

20 1

So neglected hitherto had been the sacred ordinance of preaching
and, in particular, that most necessary duty of catechising, that
children and parents, young and old, were equally ignorant of the
rudiments of Christian doctrine ; many, it would appear, not even
knowing the words of the Creed. M. Olier, therefore, began by
instituting a series of catechetical instructions in twelve different
localities besides the parish church. These catechisings, with the
exception of those which were given at St. Sulpice, and which he
undertook himself, were entrusted to the seminarists, two being
appointed to each locality. Of these, one was called the cierk, and
acted as the other's assistant ; going through the streets with a bell,
to call the children to the classes, and even seeking them in the
houses of their parents. Other ecclesiastics visited the various
schools in the parish, which were already numerous, to ascertain that
none of the youth within its limits were deprived of Christian teach-
ing. A sight so novel in that neglected qu»..:ter as that of young men
in surplices, many of them known to belong io the best families in
France,* gathering poor children together for instruction, produced
the liveliest sensation among the people ; and crowds were drawn
by curiosity to see and hear what was going forward. This was a
result which M, Olier had directly contemplated, and care was taken
to conduct the catechisings in such a way that they should be
profitable to persons of all ages. The success surpassed all expecta-
tion ; in a few weeks his clergy had as many as four thousand children
under their immediate care, who became in their turn mission-
aries and catechists to their friends and relatives. Every week, also,
instructions were given preparatory to first communion ; and he more-
over required, what at that time was an innovation on existing practice,
that all who were candidates for the sacrament of Confirmation should
pass an examination before being admitted to that rite.

Pries's were specially selected to hear the general confessions of
the younger members of the flock ; nor, in spite of his numerous
avocations, did the Cur^ disdain himself to receive any who chose
to come to him. On the contrary, they experienced in him a!l the

* This custom continued to be observed long after M. Olier's death, as inci-
dentally appears from the '^ ife of M. de Moutiers de Merinville, Bishop of
Chartres, who was celebrated for his pastoral zeal and devoted oharity. His
family were so averse to his entering the ecclesiastical state that, when he was a
seminarist at St. Sulpice, the Duchesse d'Aumont used to close her windows
whenever she was made aware by the sound of the bell that her son was summon-
ing the children to catechism. He died May loth, 1748.

202

Life of M, Olier.

affectionate solicitude of a parent ; his manner towards children (as
before observed) was characterized, not so much by a gracious
condescension as by a sort of gentle deference, which inspired con-
fidence while it touched the heart ; and he strove to trace on their
tender souls the first lineaments of the new man, as modelled before
their eyes in the In*"" ^t Jesus, subject to His i)arents and advancing
daily in wisdom and in grace. At the same time he knew how to
mingle severity with sweetness, and did not fail to reprove their
faults when reproof was needed ; yet ever with a tact and a delicacy
to which their young minds were peculiarly sensitive. A «;'ight
incident which has chanced to remain on record may serve to illus-
trate this. He was kneeling one day before the Blessed Sacrament
when a little girl of the higher classes came to make a request of
him. There was something in her dress and manner which struck
him as savouring too much of the fashionable world, and he gently
remarked upon it at the moment. The better, however, to cure her
of her affectation, he continued for some time after to call her
mademoiselU when speaking to her, instead of my child, as he had
been used to do. The little girl was '•'^nsible of the change, and
one day begged him, with tears in he* "s, to call her by the old
endearing name. "When you have .manners of a Christian

child," he answered, " you will find me as affectionate as ever."

The good effects of all this careful training were visible in the
general communion which was made by the children this same year,
and which acted as a sweet and touching invitation to the parents
themselves to frequent the sacraments so long neglected. Nor were
these effects confined to the Faubourg St. Germain ; the city parishes
adopted the same practice, and a regular system of catechising was
thus established in the capital which was gradually extended to all
the large towns of France and has continued to the present day.
M. Olier also selected from among the boys who were under instruc-
tion, whether in the schools or at the catechisings, such as were
most commendable for their assiduity and good conduct, and em-
ployed them in serving Mass, singing in choir, or taking part in the
general offices of the church. He taught them to look ':pon their
employment about the altar as that which the very angels — on
account of the unspeakable greatness of the August Sacrifice— would
regard as the most honourable ministry which could be allotted to
them, and bade them render themselves by their modesty and piety
more worthy of the privilege which had been conferred upon them.

1 1

Insiniciions to the people.

203

And such apt scholars in thii school of godliness did these children
show themselves, that their recollected air and reverent demeanour
inspired beholders with an interior devotion to which their minds
had hitherto been strangers. Meanwhile, M. Picotc', in conjunction
with other priests, was establishing congregations of young girls, asso-
ciated together under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, by wliich
they were formed to habits of piety and virtue and led to encourage
and support each other in the practice of their religious duties.

In fact, theio was not a single class among his people which did
not find itself the object of his particular care. Thus, in addition
to the exhortations contained in the sermons which were common
to all, he desired that the servants of the parish should receive
separate instructions adapted to their condition and ci.cumstances.
Three times a week during Lent he assembled the pages and footr
men, who were very numerous in the Faubourg St. Germain ; and,
not content with making an announcement from every pulpit in the
parish, he directed the priests in charge of each district to distribute
handbills from house to house, that neither masters nor servants
might remain in j^norance of their duty. On three other dpys he
summoned all the beggars together, and taught them in detail all the
mysteries of the faith, and the means by which they might sanctify
their state of life and receive with profit to their souls the sacraments
of Penance and the Holy Eucharist. On every sur.h occasion there
was a distribution of alms, according to the attention and proficiency
displayed by each ; the numbers collected amounting commonly to
three or four hundred, sometimes even more. Nor were the aged
poor forgotten : the old men of the parish had special instructions
provided for them every Friday j and, to encourage them to attend,
every one received relief in proportion to his needs and merits ; this
true disciple of Christ following herein (as his biographer observes) the
example of his Divine Masier, who deferred distributing bodily food to
those who had gathered round Him in the desert until He had
nourished their souls with the bread of life.

In addition to this, he provided what was called a general cate-
cliism, intended for all sorts of persons. This was given at the
church, and that none might be kept away by a feeling of shame,
the language employed was always of a higher order ; without dero-
gating, however, from that plainness and simplicity which is suited
to all capacities. And even yet his zeal and charity were not
exhausted. He directed his ecclesiastics to visit from time to time

; ;.;vi._,:K''fiv;j

204

Life of M. Olier.

those families who hitherto had lived in ignorance of the truths of
salvation, and were withheld by motives of human respect from
attending the public teaching. He had a number of broad-sheets
printed, embellished with some device or picture, explanatory of the
chief doctrines of the faith and the necessary duties of a Christian,
with forms of prayer for niglit and morning and a mode of sanctify-
ing the common actions of the day by offering them all to God.
These familiar instructions he recommended fathers and mothers to
hang up in some conspicuous place in their hou.>es, and to use them
every day for themselves and their families. Lastly, he established
a series of short and simple discourses for workpeople, which were
delivered in the early morning,* in order that they might be able to
attend ; and again, at the end of the day, some profitable reading was
given, accompanied by a verbal commentary, a custom which, ere
long, was adopted in all the parishes of the city.

But, besides making provision for the poor and ignorant, his care
was also directed to those who occupied the position of teachers,
many of whom wero themselves in need of instruction. School-
masters a'^d schoolmistresses were examined as to their proficiency,
and trained for the due discharge of their important office. Availing
himself alao of the powers which the laws accorded him, he assem-
bled the midwives of his parish, in order to ascertain that they were
sufficiently acquainted with the form of administering baptism; at
the same time he urged upon them the duty of fulfillir»g their calling
in such a way as should best conduce to the spiritual profit of those
whom they assisted. He gave them forms of prayer which they could
recite either with or for the objects of their care, and taught them
how to suggest to the poor women modes of lifting up their hearts
to God, making acts of contrition, accepting their pains as the chas-
tisement of sin, and bearing them with willingness, as being more
pleasing to the Divine justice than any voluntary mortifications, how-
ever severe. Above all, he gave strict charge that, previous to the
time of their delivery, they should be urged to make their confession
and receive communion, that they might not be surprised by death
without being fortified by the sacraments of Holy Church.

Another object of his solicitude, and one which was recommended

* These exercises were usually conducted by M. Dard^ne, who was also dis-
tinguished by his ability as a controversialist. He first spent two hours before
the Tabernacle, and then at four o'clock in the morning (during summer) com-
m^Ared his instructions.

■ -~*1Ut IrV. B J* »lf X. '' ^ ij^l-^-^ \*AUj,.<.

Conferences for Protestants.

205

to him by the peculiar circumstances of his parish, was the conver-
sion of Protestants. It abounded (as has been said) in Calvinists ;
the Lutherans, also, had congregated there in great numbers. The
latter sectaries were prohibited by the laws from holding their con-
venticles within the realm ; M. Olier, however, might have left them
in peace but for r.n abominable sacrilege which they were in the
habit of committing While adhering to their own heresy, and blas-
phemously impugning the Catholic faith, they made a practice of
receiving communion clandestinely at the church of St. Sulpice.
Justly indignant at so outrageous an insult to the Adorable Mystery
of the Altar, M. Olier endeavoured, in the first instance, to arrest
the evil by obtaining an exact register of the houses they occupied,
with a view to acquiring a personal knowledge of the inmates. This
plan, however, proving of no avail, as they were able to baffle inquiry
by continually changing their place of meeting, he determined to
seek the assistance of the secular power ; and, having first solicited
the protection of the Duke of Orleans, he proceeded with the Bailly
of the suburb and two guards, provided by the Duke, to a house
which had been designated to him. Here, as he expected, he found
three or four hundred persons assembled, whom he immediat ly dis-
persed. The Lutherans attempted to continue their meetings else-
where ; but, unable to evade M. Olier's untiring vigilance, they were
compelled at length to evacuate the parish.

But the weapons with which he desired to combat against heresy
were not carnal but spiritual : perseverance in prayer, a sweet and
tender charity, and the force of a persuasive eloquence addressed to
the mind and conscience of those whom he sought to win. To re-
move the intellectual obstacles to their conversion, he instituted
public and private conferences, which were blessed with remarkable
success ; but here, too, the humility which marked whatever he did
was as conspicuous as his zeal. Writing to St. Vincent de Paul, he
begs him, for the love of God, to send him M. Lucas, one of his
priests, to confer with a Huguenot, who had urged objections to
which he had found himself, owing to his great ignorance, unable to
reply, and generally to instruct him in the mode of dealing with here-
tics. To assist him in his arduous task, he also engaged the services
of the ablest controversialist of the day, the celebrated P^re V^ron,*

* Author of the well-known treatise on The Rule 0/ Catholic Faith, an English
translation of which, from the original Latin, was published by the Rev. J. Water-
worth in 1833.

S»*4l^ Vt \i ^.TJt.v*' *.'

206

Life of M. Olier.

whose logical subtlety and caustic irony rendered him the scourge
and dread of the teachers of error. On leaving the Society of
Jesus, he had been made Cur^ of Charenton, where the Calvinists
had their largest conventicle, for the express purpose of being a per-
petual thorn in the side of these obnoxious sectaries ; and his suc-
cess, so far as confounding his opponents was concerned, was, even
by their own confession, most signal and complete. Many conver-
sions followed, but the evil was too deeply seated to be eradicated
by ordinary means, as we shall hereafter see.

The proselytising efforts of the Calvinists had been (as already
said) only too successful in the parish of St. Sulpice in drawing
away many from the faith, and they laboured no less assiduously
to deter their deluded victims from recanting their errors on their
deathbeds. Cases of this latter kind were of such frequent occur-
rence that it became necessary to have recourse to the most
determined measures in order to defeat the artifices and even
violence employed by these heretics. For instance, a young man,
who had been recovered to the Church, fell ill, and, intimidated by
the opposition of his friends, refused to receive M. Olier's ministra-
tions, when, on hearing of his condition, he hastened to visit him.
Recommending him to the Mother of mercy, this good pastor ceased
not to beg her intercession ; and his prayer was heard. The sick
man was seized with so vehement a desire to see a priest that,
finding all his entreaties and expostulations useless, he protested
that, weak as he was, he would drag himself to the window, and
there, until his voice failed him, he would cry to the passers-by for
assistance ; nay, that, if necessary, he would precipitate himself
into the street below rather than die without confession. This threat
compelled his relatives to send for a priest, but thenceforward they
refused him all aid in his sickness ; and. had not M. Olier caused
him to be removed to a place of safety, he could only have pur-
chased the necessaries of life by renewed apostasy. No wonder,
therefore, thac on hearing that the Calvinist minister, Aubertin, who
was dying, desired to make his abjuration, but was forcibly pre-
vented by his relatives, M. Olier should call in the aid of the civil
power to gain admission to his bedside. He went accordingly,
accompanied by the Bailly of the Faubourg, as well as by a strong
party of the parishioners, who had collected for the protection of
their pastor. The report, however, proved to be unfounded, the
unhappy man protesting with his last breath that he died in the

III ilMWHtilfl

Instance oj fanatical cruelty.

207

tenets he had ever professed. M. Olier at once withdrew, and
having succeeded — not, however, without some difficulty — in per-
suading the people to disperse, went immediately to the church,
and, throwing himself before the altar, gave free vent to the sorrow
that filled his soul. We shall have no difficulty in conceiving the
use that was made of this display of zeal by the sectaries, who
accused the Cure of St. Sulpice of violating the terms of the edict
of Nantes, which forbade that Protestants should be disturbed on
their sick beds by the intrusive ministrations of the Catholic priest-
hood.

He was doomed to meet with a similar affliction in the case of
one of his female parishioners who had seceded from the Church
and, in spite of all his exhortations and the prayers of many devout
souls, persisted in her errors lo the last To console him in his
bitter grief, one of his priests suggested that, as he had employed
every means in his power to effect her conversion, he had nothing
wherewith to reproach himself. " Ah ! my child," he said, " cease,
cease to speak to me thus ; you know not the value of a soul. It
might glorify God eternally, and its loss is irreparable. The thouglit
is frightful ! " and he sought refuge, as was his wont, in prayer
before the Tabernacle. This distressing circumstance seemed to
add even greater vigilance to his zeal, and he neglected no means
in order to discover if any of his flock frequented the meetings of
the Huguenots, or evinced an inclination towards their errors, never
failing to visit them in person or to depute one of iiis priests to
visit them in his stead, and displaying towards them the utmost
kindness and solicitude. Nor were these precautions the effect of
an importunate zeal; they were necessitated by the secret and
unscrupulous machinations of the sectaries, \n j were indefatigable
in their endeavours to recruit their diminished numbers by the
accession of every bad and ignorant Catholic whom they could
persuade to make even a nominal profession of Protestantism. To
such an excess, indeed, of fury were some of these fanatics carried
that an instance is on record, supported by incontestable evidence,
of a mother revenging herself on her daughter for going to Mass
by burning the soles of her feet and, when this barbarous proceeding
did not produce the desired effect, attempting first to stifle her in a
bath and then to stab her with a knife. At length the poor girl fell
dangerously ill, and seemed to be at the point of death, when,
struck with remorse, the mother implored her child's forgiveness for

mmmm

"rf

208

Life of M. Olier.

the cruelty with which she had treated her. Her daughter, however,
in a spirit of charity truly admirable, replied, " O my mother, I
deserved far worse in punishment of my sins ; and may it not be
that God allowed you to treat me thus in order to bring about your
conversion ? I pray that in His goodness He will perfect the work
He has begun ! " Unhappily, neither the generous conduct nor
the earnest prayers of this truly Christian soul were to be rewarded
by seeing her mother delivered from the toils in which she had
become entangled. Of noble extraction but possessed of no private
fortune, she was entirely dependent for subsistence on relatives who
were members of the sect, and as she knew that they would disown
her if she became a Catholic, her pride revolted against receiving
aid from strangers or, like so many others, from her parish priest.

The charity of this good pastor was never weary f devising
means both for rescuing his people from the snares of heresy and
unbelief, and warning tliem against the fatal seductions of vice. As
an antidote to the number of irreligious and immoral publications
which were widely dissemina ed, M. Olier planted a book-stall close
to the gates of the church, where, as it will be remembered, the
vendors of charms and amulets and books of superstition and magic
had been in the habit of plying their iniquitous trade. Every work
exhibited for sale was previously examined to ascertain that it con-
tained nothing contrary to faith or morals. It may also be men-
tioned here that, as a means of divine protection against relapse
and a powerful safeguard against the dangers and temptations to
which converts from heresy were peculiarly exposed, M. Olier
attached great importance to their receiving without delay the holy
sacrament of Confirmation ; a matter to which he considered that
sufficient attention had not hitherto been paid. In all things he
was guided, not by the lights of his own judgment, but by simple
reference to the directions and intentions of Holy Church, to whom
alone, and not to any man, however great his gifts, Christ had
given charge to teach, correct, and edify His people.

We have been witnesses of M. Olier's missionary zeal, his love of
souls, his tenderness to sinners, his care of the poor, his labours, and
his sacrifices, and all this in the service of those of whom he had not
the personal charge ; but now it is his own flock to which he is called
to minister, and of which he must one day render an account to the
Chief Shepherd. The profligacy, the obduracy, the ignorance, the
worldliness, the indifference of the thousands by whom he was sur-

His gift of preaching.

209

rounded filled his soul with a most poignant anguish, and he would
have willingly sacrificed his life to rescue and save them. It was the
one continual subject of his prayers as he knelt before the Taber-
nacle, pouring out his heart to God with sighs and tears and inward
moanings, and in his discourses to the people it was his ever-recur-
ring theme. Taking as his text one day those words of the Apostle :
Continuus dolor cordi meo* "It is the one abiding grief of my
heart," he cried, *' to behold the little esteem in which the only real
and solid goods are held by men. Alas ! the world is for ever chas-
ing vain phantoms, striving to plunge deeper and deeper in vanity
and lies, and no man thinks of his eternal salvation. Non est qui
recogitet in corde ; non est quifaciat bonum, non est usque ad unum.f
See how the courts of princes and the anterooms of statesmen are
ciowded with greedy and ambitious applicants ! Behold the multi-
tudes that throng the marts of commerce and all the public places
of this vast city ! Why all this restless activity and excitement ? To
fulfil the desires of the flesh. I say it weeping, with St. Vanl—^ens
dico — all these men who live only for the.'r pleasures are the enemies
of the Cross and of the Life of Jesus Christ, who condemns this
accursed self-seeking, the end of which is the ruin and perdition of
souls ; they make their belly their God \ they labour only for their
everlasting destruction. O great Saint, who art the patron of this
parish, thou didst not walk by these ways in the days of thy pil-
grimage ; thou who now rcignest with God in the Holy Sion, be
present with us ; grant me something of the spirit with which thou
wast so abundantly replenished ; grant to me, great Saint^ that I
may draw the hearts of this people to an imitation of thy virtues, to
a death unto sin and the love of holiness ; assist me with thy spirit
and thy zeal."

His only preparation for preaching was humble and fervent prayer
before the Blessed Sacrament ; and when he spoke it was as uniting
himself to Jesus Christ, the true light of man, and surrendering him-
self entirely to the impressions of His grace. On one only occa-
sion, when he knew that the Queen Regent and other great person-
ages were to be present, did he deviate from his usual practice,
thinking to do more honour to the sacred ministry ; but he experi-
enced so much sterility and constraint in thought and feeling, and

* Rom. ix. 2.

t " There is none that considereth in the heart ; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one." Jeremias xii. 11. Psalm xiii. i, 3.

'!l

. ^^>J*„ ^

2IO

Life of JVL Olier,

I. ./

so much difficulty in expressing himself, that he never renewed the
attempt ; being assured that God would have him renounce his own
intellectual I'ghts and abandon himself without reserve to the move-
ments of His Spirit.* As he preached, a beauty not his own seemed
to pervade his features; his voice, naturally sweet and powerful,
assumed a richer and more ravishing tone, and to his whole appear-
ance there was added a nobility and a majesty that had something
in it celeiitial and divine. The emotions kindled in his breast were
at times so overpowering that he was fain to pause in his discourse ;
his voice would fail him, and he would be compelled to leave the
pulpit. The effect on his audience was of a corresponding intensity ;
it was not rare to see men and women suddenly burst into tears and
throw themselves on their knees, imploring the mercy of God ; and
after the sermon was ended, the confessionals would be surrounded
with persons who, touched by the grace of contrition for their sins,
desired to make their peace with God and lead the rest of their lives
in His faith and fear.

Nor was this evangelical fervour confined to the interior of the
church. One day, as he was passing through the streets, he came
upon a crowd of people, who were amusing themselves with the
immodest jests and antics of a merry-andrew. Fired with holy indig-
nation at the shameless language that met his ear, and emulating
the zeal of the Apostle when, as he walked the streets of Athens, he
beheld the city wholly given to idolatry, he stopped at a few paces
from the throng and, lifting up his voice, began to speak of the
things of God and of eternity. At first only a few bystanders
gathered round him, but curiosity even got the better of present
amusement, and soon the whole laughter-loving crowd had left their
saucy favourite and were hearkening with strange emotions to one
who spoke to them c* justice and chastity, and judgment to come.
It was indeed a scene to excite men's wonder, — the influence
exerted by an earnest and a fearless man over a giddy fickle crowd ;

* A similar instance is recorded of St. Vincent Ferrer. " One day that he had
to preach before a prince, he thought he must iise more study and more human
diligence in the preparation of his sermon. He applied himself thereto with
extraordinary pains, but neither the prince nor the audience generally were as
satisfied with this studied discourse as they were with that of the next day, which
he composed in his ordinary way, according to the movement of the Spirit of God.
His attention being called to the difference between the two sermons, " Yesterday,"
said he, "it was Brother Vincent who preached ; to-day it was the Holy Spirit."
The Spiritual Doctrine of Father Louis Lallemant, P. iv. C. iv. A. iii.

iS..-..,

Reform of guilds and confraternities. 2 1 1

but to this succeeded a prodigy of grace : the poor buffoon, deserted
by his audience, drew near in turn ; he listened, and was converted
Allusion has been made to the various guilds or confraternities of
artisans and workmen, and the onerous yet often frivolous duties
imposed by them on the clergy. These companies were recognized
by the laws, and had their peculiar privileges and customs. Instituted
originally with the laudable object of uniting in the bonds of fraternal
amity, and by the common obligations of religion, members of the
same trade or handicraft, whom motives of self-interest might naturally
render jealous and distrustful of each other, they had degenerated
into mere associations for merrymaking and carousing; in other
words, intemperance and debauchery. The principal occasions on
which they assembled were the festivals of their patron saints, parti-
cularly that of St Martin, which ancient piety had set apart as times
of special devotion, but which popular license had converted into
days of Bacchanalian riot and profaned by a number of heathenish
superstitions and extravagances. These abuses had become so con-
secrated by long, immemorial custom that the people indulged in the
worst excesses, apparently, without shame or remorse ; and the Pro-
testants, with a disingenuousness examples of which are unhappily
too prevalent in our own time and country, had the hardihood to
declare, even from their pulpits, that such were the "devotions"
authorized by the Church for the observance of these sacred times.
All these abominations M. Olier now laboured to suppress. He
called the different confraternities together, and instructed them in
the proper modes of solemnizing these privileged days. His kind-
ness, his sincerity, his genuine earnestness, produced a powerful
effect on the rough but passionate natures of the men he addressed ;
and from many his appeal met at once with an effectual response.
Tliese he prepared for a general confession, and afterwards for com-
munion. A large number of the brothers renounced their profane
practices, and banished every emblem of their once cherished super-
stitions from their houses. To give the more authority to his acts,
he obtained from the doctors of the Sorbonne a formal condemnation
of the usages in question, which he caused to be printed, and copies
of it distributed among the members of the companies. He directed
the confessor of the Community to direct his especial attention to the
brothers and their families ; visiting them repeatedly, particularly at
times of sickness and distress, reconciling differences, and exhorting
them to the practice of all their Christian duties. These offices were

212

Life of M, Olicr.

often discharged by himself in person ; and there was scarcely an
attic or a hovel— for the parish extended far into the country — to
which his charity did not take him. The people soon learned to
regard him, not as a prying servant of the governing powers, or one
who presumed on his social position to intrude into their dwellings,
but as an afTectionate and anxious father, a true pastor of souls,
whose only desire was to promote their welfare, temporal and eternal.
So great was the influence he obtained over all sorts of men that
even the public notaries entered into an agreement among themselves
not to transact any legal business, except in cases of necessity, on
Sundays and other holidays of the Church.

A zeal so ardent and untiring, animated as it was by a genuine
spirit of self-sacrifice, could not fail to be productive of most salutary
effects. This parish, lately so forsaken of God, had become — with
the constant sermons and ever-recurring religious exercises, con-
ducted by a large and devoted band of priests — the scene of what
had all the appearance of a perpetual mission, and the result was
a wonderful revival of piety and fervour among the people. So
great, at length, became the number of penitents that the priests of
the Community were occupied in hearing confessions on Sundays
and festivals from five in the morning till one o'clock in the day, and
again in the afternoon till late in the evening ; and this at the time
.of the greater solemnities continued for several days together. The
church was soon so densely crowded that it became necessary to
concert measures for the construction of a more spaciouf. building ;
but, as this would be a work of time and, in fact, was not completed
for several years, all that could be accomplished for the present was
to enlarge the approaches by demolishing several houses in the
vicinity. Yet even then the multitudes that filled the precincts were
so great that, during Lent, the carriage of the Queen Regent was
detained for nearly ten minutes at the corner of the Rue de I'Aveugle*
before it could be extricated from the throng.

* Now the Rue de St. Sulpice.

( 213 )

CHAPTER III.

»f. OLIER'S REFORMS CONTINUED.

OF all the measures adopted by M. Olier for the reformation of
his parish, that on which he most relied was an increased
devotion to Jesus in the Sacrament of His Love and to His blessed
Mother. " When God," he wrote, " would revive the piety of His
people, it is not by preaching or by miracles — these are the means
He uses for the first establishment of His Church — but by renewed
devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. The design of
the Son of God in coming upon earth was to communicate to men
Ilis divine life, in order to render them like unto Himself. This
transformation He begins in Baptism and advances in Confirmation,
but he brings it to perfection in the Holy Eucharist, that divine food
which really communicates to us His own life and sentiments, gives
us a participaiion in His adorable interior, and makes us one with
Himself: Qui manducat meam carnem, in me manet et ego in eo.*
He has taken up His abode in the Blessed Sacrament that He may
continue His mission even to the end of the world, and form in the
remotest corners of the earth adorers of His Father, who may worship
Him in spirit and in truth. It is there that He becomes the source
of a divine life, the inexhaustible fountain, the boundless ocean, out
of the fulness of which we are sanctified. By the Most Holy Sacra-
ment He would fill priests with His Spirit and His grace, and con-
vert souls by their means. My soul languishes and is faint by reason
of the keen and vehement desire I have to sec the Most Holy
Sacrament revered by priests. The priest who is assiduous in
honouring It, invoking It, and supplicating It for his people, will
sooner or later obtain their conversion. It is impossible but that,
being assiduous in prayer and remaining thus before the Most Holy
Sacrament of the Altar, he must communicate in the sentiments, the

* " He that eateth My Flesh abideth in Me and I in him." St. John vi. 57.

214

Life of M. Olier.

fervour, and the efficacy of our Lord, so as to touch, enlighten, and
convert the souls of His people. For the power of Jesus risen, who
now dwclleth in the Church with a zeal all on fire for the glory of His
Father, must produce these effects. Ah, Lord, if Thou wouldst
multiply me so that I could be present wherever throughout the world
the Sacred Host abides, that there I might live and die, there I might
spend my days and my life, how happy I should be ! I die of grief
to see how little our Lord is honoured in the Blessed Sacrament
eitlier by priests or by people."

At the time he committed these thoughts to paper, devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament and the piety which nourishes itself with the
Bread of Life seemed well-nigh to hav. died out in the parish of St.
Sulpice. It was M. Olier's mission, not only to restore this devotion,
but to surround it with a special majesty and glory. From the
moment he took possession of his office, he had laboured to make
both the church and its seivices less unworthy of Him to whose
worship they »/ere dedicated. This had long been the subject of M.
Bourdoise's protests, as also of his prayers. " Scarcely anywhere,"
he had said — " nay, I will aver nowhere — in the whole kingdom will
you find a church in which the divine service and all that appertains
thereto, rubrics and ceremonies, vestments and ornaments, as well of
the officials as of the altars, are ordered and observed as ecclesiastical
rules and ordinances direct ; at least, I have never seen or heard of
such One of the most cherished desires of my heart is to see some
house of God regulated, furnished, and served as the Church would
have it to be ; so that nothing should be done and nothing seen
therein for which a reason cannot be given and the rule alleged.
Such a church would serve as a model to others ; a man's whole life
would not be ill employed in so excellent a work."

The desire of this good priest was now to be fulfilled. M. Olier
had not long entered on the duties of his charge before the church
of St. Sulpice underwent a complete transformation. Where but a
few weeks before everytliing testified to the state of ruin and desola-
tion into which religion had fallen, the order and beauty which now
prevailed struck beholders with astonishment. The altars were
reconstructed and richly adorned, the pavement was repaired, the
sacristy, lately so forlorn, was now duly furnished and decorated,
while a second was set apart for the use of the priests who said the
daily Masses. So scanty had become the vessels for the altar that,
when M. Olier first came to St. Sulpice, the church possessed only

Renovation of church and offices^

215

three chalices for thi" service of that large parish ; but he never rested
until out of his own resources, or through the bounty of his wealthier
parishioners, he had procured an ample supply of altar-plate ; so that
in a few years no church in the whole metropolis was more richly
jirovided with all that was necessary for the worthy celebration of
the Holy Mysteries. Instead of the bells which had been suspended
over the entrance to each chapel, and which rang at irregular inter-
vals, as the celebrant happened to be ready, a single bell was
placed at the sacristy door ; and every day, at every quarter of an
hour, from six o'clock in the morning till twelve at noon, that bell
gave warning to the faithful that a priest was proceeding to offer the
Adorable Sacrifice. For the future the sacristan and the parish
clerk* were both to be ecclesiastics, and no priest was to appear in
the church unless vested in surplice or long gown. The singers,
however, who had not received the tonsure, were prohibited from
wearing the surplice. No laics, on any pretext whatever, were
admitted into the sanctuary or choir, with the exception of the
princes or princesses of the blood royal, when they were present
in state at any extraordinary solp*nnity. Two doorkeepers were
appointed, whose business it was to disperse the crowd of beggars
who gathered round the entrance, to the annoyance of the congrega-
tion, many of whom, to avoid their importunity, had been driven to
frequent the chapels of the different Communities in the suburbs.
No one employed in the sacristy was allowed to solicit presents
at baptisms. The organist, who in the choice of his pieces had paid
no regard to times and seasons, was provided with a book of regula-
tions in accordance with the Roman practice, as then in use. The
ringers also received a set of instructions ; the sexton, who hitherto
had been left to his own devices, was subjected to supervision and
control; nor did M. Olier disdain to see to the ordering of the
parish clock, on which depended the punctual performance of all the
offices of the church. Need it be added that an end had been put
to the tavern in the vaults, where, as M. de Bassancourt with affected
gravity informs M. Bourdoise, "our communicants used to go to
take a little draught, and eat a bit of blessed bread, in the excess of
their devotion ! "

• Littre in his Dictionnaire de la Langue Franfaise hi\s this explanation :
"Dans les paroisses Clerc de I'oeuvre, celui qui a soin de certaines choses con-
cernant I'oeuvre de la paroisse." As there were then no civil registers, this official
may have been employed in giving certificates, entering parochial accounts, &c.

^J^iiii^tiMat;fJjiK^£££;^k3>.^.-lO.;^;.!tl^

2l6

Life of M, Olier.

'•I
i

One sublime and beautiful thought M. Olier had cherished which
it was now his delight to see realized. It was that, while the greater
part of the priests of his community were dispersed about the parish,
engaged in labouring for the salvation of souls, the rest should be
assembled in the choir of the church, offering to God, in the name
of clergy and people, the sacrifice of homage and praise. This was
M. Oiler's great idea, and he expressed it at length in some con-
siderations which he drew up for the benefit of his ecclesiastics.*
He would have them bear in mind that " in reciting the Divine Office
they were acting m the name of the Church, or rather in that of
Jesus Christ Himself, who was pleased to make use of their mouths
and hearts as so many instruments wherewith to give praise to the
Majesty of His Father by His Spirit dwelling in them." Henceforth,
therefore, the Canonical Hours were publicly recited by the priests
of St. Sulpice, an endowment being provided by M. Olier for their
perpetual observance ; in all which his exertions were powerfully
seconded by the zeal and piety of M. de Bassancourt, who for the
first seven years after the establishment of the Community was
Master of Ceremonies at the Seminary.

Such was the state of religious apathy into which the population
of this unhappy parish had settled down, that scarcely any one assisted
at Mass except on Sundays and days of obligation. Pierced to the
heart by such woeful insensibility, M. Olier strove both by public
instructions and by private admonitions to rekindle the light of faith
among his people, showing them the immense graces which are
attache;^ to an assiduous attendance at the Holy Sacrifice and
pressing on them the obligation, as parishioners, of repairing the
dishonour which had been done to God by so general a neglect of
that supreme act of divine worship. Nor was it only to those who
had their time at their free disposal that he addressed himself, he was
no less urgent with the artisans and tradesmen of the parish ; assur-
ing them that, as a diligent attendance at Mass need not interfere
with the due management of their affairs, so neither would it be
found to be detrimental to their temporal interests. In order to
give them every facility for fulfilling this duty without serious in-
convenience — although it might entail some sacrifice of personal
ease — he caused Masses to be said at suitable hours in the morning ;
indeed, we have already seen that special instructions were provided
for workmen at the early hour of four o'clock in summer.

• An extract from these considerations is appended to this Chapter.

•^-

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. 2 1 7

If attendance at Mass was thus unfrequent, we shall not need to
be told that communions were more unfrequent still ; and, in fact,
few persons communicated, and that but seldom ; while the very
idea of visiting Jesus present on the altar was, to all appearance, lost
among the people. From the moment M. Olier assumed the charge
of the parish he made this pious practice the subject of his continual
exhortations ; but he did more : he enforced his teaching by example.
He was constantly to be seen upon his knees before the Tabernacle;
he never left the Presbytery without first paying a visit of adoration,
and he did the same when he returned ; it was observed, also, that
he chose by preference those streets in which there were churches,
and where, therefore, he could perform a passing act of homage.
His ecclesiastics were so emulous of his piety that from morning till
night there was no lack of worshippers j he would have them resort
to this devotion as a relief and recreation in their toils, and their one
habitual occupation in old age : here they were to find their peace
and repose in their declining years.*

Further, this gre: t priest of God established a Confraternity of
the Blessed Sacrament, which included at first only such of the
ladies of the Faubourg as by their high position and known piety
were likely to exercise a beneficial influence on others of their sex.
This was the rule he adopted generally — to engage in the first in-
stance the women and the children, and then, through their means,
to gain access to the men. The associates met together every
Thursday in the parish church, when M. Olier delivered an exhorta-
tion on the subject of the devotion ; their visits for adoration were
made in the afternoon, on such days and at such hours as each
might choose ; and they took part, with lighted torches, in all pro-
cessions held in honour of the Blessed Sacrament His addresses
at the commencement were couched in language suited to the more
cultivated intelligences of his auditors, but soon it was given him to
see that the devotion ought to be general and the blessings of the
Confraternity extended to persons of every class ; he modified his
style accordingly, and, though his instructions were no less elevated
in their subject-matter, he knew how to adapt them to the poorest and

t I

* It was probably for the sake of edification to the parishioners that M. Olier
never sought permission to have the Blessed Sacrament reserved wi the chapel of
the Seminary. The Community began to enjoy this privilege in the year 1698,
but the custom of visiting the parish church still continued to be observed by its
members.

^m:4^m^ijii^ii^'ii0^si0i^\y(t!^

2l8

^Afe of M. Olier.

I Si

h f^

most illiterate members of his fiock. It was on the third Sunday in
June, 1643, ^hat he invited all the parishioners, without exception, to
join the Confraternity. Hitherto (as he said) it had been limited to
such us had leisure for visiting the church on certain fixed days and at
certain fixed hours, but for the future there would be no such restric-
tion, and they whose avocations prevented them frc n paying their
devotion on weekdays might do so on Sundays and festivals ; and
that, too, without foregoing their usual recreations, so only they were
such as good Christians might innocently enjoy. Indeed, as he
took care to tell them, their recreations were likely to be all the more
innocent and none the less pleasurable when they carried with them
through the day the blessing of Him whom they Iiad just adored,
and by their piety had earned for themselves and their families
the special favour and protection of their angel-guardians. This
invitation was cordially responded to by the parishioners, and by
none more so than by those who may be called the busy classes,
many of whom were remarkable for their punctuality and their
fervour. Thus it came about that what in its beginnings was an
exceptional observance became a general practice, and ladies of the
highest rank might be seen walking in procession, or i;neeling side
by side in adoration, with the meanest of the people. This adora-
tion, which at first was observed only in the afternoon, was shortly
after commenced in the early part of the day, and at last was con-
tinued through the night, and so (as we shall hereafter see) became
perpetual.

Having remarked that some of the greater people had been remiss
in their attendance during the week, he rebuked them at one of
the Thursday meetings for their negligence, showing how unbecom-
ing it was to leave their Sovereign Lord without worshippers at such
times as He was pleased to invite them to His presence. Upon
which the Princesse de Cond^, who had been absent on a late occa-
sion, desirous of repairing any scandal she might have given by her
apparent indevotion, stood up, and said with a touching simplicity,
•' I was absent. Sir, on Saturday, having gone to pay my court to the
Queen." M. Olier, who had no regard to rank or birth where duty
was concerned, replied, "You would have done better. Madam,
had you come here to pay your court to the King of kings." The
Princess, however, had a legitimate excuse. Louis XIII. was just
dead, and the Queen, who, during the first forty days of public
mourning, was obliged by court etiquette to remain in her own apart-

Benediction and Exposition.

219

ments, with flambeaux burning, had begged her to come and take
her out privately for an airing. On being made aware of the circum-
stance, M. OHer felt that some reparation was due for the public
rebuke he had administered, and, making her very presence there
the occasion of a commendation, he bade his hearers take pattern
by the piety and humility of one of her exalted station, who came in
the crowd like any ordinary person, and sat with the rest on her little
straw-chair. This princess, who was under M. Olier's spiritual
direction, did much, both by example and direct influence, for the
promotion of piety among the ladies of the parish, and esi)ccially 'i
this matter of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

One of M. Olier's first acts on coming to St. Sulpice had bee to
establish a solemn Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament, wit; <i
procession and exposition, on the first Sundays and Thursdays in
each month. This most beautiful devotion was at that time of much
rarer observance in France than it subsequently became ; and it was
objected by many persons of piety — M. Bourdoise among the number
— that a more frequent celebration would so familiarize people's
minds with the tremendous mystery as to lead to irreverence and
desecration. But M. Olier contended, — and the authoritative sanction
of the Church, as well as the general experience of the faithful, has
confirmed his judgment, — that the dispensations of grace vary in
such matters with the needs of the age ; and that, as in these latter
days the blasphemy of heresy has especially assailed the August
Sacrament of the Altar, so it was the will of God that reparation
should be made by a more open, more frequent, and (so to say)
more triumphant display of homage and adoration ; moreover, that
the elevation of the sacerdotal order was inseparably associated with
this increased devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, of which priests
were the consecrated ministers and guardians. He was careful,
however, to provide against the apprehended evil consequences by
surrounding the celebration with every circumstance that could tend
to exalt it in the eyes of the people.* On every first Thursday in
the month there was solemn High Mass, with a procession ; and the
Exposition was announced by three peals of bells. It was ordered

* As a proof of the care he took in this matter, it is mentioned that, when a
person of some consideration in the parish offered to found a solemn Mass of the
Blessed Sacrament, with Benediction, to be celebrated every Thursday throughout
the year, he refused his consent, for fear of diminishing rather than stimulating
the devotion of the people.

220

TAfe of M, Olier.

also that there should never be less than thirty-eight ecclesiastics
present, four of whom should bear the canopy, four be vested in
copes or dalmatics, while the rest should carry lighted torches in
their hands ; two thurifers, moreover, preceding, who were to incense
continually as the procession advanced.

For the perpetual observance of this edifying practice, the
Duchesse d'Aiguillon established a special endowment ; and a similar
fund was contributed by a pious family in the parish for the
solemnization of the Forty Hours' Adoration, which M. Olier had
inaugurated, during the three days immediately preceding the peni-
tential season of Lent. He also instituted an annual exposition of
the Blessed Sacrament on the feast of Epiphany and on that of
St. Martin, both in reparation and as a corrective of the disorders
which prevailed at that particular time. Unable, by reason of his
unceasing pastoral labours, to satisfy the ardour of his devotion, he
kept two tapers continually burning on the altar to represent his own
consuming love, and provided at his personal expense the torches
which were borne before the Blessed Sacrament when carried to the
sick. Such zeal for God and for His honour and worship could not
fail to be contagious. Accordingly, the days which had been devoted
to riot or mere amusement, began to be observed religiously ; the
people came more frequently to the holy offices, and endeavoured
by their piety and fervour to make reparation for their former
profanities.

Communions at St. Sulpice (as has been said) had become both
few and rare ; a circumstance attributable, not only to the tepidity
and indifference which is sure to follow where pastors are themselves
wanting in zeal and devotion, but to that insidious and most detest-
able heresy which was now fast gaining ground in France, and which,
under the pretence of aspiring after a higher spirituality and doing
greater honour to the Sacrament of the Altar, prevented thirsting,
perishing souls from approaching the fount of life and sanctity.
Jansenism was doing its utmost, by exaggerating the qualifications
required for a right reception of the Holy Eucharist, to make unfre-
quent communion a mark of piety, as it was the badge of its own
pernicious sect. Against this odious hypocrisy the teaching of M.
Olier and his community was one continued protest. Equally free,
on the one hand, from a severe rigorism and, on the other, from a
too indulgent laxity, he sought to inspire his people with a reverent
but ardent devotion to Jesus in His Sacrament of Love, and to

Address to first-communicants.

221

instruct them in the necessary dispositions for worthily partaking of
the Bread of Angels. To accomplish this in the most solid and
effectual manner, he instructed his catechists to bestow the greatest
care in preparing children and young persons for their first com-
munion ; and, to train them from their earliest years in the practice
of frequently approaching this heavenly banquet, he established a
monthly general "ommunion, which was the source of incalculable
blessings to his flock.

With this most salutary of all devotions was conjoined that which
is its offspring and its complement, a most tender and confiding
love of Mary, whose power and prerogatives were also covertly
assailed, if not openly decried, by the Jansenistic party. On entering
the parish he had solemnly placed it under the patronage and pro-
tection of the Blessed Virgin, and in all public processions her banner
was displayed together with that of St. Sulpice. It was his desire
that on the first Saturday of each month the younger members of his
flock should renew their consecration to their holy Mother ; and to
this end he established a Mass and procession, at which all the
children in the schools assisted. But it was on the day of their first
communion that he who had ever loved to bestow that which was
best and dearest on his heavenly Patroness rejoiced in making her
the offering of hearts, then most worthy of her favour ; hearts which
her Divine Son had just deigned personally to visit and had reple-
nished with the Spirit of His grace.

A fragment of one of his addresses on these occasions has been
preserved, and is worthy of being cited as illustrating the vivid
manner with which he impressed the truths of religion on the tender
hearts of the young : — " My children, I address to you this day the
same words which Jesus spoke when He was on earth : * Suffer the
little children to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.* *
Yes, this is the day on which you are to enter this Heavenly Kingdom.
What a day of glory and of benediction ! This day, without quitting
your body, without causing grief and mourning to your parents or
y <ur relatives, you are to enter into Paradise. You know that when
children die after holy baptism they go straight to Heaven ; and that
the Church, instead of weeping and mourning for them, celebrates
their festival, because, not having lost the white robe of innocence,
they pass at once from this world into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, this it is, my children, which our Lord desires to do this day :

* St. Matthew xix. 14. St. Mark x. 14. St. Luke xviii. 16.

I "'

■;,

222

Life of M. Olier,

>::■

to admit you into His Kingdom, because He finds you clothed with
the garment of innocence. This day is a day of triumph to you, it
is a day of immortality, it is a day of royalty, a day of sanctity. See,
my children, whether you be in a state to enjoy this blessing and this
grace divine. Remember that nothing defiled can enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. Therefore it was that before the gate of the earthly
Paradise, which is a figure of Heaven, an angei held a flaming sword
to prevent all sinners from entering therein ; * and Jesus Christ, in
the Temple of Jerusalem, which was a foreshadowing of Paradise,
taking a scourge into His hand, drove out of that holy house all
those who were given to covetousness and whose hearts were attached
to the goods of this world : t an evident sign of the awful vengeance
which He executes on those who are so presumptuous as to attempt
to enter into His Kingdom while in a state of sin. Yet, strange to
say, in the Gospel J we meet with one who dared to enter the guest-
chamber without having on a wedding garment, whereupon the
master of the house, incensed at such audacity and presumption,
commanded him to be seized, bound hand and foot, and cast out
into the darkness. This is a figure of those who dare to approach
the Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin. Wherefore it is that
the Greek Church bids her deacons cry aloud before Holy Com-
munion, * If any one hath aught against his brother, let him go first
and be reconciled ; ' § and why in the Latin Church the kiss of peace
is given in token of fraternal charity. My children, what the Church
does will be done also on the day when God shall admit His elect
into His Kingdom, to make them sit down at the eternal banquet
which He has prepared for them : the great herald of God will then
cry aloud and say, ' Begone, ye who are given to anger or immodesty ;
ye who are covetous or deceitful and love lying.' And it is in these
same words that I address myself to you : Purify your hearts, and so
come to this divine banquet. It was instituted to give new life to
your souls, but it profiteth only those who are already alive and who
have in them the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ."

In the Seminary of St. Sulpice is a picture representing M. Olier
kneeling before an altar with a youth of noble aspect, whom he is
consecrating to the holy Mother of God. This was Anne-Auger
Granry, page of the chamber to the Duke of Orleans. He made his
en he was twelve years old, and having through

communion

* Gen. iii. 24.

t Si. Matthew xxii. 11-13.

t St. Johnii. 15.
§ lb. ver. 23, 24.

Brother J oJm of the Cross.

223

divine grace preserved his innocence unstained, he came in his
fifteenth year to make a retreat at the Seminary. Surrounded by all
the temptations of the court and now arrived at a most critical period
of his life, the one desire of his heart was that he might sooner die
than live to offend God by one mortal sin ; and scarcely had he
enteicd on his retreat when he was taken ill, and in a very few days
expired. M. de Bretonvilliers, who acted as his confessor during
his retreat, was so assured of his being in a state of bliss that he
would have contented himself with saying a few Masses for him ; but,
on M. Olier declaring that the youth still needed his prayers, he had
numerous Masses offered in his behalf, until the holy pastor learned
by divine revelation that the justice of God was satisfied. " This
morning," he said, " when offering the Adorable Sacrifice, I beheld
his soul, resplendent with light, ascending into Heaven."

Next to Jesus really present on the altars of the Church the ser-
vant of God loved the poor, who are His images and representatives.
When engaged in giving missions, his first visit on arriving at any
town was to the Blessed Sacrament, his second to the hospital or the
asylum of the poor. He had bound himself by vow to be their
servant to the end of his days, and faithfully did he perform it when
he became pastor of St. Sulpice. Crowds of miserable objects, the
fetid odour from whose garments tainted the very air, might be seen
surrounding the doors of the Presbytery, where they ever met with a
ready, cordial welcome. Not content with receiving them with a
sweet and gentle kindness, he invited them to come to him, he went
out to seek them, he gathered them about him, and distributed alms
among them according to their several needs. The bashful poor
were specially the objects of his solicitude, and of these the first list
presented to him contained no less than fifteen hundred names. To
inquire into the circumstances and relieve the necessities of all who
claimed his bounty, he needed an assistant of peculiar talents and
experience ; and such a one was provided him in the person of Jean
Blondeau, better known in his own day as Brother John of the Cross.
He had himself belonged to the tribe of beggars until he was taken
into the service of Fere Bernard, and the way he obtained the name
by which he was popularly known is too characteristic to be omitted.
Great as was their mutual respect, servant and master seem to have
been a severe trial to each other ; their dispositions and humours
were always clashing; and so troublesome and vexatious did the
"Poor Priest" find his adopted beggar that he reckoned him

m 1

mmmmmmmmmm

*P<«B«Bl^mH

224

Life of M. Olier.

'■X

among the extraordinary crosses which God was pleased to lay upon
him. But Brother John had his grievances too, the principal item
of which was singular enough. "When I am serving his Mass,"
said he, " he remains rapt in an ecstacy three hours together ; and
all the time I am wanted elsewhere, for he has nobody but me to
wait upon him. When I have prepared his meal, and go to tell
him it is ready, I find him in an ecstacy again, and I have no means
of getting him out of it. It is perfectly unendurable ! " P. Bernard,
however, retained him in his service as long as he lived ; and when
he was gone, the good brother, who had a real veneration for the
virtues of his master, never ceased reproaching himself for all the
trouble he had given him. " He has turned out a great saint," he
would say, with tears in his eyes ; " and what fills me with confusion
is that, instead of imitating his example, I contributed to his sancti-
fication by all I made him sufTer."

Accompanied by Brother John, M. Olier visited in person all the
poor of his vast parish, listening patiently to their complaints and
relieving their necessities. For the sick he provided nurses and
medical attendants ; for the orphans a home ; for distressed females
employment ; and he charged certain of the parishioners in whom
he could confide to watch over their conduct and supply their wants
out of funds which he placed at their disposal. On two days in the
week he gave food and clothing to crowds of beggars, who some-
times numbered as many as nine hundred ; and, with an indulgent
charity, which resembled that of St. Thomas of Villanova, he re-
frained from enquiring too narrowly into their tale of woe or taking
note of any artifice they might employ to excite his pity, choosing
rather, in the spirit of the Apostle's counsel to the Corinthians,* to
suffer himself to be defrauded* than to deal hardly with the poor of
Christ, and availing himself of the occasion to touch their hearts
with a word of counsel and recall them to the paths of honesty and
virtue. No wonder that with such a constant drain upon them his
resources were often quite exhausted. One friend, however, he had
who never failed him in his straits, and who, he used to declare,
would never be wanting to those who loved and cared for the poor,
the Blessed Virgin. To the bags which were hung up in the Pres-
bytery to receive alms for their relief he had attached an image of
this compassionate Mother ; and, although they were always being
emptied, they were as continually refilled when the moment of need

• I Cor. vii. 7.

-. -.A

His care of the sick poor.

225

arrived. " She it is," he would say to his priests, pointing to the
image, " on whom I rely to take care of the poor ; I leave the whole
management to her ; I tell her my wants, and she in her goodness
provides for them."

One of his first acts was to re-organize the Confraternity of
Charity, which had been established at St. Sulpice ten years before
by St. Vincent de Paul, but had become almost extinct. The asso-
ciation was composed of the ladies of the parish, many of them high
in rank, who met every week at the Presbytery after hearing Mass.
Some contributed a fixed sum every month ; others provided
victuals ; others again visited the sick at their own homes. Among
these devoted women one of the most remarkable was Mme. Les-
chassier, of the illustrious family of Miron, who, though delicately
and even luxuriously brought up, was in the daily practice of mak-
ing the beds of the poor creatures and washing and mending their
linen with her own hands. One day that her daughter, whose
humility and charity were worthy of such a mother, saw her prepar-
ing to comb the head of a little girl which was more than usually
dirty and revolting, she drew the child towards her that she might
perform the office instead. But Mme. Leschassier, perceiving her
object, said, " No, my dear ; that is not fair ; you must not take the
best to yourself." Acting under M. Oiler's direction, this young
lady refused several advantageous offers of marriage, and devoted
her whole life to works of charity.

It was found, however, that the aid thus rendered was uncertain
and precarious at the best, particularly as many of the ladies,
unable to give the constant and regular attention which was needed,
were in the habit of hiring young women, or sending their servants,
to supply their place. M. Olier, therefore, called in the aid of the
Sisters of Charity, lately founded by Mile. Le Gras (Louise de
Marillac) * under the direction of St. Vincent de Paul ; indeed, he
was the first Cur6 of Paris who introduced them into his parish.
He established them in the Rue du Pot-de-Fer, and employed them
in taking care of children and attending to the sick, for whom they
provided both food and medicine. But it was to his own ecclesiastics
that he principally looked to minister to the necessities of the suffer-

* Mile. Le Gras was the widow of Antoine Le Gras, Secretary to the
Queen Marie de Medicis ; but, as lier husband's family did not, like her own,
rank among the noblesse, she was not entitled, according to the usage of the time,
to be styled Madame. This heroioe of charity died March 15th, 1660, aged 68.

"It

226

Life of M. Oiler,

ing poor, to whom, as the dearest and most cherished members of
the body of Christ, he would have them consider nothing less than
a father's care was due. To obviate, however, any evils that might
arise from mixing up together the temporal and the spiritual, no
confessor was allowed to give alms to his penitents. If the poor,
when they entered the tribunal of penance, began to complain of
their bodily wants and sufferings, the nriest was instructed to say,
'• Do you wish to confess your sins, or to receive alms ? If I hear
your confession, I cannot give you anything."

But, deeply pained as, was the heart of this good pastor by tne
poverty and distress of so ninny of his flock, there was one woeful
misery which caused it a far more bitter pang. The parish abounded
in houses of infamy, to the ruin of the peace and happiness of
families and the eternal destruction of innumerable souls. To cope
with this monstrous evil, there needed the zeal and the courage and,
we may add, the charity of an Apostle ; and none of the three were
wanting in the Cur^ of St. Sulpice. Again and again he urged upon
his parishioners the strict obligation under which they lay not to
receive as their tenants persons of notoriously profligate lives ; and
when this did not suffice, he denounced the vengeance of Heaven
on all who knowingly lent themselves to this iniquity, enforcing his
threats by the most terrible examples. He proceeded in person to
demand the assistance of the magistrates, boldly declaring that, as
the guardians of the public morals, they would have to answer at the
judgment-seat of God for the disorders which, through pusillanimity
or rupineness, they failed to suppress. A number of abandoned
womvm having established themselves in one of the most frequented
streets near the church, where their shameless conduct was a scandal
to the whole neighbourhood, he inveighed from the pulpit with so
much vehemence against the toleration of the foul enormity that the
Bailly of the Faubourg, using the authority he possessed, expelled
the offenders from the parish, and even changed the appellation
of the street, with the hope of obliterating the very memory of the
disgrace which attached to the locality. This act the magistrate
followed up by enforcing the severest punishment allowed by the
law, which was that of imprisonment for fifteen days on bread and
water, and adopting other vigorous measures. But M. Olier, mean-
while, was labouring to turn the vengeance of the law to the spiritual
profit of its unhappy victims. He strove to provide them on their
release with the means of obtaining an honest livelihood ; he sent

His charity to sinners.

227

some of the most virtuous among his parishioners ^o visit them in
prison, and endeavour by kindness and sympathy to rescue them
from the gulf of misery into which they had fallen ; and, when any
showed signs of penitence and a desire to return to a better life, he
engaged charitable persons to provide them an asylum, at his per-
sonal expense, where they could be duly instructed and reconciled
to Clod. Uniting himself interiorly to the sentiments of our Blessed
Lord when He conversed with the woman of Samaria, he would
himself undertake their reformation, blending in such measure as
an enlightened prudence suggested, or, rather, as the Spirit of God
dictated to him at the time, severity with sweetness, and not unfre-
quently by a word or two of calm persuasion allaying the fiercest
bursts of passion or subduing the most obstinate temper.

On its being observed to him one day by a person of piety that
all the trouble he took was simply thrown away, for that every day's
experience showed that those on whom so much zeal was expended,
on returning to the world, betook themselves again to a life of sin,
he answered, " No ; the labour we undergo for God is never lost.
True it is that our efforts do not always meet with success, but suc-
cess is not altogether the end we have in view; there is another
on which we may infallibly reckon; and that is our own spiritual
advancement, an increase of personal merit, greater glory in Heaven,
and the highest honour to which a creature can aspire on earth, that
of working for God. Besides, have all fallen who appeared to be
reclaimed?" and, on receiving an admission to the contrary, he
added, " Then you ought to rest content. If your life served only
to save one single soul, could it be better employed, seeing that
the Son of God would have given His own life to save that soul,
had it been the only one in the whole world?" The better,
however, to secure the fruits of his labours, he entrusted his
penitents to the care of the community which bore the well-
known name of the Madeleine, and, with the aid of some of the
wealthiest inhabitants, would have founded a similar institution in
his own parish ; but the project encountered so determined an
opposition on the part of other influential persons, who represented
that such a foundation would be prejudicial to the establishments
already in existence, that he was compelled to desist. In this, there-
fore, he had only the merit of the desire, without suc' eding in his
enterprise, and at the same time gave occasion to admire his
exemplary patience and conformity to the will of God. When told
that he must abandon his charitable design, he replied, " Ah, well,

IP
m

Ill:

♦ .

228

Life of M. Olicr.

blessed be God! He is master; His holy will be done iti all
things."*

After seven years of incessant toil he had the consolation of
seeing his parish almost entirely delivered from that open exhibition
of profligacy which had been its foulest blot, but it was not without
great mental suflering and much self-inflicted penance. The sins
and disorders of his people filled his heart with an abiding sorrow,
and embittered every moment of his life. " I cannot understand."
he would say, "how it is possible to love God and not to grieve
over the loss of souls." Often he would shut himself up in the
church, and there piss the whole night in prayer behind the High
Altar, t imploring the Divine mercy for his flock ; or he would lie
prostrate on the floor of his chamber, giving vent to the anguish of
his soul in audible sighs and groans ; or, again, he would rise from
his bed after two or three hours' sleep, and remain in prayer till
morning. To this perseverance in supplication he added the
severest bodily austerities, wearing constantly, despite all the labours
of each '' , an iron girdle with cruelly sharp points, and punishing
his flesh with disciplines so mercilessly that the room in which he
scourged himself would be found sprinkled with his blood. A
charity so supernatural and heroic drew down extraordinary bless-
ings on his people, and obtained the gift of repentance even for
many inveterate sinners. One remarkable instance is related of his
hearing for the first time of a certain notorious evil-liver, and saying
Mass for his conversion ; when, on the very same day, the man,
suddenly seized with compunction, went to M. Olier, made his
peace with God, and led ever after a good and exemplary life.
Such, too, was the grace that accompanied his ministrations that, as
we learn on the authority of M. de Bretonvilliers, of all the persons
who were under his direction, or for whose conversion he had
laboured, there were only two who died without giving signs of true
contrition. The first was the Calvinist mei.tioned in a preceding
chapter ; the second was a girl twenty-two years of age, of abandoned
life, who, struck down by a mortal illness, was brought in a few days
to the brink of the grave. In spite of all his endeavours, his prayers,
and his penances, and the prayers and exhortations of the priests

* In 1684, M. de la Barmondiere, a disciple of M. Olier and one of his successors
as Cure of St. Sulpice, was able to carry out this beneficent design by establishing
in the parish a community of the Nuns of the Good Shepherd.

t The Blessed Sacrament was reserved in the Lady Chapel as well as on the
High Altar at St. Sulpice.

His intrepid zcaL

229

whom he called to his aid, she persisted in her obduracy, and dietl
like one possessed by the devil, howling and blaspheming ; her last
art — horrible to relate — being to spit on the crucifix which was held
to her lips ! So awful an event produced a great sensation in the
])arish, and the wretched creature was buried in unconsecrated
ground, deprived in her den'h of all the rites of the Church which
in the closing moments of her life she had rejected and profaned.
'Ihe loss of this soul seemed to strike the holy pastor with a sort
of consternation; and, for long after, his counteii.i'ice and whole
appearance gave tokens of the anguish that rent his heart.

The zeal of this great servant of God was no less conspicuously
displayed in his unwearied efforts to preserve young and innocent
girls from the arts of the seducer. If he became aware that there
were any in danger of falling into sin, through the poverty or ill
conduct of their parents or their own inexperience and indiscretion,
he never rested until he had procured them the means of subsistence
or had rescued them from their perilous position. And here he
found a powerful coadjutor in the celebrated Mme. de Pollalion,
(Marie de Lumague),* whose life was devoted to this and similar
works of mercy. The numbers who are said to have been saved
from destruction by their united exertions sufficiently prove the
frightful prevalence of the evil against which they had to contend.
Not content with interposing where his assistance was asked, M.
Olier was indefatigable in detecting and defeating the machinations
of the profligate and vicious. Learning one day that a miserable
woman had agreed for a sum of money to deliver up her step-
daughter to a wealthy libertine, and that the iniquitous bargain was
to be concluded at a certain house which had been indicated to
him, he obtained privately the protection of a guard, which he
stationed at a convenient spot ; then, going in company of Mme. de
Pollalion to the house, he boldly confronted the infamous woman

* Sometimes called Mile. Pollalion, because, like Mile. Le Gras, her husband
was a simple fcuyer ; no one below the wife of a baron or a chevalier being
entitled to be addressed as Madame. She was remarkable for her ardent and
energetic character. Among other acts which testified to her defiance of human
respect, it is related of her that she made the pilgrimage to the shrine of Notre
Dame des Vertus barefoot in winter. Left a widow at the age of twenty-six, she
quitted the Court and devoted her life to charitable works. In concert with M.
Le Vachet, a priest of St. Sulpice, she took an active part in establishing an
institute for the training of school-teachers, who were called the Sisters of
Christian Union ; and subsequently, under the guidance of St. Vincent de Paul,
she became the foundress of the Sisters of Providence, who employed themselves
in the education of the poor.

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Life of M, Olier,

and her accomplice, and exposed their nefarious design in the
presence of the intended victim, who, thus apprized of the plot con-
trived for her ruin, threw herself into the arms of Mme. de PoUalion
and begged to be conveyed to a place of safety, liut when a soul's
salvation was at stake M. Olier was reckless of danger, and would
brave any insult or outrage to effect his charitable object. He was
in his chamber one winter's evening when, hearing a tumult outside,
and being told that it was occasioned by a party of soldiers who
were carrying off a young girl, in an instant, without consulting liis
own safety, he rushed into the street and pursued the ravishers, who,
astounded at the courage and resolution of one unarmed man, gave
up their prey into his hands. On another occasion he followed a
gang of ruffians as far as Montrouge for a similar purpose and with
similar success. His wish was to establish a house of refuge, under
the care of a religious community, where young females whose
chastity was imperilled might receive the protection they needed,
and be brought up in habits of piety and virtue. Failing health,
however, prevented the execution of this among many other chari-
table plans which he had devised but was unable to carry into effect.
Finding that many were living as man and wife in the parish who
had never been married, or whose marriages had not been validly
solemnized, he employed the necessary measures for supplying what-
ever was defective, taking care, however, not to publish to the world
the shame that had attached to their position or the nullity of the
previous contract. To prevent as far as possible similar abuses for
the future, he drew up a paper of instructions, which he caused to
be distributed among the people, and required that persons, before
entering into the marriage state, should evince a sufficient knowledge
of the principal articles of the faith and approach the holy sacra-
ments of Penance and the Fucharist. From this obligation none
were exempted, whatever their rank or station in life. The mother
attended with her daughter, the intended bridegroom came alone ;
and M. du Ferrier says of himself that, finding that one of his
penitents who was among the first lords about Court did not know
hiij catechism, he directed him to learn it, and the young nobleman
repeated his lesson with all the humility of a child. M. Olier
solemnly admonished all fathers and mothers of families, as they
would answer before God for their children's souls, to keep strict
watch over their morals, himself suggesting the precautions to be
taken agamst contamination, and assisting the poor to observe them.

Phe Vvan.

231

It was in the midst of these pastoral labours that he was called
to decide upon an affair of no small importance. The Queen
Regent, who had vowed to raise a magnificent temple to God if He
should vouchsafe to grunt an heir to the throne of France, was desi-
rous of completing the construction of the Abbey of Val lie Grice,
the first stone of which had been laid, in tlie April of 1645, by Louis
XIV., then a child. Holding M. Olier in the highest esteem, this
pious princess wished to i)lace him at the head of the new establish-
ment, and to this end proposed that he should exchange the parish
of St. Sulpice for that of St. Jacques du Haut Pas,* in which tlie
abbey was situated. M. Olier would have been disposed to enter-
tain the question but for the assurance of Marie Rousseau that such
a change would lead to the ruin of the Seminary. The Queen would
then have had him nominate one of his ecclesiastics, in which her
cfTorts were seconded by those of the Cure of St. Jacques, M. Pons
de Lagrange. But even to this proposal M. Olier could not bring
himself to accede, fearing to get embroiled with the Oratorian
Fathers, whose house of St. Magloire was in the close vicinity of
the abbey, and with whose views on the now all-engrossing subject
of grace he was little in accord. For the same reason he sub-
sequently declined to undertake the superintendence of the Filles
Penitentes of St. Magloire, lately reformed.

The great reputation which M. Olier now enjoyed, the order
which reigned in his parish, and the general editication afforded by
his community, brought him into close relations with all who, in his
day, were remarkable for their piety and virtues. It was about the
year 1644 that he contracted an intimate and lasting friendship with
M. Crdtenet, who, though a surgeon by profession and a married
man, exercised an extraordinary influence in re-animating the devo-
tion of the clergy, and became the founder of the Missionaries of St.
Joseph. Such was the respect which M. Olier entertained for this
good layman, who paid frequent visits to the Presbytery, that he
bade his ecclesiastics take him as their model. But a still more
notable personage, and one whose name will always remain associ-
ated with that of M. Olier and the Community of St Sulpice, was
the Pere Yvan, founder of the Nuns of Notre Dame de la Mis^ri-
corde, whose acquaintance he made in the same year. Burning

Or Maupas, being an abbrevation of maiivais pas, so called from a religious
community whicli was founded in the 12th century for receiving travellers and
assisting them gratuitously in crossing rivers, &c.

tl ',

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232

L?/e of M. Olicr.

with zeal for the conversion of sinners and gifted with extraordinary
lights in the direction of souls, this celebrated man, now consider-
ably advanced in years, led a life of severe austerity, which seemed
to affect his whole manner and conversation. There was a certain
roughness in his exterior and plainness in his speech which to men
of the world must have borne the appearance of insufferable rude-
ness. He had a way of testing people's merits by taking them to
task for some fault which he thought, or affected to think, he had
observed in their conduct, and he subjected M. Olier to this ordeal
the first time he saw him. Joining the Community in the refectory,
where the servant of God was taking his simple repast with the rest,
P. Yvan kept his eyes fixed upon him, and, after observing him
awhile, he said, as with an air of disappointment and disgust, " I am
astonished at your want of self-denial ; you eat your dinner with all
the avidity of a glutton ; " and he continued for some time in the
same strain with the utmost freedom, adding whatever he thought
most likely to irritate and provoke. M. OUer listened with all
placidity and patience, and, when the old man had said his worst,
he thanked him unaffectedly for the charity which had led him to
rebuke him so frankly for his faults, and promised, with God's help,
to profit by his advice ; " for, father," said he, " it is seldom one
meets with friends who do not flatter, but speak the truth in love."
While he was uttering these words P. Yvan watched him narrowly,
to judge by his features whether his speech expressed the genuine
emotions of his heart ; then, no longer withholding his admiration,
he enthusiCiStically declared that M. Olier, while taking his ordinary
repast, practised a mortification as real as the austerest anchorite ;
and such was the opinion which from that moment he entertained
of his sanctity that he was wont to say, " M. Olier is truly a saint :
he is dead ; nature is extinct in him." M. Olier, on his part,
appreciated no less highly the virtues of his eccentric friend, and
begged him to aid him by his counsels and co-operation in the
establishment of the Seminary. P. Vvan had come to Paris to
claim some property which had been bequeathed to his institute,
but, seeing that a lawsuit was inevitable, he relinquished his rights
and, having thus effectually rid himself of worldly distractions,
devoted all his energies to the seminary and parish of St. Sulpice.
He was invited to speak at all conferences, and was listened to with
marked attention as a very oracle of piety and wisdom, notwithstand-
ing his abruptness and even asperity of manner, which contrasted

Conversion of a Canon.

233

strongly with the sweet and gentle condescension which distinguished
M. Olier and his followers.

M. Olier was emphatically the friend of the clergy ; and in nothing
was his charity more singularly displayed than in the kindness and
liberality with which he received all ecclesiastics, — and indeed, all
laymen also, — who came to make a spiritual retreat under his direc-
tion. The care and attention he paid them extended to every parti-
cular ; and it was one of his invariable rules that their maintenance
should be provided for at the sole expense of the Community,
although voluntary offerings were not refused. He imposed only
one condition — that ecclesiastics should wear their clerical garb and
conduct themselves in all things as became their sacred profession.
He allowed o'' r>o exception. Tlius, a certain Abbd of quality, M.
Nicolas de Vallavoire, who was not distinguished in the world for
the gravity of his deportment, having been nominated by the King
in May, 1650, to the see of Riez, signified his intention of making a
retreat at St. Sulpice. Th« fact of his doing so might have been
taken as a sign that he was desirous of changing his whole manner
of life, but M. Olier, who chanced to be absent at the time from
Paris, took the precaution of directing M. de Bretonvilliers to give
the bishop elect a respectful admonition that he must be prepared
to comply strictly with all the rules of the institute, or he could not
be received at the Seminary. That he did actually make his intended
retreat, and must consequently have submitted to the prescribed
regulations, we have incidental proof of a singular kind. It happens
that Mademoiselle de Montpensier, known in history as " the Great
Mademoiselle," who during the troubles of the Fronde was in the
habit of iiitercepting and opening all letters addressed to the Court,
mentions in her Memoires having found one from this same Abb^
de Vallavoire to Cardinal Mazarin, written at St. Sulpice ; the last
place in the world, she remarks, from which one would have expected
to light upon a letter addressed to that personage. The purport of
the letter was to suggest a plan for reconciling the Duke of Orleans
with the royal party.

As an instance of the powerful influence exercised by the Com-
munity on the outside world, M. Faillon relates how a Canon of
Cologne, whose manners were little in accordance with the sanctity
of his profession, being accidentally present at a public conference
given by M-. de Foix, was so touched at heart ihat on the same day
he discharged all his servants, with one exception; sold his equipages,

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234

Life of M. Olier.

\ i

and on his return to Cologne applied himself to repairing by a
mortified and edifying life the scandal he had previously given by
his laxity and worldliness.

Many devout and holy men resorted to M. Olier for counsel ;
among whom may be mentioned M. Jean Poincheval, who lived and
died at Paris in the odour of sanctity, and of whom it is recorded
that he scarcely ever left his chamber except to go to the altar or the
confessional, or to visit the Curd of St. Sulpice. Were any eccle-
siastic aggrieved by the rich and powerful, M. Olier stood boldly
forward in his defence, and never ceased his exertions until redress
had been obtained. The Curd of Arcueil, M. Gtrvnis Bigeon, a
doctor of theology and a man of the highest integri'.y, had been
grossly insulted and, indeed, violently assaulted at the very door of
the church and in the presence of his flock by the seigneur .)f tiie
place, who, in his furv, had gone so far as to assail this good priest
both with imprecations aad with blows and, after I^nocking him
down, had kicked him unmercifully as he lay on the ground, tearing
his cassock with his spurs. The name of this lordly ruffian was
The'odore de Berziau, atid the outrage was committed on the 30th
of May, 1643. The Parlinvent of Paris took un the affair, but the
parishioners, dreading the great man's vengeance, dared not make
any formal deposition, and nothing would have been done had not
M. Olier addressed an energetic appeal to all the Bishops with whom
he had any personal acquaintance, as well as to St. Vincent de Paul,
who had been appointed a member of the Council of Conscience,*
calling upon them to lay the matter before the Queen Regent, and
in the name of religion and justice demand satisfaction for the out-
rage. It was but one instance, he declared, among many, in which,
as was notorious, the nobles presumed upon the impunity which
their crimes enjoyed to oppress and maltreat an unoffending priest-
hood. The General Assembly of the Clergy also, acting at his
instance, presented an earnest remonstrance in the same influential
quarter, and with such success that the seigneur of the village was
compelled to make public reparation for his violence.

♦ This council was instituted by Anne of Austria with the object of assisting
the Crown in the nomination of properly qualified ecclesiastics to the highest
offices in the Church. It consisted of six members : Cardinal Mazarin, the
Chancellor Seguier, the Grand-Penitentiary Charton, M. Potier, Bishop of Beauvais,
M. Cosp^an, Bishop of Lisieux, and Vincent de Paul, whom the Queen placed at
its head, reserving to herself the presidency. An account of the measures intro-
duced by the Saint will be found in St. Vincent di Paul et les Gondi by M.
Chantelauze.

1^ •

The Canonical Honrs.

235

EXTRACT FROM M. OLIER'S CONSIDERATIONS ON THE
CANONICAL HOURS.

.11

•'Matins and Lauds, which are said at night, denote the praises of Heaven
rendered to God by the Saints and An^jels in glory ; and so we may consider tlie
other Hours, which are said in the daytime, as the prayers of this life : viz., from
Prime, at six o'clock in the morning, till Vespers, at six o'clock in the evening.

"Tlie Christian life, which is a life divine, is the life of Heaven begun upon
earth. Hence the four Little Hours, »vhich compreliend the whole day, are com-
posed of a single psalm, in imitation of Heaven, where there will be but one psalm
and one song of praise. This single psalm is divided into four Hours, represent-
ing the universality of the supplicating Church ; and these four Hours are said at
intervals of three h(nirs, and in each three psalms are recited, or, rather, iliree
divisions of the same psalm. And here we must observe the wonderful c.i.ie of
the Church at once to honour and remind us of the sacred mystery of the Most
Holy Trinity ; for, at intervals of tiiree hours, we find three psalms, all which three
make up but one, as the Three Divine Persons are one only God.

" The beautiful distribution of this psalm throughout the day aptly denotes tlie
establishment of tl;e divine life of tlie Cliristian religion in us, wliicli is an imita-
tion of Para<lise ; where there is one never-ending song of praise, in which each
moment is occupied in giving glory to God. This is why we chant that great and
divine psalm of David, Beati imtitacuLiti in via (Psalm cxviii.), wherein we see
the hidden life of God within us entirely unfolded ; and this psalm extends through
all the Little Hours, to show that every hour we ought to ask of God tiiat we may
thus live, and be filled unceasingly with that divine life, in order that we may live
in Him every moment of our life upon earth.

" At six o'clock the day closes, and we begin to reckon the hours of the night.
Hence these prayers, according to the intention of the Church, are clianted in the
evening, about six o'clock, which is the time at wliich the evening star called
\'esper begins to appear: tience the name Vespers. Then we begin to chant the
praises of God and of Jesus Christ, ascended into His glory, which is the begin-
ning of all the glory of the Blessed. Compline signifies the completion of the
prayers of men and of this present life in Jesus Christ, who by the close of His
Life and by His Death merited for us the happiness and the glory of the life to
-ome. Hence all the psalms of Compline speak only of our Lord suffeiing, who
in Heaven, where He is exalted in the fulness of His glory, continues the memorial
ot' His stale of passion, as being the subject of His gh)ry and of the beati.ude
which is the recompense He would set before men. The Hour of CompLne is
not, properly speaking, reckoned among the separate Hours ; it is, in fact, part of
\'espers, of which it forms the complement {completorium), that is to say, the
termination and completion of the prayers.

"The whole Christian year is designed to honour Jesus Christ in His mysteries,
or in His saints, and throughout all this time you will find only one single day
set ajiart for honouring the sacred mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, and even
that without an octave, althougli one more solemn would be due to it than for
all the other mysteries conjoined. And even on that day commemoration is
made of the Sunday, which is not done on the Easter or the Pentecostal festival.
If there be only this one day specially set apart to honour the Mo^t Holy Trinity,

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Life of M. Olier.

it is in order to show that the worship we render thereto cannot as yet take /((If
possession of our souls, but that this perfect adoratinn must await our entrance
i.ito Heaven, where, being wholly consummated in Jesus <'liris(. after ^avjp^
long adored and contemplated Him on earth, we sliall be, Ijlie ||i(/|. |»/( fil/fi/-
lasting sacrifice of praise to the glory of God. Meanwliile God the |'rt(l/^^ ftl/WiCil
Himself to be, as it were, forgotten in the world, as if He desiifc/j \\\ ^S6p|t#
homage only in His Son. This great God, in ac' nowledgment of the love wfljcn
His dear Son has testified for Him by His deaih, would make Hiiu pfirlnker nf
all His glory, and even, as it were, hide Himself in Him, so as only Ic receive
glory through Him.

"Jesus Christ, indeed, manifests in Himself all the perfections of W\% pnther :
His might, His knowledge, His love, .in I all His fulness: ' /« quo inhabitit
omnis pUnitudo divinitatis corporaliter (In whom dwellefh iijl \\w fiiliiRRS of the
Godhead corporally.' Col. ii. 9). He is the perfect image of the llle (if God, as
God; having received all the life of His Father to preserve it, and distribute it to
all the saints. This is why, after Jesus Christ, the saints are set forth as images
of the perfection of God and of His divine life ; and why we have every day
brought before us the holy martyrs, and their heroic and divine nets, which show
forth the perfections of God in them. Thus we have a St. Martin cutting his
mantle in two for a poor man, which shows tlie cliarity of God ; a St. Paulinus
selling himself for his brethren, which shows also the love of Jesus Christ ; a St.
Agne-s in the midst of torments, displaying the might of God in her feebleness
and in her bodily weakness ; and so, too, in St. Alexis, hidden under the
disguise of a beggar at the steps of his father's door, and become the sport of the
domestics, we see the humility of Jesus Christ suffering abasement in the world
and despised by His servants. In a word, everything we behold m the Church
is but a picture of the beauties and perfections of God in their exalted sublimity."

■ ii

( 237 )

CHAPTER IV.

ATTEMPT TO EXPEL M. OLIER FROM ST. SULPICE.

AGP. EAT work was doing, and great successes had been
wrought, and a whole army, as it were, of auxiliaries had
gathered about him, and he enjoyed the countenance and support of
many in high places ; but never for a moment was M. Olier deceived.
He knew — for God had told him — that a heavy persecution awaited
him, and that, ere three years had run their course, he siiould be
driven with ignominy from his parish ; but he knew also that, what-
ever might be his personal sufferings, the trial would serve only to
bring about the accomplishment of all that he designed to do. Even
thus far his path had been anything but smooth or free from contra-
dictions, and a host of foes beset him on every side. To establish
the Seminary on a firm foundation, it was necessary that it should
be erected into a Community, but the Abb^ de St. Germain, who
had conceived a prejudice against the projected institution, refused
his consent. Without engaging in overt measures of hostility, he
threw all the weight of his influence on the side of M. Olier's adver-
saries, and did his best to embarrass his proceedings. Thus, among
the priests who had given up their posts when M. Olier entered on
the duties of the parish was a Cordelier who had abandoned his
Order and got himself secularized. This man, because he was known
to be opposed to the new Cure', and would therefore be a ready
instrument in resisting and counteracting all his efforts at reform, the
Abbe wished to be restored to his former functions; and to find, if
possible, some ground of complaint against the directors of the
Seminary, he took upon himself, in virtue of his powers as Visitor,
to interrogate the inmates as to the manner in which they were being
trained for the ecclesiastical state. In short, he adopted every means
in his power to harass M. Olier and oblige him to quit the Faubourg ;
for he knew well that, the Seminary once solidly established, that

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Life of M, Olier,

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zealous pastor would leave suc( ssors behind him who would per-
petuate the work which he had . mgurated. M. Olier's zeal, too,
had raised up many adversaries among the great and powerful, who
openly or covertly threw obstacles in his way. Several of the old
clergy also, who had never forgiven him for disturbing their self-
indulgent ease, caballed against him ; the churchwardens, some of
whom were of the highest rank, — including, for instance, Gaston, Due
d'Orleans and the Princes Henri and Louis de Condd, father and
son, — thwarted and opposed him ; many of the civil magistrates
resented his interference and the constraint he had laid upon them
by obliging them to fulfil duties to which they were wholly dis-
inclined ; finally, and above all, the libertines of the parish, who were
bent on his destruction, only awaited an opportunity to wreak their
meditated vengeance. But in the midst of these alarms he possessed
his soul in peace, convinced that to indulge his natural fears and
misgivings, and speculate on what would become of him if his
enemies were triumphant, was displeasing to God, who would have
him look simply to the present, and repose in confidence on His
Providence for the disposition of the future. So, like his Divine
Master, he continued to fulfil the mission with which he was in-
trusted, embracing willingly in his heart all the shiimc and sufiferiog
which he knew was fast coming upon him.

It had become necessary (o ercrl additional buildings for the
increasing number of seminarisk-, m '\ if was with difficulty he -JDuld
obtain from the \bbc de St Germain and the churchwardens, per-
mission to construct three ttnements in the garden of tf <• Presbytery
at his own entire expense, even on the condition that thej shoulc
form part of the domam and afford accommodation to the lay persons
employed about the church. The foundations ha/J been laid and
the works were already in progress, when the warder^*, us rr.ucb out
of hostility to M. Olier as from a desire to gratify *he former Cure,
M. de Fieso-ie, who wished to preserve the garden of the Presbyiicry
in its entirety, threw obstacles m the way, while some of his personal
tt-iends represented to him the risks he was incurring in erecting at
so great a cost, and on ground which was not his own, a building
which might not. after all, be available as a seminary. M. Olier was
liKrefore constrained to put an immediate stop to the works which
had beer commenced, and wait until Providence should enable him
to obtam £. site whereon he might raise a building which should
remain in his own possession, and for which he might have all

i a I

AI. de Ficsqtte and the Priory of Clisson, 239

possible security that it would 1 • devoted for ever to the purpose
for which he destined it. Such a site presented itselt in a piece of
ground belonging to one of his friends, M. Blaise de Mcliand, Pro-
curator-General of the Parliament of Paris, and situated in the Rue
di' Vieux Colombier, in close proximity to the cnurch of St. Sulpice.
It was a large inclosed garden, containing three tenements, to which
he at once transferred a number of ecclesiastics, both from Vaugirard
and from the Presbytery, there to remain until the larger building
which he contemplated could be erected. The contract was signed
on the 27th of April, 1645, by M. Olier in conjunction with M. de
Pousse and M. Damien, and he was put at once in possession of the
property, the purchase-money being 75,000 iivres ; which sum, how-
ever, he was not at present in a condition to pay down.

No sooner was it known that he had relinquished the design
agreed upon, and was meditating a mmre excensive undertaking, than
he was assailed with a storm of ridicule and reproaches ; but his
reply was always the same: "H-e wiio has begun the work will in
His own time bring it to a conclusion ; we must not distrust the
mercy of God." Seeing, however, how impiacable was the hatred ot
his enemies, and not knowing to what extremities their violence
might carry them, he, on the 2nd of May, being the feast of St,
Athanasius, repaired with M. de Pouss6 and M. Damien to Mont-
martre ; and there, in the presence of P. Bataille, they renewed the
solemn engagement before contracted in 1642, never to abandon
the work of the Seminary, and at the same time made an entire
surrender to God, for His sole use and service, both of the ground
and of the buildings they had purchased, renouncing all personal
right and ownership in them, although of necessity retaining the
nominal possession of them. Yet, with all his unwavering confidence
in God and despite the supernatural peace which reigned undis-
turbed in the depths of '"ns soul, he was not insensible to the un-
ceasing opposition he enc .untered, ana feelings of sadness would at
times weigh heavily upoi: him. On the 2Sth of May especially,
being the feast of the Ascension, he was thus cast down and
dispirited, wi-ren an :merior voice said to him, "Thy work shall
be accomplished." ***'<i»i>t mine, Lord," he answered; "the work is
wholly Thine ; " liHL'^aie words, as he says, filled his heart with light
and joy, and he Jft w^ at God accepted him as the servant of those
whom by His gmet :^ should bring into the Seminary.

Tha shree ymrS' <rf promised quiet had now all but expired;

N\r:'i

■\ :

-1 ■:■
j i

! i

240

Life of M. Olier.

already, in the month of January, two devout persons had warned
M. de Bretonvilliers * of the approaching persecution, and from time
to time M. Olier would himself speak to his more intimate associates
of some great trial which was in store for them, bidding them hold
themselves prepared, and beg fervently the assistance of God's Holy
Spirit that they might be able to bear the cross He was about to lay
upon them. The first rising of the tempest showed itself in a quarter
where it was least of all expected. The relatives of the former Curd,
irritated at seeing a stranger in possession of a benefice to which they
considered that one of their own number had a prior claim, sought
to have M. Olier expelled from the parish ; but, finding all their
efforts fruitless, they endeavoured to make M. de Fiesque himself a
party to their design. They represented to him that the priory he
had received in exchange was of far less value than he had a right
to expect ; that his simplicity had been imposed upon, and that
his honour no less than his interest demanded that he should be
re-instated. These representations were loudly seconded by such of
the old clergy as disliked the reforms introduced by M. Olier ; they
assured M. de Fiesque that since his removal nothing b "t disorder
and confusion had prevailed, and that in relinquishing his parish he
had deserted and ruined his flock. The poor man, who was natu-
rally both weak and credulous, thus beset by false friends, fell readily
into the trap, and, utterly forgetting that the exchange had been
effected, not only at his own repeated instances, but on the very
terms he had been the first to propose, allowed himself to be cajoled
into a belief that he had been deceived and ill treated. There were
circumstances, too, at the time which unhappily lent a colour to his
complaints. The Priory of Clisson, which originally belonged to the
Benedictines of St. Jovin, had ir the year 1626 been converted into
a simple benefice by an arrangement between M. Olier's father and
the monks, and from that date had been occupied by four secular
priests, who performed all the offices of the church. The monks,
however, now wished to rescind, or, rather, to ignore the arrangement
to which they had been parties nearly twenty years before, and, in
vindication of their pretended rights, had sent two of their body to
take possession of the Priory under the titles respectively of sub-prior
and sacristan. They had further deputed a chaplain to reside within
the walls, as tliough the benefice were vacant ; and all this without

* Some account of this admirable man and of his reception into the Community
will be given in Part III. He succeeded M. Olier as Superior of St. Sulpice.

Charges formulated against hint.

241

opposition or even protest on the part of M. de Fiesque. Their next
step was to obtain the royal authorization for their acts ; and the
judges who were commissioned to inquire into the case had ruled
that the abbey was to all intents and purposes a conventual establish-
nient, relying for their conclusion merely on the fact that such had
been its ancient constitution, as was evident from the very disposition
of the buildings. Accordingly, they seized the revenues in the name
of the religious, and pronounced them to be entitled to all arrears of
rents since the date of the alleged secularization. It was at this
juncture that M. de Fiesque was iniluced to publish his formal case
of grievance against M. Olier, in which he set forth that he had been
surprised into an act of resignation which in law as well as in equity
was null and void, and had been fraudulently put in possession of a
benefice in place thereof, from which 'e had been ejected by the
monks of St. Jovin with the express warrant of the Crown.

It may be conceived with what undisguised joy and exultation a
charge so gross and scandalous was received by M. Olier's enemies,
who felt that they could now proceed against him with some show
of justice, and even of legality. Some, indeed, went so far as to
declare publicly that he ough*- to be driven from the parish, put in
the pillory, and sent to prison. One of the charges brought against
\\\u\ Mas the having introduced a more frequent celebration of the
Benediction of the Holy Sacrament without the permission of the
churchwardens, although the parish had incurred no additional
expense in consequence, for, as already related, on September ist,
1644, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon had founded a special endowment
for the purpose. Unhappily, the churchwardens themselves, in-
stigated by certain of the older clergy, sided with his adversaries
and actually instituted legal proceedings, nominally against the
officers of the Confraternity, but really against M. Olier himself
under whose direction they acted, with a view of having the founda-
tion annulled and the novel practice suppressed. Judgment, indeed,
was given in his favour, and the right to receive bequests for such
objects, without consulting the parochial authorities, fully confirmed,
Ijut the part which the churchwardens had taken in the matter
emboldened the more violent spirits to persist in their opposition,
and on the 2nd of March, 1645, being the first Thursday in the
month, after Benediction had been given but before the Blessed
Sacrament was restored to the tabernacle, several persons, among
whom — to their shame be it recorded — were four priests, broke out

242

Life of M. Olier.

li M

,1 !

in loud invectives against M. Olier and his colleagues; one of them
using language of a most profane and outrageous character, which
was received with peals of laughter by the rest.

Among M. Olier's most powerful opponents was, as already
mentioned, the Prince Henri de Bourbon, to the great grief of the
Princess, who zealously seconded the Cur<J's pious endeavours.
Accustomed to regard ecclesinstics in the light of civil servants, who
were to submit in the discharge of their functions to his personal
caprice, the Prince not only expressed in general terms his dislike
of the reforms which had been introduced into the parish, buf did
not scruple to interrupt the order of the services when they failed to
meet his approval. Thus, on one occasion, being the feast of All
Saints in the previous year, he gave vent to his ill humour in a
manner to attract the notice of the congregation. It was his fancy
at times to sing in choir with the clergy, but, the chant on that day
being of a graver kind than suited his taste, he endeavoured by voice
and gesture to quicken the movement, and persisted in doing so
although the choristers kept to the measure prescribed, causing
thereby both discord and confusion. This headstrong man now
openly espoused the cause of M. de Fiesque, and ranged himself
among those of M. Olier's adversaries whose avowed purpose it was
to deprive him of his otiSce.

In the midst of all these threatenings the servant of God did
nothing towards diverting the persecution which he knew was coming,
or protecting himself from its assaults. He made no attempt to
justify himself or to summon to his aid any human means of defence.
All he did was to pray for his enemies, and especially for the Abb^
de St. Germain and M. de Fiesque ; offering himself again and
again to drain the cup of affliction to the dregs, if such were the will
of Heaven. One day (he writes), when reflecting on the unjust
judgment which had been passed upon him and the contempt in
which it would involve him with the great people of his parish,
he allowed some thoughts about the future to occupy his mind, and
he asked himself what would become of him if his adversaries were
able to execute all they designed against him. But it was shown
him that such forecastings were not pleasing to God ; that the soul
which has abandoned itself to Him ought to look oniy to the
present and repose all its trust in His merciful Providence. On his
colleagues, however, these hostile proceedings had a most depressing
effect. Every day they saw their enemies gaining courage from the

Conspiracy oj libertines and profligates, 243

criminal apathy or, rather it may be said, the passive connivance of
the local magistracy ; and they fell persuaded that the insults and
menaces with which they were assailed would soon be followed by
open acts of violence, and that they would be expelled with ij,'nominy
both from the parish and from the Seminary. M. Olicr had entered
on his charj,' in the monih of June, 1642, and in this same month,
three years later, they had all lost heart. Even his closest friends,
the fellow-labourers on whose fidelity he most relied, and on whoso
adhesion the whole edifice he had constructed seemed to rest — M.
du Ferrier, M. Picot^, M. de Bassancourt, and M. dc Saintc- Marie *
— biiared the general discouragement. It v/ould be impossible, they
declared, to resist the powerful combination formed against them;
moreover, the work th''y had undertaken was too mu(h for their
means and their strength ; expenses were daily increasing, while
resources were failing and debts were accumulating. Some of the
ecclesiastics had openly declared their intention of quitting the
Seminary, or, at least, of retv .ing to their families until affairs
became more settled; others were restless au'' uneasy, varying in
their minds from day to day and from hour to hour. In short, all
was confusion and dismay : as it was with the Master, so with the
servant ; there was none to comfort or stand by him in the time of
trial. Nor was a Judas wanting to betray him : two of the servants
of the house, whom he had treated with particular confidence and
affection, treacherously took part against him, and one of them, fear-
ing lest he should lose his employment if M. Olier were compelled
to leave the parish, entered into secret relations with the former
Cure and abstracted a paper which had an important bearing on the
question which was pending in regard to the Priory of Clisson.

By the side of M. de Fiesque's friends and abettors arose another
faction, louder and more violent in its hostility and bent on far
more desperate measures. It was composed of libertines and pro-
fligates of both sexes, who, infuriated by the perseverance with which
this good pastor pursued them to their most secret haunts, were
determined to be satisfied with nothing short of liis expulsion and
that of his whole community. Their numbers were swelled by a
multitude of grooms and lackeys, a race notorious for their dis-
orderly conduct and ready for any outrage. In less than a week
both parties were fully prepared, and it only remained that they
should join forces, and appeal to the passions of the mob, to excite

• M. c!e Foix had already been made Bishop of Paniiers.

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244

Life of M. Olicr.

a popular commotion which may be said to have been the prelude
to the barricades oi the Fronde and the civil war that followed.

It was early on the morning of the 8th of June, 1645, being

Thursday in Whitsun week, that M. du Four, a gentleman attached

to the household of the Due d'Orl^ans, came to apprize M. Olier of

the formidable conspiracy which was being organized against him ;

tidings which were speedily confirmed by another person, who

assured him that an immediate attack was threatened, and that if he

remained in the Presbytery it would be at the certain peril of his

life. The only use he made of this warning was to prepare himself,

not to avert, but to meet the approaching trial. He repaired to the

church, as usual, in his surplice, and said Mass, offering himself

in union with the Adorable Victim to drink the bitter draught for

which he had so long thirsted. It was about eight o'clock when

he returned, and he had scarcely entered the Presbytery when it

was besieged by a fuvious crowd, shouting that they had come to

expel the intruder and restore the rightful pastor. From all the

neighbouring streets came rushing fre h parties of men and boys,

who assailed the house with volleys of stones. M. de Bretonvilliers,

who presented himself at a window, was struck on the head by a

paving-stoue, which, however, only slightly injured him ; and before

the doors either of the church or of the Presbytery could be secured,

some of the foremost of the rabble had made good their entrance,

and were busy pillaging or destroying whatever fell in their way.

At the first sounds of the tumult below M. Olier had thrown himself

on his knees, and was repeating the words of his Lord, *' If it be

possible, let this chalice pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will,

but as Thou wilt," when a party of ruffians, headed by one of the

former clergy of the parish, burst into his chamber, seized him

violently, dragged him downstairs, showering upon him kicks and

blows, and bore him, or, rather, threw him, out into the midst of the

excited multitude, who received him with yells of derision.

Holding a loaded pistol to his head, his assailants now carried
him through the neighbouring streets, his surplice and cassock
hanging about him in tatters, amidst the hootings of the mob, who
continued to heap upon him every manner of insult and outrage.
And now, while thus cruelly maltreated, a great grace was vouch-
safed to him, for he was favoured with a vision of St. Sulpice, the
blessed patron of the parish, who sustained and comforted him with
the assurance that the ignominy he was undergoing and the state of

^P"

Attack on ihc Presbytery.

245

abandonment to which he was reduced for the love of God and
His truth would only the more eflectually secure hi.', triumph and
that of the cause for which he suffered.* But neither was he left
without natural defenders. St. Vincent de Paul, informed of what
was occurring, hurried to the spot and, regardless of the danger he
incurred, strove to penetra.e through the crowd to the rescue of his
friend. No sooner, however, was he recognized by the rabble than,
forgetting the inestimable services which his charity had rendered to
the poor of the capital, and seeing in him only the adviser and
supporter of their obnoxious pastor, they refused to let him pass and
assailed him with menaces and blows, while he, good, generous man,
offered to all their violence the opposition only of a most enduring
patience, and continued crying, with that imperturbable good-humour
which never deserted him, " Strike St. Lazare as hard as you
please, but spare St. Sulpice." Another ecclesiastic, M. Pons de
Lagrange, Cur^ of St. Jacques du Haut Pas, of whom mention has been
already made, succeeded in forcing his way through the crush and
protecting M. Olier by receiving en himself the blows which were
aimed at his friend ; an act of devoted courage, which, Marie Rous-
seau was wont to s^' y, was subsequently rewarded by this good priest
being miraculously saved from death by poison, which had been
given him in revenge for the assistance he had rendered M. Olier
and his community on this memorable occasion.

At length those who had hold of M. Olier, fearing to lose their
share of the pk nder, left h .m in the hands of the populace, when a
number of his friends, who had mingled with the crowd, took
advantage of the movement to draw more closely about him and,
affecting to treat him as a public criminal, contrived to screen hini
from the blows which were levelled at him, and to convey him in
safety to the palace of the Luxembourg. Meanwhile the rioters
were carrying off or destroying the furniture of the house, laying
hands on any money or valuables they could find, appropriating
even the provisions of the Community ; then, having sufficiently
gratified their vengeance and their cupidity, they abandoned the
place to the fury of the mob. Some, liowever, who amidst all the
frantic excitement had not forgotten the original cause of offence,
set about walling up two openings in the inclcsure of the garden,
which had been made to facilitate the conveyance of materials for

* This remaikable fact is mentioned by M. de Bietonvilliers in his biography
of M. Olier.

(■

I-

■ii

246

Life of M. Olier.

X\\ iv

s )

the intended building ; and, as there was no mortar at hand, they
supplied its place by staving in the heads of some casks of wine and
making therewith a mixture of earth and plaster.

In the Luxembourg the man of God was received with all the
respect and consideration due to his exalted virtues. The Mar^-
chale d'Estampes entertained him in her own apartments, and
lavished on him every attention which his situation demanded. At
the first outbreak of the tumult both priests and seminarists, seeing
their inability to contend with so furious a multitude, had betaken
themselves to flight, and for some days many of them did not know
where M. Olier had found a refuge nor even whether he were still
alive. M. de Bretonvilliers, however, on learning the place of his
retreat, immediately hastened to join his frierjd, in a state of the
greatest anxiety and alarm, and v;as amazed at finding him as calm
and self-posce'.sed as if nothing had occurred. But that which
impressed him most wis his extraordinary humility and charity.
While others were reprobating the conduct of his enemies in no
qualified terms, M. Olier, on the contrary, spoke of them with so
much moderation and affection, and suggested so many excuses for
the violence with which they had treated him, that M. de Breton-
villiers could not forbear bidding him, in a whisper, be more
cautious as to what he said, lest in his wish to exculpate others he
should make himself out to be the guilty party. But the man of
God merely smiled, and continued to speak lightly of the whole
matter and to impute the best intentions to all who were concerned.
" Ah ! wretched man that I am," he said, '* it is I who by my in-
fidelity throw all these hindrances in the way of God's work ; my
unworthiness is the sole cinse of them all."

The parish was now left without a pastor, and from Thursday to
Saturday the Presbytery remained in the possession of the mob. Dur-
ing these days the services of the church were interrupted, and even
the Viaticum was carried to the sick without any ceremony or other
outward demonstration, for fear of provoking fresh outrages should
M. Olier's priests be seen still exercising tlieir ministerial functions
among the people. This closing of the parish church and total
cessation of divine worship within its walls, which obliged the faith-
ful to resort to the convent chapels in order to hear Mass, threw a
gloom over the Faubourg and caused a panic among its inhabitants
such as modern France has long been familiar with in its antichris-
tian revolutions.

.V ■»•'■-!

'V...

mmm

( 247 )

CHAPTER V.

M. OLIER RE-INSTATED IN HIS PRESBYTERY. THE
SEMINARY ERECTED INTO A COMMUNITY.

THE violent comrnotion which had been excited rnd the glar-
ing outrages with which it had been attended were of too
serious a nature for the parochial authorities to overlook them,
however disinclined many among them might be to regard M. Olier's
proceedings with favour. Accordingly, the wardens of the church,
together with some of the more influential parishioners, presented a
formal petition to the Council of State that M. Olier might be re-
instated, at least provisionally, in his Presbytery. The Abbd de St.
(lermain, who, as seigneur of the Faubourg, could not countenance
excesses which savoured too mucn of a popular outbreak, was con-
strained, however reluctantly, to support the application. But it
was coldly received by the Council, many of the members of which
were incensed against M. Olier, whom they regarded as the cause of
the tumult, while others threw the whole blame on St. Vincent de
Paul, whom, because the priests of St. Sulpice were commonly called
Missionaries, they erroneously supposed to be M. Olier's superior.
That truly good and great man, disregarding all considerations of
human prudence, generously refused to dissociate himself in this
hour of trial from M. Olier and his community. On being asked
by his friends why he kept silence when a word of explanation would
have disarmed his accusers, he replied that he was domg no more
than the maxims of the Gospel required ; that he looked upon the
work in which M. Olier was engaged as no mere matter of personal
nterprise, but as one which concerned the general good of the
Church, and which every Christian therefore was bound at all costs
to defend and uphold. But, besides being unwilUng to comply
with the terms of the petition, the Council were apprehensive lest,
if their decision failed to allay the popular excitement, the authority
of the Queen Regent should be compromised in public estimation.

i-'i

1 1 iiivpu'ia«^nnt^>"''^pnmiiir

248

Z^/i? of M. Olier.

i! l!

Accordingly, on Friday, the gih of June, being the day after the
events just related, they relieved themselves of all embarrassment
by leferring the whole matter to the judgment of the Parliament.*
And now commenced a species of contest which, viewed in the light
of our modern ideas, must appear issing strange. As soon as it
was '.:nown that the determination of the affair was left to the Parlia-
ment, the enemies of M. Olier began to convass the judges to his
prejudice ; and Prince Henri de Cond^ himself went down to the
assembly, and inveighed with so much violence against him that it
was feared his harangue would have an ill effect even on those who
were disposed to look simply to the justice of the case. On the
other hand, the Princesse de Cond^ interested herself with equal
zeal and warmth in his behalf, visiting all the judges in succession
and pleading his cause with as much earnestness as if he had been
one of her own relatives ; and her endeavours were actively seconded
by the Ducliesse d'Aiguillon and other ladies of rank. Doni
Tarrisse made a powerful appeal to the First President ; and, to
crown all, the Queen Regent went in person to solicit the favour ot
the Parliament for the pastor of St. Sulpice.

All these proceedings were viewed by M. Olier with the same refcr-
eice to the supernatural in which he loved to regard every event of his
life. "In the person of the Prince, who stood in the place of the King "
^he wrote), "God was pleased to manifest His anger against me ; while
in those who defended my cause, I seemed to see the most holy
Virgin, the advocate of sinners, who filled their hearts with her own
charity and pity. St. Anne, again, to whom I have been in the habit
of confiding my temporal affairs, displayed her goodness towards me
in the person of the Queen. But for thi pleadings of these ladies
with my judges, who represented the justice of God, there would
have been no peac^ for me." According to the practice of the time
he went to lay the facts of his case before those who were to decide
upon them, and, as he passed Notre Dame on his way to the Parlia-
ment, he begged his companion to allow him a few minutes, as usual,
for prayer. Then, throwing himself on his knees before the shrine
of his heavenly Patroness, he remained two hours immovable,
absorbed in devotion. To be eager about the success of affairs, and

* It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that the Parliament of Paris had
nothing in common with that which in England forms an integral part of the
constitution, being, not a legislative, but a judicial assembly. Its power, however,
ia course of time grew to be very considerable even in a political point of view.

■r^'.^iA.^^ - .^**'i^-'

The Presbytery again attacked.

249

to trust to the influence or the assistance of men, he regarded as an
infidelity to God, and more likely than otherwise to ruin even a good
cause ; and he was used to say, that in times of particular anxiety
and trial we ought to be the more diligent in prayer, not only to
obtain the strength and courage we need, but also to prevent our
having recourse to creatures, and throwing ourselves upon them ;
seeing that nature, when deprived of heavenly consolations, is so
prone to seek for such as are merely human. A friend, who wished
to recommend him to the favour of one of the chief magistrates,
asked him in what terms he should speak of those who were bringing
such calumnious charges against him. " Say," he replied, " that I am
under the deepest obligations to them ; " and on the other refusing
to take such an answer, as being contrary to the truth, he repeated,
"the deepest obligations;" adding, "for they help me in gaining
Paradise."

The Parliament assembled on Saturday, June loth, and, happily
forM. Olier, one of the judges most opposed to him, and whose influ-
ence it was feared would gain many others over to his opinion, with-
drew the same day into the country, under the idea that M. Olier would
follow him, with the view of soliciting his patronage. But this petty
proceeding, which was intended to humble the servant of God, served
only to secure his triumph. In the absence of this important person-
age the Parliament ordered that M. de Fiesque should himself appear
before them ; that instant measures should be taken to seize the
ringleaders in the late outrage, four individuals being designated by
name, one of whom was the ecclesiastic before mentioned ; and that,
unless they surrendered in three days, their goods should be confis-
cated. It was at the same time ordered that, without prejudicing
the rights of either claimant, things should be restored to the state
in which they were previous to the outbreak ; that, consequently, M.
Olier should be reinstated in the Presbytery, and those who were in
occupation should forthwith depart. The order was at once executed,
and two functionaries of the law, accompanied by a representative
of the Procurator-General, proceeded to put M. Olier and his priests
in possession of both the house and the church, taking, at the same
time, what they conceived to be adequate measures to insure the
public tranquillity and the safety of the pastor and his community.

Scarcely, however, had these proceedings been concluded when
the tumult recommenced with even greater violence than before.
The house was again besieged by an armed multitude, gathered from

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the lowest quarters and exasperated to the utmost fury by the tidings
that the object of their hatred had been brought back in triumph,
and that their own leaders were marked out for the vengeance of the
law. Baffled in their efforts to force in the doors, which this time
were strongly secured and defended from the inside, some of the more
desperate among them began calling for fire. At this juncture M.
Le Gauffre, who, as already related, had succeeded Pbre Bernard,
arrived on the scene, and was immediately surrounded by a rabble
both of men and women crying out they must have their old Cur^
back. M. Le Gauffre was devoted to M. Olier and his community,
but, convinced, like so many others, that it would be impossible for
his friends, in the face of such determined hostility, to maintain
their position, and thinking likewise to appease the fury of the multi-
tude by acquiescing in their demands, he replied, " Yes, my children,
you shall have your Curd back; only keep the peace, and M. de
Fiesque shall be restored to you." But minds were too inflamed,
and matters had been carried too far, for anything this good but
mistaken man could say to restrain the madness of the populace.
Fagots had meanwhile been brought and heaped up against the
doors, but, the attempt to set them on fire not being immediately
successful, another party of rioters directed their endeavours to gain-
ing an entrance into the house through the adjoining garden. Here
again, however, they were met by an insuperable obstacle in the
result of their own labours on occasion of the former riot, when they
had ir Justriously closed up two apertures in the wall by which an
easy access might now have been obtained. The struggle continued
for three hours, and the little garrison, hard pressed and well-nigh
exhausted, was on the point of yielding, when, just as a body of the
assailants had all but succeeded in setting fire to the building, a com-
pany of the royal guards appeared on the spot, sent by the Queen,
whom M. Picote, at the risk of his life, had hastened to inform of
the pressing danger. At the first sound of the drums the rioters
took to flight, and thus, to the joy of M. Olier and his colleagues,
all effusion of blood was spared. The Pa-'Mament, apprized of what
was passing, held an extraordinary meeting, and officers of justice
were at once dispatched with orders to seize all persons whom they
should find collected in the streets, a proclamation to the same effect
was read in the public places, and a detachment of soldiers left at
the Presbytery for the protection of the clergy.

Throughout the whole contest M. Olier would not permit his

p .•»«,..•* •»^v»••>^*^M.*•^'

Restoration of a dying woman.

251

ecclesiastics to employ any other weapons of defence except that of
prayer; and even when the peril was greatest his calmness and
equanimity remained unaltered. "The cross," said he, "ovght
never to deprive us of our peace, for it is the cross that gave peace
to the world." The next day, which was Trinity Sunday, ho appeared
in the pulpit, and addressed his people with all his usual dignity^
afTcction, and zeal ; in eloquence he was thought even to surpass
himself. There was nothing either in voice or in manner to indicate
what humiliations he had endured, or through what dangers he had
passed, since he last addressed them. And yet an incident occurred
which, slight as it was in itself, might have disturbed a man of
stronger nerves, aware, as he was, of the excitement which prevailed.
For some time past it had been the practice to have the blessing of
the water before the first High Mass on the Sunday, in order that
the second might follow immediately, without unnecessary delay.
While he was preaching an old woman stood up in her place, and
with a quavering, tremulous voice began to accuse him of depriving
the people of their holy water ; then, emboldened by the silence that
ensued, she proceeded to give her opinion freely on other changes
he had made, and, having administered, as she thought, a fitting
rebuke to her pastor, she looked about her for applause, and sat
down again. M. Olier let her have her talk out without interrupting
her, and when he saw she was fairly settled in her place, he said
quietly, "Ah, well, my good friend, we will think about it" He
then resumed his discourse as though nothing had happened.

His colleagues would fain have dissuaded him from venturing out-
side the doors for fear of endangering his life ; but this good pastor
would remit nothing of the personal care of his flock, and a circum-
stance that occurred at the time would seem to show that God
approved his holy temerity. He was informed that in a house the
inmates of which were among his declared enemies, a young woman
was lying at the point of death. He immediately left the Presbytery,
without apprizing any of his colleagues, who were deeply alarmed
when they were made aware of his absence. He found the sick
person in a state of unconsciousness, but, in spite of the representa-
tions of her friends, who assured him she was not in a condition to
communicate, he sent to the church to have the Blessed Sacrament
brought forthwith. Then, taking in his hands the Body of his Lord,
he, by the power of Jesus really present and in accents which
expressed the confidence of his faith, bade the fever leave her or, at

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least, permit her to receive the Holy Eucharist ; and, turning to the
sufferer, he asked her whether she desired to communicate. To the
astonishment of all, the apparently dying woman returned to con-
sciousness, replied in the affirmative, and received the liread of Life;
and so pleasing to God were His servant's faith and courage tlirt
they seemed to have obtained the cure of the sick woman, for she
immediately rallied, and was soon perfectly reiitored to health.

M. Olier's enemies were far from being discouraged by the resist-
ance they had encountered, and on the same Sunday all Paris was
astonished by a public demonstration, such as probably it had never
before witnessed. This was no other than a procession of tlie
abandoned women of the Faubourg St. Germain and the neighbour-
hood, three hundred in number, going to demand of the house of
Orleans the expulsion of the Curd of St. Sul[)ice, as an intermeddler
in the people's affairs and a disturber of the public peace. They had
tricked themselves out in their gayest attire, and thought they should
be able to pass for ladies of distinction, whose very appearance must
command respect. The ruse, as may be supposed, was too gross to
succeed, but it served to exhibit the true character of M. Olier's
opponents, and the audacious extremities to which they were pre-
pared to go. Nothing disconcerted, however, by the contempt and
indignation which the attempt had excited at the Luxembourg and
among all respecf ■'.ble citizens, the miserable creatures resolved to
try their influence with the Parliament itself. On the Monday, being
June i2ih, there was to be a Te Detim at Notre Dame, in thanks-
giving for the taking of Roses in Spain by the Comte du Plessis-
Praslin, and all the members of the Parliament, with the King and
the royal princes, were to assist at it. On entering the hall of the
palace, the magistrates found it well-nigh filled with a strange assem-
blage of women and others, who received them with clamours and
menaces. Indignant at the insult offered to them in the very sanc-
tuary of justice, they ordered the hall to be cleared, and issued a
decree on the spot denouncing the authors of this fresh outrage,
interdicting all public ,r,atherings, and prohibiting all persons, at the
peril of their lives, from coming to the hall of assembly in a larger
number than four together, under any pretext whatever. At the same
time, those who had been concerned in the late demonstration were
ordered to retire at once to their homes, under penalty of being
treated as enemies of the State without form of trial ; and all officers
of justice were directed to inflict summary punishment on such as

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Af. de Oneylus joins the Community.

violated the terms of this decree, and arrest any wl\o might be found
using language of a nature to excite fresh tumults.

Measures so determined and severe had the effect of preventing
any disturbance by day, but, as more than one attack was made on
the Presbytery during the night, it was found necessary to obtain the
protection of an armed patrol until all fear of danger was removed.
The feast of Corpus Christi was now approaching, and M. Olier,
fearing that, if he carried the Blessed Sacrament througli the streets,
the malcontents might be provoked to the perpetration of some
sacrilegious outrage, delegated the office to the Apostolic Nuncio,
Mgr. Bagni, Archbishop of Athens, himself bearing the humble part
of an assistant. For better security, however, the procession was
escorted by a company of the royal guards. Some days elapsed before
the ecclesiastics, whether students or others, felt sufficiently re-assured
to venture on returning. Meanwhile th*^ man of God never omitted
for one single morning to offer the Holy Sacrifice privately in the
chapel of the Presbytery in their behalf, that they might conquer
their fears and regain confidence, at the same time imploring our
Blessed Lord to change the hearts of his adversaries, grant the grace
of perseverance to converted sinners, and pour down His choicest
blessings on his beloved flock, above all, on those who had laboured
so generously in his defence. Nor — as need hardly be said — did he
neglect to implore the most holy Virgin to preserve from all evil and
to confirm in her lovo the little company which slie herself had
founded, and which was now so sorely persecuted for her sake and
that of her Divine Son. His prayers were heard and granted ; for
by the close of the octave of Corpus Christi, that is, within fifteen
days after his attempted expulsion from the parish, all his clergy had
returned both to the Seminary and to the Community, and every-
thing resumed its usual course.

Another sign of the Divine favour was also vouchsafed him at this
time, when the work he had begun seemed to human eyes on the
brink of ruin. On the 26th of July, being the feast-day of St. Anne,
M. Gabriel de Queylus came and offered himself to St. Sulpice. He
had been one of the first to enter the seminary at Vaugirard, but
without any intention of permanently joining the society. At the
age of eleven his family had provided him with the abbey of Loc ■
Dieu, his great-uncle, Jean de Ldvis, who was almoner to Queen
Marguerite de Valois, having resigned the benefice, which he had
held for eighteen years in commendam, and become a simple religious

'V> '

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254

Life of M. Olier

I, '

in the same house which he had governed. M. de Qucylus liad
attracted tlie attention of Cardinal Mazarin, who tlitn had the
supreme conduct of affairs, and was in the sure road to high prefer
ment, but, on being invested with the priesthood on the isth of May,
in this same year 1645, tlie grace of ordination so wrcuglit witliin
liim that, abandoning all his earthly prospects, he gave himself to
M. Olier, inspired with the sole desire of co-operating with him in
forming a body of priests who should be animated with the true sacer-
dotal spirit. He proved himself, as we shall have occasion hereafter
to see, one of M. Olier's most valuable coadjutors, and by his morti-
fied life, his exact performance of all the exercises of the Commur.ity,
and his zeal in discliarging such offices as were of least account in
the estimation of the world, became a perfect pattern of those super-
natural virtues which he sought to produce in others.

The irritation caused by the late events was not speedily abated.
M. Olier's more moderate opponents, who condemned the violence
of the mob, bore their defeat before the Parliament with evident
displeasure, and still hoped that by continual vexations they might
oblige him to resign his office. With such, ridicule was the favourite
weapon ; and Henri de Bourbon had the ill grace to offer the man
of God a public insult, when duty obliged him to present himself
before the Prince ; the only effect of which was to fill his heart with
gratitude towards one who had furnished him with an occasion of
imitating his Master's patience when mocked by Herod and his
court Towards his personal enemies he manifested, not merely a
kindly forbearance, but a most tender charity. Hearing that M. de
Fiesque was on the point of being arrested at the instance of a
powerful noble whom he had offended, he hastened to intercede in
his favour, and with such success that all further proceedings were
stayed. So far, too, from pressing the execution of the parliamentary
decrees against the authors of the tumult, he sought to obtain the
liberation of those who were in custody ; and, on being remonstrated
with for such mistaken leniency, he replied, " Jesus Christ forgave
His murderers, and prayed for them ; and these, thanks be to God,
have not proceeded so far; what they did to me was nothing. Grant
that they bore me some ill will, yet, after all, are they net my
children ? God gave them to me, and, by the help of His grace, I
will try to have towards them the heart of a father. David would
have no evil done to his son, although he sought his kingdom and
his life, and these had no such intention towards me. Ah ! if their

\ *■ •£

Ills devotion to the IVill of Cod.

255

salvation depended on tlic sacrifice of my life, and God enabled nie
to retain the desire of their eternal good which I now feel, they would
all '»e sure of attaining to the joys of Paradise." Learning that one
of his most violent asscilants had been tlirown into prison, he went
to visit him, and. though the man received him with the utmost
scorn and insolence, he continued to treat him as though he were
his dearest friend ; and at length, by rei)eated solicitations, obtained
for him the royal pardon. He continued to evince the same interest
in him after he was set free, and when increasing infirmities preventeil
his paying him any personal attention, he charged M. de Breton-
villiers to show him every kindness. So, too, he gratified the charitable
feelings of his heart by assisting another of his worst enemies during
his last illness, and disposing him for a holy death. To such an
excess, indeed, did he carry his charity and forbearance that he would
not even dismiss the two servants who, as related, had behaved with
such ingratitude towards him ; an act of generous compassioi» which
so touched the hearts of the offenders that, filled with remorse, they
vent and besought his forgiveness ; and this true lover of souls, not only
cordially forgave them, but, as if to snow that every feeling of injury
was obliterated from his mind, he even bestowed a post of honour
on the one who had most flagrantly betrayed his trust, hoping thus
to confirm and deepen in him the compunction which he had mani-
fested for his crime. In short, so many and so striking were the
instances of the care and affection he bestowed on those who had
borne a prominent part in the persecution against him, that it became
a common saying in the parish that, if you wanted to receive any
favour from M. Olier, the surest way to obtain it was to do him an
injury.

Although, after a while, the agitation in men'3 minds began sen-
sibly to subside, many of M. Olier's friends, seeing the determined
animosity of his adversaries and alarmed for his personal safety,
endeavoured to persuade him to leave the parish. They represented
to him the difficulties he would have to encounter, and the impossi-
bility of establishing his seminary without the consent of the autho-
rities and in defiance of his numerous and powerful opponents. He
replied, "We ought never to abandon God's work on account of
opposition ; on the contrary, opposition ought to increase our
courage. If we allow ourselves to be disturbed by contradictions
we shall never do anything for God. Is not the cross inseparable
from all the works of which He is the author ? In no other way did

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Jesus Christ establish His Church, and in no other way can we liopc
to effect anything. Let the world and the devil rage as they may ;
cannot He who has hitherto vanquished them continue still to triumph
over them? I have undertaken this work solely for His glory, and
I will abandon it only when I know that such is His will." His
resolution was now to be put to a crucial test. M. Berna-din de
Corneillan, Bishop of Rodez, who had long entertained the desire of
resigning his see in M. Olier's favour, on learning the difficult cir-
cumstances in which the servant of God was placed, seized the
occasion to renew his instances and dispatched his nephew in all
haste to Paris wit » an express proposal to that effect. Everything
seemed to make such a step desirable, and his friends redoubled
their solicitations. The Queen herself> who hitherto had urged him
to remain, now signified her desire that he should avail himself of the
Bishop's proposal in order to obtain the peace and repose which it
seemed hopeless for him any longer to look for in the Faubourg St.
Germain. But on the 23rd of July — as M. Olier has recorded in his
Mimoires — his director, the Pfere Eataille, having sought light from
Heaven in prayer, announced to him that God willed him to retain
the charge of his parish ; Marie Rousseau gave him a like assurance.
Accordingly, his reply to his friends was still the same, that the very
difficulties and dangers on which they grounded their appeal were
only a stronger reason for his remaining bound to his church ; tha^
even to be overwhelmed by the weigh . of a burden which the Divine
Goodness lays upon us is to die a glorious death, seeing that we
perish in doing the will of God. If Jesus had considered only
Himself, He would not have subjected Himself to the pains wl.ich
He endured in His Passion and on the Cross, but ihe desire of His
Father's glory and of the world's salvation made Him regardless of
His own interests : Scripture, indeed, expressly tells us that He
pleased not Himself nor did His own will.* His friends then
insisted on the greater means which, as a bishop, he would have at
liis command for promoting the glory of God ; to vhich he replied
in these most admirable words : " Not the service we may render to
our neighbour, nor the excellence of the works we perform, nor even
the prospect of the good we may do in the Church, ought to be the
rule of our conduct, but simply the wiU of God, to which we ought
to adhere solely and unalterably. Though I should be certain of
working miracles, though I should see at my disposal the me^^iS of

* St. John V. 3a vi. 38. Rom. xv. 3.

Sutisfadiou of M. de Fiesques cieinands. 257

accomplishing the greatest works for the Church, and the utmost
certainty of succeeding, though even in performing them I should
.Tiake myself the greatest of all the saints, — I would never undertake
them except so far as it was the will of God. And, if I were assurv,-d
of His will, I would not apply myself to them for the sake either of
the greatness of the works thenr^elves or of the glory to be enjoyed
in Heaven — for these are not the most perfect rules of our conduct
— but because it was the will of my Master, which alone I wish ever
to do."

The will of God : and might it not be the will of God that he
should resign the chaige of St. Sulpice? Might not God have put
it in the heart of M. de Corneillan to relinquish his see in his favour ?
1 know the will of God, it had ever been his wont to submit
implicitly to the judgment of superiors, even when that judgment
was directly opposed to his own inward assurances. He resolved,
accordingly, to refer the matter simply and absolutely to the decision
of the Abbe de St. Germain. Going to him, therefore, iie said that, if
his services were agreeable to him, he would continue to devote them
to the salvation of the flock with which he was intrusted, and would
think no more of the bishopric of Rodez ; but that if, on the contrary,
he did not deem h'm a fitting person to have the charge of the parish
'>f St. Sulpke, he would at cnce withdraw ; his sole object being to
fulfil the designs of Providence, and this he would be doing by sub-
mitting to his judgment as his ecclesiastical superior. Hitherto (as
we have seen) the Abb^ had been opposed to M. Olier's projects,
but Henri de Bourbon, with all his faults, was open to generous
impulses, and a disinterestedness so genuine filled him with admira-
tion. He begged M. Olier, very earnestly, not to think of resigning,
promised him his protection, and engaged to assist him to the utmost
in establishing his seminary. A result so unexpected struck M.
Oliers friends with astonishment, and they could not but admire the
Providence of God, which had made the persecution which was
designed for his overthrow the very means of accomplishing the great
work he had at heart. The difficulties they had made so much of
had vanished in a moment, and the confidence of God's servant was
justified in the sight of all the world.

Meanwhile M. Olier had resumed negotiations with M. de Fiesque,
whose requirements, however, were as extravagant as ever. In the
first place, he absolutely refused to retain the priory of Clisson ; he
next demanded, not a pension of 1,000 crcvns, as in 1642, but a

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258

Life of M. OHer,

li.

clear annual income of 10,000 livres — equivalent at the present dy
to 80,000 or 100,000 francs — as an indemnification for the alleged
wrong that had been done him. M. Olier's friends would have
dissuaded him from acceding to a proposal so unreasonable, and
urged him rather to resign his pastoral ofifice and concentrate all his
energies on the direction of the Seminary, seeing that, if he im-
poverished himself in order to retain his cure he would be unable to
prosecute the great work which was the object of his life. But he
replied, '* If Jesus Christ bids us give our cloak to him who asks us
for our coat, why shoiild we not deprive ourselves of something for
one who makes an excessive and unreasonable demand ? Besides,
money ought to weigh as nothing with us where the interests of Jesus
are concerned." The pr;posai, therefore, wav, accepted, and the
contract signed on the 20th o^ July, 1645 ; and now arose a contest
of generosity among his friends as to who should strip themselves of
their benefices to provide M. de Fiesque with the stipulated income.
That gentleman, howsver, was not to be easily satisfied; several
benefices were resigned in his favour, but for one reason or another
they were not deemed either suitable or adequate, and it was not
until he was offered the well-endowed Priory of St. Condon on the
Loire that he professed himself contented. Strange to say, this
benefice was promised without first obtaining the consent of its
occupant, M. de Barrault, nephew of the Archbishop of Aries and one
of P. de Condren's disciples, who, however, on being informed by
M. du Ferrier of the arrangement which had been made, was over-
joyed at the confidence reposed in him, and declared that he reckoned
it among the truest tokens of regard which his friends could have
shown him. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon, it may here be stated, was
so touched by this instance of generosity on the part of M. de Barrault
that, a few years afterwards, she bestowed upon him a priory of the
annual value of 1,000 crowns. Among M. Olier's colleagues who
despoiled themselves to satisfy M. de Fiesque's exorbitant demands,
should here be mentioned M. Picotd, M. de Sainte Marie (Houmain),
and M. de Lantages, and, among his friends, the Abb^ Alexandre
de Seve, maternal uncle of M. Louis Tronson. It was two years,
however, before the business with M. Fiesque was finally concluded,
and then only through the intervention of St. Vincent de Paul, whom
the Queen Regent had engaged to confer with that intractable
person, and who himself liberally contributed towards supplying the
sum that was required. M. Le Gauffre, also, who, as will be remem-

Attempted reform at Pcbrac.

259

bered, in his despair had imprudently assured the rioters that their
former Cur^ should be re-instated, now sought to make reparation
for what he regarded as a desertion of M. Olier's cause by large
benefactions to the church.

It was about the same time that the affair of the Abbey of Pebrac
was definitively settled. M. Olier's attempt to introduce the reform
of Chancellade had been frustrated, as we have seen, by the opposi-
tion of the monks, who had declared in favour of that of Ste. Genevieve,
which, however, they never adopted ; and besides, the Cardinal de
la Rochefoucauld, who was Abbd de Ste. Genevieve, had interdicted
M. Alain de Solminihac from extending his rule to any other monas-
tery. M. Olier, therefore, had devised a different plan. Possessing
full powers, as abbot, to restore the primitive discipline, the thought
occurred to him of sending one of his ecclesiastics who should take
the habit as a novice, and thus gradually dispose the minds of the
religious towards adopting the reform which he sought to introduce.
The person he chose for this difficult mission was (as already men-
tioned) M. Corbel, a man of interior life and habitual prayer, deeply
versed in the conduct of souls, and one who by his eminent virtues
and, especially, his humility and perfect detachment from the world,
was peculiarly qualified to exercise a silent, but not less powerful,
influence on those with whom he associated. He was fifty years of
age, but, as we learn from M. du Ferrier, he was no sooner apprized
of the task designed for him than he expressed his readiness to do
whatever his superior had determined upon, as seeing therein the
will of God. The only thing he \vas in doubt about was as to how
he should dispose of a hundred louis d'or which he had reserved for
any need that might arise ; but, on M. du Ferrier bidding him solve
the difficulty by giving the money to the poor, he did so at once
before he went. When the year of his novitiate had expired, he
wrote to ask whether he should ba professed, but, as no progress
had been made in the direction of reform, it was deemed advisable
that his novitiate should be prolonged for another year. To this he
assented without making any reply. At the end of the second year
he again wrote for instructions as to what he should do, and, as
there seemed not the slightest prospect of the religious consenting
to embrace a stricter rule, he was directed to lay aside his habit and
return to Paris ; which accordingly he did with as much indifference
as if he had never quitted the Community. As for the hundred louis
d'or which he had given away, writes M. du Ferrier, he never said a

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26o

Life ^f M. Olier,

word about tliem, reposing all his confidence in Divine Providence,
and desiring to die poor and destitute of all things, like his Master,
Jesus Christ. We find, however, from a note appended by M.
Faillon, that a few years later he was collated to a rich and populous
parish, which he served with a zeal and devotion from which all
thought of self was banished. At length, broken with age and toils,
he resigned his benefice to an excellent priest, whose poor, small
parish he took in exchange, refusing to accept any compensation for
his diminished income.

This pious experiment having failed, M. Olier resolved to cede
the abbey to St. Vincent de Paul, as a residence for his Missionary
Priests, who should labour in Auvergne and the neighbouring parts ;
and hf had comm.enced negotiations with the religious which seemed
to promise success, when this plan likewise was entirely frustrated
by the perverse conduct of the Prior, who again affected to be
actuated by a desire to embrace the reform of Ste. Genevibve, but
who, when it came to the point, proposed conditions in every way
so extraordinary — as, for instance, that each of the monks should have
a key of the church and of the cloister, with the liberty of going in
and out at pleasure, subject to no control — that the Superior-General
refused to sanction the arrangement ; which, indeed, could not have
been carried out without M. Olier's consent. So matters remained
till, shortly after the troubles related, M. Olier exchanged the abbey
of Pdbrac for that of Cercanceau in the diocese of Sens, which was
then in the possession of M. Vialar, Bishop of Chalons. It was a
benefice of less value than that of Pebrac, but, in proposing the
exchange, M. Olier's object was to offer some compensation to that
prelate for the sacrifices he had made on his account in the affair
of M. de Fiesque. The transaction was formally approved by
Louis XIV. on the 23rd of January, 1646. M. Olier was also led to
make the cession by the hope that M. Vialar would be able to
introduce the reform of Ste. Genevibve, which, in fact, was accom-
plished three years later. To this end M. Olier increased its
revenues, and raised the number of the monks from eighteen, to
which his father had reduced it, to twenty-one, as fixed by the
ancient constitutions. The servant of God always considered that
in the troubles that had come upon him at St. Sulpice he was
bearing the chastisement of his father's fault, committed inadver-
tently and by the advice of indiiTerent casuists, in procuring him the
preferment on conditions not strictly canonical. ** The memory of

Formal act of association.

261

M. Oiier," writes the Abb^ Faillon, ** is still lield in benediction by
itie inhabitants of Pdbrac. They show the chamber in the Abbey
which was occupied by the servant of God, and which has been
converted into an oratory. On a httle turret, at the entrance of the
courtyard, his arms are still to be seen ; a circumstance which
would seem to indicate that it or, at least, some portion of the
edifice adjoining was erected by him. This was probably anterior
to his establishing the seminary of Vaugirard ; for from that time he
ceased to use the arms of his family, and substituted in their place
the monograms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."

The humiliations that had befallen him were not of a nature to
soften his proud mother's heart, followed as they were by his refusal
of the see of Rodez and the sacrifices he made to satisfy M. de
Fiesque's demands ; and her vexation found its usual vent in taunts
and reproaches. Yet he was not the less assiduous in visiting her
from time to time, and the modest expression of his countenance,
when in her presence, was a sufficient indication, remarks M. de
Bretonvilliers, of the filial respect which he entertained for her, a
respect all the more sincere and deep as it had a religious root, for
in honouring his mother he felt that he was showing reverence, not
merely to an earthly parent, but to the Majesty of the Eternal God.
It \sas his delight to speak to her of our Blessed Lord, and he
sought every opportunity to turn her thoughts to the saving of her
soul. As this is the last occasion on which her name is mentioned,
it may here be stated that, being in the country and hearing that his
mother was suffering from an apoplectic attack, he immediately
hastened back to Paris and rendered her all the assistance in his
power, although at the time he was himself in a state that required
the most careful attention, being afflicted with paralysis and suffering
from the malady which was soon to terminate his life. His mother
survived him a little more than two years, dying on the ist of
June, 1659.

On Wednesday, the 6th of September, 1645, M. Oner, — in con-
junction vvith M. de Pouss^ and M. Damien, who had been united
with him both in the purchase of M. Meliand's house and in the
solemn engagement which he made at Montmartre never to abandon
the work of the Seminary, — subscribed a formal act of association
in presence of two public notaries, as was usual in those times.
Therein they declare that, having before their eyes the sensible
effects of the benedictions which it has pleased the Divine Goodness

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262

Life of M. Olier.

to pour down on the design they had conceived of establishing a
seminary, — and seeing that from all sides persons distinguished in
doctrine and virtue are continually joining them to bear a part in so
good a work, — they have judged that, if the seminary were erected
into a corporate community with all due and proper sanctions, it
would increase from day to day and bring forth those f^uitr. which
the Church, councils, royal ordinances, and assemblies of the clergy
have looked for in such an establishment ; wherefore, considering
that they ought no longer to delay the execution of their design,
which has for its object the glory of God and the honour of His
Church, under the direction and disposal of their Lordships the
Bishops within whose jurisdiction similar establishments shall be
founded, after invoking the assistance of the Holy Spirit, they
engage to form a corporate community, in order to discharge all the
functions of a seminary in accordance with the terms and with the
spirit of the sacred canons : all under the articles, statutes, and
regulations which shall be agreed upon among themselves and those
who shall join them as members of the said community. They
undertake to be of no charge to their Lordships the Bishops,
chapters, or abbots, in the several dioceses or jurisdictions wherein
they shall found such establishments, but to contribute thereto
solely of their own means and with the aid of the liberality, purely
voluntary, of those who may desire to co-operate in this good work,
when the seminary shall be in a condition to acquire property.

On the :'3rd of October, in the same year, M. Olier had the
supreme satisfaction of seeing the Seminary erected into an ecclesi-
astical community with the sanction and authorization of the Abbe
de St. Germain, as seigneur of the Faubourg ; full power and licence
being given to him, as superior, together with his colleagues, to
frame such statutes and rules as he and his associates should deem
necessary for the due government, discipline, and maintenance of
the house, and also to construct whatever buildings might be
required for the purposes of the Seminary, and to have a chapel
attached thereto. At the same time, the Abbd renounced in favour
of the new institute the sum of 7,500 livres, to which he was legally
entitled as temporal lord; and M. Olier, in return, not only gave
him a participation in all the prayers and good works of the Com-
munity, but engaged to have a Mass celebrated every year for his
intention, at which all the priests of the Community should assist.
This Mass was to be said on the 14th of May, being the day on

His reliance on God alone.

263

which his father, Henri IV., was assassinated ; for which reason M.
Olier also undertook to have a Dc profundis recited at the end of the
same Mass for the soul of that monarch. Later on in the year, the
Abbe's authorization was confirmed by letters patent bearing the
sign manual of the young King, being then in his seventh year ;
and in the April of the following year, 1646, all the Bishops of
France were empowered by royal letters patent to hold provincial
councils every three years for the reformation of manners and the
establishment of seminaries for the training of ecclesiastics in their
several dio ^es.

Thus was the great work accomplished for which the servant of
God had so long laboured and prayed, and, it may be added, suffered.
In spite of the hostility of the world and the defection of friends, his
confidence in the Divine aid and protection had never failed or
faltered. " Let us lean only on God," he wrote at this time, " and
trust to Him alone, for the success of any work which He has con-
fided to us. Let us look only to Him, and He will guide us securely
amid all the tempests that assail us. The more violent tney are, the
more clearly will they manifest His wisdom, His power, and His
love. His adorable perfections are never more sensibly displayed
than when the works He has begun succeed in spite of the fury of
Hell and the persecution of men. Let us abandon everything to
Him, and abide in peace waiting for His succour. Although we
should see the whole world rise up against us we must never quit
the work to which He calls us, seeing that He is able in a moment
to disperse the clouds that have gathered round us and turn our
greatest enemies into our most devoted friends. Oh, how little
reliance ought to be placed on the great and on the children of men !
It were sufificient to see what I have myself experienced in order to
be certain of this truth as much as I ought to be. What joy to do
the work of God in His Son, and through the ways of humility,
poverty, and simplicity ! Our Lord has taught me once for all that it
is His will that I should withdraw myself from the great ones of the
world, and beware how I place any confidence in them. The jealousy
of God regarding the work He has committed to me has been shown
in this — that He has sent away these great ones and thrust them
aside whenever they attempted to take part therein ; to the end that
He alone might be acknowledged as the author of that which might
have been attributed to men if they had given it their patronage and
support."

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( 264 )

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CHAPTER VI.

REVIVAL OF DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

MOLIER resumed the labours of his parish with renewed
• energies of mind and body, and the humiliations he had
so recently undergone seemed to enhance the respect or, rather, we
may say, the veneration with which he was regarded by all, including
even those whose minds had seemed to be most envenomed against
him. The piety of the people responded to the zeal of the pastor.
His sermons found an echo in the hearts of his hearers, and were
productive of extraordinary fruits ; all the offices of devotion were
largely attended, and the number of penitents increased with such
rapidity that it became necessary to obtain the assistance of addi-
tional priests.

The Holy Ghost might have employed ecclesiastics of low extrac-
tion, as He has commonly done, for the renovation of this parish so
notorious for the scandalous lives of the great people who inhabited
it, but, as if to accommodate Himself to the prejudices of their
caste. He summoned to His service men who, like M. Olier, were
as distinguished for their birth and rank as for their character and
virtues. The more surely to accomplish the work to which they had
been called, He put it into their hearts to practise the most perfect
disinterestedness and generous abnegation. They rigorously abstained
from accepting any contributions that might be offered them by their
people either for the benefit of the Community or for their own
personal needs ; and in their pastoral visits to the parishioners it was
their habit to despatch the business they were upon with as much
celerity as was compatible with a due regard to social amenities or
with the nature of the office they had been called to discharge.
Hitherto, notwithstanding all the advantages which the courtiers
had enjoyed in the zealous labours of men like the P^res de BeruUe
and de Condren, who both from the pulpit and in the confessional

Transforming power of the Holy Eucharist. 265

had addressed them with a freedom and a boldness truly Apostolical,
little effect, apparently, had been produced ; it was reserved to M.
Olier and his colleagues to gather in the harvest of which these great
servants of God had sown the seed

It was by setting before his auditors the mystery of the Incarnation
and its consequences — the transcendent dignity with which human
nature has thereby become invested and the corresponding depth of
degradation into which it is plunged by sin — that he touched their
consciences and gained their hearts. He depicted in frightful
colours the hideous deformity which sin had worked and still con-
tinued to work in the so-^s of men ; in accents of paternal tenderness
he described the love ot Jesus in dying for them on the Cross, and
showed them how by their criminal indulgences they crucified the
Son of God afresh and trampled under foot the Precious Blood
which He had shed for their redemption. " To repair the woeful
disorders which sin had caused, prodigies of power and of mercy were
needed : the Eternal Word must become Incarnate to restore this
fallen creature j a God-made-Man must come to present to man, in
His own Sacred Person, the model of that perfection to which He
desires to recall him ; and, finally, the Divine Repairer must make
Himself our meat and drink in the Adorable Eucharist, in order
that He may enter into and unite Himself with us, so that, dwell-
ing in our souls. He may re -instate them in their original condi-
tion, and re -make them according to the primal designs of the
Creator."

In these last words we see the dominant thought and belief with
which this great servant of God was possessed — that devotion to
Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist was the one solid foundation on
which the reformation of a parish so reprobate as that of St. Sulpice —
including as it did the notorious faubourg of St. Germain — could be
effected and maintained, and that through the revival of this devo-
tion alone could his people, little and great, learned and unlearned,
be brought back to the habitual practice of piety and virtue. "Our
Lord," he writes, "desiring to draw men to His Father, has given
Himself to them at two several times : once, in the infirmity of the
flesh, by His Incarnation ; and again, in the power of His Divine
Life, by the Most Holy Sacrament. By the first state He came to
establish His Church and merit grace and pardon for it ; by the
other to renew and make it perfect. The first was a state of weak-
ness, and consequently it was not meet that He should employ His

Hfll

I I

266

Life of M. Olicr.

absolute power in His dealings with men. This is why He acted
with apparent infirmity, using reasonings, miracles, and prophecies
in His endeavours to convince them, without availing Himself of the
almighty power of the Holy Spirit, who would have converted in a
moment hearts the most hardened in the world. To effect this
triumph. He waited for the day of His Ascension, which was to
establish Him on the throne of His royal dignity. Then He began
to give Himself a second time to men in the Most Ho'y Sacrament,
communicating to them His divine life and making them like unto
Himself. This it is which the Church confesses with astonishment
and gratitude in the first words of the Office of the Blessed Sacra-
ment : ' Let us adore Christ the King, the Ruler of the Gentiles,
who gives to those who feed on Him the rich abundance of His
Spirit,' * as if she said. Behold the mar^-ellousness of this mystery and
the triumph of Jesus Christ : peoples the most savage, nations the
most barbarous, which never yielded to the power or acknowledged
the dominion of the Romans, have now been subjected by this King
whom they adore. His Flesh which He gives them for food trans-
forms them interiorly into Himself, impresses upon them His own
sentiments, and thus He triumphs in their hearts by His meekness,
by the purity of His virtue, by the secret charms of His power, and
by thus transforming them makes them, with Himself, perfect
adorers of His Father. Desiring, then, in this age, not to establish
His Church, but to renew it, He must needs act in a manner which
accords with this second state.

" Inasmuch, however, as it is not His will to appear again in
person to rekindle piety when it has grown cold, He raises up from
age to age men whom He fills with a special grace of those mysteries
which He desires to revive in the hearts of His people. Such was
St. Francis of Assisi, who received the spirit of His Passion so
abundantly that, streaming out upon his very flesh ana manifesting
itself in the sacred stigmata, it renewed in the Church the love of
the Cross and taught carnal men the obligation they were under of
resembling in their lives Jesus Christ Crucified. And, in like manner,
our Lord has shown me that, desiring to renew in our own days the
primitive spirit of the Church, He raised up two persons to commence
carrying out this design : Mgr. de Bdrulle, to procure His being

* " Christum Regem adoremus dominantem Gentibus,
Qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem."

Ad Alatutinuntt InvUatorium.

.A.

Divine lights and graces.

267

lionourcd in His Incarnation;* PItc de Condrcn, in His Life, His
Death, and above all, in His Resurrection ; bin that it still remained
to have Himself honoured, after His Resurrection and Ascension,
as H( abides in the Most August Sacrament of the Eucharist, and
thus to renew the sentiments of His Divine Life in the hearts
of men.

"Alas I I say it only for the glory of God and of His designs in
regard to the vilest and most wretched creature in the world : Ho
has been pleased to bestow .;on me myself, as P. do Condrcn's
successor, the grace and the spirit of this Adorable Mystery, to the
end that I may teach souls how to live conformably with this state.
And yet can it possibly be that God should desire to make His slave,
nay, one of His enemies, as I am, an image of His Son, His Only
Son, the Victim of the Most Holy Sacrament, by giving nic a share
in the sentiments of that Divine interior, in order to their being
sensibly communicated to souls through me ? "

From his childhood, as we have seen, M. Olier had been endowed
with a singular grace of devotion to the Blessed Eucharist, and wlien,
in the year 1642, it was proposed to him to undertake the charge ot
the parish of St. Sulpice, he felt that now the long-sought opportunity
was afforded him of promoting Its honour and worshij), not only
among his own subjects, but in all the provinces of France. " How
often," he writes, " when I thought of the neglect with which the
Blessed Eucharist was treated in that parish, did I say to myself,
'Oil, if ever I became the pastor of that church, how I would labour
to have honour paid to that Most August Sacrament ! I would devotd
myself wholly to Its service, I would myself keep watch before It
like an ever-burning lamp, to show to these blind people the majesty

♦ This opinion was not peculiar to M. Olier ; it was shared by tlie biographers
of Cardinal de Berulle. Thus P. Lerat says that he had the gift of imparting to
souls a supreme love of our Incarnate God : "He thought only of Jesus, he spoke
only to Jesus or of Jesus, he acted only for Jesus. He undertook everything, he
suffered everything for Jesus ; " and the Abb^ de C^risy relates liow for this end
he would have all the houses of the Oratory dedicated to some particular state
or mystery of our Lord : thus the house in the Rue St. Honore was consecrated
to the honour of all the glories which accrued to Jesus at tlie moment of His
Incarnation ; that of the Faubourg St. Jacques to His silent and ineflfable repose
in the womb of Mary ; that of Orleans to His Infancy." Urban VIII. conferred
upon him the title of " The Apostle of the Incarnate Word ; " and how truly he
deserved it all readers of his works know well.

The remarkable terms in which M. Olier spoke of Pere de Condren have been
cited at page 49.

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"TWnpppiW»»

268

Life oj M. Oiier.

of the (lod whom ihey know not !'" Nor was it only a powerful
impression produced upon his mind, or an ardent desire which he
experienced of showing honour to Jesus in this adorable mystery,
but Hj who had chosen him to be His special instrument and like-
ness, had long before (as we read in his Afhnoins) vouchsafed to
fiive him a miraculous intimation of His designs. For, being one
day in adoration before the altar, he beheld our Lord issue from the
Tabernacle — amid flames of fire and bearing a Cross in His hand —
and come to dwell within his breast ; thus indicating to him that
what He Himself was operating insensibly in the IJlessed Eucharist,
His servant was to efTect sensibly in the souls committed to his
charge. Of this grace he had abundant evidence on the feast of
Corpus Christi immediately before his removal to St. Sulpice. " My
heart," he writes, " was all on fire, all consumed with the love and
praise of Clod ; and ever since that time I feel to be before God like
a poor victim loaded with the sins of all mankind and pleading with
Him for their pardon, ready to sufler in satisfaction all possible
martyrdoms. Sometimes it was as if my s})irit passed into the hearts
of men, so as to enter into their needs and make supplication to
God for them. At other times I felt my soul multiplied, as it were,
in all the places wherever my Master was present ; or filled with the
divine praises, as I have seen that of Jesus Christ ; or desiring to
offer the Holy Sacrifice, in order to honour God in every way in which
it is possible to honour Him. All these and such-like sentiments
are those of my Jesus in this mystery. They are innumerable, and
infinitely greater than I can either understand or feel. His good-
ness makes me a partaker in them from time to time according
to my capacity; nor do I experience any difficulty in speaking
of all this, for I see what I describe in a light clearer than that of
day."

Such, then, were the thoughts which dominated in M. Olier's
mind when he first took possession of his parish, and hence the
zeal and fervour he displayed in reviving devotion to the Blessed
Eucharist by means of repeated Benedictions and Expositions and
the establishment of a Confraternity of Adoration. But, notwith-
standing all his endeavours and those of his coadjutors, during the
first three years of his ministry there was very little apparent change
for the better. His efforts were thwarted and counteracted in every
manner of way, as we have seen, by the more influential of his
parishioners, and, though the people came in crowds to the sacred

i« '

Increase of conimunicants.

269

offices, attracted by tlie unusual beauty of the ceremonial, tlu-y
seemed to be actuated, not so much l)y a sjjirit of piety, as l)y an
idle curiosity to witness a grand and imposing spectacle. 'I'hus, to
the [jfofound grief of this holy pastor, the devotion of the Forty
Hours was so little regarded by the mrss of the people that fewer
persons were to be seen at St. Sulpicc during the celebration than
in the other churches, although the population of the I'aubouri^
exceeded beyond all proportion that of any parish in the city. It
was not until the malice of the wicked had done its utmost to
blacken his character and destroy his intluence that M. Olier waa
permitted to see the fruit of his labours.

Mention has already been made of the heathenish excesses with
which the eves of the feasts of the Epiphany and St. Martin were
habitually profaned. Nor was it only the lower classes who indulged
in these abominations, which were of too revolting a character to
bear description ; the great lords of the Faubourg also took part in
them. It seemed as though in very deed Satan had, for a season,
been loosed from Hell and enthroned on earth as king of men. But
now a great change ensued.* A large number of the parishioners,
including all classes, came to receive communion on those festivals,
and also on Quinquagesima Sunday, which h*d hitherto been re-
garded only as the day on which the diversions of the Carnival com-
menced. Indeed, the feast of the Epiphany was made an occasion
of general communion, and, to encourage and perpetuate this pious
practice, the Sovereign Pontiff granted a plenary indulgence, on the
usual conditions, to all who should approach the Holy Table on
that day. Never, perhaps, says the Abb(^ Faillon, was the number
of communicants greater than in the parish of St. Sulpice, or the
fruit thence accruing more abundant. M. Olier exhorted the people to
offer their communions for the conversion of sinners, as being the
most effectual way of applying to those poor souls the merits of the
Precious Blood of Jesus Christ ; and, as the Jansenists were not
satisfied with deterring the faithful from receiving communion, as
has been said, but endeavoured to instil into them the odious and
heretical doctrine that the Blessed Eucharist was beneficial only to
the recipient and that its fruit could not be applied either to the
living or to the dead, M. Olier was most diligent in denouncing these

* Six years after the death of M. Olier the Sulpicians renewed their endeavours
to suppress these disorders, and with such success that at last they were entirely
abolished.

t it

270

Life of M. Olier,

pestilent innovations. His efforts in this matter were crowned with
singular succeos, for in a parish where but lately the Holy Table had
been well-nigh deserted, the number of communicants might soon
be reckoned at 200,000 annually, although thirty other churches
attached to religious houses were also open for public worship in the
Faubourg.

When M. Olier entered on the duties of his parish theie was but
a single lamp, and that of copper, kept burning in the church,
although the Blessed Sacrament was reserved, not only on the High
Altar, but also in the Lady Chapel behind the choir. But, one of the
priests of St. Sulpice having taken occasion to observe in his sermon
that it would be well to have n. lamp before each of these altars, on
that same day M. Marreau, a notary, presented a costly one of silver;
and soon after two other lamps of the same material, worth each six
hundred crowns, were given by M. Morel, who was Maitre d'Hotel
and Secretary of Finances to the King. One remarkable circumstance
connected with these benefactions was that these very men, both of
whom were wardens of the church, had taken part with M. Olier's
adversaries in instituting legal proceedings against him for having
established more frequent Benedictions of the Most Holy Sacrament
without first having gained permission horn the parochial authorities.
This may be regarded as a proof of the extraordinary change which
had taken place in men's minds consequent on the late violent
attempt to expel him from his cure. All three lamps were placed
before the High Altar, but this ardent adorer of the Eucharistic
Presence was not yet content, and having one day observed, in an
exhortation to the ladies of the parish, that, as there had been seven
lamps kept always alight before the Ark of the Covenant, as repre-
senting the seven glorious spirits who stand ever before the Throne
of God, so there ought to be seven lamps perpetually burning, night
and day, before the place where our Incarnate God vouchsafes to
dwell, the ladies present immediately resolved to complete the
number. One was offered, of the value of a thousand crowns, by
the Princesse de Condtf, to which two, valued at six hundred crowns,
were added by three other ladies, among whom was Mme. Tronson,
of whom we shall hear more hereafter ; the seventh was contributed
by M. Olier himself, who also gave a silver chandelier to hold them
all ; while M. Marreau, who had led the way in these acts of pious
munificence, not to be outdone in liberality, asked p rmission to
take bade the lamp he had presented, and which had cost

Sacrilegious robbery at St. S 21 /pice.

271

him sixty crowns, and to substitute another of the value of six
hundred*

In the summer of 1648 an event occurred which wrung the heart
of God's servant with the bitterest anguish. On the night of July
28th, some thieves gained an entrance into the Church of St. Sul-
pice with the intention of stealing the silver plate belonging to the
confraternity of street-porters. It so happeneil, however, that the
candlesticks and cross had been lenr for the feast of St. Anne to the
brethren of the 'hapel lately dedicated to that saint in the Prt'-aux-
Clercs, and had not been returned. The robbers, not finding these
objects in their usual place, did noL stay to examine the contents of
the chest, but turned it upside down, by which means they did not
perceive a chalice and other vessels whi'^h by between the chasubles
and which, if discovered, might have satisfied their cupidity. Dis-
appointed, therefore, of their expected booty, they forced open the
tabernacle on the altar of the Blessed Virgin and, taking out the
ciborium, emptied the Sacred Hosts on the elbow of one of the con-
fessionals. But, even while perpetrating their sacrilegious crime,
the wretched men seem to have retained some feeling of reverential
awe, for, a few of the sacred particles still adhering to the vessel, they
did not dare to carry them away, bat shook them out by striking the
ciborium on the sifte ot the confessional, the wood of which the next
morning bore the marks made by its edges; and, some of them
falling on the ground, they had left them lying where they fell.

Horror and consternation seized the inhabitants when news of the
outrage spread through the Faubourg. As with one consent all
diversions ceased, crowds flocked to the churches to testify their
grief and to make such reparation as piety suggested for the dis-
honour that had been shown to their dear Lord in the Sacrament of
His Love. One only thought seemed to pervade all classes, — that
of penance and satisfaction to the Divine Justice for a crime of which
each accused himself as being the guilty cause. Indeed, it was the
common belief that, in patiently enduring so impious an outrage,
God was but waiting to avenge Himself by the infliction of some
national scourge. In expiation of the sacrilege, the Baronne de

h
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* In i6qi, it was deemed expedient, i.i order to relieve the urgent necessities
of the State, to send the chandelier with five of the lamps to the royal mint. A
chandelier and lamps of some inferior metal were substituted for them ; but in
1732 they were restored by M. Languet, who also placed seven lamps in tb.e
choir and eight in the nave.

272

L ife of M, Olier.

Neuvillette condemned herself to eat the coarsest bread and drink
only water for the rest of hor days, in order to appease the anger of
God ; * and when, on the following Sunday, M. Jo!y, one of the
priests of the Community, recounted to the people all the circum-
stances of the sacrilege, the whole congregation were melted to tears,
and sobs and waitings filled the church. But the chief mourner and
the chief penitent — need it be said? — was the holy pastor himself;
and nothing less would satisfy him than a public reparation, propor-
tioned — if such a term be applicable — to the magnitude of the
offence. With the consent of the Abb^ de St. Germain he
announced from the pulpit the order of the observances, proclaiming
a three days' fast to commence the following day.

Accordingly, on Monday, August 3rd, 1648, as the bells gave forth
their lugubrious sound, the people, ^11 in mourning garb, assembled
in the church of St. Sulpice ; thence they walked n procession,
chanting psalms as they went, to the Abbey of St. Germain, where
High Mass was said ''^ pro remissione peccatorum — (for the remission
of sins)." The gloom of the day added to the universal sadness ; the
very heavens seemed to weep, for the rain continued to fall in
torrents, and, owing to the insufficient drainage usual in those times,
so flooded the streets that the penitential crowd, among which were
ladies of the highest rank, had to wend its way through pools of water.
On Thursday and the two succeeding days the Blessed Sacrament
v*as exposed with unexampled splendour. The whole Court contri-
buted whatever there was most magnificent and rare for the august
ceremony : tapestry, and pictures, crystal vases, candelabra, and

* At the end of five or six weeks, she became so ill that her confessor forbade
her continuing her penance. This lady, during her married life, had been the
acknowledged leader of fashion ; her sole ambition was to excel all others in the
sumptuousness and elegance of her table, her equipage, and her dress. But on
the death of her husband she felt herself called to give herself wholly to God, and
through the prayers and counsels of M. de Renty she found courage to obey the
call, and consecrated the remainder of her life to works of piety and charity. To
break at once with the world, and mortify in herself all remains of pride and
human respect, she inflicted on herself a sort of public humiliation, going to visit
a Indy of her acquaintance in the Luxembourg, attired in a robe of patchwork.
She had no sooner made her appearance at the palace-gates, than she was sur-
rounded by a tribe of children, who followed her io the grand staircase crying out,
" The Queen ! the Queen ! the Queen of Tatters ! " A still greater affront awaited
her in the presence of the fine lady she came to visit, but she was enabled not
only to despise the world, but to despise being despised by it, and she conquered
it in conquering heraelf. She died on the lOth of April, 1657, eight days after
M. Olier.

A public act of reparation.

273

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It contri-
august

ira, and

lustres of gold and silver. The Marquise de Palaiseau offered the
hangings of her bed, worth 20,000 livres, to be used as a canopy ;
and, though she was warned as to the damage they must sustain from
the smoke of more than 300 tapers, she persevered in her entreaties
that what had been made for vanity should be sacrificed to the glory
of Jesus Christ. Her offer was therefore accepted ; and, as if to
reward her piety and devotion, at the end of the three days' ceremony
they were found not to have received the slightest tarnish. The whole
length of the nave was covered with cloth of gold ; the choir was
hung with red velvet, on which columns were wrought in bold relief,
ornamented with capitals embroidered alternately with gold and
silver, and all so skilfully designed that it might have been taken as
actually elaborated out of the precious metals ; while in the midst
of golden candlesticks and vases, darting flashes of light, raised high
upon a pyramidal throne and surmounted with a crown glittering
with jewels, appeared the Object of all this honour and glory ; the
Object, too, of the unceasing adoration of a countless throng which
day and night filled the church to overflowing.

On the first and second days of the Exposition two of the most
celebrated preachers of the capital addressed the assembled multi-
tudes ; on the third, being the feast of the Transfiguration, the shops
were shut, all servile work was suspended, and the whole clergy in
the parish, secular and regular,* carrying lighted torches, accom-
panied in procession the Blessed Sacrament, which was borne by
the Papal Nuncio. The Queen Regent walked behind the canopy,
attended by all the princes and princesses of the blood and a large
number of the courtiers, all wearing mourning ; the people followed
in vast crowds. The Duchess of Orleans had caused a magnificent
altar to be erected at the entrance to the Luxembourg, and the
ceremony was concluded by a sohmn act of reparation, pronounced

* i\ circumstance is related in connection with this procession which affords
a curious instance of the jealousy with which the Benedictines of St. Germain
Maintained their prescriptive rights. M. Olier, absorbed in liis devotions, inad-
vertently strayed from his place behind the monks, and walked among their ranks.
Now, the parish of St. Sulpice (as was said above) was under the jurisdiction
of the Abbey, and, for fear that this act of its Cur^ should be taken in after time
as a precedent derogatory to their authority and liberties, they obliged M, Oiier
to make a formal declaration, in writing, to the effect that, in intruding himself
among them "in the aforesaid procession, contr.iry to all custom, right, and
reason," he meant to assert no manner of precedency or encroachment on their
privileges. This declaration was signed on the 9th of December following and
inserted among the archives of the Abbey.

'fimmmiimfifmi^m'jmii^^

274

Life of M. Olier.

;l!

by M. Olier with so much fervour, and with such an abundance of
tears, that none of the assistants could refrain from weeping.

Three months after the ceremony above described, one of the per-
petrators of the deed was discovered in the person of a soldier of the
guards. Information was given by the individual in whose house he
lodged, which led to his quarters being searched, and the ciborium of
St. Sulpice, together with other property similarly obtained, was found
hidden among his goods. The Parliament of Paris condemned him
to provide funds for a lamp to burn perpetually before the taber-
nacle in the Lady Chapel, in addition to that which was already
there ; to make a public act of reparation before the doors of the
church ; and, lastly, to suffer the punishment of death for the sacri-
legious robbery ; which sentence was accordingly carried into execu-
tion on the 1 6th of June, 1649, M. Olier himself attended the
unhappy man in prison, and accompanied him to the scaffold.

From the day on which the sacrilegious crime was committed no
Mass had been said at Our Lady's altar ; it was left stripped of its
ornaments, with its broken tabernacle exposed to view. It was not
long, however, before M. Olier replaced it with another, richly
adorned ; and, to perpetuate for ever in the parish the memory of
the event, he surrounded with a balustrade the spot on which the
sacred particles had been scattered, and inscribed upon a marble
tablet, in letters of gold, the principal circumstances of the sacrilege
and its reparation. Before this tablet he hung a silver lamp, which
was to be kept burning day and night ; and, to offer to Jesus Christ
a homage still more worthy of the love He bears us, he directed that,
on the first Sunday in August in every year, the Blfissed Sacrament
should be solemnly exposed in reparation for all the insults offe: ed
to Him in the Holy Eucharist. But even yet his devotion was not
satisfied : it was now that he established the Perpetual Adoration of
which mention was before made, and for which he had long been
preparing his people. He chose twelve of his flock, the most devout
to the Sacramental Presence, who should unite themselves in spirit
to the twelve Apostles, the first and chief adorers of an Incarnate
God ; and these again he bade associate with themselves twelve
other worshippers, who thus together with them should represent
the four-and-twenty ancients of the Apocalpse, who fall down con-
tinually in adoration before the 1 nrone of the Lamb. Each had his
hour assigned him, and the whole day was thus distributed among
them. Into this association others were admitted from time to time,

Increased devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. 275

; per-

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who shared the devotion of the chosen brethren and supplied for
those who, through illness or other pressing necessity, were unable
to attend. In fine, a detailed account of all the particulars of this
reparation was circulated through the provinces, which had a power-
ful effect in producing a more tender devotion to the Blessed Sacra-
ment and a deeper awe and reverence towards that tremendous
mystery.

But it was espec'-'.lly in Paris that the ardour displayed by M.
Olier produced at once the greatest effects. One after another the
Cur^s of the several churches adopted the practices which were
observed at St. Sulpice in honour of the Blessed Sacrament ; the
General Assembly of the Clergy commended them to the attention
of the Bishops throughout France ; and, in fine, the Prior of the
Abbey of St. Ge"" ' "> in virtue of his office as Vicar-General, in-
vested their observance with an almost obligatory force in all the
churches and chapels of the Faubourg. Tlius he prohibited the
Blessed Sacrament being exposed, even during the octave of Corpus
Christi, unless one or two ecclesiastics were present to adore, as
well to protect the August Presence against irreverence as to offer
an example of personal piety to the people. St. Sulpice thus be-
came celebrated for the beauty and solemnity of its services, as it
has continued to the present day. Queen Anne of Ausiria, who had
never entered its walls, on account both of the slovenliness with
which the functions were performed and the rudeness of the build-
ing, which resembled that of a village church, was now a frequent
attendant at the offices, as were also the Duchesse d'Orleans, the
Princesse de Cond^, who came all the way from Chantilly, the
Princess her daughter-in-law, the Prince de Conti,* the Duchesse
de Longueville, Mile, de Montpensier, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon,
the Comtesse de Brienne, the Marechale de Schomberg. the Due
d'Uzes, and many others of the courtiers, whose devout and
reverent behaviour, as they knelt in silent adoration before the God
of the Eucharist, was a touching sight to witness, especially to those
who, like Marie Rousseau, had deplored the state of desolation in
which both church and parish had lain for many dreary years, and
who knew, moreover, that all this religious display was no empty
pageant, but an effect of the same divine grace which dwelt in the
heart of their holy pastor and gave him such power over the hearts
of others.

* The Prince de Conti was the second son of Prince Henri Bourbon-Conde^

/ ♦I

1 ' ; J

276

Life of M. Oli'er.

We learn from M. Olicr himself the nature and the source of that
marvellous influence which he exercised over all who approached
him, especially in regard to the devotion with which he inspired
tliem towards the Blessed Sacrament. Writing to his director, he
says, *' Ever since our Lord vouchsafed tp give me a participation
in His quality of victim, it is no longer I that live, but He llveth in
me. Every day, after receiving communion, I become, as it were,
sensible of His presence in my members. He informs me. He
vivifies me, as though He were my soul and my life. He operates
in respect to me, after a manner, what He operates in regard to His
own Sacred Humanity ; at His bidding I move, and at His bidding
I stay my steps. He opens my lips and closes them. He rules and
directs my life; in a word, it is He who does all things in me.
Des'ring that I should represent Him in His Adorable Sacrament,
He is not content with thus entering into my heart and dwelling
therein to perfect it, but by His dwelling in me He produces in
souls the effects of divine communions, and infuses Himself into
them in a sort of sacramental manner. Many of those who come
to me are powerfully affected, and carry away with them a desire to
live by His divine life. In fine, as faithful and holy souls come to
derive their virtues and graces from out the Most Holy Sacrament,
so in His goodness He is pleased to make me a sort of sensible
presence of that Divine Mystery, and souls the most exalted feel
themselves attracted towards me with a holy and religious fervour.
It is Jesus Christ within me who works these effects, for, while
speaking to them, I feel His virtue go out from me and pass into
them, imparting to them of His lights and graces, as He does in the
Holy Eucharist*

"Thus, to give some examples, I was lately administering Extreme
Unction to a young ecclesiastic of the house, M. de Villars, and,
while I was addressing him in words which our Lord put into my
mouth, he experienced this spiritual hunger of which I speak. M.
Mol^, again, one of the chief magistrates of the Parliament of Paris,
on occasion of my visiting him to request the verification of my
letters patent, a matter in which I had encountered difficulties
hitherto insuperable, felt his heart expand ere I had scarcely ad-
dressed a word to him, and, throwing his arms round me, he said,
in the joy which possessed him, * I felt a virtue go out from you

* This effect, it is related, was experienced in a singular degree by Marie de
Valence, the holy widow of whom mention has been made

spiritual influences and attractions, 277"

that
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which has gladdened and comforted my soul ; ' and, as he spoke, he
was transported in God and filled with the unction of His Spirit.*
On Septuagesima Sunday, when confe-^sing one of our community, I
became sensible of a certain supernatural influence which, issuing
from my breast, communicated itself to him. I remained some
time without speaking, leaving its effects to flow into his soul,
and he also continued silent during the whole time. On the feast
of the Annunciation, M, de Bretonvilliers, on coming to confession
to me, was similarly affected, and, not being accustomed to these
divine experiences, he did not know what was happening to him.
It seemed as though he was unable to leave me, and, in amazement,

• This circumstance will be again alluded to in connection with the registra-
tion of the letters patent. Readers of P. Bacci's Life of St. Philip Neri will not
need to be reminded of the marvellous spiritual influences which were experienced
by his penitents and others who conversed with him, and which seemed to emanate
from his very person. This is not the place for entering on so wide a subject,
but it may just be observed that, granting the reality of the extraordinary pheno-
mena to which has been given the name of "mesmeric," and of which we hear
so many astounding instances in the present day, it in no wise militates against
the supernatural character of such influences and attractions as have been ascribed
to canonised saints and other holy persons. There must be natural powers, or
potentialities, however occult and undeveloped, which form what we may call tlie
basis of extraordinary operations, whether on the part of God Himself or of His
ministering spirits, or, again, by divi ".e permission, of the devil and his angels.
The well-known work of Benedict XIV. on Beatification and Canonization — a
portion of which has been translated into English at the instance of the late
Father Faber, under the title of Heroic Virtue (Richardson, 1852) — supplies, at
least, the principles on which such extraordinary phenomena, whether natural or
preternatural, are reconcilable with the teaching and sanctions of Holy Church
in respect to the marvellous facts recorded in the Lives of Saints and other great
Servants of God. See, in particular, chap. x. vol. iii. entitled, Of Transport,
Ecstasy, and Rapture.

How little, again, do we really know of what we call the "forces of nature ;"
while of their primary, operating causes we know nothing at all. As Mr. Lilly
has well said in his instructive and highly suggestive work, Ancient Religion and
Modern Thought, "The most accomplished master of natural science is as little
competent to explain the physical attraction as he is to explain the spiritual. He
cannot get behind the fact, and if you press him for the reason of it — if you ask
him why the magnet draws iron — the only reason he has to give you is, • Because
it does.' " Pp. 224, 225. Having quoted thus far, we may give the writer's con-
clusion : "The phenomena which we call natural I view as alike the expression
of the Divine Will : a will which acts, not ca; riciously nor, as the phrase is,
arbitrarily, but by law. ... It is by virtue of this law that the sick are healed,
whether by the prayer of faith or the prescription of the physician ; by the touch
of a relic or by a shock from a galvanic battery ; that the saint draws souls and
that the magnet draws iron." P. 228.

.ill

278

Li/e of M. Olicr.

he said, * I feel you verily in my soul.' Yesterday, being called to a
dying person, and having to speak to him for four or five hours to-
geth'-'- without ceasing, a benediction accompanied my words which
astonished me. It was not I who acted ; these wonderful effects
proceeded from the Most Holy Sacrament, the virtue of which
is shed abroad in souls. On the feast day of the great St. Basil,
being at Chelles, a celebrated abbey of the Benedictine Order,
whither I had gone to visit the body of St. Bathilde, Queen of
France, the Abbess, a lady of singular purity and profound
humility, experienced this ineffable power of Jesus Christ, which,
issuing from my soul, passed into hers. Filled at once with the
Spirit of God, she felt herself constrained to summon her community
to come and hear the word of God, which enlightened and inflamed
her heart and the hearts of many who were with her. Then, casting
herself upon her knees, she besought me to return, for that she had
experienced in my person a most joyful perception of the presence
of Jesus Christ." *

Subsequently he speaks of the prominent part which he is called
upon to bear in all the great enterprises of charity and piety which
are being undertaken in Paris, and attributes the influence he is
enabled ^o exercise and the success which attends his efforts to the
power and beneficence of Jesus in the Sacrament of His Love,
referring wholly to Him both the marvellous effects which are pro-
duced and the veneration which he himself inspires. He does but
figure and represent to men that load-star of all faithful souls. '* It
is from no love of me," he writes, " that people manifest these senti-
ments regarding me ; I have no more reason to glory therein than
the sacred species, the tabernacle, or the ciborium would have if
they could see the multitudes worshipping before them and the
countless hearts enamoured of That which they inclose. It is from

• The abbess here alluded to was Madeleine de la Porte de la Meilleraye,
sister of the Marshal of that name. She came of a Calvinist family, but had the
happiness of embracing the Catholic faith. Entering into religion, she was chosen
by Louis XIII. to be abbess of Chelles in her thirty-third year ; on taking pos-
session of her office, she presented herself in mean attire, closely veiled, and bear-
ing a crucifix in her hands. Her administration was a source of benedictions to
her community, and was distinguished by such an abundance of miracles, wrought
through the relics of St. Bathilde, that the Archbishop of Paris gave permission
for an annual commemoration of these marvels, on July 13th, in the abbey church.
This, in all probability, was the occasion of M. Olier's visit to Chelles in 1646.
Madeleine de la Porte died with the reputation of great sanctity, in 167 1, in the
seventy-fifth year of her age.

Priests living Tabernacles,

279

no love of them or of their gold or silver that the faithful come
before them, but from the love of Jesus who dwells in them. And so
it is the love of Him whom I bear within me which attracts so many
persons to me of every condition and state in life."

The one special mission with which God had intrusted His servant
was, as we have seen, the sanctification of the clergy : this was liis
vocation ; and it will readily be perceived how powerfully the super-
natural state the effects of which have been described conduced
towards enabling him to fulfil it. " Priests can be holy " (says the
Abbd Faillon), " and can duly discharge the functions of their sacred
office, only by conforming their life to that of Jesus Christ abiding
in the Blessed Sacrament; according to the exhortation which is
addressed to them at their ordination : * Imitamini quod tractatis —
Become like to that which you handle.'" Sharing so perfectly as he
did the dispositions of the Divine Victim, and manifesting them ever
after a sensible manner, this true pastor of souls had only to speak
out of the fulness of his heart to communicate to others some mea-
sure, at least, of those sentiments with which he was himself possessed.
The sublime character of the priesthood was the constant subject
of his instructions to the seminarists, and one to which he was ever
recurring in his writings ; as appears in his Treatise on Holy Orders,
and in the little work entitled, Fietas Seminarii Sancti Sulpitii.

" Priests," he wrote, " are like living Tabernacles, wherein Jesus
Christ dwells to sanctify His Church. For, to be truly priests, they
ought to bear Jesus Christ within them, labouring with all their might
to conform themselves to Him in this mystery, both as to their exte-
rior and their interior. Exteriorly, they ought to be utterly dead
to themselves, like the sacramental species, letting themselves be
maltreated, and, if needs be, trodden under foot and pierced with
knives, as Jesus Christ has been a thousand times in this Sacrament
by heretics. Therein our Lord has no use of His senses, of His
hands, His ears. His eyes ; and thus ought priests to abandon them-
selves entirely to God, that He may make what use He pleases of
their senses and of their whole selves. Interiorly, our Lord is in
this Sacrament all transformed in God, all changed in God ; He is
no longer subject to the assaults of infiirmity or corruption ; He is
clothed with incorruptness, immortality, agility, subtilty. And herein
priests ought to be like unto Him, called as they are to participate in
this August Mystery ; their interior ought to be all divine, all trans-
formed in the Divine perfections, however ordinary they may be in

I.'
-1

! s

28o

Life of M. Olier.

their outward appearance, and dead to all things. The sacramental
species, holy as they are by close ])roximity to the Son of God, are
not in themselves sources of grace. Their inmost being has been
changed, transformed, and transubstantiated in Jesus Christ ; and thus
do priests sanctify the Church, not by their exterior, but by the inmost
being of their souls transformed in Jesus Christ, who vivifies it.

"The species of bread and wine in the Most Holy Sacrament
have no reason to glorify themselves for the graces which they con-
tain or for the good they operate in souls ; they are not the causes
of them, being but a light and fragile bark which easily corrupts,
although they have been brought into such close proximity to the
Divinity. Thus also it is with tlie holiest souls : they are but the tegu-
ment or rind which may soon be spoiled and become corrupt; and in
like manner, as, when the species of bread and wine become corrupt,
the Body and Blood of our Lord cease to be present, so, on the very
instant of their becoming corrupt, the Holy Spirit would forsake
these poor rotten vessels and leave them in their corruption." Then,
in a spirit of self-abasement, he adds, "Alas! what a vocation is
mine ; poor, blind sinner that I am, who would deserve to be cast
into the fire, as a tree that bears no fruit ; wretch that I am, to be
cumbering the ground in which God has planted me, and abusing
His goods and His life ! Ah, Lord, grant that I may possess the
qualities which Thou displayest in this August Sacrament and the
dispositions with which Thy Heart is filled. Impart to me Thy
divine love for the Church and for the souls which Thou confidest
to me. In vain, Lord, should I be honoured with the office of
representing Thee exteriorly on earth, if I were i.v>. clothed with the
qualities necessary for communicating to souls the blessings which
Thou bestowest upon them by Thy Spirit in the Most Holy
Sacrament."

This humble and fervent prayer was answered in a remarkable
manner. In ten years the parish of St. Sulpice, which was as notable
for its depravity as for its extent and importance, became an example
and a source of edification to all France ; and M. Olier, despite the
humiliations to which he had been subjected, acquired an influence,
not only with the people generally, but with the members of the
Court and with those who may properly be styled men of the world,
which may truly be regarded as extraordinary and marvellous. Of
this we shall see abundant proof in the succeeding chapter.

.i'te. .;:.!,..

( 28l )

CHAPTER VII.

M. OLIER*S INFLUENCE WITH THE GENTLEMEN OF

HIS PARISH.

IN nothing were the fruits of his devotion to the Blessed Eucharist
more strikingly manifested than in the facility with which M.
Olier succeeded in forming a company of gentlemen united together
for the twofold object of promoting their own sanctification and
labouring for the conversion of those with whom they associated in
the world. It was composed of about a hundred persons of high
rank, most of whom had acquired considerable military distinction,
and were still employed in the army or about the Court. Previously
to enrolling themselves they went through all the exercises of a
retreat, and bound themselves to make public disavowal, as far as
discretion allowed, of the false maxims of the world, wiiile continuing
outwardly to lead an ordinary life, free from any marks of singularity,
and to fulfil all the obligations incidental to their position in society.
One principal object at which they aimed was to abolish duelling,
and to discountenance the practice of profane swearing, so common
among men of their calling. They were distinguished by a particular
devotion to the mystery of the Passion, by which name the Company
was designated, as pledging them to be as ready to bear reproach,
and even to imperil their lives in resisting sin, as men of the world
are forward to shed their blood in the vindication of what they term
their honour. They also engaged not to go to the army, or even on
a journey into the country, without first imploring the assistance of
the Blessed Virgin in her own church of Notre Dame, nor to omit
offering her their thanksgivings on their return.

Of these associates, one of the most celebrated was the young
Baron de Renty,* who at P. de Condren's death had taken M.

* A Life of this great exemplar of perfection in the world forms the fourth
volume of the "Library of Religious Biography " edited by the present writer.

f Ji

282

Life of M, Oliir.

Olier for his director. To a fearless, generous spirit, and a frank
and manly bearing, he united, in an eminent degree, all the devotion
and fervour of a sincere and humble Christian. He was one of
those men of high principle, genuine piety, and mortified life whom
Gcd seems to have raised up at this time to quicken the smouldering
i;eal of His clergy ; and such was the respect and confidence he
inspired that he discharged the office of spiritual director to many
ecclesiastics as well as laymen. His personal sacrifices and exertions
in behalf of the poor were heroic in their character, and there was
scarcely an institution, whether of charity or of piety, in which he did
not take an active part.

Another of the associates was Antoine de Salignac, Marquis de la
Motte-F^nelon,* who had gained himself a name by extraordinary
feats of bravery. At the age of sixteen, on learning that his brother
had been killed by a cannon-ball at the siege of Le Catelet, he went to
request Louis XHI. to promote him to his company ; and, on tlic
King's objecting to his youth, he replied, •' Sire, I shall have the more
time to serve your Majesty." In him an intrepid and, indeed, head-
strong courage was associated with a charity and a kindness of heart
as chivalrous as it was religious ; in the midst of a hot engagement
he would expose himself to a murderous fire in order to rescue his
wounded soldiers, lifting them on his shoulders and bearing them
to the trenches that they might receive the Last Sacraments. But
all his fine qualities were tarnished by a passion for duelling, the
practice of which he defended with an energy and a sophistry which
it was alike difficult to combat. On his begging M. Olier to under-
take the direction of his conscience, the servant of God replied,
*' What can I do for a man who has not the resolution to renounce
duelling?" "Why, what harm is there in it?" said the young
soldier. " Can a gentleman put up with an in mlt without resenting
ir, ? ' — " Well," answered M. Olier, " since you do not feel the evil
oi the practice pray to God to enlighten you ; and promise me that,
when you are convinced of the contrary, you will set your face
against duelling and labour to convert duellists." The Marquis
frankly pledged his word, and at the end ef his next campaign
returned a different man, boldly determined to make a public
protest against the unchristian practice. By M. Olier's advice he
retired awhile from active service, refusing several important posts
offered to him by the Queen Regent, and devoted himself to the

Uncle of the illustrious Archbishop of Cambrai.

A penitent malgri: lui.

283

interests of his soul We. married Catherine cle Monbcron, daughter
of the Comte dc Fontaine-Chalandrai, a lady rcmarlcable for her
piety, who died at the age of twenty-seven in the odour of sanctity.
Left thus a widower in his thirty-fourth year, the Marquis had
thoughts of embracing the ecclesiastical state, but M. Olicr dissuaded
him from his design, being convinced that he would do as much
good by remaining in the world. For the servant of (Jod he ever
manifested a tender and reverent aflfcction, and continued to the
cay of his death a devoted friend of the Seminary of St. Sulpice.

A third associate, equally celebrated for his personal courage, and,
it must be added, his forwardness to display it in "single combat
— for such was the title of honour bestowed on duelling — was
Abraham (subsequently Mardchal) de Fabert. He had seen thirty-
five years of military service, had been present at fifty-nine successful
sieges, and had obtained universal renown by the prodigies of valour he
had performed, when he yielded to the power of divine grace and
became one of M. Olier's most energetic coadjutors. Nor must
mention be omitted of M. du Four, — to whom allusion v/as made
in a previous chapter, — who was employed by M. Olier in any afiFairs
in which tact and discretion were particularly required. Such was
his spirit of self-sacrifice that at times the servant of God was obliged
to admonish him to have a due regard for his health. *' I am
waiting for tidings of you," he writes, " before seeing M. Vincent (de
Paul), and, not receiving any, I am afraid you are not well. I beg
you will take care of yourself for God, and recruit your strength for
His divine service. Our Lord has so much need of labourers that it
is not right to disable them for reaping His harvest and rob Him of
the servants He has engaged for Himself Live and die in the
service of Jesus, and die so often to yourself that it may be a substi-
tute for the sacrifice of your life, for thereby you will render equal
honour to God. Constrain Him thus to prolong His victim's days.
If you immolate yourself in spirit, if the sword with which you slay
yourself be spiritual, it" love consume you to His glory, God will not
be obliged to mortify you exteriorly.''

That ardent spirits such as these should range themselves under
the direction of the pastor of St. Sulpice was a proof alike of his
ascendancy of character and of their earnestness and devotion. An
amusing anecdote is related which may serve to illustrate both ; we
have it on the authority of one of the parties concerned. He was
diiving one day to call on M. Olier when, on the Pont Neuf, he met

2S4

Life of M, Olie--.

a friend and invited him to join him. Aft<;r the other had taken his
seat, and the carriage-door was closed, he told him, laughingly, he
was taking him to that good priest whom he had once promised to
go and see. His friend was loud in his remonstrances, and tried to
open the door ; but he ordered the coachman to drive the faster, and
defeated all his attempts at escape. Finding resistance useless, the
other gradually submitted, and his captor succeeded in conducting
him to M. Olier's room. The owner, however, was absent, being
engaged in hearing the confession of an officer of distinction, who
was a commandant of the Order of the Saint-Esprit, and they employed
their time in turning over some of the pious books that lay on the
table. When M. Oiler came in he imagined that the stranger, who
received him with much respect, wished to go to confession, and
accordingly, making a sign to him to lead the way, proceeded forth-
with to his private oratory. On entering, he fell on his knees, and
the young soldier, taken by surprise, followed his example. M. Olier
then seated himself, and commenced reciting the usual form, perfectly
unconscious of his visitor's embarrassment, who saw that he was
expected to make his confession, whether he would or not. Retreat
there was none, and, indeed, having gone so far, there seemed
nothing for him but to go on ; so he began his confiteor, as if he had
come for no other purpose in the world. His companion, mean-
while, sat wondering with himself at the whole proceeding . why he
was excluded from the interview, and why it lasted so long. At
length the two reappeared, looking extremely well satisfied at the
result of their conference, and the young men shortly after took their
leave. When they were alone, the one began complaining to the
other of not having been allowed to have a share in the conversation ;
on which his friend informed him of all that had occurred, declaring
that he had felt himself under the influence of an attraction which
he was powerless to resist, and had never made a better confession.
The narrator adds that he could not resist telling M. Ol'er shortly
afterwards the truth of the matter, who was much amused at the
blunder he had made ; and as for the penitent, he often recurred to
his singular adventure and never ceased blessing God for the extra-
ordinary grace with which he had been favoured.

It was observed, indeed, that the servant of God had a peculiar
gift for winning the confidence of military men, and exercising a
salutary influence over them. At the meetings of the associates he
spoke to them as a father might speak to his sons, answering their

His spiritual writings.

285

questions and solving their doubts, and encouraging them to practise
the maxims of Christian perfection with a manly courage and zeal.
One day that he was exhorting them to make God their end in
everything, a gentleman present remarked on the extreme difficulty
and, indeed, the virtual impossibility of adhering to this rule wiien
mixing with those whose conversation and habits of life were merely
worldly, even when they were not positively vicious. " This," replied
M. Olier, "is the very reason why they who live in the world should
be the more closely united to God, that they may remain uncon-
taminateJ in the midst of sinners. Besides," he added, "it is not
our bodily presence that makes us belong to ihe world, but an
attachment and an affection for its miserable vanities ; let us never
cease begging God to inspire us with a contempt for them."

The piety enkindled among these gallant gentlemen was not slow
in communicating itself to their subordinates, who, again, became
apostles to the men under their command. Thus, in a certain
regiment, the captain having been converted to ways of piety, it was
not uncommon to see even the common soldiers engaged in reading
such works as those of Louis of Granada or P. Saint-Jure, and taking
their turns to adore before the Tabernacle. Nor was this fervour
evanescent in its quality, for, fifteen years afterwards, M. de Lan-
tages, having occasion to pass through a garrison town in which
this regiment was quartered, had the consolation of observing that
these pious practices were still faithfully observed. Among other
striking examples, mention ought to be made of a certain seigneur
who, from being a man of very worldly life, became a model of per-
fection. So devoted was he to the practice of mental prayer that he
would spend four or five hours daily on his knees in the church of
ot Sulpice, Although he was not rich, hv never refused an aims to
a poor man, and, while moving in the highest circles, persevered in
the practice of the most rigorous mortification, wearing beneath his
gay attire a shirt of hair and an iron girdle.

To fix more deeply in the minds of his disciples those maxims of
self-denial and interior crucifixion which he unceasingly inculcated,
he published a Catechism of the Interior Life, especially for their
instruction, wherein, adopting the form of question and answer, he
insisted on the necessity of mortifying the old Adam and livmg the
life of Jesus Christ, and showed in detail that prayer was the one
great means both of acquiring solid piety and maintaining it; to
which he added prescriptions for its exercise. He composed also

286

Life of M. Olier,

another little treatise entitled, An Introduction to the Christian Life
and Virtues, which seems to have been particularly intended for the
Company of the Passion and may be regarded as the complement
of the former work. M. Olier thus took rank among the most
enlightened and judicious masters of the spiritual life ; his writings
were largely read, and were approved by persons of high authority,
among others, by M. de Maupas, then Bishop of Le Puy, who did
not scruple to declare, in the commendation which he affixed to one
of his works, that it might be placed in the same category with those
of k Kempis, Blosius, and St. Francis de Sales.

The association of military men which M. Olier had formed was
eminently successful in checking and bringing into obloquy the fright-
ful mania for duelling which then prevailed. To what an excess this
vicious passion was carried may be estimated by the fact (already
stated) that in a single week no less than seventeen persons were
killed in these miserable combats in the parish of St. Sulpice alone.
The infatuation was not extinguished even by the near approach of
death, as appears from the account which \1 Ferrier gives of

what occurred in the case of M. de La Roque-Saint-Chamarant. He
was a very brave man and proud of his courage ; a Christian, too,
after a fashion ; but in this one particular so obstinate and so infatu-
ated that, on M. du Ferrier endeavouring to make him promise never
to take part in a duel again, he consented, but added the proviso
that a friend whom he named did not ask him to act as his second.
It was in vain to represent to him the insult he was offering to God
by preferring to His laws the wishes of a friend, — a friend, too, by
the way, who had himself unconditionally renounced the unlawful
practice; on what he deemed a point of honour he was perfectly
inflexible, and to perish in its vindication was to him the only death
worthy of a gentleman. Soon after, he was seized uh a mortal
illness. The priest who attended him hv-^aring hirr viing and
groaning as he lay upon his bed, asked him the cause oi ' u oorrow,
with the view of imparting religious consolation, and received this
startling reply: "Alas! that La Roque-Saint-Chamarant, who has
proved his courage on so many occasions, should die thus in his
bed ; " and in these sentiments he expired.

Hitherto, all means that had been tried to arrest this sanguinary
frenzy had proved but of slight avail. The rigours of the law and
the censures of the Church were alike disregarded. M. Olier had
denounced from the pulpit the severest ecclesiastical penalties

; I

Declarations against duelling.

287

against duellists and their abettors, and several persons who had
perished in these detestable encounters had, by his orders, been
deprived, as the canons directed, of Christian burial. On the loth
of June, 1650, the Vicar-General of the Abbey of St. Garmain, in
compliance with M. Olier's earnest request, forbade all the priests of
the Faubourg to give absolution to duellists except in danger of
death, and then only on their engaging, in the event of recovery, to
abjure the practice. In ordinary cases they could be absolved only
by applying to himself or to the Penitentiary of the Abbey ; and, in
default of absolution, they could neither receive the Holy Eucharist
nor be interred in consecrated ground The facility with which
confessors had granted absolution contributed much to aggravate the
evil, but M. Olier laid strict injunctions on the priests of the Com-
munity to question their penitents directly on the subject, and to
withhold absolution until they had promised never to fight a duel ;
and this regulation was subsequently approved and confirmed by the
assembled clergy of Paris. But, although these measures effected
much, they were not sufficient to disabuse men's minds of the fatal
maxims which had been so long accredited in society, and it was
only by opposing the principle of Christian fidelity to that of worldly
honour that M. Olier at length succeeded in giving an effectual blow
to a vice which was, not only practised, but lauded, by the noblest
and most chivalrous of the age. On Whitsunday, 165 1, the asso-
ciates assembled in the chapel of the Seminary, and there, in the
presence of a large concourse of distinguished witnesses, he received
their public declaration and protest, which they afterwards several'y
signed, that they would never either give or accept a challenge
under any circumstances or on any pretext whatsoever. At the
same time they engaged to give public expression to their abhorrence
of the practice of duelling, as being wholly contrary to reason and
to the laws and weal of the realm, and irreconcilable with Christian
principle and practice ; without, however, renouncing their right to
redress in all legitimate ways any wrongs that might be done them,
so far as their rank and profession obliged, being ever ready to
conciliate those who might sincerely believe that they had received
some affront or injury at their hands, and careful to give cause of
offence to none.

Such a protestation, proceeding from men whose valour was as
unimpeachable as their honour, excited the liveliest astonishment,
and the Grand Conde, whose mind was filled with ideas of worldly

288

Life of M. Olier.

glory, could not help saying to the Marquis de Fdnelon that, if he
had not been so assured of his courage, he should have been dis-
mayed at seeing him "the first to break through such a wall of ice."
But astonishment soon gave way to admiration. The Marquis
refused a challenge, with a noble intrepidity which was applauded by
the whole Court His example gradually wrought a change in the
public mind, and emboldened many a man to despise a worldly
prejudice to which he had long been held in bondage. M. Olier's
declaration against duelling began to be formally approved in
quarters apparently the least likely to be influenced by such means.
The marshals of France issued a manifesto, calling upon the gentle-
men of the realm to adopt the declaration in all its details, and the
most illustrious persons in the kingdom hastened to give in their
adhesion to it. Among these were the Prince de Conde and the
Prince de Conti, the latter of whom took up the matter with his
characteristic energy and induced the nobles of Languedoc to enter
into a like engagement ; an example which was speedily followed in
several other provinces, particularly in Le Querci through the zealous
efforts of M. Alain de Solminihac. The States of Brittany declared,
as did also those of Languedoc, that any gentlemen who should fight
a duel had thereby forfeited their right to a seat in their assemblies.
In fine, the King imposed the protestation of the Company on all
the members of his court, and appointed the Marquis de Fdnelon to
receive their signatures. On the 28th of August, 1651, the Bishops
of France, in the General Assembly of the Clergy, gave their solemn
sanction to the protestation, which was approved by the Doctors of the
Sorbonne, who pronounced it to be '* a holy and magnanimous
resolution,'' and called on all the nobles throughout the kingdom to
adopt it, at the same time declaring that any who approached the
tribunal of penance without giving an interior assent to the protesta-
tion in question were incapable of receiving absolution or being
admitted to the sacraments of the Church.

But, warned by past experience of the inefficiency of all such
measures, so long as the laws in force against duelling were partially
administered, or were altogether evaded by pardons and private
dispensations obtained from the Crown — a practice which had
extensively prevailed, not only under preceding reigns, but during
the regency of Anne of Austria — M. Olier laboured to procure a new
and more stringent edict from the King. Louis XIV. was on the
point of declaring his majority, and on the 7th of September, in this

Heroism of the Marquis de F Sue ion. 289

same year, the servant of God h:td the satisfaction of seeing him
inaugurate his assumption of the reins of government by issuing an
ordinance of the severer*^ i„.^ort against blasphemy and duelling, the
two crying evils of the timo. The principal cLuses of the edict against
duelling were formulated by the association of gentlemen already
mentioned ; and, indeed, to them, and to M. Olier, under whose
direction they acted, are due the honour and the merit of tliis most
salutary measure. Therein Louis, after recapitulating the enactments
against duelling, solemnly swore and engaged, on the faith and the
word of a king, henceforward to exempt no person from capital punish-
ment, for any cause or. consideration whatever, all remissions and
abrogations by royal letters, close or patent, notwithstanding ; forbid-
ding all lords and princes of the realm to intercede for such offenders,
under pain of his personal displeasure, and protesting that no plea
of connection with the princes of the blood, whether by marriage or
consanguinity, should be permitted to avail against this his decree.

The severity of this edict, and the impartiality with which it was
carried into execution, drew down upon the Marquis de Fdnelon a
storm of obloquy, the violence of which might have made a less
heroic virtue quail. Every calumny v/hich malignity could devise
was propagated against him, and his name became a very by-word
of contempt in a world of which he had so lately been one of the
brightest ornaments ; but he remembered the words which he had
so often heard from the lips of M. Olier : " If God loves you. He
will humble you ; and, in exalting the work. He will abase the work-
man;" and, like a bold soldier of the Cross, he held on his way
undaunted. This persecution continued until the campaign of 1667,
in which, for the sake of watching over the conduct of his only son,
who followed the profession of arms, he served as a simple volunteer.
In this character, his military genius and capacity, no less than his
gallantry and prowess, won for him such high consideration from the
generals and the whole army, as well as from the King, that his
revilers were at length silenced and their calumnies forgotten amid
the universal admiration and applause. On peace being concluded,
he conducted his son and four hundred other young gentlemen to
assist the Venetians in the defence of Candia against the Turks.
Louis, who guessed his motive, said to him, "Now, tell me the
truth; you are undertaking this enterprise in order to withdraw your
son from the temptations of the Court ? " " It is so. Sire," replied
the Marquis; "and, when I think what those temptations ace,

' a

; i

290

Life of M. Olier.

Candia does not seem to me far enough." Every morning, before
dawn, he prepared his companions for the struggle of the day by
acts of devotion, and fought at their head in every sortie that was
made. His son falling mortally wounded, he ordered him to be
borne to his tent, himself continuing at his post ; and after the action
he assisted at his death-bed and received his last sigh. When he
was dying, the young rnan said to his father, " I confess that I felt
an extreme repugnance to this expedition ; it took me away from the
pleasures of Paris and of the Court; I did not see how it could
further my fortunes ; I regarded it as an ill-judged enterprise, in
which I was sacrificed to devotion; but what caused me greatest
pain was a belief that I should never return. I had an abiding con-
viction that I could not save my soul in the world, and that God
would have me die in this expedition, in order to save me in spite of
myself. Miserable wretch that I was, I dreaded so great a blessing;
but now I know its value, and I thank God, and die content."

M. Olier, however, did not confine his efforts to the suppression
of the habitual practice of duelling among the nobles, but strove
also to lead all in whom he discerned any encouraging dispositions
to a consistent life of piety and virtue. To this end, he sought to
draw them under the influence of his counsels, and was urgent in
beseeching God to enlist them in His service. And God, writes M.
de Bretonvilliers, was pleased, not only to bless the labours of His
servant for the sanctification of these gentlemen, but, long after his
decease, to perpetuate a like grace and power among his spiritual
children. In one single year, more than a hundred persons of rank
and distinction made a retreat at the Seminary, with the result that
they seemed to be changed men, both by the course of life which
they embraced and by the gentrous courage with which they broke
through every trammel which might hinder them from giving them-
selves wholly to God. A community also was formed of military
men and others, who adopted a common rule of life ; and, although
they were under the direction of a priest of St. Sulpice, they chose
one of their own number to be their superior. On every Sunday
and holiday they assisted devoutly at all the offices of the Church,
but on other days they heard Mass in their own house, where they
had a chapel dedicated to St. Maurice. Subsequently, when M.
Languet completed the Church of St. Sulpice, they caused a chapel
to be constructed therein which was also dedicated to the great
soldier-martyr, and still continues to bear his name. Every day

/ '

Reformatio7i of French society.

291

they devoted three quarters of an hour to mental prayer, and recited
the Little Office of Our Lady ; before dinner they made a particular
exaiiien of conscience, and after dinner paid a visit of half an hour
to the Blessed Sacrament in the parish church. At their repast
some pious book was read, and after night-prayers they kept strict
silence. During the day they visited the prisons and hospitals, and
assisted the Curds of St. Sulpice in seeking out the bashful poor
and informing themselves of their needs.*

A holy emulation was thus excited which affected all classes, and
before the end of the 17th century two other similar communities
were established in the Faubourg St. Germain ; one of which,
whose house was in the Rue de Vaugirard, had the celebrated Pfere
Guillord for its confessor. The impulse thus given was so powerful
in its effects that during the remainder of the century those who
neglected the practices of religion were regarded as persons who
not only failed in what was due to themselves, but brought
discredit on their families. Thus, on hearing of the conversion of
the Comte de Gramont, who had turned to God during a dangerous
illness that witty sceptic, M. de Saint-Evremond, who was then
living in England, wrote to his informant in terms which, despite
their cynicism, are indicative of the change which had come over
the face of French society. " Hitherto," he says, " I have been
contented, like a dull ordinary mortal, with being an honest man,
but now it is necessary to be something more, and I am only wait-
ing for your example to turn devout. You live in a country where
people enjoy wonderful advantages for saving their souls. Vice is
scarcely less opposed to fashion than it is to virtue; to sin is to
show you do not know how to behave yourself, and is as much
an outrage on good breeding as on religion. Formerly, to be
damned in France a man had only to be wicked, now he is vulgar
to boot. Persons who pay but little regard to another life are led
to save their souls by the duties and proprieties of the present."
" Doubtless," adds M. Faillon, " if M. de Saint-Evremond had quitted
the social atmosphere in which he lived and returned to France he
would himself have been of the number."

The subject, however, has carried us beyond the date at which
we had in due course arrived, and we must here retrace our steps.

* This community continued to exist, with certain modifications in its rules, till
nearly the middle of the i8th century, when, owing to the diminution of piety which
prevailed at that unhappy perio'^., it came to an end, in spite of the strenuous efforts
which the Comte de Cherbourg, one of its oldest members, made to maintain it.

( 292 )

CHAPTER VIII.

M. OLIER'S INFLUENCE WITH LADIES OF RANK AND

OTHERS.

AS yet only an incidental allusion has been made to the response
which the women of the parish made to the appeals of their
new pastor ; but it was both prompt and generous. In fact, as was
to be expected, they took precedence of the men and set them the
example, even as their children had gone before and drawn them-
selves into the ways of piety. His first object was to disenchant them
of their illusions and show them the utter vanity of all earthly things.
*• If the whole world must pass away," he said in the ardour of his zeal,
*' why waste your time so miserably upon it, and run after vanities
which one day will be destroyed and brought to naught, and even now
are nothing ? O world ! thy gold is only of the earth, and the eartli
will be melted and consumed. Thy honours are only smoke, and will
' ^nish away. Thy pleasures are corruption, and will perish ; and
all that is in thee will pass away like a shadow. If the fire is to
devour all this, with what are we vainly trifling ? Alas ! let us not
allow ourselves to be brought into judgment, let us be the first to
judge ourselves. If all is to decay, why should we esteem it so
highly?"

These truths so plainly spoken were instrumental in effecting
numerous conversions, so that soon there might be seen among the
ladies who had been most enslaved by the pleasures and frivolities
of the world many a repentant Magdalen, who, with a holy audacity,
cast aside the shackles of human respect and declared herself openly
on the side of virtue and of God. But one of the obstacles most
difficult to overcome was the pride which these ladies took in their
mental accomplishments. During the Regency of Anne of Austria,
women, as was natural, played a prominent part in the assemblies
at Court, and their ambition was to distinguish themselves, not

i f'--

,..vt.vv. .£)■--.%.

( /

Sermon on female self-display.

293

so much by splendour of apparel and personal adornment, as by the
fineness of their wit and the exquisite delicacy of their taste. This
spirit of self-display was more opposed to a life of faith than even
the grossest vanity or the worst of what are regarded as fiishionable
vices. Not but what it showed itself also in a piece of absurd
extravagance against which M. Olier inveighed with terrible severity.
" I think sometimes," he said one day, " of those women who spend
so much time in adjusting their beautiful hair. Were I to open their
tomb three months after their decease, and take them by this same
hair of theirs, on which they have expended so much care, their
skull would come off together with their locks.* And then I should
say to myself, 1 his is the head that was so full of vanity, this is the
woman so proud and haughty, who, as Isaias described her, walked
with head erect and a gait so dainty and so grand, t This is the
imposture, the lying pretence, the vain and empty show, the cheat-
ing falsehood, which deceived the world and deceived your own self.
May be, that brain on which you prided yourself will be found half
adhering to the skull : and this is what has become of all your
boasted cleverness, that accursed instrument of vanity, which you
employed to attract minds and hearts to yourself, turning them away
and estranging them from God I O sacrilegious robbery, O insolent
self-love, O incredible audacity, to dare to turn the creature away
from its Maker, in order to attract it to yourself! O God, all created
things ought to combine to promote 'I'hy glory, and yet, by the abuse
which is made of them, they serve only to diminish it. Every one
endeavours to become the centre of her surroundings, and that which
was made only for Thee she appropriates to herself. O faces fraught
with sorcery, O polluting beauties, O poison-breathing charms, you
destroy those whom you ought to save ; instead of leading them to
their Author, you keep them for yourselves, and, instead of adorers
of the true God, you make them your idolaters ! "

* Strange to say, a specimen of this elaborately constructed headgear is still
extant ; and, stranger still, it is supplied by M. Oiler's sister, Marie. In the crypt
of Notre Dame de Lorette at Issy may still be seen the mortal remains of this
lady, now consisting only of bones and hair. This hair, remarkable for its state
of perfect preservation, is plaited with an artistic symmetry of which at the
present day we have scarcely an idea. It is divided into two long tresses
descending to the feet, and to these are joined other shorter tresses, all which are
interlaced with a precision and a regularity such as are only to be seen in the
most delicately woven tissues,
t Isaias iii. 16.

294

Life of M. Oiit-r,

Immodesty of dress was one of the crying evils of the day, and
preachers and confessors had scarcely ventured to insist upon its sin-
fulness on account of the high position of the ladies who were guilty
of it, and who excused themselves on the plea that they were but
conforming to the fashion of the time and to the social necessities of
their rank and condition. The scandal was not confined to women
of quality but extended to all classes, and M. Olier set himself to
repair it with all the energies of his soul. Groaning in spirit over the
outrages done to Christian modesty, he offered himself as a victim
to appease the wrath of God, and punished himself by redoubled
austerities for the sins of his people. At the same time he boldly
denounced the practice from the pulpit, insisting on its criminality,
and, in accents at once terrible and pathetic, bidding his hearers
remember how xie who was Purity Itself and Very God of Very God
had, in expiation of such offences, suffered the ignominy of being
stripped of His garments and scourged at the pillar.

With the same object he endeavoured also to instil into the hearts
of his people a special devotion to their guardian-angels, who, he
reminded them, were ever present at their side, and, being thus
the witnesses of their immodesties,* were constrained to become the
accusers before God of those whom they were commissioned to
watch over and protect. Accordingly, he caused the feast of the
angel-guardians, which he had himself for some time observed, to be'
publicly celebrated at St. Sulpice with more than ordinary solemnity,
the first such occasion being Tuesday, the ist of October,t 1647.

In his sermons he would speak of any acts of irreverence which
came under his cognisance, and would himself move through the
congregation to see that proper decorum was observed. Ladies of
quality at that day — as at this — had an absurd custom of wearing
long trains, and they appeared with them at church. M. Olier set
himself against the abuse with so resolute a zeal that he succeeded
in entirely abolishing it. He directed his priests to refuse com-
munion to any who came unbecomingly attired ; and, observing one
day a fine lady approaching to make her offering of blessed bread
(as was usual on great festivals) immodestly dressed, and attended

* Comp. I Cor. xi. 10.

+ The feast of the guardian-angels was not of obligation previously to the
decree of Clement X., who ordered it to be kept on October 2nd. In M. Oiler's
time it was observed, as an act of voluntary devotion, on the first free day after
September 29th, which in the parish of St. Sulpice was usually October ist.

A viiraculous return to life.

295

by a footman, he rebuked her before all the people, and refused to
accept her offering or allow her to approach the sanctuary. Unless,
however, it was a case of open scandal he was careful to make his
corrections in private, and neve; unnecessarily drew attention to the
ofTenders. Sometiries his rejjroof was conveyed in the shape of a
delicate hint. Perceiving one day, at a conference he was giving to
the members of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, one of
the Queen's maids of honour whose dress ill accorded with strict
rules of propriety, he quietly sent her a pin, with a request that she
would use it to fasten the scarf sho had on her neck. The young
lady received the admonition in the spirit in which it was given, and
complied with a simplicity no less edifying than was the zeal of Iiei"
pastor. M. Olier had the more reason £0 administer a rebuke o\
this occasion as the Queen had given exprtcs fUrctions that ladios
who attended receptions at Court should appear in i'igh dres«ies;
and accordingly he felt that the lady in question was gui .ty of an act
of indecorum in the House of God which she wouid not hi.ve
ventured upon in the presence of her royal mistress.

God, it would seem, in order to inspire the faithful with a deeper
veneration for His servant, and thus to render him more powerful
for good, was pleased at times to bless his ministrations with extra-
ordinary graces, which bore all the appearance of being miraculous,
•as the following incident will show. He was called one day to
comfort an afflicted mother, whose daughter had just died. After
suggesting some topics of consolation, he went to see the girl, whom
he found lying on a bed without any signs of life. For awhile he
stood motionless, with his eyes fixed upon her, powerless to speak
or to stir. All this time, he says, he felt a virtue go out from him
and diffuse itself over the corpse-like form ; and then he heard these
words thrice uttered : " // is life" " I knew not," he writes, " what
this influence was, unless it proceeded from Jesus Christ dwelling in
me ; it came purely from Him, and I had no more part in it than
have the sacred species in the operations of Jesus Christ residing
within them. After this, the girl recovered her health, and has been
well ever since, thanks be to God ! The matter was not made
known, but the parents declare that it was the prayers of this sinner
which restored her to life." Far, however, from making the circum-
stance a subject of self-complacency, M. Olier did but regard it as
an additional motive for confessing his own misery and nothingness.
"It makes me see," he says, "what little share the ministers of

296

Life of M. Olier.

Christ have in the operations of His goodness and power. He
effects the holiest results by means of men who in themselves arc-
often most imperfect and impure, and waits not for their aid or even
their desire. It is like what happened to the Humanity of our Lord
in the case of the woman whom He healed of an issue of blood.
His Humanitv felt the Divine Person of the Word operating throi'^h
It and communicating His virtue to that sufferer. God, by a move-
ment which had its source in Himself, was pleased to produce this
operation in the Humanity of His Son, although that Humanity had
not interiorly solicited it. Thus we see, by a sort of analogy, how
He works in His Church through His ministers and yet without
them."

One of the most remarkable among M. Olier's spiritual daughters
was Mme. de Rantzau, wife of the celebrated marshal of that name.
Both were natives of Holstein, and had been Lutherans in religion.
She was a very active partisan of her sect, and her husband, looking
upon her as a mere child, for she was then only in her nineteenth
year, amused himself by pressing her with Catholic arguments, which
she in her turn was most earnest in refuting. At length she began
to feel the real force of what he ■ \ but for two years she combated
her doubts, until she was led nsult the Curd of St. Germain-

I'Auxerrois, when, after a fortnight's prayer and fasting, she obtained
the light she needed, and was received into the bosom of the Church.
Her husband at the time was absent with the army, and on his
return laboured to reason her out of her childish folly, for such he
deemed it. Soon, however, discovering that she had acted, not from
ignorance, but from real and deep conviction, he bade her live as a
true and sincere Catholic, for that he was satisfied of her prudence
and good faith. Mme. de Rantzau redoubled her prayers and her
penances for her husband's conversion, and at length had the happi-
ness of seeing the desire of her heart fulfilled. At the siege of Bour-
bourg he fell, as he supposed, mortally wounded, and immediately
sent for a priest, and begged to be reconciled to the Church. He
recovered, however, from his wound, and made open profession of
the faith until the day of his death. Upon her conversion Mme. de
Rantzau had applied for spiritual guidance to M. Olier, who placed
her under the care of an experienced director. This ecclesiastic was
in the habit of hearing her confession in one of the side chapels,
but, finding him one day seated in a more public part of the church,
she sent her page with a request that he would come to her at the

Piefy of the Duchcssc d'Ais^uillon,

297

usual place. He replied that, if she wished to make lier confession,
she must come to him. This accordingly she did, and, with the help
of her servant, passed before the other penitents, and stationed her-
self close to the confessional. When she had finished her confession,
the priest rebuked her for her arrogance in taking precedence of
those who were patiently awaiting their turn, and bade her observe
more humility for the future. She went away in tears, but, far from
taking offence at the correction she had received, she made a prac-
tice ever after of moving along upon her knees behind the others
and, although she had a cushion with her on which she appeared to
rest, she scrupulously abstained from using it, and knelt upon the
ground. She made an hour's mental prayer every day, and by the
advice of her director never mixed in any of the gay society of the
capital, except at her husband's express desire, but devoted herself
to the instruction of her servants, the greater part of whom were
Lutherans ; and with such success, that in less than two years sixty *
of them had abjured their errors. She was, indeed, endued with a
peculiar grace for the conversion of Protestants, and, with the assist-
ance of Mm de Treuille, the wife of a captain of musketeers, and
Mme. de la Rochejacquelein, was instrumental in bringing great
numbers to the faith. At her husba*^ d's death she entered a house
of the Annonciades Celestes,! being attracted to it by the strictness
of the enclosure ; but by a special dispensation of the Pope, who was
unwilling that the gift she possessed should remain hidden and
unemployed, she was allowed to converse with any German Protes-
tants who desired to see her. After spending ten years in the house
at Paris she founded a convent of her Order at Hildesheim, where
she died, in the strict observance of her rule, at the age of eighty.

Of the Duchesse d'Aiguillon mention has been already made, and
indeed her virtues and her charities are too well known to need
description. M. du Ferrier, however, relates a little incident which,
better perhaps than any elaborate eulogy, will give a true idea of her

* It was the custom at that day for persons of rank to retain a large number of
servants. It is related of Mme. de la Plesse, widow of the Marquis de Laval,
that she had as many as a hundred attendants, and that she allowed none of them
to be idle, employing nearly all in her extensive works of charity.

+ There were several Orders designated by the name of Annonciades, all estab-
lished in honour of the mystery of the Annunciation, or the Incarnation. The
third, that of the Annonciades Celestes, or Filles Bleues, was founded by a pious
widow of Genoa, named Maria- Vittoria Fornaro, who died in 1617. It was an
Order of great austerity, and the nuns were strictly enclosed.

' I

PiiWPiifiPP

398

Life of M. Olier.

fervent piety. " One night," he writes, " I went into the church of
St. Sulpice, after taking my repast at half-past eleven o'clock, as was
my custom. I was kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, when I
heard the door of the church open ; but I took no notice, knowing
that in so large a parish it was often nercnsary to administer the
sacraments to the sick at night. Soon afterwards some one came
and knelt down very gently behind me. When I had finished my
prayers, I rose from my knees, and found ihat it was the Duchcsse
d'Aiguillon, all alone. I expressed my surprise at seeing her the.e at
such an hour, for it was no\<i^ one o'clock, and asked her the reason.
She told me that she had been engaged all day, and that, being on
her way back from the Palais Royal (where the Court then was), she
wished to make her prayer, not having found time for it during the
day ; and that, as she would be more retired and collected in the
church than at home, she had begged the ringer to open the door
for her. I admired her piety, and withdrew, leaving her at her
devotions." VVe might search in vain for an incident like this among
all the numerous memoirs from which modern readers take their only
idea of the Paris of that day ; yet wnat a glimpse does it give us into
the interior of that hidden world of sanctity which underlay the gay
and vicious surface of Parisian society !

M. Olier never ceased to combat with all his strength a maxim
then, as now, very prevalent even among professedly religious people,
that a life of perfection is only for priests, or such as are bound by
vows. He regarded it as one of the most cunning devices of the
devil to ensnare and destroy men's souls, and we have seen how he
strove to defeat his malice by the numerous confraternities and
associations which he established for persons living in the world.
He possessed, however, a wonderful power of discrimination in the
matter of vocations ; and, as he judged that one person ought to
marry, and another to enter religion, so he would counsel a third to
lead a life of celibacy in the world. One instance of the last kind
caused a great sensation at the time. The Marquis de Portes,
maternal uncle of the Due de Montmorency who \'as beheaded in
the reign of Louis XIII., died, leaving an only daughter, Mar.'e-Fdlice
de Budos. When she was but ten years of age she made a vow of
perpetual virginity j and her mother, who had taken as her second
husband the Due de Saint-Simon, when she learned the fact, wished
to make her go into a convent, in the hope that she would leave to
her the disposition of her property. Finding, however, that she was

His respect for the great.

399

determined to continue in the world, and devote herself to the
service of the poor, she treated the matter as a mere girlish fanc) ,
and, on her daughter attaining her sixteenth year, endeavoured, with
the aid of certain doctors of theology, whom she called together for
the purpose, to induce her to look upon her vow as null and void.
The Marquise de Fortes, however, remained firm in her resolution,
and her mother thought to bring her to submission by keeping her
strictly confined to the house. The Duchesse de Montmorency,
Marie-Felice des Ursins, who had retired to the Convent of the
"Visitation at Moulins, feeling herself bound in her quality of cousin
as well as of godmother to protect her young relative against so
unjust a persecution, entreated M. Olier to lend his assistance. He
succeeded in communicating by letter with Mile, de Fortes, in spite
of the vigilance with which she was guarded, and recommended to
her the course she should pursue. She followed his advice, and
the result was a decisive victory. Her mother called in the aid of
another conclave of doctors, but scarcely had they taken their seats,
and begun gravely to discuss the question whether a vow taken at so
early an age was not void in itself, from default of a sufficient inten-
tion, when Mile, de Fortes, throwing herself on her knees before
them all, uttered these words with a loud voice : " O my God, if the
vow which I made be not binding on me by reason of the tender age
at which I made it, I renew it this day for my whole life." An act
so unexpected broke up the conference, and the doctors at once
retired, declaring there was no longer any room for doubt. The
Duchesse de Saint-Simon now protested that she would never see her
daughter again, and Mile, de Fortes accordingly repaired to the
Convent of the Visitation. Ferceiving, however, that she had no
vocation for a religious life, but that God had inspired her from her
earliest years with a desire to consecrate herself to His service in the
relief of the poor and the conversion of heretics, M. Olier decided
that she ought to follow the attractions of Divine grace, and remain
in the world. She therefore quitted Moulins, and went to labour in
the C^vennes, where her estates lay ; there she also founded a Con-
vent of the Visitation, to which she was in the habit of retiring
whenever she needed a calm retreat from the harassing toils to which
she had devoted her life. She died in 1702.

Never did man show a more sincere respect for the great than did
M. Olier, and never was man more zealous that the great should
show honour to God. In all the ceremonies of the Church, such

! > li

300

Life of M. Olier.

as the adoration of the Cross, the distribution of blessed candles or
palms, he made it a rule that the rlergy should take precedence of
the laity, however exalted their rank, even though they were princes
of the blood. This rule was cheerfully accepted by all, and by none
more readily than by the highest in station. Thus, one day that the
Due d'Orl^ans was assisting at Vespers, M. Olier, for some reason
or other, omitted to incense him with the thurible, as was cus-
tomary. But, anxious to repair the neglect, he went to the house
of the Duke for the purpose of tendering his apologies. Scarcely,
however, had he opened his lips when the Duke, with an expression
of the utmost deference, said, " From you, Monsieur, no apology
is ever needed;" and he ordered a sum of money to be given to
him for the relief of the poor. Hereafter we shall see all that the
servant of God did to obtain the conversion of this powerful noble-
man and the success which attended his efforts.

It will be remembered that among M. Olier's opponents none
had been more active than the Prince Henri de Cond^. The only
effect which this injurious conduct had upon the servant of God
was to make him pray, and urge the Princess to pray, all the more
fervently for his conversion. These prayers were heard; for, on
being attacked by the illness of which he died, the Prince sent for
M. Olier and testified to him in the most earnest manner his sorrow
for all the disorders of his life and, among them, for the hostility he
had manifested towards himself on his taking charge of the parish ;
a course which he declared he had long deeply regretted. The
signs of penitence which he displayed were so indubitable that no
one could question the sincerity of his conversion. The Prince at
the same time expressed his contrition for the part he had played
in the preceding reign, when he leagued himself with the Huguenots
and took up arms against his sovereign. Moreover, with a prescient
eye to what was soon to happen, lie commissioned M. Olier and
others, including the Apostolic Nuncio, M. Bagui, and M. de Pons
de la Grange, Cur^ of St. Jacques du Haut Pas, to warn the Queen
Regent against the new sect, then beginning to form itself at Port
Royal, which, unless it were strenously opposed and repressed, would
one day endanger the security of the throne. The Prince died on
the 26th of December, 1646.

Among the letters of M. Olier which have been preserved are
many addressed to ladies of the highest rank ; and, as an illustration
oi the sentiments with which he sought to inspire them, we will here

1 1

Right use of worldly grandeur.

301

quote some of the instructions he gave to the Princesse de Conde,
who was one of his penitents. In the first letter, which was written
at her desire, immediately after her husband's death, he prescribes
the spirit with which she ought to spend her time of mourning, and
conform herself to the ceremonial which Court etiquette imposed
upon her. " You have survived," he wrote, " him who was the half
of yourself, and whose sins ought therefore to affect you like your
own, seeing you were one with him through the holy state of matri-
mony. Moreover, the wives of princes are confined for forty days
to their chamber, where no light is allowed to enter save that of
torches ; the object of which is to show the closeness of the union
subsisting between the dead husband and the living wife, who,
enclosed, as it were, in the same tomb with liim, sighs and weeps
in the place of him who can no longer lament for his sins. For the
design of God in this matter of mourning, which from the church
passes into the houses of the faithful, is to oblige Christians to
practise penance. Hence, Madame, those trappings of woe in which
you are enveloped and which are spread around you, are to teach
you that you ought to weep for the disorders of those who have
gone before you, and who, having been powerful in the world, have
left behind them long trains of afflictions and great obligations to
do penance."

The Princess also begged M. Olier to draw up a rule of life for
her, and he sent her a sort of familiar treatise on the right use to be
made of worldly grandeur. "In creating man," he said, "God
designed to represent in him an image of His own greatness ; and,
after man fell from his high estate by sin, God still preserved a
vestige of his original splendour in the persons of the great. Jesus
Christ, who came to restore all things, sanctified both conditions :
that of lowliness, which is common to the lai r portion of men, by
His own life of poverty and suffering, and that of greatness by His
life of glory, inasmuch as since His Resurrection He is the King of
the princes and lords of earth. I am not of the opinion of those
who, mistaking the meaning of our Lord's words, affirm that the
condition of the great is an abomination before God. True it is
that the abuse of a state so august and sacred becomes an abomina-
tion in the sight of God when men presume to appropriate to them-
selves the honour and glory with which they are surrounded, and
would make themselves pass for gods on the earth. But, looking
at greatness in itself, and, above all, as it has been repaired in

1 ■

4 s

"'J

\ I

302

Life of M. Olier.

Jesus Christ, T find nothing more beautiful, more lovely, or more
holy ; for, if Christians ought to behold in the great the glory and
the royalty of Jesus Christ, and to honour Him in their persons, so
the great ought to be clothed with holiness, benignity, mercifulness,
and all the perfections of God, whose majesty they represent by
their state. Remember then, Madame, that you are upon earth a
sharer in the Divinity, who is pleased to reside in you, not only to
manifest His majesty before the eyes of men, but to receive their
homage and load them with His benefits. I beseech you, th:?refore,
to receive nothing save in the name of God, and for God, whose
representative you are ; and to take care that all the respect that is
paid you stop not at yourself, but pass on to Him. Do the same
also when you give. Do not desire that men should have regard
to you, but that God alone be acknowledged as the source of your
gifts.

"When you see yourself surrounded by your Court, remember
that in this you ought to be the image of God surrounded by His
angels and His saints. Say often to God, *It is for Thee, O Lord,
and for what I have received from Thee, that this assemblage pays
me honour ; and, as I cannot take aught thereof to myself without
robbery, let this whole court render homage to Thy greatness, and
Thy poor creature be annihilated before Thee.' Your retinue
ought to be to you the image of the majesty of the glory of God.
You must desire it in God and for God, and not in yourself and for
vanity. If you pay a visit to the King or Queen, do so with the
intention of the Principalities of Heaven, who render the homage
of their greatness to the majesty of God and acknowledge Him as
their sovereign. If you visit a person of rank inferior to your own,
honour in him a participation of the greatness of God, who desires
to be honoured in him ; and, when you visit those who are of still
lower degree, go with the disposition of God Himself visitin*?; His
lowly ones, condescending with kindness, sweetness, and charity, in
order to assist and console them and do them a service. At the
same time receive on God's behalf the honour they show you, so
that, referring to Him what they may not think of giving Him, you
may do your own duty and theirs together."

His addresses to the rich and great were severe and uncompro-
mising in their character, but tempered always with the purest
Christian principles. To cure them of their pride and teach them a
lesson of self-abasement, he showed them how their very grandeur

Admonitions to seigneurs.

303

ought to be a subject of humiliation to them, seeing how dependent
they were for their comfort and well-being on a multitude of others
who ministered to their necessities and without whose assistance
their life would be miserable ; how the higher and grander they were
the more numerous were their wants and the more absolute their
dependency : in short, what helpless creatures they were, as com-
pared with the poor and lowly, who move about so freely without
carriages and horses and troops of servants in attendance, and, what
is more, do not feel the need of them. " O great one of this world,
so miserable in thy grandeur," he exclaimed, "in what dost thou
glory? What hast thou to be proud of? Consider what thou art in
the body ; consider on how many things thou dependest in order to
be perfectly satisfied and contented. When anything occurs to
annoy thee, as happens every day, humble thyself, and say, ' God
has subjected me to this shameful dependency to make me know
what I am and what I should be if left to myself.* Trouble not thy-
self thereat, if thou be a Christian, but say within thyself, * I am a
sinner, and I deserve to lose every comfort I enjoy. Ah, well, it is
one of my limbs which is paralysed and does not perform its func-
tions. I will not amputate it, I will have pity on it, I will try to
heal and to strengthen it, as a thing of my own, a part of myself.'

•* If this great lord sometimes finds that something is wanting to
his delicate cravings, in eating, drinking, sleeping, and the like, let
him humble himself at seeing how dependent he is for his content-
ment on so many miserable trifles. O fragile peace, which can be
disturbed by such paltry matters ! O wretched felicity, which can be
so easily troubled ; felicity which is never solid and entire, because
it needs the concurrence of so many creatures; creatures, too, so
weak, so imperfect, so full of defects I Glorietur dives in humilitate
sua*

" my Lord Jesus, in Thy spirit of sanctity, Thou didst not will to
be dependent on many things ; Thou wast pleased to be Thine own
servant, and to dispense with the aid of many creatures. In this
Thou wast poor in the eyes of the world, but, in its blindness, it did
not see that this very thing was a sign of Thy wealth and Thy
independence."

Neither did the servant of God neglect to instruct the seigneurs of
his parish in their duties towards those who tilled or farmed the
lands on their domains. He warned them that, as lords of the soil,

• " Let the rich man gloiy in his being low." St. James i. 9, 10.

^fjr^mww

304

LiJaofM. Olier.

they were under strict obligation to see that the peasants on their
estates received a competent remuneration for their labours, and that
the occupiers enjoyed an equitable share in the profits of their farms ;
and further, he insisted that they were bound to supply the religious
necessities of their people, attend personally to their spiritual welfare,
set them a good example in their own practice, and be at pains to
ascertain that they were well instructed in all that was essential to
their salvation.

Touched by these exhortations, some ladies of the Faubourg,
knowing how difficult Mme. de Villeneuve had found it to provide
subsistence for her school-teachers of the Congregation of the Cross,
engaged to assist her in sending them on a kind of mission among
the women and girls of their domains, with the object of instructing
them in the truths of religion, teaching them how to make a good
confession, and, generally, how to sanctify their lives by the observ-
ance of all the rules of piety and virtue. Other ladies, again, like
the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, charged themselves with the expense of
employing bands of missionary priests to evangelize the parishes
dependent upon them.

In the Life of M. de Renty are given ample details respecting his
efforts in providing and promoting missions among the people in his
domains ; here it will be sufficient to cite a portion of a letter which
he addressed to M. Olier while the celebrated Pfere Eudes was
preaching in his seigneurie of Citry. It is dated June i6th, 1642.
" The Reverend Pfere Eudes," he writes, " is labouring here with a
benediction which passes belief. His wonderful gift of expounding the
truths of salvation, and manifesting the love of God for us in Christ
Jesus and the terrible nature of sin, has stirred men's hearts so pro-
foundly that the confessors are overwhelmed with their labours.
Sinners ask for penance with tears, they make restitution, they are
reconciled to theli enemies, and loudly protest that they would
rather die than sin. His sermons are thunder-claps, which allow
consciences no rest until they have divulged their most secret sins ;
so that the confessors are employed rather in consoling than exciting
to repentance. At the first sermon on the opening day of the mission,
which was Whitsunday, one of the hearers on leaving the church
scoffed at the preaching, and turned the mission into ridicule in order
to keep others away, but during the night he found himself so power-
fully moved and so completely changed that m the morning he came
to one of the missioners, declared his desire to amend his life, and

■■i ^i,^-4i\'Al!■:■J^ .--i'L fJtt-f^'i:!^ ".

Commitniiy of Magnac.

305

thereupon went to confession. A man of Ch^teau-Tliierri, a town
twelve miles off, said yesterday that a person who was leading a bad
life returned from Citry determined to break off an immoral con-
nection he had formed and openly to manifest his repentance and
conversion. In short, the hearts of tlie people are softened and
deeply affected with the knowledge of their God and Saviour and of
what He would have them to do. They readily engage to continue
the devotions and other Christian exercises which have been taught
them. Besides these general results, such as leaving off cursing and
swearing and practising prayer both in public and with their families,
I might tell you many noteworthy particulars. I have written this
simply that you may bless our Lord for having at length vouchsafed,
by means of this mission, to vanquish the demon, defeat all his
efforts, and destroy the mighty empire which he possessed in these
parts." We, in our turn, have cited this letter in order to show the
powerful engines which M. Olier had set to work in the persons of
the energetic men whom his zeal had enlisted in the service of God.
.The Marquis de F^nelon, to whom no higher meed of praise could
be rendered than by saying that he was a worthy rival of M. de
Renty in his works of charity and mercy, determined to establish a
community of missioners in his seigneiirie of Magnac, a little village
of La Marche, in the diocese of Limoges, whose business it should be
to labour for the spiritual good of the inhabitants. M. Olier warmly
encouraged the undertaking, and commissioned some of his ecclesi-
astics to assist at its commencement, removing them for the purpose
from Clermont-Lodfeve, to which place they had been sent some
years previously at the request of the Bishop, M. Plantavit de la
Pause. In his letter to M. Couderc, their superior, he says, " Let
us abandon ourselves to God's appointments ; let us adore His divine
providence and His holy dispensations ; let us not think of ourselves,
nor of the plans of our own devising. Let us give ourselves without
reserve to the Holy Spirit, who conducted the Apostles by His
wisdom and not by their own. ' Ubi erat impetus Spiritus, illuc
gradiebantur ; nee revcrtebantur aim incederent.' * The establishment
of a community at Magnac will be of very great advantage to that vast
and important diocese. We must follow the spirit of Jesus Christ
our Lord and His conduct in regard to His disciples, whom He sent
from place to place to produce fruits whose virtue should be diffused

* "Whither the impulse of the Spirit was to go, thither they went ; and they
turned not when they went." Ezech. i. 12.

H! !

3o6

Life of M. Olier.

and maintained in the souls of n)en : In hoc vocati fsiis, ut fructum
afferatis, etfructus vester maneaf." * So unsparing was the zeal with
which the missioners devoted themselves to the work that M. Olier,
on receiving a report of their labours, wrote to M. Couderc and
begged him to moderate his ardour, and that of his brethren, lest
their health should suffer. He advised him to give them a spiritual
retreat, in order at once to renovate their interior and obtain the
refreshment which they so imperatively needed. The devil (he wrote)
would desire nothing better than to see the young associates enfeeble
their powers by over-exertion : it is a temptation (he added) to which
the young are especially subject. After a while the Sulpicians with-
drew, and the work was transferred to other labourers. The Marquis
endowed the community with adequate funds for its subsistence, and
it became, in fact, the Petit S^minaire of Magnac. In 1679 it was
united to the Sulpician Seminary of Limoges, which subsisted down
to the Revolution.

* "To this have you been called, that you should bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain." Comp. St. John xv. 16.

( 307 )

CHAPTER IX.

M. OLIER'S RELATIONS WITH CHARLES IL

W"^ are now approaching a subject which is of special interest
to English Catholics, and respecting which the Abbd Faillon
furnishes details which, so far as we are aware, were previously un-
known. We allude to the relations into which M. Olier was brought
with one for whom, with all his faults and vices, we cannot but feel
a profound compassion, our own King Charles II. The religious
state of England had long been the subject of M. Olier's most
earnest solicitude. We learn from his Mkmoires that as far back as
1642, when he was laying the foundations of his society at Vaugirard,
he had been moved to offer himself to God as a victim for the
salvation of our country. This took place after recitation of the
Divine Office on the 12 th of March, the feast of St. Gregory the
Great, and he had begged his associates to make their communion
on thnt day instead of Thursday, as was their habit, and to pray for
the conversion of England, where, a: he told them, he had heard
within the last few days that several priests and others had just
suffered martyrdom. From that time he had never ceased implor-
ing the mercy of God for "this our miserable country," not only
with fervent supplications, but with bodily mortifications of the most
rigorous kind. The desire of his heart, as M. de BretonviUiers
testifies, would have been to join the heroic band of priests who
were labouring for the restoration of England to Catholic unity,
if the Will of God had so permitted, although he knew that he
would thereby be exposing himself to the peril of a most frightful
and ignominious death; and, indeed, we find him saying in one
of his letters, " If I dared to aspire after something of that solid
glory which is found in the service of our Divine Master by giving
one's life and shedding one's blood for Him, I should look to
England as the- prime object of my hopes."* No sooner, therefore,

• Lettres SpirituelUs, Ivi.

;o8

Life of M. Olicr.

did he learn that the royal exile had taken up his abode in Paris
than he sought an opportunity of holding personal communication
with him. For this opportunity, it would appear, he was indebted
to the Abbd d'Aubigny, whose own history is sufficiently remarkable
to deserve particular mention in these pages.

Louis Stuart had inherited, in right of his father, Edmund Duke of
Lennox, the domain of Aubigny in Berry, which in 1422 had been
conferred by Charles VIL on Jolin Stuart and his descendants in
recompense for services rendered to the Crown of France. When
still but five years of age, he had been taken to that country, and
put to school at Port-Royal with nineteen other children of noble
birth. He had consequently the happiness of being brought up in
the true faith, and at an early cge, having an attraction to the service
of the altar, he was admitted to the tonsure. Unfortunately, when
his school days were over, he was committed to the tutelage of two
divines who, instead of instructing him in the obligations of his
state, L ught only to imbue his mind with their own erroneous views
on the subject of grace ; in which, howev;ir, he took no sort of interest,
except so far as they afforded him matter of argumentative discussion.
But, through the mercy of God, he was brought, as if by accident,
into communication with St. Sulpice. The Princesse Anne de
Gonzague, daughter of the Due de Nevers et de Mantoue and sister
of the Queen of Poland, who had made herself notorious by the
levity of her behaviour, was sought in marriage by Edward, Prince
Palatine of the Rhine,* who in consequence of family misfortunes
had taken refuge in France. A Protestant by birth, he was led by
the Abbd d'Aubigny, who was a relative of his, to embrace the
Catholic faith. The marriage was disliked by the Princes de
Lorraine, who were not of the blood royal, because his rank would
entitle him to take precedency of them at Court, and, to prevent any
obstacle being thrown in the way, the Abbd undertook to obtain the
consent of the Queen Regent ; which, indeed, he did, but in such a
manner that her Majesty supposed he was only speaking in jest.
The marriage, accordingly, was duly solemnized in the Church of St
Sulpice, both parties being parishioners, but the Queen Regent was no
sooner informed of the fact than she made a formal protest before the
Parliament of Paris against an alliance which she declared her god-
daughter had contracted without her consent, and that, too, with one
who was both a foreigner and (as she believed) a Protestant ; and

♦ Edouard de Baviire was the son of the Elector Frederic V., King of
Bohemia. His mother was Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I.

The Pt'incesse Anne de Gonzagite.

309

the Prince was thereupon ordered to quit the kingdom without delay.
This was on the 3cth of April, 1645.

Deeply grieved at what had happened, and fearful lest the Prince,
who was but one-and-twenty, should lapse into Protestantism if he
rejoined his mother, who was herself an ardent Calvinist, the Abbd
besought the priests of St. Sulpice to use their influence with the
Regent in his relative's behalf. They, in turn, addressed themselves
to St. Vincent de Paul, who was held in high consideration by
Anne of Austria, and through his mediation the affair was satis-
factorily concluded. A courier despatched to Dieppe arrived just
in time to prevent the young Prince from embarking for Holland,
and, after a residence of six months at Daubigny, he was graciously
received at Court together with his bride. Grateful for their good
offices, the Princess sent the Abbd to the priests of St. Sulpice to
tender them her thanks and to enquire in what way she could
testify her recognition of their services. The reply they made was
in full accordance with that holy liberty which they were wont to
use in regard to the great ones of the parish. It was to this eflfect —
that the Princess could not oblige them more, or cause them greater
joy, than by repairing the disorders of her past life by making a
general confession, which would draw down a blessing upon herself
and her whole house. The lady took the monition in good part,
and, after a week's devout preparation, made her confession in the
church of Notre Dame des Vertus, at Aubcrvilliers, near Paris,
which was visited every year in pilgrimage by the parishioners of
St. Sulpice. She repaired thither on foot in a spirit of penance,
accompanied only by the Abb^ d'Aubigny. For M. Olier personally
the Princess ever retained the greatest veneration, but, unhappily,
she did not adhere to her good resolutions, for on the death of her
husband she fell back into her former courses. In 1672, however,
she completely changed the tenor of her life. Quitting the Court,
she secluded herself in her hdtel, and, with her whole household,
gave herself up to exercises of piety and good works. She observed
regular hours of prayer, with which nothing was allowed to interfere ;
her hands were employed in working for the church or for the poor ;
and in the times of distress which followed her charity knew no
bounds : she parted with every superfluity, and in all things practised
an economy which was nigh to the strictest poverty. *

• At her death the Princess bequeathed a relic of the true Cross to the Abbey
of St. Germain-des-Fr^s, which is still preserved, under the name of the Palatine
Cross, in the treasury of Notre Dame in Paris.

I:]

310

Life of M. Olier.

It was a happy circumstance for the Abb^ d'Aubigny that he
was brought into close relations with the Community of St. Sulpice.
Henceforth his desire was to lead the life of a true cleric, and to
this end he placed himself under the direction of one of the
Sulpician priests, his choice falling, in the first instance, on M. dii
Ferrier, who makes honourable mention of him in his Mhnoires.
When the divines to whom allusion has been made learned whom he
had chosen as his director they were not a little chagrined, and said
to him, "You will be lucky if, in cutting off your flowing locks, he
does not crop your ears as well." To which the Abbd replied, "If
he bids me shave my head as close as a choir-boy's, I shall do it
without a moment's regret ; " and, in fact, he very soon discarded
the fashions of the Court and assumed, not only the garb, but the
mien of a true ecclesiastic. At the same time, by the advice of his
director, he ceased from taking part in the disputations then in
vogue, and devoted himself to the diligent study of Holy Scripture
and the practice of mental prayer. Although he held the Abbey of
Hautefontaine in commendam^ he had only received the tonsure and
two of the minor orders. He now set himself earnestly to redeem
the time he had lost and, after several years' preparation, received
the other two minor orders and the subdiaconate on December 21st,
1652, at the hands of a prelate so distinguished in our English
Catholic annals, the Right Reverend Richard Smith, Bishop of
Chalccdon. On the Sunday following, in virtue of a special dispen-
sation granted by the Pope, the same prelate conferred on him the
Jiaconate; and on the feast of St. Stephen he was raised to the
priesthood. From that moment he regarded himself as entirely set
apart for the service of God, and, in order to devote all his time and
energies to his sacred duties, he exchanged the abbacy of Haute-
fontaine for a canonry at Notre Dame, in which new dignity he was
formally installed on the 5th of November, 1653. He took up his
residence in the cloister of the metropolitan church, and became
a model to his brethren in modesty, religiousness, and assiduous
attendance in choir, never omitting being present at all the canonical
hours, both by day and by night : at the first stroke of the bell
summoning him to the Divine Office he quitted whatever company
he might happen to be in, without regard to the rank or condition of
those with whom he was conversing, who, indeed, only honoured
him the more for his conscientious strictness. In fine, so perfectly
did he practise all the virtues of a good and holy priest that M.

I/is conferences with Charles II.

311

du Ferrier does not scruple to class "the singular piety of M.
d'Aubigny among the most notable fruits which St. Sulpice had
produced."

Thus highly esteemed at Court, and with the royal blood of
Scotland flowing in his veins, it was only natural that the Abb6
d'Aubigny should be the person through whom the Cure of St. Sulpice
would seek an introduction to the Stuart King, especially as it was
well known that Charles regarded his kinsman with sentiments of
peculiar confidence and affection. In the History of his own Times
Hurnet avers that no one had more influence with the King, and that,
no doubt, he was greatly influential in leading him to Catholicism.*
At the Restoration the Abb6 went to England, and in 1662 be-
came Almoner to the Queen. It was Charles's ardent desire that
his kinsman should be created a Cardinal, and he was indefatigable
in his endeavours to bring it about, hoping thereby to prepare the
way ibr the re-union of his kingdom with the Apostolic See. In 1665
the Abb^ returned to France with the intention of resigning his
canonry and ^.evoting himself solely to the interests of the Church
in this country, when he was seized with his last illness, and died at
Paris on the nth of November, in the same year, at the age of
forty-six. A few hours before his decease, a courier arrived from
Rome bringing him a Cardinal's hat. His death was a disaster to
Charles and to the Catholic cause in England.

To one so easy-natured as Charles access was at no time difficult,
and M. Olier found a ready way to his confidence by his liberality
in providing for the necessities of his followers, many of whom were
destitute of all means of subsistence. Charles took evident pleasr'e
in his conversation, but on the one subject to which the man of God
desired to lead his thoughts he was for a time quite unapproachable.
The young King was all the less disposed to listen to his counsels
because the Pope, to whom he had written to beg his aid in recover-
ing possession of his kingdom, seeing that he evinced no intention
of returning to the faith of his ancestors, or engaging to mitigate the
rigours of the persecution under which his Catholic subjects were
groaning, had made him no reply. His resentment, however, at
length began to yield under the sweet influences which a soul filled
with the peace of God cannot fail to exert even on the most obdurate,
and the conversations he held with M. Olier assumed more and

* Vol. i. pp. 79, 149. Burnet speaks of him in disparaging terms ; but the
Bishop, we know, is not to be trusted where his religious prejudices are concerned.

kWI"!

312

Life of M. Olier,

more tliC character of conferences on the tenets of the Catholic
religion. The servant of God, as need not be said, relied less on
argument than on prayer, and he called in other devout persons to
his aid. " I earnestly beseech all our brethren," he wrote to his
priests at Le Puy, "to recommend to our Lord, in our Blessed
Mother, the affair of the King of England, with which Providence
has again charged me. He now shows himself disposed to have his
religious difficulties removed; yesterday I had the satisfaction of
speaking to him. So far as I can urge one thir.g upon all in common
and on each in particular, I do so in this matter. Some prayers,
some petitions, and intentions at Mass daily I must have, for they
are absolutely needed in order to obtain so great a boon. I leave
all to the love which you have for Jesus, and for Mary, who once
had that kingdom for her dowry. I say no more."

That M. OHer's expositions of the Catholic faith produced a most
powerful impression on the mind of Charles, and that the impression,
though overlaid for a time, was a lasting one, there can be no doubt.
The King himself is known to have declared to one of his friends
that, although many distinguished persons had spoken to him on
religious matters, from none of them had he derived so much
enlightenment as from the Abbe Olier ; that he felt his words to be
endued with a power quite extraordinary, and that, in short, he had
fully satisfied his mind.* Indeed, there has always been a belief among
the Sulpicians that, under M. Olier's direction, Charles made a
formal abjuration of Protestantism preparatory to being received into
the bosom of the Church, and that he transmitted it secretly to the
Pope, promising at the same time to make his conversion public on
being re-instated in his kingdom. In England no doubt seems to
have been entertained on the matter by those who were likely to be
best informed. Burnet states positively, in the History of his own

• The Abb^ Faillon's authority for this statement is M. de Bretonvilliers, who
in his Mhnoires added these words : " For the present I cannot say more." In
the copy of these Mimoirss which the Abbe first consulted, and which their
author had prepared for publication, M. de Bretonvilliers, in order not to
compromise Charles in the eyes of his Protestant subjects, had refrained from
giving his name, describing him simply as "a great English lord;" and conse-
quently M. Faillon, in the first two editions of his Life of M. Olier, had spoken
doubtfully on the subject. On referring, however, to the original autograph he
found that "the great English lord" in question was the King of England
himself, and in the latest edition of his work he has signified the discovery he
had made.

Relapse and remorse of Charles 11.

Times,* that Charles changed his religion before quitting Paris,
although the fact was kept secret from most of his own courtiers.
M. Faillon, moreover, gives extracts from letters which the King
addressed to Pope Alexander VII., the General of the Jesuits, and
others, after the Restoration, in which, while protesting his abhor-
rence of the Protestant schism and his firm belief in the truth of the
Catholic religion, he seeks — not to excuse his delay in being recon-
ciled to the Church, but — to exculpate himself for not making open
profession of the faith.

His abjuration is supposed to have been made at Fontainebleau
in 165s; and certainly M. Olier must have had valid reasons .'"or
believing that the King was sincere, for, with that generous a .^.u-
which he ever displayed where the interests of religion were conct ned,
the servant of God undertook to put 10,000 disciplined soldiers .i. his
disposal, if Charles on his part would engage to re-establish the
Catholic religion on gaining possession of his kingdom. Nor shall we
consider the proposal as the mere heedless expression of an enthusi-
astic zeal, when we recollect the extraordinary influence exercised by
this holy man over some of the boldest military spirits of his time,
inspiring them with the courage to defy the tyranny of public opinion,
which regarded the refusal of a challenge as unworthy of a man of
honour. Indeed, the very fact that, some years later, the Marquis
de F^nelon did actually conduct 400 gentlemen to the defence of
Candia against the Turks in the capacity of volunteers shows with
what ardour such generous souls would, at the instigation of one
whom they so much revered, have embarked in an enterprise tlve
object of which was to restore to England both the hereditary
monarchy and the ancient faith. Such an expedition, however,
would have been little in consonance with the policy of Cardinal
Mazarin ; and, besides, Charles himself had very soon changed his
mind. The solicitations of divine grace were no longer heeded
amidst the vicious indulgences to which he had abandoned himself
in the gay city of Paris, and his degradation was completed by re-
nouncing the convictions of his conscience for a political advantage.
Yielding to the counsels of the interested advisers by whom he
was surrounded, he publicly announced his determination to live
and die in the Anglican communion, for which his father had suffered
so much. And live, accordingly, he did ostensibly a Protestant while
a Catholic in belief and conviction, even consenting to the judicial
murder of Catholic priests and others whom he well knew to

♦ Vol. i. p. 78.

1 ,
k "

^»'w^"pp*nppw"!ww|wpppi|pppip^

Life of M. Olier.

be innocent of the crimes laid to their charge. The Queen, after
his death, declared that Charles " never entered her boudoir, where
she kept suspended the portraits of the Jesuit Fathers who were
martyred in the feigned conspiracy, but he would turn towards them
and, kissing their hands, would beg their forgiveness in the most
humble manner, and, full of sentiments of repentance, make a most
hearty protestation of his fault and of their innocence, concluding by
saying that they were in a place where they knew of a truth that he
had been forced, and that they would therefore pray to God for him to
pardon his crime."* And pray, assuredly, they did, and with marvel-
lous effect, for, by one of those miracles of grace which our merciful
God sometimes vouchsafes, as though to show forth His longsuffering
for sinners, the King was to die in the faith which, during life, he
lacked the courage to profess. For M. Olier his esteem remained
unaltered, as was shown when, on hearing of his death, he observed
with manifest sorrow that in him he had lost one of the truest friends
he had ever possessed.

The following particulars, which have lately come to light, are
invested with a pathetic interest Father Augustine Lawrence, of
the Society of Jesus, who was probably attached to the Queen's
household, in a letter which he addressed to the Father Assistant of
Portugal, then at Rome, and which is dated May nth, 1685, says,
on the testimony of the Queen herself, ** Among some articles which
were taken from the martyred Fathers [victims of Oates's plot] and
carried to the King, there was found a relic of the wood of the true
Cross, which his Majesty took ; and, though the Queen begged for
it, he would not part with it, saying that he wished to keep it for
himself, which he did, for after death nothing else was found in the
King's pocket except the holy relic and a manuscript, in his own
handwriting, proving by the clearest arguments the truth of the
Roman Catholic faith." To this extract Brother Foley has appended
the following note : — " Echard, History of England^ vol. iii. p. 732,
states that there were two papers found in Charles II.'s strong box,
both of which were certainly written by the King himself, as was
attested by King James and declared by the Duke of Ormond.
These papers contain concise but forcible arguments in favour of
Catholicity. A copy is given by Dodd, vol. iii. p. 398." t May it

* Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus, by Henry Foley, S.J.
Series xii. p. 93.
+ lb. p. 94. These were in all probability the same little treatises which were

His vocation a hidden one.

not reasonably be conjectured that they contained a summary of the
arguments advanced by his saintly instructor during the earlier
portion of the King's residence at Paris ?

Two noblemen, his fellow-exiles, came under the same salutary
influence while staying in that city. Edward Somerset, Marquis of
Worcester, went so far as to engage, in a document which was
deposited in the Seminary of St. Sulpice, April 22nd, 1650, to main-
tain a priest at his own private expense in the event of his regaining
his patrimonial estates. But unhappily, like his royal master, the
world proved too strong for him, and in the day of prosperity he
forgot both his engagement and his God. He forgot also to repay a
loan of money which M. de Bretonvilliers had made him, and the
acknowledgment of which, signed with the Marquis's own hand,
might long have been seen, — and perhaps may still be seen, — among
the archives of the Community. It was now also that George Digby,
Earl of Bristol, professed himself a Catholic, but only to become a
scandal to his countrymen by leading a life of cowardly duplicity,
and at length publicly renouncing the faith which he had never
really in heart embraced.* Such conquests are, indeed, only sub-
jects of pain and grief to the Catholic heart, but even these abortive
successes may be taken as testimonies to the power which personal
sanctity exercises over even the unworthiest of men ; and, assuredly,
if the penitence of Charles at the last were sincere and effective, he
owed his soul's salvation, under God, to the prayers and unwearied
charity of the Curd of St. Sulpice.

What is so remarkable (as M. Faillon observes), is that the fact of
M. Olier being instrumental in the King's conversion should have
remained so long unknown and unsuspected. But this was only in
accordance with God's general dealings with His servant, and with
the par. assigned to him in the order of Divine Providence. His
vocation, as he himself says in his Memoires, was to do great works
and not to be known as the author of them. " On this subject," he

instrumental in the conversion of the Earl of Perth. See the Month, February,
1884, p. 195.

* "In 1664 De Comminges, the French ambassador, wrote to Louis XIV. that
on the last Sunday in January the Comte de Bristol, at Oulmilton, as he calls
Wimbledon, in presence of the congregation in the parish church, heartily
renounced Popery, and afterwards took the minister and a few others to dine with
him." Doran, Memories of our Great Towns, p. 383. Burnet says (vol. i. p. 217)
that he practised astrology, and had the impertinence to tell the King that he was
in danger from his brother.

( .

S.I

I 1

h 'I

Life of M. Olier.

writes, " our Lord instructed me that we ought to appear as little
as possible, that the less we engage the attention of the world the
brighter shall we shine throughout eternity, and that the sacrifice of
all exterior display is a holocaust most agreeable to God. I see an
example of this in our Lord Himself in the Most Holy Sacrament,
which ought to serve me as a rule and model in everything. He is
the source of every good in the Church, and yet He does not appear.
He does everything in secret in the holy tabernacle ; He appears
less than does a Bishop or an Apostle ; and nevertheless it is He
who does all. Thus He desires to reign in me, and by me to effect
all things with strength and wisdom, but without display, always in
secret and hidden from the eyes of the world. It is thus He spoke
to me, in His goodness, this very day, relative to a matter which
greatly concerned His glory : * You must be, as it were, the heart of
My works, and give life and movement to everything without being
perceived. The members of the body must needs show themselves,
and yet they are entirely dependent on the heart, which beats unseen.'
Thus it is that, without intending it, I feel myself always foremost in
all the works of His hands ; I have part in everything, I labour in
everything, by prayer, by writing, by speech, all which proceed from
the Spirit of God, and yet I do not produce and exhibit myself, that
by me our Lord may afford a sensible token of the way in which He
operates in the Church by means of the Most Holy Sacrament."

Herein, then, we see why this great servant of God remained so
long in comparative oblivion, notwithstanding the magnificent ser-
vices which he rendered, and still continues to render, to the Church;
this is why so many ecclesiastical writers have scarcely made allusion
to the labours of this holy priest, and by their reticence have thrown
a veil over the lustre of his virtues. It was the design of God that,
prominent as was M. Olier's position in the world of his day and
conspicuous as were the works which he accomplished, his transcen-
dent merits should long remain inadequately recognized. "The
founder of St. Sulpice," said M. Tronson, "desired to be hidden, but
God will make him manifest in His own time." That time has
come.

( Z^7 )

I !

CHAPTER X.

FURTHER EXAMPLES OF M. OLIER'S PASTORAL ZEAL.

THE Church of St. Sulpice, once all but deserted, was now un-
able to contain the multitudes which sought admission ; so that
on extraordinary occasions, when there was a larger concourse than
usual, it became necessary to celebrate the parochial offices in the
abbey-church of St. Germain. On Sundays and festivals especially
the building was so densely crowded that many of the parishioners
were unable to reach their places, and permission was given to the
Comte de Brienne and (Other persons of distinction to enter their
respective chapels by private doors constructed for the purpose.

We have seen that from his first entrance on his pastoral charge
M. Olier had it in contemplation to build a new parish church whicli
should be better proportioned to the extent of the Faubourg, the
grandeur of the ceremonial which he desired to see introduced, and
the number of ecclesiastics who formed his community. Full of
this pious design, he deeply deplored the indifference manifested by
the great people of the parish, who constructed splendid mansions
for themselves and left the Son of God a dilapidated dwelling
devoid of all dignity and beauty. On learning the death of Marie
de Mddicis, who had expended vast sums on her palace of the
Luxembourg, while the House of God was allowed to lie waste, he
felt himself penetrated with a desire, as pastor of her soul, to make
satisfaction to the Divine Justice for the neglect of which she had
been guilty. " If only," he writes, " she had been pleased to bestow
on the church the money she had destined for the completion of
those wings to her palace which she left unfinished, she would have
been able to rebuild it and to put it in a state befitting the worship
of God and the needs of the population. How strange that persons
should devote so much trouble and incur such enormous expenses
to lodge themselves, fleeting creatures of earth and very dunghills

3'8

Life of M. Olier.

in the sight of God, and never give a thought to the erection of
temples in honour of His ineflfable Majesty ! "

Already, in the December of 1642, he had laid before the wardens
his proposal for enlarging the church, and in the following March
the proposal was adopted at a general meeting of the parishioners
without a dissenting voice ; but not without personal humiliations to
the pastor himself, who received them in that spirit of self-abasement
and submission to the will of God which ever distinguished him.
In his Mhnoires he alludes to the circumstance but does not enter
into any particulars. As the proposed building would extend over
a portion of the public cemetery, M. Olier offered in exchange half
of the garden belonging to the Community. The celebrated archi-
tect, Christophe Gamard, was directed to draw up the plans, and
everything seemed to augur a speedy success, particularly as a pro-
portion of the stone for the foundations was obtained gratuitously
from the Crown through the good offices of the Queen Regent, but
it was not until the excitement consequent on the attempt to expel
M. Olier from the parish had subsided that the affair was definitively
resumed. On the feast of the Assumption, 1645, ^^ convened a
meeting of the wardens, at which M. Gamard exhibited the plan of
the building which M. Olier designed to erect, and which was three
times larger than the existing structure.

Hopeless as it might appear that so vast a design should ever be
realized, he was not deterred by any consideration of the difficulties
to be encountered in raising the necessary funds ; and, instead of
regulating the cost of the building by the amount already collected,
he fixed his estimate of the expenses at such a sum as in his judg-
ment the charity of the parishioners ought ultimately to furnish.
The plan was accepted and endorsed, and on Tuesday, February
20th, 1646, the first F*one of the new edifice was laid by the Queen
Regent, after it had been blessed by M. Alain de Solminihac, now
Bishop of Cahors, with all the accustomed formalities. The Queen,
on inspecting the plan, desired that one of the chapels behind the
high altar, nearest to that of the Blessed Virgin, should be dedicated
to her patroness, St. Anne, and another, in the name of the young
King, to St. Louis. The Due d'Orl^ans and the Prince de Cond^
made similar requests, an example that was followed by other noble
families of the Faubourg ; the Duke also promised an annual dona-
tion of 10,000 livres until the building should be completed. M.
Olier, however, did not rely on the favour or the munificence of the

> I

The chapel of St. Anne.

319

great, and an incident that occurred soon after the works had com-
menced was taken by him as a warning not to reckon on the support
or promises of men for the success of an undertaking intended for
God's glory alone. The workmen had dug a well to obtain water,
and he was proceeding to ascertain its depth, when a pole on which
he set his foot moved away and rolled over to the opposite side,
carrying him with it, to the astonishment of those who were present,
and who expected to see him precipitated into the pit. Instead of
manifesting any alarm at the danger he had so narrowly escaped, he
seemed to be occupied only with the thought of the lesson which
it was intended to convey : " So deceitful is the dependence on
creatures ; he who puts his trust in them will find only weakness and
inconstancy."

His intention, after laying the foundations of the choir, was to
complete the construction of the Lady Chapel, as an act of fealty to
Her whom he desired to instal as Patroness of the whole work, but
owing to the troubles of the Fronde he was able only to finish its
walls, which in the year of his death were raised to the height at
which they remain at the present day. The building, interrupted
for many years, was resumed in 1718 by M. Languet de Gergy,* M.
Olier's sixth successor, by whom it was completed in 1 745, just a
century from the date of the attempt to expel the servant of God
from the parish of St. Sulpice.

Foreseeing that the projected church would nol be finished for
many years, M. Olier was anxious to procure the erection of another
church in the Faubourg to supply the immediate needs of the
increasing population. The design was approved by the Abbd de
St. Germain, who, in 1647, by letters patent created a new parish
under the title of St. Maur in the Pr^-aux-Clercs ; but, on the
wardens of St. Sulpice, with other parishioners, offering to provide a
chapel of ease at their own expense, the plan was abandoned, and a
house which the seminarists used for catechising children in the
quarter called La Grenouillbre was converted into a chapel and

* This worthy pastor was a man of extraordinary charity. In 1725, during a
time of great scarcity, he sold his furniture, his paintings, and a quantity of rare
and valuable objects which he had been at great pains to collect, and gave the
proceeds for the relief of the suffering poor. From that time his only possessions
were three couveris of silver, two straw chairs, and a bed of coarse serge, which
was left him as a loan, to prevent his giving it away ; carpets he had none. He
also sent lar^e sums to Marseilles, when in 1720 the plague was ravaging that
city. The Abbe Languet was Mme. de Maintenon's confessor.

■rn.

Life of M. Olier.

solemnly blessed on the feast of the Purification, 1648. This chapel
went by the name of St. Anne, or the Petite-Paroisse, and for a
while M. Olier located some of his priests in the spot, and formed
what, in effect, was a second community. But, having reason to
believe that the separation from the parent house was not conducive
to the benefit of souls, and that the ecclesiastics thus detached
experienced a diminution of fervour by being isolated from their
brethren, he recalled them to St. Sulrire and contented himself with
sending some of his colleagues on stated occasions to instruct the
people and administer the sacraments.

It will be recollected that in 1643 M- Olier engaged the cele-
brated ex-Jesuit Pfere V^ion, to deliver a course of controversial
lectures at St. Sulpice and to hold public disputations with the
sectaries ; but the result corresponded neither with the hopes wliich
his reputation had excited nor with the ability he displayed. M. du
Ferrier, in his Mhnoires, gives a specimen of the method pursued
by this divine. "You would reform us," he would say, "on the
sole authority of Scripture : well, we are ready to hear you. We
believe, for example, that Jesus Christ is really and substantially
present in the Eucharist ; you believe He is there only by faith, and
not in reality, and you are bound on your own principles to prove
this to us by a formal text of Scripture. Produce it, then, and we
will believe you." The Protestant minister would quote the words:
"//■ is the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing^* P.
V^ron, repeating the words after him, would say, "This is not to
the purpose; I ask you for a passage which says, ' The Body of Jesus
Christ is not in the Eucharist ; ' the text you have quoted does not
say this." If the Protestant added what follows : " The words that I
have spoken to you are spirit and life," he repeated his demand for
a passage which said, " The Body of Jesus Christ is not under the
species of bread ;" showing them that they could not produce a text
which expressly denied the Catholic doctrine. If his opponent
brought forward those words of St. Peter: ^^ Jesus Christ, whom
Heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things" t
and argued thence that he could not be present in the Holy
Eucharist, he replied, "I ask you for a passage which says that
Jesus Christ is not there, and you give me only reasonings and
conclusions. Confess that you have no direct passage to quote;
we will come to reasonings and conclusions presently." He thus

♦ St. John vi. 64.

t Acts ill. 21.

Jean Clement.

321

compelled them to admit that they could produce no direct and
formal text of Scripture; and this provoked them greatly. He then
came to deductions and conclusions. ** You say that your faith is
grounded, not on reasoning, but on Scripture only : now show me a
passage which says that, if Jesus Christ must remain in Heaven until
He comes to judge the world. He is therefore not in the Eucharist.
In matters of faith we do not rest, as you truly say, on arguments
and syllogisms ; we Catholics also believe that Jesus Christ is, and
will remain, in Heaven, at the right hand of the Father, but we do
not the less believe that He is in the Eucharist, really and corporally,
but after an incomprehensible manner."

By this system of dialectics his opponents, as before observed,
were silenced, but they were not convinced. He even succeeded in
obtaining from his auditors, Protestants as well as Catholics, a formal
declaration of his victory, signed by public notaries, which was
printed and placarded about the streets, but the Protestants remained
Protestants still ; they were not converted. His method was perfect ;
his syllogisms were unassailable ; in the sphere of argument he was
triumphant, and his opponents, by their silence, acknowledged their
defeat ; but M. Olier desired, not their defeat, but their salvation,
and the end he sought remained unfulfilled.

Providence, however, brought to his aid two men whose manner
and whose method were wholly different. Simple and illiterate, but
wonderful adepts in a science truly divine, and which had God
alone as its author, they seemed to fulfil to the letter that saying of
M. Oiler's while at Vaugirard : " God will rather create a new race
of beings than leave His work without effect." The first of these
extraordinary men was Jean Clement, by trade a cutler. In early
youth his mind had been perverted by associating with the children
of Casaubon, the celebrated critic, and, on the family removing to
England, he repaired to La Rochelle, at that time the stronghold of
the Calvinists, for the purpose of joining their sect Having no
acquaintance in the town, he addressed himself to an elderly man
whom he saw labouring in a blacksmith's shop, and acquainted him
with his design. To his surprise the old man replied, *'Ah, my
child, take heed what you do. Perhaps you may fall into the same
state of misery in which I now am ; for I know that I am doomed to
hell for having quitted the Roman Church. I was a priest and a monk,
and I cannot escape from the religion you are about to adopt, because
I have a wife and four children dependent upon me." He then

ii!

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322

Life of M, Olier,

bade the youth stay neither to eat nor to drink, but to leave the place
at once, before God had wholly abandoned him. Filled with horror,
Clement asked him whither he should go, and the old man directed
him to proceed at once to the Cur^ of Estrde, six miles distant, who
would instruct him and put him in the way of salvation. This advice
he followed, remained ten days with the good priest of Estrde, and,
on returning to Paris, devoted himself to the conversion of heretics,
earning his livelihood at the same time by working at his trade.

His practice was to take up a position within the enclosure, or in
the vaults of the church, after Pfere V^ron had descended from the
pulpit, ar 1, letting the Protestants first adduce their texts of Scripture
and urge their objections, he would explain the passages they had
quoted, and show that rightly understood they were not opposed to
the faith of Catholics; and then, in turn, propounding the true
doctrine, he would support it by Scriptural proofs, so aptly chosen,
and enforced with so much simplicity and sweetness, yet with such
marvellous clearness and force, that numbers of those who had only
been irritated and confounded by the arguments of the learned
doctor were convinced and converted. He knew almost the whole
oi the Bible in French by heart, an accomplishment which gave him
great influence with the Protestants ; nor was his acquaintance with
Catholic doctrine less extraordinary than his familiarity with Holy
Scripture and his insight into the meaning of the sacred text. Indeed,
such was the ability he displayed in the diflficult art of controversy,
that (as M. du Ferrier says in his Mhnoires) the priests of the Com-
munity would often leave the dispute in his hands, when by a few
words he would dissipate doubts which long hours of discussion had
failed to remove. So great was his success that (as we learn from
the same authority) in one year he made on an average six converts
a day. These conversions were sometimes accompanied, in the
case of very ignorant persons, with circumstances which showed that
the grace of God gave an efficacy to his words indefinitely surpassing
any persuasive power they might naturally possess; and M. du
Ferrier, who, on P. Veron's falling ill, succeeded that theologian in
the office of preaching to Protestants, records his conviction that
argument has incalculably less to do with the conversion of souls
than many are apt to suppose ; for that he found on inquirj' that the
reasons which had weighed most with the persons he had addressed
were such as had formed no part of his discourse.

The other gifted individual was Beaumais, a draper. Like

Inertness and laxity of the clergy.

323

CMment, he was on the point of abandoning the faith for the pur-
pose of marrying a Protestant, who nmde his apostacy the condition
of her consent to the union, when remorse of conscience took him
to Clement, who not only dcHvered him from the distressing doubts
to which his mind was a prey, but induced him to join with him in
combating heresy and teaching the truth. By a wonderful effect of
divine grace hi received an infused knowledge both of the true
sense of Holy Scripture and of the right interpretation of the Fathers,
wholly independent of any instruction or study ; and at M. Olier's
desire he established himself in the Faubourg St. Germain, where
his exertions were crowned with astonishing success. His powers
of disputation were allowed to surpass those of the ablest doctors of
the University of Paris, and no one could be compared with him,
uneducated as he was, for the facility and completeness with which
he refuted the objections and exposed the inconsistencies of the
Protestant teachers. His labours were not confined to this
single parish, for he visited in turn the towns most infected with
heresy, and succeeded in reclaiming large numbers of Calvinists to
the faith of the Church. Beaumais, like Cldment, did not quit his
business as long as he remained at Paris. The clergy allowed him a
pension of 400 livres, and he dined every Sunday with the seminarists
of St. Sulpice. That Clement continued to work at his trade is
proved by the fact that in the year 1649 he was chosen by the
associated artisans of Paris to br their spokesman before the King
and Queen. In his harangue, which was published, he speaks of
himself as living by the labour of his hands. He died in 1650, or
1654, with the universal reputation of sanctity. Both Beaumais and
Clement, it may be added, were equally skilful and successful in
their disputations with Jansenists.

It would seem as if by these two striking examples God would prove
to the clergy of France the little efficiency of educational polish, theo-
logical knowledge, or dialectic acuteness, when unaccompanied with
those high moral qualifications and those supernatural virtues —
humility, patience, sweetness, charity — which He requires in the
preachers of His word. This it was which made Adrien Bourdoise
so indignantly exclaim, "The world is sick enough, but the clergy is
not less so ; frivolity, impurity, immodesty everywhere prevail. Our
priests for the most part stand with folded arms, and God is forced to
raise up laymen — cutlers and haberdashers — to do the work of these
lazy ecclesiastics. Seldom now-a-days do we meet with a man who is

t< tl

324

Life of M. Olier,

well-born, learned, and at the same time a devoted servant of (lod.
Whence is it that (lod makes use of M Heaumais the draper and M.
Clement the cutler, both laymen, as 1 1 is instruments for the conver-
sion of such numbers of heretics and bad Catholics at Paris, but that
He finds not bachelors, licentiates, or doctors, filled with His Spirit,
whom He can employ for the purpose ? It is the heaviest reproach,
the bitterest affront, He can oiler to the clergy of an age so devoid of
humility. Long live the draper and the cutler ! * Non multi sapienU's,
non mulii potetites, non tnuiti nobiles' " * Even if it be admitted that
there was something of rhetorical exaggeration in this vehement i)ro-
test, attributable to the ardent zeal of this outspoken man, it may at
least be taken as indicative of the extent and the enormity of the evil
against which it was directed, t

Unable to procure the discontinuance of the fair which, as we have
seen, was held for two months together in the Faubourg St. f>rmain,
M. Olier laboured to suppress some of the more flagrant scandals ;
as, for instance, the exhibition and exposure for sale of pictures and
other objects offensive to modesty. With his habitual fearlessness
he went himself into the midst of the crowds, and, with the authority
which his very presence carried with it, succeeded in putting a stop
to the worst disorders. When unable to go in person, he commis-
sioned some of the more influential members of his community to
act in his stead, and in cases where their interference was productive
of little or no efiiect, he had recourse to the civil authorities, from
whom, to their honour be it recorded, he never failed to receive
prompt and effective support.

An incident which made some noise at the time may here be
related. The head of a troop of strolling players who were perform-
ing during the fair fell dangerously ill, and desired to receive the Last
Sacraments. The priest who attended him felt himself justified in
giving him absolution, but refused to bring him the Holy Viaticum,
on account of his profession, to which, as being dangerous to morals,
a particular scandal attached. As the man grew worse, his friends
came late at night to the Presbytery, and begged again and again
that their dying comrade might be permitted to receive Communion ;
but M. Olier was inexorable. His refusal, which was conveyed in

* I Cor. i. 26.

+ In Abelly's Li/e of St. Vincent de Paul we find two bishops using language,
when writing to the Saint, no less condemnatory of the lives of the clergy in
their respective dioceses.

Disbanding of Moiih'(fs troop.

325

terms of the most earnest charity, had such an cfTect on one of the
party that, two days afterwards, from motives of conscience, he
retired from the stage altogether ; and, to M. Olier's joy and con-
solation, the sick man himself, acknowledging his unworthiness to
receive the boon he had solicited, solemnly engaged from that
moment to renounce his profession for ever, a promise which, on
recovering his health, he faithfully performed. The occurrence
created considerable sensation in Paris, and the matter was discussed
at the monthly meeting of the clergy, who unanimously approved
the conduct of the ecclesiastic in (luestion. Nevertheless, it was
deemed advisable to advert to the circumstance from the pulpit, and
to enter fully into the reasons which justified the course that had
been taken. It so happened that the manager of a company of
actors, who styled himself comedian to the Duke of Orleans, was
])resent at this discourse, and, offended at the same designation
being applied to a mere strolling player, he went to the Presbytery
and made a formal remonstrance. He met with a most courteous
reception, and was patiently listened to while he enlarged on the
dignity of his profession, as compared with that of an itinerant
bufibon who performed before u rabble in a booth ; but all that was
urged in return made no impression upon him, and he was about to
retire with a profusion of compliments expressive of the high esteem
in which he held so zealous a body of ecclesiastics, when, on his
politely declaring that his services would ever be at their command,
the ecclesiastic to whom he addressed himself took him at his word,
and said that there was one thing he could do by which he would
infinitely oblige them. The actor again protested his readiness to do
anything in his power. " Then," answered the other, " promise me
that you will recite the Litany of the Blessed Virgin every day on your
knees." The actor willingly consented, little thinking to what he
was engaging himself; for in a few days he returned to the Presbytery
a changed man, declaring that he had once for all abandoned the
stage, and was now in the service of M. de Fontenay-Mareuil, who
was proceeding as ambassador to Rome.

How profound was the impression produced on the minds and
consciences of the people by the zeal of M. Olier and his community,
may be inferred from the fact that even Molifere's * own troop of

* The name of this famous dramatist was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but he took
the name of Moliere to spare his parents, homely and worthy people, the disgrace,
as it was then accounted, of being known to have a son connected with the stage.

1 1' 'ti

l|fJIWIJH"W<«<)"^ ■im.ii fifi*>ipiiwij>y(n|iii

326

Life of M. Olier.

comedians, despite his extraordinary talent both as a play-writer and
as a performer in his own dramas, were obliged to disband because
they found themselves deserted by their audience. The theatre was
situated in the Faubourg St. Germain and was supported by the
Prince de Conti, previously to his conversion, and by other young
men of rank. Neveaheless, Molifere himself, with a certain number
of actors whom he engaged to accompany him, was fain to betake
himself to the provinces, and did not return to Paris till the year
after M. Olier's death.

Never was pastor more devoted to the interests of his flock.
There is nothing, perhaps, of which an active-minded, hard-worked
man is naturally more jealous than his time ; yet M. Olier was
ever at the disposal of others. With all his multifarious avocations,
he was always accessible to those who sought his counsel or assist-
ance ; and such was his sweetness and kindliness of disposition
that he could not bear to deny himself even to those who seemed to
wish to converse with him solely for their own gratification. He
received all comers with a certain respect, blended with humility,
never betrayed any movement of impatience at being detained from
his other occupations, and was never the first to terminate the inter-
view. Sometimes when, towards the end of the day, his colleagues
observed that he was exhausted with fatigue, they would suggest that
he should admi' no more visitors until the morrow ; but he would
answer, "Our lime is not our own; it belongs to Jesus Christ. W'e
ought to employ every moment of it as He directs; and since He
permits these persons to come to us now, so far from not admitting
tiiem, we ought, in a spirit of submission to His adorable provi-
dence, to receive them with joy and affection." A charity so self-
sacrificing was accompanied with a sensible blessing ; for many who
were leading a sinful, worldly life, and who visited him simply from
motives of courtesy, were converted and gained to God, although
the conversation apparently had been confined to ordinary subjects.
The influence he thus acquired was very great, and he used it to
induce persons engaged in the world and moving in its highest
circles to lead, nevertheless, a devout and interior life. Under his

Sufficient: reason for the disfavour with which he was regarded by the Ciiurcli .nay
be found in the fact that "the tendency of his dramatic productions was to lower
the moral standard, by almost invariably engaging the sympathy of tiie audience
and getting the laugh on the side of the wrong-doer, by whose superior smartness
honesty, truth, and justice are made ridiculous " {The Month, May, 1884, p. 151),
and, it may be added, to render piety and devotion contemptible and odious.

Instructions on religious and social duties. 327

direction, numbers of public men, holding judicial and other civil
appointments, as well as many ladies of the first distinction, practised
daily meditation, spiritual reading, and other devotional exercises,
without, therefore, neglecting any of their social or oflicial duties ;
while others, of all classes, who had more leisure at their command,
he encouraged to adopt a fixed rule of life, and assigned them
particular hours in each day for mental prayer, visiting the Blessed
Sacrament, assisting the sick poor, and similar works of charity.

He exhorted fathers of families to give a vigilant eye to the con-
duct of their children and dependents, and to see that they obeyed
the precepts of the Church, particularly in keeping holy the Sundays
and other festivals, and observing the days of fasting and abstinence.
On the rich especially he urged the obligation of regulating their
Jiousehold expenditure in conformity with the rules of Christian
modesty and sobriety, of practising almsgiving according to their
ability, and, in short, fulfilling all the duties proper to their state
and sanctifying each day by a good use of that precious time of
which God, the Judge of all, would demand a strict account. He
reminded shopkeepers and workpeople, who had to attend to the
calls of business and maintain themselves by the labour of their
hands, that they were none the less bound to live as Christians, — as
those who by baptism had been made the children of God and heirs
of eternal life, — and taught them how, in the midst of their every-
day employment, they were to keep tlieir consciences clean, to
lift up their hearts to God, and refer all their acts to Him, not
only those which directly concerned piety, but even the most in-
different and commonplace. These holy lessons he set forth, in
detail, in a work which he composed for the use of his parishioners
and entitled The Christian Day. Further, he bade his people
remember that they had duties to perform as members of civil
society, which was the ordinance of God ; that no man, whatever
his rank or condition, was independent of his neighbour, or could
so much as exist without his co-operation and assistance ; accord-
ingly, that in the exercise of their several trades and handicrafts
they ought to regard themselves simply as the instruments of Divine
Providence whose office it was to help in supporting their fellow-
creatures, and that buyers and employers should receive with thanks-
giving the goods they purchased and the products with which they
were supplied, as coming from the hands of God. *' If," said he,
" all would enter into these Christian views, trade and commerce,

ifi

\\\

328

Life of M. Olier.

instead of being made the occasion of fraud and injustice, would
become, as Providence designed them to be, a daily source of
graces and a very means of sanctification."*

From the moment M. Oliei first entertained the idea of under-
taking the pastoral charge of St. Sulpice, he had resolved on the
establishment of a house in which females could attend all the
exercises of a retreat, an advantage which hitherto had been denied
them. This design, with the aid of Marie Rousseau, he now carried
into effect. At first only women of the lower ranks were admitted
to these retreats, but afterwards the higher classes enjoyed the same
privilege. This institution v/as also made subservient to the accom-
plishment of another very important object. In every large parish
there are numerous works to be done whl^h zealous and prudent
females, like the Deaconesses of the primitive Church, are well
qualified to undertake, some, indeed, with which i^ might be unad-
visable for the clergy personally to concern themselves ; as, for
instance, the maintenance and supervision of fallen women who
dei,.'re to reform their lives. But there were many other offices of a
kindred nature in which 'l^cy v/ere employed, according to their
condition and capacity. Thus, some were charged with instructing
and preparing young giils for domestic service, or placing them
with persons w.io would act as parents and guardians to them until
such time as they were able to maintain themselves. Others, again,
occupied their leisure hours with making clothes for the poor, or
furnishing linen and ornaments for the altar and seeing to the clean-
ing and repairing of the same. All the ,e works were placed under
the direction of three widows selected for their eminent virtues and
•abilities, with whom vere associated other widows and younger
women who, after being themselves instructed and trained, were
employed as school-teachers. The latter, before entering on their
duties, v/ere required to pass an examination at the Abbey of St.
Germain, in order to prove their efficiency and fitness for their
office.

Among t.xvj parishioners who took a prominent part in these

* M. Faillon, in one of those valuable notes which follow each chapter in his
work, gives an extract from an address of M. Olier's on this subject which,
instructive as it is to read, must have been most effective when delivered, contain-
ing as it does lessons of far greater practical value than may be found in many an
elaborate treatise on social economy and science which ignores the relations of
man to man as God in His Providence established them.

The Mdison d Instruction.

329

various works of charity may especially be mentioned Marguerite
Rouille, widow of Jacques Le Bret, Royal Counsellor at tlie Chdtelet
de Paris, who in 1648, conjointly with other ladies, founded a
school for poor girls, With her was associated another remarkable
woman, who has already been incidentally alluded to, Mme. Claude
de Sfeve, widow of M. Tronson, formerly Secretaire du Cabinet.
She had been under the direction of P. de Condren, and at his
death had, by the advice of P. de Saint-P<f,* a priest of the Oratory,
taken M. Olier as her spiritual guide. To her are addressed many
of his letters, still preserved, which are a monument at once of the
pastor's enlightened zeal and of his penitent's rare perfections. But
the greatest work of all, and that which may be said to have been
the complement of the rest, was the establishment of a central house,
called La Maison d'Instruction, in which young girls who had left
school and whom their parents had not the means of supporting
were taught useful handicrafts by which they might be able to earn
a decent livelihood. This institution originated with Marie Rous-
seau, who had commenced a similar undertaking in her own dwel-
ling, but in 1657 it was transferred to more commodious premises,
and, after receiving the approbation of the Virar-General of the
Abbey and the royal confirmation by letters patent, was erected into
a community, which became known as that of the Sisters of
Christian Instruction. The rules were drawn up by Marie Rousseau
and the house itself placed under the immediate direction of that
saintly woman, who was thus enabled to devote her whole energies
to the accomplishment of the reforms for which she had prayed so
long and laboured so much. She had a most valuable assistant in
the person of Mile. Leschassier, in connection with whom :. charac-
teristic incident was before related. This lady was as distinguished
for her rare talents and intelligence as for her untiring zeal, and
the fruits of her labours were such as to vindicate in a remarkable
manner the spiritual discernment of M. Olier, who hnd advised

■\\\

''111

■J*:j;

* Pere de Saint-Pe became Superior of St. Magloire, and, after the death of
their holy founder, the Sulpicians had frequent recourse to him for advice and
encouragement, regarding him as the inheritor of P. de Condren's spirit and
maxims. It is to P. de Saint-Pe that we are chiefly indebted for the worlc pub-
lished (as already mentioned) under the name of P. de Condren and entitled
Vldee du Sacerdoce et du Sacrifice de Jhus-Christy which contains the substance
of certain conferences which that celebrated man delivered to the Oratorians at
their house of Notre Dame des Ardilliers, at Saumur, but of whicii only the
first part can, properly speaking, be attributed to him.

330

Life of M. Olier.

her not to enter religion, as she was once disposed to dn, \\\\\ to
remain in the world and dedicate herself to the serV)<'^ \\\ file poor
of Christ. She made herself the friend of all who heedeu li^^if
particularly of the women and girls, whom ij)ie rDnsp|ef| In Hieir
troubles and fortified by her counsels with a tatnifit ^M|(^i||/||i^ a.u4 H
keenness of perception as to their individual t-ifHtHCtef^ i/KJ t^fiHlt^-
ments so remarkable, as to show that she was endowetl Hijiij *{
special gift for the fulfilment of the ends to will' h she had devoted
her life. To her was committed the siiperintRnde/ifee of the
Orphanage which M. Olier subsequently ffumdeij, filiil v»l )■ h was
mainly supported by her munificence. The immediate management
of the institution was confided, on the iiKfiiiiidlion of the wardens
and with the approval of the Abbd de St. Gerinain, to Mile. Anne
de Valois, who from the purest motives of charity undertook the
personal care and instruction of the inmates.

Some estimate may be formed of the readiness with which all
classes responded to the call of their pastor, and of the vast amount
of hard work which was accomplished under his direction, if we
enumerate the several meetings which were held every month for
the transaction of business in connection with the various institu-
tions. Thus, the first and third Sundays were devoted to new con-
verts, whether from heresy or from a life of sin; the second and
fourth to the bashful poor, whose condition was often far more
pitiable than that of persons whose destitution was apparently as
great or even great er ; while the first Saturday and the twenty-fifth
day of each month were set apart for receiving poor children into
the free schools. On the first and third Sundays also the Conseil
Charitable^ of which more will be said hereafter, held its sittings for
the settlement of disputes and the prevention of litigation. Other
meetings were held on the first Thursday in each month for reliev-
ing the sick poor; on the first Saturday for assisting poor cripples,
the blind, the paralytic, and other sufferers ; on the second Thursday
for supplying little children with milk and farinaceous food, and
engaging nurses for those whose mothers were unable to render
them the personal care they needed. In fine, r°rtain ecclesiastics
were charged on particular days with procuring the liberation of
prisoners, while some of the more experienced ladies of the Faubourg
undertook to provide work for girls who were without employment.
"The zeal displayed by the parishioners of St. Sulpice," says M.
ciu F'w'rrier, "was the theme of universal admiration; it was only

His devotion to the Chair of Peter. 331

necessary to propose good works, whether corporal or spiritual, and
persons were always to be found ready to execute them."

Of M. Olier's filial love and veneration for the Sovereign Pontiff
it is needless to speak. Devotion to the Chair of Peter was with
him an integral part of Christian piety, an indispensable element
in the spiritual life.* The obedience he rendered to the Vicar of
Christ was not the mere submission of heart and will to an authority
ordained of God ; he recognised therein the priesthood and the
royalty of Jesus and the energizing presence of the very Spirit of
Truth and of Power. But, in addition to all t|;iis, as Cure of St.
Sulpice, he was bound by special ties to the Holy See. From
ancient times St. Peter had been the principal patron of the church,
and was still so regarded, although, owing to the multitude of
miracles which were wrought on occasion of the translation of the
relics of St. Sulpice in the year 1518, it had come to be called, as
it has continued to be called, by the name of the latter. More-
over (as was before stated) the parish was subject to the immediate
jurisdiction of the Holy See, as represented by the Abbd de St.
Germain. The following extract from M. Olier's spiritual writings
shows the value he attached to this circumstance, and the fruit he
sought to derive from tiie contemplation of it. " By a particular
order of Divine Providence," he says, " the Faubourg St. Germain,
which from time immemorial the Holy See has reserved in imme-
diate dependence on itself in token of its universal jurisdiction,
is governed by the Abbd de St. Germain, to whom the Holy Father
gives episcopal authority over this territory. But, seeing that,
although he invests him with this authority, he does not impress
upon him the character of the episcopate, which nevertheless is a
source of life to us — as in every diocese it is the principle of that
influence which sanctifies the whole flock, — it is not his wisli thereby
to deprive the people of St. Germain of that aid, or to take from
them that which ordinarily is the animating principle of all parishes.
He seems rather to desire to reserve to himself that holy influence
obliging us to regard him as the sole principle of our life, and to
derive from him the spirit which other dioceses find in their
bishops. We ought, in consequence, to have a great trust and an
unfailing confidence in the Prince of the Apostles, and esteem our-
selves happy that the goodness of God obliges us thereto, by giviiig

* This idea was developed with singular force and beauty by Father Faber ia
his Sermon on Devotion to the Poj>e, publislied in i86a

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332

Life of M. Olier.

him to us as our patron and requiring his image to be always
exposed upon the tar of our church and ever present before our
eyes. Moreover, a. the exterior forms of worship are the same
in our church as they are at Rome ; for we use the same chant,
the same ceremonies, the same ritual, and, as these things are but
an expression of the interior spirit and hidden life which reigns in
the Church, they represent to us the spirit, grace, and life which
flow from the Holy Father our Head, and oblige us to show him
special reverence, submit ourselves humbly to his rule, and, in his
person, to the divine apostolate of St. Peter, in order that we may
have a share in that fulness of spirit which is in him and distribute
it through the world."

In the same spirit of obedience to the authority of the Churcli,
and, indeed, to the slightest indications of its will, this true pastor
of souls strove to interest his people in the devotions and ceremonies
which marked the different times and seasons of the ecclesiastical
year, and instruct them in their deep significance. He deemed it
a matter of the utmost importance that they should be imbued
wiiii this knowledge, as being a most effectual means of familiarising
their minds with the several mysteries of the Incarnate Word and
thereby leading them to reform and sanctify their lives. He
seemed to have received a particular gift, for expJ*ining these things,
and the fruits were both ronspicuous an<i abundafit. It has been
said that the sermons and the numerous cM^a^ of the Church were
largely attended I// «(l rlasses, but M. Olier -Jicceedcd aiw;> in
inspiring a spfcia) devotion for pilgrimages, anrc paxticulark for
that of Notre Dame des Vert us, at Aub^-^villiers, near St. I>«:xi .*

* This pilgrimage owes its origin to a miraculous ilMlpB •f the Bie-sed
Virgin, which, in 1338, attracted an immense concoune «( peopl« to tb-e spot.
During the spring of that year there was a g/'at deattiii «6 water ; b«t o«n xae.
second Tuesday in the month of May, a y^ung gir: goiag to decorate tlie Miap
with fl^Dwers, was surprised to observe it all bat lied m mMtliwe, aotwrthRtan^tag
the fi«iat and dryness of the season. On the people assensiifiiag at ibe tidings
there fell an abundant supply of rain, which was followeC by 2 nuraftier of
miracles, and, among the rest, by the restoration to life of tw<o children, wliicii
took place under circums;ances which precluded the possibility ■»{ frauu or
coi-asion. Hence the shrine acquired the name of Notre Dame des V*iTtus, or Our
LrH% of Miracles, for such is the meaning attached to the term. It wa»f. here that
M. Olier ^as related in chapter ix. ) received those remarkable ^v^urs from
heaven., previous to the establishment of tiie Seminary of Vaugirard. From Hno
to rt»8o the seminarists of St. Sulpice took part in the parochial procession, but
in the latter year the pilgrimage was discontinued in consequence of certain

Increased respect for the clergy >

333

which was performed every year on Whit-Tuesday by the parishioners
and seminarists of St. v^alpice ; members of the higher classes
taking part therein, to the great edification of the people. It was
an act of devotion which involved no slight amount of labour and
fatigue, as the procession left the church at half-past two in the
morning and did not return till late in the day, halting on the way
both at La Villette and at St. Lazare.

This general renewal of pjcty was accompanied with a correspond-
ing increase of reverence for the priestly character and office, and
the clergy were able to go at all houirs into the loneliest quarters
of the city without fear of injury or insult. The very thieves and
street-robbers treated them with respect ; and M. du Ferrier relates
how, being surrounded one dark night by a gang of these men, who
felt his clothes in order to ascertain whether he wore a cassock,
he had the courage to harang:ae them on the infamy of their lives,
and with sucii effect that tkey ofered themselves as an escort
to protect him on his way himme, and promised to abandon their
evil courses. On the CKcasion, ajiso, of a tumult caused by the
revival of an obnoxious tax,* wher. a violent mob were trying to
break into the church, in ortier to sound the tocsin and summon
the people to arm^. he affected to believe that they were Huguenots
who had come wizn the mtention of profaning the sacred building
and offering outrage to the Blessed Sacrament. On their protesting
they were Catholics, — " What ! " he cried, " do you believe that
our Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the tabernacle in the holy ciborium ? "
"We do," they repioied. "Then, my dear friends," said he, "how

abuses which occurred, and was replaced, first, by one to the Val de Grace and,
afterwards, by one to Notre Dame de Paris ; l)ut in 1750 the practice was
entirely relinquisbed. The seminarists, hosvever, still retained a particular devo-
tion to the place, and 'o this day make pilgrimages to it during their vacation.

* In November rtU49 Henri II., alarmed at the dimensions which the capital
was rapidly assumtag, had prohibited the further erection of houses in the
suburbs. This edict, if ever in force, had long become obsolete when Cardinal
Mazariu, desiraig to replenish the .-^offers of the State, imposed a tax on all pro-
prietors of hoases-in the faubourg> m proportion to the area which they severally
occupied, and wii«c* was to be determined by actual measurement. Hence the
name Tois^e, by ^iitMcii the tajc came to be called. Immediately, however, on the
tiisi measureNMBi. being taken, so violent a tumult arose that the unpopular tax
was never aemmlt' levied, and in 1640 was dehnitively repealed. In 1672, Louis
XIV. re!*e«»>« ■'ne impost, on the ground that the extension of the city
boundane de*, consequent increase of the population rendered it extremely
difficult ffir nNfcvcivil authorities to provide for the maintenance either of order
or of 1

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334

Life of M. Olier.

do you dare to force open His gates, when you would not venture
to burst into the chamber of the King, if you knew he was within ?"
The men felt the force of the rebuke, and by this simple appeal
to their faith in the Tremendous Mystery of the Altar he succeeded
in quieting their minds and turning them from their purpose.

We cannot more fitly conclude this account of what will ever
rank in the annals of the Church as one of the most marvellous
transformations, moral and religious, which was ever effected, than
by quoting the words of an historian * who wrote at a date when
the completeness of the reformation was placed beyond dispute.
"At the time when the Seminary was founded, the parish of St.
Sulpice," he says, " was a very sink of iniquity and of every
abomination which it is possible to imagine. It resembled that
infamous city which the Prophet Isaias t depicts as a harlot or
adulteress, so detestable and so numerous were the crimes of which
it was the scene. This modern Sodom was the abode of libertines,
atheists, and heretics, who there were free to indulge their worst
passions with impunity. It was by a particular dispensation of
His Providence in regard to this faubourg that God raised up
M. Olier and his zealous fellow-labourers, who, burning with the
desire of promoting His glory, broke up this ungrateful soil, replete,
like that of Canaan before the Israelites entered in, with every
manner of foulness and impurity. By the unwearied labours of
these evangelical husbandmen it became a very land of promise,
where each taught his neighbour to know and glorify God. It
was easy to note the change that had taken place by the frequent
confessions, the numerous restitutions, the submission shown to
the laws of the Church, the earnestness displayed in attending
the divine offices, the hungering after the word of God, the con-
trition and penitence of a multitude of prodigals, who came to
detest in the bitterness of their conscience the enormities of their
past life."

* M. Faillon does not mention the author's name, doubtless because it was
unknown to him. His reference, in the margin, is simply Rem. Hist. {Rhninis-
cences Historiqties). The writer had evidently a personal knowledge of what
he relates.

t Isaias i. 21, &c.

( 335 )

CHAPTER XI.

M. OLIER AND THE yANSENISTS.

WE should gain but a very inadequate idea of the services
which this great man rendered to religion, if we excluded
from our consideration the prominent part he look in resisting the
insidious encroachments of the Jansenistic heresy, which all this
time was spreading like a lestilence through the Church of France,
and insinuating its baneful virus among the religious bodies, both
of men and women, especially in and about the capital.

The Jansenists, it must ever be remembered, came forward in tlie
first instance in the guise of zealous reformers, protesting loudly
against the scandals which all good men deplored and were labour-
ing to remove, and exhibiting an unwonted fervour of devotion and
austerity of life. This apparent strictness with themselves and
display of earnestness had the effect of deceiving many who, if they
had discerned the true motive of all these ardent professions and
the real import of the tenets with which they were accompanied,
would have been foremost in their condemnation. Of such was M.
Bourdoise, who, captivated by the specious piety and severe morality
of the Abb^ de Saint-Cyran,* was slow to credit the warnings
which keener-sighted friends gave him as to the real character and

Ji.';!

■■"■

* Jean du Verger de Hauranne, called, from his abbey, Saint-Cyran, was born
at Bayonne in 1581. He was a personal friend of Cornelius Jansen, author of
tlie AugustinuSy who was for some time professor in that town and afterwards at
Louvain, and in 1635 became Bishop of Ypres. Saint-Cyran wrote several works
tjiving a practical development to the pernicious principles maintained in that
vork, and was successful in seducing many to his views, among whom were
Antoine Arnauld and his too celebrated sister, Angelique, Superioress of Port
Royal. Imprisoned by Richelieu for teaching false docirine, he was liberated on
the death of that powerful minister, December 4th, 1642, but died on the nth of
October in the following year. Ke was buried in the parish church of St.
Jacques du Haut Pas, and his tomb became an object of veneration to his devoted
followers, who made frequent pilgrimages thereto, especially on Saturdays.

ii !

336

Life of M, Olier.

intentions of the man ; and even when his eyes were opened it was
some time before he could be induced to exercise that vigilance in
the admission of fresh members into his community which the
necessity of the case demanded. Towards the end of 1640 (as
related at the time) a breach had all but occurred in consequence
between M. Olier's infant society and himself. He was at length
completely undeceived, but not before the wolf, who had found an
entrance into the fold, had succeeded in carrying oft one of the
most promising of his flock.*

M. Olier, on the other hand, never hesitated for a moment ; from
the first he had an instinctive feeling of distrust and repulsi n for
the whole party, and it will ever be one of the chief glories of the
Seminary of SL bulpice that it stood as an impregnable bulwark
against the errors of Jansenism, and that this odious heresy could
never boast of having gained a footing within its walls. A mortified
life, however, and earnestness in the cause of ecclesiastical reform,
were identified in the minds of many with a leaning to the new
opinions, and it was the policy of the sect to encourage the
delusion. To those who disliked M. Olier's spirituality and zeal,
but who were withheld from condemning, even to themselves, what
their consciences told them they ought rather to admire and applaud,
it was a kind of relief to be able to set him down as a favourer of
Jansenism ; and the party itself was only too eager to claim him as
an ally. A public protest which he felt himself compelled to make
against a certain confessor, who had been called in to a sick person,
and whose practice was in accordance with those maxims of false
leniency which, as has been said, were in vogue at the time, was
seized upon both by Jansenists and by indifferent Catholics as a
confirmation of the suspicion already afloat. " I detest these lax
maxims," said the servant of God, "as I devest everything which is
not in conformity with the purity of the Gospel ; I have a thousand
times more horror of them than of the open suggestions of Satan,
and would much rather behold a sick man besieged by a legion of
the spirits of darkness than see him put his trust in a casuist who,
to make broader the way of salvation, opens to him the gate of
Hell." A declaration so decisive was taken as a pronouncement
in favour of the no less fatal rigorism which was one of the dis-
tinctive signs of Jansenistic predilections, and M. Olier, who would
have remained silent under any ordinary calumny, considered it his

• See page 100.

His letter to the Marquise dc Partes. 337

duty, when liis orthodoxy was called in question, to rebut in the
face of the Church a charge so injurious to his influence as a pastor
of souls. This he did, not in the way of passionate self-defence or
of a vehement attacli on either of the two opposite errors, but by a
simple and powerful exposition of the Catholic doctrine, in language
which could admit but of one interpretation. From this moment
he became the object of a relentless hostility which did not terminate
even with his life ; but he never flinched from the unecjual contest,
— unequal where one side dealt in unscrupulous falsehood and the
other adhered to the strictest requirements of charity and truth ;
and the only effect of the persecution he encountered was to make
him redouble his exertions to protect his people against the unceas-
ing machinations of th( innovators. Some of his associates, indeed,
indignant at the calumnies which were being promulgated against
him, were preparing to undertake his defence, but the servant of
God, on being made aware of their intention, had their writings
brought to him and thrust them into the fire, saying, " Do you not
know that calumny is one of the rewards which God bestows on those
who defend region ? Let us bless Him in that He has deemed us
worthy of suffering persecution or having upheld His interests."

Heresy is a hateful and a fearful thing ; open, avowed hostility to
the authority of Christ's Church and to its teachings. But there is
something still more hateful and more fearful ; heresy, not merely
nascent, undeveloped, undeclared, but hidden and disguised, —
secretly lurking within the Church itself, dissembling its hostility,
professing submission, protesting fidelity. Such was Jansenism ;
insidious, hypocritical, insincere ; in a word, dishonest : this it was
that made it so powerful for mischief.* A letter, which M. Olier
addressed to the Marquise de Fortes, who was under his direction,
but had allowed herself to be entangled in its toils, so clearly
illustrates the disingenuousness of these false brethren, and at the
same time brings out into such strong relief his own upright-
ness and sincerity, that a portion of it may here be quoted. " I
cannot express to you," he writes, " my grief and my confusion at
the tidings I have received. I am assured that you are in private
correspondence with the Jansenists, and that in your letters you
evince a great zeal in upholding their party. For more than

* A rapid but comprehensive and graphic sketch of the history and spirit of
Jansenism, with its baneful influences and effects, has been given by F. Dalgairns
in his Devotion to the Heart of Jesus.

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Life of M, Olier.

eight months I have continued to refuse credence to the dif-
ferent reports that have reached me, relying on your own asser-
tions in spite of all the testimonies to the contrary ; but of late
such convincing proofs have been brought before me that I cannot
doubt any longer. My very dear daughter, what would you have
me do for you ? If you have lost confidence in me, you are quite
right in believing than I can only be irksome and useless to you.
No one can serve two masters, as our Lord says, or obey in sim-
plicity two persons opposed to each other in their sentiments and
maxims. ... I am sure that my heart is wholly yours, in the charity
of Jesus Christ, to aid you and to serve yoa ; but I doubt very
much whether I ought to allow you any longer to practise this
feigned confidence and submission. I may safely say that I have
never abandoned a soul which Jesus Christ entrusted to me, and
that I have always been careful not to give ir any just cause for
leaving me ; but, when I see a soul following two different paths,
and joining finesse to concealment, after once making known to it
my views and convictions I let it go its own ways, knowing that it
cannot take a more dangerous course than one of divided direction,
especially if it incline towards the bad side. My very dear and
esteemed daughter, if you will promise me, in Jesus Christ, to hold
no further communication with that party, which is creating a
formal schism in the Church and which persists in maintaining the
new opinions in defiance of authority, I can assure you, in our
Lord, that I will render you all the service and all the assistance
which you could expect from one in my position. But it is not
possible, nor is it permissible, for me to assist souls which range
themselves on the side of a party which opposes and, indeed, assails
the spouse of Jesus Christ, the Holy Church, whose wounds and
wrongs are more painful to Him than were those which He endured
in His own person.

*' What would you say, my daughter, of those who assert that the
Church ia in error and the fosterer of heresies; who profess that
their object is to reform her, and, instead of combating her enemies,
in order either to convert them or to put them to the rout, are for
ever railing at their mother, rending her heart, and tearing her to
pieces with unparalleled affliction and desolation ? You see nothing
where you are. You are furnished only with good books, — such,
for instance, as recommend almsgiving, because you have an
inclination that way. Under pretexts the most specious these

Brother John rescued from a snare. 339

gentlemen neglect works of the greatest moment, in order to further
their own malignant views ; thev despise all who do not adopt
them, and even brand them as heretics and schismatics. Because
we preach that Jesus Christ died for all, they are scandalized. They
go so far as to complain and express their displeasure aloud in the
churcl es, as they did in our own only three days ago. In short,
in all their proceedings they give frightful signs of passion, anger,
and rancour, which make one shudder. My daughter, we must not
believe every spirit, as St. John warns us,* nor, as St. Paul says,t
be led away with various and strange doctrines. Beware ! error
has always insinuated itself into the Church under the disguise of
reform. The last heretics declared that their doctrine was that of
the primitive Church, founded on the word of Jesus Christ, accom-
panying their preachings with bounteous alms and announcing
everywhere a reformation of manners exceeding even that of the
Church herself When asked who sent them, they replied, ' No
one ; we come of ourselves ; ' and when again they were asked
where, then, were the signs of their extraordinary mission, and the
approbation of the Holy See, they made no answer, for they had
none to make. Nevertheless, they continued spreading abroad
their doctrine, without mission, without the approbation of their
superiors, — a condition absolutely indispensable, and one which has
always been so regarded in the Church. St. Paul himself. Apostle
as he was, took his directions from St. Peter. J No, without sub-
miss'on there is no security; besides, I see in those who have
gained you over to their party so much obstinacy, impetuosity, con-
tempt of all who do not think as they do, — so much esteem of
themselves, to the prejudice of the Church and of the whole body
of the faithful ; and it is this alarms me about you. Beware, then,
of this dangerous leaven ; and, however fair the exterior of those
of whom I speak, make haste to separate yourself from them, that
you may be united only to Jesus Christ, and to the purity of the
faith, which will ever be the same in the Church, because Jesus
Christ will ever be with her."

Brother John of the Cross would also have fallen a victim to
their artifices but for M. Oiler's sharp remonstrances. He had
taken to going every Sunday to hear the preaching at Port Royal,
his attraction bein i, not the S'srmons, which were beyond his cora-

* 1 St John iv. I. t Heb. xiiL 9.

% Gal. i. 18, 19.

\i.

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540

Life of M. Olier.

prehension, but a paraphrase of the Gospel, which M. Singlin, who
since Saint-Cyran's death had become the patriarch of the sect,
was in the habit of giving in French, a practice which he thought
betokened great zeal for the word of God ; and it required much
firmness and not less tact on the part of M. Olier to keep this
simple and illiterate man from being taken in the snare.

Owing to the troublous state of the times, and the consequent
occupation of those who ought to have endeavoured to suppress
the rising evil, the audacity of the sectaries increased every day.
The machinations to which they secretly resorted, and the influence
which they possessed in certain high quarters, had the effect of
deterring many who had no leaning to their errors from making a
public protest and causing them to take refuge in a safe silence for
fear of incurring the enmity of Port Royal; while preachers and
professors, even when opposing and refuting the new doctrines,
were careful to make no allusion to Jansenius or his tenets, but
to combat ihem under titles borrowed from the heresies of an
earlier date, a disloyal and cowardly mode of action which — it hardly
need be stated — found no favour with M. Olier and the Sulpicians.
Many, again, of the Parisian clergy openly sided with the party,
among whom- -strange to say — was M. Copin, Curd of Vaugirard,
who, notwithstanding the important services which the Sulpicians
had never ceased to render him, in supplying by their ministrations
for his frequent absence from his parish, now assumed a hostile
attitude, and thwarted and molested them by every means within
his power, even preventing the bells being rung as usual on
occasion of the procession which (as will be recollected) the parish-
ioners of St. Sulpice, with the clergy and wardens at their head,
were wont to make every year to Vaugirard on the feast of St.
Mark.* This vexatious proceeding on the part of the Cure, we
may here remark, had no permanent results, for, indignant at the
treatment which the Sulpicians had received, the people of Vau-
girard petitioned that the ancient practice might be continued,
engaging to show them the accustomed tokens of respect, which
accordingly was done, and we mention the circumstance simply
as a specimen of the methods of annoyance to which the partisans
of the new opinions were not ashamed to have recourse. But,
indeed, any weapon, any artifice, by which they might hope to

• It was on occasion of this procession in 1642 that M. de Fiesque first
proposed to make over the parish of St. Sulpice to M. Olier.

^j^aa^aJMiiL

Hostility of the Oratorians.

341

injure or discredit the champions of orthodoxy was legitimate
in their eyes. They spared neither calumny nor menace, they
assailed them in lampoons and scurrilous pamphlets, they railed
at them in their sermons, publicly accusing M. Olier of being
himself the innovator and the author of a schism in the Church.
This, indeed, was the course which they invariably pursued. Con-
demned again and again by the Holy See, to whose judgment they
affected to bow, they impudently persisted in retorting on the
Catholics the charge of introducing strange doctrines. To tea?h
that Christ died for all, that the commandments of God are capable
of being observed, that grace may be resisted — this with them was
heresy; while the contrary propositions they declared to be of
faith. Accordingly, they denounced the Sulpicians as Pelagians,
or Semi-Pelagians, pretending that they referred all to nature and
made no account of grace. " On the contrary," writes M. Olier,
" we say with St. Paul, that * we are not sufficient to think anything of
ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God ; for it is God
who worketh in us both to will and to accomplish according to His
good will.' * We refer to nature nothing that is supernatural ; in
ourselves yf^ are no more capable of willing or accomplishing
supernatural things than we are of thinking them. We have need
of grace always and in all things ; and we can do nothing without
the grace of God. What more can we say ? "

As already intimated, the Fathers of the Oratory took side with
M. Olier's accusers, and endeavours were accordingly made by the
Jansenistic party to establish an Oratorian house in the Faubourg
with the view of recommending their pernicious errors to the
parishioners of St. Sulpice. So unceasing were their efforts, and sa
powerful the support which they received in influential quarter.?,
tliat their success appeared to be assured, and many members of
the Community were filled with rlarm, believing that they would
have to abandon the field to their adversaries. But M. Olier's
courage was equal to the emergency, and, as the sequel will show,
the Oratory was never permitted to effect an entrance into the
parish. For the present, having learned that two of its leading
members, noted adherents of Saint-Cyran, — P. S^guenot, Superior
of the house at Saumur, and P. Toussaint Desmares, who was held
in great repute for his rhetorical powers, — had been invited to
preach in Paris, he succeeded in obtaining an inhibition from the

'■]%

i i

* 2 Cor. iii. 5 ; PhiL ii. 13.

342

Life of M. Olier.

Archbishop, which was immediately put in force.* At nie same
time, Dom Placide Roussel, Prior of the Abbey of St. Germain, who,
like his predecessor, Dom Grdgoire Tarrisse, was a staunch friend
of M. Olier issued a mandement, dated the 14th of June, 1650,
ordering tha. no sermons should be delivered during the Octave of
Corpus Christi in any of the chapels belonging to the various com-
munities in the Faubourg without his express permission, and inter-
dicting preachcis, on any pretext whatever, from touching on the
points which were so hotly debated. The faithful generally, he said,
including religious, need know no more than this — that" if they are
saved it will be solely through the goodness and mercy of God, and
if they are lost it will be the just punishment of their sins and
offences. From this it may be seen, as the Abb6 Faillon observes,
how very far the Reform of St. Maur, in the days of its first fervour,
was from giving any support to Jansenism.

Having failed to penetrate within the Seminary or to win over
any of its inmates to their views, the innovators directed their efforts
to the perversion of the laity, and, unhappily, with only too great
effect ; for they succeeded in enlisting among their followers several
persons of rank and position, whose houses they made so many
schools in which to expound and propagate their pestilential
doctrines. Of these powerful auxiliaries none exercised a larger
influence that the Due and Duchesse de Liancourt. The Duke in
his younger days had been the associate of men who were notorious
for their libertinism and their irreligion, and, in particular, of Th^o-
phile de Viau, whom the Parliament of Paris had condemned to
banishment for his open avowal of atheism. But of late years the
Duke had given great edification to the parishioners by his attention
to his religious duties and his active co-operation in every good
work. Both he and the Duchess were persons of cultivated tastes
and highly intellectual, and their house was frequented by all who
had made themselves a name in the world of letters. Among others,
the Abb^ de Bourzeis, of the French Academy, an ardent Jansenist,
but who had the address to conceal his real opinions, was intro-
duced to them as a person of remarkable talent, who in literary
ability ranked next to the famous Arnauld. Knowing the Duchess
to be prejudiced against the new doctrines owing to the adverse

• P. Seguenot had, in 1638, been sent to the Bastille by Cardinal de Richelieu
on account of the part he took in favour of Saint-Cyran ; and in 1648 P. Desmares,
by ordei of the Queen Regent, had been prohibited from preaching.

Perversion of influential laity.

343

imprcasions which she had received from the Queen Regent, he pro-
fessed at first to be in perfect accord with her and warmly advocated
the opposite side.* After a while, however, he adroitly changed
his line of action and, broaching Jansenistic tenets, as though he
had derived them from a study of St. Augustine, insensibly imbued
her mind with the poison of heresy. The Duke, who was a clever
man but one who did not trouble himself to look deeply into things,
was easily won over by his wife, to whose judgment he was in the
habit of deferring. Thus the Hotel de Llancourt, which stood in
the Rue de Seine, not far from the church of St. Sulpice, became
the headquarters of the party, where the Abbd de Bourzeis, the
Pfere Toussaint Desmares, the Pfere Jacques Esprit, and other
Jansenistic leaders met to confer together and, under the guise of
free discussion, covertly to impose their false Gospel on the accept-
ance of the company.

The Mardchal de Schomberg, brother of the Duchess, was
strongly opposed to the new opinions, and would fain have induced
his sister to consult her Cur^, M. Olier, but, being fully aware of his
sentiments on the subject, she refused to do so ; and a conference
at which she consented to be present between her adviser, De
Bourzeis, and Alphonse Le Moyne, a Doctor of the Sorbonne, had
only the effect of confirming her in her errors and rendering her
more obstinate than before in her adherence to tlie party.

Another rendezvous of the Port- Royalists was the Hotel de
Nevers, occupied by the Comte and Comtesse du Plessis de
Gu^ndgaud. The Count, who was Secretary of State, took but
small interest in religious concerns, but the salon of his wife, Isabelle
de Choiseul, was the resort of all that was most distinguished at the
bar and in the senate and, indeed, it may be said, of all that was
most brilliant in the world of fashion. But, besides these private
reunions, the churches of St. Merry and of Port Royal, at which M.
du Hamel and M. Singlin respectively held forth every Sunday,
were attended by an aristocratic throng, including the Due de
Luynes, ^on of the Constable and a parishioner of St. Sulpice, who
was won over to the party by P. Desmares during a stay he made

iii 1

' Hi

* Before she was seduced into adopting Jansenistic tenets, the Duchess com-
posed a rule of life for her grand-daughter on the occasion of her marriage with
the Prince de Marsillac ; an admirable little work, which was published in 1698,
and reprinted in 1881, with a notice from the pen of the Marquise de Forbiu
d'Oppede.

■.'■^ t -.p- ;^* ^*'TK^(>r'^»'-'¥P f

344

Life of M. Olier,

at the Cli&teau de Liancourt, the Marquis de Laignes, Counsellor of
State, Charles de Bernibres and Jean Lenain, Maitres des Reqi;etes,
the Comtesse de Chavigny, the Comtesse de Brienne, Mme. de
Sabld, and the notorious Anne de Rohan, Princesse de Gudmend,*
all of whom exhibited a fanatical zeal iii propagating the doctrines
of the sect.

It may be imagined with what anguish of heart the servant of
God beheld the ravages which heresy was making in his flock, and
especially among those whose influence for good and for evil was so
powerful. Particularly did he deplore the open s\ipport which the
Due and Duchesse de Liancourt were rendering to the Jansenistic
cause. Alarmed at the perils with which he saw them encompassed,
and grieved at the injurious example they were presenting to his
people, he neglected no means of withdrawing them from the course
on which they had embarked. Hoping, therefore, to attach him by
closer ties to his parish church and at the same time to bring him
into more immediate relations with himself as his pastor, he invited
the Duke to undertake the office of warden which had become vacant
by the death of M. Lecoigneux, President of the Parliament of
Mortier. The Duke readily consented, and M. Olier availed him-
self of the occasion to represent to him the satisfaction it would
cause, not only to himself, but to the parishioners generally, if he would
give some public attestation of his entire submission to the decrees
of the Holy See in regard to the controverted subjects of the day.
The Duke cordially agreed, and just a week after his election, which
took place on August 24th, 165 1, he, in conjunction with the
Duchess, delivered to M. Olier a formal protestation couched in
the plainest and most explicit terms. "We promise," so ran the
document, " with the help of God, strictly to adhere to the decisions
which the Pope shall clearly and distinctly pronounce on the subject
of grace, even though he should condemn all the propositions which
we believe to be contained in the doctrine of St. Augustine ; our
desire being to live and die in the faith of the Catholic, Apostolic,
and Roman Churr' , never separating ourselves therefrom, or
doubting any of the points of faith which it shall teach us. Given
at Liancourt this ist day of September, 165 1. — R. Duplessis.
Jeanne de Schomberg." To which they appended this postscript :

* For the character of this lady the reader is referred to the Memoirs of De
Retz, B. I. p. 17 ; F. Dalgairns, Devotion to the Heart of Jesus, p. 22 ; and the
Dublin Review, April, 1874, p. 373.

■: ft iiiw ayfiiiii jHj]jisi(fc^-^ieirrag>ifrr'""**

Discussion on grace.

345

" We most humbly beg M. I'Abb^ OHer to preserve this paper,
wherein we have desired to declare to him our true dispositions for
his particular satisfaction, and not to allow it to pass into other
liands, if such be his good pleasure."

M. Olier received the same assurance from the Hotel de Nevers,
the frequenters of its salon unanimously declaring that they were
only waiting for Rome to speak in ord-^r to give in their unreserved
submission ; and this, too, was the language held by the Abb^ de
Bourzeis, the Pbre Desmares, M. Singlin, and other leaders of the
party, being apprehensive of alarming the neophytes who were con-
stantly presenting themselves. From the same motive they made
public in 1652 the protestation which the Due and Duchesse de
Liancourt had delivered in private to M. Olier.

Despite, however, all these solemn asseverations the servant of
God was not free from disquietude, for the doctrines attributed to
St. Augustine were none other than the Jansenistic errors which
had been condemned by Urban VIII. in 1642. Seeing, moreover,
that under the influence of their favourite divines the Duke and
Duchess were becoming more and more attached to these per-
nicious errors, and that all his endeavours to recall them were of no
avail, he suggested their conferring privately with Dom Pierre de St.
Joseph, a religious of the Congregation of the Feuillants, who had
distinguished himself by his works on the subject of grace. But, the
Mardchal de Schomberg being of opinion that a proceeding of a
more formal character would have a greater effect in opening his
sister's eyes to the real nature of the tenets she affected, it was pro-
posed that a discussion should take place in presence of witnesses
on both sides. To this the Duke and Duchess assented, on the
condition that the Pfere Desmares should take part in the debate ;
and it was mutually agreed that each disputant should be ready to
affix his signature to any proposition he advanced, on being required
so to do by his opponent.

Accordingly, towards the end of May, 1652, the Duke and
Duchess repaired with their champion to the Presbytery of St.
Sulpice, accompanied by the Mar^chal and Mar^chale de Schomberg.
With P. Pierre were associated M. Olier, M. Bretonvilliers, and two
others. M. Olier opened the conference by putting a question
which went straight to the point at issue. " My father," he said,
" do you condemn as erroneous and heretical the opinion of those
who maintain that there are graces which are sufficient, but which

1 1

l\'B

t:{

I >■

«ii*

346

Life of M. Olier.

are not efficacious? In other words, are there, or are there not,
sufficient graces given by Jesus Christ, which are rendered ineffi-
cacious and inoperative by the ill use that is made of them ? " For
three hours Desmares used all the artifices of which he was master
to evade the question \ and, instead of making any reply, entered
into a long disquisition on the different systems by which theologians
explained the nature of sufficient grace, and, among others, that of
Molina, whom he taxed with heresy and Pelagianism. P. Pierre,
in his turn, proceeded to show that the system of tne latter had
never been condemned, and Desmares undertaking, on the other
hand, to prove his assertion from St. Augustine, M. Olier, who per-
ceived the object of the subterfuge, interposed, and brought him
back to the point. " The question," he said, " is not whether, in
order to do good, it is sufficient to have the grace of Molina, or of
any other theologian, but whether he who does not do the good
which he is commanded to do, has, or may have, all the aid
necessary thereto, and vhether God, on His part, offers it to him."
The Jansenist still persisting in his distinctions and M. Olier con-
tinuing to press him for a reply, the Duke and Duchess came to
their advocate's assistance, deprecating the attempt to drive h'm
into a corner, on the ground that the term " sufficient grace " was
used in different senses by different theologians. M. Olier, there-
fore, contented himself with asking his opponent whether he held,
or did not hold, that there were graces which were not efficacious ;
and then, as Desmares still declined to answer, he reduced his
question to the simplest possible form, and in a single sentence
struck at the very root of the new heresy. " Either subscribe," he
said, " this proposition, that there is no sufficient grace which is not
efficacious, or renounce Jansenius." Instead of replying, Desmares
went off into a denial that he had derived his opinions from the
writings of Jansenius ; and so the disputation ended, as such dis-
putations usually end : the teachers of error departed as they came,
— unenlightened and unconverted. Thirty times, and more, Des-
mares endeavoured to evade making a reply, and then, perceiving
(as P. Pierre afterwards said) that, with all his stratagems, he could
not induce his opponent to quit his position, " he put up his sword
into its sheath, — I mean, he put his books and treatises into his
bag ; " and the combatants separated. M. de Liancourt instantly
took possession of all the notes of the conference which lay on M.
Olier's table, and the party did not fail to publish abroad that their

Du IlameVs system of penance.

347

champion had gained a complete victory. The controversy was
renewed in writing between P. Pierre and Arnauld ; Desmares also
sent the former a paper in explanation of the points he had
advanced ; and we may conceive how great was the interest which
the public took in the debate from the fact that hawkers cried about
the streets what they called the Pore Desmares's ** confession of
faith." M. Olier, however, was satisfied with having done his duty
as pastor of souls, and pursued the matter no further.

Of all M. Olier's opponents, however, the most formidable, as he
was personally the most hostile, was M. Henri du Hamel, Cur^ of
St. Merry at Paris, whom, in 1645, the party had brought from the
diocese of Sens and placed at the head of that parish for tlie avowed
purpose of making it the rival of St. Sulpice. Here he established
regular conferences, in the first instance professedly for the eccle-
siastics of his community, but really for the laity, who soon formed
the sole audience. The questions discussed were always such as
were connected with the subject of grace. The novelty of the pro-
ceeding attracted a vast concourse of people, among whom were
many persons of rank, and the greatest eagerness and excitement
prevailed. Besides the conferences there were catechisings, intended
rather for adults than children, as also sermons, which produced
no little sensation. Then, too, M. du Hamel became very popular
as a director, especially among the ladies of his parish, crowds of
whom might be seen waiting to consult him. All this was repre-
sented as an extraordinary revival of the fervour, strictness, and
purity of primitive times. The Vicaire of Belleville, which was
attached to the parish of St. Merry, went so far as to determine to
administer the sacrament of baptism only once a year, viz., on Holy
Saturday ; and taught that immersion was essential to its validity.
But the most striking feature in this pretended reform was the
restoration of public penance, as practised in the early Church.
This system had already been carried out by M. du Hamel in his
former parish on true Jansenistic principles. He divided his peni-
tents into four classes. The fiist consisted of such as were guilty
only of secret sins ; these, when assisting at the divine office, were
ranged in the lower part of the church, at four paces distant from the
rest of the congregation. The second was composed of such as
had been at variance with their neighbour, but without causing
scandal j their place was outside the building, in the porch ^nd
vestibule. The third class consisted of such as had committed

(

i?if

i'*

■A

ill
'11

348

Life of M. Olier.

scandalous offences, and these were relegated to the churchyard ;
while those who had indulged long habits of sin were made to occupy
an adjacent hill, from which tney had a view of the entrance \q the
church. All these penitents remained barefoot ind bareheaded
during the celebration of Mass; they also took the disci[)line in
public, wore a hair-shirt, and added other mortifications. These
practices, with some slight modifications, were introduced at St.
Merry ; and in justification of so startling a proceeding it was
formally propounded that without previous, and even public, satis-
faction sacramental absolution was of no avail.

One of the penances commonly imposed was that of standing at
the further end of the church, or outside the door, and never raising
the eyes to the Blessed Sacrament ; and it is related that a pious
young woman, having accidentally looked towards It, immediately
ran out into the street for fear of being led to look again and make
an act of adoration. But a priest of St. Sulpice, to whom she was
brought by her friends, happily succeeded in disabusing her mind
of its vain terrors. Another very usual penance was called the
hour's tears, from its consisting in making efforts to shed tears, as
if of compunction, for that space of time. Then, too, in the early
mornings, a strange sight might have been witnessed in one of the
chapels of St. Merry — a whole assembly of women scourging them-
selves with the utmost vigour ; so great, indeed, was the ardour and
enthusiasm with which they gave themselves to these and similar
austerities that several died or went mad from the effects. Some
even left their homes, and went to lead a solitary life in wild and
desert places. One in particular is mentioned who attired herself
in penitential garb and took up her abode near Issy, in a sort of
natural grotto that was there, living only on herbs and roots and
taking water with her hand from a neighbouring spring. She was
venerated as a saint by the devotees of her party, who went fre-
quently to visit and consult her. This eremitical sort of life soon
became one of the fashions of the day. The Dues de Luynes and
de Liancourt had each beautiful retreats constructed in the valley
of Port Royal des Champs, nine miles from Versailles, to which they
retired from time to time, and their example was followed by
persons of all classes. They formed a sort of new Thebaid, ani-
mated with a malignant spirit of rebellion against the present, living
Church of God. Thus, under the plea of reviving primitive piety,
the most dangerous novelties in doctrine and in practice were

gr-yi^.j.iiBitiMjy.y*^

f .UiuiSiiiLiii gi5

His discourse on Janscnistic errors.

349

grailually infoduced, to the destruction of all Christian simplicity
and genuine devotion. Many of M. Olier's own flock were drawn
away, in spite of all his warnings and exertions, and tl)e spirit of
disobedience and singularity everywhere excited was productive of
the gravest disorders. But that wliich caused the man of God the
deepest grief was the general neglect and infrequency of communion
which inevitably resulted from the sDread of Janscnistic tenets;
the parish of St. Sulpice alone, the number of those who

approached the Holy Table during one year was three thousand
less than formerly.

Seeing the credit which these innovations had obtained in high
places, through the specious piety and zeal of those who introduced
them, M. Olicr chose the festival of St. Sulpice, when not only the
Regent and her court, but a crowd of prelates, heads of religious
Orders, and other distinguished persons were present, to make a
solemn jjrctest against the fatal doctrin-^s that were gaining ground.
The particular errors he undertook to refute were — i, the necessity
of public penance ; and, 2, the invalidity of absolution previous to
satisfaction, and in the absence of perfect contrition. He showed
that the public penance required by the early Church was not of
universal obligation ; that it was a matter of temporary discipline, the
necessity and benefit of which had ceased with the circumstances
which rendered it either desirable or suitable.* He added that, if
such extraordinary practices were demanded by the age, God would
make known His will as He has ever done : first, by raising up
men endowed with supernatural gifts and powers; and, secondly,
by stamping the practices themselves with the approbation of the
Apostolic See. Then, with a holy irony, he said, ** I do not know
whether in the institution of such unwonted penances these con-
ditions have been observed. I do not know whether all is done in
submission to the Holy See, or if the spirit from which they emanate

* " As is always the case when men fall in love with an obsolete discipline,
what they reproduced was not even the phantom, but the mere dead body of the
past. They sighed for the ancient discipline which the Church found it necessary
to establish at a time when men were crowding into it from a pagan world, and
had to learn the very first principles of morality ; and thoy forgot the daily com-
munion in tlie Catacombs, of men and v.'omen pursuing their avocations in the
midst of the bustle of heathen society. They did not take into account tiie
Blessed Sacrament carried by Christians to their homes, as '.veil as by solitaries
into the desert, dwelling with them in theii houses, and accompanying them in
their travels by land and sea." — Dalgairns, Devotion to tht Sacred Hearty p. 30.

350

Life of M. Olier,

be not the same which makes men write agaii.st it and resist its
sacred power. I do not know whether those of whom I speak pro-
pound their opinions with the humble surrender of their own lights,
Oi* with bitterness and pride. Do we see in their proceedings the
spirit of a St. Francis, who desired to be thought a fool, an ignorant
man, a poor miserable sinner, nay, the greatest sinner in the world ;
who was the first to give the example of what he taught, and took
pleasure in suffering contempt and msult? Besides, as these pen-
ances are for all the world, as is affirmed, it is needful that God
approve them by gifts more excellent and miracles more striking
than those which confirmed the rrission of the founders of religious
Orders, seeing that the latter imposed their observances only on
certain individuals, and not on the whole body of the fait: ul."
Then, proceeding to the second point, he maintained, in conformity
with the doctrine approved by the Council of Trent, and, indeed,
expressly taught in the common catechisms, that attrition is suffi-
cient for sacramental absolution. After showing that those words
of our Saviotir, ^'^ Except you do penance, you shall all like^vise perish" *
are not to be understood of perfect contrition — which is required for
justification apart from the sacrament — he concluded with this en-
couraging nut solemn admonition : " Christians, I ask of you that
which our Lord has been pleased to render more easy, i.'-mel}',
sacramental penance. This does not demand of necessity a dis-
position so pure. Souls that have not perfect charity, having as yet
only the principle of love, such as is required of adults to be bap-
tised, receive through the Sacrament of Penance a participation in
the perfect charity of Jesus Christ dying for us on the Cross. Per
this sacrament is a second plank to «ave from shipwreck. Keep,
then, the middle course, and go neither to the one extreme nor to
the other, if you would be saved from perishing. There is abuse in
the indulgence and facility of many confessors, and there is exctss
in the rigorism of others. The evil one pretsnd.*^ to drive away
abuses, but his object is either to abolish the use of sacraments
altogether or to lead men to dangerous extremes, contrary to the
Spirit of Jesus Christ."

This discourse irritated the Jansenists to fury, -and they strove
to weaken its effects by indulging in violent invectives against the
preacher. Arnauld, indeed, went so far as to accuse him of having
declaimed against the necessity of true repentance, and of having

* St. Luke xiii. 5.

MMM

( I

Jimsenis7n deadly in its effects.

351

in the heat of his harangue torn in pieces his book on — or, as it
might more correctly be called, against — Frequent Comtnunion*
Desmares also published an anonymous i)amphlet, which bore the
title of A Christian and Charitable Remonstrance^ addressed to
M. Olier,\ but which was distinguished ior anything rather than
Cliristian charity. In it the writer asserted that a scandal so
public demanded as public a protest, and undertook to show that
the Superior of St. Sul;>ice had sinned mortally by having impugned
in the pulpit the doctrine of St. Augustine on the subject of grace,
and that of the Fathers generally on penance. He charged him
with defaming and persecuting those true servants of God who were
not of his opinion, and usurping the authority of the Church, the
sole judge of controversies ; he declared him guilty of favouring
the heresies of Luther and Calvin ; and, in fine, of profanation
and sacrilege every time he ascended the steps of the altar. But
even from this publication we mr.y gather the estimation in which
M. Oiier was held, and the indubitable marks of sanctity which
his life exhibited. The writer concludes by protesting that his
sole object is to lead his readers " to conceive a deep compassion
for M. Olier, and to humble themselves tremblingly before God,
who sometimes permits those who are believed to be saints to fall
into thickest darkness, and to pray the Lord to open the eyes of those
who place a blind confidence in everything he says, that they may see
that the Holy Spirit has not committed to him all the treasures of
His wisdom." This pamphlet was widely circulated in Paris, but
to ail the calumnies it contamed M. Olier replied only by silence
and patience, leaving to God his justification and defence.

It weie wholly lo misconceive the nature and imporf, of the
Jansenistic heresy to suppose that it involved but a metaphysical
error, of no vital consequence \ and M. Olier knew well what he
was doiiig when he singled out the doctrine which he made his
point of attack in the disputation with Desmares. That doctrine
was already bearing fruits most dishonouring to God, and most
deadly in its effects oa the souls of men. " These innovators," he
wrote, "teach that they never d<j evil except through defect of
grace, God withdrawing it from His creature without cause, and

* F. Dalgairns, in his work on Holy Communion (P. Ill, C. Il), exposes the
true character of Arnauld's book, which when analyzed, presents, as he says,
" a complete picture of modern rigorism."

t It is dated February i8th, 1653.

35'

Life of M. Olier.

thereby making it to stumble. When we fall, therefore, it is through
defect of grace, and not by the abuse of our liberty; and the
commandments of God are thus impossible to us. Just conceive
what a doctrine this is, and what a pretext it furnishes for the
negligent and for libertines ! Their mission, they say, is to humble
men by instru':ting them that grace is the principle of everything ;
as though the whole Church throughout the world did not teach
it to her children. And see what kind of humility this is, which
makes the sinner, not accuse himself of being the sole cause of the
evil he does, but accuse God, as if He did not wish us to do good,
the good which He commands us, and to enable us to accomplish
which He died upon the Cross and shed every drop of His Blood."
This impious doctrine was even imported into the sacred tribunal
of penance, and, among other instances, it is related that a person
who had \iolated the most solemn engagements had the audacity
to say, in so many words, not that he had sinned, but that grace
had been wanting to him on three several occasions.*

These disastrous innovations made their way even into the
College of the Sorbonne, where they were maintained in theses
without the slightest regard to the corrections made by the censors.
Whereupon, M. Cornet, Syndic of the Faculty of Theology, ex-
tracted from the Augustinus of Jansenius what have since been
known as the Five Propositions, t which embody the essential

* In a letter to Mme. de Maure (Anne Doni d'Attichy, cousin of Mile. Le Gras).
Mme. de Choisy describes the practical results of Jansenistic teaching in terms
which bear a remarkable resemblance to those of M. Olier. After protesting
that the effect of Arnauld's writings and conduct was to unsettle people's minds
and favour libertinism and impiety, she continues, " I speak of what I know,
seeing as I do how many courtiers and men of the world 'nav»* broken loose
from all restraint since these propositions about grace came into vogue. * Well,'
they argue, 'what does it signify what one does? If we have grace, we shall
be saved ; and if we have not, we shall be lost.' And then they conclude by
saying, * The whole thing is a pack of nonsense.' Before these questions arose,
when Easter came round, they were dumfounded, not knowing what hole to
creep into, and full of oil sorts of scruples ; now they are quite at their eaje^
and never dream of going to confession, saying, 'What is written is written.'
This is what the Jansenists h.ive done for people of the world." Cousin, Vie
de la Marquise de SabU, p. 59.

+ The full title of 'his famous work is A::gustinus Sandui : Doctrina Sandi
Augttstini de Humana Natura Sanitate, Aigritudine, Medicina, adversus Pela-
gianos et Massilienses. It was published at Louvain in 1640, two years after
:'.ie death of the author. A summary of its teaching is given in the Catholic
Dictionary compiled by Addis and Arnold ; where also will be found the five
condemned Propositions, pp. 465, 466.

art
in

jp^J 'Kp'-^i^jn^p r^;^ . t

Dishonesty of the innovators.

353

articles of the heresy, in order to their being condemned — which,
in fact, they were — but, on one of the Doctors, Louis de Saint-
Amour, with sixty of his colleagues,* appealing to the Parliament
on the ground that the Faculty was exceeding its powers, it was
decided to refer the matter to the judgment of the Apostolic See.
Accordingly, in 1650, the Bishops of France, to the numuer of
eighty-five, together with several heads of religious houses in Paris,
subscribed a joint letter on the subject to the Pope. They were
represented at Rome by three divines chosen for the purpose, as
was also the Jansenistic party, the Pbre Desmares being of the
number, and, after both sides had been allowed full liberty to
expound the doctrines which they severally advocated, Innocent X.,
on the 31st of May, 1653, issued his Bull Cutn occasione, which
condemned the five propositions, and on the 20th of July it was
published in all the parishes of the city, including that of St.
Sulpice. M. Olier, it may be observed, had been unable to accom-
pany the three doctors, but he had laboured vigorously to obtain
signatures to the letter and, in conjunction with St. Vincent de
Paul and M. de Bretonvilliers, had furnished the funds for paying
the expenses of their journey and of their residence at Rome.

As strenuous as he was firm in maintaining the integrity of the
faith against the innovators, the servant of God was ever most
charitable in his judgment of individuals, and moderate in his con-
duct even towards the party itself. On the publication of the Bull,
when the Jansenists were saying to each other that there would be
" fireworks " at St Sulpice, and elsewhere, to celebrate the event,
this truly great man was deprecating in his letters to his friends all
appearance of triumphing over their opponents. To M. de Breton-
villiers he writes, " My idea would be to do nothing to hurt the
feelings of the Jansenists, but to treat them with tenderness and
great openness of heart, so as to draw them into union and make
them subsei-ve the glory of God and the good of the Church."
The Jansenists, as we know, were far from sharing these sentiments,
while the ccirse they adopted was neither honest nor sincere..
Their doctors nad taken with them to Rome a document consisting
of three parallel columns, in the fii5t of which was given the purely
Calvinistic sense of which, as they declared, the five propositions

* M. Copin, Cur^ of Vaugirard, was among the Ductors who most warmly
opposed the condemnation of the five Propositions. He subsequently became
Dean of the Faculty of Theology, and died in 1667, in extreme old age.

; *

V 1

ki.(»i»;:Kt/<pi-At'<t^'M':?S;Av'J:*. L '^^'f,fL'£iid^^.

J. ~i I m^m

354

Life of M. Olier.

were susceptible ; in the second, the particular meaning which they
themselves attached thereto, and which they asserted to be identical
with the tenets of St. Augustine ; and in the third, the true Catholic
doctrine ; and they persisted in maintaining that the Papal Bull
was directed only against the version given in the first column,
and not against that given in the second, to which they still adhered.
Thus they neither submitted nor openly rebelled, but, pretending that
the judgment of the Holy See did not touch their propositions,
rightly understood, sought by a course of systematic concealment
and prevarication to escape the consequences of their condemnation
and to propagate their doctrines with impunity.

The party had long desired to avail themselves of some organiza-
tion, already in existence, by which to undermine the faith of the
people with greater secrecy and effect, and but for M. Olier's
promptness and energy they would, in all human probability, have
gained their end, at least for the time. There existed at Paris a
Congregation v/hich bore the name of the Propagation of the Faith ;
it had been formed in 1632 by P. Hyacinthe, a Capuchin preacher,
with the approbation of the Holy See, and had been confirmed by
letters patent from the Crown. Its object was the recovery of
heretics and the care of new converts ; and, as its ramifications were
widely extended through the provinces and it enjoyed considerable
credit with the public, the Jansenists hoped that, under the protec-
tion of M. de Gondy, the Archbishop^ on whom it immediately
depended and who favoured the party, they should be able to
intrench themselves in this association, as in a stronghold from
which it would be impossible to dislodge them. Many of them,
accordingly, had themselves enrolled among its members, and the
conspiracy seemed to be succeeding to admiration, when M. Olier,
perceiving their design, resolved to defeat the manoeuvre by himself
seeking admission into the company, in conjunction with M. Colom-
bel, the Cur^ of St. Germain-l'Auxerrois, a man of like spirit to
his own. The Jansenists in vain opposed his election, and all
their worst fears were realized. M. Olier was chosen to fill c.e
of the highest oflSces in the association, and almost the first use
he made of his authority was to prevent the admission of two
priests who had refused submission to tne Papal Bull. The Arch-
bishop supported the candidates, but, on the servant of God address-
ing himself to the Queen and Cardinal Mazarin, who had now returned
to the head of anairs, he reluctantly confirmed the exclusion ; and

A manceuvre defeated.

355

then, weak man as he was, on the Jansenists representing the
prejudice thereby done to his prerogatives, he, six days afterwards,
ordered them to be received, together with three others whom he
named. More than this : a majority of the association having
decided on appointing M. Olier to the post of director, the Arch-
bishop formally opposed the election for special reasons of his own,
which he did not think fit to disclose. Whereupon the minority
proceeded to an election, and, in direct violation of the laws of the
society, nominated the Abb^ d'Aubigny for the office, hoping under
shelter of his name — for he held the rank of prince at the Court of
France — to carry out their intentions without further molestation.
Thej were aware that the Abbd did not share their opinions, but,
owing to his having been educated at Port Royal and contracted
in consequence affectionate relations v/ith the leaders oi the party,
he was supposed to regard them with a certain degree of favour ;
and, moreover, he was known to be dissatisfied with Cardinal
Mazarin, and the Court generally, for not espousing the cause of
his kinsman, our Charles II. But they were mistaken in their
anticipations ; for the Abb^, unwilling to identify himself with the
innovating party or to occupy a position of implied antagonism
to M. Olier, refused to accept the office for which he had been
selected.* Nevertheless, the Archbishop confirmed the election,

* That the Abbe d'Aubigny was no Jansenist is plain from the terms he used
in conversation with Saint-Evremond, which the latter has reported. Tliey are
worth quoting for their own sake, as giving a lively description of the party and
its tenets. "Our directors," he said, " trouble themselves little about doctrine;
their object is to oppose one society by another, to make themselves a party in
the Church, and then of this party to make a cabal at Court. They set about
reforming a convent without reforming themselves ; they induce people who
wish to gain a notoriety by their singularities to live on herbs, while you may
see themselves indulging in the choicest viands. These opinions of theirs are
always doing violence to nature ; they rob religion of all that is consolatory,
and put in its place fear, sorrow, and despair. The Jansenists, wishing to make
everybody a saint, do not find ten persons in the whole kingdom whom they
can turn into such Christians as they would have them to be. Christianity is
divine, but they who receive it are men, and, do what you will, you must take
humanity into account. A philosophy which is too austere makes few wise
men ; a policy which is too strict, few good subjects ; a religion which is too
hard, few religious souls, at least such as long remain so. Nothing is lasting
which does not accommodate itself to nature. Grace, of which they talk so much,
accommodates itself thereto ; God uses the docility of our minds and the tenderness
of our hearts in order to have Himself accepted and loved. It is certain that
those doctors who are too rigid inspire more aversion for themselves than tur

fril

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i56

Li/e of M. Oiier.

and directed that all the acts of the Congregation should be executed
in the Abba's name. M. Olier and his supporters at onv.e absented
themselves from the meetings of the Society, and appealed to the
Council of State to cancel the informal election. The Jansenists,
on their side, presented a memorial, and Cardinal Mazarin, who
was unwilling to offend an association whose officers might be
useful in promoting his policy, and who was also on terms of close
intimacy with the Abbe de Bourzeis, would fain have let the matter
rest ; but the Queen was firm, and he found himself compelled to
look about for a pretext on which the Archbishop might be induced
to comply with the royal pleasure without apparently receding
from his own position. As, however, no such expedient offered
itself, and the Archbishop would not yield, the Cardinal invented
a motive for himself by pretending that the appointment of a foreign
prince to be head of a society which exercised so much influence
in the country was dangerous to the realn:, and forthwith dissolved
the Congregation.

After the publication of the Papal Bull, the Due and Duchesse de
Liancourt were, in the first instance, well disposed to submit, but,
unhappily, their evil counsellors succeeded in persuading them that
the doctrines they held were those of St. Augustine, which the Pope
had no intention of condemning ; and thus, in spite of their solemn
engagements, they allowed themselves to be deceived, and deemed it
a point of honour to cling all the more closely to the side they had
espoused. Embarrassed, however, by the situation in which he now
found himself, the Duke retired into the country, staying one while
at his chateau of La Rocheguyon in the neighbourhood of Mantes
and at another at that of Liancourt in the diocese of Beauvais ; but,
being obliged on occasions to return to Paris, he continued to frequent
the church of St. Sulpice. M. Picot^ had been his confessor for
fifteen or sixteen years, and, presuming that the Duke had accepted
ex animo the Papal decrees, he had abstained from questioning him on

si'i. The penance they preach makes people prefer the facility of continuinsj
in vice to the difficulties they put in the way of getting out of it. The other
extreme appears to me equally vicious. If I dislike those morose spirits who
make everything to be sin, I dislike none the less those easy, indulgent doctors
who see sin in nothing, who favour the disorders of nature, and make themselves
secret participators iu evil habits. I like enlightened persons, who judge soundly
of our actions, who exhort us earnestly to do such as are good and, us much as
lies in their power, turn us away from those that are bad. In a word, I am for
a Christian morality, neither lax nor austere."

M. Arnauld's misrepresentations.

357

the subject. But, after a while, finding that both he and the Duchess
maintained their intimate relati'ms with Port Royal and, in particular,
with the Abb^ de Bourzeis, M. Picot^ began to have scruples as to
giving him absolution. Accordingly, on the Duke going to him at
the end of January, 1655,* and asking him to hear his confession,
as he wished to receive Communion on the feast of the Purification,
M. Picotd, good simple man, frankly told him of his difficulty, adding
that he felt bound in conscience to take counsel before receiving his
confession, but bidding him return either on the eve or on the morn-
ing of the festival. The Duke cheerfully acquiesced, but his
advisers were differently minded, and induced him to go and make a
formal complaint to St. Vincent de Paul, who undertook to confer
with the Sulpicians on the matter. From them Vincent ascertained
that several of the most learned and experienced doctors of the
Sorbonne whom they had consulted had given it as their judgment
that the Duke's confessor would not be justified, under the circum-
stances, in granting him absolution, but that he might be admitted
to Communion if he presented himself, inasmuch as he had not been
guilty of any public scandal.

The Jansenists were now seized with consternation, thinking that,
if a person like the Due de Liancourt, who occupied so high a posi-
tion and was so universally esteemed for his piety and charity, were
treated with such severity, they could no longer reckon on the
security which they had hitherto enjoyed, as, fortified by the example
of the priests of St. Sulpice, the other clergy of Paris and, indeed, of
the provinces also would adopt similar measures with their penitents.
The affair w^s held to be of such vital importance that M. Arnauld
came forward in defence of the Duke, and published A Letter to a
Person of Condition, in which, while inveighing with the utmost
vehemence against M. Olier and his community, he misrepresented
all the facts of the case. The delay of absolution became, in his
version of the mattei, the refusal of Communion ; then this supposed
refusal of Communion was turned into a positive act of excommuni-
cation, and the priests of St Sulpice were consequently charged with
the commission of a mortal sin in having exceeded their legitimate
authority and usurped episcopal jurisdiction ; and this is the account
which the writers of the party continued to give of the occurrence.

ifi

i I

* The Duke had resigned his office of churchwarden on September 8th, 1654,
or, as is more probable, had not been re-elected on account of his known Jan-
senistic sentiments.

r,^_..te;^iV^^:

mmmmmmi

n
!

358

Life of M. Olier.

Many publications appeared on the Catholic side, to which M.
Arnauld replied in a second Letter, wherein he denied that the five
condemned propositions were contained in the Augustinus of Jan-
senius, and declared that St. Peter had fallen through defect of
grace. This second letter was brought before the Sorbonne and
formally condemned, and, on his refusing to retract, M. Arnauld was
excluded from the Faculty of Doctors. The Duke, despite occa-
sional misgivings, persisted in his contumacy to the last, being
attended on his deathbed, as was the Duchess also, by Desmares,
who on his return from Rome liad ceased to be a member of the
Oratory and had taken up his abode at the Duke's chateau of Lian-
court. There he died on the 2nd of January, 1687, never having
recanted his errors ; but the Abbd de Bourzeis, who resided with
the Duke up to the time of M. Olier's death, made a public retrac-
tation in the November of 1661, his conversion being largely due to
the persistent remonstrances of the Duchesse d'Aiguillon.

We have given these particulars as an illustration of the vigilance
and perseverance which M. Olier displayed in confronting and
baffling this insidious heresy at every point, and by which he has
deserved the gratitude and veneration of every true Catholic, as he
certainly earned for himself the implacable and undying hatred of
the Jansenists. Thus, M. Nicole, one of the most moderate of the
party, attributed the ruin and discredit of his friends to the intrigues
of the Jesuits, and also of " a certain great director and his priests,"
meaning M. Olier and his community ; comparing the former to
fiends, and the latter to secondary spirits, or, as he ironically
designates them, '• angelic souls." M. Olier was ever on the alert,
and all his movements were characterised by a quickness and a
decision which allowed no time for the evil, when once detected, to
gain strength and confidence by delay. Even before Innocent X.
had formally pronounced against the new doctrines, he would not
allow them to be discussed as though they but represented one side
of a controversy between two conflicting schools of theology, both
of which were equally tolerated in the Church. They had been
condemned by the Bull of Urban VIII. and were therefore to be
reprobated. Indifference was implicit heresy, and silence was dis-
loyalty to the Truth of God. " The guilelessness of the true Israelite,"
he wrote, '* does not allow of such suspension of judgment ; on the
contrary, it ought to make us declare ourselves without waiting for
positive injunctions. The children of the Gospel must not practise

Testimony of Fdnelon.

359

such reserve. Silence proceeds from a fe.ar of ofTending men, and
the truth of God is detained in injustice.* Tiie divine doctrine of
our Master must be preached on the house-tops." Accordingly, in
the Seminary no disputes were permitted which were calculated to
introduce division or to foster a spirit of party ; all books of a
dangerous or equivocal character were proscribed ; it was forbidden
tc hold communication with any who did not avow implicit obedi-
ence to the decisions of the Church ; and all professions of piety,
however specious, were condemned which were not founded on an
entire and unreserved submission to the Holy See. It is unneces-
sary to add that if any had openly declared themselves in favour of
t. : new opinions, whether in the Community or in the Seminary,
they would have been instantly expelled.

Writing confidentially, in 1705, to Pope Clement XL, Fenelon,
whose moderation and impartiality are incontestable, says that, with
the exception of the Society of Jesus and the Seminary of St.
Sulpice, all the ecclesiastical bodies throughout France seemed
to have become possessed with a spirit of rebellion against the
authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. He expressly names the two
Benedictine communities of St. Maur and St. Vannes, the Augus-
tinians, the Discalced Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Canons
Regular of Ste. Genevifeve, the Premonstratensians, the Recollects,
the Capuchins, the Oratorians ; and then he adds these weighty
words : " Soli sunt San-Sulpitiani SeminaristcE quibus cordi sit hanc
lahsm a se depelkre. Unde a CardinaU Archiepiscopo viles et invisi
habentur — The Seminarists of St. Sulpice alone are earnest and
resolute in expelling this pest from among them. On which
account they are become vile and detestable in the estimation of
the Cardinal Archbishop." f

* Rom. i. 18.

+ Quoted by M. Faillon in a note at the end of Part IT. Book X. The Arch-
bishop of Paris to whom Fenelon refers was Cardinal de Noailles, who, with the
Bishops of Mirepoix, Montpellier, Boulogne, and Seez, appealed to a future
General Council against the Bull Unigenitus, by which Clement XI., in 1713,
condemned loi propositions of a Jansenistic nature extracted from the writings
of P. Quesnel. He recanted in 1728, shortly before his death.

'\ i

f^miKifmmKmmmmmmm

( 360 )

CHAPTER XII.

M. OLIEWS CONDUCT DURING THE FRONDE.

WE must now retrace our steps, and relate M. Olier's proceed-
ings during the troubles of tlie Fronde — that abortive
Revolution, as it has been aptly called — which desolated Paris and
convulsed the whole nation with civil war. Into the details of this
memorable contest it does not concern us to enter further than may be
necessary to exhibit its formidable character and the part which was
taken by the servant of God during those five sad years of confusion
and distress. The causes of the outbreak lay deeper than can be
explained in few words, but for our present purpose it will be
enough to say that it had its origin in the ambitious passions of the
nobles, their mutual jealousies, their impatience, as feudal lords,
under the supreme dominion of the Crown, and the aversion enter-
tained by all classes for the person of Cardinal Mazarin, who in
the name of the Queen Regent ruled the kingdom : by the higher
classes because of his arrogance, lis foreign extraction, and his
paramount influence in affairs of State ; by the lower because of
the oppressive taxes with which they were burdened and their
inability to procure redress for their undoubted grievances; to
which must be added, as giving form and unity to the rest, the
grave dissensions which had arisen between the Sovereign and the
Parliament on questions essentially affecting the prerogatives of the
Crown and the powers and privileges of the civil authorities : indeed,
it was this alliance with the magistracy which gave a factitious sort
of legality to the rebellion and was the mainstay of its vitality and
strength. The Fronde, in short, was, in its primary intention, an
outbreak against the despotic power of the Crown, but it was an
outbreak the chief actors in which — on the part of the bourgeois and
the Parliament no less than on that of the nobles and seigneurs —
sought their own particular ends rather than the general weal. The

The Day of the Barricades.

361

object for which they contended was the promotion of their re-
spective and rival intere«:*s and the maintenance or increase of their
exclusive privileges, not the vindication of popular rights or the
redress of po[)ular grievances.

The Jansenists availed themselves of the wide-spread disaffection
to further their own ends. They knew they had nothing to expect
from Mazarin and the Court, but in the event of a Revolution they
hoped they might succeed in obtaining a minister who was more
favourable to their cause; and, moreover, they believed that dis-
orders in the State would distract attention from their machinations
and facilitate the execution of their designs. To those who had
the interests of religion at heart they represented — and the repre-
sentation was, unhappily, but too well founded — that so long as
Mazarin was at the head of affairs it were vain to look for any
general reform in the Church, as he disposed of abbacies and
bishoprics at his sole pleasure without regard either to the personal
merits of his nominees or to their fitness for the office, and, certainly,
without any view to the correction of abuses or the restoration of
ecclesiastical discipline. It was thus that the Due de Luynes had
been gained over to their side and became a prime mover in the
revolt, as also the Chevalier de Sdvign^, who commanded what was
popularly known as the "regiment of Corinth," which was levied by
that irrepressible person, the Coadjutor-Archbishop of Paris, whose
name is better known as the Cardinal de Retz.* That unscrupulous
prelate had no sympathy with the Jansenistic doctrines, but he gave
his energetic support to the party because it was hostile to the
Court, and especially to Mazarin, who, he considered, had slighted
and neglected him — in other words, had not satisfied his cupidity
in the matter of prelacies and other ecclesiastical benefices. One
of the most active of the agitators was M. du Hamel, the noted
Cur^ of St. Merry, who from early youth had been a disciple of
Saint-Cyran ; and among his parishioners were two ardent Jan-
senists, the President de Novion and the Counsellor de Blancmenil,
through whose instrumentality he was able to bring all his influence
to bear upon the Parliament.

The immediate occasion of the outbreak was the arrest of the
three magistrates, Broussel, Blancmenil, and Charton on the 26th
of August, 1648, the Day of the Barricades, as it came to be called,
when the populace of the capital, secretly encouraged by the Parlia-

• See Additional Notes, No. 4.

lil J

362

Life 0/ M, Olier,

mcnt, rose to arms. By the morning of the 27th more than 200
barricades liad been erected in the streets and 100,000 citizens
stood fully equipped and j)repared to resist the royal troops, or to
attack them, if tlieir champions were not liberated. It was observed,
however, with surprise that the Faubourg St. Germain preservcil
its usual tranquillity : not a single barricade was raised in all tiie
quarter; and good men attributed the peaceful attitude of the
people to the prayers no less than to the teaching and the influence
of the Curd of St. Sulpice, who both in public and in private was
indefatigable in inculcating obedience to the royal authority. In the
city generally several encounters ensued, in which lives on both
sides were sacrificed; the Chancellor, Siguier, was with difficulty
rescued from the fury of the mob, two persons who were with him
in his carriage being killed. The Parliament, with Matthieu Mole,
the President, at its head, went in procession to the Palais Royal,
where they had an interview with the Queen, to whom they repre-
sented the perilous state of affairs and urged the immediate release
of Broussel and his fellow-magistrates, as the only possible means
of satisfying the minds of the people. At first she proudly refused
to grant their request and quitted the audience-chamber, but after-
wards, yielding to the advice of Mazarin, she promised to liberate
the prisoners if the Parliament on its part would engage to discon-
tinue its sittings. The members retired to deliberate, but on their
appearance in the streets they were greeted with such violent out-
cries and encountered so much rough treatment at the hands of the
enraged multitude, who refused to let them pass the barricades, as
having failed in their mission and betrayed the popular cause, that
they were compelled to return. Alarmed by the report of the scene
that presented itself outside, and profoundly moved by the tears
and entreaties of Henrietta Maria, the exiled spouse of Charles, I.,
the Regent at length consented to satisfy the demands of the Parlia-
ment and of the people, and, after some ineffectual attempts on the
part of the prime movers of the revolt to renew the conflict, the
insurgents gradually dispersed, and quiet was, to all appearance,
completely restored.

Peace, however, was not of long duration ; hostilities between the
Court and the Parliament soon broke out afresh, and on January
6th, 1649, a few minutes after midnight, the Queen is.egent stealthily
left Paris with the young King and, accompanied by all the Princes^
of the blood royal, retired to St. Germaiu-en-Laye. There it was

4 . —

His measures for relievingdistress.

363

(Ictcrmiiicd to besiege tlie city, and tlie Parliament was ordered to
remove its sittings to Montargis, hut, instead of obeying, tluit body
proceeded to levy troops, and, proclaiming Mazarin a disturber of
the public peace and an enemy of the King, called upon him to quit
the realm within eight days on pain of being treated as an outlaw if
he remained beyond that date. The Prince de Conti, who had
left the city with the Court, secretly returned and, offering his
services to the Parliament, was, to the great distress of his mother,
the Princesse de Condc', appointed Generalissimo of the rebel
forces. Other nobles followed his example, and at a meeting of the
Jansenistic party, which was held at Port Royal and at which the
Dues de Liancourt and Luynes were present, it was resolved to sell
the altar plate and furniture of the Parisian churches in subvention
of what was p'-onounced to be a holy cause. This resolution was,
if not proposed, at least warmly approved, by the Coadjutor, who
harangued the people with his accustomed eloquence in all the
principal pulpits of the city and published an inrminmatory pamphlet,
which he entitled, Maxims^ Moral and Christian^ for guiding Con-
sciences in the present Crisis.

While both parties were thus preparing themselves for the coming
struggle, M. Olier offered himself continually as a victim to the
Divine Justice; he multiplied his penances, he was to be seen ever
on his knees in prayer, and his countenance and whole demeanour
evinced such poignant grief that M. de Bretonvilliers says the sight
of him affected him more than any sermon he had ever heard. He
never ceased calling on the people to repent and make their peace
with God, and instead of accusing each other as the authors of the
evils that were hanging over them, to condemn themselves for their
sins, which deserved still heavier punishment. With this intention
he caused public prayers to be said in the church, and directed such
of his ecclesiastics as were labouring in the provinces to unile with
him in deprecating the anger of God.

When the troops of the Prince de Cond^ began to ravage the
country and provisions in consequence became scarce in the city,
M. Olier, in obedience to a decree of the Parliament, assembled his
parishioners and organized a plan of relief for the suffering poor.
On inquiry being instituted, no less than 1,400 or 1,500 families
were found to be reduced to the last extremity, but the system of
visitation he established and, above all, his own charity and zeal
were equal to the emergency and, with the help of M. Gibily, a

!^i

364

Life of M. Olier,

priest of the Community, better known as the " Confessor of the
Poor," with whom he associated Brother John of the Cross he suc-
ceeded in providing both spiritual and temporal aid for all who were
in need. The tenderness of his charity was eminently displayed
towardn the sick, the number of whom was very great ; it was the
sympathy of friend for friend, or the love of a parent for his child ;
and his liberality was as inexhaustible as his charity. The neces-
sities of the people increased d?.ily, and rt every round he made he
commonly expended as much as 2,000 livres. When his purse was
emptied, he would give whatever he happened to have about him,
as a handkerchief, or a book, or anything that could be sold to buy
bread. Application being made to him one day for a certain sum
in behalf of a destitute family, he replied that it v/as not enough,
and bestowed three times as much as had been asked. He sup-
plied the poor with victuals, clothes, and tools, and when a more
than usually cold winter came to aggravate the general misery, he
provided them with necessary fuel. So unalterable was his con-
fidence in God that, when the distress vas at its height, he continued
to exhibit the same composure and cheerfulness of spirit. One day
he was told that there was no more money. " You have no faith,"
was the reply ; '* will God desert us ? " It so happened, indeed, that
at the time the extremity was greatest his resources were at their
lowest, for the rich people of his parish, to whom he had been used
to look for assistance, had either followed the Court or sought
safety in flight ; but even thus his charity was at no loss for an
expedient. He sold all his private property, and distributed the
proceeds among such as were most in want ; and when these funds
were exhausted, he resolved on goi.)g in person to St. Germainen-
Laye in quest of alms.

The adventure was full of peril. On the one hand, the envirpns
were overrun with soldiers, mostly Poles and Germans, who robbed
and maltreated, and not unfrequently murdered, thobc who fell into
their hands ; and on the other, if his design became known in the
city, he might incur the suspicion of being in correspondence with
the Court. But this good pastor made no account of his life so
that at any risk he could relieve his famishing people. Taking one
of his friends, M. de Grandval, into his counsels, he induced him to
convey him in his carriage to the furthest limits of the Faubourg ;
then, watching his opportunity, he quietly alighted, and accom-
panied by M. le Royer de la Dauversi^re, the pious layman of

His supplications and penances.

36:

whom mention has been made, succeiided in gaining the open
country unobserved. The cold was intense, the snow lay deep on
the ground, in places reaching even higher than their knees, and
entirely obliterating the by-paths they had to traverse. The Seine,
too, had overflowed its banks ; but, protected by the hand of God,
they escaped the many straggling parties of soldiers they saw about,
crossed the bridges, all of which were guarded, passed through the
encampment unquestioned, and after much fatigue reached their
destination in safety. His friends at the Court were not insensible
to the tale of wee he brought them. The Princesse de Conde, in
particular, whose elder son was in command of the besieging forces,
gave substantial proofs of her comj \ssionate charity ; and M. Olier
and his companion became the bearers of a large sum of money,
with which they reiuri'ed unnoticed, as though they had been
rendered invisible, through the midst of both guards and plunderers.
When asked on his return how he had been able to make his way
undetected, he replied, " I do not know ; all I know is that charity
inspires courage."* The alms thus obtained, together with other
sums with which Providence supplied him, enabled him to support
a vast number of destitute persons until the close of what is known
in history as the *' First War of Paris." He also obtained from the
Vicar-General of the Abbd de St. Germain permission for the poor
to eat flesh-meat every day during Lent, Friday excepted, provided
it were given them in the way of alms, and a similar dispensation for
the faithful generally four days in the week, with leave to use eggs
and cheese, the law of fasting and abstinence being still of binding
force on all in Holy Week.

During the continuance of hostilities he assembled his people
every evening before the Blessed Sacrament to implore the Divine

* St. Vincent de Paul made the same perilous journey on the ijlh of January,
1649, with the view of inducing the Queeri Regent to dismiss Mazarin, raise the
siege, ai .d so bring the civil conflict to a close, but without success. For a de-
tailed description of the sufferings of the people, both in Paris and in the provinces,
and the frightful atrocities perpetrated by the soldiery, during the first and second
War of Paris, the reader is referred to La Misire au temps de la Fronde et St.
Vincent de Paul, by Alphonse Feillet, a work compiled from contemporary
documents, which has thrown quite a new light on the character of the Fronde
and its calamitous effects. In the course oi' his narrative the writer enumerates
the various taxes, duties, exactions, restrictions, privileges, monopolies, as vexatious
as they were grievous, to which the tillers of the soil and the lower orders generally
were subjected, and which kept them in a state of penury and bondage fiom which
it was impossible for them to emerge.

! i "i «* " ' u ' j fti pt *i tfen:j i' i

i I

366

Life of M. Olier.

mercy, opening the door of the tabernacle the more to excite their
devotion, and v/ould himself pass whole nights before the altar
clothed in sackcloth. At length, on Maundy Thursday, April 1st,
1649, articles of peace, which had previously been signed by both
parties, were registered by the Parliament, and on the Monday
following a solemn Te Deum was sung at Notre Dame in thanks-
giving;, for the event. The same was done at the Abbey of St.
Germain, and during three days the shrine of the Saint was exposed
for the veneration of the faithful, a boon which had not been
accorded for seventy years.

On the i8th of August the young King, with his mother and
Mazarin, made his public entrance into Paris amidst exuberant
demonstrations of loyalty on the p?.rt of the populace, who in
dense masses lined the streets. Even Mazarin himself was received
with extraordinary tokens of h Tection and good-will. But, though
peace waa restored to the capital, the distress of the people still
continued, and the servant of God found himself charged with the
maintenance of several hundred persons who were unable to pro-
cure the means of subsistence. Yet this was the time he chose for
the execution of a design which he had long meditated, and which
presents us with an instance of his confidence in God which may
well excite our admiration : he resigned his abbey of Cercanceau
and his two priories of Clisson and Bazainville, thus leaving himself
entirely dependent on his cure of St. Sulpice. The resignation was
formally executed on Good Friday, the day after articles of peace
had been registered by the Parliament. Among other motives
which he assigned for the act, was the advantage he had experienced
in relying solely on the good Providence of God, who, in a season
of great public calamity, had abundantly supplied him with the
means of supporting so many destitute families. At the same time
he begged pardon of his brethren for the bad example he had given
them in retaining his benefices so long. His relatives would fain
have had him resign in favour of a nephew, at least in the case of
one piece of preferment, but he firmly refused, and recommended to
the Pope three persons wholly unconnected with himself, whom he
believed to be best fitted to succeed him.*

* He was afterwards induced to resume his two priories, in deference (as we
learn from M. Faillon) to the remonstrances of certain great servants of God. In
1650 he resigned that of Clisson to M. Houmain, Abb£ de Sainte-Marie, who died
March 19th, 1651.

'•tiJ''^^S^i\ix^ i^^^-)i:'-,iisa:':i:!<- ,

I I

Sufferings of the people.

367

Civil war, however, had brought in its train evils far more afflict-
ing to the servant of God than those of pov-siy and destitution,
which, after all, could but hurt the body; the dissolution of the
bonds of society had entailed a great relaxation of morals and an
increased indifference to religion, and he at once sought to apply a
remedy with all his accustomed energy. As exhortations and warn-
ings, whether public or private, were by many disregarded, he pro-
ceeded, with the authority of the Prior of St. Germain, to execute
against all who lived in a state of concubinage the provisions of the
Cv'uncil of Trent, which ordered sentence of excommunication to be
pronounced against such as, after three consecutive monitions, should
persist in their evil courses, with the penalty of being refused burial
in consecrated ground ; which refusal was to extend likewise to
those who, without legitimate excuse, should neglect to make their
Easter communion. To these were superadded such punishments
as the laws enjoined. But measures of severity, however necessary,
were little in accordance with the tender compassionateness of this
good pastor's heart, and he procured for his parish the benefit of a
general mission, conducted by one whom, for his extraordinary
abilities and successes as a preacher, he regarded as the wonder of
his age, Pbre Eudes, founder of the Congregation which bears his
name. The mission was announced to begin on the feast of the
Purification, 1650, but, owing to the Seine bursting its banks, the
Father and the twelve ecclesiastics who accompanied him were
unable to reach St. Sulpice in time, and M. Olier himself preached
the opening sermon. On their arrival they took up their abode in
the Presbytery ; and their labours, which were continued during the
whole of Lent, not only accomplished the immediate object which
M. Olier had at heart, but were productive of two other results, both
of which, indeed, he had directly contemplated ; viz., a renewal of
fervour among the priests of his community, and the establishment
of a Company of Charity for the ulief of the bashful poor.

To the miseries caused by the late siege of the capital was now
added a great dearth of provisions, consequent upon the destructive
inundations which occurred in different parts of France. By the
overflow of the Loire nearly the whole of the country from Sully to
Angers was submerged ; the crops were totally destroyed, and multi-
tudes perished from famine. The waters of the Rhone covered the
whole of Dauphin^, and did great damage to the bridges at Lyons,
St. Esprit, and Avignon. The sufferings of the people, as we learn

368

Life of M. Olier,

from the accounts of the time, were dreadful in the extreme. In St.
Sulpice alone tliere were as many as eight hundred and sixty-six
families which had not wherewithal to live ; parents lay stretched on
wretched pallets, or on the bare floor, with two or three children
dead or dying of starvation by their side ; others who — to use the
touching phrase — had seen better days were discovered, in rags
which scarcely covered their nakedness, cowering in attics or in
cellars, unable to stir out in the face of day, even to hear Mass.
In the quarter of the Incurables persons were found who had not
tasted food for days together. Some contrived to support life with
a little bran soaked in water in which a morsel of cod-fish had been
boiled, or with such carrion as they had been able to pick up in the
streets or outside the city walls. Infants died at the breast from lack
of nourishment In fine, some in a fit of frerzy and despair, pro-
duced by hunger and tl e sight of those they loved perishing around
them, attempted self-destruction by suspending themselves from the
rafters of t?.eir rooms. For the removal of this frightful destitution,
and the prevention of similar distress, M. Olier determined to
organize a permanent system of relief; and he looked to that renewal
of piety which a mission would produce for the means to carry his
design into effect. The result (corresponded with his expectations.
But in this, as ever, he acted with deliberation, and, above all, with
entire submission to the will of God. After long-continued prayer,
he communicated his design in the first instance to a chosen few,
and, having secured their zealous co-operation, he called a general
meeting of the parishioners on Easter Monday, 1651. It was
attended by persons of all classes j and, after representing in detail
the miseries of those whom modesty or shame deterred from obtrud-
ing their sufferings on their neighbours' sight, he reminded them
that alms-giving had its particular as well as its general obligations,
and bade them, at such a time of extreme necessity, retrench their
superfluities and deprive themselves of what, under ordinary circum-
stances, they might innocently retain ; exhorting those who had
nothing else to bestow to give their time, and, what was more accept-
able even than alms, their personal care and active sympathy. God
so blessed his words that a large sum of money was contributed on
the spot, many engaged to give a certain sum each month, and,
among all who were present, there was not one who did not promise
his assistance according to his ability.

He now divided the parish into seven districts, putting four

I I

The Council of Charity.

369

persons in charge of each, whose business it should be to inform
themselves of the condition, character, and circumstances of those
who were the objects of their solicitude. As a great number of
these poor people were unwilling to make personal application for
relief, he set up a box at the entrance of the Presbytery into which
they could put their requests in writing. The greatest care was
taken that none but deserving persons should be recipients of this
bounty, from which professional beggars also were rigidly excluded.
M. Olier discouraged the giving of money in these cases, and the
Company accordingly established a depot, from which not only food
and clothing, but furniture, tools, and every necessary article were
provided. On the last Sunday in every month a meeting of all the
members was held, at which each gave in his account, and at the
beginning of winter a general visitation of the whole parish was made,
and again at its close. Schools were at the same time opened for
the children of the poor who were thus relieved, which were
inspected at short intervals by those who had the charge of tlie
several districts ; an ecclesiastic also went at regular times to give
them religious instruction j which, however, did not dispense their
habitual teachers from doing the same, especially on all Sundays and
holidays. A Catechism was published, under M. Oiler's direction,
for their especial use, in which the chief points of doctrine were
expounded in simple and familiar terms, and short forms of prayer
added for all the common actions of each day. This Company *
became the model of similar associations in other parishes, and,
indeed, was the fir >t of those brotherhoods of Christian charity for
which the city of Paris has been so honourably distinguished. Its
members were also charged with the support of an orphanage,
which M. Olier had commenced in the year 1648 for boys, who, at
a fitting age, were apprenticed to various trides. Two o\ his
parishioners, brothers, afterwards presented him with a house in the
Rue de Crenelle for female orphans, who were superintended and
instructed gratuitously by charitable women residing with them ;
but, the distance from St. Sulpice proving inconvenient, they were
subsequently transferred to the Rue du Petit Bourbon by Mme.
de L'Esturgeon, who generously gave up her own house for their
reception. This establishment existed at the time of the Revolution.
There was yet another association which deserves especial men-

* It was indulgenced by the Holy See, March 7th, 1654, under the title,
Pauperutn Itifirmoium Verecundoi-um.

2 A

370

Life of M. Olier.

'•

tion. This was the Council of Charity, composed of persons versed
in the law and affairs of business, who lent their assistance in pre-
venting litigation among the humble classes, and in conducting the
causes of those who were unhappily compelled to seek legal redress.
For this charitable work Providence assigned him a most valuable
coadjutor in the person of one of the priests of his community,
Antoine Jacm^ de Caches, a man of great piety and austerity of life,
who had been a member of the provincial magistracy, and whose
acquaintance he had made during his missions in Auvergne and Le
Velay. As acute as he was prudent, he was endowed with a
remarkable gift of persuasion, and by his intervention many differ-
ences were amicably adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties,
which otherwise might have entailed ruinous legal proceedings.

This account of M. Olier's charitable labours has carried us
beyond the date at which the narrative had properly arrived, and to
which we here return. On the i8th of January, 1650, the Prince
de Condd, whose pretensions grew every day more exacting and
whose influence with the army alarmed the Court, was arrested by
the orders of Cardinal Mazarin and, with his brother, the Prince de
Conti, and his brother-in-law, the Due de Longueville, conveyed to
the fortress of Vincennes. By order of the Queen, the Princess, his
mother, retired with her daughter-in-law * to Chantilly, whither M.
Olier, compassionating her sorrow and desolation, went, in the
capacity of her director, to support and console her. Some of the
persons, however, who were about her, jealous of the confidence she
reposed in him, had laboured to excite suspicions to his prejudice,
which, in her then embittered state of ."leling, she was but too well
disposed to entertain, and he consequently found himself very
coldly received. Nothing disconcerted by a change so unexpected,
he discharged his spiritual office with that consummate prudence
which never failed him ; and on his return to Paris, so far from com-
plaining of the little regard that had been shown him; he made it
matter of thankfulness to God, who (as he wrote to a friend) would

* Claire-Cl^mence de Maill^-Br^z^, niece of Cardinal de Richelieu, married
February 9th, 1641, to the Due d'Enghien. She was a person of considerable
energy and spirit, as after-events proved, but she was short of stature, and Mile.
de Montpensier, in her M/moires, says that at the ball which the Cardinal gave on
the occasion of the marriage she had such high heels to her shoes that she tripped
and fell, while dancing, to the amusement of the whole Court, including her
husband. Quoted by the Comte de Bonneau- Avenant in his Duchesse cPAiguillon,
p. 275. The marriage did mt prove a happy one.

Death of the Princesse de CondL

371

teach His poor servants how little they ought to depend on creatures,
and so constrain them the more to put their whole trust in Him
alone.

Apprehensive ihat her presence in the capital would lead to some
popular movement in behalf of the Princes, whose party was gaining
strength every day, the Court stationed troops to prevent her leav-
ing Chantilly ; but, in spite of these precautions, she succeeded, on
the night of the i6th of April, in eluding the vigilance of the guards,
and, after remaining for some days concealed in Paris, presented
herself before the Parliament, and by her tears and supplications
endeavoured to move the assembly in favour of her sons. The
counter-influence of the Duke of Orleans, however, was exerted
with such effect that she was obliged to leave the city, to the great
regret of the inhabitants of St. Sulpice, and especially of the poor,
of whom (as we have had occasion to see) she was the munificent
benefactress. But in her exile the Princess did not forget that she
was one of M. Olier's parishioners. On the 20th of May she sent
some rich ornaments of crimson velvet, embroidered with gold and
silver, for the decoration of the church ; and a letter, which he
wrote in acknowledgment of this act of devotion, led to a renewal
of those confidential relations which had been the source of so
much profit to her. A day was near at hand when she would need,
if ever, twe assistance and prayers of her saintly pastor. Her sons,
instead of being released, were transferred to a place of greater
security ; and, sick and well-nigh broken-hearted, the unhappy lady
obtained permission to retire to Ch4tillon-sur-Loing, a village twelve
miles from Montargis, where, sensible that her end was approach-
ing, she sent for M. Olicr to prepare her soul for its final passage.
Here, in fact, she expired, on the 2nd of December, 1650, in the
holiest dispositions. She bequeathed 10,000 livres towards con-
structing the new church of St. Sulpice, having contributed the same
sura each year since the works had begun.

Mnie. de Motteville, who was with the Princess during her last
hours, thus speaks of her in her Metnoires: — " No doubt it pleased
God to humble her before she died, in order to prevent her with
His graces and render her death more truly Christian. Except for
this divine aid, her temperament was such that she would h?"e
evinced great impatience in seeing herself an exile, her sons in
prison, and her enemies triumphing over her; but God changed
these sentiments into most virtuous dispositions. She seemed to

I i\

Zl^

Life of M. Olier.

accept willingly all these afflictions, that by this cross she might have
a participation in that of our Lord. She commissioned the AbbtJ
de la Roquette to go on her behalf to the Queen, and assure her
that she died her most humble servant, although her death was
caused by all she had suffered on account of the wrongs done to
her children. She bade him say that she conjured her by the Blood
of Jesus Christ to be mindful of death, and remember that no one
was exempt from the strokes of fortune. In fine, when she was in
her agony, turning towards Mme. de Brienne, who was a relative of
hers, and stretching out her hand to her, she said, * My dear friend,
tell that poor unhappy creature at Stenay' — meaning Mme. de
Longueville, her daughter — 'the state you see me in, and bid her
learn to die.' " M. Olier, in a letter written a few days after her
death, uses very similar language regarding his penitent.

The Princesse de Condd had died in disgrace with the Court, her
sons were in prison, and the other members of her family had been
ordered to retire to their estates ; but, like the clergy generally, who,
while interceding for the liberation of the Princes, held themselves
aloof from either political party, M. Olier preserved a noble inde-
pendence, and celebrated a solemn Requiem Mass for the repose
of her soul in the presence of his whole community and a large
assemblage of the people. The Court, to its honour be it recorded,
far from showing resentment, respected the motives of this worthy
pastor ; and on Christmas Day the young monarch came in state to
hear Mass at St. Sulpice, accompanied by his brother, the Due
d'Anjou, and his uncle, the Due d'Orldans, and was received at the
entrance of the church by M. Olier himself, who delivered an
appropriate address ; the sermon was preached by M. Joly. He
afterwards assisted at Vespers. Louis XIV., even in his worst days
and in spite of his personal immorality, exhibited a religious dis-
position, but in his early youth he seems to have given marks of
genuine piety. It was the anniversary of his first communion,
which he had made in the previous year, and which he desired thus
to commemorate ; and it is with a melancholy interest we read that
on this occasion he edified the congregation by his unaffected
modesty and devotion.

All this time civil war had been raging in the provinces, especially
in Guienne, the young Princesse de Cond6 having taken refuge at
Bordeaux, with her son the Due d'Enghien, still a boy, and raised
the standard of revolt against the royal authority or, as her manifesto

/ /

He is consulted by the Queen.

373

worded it, against the tyranny and violence of Cardinal Mazarin.
This " rebellion of the Princes," as it was called, was at length
quelled — at least for the time — by large concessions on the part of
the Crown, alarmed by the successes of Che Vicomte de Turenne,
whom an infatuated passion for Mme. de Longueville had led to
identify himself with the cause of her brothers, and who, with an
army composed of French and Spanish troops, was rapidly advanc-
ing with the intention of delivering them from prison. Tlie Princes
were hastily removed from Vincennes to the Cliateau de Marcoussis,
only eighteen miles from Paris, and thence, by Mazarin's orders, to
the more distant fortress of Havre ; and Turenne, unable to effect
his purpose, retired.

The popularity of the Prince de Condd was every day increasing,
while the hatred of the citizens against Cardinal Mazarin became
proportionably deep and violent. In the February of 1651 the
party opposed to the Court received a powerful accession in the
person of the Due d'Orldans, who was won over to its side by the
persuasions of the Coadjutor, the Parliament declared in his favour,
and Mazarin left Paris in disguise. Proceeding to Havre, he visited
the prisoners and set them free, hoping thus to conciliate their good
will, or, at least, to disarm their resentment. Liberated from con-
finement, the Princes made their triunriphal entrance into the capital
amidst the acclamations of the multitude 3 the Court itself went out
to meet them at St. Denis, and escorted them to the Palais Royal,
where they were admitted to an audience by the young K'.ng and his
mother. But the reconciliation thus ostentatiously paraded was
in reality only apparent ; and the Queen Mother, deprived of the
support of her favourite minister, and obliged to entrust the conduct
of affairs to persons for whom she entertained neither esteem nor
confidence, — aware, too, of the unconcealed hostility of nearly all
the Parliaments \x the kingdom, the ceaseless caballings of the
nobles, and the universal exasperation of the people against her, —
sent for M. Olier to obtain his counsel and assistance. Something
of the nature of the advice he gave her may be gathered from a
letter still extant which he addressed to her at the time, and in
which, with a holy freedom, he represented the dishonour that had
been done to God, and the evils that had accrued to the Church
and to religion, by the unworthy conduct of the Cardinal,* who

* Cardinal Mazarin, it should be observed, although he had received the cleri-
cal tonsure, was not in holy orders. Besides conferring bishoprics and rich

«H

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374

Life of M. Olier.

had disposed of the highest ecclesiastical dignities, and especially
of bishoprics, to persons whose only qualification was the having
rendered some service to the State. This unscrupulous minister,
though bound to act in conjunction with the Council of Conscience,
had eluded the obligation, on the pretext of other and more urgent
business, and, in fact, had made the appointments by his own sole
authority. The letter is so characteristic of the man, and so illus-
trative of the influence he exercised in the highest quarters, that we
give it at length.

" Madame, — The confidence which your Majesty lately reposed
in me by avowing to me that you had not made all the use you
ought to have made of the adversities which God sends you, has
induced me to write to you. In taking this liberty, I rely on the
goodness which has hitherto led you graciously to receive the things
which I have said, in the sincerity of ray heart, for your personal
profit and, above all, for that of your soul, the salvation of which I
have always most earnestly desired.

"Submit yourself, Madame, to the justice of God, seeing your-
self deprived of the person whom He had given you and in whom
you placed your confidence. Providence, which permitted his
being taken from you, has herein had motives and reasons unknown
to men. We must adore them in faith, amidst the troubles and
perplexities of life. This is the assured stay and haven of Christians
in the storms and tempests of this world ; let it be yours also,
Madame, and the sure foundation on which your mind may rest.
Adore, then, the eternal and infinite reasons of God's dispensation ;
and expect from th'"? event, which He has ordained, some issue
favourable to His glory and the good of your soul.

" Madame, the mercy of God is manifested towards you even in
this decree of His justice. He desires to purify your soul more and
more ; to the end that, by renewing it in the first fervour of its love,
it may be able to bear more fruit. Consider those words which our
Lord, in the Scriptures, addresses to a bishop, as to a spiritual
monarch in the kingdom of His Church. Desiring to* reproach him
for the tepidity of his heart and the chilling of his first love. He said
to him, 'I will come and overthrow thy kingdom, unless thou

abbacies on his creatures, he had appropriated to himself the revenues of the see
of Metz and more than thirty benefices of ,<;;reat value. At length, unable to
overcome the inflexible integrity of Vincent de Paul, he abolished the Council of
Conscience, and the Queen was able to consult her saintly adviser only in private.

I lis counsels to the Queen.

375

humble thyself; bethink thee, and do penance, and renew the
works which thou didst when thou enteredst upon thy charge.' *
This reproach, so severe and yet so full of mercy, strengthened him
in his duty and upheld him in his sovereignty. Madame, renew
your spirit of devotion to the royalty of our Lord, who ought to
live in you, so that God may reign over your kingdom in all that
depends upon you. Renew, then, the first fervour with which you
commenced your holy regency ; for you entered upon it with an
ardent zeal and desire that God should reign in His Cliurch, and
to defend all His interests with a marvellous courage. You adopted
excellent measures for the collation of benefices and, especially, for
the nomination to bishoprics, in order to bestow them on the most
worthy in your kingdom, as you were bound in conscience to do.
God, Madame, has seen that this was no longer done, for you left
them to be disposed of by that person, who had neither the zeal
nor the fortitude which was necessary for resisting solicitations and
importunities : an abuse which has caused the kingdom of God an
injury the greatness of which you will know only on the day of
judgment, including the loss of a multitude of souls, the least of
which is of more value than a whole kingdom and a whole material
world ; an injury to which it is, perhaps, impossible for you to apply
a remedy. Madame, it is simony to bestow benefices on children
in recompense for services which their fathers have rendered to the
State. The end which God proposes in calling men to these
dignities is that He may be honoured and served in His Church by
faithful ministers, zealous for His glory and for the salvation of souls ;
and, in conferring them on His behalf, you ought to have no other.
Acknowledge, Madame, the mercy of God in your regard. You
placed your confidence in your minister, in order to relieve yourself
of the painful cares of State and of the conduct of important affairs ;
but, as the cause of God and of the Cliurch suffered thereby, and
your soul remained charged with that unworthy collation of abbeys
and bishoprics, God deprived you of the stay on which you rested,
the person who dispensed them in your name, that your eyes might
be opened in respect to an obligation so momentous. He desired
to remove from you that hindrance to your salvation, and to give
you anew the means of beginning to serve Him by promoting the
welfare and the sanctification of your kingdom by means of nomi-
nations in accordance with His will.

* Comp. Apoc iL 4, 5.

376

Life of M. Olier,

•• Bear, then, Madame, with love and with joy the banishment of
your minister. Thank God for not permifting your soul to be any
longer implicated, as was the case every day, in repeated derelictions,
wherewith it was woefully burdened, albeit through another's fault.
Bear this adversity, first, to satisfy your obligation, and, next, to
repair, as much as you are able, so many nominations which were
not weighed in the scales of the sanctuary. And yet thereon
depend the honour of God in His Church, the salvation of nume-
rous souls, and, in particular, Madame, the eternal ha])piness or
misery of your own. No longer, then, depend on a person who
may imperil your salvation. Do not discharge yourself of the
momentous duty of conferring benefices by delegating it to others ;
examine well the possible recipients, availing yourself of the lights
which are furnished you by the servants of God ; obtain from them
accurate information as to the worthiest ecclesiastics in your king-
dom ; let these be the men you destine for promotion ; by thus
anticipating the demise of bishops you will forestall the importunities
of courtiers. To these you ought never to yield, seeing it is not
lawful for you to incur the risk of endangering your salvation, and
that of so many other souls, and, above all, of doing dishonour to
God. On this point remain inflexible, and do not relax for any
human consideration whatever, for such before God is always null.
Moreover, in reward for your fidelity to His service, He will know
well how to repair any ill consequences which your just refusal
might entail. If you are faithful in upholding His kingdom, which
is the Church, and never allow it to be shorn of its splendour. He
will be vigilant in maintaining your own. My profession does not
permit me to apply myself to the consideration of worldly things,
and therefore I speak to you only of grave defalcations of duty in
respect to the clergy. The grief and affliction we suffer make us
languish and faint even to death ; and this it is which induces me
to take the liberty of speaking to 30U in all sincerity, as I believe
you really desire. I am confident that you ^/ill permit your
servant and subject to make his plaints and pour out his sorrows
at your feet, imploring that God may be glorified throughout
your realm, and, above all, in the heart of the Queen, seeing it
is His desire to reign in her and, through her, in all her
subjects."

The Queen took the remonstrance in good part, acknowledged
her error, and promised for the future not to dispose of a single

Ri i

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Misery, anarchy, and terror.

377

bishopric without first privately consulting St. Vincent dc Paul, an
engagement to which she conscientiously adhered.

The ri'pture between Condd and the Court was not slow in
declaririg itself. The Prince left the city and, betaking himself to
Bordeaux, made a disgraceful compact with Spain and began to
levy troops against his sovereign. In this emergency, Anne of
Austria, regarding her son, who was still but thirteen years of age,
as unfit to hold the helm of government, although his majority had
been declared, withdrew from Paris and tojk immediate measures
for the Cardinal's recall. This was the signal for that renewal of
civil strife to which has been given the ""me of the "Second War
of Paris." In December, 1651, the 1 iriiaTient set a price on
Mazarin's head, and the coalition against him soon became general
throughout the realm ; he succeeded, however, in penetrating as far
as Poitiers, where the Court then was, at the head of more than
eight thousand men, and resumed the conduct of affairs. The
Duke of Orleans, entering into a league with Conde', sent troops to
dispute the Cardinal's farther advance. The Jansenists, hoping to
profit by the disorders into which the realm would be plunged by
civil war, offered to raise 10,000 men at their own expense and
place them at the disposal of the Duke After a series of conflicts,
with varying fortunes, which on the whole were to the advantage of
the royal cause, the young King, with his mother and Mazarin, was
safely conducted, under the protection of the Vicomte de Turenne,
to the environs of Paris. The Princes now, in full Parliament,
engaged to lay down their arms on condition that Mazarin were dis-
missed ; but these propositions were rejected by the Court, and war
with all its horrors again approached the capital. An outbreak of
the plague intensified the misery and terror of the people. The
shops were shut and all business wan suspended ; the dearth of pro-
visions became an actual famine; workmen were everywhere suc-
cumbing to sheer starvation ; in the faubourgs alone 1 2,000 families
of the class we should call respectable were perishing of hunger,
while of the destitute poor the number was reckoned at 100,000.
M. Olier, seeing all his resources exhausted, applied to tlie Queen
for succour, which was liberally granted. But there was another
and a new cause of affliction which pressed heavily on the pastor's
heart : the Calvinists, taking advantage of the intestine divisions,
began to excite commotions ; every day the situation of affairs
became more alarming ; hordes of malefactors, let loose from prison

378

Life of M. Olief.

1 !

and taken into pay by the Duke of Orleans and others, insulted and
maltreated the magistracy ; anarchy and terror reigned in the city ;
the Parliament itself was threatened by the insurgents, for, although
the majority of the members still held out against the Court and
persisted in demanding the dismissal of the obnoxious minister, they
were strenuously opposed to the traitorous designs of Conde^ and
the rest, and were consequently regarded with little favour by the
more violent spirits among the populace. Under these circum-
stances, M. Olier wrote to the Queen Mother, adjuring her in the
name of religion and of the public weal to yield to the counsels of
her best and sagest advisers, by sacrificing her private preferences
and once more obliging Cardinal Mazarin to leave the kingdom.
Had she adopted the advice contained in this letter, which was a
model of that bold but respectful liberty which churchmen ought to
use in addressing princes, she would have spared her people many
terrible woes. Unhappily, she was induced to temporize, until she
found herself compelled perforce to an act which at this juncture
she might have accorded with a prudent and gracious condescension.
Into the details of the lamentable struggle that followed we
need not enter. On July 2nd, 1652, Cond^ and Turenne, the two
great captains of the age, encountered each other under the walls
of Paris, and in the sight of Louis and Mazarin, who watched every
turn of the battle from the height? of Charonne. The contest was
long and furious ; at length victory was declaring itself on the side
of Turenne, whose forces were far superior in number to those of
his adversary, when, by the orders of Mile, de Montpensier, the
daughter of the Duke of Orleans — it was even said 'hat it was her
own hand applied the match — the guns of the Bastille suddenly
opened their fire upon the royal troops, the gate of St. Antoine was
unbarred, and Cond^ made good his entrance into the city, his
soldiers sweeping through the streets out into the Prd-aux-Clercs
and pillaging all the villages for ten miles round. Violent dissen-
sions soon arose between the Princes and the civil authorities, who
had refused the rebel army admittance into Paris and had yielded
only to the menaces of the populace ; the citizens also were divided,
the lowest of the rabble taking part with Oilcans and Cond^ ; the
Hotel de Ville was attacked and burned ; many of the magistracy
fell victims to the popular fury ; for one whole night the city was in
the possession of an armed mob ; numbers of the inhabitants were
massacred, others sought refuge in the royal camp.

t ',

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Asylums for homeless fugitives.

379

When tidings of th'^je murderous outrages reached tl.2 provinces
a feeling of consternation pervaded all classes, and a general reaction
set in ; town after town made its submission to the King ; the
Parliament was ordered to meet at Pontoise, to which town the
Court had retired ; some of the members at once obeyed the sum-
mons, more followed, and the rest, with Muithieu Mol^ at their head,
opened negotiations with the Government; a powerful party was
formed anxious for peace ; the Queen Mother at length resigned
herself to the inevitable, and on the 19th of August Mazarin again
took his departure for a season. The Princes, finding themselves
deserted by their partisans and exposed to the violence of their own
troops, whom they were powerless to control, stipulated only for a
full and complete amnesty for themselves and their followers ; the
Court removed to Compi^gne, where, on September 12th, a deputa-
tion of the clergy, secular and regular, with th. Coadjutor as their
spokesman, was admitted to audience ; other deputations followed,
but were either coldly received or denied admittance; no formal
amnesty was granted, but the King entered into a general engage-
ment not to call the citizens to account for their conduct during the
rebellion; whereupon they made an unconditional surrender, and
on the 2ist of October, 1652, Louis XIV. re-entered his capital amid
demonstrations of loyalty even greater than had greeted him at the
close of the former war.

From these scenes of blood and crime it is a relief to turn once
more to the exertions made by one good man to remedy the frightful
evils of the time. The measures adopted by M. Olier for the relief
of his suffering people have in substance been already recounted,
but there are still two charitable institutions of which no mention
has been made. One day, in the course of his pastoral visits, he
was accosted by a country girl, who besought his charity. She had
come to Paris for protection from! the violence of the soldiery, and
to obtain the means of subsistence. Touched with compassion at
her desolate condition, one, too, fraught with so niuch peril, he
resolved on the instant to open an asylum for young females similarly
circumstanced. Those to whom he communicated his design repre-
sented to him in vain the difficulty of accomplishing such a task at
such a time, and the great expense it would entail. He answered
simply, ** The purse of Jesus Christ is inexhaustible to all that put
their trust in Him ; we have only to begin. He will help us." Accord-
ingly he hired a house, and directed Brother John of the Cross to

i 1

38o

Life of M. Olier,

furnish it forthwith. There he lodged, clothed, and fed no less
than two hundred poor country-girls, as long as the troubles lasted ;
and, not confining his solicitude to their temporal necessities, he
provided them with the benefit of a regular retreat, during which
they were instructed in their religious duties and prepared for con-
fession and communion. But there were other hapless fugitives,
whom the dread of a lawless soldiery had driven from their peaceful
seclusion to a crowded capital. These were nuns from several of
the convents in the environs of the city and the adjoining districts,
great numbers of whom, homeless and friendless, were to be seen
wandering through the streets and asking alms of the passers-by.
For these, the objects of the tenderest pity of every Catholic heart,
the pure spouses of Jesus Christ, he also opened an asylum in a
large and commodious house provided with a garden. There all
such as pleased to enter kept strict enclosure, fulfilling all the require-
ments of a community life ; and, although they belonged to seven
or eight different Orderr. they nil conformed to one rule, under a
superioress who was in/c: , \^ by the Prior of St. Germain with the
necessary powers. Their temporary association was inaugurated with
a course of spiritual exercises, M. Olier assigning them preachers
and directors from among the priests of his community, and a
chaplain to say Mass for them every day. For four months these
poor religious v,-ere indebted to the Cur^ of St. Sulpice for the means,
not only of living according to the :pirit of their holy vocation, but
of advancing in perfection ; and, when peace was concluded, they
received from the same fatherly hands whatever was requisite for
enabling them to return each to her proper convent.

Not content with accepting, in humble submission to the Divine
will, the contradictions and afflictions inseparable from the exercise
of his pa«:toral office in such time '1^^ servant of God imposed upon
himself the severest ansterities, n; .1 'ng his life one continued act
of mortification and penance. "N^it^ ermission of his director, P.
Bataille, he wore a rough hair-shirt, wliich occasioned him much
suffering, and, when the insurrection was at its height and Paris was
in rebellion against the King, quitting the Presbytery at nightfall, or
in the early morning before the inhabitants had left their beds, he
would pace the streets of the city and of the Faubourg, kneeling at
times before the doors of the churches or in the open roadway, and,
in union with the many weary journeys Jesus made on earth and
His long nights spent in prayer, implore the Father of Mercies to

Reproved by the Blessed Virgin,

381

calm the minds of men and touch their hearts. Often, too, during
the day he would visit the churches of Paris and of the environs —
Sl Denis, St. Maur, Charenton, Mont Valerien — and pray that the
graces which God desired to pour down upon the people might not
be arrested and turned aside by their hardness and impenitence.
The heavier were the chastisements which God in His loving-kindness
laid upon His rebellious children, the more zealously did His servant
labour to make them humble themselves under His mighty hand.
"The decrees of Heaven," he said, "must needs be accomplished
in all their rigour ; it is for us to do penance for our sins, to deplore
our offences and those of Paris, menaced, as is the whole realm, with
the scourges of the D.vine wrath, which it has so long merited."
Deeply affected by the perils which encompassed the young King,
he begged God to change the hearts of the royal princes and the
magistrates, and of all who were fomenting discord in the State.
With this intention he went frequently to offer the Holy Sacrifice
at Notre Dame, as being the principal church of the Patroness of
France ; at SL Germain I'Auxerrois, because it was the King's own
parish ; and at the Sainte-Chapelle, which he regarded as the church
of the Parliament of Paris. In this last church he would spend long
hours in earnest supplication, begging God to enlighten the councils
of that judicial body and rekindle in its members sentiments of
loyalty and obedience to the supreme authority. In fine, he obtained
permission from the Prior of St Germain to have the Blessed Sacra-
ment exposed at St. Sulpice on several occasions, when he not only
invited persons of all classes to join in acts of worship and repara-
tion, which they did in great numbers, but directed that four of the
seminarists should always be present as adorers, others taking their
places, hour after hour, by night as well as by day.

Heri we may mention a marvellous incident which M. de
Breton villiers has recorded in his Life of this great servant of God,
In the month of J.inuary, 1649 (he says), M, Olier, for some unex-
plained cause, intermitted for two days his accustomed acts of
intercession, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to hirn with a
countenance that betokened displeasure, and, reproving him for his
indifference and remissness, bade him quicken his fervour and con-
tinue his supplications, which accordingly he did, after imploring
her to forgive his negligence. In all this, says his biographer, we
may recognise the influence which this pastor of souls possessed
with the Divine Son, seeing that His Blessed Mother chose him to

ill

382

Life of M. Olier.

help with her in arresting His avenging arm. But others were
helping likewise, for the efforts which M. Olier had made to change
the hearts of his people had prepared them to make good use of the
chastisements of Heaven. They accepted them in a true spirit of
penance and with a generous submission to the Divine behests.
The miseries consequent on the second war were even greater than
those of the first, for many had parted well-nigh with all they
possessed and in their destitution were exposed to all the rigours of
absolute penury and famine. Moved to compassion by their pitiable
condition, this good pastor bade them make a merit of their forced
abstinence by enduring it with patience and in a genuine spirit of
compunction, offering their privations to God in reparation for
the excesses in which they had previously indulged ; and, in parti-
cular, he exhorted the women to discern in the want even of neces-
sary clothing from which they were now suffering the just punishment
of the sins they had committed by their vanity, extravagance, and
immodesty in dress. These truly Christian exhortations had the
desired effect ; a spirit of penance took possession of all classes ; the
terrible disasters they had undergone were thus changed into
blessings ; the pride of the nobles was humbled j the people
repented of their violence ; disorder ceased ; the Parliament (as we
have seen) returned to its allegiance \ and peace was re-established
throughout the realm.

During the civil commotions, when minds were most inflamed
and no prospect of quiet being restored as yet appeared, the Queen
Mother had requested M. Picotd, whom she held in the highest
respect, to vow in her name some work of piety which he should
deem best suited to satisfy the Divine justice; and, as the one
thought which most touched and grieved his heart was that of the
profanation of churches and holy places, and, above all, of the
Holy Eucharist, he came to the resolution of establishing a religious
house especially dedicated to the adoration of the Blessed Sacra-
ment and the reparation of the outrages of which It was the object.
There is every reason to believe that she made a similar request of
M. Olier ; this, at least, is certain, that he drew up for the Queen
the form of a vow to the archangel St. Michael, protector of France,
in which she engaged to erect an altar to his honour, where, on
the first Tuesday in every month, High Mass should be celebrated,
at which she would herself assist whenever affairs of State per-
mitted. This vow remained unknown, bui the resolution which

Mere Madeleine de la Trinifd.

Z^Z

M. Picot^ had formed was soon noised abroad, and to it was
commonly attributed the favourable change which took place at
thi«! orJ^is in the position of the adverse parties. Peace was no
sooner restored than the royal vow was faithfully fulfilled. On the
8th of December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1652,
the Queen having come to the Abbey of Val de Grace, M. Picol^
profited by the occasion to inform her of the vow which he had
made on her behalf, and at the same time proposed that certain
Benedictine nuns who had fled to Paris for safety should be chosen
to carry it into execution. The Queen at once assented, and they
were accordingly established in a house in the Rue Fdrou, where,
under the government of Cach.^rine de Bar, better known as the
Venerable Mfere Mechtilde du Saint-Sacrement, they took the name
of Filles du Saint-Sacrement, and commenced their perpetual adora-
tion. The Queen herself assisted at the ceremony of their instal-
lation, bearing a lighted taper, and was the first to make an act of
public reparation to Jesus in the Sacrament of His Love. "J'his
institution contributed greatly to an increase of devotion to the
Mystery of the Altar in the parish of St Sulpice, as also to the
Blessed Virgin, under whose particular patronage the religious
placed themselves, and became the parent of similar establishments
in various parts of France.

In connection with this subject may here be mentioned another
instance of M. Olier's charitable exertions. It was at the close of
the First War of Paris that the celebrated Mfere Madeleine de la
Trinity succeeded, with his aid, in founding a house of her Order
at Paris. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon had provided the necessary
funds for the purpose, but, despairing of obtaining the permission
of the Cardinal de Sainte-Ce'cile, Archbishop of Aix,* for the nuns

* He was the brother of Cardinal Mazarin, and though the royal authority had
been put in requisition in order to obtain his consent, he persisted in withholding
it, and assured the nuns that nothing should ever induce him to recede from his
resolution. They reminded him that it was not in the power of creatures to
thwart the designs of God, and that, if God were so minded, He would take lam
to Himself, and so end his opposition. To which the Archbishop rejoined with
a smile, "Thank God, I am in good health, and still a young man. If you are
not to establish yourselves at Paris till I am dead, I hope it will be some time
first." Shortly after he left for Rome, and M. Olier again availed himself , of the
same powerful influence in the hope of obtaining from the Grand-Vicar the
necessary authorization. On the very day the Queen's despatch arrived at Aix
tidings reached that city that the Archbishop was dead, and the Grand- Vicar at
once accorded the desired permission.

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it

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384

Life of M. Ol'e>

to leave that city, she had bestowed the money upon the Carnt\ehte
convent, and, on arriving in Paris, they found themselves entirely
dependent on the bounty of Mme. de Bouteville, a parishioner of
St. Sulpice. This pious lady gave up to them tviro rooms in her
own house ; but it was the very eve of the civil war, the Queen,
who had interested herself in their behalf, left Paris, and amidst
the alarms and anxieties of the time Mme. de Bouteville, who had
an only son in the rebel army, overlooked the necessities of her
guests, and for three months the Mfere Madeleine and her religious
were often without bread to eat. Every day they went to St
Sulpice to hear Mass, and from five o'clock till noon they might
be seen upon their knees at prayer. M. Olier, who had himself
recommended them to Mme. de Bouteville's hospitality, concluded
that, as a matter of course, they were suitably cared for, and it was
not until one of bis priests visited them and beiield with his own
eyes their destitute condition that he became aware of their suffer-
ings, when he caused them to be removed to the house of his
brother, the Grand-Audiencier, who was absent with the Court, and
made adequate provision for their support. In the midst of her
greatest privations the Mbre Madeleine gave testimony of a con-
fidence in God which was truly heroic. At the very time that
herself and her nuns were in want of the mere necessaries of life,
she had the charity to go in quest of alms for the relief of another
distressed community. An act so purely supernatural might well
receive a supernatural reward ; we may, therefore, give the readier
credence to a circumstance which we find recorded in the annals
of the house; viz., that a little sum of money which Mme. de
Bouteville had given them, and which was placed under an image
of ihe Blessed Virgin, continued to be miraculously multiplied,
according to their needs. Peace being temporarily restored, the
Duchesse d'Aiguillon came to their aid, and, after overcoming
many obstacles apparently insurmountable, the nuns of Notre Dame
de Mis^ricorde were established in community on the 3rd of
November, 1649, M. Olier, at the desire of P. Yvan, undertaking
the office of their director.

The Duke of Orleans, by the part he had taken against the
King, and by his refusal to sue for pardon, had irreparably ruined
his fortunes, and was banished for life to his castle of Blois. His
reverses were productive of the happiest effects in disenchanting
his mind of the world and its illusions, a result to which, under

i. I.

i i

Repentance of the Due d'Orldans.

38s

God, the influence and counsels of M. Olier not a little contributed.
To th(; Duchess, who, as we have seen, was a woman of great
piety and virtue, the spiritual state of her husband hnd long been
a matter of deep anxiety. To obtain his conversion, she had never
ceased to offer her prayers, communions, and numerous good
works ; in all which she had a worthy coadjutor in the person of
one of her maids of honour, Anne de Campet de Saujeon, a lady of
high attainments, whose family had long been attached to that of
Orleans, and from whose society the Duke derived much advantage.
A malevolent world chose to throw discredit on the relations sub-
sisting between them, and in 1649 a certain Abb^ de la Croix-
Christ, a declared favourer of the Jansenistic tenets, persuaded her
suddenly to leave the ducal mansion and betake herself to the
Carmelite convi it, with a view of entering the Order. But, yield-
ing to the advice of M. Olier and other ecclesiastics of St. Sulpice,
who judged that she had no vocation for the religious life, and
might do more good by remaining in the world, she was induced to
reconsider her determination, and, in time, even the most censorious
were obliged to confess that she used her influence with the Duke
in a manner which did credit both to herself and to her advisers.
The Duke (as before observed) had been addicted to profane
swearing, but his manners in this, as in other matters, became
entirely reformed, a change the merit of which his daughter, the
"Great Mademoiselle," who had no liking for Mme. de Saujeon,
ascribes mainly to that lady. "I must allow" (she says in her
Memoires) " that she contributed greatly to make Monsieur think of
his salvation. He went regularly every day to Mass ; he was never
absent from the High Mass of his parish, or from Vespers, or from
other public devotions. He would not tolerate swearing in his
house; he corrected himself of this bad habit; and I have great
hope that God will have mercy on him."* Mme. de Motteville
bears similar testimony : " He submitted piously to the Divine
Will ; he became devout, his life was exemplary ; he had his hours
of seclusion and prayer; he left off gambling; and never did
prir':e take more pleasure in retirement than he."

• This great lady was so devoid of piety that she could not endure to see it in
others. The numerous services and devotions at St. Sulpice became at length so
obnoxious to her that she resolved (as she says) to find a parish in which she
would not be constantly meeting with people who troubled her conscience. She
accordingly addressed herself to the Archbishop of Paris, who recommended that
of St. S^verin.

2 U

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386

Life of M. Oiler,

Mme. de Saujeon accompanied the Duke and his family to Blois,
where, aided by the powerful co-operation of M. Olier, who deputed
one of his priests to act as chaplain to the household, she continued
to carry on the good work she had begun at Paris. That zealous
servant of God urged upon him the duty of repairing the evils of
the civil war he had excited, by devoting a sum of money annually
to restoring the churches of Languedoc which had been destroyed
by the Calvinists, supplying vessels for the altar in the place of those
which had been plundered, and relieving the multitudes whom he
had been so instrumental in impoverishing. With these admoni-
tions the Duke cordially complied, charging himself also with the
establishment of a community of Sulpician priests at Blois ; a design,
however, which was eventually frustrated by the opposition of the
Jansenistic party. The loss of his only son, which took place shortly
after his banishment to Blois, gave the death-blow to all his worldly
hopes and occasioned him the deepest grief, but he accepted the
chastisement in a spirit of humble penitence ; and in these truly
Christian sentiments he persevered to the end of his life, as the
Mkmoires of the period testify. Nor were the good effects of M.
Olier's counsels and Mme. de Saujeon's influence * confined to the
Duke himself. His daughter Isabelle was brought up from her child-
hood in regular habits of devotion, and, on becoming Duchesse de
Guise, she edified the Court — perhaps we might also say rebuked it —
by her modesty and piety. On retiring to her duchy of Alengon she
obtained from the then Superior, M. Tronson, the services of a Cur^
who had been trained at St. Sulpice, M. Pierre Ch^nart. He had
the happiness of bringing many Protestants to the true faith and

* Mme. de Saujeon subsequently took part in tne establishment of a house
near St. Sulpice, for the reception of ladies who wished to go through the
exercises of a retreat. This institution had been projected by M. Olier, but it
was not founded until after his death. With that spiritual discernment which
was so remarkable in him, he perceived that Mme. de Saujeon, with all her
excellences, was not the person to be the superior of a house, and had expressly
forbidden her appointment to the office, which was accordingly conferred on
Mme. Tronson, mother of the celebrated Sulpician, a lady of consummate virtue
and prudence, who had been for years under his direction. At her death, how-
ever, Mme. de Saujeon was chosen as her successor, and exhibited so imperious
a spirit as to lead to the greatest disunion. In contravention of the rule, she
retained her office for nine years, at the end of which time another was elected
superior, a proceeding which she took as a personal affront ; and so great was
her influence at Court that she succeeded in procuring the suppression of the
Community.

( /

Conversion of I he Prince de Conti.

387

founded a community of priests who laboured zealously in evangeliz-
ing the population. So prolific of good is the love of God in one
elect and holy soul.

Another of M. Olier's parishioners whom the calamities of the
times had the effect of bringing to repentance was the Prince de
Conti, who had been among the most ardent partisans of the Fronde.
Finding himself disgraced and discredited at Court, he so far humbled
himself as to ask the hand of Mazarin's niece in marriage, a measure
which proved greatly to his spiritual advantage ; for, conceiving a
hearty detestation for the sins of his past life, he gave himself gene-
rously to the service of God. He was thus brought into close con-
nection with M. Olier, under whose direction he engaged in many
charitable works, and would sometimes dine at the Seminary for the
sake of the edification which he derived from conversation with the
inmates. Although he had shown no vocation to the ecclesiastical
state, and was both irregular in his manners and unsteady in his
religious belief, he had received the tonsure and had been put in
possession of several benefices. These, when his conscience became
enlightened, he resigned and, to compensate in some sort for the
devastations of which his soldiery had been guilty during the civil
war, especially in Bordeaux, he distributed near upon two millions
of livres in alms, and readily acceded to his wife's proposal of selling
her jewels for the same object, including a necklace and earrings of
great value. " M. le Prince de Conti," wrote St. Vincent de Paul
to M. Pesnelle, Superior at Genoa, " will one day be our judge, at
least he will be mine. In his fidelity to prayer he is admirable ; he
makes it for two hours daily, once in the morning and again in the
evening ; and, however numerous his occupations and with whatever
company he may be engaged, he never fails."* The Prince con-
tinued in intimate relations with M. Olier until the latter's death,
and was one of twelve or thirteen gentlemen of rank who for several
years afterwards assembled in what had been that great man's room
to confer together on subjects connected with religion and charity.
True, in the excess of a mistaken zeal, he allowed himself for some
time to be seduced into favouring the new opinions through the
influence of M. Pavilion, Bishop of Aleth, but ere he died he made
a most complete abjuration of his errors and refused to admit that
prelate into his chamber, as being a rebel against the Holy See and

a teacher of falsehood, to whom he had no desire to listen.

♦ Lettres de S. Vincent de Paul, No. 578, T. il p. 469.

388

Life of M. Olier.

The Prince de Condd, unhappily, long remained faithless both to
his king and to his God, and belied his title o' Great, not only by
maintaining his attitude of revolt, but by offering his sword to Spain
and making parricidal war on his own country ; nor was it till the
marriage of Louis XIV., in 1660, that he returned to his allegiance
and was allowed to re-enter France. Even then he persevered in his
irreligious courses, and it was only in the last days of his turbulent
life that he consoled his friends and all good men by a sincere but
long-delayed repentance.

I »

( 389 )

CHArTER XIII.

PILGRIMAGES AND yOURNEYS. M. OLIER RESIGNS

HIS CURE.

IN the course of his pastoral ministrations M. Olier was obliged
on several occasions, from motives of health, to make excursions
into the provinces. Of these no mention has hitherto bpen made,
in order not to break the thread of the narrativCk Nearly five years
had elapsed since he commenced the reform of his vast parish
before he allowed himself any relaxation from his labours, and then
only because it became necessary as a relief to exhausted nature.
To the expostulations of friends who warned him of the injury he
was inflicting on himself, he would reply, "Jesus Christ is our
strength; His charity ought to banish all our fears, and the pure
love of Him make us embrace all such toils with joy ; " and on M.
de Bretonvilliers urging him to give himself the rest he so much
needed he said, " My child, this is neither the time nor the place for
taking one's ease ; our Lord would not have us find our consolation
on earth. Let us wait for a blessed eternity, and then we shall enjoy
God alone." Even when he yielded to their entreaties, and went
for a few days into the country, he allowed himself no recreation.
Prayei, Mass, writing letters, and sometimes reading would occupy
the whole morning ; and, if in the afternoon he submitted so far as
to take a short walk, he was back again at his prayers and occupa-
tions till supper time. If he were reminded that he had come into
the country for repose, he would answer, " Our Lord gives me grace
to find my repose in these things more than in aught else." The
autumn of 1647, however, found him in such a state of debility that,
on the physicians assuring him that unless he had complete rest and
change of air he would be v^ompelled to resign his parish, he deemed
it his duty to obey their injunctions.
It had long been his desire to visit Annecy, there to venerate the

ill

^mimi

390

Life of M, Oiler.

tomb of the holy I^ishop of Geneva, and return him thanks for the
recovery of his health some years before, which he attributed to the
intercession of the Saint. He was accompanied by M. de Breton-
villiers and other priests of the Seminary ; and, before setting out,
he went, as was his custom, to ask the blessing of his heavenly
Patroness in the church of Notre Dome. Neither did he neglect to
make his will, as usual in those times, when travelling was attended
with perils unknown or disregarded at the present day. France at
this period was full of holy places and holy relics, and, it may be
added, of holy living persons, and M. Olier so ordered his rov.te as
to enable him to see a great number of all three. His journey was
thus one continued pilgrimage. His first destination was the Abbey
of Clairvaux, and he stopped on his way at ChStillon-sur-Seine, cele-
brated for its shrine of Our Lady, at which the great St. Bernard had
received extraordinary graces. It was evening when he reached the
place, but he went at once to the church, and remained some time
before the miraculous image of Mary. The next morning he said
Mass at her altar, where it seemed to the ecclesiastics who accom-
panied him that he was favoured with some signal consolation, for
his Of 'ntenance was radiant with joy and his conversation more tl ui
usu nflamed with the ardour of divine love. On arriving within

two K,b of Clairvaux he dismounted from his horse, and, with his

companions, walked the rest of the way in silence and prayer. The
scene was one that invited to contemplation, being a thick, embower-
ing wood, such as usually shut in the ancient monasteries. It was
the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and he remained two
days at the abbey, during which he was so absorbed in devotion that
it was difficult to draw his attention to external things. He said
Mass in the old conventual chapel, visited every spot in and around
the monastery which recalled any circumstance in the life of the
holy founder, and knelt for a long time in the narrow cell of the
Saint, to the great edification of the religious who accompanied him.
From Clairvaux he repaired to Dijon, where he spent ten days
with the Carthusian monks of that city, who welcomed him with
lively demonstrations of joy. Thence he moved on to Citeaux.
Here his first act, as everywhere, was to adore Jesus in His Sacra-
mental Presence, and to pray that he might have some part in those
heavenly benedictions which of old He had been pleased to pour
down upon the great Order which had its birth in this spot, and
which had been the source of untold graces to France. As though

t I

V. Margtierite du Saint-Sacremeni. 39 1

to assure him that his prayer had been heard, the Abbot of the
monastery, who was also Siiperior-Cleneral of the Order, granted him
and the whole Seminary of St, Sulpice the privilege of a share in all
the prayers and good works of the religious.

His next place of sojourn was Beaune, where, in the Carmelite

convent of that town, dwelt one of the most favoured souls of that

aue, the Sccur Marguerite du Saint-Sacrement, who had received a

special call from God to promote an increase of devotion to the

Sacred Infancy of His Son.* M. de Rcnty was also very zealous in

propagating this devotion, and, though the Soeur Marguerite lived in

the closest seclusion and for thirteen years had never spoken to any

secular person, he succeeded in obtaining access to her, and had

ever since kept up a correspondence with the inmates of the convent.

It was his particular desire, and that of other devout servants of God

at Paris, that M. Olier should see this holy nun, as they relied on

his spiritual discernment to test the reality of her gifts, and believed

that both she and the community in general would derive much

benefit from his counsels. M. de Renty Iiad accordingly written to

apprize them of the proposed visit. The Soeur Marguerite had no

knowledge, personal or otherwise, of M. Olier, but she had received

a divine intimation that God was about to unite her, through the

devotion -o the Infant Jesus, in the closest spiritual relations with

one who should act as her guide in the way of perfection. After

visiting the church and the hospital — for his invariable practice, on

entering a town, was first to adore Jesus on the throne of His love

and then to go and venerute Him in the persons of the poor — M.

Olier repaired to the convent, and Marguerite no sooner beheld the

holy man than, moved by a feeling of profound veneration, she

threw herself at his feet, adoring (as she said) the Divine Infant in

the person of His servant. Of the conversation that followed no

record has been preserved ; but when they parted, the holy nun put

into his hands a little picture on which she had written these words :

" My Reverend Father, the Infant Jesus, who is our bond, our life,

our all, will consummate and make perfect the grace He has wrought

in us this day," M. Olier, on his part, gave her the crucifix of the

Mbe Agnbs, — which, however, was returned to him on the death of

• The Association of the Sacred Infancy, instituted by Marguerite, was
approved by Innocent X. and Alexander VII. in 1653 and 1661, and in 1855
was erected into an Archconfraternity by Pius IX., who also declared her
Venerable.

w^'^^^^mmi^^^^n^

'."'■■■' ^f :■■'-■>"?,';;;'■

392

IJ/e of M. Olier.

the nun, — and he continued to direct her by letter as long as she
lived. All tne inmates of the house consulted him, ar.d it was
observed by the Mother Prioress that, exemplary as was the fervour
and devotion which before prevailed among them, it became sensibly
deepened from the date of this memorable visit. It would seem
as though, by the knowledge M. Olier thus obtained of the secret
virtues and extraordinary devocions of this chosen soul, God
intended to make known to the world the perfections of her sanctity.
It was through his report of her supernitural gifts that P. Amelote
was led to write her Life, and nowhere were the merits of this saintly
woman held in higher consideration than in the Seminary of St
Sulpice. It was in consequence also of this visit, and of the relations
which followed from it, that the Community has ever had a peculiar
devotion to the Sacred Infancy. M. Olier engaged twelve of his
most zealous ecclesiastics to recite the office, which he ordered also
to be chanted in the parish church on the 25th of every month ; and
the illustrious F(^nelon, then a priest of the Community, composed
the well-known Litany of the Infant Jesus, which used to be sung at
St. Sulpic* r\fter Vespers.

Quitting Beaune, M. Olier went to venerate the body of St. Claude,
which had been preserved incorrupt from the end of the seventh
century in the town which had grown up around his monastery and
had taken the name of the Saint. After journeying for some days,
the party found themselves on a dangerous mountain path, which
ran along the edge of a precipitous ravine, over which the torrents
went dashing and roaring into the depths below. Night came on,
and they were obi'ged to dismount and lead their horses, treading
warily every step they took ; a heavy rain also began to descend,
which rendered the pathway slippery ar.d drenched them to the
skin. To their dismay, the guide now confessed that he had lost the
road, and did not know how to regain it. In this extremity, M.
Olier, who alone preserved his usual calmness, said, " My children,
let us set ourselves to pray, and beg our Lord to vouchsafe Himself
to be our guide. He has told us that He is 'the way ; ' let us follow
Him, then, and we shall regain our road. Let us commend our-
selves to the Blessed Virgin, and to the great St. Claude whom we
are visiting." They remained thus for a quarter of an hour, when
the guide, as though he had suddenly recovered his recollection,
exclaimed, "Now I know the way to go;" /'.nd so, following him
through the darkness, they at length reached the confines of a

^■:/;>W., ,v»„its:

I '

S/. Claude.

393

village called Condd The inhabitants, seeing five horsemen arriving
thus at night, were distrustful of their intentions, and at first refused
to let them enter. M. Olier, however, speedily induced them to
relent ; but, whether their suspicions were not entirely dispelled or
that they had no better accommodation to offer, the only lodging
they provided for the travellers was a hovel in which they kept their
cattle, and all the food they gave them wab some coarse bread and
water. To M. Olier this hard fare seemed to be a source of real
enjoyment ; he conversed with the peasants with so much cheerful-
ness and affectionateness, and his manner, as he spoke to them of
the things of God, was at once so familiar and so touching that their
hearts were completely won. When he took his departure the next
morning many of them burst into tears, and so unwilling were they
to part with him that ihey accompanied him on his way, and by the
good Providence of God were the means of preventing one of the
pariy losing his life in attempting to cross the river near a dangerous
fall. On reaching St. Claude, the pilgrims venerated the holy body
so wonderfully preserved ; * and so great were the interior consola-
tions which M. Olier experienced that he says they surpassed in sweet-
ness all the heavenly favours he had ever before received. It was
painful to him to be disturbed /hen one of the priests of the
place came to show him the other treasures of the church;
but, on being conducted to the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
and finding himself alone with Him whom his soul loved, he
felt himself deeply impressed with the conviction that, while vene-
rating the relics of the saints, he and his community must look for

* Ihe fact of this preservation is incontestable. The body of the Saint lay in
a silver shrine, adcned with precious stones. Three times a day the feet were
exposed to the veneration of the faithful, who were permitted to approach and
kiss them. — (Butler's Lives of the Saints, June 6th.) In the year 1785 it was
transferred to another shrine, in which it could be seen entire ; but on the 19th
of June, 1794, during the frenzy of the Revolution, these precious lemains, which
for eleven centuries had been the object of so much religious veneration in France,
were torn from their resiing-place. and, after beinj^ dragged through the streets,
were burned, in the very town which bore the Saint's name. Heaven, however,
avenged the horrible sacrilege ; for, on the very same day five years afterwards, the
whole town was reduced to ashes by a conflagration which broke out at mid-day,
and which, to all human seeming, might have been extinguished by the use of such
ordinary means as were at hand. The only house spared by the flames was that
cf a devout Christian named Calais, whose wife had carefully preserved a rosary
which had been taken from the body. An arm of the Saint which had been pre-
viously separated from the relics is still to be seen in a silver reliquary.

394

Life of M. Olier,

everything from the Spirit of Jesus and from :he Adorable Mystery
of the Altar, whence the saints themselves derived ail their sanctity.
He at length reached the term of his pilgrimage, and on arriving
at Annecy went immediately to the tomb of St. Francis de Sales.
Many years had elapsed since he beheld the holy prelate, and then
he had seen him only with the eyes of a child ; but his whole aspect
and appearance were as present to him as though it had been but
yesterday, and he had drunk so deeply of his spirit and the con-
templation of his character and virtues had engraven his lineaments
so ineffaceably on his heart, that he approached him with all the
confidence of one who was going to seek counsel and instruction
from a spiritual father. The three days he remained at Annecy were
spent almost entirely in prayer; not, however, at the tomb of St.
Francis, but before the Blessed Sacrament; for, as before at St
Claude, he was conscious of a secret communication which told him
that it was in the Sacramental Presence of his Lord he would experi-
ence the most powerful effects of the intercession of the Saint.
Indeed, when he would address himself to the holy Bishop and beg
him to give him a portion of that love for Jesus with which his
blessed soul was burning, he found him, as it seemed, deaf to his
prayers. This apparent indifference on the part of one who while
on earth (as he says) was kindness and sweetness itself, a living
expression, as it were, of the Divine goodness, and who, now that
he was perfected and confirmed in grace and enjoyed the beatific
vision of God, must love him with a more intense charity, could
proceed, he knew, from no other motive but that of his spiritual
advantage ; and then the penetrating conviction entered his soul
that the lesson which the Saint intended to teach him was this : that
he did not love God purely for His own sake, but was too much
attached to His gifts of grace ; hence a want of repose, simplicity, and
enlargement of heart ; that henceforward God would have him love
Him purely for Himself and in Himself; love Him in His Spirit,
which is charity, pure charity; and embrace all his brethren in
Jesus Christ, desiring for all the plenitude of His gifts. And this
perfection God had decreed to give him only through the Sacred
Mystery of the Altar. The last degree of self-renunciation at which
a soul arrives is when it gives up its attachment to those interior
gifts and communications of God which are its joy and delight, — but
into which a kind of spiritual sensuality is apt to creep, — and con-
sents to serve Him for the pure love of Him alone, and, so to say,

r '

Mme. d'Herculais.

395

at its own expense. Of this self-spoliation M. Olier was to be a
shining example. The great Pattern and Model of this high per-
fection is Jesus self-annihilated in the Blessed Sacrament, where He
lies in a kind of mystical death. The Holy Spirit, who was leading
His servant to this point of sublime perfection, directed him, there-
fore, to the school in which he was to acquire it.

In the Visitation Convent of this town there was an aged nun,
Anne-Marie Rosset, who had been under the direction of St. Francis
de Sales, had formed one of St. Jane-Frances de Chantal's com-
munity, and been head of a house at Bourges. She was remarkable
for her humility and simplicity of spirit ; and, as a test of the per-
fection with which she had mortified all feeling of human respect,
the Mother-Superior called her into the parlour and bade her sing
before the stranger priest. She immediately complied, with no
musical voice, as may be imagined, and continued singing till a sign
was made to her to cease. On her withdrawing, M. Olier, struck
with admiration, exclaimed that an act of submission so heroic was
a more convincing evidence of sanctity than fifty miracles.

The object of his journey was now accomplished, but, instead of
returning by the way he came, he resolved on visiting the holy
places of Provence. The road from Annecy to Grenoble brought
him within sight of Geneva, and he could not behold the unhappy
city without an expression of grief. " Let us pass on, my children,"
he said, "and not tarry in a place where men will not have Jesus,
our Divine Master and Teacher, to reign over them." He spent
five days at Grenoble, where he again saw the Mbre de Bressand,
who had left Nantes to become superior of the convent in that town.
It was now also, in all probability, that he made the personal
acquaintance of Marie de Valernot, Dame d'Herculais, whose life
was a miracle of prayc She rose usually at three, and gave four or
five hours to prayer ; she then heard Mass, made her spiritual read-
ing, and continued her devotions till dinner-time. A quarter of an
hour after this repast she retired again to her oratory, where she
remained till supper, after which she again betook herself to prayer,
occupying thus several hours; sometimes, indeed, she spent the
whole night communing with God. The little nourishment she took,
and the little sleep she allowed herself, made it difficult to under-
stand how she could support life ; but that which was still more
marvellous was her perfect self-abnegation. One day, her husband,
wishing to give his friends an example of her obedience and equa-

^ ? ,

■I

I i

1.1

396

Life of M. Olier.

nimity of spirit, called her, at a time when he knew she was engaged
at her devotions, to take part in some game they were playing. She
complied on the instant, and exhibited so much cheerfulness ?.nd
liveliness in her manner that a stranger might have imagined that
none of the party took a warmer interest in the diversion j for, with
all her dislike of the world, she had a great dread of making piety
contemptible by any too apparent singularity.*

Finding himself in the neighbourhood of the Grande Chartreuse,
he passed two days in a spot rendered holy by the presence of St.
Bruno, and thence repaired to the abbey of St. Antoine de Vienne,
where he venerated the relics of the great Solitary of the East.f
At Valence he once more conferred with Marie Tessonnibre, who
had never ceased to regard him with the deepest reverence, which
she now again evinced by committing to his keeping all that she
had written in obedience \.o her director, the Pbre Colon. They
parted, never to meet again m this world, as Marie well knew, for
she told M. Olier that her death was near ; and, in fact, it occurred
six months afterwards. M. de Bretonvilliers, who was present at
•heir interviews, says that the sight of this holy woman filled his
soul with sweeter consolations than he had ever before experienced.
"She looked to me," he writes, "more like an angel of heaven than
a creature still living on earth. She seemed so filled with the
Spirit of God, and the ravishing modesty of her countenance, which
had something supernatural in it, made such an impression upon
me, that even now, although many years have passed away since I
saw her, I am as much moved, when I think of her, as if I had her
still before my eyes."

On quitting Valence M. Olier passed on to Avignon, visiting on
his way, at Pont Saint-Esprit, the Mbre Frangoise de Mazelli, founder
and first superior of the Convent of the Visitation in that town, a
woman of extraordinary sanctity and virtue, who (as it is said in her
Life) " received him as an angel sent by God, and made known to
him with all sincerity the secrets of her soul." M. Olier next paid
his devotions (for the second time) at what were called, pre-emi-

♦ Mme. d'Herculais died in 1654, aged 35.

t The body of St. Anthony, which, when the Saracens took possession of
Egypt, had been conveyed to Constantinople, was transferred, about the year
980, to the church of the Priory of La Motte St. Didier, near Vienne in Dauphine,
which subsequently became an abbey and the head house of the Order of the
Antonines.

The Mire Madeleine de la TriniU.

397

nently, " the holy places of Provence," La Sainte Baume, Marseilles,
and Tarascon, where, according to immemorial tradition,* St. Mary
Magdalen, St. Lazarus, and St. Martha had lived and died. At
Aix he visited the convent of Notre Dame de Misdricorde, founded
by P. Yvan with the aid of the Mbre Madeleine de la Trinity, men-
tioned in a previous chapter, who, although only the daughter of a
common soldier, had gained such a reputation for sanctity and pru-
dence that the governor of the province and others in high station
were accustomed to avail themselves of her advice. In obedience
to her director, she detailed to M. Olier, with the utmost simplicity,
the singular graces with which God had favoured her ; when,
strongly impressed with the conviction that such extraordinary
graces could be safe only under the guardianship of the deepest
humility, he was moved to desire that this virtue should be rendered
more perfect in her by a voluntary resignation of her office. His
sole reply, therefore, to her recital, which he allowed her to continue
for nearly four hours, was an earnest word of counsel : that, instead
of ruling the house which she had helped to found, she should
descend to the level of the lowest of her subjects ; adding that it
was far better for her to obey than to command ; that he had
learned enough about her to be able to speak with decision ; that
she must believe him, and do blindly what he advised. The M^re
Madeleine at once complied, only bewailing her imperfections and
declaring that she had not yet even begun to serve God in fear and
self-abasement. On the morning after her conference with M. Olier,
she said to him, '* Monsieur, we ought to speak little, love well, and
do much." To which he replied, "Mere Madeleine, we ought to
speak little, love well, and do nothing ;" meaning that she must be
content henceforth to obey. To the great grief of her religious she
accordingly resigned her charge, as, indeed, she had long desired to
do, but bad been prevented by P. Yvan, who felt the need of her
sound judgment and administrative talents. It soon became appa-
rent that her resignation was a part of God's designs for the benefit
of the institute, for, had she remained superioress at Aix, and thus,
by virtue of her office, continued to be charged with the government
of the whole Order, she would not have been at liberty to found a
house at Paris, as we have seen her doing. Writing to M. Olier

* This ancient tradition has been recently investigated, and its auther.iicily
established, by M. Oiler's biographer, the Abbe Faillon, in his work entitled
l^Apostolat de St. Lazare, iSfc, a'aprls des Monummts Inidits.

398

Life of M. Olier.

;

shortly after, P. Yvan said, " Truly it was God's will that the nuns
of Notre Dame de Mis^ricorde should place their whole confidence
in you, and that their holy institute should be completely in your
hands : of this there can be no doubt. God prepared you for this
long since, and so ordered it that I should go to Paris to make your
acquaintance, and trust you so perfectly as to beg you to undertake
the direction of this Order. He moved me to ask for a man after
His own heart, and He has given him to me."

Returning to Avignon, M. Olier took occasion to deliver some
letters with which he had been entrusted for the Mhre de St. Michel,
Superioress of the Convent of the Visitation in that city, of whose
sanctity and, indeed, of whose very name he was ignorant. On
first beholding each other, they felt themselves (as we read in the
Life of the holy mother) elevated to God in so extraordinary a
manner that neither was able to utter a word. Their only converse
was silence, and their union was in spirit, not in speech. " Truly,"
as M. Olier himself writes on another occasion, "it is a thing alto-
gether incomprehensible to the human mind, this divine operation
of the Holy Ghost in souls." The next morning he said Mass at
the convent, at which the Mbre de St. Michel communicated ; and
then (as her biographer quaintly expresses it), "after having dis-
coursed together after the manner of angels, they were able to speak
in the language of men." Each conceived for the other a deep
veneration; and, seeing the confidence which their superioress
reposed in the holy man, the nuns begged him to induce her to
moderate her extraordinary austerities. But he bade them not dis-
qu:.it themselves, for that He who had hitherto enabled her to
maintain so mortified a life was pleased that she should continue it,
and would direct and support her as He had hitherto done. From
this time forth M. Olier kept up a spiritual correspondence by letter
with this great servant of God.

Our limits will not permit more than a passing allusion to the
most remarkable of those holy persons with whom M. Olier con-
ferred during this journey. They may be taken as representatives
of that very high order of sanctity which was to be found in many
a nook and corner throughout the land, as well as in the great city
of Paris, and between which and the ordinary standard of Christian
goodness many gradations existed, of which little has been recorded
in the annals of the Church and the world knows nothing.
From Avignon, where he spent four or five days, he moved on

,\-'.*£- wli.ff^tV. ^rii^'j

't.-!. '^^>ii-n-Ji\^'!:k"o-

His recollection and detachment.

399

to Montpellier, taking NImes on his way ; and there, as in several
other places, he was bountiful of those graces which God had
bestowed upon him for the conversion and sanctification of souls,
especially of some who had been seminarists of St Sulpice and
whose fervour he was aware had grown cool. At Montpeiroux, a
little town of Languedoc, he paid a visit to M. de Parlages, father
of a priest who was a member of his community. His account of
his reception is given with a tenderness and warmth of feeling
which mark the affectionate nature of the man. "I cannot tell
you," he wrote to the young Abbd, "the joy I experienced on
seeing your father and dear brother. I could not restrain my tears
when I spoke of you to this good parent of yours, whose upright-
ness and piety are equal to his admirable social qualities and are
an edification and a savour of holiness to all the province. I was
quite confused by the courteous and respectful reception which I
met with both from them and from your good mother ; among
other kindly offices, they obliged me with a litter, and seemed as if
they could not lavish sufficient attention and affection upon me."
Thence he passed on to Clermont-Lodeve and Rodez, where several
of his ecclesiastics were labouring for the reformation of the clergy
of those dioceses, and so returned to Paris, after visiting the tomb
of St. Martial at Limoges.

This journey, which lasted three months, so far from interrupting
his union with God, seemed even to increase his recollection and
fervour. M. de Bretonvilliers, who accompanied him on various
occasions and travelled with him as many as 3,600 miles, affirms
that he never saw him look at any object from a mere motive of
curiosity, although it were such as might well have engaged the
attention of the passing stranger ; and this, not as if he were putting
a forced constraint upon himself, but in all freedom and simplicity,
as one to whom habitual self-control had become a sort of second
noture, and who lived ever in the presence of God, to whom all
his senses had been consecrated in the laver of holy baptism. One
of the party seeing a noble castle in the distance and remarking on
its beauty, *' Ah, well," said he, " and what is this beauty ? a great
pile of stones one upon another : what a crash there will be at the
end of the w^orld, when it will be all destroyed ! " On another
occasion, being urged to look at some grand building by the
way, he did so for a moment, and then said, " One day all this
grandeur will be consumed by fire, and all this beauty will pass

400

Life of M, Olier.

■ii

away in smoke. Such is the value which Jesus Christ sets upon
it all : He will doom it to the flames at the end of the world.
Why do we not share His sentiments ? " So strenuously did this
holy man endeavour to detach his heart from the perishable things
of this world and to have ever in him the mind which was also in
Christ Jesus.

As the most consoling, the most sanctifying, action in the daily
life of a priest is the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar,
however wearied he might be, he never dispensed himself from saying
Mass, and would often rise at an early hour, and incur considerable
fatigue, in order to reach some church at which he could satisfy his
devotion. If he saw a spire in the distance he would beg the
company to recite with him the Tantum Ergo, in adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament. "When I see a place where my Master
reposes," he writes, " I experience a feeling of unutterable joy. I
say to myself, ' Thou art there, my All ; mayest Thou be adored
by the angels for ever ! * " On entering a town or village, after
making an act of homage to our Lord, he would salute its angel-
guardians, and commend himself to their prayers ; and, if he were
going to minister in the place, he would put himself entirely at
their disposal and beg them to obtain for him the gift of touching
the people's hearts. He prayed almost literally " without ceasing."
In order not to cause delay he would make his hour's meditation
on horseback; then he would say Office, and perform all hi> usual
exercises of devotion. His recreation was to speak of holy things
and such as tended to edification. While at MScon, miscounting
the strokes of the clock, he rose half an hour after he had lain
down, and on discovering his error, instead of returning to rest, he
spent the remainder of the night in prayer; and this he did on
several other occasions. So constant, indeed, was his application
to God that at one of the inns on the way the servants, finding him
always on his knees when they went into his room, said that there
was one of the party who did nothing but pray.

His liberality was unfailing. In several convents where the
religious were very poor he gave abundant alms. At Mont Ferrand
in Auvergne, seeing a debtor being led to prison, he was moved
with compassion, and, finding that his only crime was his poverty,
he paid his debt and set him free. If he met wiih a beggar on the
way, af; jr giving him an alms, he would speak to him of God and
of his salvation with all the affection of a father. Going once by

T /

His humility and simplicity.

401

things

;re the
^errand
moved
overty,
on the
od and
nee by

water he took two poor people into his company, and during the
passage both fed and catechised them with the tenderest charity.
On another occasion he made a poor peasant woman get into the
carriage with all her bundles, and as her only anxiety was to over-
take her husband who was on before, he took occasion from the
circumstance to make a most sweet discourse to his companions on
the love of the Church for her Divine Spouse, and that which souls
whom Jesus loved even to dying for them should testify to Him
by following Him wherever He goes and bearing His yoke after
Him. Once, indeed, his charity was abused by a beggar-man, who
lay half-naked on a dung-heap by the roadside, affecting to be ill
and unable to rise. Alighting from his horse, he called to his
companion, and the two together, taking the wretched object in
their arms, regardless of his filthy state, carried him towards the
neighbouring town ; and there, exhausted with fatigue, they left
him for a few minutes while they went to seek assistance at the
house of the Frferes de la Charitd. On returning, the man had
disappeared, and then they knew that they had been tricked by a
cunning impostor ; but, as M. Faillon remarks, this good Samaritan
lost none of his reward, for the merit of almsgiving l:es wholly in
the disposition of the giver, and not in the worthiness of the
receiver.

His humility was as admirable as his charity. He would make
himself the servant of all, and it was impossible to prevent him ;
awaking his> companions in a morning, carrying behind him on his
horse such things as they wanted, anticipating all their wishes, and
rendering them every service in his power. On the way to Saint-
Claude, the horse of one of the party casting a shoe, he made the
rider take his own in its place, and, having covered t,he animal's
hoof with a thick glove, he walked by its side for more than three
miles, and arrived at the next village bathed in perspiration. This
spirit of condescension made him consult M. de Bretonvilliers on
all occasions, little as well as great ; and, when that ecclesiastic
complained of the deference he paid him, and asked him why he
sought the advice of a man who had much greater need of his
guidance, he replied, " My dear child, act with simplicity, and tell
me frankly what you think ; for, if I were alone with John (one of the
servants), I should ask his advice and should do simply what he told
me. If possible, let us never do our own will, even in little things."

For this reason he recommended that on a journey one of the com-

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pany should be chosen as leader, who should be to the rest in the
place of God, and be obeyed in everything with an entire submis-
sion. On arriving at an inn he would ch >ose the worst chamber,
and, if there were two beds and one seemed to be intended for a
servant, he would take it for himself and leave the other for his
companion. Going one day to Laon, being desirous of venerating a
relic of St. Lawrence which was preserved in the Premonstratensian
Abbey of St. Martin, he rang several times at the bell and, when no
porter made his appearance, he regarded it as a sign that he was
unworthy to enter, and knelt down before the door, begging pardon
of God and honouring at a distance what for his sins he was for-
bidden, as he deemed, to approach more nearly.

Wlierever he went his charity and zeal found objects on which to
expend themselves ; the masters and mistresses of the inns at which
he lodged, servants and children, and the country-people generally,
all, in turn, experienced his tender and pastoral care, while against
evil in every shape he never failed to protest with a holy severity
which was seldom without avail. After the death of Marie
Tessonnibre, he paid a visit to Valence, where she was held in great
veneration, and, after spending a considerable time in prayer before
her tomb, proceeded to the house of a painter for the purpose of
procuring a likeness of her; which, however, on inspection, he
found to be quite unworthy of its subject. At the same time
his eyes lighted on a picture of an immodest character, and,
breaking ouc in terms of most earnest reprobation, he so wrought
upon the artist's better feelings that he consented to sell it to him,
although he had already received part payment for it from another
person, and promised never to be guilty of the like again. Where-
upon the servant of God then and there ripped the picture to pieces
and threw them into the fire.

We may include in this chapter the particulars of another journey
which he made in the following year, when his zeal impelled him to
visit his priory of Clisson, in order to correct some abuses which
had arisen there. It had been his habit to dedicate ten days every
year to a spiritual retreat, and once, when he was prevented Hy
stress of occupation from satisfying his devotion for two successive
years, he repaired the omission by making three retreats of a like dura-
tion within a period of six weeks. Sometimes he made his retreat at
the noviciate house of the Jesuit Fathers, which adjoined St. Sulpice,
but this year he repaired to the Franciscan monastery at Meulan,

1 1

Shrine of St, Anne d'Anray.

403

where, on the 4th of October, 1648, the feast of the holy Patriarch, he
commenced a retreat of ten days by making a general confession of
his whole life, both as a satisfaction for his sins and to renew the
confusion which (as he said) a sinner ought to feel for his sins, even
when they have been remitted. From Meulan he passed on to
Chartres, the scene to him of so many spiritual favours, and there,
for several days, he might be seen kneeling, immoveable, in prayer,
from six o'clock in the morning till midday, and again from two
o'clock in the afternoon till six in the evening, to the edification
of all who were witnesses of his recollection and devotion. He
also visited, for the second time, the church of Notre Dame des
Ardilliers, near Saumur. It was en his way from this place that he
gave an instance of his humility and sweet condescension which
reminds us of a similar occurrence in the life of St. Francis Xavier.
Mindful of his vow of making himself the servant of all, he was in
the habit, when on travel, of acting as his own groom. While thus
engaged, a gentleman entered the stable and mistaking him in the
darkness for one of the men about the place, bade him rub down
his horse. M. Olier at once complied, only too well pleased to
have an opportunity of doing a kindness. The gentleman's surprise
may be imagined when, returning shortly after, he found that the
person he had taken for the ostler was a priest ; and his confusion
was the more increased when he learned who it was that had per-
formed such an office for him. But M. Olier took the whole
matter so naturally, and showed such unaffected pleasure at having
rendered him a service, that the other knew not which most to
admire, — the humility with which the man of God had obeyed his
orders, or the simplicity with which he received his apologies and
his thanks.

He profited by his stay at Clisson to make a second pilgrimage
to Notre Dame de Toute Joie, and, after successfully accomplishing
the reform of his priory, took his way to Vannes, for the purpose of
praying at the tomb of St. Vincent Ferrer, the Apostle of Brittany
in the 15th century, whose body was exposed for the veneration of
the faithful. Nor did he fail to satisfy his devotion to St. Anne
by visiting her image at Auray,* which had lately become renowned

* On the 7th of March. 1625, a peasant named Yves Nicolazic found in the earth
an antique figure, which was supposed to be that of St. Anne. The report
brought great crowds to the spot, and the consequence was an extraordinary
devotion to the Mother of our Blessed Lady throughout the whole province.

404

Life of M. OlieK

for the number of miracles wrought before it, and had attracted
in consequence a vast concourse of pilgrims. Through the inter-
cession of this most powerful saint he besought of God the gift
of silence, as well amid the contradictions he suffered from the
world as amid the favours he receivea from Heaven, and also grace
to act always in accordance with our Lord's intentions and by the
movement of His Divine Spirit. Returning to Nantes, he visited,
for the last time, the convent of La R^grippibre,* and had the
happiness of finding it a model of regularity and fervour. Great
was the joy of the nuns at beholding once more the holy priest
to whom, under God, they owed the recovery of their vocation,
and all hastened to profit by his instructions for their greater
perfection in the religious life.

During this journey he visited all the places sacred to the great
St. Martin, to whom (as before related) he had a particular devotion.
At Marmoutier he beheld the grotto, hewn out of the rock, which
the Saint had converted into an oratory,t and also made the pilgrim-
age of Candes, a little town of Touraine on the borders of Anjou,
where he died. But it was at Tours, and in the great church of
that town dedicated to the holy prelate,| that he experienced the

A new image was wrought out of the old one, and became the object of venera-
tion to thousands of pilgrims. This image was burnt at the Revolution, but a
fragment was preserved, and inserted in the foot of that which is still venerated
under the name of St. Anne d'Auray.

* The convent shared the fate of so many other religious houses at the Revolu-
tion ; but the memory of M. Olier, and of the reforms he accomplished, long
lingered in ilie neighbourhood.

+ " Marmoutier stands on the bank of the Loire about two miles from Tours,
and is now in the possession of the ' Religious of the Sacred Heart.' It was
the cradle of Western monasticism centuries before lona and Lindisfame and
Luxeuil were peopled by the disciples of SS. Columba and Columbanus ; ami,
like the Irish monasteries, it eventually accepted the gentler rule of St. Benedict.
The Abbey was destroyed in the Great Revolution, but in 1847 the site was
purchased and saved from profanation by the Venerable M^re Barat. Nothing
remains of the more modern Abbey save the wall, and the great gateway before
which B. Urban II. preached the Crusade ; but it may be said that the ruin
of the Abbey has restored the Marmoutier of the fourth century, for the caves
and catacombs where St. Martin and his disciples dwelt are now seen very
much as they were in the Saint's time." F. Morris, St. Martin and St. Patrick,
*' Dublin Review," January, 1883, pp. 5, 6. See also a pleasant paper by
Mrs. Mulhall, in the " Lamp " of August, 1884 ; where, however, by an unhappy
printer's blunder Marmontier is substituted for Marmoutier.

J This church has long been a ruin, having been partially demolished at the
Revolution and a street driven through its entire centre. But the devotion of

Irregularities of the parochial clergy. 405

most powerful emotions ; for there were preserved such of his
precious relics as had escaped the sacrilegious fury of the Calvinists,
when, in 1562, carrying fire and sword through the province, they
did not spare the tomb of one whose resplendent virtues the
whole Christian world had for so many centuries held in veneration.
His soul thrilled with a secret awe, blended with a most consoling
sweetness, a complex feeling, such as is said to have taken posses-
sion of the Saint himself when he set foot in a basilica wliere
reposed the bones of martyrs, and which became still more intense
when he was shown the spot where the heretics had burned the
holy body. For hours he knelt before the tomb, so absorbed in
his devotions that he never seemed to know how time was passing.
One evening, supper being ready, the man of God was nowhere
to be found. On inquiry, however, it was ascertained by his
friends that in the afternoon he had been seen entering the cliurch
of St. Martin. The doors, which had been closed, were opened,
and before the tomb of the saint knelt the object of their search,
in the attitude of one who had lost all outward consciousness.
He had knelt thus for seven hours unmoved ; and even then, as
though, like his Heavenly Master, he had meat to eat of which
his friends knew nothing, he could not be induced to take his
ordinary repast that night.

There was a reason why at this particular time M. Olier sought
the special assistance of St. Martin. The patience and meekness
of that prelate had been sorely tried by the insubordinate conduct
of his deacon, whose sanctification, however, was at length effected
through the admirable example of the Saint. A like affliction
M. Olier was now suffering from ^he irregular conduct of his
parochial clergy. For several months, under the pretext of their
other numerous occupations, almost all had dispensed themselves
from the observance of the usual morning prayers, as well as from

which it was formerly the scene has been transferred to the 'hedral, where
some reUcs of the Saint are still preserved.

In November, 1859, through the prayers and labours of M. Dupont, the
" Holy Man of Tours," the tomb of the Saint, so long concealed, was discovered,
and a provisional chapel erected over it. A considerable portion of the original site
of the basilica was subsequently secured for the construction of an imposing church
— *' recalling in its architecture and proportions the age of the holy Thaumatur-
ges" — the commencement of which, it is hoped — notwithstanding the opposition
which the undertaking has encountered on the part of the Government and
the municipal authorities — will not be long delayed.

4o6

Life of M. Olier.

other exercises of the Community. The absence of M. du Ferrier
at Rodez had given occasion to these disorders, and even when
that ecclesiastic returned, as ill-health prevented him from being
present at all the devotions of the house, their irregularity still
continued. Convinced that nothing but his own personal example
would correct the evil, M. du Ferrier began to rise at half-past four,
and, ill as he was, repaired to the chapel, where he found some
five or six persons assembled. After dinner, the others would have
fain persuaded him that this strict observance would shorten his
days, but the next morning he made his appearance as before.
The third morning found not a single ecclesiastic missing, and,
what was most remarkable, from that day M. du Ferrier's health,
which had been ailing for three years, was perfectly restored, to the
amazement of the whole Community. Hitherto M. Olier had
lodged at the Seminary, but, on returning from this pilgrimage, he
resolved, in order to encourage and confirm the inmates by his
presence and example, to take up his abode in the house of the
Community, which accordingly he did ; and there he remained until
he resigned the charge of the parish, as we are about to narrate.

This journey, like the former, may be said to have been one unin-
terrupted prayer; for neither on horseback nor in the midst of
company was his attention distracted from God. One day, while
the party were at dinner, it was notified to him that, the next stage
being a long one, it would be necessary to start sooner than usual.
Shortly after, he rose from table, and, going to the stable, saddled
his horse, and rode away unperceived by the rest His attendant,
after searching for him in vain, hurried after him in the direction
in which he hoped he had gone, but did not overtake him until he
had nearly reached the place at which they were to lie that night.
On his expressing the anxiety which his absence had caused, the
good man calmly replied, " I thought I was the last at the inn, and
that the others had set off before me." This habitual recollection
in God did not, however, make him less attentive to the interests
of others, whom he regarded as the living images of Him with whom
his heart was ever occupied. Thus, on returning to Paris, having
learned that one of his friends was nigh unto death, he lost not a
moment in hastening to his succour, and had the satisfaction, before
he expired, of rendering him all those offices which religion and
affection alike dictated.

One effect of these journeys or, rather, pilgrimages — for such

Seized with a violent fever.

407

they were in their spirit and object — was a marked increase of zeal,
devotion, and general spirituality among the clergy wherever he
went. The mere sight of him kneeling before the Tabernacle had
more influence than many sermons ; but neither were sermons want-
ing, for he preached in several places, though more, perhaps, was
effected by private conversations and conferences. His appearance
in any town seemed to be a call on the parish priests to arise and
sanctify themselves, and his sojourn among them had to not a few
all the advantages of a spiritual retreat. The like may be said of
many a convent also, in which the extraoflinary renewal of fervour
among the inmates dated from the hour when M. Olier set foot
within its walls.

God's ways are not as man's ways, it might have been thought
that a servant so devoted to his Master's interests would have been
granted a lengthened term of life, but it had long been revealed to
this holy pastor that at the end of ten years his public ministry would
close. This was the assurance he had given to several of his priests j
but as, at the beginning of the year 1652, there was no appearance
of the prediction being verified, one of them said to him, as they
were taking the air in the country, " The ten years will have soon
expired, yet how can you resign your parish ? And, even if you could,
ought you to do so ? " " It is for God," replied M. Olier, *' to fulfil
His own words, and accomplish His own designs."

In March his health underwent a considerable declension ; rest
was the only remedy, but his zeal would not tolerate either repose
or abatement of labour. In June the shrine of Ste. Genevidve was
carried in solemn procession to the abbey-church of Notre Dame,
and M. Olier, regardless of his enfeebled state, spent the whole
night in prayer, with the religious, before the sacred relics. A few
days after, he was seized with a violent fever, and such was the
intense internal heat from which he suffered that it seemed at times
as if his very bed were on fire. His soul meanwhile enjoyed a pro-
found peace, and he never ceased making acts of love, thanksgiving,
self-renunciation, and the like. He never prayed to be restored
to health, or begged others to make it the subject of their prayers :
one thing only he desired — to do simply the will of God. The
physicians declared there was no hope of his recovery ; M. de
Bretonvilliers vowed a forty days' fast to obtain his restoration, but
the sick man knew that he was not then to die, and, on hearing that

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408

Lt/e of M. Olier.

a pious person of his acquaintance was alarmed about his state, he
bade him be told to come and see him, when he said, " Be under
no apprehension on my account ; the Blessed Virgin has assured me
that my end is not yet come ; but there is another thing which she
has made known to me, and it is a fault you have fallen into in
neglecting a certain practice of devotion which was profitable to
yourself and pleasing to our Lord-" From God alone could this
intimation have come, for the person in question assured M. de
Bretonvilliers that he had not mentioned the omission to any
human being.

But this holy man was accustomed never to take the extraordinary
lights with which he was favoured as the rule of his exterior con-
duct ; and, though assured of his recovery, he proceeded to dispose
all his affairs as if he were at the point of death. He received the
last sacraments, and, on the physicians announcing that he would
not live through the morrow, he, on the 20th of June, made a
formal resignation of his parish to the Abb^ de St. Germain, and of
his priory of Bazainville to the Abbd de Marmoutier. In the after-
noon of the same day he again dictated to a notary his last will and
testament, in which, after declaring his unbounded confidence in
the merits of the Redeemer and his tender devotion to His Virgin
Mother, he asked pardon of all whom he might have in any way
offended, directed that his body should be buried in the church
of St. Sulpice, without pomp or ceremony and with the utmost
simplicity, seeing that he was nothing but a vile and miserable
sinner, made various bequests in favour of old and faithful servants,
and, finally, bequeathed his library to the Seminary. No sooner,
however, were these formalities completed than his health imme-
diately improved, as though the malady had been sent only to be
the occasion of his relinquishing his charge. He had been instated
on the 25th of June, 1642, and his resignation took place on the
20th of the same month, 1652 : thus was the word f the Lord ful-
filled, as His servant had foretold. Another prei iction, uttered
eight years before, now also received its accomplisl nent, by the
appointment of M. de Bretonvilliers to be his successor as Cur6 of
St. Sulpice, notwithstanding the existence of reasons which, accord-
ing to that ecclesiastic, rendered such a choice on the part of the
Abb6 de St. Germain morally impossible.

While all good men were lamenting the loss which the parish
would sustain by being deprived of so indefatigable a pastor, M.

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His self-accusations.

409

Olier was himself filled with grief and confusion, lamenting that by
his innumerable faults he had retarded rather than promoted the
work of God; and one of his own priests relates that, passing
through Lyons a few months after in his company, and happening to
kneel on one side of a confessional while M. Olier was kneeling on
the other, he heard him accuse himself, in so loud a tone and with
so many sobs and tears, of having undertaken the charge of a vast
parish while devoid of all the necessary qualifications for so respon-
sible an office, that any one might have supposed he had been guilty
of the grossest dereliction of duty ; and the confessor was obliged to
have recourse to all those consoling topics which religion suggests
in order to relieve his fears.

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TIfE COMMUNITY AND THE SEMINARY.

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{ 413 )

CHAPTER I.

GOD'S DESIGN IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SEMINARY.

HITHERTO we have regarded M. Olier simply in his capacity
of pastor ; he is now to be presented to us in the character
by which he is most widely known, and which constitutes his chief
title to the gratitude of his countrymen and to the veneration of all
Catholics — that of founder and first superior of the Seminary of St.
Sulpice. This was the office to which he had been specially destined
by God, and for which he had been prepared by many singular
favours and many extraordinary trials.

A more important office it would be difficult to conceive ; for irs
object was not only to co-operate personally in forming a race of
holy priests, in itself one of the sublimest missions with which a
human being could be charged, but to found a society v/hich should
perpetuate the work he had himself inaugurated. The Oratory
which, in the intention of its saintly founder, the Cardinal de B^rulle,
was to have accomplished this object, had, as before observed, been
diverted, in spite, as it were, of his continued efforts, to other pur-
poses; and, what was more remarkable, his immediate successor,
R de Condren, instead of endeavouring to resume and perfect the
founder's design, had felt himself divinely called to prepare a body
of ecclesiastics, not of his own community, whom he deemed specially
fitted for the work, and just before his death had announced that the
time had arrived for carrying the project into effect ; while, as if to
show to all the world the extraordinary power which the proposed
seminary should be capable of exerting, the locality selected for its
establishment was one of the most populous and, at the same time,
the most demoralised in France. And here, again, the Providence
of God was eminently manifested, inasmuch as, the parish of St.
Sulpice being situated within the jurisdiction of the Abbey of St.
Germain, M. Olier and his colleagues would not have been able
even to enter on their pastoral labours had they not obtained the
sanction and active concurrence of the Benedictine Superiors, P.

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Life of M. Olier.

I '■

Tarrisse and P. Bataille, who, as we have seen, had themselves
introduced into their community the great reform of St. Maur.

M. Olier, indeed, believed that he was commissioned by God to
do a work in France analogous to that which the children of St.
Benedict had once accomplished in the Church at large, and that he
was undertaking it with the special benediction and under the par-
ticular patronage of that great Patriarch. " I remember," he writes,
"that on Thursday, July loth, 1642, before we quitted Vaugirard,
as I was returning from a walk with our associates, we recited together
the office of the translation of St. Benedict, for which I had given
them a little special preparation, telling them that it was that great
saint who would reform the Church ; and, while we were reciting it,
I beheld in spirit the whole Court of Heaven observing us and wait-
ing, as it were, to see what we were about to do. At the same time
another person who was with us, and is a great servant of God, told
me, before I had spoken to him of what I had seen, that he also
had been favoured with a similar vision, and added that, not only
had he beheld Heaven opened and its hosts looking down upon us,
but that the Blessed Trinity Itself seemed to be regarding our com-
pany with complacency ; and this I think very true, on account of
the purity wherein it walks and the zeal wherewith it devotes itself
to the service of God. As, then, it pleased our Lord in time gone
by to effect a renovation of Christianity by means of St. Benedict,
it seems to me that this is about to be done once more, and that it
is for this reason He associates me so closely with the Reverend
Father-General of that holy Order and with Father Bataille, its Pro-
curator, that we three might be as one in labouring together for the
good of the Church. This is why, eighteen months ago. He indi-
cated them to me as my directors, and as those whom His holy
Mother destined for me. In former times," he continues, "God
was constrained by the ignorance and depravity of the clergy to
transfer the priesthood to the cloisters of the Benedictines, who,
having shown themselves faithful in rendering to Him the worship
which was His due, merited to be called to that sacred ministry and
to offer the Holy Sacrifice, not only in their own houses, but through-
out the Universal Church, whose dignities, prelacies, bishoprics, and
even the Papacy itself, were delivered into their hands.* So many

* At their origin, it must be remembered, the Benedictines were not priests.
Thus neither St. Benedict nor St. Maarus were ever invested with the priesthood ;
as neither were St. Anthony, St. Pacomius, or St. Francis of Assbi.

"Before the opening of the eleventh century the Order of St. Benedict had

God^s promise to Marie Rousseau.

415

Sovereign Pontiffs, so many bishops, so many parish priests belonged
to the society and followed the rule of St. Benedict, that for the space
of three or four hundred years the clergy became, as it were, merged
in the Order of that holy Patriarch. And this is in accordance with
God's ordinary dealings, who raises up new servants when the former
become unfaithful."

In like manner it was revealed to him that, as St. Benedict had
replenished the Church with priests and revivified, as it were, the
whole sacerdotal body, so the Seminary which he was commissioned
to found was destined to form a race of clergy, not for one particular
diocese, but for all the dioceses of the kingdom. •' This," he writes,
"is why God has established the Seminary in a locality which is not
bounded or restricted by any particular jurisdiction ; for this parish
forms no part of any diocese, but is immediately dependent on the
Pope ; and they whom he appoints to serve it are, as it were, his
members and his delegates, who supply what he is unable to effect
in his own person and are wholly dedicated to the service of the
Holy See." Thus wrote the founder of St. Sulpice at a time when
nothing but a divine assurance could have warranted him in believ-
ing that he would succeed in accomplishing what all past experience
had shown to be impracticable; at a time, too, when no one was
obliged to reside at an ecclesiastical seminary, for however limited a
period, in order to obtain a benefice or to be admitted to holy orders.
Before the Community had taken up its abode at Vaugirard, Marie
Rousseau was complaining one day to God that the ecclesiastics whom
He had chosen to be its first members would give no credence to
what she had been ordered to tell them — as we have seen was
actually the case — when God replied to her in this wise : " I cannot
give those who will not believe your words a greater proof of their
truth than that they should one day behold My almighty power dis-
played in the gathering together of My workmen and their establish-
ment at St. Sulpice. I do not say merely that you shall have stones
wherewith to construct the buildings they shall inhabit,— that is

founded over 15,000 abbeys, and, up to the time of its division into the two
branches of Cluny and Citeaux, had provided the Church with 7,000 Bishops and
24 Popes." Ruskin, Lecture on the Benedictines.

" The Benedictine body alone has moulded for the service of the Church 7,000
Archbishops, 15,000 Bishops, 15,000 Abbots, and 4,000 Saints, and has established
in different parts of the world more than 37,000 monasteries." Rev. J. S,
Vaughan's Sermon delivered at St. Bede's College, Manchester, on St. Bedels day ;
reported in the Weekly ''egister, Nov. 1st, 1884.

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Life of M. Olier.

nothing ; but what 1 say is that there is no one on earth who has the
power to attract from all sides to the church of St. Sulpice such men
as I will bring thither to be My sacrificers."

This promise of God, which to human prudence and foresight
appeared utterly baseless and extravagant, began to be marvellously
fulfilled from the moment that M. Olier transferred his seminary from
Vaugirard to Paris. From all parts of the kingdom — even before
the design of the new institution was publicly announced — came
ecclesiastics of all grades, including abbots, priors, canons, doctors,
bachelors in theology, some to prepare themselves by a life of prayer
and study for the reception of holy orders, others to imbue and
penetrate themselves with the spirit of their vocation, and all to take
part in the celebration of the divine offices, like clergy attached to
the parish church. Moreover, as the sons of St. Benedict had been
promoted to the highest offices in the Church, so, even within ten or
twelve years after the establishment of the Seminary, M. Olier was
able to state, in a letter to the Sovereign Pontiff, that it had already
given many dignitaries, including bishops, to the realm ; and, in fact,
from that time forward almost all the sees of France have been filled
by ecclesiastics who had been trained at St. Sulpice. And again, as
the mission of that great Patriarch had been confined to no parti-
cular kingdom but had extended through the whole of Christendom,
so — to adopt the words which Cardinal Chigi, Legate a latere of Pope
Alexander VII., employed in a public attestation which he made
only a few years after the death of its holy founder — ecclesiastics
had flocked to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, not only from neighbour-
ing provinces, but from many other parts of Europe, who, on their
return to their own country, distinguished themselves by their fervour
and ability in the ministry of the word; "whence," he adds, "it has
come to pass that the vine of the Lord diffuses a sweeter odour and
brings forth its fruits in greater abundance." Indeed, as is patent to
all men, this confluence, once begun, has never ceased to the present
day, and every year aspirants to the priesthood present themselves at
the gates of the Seminary, uninvited and unannounced, from all
quarters of the habitable globe, drawn thither by no prospect of
temporal advantage but wholly for the sake of perfecting themselves
in the duties and the virtues of their slate. So admirably have been
verified the assurances with which Marie Rousseau encouraged the
first inmates of Vaugirard to persevere in their arduous enterprise,
when she said to them, "They will corne to this seminary from

, .^.

Marvelloxis survival of the Seminary. 4 1 7

every side to seek instruction, and thence they will depart to carry
everywhere the light of faith, like so many burning and shining
torches, going to the four quarters of the earth to show forth the far-
extending sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died for all men, and every-
where to send souls to heaven. For this house of the Abbe Olicr is
before God the image of the coenaculum of the Apostles, and they
who are to be formed therein will be the riches of the Church and
for Rome itself a little treasure."

This is why St. Vincent de Paul regarded M. Olicr's undertaking
as no merely present and personal affair, but one which concerned
tlie general gooa and was destined to produce permanent effect-s.
And certainly, when we consider the many storms and disasters,
both social and political, which the Seminary has survived, and
reflect that at the time it was established there existed in Paris alone
numerous communities, venerable for their antiquity and possessed
of great authority and influence — as, for instance, that of St. Germain
itself— all of which have utterly disappeared, we cannot but recognise
in its preservation to the present day the fulfilment of the promise
which the Blessed Virgin made to her devoted client, that she would
watch over his work as being specially her own, and guard it with
her powerful protection. M. Faillon mentions as a remarkable
circumstance that, when the buildings erected by M. Olier were
demolished at the beginning of the present century on grounds of
public utility, the civil power caused them to be constructed anew,
at its own sole expense, nearly on the site which they originally
occupied, and even bestowed on the Seminary a legal recognition
and authorization such as it had not possessed from the date of the
general destruction of ecclesiastical communities in France. Nay
further, so great was the respect still entertained for M. Olier, that at
a time when a belief in the supernatural had well-nigh died out of
the hearts of Frenchmen, and they who held the reins of government
were too apt to regard religion as a mere engine of State policy, the
Minister of the Interior, in the name of the First Consul, ordered a
medal of gold to be placed under the first stone of the new edifice
on which was a figure of the Blessed Mother of God, with this
inscription : Cum ipsa, et in ipsa, et per ipsam, omnis adificatio
crescit in templum Dei* A similar medal M. Olier had himself
deposited under the foundations of the first and original building, to

* "With her, and in her, and through her, every building giows into a temple
of God." The first stone was laid on November 2oih, 1802.

2 O

\\\

'II

4i8

Life of M. Oiler.

signify his entire dependence on the protection of his heavenly
Uenefactress and the paramount influence which he desired that she
should ever exercise over tlic house and its inmates.

The i)rincipal end for which the French Oratory had been founded
was, as Pope Paul V. declared in his Bull of Institution, *' not so
much to provide ecclesiastics with learning and science as to train
theui in the worthy use thereof" — for their own sanctification and
that of others — *' and to im[)art to them the virtues proper to the
ecclesiastical state." The Seminary of St. Sulpice, therefore, beiiv^'
destined in the counsels of God to accomplish the object which th^
Oratory had failed to realize, was not directly commissioned to form
brilliant scholars and great doctors in theology. The Church of
F" ranee in the 17th century was richly adorned with men distin-
guished for erudition and culture ; what she needed was a race of
ecclesiastics animated with the true spirit of their order, who by
their fervour and zeal should awaken the slumbering fires of piety
among the more learned members of their body. Even before
M. Olier quitted Vaugirard it had been intimated to him by God
that this was included in the office which he was called to fulfd.
"The second way," he writes, "which the Divine Majesty shows
me for re-animating Christian piety, — in other words, for promoting
the sanctification of doctors and priests, — is to import the maxims of
Christianity into the Sorbonne by means of the young ecclesiastics
who dwell with us, and whom God will inspire with the zeal neces-
sary for this end. It seems to me that it is the will of God to bring
about a Christian renovation through the instrumentality of the
doctors; and, indeed, it only three persons should maintain the
Christian verities in the schools, the other doctors would take a
pleasure in studying them and afterwards in disseminating them to
the honour of Jesus Christ and the glory of His Father. I have a
supreme confidence that this will actually be the case, and that our
young men will attract hearers more by their humility, piety, and
devotion than by the disputations in which they engage." How
amply these convictions were by the Divine Goodness verified will
appear in the sequel.

Further, the Seminary of St. Sulpice, in the intention of its
founder, was to be a model and precedent for all other similar
institutions in France and elsewhere, as regards both their organiza-
tion and their character and spirit. Thus, previously to taking
charge of his parish, M. Olier had written in his MimoireSy " God

special purpose of the Seminary.

419

has made known to mc that He desires to establish here a seminary
which shall be a model for other dioceses and kingdoms." True it is
that in the preceding century St. Charles Horromeo had laboured
strenuously and with success in founding schools in which youthful
candidates for the priesthood might be trained in preparation for
the clerical state. Hut God, in His ordinary Providence, is pleased
to work out His designs by progressive acts and with the aid of
various instruments, and thus it was left to M. Olier to dcvelope
and complete what the great Archbishop had begun. The scm*-
naries which the latter had instituted in his diocese were regulated
and conducted in a manner conformable with the years r d capacities
of the students, but they were not adapted to meet the necessities of
persons of maturer age, whose characters were more solidly formed,
who had either already received holy orders or were in a condition
to do so, and who were desirous, not only of imbibing more deeply
the spirit of their vocation, but of perfecting themselves in those
virtues which are eminently sacerdotal. And here it may be
observed that, although the Bishops of France were fully acquainted
with the regulations which were embodied in the Acts of the Church
of Milan, they had not regarded them as suited to the purposes of a
higher seminary, and were still in quest — if the term may be per-
mitted — of a system which would adequately satisfy their require-
ments ; and such a system was at length supplied them by the
founder of St Sulpice. M. Olier, who entertained a profound
veneration for St. Charles and proposed him as a model to his
community,* adopted whatever in the Milanese rules he deemed
conducive to the object he had in view, as, in fact, he himself
declared in the General Assembly of the Clergy held in 1650 ;
nevertheless he felt constrained to frame his constitutions on quite

* M. Olier had the consolation of leaving behind him at his decease disciples
who exhibited in themselves something of the spirit which animated the great
Archbishop and, in particular, his habitual love and practice of prayer. Tlius we
read that M. de Bretonvilliers and M. Bourbon, on their way through Milan,
repaired at once to the shrine of St. Charles, and, while they were engaged in
prayer, one of the canons opened the tomb in which the precious body lay in
order that they might have a near view of it. But, absorbed in their devotions,
the two Sulpicians never so much as raised their eyes, but continued praying for
the space of three hours ; so that the ecclesiastics present, who were used to
seeing pilgrims eager to enjoy so great a privilege, were struck with astonish-
ment, and, on learning who they were, exclaimed, "We possess, indeed, the
body of the Saint, but we must needs confess that in France you have his
spirit,"

420

Life of M. Olier,

a different plan, in accordance with the pattern which had been
shown him in his communings with God.

One principal object for which, in the Providence of God, the

Seminary was instituted was to renew those sentiments of veneration

and submission to the Sovereign Pontiff, and, under him, to the

Bishops, which had become so lamentably impaired by the heresies

of the preceding century, not only among the laity, but even in tie

clerical body itself. '• The Seminary of St. Sulpice," wrote M. Olier,

" is a place designed to inculcate a spirit of reverence, love, and

obedience to the clergy of the Church, whose sovereignty resides in

the person of the successor of St. Peter and (proportionately) in

their Lordships the Prelates ; " and these dispositions he insisted

upon as absolutely essential in priests and in all ecclesiastics for the

perfect exercise of their divine ministry, inasmuch as Pope an 1

Prelates were the representatives of Jesus Christ Plimself, whom

they obeyed in obeying them. So strictly, indeed (as we have

seen), did he himself act upon the principles he laid down that,

although the Abb^ de St. Germain was but a simple layman, yet,

because the faubourg in which the Seminary was situated was under

his immediate jurisdiction, he paid him the same deference as

though he had been invested with the episcopal character ; for in

honouring him he considered that he was only rendering due

reverence to the Pope, whom the Abb^ represented. "The true

Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice," he said, " is our Holy

Father the Pope, whom Divine Providence has given us to honour

in the person of the Abbd de St. Germain, on whom the Holy See

has bestowed jurisdiction over this faubourg without conferring on

him the episcopal character, seeming thus to give him a participation

in the quality of bishop within this domain. Other seminaiies are

bound to their Lordships the Bishops, who, by their divine character,

are so many sacred sources whence the life of God is dispensed to

thei^' clergy ; but that of St. Sulpice is bound, by the ordinance of

God, to the divine Apostolate of St. Peter, that it may imbibe his

spirit and have a share in that plenitude, that essential life, which is

possessed by his successor in order to its being distributed through

the whole world." But, independently of Ais peculiar privilege, which

was but of a temporary order, he strove to inspire his community

with a high sense of the divine prerogatives with which the Sovereign

Pontiff is endowed. His teachings on this subject are so lucid and

so profound that it will be well to exhibit them at some length.

Prerogatives of the Sovereign Pontiffs. 421

*' I have learned," he wrote, " that the grace of the Apostolate
resides in the person of the Pope alone. The Apostles were sent to
the whole world, and wherever they went they founded fresh Churches;
but these Churches were not connected with each other in the way
of dependence, except so far as they were all subject to St. Peter, in
whos.. Apostolate they laboured. This must be held as certain.
Each of the Apostles had a number of disciples whom he gave for
bishops to the Churches he had begotten, like a father who pro-
vides husbands for his daughters. Tlie jurisdiction of these bishops
did not extend beyond their own Churches ; and, having thus
received their order, their power, and their mission from this
sublime dignity, they remained always subject thereto in their
administration, as the Epistles of the Apostles testify. St. Paul,
writing to his dear disciple Timothy, whom he had made bisho;-,
addresses him as his scholar; and so also, in like manner, ^Htus.
St. John, who had founded and was still ruling all the Churches
of Asia, writes to his disciples as a master, and speaks to tlicm
in the power of Jesus Christ, in whom he lives, as if he were Jesus
Christ Himself; so that we behold a prime mover (that is, Jesus
Christ) giving life to all things in the person of the Apostles. Now,
this high dignity of Apostle has remained by succession in the
person of the Popes ; St. Peter being the only Apostle who has had
successors. Through them, then, it is that we receive the Apostolic
benediction, because the spirit of the Apostles has been left to them
that they might send preachers to spread abroad the name of God
throughout the earth and save all mankind. Whence it comes that
to them it belongs to send missionaries to go and preach in bar-
barous lands and among unbelieving peoples, as having jurisdiction
over them. Whence also he who sits in the chair of St. Peter is
called Pope or Holy Father, to mark that in him is the Spirit of
Jesus Christ, who is the sole Father of the Church or of the age to
come.

" It is, then, in order to vivify and rule His Church even to the
consummation of the ages that Jesus Christ has bequeathed Himself
to Sl Peter and his successors, in whom alone the Apostolic mission
is continued and endures, to which is joined infallibility, with
obligation laid on all men to receive their teaching. This is why,
through Jesus Christ living in them, the successors of St. Peter are
the foundation, the basis, of the Churchy and the hypostasis which
sustains it. As the Hypostasis, or Person, of the Word sustains the

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wrrfK^itmrnrwers

422

Lj/e of M. Olier.

Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ, so (analogously) does the Light
of Jesus Christ, which is the Light of the Eternal Father, sustain
the whole Church in the successor of St. Peter. What couKl
uphold this huge, this immense structure, which occupies the whole
earth and is destined to outlast all time, save the infinite Wisdom of
God and this Subsistence of the Word ? What could supply light
to a whole world, as is the Church, unless it be the Sun of Justice?
What would be capable of resisting all the illusions, all the errors,
all the heresies, all the lies of Hell save Incarnate Wisdom, which
has established Itself in St. Peter, as in a rock that cannot be moved,
manifesting Itself in him by the steadfastness of his light and the
inflexible uprightness of his principles. So that the Sovereign
Pontiff has no need to go begging for the aid of science. If he
associates Fathers and Prelates with himself, it is as a confession of
human frailty and weakness, which he must needs keep in mind,
yet without seeking light anywhere but in himself St. Peter had
this prerogative beyona the other Apostles, to have heard from the
mouth of Jesus Christ these words : * Blessed art thou., Simon Bar-
j'ona ; Jlesh and Hood have not revealed it to thee, but My Father who
is in heaven ; ' * and this by a providential dispensation, in order to
confirm the Church and fortify it in its faith. The Apostolate of St.
Peter having remained by succession in the person of the Popes,
being a charge inseparably attached to the Church, as its foundation,
it is Peter who gives strength to the whole Church : ' and thou,
being once converted, 'onfirtn thy brethren ; ' t the faith and the truth
are so strong in him that, to express a true belief, an assured faith,
it is sufficient to say, 'I believe with St. Peter, I believe as St.
Peter.' "

But, if M. Olier thus magnified the divine prerogatives of the
Vicar of Christ, it was without derogation to those of the Bishops,
who are indispensable members of the sacred hierarchy, of which
the Pope is the head. The Church without Bishops, or with their
powers curtailed, would be a head without limbs or a body with
mutilated organs. No one ever spoke more loftily or more grandly
of the Episcopate, or of the necessity of exalting it before the world,
than did he in his " Proposal for the Establishment of a Seminary,"
of which we shall speak more fully further on.

"The Episcopal dignity," he said, "is now in a state of strange
contempt, being ignored by Christians and by priests, to whom sub-

* St. Matthew xvi. 17. f St. Luke xxii. 32.

Poverty of the Comnmnity.

423

mission to their prelates is a novel idea. No longer mindful of the
vow they have solemnly made, priests look upon it as a singular
devotion to acknowledge their Bishop as their personal superior,
going so far as to represent such proceeding as an heroic act of
supererogation. Strange blindness this on their part : inasmuch as
Bishops are instituted by God, by special consecration, to be the
necessary chiefs, the fathers, and the rulers of their Churches and
particularly of their clergy. To them God has given the receiving
of life, to others the dispensing and distributing of it ; but this dis-
tribution necessarily requires channels duly prepared and adjusted
for conveying it from its source ; and these channels are the priests,
who are indissolubly bound to their Bishop, according as Jesus
Christ constituted them at the first formation of the clergy. This
order, worthy of the wisdom and the providence of a God, could
not be replaced by any other invention without loss and general
ruin to the Church, which, however, God has promised to preserve
unchangeable in its conduct, immovable in its faith, and immortal in
its life ; to which also He has promised to be ever personally present,
to guide it and to animate it even to the consummation of the ages ;
and that, too, through the sacred orders of its divine hierarchy."

He then proceeds to say that to this very end was the Seminary
of St. Sulpice established, to inspire the clergy with love and
reverence for their bishops, on whom they absolutely dei)ended, as
being their veritable fathers and natural heads. " The Church," he
continues, " will never be fully sanctified, and never has been, save
through the influence of my Lords the Bishops, who, like so many
sacred sources, communicate life and power to their priests, and then
through the priests and in the priests to their people."

Such, then, were the designs of God in regard to the Seminary of
His predilection ; we have now briefly to advert to certain noticeable
circumstances which attended their fulfilment.

All the great works which God has specially blessed and which
were destined to have extraordinary results have at their beginning
been encompassed with difficuldes and trials ; and of these poverty
has invariably been among the principal. The Christian Church
itself was founded by poor men ; and poverty, including the
apparent absence of all material resources, has marked the rise and
early life of all the grand monastic Orders. It pleased the Divine
Majesty, therefore, that the great institution which M. Olier was
deputed to establish should be commenced under similar circum-

!. ^a

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Ojj; :

■■IP

424

Life of M f)li$¥.

stances. We have seen what nn atnouwt 0/ discomfort and privation
the Community had to undergo ti( Vt<//^l^'Trd, and for the first eight
or ten years it fared scarcely better at St. Nlj||/Jt.e. The funds that
were available, from whulever «fMlff g/ llfl^'lly si/fficed for the support
of the Seminary. Sik 1/ of \\\^ \\\\\\f\¥% as we»e possessed of the
necessary means paid a i^\\\\\\\ fiii/ri v\\ WiUW ///'lintenance, and each
of the nii'ectors made a similar con(nbi/ll</// /*/om the first, how-
ever, M. Olier dispensed with all r/nyment in the case of those who
were poor in this world's goods \i\\\ in whom he discerned a true
vocation for the ecclesinitirn I stnle ; he further supplied them with
both clothes and books, and with whatever was requisite for their
subsistence and in.'iliiK ijoii ; and this, too, while personally he was
living a life of hard endurance and of straitest poverty. The fare
provided for the common table was of the plainest and most ordi-
nary kind, and so completely had the pride of social caste been
trodden under foot that M. de Foix, who was Superior of the
Seminary, would, in an excess of fervour, have made the servants of
the house seat themselves at table with the rest, but that he was led
to understand that, without detracting from the merits of the lowliest
humility, prudence demanded that every one should abide in that
rank of life wherein it had pleased God to place him.

So strictly was the rule of poverty enforced that, as in the Com-
munity so also in the Seminary, it was forbidden, not only to solicit
contributions, but even to visit any one with the view, or with the
mcie expectation, of obtaining pecuniary aid. God had engaged
to provide for the members of the Institute, and to take a single
step or to utter a single word in their own behalf was to be unfaith-
ful to their mission and to ruin their vocation. The Directors were
to receive into the house only as many as could be supported with
the help of the ordinary means which they possessed, or with which
they might justly hope to be supplied; but if, nevertheless, they
found themselves in straits, they were to retrench their own expen-
diture in every possible way rather than apply to externs for relief.
The consequences of this self-denying course were not long in
declaring themselves, for u^ the beginning of the year 1643 all
ordinary resources seemed to have failed ; the revenues were con-
sumed, large debts had been contracted, and there was dilificulty even
in finding money wherewith to procure the necessary provisions for
the house. A trial so severe to persons who had been accustomed
to a suflSciency and even to an abundance of the staple commoditie

Re fusxl of extraneous works.

425

of life — although it wrought in some that contempt for the world
and worldly goods which it was God's design to produce in those
whom He had chosen to be the representatives of His Son and the
shepherds of His people — became to others who were not possessed
of the same implicit confidence in His fatherly care the occasion of
great discouragement ; to such a degree, indeed, that M. Olier judged
it prudent to conceal from them the extreme necessity to which the
Seminary was at length reduced. Even M. de Foix, who, owing to
his ofificial position, was acquainted with the actual state of affairs,
was not exempt from the temptation to distrust. Finding himself
destitute of funds, and knowing that all parochial proceeds (as before
related) were to be applied to the support of the clergy who served
the church and for the benefit of the poor, he well-nigh lost all
heart, and feared that the Seminary would have to be dissolved and
the work to which he had devoted himself be abandoned. But
when things were seemingly at their worst, God, as always happened,
came to their succour in a marvellous maimer, and they were able
to subsist from day to day uniil their usual revenues were again
available.

In the midst of these perplexing trials the Community had to
encounter another temptation, subtle and alluring, to have yielded
to which would have drawn them away from the objects of their
mission, and entailed the extinction of their holy enterprise. From
his first installation at St. Sulpice M. Olier, whose zeal and
Apostolic life had won the confidence of all good and earnest
people, especially of such as aspired to perfection, was urgently
requested to take the spiritual direction of several religious houses
and, indeed, to govern them in the capacity of superior. The Mbre
Marie Alvequin, who was su[»erioress and reformer of the Dames
Augustines de St. Magloire, employed the d 'rector of the com-
munity, M. Jean Poincheval, a man of remarkable sagacity as well
as humility, who had refused the office of confessor to Louis XHL,
to intercede with the man of God in her behalf. This holy priest,
who was himself under M. Oiler's direction, persevered for the
space of three years in soliciting him to undertake the charge,
insisting strongly ou the spiritual necessities of the religious, who,
for their part, anxiously desired the benefit of his counsels. Three
other ecclesiastics, who, in conjunction wiLli M. Olier, were the
mainstays of the rising institute, as they had also been his first
associates and coadjutors at Vaugirard — M. de Foix, M. du Ferrier,

\
)

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426

Life of M, Olier.

and another, who was, no doubt, M. Picotd, — were similarly im-
p I tuned, and frequent attempts were also made to engage th'.m
in . irious works which had no connection with their proper duties.
But all these endeavours were fruitless. M. Olier and his colleagues
would not be diverted from their purpose and consent to embarrass
themselves with employments which, however important in them-
selves, were alien to the mission which God had entrusted to them.
The needs of the vast parish, their own individual sanctification,
and the constant care and attention which the Seminary demanded,
absorbed all their time and all their energies; and to this deter-
mination the Community of St. Sulpice has continued faithfully
to adhere.

For the space of three years the Jansenistic faction attempted
to inoculate the students, and especially such among them as
showed signs of ardent piety, with the virus of their maxims and
principles, but all their crafty wiles were defeated, as we have seen,
by the vigilance of M. Olier, under whose wise direction the
seminarists rendered an account of their method of prayer and of
their whole interior life with the utmost sincerity and candour.
One sole unhappy exception there was in the person of M. Gon-
drin, already mentioned as being among the first who joined the
little community ai V augirard- Flattered by the sectaries in his
lunhill'/iis designs, he practised extraordinary mortifications in an
ostfrjtuiious manner with a view to gaining a reputation for
MiffUf, In vain did M. O'ier inast th^t in the Seminary no
singularity was allowable, ajid Jiat every one must conform to the
rules and usages of the institute ; he reruscji to obey his superiors,
or to renounce his fantastical pra«cliices, a^id was accordingly dis-
missed the house, as being tasfitted for the ecclesiastical state.
Through the instrumentality, jiaowever, of interested friends, who
recommended him to fhe C^oeca R<egent as a person of rare virtue
and austerity of /.'fe, he was nominated, in the ysar 1645, to the
coadjutorship of the see of Sens, there 10 abuse the ro^l patronai,e
and sap the vital interests of religion by becoming an avowed
protector of the Jansenistic party. This w.is Ute utmost success
which these agents of darkness were ^::ver able to achieve against
the young community by all their cwmingly conurived plots and
stratagems.

[J it

( 427 )

CHAPTER II.

ESTABLISHHSENT OF THE SEMINARY. ITS INTERIOR

SPIRIT.

ON first taking possession of his parish M. Olier had removed
his ecclesiastical students from Vaugirard to Paris, and had
lodged them at tthe Presbytery. But shortly after, as their number
increased, he hired an adjacent house, named, from an image of
the Blessed Virgin over the door, La Belle Image, the garden of
which communicated with the Presbytery, and transferred thither
all ymo were in the inferior orders, while such as were already
priests remained with the clergy who served the church. He
continued to preside as head over both houses, but for the
maintenance of order and discipline he made M. de Foix Superior
of what may henceforth be called the Seminary and M. du Ferrier
Superior of the Community. On account, however, of the close
proximity of the two houses the seminarists and the other clergy
performea their religious exercises in common and had their meals
at the same table. " This state of things," says M. Faillon, " pro-
bably lasted till the Abb^ de Foix was promoted to the bishopric
of Pamiers, which took place in the early part of 1645."

About this time, however, the numbers had become so great
that M. Olier resolved to re-establish the seminary at Vaugirard,
particularlv as the daily resort of the students to the Presbytery
interfered with their due observance of the rules. To Vaugirard,
accordingly, he sent the youngest clerics and last comers, there to
be exercised for a year in the practices of the interior life before
being iinstructed and prepared for the reception of holy orders.
M. Couderc, the elder, was set over this house, but M. Olier visited
them personally every week to confirm them in their resolutions
and communicate to them something of that spirit of self-despoil-
ment which is the surest sign of a priestly vocation and for which

f'Ufi

428

Life of M. Olier.

he was himself so signally distinguished. They were forbidden
to leave the precincts or to visit or receive accjuaintance without
express permission of the Superior ; on every Sunday and festival
they assisted at the offices in the parish church, and so striking was
the piety and recollection they evinced that they were a source of
edification to all who saw them. In the October of 1645 Marie
Rousseau was present at Vespers in the church of Vaugirard, and,
while the students were chanting the Psalms and taking part in
the ceremonies, it was shown her by a divine intimation that their
fervour was a consolation to the Heart of Jesus, from its contrast
with the coldness and neglect with which He had heretofore been
treated in that place. "I have brought these children here," He
said, "that I might have some solace to My wounds." There
was, indeed, she adds, a certain relaxation of devotion in the
following year, but M. Olier's visits and counsels soon rekindled
their former ardours.

The additional accommodation thus afforded was, however, not
sufficient to supply the growing needs, and it became necessary to
provide a lodging for these clerics when they should return to Paris
to complete their studies and to make their special preparation for
receiving holy orders. In the year 1645, as the reader may remem-
ber, M. Olier had purchased a plot of ground in close vicinity to
the church, on which to erect a large and commodious seminary.
Owing, however, to his multiplied occupations, the breaking out of
civil war, and, above all, the utter want of means, he was unable to
make even a commencement. Meanwhile he caused three small
buildings which already existed on the spot to be put into a habit-
able condition at as little outlay as possible. This was effected by
making divisions in the rooms and constructing little cells even in
the garrets by means of deal partitions, and at the end of a few
months the seminarists, with M. Pousse at their head, were able to
take possession.

This domicile was formally blessed on May nth, 1646, and,
while engaged in supplicating God that He would be pleased to
pour down His benedictions on a house from which the spirit of
evil had been banished, M. Olier felt himself diverted, against his
will, from the subject of his prayer and moved to beg with all the
powers of his soul for the grace of perfect servitude, and at the same
time he seemed to be so replenished therewith that he became, as it
were, annihilated before the Divine Majesty. Then it was, he says,

Model of building shown him in vision. 429

as if the plan of a great edifice were spread before him, and an
interior voice said to him, *' I place this house in thy hands ; thou
wilt answer to Me for it." A similar illumination was accorded to
him, on June 23rd in the same year, while disposing himself for
saying the first Mass in a chapel dedicated to St John the Evan-
gelist, which, with permission of the Abbti de St. Germain, he had
erected in connection with the Seminary ; the Lord God making
known to him by a secret operation of His Spirit that he should
offer the Holy Sacrifice with the single intention of promoting His
glory, inasmuch as this chapel and the Seminary itself were designed
for the same sole object

The house or, rather, junction of houses which now constituted
the Seminary of St Sulpice soon became in its turn insufificient for
the accommodation of the students, who, moreover, owing to the
smallncss of the rooms and the slightness of the partitions, especially
in the garrets, suffered much both from heat in summer and from cold
in wiiiter ; indeed, the health of some was seriously affected through
defect of ventilation. Under these circumstances, being utterly
destitute of all human resources, he besought the aid of Her who
had never failed him in his needs, and confidently awaited the time
when she should be pleased to bestow it. Nor was it long before
he was favoured with an extraordinary proof of her regard. It was
during the short period of repose which the capital enjoyed after the
troubles of the first War of Paris that, on Monday, March 22 nd, 1649,
he went, accompanied by M. de Bretonvilliers, to lay his pressing
wants before his heavenly Patroness in the church of Notre Dame.
As they knelt together in prayer he was rapt in ecstasy, and beheld
the Blessed Mother of God standing before him and holding in her
hands the model of a building much greater in extent than any which
he had contemplated, and perfectly adapted to his purpose. Know-
ing, however, that he did not possess wherewithal to undertake so
vast a work he prayed her to entrust it to his companion kneeUng at
his side, but she gave him to understand that it was himself whom
she had chosen for its execution. Then, nothing doubting but that,
having engaged him in the undertaking, she would herself assist him
to accomplish it, he at once determined on fulfilling her behests,
undeterred alike by his ,otal want of funds and by the taunts of
those who ridiculed the notion of a man who had no money and
no resources at command presuming to commence a building on so
large a scale. In this, as in all he undertook, he trusted simply in

tf:

430

Life ofM. Olier,

God and in His holy Mother and placed no reliance on human
succour. A lady of high rank, who had promised him a consider-
able sum, changed her mind and withdrew her offer, hut, instead of
evincing any disappointment, he gave open expression t' ■ his satisfac-
tion at being obliged to have recourse solely to Jesus and Mary.
•* To Them," he said, '* the house belongs ; They will not abandon it,
but will provide whatever is necessary for its con truction." He
refused on one occasion 60,000 livres, and on another 80,000 livics,
because the donation was coupled with a condition which fell short,
in his judgment, of the greatest excellence, and so was contrary to
the vow which he had made always to choose the most perfect way.
An instance also is recorded of his declining to accept a sum of
money which was brought him, and begging the donor first to pray
to God that he might clearly know His will.

M. du Ferrier, in his Mimoires, relates a remarkable incident, as
showing that it was God's will that the Community should depend
on Him alone and not look to mundane means for help. A person
of wealth and standing came to him one day and said that he had
a project in contemplation which would be a great advantage to the
King and to the city of Paris, and that, if M. du Ferrier would secure
the interest of M. de Brienne, Secretary of State, in his behalf, he in
return would render M. du Ferrier a substantial service. On the
latter replying that he never meddled with temporal matters and
received no presents, the other rejoined that what he proposed would
be to the l;)enefit both of the parish and of the Seminary. He then
disclosed his plan, which was that, the King having determined to
include certain faubourgs and, among them, that of St. Sulpice within
the walls of the city, he would himself engage to construct the forti-
fications and execute other important works besides, provided he
were entrusted with the sole control of the revenues of the Hotel de
Ville, which he affirmed were so badly administered as to be pro-
ductive of public loss, and that, if his request were granted, he on
his part would undertake to enlarge the parish church and erect the
Seminary, as designed, at his own expense. An offer so unexpected
and so munificent appeared a very Godsend in the eyes of M. du
Ferrier, who was thoroughly acquainted with the condition of affairs,
and he consequently believed himself justified in recommending the
proposal to M. Brienne, wiLu whom he had much personal influence.
The applicant was able to [i^oduce good security, and, the plan on
examination being found feasible, his offer was formally accepted by

Snf)ply of funds for build iuc^.

431

the Council of State. Thus far all had proceeded smoothly, and the
Community were conp-atulating themselves that by the good Provi-
dence of God they were relieved of all anxieties and the work to
whicii they had dedicated their lives would now be consummated,
when, eight days afterwards, the whole affair collapsed. The Due
d'Orldans, who was President of the Council, exacted, as the con-
dition of his giving his consent, that the completion of his Palace
of the Luxembourg should be included in the contract, and, when the
applicant had reluctantly consented, the Prince de Conde put in a
corresponding claim of so preposterous a nature that the whole
scheme was abandoned and came to naught. By this failure of a
plan which was apparently so promising, but which proved in effect
so utterly vain and empty, God (adds M. du Ferrier) would have
them to understand that, as the site had been purchased with money
supplied by members of the Community, so the Seminary itself
should be erected and maintained by themselves alone without
external help.
At the time, however, that the Blessed Virgin laid her charge upon
er servant no member of the Community was in a position to
render any pecu liary assistance, inasmuch as they had expended all
their resources on their parishioners, many of whom were reduced to
a state of destitution by the disastrous civil war. M. Olier never-
theless was in no wise daunted or discouraged, and the event proved
that his confidence rested on a sure foundation. Two young men,
brothers, of the name of Souart, who had quitted the Luxembourg,
where their family were attached to the person of the Due d'Orldans,
and had joined the Community of St. Sulpice, contributed, with the
consent of their relatives, a sum which was sufficient to defray the
expense of laying the foundations ; and no sooner had the works pro-
ceeded thus far than the good Providence of God enabled another
of the associates to furnish what was necessary for the completion of
the structure. It has been related how, when M. Olier was praying
together with M. de Bretonvilliers in the cathedral of Notre Dame,
he had begged the Virgin Mother to entrust the undertaking to his
companion kneeling at his side ; and now it appeared as if his peti-
tion had in part, at least, been granted. For just at the moment
when additional funds were needed, M. de Bretonvilliers inherited a
considerable amount of property through the death of several rela-
tives, with the aid of which the works were never allowed to stop,
but advanced with a celerity which to those who were acquainted

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with the poverty of the Community must have been astonishing.
So confident, indeed, was M. Olier of receiving the assistance he
required that, even while the foundations were being laid and before
M. de Bretonvilliers had any money at his disposal, the man of God
— as though he were favoured with a revelation on the subject — had
induced him to promise, in conjunction with his two brothers, to
provide a habitation for the Sisters of St. Joseph, who had been
established at La Fleche in Anjou by his friend M. Le Royer de la
Dauversibre ; and accordingly, on September 22nd in this same year,
1649, M. de Bretonvilliers signed a contract for the execution of the
plans which the Sisters had adopted.

The first stone of the Seminary was solemnly laid by M. Olier
himself, in the name of her whom he loved to style Queen of the
Clergy, on the octave of her Nativity. The architect whom he
employed was Jacques Le Mercier, the same who had extended the
Louvre, and had erected the Palais Royal and the Church of the
Sorbonne. As the building was to be consecrated to the Divine
service, M. Olier took the greatest care that all the materials should
be the best of their kind : he would have everything solid and sub-
stantial, but of the utmost simplicity, without superfluous ornament
or display ; and, finding that without his knowledge the entablature
had begun to be enriched with fretwork, he ordered the decoration
to be discontinued on the side that faced the street, without regard
to the beauty or uniformity of the appearance. The building of the
Seminary afforded work for a large number of people who, deprived
of employment by the disorders of the times, would have been the
terror of the city ; and so rapid was the progress made that by the
feast of the Assumption, 1650, the edifice was well-nigh completed.
It conrasted of a massive square, enclosing a noble court and pierced
with numerous windows; and such was the solidity of the whole
structure that during the 150 years it remained standing no repairs
were needed, not even in the roof.* The chapel, which by M.

* Evontually several establishments were formed in connection with the Semi-
nary and communicating with it. I. The Petite Communaut^ for students whose
health did not allow them to follow the general rule. 2. The Petit S^minaire,
for those who could not afford the usual pension ; it was founded by M. Brenier,
who also instituted the Communaut6 des Philosophes, which prepared students
for both the Grand and the Petit Seminaire. 3. The Commanaute des Pauvres
ifccoliers, which subsequently took the name des Robertins from M. Robert, one
of its Superiors, who largely endowed it. All had their coun*ry houses ; the
Grand Seminaire at Issy, as at the present day j the Petit Seminaire ac Vaugirard,

/ I

The Chapel of the Seminary.

433

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Olier's desire was finished before the rest of the building, was con-
secrated in the November of the same year, the first Mass being
celebrated by the Papal Nuncio, who, on the feast of the Assumption,
1 65 1, solemnly blessed the Seminary itself. But the servant of God
had already made a formal dedication of the new institution to the
Queen of Heaven. In the cathedral church of Chartres, where, as
we have seen, he had received such singular intimations of the
Divine will, he offered the Holy Sacrifice at her altar, having with
him the keys of the all but completed building, and there he prayed
the Virgin Mother to take possession of the house which she had
herself designed and to bestow upon it her patronage and protection.
At the same time he presented her image with a costly robe of silk
embroidered with gold, which his biographer says is still preserved
among the treasures of the church ; and, in order to bequeath to the
Seminary a perpetual devotion to Our Lady of Chartres, he obtained
for it the privilege of being associated with the Chapter of the
Cathedral, and so being admitted to a community of prayer and
spiritual graces.* He would never allow any one to apply to him
the title of founder. " You know," he would say, " that it is Jesus in
His holy Mother whc is the founder and the owner of this house." To
this end he placed in the centre of the court a statue of its heavenly
Patroness, who v/as represented seated, with the Divine Child stand-
ing on her knees and placing a crown upon her head ; and every-
where about the house migh : be seen the monogram of Mary, not only
on every door and window, but on all the furniture, ironwork, and
linen. But it was in the chapel especially that his devotion found its
chief gratification. If he was pleased to have the rest of the building
a model of plainness and simplicity, here he would have the utmost
magnificence displayed. The most skilful artists were employed in
its embellishment, and with such success that, when completed, the
chapel of St. Sulpice was reckoned among the finest ornaments of the
city. That which attracted most admiration was the celebrated com-
position of Le Brun with which the ceiling was covered, and which was

where the Robertins also had M. Olier's house, near the church ; the Philoso-
phers again at Issy. The building erected by M. Olier was taken down in 1802,
in order to throw open the Place de St. Sulpice, and a new seminary constructed
on the site which had been occupied by the three other establishments, a portion
of the garden of the Grand Seminaire, the community of the S'^urs de I'lnstruc-
tion, and some adjoining houses.

* The custom of visiting Notre Dame de Chartres has continued in the Semi-
nary to the present day.

2 £

43'

Life of M. Olier.

executed after a design furnished by M. Olier himself. It v;as descrip-
tive of the triumph of the Blessed Virgin, crowned by the Eternal
Father amidst the jubilations of the whole Court of Heaven, and pro-
claimed Mother of God by the great council of Ephesus ; the spaces
between the painting and the cornice being filled with medallions
representing the several titles by which she is invoked in her I itanies.

But this devotional beauty and adornment, combined with so
much architectural modesty, solidity, and plainness, did but express
the dominant idea and interior life and spirit of the Institute ; and
these we have now to consider. The Seminary, it must be borne in
mind, was the one great object of M. Olier's missio.i in the world,
the true end of his vocation. To this all his previous life was but
the preparation and the prelude. The plan which had been shown
nim by the Blessed Virgin he did not take merely as the model of
the material building which it was the Divine Will he should con-
struct, but he understood the heuvenly vision as importing that the
spiritual edifice was to be raised according to a pattern which God
had designed, and which P. de Condren had so often obscurely
intimated to his disciples. "When God," said M. Olier, ** would
renew in these days the fervour of primitive Christianity, He would
employ the same means as He made use of at the first. It was by
Jesus Christ that He made Himself known to men ; and, as it was
not the design of the Eternal Father to manifest His Son visibly to
all the earth. He multiplied and disseminated Him in the Apostles,
who, filled with His Spirit, His virtues, and His power, bore Him
with them everywhere throughout the world, displaying exteriorly in
their persons His patience. His humility, His sweetness. His charity,
and all His virtues. To correspond, then, with the design of God
we must inspire our youth with the sentiments and virtues of Jesus
Christ, and He must live in each as really as in the Apostle who
said, '' I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.^"*

Such, then, is the fundamental idea on which the Seminary of St.
Sulpice rested, devotion to the Interior Life of our Lord, — a devotion
established and perpetuated by the instituiion of a festival so desig-
nated, which was celebrated annually and, during a large portion of
the year, even weekly. The object of this festival was to honour
with a special devotion the interior dispositions with which our Lord
accompanied His mysteries and all the actions of His life ; as, for
instance, His sentiments of piety towards His Father, of charity

* Gal. ii. 20.

Devotion to the interior life of Mary. 435

towards men, self-annihilation in His own regard, horror of the
world and of sin ; and the fruit to be derived from this devotion
was an abundant participation in these dispositions, according to the
admonition of St. Paul : •' Let this mind be in you, tvhich teas also in
Christ /esua." * To reproduce this interior life in the hearts of the
seminarists was M. Oiler's one unceasing object, as being the proper
vocation of all Christians, and especially of priests. " Then only,"
he said, "are men worthy of these august titles when it can be
affirmed of them, It is thus Jesus Christ spoke; it is thus Jesus
Christ acted ; it is thus Jesus Christ suffered." And this has ever
been the primary teaching in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. " We
are for ever repeating," writes M. Leschassier, " those words of St.
Ambrose: — 'Omnia Christus est nobis: signaculum in fronte, ut
semper confiteatmir ; signaculum in corde, ut semper diligamus ; signa-
culum in brachio, ut semper operemur.' f How widely should we have
departed from the spirit of our fathers, if we abandoned the holy
practice signified by these three expressions: ' Fer Christum, cum
ChristOf in Christo — (Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ)!'"

Next to the devotion to the Interior Life of Jesus, M. Olier laid
as the second foundation of his Seminary devotion to the interior
life of Mary, a festival in honour of which was also observed every
year. It had for its principal object the interior dispositions of
this incomparable creature in all her actions, and the treasure of
graces with which she was enriched. "Jesus Christ," he writes,
"who promised to live in holy souls, communicated His life to no
one with such plenitude as to His holy Mother. The commu-
nication which He makes to the whole body of the Church is far
inferior to it Mary is as a sacrament by which He distributes
His blessings and His graces ; und it is to this abundant source
that the clergy must resort in order to imbibe the life of Jesus Christ.
St. John beheld all this : he represents the most holy Virgin as a
woman clothed with the sun, having on her head a crown of twelve
stars, emblem of the Apostles, and the moon under her feet ; J
teaching us thereby that, wholly filled and penetrated with Jesus
Christ, figured by the sun, she fills in her turn all the x\postles and

♦ Phil. ii. 6.

t " Christ is all things to us : a seal on the forehead, that we may ever confess ;
a seal in the heart, that we may ever love j a seal on the arm, that we may ever
work."

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436

Life of M. Olier.

the Church, and gives them all that they have of light and splen-
dour. She is shown, also, with the dragon under her feet ; and
this is to denote that all the Apo'-t.les, the disciples, the priests,
and the other ministers of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, even to
the exorcists, hold and receive from Jesus Christ, in her, the power
to trample the serpent under foot and crush his head. In accord-
ance with this design, it pleased God Lhat, although His holy
Mother was not preseuc at the Last Supper, inasmuch as she was
not to receive the visible priesthood according to the order of
Melchisedech, nevertheless she should be present in the ccenaculuin
on Whitsunday, there to receive the Apostolic grace and spirit ; that
is to say, the spirit of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of
men ; thereby teaching the Church that it could never be renewed
save in the company of Mary and by participating in her spirit."

To keep this great and beautiful truth ever before the minds
and, as it were, before the very eyes of the students, he placed in
the chapel a large painting by Le Brun, representing the Queen
of the Clergy receiving the plenitude of the Holy Spirit on the day
of Pentecost, which from her is distributed among the Apostles
and the assembled faithful. His wish was to have had ten other
pictures executed by the same artist, the designs for which he
communicated to him in writing, all intended to exhibit the Mother
of God as the channel and instrument of all graces in the Church ;
but one only was completed, that of the Visitation, in which
mystery the Blessed Virgin exercised her Apostolate in behalf of
St. John the Baptist and St. Elizabeth.

This doctrine was not, indeed, peculiar to the founder of St.
Sulpice. Bossuet and Bourdaloue regard it simply as the con-
sequence of the mystery of the Incarnation itself. "God," says
the former, " having been pleased to give us Jesus Christ once,
and by the Most Holy Virgin, this order changes no more. Having
once received by her the universal principle of grace, we also
receive, through her instrumentality, the different applications of
grace in all the various states which go to make up the Christian
life."* "Mary,'' says Bourdaloue, "is the coadjutrix of God in
the order of our salvation ; and, as salvation began by her and
by her consent to the word of God, it is by her and through her
co-operation that it must be consummated."! "This consequence,

* Sermons on the Conception and the Nativity of our Lord,
t Sermon on the Assumption of the lilessed Virgin.

1 1

Mary the channel of all graces.

437

it is true, was not deduced," as the Abbd Faillon observes, " by
the early Fathers generally, though some of them perceived it,
but it is ^,he property of Christian truths to receive their develop-
ment successively, according to the wants of the Church in different
ages and the designs of Providence ; and God seems to have
reserved the exposition of this doctrine principally for the age of
theologians and doctors, who wrote with greater precision and with
more of method than did the Fathers, In fact," he continues,
" St. John Damascene, who gave a new form to theology and whose
decisions are received by the Greeks with the same respect as
those of St. Thomas by the Latins, St. Thomas himself, Albert
the Great, who was his master, St. Bonaventure, St. Anselm, Peter
de Blois, St. Antonine, Gerson, St. Bernardine of Siena, and a
vast number of other doctors teach simply and positively, as a
matter on which all are agreed, that Mary is the channel of all
graces."* But the great promulgators of the doctrine in these
latter times were the men whom God raised up to be the reformers
of the clergy. Cardinal de Bdrulle and P. de Condren revived it
in the Oratory, and thence M. Olier, P. Eudes, and many others
received it, to disseminate it in their turn. " If the wisdom of
God," wrote M. Olier, " was not pleased in the beginning to make
known, by the holy Fathers, to the whole body of the faithful the
transcendent communications which Jesus makes to His Virgin
Mother, and the intimate union which He has with her, — for which
she is called throughout the Church Electa ut sol (Elect as the sun),
— it is but meet that we should apply ourselves to the holy verities

* M. Faillon gives in a note the very words of the several Saints and Doctors
mer.tioned above. They may be found also, together with other testimonies,
at the end of Pere de Gallifet's Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (Burns & Oates,
1880), See also, as to Mary's ever-energizing power and influence in every age
of the Church, F. Faiier's Blessed Sacravient, B. 1 1, S. iv., where he speaks of
M. Olier and his school being prominent in teaching, like St. Bernard, that "our
Lord never seems to act in any notable way in the Church without our tracing
the instrumental hand and power of M-'.ry. When He went, He left her to be
to the Church what she had been to Him, and, in fact, always works in the
Church by her and never without her. This last truth," he says, " is wonder-
fully brought out in M. Oiler's Letters, and was a principal characteristic of
his beautiful spirit. In dogma, it I'as passed almost into a proverb that the
doctrine about Mary shields the doctrine about Jesus, and contains it as she
once contained Him. (See Card. Newman's Discourses to Mixed Congregations,
xvii. xviii.) In ritual they are never separated. In devotion they have grown
together ; and in great ecclesiastical epochs her action has been manifested to
the Church in countless ways, both natural and miraculous."

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which Providence vouchsafes to manifest in the progress of time.
The Seminary of St. Sulpice, entering into the design of God,
devotes and dedicates itself to preserve with honour this glorious
treasure, and to exhibit in the sanctity of its manners this hidden
life. The end it proposes to itself is to derive from this exhaustless
fount of divine life whatever gifts, graces, and virtues it is able to
acquire ; and this also it is which ought strongly to move all ecclesi-
astics to nourish themselves with the interior life of Jesus in Mary,
in order to correspond with the intentions of our Blessed Lord,
who, in disclosing to us anything of His riches, does so only to
make us sharers of them."

All from Jesus through Mary ; all, there/on:, to Jesus through
Mary : this may be said to be the formulary which represents the
distinctive idea or fundamental principle of the Seminary of St.
Sulpice ; and in nothing is it more conspicuously displayed than
in the devotions which M. Olier originated or to which he was
instinctively attracted. This made him select St. John the Evan-
gelist as one of its special patrons ; for on whom could his choice
have more appropriately fallen than on him who lay on Jesus's
breast, and into whose heart Jesus when dying instilled the filial
love which He bore His holy Mother ? *' The love of Jesus and
of Mary," said P. de Condren, " was so holy a love tliat it was meet
that something of it should remain in the Church ; and, in order
to preserve it, St. John was put in the place of Christ, when He
said to His blessed Mother, * Behold thy son : ' * thy son, not another
son. Mary thus received him as her own son, and this son survived
her. St. John, on his part, forgetting self to take the place of
Jesus, continued to render to Mary the same duties, and to serve
her with the same filial love, which Jesus showed her. Fain
would I renew in souls this grace, this first odour of heaven, this
singular benediction, which was given at the beginning ; but, as I
am not worthy of the oflfice, I beg our Lord to pour down His
Spirit abundantly on others, who may ' complish so blessed a
work." M. Olier was one of those in whom it may be truly said
this prayer was fulfilled. "As the most holy Virgin," says the man
of God, in his panegyric of St. John, " though filled with the pleni-
tude of the sacerdotal spirit, had not the sacerdotal character, and
therefore could not exercise in her own person the functions of
the priesthood, the Saviour gave her St. John on Calvary, not only

* St. John xix. 26.

St. Joseph patron of the Seminary.

439

that he might be a son to her in His place, but that, by the Holy
Mysteries which he celebrated for her and for her intentions, he
might supply her with the means of satisfying the ardent desire3
of her heart for the establishment of the Church ; as also console
her for the absence of her Son by the happiness she enjoyed of
feeding on Him daily. This is why God does not leave the '".oly
Virgin St. Joseph for her guardian, or any secular person, who had
not been ordained priest of the new law ; he does not even leave
her any woman for her guardian, as might have seemed more
fitting in the eyes of the world ; but he leaves her one who is both
virgu\ and priest, a man who is pure as an an^^el, and superior to
the angels by his office of sacrificer of Jesus Christ, an office with
which he was invested that he might offer upon tlie altar the con-
tinuation of the Sacrifice of the Cross for the intentions of the
most holy Virgin."

This pious practice of offering Masses for the intentions of the
Blessed Mother of God was one much observed by the French
Oratory, and was particularly dear to Cardinal de B^rulle and
P. de Condren, both of whom were favoured with extraordinary
lights from Heaven. M. Olier had made a vow to jay Mass every
Saturday for her intentions, and this vow he faithfully performed ;
but, on founding the Seminary, he directed that three Masses should
be offered every day the whole fruit of which he desired to be put
into the hands of Mary : considered, in the first, as queen of the
Church triumphant ; in the second, as queen and advocate of the
Church militant ; in the third, as queen and consoler of the Church
suffering ; and in a book wherein he marked down the several inten-
tions with which Mass might be said, he recommended his priests
to offer the Holy Sacrifice on Saturdays for the intentions of the
Blessed Virgin.*

So devout a client of Mary could never, we may be sure, separate
from this Queen of Virgins the chaste spouse whom Heaven had
given her. Another patron of the Seminary, therefore, was St.
Joseph, whose extraordinary vocation has so close an affinity to that
of priests. He would have his clergy also cultivate a particular
devotion to the holy Apostles, as being, after Jesus Christ, the

* The doctrine here inculcated, with the devotional practices founded thereon,
is, as need scarcely be said, essentially identical with that which forms the primary
idea of the wonderful book on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by the Vene-
rable Grignon de Montfort which Father Faber translated with his own hand.

440

Life of M, Olier.

foundations of the Church ; and it has therefore always been the
custom at St. Sulpice to celebrate High Mass upon their festivals.
It was his wish, moreover, that there should ever be twelve indivi-
duals in the Seminary who should charge themselves with the duty
of rendering special honour to the twelve Apostles ; venerating in
them the abundance of their Apostolic grace, blessing God for
having chosen them to be the preachers of His Gospel to the world,
and, above all, imploring of Him a participation of their spirit for
the universal Church and, in particular, for all the ecclesiastics of
the house. From a like motive of piety he called the twelve prin-
cipal apartments in the Seminary by their names.

Nor were these the only members of the heavenly court whose
patronage M. Olier sought. Seeing the prediction of the Venerable
Mtjre Agnl's fulfilled before his eyes, he was moved to put in execu-
tion a desire he had long entertained of associating himself with
the great Order of St. Dominic. To this end he was admitted a
member of the Third Order towards the close of the year 1651, with
several other priests of his community, in the chapel of the Seminary.
There is good reason for believing that he was affiliated also to the
Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi, as well as to that of St. Francis
of Paula ; at least both are equally ambitious of claiming him for a
brother. His devotion to St. Martin of Tours has already been
mentioned, and in the December of 1653 he obtained from the
Chapter of the church a formal association for himself and his suc-
cessors, and for all the ecclesiastics of the Seminary, in their prayers,
Masses, and good works. And even yet his pious greed was not
satisfied. To honour the great Apostle of France, St. Denis, and to
inspire his company with a continual veneration for this holy bishop,
he effected a similar association with the Abbey of Montmartre,
from which he also obtained a relic of the Saint ; and, ever mindful
of the dream which had determined his vocation to the ecclesiastical
state, he added to his list of patrons the two illustrious doctors of
the Church, St. Ambrose and St. Gregory the Great, and celebrated
their festivals every year with special devotion, a custom which has
been perpetuated to the present day.

But the principal feast of the Seminary was that of the Presenta-
tion of the Blessed Virgin, whose dedication of herself in the Temple,
in unconscious preparation for the incommunicable dignity of
Mother of God incarnate, M. Olier loved to regard as offering the
most perfect model to those who, in embracing the clerical rotate.

The prricipal feast of the Seminary. 441

separate themselves from the world in order to fit themselves for the
celebration of the august Mysteries of the Altar. On that day every
ecclesiastic in the house was to make a solemn renewal of his engage-
ments, uniting himself in spirit to the interior dispositions of the
daughter of the King of kings when she left her people and her
father's house. " Filled with the Spirit of God," he wrote, " which
is all might, all ardour, all love, alone, at the age of three years, she
ascends the steps of the Temple, teaching us thereby that God
supplies for our infirmities, and she comes to ratify solemnly on this
day that which she had done in the first moment of her life. She
enters with a forgetfulness of the world, a death to herself, an
abandonment to God, a love and a zeal, which surpasses all concep-
tion. She looks not behind her ; in quitting this gross, corrupt world
she thinks not whether she will need anything in the service of God,
whether tliis great God will suffice her for everything or not. She
thinks not of her home or of her parents ; she surrenders herself wholly
to God, with a marvellous confidence, never reverting to herself or to
any cre.ited thing ; and thus she teaches us to live in the Spirit of
our Lord Jesus Christ utterly abandoned to the care of His Father."
The first occasion of this observance was on November 21st, 1650,
about which time, as we have seen, the new chapel was consecrated.
A few days previous to the festival, M. Olier, with that tender child-
like piety which he ever entertained for the Virgin Mother, went to
Notre Dame to invite her to be present ; the eve was kept as a strict
fast, a practice never discontinued, and the Papal Nuncio himself
presicied at the ceremony. At the fett of this representative of the
Vicar of Jesus Christ M. Olier and all the ecclesiastics of the
Seminary renewed once again the profession they had made on
receiving the tonsure, and consecrated themselves anc*', after the
example of Mary, to the service of God, the only lot and portion of
clerics. It happened that the General Assembly of the Clergy was
being held in Paris at the time, and the Bishops deputed one of
their number to express, in the name of their united body, the joy
and satisfaction with which they had beheld the happy fruits which
the Seminary had produced during the eight years of its existence,
and the confident hopes they entertained of the good it would here-
after effect for the Church ; at the same time bestowing their bene-
diction. An extraordinary fervour was enkindled in the hearts of
the whole Community, and all felt that the act in which they had
been engaged would prove a fresh source of graces to the Seminary.
M. Olier himself, filled with gratitude for the favours which hig

inn

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^f^VWW

442

Life of M. Olier.

Benefactress had obtained, besought her to indicate to him in what
way he could best evince his love and homage, and rci;eived this
answer: "Prepare me hearts;" by which, he says, she meant him
to understand that what was most pleasing to the Mother was to
have hearts to serve her dear Son in the ministry of His Chuich.

But he soon received a substantial proof of her watchful care and
powerful aid. The letters patent accorded by the Crown in 1645
had never been registered by the Parliament, and so many obstacles
had been thrown in the way that M. Olier had ceased his ap|)lica-
tions, without any intention of renewing them. But two days after
the ceremony just described, he felt an inward conviction, when
engaged in prayer, that his petition would be granted. He, there-
fore, sought an interview with M. Mol^, the First President, on whom
the matter chiefly depended. At first the magistrate made many
difficulties, but, on M. Olier giving utterance to a few words which
had been suggested to him in prayer, the heart of him whom he was
addressing seemed (as he expresses it) suddenly to expand, and,
throwing his arms around the man of God, he said, ** Yes, I will do
it ; and I thank you for giving me an occasion of terminating my
official course by rendering Go'd this service." The Parliament
accordingly registered the royal letters, and the Seminary of St.
Sulpice became henceforth a legalised corporation, capable of hold-
ing and inheriting property, and enjoying all the privileges and
immunities which the State could bestow.

Having thus obtained a success which had hitherto appeared
hopeless, M. Olier was encouraged to approach another matter which
closely concerned the interests of the institute. It was the custom
for all Communities to select some person of influence as their civil
protector ; but M. Olier, doubting whether it would be pleasing to
his heavenly Patroness that he should have any earthly helper, went
to Notre Dame to learn her will ; when she, he says, *' who loves
order and would have all things done in order," gave him to under-
stand that he should enjoy her protection by taking as his patron
this same President Mold, who was a relative of his, and whom he
had already in intention chosen for the office. This great man
received the proposal with the utmost cordiality, responding feelingly
to the pious terms in which it was conveyed, and, as experience
proved, in all respects fulfilled the assurance which had been given,
that in him the Seminary should find the protector it sought.

When M. Olier first went to Vaugirard in 1642, he knew nothing
as to his being destined, in the counsels of God, to rjund the

j'.>... 1-] -^'i'^MJ^it^.. 1« L

Death of Marie Rousseau.

443

Seminary and reform the notorious parish of St. Sulpicc. To pre-
pare him for these stupendous woriis and to assist him in their
accom,^nshment, Divine Providence had made choice of three
persons of whom frecjuent mention has been made in this liistory :
Dom Cir(:;goire Tarrisse, General of the Benedictines of St. Maur ;
Dom Hugues IJataille, I rocurator of the same Congregation ; and the
saintly widow, Marie Rousseau. But, as if these zealous and holy
persons had been brought together for this sole purjiose, as soon as
the two objects for which they laboured may be said to have been
fulfilled, they were separated from each other and their united
co-operation came to an end. P. Bataille was elected Prior of St.
Martin des Champs at Paris on March 17th, 1645 > •" ^^^ following
year he left the Benedictine Couimunity, and, returning to the
Cistercian Order (as already intimated), became Prior of Coincy.
From that time forward his connection, with the Seminary ceased,
except that after the death of M. Olier he delivered into the hunds
of his successor at St. Sulpice all the writings which the servant of
God had composed by his direction ard of which he had hitherto
had the keeping. P. Tarrisse continued to aid M. Olier with his
counsels for two years longer, when he died at the Abbey of St.
Germain, on September 24th, 1648, a year before the foundations
of the Seminary were begun. Marie Rousseau, to whose unceasing
prayers M. Olier's conversion, under God, was due, retired when the
building had commenced — as though her mission were ended and
all her aspirations satisfied — to the Maison d'lnstruction, which (as
previously mentioned) she had herself established, and which she
ruled with consummate ability and prudence. She died on August
4th, 1680, and was buried in one of the vaults of the church of St.
Sulpice, directly under the Lady Chapel. "This testimony," writes
M. du Ferrier, — who, it will be remembered, had once entertained a
strong prejudice against her, — " I can render to her virtue ; although
her life was altogether extraordinary it was entirely free from singu-
larity. I beheld in her a great humility and an undeviating fidelity
to her rule of life, never having observed in her the least symptom of
self-seeking. To the end she continued to hefutl 0/ good works." *

■.\ I

' I

J HI

* Her successor was Marie-Fran9oise da Plessis le Picard, On the death of
her husband, M. de Paris, she went to the chapel of Notre Dame de Lorette at
Issy, and there, despoiling herself of all her worldly ornaments, dedicated herself
umeservedly to Mary. From that moment she wore nothing but the coarsest
garments under her ordinary dress, and led a life of the greatest austerity.

■ (

"i n

^P"*B^''»WIP!C>WJI«WIW^^

V 444 )

CHAPTER III.

M. OLIER'S METHOD OF SPIRITUAL TRAINING.

THE servant of God had constructed his material building
according to the pattern which had been shown him by the
Blessed Virgin. But there was a spiritual edifice to be raised, the
model of vhich had also been divinely given, and we are now to
see by what process this work was accomplished ; in other words,
how the holy founder of St. Suipice formed the ecclesiastics of his
seminary to the virtues and perfection of the sacerdotal state. The
effects produced by the system he inaugurated were in a short
time so remarkable that, when M. Godeau, Bishop of Vence,
visited the Seminary and some of the clergy who were with him,
admiring the beauty and solidity of the sfucture, exclaimed, in
the words of the disciples to our Lord, " Aspice quales lapidcs ! —
(Behold what manner of stones!)" ' that prelate replied, "Say
rather, Aspice quaies homines ! — (Behold what manner of men ! )."

That M. Olier had a very exalted idea of the sacerdotal office,
and of the perfection to which priests are called, it were superfluous
to state. " They are set in the Church," he would say, " to be
models of sanctity to all conditions of men ; consequently they
ought to possess the graces and the virtues of all other states ;
religious as well as seculars ought to see in them all that is
necessary to their own perfection. If priests who are detachcJ
from the world are said to live like religious, it is only a sign of
the corruption of the age; for it ought rather to be said, in the
language of the saints, that religious lead the life of priests, seeing
that priests are bound to live in such wise, and religious are bound
to imitate the holiness of priests, to follow in their footsteps and
sanctify themselves by practising those rules of perfection which

* St. Mark xiii. i.

The viri7tes proper to clerics.

445

were originally given for the clergy.* Accordingly, he would have
the course of probation to which a priest is subjected as strict of
its kind as the noviciate in a religious hopse. When any applied
for admission he would confer with them in person, and examine
them as to their dispositions and the motives which led them to
embrace the ecclesiastical state, especially whether they iiad any
view to obtaining benefices or retaining such as they already
possessed ; and he would sometimes subject candidates to a pro-
longed suspense before receiving them as inmates of the house.
Thus, he delayed for fiive or six months the reception of M. Charles-
Louis de Lantages, afterwards so distinguished as a Catechist,
because he had long been in the enjoyment of a benefice and he
fea . d that he might be influenced by some motive of ambition or
self-interest. But, having satisfied himself, after strict probation,
;;s to his detuchment from all mundane views, and seeing the rapid
progress which he made in the practice ot those priestl) virtues of
which he was to become so splendid an example, he admitted him
into the Seminary on January 17 th, i643.t

M. Olier's first object was to inspire his ecclesiastics with a
desire of Christian perfection. A cleric, he said, is one who, if
not already in the state of perfection, at least aspires to it, and to
il."'' end h,"^ must deny himself and die to the world. "The
seminary is the hedge which separates the vineyard of the Lord
from the world. This hedge is full of thorns, and the world ought
not to approach it without feeling the prick of them ; that is,
without being made sensible of the horror we have of its execrable
maxima. This house ought to be so replenished with evangelical
virtues as to inspire distaste, '^.version, and hatred for all the
contrary vices. We ought to strip ourselves of the world's livery
and of its whole exterior, and exhibit nothing in our bearing which
can serve to attract its esteem." Anything, therefore, in his
ecclesiastics which he deemed wanting in simplicity or modesty he
instandy remarked upon and strove to correct. Thus, observing

};ll

• On the subject of sacerdotal perfection ♦.he reader is referred to F. Faber's
Grmvth in Holiness, Chap ix., to the Bishop of Salford's Introduclion to the Life
of St. John Baptist de Fossi ; and Cardinal Manning's Preface to the Life of St.
Charles Borromeo.

t M. de Lantages was the first Superior of «he Seminary of Notre Dame
du Puy, and the author of the Life of the Ven. Mere Agii^s de J^sus which
tiie Abbd Lucot has recently revised and enlarged. He has hinaself also been
made the subject of a very edifying biography.

446

Life of M. Olier.

hat M. de Lantages had a way of walking which seemed to him
to savour of the artificial manners of the world, he often begged
him with the utmost sweetness to carry himself differently. But
the habit had become so natural to him that, in spite of all his
endeavours to correct himself, he was continually, from inad-
vertence, relapsing into it. One day M. Olier, being in his
confessional, saw the young man pass by carrying himself as usual,
upon which he stepped behind him and, taking him by the
shoulders, said, " Ah ! why do you still walk in that way ? " The
rebuke proved effectual; M. de Lantages never offended in the
same way again. So, too, though he laid much stress on their
observing towards each other, and towards every one, all the
kindly attentions which are in^ sparable from true charity, he could
not endure in them — to quote his own words — " affected civilities,
compliments, witticisms, and other little modish elegancies, such
as studied postures and graceful bowing, the object of which is
simply to please the world, and to be thought courteous, polished,
and well-bred. That which ought to render us welcome in all
companies," he adds, ** is our being dead to the world ; for, if we
are valued for anything else, we can produce no fruit. We shall
but inspire an attachment to ourselves, and a certain secret esteem,
which, in fact, is what we are seeking, although perhaps not by
any deliberate act of the will. If you are told that you ought to
seek the world's esteem and must fain have it, regard it as a
pernicious maxim, worthy only of execration. It cannot be gained
without our having in ourselves something of the world : ' Si de
viundo essetis, mundus quod suum erat diligeret' * God may, if He
please, cause us to be generally esteemed, but it is a gift which He
bestows on those who do not wish for it, who avoid and despise
it, and who have been the first to treat the world with scorn."

To preserve among the young ecclesiastics a spirit of holy
equality, and prevent all assumption of superiority, he directed that
in the general exercises of the Seminary there should be no distinc-
tion of places; and, observing one of them disposed to take pre-
cedence on account of his better birth and position in the world, he
reproved him publicly in these terms : " If you love Jesus Christ,
you will rejoice to be always near Him or with Him. I would
advise you, therefore, to take this place " (pointing to the lowest),

* "If you had been of the world, the world would love its own." St.
John XV. 19.

Mortification of the senses.

447

" for it is the one He loves best, and has chosen for Himself, and
where you will be certain to find Him." However, as no community
could subsist without distinctions and gradations, to prevent any evil
thence arising, he would say to those who occupied any honourable
position, " First places in this house are to be taken as humiliations,
for they are such as are affected by the children of the world. The
desire of precedence belongs to the flesh and the devil j when, then,
we have to put ourselves before others, we ought to be ashamed of
seeing ourselves in the place which the devil seeks and Jesus Christ
shuns."

Anything that betokened a passion for news or a love of sight-
seeing was his particular aversion. Not that he laid any express
prohibitions on the seminarists, for he preferred that they should
mortify themselves simply from a motive of advantage to their souls ;
and in this, as in all things, he was careful to avoid excess. Being
on a journey, accompanied by some of his ecclesiastics, he had
occasion, more than once — as indeed we have seen — to rebuke them
for stopping to- gaze at the mansions and noble buildings which
were visible from the road. But on arriving at Bourges he took
them to the cathedral, which is a magnificent specimen of Gothic
architecture, and, observing that they scarcely ventured to raise their
eyes and admire what was before them, he said, " The beauty of
churches is not like that of the things of this world. You may look
at churches, and at whatever is consecrated to the worship of God,
provided you do it in a religious spirit, and not out of curiosity. /
have loved the beauty of Thy house, says the Psalmist, and the place
where Thy glory dwelleth ; * and if subjects rejoice to see their
princes in magnificent palaces, what ought to be the delight of
Christians at beholding the beauty of the places consecrated to the
service of their Master, the King of kings and the Lord of the
universe ! These vast piles of stone, the music of the bells
resounding far and wide, these splendid functions and august cere-
monies and rich decorations, proclaim, as clearly as is possible here
below, the greatness and the majesty of the God whom we there
serve and adore."

As for himself, so perfect was his mortification of his senses that
they seemed to have abdicated their office. A servant of the
house being found fault with one day by one of the Community for
taking the Superior a basin of soup that was quite cold, the man

* Fsalm XXV. 8.

ii'-i

i i

448

Life of M. Olier.

^f'

replied, ** What does it signify whether it is cold or hot ? He does
not taste what he eats, and takes no notice of what is set before
him." Another time, when he was being vested for High Mass, the
subdeacon, in putting on the maniple, ran the pin, without knowing
it, into his arm. Finding there was some resistance, he said to M.
Olier that he could not get it in any further ; on which the man of God,
without removing his arm, replied, in his usual gentle way, " It will
go no further because it has pierced to the bone." So great was his
abstraction, v hen engaged in any act of devotion, that the most
sudden surprises were unheeded. One Holy Saturday, while per-
forming the benediction of the fonts, the burning wax of the Paschal
candle kept falling on his hand, and when one of the assistants at
last perceived what was taking place, and snatched the candle from
him, he did it with such violence that it almost took the skin off ;
yet all this time the servant of God betrayed no consciousness of
pain. It need scarcely be said that a man so mortified would
strongly recommend to others the practice of corporal penance, and
the use of the discipline was consequently as frequent at St. Sulpice
as in many religious houses. An ecclesiastic observing to him one
day that, instead of this sort of penance, he preferred offering the
Holy S<,.crifice, which had a wholly different value in the sight of
God, ivi. Olier replied, "Strange that we are so lavish of the Blood
of Christ and so sparing of our own ! If it is true that the Son of
God supplies for us, yet ought we not to begin by offering to the
Eternal Father something of our own before we have recourse to
this divine compensation for our poverty and misery ? " But in
expressing himself thus he was far from approving any indiscreet
and excessive fervour ; on the contrary, he strongly censured those
who acted merely in obedience to their own impulses, being used
to say that austerities become cruelties when they are no longer
prompted by the Spirit of God. Thus he administered a severe
rebuke to M. de Pousse one day because, not content with inflicting
large and deep wounds upon himself in taking the discipline, he
had the imprudence to conceal what he had done, in order to suffer
the more ; so that at last, the sores having festered, painful incisions
had to be made to arrest the evil. It was one of his maxims that
the ill-regulated attempts at mortification which are made in youth,
without the advice of a director, often injure the constitution for
life ; and, besides, such imprudenl austerities are commonly of
short duration, as experience proved.

hitei'ior mortification.

449

But, v'hile earnestly enjoining "bodily exercise," he did not fail
to warn his disciples that, when it has not the mortification of the
interior as its base and principle, it " is profitable for little ; " * nay,
it produces in the secret of the heart a certain complacency and
self-esteem ; it gives the soul a kind of stay grounded on its own
works, which nourishes pride instead of destroying it. He would,
therefore, have them apply themselves to the destruction of their
vices less by maceration of the body than by the Spirit of our Lord
and the practice of Christian virtues. This, indeed, was the kind
of mortification which they were specially called to practise. Their
vocation was different from that of St. Bernard. In the monastery
of that holy Abbot our Lord desired that the flesh should be sub-
dued and brought into subjection by exterior efforts, but in the
Seminary He required that the flesh should be subdued by the
spirit. St. Bernard was called to retire absolutely from the world,
but, in regard to themselves, it was clear that the Spirit of our Lord
was to separate them from the world while living in its midst.
Interior mortification, he said, has none of the disadvantages of
bodily mortification. In the first place, it is capable of being more
constantly practised, for the body cannot be made to suffer uninter-
mittingly, whereas the interior can be mortified continually. In the
second place, it is more comprehensive in its character and effects.
He who wears a hair-shirt punishes his sense of feeling, leaving his
other senses unchastised, and it is the same with fasting ; but interior
mortification extends the infliction to the whole self. In crucifying
the heart we crucify that which is the universal source of all our
appetites and inclinations. When fire is set to the root of a tree, its
branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits perish likewise : thus he who
labours to mortify his mind and heart mortifies at the same time all
the old man. From the first, therefore, it was his endeavour to
lead the seminarists to mortify their own judgment and their own
will ; and before admitting them to the tonsure he spent an entire
year in inculcating the necessity of killing self in their Iiearts. To
this end he insisted especially on the duty of being perfectly open
and sincere with their director, following his counsels without
reserve, and obeying the rules of the institute with most minute
exactness. " No one on earth," he said, " is dispensed from sub-
mission, however exalted the lights with which God has favoured
him; they ought always to be approved by him who holds here

I Tim. iv. 8.

2 F

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urn

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■1 •:', 11-1

3i'

450

Life of M. OUer.

below the place of God. Such was our Lord's own fidelity to this
rule that in His infancy He was subject to the Blessed Virgin and
St. Joseph.* With this example before him who would wish to
guide himself?"

The injunction which he laid on others the man of God invariably
obeyed himself. Extraordinary as were the graces which ht received
throughout his life he never took them for his rule of conduct, but
submitted in all things to the judgment of his directors. " It is an
intolerable fault," he said, " to depart, however slightly, from the
ordinary rule and maxims of obedience, which are far more assured
than any private revelations. In bestowing His gifts upon us, God
desires to make us perfect, and not to render us more obstinately
attached to our own opinions. After all, we are not bound to follow
private revelations, but we are bound to obey those whom God has
set over us. For our greater perfection He may give us some
extraordinary light, in order to try our fidelity in sacrificing it to tne
duty of obedience. In the name of God," he wrote on one occa-
sion, " deem every inspiration false which is opposed to the orders of
a superior. The Spirit of God is not contrary to Itself; and should
a superior order that which is not in accordance with His good
pleasure, so long as He does not let you know this, you would do
what was most agreeable to Him in obeying."

Thus obedience was one of the virtues on which he laid the
greatest stress. " Obedience," he was wont to say, " is the life of
the children of the Church, the compendium of all virtues, the
assured way to Heaven, an unfailing means for ascertaining the
will of God, a fortress into which the devil has no access, one of the
severest, but at the same time one of the sweetest, of martyrdoms,
seeing that it makes us perfectly conformable to Jesus Christ. He
who faithfully obeys the rule is invulnerable ; whereas he who lets
himself follow his own caprices lays himself open to the assaults of
the enemy, and runs great risk of falling." Accordingly, no inmate
of the house was to step outside the door, or pay or receive visits,
without leave obtained of the Superior ; and the observance of silence
was so strictly enforced that M. de Bretonvilliers could say thnt,
except in time of recreation, not a word was spoken, although the
Community consisted of more than a hundred persons. Fidelity to
a rule formed the subject of the last capital lesson which M. Olier
gave the young ecclesiastics on their quitting the Seminary to enter

* St. Luke ii. 51.

His dislike of self-disparagement.

451

on their duties in the world. " If you observe a good rule of life,
faithfully and out of love for the Lord," he would say to ihem, •' you
have everything to hope ; you will live for God. But if you have
no rule, or if you are not faithful in observing it, simply from motives
of faith, as far as circumstances permit, you have everything to fear
for your salvation ; you are not living for God."

Of all the Christian virtues humility is the most efficacious in
putting to death the old man within us. The servant of God, there-
fore, in hor t of the adorable humiliations of our Lord, would have
all perform m turn the menial offices of the house, — sweep the floors,
wash the dishes, wait at table, dol2 out bread to the poor, — in all
which he might have proposed himself for an example, and have said
with St. Paul, " Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ." * For
ever since he had taken his vow of servitude, in whatever company
he might be he seated himself, in spirit, at the feet of others. Nay,
M. de Bretonvilliers records, in so many words, that he has seen him
cleaning the shoes of his brethren, bare-headed and or. his knees,
kissing their feet, and performing other services of a like kind, with
a tenderness and a fervour which it was most touching to witness ;
and M. de Lantages relates how, on his returning one day from
Vaugirard in very dirty plight, M. Olier took a towel, and, kneeling
down, wiped his feet and then kissed them, and this with so much
simplicity and charity that the act seemed to have nothing of singu-
larity in it

He particularly disliked hearing any speak disparagingly of them-
selves, knowing how ofteii a secret self-esteem takes the disguise
of professed contempt. "Self-humiliation," he would say, "to be
genuine, must spring from a sincere desire of losing the good opinion
of others." Some one observing in his presence, and before several
other persons, that he was a miserable sinner, M. Olier said, "When
a man wishes really to humble himself, he is not satisfied with accus-
ing himself in general terms, but mentions some particular fault cf
which he is habitually guilty. To call oneself a miserable grievous
sinner is quite compatible with a desire of praise, and may very well
conceal a subtle pride." Another time, on some one eagerly recount-
ing a good action he had done, M. Olier, after listening awhile, rose
from his chair, and said to him, with great sweetness, " My dear Sir,
let us forget ourselves, never let us talk of self, do not let us fill with
it minds and hearts which have been created for God." For himself,

* I Cor. xi. I.

..^^S»4^^4^>'b'j^.'»x-u»ilE^:U'ii^itiI-:'^''i-i '- .t-'Al\Jv-^-i^>fc^^MM

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452

Life of M. Olier.

he would never endure to have a word uttered to his advantage ; he
instantly said something which might raise the mind to God, or
changed the conversation ; to be praised was positive torture to him.
Neither would he allow any marks of distinction to be shown him
which he deemed inconsistent with the vow which he had made to
be the servant of all. One day, hearing some person call him simply
Monsieur, as usual in designating the master of a house, he said, \\\
a loud tone, " There is no master here except Jesus Christ ; I am
but a servant, and an unprofitable servant."

But this habit of mortification and obedience was not its own
end ; it was wholly in order to the forming in themselves the life of
Jesus Christ. This divine life, as he was ever insisting, is to be
derived from the Blessed Sacrament ; that adorable mystery being
the perennial spring whence it is shed abroad in souls. " All must
believe with a firm faith," he said, " that the design of Jesus Christ
living in the Eucharist is to impart to us His life and virtues ; as,
for example, piety towards God, charity towards our neighbour,
annihilation of self, unceasing hostility to the world and to sin.
Every one must be firmly assured that he cannot receive these
virtues more abundantly than in the communication which Jesus
Chrisrt makes of them in the Most Holy Sacrament; and he will
have recouue to that divine banquet in order to advance in the
divine life."

Next to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar the means he pre-
scribed for receiving this divine life were prayer and meditation.
*' Prayer," he said, ** is the supplement of the Most Holy Eucharist,
our Lord having given both the one and the other in order to
unite us to Himself. In prayer we receive the same benefits as in
Communion, though not in equal proportion ; in prayer, as in the
Eucharist, we adore Jesus Christ present in such manner that there
needs, as it were, only the removal of a veil to disclose Him to us;
in prayer Jesus Christ nourishes the soul and fortifies it ; He unites
Himself closely to it ; He abides in it, and it in Him ; He makes
it like unto Himself, inspires it with a disgust for the gross things
of earth, fills it with love for those of heaven, and makes it terrible
to the evil one." It was his desire that the seminarists should faith-
fully adhere to the method of prayer followed in the house ; * not
that he would lay restrictions upon those who felt themselves attracted
to any different mode, provided only they obtained the approval of

* See end of this Chapter.

Study of the Scriptures,

453

their director, but he judged it to be of the last importance that in
a community there should be one fixed principle and rule from which
none should be allowed to deviate except for solid reasons ; and he
expressly prohibited those who were moved to follow another path,
however excellent in itself, from making it matter of conversation
with others, lest \t should have the effect of inspiring distaste for
the accustomed method. Neither would he dispense any from the
obligation of preparing beforehand the subject of meditation, for
fear of illusion ; but, when once they had faithfully complied with
this direction, he would not have them do violence to themselves
by pursuing the subject furthr •, but bade them yield themselves in
all simplicity to the attractions of God's Holy Spirit.

Another means which he especially recommended to his disciples
was the assiduous study of the actions of their Divine Master as
recorded in the Gospels, and of the interior dispositions with which
He accompanied them. "Our Lord" (he said) "would have us
take Him as our master, on the part of the Eternal Father, who
taught Him from all eternity what He was to teach us : * Ipsum
audited' * By His mouth He speaks to us now. M// things whatso-
ever 1 have heard of My Father,^ said the Son of God, ' / have made
knowii to you.' f It is our Lord's desire that in reading every day
a chapter of the New Testament we should learn some maxim from
His mouth, and live, in the depth of our soul, according to that
which we shall thus have been taught. It is this spiritual life, this
hidden life, this interior disposition of the heart, which, above all,
He desires in us. Jesus Christ alone must live and reign within us,
there to serve and glorify His Father. May it please Him, in His
mercy and goodness, to establish His life in our souls." To this
end, therefore, he directed the seminarists to read a chapter of the
Gospel on their knees, with head uncovered, and therein listen to
our Lord's divine teaching ; then to consider some one of His acts
or virtues ; and, lastly, to examine themselves, and see what their
own dispositions were in performing the same act or practising the
same virtue. This exercise he called the particular examen, and, to
facilitate its practice, a book was composed for the use of the
Seminary by M. de Pouss^ and M. Tronson, the groundwork of
which was furnished by M. Olier.

Indeed, the study of the Scriptures he declared to be one of God's

* " Hear ye Him." St. Matthew xvii. 5 ; St. Mark ix. 6.
t St. John XV. 15.

1 !!'i [

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454

Lt/e of M. Oiler.

express commands to the house, and he directed the ecclesiastics of
the Seminary to treat the Bible, even exteriorly, with all respect and
reverence, by giving it the most honourable place in their chamber.
" Holy Scripture," he said, '* interiorly nourishes ine soul ; it is a
ciborium in which God has been pleased to hide Himself, in order
to give Himself to us and communicate His graces. And, in fact,
according to St. Paulinus, there were anciently in the holy tabernacle
two compartments, side by side, in one of which was the Blessed
Sacrament and in the other the Divine Scriptures. One contained
the Word of God, under the sacred species, in the majestic silence
of His Divinity ; the other, the Word of God expounding Himself
exteriorly and rendering audible that which He says in Himself, —
expounding Himself after our mode and fashion of expressing our-
selves. For the Word of God, that is, what God says in Himself, is
incomprehensible, God saying for ever and ever all that He is and
all that He knows ; and this is immense, infinite ! But in the
Scriptures we read only a single syllable of what that fathomless
Bosom pronounces within Itself; we see the thoughts of God only in
a very imperfect manner. While listening to this infinite word, the
unfolding of the eternal secret of God, we must keep our mind
respectfully attentive to the revealed words, and to that portion of the
Divine knowledge which He manifests in His Scriptures, regarding
them as the oracle whence God speaks to us, as the ark and the
tabernacle wherein He is pleased to be consulted and adored."

Of this devout respect for the Word of God M. Olier was himself
a perfect model. He always read the Scriptures on his knees and
with head uncovered ; his Bible occupied a sort of throne, which he
had erected for it in his chamber ; and, on entering or leaving it, he
humbly adored the Divine Spirit residing in the Sacred Book. From
a motive of religion he had its covers adorned with a magnificent
design in silver, representing the Word of God worshipped by the
Cherubim, on the one side, under the emblem of an open volume ;
and on the other, under the Eucharistic veils, with this inscription,
which aptly expresses the devotion of the Seminary to the Divine
Word considered in these two states : " Far cultiis et amor uirique" *
This Bible is still preserved in the Seminary of St. Sulpice.

* " Equal worship and love to both." It is needless to say that M. Olier did not
mean that the Divine Word is personally present in the Sacred Book as He is in
the Blessed Eucharist. His words are to be understood, as he uses them, analogi-
cally, and not in a literal and absolute sense.

Training in parochial functions.

455

The virtue of religion, as being immediately conversant with the
service and worship of Almighty God, M. Olier regarded as peculiarly
incumbent on ecclesiastics, and he ilesired that the ceiemonies of the
Church, which were instituted to this very end, should be observed
with the mot scrupulous exactness. Herein he had the assistance
of men endowed with no common gifts. Besides M. de Bassancourt,
of his own community, to whom reference has more than once been
made, he enjoyed the active co-operation of the learned Benedictine,
ri're Bauldry, who volunteered his ^services to instruct the students
in this important department of their duties. So perfect was the
experimental knowledge they thus attained that the Seminary came
to be regarded as a high authority in such matters ; and even M.
Bourdoise himself, towards the close of his life, when in doubt on
any point, would apply for information to the clergy of St. Sulpice.
But the servant of God, as scarcely need be said, did not content
himself with familiarizing his ecclesiastics with mere external details;
he would initiate them also into the interior spirit and hidden mean-
ings of the ceremonial of the Church, that their acts might beat once
intelligent and devout, as well as faithful to the letter. "God the
Father," he said, " takes no pleasure in any earthly thing unless He
beliolds in it something of His Son. Every act of the Jews was
a figure of Jesus Christ : * Omnia infigura contingebatit illis.^ * Why
should we be less religious towards Him ? Even in their most
ordinary actions, as, for instance, the eating of the manna, they were
to behold our Lord, and to worship Him by faith ; much more, then,
ought we, who have had the advantage of receiving His Holy Spirit
in order that all we do might be filled therewith, to consider Him in
our most common acts, and interiorly adore Him in everything that
can represent Him to us." Occupied with this thought, he composed
his Explanation of the Ceremonies of High Mass, in which, while
inculcating the sublimest doctrine, he indicated, in a manner truly
Patristic, some of the many allegorical and mystical senses of which
the several actions of the sacred rite are susceptible, with a view of
showing the wonderful harmony of the whole, and the importance of
not omitting one single item, however insignificant it may appear.

Besides taking part in the ordinary exercises of the Seminary, the
young clerics assisted in rotation at the different functions performed
in the parish church ; but, some of the Directors complaining that
this frequent and prolonged attendance was a serious interruption to

* " All these things happened to them in figure." I Cor. x. ii.

tm *«■; «"

456

Life of M. Olier.

other avocations, M. Olier, before making an alteration to which he
was very averse, consulted M, IJourdoisc on the subject, who, in tliat
laconic manner which wr.s peculiar to him, replied, '• Monsieur,
Monsieu!', you must labour in the hierarchy, not alongside of it;"
meaning that ecclesiastics destined to become parish priests ought
to be trained to parochial duties. And such had ever been M.
Olier's practice : as soon as a seminarist had been ordained priest he
passed ' ito the Community, and assisted the clergy in the admini-
stration of the sacraments ; after a while he was permitted to officiate
himself, attended by the Superior, who corrected any error he
observed and supplied whatever instruction was rcciuired. He had
another motive for the practice, and that was the edification of tlie
people, considering that they might benefit by the devout and
reverent demeanour of the seminarists as much as by their cate-
chetical instructions.

The following incidents which are noted by the Abbd Faillon will
serve to illustrate both the high conscientiousness of the master and
the fidelity with which his scholars copied his example.

M. Jean de S^ve, Seigneur of M^robert and maternal uncle of M.
Tronson, resigned his post of President aux EnquStes in the Parlia-
ment of Paris when he was nearly sixty years of age, and came to
offer himself to M. Olier with a view to embracing the ecclesiastical
state. The servant of God received him most cordially, but, judging
it prudent to put his vocation to the strictest test, he made him take
the part of an ordinary acolyth at the parish Mass on Sundays, an
office which he performed in a spirit of childlike humility and obedi-
ence. When, however, time went on, and his probation seemed to
be indefinitely prolonged, being desirous of receiving holy orders, he
gave expression to his feelings in a letter to M. Olier. In his answer
the man of God would teach him that in so momentous a matter he
ought not to take counsel of the impulses of nature, but abandon
himself to the guidance of those to whom God has given His Spirit
to direct them. " When you were President," he wrote, " and, with
closed doors, had to deal with grave and difficult questions in your
court, you would not have endured that a valet or a lackey should
take his seat beside you and offer his advice. So neither does the
Holy Trinity permit a foolish, shameless gabbler to intrude into Its
councils and disturb with his impertinences the peace and calm
which preside in the conclave of grace. That foolish, senseless
gabbler is nature ; which must be thrust aside and abandoned at the

-'•i.ili.Ov:.iv

His letter to M. Jean dc She.

457

portals of our heart, and left to vent its clatter among the rabl)le.
'I'hc ministers of (loil take no account of such disturbances, they
listen only to the voice of Jesus, who speaks gently and sweetly in
the soul which keeps silence. You know by experience what joy fills
your heart when tliat great All presides and speaks within it. Your
soul is then at rest, and nothing disquiets it. Hut when, on the
contrary, nature, that lebellious slave and senseless libertine, speaks
to you, it causes only restlessness, commotion, and discontent, it
troubles the peace and trantjuil calm which ought ever to attend you.
'* My dear Sir, a wise servant awaits in silence the orders of his
master, who sees what is passing in the house and does not make
his intentions known till the moment it pleases ! im to do so. In
like manner, our great Master sees the needs of His Church, and
keeps a watchful eye on those whom He desires co promote in His
service; and He must be left to do it in His own time. He gives
us our rule of conduct in the Gospel, where He bids each of us take
the lowest place in His house and at His table : * Recumbe in novissimo
loco ;^* adding that we must wait till we are invited to go up higher.
No one, therefore, ought to be eager for advancement, or put himself
forward ; he must let himself be called, solicited, and urged, and that
with importunity. As it is Jesus Christ who, penetrating to the
depth of our hearts, discerns the purity, the sanctity, the strength,
the prudence, the genuine zeal, the profound humility, and all the
other evangelical virtues which are necessary to render us worthy of
His charges, so it is He who imposes silence on His Church, and
prevents those being called whom He does not see sufficiently well
grounded to be promoted.

" Annihilate yourself before God, abide in patience, and await in
peace the voice of your Master, who said to His disciples, ^ In patieniia
vestra possidebitis ant mas vesiras.' \ It will not be long before He
speaks ; but permit Him to speak, and let the humble sentiment of
your heart, which sees itself so far removed from the perfect virtues
of the Order to which you aspire, make you tremble for fear of being
promoted without being as firmly established as your Divine Master
desires you to be in everything which He requires of you. Labour
on, therefore, with courage until the Ember week in September, when
*'.^ whole Church, in penance and fasting, will implore the bestowal
of all those virtues which are necessary for the ministers who present

• St. Luke xiv. lo.
t " In your patience you shall possess your souls." St. Luke xxi. 19.

458

Life of M. Olier.

themselves for the anointing. All the good and all the benediction of
your future life depend on the holy dispositions with which you
approach your ordination, and on your obedience to the law of the
Divine Master. He never willingly accepts the services of one who
enters His house by force, and who has not waited for His election
and vocation with reverence, humility, and patience."

This letter was received in the spirit which dictated it. M. de
Sbve resigned himself implicitly to the guidance of his director, who
in due time permitted him to receive holy orders. The event proved
how salutary were the fruits which his long probation produced
within him ; no one evinced a greater reverence for the ecclesias-
tical state, or observed the canons of the Church more strictly.
When, or his promotion to the Diaconate, he had to deliver
himself of a thesis at the Sorbonne he would assume no other desig-
nation but that of his sacred order, renouncing all the titles which he
had borne while living in the world ; and sc exact was he in his
observance of the rubrics that he might have been proposed as a
model of regularity. He was as strict with himself as he v.'as
obedient to rule, for he led a very austere and mortified lit'e, but he
still retained the ease and grace of manner for which he was distin-
guished as a layman, and even his severities were seasoned with so
much geniality and good-humour as never, while correcting, to
offend. It is related of him that, seeing a priest one day, who was
vesting for Mass, spread the amice on his shoulders without first
putting it over his head, as the rubrics direct, and, indeed, as the
prayers * to be used while vesting distinctly imply, he said to him,
"How is it, Sir, that you do not scruple to tell a lie at the very
moment you are about to offer the Holy Sacrifice ? You ask God
to place the amice on your head, and you .put it only on your
shoulders."

M. Victor de M^liand, Bishop of Alet, when he was a student at
St. Sulpice was in the habit of serving M. Olier's Mass, and one day,
while making the usual preparations, he inadvertently laid his cap
upon the altar ; which the man of God observing reprimanded him
severely for what he regarded as a proianation, seeing that the
spotless Lamb of God was about to be immolated thereon, and by
way of penance prohibited him from serving Mass for eight days.

* "Iir.pone, Domine, c.apiti meo galeam salutis, ad expugnandos diabolicos
incursus— (Place on my head, O Lord, the helmet of salvation, to repel he assaults
of the devil)."

Educational Communities.

459

The young Prince de Conti, who had been destined for the
ecclesiastical state,* being present one day at some public function
in ihe church of St. Sulpicc, asked the seminarist by whose side
he found himself what was taught at the Seminary. Receiving no
answer, the Prince supposed that he had not been heard, and repeated
his question, but with the same result. Again, for the tliinl time, he
persisted, upon which the student made him this reply : " My lord,
we are taught to keep silence in church." The Prince, to his crcd't,
took the rebuke in good part, and thanked the young cleric for his
counsel.

Some account has already been given of the numerous catcchisings
which M. Olier instituted, not only in the parish church but through-
out the Faubourg, and of the incalculable good which was thus eflected
among the people. Catechising he consideica to be a most impor-
tant element in the training of ecclesiastics, as being peculiarly
adapted to develope in them a zeal and love for souls. Accordingly,
no less than seventy of them (as we learn from a writer of the last
century) were employed in this manner. They prepared young
persons for Confirmation and Communion ; every Sunday and
holiday they gave instructions to schoolchildren of both sexes ; in
Lent they delivered familiar lectures to workmen and domestic
servants ; during Holy Week they provided a retreat for schoolboys ;
and every day throughout the year they were employed in giving
conferences to the young clerics of the parish.

Convinced, moreover, that, if a school is to be a nursery of
Christian youth, the teachers must labour at their calling in the
spirit of Apostles, and not as mercenaries, he desired to see com-
munities established which should be devoted to the work of in-
structing the poorer classes ; and he encouraged his young ecclesi-
astics to form themselves into an association of prayer for obtaining
a race of educators such as the needs of the Church demanded.
This association was established in 1649, and was placed under the
patronage of St. Joseph, Foster- Father of jesus, that perfect model
of instructors of youth. The impetus thus given to religious educa-
tion by M. Olier had most important results in after years. The
Venerable De la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers (1680),
entertained so profound a respect for this great man that he always
spoke of him as his father. His first establishmert was at Vaugirard,

* Mazarin, with a view to conciliatiiig his brother, Louis Prince de Conde, had
engaged to procure him a Cardinal's haC.

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460

Life of M. Olier

and his desire was to affiliate his community to that of St. Sulpice,
for which purpose he removed it into the parish ; but the two objects
were found to be incompatible, and he was compelled to abandon
his design. The Venerable Grignon de Montfort was himself a
Sulpician, and his spirit still survives in the Sceurs de la Sagesse, a
community which is among the most widely extended of any in
France, especially in the West M. Ddmia, again, who was in the
habit of invoking M. Olier as a saint, on leaving the Seminary devoted
himself to the religious instruction of the poor, especially zX Lyons.
He instituted a society of schoolmasters, and another of school-
mistresses, the latter of which is known as that of the Soeurs de St.
Charles, its field of labour being principally in the South.

To return. Perfection may be said to have been the rule of
the whole house, and under M. Olier's direction the Seminary is
described as resembling a religious community in the glov. of its first
fervour. Each new comer, as he entered its walls, felt as if he had
been brought into the society of the early Christians ; the world was
so totally renounced and excluded that even to speak of it except in
terms of condemnation occasioned a remorse of conscience, and
such was the love of poverty that the inmates seemed to vie with
each other who should have what was worst and meanest, and per-
form the lowest and most distasteful offices. Everything was virtually
in common, for what each possessed was equally at the service of
his brethren. Gathered from all classes, and from all parts of the
country, there were no differences or preferences among them ; and
so completely did each one hold himself at the disposal of his
superior that at a word he would have hastened to the further end of
the earth. Indeed, so ready were they to follow and almost to
anticipate his will that he was obliged to be careful what he said,
lest the hearer should on the instant act upon it to the detriment of
his health. Such is the account given by one who, himself a
Sulpician, was familiar with the traditions of the house. One thing
they inherited from their founder in a singular degree — a tender,
trustful love of Mary. Nothing was undertaken without consulting
her ; every one saluted her image as he entered or quitted his room,
or that of his director. They loved to speak of her to one another,
and would fast or perform some other act of mortification on her
vigils; need it be added that they spoke also much and often of
union with her Divine Son, and that the crucifix and the image of
Mary were never divided ? At M. Olier's suggestion each had one

Formation of holy and instructed priests. 461

or two monitors, whose business it was to apprize him of his ;aults.
At the first stroke of the bell all the doors were thrown open, strict
silence was observed, not a look even was exchanged in the corridors
or on the stairs, and often, when two saluted as thtv passed, neither
perceived who the other was. At recreation the stranger would have
been at once struck with the brotherly affection, frankness, and
mutual deference that marked the intercourse of the assembled
students; the conversation, though it ran on pious subjects, was
invariably cheerful and even lively, and the whole house was redolent
of a certain sweet and pleasant air of kindliness and charity, which
to one coming from the world without had a charm and an attraction
such as it was impossible to resist. M. de Lantages, who, while M.
Olier was testing his vocation, was a frequent visitor at St. Sulpice,
thus describes his impressions at the time : " Though the distance
from my lodging was considerable the fatigue was nothing to me ; I
seemed rather to fly than to walk, such was the pleasure I experienced
in going to the house. I found there a perfection so far beyond
anything we had yet attained, that I said to a friend who had accom-
panied me, ' Truly ours is a mere playing at being devout ; it is only
at the Seminary that real devotion is practised.'"

When the servant of God first undertook the charge of the parish,
one of the objects he distinctly proposed to himself (as already
mentioned) was the introduction of the highest Christian maxims
into the schools of the Sorbonne by means of those students who
should go through the necessary acts preparatory to taking their
doctor's degree. The very end and design of the Seminary being
to form good priests, he desired that piety should be given the pre-
eminence over science, and that the studies pursued should be such
as were calculated to produce holy and well-instructed pastors of
souls rather than learned or brilliant divines. So in regard to the
choiij of a Superior he writes, "In the government of His family,
God does not desire persons of learning and capacity who act simply
by their learning and capacity, but He desires men who allow His
Spirit to act, who are empty of themsel-js, who are aot governed
by human views and by rules drawn only from reason, nor by the
counsels of men who are merely intelligent and learned, and are
not fully perfected in Him alone." * Whether the students of St.

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* Vie de M. Emery, par M. Gosselin, ancien Sup^rieur du Seminaire d'Issy.
T. I, p. 198. In the Introduction to his work the author gives brief but interest-
ing notices of M. Olier's successors, of whom M. Emery was the ninth. They

'mmmi^mmi'

462

Li/e of M, Olier.

((:

Sulpice should prove to be learned divines as well as good pastors
v/ould depend, in his opinion, on their own natural abilities and on
a concurrence of circumstances which it was impossible to foresee
and needless to anticipate. At the same time he was far from
lending any countenance to the erroneous idea that priests might be
content with but a smattering of theological knowledge ; on the
contrary, he was accustomed to say that without knowledge a priest
could never do much good in the Church. To inspire a love of
study, he instituted a general theological course for the whole body
of seminarists, and particular lectures for those who attended the
schools of the Sorbonne. Every week also there was a public dispu-
tation between these two classes of students, and he desired that
poor scholars who showed any special aptitude for theological science
should receive every encouragement and assistance. The Church,
he would say, is a body of which priests are the eyes ; it is a ship,
of which they are the pilots j a school, of which they are the masters ;
an army, of which they are the captains, and which they are com-
missioned to lead and protect in an unknown country and among
enemies who lie in wait to surprise it. In the confessional they sit
to render judgment, prompt and decisive, with none to aid or advise,
on matters the most momentous on which any judge could be called
upon to pronounce ; in the pulpit they have to speak to both learned
and ignorant, to maintain the truths of the Gospel, to combat vice,
to resist the torrent of human opinion, to confound heresy, and
expose its evasions, its impostures, and false issues ; all which sup-
poses a knowledge higher, deeper, and more extensive than can be
acquired by private study, and such as has been exeicised and
proved in schools and academies. All, therefore, were to be well
grounded in philosophy and scholastic theology, dogmatic and moral,
as well as in controversy ; but the great and primary object was to
be the formation of priests, — interior men, — men of prayer, which
he called the very life-spring of all virtues and the indispensable
means of attaining sacerdotal perfection.

Study, he declared, ought to be but another mode of advancing
in holiness and in the love of God, and the reason it is commonly
otherwise is that it is not pursued with a view to Jesus Christ alone.
" If you study from any other motive than that of piety, all your
knowledge will serve only to make you more vain, more full of

may be said to contain a resume of the history of the Seminary from the death of
its founder to the Revolution.

True Christian study.

463

yourselves, more self-opinionated and attached to your own private
jadgment ; in a word, the more learned you become, the drier will
be your devotion. To be learned without being puffed up is a
miracle : * Scieniia inflat. ' * Yes, it is a miracle to see a learned
man who does not hold himseif in some esteem. The highest
archangel was not proof against it ; he could not keep his footing
on the slippery path: '/« i>eritate non stetiV\ The only true
knowledge is to know ^hat we are nothing, and clearly to discern
our nothingness in the mid&t of our endowments. This pride, this
vanity of the intellec*:, is the most dangerous, the most deadly of all ;
it is a vanity from which a man scarcely ever recovers, for human
learning goes on increasing with age and experience.

*' The great evil is that study is not pursued in a Christian spirit.
To understand this '"•i'-'~^ we must learn that there are three kinds
of knowledge. The nist is purely human : it is the knowledge of
pagans, who studied only from a human motive, and solely in the
strength of their own powers. They studied for a merely natural
end : the satisfaction of their own mind, their own individual
improvement, or the praise and esteem of men. The second,
which is infused, is simply divine, and ranks among the gifts of the
Holy Spirit This it is that God anciently gave to the Apostles, and
has bestowed on a great number of saints who had neither time for
study nor the means of acquiring the knowledge necessary for their
ministry. The third is human and divine together : it is the true
and proper knowledge of Christians, and that of which the Wise
Man speaks when he says, * Dedit Hit scit ntiam sanctorum., et com-
plcvit labores illius^X It is not given by infusion and without
labour ; it partakes of both one and the other. It is not a knowledge
like that of Adam ; it is of the nature of Christian grace and virtues,
which are acquired with labour. By original sin, as we all know,
man lost his right to the knowledge and to the virtues wii,h which
he was endowed in his state of innocence. Jesus Christ, by His
merits, has obtained us the right and the power to acquire, but with
labour, both knowledge and virtues."

Hence, to study in a Christian way there is need of three things :
humility, penance, and zeal for God's glory. Convinced that in our-

* "Knowledge puffeth up." i Cor. xiv. i.
+ " He stood not in the truth." St. John viii. 44.

X "She gave him the knowledge of the holy things, and accomplished his
labours." Wisdom x, 10.

464

Life of M. Olier.

selves we are nothing, we must have recourse to Jesus Christ, in
whom God the Father has hidden all knowledge, to be by Him
diffused through the Church ; and we must look upon books as a
■^ort of reservoir, in which Jesus Christ has stored it for our use. To
keep this great truth ever before the minds of the students, M. Olier
caused an image of our Blessed Lord to be placed in the library of
the Seminary, with this inscription underneath : " Qucecumque audivi
d Patre meo, nota feci vobis ; " * and in a little book of Interior Acts
which he composed for their use, he suggested a series of devout
and humble aspirations to Jesus as the Eternal Wisdom and the
Light of men. Further, he would have every one in his reading
look to his director, both for subjects of study and the time he
should devoiC to it ; never retrenching his spiritual exercises in order
to have more time to give to it, but, on the contrary, being the more
assiduous in devotion, in order to escape the dangers to which
intellectual pursuits are liable ; renouncing all spirit of curiosity,
stopping awhile to lift up the heart in prayer when sensible of over-
much activity and ardour; sighing from time to time for the perfect
possession of God, in whom will be found the full and entire know-
leOt>e of that which here below we know so faintly and imperfectly.

So, too, in their public disputations he bade them argue, not to
display their knowledge, but simply to ascertain the truth, if they
were in doubt, or to confirm themselves in it, if they were sure of
their grounds. To dispute from a motive of vanity, he said, was to
pledge ourselves never to yield ; it was to act the part of Lucifer,
who would be content with nothing short of the highest throne in
heaven. To confess one's own ignorance and acknowledge another'
ability, as it was the part of true candour and humility, so it was
torture to the proud. In the schools let them keep before their
eyes, and adore in their hearts, Jesus Christ in the midst of the
doctors. Although He had in Himself all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge, yet He was found " hearing them and asking them
questions" \ In imitation of this profound humility on the part of
the Son of God, they were to beware of playing the master in their
disputations, but comport themselves in such wise as to appear to
be rather seeking to be enlightened than instructing and enlighten-
ing others.

* " All things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to
you." St John xv. 15.
t St. Luk: ii. 46.

M. Blanio.

465

Certain rules which M. Olier put in writing on this subject are at
once so wide in their application, so simple yet so noble, and so
instinct with the purest generosity and kindness, that they must be
given in his own words.

** Before disputing," he wrote, " you ought to have an assured
conviction of your own ignorance, and to make an interior avowal of
it before the Majesty of God, and in the presence of the Angels and
all the Saints ; then, ere you begin, invoke the aid of the Holy
Spirit to be your guide in an aCt so full of peril, and in which it is
so incumbent upon you to observe the rules of a just and holy
moderation. In disputing let it be with the greatest charity, never
seeking to confound your adversary, or pressing him hard ; on the
contrary, contrive to suggest some opening by which he may see his
way out of the difficulties which embarrass him ; in a word, do to
him as you would wish that it should be done to you under like
circumstances. If you feel any rising of pride within you, urging
you to get the advantage of him, then you may make as though you
were unable to solve the objections he proposes, question him in
turn, and beg him to enlighten you. This is to give the death-
blow to our own judgment, which is naturally so unwilling to sub-
mit. You ought to make this your practice, not only in discussion,
but whenever you feel a strong desire to display your learning.
Nevertheless, there are certain public occasions on which prudence
demands a different course, and then you must content yourself with
laying the desire interiorly before our Lord and begging Him to
destroy it by virtue of His grace ; and our Lord, seeing your fidelity,
will not fail to hear you in the moment of danger."

The effect of these high principles of conduct persistently followed

soon became apparent, not only in the intercourse of the students

one with another, but in their influence upon the world without.

One notable instance may here be given. M. Blanio had obtained

the highest distinction by his theological proficiency, his profound

acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and his knowledge of Greek

and Hebrew, of the latter of which languages he was made professor

by the University of Paris. At the age of tv/enty-two he was chosen

to fill the chair of j>hilosophy in the College des Grassins, when,

deeply impressed with the sanctity of M. Olier, he entered the

Seminary of St Sulpice, there to lead a hidden and mortified life,

and to be as remarkable for his piety, modesty, and humility as in

the world he had been distinguished for the extent and variety of

2 G

ifa

466

Life of M. Olier,

his attainments. He had a particular devotion to the Sacred
Infancy of our Lord, in honour of which he wrote, under obedience,
a little work which was published after his death. Once within the
walls of tiic Seminary, his object seemed to be to conceal his eminent
gifts. Chosen by M. Olirr to give lectures in theology, he delivered
them, as usual at the time, in the way of dictation, reading them
apparently from a book which he held in his hand. One day, how-
ever, being called away from the class while thus engaged, a student
had the curiosity to look into the book out of which he had been
reading, when, to his astonishment, he found that it had nothing to
say to the subject in hand, and that the professor had been really
composing while he seemed to be merely dictating.

To M. Blanlo may be joined M. de Poussd, as representing the
perfect Christian student. " During the eight years that I had the
privilege of living with him in the Seminary," writes M. de Lantages,
— who in his humility adds, " and afforded him an object whereon
to exercise his extraordinary gharity, — I beheld in him a rare example
of all the virtues. His attention to the presence of God in the most
indifferent actions was such that I prayed our Lord to make me as
devout in reciting the Divine Office as was this holy man while walk-
ing in the streets or taking his repast. His study of sacred theology
made him increase in wisdom, because he applied himself thereto
with piety." M. Leschassier also says that during the first years M.
de Poussd always studied kneeling on the ground, and so profound
was his veneration for M. Olier that he learned by heart the subjects
which the man of God had taken for his prayer and transcribed his
writings on his knees. So perfect, too, was the confidence he reposed
in him that he exposed to him the secrets of his interior w^ith all the
sincerity and obedience of a child, while M. Olier, on his part, re-
garded him with the deepest respect for his singular excellencies and,
to render his talents the more available for the benefit of the Church,
urged him to proceed to the Doctorate.

Both these good men were but practising in detail M. Olier's
lessons, and realizing that great primary idea of his, as we have seen
it developed in this chapter, the mortification of self — self-love, self-
will, self-opinion, self-display — that Jesus Christ may be formed in
the soul.

Among his heavy and unceasing labours the servant of God found
time to compose a series of works which, though especially designed
to promote the s^nctification of the clergy, are equally serviceable to

His various writings.

467

the laity. Mention has already been made of three such publica-
tions, which have a close connection with each other: the Catechism
0/ the Interior Life, in which he shows that the only solid foundation
of Christian perfection is laid in the mortification of the passions
and the death of the " old man " through the life of Jesus Christ
energizing in the soul ; the Christian Day, which may be regarded
as its sequel, wherein he teaches his disciples to do all their actions
in union with the Spirit of our Lord ; and the Introduction to the
Christian Life and Virtues, which is a fuller development of the same
subject. For the particular use of the clergy he also wrote a
Treatise on the Sacred Orders, of which it is sufficient to say that it is
worthy of the man who had been specially chosen by God to be the
reformer of the clerical body and the restorer of ecclesiastical dis-
cipline in the Church of France.

All these works, says M. Faillon, were less the fruits of his own
reflections and researches than of the lights which God bestowed
upon him in prayer. It was his habit to write immediately after this
holy exercise, and so complete was the absorption of all his faculties
in the work on which he was engaged, that he would remain writing
on his knees for five or six hours together without pausing. His
pen proceeded with such facility and rapidity that M. Baudrand says
it seemed to be actuated by the very Spirit of God, and to impress
vividly on tlie paper those divine truths which the gifts of wisdom
and understanding, wherewith he was so wonderfully endowed,
brought before him, as it were, in thronging urgent crowds. To this
may be due the fact that in his writings he seems to be not so much
proposing motives to persuade and to convince as giving expression
to the sublime ideas which are being presented to his mind. Hence,
on occasions, a certain obscurity in his compositions, such as is not
unfrequently to be met with in the productions of those who have
been favoured with divine illuminations. They are filled with
thoughts and conceptions which they find it difficult, and indeed
impossible, to formulate in words. Besides the works just men-
tioned, and his Explanation of the Ceremonies of High Mass,* he also
composed a number of others which still remain in manuscript ;
including Treatises on the Lord's Prayer, the Attributes of God, the
Holy Angels, the Creation of the World, and the Life Divine ; a
paper entitled The Master of Exercises, Panegyrics of many Saints,

* His Explanation of the Ceremonies of High Mass was begun when he first
entered on his pastoral duties and was finished during his last illness.

li!

468

Life of M. Olier.

and nine or ten volumes of Meinoires^ of which his biographer hns
made large and constant use.

Among his published writings mention ought not to be omitted of
his Spiritual Letters, a hundred and fifty in number, addressed t<j
various persons, which were collected by M. Tronson. "They who
were so happy," he says in his Preface, " as to have conversed fami-
liarly with this man of God while he was on earth, will be pleased
to see in this collection a part of those holy truths which they once
heard him deliver with so much grace and unction ; and they who
never had the happiness of seeing him will, at least, have the consola-
tion of hearing him discourse herein of various matters and con-
templating a faithful portrait of the beauty of his mind and of his
eminent virtues."

So little importance, however, did M. Olier attach to his writings,
and so perfectly indifferent was he as to what might become of them,
that he put them into his director's hands with fullest liberty of
tearing them up or throwing them into the fire. In fact, M. de
Bretonvilliers relates how he found him one day in the act of collect-
ing his manuscripts together with a view to committing them to the
flames, and had some difficulty in preventing him from carrying out
his purpose. On being urged to publish certain of his writings, he
at length consented in deference to his directors, who represented to
b'.m the spiritual good that might accrue from their perusal, but
only on condition that his name should not appear ; and this con-
dition was observed until his death.

The Metuod of Prayer approved bv M. Olier.

" He divides mental prayer into three parts : the preparation, the prayer itself,
and the conclusion. The preparation is threefold : remote, less remote, and
proximate ; the fir<-,t being occupied in removing obstacles, the second in prepar-
ing what is necessary for praying well, and tiie third being, as it were, the
entrance into prayer. The more remote preparation may be said to extend over
the whole life, and is principally occupied with three obstacles — sin, the passions,
and the thought of creatures. The less remote preparation is concerned with
three times ; the time when the subject of prayer is given overnight, the time
between then and waking in the morning, and the time from waking to beginning the
prayer. The first requires attention ; the second, a review of the subject, and
strict silence ; and the third, the affections of love and joy with which we should

Ills method of prayer.

469

approach prayer. The p'oximate preparation is almost « part of the prayer itself.
It comprise* three acts : i. The putting ourselves in the presence of God ; a. The
acknov'ledging ourselves unworthy to appear in His presence ; 3. The confessing
ourselves iiicapiible of praying as we ought without the aid of divine grace. For
each of these three preptirations he gave very minute rules, all taken from ancient
sources.

"The body of the prayer consists of — I, adoration; 2, communion; 3, co-
operation. In the first we adore, praise, love, and tiiank God. In the second
we try to transfer to our own hearts what we have been praising and loving in
God, and to participate in its virtue according to our measure. In the third we
cO'Operate with the grace we are receiving by fervent colloquies and generous
resolutions.

"In adoration we contemplate the subject of the meditation in Jesus, and
worship Him because of it in a becoming way. Hence there are two things to
be observed in this first point. Suppose, for instance, the subject be humility ;
we first of all consider Jesus as humble, and in this again are included three
things : our Lord's interior dispositions about humility, the words He said, and
the actions He did ; secondly, we lay at His feet si:: offerings — adoration, admira-
tion, praise, love, joy, and gratitude, sometimes going through all of them, some-
times selecting such as harmonise with the subject of our prayer. This point is
extremely important, as it leads us first to contemplate our Blessed Lord as the
source of all virtues ; secondly, to regard Him as the original exemplar of which
grace is to make us copies ; thirdly, <;f the two ends of prayer — the veneration of
God and the petition of man — the first is the more perfect; fourthly, if we look
to our own interests, of the two roads which lead to perfection — prayer and imita-
tion—the first is the shortest, the most efficacious, and the most solid. To dip
our souls, as it were, in the dye of the Heart of Jesus by love and adoration, is a
quicker way to imbue them with a virtue than multiplied acts of the virtue itself
would be.

"The second point is communion, by which we endeavour to participate in
what we have been loving and admiring in the first. It contains three things.
We have first to convince ourselves that the grace we desire to ask is important to
us, and we should try to convince ourselves of this chiefly by motives of faith.
The second thing is to see how greatly we are wanting in that grace at present,
and how many opportunities of acquiring it we have wasted. The third and
chief thing is the petition itself; and this petition may take four shapes, the
types of which are in Scripture : — I, simple petition ; 2, obsecration, which is
the adding of some motive or adjuration, as by the merits of our Lord, or the
graces of our Lady ; 3, thanksgiving, for thanksgiving for past graces is the most
efficacious petition for new ones ; 4, insinuation, as wlien the sister of Lazarus
said no more than, ' Lord, ki vjhom Thou lovest is sick ' (St. John xi. 3). Ail these
petitions must be accompanied by four conditions — humility, confidence, persever-
ance, and the union of otiiers in our prayers, as our Lord teaches us to pray for
our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses.

" The third point is the co-operation, in which we make our resolutions. In
these resolutions three things are required : they must be particular, present, and
efficacious. They must be particular, because general resolutions are of very
little use except in union with particular ones. They must be present, that is,
we must have some application of our resolution present to our minds, as likely
to occur that day. They must be efficacious, that is, our subsequent care must be

^WF

nnpiitH^«^^.«pi«i

470

Liffi of M, Olier.

to carry them out with fidelity, and we must fully intend to do so by an explicit
intention at the time we make them.

"The conclusion of the prayer consists of three things, all of which are to he-
very briefly performed. First, we must thank God for the graces lie has given
ui in our prayer, the grace of having endured u't in ilis presence, of having given
ui the eLliity to pray, and of all the good thoughts and emotions we have
experien ^ed. Secondly, we must ask pardon for the faults we have committed in
our prayer, negligence, lukewarmness, distraction, inattention, and restlessness.
Thirdly, we must put it all into our Lady's hands to offer it to God, to supply all
defects, and to obtain all blessings. Then follows the spiritual nose^^ay of .St.
Francis de .Sales, (hat i«, some thought for the day, to refresh us in the dust and
turmoil of the world." — Abridged from Fr. Faber's Growth in Holiness, Chap. xv.
pp. 256-262.

The Sulpician method, it will be seen, differs in form from the Ignatian. But
— to quote Fr. Faber's words — " both of them are most holy, even though they
are so different. There is a different spirit in them, and they tend to form differ-
ent characters. But they cannot be set one against the other. They are both
from one Spirit, even the Holy Ghost, and each will find the hearts to whom they
are sent. Happy," he adds, " is the man who is a faithful disciple of either ! "

( 471 )

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMMUNITY OF ST. SULPICE : ITS CONSTITUTION AND
INTERIOR SPIRIT. ITS PRESERVATION FROM JANSENISM.

IN founding his seminary M. Olier had two objects in view. The
first was tha»- of forminsj young men for the ecclesiastical state ;
the second, and that which he deemed even more important, was the
creation of a society devoted to the education of the clergy, which
in its turn might lend its powerful aid in establishing similar institu-
tions throughout the country. In selecting and forming the subjects
of this society he proceeded wholly on supernatural principle^. It
was never his practice to invite any one to enter the Community,
however strongly pronounced a vocation he might appear to possess ;
he left all in the hands of God. He desired that the Community
should be the simple work of the Holy Spirit, and not the construc-
tion of human prudence ; to this end he would employ no con-
straining influences nor permit any to be employed by others. The
only power he called into operation was that of secret prayer and
the Adorable Sacrifice of the Altar, that the will of God might be
done, and His name glorified by means of such as He should
Himself choose for His ministers. " Better," he would say, "receive
one subject from the hand of God than a hundred thousand in any
other way." Accordingly, it was the rule of the Seminary to treat a
vocation to the Community as a matter which belonged solely to God ;
and, if any one showed the slightest inclination towards another
kind of life, this alone was sufficient for his director to endeavour to
turn his thoughts from entering the Society. M. Le Peletier, who
became a member of St. Sulpice after M. Oiler's death, says,
expressly, in reference to his own case, that no inmate of the house
ever made the least approach to a proposal that he should join
them, or so much as spoke to him of the mode of life with a view
of attracting him towards it ; nay, he adds, that he was disappointed

I'.

flit
ill

M ( !

<I1

472

Life of hi . Olier.

at the manner in which his application for admission was received,
and that he had to make it several times before the Superior appeared
disposed to listen to him.

Abandoning himself thus to Divine Providence, M. Olier had, in
the course of eight or ten years, without personal effort or per-
suasion, gathered within the walls of St. Sulpice as many as thirty
or forty men whom it would have been difficult to match for intel-
lectual powers, no less than for their piety and zeal and, above all,
for their Apostolical detachment from the world ; and he seemed to
behold before his eyes the literal fulfilment of the promise he had
received, that the Goodness of God would raise up a new order of
beings sooner than the work he was called on to accomplish should
fail for want of fellow-labourers. Among other remarkable vocations
the following may be mentioned.

M. Gabriel Souart was a young man of great ability, in whose
education no pains had been spared by his father, who intended to
resign to him an appointment which he held in the household of the
Duke of Orleans. Brought up at what, in tlie language of those
days, was justly styled the court of this prince, he thought only of
enjoying the pleasures and advantages which the world afforded,
and had been affianced by his friends to a young lady of consider-
able wealth, to whom he was on the eve of being united. But God
had other designs regarding him. One day when he was atten<^:rg
Mass at St. Sulpice, the priest whose duty it was to deliver the
sermon was taken suddenly ill, and, on word being brought to M.
Olier, he sent and begged M. Meyster, who happened at the time
to be kneeling at the end of the church, to take the preacher's place.
M. Meyster, who was always prepared, and able at a minute's notice
to preach on any given topic, began by treating of the subject proper
for the day ; but, soon glancing off, as was not unusual with him, he
proceeded to insist on the necessity of a man's examining his voca-
tion, showing how difficult it was for any one to be saved in a state
to which God had not called him ; when, raising his voice, he
exclaimed, as if transported in spirit, like one who had received
a sudden illumination, " I have one such before me ! I have one
such before me ! *' At these words the young man felt as if a
thunderbolt had struck him : he saw the peril in which he stood ;
he was about to engage himself for life, and he had done nothing to
ascertain the will of God. His distress and agitation were so great
that M. Meyster had no sooner descended from the pulpit than he

Tragical end of M. MeysUr.

473

W2nt and opened his whole mind to him, and, acting on the advice
he gave, made a retreat at St. Sulpice under the direction of M. Olier.
The result was that he broke off his marriage, received the tonsure,
and offered himself to the servant of God, who (as we shall see here-
after) sent him into Canada witli M. de Queylus.

As M. Meyster's name has been mentioned more than once in
this history, some account of the tragical end of this extraordinary
man will not be out of place. The effects produced by his preach-
ing were such that M. du Ferrier called him " the first missioner
of the age," and P. Je Condren, who was little given to praise, said
of him that he was **a man to be confronted with Antichrist." He
was not a Sulpician, but spent his life in missionary labours. His
death was accompanied with circumstances of the most awful char-
acter. He was giving a mission at Metz, and, none of the churches
being large enough to contain the crowds that flocked to hear him,
he addressed them from an eminence outside the town. One day,
in proceeding to the place, the heat of the sun being very great, he
felt much indisposed, but was preparing to deliver his sermon, when
he was seized with a raving fit, during the paroxysms of which he
gave utterance to blasphemies against God and cursed the day on
which he was born. He was immediately conveyed to his lodgings,
but took advantage of the tempornry absence of one of his attendants
to stab himself mortally with a knife. Before expiring, however, he
recovered his senses, and made his confession to P. Bouchard of the
Oratory, who had taken the direction of the mission in his place.

The evert, as may be imagined, caused a great sensation at the
tjme, and the most conflicting judgments were passed upon it. On
account of his keeping up communications with the Oratory he was
supposed by some to share the errors with which that body had
already begun to be infected. But this was not the case, as is suffi-
ciently proved by the respect, and almost veneration, with which M.
Olier and others continued to speak of him after his death. The
temptation to self-destruction is one with which God, in His myste-
rious dealings with the souls of His creal'ires, has permitted the
holiest persons to be assailed ; and M. Meyster was plainly bereft of
his senses, and therefore morally irresponsible, when, in a paroxysm
of frenzy, he blasphemed God and inflicted on himself a deadly
wound. In the midst of his Apostolical labours and astonishing
successes this eminent servant of God had so great a dread of yield-
ing to a feeling of vanity that he had begged to be humbled in the

474

Life of M. Olier.

sight of men, and to lose the good esteem in which he was every-
where held. And God, it would seem, thus granted his prayer. Or
it may be that his death was intended as a monition to others that
his eccentric modes of action (for such they seem to have been),
though worthy of admiration in his individual case, could not safely
be imitated. This opinion accords with that entertained of him by
P. de Condren, as recorded in a previous chapter.*

M. de Bretonvilliers, who has been often named in these pages,
was the son of a Secretary of the Council. Seeing the great esteem
with which M. Olier was regarded, he conceived a strong desire to
make his acquaintance, and was so moved by his conversation that
he never quitted him without a desire to return. It was not long
before he consulted the servant of God on the choice of a state of
life; and on the 12th of January, 1643, M. Olier offered the Holy
Sacrifice for the determination of his doubts. Immediately after-
wards M. de Bretonvilliers came and told him that at the very
moment of the Elevation he had felt himself cabled i ^ *he ecclesiasti-
cal state, and begged to be admitted into ti\» i.Acty. By M.
Olier's direction the young man's desire was communicated to his
father, who at first was astounded at the news, and required time
for reflection ; but, recollecting what had been once said to him by
Pfere Georges, a Capuchin friar, who bade him watch carefully
over the education of his son, for that he would one day be at the
head of an important ecclesiastical community, he himself, ou the
18th of June in the same year, took the young man to St. Sulpice
and, after giving him his blessing, confided him to the charge of the
Superior. Shortly after his admission, the servant of God observed
to one of the Community that M. de Bretonvilliers was destined to
be his successor: a prediction which eventually received a ; vofold
fulfilment, for this ecclesiastic succeeded him first in his , .-- oral
office, and then in the government of the Seminary, of w >:c li^
was the second Superior. Of his fitness to take the place of so ^ / d
and great a man we may form some opinion from the estimation in
which he was held by M. Olier himself. " His charity," he writes,
" seems to have no bounds ; he has the faculty of infusing sweetness
into all things ; he carries about with him, as it were, an atmosphere
of peace, tenderness, and joy. He is a centre of charity round
which his brethren cluster; all feel the charm of his presence;
averse to anything like display, he cannot endure that any one

* See page 66.

M. Louis Tronson.

475

should know what he does for the poor and unfortunate or what he
bestows upon them. A more generous charity was never seen ; his
hand is ever in his purse for those who are in need. His love of
poverty is very great; he will not suffer a servant to accompany
him ; he delights in wearing shabby clothes ; and his only desire
seems to be to deprive himself of everything he possesses. His
words have a wonderful power of touching souls ; they who listen to
him never wish to leave him, or that he should give over speaking, so
redolent is everj'thing he says of piety and spiritual consolation."

Although M. Olier, as has been said, never solicited any one to
enter the C mmunity, he did not the lesf implore the Father of
Lights to put the desire into the hearts of those whom He judged
fitted for the work. It was thus he acted in respect to M. Tron-
son, who was his second successor. This ecclesiastic, a son of a
Secretary of the Cabinet of Louis XIIL, was distinguished for his
profound acquaintance with scholastic theology and the Holy Scrip-
tures, as well as with the Fathers and the History of the Church ;
and it was said of him that, if he was not a doctor, he was capable
of instructing doctors, being endowed with a particular gift of com-
municating to others the knowledge he possessed. Attracted by
the sanctity of M. Olier, he took him as his director, and under his
guidance made rapid progress in the way of perfection. The servant
of God, deeply sensible, from the first moment he knew him, of the
services he might render to the clergy, if God should call him to
the work of the seminaries, continued for several years offering up
prayers with this intention. Fearful, however, of running before
Divine Providence he preserved the strictest silence on the subject,
while M. Tronson, on his part, who already felt himself drawn
towards the Community, said not a word to M. Olier, waiting till
God should summon him.* At length, unable to resist any longer
the attractions of grace, he besought permission to try his vocation
at St. Sulpice. On the day he entered the house, M. Olier, then too

• M. Tronson, when Superior of the Seminary, thus "Tote : "They who say
that there are not subjects enough in St. Sulpice seem to me not to comprehend
the spirit of M. Olier, nor to have sufficiently reflected on his conduct. He would
never say a word in order to attract subjects ; and I know it by my own experi-
ence. He judged that n'>t many were wanted, and he believed that, when they
were needed, recourse ought to be had to God rather than to human devices, in
order to have none but those who were truly called. We have always had, by
His mercy, as many as we required ; let us pray that we may never have too
many."— r« de M. Emery ^ Vol. i. pp. 49, 50.

476

Life of M. Olier.

\-^ :<;

ill to leave his bed, ordered all the Community to assemble in the
chapel, and sing a Te Denm in thanksgiving to God for a particular
favour granted to the Seminary. This ebullition of holy joy was
amply justified by the event. As Superior of St. Sulpice, as well as
by his writings, M. Tronson won the confidence and respect of the
clergy of France in a singular manner, and has left behind him a
name which will be ever held in veneration by the society he
governed. The great Fdnelon, writing to Pope Clement XL,
accounts it a glory and a happiness that he had been " nourished
with the words of faith and formed to the clerical life " by one who
was never, as he believes, surpassed for "love of discipline, ability,
prudence, and piety, and, more than all, for sagacity in judging of
men." Thus wonderfully did God provide for the efficient govern-
ment of the Seminary as well as for its preservation from the
destructive inroads of heresy.

It is in the rules and maxims which M. Olier laid down for the
conduct of the noviciate, through which all who sought admission
into the Community had to pass, that we may most clearly discern
the spirit and genius of the new institution. The noviciate was, as
we may say, the inner sanctuary of the edifice he had begun to rear ;
it was the school in which the teachers and directors of the Semin?,ry
were themselves to be trained and sanctified for the momentous
task of forming the future priests of the Church. The inmates of
this Interior Seminary, as the servant of God called it, were to be
exercised in habits of self-annihilation, abnegation of their own will,
patience, mortification, and other similar virtues, that they whose
life was to be devoted to the service of priests might be the examples
and the sources of the graces which it was their office to cultivate in
others. To this end they were to practise, not only simplicity, but
poverty. Their rooms were to be meanly furnished, and destitute
of anything like ornament : content with a bed, a chair, a table, and
a little picture to pray before, they would thus serve God in simple
faith, unassisted by any of the helps or appliances of this world. To
inspire a love and reverence for the house of God, and for its
extrinsic and intrinsic beauty, as well as to nourish in themselves
and others a meek and lowly spirit, they were to perform all the
lowest offices about the church ; to wash the altar-steps, dust the
chairs and benches on which the clergy sat, and keep clean the
whole interior of the choir. They were to be employed also from
time to time in the duties of the sacristy, to put everything in its

The spirit of servitude.

477

place, and learn by experience the order which ought io be observed
in all that related to Divine worship. As some of their future
subjects would become canons of cathedral churches, be entrusted
with the cure of souls, or employed in other ministrations, they
were to be trained in performing all the ordinary functions which
those whose instruction and formation they were destined to under-
take might hereafter be called upon to discharge.

These rules will serve to indicate the thoroughness with which
M. Olier strove to instil into his disciples a spirit of self-abjection
and self-devotion in behalf of their brethren, and to inure them to
its exercise. For himself, as we have seen, he had made a vow of
particular and perfect servitude to the Church, and especially to its
ministers, and he directed that every member of the Community, at
such time as he seemed capable of doing so, should be called upon
to make a personal dedication of himself to the same special end.
It was in the shape of a protestation, by which each offered himself
to the Eternal Father, with the assistance of the Blessed Virgin and
St Joseph, and in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Perfect Victim,
to live, after His example, in perpetual dispositions of sacrifice and
servitude to tht last moment of his life ; and consecrated himself to
the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, by which these senti-
ments are nourished and sustained in souis. The import of this
profession he thus explained: "The spirit of servitude to Chiist
and to the Church implies obedience to the least of the members of
the Church, whose servants we are. It implies poverty, in so far
that we have nothing of our own ; for that which a serf acquires he
acquires for his lord, not for himself. It implies humility, making
us lie in spirit at the feet of all, as the serf must do in respect to his
master ; and every individual member of the Church must be held
to be our master. It implies love of suffering, inasmuch as we must
endure every species of contempt, opprobrium, affliction, and pain in
the service of the Church. There is nothing, whether of heat or
cold, hunger or thirst, toil, slight, or contradiction, which the servant
must not endure to further the interests of his master, even though
they proceed from the master himself, receiving with meekness and
submission all the ill-treatment he may choose to inflict, and endea-
vouring in all humility to regain his favour.

'* The spirit of servitude is, properly speaking, a great purity of
intention, with an ardent desire of the glory of our Master. So far
from being jealous when He is loved, honoured, and glorified by

> t ii

ssk-

478

Life of M. Olier.

- 1

others more than by ourselves, we experience, on the contrary, a
feeling of perfect complacency ; and this is u sign that we do not
seek ourselves in our labours, and are not acting in the spirit of a
hireling. To acquit ourselves, then, as true and faithful servants,
we ought at the beginning of an action to remember what our Lord
says : ' If any man will come after Afe, let him deny himself J For
example, in preaching we must first renounce the esteem of men ; in
confessing we must renounce all self-complacency ; in prayer, our own
satisfaction and our own tastes ; in receiving Communion, all seeking
after the gifts oL God ; in conversing we must renounce the desire of
being loved by men or pleasing them ; in eating and drinking, all
sensuality ; in study, curiosity ; in dress, all self-display ; in the
practice of virtue, all complacency in our own perfection ; in all
things we must act, through faith, according to the intentions of
Jesus Christ, and unite ourselves to the intentions which He had
of honouring and pleasing His Father. . . . This implies a great
mortification of the natural desires and appetites, which we must
have subdued in no little degree ; a great love for our Lord, together
with an ardent desire to promote His glory, feeling nothing stronger in
us, nothing which has greater dominion over us; in fine, a sincere love
of the Cross, of contempt, poverty, suffering, so that in the service
of our Master we may meet with no obstacle to stay our progress.

" From this spirit of servitude comes that of immolation, which
implies a disposition to die to self, and to live to God alone, await-
ing but the time and the occasion to sacrifice ourselves to Him for
the good of His Church. In our quality of victims, we are reckoned
as no longer belonging to the world, so that we are ignorant of its
laws, its ceremonies, its hab'ts, its language, and are conversant
only with the ceremonies of the Church, the praises of God, the
service of His temple; remembering that of old the victims were
separated from the flock and removed from the fold, that they might
abide in the Temple of God : they no longer lived for themselves,
being destined for sacrifice ; and so ought we to have lost all care
of our body, all solicitude about health, all attachment to life. If
we eat, it must be as the victims in the Temple, ever in close sight
of the altars and under the very edge of the knife, awaiting death,
and preserving life only for the moment of sacrifice. They ate in
order to die, rather than to live ; and thus it must be with him who
lives in this spirit of immolation. He must be as an angel would be
in a human body ; he must keep his eyes fixed ever on God, tend-

Schedule of self-examination.

479

ing to Him incessantly, to love, adore, and serve Him, as a pure
flame which rises and tends towards heaven ; or, rather, as Jesus
Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament, who would make us partakers
of His spirit of immolation by giving us to eat of His Sacred
Flesh."

Such, in epitome, were the maxims which M. Olier laid down as
the foundations on which the future members of his community were
to form their spiritual life ; and to these he appended two practical
rules, to the observance of which he attached much importance.
One was a weekly confession, in common, of the faults which each
might have committed against the principal Christian virtues and
his clerical profession. The other was a private self-examination
every evening on the points contained in the following schedule, a
copy of which, in their own handwriting, wl to be hung up in their
respective rooms : —

" Have you been wanting in the love of the Cross ?

" Or in the love of poverty, suffering, and contempt ?

"Or in the hatred of yourselves, seeking yourselves in your
actions, astead of renouncing all self-satisfaction and all self-
interest ?

" Have you failed as respects the love of your enemies, or interior
religion, by neglecting to refer your actions to God, or to our Lord
Jesus Christ ?

" Have you been wanting in exterior devotion in church, and, in
particular, in any of the divine ofifices, or other di.ties of religion?

" Have you walked the whole day in the presence of Jesus Christ,
having His interior everywhere before your eyes, to adore it, and to
form it in yourselves ?

" Have you been faithful in recollecting yourselves at the begin-
ning of each work, as you are directed ?

•* Have you lived according to faith, regarding and esteeming all
things as Jesus Christ regards and esteems them ?

" Have you manifested Jesus Christ in your conduct ?

"His sweetness, humility, paience, charity, obedience, and for-
bearance ?

" Have you, among other virtues, practised that which especially
becomes clerics, modesty ?

" Have you lived in the spirit of servitude towards Jesus Christ
and His members ?

48d

Life of M. Olkr.

ij;

" Have you lived also in the spirit of immolation ? "

But, above all things, M. Olier taught his disciples to go frequently
before the Holy Tabernacle, thence to derive that spirit ot servitude
and immolation of which Jesus Christ is the living spring. In a
little work which he entitled the Piety of the Seminary of St. Sulpice,
he prescribes three means for replenishing themselves with this
spirit : the Blessed Eucharist, as already related ; the Cross ; and the
Gospel. Next to the August Sacrament of the Altar the Community
were to venerate the Cross of the Saviour, which exhibits to us His
works. They were to embrace that Cross in its bareness, poverty,
and contempt. They were to carry it with joy, never wearied with
calumnies and persecutions, and to pray they might die upon it in
union with Jesus. Priests and clerics were, therefore, to fly with
horror from all worldly pomps, from all that flatters the senses, all
that gratifies the eyes, the ears, the taste, the touch. Every one was
to maintain in himself this state of death, living only in a spirit of
penance, chastise his body and bring it ever into subjection, at the
beginning of every action renounce his own spirit and abandon him-
self to that of Jesus. Further, in order to follow Jesus with greater
facility and to contemplate without ceasing His divine perfections,
they were ever to carry about them, together with the image of
Christ crucified, the Most Holy Gospel ; and, as He dwells in the
Blessed Eucharist with all the sentiments of His Heart and all His
adorable virtues, they were to beg and confidently seek in that Most
Holy Sprrament grace to follow the examples and observe the pre-
cepts which they had learned to venerate in the Sacred Book.

In order not to omit anything which may illustrate the interior
spirit of the institute, we will here cite a passage from the Memoires
of M. Henri de la Combe Baudrand which may be taken as a sum-
mary of M. Olier's teachings on the subj " ct.

" The priests of the Seminary of St. Sulpice," he wrote, " are to be
wholly devoted to the worship of the Most Holy and Most August
Trinity. Their silence and retirement within the Seminary is to be
to them a means of honouring the silence and repose of the Three
Divine Persons in heaven; and, as all the treasures of nature and of
grace and all the mysteries of the Man-God are the fruits and issues
of this great Mystery, all their actions and their whole conduct are
to tend to Its honour. Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Priest, is to reign
in their hearts, and, as He came only to be the priest and the victim
immolated to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity, the priests of the

n ■-

,-;r.>-',..;k,-jv«siii;^-.".-^-.j> .

i-.vi>'j?^v"'i^"'-iVJ:-r-:i:ijn-i.

spirit of poverty and detachment.

481

Seminary must be priests and victims concumed in the fire of His
love and immolated to His service. They arc, by their very char-
acter, only the extension of His eternal priesthood ; they must, then,
be filled with His life and His spirit, they must be clothed with His
states of abasement and of glory, and penetrated with His sentiments,
His mysteries, and His virtues.

•' Their union with the Mother of Jesus must be unceasing. They
are bound to acknowledge that their power is but an effluence of her
divine maternity. As her fecundity, which is all holy, is founded on
the power of the Eternal Father and terminates only in her Son, the
Saint of saints, so their priesthood is exercised only by the power of
the Eternal Father, of which they partake, and terminates only in
Jesus, whom they produce on our altars and sacrifice to His glory.
The life of Jesus in Mary, in her fervour and zeal for God, must be
the life that animates them. Their interests are the interests of
Jesus, their spirit and desires are the desires and the Spirit of Jesus
living in His holy Mother.

"To honour God; to love Jesus and Mary ; to bear with patience
and love the share which He gives him in His crosses ; to lay
himself at the feet of all, and especially of the ecclesiastics for
whose sanctification he labours ; to be attached to them only in
order to establish in their hearts the reign of God, and to maintain
towards them the spirit of a loving and unfailing servitude ; to live
in the world separated from the world, without seeking to find
therein anything save the" cross, the sanctification of priests, and the
salvation of souls ; to look for nothing from any creature whatsoever,
but to look for all from God alone ; to live without vows, but to be
more pliant and more submissive to superiors than are they who are
bound by vows, — this is something of what is required to be a priest
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice."

To maintain among his ecclesiastics that spirit of detachment and

disinterestedness which he deemed essential to the existence of the

institution, M. Olier would have them receive no sort of stipend or

remuneration, however small, but be content with the food and

clothing which the Society provided. Not that he would have them

make a vow of poverty, or strip themselves of such property as they

chanced to possess ; on the contrary, he would never allow M. de

Bretonvilliers to take such vow or make such renunciation, although

he sought permission long and earnestly. "Renounce," he said,

" the use of worldly goods, but retain their possession. You will

2 H

482

Life of M. Olier.

thus abide in the state in which Providence has placed you ; your
goods will be employed to His glory, and you will possess all the
benefits of poverty, which consist in having nothing to prevent our
belonging to God alone : * Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.^ " * This, indeed, was the sort of poverty of
which he himself gave his disciples the example. For several years
he neither disposed of his property nor made any personal use of
it ; nay, so little conversant was he with money matters that he could
not keep his own accounts, and on more than one occasion showed
an absolute ignorance of the value of certain coins, saying with
genuine simplicity, "You see I am not fit for this sort of thing."

But of all the duties and practices of the priestly and the Christian
life there was none which the servant of God more sedulously strove
to inculcate on his Co"imunity than the renunciation of their own
will and judgment, and that this lesson had been thoroughly
learned was exemplified in the conduct of M. d'Hurtevent, one of
his first and most fervent disciples. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon,
who was well acquainted with the merits of this ecclesiastic, was
desirous of entrusting to him the education of her nephew, the Abbe
de Richelieu ; f and M. Olier, considering that to form the mind
and character of a young cleric so highly connected and likely, in
consequence, to occupy a prominent position in the Church would
be rendering an essential service to religion, advised M. d'Hurte-
vent to accept the charge. This accordingly he did, simply because
the mere intimation of a wish on the part of one whom he so deeply
revered had to him all the weight of a command, but with a feeling
of repugnance which it would be difficult to express. So completely,
however, did he conceal every symptom of aversion, and so admir-
ably did he act his part in the courtly society with which he was
compelled to mix, that several well-intentioned but ill-judging
persons persuaded themselves that he had cordially adopted the
fashions of the world and would become estranged from the
Seminary, if not from sacerdotal and ecclesiastical life altogether.
Acting upon this persuasion, they communicated their impressions
to M. Olier, who, as sometimes happens even to those whom God
has gifted with the power of reading the secrets of hearts, being left

* St. Matthew v. 3.

t He died January 9th, 1665, attended by his sorrowing aunt. Of her three
nephews, whom she had adopted and treated with an affection truly maternal, he
was the only one who showed her any gratitude or respect

His care for the health of his subjects. 483

without any lights upon the matter, accepted their views, and by a
c Ttain coldness and reserve of manner showed that his countenance
was no longer towards him as before. M. d'Hurtevent, perceiving
the change and knowing by experience that the man of God was
wont to discern faults in his disciples of which they were themselves
unconscious, or which they were trying to conceal, was greatl; dis-
tressed in mind, thinking there must be something in his conduct
which merited reproof. Having, however, become actjuainted, after
a while, with the representations which had been made regarding
him, he showed how well he had profited by the maxims which had
been taught him ; for, instead of enlightening M. Olier as to his real
sentiments, or seeking for sympathy elsewhere, he put a generous
constraint on himself and chose rather to appear as an ingrate in his
eyes than to shrink from embracing the cross, hard as it was to bear,
which was laid upon him. He chose (to adopt the words of M.
Faillon) to let his soul be steeped awhile in gall and bitterness,
thereby to honour the adorable dispositions of >ur Lord in the igno-
minies of His Passion, and would have endured 'he torment all his
days but for the pain which he saw he was inflicting on his master's
tender heart. Accordingly, he sought an explanation, and the cloud
of misunderstanding was at once dispersed.

The Life of M. de Lantages affords an instance scarcely less
remarkable of the influence which M. Olier exerted over those who
were about him and of the implicit submission which they paid to
his directions. This ecclesiastic was, as we have seen, a priest before
he entered the Seminary, but he was assailed with such violent
scruples that he felt as if he were guilty of a sacrilege every time he
ascended the steps of the altar. In his distress he besought M.
Olier to dispense him from offering the Holy Sacrifice every day or,
at least, to allow him to make his confession every morning before
doing so. But, on being ordered to say Mass daily and not to make
his confession oftener than once a fortnight, he blindly obeyed in
spite of the terrors with which he still continued to be haunted.
His obedience had its reward ; for the long and severe trial he
underwent not only enabled him to make rapid progress in the ways
of divine love, but won for him the gift of relieving persons similarly
afiiicted, and particularly priests.

But strict and, apparently, even severe as he was in requiring from
his subjects an entire subjection and immolation of themselves in
all that related to their special vocation, M. Olier insisted no less

.tHj

484

Life of M. Olier,

• I

■ s

1 1'

strongly on the general duty of taking care of their health. This is
evident from iiis letters, one of which may here be cited. The
reader will not fail to observe how perfectly in harmony the advice
he gives is with those supernatural principles to which he referred
everything. " I pray you may have the grace," he writes, ♦' to avail
yourself where you tc of all the benefits which the air, the fine
weather, and the remedies prescribed are capable of rendering, for
the improvement of your health. You have vowed and consecrated
it to God ; you know that it belongs to Jesus Christ, by the right He
possesses over all creatures of employing them to promote the glory
of His Father, and, in particular, by the choice He has made of you
to serve Him in His Church. Jesus Christ has made over His
rights to His Church, and she may justly claim the service of your
body for the good of His children. See, then, to how many masters
you belong, to how many you are responsible, and whether you can
with justice refuse them the preservation of your health. Wherefore
be careful of it, forgetting yotirself, and simply obeying your
superiors."

The Noviciate of the Community at the time M. Olier prescribed
the rules which have here been given v not a separate house, but
was included in the general institute ; "e the name by which he

called it — the Interior Seminary, or Seinmary within the Seminary.
It is not quite clear at what date the Noviciate became a separate
residence, but it certainly originated with M. Olier, although it was
not definitively inaugurated till a year or two after his death. It was
established at first* in the chateau of Avron, which had belonged
for a long period to the family of M. de Bretonvilliers, who, on the
death of his brother, bestowed it on the Seminary, and it was ever
after known as the Solitude. Besides being at a convenient dis-
tance from the capital and enjoying a salubrious air, it had also the
advantage of possessing a domestic chapel. Here were received all
who aspired to become members of the Community, as well as such
ecclesiastics as were sent by the Bishops to be trained for the direc-
tion of similar institutions in the provinces, and those candidates
for the priesthood who were of maturer age than the rest It was,
moreover, a place of retirement and retreat. The spot had a par-
ticular attraction in M. Olier's eyes from its being in the proximity

* In the early editions of his work M. Faillon had stated that the Noviciate
was first settled at Vaugirard, but subsequent enquiry led him to change his
opinion.

Noviciate at Issy,

485

of a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels,* which was an
ancient place of pilgrimage. Ii was a very frequent resort of the
novices ; indeed, it became a rule of the house that once every
month two of their number should pay a devotional visit to the
shrine on behalf of the Seminary.

Subsequently the Noviciate was transferred to Issy, where the
Seminary still has its country-house. The place had belonged to
Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henri IV., and in 1655 was pur-
chased^ with its furniture, of M. Antoine de S^ve by M. de Breton-
villiers for the use of the Community. When he was dying, he gave
his colleagues the option of having the house itself or the price it
had cost him ; and they chose the former because (as we shall see)
it had been blessed with the presence of their holy founder during
the last years of his life. It stood within an enclosure of sufficient
extent to be styled a park, but was itself of small dimensions. It
was afterwards enlarged, and a chapel was added by M. Tronson,
after the model of that of the Holy House of Loreto. The chapel
was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, under the title of La Reine des
CoeurSy and at the end of the last century contained a vast number
of votive offerings in ihe shape of hearts, all silver-gilt, which had
been presented by prelates and other ecclesiastics, and were sus-
pended to the lattice-work which separated the chapel from the
Holy House. At the breaking out of the Revolution ninety-six of
these silver hearts were sent to the mint. One offering was of a
singularly touching character. It had been sent by the savages of
Montreal in Canada, and was composed of little stones of different
colours, all in the shape of hearts, and equal in number to the
Christians in their tribe. The library was remarkable for a large
collection of works relating to the Blessed Virgin. It was here that
the conferences on Quietism were held, which lasted seven or eight

* Tradition assigns its origin to three foreign merchants, who were robbed
and then hanged upon trees near the spot, but were miraculously delivered by
the assistance of the Blessed Virgin, who appeared to them surrounded with a
multitude of angels. In thanksgiving they erected a chapel, which became one
of the rr-ost famous places of pilgrimage in the diocese of Paris. It was rebuilt,
in 1663, by the Canons Regular of the Congregation of France, to whom the
neighbouring Abbey of Livry belonged. At the Revolution it was demolished,
but a new building has since arisen out of its ruins, where Mass is said on all
feasts of the Blessed Virgin, and especially on the feast and during the octave of
her Nativity, when the concourse of people is still considerable. Near it is a
holy well, to the waters of which curative virtues are ascribed.

486

Life of M. Olier.

months, and at which Bossuet, F^nelon, and Cardinal de Noailles
were present*

During the night of May 12th, 1871, a bombshell, launched by
the insurgents, fell on the chapel of Our Lady of Loreto, which was
set on fire and entirely consumed. The im?ge of the Blessed Vir-
gin, which for many years had stood in the Holy House in Italy,
and was the object of a special devotion, remained uninjured by the
flames and was conveyed by pious hands to what was supposed to
be a place of safety ; but during the pillage that followed it dis-
appeared and has never been recovered. The chapel, however, has
been restored, and on April 17th, 1872, was consecrated by the
Cardinal Archbishop of Paris.

We will now recur to a subject which, while it shows the perilous
trials pnd assaults 10 which the Seminary was exposed, constitutes
one of its pecuiiar glories and, we may add, one of its strongest
claims to the gratitude of all true Catholics.

Jansenism, as has been said, never gained even a temporary
footing within the walls of St. Sulpicc. This honourable distinction
was doubtless due, as long as M. Olier lived, to his untiring vigilance
and zeal ; and that, at a time when there was scarcely a religious
house in France into which this pernicious heresy had not penetrated
with the most disastrous results, he should have succeeded in pre-
serving his community from its influences must be reckoned among
his highest titles to our admiration and respect But, what is still
more remarkable, the Seminary of St Sulpice ever continued to
enjoy the. same exemption from Jansenistic infection ; and there are
circumstances which seem to show that this was a special favour of
Heaven, and one integrally connected with the original m'ssion 01
its founder.

The reader will recollect that in establishing the seminary at
Vaugirard M. Olier had two associates, who made their solemn act
of consecration with him in the church of Montmartre, and might

* Mr. Allies who visited Issy in 1845 describes the Maison de Campagne of
St. Sulpice as "an old royal chateau, much dilapidated, for" (he adds) "the
good seminarists do not pretend to much comfort in their house ; it would seem
as if they intended their discipline to serve as a winnowing fan for all light and
worldly spirits. They have, however, spacious gardens behind. We were shown
a summer-house in which Bossuet and Fenelon held a long conference on the
subject in dispute between them, and agreed on statements together, -.vhich are
put up in the room." Journal in France^ p. 87.

M. de Foix becomes Bishop of Pamiers. 487

equally have been regarded as founders of the society. These were
M. de Foix and M. du Ferrier, the former of whom was for a short
time at the head of the Community. But from the first the Spirit
of God had made known to M. Olier that the work was in some
especial way his own and not theirs ; that they were his appointed
fellow-helpers in inaugurating the design, but that its consummation
lay wholly with himself. "1 will not give to others the spirit of
paternity," was the word that was spoken interiorly to him ; and this
secret intimation was singularly fulfilled. M. Olier was the actual
founder of St. Sulpice ; no one could dispute the title with him ; and
it was his mind, his genius, that ruled and ordered everything. The
Seminary was the embodiment of his ideas, or, rather, it was the
realization of the divine plan of which he had been made the deposi-
tary. And, as if to leave no doubt in men's minds as to the author-
ship of the work, he alone of the " Three Solitaries of Vaugirard "
was destined to remain a member of the Community. Nor, as we
are about to see, was this the only design of Providence in per-
mitting the departure of his two associates.

On the removal of the society from Vaugirard to Paris, M. de
Foix was made Director of the new seminary ; and, as M. Olier at
first was principally occupied with the reform of the parish, he had
almost the sole superintendence of the house ; his exhortations and
personal example exercised a most powerful influence over the minds
of the students, and by M. Olier no less than by the ecclesiastics
generally he was regarded as one of the mainstays of the institute.
When, therefore, it became known that, on the recommendation of
St. Vincent de Paul, he had been nominated by the Queen Regent
to the vacant see of Pamiers the feeling excited at St. Sulpice was
one of simple grief and dismay. M. de Foix himself was no less
sensibly afflicted at the thought of the burden which it was sought
to impose upon him, and protested that in consenting to assume the
episcopal office he should be withdrawing from a post to which he
had been summoned by a particular attraction of grace, and aban-
doning a vocation which had been blessed with many and signal
marks of the Divine favour. Unwilling, however, to act on his own
impulse, he resigned himself entirely to the decision of M. Olier, as
his superior, who, as may be supposed, bearing in mind the solemn
engagements into which his colleague had entered at the first
foundation of the society, and the positive injunctions of P. de
Condren as to refusing all ecclesiastical preferments, counselled him

i.iii

mmmmmm

488

Life of M. Olier.

to persevere in his resolution and to decline the proffered dignity.
The Queen, however, continuing to press the matter, at the end of
three months M. Olier began to fear lest his reluctance to lose
so useful and, as it appeared, so necessary a subject, should have
insensibly biassed his judgment ; he resolved, therefore, to consult
P. Tarrisse, and to be determined by his advice in conjunction with
that of St. Vincent. The decision of these two great servants of
God was strongly in favour of complying with the Queen's behests ;
and M. Olier, sacrificing at once his own personal wishes and the
apparent advantage of the Community, submitted to the decision
and bade M. de Foix prepare for consecration. This accordingly
took place in the Church of St. Sulpice, on the 5th of March, 1645,
in the presence of the Community and of a large number of the
parishioners, who were deeply touched by the recollection and devo-
tion of the new prelate ; the abundance of tears that flowed from
his eyes indicating, as it seemed to them, the well of devotion that
lay hidden in tha depths of his heart.

M. Olier was much blamed for allowing M. de Foix to quit the
Seminary, there being a general persuasion that his presence and
co-operation were indispensable for the success and, indeed, for the
very existence of the institute. But M. Olier, although the loss of
such a man was apparently irremediable, had regard simply to the
will of God, who, as he said, was the Father and the Master of the
house and would never abandon the work He had begun. So
entirely was he absorbed in the one idea of furthering the designs
of Providence that, at a time when the Community could ill afford
any diminution of its numbers, he desired several of his most
efficient priests to accompany M. de Foix to Pamiers for the purpose
of assisting him in the work of his diocese, which stood in great
need of reformation, and in the establishment and direction of his
episcopal seminary. The high estimation in which he held this
prelate is evident from the terms in which he spoke of him to one
of these very priests. " Cultivate," he said, " the advantage you
enjoy with Monseigneur de Pamiers in his holy conversation, and
in the example of his admirable virtues, which you will not easily
find elsewhere. Assist this prelate of rare excellence, who is left
without aid, and is so deserving of all help." M. de Pamiers, on
his side, ever manifested the greatest respect and affection for M.
Olier, whom he did not scruple publicly to call "a man inspired
by God to dispense His special graces to the Church of France."

Defection of the Bishop of Pamiers. 489

Whenever he came to Paris he took up his residence at St. Sulpice,
presided at its solemn functions, and occasionally preached in the
parish church. It may well be conceived that such a man would
oppose with all his energies the spread of the new opinions. Accord-
ingly, we find him, both before and after M. Olier's death, consulting
one while with St. Vincent, at another with the priests of St. Sulpice,
as to the best measures for bringing back to their allegiance such
as had been seduced into resisting the authority of the Church ; and
he was in the habit of saying that, if these novelties came from God,
they would not produce, as unhappily was too apparent, such mani-
fold fruits of rebellion, pride, and apostasy.

Such was the Bishop of Pamiers during the first twenty years of
his episcopate. Who then could have supposed that a prelate who
had hitherto been a model of the ecclesiastical virtues and a
vigorous opponent of the new doctrines should, a very few years
after the death of M. Olier and that of St. Vincent de Paul, have
become one of the most strenuous defenders of Jansenism ? Yet
such is the miserable fact. The former Abb^ de Foix is no other
than the too celebrated Frangois-Etienne de Caulet, one of the four
Bishops who opposed the Formulary, as it is called, of Alexander
VII. and fomented a most lamentable division in the Church.
That he should have quitted the Seminary, and that, too, so soon
after its establishment, must, therefore, be regarded as a visible sign
of the Divine protection ; for how calamitous might the result have
been to that rising institution had he continued during the twenty
years he survived M. Olier to be numbered among its members !
Joint founder with that holy man of the house at Vaugirard,
first Director of the Seminary of St Sulpice, his experience, his
numerous virtues and unquestionable abilities, and the marked
ascendancy which he exercised over the min. , of others, would
have pointed him out as, without dispute, the man most capable
and most worthy of succeeding M. Olier as Superior of the Society ;
and in this case the same misfortune would have befallen St
Sulpice as actually befell the Oratory, in spite of the fidelity and
zeal displayed by many of the latter body. St Sulpice also would
have yielded before the insidious attack of the Jansenistic faction,
and its history would have borne the stains of a like dishonour.*

• The Congregation of the Oratory had become infected with Jansenism before
it was subjected to the baneful influence of P. Quesnel and other professors of St.
Magloire, and the Bull Unigenitus, issued by Clement XI. in 1 7 13, was accepted

iii

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490

Life of M. Olier.

The three other prelates were M. Pavilion, Bishop of Aleth, M.
de Buzenval, Bishop of Beauvais, and M. Arnauld, Bishop of
Angers. M. Pavilion was one of the ecclesiastics who, in conjunc-
tion with M. Olier, commenced the Conferences of St. Lazare ; he
long enjoyed the confidence both of the Superior of St. Sulpice and
of St. Vincent de Paul ; indeed it was through the influence of the
latter that he was promoted to the see of Aleth, and M. Olier lent
him some of his most zealous priests, with M. de Queylus at their
head, to assist him in reforming his diocese. By the high reputadon
he acquired for self-denial and austerity of life, he may be said to
have " made the fortune " of the Jansenistic party ; but " obedience
is better than sacrifices : " he resisted the supreme authority of Christ
in His Church, and all his specious virtues were but as gilding on
a mausoleum of the dead. The first symptoms betrayed by this
prelate, as by his friend, the Bishop of Pamiers, ovei whom he
exercised a fatal influence, of a leaning towards the Jansenists was
an unwillingness to commit himself by a public condemnation of
their tenets, on the plea of promoting peace and preventing schism.
By this course both were able for a space to dissemble their
opinions ; or it would probably be more true to say that their want
of fidelity in not declaring openly for the truth, which, in fact, was
tantamount to tampering with error, had time to develop into
positive resistance to the commands of the Holy See : an act from
which they would in the first instance have shrunk with horror. By
the Formulary of Alexander VH. (1665) they were called upon to
reject and condemn the five points of the Jansenistic heresy ex-
tracted from the Augustinus of Jansenius, in the sense of the author,
as the Holy See had condemned them. But, while they declared
their willingness to condemn the propositions, they refused to sub-
scribe to Xh&fact that the propositions were in substance contained

in 1746 only after long and lamentable contentions among its members. On
the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1764, the Oratory took the fatal step of introducing
laymen into their houses as associates in order to strengthen and extend their
educational operations. Many of these became imbued with the false principles
of the time, and grievous scandals thence ensued. To their credit, however, it
must be recorded that the Fathers, with a few exceptions, refused to take the
constitutional oath, and in 1792 the Society ceased to have any official or cor-
porate existence. In the year 1852 the Oratory was reconstituted by P. P^t^tot,
Cur^ of St. Roch, under the title of the " Oratory of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the Immaculate Virgin Mary," and on March 22nd, 1864, the revived institution
received the approval and confirmation of the Holy See. See L'Oraioire Je
France au xvii* et au xixf Siicle, par P. Adolphe Perraud.

Retirement of M. du Ferrier.

491

in the book of Jansenius ; and on this latter point they claimed to
preserve what they called a reverential silence. Under Clement
IX., however, they consented to subscribe, and to oblige their
subjects to subscribe, the condemnation of the five points without
any restriction or limitation ; and this is called the Peace of Clement
IX. It may here be observed that, until the five propositions were
condemned by the Holy See, the Jansenists held them to be true,
and to be contained in the book of Jansenius ; but no sooner were
they condemned than they publicly maintained the contrary, while
privately adhering to their original opinion. The doctrines con-
demned, they said, were not true doctrines, but then they were not
contained in the Augustinus. By this subterfuge they thought to
be able to hold their heresy while affecting to disavow it.

The departure of M. de Foix from the Seminary was soon
followed by that of M. du Ferrier. The motives that led to his
retirement do not distinctly appear, but from his Mkmoires it is clear
that it was sorely against his own will, for he speaks of leaving St.
Sulpice with as much pain and grief as if he were being led to
execution. There is reason, howe/er, to believe that it was a
measure of precaution on the part of M. Olier ; and, indeed, it
may be gathered from the Letters of M. Tronson that M. du
Ferrier was one of those who, though not Jansenists in doctrine,
were on such terms of intimacy with certain members of the party
as to be unwilling to take a side against them, who spoke of them
with esteem, and approved, or, at least, did not discourage, the
reading of their books. After filling the office of grand-vicar in
several dioceses for the space of thirty-seven years, he fell into
disgrace with the Court for supporting the Bishop of Pamiers in
resisting the encroachments of the civil power, and in 16^0 was
banished to Tonnerre ; thence, four years later, he was sent to the
Bastille, where he died in the sixth year of his imprisonment and
the seventy- seventh of his age.

After the retirement of M. du Ferrier several others quitted the
Seminary, in consequence of their favourable dispositions towards
the new opinions, among whom was his brother, M. de Cambiac,
who for some time had entertained thoughts of entering the Com-
munity of St. Merry. His departure under such circumstances
was the cause of much grief to M. Olier, who, in his letters written
at the time, speaks of him in terms of the utmost affection and
charity. For six or seven years the Jansenistic party endeavoured.

i I

lijfj

492

Life of M Olier.

with the help of the seceders, to shake M. Olier's authority at
St. Sulpice, but, finding all their efforts fruitless, they sought by
means of his former colleague, the Bishop of Pamiers, to introduce
into the Seminary men who might exercise some sort of counter-
vailing influence. But here again their attempts were entirely
unsuccessful. To all that prelate's exhortations to call in the aid
of sound advisers, the servant of God replied that they were in
the habit of consulting M. Vincent (de Paul) on any extraordinary
occasion, and on ordinary occasions they did not fail to convene
a meeting of the whole Community. " As for those," he added,
"who have set themselves up to judge everything, and condemn
whatever they have not the ordering of, we have but small need of
their advice."

Baffled at every point, and unable to gain the smallest influence
within the Seminary, the Jansenists determined, as already related,
on bringing into the Faubourg St Germain the Fathers of the
Oratory, many of whom were among the warmest defenders of the
new opinions and, as such, in direct antagonism to M. Olier and
the Sulpicians. Indeed, as we learn from a letter v.'hich the
servant of God addressed to P. Bourgoing, the then Superior of
the Oratory, to whom the motives of his conduct had been misre-
presented, one of that Society, and he a person of no little con-
sideration (meaning P. Camus), had not scrupled to say, in the
presence of one of the priests of St. Sulpice, in reference to a
member of the Jansenistic party, " He does not, it is true, do as
many works as M. Olier, but — omm'a infidelium opera sunt peccata" *
a speech, it is needless to remark, as much opposed to orthodoxy as
to charity. To secure the success of their project they put in requisi-
tion the most powerful influences of which they were possessed, in
the persons of the Duke of Orleans and the President De Maison,
the declared protectors of liie Oratory, with whose assistance they
entertained no doubt of obtaining the support of the Queen Regent
The occasion they chose was also a most favourable one for further-
ing their suit, for the Court was on the eve of re-entering Paris,
after the first troubles of the Fronde, and at this time the Duke was
a firm adherent of the royalist cause. At St. Sulpice, as we are
told by M. Olier, the greatest consternation prevailed ; its inmates
were convinced that the establishment of the Oratory would involve
the ruin of the Seminary, and that, if in the midst of the thousand

• i<

All the works of unbelievers are sins."

i--

Defeat of i/te Oratorians.

493

contradictions which the enemy of all good was every day raising
against them, in order to force them to abandon their work and the
reformation of the parish, they should have to encounter a powerful
Congregation which was at open war with them, they would infal-
libly be compelled to give way and to betake themselves elsewhere.

M. Olier, meanwhile, preserved his usual calmness, but, afraid of
acting at his own dictation, he kept himself in complete seclusion
for the space of eight days, which he spent in silence and in prayer.
He then repaired to the Abb^ de St Germain, in the hopes that
through him, as his ecclesiastical superior, God would be pleased to
make known His will That prelate no sooner saw him enter than
he at once began speaking of the Oratorians, and declared that
nothing would induce him to permit their establishing themselves in
the parish, convinced as he was that the majority of that body were
deeply tainted with the Jansenistic errors. The like happened also
in the case of the Regent herself. When M. Olier went to present
his congratulations in person, as the other Cur^s of Paris had done
some days previously, the Queen volunteered to inform him that,
having heard from the Abbe of the design which the Oratorians
entertained, she hid forbidden his compliance God seemed thus
to have taken the matter out of His servant's hands, and he, there-
fore, felt emboldened to act with confidence in opposing the move-
ments of the Oratory, a course to which, considering his former
relations with the Society, he had naturally been much averse.

In this resolution he was confirmed by a signal favour which was
at this time accorded to him. The Blessed Virgin by a particular
manifestation, the manner of which he does not relate, promised
him her continued protection, and bade him rest assured that the
establishment in contemplation would never take place, although
the highest powers in France should conspire to bring it about and
the whole world should believe or fear that so it would be. As a
perpetual acknowledgment of this mercy, she desired that he should
engage to render some special honour to her " glories " for a quarter
of an hour daily. This was the origin of a practice which has been
strictly observed in the Seminary down to the present time.*

After the reception of this favour, the servant of God paid a visit

* M. Faillon says that the custom of reciting the Rosary every day for a
quarter of an hour was already established at St. Sulpice when M. Olier
received this intimation, but that he added to the recitation a quarter of an hour's
meditation on the glories of Mary.

■f

494

Life of M. Olier.

of thanksgiving to the church of Notre Dame at Paris; and, in
further token of his gratitude, he repaired also to the shrine of Notre
Dame de Liesse, where, as he knelt in prayer before her miraculous
image, the Mother of Mercies did not fail to confer fresh favours
upon her devoted client, and to assure him, with a certain ineffable
authority and majesty, that all the devices of his adversaries should
be brought to nought. Before going thither he had sought an
audience of the Duke of Orleans, and we learn from his Memoires
that, although he couched what he said to him in most respectful
terms, he was enabled to speak with a spirit and a power which
made the proud man tremble. The result was that, although the
friends of the Oratory took advantage of M. Oiler's absence from
Paris to renew their solicitations, the Regent stood firm in her
determination and, at the instance of the Abb^ de St. Germain, the
Parliament issued a decree forbidding the proposed establishment
within the parish of St. Sulpice.

'I^.-.-''- "V

( 495 )

CHAPTER V.

OBJECT OF THE COMMUNITY OF ST. SULPICE. EPISCOPAL
AND PAPAL APPROBATION.

THE Venerable Mfere Agn^s de Jdsu^ it will be remembered,
assured M. Olier, when he saw her at Langeac, that he was
destined to lay the first foundations of ecclesiastical seminaries in
France. In pursuance of this design, God was pleased to inspire
the Episcopal body with such a singular esteem for his virtues and
such an implicit confidence in his judgment that as early as 1643,
when he was only in his thirty-fifth year, several of the most zealous
and distinguished prelates consulted him (as we have seen) on the
subject of erecting seminaries in their dioceses. But for the first
few years the reform of his parish required the presence of so many
of his priests that he was unable to do more than train for the work
such clergy as were sent to him by the Bishops. After a time, how-
ever, he WIS in a condition to render more efficient aid, by com-
missioning members of his Community to take the direction of a
seminary until the newly trained ecclesiastics were capable of con-
ducting it without assistance. The next step was to charge the
Society itself with the conduct of provincial seminaries ; and here
it is well to draw attention to a matter which had an important
bearing on the fortunes of the institute and conduced most power-
fully to its permanent success.

The Seminary of St. Sulpice was never formally erected into a
Congregation; in the sense of a society consisting of several
communities the members of which observe the same rules and are
all subject to one and the same superior. Irue, it speedily began
to assume that character, but it was not so constituted in its origin
and, in fact, has never taken the name.* Had the founder given

• In the Dictionnaire Ancyclopidique de la ThMogie Catholique the Community
of St. Sulpice is erroneously designated as a Congregation. The author of the
article either wrote it before M. Faillon had published his biography or was

llfe-JTii l ftf l itff

8iai<MiiiftB»-iifitirtnitai*^' '^

■1!*?!T!W5W!W*W<*i™J!!«!^'WsiV»»^,»'-"

496

Life of M, Olier.

his institute that character at its commencement or announced it as
included in his ultimate designs, so far from being cordially welcomed
as an auxiliary by the Bishops, it would only have excited their
distrust on account of the embarrassments and failures that had
occurred wherever the experiment had hitherto been tried* The
Seminary, being created for the clergy, was to have no existence
apart from the clerical body; to use the founder's own forcible
expression, it was to be wholly fused and merged (niHe et perdu)
therein. "iVJff aliter vivit," he said, '*«/>/ vitA cleri.^* For this
reason he gave it no distinctive appellation ; the name it bore from
the first being bestowed upon it by popular consent, because it was
situated in the parish of St. Sulpice and was connected with its
church. Neither would he let his ecclesiastics be called Fathers, as
were the members of other secular communities ; as, for example,
that of the Oratory. Belonging wholly to the clergy and identified
with them, he would have nothing which should distinguish his
society from that body, in its spixit, its practices, or its garb.

In every step ho took M. Olier was guided by a holy prudence,
or, rather it may be said, he faithfully followed the lights which from
time to time were shed upon his path. This is the account which
he has himself given of the course he was led to pursue. " On the
morrow of St. Peter's day," he writes, " as I was invoking this great
saint, he was pleased to say to me, answering the painful doubts
with which my mind was troubled respecting the conduct of the
Seminary, *! will give thee my spirit for ordering everything;' and
during Mass the Goodness of God made known to me what His
purpose was regarding this house : that He desired it to be an
Apostolic house, that is to say, a house established on the model of
the College of the Apostles, who were not confined to the particular
place to which the Son of God sent them to labour ; accordingly,
that it was God's will that there should be persons here whom I
could send to aid the Bishops in founding and maintaining semi-
naries in their dioceses ; who should train and form subjects in such
places, and then leave them to manage their own houses; who

unacquainted with the work, to which he makes no allusion. He is also mistaken
in assigning to M. Olier the Christian name of Jeau-Baptiste instead of Jean-
Jacques.

* M. Faillon, in one of those valuable historical sketches which are to be found
in the notes to his work, gives a detailed account of these experiments and their
failure.

Summary of his Memorial,

A97

should either return or be despatched elsewhere, being thus without
settled habitations and having no pretension to erect establishments
connected with each other and claiming to be a body corporate."

These intimations of the Divine will, it may be observed, were in
exact accordance with the principles which P. de Condren had
taught his disciple. " That holy personage," writes M. Olier, " whom
I revered so much, and who promised me that I should be one of
the heirs of his spirit after he had fulfilled his course and gone to
Heaven, will finish his own work through us. He fully comprehends
the sublime idea of the design which God revealed to him, and it is
he who provides the materials for this work by disclosing to us
gradually and little by little what he knows to be useful for us to
learn ; that we may labour according to that design and on the plan
which God Himself traced out for him. But all this is effected by
slow degrees."

M. Olier, however, was not the man to proceed by the light of
private revelations alone ; he knew well that what had been thus
manifested to him — albeit the project had received the approval of
individual bishops — must be formally sanctioned by ecclesiastical
authority. Accordingly, in the ycai 1651, he took advantage of the
General Assembly of the Clergy being held in Paris to submit to
the collective Episcopate the entire plan and constitution of the
Society, together with the laws by which it was governed. At the
same time he addressed to them a letter, wherein, in the most uncon-
ditional manner, he surrendered the whole conduct of the Seminary
into their hands, as being the persons who alone were capable of
judging "hether in its professed design and interior spirit it was in
strict accordance with the true ecclesiastical idea. " The house,"
he said, " was called into being simply for your service, and it will
go on as it has begun if it merits your approval. If not, it is ready
to change everything, being convinced that it has no better security
than in deference to your holy counsels." He at the same time
laid before the Assembly the regulations and principles of conduct
which his ecclesiastics had hitherto observed, with a view of obtain-
ing the benefit of thei. united counsels as well as their authoritative
approval. The following brief summary will give some idea of its
purport : —

"As every religious Order has its particular spirit, which is
copiously diffused among its novices, so the magnificent Order of the
holy clergy, which alone is formally commissioned to render to God

2 I

I I

498

Life of M, Olicr.

all the duties, exterior and interior, of the religion of Jesus Christ,
has in itself the universal spirit of the religion of that Sovereign
Pontiff, who lets fall the seeds of His life abundantly in the sacred
houses of the seminaries, in order to form therein the ministers of
the Church. Hence we may learn the reason of that abiding grace
and that abundance of spirit and light which God pours down upon
them : religious Orders may lose the spirit of their institute and may
perish, but the clerical Older cannot perish, for it is necessary to the
very existence of the Church.

"The true and only superior of the seminary is the Bishop, who,
containing in himself the plenitude of the spirit and the grace which
is to be diffused among his clergy, can alone communicate to it its
spirit and its life. What the head is in the natural body, the holy
prelate must be in the mystical body of his clergy ; and it is but to
labour in vain to attempt any other mode of sanctifying clerical
colleges. However exalted may be the sanctity of those distinguished
persons, eminent for their virtues, who are to be found scattered
here and there throughout a diocese, inasmuch as they do not pos-
sess that capital grace which belongs to the divine character of pre-
lates, we cannot expect in them that plenitude of spirit and life
which is capable of replenishing and vivifying the body of the
clergy.

"Seeing, however, that Bishops have not the leisure to attend
personally to the direction and instruction of their clergy, it is
necessary that they should have under their control priests whom
they can set in their place to conduct their seminaries, and to whom
they can c imunicate of their spirit and grace, as did Moses of old
to the seventy ancients. They thus satisfy the most important obli-
gation of the Episcopate, which is to sow the seed of divine life in
the hearts of their principal subjects, who, in their turn, may fill
cathedral chapters with their religion, altars with their sanctity, pul-
pits with their doctrine and piety, sacred tribunals with their justice,
and the hearts of the people with the holy fire of their love. Herein
principally consists the pre-eminent function of the hierarchical
dignity in the communication of the spirit and the life of God. Oh,
how admirable is the mission of good priests who have a share in
this spirit, that they may distribute it among the noblest ministries
of Jesus Christ and the holiest portions of His Church ! They
ought to be as reservoirs, deep and vast, to receive the abundance
of grace necessary for an office so sacred. They ought to be by

Summary of his Memorial.

499

their virtue what a holy prelate is by the dignity of his character,
that, filled with his light, his spirit, and his grace, they may distri-
bute it among all the members of the clergy, dividing to each
according to his needs. A human exterior they must have, but in
their heart of hearts they ought to be wliolly divine ; and their life
must be human only that they may difTiise the life of God among
men. They ought to have the interior of a bishop under the
exterior of an ordinary life, endeavouring to transform the p'lpils of
the sanctuary into themselves, even as they have been themselves
transformed into the interior of their holy prelate.

"When the Son of God was preparing His Apostles and disciples
for the spirit of their vocation He kept them three years near Him-
self, leading them continually to the annihilation of their own will
and the stripping themselves of the gross things of this world. This
very preparation it is which the Church of Christ, the depositary of
His secrets, demands of all its priests, and especially of those whom
the Bishops, the true successors of the Apostles, call to them to take
the direction of their seminaries and to fill them with their spirit.
These good priests, who in their ordinary life ought to be the
models of their holy flock, must renew in themselves all that the
Church has ever demanded of what is most pure and holy for the
perfection of the priesthood ; they must have immolated and
annihilated their own will, being assured that the emptying them-
selves of self is the only disposition which will attract the Spirit of
Jesus Christ, which cannot co exist with their own individual spirit;
and that, unless they give place entirely to this Divine Spirit, they
will never afford Him the means of manifesting in them or in others
the surpassing effects of Apostolic grace. I think, too, that they
ought to renew in the presence of their bishop the renunciation they
had already made of all worldly goods, when, on entering the clerical
state, they took God for their portion and the riches of Heaven for
their only possession. Seeing also of how much importance they are
to a diocese, they ought to renounce all benefices, and not allow
themselves to be withdrawn from an occupation which, as it is public
and universal in its character, is likewise of wider influence and
higher consideration than any other office whatever.

" As few are to be met with who are willing to enter on a life of
self-denudation, and who at the same time are possessed of the
necessary zeal, prudence, and capacity, pains must be taken to keep
them when the goodness of God has provided them." They must

^■

500

Life of M. Olier.

be relieved (he continues) of all exterior occupations ; otherwise
their attention to the work of the seminary will be in some degree
relaxed, and its spiritual interests will proportionably suffer. They
must be supplied with such food and clothing as is strictly necessary,
but without having any personal concern in the niatter. V/hen
death shall have removed any of the Directors, the survivors shall
choose two or three priests most eminent for kno\. ledge and virtue,
whom they shall present to the Bishop for his selection.

Besides the Directors, there ought to be in every seminary a
number of priests thorouglily formed, and ready to go at a moment's
notice into any part of the diocese to which the Bishop may please
to send them. These need not, like the first, make renunciation
of ecclesiastical benefices or dignities, inasmuch as they ought to
hold themselves at the disposal of their prelate, to be employed in
such way as shall seem to him good.

The third class, which is far the most numerous, will consist of
the seminarists, properly so called. As they are of every rank and
condition, care must be taken to observe such simplicity in the
matter of food and clothing that, on the one hand, the poor may not
be over-provided for and, on the other, the rich may not be too
hardly treated. Most important of all is the practice of self-mortifi-
cation, without which there is nothing solid in the religion of the
clergy or in the perfection of the priesthood, any more than in
Christianity itself. The great object, therefore, of the Directors of a
seminary must be to ground their subjects well in the mortification
of all the natural appetites. Jesus Christ our Lord gave the first
death-blow to the life of sin by the life of baptism, leaving us to con-
tinue what He had begun, that is to say, continually to cut away the
germs of sin, which, though dead in itself, is not so in its conse-
quences. The Son of God contented Himself with slaying the
parent with His own hand, reserving to us the strangling of the off-
spring. This it is on which the seminarists must be frequently
exhorted ; they must be taught to keep their eyes ever open to the
malice of their desires, in order to mortify them and keep them
buried in spiritual death, as their profession demands and their very
habit testifies ; they must be aided in maintaining a perfect detestation
of this life and a continual longing for the life to come, which is the
object and the end of all the holy exercises of the seminary."

The second part of the Memorial, of which M. Olier left only a
rough draft, treats of these exercises ; and first of the interior exer-

■ aifea:

Resohitions bf the Bishops.

5or

cises : silence, examens, spiritual reading, and, above all, prayer and
tlie practice of the virtues. " As the seminary," he said, " is the seed-
plot, in our Lord, of the ecclesiastical spirit, the first and principal
care of the Directors, who ought themselves to be men of prayer,
must be to make their subjects, as far as possible, interior men, by
showing them the importance of doing all things in union with
the Spirit of our Lord, without which neither Christian works nor
ecclesiastical functions can be pleasing to God or produce any fruit
in the heart of the Church. And of what profit will be all the
Sacrifices and Ofifices, the ceremonies and the chant, and everything
else which we take so much trouble to teach, and rightly so, in Tk;
seminary, if the spirit and the Ufe do not animate it all? Or ne
interior life depend the blessing of our labours and the sanctii • >f
our works." The exterior exercises M. Olier commences with a
beautiful instruction on the ceremonies of the Church ; and his
biographer laments that so valuable a treatise should exist only in
an incomplete and fragmentary form.

On March 13th, 1651, one of the priests of St. Sulpice was intro-
duced into the Assembly by the Bishop of Vabres and presented a
copy of the Memorial* to each of the prelates as well as of the
deputies of the second order, — a copy being also sent to such of the
Bishops as were absent, — when their Lordships, not content with
simply approving the rules of the Society, cordially accepted its
proffered services in behalf of themselves and their clergy, and
bestowed upon it the name of the " Company of the Priests of the
Clergy of France." This, it may be observed by the way, is the
reason why M. Olier, M. de Lantages, M. Tronson, and others
styled themselves " Priests of the Clergy " in their published works ;
but the popular designation is that by which the Seminary has
continued to be known. In the next General Assembly of the

• The Memorial was entitled " Projet de t Atablissement ifun Seminaire dans
tin Diodse. This document, though printed for tlie use of the liisliops, was
never published ; and the only copy known to be extant is preserved, in manu-
script, at the Seminary of St. Sulpice ; but even this is said by M. Faillon to be
incomplete. Such as it is, he gives it at length at the end of his third volume ;
and it is hardly too much to say that its perusal is necessary to any one who
would desire thoroughly to understand the spirit of the institute and the designs
of its holy founder. It is far too long for insertion here, and no abridgment
would do justice to its beauty and profundity, or to its fulness of practical detail ;
but, should the present work he well received, the writer would gladly make a
translation of the document and publish it as an Appendix to the Life in a sub-
sequent edition.

• 1

i(;:''

'* ! !|

502

Life of M. Olier.

I''

Clergy, which took place in 1655, *^^^ subject was discussed on
several occasions, and effectual means were adopted in concert by
the Bishops for the establishment and permanent maintenance of
ecclesiastical seminaries throughout the realm.

We have said that, for prudential reasons, as well as on account
of the intrinsic character of the institute, M. Olier was averse to the
Seminary being formally erected into a Congregation ; nevertheless
he did not refuse, as has already appeared, to establish seminaries
in the provinces when he was urged by any Bishop to do so and
had priests at his disposal who were competent for the undertaking.
But, although these priests were still dependent upon him as their
superior, and thus to ordinary observers the Company might present
the appearance of a Congregation, there was this essential difference,
— that the Bishop could dismiss them when he pleased and substitute
other Directors in their stead. " Should any one ask you," wrote
M. Tronson to M. Leschassier, " if we are constituted as a Congre-
gation, you will answer in the negative, but that we are content to
provide subjects for those of my Lords the Bishops who ask them
of us for the direction of their seminaries during as long a time as
they may judge proper." When, therefore, the priests of the Society,
at the call of any Bishop, went to assist him in establishing and
conducting his seminary, they remained as long as their services
were required and no longer ; and even when, at the express desire
of any Bishop, they remained to conduct and administer the semi-
nary they had founded, they claimed no right of possession beyond
such term as was assigned them, but held themselves in readiness to
surrender the houses they occupied to other labourers whenever they
received the word to depart. In Paris alone, and in their own
seminary of St. Sulpice, had they either permanent habitation or
corporate existence. With what fidelity M. Olier adhered to these
principles and conditions will appear in the course of the narrative.

The Memorial which the Episcopate had so unanimously approved
gave a powerful impulse to the erection of diocesan seminaries in
France ; and even those among the Bishops who did net secure the
services of M. Olier's priests adopted in great measure the usages
and rules of his house. This was the case in the dioceses of Limoges
and Aix, as well as in that of Nantes, where the priests of St. Sulpice
were for a time replaced by ecclesiastics of the locality. This, indeed,
was the case even with Bishops of other countries. Thus, in 1663,
M. d'Aranthon d'Alex, Bishop of Geneva, who had beheld the good

■*7; '=;-T!?vrr>jr5-

M. de Chansiergues.

503

effects which were produced at St. Sulpice, on establishing a seminary
at Annecy, — a thing which his predecessors ever since St Francis
de Sales had failed of accomplishing, — applied to M. Tronson for
the rules of the institute, although he entrusted the government of
his house to the Priests of St. Lazare. But, besides the Bishops,
many zealous members of the second order became the founders of
seminaries — alwavs, of course, with the sanction of their prelates —
and, to secure their permanence and success, modelled them in all
respects after the pattern of St. Sulpice. This was true of the semi-
nary which M. joly. Canon of St. Etienne de Dijon, erected in that
town; and the same may be said of the seminary of the Trente-
Trois, which was commenced at Paris by M. Bernard, the " Poor
Priest ; " of that of St. Charles instituted at Lyons by M. Ddmia ;
and, it may be added, of all those which were founded by M.
de Chansiergues, who, from a motive of humility, never proceeded
beyond the diaconate.

A few words may here be devoted to this remarkable man. In
early manhood he resigned a prebendal stall which he held in the
cathedral church of Uz^s and came to Paris for the purpose of assist-
ing your 5 and necessitous clerics, although he possessed no private
means. Having heard of the zealous labours of M. Olier and his
Community, he desired to lodge near the Seminary in order to
imbibe something of its spirit, and to follow its practices so far as he
was capable. To this end he joined an association of six poor
students who lived on alms and on such pittance as they derived
from transcribing theological treatises. This association had been
formed by M. Rend Leveque, of whom we shall have to speak here-
after, and its members went by the name of the Brothers of Absti-
nence on account of their extreme poverty. At the time M. de
Chansiergues came to Paris, they had at their head a priest who
resided in the parish, and who, at his death, which took place two
years afterwards, was succeeded by that holy man himself. Through
his unwearied exertions the association assumed much wider pro-
portions ; it took up its residence in a house which M. de Farain-
villiers, a generous parishioner, bestowed on the brethren in the Rue
du Pot de Fer, where it developed at length into the Seminary of St.
Louis, and was instrumental in founding no less than thirty-eight
Petits Sdminaires in the kingdom, as well as twelve similar associa-
tions of poor scholars in Paris alone. His humility was equal to his
zeal, for, in a spirit of humility, he always referred the success with

>4«b^-**k »!. ^ . •* <W ••

ill

i:i

504

Life of M. Olier.

which his labours were attended to the prayers of pious persons
interested in the work, especially of M. Bauin, one of the Directors
of the Seminary, whom he never failed to consult in everything he
undertook.

As his efforts prospered he redoubled his austerities ; and, in order
to live a more retired and mortified life, he took up his abode in a
sort of turret, to which the only access was by a ladder. Its furni-
ture consisted of two planks, which, with a miserable coverlet, formed
his couch, a table to write on, a crucifix, an image of the Blessed
Virgin, and a little picture representing the death of St. Francis
Xavier. He allowed himself only two hours of repose ; the rest of
the night was spent in prayer, in answering letters, or drawing up
petitions for poor seminarists. He denied himself a fire even in the
depth of winter, and, though frequently drenched with rain, he never
changed his clothes. Severe, however, as he was to himself, he was
ever careful of the health and well-being of his dear clerics. By day
he went about begging alms for their support, heedless of the
rebuflFs and cruel taunts which he encountered, even from those who
at first had been among his most liberal benefactors; indeed he would
say, in his humble way, that the alms were for his communities, the
rebuffs were for himself His poor scholars cost him, as he declared,
no more than three sous each a day, but the number was so large
that the sum to be collected must have been considerable. Being
of a jocose and lively disposition, he invented numerous dignities
and offices which he affected to sell to Bishops and Abbots with a
view of raising money for his associates. Thus, one was made
general of the Order, as he called it ; another superior ; a third,
visitor ; a fourth, assistant. Louis XIV., learning with astonishment
on how small a sum a man was able to support himself in the heart
of Paris, became a benefactor to the institute, and his example was
followed by several persons about the Court. This heroic lover of
poverty died in the Lent of 1691, at the age of fifty-five.

But to return. M. Olier further prepared the way for the founda-
tion of seminaries in the provinces by the zeal and fervour with which
he inspired his disciples, and which they, in their turn, communi-
cated to the clergy of the dioceses to which they belonged. Thus,
the author of a Life of M. Bourdoise relates that in ihe year 1650
the Jesuit directors of the College of La Flfeche, impressed with the
necessity of supplying the Church with good priests, sent M. Ignace
de la Dauversifere de Champy to St. Sulpice that, after drinking at

-■—^^'f'^

'' "v^ vjT*^^'W»^' ''.wT*7^;?"r^^

4:!»iiwi«i^fl^i!P4,i'*m|)|'jRi-

Clerical education a special vocation. 505

that fount of ecclesiastical discipline, he might return and com-
municate of the same to his brethren in Anjou. And so largely did
he profit by its invigorating virtues that, when he became Curd of
Bazouges, he established in his own house a community of pious
priests which formed the nucleus of a future seminary, for at that
time there was none in the diocese of Angers. In 1694 it was, by
the desire of the Bishop, incorporated with the Seminary of St.
Sulpice. M. d'Entrechaux did something of the same kind at
Avignon, which was similarly circumstanced. His biographer de-
scribes him as one of those fervent disciples whom M. Olier had
implored of God to aid him in the work to which He had called
him. While he was at St. Sulpice he made a summary of all the
spiritual conferences at which he had been present ; and certain
simple methods which the seminarists were taught in order to assist
them in the practice of prayer were so highly valued by him that,
on his return to Avignon, he recommended them to persons who
aspired to perfection ; of which he was regarded as a living model
by the clergy of the diocese and especially by the Canons. His life
presents many traits of resemblance to that of M. Olier, particularly
in respect to mortification, the spirit of prayer, zeal for souls, and
devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. He died the death of a
saint in 1706.

The movement which M, Olier inaugurated had other and most
important consequences. In spite of the prejudices which past
experiences had fostered, the Bishops at length came to see
that only societies entirely devoted to the one object of educating
the clergy could furnish a seminary with efficient Directors or
secure its permanent existence. The education of the clergy, in
fact, demanded, not only a more than ordinary zeal, capacity, and
prudence on the part of their instructors, but an absolute disin-
terestedness in regard to this world's goods, and a resolute denuda-
tion of self, without which, to use M. Olier's own words, " the Spirit
of Jesus Christ will never produce the precious fruits of Apostolic
grace" either in the Directors themselves or in those whom they
are set to instruct and to form. It demanded, he considered, a
continual and exclusive application to the work altogether incom-
patible with other occupations, however excellent in themselves.

Nor was M. Olier singular in this conviction. M. Bourdoise,
writing to an ecclesiastic whom he deemed specially qualified for the
office of director, said, in that emphatic style which was characteristic

5^6

Life of M. Olier.

of the man, " Please God, you may never show yourself in a pulpit
either to preach or to catechise, however much you may be wanted ;
please God, you may never set foot in a confessional, when you ought
to be entirely employed in forming good priests ! " And experience
gave additional cogency to this advice ; for, as M. Emery strongly
expressed it, the seminary whose conductors were engaged in
exterior occupations never lasted to the third generation without
losing its savour. For example, in 1643 M. Henri de Sourdis,
Archbishop of Bordeaux, instituted a society to be devoted both to
the education of the clergy and to missionary labours in his diocese,
and nominated a zealous priest, M. Jean de Fonteneil, as its director.
This society for a while appeared to answer fully to the twofold
object for which it was created; so much so, indeed, that, in 1649,
his successor in the see, Henri de B^thune, gave it the highest
proof of his approbation by making it the seminary of his diocese.
In the following year it was confirmed by royal patent, and, finally,
in 1668 it undertook the direction of the seminary of Sarlat in addi-
tion to that of Bordeaux. But the sequel did not correspond with
the promising beginnings ; for M. du Bourlemont, who succeeded
M. de B^thune, found himself under the necessity of closing the
seminary owing to the default of persons capable of maintaining it ;
and its suppression involved that of Sarlat also.

The Bishops, in short, became convinced by personal experience
that the direction of a seminary required or, rather it may be said,
implied a special and divine vocation ; and that a Community or
Congregation devoted solely to the work and consisting of faithful men
tried and proved by a life of retirement, regularity, and subordination
would be better qualified, even though its members were endowed
with fewer general talents, to foster the true ecclesiastical spirit and
perpetuate the primitive traditions of a house than would a body of
ecclesiastics chosen from among the clergy of the diocese ; for whom,
moreover, they might not always find competent successors. The
result was that they were fain to confide their seminaries to the care
of some Congregation, especially that of St. Lazare, which, after the
death of its holy founder, accepted the charge of many such houses.*

• The Priests of St. Lazare were employed both in giving country missions
and in training candidates for holy orders, but the latter office was kept distinct
from the former ; just as at St. Sulpice the members of the Community who
were charged with parochial ministrations took no part in the proper work of ihe
Seminary.

liaZi:

The Seminary true to its vocation. 507

It was to this Congregation that the Archbishop of Bordeaux, in 1682,
entrusted the direction of the society which his predecessors had
established, and his example was followed by the Bishop of Sarlat.
The Bishop of St Paul de Ldon had already done the same ; and,
in the course of a few years, a great number of seminaries which had
previously been managed by priests of the several dioceses were
handed over to the members of Congregations ; principally, as
has been said, to the Priests of St. Lazare, but some also to the
Eudists and others. From 1684 to 1762 the Jesuit Fathers under-
took the direction of several seminaries.

Thus were accomplished the designs of God in regard to the
communities which He had called into being for the sanctification of
the ecclesiastical order ; and this happy consummation may with truth
be attributed, in large measure, to the courageous zeal, attempered
by a sagacious prudence, with which, under the guidance of Divine
Wisdom and aided by the subtle influences of a holy life, the founder
of St. Sulpice at once aroused the energies and disarmed the pre-
judices of the Episcopate of France.

Many seminaries, as we are about to see, were founded or
governed by the priests of St. Sulpice during the life of M. Olier,
and many also after he had gone to his rest, but, taken in the aggre-
gate, they may be said to have been comparatively few. His first
successors on several occasions refused the applications made to
them by Bishops, and referred them to the priests of St. Lazare.
M. Emery reckoned up no less than a hundred and thirty such
applications during the period of a century and a half; and he him-
self, as well as the Superior who succeeded him, refused in like
manner a considerable number. Nor does this argue any shrinking
from responsibility on the part of M. Olier and his followers, or any
failure of God's promises ; it does but show the fidelity with which
the founder of St. Sulpice and his successors adhered to their voca-
tion. M. Olier was raised up by God, not to govern and direct the
ecclesiastical seminaries of France, but, in the words of the Mbre
Agnbs, to lay their first foundations. In the intention of P. de
Condren, as M. Olier himself relates, the community which that
holy man had projected was designed to stimulate the zeal of the
Congregations, and of the clergy generally, in the momentous
matter of clerical education. This emphatically was their mission ;
and to fulfil it effectually they were bound to abstain from multiply-
ing the number of their subjects and of their houses. The counsels

^ I

'I';

i 1

1 ii|

-i-r^t^k^^-^^v*,^.

5o3

Life of M. Olier.

which M. Olier gave to those who were to carry on the work which
he had begun are so express on this point that it will be well to
quote them at length ; and they deserve to be quoted, if only for
the sake of the exalted sentiments they breathe.

'* Let this house," he wrote, " beware of yielding to the temptation,
which is so common, of swelling itself out in emulation of other
societies in the Church of God, and glorying in the multitude of
subjects whom it can despatch whithersoevei it pleases. Safer far
that in the Church, where there are many mansions, they should
be established by the hand of God, the true Father of the family.
More profitable far to have visible agents, invisibly associated with
them, who over the whole earth and^, throughout the Universal
Church may render glory to God, who provides servants for Himself
in His own way and watches over and maintains His own society
thus everywhere diffused; ^ As the heavens are exalted above the
earth, so are His ways exalted above our ways and His thoughts above
our thoughts' * Let this house bear in mind, and never forget, those
words of Holy Scripture : * // is easy for the Lord to save either by
PI any or byfe7i';'\ whence we see how Jesus Christ founded His
Church and maintained it by a little band of Apostles and disciples.
Let it know for certain that oftentimes the nation is multiplied, and
its joy is not increased ; % that it is the many whose charity grows
cold;§ that perfection is the portion of the few; and that God
rejoices more in one heart of perfect charity than over ninety-nine, or
a thousand, tepid hearts.|| In fine, let this house know that hitherto,
^ like choice myrrh,' which is always rare, it has ^ given forth a sweet
scent' and like ^ a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and
frankinccn^'!,' and of all manner of perfumes, has, by the direction
of God, ^yielded a sweet odour' ^ All which teaches us to abide
firmly and constantly in the ways of God regarding us."

Such were the motives by which the man of God was actuated
and in harmony with which his disciples have ever since pro-
ceeded. They serve to explain and vindicate their uniform conduct
in not endeavouring to extend their society or to annex fresh
establishments to the Seminary. "We are at no trouble to
multiply ourselves," wrote M. Tronson ; " we do so only when we
see clearly that God requires it of us and His Providence gives

• Isaias Iv. 9.
X Isaias ix. 3.
II Comp. lb. xviii. 13.

t I Kings xiv. 6.

§ St. Matthew xxiv. 12.

IT Ecclus. xxiv. 2a Cant. iii. 6.

Papal approbation souj^^ii.

509

evident signs of His will." Hence also the little pains they took to
secure to themselves the permanent direction of the houses which at
the call of the Bishops they had commenced. Thus the priests of
the Society laboured for many years at Autun without seeking to
have its Seminary united to that of St Sulpice ; and when M. Tron-
son, who, after many and renewed applications on the part of the
Archbishop of Bourges, had at last consented to undertake the
establishment of his diocesan seminary, was urged to obtain from
that prelate some sort of guarantee that it should belong in per-
petuity to the Community of St. Sulpice, he made the following
reply : " So long as we regard Monseigneur the Archbishop as
holding to us the place of our Lord, who dismisses His labourers
when He pleases, we shall remain perfectly contented whatever
he may ordain ; whether the term of our service be that of his
natural life, or he be pleased to extend it to his successors, he is the
master, and we have never had an idea of thwarting him. Should
he dismiss us at once, we should have no ground of complaint;
on the contrary, we should ever feel ourselves obliged to him for
having summoned us to his aid. For it is an honour he has done
us, and one much greater than we deserved, in employing us to
commence a work so conducive to the glory of God. This is our
veritable state of mind, and you know it was always M. Olier's view
and the spirit of the house, which never seeks to multiply itself but
to serve my Lords the Bishops so far as they desire."

Shortly after the Episcopate of France had accorded its formal
sanction to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, several Bishops of other
countries begged M. Olier to send them priests to aid in the erec-
tion of seminaries as well as in the general reformation of their
clergy. Hitherto he had contented himself with the episcopal
approbation, inasmuch as the establishment of diocesan seminaries
was already sufficiently authorized by the Church,* but now that he
was requested to extend the operations of his institute beyond the
confines of the realm he felt that, before making any reply to the
applications he had received, he ought to obtain the express appro-
bation of the Holy See. In this he was encouraged by the King,
who on August 23rd, 1652, directed his ambassador, M. de Valangai,
to support the petition for the confirmation of the Seminary with all
his influence, and at the same time addressed a letter of like import

* It was solely on this ground that P. Eudes was refused a special approbation
by the Holy See.

1^'

;

■■' t'

5'0

Life of M, Olier.

to the Cardinal d'Est, Protector at Rome of the Galilean Church.
M. Olier also himself indited a letter, a copy of which is preserved at
the Seminary, to the Sovereign Pontiff, Innocent X.; which, however,
was never despatclied, for the servant of God was withheld from
pursuing the matter further by the consideration of the great and
urgent demand there was for such auxiliaries in the kingdom itself;
and the object he sought was not attained until after the foundation
of the Seminary of Villa Marie at Montreal in Canada, when, in
1664, seven years after his death, the Seminary of St. Sulpice was,
on the petition of the then Superior, M. de Bretonvilliers, approved
and confirmed by letters patent from Cardinal Chigi, Legate d. latere
of Alexander VII. to France.

Thus was fulfilled — and the terms of the Apostolic brief are
express on the point — the prediction of M. Olier to which he gave
utterance while at Vaugirard, that the Seminary of St. Sulpice
should be open to all the provinces of France and devoted to the
service of the Universal Church.* Nor must mention be omitted
of the remarkable testimony borne to the mission of M. Olier by the
General Assembly of the Clergy when in 1725, and again in 1730,
theysolicil from Popes Benedict XIII. and Clement XII. the canoni-
zation of the Mere Agnbs de Jdsus. " We desire," they said, " with
the more earnestness the public veneration of this holy virgin, inas-
much as, if we may so express ourselves, she brought forth in the
Lord that excellent priest, Jean-Jacques Olier, the glory and ornament
of our clergy, and, by leading him to a more perfect life, conferred
incalculable benefits upon the Church. For, to say no more, what
abundant fruits are not every day reaped from the foundation of
the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which owes its existence to this most
pious priest ! From this seminary, as from a fortress of religion and
a school of all virtues, goes forth a countless multitude of prelates and
ecclesiastics of all ranks, powerful in word and example, strong in faith,
rooted and founded in charity, and furnished to every good work." t

• At the present time, as appears from a statement in the Life of M. Courson
(n. pp. 445, 446), twelfth Superior of St. Sulpice, not less than twenty provincial
seminaries in France are administered by the Community ; to which may be
added the Seminary of Montreal in Canada and those of Baltimore and Boston in
the United States ; the last having been erected in September, 1884. All these
seminaries are under the supreme government of the Superior General, who
resides at St. Sulpice, but visits each house from time to time and appoints their
several superiors and directors. With him are associated twelve ecclesiastics of
age and experience, called Assistants.

t Eph. iii. 17. 2 Tim. iii. 17. See Additional Notes, No. $.

.z:.jjc:.

( 5" )

CHAPTER VI.

ESTABLISHMENT OF PROVINCIAL SEMINARIES.

NO categorical account has been left by M. Olier of the semi-
naries which he helped to found in the provinces of France.
Of some, accordingly, no memorials exist ; but of others many inte-
resting particulars may be gathered from letters which have been pre-
served and from incidental notices committed to writing at the time.
Among the earliest seminaries which owed their origin to him
may be reckoned that of Villefranche-en-Rouergue in the diocese of
Rodez, which was then of large extent. Being solicited by the
Bishop, M. de Noailles, on his taking possession of his see, to send
some of his priests to assist him in shepherding his flock, which for
twenty years had been well-nigh abandoned, although he could ill
afford to part with any, engaged as they were in the reform of the
Faubourg, he nevertheless despatched to his aid the two men whom
he deemed most fitted for so difficult a task : M. du Ferrier, who
was a native of Toulouse and favourably regarded in Languedoc,
and M. de Queylus, born in Rouergue itself, where he held the
abbey of Loc-Dieu and where his family had long resided and were
highly esteemed. This he did, however, with the express under-
standing that he should be at liberty to recall them whenever they
had effected the immediate object for which they were sent,
trusting that they would leave behind them zealous ecclesiastics who
would continue the work they had begun. In 1637 he had made
the acquaintance at Paris of M. Raymond Bonal, who by birth
was connected with the diocese and who, with P. de Condren's
approval, had formed an association, in conjunction with M. Meyster,
which was to be devoted to the sanctification of the clerical order
as well as to missionary labours among the population. But after
ten years of unwearied exertion, not only at Rodez but also at
Pamiers and Aleth, they had not succeeded in having their associa-

512

Life of M. Olier.

tion recognised as an ecclesiastical community, owing to the pre-
judices entertained by the Bishops against the employment of
Congregations. But M. Olier hoped tliat by means of tlie jjriests
whom lie was sending these obstacles might be surmounted; and
this was actually the case.

In order to give M. du Ferrier greater facilities for accomplishing
the work he had undertaken, M. de Noailles conferred upon him
the office of grand-vicar, and through his influence the Chapter of
Villefranche was induced to give up to M. Bonal's community the
church of Notre Dame de Piti^, or des Treize Pierres, as it was
called, with a house adjoining; and here, on February 21st, 1648,
was erected what was officially designated a "Community and Semi-
nary for the instruction of Clerics and Curds." The Bishop was
intending to establish a seminary at Rodez itself in the Easter of
the same year, and had selected a house for the purpose, but he
died suddenly at the end of Lent, and it was not until the year
1677 that his design was actually carried into effect by his third
successor, M. Levoyer de Paulmy. This prelate chose for its first
superior M. Thomas Regnoust, a doctor of the Sorbonne, who,
although not a member of the Society, had passed nearly two years
at the Seminary under M. Olier's direction, and thus was thoroughly
replenished with the spirit and maxims of the house. Under the
government of this most able and accomplished man, assisted by
ecclesiastics of the diocese, the Seminary continued till the year
1695, when it was confided to the Jesuit Fathers, and after the
suppression of their holy Company was united to the Congregation
of St. Lazare.

During the short period that M. de Noailles governed his diocese
M. Olier's priests had succeeded in working a marvellous change, as
the servant of God had himself occasion to observe when passing
through Rodez and Villefranche in the autumn of 1647. In addi-
tion to the ten days' exercises, which were observed for the first
time in preparation for the December ordination in that same year,
they had established the practice, ever since continued, of monthly
conferences, held in different parts of the diocese, at which each
ecclesiastic gave written answers to twelve questions in dogma and
morals. The clergy readily conformed to the canons of the Church
in all that regarded their life and conversation, and their general
conduct underwent so marked and rapid a transformation that in
the following year M. Olier was able to withdraw his priests. Nor

ZHJC

State of the diocese of Limoges.

513

did they relax in their earnestness when their instructors had
departetl. Many, of their own accord, would go and mike a stay of
some weeks at the seminary, in order to renew their fervour and per-
fect themselves in the duties and virtues of their state ; and this
although during the first years of its establishment the lodging, the
fare, and the general accommodation were of the barest, scantiest
kind. M. de Queylus subsequently returned to Villefranche and,
partly from a motive of mortification, partly for the purpose of
raising the institution in the estimation of the clergy, took up his
abode in the seminary. There, later, he was able to determine,
to the advantage of the community, a dispute that had arisen
between them and the Chapter respecting the terms on which the
house had been ceded to them. He also bestowed upon them a
farm which he possessed at Loc-Dieu, in order to provide them with
corn, wood, and other necessaries. At his instance, M. de Pfcrb-
fixe, who succeeded M. de Noailles, confirmed that prelate's
approbation of the community on June 14th, 1651, and, shortly
after, the King granted to it his letters patent. In fine, the Canons
of the collegiate and parochial church of Villefranche emulated the
zeal of M. de Queylus by contributing liberally to the erection of a
commodious house for the joint use of the seminary and of M.
Bonal's community. This association continued until the year
1723, when the Seminary of Villefranche, like that of Rodez, was
united to the Congregation of St. Lazare.

On his return from Rodez to Paris M. Olier visited Limoges,
with the object (as already related) of venerating the relics of St.
Martial, Apostle of Aquitaine. The state in which he found the
diocese filled his soul with anguish. Many of the gentry, by a
fictitious presentation, had made over the parishes of which they
were patrons to Vicaires, who were removable at their pleasure, and
bestowed the revenues on their own children. Such was the igno-
rance of the clergy, and their utter disregard of the essential duties
of their office, that one of themselves, writing to M. Bourdoise,
declared that all that was required in order to be reputed a
good ecclesiastic, was " to be able to read, and not to be guUty of
any heinous crime." Another thus expressed himself: "If you
knew but a hundredth part of what goes on in country churches,
you would weep tears of blood.'' In his grief and desolation the
man of God, after saying Mass at the tomb of the Saint, remained
for five hours in prayer, bathed in tears and beseeching the Father

2 K

514

Life of M. Olier.

of Mercies to have pity on the poor neglected people. God was
not deaf to His servant's call, for, as he prayed, he received a
secret intimation that he should himself be the instrument of the
grace which he implored ; that the day was not far distant when the
diocese should possess its seminary, conducted by his own com-
munity, and for its chief pastor one of his own spiritual children.
All which was literally verified ; for, five years after the death of
the holy man, M. Jean Bourdon, a doctor of the Sorbonne, who,
though not a Sulpician, had enjoyed the advantage of being trained
by M. Olier himself, was, on the recommendation of M. de Breton-
villiers, selected by M. de Lafayette, the Bishop, to organize and
govern the Seminary of Limoges. He summoned to his aid his
brother Michel, Cure of Havre and also a doctor of the Sorbonne,
who, like himself, had been a disciple of M. Olier, and whom he
placed at the head of an association of priests who were to be
employed in giving missions and supplying the general necessities of
the diocese. With the sanction of the Bishop the seminary was
modelled in all things after the pattern of St. Salpice, and so abun-
dant were the graces which God showered down upon it that, in the
hope of securing their continuance, M. de Lafayette, at the instance
of M. Bourdon, desired to have the Seminary of Limoges incorpo-
rated with that of St. Sulpice. This accordingly was done in the
year 1666, and M. Bourdon himself was installed a member of the
Community.

In further fulfilment of the divine promise, M. Lascaris d'Urfe,
who was a child of the house and had a singular veneration for M.
Olier, was made Bishop of Limoges. He was the eldest son of a
noble family, and had passed the early years of his life at the courts
of Paris and of Savoy, where he was known as the Comte de
Sommerive. On quitting the world he entered the Seminary of St.
Sulpice. As Bishop of Limoges he was a model of piety, humility,
and charity to the poor. In order to have the more to give in alms
he took up his residence at the seminary, where he lived in all
plainness and simplicity. In a time of great public distress he
stripped himself of all he possessed, even pledging his episcopal
ring. During the eighteen years which he spent in the seminary he
never failed to be present at the morning prayers of the com-
munity ; he said his office on his knees, and every day passed whole
hours before the Blessed Sacrament. His affection for his priests is
described as having in it something not only tender but reverential,

Seminary established at Nantes.

5»5

so great was his respect for their sacred character; and the feelings
he entertained for them they in turn reciprocated. His talents,
his address, his demeanour, the very modesty and majesty of his
countenance, everything about him, inspired veneration. He
seemed born to be a bishop ind the reformer of his diocese.
Such is "he testimony rendered to him by the Abb^ du Carrier,
the biographer of M. Bourdoise. By the successive exertions of
thes-^ two devoted prelates, aided by priests of St. Sulpice, an entire
reformation was effected in the diocese.

Wlien, in 1648, the year in wiiich he withdrew his priests from
Villefranche, M. Olier (as noticed at the time) went to pay his
devotions at the tomb of St. Vincent Ferrer at Vannes, the par-
ticular grace for which he prayed was that of preaching with
something of ihe energy and power for which that great Apostle of
Brittany had been distinguished. But the Saint — who, it may be
remarked, had himself predicted that the day would come when
God would raise up Apostolic men whose mission it should be to
exalt the sacerdotal order — by an interior communication gave him
to understand that he would obtain for him a gift more in accord-
ance with his vocation : that of training children for God who
should perpetuate the work he had begun, and enlarge the kingdom
of Christ ; and to this end bade him establish a seminary at Nantes,
and send some of his ecclesiastics to conduct it. The impression
thus supernaturally conveyed received an immediate confirmation ;
for the Grand- Vicar of Vannes, as though regardless of the interests
of his own diocese, strongly urged him, for the good of the province,
to do the very thing which had been enjoined upon him by the
Saint. Keeping silence, however, as to what had occurred, M.
Olier returned to Paris to await a further manifestation of the
Divine will. This was not long delayed. M. de Beauvau, the
Bishop of Nantes, now himself begged the man of God to take the
direction of the seminary which for six years he had been
endeavouring to establish in his diocese. M. Olier, wishing to leave
the matter entirely in the hands of Providence, suggested that
application should first be made to the Oratorians, who had a house
at Nantes and were in the habit of giving retreats to candidates for
ordination ; adding that his mission led him rather into desert
places where labourers there were none. The Bishop, however,
declaring that to the priests of St. Sulpice and to them alone would
he intrust the undertaking, M. Olier yielded to his importunities.

. \'\

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1 -^

5i6

Life of M. Olier.

1 !

and, in the summer of 1649, sent to Nantes two of his most expe-
rienced priests, M. de Queylus and M. d'H; rtevent, reserving,
however, to himself the liberty of recalling them whenever their
services were needed elsewhere.

With the approbation of M. de Beauvau they introduced into the
new seminary all the practices which they had themselves followed
at Vaugirard and Paris. In conformity also with P. de Condren's
instructions they received only such candidates as had completed
their classical and philosophical course ; and, in order that strict
enquiry might be instituted into the character and antecedents of
all who presented themselves, the Bishop directed that they should
announce their intention to the Directors three months before being
received into the house. Hitherto the only preparation required for
admission to holy orders had been a previous retreat of fifteen days
with the Orator.'ans ; but it was now enacted that for the future no
one should be pr-^moted to the subdiaconate until he had spent six
months in ^he seminary and had given entire satisfaction to the
Directors ; the diaconate wan not to be received until a year after,
when an immediate preparation of eight days was prescribed ; for
the priesthood an additional year's probation was required, and,
after ordination, every ne was to rem.ain six months in the semi-
nary in order to be moie perfectly exercised in the virtues which
specially befit ihe sacerdotal state and office. Thus the entire
preparation for the priesthood extended nearly over a space of
three j'ears.

By n^eans of the salutary order and discipline thus established by
the priests of St. Sulpice the f^arden of the Lord •^oon began to
bear fruit a hundredfold. The candidates for holy orders were
diligently instructed in chanting, preaching, and administering the
sacraments, as well as in moral theology, the practice of mental
prayer, and in other works of piety and devotion to the honour and
glory 01 God ; and inany priests of the diocese, who sought to live
according to the pe-'ection of their state, came to make a retreat
from time to tira?^ under the guidance of these accomplished masters
of the spiritual life. But, as the needs of other dioceses were
equally pressing, and the reform of his parish demanded the con-
tinual services of a numerous body of priests, M. Olier recalled M.
de Queylus towards the close of the year and placed him at the head
of the parochial clergy, while M. d'Hurtevent was made superior of
the seminary at Nantes and received as his coadjutor M. Balthazar

| | in ! .i»i m wwwr<»»wi

The Sulpicians obliged to qtiit Nantes. 5 1 7

Maillard de Paris, who was subsequently promoted to the same office
when M. d'Hurtevent in his turn was recalled to St. Sulpice.

M. Olier had intended to withdraw his priests at an early oppor-
tunity, but, seeing the abundant fruits with which their labours were
rewarded and the impossibility of finding ecclesiastics on the spot to
whom the conduct of the seminary could be intrusted, he was con-
tent to leave them at Nantes, where, indeed, they remained for a
period of twelve years, — a thing which the priests of St. Sulpice had
never done before, — and in all probability they would have con-
tinued in perpetuity but for certain untoward circumstances which
arose and which led to their departure for a season. Those cir-
cumstances, briefly stated, were as follows. The house which the
Bishop had assigned to the seminary in the parish of St. Clement
affording insufficient room for the numerous students and others
who frequented it, and being otherwise ill adapted to its purpose,
the Directors were desirous of erecting a larger and more suitable
residence. But, a Grand Sdminaire being at that time a novel
institution, many worthy persons were averse to contributing towards
its establishment, while the magistrates of Nantes were opposed to
the project altogether under the apprehension that the community,
once established, might become a burden to the town. So the affair
dragged on for years, and nothing was done. But, what was most
discouraging, the Bishop himself ceased to take an interest in the
matter and, indeed, in the whole work of the seminary, which at first
he had so earnestly promoted. For this abatement of zeal, however,
there was a cause. After the death of iVT. Olier, in 1657, the disposi-
tion of M. de Beauvau towards the Sulpicians underwent a manifest
change, owing to the bane.ul influence of one of his grand-vicars in
whom he placed unbounded confidence. This man had regarded
the reforms which had been effected in the diocese with no favour-
able eye, and was secretly working for the ruin of the seminary; in
which at length he was so far successful that, in 1659, the Bishop
issued an ordinance providing that for the future the establishment
should be subject to the absolute control of the grand-vicars of
Nantes. The order and regimen of the house were thus completely
overthrown, and in the month of March, 1660, M. de Bretonvilliers
wrote to the superior that, if M. de Beauvau, after humble represen-
tations made to him, should be willing to restore things to their
former state, they might remain; if not, they must look on his
refusal as a sign that it was the will of God that they should quit

1 '!

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' 1

f'-.\%

immm

518

Lt/e of M. Olier.

the dioceye. This accordingly happened ; and M. le TlretonvlIlipfS
begged M. Maillard to make no complaints, whether in or outside
the house, of the ill usage they had received, but to thank our Lord
for giving them a share in His humiliations an(| dt't-liiiliy (llf^lH
worthy to suffer something for the glory of His name.

No sooner, however, had M. Gilles de la Baulme, /(e|iliew and
successor of M. de Beauvau, taken possession of his see than he
was anxious to re-establish the seminary on its former l)asi?i, so /«/•)
at least, as might be practicable. With this object he 8pIi( \\\\\\
of his ecclesiastics to St. Siilpice to be trained and lornied under
the direction of M. Olier's successors. Of these, M. Couperie de
Jonchbres, who before taking orders had been I'rcsitleiif of the
Pr^sidial (a court of judicature) at Nantes, was made superior of
the house, and for more than forty years laboured, but unhappily
without success, to maintain the sound principles which the com-
munity had originally professed. By an ordinance bearing date
March 14th, 1673, M. Gilles de la Baulme incorporated the
Seminary of Nantes with the Community of St. Cldment, which M.
Ren^ L^v^que had founded in that town, and which had for its
object the preaching of missions, the training of young ecclesiastics,
and the giving of spiritual exercises to all who desired to profit
by them. Some passing allusion has already been made to this
holy and devoted priest, as having instituted a sort of community
in the parish of St. Sulpice for poor scholars whose straitened
means prevented their procee"'"ng to the priesthood, but here some
further mention of him may be made. He belonged by birth to
the diocese of Nantes, and had enjoyed the benefit of M. Olier's
own direction when the noviciate was at Avron. Every other year,
while at Nantes, he went to make a retreat at St. Sulpice. It was
his custom to perform the journey on foot, but towards the close
of his life, being no longer able to bear the fatigue, he took boat
on the Loire. His provisions by the way consisted of a little bread
and butter which he carried with him, the water of the river served
him for drink, and for an occupation he used to twist girdles for
albs, which he gave to pocr priests. When far advanced in years
and decrepit from infirmities, so far from relaxing, he redoubled
bis austerities. Gentle and compassionate to others, so unpitying
was the war which he waged against himself that, having a painful
festering ulcer in his leg, he would fain have paid no attention to
it and was with oifficulty persuaded to seek relief at the hands of

^j up iag'~ --i — • '-■'"■ ~ ?

His labours for the country clergy.

519

a surgeon ; to whose operations with knife and probe, excruciating
as they must have been, he seemed to be insensible, bidding him
not to spare his miserable flesh. His last Lent was passed at Issy,
when he spent eight hours a day in prayer, and, being forbidden
to make it on his knees, he prostrated himself on the pavement
of the chapel of Notre Dame de Lorette, a holy spot in which he
took a special delight. The rest of his da> was occupied in saying
the rosary, as he walked or, rather, dragged himself along, and in
reading books of piety. After a most hard and laborious life, a
life of continual mortification and penance, he died on June 12th,
1703, at eighty years of age, within the walls of St. Sulpice, as he
had always prayed it might be given him to do, although he had
never been a regular inmate of the house. On his body were
found a rough hairshirt and an iron chain, which he had worn
both night and day. It may be well imagined what pain and
anguish of heart such a man must have endured when, through the
admission into the house of an ecclesiastic who had been educated
by the Oratorians at St. Magloire, his community became infected
with the plague of Jansenism. Hence scandalous contentions and
divisions, which embittered his closing years ; and the more so
as the act of union with the seminary had by an unfortunate
oversight been so constructed that the Bishop experienced great
difficulty in applying an effectual remedy to the evil In fact, it
was not until the year 17 16 that, after repeated and urgent requests
on the part of M. de Tressan, then Bishop of Nantes, M. Leschassier,
the fourth Superior of St. Sulpice, sent certain members of the
Community who were natives of the diocese to replace the pro-
fessors who had been expelled on account of their erroneous
tenets. At length, in 1728, all obstacles being finally removed, the
Sulpicians resumed the sole management of the seminary, which
they have continued to the present day.

Every journey that M. Olier made resulted in the establishment
of some new seminary ; indeed, wherever he went some good seed
was let fall which afterwards germinated and fructified, or some
salutary impression was left which sooner or later made itself felt.
His mission, as he knew, was to his brethren t>f the clergy, and he
neglected no opportunity of fulfilling it. Meeting a young eccle-
siastic one day on the road, he asked him what he was thinking
of, and, the other saying in reply that he was thinking of nothing,
" Eh, what ! " he exclaimed in a voice which, while it betokened

520

Life of M. Olier.

grief and surprise, had in it <i tone of sweet compassion, "has not
an ecclesiastic God to thin, of, and some worship ever to pay
Him in the secret of his hc.'t?" When, in the course of his
journeys, he found himself in a parish where the priest was diligent
in instructing the people, he seemed unable to show him respect
enough, or to testify all the joy and satisfaction he felt. " But
alas ! " he writes, "it is a wonder to meet with one good pastor in
a whole province. My only solace amidst the desolation which
I suffer is in a few ecclesiastics who are established in solid virtue
and in the prudence of a fervent zeal." In Provence, however,
his addresses to the clergy produced a most powerful effect.
"They cannot cease talking of them," wrote P. Yvan ; "they
declare they never heard anything which moved them so much,
and only wish they could have listened to you longer, that their
reformation might have been the more perfect." Encouraged by
these indications, M. Olier deputed M. Philippe, an ecclesiastic
of learning and judgment as well as virtue, and a native of those
parts, to foimd a seminary at Aix, which, on account of its
university, was frequented by a large number of students. This
good man, though not a member of the Community, was a disciple
of M. Olier, for whom he had a profound veneration together with
an undoubting confidence in his spiritual insji^nt and poir<f with
God. For once, on the feast of Ht Sulpice, when >,« was suffering
from a violent fever, M. Olc^r had brought him tl>*- cru-cifix of Itjc
IMt;re Agnbs, saying, "Takt r/// , \t will cure you;" wl-rein ht
seems to have acted in o'tedi«'nre to a divine direction, for jOLrc^iily
had the sick man taken in his hands the image of his RedectMr:
when the fever sensibly abated and, to the astonishment of iss
physician, he rose from his bed the next day completely restored
to health. Such is the account whicli M. de f^,ntages giver, m h
Life of the holy nun, and he adds that M. Y-\\\\y^ wat convinced
that bis care was nothing short of miraculous. YieiGing, therefo'-e,
to M. Oier's earnest solicitations, he resolved to dedicate to thr^
work imposed upon him aJl his energies of mind and body, his
fortune, and his very life. On arriving at Aix, his first act was 10
purchase a bo-use close to the Archiepiscopal palace; and then,
with the sanc:3on Oif the Cathedral Chapter, — for the see was vacant
tarough the death of Cardinal de Sainte-Ce'cile,* brother ot
Cardinal Ma^ann, — and with the co-operation of several priests

* See note at page 383.

Seminary of Aix.

521

who, like himself, had received their ecclesiastical training at St.
Sulpice, he commenced a work which brought joy and consolation
to the heart of God's servant, who never ceased to sustain him in
his labours with the utmost charity and zeal. It was M. Philippe's
endeavour (as he subsequently said) to conduct the seminary in
perfect accordance with the spirit and maxims in which he had
himself been formed, fully hopiag that the Community of St.
Sulpice would soon be able to undertake its mana<,'ement, as M.
Olier had engaged to do. But, the see stiil remaining unfilled,
the servant of God was unwilling to adopt any permanent measures
until the views of the future Archbishop could be ascertained ;
for, as was his wont, he desired to conform in all things to the
Episcopal will and pleasure.

Cardinal Grimaldi, who had been Nuncio in France, was nomi-
nated to the vacant see in 1648, out :i was not till seven years later
that he was able to take possession. Struck with the benefits which
the associates had conferred inpon the "own, this prelate, who
desired to take St. Charles iorromeo :or his model, at once
approved the institution and, on October 7th, 1656, constituted it
his diocesan seminary and appointed M. Philippe as its director.
But, as the latter still persisted in the views which he had entertained
from the first, Cardinal Grimaldi, in spite of the resolution he had
formed not to employ tae services of any community, regular or
secular, in the matter of ecclesiastical education, wrote with his own
hand to M. Olier and begged him t© send some of his priests to
govern the house. Touched with the confidence thus shown him
and the exception which tne Archbishop had made in his favour,
tiie servant of God consented to undertake the charge, and the
Archbishop forthwith purcnased a house more spacious and com-
modious than that which M. Philippe had procured, and caused a
chapel to be erected togettier with some additional buildings. But,
otaier and more pressing objects intervening to prevent M. Olier
from fulfilling his intentions, the Caardinal was fain to content him-
self with sending tht -actors of the seminary, including even M.
Philippe himself, " — -:de awhile at St. Sulpice in order that they
might be made allv acquainted with the discipline of the

house and thoron^^ ^ent ra. J with its interior life. By February,
1658, the new bui.. ,s lad become habitable, and on November
4th, in that year, ttinj: the feast of St. Charles, the chapel was
opened for divine service. For nearly thirty years the Archbishop

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Life of M. Olier.

and M. Philippe never ceased their appeals for aid, which, however,
were destined to be of no avail, for just when the long-sought object
was on the point of being attained Cardinal Grimaldi died on the
same day of the same month, 1685 ; and his successor, M. Legoux
de Laberch^re, not renewing the application, M. Tronson, who was
then Superior of St. Sulpice, acting on the principles to which the
Society has ever most strictly adhered, would not take the initiative
in the matter, although M. Philippe went in person to plead his
cause. Accordingly, the Seminary of Aix continued to be directed
by its own community down to the period of the Revolution.

Fortified as he had been by the general approbation of the Epis-
copal body, M. Olier nevertheless, as we have seen, scrupulously
awaited the express invitation of each particular prelate before
seeking to exercise his mission within his diocese ; a tacit or implied
consent he did not deem sufficient. Thus, in 1652, while at the
waters of Bourbon, he was solicited by many influential persons to
lay the foundation of a seminary at Avignon, where, although efforts
had been made in that direction and a Provincial Council had, in
1594, even adopted certain rules for the conduct of such establish-
ments, nothing had as yet been accomplished. But, finding on his
arrival at Viviers that the Archbishop was himself lukewarm on the
subject, he at once abandoned the design, although one which his
devotion to the Apostolic See, to which Avignon at that time
belonged, strongly urged him to carry out. Faithful to the principle
which was the pole-star of his life, he would not forestall by one
moment the leadings of Divine Providence. " We must walk step
by step," he said, "following the majestic and eternal decrees of
God in all things ; " and God in His own good time brought about
the fulfilment of the object which His servant had so much at heart.
Two priests of the country, both of whom had been students of St.
Sulpice, from a motive of respect to the holy founder and with a
view to fulfilling what they knew had been his intentions, formed a
small community of students in the hope that the Sulpicians might
be better disposed to undertake the direction of a house which was
already existent. And in this they were not disappointed : the
charge was accepted by M. Leschassier, and the Seminary of Avig-
non which goes by the name of St. Charles, and which in its turn
gave birth to that of Ste. Garde, is still to this day conducted by M.
Olier's spiritual children.

In 1650 the servant of God had sent M. de Queylus to aid the

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Results of ecclesiastical traitiinj^.

523

Bishop of Viviers, M. de Suze, in founding a seminary, but the
attempt had met with an embarrassing opposition on the part of
those from whom it ought rather to have received the readiest
support. The establishment was represented as a sort of respectable
l)rison, the inmates of which were made to lead a life of perpetual
slavery and to practise mortifications beyond human endurance.
On his way to Avignon M. Olier had, as related, stopped at Viviers ;
he arrived, as it happened, two days before the opening of the
diocesan synod, and his presence seemed to have the effect, not only
of healing dissensions, but inspiring the clergy -vith a lively zeal in
behalf of the infant seminary. The Bishop made over to it some
ancient buildings, situated in the higher part of the town, which had
once formed the Episcopal residence, and the ecclesiastics who were
present contributed liberally towards the necessary repairs as well as
for the support of the house. In thi following June the Bishop
issued an ordinance, in a general synod of his clergy, formally
establishing it as the seminary of the diocese. But even after this
authoritative sanction had been accorded, the prejudices that existed
were not entirely removed, and M. de Queylus had still many diffi-
culties to encounter. All that for some time he was able to do was
to give the usual exercises to the candidates for ordination, and to
receive such of the Cure's as came of their own accord to make a
spiritual retreat, M. Olier, however, never lost confidence in the
promises of God, and, after the withdrawal of M. de Queylus, con-
tinued to supply the institute with efficient directors to the day of
his death in 1657. In the September of that year his successor, M.
de Bretonvilliers, came himself to Viviers and, in concert with M.
de Suze, re-organized the seminary. M. Fuselier and M. Mace
were summoned from Alais, whither they had been sent by M. Olier
to conduct a mission, and were intrusted with the government of
tlie house.

The Bishop now extended the term of residence : candidates for
the tonsure were to remain eight days, and those who sought minor
orders ten days ; while such as aspired to the higher orders were
to spend three months in the seminary preparatory to receiving each
of them respectively. Parish priests and others who had received
but scant preparation for the sacred ministry were invited to spend
a certain time at the seminary in order to being more perfectly
instructed in the duties of their state and in the functions of their
office or, at least, to go through the exercises of a spiritual retreat ;

J '■■-.,

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524

Life of M. Olier.

,ii

'•

and of this invitation many availed themselves. Besides the per-
sonal advantage to themselves, this act of theirs was of great imme-
diate benefit to their flocks, as during their absence ecclesiastics of
piety and experience were sent to supply their places. Two priests,
indeed, were kept in constant readiness to go at a moment's notice
wherever their services might be needed ; and, in order that the
Cures might not be charged with their maintenance during the tinv
they were absent from their parishes, M. de Bretonvilliers engaged
to give 600 livres, and M. de Suze 300, annually for that object.
Thus a series of missions was provided for numerous country-places
which were productive of abundant fruits. Sermons of a rousing
character were preached, simnle instructions given, and the people
exhorted to make a general confession, an exhortation the more
necessary that many, never having had the opportunity of dis-
closing the state of their souls to any but their own pastor, had,
unhappily, been tempted to make sacrilegious confessions or had
deserted the tribunal of penance altogether. The difference between
the clergy who had received ecclesiastical training and those who
had never enjoyed that advantage very soon attracted attention, and
the seminary became the object of general admiration. Some,
indeed, of those who, either from ignorance of their vocation or
from unworthy motives, had offered themselves for the clerical state
abandoned their design and embraced other professions; but the
greater part, when they quitted the seminary, exhibited an amount
of devotion, enlightenment, and laborious zeal to which the people
had been hitherto little accustomed. Clergy from other dioceses
also came for spiritual retreats or for a longer course of instruction ;
so that in a short time the house at Viviers became a fruitful source
of grace to extensive districts in Auvergne, Dauphind, the Comtat,
and Provence. According to his wont, M. Olier claimed to have
no more than a temporary connection with the seminary, although
he and his community had borne a portion of the expenses, and for
more than fifty years there was no formal act of union between it
and St. Sulpice ; but in 1706 the Bishop and the clergy of the
diocese, fearing that if the establishment ceased to be conducted by
those who had founded it their withdrawal would be fatal to its
existence, begged the Society to undertake its permanent direction.
From Viviers M. Olier set out for Le Puy, and on his way passed
through Privas, wi^h the view of visiting Saint-Agrbv-:, famous at
that time for its shrine of the Blessed Virgin. There this devout

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Seminary established at Lc Puy,

525

client of Mary again renewed the ofTcr of his serviLC and that of
his Community to the aupjust Queen of the Clergy and presented
to her, in token of his pious veneration, a striking picture which he
had c.uised to be painted for the purpose. In repairing to Le Puy
he had no thought of contributing to the foundation of a seminary
in that town. Such an establishment had been in contemplation
for ten years, u m 1 he had been repeatedly solicited to commence the
work, but he had been unable to spare any of his 'iriests ; and,
besides, the necessary funds were wanting. But now a sudden
enthusiasm was kindled in the breasts of both clergy and laity, before
whicl all obstacles disappeared. The Bishop, M. de Maupas,* con-
vened a meeting of ecclesiastics and other influential persons, and
begged M. Olicr to lay before them the necessity of making personal
sacrifices for an undertaking of such paramount importance. The
servant of God recollected himself for a few moments, and then
addressed the assembly with so much energy and fervour that a
seminary was resolved upon as by acclamation. M. de Maupas,
himself one of the greatest orat 's of the day, although he had often
had experience of M. Olier's extraordinary pow rs, was astonished
at the burning toirent that issued from his lips ; and long afterwards,
when speaking of the circumstance, he said that his address on the
occasion ** abounded not only in grandeur, force, and light, but in
that fire of the Holy Ghost which warms the coldest hearts and stirs
the most insensible." As for the servant of God himself, he attri-
buted the result to the powerful interposition of Our Lady of Le
Puy, to whom he cherished a particular devotion. For her sake,
and in his zeal for the glory of God and the good of the diocese, he
not only contributed towards the establishment out of his private
means but undertook its government and direction.

M. Hugues de Pradier d'Agrain, a pious layman of the town, put
his house at the Bishop's disposal, until such time as a suitable
building could be provided, and M. Olier summoned M. Tronson t
and M. Le Breton from Viviers to inaugurate the work. But the

* Afterwards Bishop of Evreux. Readers of the Life of M. Boudon will recog-
nise in M. de Maupas the prelate who, unhappily, was betrayed into the error of
crediting for a time the calumnious accusations of which that holy man was the
victim, and treating him in consequence with unjust severity.

+ Fourth son of Mme. Tronson, hereafter called M. de Saint-Antoine, from
his abbey of that name. He must not be confounded with his elder brother, M.
Louis Tronson, of whose vocation to the Community an account was given above,
and who was the third Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice.

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526

Life of M. Olier.

M
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man on whom the Bishop had net his eyes to be superior of the new
seminary was M. de Lantages. This ecclesiastic was one of M.
Olier's best subjects, for whom he entertained the tenderest affec-
tion and whom of all the members of his community he could least
afford to lose ; but, true to his engagement of making his society the
handmaid of the Episcopate, he yielded at once to the Bishop's
request, declaring, however, that in surrendering M. de Lantages to
him he was givmg him his heart. The engaging qualities of this
young priest soon gained him the confidence of all with whom he
came in contact, and M. de Maupas, thinking to render his remark-
able gifts the more available to the benefit of the diocese, insisted
on appointing him his vicar-general. This design, however, he
reluctantly abandoned, on M. Olier representing that he should be
obliged to recall M. de Lantages to Paris. In adopting this course,
the servant of God was determined by the consideration that the
clergy would be less disposed to open their hearts as freely to one
who was invested with such auth jrity over them, and would be
tempted to act rather from motives of human respect than of con-
fidence and love. Nowhere, it may be added, were the blessings of
Heaven poured forth with mere abundance than on the community
of Le Puy. In a few years the face of the diocese was so completely
changed ♦:hat the Bishop, after M. Olier's death, declared, in the
fulness of his feelings, to M. de Bretonvilliers that since the estab-
lishment of the seminary no one vould recognise his clergy as the
same men. "I am an unprofitable servant," he would say in the
confidence of friendship ; " my election to the Episcopate made me
tremble ; nevertheless I hope that God will not deal rigorously with
me, and that the two seminaries of Le Puy and Evreux, which I
established for His glory and the good of the Church, will obtain
mercy for me."

We have seen with what zeal and self-devotion M. Olier laboured
as a missionary for the sanctii'ication of the provinces in which at the
time he held benefices, Le Vivarais, Le Velai, and Auvergne. He
felt that it was a work to which he had been called by God, par-
ticularly as regarded the diocese of Clermont ; for, being in prayer
one day in the cathedral church of that town, the Blessed Virgin
had been pleased to make known to him that she desired him to
do a work there for the glory of her Son. Although fully assured
in his own mind that in no way could that glory be more effectually
promoted than by the establishment of a seminary, yet, as no intim?.-

Seminary of Clermont.

527

tion had been given him as to the nature of the services he was to
render, he awaited in patience a fuller disclosure of tht Divine will.
It came at length, when nothing was less in his thoughts, in the
ordinary way of an invitation from the Bishop to found a seminary
in his diocese. Hitherto nothing more had been required of can-
didates for ordination than a retreat of eight days, and even this
was a practice onl^ of recent institution, for which the piety of the
Cardinal de Rochefoucauld had provided the funds. When M.
Louis d'Estaing was first elevated to the see of Clermont, he had
endeavoured to make an arrangement by which the exercises should
be given by a religious order; but, this attempt having failed, he
determined, with the unanimous consent of his clergy in a general
assembly, which was held April i6th, 1653, to establish a diocesar.
seminary and invite M. Olier to undertake its direction. There
was a difficulty at first in finding a suitable building, but it was
eventually resolved to accept the Priory of St. Ferrdol, which was
offered for the purpose by the Benedictines of St. AUyre. It had
a large plot of ground attached to it, and also a church * and a
presbytery. With the aid of the clergy the Priory was repaired and
enlarged; r.nd on February ''.3rd, 1656, M. d'Estaing declared the
seminary canonically erected and entrusted to *' the direction of M.
Gabriel de Queylus, Abbe of Loc-Dieu and priest of St. Sulpice, who
by his extraordinary prudence and great merits" was eminently fitted
for the office.

In the course of the year 1654, while the works were in pro-
gress, M. Olier, who passed several months at Bourbon or in the
neighbourhood, had visited Clermont at the invitation of the
Bishop, who desired to confer with him respecting the proposed
establishment. He was accompanied by M. de Bretonvilliers, who
generously contri auted 2,000 livres towards the construction of the

* This church, although of modest proportions, was rich in traditional graces.
Dedicated in the fi'st instance to St. Maurice, it was restored about the year 710
by Bishop Proculus., who erected a magnificent tomb for St. Bonnet, one of his
predecessors in the see. The translation of the Saint's remains was attended
with such prodigies that the church was henceforth called by his name ; and,
although in 1095 the body of the holy prelate was transferred to the cathedral,
his name still remained attached to the edifice which for more than three cen-
turies had contained his tomb.

M. Louis d'Estaing, in accordance with directions left in his last testament,
was interred in the church of St. Bonnet, as were also his immediate successor,
Gilbert de Veny d'Arbouse, and many Directors of the seminary. Both church
and tombs were swept away at the Revolutioa

528

Life of M, Oliei'.

seminary. Once assured of the Divine intentions, the servant of
God lost no time in prosecuting the work which he had been
called to do, and in the month of May, 1656, he sent four of his
priests to Clermont to assist M. de Queylus in preparing candidates
for the Pentecostal ordination ; but the regular exercises were not
actually commenced till six months later. After the departure of
M. de Queylus, who was occupied with the affairs of Montreal, as
will be hereafter narrated, M. de Poussd, whom the reader will
recollect as having been among the earliest seminarists of Vaugirard,
and who was the first director of the Solitude at Avron, became
superior ; but in the following year he was succeeded by M.
Pierre Couderc, whom M. Olier had placed at the head of the
restored seminary of Vaugirard, The servant of God having, as
usual, taken no measures to secure for himself and his successors
the government of the house, it remained independent of the
Society until 1659, two years after his death, when it was incor-
porated with the Seminary of St. Sulpice. One important advantage
which it was the means of obtaining for the diocese, over and
above the formation of a zealous and well-instructed clergy, was
the utter si ppression of Jansenism, which previously had prevailed
to a lamentable extent.

M. Olier contributed also towards the reformation of the clergy
of Auvergne, by assisting in the establishment of the seminary of
St. Flour. The deplorable condition of this diocese, which was
of great extent, may be estimated from the fact that it was com-
puted to have within it from 6,000 to 7,000 ecclesiastics who had
no competent knowledge of the duties of their state. M. Olier,
who, from his connection with the Abbey of Pdbrac, had long
been aware of evils which he was powerless to remedy, felt himself
called upon to make some sacrifices for a prelate whose zeal
deserved all the assistance that could be rendered him. M. de
Mont Rouge, finding himself utterly at a loss for coadjutors among
his clergy on whom he could rely, had collected forty or fifty
young men in his own Episcopal residence, and placed others
under the instruction of such priests of his diocese as by their
piety and knowledge seemed best fitted for the task. M. Olier's
first thought was to send M. Couderc to the Bishop's aid but,
having, as we have seen, disposed of that ecclesiastic elsewhere,
his choice fell on M. Eymbre, who by birth was a subject of the
diocese. This very able man, after completing his course of

t '

Seminary of Notre Dame de r Hermitage. 529

philosophy in Auvergne, went to study theology at the Sorbonne
and, while so engaged, was led by the good Providence of God
to place himself under the guidance of M. Olier, by whom he was
for several years employed in the ministerial work of the parish.
His talents and virtues seemed to designate him for the office of
educating young clerics, and in 1650, or 165 1, he was cordially
accepted by the Bishop as director of his seminary ; which, it may
be added, under the government of this devoted priest became at
once the recipient and the source of abundant blessings from
Heaven. Some few years afterwards, when the house was firmly
established and M. Eymfere had succeeded in forming ecclesiastics,
subjects of the diocese, who were competent to continue the work
he had begun, we find him among those fervent ecclesiastics whom
the great reputation which M. Pavilion enjoyed had attracted to
Aleth, to aid that prelate in the reform of his diocese. But to
his honour be ifr stated that he remained faithful to the cause of
God and His Church when, in 1664, the Bishop of Aleth,
unhappily, threw the weight of his influence on the side of the
Janseni?tic innovators. Tlie Seminary of St. Flour was governed
for more than twenty years by priests of the diocese, until M. de
la Motte-Houdencourt, in 1674, united it to the Congregation of
St. Lazare.

At the same time that through the efforts of M. Olier and his
disciples the Seminary of Clermont was commencing its work of
educating the clergy, another house was being founded in the
mountainous district which formed the eastern boundary of the
diocese. This was the Seminary of Notre Dame de 1' Hermitage,
which on January 5th, 1659, was canonically erected by M. Louis
d'Estaing, and in 1668 waj approved and confirmed by the
Cardinal de Vendome, Papal Legate in France. Its object, in
addition to that of preparing candidates for ordination, was to give
missions in country-places during several months in the year.
This seminary owed its permanent success to the exertions of M.
Jacques Planat, who had been one of those zealous men whom
M. Olier invited to take part in his first mission in Auvergne.
When the servant of God took charge of the parish of St. Sulpice,
M. Planat resigned his office of Provost in the diocese of St.
Flour, and gave himself wholly to the work of the reform. The
writer of the Life of the Mbre Marie-Marthe de Biron, who died
at St. Flour in 1664, describes him as one who "by his piety and

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530

Life of M. Olier.

doctrine gained the approbation of all who were vaoA enlightened
in ihe science of the saints.' But, ever ready to make sacrifices
for the sake of what was the r. ^ion of his life, M. Olier did not
shrink from depriving himself of his valuable services, and that,
too, at a time when he most needed them, and in 1645 gave him
up to M. de Foix, who made him his grand-vicar and employed
him for five or six years in the reform of his diocese of Pamiers.
After filling several similar offices in other dioceses with great
distinction M. Planat devoted himself entirely to the Seminary of
Notre Dame de I'Hermitage, of which for more than twenty years
he was the main support, and thus came to be regarded as its
founder. Before his death the seminary was, with the consent of
the Bishop of Clermont, incorporated with that of Notre Dame de
Bannelle, which was situated in a milder and more genial climate ;
and the union subsisted until the Revolution. Being essentially
a community of missionary priests, it was never affiliated, even
during M. Planat's life, to that of St. Sulpice, which occupied
itself exclusively with the education of the clergy.

A few words may here be said respecting the Seminary of
Besan^on, inasmuch as its first superior, M. Rend de Mornay de
Villeterre, was one of M. Olier's disciples. The work which he
especially affected was the spiritual direction of the seminarists, for
which he possessed a wonderful gift. *' While his virtues and lights,"
says the Abbd Jacquenet, historian of the house, "eminently
qualified him for communicating to young men the ecclesiastical
spirit, his birth and knowledge of the world enabled him to give
them sage advice regarding the shoals they must avoid in the
exercise of the pastoral ministry." Although M. de Grammont, the
Archbishop, did not adopt the rules of St. Sulpice in their entirety,
the seminary remained in closest union with the Society. In 1666
he entrusted his nephew to the care of M. de Bretonvilliers, and
some years later sent one of his young directors to M. Tronson to
be instructed in the duties of his office. After two years passed
at St. Sulpice, this young priest, by name M. Langrognet, became
superior of the Seminary of Besan^on, and introduced among the
exercises of the house the particular examen, as he had seen it
practised during his term of probation. To him also the clergy and
people of the diocese were indebted for the blessing of being
evangelised by the famous Abbe de la Perouse, one of M. Olier's
most beloved disciples, of whom we shall have occasion to speak

Seminary of Amiens.

531

hereafter. The retreat which he gave to the priests of the diocese
and the missions which he preached to the population generally were
attended with most consoling results.

Among the many seminaries in the establishment of which M.
Olier had a share ought to be included that of St. Irdnde de Lyon.
From a child the servant of God had retained a singular affection
for the town, so famous for its ecclesiastical traditions, in which he
had first been nourished with the milk of Christian piety and clothed
with the humble livery of the Church. He had even entertained the
desire of contributing in some effectual way towards the evangelisation
of the vast diocese ; but, fearful of outrunning the behests of Divine
Providence, he had been fain to content himself with recommending to
his successor the erection of a seminary whenever the occasion offered.
Accordingly, M. de Bretonvilliers, two years after the decease of his
spiritual father, availed himself of the favourable dispositions of
the then Archbishop, M. Camille de Neuville, to execute the charge
which had been laid upon him. The first superior was M. d'Hurte-
vent, and the records of the Archbishop's life afford abundant proof
of the great things which were accomplished under his prudent and
energetic rule. " T have no hesitation in declaring," says the P^re
Guicheron, in his Life of Camille de Neuville, " that the greatest
work this prelate did was the establishment of this house. Good
people will eternally bless him for it, particularly when they
remember what manner of man M. d'Hurtevent, its first superior,
was and the great services he rendered to the diocese." He
was succeeded, in 167 1, by M. Maillard, who, as we have seen,
had been first his coadjutor and subsequently his successor at
Nantes.

The Seminary of Amiens was inaugurated in the year which
deprived St. Sulpice of its venerable founder. The Abbe de
Sery was named superior, but, as he had not himself received a
strictly ecclesiastical education, the Bishop, Fran9ois Faure, who
was a Franciscan, begged M. Olier to send him one of his priests
to aid and instruct the Abb^ in the work he had undertaken
to do. M. de Parlages, a doctor of the Sorbonne and Superior of
the Community, was selected for the office ; but after a sojourn of
three years he was recalled by M. de Bretonvilliers, for the main reason
that neither superior nor the other directors cordially conformed
themselves to the methods and rules which he deemed necessary
for the efficient conduct of the house ; and the Bishop having, as a

.;. i

llj

532

Life of M. Olier.

religious, no distruf?t of Congregations, delivered over the manage-
ment of his seminary to the Priests of the Mission.

We have seen how throughout his life M, Olier never took a step
without the sanction of ecclesiastical authority, even when that
authority was wielded by unworthy hands, and at once retired when
that sanction was withdrawn, or even grudgingly accorded. Of this
several instances have come before our notice. But nothing, perhaps,
more strikingly exhibits his respect for the Episcopate, and the
attitude of entire dependence which he maintained towards it, than
the course he adopted in the case of M. du Bosquet, Bishop of
Clermont-Lodfeve. The former occupant of the see, M. Plantavit
de la Pause, had assigned the Priory of St. Paul to the priests of St.
Sulpice tor the commencement of an ecclesiastical seminary, and
M. Couderc had been made superior of the house. Finding, how-
ever, that M. du Bosquet, whether on account of his Jansenistic pre-
dilections or from some other cause, did not bestow the same marks
of confidence on this ecclesiastic and his colleagues as had been
shown them by his predecessor, M. Olier desired him to resign his
office into the hands of the Bishop and to put the whole community
at his sole disposal. At the same time he addressed a letter to M.
du Bosquet, in which he says he has reminded M. Couderc that it
is not fitting to remain in any house without the master's cordial
assent, and that no blessing could be expected where this condition
was wanting. "It is on this maxim," he continues, "that the
Seminary of St. Sulpice reposes as on a foundation. It has reserved
to itself no other rights over such of its subjects as go out from it at
the call of their Lordships the Bishops than that of continuing to
remind them of the absolute dependence which they must maintain
towards them, and of reproving them in case they should fail in this
respect. This is why, amidst the pain which I suffer at seeing one
of the subjects of the house no longer meriting your regard, I never-
theless experience a real joy in making the entire sacrifice of this
benefice, in order to testify, in one of c-r first establishments, that
the members of the Community have no life, no proper end, no
directing principle of conduct, but in obedience to their Lordships
the Bishops. They may call for us, and they may send us away, at
their pleasure ; and the house professes to be nothing, and to possess
nothing, save in pure and simple dependence upon them. A work
of God ought never to be the cause of aught that is unbecoming, or
contrary to the simplicity and justice of the Gospel ; and, if I thought

His letter to the Duke of Orleans.

533

there would ever go forth from St. Sulpice a single subject of the
house who should oppose the mandates of their Lordships the
Bishops, or lend his countenance to any violation of that reverence
which is their due, I would pray that the Seminary might be
destroyed and become an object of anathema in the face of the
whole world." These words, followed as they were by an immediate
abandonment of the seminary and of the whole work which had been
attended with such signal success, are sufficient to show that in the
conduct of his institute, as in all his- other acts, public and personal,
this great man continued true to the principle which had ever guided
him, of following simply the will of God, and looking for the indica-
tion of that will in the command or the cordial r4ssent of ecclesi-
astical superiors.

Of this we have a beautiful example in the letter which he wrote
in reply to an application he had received from the Duke of Orleans,
who, after his banishment to his castle of Blois, was desirous (as
already notified) of establishing a community of priests devoted to
the education of the clergy. •* That everything may be done," he
wrote, "in the order of our Lord and of the Church, it would be
expedient and, indeed, necessary that his Royrl Highness should
be pleased to speak to the Bishop of Chartres,* or, at least, write and
communicate to him his views and intentions. For we cannot and
ought not to hope to do anything unless he approves and commissions
us thereto. You know that a Bishop, in his diocese, is as a father in
his family, a head to a body, a superior in his house, and that to
him it belongs to give orders, to move all the members, and to com-
mand his children to do what it pleases him. For myself, who am
but an outdoor servant, and have not the honour of belonging to
his household, I cannot take upon myself to discharge any function
until he does me the honour of calling me to his aid, unworthy
creature that I am." M. Olier was the more anxious to promote the
Duke's design as he hoped it might eventuate in a seminary for the
diocese of Chartres, which was especially dear to him on account
of the many tokens of loving care and protection which he had
received from our Blessed Lady in her own cathedral church. To
this object, he said, he was ready to devote all that remained to him of
the proceeds of the two benefices which he had held in the diocese,
— nay, all that he possessed or could ever possess in this world, and
his life itself. "Herein," he continued, "I should only be accom-

* The see of Blois was not erected till the year 1697.

i>^

534

Life of M. Olier.

plishing my desires, whicli are to see myself poor, that I may die
denudefl of everything, like our Lord upon the cross." But the
whole project seems to have been frustrated by the intrigues of the
Jansenists, who were numerous at Orleans and had considerable
influence with M. Alphonse d'Elbbne, the Bishop of that see, whose
consent was necessary to the erection of the seminary, as it was
intended to include his diocese as well as that of Chartres. The
clergy of the latter diocese, led on by that ardent reformer, Adrien
Bourdoise, were active in promoting its establishment, and the
Bishop, M. Lescot, had even engaged the services of three priests
of St. Nicolas du Chardonnet for the work, but the institute was not
placed on any solid foundation until M. Ferdinand de Neuville, in
1680, called to his aid the Priests of the Mission.

The confidence which the Bishops reposed in him, and the success
which had crowned his efforts, so far from exciting in M. 01ier*s
mind any feelings of complacency in regard either to himself or to
his community, seemed rather to deepen his humility and to pro-
duce in him a more perfect spirit of subjection. Thus, an ecclesi-
astic having urged him to undertake a work which would be highly
beneficial to the clergy of his diocese, he advised him to apply to
others who, he said, were more capable of bringing it to a successful
issue. But, at th^ same time, being reluctant to refuse what the
applicant might not be willing to entrust to any but himself, he
added, " Such, however, as we are, — so low and vile in the Church,
— we are wholly at your service, and ready to second the zeal which
God kindles in your soul. But we beg you, Monsieur, to be so
good as to have the matter fully commended to God, in order that
we may put no obstacle or impediment in its way. There is so
much more of the charity and mercy of God in you, as you make
choice of what is meanest and most contemptible in the world to
further your designs. Yet this very choice inspires me with the
better hope, inasmuch as God seems thereby to desire to make
the thing His own, choosing instruments which are nothing worth
and empty of aught that is good, save the desire to serve Him and
His Church : this it is, Monsieur, that makes me wholly yours, as
being one of His dearest children."

He displayed sentiments of the same touching humility when the
Papal Nuncio, Mgr. Bagni, begged him to send some of his priests to
found a seminary in Greece. While conferring with his community
on the subject, which excited his liveliest interest, he suddenly

\ \

5"/. Vin mt's eulogy on the Sulpicians.

535

exclaimed, in a voice that faltered with emotion, " But what are we
tliat we should be thought of for such an enterprise ? " and he pro-
ceeded to give vent to his feelings in terms of such lowly self-abase-
ment that his disciples were no less affected than edified by his
humility and piety. What the issue was there are no documents
to show.

If M. Olier gave the preference, whenever opportunity offered, to
the Priests of the Mission, St. Vincent of Paul, their founder, was
wont, in his turn, to praise and extol the Community of St. Sulpice
at the expense of his own. Thus, on one occasion when application
was made to him for aid, he replied, "The priests of St. Sulpice,
whose mission it is to found seminaries in episcopal cities, are far
more competent than we are to commence and consolidate this good
work which you have so deeply at heart." And, writing to a lady
of quality who had a fund at her dispc:ial which had been bequeathed
to her by the seigneurs^ her predecessors, for the formation of good
ecclesiastics, he recommended that she should apply it in aid of a
semir.ary which had been founded by St. Sulpice. "If you make
this application, Madame," he said, " you may rest assured that it
will be carried out, in the manner those seigneurs desired, for the
advancement of the ecclesiastical state ; and, if you will be pleased
to inform yourself as to the good that is done at St. Sulpice, you
may confidently hope for similar results when this community is
established in the place in question; for everywhere it is animated
with the same spirit and has but one and the same object, the glory
of God."

So did »hese two great servants of God contend in holy rivalry
together, depreciating themselves and exalting each the other.

I
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^T^^TwUi:

( 536 )

CHAPTER VII.

VARIOUS MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES. FOUNDATION OF THE
COLONY AND SEMINARY OF MONTREAL.

MOLIER'S zeal for the sanctification of the sacerdotal order
• did not terminate in this object. If he would form holy
and devoted priests, possessed with an habitual sense of the dignity
and sacredness of their office, it was that souls might be more abun-
dantly gained to God. This thirst for souls had led him to form the
design of resigning his parish and his seminary, and quilting France
for ever to go and labour for the conversion of the infidel nations of
the East. When, therefore, the Papal Nuncio at Paris urged him
to accept the bishopric of Babylon, which the Shah of Persia desired
might be conferred upon a Frenchman, in preference to a native of
Spain or Portugal, with which countries he was at war, the servant
of God willingly lent himself to the proposal, and was only'dissuaded
from carrying his design into effect by the strong opposition he
encountered on the part of all the members of the Community.

A few years afterwards, when it was in contemplation to send
Vicars-Apostolic into China, M. Olier, in spite of his declining health,
offered himself with all the ardour of his soul to the Jesuit Father,
Alexander of Rhodes, one of the most celebrated missionaries of the
time, who had been charged by the Pope with the selection of fit
subjects for consecration at Paris. Convinced, however, that the
work in which the founder of St. Sulpice was engaged was one to
which he had been specially called by God, the missionary would
not accept the sacrifice. Throwing himself on his knees, M. Olier
conjured him, by all the motives which a burning love for souls
suggested, to grant him his desire ; but, on the Father still persist-
ing in his refusal, he humbly adored the will of God and acknow-
ledged himself unworthy of the favour for which he had pleaded.
" Eight days ago," he writes, ** I let the pride of my heart appear, in

Seminary of Foreign Missions foreseen. 537

testifying the desire I had of accompanying this great Apostle of
Tonquin and Cochin China. But the holy man, or, rather, our
Lord in him, judged me unworthy. 3o 1 am obliged to remain here
in my nothingness, engaged in the work which the Divine Majesty
has given me to do, where, filled with a sense of my own vileness
and wretchedness, I shall sigh and groan all my life long for having
rendered myself unworthy by my infidelities of that honour, receiving
with love and joy the crosses and sufferings I meet with in the service
of the Lord. Charity crucified is the safest. . . . This hidden life
keeps me more in my own centre, which is littleness of spirit and
nothingness. Those other employments have something brilliant
about them which would inspire me with apprehension ; but that to
which our Lord has graciously vouchsafed to call this poor sinner is
more hidden, more unknown. It has a closer affinity with the self-
annihilation ot our Master, who doparied not out of Judea, to do ali
the good He might have done by the preaching of the Gospel, but,
leaving it to His disciples to display the hidden, unknown zeal of His
soul for the glory of God, was cor ent to labour in that little coimtry,
and among the people to which He had been sent."

Unable to satisfy his own devotion, M. Olier had the consolation
of seeing several priests of the Community accompany the missionary
to China, where they spent their lives in the propagation of the faith ;
but the project of sending Vicars-Apostolic to the Indies met with
many discouragements, which were a sore trial to his ardent zeal.
To comfort him in this affliction, God was pleased to favour xiis
servant with a presentiment of what He would ere long bring j^bout
in furtherance of the object which lay so near his heart. For in a
letter to his director, still preserved, he says that, being one day
transported, as it were, out of himself by his desire to spread abroad
the faith among all creatures, he was moved to exclaim, " O my All,
whom I would fain send through all the world ! " and at the same
moment there seemed to rise before his eyes a seminary having for
its object the conversion of the heathen nations, and supported by a
few liberal souls whom God had inspired with the thought. This
prevision was fulfilled vhen, in the year succeeding his death, three
Vicars-Apostolic were sent to China and Siam and, shortly after, the
Seminary of Foreign Missions, whose glory is in all the Church, was
established in his own parish of St. Sulpice. But, although the
Community did not feel itself justified in undertaking foreign
missions, as being alien to the object for which it was instituted,

I i i

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538

Life of M. Olier.

nevertheless it continued for forty years to send its subjects into
heathen countries ; among whom was M. Louis de Cicd, scion of an
ancient Breton family, who, after evangelising the r.avages of Canada,
was made Vicar- Apostolic of Siam, where he died after twenty-six
years of toil and suffering.

The servant of God, however, endeavoured to indemnify himself
for nol being permitted to carry the Gospel to the heathen by
another enterprise of laborious charity, the objects of which were
nearer home. In the spring of 1652 this zealous pastor, as already
related, was seized with a violent fever, which reduced him to such
extremity that the physicians despaired of his recovery ; and on the
20th of June, in the same year, he resigned his cure. This act was
no sooner ac':omplished than he suddenly rallied, ana was pro-
nounced to be out of danger. For the restoration of his health he
was sent to spend the ensuing winter in the south ; but, instead of
passing ti)e time in complete repose, as was recommended by his
medical advisers and as his state of convalescence demanded, he
employed himself in organizing a mission on an extensive scale for
the conversion of the Protestant populations of Le Vivarais and the
Cdvennes. The design was one which he had long formed, and he
was moved to its execution bj two considerations — the extreme
spiritual destitution of those particular districts, and the charge which,
as he believed. God had specially laid upon him of rekindling the
torch of faith and piety in Le Velay Le Vivarais, and Auvergno.
From Geneva the heresy of Calvin had made successful inroads into
these quarters, where it still held its ground, in spite of all the
endeavours of Louis XIIL and Cardinal de Richelieu, who, afcer
the taking of La Rochelle, had sought to expel it from its fastnesses
by force of arms. The servant of God resolved to wage a war of
quite another character, the weapons he would use being those of
charity and sweet persuasion and, above all, the invincible power of
Apostolic virtues. On his way through Lyons he conferred with his
friend M. Crdtenet, who has been already mentioned as the founder
of an association of missionary priests, and, proceeding thence to
Viviers, where he arrived on the eve of a diocesan synod, he could
no longer doubt that Providence was opening a way to the fulfilment
of his long-cherished desire. His proposal was received with acclama-
tion, and all the clergy who were present solicited a mission for their
parishes. Full of joy, he wrote to M. de Bretonvilliers, telling ..im
that Viviers was on the point of yielding to the Lord ; that at Lyons

sas

^ I

Missionary zeal among the clen^y

539

he had found a flying camp of missionaries, all filled with the spirit
of Apv^stles ; and that on the mo row he was starting for Le Puy, to
see if there also the fire were ready to be applied. He ended by
bidding him 3end labourers into the harvest, as many as he could
collect. " I want," he said, *' only hearts devoid of self, simple,
virtuous souls ; from such we may look for miracles. Subtle and
self-suflScient spirits, which do noc study the'r own annihilation, or
who have not received the prevenient grace of it, will never do any
great thing ; uniecs, indeed, as sometimes happens, zeal for work and
the very labour of it produce a change in them." To which he adds,
in half earnestness, half banter, " Tell our brother Chenart to make
go d haste ; we must carry him off and set him to work to save souls.
Le him not suppose I am going to leave him there like a sluggard,
or any of C'lr dear children of the Seminary. Stir them up for me
in the Friday conferences. To stay at Paris is to be too fond of the
ease and quiet of their own room. It is to fail in charity not to
come out and rescue from the abyss our brethren who are crying
for help. '

At Le Puy the enthusiasm with which his proposal was received
by the Chapter, and by the clergy generally, was not less ardent
than at Viviers. The Bishop would have resigned his see in order
to secure such a pastor for his flock ; and, his desire increasing with
the earnestness of the other's refusal, he threw himself at M. Olier's
feet and implored him not to deny him a favour, the greatest that
could be conferred upon him. Nor was it until the holy man,
astonished and confused, protested his un worthiness in the most
moving terms, and declared that no considerations whatever could
change his resolution never to accept an office which demanded
virtues so exalted and supernatural light of so high an order, that
the Bishop ceased to urge his request. M. Olier, before quitting
Le Velay, had established clerical conferences at Le Puy after the
model of those of St. Lazare. The ecclesiastics there now invited
iiim to reanimate their flagging zeal, and many offered themselves
with such alacrity for the labours of the mission that he felt con-
vinced that the moment had arrived for commencing operations.
"I have found," he wrote to M. de Bretonvilliers, "a wdiderful
fervour among the Canons here in favour of the missions. You
would not believe v/hat an amount of light this journey of mine has
obtained me from God respecting this great work. O my very dear
brother and child, of what importance it »j to provide means for

: (

■J

< \

t !

i !i

\ !

540

Life of M. Olier.

forming subjects devoted to the service of Jesus, whom we can senu
into these abandoned places ! Never let us be reproached with
leaving these regions — whole provinces — to perish because we
would not receive labourers into our houses. Our Lord will demand
an account of our temporal good.> and, above all, of the spiritual
graces which He has so liberally ofiered co us. O my son, do your
utmost to this end with Monsieur your brother. If I go to Paris
I will myself speak to him ; for he must be saved, and saved magni-
ficently, by making him co-operate in saving thousands of souls.
Ah ! my son, if Jesus counted His Blood as nothing for our sakes,
shall our goods, which are but the dust and ashes of the earth, be
anything to us when it is question of mingling them with His divine
treasures that we may co-op arate with Him for the salvation of so
many souls?" To this appeal M. de Bretonvilliers generously
responded by praying to be allowed to offer, not only his goods but
his person and his life also, if they could be of use ; declaring that
as to any share he might have in the merit of the enterprise, he
prayed God to place it to M. Olier's account, for that it was his
wish that to him should accrue all the grace of it in this life and all
the glory of it in the other.

Another priest of St. Sulpice, who contributed largely towards
this important mission, was M. de Queylus, whom M. Olier had
sent, as we have seen, to establish a seminary at Viviers. The first
object was the evangelisation of the large towns occupied by Pro-
testants, who exercised a powerful influence among the neighbouring
populations. Privas, situate in a country intersected with numerous
deep valleys and in the midst of thickly scattered villages, had
become one of the strongholds of the Huguenots. It had stood a
desperate siege, conducted by Louis XIII. and Cardinal de Richelieu
in person, in which 25,000 men had been engaged and many officers
of mark had perished. Compelled to yield to overwhelming force,
the people had shown themselves none the less, perhaps all the
more, strongly attached to their errors, and there were now
but forty Catholic inhabitants. This stronghold once gained, the
adjacent places, it was hoped, would yield a comparatively easy
victory; and M. de Queylus was commissioned to inaugurate the
campaign by taking on himself the spiritual charge of the town.
He was made Cur^ of Privas. The appointment was hailed with
lively satisfaction, which was shared even by the Protestants them-
selves, who had already, during his resid'^.ice in the province,

Success of (he mission at Privat

541

learned to regard him with esteem and admiration. His very
acceptance of such a charge tended further to conciliate their
respect and confidence. For that a man of high birth and indepen-
dent means, who was also Abbd of Loc-Dieu, should be willing to
enter on a field of labour so unattractive in itself and one which
offered no compensating advantages, seemed to them a mark of
extraordinary disinterestedness and zeal. He was accompanied by
another priest of St. Salpice selected by M. Olier, and, under his
directions, preparations were at once made for opening schools in
which the children of the place mighi receive a gratuitous education.
The Protestant ministers, however, took the alarm, and wrought
with so much effect on the prejudices of the people that no suitable
building could be obtained for the purpose. Six months elapsed
before one of the chief persons of the town had the courage to
disregard the denunciations of the dominant powers so far as to let
his own house to the Catholic missionaries.

MeanVf hile active operations had commenced, with the aid of four
additional ecclesiastics from the Seminary, the Lyonnese auxiliaries,
and an ardent band of preachers who volunteered from various
quarters. All the usual resources of a mission were brought into
play : sermons and catechisings, public instructions and private con-
ferences ; but these were accompanied or, rather, pervaded, with
that without which arguments are weak and instructions profitless,
a winning sweetness and charity towards all men and the constrain-
ing example of an irreproachable life. Soon the little flock of forty
had increased to more than three hundred souls ; the church began
to be filled, not only with auditors, but with worshippers ; the sacra-
ments, which had been to many from childhood the objects of con-
tempt and abhorrence, were now frequented with a compunction and
a devotion most touching to witness ; the God Incarnate, who for
years had been denied all public recognition, and had lain concealed
even from the eye of His faithful few in obscurity and dishonour,
was reinstated on His throne and reposed once more within His
tabernacle ; nor was it long before a Calvinist conventicle was con-
secrated to Catholic use amidst the sobs and tears of cr.^ wds who
remembered with what blasphemies its walls had resounded against
the Lord of glory in the Mystery of His Love. Nay, so rapid and
complete was the change which came ever men's minds that on the
feast of Corpus Christi the Blessed Sacrament was borne in triumph
through the streets, with all the pomp which the circumstances

I J

M., A*^\ -.^iXiS'iii'. i■kh'h!i■)^^ilt.■^k^fiiiiik^it^Jil^.:^^

542

Life of M. Olier.

of the case allowed. The oldest inhabitant of Privas had never
before beheld a procession or other public ceremony of the Church,
— although St. John Francis Regis had once preached a mission there
and converted many Huguenots, — and now in a town which for more
than sixty years, previous to its capture by Louis XIII., had not
tolerated so much as the presence of a priest within its walls, there
walked in open day no less than thirty ministers of the once pro-
scribed rel'gion, vested in surplices, preceding the Most Holy
amidst the smoke of swinging censers and the sound of many instru-
ments of music. More than 5,000 persons, attracted from all parts,
assisted at the solemnity ; the utmost decorum and respect was
observed by the populace along the whole line of march ; and from
that day the procession was annually renewed without giving occa-
sion either to profanation or disturbance.

A victory so glorious (it scarcely need be said) had not been
gained without great conflicts and the endurance of many insults
and many acts of violence on the part of the sectaries. The converts
were treated as apostates and traitors, furious outcries were raised
against them, and they were threatened with having their houses
burned over their heads and themselves left perforce to perish in
the flam.es. These, however, were but the acts of individuals ; no
popular commotion was excited ; and the rage and violence that
displayed itself only served to exhibit in brighter colours the patience
and constancy of those who were the objects of attack. A touching
incident is recorded of a young girl who, when her father had in his
anger turned her out of doors because she had become a Catholic,
uttered no complaint but, throwing herself at his feet, meekly
besought his blessing.

Among the priests whom M. Olier despatched to the aid of M.
de Queylus, was M. Jean-Pierre Couderc, son of a Counsellor of the
Parliament of Toulouse and brother of the Superior of the community
at Magnac. He had not as yet received holy orders when he was
sent to take charge of the schools of the town, and he proved, as the
servant of God had anticipated, to possess popular talents of the
highest order. It was his custom to station himself near some
Protestant conventicle, and, as the people came out from the
])reaching, he would mount upon a bench and refute the arguments
to which they had just been listening, in language so felicitous and
with a flow of eloquence so natural and simple that the crowds which
thronged about him could not refrain from testifying their admira-

General success of the missions.

543

tion. Great numbers of Huguenots, among whom were several
ministers of the sect, were converted through his efforts; and so
indisputable were his powers and so signal his success that the very
members of the Consistory shrank from meeting him in public dis-
putation. Indeed, on one occasion, the Assembly was dissolved
and its members took to flight on being challenged by M. Couderc
to prove, from their own Bible, the truth of their doctrine that the
Scriptures contained all that was necessary to be believed, and
professed to do so. His gift of controversy was so remarkable and
the influence he exercised on the populations so salutary that, even
when he was superior of the Seminary of Viviers, he was authorized
by M. Tronson to repair to any town in the diocese where the
Protestant ministers were holding a synod, and oppose to their false
and pernicious teachings the true doctrines of the Christian faith.
This he continued to do, literally, to the day of his death, for he
died while engaged in one of these charitable labours. The result
is evident in the fact that Protestantism, which had held almost
exclusive sway at Privas, soon numbered but a thirtieth part of the
inhabitants among its adherents.

Under the direction of M. Oiler, troops of missionaries passed
from town to town, who in five years changed the whole aspect of
the diocese. Wherever the pure faith was preached by men filled
with the Spirit of God prodigies of grace followed, and it seemed as
if they had but to show themselves in places where Protestantism
most prevailed to see the partisans of error become transformed
into ardent children of Holy Church. At Jaujac the houses were
closed as long as the mission lasted, and the inhabitants spent the
entire day in the church, listening to instructions, praying before
the Tabernacle, or preparing themselves for a general confession.
At Viviers the piety of the people led them to forego, of their own
accord, all the gaieties of the carnival. Everywhere the grace of
God descended in copious showers : sinners were converted, feuds
were healed, wrongs redressed, injustices repaired. Nor were the
effects of the revival of a transitory character. At Thueyts, a town
which had been notorious for the irreligiousness of its population,
so fervent was the devotion of the inhabitants three years after the
departure of the missionaries, that on Sundays and festivals there
were not priests enough to hear the confessions of the multitudes
who desired to approach the sacraments ; and M. de Bretonvilliers,
writing from Le Vivarais at a later date, declares, on the authority

) s

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544

Life of M. Olier.

of a doctor of the Sorbonne resident in the place, that no one who
had known them in their former condition would have believed
them to be the same people. And these instances are given as
only particular exemplifications of a great general result.

During his stay at Le Puy M. Olier had desired to see a house
set apart for the instruction of children confided to his clergy by
their Prottstant parents, and as a place of refuge for such as were
driven from their homes by their relatives on embracing the
Catholic faith. With this view he established an association of the
Blessed Sacrament on the model of that at Paris, and this was the
beginning of the numerous institutions for the same object which
were subsequently founded in different parts of France. It was a
work which he had specially at heart. Writing to M. de Saint-
Antoine, who had asked whether a sum of money which he had
left at Le Puy might be applied to this purpose, the servant of God
replied, "Not only that, but everything I have in the world; and if
my blood could be of any avail, I would drain it to the last drop."

This mission occupied M. Olier for the five remaining years of
his life, and was continued by his successors at St. Sulpice with
unabated zeal. But he did not confine his labours to the diocese
of Viviers ; other dioceses were similarly blessed. Thus he caused
a mission to be preached in the town of Alais, where he purchased
a house with the view of eventually founding a seminary, a design
which was warmly encouraged by the Bishop of Nlmes, under whose
jurisdiction Alais then was. He left there two Sulpicians, M.
Fuselier and M. Jean-Baptiste Mace, who (as we have seen) were
subsequently transferred to Viviers ; but of the result of the enter-
prise no record remains. One thing there was in the C^vennes
which deeply grieved the heart of God's servant — the desolate state
of numerous churches w^hich the heretics had left in ruins and had
forcibly prevented being restored. Fain would he have rebuilt them
all, but towards the reconstruction of many he largely contributed ;
as, for instance, those of Bazainville and Clisson, which were restored
with the help of funds which he generously furnished.

Allusion has been made in the course of this history to the part
taken by M. Olier in the foundation of the Colony and Seminary of
Montreal in Canada. The circumstances under which it was under-
taken are no less extraordinary than those with which so many of
his pious enterprises were attended. His soul was filled with grief

\/v

His meeting with M. de la Dauversih'e. 545

and shame that, while commerce had its numerous associations, all

busily engaged in extracting from the natives whatever could minister

to wealth and luxury, so little had been done or even attempted

towards supplying them in exchange with the infinitely more precious

treasures of the faith ; and in 1634, but for the intervention of P. de

Condren, he would himself have crossed the Atlantic and hastened to

their succour. Burning, however, with the desire of co-operating in so

noble an enterprise, he resolved to found a company devoted solely

to the salv: in of these poor abandoned creatures. Quebec was at

too great a distance for the savages of Upper Canada to come as far

for the purpose of trading, and their conversion was in consequence

indefinitely delayed. He, therefore, formed the design of founding

on the Island of Montreal a settlement which should be at once a

nucleus of missions, a barrier against the incursions of hostile tribes,

and a centre of commerce to the neighbouring populations. While

he was meditating on the execution of this design God inspired a

gentleman of La Flfeche in Anjou with the same hoiy thought.

This was Jdrome Le Royer de la Dauversibre, a married man, but

one who to great detachment from the world and constancy in

prayer united an ardent love of mortification. He conceived the

idea of founding a community of Sceurs Hospitalibres with the view

of planting a colony in the Island of Montreal, then nothing but

an uninhabited desert With the permission of his director he

repaired to Paris, and, being in the gallery of the old chateau of

Meudon, whither he had gone for the purpose of obtaining the

necessary authorization from the Keeper of the Seals, an ecclesiastic

entered whom he had never seen before. The two looked at each

other for a moment, and the next, urged by an uncontrollable

impulse, they had thrown themselves into one another's arms, and

each was calling the other by his name with every demonstration

of the tenderest affection. It was the mutual attraction of two holy

souls given to God, and, though strangers in this world, united in

the Heart of His Divine Son, and recognising each other with the

instinct of a supernatural love, — like as we read of St. Paul the first

Hermit and St. Anthony Abbot. M. Olier — for that the stranger

was he the reader does not need to be informed — congratulated M.

de la Dauversibre on the object for which he had come, and, putting

into his hand a rouleau of 100 louis d'or, said, "Monsieur, I wish

to go shares with you." He then celebrated Mass, at which the other

communicated ; after which they walked in the grounds about the

2 M

V-

^ss^traBBBffteaasflcr^

546

Life of M. Olier.

chateau discussing for three hours the particulars of the plan, and,
finding themselves perfectly in accord, they were the more convinced
that it was the will of God that they should labour in common for
the object they had both so closely at heart.

An association was at once formed, afterwards known under the
name of the Society of Our Lady of Montreal. M. de Lauzon,
Intendant of Dauphine, made over to M. de la Dauversibre the
Island of Montreal, which had been bestowed upon him by the
great Canadian Company, with the condition of his founding a colony
there ; and M. de la Dauversifere, in his turn, transferred the grant
to M. Olier and the other members of the association. By the end
of 1640 the transaction was concluded and the society legally incor-
porated. In the articles of association, drawn up, as it would
appear, by M. Olier in concert with M. de la Dauversibre, who in
his humility would assume no title but that of Procurator, the
members undertook to send to Montreal, in the course of the
ensuing year, forty well-conditioned men, provided with everything
necessary for erecting buildings and fortifying them, who for the
first year should employ themselves in breaking up the ground and
preparing it for cultivation ; for which end the associates should
from year to year send out additional labourers, according to their
means, with oxen in such proportion as should be needed for
agricultural operations. At the expiration of five years, without inter-
mitting the said operations, they should erect a seminary, or college,
for the instruction of male savages, young and old; for which
purpose there should ever be maintained in che house ten or twelve
ecclesiastics, of whom three or four should instruct the missionaries,
as they arrived, in the languages of the country ; the missionaries
themselves to spend a year in learning the said languages, and then
go forth to labour among the savage tribes, as should be judged
expedient ; the rest should instruct the children of the savages and
of the French inhabitants. There should also be a seminary of
religious women to instruct females, both savage and French, and
a hospital for the former when they were sick. In fine, all things
else provided, houses should be built wherein to lodge a certain
number of French families, the necessary workmen, young married
people who had been educated at the seminaries, and other con-
verted savages who might wish to remain ; to these last should be
given lands that had been put in order, grain for sowing, tools, and
teachers to instruct them how to till the ground. Through these means

Landing of colonists at Quebec.

547

the associates hoped, by the goodness of God, to behold in a short
time a new Church created, which should rival in purity and
charity the Church of primitive times. They hoped also that,
eventually, they and their successors, when well established on the
Island, would cross over to the mainland, and form fresh settlements
there both for the genc-al advantage of the country and for the
readier conversion of the savage tribes.

The two promoters of this great enterprise had already despatched
twenty tons of provisions and other necessaries for the use of the
colonists ; and in the following year they collected together about
thirty families who, out f a charitable zeal for souls rather than
from a motive of self-interest, were willing to encounter hardship
and peril among a rude and barbarous people. Among them were
not only tradesmen, artisans, agricultural labourers, but men of
gentle birth, and yet there was still wanting a person of experience
and authority who might be placed at their head. M. Olier and
his colleague had made this desideratum the continual subject of
their prayers when M. Paul de Chaumedy de Maisonneuve presented
himself, one who from his youth had been practised in the profession
of arms and was wholly devoted to the interests of religion. But still
another want had to be supplied : there was need of a woman,
courageous and self-sacrificing, who would give herself, her life, to
the assiduous tending of the sick ; and almost at the same time
such a one was found in the person of that heroine of charity, Mile.
Manse, of whom mention has been before made in this history, and
who, after conferring with M. Olier and Marie Rousseau, repaired
to La Rochelle, where the party were to embark ; and there she first
made the acquaintance of M. de la Dauversifere, in whom she found
a spirit and a heart in perfect unison with her o vvn.

Towards the end of June, 1641, they set sail in two several
vessels and, arriving happily at Quebec, there passed the winter. The
fortunes of this far-famed missionary settlement do not fall within
the scope of this narrative;* it must be sufficient to describe briefly
the share taken by M. Olier and the Sulpicians in its formation and
support While the little band of emigrants were staying at Quebec,
awaiting the return of spring, the servant of God, who was then
at Vaugirard laying the foundations of the future Seminary, conceived

* A complete history of the colony from 1598 to 1676 was published by the
Abb6 Faillon in three volumes, entitled Histoirt de la Colonic Frattfaise en
Canada. It is a work of laborious research.

^Hi^:,

548

Life of M. Olier.

the pious idea of consecrating the Island of Montreal to the Holy
Family, and placing it under the protection of the Blessed Virgin,
by whose sweet name the town which was to ')e erected should be
called. This accordingly he did, in the month of February, 1642, at
the church of Notre Dame, where all the members of the association
were assembled. Proceeding thence to the Hotel de Lauzon, they
agreed to charter at least three vessels in addition, freighted with
families selected with a special view to promoting the objects of the
mission ; and, every one generously contributing of his means, a
sum of more than 200,000 livres was collected on the spot.

On May 17th, ^642, the little band that had wintered at Quebec
reached Montreal. On landing they all knelt down upon the shore
and, in a transport of pious joy, intoned Psalms of gratitude and
thanksgiving to God. On the morrow the Holy Sacrifice was offered
by P. Pimont, the Jesuit Father who had accompanied them from
Quebec, and the Blessed Sacrament exposed to obtain a blessing
from Heaven on the great enterprise thus prosperously begun. A
rude hut, constructed of the bark of trees, formed the humble
sanctuary in which the Incarnate Lord of heaven and earth took up
His first abode, and from that moment to the present He has never
left the town which from His Virgin Mother is called Ville Marie.
The island furnishing neither oil nor wax, they were fain to have
recourse to the expedient of placing before the Sacred Tabernacle,
in a globe of glass, fireflies numerous enough to emit a light equal
to that of several tapers.

Such were the beginnings of what is now the city of Montreal.
If M. Olier could have had his heart's desire, he would have left
France for ever and joined the missionary troop ; and it required all
the authority which P. de Condren possessed with him to divert
him from his purpose. But, though prevented from gratifying his
holy passion, he never relaxed his efforts in behalf of the mission
and, indeed, it was long before he abandoned the design of going
himself in person to its aid ; and aid was imperatively needed, for
the situation was one of peril and disaster. The Iroquois, who
were cannibals and the most ferocious of the native tribes, kept up
an almost incessant assault upon the settlement, which had been
hurriedly surrounded with a hedge of stakes ; many of the inhabitants
were surprised and killed, houses burned, and the hospital itself
exposed to constant danger of attack. Added to which was a
dearth of food; for during the first ten or twelve years the land

Project of a Canadian bishopric.

549

yielded scarcely any produce, the colonists having no experience of
the climate and being continually harassed by their savage neighbours.
So desperate at length became the state of things, and so great
was th. discouragement which prevailed, that M. de Maisonneuve
returned to France for the purpose of obtaining reinforcements.
In this he was successful; more than a hundred men, strong and
vigorous and well versed in the i)ractice of war, eagerl" volunteering
for a service as glorious as it ..as arduous; and, closely following
on them, went one who was a host in herself — Marguerite Bourgeois,
a woman of an indomitable spirit and intrepid courage, or, rather,
we should say one who was possessed with a spirit and a courage
which only the grace of God could give. " I said within myself," she
wrote to M. Tronson, "if it is the will of God that I should go to
Canada, I have need of nothing ; and so I went, without a penny,
without a farthing, having nothing but a little bundle which I could
carry under my arm." It was in the year 1653 that this heroic
woman arrived at Montreal, which then consisted of some hundred
houses, scattered here and there about the island, and a few huts
erected on the mainland, which had scarcely yet been subjected to
tillage. Her days were spent in instructing the children and the
ignorant, visiting and serving the sick, consoling the distre.sed,
washing the linen and mending the clothes both of the people and
of the soldiers, — in short, stripping herself of everything to succour
the poor and needy. And when the population so increased that
she was no longer able to supply their wants unaided, she crossed
the sea again and again seeking recruits, and, although she could
promise them nothing save privation and suffering, she succeeded
in forming a numerous community of devoted women, which has
continued to this day.

Another object which M. Olier proposed to himself, as essential
to the consolidation of the settlement and the success of his holy
enterprise, was the establishment of an Episcopal sec at Montreal.
To evangelize a barbarous people, so widely scattered and consisting
of mutually hostile tribes, many labourers, animated with a zeal
of no common kind, were needed, and, as a sufficient number was
not to be found in France who were willing to encounter the hard-
ships and perils which such a venture involved, he believed that
the only resource was to form them in the country itself ; and for
this were required the presence and authority of a Bishop. P. Le
Gauffre, P. Bernard's successor, had been designat ;g for the office,

.a;.%-,

•••MI.......*. A*«* -

550

Life of M. Olier.

but, ere anything could be accomplished, God had called him to
Himself. Desirous, however, of co-operating after his death in a
work of such paramount importance, he bequeathed by will a
sum of 10,000 livres towanls the endowment of a bishopric and
chapter. The association laid tlie matter formally before the
(leneral Assembly of the Clergy, and a deputation was nominated
for obtaining the sanction of the Queen Regent, preparatory to
communicating with the Sovereign Pontiff; but the troubles of
the Fronde interposed to prevent the execution of the plan. No
sooner, however, was peace restored than the association renewed
its appeal, engaging, on its part, not only to defray all expenses,
but to deliver up to the Bishop and Chapter possession of half the
island, with all seignorial rights and the lands already prepared for
cultivation. The only difificulty lay in the choice of a person duly
qualified to fill the see, but the Bishop of Vence was able to
announce to the General Assembly that one had been found in
the person of an ecclesiastic of St. Sulpice, whom he described in
the following terms : ** He is an Abbe who is willing to go among
these savages at the sacrifice of himself and of all he has in the
world. I cannot at present mention him by name, but I can assure
this assembly that he is possessed of all those qualities of prudence,
capacity, and zeal which are indispensable to one. who would found
a Church among the heathen. For many years he has laboured
in the dioceses of Languedoc with most abundant fruit, and
there is every ground to hope that God will bless his efforts." The
person thus recommended was M. de Queylus, one of the first
associates of the Society of Our Lady of Montreal. In the session
of January loth, 1657, the nomination was unanimously approved,
and the matter was so far concluded that it awaited only the royal
assent, when an unexpected opposition arose on the part of certain
influential persons, and the project of a Canadian bishopric was
indefinitely postponed.

But, nothing daunted by this ill success, M. Olier resolved to
prosecute his intention of founding a community of missionaries,
the necessity of which was now more than ever apparent. Accord-
ingly, in this same year, 1657, he appointed M. de Queylus Superior
of the Community of Montreal * and associated with him three
others of his priests, M. Gabriel Souart, who was destined to be the

• M. de Queylus returned to France, and in 1672 succeeded M. Pierre Coudeic
iS Superior of the Community of Mont Val^rien.

litontrdal made over to the Sulpicians. 551

first Curd of Villc Marie, M. Galinier, and M. d'Allet, the last of
whom occupied the post of Secretary to M. de Queyhis, who was
himself made Vicar-CIencral of Canada. When M. Olicr broached
the subject of the mission to his community they all unanimously
ofTered themselves for the service, and one of them in particular, M.
Le Maitre, declared, in the enthusiasm of his zeal, that he was ready
to scour the country in search of converts and to follow the savages
into their remotest haunts. •' There will be no need of that," replied
the man of God ; " they will come to look for you, and will so throng
about you that you will not be able to escape out of their hands."
This prediction was only too fatally fulfilled. Two years after M.
Olier's death M. Le Maitre was sent to Villc Marie, and on August
29th, 1 66 1, being the feast of the Beheading of St. John Baptist,
when he had just said Mass and the servants of the house were
engaged in getting in the harvest, a band of savages, who had lain
in ambush, burst in upon him and, cutting off his head, carried it
away in a handkerchief. Strange to say, when this handkerchief
was next seen by persons of credit who had been taken captive by
the tribe, it bore imprinted on it an exact portrait of the martyr's
countenance, — not, as might have been supposed, in lines of blood,
but as though it had been traced with purest wax. The savages
themselves, observing the prodigy, were struck with fear, and sold
it to some English settlers, at the same time threatening to massacre
them if they parted with it to the Catholics. Of this interesting
relic no further record remains; but it is consoling to know that
the man who did the murderous deed was subsequently converteil
to the faith, and made a truly Christian death in the Sulpician
house at Ville Marie. The end of another missionary priest, M.
Vignal, was attended with circumstances of peculiar horror. He
was steward of the Seminary, and, going, in pursuance of the duties
of his office, with sundry workmen, to the Isle-la-Pierre, he was
seized and slain by the savages, who roasted and ate his fiesh.

Owing to the death of its most opulent members and the with-
drawal of others, the Society of Our Lady of Montreal, after twenty
years spent in clearing the land and peopling the country, found itself
reduced to great straits, being well-nigh destitute of resources and
burdened with an enormous debt which it saw no prospect of being
ever able to liquidate. Under these circumstances, the associates,
considering that the work in which they were engaged owed its
commencement to the piety and zeal of M. Olier, and that he

■ l:4jL'-';"it;i*i."ti*'j

ri^iifcfc''!J.rf.V^

^wrappi^"^M^^i^

ram

55-

Life of M. Clier.

had confidently assured chem that it would have a successful issue,
resolved to make over the whole island of Montreal to the priests of
St. Sulpice, who for thirteen years had, almost unaided, sustained
the colony by their liberality and sacrifices, and for tae last six
years had been established at Ville Marie in community. This
accordingly was done, and the contract signed on March 9th, 1663.
The donation, however, was accompanied with two conditions of no
light moment : i. the Sulpicians were to charge themselves with all
the liabilities of the Society, which amounted to 130,000 livres;
2. they were to bind themselves never to separate either the domain
or the proprietorship of the island from the Seminary on any account
or on any plea whatever. The liabilities were at once discharged
by M. de Bretonvilliers out of his private means ; but the second
condition entailed more onerous consequences. For, while they were
precluded from selling or alienating any portion of the territory, they
were obliged, in the interests of the colony, not only to maintain the
original domain in its integrity, but even to extend its limits ; and
this involved such large and continual disbursements tliat, but for
the generous benefactions of M. de Bretonvilliers, M. de Queylus,
M. du Bois, and others, they must have succuuibed beneath the
burdeij. After the death of M. de Bretonvilliers, who alone had
furnished near upon 400,000 lives, M. Colbert, Minister of Finance,
justly appreciating the vast services which the priests of St. Sulpice
had rendered to the colony, obtained from Louis XIV., in 1678, an
annual subsidy of 2000 crowns to assist them in meeting the expenses
of its maintenance.

But, notwithstanding this substantial aid, the revenues of the
Parisian Seminary were, for v,ell-nigh a century, heavily taxed for
the support of the colony of Montreal, the Community having, in
the course of fifty years, expended in its behalf no less than four or
five million livres, without receiving in return any compensation
v/hatsoever. True it is that, by the terms of their contract with the
Society of Our Lady, they were bound to employ in the interests of
the settlement only such proceeds as they derived from the lands
which were already cleared when they entered into possession, —
there being an express agreement to the effect that, in regard to any
fresh acquisitions or improvements they might make, they were .iCe
to dispose of them according to their pleasure, — but it would have
been impossible for them to fulfil the objects for which the colony
had been founded if they had availed themselves of this favourable

Arrangements ivith the British Government. 553

clause, seeing that in 1663 the lands that had been cleared scarcely
yielded more than a hundred crowns. In order to maintain the
seminary, the Superiors of St. Sulpice were obliged to send to
Montreal only such ecclesiastics as were able to pay for their own
lodging and support, and many also employed their private means
in providing for poor families and relieving the necessitous. Con-
duct so disinterested could not fail to draw down the blessing of
Heaven on their labours : by degrees the whole island was reclaimed
and tilled, fresh bands of emigrants were received and housed, the
value of the lands was raised, parishes were constituted, churches
built, and divers missions established for the evangelization of the
natives. So prudently and so ably was th? vvl.ole territory adminis-
tered, and so strictly in accordance with Christian principles, that
Charlevoix, in his Histoire de la NouvelU France^ says that in habitual
order and regularity the population resembled a religious community ;
and the biographer of M. de Laval, first Bishop of Quebec (1675),*
deposes that for a long time so perfect was the amity and unity
which prevailed among the people of Montreal that, like the first
Christian converts, they seemed to possess all things in common;
and this, he adds, " is still the case in country places : everywhere
the stranger finds a hospitable welcome, no door is fastened night or
day, and this confidence is never abused." In 17 14 Louis XIV., in
consideration of the large sums of money they had expended in the
establishment, augmentation, and conservation of the colony, relieved
the Sulpicians of all seignorial charges; and in 1836 Gregory XVI.
erected Montreal into an episcopal see.

ThuE the work commenced by M. Olier with the Divine sanction,
ard maintained at so many sacrifices by his successors, was not
allowed to come to nought. The Seminary of Ville Marie has con-
tinued to subsist down to the present day ; and when Canada came
into the possession of England an arrangement was made with the
British Government by which the Sulpicians were enabled to retain
their house and property, on condition that the Seminary of Montreal,

* FraP9ois de Montmorency-Laval, son of Hugues de Montmorency-Laval ;
bom in 1622 ; made Archdeacon of Evreux in 1648. He relinquished his office
in 1653 to go on the foreign missions, when he was consecrated Bishop of Petrsea
in pariibus and made Vicar- Apostolic of Canjida. In 1659 he embarked for that
colony, and became Bishop of Quebec in 1675. In 1685 he resigned his see, but
remained at Quebec, where he died in 1708. He was remarkable for his zeal
and piety both as a missionary and as a bishop.

'^qi

554

Life of M. Olier,

though still remaining one with the Seminary of the Faubourg St.
Germain-l^s-Paris, should be separated, in all that concerned its
temporalities, from the parent society.* They, on their part, engaged
to continue and maintain all the works and institutions of public
utility to which they had hitherto devoted themselves : that is to say,
the parochial services and ministrations of the Island ; the Indian
mission of the Lac des deux Montagnes ; the Petit S'^minaire, or
College, of Montreal ; the schools for children ; and the care of
orphans and the sick poor. The Grand Sdminaire was founded iri
1840.

* These rights v;ere confirmed in "an ordinance to incorporate the ecclesi-
astics of the Seminary of St. Sulpice of Montreal, anno III. Victorise Reginae,
cap. XXX."

u -- „

■^it^^'f-v '■ v ^ri

.^-T-P.-i jw-sw v— ij-* i^pf^ciht-^'^yfrfTy

Conclusion

'ii

^ :i

i I

;

( 557 )

CHAPTER I.

M. OLIER'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH.

THE last years of M. Oiler's life were destined, in the inscrutable
Providence of God, to be one continued series of physical
and mental sufferir.j, ".e merito of this great soul were to be
enhanced and perfected by heavy and painful crosses. Scarcely
had he recovered from t^ie dangerous illness which, in 1652, had
obliged him to resign the charge of his parish, when he was visited
by one of the most distressing disorders to which humanity is sub-
ject, that of the stone ; and so unceasing were his sufferings that his
friends, seeing the efforts it cost him to bear them in silence, were
astonished at the perfect tranquillity of spirit he was able to maintain.
No murmur or complaint escaped his lips ; in the midst of the most
racking pains he might be heard saying repeatedly, "Love, love,
love ! " and such was the sweetness and devotion with which the
words were uttered, that the bystanders were moved to compunction
and retired resolving to lead a more holy life. This malady was
followed by two other ailments, less dangerous but hardly less afflict-
ing. Enfeebled, however, as he was in body, his mind seemed to be
only refreshed and fortified for renewed exertions ; for it was during
his subsequent convalescence that he organised the great mission
of the C^vennes and laid the foundation of several seminaries, as
narrated in the previous chapter.

From Le Puy he was summoned to Paris on a business which he
calls the most delicate which our Blessed Lord had ever intrusted
to him, and fraught with most important consequences to the cause
of God. He refers to his endeavours to win to the faith our unhappy
monarch, Charles IL ; and it was then he seems to have held those
conferences with the King of which mention has been made. In
order to prosecute this affair, he would fain have remained awhile
at Paris, instead of at once returning to the South, as he had intended

I 1

558

Life of M. Olier.

doing. But in the spring of 1654 he was called away to Blois, where
there seemed to be good prospect of his being able to establish a
common seminary for the dioceses of Orleans and Chartres ; and,
instead of going back to Paris and renewing his relations with the
King, as he had hoped to do, his health, never quite restored, so
utterly failed that by the advice of his physicians he was fain to pro-
long his absence and seek repose and quiet in the country. For
this purpose he retired to a house belonging to Mme. Tronson at Le
P^ray, near Corbeil, where that pious lady tended him with a sort
of religious care. Thence he went to Argenteuil,* near Paris, a
celebrated place of pilgrimage, which attracted a large concourse of
devout persons during the octave of the Ascension \ but, fearing that
people would be coming to confer with him, as usual, on their
spiritual concerns, he resolved to leave the place. "They do not
know how weak I am," he writes ; " yet I cannot and ought not to
deny myself, as I do not look so very ill."

He was at Verneuil when, at the beginning of July, the news
reached him of the Bull of Innocent X. having been promulgated, con-
lemning the five Jansenistic propositions, and he wrote immediately
to M. de Bretonvilliers asking whether his presence was required
at Paris, so little regard had he to his health when the interests
of the Church were concerned. But on the physicians prohibiting
his moving or taking part in any occupations, however slight, he was

* The object of this pilgrimage was to venerate a robe of our Saviour's which
had been sent (such was the tradition) by Constantine, son of Irene, to Charle-
magne, and had been presented by that monarch to the convent of Argeu :uil,
when his daughter Theodrada made her profession there. As a perpetual
memorial of the fact, three strokes of a bell were sounded every day at half-past
twelve at noon, that being the time at which the holy relic had arrived. This
robe is known in history as Cappa Saloatoris nostri inconsutilis, or Tunica
Salvatoris incotisutilis. The Abbe Chastelain, Canon of Paris, who examined it
in 1672, describes it as being of a thick sort of crape, of the colour of a dead rose-
leaf; and Robert du Mont, an old author, adds that it appears from written
documents to have been made by the hands of the Blessed Virgin for the Infant
Jesus. The pilgrimage was a favourite one, not only with the common people,
but with the highest personages in the realm ; St. Louis, Henry III., Louis
XIII., Mary of Medicis, Anne of Austria, our own Mary of Modena, Cardinal
Richelieu, and many others going to venerate the holy relic. It was anciently
enclosed in a silver reliquary, but, on the Huguenots plundering the shrine, it was
kept in one of wood, until, on October 22nd, 1680, Mile, de Guise caused
another of costly materials to be made for it. This precious relic is still pre-
served in the church of Argenteuil, and pilgrims continue to resort to it, especie'ly
on the feast of the Ascension.

His devotion to the Cross.

559

forced to submit. His chief anxiety was caused by being prevented
from pursuing the affair of Charles II., which had been su5?pended
for some weeks. Writing to M. de Breto' villiers from P^ray, on July
19th, he says, '• Mme. Tronson will tell you that I am not well, having
continual paroxysms at night ; and I beg you to communicate with
M. de Sommerset («V), * that he may let the King know, and inform
him that, since I had the honour of seeing him, I have been taken ill,
and have been ordered into th i country, where I am still detained."

Seeing himself obliged to remain away from Paris, he had a strong
desire to visit once more the shrine of Notre Dame des Ardilliers,
where he had received so many favours, and this desire he was
permitted to satisfy, although an inability to sleep and the excessive
heat of the season obliged him to stop some days on the way. After
trying the waters of several mineral springs, and staying for a short
time at the houses of attached friends, who vied with each other in
tendering him hospitality, he at length returned to Mme. Tronson's
chateau at Le Pdray, where he was seized with the malady which
was to complete his sanctification and terminate his life.

Four or five months before, he had received what he recognised
as a warning of the state to which he was to be reduced. He was
on a journey in the country for a spiritual object, when a person
who was seated with him in the carriage said to him, " Ere long,
your condition will be such that you will be staying in the world as
if you were no longer living in it ; " to which he had replied, " I
shall be content to be in whatever state God wills ; I desire and
wish for nothing else." During the very journey which he had now
been taking, his heavenly Patroness had signified to him, by an
interior voice, that a serious malady awaited him, and that he must
return speedily to Paris. From that moment he was possessed with
an ardent love of the cross, so that he was for ever speaking of the
blessings it had brought into the world and the esteem we ought to
have of it. In his fear lest the threatened blow should fall before he
could reach Le P^ray, he made all the haste his weakness permitted,
and arrived, as he wished, before the 8th of September. On the
feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, as well as on that of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross, his devotion found its gratification in
making little cradles in which the infant Mary was represented
holding crosses in her hands, which she distributed among ecclesi-
astics according to the love she was supposed to bear them and the

* Edward, Marquis of Worcester.

56o

Life of M, Olier.

( I

excellence of the works which her Divine Son desired to perform
through their ministry. He reproached himself for not having
insistc sufficiently in his instructions and conferences at the Semi-
nary on the love and reverence which is due to the Holy Cross, and
resolved for the future to inculcate on all hearts a greater devotion
to it.

The man of God was now ready for the protracted trial through
which he was to pass. On the 26th of September, 1653, while
alone in his room engaged in prayer, he was struck with paralysis,
which deprived him of the use of the whole of his left side. His
first thought was to offer himself to God, in union with Jesus Christ
dying on Calvary, to meet death in such manner and at such time as
should please the Divine Majesty. Having still the use of his right
side, he knocked on the lioor to attract attention, but no one heard
him, and he lay as he was, adoring the Justice of God, and content to
be abandoned by all, even at the moment of death, after the pattern
of his Lord. At last, some one entering the room found him extended
on the ground, incapable of moving, but with a tranquil smile upon
his face. Being lifted up and laid upon a bed, he bore the violent
remedies that were tried, not merely with patience but, as those
who were present testified, with joy and even exultation. The
senses, however, had no part in this joy ; it was the pure effect
of his ardent love for the adorable will of God and his entire
abandonment of himself to Divine Providence. The treatment to
which he was subjected was of the most cruel kind, and may not be
inaptly compared to the torments inflicted by the savages of America
on their captured foes. First he was cupped and scarified ; lancets
were then thrust deep into his shoulders ; his limbs were not so far
paralysed but that he was acutely sensitive to pain, and, as the
surgeon gave him no intimation of what he was about to do, he
made an involuntary start, and said mildly, " I had better have been
warned ; one is not so much startled when one expects it." Accord-
ingly, a priest who was present apprized him when the operator
passed to the other shoulder, and the sufferer made no more move-
ment than if he had been an indifferent spectator ; not even a sigh
escaped him. Apprehensive of a second seizure, whenever they
saw an inclination to drowsiness out of his accustomed time for
sleep, they began tormenting him anew, snA. plied him continually
with nauseous medicines, for which he felt an extreme repugnance.
Owing to his disabled state he could take only a spoonful at a time,

,-i?*i.A^bi-\:>."^i>i:-;.'Y:*

His serenity and peace of soul.

561

and was obliged to swallow drop by drop, thus adding indefinitely
to the bitterness of the draught. Hut his patience remained un-
altered ; he smiled sweetly on all who brought him anything to take,
bidding them not to spare him, but to administer whatever was
prescribed by the physician. Unable to move, so much as to turn
on his side, he had to be fed like a child : a state of helplessness
which, far from adding to his affliction, was the source of a particular
joy to this holy man, who with fervent acts of love adored the
Infant Jesus, subject to all the feeblenesses of childhood and
receiving in perfect obedience whatever was given Him by His
Virgin Mother.

In about three weeks he was in a condition to be conveyed to
Paris, where he could have the advantage of all the advice and
attention which his case demanded. But the one desire of his heart
was to suffer in union with Jesus. *' So great was his love of the
cross to which the hand of God had fastened him," says M. de
Bretonvilliers, who, at the first news of his seizure, had hastened to
visit him, "that I saw him shed tears once when he was told that
he would recover." *' I should be too happy," he said, when asked
why he wept, " to remain on the cross for the remainder of my days,
that I might make some return to our Lord, who suffered so much
for me." The longer his sickness lasted the more did the spirit of
self-annihilation increase within him. He regarded his bed as across
on which he was to yield up his soul into the hands of his dear Master ;
and often he might be heard sighing and saying, " Ah 1 when will God
give the last stroke to the victim ? when will He give me the grace
to consummate my sacrifice ? " Incapable of making a continued
meditation, be was nevertheless able, to the astonishment of every
one, to keep himself in that interior disposition of a victim which it
had been his endeavour to preserve all through life. It seemed as
though, by a special gift of God, no effort was necessary to him ; it
was sufficient to abandon himself simply to the operations of the
Lord Jesus dwelling in him. A thousand times a day would he
adore the Divine Justice, ready to accept whatever crosses God
might be pleased to lay upon him, so only that, while His justice
afflicted him on the one hand. His goodness would uphold him on
the other ; " for without this," he said, " I should not be able to
bear them." The peace of his soul showed itself so strikiiigly in the
serenity of his countenance, that St. "Vincent de Paul, coming to see
him, remarked aside to the ecclesiastics .ho were present that it

2 N

562

Life of M. Olier.

was perfectly marvellous to see a man so full of joy under the
crushing effects of such a malady.

But soon to his bodily affliction there was added an interior cross
far heavier to bear. The light in his soul went out and he was
left in utter darkness, bereft of all joy and consolation and tormented
with a dread that he had lost the favour of God. He could no
longer speak of divine things as heretofore, and in the sadness of his
heart he would sometimes ask his confidential friends if they did not
think that our Lord and His Blessed Mother had abandoned him.
And yet, if any one had recourse to him for spiritual counsel, all his
former gifts seemed to be at once restored. The same phenomenon
had been remarked during his previous illness ; and, on Mme. Tron-
son afterwards expressing her astonishment, M. Olier had replied,
with a smile, that it was as if he had two heads, one of which was
his own and was devoid of all capacity, the other given him by God
for the service of his neighbour. So it was now in his paralytic state.
The Queen Mother, who had shown him such frequent marks of
confidence, testified the high esteem in which she held him by
coming to cee him at St. Sulpice. When she was gone, M. de Saint-
Antoine, anxious to know how he had acquitted himself at the inter-
view, asked him whether he had been able to hold any conversation
with the Princess ; to which he replied, with his wonted simplicity,
"Our Lord gave me a little something to say, just to satisfy her."
With the exception of these occasions, when for the benefit of some
soul he recovered for the time the use of his senses and mental
faculties, he could neither express himself nor attend to others
speaking to him ; and so great was the oppression ..hich he suffered
in his head that those about him apprehended a second attack of
apoplexy.

Not only was he condemned to preserve an almost unbroken
silence, but he was unable to apply his mind to anything external.
All his occupation was within. He was ever conversing interiorly
with Jesus, and the flames of divine love which devoured him were
all the more vehement because they were allowed no outward vent.
So rapid was the progress he made in sanctity and in the practice of
the sullimest virtues that he was scarcely recognisable, says M. de
Bretonvilliers, by those who were able to see something of what was
passing in the depths of his soul. These revelations were truly
marvellous. " It would take a volume," he adds, " to describe the
lights which our Lord vouchsafed him respecting the Christian

\ V.

He is ass i sled by the Blessed Virgin. 563

virtues and mysteries as well as in the understanding of passages and
figures in Holy Sciipture." The thought of our Blessed Lord and
His holy Mother was so habitually present to him that he seemed to
have Them ever before his eyes. These interior visitationu were
renewed every day, and supported him in the state of utter weakness
to which he was reduced. Such was the state of depression under
which he laboured that one day, feeling how utterly incapable his
lengthened illness rendered him, he complained in tender accents to
his Divine Master, and entreated Him to restore him to health, if
only it were for His glory, promising to employ it wholly in His
service and that of His Church. At the same instant he beheld our
Blessed Lord stooping and well-nigh bent down to earth under the
weight of a heavy cross. The sight seemed to lend him supernatural
strength and, rising from his seat, he prostrated himself on the
ground as though at the very feet of Jesus bearing the wood of sal-
vation ; then, filled with shame and confusion, he bitterly reproached
himself for his weakness and cowardice, and with a profusion of tears
besought the Lord's forgiveness for the request he had made. From
this moment he never allowed himself to desire either restoration to
health or a diminution of his pains. On the contrary, it was his joy
henceforth to see himself conformed to the sufferings of Jesus ; and,
the better to confirm himself in these dispositions, he had a picture
made representing our Blessed Lord bending under the weight of
His cross in the very manner he had seen Him. Nay, thinking that
he did not suffer enough, and desiring to make some expiation for
the weakness of which he had been guilty, he begged his doctor's
permission to renew his accustomed mortifications, and to discipline
his body on the side which was not affected with paralysis.

The Blessed Virgin, who at every epoch of his life had treated
him as one of her best loved children, did not forget him in this
extremity. Often, when some more than usually alarming symptom
made its appearance, she would assure him that he had nothing to
fear ; at length, on the feast of her Purification, a day on which this
compassionate Mother had been wont to bestow upon him some
special mark of favour, it seemed as though she laid her hand lightly
on his head, and from that moment his malady, which hitherto had
only increased in violence, began to abate, and his head was so far
relieved that he was able to resume some of his accustomed exer-
cises. Although still incapable of saying Mass, he had the happiness
of assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, and every day he received his Lord

iii

%. \ : \

564

Life of M. Olier.

in the Blessed Eucharist, which was brought to him in his own
chamber when he had not strength to go into the chapel, which was
separated from it only by a door.

M. Olier profited by this slight alleviation ^o fulfil a vow which he
had iiiade at Lc Peray, shortly before he was struck with paralysis,
of paying eight visits annually to the church of Notre Dame. This
was all ihat his enfeebled state of health i)ermitted him to do; and
he felt constrained to relinquish all the various affairs in which his
zeal had led him to engage. It was now that he resigned the office
which the Queen and Cardinal IJarbcrini had induced him to assume
in the government of the Cordeliers, at who.se Provincial Chapter it
would have been his business to preside this yeir with a view of
determining certain grave differences which had arisen in that body.
That he should thus resign into other hands the direction of the
different institutions with which he was connected can be no matter
of surprise ; ar.d the reader will therefore hardly be prepared to learn
that M. Pierre Scarron, the Bishop of Grenoble, who was far
advanced in years, chose this time, of all others, for petitioning
the Queen, through St. Vincent de Paul, to appoint M. Olier his
coadjutor ; convinced that, in spite of his great infirmities, the diocese
would derive no less benefit from the presence of such a pastor than
from the active exertions of a more efficient man. It does not
appear, however, that the Queen renewed her solicitations, or that
M. Olier was even made aware of the Bishop's design.

In the spring of the year 1654 his condition was so far improved
that his physicians again advised his having recourse to the waters of
Bourbon. Although assured that his malady would never leave him
but with death, he obeyed with all the simplicity of a child. During
his journey, which he performed by easy stages, he never let a day
pass vv^hout receiving the Holy Eucharist. As some of the inns at
which ne stayed the night were at a distance from a church, l^is
friends would have had him sometimes abstain, but he replied, in
tones that touched their very hearts, " Ah ! deprive me of everything,
so that you but leave me Holy Communion, the only consolation I
have remaining." On one occasion, during a similar journey, he was
left without this divine food, and through the whole day he remained
in a state of depression and sadness. The next day his manner was
altogether changed, and, as he was not subject to these variations,
one of the ecclesiastics who were with him could not refrain from
evincing his surprise. That morning M. Olier had communicated.

Divine aids and favours.

565

*' How is it possible not to feel joy," he said, " when one possesses
Him who is the Way, the Truth, and tlie Life!" At IJourhon he
obtained from the Capuchins a room in their monastery, close to the
chajjel, whtie he could hear Mass and communicate at such hours
as suited him. On his way he went to see the Duchesse de Mont-
morency, who (as we have said) had retired to the Convent of the
Viiiitation at Moulins. 'I hey had never met, but it may be remem-
bered that the Duchess had applied to M. Olier for counsel and aid
in tie affair of Mile, de Pones, and they now had an interview which
lasted several hours and from which each derived great edification.
On returning from the waters, he paid a second visit to the convent,
when he took occasion to deliver a short address to the community ;
and, speaking afterwards with the Superioress in private, he con-
gratulated her on having among her inmates this pious widow, whose
very countenance bore the impress of holiness and inspired a respect
quite different in kind from that which was socially due to her birth
and rank. " Even now," he said, " we see and venerate in her traits
of the sweetness and humility of that God-made-Man whose maxims
she follows and with whose spirit she is animated." This euloyium
of one who at the time was not even a postulant came to be regarded
as a prediction of the exalted virtues to which the Duchess was to
attain in a convent of which she was destined to become superioress,
and where she died in the odour of sanctity.

From the waters of Bourbon M. Olier derived but little benefit ;
nevertheless, in obedience to the advice of his physicians, he
returned to them later in this same year. Such relief as he was to
experience emanated from another and a supernatural source. While
at Moulins, being one Sunday (July 5th, 1654) in the church of the
Augustinians, he made a vow for the future to hear Mass and, if
the power were granted him, to say it for the intentions of the
Blessed Virgin; from that day his health underwent a sensible
change for the better. At Saint-Pour9ain, where he also tarried on
his way to the waters, he renewed his vow in the chapel of Notre
Dame de Briailles ; * and so pleasing to the Virgin Mother was this

* St. Poufijain, whose body still reposes in the town which bears his name,
continues to be an object of veneration in those parti. The neighbouring village
of Briailles possessed a miraculous image of Our Lady, which attracted
numerous pilgrims to the spot, particularly on tie Mondays in Easter and
Whitsun weeks, and on the i6th of August. At the lime of the Revolution the
image was destroyed, and the place has since ceased to be frequented. The
chapel is now a private dwelling.

! ■

«n>mmimr*

566

L?/e ofM. Olier.

pious act that she obtained for him a boon for which his soul longed,
that of offering the Holy Sacrifice on the feast of her Nativity, after
having been deprived of this privilege for little short of an entire
year. But these were not the only favours which the Mother of God
bestowed upon the child of her election at this time. During his
stay at Moulins she bade him pay three visits to the collegiate church
which bore her name. On the third day he beheld her descend
from heaven in unspeakable majesty, and, embracing him, she said,
" Henceforth you will be wholly mine." The sensible effects then
wrought in his soul were, perhaps, the greatest which he had ever
experienced. It seemed as if that word of the Lord was now accom-
plished which had been spoken to him at the beginning of his seizure:
" When I have reigned over you by my Cross, I will reign in you by
My Mother." It seemed, too, as if this grace was the fulfilment of
the promise which the Blessed Virgin had made him three years
before, when he was sighing and languishing to be wholly perfected
in her : ** You know not what my love is reserving for you." He
must needs be purified by the cress before enjoying this intimate
union with the Queen of Heaven. When the servant of God after-
wards revealed to his confessor this priceless boon, which was the
consummation of till his desires, his voice was well-nigh drowned in
the tears which streamed from his eyes.

Towards the end of September he returned to Paris, far more
satisfied with the interior graces with which his soul had been
enriched than if he had come back from his journey in the most
vigorous health. The hope with which he was now animated of
being able to say Mass daily filled him with abundant joy ; and, his
love of Jesus in this august mystery overcoming his reluctance even
to appear wanting in external respect, he obtained leave to celebrate
with his head covered until the Canon, as otherwise he would have
been unable to say Mass during winter. His state of infirmity pre-
vented him from taking part in any religious ceremonies, bat, on his
return from Bourbon, in order to testify his respect for Pfere Yvan,
who had died just after his first attack, he assisted at a solemn
function which was performed in his friend's behalf; and this was
probably the last occasion on which he made a public appearance in
the church of St. Sulpice. During the three years that he survived,
he was confined to his room all the winter months, unable to reach
the chapel either for Mass or for Communion, but all this time he
showed no more signs of weariness or regret at his forced inaction

His absorption in God.

567

than if his imprisonment and solitude had lasted but a day. His
consolation lay in the simple thought that obedience was better than
sacrifice : that in doing nothing, because God so willed, he was
serving Him better und pleasing Him more than if he were
labo'.iously employed, even though it were for the Divine glory anu
from the most pure intentions. Oftentimes he would say that what
God was most jealous of on the part of His creature was its absolute
dependence on His Providence. "For," he would add, "the devil
not unfrequently deceives us with a show of piety, making us long
for return of health m order that we may labour in the cause of God,
when God desires to be glorified by our infirmities and sufferings.
It is a snare of self-love, which under the pretext of doing good
seeks to gratify itself with that which is agreeable to nature, instead
of allowing itself to be led on to the pure love of God, who desires
nothing but the accomplishment of His holy will."

God, it would seem, was pleased to put away from His servant
whatever might prove the slightest hindrance to his perfect union
with Himself, by inspiring him with a distaste for everything which
might recreate or distract his mind. At tinies persons would suggest
some little employments which would give light occupation for his
hands ; but, though he thanked them for their kindness, everything
was a weariness to him which did not help to raise his heart to God ;
he could not pay it even a passing attention without a feeling of dis-
tress and pain. God, as he said to some of his most intimate friends,
seemed to have fixed a cross for him on all created things, so that,
if for a moment he sought to console himself with them, he was sure
to find it. He was given a little bird, so tame that it would sit and
eat on the table while he was taking his repast, and show its fami-
liarity in a hundred pretty ways. Like St. John with his parti Idge,
M. Olier was pleased with the little creature ; but, some one having
inadvertently opened the window, the bird flew out and never
returned. His great love for the Holy Scriptures made him esteem
it a particular happiness that God had left him the use of his eye-
sight at times when his malady permitted him to read. But, know-
ing that his sanctification was to be consummated by the loss of
everything in which he took a pleasure, he one day said. " I have
still this consolation left me ; God will deprive me of it ; " and, as
he spoke, there was a smile on his lips, and his countenance wore
an expression of peculiar contentment. If his friends took him for
an airing into the country, it was observed that his mind appeared

■

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rmmmmmmmmm'mmmm

^mm

568

Life of M. Olier.

preoccupied, and neither the fineness of the day nor the pleasant
scenery could rouse him from his apathy. When his companions
urged him to relax his mind a little, he replied, with a sweetness
which had nothing of regretful sadness in it, *' Our Lord does not
let me take pleasure in anything; I must wait till I get to Paradise."
Unable to occupy himself with prayer, or reading, or with anything
which could afford his mind the least relief, and oppressed with a
feeling of dryness and desolation, he would say, " It is the will of
our Lord that I should find pleasure in nothing; I must be content,
and submit to His appointments with a good heart." If it happened
that through inadvertence he was left alone in his room, ar^d it was
suggested that he had better have sent for one of the Community,
he would answer, ** No ; I must follow Jesus Christ, who never
sought consolation on earth. If I happen to be left alone, I wait
till our Lord puts it into some one's mind to come to me, for I
ought not to call any one away from the service of so great a
Master."'

In this condition, constrained to pass one i.o'-tiuii of the year in
his chamber and to devote the other to trying the remedies prescribed,
he regarded himself as a barren tree which deserved only to be rooted
up, and would often say, with a smile, that he knew no one who had
a head so useless as his. But none the less did he love the state he
was in, as being ordered by God for his sanctifiration. On first
resigning the charge of his parish, his intention had been to devote
himself more completely to the work of the Seminary, which he
desired to raise to the highest point of perfection. But now he
abandoned all to the Divine pleasure, saying to those who expressed
the regret they should feel at the work being left unfinished, that God
in His own time would supply what was wanting ; and add' -j that,
much as he prized the Seminary for the object it was iner' ; -rl to
fulfil, he should only rejoice at its destruction if thereby G .-• y e
ever so little glorified. But, while by this complete despoilme:.. he
work of his sanctification was being perfected, and even when he
seemed to be rendered powerless to do anything ^or God, the divine
energy with which his soul was inspired gave him strength enough to
engage in many important undertakings. Thus, although unable
himself to take any further part in the great mission of the C^vennes,
he used all his endeavours to encourage and promote it ; and it was
now, as we have seen, that at his instance the Seminary of Clermont
was founded and a successful attempt made towards solidly jstablibh-

(•;-;ii
j,^*^^^

His last pilgrimage to Le Piiy.

569

ing the house at Montreal. Nor was his undying zeal thus satisfied ;
for, besides the pious pilgrimages which he made, as health permitted,
to Notre Dame and other churches consecrated under the invocation
of our Blessed Lady and the saints, he was never weary of rendering
some act of homage to our Lord or some service to his neighbour.
Next to his fervent communings with God, his dearest pleasure was
to inspire the hearts of others with the same divine affections, and
he possessed the enviable faculty of mingling with his pious dis-
courses other and various topics which interested as much as they
edified his vi^Uors.

Every year until his death he went to Bourbon, and in the early
part of 1655, conscious that his end was approaching, he desired for
the last time to make the pilgrimage of Notre Dame du Puy.* It
was that for which, of all the holy places in France, he felt the most
attraction, as being the spot where he had been favoured with so many
graces. He called to mind also the extraordinary marks of divine
predilection which the Mbre Agn^s had there received, and gratefully
remembered the part that had been assigned her in his conversion
and vocation. So intense was his devotion, so close his union with
God, that on more than one occasion he had to be admonished to
withdraw and even, in a manner, to be removed by force from where
he knelt absorbed in prayer. Unable to be always in the church,
yet desirous of being ever so in spirit, he caused a silver statuette of
himself to be made, in the attitude of a suppliant, and deposited at
the feet of his beloved Mother. To this he added, before his de-
partuie, a rich medal of gold on which was represented the Seminary
of St. Sulpice, conjuring her to take it under her special protection
and to make all its inmates so many instruments for the glorification
of her Divine Son. He remained at Le Puy about six weeks, during
all which time he had the happiness of saying Mass in the cathedral

* This was one of the most celebrated shrines in France, and was frequented
by such vast multitudes of people as on more than one occa^^-on to lead to loss of
life. The place is still the resort of numerous pilgrims, and a colossal bronze
statue of our Blessed Lady, seventy-six feet high, was in i86o erec'^ed on the rock
called Rocher-Corneille, which stands 2,460 feet above the level of the sea. "It
represents the Blessed Virgin crushing the serpent's head under her feet, while in
her arms she bears the Divine Child, whose hand is raised as if in the act of bless-
ing France, and by un episcopal ordinance the anniversary of its erection is to be
kept in perpetuity on the first Sunday after the 12th of September." Northcote's
Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna, pp. 168, 169. In the same work will be
found an account of the shrine of Notre Dame de Chartres.

^ W

'i 4

;I5 I

570

Life of M. Olier.

every day except two, on which, however, he was not debarred
receiving communion, a consolation which he regarded as one of the
signal graces which were bestowed upon him in this pbce of benedic-
tion ; for since his seizure he had never recovered sufficient use of
his limbs to be able to offer the Holy Sacrifice so frequently. During
his stay at Le Puy he lodged at the Episcopal palace, and, having to
pass through the court on his way to the church, he never failed to
distribute alms among the numerous beggars who gathered round
him. Many a tongue blessed him as the father of the poor ; and
this was the title which greeted him wherever he went.

The order and fervour which he found prevailing in the Seminary
of Le Puy were so grateful to his heart, that he desired to profit by
his visit to place the establishment on a solid and permanent basis.
As yet it had neither house of its own nor endowment, and he now
obtained that it should be united to the parochial church of St.
George, and caused himself to be nominated Curd, a title for which,
ever since he had resigned his benefices, he seemed to have a parti-
cular esteem. In this church were preserved the relics of St. George,
Apostle and first Bishop of Le Velay, together with those of St.
Hilary of Poitiers ; but they had ceased to be the objects of popular
veneration until the servant of God, who took particular delight in
restoring to His saints the honour which is their due, caused them to
be formally authenticated and commended to the public c' :votion of
the faithful. The Bishop of Le Puy presided at the ceremony, which
took place in the presence of the clergy and judicial authorities of
the town and a vast assemblage of people.*

* According to documents existing at the time, the relics of these two saints had
been deposited 700 years before, under the altar of the church dedicated to St.
George, by the then Bishop of Le Puy. Three hundred years afterwards they
were again uncovered by the Bi'^hop, and replaced as they were found. When the
tomb was re-opened, at the instance of M. Olier, in 1655, a larg.. coffin was found,
divided into three parts. In the first part lay the bones of St. George, with a little
marble tablet, on which were inscribed the words : " Here repose the bones of
the glorious Saint George, first Bishop of Le Velay." In the second part was the
body of St. Hilary, with the exception of the head, of which only a small portion
remained. The bones were all black, as if charred wiih lire, the tradition at
Poitiers being that the body of the great Bishop had been burned. They had been
transferred to Le Puy for better security, during the wars of the middle ages, by a
Count of Poitiers, brother of the Bishop of the former town. In the third division
were the cloths in which the bodies had been found wrapped when the altar stones
were removed 400 years before, together with a box enclosing a parchment, in
which were described the circumstances of the opening and the state of the two

Instances of his humility and meekness. 571

i *.

5 of

Before quitting Le Puy, M. Oiler vished to testify his gratiiude
to all who had taken an interest in the establishment of the Seminar;-,
and especially to the Nuns 01 the Visitation, who had rendered the
directors so many kind offices that these, in tneir turn, had given
them the benefit of their ministrations. M. Olier had approved
their doing so, restricting them only from hearing the ordinary con-
fessions of the community and preaching to them in public. When
he went to take his leave and to thank the religious for their charity,
the Superioress begged him to extend his permission and remove
these restrictions. This he declined to do, giving as his reason that
it would not be profitable to the community, inasmuch as the preacher
might be tempted either to refrain from animadverting on their faults
or to have recourse to a species of flattery for fear of scandalising
people living in the world who might be present, and who would be
apt in consequence to take a disparaging view of conventual life.
As, however, she repeated her request four or five times in succession,
and continued urging fresh pleas for a relaxation of his prohibition,
he said, in a decided tone of voice, " My mother, I cannot permit
what you ask of me ; let us say no more on the subject, I pray."
The Superioress then turned the conversation, and the interview
terminated, apparently, with mutual satisfaction. The servant ot
God, however, was troubled at having answered, as he thought,
rather warmly, and, to the surprise of the priests of the Seminary,
who saw the state of excessive weakness to which he was reduced,
he expressed a w'sh to pay the nuns another visit. But greater was
the astonishment of the religious themselves, when this holy priest
began to accuse himself in the most humble terms of the disedifi-
cation he had caused them, by the manner in which he had refused
a request with which he felt unable to comply.

Among other instances of his humility the following is related.
A religious of Le Puy, in preaching to a community in that town,
had inveighed in severest terms against certain ecclesiastics whom
he did not otherwise designate, but whom his audience did not fail
to recognise as the priests of the Seminary. The confessor of the

bodies at the time. A duplicate of this document had also been deposited in the
archives of the church. At the request of the Chapter of Poitiers a bone of each
saint was subsequently conveyed in solemn procession to the church of that town,
where the precious relics are still an object of pious veneration. The portion of
skull mentioned above was formally authenticated only a few years ago by M. de
Bonald, Bishop of Le Puy, and is still preserved in the cathedral church.

i«

5/2

Life of M. Olier.

monastery, wlio was their devoted friend, was filled with indignation,
and scarcely allowed the preacher to leave the pulpit before he gave
free expression to his feelings. " I said hardly anything," answered
the other ; " if I had given them their deserts, I should have said
a great deal more : " a reply which only added fuel to the flames.
At this juncture M. Olier visited Le Puy, and the confessor, going
to see him, began eagerly to relate the whole circumstance, and to
show bow zealously he had taken the part of the Seminary.
" Monsieur," said the holy man, " will you do what I am going to
bid you ? " "You have only to speak, to be obeyed," was ihe reply.
"Then," said M. Olier, "go immediately and beg the good monk's
pardon for the way in which you have treated him." A judgment
so unexpected excited no small surprise, and the Pbre de Serres,
Guardian of the Cordeliers, did not scruple to tell M. Olier that the
preacher, so far from being the person to receive an apology, oug'nt
himself to have played the humble part and asked forgiveness.
" My father," replied the man of God, " when we have made
reparation for all the insults we have offered to the Divine Majesty,
then we may think of demanding satisfaction for ourselves."

Another incident is recorded which testifies as well to his humility
as to his spirit of meekness and forbearance. A daughter of the
Vicomte de Polignac requested M. Olier to go and see her at the
Convent of St. Catherine, where she was a nun. Her object in
sending for him was to take him to task for having sided with the
Bishop of Le Puy in a dispute that had arisen between that prelate and
her father. The louder her complaints, the more subdued and humble
became the good man's mien, who to all her reproaches answered
not a word. On his return to the Seminary he deemed it prudent,
for the guidance of the directors, to acquaint M. de Saint-Antoine
with what had occurred ; and this he did with the utmost tender-
ness and charity, adding that he had not liked to let the aggrieved lady
know that the Vicomte de Polignac was a relative of his own.

On quitting Le Puy he passed through the village of Langeac, for
the purpose of visiting, for the last time, the remains of the Mfere
Agnbs. In this pilgrimage he was accompanied by MM. de Breton-
villiers, d'Hurtevent, de Lantages, and Le Breton. Already, in 1652,
at the time of the establishment of the Seminary of Le Pu)', he had,
with permission of the ordinary, caused the tomb to be opened, and
had possessed himself of a portion of her relics. He now obtained
leave to transfer the holy body to a new and more suitable deposi-

Instance of his considerate kindness.

tory. As he entered the inclosure, supporting himself with difficuhy
on his staff, he said with a smile to the Mfere des Cinq-Plaies, then
Prioress, " You see how I am : it is the Mfere Agnfes who has done
me this good turn ; " meaning that she had been faithful to her
promise of obtaining crosses for him. On beholding once more the
precious remains of one who was now in the company of Jesus
and His saints, he experienced an interior joy far surpassing any he
had felt during their converse together on earth ; and, as he looked
again on that right hand which had disciplined her body with such
holy courage, his thirst for mortification and penance became more
burning than ever. On leaving he bestowed numerous gifts upon
the community, and, among the rest, a monstrance and a silver
chalice, the latter of which is still religioi ly preserved among the
treasures of the convent.

From Langeac the servant of God returned to Bourbon, and, hav-
ing made a second sojourn at the waters, as prescribed by his
physicians, again retired to his chamber at St. Sulpice. There he
remained until the August of the following year, when he repaired
again to ^ourbon for the last time. During all those long months
of solitude and suffering he applied himself, as strength permitted, to
promote the glory of God by continuing the publication of his
writings and holding pious conversations with those who came to
visit him ; his patience and perfect submission to the will of God
creating a powerful impression on all who witnessed it. In the
spring of 1656 he profited by the fine weathir to perform two
pilgrimages which he had promised to God : that of Notre Dame
des Anges, near the chateau d'Avron, for which he had a particular
devotion, and that of Ste. Fare,* in the diocese of Meaux. It was
seldom that he was able to pay visits in Paris, his paralytic state
preventing him, except with great difficulty, from reaching the
apartments of those whom he wished to see. One da}', however,
being desirous to pay this civility to the Prior of the Carthusians,
whose house was near, it was necessary to carry him from the coach
to the Father's cell. A passer-hy kindly lent his services, and the
servant of God, observing that he seemed to be in want, inquired of
the ecclesiastic who accompanied him whether he had any money
about him, and, finding that he had a few crowns, he took one and

* The remains of this saint were preserved in tlie Abbey of Farremoutiers, a
little village of La Erie. They are still the object of popular veneration,
particularly on the loth of May.

(»

,i 1

'I *

*.^.-' 4-*r (J.^i.

574

Life of M. Olier.

gave it to the man ; and then, reflecting that the coachman had
equally assisted, he ask'^d for another crown and handed 't to him,
saying that as he had shared the trouble he was entitled to the same
recompense. Even this little act of thoughtful kindness is worthy of
mention, ^.s showing the generous nature of the man and his tender
regard for the feelings of others.

As his end approached it was observed that his thoughts ran
constantly on the subject of the Resurrection, a mystery for which
he had always felt a peculiar attraction. He had a picture of it
hung up in his room, and one day, enfeebled as he was, he placed
himself on his knees before it, and remained in that posture for a full
hour absorbed in prayer. At last his attendant begged him not to
fatigue himself any longer, and helped him to rise. " Ah ! " replied
the holy man, " how can one feel fatigue while contemplating this
mystery ? " From time to time he might be heard crying, *' O dear
Eternity, thou art not far off;" then, taking his own hand, he would
add, " Body of sin, thou wilt soon be rottenness ! " A priest, with
the view of diverting his mind, once began telling him the news of
the day, but M. Olier stopped him, saying, "This does not taste of
Eternity." The one desire of his heart was to go and enjoy the
presence of God. He often implored to be freed from the chains of
the body j and on Easter Day, in particular, he earnestly besought
the Holy Virgin to call him to herself, that with her and all the
company of the blessed he might celebrate the Resurrection of her
Divii .: Son in heaven. But it was God's will that he should suffer
yet awhile, and he offered himself without ceasing as a victim desirous
of living only in order to die a daily death on the cross to which
he was fastened. " If I could produce as much fruit by suffering as
by preaching," he once said, " I should prefer the way of suffering,
because I should thereby give more to God." Indeed, his thirst for
suffering seemed only to be equalled by his longing desire to behold
the Face of God. One day that a dose was brought him, the very
smell of which was enough to create disgust, he sipped it slowly, drop
by drop, without betraying the least repugnance ; and when some
one expressed surprise at his doing so, he strove to disguise his act
of mortification by replying that he did not know what it tasted like.
If any one pitied his condition, he would say, " It is nothing ; Jesus
endured far more ; and what happiness, what joy, to suffer something
for love of Him 1 " His excessive weakness incapacitating him for
continued application of the mind to God, it was necessary from time

His last instructions and admotiitions. 575

to time to divert his thoughts to otlier things. He would try and
second his friends* endeavours ; but in a few moments, as though
transported out of himself, he would renew his heavenly aspirations,
which sometimes found their expression in such ejaculations as the
following : " Oh, how faint and feeble is love on earth ! how full it
is of self-interest and self-seeking ! O my God, — the misery of seeing
oneself in such a state ! Let us sigh for Heaven, the only place of
true and solid love ! O land of love, how dear art thou to tiie heart
which longs to love ! Thou alone canst satisfy the poor soul, which
here below is stifled with its ardent desires of loving."

Yet, great as was the joy with which he contemplated the near
approach of death, his tender consideration for the priests of his
community had made him refrain from speaking of it. But, on
the first day of Lent, 1657, when alone with M. de Bretonvilliers,
he said, " We must make our preparations ; for soon we shall see
each other no more ; at Easter we must part." He then designated
that ecclesiastic as his successor in the government of the house,
and every day held long conversations with him on the direction
of seminaries, the spirit that ought to pervade them, and the rules
necessary to be followed. M. de Bretonvilliers committed these
instructions to writing, and it was from them that M. Tronson, in
1678, drew up the regulations for the use of superiors and directors
of provincial seminaries.

Jesus dying naked on the cross, abandoned by all, was ever
before his eyes; and the nearer he came to his last hour the
stronger grew his desire to deprive himself of every human satis-
facticn, even of a spiritual kind. There was one friend from whose
conversation he derived particular comfort, but for a month before
his death he ceased asking him to come and see him. His friend
felt the change, and inquired the cause. " My child," he answered,
" I shall soon die ; I wish, therefore, to strip myself of everything,
and to have no longer any consolation in this world. I would look
only to that which I hope for from the Divine Mercy in a blessed
eternity."

Lent was drawing to a close, and the man of God, as was after-
wards remembered, seemed to know that the hour of his departure
was at hand. A person of distinction, who was under his direction,
told him he wished to make his confession to him, and would
choose such time as should be least inconvenient. "Let it be
before Easter Sunday, then," he said. As another person, also

i ■

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576

Life of M, Olier.

under his direction, was leaving the room, M. Olier turned and
bade him farewell, at the same time giving him his blessing un-
perceived, a thing he was not in the habit of doing to visitors. On
the morning of the 26th of March, being Monday in Holy Week,
while getting out of bed, he was seized with a trembling in all his
limbs, and had another paralytic stroke, without, however, losing
consciousness. This was at Issy, to which place he had gone in
order, as he said, to prepare for death ; but it was deemed advisable
to move him again to Paris. From this time it was observed that
he had lost the recollection of almost everything except what
related to God. On the Thursday, a person coming to see him,
M. Olier received him with a more than usual tenderness of manner,
and disclosed to him certain secrets of his conscience which he
could have known only by an interior revelation. On the same
day he gave some excellent instructions to one of the directors of
the Seminary, both for his own guidance and for that of the house,
exhorting him expressly never to act from motives of human prudence,
but always in the simplicity of faith. He ended by saying that he
died with the perfect assurance that God would preserve the Seminary,
for that it was His own work, and he left it with confidence in the
hands of the Blessed Virgin, who had ever shown herself its power-
ful protector. About the same time, when announcing his speedy
departure, he bade certain of his ecclesiastics be prepared soon to
follow him. M. Blanlo, hearing his beloved master ask who
amongst those present wished to make the journey of eternity,
answered blithely, **I do." "Then begin your preparation," said
the holy man. That very day M. Blanlo was obliged to take to his
bed, and he died before the servant of God was buried. Several
others, who were located in different dioceses, followed in rapid
succession, and under circumstances so remarkable that it was a
general belief at St Sulpice that their deaths were a special grace
accorded to the prayers of God's servant, who, on quitting the world,
desired to take with him before the throne of God a few choice
members of his spiritual family.

On Holy Saturday some one begged M. Olier to remember him
when he had entered into glory, and at the same time let fall some
expressions of admiration. " Ah," replied the dying man in a tone
of poignant sorrow,' " what you say pierces me to the heart." These
were the last words he ever uttered. Shortly after, it being nine
o'clock in the morning, he suddenly lost the power of speech,

W.'.-J5iVi^''''j'-«^'-'-

SL Vincent present at his death.

577

grace

:r him

some

I tone

These

nine

eech,

which he never after recovered. About noon he fell into a pro-
found lethargy, and, as he had already received the Holy Viaticum,
it was thought well not to defer giving him Extreme Unction. While
it was being administered he regained perfect possession of his
senses. It was a beautiful and touching sight to see him : s he lay,
the expression of his eyes, which were raised to heaven, an.1 of his
whole countenance showing the tranquillity which reigned in his
soul and its entire absorption in the thought of God. In this
extremity his zeal for the honour of Mary was still conspicuous ;
for, unable to speak, he intimated by signs, to one who stood near,
his wish that the decorations of the chapel designed to illustrate
her glories should be completed without delay.

During all that night his frequent stupors caused renewed alarm ;
but he returned to himself, and, seeing near his bed one who had
always enjoyed his especial confidence, he embraced him affec-
tionately, as though to bid him a last farewell. In the morning of
Easter Day, when his dangerous condition became known, many
of the parishioners came to see him, whom he silently greeted with
looks of tender courtesy which betokened at once his gratitude for
their charity and his own inward peace. But at three o'clock in
the afternoon he again lost consciousness, so that, when visited
shortly after by the Archbishop of Bourges, the Prince de Conti,
and other persons of rank, he was not even aware of their presence
in his chamber. However, he or-e more rallied and lay in the
same state as before, still unable to articulate, till the next day,
which was to be the last of his life. And now this saint-like man
was to have the happiness of being conducted to the verge of
eternity by one whom the Church wi«^^> authoritative voice has pro-
nounced to be a saint. St. Vincent de Paul, who had held frequent
converse with him during his illness, on learning the state to which
he was reduced, hastened to his succour, and it was under the eyes
of this angel-guardian, to whose aid he had so often had recourse
during life, that he rendered up his soul to its Creator, about a
quarter past five in the afternoon, on Monday in Easter week, being
the 2nd day of April, the feast of St. Francis of Paula. His
biographer, M. Baudrand declares that he retained his senses to
the last, and that the loving transports of his sopl never ceased till
they found their perfect fruition in the bosom of God. M. Olier
died aged forty-eight years, six months, and twelve days.

Abelly, in his Life of St. Vincent, testifies to the singular venera-

2 o

578

Life of M, Olier,

tion which that great apostle of charity entertained for the founder
of St. Sulpice,* and Collet, another biographer, relates that the Saint,
during the three years he survived, was in the constant habit of in-
voking him, as indeed he himself mentions in a letter addressed to
M. Olier's niece, MMe. d'Aubray, in July, i66o; that is to say, two
months before he .vent to join his friend in the kingdom of eternal
bliss. St. Vincent continued to maintain intimate relations with the
priests of St. Sulpice after the deat.i of M. Olier; and to M. de
Bretonvilliers we are indebted for a fragment of the touching address
which the Saint deUvered with the view of comforting them in their
bereavement and encouraging them to continue the work which
their holy founder had begun. "Witnessing as I do, my dear
brethren," he said, " the affliction in which you are plunged by the
death of your beloved father, would that I could restore him to you
and dry your tears. But, as I am unable to restore him to you alive
in the body, I have thought that I ought to present to you his spirit,
which is the better part of him. His body has been consigned to
earth, Heaven has received his soul ; his spirit is still yours ; and,
if God has judged him worthy of a pla'''^ in Paradise with His angels,
you ought not to deem him unwo of a place in your hearts.
Gladly will he have quitted his boc, nis spirit can but dwell in
you : this was all he desired, all he wished for during life ; and now
that he is dead you can satisfy his desire. It was said in the Law
that if a man died without children, his brother should raise up seed
to him.t Your father, whom, considering his age, I may also call
your brother, is dead, so to say, without children, seeing the great
desire he had of converting the whole world and sanctifying the
clergy. He has bequeathed to you his spouse, this holy house,
which he acquired by his blood, by his death, having died in his
efforts to give it life. Raise up children to him, by publishing abroad
the knowledge of Jesus, and obtaining for him, if possible, as many
servants as there are men, and giving him as many holy sacrifices as
there are priests in the Church. * Fac secundum exemplar quod tibi in
monte monstratum est.^ " %

* The Abb^ Faillon, at the end of his third volume, gives a chapter from
Abelly's " Life of St. Vincent de Paul" not published in the work itself, on the
relations that subsisted between the Saint and M. Olier.

+ Deut. XXV. 5.

X " Make it according to the pattern that was shown thee in the mount."^
Exod. xxv. 40.

t.;*\"jt£."%-%.*r- .

Cross imprinted on his forehead.

579

It was St. Vincent who p- csided at the assembly which was held,
on the 13th of April, for the purpose of choosing M. Olicr's suc-
cessor. This he did in the name and by the authority of the Abbt'
dc St. Germain, as ecclesiastical superior. But, as need hardly be
said, there was no matter for deliberation ; M. de Ilretonvillicrs, whom
the servant of God had designated for the office, being elected at once
and by a perfect unanimity of votes. St. Vincent, too, was the first
to affix his signature to the act of election, which was drawn up and
witnessed by the public notaries, as was customary at that time.

For three days the body of the holy man lay exposed to view, in
his priestly vestments, in the chapel of the Seminary, where it was
visited by crowds eager to satisfy their devotion and obtain the
benefit of his prayers. Some might be seen kneeling at his feet,
humbly recommending themselves to his remembrance ; others
soliciting or, without waiting to solicit, appropriating something that
had belonged to him, or touching the venerated remains with their
rosaries and medals. His countenance, as he lay, looked so beauti-
ful and calm, that > the spectators it seemed as though he had but
sunk into a gentle slumber. About the time of his departure the
event was notified in a dream to a devout person, living at some
distance from Paris, who had been united to the man of God in the
bonds of a holy friendship. He appeared clothed in a purple robe,
and by his side was a radiant figure, which said, " He is a martyr,
and more than a martyr." Some years before his death there had
been observed on his forehead the print, as it were, of a red cross, a
sign, for so it was regarded by all, of the predilection shown to this
mortified soul by the Father of Mercies and of his conformity to
Jesus Crucified. During his last illness he had taken pains to con-
ceal this favour from the eyes of his friends, bur not with entire
success ; and one of those who were most frequently with him, M.
de la P^rouse, perceiving that one arm of this cross, which seemed
to spring from the midst of a heart in flames, was imperfectly formed,
once said to him, "Father, your cross has only one arm." "My
chila,*' answered the sick man, " that is because my cross is not yet
finished ; " meaning that he had still much to suffer. M. de Breton-
villiers, who wished to ascertain the truth, deposes that on the second
or third day after M. Olier's death he saw this cross distinctly marked
upon his forehead, and that many others were also eye-witnesses
of the fact

58o

Life of M. Olier.

On the 5 th of April, the body, aft<»r being embalmed and placed
in a leaden coffin, which was inclosed in one of oak, was borne to
the parish church of St. Salpice, all the Cur^s of Paris, with more
than two hundred other ecclesiastics, assisting at the obsequies in
surplice and stole \ and on the 9th was celebrated another solemn
function, in which all the clergy of the Seminary and of the Com-
munity took part, in the presence of a large concourse of the
parishioners. M. de Maupas, Bishop of Le Puy, preached the
funeral sermon, in which he likened the deceased to King David,
who had made war on the enemies of God's people and subdued
them by the might of his virtues, his prudence, and his zeal for God,
no less than by his magnanimity and courage. Nor did he fail to
recount that instance of his generous abnegation which has been
mentioned in this narrative. " I knew a Bishop," he said, striking
his j-east, to signify that it was himself of whom he spoke, — "I
knew a Bishop who besought him, even on his knees and with
uplifted hands, to accept his bishopric, and could not succeed in
gaining his consent" Space forbids our transferring to these pages
the panegyrics in French and Latin, in prose and verse, of which
this great pastor was the thenje; we must content ourselves with
citing the few simple words in which St- Vincent de Paul reported
to his Priests of the Mission the eulogium passed upon him at a
Conference of St. Lazare which took place a few days after his
decease. "The ecclesiastics," he said, "who assembled here on
Tuesday last took as the subject of their conference the special
virtues which they had severally observed in M. Olier, who belonged
to their society; and, among other things which were mentioned,
the one they accounted most remarkable was that this great
servant of God was always disposed to speak disparagingly of hiin-
self, and that of all the virtues the one he particularly cultivated was
humility."

The body was deposited, temporarily, in the upper chapel of the
Seminary, under a mausoleum of wood covered with black velvet ;
but in the year 1684 the then Superior, M. Tronson, in fulfilment
of M. Bretonvilliers's last will and testament, caused it to be laid in
the ground in the centre of the lower chapel, which was at the same
time paved with black and white marble. This was deemed more
consonant with the simplicity which the Seminary, like its founder,
always affected than would have been a raised monument of greater
pretension. A slab over the tomb bore the following inscription : —

Inscription on his tomb.

Fugnant alibi mnerores et gaudia,

Hue conspirant,

Ubi suo Christua triumphat in milite,

Ubi Sacerdos Apostolicus jncet,

Joannes-Jacobus Olier,

Pastor Sancti Sulpitii, Seminarii institutor,

Fundator et primus Superior ;

Quern suspexit Lutetia

In animi simpiicitate prudentem,

In cordis humilitate magnanimum,

In operationis suavitate potentem.

In hoc suburbio

Suis Babylonem sudoribus curavit,

Clerum suis in Gallia provocavit exemplis,

Ncvi orbis saluti suo zelo providit,

Semiiiariorum tandem erectionci

Scriptis et verbi energia,

Clericalis ubique splendorem dignitatis

Mirifice propagavit ;

Turn diuturnse morbo paralysis

Christo confixus cruci,

Dum Superioris munus obiret,

Parisiis obiit anno Domini 1657, setatis 48.

581

Sorrow and joy, elsewhere opposed,

Here find themselves united,

Where Christ triumphs in His champion,

Where lies that Apostolic priest,

Jean-Jacques Olier,

Pastor of St. Sulpice,

Institutor, founder, and first superior of the Seminary.

In him Paris revered a man

Wise in simplicity of soul.

Magnanimous in humility of heart,

Mighty in suavity of word and work.

In this suburb

By his pastoral toils he healed another Babylon,

By his example provoked to emulation the clergy of France,

By his zeal promoted the salvation of the new world.

By the erection of seminaries,

By his writings, and by his powerful preaching,

He everywhere wonderfully increased

The splendour of the clerical dignity.

At length, by disease of lingering paralysis,

Fastened with Christ to the cross,

He died at Paris,

While still discharging his office of Superior,

Id the year of the Lord 1657 and of his age the 48 ih.

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5^2

Life of M. Olier.

His heart was preserved in a silver casket, on which were engraved
the monogranis of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, encircled with flames ; and
in another vase of the same material was inclosed his tongue. These
two portions of the mortal remains of their holy founder are all that
have been left to the Seminarists of St. Sulpice. In the evil days of
1 795, the coffin was carried away for the sake of the lead and its con-
tents were thrown into some neighbouring cemetery, notwithstanding
all the precautions that had been taken by the then Superior, M.
Emery, to prevent the desecration. As some sort of compensation
(observes the pious biographer of M. Olier), the Seminary possesses
the remains of another disciple of Pere de Condren, the Cardinal de
B^ruUe,* who, as institutor of the French Oratory, was the first to
labour for an object which to M. Olier it was given to realize, and
which the Society he founded continues at this day with unrenratting
energy to fulfil.

* At the end of the year 1793, the body of Cardinal de B^rulle was secretly
conveyed from tlie Rue St. Honore to the hdtel of M. Amable-Pierre-Thomas de
B^rulle, formerly President of the Parliament of Grenoble, where it remained till
1840, when, on the 21st of August in that year, M. Gamier being Superior of St.
Sulpice, it was transported processionally to the chapel of the Seminary and there
deposited. Kaussage, Vie du Cardinal de BMtlle, vol. iii. pp. 51 1-5 13.

•V, T- ■, -r ■.

( 583 )

CHAPTER II.

SUPERNATURAL GIFTS AND GRACES.

MBAUDRAND, vho was M. Olier's fourth successor in the
• pastoral charge of St. Sulpice, has left the following descrip-
tion of his personal appearance. " He was of middle height, with
a distinguished air and an easy carriage. His complexion was of
the sanguine order, and he was delicately constituted, although he
would have been by no means deficient in strength and vigour if he
had not impaired his health by his fasts, long watchings, and severe
penances. He was fair, with a rather florid colour, a full face, an
aquiline nose, and a broad, smooth forehead. His eyes were
bright, and there was a fire in them tempered with an engaging
sweetness. The whole expression was refined and intelligent, his
mouth of moderate size, his lips red ; he had a good voice, the
tones silvery and flexible ; his utterance was distinct and agreeable ;
his gesture, while expressive of devotion, was perfectly natural, and
gave effect to an eloquence that was both manly and elevated, and
so captivating that, at once and without effort, he delighted the mind
and won the heart. To sum up this description, he had handsome,
regular features and a pleasing countenance, to whirh was added an
air of so much grace, majesty, and modesty that it was impossible to
approach him without conceiving sentiments of esteem and respect,
and having one's heart raised to God. His intellect," adds M.
Baudrand, "was quick, ardent, and penetrating, rapid in its con-
ceptions, and endowed with a large capacity for the acquisition of
knowledge. The lights which were divinely communicated to him
in prayer were of a far higher order than those which he had acquired
by his own labour. To hear him expatiating on the deepest
mysteries of our religion, would have seemed to you like listening,
not to a man living an ordinary life on earth, but to a St. Paul rapt
to the third heaven or a St. John the Evangelist prophesying in his

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584

Life of M. Olier.

desert. Not only were his conceptions most sublime, but he had
the gift of expressing them with so much brilliancy, clearness, and
grace that you could not fail to recognize in them something more
than human."

Of his marvellous force of eloquence several proofs have incident-
ally been given in the preceding pages, but it deserves a mention
among those extraordinary graces some account of which remains to
be presented to the reader. Of these none was more remarkable
than his gift of reading the secrets of men's hearts and foretelling
the future, of which M. de Bretonvilliers says that he witnessed
innumerable instances, as well in his own person as in that of others.
One day, in particular, when he was walking with him in the Rue
des Canettes, they met a person who, in conversation, concealed
something from him. M. Olier at once told him of it, to the other's
great astonishrhent ; and on M. de Bretonvilliers askir , him after-
wards how he had become acquainted with a circumstance of which
he could not possibly have had any previous knowledge, he made
this reply : " All things are visible in God, and with a far greater
clearness than they can be seen in themselves." M. Leschassier has
rendered the same testimony. " He could see into the very bottom
of the heart," he writes, "and often told persons, still living, of
thoughts they had had which they had never communicated to any
human being, and which from their very nature he could not have
inferred by any process of natural reasoning."

Brother John of the Cross, who was charged with the distribution
ot alms in the parish, has left a similar attestation in writing. For
six months he was tormented with a dread that he had intruded
himself into an office to which God had not called him ; that all his
exertions in behalf of the bashful poor were the effect of mere habit ;
and that, if he would save his soul, he must abandon his present
employment and take to manual labour. His interior distress was
so great that his health was affected to a degree which excited remark,
and M. Olier's attention was directed to the fact. The servant of
God sent for him, and before the other could utter a word thus
addressed him : " Are you to be for ever the sport of the devil ? Do
not listen to him ; he is a lying spirit, who wants to make you quit
the work which God has set you to do. Is it not true that for some
time past you have had no sentiment of devotion towards God ? I
know very well what it is that afflicts you : you think that God has
not called you to the service of the poor ; but I tell you in His name

His gift of reading hearts.

5S5

that it is His will you should thus employ yourself; yes, I assure you
in the most positive manner ; never doubt it again." In an instant,
as he himself deposes, his mind was at rest : it was filled with calm-
ness and peace, and he never a.ter experienced the slightest tempta-
tion on the subject.

On several occasions the man of God reminded persons of secret
acts of mortification which they were in the habit of practising, but
for some reason or other had deferred or omitted. " It is not
enough," he said, " to do the things that God requires of us ; we
must do them at the time prescribed to us." M. de Breton villiers
relates an instance of a person who had made a promise to God
which he gradually ceased fulfilling. To his astonishment, M. Olier
one day reproached him, with tears in his eyes, for his infidelity, and
at the same time showed an intimate acquaintance with other parti-
culars the knowledge of which he had supposed to be confined to his
own breast. Throwing himself at the feet of the servant of God, he
confessed his fault and lost no time in repairing his omission.
Another who had been consulted on an affair of some importance
under an engagement of secrecy wished to have M. Olier's advice in
the matter, but was met with the objection that to suggest anything
to the purpose it was necessary to be made acquainted with the
exact facts of the case. On the other replying that he was not at
liberty to speak more particularly, the holy man made two or three
turns in his room, then, as A he had received the requisite instruc-
tions, he entered into the whole circumstances of the case, and gave
his advice accordingly. After a conference, in which he had spoken
to his clergy on the subject of poverty, one of them retired in much
distress of mind, not feeling in himself the heart to aspire to a per-
fection so difficult. "Ah, Monsieur," said M. Olier to him shortly
after, "this poverty causes you a great deal of trouble;" and he
began forthwith to tell him all that had been passing within him.

A young lady of rank had resolved, after much prayer to God, to
become a Carmelite nun. Through the assistance of M. Olier, who
was her director, every obstacle had been overcome and arrange-
ments were being made for her reception, when she was suddenly
assailed by a most violent temptation. While walking with a friend
in the promenade called the Cours, the enemy of souls displayed so
vividly before her imagination the delights and splendours of the
world that she persuaded herself that she had no vocation for the
religious life, and even doubted whether she would continue to take

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586

Life oj M. Olier.

M. Olier as her spiritual guide. But the illusion was not to be of
long duration. The next day she received a message from the ser-
vant of God to the effect that he had an important piece of advice to
give her. She went at once, and scarcely were the first salutations
over when he astounded her by saying, " The question, my child, is
not whether you can save your soul as well in the world as in
religion, but whether you would be doing the will of God and ful-
filling His designs regarding you. Go, go," he added ; " there is no
time to lose." He then repeated in detail, and with the most perfect
exactness, all that had been passing in her mind ; and so profoundly
was she moved by this proof of his marvellous discernment that on
the very next day she entered the Carmelite convent. Her vocation
proved to be a true and solid one, and for seventeen years she
practised all the austerities of her rule with fidelity and fervour.

The following is an instance of a different kind. A priest had
under his direction a person who was supposed to have arrived at the
highest degrees of perfection, and whom he looked upon as quite a
saint in the matter of revelations and other extraordinary graces.
One night he dreamed that he saw M. Olier, who warned him that his
penitent was deceiving him, and exposed all her cheats and impos-
tures. On awaking he thought no more of the matter ; but great
was his surprise when, chancing to meet M. Olier a few months
afterwards, the man of God, as if he wished to confirm what he had
previously described in detail, bade him in general terms beware of
the person in question. It was not long before the priest acquired a
perfect knowledge of all the arts which the miserable creature had
practised upon him, and found them to be exactly and in all parti-
culars such as had been communicated to him in his dream.*

The secret influences which this saintly man exercised over other
holy souls were not amo'"g the least astonishing of his supernatural

* The thought-reading which is being practised by experts at the present day
differs essentially from that which is here ascribed to M. Olier, and which has been
so frequently exhibited by saints and saintly persons, in that it is confined to
things which may be said to lie on the surface of the mind and of which the
imagination or the senses are cognisant. It does not extend to purely intellectual
acts or to the designs and intents of the heart. St. Teresa, in her writings,
more than once alludes to the limits within which the devil has power to read the
thoughts, as contradistinguished from those inner regions of the soul to which he
has no access ; but our modem thought-readers do not appear as yet to have got
beyond the perception of some bare material fact as imaged in the mind of the
subject, or the merest superficial impressions.

His power of relieving mental su ^e rings. 587

gifts. So many examples have been incidentally given in the course
of this history that one in addition may here suffice. The Mbre de
St. Gabriel, Superioress of the Nuns of La Misdricorde at Paris,
relates that frequently, while conversing with him or merely being in
his presence, she experienced such powerful impressions of divine
grace that, not only for the time but for a month afterwards, her only
desire was to be separated from creatures that she might occupy her-
self with God alone. It not unfrequently happened that these effects
lasted till she saw him again, when they would be renewed with such
abundance and intensity that at times she was unable to utter a word.
She adds that, after speaking to him, she found herself delivered
from habitual imperfections of which she had not said a word to him,
and which she had made no particular efTort to overcome.

The power he possessed of relieving mental suffering was no less
wonderful. Sometimes he would tell persons so afflicted to go to
such or such a church and beg our Lady's blessing, and they found
themselves perfectly delivered. Mile, de Roguee, who afterwards
became a Sister of Christian Instruction and eventually Superioress
of the house, has left a v/ritten attestation of what happened to her-
self. For five or six months she endured interior trials of the most
distressing kind : feelings of rebellion against God, thoughts against
faith, temptations of every kind. She began to despair of her sal-
vation, and fell into a state of melancholy and despondency, the
more strange and inexplicable that hitherto she had enjoyed the
sweets of a most tender and sensible devotion. Nothing could
afford her consolation, and her confessor was powerless to assist her.
While in this miserable condition, she was taken to the Seminary by
Mile, de Richelieu, who wished to consult M. Olier on business of
her own. Another lady also accompanied her. When the interview
was over. Mile, de Rogude went to beg his blessing, and he asked her
whether she wished to devote herself to the service of the Lord.
She replied that she had long had a desire to do so, but had not as
yet made a beginning. Then, lool:ing earnestly at her, he said, " My
daughter, I should wish to speak to you in private ; when I am able
to see you I will let you know." A few days later, he sent her word to
come and see him at Issy, where he then was, and, acting on the advice
of her confessor, she resolved to tell him all she suffered. But for this
M. Olier gave her no opportunity ; he began speaking of the interior
of Mary,* and of the ways of honouring it As he spoke his words

* See supra, page 435.

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588

Life of M. Olicr.

seemed to ravish her heart, and the sufferings under which she had
been so long labouring ceased as completely as if (to use her own
expressions) they had been removed bodily, and the peace and joy
of the blessed had been put in their place. She so utterly forgot
them that she went away without saying a word on the subject ; nay,
for several months she had no present recollection of what she had
endured, and the distressing feelings never returned. In their stead
she experienced a love of our Lord and His holy Mother and an
interior joy such as it was impossible to describe. He bade her tell
no one but her confessor what he had said to her, but to go to our
Lady's altar at St. Sulpice and make an offering of herself to that
good Mother. " As I returned," she says, " I was so absorbed in the
thought of what I had heard that my friends could not extract a
word from me ; my happiness was almost too great to bear ; my feet
seemed not to touch the ground, and my companions had difficulty
in keeping up with me. What astonished me most was that our
blessed Father said nothing to me about my sufferings, and yet I was
delivered instantaneously. What I have here written," she adds, " is
so true in every particular that I am ready to sign it with my
blood.'

After such proofs of his power in the matter of spiritual infirmities
it need cause no surprise to be told that this holy priest possessed
also the gift of healing bodily diseases. The Mbre de St. Gabriel
was afflicted with a spitting of blood, for which all remedies had
proved unavailing. M. Olier, going to see her, found her in such a
state of debility that she had been obliged to take to h tx bed. " My
daughter," he said to her with all simplicity, " I will not have you
spit blood any more ; I forbid you doing it." On the instant the
disorder ceased, and during the eighteen years that had elapsed up
to the time when she made her deposition, it had never once
returned. M. Olier has himself recorded the following. M. de
Villars, who became Archbishop of Vienne, was seized, while a
student at St. Sulpice, with what appeared to be a mortal illness.
The physicians gave him up, but, writes the man of God, "our
Lord said to me, * I will restore him to you \ ' and so it really came
to pass, the physicians themselves regarding it as a miracle." Many
similar instances are related in his Mtmoires ; the sick whom he
visited finding themselves cured while he was speaking to them
although he had not asked God to restore them to health. Upon
which he says, with that piety and humility which distinguished

Miraculous cure of Mile. Manse,

589

him, " This shows me how little part the ministers of Jesus Christ
have in the operations of His goodness and power, seeing that He
produces the most holy effects by means of those who are most
imperfect and most unholy, waiting for neither their concurrence
nor their desire." The numerous cures which were wrought by
his prayers, or, as it seemed, by his mere presence, inspired the
sick of the parish with such an extraordinary confidence in his power
to succour them, that many thought themselves sure of recovering
if once they were recommended to his assistance ; and this confi-
dence, it nee ' scarcely be said, was in no way diminished after his
death. A few extracts will here be made from the mass of authentic
declarations, the originals of which are preserved in the Seminary
of St. Sulpice.

Mile. Manse, of whom we have already heard in connection
with the colony of Montreal, broke her arm by a fall on the ice,
and through the unskilful n ess of the surgeons, who set the limb but
did not perceive that the thumb was dislocated, she entirely lost
the use of her hand. After nearly two years of much suffering she
returned to France for the purpose of obtaining the best advice,
and at the same time expediting the departure of the Hospitalibres
of La Flfeche, who had been prevented leaving for Canada by want
of funds, and also by the opposition of certain persons in power, who
wished to substitute another community in their place. Unable to
travel alone, or even to dress herself, sht was accompanied on her
voyage by the Soeur Bourgeois, who has left a circumstantial account
of the whole case. On reaching Paris, the friends of Mile. Manse
called in the aid of the most experienced surgeons of the capital, but,
after trying various measures, they one and all declared that the
recovery of the limb was perfectly hopeless ; and for eighteen months
she employed no remedies whatever. Submitting to what she
believed to be the will of God, she directed all her thoughts to the
affair of the Hospitalibres, although there appeared but small pros-
pect of being able to procure from the charity of the faithful the
necessary funds for their establishment. However, she had a
desire to visit the chapel in which lay the body of M. Olier, for
whom she entertained a great veneration, not with any view of
obtaining a cure, but simply to honour one whom she regarded as
a saint of God, and to obtain the benefit of his prayers for the
accomplishment of a work in which he had taken special interest
when alive. She went accompanied by the Soeur Bourgeois, and

W if

590

Life of M. Olicr.

the day she chose was the feast of the Purification (1659), a mystery
for which she knew that M. Olier had a particular devotion. The
account of what followed shall be given in her own words.

"As I was on the point of entering the chapel in which his body
reposes, the thought came into my mind to beg of God, by the
merits of His servant, that He would be pleased to grant me a little
strength and relief in my arm, that I might have the use of it for the
most necessary things, as dressing myself and arranging our altar
at Montreal. * O my God,' I said, ' I ask not for a miracle, for I
am unworthy of it, but for a little relief, and that I may have the
use of my arm.' As I entered the chapel a gush of joy came over
me, so extraordinary that I never experienced anything like it in
my life. My heart was so full ihp^ I have not words to express
what I felt ; my eyes were like two unfailing fountains of tears ; and
all this was accompanied with so much sweetness that I felt as
though I were wholly dissolved in tenderness, without any effort or
exertion on my part to excite in myself emotions to which I arn not
naturally disposed. I can only express it by saying that it was an
effect of the great pleasure I felt at the thought of the happi-
ness enjoyed by this blessed servant of God. I spoke to him as
though I beheld him before me, and with even greater confidence,
knowing that he had a far more intimate acquaintance with me
than when he was in the world; that he saw my needs, and the
sincerity of my heart, which had concealed nothing from him.

" I assisted at the Holy Sacrifice, and communicated, still enjoy-
ing this extraordinary interior sweetness. I never gave my arm a
thought till Mass was over, when, M. de Bretonvilliers going away
to the parish church to take part in a procession, I begged him to
give me the heart of M. Olier that I might touch my arm with it,
telling him that I wished to have nothing more to do with the blood
of bulls and heifers for my cure. From this moment I had a confident
assurance that my prayer would be heard. He brought it to me
and departed ; for myself, thinking of all the graces which God had
put into this saintly heart, I took the precious deposit in my left
hand, and laid it on my right, enveloped as it was in a scarf. At
the same instant I felt that my hand was set free, and that it held
up the weight of the leaden casket without support ; this surprised
or, rather, exceedingly amazed me, and I felt moved to bless and
praise the Divine Goodness for vouchsafing me the grace of showing
forth in myself the glory and the merit of His holy servant At the

The Hospital Num of Ville Marie. 59 1

same time I felt an extraordinary heat spread through my whole
arm, to the very tii)s of the fingers, and from that moment I recovered
the use of my hand ; although the dislocation still continues I am
able to use it without pain, which is even more wonderful,

" I declare that what I have here set down is a true and sincere
account, in proof whereof I have written and signed it nith the
same hand the use of which was restored to me. Paris, February
13th, 1659. Jeanne Manse."

On returning from the procession, M. de Bretonvilliers found
Mile. Manse bathed in tears, and transported with joy to su^^h a
degree that she could not speak a word. The fame of the miracle
was soon spread through Paris, and so great was the veneration
excited among the populace for her who had been the subject of it,
that they would cut off pieces of her dress as she walked in the
streets, and she was obliged to go about in a carriage in order to
escape the crowds that pressed upon her. Of all the attestations to
the fact not the least important is that of the surgeons of Montreal,
who certified to the reality of the cure eighteen months after it had
taken place. The author of the memoirs of M. de Laval, first
Bishop of Quebec, states that Mile. Manse retained the use of her
hand till the day of her death.

This miracle became the means of accomplishing the other object
which had brought her to Paris, and that in a manner which sur-
passed all her hopes and expectations. In the number of those
whose attention was now directed to her were some generous souls
who came forward with fur.ds enough, and more than enough, to

*B">

supply all she wanted for her foundation ; and on her return to
Canada she had the happiness of taking back with her the Hospi-
taliferes of La Flbche. The history of these devoted women furnishes
us with another instance of the assistance rendered by the servant
of God after death to those who commended themselves to his
prayers. It has been said that the establishment at Ville Marie had
encountered strong opposition in influential quarters ; scarcely,
therefore, had they arrived before they received an order to retire,
and, but for having orought with them the contract signed by M.
Olier, they would have been compelled to resign the management of
the hospital into other hands. At this juncture M. de la Dauversi^re
was ruined by an unexpected reverse of fortune, and the funds that
had been raised for the hospital, having been put to his account,
were irrecoverably lost. Their condition in consequence became

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592

Life of M, Olier,

■V,

most pitiable ; for five-and-twenty years their almost sole subsistence
was a little black bread, and salt meat of the worst description.
Their clothes were so repeatedly patched and mended that it would
have been difficult to say of what materials they had been originally
made. Their loghouse, ill put together, was so open to the outward
air that it was impossible for them to keep themselves warm.
During the severest p.ut of the winter their beds were covered with
snow four inches deep, and their cells so filled with it, that immedi-
ately on rising they were obliged to carry it away on shovels. To
these terrible privations were added continual alarms from the
Iroquois, whose practice it was to roast their prisoners over a slow
fire, sometimes keeping them thus cruelly tortured for eight days
together. The alarm-bell was for ever ringing, and affrays with the
savages would take place within musket-shot of their miserable
dwelling. In this deplorable condition they were encouraged and
supported by the servant of God, as appears from a circular letter
written on occasion of the death of one of their number, the Sceur
Maillet, a native of Saumur. Several times, while engaged in prayer,
she beheld M. Olier in glory, who consoled her in her interior
sufferings, and bade her abandon all fear for the safety of the house.
Once when she was more than usually afflicted, he appeared to her,
with M. de la Dauversibre, and assured her that the work was of
God, and that it would subsist in spite of the violence and opposition
of men ; that God would extract glory to Himself out of the persecu-
tions raised against a house founded on the cross ; that, in fine,
being daughters of St. Joseph, and consecrated to the honour and
imitation of the Holy Family on earth, they were called to walk by
the way of humiliation and contradiction. This prediction received
the fullest accomplishment, for, in spite of the terrible assaults to
which it was exposed, their house was solidly established ; and to
this day, after all the changes through which the country has passed,
the Hospital Nuns of Villa Marie continue to serve the colony by
their charitable labours and to live in strict accordance with the
spirit of their rule.

From the many other duly authenticated miracles wrought by his
intercession, space forbids more than a brief selection.

A priest who owed to M. Olier, under God, his vocation to the
ecclesiastical state was afflicted with deafness for three years, so as to
be able to hear confessions only on one side. On Holy Saturday,
1660, having been thus engaged a long time without changing his

Miraculous cure of Pierre Trescartes. 593

position, he left the confessional in order to recover a little from his
fatigue, when the thought came into his mind to beg the servant of
God in all simplicity, as he had been the cause of his entering the
sacred ministry, to obtain for him the power of discharging its duties
more efficiently. After making his prayer he returned to his con-
fessional, and found, to his surprise, that his petition had been
granted. M. Tulloue, Regent of the Faculty of Medicme at Paris,
who had attended the priest in question, made formal attestation
that a cure so instantaneous and complete had not been effected by
natural means.

Pierre Trescartes, a marine, was desperately wounded in an
engagement with the English, September 29th, 1666. His left arm
was fractured by a splinter in the most frightful manner, and the
hand nearly severed from the wrist. The surgeon would have
amputated the limb at once, but, seeing the man's reluctance,
deferred the operation until landing, which was not effected for ten
or twelve days, when he was conveyed to the hospital at Havre.
The wound meanwh.ie had assumed an alarming character; the
surgeons took out several pieces of bone, and would have proceeded
to amputation but that the man, notwithstanding the excruciating
pains which he suffered day and night, refused his consent. He was
shortly after pronounced to be in so dangerous a state that it was
feared he would die under the operation, if attempted. One of the
nuns of the hospital, Madeleine Mirrh^, had preserved, out of
devotion to the man of God, a bit of linen which had been dipped in
his blood ; she spoke to the wounded sailor of the great holiness of
M. Olier, and proposed that he should make a novena to obtain his
intercession. The man readily consented, only expressing a wish
first to confess and communicate. Touched with his faith and piety,
Madeleine went and prostrated herself before the Blessed Sacrament,
begging our Lord to manifest the sanctity of His servant by the cure
of this poor sufferer. On applying the linen to the wound she bade
him say nothing to the surgeon, but remove the relic when he came
to dress it. While she was engaged in performing her pious office
the man fell into a peaceful slumber, as though no longer sensible of
the pains he had been enduring ; in fact, from that moment they
entirely ceased, the fever subsided, and by the next morning the
wound had assumed an appearance so completely different that the
surgeons, astonished at the rapid change that had taKcn place, no
longer recommended amputation. On the last day of the novena

2 p

594

L ife of M. Olier.

(November 26ih) he left his bed, and went into the chapel to return
thanks to God ; four days afterwards he quitted the hospital perfectly
healed. The fact was formally attested, not only by the Sister, but
by two medical men and one of the surgeons of the house, who
declared that the cure appeared to them altogether extraordinary and
marvellous. This was also the testimony which T escartes himself
rendered in the chapel of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, whither he
went to thank the man of God at his tomb for the favour accorded
to him.

Marguerite Vieillard, a nun of tliis same hospital, suffered violent
pains in her eyes, which no remedies relieved. Removing the
bandages, she substituted a rag stained with M. Olier's blood. The
pain immediately ceased ; she heard Mass the same morning with
her eyes unbandaged, and the next day was about her duties in the
town.

M. Boucaut, a Canon of St. Nicholas at Craon, lay dying, when
Marie-Gabrielle Rousseau, a lady who was held in high consideration
at Angers for her charitable zeal, sent him, by the hands of M.
Rigault, one of the Canons of St. Peter in that town, a piece of M.
Olier's camisole (under-waistcoat),* which she had obt:^.ined from the
master of ceremonies at St. Sulpice. At the moment he reached the
house prayers were being recited as for a person in his agony. M.
Rigault approached the bed and said, '* I bring you something of M.
Olier's ; have confidence in God, and you shall obtain relief through
the intercession of His servant." The dying man, raising his eyes to
heaven, took the relic, and dipped it in some broth, of which he
drank a little. On doing so he was seized with violent pains, which,
however, were followed by effects which were productive of complete
relief; his malady, which was of a most distressing kind, rapidly
disappeared, and, in spite of the prognostications of the physicians,
who considered his case past remedy, he perfectly recovered.

At Le Puy many extraordinary cures took place, which were
regarded as miraculous. Among others may be specified those of
M. Colomb and M. de Bdget, both Canons of the cathedral, with
the latter of which a touching incident is connected. M. de Bdget

* This camisole is still preserved at the Seminary, together with an attestation,
signed by M. Louis Tronson, certifying its authenticity. Among other relics of
the servant of God are a surplice, a camisole of cotton, a portion of a towel stained
with his blood, and the napkin that was used to tie up his chin immediately cftet
death.

MiractiloHs cure of Dame Ronssd.

595

had spoken one day to M. Olier of a certain priest whose poverty
was such that he possessed only one old cassock. The servant of
God immediately sent him his own ; but M. de Bdget, from a
motive of veneration, kept his friend's cassock, and gave the priest
another of equal value in its stead. God, it would seem, would
shew how pleasing to him were the charity of the one and the
devotion of the other ; for, being afflicted with a pleurisy which con-
fined him to his bed in a state of complete helplessness, M. de Bdget
was perfectly restored to health by applying to his side the cassock
that had belonged to the holy man. So great, indeed, was the es»!
mation in which this relic was held that it was cut into several piecf ;
and by these many incontestable cures were wrought, as was certih. •'
by M. Antoine du Fornel, the Vicar-General, whom the Bishop hau
appointed to make formal inquiry into the facts. One of the most
remarkable cases was that of Anne Feulha, an Augustinian nun, at
St. Didier. She was reduced to such a slate of weakness that she
was unable to stand, but by application of a piece of this same
cassock she completely recovered her health and strength. A priest
of the place, named Francois Ndron, ridiculed the whole affair,
declaring that the cure was all imaginary, and that the best that
could be said about it was that the nun in question was a weak-
headed visionary. However, a week had not elapsed before he was
seized with a violent pain in his head, accompanied with a burning
fever. In this state his mind underwent a complete revolution ; he
humbled himself before God, and asked for a piece of the cassock,
which he applied to his head, at the same time fervently invoking
the aid of God's servant. M. Olier revenged himself in the way he
was wont to do while on earth ; the priest who had doubted his
merits was instantly cured, and made deposition in person before the
Vicar-General of the fact as it had occurred.

These marvellous cures recurring with almost daily frequency, the
Bishop felt it incumbent upon him to institute a further inquiry in
strict juridical form. To this end, on May 4th, 1658, he nominated
as his commissary M. Balthasar de Ravissac, doctor in theology and
canon of the cathedral, to whom he gave powers to summon wit-
nesses and to visit with ecclesiastical penalties any who might refuse to
render testimony when called upon to do so. Two of the cases
which were attested before him made a great sensation at the time.
The first was that of Dame Catherine Rousset, who, like the woman
in the Gospel, had been afflicted with an issue of blood, which at

1 '

' \

'1' 11

596

Life of M. Olier.

length arrived at such an excess that, had it continued, she must
have died. In this extremity, it came into her mind that she had
received from Mme. de Rullier, a religious of the Order of St.
Bernard, a small piece of a maniple which had belonged to M.
Olier, and a similar portion of which had been instrumental in heal-
ing another person of the same malady as that from which she was
herself suffering. Discarding all human remedies and strong in
divine faith, she began fervently hnploring the servant of God, when,
on applying the precious relic, in less than half an hour the disorder
ceased and, finding herself perfectly cured, she rose from her bed,
and on the morrow was able to resume her usual occupations. This
she certified on oath before the Episcopal commissary.

The other instance, similarly attested, shows us the servant of God
once more in the company of that sainted nun who exercised so
extraordinary an influence on his life and mission in the world.
There lived at Auzon, six miles from Brioude, a woman of the world,
by name Frangoise de I'Espinasse du Passage, who was devoted to
its vanities in no ordinary degree. This lady, coming to Le Puy
the year M. Olier died, went to confession at the church of the
Seminary, and was so touched by divine grace that from that day
she became as remarkable for her piety as she had hitherto been for
her worldliness. She converted five of her sisters, and taught them
mental prayer, in which she herself spent three hours every day ;
and through her influence the whole family was transformed into a
sort of religious community. In the month of May, 1661, she
became alarmingly ill, and the physicians declared that she had not
an hour to live. As she lay apparently at the point of death, her
sisters made a vow for her to M. Olier and the Mbre Agnbs de
J^sus; and shortly after, falling asleep, she thought she saw two
persons coming towards her clothed in garments of a marvellous
whiteness, one of which seemed to be the servant of God and the
other the venerable mother; but before she could distinguish their
features they vanished. On awaking she found herself free from
fever and every other ailment, although no crisis had taken place to
account for a change so rapid'. Her brother, the seigneur of Silloux,
and all who were present when she awoke attributed her recovery
to a supernatural cause, and she ever after declared her firm con-
viction that she was indebted for her life to the intercession of the
blessed servant of God.

With another instance, which happened in our own time and was

Miractilous cure of the Sceur Dufresne. 597

canonically authenticated by the Ordinary, this narrative shall close.
On October 27th, 1846, the Sceur Marie-Susanne Dufresne, a Hos-
pitalifere of St. Joseph, Montreal, was seized with an attack of pleuro-
pneumonia, and on December loth was declared to be past hope of
recovery. On the previous day M. de Charbonnel, a priest of the
Seminary of St. Sulpice, being summoned to a sick man at the
Hospital, gave on«^ of the Sisters a scapular made of that very piece
of M. Olier's cassock to which M. de B^get, his uncle, owed his
restoration to health, begging her to mend it. While reciting the
Litany of St. Joseph in choir, this religious felt herself powerfully
moved to take the scapular to her suffering sister, being possessed
with a profound conviction that the servant of God would have pity
on her. Being unable to go herself, she asked the Sceur de la
Dauversi^re, the Infirmarian, to apply the scapular to the dying
woman. That very morning Soeur Marie-Susanne had fainted several
times, the medical man affirmed that nothing more could be done
for her, and her confessor had already recited over her the recom-
mendation of a departing soul. On the scapular being presented to
her she kissed it, and thought of all the miracles she had read of in
the Life of the great priest ; and her confidence in his power with
God was so strong that she said to him in her heart, ** I am sure
that you can cure me, but I ask only that the holy will of God may
be accomplished in me." She was so utterly incapacitated that she
could not herself apply the scapular to her side, and her pains became
so acute that she swooned away. All that night, and during the
morning of the following day, her sufferings increased to such a
degree that she lost all recollection of the relic which she bore about
her. Her teeth were loose, her gums, palate, and tongue were
swollen and ' leeding ; her weakness was so excessive that she was
unable to carry her hand to her mouth, and had to be fed with a
sDOon. Suddenly, at a quarter past seven in the evening of Decem-
b r 10th, it seemed as if a hand passed gently over her from the
cri, vn of her head to the soles of her feet ; as it passed, she felt her
strength return in every part of her body, and she knew that she was
cured : she sat up in her bed, and turned from side to side, which
she had not been able to do since the beginning of the malady ; at
the same time she experienced a strong desire for food, and partook,
with appetite and without the slightest pain, of the light nourish-
ment that was brought her. Soon she was able to leave her bed
and put on her habit; on the following morning she assisted at

598

Life of M. Olier,

Mass, kneeling nearly the whole time without sense of fatigue, and
joined afterwards in saying office with the rest of the community.

The whole particulars of this extraordinary case are given at length
by M. Faillon in the words of the Soeur Dufresne herself, who
solemnly attested the same. The affidavit of her medical attendant
is couched in the following terms: "On the nth of December, to
my great surprise, all the symptoms of the malady had entirely dis-
appeared ; the affection of the gums of which she complained the
evening before was not even visible ; the sick woman walked quite
well, and came to meet me. I have seen her since almost every
day ; she continues perfectly well, and after a careful examination,
both by auscultation and by percussion, I have perceived no vestige
of the disorder, no affection of the lungs or of any other organ."
Two other doctors of Montreal, who had been consulted in the case,
declared, after a full and free inquiry into all the circumstances, that
the Sister was now in a perfect state of health, and that, with all their
professional knowledge and experience, they were unable to assign
any cause, physical, natural, or medicinal, which could account for a
cure so instantaneous, complete, and permanent.

All that now remains is for the present writer to declare, in the
words of the Abbd Faillon, that " whether the cures which have been
here recounted be of the number of those which our Lord empowered
His disciples to work on the bodies and souls of men, when He said
to them. Heal the sick,* we do not venture to pronounce ; neither
have we the rashness to affirm that the visions and revelations
narrated in this Life ought to be ranked among those to which the
Royal Prophet alluded when he said, • Thou spokest in a vision to
Thy saints.'t To Holy Church alone does it belong to discern
infallibly the finger of God in operations which are of an extraordinary
character ; and, in conformity with the decrees of the Apostolic See
touching this matter, we submit anew to its judgment whatever we
have written concerning the virtues of M. Olier, as also whatever in
this history appears to surpass the laws of nature."

St. Matthew x. 3.

t Psalm cxxxviii. 19.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

I. The Duchesse d'Aiguillon.

Page lOO. A memoir of this distinguishc^d lady, — an important personage in
her day, as well on account of her munificent charities and eminent virtues as of
her position in the great world (which she never loved) and her influence at
Court — has recently been published by the Comte de Bonneau-Avenant. It
conveys a lively idea of high society in France during the ministry of her power-
ful uncle, Cardinal de Richelieu, whose private life and character are also dis-
played in a new and striking light. Under the latter aspect the book is particu-
larly interesting. To many it will be a surprise to leavn that this formidable
statesman was, while Bishop of Lu9on, the author of several religious works,
especially of a treatise on the Perfection of a Christian which Boudon, in his
Rigne de Dieu dans VOraison Mentale, much commends.

"i \

to
:ern

we
br in

2. Our Lord's use of His senses in the Blessed Sacrament.

P'^ge 279. M. Olier says that our Lord has no use of His senses therein ; and
F. Faber (^Blessed Sacrament, B. 11, S. 11) regards it as the most probable
opinion. But the contrary opinion has the support of many high authorities.
F. Dalgairns discusses the question at some length in his book on Holy Com-
munion (P. II, C. 11). He begins by acknowledging that the majority of
theologians are opposed to the view that our Lord can use His senses in the
Adorable Host, but says, on the other hand, that some of the greatest names in
theology are in favour of it ; and he adduces those of the seraphic doctor, St,
Bonaventure ; Suarez, whom he designates as perhaps the greatest of the second
generation of schoolmen ; the great Jesuit theologian, Lessius ; and Viva, who,
he says, may be called the last of the schoolmen yet one who is remarkable for
ever recurring to the opinions of the first or medieval schools. He next brings
forward Cardinal Cienfuegos, who has devoted a great part of his Vita Abscondita
to the proof of the opinion in question, and who cites several celebrated theolo-
gians in its support. F. Dalgairns concludes by saying that he has sufficiently
shown that, "since the 13th century, there has been a permanent opinion in the
Church that, whether naturally or by miracle, our Lord can see us from the Host
with His bodily eyes and hear us with His outward ears."

To these names may be added that of Cardinal Franzelin, than which none
carries with it greater weight at the present day. " This opinion," he says {De
Eucharistia, Thesis xi.) "appears to me most probable and most pious, not oa

I I

600

Life of M. Olier.

account of the testimonies of Scripture and the Fathers, which I find but little
conclusive, but because of its connection with the dignity of the Most Sacred
Humanity of our Lord, and with the end and object of the sacrament by means
of which Christ is pleased to hold with His faithful a commerce not only spiritual
but corporal ; " and he then quotes with strong approbation the sentiments of
Cardinal Cienfuegos, which are also given by F. Dalgairns, to whose instructive
pages the reacicr is referred.

3. Duelling.

Page 288. The edict against duelling and blasphemy was literally the first state
document to which Louis XIV. afRxed his sign manual after declaring his
majority ; and this he did at the urgent request of his mother, who desired that
he should commence his personal reign with an act of religion. During her
regency, that is, within the space of eight years, more than 940 gentlemen had
lost their lives in duels. {La Duchesse iC Aiguillon, p. 394.)

At tlie present day in Prussia, a military man who refuses a challenge is com-
pelled to leave the army, although duelling is condemned and punishable by
law ; and few there are who have the Christian piety or the moral courage to
encounter the social degradation and disgrace which a refusal entails.

A direful catalogue of facts illustrative of the prevalence and fatal results of
this detestable practice in all the countries of Europe is given in the interesting
little book which Mr. S. H. Burke has entitled Men and Women as they appeared
in the Far-Off Time, pp. 179-189.

4. Cardinal de Retz.

Page 361. Jean-Fran9ois-Paul de Gondy was the third son of Philippe-
Emmanuel, Comte de Joigny, Marquis des lies d'Or (Hyeres), Baron de Monl-
mirail, de Dampierre, et de Villepreux, General of the Galleys, who on the death
of his wife became an Oratorian. Born in the year 1613, he was made Coad-
jutor to his uncle, Jean-Fran9ois de Gondy, in 1643, ^''^^ ^^^ ^'^^^ of Archbishop
of Corinth. According to his own account, his object in taking part with the
Frondeurs was to restore the milder form of monarchy which existed in the
days of St. Louis ; but he was an ambitious and unprincipled man, indefatigable
in scheming and agitating for the furtherance of his own interests. Gifted with
great natural talents, eloquent in speech, audacious in action, and endowed with
singular ability for the conduct uf affairs, he was utterly destitute of all vocation
for the ecclesiastical state, which he entered merely out of compliance with the
wishes of his family, by whom the see of Paris was regarded as a sort of heredi-
tary appanage. To serve his political and personal ends, as he himself avows,
he occasionally attended the Conferences of St. Lazare ; he studied theology,
preached while still in minor orders, disputed with heretics, and was liberal in
almsgiving. Yet all the time, as his autobiography testifies, he was an artful
intriguer and a habitual debauchee. Not that in his heart he was an unbeliever
or despised devotion in others ; on the contrary, he seems, in the midst of his
worst disorders, to have entertained a sincere admiration for piety and virtue and
to have felt some scruples of conscience as to degrading the clerical character in
the eyes of the multitude and thus bringing discredit on morality and religion.

,.. ,.;..;^

His relations with the Mhe Agnh.

601

In fact, he took such pains to conceal his licentiousness from both clergy and
people, and was so guarded and decorous in his exterior behaviour, that many
zealous and learned priests of the archdiocese — including even Vincent de Paul,
who had been his tutor — were glad to see him promoted to be his uncle's coad-
jutor, with right of succession.

Having made his peace, to all appearance, with the Court at the termination
of the Fronde, he was, in February, 1652, raised to the Cardinalate, but in
December of the same year Mazarin caused him to be imprisoned at Vincennes,
and subsequently at Nantes, whence by a clever stratagem he contrived to escape
in the spring of 1654. During his incarceration at the former place he became
Archbishop of Paris by the death of his uncle, and was recognised at once by the
Chapter and the clergy. On regaining his liberty he came to England, thence
crossed over to Spain, and sojourned awhile at Rome. On the death of
Innocent X. and the election of Alexander VII. he left Rome, and for seven
years wandered over the continent. At length, in 1662, he was allowed by
Louis XIV. to return to Paris on condition of his resigning his see, which accord-
ingly he did, and would have resigned his Cardinalate as well if the Pope
(Clement X.) had permitted it. He was employed by the King on several
delicate missions to the Holy See, and subsequently retired to St. Denis, of which
he had been made abbot, there to pass the remainder of his days in strict seclu-
sion from the world. •' It would have been difficult," says one of his biographers,
"to recognise in this devout recluse the unprincipled intriguer and turbulent
agitator of the Fronde." A recluse, no doubt, he was, but how far his devotion
was genuine or assumed is a problem which has been variously treated. One
mark of true repentance he certainly gave in selling his estates to pay his debts.
During his seclusion he wrote his MSmoires, in which he laid bare with unsparing
hand, but with no trace either of modesty or regret, the iniquities and follies of
his past career. In this respect his autobiography may be said to be unique ;
certain details, indeed, descriptive of his early years were of so scandalous a
character that some unknown hand tore out no less than 250 pages of the manu-
script, leaving only a few mutilated fragments sufficient to show the nature of
the rest. He died August 24th, 1679, in the same sentiments of piety which he
had uniformly exhibited throughout his latter days.

5. Testimonies to the relations which subsisted between M. Olif.r
ANi; the Venerable MfeRE Agn£s de Jfesus, and the benefits
accruing therefrom to the Church of France.

Page 510. In the decree of Pius VII. March 19, 180S, by which the Mfere
Agnes was declared Venerable, a general reference is made to the benefits con-
ferred on religion and the clergy of France by her burning zeal and charity, the
flames of which ranged far and wide, though she herself remained secluded
within the cloisters of her convent at Langeac. But furtiier, and in particular,
the Sub-promoter of the Faith declared that this holy nun by her prayers had
called down the blessing of Heaven on the labours of the celebrated Abbd Olier,
to the great advantage of the clergy and realm of France and the increase of
God's glory ; and that this was the end and object of their union and of all the
relations which had subsisted between these two chosen souls.

The priests of St, Sulpice accordingly have ever venerated the Mfere Agnis as

■ !

111

,i. 1

6o2

Life of M. Olier.

their spiritual mcther and special advocate. Writing to the Pope in September,
1 701, they declared that to her prayers and travails are due that pursuit of perfec*
tion and that unwearied zeal in restoring ecclesiastical discipline which was so
conspicuously displayed in the servant of God their founder ; while the Cardinal
I^uis-Antoine de Noailles, in a letter dated March 9, 1703, says that the
memory of Agnfcs de J^sus will ever be held in special benediction because she
incited that admirable priest, Olier, to institute seminaries for tlie clergy, by
which the sacerdotal spirit, which had grown cold and, indeed, had become
almost extinct (refrigescentem ac fere collapsum) might be again renewed.

The joint letters of the clergy of France to Benedict XIII. in 1725, and to
Clement XII. in 1730, in which they solicit the canonization of the Mere Agn^s
have already been cited. Therein they express their obligation to this holy
virgin for having incited that gloi'y and ornament of their body, Jean-Jacques
Olier, to lead a life of greater perfection and to become the founder of the Semi-
nary of St. Sulpice ; and again when, fn 1757, renewed petitions for the same
object were addressed to the Holy See, they were based on the selfsame ground :
"The Church of France," wrote the Bishop of St, Flour to the Cardinal de la
Rochefoucauld, "takes a particular interest in the beatification of the M^re
Agn^s because to this holy virgin is ascribed the merit of having communicated
to M. Olier, founder of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the desire of that high per-
fection in which he made such marvellous progress. "

On the introduction of her cause the General of the Dominicans, P. Antoine
Cloche, thus deposed : " It was in obedience to the instructions of the Mire
Agnis, whom he looked up to as his mother and mistress and whose monitions he
regarded as so many oracles from Heaven, that the celebrated Olier, so illustrious
for his merits and virtues, founded that most holy seminary which inaugurated
the splendour and glory of the sacerdotal order in France and disseminated so
many similar institutions throughout the realm, from which the Bishops derived
such vast and abundant benefits ; benefits which they gratefully acknowledged to
be due in their origin to that venerable mother." Faillon, Vie de M. Olier, T. I,
pp. 100-103, 126-129. De Lantages et Lucot, Vie de la Vinh-able Mire Agnh
de JisuSf T. II, pp. 571, &a

6. The Mission of Privas.

Page 540. In order fully to realize the enormous difHculties with which the
missionaries had to contend and the magnitude of the success which they achieved,
the reader is referred to Part IV. of Le Due de Rohan et les Protestants sous
Louis XIII., par Henri de la Garde, in which a spirited description is given of
the events which marked the close of the Huguenot revolt in 1629. The simple
fact that the Protestant population rose to arms because a widow who had
inherited the seigneurie of Privas desired to take to herself a Catholic husband is
sufficient to show the inflammable state of men's minds and their inveterate
hatred of the Catholic religion and its professors.

7. Self-disparagement.

Page 580. Mention was made at page 451 of M. Olier's dislike of this practice^
as being often a subtle form of self-esteem ; whereas, in discussing his merits at a

Seif-ciispa ragement.

601

Conference of St. Lazare, the clergy who were present accounted it among his
special virtues that he was always disposed to speak disparagin(;Iy of himself. Rut
in this there was no real discrepancy between his principle<i and his practice.
There is not a saint in the calendar who did not at times give utterance to
similar expressions of self-condemnation ; and in doing so they spoke from the
profound convictions of their heart. This is something altogether different from
that practice of a general self-disparagement, not unusual on the part of the
imperfect Christian, which M. Olier disliked and reproved. "To be genuine,"
he said, "self-humiliation must spring from a sincere desire of losing the good
opinion of others." Here, in fact, is the touchstone which tests the sincerity of
such self-disparaging speeches. He who has a truly low opinion of himself, and
really means what he says, desires to be disparaged and even despised by others ;
whereas the imperfect Christian who indulges in these self-accusations will shrink
from the slightest blame which proceeds from the lips of others, even if he be not
sensibly offended by it. He has no intention of being taken at his word, and in
his heart will resent it.

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I N D E X.

I '

INDEX.

Abei.ly, biographer of St. Vincent de
Paul : his testimony to the power of M.
Olier's example, n. 198 ; the ill lives of
the clergy, n. 324 ; and the veneration
with which St. Vincent regarded him,

577

Absolution, deferring of, n. 193

Abuses, ecclesiastical, n. 142 ; n. 165

Acolyths, training of, 202

Agnis de J^sus, the Mire : her Life, n. 27 ;
bidden by ou" Lord and His Blessed
Mother to intercede for M. Olier, 26 ;
appears before him at St. Lazare, 35 ;
note thereon, 46 ; is recognised by M.
Olier on his visit to her convent ;
announces to him his vocation, 37 ;
prays that he may have an abundance
of crosses, 38 ; takes him as her
director, 42 ; her last farewell and
death, 42, 43 ; bequeaths him her
angel-guardian, 43 ; speaks to him
from the Tabernacle, 45 ; her relics,
47 ; cure wrought with her crucifix,
520 ; M. Olier's last visit to her tomb,
translation of her remains, 572 ; appears
in company with him after death, 596 ;
testimonies to her relations with him,
510, 602

Aiguillon, Duchesse d' : her pious and
charitable works, n. 100, 598 ; admir-
able behaviour to M. Bourdoise, loi ;
visits Mme. Olier, 169 ; endows a
monthly Exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, 220, 241 ; canvasses the
Judges on M. Olier's behalf, 248 ;
instance of her piety, 297 ; her charity

in providing missionaries, 304 ; assists
in establishing the Nuns of Notre
Dame de Mis^ricorde at Paris, 384

Alain de Solminihac, Ahb^ de Chan-
cellade, reformer of the Canons Regular
of St. Augustine, 38, n. 41 ; assists M.
Olier in a plan for the reform of the
Abbey of Pebrac, 39 ; its frustration,
n. 4t, 259 ; he blesses the foundations
of tlie new church of St. Sulpice, 318

Alexander, F., of Rhodes : M. Olier
desires to accompany him as mission-
ary into China, 536

Allies, T. W. : his yburnai in France
quoted, n. 486

Ambrose, St., seen by M. Olier in a dream,
29, 46, 164 ; chosen as a patron of
the Seminary, 440

Amelote, Denis : how he became a
di.sciple of P. de Condren ; is given a
rule of life, 51 ; takes part with M. de
Bassancourt in a mission in Saintongc,
66 ; taken by M. du Ferrier as his
director, 75 ; chosen superior of M.
Olier's associates, 94 ; warns M. Bour-
doise against the Abb^ de Saint-Cyran,
100; misjudges M. Olier's spiritual
state, 107 ; P. de Condren's estimate
of him, 109, 113; pronounces for dis-
solving the establishment at Chartres,
123 ; quits the Society; joins P. Eudcs
in a mission at Rouen, 126 ; desires
to join the community of Vaugirard,
and is refused ; his real vocation, 138

Angel-guardian of the Mire Agnis cie-
puted to watch over M. Olier, 43 ;
bequeathed to him as the angel of his
oflice, 44

( ;

» • a.i

'II

^'i'

608

Index.

Ancjel-guardians, the devotion to, 294 ;

feast of, n. 294
Anne, Ste,, d'Auray, M. Oiler's visit to

slirine of; orijjin of the pilgrimage,

403

Anne of Austria : her resolution respect-
ing nominations to the episcopate,
199 ; builds the Abbey of Val de
Grace ; offers M. Olier the parish of
St. Jacques du Haut Pas, 231 ; insti-
tutes the Council of Conscience, n.
234 ; urges M. Olier to accept the see
of Rodez, 256 ; employs St. Vincent
de Paul to negotiate with M. de
Fiesque, 258; walks in procession of
reparation, 273 ; frequent attendant at
St. Sulpice, 27s ; lays first stone of
new church, 318 ; her interview with
the Parliament, 362 ; leaves Paris
stealthily, 362 ; her return, 366 ; con-
sults M. Olier ; his letter to her, 373 ;
engages to consult St. Vincent in the
nomin ition of bishops, 376 ; recalls
Mazarin, 377 ; rejects M. Olier's
advice to dismiss him, 378 ; requests
M. Picote to make a vow in her name ;
its fulfilment, 382 ; opposes the estab-
lishment of an Oratoriar house in the
parish of St. Sulpice, 403, ; visits M.
Olier in his last illness, 5 J2

Annonciades, the, n. 297

Apostles, the, special devotion to, in the
Seminary, 439

ArdilUers, Notre Dame des ; origin of
the shrine, 1 20, n. ; M. Olier's visit to,

403. 559

Argenteuil, pilgrimage of; it.-, origin, 558

Arnauld, M. Antoine, n. 335 ; his book
on Frequent Communion^ 351 ; bane-
ful effect of his writings, n. 352 ; takes
up the cause of the Due de Liancourt ;
his Letter to a Person of Condition,
357 ; his second letter condemned by
the Sorbonne, 358

Asylums for homeless girls and destitute
nuns, 380

Auberiin, Calvinist minister, M. Olier's
visit to, 206 ; false charge founded
thereon, 207

Aubervilliers. See Vertus

Aubigny, Abb^ d', cousin of Charles
II. : his early life, 308 ; how he was
brought into relations with St. Sulpice,
309 ; takes M. du Ferrier as his
director; happy effects thereof, 310;
his influence with the King ; introduces
M. Olier to him, 311 ; refuses to
favour a Jansenistic manoeuvre, 355 ;
hir conversation with Saint-Evremond,
"• 355 ; receives a Cardinal's hat oa
his deathbed, 311

Atigustinus, the, n. 335, n. 352, 358,
490

Avron, shrine of, 28, 484, 573 ; noviciate
first established at, 484

Bahylon, see of, offered to M. Olier,
536

Bagni, Mgr., Apostolic Nuncio, 253, 534

Barrault, M. de, joins M. Olier in his
first Auvergne mission, 34 ; resigns
his priory to M. de Fiesque, 258-
presented with a benefice by tha
Duchesse d'Aiguillon, 258

Barricades, Day of the, 361

Bassancourt, M. Balthasar Brandon de,
disciple of P. de Condren, 51 ; takes
part with M. Amelote in a mission in
Saintonge, 66 ; joins the community
of Vaugirard, 137 ; charged with the
service of the altar at St, Sulpice, 188

Bataille, Dom Hugues, Procurator-Gene-
ral of the Benedictines of St. Maur,
taken by Marie Rousseau as her direc-
tor, no; also by M. Olier; his afflic-
tion at the state of the parish of St.
Sulpice, 128 ; approves the form of
consecration by which M. Olier and
his associates bind themselves at
Montmartre, 132 ; bids M. Olier com-
pile his Mhnoires, 149 ; enjoins him
to accept the cure of St. Sulpice, 164 ;
assists at his induction, 169 ; solemn
engagement renewed in his presence,
239 ; forbids his resigning his cure
and accepting the see of Rodez, 256 ;
his retirement from St. Germain's,
1 23, 443

Index.

609

Balhilde, Stc, miracles wrouglU through

the relics of, n. 278
Baudrami, M. Henri de la Combe, fourth

Cur^ of St. Sulpice : his summary of

M. Olier's teachings on the spirit of

tlie Seminary, 480 ; notice of his

deatl bed, 577 ; description of his

personrJ appearance, 583
Baviire, Edouard de : his conversion

and marriage with the Princesse Anne

de Gonzague, 308
Bazainville, Priory of, bestowed on M.

Olier, II ; resigned, 366, 408; church

restored, 544
Beaumais, the draper : his marvellous

power and succes- in disputation, 322
Beget, M., Canon ot Le Puy : his eulo-

gium on M. Olier, 62 ; miraculously

cured by application of his cassock,

594
Beggars, instructions for, 203 ; M. Olier's

charity to, 223, 400

Bellier, M., and family, conversion of,
90, n. 157

Benedictines, the, assistance rendered to
M. Olier by, 413 ; he is called to do a
work in France analogous to theirs,
414 ; numerous Popes, Bishops, and
Abbots provided by them to the
Church, n. ib. ; curious instance of
jealousy respecting their rights, n. 273

Benedict XIV. On Heroic Virtue^ refer-
ence to, n. 277

Bernard, Claude, called the Poor Priest :
his singular character, 84 ; his meet-
ing with Queriolet, 87 j commences
the Seminary of the Tienle-Trois, 503 ;
Brother John's account of him, 224

BeruUe, Cardinal de, founder of the
French Oratory : his designs in respect
to ecclesiastical seminaries frustrated,
115, 413; his high esteem of P. de
Condren, 48; the "Apostle of the
Incarnate Word," n. 267 ; teaches that
Mary is the channel of all graces, 437 ;
his remains conveyed to the chapel of
the Seminary, n. 582

Bigeon, M. Gervais, Cur^ of Arcueil,
outrage on ; M. Olier's zeal in his
belialf, 234

Bird, M. Olier's pet, 567
Bishops, the, of France consult M. Olier,
198, 495 ; authorised by royal letters-
patent to erect seminaries, 263 ; sanc-
tion public protestation against duel-
ling, 288 ; M. Olier's Memorial to
them, 497 ; their resolutions, 501, 505,
506 ; the true Directors of seminaries,
498 ; their testimony to the services
rendered by the Seminary, 510; M.
Olier's deference and submission to,
522, 532, 533. See Episcopate
Blanlo, M., model of a Christian student,
465 ; M. Olier predicts his death, 576
Bonal, M. Raymond : difiiculties attend-
ing the establishment of his community
at Villefranche-enKouergue, 511
Bonnet, St., church uf, n. 527
Hook-stall, erection of, 208
Bosquet, M. du, Bishop of Clermont-

Lodeve, M. Olier's letter to, 532
Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux : his ])anegyric
on P. de Condren, 48 ; teaches that
Mary is the channel of all graces, \'^(>
Boudon, M. : his Dei'otion aux Neiif
Chaiirs dcs Saints Anges, n, 44 ; his
L'l/omtue de Dieu quoted, n. 104
Boufard, the Sociir, M. Olier's spiritual

relations wiJi, 81
Bourbon, Jeanne-Baptiste de, Abbess of
FontevrauU : her religious perfection,
n. 83 ; takes an active interest in the
reform of La Regrippi^re, 83, 120
Bourdaloue, P., teaches that Mary is the

channel of all graces, 436
Bourdoise, Adrieii, 88 ; founder of the
Seminary of St. Nicolas du Chardon-
net, n. 147 ; his zeal in the matter of
preparing candidates for ordination,
31 ; instance of his caustic pleasantry,
88 ; his reception of M. Olier and his
associates ; their firm friendship, 89 ;
his practical sermon, 90 ; instructs M.
Olier and his associates in the cere-
monies of the Church, 99, 135 ; Saint-
Cyran tries his arts upon him, 100, 335;
his encounter with Cardinal de Riche-
lieu, 100 ; letter to the " Three Soli-
taries " of \augirard ; his visit to
them, 133 ; urges M. Olier to accept

6to

Index.

llie cure of St. Sulpice, 164 ; his pro-
test against the inertness and laxity of
the clergy, 323 ; advice on instruction
in parociiial functions, 456 ; insists on
I )irectors of seminaries having no other
occupation, 505
Bourgeois, Marguerite : her heroic charity,

549

liourgoing, M., third Superior of the
Oratory, M. Olier's letter to, 492

Bourzeis, the Abbe Amable de: his dupli-
city ; perverts the Due and Duchesse de
Liancourt to Jansenism, 342 ; his re-
cantation, 358

Brandon, M., disciple of P. Coudren, 51 ;
takes part in Ihe Amiens niis= ion, 94

Bressand, the Mere de, M. Olier's spiri-
tual relations witl., 81, 395

Bretonvilliers, M. Ale-andre Le Ragois
de : his vocation ; M. Oiler's eulogy
of him, 474 , struck by a stone in the
attack on the Presbytery, 244 ; visits
M. Olier at the Lux..mbourg, 246;
marvellously attracted to him, 277 ;
his statement as to the abjuration of
Charles JI., n. 312; the Marquis of
Worcester forgets to repay him, 315 ;
his account of ls\, Olier's interview
with Marie de Valence, 396; his devo-
tion at the tomb cf St. Charles, n. 419;
liberality in contributing towards the
buildii :;of the Seminary, 431 ; desirea
to dispose of his property, 481 ; finds
M. Olier on the point of burning his
manuscripts, 468 ; his conduct regard-
ing the Seminary of Nantes, 517 ; his
disinterested munificence, 524, 528,
540 ; succeeds M. Olier as Cure of St.
Sulpice, 408 ; his liberality lo the
Canadian colony, 552 ; testimony to
M. Olier's sanctity, r ' ; ; designated
by him as his .successor, 474, 575 ;
elected Supeiior, 579 ; observes the
print of a cross on M. Olier's forehead,
579 ; testifies to his gift of reading
men's hearts, 584, 585

Briailles, pilgrimage of, n. 565

Bridgett, F., History of the Holy Eu-
charist in Great Britain quoted, n. loi

Bristol, George Digby, Earl of, makes

profession of the Catholic religion ;
his subsequent defection, 315

Brother John of the Cross : how he
got the title, 223 ; assists M. Olier in
distributing alms, 224 ; rescued from
the Jansenists, 339 ; delivered from
scruples, 584

Brothers of Abstinence, 503

Brun, Le, painter of the ceiling of the
chapel of the Seminary, 433 ; his
picture representing the Blessed Virgin
on the day of Pentecost, 436

Bull Cum occasione, 353, 558 ; Unigeni-
(us, n. 359

Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury : his men-
tion of the Abbe d'Aubigny, 311 ;
statement as to Charles 1 1. 's abjuration
of Protestantism, 313

Bussy, Mile, de, cousin of M. Olier,
assisted by him to become a Carmelite
nun, 21 ; he preaches at her religious
profession, 31

CALViNiSi s : their violence, 206 ; cruelty
of a mother to her daughter, 207; side
with the Frondeurs, 377 ; destroyers of
churches, 386
Cambiac, M. de, joins the community of
Vaugirard, i v3 ; leaves the Seminary,
491
Canada, mission of. See Montreal
Canon, a, of Cologne, conversion of, 233
Canonical Hours, the, public recital of,
216; M. Olier's Considerations on,

23s

Cartiuisians, the, M. Olier's attraction to,
10, 18 ; cessation of the attiaction, how
effected, 29

Catechisin<T, system of, at St. Sulpice,
201, 203, 369 ; importance of, 459

Caulot, M. de. See Foix, Abbe de

Ceremonies of the Church, instruction in,
by M. Bourdoise, 99, 135 ; explana-
tion of, by M. Olier, 332, 455

Chancellade, the Abbe de. See Alain
de Solminihac

Chansiergues, M. de : his life and labours,
503

Index.

6ii

lAlaiii

Chantal, St. Jane Friinces de : lier eulo-
giutn on P. de Condren, 48

Chantelauze, M., .SV. Vincent de Paul et
les Go It (it, n. 31, 234

Charity, various works of, 368

Charles II. hroiiglit into communication
with M. Olier by the Abb^d'Aulji<,'ny ;
M. Oiler's liberality to his followers,
311 ; his ccmferences with the servant
of God, 312, 314, 557, 559 ; his secret
abjuration of Protestanti>m, 312; letters
to Pope Alexander VII. and others ;
public profession of attachment to the
Anglican Church, 313 ; remorse at
sight of the portraits of martyred
priests ; sorrow at the death of M.
Olier, 314; relics and papers found
after the King's death, 314

Charles, St., Borromeo: M. Olier publishes
his Instructions to Confessors ; chooses
him for patron of his parish priests,
194; diflference between his seminaries
and that of St. Sulpice, 419; visit of
M. de Bretonvilliers and M, Bourbon
to his shrine, n. 419

Charlevoix : his testimony to the results
of Sulpician labours in Canada, 553

Chartres, the city of, attempt to found a
seminary at, 119; its failure, 123

Chartres, Notre Dame de : history of tlie
shrine, n. 24 ; M. Oiler's pilgrimage
thereto ; he is delivered from his
scruples, 25 ; obtains a partial relaxa-
tion of his trials, 116; vi.sit to, 403 ;
places the Seminary under her patron-
age, 433

Ciielles, Abbey of, visited by M. Olier,
278 ; some account of the Abbess,
n. ib.

Chigi, Cardinal : his testimony to the
success of the Seminary, 416

Children, M. Olier's way of teaching, 63 ;
his manner with, 202, 221

Choisy, Mme. de, letter of, on Jansenistic
teaching, n. 352

Chrysostome, P. Jean, 110

Cercanceau, Abbey of, taken in exchange
by M. Olier for that of Pebrac, 260 ;
resigned, 366

Claude Leglay, called Brother Claude :

his exalted sanctity and extraordinary
gifts, 152; first meeting with M. Olier,

Claude, St., journey to the village of,
392 ; body of, venerated by M. Olier,
393 ; desecrated at the Revolution,
n. ib.

Clement, IX., the Ptoce of, 491

Clement, Jean, the cutler : his powers
of disputation antl extraordinary suc-
cess, 321, 323; M. du Ferrier's testi-
mony thereto, 322

Clergy, the, increased reverence for, 219 ;
retreats for, 233 ; M. Olier's labours for,
234, 519 ; state of, 323

Clerg)', the parochial, of St, Sulpice :
their condition, 184 ; M. Olier's ad-
dress to them, 187 ; his liberality to
them, 189 ; their patron saints, 194

Clerk, palish, n. 215

Clisson, the Priory of, bestowed on M.
Olier, II ; visited by him, 77 ; M. de
Kiesque ofiers to take it in exchange
for his cure of St. Sulpice, 159 ; the
engagement completed, 165; the monks
claim possession, 240 ; judgment given
in their favour, 241 ; the Parliament
stays proceedings, 249 ; M. de Fiesque
accepts the Priory of St. Gondon in-
stead, 258 ; resigned by M. Olier, and
resumed, 366 ; he completes its reform,
402 ; resigns it to M. Iloumain, Abbe
de Sainte-Marie, n. 366 ; the church
restored, 544

Collet, M., biographer of St. Vincent de
Paul, testifies to the veneration with
which the Saint regarded M. Olier,
578

Comedians, conversion of, 324

Comminges, Bishop of, P. de Condren's
advice to, 52

Communion, infrequent, 217; cause of,
220, 269 ; first, preparation for, 221

Communists, Seminary at Issy bom-
barded and pillaged by, n. 47, 486

Communities, pious, of gentlemen, 290 ;
educational, 459

Company, the, of Charity, 369 ; of the
Passion, 281

Conde, Charlotte-Marguerite de Mont-

Hi!

6l2

Index.

morency, Princcsse de, wife of Prince
Henri de Bourbon : her confidence in
Marie Rous!,eau, 134; her piety and
virtues, 185 ; M. Oiler's undeserved
rebuiie to lier, 218; supports liim in
his reforms, 242 ; pleads liis cause witli
the Judges, 248 ; liis letter to her
after her husband's death, 301 ; in-
structions to her on the use of worldly
grandeur, 301 ; her charity during the
P'irst War of Paris, 365 ; ordered by
the Queen Regent to retire to Clianlilly,
370 ; presents herself before the Parlia-
ment ; her munificence, 371 ; retires
to Chatillon-sur-Loing ; her death ;
Mme. de Motteville's account of her
last days, 37 1 ; her Requiem Mass at
St. Sulpice, 372

Conde, Claire-Clemence de Maille-Breze,
wife of Louis de Bourbon, n. 370 ;
raises the standard of revolt, 372

Conde, Henri de Bourbon, Prince de :
his opposition to M. Oiier, 186, 238 ;
interrupts the services of tlie church ;
sides with M. de Fiesque, 242; inveiglis
against M. Olier before the Parliament,
248; insults him publicly, 254; his
penitence and deatli, 300

Cond6, Louis de Bourbon, called Le
Grand, son of the above : his relat' ns
with Saint-Evremond, 186 ; opposes M.
Olier's reforms, 238 ; adopts the pro-
testation of the Company of the Pas:;ion
against duelling, 288; besieges Paris,
363 ; is imprisoned by Mazarin at
Vincennes, 370 ; afterwards at Havre,
373 ; his release ; makes a triumphal
entrance into Paris, and is admitted to
audience by the King, 373 ; rebels
against him, 377 ; encounters Turenne
under the walls of the city, 378 ;
leagues with the rabble against the
civil authorities, 378 ; his continued
rebellion, return to allegiance, and late
repent aace, 388

Condren, P. Charles de: his extraordinary
gifts ; testimonies thereto, 48 ; withheld
from writing, 49 ; his collected works,
n. 50, 183, n, 329 ; his disciples, 50 ;
his designs respecting them ; advice to

the Bishop of Comminges, 5* ; litfe/f/Z/M
M. Olier's director; prevents his tc-
cepting a bisho|)ric, |ji incujrates a
special devolinn to ||/fe M)e.s.sfi»( Hll/rfrf
ment, of which he instil ifles i < '\\\\\\i^\\% \
approves M. Olier's \\\m% pfSP(iP(/«|
55* enjoins hini to engage JiMOiiiidy
missions, 56 ; instructs hiin op t|ie
subject of JeguH dwelling In soitls | ||fi
spiritual maxims and (oriri iil \ililftll,
58; is apparently esti.ingf i| (inin hitti,
ic8 ; bills him take the Infant Jesus as
his diiector, loij I liin interview witli
Marie Rousseau, llo; disi lo^es to M.
(iu Ferrier his designs respecting the
associates. III ; his last hours and
death, ii2; public recognition of his
sanctity ; his appearance in glory to
M. Olier and M. Meyster, 113; wrote
a treatise on magic, 183 ; taught that
Mary is the channel of all graces, 437 ;
his promise to M. Olier fulfilled, 497 ;
his intentions regarding the Seminary,

413. 507-

Confessors, rules for, 188, 193, 195, 226

Confirmation, the Sacrament of, import-
ance attached to, by M. Olier, 201,
208

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament,
217 ; prosecuted by the churchwardens,
241 ; of Charity, 225 ; of Perpetual
Adoration, 268, 274

Congregation, the Seminary never erected
into a, 495 ; how distinguished from a
Community, 495, 502

Conti, Armand de Bourbon, Prince de,
brother of Le Grand Conde : patron of
Moliere, 326 ; tonsured and beneficed,
387, n. 459 ; his zeal against duelling,
288 ; made Generalissimo of the P'ron-
deurs, 363 ; imprisoned by Mazarin at
Vincennes, 370 ; afterwards at Havre ;
is liberated by the Caramal, 373 ;
reforms his life, and puts himself under
M. Oliei's direction, 387 ; frequents
the offices at St. Sulpice, 275 ; rebuked
by a seminarist, 459 ; St. Vincent's
eulogy of him, 387 ; his abjuration of
Jansenism, 387 ; visits M. Olier on his
. i'Vu. 577

Index.

613

Cojiin, M., Cure of Vaugirard, desires
M. Olier and his associates to take
charge of his parish, 143 ; sides with
the Jansenists, 340 ; opposes the con-
demnation of the Five Propositions, n.

353

Corbel, M., sent to inaugurate a reform
at P^brac, 196, 259 ; his simplicity and
spirit of obedience, 259

Cornet, M., Syndic of the Faculty of
Tlieology, draws up the Five Proposi-
tions, 352

Council, the, of Charity, 330, 369; of
Conscience, n. 234 ; abolished by
Mazarin, n. 374 ; of State, opposed to
M. Olier, 247

Couderc, M. Jean-Pierre : his contro-
versial gifts and successes, 542

Couderc, M. Pierre, Superior of the
restored Seminary at Vaugirard, 427 ;
sent to preside over the missioneis at
Magnac ; commences a seminary at
Clermont-Lodeve, 305, 532 ; M. Olier's
letter to him, 305 ; succeeds M. de
Pousse as Superior of the Seminary of
Clermont, 528

Cretenet, M., institutes the Missionaries
of St. Joseph, 231, 538

Cross, the Holy, M. Olier's devotion to,
177, 480, 559 ; print of, on his fore-
head, 579

Crucifix of the Mere Agnfes, 42, 47

Crucifying the old man, 149

Cures, miraculous, wrought by M. Olier :
on a dying woman, 251 ; a girl ap-
parently dead, 295 ; M. Philippe, 520;
the M^re de St. Gabriel; M. de
Villars, 588; Mile. Manse, 589; a
deaf priest, 592 ; Pierre Trescartes,
593 ; the Soeur Vieillard ; M. Boucaut ;
M. de Beget, 594 ; the Soeur Feulha ;
M. N^ron ; Dame Rousset, 595 ;
Mme. de I'Espinasse du Passage, 596 ;
the Sceur Dufresne, 597

Dalgairns, F., on deferring absolution,
n. 193 ; on Jansenistic practices, n.
349 ; on Arnauld's frequent Co-n-

munion, n. 35 1 ; on our Lord's use of
I lis senses in the Blessed Sacrament,
598

Damascene, St. John, taught that Mary
is the channel of all graces, 437

Damien, M., signs contract for purchase
of site of Seminary ; unites in solemn
engagement at Montmartre, 239 ; sub-
scribes the formal act of association, 261

Dardenc, M. : his instructions to workmen,
n. 205

Dauversiiie, M. Ignace de la, establishes
a community of pious priests, 504

Dauversiere, M. Jerome I,e Royer de la :
his confidence in Marie Rousseau, 134 ;
his meeting with M. Olier, 545 ;
accompanies him to St. Germain-en-
Layc, 365 ; transfers the Island of
Montreal to the Society of Our Lady,
546 ; suffers a reverse of fortune, 591 ;
appears, after death, to the Soeur
Maillet in conjunction with M. Olier,

592

Demia, M. Charles, founder of the Sceurs
de St. Charles, 460 ; of the Seminary
of Lyons, 503

Denis, St., chosen a patron of the
Seminary, 440

Desgranges, the Mere, Superioress of the
Nuns of Notre Dame de Brioude : M.
Olier has recourse to her counsels ;
his letter to her, 26

Desmares, P. Toussaint, of the French
Oratory, inhibited from preacliing, 341;
instrumental in perverting tlie Due de
Luynes to Janseni. .n, 343 ; takes part
in the discussion on grace at St. Sul-
pice, 345 ; his Christian and Chari-
table Keinonstrance, 351 ; represents
the Jansenistic party at Rome in the
matter of the Five Propositions, 353

Diaconate and Subdiaconate conferred
on M. Olier, 31

Director, office of, distinct from that of
confessor, n. 27

Directors, M. Olier's, 127

Disputation?, public, spirit to be observed
in, 464, 465

Dominic, St., M. Olier becomes a mem-
ber of the Third Order of, 440

...J .

6r4

Index.

l^oran, Memories of Our Great Towi

quoted, n. 315
Dream, in wliich M. Olier is shown his

vocation, 29, 164
Duelling, mania for, 1S4, 286,600; M.

Olier's severe measures against, 287 ;

protestation of the Company of the

Passion, 2S7 ; of the Marshals of

France ; and of the General Assembly

of the Clergy, 288

Emkry, M., ninth Superior of St. Sul-
pice : his Life, n. 461 ; repurchases
M. Rochefort's house at the Revolu-
tion, n. 144 ; his sentiments on the
necessity of Directors of seminaries
having no other occupation, 506 ; on
refusing to take the direction of semi-
naries, 507

England, M. OiierV zeal for the restora-
tion of the faitii in, 307, 313

Entrechaux, M. d', founds a community
of pious priests ; a modei of perfection,

505

Epiphany, feast of the ; its observance
restored, ^'69

Episcopate, tli», M. Olier's exaltaliofi of,
422 ; the Seniinuiy established to (//
spire the inferior clergy with love ami
reverence for, 423; M. Olier* own
practice, 53a

Eudes, P. : why he left the Oratory, 115 ;
his powers as a preacher, 134, 304 ;
his confidence in Marie Rousseau, 134 ;
gives a mUision after the First War of
Paris, 367

Examen, .^articaJar, 453 ; private, sche-
dule o^^ 479

Eymere, M., Siperior of ilie Seminary of
St. Flour, ^iS

Fabeh, F.. on M. Olier's teaching, n.

437 ; on Stis method <w prayer, 468
Fabert, Marechai de, 2>3
Faillon, Abbt, VApostoiat de St. Lazare,

&c., n. 397

Fare, Ste., remains of, n. 573

Fathers of families, shopkeepers, &c.,
instructions to, 327

Faure, P., institutes the mitigated reform
of Ste. Geneviive, 40 ; his panegyric
on M. Olier, 41

Feillet, M. Alphonse, La Misire au
temps de la Fronde et St. Vincettt de
J'aiil, n. 365

Fenelon, Antoine, Marquis de : his char-
acter and virtues, 282 ; refuses a chal-
lenge, 288 ; is assailed with obloquy,
289; conducts volunteers to the defence
of Candia ; death of his son, 289 ;
establishes a community of missioners
in his seigneuric, 305

Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai : his
Litany of the Infant Jesus, 392 ; letter
to Clement XI. on the loyalty of the
Siilpicians to the Holy See, 359 ; on
M. Louis Tronson, 476

Ferrier, M. du, disciple of P. de Condrcn,
51 ; his conversion ; takes M. Amelote
as his director, 75; testimony to the
sanctity of Franjoise Fottqiw;!, 91 ; p.
deCondrendi->; W . stohim iliiis'i«»igns,
III, 112 ; accor«pa«4es M. 01ii«# (« Ia
J'/:;,'rip;^i^ie ; effects t\^, conversion of
Hie Soeur de la Troche, $ii ; is one 'A
ib* Three Solitaries </ Vaugiiacd, 125,
/26; prejudiced agains* Maa;** Rous-
seau ; astonished »* her preternasaral
knowled;,'e; consul - her about lie
cure of St. Sulpice, 159-, mbmits tae
n.atter to P. Tarrisse, ifc ; moiuie
Superior of the Communiry, 188 ;
instance of his li^nnihty, (96; recoru
an instance u' the yarxr of tlw L'whcsse
d'Aiguillon, ^/J ; gives a spe&^aen of
P. Veron's mellity of controver»». 320 :
his conviction as 10 tlie small eSects o'
argument, 322 ; his adventure with
street-robbers, 333 ; his correction u'
the parochial clergy, 406 ; offer of
building Seminaiy made to him, 430;
collapse of the -cheme, 431 ; his testi-
mony to M.uie Rousseau's sanctity,
443 ; sent, with M. de Queyius, to
assist the Bishop of Vi>lefranche-en-
Rouergue, 511; made grand-vicar,

Index.

512; leaves tbi Seminary; his death,
491

Fiesque, M. Julien de, Ciir^ of St. Sul-
pice, offers his parish to M. Oiler and
his associates, 159 ; assures M. du
Ferrier of his readiness to resign, 161 ;
suddenly resolves to quit the parish,
169 ; opposes M. Olier's enlargement
of the Seminary, 238 ; formulates a
charge against him, 240 ; is summoned
before Parliament, 249 ; raises his
demands, 257 ; M. Olier's generous
conduct to him, 254, 258 ; the Priory
of St. Gondon given him in exchange
for that of Clisson, 258

Foix, Abb^ de St. Volusien de (Francois-
Etienne de Caulet), disciple of P. de
Condren, 51 ; takes part in the second
mission of Auvergne, 65 ; with -M.
Olier in his illness, 72 ; accompanies
liim to La Regrippiere, 120 ; urges the
abandonment of the establishment at
Chartres, 123 ; head of the community
at Vaugirani, 126 ; resigns office, 142 ;
charged with the relief of the poar at
St. Sulpice, 188 ; his discouragement
at the financial state of the Senunary,
425 ; his personal influence ; made
Bishop of Pamiers, 427, 487 ; M.
Olier's high esteem of him, 488 ; be-
comes a strenuous supporter of the
Jansenists, 489

Foley, "Jesuit A'ecords, quoted, 3-14

Fontevrault, Order of, n. 78 ; M. Olis-'s
visit to the Abbey of, 83

Formulary, the, of Alexander VII., 41^

Fouquet, Fran9oise : her history ; lier
purity of conscience and paticncatunder
saffe rings, 91

£aK, M. du, apprizes M. Olier of the
conspmcy against iiim, 244 ; M. Jlier's
letter to him, 283

Francis, St., de Sales, foretells %;. Olier's
services to the Church, b , Jicsses him
on his deathbed, 93 ; ii w ai ta i i . :)y him
in illness, 72 ; his interMt: tBials, n.
iwo; chosen pntron 01 t»e; i»aroeliiat
Clergy, 194; pilgrimage to uis tomb,

394
Fauicis, St., of Assisi raised yp to revive

devotion to the Passion, 266 ; M. Olier
becomes a member of the Third Order
of, 440
Fronde, rebellion of the : its causes, 360;
sufTeiings of the people, 364, n. 365,
367. 377

G \BRrEi,. the M^re, sister of P. de Con-
dren : consulted by M. du Ferrier re-
specting tbe fslabiishment at Chartres,
123 ; receives from M. Olier extra-
ordinary impressions of divine grace,
587 ; is miraculously cured by him,
588

(.j^chfis, M. Antoine Jacme, employed
by M. Oiier in preventing litigation,
37c

tioufce, M. Z^-2, successor of P. Bernard,
153 ; his imprudent speech to the
assailants of the Presbytery, 250 ;
makes reparation for his error, 258 ;
designed :or Bishop of Montreal, 551

Genevieve, Ste., reform of, undertaken
by Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld ; its
results, 40, n. 41 ; refused by the
monks <*: Pebrac, 259 ; introduced by
M. Vialax, 260 ; procession of, 407

George, St., Le Velay : lus church and
relics, 570

Gergy., M. Languet de : his munificent
clutrity ; completes the church of St.
Sulpice, 319

Germain, St., the Abbe de (Henri de
Bourbon) : his reception of M. Oiier,
165 ; his character and conduct, n.
165, 183 ; refuses consent to the erec-
tion of the Seminary into a Community,
237 ; supports petition for M. Olier's
re-instatement, 247 ; begs him not to
resign the cure of St. Sulpice, 257 ;
sanctions the erection of the Seminary
into a Community ; favours granted
to him, 262 ; sanctions a fast of repa-
ration, 272 ; regarded by M. Olier as
the representative of the Pope, 420;
opposes Oratorian establishment in
the -larish of St. Sulpice, 493

Germain-des-Pres, St., Abbey of, adopts
the Reform 0; St. Maur, 13

wm^mm

6i6

Index.

Germain-en-Laye, St., M. Olicr's perilous

vihit to, 364
Germain, St., fair of : its evil eflects, 183 ;

M. Olier's efforts to abate its disorders,

324

Germain, St., the Faubourg : notorious
for impiety, libertinism, and lawless-
ness, 183 ; testimonies thereto, n. 185

Gibily, M., called the "Confessor of tiie
Poor," assists M. Olier in relieving the
sufferings of the people during the
Fronde, 363

Godeau, M., Bishop of Vence : his testi-
mony to the effect of M. Olier's ex-
ample, n. 198 ; his commendation of
the Seminary, 444

Gondrin, M. de, joins the community of
Vaugirard, 142; is dismissed; becomes
Bishop-Coadjutor of Sens, and a .sup-
porter of the Jansenists, n. 143, 426

Gondy, Jean-P'ran^ois de, first Arch-
bishop of Paris, n. 31 ; favours the
Jansenists, 354

Gonzague, Prlncesse Anne de ; her mar-
riage, 308 ; penitence, relapse, and
final conversion, 309

Grace, discussion on, at the Presbytery
of St. Sulpice, 345 ; Jansenislic doc-
trine of, dishonouring to God, 351

Granry, Anne-Auger : his early piety
and holy death, 223

Gregory, St., the Great, seen by M. Olier
in a vision, 29, 164 ; chosen a patron of
the Seminary, 440

Grignon de Montforf, Ven. : his True
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, n. 439 ;
founder of the Sceurs de la Sagesse,
460

Grimaldi, Cardinal, 521

Gu^men^, Anne de Rohan, Princesse de,
n- 344

Guilds, reform of, 211, 220

Guise, Isabel, Duchesse de, daughter of
the Due d'Orleans : her piety and good
works, 386

Hair, cutting of the, 150

Hamel, M. Henri du, Cure of St Merry,

343 ; his system of public penances,
347 ; takes an active part in the
Fronde, 361

Herculais, Marie de Valernot, Dame d' :
her life a miracle of prayer, 395

Herse, Charlotte de Ligny, Pr^sidente
de : her zeal for the sanctiiication of
the clergy, 90

Hilary, St., relics of, 570

Hospital ieres, taken by Mile. Manse to
Montreal, 591 ; their sufferings and
privations, 592

Houmain, M. See Sainte-Marie

Humility, the virtue of; its efficacy in
killing the old man, 451

Hurtevent, M. d', joins the community of
Vaugirard, 143 ; an example of perfect
obedience, 482 ; sent with M. de
Queylus to found a .seminary at Nantes,
516; made Superior, 516; first Supe-
rior of the Seminary of St. Ir^n^e de
Lyon ; testimony to his services, 531

Illness, alarming, of M. Olier ; his
wonderful recovery, 72 ; another simi-
lar instance, 172 ; apparently hopeless,
407 ; his last, 557, &c.

Illuminations and special graces received
by M. Olier : at Loreto, 16 ; at Char-
lies, 24, 116; at Notre Dame de
Licsse, 28 ; in retreat, 53, 57 ; at St.
Germain-des-Pres, 54 ; at Tournon, 73 ;
at Notre Dame des Vertus, 125, 126 ;
on the feast of the Ascension, 239 ; at
the tomb of St. Francis de Sales, 394 ;
respecting the Seminary, 418, 429,
442, 493, 494 ; from St. Peter, 496 ;
at the tomb of St. Martial, 514; from
St. Vincent Ferrer, 515 ; at Clermont,
526 ; respecting the Seminary of For-
eign Missions, 537 ; on a journey, 559;
respecting the death of M. Blanio and
others, 576

Illutninks, the, of Picardy : their con-
version, 97, 98

Images of the Blessed Virgin, M. Olier's
devotion to, 32, 59, 126

Immolation, spirit of, 478

Index,

617

Infamous houscR, suppression of, 226
Infancy, Sacred, the, Archconfraternity

of, n. 391 ; devotion to, at St. Sulpice,

392
Influences, extraordinary, emanating from

M, Oiler's person, 276, 295, 586 ;

general remarks thereon, n. 277
Innocent X. condemns the Five Jansen-

istic Propositions, 353, 358, 558
Inscription on M. Olier's tomb, 58 1
Instruction, La Maison d', 329
Intentions, the, of Ciirist, union with,

151

Interior Life, the, of Jesus, devotion to,

434
Interior life, the, of Mary, devotion to,

435
Iroquois, the : their attacks on the settle*
ment of Montreal, 548 ; decapitate M.
Le Maitre ; kill and eat M. Vialar,

Issy, the Noviciate House at, descrip-
tion of, 485 ; bombarded and pillaged
by Communists, n. 47, 486

Jansenists, the, P. de Condren's pre-
science respecting, 112; M. Olier ac-
cused of favouring them, 336 ; his
public protestation, 337; their inrin-
cerity, 337, 340, 353 ; M. Olier's warn-
ing letter to the Marquise de Fortes,
337 > their accusations against him,
340 ; their success with influential lay-
men, 342, 343 ; the leaders endorse
the proteitaiion of obedience to the
Holy See signed by the Due and
Duchesse de Liancourt, 345 ; discus-
sion on grace at the Presbytery, 345 ;
the practical eff"ects of their teach-
ing, 220,269, 349. 351. n-3S2; con-
demned at Rome, 345, 353 ; the Abb^
d'Aubigny's account of them, n. 355 ;
they take part with the PVondeuiw,
361, 363; offer aid against the King,
377 ; fail in their efforts to seduce the
seminarists, 426, 486 ; refuse to accept
the Formtdury of Alexander VII. ;
their dissimulation, 489, 490; endea-

vour to bring the Oraforians into th«
Faubourg, 341, 492 ; create dissensions
in the Seminary of Nantes, 519; pre-
vent the erection of a Sulpician house
at niois, 386, 533

Jansenius, n. 335

John, St., the Evangelist : why chosen
to be a special patron of the Seminar v,

438

Joly, M., priest of the Community, after-
wards Bishop of Agen, maintained free
of cost, n. 189 ; preaches before Louis
XIV. at St. Sulpice, 372

Joseph, St., Dom Pierre de, takes part in
the discussion on grace, 345

Joseph, St., special patron of the Semi-
nary, 439

Knowledge, three kinds of, 463

Ladies, sermons to, 292 ; rebukes to,
294

Lagrange, M. Pons de, 245

Lancelot, Claude, perverted by the Abb^
de Saint-Cyran, 99, 100

Lantages, M. de, liberality of, 258 ; his
vocation, 445 ; M. Olier's rebuke to,
446 ; records an instance of M. Olier's
humility, 451 ; his fust impressions of
the Seminary, 461 ; testimony to M.
de Pousse's sanctity, 466 ; model of
obedience, 483 ; made Superior of the
Seminary of Le Puy, 526 ; author of
the Life of the Ven. M^ie Agnes, n.

445

Lascaris d'Urfe, Bishop of Limoges :
his humility and charity, 514

Laval, M. de, 553

Lazaie, St., Priory of, ceded to the Priests
of the Mission, 31 ; conferences of, 3:.,
580; M. Olier's celebrated retreat at,
34. &c.

Le Gras, Mile., 225

Leschassier, M. Francois, fourth Supe-
rior of St. Sulpice, 519; his testi-
mony to M. de Pousse's sanctity, 466 ;
made Superior of the Seminary of

^mmmmmmmm'^^^'

6i8

Index.

Avig;non, 522 ; testifies to M. Olier's
{jift of reading men's hearts, 584

Lcbchassier, Mile., her charity and self-
devotion, 225 ; superintends the or-
phanage founded by M. Olier, 329

I.eschassier, Mme., 225

Letters of M. Olier : to the Mire I)es-
{jraiifjes, 26; the nuns of Langeac, 45;
St. Vincent de Paul, 64 ; clergy of Le
^'"y* 93 » the Socur de Vauldray, 1 18 ;
M. du Four, 283 ; the Princesse de
Cond^, 301 ; M. Couderc,30S ; the Mar-
quise de I'ortes, 357; Anne of Austria,
373 ; M. de Parlages, 399 ; M. de Sive,
456 ; on preserving health, 484 ; to P.
IJuurgoing, 492 ; to the Bishop, 497 ;
to M. du Bosquet, Bishop of Clermont-
Lodive, 532 ; the Due d'Orl^ans, 533 ;
on the Chinese nii>sion, 536

I-^v^que, M. Rene, institutor of the
Brothers of Abstinence, 503 ; of the
Community of St. Clement; his morti-
fied life, 518

Liancourt, Due and Duchcsse de : their
characters ; perverted to Jansenism,
342 ; their hdtel the headquarters of the
party, 343; ihey sign a protestation of
obedience to the Holy See, 344 ; attend
the discussion on grace at the Pres-
bytery, 345 ; fail to fulfil their engage-
ment, 356 ; the Duke refused absolu-
tion by M. Picot^, 356 ; M. Arnauld
takes up his cause, 357; the Duke and
Duchess persist in their contumacy ;
their death, 358

Liesse, Notre Dame de ; origin of the
sanctuary, n. 28 ; M. Olier's visits to
the shrine, 494

Lilly, W. S., Ancient Religion and Modern
Thought quoted, n. 277

LonguevilJe, Duchesse de : her dying
mother's message to her, 372 ; her in-
fluence over the Vicomte de Turenne,

373

Loreto, the Holy House of, M. Olier's
pilgrimage to, 15

Louis XIV., birth of; incident connected
therewith, 82 ; confirms the erection
of the Seminary into a Community,
263 ; his edict against blasphemy and

duelling, aS8, 600; re-ente s Paris
after the First War of Paris 366;
hears Mass at St. Sulpice, 272 ; re-
enters Paris after the Second War,
379; subsidizes the Sulpicians of
Montreal, 552 ; relieves them of all
seignorial charges, 553

Loudun, exorcisms at the Ursuline
Convent of, 86, 1 16

Lutherans, the, sacrilegious conduct of,
205

Luynes, Due de, won over to the Jan-
senists, 343 ; a prime mover in the
Fronde, 361

Madfxeine, Mire, de la Trinite, Supe-
rioress of Notre Daniede Mis^ricotde
at Aix, resigns her office, 397 ; estah-
lislies a community at Paris, 383 ;
destituti: condition of herself and her
nuns, 384

Magic, practices of, 182 ; P. de Condren
studies its mysteries, 183

Maillet, the Soeur, M. Olier appears to,
in glory, 592

Maisonneuve, M. Paul de Chaumedy

de, 547. S49
Maitre, M, Le, martyrdom of, 551
Manse, Mile. : her confidence in Marie

Rousseau, 134; her heroic charity,

547 ; is miraculously cured by M.

Olier, 589
Marguerite, the Ven. Soeur, du Saint-

Sacrement, called to promt e devotion

to the Sacred Infancy ; her relations

with M. Olier, 391 ; her Life written

by P. Amelote, 392
Marie, M. Gilles, formed on the spiritual

maxims of M. Olier, 119
Marmoutier, the caves of, n. 404
Marriage, M. Olier's zeal for the sanctity

of; his preparatory instructions, 230
Martial, St., M. Olier's visit to the tomb

of, 399. 513
Martin, St., of Tours, M. Olier assists at
the ceremonies in honou. of, 122 ;
model of pastoral life, 194 ; renewed
devotion to, 220, 269; M. Oiier visits

Index.

619

tlie plnces sacred to Iiim, 404 ; discovery
of his tomb, n. 405 ; tiie Seminary
nssoc I'ed with tlie Chapter, 440; M.
Olicr' visit to the PrcmcjnHtratciisian
Alilxy of, at Laon, 402
Mary Mai^dalen, St., M. Oiler's visits to

the toml) of, n. 7, 396
Maup.is, M. lleiii e. Bishop of Le Puy
aiul afterwards or Evreux : his ap-
proval of NT. Oiicr's writings, 286;
testimony to his ardour and eloquence,
525 ; to tlie results of the Seminary,
526 ; urges M. Olier to accept his see,
539 ; preaches at his funeral, 5S0
Maur-les-Foss^s, St., n. 94
Maur, St., Reform of, 14, 127, 342
Mazarin, Cardinal, virtual rvucr of the
kingdom, 360 ; arrests the Princes
de Cond^ and de Conti, 370 ; leaves
Paris in disj;uise ; delivers them from
prison, 373 ; his unscrupulous use of
Church patron.iLje, 373 ; rec.nlled by
the Queen Mother ; tlie Parliar. .t
sets a price on his head, 377 ; again
retires, 379 ; suppresses the Parisian
Congregation of the Propagation of
the Faith, 356
Mazelli, the Mere Fran9oise de, 396
Mechtilde, the Ven. Mere du Saint-

Sacrement (Catherine de Bar), 383
Meditations of M. Olier during retreat,

174

Meetings, periodical, of charitable insti-
tutions, 330
Meilleraye, Madeleine de la Porte de

la. Abbess of Challes, marvellously

affected by M. Olier, 278
Meliand, M. Blaise de, sells to M. Olier

the site of the future Seminary, 239
Meliand, M. Victor de, afterwards Bisliop

of Alet, rebuked by M. Olier, 458
Mhnoires^ the, of M. Olier begun, 149 ;

delivered to M. Bretonvilliers, 443
Memorial, M. Olier's, to the Episcopate,

497.501
Merry-andrew, conversion of a, 210
Meyster, M., conversion of; takes part in

the second Auvergne Mission, 65 ; P. de

Condren's estimation of him, 66, 473 ;

eflTects the conversion of a Swedish

( olonel and his mrn, 95 ; strange
accusation brought against liim, 97 ;
P. de Condrcn appears to him in k''"')'!
113; ic'.ircs from the community nt
Chartres, 120 ; his interview with Car-
dinal de Richelieu, n. 142 ; instru-
mentel in ileciding the vocation of M.
Souart, 472 ; his tr.ngical end, 473

Michel, St., Mere de; her veneration for
M. Olier, 398

MidwivcH, in>.trtictions for, 204

Military men, M. Olier's influence with,
284 ; effects of thiir examjile, 285 ;
pious communities of, 2(ju

Missions : first of Auvergne, 36 ; second,
60 ; at llliers, 90 ; Anucn-, 94 ; Mcmt-
didier, 97; Mantes, 98; Chartres, 1 19;
Le Puy, 539 ; Privas, 540 ; Jaiijac,
Vivier-s, and Thueyts, 543 ; Alais, 544

Modesty, the virtue of, 176

Mole, M. Mathieu, Fir.st President of the
Parliament of Paris, marvellously af-
fected by M Olier, 276, 442 ; heads
the Parliament in its interview with
thj Queen Regent, 362 ; opens nego-
tiations with the Court, 379 ; chosen
civil patron of the Seminary, 442

Moli^re, obliged to quit Paris with his
troop, 325 ; evil effects of his dramas,
n. 326

Month, the, quoted, n. 105, n. 326

Moiitii. irtre. Abbey of; M. Olier and
his .associates consecrate ihemselces :o
the Blessed Virgin in the chapel of
the martyrs, 132 ; the engagement re-
newed, 239 ; the Seminary associated
therewith, 440

Montmorency, Duchesse de, protects the
Marquise de Portes in the observance
of her vow, 299 ; visited by M. Olier
in the Convent of the Visitation at
Moulins ; her exalted virtues, 565

Montpensier, Mile, de, daughter of the
Due d'Orleans, anecdote respecting,
233 ; orders the guns of the Bastille to
fire on the royal forces, 378 ; her testi-
mony to the change wrought in htr
father, 385 ; her personal want of
piety, n. ib.

Montreal, Colony of, 544 ; Society of Our

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620

Index.

Lady; its articles of association, 546 ;
meeting at the Carmelite church, 154;
sends out colonists, 547 ; M. Olier
desires to go on tlie mission, 56 ; con-
secrates the Island to the Holy Family,
548 ; sufferings of the colonists, 548 ;
establishment of Episcopal see, 549,
553 ; the Island made over to the
Sulpicians ; fonndaiion of the Petit
Seminaire, 552 ; testimonies to the
lesults of the Community's labours,
553 ; arrangements with the British
Government, 553 ; foundation of the
Grand Seminaire, 554

Morris, F., on the caves of Maimoutier,
quoted, n. 404

Mortification, exterior and interior, neces-
sary for priests, 448, 449

Mortifications, corporal, of M. Olier, 25,

447
Motteville, Mme. de : her account of the

last days of the Princesse de Conde,

371 ; her testimony to the change

wrought in the Due d'Orl^ans, 385

Mystics, the false, doctrine of, n. 130

Neuvillette, the Baronne de : her
penances, 271 ; public act of humilia-
tion, n. 272

Nevers, Hotel de, 343, 345

Nicole, M., attributes the ruin of the
Jansenislic party to the Jesuits and
Sulpicians, 358

Noailles, Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de,
favours the Jansenists, n. 359 ; his
eulogy on M. Olier, 602

Northcote, Provost : his Celebrated Sanc-
tuaries of the Madonna, n. 15, n. 569

Notre Dame d'Argent, n. 5

Notre Dame, Cathedral of, M. Olier's
favourite church ; visits to the image
of Our Lady therein, 5, 22, 60, 441

Noviciate, the, 484 ; its disciplinary rules
and spirit, 476 ; chapel of, 486

Obedience, the virtue of, M. Olier's
eulogy on, 450 ; examples of, 482

Old man, killing of the, 150, 451

Olier, Fran9oisdeVerneuiI, eldest brother
of Jean-Jacques, n. 4, 6, 9 ; made
Maitre des Requfites, 18 ; his marriage,
60 ; remonstrates with his brother for
accepting the cure of St. Sulpice, 166 ;
his deatli, n. 166

Olier, Jacques, father of Jean-Jacques,
MaJtre des Requetes to Henri IV,, 3 ;
made Intendant of Lyons by Lo'.is
XIII., 6 ; commissioned to procure a
subsidy ngainst the Huguenots, n. 6 ;
made Conseiller d'Etat, IC ; obtains
benefices for his son, 7, II ; the results
thereof, 240, 260 ; his death, 18

Olier, Marie, sister of Jean-Jacques ; her
death, 73 ; description of her head-
gear, n. 293

Olier, Mme. («/<• Marie Dolu), Dame
d'lvoy, brings her children to receive
tne blessing of St. Francis de Sales, 9;
her worldly ambition, II, 19 ; distress
at her son's dissipated life, 12 ; dislike
of his apostolic labours, 21, 60; visits
her son in his illness, 72 ; her anger at
his refusing the bishopric of Ch&lons-
sur-Mame, 94 ; and accepting the cure
of St. Sulpice, 166 ; her vexation at
his refusing the see of Rodez, 261 ;
•'isiled by him in illness ; survives him
two years, 261

Olier, Nicolas-Edouard de Fontenelle
and de Touquin, youngest brother of
Jean-Jacques, n. 4; succeeds his father
as Grand Audiencier of France, 18 ;
approves his brother's acceptance of
the cure of St. Sulpice, 166 ; M.
Olier's first ministerial act performed
at his house, 170; his death, n.
167

Olier, Rene, second brother of Jean-
Jacques, n. 3, 6, 9

Oratorians, French, fail in providing
ecclesiastical seminaries, 115, 147,413,
418 ; infected with Jansenism, 115, n.
489 ; side with the party against M.
Olier, 341 ; endeavour to establish a
house in his parish, 341, 492-494 ; the
Congregation reconstitutef'., n. 490

Order, the sacerdotal, the Order of Jesus

Index.

621

Christ, 197 ; necessary to the exiftence
of the Church, 498

Orleans, Gaston, Due d', notorious for
his impiety, 185 ; opposes M. Olier's
reforms, 238 ; treats him with marked
respect, 299; contributes towards erec-
tion of new church, 318; obliges tne
Princesse de Conde to leave P?/is,
371 ; persuaded by De Retz to join the
Frondeurs, 373 ; leagues with Conde,
377 ; employs the rabble against the
civil authorities, 378 ; banished to
Bloi", 384 ; protector of the Oratory,
492 ; M. Olier's interview with him,
494 ; his letter to him, 533 ; reforms
his life, 384 ; prevented by the Jan-
senists from establishing a Sulpician
house at Blois, 386, 533 ; his death,
386

Orleans, Margutrite, Diichesse d' : her
confidence in Marie Rousseau, 134 ;
hor piety and sterling virtues, 185

Orphanages, institution of, 330, 369

Palais"AU, the Marquise de, 273

Parlages, M. de, letter of M. Olie • to,
399; sent to the Seminary of Ariiens
and withdrawn, 53:

Parliament, the, of Paris : its functions,
n. 248 ; orders the re-instatement of
M. Olier, 249 ; takes measures against
his assailants, 250, 252 ; its hostility
to Mazarin and the Court, 360 ; de-
mands the release of Broussel and his
fellow-magistrates, 36? ; orders Mazarin
to quit the realm, 363 ; sets a price on
his head, 377 ; assailed by the insur-
gents, 378 ; opens negotiations with
the Court, 379 ; registers the royal
letters constituting the Seminary a
legal corporation, 442 ; forbids the
establishment of an Oratorian house
in the parish of St. Sulpice, 494

Passage, Franjoise de I'Espinasse du, M.
Olier appears to, with the Mfere Agnes,
and cures her, 596

Patrons of the parochial clergy, 194 ; of
the Seminary, 438-440

Pavilion, M,, Bishop of Alet, supports
the Jansenists, 490

Peace, the, of Clement IX., 491

Pcbrac, the Abbey of : M. Olier made
abbot, II ; is visited by him, 26; its
situation, 27, 36 ; deplorable condition
of its inmates, 38 ; M. Olier designs a
plan of reform in conjunction with
M. Alain de Solminihac, 39 ; the plan
defeated, 40 ; establishes a confrater-
nity for relief of the sick and poor,
63 ; violent opposition on the part of
the richer inhabitants, 67 ; his life
threatened ; conversion of his chief
enemy, 68 ; sends M. Corbel to in-
augurate a reform, 196 ; failure of tlie
attempt, 259 ; strange conduct of the
Prior, 260 ; M. Olier exchanges the
abbey for that of Cercanceau, 260 ;
reform of Ste. Genevieve introduced,
260 ; his memory still cherished in the
town, 261

Penance, public, Jansenistic practices of,
347 ; M. Olier's protest against, 349

Penitent, a, malgri lui, 283

Perfection, vow of, 196 ; life of, for the
laity, 298 ; in priests, 444

Perouse, Abbe de la, 530 ; effects of his
preaching at Besan9on, 530 ; observes
the print of a cross on M. Olier's fore-
head, 579

Perraud, VOratoire de France au xvii*
et au xix" Sikle, n. 490

Perrochel, M. Francois de, associated
with M. Olier in the first Auvergne
mission, 34 ; M. Olier's eulogium on
him, 36 ; joins him in the second mis-
sion, 65 ; conducts s. mission in the
parish of St. Sulpice, 158

Perth, Earl of: his conversion, n. 314

Petetot, M., Cure of St. Roch, restores
the French Oratory, n. 490

Peter, St., M. Olier's devotion to, 331 ;
his promise to M. Olier, 496

Philippe, M. : his veneration for M. Olier;
miraculously cured ; establishes the
Seminary of Aix, 520

Picard, Marie-Franfoise du Plessisle, suc-
ceeds Marie Rousseau as Superioress
of the Maison d' Instruction, u. 443

ITT^^*"

622

Index.

Picote, M. Charles, incident related by,
in connection with the birth of I<ouis
XIV., 82 ; becomi^s M. Olier's direc-
tor ; commissioned to enquire into tlie
Loudun possessions, 116 ; is delivered
from interior sufferings by the prayers
of Marie Rousseau ; his adventure with
highwaymen, 117 ; urged by Mme. de
Villeneuve to establish a community
at Vaugirard, 124 ; institutes associa-
tions of girls, 203 ; his liberality, 258;
refuses the Due de Liancourt absolu-
tion, 357 ; requested by the Queen
Mother to make a vow in her name ;
its fulfilment, 383

Pilgrimages: to Loreto, 15 ; Notre Dame
de Bon-Secours, 73 ; des Anges, 28,
484, 573; de Chartres, 24, 53, 116,
403 ; de Liesse, 28 ; de Toute-Joie,
77, 403 ; St. Maur-des-Fosses, n. 94 ;
Abbey of Chellcs, 278 ; revived de-
votion tor, 332 ; Notre Dame des
Vertus, 28, 126 ; Chatillon-sur- Seine,
Clairvaux, Dijon, Citeaux,390; Beaune,
391 ; Saint-Clauc e, 392, 401 ; An^ecy,
394 ; Grenoble, 395 ; the Grande-
Chartreuse, Abbey of St. Antoine de
Vienne, Valence, Pont St. Esprit, Avig-
non, 396; the Holy Places of Pro-
vence ; Aix, 397 ; NImes, Montpel-
Her, M(mtpeiroux, Clermont-Lodeve,
Rodez, Limoges, 399 ; Laon, Meulan,
402 ; Notre Dame des Ardillie»?, 403,
559; Vannes, Auray, 403 ; Marmoutier,
Candes, Tours, 404 ; St. Agreve, 524 ;
Argenteuil, 558 ; Briailles, 565 ; Notre
Dame du Puy, 569 ; Ste. Fare, 573

Planat, M., founder of the Seminary of
Notre Dame de I'Hermitage. 529

Plesse, Mme. de la : employment of her
numerous s';ivant.';, n. 297

Plessis, Comle and Comtesse du : their
h6tel a rendezvous of the Port- Royal-
ists, 343

Poincheval, M. Jean, sanctity and sacer-
dotal charity of, 234, 425

Polignac, Mme. de : M. Olier's meek-
ness \ der her reproaches, 572

Pollalion, Mme. Lumague de, assists M.
Olier in rescuing an innocent girl, 229

Poor, the, M. Olier's love and indulgent
charily to, 19, &c., 62, 223

Pope, the, M. Olier's devotion to, 331 j
the Seminary designed to renew vene-
ration for and submissioi. to, 420 ;
inheritor of the Apostolate, 421

Pour9ain, St., relics of, n. 565

Portes, Marquisi> de : her vow of vir-
ginity ; confirmed in her vocation by
M. Olier, 298 ; his letter of warning 10
Jier, 337

Port Royal, n. 335, J48

Pous<4 M. Antoine Raguier de, joins the
community of Vaugirard, 143 ; signs
contract for purchase of site of Semi-
nary ; unites in solemn engagement at
Montmartre, 239 ; subscribes the for-
mal act of association, 261 ; made
superior of a temporary house, 428 ;
rebuked by M. Olier, 448 ; model of a
Christian student, 466 ; made Superior
of the Seminary of Clermont, 528

Poverty, M. Olier's love of, 45, 482 ; of
the Seminary, 189, 423 ; its observ-
ance enforced, 424

Prayer, the preparation for the pulpit,
34, 209 ; M. Olier's unintermitted, for
his flock, 200 ; his teaching on, 452 ;
method approved by him, 468 ; form
of, used in the Seminary, 58

Presbytery, the, attack upon, 244, 249

Presence, real, of Jesus in souls, 58

Presentation of Blessed Virgin, feast of
the, 440

Priesthood, conferred on M. Olier; his
first Mass, 31

Priests, living Tabernacles, 279 ; called
to perfection, 444 ; virtues proper to,
445, &c. ; necessity of theological learn-
ing to, 461 ; summary of M. Olier's
teachirg, 480

Priests of the Mission, instituted by St.
Vincent de Paul, n. 30 ; charged with
giving retreats to candidates for ordi-
nation, 31 ; with the conduct of semi-
naries, 5c6

Priests of the Clergy, the title adopted by
M. Olier and others, 501

Privas, mission of, 540, 603

Procession, public, in reparation for

1':

Index,

621

sacrilegious robbery, 272 ; curious cir-
cumstance connected therewith, n, 273
Piopagation of the Faith, Parisian Con-
gregation of ; its attempted use by the
Jansenists, 354 ; suppressed by Mazarin,

356

Propositions, the Five Jansenistic, n.

352 ; condemned by Innocent X., 353
rropriit^, the spirit of, n, 80
Protestation of the Company of the Pas-
sion, 287 ; to be made by every member
of the Community, 477
Protestants, conferences witli, 205
Provence, the Holy Places of, 397
Puy, Le, M. Oiier desired for Bishop by
the Chapter of, n. 120; his letter to
the canons and clergy, 93 ; Semi-
nary of, 525 ; urged by M. Maupas to
accept the see, 538; pilgrimage to,

569

QufeRlOLET, Pierre de : his wicked and
godless life, 85 ; converted at Loudun,
86 ; his meeting with P. Bernard, 87

Queylus (or Caylus), M. Gabriel de
Thubieres de, Abb^ of Loc-Dieu, joins
the community of Vaugivprd, 143 ; his
eminent virtues ; joins the community
of St. Sulpice, 253 ; sent with M. du
Ferrier to assist the Bishop of Ville-
francheen-Rouergue, 511; takes up
his abode in the seminary, 513; sent
with M. d'Hurtevent to establish a
seminary at Nantes, 516 ; made Supe-
rior of the parochial clergy of St. Sul-
pice, 516; made Superior of the Semi-
nary of Viviers, 523 ; of Clermont,
527 ; made Cur^ of Privas, 540 ; nomi-
nated Bishop of Montreal, 550; ap-
pointed Vicar-General and Superior of
the Canadian College, 550 ; returns to
France, and becomes Superior of the
Community of Mont Valerien, n. ib.

Quinquagesima Sunday religiously ob-
served, 269

Rantzau, Mme. de : her history, 296 ;
her special grace, 297

Reboul, M., Archpriest of St, Flour : hi*
testimony to M. Olier's assiduity in
prayer, 71

Regrippiere, La, Convent of: its relaxed
condition ; visited by M. Olier ; he
takes up his lodging in the fowl-house,
78 ; is invited to preach ; conversion
of the Soeur de Vauldray and others,
80 ; prosecutes the reform, 83 ; visits
the convent again with M. de F"oix and
M. du Ferrier, 120 ; conversion of the
Soeur de la Troclie ; the reform com-
pleted, 122 ; last visit to, 404

Religion, the virtue of, 455

Renar, Fran9oi3 : his charity in confessing
the poor, 20 ; joins M. Olier in teach-
ing street-beggars, 21 ; associated with
him in the first Auvergne mission, 34 ;
opposed to his undertaking the cure of
St. Sulpice, 162

Renty, Baron de : one of P. de Condren's
penitents, lll ; takes M. Oiier as his
director ; a member of the Company
of the Passion ; his character and vir-
tues, 281 ; letter to M. Oiier on a
mission in his seigtienrte, 304 j devotion
to the Sacred Infancy, 391

Resurrection, the, of our Lord, M. Oiler's
devotion to, 574

Retreats at St. Lazare ; M. Olier visited
by the Mere Agnis, 34 ; under P. de
Condren ; lights received by M. Olier
in prayer, 57 ; at Tournon ; he is given
a higher order of prayer, 73 ; at Clisson,
77 ; at Notre Dame des Vert'is, 125,
126; under P. Bataille, 168; summary
of his meditations during it, n. 168, 174

Retreats given to women, 328

Retz, Cardinal de : his character and
history, n. 600; he favours the Jan-
senists; his hostility to Mazarin, 361 ;
his violent harangues ; inflammatory
pamphlet, 363 ; persuades the Due
d'Orl^ans to take part with the Fron-
deurs, 373 ; heads a deputation to the
Court, 379

Richelieu, Cardinal de, 599 ; requests P.
de Condren to recommend ecclesiastics
for bishops, 52 ; his eulogium on M.
Olier, 93 ; encounter with M. Bourdoise

624

Index.

lOO ; offers M. Olier and his associates
hischd'.eau of Ruel, 141 ; his inlerview
with M. Meyster, n. 142 ; contributes
towards the erection of seminaries, 148

Robe, the, of our Lord, n. 558

Robertins, n. 144, n. 432

Rochefort, M. de, Seigneur de Souplain-
ville, presents his housr- to the associates
at Vaugirard, 144 ; it is repurchased at
the Revolution by M. Emery, n. 144

Rochefov 'auld, Cardinal de la, Abbe de
Ste. Genevieve, commissioned to reform
the Canons Regular of St. Augustine,
40, n. 41

Rogu^e, Mile, de, delivered by M. Olier
from interior trials, 587

Rosaries of the Mere Agnes, 37, 47

Rosset, Anne-Marie : her spirit of obedi-
ence, 395

Rouill^, Mme., founds a school for poor
girls, 329

Rousseau, Marie (tiie de Gournay) : her
character and aspirations, 12 ; her first
acquaintance vith M. Olier; prays for
his conversion, 14 ; called toco-operate
in the foundation of the Seminary and
the reformation of the parish of St.
Sulpice ; her doubts and misgivings,
109 ; takes P. Bataille for her director ;
her interview with P. de Condren, i lo ;
is brought into close relations with
M. Picote and other members of the
society ; maintains her opinion of M.
Olier during his trials, 1 1 7 ; hei* extra-
ordinary influence, 1 34 ; removes the
prejudices entertained agrinst M. Olier,
135 ; her preternatural knowledge, 159,
161, 165 ; disposes M. Olier to accept
the cure of St. Sulpice, 160, 162 ; dis-
suades him from accepting the cure of
St. Jacques du Haul Pas, 231 ; and the
see of Rodez, 256 ; director of various
works of charity, 328 ; institutor and
director of the Maison d'Instruction,
329 ; God's promise to her respecting
the Seminary, 415 ; her prediction of
its success fulfilled, 416 ; favoured with
a divine intimation, 428 ; her death,

443
Roussel, Dom Placide, Prior of St.

Germain : his matidenunt against the
Jansenists, 342

oussiere, F'ran<joise-Madeleine de la, M.
Olier witness of a miraculous favour
accordea to, 82
Ruskin : extract from his Lecture on the
Bciiedictines, n. 414

SABLfi, Marquise de, 344 ; Vie de la,
quoted, n. 352

Sacrament, the Blessed, Company of,
instituted by P. de Condren, n. 55 ;
devotion to, a special characteristic of
the French Oratory, as also of M.
Olier, 55 ; public homage to, 191 ;
revival of devotion to, 213, 268 ; not
reserved at the Seminary, n. 217;
Confraternity of, 217, 241 ; Exposition
and Solemn Benedict'on of, 219 ;
devotion to, the surest source of refor-
mation, 213, 265 ; its transforming
powei, 265, 452, 480 ; M. Olier chosen
to revive devotion to, in France, 267 ;
his vocation divinely intimated, 26S ;
our Lord's use of His senses in, 279,

598

Sacrilegious robbery at St. Sulpice, 271 ;
procession in reparation, 272 ; detec-
tion of one of the culprits, 274

Saint-A^^reve, shrine of the Blessed
Virgin at, 524

Saint-Chamarant, M. de La Roque,
death bed of, 286

Saint-Cyran, the Abbe de, n. 335 ; tries
his arts en M. Olier and M. Bour-
doise ; his success with M. Claude
Lancelot, 99, loo

Sainte-Cecile, the Cardinal de, anecdote
concerning, n. 383

Sainte-Marie (M. Houmain), the Abbe
de, joins the community at Vaugirard,
139; his liberality, 258; is given the
Priory of Clisson, n. 366

Saint-Evremond, the Chevalier de : his
relations with the Ducd'Enghien, 186 ;
testimony to the reformation of society
in France, 291 ; conversation with the
Abbe d'Aubigny on Jansenism, n. 355

Index,

Siint-P^, P. de, Superior of St. Magloire,

329

Salle, Ven Jean-Baptiste de la, founder
of the Christian Brothers ; his respect
for M. Olier, 459

Siiujeon, Mme. Anne de Campet de : her
influence with the Due d'Oil^ans, 385 ;
aids in establishing a community ; her
conduct regarding it, n. 386 ; receives
from M. Olier the rosary given him by
the M^ie Agnes, n. 47

Scarron, M. Pierre, Bishop of Grenoble,
desires to have M. Olier as bis Coad-
jutor, 564

Schomberg, Mar^chal de, endeavours to
withdraw his sister, the Duchesse de
Liancourt, fiom Jansenistic influences,

343. 345

Schools, 201, 369, 459

School-teachers, instruction and exami-
nation of, 157, 204 ; communities of,

459

Scripture, Holy, P. de Condren's in-
structions how to study, 51 ; M, Oiler's
insight into, 145 ; meditation on, pre-
scribed to Seminary, 453 ; M. Olier's
reverence for, 454

Seguenot, P., inhibited from preaching,

^i. n. 342

Seguier, Chancellor : his confidence in
Marie Rousseau, 134 ; his life in peril
from the Frondeurs, 362

Seine, dangerous passage of, 59

Self-disparagement, 580, 602

Seminaries, ecclesiastical, ordered by the
Council of Trent ; failure in France,
III, 146 ; M. Olier the first to succeed,
148

Seminaries, Provincial, establishment of,
at Villefranche - en - Rouergue, 511,
Rodez, 512 ; Limoges : state of the
diocese, 513; Nantes, 515 ; incorpo-
rated with the community of St. Cle-
ment, 518; Aix, 520; Avignon, 522;
Viviers, 523 ; Le Puy, 525 ; Clermont,
526 ; St. Flour : state of the diocese,
528 ; Notre Dame de I'Hennitage,
529 ; Besan9on, 530 ; St. Irenee de
Lyon, 531 ; Amiens, 531 ; Clermont-
Lodeve, 305, 532

Seminary, the Interior. See Noviciate
Seminary, the, of Forelc^n Missions, M.

Olier's revelation concerning, 537
Sermons and addresses of M. Olier : at
St. Paul's, Paris, 28 ; to the clergy of
St. Sulpice, 187 ; on the feast of St.
James, 156; of the Translation of St.
Sulpice, 171 ; on worldliness, 209 ; to
children on first communion, 221 ;
after his re-instatemenf, 251 ; on tlie
Incarnation and the Eucharist, 265 ;
to military men, 284 ; to ladies, on
the vanity of earthly things, 292 ; on
self-display and immodesty in dress,
293 ; to rich and great people, 303 ;
to seigneurs, 303 ; against Jansenism,
349 ; for establisliing a seminary at I.e

Puy, 525

Servants, instructions for, 203 ; of the
Seminary, treacherous acts of two,
243 ; M. Olier's generosity to them,

255

Servitude, M. Olier's vow cf, to Mary,
32; to Jesus, 131 ; practice of, 195,
428 ; spirit of, 477, 480

Seve, the Abbe Alexandre de, 258

Seve, M. Jean de, M, Olier's letter to,
456 ; his rebuke to a priest, 458

Sisters of Christian Instruction, 329 ; of
the Cross, 124 ; of Charity, 225 ; of
Christian Union ; of Providence, n.
129; of La Sagesse; of St. Charles,
460

Solitaries, the Three, of Vaugirard, i J2 ;
of Port Royal des Champs, 348

Solitude, the. See Noviciate

Souart, the brothers, aid in constructing
the Seminary, 431 ; M. Gabriel, voca-
tion of, 472 ; first Cure of Ville Marie,
550

Study, true Christian, 462

Sulpice, St., Communitv of: M. du
Ferrier made Superior ; manner of
life and rule of conduct, 188 ; its con-
stitution and interior spirit, 471, &c.

Sulpice, St., parish of: its extent, n. 158 ;
offered to M, Olier and his associates,
159; M. Olier installed, 173; its
frightful condition, i8i ; state of the
church 184 ; its renovation, 214, 275 ;

2 R

626

Index.

design for erecting a larger building,
317 ; testimony to the reforms effected,
334 ; under the immediate jurisdiction
of the Pope, 331, 420

Sulpice, St., Seminaryof : fust established,
170; erected into a Community, 262 ;
God's design respecting, 413 ; never
became a Congregation, 495, 502 ;
constituted a legal corporation, 442 ;
legally recognised during the First
Consulate, 417; destined to rekindle
piety in the Doctors of the Sorbonne,
418 ; intended to be a model to other
seminaries, 419 ; plan of building
shown to M. Olier in prayer, 429,
434 ; laying of first stone, 432 ; de-
scription of the building, 432 ; its
solemn dedication, 433 ; freedom from
Jansenism, 486 ; approved by the Holy
See, 510; seminaries administered by,
n. 510

Sulpice, St. : translation of his relics, n.
171 ; chosen by M. Olier as patron of
his parochial clergy, 194 ; invoked by
him, 194 ; seen by him in vision, 244

Surin, P., extraordinary trials of, n. 104 ;
his doctrine of habitual union with
God, n. 130

Swedish Colonel and his men, conversion
of, 95

Tarrtsse, Dom Gr^goire, Superior-
General of the Benedictines of St.
Maur, 14, 127 ; chosen by the com-
munity at Vaugirard as their director,
127, 414 ; his affliction at the state of
the parish of St. Sulpice, 128 ; pro-
nounces in favour of M. Olier and his
associates accepting its charge, 161 ;
enjoins him, under obedience, to take
the office of Cure, 164 ; presides at
his installation, 173 ; appeals to the
President of the Parliament in his
behalf, 248 ; his mission in regard
to the Seminary, 414, 443 ; his death,

443
Tertiary, a, of St. Francis, extraordinary

trials of, n. 105
Tessonniire. See Valence, Marie de

Thought-reading, n. 586

Tois^ tax, the : its origin ; tumults ii\

consequence of, 333
Tournon, the shrine of, M. Olier's re

treat at, 73
Toute-Joie, Notre Dame de, the shrine

of ; its origin and restoration, n. 77
Trials, extraordinary, of M. Olier, 102 ;

relaxation of, T16; complete release

from, 129
Troche, the Soeur de la : her obstinate

resistance and conversion, 120, 122
Tronson, M., called M. de St. Antoine,

52s. 544 _

Tronson, M, Louis, third Superior of the

Seminary : his testimony to M. Olier's
state of union with God, 120; his
vocation ana wonderful gifts, 474 ;
F^nelon's testimony thereto, 476 ; his
sentiments on choice of subjects, 475 ;
on the constitution of the Seminary,
502, 509 ; on not multiplying houses,
508
Tronson, Mme. Claude («/<? de S^ve),
mother of the above, 270, 329, n. 386;
her care of M. Olier in his last illness,

558
Turenne, Mar^chal de, raises troops
to deliver Conde and his brother, 72 ;
supports the royal cause, 377 ; his
encounter with Conde under the walls
of Paris, 378

Urban VIII., Bull of, 358

VALENCii, Marie de (Tessonniere), visited
by M. Olier, 71 ; source of his in-
fluence with her, n. 276 ; his second
visit to her ; M. de Bretonvilliers's
account of the interview, 396 ; M.
Olier visits her tomb, 402

Valentin, M., his account of M. Olier's
perseverance in prayer, 63

Vallavoire, Abb^ de : his retreat at St.
Sulpice, 235

Index.

627

his

walls

nsited
his in-
lecond

llliers's
M.

Hier's
lat St.

Valois, Mile. Anne de, manages the
orphanage founded by M. Olier, 330

Vaughan, Rev. J. S., Sermon of, quoted,
n. 415

Vaugirard, Seminary of : how begun,
126; transferred to Paris, 170, 427;
re-established, 427

Vauldray, Soeur de : her vanity and
worldlincss ; converted by M. Olier,
80 ; her perseverance and influence,
83 ; her trouble at being deprived of
M. Olier's direction ; his letter to her,
nS

V^ion, P.: his style of controversy, 205;
specimen of his method, 320

Vertus, Notre Dame des, shrine of,
at Aubervilliers, the origin of, 332 ;
M. Olier's vision while in retreat at,
125; its miraculous image, 126; his
pilgrimage to, 442

Vialar, M. Felix de Herse, cousin of M.
Olier, joins him in giving a mission
in the diocese of Cliartres, 90 ; be-
comes Bishop of Chdlons on M. Olier's
refusal of the see, 94 ; recei/es the
Abbey of Pebrac in exchange for that
of Cercanceau, 260 ; introduces the
reform of Ste. Genevieve, 260

Vignal, M., killed by cannibals, 551

Villeneuve, Marie Luillier, Dame de,
head of the Sisters of the Cross, urges
M. Picote to commence a seminary at
Vaugirard, 124 ; helps to suppoit the
Three Solitaries, 127 ; M. Olier's ex-
hortations to her school-mistresses and
scholars, 156 ; assisted in her pious
work by ladies of the Faubourg St.
Germain, 304

Villeterre, M. Rene Mornay de, Superior
of the Seminary of Besanyon, 530

Vincent de Paul, St., taken by M. Olier
as his director ; employs him in giving
country missions, 30 ; his eulogium
on P. de Condren, 48 ; urges M. Olier
to accept a bishopric ; why M. Olier
ceased to be under his direction, 53 ;
encourages him to commence a semi-
nary at Vaugirard, 129 ; urges him to
accept the cure of St. Sulpice, 164 ;
his fears as to France losing the faith,

181 ; becomes a member of the Council
of Conscience, n. 234 ; endeavours to
rescue M. Olier in the attack on the
Presbytery, 245; identifies himself with
his cause, 246 ; employed by the Queen
Regent to negotiate with M. de Fiesque,
258 ; his charity during the Fronde, n.
365 ; conviction as to the success of
the Seminary, 417 ; eulogy of the
Sulpicians, 535 ; visits M. Olier in his
last illness, 561 ; assists him in his
^SO^Yi 577 ; 's accustomed to invoke
him ; his address to the priests of St.
Sulpice, 578 ; presides at the election
of his successor, 579 ; reports eulogium
passed on him by the Conference of
St. Lazare, 580
Vincent Ferrer, St., anecdote respecting,
n. 210; M. Olier visits his tomb, 403,

SIS

Virgin, the Blessed : M. Olier's devotion
to her in childhood, 5 ; appears to the
Mire Agnfes and bids her pray for him,
27 ; he vows a perpetual servitude to
her ; his habit of saluting her images,
32 ; pious practices in her honour, 55 ;
keeps the Saturday as ber festival, 56 ;
takes devotion to her as the subject of
meditation in retreat, 59 ; visits her
image in Notre Dame, 5, 22, 60 ;
dedicates eight divisions of his parish
under the titles of her festivals, 192 ;
institutes processions in her honour,
221 ; his never-failing friend and helper,
224 ; reproached by her for intermit-
ting his intercessions for his people, 381;
appears to him with model of building,
429 ; he places the Seminary under
her special patronage, 433 ; devotion
to her interior life, 435 ; the channel
of all graces, 435, 436 ; Masses for her
intentions, 439 ; her Presentation the
chief feast of the Seminary, 440 ; de-
votion of the seminarists to her, 441 ;
assures M. Olier of her protection in
the matter of the Oratory, 493, 494 ;
bids him do a work for God at Cler-
mont, 526 ; alleviates his malady, 563 ;
his vision of her at Moulins, 566

Visions : of the Eternal Father, 125, 136 ;

-r i\i-. t-u.. I

»"J' i>«i*»w»^ni39pn|ppBP

I Mim^^Rp KPRii

628

Index.

of St. Sulpice, 244 ; of our I-oid issu-
in<j from the Tabernacle, 268 ; of the
Blessed Virgin, 381, 429, 563, 566 ; of
the Court of Heaven, 414 ; of Jesus
bearing' His Cross, 563
Vocation to Community of St. Sulpice,

471,475
Vow of servitude, to Mary, 32 ; to Jesus,

131 J of perfection, 196

Wardens, the, of St. Sulpice thwart M.
Olier in his projects of reform, and
enlargement of Seminary, 238 ; institute
proceedings against the Confraternity
of thi* Blessed Sacrament, 241 ; ap-
prove design for new church, 318
Will and testament, last, of M. Olier, 408
Woman, abandoned, awful death of, 229
Women, excluded from the Presbytery
and Seminary, 190; employment of;

retreats for, -128 ; exhortations to, 292,
382

Women, fallen, asylums for, 227 ; pro-
cession of, 252

Worcester, Edward Somerset, Marquis
of : his profe^ision of the Catholic
religion ; non-fulfilment of his engage-
ments, 315

Workmen, Masses and instructions for,
204, 327, 459

Writings, the, of M. Olier, 279, 285, 327,
455, 466-468, 480

YvAN, P., institutor of the Nuns of
Notre Dame de la Mis^ricorde : his
character and virtues, 23 r ; his rebuke
to M. Olier, 232; confidence mani-
fested in the latter, 398 ; testimony t«
the effect of his addresses to the clergy.
520

THE END.

PRINTED BV BALLAr.'TYNE, HANSON AND C<X
EDINBUKGH AND LONDON.

LIBRARY OF RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY.

EDITED Br

EDWABD HEALY THOMPSON, M.A.

VIII. -THE LIFE OF LliON PAPINDUPONT, The
KoLV Man of Tours. Second Edition. Cloth, 68.

" Mr, Healy Thompsnii's volume U not a mere tranwlittlon of the AbM
Janvier's work. It is an original compilation, wrltton in tliiitwoll-knowu
stylo of dovoiit Hii^'gcHtivenesa and liternry excoUoiico which charnctoriHO
tlio writer's furincr voliin'os of roliKioiis biugraphv. M. Uiipont, us far
08 one can see, will bo ono day n ciinoniHod Haint. llo diod only bix yoars
ago, and he ih, therefore, a man of the pi-eitont gcnuratlon. Many who
knew him are still living, and we venture to nay that nioHC of thnm will
bo astoniithod by reading his history. , , The Life is full of devout thought
and touching stories."— i)u62 in tieview, January 1883.

" In this ago of unbelief and irroligion, of luxury and cxtravag<viice, it
cannot be otiioi wise than edifying and encourU){ing to road of the simple,
holy, retired life of a I<>ench gentleman, whoso whole time was devnteil
to aHiiduous prayer, union with God, and the service of his foUow-men,
and a large portion of whose moans woro devoted to works of mercy and
practical oenovolence. . . . The special object which occupied liis mind
was the idea of reparation by the worsliip of our Lord's adorable Faca
outraged in tlie PasHion. This idea grew more and more upon him, and
at last absorbed and dominated his wliole life, making hlra the initiator
and leader of a work the supematural origin of which was attested by
miracles and prodigies innumerable. It is to be hoped that at no very
dititaut day M. Uupout may bo raised to our altars," — Month.

Volumes previously published.

I.— THE LIFE OF ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, S.J.
Third Edition. 58.

" The life before \ia brings out strongly a charncteristio of the Saint
which is, perhaps, little appreciated by many who have been attracted to
him chiefly by the purity and early holincs.; which have made him the
chosen patron of '^he young. This characteriHtic is his intense energy of
wiU. ... We have seldom been more ntruck than, in rending this
record of his life, with the omnipotence of the human will when united
with the will of God." — Dublin Heview.

""'he book before us contains numberless traces of atlioughtful and
tender devotion to the Saint. It shows a loving penetration into his spirit,
and an appreciation of tlio secret motives of his action, which can only bo
the result of a deeply affect iouate study of his life and character."- -Montli.

IL-THE LIFE OF MARIE-EUSTELLE HARPAIN;
or The Angel of the Eucharist Third Edition. 53.

" Tlie life of Morie-Eustelle Harpain possesses a special value and
interest, opart from Its extraoidinary natural and supornctund beauty,
from the met tliat to her example and t» the effect of her writings is
attributed, in great measure, the wonderful revival of devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament in France, and consequently tlirougtiout Western
Christendom." — Dublin Jkvictc.

" A mcio complete inst.incc of th.it life of purity and close union with
God in the world of which we have just 1>ccn speaking is to bo found in
tlio history of Maric-Eustcllo Harpiiin, the sempstress of Saint-Fidlais.
The writer of the present volume has lind the advantage of very copious
materials in the Fi'cnch works 011 which Ids own work is founded, and
Mr. Thom|)8on has discharged his office as editor with bis usual diligence
and accuracy." — Month.

" Marie-Eustclle was no ordinary person, but one of those marvellous
oreatious of God's grace which are raised up from time to time for the

( 2 )

eticourcnmantand iimtriirtlnn of Iho (alt)ifiil,nnrl for IIiMo<Tn honoiin.nj

?;liiry. licr iiniiio \ii imw likiiiDiiii in tlio OhiirrliuH ; . . . nnd lior writliitra
iiivo imiHtrtvd li»<lit, NtroiiK')'. nn<l ciiiiH<iliitli>ii to innuiuerubla Uivuut
■ouIh both iu tlio uluUtor mid in tho world." — Tablet.

III.-TIIE LIFE OF ST. STANISLAS KOSTKA, S.J.
Third Editiun. 5H.

"An ndmlrRhlo oompiinlDn volumo to tlio ' Lifo of 8t. AloyHiua Qon-
tnffn.' It Ih written in awry nttrnctivo atvle, nnd by tlio piotiireiqiionou
of itii duHcrlptiouH brinuH vividly lioforo tlio roador tho fow but Htrlking
incidoniH of tho Hiiint'H liCo, At tho Hiimo tinio, it nlnin iit interiirotin^; to
tiH wliat It rolatuH, by explaining how t^ntco ,uid nature coniblnod to pro*
duco, in tho abort 8|iaco of oightoon yours, such a uiaitturpiHco of Bauctity."
— Dublin Jievifw.

"We utroiiKly recommend this blo^frnphy to our readers, enmeiitly
liopiii^f thit tho writcr'n olijoct mnv tliuruby lie attainud in an incrooso
(if afTectionato vcnoration for nno of whom llrbun VIII. exclaimed, that,
'Although a little yomh,' be was indeed 'a grout saint.' "—TabUf.

"There has boon no nduuiiato blMgriipby of Ht. HtaniRlaa, In rectifving
thla want, Mr. TliompHon haa earned n title to tho irratltudo of Kni^li~h-
Hpeakiner Catholics. The enuaKing Haiiit of Puliind will now be liettor
known among iia, nnd wo need not loar that, better known, be will nut
be better lovod."— H'eeklj/ Higitler.

IV.-THE LIFE OF THE BARON DE IlENTY ; or, Per-
fection in tlie World Exemplified. Second Edition. 68.

"An excellent book. We have no hesitation in saying that it o\ight to
natisfy all claaaea ot' opinions. The style is throughout perfectly fresh
and biuiyant. Wo have great ploasiiru in recoinnicnding it to all our
readers ; but wo recommend it more especially to two classes of pei-sons :
to thove wlio, because tho dress of sanctity has changed, think that
sanctity itself has ueoacd to exist; nnd to those who ask how a city man
can follow tho counsel, ' Be ye perfect, as My Ueaveuly Father is per-
fect." " — Dublin Jieview.

" A very instructively-written biography." — Month.

" Wo would recommend our readers to study this wonderful life bit by
bit for themselves." — Tablet.

"A good book for our Catholic young men, teaching how they can
sanctify the secular state." — Catholic Opinion.

"Edifying and inairiictive, u beacon and guide to those whose walks
are in the ways of tho world, but who toil and strive to win Christian
perfection. We earnestly recommend these records of the life of a great
and good man." — UUler Hxaminer.

v.— THE LIFE OF THE VENERABT-E ANNA-MARTA
TAIGI, The Roman Matron (1769-1837). With Por-
trait. Third Edition. 69.

This Biography has been composed after a careful collation of
previous Lives of the Servant of God with each other, and with
the "Analecta Juris Pontificii," which contain large selections
from the Processes. Various prophecies attributed to her and to
other holy persons have been collected in an Appendix,

" Of all tho deeply-interesting biographies which tho untiring zeal and
piety of Mr. Hoaly Thompson has aiven of late years to English Catholics,
none, we think, is to be compared in interest with tho one before us, both
from the absorbing nature of the life itself, and the spirituallesaons it
conveys." — Tablet.

" We thank Mr. Healy Thompson for this volume. The direct purpose
of his biogi-apldos is always spiritual edification. Tho work before us
lots us into the secrets of the Divine communications with a sonl that,
almost more perhaps than any other in the whole history of the Cbureb

( 3 )

of Ood, bu b«en Uftod up to the lovol u( the tocreta ut Omiilpot«ii(^o."—
Dublin Hfvieie.

" A coiiipleto biof;rnp)iy of tho Vonornblo Mntron, in tho cnmponitioii nf
which tho greatCHt euro han boon takun iiiul tho bent authi)riti< .-i lmiii-
■lilted. We cnn mtfoly recumniciid t!ia voliimo for tiio (liMcrtininKtloii
with whicli It hii'< been wrlttun. i'ik* for tlio t'nrufiil labour uud uumplutu-
IiOM by wliicli it 1m dUtliiKiilHliod."— (Vif/io/ic Opinion.

" We reoininond thin uxcuUoiit mid cnrufuily-coinpilod biotmtphy to
all our readorH. 'Vbo evident cnru oxiTcimxl by the editor in bollatluK tho
YHrlnuB Liven nf Aiinii-Mnrin kIvuh gruiit viiliio tri the voliiiiio, and wohi>|ki
It will meet with tho auppurt It no Juitly niorltH."— H'eitiuimler Q-ntlii.

VI.— THE LIFE OF MARIE LATASTE, Lay Sistku op

THE (;()NORKOATI()N OK THK SACUKI) HkAIIT. With

a Brief Notice of iier Sister liuittoric. Cloth, 58.

"Tho narratives of Marie f4it!Ui*'.o fire mnrkod by a wondrous power of
laiiKUauo, which Is so vivid In Its simplicity, and Xmunt mo niiuli tlio liii-
nroBs of truth, as to leave on tho mind of tho iilous rradur no doubt at
least as to the fiubjocUve reality of tho thlnRs related. "—JVli(<^

" Kxperl''.iced reliKlous, kven theol<i{ianH, auil prudent bishops have
testified to tlio virtues and approved the writln^^s of Mario Latasto. . . .
The Life Is very valunVile, as givUi); an iiislKht Into tho exceptional opera-
tions of tho Holy Hplrit In a liMiii.iii soul, and cannot fail to do good In
those who read It with tho preiosscHHlons of faith." — Dublin H'vitw.

" From time to time wo are allowed to lift the veil which hides the In-
terior life, and to seo the operation of Tace In some chosen soul. If tho
results aro beyond tho liitelliKonce of worldly iiion, tho working out of
tho results Is stili moro wonderful, and we may be periidtted tu suppose
tha* God finds a special satitfactlon In per]dexlng self-reliant philo-
sophers. ... A life of our nineteenth century sanctified under tho per-
sonal direction of our Ulexsed Lord Is meant by Him fur our instruction,
and will not bo allowed to pass Into oblivion." — Month.

" The Hie and w; 'tings of this saintly ruligious have, during the last
fifteen years, excited great interest in her native country, France, and wo
cannot doubt but that her very enthralling and most edifying biography,
now for the first time presented to English Catholics, will meet wiili
many readers and admirers."— Wtekli/ Jifynler.

VII.-THE LIFE OF HENRI-MARIE EOUDON, Arch-
deacon OF EUREUX. Clotl, 5s.

In the construction of this Biography, tho writer has carefully
compared the previous Lives, and studied the collected works, of
this saintly man, iucluding his numerous Letters.

" The real excellence, both of matter and style, that has marked tho
former volumes of Mr. Healy Tliompson's HerioH, and made them de-
servedly popular, is sustained by tlie present addition to It. It is written
in easy and idiomatic English, and its subject Is the life of a man in
whom busy and practical people of tlie present day can feel a real interest.
It Is the life of a man who has not been either canoniseti or beatii\ed by
the Church ; who was not a monk, because of tlie delicacy of his health ;
who WHS not a priest until he was tliirty , because of his excessive humility.
... To all intents and purposes the life of Henri-Marie Boudon is modern
— It is not medieeval ; it is a life in which incidents will directly portray
the very scene and circumstances In which many readers will recognise
their own need and read iheir own golden lesson. Wo welcumo the book
heartily; it is much superior to many of our translated biogiaphies in
style and tone, and very wisely adapted to the needs and special mental
complexion of our own generation.

" Mr. Thompson has already made known to the English public three
of Boudon's volumes, and he promises some more t -anslations, which, we
trust, for the sake of that public^ he may be enabled soon to publish.' —
Dublin XnHew. .

mtmoi

( 4 )

In preparation.

IX.— THE LIFE OF FATHER BAPTISTE iVIUAIlD,
Founder op the Benedictine PREACiiiiiRS of the
F^ACRED Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

This Life will contain new and valurihle materials supplied by
the Keverend Fathers of Buckfast Abbey, Devon.

X,— THE LIFE OF M. ORAIN, Parish Priest of
Feoreac during the Great Revolution.

XI.-THE LIFE OF FATHER CHARLES DE CON-
DREN, Superior of the French Oratory.

SELECT TRANSLATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL READING.

By EDWARD HEALY THOMPSON, M.A.

I.— THE HIDDEN LIFE OF JESUS, A Lf^son and
Model to Christians. By Henri-Marie Boudon.
Second Edition. 38.

"This profound and valuable work has been very carefully and ably
ranalated." — Weekly negitter.

" The more we hiive of such works the better." — Wtttmintttr QautU.

" A book of searuhing power." — Church /Zevt<v.

"We earnestly recommend its vtudy and practice to all readers." —
Tablet.

" We have to thank Mr. Thompson for this translation of a valuable
vrork which has been long popular In France." — I>nhlin Jteview.

" It is very satisfactory to find thiit books of this nature are suffi-
ciently in demand to call for a re-issue ; and the volume iii qiiestion is so
full of holy teaching that we rejoice at the evidence of its br ing a special
favourite. — Mor th.

II. -DEVOTION TO THE NINE CHOIRS OF HOLY

ANGELS AND ESPECIALLY TO THE AnGEL-GuAR*
DIANS. By the same. 38.

"It may be doubted whether any other devotional writer of the
French Church, not marked lor reverence by authority, is more highly or
more Justly revered than Boudon. . . . Faith assures us that we are
lurroiinded on every Gide by a world of spirits, which, by the permission
or by tlie command of God, interfere in earthly evunts and in human
interests, and with which, thi^refore, we are in truth much more really
concerned than with the groat majority of those earthly events which
we so often allow to engross .ill our attention and all our thoughts. We
need, then, hardly say how valuable are works like this in the present
day uiid in our itvu country. They show us how near the invipible and
spiritual world appeared to men who believe only what we behave, but
who lived in a country and an age where faith was more universal and
mere ft^sh. We do not know any English book which In any degree
supplies its place, and are heartily glad to see it put within the reach of
English readers." — Dttllin Revien.

" We congraiulate Mr. Thompson on the way in nliioh he has accom-
plished his task, and we earnestly hope that an increased devotion to the
Holy Angels may be the reward of his labour of love." — Tablet.

*■ A beautiful translation." — Month.

"The translation is extremely well done."— IFwtJy JiegUter.

( 5 )

ni.— THE HOLY WAYS OF THE CROSS ; or. a Short
Treatise on the variuiis Trials and AHlictioiis, interior
and exterior, to which the Spiritual Life is subject, and
the means of making a good use thereof. By the same.
3s. 6d.

" If some of our atiitcstnon out of work could sparo aliMIo time from
their absorbing occupations of blowing up tho einbora of insurrection
abroad, or of civil disord at home, fur the study ^./ ttiis little publication,
tlioy miglit learn, even in their old iige, some plain truths about Chris-
tianity, and to avoid the sad blunders that overwhelm them whenever tlioy
attempt to deal with any question that has a supernatural bearing. . . .
If this work liecotncs as well known as it deserves, its circulation will bo
very wide." — Dublin Jttview.

" Boudon is fortunate in his English translator, and wo may feel sure
that theso little volumes will long hold their place among our spiritual
clasfiics. ' — Month.

"The author of this little treatise is well known as a master in tho
spiritual life, whose writings have met with the strongest (.'ommenda-
tiun. ... It comes to us with the best introduction, and with no slight
clidms upon the attention of ovcjy one." — Tablet.

'' ^n infallible guide-book, to be commended to every Christian pil-
grim." — Weekly Reyitter,

"A perfect gem uf safe devotion, and of priceless value as a sound
spiritual book. ' —Univtrie.

" Precisely one of the very best kind for spiritual reading." — Catholic
Timet.

" Eminently adapt'.d for spiritual readi.ig, and beautifully translated
into terse and vigorous English."— Ca(/to<(c Oinnioyi.

IV.— thj: letters and writings of marie

LATASTE, with Critical and Expository Notes by
two Fathers of tlie Society of Jesus. Vol. I., 53.

The Second Volume u readi/ for press.

No Life of Marie Lataste would he complete without her writin^fi,
because they form the one special and distinctively supernatural
element in it, containing, au they do, not merely in substance but
in detail, the instructions imparted to Iter by the Saviour Jesus.

The Letters, which are eighty-seven in number, are partly bio-
graphical, and partly of a docxrinal and practical character.

The Writings include papers on the following subjects :— God
and Cretui/ion : the relation? of God with men ; Jesus Christ, His
functions in the Divine economy ; the principal mysteries of His
life ; the Blessed Virgin, her intercessory ofiSce, her mysteries ; the
good angels ; the devils, and their relations with men ; the sacer-
dotal ministry ; the Christian and his duties ; religion in general,
and the great nets of religion : communion, confession, and prayer ;
the law of probation and of mortification ; grace, its divisions and
opurrtions ; the theological, cardinal, and niori>.l virtues ; the gifta
of the Holy Spirit ; sins, their causes, their species ; the duties of
different states in life ; religious vocation ; spiritual direction ;
the four last things.

"The Life and Writings of Marie T^ataste have passed thi most searching
ordeal, and there can be no reasonable doubt that she was the recipient
of extraordinary gilts and illuminations, from which came the infused
knowledge by which she was enabled to discourse ko wonderfully upou
heavenly things. There is no solution of the problem how an ignorant

Bi^

( 6 )

peosant-glrl could produce tliese writingrs except tliia whioli In in tho
luiist dc^rco ro:i8onii>>lo. The fiicts of lier life nre all proved by concliw
Mve evitloiico. Tho book is one which all pious Catholics will find to be
eminontly inittniotive and of groAt practical utility, besides having its
own special and euth: ailing interest. —7A4 CatlioUe IVorld.

In preparaiion,

THE REIGN OF GOD IN MENTAL PRAYER. With
a Preface by the lie v. Father Sebastian, O.D.C.

THE SPIRIT OF BOUDON : Being Selections from hia
Letters, of whir li 387 have been included in his Com-
plete Works published by the Ahh6 Mi^ne.

THE SPIRITUAL LETTERS OF M. OLIEIi.

THE WYNDHAM FAMILY : A Story of Modern Life.
By the Author of " Mount St. Lawrence." 2 vols.,
With frontispieces. Cloth, los. 6d.

" It is not uere praise, but simple truth, to say of these volumes that
in them the author has succeoded in coinbiiiing the solid and edifying
instruction to be expected from a Catholic tale, with the interest and
amusement usually sought for in the fashionable novel or 'story of modern
life.' Its plot is excellent, and each one of its varied range of characters
is conceived and described with a power which displays a close and inti-
mate knowledge of human nature in many and very different phases."^
TabUt.

" Wo heartily welcome the writer's reappearance among us as a caterer
for the amusement as well as instruction of our Catholic youth. In tho
' Wyndham Family,' however, there are excellent lessons to be found for
all ages, and we are glad to see t)ie honest vigorous attacks made upon
the worldliness, solfisuness, and frivolity which are now eating so largely
Into Catholic society, and which, although they are ha'dts of the most
pernicious sort, are singularly ignored, merely because they may not
amount to mortal sin." — Dublin Jievieu.

" The tale is very charmingly written, and the various incidents are
detailed with a verisimilitude and particularity whicii gives an air of
intense reality to the whole. The author of ' Mount St. Lawrence ' may
be con^'ratulated on a work which will add to the reputation deservedly
acquired by that much -admired production."— JFeekly Jiegiater.

" The book is well planned, the characters well conceived, and tho
English undeniably good and accurate. It is evidently the work of a
practised writer, a writer of good taste, religious thoughtfulndss, and
knowledge of the world. If it is not as popular as a hundred books of
very inferior workmanship, it will be because the public taste has been
vitiated by the overflowing stream of trashy sensaiionalism. The book
before us is on the reactionary Bide, and on this account we heartily wish
it success." — Month.

" This is a novel of the good old sort, in the style of Miss Austen or
Miss Edgewortli, wherein characters are depicted as they are in real life,
without exaggeration." — Catholic Opinion.

"The book is admirably written; it is interesting, instructive ^nd
amusing. The story is well told ; the characters are good ; in a woid, it
is an admi'.able work for the present day." — Ulster Sxaminer.

" This is a semi-religious story, cleverly designed, and beautifully
Written."— £ritJ«A Mail.

( 7 )

By the same Author.

MARY, STAR OF THE SEA ; or A (Jarland of Livins
Flowers, culled from the Divine Scriptures, and woven
to the honour of the Holy Mother of God. A Story of
Catholic Devotion. New Edition. 5a.

" A beautiful dream, the Ideal of a holy Hfe, every incident and
cliiiracter In which was natural iind, ecrange t'> xtiy, In tlio higuost
degree practical, and yet with a certain mysterious*, Imnginativo uir
thrown over it, which it is difficult to describe. . . . The recollection of
it hovers about u reader after he >>hs fo.gotten the details, as ho mik^ht
remember a glimpse of some reli;;^.ous and secluded household, mudd
romantic by its diNtanco in memory, ia which it seemed

' That airs of paradise did fau the house,
Aud angels offlc'd all.' "
—Tablet (iZso).

" Years ago we read an exceedingly pretty little bnok, and its pleasant
and most useful as well as cheering lessons never left our minds in nil
the ins and outs and ups aud downs of life. It was called ' Mary, Star
of the 8«a,' and certainly it was a general favourite in every Catholic
circle into whicli we knew it to penelrain."- -Catholic Timet.

" A pleasing and instructive story, leading the reader along throua:li
a very good exposition of Scriptural evidences to Mary's dignity and
privilege." — Month.

"An old and well-established favourite." — Ifeio York Catholic Wm-ld.

"Tlie design of the volume is to defend and promote devotion to the
Mother of God. the Spotless Bride of the Holy tihost. ... It is a com-
mentary on the Litany of Our Lady of Loreto, and, as Buch, full of
instruction and incentives to devotion." — Broiomtn's Jieview.

A few remaining copies 0/

THE UNITY OF THE EPISCOPATE. By Edward
Healy Thompson, M.A. Cloth, 48. 6d.

" it is impossible by any abridgment or extracts to give any fair or
adequate idea of Mr. Thompson's argument, which is tlie most masturly
and the most completely worked out that we have met with for a lou^
time." — Dublin Heviiw (1847).

"The book which made altogether the most decided impression on my
mind was The Unity of ihe Epiteopate. The principle of unity was thero
unfolded in a way that was new to me, and which, I think, does away
with a whole class of passages (and they ihe strongest) which are usually
alleged against the Papacy." — The late F. Baker, Fauli^it, quoted in the
Memoir of his Life Dy F. Ilewit, p. 95.

I J

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CHURCH IN BRITTANY
DURING THE GREAT REVOLUTION. Bv Ed-
Avard Healy Thompson, M.A. (The 24th Number of
the "Quarterly Series" published by the Fathers of
the Society of Jesus.) 6s.

" Mr. Thompson has done his work well. His nari-ative is clear, even,
calm, and filled with facts ; and, in carrying his readers throug'' the
revolutionary history of the most Catholic districts in France, he has
enlarged tlie body of evidences upon the great laws of spiritu.il i-ebelliou,
which, while occupying fresh fields and offering new varieties of evil,
leads inevitably to the most disastrous resulis." — Dublin Kevieiv.

" An excellent history. It carries us from the l^eginning to the end
of the Revolution, and places before us striking pictures of the principal
events which took place during the struggle between the ftdthful Bretons

SEMINARIUM

'.}t^^i^ i- ^

pHii^ iivjiiwiuiAfw.'iiiip.ivTCiiniiiqni^^

mmmm

( 8 )

and the vilo fanatics who vainly endeavoured to stamp out CiilhoIi(!i8m
from the Imid whore aome of its noblest children have lived and died." —
Cork Bxaminer.

"Another page from that bloodatained record at once so enthrallhif;
and 80 terrible, so full of heroism ar.d of ruthless tyranny ... a clear
and admirable explanation of the causes of the Revolution, masterly
sketches of those princes of evil, Voltaire and Rousseau, records full of
thrillinf!^ interest : Imirbroadth escapes, and heroic professions of faith
and patient endurance of suffering. " — yVeekly Register.

"Mr. T lompson pives us the true history of the Civil Cons'.itution of
tlio Cler ,y, an inquiry to which ho has devoted much zealous labour." —
Month.

" A work no loss useful than interesting, for it enables ua to perceive
the fatal mistakes that were often made oven by good men in those
trying times ; and thus it is a guide to us even in the conttist;8 of tliu
present day, when the faithful have to contend for all that we hold most
dear against the same false principles." — Tablet.

" Mr. Thompson has in his judicious preface pointed the moral of the
story in a manner whicii gives it a special significance and a direct
bearing on contemporary events." — IrM Monthly/.

In preparation.

THE LIFE AND GLORIES OF THE GREAT PATRI-
ARCH ST. JOSEPH. Taken, by permission, from
the Italian of Dom Antonio VitalL By Edward Hcaly
Thompson, M.A.

London : BURNS & GATES.

UNIVERSITAS S. PAULT

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