[wood] an URSULINE EPIC 23 



but most of her spiritual letters were to her son or the Ursulines. In 

 theiology she had some lively passages wdth the J ansenists, who did thedr 

 best to persuade her to adopt their views. But she was an everyday a;id 

 deeply s}Tiipathetic eye-witness of the work of the Canadian Jesuits, 

 and that was enough. In religious advice and prayer she was the con- 

 stant support of an Ursuline of Tours, whom she had initiated before 

 leaving France, and who was aunt to cette touchante Duchesse de la 

 ValUère. dont la destinée sera l'éternel attendrissement de l'histoire. 

 She had special devotions and penances in Canada, on behalf of the 

 errant Duchess, who was, like herself, a native of Tours ; and the cele- 

 brated conversion at court was held to be greatly owing to the ardent 

 intercessions at Quebec. 



She evidently never thought she had any written message to leave 

 to the world. She let all her spiritual memoirs, destined for her son's 

 eye alone, be burnt with the convent, rather than run the risk of letting 

 them fall into other hands in the confusion. Perhaps she felt that the 

 divine afflatus would not take literary form in her as it did in St, Theresa. 

 It is certain that she wrote Jess and less about the inner life, though her 

 reasons for her growing silence are themselves excellently expressed. 

 " Au reste, il y a bien dès choses, et je puis dire que presque toutes sont 

 de cette nature qu'il me serait impossible d'écrire entièrement, parce 

 que dans la conduite intérieure que Dieu tient sur moi, il y a des grâces 

 si intimes et des impressions si spirituelles, que cela ne se peut dire. 

 C'est en partie ce qui me donne de la répugnance à traiter de ces matièries, 

 quoique ce soient mes délices de ne point trouver de fond dans ce grand 

 abîme, et d'être obligée de perdre toute parole en m'y perdant moi-même. 

 Plus on viedlKt, plus on est incapable d'en écrire, parce que la vie spiritu- 

 elle simplifie l'âme dans un amour consumant, en sorte qu'on ne trouve 

 plus de termes pour s'en expliquer." ISTevertheless, in response to divine 

 orders to comply with her son's renewed appeals, she rewrote the lost 

 letters, on condition that he promised not to show tliem to anyone. Dom 

 Martin has a prettily turned simile to express their influence on his life— 

 '' ces grandes graces m'excitent à suivre ses traces, comme l'aigle mène 

 excite ses aiglons à voler après elle." 



/Though her worldly interests were always strictly subordinated to 

 her spiritual opxCS, she wrote many admirable letters on public afi'airs. 

 European news is discussed with a good knowledge of its bearings on 

 Church and State. The troubles of the Fronde, the peace of the Pyrenees, 

 the death of Charles I. of England, all find their place in her correspon- 

 dence. But Canada comes first. Indeed, her letters in 1654, 1655 and 

 1656, form tJie best documentary history of those troublous years. She 

 notes the natural wealth of the country and the abounding fertility of 



