De l'écriture
Prayer as the Foundation of Work
The children are taught to sanctify their writing practice by beginning and ending every task with prayer.
After leaving Holy Mass, they all write in the same place, once they have said a short prayer asking God for the grace to do this work well; and we also try to gently impress on their minds the holy habit of never doing anything of any real importance without beginning and ending it with prayer. They offer these prayers according to their own devotion, as God inspires them. The youngest are told to say a Hail Mary at the beginning and end of anything of real importance they do.
Discipline and Order in Study
Strict silence, obedience to the mistress, and regulated time frames define the children's writing exercises.
They must keep an even stricter silence during writing time; they aren't allowed to show each other their papers or to write as they please. They simply copy their model, or they transcribe something once they're quite advanced and have been given permission.1 They don't write letters, notes, or sayings to one another without first getting permission from their mistress; and when they have written what they were allowed to write, they put it into their mistress's hands so she can give it to the one for whom they wrote it. Writing time lasts forty-five minutes.
Transition to Sacred Song
The remaining time before the office of Sext is dedicated to the reverent study of sacred music.
The time remaining until Sext is spent learning to sing by note, in silence and with great respect.
Read the original Latin
Au sortir de la sainte messe, elles écrivent toutes dans un même lieu, après avoir fait une courte prière pour obtenir de Dieu la grâce de bien faire cette action, et on tâche de même de leur imprimer doucement dans l'esprit une sainte habitude de ne faire aucune action un peu notable sans la commencer et la finir par la prière. Elles font ces prières selon leur dévotion, et comme Dieu leur inspire. On dit aux plus petites de dire un Ave Maria, au commencement et à la fin de tout ce qu'elles font d'un peu considérable.
Elles doivent redoubler leur silence pendant l'écriture, et il ne leur est point permis de se montrer l'une à l'autre leurs papiers, ni d'écrire selon leur fantaisie. Elles écrivent simplement leur exemple, ou elles transcrivent quelque chose quand elles sont bien savantes, et qu'on le leur a permis.
Elles ne s'écrivent point l'une à l'autre ni lettre, ni billets, ni sentences, sans en obtenir permission de leur maîtresse; et quand elles ont écrit ce qu'on leur aurait permis d'écrire, elles le remettent entre les mains de leur maîtresse, pour le donner à celle pour qui elles l'ont écrit. L'écriture dure trois quarts d'heure.
Le temps qui reste jusques à sexte, s'emploie à apprendre à chanter en notes, avec silence et grand respect.
Notes
- 1 ↩exemple is the handwriting model or sample the girls are set to copy, not 'example' in the moral sense.
Règlement pour les enfants companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit