← Spiritual Conferences/Book 1 · Les Vrais Entretiens spirituels

Chapter 11Entretiens.1.11

Entretien XI. De la vertu d'obéissance

Name: Spiritual Conferences — Sub Rosa English translation
Author: Francis de Sales

The Threefold Nature of Obedience

The author defines the three types of obedience—general, religious, and loving—and explains the properties of blind obedience.

There are three kinds of devout obedience, the first of which is common to all Christians: the obedience owed to God and to the holy Church in keeping their commandments.¹ The second is religious obedience, which already holds greater worth than the first, because it binds itself not only to God's commandments but also subjects itself to keeping His counsels.²³ There is a third kind of obedience, the one I want to discuss as being the most perfect: it is called loving obedience, and it is this one that Our Lord gave us an example of throughout His entire life.⁴⁵ The Fathers have identified several properties and conditions for this kind of obedience, but I will choose only three: first, that it is what they call blind; second, that it is prompt; and third, that it is persevering. Blind obedience has three properties or conditions: the first is that it never looks at the face of Superiors, but only at their authority; the second, that it doesn't inquire into the reasons or motives Superiors have for commanding this or that thing—it is enough for it to know that they have commanded it; and the third, that it doesn't ask what means it must take to do what is commanded, confident that God, by whose inspiration this command was given to it, will surely give it the power to carry it out; but instead of asking how it will do so, it sets itself to doing it.⁶ Religious obedience, which must be blind, lovingly submits to doing everything it’s commanded—simply never questioning whether the command was given well or poorly—provided that the one who commands has the authority to do so, and that the command serves the union of our spirit with God; for outside of that, the truly obedient person never does anything. Many people have been greatly mistaken about this condition of obedience—those who have⁷ ill.⁸ believed that it consisted in doing, recklessly and without discrimination, everything that could be commanded of us—even if it went against the commandments of God and of holy Church. In this they have greatly erred, imagining a madness in this blindness that isn't there at all; for in everything that concerns God's commandments, just as Superiors never have any power to give a contrary command, so subordinates likewise never have any obligation to obey in such a case—rather, if they did obey, they would sin.⁹¹⁰ Now. I know well that many have acted against God's commandments under the impulse of this obedience, which seeks not only to follow the commandments of God and of Superiors, but also their counsels and inclinations.¹¹ Some have rushed toward their death due to a specific inspiration from God so powerful they could not refuse it; otherwise, they would have sinned gravely. It is recorded in the second Book of Maccabees that a man named Razias, driven by a¹² 14.¹³ 37–46.¹⁴ burning zeal for the glory of God, exposed himself to blows, knowing he could not escape wounds and death. Feeling himself wounded in the chest, he pulled his entrails out through the wound and threw them into the air before his enemies.¹⁵ Saint Apollonia threw herself into the fire that the godless enemies of God and of the Christian name had prepared to put her in and kill her. Saint Ambrose also recounts the story of three young women who, to avoid losing their chastity, threw themselves into a river where they were drowned by the waters; but these had, for their part, some kind of reason for doing so, which would take too long to set out.¹⁶ You can see many others who have thrown themselves to their death, like the one who leapt into a blazing furnace; but all these examples should be admired, not imitated, because you know well enough that you must never be so blind as to think you please God by breaking his commandments.¹⁷ Loving obedience assumes that we are already keeping God's commandments.

The Properties of Loving Obedience

The author details the three essential properties of loving obedience: blindness, promptness, and perseverance, illustrated by biblical and monastic examples.

People say this obedience is blind because it obeys every Superior the same. All the ancient Fathers strongly blamed those who would not submit to the obedience of people of lesser standing than themselves; they would ask them: When you obeyed your Superiors, why did you do it?¹⁸ Was it for the love of God? Not at all—doesn't this person hold the same place of God among us as the last one did? Without a doubt, he is God's vicar, and God commands us through his mouth and makes His will known through his ordinances, just as He did through the mouth of the other. So you obey Superiors because you have an inclination toward them and out of respect for their persons.¹⁹ Alas! You do nothing more than worldly people do, for they act much the same; they don't just obey the commands of those they love, but they wouldn't consider their love satisfied if they didn't also follow those loved ones' inclinations and affections as closely as they can—just as the truly obedient person does, both toward his Superiors and toward God himself.²⁰ Even the pagans, wicked as they were, gave us an example of this, because the devil spoke to them through various kinds of idols: some were statues of men, others of rats, dogs, lions, serpents, and the like. These poor people put equal faith in them all, obeying the statue of a dog just as much as that of a man, and a rat just as much as a lion, without any distinction. Why was that? Because they saw their gods in the diversity of these statues. Saint Peter commands us to obey our superiors, even if they are wicked.²¹ 1 Peter, Ep. ii²² is.²³ Our Lord, Our Lady, and Saint Joseph taught us this way of obeying very well during their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; for Caesar had issued a²⁴ 5.²⁵ edict that all his subjects should go to the place of their birth to be enrolled there, they went there lovingly to fulfill this obedience, even though Caesar was a pagan and an idolater: Our Lord wanting to show by this that we must never look at the face of those who command, provided they have the power to command. Let us now move on to the second property of blind obedience.²⁶ So once it has secured this point of not looking at those who command, but of submitting equally to every kind of Superior, it goes further and comes to the second, which is to obey without considering the intention or the end for which the command is given, contenting itself with knowing that it has been given, without busying itself over whether it is good or bad.²⁷ [Source too corrupt to translate with confidence.]²⁸ done—whether or not one has reason to give this or that command.²⁹ Abraham made himself highly commendable in this obedience. God calls him and says: Abraham, leave your land and your kindred—that is, go out from^✦³⁰ , 12:1.³¹ your city, and go to the place I will show you.^✦³² Abraham leaves without a word of reply. Ah! Couldn't he easily have said: Lord, you're telling me to leave the city; so please tell me which way I should go out. He didn't say a word, but went off where the Spirit was carrying him, without considering in any way whether he was going well or badly, or why and with what intention God had given him this command so briefly that He had not even marked out the path He wanted him to walk.^✦³³ Indeed, the truly obedient person doesn't make speeches; he simply sets to work, without asking anything other than how to obey.³⁴ It seems Our Lord himself wanted to show us how pleasing this kind of obedience was to him when he appeared to Saint Paul to convert him; for after calling him by name, he made him fall to the ground and blinded him.³⁵ You see, to make him his disciple he made him fall, to humble him and bring him under his rule; then all at once he blinded him and commanded him to go into the city, find Ananias, and do everything Ananias would tell him.³⁶ But why did Our Lord himself³⁷ .³⁸ Acts 9:4–[?].^✦³⁹ not tell him what he was to do, instead of sending him elsewhere—he who had already deigned to speak to him in order to convert him?⁴⁰ Saint Paul did everything that was commanded of him. It would have cost Our Lord nothing to tell him himself what he had Ananias tell him; but he wanted us to learn from this example how much he loves blind obedience, since it seems he only blinded Saint Paul to make him truly obedient.⁴¹⁴² When Our Lord wanted to give sight to the man born blind, he made mud and put it on his eyes, commanding him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.^✦⁴³ Couldn't this poor blind man easily⁴⁴ . ui. 6, 7.^✦⁴⁵ have been astonished at the way Our Lord was using to heal him, and said to Him: Alas! What are You doing to me? If I weren't blind, that would be enough to make me lose my sight. He didn't make all those considerations; instead, he simply obeyed.⁴⁶ So the truly obedient person simply believes they can do anything commanded of them, because they hold that all commands come from God, or are given by His inspiration—and those cannot be impossible, given the power of the One who commands.⁴⁷ 4 Kings⁴⁸ 5:9–14. Naaman the Syrian didn't do the same—and he nearly came to harm because of it.⁴⁹ This man, who was a leper, went to find Elisha to be healed, because all the remedies he had tried to recover his health had done him no good at all. So, knowing that Elisha was performing great wonders, he went to him; and when he arrived, he sent one of his men to beg him for healing. At that, Elisha didn't even come out of his room; instead, he sent word through his servant that Naaman should go wash seven times in the Jordan, and he would be healed. At this reply, Naaman took offense and said, "Aren't there waters in our own country just as good as those in the Jordan River?" And he would have nothing to do with it. But his servants reasoned with him that he should do what the Prophet had ordered, since it was such an easy thing; he let himself be persuaded by their words, and after washing seven times, he was healed. Do you see how he puts himself in danger of never recovering his health by wanting to make so many considerations about what was commanded? The third quality of blind obedience is that it doesn't dwell on or question how it will manage to do what it's been commanded to do. It knows that the path it must take is the Rule of the religious life and the commands of Superiors; it follows that path with simplicity of heart, without quibbling over whether it would be better to do it one way or another. As long as it obeys, everything is the same to it, for it knows well that this is enough to please God, for love of whom it obeys purely and simply.⁵⁰ The second condition of loving obedience is that it's prompt. Promptness in obedience has always been recommended to⁵¹ religious as a most necessary part of obeying well and perfectly keeping what they have vowed to God.⁵² This was the sign Eliezer used to recognize the young woman whom⁵³ .⁵⁴ Gen. 24:14.⁵⁵ God had determined to be the wife of his master's son.⁵⁶ So he said to himself: 'The one I ask for a drink, and who answers me, "I will give you some, and not only that—I'll draw water for your camels as well," that will be the one I recognize as worthy to be the wife of my master's son.'^✦⁵⁷ As he walked along thinking about that, he saw the beautiful Rebecca in the distance. Eliezer, seeing her so beautiful and so gracious beside the well where she was drawing water for her sheep, put his request to her, and the young woman answered according to his design: “Yes,” she said, “not only for you, but for your camels as well.”⁵⁸ Notice, I beg you, how prompt and gracious she was: she did not spare her effort, but was very free with it, for it took no little water to water so many camels as Eliezer was leading.⁵⁹ Oh yes—acts of obedience done ungraciously aren't pleasing at all.⁶⁰ There are those who obey, but with so much languor and such a sour face that they greatly diminish the merit of this virtue.⁶¹ Charity and obedience are so closely joined that they cannot be separated: love makes us obey promptly, for however difficult the [broken off] may be.⁶²⁶³ ;.⁶⁴ K.⁶⁵ ^ I - < • 4, Uqurll* nkiél barivr •!⁶⁶ fvt |»«r apcM pr • tnnp% U 1m çtittamut et prtacw faèmfmi Um»⁶⁷ However hard the commanded thing may be, the person who has loving obedience takes it up lovingly, because obedience is a principal part of humility, which loves submission above all; so the obedient person loves the command, and as soon as he catches sight of it from afar—whatever it may be, whether it suits his taste or not—he embraces it, caresses it, and cherishes it tenderly.⁶⁸ Surius notes: In the Life of Saint Pachomius, there is an example of this prompt obedience that I want to share with you.⁶⁹ Among Saint Pachomius’s religious there was one named Jonas, a man of great virtue and holiness, who had charge of the garden, and in it there was a fig tree that bore very beautiful figs. Now this fig tree was a temptation to the young religious; every time they passed near it, they always glanced a little at those figs. Saint Pachomius had noticed this, and one day as he was walking through the garden he raised his eyes toward that fig tree and saw the devil above it, looking down on the figs from high to low, just as the religious were looking up at them from low to high. This great saint, who desired no less to train his religious in a total mortification of the senses than in the interior mortification of the passions and inclinations, called Jonas and commanded him that the next day he must not fail to cut down the fig tree; to which poor Jonas⁷⁰ replied, "Ah, Father, we still have to be patient with these young men; they really need some kind of recreation. It isn't for my own sake that I want to keep it." The Father answered very gently, "Well, Brother, you wouldn't obey simply and promptly; but what would you bet that the tree will be more obedient than you?" And that is just what happened; for the next day they found the tree completely withered, and it never bore fruit again. Poor Jonas kept saying, quite truthfully, that he didn't want to keep the fig tree for his own sake; people noticed that in the seventy-five years he lived in the religious life and served as gardener, he never tasted any fruit from his garden, but was always very generous with it toward the brothers.⁷¹ Yet from this he learned how commendable readiness in obedience is.⁷² Our Lord, through his whole life, gave continual examples of this readiness in obedience, for you can find nothing so yielding or so prompt as he was toward the will of each person.⁷³ Following his example, we must learn to be thoroughly prompt in obedience, for it is not enough for a loving heart to do what it is commanded, or what someone shows a desire for, if it does not do it promptly; it cannot wait for the hour soon enough to carry out what has been ordered, so that it may be given some new command again.⁷⁴ David made only a simple wish to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem, and at once three knights set out who, heads down, crossed the enemy army and went to fetch some for him.^✦⁷⁵ They were incredibly prompt in following the king's desire.⁷⁶ .⁷⁷ xxtiM5^6.^✦⁷⁸ So you can see what so many great saints have done to follow the inclinations and desires they believed the King of kings, Our Lord, possessed.⁷⁹ What command, I ask you, did Our Lord give that compelled Saint Catherine of Siena to drink, or lick with her tongue, the pus from the wound of the poor woman she was serving?⁸⁰ And Saint Louis,⁸¹ king of France, to eat with the lepers the rest of their soup to give them courage to eat?⁸² Certainly, they were not in any way bound to that; but knowing that Our Lord loved and had shown an inclination toward the love of one's own abjection, and thinking to please Him by following His inclination, they did these things, even though it⁸³⁸⁴ went against their senses, and they did so with a very great love.⁸⁵ We are bound to help our neighbor when they are in extreme need; still, because almsgiving is a counsel of Our Lord, many gladly give alms as far as their means allow. Now, upon this obedience to the counsels, loving obedience is grafted, and it makes us undertake to follow, step by step, the desires and intentions of God and of our superiors.⁸⁶ I must warn you of a trap you could fall into: if those who want to practice this virtue with precision are always on high alert to discern the desires and inclinations of their Superiors or of God, they’ll inevitably waste their time. For instance, if I’m busy inquiring what God’s desire is, I’m not occupied with resting in peace near Him—which is exactly what He desires for me right now, since He’s given me nothing else to do.⁸⁷ Take someone who wants to follow the Lord’s inclination that we should help the poor, and decides to go from town to town searching for them: it’s obvious that while he’s in one town, he isn’t serving those in the other.⁸⁸ You have to approach this work with simplicity of heart: give alms when the occasion arises, without wasting your time wandering the streets from house to house to see if there might be some poor person you don’t know about. Likewise, when I notice that my Superior wants something from me, I must be ready to do it promptly, without picking over whether I can discover if he actually has some inclination for me to do something else.⁸⁹ That would only destroy the peace and calm of heart, which is the primary fruit of loving obedience.⁹⁰

Obedience as the Foundation of Virtue

The author emphasizes that obedience is the companion of charity and the essential virtue that gives value to all other religious practices.

The third condition of obedience is perseverance.⁹¹ Now this one Our Lord teaches us very particularly; Saint Paul has declared it in these terms: He was made obedient even to death; Philippians.⁹² ii.⁹³ 8.⁹⁴ And raising this obedience still higher, he says, "and even to death on a cross."^✦ In the words "even to death," it is implied that he was obedient throughout his entire life,⁹⁵ during which one sees nothing but marks of the obedience he rendered, both to his parents and to many others, even to the ungodly and the wicked; and as he began by this virtue, so he finished by it the course of this mortal life.⁹⁶ The good religious.⁹⁷ Jonas gives us two examples on the subject of perseverance; and although he did not obey so promptly the command that Saint Pachomius gave him, he was nonetheless a religious of great perfection: for from the moment he entered religious life until death he remained in the office of gardener, without ever changing it during the seventy-five years he lived in that monastery; and the other exercise in which he also persevered his whole life, as I have already told you, was making mats of rushes interlaced with palm leaves.⁹⁸ And he remained steadfast through obedience.⁹⁹ Throughout the whole course of his life one saw nothing but acts of obedience rendered both to his parents and to many others, even to the impious.¹⁰⁰ [Manuscript and Collection note.]¹⁰¹ An example on this subject of perseverance: even though he fell short of that obedience Saint Pachomius had required of him, he was nonetheless a religious of great perfection, and one from whom Saint Pachomius would not take away the gardener's charge, because of the perseverance he had shown from the day he entered until¹⁰² and until death.¹⁰³ In the office of gardener.¹⁰⁴ He never changed his assignment (Lives and Coll.).¹⁰⁵ ...of palm work, so steadily that he died while doing it.¹⁰⁶ It's a very great virtue to persevere so long in such a practice; for doing gladly, just once, something you're told to do—as often as you like—costs nothing; but when you're told, 'You will always do this, and for the whole of your life,' that's where the virtue is, and where the difficulty lies. So that's what I had to say to you about obedience, except for one more thing: obedience is of such great worth that it is charity's companion. These two virtues give price and value to all the others, so that without them, all the others are nothing.¹⁰⁷ If you don't have these two virtues, you have none at all; if you have them, you have all the others along with them.¹⁰⁸ Going further, and setting aside general obedience to God's commandments to speak specifically of religious obedience, I say that if a religious person doesn't obey, they cannot have any virtue. Obedience is what primarily makes someone a religious, as it is the proper and particular virtue of the religious life.¹⁰⁹ Even if you have a desire for martyrdom for the love of God, it is nothing if you don't have obedience.¹¹⁰ We¹¹¹ 178.¹¹² read in the Life of Saint Pachomius that one of his religious, having persevered throughout his novitiate in exemplary humility and submission, came to find¹¹³ [illegible fragment]¹¹⁴ Saint Pachomius and said to him,¹¹⁵ carried away by great fervor, that he had a very great desire for martyrdom, and that he would never be content unless it happened.¹¹⁶ He begged him very humbly to pray to God that He would fulfill it. The holy Father tried to moderate this fervor, but the more he said, the more the other grew heated in his pursuit.¹¹⁷ The Saint said to him: My son, it's better to live in obedience, and to die every day while living by continual mortification of yourself, than to put our imagination through a martyrdom.¹¹⁸ Whoever mortifies himself well dies enough as a martyr; it's a greater martyrdom to persevere one's whole life in obedience than to die all at once by a sword.¹¹⁹ Live in peace,¹²⁰ x.¹²¹ my son, and quiet your spirit,¹²² He turned him aside from this desire. The Religious, who insisted that his desire came from the Holy Spirit, did not lessen his ardor at all, always urging the Father to pray that his desire would be fulfilled.¹²³ Some time later, news came that was fitted to console him, for a certain Saracen, a chief of thieves, came to a mountain near the monastery; whereupon Saint Pachomius called him to himself. But to return to our subject: after a short interval this religious came one day to find Saint Pachomius and said to him, carried away by great fervor: "O my Father, I have a desire for which I very humbly beg you to be so good as to pray God that He fulfill it."¹²⁴ Very well.¹²⁵ "My son," the holy Father said, "you must tell me what this desire is."¹²⁶ "My Father,"¹²⁷ the religious replied.¹²⁸ "If you please, you must"¹²⁹ promise me that you'll pray, and also have the brothers pray, for this."¹³⁰ At last the good Father pressed him so hard about what desire it was that he told him it was the desire for martyrdom, and that he would never be content until it came about. The good Father tried hard to moderate him.¹³¹ but instead tried to turn him away from it.¹³² The more the religious insisted, Pachomius said to him: "My son, it's better to live in obedience,¹³³ and to die every day by living through a continual mortification of yourself and your passions,¹³⁴ than to martyr your imagination."¹³⁵ .¹³⁶ Anyone who truly mortifies himself dies a martyr enough: it may well be a greater martyrdom to persevere a whole life in obedience than to die all at once by the sword. Live in peace, my son,¹³⁷ and quiet your mind.¹³⁸ But the other, who insisted that his desire came from the Holy Spirit,¹³⁹ He didn't cool his ardor at all, and kept urging the Father to go pray that his desire would be fulfilled.¹⁴⁰ (Mart.¹⁴¹ Coll.) Once that was done, the Father withdrew.¹⁴² Some time later they received favorable news, because certain Saracen¹⁴³ robbers had arrived.¹⁴⁴ He said to him, "Come now, my son, the hour you've longed for so much has arrived; go ahead and cut wood up on the mountain."¹⁴⁵ The religious, beside himself with joy, went off singing and chanting psalms in praise of God, and giving Him thanks that He had deigned to honor him with this chance to die for His love; in the end, the last thing he was thinking was that he would do what he actually did.¹⁴⁶ These thieves, having spotted him, came straight at him and began to seize and threaten him. For a little while, he was quite brave. "You're a dead man!" they said. "I ask for nothing else," he answered, "than to die for God," and other replies of that kind. The Saracens led him to where their idol was, to make him worship it. When they saw that he remained steadfast in his refusal, they set out to kill him. Alas! This poor religious, so brave in imagination, seeing the sword at his throat: "Please, for pity's sake," he said, "don't kill me! I'll do whatever you want; have pity on me!"¹⁴⁷ I'm still young; it would be a shame to cut my life short. In the end, he worshiped their idol. Those wicked men mocked him, beat him soundly, and let him return to his monastery. When he arrived, more dead than alive, pale and frozen with fear, Saint Pachomius, who had gone out to meet him, said, "Well then, my son."¹⁴⁸ on a mountain near this monastery.¹⁴⁹ Saint Pachomius called him and said, "Come now, my son, the hour you've so longed for has arrived; go right away and cut wood on the mountain." The religious, beside himself with joy, goes off singing and chanting hymns in praise of God, and giving thanks that God was granting him the honor of dying for His love.¹⁵⁰ He draws near the forest: at once the thieves, having spotted him, come up to him, seize him, and drag him; he urgently begs them to kill him, to massacre him, saying that was his desire, and he puts on the air of a man fervent and eager for the crown of martyrdom.¹⁵¹ That was not their plan or will, but rather to lead him—which they did—to a certain place where they had their idol, so as to make him worship it; which he constantly refuses, protesting that he recognizes no other God than the One who made heaven and earth. At once, they set about killing him. This man, who had played the valiant and courageous one before Saint Pachomius in his monastery, instantly loses heart and promises to do whatever they want, provided they spare his life. Alas! He said, "I am—"¹⁵² [Resume from the text.]¹⁵³ [20.]¹⁵⁴ [unrecoverable fragment]¹⁵⁵ "What's the matter? How have you come undone?" The poor religious, thoroughly ashamed and confused because he had pride in him, unable to bear seeing that he had committed so great a fault, threw himself to the ground and confessed his fault; to which the Father, promptly remedying the matter,¹⁵⁶ having the brothers pray for him and having him ask God's pardon, restored him to a good state, and then gave him sound advice, saying: "My son, remember that it is better to have small desires—to live according to the community, and to want only faithfulness in observing the Rule, without undertaking or desiring anything beyond what it contains—than to have great desires to do imaginary wonders, which only serve to puff up our hearts with pride and make us look down on others, thinking we are something more than they."^✦¹⁵⁷ Oh, how good it is to live under the shelter of holy obedience, rather than pull away from its arms to go looking for what seems more perfect to us!¹⁵⁸ If you had been content, as I had told you, to mortify yourself thoroughly in the life you were living when you wanted nothing less than death, you wouldn't have fallen as you did; but take courage—remember to live from now on in submission, and be assured that God has forgiven you.¹⁵⁹ He followed the saint's advice, living with great humility his entire life. I'll say it again: obedience is just as meritorious as charity, for giving a glass of water out of charity is worth heaven.¹⁶⁰ Our Lord himself says so: do as much out of obedience, and you'll gain the same.¹⁶¹ The smallest thing done out of obedience is very pleasing to God. Eat out of obedience, and your eating is more pleasing to God than the fasts of hermits if those are done without obedience; rest out of obedience, and your rest is more meritorious and more pleasing to God than voluntary labor.¹⁶²

Mortifying the Private Judgment

The author provides practical guidance on mortifying one's own judgment and submitting to the authority of Superiors, even in small or indifferent matters.

See the lives of the holy Fathers on the exact practice of obedience in indifferent things!¹⁶³ Like that religious to whom Saint Francis said he must not plant the cabbages with the root down but up—which the good religious did at once, and the cabbage grew as fine as those that were well planted, so much does Our Lord favor obedience.¹⁶⁴ Certainly, in these minor matters, it would be a serious imperfection to resist when we are commanded to do them, for they are uniquely suited to keep us in humility. Obedience, as I’ve already said, is a primary part of humility and loves beyond measure commands that concern the most lowly things. Nothing is considered small or unimportant by a truly obedient person, because they see everything as a way to unite themselves to God and to Our Lord, who loved obedience so much that, as Saint Bernard says, He preferred to die rather than fail to obey.^✦ (Ms.¹⁶⁵ and Coll.)¹⁶⁶ …never from this path, nor from the observance of the things that are said by way of direction, any more than of those that are commanded.¹⁶⁷ The true obedient person will live gently and peacefully, like a child in the arms of his dear mother, who takes no care about what may happen to him; whether his mother carries him on the right arm or the left, he doesn't worry about it. In the same way, the true obedient person—whether he is commanded this or that—doesn't trouble himself over it; provided he is commanded, and that he is always in the arms of obedience—I mean in the practice of obedience—he is content.¹⁶⁸ Now, as for such a person, I can well assure him, on God's behalf, of Paradise for eternal life; and likewise, during the course of this mortal life, he will enjoy true tranquillity—there is no reason to doubt it. You ask now whether you are bound under pain of sin to do everything the Superiors tell you to do; as when you make your account, whether you must take as a commandment everything the Superior tells you¹⁶⁹ that is suited to your advancement? No, my daughter; superiors never bind you in this way, nor regarding the observance¹⁷⁰ of things offered as direction or counsel,¹⁷¹ as of those that are commanded.¹⁷² The truly obedient person will render… You ask whether everything that the…¹⁷³ . As for what you are obligated to do under penalty of sin, it is like when you fail to do something out of forgetfulness. Regarding what concerns us, there is little or no sin, provided that the thing which remains is of little importance. For in that which concerns us, it is of great importance. keep it firmly in our memory so we can recall it.¹⁷⁴ The same goes for anything that concerns the good order of your house: all the more so—even though what is commanded is very light, even something as simple as putting out the candle every evening—there is no doubt that someone who¹⁷⁵ would refuse to submit to this obedience.¹⁷⁶ It’s no harm to forget it occasionally through simple forgetfulness; but¹⁷⁷ • • •• •«ne rouai.»¹⁷⁸ .¹⁷⁹ through negligence or otherwise.¹⁸⁰ That is what makes it a sin.¹⁸¹ Superiors, like confessors, don't always intend to bind those under them with the commands they give. When they do intend to, they use language that specifies a command under pain of disobedience; in those cases, their subordinates are bound to obey under pain of sin, even if the command is trivial or concerns something minor. Otherwise, they aren't.¹⁸² They offer guidance in three ways: some as a command, others as counsel, and others as simple direction. In the Constitutions and Rules: the commandments of God and of holy Church are not as rigorous as people think; they do not torment minds as much as people believe.¹⁸³ God's law is a law entirely of love and sweetness, as David assures us. Involuntary distractions don't make our prayers or our Offices less pleasing to God, and the same applies to falling asleep. Just as we aren't obligated to repeat our Offices because we were distracted while saying them, we aren't obligated to repeat them if we've dozed off a little—provided it wasn't for a significant part of the Office and you took every possible care to stay awake. If you're careless about that, it could well be a matter for confession.¹⁸⁴ I began my Office well awake and intending to say it well, as I ought; during the Office a little drowsiness comes over me; I still say the verse as best I can, more or less well, and that for the length of one or two Psalms—what would you have me do about that?¹⁸⁵ You don't need to confess it, because you wouldn't know what remedy to apply any more than you can avoid the distractions that come upon you then. You're telling me that because you feel a slight aversion to the rule about admonishing the Sisters in charity—on the pretext that it isn't anything important—you don't feel bound to observe it carefully. To that I reply, my dear daughter, that although you may not be strictly bound to it under pain of sin, the love you ought to have for your Rules binds you to it nonetheless. Certainly, love of the Rules is of the greatest importance, and so every Sister must embrace them a hundred times a day with deep, tender love. Whatever is in our Rules that our hearts shrink from or feel aversion to keeping is precisely what we must be most faithful to, so as to show our love for Our Lord.¹⁸⁶ I say the same about this as I do about the aversions we feel toward one another. If it happens that a Sister has a little aversion to another, she must overcome herself by treating that Sister with more special kindness than the others, seeking chances to be near her often, speaking with her, and doing her some little service.¹⁸⁷ Let's return to our subject and say that we must not torment minds with empty scruples; and so I'm going to give you the clarification you ask for.¹⁸⁸ The Superiors (Ms.¹⁸⁹ and Coll.)¹⁹⁰ [Resume at the text, line¹⁹¹ i.] XI. On the virtue of obedience.¹⁹² [illegible print fragment]¹⁹³ 189 It amounts to the same thing.¹⁹⁴ For there are certain articles that say: "The Sisters may do such a thing."¹⁹⁵ And others say: "They shall do," or else, "they shall refrain from doing." Some are counsels, and others are commandments.¹⁹⁶ Those who would not submit themselves to the counsels and to direction would be going against loving obedience; and that would be to show a great cowardice of heart and to have very little love for God.¹⁹⁷¹⁹⁸ He would not be damned, but¹⁹⁹ it is not for God, nor for love of Him, that he obeys in keeping them, but for himself, so as not to be damned.²⁰⁰ It's like a man who boasts that he isn't a thief: well, if you aren't a thief, you won't be hanged.²⁰¹ That's your reward.^✦²⁰² You obey God's commandments that are given to you: well then, you won't be put out of the monastery.²⁰³ But you won't be counted as a faithful servant of God either—only as a hireling—if you do nothing more.^✦²⁰⁴ A servant who gives his master no service beyond what he was hired for would be considered very boorish.^✦²⁰⁵ Well, the master would say to him, if he didn't drive him out of the house: you stick to the service for which I hired you; but I will stick as well to the wage I promised you, and you'll have nothing more.^✦²⁰⁶ You say that you are quite willing to do what is ordered and commanded, and what is given to you by way of direction, but you want to know whether, if you sometimes fall short of it, you are as much obliged to confess it as what is commanded to you.²⁰⁷ I have a man who confesses to me and tells me that he plays, and that²⁰⁸ when he plays,²⁰⁹ it's only because he's prone to getting carried away by passion.²¹⁰ On that, I command him on God's behalf not to play anymore; and to that command he is obliged to obey.²¹¹ But when I ask him: Do you still play?²¹² He tells me: No, not usually. Then I say to him: My son,²¹³ I advise you not to play anymore, because that doesn't oblige you to obey under pain of²¹⁴ sin.²¹⁵ My child, you ought to keep yourself from playing; for when the Superioresses say something they do not command, what does it amount to but only wanting to do what is commanded of us and nothing more?²¹⁶ And although they don't violate the obedience they have vowed—which covers the commandments and the counsels—when they don't submit themselves to following direction, they still violate the loving obedience to which all the Daughters of the Visitation ought to aspire.²¹⁷ You ask me whether, when you're given a new Superior, one might well think that she isn't as capable as the one you had, and that she doesn't know as well the path by which you need to be led.²¹⁸ Oh yes, we can't stop that thought from crossing our minds—but we must not dwell on it; for if Balaam was well instructed^✦²¹⁹ .²²⁰ (Numbers 22:28–30.)²²¹ instructed by a she-donkey, all the more should we believe that God, who has given us this Superior, will see to it that she teaches us according to His will, even though it may not be according to ours.²²² Our Lord has promised that the truly obedient person will not be lost²²³ —never; certainly not—the one who follows the will and direction of the Superiors God sets over him without distinction.²²⁴ Even if Superiors were ignorant and led those under them according to that ignorance—in fact, even though the perfection we aim for should make us value and embrace everything that helps unite and join us to the divine Majesty, which union must be the sole aim of our souls, and for which we must do everything we do.²²⁵ Even though we don't break the obedience we've vowed—that is, obedience to the commandments—when we fail to subject ourselves to following the counsels and direction, we still break the loving obedience we aim for, we who are in the Visitation.²²⁶ May God keep us from lacking the courage to embrace the practice of loving obedience, just as we described it a little while ago!²²⁷ You ask how a soul that has no love at all for obedience can go about acquiring it? Alas, my dear daughter, there's nothing to do but try to love it.²²⁸ I mean, when you're commanded to do something, embrace and caress that command, cherish it and kiss it; and then, when another is given us, do the same, as something very precious and pleasing, considering the good it brings us, which is union with God; and so from that one on to the next.²²⁹ By doing this, you'll train your heart to love it.²³⁰ (Ms.²³¹ and Coll.)²³² [Resume in the text, line²³³ 8.]²³⁴ XI. On the virtue of obedience: when people of the interior life submit themselves—even along rough and dangerous paths—to everything that isn't clearly sin and isn't against the commandments of God and His holy Church, I can assure you they can never go astray.²³⁵ The truly obedient person, says Holy Scripture,^✦²³⁶ Prov.²³⁷ . xxi. 28.²³⁸ will speak of his victories; that is, he will remain the victor in every difficulty obedience leads him into, and he will emerge with honor from the paths he enters by obedience, however dangerous they may be.^✦ It would be a pretty fine way of obeying if we only wanted to obey Superiors who were agreeable to us.²³⁹ If today, when you have a Superior highly esteemed both for her standing and for her virtues, you obey her wholeheartedly, and tomorrow, when you have another who is not so highly esteemed, you don't obey her with as good a heart as the first—giving her equal obedience in form, but not valuing what she tells you as much and not doing it with as much satisfaction—well then!²⁴⁰ Who can't see that you're obeying the other out of your own inclination, and not purely for God?²⁴¹ For²⁴² if that were so, you would take as much pleasure in, and hold in as high regard, what this one tells you as you did what the other used to tell you. I'm in the habit of often saying something that is always good to say, because it always has to be kept: namely, that all our actions should be done according to the higher part; for that is how we must live in this house, and never according to our senses and our inclinations.²⁴³ No doubt, as far as the lower part of my soul is concerned, I will take more satisfaction²⁴⁴ from doing what a Superior I have an inclination for commands me than from doing what the other one tells me—the one toward whom I have none at all. But provided I obey equally as far as the higher part is concerned, that is enough; and my obedience is worth more when I take less pleasure in doing it, because that is where we show that we obey for God and not for our own pleasure.²⁴⁵ There is nothing more common in the world than obeying those we love, but the other way of obeying is extremely rare and is practiced only in religious communities.²⁴⁶ But you might say: Isn't it allowed to disapprove of what this Superior here is doing, or to say or think why she makes rules that the other one didn't? Oh, certainly not—never, my dear daughters. Instead, you must approve everything your Superiors do or say, allow or forbid, provided it isn't clearly against God's commandments; in that case, you must neither obey nor approve it.²⁴⁷ But apart from that, those under authority must always believe, and make their own judgment admit, that the Superiors do very well and have good reason for doing so; for otherwise it would be to make yourself Superior and make the Superior inferior, since we would be setting ourselves up as examiners of her cause.²⁴⁸ No: you must bend your shoulders under the burden of holy obedience, believing that these two Superiors had good reason for giving the command they gave, even though the commands differ and are contrary to each other.²⁴⁹ But wouldn't it be acceptable for a sister who has lived a long time in religious life,²⁵⁰ and who has served it well, to ease up a little on obedience, at least in some small matter? O good God! What would that be but to act like a master pilot who, having brought his boat into port after long and hard labor to save it from the dangers of the storm and the waves of the sea, would finally, once he had arrived in harbor, break up his ship and throw himself into the sea?²⁵¹ Wouldn't people think he was a fool?²⁵² For if he meant to do that, he shouldn't have worked so hard to bring the boat all the way to port.²⁵³ The religious who has begun well hasn't finished the work if they don't persevere to the end.²⁵⁴ We must not²⁵⁵ You must not say that only novices are meant to be so exacting.²⁵⁶ Although you usually see that novices in every religious order are very exacting and mortified, it's not because they are more bound than those who have professed—oh no, for they aren't bound in that way at all yet. Instead, they continue in obedience to reach the grace of profession. But the professed are bound to it by the vows they've made, and it isn't enough to have made those vows to be a religious if you don't keep them.²⁵⁷ Any religious who thought he could ease up on anything after his profession—even after living a long time in the religious life—would be badly mistaken. Our Lord showed himself more exacting in his death than in his childhood by letting himself be handled and bent, as I said a little while ago.²⁵⁸ And that's enough said about obedience for us.²⁵⁹ III.²⁶⁰ [variant.]²⁶¹ .²⁶² …to set your heart on it.²⁶³ It only remains to say a brief word about the question that was put to me last night.²⁶⁴ ' (I, parce «lu'rttant dam le gktua «Se %a (bnr Mctr tiui U- vt.²⁶⁵ . . . . . .²⁶⁶ . . iiuillotrr. Il mnu«i«t liért? -•• —h prtllc* •* '• "- '-•"• cuiiiinr r. 1. (Mt.) 104 The True Spiritual Conferences • Cf. var. , p. 169. —which was put to me last night: whether it's permissible for the Sisters to tell one another that they've been mortified by the Superior or the Mistress of Novices on some occasion.²⁶⁷ Now, I answer that this can be said in three ways. The first is that a Sister may go and say: Good God, Sister, how thoroughly our Mother has just mortified me! all joyful that she has been found worthy of this mortification, and that the Superior has made her gain this little profit for her soul by telling her plainly what she needed to hear without sparing her; and so she shares that joy with her Sister so that her Sister may help her bless God for it.²⁶⁸ The second way one can speak of it is for relief: she finds the mortification or correction very heavy, so she goes to unload a little of it on her Sister by telling her about it, and that Sister, pitying her, takes some of the burden off her; and this way is already not nearly as tolerable as the first, because one commits an imperfection by complaining. But the third way would be altogether bad: that is, to speak of it by way of murmuring and resentment, and to make it known that the Superior was wrong. As for this way, I know well that people don't do it in this house, by the grace of God. As for the first way, even though there's nothing wrong with saying it, it would still be far better not to say it, but instead to keep to yourself and rejoice over it with God. As for the second way, it certainly shouldn't be done, because by complaining we lose the merit of the mortification. Do you know what we must do when we are corrected and mortified? We must take this mortification as a love-apple and hide it in our heart, kissing and caressing it as tenderly as we can.²⁶⁹ Also, going off to say, "I've just spoken with our Mother; I'm as dry as I was before; there's nothing left but to cling to God; for my part I draw no consolation from creatures; I've been less consoled than I was"—that is not appropriate.²⁷⁰ The sister to whom one says this should answer very gently: "My dear Sister, why weren't you firmly attached to God, as you say we must be, before going to speak with our Mother? Then you wouldn't be discontented that she didn't console you. But in the sense you mean—that we must indeed cling well to God—take care that, by seeking God only when creatures fail you, He may not be unwilling to let Himself be found; for He wants to be sought before all things and in contempt of everything."²⁷¹ "Because creatures don't satisfy me, I seek the Creator"—oh no!²⁷² The Creator well deserves that I leave everything for Him; and so He wants us to do it.²⁷³ So when we leave the Superior feeling completely dry, without having received a single drop of consolation, we must carry that dryness away with us like a precious balm—just as we do with the affections we receive in holy prayer. I say like a balm, and we must take great care not to spill this precious liquid sent to us from Heaven as a very great gift, so that it may perfume our heart with the privation of the consolation we expected to find in the Superior's words.²⁷⁴ But there is one thing to notice on this subject: sometimes we go to speak to the Superior with a dry and hard heart,²⁷⁵ which cannot be watered or moistened by the water of consolation, because it is not at all open to what the Superior says; and even though she speaks very well according to your need, still it does not seem so to you. Another time, when you have a tender and well-disposed heart, she will say only three or four words to you—much less useful for your perfection than the others were—and they will console you.²⁷⁶ And why?²⁷⁷ Because your heart was ready for it.²⁷⁸ It seems to you that Superiors have consolation right on the edge of their lips and pour it easily into the hearts of those they choose, but that isn't the case; they cannot always be in the same mood any more than anyone else. Blessed is the one who can keep an even heart amid all this unevenness of success. At one moment we will be consoled, and a little later we will have a dry heart—so much so that words of consolation will cost us extremely dear to speak. Cf.²⁷⁹ var. ,p. 169. You were still asking me to tell you what exercise is the right one for putting one's own judgment to death; and to that I answer that it is to cut off from it, faithfully, every kind of reasoning in the situations where it wants to make itself master, and make it know that it is only a servant. For, my dear daughters, it is only by repeated acts that we acquire the virtues, though there have been a few souls to whom God has given them all in a moment. So when you feel the urge to decide whether something is well or badly ordered, cut that reasoning short in your own judgment; and when a little later someone tells you that such and such a thing must be done in such and such a way, don't busy yourself arguing or discerning whether it might not be better done otherwise, making your judgment believe that the thing could never be done better than in the way you were told.²⁸⁰ If someone gives you an exercise, don't let your judgment decide whether it will suit you or not; and take care that even when you do the thing just as it is commanded, very often your own judgment still does not obey—I mean, it does not²⁸¹ submit, because it doesn't approve of the command—and that is usually why we feel reluctant to submit to what is asked of us.²⁸² Because the understanding and the judgment put it to the will that this ought not to be done, or that other means than those marked out for us must be used to do what is said, the will cannot submit.²⁸³ insofar as the will always sets more store by the reasons its own judgment shows it than by any others, for everyone believes that his own judgment is the best.²⁸⁴ I've never met anyone who didn't value their own judgment, except for two people who admitted to me that they had none. One of them, having come to see me, said: "Sir, please tell me a little about this or that, because I don't have the judgment to understand it."²⁸⁵ This greatly astonished me. In our day, we have a truly remarkable example of the mortification of one's own judgment.²⁸⁶ It concerns a great and highly renowned doctor who wrote a book titled On Dispensations and the Commandments, which one day fell into the hands of the Pope.²⁸⁷ He judged that it contained some erroneous propositions; he wrote to this doctor so that he would strike them out of his book.²⁸⁸ This doctor.²⁸⁹ Of Dispensations and Commandments: which, falling one day into the hands²⁹⁰ from the Pope, in which His Holiness asked that a few of those same things be removed, and sent word back to this doctor so he would strike them from his book.²⁹¹ But notice that the Pope didn't find anything there.²⁹² ;. . i. -. • «. . . i. . ,tw^,! . . . . rl. i. . On receiving the command, he submitted his judgment so completely that he would not even explain his case to justify himself; on the contrary, he believed he was in the wrong and that he had let himself be deceived by his own judgment. And going up into the pulpit, he read aloud what the Pope had written to him, took his book, tore it to pieces, then said aloud that what the Pope had judged in this matter had been judged very well; that with all his heart he approved the paternal censure and correction the Pope had deigned to give him, as most just and very gentle toward him who deserved to be rigorously chastised; and that he was greatly astonished he had been so blind as to let himself be deceived by his own judgment in something so clearly wrong.²⁹³ He was in no way obliged to do this, because the Pope was not commanding it of him, but only that he should strike from his book a certain thing that had not seemed good; for—and this is quite remarkable—it was not heretical, nor so clearly erroneous that it could not be defended.²⁹⁴ He showed great virtue in almost the same way in the Preface to the Treatise on the Love of God.²⁹⁵ This prelate had published a book entitled: Remonstrances, Warnings, and Exhortations on the Principal Things That Are to Be Reformed, Established, and Observed in the Canonical Hours, etc.²⁹⁶ (Jacques Roussin, Lyon, 1598). In the "Conclusion" of this book, certain propositions regarding "Commendams" and "Exemptions" were set out that displeased Pope Clement VIII.²⁹⁷ As soon as the author learned of the Pope's dissatisfaction, he wrote a letter of submission, the original of which is preserved in the Vatican Archives (Nunc.²⁹⁸ di Savoia, vol. 29, p. 170). It is worded in terms identical to those Saint Francis de Sales reports. The difference in the title given to the part of the work that was censured doesn't weaken our claim. You can even explain fairly easily how the Religious sister tasked with collecting the conference mixed up “Dispensations and Commandments” with “Commendes and Exemptions.”²⁹⁹ She was also mistaken in naming a “doctor of Louvain” as the author of the treatise. So, care was taken to remove this error from the text of the Vrais Entretiens.³⁰⁰ On this occasion, I witnessed an admirable mortification of one's own judgment.³⁰¹ We still see the senses mortified often enough, because self-will gets involved in mortifying them, and it would be a shameful thing to show ourselves stubborn against obedience: what would people say of us?³⁰² But when it comes to self-judgment, we rarely find anyone who is truly mortified. To admit that what is commanded is good, to love it and value it as something beneficial and more useful than anything else—that’s where judgment proves stubborn; for many say, "I’ll do it just as you say, but I can see clearly that it would be better another way." Alas! What are you doing, if you feed self-judgment like that?³⁰³ Without a doubt, it will intoxicate you; for there is no difference between a drunken person and someone full of his own judgment.³⁰⁴ One day David was out in the countryside—1 Kings.³⁰⁵

Fraternal Correction and Charity

The author concludes by discussing the necessity of fraternal correction performed with discretion, charity, and humility.

. 54. 4–15.³⁰⁶ with his soldiers worn out and exhausted by hunger, and finding nothing more to eat, he sent to Abigail's husband to get some provisions.³⁰⁷ Unfortunately this poor man was drunk, and beginning to speak like a drunkard, he said that David, after living off his plunder, was sending to him to ruin him like the others, and that he would give them nothing.^✦³⁰⁸ When David heard this, he said, "As God lives!"^✦³⁰⁹ He will pay me for it—ungrateful as he is for the good I did him in saving^✦³¹⁰ his flocks and keep any harm from coming to him.^✦ Abigail, knowing David's plan, went the next day to meet him.³¹¹ [Source unreadable.]³¹² [Source unreadable.]³¹³ [Source unreadable.]³¹⁴ before him with gifts to calm him, using these words: My lord, what would you do to a fool?³¹⁵ Yesterday, when my husband was drunk, he spoke badly—but he spoke as a drunkard and like a fool. My lord, calm your anger and don't lay hands on him, for you'd regret having laid a hand on a fool. We must make the same excuses for a drunk person as we do for our own judgment, for one is scarcely more capable of reason than the other.³¹⁶ We must take the greatest care to keep it from making these calculations, so it doesn't intoxicate us with its reasoning—especially when it comes to obedience.³¹⁷ Cf.³¹⁸ var.³¹⁹ p.³²⁰ 169.³²¹ Finally, you want to know if you should have great confidence and take great care to correct one another in charity regarding your faults.³²² Without a doubt, my daughter, you must do it; for what good is it to see a stain on your Sister and not try to remove it through correction?³²³ Even so, you must be discreet in this work; it wouldn't be the right time to correct a Sister while you see her unwell or weighed down by melancholy, as it would be dangerous for her to reject the correction immediately if you gave it to her then.³²⁴ You need to wait a little, then warn her with trust and charity. If a Sister says words that smack of murmuring, and if her heart is otherwise gentle, then of course you should tell her quite frankly: "Sister, that is not well done"; but if you notice that some passion has been stirred in her heart, then you must change the subject as deftly as you can.³²⁵ You say you're afraid to warn a Sister about her faults so often because it destroys her confidence and makes her fail even more out of sheer fear.³²⁶ O God! You shouldn't judge the Sisters of this house that way; it's only worldly girls who lose their confidence when they're warned of their faults.³²⁷ Our Sisters arm themselves too thoroughly with their own abjection to act that way; far from being troubled by it, they will on the contrary take greater courage and more care to amend themselves—not to avoid being warned, for I assume they love above all else whatever can make them low and abject in their own eyes, but so as always to do their duty better and become more fit for their vocation.³²⁸

Read the original French

Il y a trois sortes d'obéissance pieuse, <**' dont la première est générale à tous les Chrestiens, qui est l'obéissance deuë à Dieu et à la sainte Eglise en l'observance de leurs commandemens. La seconde est l'obéissance religieuse, qui est desja d'un grand prix au dessus de l'autre, parce qu'elle s'attache non seulement aux commandemens de Dieu, ains elle s'afisujettit à l'observance de ses conseils. 11 y a une troisiesme obéissance qui est celle de laquelle je veux parler, comme estant la ijo Les vrays Entretiens spirituels plus parfaite, qui se nomme amoureuse; et c'est de ceste-cy de laquelle Nostre Seigneur nous a monstre exemple tout le temps de sa vie.

Les Pères ont donné à ceste sorte d'obéissance plusieurs propriétés et conditions, mais entre toutes j'en choisiray seulement trois; dont la première est qu'elle est, comme ils la nomment, aveugle, la seconde qu'elle est prompte, et la troisiesme qu'elle est persévérante. L'obéissance aveugle a trois propriétés ou condi tions, dont la première est qu'elle ne regarde jamais le visage des Supérieurs, ains seulement leur authorité; la seconde, qu'elle ne s'informe point des raisons ni des motifs que les Supérieurs ont de commander telle ou telle chose, luy suffisant de sçavoir qu'iL l'ont commandée, et la troisiesme, qu'elle ne s'enquiert point des moyens qu'il faut qu'elle tienne pour faire ce qui est commandé, s'asseurant que Dieu, par l'inspiration duquel on luy a fait ce commandement, luy donnera bien le pouvoir de l'accomplir; mais au lieu de s'enquérir comment elle fera, elle se met à faire.

Donques l'obéissance religieuse, qui doit estre aveugle, se sousmet amoureusement à faire tout ce qui luy est commandé, tout simplement, sans regarder jamais si le commandement est bien ou mal fait, pourveu que celuy qui commande ait le pouvoir de commander, et que le commandement serve à la conjonction de nostre esprit avec Dieu; car hors de là, jamais le vray obéissant ne fait aucune chose. Plusieurs se sont grandement trompés sur cette condition de l'obéissance, lesquels ont XI. iJl. LA VERTU D'ObRISSANCB 17I creu qu'elle consistoit à faire à tort et à travers tout ce qui nous pourroit estre commandé, fust-ce mesme contre les commandemens de Dieu et de la sainte Eglise; en quoy ils ont grandement erré, s'imaginans une folie en cest aveuglement, qui n'y est nullement; car en tout ce qui est des commandemens de Dieu, comme les Supérieurs n'ont point de pouvoir de faire jamais aucun commandement contraire, les inférieurs n'ont de mesme jamais aucune obligation d'obéir en tel cas, ains s'ils y obeissoient ils pecheroient.

Or. je sçay bien que plusieurs ont fait des choses contre les commandemens de Dieu par l'instinct de cette obéissance i<^ laquelle ne veut pas seulement obéir aux commandemens de Dieu et des Supérieurs, mais aussi à leurs conseils et à leurs inclinations. Plusieurs donc se sont précipités à la mort par une inspiration particulière de Dieu, qui estoit tellement forte qu'ils ne s'en pouvoyent nullement desdire; car autrement ils eussent griefvement péché. Il est porié dans le second Livre des Machabées •, d'un nommé Kasias, lequel, poussé d'un • c*p. xiv. 37-46. 2ele ardent de la gloire de Dieu, s'en alla exix)ser aux coups, dont U sçavoit ne pouvoir éviter les blesseures et la mort; et se sentant blessé en la poitrine, il tira toutes ses entrailles par ceste blesseure, puis les jet ta en l'air en présence de ses ennemis. Sainte Apollonie se jet ta dans le feu que les impies ennemie de Dieu et du nom Chrestien avoyent préparé pour l'y mettre et la faire mourir Saint Ambroise* rapporte aussi l'histoire * ^ de trois ûllcs qui, pour éviter de perdre leur chasteté, se jetterent dans un fleuve où elles furent suffoquées par les eaux It): mais celles-cy avoyent d'ailleurs quelque sorte de raison pour ce faire, qui seroit trop longue à déduire.

I on en void beaucoup d'autres qui se sont précipités à la mort, comme celuy qui se jetta dans une fornaise ardente; mais tous ces exemples doivent estre iy2 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels admirés et non pas imités, car vous sçavez assez qu'il ne faut jamais estre si aveugle que de penser agréer à Dieu en contrevenant à ses commandemens. L'obéissance amoureuse présuppose que nous avons l'obéissance aux commandemens de Dieu.

On dit que ceste obéissance est aveugle parce qu'elle obéit également à tous les Supérieurs. Tous les anciens Pères ont grandement blasmé ceux lesquels ne se vouloyent pas sousmettre à l'obéissance de ceux qui estoyent de moindre qualité qu'eux; ils leur demandoyent: Quand vous obéissiez à vos Supérieurs, pourquo}^ le faisiezvous? estoit-ce pour l'amour de Dieu? Nullement, car cestui-cy ne tient-il pas la mesme place de Dieu parmi nous que faisoit l'autre? Sans doute, il est vicaire de Dieu, et Dieu nous commande par sa bouche, et nous fait entendre ses volontés par ses ordonnances, comme il faisoit par la bouche de l'autre. Vous obéissez donc aux Supérieurs parce que vous leur avez de l'incUnation et pour le respect de leurs personnes. Helas! vous ne faites rien plus que les mondains, car ils en font bien de mesme; et non seulement ils obéissent aux commandemens de ceux qu'ils ayment, mais ils n'estimeroyent pas leur amour bien satisfait s'ils ne suivoyent encor au plus près qu'ils peuvent leurs inclinations et affections, ainsi que fait le vray obéissant, tant à l'endroit de ses Supérieurs comme de Dieu mesme.

Les payens, tous meschans qu'ils estoyent, nous ont monstre exemple de cecy, car le diable parloit à eux en diverses sortes d'idoles: les unes estoyent des statues d'hommes, les autres des rats, des chiens, des lyons, des serpens et choses semblables; et ces pauvres gens adjoustoyent foy également à tous, obéissant à la statue d'un chien comme à celle d'un homme, à celle d'un rat comme à celle d'un lyon, sans aucune différence. Pourquoy cela? parce qu'ils regardoyent leurs dieux en la diversité de ces statues. Saint Pierre » nous commande d'obéir aux Supérieurs, encore qu'ils fussent meschans*. (»J Nostre • i Ep, u. is. Seigneur, Nostre Dame et saint Joseph nous ont fort bien enseigné ceste façon d'obéir, au voyage qu'ils firent de Nazareth en Bethlehem •; car Ccsar ayant fait un • Luc», n, 1. 5.

edict, que tous ses subjets allassent au lieu de leur naissance pour y estre enroollés, ils y allèrent amoureusement pour satisfaire à ceste obéissance, bien que César fust payen et idolastre: Nostre Seigneur voulant monstrer par là que nous ne devons jamais regarder au visage de ceux qui commandent, pourveu qu'ils ayent le pouvoir de commander 0) Passons maintenant à la seconde propriété de l'obéissance aveugle. Apres donc qu'elle a gaigné ce poinct de ne pas regarder ceux qui commandent, ains de se sousmettre également à toutes sortes de Supérieurs, elle passe outre et vient au second, qui est d'obéir sans considérer l'intention ni la fin pour laquelle le commandement est fait, se contentant de sçavoir qu'il est fait, sans s'amuser à considérer s'il est bien ou mal aatbarité apoatoUqua luy donna m maJadktion, disant: / ' '^PPé, P*99y bUmckiêt Maia deapuit, tçacbant que oest homme qui l'avoit frappé avait de l'autborité «t da U flQpvterité da la part du Pontifr. il pour tmmâàgtmi mm daplaWr: Cartea, jt m içdvois pa car Doi» autTM Cbrestieos Mm mm anadfné» qu'il faut. <^s fait, si l'on a raison ou non de faire tel ou tel commandement. Abraham s'est rendu fort recommandable en ceste obéissance. Dieu l'appelle et ^^) luy dit: Abraham, sors de ta terre et de ta parenté, c'est à dire hors de • G€n. , XII, I. ta ville, et f en va au lieu que je te monstreray *.

Abraham va sans réplique. Hé! ne pouvoit-il pas bien dire: Seigneur, vous me dites que je sorte hors de la ville; dites moy donc, s'il vous plaist, de quel costé je sortiray. Il ne dit pas un mot, ains s'en alla où l'Esprit le port oit, sans regarder en aucune façon s'il alloit bien ou mal, pourquoy et à quelle intention Dieu luy avoit fait ce commandement si courtement, qu'il ne luy avoit pas seulement marqué le chemin par lequel il vouloit qu'il marchast. 0 certes, le vray obéissant ne fait pas des discours; il se met simplement en besogne, sans s'enquerir d'autre chose que d'obéir.

11 semble que Nostre Seigneur mesme nous ayt voulu monstrer combien ceste sorte d'oboisisance luy estoit agréable, lors qu'il s'apparut à saint Paul pour le converti; car l'ayant appelle par son nom, il le fit cheoir par terre et l'aveugla. Voyez-vous, pour le faire son disciple il le fit tomber, pour l'humilier et l'assujettir à soy; puis soudain il l'aveugla, et luy commanda de s'en aller en la ville trouver Ananias, et qu'il ftst tout ce qu'il luy commanderoit*. Mais pourquoy Nostre Seigneur mesme • Aci. . ix, 4-«. ne luy dit-il pas ce qu'il devoit faire, sans le renvoyer plus lom, luy qui avoit bien daigné luy parler pour le convertir? Saint Paul fit tout ce qui luy fut commandé. Il n'eust rien cousté à Nostre Seigneur de luy dire luy mesme ce qu'il luy fit dire par Ananias mais il vouloit que nous cognussions par cest exemple combien il aune l'obéissance aveugle, puis<]u'il semble qu'il n'aveugla saint Paul que pour le rendre vray obéissant.

yuand Nostre Seigneur v'oulut donner la veué à l'aveugle né, il fit <'"' de la houi et la luy mit sur Us yeux, luy commandant de s'aller laver en la fontaine de Siloi^. Ce pauvre aveugle ne pouvoit-il pas bien * joAa. . ui. 6, 7. s'estonner du moyen dont Nostre Seigneur usoit pour le guérir, et luy dire: Helas! que me faites-vous? si je n'estois pas aveugle, cela seroit capable de me faire perdre la veuë.

Il ne fit jxjint toutes ces considérations, ains il olx'it tout simplement '»<. Ainsi le vray obéissant croid simplement de jx)Uvoir faire tout ce qu'on luy peut cuimiiandcr, parce qu'il tient que tous les commandemens 176 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels viennent de Dieu, ou sont faits par son inspiration, lesquels ne peuvent estre impossibles à raison de la puissance de Celuy qui commande. • IV Reg. , V, 9-14. Naaman le Syrien * n'en fit pas de la sorte, dont il luy en pensa arriver du mal. Cettui-cy estant ladre, s'en alla trouver Elisée pour estre guéri, parce que tous les remèdes dont il avoit usé pour recouvrer sa première santé ne luy avoyent de rien servi. Sçachant donc qu'Elisée faisoit de grandes merveilles, il s'en alla à luy, et estant arrivé il luy envoya un de ses gens pour le supplier de le vouloir guérir. Sur quoy Elisée ne sortit pas mesme de sa chambre, ains luy envoya dire par son serviteur qu'il s'allast laver sept fois au Jourdain et qu'il seroit guéri.

A ceste response, Naaman commença à se dépiter et dire: N'y a-t'il pas des eaux en nostre pays aussi bonnes que celles qui sont au fleuve Jourdain? et n'en voulut rien faire. Mais ses gens luy remonstrerent qu'il devoit faire ce qui luy estoit enjoint par le Prophète, puisque c'estoit une chose si facile; il se laissa gaigner à leurs paroles, et s'estant lavé sept fois il fut guéri. Voyez-vous comment il se met en danger de ne point recouvrer sa santé, voulant faire tant de considérations sur ce qui estoit commandé?

La troisiesme propriété de l'obéissance aveugle est qu'elle ne considère point et ne s'enquiert point tant par quel moyen elle pourra faire ce qui luy est commandé. Elle sçait que le chemin par lequel elle doit aller est la Règle de la Religion et les commandemens des Supérieurs; elle prend ce chemin en simpHcité de cœur, sans pointillcr si ce seroit mieux de faire ainsi ou ainsi: pour\'eu qu'elle obéisse, tout luy est égal, car elle sçait bien que cela suffit pour estre agréable à Dieu, pour l'amour du(}uel elle obéit purement et simplement.

La seconde condition de l'obéissance amoureuse est qu'elle est prompte. Or, la promptitude de l'obéissance a tousjours esté recommandt^e au. x Religieux comme une pièce tres-necessaire pour bien obéir et observer parfaitement ce qu'ils ont voiié à Dieu. Ce fut la marque que print Eliezer • pour cognoistre la fille que •G«o. . »«iv, 14. Dieu avoit déterminée <'* pour estre l'espouse du fils de son maistre. Il dit donc ainsi en soy-mesme: Celle à qui je demandcray à boire et qui me dira: J'en donneray non seulement à vous, mais je puiseray encor de l'eau jx^ur vos chameaux, ce sera celle là que je recogne istray estre digne espouse du fils de mon maistre.

Et comme il alloit pensant à cela, il vid de loin la belle Rebecca. <^> Eliezer la voyant si belle et si gratieuse auprès du puits où elle tiroit de l'eau pour ses brebis, il luy fit sa demande, et la damoyselle respondit selon son dessein: Ouy, dit-elle, non seulement à voas, mais encor à vos chameaux. Remarquez, je vous prie, combien elle fut prompte et gratieuse; elle n'espargnoit point sa peine, ains en estoit fort libérale, car il ne falloit pas p)eu d eau pour abreuver tant de chameaux qu'Eliezer menoit. O certes, les obéissances qui se font m;U graticusement ne sont point agréables. 11 y en a qui obéissent, mais c'est avtv tant de langueur et avec une si mauv«iise mine, qu'ils diminuent l>eaucoup le mérite de cestc vertu. La charité et l'obéissance ont une telle union ensemble qu'elles ne se peuvent séparer: Tamour nous fait obéir promptement <", car pour difficile que soit la vr. ;. K.

^ I - < • 4, Uqurll* nkiél barivr •! fvt |»«r apcM pr • tnnp% U 1m çtittamut et prtacw faèmfmi Um»

17S Les vrays Entretiens spirituels chose commandée, celuy qui a l'obéissance amoureuse l'entreprend amoureusement, parce que l'obéissance estant une principale partie de l'humilité qui ayme souverainement la sousmission, l'obéissant par conséquent ayme le commandement, et dés qu'il l'apperçoit de loin, quel qu'il puisse estre, soit-il selon son goust ou non, il l'embrasse, il le caresse et le chérit tendrement ("). • Surius, ad diera II y a daus la Vie de saint Pachome * un exemple de ceste promptitude à l'obéissance que je vous veux dire. Entre les Religieux de saint Pachome il y en avoit un nommé Jonas, homme de grande vertu et sainteté, lequel avoit la charge du jardin, dans lequel il y avoit un figuier qui portoit de fort belles figues. Or ce figuier servoit de tentation aux jeunes Religieux; toutes les fois qu'ils passoyent auprès, ils regardoyent tousjours un peu ces figues. Saint Pachome l'ayant remarqué, et se promenant un jour par le jardin, il leva ses yeux contre ce figuier et vid le diable au dessus, qui regardoit les figues de haut en bas, comme les Religieux les regardoyent du bas en haut. Ce grand Saint, qui ne desiroit pas moins de dresser ses Religieux à une totale mortification des sens comme à la mortification intérieure des passions et inclinations, appella Jonas et luy commanda que le lendemain il ne manquast à couper le figuier; à quoy le pauvre Jona? répliqua: Hé, mon Père, encor faut-il un peu supporter ces jeunes gens; il les faut bien recréer en quelque chose; ce n'est pas pour moy que je le veux conserver. A quoy le Père respondit fort doucement: Bien, mon Frère, vous n'avez pas voulu obéir simplement et promptement; mais que voulez-vous gager que l'arbre sera plus obéissant que vous?

Ce qui arriva; car le lendemain on le trouva tout sec, et ne porta jamais fruict. Le pauvre Jonas disoit fort ventabieintnt que ce n'cstoit pas pour liiy qu'il vouloit garder le figuier; car on remarqua que de soixante et cjuinze ans qu'il vesquit en la Religion et qu'il fut jardinier, il n'avoit jamais tasté aucun fruict de son jardin, mais il en estoit fort libéral à l'endroit des Frères. Cef>endant il app)rint combien la promptitude de l'obéissance estoit recommandable.

Xostre Seigneur tout le temj» de sa vie a donne des exemples continuels de ceste promptitude à l'ob«nssance, car il ne se peut rien voir de si souple ni de si prompt qu'il estoit à la volonté d'un chacun. A son exemple, il nous faut apprendre d'estre grandement prompts en l'obéissance <*', car il ne suffit pas au cœur amoureux de faire ce qu'on luy commande ou que l'on luy tesmoigne de désirer, s'il ne le fait promptement; il ne peut voir l'heure assez tost venue pour accomphr ce que l'on a ordonné, à fin que l'on luv commande de nouveau quelque autre chose. David ne fit qu'un simple souhait de boire de l'eau de la ci sterne de liethlehem, et soudain partirent trois chevaliers qui à teste baissée traversèrent l'armée des ennemis et luy en allèrent quérir*. Ils furent extrêmement prompts à sui\Te le désir •iiRcc. . xxtiM5^6. du roy; ainsi void-on que tant de grands Saints ont fait pour suivre les inclinations et les désirs qu'il leur sembloit que le Roy des roys, Nostre Seigneur, avoit. yuel commandement, je vous supplie, a fait Nostre Seigneur, (|ui obligeiist sainte Catherine de Sienne à boire ou lescher avee la langue la pourriture qui sort oit de la playe de ceste jxiuvre femme cju'elle scrvoit?

et saint l^uis. roy de France, de manger avec les ladres le reste de leur |x>tage pour leur donner courage de manger? Certes, ils n'estoyenl aucunement oblige'^s à cela; mais sçachant (|ue Nostre Seigneur aymoii et avoit tesmoigné de l'inclination à l'amour de la propre abjection, jK*ns;int luy faire plaisir de suivre son nulinalion, ils faisoyent ces choses, cjuov qn»* it. v-repugno^ti- \ i8o Les vrays Entretiens spirituels leurs sens, avec unjtres-grand amour. Nous sommes obligés de secourir nostre prochain quand il est en extrême nécessité; neantmoins, parce que l'aumosne est un conseil de Nostre Seigneur, plusieurs font volontiers l'aumosne autant que leur moyen le leur permet. Or, dessus ceste obéissance aux conseils, Fobeissance amoureuse est entée, qui nous fait entreprendre de suivre rie à rie les désirs et les intentions de Dieu et de nos Supérieurs.

Mais il faut que je vous advertisse icy d'une tromperie en laquelle on pourroit tomber: car si ceux qui voudroyent entreprendre la pratique de ceste vertu fort exactement, vouloyent tous jours se tenir en attention pour pouvoir cognoistre les désirs et les inclinations de leurs Supérieurs ou de Dieu, i^") ils perdroyent le temps infailliblement; car par exemple, tandis que je m'enquerrois quel est le désir de Dieu, je ne m'occuperois pas à me tenir en repos et tranquillité auprès de luy, qui est le désir qu'il a maintenant, puisqu'il ne me donne rien autre chose à faire. Donc, celuy qui pour suivre l'inclination que Nostre Seigneur a tesmoigné que l'on secourust les pauvres, voudroit aller de ville en ville pour les chercher (>'), qui ne sçait que pendant qu'il sera en une il ne servira pas ceux qui seront en l'autre? Il faut aller en ceste besogne en simplicité de cœur; faire l'aumosne quand j'en rencontre l'occasion, sans m 'aller amusant par les rues de maison en maison, pour sçavoir s'il y aura point de pauvre que je ne cognoisse pas. De mesme, quand je m'apperçois que le Supérieur désire quelque chose de moy, il faut que je me rende prompt à le faire, sans aller espluchant si je pourray cognoistre qu'il ayt quelque inclination que je fasse XI. Di LA VERTU d'Obéissance i8i quelque autre chose; car cela osteroit la paix et tranquillité de cœur, qui est le pnnci])al fruict de l'obeiîwance amoureuse.

I^ troisiesme condition de robeis>ance c cbi la jx rseverance. Or ceste-cy, Nostre Seigneur la nous enseigne fort particulièrement; saint Paul l'a déclaré en ces termes^: // a esté fait obéissant jusques à la mort; •Pbiiip. n. s. et enchérissant ceste obéissance: et jusques à la mort de la croix, dit-il. En ces paroU*s, jusques à la mort, est présupposé quil a esté obéissant tout le temps de sa vie. pendant lequel on ne void autre chose que des traits d'obéissance rendue par luy. tant à ses parents qu'à plusieurs autres, voire mesme à des impies et meschans; et comme il <*' commença par reste vertu, de mesme il paracheva par elle le cours de ceste vie mortelle.

Le bon Kcligicu. x Jonas nous fournit deux exemples sur le sujet de la persévérance; et bien qu'il n'obcist si promptcment au commandement que saint Pachome luy donna, c'estoit neantmoins un Religieux de grande jxrrfection: car dés qu'il entra en Religion jusques à la mort il continua en l'office de jardinier, sans jamais le changer <•»' durant soixante et quinze ans qu'il vescut en ce monastère; et l'autre exercice auquel il persévéra aussi toute sa vie, comme je vous ay dit cy -devant, fut de faire des nattes de joncs entrelaces avec des feuilles voukiér marchrr; mai* rtj ta in*jrt il ne rnijuc m bra% m jamlir». • furt imtu<>b«lr par okjcitaanrr. Durant tout k rourt àe m vtr Wm t%e V(4d autrr cboM qur &r% traita d'obeiManre rrndur Unt à m« parrnt* qu'A plta«i«vn autres, voire tro» impies. Ain«y q ' ' *'^ et Coll.)

exemple* aur ce aujet de la pervrveranre; eu bien qu'il manquait à œate obcéaaaore que taint Parh<Mne luv d<jnti •«antmoina un ReUfleits d« grande perfection, et auquel il «enil Pachoroe ne détroit |»a« rrItMer la contervatioo du ftfuier, à c»mt de la pêne ver ance qu'il aroél «•« àH qu'il entra )u«|ue« akm. et iuv|uM A la mort. A Uir« h» |nrdln. rar il n» chanfra {amai« de rharffe (\|« ri Coll.)

iS2 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels de palmes, tellement qu'il mourut en les faisant (^'). C'est une très-grande vertu de persévérer si longuement en un tel exercice; car de faire joyeusement une chose que l'on commande pour une fois, tant que l'on voudra, cela ne couste rien; mais quand on vous dit: vous ferez tousjours cela, et tout le temps de vostre vie, c'est là où il y a de la vertu et où gist la difficulté. Voila donc ce que j'avois à vous dire touchant l'obéissance, sinon encore ce mot, que l'obéissance est d'un si grand prix qu'elle est compagne de la charité; et ces deux vertus sont celles qui donnent le prix et la valeur à toutes les autres, de sorte que sans elles toutes les autres ne sont rien. Si vous n'avez ces deux vertus, vous n'en avez point; si vous les avez, vous avez quant et quant toutes les autres.

Mais passant plus outre, et laissant à part l'obéissance générale aux commandemens de Dieu et parlant de l'obéissance religieuse, je dis que si le Religieux n'obéit, il ne sçauroit avoir aucune vertu, parce que c'est l'obéissance qui le rend principalement Religieux, comme estant la vertu propre et particuHere de la ReHgion. Ayez mesme le désir du martyre pour l'amour de Dieu, cela n'est rien si vous n'avez (C) l'obéissance. Nous •Ubi supra, p. 178. hsons en la Vie de saint Pachome *, qu'un de ses Religieux ayant persévéré tout le temps de son novitiat en une humilité et sousmission exemplaire, vint trouver W. De i. a VI rtu d'Obéi ssanci i8i saint Pachonic et luy du. transporte dr grande firveiir, qu'il avoit un très-grand désir du martyre, qu'il ne seroit jamais content <|ue cela n'arrivas!

, qu'il le supplioit bien humblement de vouloir prier Dieu à fin qu'il l'accomplist. Le saint IVre tascha de modérer reste fer\*eur; mais plus il en disoit, et plus l'autre s'eschauffoit en sa poursuit*-. Le Saint luy disoit: Mon fils, mieux vaut vivre en obéissance, et mourir tous les jours en vivant par une continuelle mortification de soymesme, que de martyriser nostre imagination. Assez meurt martyr qui bien se mortifie; c'est un plus grand martyre de jx-rseverer toute sa vie en obéissance, que n()n pas de mourir tout d'un cï)up par un glaive. Vivez en pai. x. mon fils, et trancjuillisez v(jstre t^sprit. le divertLssanl de ce désir Le Religieux, qui asseuroit que son désir procedoit du Saint Esprit, ne rabattit rien de son ardeur, incitant tousjours le Fere qu'il fist prière que son désir fust accompli.

De là à quelque temj^s, l'on eut nouvelles propres à sa consolation, car un certain Sarrasin, chef de voleurs, vint en une montagne proche du monastère; sur quoy saint Pachome l'appella à soy Malt pour retoumrr à nottre propos, cr KcliKicux, apre« m pcx>lMiUun, vint ua jour trouver Mint Pachoinf rt luy iiit, transporté dr grande fcrvrur: O moo Perc, j'ay un deatr pour lequel je voua auppUe trva humblement de vouloir bien prier Diru qu'il tur l'accoinpltate. Biao. mon hU, dit le Un* IVrr, U tue le faut dire ce deair. Mon IVre. répliqua k Krlixieui. il faut, «'il vnu» plaiat. que v<iu» me proroettiei de prier rt (aire l»ini prier \r% Frerr^ puur cela. En fin le bon Vrrr luy drtuaiula tant quel de»ir c'e%toit, qu'il luy dit que c'eatoét le dcair du mart>Te, qu'il ne «émit )amah content que cela n'arrivatt, l-e bi»n IVre ta«cha fort de inrjderrr n '>- ir.

mai» pl';^ ' •'eflorvoiC de le de»t<Hjmer. plu« le KeliKieux «>&• «ait Pacbun»*- ili«a4t: Mon fUa, mieua vaut vivre an obettaaurr. et mourir Unn le» )our» en vivant par une oontinueUe m<irti6cation de «oy-meMne et de ««a paMéoot. que non paa da martyriser voatre imacinaté<i(i. . Xtaea meurt martyr qui bien te mnrtifW': c'cat, d'advcnture, un plut grand martyre de perteverrr toute «a vie en obciatanœ, que non pas de mourir (• ' ' \i\rt en paii, mon Prcre. et arratlea vu»tre eaprit. Mam l'autre, qui a«euroit que aon daair procedoit du Saint Ktpcit.

ne rabaltuit rien dt toa ardeur, inrtunt tom^Htr» le Pwe qu'il Aal prier que mm fiMt aeeooipU. (Ma. rt Coll ) Cela fait, le IVre «e relira. De là à tempe, on eut nouvellea favorablea, car vtodmil eertalot Sarraaina. voleur».

184 Les vkays Entretiens spirituels et luy dit: Or sus, mon fils, l'heure est venue que vous avez tant désirée; allez à la bonne heure couper du bois en la montagne. Le Religieux, tout esperdu de joye, s'en va chantant et psalmodiant à la louange de Dieu, et luy rendant action de grâces dequoy il avoit bien daigné luy faire l'honneur de luy donner ceste occasion de mourir pour son amour; en fin il ne pensoit rien moins que de faire ce qu'il fit. Or, voicy que ces voleurs l'ayant apperceu, vindrent droit à luy et commencèrent à l'empoigner et menacer. Pour un peu, il fut fort vaillant. Tu es mort! dirent-ils. Je ne demande autre chose, respondit-il, que de mourir pour Dieu, et semblables responses. Les Sarrasins le conduisirent où estoit leur idole pour la luy faire adorer.

Quand ils virent qu'il le refusoit constamment, ils commencèrent de se mettre en devoir de le tuer. Helas! ce pauvre Religieux, si vaillant en imagination, se voyant l'espée à la gorge: Hé, de grâce, dit-il, ne me tuez pas, je feray tout ce que vous voudrez; ayez pitié de moy! je suis encor jeune, ce seroit dommage de borner le cours de mes jours. En fin il adora leur idole, et ces meschans se mocquans de luy le battirent très-bien, et puis le laissèrent revenir en son^monastere, où estant arrivé plus mort que vif, tout pâle et transi, saint^Pachome qui luy estoit allé au devant luy dit: Eh bien, mon fils.

en une montagne proche de ceste Religion. Saint Pachome l'appela et luy dit: Or sus, mon fils, l'heure est venue que vous avez tant désirée; allez à la bonne heure couper du bois en la montagne. Le Religieux, tout transporté de joye, s'en va chantant et psalmodiant des hymnes à la loiiange de Dieu, et en action de grâces de ce qu'il luy faisoit l'honneur de mourir pour" son amour. Il approche la forest: incontinent les voleurs l'ayant descouvert l'abordent, le tirent, le traisnent; luy demande instamment qu'on le tue, qu'on le massacre, que c'estoit son désir, et faisoit le fervent et désireux de la couronne du martyre. Ce n'estoit pas leur dessein et volonté, ains de le conduire, ce qu'ils firent, en un certain endroit où ils avoyent leur idole, à fin de la luy faire adorer; ce qu'il refuse constamment, protestant ne recognoistre autre Dieu que Celuy qui a fait le ciel et la terre. Aussi tost ils se mirent en devoir de le tuer. Celuy-cy, qui faisoit le vaillant et courageux devant saint Pachome en son monastère, perd à l'instant courage et promet de faire tout ce que l'on désire, pourveu qu'on luy laisse la vie. Helas!

disoit-il, je suis (Coll.) [Reprendre au texte, iig. 20. J comme va? qu'y a-t'il que vous eî»u-:> m défait ' Ijjts, IIpauvre Religieux, tout honteux et confus parce qu'il avoit de l'orgueil, ne pouvant supporter de se voir avoir fait une si grande faute, se jet ta en terre et confessa sa faute; à quoy le Père remédiant prompt emen t. faisant prier les Frères pour luy et luy faisiint demander pardon à Dieu, le remit en bon estât, et puis luy donna de bons advertissemens, disant Mon til>, souvien:>-toy qu'il vaut mieux avoir de petits désirs de \nvre selon la Communauté, et ne vouloir que la fidélité à l'observance des Règles sans entreprendre ni désirer autre chose que ce qui y est compris, que non pas avoir de grands désirs de faire des merveilles imaginaires, qui ne sont Ixjns qu'à enfler nos cceurs d'orgueil et nous faire mésestimer les autres, pensant bien estre quelque chose plus qu'eux. O qu'il fait l)on vivre à l'abri de la sainte obéissance, plustost que nous retirer d'entre ses bras pour chercher ce qui nous semble plus parfait! Si tu te fusses contenté, ainsi que je t'avois dit, de te bien mortifier en vivant, lors que tu ne voulois rien moins que la mort, tu ne fusses pas tombé comme tu as fait; mais bon courage, souviens-toy de vivre désormais en sousmission, et t'asseure que Dieu t'a pardonné.

Il obéit au consi*il du Saint, se comportant avec beaucoup d'humilité tout It* tem{>s de sa vie Je dis encor cecy, que l'obéissance n'est point de moindre mérite que la charité; car donner mm verre d'eau par charité, cela vaut le Ciel. Nostre Seigneur mesme le dit •; faites-en autant par obéissance, vous '^ î^*"» «• •*'-î gaignerez le mesme. La moindre petite chose faite par obéissance est tres-agreable à Dieu: mangez par obéissance, vostre manger est plus agréable à Dieu que les jeusnes des anachorètes s'ils sont faits sans obéissance; reposez- vous par obéissance, vostre repos est plus méritoire et plus agréable à Dieu que non pas le travail volontaire *'')

iSO Les vkays Extkejiens spirituels vies des saints Pères, de la pratique exacte de l'obéissance es choses indifférentes! Comme ce Religieux à qui saint François dit qu'il ne falloit pas planter les choux la racine en bas ains en haut, ce que le bon Religieux fit tout promptement, et le chou creut aussi beau que ceux qui estoyent bien plantés, tant Xostre Seigneur favorise l'obéissance. Certes, en ces choses de peu de conséquence, ce seroit une très-grande imperfection de tesmoigner de la résistance à les faire quand elles nous sont commandées; car elles sont uniquement propres pour nous tenir en humilité. L'obéissance, comme j'ay desja dit, estant une pièce principale de l'humilité, ayme infiniment les commandemens des choses qui sont les plus abjectes; bien que rien ne soit estimé peu ni de peu d'importance par le vray obéissant, à cause qu'il regarde le tout comme des moyens propres pour s'unir à Dieu et à Nostre Seigneur, qui a tant aymé l'obéissance, comme dit saint Bernard, qu'il a mieux aymé mourir que de manquer d'obéir. (Ms. et Coll.)

jamais de ceste voye, ni de l'observance des choses qui y sont dites par forme de direction, non plus que de celles qui y sont commandées. Le vray ol)cissant vivra doucement et paisiblement comme un enfant qui est entre les bras de sa chère mère, lequel ne se met point en soin de ce qui luy pourra survenir; que la mère le porte sur le bras droit ou sur le gauche, il ne s'en soucie pas De mesme le vray obéissant, que l'on luy commande cecy ou cela il ne s'en met point en peine; pourveu que l'on luy commande, et qu'il soit tousjours entre les bras de l'obéissance, je veux dire en l'exercice de l'obéissance, il est content. Or à celuy-là, je luy peux bien asseurer de la part de Dieu le Paradis pour la vie éternelle; comme aussi, durant le cours de ceste vie mortelle, il jouira de la vraye tranquillité, il n'en faut point douter ('*' Vous demandez maintenant si vous estes obligées sur peine de péché, de faire tout ce que les Suj)erieurs vous disent que vous ftissiez; comme quand vous rendez compte, s'il faut (jue vous teniez pour conunandement tout ce que la Supérieure vous dit. qui est propre à vostre avancement. () non, ma fille; les Supérieurs, «e retuv jatoam tir ceste voye ai de l'obftcrvance. Uni de» cboMS qui tcMit dit» par forme de direction ou de cnnvHi. comme de cetlet qui toat commandé». Le vray obriMint rendra ' '>rtioat failM Voaa damamiaa ti tout ce que le%,.

. «ut que vous laMtot, ié voua ettaa obliféa aur peine de cot - le le faire: comme quand de faire de* fauta» par oubli q'. en ce qui noua e*t i<^, U y a peu 00 poént de péché, Mnut* que U choae qui r«t •! •- trea-fraoda importance; c«r en ce c«% nou« trrvin* i.

fortement noatre memijire pour nuu« en rr««ouvmir. Ci^nme auMé * quelque cbote qui refArdatI Ir \*>n\ ordre <le ta maHnn: d'autant -j ^ ra« U, cocor que ce qui r»t cncuiiiandé «oit fort kcrr, nimmr par ^ xr d'e«teindra toua Wa «uir^ la rhandellr, c'e«t «ans d<iuu qu'une u. r voudroit paa t'aMujettir A rrtte otietMance. ofletHCf l^our > qualqualoéa par outJl, il n'y a point fie mal; mat». • • •• •«ne rouai.» . , par naflàgance ou autrement. r'r*t cela qui fait k perlw.

i88 Les vravs Entretiens spirituels non plus que les confesseurs, n'ont pas tous] ours intention d'obliger les inférieurs par les commandemens qu'ils font, et quand ils le veulent faire, ils usent du mot de commandement sur peine de désobéissance; et alors les inférieurs sont obligés d'obéir sur peine de péché, bien que le commandement fust fort léger et de chose de peu; mais autrement non. Car ils donnent des ad vis en trois sortes: les uns par forme de commandement, les autres par forme de conseil, et les autres par forme de simple direction. Dans les Constitutions et Règles Les commandemens de Dieu et de la sainte Eglise ne sont pas si rigoureux comme l'on pense; ils ne gehennent pas tant les esprits comme l'on croid. La loy de Dieu est une loy toute d'amour et toute douce, ainsi que l'asseure David. Les distractions involontaires ne rendent pas nos oraisons ni nos Offices moins agréables à Dieu, et c'en est de mesme de ce que vous dites du donnir; car tout ainsi que nous ne soinmes nullement obligés de redire nos Offices parce que nous avons esté distraits en les, disant, nous n'avons point d'obligation non plus à les redire quand nous y avons un peu dormi, pourveu que ce ne soit pas durant une notable partie de l'Office, et que vous ayez eu tout le soin que vous avez peu pour vous tenir resveillée î car si vous estes négligente à cela, il y pourroit bien avoir matière de confession. J'ay commencé mon Office bien resveillé et avec intention de le bien dire selon mon devoir; parmi l'Office il me vient un peu d'assoupissement, je dis neantmoins le verset que bien que mal, et cela durant le temps d'un ou deux Psalmes: que voudriez-vous faire à cela? Il ne s'en faut pas confesser pourtant, car vous ne sçauriez quel remède y apporter, non plus que d'éviter les distractions qui vous y surviennent.

Vous me dites maintenant que parce que vous avez un peu d'aversion à l'article des Règles d'advertir les Sœurs en charité, sous prétexte que ce n'est pas chose d'importance vous ne vous assujettissez pas à le bien observer. A cela je responds, ma chère fille, que si bien vous n'y estes peut estre pas grandement obligée sur peine de péché, que neantmoins l'amour que vous devez porter à vos Règles vous y oblige. Certes, l'amour des Règles est de très grande importance, et partant il faut que chaque Sœur les embrasse cent fois le jour par grande tendreté de dilection; et ce qui est dans nos Règles à quoy nos cœurs répugnent et ont de l'aversion d'observer, c'est à quoy nous devons estre plus fidèles pour tesmoigner nostre amour à Nostre Seigneur. Je dis de mesme de cecy comme des aversions que nous avons les uns aux autres; car s'il arrive qu'une Sœur aye quelque peu d'aversion à une autre, il faut pour se surmonter qu'elle la caresse plus particulièrement que les autres, qu'elle cherche l'occasion d'estre souvent près d'elle pour luy parler, pour luy rendre quelque petit service.

Revenons à nostre propos et disons qu'il ne faut point gchenner les esprits par des vains scrupules, et partant je vay vous donner l'esclaircissement de ce que vous demandez. Les Supérieurs, (Ms. et Coll.) [Reprendre au texte, lig. i.] XI De la vertu d'Obéi ssa. xcf. 189 c'en est tuui de mesmc.

car li y a cit> articles qui (lisent: Les Soeurs pourront faire telle choM? , et d'autres qui disent: Elles feront, ou bien, se garderont de faire. I-es uns sont des conseil»* et les autres des commandemens. Celles qui ne voudroyent pas s'assujettir aux conseils et à la direction contreviendroyent à l'obéissance f«*> amoureuse; et ce seroit tesmoigner une grande lascheté de cœur et avoir bien peu d'amour pour Dieu.

qu*U ne seroit pas damné, mais 1. :i que rr, ^ pour Dieu ni pour son amour qu'il obéit en le» oljvrvant, mai« pour luy mrune, Jk 6n de n'estre damné. C'e»t comaie celuy qui se v^nteruit dequoy il n'est pa« larron: et bien, si vous n'estes pa^ larron vou« tir «crex pa« pendu. %'aiU vostre recompcnv>. Vous obéisses aux cominandemens de l>ieu qui vous sont faits: et bien, vou« ne »ere< pat iiii^ dehors du muna^trrr. niai^ aussi ne seres-vous pas tenu cutuiite un àdclle srivitrur de Dieu, aiii» cuniiite merrmaire, si vous ne faites nen de plus. Le serviteur qui ne voudroit rendre aucun service A son maistre que rrluy pour lequel il a esté pn«, seroit estimé '•«Tt**»^ uo homme bien agrr*te. Bien, luv diroit le reaistre, s'il ne le cbaeeoit de la maison, vous vou« arrestes au tervicr p«iur lequel je vous ay pris; maia je in'arrrsteray aussi au gage que je vous ay promis, et n'aures nen davaotafa.

Vous dites que vou« vrmlex bien (aire rc q nsetllé et maiiDe ee qui vous est donné par forme de direction, iiiau ^ deiiret de «çavoir si y manquant quelquefois vous estes autant oMigée A vous en confesser romme de ce qui v>Mt« est cotmnan*!' ' >and un h<4ii; tifesse A moy et me dit qu'il joue, et qu. , land il )our >. «leu pam qu'il est su)et A se pduaionner. sur cela je luy commande de la part de I>ieu de ne plus jouer; et à re cmninandrfiirtii m «At (44igé d'ubeir. Mais quand je luy demande: Jurrt-vtHi« t<, vous jouei? Il me dit:

Non, pas ordinairement. I^ors je luy dis; Mon ftte. je vous corneille de ne pli» jouer, parea que c'r^t • paa oèMflé d'obéir tur peine de,. -.

Mon enfant, vous devriea vous al*«imlr de Kxier; parce en est il quand l«a Superietu^ dt%ent qu^ue chose qu'Ut ne ouaMBandanl I90 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels que de ne vouloir faire que ce qui nous est commandé et rien davantage. Et, bien qu'elles ne contreviennent pas à l'obéissance qu'elles ont voilée, qui est celle des commandemens et conseils, quand elles ne s'assujettissent pas à la suite de la direction, elles contreviennent neantmoins à l'obéissance amoureuse à laquelle toutes les Filles de la Visitation doivent prétendre.

\^ous me demandez si l'on ne pourroit pas bien penser lors qu'on vous change de Supérieure, qu'elle n'est pas si capable que celle que vous aviez et qu'elle n'a pas tant de cognoissance du chemin par lequel il vous faut conduire. O certes, nous ne pouvons pas empescher que la pensée ne nous en vienne, mais de s'y arrester, c'est ce qu'il ne faut point faire; car si Balaam fut bien •Xum. ,. \xii,28-3o. instruit par une asnesse *, à plus forte raison devonsnous croire que Dieu qui nous a donné ceste Supérieure, fera bien qu'elle nous enseignera selon sa volonté, bien que peut estre ce ne sera pas selon la nostre. Nostre Seigneur a promis que le vray obéissant ne se perdra • Loco quo infra. jamais *; non certes, celuy qui suivra indistinctement la volonté et direction des Supérieurs que Dieu establira sur luy. Bien que les Supérieurs fussent ignorans et conduisissent leurs inférieurs selon leur ignorance, voire bien que la perfection à laquelle nous prétendons nous doive faire estimer et embrasser tout ce qui peut servir à nous unir et conjoindre à la divine Majesté, laquelle union doit estre l'unique prétention de nos âmes, et pour laquelle nous devons tout faire ce que nous faisons.

Bien que nous ne contrevenions pas à l'obéissance que nous avons vouée, qui est celle des commandemens, quand nous ne nous assujettissons pas à la suite dos conseils et de la direction, nous contrevenons neantmoins à l'obéissance amoureuse à laquelle nous prétendons, nous autres qui sonunes en la Visitation; car. Dieu nous garde de n'avoir pas le courage d'embrasser la praticjue de l'obéissance amoureuse, ainsi que nous l'avons dépeinte tantost!

Vous dites, comme une ame qui n'a point du tout d'amour à l'obéissance peut faire pour l'acquérir? Helas, ma chère tille, il n'y a rien autre à faire que de tascher de l'aymer. Je veux dire, lors que l'on vous commande quelque chr)se, d'embrasser et caresser ce commandement, le mignoter et baiser; et puis, quafid il nous eu est fait un autre en faire de mesme, comme estant une chose tres-prccieuse et agréable, faisant cf>nsi(Ioration du bien qu'elle nous apporte, qui est l'union avec Dieu; et de celuy-Ià à un autre. Ainsi faisant, vous accoustumerez vostrc cœur à l'aymer. (Ms. et Coll.) [Reprendre au texte, lig. 8.]

XI. De LA VERTt' d'Obéi SEANCE iqt par des voyes scabreuses et dangereuses, les intérieurs se sousmettans à tout ce qui n'est point manifestement péché, ni contre les commandemens de Dieu et de sa sainte Eglise, je vous peux avscurer qu'ils ne peuvent jamais errer. Le vray obeissanf, dit THscnlure Siiinte*. •P»w. . xxi. «t. parlera de ses victoires; c'est à dire il demeurera vainqueur en toutes les difficultés esquelles il sera porté par obéissance, et sortira à son honneur des chemins esquels il entrera par obéissance, pour dangereux qu'ils puissent estre.

Ce seroit une plaisante façon d'obéir si nous ne voulions obéir qu'aux SujKrieurs qui nous seroyent agréables. Si aujourd'huy que vous avez une Supérieure fort estimée, tant |X)ur sa qualité que pour ses vertus, vous luy obéisse/ de bon cœur, demain que vous en aurez une autre qui ne sera pas tant estimée vous ne luy obéissez pas de si bon ctcur qu'à l'autre, luy rendant bien pareille obéissance, mais n'estimant pas tant ce qu'elle vous dit et ne le faisant pas avec tant de satisfaction, hé! qui ne void <^*' que vous obéissez à l'autre par vostre inch nation et non pas purement pour Dieu? car. si cela estoit, vous auriez autant de plaisir et feriez autant d'estime de ce que ceste-cy vous dit, comme vous faisiez de ce que l'autre vous disoit.

l'ay accoustumé de dire souvent une chose que tousjours il est bon de dire parce qu'il le faut tousjours observer, qui est (jue toutes nos actions se doivent pratiquer selon la partie sujKTieure; car c'est ainsi qu'il faut vivre en ceste maison, et non jamais selon nus sens et nos inclinations. C'est s;u)s doute que j'auray plus de satisfaction, quant à la partie inférieure de mon amc. de faire ce qu'une Supérieure me commande à laquelle j'ay de l'inclination, que non |)as à faire ce que l'autre ei dctiiAin q\m i'm aurny une que «cra moia* f*Um^ *Y pat kiy O mun IHtM I qui m «çaII (M», ri ( 192 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels me dit à laquelle je n'en ay du tout point; mais pourveu que j'obéisse également quant à la partie supérieure il suffit, et mon obéissance vaut mieux quand j'ay moins de plaisir à la faire, parce que c'est là où nous monstrons que c'est pour Dieu et non pour nostre plaisir que nous obéissons. Il n'y a rien de plus commun dans le monde que ceste façon d'obéir à ceux que l'on ayme; mais pour l'autre, elle est extrêmement rare et ne se pratique qu'es Religions.

Mais, pourriez-vous dire, n'est-il pas permis de desapprouver ce que ceste Supérieure icy fait, ni de dire ou penser pourquoy elle fait des ordonnances que l'autre ne faisoit pas? O certes, non jamais, mes chères filles; ains il faut approuver tout ce que les Supérieures font ou disent, permettent ou défendent, pourveu (i') qu'il ne soit manifestement contre les commandemens de Dieu, car alors il ne faut ni obéir ni approuver cela. Mais hors de là, les inférieurs doivent tousjours croire et faire confesser à leur propre jugement que les Supérieurs font très-bien et qu'ils ont bonne raison de le faire; car autrement ce seroit se faire Supérieur et rendre le Supérieur inférieur, puisque nous nous rendrions examinateurs de sa cause. Non, il faut plier les espaules sous le fardeau de la sainte obéissance, croyant que ces deux Supérieures ont eu bonne raison de faire le commandement qu'elles (J') ont fait, quoy que différent et contraire l'un à l'autre.

Mais ne seroil-il p<»int loisible à une hile qui a desja vescu longuement en Ktligion. et qui y a rendu de grands services, de se relascher un peu à l'obéissance, au moins en quelque petite chose? O bon Dieu! que seroit cela, sinon faire comme un maL^^tre pilote qui ayant amené sa barque au port, après avoir lonf^ement et pt;niblcmcnt travaillé pK)ur la sauver des périls de la tourmente et des vagues dt- la mer, voudroit en fin, estant arrive au port, rompre son navire et se jetter luy-mesme dans la mer? Ne le jugt-roit-on pas bien fol? car s'il vouloit faire cela, il ne se devoit pas tant travailler pour amener la barque jusqu'au j)ort. Le Keliijieiix qui a bien commencé n'a pas tout fait, s'il ne persévère iusques à la tin. Il ne faut p?

s dire qu'il n'appartient qu'aux Novices d'estre si exacts. Bien que l'on voye j)our l'ordinaire en toutes les Religions les Novices fort exacts et mortifu'S, ce n'est pas qu'ils soyent plus obligés que l«*s Frofés: ô non, car ils ne le sont encore nullement, ains ils persévèrent en obéissance pour parvenir à la grâce de la profession; mais les Frofés y sont obligés en vertu des vœux qu'ils ont faits, lesquels il ne suffit pas d'avoir faits pour estre Religieux, si on ne les obser\e. <^'> Le R«*ligieux qui penseroit se pouvoir relascher en quelque chose après sa profession, voire après avoir desja vescu longuement en Religion, se- tromjxToit grandenunt Nostre Seigneur se monstra plus exact en sa mort qu'en son enfance à se laisser manier et plier, ainsi que j'ay dit tantost^. (i'> Et c'est assez dit de l'obéissant c pour nous •Vidtp. iii. var. . y affectionner.

Reste seulement de dire un petit mot sur la question ibkr ï crut qui piniMit ti anniÉto I»

' (I, parce «lu'rttant dam le gktua «Se %a (bnr Mctr tiui U- vt. . . . . . ■. .

. iiuillotrr. Il mnu«i«t liért? -•• —h prtllc* •* '• "- '-•"• cuiiiinr r. 1. (Mt.)

104 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels •Cf. var. , p. 169. qui 1116 fut faîte hier au so^r *, sçavoir, s'il est loisible aux Sœurs de se dire l'une à l'autre qu'elles ont esté niortitiées par la Supérieure ou la Maistresse des Novices sur quelque occasion. Or, je responds que cecy se peut dire en trois sortes. La première est qu'une Sœur peut aller dire: Bon Dieu, ma Sœur, que nostre Mère vient de me bien mortifier! toute joyeuse dequoy elle a esté digne de ceste mortification, et dequoy la Supérieure luy a fait faire ce petit gain pour son ame, luy disant bien son fait sans l'espargner; et partant elle en donne la joye à sa Sœur à fin qu'elle luy aide à en bénir Dieu.

La seconde façon en laquelle l'on le peut dire est pour se soulager: elle trouve la mortification ou correction bien pesante, elle s'en va un peu descharger sur sa Sœur à qui elle le dit, laquelle la plaignant luy ostera une partie de sa charge; et ceste façon n'est desja pas tant supportable que la première, parce que l'on commet une imperfection en se plaignant. Mais la troisiesme seroit tout à fait mauvaise, qui est de le dire par forme de murmure et de despit, et pour faire cognoistre que la Supérieure a eu tort; or de ceste façon, je sçay bien que l'on ne le fait pas en ceste maison, par la grâce de Dieu.

De la première façon, encore qu'il n'y ayt point de mal de le dire, il seroit pourtant très-bien de ne le dire pas, ains s'occuper en soy-mesme à s'en resjouir avec Dieu. En la seconde façon, certes, il ne le faut pas faire, car par le moyen de nostre plainte nous perdons le mérite de la mortification. Sçavez-vous ce qu'il faut faire quand nous sommes corrigés et mortifiés? il nous faut prendre ceste mortification ("'') comme une pomme d'amour et la cacher en nostre cœur, la baisant et caressant le plus tendrement qu'il nous est possible. D'aller aussi dire: Je viens de parler à nostre Mère, je suis aussi sèche que j'estois auparavant, il n'y a que s'attacher à Dieu; pour moy je ne retire aucune consolation XI I)i: LA vERrr d'Obéissance iv5 des créatures, j'ay esté moins coiisoltc que je n'estois; cela n'est pas à propos. La Sorur à laquelle on dit cccy devroit respondre fort doucement Ma chère Sœur, que ne vous estiez- vous bien attachée à Dieu, ainsi que vous dites qu'il faut faire, avant qu'aller parler à nostrc Mère, et vous n'auriez pas du mescontentement dequoy elle ne vous a pas cons<jli^e Mais en ce sen>«là que vous dites, qu'il se faut bien attacher à Dieu, prenez garde que cherchant Dieu au défaut des créatures il ne se veuille laisser trouver; car il veut estre cherché avant toutes choses et au mcspris de toute chose. Farce que les créatures ne me contentent pas, je cherche le Créateur: ô non! le Créateur mérite bien que je quitte tout pour luv; aussi veut-il (jue nous le fassions.

(Juand donc nous sortons de devant la Supérieure toutes sèches et sans avoir receu une seule goutte de consolation, il faut que nous emportions ncstre sécheresse comme un baume précieux, comme l'on fait des affections que l'on reçoit en la ^ainte oraison, comme un baume, db-je, et que nous ayons un grand soin de ne pas laisser respandre ceste liqueur precieusi* qui nous a esté envoyée du Ciel comme un don très-grand, à tin de parfumer nostrc cœur de la privation de la consolation que nous pensions rencontrer es paroles de la Sujx'rieure.

Mais il y a une chose à rem;u-quer sur ce sujet, qui est que quelquefois l'on porte un cieur sec et dur '"*> lors que l'on va parler à la Su|)erieure. lequel ne peut cstre capable destre arrousé ni humecté de l'eau de la consolation, d'autant qu'il n'est nulKnient susceptible de ce que la Su|KTie«ue dit; et encore qu'elle parle fort bien selon vostre nécessité, neantmoins il ne le vous semblr pas Une autre fois que vous aurez le cœur tendre et bien dispos*-, elle ne vous dira que trois ou quatre parole^, l)eaucoup moins utilt-s pour vostre î>« r fection (|ue les autres n'estoy^nt, qui vous consoleront. et pour(|Uoy? parce (|ue vostre cteur estoit diî»po^' '< 196 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels cela. Il vous semble que les Supérieurs ont la consolation sur le bord des lèvres et qu'ils la respandent facilement dans le cœur de ceux qu'ils veulent, ce qui n'est pas neantmoins; car ils ne peuvent pas tousjours estre de mesme humeur non plus que les autres. Bien-heureux est celuy qui peut garder une égalité de cœur parmi toute ceste inégalité de succès. Tantost nous serons consolés, et d'icy à un peu nous aurons le cœur sec, et de telle sorte que les paroles de consolation nous cousteront extrêmement cher à dire. •Cf.

var. ,p. 169. Vous me demandiez encor* que j'eusse à vous dire quel estoit l'exercice propre à faire mourir le propre jugement; à quo}^ je responds que c'est de luy retrancher fidèlement toutes sortes de discours es occasions où il se veut rendre maistre, luy faisant connoistre qu'il n'est que valet; car, mes chères filles, ce n'est que par les actes réitérés que nous acquérons les vertus, bien qu'il y ayt eu quelques âmes auxquelles Dieu les a données toutes en un moment, (o') Donques, quand il vous vient envie de juger si une chose est bien ou mal ordonnée, tranchez (p') ce discours à vostre propre jugement; et quand peu après on vous dira qu'il faut faire une telle chose de telle façon, ne vous amusez point à discourir ou discerner si elle ne seroit point mieux autrement, faisant accroire à vostre jugement que la chose ne pourroit jamais estre mieux faite, que de la façon que l'on vous a dit. Si l'on vous donne quelque exercice, ne permettez pas à vostre jugement de discerner s'il vous sera propre ou non; et prenez garde que, si bien vous faites la chose ainsi qu'elle est commandée, bien souvent le propre jugement n'obéit pas, je veux dire ne se!» ou>met pas, car il n'approuve pas le commandement: ce qui est pour l'ordinaire cause de la répugnance que nous avons de nous sousmettre à faire ce que l'on veut de nous. Parce (juc l'entendement et le jugement représentent à la volonté que cela ne se doit pas, ou qu'il faut user d'autres moyens pour fuire ce que l'on dit, que ceux qui nous sont marques, elle ne peut se sousmettre. d'autant qu'elle fait tousjours plus d'estat des raisons que le propre jugement luy monstre qut- non pas d'aucune autre, car chacun croid que son propre jugement est le meilleur.

Je n'ay jamais rencontré personne qui ne fist estât de son jugement, sinon deux <*• qui <*»*> me confessèrent (ju'ils n'avoyent jx)int de jugement; et l'un, m'estani une fois venu trouver, me dit: Monsieur, je vous prie, dites-moy un peu une telle chose, car je n'ay point de jugement pour la pouvoir comprendre. ce qui m'estonna fort.

Nous avons en nostre âge un txtinpic ^'raïuicmcnt remarquable de la mortification du propre jugement. C'est d'un grand dcxrteur, et grandement renommé, lequel composii un livre qu'il intitula: l)e> Di^p^nsations et des Commandemens <-*, lequel tombant un jour entre les mains du Fajx». il jugea qu'il contenoit quelques propositions erronées; il l'escrivit à ce docteur à tin qu'il eiist à les rayer de dessus son livre. <''*) Ce docteur.

Dtepcmationt cl Comin*nd«nm*: lequrl niant fan ^ -^ mate»

du P»pr, dai» lequrl Sa Saintrt/ pi«ra r«lrr quriqur» cImm» rmmém, «t rncnvil k cr dort«itr A An qu'il r -«m um livr». M«H rrraarquri que Ir Pape n'y trouva t *. ;. . i. -. • «. .

. i. . ,tw^,! . . . .

rl. i. . r^ 198 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels recevant le commandement, sousmit si absolument son jugement qu'il ne voulut point esclaircir son affaire pour se justifier, ains au contraire il creut qu'il avoit tort et qu'il s'estoit laissé tromper à son propre jugement; et montant en chaire, il leut tout haut (»') ce que le Pape luy avoit escrit, print son livre, le déchira en pièces, puis il dit tout haut que ce que le Pape avoit jugé sur ce fait avoit esté fort bien jugé; qu'il approuvoit de tout son cœur la censure et correction paternelle qu'il avoit daigné luy faire, comme estant très-juste et tresdouce à luy qui meritoit d'estre rigoureusement chastié, et qu'il s'estonnoit grandement comme il avoit esté si aveugle que de s'estre laissé tromper à son propre jugement en chose si manifestement mauvaise. Il n'est oit nullement obligé de faire cecy, parce que le Pape ne le commandoit pas, ains seulement qu'il eust à ra37er de dessus son livre certaine chose qui n'avoit pas semblé bonne; car, ce qui est bien remarquable, elle n'estoit pas hérétique, ni si manifestement erronée qu'elle ne peust estre défendue. Il tesmoigna une grande vertu presque de la même manière dans la Préface du Traitté de F Amour de Dieu. Ce Prélat avait publié un livre intitulé: Remontrances, Advertissements et Exhortations sur les principales choses qui sont a reformer, estahlir et observer aux Heures Canoniales, etc. (Jacques Roussin, Lyon, 1598).

Or, dans la «Conclusion » de ce livre étaient formulées au sujet des « Commendes » et des «Exemptions» certaines propositions qui désagréèrent au Pape Clément VIII. Dés qu'il eut connaissance du mécontentement de ce Pontife, l'auteur lui écrivit une lettre de soumission, dont l'original est conservé dans les Archives du Vatican (Nonc. di Savoia, vol. 29, p. 170). Elle est conçue en termes identiques à ceux que rapporte saint François de Sales.

La différence du titre donné à la partie de l'ouvrage qui fut censurée n'infirme pas notre assertion. On s'explique même assez facilement comment la Religieuse chargée de recueillir l'iùitretien a confondu cDispensations et Commandemens » avec « Commendes et Exemptions. » Elle s'est également trompée en indiquant comme auteur du traité un « docteur de Louvain. » Aussi on eut soin de faire disparaître cette erreur du texte des Vrays Entretien'i.

en ceste occa«5ion, vi une murnncauun du propre jugement admirable.

L'on void encor assez Nouvenl des sens mortifiés, parce que la propre volonté se mesle de les mortifier, et ce seroit une chose honteuse de se monstrer retifs à l'obéissance: que diroit-on de nous? mais de propre jugement, fort rarement on en trouve de bien mortifiés. Faire avouer que ce qui est commandé est bon, l'aimer et l'estimer comme une chose qui nous est bonne et utile au dessus de toute autre, ô c'est à cela que le jugement se trouve rétif; car il y en a plusieurs qui disent: je feray bien cela ainsi que vous dites, mais je voy bien qu'il seroit mieux autrement. Helas! que faites- vous? si vous nourrissez ainsi le jugement. siins doute il vous enyvrera; car il n'y a point de différence entre une personne enyvrée et celuy qui est plein de son propre jugement <"'. Un jour David* estant en la campagne • i Krg.

. luiv. 4-15. avec ses soldats lassés et harassés de faim, ne trouvant plus de quoy manger, il envoya vers le mar>* d'Abigaîl pour avoir quelques vivres. Par malheur, ce pauvre homme estoit ivre, et commençant à parler en ivrogne, dit que David, après avoir mangé ses voleries, envoyoit chez luy pour le ruiner comme les autre<, et qu'il ne leur donneroit aucune chose. David sçachant cecy: Vive Dieu î dit -il. '^'' il me la payera, le mescognoissant qu'il est du bien que je luy ay fait de sauver. ses troupeaux et empescher qu'aucune chose ne luy fust faite.

Abigail sçachant le dessein de David, s'en alla h- lendemain au vmu«, tmuvrrrut cr pauvr«> tHMOMM Ivrt: lr«|url rtilcodani c« qw Utvtd dmuuvluii rmntiimça Jb purlrr m Kfiiciwdr r»r«pfi« et rvfuM <lc Irtir UiHitirr aucuti' avoir iiianfé •m vulrrics, lr« «ivu|>oél clMt lay pour 4iitr«^. ri ««nnblablM chotr». ( « tout c« qui «'rttuél pMaé mtt i rrpjrtll: Mv« IMmt f (Mt. el Oill. i 200 Les vrays Entretiens spirîtueLs devant de luy avec des presens pour l'appaiser, usant de ces termes: Monseigneur, que voudriez-vous faire à un fol? hier que mon mary estoit ivre, il parla mal, mais il parla en ivrogne et comme un fol. Monseigneur, appaisez vostre courroux et ne veuillez pas mettre vos mains sur luy, car vous auriez regret d'avoir mis la main sur un fol. Il faut faire les mesmes excuses d'une personne ivre et de nostre propre jugement; car l'un n'est pas guère (w') plus capable de raison que l'autre.

Il faut donc avoir un très-grand soin de l'empescher de faire ces considérations, à fin qu'il ne nous enyvre de ses raisons, principalement en ce qui concerne l'obéissance. •Cf. var. ,p. 169. Vous voulcz en fin sçavoir * si vous devez avoir une grande confiance et un grand soin à vous advertir les unes les autres en charité, de vos fautes. C'est sans doute, ma fille, qu'il le faut faire; car à quel propos verrez-vous une tache en vostre Sœur, sans vous essayer de la i^') luy oster par le moyen d'un advertissement? Il faut neantmoins estre discrette en ceste besogne; car il ne seroit pas temps d'advertir une Sœur tandis que vous la verrez indisposée ou pressée de melancholie, car il seroit dangereux qu'elle ne rejettast d'abord l'advertissement si vous le luy faisiez (y').

Il faut un peu attendre, puis l'advertir en confiance et charité. Si une Sœur vous dit des paroles qui ressentent le murmure, et que d'ailleurs ceste Sœur ayt le cœur en douceur, sans doute il faut que tout confidemment vous luy disiez: Ma Sœur, cela n'est pas bien fait; mais si vous vous appercevez qu'il y ayt quelque passion esmeuë dans son cœur, alors il faut destourner le propos le plus dextremcnt que l'on p)eut. N'ous dites qiu- vous craignez d'advertir si souvent une Sceur des fautes (ju'elle fait <»', parce que cela luy oste l'asseurance et la fait plustost faillir à force de craiiulre. O Dieu! il ne faut pas faire ce jugement des Sœurs dt- céans; car cela n'app;u"iient qu'aux filles du monde de perdre l'asseurance quand on les ad vert it de leurs défauts. Nos Sœurs arment trop leur propre abjection pour faire ainsi; tant s'en faut qu'elles s'en troublent, qu'au contraire elles prendront un plus grand courage et plus de soin de s'amender, non pas pour éviter d'estre adverties, car je suppose qu'elles ayment souverainement tout ce qui les peut rendre viles et abjectes à leurs yeux, ains à fin de faire tousjours mieux leur devoir et se rendre capables de leur vocation.

Scripture echoes

↩Gen.12.1 — Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
↩Gen.12.1 — Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
↩Gen.12.1 — Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
↩Acts.9.4 — He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
↩John.9.6-John.9.7 — Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud from the spit, and he anointed the mud on the eyes of the blind man. John.9.7 — and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
↩John.9.6-John.9.7 — Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud from the spit, and he anointed the mud on the eyes of the blind man. John.9.7 — and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
↩Gen.24.14 — And let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please lower your jar so that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also water your camels'—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.
↩2Sam.23.15-2Sam.23.17;1Chr.11.17-1Chr.11.19 — And David longed for water and said, "Who will give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem by the gate? 2Sam.23.16 — And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, carried it, and brought it to David. But he was not willing to drink it, and he poured it out to the LORD. 2Sam.23.17 — And he said, "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this! Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" So he refused to drink it. These things the three mighty men did. 1Chr.11.17 — And David longed and said, "Who will give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate?" 1Chr.11.18 — So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and they carried it and brought it to David. But David refused to drink it, and he poured it out to the LORD. 1Chr.11.19 — "Far be it from me," he said, "by my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men with their lives in it? For at the risk of their lives they brought it." So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.
↩2Sam.23.15-2Sam.23.16 — And David longed for water and said, "Who will give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem by the gate? 2Sam.23.16 — And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, carried it, and brought it to David. But he was not willing to drink it, and he poured it out to the LORD.
↩Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
↩Gal.6.3;1Cor.8.2;Rom.12.3 — For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 1Cor.8.2 — If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as he ought to know. Rom.12.3 — For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly than one ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
↩Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
↩Matt.6.2 — So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by people. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
↩John.10.12-John.10.13 — The hired hand, who is not the shepherd—the sheep are not his own—sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. John.10.13 — The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
↩Luke.17.7-Luke.17.10 — But which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? Luke.17.8 — But will he say to him, 'Prepare what I will eat, and get yourself ready and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and after that you will eat and drink'? Luke.17.9 — Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Luke.17.10 — So also you, when you have done all that was commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what we were obligated to do.'
↩Matt.20.1-Matt.20.15;Luke.17.7-Luke.17.10 — For the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Matt.20.2 — And when he agreed with the workers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Matt.20.3 — And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace, idle. Matt.20.4 — and to them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' Matt.20.5 — But he went out again about the sixth and ninth hour, and did the same. Matt.20.6 — And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here all day idle?' Matt.20.7 — They answered him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' Matt.20.8 — And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and going to the first.' Matt.20.9 — And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. Matt.20.10 — And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they also received each a denarius. Matt.20.11 — But when they received it, they grumbled against the master of the house. Matt.20.12 — saying, 'These last ones worked one hour, and you made them equal to us, who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' Matt.20.13 — But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?' Matt.20.14 — Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one the same as I give to you. Matt.20.15 — Or is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good? Luke.17.7 — But which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? Luke.17.8 — But will he say to him, 'Prepare what I will eat, and get yourself ready and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and after that you will eat and drink'? Luke.17.9 — Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? Luke.17.10 — So also you, when you have done all that was commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what we were obligated to do.'
↩Num.22.28-Num.22.30 — Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" Num.22.29 — Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have mocked me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would have killed you." Num.22.30 — And the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life until this day? Have I ever been in the habit of treating you this way?" And he said, "No."
↩Prov.21.28 — A false witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak forever.
↩Prov.21.28 — A false witness will perish, but the one who listens will speak forever.
↩1Sam.25.10-1Sam.25.11 — Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today breaking away, each from his own master." 1Sam.25.11 — Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men from I do not know where?
↩1Sam.25.21-1Sam.25.22 — David said, "It was all for nothing that I guarded everything this man had in the wilderness. Nothing of all that belonged to him was lost, and he has repaid me evil for good. 1Sam.25.22 — So may God do to the enemies of David, and so may He add, if I leave any of all that belongs to him until morning — anyone who urinates against a wall.
↩1Sam.25.21 — David said, "It was all for nothing that I guarded everything this man had in the wilderness. Nothing of all that belonged to him was lost, and he has repaid me evil for good.
↩1Sam.25.15-1Sam.25.16 — The men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and nothing was missing all the days we went about with them while we were in the field. 1Sam.25.16 — They were a wall to us both night and day, all the days we were with them, shepherding the flock.

Notes

1 ↩Source has a garbled mark `<**'` after 'pieuse,'; omitted as a print/OCR artifact; the relative clause 'dont la première...' is read as continuing the main clause.
2 ↩Reading 's'afisujettit' as 's'assujettit' (subjects itself); clear typographical corruption.
3 ↩'Conseils' here means the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, obedience), not mere advice; rendered as 'counsels'.
4 ↩Reading '11 y a' as 'Il y a'; treating 'ijo Les vrays Entretiens spirituels' as a running header intrusion into 'la plus parfaite'; and 'monstre' as 'montré'.
5 ↩'Obéissance amoureuse' is Salesian technical language for obedience motivated by love; rendered as 'loving obedience' rather than a freer paraphrase.
6 ↩Normalized 'condi tions' as 'conditions' (line-break artifact) and 'qu'iL' as 'qu'il' ('that they').
7 ↩Source ends mid-clause with trailing 'XI.', almost certainly a running chapter header from a page break. The finite verb continues in s4 as 'creu' (believed). Rendered as an incomplete English clause to preserve the printed unit without inventing the missing verb here.
8 ↩Normalized text 'iJl.' is non-linguistic page furniture (likely a garbled page number such as 171), not prose. No translatable French content.
9 ↩Leading 'LA VERTU D'ObRISSANCB 17I' treated as running header + page number (La vertu d'obéissance / 171), not body text. Sentence begins mid-clause after s2's 'lesquels ont', with intended reading 'ont creu qu'elle consistoit...'.
10 ↩'à tort et à travers' rendered as 'recklessly and without discrimination' (the French idiom for doing things every which way, wrongly and at random).
11 ↩Source has garbled 'i<^' before 'laquelle'; treated as OCR noise and omitted.
12 ↩Source reads 'porié' (for 'porté') and 'Kasias' (for biblical Razias/Razis, 2 Maccabees 14). Sentence is truncated mid-phrase; continuation is in s7 ('zèle ardent...').
13 ↩Roman numeral citation fragment (chapter xiv of 2 Maccabees), separated by print layout from the surrounding sentence.
14 ↩Verse range of the 2 Maccabees 14 citation, separated by print layout from the surrounding sentence.
15 ↩Reconstructed from damaged text: '2ele'→zèle, 'exix)ser'→s'exposer, 'U'→il, 'jet ta'→jetta. Continues the truncated clause of s4.
16 ↩Restored damaged readings: 'jet ta'→jetta, 'ennemie'→ennemis, 'ûllcs'→filles; dropped page/print debris ('It)', asterisks, carets).
17 ↩Normalized through OCR/print noise: opening 'I on en void' read as 'L'on en void' (one sees); mid-sentence running head/page debris 'iy2 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels' dropped so the clause reads 'doivent estre admirés et non pas imités'.
18 ↩Source shows 'pourquo}^ le faisiezvous'; read as 'pourquoi le faisiez-vous' (why did you do it).
19 ↩Source shows 'incUnation' / 'incunation'; read as 'inclination' (confirmed by 'inclinations' in s8).
20 ↩'leurs inclinations et affections' is taken as the inclinations and affections of those they love (parallel to how the true obedient follows Superiors and God), not merely the worldly people's own impulses.
21 ↩Source shows stray quotation marks and an asterisk (» … *), likely footnote anchors for the following citation fragments; they are omitted from the English.
22 ↩Source is heavily corrupted OCR of a scripture citation: «(»J Nostre • i Ep, u.» Most plausible intended reading, with s6, is a reference to the First Epistle of St. Peter, chapter 2 (I. Nostre S. Pierre Ep. ii).
23 ↩Source is only «is.»—almost certainly a trailing OCR fragment of the preceding citation (e.g. «ii.»), not independent prose. Left empty rather than inventing wording.
24 ↩Sentence is truncated mid-clause at the source break; «Ccsar» read as César/Caesar. Embedded «Luc», n, 1. is Luke 2:1. The following section continues with the census edict.
25 ↩Source is only «5.»—likely a stray page, verse, or footnote numeral from OCR, not translatable prose.
26 ↩Sentence continues the prior unit (Caesar having issued a census edict). Printed 'enroollés' read as 'enrôlés' (enrolled). The '0)' marker is treated as a section break before the transition to the second property.
27 ↩Trailing text after 'bien ou mal' is severe OCR garbage (authority/Pontiff/strike fragments) and was not forced into the English; likely page-bleed or footnote corruption.
28 ↩Nearly the whole sentence is illegible OCR. Isolated fragments may point to 'Certes', 'Chrestiens', and 'qu'il faut', but no continuous sense can be restored without inventing.
29 ↩Leading markup '<^s fait' read as continuation of the prior thought ('...bien ou mal fait'), i.e. whether the command is well given / whether superiors have reason to issue it.
30 ↩Trailing '• G€n.' is a damaged Genesis citation label, completed by s7 as 12:1; the speech continues in s8.
31 ↩Printed fragment ', XII, I.' treated as Genesis 12:1, completing the citation begun at the end of s6.
32 ↩Printed 'f en va' read as 't'en va' (go).
33 ↩Normalized reading takes 'port oit' as 'portoit' (was carrying).
34 ↩Leading '0' before 'certes' treated as print/OCR artifact, not lexical content.
35 ↩Normalized 'oboisisance' as obéissance; 'converti' as convertir; section numeral '11' treated as lead-in noise before 'semble'.
36 ↩Corrected 'ftst' to fît ('that he should do'). Trailing asterisk likely marks a scripture footnote now split across later sentence fragments.
37 ↩Readable stem is 'Mais pourquoy Nostre Seigneur mesme'; trailing '• Aci.' is almost certainly OCR debris from an Acts citation (Act./Actes), continued after s4–s5 into s6.
38 ↩Source is only a period; almost certainly punctuation from a broken scripture footnote, not independent prose.
39 ↩Source 'ix, 4-«.' read as a broken Acts 9:4–… citation (chapter ix); end of verse range is unrecoverable from the glyphs.
40 ↩Corrected 'lom' to loin. This clause completes the question begun in s3 after the interrupted Acts citation.
41 ↩Corrected 'aune' to aime; 'puis<]u'il' to puisqu'il; 'cognussions' read as connussions ('that we might know').
42 ↩'obéissance aveugle' rendered as 'blind obedience' (the established spiritual-direction term), also playing on Paul's literal blinding.
43 ↩Source OCR is badly garbled (yuand/v'oulut/houi/Us/Siloi^); translated as the clear intended reading: Quand Nostre Seigneur voulut donner la vue à l'aveugle-né, il fit de la boue et la lui mit sur les yeux… fontaine de Siloé (John 9:6–7).
44 ↩Sentence is cut mid-clause by OCR/footnote debris (* joAa.); continues in s6 as s'estonner… Translated the recoverable clause only.
45 ↩Appears to be verse numbers from a marginal/footnote citation of the man-born-blind healing (almost certainly John 9:6–7), split across neighboring fragments.
46 ↩OCR-garbled source reconstructed as: «Il ne fit point toutes ces considérations, ains il obéit tout simplement.» (jxjint→point; olx'it→obéit; trailing junk dropped).
47 ↩Reconstructed from OCR: croid→croit; jx)Uvoir→pouvoir; cuimiiandcr→commander. Intruded page header «176 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels» omitted as non-text.
48 ↩Vulgate/Douay-style book title IV Reg. (4 Kings = 2 Kings in most modern Protestant Bibles).
49 ↩«il luy en pensa arriver du mal»: older French pensa arriver ≈ nearly / was about to happen; rendered as «nearly came».
50 ↩Normalized source has OCR noise; rendered from the plausible intended readings simplicité (simpHcité), pointiller (pointillcr), pourvu (pour\'eu), and duquel (du(}uel).
51 ↩Normalized from corrupt OCR 'recommandt^e au' as 'recommandée aux' (recommended to), continuing into s3 with 'Religieux'.
52 ↩Leading 'x' treated as OCR debris (likely remnant of 'aux'); 'voiié' read as 'voué' (vowed).
53 ↩OCR debris '• pour' and trailing '•G«o.' treated as garbled continuation; 'print' read as 'prit' (took); sentence continues through s5–s7.
54 ↩Source is only a stray period between s4 and the scripture citation/s7 continuation; no independent clause to translate.
55 ↩OCR fragment '»«iv, 14.' read as a Genesis citation, Gen. xxiv, 14 (Genesis 24:14), matching the Eliezer/Rebecca sign.
56 ↩Stray markup '<'*' ignored; clause completes s4: the girl God had determined to be the bride of the master's son (Isaac).
57 ↩OCR fixes: 'demandcray'→demanderai; 'jx^ur'→pour; 'recogne istray'→recognoistray/reconnaîtrai.
58 ↩Normalized OCR 'voas' to 'vous' ('you'). Leading '<^>' treated as print noise and dropped.
59 ↩Normalized 'p)eu d eau' to 'peu d'eau' ('little water'). Early modern 'ains' rendered as contrastive 'but'.
60 ↩Read corrupted 'm;U graticusement' as 'mal gratieusement' ('ungraciously / without grace'), the natural antithesis to Rebecca’s gracious promptness in the preceding sentences.
61 ↩Normalized OCR: '11'→'Il'; 'avtv'→'avec'; 'mauv«iise'→'mauvaise'; 'l>eaucoup'→'beaucoup'; 'cestc'→'ceste'.
62 ↩Normalized 'Tamour' to 'L'amour'. Source breaks mid-word at 'la vr.'; the clause is incomplete and cannot be finished without conjecture beyond the recoverable sense.
63 ↩Kept 'charité' as 'charity' (theological virtue bound to obedience), with 'amour' as 'love' in the following clause, matching the French pair.
64 ↩Source is only ';.'—unrecoverable punctuation/OCR fragment, not a complete French sentence.
65 ↩Source is only 'K.'—unrecoverable letter/OCR fragment (likely a signature mark or broken type), not a complete French sentence.
66 ↩Source is only OCR/print noise: '^ I - < • 4, Uqurll* nkiél barivr •!'. No recoverable French words or syntax; not a complete sentence.
67 ↩Source is only OCR/print noise: 'fvt |»«r apcM pr • tnnp% U 1m çtittamut et prtacw faèmfmi Um»'. Only the surface 'et' is legible; no complete French sentence can be reconstructed without inventing meaning.
68 ↩Normalized text begins mid-sentence after a page-header intrusion ("17S Les vrays Entretiens spirituels"). The opening is reconstructed from the preceding clause "pour difficile que soit la…" joined to "chose commandée."
69 ↩OCR corrected: "ad diera II y a daus" read as "ad diem. Il y a dans" (Surius calendar citation + ordinary French).
70 ↩Sentence is truncated at "le pauvre Jona?"; it continues in the next sentence with "répliqua." The "?" is treated as OCR damage for the name Jonas.
71 ↩Normalized OCR corruptions: ventabieintnt→véritablement; n'cstoit→n'estoit; liiy→luy; cjuinze→quinze.
72 ↩Normalized OCR: Cef>endant→Cependant; app)rint→apprit.
73 ↩Normalized OCR: Xostre→Nostre, temj»→temps, donne→donné, l'ob«nssance→l'obéissance.
74 ↩Normalized OCR debris: trailing <*'; accomphr→accomplir; luv→luy.
75 ↩Normalized: ci sterne→citerne; liethlehem→Bethlehem; trailing asterisk treated as OCR/footnote noise.
76 ↩Source ends in OCR garbage (sui\Te le désir •iiRcc). Completed with the immediately following words du roy, which begin s7 after intervening debris, matching the David example.
77 ↩Source is only a bare period; no recoverable French clause.
78 ↩Source 'xxtiM5^6.' looks like a mangled biblical citation attached to the David episode (most plausibly 2 Sam / II Rois 23:15–16), not running prose.
79 ↩Leading 'du roy;' treated as residual join from the previous broken sentence (s4); void-on read as voit-on.
80 ↩Normalized OCR: yuel→Quel; (|ui→qui; obligeiist→obligeast; lescher avee→lécher avec; sort oit→sortoit; playe→plaie; jxiuvre→pauvre; cju'→qu'; scrvoit→servoit.
81 ↩Source reads 'et saint l^uis.'; reconstructed as 'et saint Louis,' continuing the rhetorical question begun in Entretiens.1.11.20.s8 about what command bound the saints to such acts.
82 ↩OCR '|x>tage' read as 'potage' (soup/broth). 'ladres' = lepers (old French for lépreux).
83 ↩Reconstructed from heavy OCR damage: 'n'estoyenl'→'n'estoient'; 'oblige'^s'→'obligés'; '(|ue'→'que'; 'aymoii'→'aymoit'; 'jK*ns;int'→'pensant'; 'nulinalion'→'inclination'; 'cjuov qn»* it'→'quoy qu'il' (sentence continues into s4).
84 ↩'amour de la propre abjection' kept as 'love of one's own abjection'—Salesian term for voluntary lowliness/self-abasement, not modern 'abjection' as degradation alone.
85 ↩Body text reconstructed as 'répugnât à leurs sens, avec un très-grand amour.' Stripped running header/page debris ('Les vrays Entretiens spirituels', 'i8o') and marginal garbage ('v-repugno^ti-'). Completes the concessive clause begun in s3.
86 ↩'Fobeissance' read as 'l'obéissance'. 'rie à rie' is OCR-damaged; rendered as 'step by step' (most plausible X-à-X idiom, e.g. pas à pas / gré à gré) for closely tracking each desire. 'entée' kept as the grafting metaphor.
87 ↩Normalized past the OCR fragment i^") before ils perdroyent; sense is continuous: if they stayed continually scanning for desires/inclinations, they would waste time.
88 ↩Footnote marker (>') after chercher ignored as non-text; rhetorical qui ne sçait que... kept as a knowing question.
89 ↩Terminal XI. is page/chapter header bleed; continuous reading with s5 is que je fasse quelque autre chose. Reconstructed as 'something else' here so the English clause is complete; see s5 for the car-clause that follows.
90 ↩Stripped running header DE LA VERTU d'Obéissance 181 and OCR damage (pnnci])al, obeiîwance). quelque autre chose belongs to the end of s4 and was not repeated here; car-clause is the full sense of this unit.
91 ↩Source OCR is badly damaged ('I^ troisiesme condition de robeis>ance c cbi la jx rseverance'); reconstructed as 'La troisième condition de l'obéissance, c'est la persévérance,' which fits the chapter structure after the earlier conditions of obedience.
92 ↩Citation tag appears as '•Pbiiip.'; read as Philippians. The quoted clause is the French of Philippians 2:8 ('Il a esté fait obéissant jusques à la mort'); leading '//' is treated as 'Il'.
93 ↩Standalone OCR fragment 'n.' most plausibly belongs to the Philippians citation (chapter ii / 2), not a free-standing sentence.
94 ↩Standalone OCR fragment 's.' most plausibly belongs to the Philippians citation (verse 8), completing 'Philippians ii. 8.'
95 ↩'paroU*s' corrected to 'paroles'; 'quil' to 'qu'il'.
96 ↩OCR 'par reste vertu' read as 'par ceste vertu' (by this virtue), matching sense, neighboring context, and the parallel 'par elle' later in the sentence; stray markup ignored.
97 ↩Source OCR reads 'Kcligicu'; reconstructed as 'Religieux' (religious).
98 ↩Multiple OCR corruptions restored from context and parallel passages: n'obcist→n'obéît; promptcment→promptement; jxrrfection→perfection; vescut→vécut; 'feuilles voukiér marchrr' and following garble→'feuilles de palmes' (confirmed by the clean continuation 'de palmes, tellement qu'il mourut en les faisant' in the next recoverable block).
99 ↩Source '• furt imtu<>b«lr par okjcitaanrr' is nearly illegible; most plausible reconstruction is 'et fut immuable par obéissance' (and he was unchanging/steadfast through obedience). Sense is inferred from the perseverance theme, not certain letter-for-letter.
100 ↩Heavily corrupted OCR restored by comparison with the immediately preceding section on Christ's lifelong obedience: 'Durant tout le cours de sa vie, on ne voit autre chose que des traits d'obéissance rendus tant à ses parents qu'à plusieurs autres, voire aux impies.' This sentence may be a mis-segmented duplicate of that prior material.
101 ↩Source 'Ain«y q ... et Coll.)' is residual editorial apparatus, almost certainly '(Ms. et Coll.)' as elsewhere in this text, not continuous authorial prose.
102 ↩Source OCR is severely damaged. Reading reconstructed from clearer parallel at Entretiens.1.11.24 and chapter context (Jonas under Saint Pachomius; perseverance in the gardener's office): «exemple sur ce sujet de la persévérance; et bien qu'il manquait à cette obéissance que saint Pachome lui donna, [c'était] néanmoins un Religieux de grande perfection, et auquel saint Pachome ne voulut pas retirer la conservation du jardinier, à cause de la persévérance qu'il avait eue dès qu'il entra jusques».
103 ↩Reconstructed from corrupted «et iuv|uM A la mort.» as «et jusques à la mort», completing the temporal span begun in s1 (cf. also the chapter's Philippians cadence «obéissant jusques à la mort»).
104 ↩Reconstructed from nearly illegible «A Uir« h» |nrdln.» as «À l'office de jardinier», matching the clearer parallel in Entretiens.1.11.24 and the charge named in s1/s4.
105 ↩Reconstructed from «rar il n» chanfra {amai« de rharffe (\|« ri Coll.)» as «car il ne changea jamais de charge (Vies et Coll.)», parallel to «sans jamais le changer» in Entretiens.1.11.24. Citation abbreviated as in the Annecy apparatus (Vies/Ms. et Coll.).
106 ↩Source line is contaminated by a running page header/title ('iS2 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels') and a footnote marker. Rendered from the recoverable narrative core continuing the Pachomian perseverance example: 'de palmes, tellement qu'il mourut en les faisant'.
107 ↩Rendered 'charité' as 'charity' because the sentence treats it as a theological virtue paired with obedience, not as almsgiving or generic kindness.
108 ↩Early modern 'quant et quant' rendered as 'along with them' (at the same time / together with them).
109 ↩Normalized OCR errors: particuHere → particulière; ReHgion → Religion.
110 ↩Parenthetical (C) in the source looks like a footnote or apparatus mark, not part of the spoken sentence; omitted from the English surface.
111 ↩Source mixes the sentence-opening Nous with a Latin cross-reference fragment Ubi supra, p. (see above, p.). Only Nous belongs to the narrative; the reference is apparatus debris continued in s4.
112 ↩Page number from the source apparatus (likely completing 'Ubi supra, p. 178'), not body text.
113 ↩Reconstructed hsons → lisons (with Nous in s3): 'Nous lisons en la Vie de saint Pachome...'. Terminal 'W.' is illegible OCR and was not inventively filled; the object of 'vint trouver' is continued/corrupted in the following sentences.
114 ↩Source 'De i.' is unreadable OCR debris, possibly part of a running head or of 'dit' / page matter; no reliable narrative sense can be recovered.
115 ↩Source is severely damaged ('a VI rtu d'Obéi ssanci i8i saint Pachonic et luy du.'). Recoverable narrative core is 'saint Pachome et luy di[t]'; interleaved matter looks like the chapter running head 'De la Vertu d'Obéissance' and page digits. Reading is conjectural.
116 ↩Corrected OCR: transporte dr grande firveiir → transporté de grande ferveur; <|ue → que; n'arrivas! → n'arrivât. Neighboring section begins mid-continuation ('qu'il le supplioit...'), so this sentence may still be incomplete in the print source.
117 ↩OCR corruptions reconstructed: «IVre» → «Père»; «reste fer*eur» → «ceste ferveur»; «poursuit*-» → «poursuite».
118 ↩«martyriser nostre imagination» kept as figurative: indulging fantasized martyrdom rather than real self-denial under obedience.
119 ↩OCR corrected: «jx-rseverer» → «persévérer»; «n()n pas» → «non pas»; «cï)up» → «coup».
120 ↩Source «Vivez en pai.» is truncated; completed as «Vivez en paix», with the final «x» stranded as the next sentence fragment.
121 ↩«x.» is OCR debris completing «paix» from the previous fragment; no independent clause remains.
122 ↩OCR corrected: «trancjuillisez» → «tranquillisez»; «v(jstre t^sprit» → «vostre esprit».
123 ↩OCR corrected: «divertLssanl» → «divertissant»; «Fere» → «Père». Opening gerund taken as narrative, describing the Saint's attempt to turn the monk from the desire.
124 ↩Source OCR is badly damaged. Reconstructed reading: « De là à quelque temps, l'on eut nouvelles propres à sa consolation, car un certain Sarrasin, chef de voleurs, vint en une montagne proche du monastère; sur quoi saint Pachome l'appella à soi. Mais pour retourner à notre propos, ce Religieux, après un peu d'intervalle, vint un jour trouver saint Pachome et lui dit, transporté de grande ferveur: O mon Père, j'ai un désir pour lequel je vous supplie très humblement de vouloir bien prier Dieu qu'il me l'accomplisse. » Neighboring §28–30 support the second half; the Saracen consolation clause is clearer in the local text but may belong to an adjacent anecdote.
125 ↩Corrupt « Biao. » read as « Bien. », the Father's assent before asking the religious to name his desire.
126 ↩Reconstructed from corrupt « mon hU, dit le Un* IVrr, U tue le faut dire ce deair. » as « Mon fils, dit le saint Père, il te faut dire ce désir. »
127 ↩« Mon IVre. » read as « Mon Père. », opening the religious's reply.
128 ↩« répliqua k Krlixieui. » read as « répliqua le Religieux. »
129 ↩« il faut, «'il vnu» plaiat. » read as « il faut, s'il vous plaît, » continuing the religious's request.
130 ↩Reconstructed from corrupt « que v<iu» me proroettiei de prier rt (aire l»ini prier \r% Frerr^ puur cela. » as « que vous me promettiez de prier et de faire aussi prier les Frères pour cela. »
131 ↩Reconstructed from corrupt close as « Enfin le bon Père lui demanda tant quel désir c'était, qu'il lui dit que c'était le désir du martyre, qu'il ne serait jamais content que cela n'arrivât. Le bon Père tâcha fort de le modérer. » Trailing OCR « n '>- ir » is treated as debris before §30's continued dissuasion.
132 ↩Continues Entretiens.1.11.29.s8. Reconstructed corrupt OCR « mai» pl»;… eflorvoiC de le de»t<Hjmer » as « mais plutôt s'efforça de le détourner », in line with the chapter’s clearer parallel on Pachomius trying to cool the religious’s zeal for martyrdom.
133 ↩Reconstructed « plu« le KeliKieux… Pacbun… Mon fUa, mieua vaut vivre an obettaaurr » as « Plus le Religieux s'obstinait. Pachôme lui dit: Mon fils, mieux vaut vivre en obéissance ».
134 ↩Reconstructed « et mourir… tous les jours en vivant par une continuelle mortification de soi-même et de ses passions ». A cleaner chapter-internal parallel lacks « et de ses passions », but the supplied OCR supports that phrase, so it is retained.
135 ↩« martyriser votre imagination »: to torment the imagination with fantasies of martyrdom, not literal bodily martyrdom. Comparative « que non pas de » = English « than ».
136 ↩Source unit is only a stray period from OCR segmentation; no independent French clause remains after s4’s closing.
137 ↩Reconstructed from « Xtaea meurt martyr qui bien se mortifie: c'est, d'aventure, un plus grand martyre de persévérer toute sa vie en obéissance, que non pas de mourir… en paix, mon… ». Cleaner chapter-internal witness supplies « tout d'un coup par un glaive » and « Vivez en paix, mon fils »; OCR’s « en paii, mon Prcre » is treated as that peace-address compressed into the same unit.
138 ↩« et arrêtez votre esprit »; parallel cleaner reading has « et tranquillisez votre esprit, le divertissant de ce désir ». Rendered as quieting the mind; the diverting-from-this-desire tail is not securely present in this unit’s OCR.
139 ↩Reconstructed « Mais l'autre, qui assurait que son désir procédait du Saint Esprit ». Sentence continues into §31 (« ne rabattait rien de son ardeur… »).
140 ↩Source OCR is severely corrupted. Reconstructed from parallel cleaner witness in the same chapter as: «ne rabattit rien de son ardeur, incitant tousjours le Père qu'il allât prier que son désir fust accompli» (cf. also «fist prière» in the parallel printing).
141 ↩Fragment of editorial citation apparatus, almost certainly «(Mart. Coll.)» split across sentences; not narrative prose.
142 ↩Reconstructed from «rt Coll ) Cela fait, le IVre «e relira» as closing of «(Mart. Coll.)» plus «Cela fait, le Père se retira». «IVre» is a recurring OCR misread of «Père» in this witness.
143 ↩Reconstructed from «De là à tempe, on eut nouvellea favorablea, car vtodmil eertalot Sarraaina» as «De là à temps, on eut nouvelles favorables, car vindrent certains Sarrasins». Parallel witness: «De là à quelque temps, l'on eut nouvelles propres à sa consolation, car un certain Sarrasin, chef de voleurs…».
144 ↩Completes s4: «Sarrasins voleurs» / «Saracen robbers». Added light finite completion «had come» implied by «vindrent» in s4.
145 ↩Normalized source begins with OCR running-title debris (“184 Les vkays Entretiens spirituels”); translated as the narrative continuation “et luy dit…,” treating the rest as a page header, not dialogue.
146 ↩“il ne pensoit rien moins que de faire ce qu’il fit” taken as ironic understatement: he least of all expected (or intended) the cowardice he later showed.
147 ↩«vaillant en imagination» rendered as bravery only in fancy/imagination (not real courage under trial).
148 ↩Normalized «son^monastere» and «saint^Pachome» as join/soft-break markers → «his monastery» and «Saint Pachomius».
149 ↩Fragmentary clause; early modern 'Religion' here means the monastery/community, not abstract religion.
150 ↩Normalized text has a stray quote mark in pour" son amour; read as pour son amour (for His love).
151 ↩'faisoit le fervent' conveys performing/acting the fervent man, not genuine settled fervor—kept as 'puts on the air of' to preserve the irony that follows.
152 ↩Source is truncated after 'je suis' and ends with apparatus mark '(Coll.)', likely a collation/source citation rather than spoken text. Translation leaves the speech incomplete.
153 ↩Reading looks like an editorial/OCR recovery note ('Reprendre au texte'), not authorial conference prose.
154 ↩Bare numeral '20.' is almost certainly a page or section marker from print, not continuous prose.
155 ↩Source 'J comme va?' is too garbled to reconstruct a reliable French reading; left untranslated rather than inventing wording.
156 ↩Opening reconstructed from heavily damaged OCR ('qu'y a-t'il que vous eî»u-:> m défait ... IIpauvre Religieux... se jet ta... prompt emen t') as: 'Qu'y a-t-il? Que vous êtes-vous défait? ... le pauvre Religieux ... se jeta ... promptement'.
157 ↩OCR repairs applied: faisiint→faisant; Mon til→Mon fils; souvien-toy→souviens-toi; nvre→vivre; Ixjns→bons; cceurs→cœurs.
158 ↩Normalized 'l)on' to 'bon' in 'qu'il fait bon vivre'.
159 ↩'ne vouloir rien moins que la mort' rendered as wanting nothing less than death (i.e. craving martyrdom itself), matching the preceding exemplum.
160 ↩Normalized OCR damage in the source: consi*il → conseil; tout It* tem{>s → tout le temps; mm verre → un verre.
161 ↩Middle of the sentence is heavily garbled by OCR (vous '^ î^*"» «• •*'-î gaignerez); restored as vous gaignerez le mesme from the remaining readable words and parallel sense.
162 ↩Older French 'que non pas' is a comparative 'than' construction, not a double negative; rendered as 'than'.
163 ↩Source is heavily OCR-corrupted (page header noise: Les Vrais Entretiens spirituels; 'vkays'→voyez; 'es'→ès/en). Sense reconstructed from recoverable French and the chapter's running theme of exact obedience in indifferent matters.
164 ↩'Xostre Seigneur' corrected to 'Nostre Seigneur' (Our Lord). Old French 'ains' rendered as 'but'.
165 ↩Editorial/source siglum fragment (Manuscript), not discursive prose; left as apparatus.
166 ↩Editorial/source siglum fragment continuing s5: likely '(Ms. et Coll.)' = Manuscript and Collection/Collation.
167 ↩Sentence opens mid-clause (jamais de…); the governing verb is missing at the section boundary. Rendered as a continuation fragment. Sense: the true obedient person does not leave this path, and keeps direction with the same care as commands.
168 ↩Normalized ol)cissant → obéissant (true obedient person).
169 ↩Corrected OCR: Suj)erieurs → Supérieurs; ftissiez → fassiez; (jue → que; conunandement → commandement. The asterisked stretch begins a new question (likely a marginal/footnote turn) still incomplete at the sentence break.
170 ↩Source heavily corrupted: «e retuv jatoam tir ceste voye ai de l'obftcrvance. Reconstructed from residual letters plus the clean parallel in s1 and the answer-form Non, ma fille: ne … jamais de ceste voye ni de l'observance → never bind you in this way, nor regarding the observance. Verb of obligation (lier/obliger) is inferred, not fully legible.
171 ↩Reconstructed from Uni de» cboMS qui tcMit dit» par forme de direction ou de cnnvHi → des choses qui sont dites par forme de direction ou de conseil, supported by clean s1 wording.
172 ↩Reconstructed from comme de cetlet qui toat commandé» → comme de celles qui sont commandées. s1 has the fuller comparative non plus que de celles qui y sont commandées.
173 ↩Source nearly illegible: Le vray obriMint rendra ' '>rtioat failM Voaa damamiaa ti tout ce que le%,. Recoverable only: Le vray obéissant rendra… Vous demandez si tout ce que les…. Remainder unrestorable from this witness; may be a damaged re-entry of s2–s3 material.
174 ↩OCR heavily corrupt; reconstructed as «fortement notre mémoire pour nous en ressouvenir», likely a continuation about holding important charges in mind.
175 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as roughly: «Comme aussi à quelque chose qui regardast le bon ordre de ta maison: d'autant plus, encore que ce qui est commandé soit fort léger, même par voie d'esteindre tous les soirs la chandelle, c'est sans doute qu'une…». Sentence boundary with s3 is uncertain.
176 ↩Reconstructed as «ne voudroit pas s'assujettir à cette obéissance» (OCR «t'assujettir» read as «s'assujettir»).
177 ↩Reconstructed as «Oublier quelquefois par oubli, il n'y a point de mal; mais» from residual «oflet… qualqualoéa par outJl… point … mal; mat».
178 ↩Source almost wholly destroyed (residual OCR «ne rouai» only); no translation offered rather than invent meaning.
179 ↩Source is only a period; treated as a segmentation/print artifact, not a sentence.
180 ↩Reconstructed «par négligence ou autrement» from OCR «par naflàgance ou autrement».
181 ↩Reconstructed «c'est cela qui fait le péché» from OCR «r'r*t cela qui fait k perlw». Alternate possible reading: «le péril» ('the danger'); 'sin' preferred because the surrounding contrast is mal/no-harm versus culpable failure in obedience.
182 ↩Source opens with page-header/OCR debris (“i88 Les vravs Entretiens spirituels”) and “tous] ours” for “toujours”; subject “Supérieurs” is supplied from sense and parallel with “les confesseurs,” since the printed subject is lost under the header.
183 ↩“Dans les Constitutions et Règles” likely a section heading fused to the following sentence; “croid” read as “croit.”
184 ↩OCR fixes applied: “donnir”→“dormir,” “soinmes”→“sommes,” “avez peu”→“avez pu,” “resveillée,” and punctuation before “car.”
185 ↩“que bien que mal” taken as “tant bien que mal” (“as best I can / well or poorly”).
186 ↩«tendreté de dilection» rendered as «deep, tender love»; dilection keeps the force of deliberate, affectionate love, not mere sentiment.
187 ↩«caresse» here means treat kindly / show affectionate regard, not necessarily physical caress; rendered «treat… with… special kindness».
188 ↩Source reads «gchenner»; taken as early-modern «gehenner»/«gêner» (to torment, vex, or trouble), which fits «les esprits par des vains scrupules».
189 ↩Fragment looks like editorial apparatus or a source note introducing «Les Supérieurs», cut off at «(Ms.»; not continuous prose.
190 ↩Continuation of the preceding parenthetical source note; «Coll.» likely a collection/codex siglum.
191 ↩Editorial instruction «Reprendre au texte, lig.» rather than authorial speech.
192 ↩Source has broken «d'Obéi ssa.»; read as «d'Obéissance» (chapter title/running head).
193 ↩«xcf.» cannot be securely resolved (possible signature, catchword, or OCR noise).
194 ↩«189» looks like a page number. «tuui de mesmc» read as «tout de mesme» (tout de même): «c'en est tout de même» ≈ it amounts to the same / it's the same in this case.
195 ↩Reconstructed from corrupted French: 'car li y a cit> articles qui (lisent... choM?' → 'car il y a certains articles qui disent: Les Sœurs pourront faire telle chose.' Terminal punctuation uncertain (OCR question mark).
196 ↩Reconstructed from 'I-es uns sont des conseil»*' → 'Les uns sont des conseils'.
197 ↩Garbled span 'f«*> amoureuse' read as 'amoureuse' (loving obedience); 'tesmoigner' = témoigner; 'lascheté' = lâcheté.
198 ↩'obéissance amoureuse' is Salesian technical language for obedience moved by love, not mere fear of sin; rendered 'loving obedience'.
199 ↩Reconstructed from heavily corrupted OCR 'qu*U ne seroit pas damné, mais 1.' as 'qu'il ne seroit pas damné, mais', continuing the thought about one who refuses the counsels of loving obedience and keeps only what is strictly commanded.
200 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'ce n'est pas pour Dieu ni pour son amour qu'il obéit en les observant, mais pour lui-même, afin de n'estre damné.'
201 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'C'est comme celuy qui se vanteroit dequoy il n'est pas larron: et bien, si vous n'estes pas larron vous ne serez pas pendu.'
202 ↩Reconstructed from nearly illegible OCR '%'aiU vostre recompcnv>.' as 'Voilà vostre recompense.'
203 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'Vous obéissez aux commandemens de Dieu qui vous sont faits: et bien, vous ne serez pas mise dehors du monastère.'
204 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'mais aussi ne serez-vous pas tenue comme un fidèle serviteur de Dieu, ains comme mercenaire, si vous ne faites rien de plus.' Archaic 'ains' rendered as the contrasting 'only as'.
205 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'Le serviteur qui ne voudroit rendre aucun service à son maistre que celuy pour lequel il a esté pris, seroit estimé un homme bien agreste.' 'Agreste' (crude/boorish) is the most likely reading of 'agrr*te'.
206 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: 'Bien, luy diroit le maistre, s'il ne le chassoit de la maison, vous vous arrestez au service pour lequel je vous ay pris; mais je m'arresteray aussi au gage que je vous ay promis, et n'aurez rien davantage.'
207 ↩Reconstructed from heavily corrupted OCR as: «Vous dites que vous voulez bien faire ce qui est ordonné et mandé et ce qui vous est donné par forme de direction, mais desirez de savoir si y manquant quelquefois vous estes autant obligée à vous en confesser comme de ce qui vous est commandé.» Key repairs: vrmlex→voulez, (aire→faire, nsetllé→ordonné, maiiDe→mandé, iiiau…deiiret→mais desirez, oMigée→obligée, romme→comme, cotmnan→commandé.
208 ↩Reconstructed from OCR «' >and un h<4ii; tifesse A moy et me dit qu'il joue, et qu.» as «J'ay un homme qui confesse à moy et me dit qu'il joue, et qu'». «Jouer» continues into the gambling/playing example of Entretiens.1.11.47–48.
209 ↩Reconstructed from OCR «, land il )our >.» as «quand il joue,», continuing the «et qu'» of the previous sentence.
210 ↩Reconstructed from OCR ««leu pam qu'il est su)et A se pduaionner.» as «seulement parce qu'il est sujet à se passionner.» Alternative weaker reading: «je le plains qu'il est sujet à se passionner» (I pity him that…). «Se passionner» in a gaming context means becoming heated / losing self-control over the game.
211 ↩Reconstructed from OCR as: «sur cela je luy commande de la part de Dieu de ne plus jouer; et à ce commandement il est obligé d'obéir.» Repairs: I>ieu→Dieu, re cmninandrfiirtii→ce commandement, (44igé→obligé, ubeir→obéir.
212 ↩Reconstructed from OCR «Mais quand je luy demande: Jurrt-vtHi« t<, vous jouei?» as «Mais quand je luy demande: Jouez-vous encore?» The trailing «, vous jouei?» is treated as OCR residue or a press of the same question; sense confirmed by the answer in Entretiens.1.11.47.s1 («Non, pas ordinairement.»).
213 ↩Normalized from corrupt OCR 'I^ors je luy dis; Mon ftte.' as early modern French 'Lors je lui dis: Mon fils,' (Then I say to him: My son,).
214 ↩Normalized from heavily corrupted OCR to: 'je vous conseille de ne plus jouer, parce que ce n'est pas obligé d'obéir sous/sur peine de…'. Context contrasts a formal command (which binds) with mere counsel (which does not bind under sin).
215 ↩Source is only a dash/period fragment ('-.'). Completed as 'péché' (sin), the standard object of 'sous peine de' in this confessor/obligation example.
216 ↩Source OCR is badly corrupt: reconstructed as «vous devriez vous abstenir de jouer; parce qu'en est-il, quand les Supérieures disent quelque chose qu'elles ne commandent, que de ne vouloir faire que ce qui nous est commandé et rien davantage», dropping the page header «I90 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels». «jouer» follows the gambling/playing example in the preceding sentences; «juger» is a weaker alternative.
217 ↩Source reads «voilée»; translated as «vouée» (vowed), matching the parallel wording later in the conference («l'obéissance que nous avons vouée»).
218 ↩Opening '\^ous' corrected to 'Vous' (OCR damage).
219 ↩Sentence ends mid-clause at corrupted '•Xum.'; reconstructed as start of 'instruit' from the following sentence's 'instruit par une asnesse' and the Balaam reference.
220 ↩Source is only ',.' — punctuation debris from OCR, not a translatable sentence.
221 ↩Source '\xii,28-3o.' read as biblical citation Num. 22:28–30 (Balaam’s donkey speaking).
222 ↩Continues the broken Balaam clause from s2; 'fera bien qu'elle nous enseignera' rendered as God ensuring she teaches according to His will.
223 ↩Editorial note 'Loco quo infra' ('in the place below' / see below) treated as a cross-reference, not part of the spoken sentence; trailing 'jamais' appears at the start of s7.
224 ↩'jamais' completes s6's 'ne se perdra'; asterisk in source likely a footnote marker.
225 ↩Sentence is a stack of concessive clauses with no explicit apodosis in this section; sense depends on the preceding promise that the obedient will not be lost.
226 ↩Normalized obvious source corruptions: «dos conseils» → «des conseils»; «sonunes» → «sommes»; «neantmoins» → «néanmoins». The sentence ends with a dangling «; car.» with no following clause in this section.
227 ↩Normalized «praticjue» → «pratique» (practice).
228 ↩Source 'tille' read as 'fille' (daughter); 'tascher'/'aymer' as early-modern 'tâcher'/'aimer'.
229 ↩Corrected garbled source: 'chr)se'→chose; 'quafid'→quand; 'il nous eu est fait'→il nous en est fait; 'tres-prccieuse'→très-précieuse; 'cf>nsi(Ioration'→considération; 'celuy-Ià'→celuy-là.
230 ↩Source 'vostrc' read as 'vostre/votre'.
231 ↩Editorial apparatus fragment, likely 'Manuscript(s)' abbreviation; not body text.
232 ↩Editorial apparatus fragment continuing s5; likely 'et Coll.' (collation/collection witness abbreviation).
233 ↩Editorial instruction: 'Reprendre au texte, lig.' = resume in the main text at the indicated line.
234 ↩Closing half of the editorial bracket from s7; line number 8.
235 ↩Normalized OCR garble: 'VERTt' d'Obéi SEANCE' → 'vertu d'obéissance'; 'iqt' → 'qui'; 'voyes' → 'voies'; 'sousmettans' → 'soumettant'; 'avscurer' → 'assurer'.
236 ↩Normalized OCR: 'vray obeissanf' → 'vrai obéissant'; 'THscnlure Siiinte' → 'l'Écriture Sainte'.
237 ↩Source '•P»w.' read as a corrupted book abbreviation, most plausibly 'Prov.' (Proverbs), given the following 'xxi.' and the proverb on the obedient person speaking of victories.
238 ↩Source '«t.' is illegible; rendered as verse '28.' because the surrounding quotation matches Vulgate Prov 21:28 ('vir oboediens loquetur victoriam' / 'will speak of his victories').
239 ↩OCR 'SujKrieurs' read as 'Supérieurs' (Superiors).
240 ↩Corrected OCR: '|X)ur'→'pour'; 'obéisse/'→'obéissez'; 'ctcur'→'cœur'. 'hé!' is kept as the exclamatory lead-in to the next sentence's rhetorical question.
241 ↩OCR 'void' read as 'voit'; 'inch nation' as 'inclination'; stray markup '<^*'' ignored. Continues the exclamation begun by 'hé!' in the previous sentence.
242 ↩Source is only the connective fragment 'car.'; the logical continuation is the next sentence ('si cela estoit...').
243 ↩Source OCR corrupted: '(jue' read as 'que'; 'sujKTieure' as 'supérieure'; 'nus sens' as 'nos sens'; initial 'l'ay' as 'J'ay'.
244 ↩Source OCR corrupted: 'C'est s;u)s doute' read as 'C'est sans doute'; 'amc' as 'âme'.
245 ↩Middle of the sentence is heavily corrupted by OCR and a page-header intrusion ('192 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels'). Reconstructed from the readable anchors: comparison of obeying a Superior one likes vs. another one likes not at all, then the proviso on equal superior-part obedience.
246 ↩Early modern French 'Religions' / 'ès Religions' here means religious orders or the religious life, not 'religions' in the modern plural sense of faiths.
247 ↩Source has a parenthetical marker “(i')” before “qu'il”; treated as a print footnote cue and omitted from the English.
248 ↩“faire confesser à leur propre jugement” rendered as compelling one's own judgment to admit the Superior's rightness, not public confession.
249 ↩Source has a parenthetical marker “(J')” after “qu'elles”; treated as a print footnote cue and omitted from the English.
250 ↩Source OCR reconstructed: «Mais ne seroit-il point loisible à une fille qui a desja vescu longuement en Religion» (seroil→seroit; p<»int→point; hile→fille; Ktligion→Religion).
251 ↩Source OCR reconstructed: «maistre pilote… longuement et péniblement travaillé pour la sauver… des vagues de la mer… estant arrivé au port» (maL^^tre→maistre; lonf^ement→longuement; pt;niblcmcnt→péniblement; pK)ur→pour; dt-→de; arrive→arrivé).
252 ↩Source OCR reconstructed: «Ne le jugeroit-on pas bien fol?» (jugt-roit→jugeroit).
253 ↩Source OCR reconstructed: «jusqu'au port» (j)ort→port).
254 ↩Source OCR reconstructed: «Le Religieux qui a bien commencé n'a pas tout fait, s'il ne persévère iusques à la fin» (Keliijieiix→Religieux; iusques→jusques; tin→fin).
255 ↩Source is truncated mid-sentence: «Il ne faut p?» almost certainly «Il ne faut pas», continuing in the next section as «dire qu'il n'appartient qu'aux Novices d'estre si exacts».
256 ↩Sentence begins mid-word as «s dire…»; completed from the previous section’s broken close «Il ne faut p?» as «Il ne faut pas dire…».
257 ↩Normalized OCR: «j)our»→«pour»; «mortifu'S»→«mortifiés»; «Frofés»→«Profés»; «l«*s»→«les»; «obser\e»→«observe». «ains» kept as adversative «rather».
258 ↩Normalized OCR: «tromjxToit grandenunt»→«tromperoit grandement»; «R«*ligieux»→«Religieux». Period supplied between the two clauses (self-deception vs. Christ’s example).
259 ↩Reading «Et c'est assez dit de l'obéissance pour nous» from garbled «l'obéissant c … •Vidtp» (OCR noise/marginalia discarded).
260 ↩Bare «iii.» looks like a section numeral or printer’s mark rather than continuous prose.
261 ↩«var.» is likely a textual apparatus tag (variant) or truncated heading, not a full sentence.
262 ↩Source is only a period «.» with no recoverable wording.
263 ↩Isolated infinitive phrase «y affectionner»—likely a dangling fragment from a lost sentence about loving/attaching oneself to obedience or the religious life.
264 ↩Source OCR after “sur la question” is corrupt (“ibkr ï crut qui piniMit ti anniÉto I»”). Reconstructed from the following cleaner section as “qui me fut faite hier au soir,” which continues there into the substance of the sisters’ question about speaking of mortification.
265 ↩Source is unrecoverable OCR debris: "' (I, parce «lu'rttant dam le gktua «Se %a (bnr Mctr tiui U- vt." No continuous French sentence can be reconstructed. Neighboring Entretiens.1.11.58 already carries the transitional lead-in; the substance of the sisters' question resumes only later (from about Entretiens.1.11.61.s5). No meaning invented.
266 ↩Source «■.» is a printer's/OCR block character plus period, not continuous prose; rendered as a bare period.
267 ↩Reconstructed from corrupt OCR: «qui 1116 fut faîte hier au so^r *» → «qui me fut faite hier au soir»; «niortitiées» → «mortifiées».
268 ↩«luy disant bien son fait» rendered as telling her plainly what she needed to hear (a frank correction), not as mere scolding.
269 ↩"pomme d'amour" rendered as "love-apple" (a cherished fruit of love), not the modern botanical sense "tomato."
270 ↩Normalized corrupted mid-sentence page furniture "XI I)i: LA vERrr d'Obéissance iv5" as the running head "XI. De la vertu d'Obéissance," and "coiisoltc" as "consolée."
271 ↩Restored OCR damage: Sorur→Sœur, cccy→cecy, nostrc→nostre, cons<jli^e→consolée, sen>«là→sens-là, mcspris→mespris.
272 ↩"Farce que" read as "Parce que" (because), a common OCR/long-s confusions.
273 ↩Restored "luv"→"luy" and "(jue"→"que".
274 ↩Normalized several OCR corruptions for translation: Juand→Quand; ncstre/nostrc→nostre; ^ainte→sainte; db-je→dis-je; precieusi*→précieuse; à tin→afin; es paroles→ès paroles; Sujx'rieure→Supérieure.
275 ↩OCR corruptions normalized: rem;u-quer → remarquer; cieur → cœur; Su|)erieure → Supérieure; noise glyphs ignored.
276 ↩Normalized readings: cstre → estre; destre → d'estre; nulKnient → nullement; Su|KTie«ue → Supérieure; semblr → semble; dispos*- → disposé; parole^ → paroles; l)eaucoup → beaucoup; utilt-s → utiles; î>« r fection → perfection; n'estoy^nt → n'estoient. Sentence boundary after «semble pas» is inferred from capitalization and sense.
277 ↩pour(|Uoy → pourquoi.
278 ↩Intrusive page header «196 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels» removed. Reconstructed reading: parce que vostre cœur estoit disposé à cela (cteur → cœur; diî»po^' → disposé).
279 ↩Source unit is only a critical-apparatus marker («•Cf.»), not continuous devotional prose; left as citation fragment.
280 ↩Normalized corrupted forms: encor*→encore; à quo}^→à quoi; es occasions→ès occasions ("in the occasions"); editorial marks (o') and (p') ignored as footnote keys.
281 ↩Sentence is truncated mid-word in the source ("ne se!»"); completion "soumet" is supplied by the opening of the next sentence unit.
282 ↩Opening "ou>met pas" read as "soumet pas," continuing the broken "ne se" of the previous sentence.
283 ↩Parce (juc→Parce que; fuire→faire; marques→marqués. Comparative "d'autres moyens... que ceux" rendered as "other means than those."
284 ↩qut- non pas→que non pas; croid→croit. "fait plus d'estat de" rendered as "sets more store by."
285 ↩Normalized OCR-corrupt spans: '<*• qui <*»*>' → 'qui'; '(ju'ils' → 'qu'ils'; 'jx)int' → 'point'; 'm'estani' → 'm'estant'. Reading: 'sinon deux qui me confessèrent qu'ils n'avoyent point de jugement; et l'un, m'estant une fois venu trouver...'
286 ↩OCR-corrupted source read as «un txtinpic ^'raïuicmcnt remarquable»; restored to «un exemple extrêmement remarquable» (an extremely remarkable example).
287 ↩Restored corruptions: «dcxrteur»→docteur; «composii»→composa; title «Des Dispensations et des Commandemens»; «Fajx»→Pape (most plausible reading given context and following sentence).
288 ↩«à tin qu'il eiist» restored to «afin qu'il eût» (so that he would / so that he should).
289 ↩Source is only the fragment «Ce docteur.» (with preceding OCR noise); the sentence appears cut off at the section boundary.
290 ↩Source OCR is almost unreadable (Dtepcmationt cl Comin*nd«nm*: lequrl niant fan ^ -^ mate»). Reconstructed as the book-title relative clause Des Dispensations et des Commandemens, lequel tombant un jour entre les mains, from the parallel main-text anecdote and the surrounding Ms. footnote about the Louvain doctor; the next section continues with du Pape.
291 ↩Source is heavily OCR-corrupted. Reconstructed from legible anchors (Pape, lequel, Sa Sainteté, docteur, livre) and the clear neighboring narrative (Entretiens.1.11 about a doctor ordered by the Pope to strike propositions from his book). Plausible French sense: «du Pape, dans lequel Sa Sainteté pria de rayer quelques choses mêmes, et renvoya à ce docteur afin qu'il rayât son livre.»
292 ↩Reconstructed from relatively clear French «… que le Pape n'y trouva…» and likely «Mais remarquez que». The object of trouva is lost after «t *» (possibly rien, or a longer clause about non-heretical error continued later in the conference).
293 ↩Leading 'r^ 198 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels' treated as running-header/page contamination and omitted from the English. Finite verbs imply a masculine subject already established in the preceding narrative; supplied as 'he'.
294 ↩Normalized corrupt readings: 'n'est oit' → 'n'estoit'; 'ra37er' → 'rayer' (strike out).
295 ↩Source 'Traitté de F Amour de Dieu' read as 'Traité de l'Amour de Dieu' (OCR 'F' for 'l').
296 ↩Normalized 'estahlir' → 'établir' and 'a reformer' → 'à reformer'.
297 ↩«Commendes» refers to ecclesiastical benefices held in commendam; kept as Commendams for the technical sense.
298 ↩Source «Dés» read as «Dès» (as soon as). «Nonc.» is the start of the archive shelfmark Nunziatura / Nonciature, continued in the following sentence fragments.
299 ↩Normalized corrupted source: «l'iùitretien» → «l'entretien»; «cDispensations» → «Dispensations»; restored matching quotation marks around the paired titles.
300 ↩Normalized title form «Vrays Entretien'i» → «Vrais Entretiens» (the work's title).
301 ↩Source is badly OCR-corrupted: 'occa«5ion' read as 'occasion'; 'murnncauun' read as 'mortification' (supported by neighboring §76 on mortified senses vs. propre jugement). 'vi' taken as first-person past of voir ('I saw').
302 ↩Reading «assez souvent» for corrupt OCR «assez Nouvenl»; «void» as «voit».
303 ↩«le jugement» here continues the chapter's «propre jugement» (self-judgment); rendered as self-judgment for clarity.
304 ↩Reading «sans doute» for corrupt «siins doute»; trailing OCR garbage «<"'» ignored.
305 ↩Source is fragmentary OCR: «Un jour David* estant en la campagne • i Krg.» Read as opening of the Nabal narrative with Vulgate-style citation «1 Reg.» (1 Samuel / 1 Kings); continuation in the next section.
306 ↩Continues the preceding section's scriptural pointer (1 Krg. / 1 Kings in Vulgate numbering = 1 Samuel). Read as 1 Kings 25:4–15, the Nabal and Abigail episode.
307 ↩Normalized corrupt 'mar>*' to 'mary' (husband), i.e. Nabal, Abigail's husband.
308 ↩Normalized 'autre<' to 'autres'. 'Voleries' rendered as plunder (Nabal's charge that David lives by theft).
309 ↩'Vive Dieu' is the biblical oath formula (cf. 'As the Lord lives'); normalized corrupt 'î' as exclamation mark.
310 ↩Leading OCR noise "'^''" dropped. 'Mescognoissant' = mesconnaissant, ungrateful/ingrate. Sentence continues into s8.
311 ↩Source OCR is severely damaged after the opening clause. Reading reconstructed as «Abigail sçachant le dessein de David, s'en alla le lendemain au-devant…», continuous with s5 across the page break («…devant de luy avec des presens…»).
312 ↩Printed witness is OCR garbage («ri ««nnblablM chotr».»); no recoverable French sense.
313 ↩Printed witness is OCR garbage with only isolated scraps («tout c…», terminal «Mt.»); no recoverable sentence.
314 ↩Printed witness («el Oill.») is unreadable OCR, not a usable French clause.
315 ↩Stripped running header/page mark «i 200 Les vrays Entretiens spirituels» from the normalized line; clause continues the sentence begun in s1 after the page break.
316 ↩«propre jugement» is Salesian technical language for attachment to one’s own opinion/judgment, not merely the faculty of judgment.
317 ↩«Il» / «l'empescher» continues the previous section's comparison: our own judgment is like a drunk person. Rendered as «it» for that judgment.
318 ↩Editorial citation fragment (Cf. = compare), not prose from the conference.
319 ↩Editorial abbreviation for «variant» in a broken citation string.
320 ↩Editorial page abbreviation in a broken citation (likely «Cf. var., p. 169.»).
321 ↩Page number fragment from an editorial citation, not spoken content.
322 ↩Normalized «voulcz» → «voulez»; asterisk in source treated as editorial mark and omitted from the English.
323 ↩OCR debris «i^')» ignored; sense is «la lui oster» — remove the stain from her.
324 ↩Trailing «(y')» treated as editorial footnote mark and omitted from the English.
325 ↩Normalized OCR: 'dextremcnt' → 'dextrement' (deftly); 'p)eut' → 'peut' (can).
326 ↩Heavy OCR damage restored as: 'Vous dites que vous craignez d'advertir si souvent une Sœur des fautes qu'elle fait, parce que cela lui ôte l'assurance et la fait plutôt faillir à force de craindre.' (N'ous→Vous; qiu-→que; (ju'elle→qu'elle; craiiulre→craindre).
327 ↩Normalized OCR: 'dt- céans' → 'de céans' (of this house); 'n'app;u"iient' → 'n'appartient'; 'ad vert it' → 'advertit'.
328 ↩'Abjection' kept in the Salesian sense of humble lowliness of self, not contempt or degradation.

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