Letters of Mother Saint Pierre Cinquin

By Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word

This book contains the letters of Mother St. Pierre Cinquin (1845-1891), co-foundress of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio. Mother St. Pierre was the leader and guide of the Congregation from 1872 to 1891, a difficult period of development and growth. Herein are included all her extant personal letters.

In addition to the letters, this book contains the formula of vows of Mother St. Pierre, a beautiful prayer to St. Joseph composed by her, a document by John Twohig, and the printed "thank you" note accompanying it. The last section of this book is made up of the letters of condolence received after the sad news of her untimely death reached people far and near.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387228829

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Letters of Mother Saint Pierre Cinquin

Letters of Mother Saint Pierre Cinquin

Copyright

Copyright © 2017 by Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 1973

ISBN: 978-1-387-22882-9

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio

4503 Broadway

San Antonio, Texas, 78209

http://www.amormeus.org/en

Foreword

Contained within the pages of this compilation is a large part of our rich Congregational heritage coming to us from our co-foundress, Mother St. Pierre Cinquin (1845-1891), who, though not our first superioress, was our leader and guide from 1872 to 1891, the difficult period of the development and growth of our Congregation in its early years. Herein are included all her extant personal letters. The majority of these were written in French, in her own handwriting, together with a goodly number written by her in English. These latter are left untouched except for a few necessary corrections in spelling, the changing of certain words in order to make her meaning clearer, and at times the punctuating of excessively long and complex sentences. When you see at the left upper hand corner of a letter, Original in English, that means to say that we actually have the original letter in English. Copy: in English indicates that the original letter is not in the archives; instead, the letter was copied into a ledger by a hand unknown to us.

To help you read these letters more easily the following notations may be of assistance: P.B.T.I.W. and L.S.L.V.I. are the abbreviations in English and French respectively for Praised Be the Incarnate Word. Actually means at present; yet, still; Maman, Mama; what, that (in several instances). You will note common spelling errors such as quite for quiet, alright for all right, etc. Because we have left these lapses, you will savor all the more her own characteristic style, her feeling for words, and her great sense of humor shining through what was for her a foreign language. You will notice that she signed her name variously as Pierre, St. Pierre, Sr. St. Pierre, Mother St. Pierre.

The monthly letters, many of which were written for Mother St Pierre by the secretary, Sister St. Gabriel, are of course not excluded as they were sent out under her direction and speak for her. They are left unedited.

Also included are some letters to Mother St. Pierre from sisters, priests, bishops, and lay people. The reason for their inclusion is threefold. First, they manifest the esteem, confidence and the freedom people felt to express themselves; second, they clarify many of Mother St. Pierre’s letters which were answers to theirs; third, they tell us much in an indirect way of the woman to whom these various people wrote as they did.

While we have in the archives a large number of business letters written by her, only a few of them were selected for inclusion. These few shed special light on the sagacity, practicality and firmness of one who had to turn her attention to affairs that were part of daily life then as now. To reproduce all her business letters would in no way serve the purpose intended in the preparation of this collection. The same reason prompted the choice made as regards the letters mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

You will find here too all the letters we have from whatever source pertaining to her illness and death.

In addition to the aforementioned letters, the collection contains the formula of vows of Mother St. Pierre, a beautiful prayer to St. Joseph composed by her, a document by John Twohig and the printed thank you note accompanying it which was evidently used as early as 1881. (Mr. Twohig was one of our earliest benefactors.) The last section of the compilation is made up of the letters of condolence received after the sad news of her untimely death reached people far and near.

The letters are arranged in chronological order. At times it was necessary to date some letters from internal evidence, either because the date was missing or was not decipherable. When internal evidence did not serve, the undated letters are so indicated.

Naturally, not all Mother St. Pierre's letters are of equal value but all are included, though a few are incomplete. Very many of them are deserving of long and quiet reflection on our part. They speak to us today just as much as they did to our pioneer sisters; they bring to life for us the true CCVI spirit; they are capable of renewing and inspiring us if we only take time to make them part of us; they can give us at least a fraction of the outstanding courage that our heroic Mother possessed. Just discount certain practices, penances, cultural appendages –which in no way constitute the essence of our reason for being– and there remains the fresh, fervent, enthusiastic and true spirit of religious life as envisioned by Vatican II. Mother St. Pierre emerges from these pages as a woman who knew and acknowledged her weaknesses and her strengths, who was as human as we are, but who loved the Incarnate Word with her whole being and sacrificed herself for His glory and for the service of His brothers and sisters. By knowing her, we will become more and more aware of the spirit of our religious family and the assimilation of this grace-filled spirit will guide us in living our life in and for today's world as a group of religious women dedicated to the Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Sister Kathleen Garvey, CCVI

Letters

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

Most august and adorable Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I, Sister Marie St. Pierre of the Passion, although the least of your servants and the most unworthy of your creatures, trusting in your divine goodness, urged by the desire to serve you and by a special love for the adorable Person of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, and desiring to contribute to the glory of his holy name and the mysteries of our redemption, to recognize the loving predilection which caused him to dwell among us in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and to honor the Immaculate Conception of the glorious Virgin, his mother, make to your divine majesty, in the presence of the same glorious Virgin, of her well beloved spouse Saint Joseph, and of the whole celestial court, into the hands of Reverend Father Ansttaet, delegate of the Bishop of Galveston, our first superior, the vows of perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience, to live and to die in the Order of the Incarnate Word, established according to the statutes and constitutions of this holy Order. I beg of your goodness, through your infinite charity, through the merits and the blood of the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, and the favorable intercession of his most holy Mother and of his dear Foster Father, to receive the sacrifice that I make to him of my body, my possessions and my liberty, and to give me abundant grace to faithfully accomplish it.

AMEN.

Done at the convent of the Ursulines of San Antonio, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, of my very honorable Mother St. Madeleine, of all the Sisters, and of several others who were present.

August 15th of the Year 1869 Sister Marie St. Pierre of the Passion

Professed Religious

Year 1877

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

Memorandum begun for vacation time of the year 1877. My regret is not to have taken these precautions earlier because I see that my memory fails me regarding certain things that I wanted to forget but the remembrance of which is, however, necessary in order to justify certain miscalculations or to help us avoid some difficulties in the future by making use of past experience. I resisted this thought of noting each day the most urgent things which should serve to recognize our mistakes as well as to encourage us when we had done well. I even resisted the advice that had been given to me to note daily things relating to the good administration of the House because I always inclined toward the idea that, as Daughters of the Incarnate Word, our only ambition should be to see everything around us forgotten and to love the remembrance of our efforts to please Him in the infinite depth of His goodness, desiring that, in return for this forgetfulness of our efforts, divine Goodness may forget our faults and that silence and forgetfulness of their persons be the only claim that all the Sisters of the Incarnate Word in general and in particular make on people who surround them. Just as our Master, the Incarnate Word, was in His incarnation unknown, unperceived and forgotten except by the inhabitants of heaven and by the Holy Virgin, His Mother, I would have wished, or at least I felt myself urged by the desire, that God alone would know the past, present and future of His servants.

Another reason which kept me on guard against these external publications of our pains and of our joys, of our failures and of our successes is this: having had temporal difficulties of all kinds and having received them from God through human instruments, I feared to fail against one or other of the two virtues so dear to our Divine Spouse, that is to say, charity and truth. Convinced that God has tried us only out of love, having as proof of this the persevering assistance which His powerful help has given us by preserving us in our material existence and in our spiritual and individual existence, I feared being unjust and ungrateful towards His merciful goodness by making known sufferings that came to us from His purifying Providence, not by angels but by souls dear to Him and who, although armed with the sword of suffering to transpierce us in a slow and persevering manner, had only the glory of God in view and the good of our souls as well as that of the work entrusted to us.

Thirdly, knowing our material incapacity and that of our personnel, although we were animated with good will to work at our perfection and the establishment of the work entrusted to us, a certain number of our trials were caused by this very incapacity. Therefore, it appeared more just and safe, according to my conscience, to pardon others rather than to consider ourselves as the persons offended. Moreover, our inmost and heaviest sufferings are connected with persons whom our heart and our duty have always told us to love and respect. They who, by remembrance or sisterly affection would be driven to regret not to be able to live again with us as in the beginning, will be solaced by the thought that the book of eternity will remember everything which can contribute to our happiness and will be soothed by the thought that charity is the virtue dearest to the Incarnate Word.

By observing and preserving it, we wished only to prove to our Savior and to you, our dear Sisters, that we want to love God above everything. Our only regret is not to have loved Him enough, and often to have lost a part of the treasures with which His Goodness wished to enrich us by moaning too humanly under the cross, this honorable decoration of the servants of Christ.

It is, however, my desire to give you a general glance at the principal points related to the beginning and the growth of our dear Community of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio. I understand that these details will be of some benefit to you and I will try that, there, where God alone was acting and making known His will, my pen be the faithful echo of His Goodness.

(Unfinished)

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

St. Joseph Orphan Asylum

San Antonio, Texas

December 30, 1877

Sister St. Etienne (Stephen)

My dear Child,

I have received your two letters and I am replying immediately to the second one. Tomorrow I am leaving for Cuero and Indianola. I have submitted your reasons to our Superior and to our Sisters. The general opinion is that, if the good religious who are giving you hospitality wish to do you the charity of keeping you, you may remain as long as it will be necessary for you to acquire a perfect knowledge of the machine and, in addition to that, to learn all that you can in order to do well the work of the Incarnate Word to which you are assigned. But see to it, my daughter, that you will not inconvenience the Sisters. Tell Mother St. Charles to be at her ease with you and to tell you freely what she thinks about the length of your stay in her Community. As far as we are concerned, we will be pleased and grateful for the services rendered to you, and you may remain there as long as you do not waste your time or inconvenience the Community that is so good to you. You understand, my dear, what I mean by not wasting your time; I mean that you can stay there until you have learned well what they are teaching you.

All that you tell me about the kindness of the Sisters is nothing new to me; I had told you they were good. When one loves her vocation sincerely as they do, one has only one ambition, namely, to devote oneself and sacrifice oneself more and more for the work of God, a work one loves and wants to love always. Acquire as much as you can the good spirit of these saintly Sisters who surround you and be very grateful and deferential to each one. Wish them a happy New Year for me and tell them that we are praying that God may repay them for what they are doing for us. Ask Mother St. Charles to buy a machine for us, a good one, and a good bargain. I have no money just now but during the month of January I hope to be able to send you the amount necessary.

Tell Caroline to come back alone when she can. I will write to her as soon as I get to Cuero. Our Father has received your letter. He is ill and has asked me to thank you for your good wishes. He is grateful for the sentiments expressed in your letter. Do not worry about his illness; I hope it is not serious.

Your Sisters are all well. Our little Nattie died this morning and she will be buried tomorrow morning.

Goodbye, my dear Etienne. Be courageous. We are happy to have opportunities to prove our love for God.

I embrace you, my dear, with the affection of a Sister and a Mother. Pray for me.

All yours in the Incarnate Word

Sister St. Pierre unworthy Religious of the Incar. Word

P. S. Please send me the address of the asylum. I always forget it, or at least the number.

The Santa Rosa Infirmary that became St. Joseph Orphan Asylum, located at Commerce and Cameron Streets.

Year 1878

L.S.L.V.I.

Cuero

January 4, 1878

Sister St. Etienne

My dear Child,

I send these few lines with Miss Caroline’s letter to tell you that your Sisters in Cuero and Indianola are in good health. We will have the happiness to renew our vows on Sunday. Sister Therese came to Cuero to make her retreat and we will go together to Indianola the following week.

Learn well, my dear child; become skilled, and above all be a good religious. Bishop Pellicer is in New Orleans. He usually stays with the parish priest of St. Peter and Paul’s parish. If the roads are good and if you wish, you could go to see him. Be short, filial, simple and respectful in your visits.

See if Miss Caroline needs money to return and give her some piastres in case she is given nothing in New Orleans. I am enclosing five piastres in this letter. The next time I write, I will send five more and little by little we will pay for the machine if they found it necessary to buy it. I left San Antonio last Monday with Sister Mary Berchmans. We had a good trip but it is terribly cold here and I think it is the same everywhere.

Goodbye, my dear child. I shall write to you again next week. Meanwhile pray for me and believe me to be always,

Your affectionate Mother,

Sister St. Pierre

P. S. Be sure to give my regards to all the Sisters, especially to good Mother St. Charles.

L.S.L.V.I.

Indianola

January 19, 1878

Sister St. Etienne

My dear Child,

I have received your two letters and am pleased with the good news you give me. Make yourself worthy of the goodness of our divine Savior by serving him with all your soul, and, as you know, that means to love what pains and mortifies us in both soul and body. I cannot recommend to you sufficiently to be all that you should be toward the Sisters who are so charitable to us. Be perfectly dead to yourself; make interior acts of abnegation of your tastes and aversions and that will make it possible for you to live in a manner befitting the title you have of Spouse of the Incarnate Word. Oh! Yes, my Etienne, let us not forget that we no longer belong to ourselves; we have given ourselves to Him, to Jesus, to our Creator, and who will one day be our Judge.

Your Sisters in Cuero and Indianola are well. They are working as well as they can for the good God, and the days I spend with them are really days of consolation.

I am sending you ten dollars as I said I would. I will try to send you the money ·to pay for the machine little by little. Take apart and put together again your machine. I insist on this, you know, because when you are in San Antonio and alone in face of difficulties you will have to rely on your experience.

When you have the opportunity, greet Sister Mary of Jesus for us. Learn all, all that you possibly can. I am so pleased that you are learning to make flowers.

I heard from our Sisters in San Antonio the day before yesterday. They are well. Little Agnes from the hospital died.

You can write to me again and send your letter to Indianola where I will be until the first days of February.

Goodbye, my dear. I ask you to make, if you can, a novena of disciplines according to my intentions and during the nine days that you take the discipline to make 9 acts of mortification – you understand me, something which will deprive your senses or your heart of legitimate enjoyment– and to say 9 Our Fathers and 9 Glorias each day. I count on your charity and obedience to make this novena with fervor and perseverance.

My love and gratitude to Mother St. Charles and to the good Sisters I know there. I pray much for them and it is all I can do. For yourself, my dear child, you know with what affection I love you.

Devotedly in our savior, Sister St. Pierre, superior

Sister St. Etienne (Stephen) Dombey

L.S.L.V.I.

Cuero

February 7, 1878

Sister St. Etienne

My dear Daughter,

I have received your letter and it has relieved me of worry about the money I sent you. Here there is no paper money and I cannot send you any. When I arrive in San Antonio, I will write to you. Sister Mary of Jesus is here but, since it has rained a lot, we cannot leave at once. Our Sisters in San Antonio, here and elsewhere, are all in good health.

I think you will soon be able to return to us, my Etienne. We will see about that when I return to San Antonio. Sister Madeleine or I will go to Galveston to meet you. Don’t worry, learn all you can, be grateful, pray, and be cheerful. Life is so short, my dear child. How happy we are to be able to do something for our Jesus!

Goodbye, my dear. I think of you often and rejoice to think that you are learning to love the good God with the example of the saintly souls who surround you.

That Mary Immaculate may bless you is the prayer of,

Your Mother who loves you,

St. Pierre

L.S.L.V.I.

Cuero

the 10th, 1878 (Probably February)

Sister St. Etienne

My dear Child,

I received your letter and you must have received the one I sent you by Sister Aimée of Jesus. I will already be in San Antonio if the continual rains do not prevent us from leaving here. Sister Mary of Jesus is here but we will leave tomorrow morning at dawn. It is extremely cold and I have difficulty in holding my pen.

I am very grateful to you, my dear daughter, for having told me about your fears. It is true that I told her to come to San Antonio but that was because she had positively said that she was going to go soon to Indianola to see her daughter. You can judge, my child, that could ruin the Indianola School because Sister Gabriel, her daughter, is head mistress and society people, seeing her poor and simple mother, might lose their esteem for a mistress coming from the poor. So you see I was obliged to prevent a greater unpleasantness. It was with real repugnance that I made this offer but circumstances forced me to do so. She is the mother of an only child whom she loves exceedingly and Sister Gabriel, who knows her mother, says that the latter will be content when she will have the hope of seeing her. Poor Sister Gabriel is troubled on seeing that nothing can calm this too natural affection of her mother. As far as she is concerned, she is determined, but her mother is less so from day to day. I believe she has a true vocation so we must do what we can now to aid her perseverance. That is more troublesome for me than for you, dear daughter. The Sisters here and in Indianola are all of the opinion that it is best to avoid her going where her daughter is on account of society people. As soon as you receive this letter, ask Mother St. Charles to give you a companion and, if you do not know where this poor woman lives, go to the priests of St. Peter’s Church to find out where she is and give her the letter from me. If Mother St. Charles accompanies you, read the letter to this poor woman and have her understand well that I do not want her to come with the intention of remaining; that I want her to see what San Antonio is and experience what she can do here and that only after reflection and effort should she make a decision. Sister Gabriel wanted to make her understand that, and it is unfortunate if she did not explain it clearly. I positively do not want her to take it into her head to remain in San Antonio without knowing if she can get accustomed to it.

You see, my dear, that I always, always have crosses but I trust that God will have pity on us and help us. Write to me immediately after you have carried out this request and tell me the result. Address your letter to San Antonio where I will then be.

It is so cold that I cannot write more. Goodbye, have courage, and let us pray and struggle calmly against the difficulties that God sends us. My respect and love to all the Sisters.

Your Mother in our Savior,

St. Pierre, superior

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

Beaujeu

July 1, 1878

Mother Madeleine, St. Francis, St. Claude, St. Joseph, etc., etc., etc.

My dear Sisters,

May St. Peter cry out to the Lord for us and entrust to Him the care of our bark!

I thank one and all for your good wishes. Your feast letters arrived and I have asked Our Lord, to Whom all honor and glory be given in the person of your Superior, to grant you all virtues but especially a spirit of faith and obedience which make religious true victims of pure love. Religious obedience has such great virtue because it flows from supernatural views and strips the soul who practices it of its self-seeking and merely natural reasoning. By reason of the surrender of our soul to the interior practice of this virtue, our vocation finds delights and the cross of daily renunciation of self-will leaves its stamp of interior peace which God gives as a pledge of His reign in a heart which has freely given itself to Him.

I beg you, my good Sisters, lovingly to remember the noble task which the Incarnate Word entrusts to you; that is to say, that being the first chosen by His Divine Heart you may be all His, applying yourselves only to His interests. Govern by giving the example of gentleness and humility. Do not examine too much what is done badly but give good example in everything so that you can confidently ask to be understood and that such and such a thing be done. Our Sisters are our equals; they are our Sisters; we should treat them as such and not make ourselves feared through rank of seniority, or by power or position. Duty is easy when led by example, and charity exercised after faults are committed, even if it be badly understood and rewarded, is however the virtue that triumphs on earth and in heaven because it is the favorite virtue of Our Gentle Savior. Let us love well the Incarnate Word and try to make Him loved by the gentleness of our manners. One gains all by conquering oneself for God; with Him every victory over self is understandable.

I know, my dear Sisters, that you have your perfection and that of our Community at heart as much and perhaps more than I have. But, as Mother, I am inspired by Our Lord to encourage and exhort you. I know that you are religious who are desirous of doing your duty by surrendering yourselves soul and body, whatever the cost, to the counsels and direction of your Superior. Let us be inflamed then with divine charity after the example of our Good Master. Let us love our Sisters, sustain them, and respect them because they are the spouses of the Incarnate Word. I repeat, the general way to do away with their defects and imperfections is to give good example and win them by affection to give themselves to Our Saviour out of love for Him. Those of you who by reason of your charge or who will again resume charge in a few months must certainly do more than support and encourage. You must be ready for the difficult duty of correcting and of healing wounds rather than deepening them. Severity should not exist except as a last resort. Believe me, dear Sisters, I do not regret having been patient but I regret having been at times too severe even when it seemed necessary to be so. However, take good care not to be weak while being good. Those of you who will be called upon to be Superiors must be careful never to give the subjects the reason for their commands. To do so would be to do wrong to a soul who merits simply by obeying. But you can show confidence in your Sisters; listen to their opinions without fear of not following them if God inspires you otherwise. A Superior should love her Sisters but must not weaken in them the esteem of the authority of God Himself in whose name she commands. God should not be subjected to us.

Have a great spirit of prayer and union with God. Fear displeases Him. With a desire to love Him and cause Him to be loved, you will succeed in governing with a good spirit without making those you govern feel a spirit of slavery, and who, although subject to us, are perhaps our Superiors in virtue before God. Let us all take St. Joseph as Superior of the house of the Incarnate Word. Through obedience to God, he commanded God, received His respect, and, however, he adored, served and loved Him as his God. He did not ask any miracle of Him; he worked laboriously and fulfilled his temporal office as we do for the Incarnate Word who is superior to him in everything. Oh! my children, since I cannot give you all the counsel which our Lord inspires in me, let me send you these few words with the hope that you will look upon them with a spirit of faith and be firmly resolved to serve the Incarnate Word, each in your own sphere, with all the ardor of your soul and in the most generous spirit of sacrifice. Oh! Let us love our Jesus well; there are so few who love Him and so many who offend Him! Obey without any self-seeking; do not consider the worthiness of persons. Our Lord entrusted the care of governing His Church to His unfaithful apostle, St. Peter. What a lesson to teach us that God does not always confide government to those who are worthy! Obedience is rendered to Him, not to creatures. Sister assistant and all of you want to submit to the difficult task of managing and ordering. She is Superior and to fail her in anything at all, interiorly or exteriorly, would be to fail God Himself. I know that you have your perfection and salvation at heart.

Courage, courage, my Sisters. Pray for me. My task is difficult and I ask your pardon for the manner in which I carry it out. However, believe me that I put all good will into its execution. Please help me by being true religious.

Your affectionate Mother,

Sr. St. Pierre, Superior

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

Lyons

August 4, 1878

Sister St. Etienne

My dear Child,

I was waiting to see your parents before writing to you. Seeing that I have not yet been able to visit them, I am sending you these few lines to thank you for your feast day wishes and to tell you once more that I love and think of my dear Etienne often.

I know that you must do much violence to yourself to overcome the demon who attacks you in many directions and also that, suffering as you are, you are not very strong. So I want to tell you to have courage and not fear the struggle. Life will soon have passed, my poor Etienne, and we will no longer be able to do violence to ourselves for our Jesus nor add any jewels to our crown. Let us then with confidence and humility, when we have worked out of self-love, reject such work and seek what is better, works which are marked by the cross, by death to self-love, to our vanity, to our irritability, to our spirit of criticism, etc. The latter are bitter to the taste but they will be incorruptible and will endure eternally.

How is your health, my poor Etienne? Do you still have pigs?

I intend to go see your parents this month and then I will bring you the most recent news of them.

Do not fail to embrace the newcomers for me. Pray, pray always; make novenas of mortification that I may find good subjects and the means to bring them across.

Goodbye, my child; receive the assurance of my affection and believe me to be always,

Your affectionate mother,

St. Pierre

Unworthy religious of the Incarnate Word

P.B.T.I.W.

(Probably 1878)

R. Rev. Lord,

We, your children of the house of the Incarnate Word, in the city of San Antonio, humbly come to your Lordship’s feet to ask you a favor, and that is to allow us to elect a new for our Superior, Mother St. Pierre who has conducted so well our house for so many years.

It would be impossible for us to find a subject endowed with so many special virtues and qualities for governing with such a truly maternal care.

We hope that your Lordship's paternal heart will not refuse us this earnest request.

We have the honour to remain with profound respect, your Lordship’s most humble and devoted children,

Sr. St. Jean Francis Regis

Sr. St. Madeleine

Sr. St. Claude

Sr. St. Joseph

Dear Sisters,

I grant most cordially your reasonable request.

Your father in Christ

+Anthony Dominic (Pellicer)

Bishop of San Antonio

Year 1879

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

Panna Maria

October 5, 1879

Sister St. Madeleine

My dear Sister,

I received your letter. I am sorry that St. Rose has had to suffer, but on the other hand I am pleased because suffering will perhaps be a stronger stimulant to make her do her duty than love and fear of God. Tell her that from me.

As regards the ceremony of the blessing of the statue of the Blessed Virgin, I am of the opinion that the house make every effort to cooperate in this solemnity. But if there are expenses, something costly to furnish at our expense, it seems to me we should not do so since we do not have the means. It would be necessary that at least the material for the banners and the furnishings be paid for because we cannot do it alone despite the happiness that would be ours in doing so. The Blessed Virgin who knows our financial difficulties will be pleased to accept our mortification. Everything we have in the house may be loaned for this occasion but do not make more than two banners for the orphans. Let them understand that they will pay for these banners little by little from the money they receive for the jobs they do in order that these banners be theirs. If the children from the school all gave 5 or 10 cents or more according to their means, they also would be able to have one or two banners, and our poor Sisters, in honor and for the love of the Blessed Virgin, could stay up a little late to prepare and arrange everything. Sr. St. Vincent, with the help of the orphans and other Sisters, could make a dozen white lilies which twelve of the youngest little girls from the orphanage and the school would carry and stand around the altar of the Blessed Virgin holding the lilies in their pure and innocent hands. There is sufficient material in the house to make the lilies. They should be round and rather tall and could be used afterwards to decorate the altars.

I would like very much to be present for that occasion but the mortification will be salutary for me. Don’t forget to arrange well the Sacred Heart altar for the joy that He will experience on seeing His Mother honored.

St. Rose could suggest to the sacristan to make a collection and write down the names of the donors or Father might make an announcement and then give the collection to cover the decorating costs. Do your best, but have two banners, one blue and one green, for the orphans; put on one of them something to the Blessed Virgin and on the other something to the Guardian Angel. Try to have my twelve lilies for the Community representing our offering. We could keep the lilies for the Cathedral, especially for the Blessed Virgin's altar.

Please ask St. Stanislaus to let you know when there will be an opportunity to see anyone from Panna Maria in San Antonio so that you can send us the lives of Mother Hallahan or Mother Julia, the first Visitation Superiors; of Mother McAuley and some other lives in English, St. Stanilaus, Berchmans. It would be good for our Sisters to read them.

Be good enough to mail me two balls of white wool for my knitting. My health is good. St. Alphonse is well and is behaving well.

Wishing you holy perseverance and zeal in the service of God, I embrace you.

Yours affectionately,

St. Pierre

Mother Madeleine Chollet

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

San Antonio

November 27, 1879

Original in English

Sister M. St. Francis Xavier

My very dear Sister, and loved Child,

May your holy Patron intercede for you, and impart to you the real love of a religious life!

Happy feast, happy feast, my Xavier; may you rise up on the day of your feast with an ardent and true love of the humiliations and sufferings due to a spouse of Jesus Christ!

We will all receive Holy Communion on your feast day for you, my darling, and I hope that the love we have for you may increase in the true bonds of a fraternal love until, all united, we will enjoy one another’s company forever in the dwelling of our Spouse, the Incarnate Word.

Accept, my child, my sincere wishes for your perfection and perseverance in the service of God and believe me forever,

Your Mother in Jesus

St. Pierre, superior

Year 1880

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

San Antonio, Texas

April 1, 1880

Original in English

Dear St. Xavier,

Though our Father will bring you the expression of our love, I thought a few words from your old Mother would please you. Vacation is approaching. I hope you prepare your heart by a continual immolation of your self-will to be the Spouse of the Incarnate Word. Oh! What a title! Make yourself worthy of it. You know what He wishes to be pleased with us: obedience, humility, to do nothing else but what our Superiors wish of us, to inquire for nothing, to ambition nothing in knowledge for ourselves but what Jesus wishes, to be exact in observance of our rule and the orders given by our Superior. I hope you are faithful to prepare daily your lessons before you go to teach; you know it is the will of God. If you would not be faithful to that, it would be pride and disobedience and the Incarnate Word could not love you as a faithful disciple. Do not seek to learn English. You will learn it in time. Improve yourself in German and, if you are diligent in that, God will bless your efforts for whatever. He will apply you to afterward. We have not come to be worldly teachers, but to be religious, and religious do not exist where there is no obedience, and abstraction of judgement. Pray for me, my darling, and believe me,

Your affectionate mother,

St. Pierre

Year 1881

Praised Be the Incarnate Word

January 2, 1881

In case I should die without having fulfilled the following obligations, I wish the Sisters of our Community to know they are obliged to fulfill them since I contracted them in the name of the Congregation.

If the Sisters sent to Panna Maria and to St. Joseph’s Parish are successful in their examinations to teach in the public schools, $25.00 will be given to the Rector of San Fernando Church to aid in the purchase of a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows.

2.       For the same reason, we will buy the Messenger of the Sacred Heart for each of our Missions depending on the city of San Antonio.

3.       Each member of the Community, whether she be a novice or professed, will say the Stabat Mater for one year. She may say it in Latin or in her own language if it should happen that she is not with the Community when it is recited daily in common according to the intentions for which it is prescribed, that is, to give thanks for the protection which Our Lady of Sorrows grants to our Sisters.

Sister St. Pierre

Sup. of the community of San Antonio

and of each house dependent upon

this community

Panna Maria

January 2nd 1881

Copy: in English

Rev. Mother St. Pierre.

My dear Mother!

My little Mother requested me to write and inform you that we have arrived safely, and we are all well. We cannot inform you about when the examination will take place, but as soon as we find out, we shall let you know. As it is getting dark, I have no time to tell you about our journey. However, I will try to do so on another occasion.

We have only three mattresses, and no pillow, so we try to sleep the best we can. Our dear Jesus had no bed to lie upon, so I am as ever in J. C.

Your daughter

Sr. M. Anthony

unworthy religious of the I. W.

Panna Maria

January 5th 1881

Copy: in English

Rev. Mother St. Pierre

My very dear Mother in Christ,

Our little Mother would write herself only that she has been very sick, and she is not well yet, so Father does not think that she is able to write. Therefore, Mother wishes that I should write and inform you of everything that we have received and also of things which we have not received. Sr. St. Michael gave us the list of clothes, so when we took the clothes out of the trunk we counted each Sister’s things. Sr. St. Cecelia has the clothes according to the list, excepting her chemises which were marked 6 but we find only 3, and also one flannel.

Sr. St. Martha has only one flannel, so she cannot change and we have only 5 chemises for Sr. St. Martha. Sr. St. Anthony has everything that she needs. Mother has no clothes, but you know it. We find 16 guimpes and 15 bandoes but the Sisters at Cestohowa have not guimpes; we were obliged to lend them a change. The coffee, sugar, and tea that was sent, we left with the Sisters at the other mission as they have not store in that place; and Father was kind enough to get us all that we needed. We have no public school this month, as there are so many children sick. The trustees told us that it was much better for us to wait until next month. Please excuse my writing for I am in a hurry to finish the letter before the mail starts. Please send us the rule and constitutions; Father asked for them. You may send them in French for he speaks it better than English. We have just received your kind letter, and we were all glad to hear from home.

I remain as ever in Christ,

Your child,

St. Anthony

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

San Antonio, Texas

Jan. 8th 1881

Copy: in English

Sister St. Anthony

My very dear Sister,

Our Rev. Mother has consigned to me the terrific task of addressing you a few words which I know will cause you pain, but please, dear Sister, do not look to me as if I were the one speaking to you; but only as an instrument in the hands of our Worthy Mother which is in her power to use as she thinks proper. Our Respected Mother has been feeling badly on account of having heard that you are in need of so many things, but what caused her more pain was to read your letter in which she found a great many faults; consequently she fears that you are not very well acquainted with your Grammar, and also with Orthography because the mistakes you make are very simple and words which are used every day. Although our dear Mother is not acquainted with our English Grammar, nevertheless she can see and knows when we write correctly. Rev. Mother is very uneasy because you do not pay due attention to your spelling in writing as you have often to write to persons of the world, such as those men that have to do with the public schools; you should be very careful. You are well aware that they are always ready to pass remarks about Religious teachers, and are very glad to do so, when we give them an occasion. Please, dear Sister, also when you address a letter pay attention to do it well, or give it to some one who knows how to write better, because it is for the sake of our dear Community and our schools that we should try to do the very best in our power, and more so, when we are quite new in a place. Our Worthy Mother returns the letters you have written to her in order that you may see the faults you have made, for example sugar, and a great many others.

Rev. Mother also requests me to inform you that she will not be at ease until after you will have been examined. Hoping that you will succeed in all your undertakings with the grace of God,

I remain your sister

Sr. M. Louis Gonzague of Jesus

For Our Rev. Mother St. Pierre.

P.B.T.I.W.

St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum

San Antonio, Texas

Jan. 9th 1881

Copy: in English

Sr. St. Francis

Dear Sisters!

As our Rev. Mother is not very well and also very busy, she requests me to write to you in her name.

Rev. Mother is very sorry about the mistake that has been made in regard to the objects missing, for she informed Sr. St. Joseph to see that everything needed should be forwarded to the missions in regard to provisions and bedding. Probably she forgot to do so. Now, as for the chemises, Rev. Mother says that four are sufficient because it is not said that the Sisters are to remain all the time out on the same mission; consequently, packing up trunks is required from time to time, and the less clothes we have with us the less trouble also. Now if the chemises are not in good order you are well aware that the very next day after your arrival from Seguin, you were obliged to go to Panna Maria; therefore, the chemises must have been in the said state whilst under your care in Seguin; consequently, Sr. St. Michael had no time to mend them. As for the pillows, Our Rev. Mother says that you may get ticking and hay and make them until you will be able to get feathers. The whiskey I am confident that it has been sent. Our Worthy Mother requests of you to inform yourself about where it has been left, and try to get it, for we are sure that it has been put in the wagon. Rev. Mother says for you to get a wagon in order she may be able to send your trunk. We will also try in the meanwhile to get one, and Rev. Mother will send you all you need in the trunk.

Love to all. May God bless you!

Sr. St. Pierre, Sup.

Panna Maria Jan. 12, 1881

Copy: in French

Reverend Mother St. Pierre

Very dear Mother,

I am really pained to see that I am giving you so much trouble but permit me to tell you that my intention in asking Sister St. Antoinette to write was not to make a complaint or to demand but only to inform you of what we had received, etc., and that the list Sister St. Michael gave me on leaving the house was not in conformity with what she put in the trunk. Moreover, I know that when the Sisters from the missions return to the Motherhouse their linen is examined to see if they bring back what they took with them. I am surprised to be blamed for the linen of Sister St. Cecilia. The good Sister did not have four chemises in Seguin and they put down six for her on the list. As regards the whiskey, I will inquire again about it but I do not believe I will find it since our Sisters tell me they saw only three bottles in the wagon –two filled with hot water and one filled with coffee.

Our Sisters unite with me in sending you affection and I am as always,

Your unworthy daughter in J. C.

Sr. St. F. Regis

P.B.T.I.W.

Panna Maria, Texas

Jan. 12th 1881

Copy: in English

Rev. Mother St. Pierre

My Worthy Mother,

I thank you for the letter that you sent to me. I feel very sorry to have caused you so much pain; because I know that I should have taken the Dictionary and looked for the words of which I was not sure but I did not pay attention to my spelling, however, I will be more careful when I write to you for the future. I will do so only when I have time so as not to give you pain through my many mistakes. You tell me that you will not be at ease until after I will be examined. Well, you know how ignorant I am. I shall try to do as you have requested of me, to consider what was contained in your letter, to do as God, our Community requests of me.

I am as ever in Christ,

Your child,

St. Anthony

Praised Be the Incarnate Word!

St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum

San Antonio, Texas

May 11, 1881

Very Rev. Father and venerated Sisters,

Thanks and praise to the divine Incarnate Word for the choice favors He has profusely granted to His spouses!

Yesterday, May 10th, at ten o'clock in the morning the general elections took place of our San Antonio Community in our chapel at St. Joseph's Orphanage. After the votes were declared valid by His Highness, Bishop Néraz, newly raised to the episcopacy, to the great joy of the Community the following were elected; Superior: Rev. Mother St. Pierre; Assistant: Sr. Marie St. Madeleine of Jesus; Mistress of Novices: Sr. St. L. Gonzaga of Jesus; Treasurer and Secretary: Sr. L. Gonzaga of Jesus; Consultors: Sr. St. Claude, Sr. St. Joseph, Sr. St. Ange, and Sr. St. Anthony.

It is not necessary, Rev. Father and venerated Sisters, to ask you to aid us by your prayers to obtain for our greatly beloved Rev. Mother and for all the officers of our Community the strength and the light necessary for them to respond worthily to the will of the Incarnate Word. It is in this hope that I beg you to accept the sentiments of profound respect of one who calls herself,

Your