Dies Natalis of Blessed Anne of Jesus
Blessed Anne of Jesus and Mother Mectilde
On the fourth of March, 1621, Blessed Anne of Jesus, the hand-picked disciple of St Teresa through whom the Teresian Carmelite reform entered France, breathed her last, dying in the same extraordinary way in which she lived. Blessed Anne of Jesus was beatified by Pope Francis on 29 December, 2024.
Venerable Catherine Mectilde de Bar, the foundress of our charism, was six years old at the time.
It is not difficult to discover the connection between Mother Mectilde and the Teresian reform — one need do nothing more than look at Mother Mectilde’s own life and writings to discover the profound influence St John of the Cross and, to a lesser extent, St Teresa of Jesus had on her spirituality. Moreover, the Benedictine reforms of the 17th century — Le Grand Siècle — were highly influenced and even based off of the Discalced reforms. More directly, Mother Mectilde herself had contact with some Discalced Carmelites in France.
France and the Need for Reparation
We told the story in a recent post about how Mother Mectilde was moved, upon seeing a painting of the Vestal Virgins tending their flame, to found a monastery of nuns who, in a hidden way, would give the Eucharistic Jesus all the loving attentions denied Him. Reparation is about love. It is about Jesus’ love repairing us, and it is about the love He pours out on us being returned to Him — love for Love — in reparation for all the sins and ingratitude that He meets with, as He said to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, when Mother Mectilde was 58:
Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love, and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask…for a special Feast to honor My Heart, by…making reparation to It…in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its Divine Love upon those who shall thus honor It, and cause It to be honored.
Why Reparation Was Necessary
In honor of the anniversary of Blessed Anne of Jesus’ entrance into heaven, we present excerpts from a very long but remarkable letter reprinted in Blessed Anne of Jesus’ beautiful biography, The Life of the Venerable Anne of Jesus: Companion of St. Teresa of Avila. This letter was sent back to Spain to describe their adventurous and miraculous entrance into France in 1604 — one decade before Mother Mectilde was born. The descriptions in it of the neglect and profanations of the Most Blessed Sacrament are beautiful and heart-rending. Reading things like this goes a long way to illustrate what so prompted Mother Mectilde to devote her entire life to nothing but loving reparation.
Sadly, in our own day, we also need reparation. Last week, for instance, there was a day of reparation in response to a tragic profanation of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Bangalore City.
Letter of Blessed Anne of Jesus to a Bishop, Paris, 1605.
A Journey to France to Please His Divine Majesty
Jesus.
May God be blessed, Who has deigned to allow that I should receive a letter from your Lordship in the land of our exile where we are living in order to please His Divine Majesty. For that it was which made us leave Spain. Our departure was so hurried that we had not time to speak to our own Sisters in the convent, nor would they give permission for us to visit those we passed on the way, excepting at Avila, Burgos and Vittoria where a halt was indispensable. I do not know if this was due to some fear on the part of our Father General, or if it was the wish of Fr Provincial who accompanied us nearly half way, for he is a man of many contrary qualities.
How the Most Blessed Sacrament Was Being Treated
The incidents of the journey were full of difficulties and I may say it was a miracle that we came through alive. Of the three hundred leagues that we had to travel, we were certainly on foot for more than a hundred, and yet we walked with so much ease that the fatigue never lasted for long.
My first real sorrow was when we crossed over into France, where I saw the Blessed Sacrament treated with great disrespect. I cannot describe how It is reserved in many places. To mention one place among others, we found the Sacred Host Itself covered with maggots; it was a year since It had been renewed. We could not touch It and were forced to leave It as It was. Judging by the reverence, love and sorrow we felt in seeing His Majesty in this state, I think there must have been a small portion left that was not corrupted. God allowed this, no doubt, in order that we might see accomplished that which He once said through His prophet of Himself “I am a worm and the outcast of men” is easily seen for that matter, by their faces [probably the faces of the Hugenots], for their countenances are like those of condemned criminals. We felt sensibly consoled in seeing that we had come to suffer with our Divine Spouse, in a country [France] where they are crucifying Him anew.
Receiving Holy Communion and Hospitality from Benedictines
During the whole journey, we only missed Holy Communion once and that through our own mistake, for there was always facility for saying Mass for each one of the four priests. Two of our Fathers with two secular priests came to escort us. There was also a secular Knight, a very good Catholic, and three ladies of high birth. Two of them have already taken the habit, and the third is dying of envy in her desire that we give it to her, but as far as regards the receptions we are going quietly. In some towns we found well reformed monasteries of Capuchins and Bernardines. The latter keep the Constitutions of our holy Mother [St Teresa of Avila], and hold her in great veneration. They are called Feuillants. They call themselves our brothers, and have treated us in a very friendly manner. We stopped at two or three convents of Benedictine nuns, who received us in grand style, some chanted the Te Deum and shed tears of joy because we had come to France.
Seeking to Repair the Profanations to the Most Blessed Sacrament
Several Bishops called upon us. We begged them to have the Churches looked after, and to put an end to the irreverence with which the Blessed Sacrament is treated. They promised to see to it and took down in writing the account we gave them. I have been assured that all will be remedied. I recommended the same matter to the Bishop here, and to other Archbishops who came to see me. All undertook to make this their care. If only for this one point, I look upon what we suffered during our journey as well repaid.
Churches Destroyed, Monasteries Emptied
It was a great grief to us to see so many magnificent churches destroyed. Their state of dilapidation showed that they were on the point of falling. We also saw a number of big monasteries where perhaps there was only a single religious, who told us with tears about these disasters. The number of ruins in this kingdom is astonishing, as is also all that Our Lord endures here, for He is continually being crucified afresh. His Divine Majesty is treated disrespectfully, and the majority boast of being heretics. Some of them, of good standing, have by the mercy of God been converted since our coming into this country.
Yet Splendour Remains
We arrived here [in Paris] two days before [the feast of] St Luke. The Princesse de Longueville, our foundress, came to meet us on the way, accompanied by several other ladies. We wanted to make our entry privately, in order to go to St Denis before entering the convent. For this reason we crossed the whole of Paris, which is an extremely large town. St Denis is two leagues away, and that is the distance the saint walked carrying his head in his hands. We went to the spot where he was beheaded, as well as others martyred at the same time. The way these holy places have been preserved is marvellous. They are kept up with great reverence, and are so richly ornamented, that all that one sees at El Escorial is a mere trifle in comparison to the rich treasury of relics here. They are enshrined in reliquaries adorned with precious stones, so numerous that it is impossible to count them. Among other relics a Nail, a very large fragment of the True Cross, a considerable portion of the Crown of Thorns, the Tunic worn by Our Saviour, which remains entire, and innumerable bodies of Saints. The church is so magnificent that it recalls the temple of Solomon, for not only the walls are inlaid with work in gold, but even the floor-space on which the people walk. All the shrines and reliquaries which contain the bodies of Saints were opened for us, which is only done for Kings; they are of inestimable value. I do not know how to describe all this so as to give you a true idea of it, nor yet the richness of the crowns and other antique objects which are preserved in that spot. There are even vases brought by the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem as a gift to Solomon, and many other things which I cannot describe by letter. All this is entrusted to a monastery of Benedictine monks. There are many monks of that Order here, but they are not reformed, in spite of the fact that they spend most of the day chanting in choir. People say that the King intends to oblige them to adopt reform, and that if they do not, he will withdraw them from St Denis: he has been here twice since my arrival.
A Stop at the Benedictines of Montmartre (Where Mother Mectilde Would Later Reside for a Time)
I will tell you now how we returned thence to Paris, after stopping on the way at a convent of Benedictine nuns, built on the very spot where the Saint suffered martyrdom. They are saints themselves, for, thanks to the books of our holy Mother, they adopted the reform two years ago, so that in some ways they resemble the Discalced. Moreover they treated us altogether as sisters.
A House Too Splendid for the Discalced
Immediately after this, we went to our own house, which is one of those our holy Mother would have had pulled down, if it were not for the fact that it had been built in piety and ignorance by seculars for it is quite certain that they have spent more than 60,000 ducats (approx. €8,000,000) upon it, and as yet it is not finished…
At the Location of St Denis’ Cave
I may say that [the adjoining Church] awakens great devotion. Under the High Altar, is the very grotto in which St. Denis lived when he was preaching Christianity in this kingdom, and where he said the first Mass [in France] and hid with his companions. From that time he dedicated the spot to Our Lady, and our glorious Father St. Joseph, and left their images there carved in stone: they are very devotional. The Church has ten very beautiful chapels, each of which seems like one of the most sumptuous oratories in Spain: it contains the tombs of many saints; of one especially the following story is told:
So numerous were the miracles he worked that the peace of the monastery was disturbed. The Superior forbade the Saint to work any more, and he though dead obeyed the order. St. Martin of Tours came to this locality and founded a monastery of his Order here. There was also there up to the present time a Priory, which has been bought for us. It consists of a house and a very beautiful garden, with a revenue of 400 ducats (approx. €40,000). This money will be apportioned to the Church: it will be used to have Masses said, and for other purposes connected with Divine Service.
Initial Success in France
As to the secular priests whom His Holiness has actually nominated as our Superiors, they are staunch Catholics; and although they have received power to add to or modify the constitutions, according to what may be necessary in this country, they nevertheless wish only for whatever has been left us by our holy Mother. I told them on my arrival that so long as they kept to that, they should have us; but that if they broke away from this agreement, we should return to Spain. Withal they have acted with much moderation, taking care not to offend us in anything. They are much edified by our manner of life.
We have received seventeen novices from the most Catholic and best families of this town. I would not accept anyone who was born or brought up in heresy, but it will be impossible to avoid this in this kingdom because they are all so mixed up. I held firm in withholding my consent, short of an order from the Sovereign Pontiff. He is to be consulted on this point, and I do not know what his ruling will be. I have moreover, begged Fr. Pedro [M. de Berulle] to supply all information over there [i.e. at Rome].
Great Affection (Despite Being Spanish!)
[T]he affection with which we are held is very great. It is truly a miracle, for the generality here have little sympathy with Spaniards. People are astonished to see such great friendship and close union amongst us: the French [novices] say that in the whole kingdom there are no daughters of the same father and mother who love one another as we do. They are much struck with the manner their souls advance in perfection from the first moment they take the habit, and their spirit becomes, as it were, renewed in a different manner of prayer. I take care that they meditate on Our Lord and imitate Him, for here people very seldom think of Him. All is done by a simple glance at God: I do not know how. Since the days of the glorious St. Denis, who wrote on mystical theology, everybody has striven to be united to God by suspension rather than by imitation. This is a strange way of acting. To tell the truth I do not understand it at all, no more than I do their way of talking. I cannot even read [French]. But God has given the grace that, without knowing their language and they being ignorant of ours, we understand one another perfectly and live in great peace, following with great exactitude all our community exercises. Since I left Spain His Divine Majesty has given me sufficient health to enable me to follow community life, but I do it with so little fervour that it seems as if God and my soul had stayed in Spain. May your Lordship have compassion on me and ask His Divine Majesty to exercise His Divine mercy in my regard, and give me grace to do His Holy Will in all things.
May His Divine Majesty preserve your Lordship for us, with all the sanctity we beg of Him to bestow on you.
From Paris, at the Convent of the glorious St. Joseph of the Incarnation.
March 8th 1605.My Lord and my Father,
I am your Lordship’s unworthy daughter and subject,Anne of Jesus,
Carmelite.
