“He permitted me to behold the Association under the figure of an immense army of valiant soldiers, hastening to join him their Chief, to defend his Father’s glory,”

(Words of the Sister.)

Sr. Mary St. Peter felt strongly urged to make a perfect oblation of herself to God for the accomplishment of his designs. Prevented by her superiors from offering this act, the good sister, in all simplicity of soul, thought she could comply with the urgent demands of her Divine Master, by a little surreptitious means, which she herself, with her usual candor, reveals to us.

It was the feast of the Annunciation, on which the Church celebrates the Incarnation of the Son of God, patronal feast of Carmel at Tours.

“I felt an increased devotion to the holy Infant Jesus, and in union with one of the sisters, who also had the same attraction, we formed the design of consecrating ourselves in a special manner to the Divine Child on this, the day of his Incarnation, to render him more honor and glory. It was I who was to write the act of consecration; I composed it as conformable as possible to the act of perfect abandonment which Our Lord seemed to demand so imperiously. I could not do this without permission, but I was afraid to ask it for I dreaded a refusal. I did not seek the needed permission myself, but induced the sister to ask our Rev. Mother for both, hoping thus to, make in secret, the long desired act of oblation to Jesus. The permission was granted. I was overjoyed, thinking that I had at last gained my object. But the holy Child is not a lover of fraud; he received my act as a simple consecration, as our Rev. Mother had intended in granting the permission. Therefore, he directed me to solicit the authorization of my superiors, that I might offer this act of abandonment with their full consent. I went to accuse myself of the fault I had committed, and repeated to our reverend mother what our Divine Lord had given me to understand. She consulted our worthy ecclesiastical superior, and I obtained their mutual consent.”

Let us add: this favor was not granted her immediately; an extreme delicacy of conscience had urged her to declare the trifling circumstance narrated above as a grievous fault, of which her superiors took advantage to try her the more; it being only after the expiration of nine months that she obtained what she desired.

Before giving the details of this event, the pious sister makes an observation. She says: “There is something singularly strange in this express desire of our Divine Lord, that I should offer him an entire abandonment of myself for the accomplishment of his designs. Is he not the Sovereign Master of all creatures? Is he not free to do with them as he pleases? to make use of their persons, their very lives in the manner he wills? Again, to think that he insisted upon having the full consent of my superiors before taking complete possession of my soul! But it was for this reason: that they, themselves, were to have a large share in the work which my Divine Master proposed to erect on such a questionable foundation. I was nothing in their hands but a useless instrument, which they were to employ in the work of God; and as they were to experience many contradictions on account of this work, he, in a manner, respected their free-will.”

She continues: “I made this act on Christmas, 1843. On the eve, before matins, I placed it in the hands of the Blessed Virgin, beseeching her to offer it to Jesus, born at midnight in the stable of Bethlehem.”

Act of perfect abandonment to the most Holy Child Jesus, according to the full extent of his desires, for the accomplishment of his designs, and for the glory of the Holy Name of God.”

“O most holy and most amiable Infant Jesus! behold, the much desired day has come at last, on which, without fear of failing in the obedience due to my superiors, I can, with full liberty, offer myself entirely and unreservedly to thee, according to thy good pleasure and the boundless extent of thy power over my soul, for the accomplishment of thy designs.”

“I am, indeed, most unworthy, but O Divine Infant, since thou hast desired it, deign, I beseech thee, to purify thy victim by the tears shed during thy holy childhood and by thy most precious blood. Prostrate at thy feet, before thy humble manger, on this night rendered forever memorable by thy most holy birth, I offer myself fully and entirely to thee, my divine Spouse, by the blessed hands of Mary and Joseph, upon the burning altar of thy Sacred Heart, under the protection of the angels and saints. I offer thee a perfect and entire oblation of myself for the accomplishment of thy designs, and for the glory of the Holy Name of God.”

“O divine Child! thou who didst say to thy Holy Mother when she found thee in the temple of Jerusalem: ‘Why hast thou sought me? Didst thou not know I must be about my Father’s business?’ I beseech thee to receive me on this day as one of thy disciples, grant that henceforth the one thought of my life may be to serve thy Eternal Father and to glorify his Holy Name.”

“O most holy Child! I renounce to-day all that I have and all that I am, and I give myself to all that thou art. Do with me what thou pleases, for the accomplishment of thy designs. I beseech thee, take sovereign possession of that which is thine. O divine Infant! for the love of thee, I divest myself of all things now and forever. Deign, I implore thee, in thy great mercy to clothe me with thy sacred merits perfumed with the precious odor of thy virtues, that on the day of judgment, I may receive a welcome from thy heavenly Father. Amen.”

“I call upon our blessed father, Peter de Bérulle, apostle of the Word Incarnate, and upon all the angels and saints of heaven, to witness this contract which I have just made with the Infant Jesus.”

Sister Mary of St. Peter

of the Holy Family.

(Unworthy Carmelite.)

“This contract having been made with Our Lord, I looked upon myself as belonging entirely to him; and notwithstanding my unworthiness, he continued to construct in my soul his edifice, to the glory of the Holy Name of God. At the same time, he urged me to solicit my superiors to have the prayers of Reparation printed and propagated. But when I presented my supplications to our Rev. Mother, she chided me severely for my presumption, saying that it would be much better to recite the beautiful formula of prayers written by the holy Fathers of the Church; that I was self-willed and obstinate to continue thinking of this work of Reparation. After she had said this to me, I had the idea of presenting all my disappointments as so much money to the Blessed Virgin wherewith to pay for the printing of the prayers which her Divine Son wished to have propagated over the whole world. In the meantime, God was granting numerous graces to the sisters of our community who recited the prayers either for themselves or for their parents. As they were entirely ignorant whence originated these prayers, they spoke freely to me about them. One sister said: ‘Really, you can obtain from God all that you desire by making this novena of Reparation.’ There was at the time, a sister very ill, who felt inspired to promise Our Lord that she would make this novena; on the third day she was perfectly restored, and came to impart her joy to me. These were great consolations, for beholding that God thus granted so many remarkable graces, I was confirmed in my opinion, that by the grace of God, the spiritual communications which I received, regarding this work, were not illusions. One day after communion, my Divine Master himself, wishing to console me, said these words, which have since been verified: ‘My daughter, these prayers of Reparation shall be printed, and they shall be distributed.’”

“Our worthy and charitable superiors, who were seriously examining the action of God in my soul, commanded me to give them an account of my interior, in order to ascertain if it were truly God who led me. The following is what I wrote in obedience to their request.”

“Reverend and very honored mother; with the assistance of the Infant Jesus and my good angel, I will now set about accomplishing your command, and state in writing the manner in which I make my mental prayer. It is a difficult task, but obedience and the grace of God, will render all things easy. By this time, very reverend mother, you are accustomed to my poor language; what you particularly desire is not well-turned phrases, but a simple statement of my interior dispositions at the present moment.”

“Firstly, I have no merit in my mental prayer, for it is a second nature and a gift which, notwithstanding my unworthiness, I received from God from my childhood. As a remote preparation for this exercise, I try not to lose sight of the presence of God, and during the day I keep him company in the interior of my soul. Having left to my Divine Savior the care of my parents and of all that relates to myself personally, I think of him alone, considering myself as the little servant of the Holy Family. Consequently, in all that I do during the day, in my office as portress, I act as if I were in the holy house of Nazareth. I imagine that a servant has three duties to fulfil: to accompany his master whither he goes, to execute his orders and to guard his flocks in their proper pastures; in a word, to work solely for the interests of his master and according to his will. This is what I try to do, with the grace of God. My interior occupation is to accompany Our Lord, through the mysteries of his life, to unite myself to him, and to offer him my homage. When I execute his orders, I think of these words of the Gospel: And he was subject to them. Every time the bell summons me to duty, I offer myself in sacrifice to the Eternal Father, on the altar of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, begging him to unite me to his Divine Son, that it might be Jesus alone that acts in me. “When I have no preoccupying duty to perform, I entertain myself with him, I take his sheep to graze in his pastures, by this I mean in his sacred mysteries, the merits of which constitute the food and the nourishment of our souls. I pray for the pastors of the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and I try to keep my mind from all absorbing thoughts. I unite all my actions to those of my Divine Saviour. Thus, exterior occupations very rarely disturb my soul, they only cause it to desire more ardently the repose and tranquility of mental, prayer; and when the time appointed for this exercise draws near, oh! then Our Lord compensates me for all the little sacrifices of the day.”

“I commence my meditation by an examination of conscience, after which I humble myself at the feet of Jesus for all my infidelities to him, beseeching him to pardon me and to purify my soul. Then I entertain myself quite naturally and simply with my amiable Savior, as would a child. Once, Our Lord gave me the following method of prayer, I do not know whether by words or by illumination:

Prepare your soul by recollection;

Purify it by contrition;

Then fill it with God.”

“As it is perfectly useless to continue pouring water into a vase once filled, so is it as useless to crowd the soul with reflections when one alone is sufficient to fill it.”

“Sometimes I am interiorly urged to make my mental prayer in union with Our Lord offering himself to the Father for his glory and for the salvation of souls. Then I perceive myself entirely recollected in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where I find ample food for reflection. Beholding that I am entirely divested of self and clothed with the Lord Jesus, I can approach his Divine Father with more facility, and being enriched with his sacred merits, I do not fear to demand extraordinary graces for our holy Mother the Church and for the salvation of souls. Frequently I follow this method of prayer which is not wholly supernatural, all the powers of my soul being merely united in the Sacred Heart of Jesus; at these times our Lord acts in me and I in him; distractions are very rare because my imagination is transfixed, captive there. But when I am thus with him, and he wills to communicate something new concerning the Work of Reparation, a second operation takes place in my soul; I feel that I am incapable of longer acting, for it seems as if my mind were entirely annihilated to cede place to that of Jesus; it is then that my soul is capable of distinguishing his intimate conversation. The more perfect is this annihilation of all the faculties, so much the more happy is my soul, absorbed as it is in God.”

“In this state the soul finds herself in him without knowing how she has entered therein; the attraction of grace predominates, seizing and possessing all her powers, elevating her above herself and absorbing her entirely in God! Oh! what delicious moments! Favor entirely gratuitous! I experience this perfect contemplation but rarely, for I am totally unworthy of such extraordinary graces. I make my customary mental prayer in the Sacred Heart of Jesus; there he teaches me his will, reveals his desires of laboring for the glory of his Father and for the salvation of souls; this is my most pleasing occupation. It is impossible for me to meditate for any length of time together, firstly, because I have not the strength, and again, because this attraction, coming from the Heart of Jesus, draws my soul toward him, and I find myself captivated, confined in this divine sanctuary, like a little child in the womb of its mother. Then my will and all the affections of my heart perform all, and my poor mind finds itself relieved of all labor. It is Our Lord himself who has called me to this degree of mental prayer. At the beginning, I dared not follow this attraction for fear of not doing right by abandoning the ordinary method; but Our Lord, wishing that I should follow his method, placed before my mind this comparison:— If a king invited me to his table, would it not be absurd to take my dinner with me, instead of partaking of the viands set before me on the prince’s table to which I had been invited? Having consulted others in this point, I was told not to fear following the method inspired by the Holy Ghost, that this was the best way of meditating; of which I have made the happy experience, finding the viands of the Sacred Heart of Jesus much more exquisite than those which I could possibly prepare myself.”

“The signal for the termination of this delicious repast is sometimes given before I have had the time to offer sufficient thanks to my benefactor. Then I briefly express my gratitude, and take the resolution not to lose sight of him who has had the charity to treat me so magnificently, notwithstanding my unworthiness. Nevertheless I am not without experiencing pain from time to time, for dryness and interior suffering are sometimes very necessary for my soul; in these times I accept whatever nourishment the Lord thinks proper to give me.”

We have not been willing to retrench any of this interesting and confidential letter, written with such childish simplicity; we here behold, a humble, confiding soul, elevating herself by degrees to the most sublime heights of the contemplative life. At the school of the Sacred Heart and instructed by the Holy Ghost, the sister proves to be a faithful imitator of St. Gertrude, and a worthy daughter of St. Theresa. What admirable and astonishing progress she has made in the unitive life! Enraptured with her subject, her style becomes sublime; our illiterate little Carmelite, enriches her ordinary simplicity of expression with the most ingenious comparisons, and at times with conceptions, not unworthy the pen of our best ascetic writers. Her superiors had no longer room for doubt; it was plain that grace had taken entire possession of this holy soul, to mold it according to its designs, to make of it a privileged instrument in the great work so necessary to France and to the Church. The Divine Master was not slow in extending her spiritual vision, revealing in a more definite manner his intentions in her regard.

Not only was an ordinary association of Reparation necessary, but an arch-confraternity similar to that of Notre Dame des Victoires, having a center toward which all the sub confraternities of the same work established in France, would converge as the rays of a disk to its center.

Let us attend to what Sr. Mary of St. Peter states concerning what was manifested to her on this subject, February 2^nd, 1844. “For several weeks past, I have experienced nothing extraordinary as regards the work of Reparation; yet Our Lord keeps me in union with, him to glorify his Father, to repair the outrages offered him and to pray that his Name may be sanctified. But to-day, feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, it was my turn to receive the holy communion of vow.”

The sister has already mentioned this “Vow.” Mother Mary of the Incarnation had made a vow for the necessities of the monastery when a change of locality was in question. The terms of this vow were, that for the space of one year, two of the religious in turn according to rank, would pray every day for the accomplishment of the designs of the Sacred Heart, in order to draw down a special benediction on the community.

“It was my turn, to communicate,” continues the sister, “and my good Master desired, notwithstanding my unworthiness, to manifest himself to my soul. Previous to the last occasion on which he addressed me, he was full of wrath against France, and I listened to his words with trembling and fear, and wept bitterly. But to-day, I was inundated with joy, when he made known the pleasure experienced by his Divine Heart at the sight of the zeal and good-will manifested by his children toward the growing association. As his Holy Mother had adopted the arch-confraternity for the conversion of sinners, so had he taken under his protection that of the Reparation; these two associations were to act in concert, the latter, to repair the outrages committed against God, the former to obtain pardon for these outrages, the one through Jesus, the other through Mary. But Our Lord gave me to understand that the association which he wished to establish in France had two objects in view: first, the Reparation of blasphemy uttered against God; second, the sanctification of his Holy Name on the Lord’s Day; consequently, the extirpation of blasphemy and the prohibition of manual labor on Sunday. Blasphemy and the violation of the Lord’s Day are the principal sins which provoke the anger of God against France.”

“To the rules and regulations prescribed by the association at Rome, there are others added to the one established in France; for instance, that the members should perform no manual labor, nor allow others to labor, and to contribute with all their might to the prevention of all kinds of manual labor on the days prohibited. Our Lord desires first, that this association be placed under the patronage of St. Martin, St. Louis and St. Michael; second, that each member recite daily a Dater, Ave, and Gloria Patri, followed by the act of praise which he gave me under the title of “The Golden Arrow,” with an invocation to the holy patrons; but on Sundays and Holydays they should recite all the prayers of Reparation, in expiation for the outrages committed against God on these holy days and to obtain mercy for the guilty. I beheld this association under the figure of an army of valiant soldiers, hastening to join their Chief, to defend the glory of his Father. He wished that their name should correspond to the nobility of their undertaking, and for this reason, that they should bear the title of, ‘Defenders of the Holy Name of God.’ He also gave me to understand that each member should wear a badge in the form of a cross, bearing on one side Sit nomen Domini benedictum, and on the other Vade retro, Satanas. That he would give to this heavenly device a secret virtue to combat against the demon of blasphemy; that every time a member heard a blasphemy uttered, he should repeat the words written on this cross, and in this manner to wage war against Satan, thus glorifying God.”

“Our Lord manifested to me, that the devil would make use of every means in his power to crush this work from the beginning. I felt as though I could shed even the last drop of my blood for so holy an association. Our Lord told me also that he had said nothing to me for a long time, because it was not necessary; that he did nothing undesignedly, but that it was expedient to give me this information to-day. He called my attention to the difference existing between the Association of France and that of Rome, on account of the violation of the Lord’s Day. Oh! if we could know with what joy he looks upon this infant association, we would hasten to satisfy the long cherished desire of his Heart, by enrolling ourselves under the standard of this glorious militia, of which he is the commander-in-chief, to fight with the arms of his cross against the enemies of the Holy Name of God, and to submit them to his sway by rallying them under his standard.”

The Roman association, to which the sister here alludes, is that established by a decree of Gregory XVI on the 8th of August, 1843. The headquarters of this association was at Rome, under the invocation of Peter Caravita, and was placed under the protection of St. Louis, king of France. Each member proposed to himself never to utter a blasphemy or an imprecation. Those invested with authority, should try to encourage their dependents to avoid his odious sin. If they cannot prevent its commission, they must, at least, offer an aspiration of praise, such as, May God be praised! May his Holy Name be Blessed! They should recite daily “Pater and Ave” for the conversion of blasphemers. His Holiness has granted many spiritual favors, notably a plenary indulgence once a month, on any day at option, provided the ordinary conditions be fulfilled; and at the hour of death, another plenary indulgence on the invocation of the Holy Name of Jesus; many other special indulgences are also attached thereto.

An association for the Reparation of blasphemy was not a new institution in the Church; thus we see that Sr. Mary St. Peter was greatly consoled on learning of the existence of a similar association at Rome, and she with good reason inferred from this fact, that the communications, made to her on the subject, were of divine origin. Yet, as it was a question of repairing and extirpating this evil, peculiar to our times, which was propagating itself with alarming rapidity, reparation for blasphemy, the only object proposed by the association of Rome, was not sufficient for that of France, where it was necessary to add reparation for the profanation of Sunday. It must be remarked that in the non-observance of the Lord’s Day, the sister beheld an outrage committed against the sovereignty of God, and an injury done to the sanctification of his Holy Name, a crime in her eyes identical with that of blasphemy: in fact, when the day is no longer sanctified by the suspension of labor, the Holy Name of the Lord is not adored, blessed, known or glorified as it should be.

From the ignorance and contempt of which He is thus the object, results a social evil, so much the more pernicious and fatal to society at large and to individuals in particular, as it daily tends to become more general and more prevalent. On this point also, does France hold the first rank among culpable nations, for by her people, the precept of sanctifying the Sunday, is most daringly and unblushingly contemned. Protestant nations, Mohammedans, and even the Jews, officially recognize one day of public prayer; but in France, neither the state nor the laws ordain a day of prayer and repose from labor,— grave subject of astonishment and scandal to the great number of foreigners who throng her cities. These, therefore, are the reasons why the members of an association for reparation established in France, should pledge themselves not to labor on the days prohibited, and to be zealous in restricting others from performing servile work on these days. Moreover, it was just that the proposed association should be placed under the patronage of St. Michael, St. Martin and St. Louis. Blasphemy and the violation of the Lord’s Day are sins which attack God directly, in violation of the first three commandments, they confer no benefit on man, but are sadly prejudicial alike to his temporal and spiritual happiness. They are diabolical in character, the unhappy transgressor labors not for himself but for the devil, who not only degrades, but enslaves his victim.

It was therefore but just that the former enemy of Lucifer, St. Michael, the acknowledged champion of the “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” as he was likewise of the ancient people of God, should be the first patron of a work whose watchword was Vade retro, Satanas. We also know that St. Martin was one of the adversaries of the demon, driving him from Gaul with the remnants of idolatry, and from this has he become an apostle of charity and zeal, one of the glories of Christianity and the special protector of France.

The Association at Rome, being placed under the auspices of St. Louis, because of the just severity which he exorcised toward blasphemers, it was but natural in France, where, unhappily, the traditions of his piety have been forgotten, that his protection should be invoked for an institution whose object is, to obtain by prayer and the rigorous observance of the divine commandments, that which this great king had already won by the solidity of his virtues and the wisdom of his laws.

Some weeks afterward, the sister refers to the same subject, February 26, 1844. “Our Lord,” writes she to the Mother Superior, “desires most ardently that the work of Reparation be established, as he has given me to understand. I seemed to hear my Divine Jesus from the recesses of the tabernacle address us these words: ‘O ye, my friends and my faithful children! behold if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow! My Divine Father and my cherished spouse, the Holy Church, are despised, outraged by my enemies. Will no one rise up to revenge me by defending them against those enemies? I can no longer remain in the midst of an ungrateful people: behold the torrents of tears that flow from my eyes! Can I find no one to dry them, by making reparation of honor to the glory of my Father, begging of him the conversion of the guilty?’ Such are the sentiments, reverend mother, with which God fills my soul, causing it to experience this interior pain which the Heart of Jesus glorified can no longer suffer. If a king or even an ambassador be despised or set at naught by a foreign nation, his countrymen fly to arms, the honor of the king must be avenged; troops are levied and the death of thousands is counted for naught. And yet, the most holy and terrible Name of the God of armies, of the King of kings is despised and blasphemed; his holy Day profaned by an infinite number of sinners, and no one is concerned, no one thinks of avenging him! But behold! Our Lord Jesus Christ, the ambassador from the kingdom of heaven, demands reparation of honor for his Divine Father, or proclaims war against us, for he has threatened France with his wrath. Shall we hesitate in our choice?”

After perusing these soul-stirring apostrophes, these burning ejaculations, we are overawed and we ask, what would have become of France, if the desire, communicated to the servant of God, had been publicly manifested and immediately fulfilled? Would the entire world have witnessed the misfortunes with which we have since been deluged? Would we have had to fear the evils which still menace us to-day?

The sister, in terminating, begs that the archbishop of Tours be informed of all that has taken place since the feast of St. Louis, concerning the work of Reparation.

“Would you please permit me,” she writes to the mother prioress, “if our reverend ecclesiastical superior consent, to address the archbishop, for I have such an ardent desire to inform him of these things! I most humbly beg of you to grant me this permission. Then I shall have performed all that lies in my power toward the accomplishment of the work which has been revealed to me, notwithstanding my unworthiness; but I shall write to his Grace, only when I feel my soul under the influence of the Holy Ghost, for I desire to make no use of my own convictions, being incapable of anything good; I shall beseech him to guide my pen.”

In another statement she says: “Our Lord has given me such interior pain because of my desire to see his work established, that I have been unable to take any nourishment whatever. I can bear this burden no longer without falling under its weight, for this reason, I feel strongly urged to depose it at the feet of the archbishop.”