A Confessor and His Spiritual Child: Francois de Sales, Jeanne de Chantal, and the Foundation of the Order of the Visitation

Abstract

I have never understood that there was any bond between us which carried any obligation except that of charity and true Christian friendship, which St Paul calls the bond of perfection, and that is truly what it is, for it is indissoluble and never weakens. All other bonds are temporal . . . broken through death or other circumstances; but the bond of love grows and strengthens over time. It is exempt from the scythe of death . . . So there, dear sister (and permit me to call you by this name, which is the one by which the Apostles and the first Christians expressed the intimate love they had for one another), this is our bond, these are our chains, the more they are tightened and press against us, the more they bring us comfort and freedom. Their strength is sweetness; their violence is gentleness; nothing is more pliable; nothing is stronger.1

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