Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-21
Nine. d'HOuef
of the Lineage
of the Saints
Abbot Casquet Writes Preface
to Life of a Great Cath
olic Foundress.

The Right Rev. Abbot Gasquet
whose recent visit to America has
| been only recorded and commented
| upon, wrote "a preface to The Lite
| of the Viscountess de Bonnault
d'Houet, the foundress of the Faith
! full Companions of Jesus The life
was written by Father Stanislaus
and is translated from the French
by one of the daughters of the VS.
| countess. There IS also a preface
written by Cardinal Bourne, but that
| of the Abbot Gasquet seems to US
far more inspiring and appropriate.
The subject of this memoir, which
is published by the Messrs. Long
mans. New York and London, be-
came a widow early in life. At first
she devoted herself to her son. after
he was born, cared for the depend
ants on her estate and was devoutly
strict IN her religion and secular
duties.
After q time she was brought into
close relations with the Society Of
Jesus. freed In 1914 from their sup
| preston" by q bull issued by Plus
VII. and it was through their in
| fiuence, especially through that Of
Pere Warm, that the first convent
of the society was founded at
Amiens.
The story of the soclety's fortunes
! is told at length by Pere Stanislaus,
but his claim to fame IS in having
| foundress. All but those most will
fully prejudiced and those most
| bigoted must be won over by his
picture of pure home scenes AMI
| humble sanctity.
Madame d'Houet-as. to put aside
and conceal her rank. she chose to be
called-was an illuminee, yet she
| dreaded mysticism = extraordinary
| ways" as she called it-shrinking
from everything which removed any
one from the ordinary course of the
church's methods-"such things gen
orally and unfortunately" she said.
In MANY ways she resembled Saint
Teresa. Indeed. she was of the high
| lineage Of the saints. She resembled
Saint Teresa. too. in her remarkable
adaptab'litv for business.
She warned her daughter to walk
| faithfully in the footsteps OF our
Lord, not in sweetness and pros
perity, but by carrying with Him
your crosses in patience"
| Then, there appears a hint of Saint
| Teresa's humor, when she says,
speaking of a girl who, in hysteri-
cal moment, had made a sensational
! display of religious emotion, she
will not suit us; she is too holy"
But to Madame d'Houet the inner
| Voice was as real as was Socrates's
other self to him. She says;
Through the shadows OF uncer-
tainty He makes Himself recognized,
and, as erstwhile with the apostles
on the lake, we, too, cry out Domi-
nus Est.
This trust In the supernatural-in
Christ-we have ourselves seen in a
woman whose faith had the power
to move men and whose belief in the
Supreme Being to whom she ap-
pealed wrought changes little short
of miracles.
When Madame d'Houet's Commu-
nifty was struggling and despite the
fact that education was one of Its
first aims, she wrote:
1.-THE Community, If such 1t could
be called, was now reduced to three.
We had just dismissed the only one
of our number who was talented and
highly educated. Such advantages
appeared to me to count for very
little, if not coupled with a doci'e
spirit and one in harmony with the
| holy rules we had adopted"
Pere Warm, Madame d'Houets di-
rector, supplied her with free vari-
ant of her family motto, "Bien faire
ct laisseg dire" BY this, courage
and confidence" she lived and
taught her daughters to live, animat-
ed by the ruling characteristics OF
her life-immovable faith, genuine
humility and charity almost divine
We have compared Madame
d'Iouet to Saint Teresa, but in the
limitless strength and power of her
faith. in her nearness to the spirit
of Christ she was a second Saint
Catharine OF Siena.