Second Key DocumentLM Doc 47; also OM 2 doc: 1-10 Mayet [Gabriel-Claude Mayet, SM] Memoirs 1, 190-94 [1] “Ah! gentlemen,” he said to us one day, “please pray to God to send someone to spread the Third Order all over the world. I want this with all my heart; I ask God for this. I need someone with an apostolic enthusiasm, someone filled with the spirit of God, someone who can preach like an apostle. [2] “Oh, I laugh when I think about the good-hearted, simple way I acted. In my request for the approval of our Confraternity of the Third Order, I simply wrote that people would see at the end of time what they had seen at the beginning: ‘One heart and one mind.’ That, thereby, all the faithful, all those who were to remain faithful to God, would be of one heart and one mind. Cardinal Castracane began to laugh and said to me: ‘Well, the whole world would be Marist then?’ ‘Yes, your Eminence,’ I said to him, ‘the Pope, too; he’s the one we want as head.’ Well, right away I obtained three documents with indulgences for the Third Order. Ah, gentlemen, let’s come alive; our undertaking is a bold one;” (laughing:) “we want to invade everything. When will the time come? [3] “I bless God for having inspired someone else with a similar idea, that of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Heart of Mary, instituted in Paris, at Notre Dame des Victoires, for the conversion of sinners, and approved. It has already obtained a large number of conversions. “From Paris they sent me the little rule book of this Archconfraternity and, since I have had it in my room, I am quite ashamed that I still have among my papers the approbation of our Third Order without having yet made use of it. Well, it’s not from having neglected to ask the permission of the Bishop of Belley; but he thought it was prudent not to allow it to develop: ‘People will desert the cathedral,’ he said. ‘What do you think?’ So, I did not dare insist on the point. Then the Bishop added: ‘Patience, have patience; the time will come.’ [4] “Gentlemen, we will have to choose between the Archconfraternity of the Holy Heart of Mary and the Confraternity of our Third Order. As for me, I must say that I want only what is good and that, if I followed my inclinations, my immediate feelings, I would choose that of the Holy Heart of Mary, precisely because it is not ours. What does it matter to me, provided that good is accomplished? [5] “However, our Third Order has the advantage that it is not only for the conversion of sinners, but also for the perseverance of the faithful, and so, consequently, it includes all Christians. I have asked specifically that there be no exceptions other than heretics and schismatics. Moreover, I have asked that the simple inscription of one’s name in the register of the confraternity would be enough in order to share in the prayers and good works of the members, because I foresaw that many sinners who might need such prayers and good works would be reluctant to have recourse to Mary. Also, when a family has someone who needs conversion, his relatives could have him registered secretly. A sinner could be recommended to all associates; prayers could be requested and offered. A person would not have to do anything in order to have a share in the prayers. [6] “For those who would want to carry out the recommended practices, these will be very short and very simple. I would like us to hand over a medal of the Immaculate Conception when we receive them. At first, I had thought of asking that we have our own particular little scapular, but a medal is simpler; or else we could adopt the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There will also be a small set of rules for those who would want to live a more retired life. And in the Third Order itself there will be several branches which will be more or less broad and more or less strict. [7] “Perhaps another reason for preferring our Third Order is that doing so will build up harmony between faithful Christians and the Society, and that Marist missionaries will have a greater enthusiasm for spreading and promoting an association which naturally concerns them.” [8] Someone said to him: “Father Superior, since you cannot establish the Third Order in Belley, begin it in Lyon.” He said: “It is not simply a matter of establishing it in Belley or in Lyon, but in Belley, in Lyon, and everywhere.” [9] “Oh! If we establish it in Lyon, when we do so, I want us to be very prudent. Let’s not shock the pastors of parishes; let’s do everything quietly. The pastors will be at the head of this affair; I would like for the membership register to remain in their hands in each parish. I admit, of course, that it seems it may be necessary to have only one register which would be kept by the Society, so that there may be one centre. Otherwise, the project might seem weak. Pastors have a lot of other things to take care of, and they cannot give the same interest and enthusiasm to one particular thing in the midst of so many others which necessarily keep them busy.” [10] Then he came back to the topic of the brief which he had: “It has been in my briefcase for three years. God forbid that I should ever want to do anything before the bishops give us permission.” |
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