Feast of St. Colette, Poor Clare Reformer
Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Colette who reformed the Order of St. Clare in the 15th century. Our own community is descended from one of the reformed monasteries she founded, so we call her our “Second Mother” (the first being our Holy Mother St. Clare.) Here are some excerpts from St. Colette’s testament:
Excerpts
From the Testament
Of
Our Holy Mother
Saint Colette
Glory, Honor, Awe to the Three Divine
Persons, One in Essence. Amen.
My most cherished
Sisters, drawn by the uncreated Wisdom of our sovereign Father from the
dangerous valley of earth to the holy Gospel living of His Most Beloved Son
Jesus, to be His brides, true daughters of the Most High King, temples of the
dear Holy Spirit, heiresses and queens of that very great Kingdom in the
Heavens, and for such a little bit of labor able to gain rest, honor, glory,
salvation without end, without numbering, and without measure,
O my dearly loved
daughters, know, then, your holy vocation, your great dignity and high state of
perfection! And know your true way of
entrance through the gate of divine inspiration and your precious
vocation. This most blessed entrance
into the fertile field of Gospel perfection is called complete renouncement of
the world, the flesh, and of one’s own will. So the blessed Son of the pure
Virgin sets it forth that: “Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him completely
renounce his very self and carry his cross.”
Take note, my beloved daughters, that you have been called by
grace to perfect obedience, so as to obey in all things all the time so long as
there is no sin. Jesus Christ did that
right up to His death. For it does not
suffice to obey sometimes and in certain things only, but until death in all
things that are not at odds with God nor opposed to one’s own soul nor the holy
Rule, and this after the example of our merciful Redeemer Who made Himself
obedient for us right up to His death. In
the same way we ought to obey unto death.
Let us not prefer our
judgment to that of our superiors. For
Jesus Christ, Who is true Wisdom Itself, submitted Himself to Joseph and to His
sweet Mother. The truly obedient person
ought to take into account only the work of true obedience performed purely for
God and do it with as much reverence as if the obedience had been received from
the sweet lips of Jesus. The more lowly
the command by human standards, the more precious before God is reverent
obedience to it. A saint has said: “The
prayer of an obedient person is worth more than one hundred thousand prayers of
a disobedient one.” If we obey God, and
our superiors for God’s sake, God Himself will obey us in all our good desires.
After the renunciation of self in full
obedience, our Savior wills that we carry the cross every day. This is our vow of holy poverty, the
demanding cross of desiring nothing under heaven save Him alone Who carried the
cross upon His Shoulders and deigned by His love to die on that cross after
having been pierced with nails, crowned with thorns, defiled with spittle and
crushed with blows, and His side laid open.
O Holy Poverty! The clothing of our Redemption! Precious Jewel! Sure sign of salvation! It is to poverty that the King gives full
possession of the Kingdom of heaven which lasts forever. O you children of Adam and Eve, why do you
not love this precious stone, this noble pearl whose price equals in worth and
dignity the very Kingdom of Heaven and is greater than worlds without end?
Then Our Lord said:
“And follow Me.” By this I understand
that we ought to follow Jesus Christ, the Lamb without spot, a Virgin and the
Son of a Virgin, by full purity of heart and body until death. O noble and very precious virtue of
chastity!—loved by God as His loyal spouse, honored by the angels as the bride
of their Lord and King, highly praised by all the saints, and grandly approved
in Holy Scripture! You will bear this
noble crown to the Kingdom of heaven for the true nuptials with your true
Spouse, Jesus.
O most excellent garden
full of truly good plants! You never
allow thorns to grow there, or nettles or poisonous herbs, and you do not admit
any ill smelling rubbish. Oh! How good is your firm cloister! O most blessed enclosure! O soul hidden from everything created
according as her superior wills, and who does not wander about here and there
after nothings like a vagabond, but who remains always submissive to the full
will of her superiors. There is her only
repose!
O precious and safe cloister!—to be enclosed in a continual
remembrance of the precious Wounds of Jesus Christ! O most happy captives flying above the nine
choirs of angels who praise and sweetly sing and magnify the Holy and Blessed
Trinity, one only God in three Persons!
With the angels praise
God, glorify Him in Himself and through Himself and through all His
creatures. Exalt Him here below in all
things for the inestimable alms of the creation of man made in the image of his
Creator, and for the sovereign gift of the sacred Incarnation of our God Who is
so good that, after having created all things for us, became himself true Man
and our most loving Brother, so as to repair everything amiss for us by His
glorious Passion and Death.
O infinite Good! O measureless bounty! O ingratitude which forgets so great a good!
His pity has called us by contrition, confession, satisfaction,
and the resolution to lead a good life, by the vocation to religious life and
to the state of perfection of the Holy Rule, and in good company without
deserters in order to glorify Him in all seasons for the holy promise of life
eternal,—a promise that He has already pledged us. Praise Him, love Him, serve
Him worthily, so as to be certain of this unending life, as sure as those who
are already in its full possession and who see God in the clear vision of His
sweetness and infinite goodness with supreme rejoicing and perfect security of
the eternal possession of Him.
Praise, praise all the time, praise without end, and love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and the most humble Virgin who bore Jesus Christ, the holy and exalted soul of our Redeemer and His precious Body which for us was hung upon the cross! Praise the holy men and women saints and all the angels, the good and the just who serve God night and day!
Amen. Amen. Without ever turning back!
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