Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
The Writings of Cornelia Connelly: Survey and Analysis 211
tion and advantage — that is to say, when he has himself experienced what
he had set down in writing. He will recall to mind those beautiful
thoughts, and taste again those keen feelings which had passed from his
memory; or at least he will gain from their clearer consideration the
salutary vigour which will enable him to labour fervently and to think
wisely according to the needs of his present circumstances. Great indeed is
the difference in savour and spiritual sweetness between ordinary readers
of things written by saints when fresh from their conversations with God,
and those who read therein the record of what they have themselves ex-
perienced or made their own.?
Cornelia’s personal spiritual notes reveal that what she taught was consis-
tent with what the Lord himself had taught her, what she had “experi-
enced and made her own.”
Semi-formal Writings
Over 400 letters by Cornelia or written at her direction are extant, ad-
dressed to businessmen and_ professionals—including educational
authorities; to priests, bishops (besides Bishop Grant) and cardinals, and
to the Holy See. Most of these are formal letters, classified here as semi-
formal writings. As has been said, the business letters show maturity and
shrewdness. Her letters to ecclesiastics show zeal, maturity, forthrightness,
and loyalty to the Church. Those which occasioned clear statements on the
nature and mission of the Society have been the most helpful for this
thesis.®
The thirty-one extant general letters to her Society have been used as
a prime source for understanding her charism. Of these, seven extant
Epiphany letters, written at the beginning of the new year to encourage
and inspire her sisters as they renewed their vows on Epiphany, are rich in
content, particularly on Cornelia’s teaching on the hidden and discerning
life. Perhaps Cornelia wrote them every year from 1852 onwards, but, if
so, only seven have survived.’
Another semi-formal writing which has been important for the study
of Cornelia’s charism is a so-called “Customal” which exists in five variant
manuscript versions in SHCJ archives. It has been classified as semi-formal
both because it has remained in manuscript form and because, although it
is the length of a small book, its content in Cornelia’s time exhibited no
overall pattern of organization beyond that of notes, mundane or sublime,
for the running of a religious congregation. Contents range from
housekeeping directions to significant passages on the ascetical and
mystical life. Cornelia had begun to use such “Directories” as were com-
mon in religious congregations, but her Customal, though containing
some “directory” material was more substantial. She seems to have derived
the idea of it from Francis de Sales, who, finding that there were omissions
in his Constitutions, supplemented them with a “Customary” or “book of
advice” to his Sisters of the Visitation.? Cornelia’s Customal is largely a set
of compilations from spiritual authorities she valued. Throughout her