Dear Sister Ignatius,
I pray you don’t excuse yourself when you delay to send a/c (check for an account payable only to recipient) or to send the sums of money which we sometimes ask you to send away. You are so kind to do us these services! I pray Soeur Thérèse to grant you some special roses in return, but I would like you not to worry when you can’t do us the service asked for. These sums of money which from time to time we ask you to send to missionaries are given us for them, and here, in Lisieux, we have very great difficulties to get chèques or m. orders( money orders) for the Philippines and Canada; very often after several months either the chèque or the money order is returned to us because some formalities have not been filled. Therefore we rely on your charity to help us and the poor missionaries. I would not venture to send American banknotes even in a registered letter from here, because the French Post has ways of giving us return receipts and when registered letters are lost they very courteously offer us their sincere condolences but that’s all…
In order to avoid mistakes about the $20. sent to Fr. Beurnis and which are to pay for relics when you need any, I enclose a credit note for the value.
I also enclose the statement of the 4 bills paid by the two chèques enclosed in your letter of Dec. 10. As you see, unless I am mistaken, there is a little remainder due of 1/6.
Now, I wonder if I made a mistake but I find that the bill 382-83 of Oct. 4, and amounting to $79.57 has not been settled. I don’t find any trace of any chèque of this amount on my list of letters received since November. So, I take the liberty to ask you if it has been settled. If so, you must have the receipt of the said amount. Perhaps there is some letter gone astray. I would be surprised if it had been paid because if so, I should find to have crossed the invoice, and notified Bar-le-Duc and finally noted your letter on the list of letters daily received; well, I didn’t any of these things. Yet, maybe I had an extraordinary absence of mind.
It was quite correct dear Sister that the chèques are made in English money. It is what we prefer, as we have so much to pay in England, and with chèques in Eng. money we have only to transfer them to the Eng. editors without any expenses, whilst it is quite difficult to get chèques for England here; it is expensive and they don’t want to give us more than 1000 frs. (francs) at a time, and just now 1000 frs. Are not much in Eng. money. So, please in future continue to send payments in Eng. money.
I hope you received the 25 sets of poem leaflets, also the pocket calendars.
I thank you dear Sister for your kind wishes, and for the prayer you offered and will I hope still offer-for me. You were indeed well inspired to tell Jesus to take from me anything He wants lest I would refuse it to Him. I am such a poor little soul that I would be quite able to refuse Him many things; but when he takes them I see him so pleased with His divine robbery that I too am pleased and I thank Him all the more.
It was very kind of you also dear Sister to take me with you to the crib. But if you rely on me to help you to sing I fear you didn’t feel much help, for I am a very poor singer especially since two years. But if I didn’t sing with you, I prayed in union with you, and I tried to make a nice melody of my prayer by the love and confidence with which I offered it. We are preparing ourselves for our Rev. Mother’s
feast, and a few days later the Session will take place in Rome. We are confident that this congregation will be as successful as that of last June.
We know that you will be united with us in prayer. We will have two silver jubilees of profession this year, the only two nuns remaining, of novices of our little Saint, the others are in Heaven.
One of the jubilarians is Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face (Céline). Please pray for them.
With affectionate regards and ever in union of prayers.
Your humble sister in Our Lord,
Sister Anne of Jesus
PS
Please thank the donors for the offering sent and tell them that we pray for them. Is your patron saint St Ignatius of Antioch or St Ignatius of Loyola?