“BEFORE LENT”: A Conference by St. Euphrasia Pelletier (1796-1868)

Lent is approaching, my dear daughters, and with it fresh streams of grace, of spiritual life and of means of perfection. Prepare yourselves beforehand to spend it well. According to the mind of the Church, the time between Septuagesima Sunday and Ash Wednesday should be spent in preparing for the blessed forty days, and in several Religious Orders the fast begins from Septuagesima week.

It is evident that Lent was instituted by the Apostles in memory of Our Lord’s fast in the desert. In the first ages of the Church this holy fast was observed very rigorously. They ate but once in the day, towards evening, and then partook only of vegetables, herbs and fruit, a little fish being allowed on rare occasions. Moreover, the fast extended to Sundays; later they were omitted be cause of certain erroneous opinions held by heretics. A few days in Quinquagesima week were added to make up for the Sundays, and thus preserve the number of forty days.

At the present day the Church has mitigated the fast of Lent. It is a concession made to the needs of the times and because of the weakness of constitutions. But we must not, on this account, suppose that the Church has dispensed us from the obligation of doing penance; on the contrary, during these holy days she unceasingly exhorts all the faithful to the exercise of severe mortification by the solemnity of her rites, the mournfulness of her chants, by frequent sermons, etc.

Therefore, those amongst you who are not strong enough to fast must remember, nevertheless, that they ought to redouble their self-denials, their assiduity and zeal in the accomplishment of their duties; pray with more fervour, and practise greater charity and more exact obedience.

Lent is a propitious season for every one. It is propitious for souls seeking to overcome the evil inclinations of nature; for those who desire to enter deeply into the delights of an interior life, and for all of us who wish to devote ourselves to works of zeal, by labouring to restore souls to God.

In fact, how could we think that Our Lord would be deaf to the entreaties of His beloved spouses when He sees them humbled and prostrate between the vestibule and the altar, as victims for sinners, forgetting themselves to seek His glory in all things? Let us not allow this season of mercy and grace to pass without fruit, remembering that it is a time of salvation ; we should know how to profit by it. You can all become saints during these forty days of penance and benediction.

A sister may not be able to fast but she can abstain; another cannot abstain, but she can very well deprive herself in the refectory of something which is not necessary. Our Lent is not rendered very severe by our austerities, but we should be more silent during these holy days; we are recommended to observe longer intervals of silence than we do usually.

I wish it to be remembered that the bell for the morning silence rings at half-past eight, and it should be kept till the recreation hour. I recommend you to observe it perfectly. We should not only keep silence in words, we should also refrain from “wandering and useless thoughts, and avoid noise in opening and shutting doors. I remember when visiting a Carmelite convent the Superior called my attention to the latch of the door which had wool round it. “It is to prevent noise,” she said, “our holy Mother recommended silence so strongly.”

You will tell me, my dear daughters, that I never cease speaking to you of the necessity of silence. It is true, but time is so precious that those who lose a single moment of it in useless words do themselves and others a very great injury without perceiving it. The practice of silence will be a powerful aid in accomplishing all the objects which our zeal has in view.

It is in silence that we hear the secret intimations of divine Providence, and by it we shall soon reach” that perfection which is so necessary to each if they are to contribute efficaciously to the works of the Institute. In our holy Congregation prayer, an interior life, solitude, should be our chief though not our only end; but the one will lead to the other, for no labour will bear fruit for the salvation of souls unless the necessary light for conducting souls to God has been first gained in prayer and silence.

A career of labour opens before us; I see a multitude of paths which we are called upon to tread; we must, therefore, set to work with energy without losing a moment. Meanwhile, let us thank God for granting us these few days of recollection and solitude, because by recollecting ourselves we shall redouble our strength, to employ it afterwards in God s service and for His honour. Yes, our labours, our arduous duties are increasing; works are proposed to us, our convents ask for subjects, several bishops are renewing their entreaties; they earnestly desire to have our holy Congregation in their dioceses. You would be grieved were I to tell you all the good works which we are obliged to defer for want of subjects.

Once more then I say, recollect yourselves during these holy days in order to pray much ; prepare for labour, because we have great works before us; enter more than ever into the spirit of your holy vocation, give up all self-seeking, avoid speaking of yourselves, forget yourselves and let others for get you; this will be the best penance you can perform.

Carefully repress a spirit of levity, endeavour to become interior religious, souls hidden in God, and do nothing except to glorify Him and give Him pleasure. Only in solitude and in silence can God make His voice heard in your heart. It is of absolute necessity in our vocation that self-sacrifice and the practice of an interior life should be a habit.

The Royal Prophet says: Thy law is my meditation, night and day, and we ought all to be able to say this, my dear daughters, that is we should be interior and silent. Silence constitutes the delight and peace of a community. Observe that our works flourish most in those of our Houses where regularity and silence are best practised.

Oh, if we understood what it is to disturb a servant of God, occupied in fighting for God in prayer. It is then that the words of the Canticle of Canticles may well be applied: Wake not my beloved, because prayer is a combat or sleep, and those who speak in a loud tone in the cloisters, who make a noise in the choir, interrupt this union of God with His creature. In silence great thoughts are conceived and great things accomplished.

Oh! how I love those souls who in silence and in prayer bring about the perfection of their works. Great will be their reward. Pray for the souls confided to your care, that they may be converted and become worthy to approach the Banquet of the Paschal Lamb prepared for them by the Church.

MAXIM
Silence and a spirit of prayer will give us the prudence and gravity which are so suitable to us in our vocation.

Mother Mary of St. Euphrasia Pelletier, Conferences and Instructions (1907)

NOTE
In 1815, a young Frenchwoman named Virginie Rose Pelletier (1796-1868) joined the Sisters of the Refuge, a religious community founded in France in 1641. It was founded to help women on society’s fringes: the poor, the homeless, the prostitutes. Virginie took the religious name Euphrasia. By age 29 she was head of the community. The work of the Sisters, however, was confined solely to France, and she wanted to expand their ministry worldwide.


In 1835, Mother Euphrasia founded the Sisters of Good Shepherd, a community modeled on the compassionate Christ, to find the “lost sheep.” In 1842, she sent the first Sisters to America, founding homes in cities nationwide. By the time of her death, the community had over two thousand members and 110 houses worldwide. She was beatified in 1933, and canonized seven years later by Pope Pius XII. (The above talk was part of a series given to her Sisters.)

Septuagesima Sunday refers to the third Sunday before the beginning of Lent. “Septuagesima” means “seventieth,” and here it refers to the seventieth day before Easter Sunday. In the early Church, Christians began their fast immediately after Septuagesima Sunday.