Page:Life and life-work of Mother Theodore Guerin Foundress.djvu/69

Rh country—Pléhédel; the poor blessed her and the sick said: 'She is so holy that she will cure us.'"

She opened her hand to the needy, she stretched out her hand to the poor; thus was she able to speak to the heart of the people whose veneration prompted them always to speak of her as the saint.

There was, humanly speaking, much gratification from the work to which Mlle. du Roscoät devoted herself; she could see the good she was doing, and she enjoyed the confidence and love of all who knew her — a wide circle, indeed, for her charity penetrated into every home, no matter how poor or miserable. Much had been done in the six years that she had been at Saint-Brieuc, but she accounted it as nothing. She felt a longing for something greater, something broader, and she would repeatedly say to herself: "This cannot be all that God asks of me;" yet as the divine will did not manifest itself in a more pronounced manner, she continued her self-imposed duties. Finally, in 1816, her laudable ambitions were realized. Père de la Chapelle, a member of the Society of Jesus at Laval, known then as Fathers of the Faith, giving a retreat at Saint-Brieuc, made the acquaintance of Mlle. du Roscoät, who confided to him her pious desires. In answer he said: "My child, God wants you at Ruillé- sur-Loir." Mlle. du Roscoät had never heard of the little Community at Ruillé, so she placed herself at once in communication with Abbé Dujarié, making known to him her desire to become one of his spiritual children. The Abbé accepted her and urged her to enter immediately at Ruillé.