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Francis de Sales, Acarie's mentor.
History of Christianity is a six part survey designed to stimulate your curiosity by providing glimpses of pivotal events and persons in the spread of the church.
NEW ON DVD
Britain's 1917 Balfour Declaration pledged to help Jews establish a homeland in Palestine. After World War I ended, the League of Nations awarded Britain the mandate for Palestine with the proviso that it implement the Balfour Declaration. The Forsaken Promise documents Britain's failure to fulfill her pledge and her legal obligations under the Mandate.
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magine living with a reckless, overly-critical
spouse who tries to control your every thought. How would you handle it?
Barbe Acarie demonstrated a Christian way and left a lasting legacy to
her church.
Barbara Avrillot was born into a Catholic home in Paris in 1566. Her
childhood was painful, not so much for the political reversal that cost
her father his property, as for her mother's harshness. Madame Avrillot
was harsh--even violent--with her daughter, so Barbe grew up a timid,
frightened child. She was educated in a convent and would just as soon
have become a nun, but her mother insisted she marry Pierre Acarie, who
had been a King's Councillor.
Pierre was a hot-head and critical of his sixteen-year old wife. He limited
her reading, insisting that she only open books on the spiritual life.
Did he think these would bore her as much as they bored him? If so he
was mistaken. Through the books, God opened her eyes to the spiritual
world. One sentence etched itself into her mind: "Too greedy is he for
whom God does not suffice." Six years into her marriage, those words transformed
her entire outlook. With a new spiritual vigor, she became more efficient,
decisive and cheerful. This was as well, since Pierre squandered their
wealth on get-rich-quick schemes and she eventually had to bail out her
household with austere management while he spent years in exile.
Barbe would slip into ecstacy while praying. She had to have someone
read mystical books to her, because if she opened them on her own, she
would fall into sublime reveries. With six children and a reckless husband
to care for, she needed her wits about her.
Barbe personally trained her children, doing her best to weed out falsehood
and vanity from them. Although she deliberately taught each of her three
girls to carry themselves fashionably, all three became Carmelite nuns!
What is more, one of her sons entered the priesthood. Obviously, her quiet
strength had a great impact on them.
She made a powerful impact on others, too. One of her friends estimated
that she was responsible for 10,000 genuine conversions. So close did
she live to God that those who came near her felt as if they were approaching
God himself, living in her.
She gathered women around her in a community for holy life and the instruction
of their children. Later she established several Carmelite communities
in France. Francis de Sales worked closely with her. Although she never
became a nun, her wisdom and advice was attended with great respect by
church and convent leaders.
Although Barbe saved Pierre's bacon on more than one occasion, he resisted
and thwarted her to the end. After his death in 1613, Barbe joined the
Carmelites as a lay sister, taking the name Marie of the Incarnation.
She is remembered on April 30, every year.
Resources:
- "Acarie, Mme." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
- Fournet, A. "Bl. Marie de l'Incarnation." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- Jones, Kathleen. Women Saints: lives of faith and courage. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1999.
- Various other books, such as Tucker's Daughters of the Church mention Barbe Acarie.
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