observation: "I believe that our continuous vigilance should be carried out with gentleness and such trust as to make the girls understand that we love them and not that we are with them only to guard them”.175

The guidance given for the moral and religious education of young girls is characterised by an extraordinary wisdom, respect and finesse, while keeping seriousness as the basis. But what stands out more than the idea of duties is the theme of gift-giving. “We have to make the girls understand that a religious life is not a burden at all, but one of the greatest of God’s gifts , a helping means and a comfort for those who want to live according to their Baptismal vows”.176

The same kind of reasoning qualifies the spirituality to be displayed by the girls’ educators.

It is good, at times, to let them know that we love them in the Lord, and that it is precisely

this tenderness which makes us so sensitive to any of their faults and so painful to bear with

them. We should make them understand that it is exactly the flame of this love that at times

drives us to use such harsh words in reprimanding them. We have to assure them that,

independently of the way we act, we are always drawn to act the way we do by the

affection we have for them and by the desire to make them as God wants to them to be and

that our heart still, and always abides by gentleness towards them, that our firmness is

directed towards their faults and that is why we do violence to ourselves, since we are

naturally more inclined to employ gentleness than force.177

Naturally, the modest dimensions of the communities of 'little schools' of Port Royal, subdivided into tiny groups, offered broad opportunities for entretiens particuliers (particular encounters) with the girls, in order to provide them with a more personalized support: comfort in their suffering, correction in their vices, control of their passions, growth in their virtues. Charity, reserve, avoidance of familiarity, discretion, invocation to God for light and grace, sincerity in one's relationships and charitable warnings,178 the granting of forgiveness, the imposition of penances, all worked together.179

Before concluding with a paragraph with a human touch Les Malades et les leurs besoins corporals (Concerning sick girls and their bodily needs),180 the book offers different titles dealing with the fundamental resources of the life of grace: Confession, Communion, Confirmation, Prayer and Spiritual Reading.181 The rigorist theology peculiar to Jansenism inevitably prevailed in the educational method of the 'little schools'..Those pages are certainly not to be considered part of what we habitually refer to as 'preventive system'. Exceptionally, only a few sections dedicated to prayer and wholly geared to instilling within the girls a refined inner type of Christianity might somehow be considered as part of the preventive system.

Let every effort be made to instill in the girls a great desire to have recourse to God in all their needs, particularly in their weaknesses and temptations. We should make them understand that only looking to God with trust, humility and perseverance will give them more support than all the great resolutions they might make. These resolutions would, in turn, be useless if the goodness of God were not to be their source, through the power of his grace. We should also make them understand that the only thing we can do is to lose ourselves in God, knowing that He alone can save us.

Secondly, we should not overburden them with a huge number of vocal or mental prayers, but instead

175 ibid, part 2, I, n. 18, p. 399.

176 ibid, part 2, 2, n. 11, p. 404; cf.nos 1-10,. 401-404.

177 ibid, part 2, 2, n. 12, p. 404.

178 ibid, part 2, 3I, nos. 1-9, 405-408.

179 Règlement…, part 2,4, nos. 1-7, 408-409.

180 ibid, part 2, 10, nos. 1-11, 421-425.

181 ibid, part 2, parts 5-9, 410-421.