Colette of Corbie: Learning and Holiness

Chapter 4: Colette's Personality and Her Piety

CHapter 4 Colette's personality and Her piety After the visit to the pope and the beginning of her mission , the chronological record ceases and gives way to a portrayal of Colette. Thus, following the schema of Pierre de Vaux’s work, chapters V, VI and VII describe Colette’s personality and virtues and the importance of the supernatural in her religious life. What portrait of sanctity does the author depict? How far does Perrine match this or deviate from it? The selection of facts and the way they are presented give an idea of the concept of sainthood in the fifteenth century, one commonly held by the clergy. Our inquiry will provide information in a number of areas relating to what one might call “the chronology of daily life,” i.e., life in Church and society , life in the convents, various social types, etc. Is there, perhaps, in spite of everything, some historical truth within a hagiography written in this period? An historical sense of the account can be found only in the deathbed episode, a connecting point between history and hagiography. The text is nearly identical in the two Vitae , and seems to indicate a notion of time that is rather surprising for this kind of hagiographical work. LEARNING AND HOLINESS 62 Colette’s personality Physical Appearance Pierre de Vaux describes Colette as an exceptional creature , who bears in her body signs of a way of being unique in the world. Remember the miracle of her height. It is no accident that Perrine places less emphasis on physical details. The physical description given by P. de Vaux forms an integral part of the portrait of the saint. Since she is out of the ordinary, she must have exceptional physical traits. Colette is, therefore, beautiful, amiable and attractive (§8). Her coloring is a sign of her moral beauty; her deportment is pleasing (§6). “Her manners [were] in no way studied nor abandoned to anything that could injure conscience” (§64). She was so pure that she never awakened the slightest feelings of concupiscence in anyone. On this point, Pierre de Vaux seems a bit hesitant or somewhat contradictory. Later on (§78) he will say that a nobleman, during a conversation with Colette, was not listening to her words but indulging himself in unseemly thoughts about her. Perceiving this, the saint reproached him. This rather forced element in the story is used to prove Colette’s “infused knowledge,” an example of how she could read souls. There is a whole series of such examples, covering a variety of areas in which the saint exercises her sagacity.1 She is “so bright and beautiful” she 1 A statement about “Joan of Arc during the rehabilitation process” provides a strikingly similar example from Jean d’Aulon, whom Charles VII appointed to watch over “la Pucelle” and serve as her steward and who gave evidence to the rehabilitation process (the interrogation took place in Lyon in 1456). He reported with admiration “the excellent life and honest conversation at each and every stage from this very devout creature” and particularly the respect she inspired in everyone who came near her, not least himself. “Although she was a beautiful young girl, well-developed ... never through any sight or touch he had of the young girl was his body moved to any base desire …,” R. Fédou, “Jeanne d’Arc vue de Lyon,” in Horizons marins-Itinéraires spirituels, (Ve-XVIIIe siècles), I, Mentalités et sociétés (Paris, 1987), 51 (with reference to the whole passage); see, too, J. Quicherat, Procès de condamnation et de réhabilitation de Jeanne d’Arc, IV (Paris, 1947), 206. Colette's Personality and Her Piety 63 seems to have “the flesh of a child” (§57). Similarly, “there are never any unpleasant odors” from her body (§62). The water in which she washes her hands remains “clear and clean” for seven years (§62). In this way, God wishes to demonstrate her purity and clarity. Fecal matter came from her “with no bad smell” (§61) and “as fine and clean as when it entered her body.” The body did not perform its digestive functions. This is a good example of how some facts presented by the Franciscan – and not used by Perrine – belong to a particular genre and are not describing a physical reality. The writer uses them as signs of the spiritual world to which they...