Enclosed Nuns evangelising a politician

I have just come across an extraordinary new French book containing the correspondence between a duo of Lisieux Carmelite nuns - St Therese’s sister Pauline (Mother Agnes) along with Sister Madeleine of St Joseph - and a very famous French politician named Charles Maurras (1868-1952).  Maurras was a huge figure in French politics in the first half of the twentieth century; he led a fiery nationalist and monarchist movement known as Action française (French Action) which was condemned by Pope Pius XI in 1926, despite very many of its members being Catholics.  Maurras was accustomed to proclaim his approval of the Church but not because he was a believer: rather because he thought it was an essential part of French traditions and a source of positive morality.  The mother of Sister Madeleine had been a close friend of the mother of Maurras, and for many years Sister Madeleine and Mother Agnes, mindful of the huge influence of Maurras, wrote regularly to him with exhortations to embrace the faith.  His resistance was polite but determined until the last, when he ended by being received into the Church.  Mother Agnes had died the year before.  A fascinating revelation about the quiet evangelisation that even enclosed nuns can exercise.     

Intercessions:

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him) - cancer

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill