responsibility, Laval could satisfy his desire of preparing himself by
prayer for the designs which God might have for him.

In his desire of attaining the greatest possible perfection, he betook
himself to Caen, to the religious retreat of M. de Bernières. St.
Vincent de Paul, who had trained M. Olier, was desirous also that his
pupil, before going to find a field for his apostolic zeal among the
people of Auvergne, should prepare himself by earnest meditation in
retirement at St. Lazare. "Silence and introspection seemed to St.
Vincent," says M. de Lanjuère, the author of the life of M. Olier, "the
first conditions of success, preceding any serious enterprise. He had
not learned this from Pythagoras or the Greek philosophers, who were,
indeed, so careful to prescribe for their disciples a long period of
meditation before initiation into their systems, nor even from the
experience of all superior men, who, in order to ripen a great plan or
to evolve a great thought, have always felt the need of isolation in the
nobler acceptance of the word; but he had this maxim from the very
example of the Saviour, who, before the temptation and before the
transfiguration, withdrew from the world in order to contemplate, and
who prayed in Gethsemane before His death on the cross, and who often
led His disciples into solitude to rest, and to listen to His most
precious communications."

In this little town of Caen, in a house called the Hermitage, lived Jean
de Bernières of Louvigny, together with some of his friends. They had
gathered together for the purpose of aiding each other in mutual
sanctification; they practised prayer, and lived in the exercise of the
highest piety and charity. François de Laval passed three years in this
Hermitage, and his wisdom was already so highly appreciated, that during
the period of his stay he was entrusted with two important missions,