To Benjamin Franklin from Clément Noguères and Geneviève-Elisabeth Belamy Le Veillard, [before 5 September 1779]
From Clément Noguères7 and Geneviève-Elisabeth Belamy Le Veillard
Printed form with MS insertions in blanks: American Philosophical Society
[before September 5, 1779]8
M
Vous étes prié, de la part de Monsieur le Curé& de Madame Le Veillard, Trésoriere des Pauvres, de vous trouver à l’Assemblée de Charité qui se tiendra dans l’Eglise Royale & Paroissiale de Notre-Dame-de-Graces9 de Passy, à l’issue des Vépres, Dimanche prochain 5 7bre 1779
Il y aura Prédication, par mr L’abbé gautier vicaire général1 du diocèse de gap.
Ceux qui ne pourront point s’y trouver, sont priés d’envoyer leurs Aumônes à M. le Curé.2
Date eleemosinam. Luc. 12. 33.
Beatus qui intelligit super egenum, & pauperem; in die malâ liberabit eum Dominus. Ps. 40. 1.3
Addressed: Mr franklin
7. The parish priest of Passy since 1773: Almanach royal, 1779, p. 100. On another occasion the curé wrote to BF, forwarding a message from two prisoners who were seeking protection: XXVIII, 50. For Mme Le Veillard see XXIII, 542.
8. While the year and the day are difficult to read, BF did give 24 l.t. “to the Parish Poor at the Sermon” on Sept. 5, 1779: Cash Book (Account XVI, XXVI, 3). The date might also be read as Sept. 6, 1778, a Sunday, but BF was visiting Mme Brillon in Anet on Sept. 6 and 7: XXVII, 332.
9. The parish church of Passy, located just east of the Hôtel de Valentinois: Hillairet, Rues de Paris, I, 92.
1. A vicaire général, one of several, was a priest who assisted the bishop in his ecclesiastical duties: Marcel Marion, Dictionnaire des Institutions de la France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Paris, 1923, reprinted, New York, 1968), p. 553.
2. In France public assistance was generally the responsibility of each parish. Alms were collected at the annual Assemblée de charité where a sermon was delivered by a prominent preacher. Invitations for Sept. 3, 1780, Sept. 9, 1781, Sept. 1, 1782, and Aug. 24, 1783 are among BF’s papers at the APS.
3. Both Latin quotations encourage charity: Give alms (Luke 12:33); Happy is he who cares for the poor and the weak: if disaster strikes, the Lord will come to his help (Psalms 40:1).