MYSTIC FROM NANTES

GABRIELLE BOSSIS was a French Catholic laywoman, actress and mystic, best known for her mystical work Lui et Moi, published in English translation as He and I. The book recounts her dialogues with Jesus, which came to her as an "inner voice" and which she recorded in a series of journals from 1936 to shortly before her death in 1950. (It very clearly smacks of the writings of St. Faustina, in its message, though the language is a bit more modern).

Jesus’ messages to her were short and ones that can be found in the writing of great mystics through the ages:

Express your hope in Me. Come out of yourself. Enter into Me.
Do not fail to give Me your sufferings. They help sinners..

Try to understand My yearning for you, for all My children.

Gabrielle was born in Nantes, France in 1874,  the youngest child of a family of four. As a child in a well to do aristocratic family, she was taught and raised in proper social graces and etiquette, and she grew up to be a graceful, happy and high spirited young woman, but as from her childhood she possessed a strong yearning for God and the things of the Spirit.

She obtained a Degree in Nursing, and enjoyed the fine arts of that time, including sculpting, painting, illuminating and music. Later in life she discovered that she had another talent- that of writing moral plays and also acting. From that point on until two years before her death she traveled extensively in France and abroad, producing her own plays and acting in the principal role. Those who still remember her remark about her infectious laughter and her unfailing charm.

On very rare occasions in her early life, Gabrielle had been surprised by a Mysterious Voice, which she heard and felt with awe, and sometimes anxious questionings, which she perceived to be the Voice of Christ. It was only at the age of 62, however, that this touching dialogue with the "Inner Voice" began in earnest, continuing  until two weeks before her death on June 9, 1950.

While still living, Gabrielle had maintained a strict discretion about her experiences, and although her spiritual director had begun to publish the words she heard from Jesus, her identity was kept a secret. “He and I” became a huge spiritual success and continues to touch hearts up to the present day. The journal  has been published in numerous languages and has become a source of deep inspiration and edification for those who read it.

Amazingly enough her work was not put into print for the public by the French but by a Canadian (Imprimateur also Canadian) Another French mystic Venerable Marthe Robin (foundress of the Foyers of Charity) was instrumental in informing Evelyn Brown, the English translator of "He and I", about Gabrielle  and her writings, thus being the instrument in leading Evelyn to eventually became the one to translate "He and I" into English. I could find nothing about the two mystics connecting or how Evelyn found her way to Marthe.