Made abbess of Port-Royal at eleven by a family arrangement, she took the house seriously at seventeen and shut its door on her own parents, who stayed outside a whole day. She spent her life in business, lawsuits and visits, and wrote to her correspondent the state of her soul without tidying it, her tempers and her vanity included.
In their own words
Here I am, back in my bustle once more, where I want to be since God wants it.
Lettres de la révérende mère Marie Angélique Arnauld, 1742, vol. I, letter II, « À la même. Elle lui parle encore de son intérieur »; English by the Manna team