Biography Mother Marie de Gonzague

Marie Davy de Virville 1834-1904

At dawn on Saturday December 17, Mother Marie de Gonzague entered Life. On this date, the Church resumed in the liturgy the cycle of great antiphons “O”, antiphons preparatory to the feast of Christmas, and which all begin with this admiring O. "O Wisdom", would be sung at Vespers that evening. Oh yes, the wisdom of Providence which had chosen Mother Marie de Gonzague to be the Prioress of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus for most of her Carmelite life.

We may wish to know a little more about the one Thérèse called: "My darling Mother - my beloved Mother" (Manuscript C). Céline will write: “She had one side of her character as childish. One found joy in spoiling her, pampering her, protecting her as one does a small child. Something in her was there. Also, it was not by feigning that one surrounded him with kindness and care, it was often by a need of the heart. Note to Fr. Piat on Marie de Gonzague - September 1947. And when the nephew of Aimée de Jesus makes his first communion, Marie de Gonzague wishes to offer him a souvenir. Sr. Aimée asks her sister if he prefers a rosary or a parishioner: “Would you please write me a few lines to respond to the request of our Rev. Mother who proves to me her affection for you, which touches me all the more because she belongs to a very noble family. His good heart needs to make people happy!

Biographical overview

February 20, 1834 Birth in Caen of Marie Davy de Virville.
November 29, 1860 Entry into the Carmel of Lisieux.
May 30, 1861 Clothing.
June 27, 1862 Profession.
July 16, 1862 Sailing.
July 8, 1866 Sub-Prioress.
August 8, 1869 Re-election as sub-prioress, for 3 years.
January 20, 1871 Refugee in her family (advance of the Prussians).
March 1871 Return to Carmel.
October 28, 1874 Prioress.
November 10, 1877 Re-election as prioress.
November 16, 1880 Charges maintained for 2 years by Mgr Hugonin.
January 28, 1883 She leaves office; is replaced by Mother Geneviève. She is 1st custodian (bursar) and mistress of novices.

February 3, 1886 Prioress.

February 13, 1889 Re-elected prioress.

February 13, 1892 Offices extended for one year.
February 20, 1893 She leaves office; replaced by Mother Agnès. She is bursar and mistress of novices.
March 21, 1896 Prioress and mistress of novices (assisted by Thérèse).
March 22, 1899 Re-elected prioress.
April 19, 1902 Definitively leaves office; replaced by Mother Agnès. Is thrifty until his death.

Spring 1904 Cancerous tumor on the tongue.
December 17, 1904 death
Mother Marie de Gonzague was therefore sub-prioress for 6 years and prioress for 21 years.

1. - 1834-1860: Marie de Virville

The penetration of the Prussians into Normandy in January 1871 triggered panic. Several families in the region are asking for their daughters, Carmelites in Lisieux, to bring them to safety. Among them is Sister Marie de Gonzague, welcomed to Caen on January 20. It was probably during this short stay with the family that a painter fixed on the canvas the features of the Carmelite (59 x 73 table). She is thirty-seven years old. Strong features and intelligent face that photography will later transmit: modeled face, well-defined mouth, prominent nose, magnificent eyes and very high eyebrows, similar to those of Teresa of Avila in the paintings.

Top left is the family coat of arms. The coat of arms reads as follows: “Azure a chevron Or accompanied by three harps of the same, set two in chief facing each other and one in point. Marie de Virville therefore belongs to the ancient family of the Davy des Harpes, represented by the Davy du Perron, d'Amfreville, de Virville, de Boisroger, with innumerable sub-branches (according to the Genealogical History of the Davy, by Abbé Jean Canu, 1958, from which we borrow much information). Absent from the painting, the motto of the Davy aux Harpes reads: “May the universe rejoice in this harmony. How not to think of other "coats of arms", painted at the end of a poor school notebook, in January 1896, by a little obscure Carmelite? There is also a harp (Ms A, 86) whose melody will soon delight the whole world. But let's not anticipate.

An illustrious house

The first certain ancestor of Marie de Virville is a Jean Davy, Sieur du Perron, Virville and du Bois. He died on July 24, 1414; buried in Périers (Manche). Twelve generations lead us to our heroine. The Davy du Perron family form “one of the most curious and interesting families in the Cotentin”. It will give “a Cardinal, Grand Chaplain of France, one of the glories of the Church and of French Letters; an archbishop, several ambassadors, two Grand Bailiffs of Cotentin, a Chamberlain of François 1er, a Head of the Naval Armies, Commander of Saint-Louis, buried by order of the King in the chapel of the Château de Vincennes, a Commander of the 'Order of the Militia of Christ, two lieutenant-generals of the Armies of the King, numerous land and sea officers, magistrates, an archdeacon, canons', etc.
Youngest in the family, the father of Marie de Virville will move towards the magistracy. His two older brothers, Adrien and Alexandre, first opted for a military career.

A centuries-old stronghold

"The stronghold of Virville, located in Saint-Aubin-du-Perron, Aubigny, Marchesieux, Saint-Christophe-d'Aubigny and Saint-Pierre-de-Feugères, has always belonged to the Davys since 1300. It still has a seigniorial manor with a chapel founded in honor of Sainte Avoye. » The estate lies approximately in the Périers/Saint-Sauveur--Lendelin/Le Mesnil-Vigot triangle.
It was there that, on January 9, 1802, Pierre-Louis-Amédée Davy, Count then Marquis of Virville, father of our Carmelite, was born.

At the Caen Courthouse

At the time of his marriage (30-11-1827), Pierre Davy Devierville (sic) was domiciled by right with his mother, in Saint-Aubin-du-Perron, but in fact rue Pémagnie, in Caen, between Place Saint-Martin and Place Saint-Sauveur, behind the Courts. He “lives off his property”. He took Adélaïde-Zoé Corbel as his wife, daughter of an attorney "close to the Royal Court of Caen", living at 32, place Saint-Sauveur, very close to the Palais de Justice. The young couple settled in the solid house. This is where the seven children were born;* children Stéphanie 22-10-1828), Adrien (21-4-1830), Alexandre 12-3-1832), Marie (20-2-1834), Léon (8-7 -1836), Hervé 29-5-1838), Thérèse (2-7-1841). It is also there that the parents will die, Mrs. de Virville on 30-7-1872, her husband on 1-9-1876.
When the two eldest were born, M. de Virville was still declared to be "living on his property". We then find him "avowed to the Royal Court". The household lives quite modestly. Mother Marie de Gonzague
will relate without false shame the saying that their father quoted when he could not provide for his children what the rich have: "The number of starlings makes them thin." “But one day fortune smiled upon him, and he inherited titles and estates. (Note G.). Only four of the seven children will start a home: Stéphanie who marries Jean-Charles-Édouard Pays on 18-9-1855 (the only wedding in which our Marie participates: she enters the Carmel before the other marriages); then Alexandre, who had to give up his military career after being wounded in the attack on Sebastopol (1855) and who married Louise de Boctey (3-9-1861); then Thérèse (9-2-1866), who finds herself with an aunt for mother-in-law since Louis Martin de Bouillon, a forty-year-old widower, is her own first cousin.
Finally, Adrien de Virville, a former officer in the 3rd Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique, who took part in the Italian Campaign (1859), married a "descendant" of Joan of Arc - more precisely of Jehan d'Arc du Lys , second brother of Jeanne — Marie-Blanche Desazarts de Montgaillard (14-11-1866). Léon and Hervé, single, died one in Caen (15-1-1877), the other in Havana (11-2-1866), as ensign. Mother Marie de Gonzague will survive all her brothers and sisters.

The Child of the Visitation

Of Marie de Virville's youth, of the circumstances of her Carmelite vocation, we know nothing. We only know that she was a pupil of the Visitation of Caen, a monastery not far from her home. In January 1895, she reminded Léonie Martin, then a novice in this same convent: “Say my vows, please, to your worthy Mothers whom I still love as a child of the Visitation. Among her fellow students was Marie d'Aisy who would join her later at Carmel.
Is it from this stay that dates his so ardent devotion to the Heart of Jesus?

Abominable pages

In 1926, Mother Agnès became alarmed by “indiscreet and even scandalous publications”, which in particular dishonor Mother Marie de Gonzague and her family. She is also indignant at the article by P. Ubald, “abominable pages he takes from the Trial, on poor Mother Marie de Gonzague”. The former under-promoter of the Faith, Mr. Dubosq, tries to refute this article. He protests: “But they are there, very close to us, the members and the close relations of this family which one puts in the pillory! He asks; “How does this disclosure affect the psychology of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus? “Excellent question! Why didn't he put it on July 6, 1915 to the “witness” author of the painful pages that were to become the “historical source” of the Ubalds, Van der Meersch (1947) and other gossip lovers. But in 1915, no one foresaw that the Summarium (1920) would be found in second-hand shops the day after the Canonization of Thérèse (1925). The boomerang effect still hasn't finished playing...

Nothing is known of the religious youth of Sister Marie de Gonzague, with one exception: her attraction for the distant mission (and it is to Thérèse that we owe this memory). On the other hand, there is no lack of documents which shed indirect light on this Carmelite so misunderstood. A retrospective on the beginnings of the Lexovian foundation will show, at the same time, that if Thérèse of the Child Jesus is "the reward of an exemplary family" (Cardinal Mercier), she is also the fruit of half a century of heroism hidden in "the poorest and smallest of the Carmels" of the last century.

2. — Sister Marie de Gonzague, novice (29-11-1860/27-6-1865)

Sister Marie de Gonzague has the privilege of beginning her Carmelite life under the best auspices. In 1857-1860, a young prioress, Mother Aimée of Jesus (1818-1867) gave new impetus to the monastery founded twenty years earlier. She had a large part of the regular buildings built and received valuable subjects: a triennium “full of blessings”. On January 18, 1860, she passed on the leadership to Mother Geneviève of Sainte-Thérèse. On March 22, Bishop Didiot approved the foundation of a Carmel “in the land of Annam”. A great missionary breath animates the Carmelites of this generation. Conditions could not be more stimulating for the postulant Marie Davy de Virville, who crossed the fence on November 29, 1860.

A young community

Slender size, distinction, sympathetic voice, the newcomer looks great. As soon as the convent door closes behind her, the row of "veiled statues" waiting for her is revealed... Smiling faces, still young. Led by Mother Geneviève (55), the postulant embraces her sisters one by one. Let's introduce them:
Fébronie de la Sainte-Enfance, sub-prioress (41 years old); Sr. Marie-Thérèse de Saint-Joseph, counselor and mistress of novices (52); Sister Saint-Jean de la Croix (43); Sister Saint-Joseph (51); Adelaide of Providence (47); Beloved of Jesus, bursar (42); Philomena of the Immaculate Conception (40); Isabella of the Angels (45); St. Stanislaus (36); Emmanuel de la Presentation (36); Marie-Baptiste (29); Aimée de Marie (33); Xavier of the Heart of Jesus (24); Heart of Jesus (26); then three lay sisters: Madeleine du Saint-Sacrement (43); Mary of the Incarnation (32); Saint-Dosithée (28); finally a chorister novice, Marie de Jésus (24). Sister Marie de la Croix (Gosselin, 48), one of the foundresses, held in the infirmary for eleven years, is missing. With an average age of 39, they are therefore vital forces at the service of God and the community.

A monastery under construction

The postulant is led to the choir, the same one that Thérèse of the Child Jesus will know and which still exists. (The chapel was blessed on September 6, 1852.) He was shown his cell, probably in the new building (first stone: 15-5-1858; blessing: 11-7-1859), first wing of the red brick quadrilateral world famous today. On the ground floor, along a cloister, here is the refectory, the kitchen and laundry, the boiler room (recreation room), a small library. In the basement, a cistern and a cellar. On the first floor, on either side of a corridor, thirteen cells, three infirmaries, a small kitchen. Extending the dormitory, a gallery, overlooking the choir of the Carmelites, will serve as the Chapter room. This is where the professions will take place until 1876.
In 1858-1859 again, Mother Aimée of Jesus had a building fitted out near the convent gate. There are the sacristies, the confessional and, upstairs, a few attic rooms, including the linen room and the novitiate. This one, very poor, will see the formation of about twenty Carmelites, including the young Thérèse Martin, until July 1890.
Thus freed, the first building in the rue de Livarot (it was knocked down in 1889) was transformed into a house for tourières and visiting rooms. We take seven cells in the garrets, for the sisters inside. When she entered on November 29, 1860, Sister Marie de Gonzague did not suspect that it would be up to her to complete the regular monastery.

A Valuable Mistress

Mother Thérèse of Saint-Joseph (Athalie Gosselin), one of the two founders of Lisieux, received her formation in Poitiers. Since the premature death of the first prioress of Lisieux (Mother Elisabeth of Saint-Louis, 3-1-1842), she has become the right arm of Mother Geneviève. Her notice describes her as gifted with a rare intelligence and an unusual capacity, with a penetrating spirit very suitable for the guidance of souls. Demanding, energetic, she also knows how to win the hearts and raise the courage of her disciples.
When in 1858 Mother Aimée undertook the constructions that have been mentioned, “it was Mother Thérèse whom her Superior charged with drawing up the plan”. The contractor adopted it and she supervised its execution with zeal and skill... "In the evening she gave to the living stones of her monastery the time left to her by her occupation as an architect, and these living stones which she cut with so much care, she saw them carry into the most remote countries the good seed which she had sown in their souls. By her, in fact, were formed the future foundresses of Saigon, Jerusalem, Coutances and Caen.

A fervent novitiate

Emulation reigns under the direction of such a mistress. The eldest of the novitiate, Sister Xavier (professed since May 18, 1859) gave impetus to her young companions. Sister Coeur de Jesus, "of superior intelligence and great piety", renounced her position as a brilliant teacher and made her profession on December 2, 1859. The young Marie de Jésus was almost always one of the first in the “challenges” of virtue that the novices propose to themselves, following the example of the Madré d'Avila. With singular fidelity to grace, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 26 (May 31, 1862), fourteen months after her profession.
Enthusiastic, generous, Sister Marie de Gonzague enters fully into this youthful momentum. She took the habit on May 30, 1861, the feast of the Blessed Sacrament. The following year, the trip to Rome of the superior, M. Cagniard (May-June) postpones his profession until June 27, 1862, feast of the Sacred Heart, his great devotion. She receives the black veil on July 16. A few days later, Marie-Thérèse d'Aisy, intelligent, artistic and full of spirit, joined her at the Carmel.

Novitiate trials

The “challenges” resume with a vengeance. The two youngest want more! “Our Mother, give us trials” So be it! One day, the novice mistress approached Sister Marie-Thérèse (d'Aisy) who was busy finishing a painting. “Here, she exclaims, here's an idea! You put the shadows on this side? It is of the other that they must be. — "However, Our Mother, I assure you..." — "Good, good!" replies Mother Thérèse. Give us tests...” And the mistress leaves, leaving the novice crestfallen in her faith in her talents and in... her humility!
Meanness? These were the methods of the time. In twenty-five years, Mother Marie de Gonzague, prioress, will not act differently with regard to Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus: cobwebs under the cloister, "walks" of the apprentice gardener, everything will be an opportunity to test him with humiliating remarks.
Before leaving the novitiate (27 June 1865), Sister Marie de Gonzague welcomed three more companions: Marie de Saint-Joseph (Regnault) on 14-2-1863, Sister Marie Vincent de Paul (2-2-1864) and Thérèse du Sacred Heart (3-6-1864). Eight novices in less than seven years: a good performance.

A missionary breath

The founding of the first “mission carmel” marked the young Marie de Gonzague for life. We know the story. Sister Philomène of the Immaculate Conception informs of her profession (9-2-1846) her cousin Mgr Lefebvre, vicar apostolic in Cochinchina. The latter, then in prison and condemned to death, received (before the letter from Lisieux) the “visit” of Saint Thérèse of Avila who asked him to introduce the Carmel in Annam: “God will be greatly served and glorified”. Freed, the bishop responds to his cousin Philomène by asking for French Carmelites. Mother Geneviève (prioress in 1842-1848) immediately adopted the heroic project. But we have to wait for the end of the persecution. The capture of Saigon by the French in 1859 marks the starting signal. For months, for years, we have painfully collected, in Lisieux, outfits and objects necessary for the four designated foundresses: Philomene, Emmanuel of the Presentation, Marie-Baptiste and Sister Xavier. Mgr Didiot, from Bayeux, came to bless them on June 21, 1861. On June 30, the evening recreation saw a farewell ceremony, inspired by that of the Foreign Missions, take place in the choir. The departing are placed in front of the choir gate, and all the sisters, by order of religion, come to kneel to kiss their feet, during the singing of antiphons and psalms. The last to present herself is Sister Marie de Gonzague, a novice for a month. Moments of intense emotion. The “missionaries” are especially struck by this thought: “it is the poorest and the smallest of the Carmels who was chosen by God to go and establish the Order of Carmel on the soil of Annam”. There will come to shelter the daughters of confessors of the faith or martyrs, or even young Christian women who themselves have worn the cangue and confessed Jesus Christ. (Let's not forget that Théophane Vénard was beheaded on February 2, 1861.)
After a long and very difficult sea voyage, we reached Saigon on October 9, 1861. On the following March 23, the sisters Emmanuel and Marie-Baptiste returned to Lisieux, overcome by the difficulties of adaptation. Who will replace them? Volunteers abound. It was then (or the following year) that Sister Marie de Gonzague volunteered, as Thérèse would recall twice in 1897. She was “prevented by the will of her superior” (LT 221). And Thérèse comments delicately: “Often the desires of mothers find an echo in the souls of their children. O my dear Mother, your apostolic desire finds in my soul, as you know, a very faithful echo. (Ms C, 9 v°/10 r°).
Thus turned from her novitiate towards the distant mission, Mother Marie de Gonzague knew how to understand and foster the aspirations of the one who would one day become “patroness of the missions” like Saint Francis Xavier.

3. - 1866-1872: First responsibilities

“As soon as she left the novitiate, the superior, Father Cagniard, let her put in charge, hoping by this means to develop her real abilities and remedy her bizarre mood. It was a fatal mistake." (testimony of Mother Agnès at the PA). The verdict falls like a guillotine chopper. Let us be reassured: at the time of the events (1866), the witness of 1915 was only a fragile five-year-old girl, who had to be fortified with cod liver oil. At the same time, the future co-signatories of the report are respectively 21 years old (novice in Carmel), 10 years old, 6 years old, under years old and under years old. If there was an “error”, it must be attributed to the fourteen capitulants of 1866. But let's leave these trials of intention to return to the facts.

Skilled embroiderer

Photos from 1895-1896 show us Mother Marie de Gonzague sewing, rinsing the linen, wilting (VTL, n°* 16, 17, 24, 25, 36). The aristocrat knew how to work. What were his jobs as a young Carmelite? She must have embroidered liturgical vestments, then one of the remunerated activities of the monastery. In 1865, her sisters "paid for the supplies of the beautiful scarf which was embroidered by her". The Carmel sacristy still retains this white humeral veil, adorned in the center with a Sacred Heart in high relief and gold ears at the ends. Mmes de Virville ordered several embroidered ornaments for various parishes.
Let us note in passing the other works which ensured the Carmelites their subsistence. M. Cagniard enumerates them, in the style of the time, during a sermon on vestments: "The Carmelite, without interrupting her tender communications with God, works wool and linen, cultivates herbs and roots, the only luxury allowed at his table; fashions her homespun dress and rope shoe; she makes the priests' tunics; embroiders, with gold and silver, the ornaments of the altar; prepares with the purest wheat flour the azime bread of the sacrifice; it is she again who prepares the white albs of the Levites; mix incense; enriches his monastery with all the instruments of penance, and mounts the flowers with marvelous art; she thus earns her bread by the sweat of her brow! (24-11-1858).

Mother Marie-Baptiste, prioress (1866-1868). Mother Geneviève, the foundress, had been re-elected prioress on January 30, 1863, with Sister Fébronie as sub-prioress. It doesn't take long for her to resign. Marie-Baptiste succeeds him. In the elections of February 1, 1866, she was elected prioress. Mother Geneviève having completed her six years. Mother Aimée of Jesus becomes sub-prioress. The ardent temperament of the young superior (35 years old) and the circumstances will rather shake things up, rue de Livarot!

Foundation of Coutances (29-7-1866)

On March 30, Good Friday, Mother Marie-Baptiste received an unexpected request from Bishop Bravard, Bishop of Coutances. He wants a Carmel in his episcopal city, that of Valognes being English-speaking. He therefore asked the Carmel of Lisieux to give him some nuns. The case is run smoothly. The superiors of Lisieux immediately give their agreement: four foundresses will be sent, provided that Bishop Bravard assumes all the expenses. It is necessary to visit the premises before acquisition. Mr. Cagniard and Mother Marie-Baptiste, who joined Sister Marie de Gonzague and Marie-Thérèse d'Aisy (his mother lived in Coutances), left on Sunday April 29, 1866. Stopped in Caen. Brothers and sisters of Virville are gathered to embrace their sister. The Lexovian delegation sups and sleeps in Place Saint-Sauveur. Continuation of the trip on Monday. In Coutances, we stayed this time with Madame d'Aisy. Agreement concluded. The foundation is set for July 30. Are designated: Mother Aimee of Jesus as prioress (she will die in eighteen months, not being 50 years old, and leaving the memory of a saint); Sister Coeur de Jesus, sub-prioress (who would return to Lisieux in 1882); Emmanuel de la Presentation, bursar (she had been chosen twice without success for Saigon); Marie-Thérèse (d'Aisy) as third counsellor. A Coutançaise woman who came to begin her postulancy in Lisieux, Sister Saint-Jean the Evangelist, is part of the expedition. The departure of Aimée de Jesus left the post of sub-prioress vacant in Lisieux. He needs a replacement.

Sister Marie de Gonzague, sub-prioress (1866-1872)

The election takes place on July 8. The chosen one, Marie de Gonzague, is 32 years old. To tell the truth, when one goes through the list of eligible candidates for 1866, the choice is limited. The foundations of Saigon and Coutances, and the death of Sister Marie de Jesus (1862) deprived Lisieux of nine sisters in five years. Mother Thérèse of Saint-Joseph (Gosselin) asked to have no charge. Two seriously infirm, Sister Marie de la Croix and Sister Louise, mobilize a sister day and night.
The sub-prioress “must always be in the Community...take care of the Choir and that the Office be said well and sung calmly” (Constitutions of 1581, chap. XIV). She presides in place of the prioress (choir, recreation, refectory, etc.) when the latter is unable to do so. She is the “ceremonial” of clothing, professions; it organizes small community celebrations. All this presupposes health, aptitudes, and excludes any other incompatible employment. You have to believe that Sister Marie de Gonzague unites these qualities.

Buildings and living stones

Mother Geneviève seems more made to consolidate than to undertake (even if the foundation of Saigon required audacity). She doesn't have “stone disease”. Barely elected, Mother Marie-Baptiste therefore relaunched the construction of the monastery. In August 1866, first stone of the cloister of the choir. At the other end of the land, construction of the laundry room, opening of a cart door (through which Tom, Thérèse's spaniel, will sneak in in 1889). In 1868, the small building known as "the Heart of Mary" was erected with the proceeds of a lottery (5 F).
Three postulants were welcomed in two months: Sister Saint-Pierre converse (22-10-1866); Sister Marie des Anges (October 29) and Lydia William (December 14). The latter, English, daughter of a pastor, was an Anglican nun before her conversion. In 1866, she was a companion at Orbec. The Superior, assisted by an interpreter, will make sure of the dispositions of the "young person" of 29 years. The postulant is admitted without any other examination, not even French. She becomes Marie-Thérèse of the Heart of Jesus.
Clothing and professions follow one another: work for the sub-prioress Marie de Gonzague.
What exactly happened on July 16, 1867, dressed as Sister Saint-Pierre? Was the sub-prioress tired of Father Lelasseur's sermon?... By "a deplorable whim", we are told, she went to sulk in the garden for several hours. Impossible to find her. We finally find it. Explanation with the prioress Marie-Baptiste, in her cell. The "runaway" takes a step towards the window: is it really to throw herself there? We will never know the last word of the incident. No smoke without fire. Both were suffocated for nearly 50 years, but the 1915 report (PA, 143) was to stir the ashes...
Another story: the joyful carillon of Saint-Pierre Cathedral, a few months earlier. Did a good wind carry its echo to Carmel on September 11, 1866? The admirable bell saluted the union
of Isidore Guérin and Céline Fournet: unknown then for the Carmelites. Let eleven years pass twice (1877, 1888): the presence of the pharmacists in Saint Peter's Square would weigh heavily on the destiny of the monastery.

We are still founding (19-10-1868)

For the moment, it is a death that closely affects the Carmel. On November 6, 1867, Mr. Roger, principal of the College, lost his young wife (28 years old). Born Marie-Adélaïde Alexandre, she is the sister of Thérèse of the Sacred Heart (Henriette Alexandre), still in the novitiate. To console his pain, and that of his mother-in-law who lives in Caen, Mr. Roger has only one idea left: to work on the restoration of the Carmel of Caen and bring his sister-in-law there. Instances with the Superior of Lisieux and Mother Marie-Baptiste. They enter the project. Already, well before the foundation of Saigon, Lisieux had been asked to restore the ancient Carmel of Caen, the twelfth of the Order in France (1616), dispersed during the Revolution. Sister Saint-Jean de la Croix (Guéret) had strongly wished to take part. The steps had failed. In the spring of 1868, the hour of Providence struck. But the secret is well kept vis-à-vis the community, including, it seems, the sub-prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague.
Leaving on December 1, 1862 for the fragile foundation of Saigon, Sister Saint-Jean de la Croix returned to Lisieux in May 1868. At the end of August, Mother Marie-Baptiste informed the sisters that she would go the next day, with the returned missionary and Thérèse of the Sacred Heart, visit a house in Caen (77, rue Sainte-Paix) intended for the new Carmel of this city. It's the surprise.
In October, a Franciscan, Father Pacifique, gives the retreat. On the evening of October 19, amazement! Mr. Cagniard, the superior, enters the cloister through the door left ajar by the four fugitives: Mother Marie-Baptiste, the sisters Saint-Jean de la Croix, Thérèse of the Sacred Heart and Lydia William, professed since March 25 . Departure without return, he announces! The community, the chronicle tells us, is “terrified.” We would be less. In order to give him executives as soon as possible, the elections were fixed for October 23. Interim drama of four days, for Mother Marie de Gonzague. Still in shock, the eleven capitulants give themselves as prioress Mother Geneviève of Sainte-Thérèse. Sweet and conciliatory, she will work to pacify the spirits. Marie de Gonzague remains sub-prioress. In August 1869, she will be re-elected for three years. The bursar and first councilor is Sister Saint-Stanislas. Third counsellor: Mother Thérèse of Saint-Joseph.

The woes of 70

Ah! the good old times ! How the Carmelites had to live quietly behind their gates in the past!...

Having founded three times in eight years - willingly or by force - the Lexovian monastery begins to take breath when a dark series begins. From September 1869 to March 1870, the community was overwhelmed by disease, including typhoid and smallpox. Sometimes seven patients together. No deaths however.
War broke out with Prussia (July 13, 1870). The superior, in treatment at Vichy, died there suddenly (July 20), closely followed, at Carmel, by Sister Aimée de Marie (July 29). And this is the frightening advance of the invader.
A new superior takes office on September 14, Mr. Delatroëtte. Should we say, this time, that misfortune is on his side? This excellent parish priest probably did not have the charisma required to lead the Carmelites. Above all, his trajectory had to meet that of the too young Thérèse Martin. A few sparks would result. Mother Agnès of Jesus, anxious to prove that her little Sister “had not been spoiled”, transmitted to history a few acid words from the Superior (PA, 140-141).
Barely in office, M. Delatroëtte opened wide the closing door for the exodus of seven of his daughters: three on September 16-20, 1870 (the sisters Saint-Raphaël, Fébronie and Marie de Saint-Joseph), four on the 20 January 1871: Mother Marie de Gonzague and Sister Saint-Vincent de Paul, Sister Marie des Anges and Sister Marie de l'Incarnation. Finally the Prussians turn back and the Carmelites return to their convent
(March 19, 1871). The end of the year will be more serene. On October 7 and 13, 1871, Sisters Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Aimée de Jesus entered. On October 27, the elections confirm all the charges of October 23, 1868.
In August 1872, the “Most Honored Mother Sub-Prioress” — as they said then — completed her second three-year term. She is replaced by Sister Isabelle des Anges and “falls into line”. On July 30, she lost her mother, Madame de Virville.
On July 22 (1872), the pharmacists of the Place Saint-Pierre had been able to read from the pen of their sister, Mrs. Martin, the announcement "of an event which will probably happen at the end of the year". But, added the letter, "it hardly interests anyone but me for the moment" (Correspondance familial, p. 135). The happy birth took place in Alençon on January 2, 1873.

No one has suffered as much as Mother Agnès, and “until anguish”, from the way in which “one used and abused her text inserted in the Apostolic Process, basing on it a false biographical profile of Mother Marie de Gonzague” (PA, XIX, XXI). We can therefore hope to "console" her with a serene account of the facts concerning such a contrasting personality. Do we not feel affection in these lines that she addressed in 1939 to one of her daughters:
“Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of Mother Marie de Gonzague. She died in 1904. Pray for this poor Mother who had great faults, no doubt, but so mixed with unconsciousness.
“I will be happy to find her in Heaven; she also had some nice qualities, it has to be said, and was so friendly at times. And then, our little Thérèse owes her entrance, and she made her profession in his hands; and she has written such marvelous pages for him! »
The “great faults”—which were to manifest themselves above all in 1893-1896—are too well known to be concealed. The “beautiful qualities” remain to be discovered. It is up to the reader to practice it if he wishes. The story offered to him is meant to be a chronological journey of the facts, without any preconceived thesis.

4. — 1874-1877: First priorate

After six years of sub-priorate (1866-1872), Sister Marie de Gonzague therefore found herself a simple nun under the pacifying leadership of Mother Geneviève of Sainte-Thérèse. A page will soon turn for her.

1873: a pivotal year

On the threshold of 1873, a Thérèse was born, a Thérèse died.
In Alençon, the ninth child of the Martins smiles at life, on January 2. Through her the Carmel of Lisieux will acquire worldwide renown.
In Lisieux, the first professed of the monastery, Mother Thérèse of Saint-Joseph, died on February 6, at the age of 64. Without her, this Carmel would not even have existed. It is from her, in fact, and from her sister (Marie de la Croix), that the initiative for a foundation in this city comes. The Carmel of Poitiers was the providential instrument. He would not have spontaneously assumed the burden.
In October 1874, Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse, 69, completed her second three-year term. She cannot be re-elected. Who to choose ?

October 28, 1874: a consoling election

The Community then had twenty nuns: fifteen choristers and five lay brothers. A mental patient and four young people in training “have no voice in the matter”. Of the ten capitulants, once the outgoing prioress or seriously ill (Adelaide for example) have been excluded, there therefore remain at most eight eligible, i.e., by rank of profession: the sisters Saint-Joseph, Fébronie, Isabelle des Anges then under- prioress, Saint-Stanislas, Marie de Gonzague, Marie de Saint-Joseph (Regnault), Marie des Anges (29), Saint-Raphaël. The choice does not pose a problem: “Sister Marie de Gonzague was elected prioress, Mother Geneviève 1st depositary and Sister Stanislas 3rd depositary. These elections gave a great consolation to the Superior,” say the Chronicles. Mother Isabelle is maintained in her office of sub-prioress, which she has held since the summer of 1872. She will die there on June 24, 1877, at the age of 62. Mother Geneviève is appointed mistress of the novitiate. The new prioress is 40 years old. Mr. Delatroëtte is happy.

first daughters

There are great times for a prioress, especially a newly elected one. To receive a profession, to admit a postulant, to assist a dying woman, to make her experience in a vital way, > her spiritual motherhood. She better measures her responsibility with regard to her sisters, her “daughters”: she must precede them and accompany them on the path of love. Every day it must develop or restore fraternal communion, without respect for persons, in a justice that excludes all partiality. Saint Teresa of Avila gives the prioresses of her Reformation the golden rule: to be loved in order to be obeyed.
Mother Marie de Gonzague possesses an innate authority. It is made to command, protect, lead. Racy, it does not dominate, it emerges. Some would say: it “reigns”. Scripture and photos show it. The facts will confirm it.
She had the joy of soon receiving the vows of two novices, Thérèse of Jesus and Marguerite-Marie, on March 18, 1875. She opened the closing door to the young Thérèse of Saint-Augustin, 19, immediately conquered by the charm of his prioress. On April 21, 1876, it will be the turn of Sister Saint-Jean de la Croix.

First party

A mother's day is the day of the whole family. It was no different with the feast of the prioress. The Saint-Louis de Gonzague, June 21, therefore becomes from 1875 a joyous date, rue de Livarot. It will be twenty more times. Thérèse will participate in it in her time. We know the importance in his life of June 21, 1888 and 1896, for example (cf. Théâtre au Carmel).
In 1875, Pius IX granted the Catholic universe the indulgences of a Great Jubilee. To underline “the signal favour”, the young chaplain of the Carmel, Father Youf (33 years old and 2 in charge) offers this June 21 “a magnificent portrait of his Holiness” to Mother Marie de Gonzague. She has him placed in the interior oratory.

July 7, 1875: a catastrophic flood

A thunderstorm of rare violence rumbled without interruption on July 7, from 13 to 20 p.m. A cloudburst falls in the evening between Bernay and Lisieux. Located in the basin, the Carmel is invaded in a quarter of an hour. At 23 p.m., the flood reached 6 feet in the monastery (about 1,80 m). The community takes refuge upstairs. Will the two portieres be drowned outside? Mother Marie de Gonzague had the wooden grating of the Superior's parlor sawed off, on the first floor, to collect the "castaways" in the enclosure: they were already in the water up to their knees. But the chapel? The young Marie des Anges, very thin, offers to slip through the very small door of the communicatory. She takes the ciborium, which Mother Isabelle carries to the x gallery, then the chapter room, above
the fore-choir. This is where we come together, in intense supplication.
The violence of the tide broke down the large cart gate. And the fence, then? Mother Marie de Gonzague sets about going to close the gate, helped by a sister. She must turn back. The water crashes down the stairs. And the flood is still progressing! The prioress then makes a vow in the presence of all: 15 masses will be said for the souls in Purgatory. A novena of communions and fasting will also be offered. “This wish was a barrier that the water respected so much that by 4 am it had completely withdrawn. " The ace ! a new “deadly concern” succeeds the previous one: didn't Mother Marie de Gonzague make herself “very guilty” of having had the Blessed Sacrament taken? Mr. Delatroëtte, who arrived on the scene at six o'clock in the morning, reassures her and approves of all her initiatives.
But what a sight! Refectory and cloister unpaved, garden turned upside down. "A filthy and oily mud" has invaded the entire ground floor. Constable Bugeau observes the damage and makes a report. President Mac-Mahon will send an aid of 1 F. It will take more than a year to absorb the humidity.
From Alençon, Mrs. Martin worried about the Guérin pharmacy which, located higher up, did not suffer. She draws the moral: “These are great scourges, but the impious hardly profit from them. » (Letter of 11-7-1875.) She sends her contribution for « the flooded of Lisieux ».

Completion of the monastery (1876-1877)

“A time to destroy, a time to build. A deluge submerged the first wing of the monastery. To saint Médard (simple coincidence...) is entrusted the first stone of the new buildings (8-6-1876). Because it is not enough to repair. There are plenty of vocations. It's time to complete a regular monastery. Funds are lacking but the prioress rushes forward with determination. By mail, she tirelessly sought, from the Carmelites and old friends, also from her youthful relations: noble and wealthy ladies would respond to her call. There is no doubt that a methodical “research of the writings” would bring to light an epistolary collection that is very precious for the knowledge of its author and of this almost unexplored period of the history of Carmel.
The parlor also requires Mother Marie de Gonzague: “material questions to deal with, requests to multiply to obtain the essential sums, testimonies of gratitude to give afterwards, lead to a lot of conversations”. (André Noché.) “More than is desirable for a Carmelite? We will blame him for that. The interviews, moreover, willingly turn in a spiritual direction. Saint Teresa of Avila was the first to know these same obligations, pitfalls and servitudes.
The “bold project” took shape in less than eighteen months. The two new wings were blessed on September 30, 1877 (twenty years to the day before Thérèse's death). On the garden side: a cloister runs along a simple ground floor. The Notta Doctors
and James advised against building the planned floor: “The air would be too concentrated, the monastery would not have this salubrity so necessary for the health of the sisters. A terrace therefore covers the hermitage of the Sacré-Coeur and the two adjoining apartments. Thérèse loved to pray there on summer evenings.
The fourth side of the quadrilateral is that of the infirmaries. It offers, on the floor, "a very beautiful Chapter, a library, a working room for the sacristy, and five cells".
On September 30, Mr. Delatroëtte and Father Youf, accompanied by sisters in cloaks and large veils, also bless the granite Calvary. Christ was given to it by the family of Thérèse of Saint-Augustin. With this Calvary, “its lawn and its sandy paths”, the courtyard gives the monastery “a religious and severe aspect”, soon brightened up with flowers.
The triennium is over. Circumstances allowed the young prioress to show her talents. It is up to the community to judge. Her vote confirmed her success: on November 10, 1877, “the elections took place, Mother Marie de Gonzague was re-elected prioress, Sister Fébronie of the Holy Childhood was elected sub-prioress, Mother Geneviève re-elected 1st Custodian and Sister Saint- Stanislas re-elected 3rd Custodian. The agreement which reigned at these elections was very consoling for the Superior and the capitulants”.
Once the nest is finished, the birds can come and multiply...

A second mother

Mother Agnès was one day to award Mother Marie de Gonzague the title of “second Mother of our Carmel”. It takes on a strange resonance if one thinks of the Martin ladies. In these same weeks when the erection of a Cross in Carmel crowns forty years of effort, Mr. Martin and his five daughters climb another Calvary. Death mows Mrs. Martin, less than 46 years old, on August 28, 1877. Her brother, Isidore Guérin, the pharmacist from Lisieux, discovers, on September 10, not far from his home, the ideal residence for the bereaved family: Les Buissonnets . We took possession of it on November 16, ten days after the re-election of the one who would one day become a "second mother" for four of the five orphans: Pauline Martin (1882), Marie (1886), Thérèse (1888), Céline (1894) . There are synchronisms charged with mystery.

5. A triennium of five years (10-11-1877 - 28-1-1883)

Here, then, is Mother Marie de Gonzague re-elected prioress for three years, on November 10, 1877. If "the agreement which reigned at these elections was very consoling for the Superior and the capitulants" (AL, March 1986), we bet that it will not was no less for the prioress. She has a huge need for the trust of others. This will one day be his stumbling block.

Of the interest of circulars

The Carmel archives keep only 26 letters from Mother Marie de Gonzague (inventory of 1973, in CG II, 1245). It is very little. Almost all of them have been published in the Centenary Edition or Thérésienne Life. To know a bit about her style - moreover very marked by romanticism - we still have the twelve obituaries printed under her signature between 1877 and 1898. In these notices, intended for the other Carmels, the prioress often puts herself in question then applies to any editor, regardless of her monastery). Here is the account of the death of Mother Isabelle, at the end of an ill-defined illness of thirty-three years, ending in twenty-four hours of terrible vomiting, on June 24, 1877:
“Returning immediately to this bed of sorrows for all our hearts, we soon realized that the last moment was approaching; we called the community and around 7 o'clock "in the evening", gathered near this dying dear, we renewed the soul commendation prayers... the supreme moment had arrived! ! ! Oh how touching were those last moments! Kneeling near her bed, we held her expiring in our arms, we pressed her against our heart, wetting her with our tears, suggesting words of consolation to her again, and pronouncing for her the Name of Him who had been her All the earth and towards which her beautiful soul flew away to receive the reward of the virtues with which she left us embalmed... The sobs of the whole Community once again reminded this good Mother of the affection of all hearts. “Despite the consoling impression left on us by this sweet death, we beg you, my Reverend Mother, to return the suffrages of our holy Order to our dear Mother Sub-Prioress as soon as possible; etc »

Homecoming

The rather special conditions in which the foundation of Caen had taken place—with the approval of the superior of Lisieux—had left a certain uneasiness. After the death of Mr. Cagniard (20-7-1870), the epistolary relations practically ceased between the two monasteries. Become prioress. Mother Marie de Gonzague, who retained a great affection for Mother Marie-Baptiste (left for Caen on October 19, 1868), worked to renew fraternal ties. The union* of the two Carmels was never to be denied. Similar reunion with one of the founders of Saigon. Alone had persevered with Mother Philomène, since 1861, the young Xavier of the Heart of Jesus. It required extraordinary heroism. The two Carmelites had the personality and the virtue required for such an enterprise. The other side of the coin: over the years, “Paul and Barnabas” needed distinct fields of apostolate, to their measure. Mother Xavier had long dreamed of founding a Carmel in Jerusalem. Negative circumstances can also be providential. She therefore left Saigon in 1872, returned to France, went to Lisieux, her native town, without daring to knock on the Carmel. She set foot in the Holy City on August 26, 1874. To build the monastery on the Mount of Olives (founded with the help of the Carmel of Carpentras), she had to beg the Carmels of France. Delicate situation vis-à-vis Lisieux. Then, one day, a good surprise, which Mother Xavier tells a friend: "By this same letter, we received a letter from the Carmel of Lisieux, it is Miss de Virville who is Prioress there, Sister Marie de Gonzague, we were newbies together. It was necessary to write to them like to all the other Carmels, otherwise they would offend them more than ever. Their response was made post for post, and was very friendly (...). I will take advantage of their good reception to get closer. Our Mother asks me to thank them for the promised 25 F, which is a good opportunity for me; I am going to take the opportunity to explain to them certain things which must have been incomprehensible to them. (Letter to Madame de Préaulx, May 24, 1877.)
The warm relations between Lisieux and Jerusalem will be maintained beyond the death of Mother Xavier (1889). Thus in 1896-1897, Mother Marie de Gonzague often spoke of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, her "angel", sent her poems, informed of her illness and her death.

family dates

Entrances, professions, celebrations follow one another. A simple list: Mother Marie de Gonzague received the vows of Thérèse of Saint-Augustin on May 1, 1877, those of Sister Saint-Jean de la Croix on January 17, 1878. On January 3, 1879, she welcomed a 50-year-old widow, Sister Marie -Emmanuel, who will make profession on October 7, 1880. For the prioral feast, on June 21, 1878, a novice who had not been able to persevere, Marie Gahéry, offers a sculpted group: the Sacred Heart appearing to Marguerite-Marie. Without artistic merit, it has today the value of a souvenir: it was at her feet that Mother Agnès of Jesus went to implore for Thérèse, on September 30, 1897, the strength to endure her terrible agony until the end.

Like the morning star

The very first portress, Sister Louise (who wore the headdress of Falaise, her native country), died on March 25, 1878. Her companion, Sister Désirée, she saw, some afternoon in the summer of 1879, in the courtyard of the chapel, "a handsome old man", shaking hands with a lovely little girl? During their daily walk, Mr. Martin and the “little queen” enter the Carmel chapel for the first time. “Dad showed me the choir gate, telling me that behind were nuns. I was far from suspecting that nine years later I would be among them! » (Ms A, 14 r°.) « This little star will become more and more radiant in the Church of God... It is still only the morning star in the midst of a little cloud. But one day it will fill the House of the Lord. » (P. Louis, Passionist, 30-11-1898.) Who foresees it, at this hour?

macabre interlude

Mother Isabelle had been buried in the enclosure, in June 1877, like her predecessors. Funeral not clandestine, certainly, since presided over by the Superior accompanied by a large number of clergy from the city. But we had omitted - and this since 1870 - to ask the authorization of the Town hall. A new municipal council, nothing less than clerical, took the argument to demand, in February 1878, the exhumation of all the Carmelites of the conventual cemetery (ie nine sisters). Great anxiety for Mother Marie de Gonzague. Controversy in the local press, for or against the decision... After three months of alarms, the storm subsides. “May the dead sleep in peace among their sisters! But we will no longer bury in enclosures. The deceased will now rest in the city cemetery. In 1897, Mr. Guérin bought a small enclosure there for the Carmelites. Thérèse will “release it” from October 4th.

Where we play overtime

Mother Marie de Gonzague was prioress for three six-year terms, in accordance with the Constitutions: 1874-1880; 1886-1892; 1896-1902. The first term was extended by two years (and 2 months) by Bishop Hugonin, at the request of the community, due to the misfortunes of the times. The second will be for a year, on "the entreaties" of the sisters, at the end of the terrible influenza of the winter of 91-92. From these extensions, we deduced that Mother Marie de Gonzague always managed to keep power. Inhabited, in short, by a conviction of the kind: "If I leave, everything collapses!" Let the "witness" be responsible for his assertion. Generous Providence will also do good measure to compensate for this “abuse”: in 1923, the community will ask for the confirmation for life of the priorate of Mother Agnès of Jesus. She thus carried the burden in 1893-1896; 1902-1908, 1909-1951 without interruption. Unique case in the annals of the Order. Let us return to the chronicles: “In this same year 1880 ended the 2nd triennium of the Rd of Mother Marie de Gonzague; the times were too bad to think of having an election; the Community, happy under the government of this good Mother, asked for the extension of his priorate, which the Bishop granted for 2 years.
“This really harmful year for the religious Orders saw the expulsion of all the convents of men; those of women seemed to have the same fate, which threw consternation in that of the Carmel. Already they are preparing civilian clothes for the dispersion.
In November 1880, the alternation would have liked Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse to take over the office (no other “priorable”, at the time). She is now 75 years old and has many infirmities. Will the community have felt more secure, in such circumstances, with a 46-year-old prioress, who has influence, initiative, high relations? Simple question. However, a doubt remains. We read correctly: “the Community, happy under the government of this good Mother (Marie de Gonzague)”. Is it possible ! Wouldn't there be a misdeal?
In 1947, “Mother Agnès of Jesus, consulted on the truth of this passage, said that, as for her, as for the Sisters, were united in Mother Geneviève, with regard to Mother Marie de Gonzague, the strange contrasts of 'great affection and suffering from the shocks caused by the deviations of his unfortunate character. Mother Marie de Gonzague was not afraid of Mother Geneviève, but she was not jealous of her. (Note G.) Interesting text. If we proceed by elimination, the only jealous prioress will therefore have been Mother Agnès (1893-1896). God be blessed: we still have (in 1880) thirteen years of respite ahead of us.

At the request of the community and with the approval of Bishop Hugonin, Mother Marie de Gonzague therefore saw her second priorate extended for two years (16-11-1880). A providential disposition which will enable her to welcome two "postulants" from Les Buissonnets... But let's follow her for a few more moments with her sisters.

" Good Samaritan "

Saint Teresa of Avila recommends, in her Constitutions, to care for sick sisters “with much love, good treatment and compassion, in accordance with our poverty” (chap. XII). It should be added: with the remedies of the time. This is how Mother Marie de Gonzague surrounded three of her nuns, who died in 1880-1882.
Sister Adelaide of Providence first. A real saint. Affected in 1875 by cancer of the face (for which Dr. Notta advised against an operation), then by an "inner cancer", she endured great suffering with heroic patience. For the past few months, this almost illiterate sister pours out naive poetry. She dedicates one to her prioress (whom she is familiar with for the occasion):
Oh ! it is to you that I address myself My so tender Samaritan Whose cares filled with tenderness Surround me in the evening, in the morning. (...)
I hear you, O Mother so good. Come, come, my good Samaritan Who gives himself entirely to me Wanting to be my sweet support. Etc.
The community took part in the Sunday Eucharist on July 17, 1881, when the last moment came. “Left alone near her, we (the Prioress) received her last sigh at the very moment when the priest was giving Holy Communion to all our sisters. It would be impossible for us to say what we felt at that moment so painful for the maternal heart. (Circular from Sister Adelaide.)
The previous year, Mother Marie de Gonzague had already accompanied Sister Marie de Saint-Joseph (t August 15, 1880), who died of breast cancer at the age of 45, for the great passage. The tumor had taken “enormous proportions”. During the last days, the sick woman (who never complains...) asks her prioress "with touching tenderness not to leave her:" Oh! my Mother, she often told us, you will always have our sisters, but you won't have me soon, don't leave me!” ... It would have been difficult for us — concluded Mother Marie de Gonzague — not to give in to our dear daughter's wishes. (Circular.)
Since 1849, Sister Marie de la Croix (Gosselin) has lived as a recluse in her cell. “His intelligence was locked in a dungeon which prevented the intellectual light from dispelling the hallucinations which made the practice (of the Sacraments) impossible. From 1866, she refused all visits: neither confessor, nor doctor, nor Superior and not even her own sister.
She supports only Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse and her nurse (Sister Adélaïde then Sister Marie des Anges). At the end of 1881, it declined visibly. Mother Geneviève complains to the Lord that she bears such a responsibility alone. Suddenly, on January 1, 1882, Sister Marie de la Croix called out: “I would like to see my Mother Marie de Gonzague. » (She barely knows her.) « This good Mother went very quickly to this dear daughter and until her death she had the consolation of giving her care which the patient received with great happiness. (...) The good Lord having perfectly restored peace to this dear victim, her death was so sweet that the Mother Prioress who was close to her with Mother Geneviève could barely notice her last breath. It was January 28, 1882.
Subsequently, Sister Marie du Sacré-Coeur, second nurse to Mother Geneviève (t December 5, 1891), was to witness the vigils and fatigues of Mother Marie de Gonzague at her bedside. Sister Geneviève will pay homage to the care that, as a novice, she received from the same prioress. As for the way Thérèse was treated in 1897 by this Prioress—whom they wanted to pass off as an executioner—it suffices to reread the Last Interviews, in particular the letters written from day to day (pp. 665-774). The facts speak for themselves.

Daughter crowns Mother

Mother Geneviève had made her profession on July 22, 1831 at the Carmel of Poitiers. The year 1881 was therefore that of his golden wedding anniversary. “For a long time we have waited with holy impatience for the happy day when it would be given to us to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our Venerable Mother Geneviève. The prioress in charge spared no effort to give all its glory to the jubilee of the foundress: decorated monastery (we spent the day before and part of the night there), gifts, solemn offices, etc. The most moving moment is when Mother Geneviève renews her vows “in the hands of the one she had herself consecrated as the wife of Jesus a few years earlier:
When the Daughter crowned the Mother
When in his hands
she got her wishes
Oh ! the moment was no longer of the earth
Very soft tears flowed from all eyes. » In her own name and in that of the community, Mother Marie de Gonzague addresses to the jubilee « words dictated by the most tender affection, the most exquisite delicacy, the most lively gratitude and the deepest veneration ». Unfortunately this exhortation has not been found. At the solemn mass thronged “a large and distinguished crowd”. Did it include any representative of Les Buissonnets? No document makes it possible to assure it.

Swallow of a new spring

Sister Marie de la Croix, one of the two foundresses-benefactresses of Lisieux, therefore entered the light on January 28, 1882. The following February 16, Pauline Martin attended the 6 a.m. mass in the Saint-Jacques church, with his father and his sister Marie. She is twenty years old. She is peacefully waiting for her “22 or 23 years” to enter the Visitation of Le Mans. “Suddenly,” she says, “there was a very bright light in my soul, the good Lord showed me clearly that it was not at the Visitation that he wanted me, but at Carmel. (...) I had never thought of Carmel, and in an instant, I found myself pressed there by an irresistible attraction. The same day, Pauline – a woman of decision – confides her secret to Marie and Mr. Martin. Soon she will ring rue de Livarot. “On my first visit to the Carmel of Lisieux, I did not intend to do anything other than to ask the Mother Prioress to introduce me to the Carmel of Caen because I had been told that places were lacking in Lisieux.
“Mother Marie de Gonzague who was prioress was very kind and told me not to think of Caen, that she would find me a cell in her monastery. It was in the next parlor, I believe, that she gave me a little image that delighted me:
Dream of young age. The Bergerette. A shepherd girl was dreaming... and she told me that my name would be Sister Agnes of Jesus. (Intimate memories of Mother Agnes of Jesus.)

In 1897, Thérèse wrote to her "little Mother": "privileged of our family, you who show us the way like this little swallow that we always see at the head of her companions and who traces in the air the path that must lead them to their new homeland. » (LT 216.) Indeed, the first « swallow » of Les Buissonnets does not arrive alone!

A nine-year-old postulant

On June 26, 1882, Sister Emmanuel de la Presentation, one of the foundresses given by Lisieux in 1866, died in the Carmel of Coutances. Mother Coeur de Jesus, very tired, asked to return to her religious cradle. We are in July, Sister Véronique, tourière of Coutances, accompanies her. In Lisieux, she met at the Tour “a graceful child dressed in blue with her beautiful blond hair on her back. It was little Thérèse Martin”. She is introduced to Véronique as a future novice; and Véronique pleasantly said to her: “My little miss, you will still have to eat many more plates of soup before entering the Carmel! »
No doubt it was shortly after this encounter that the “little lady” had to face another, decisive one, that of Mother Marie de Gonzague. She has "great confidences" to make to him (Ms 1, 26 r°). Let's wait a bit, before following her to the visiting room...

6. First encounters with little Thérèse (1882-1883)

So we left little Thérèse with the port sisters. It is a Sunday in the summer of 1882, probably in July. With astonishing presence of mind, the child invented a little stratagem to leave his cousin Marie Guérin at the door (cf. Ms A, 26 v°). Here she is introduced, alone, to the parlor where Mother Marie de Gonzague, forty-eight years old, prioress "on borrowed time", receives her.

First face to face

The Story of a Soul allows us to reconstitute the "great confidences" of the little girl. Shortly before, she learned by surprise of Pauline's imminent departure for Carmel: “It was as if a sword had sunk into her heart” Pauline consoled her with tenderness and “explained the life of Carmel to her”. Thérèse thought about it in her heart and, she said, "I felt that Carmel was the desert where the Good Lord wanted me to go and hide myself... I felt it so strongly that there was no not the slightest doubt in my heart. I want to be a Carmelite, “not for Pauline but for Jesus alone”. The day after this grace, the child confided his secret "to Pauline who, regarding (these) desires as the will of Heaven, told him that soon she would go with her to see the Mother Prioress of Carmel and that she should be told what the Good Lord made her feel...” (Cf. Ms A, 26 r°.) That's it, it's done, she confided her secret.
Mother Marie de Gonzague listened attentively. No doubt she had the same impression as Pauline shortly before: Thérèse is telling the truth. Already in April 1877, during the first “confessions” on his vocation, the four-year-old child had struck Pauline by her seriousness: “She looked at me with a pensive air. Her little face had such a candid expression, everything she said to me came from the bottom of her heart so much that it was impossible not to take an interest. (letter from Pauline to Louise Magdelaine April 4, 1877).
The Prioress of Carmel was immediately won over. "God placed in his heart a deep knowledge of souls", wrote Thérèse, novice (LT 93, 14-7-1889). She knows, from that day, that she is in the presence of an authentic being, totally true. She believes Therese. She believes in Therese. It will be so from now on until September 30, 1897.
“Mother Marie de Gonzague believed in my vocation, but she told me that we did not receive postulants aged 9 and that we would have to wait until I was 16... I resigned myself despite my strong desire to enter as soon as possible. possible and to make my First Communion on the day Pauline takes the Habit...” (Ms A, 26 v°.)

" My little girl "

Pauline entered Carmel on October 2, 1882, “a day of tears and blessings” (Ms A, 26 v°). Huge tear in the life of the child. Shortly after, Thérèse saw Mother Marie de Gonzague again in the parlor, this time accompanied by the whole community, curious to meet the little sister of Sister Agnès of Jesus, the nine-year-old postulant! The Prioress asks the sisters what name they will give her when the day comes. Then, “it occurred to her to call her by the name she had dreamed of”: Thérèse of the Child Jesus (cf. Ms A, 31 v°). Great joy for little Thérèse!
But soon the psychological disorders manifest themselves. The little girl finds it difficult to bear the authority—a bit troublesome—of her new “mum” from Les Buissonnets, Marie; and the memory of Pauline becomes haunting. Confidences to Mother Marie de Gonzague continue in writing. Thérèse opens the dialogue (we correct the mistakes...):
"My darling Mother, "I haven't seen you for a long time, so I am very happy to write to you to tell you about my little affairs. Pauline told me that you were on retreat and I have come to ask you to pray to little Jesus for me because I have many faults and I would like to correct them.
“I must make my confession to you. For some time now I always respond when Marie tells me to do something; it seems that when Pauline was little and when she apologized to my aunt from Le Mans, she said to her: "So many holes, so many pegs," but it's much worse for me. Also I want to correct myself and in each little hole put a pretty little flower that I will offer to the little Jesus to prepare me for my First Communion. Isn't it, my dear Mother, that you will pray for that? Oh yes, this beautiful moment will come very quickly and how happy I will be when baby Jesus comes into my heart to have so many beautiful flowers to offer him.
“Goodbye, my dear Mother. I embrace you very tenderly as I love you.
Your Granddaughter Theresita. (LT 9, November-December 1882.)

Wonderful frankness! Here is a future Carmelite who does not take detours to "beat her guilt". Even more marvelous is the audacity—already! — of this little Thérèse, who turns her faults into flowers to offer them to Jesus...
But soon, the continual headaches affect the child's health. It is the turn of Mother Marie de Gonzague to take up the pen:
“I learned that my granddaughter Thérèse of the Child Jesus didn't sleep much and that she was ill; I come to tell my child's angel that she must not think all day long of my Agnès of Jesus, that would tire our little hearts and could harm our health!...
“I allow my future little girl to think of her holy little Carmelite sister before the Jesus of her heart, but never at night; Thérèse will sleep all night, eat whatever her beloved sister Marie wants her to eat; and from now on, to prepare for her first Communion, she will be very obedient.
“If my darling granddaughter
follow what I advise her, she will strengthen her health and will be able to come and find her Agnès of Jesus and, like her, become a good and fervent Spouse of Jesus! ! !
“I kiss you with all my heart, child angel, and pray to Jesus to bless his little bride. (...).
“You have a big place in my heart.
“My Thérèse, let us love Jesus well.
Sr Marie de Gonzague rc ind. »
(LC 6, end of Dec. 1882 or January 1883; CG I, p. 135.)
Maternal affection, educator's virility, common sense: the tone is set. This is how Mother Marie de Gonzague treated “her angel child” to the end.

Our so good Mother

On January 31, 1883, the community elections took place: “Mother Geneviève was elected Prioress, Sr Marie des Anges Sub-Prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague 1st Custodian [= Bursar] and Sr Fébronie 3rd Custodian. " Moreover. Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse, previously mistress of novices, entrusted this responsibility to Mother Marie de Gonzague.
What request does she receive from her Theresita? She has not kept her letter, but replies to him, one morning in Lent, / at dawn:
“My dear little Theresita,
“I embrace you with all my heart which loves you very much; after Easter I will see you, and I will give you a good answer, according to your wishes; hope and confidence!
“The Holy Time of Penance forces me to silence today; you can write to me as often as your little heart wills; our so good Mother is completely happy with our union, dear angel...
Your Mother Sr Marie de Gonzague rc ind.
“I write to you with the eyes of faith, I cannot see it, it is 5:1 a.m. and I am without light.
"Let's sleep well and eat a lot!" (LC 9, in CG I, pp. 138 s.)
But the time is no longer for advice. In the midst of all these “mothers”, lost and found, at Buissonnets or at Carmel, the heart of little Thérèse could not resist. She breaks down nervously, on Easter evening, March 25, 1883.

“Mom” (Ms A, 57 r°.)

We know the rest (Ms A, 27 r°/31 v°): “ strange disease of almost two months, before which science capitulates. Finally, on Pentecost Sunday, May 13, 1883, it was the final assault: “Finding no help on earth, poor little Thérèse also turned to her Heavenly Mother, she prayed to her with all her heart. to finally have pity on her...” (Ms A, 30 r°.) The only and true “Mom” of all humans responds with a “delightful smile”. Marie (Martin) understands everything: “Thérèse is cured! ". She runs to bring the news to Carmel.

Thérésita, the budding postulant, should not make us lose sight of the real postulant of October 2, 1882, Pauline Martin, who became Sister Agnès of Jesus. Mother Marie de Gonzague welcomed her as Prioress, Mother Geneviève as mistress of novices. The roles are reversed in the elections of January 31, 1883.

7. Mother Marie de Gonzague, mistress of the novitiate (1883-1886)

For the postulants and novices of 1883, “Our Mother” therefore becomes “my Mother”. The novitiate then includes:
— Sister Marie-Emmanuel, widow aged 54, professed since 7-10-1880;
— Sister Marie de Saint-Joseph, 24 years old, the “centenary professed”, 17-10-1882, designated as “angel” of Sister Agnès;
— Sister Isabelle des Anges, a postulant who was still there at Christmas 1882 (cf. LC 5) but who would not stay.
Two new recruits will join the group in 1883-1884:
— Sister Marie of Jesus, 21 years old, on April 26, 1883;
— Sister Marie-Philomène, 45, November 7, 1884.
Mother Marie de Gonzague is on the eve of her fiftieth year: in all her maturity. “I became very attached to her,” Mother Agnès later confided. She was tall, distinguished, she showed me a very special affection... also pious, and very frank, with a certain candor that had charms. »

Vestment of Sister Agnès of Jesus (April 6, 1883)

On March 13, 1883, Mother Geneviève of Sainte-Thérèse informed Mr. Martin: “It is with pleasure that I inform you of the reception of your dear daughter; the whole community is overjoyed, which tells you, sir, how much we love him. (LD 449). Parents are always happy with such compliments. And in fact, the nice Pauline knows how to win hearts. Ceremony set for Friday, April 6, postponed feast of Saint Joseph.
Although bedridden with the Guérins since Easter (March 25), little Thérèse can meet her Pauline as a bride, in the outside parlor, before the ceremony. She sits once again on his knees, showering her with caresses (cf. Ms A, 28r°). But very quickly they bring her back to Les Buissonnets. Sister Agnès remembers: “I still see her entering the visiting room, so sweet, so beautiful! She had on a sky blue cashmere dress, a silk belt of the same color, a large white hat with an ostrich feather. »
During the child's illness, there is hardly a letter from Pauline that does not convey a message of this kind: "When I go to see your mother Marie de Gonzague, we both talk about you like a well-behaved little girl. -loved, spoiled... She cherishes you very much too, this sweet Mother of your soul. (LC 12, May 1883.)

Pauline is waiting for Thérèse (March-May 1884)

Having taken the habit on April 6, 1883, Sister Agnès could hope to make profession on April 7, 1884, according to the customs of the time. It must therefore be presented, always according to the habits and customs, to the vote of the capitulant sisters about a month before. In fact, admission is deferred for a month. A late text attributes it to "an unconscious jealousy" of Mother Marie de Gonzague, who would have liked to reserve the honor of such a profession to herself, after her return to the priorate, i.e. in 1886... The "legend" does not hold. not standing. “Overcome”, a Joan of Arc would have said in such an event (1). Let's get back to the facts.
On March 28, 1884, Sister Agnès exulted: “My darling little Father, I come to share my joy with you, I am in Carmel for life! (...) Mother Marie de Gonzague asks me to tell you, my little Father, that she is very happy to always keep your Pauline. (LD 482).
Mother Geneviève confirms the same day: “It is with a joy equal to that of your dear child that I inform you of her admission to Holy Profession. His wish would be that this longed-for day would have the same date as your dear Angel's first communion. We hope. Sir, to be able to condescend to this desire. You are a truly happy Father for God is pouring out His blessings upon your lovely family. (LD 483; March 28, 1884.)
To help her “little daughter” prepare for the “first kiss of Jesus” in the Eucharist, Sister Agnès made her a prayer book for March-April (cf. CG I, pp. 156 ss.). The first communion will take place in May and the novice asks about the exact date (LC 26 and 27). Finally the good news: it's May 8 (LC 28). Every week, little Thérèse receives a letter from Pauline (there's no such thing as Lent!). As in 1883, she can read almost every time: “Mother Marie de Gonzague kisses her little daughter and loves her with all her heart. (LC 23, etc.).

“We have never seen that! (May 7, 1884)

Mother Geneviève is now too infirm to go up to the Chapter Hall on May 8. It is decided that the vows ceremony will take place on the ground floor, in the interior oratory. The sub-prioress, the excellent Marie des Anges, helped by Sister Marie de Saint-Joseph and other sisters, never finished decorating the little sanctuary. Nothing too beautiful to celebrate both the beloved foundress, the young professed and the first communicant (future postulant)! It almost feels like a return to the Jubilee of July 22, 1881.
On the evening of the 7th, after the office of Matins, the prayer vigil begins in the choir, around the young professed. Previously, Mother Marie des Anges asked Mother Marie de Gonzague to go “admire the decorations” at the Oratory, with Sister Agnès. It's hardly the time. The mistress refuses and stays in the choir. After a while, however, she joins Sister Agnès at the oratory... and cannot believe her eyes: intertwined crowns, crests, flowers, relics and lamps on the altar, two doves (Agnès and Thérèse) . She gets angry for good: "It's too much to do, we've never seen that, etc." Of course, nothing too much for the Martin ladies; but think a little about the other young sisters, without family or almost without party... And Mother Marie de Gonzague returns to the choir. Poor Pauline is heartbroken (“How many things can make a sensitive heart like mine bleed!” she soon confessed; LD 489, June 12, 1884). She took refuge in the hermitage of the Sacred Heart, and wept bitterly. Above all, she blames herself — she will confide this one day — for experiencing such anguish because of her Mistress, instead of being totally happy in her union with Jesus. She begs the Virgin Mary to "detach his heart from his Mistress"...

As at Tabor (May 8, 1884)

On the morning of May 8, the novice pulled herself together and pronounced her vows “in great peace”. “Mother Geneviève spoke to me like a saint and I forgot my sorrows. (...) At the end of the afternoon, I saw my little Thérèse in the visiting room, "with her
white veil like mine”. She was looking at me with such a profound and sweet air! What moments for both of us!... I left the parlor quite comforted, a bit like the Apostles when they came down from Tabor. A celestial atmosphere surrounded me. »
Mother Marie de Gonzague offers an image to Thérèse with these lines:
“Mother Marie de Gonzague to her beloved child, her Thérésita. Remembrance of a day doubly dear to the heart of the mother of her beloved children!
His Thérèse receives his Jesus for the first time.
His Agnes unites with the Bridegroom of virgins! to the King of kings!
Oh ! yes I understand ! (LD 523)

Mother Marie de Gonzague has sometimes been presented as a kind of executioner (of herself and of others) with iron health. The documents, on the contrary, often show her ill: asthma? allergy? In any case, frequent bronchitis; (cf. Ms C, 14 v°). On March 28, 1884, Pauline begs for “quids” from her father: “My poor Mother M. de Gonzague is very ill, her poor chest is so oppressed that it is pitiful... there is only that — sucking quids—which does him good. (LD 482) Mrs. Guérin will soon be giving out rhubarb jam: "Mother-Marie de Gonzague hid her pots like treasures, she was afraid some would be stolen from her for the infirmary, I couldn't help to laugh yesterday while helping him. (LD 492, end of June 1984
Only Thérèse will know how to speak of the “loving heart” of Mother Marie de Gonzague (LT 190). He allowed her to understand many things, of human life as well as spiritual life. His first education, at the Visitation of Caen, could only develop this gift, centering it on the Heart of Jesus, and in trust and abandonment.

It is the Pauline of 1884 which draws these lines:
“I saw my Mother earlier, and she spoke to me of this abandonment of the soul, a source of delight and peace even in suffering. I understand it: this confidence, this surrender full of tenderness which ravishes here below the Heart of our Fathers and mothers, how could it not touch the Heart of our Heavenly Father? (LD 491, June 26, 1884.)
Great heartbreak, for Marie Martin this time, when Fr. Pichon embarked for Canada (October 4, 1884). In July 1885 she received from him a flower “picked from the rock near the Cataracts” of Niagara. It's turning the iron in the wound. “For a flower (herself) everything is broken,” Marie then wrote to Sister Agnès... Mother Marie de Gonzague read this sentence several times and said to her novice: “Oh! yes, I understand that! (LD 523, July 27-28, 1885). And shortly after, coming out of a parlor: “I told all about our parlor to the only Mother you know, if you only knew how well she understands everything. I love him more and more. I believe his
affection for you has again redoubled mine. (LD 525, August 1885.)
Watch out, “Swallow Mary”, watch out!...

Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse painfully finished her last priorate. Since 1884, the swelling of the legs is such that it no longer supports standing. She was carried in an armchair (not a wheelchair) from the infirmary to the choir, from the choir to the heating room, where she spent her days in a small adjoining room, the Sainte-Baume as she called it. She was over eighty years old when she returned definitively to the shadows, so “hidden”, so obedient that one would have taken her for a novice rather than for a former Prioress and Foundress”.

8. A fruitful priorate (1886-1889)

The elections took place on February 3, 1886. “Mother Marie de Gonzague was elected Prioress, Sister Fébronie Sub-Prioress, Sister Marie des Anges first Custodian and Sister Saint-Stanislas third Custodian. » Sister Marie des Anges was appointed mistress of novices.
The Community then had twenty-four sisters, including five lay brothers and several invalids. In the novitiate, two young professed sisters: Agnes of Jesus and Mary of Jesus, and a mature novice, Sister Marie-Philomène. She made her profession in the hands of Mother Marie de Gonzague on March 25, 1886.

Pious conspiracies

Approach works have multiplied around Marie Martin, since the summer of 1885: what Father Piat qualifies as a “pious plot”. In the visiting room or in writing, Pauline “presses her to her last entrenchments”. "When will you live the same life and under the same roof as me?..." (LD 528) "I call on the future with all my wishes, you know what future..." ( LD 550) “May this year (1886) be for you and for me the great year! Ah! if you only knew how much I desire you, how more and more I feel your marked place next to me, in this blessed little cloister! (LD 555).
Mother Geneviève, still prioress, congratulates Mary on "the vocation with which her love gratifies you", and has already chosen her name: "Mary of the Cross" (LD 546).
But Marie gets her ear pulled. “I'll come in when the good Lord tells me to, but he hasn't made his will clear enough to me. — Don't think, retorts Sister Agnès, that he will appear to you for that. You're going to be 26, it's time to make a decision. “I won't do it on my own. Since he knows very well that I want to do his will, he will rather send me an angel to
tell me. » (Cf. Père Piat, Marie Martin, p. 89.) Alerted in secret by Sister Agnès — with the indispensable complicity of Mother Marie de Gonzague —, « the angel » appears... through the pen of Father Pichon , then in Canada: “Answer my question. When will you be Mary of the Sacred Heart? What do you think of your presence in the family? Is it still necessary? (LD 558) You have to comply... Entry is set for October 15, 1886.

The reflection of the waters...

Sister Agnès had written shortly before: “Our Mother is very fond of her Mary, that makes me very happy. I say to myself: At least she will be understood by that heart! (LD 564).
Understood, and even in love with “that heart”! Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart became passionately attached to Mother Marie de Gonzague. With indulgence, the prioress overlooks many things about the postulant and then the novice, generous of course, but so little conformist, and hardly “regular”. At the end of her life, the interested party will recognize that she owed to this openness of spirit to have received the habit (March 19, 1887) and made profession (May 22, 1888).
The coin has its reverse. Sister Agnès, who completed her novitiate on June 21, 1887, understood this only too well, from experience: the “charm” of a Mother Prioress has many pitfalls for a young nun. So she tries to sober up her sister Marie: "Our Mother is a ray of God's goodness, a limpid and transparent stream of water flowing from the eternal river, you can quench your thirst there, but to stop being thirsty you have to go up at the source” (LD 600). “My dove has the eyes of a dove, but when she goes to quench her thirst at the fountains here below, the little sparrow who keeps watch finds that the reflection of the waters of this life still has too much effect on her heart” (LD 604 ). He will do so for many more years... And the “godmother” will only admire the heroism of her goddaughter, who has become a Carmelite, all the more: Thérèse will know very early how to deprive herself of going to drink “at this enchanted spring” (LT 75).
That does not mean we believe in weakness in Mother Marie de Gonzague, but she has her methods... Almost octogenarian, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart laughingly reported this anecdote to her nurse: one day, a very young nun , she could no longer "fight" against a sister. She knocks at the prioress to vent her irritation. Mother Marie de Gonzague, writing, listens to the deluge of words without even raising her head. When the complainant has exhausted her grievances, the Mother turns to her and is content to conclude by reiterating this single question in an expressive crescendo: “And you, my sister Marie du Sacré-Coeur? And you, my sister Marie of the Sacred Heart? And you, my sister Marie du Sacré-Coeur!...” Stunned, taken aback, Marie withdrew without asking for her rest.

Soon the longed-for hour

At first appalled by the announcement, in August 1886, of the forthcoming departure of Marie, their second (or third) mother, Céline and Thérèse gradually pulled themselves together. After her Christmas metamorphosis, the youngest (14 years old in January 1887) experiences an unpredictable human fullness. Queens and mistresses at Les Buissonnets, the two young girls enjoy “the ideal of happiness” (Ms A, 49 v°). Not for a long time ! Driven by an irresistible grace, Thérèse skips the steps to realize her vocation. If Marie of the Sacred Heart is more than reluctant, sister
Agnès de Jesus is the best advocate for her little sister with Mother Marie de Gonzague. The Prioress is fully committed to the project, despite it being so unreasonable in human terms. She inaugurates—or better, she develops—her role as educator of her "darling Theresita." Celine she complains that it does not eat enough? The reprimand comes:
“Where is my little child's promise to eat a lot a lot? We must act as if we were in Carmel; well ! when we are in the refectory it will be necessary. take whatever obedience will give us; if you have a headache it's weakness, you have to eat more; agreed.
“Does my seraph not want to come and find his elders so happy in the service of the good Lord? If we don't take the necessary food, we won't be able to succeed! Courage, child of the heart, patience and hope, the years go by, the months are short, the days are hours and soon the longed-for hour will strike” (LC 53).
And during the trip to Rome, when Thérèse's affairs seemed to get confused:
“All that Jesus wants is marked with the seal of the cross, and this cross should not be dragged but carried! the more you go, treasure of a child, the more you will understand all that the grace of the vocation, which Jesus has given you, deserves sacrifices for his love...” (LC 62).
After the “fiasco” of the audience with Leo XIII (20-11-1887) and faced with the irritated intransigence of M. Delatroëtte, Sister Agnès of Jesus was taken aback. Mother Marie de Gonzague does not resign for all that and addresses Mr. Guérin:
“I greatly fear the stubborn Superior; for you only this word; we really don't know the child's reason” (LD 656).
And on December 15, 1887, to the same:
“I can't do anything for the moment; the child must remain silent, how do we get out of this? It seems to me, sir, that nothing but your insight can do that. (...) I believe that it takes a miracle for the dear child to be granted her Christmas wish” (LD 658). The miracle will not take place. But on December 28, Bishop Hugonin authorized Mother Marie de Gonzague to receive the fifteen-year-old postulant. Alas! “this time it was the holy ark which refused entry to the poor little dove” (Ms A, 68 r°). “Pauline” suddenly worries about the rigors of Lent, which begins on February 15, 1888, for her granddaughter. She asks for a reprieve: let's wait until after Easter! We do not know the reaction of Mother Marie de Gonzague, but she sides with this party.

Works

Officially completed by the planting of the Calvary in 1877, the monastery still requires many improvements. The prioress decided in 1887 to put an end to this humidity which had persisted in the refectory and in the cloisters since the great flood (1875). "Concrete and forge grime" first cleans up the ground and the red cobblestones (reused in the attics) are replaced by black, gray and white, drawing a sort of checkerboard. The four steps of the courtyard were rebuilt, opposite the alleys leading to the Calvary. Improvements and painting in the refectory; new paint and paneling in the boiler room. In its poverty, the small Lexovian Carmel is ready to celebrate its fifty years of existence (the foundresses arrived on March 15, 1838) and to welcome the young Thérèse Martin.

9. A strong and maternal education (1888-1893)

Here, then, was Thérèse postulant at the age of fifteen, determined to “give herself entirely” to Jesus, to “no longer live except for him” (LT 43). Mother Marie de Gonzague, prioress, took charge of the realization of this ideal. "Everything is perfect", such is the conclusion that she makes after a month of observation: "I could never have believed in such an advanced judgment in 15 years of age!... not a word to say to her ". Yes, “a perfection”. Why doubt the sincerity of these lines addressed by the Prioress to Aunt Guérin (May 17, 1888)? Thérèse is aware of this: her Mother loves her very much and speaks of her as much as possible (Ms 1, 70 v°). The temptation is all the greater to exploit this provision to be cajoled. Mother Marie de Gonzague is too perspicacious, and the postulant too faithful to grace, for such a “misfortune” to compromise the work of God. By design, the prioress will therefore be “very severe”. Should we note that, in a few years, the novices will say the same of their young mistress, Thérèse of the Child Jesus (Ms C, 23 r°)? In Histoire d'une Ame (1898), Mother Agnès reported two reprimands from Mother Marie de Gonzague; one in front of the sisters: “We can clearly see that our cloisters are being swept away by a child of fifteen! it's a pity! So go remove that cobweb and be more careful in the future. The other concerns the gardening imposed on the postulant by Sister Marie des Anges, mistress of novices, to give her exercise before prayer time at 17:22 p.m.: “But after all, this child does absolutely nothing! What is a novice who must be sent out for a walk every day? Slowness, little devotion to work are the usual reproaches that Thérèse hears in her rare interviews with her prioress. Moreover, these processes are part of the program of the novitiate of that time. The postulant, far from feeling “persecuted”, must rather overcome an excessive attachment to Mother Marie de Gonzague. She finds “a host of permissions to ask” to justify visits to her office, solely to “find a few drops of joy”, “to satisfy her nature” (Ms C, XNUMX r°). She must cling to the railing of the stairs to deny herself these "consolations of the heart." One day, his eldest, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, becomes a tempting demon: they pass together in front of the prioress's cell. Mary is just about to enter it. She motions to Therese to follow her, but the latter quickly descends the stairs. “Seeing her heroism, I admit that I was confused comparing myself to her,” noted Marie in her Notes preparatory to the Trial.

spiritual advice

We found in Thérèse's papers, after her death, several of the notes addressed to her by her prioress, either during her own retreats, or at the time of her vestment (1). The tone is most affectionate but the counsels maintain with virility the aspirant to holiness on paths of faith.
“I don't want the child of my tenderness to give way to such great sadness. I don't know anything about taking the habit... Before hurting yourself, you have to wait” (letter of December 6/10, 1888).
“Let my youngest, my little grain of sand, tell his mother everything, she understands... What joy, a humiliation! It is worth all the treasures of Panama! [referring to the losses made by Mr. Martin in his investment for the construction of the Panama Canal]. Let's say it again when we happen to make a blunder: happy fault which deserves me this humiliation! As for our miseries, we have only one thing to do, to form a small bundle of them and place them in the Heart of Jesus so that he may change them into so many merits for the Fatherland. (letter of December 10, 1888).
“A very small humiliation well received, accepted with joy, is worth more to the Heart of Jesus than all the greatest crosses in the world, if there is nestled in their acceptance a little self-seeking, a small grain of vanity, a bit of self-love, an iota of something unworthy of the Heart of Jesus!...” (LC 95).
And when Thérèse laments seeing her habit postponed for 24 hours — what a disappointment: January 10 instead of January 9!... — Mother Marie de Gonzague reasons with her: what matters is not to take the habit on such and such a date, but to listen to Jesus ask "to his soul, united to his love: have you understood my heart which has chosen you to become one with me?..." (LC 103 ). Only the Gift of God matters! A few months later, it was a call and a prophecy that Mother Marie de Gonzague dedicated to her: “I'm not going to make you laugh, but you need the truth in all things! Jesus pruned my violet to suffer and I don't want
not be a prophet today, but I can nevertheless say to my little daughter, it is the suffering, even more the sacrifice that will make you a great saint»» (LC 118).
On the back of an image, a Christmas night:
“Let us remain a child close to our beloved Spouse and in his cradle we will learn the simplicity and humility that will make my beloved daughter a great and holy Teresa of Jesus” (CG, 1097).
We could never stop quoting these too little known writings. “Often, very often I think of my little girl, I have ambition for her,” wrote Sister Agnès of Jesus (LC 77). Mother Marie de Gonzague could sign this declaration with both hands. • Each in her own way, these two spiritual mothers guide the young Carmelite woman towards high holiness.

“A Perfect Nun”

The day after Thérèse's profession (8-9-1890), the prioress wrote to the Carmel of Tours: "This child's Angel is 17 and a half years old and 30 years old, the religious perfection of an old consummate novice , and the possession of herself, she is a perfect nun, yesterday not an eye could remain dry at the sight of her great and complete immolation. But the gift of self is paid for day by day. And the Mother must support Thérèse's courage:
"I know that my child is generous and that she seeks only the cross of her beloved, who has been abandoned by all..." "O beloved child, I do not abandon you in my heart because you you've been there before. We suffer, Jesus is far away, but yet, how I see him close to the heart of his Bride! Even more, because she lives entirely in this infinite Love... I envy your fate, darling child...” (LC 143).
“You have to walk as a strong and vigorous soul. I don't believe my lamb is flawless, far from it, I know very well that he has his miseries and it is they that make our life a meritorious life,
an apostolic life because it is the victories gained over the defects which obtain all that we want! Souls, souls to Jesus! What mercy... Let us love Jesus, child of his tenderness, live of love, to die of love; since our Blessed Mother had this desire, we can walk in the footsteps of our Mother! We will love so much in heaven, let us begin our heaven here below...” (LC 144).
Such are the teachings of this prioress, a Jansenist it seems.

The right balance

So everything would be for the best in the best of all possible worlds? Because Mother Marie de Gonzague was made, not long ago, into a wicked and almost monstrous virago—and the legend lives on—must we halo her with holiness today? It is certainly not to sin by slander to recall his dominant defect, widely reported in the depositions of the Trial: jealousy. Questioned at length by Father Piat (with a view to refuting Van der Meersch), Sister Geneviève circumscribed the evil well: “only when her authority was at stake”. Therese herself had at least two instructive experiences in this area.
One dates from the retreat of October 1891, preached by Fr. Alexis. According to the custom of the time, each sister goes to confession, by "order of religion", once at the beginning, once at the end of the retreat. She has the right to return there in the meantime. Is the reported incident from the first or the second round? Never mind. For Thérèse, the time to go to the confessional is during the refectory. Mother Agnès reports: “Mother Marie de Gonzague realized the time she had taken, called me and did not hide her anger from me. She had a thousand suspicions, she couldn't understand why people weren't satisfied with her direction, and besides, what could this child have to say, etc.? Frightened, Sister Agnès went to the confessional in secret, knocked on the door and begged Thérèse to come back to the community... But as she did not come on behalf of the prioress, the penitent answered her calmly and in a resolved: “No, I will not go out, the good Lord wants me to be here at this moment, I must take advantage of his graces and his lights. I will then bear all the sorrows he sends. And she goes back to the confessional. Result: the prioress forbids him to return to see Father Alexis! Very harsh order "which bound his freedom of conscience". Sacristine, Thérèse hears the preacher pacing in the adjoining room (he hardly has a "clientele"...) She confides her grief to her mistress of the novitiate, who advises her to insist with Mother de Marie de Gonzaga. “But for greater perfection, she preferred to remain silent and obeyed with Our Lord obedient even to the Cross. (Cf. PO, 418; PA, 361.)
The other fact is well known. It is about Thérèse's fraternal warning to her companion in the novitiate, Sister Marthe of Jesus, around December 8, 1892. The prioress allowed them to have spiritual conversations. But even so, one must not appear in broad daylight, for fear of upsetting the superior. And Thérèse was well aware that she was taking a very big risk the day she decided to warn Sister Marthe against a very human affection for Mother Marie de Gonzague. It is again Sister Agnès who expresses her fear to him; “You risk being betrayed, so Our Mother will not be able to stand you any longer, and you will be sent to another monastery. I know that, but since I am certain now that it is my duty to speak, I must not look at the consequences. » (CGI I, 668.) Yes, « perfect nun », this sister Thérèse! She knows how to be silent with Father Alexis or speak to Sister Marthe, because she keeps her eyes fixed on Jesus alone. It is Him whom she seeks only, in obedience, even if it seems to her “certain that the superiors are mistaken” (Ms C, 11 r°).

10. In the row... (1893- 1896)

February 13, 1889 had seen an unsurprising election. The community vote kept the three “elected” of 1886 in charge: prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague; sub-prioress: Sister Fébronie; bursar (and mistress of novices), Sister Marie des Anges; third councillor: Sister Saint-Stanislas. But the "succession" looks worrying at the end of the triennium, because Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse is now bedridden, and Mother Marie de Gonzague will not be eligible for re-election in 1892.

Sister Agnès, Dauphin

Towards the end of 1891, Sister Agnès one day entered the infirmary of Mother Geneviève. There she found Mother Marie de Gonzague. As she enters, the two Mothers lower their voices and look at her with an enigmatic air. Subsequently, she was given to understand that it was precisely a question of her, of her possible election to the priorate... The winter of 1891-1892 was bad for the Carmel. Death of the foundress (5-12-1891), epidemic of influenza which removes three elders in six days and leaves the community distraught, weakened. Canon Delatroëtte listens to the entreaties of the sisters who ask to postpone the elections. Bishop Hugonin grants a delay of one year. The outgoing prioress took advantage of this time to prepare people's minds for the solution she wanted: the election of Sister Agnès.

"The Finger of God" (February 20, 1893)

Let Aunt Guérin speak, who announces the “great news” to her daughter Jeanne the same day:
“Can you guess who is named superior?... It's your cousin Pauline. So you can't believe how emotional she is today. Your daddy went to see her... She couldn't say anything... We only heard little sobs. (He therefore) encouraged her in her new charge. Fortunately she will have Mother Marie de Gonzague to guide her, because it is a great weight that falls on her shoulders, young as she is (...). The situation was quite delicate, Mother Marie de Gonzague was present and it required a lot of tact. It is certain that our dear little Pauline has everything it takes to make a good superior, but she is so shy, so
easy to move, her health is weak, then she is very young. Once she has taken over, and that she will be well bent to her charge I am sure that she will be very well. I believe, my dear little Jeanne, that it will be good for you to write her a little letter, only you will think that Mother Marie de Gonzague will be able to see her, and you too will be bound to a certain reserve. (...) I forgot to tell you that our little Pauline was elected unanimously. It seems that it is very rare to see an election being held like this. You could see the finger of God there. » (CG II, 687.) The finger of God... guided by Mother Marie de Gonzague, therefore designated a young sister of thirty-one years old, totally inexperienced, shy, emotional, but naturally gifted for command. “Fortunately”, Mother Marie de Gonzague will be able to guide her!... Indeed!

Honeymoon

The docility of the "Lamb" facilitates relationships, while Céline and the Guérins are called upon to spoil the one who is now called "Grandmother" (Mother Marie de Gonzague is only 59 years old)... Serious alert in April: the former prioress has asthma attacks:
“How scared we were last night! What was sick... She was talking to me like a dying person, I was broken, I was crying! She told me that the good Lord would help me, that I no longer needed her, that Mother Geneviève would be with me, etc., and gave me her last recommendations... Judge of my pain! (From Mother Agnès to Céline, April 1893.) “The strawberries gave great pleasure to My Dear Mother who is still
all in pain. (Around May 6.) "Mother Marie de Gonzague hit herself hard in the eye yesterday, she couldn't see all day and was in a lot of pain. say that she still has a sore or a bump. I have a lot of misery. (End of May.) But we also find notes of this style:
"You're going to receive a letter addressed to me in a few days, please don't send it to me but bring it to me yourself on occasion, there's no hurry." Mother Marie de Gonzague must not know about it. (May 93).

Polished diamonds...

Ms. Guérin was just saying: it requires “a lot of tact” to live in the shadow of a touchy “grandmother”... It is from Canada this time that the first echoes of the foreseeable difficulties are reaching us. Father Pichon writes to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart:
“I know the soul of my daughters (the strong and the weak) much better than you think; you teach me nothing. My heart feels the delicate position made by Jesus to the dear Lamb and I am aware of all the resources she has from Heaven to face it. My thought goes further than your pen and I feel it in unison with your thought... Reading the story of the small and big storms that your pen confides to me so finally, I remembered this pretty word from Fénelon: “God polishes a diamond with another diamond! I dream about it gently. Dear little shepherdess, help her smile at the bouquet of myrrh! » (19-9-1893)

In the middle of the storms

The word is out: “small and large storms”. But we
We know little more because if the Trials speak abundantly of the anger and "terrible scenes" of Mother Marie de Gonzague to her young prioress - under the influence of jealousy, we are assured -, we would seek in vain, in the documents known to date, specific examples. Why do these scenes break out? In what terms does Grandmother's anger manifest itself? Impossible to discover anything about it, even sifting through the archival papers. Disappointment for the reader, perhaps, but we don't have to invent what we don't know. Note, however, the reaction of Sister Saint-Vincent de Paul, despite being a regular worshiper of Mother Marie de Gonzague, and witness to a terrible scene: "O Mother Marie de Gonzague - she said indignantly - it is very wrong to do so suffer your mother prioress! » (PA, 145) Indeed, that day, Mother Agnès, otherwise so emotional, felt the blow to the point of almost fainting...

Therese, no man's land

Although not targeted by these “outbursts”, Thérèse cannot but feel the repercussions. Sister Marie des Anges leaves us a moving testimony. “Witness sometimes of the painful difficulties that Mother Marie de Gonzague caused to Mother Agnès of Jesus, who became prioress, she suffered cruelly in silence. One day, however, she said to me, her heart full of tears and a sadness that was painted on her face: “I now understand what Our Lord suffered from seeing his Mother suffer in his Passion. (NPPA, unpublished.)
Strength prevailed over tears, however, as attested by an uncompromising witness, Sister Marie-Madeleine: “Another time I was able to judge how much her love [to Thérèse] for our Mother Agnès of Jesus was supernatural. There had just been a violent scene with Mother Marie de Gonzague and as I was complaining about our Mother, my Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus said to me: “I am jubilant, the more I see her suffer, the happier I am! Ah! Sister Marie-Madeleine, you do not know the price of suffering! If you only knew the good it does his soul! On occasions like the one I am talking about, she never absented herself from an exercise of community, not even for a moment, to go and console her sisters. It was only when they sent for her that she came out to restore peace. (NPPO)
In fact, it happened that they came for Thérèse to "restore peace"... As if her presence, her loving and strong holiness appeased Saul's fury against little David! Her contagious peace played for Mother Marie de Gonzague the role of a kind of no man's land. The day is approaching when, at the end of this stormy three-year term, and the day after a difficult election (March 21, 1896), he will have to "consol" the ulcerated old Mother, unaware no doubt of reaping what she had just sow.
Later, Mother Agnès will judge things with hindsight:
“Poor Mother Marie de Gonzague! It was she, however, who had worked on my election, but she could not allow me to take on too much authority. She would have wanted me always under her domination. What I have suffered and cried during these three years! But I recognize that this yoke was necessary to me. He matured me and detached my soul from honours. » (Intimate Memories).

11. Novice Mistress (1893-1896)

Having handed over to Mother Agnès of Jesus on February 20, 1893 the crook of prioress — which she was often tempted to take back in hand before the time — Mother Marie de Gonzague did not remain without responsibilities. The community elected her “first trustee”. At the time, the office of bursar was practically linked to this title. In addition, Mother Agnès of Jesus appointed her as mistress of novices, replacing Sister Marie des Anges, mistress since 1886. The latter, at the same elections, was elected sub-prioress; the third counselor being Sister Saint-Raphaël. This means that Mother Marie de Gonzague participates in all the meetings of the Council, initiating her young prioress to her new responsibilities...

The novitiate of 1893

In February 1893, the novitiate brought together two professed sisters and a postulant. Here is first Thérèse, 20 years old, who normally ends her training on September 8th. Then comes Sister Marthe de Jesus, converse, 28 years old, who continues hers until September 1893. It is useless to recall her overflowing affection for Mother Marie de Gonzague. Therese will one day employ an uncompromising comparison, that of the “dog which attaches itself to its master” (Ms C, 21 v°). As for Marie-Madeleine du Saint-Sacrement, 23, a postulant for seven months (the lay brothers then do a year of novitiate), her lack of sympathy for her mistress is clear from her depositions at the Trial of the Ordinary. His aversion to Therese is no less great, moreover. Ultimately, she will never love anyone but Mother Agnès of Jesus. Unfortunately, we do not know the theme of the teachings of Mother Marie de Gonzague to the novices whom she brought together, according to the custom of the time, every day from 14:30 p.m. to 15 p.m.

A sub-mistress

“When I entered the Carmel, I found Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus mistress of novices,” says Sister Marie-Madeleine in notes from 1910 (NPPO, unpublished). False assertion: when she entered on July 22, 1892, the mistress was Sister Marie des Anges. At the Trial of the Ordinary, she rectified moreover: "At the beginning of 1893, six months
after my entry, Mother Agnès having become prioress, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus became mistress of novices. (PO, 477). Whereupon the Court interrupted her: “Didn't Mother Marie de Gonzague then have the title and office of mistress of novices? »
“Yes,” Marie-Madeleine replies without bothering with periphrases, “Mother Marie de Gonzague, former prioress, had been officially appointed mistress of novices; but it was to have peace. She could not form the novices as needed, and Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus had received the unofficial mission of filling in for her as discreetly as possible in this ministry of formation. (PO, 477). Mother Agnès of Jesus did not speak differently, a few months earlier: “She (Thérèse) was charged, as an auxiliary, with the formation of the novices (1893), being 20 years old. This charge was first entrusted to her by me, who was prioress in 1893” (PO, 143). Question from the judge: “Why only assistant in the novitiate and not mistress? » Response from Mother Agnès: « Having become prioress in 1893, I thought I should give the title of mistress of novices to Mother Marie de Gonzague who was then leaving the office of prioress. (PO, 144). The judge insists: “But why this appointment of Thérèse as auxiliary? » Mother Agnès has her explanation: « I felt obliged by convenience to appoint Mother Marie de Gonzague mistress of novices. But, along with real qualities, there were gaps and faults in her, the unfortunate influence of which I hoped to counterbalance by adding Sister Thérèse to her in the exercise of this charge. (ibid.)
At the Apostolic Process, the same story goes: “To mitigate the evil as much as possible, I tell Sister Thérèse to watch over her two companions. In reality, it was on Sister Thérèse that I counted on leading the novitiate. (PA, 148). “It was actually her that I had put in charge of the novices,” she writes elsewhere (NPPA/Prudence).
How twisted and very feminine all this is! Mother Marie de Gonzague had Sister Agnès prioress elected, hoping to govern well by intermediary disciple. Let us remember that at the beginning of her priorate, Mother Agnès was under the influence of Marie de Gouzague and it was only gradually that she would gain her autonomy. She names Mother Marie de Gonzague official mistress of the novitiate but gives her an auxiliary in the person of Thérèse. 

Thérèse, “hunting dog” (1894)

On September 7, 1893, Sister Marie-Madeleine received the Carmelite habit and began her canonical year of novitiate. It was then, very probably, that Mother Agnès of Jesus “forced” him to meet Thérèse for half an hour every Sunday (CG II, 924). The novice herself recounted how she hid at the agreed time: “So she (Thérèse) was looking for me and when she could not find me and then she met me, she said to me: “I have searched and couldn't find you. I replied coldly: "I was busy." And she kept in this circumstance her face
calm and smiling (CG II, 728). One can imagine, after this "hunting", what could have been the docility of Marie-Madeleine to the good advice of Thérèse...
This was happier from June 1894 when Sister Marie de la Trinité came to rejuvenate the novitiate. We can think that Mother Agnès' approach to Mother Marie de Gonzague dates from this moment: "I will manage to make Mother Marie de Gonzague, titular mistress of novices, understand that Sister Thérèse could perhaps be useful to her in the accomplishment of his task with the novices. She made use of Sister Thérèse, whom she called "her little hunting dog". (PA, 148). Thérèse describes to Céline her role with the newcomer: "Now she likes me, but I try to touch her only with white silk gloves... However, I have a title that gives me a lot of trouble , I'm a "little hunting dog", it's me who runs after game all day long. You know, the hunters (mistresses of novices and prioresses) are too big to slip into the bushes, but a little dog... it has a fine nose and then it slips everywhere!... so I watch over my daughter up close and the hunters are not unhappy with their little dog... I don't want to hurt my little rabbit but I lick him, telling him with compassion that his coat is not smooth enough, that his eyes are too much that of a wild rabbit, finally I try to make it as my hunters want it: a very simple little rabbit who only takes care of the little weed
that he must graze. I'm having fun, but deep down I think the rabbit is better than the little dog..." (to Latvia). Prudence and humility of the auxiliary of Mother Marie de Gonzague! Moreover, Mother Agnès did not make her task any easier by entrusting her with secret missions. For if she gave her as an "angel" to Sister Marie de la Trinité, according to the custom of the Order, to initiate her in the external practices of the Rule, the prioress also recommended that the postulant "take her advice for her formation as if she had been mistress of the novitiate” (testimony to the PA). Always these ambiguous "as if", which create a false situation at will.
What wonder then if Mother Marie de Gonzague, noticing that Thérèse's influence was becoming too effective, took umbrage and snubbed her auxiliary? (Cf. PA, 148). “It was always necessary, in fact, for Thérèse to speak to the novices as a companion, or else the jealousy of poor Mother M. de G. would arouse and scenes would take place. (NPPA/Caution). We will see how, even after 1896, “the Servant of God continued, until her death, this ill-defined role with the novices” (PA, 149). But what did Mother Marie de Gonzague finally think about it in her heart of hearts? She would write it one day in the margin of Thérèse's act of Profession: “She fulfilled the difficult obedience of Mistress of Novices with a sagacity and perfection that was equaled only by her love for God. To target the years 1896-1897, this text is no less precious, and all to the credit of its editor.

The death of Mr. Martin (29-7-1894) left Céline the freedom to follow her vocation. “She was ready to fly very far to find Jesus, but Jesus made her fly very close... He was content with accepting the great sacrifice which was very painful for little Thérèse. (Ms A, 82 v°). In these few lines from 1895, Thérèse recalls the project of Father Pichon who was waiting for Céline in Canada to found a kind of secular institute before the letter. Thérèse's three sisters were waiting for Céline at the Carmel! It was besides the deep wish of this one. It seems that we did not inform
Mother Marie de Gonzague of the design of Fr. Pichon: "Poor mother, she knows nothing at all... you see how discreet we are" (LT 168). On the other hand, she receives communication, before sending, of the letter from Céline to M. Delatroëtte, requesting his admission to Carmel, even as a converse. “Mother M. de G. cried a lot while reading your letter” (ibid.). She will throw into the balance all the weight of her prestige with the superior who nevertheless fears “that the entry of a fourth sister will be opposed to the spirit and even to the letter of the Rule”. M. Delatroëtte reserves the right to discuss “with whom it may concern this serious and so important question” (CG II, 783). Msgr. Hugonin — that "rightful person" — concedes the admission of Céline "as a benefactress". This will result in no privilege for the new postulant, who therefore brings to five recruits the young battalion entrusted to Mother Marie de Gonzague.
The prioress, Mother Agnès of Jesus, renews a fortiori for Céline the decision taken three months earlier regarding Marie de la Trinité. Thérèse will be her “angel” but, in fact, with full powers for her spiritual formation, parallel to that dispensed by the titular Mistress. Huge joy for Thérèse. How many times had she not dreamed of it! “Oh! if my Céline was there near me! But no ! It would be too great a happiness for the earth... And it seemed to me an unrealizable dream. Yet it was not by nature that I desired this happiness, it was for her soul, so that she would walk our way... And when I saw her enter here, and not only enter, but given to me completely to instruct him in all things; when I saw that the good Lord was doing this, thus exceeding my desires, I understood what immensity of love he has for me...” (CJ 16.7.2).
In fact, the two sisters resumed their spiritual conversations at the Belvedere (1887), extended since then in frequent parlors. Mother Marie de Gonzague can only subscribe to it. But the role of trainer proper, granted to Thérèse, will only unfold gradually, as an interesting episode proves as regards the “method” of the titular Mistress.
We are at the end of February 1895 or the beginning of March. Thérèse has just composed one of her most beautiful poems: Vivre d'Amour! Sister Marie de la Trinité was so enthusiastic about it that she dreamed of it... One night, she commented in a dream, for the benefit of her young sister, on one of Thérèse's most beautiful verses: "To love you, Jesus , what a fruitful loss! » « I felt, says the novice, that my words penetrated into her soul and I was overjoyed. (Ms C, 24 v°). Bright idea: after Lent, Mary of the Trinity will write to her sister to tell her that “Jesus wants her all to himself”. So be it, Thérèse replies, but first you have to “ask Our Mother's permission” (this is what the novices called their Mistress at the time). Mother Marie de Gonzague was surprised at such a premature request, because Lent was far from coming to an end. She replies to the novice “that it was not by letters that the Carmelites should save souls but by prayer” (C, 25 r°). Here we are fixed on the good sense of Mother Marie de Gonzague and above all her Carmelite sense: priority of prayer over any other form of apostolate. Thérèse tells us the outcome of the affair: by prayer alone and before any letter, the sister of Marie de la Trinité consecrated herself to God before the end of Lent: "It was a veritable miracle of grace" (ibid. .).
Introducing this episode in her Manuscript C, Thérèse clarified: “At the time, I was only taking care of the only novice who was here and whose angel I was”
(C, 24 v°). Indeed, Marthe and Marie-Madeleine, both professed, were no longer strictly speaking “novices”, or at least Thérèse no longer took care of their formation. She even seems to forget her dear Céline, who took the habit on February 5, 1895 and whom she “takes care of” quite a bit. Sr Marie de la Trinité was more especially entrusted to her.

“Saints not composed”

Did Mother Marie de Gonzague know of Thérèse's offering to Merciful Love? The very first days, probably not: it was to Mother Agnès, prioress, that Thérèse spoke about it on June 9, 1895, especially to ask her permission to involve her sister Céline in such an important process. But shortly afterwards, Sister Geneviève shared her happiness with her spiritual father at the time, Father Lemonnier, from La Délivrande, who answered her without delay (CG II, 808). As Mistress, Mother Marie de Gonzague saw all the mail from the novices, there and back. So here she is informed.
A few days later, on June 14, while making her Stations of the Cross, Thérèse received the wound of love which consecrates her holocaust and designated her—unbeknownst to her—as the leader of a spiritual lineage. Did this intense grace have physical repercussions that Mother Marie de Gonzague would have noticed? An oral tradition establishes a link between the said “wound of love” and the note which will follow (cf. CG II, 809 s.). It is worth being quoted in full because it informs us about the mentality, even the spirituality of the Mistress of Novices: "JMJT According to what I was told this evening, I was fortunately mistaken, my double novice and beloved daughter has nothing that tires her: Deo gratias...
“I prefer the wounds inflicted on my daughter than the Sting of poor Mother Saint Ephrem [nun of Providence of Lisieux - Mother Geneviève wrote to her. O child, how many illusions there are in these heads filled with these great things... How happy we are to prefer the gaiety, the simplicity of our Blessed Mother to all these devotions which tire us, even to hear. As She knew how to unite her great ways with the kindness that charms the heart, she knew how to love and make herself loved! Long live his drum and his turlututu... These lines were begun last night but our beloved little Mother came to rest on the heart of her poor and unworthy old daughter; I left my daughter for my Mother, loving them both from the bottom of my heart.
“Let us be saints, but not made up of false devotion.
Your poor mother. »

A sixth novice (August 15, 1895)

Marie Guérin had felt her Carmelite vocation confirmed by attending, on September 24, 1890, Thérèse's taking of the veil. His entry would have taken place in 1893 had it not been for a "mucosal fever" which weakened him for several months. In 1895, she seemed strong enough to face the rigors of the Rule. But four sisters and a first cousin in a community of 25 members on average, isn't that a lot, and the door is open to the constitution of a “clan”? Mother Marie de Gonzague did not seem to think so at the time. There is no doubt that her credit with the superior and the bishop weighed in favor of this admission – also as “benefactress”.
The small group led by the Mistress with a lot of youthful heart is therefore enriched by a sixth member. The average age is twenty-five (Therese is still only twenty-two and a half). Even more than Mother Marie de Gonzague, Thérèse finds herself fulfilled: in full discovery of her little path, she tries to make her companions as many disciples. In fact, she only really succeeded with Sister Geneviève and especially the youngest of the group, Marie de la Trinité.

*

To the author of these lines who questioned him, thirty years ago, about Mother Marie de Gonzague, Sister Geneviève, octogenarian, replied with conviction: “But we loved her! But you would have liked it! Only - she continued with an appropriate mimicry - they feared her as one fears a storm when one has no umbrella..."

Unfinished text by Sr Cécile (1929-2010) Carmelite Lisieux