Marie Davy de Virville (1834-1904)
Peace and very humble greetings in Our Lord, who has just deeply afflicted our hearts, recalling to Him our venerated and beloved Mother ADÈLE-ROSALIE-MARIE DE GONZAGUE. She was 70 years, 10 months old, and of religious life 44 years, of which 27 spent in charge of Prioress.
Our late Mother was born in Caen of a family even more honorable for her virtues than for her titles of nobility. If the author of the Imitation wisely warns us not to let ourselves be dazzled by the brilliance of a great name which he calls "a shadow", he nevertheless adds that it is permissible to boast of one's ancestors when distinguished themselves by their holy life. Now, our dear Mother had true saints in her family, among others SAINT ANTOINE DE PADOUE, whose famous name is in our time on all pious lips. And yet her modesty and her contempt for the greatness of the earth hardly allowed us to evoke this great memory before her.
It was our venerated Mother GENEVIÈVE DE SAINTE-THERÈSE, of such sweet and holy memory, who opened the doors of her Carmel to our beloved Mother Marie de Gonzague on November 29, 1860, who gave her the Holy Habit on May 30, 1861. and received his vows at ordinary times. From then on she could call her “her daughter and her crown”, as our seraphic Mother used to call her coadjutor so graciously: the Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus.
With what happiness, my Reverend Mother, we would have spoken to you of the virtues and the works accomplished by this second Mother of our Carmel, during her long religious career, especially during those years when she consumed her life and her strength to complete the constructions of our monastery, to embellish our chapel, to erect in our courtyard, this little immortal Calvary in front of which, so many times, "THERESE, her daughter and her crown", she also plucked her roses.
But we promised her to absolutely respect her humble wish, which was to have no other circular than a simple note asking for the votes of the Order, not yet for herself, but for the souls in Purgatory, in favor of which she had made the heroic vow.
On the day of the great revelations, my Reverend Mother, you will be able to penetrate with us the secrets of this life hidden from the world. May we only be allowed, while waiting for God's hour, to tell you, in a few words, how edifying and holy was the death of this blessed Mother. If we say precisely "Like life, like death", if death is really the echo of life, you will already guess many things.
Our good Mother Marie de Gonzague, after having practiced the austerities of our Rule during all her religious life, so to speak, was attacked, eight months ago, by a tumor on her tongue. She carried her cruel sufferings to the end with heroic courage, never complaining except of no longer being able to recite the holy breviary. "When can I return to the choir?" she said, shedding tears. Oh! how painful it is to no longer say the divine office, to no longer sing the praises of the good God! »
However, she still fulfilled her role as trustee and came as much as possible in community, out of fidelity, no doubt, but also because she knew well that her presence consoled our hearts.
It was so until December 8, the closing day of our annual retreat, of which our good Mother followed all the exercises, without missing a single one of the precious instructions given by our pious Chaplain, in whom she had absolute confidence. On that day, she was able to win again, with us, the indulgence of the Jubilee.
In the afternoon, unexpectedly, he had a crisis of suffocation of such a serious nature that we immediately wanted to call our devoted doctor. But she gently refused and expressed the desire to attend, in the evening, a very intimate little party, in honor of the Immaculate Virgin, Patroness of our monastery. This feast ended with the singing of a canticle, the last words of which seemed to be a prayer for our dear Mother:
Soon will come the evening of our life...
On the ocean of tears, we will sail no more.
So, oh most merciful, oh most sweet Mary,
Morning star, beacon of the Fatherland,
Show us your Jesus!
She then came to kneel before the statue of Mary, all radiant with lights, and cast her a touching look which seemed to say: It's mine, oh Mother! that you will be the first to show your Jesus... The next day, in fact, she went down to the infirmary, and on Saturday evening, December 10, she received Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction with the liveliest feelings of faith and of piety.
From that moment, the life of our dear invalid was nothing more than a slow agony. Sometimes she suffered cruelly, and when we tried, with sedatives, to put her pain to sleep, she would say to us with the simplicity of a child: "My Mother, isn't it cowardly on my part to accept these sweetenings? I don't just suffer for a quarter of an hour without telling you, and you immediately remedy it. Perhaps I should wait longer before complaining...? Ah! suffering is such a great thing! It is through her that we prove to God our love and our gratitude. »
Until her death, this beloved Mother never ceased to edify us in this way, offering all her sufferings for the Holy Church, for France, for the persecuted communities and for our families.
We were struck above all by his words of profound humility, which reminded us of the exhortations of our Mother Saint Thérèse, when she exclaimed on her deathbed: “You will not reject, Lord, a contrite and humiliated heart. I hope to be saved by the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. »
Our lamented Mother, too, repeated with an inexpressible accent: “Have pity on me, O my God! I have had many miseries in my poor life, I have offended you very much. Don't leave me!”
We guessed, however, that confidence dominated all other feelings in this soul. How many times did she say to us in the intimacy of these last days: “O my Mother, how the good God has been merciful towards me! This is a comment I have made all my life. See, I was afraid of exile, and I will die before knowing this cross. At this moment, I no longer have any fear, I want to see the good God, not as a Judge, but as a Father full of tenderness and mercy. I am his child, I go to him with filial trust. I surrender myself to Him completely. »
It was in these holy dispositions, my Reverend Mother, that our much loved Mother Marie de Gonzague gave up her soul to God on Saturday, December 17, at half past five in the morning, after a peaceful agony, the Community and us present.
Our Blessed Mother affirms, on the “WAY TO PERFECTION”, that souls find God as they desire, as their aspirations foresee him. We like to believe that our venerated and dear Mother had the sweet experience of this consoling revelation, and that instead of a formidable Judge, she found to receive it, on the threshold of eternity, only a Father stretching out her arms and opening her heart to her.
However, my Reverend Mother, as we do not know the degree of purity required of the Lord for the entry into Heaven of a soul he has filled with graces, we beg you to have it returned as soon as possible, for our well‑being. beloved Mother, the suffrages of our Holy Order; by grace, a Communion of your fervent Community, a day of good works, the indulgence of the Way of the Cross and the six Paters.
She will be very grateful to you, as well as we, who have the grace to tell us with the deepest respect and the most religious union, My Reverend and most Honored Mother,
Your humble sister and servant, Sister Agnes of Jesus,
From our Monastery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception of the Carmelites of Lisieux, December 20, 1904.
