Marie-Julie Malville (1819-1892)
On Monday, January 5, 1892, Céline Martin wrote to her cousin Jeanne Guérin (Mme La Néele):
“Poor Carmel immediately falls prey to influenza, the scourge rages there in all its force. This morning we were at the funeral of the nun who died on Saturday; Friday we will return to another burial, that of the mother sub-prioress who died last night. There are still two very sick and we are desperate to save, among others Sister Madeleine, the aunt of Madame Saint-Benoît de l'Abbaye. (CG II, 657.) The “mother sub-prioress” bore the charmingly old-fashioned name of Fébronie de la Sainte-Enfance. It is with her that we meet today.
Discernment
Around 1838-1840, Father Sauvage, vicar at Saint-Jacques de Lisieux, sometimes met in the New World district (near Les Buissonnets therefore) two young girls and their mother, returning from church. Thinking of the little convent he had just founded, rue de Livarot, a thought crossed his mind: wouldn't one of the young ladies be a future Carmelite? But, he wrote, "it was a thought like any other to which no real importance was attached". One day, there they are both near his confessional. The youngest confesses. The other, he knows, has his own confessor, but he is absent at the moment. So he said to his penitent: “Tell your sister that she is going straight to the confessional.” The eldest does not need to be told twice, “satisfied to find a rather singular opportunity to follow her first views”. The current passes, nothing more. Subsequently, the eldest learns that M. Sauvage is Superior of the Carmelites, “and soon her first ideas that she had had of becoming a nun awoke”. He tries for some time to dissuade her from a rule that is perhaps too austere for her. She perseveres, insists. He finally authorizes him to present himself at Carmel. She was received in the parlor at the end of 1841 by the foundress, Mother Elisabeth, who was almost dying. She makes herself known.
Childhood and youth (1819-1842)
Her name is Marie-Julie Malville, was born in Paris, 14, rue Saint-Martin, Sainte-Avoie district, on October 31, 1819. Her father was a tailor. A little sister followed her, sixteen months later: Pauline. But the mother, born Marie-Jeanne Paris, died at the age of twenty-four, when Julie was barely five. Their father first entrusted them to a friend of their mother's, then he remarried and the family moved to Rouen. There, Julie and Pauline were boarded with nuns. She really liked studying, to the point of preferring her books to games. Reading even became a passion for her. In recent years, Mr. Malville has decided to settle in Lisieux. The family is very Christian, the mother-in-law in particular. This is how we got to know Mr. Sauvage... A few more personal questions, and the Prioress of Carmel recognizes a real call from God. She blessed the aspirant, but would not see her again: the foundress died on January 3, 1842, of the chest, at the age of 65.
Carmelite before Thérèse (1842-1888)
The mistress of novices from Poitiers, Sister Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse, was elected prioress on January 15, 1842. The same day, she welcomed Julie Malville to the cloister: she was the eighth postulant since her arrival on March 15, 1838. From the beginning, Sister Fébronie of the Holy Childhood shows herself “a model of regularity, silence, piety, a truly interior soul, loving the solitary life and hidden in God”; in short, one of those subjects “full of qualities that bring joy and hope to a community”. She received the Habit on May 24, 1842 and pronounced her vows on July 15, 1843, a decline in health having imposed a short delay. The taking of the veil is postponed until October 27, so that the bishop, Mgr Robin can preside over it. After “a low mass of Spiritu Sancto”, he makes “a very touching speech”, then intones the Te Deum, which M. Sauvage is about to continue when the Prelate “honestly silences him”: it seems that the front tono of the Carmelites has the gift of charming his ears!... After imposing the veil on the novice, he hears “a little noise” and sees a man on his knees near the gate. It is Mr. Malville, who whispers: “My daughter, I forgive you the wrongs that you would have had towards me and I ask your forgiveness for the faults that I would have to reproach myself towards you; I give you my blessing, give me yours.” Bishop Robin, who had not mentioned the parents in his sermon apologizes: “Sir, I had not seen you, if I had known that you were present, I would not have forgotten you in my speech. He also compliments the mother-in-law. Then, in closing, behind closed doors, he confirms Sister Fébronie under conditions: as a child she had not been present at the laying on of hands and it was doubted that she had really received the sacrament. In the afternoon, Bishop Robin sees the community again in the recreation room. They sing happy couplets of the Misericordia Sister to her, they offer her artificial flowers. “Maintain, my Mother, he said to Mother Geneviève, this spirit in your community, I like it very much.” And affectionately shaking M. Sauvage's hand: "Today, my dear Abbé, is a day of happiness for me." "It was really a family celebration", as Saint Therese of Avila loved them.
Work
Sister Fébronie “successfully fulfilled the roles of nurse, seamstress and dressmaker with great charity, remarkable skill and boundless devotion”. In January 1860, she was elected sub-prioress. Re-elected in 1863, she resigned after a year. We find her in this charge in 1877 and then in 1886, until her death; a total of fourteen years, during which “she brought happiness and joy to her Mother Prioresses, always remaining united to them in the same views and the same sentiments”.
It is hard to imagine the destitution of the Carmel of Lisieux in its beginnings. Also, donations from wealthier families are welcome. In 1860, Mr. Malville donated: "a cupboard for the infirmary, a clock, a chest of drawers for the sacristy, several tables, a sideboard, chairs, linen, several silk robes which were used for ornaments and shawls which provided prizes for a lottery". It is perhaps at this time that the Malvilles will settle in Rennes.
The Prussian invasion in 1870 triggered panic as far away as Normandy. Families are asking for their daughters to bring them to safety! Three nuns thus left at the end of September 1870 (including Fébronie), four others in January 1871. Declining her father's advances, Sister Fébronie preferred to ask for hospitality at the Carmel of Rennes – which had already welcomed the community of Compiègne. At the end of January 1871, the Prussians were at the gates of Lisieux, at Firfol, ready to bombard the city when the armistice came. On March 19, the community is completely reformed.
With Therese (1888-1892)
With her 68 years past, Mother Fébronie looks like an old woman, at the entrance of Thérèse. The sub-prioress was quick to see clearly and deeply into the soul of the postulant. Witness this dialogue reported by Thérèse herself. She then found it difficult to open up to Sister Marie des Anges, her mistress of novices:
“A good old mother understood one day how I felt, she said to me laughing at recess: “My little girl, it seems to me that you must not have much to say to your superiors.”
"Why, Mother, do you say that?...
— Because your soul is extremely simple, but when you are perfect, you will be even simpler; the closer we get to the Good Lord, the more we simplify ourselves.” (Ms A, 70v°.)
“The good Mother was right,” concludes Thérèse. Let us add that Mother Fébronie's answer deserves to figure among the apophthegms of the Ancients.
Another dialogue was reported to us by Sister Marie des Anges, which could date from the end of 1891 (after the retirement of Fr. Alexis, so liberating for Thérèse):
“One day, our Angel and my Sister F. had a spiritual conversation together where this venerable sister, a little fearful, defended excessively the rights of divine justice and our Angel those of infinite mercy. But the latter, seeing that she was earning nothing and still remaining in her feelings, ends up saying to her seriously, and we will say, almost divinely: “My Sister; you want justice from God, you will have justice from God. “The soul receives exactly what it expects from God. »
And here is the terrible influenza of the winter of 1891-1892. Twelve sisters have already been affected, including the prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague. Sister Fébronie had just escorted Dr. de Cornière to the closing gate, on December 31, when she too felt struck. Sister Saint-Joseph died on January 2. The sub-prioress receives the last rites. In her agony, she appealed in vain to her prioress: "One more sacrifice!... O my Jesus, I offer it to you..." At the last moment, on January 4, at 20 p.m., Thérèse was alone near of her, with the nurse (Ms A, 79v°). She notices, as in the previous deceased, "the expression of joy and peace" which immediately spreads over her features.
However, the following May 22, feast of Sainte-Julie (patroness of baptism of the sub-prioress), Thérèse had a dream. She sees a procession of Carmelites, including Sister Fébronie. Speechless, the latter, in a pleading attitude, painfully turns her head towards her and stares at her with a long, sad look. Thérèse wakes up completely impressed and confides to Mother Marie de Gonzague:
“O my Mother, my sister Fébronie came last night to ask that we pray for her, she is no doubt in purgatory, for not having relied enough on the mercy of God. By her pleading air and her deep look, she seemed to say to me: "You were right, all justice is done on me, but it's my fault, if I had believed you, I would have been straight to Heaven! .. .(2)»
Thérèse did not recount this dream in [Histoire d'une Ame; no doubt because in drawing near to God, she became “simplified” even more, attaching more importance to faith than to her dreams (cf. Ms A, 79r°). But perhaps she is also thinking of Sister Fébronie when she speaks of "holy souls (who) alone can have access" to purgatory. For me, she writes, “I know that the Fire of Love is more sanctifying than that of purgatory, I know that Jesus cannot desire useless suffering for us” (Ms A, 84v°).
Sr Cecile ocd
