Desiree Toutain 1817-1892
Three coffins in one week (January 2, 4, 7, 1892)
Nobody, that morning, "passed the truncheon" at a quarter to six, for the wake-up call. Thérèse nevertheless gets up as usual for prayer. In the corridor, complete darkness: no one has turned on the gaslight either. Dead silence hangs over the house. Driven by a presentiment, Thérèse heads, lantern in hand, towards Sister Madeleine's cell. The door is wide open. She hesitates, she enters: the old sister is dead, "dressed and lying on her mattress." Therese feels no fear. She contemplates the peaceful face: "It looked like a sweet sleep" (MsA, 79 v°). Sister Madeleine, the dean of converse, therefore left alone, or almost, on the night of the 6th to the 7th, at 1 o'clock in the morning. Someone has done her mortuary toilet and then left her. Sacristan's reflex: Thérèse goes to get the blessed candle: Easter light at the bedside of the deceased. And, according to custom, she crowns her with roses...
She is now going down to the choir. The prayer will take place near the coffin of Sister Fébronie, the sub-prioress, who died on Monday evening. Tomorrow, Friday 8, barely six or seven sisters will be present at the burial, and again, at the cost of what effort! For the friends of Carmel, what an emotion to discover two coffins instead of one! The same funeral service will therefore bring together the two nuns, who entered four months apart in 1842. Both valiantly provided their half-century of Carmelite life...
"Heart of gold, deep humility"
Custom dictates that the formula of her vows be placed in the hands of a deceased sister, a reminder of the covenant “until death”. Sister Madeleine's paper is in its place, in the inkstand of her cell, but another is attached to it, covered in clumsy handwriting (because, says the chronicle, "Sr Madeleine barely knew how to write"). He makes this humble request:
“I beg our Reverend Mother who will be in charge when I die to only make me a circular asking for the suffrages of our Holy Order, having nothing good to say of me; I desire that all prayers and suffrages be applied to souls in purgatory in general, according to the desire of the Most Blessed Virgin to whom I have given everything, abandoning myself entirely to the mercy of the Good God, and counting on the charity of my mothers and sisters. In the impossibility where I could find myself to speak at the time of death, I beg my beloved mothers and sisters to please forgive me all the causes of pain that I have given them by my bad character, my pride, by my lack of gentleness, charity, regularity and silence. I beg you to pray for me and I promise you, if the Good Lord has mercy on me as I hope, to pray for you, and I will compensate you in heaven for all the trouble I have caused you. »
“The just always accuses himself first,” says a sentence on the wall of the Chapter room. But “whoever humbles himself shall be exalted,” Jesus promised...
The humble note no doubt simplifies the task of Mother Marie de Gonzague, herself affected by influenza, but not that of the future “historians” of Sister Madeleine.
In the heart of the Pays d'Auge (1817 1842)
The chronicle of the monastery presents Désirée Toutain as coming from “a very honorable family, highly esteemed, from Beuvillers, near Lisieux”. Abbé Sauvage, as the death certificate later on, say she originated from Saint-Martin-de-la-Lieue, south of Lisieux, precisely "one league" from Saint-Pierre Cathedral. In fact, Désirée was born in the hamlet of Saint-Hippolyte-des-Prés, on May 27, 1817.
His parents had married there fifteen months earlier: Marc-Frédéric Toutain, 29 and a half years old, from Beuvillers, “clothier”, and Luce-Victoire-Jacquette, widow Lepage, 34, from Lisieux, “owner”. They become farmers. Second child in 1821: Frédéric-Isidore (who would become the father of Sister Saint-Benoît, mistress of little Thérèse at the Abbey of Lisieux). Perhaps he is followed by one or two other boys.
In Beuvillers, the Toutain proliferate: twenty-five descendants for four families in fifteen years (1793-1809). Désirée's grandparents live there (Michel Toutain branch), uncles, aunts, cousins... Textile workers for the most part: very flourishing, the flax industry will put Lisieux at the forefront of the industrial towns of Calvados.
“Reversals of fortune forced him to move away from his father's house. Her brothers established in Paris called her to their side, making her hope to place her suitably; there, she ran the greatest dangers, but God preserved her in a very special and admirable way. (Chronicle of Carmel). Paris is worth nothing to this girl from the fields, who returns to her family, to Saint-Martin-de-la-Lieue. She made the acquaintance of Mr. Sauvage, who discerned in her “all the marks of a good vocation”. The family is very Christian (didn't the Jaquettes save a priest during the Revolution?). But when Désirée speaks of entering the new Carmelite convent, so poor, so austere, it is a categorical refusal. She waits. Two Toutain aunts support her. Finally, she ran away from her father's house a few days before her twenty-fifth birthday, at Pentecost, May 15, 1842.
In Carmel (1842-1892)
She is welcomed by Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse, 37 years old, prioress for four months, and (by the will of the Superior) mistress of novices. She received the name of Sister Madeleine du Saint-Sacrement and became the companion of Sister Radegonde, converse. Buzzing hive that the novitiate of the recent foundation! Six young professed women continued their formation there: Sisters Saint-Joseph of Jesus, Radegonde, Louise (a widow), Adélaïde, Aimée de Jésus, and Sister Saint-Charles. Their professions ranged from November 1839 to October 1841. To these were added the novice, Sister Miséricorde, and Sister Fébronie, postulant who entered on January 15, 1842 (Annals, January 1983).
The postulancy of lay sisters lasts one year. This delay allowed the family to calm down... Abbé Farolet, parish priest of Saint-Pierre, gave the sermon on the vesting on July 4, 1843. And Sister Madeleine made her profession on July 10, 1844.
"Soul of faith and devotion," wrote Mother Marie de Gonzague in 1892. .” The chronicle adds: “My Sr. Madeleine with her somewhat lively character redeemed this little defect with a heart of gold and deep humility. She was so charitable, so kind to the sick, not sparing herself when it was necessary to pass the nights near them; her excellent judgment even led her Mother Prioresses to ask her for certain advice and often made her the depositary of their sorrows. We can understand from this little glimpse the sadness of our hearts in seeing her leave without being able to surround her with our prayers since all our sisters were bedridden...»
At seventy, Sister Madeleine still cooks. She is delighted when Mr. Martin sends some beautiful fish (perhaps caught in Saint-Martin-de-la-Lieue, one of his favorite places, well known also to Thérèse as a child):
“Sister Madeleine is delighted, she serves us portions worthy of Mother Fanchon. It takes up space! (Letter from Marie du Sacré-Coeur to her father, summer 1887).
She keeps a playful character, target of choice for affectionate teasing... and Marie du Sacré-Coeur excels in this field:
“Tonight at recess we both had fun teasing each other. She says I roast my cuttings in the sun. It doesn't surprise me, she who soaks hers every night in a tub of fresh water to set them, she finds my way funny. I told her: My Sister Madeleine, I accustom my flowers the hard way, they know me... the strongest resist: my cuttings and I all look alike, it comes as it can, by the grace of God. (Letter from Marie to M. Martin, August 23, 1887.)
With Therese
Yes, a heart of gold, this Sister Madeleine! Full of solicitude for the novices: she saw more than one die in the flower of age, in the heroic times of the foundation. One day in February 1889, she met Thérèse, a novice, near the kitchen. She is alarmed:
“What are you up to, my poor little Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus! You are losing weight visibly! If you go at it like that, with that trembling face, you won't be following the rule for long!"
Thérèse is amazed: a few moments earlier, Sister Saint-Vincent-de-Paul has just exclaimed, a bit sardonically: “Oh! what a figure of prosperity! How strong is this big girl! Is she fat...” (CJ, July 25, 1915). In February 1889, “poor little Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus” had good reason to look sad: her dad joined the Bon Sauveur in Caen!
Sister Madeleine is right: Thérèse will not follow the Rule for long — only eight more years — but she will follow it to the limit of her strength... as Sister Madeleine did for fifty years (2).
"If the Good Lord has mercy on me as I hope..." Beside her, a little nineteen-year-old Carmelite woman had to answer in her heart: "You want mercy, you will have mercy" , since the soul receives exactly what it expects from God.
Sr Cecile ocd
