Eugenie Courceaux 1862-1938
A wise child
Little Eugénie was born in Rouen (5, rue Lamotte) on September 13, 1862. The fourth child of Hippolyte Courceaux, clerk at the Maison d'Arrêt, 41, and Adélaïde Bisson, 25, she was predeceased a sister, Adélaïde (1857) and two brothers, Hippolyte (1858) and Alexandre (1859). One of them died in infancy. She was just three years old when her father died (October 27, 1865). With modest resources, Ms. Courceaux courageously devoted herself to the education of her four young children.
Eugénie is a calm, docile child. She received her primary education from the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Ernemont. She sticks with scrupulous fidelity to the lessons of her mistresses as well as to the advice of her priest, to the catechism. Witness these two anecdotes. She is about ten years old. Her brother helps her with her holiday homework. “One day, she says, it occurred to her to make me change my handwriting, I replied that my mistresses had taught me that way, so I shouldn't change my way of writing. Hippolyte gets angry, Eugenie resists, the notebook pays the price, torn in half; and the mother arrives, who scolds... the little girl! Unfair correction, perhaps, but the schoolgirl will keep her primary writing all her life: in Carmel, she will cover hundreds of pages, as a copyist in the service of her prioresses and, one day, of the Cause of Sister Thérèse. The second feature underlines the same fear of a transgression: “I had heard it said in the Catechism that you shouldn't read novels. One day Mom wanted to teach me a little song and put it in my hands. I examined it and read it with terror under the main title: romance And I immediately thought: "romance" is the feminine of "novel", so it's bad, I'm not going to learn it. Several months later, the boarding school was singing the so-called "romance." Eugénie understands her mistake and learns the song without contesting.
His vocation was born very early. During the lessons of manual work, the mistress tells anecdotes, drawn from the life of the Saints. One day it is a question of Saint Teresa of Avila, of the austere life of Carmel. The little girl is won over: “I will be a Carmelite. But she keeps her secret for years.
The studies do not take long. Ms. Courceaux is in trouble. Eugénie must help her by doing sewing days in a workshop in Rouen. Every evening, before returning home, she stops at a church. His predilection is for Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours. Subsequently, Father Groult, vicar at Saint-Sever, whom she took as confessor, put her in touch with the Carmel of Lisieux.
A faithful Carmelite
It was always to a good child - now Sister Marie of Jesus - that the monastery opened its doors on April 26, 1883, shortly after the vesture of Sister Agnès of Jesus (April 6). She is entrusted with the role of “angel” of the postulant. His task must have been easy. The newcomer is silent, regular, seeking to pass unnoticed, in a word “faithful nun”, her circular tells us. She received the habit on October 15, 1883. The prioress, Mother Geneviève, warmly invited the Martin-Guérin families to the ceremony (LD 468 and 469). In the meantime, Sister Agnès has surely introduced little Thérèse to her “Tobie”. Did she take part in the parlor (end of May, beginning of June 1883) where the Carmelites disturbed by their indiscreet questions the little “miracle” of May 13 (Ms A, 31 r°)?
It was at the Interior Oratory that Mother Geneviève, too infirm to go to the Chapter, received the vows of Sister Marie of Jesus on December 5, 1884. In her exhortation, she already committed her to this path of abandonment which would the grace proper to this sister: “My child, if you want to live very united to Our Lord and always in peace, have neither desire nor fear. »
Small, with a rather ungrateful physique, with a voice that was louder than beautiful, without artistic or intellectual talents, Sister Marie of Jesus humbly contented herself with her share: "The good Lord has always given me the grace to find everything what he does. What I lack in talent, physical and moral beauty, has been a source of peace for me, acquiescing to his good pleasure and not envying others who are more gifted. In her humility, she will adopt the flower of the scarlet pimpernel as her emblem...
She spent her life in modest jobs: "nurse of Sister Saint-Pierre, second pannier and dressmaker" in 1893 (CG II, p. 1175), always volunteering for heavy work. She takes care of the “chaussures” (large canvas stockings) for a very long time, which makes her say: “I am always at the feet of our Sisters. This is my place and I feel so good there. » Appointed first portress in 1900, and, as such, in charge of the direction of the portress sisters, she remained so almost until the end of her life. And at the time of the Trial, she copies, copies-
Unfit to give an account of her "states of mind", nevertheless in 1901, she made a vow of abandonment. “I see more and more my nullity, but I don't worry about it. Am I not Jesus', and is it not He who works my very little soul? (1936). The secret of this "work" remains forever that of the divine Artist.
Painful infirmities, in particular varicose sores on the legs, come with age, forcing Sister Marie of Jesus to lead a more solitary life. All possible brilliance was given to her golden jubilee, on December 5, 1934. In November 1938, shortly after the centenary celebrations of the founding of Lisieux, she suffered from swelling in the face, with intense fever: erysipelas with serious complications. To the chaplain who visits her, she does not even ask for a last communion, but only repeats: “Abandon! Abandon! She passed away quietly on the evening of November 25, 1938.
A hidden soul
"Hidden soul", wrote Sister Marie des Anges about him (1901). “She was a hidden soul, her whole behavior was to go unnoticed, charitable towards her sisters down to the smallest details”: this time, it is Mary of Jesus who speaks of Thérèse (1905-1907). When Mother Agnès asked her to “write down the sweet memory that Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus left her of her stay at Carmel”, she was barely able to draw about twenty lines. “What to tell you? I find myself embarrassed... His memory has remained engraved in my heart and all my desire is to try to resemble him. And when Bishop Lemonnier asked the Carmelites, on October 15, 1907, to record their memories of Thérèse, Sister Marie of Jesus managed, no doubt with great difficulty, to fill 8 pages. No need to ask her more: she doesn't know how to say... We won't call her as a witness at the Trial.
In May-June 1897, Dr. de Cornière twice prescribed fire points for Thérèse. During the sessions, Sister Marie of Jesus supported the patient in her arms: she “was heroic, especially at the 2e once, not a complaint, nothing that could make the suffering experienced understood, and immediately afterwards resuming her gracious smile, which greatly edified me, having felt when I supported her during these sessions how much her poor nature suffered”. (Note dated 28/9/1935.) Another time a mustard flour footbath is prescribed. It's time for evening prayer, Sister Marie of Jesus is worried about it: “It will prevent you from praying! » « Oh, no, I will pray as usual, nothing can prevent me from praying ».
And then, a postscript torn from his humility. Thérèse noticed that a book of the Office (Diurnal) of Mary of Jesus was very old, very heavy. She asks that after her death we give her hers. Mary of Jesus uses it for nearly two years. “Quite often, when I used it, I smelled like a sweet perfume, more like violets. Deeming herself unworthy of such a favour, she returned the book to the Prioress. “And since then, I no longer experience this scent, which confirms me in the certainty of the supernatural fact. We have known it for a long time, Thérèse knows better than anyone the "language of flowers" and the secret of their perfumes...
Only eight days before her death, Sister Marie of Jesus confided in what had “embellished” her for life, when she remembered her young companion: “Ah! it's his smile! »
Sr Cecile ocd
