Eugenie Henriette Amélie Courceaux 1862-1938
Peace and very humble greetings to Our Lord who, the day after the feast of Our Father Saint John of the Cross, called back to Himself our dear Sister Eugenie, Henriette, Amélie, MARY OF JESUS, professed member of our Community. She was 76 years, two months old, and had spent 55 years and 7 months in religion.
After our recent celebrations of the Centenary of our Foundation, the disappearance of our dear Sister is particularly sensitive to us. She had been the last professed of our venerable Foundress, Mother Geneviève de Sainte Thérèse, whose sweet memory was revived again during this Jubilee year. Our late Sister had also known Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a privilege that is becoming rarer, because today only four of us are left to share it. These reasons, and another very personal one that she loved so much. remind us: that of having been his “angel” in the past, attached us particularly to our dear Sister Marie of Jesus.
She was born in Rouen, September 13, 1862, in a Christian home where a sister and two brothers had preceded her. One of the little boys had died in infancy. While still very young, she lost her father and remained under the watchful care of her pious mother who devoted herself doubly to the education of her three children. Already, Eugenie showed the calm temperament which she preserved all her life. However, she was not apathetic, as the following trait proves: “I was ten years old, she tells us, when my brother, who was thirteen, wanted to help me during the holidays with my homework. Usually, I listened to him willingly, but one day when he took it into his head 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. 'to write. Immediately, he got angry, and wanted to take my notebook. I resisted him so that, both of us pulling on the poor notebook, we each had half left. At that precise moment my mother came in, I didn't know how to defend myself, and it was I who was scolded for not wanting to give in. A day will come when this brother, no longer innocently, but seriously obstinate, after having abandoned all his religious duties, will finally yield. to the prayers of her Carmelite sister, and will owe her salvation.
But back to our little Eugenie. A charming fact will reveal to us, my Reverend Mother, her delicacy of conscience. It is still she who speaks: “I had heard it said in 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 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. And it was only several months later that, hearing this same romance sung at boarding school, I understood my mistake and learned it without difficulty.
This candid soul heard early the first call of Jesus and recounts it thus in his intimate notes, few in number but so edifying! “It was on the benches of the small class, with the nuns of the Sacred Heart of Ernemont, that Jesus made me understand that He wanted me all to Himself. On certain days of the week, during the manual work lesson, the teacher told us anecdotes from the life of the Saints and I listened to her with great attention. The first time she spoke to us about Saint Thérèse and the austere life of the Carmel, I was won over and said to myself: I will be a Carmelite. However, I did not speak of it to anyone, so I was quite surprised when the Mistress, when naming me, sometimes added: “Eugénie will be a nun”. God allowed that, later, my confessor was the agent of Providence to lead me to the Carmel of Lisieux. »
In the meantime, the young girl, out of boarding school, had to help her mother in a little embarrassment, by doing sewing days in a workshop in the city. But every evening, before returning home, she did not fail to stop at a church, most often at Notre‑Dame de Bon Secours, in order to satisfy her piety.
It was on April 26, 1883, led by her generous mother, that the pious Eugenie, now Sister Marie of Jesus, made her entry into our Carmel. It was the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel to whom she therefore dedicated a special one. devotion.
As we have said, my Reverend Mother, our dear Sister had the signal grace of knowing our venerable Foundress, of being formed by her in religious life and of making profession in her hands; but she did not consider it a lesser grace to have known Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and to have been able to edify herself, to be astonished, we might say, at the sight of her virtues.
She was not called to give her official testimony in the Trials, before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, but, from the beginning of the Cause, she wrote, on the order of our Bishop, what she thought of the Servant of God "The memory that Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus left me, we read in these modest pages, is as sweet as it is precious to me, since it excites me, even today, to the practice of virtue. I hear from all sides the praise of my dear little Sister, but we will never be able to say exactly what she was. He was a hidden soul and all his attention was to go unnoticed. She was charitable with her sisters, down to the smallest detail. A crippled sister, now deceased, quoted to me certain exquisite traits of the delicacy of which she had been the object, and she was greatly edified by the perfection of this child. As for me, if I went through the vast field of her virtues, to bear witness to them, I would be obliged to repeat myself, for she practiced them all with equal perfection. However, what struck me the most about her was her perpetual smile and her faithfulness in the smallest things. I remember that an observation of little importance had been made in community and somewhat forgotten afterwards. After several years, I noticed our dear little Sister as exact in observing it as on the first day. I was helping in the infirmary, and several times I supported our little Saint in my arms, while the doctor applied numerous points of fire to her side. Immediately after the too long sessions, she resumed her usual smile, which edified me a lot. And yet, I had realized, while supporting her, the intensity of her suffering. »
Only eight days before her death, the second nurse asked Sister Marie of Jesus what had especially edified her in our Saint. She answered him with a particular expression, as though completely collected, still perfumed by this indelible memory: “Ah! it's his smile! But you know, it wasn't just any smile, you could guess the virtue there.
- Did you notice him from the beginning of his religious life? - Yes, because, certainly, she had practiced this virtuous smile long before entering Carmel. »
Around the same time, every evening, at 5 o'clock, during prayer, she had to accept rather long care, and they said to her with regret: “But that will prevent you from making your prayer? She replied: 'Oh ! no, I will pray as usual, nothing can prevent prayer. I conclude that his union with God was constant. »
The modesty of our venerated daughter doubtless prevented her from recording another memory in which her own detachment played a certain role.
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, with her supernatural perspicacity, had discerned this humble companion, silent and regular, and made a point of giving her a discreet testimony of her esteem. Having noticed that she had a very old Diurnal for her use, bigger and heavier than all the others, she asked that after her death she be given hers. But soon, mysterious perfumes of violets were exhaled from the book, each time Sister Marie of Jesus opened it, she deemed herself unworthy to use it and hastened to return it to her Mother Prioress. We seem to see, in this perfume of violets, an invitation from our Saint to this hidden soul, to pursue her path full of humility. Later, his celestial influence was still more profound. Until then, in fact, our dear Sister had shown herself to be a nun who was very punctual in her duties but without inner fulfillment, a certain fearful timidity halted the momentum of her piety and, at times too, her judgment had lacked clear-sightedness. We will let her report herself the particular graces that gave her a boost, because at our formal request, she had agreed to put them in writing. But when she specifies, as you will see, my Reverend Mother, that her grace of abandonment dates only from the year 1901, we will point out this to you: In the little speech delivered at the time of the profession of Sister Marie de Jesus, our holy Mother Geneviève who received her vows, gave her this advice, with much insistence and unction: “My child, if you want to live very united to Our Lord and always in . peace, have neither desire nor fear. Wasn't this throwing into the soul of his last novice the seed of holy abandonment?
Here is what she wrote to us:
“You wish, my mother, to know how I came to make my vow: of abandonment. We must go back to the year 1901, during the general retreat in October, the preacher, in one of his sermons, explained to us that we are created for the glory of God: truth, certainly well known, but which, day, struck me in an extraordinary way and became a powerful lever for me to advance in the love of God. “To work on my perfection for the glory of God, and not for me, this thought thrilled me. However, as in all circumstances, I need a lot of reflection, I did not confide it until six months later to my confessor. The following year, at the end of my private retreat, I was advised to resolve to perform all my actions under the gaze of God. For three days, I repeated these words: "Living under the gaze of God." I couldn't do anything else, not even meditate, I was absorbed, as if taken by the good God. But Jesus was going to pursue his little bride even more to have me all to himself. At the beginning of 1903, I had a fall, which forced me to rest for a few days. On this occasion, I was told: “I know that you are really abandoned, but there is something better than abandoning yourself: it is GIVING YOURSELF. For several weeks, these two words imposed themselves with force on my mind, but not without a struggle; finally, I surrendered. After this promise, the good Lord filled me with a grace of profound solitude and I was under this divine influence for several months. While working, I remained in perfect union with Our Lord. The sound of a bell or the slightest noise made me start. I cannot remember this time, without being in admiration of the attentions of my Jesus for me.
“The following October, I fell ill, so ill that they thought I was going to die. This was yet another step for me to arrive at total abandonment. - Finally, in 1904, I made the wish, first for a determined period, then forever. This is how Our Lord loved and still loves his little red flower, so insignificant and good for nothing. But the poor little flower opens its very large corolla, so that the divine Sun vivifies it and fills it, always more with Himself. »
These last lines, my Reverend Mother, reveal to us yet another secret of our humble sister, who took pleasure in seeing her symbol in one of the most modest flowers of our meadows: the scarlet pimpernel, regarded as a weed, and the most often torn or trampled under foot.
During the season, when we went to see our dear Sister, we always found near her, in front of an image of the Blessed Virgin, one or more of those flowers that she had found in the garden. And, very often then, opening her Imitation, she had us read this passage: "Nothing should give so much joy to him who loves you, Lord, than the accomplishment of your will in him and the eternal decrees of your good pleasure . And that should so content and console him that he desires to be the least as willingly as another would like to be the greatest; let him be as peaceful, as contented in the lowest rank as in the first, as willing to be vile and abject, nameless and without reputation as others desire to see themselves the most honored and greatest in the world. »
All the little words that Sister Marie of Jesus wrote to us, for example on the occasion of our annual retreat, breathed this same perfume of humility, particularly, it seems to us, the following two:
“The good Lord has always given me the grace to find everything He does good. 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. »
And again: "You know very well, Mother, that I am incapable of anything, and you who know our Sisters, you can see that they are saints, surpassing me in everything: virtues, talents, and that my only way is to follow in their footsteps. So I am at peace, happy in my poverty. Jesus gives me a glimpse that, for my soul, this is my only way, my only wealth. Yes, I can say, by what happens in me, that I am filled with graces. It seems to me that the more I abandon myself, the more God attracts me and makes me love his will, or rather his good pleasure. I am happy like this and desire nothing more than the complete possession of my Beloved, which can only be done in Heaven. But it will be, when He wills. Having given myself up completely, I must no longer have any desires other than his. I still recognize the goodness of Jesus in what He allows to detach me from myself. It is thus that He withdraws from me all earthly enjoyment, either of community, or of being able to expend myself; but I can say that I am happy in this humble state. Is it not the influence of our Saint little Thérèse that gives me these graces? »
. . . Our venerated Sister has just alluded to the solitary and retired life that painful infirmities, such as varicose sores on her legs, imposed on her for many years. She kept however, until the end, the direction of our dear Sisters of the Tour who mourn her today and will never cease to keep her the most filial gratitude. She assumed this direction since the year 1900, with the office of first portress. For a very long time also, she devoted herself to the use of the shoes, repeating to us with complacency: “I am always at the feet of our Sisters. This is my place, and I feel so good there! Finally, in recent years, she provided a discreet and very orderly collaboration in certain services inherent in our voluminous correspondence.
These few memories would be incomplete, my Reverend Mother, if we did not mention the spirit of faith in authority, and the great fraternal charity of our good Sister Marie of Jesus In certain circumstances, where we do not We were not of her opinion, she sided with ours with a promptness that edified us, and never a word against charity touched her lips. Moreover, she endeavored to compensate by prayer for her material inability to help her Sisters. Moreover, as a true daughter of Our Mother Saint Thérèse and as a worthy sister and companion of the Patroness of the Missions, all the interests of the Holy Church were hers. She also remembered the needs of her country, and last year, on one occasion when all French hearts were in the greatest anxiety, she told us, without suspecting the originality of the rapprochement:
“My Mother, I have just read, precisely, in the Bible, this passage where the revolt of Absalom against David is told. When we came to tell him : Ahithophel is with Absalon among the conspirators, David resumed: Jehovah, reduce to nothing I beseech you, the advice of Ahithophel. This request struck me and, on a more agonizing day for our France, I kept repeating. Jehovah, Lord, please bring to naught the plots of all our enemies. Well ! the same evening, I was answered. I was in amazement! »
On December 5, 1934, we had the joy of celebrating the Golden Wedding of our so fervent Sister. To the testimonies of affection of all our hearts and to the fraternal delicacies of many of our Monasteries was added for her the consolation of reuniting with several members of her family whom she had lost sight of for half a century, and who surrounded by marks of the most respectful sympathy. An autograph Blessing from the Holy Father came to rejoice and confuse her at the same time. Our venerated Jubilee, so little expansive by nature, suffered from not being able to express to us as she would have liked, the gratitude of her heart, and a few days later, at the Christmas party, she handed over to us, with tears in her eyes, this touching post:
“Since emotion overwhelms me and has so far prevented me from translating verbally all my gratitude to you, my beloved Mother, for all the delicacies with which you surrounded me on the occasion of my fiftieth birthday; on this ineffable night when Jesus makes himself mortal like us and for us, it is through Him that I channel my poor accents, my deepest and most loving thanks. On that day, I felt how much you loved your old "Toby"; you would not have done more if it had been a question of our little Saint. She is there, I feel it, with her lovely smile, welcoming and ratifying all my gratitude, for her "Little Mother"...
Death should not surprise this wise virgin whose lamp always burned with an oil of love and abandonment. In March 1936, she wrote to us:
“The winter of the years is coming and as it happens in nature in this season, nothing grows, not even a certain little flower that I know and love so much. This is the state of my soul: I feel nothing and I see my nothingness more and more; but I don't mind. Am I not Jesus', and is it not He who works my very little Soul? I like to tell Him :
Your look alone makes my bliss,
I live on love.
for that is how my life is spent in Carmel, always under the gaze of my Beloved, but without perceptible consolation. that God is. good for her little flower! and how the little flower would like to repay him! But I can only do it in Heaven. »
And elsewhere, she repeats this secret desire of her soul: “When will Jesus come to get his little flower? She languishes here below, she would like to go and blossom Up There, under the warm rays of her divine Heart. »
In the meantime, our pious Sister was cultivating her virtue of abandonment and was already practicing loving as in Heaven. “I am happy on earth, she wrote to us, while waiting for the happiness of Heaven where I will finally be able to love Jesus as I so desire, right from exile! This phrase from the Imitation, speaking of the Blessed, always impresses me: “They love me more than themselves and their own merits. Because transported outside of themselves and pulled outside of their self-esteem, they sink completely into the love they have for me...” This is how I would like to love Jesus. Is it feasible, my Mother?”
Last spring, she confided to us again: “My life is on the decline, I believe that next year I will no longer be on earth. And on the ninth day of her great retreat, last September, she wrote in her private notes:
“My day, offered to the great intentions of the Holy Church, was not in sensible consolation, but I maintain my resolution to live only for Jesus. By writing this blessed Name, I feel in my heart that it is everything to me. How to prove it to him? Let Jesus Himself tell me what He wants me to do to please Him, and I undertake to answer Him with a joyful yes. Soon, this yes will be said for eternity..."
Nothing however appeared alarming in the health of our dear daughter before our Centenary Feasts in which she took part with joy. On November 20, she was even among us, in the Community hall to receive the. paternal Blessing of Our Very Reverend Father General, who came on pilgrimage to Lisieux. But in the evening around five o'clock, feeling very tired, she asked her devoted nurse, who had assisted her for so long in her various chronic infirmities, to help her get into bed. On the 21st, feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, she could not take part in the Ceremony of the Renewal of Vows, but in the afternoon, feeling better, she made a whole hour of Adoration before the Blessed Virgin. Sacrament presented at the Oratory and then attended the Blessing. The next day, alas! a swelling of the face, which increased from hour to hour, with an intense fever, made us call the doctor in all haste. He diagnosed erysipelas with other very serious complications, and we immediately thought of having our dear Sister administered.
On Thursday evening, our good Chaplain, always so devoted and so eager to procure for us the help of his holy Ministry, visited the venerable patient whom he found already very much absorbed by the general intoxication; but he was moved to hear her murmur. these words. "Abandon!-Abandon!" which fully summed up the state of his soul. The sacrament of Extreme Unction was administered to him that very evening. She joined it and twice made the sign of the Cross, again replying: Amen, to the formulas of the anointings.
A few hours earlier, as we showed her our deep compassion, for the swelling of her face barely allowed her to open her eyes, she had replied: "Mother, shouldn't we always say yes, heart, to all that the good Lord wants for us! Little by little, life died out and very gently, on the evening of the 25th, at the tinkle of the Office of Matins, several Sisters surrounded her with us, this so faithful nun, simply ended her very simple and long existence, in the shadow of this ineffable tree whose name is love and whose fruit is abandonment. »
His funeral took on a stamp of unusual solemnity. presidency of HE Mgr Rousseau, bishop of Le Puy, friend of our Monastery and very devoted to our dear little Saint. He had come the day before as a pilgrim, and learning of our mourning, had asked us, with a delicacy that touched us deeply, if he could not attend the funeral mass and give one of the absolves.
And now, our late Sister rests in our little enclosure in the city cemetery, very close to the statue of our Saint, on which are engraved these words which she makes her own today, we cannot doubt it:
“O my God, you have exceeded my expectation and I want to sing your mercies. »
Please accept, my REVEREND AND VERY HONORED MOTHER, the expression of our religious and fraternal respect, and have the suffrages of our Holy Order returned as soon as possible to our beloved Sister Marie of Jesus, adding to it, if you wish well, an invocation to Our Lady of Good Counsel and to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. She will be very grateful to you, as well as we who have the grace to say to ourselves in Our Lord,
From your Reverence, most humble Sister and Servant,
SISTER AGNES OF JESUS.
permanent contract
From our Monastery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception under the protection of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, of the Carmelites of Lisieux, December 8, 1938.
