Zephirine-Joséphine Lecouturier 1828-1911
Meetings in the garden
Apart from the canticle A notre Père Saint-Joseph (poetry no. 14), which Thérèse composed at her request in 1894, almost nothing is known of Sister Marie de l'Incarnation's relationship (1) with the saint. The two “meetings” that have been remembered took place in the monastery garden, and that is no coincidence, as we will see in a moment. One is June 15, 1897, the other is somewhat posthumous.
In mid-June, the weather is fine, we make hay in the tiny "meadow" of Carmel. Thérèse takes the air under the foliage of the chestnut trees, in her sick car because she no longer has the strength to walk. With her hands clasped on her knees, she "lifts the world" with her silent prayer. She also took her little black notebook where she has been writing for a few days, from Matthew 5 and Luke 6, what she understands and lives from fraternal charity. She's going to take the pen, but hold on! Now a tedder passes near her, pitchfork on her shoulder. “She thinks she is distracting me by chatting a bit: hay, ducks, chickens, a visit from the doctor, everything comes to the surface” (Ms C, 1 7 r°). Who could talk chickens and ducks like this if not Sister Marie de l'Incarnation, owner of the barnyard, as Sister Geneviève would say.
1898-1899.
Thérèse has finished her earthly career, the sisters are beginning to collect her photos. Marie de l'Incarnation is one of them (an indication of sympathy, to say the least), but she wants to find the little Sister in a setting that speaks to her. She therefore cuts out her silhouette on a family group (photo n° 9, Thérèse with joined hands) and sticks it on a view of the garden, with the cemetery in the background. Léonie adopted this montage as a souvenir of her religious profession (July 2, 1900) and Mother Agnès as an out of text edition of the Histoire d'une Ame in 1902. Subsequently, Céline "improved" it (? ) by successive retouching. The subject will go around the world in thousands of copies. It is one of those finds whose fortune is not foreseen.
Shepherdess in the Pays d'Auge
Therese at prayer in the garden is perhaps the idealized transposition of the dominant attraction of Marie de l'Incarnation. It's no exaggeration to say that Joséphine Lecouturier — that's her civil name — has spent half her life surrounded by nature.
First in the Auger countryside. Its first 24 years are part of the green loop bordering the Pâquine and the Marolles, just outside Lisieux, on the way to Paris. They will sing to him at his golden jubilee (14-1-1):
“Do you know the Pays d'Auge With its enchanting sites, Its groves where sage flourishes, Its smiling and charming hillsides? In this graceful landscape This valley of great renown Lies a very small village Well sheltered from the aquilon. »
This village is called Firfol. She was born there on July 12, 1828. A modest, large, Christian family. From a carpenter, the 26-year-old father became a mason. The mother, Marie-Rosalie Homare, from Saint-Pierre-de-Canteloup, is a spinner (her brothers and brother-in-law: ribbon maker, and cider barrel maker, of course!). At less than 22 years old, this is her third maternity. Between 1826 and 1844, she leans on eleven cradles (8 girls and 3 boys) but also on 5 coffins: Constant, Félicité, Isidore and Aimée do not reach 20 days, another Félicité flies away at 4 years old.
According to work, the family moves from Firfol to Saint-Hippolyte-de-Canteloup then to Marolles, adjoining villages. Very early, Joséphine tends the herds. No question of attending school, or very little. The child is however intelligent, awake, very pious too, especially with regard to the Virgin Mary, whom she chooses as "teacher". At this school, she learns to write on her own, as she will like to tell later. The religious vocation awakens precociously in his heart. As a young girl, she heard about the Carmel recently founded in Lisieux. She placed herself under the spiritual guidance of Abbé Sauvage. He introduced her to Mother Geneviève de Sainte-Thérèse, who received her as a lay sister on August 10, 1.
Carmelite
The postulant is hardly prepared for monastic customs. One day when she is in the kitchen, she enters the refectory (where silence is maintained) and, dish in hand, inquires aloud: “Where is my sister Philomène? His family has (already!) strange ideas about life in the cloister. One of the Lecouturier girls burst into tears in the parlor when she glimpsed, through the gate, an oval copper object hanging from the belt of the young Carmelite: “Alas! my poor sister, are you chained then?...” It's a large reliquary that she has just taken for... a padlock! But “it is her love alone that binds her — Jesus, her amiable “jailer” — In his prison treats her like a queen — For he has condescended to marry her. (Jubilee song). Clothing on August 3, 1, profession on November 853, 14: the shepherdess became queen, as Thérèse would sing on another occasion. Festivities preceded by two mournings: the death of Father Sauvage (1854-30-4) and the death of the mother at the age of 1 (853-47-1).
Very lively, orderly, skilful, the new professed did not look at her difficulty in the heavy work which was the lot of the lay sisters. But, she commits “out of dedication a very serious imprudence”, says the circular, without further details. And there she is, still very young, irreparably damaged. “Deadly disease”, we read again. Let us translate: phthisis, or better tuberculosis, with slow evolution (2). “For thirty years she saw herself tried by all sorts of ailments, of which paralysis of the legs was the least cruel. But the strong temperament takes over. Exempted from fasting and abstinence, cooking and washing, she will be in charge of the barnyard almost for life. Sister Marie des Anges only describes it surrounded by poultry (in 1893, CG II, 1 1 77). The day after her entrance in 1895, Marie of the Eucharist already spoke of the ducks whose squeaks woke her up at dawn, and, three years later, of a naughty rabbit who bit his congeners and his foster mother ( 17-7-1898; there are then 120 animals in the census!). Marie de la Trinité transmits to Mother Agnès the "jeremiads of my Sr M. de l'Incarnation" after a stormy night: pigeons uncoupled and in disarray (18-6-1905, quoted in VT n°85). But speak whoever will, it is in the garden that his contemplative soul expands": "When I see, especially in the spring, all the life that there is in nature, I feel like outbursts of love for the Good God, I feel far from earth and very close to Him. »
Very witty, she is the charm of recreations when we bring her to talk about her youth. As a good Norman, she also knows how to get out of trouble in delicate community situations. In total, a rich nature.
Around 1902, photos already show her as a walking corpse. All the more brilliance is given to its golden jubilee (1904), from which it emerges rejuvenated. But when, on February 13, 1911, the influenza fell on the monastery with the same virulence as in 1891 (to the point that we had to stop the Office in the choir), the worst was to be feared for the former of 84 years old. For years Sister Marie de l'Incarnation had implored the grace not to stay in bed for more than eight days. She is fulfilled beyond her desires: struck down on the 22nd, she will succumb the following evening. She had also earnestly asked to be assisted by her Mother Prioress: a consolation which was refused to her because Mother Agnès was among the most affected. The dying woman relies on God with great abandon. She received viaticum on the morning of Thursday, February 23 and fell asleep gently “in the peace of the Lord, around 4 o'clock in the afternoon” even before we had time to gather the few sisters who were still valid.
“After the exile of this life, We have the sweet hope, With our dear Mother, Saint Joseph, we will come to see you. (Poetry 14)
Sr Cecile ocd
