Marie Louise Josephine Martin 1860-1940
My Reverend and Most Honored Mother,
Peace and very humble greetings in Our Lord who called back to Him, on January 19, 1940, at the beginning of the Jubilee year of Profession of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, her eldest Sister and Godmother, our very dear SISTER LOUISE JOSÉPHINE MARIE DU SACRÉ‑COEUR, Professed and Dean of our Community. She was 80 years old, less a month, and had spent in religion, 53 years, 3 months and 3 days.
Our dear Sister was born in Alençon on February 22, 1860. It is very delicate for us, my Reverend Mother, to praise here her pious parents, who are also ours and whom you know from HISTORY. OF A SOUL. However, as we have been asked not to be afraid, during this circular, to evoke, for the interest of the story, memories which could be common to us with our beloved Sister, we will do it in all simplicity. .
From her childhood, little Marie proved to be a judicious observer, full of originality and inclined to independence. The servant, Louise, very authoritarian, terrorized her little sisters who dared not resist her in any way. She also tried to take the eldest under her unjust and rigorous tutelage, but at each harsh injunction that was made to her, Marie replied without any fear: "Leave me alone, Louise, I am very free, me" so that the servant had nicknamed her: I am quite free!
A few notes, a few letters written to us, at our express request, for she did not like to write her thoughts, and which we are so happy to read again today, we will help to make our dear Sister better known during her childhood. and later. She writes: "When I was taken to Mass, and I heard the little bell, at the moment of the elevation, seeing everyone immediately lower their heads, I said to myself: "It's too strong of us to force one's head down like that, I like it better to look, I'm quite free! And, indeed, I was looking; I still see the white Host in the hands of the priest. But then I understood, without however deepening this thought, why all the foreheads bowed; and the first time I contemplated the Holy Host while performing my act of independence, I felt an impression of sweetness and peace.
“I also didn't want to greet people we knew, it humiliated me to say hello. I remember that one day, on my way to the Pavilion, the opportunity presented itself and I turned my head away like a little savage. Mom was very sorry to see me with such a unique character and she told me that I wouldn't endear myself to anyone. But these words still helped to root me in my haughty spirit. Thinking that one was obliged to make courtesies and bows to make oneself loved, I said to myself: "I don't like trying to get people to love me, no, I won't subject myself to that!" And I replied to Mama: "I don't care if people don't love me, as long as you love me, that's enough for me."
Then she tells us about her first sacrifice:
“You want me, Mother, to write down my first act of virtue. Here it is: I must have been four or five years old. Do you remember that Papa had on a small table in his store, a dried orange peel in which he put pennies. I found it so marvelous that one day when I was given an orange, I asked him to make me a little saucer like his too, and then, quite triumphant, I showed it to you. She immediately made you want to, and to have a pearl in my crown (because it was by this means that Mama made us give in) I gave it to you. It seemed to me that I was performing a heroic act, because that famous orange peel seemed to me even more precious, because you wanted it. So, running very quickly towards Mama, I said to her:
“Mom, I gave my orange peel to Pauline, will I go to the Cel? She smiled at my bad pronunciation and replied: "Yes, my little girl, you will go to Heaven." This hope alone could console me for the loss of my fortune.
“Alas! my Mother, thinking today of this little trait of my childhood, I find that most of the time we have little more than that to offer God. The great sacrifices are rarely met with, but the very small ones, the little dried orange peels, we have as many as we want. So, at this moment, I have only to give it away, my little yellow saucer, and I am sure, very sure that Jesus will put in it, not cents, but diamonds for Paradise, that is ‑say souls. And do you know, for the moment, what my little orange peel skin is? Well, it's the house we're building behind the trees, and the big wall, just in front of our cell. All the countryside that I loved so much to see will disappear from my eyes; already I no longer see the little white houses whose windows sparkle in the evening at sunset. It made me think of Heaven, I said to myself that, in Heaven, it is thus that the Blessed Ones would mutually reflect the divine Sun, and that the simplest souls would also shine like suns. I therefore offered this very small sacrifice to the good God, in union with all those that Jesus made for poor sinners, so that, for them, the formidable wall of his justice would not be raised, which would forever hide from them their Sovereign Good. Oh ! when one thinks of this irreparable misfortune! How I would like to save souls! For that you have to be holy, because only the saints are powerful over your Heart. Finally, I am his wife, and his love for me perhaps blinds him?...”
Let us return to the first years of our dear Sister, but how often, my Reverend Mother, will we have to speak to you of her zeal for souls, which she manifested in connection with everything, until her death.
She was 8 1/2 years old when she went to boarding school with us, at the Visitation in Le Mans, where our maternal aunt was: Sister Marie-Dosithée. Never, as we shall see, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart could not completely get used to this separation from the family.
Her First Communion was brought forward a year, because of our aunt who had fallen seriously ill, and to whom we wanted to give this consolation before she died. The first Mistress of the Boarding School had therefore warned Marie that, if she were very good, she would make her First Communion at the age of 9. This hope gave her courage and she learned her catechism with unparalleled ardor. It was a holiday for her to go and recite her lesson to the Chaplain of the Monastery. When he asked questions that her companions did not know how to answer, she thought: “Oh! How I would like him to question me! I understand so well! »
This was what happened most often and the venerable priest could also have called him his little doctor.
Mary also made many small sacrifices to prepare herself to properly receive the good Jesus. She writes: “In the depths of my soul, I thought that he had made everyone believe that my aunt was going to die, precisely because he was in a hurry to give himself to me; this thought filled me with joy.” However, we were told that without a miracle, our aunt could not recover, but little Marie kept an unshakeable faith.
One day when we had both gone to see Sister Marie‑Dosithée in the infirmary and she could hardly speak, she was so oppressed, the Nurse Sister tried to make Marie understand that it was necessary, above all, surrender to the will of God. Then, she looked at her, amazed, and said to her: “But, my Sister, if I did like that, I wouldn't achieve anything. If, unfortunately, it was not God's will that my aunt should be cured, I would be sure of not being heard; also, I am careful not to speak to him of his will, but I try "to change his will." The good Sister smiled and did not know what to answer him.
She also addressed herself to Saint Joseph with a naive and tenacious confidence. On her way to the Chapel, if she met a nun, after asking her: "How is my aunt?" », she threw according to the answer, a certain look on the statue of Saint Joseph, either to scold him, or to thank him and did not doubt the miracle.
She was answered, and out of gratitude for the good Saint Joseph, took the name of Josephine at her Confirmation. The pious aunt was therefore able to attend, cured, the First Communion of her fervent niece and lived another seven years.
What a good First Communion our little Marie had! She was like an angel and so well prepared! Happy also to have been chosen to recite the act of faith which summed up so well the feelings of her soul. But in the evening, before going to sleep, we heard him burst into tears. When the Mistress rushed to find out the reason for her grief on such a day, she replied through her sobs: “It's because the day of my First Communion has passed! »
“The next day, we read in his intimate notes, we were returned to our parents. “Oh! The next day, how full of melancholy it was for me! So I had reunited with Papa and Mama, I who suffered so much from being separated from them. With them, I seemed to be in Heaven, but this Heaven must have been very short, since the same evening, they were to leave us! So my happiness was far from complete. We took a walk in the countryside. Soon I saw myself in a field filled with large daisies and blueberries. But to pick some, you had to leave my dear Father's hand, I preferred to stay with him. I looked at him, I looked at Mum... There were, in my little 9-year-old heart, depths of tenderness for them.
“... Besides, it would be impossible for me to say how much I suffered from being separated from my parents, it is in vain that I would try to explain this martyrdom. Ah! If I hadn't had my aunt, whom I didn't want to upset, I would never have stayed 7 years behind bars, because then I had no vocation to live behind bars, I had no again heard the call of Jesus, that call which sweetens what is bitter in nature. Did he not say it himself: "No one comes to me unless my Father draws him..." Now that he has drawn me, I find myself behind the most happy with creatures, I find myself in possession of true freedom. Ah! It is now that I can say in all truth: I am quite free! »
Our dear aunt, who alone could keep Marie a boarder at the Visitation, was particularly fond of her because of her uprightness, her extraordinary frankness. The child constantly ran after her to accuse herself: "Aunt, I wasted my time again at the beginning of the study, I did this and that..." Sister Marie-Dosithée was delighted with such dispositions, but nevertheless found her little niece very original at times. One day, among other things, when she saw him laying large bouquets of artificial flowers on an altar of Our Lady of Sorrows, for which she was in charge, this thought came to her mind: “My aunt, why do we put in front of the saints of upside-down bouquets? We should turn them towards them, so your Blessed Virgin sees only wires! » - My little girl answered the aunt, do you put your dress inside out to have the beautiful side on you? The child was silent, she had understood.
“At the age of 11 and 12, she says, I gave more trouble to my aunt, who until then had been so happy with me. When I came to tell her, for example, (always accusing myself): “Aunt, I find that there are a lot of repetitions of words in the Gospel; our Mistress of style teaches us, however, to avoid repetitions”, she assumed a severe and almost indignant air and said to me: “Are you now going to find fault with the words of Our Lord! And I, who confided this to him, quite confused by such a thought, I said to myself inwardly: Well! I won't go back to telling her ideas of this kind, since she makes such a big deal of it! »
A nun, thinking to please him, said to him: “Your little sister Pauline is very nice. » And she defended herself immediately: « It's true, Sister, but the others are very nice too. And we thought she was jealous. The aunt was informed of this and scolded her: "But, aunt, I don't understand," said the little girl, "I love Pauline so much as the compliments I get from her, I find them addressed to me that in that case, that is how you should respond. »
Marie was a very good student and did very well in her studies. She won many well-deserved prizes, because at the Visitation only a few were given, and sometimes not a single one. Each quarter, she obtained, most often, the Cross of Excellence, her inscription on the Honor Roll, and even what were called "decorations": wide ribbons of different colors with gold or silver fringes. money. There was the ribbon of religious instruction (white), the ribbon of Honor (blue), that of Application (purple). And favored boarders wore these ribbons slung over their shoulders on Sundays at services.
Once, the first Mistress, while awarding Mary one of these ribbons, said to her in a low voice: out of indulgence. So she didn't want to wear it, not out of spite, but “because,” she said, “I don't want to adorn myself with what I haven't absolutely deserved. »
She was about to be 13 when, during the Christmas holidays, the good Lord sent us our “little Thérèse”. On the morning of January 3, 1873, Marie approached the cradle with happiness mixed with respect: “Kiss your little sister! our Mum told her. The next day, with more assurance, she became his happy godmother. Sweet and glorious memory that will follow her and will be a grace for her whole life.
That year she was stricken with typhoid fever and had to leave boarding school. During one of his visits, the doctor declared to our parents: "This child must have taken some pain, it is more from a bilious fever than from a typhoid fever that she suffers..." The little patient heard and said to himself in a low voice: "That's quite true! and she was relieved to think that there was now proof of what she had suffered from being away from her family.
When she was cured, our good mother very seriously offered to have her finish her education at Alençon, but she refused, showing that good-heartedness which was really her dominant quality: "No, Mama, my aunt would have too many difficulty, I would rather go back to the Visitation.” Moreover, despite the sufferings of the separation, it is true to say that our boarder greatly appreciated his convent: “Despite everything, our mother would write later, Marie loves her dear Visitation and finds no pension comparable to her. »
On this return to the boarding school, she found a new pupil of her age, pious, charming, who inspired her with the liveliest sympathy. She loved him and was very much loved by him. But, little by little, this affection preoccupied her so much that she lost the beautiful freedom of her heart. She wanted to be noble and rich like her friend, she wanted to know the world whose vanity, however, she understood. Already, she had not been exempt from a few little puerilities, "the bewitchment of trifles which seduces the soul even far from evil." She was proud to be brought up at the Visitation, where most of her companions belonged to the nobility and did not hesitate to boast of their fine properties. One year, at the end of the long holidays, as Marie was walking with our good father, in a modest family property, called Roulée, she began to pick flowers, saying: "I am going to take these flowers to the Visit in memory of Roulée. » And the dear Dad answers subtly: « That's it! And then, you will embarrass your friends by showing them flowers from your property. Very vexed then, Marie, seeing herself guessed, immediately threw her bouquet in the grass to show that she did not want it.
But, let us return to this exaggerated affection, which inspired him with the following reflections:
“Alas! Instead of my mad daydreams of the creature, why did I not fly straight to you, oh my God! Like my little Thérèse, because you too dream of the creature... but you don't dream of it like us... You dream of it to deify it. You dream of it, sometimes, oh mystery! To make her your wife. And it is this dream of love that has come true for me! »
Eleven years later, on the point of entering the Carmel, she saw her friend one last time, who after inclinations towards a religious vocation had embarked on another path, and she had difficulty in recognizing her.
“All her beauty, she confided to us, had withered like the flower of the field. For me, I was about to finally fly towards the unique Beauty that does not pass. My dreams of nobility and grandeur were exceeded..."
Marie came out of boarding school at age 15 and a half. She was a tall, beautiful young girl, pure as a lily, a purity she would never alter, yet determined to take all her freedom. Our aunt had advised her to make the prayer to Saint Joseph every day: "O Father and Protector of virgins", but having read on the sheet: "Special prayer for priests and nuns", she said to herself: "It is well that, my aunt would like me to be a nun, there is no danger that I will say that prayer! »
However, only once, by chance - she was not 16 years old - our mother spoke to her of the vocation of marriage, and at the very word of marriage, she began to sob, declaring that she would not marry and asking that we never discuss this subject again.
"I had no attraction for the toilet either, she assures, but in this contempt of all coquetry, there must have been secret pride, because pride slips in everywhere, even in this which seems humility. When I put on a new dress, it was real agony for me. I especially hated those little white tulle veils, which mean nothing, because they don't hide the face. When I wore it, I seemed to want to look beautiful! On the day of Léonie's First Communion, decked out in one of these veils, I met the milliner at the exit of Notre-Dame church. who had made my hat. She thought I was ill, I was so crimson under the famous veil, which must have made my complexion dull! And I was delivered from this fashionable mask, as I called it. »
There was still, to displease him, the fashion for the medallion threaded into a velvet ribbon tied around the neck. "I thought I looked like a little lap dog when I had this velvet around my neck," she said.
It was without a doubt, in a circumstance of this kind, that our dear mother wrote to her sister-in-law, Madame Guérin, in Lisieux: “Marie is a bit wild and too shy; she has particular ideas. One day when she was wearing a toilet, didn't she go crying in the garden, saying that they were dressing her like a young girl they want to marry at all costs! »
Marie was therefore very serious; she took her only pleasure in caring for her little sisters, and first of all for Léonie, who owes her a lot morally. She had not been able to get used to the Visitation and was taking lessons in town. Thérèse, the youngest, was aware of the authority given in the house to the eldest sister. One day in the garden. as the child admired the roses cultivated by Marie, our Mum was preparing to pick one for her, when she cried out to prevent her: “. Mom, the roses belong to Mary! »
The big sister devoted herself entirely to teaching Céline: “If I had had twenty students, she declared, I wouldn't have given myself more trouble. And Thérèse, who was barely 3 years old, wanted to follow Céline and attend the lessons. For fear of being chased away, she did not move or say a word. What a cherub! How sweet ! Authors have wanted to give it a completely different character in order to further praise its virtue of strength, but only the truth must be told. She also stated at the Trial, under oath:
"Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus seemed to me, from her earliest childhood, as if she had been sanctified from her mother's womb, or else like an angel whom the good God would have sent to earth in a body deadly. What she calls her imperfections or her faults were not; I have never seen her make the slightest mistake. »
This testimony, so precious and formal from Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, corresponds to this period of her life as a young girl.
She then went to Mass every morning, but one could not, however, accuse her of manifesting too much her fervor, however deep, so much so that our mother, not finding her pious enough, wrote to Le Mans, to Sister Marie-Dosithée, who then addressed to her niece what she called sermons of holiness, which did not have much effect on her, she simply admitted.
"Mom," she said one day, "I assure you that I love the good Lord very much, much more than you think... Thus, I like to look at the Tabernacle." It's not worth my lips moving. I prefer to hide my feelings. »
A year after leaving boarding school, she returned to the Visitation to follow a retreat, preached to the former boarders by a Jesuit Father. Our devoted aunt then strongly advised her to open up to the preacher of her vocation, and to satisfy her, she told this Father "that she had come to find him to know her vocation, that he would please reveal it to her so that it is no longer a question. »
But I didn't even think about my vocation, she confided later, I didn't have one. Finally, I got out of it as well as possible, asking this good monk to take me under his direction. He gave me his address. I was sincere, and yet determined never to write to her. This is where my retirement ends up! »
Basically, our good aunt and our dear Mama were not mistaken; they secretly sensed the divine call for Mary, as evidenced by this passage from a letter from our mother, around this time: “I am very happy with Mary. The things of this world don't go so deep into her heart as the spiritual things, she gets real godly. I believe she will be a nun; I would like her to be a saint..."
It was from heaven that the mother and the aunt were to bring this vocation to fruition, after their holy death, which arrived for Sister Marie‑Dosithée on February 24, 1877, and for our admirable mother on August 28 of the same year. . Marie was 17 and a half years old.
The following November, the family left for Lisieux and moved to Les Buissonnets. What forgetfulness of herself, what abnegation displayed by the eldest daughter and sister, to soften the grief of our poor father and his sisters!
We believe that she owed this strength of soul to a grace received near the mortal remains of our mother, after a whole night spent in tears. Looking at her so beautiful and so calm in the majesty of death, she had suddenly experienced a deep feeling, an assurance that this dear mother was only apparently dead, that she was more alive than ever and would help him in all the difficulties of his life.
Five years later, it was a new separation: the one imposed on her by the entry into Carmel of “her Pauline” and which she still accepted so generously. And six months had not elapsed since this departure, when Thérèse's mysterious illness occurred, suddenly cured by the apparition and the smile of the Most Blessed Virgin, on May 13, 1883, apparition and smile that the happy child affirms to have been the response to Mary's faith and trust.
Are we not allowed to think today, my Reverend Mother, 57 years after this memorable event, that Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, expiring, and fixing with a luminous gaze this statue of the Blessed Virgin, has obtained, by the grateful intercession of Thérèse, the same celestial and maternal smile, the beginning of her eternal beatitude?
In the meantime, how many graces received, and also how many Calvaries to climb!
The graces! It was a very big one for Mary to prepare Thérèse for her First Communion, to have seen her, through the gate of the fervent Benedictine nuns, so recollected and shedding tears of love. And we read in his personal notes:
“One day, at Les Buissonnets, Thérèse asked me to explain to her what it was like to love God purely and to forget oneself. I read in his eyes an ardent desire to practice what I was teaching him. It was like a warrior who measures the battlefield where he wants to fight and achieve victory, the victory of love to conquer souls. I said to myself, looking at her: What will become of this child? She's really not ordinary; it hangs over it like a particular mystery of predestination.
But it must also be said that Thérèse, listening to Marie explain such beautiful things to her, thought what she would write later:
“...It seems to me that all of his heart, so great, so generous, passed through me. As ancient warriors taught their children the profession of arms, so she taught me the combat of life, exciting my ardor and showing me the glorious palm. She spoke to me again of the immortal riches which it is so easy to amass each day, of the misfortune of trampling them underfoot when, so to speak, all one has to do is bend down to collect them.
“How eloquent was that dear sister! I would have liked not to be alone in hearing his profound teachings, I believed, in my naivety, that the greatest sinners would have been converted by listening to him, and that, leaving their perishable riches there, they would no longer have sought than those of Heaven. »
Didn't such a soul need the cloister? Here are the intimate pages that she wrote to us, in 1909 and 1910, at our urgent and fraternal request. This is the summary story of her vocation and of the happiness she found in Carmel. According to the date of this writing, there can be no question of the feelings of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart with regard to the glorification of her holy little Sister and Goddaughter. These feelings, my Reverend Mother, she will reveal them to us later.
“I had just turned 22, says our dear Sister, when you told me, my very beloved Mother, that you wanted to be a Carmelite. We had the same confessor, I noticed that you knew how to open your soul, while I was like a log. Besides, what would I have entrusted with my soul? Your desire to enter Carmel did not make the vocation germinate in me; so I had nothing to say. However, I suffered a lot and I remember that one day, on my way back from confession, I started to cry when I found myself alone in my room. I then opened the Imitation and read these words:
“Having regained your heart after the storm, recall your strength to the sight of my mercies, for I am near to you, says the Lord, to restore all things, not only in measure, but in abundance and filling up the measure. »
I immediately felt consoled and I say to you: “Look at what I shot in the Imitation?” But it was a mystery to both of us. A few days later, a person of our acquaintance told us enthusiastically about a Jesuit Father, the Rev. Father Pichon, who had just preached a retreat near Lisieux. “He's a saint,” she said, “a real saint, the likes of which you don't meet. You can see that he will soon give a mission to Lisieux. »
Out of curiosity, I went to see the saint, I attended his mass, and, to have nothing to reproach myself for, I entered his confessional saying to myself: Should I confess, or should I tell me the real purpose of my visit? I stopped at this last part and said to him: Father, I came to see you to see a saint. He laughed a little at my simplicity and replied: “Well! My child, confess. I made a confession, as usual, and left without saying more. Along the way, I thought, “If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered. But, that evening, an ardent desire to return to see the good Father took hold of me. How to do ? I didn't go out alone, unfortunately, and I had to entrust my project to Victoire (the servant), so that she would accompany me. Finally, I overcame all the obstacles, and the next day I again attended the mass of the holy religious. I then entered the confessional and said to him, “My Father, I have come to find you again, because I am irresistibly urged to do so. Why, I don't know. He asked me a few questions, asked me if I wanted to be a nun: “No, Father. - So do you want to get married? - Oh ! No, Father! - But what do you want to do? Stay an old maid? - Oh ! No, of course ! - SO... ? I'm in a hurry, he told me, because I have to take the train in a few moments, but I'll be back in Lisieux in a fortnight to preach a retreat at the Refuge. And there, I give you an appointment. Write to me all your impressions on religious life, and why you do not want it, in short, all that you will have thought during these days, about your vocation. As for me, I really hope to give you to Jesus...” I was caught in his nets! Nets of Mercy! I returned to Les Buissonnets with a light heart, and filled with a secret joy. Jesus had therefore also cast a special look of love on me. Oh ! I was not tempted to imitate the young man in the Gospel, and go sadly away from Him.
“On the appointed day, I went to find Father Pichon with my eight large pages, where I had revealed all the most intimate feelings of my heart. So as not to influence him, I had taken care not to write down what I had thought during my last visit. After my confession, I passed my manuscript to him through the small gate, and I got up to leave, but he held me back for an hour, reading it in front of me, and making me his reflections, on the spot: I can say that I passed there. a bad quarter of an hour.
And I, who hadn't wanted a director in the past, had one! And I had chosen it of my own free will. Or rather, no, it was the good Lord who had chosen it for me.
He arrived at the moment when I was about to lose my darling Pauline. I confess that he was for me the Angel of the Lord. And he also did good to our good father, who received him. several times at Les Buissonnets, as "friend and director of the Martin family," he said pleasantly.
“He wrote me very paternal letters from time to time, but overwhelmed by his correspondence and his retreats - he preached more than 960 of them - he sometimes left me for a long time without answering me: I wrote him up to 14 letters immediately, without receiving a single word!
“In 1884, Father Pichon was called to Canada and when he left, only God knows what I suffered. He returned in 1886, and I wanted to meet him in Calais. When I asked Papa to take this trip, he replied: “I have nothing to refuse you, my dear. We waited two days at Calais, then at Dover, for the famous boat, but in vain; we had been misinformed. Back in Paris, we found Father Pichon! I complained bitterly about my disappointment, but Papa answered me like a saint: “You mustn't murmur my Mary. The good Lord judged that you needed this ordeal and I consider myself happy to have served as his instrument, by making this trip with you. “Ah! My Mother, it was very true the good Lord wanted by this to detach me even more from the earth, even from its most innocent joys. Now that I'm older, I see that during those younger years of my life, I was not immune to illusions. For, O my God, why run so madly towards the creature, when it would be an angel descended from Heaven?
“Without suspecting it, I was very close to entering Carmel. One day, in the parlor, you told me, Mother, that it was time to think about it. As I did not have a vocation of attraction, I answered you that I would enter when the good Lord told me to, but that, until then, he had not yet shown me his will clearly enough. So you say to me, “Don't believe that He will appear to you. You're going to be 26, you have to make a decision. - I will not make a decision, I resumed. “Since the good Lord knows very well that I want to do his will, he will rather send me a celestial messenger to tell me. »
It was then, dear Mother, that you wrote to Father Pichon. And, a few days later, I received a letter in which he asked me how old Céline was [We could not count on Léonie to replace her, because she was getting ready to enter the convent herself], and if I would soon be possible to respond to God's call. I suspected nothing and I remained speechless. The hour of sacrifice was about to strike for me! Ah! I saw her approaching, this hour, without enthusiasm. I had to say goodbye to a father I loved so much! I had to abandon my little sisters. But, I didn't hesitate for a moment and I told Papa this great confidence. He heaved a sigh on hearing such a revelation, which he was far from expecting, because nothing could lead one to suppose that I wanted to be a nun. He stifled a sob and said to me: “Ah! ....Oh! ... But... without you! ..." He couldn't finish. And I, so as not to soften him, answered confidently: "Céline is old enough to replace me, you'll see, Dad, that everything will be fine." Then he resumed: "The good Lord could not ask me for a greater sacrifice!" I thought you would never leave me! And he kissed me to hide his emotion. I weep, my Mother, writing these memories. Isn't everything crying out to me to become a saint? [Shortly after her entry into Carmel, Mary wrote to our good father: “... You who give to God without counting all the hope of your old age, glory is for you, glory that does not pass away; yes, beloved father, we will glorify you, as you deserve to be glorified, by becoming saints. The rest would be beneath you”]
“I then wrote to my uncle and my aunt to inform them of my decision. They were absolutely amazed. Me, the independent! Me, who always looked as if I couldn't stand the convents! I was going to become a nun! They could not recover from their astonishment.
“I entered the Carmel on October 15, 1886. Passing under the cloister, on my way to the Choir, I cast a glance towards the courtyard. That's what I imagined, I thought. How austere! Anyway, I didn't come here to see funny things. That was my enthusiasm!
“In the Choir, our venerable Foundress, Mother Geneviève de Sainte Thérèse, was in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and her air of peace and holiness struck me. Then, with you, my old Pauline, I was sent for a walk in the garden. My attraction did not grow. The garden seemed so small to me next to the immense enclosure of the Visitation of Le Mans, and then everything seemed so poor to me, I didn't even think of the happiness of being with you, I only thought of wondering how I would do to spend my whole life within these four walls.
“Oh! My Mother, I found Jesus within these four walls, and in finding him I found Heaven. Yes, this is where I spent the happiest years of my life. However, they were not exempt from crosses, because you know the ones who came to visit us!
“First, the ordeal of our poor father's illness, that ordeal that Thérèse called our great wealth. Many times, I had wondered when thinking of Dad: How will his beautiful life end? I had the secret presentiment that it would end in suffering, while being very far from suspecting what this suffering would be. But when she came, one day, during Mass, I saw the price of her so clearly, that I would not have wanted to exchange her for all the treasures of the earth And what merits our dear father must have acquired! But how right he was to tell us: “My children, fear nothing for me, because I am God's friend. »
At that time, the story of Job came back to my memory, it seemed to me that it was his like ours and that Satan, again presenting himself before the Lord, had said to him: "It is not wonder if your servant praises you, you fill him with good things. Strike him then in his own person and you will see if he will not curse your name. But the name of the Lord was not cursed, on the contrary, it was always blessed in the midst of the most bitter trials.
“You still want my Mother, that I speak to you a little about this distant time of my taking the Habit and my Profession. I wonder by what privilege I am one of those "wise virgins who do not have to seek where Wisdom dwells, for they themselves walk in her ways" It was especially in the days following my taking of the Habit that I best appreciated my happiness. Every morning, it seemed to me to take a dress of freedom, also for me it was a dress of celebration. It was the case to say, as in my childhood: I am very free!... To enter the Choir, there is no other toilet to do than to roll down your sleeves. It was unbelievable how happy I was!
“As for the day of my Profession, I have no other memory of it, except that it was exactly like that of my First Communion. My soul was at peace. Jesus had called me and I had come to Him. What happiness can be compared to that of responding to his voice? He had called me... Him! Who can understand what it is to be called by God? What a mystery! Is he not the Master of his creature? And he invites her to love him... He asks her if she wants to love him. But since he is Love, he cannot act otherwise, because love must be free. Only, what is touching is that he desires to be loved and that he appreciates the love of his poor little creature.
“And it was Thérèse who crowned me! Prelude, and as assurance, of my eternal crown! The evening of my Profession, I cried like the evening of my First Communion, because the second beautiful day of my life had passed!
“Now, Mother, I want to write to you about the impression Thérèse made on me the day she entered Carmel. I cannot say that I felt a feeling of happiness when I saw her cross the door of the cloister. No, because I thought of our father who was going to be deprived of his treasure. But she ! What a celestial creature! And how she had grown, my little Thérèse! We weren't quite aware of it, through the gate of the parlor. Yes, how she had grown, and how pretty she was! The good Lord had placed all the graces in her. But in Carmel, he allowed this beauty to be veiled, humiliated... like a diamond hidden under stones. And now, he has taken it upon himself to make it shine beside his divine Face, before the entire universe, and until the consummation of the centuries.
“My Mother and my beloved sister, what else can I say to you? Ah! If trials have swooped down on us, graces have also fallen there in torrents.
At the Carmel, the two little doves that we had left in the paternal nest flew after us: Céline and Thérèse. We have seen them by our side; they came to share our life! We saw Thérèse die... of love! And, not very far from us, another gentle dove, Léonie, found her resting place at the Visitation.
[In 1915, we had the joy of seeing our sister Léonie again, Visitandine, at the Monastery of Caen, under the name of Sister Françoise-Thérèse. She was called to Lisieux, to testify before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal sitting in Carmel. We have found, in the notes of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, the ineffable impression caused by this meeting:
“We were, she wrote, all four seated on the steps, near the infirmary. The sky was blue, without any clouds. In an instant, time disappeared for me, the time of our childhood, Les Buissonnets, everything seemed like a single instant. I saw Léonie nun, with us, and the past and the present merged in a single moment. The past seemed like a flash to me; I seemed to be already living in an eternal present, and I understood eternity which is all in one instant”]
Tell me if the measure of our consolations has not exceeded that of our pains? But our life has not come to an end, and more than one suffering still awaits us. However, why not abandon oneself to the One who proportions his grace to the cross, to the One who has showered us with so many blessings! Also, I want to say to him like Thérèse: Lord, you fill me with joy by everything you do! Doesn't the cross hide from us, indeed, eternal joys”?
What have we to add, my Reverend Mother, to these revealing pages?... But what our dear Sister did not speak of, for she was so ignorant of herself! it is her virtue always practiced in the shadows, it is the scent of charity, kindness, self-forgetfulness and humility spread around her, during her 53 years of religious life .
She had been the "Angel" of our "little Thérèse." upon entering the monastery.
Then, the reports were spaced out, and each knew how to lead her beautiful cloistered life of detachment, which is not without imposing sacrifices. But we knew each other all the same: “Virtue shines naturally” said our Saint.
“Often, wrote Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, I relive in thought the time when Thérèse was in our midst, and I find that nothing can render what we have seen. What perfection in everything, and yet, what simplicity! How many times, watching her pass through the cloisters, simple, modest and recollected, did I say to myself: “When I think that we will never know, here below, how much this soul loves the good God! All that can be said and written about it does not give me its true portrait. You must have known her. I could not trace it myself, but it is engraved deep in my soul like a celestial vision that nothing can alter. »
And the Goddaughter, for her part, wrote to her godmother, during a retreat: “When I meet you, it seems to me that I am meeting an angel. I see in you what others cannot see, because you know how to hide what you are so well, that on the day of eternity, many people will be surprised. »
The jobs of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart in the Carmel were first of all: help in the infirmary, where our venerated Mother Geneviève de Sainte Thérèse was then, who called her her ray of sunshine; then, for a time, refector, and finally provisional, for 40 years, even more, because in her years of infirmity, she advised the provisional in charge and took care of our dear Sisters of the White Veil. These, moreover, loved her like a Mother and, by her hidden delicacies, she also made herself loved by the whole Community. His concern for the postulants was proverbial. She always got permission to suggest some practical ways for them to get used to certain rigors of the Rule.
His office as provisional gave him many opportunities to practice the mortification of his tastes; what was less good was always good enough for her; the same was not true for the Community. She sighed sometimes, saying: “You mustn't be afraid to feed these poor Sisters well, who are always subject to abstinence. We can still see her passing around the tables, slipping this or that under the napkin of the tired Sisters, and throwing a piece of sugar, stealthily, into a bowl of milk.
The following trait reveals to us more fully his supernatural goodness. We have it from one of our Tourières Sisters who was then trying out as a Sister of the White Veil and had even received the Holy Habit, but could not, because of her poor health, stay inside. This novice had just witnessed something that must have greatly saddened her provisional. Now, when it was time to prepare the portions, on the serving table, what was his astonishment to see Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart paying particular attention to the portion of the one that had just been a cause for her pain. “Why then, she exclaimed, do you pay more attention to this poor Sister who has saddened you? I do not understand this ! » And she received this beautiful answer: « You see, my little Sister, it is with simple means, like this one, that we often restore peace to a heart that is suffering. This Sister is good, she is grieving, certainly, and she will be consoled to see that I don't hold it against her.
Since we owe the memory of this act of fraternal charity to one of our Sisters of the Tour, it is right to mention the faithful attachment of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart for this child, and another of her companions who also passed a few months in the cloister, as a postulant. Besides, the fervent and devoted group of our five Tourières sisters was very dear to her. Two days before her death, she received them with great kindness in her infirmary and said to each of them a word from the heart that they will not be able to forget.
We must return to the various occupations of our humble Sister during her long life as a Carmelite. With the Provisional Office, she was still in charge of the garden, from which she cleared the quackgrass, so lively that a gardener had refused this work. The vegetable garden had his assiduous care. She planted, on the other hand, with taste, and on all sides: ivy, periwinkles and roses. Our dear little Saint, crossing a cloister, had smiled at her one day when she was putting in the ground, in a corner of the courtyard, a little fir tree which has now become the magnificent tree on which her white statue stands out.
The cultivation of the garden, of flowers, inspired him with this thought: “A gardener takes great pleasure when the flowers he has cultivated respond to his care and, when they are rare flowers, it is his glory. So I thought I was a rare flower, since Jesus planted me in his chosen garden: Carmel. But unfortunately ! I am a flower free to give more or less glory to its divine Gardener. And I wanted to be a saint so that he would have more joy, contemplating his flower and then showing it to the saints, as a marvel of his grace. I understand better than I can say, the selfless love of the elect. Their own glory does them nothing; what touches them is to recount the glory of God. It is He alone they love; they completely forget each other. This indeed is true love, for as soon as one thinks of one's interests, one instantly ceases to love.
“But, while having these beautiful inspirations, it is impossible for me to realize them. Also, like Thérèse, I want to put all my trust in the One who operates the will and the doing. And I ask my Jesus for this trust, hoping that my little Thérèse will get me to be able to say like her: The Lord took me and put me there. »
Our mystical gardener, - forgive us this qualifier against which she would have protested, could continue her prayer every day, taking care, at a fixed hour, of baking the Altar Bread. And we remember with tender edification that, on the very afternoon of the death of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, when her agony began, she did not seek to be replaced.
But we would like to evoke a moving memory, that of July 8, 1897, the date when our Saint was taken down from her cell to the infirmary. Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart writes:
“I was sitting by his bed. The miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin had just been placed on a credenza, against the left wall. So, I repeat these verses to him
You who came to smile at me in the morning of life,
Come and smile at me again, Mother, here is the evening.
“Almost at the same moment, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at the Blessed Virgin. I got up and approached, I asked him if it was not me the cause of his pain. "No," she replied, "but I can't explain that to you right away, I'd be sobbing... Finally, she confided to me, all in tears: She's never seemed so beautiful to me!" - Are you crying out of consolation? -Yes. - And yet, you are in the night of faith? Making an affirmative gesture: “Ah! If I'm there! ! ! I was very moved, because this scene awakened so many memories in me! “One day, she was very young then, she was also crying in front of this blessed statue, or rather in front of a real vision of her Heavenly Mother who came to heal her. And I was there, at his bedside, contemplating this ecstasy in delight. In Carmel, the good Lord allowed me to still be there, to see her last tears and Marie's last smile at her little Flower. »
“It's not like the first time, she told me, oh! No, it is the statue that I see, and which seems so beautiful to me! In the past, look, she was not placed like that in the room, I only saw her from the side, do you remember? In the past, you know very well that it was not the statue..."
“She didn't finish, but I understood and I said to her: 'It's a consolation for me to have been here, alone with you, this evening. - Oh ! I'm very touched,” she replied.
It is to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart that we owe the Story of a Soul, because it was she who obtained, by her entreaties, that we give Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus the order to write his life, thus triumphing over our secret fear – quite illusory moreover – of making him lose his simplicity.
It was she also who asked him, for his personal consolation, to write down "his little doctrine" and received from it those admirable pages, a sublime summary of his way, which make up Chapter XI of the History of a Soul.
Then again this letter of SEPTEMBER 17, 1896, which one could say “was a fundamental document of his doctrine, a true charter of his spirituality. »
We must now, as we promised you, my Reverend Mother, tell you about the feelings of our dear Sister, in relation to the glorification of our little Saint. From the Canonical Processes, it seems interesting to quote the answer she gave to this question: “Why do you want the Beatification of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus? »
"I desire it - she explains - because I think that the good God wants it and will be glorified by it: He created us to know him and to love him, but few know him and, therefore, few love. They regard him as a judge, a Master, how few regard him as a Father!
“Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus learns to go to Him through trust and love, and when the Church has sanctioned her path of trust which does so much good to souls, it seems to me that they will come even more many come under his banner and follow his example. For "God is Love", and it is through love that his creature glorifies him the most.
I therefore look to Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus as the apostle, the Messenger whom the Lord has chosen, in recent times, to announce to everyone the infinite love he has for us. »
And here are the intimate echoes of his soul, after our great celebrations of Beatification, then of Canonization, in 1923 and 1925.
My Beloved Mother, March 19, 1924.
“You ask me my thoughts on the Beatification of our little Thérèse “Will I be able to describe them to you? My soul is so exiled! We have suffered so much, anyway, for the Cause! However, I cannot say that I did not taste celestial joys during the celebrations of the Triduum of May last year.
“How could I forget the impressions I felt on seeing Cardinal Vico, Prefect of the Congregation of Rites, Legate of the Holy Father, surrounded by his Court of Honor, and all the prelates and religious crowding into the Sanctuary? !.... Yes, my eyes filled with this unique glory. It was for me also “like an image of the Judgment”. The Holy Church, with divine majesty, revealed the judgments of the Lord on our little Thérèse. There are no words to express the feelings of my heart at this time.
“But, at the same time, the test visited me. You remember, Mother, that I could not kneel because of acute rheumatism which had appeared on the night of April 28 to 29, the feast of the Beatification in Rome, and I had, moreover, had the swollen hands. However, I easily forgot my suffering in the face of such an event. After so many works and intimate renunciations, as in the days of the depositions at the Trial, my little infirmities were very little, they were nothing at all, because they were submerged in an ocean of infinite graces.
“Oh! I understand better than ever that there is nothing true, great, noble, except holiness. Let us therefore say like our magnanimous little Saint, in all contradictions: “Nothing too much to conquer the palm! The good Lord, in his infinite goodness, sometimes puts us on a battlefield; he wants to see what we are going to do, or rather, he knows very well that we are going to trust in him and he himself reserves the right to fight for us. Poor little fights here below which will one day have such an impact in the celestial kingdom! »
Extracts from a second letter: October 20, 1925.
“The last vision of glory has disappeared, but it dug new abysses in my heart, or rather, it made me make new ascents towards Heaven! We will no longer see these bishops making their way each day to the infirmary to celebrate their mass there.
“We will never see our good Cardinal Vico again delivering - with what piety! The golden rose in the hand of our Thérèse. The feasts of Canonization have passed, now we await those of Heaven which will never pass.
What shall I say to you, my darling little Mother? Ah! I understand that the Blessed Virgin kept everything in her heart! One cannot express what one feels before so much grandeur responding to such a hidden life.
“The days that preceded these grandiose celebrations, I suffered a lot without telling you. I wondered how everything would turn out, seeing the bad weather that didn't stop and the storm the day before that blew our decorations, under the cloisters. Everything could have been missed. But the good Lord did not want it. I have prayed to him so much in the secret of my heart! Oh ! How well we feel that there is in our soul someone who is there, who lives in the most intimate. Yes, we feel a divine presence, we understand that God is within us, because when we speak to him in the anguish of the heart, it is a response of peace that we hear.
“And yet, a certain melancholy invades us sometimes. For what ? Is it because we are going towards the unknown, that our earthly life is in decline and that we tremble to see what remains so dear to us in this world disappear? Yes that's fine ! Yet it is the opposite that we should try to experience. How to do ? Bear in peace the test of faith, the test of death, because it is towards life that we are going. Thinking of death, which saddens nature so much, I suddenly had this inspiration: This is the Day of Great Mercy. What I felt was so deep! I understood that this is the moment when the good Lord causes the torrent of his mercies to overflow over the soul. He gives her, without any merit on her part, all that he has resolved to give her from all eternity. It is the day of his great mercy.
“My little Mother, I like to immerse myself in this assurance which does me good, because it seems to me that it is the truth.
"You asked me what I thought of the Canonization of our little Sister: for the glory of the good God, I am very happy about it, but only for this glory, because Thérèse has even more power to make Him known and love, to bring souls back to Him. I think he used a child to show the great and the wise of this world the true way to Heaven. He had first made himself a little child to show it to us Himself, but we had forgotten him, so he begins the lesson again by means of our little Thérèse. »
Your Mary who loves you so much.
Our dear Sister, in a third letter that we are about to give, alludes to great sorrows, the reasons for which are abbreviated as follows:
The worldwide reputation of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus drew around her name writers, lovers of the unpublished, who claimed to have discovered, in secret archives, stains of dishonor in the family of her ancestors. A manuscript was prepared, and by a shameful haggling, the Carmel of Lisieux was asked to buy it at a very high price, if they did not want to see it published. Indignant, devoted and competent friends of the Monastery, greatly approved by the ecclesiastical authority and even by Rome, made, for their part, in-depth research in the national archives and elsewhere, which proved the historical falsity of the documents presented.
Besides that, by arbitrarily interpreting some passages of the Summarium (summary of the Trial) and some apocryphal writings, we were accused of having betrayed the truth about the character of our Saint and her portraits.
Here now, my Reverend Mother, are the sighs of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart on this very painful subject.
My beloved little Mother, Saturday, April 10, 1926
"Last Tuesday, as we had just talked about our tribulations together, I was going to Vespers, my heart oppressed, when on entering the Avant-choir, I smelled a sweet perfume, especially when passing in front of the first door, near from your stall. [Several times, especially in the first months following her death, our Saint favored Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart with mysterious perfumes, revealing her invisible presence; perfumes of violets especially, after an act of charity, humility or obedience. One day our dear Sister even received a celestial kiss from her “little Thérèse”. But in total, did the number of these pardons exceed ten, in 42 years? We don't believe it.] I sat for a while trying to figure out where it might be coming from. It was a perfume of several flowers joined together. When I entered the Choir, I no longer felt anything, but I understood that our darling little Saint was saying to us: “I am with you, do not be afraid. »
“It's true, my Mother, that we have many sorrows, but I would gladly say like our angelic Thérèse: “I went away strengthened by humiliations. » True greatness is hidden there, for it is a glory to be associated, through suffering, with the Passion of Our Lord; yes, the contempt of the world is a glory. At times, I understand that so well! It's when the good Lord wants to give us light, the true light that dissipates all the darkness, on the false goods, the false glories here below. But I confess, this austere truth is not always so clear to the eyes of my soul. The Lord, however, can also stand up to defend us. As I opened the Old Testament, this passage from Isaiah struck me:
“All who are inflamed against you will be confounded and put to shame; thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt find them no more those who quarrel with thee; they will be like nothing reduced to nothing, those who make war on you. For I, Jehovah your God, take your right hand. I say to you: Do not be afraid, it is I who come to your aid. »
“Yes it is God who will come to our aid; whatever happens, I trust Him completely, even if we were thrown into the depths of an abyss.
“Our little Thérèse must be very formidable in Hell, so that he organizes so many plots against her! But also, by our sufferings, we help him to save souls. Don't worry, my little Mother, what harm can come to us, since we have the Lord as our support? »
Our dear Sister, in her letter of March 19, 1924, spoke of an attack of rheumatism which she suffered on the night of the Beatification. She was, no doubt, already rheumatic, but must now suffer from it more and more. Until then, his very good health had enabled him not only to follow the Rule in its entirety, but also to add other penances to it. However, at the end of 1924, she was stricken with such severe pneumonia that we were advised to have it administered, but she protested, saying: "No, my Mother, believe me, I will not not die, I did not suffer enough physically in Carmel; it will be longer, harder for me.
She wrote to us in 1933 “Nine years ago, when I was so ill that they thought of giving me Extreme Unction, I said to myself: How strange! I'm going to die without having suffered, I don't quite understand this plan of the good Lord; and I had a certain regret. Now I see that I was not mistaken and that he loved me too much to deprive me of suffering, because it is such a way to prove our love to him! So, I thank him with all my heart. »
She had recovered very well from this illness, but the rheumatism continued to spread, so that on January 25, 1929, she had to leave her cell and move into a small infirmary on the ground floor, infirmary arranged as best we can, with a small altar, almost opposite the bed, and a beautiful reproduction of the Virgin of the Smile.
Alas! How many renunciations were imposed on him there! At first, she was still able to walk slowly, on the arm of a charitable nurse, then she came, little by little, to be immobilized in an armchair. His legs and feet swelled, sores formed on them. How our dear Sister had compassion on us! She was so active, how could she endure such an ordeal which was to last almost 11 years! But she was always serene, in spite of secret anxieties, which led her to pray incessantly. She told us:
“Prayer is my state of mind, I cry day and night to the good God: My God, come to my aid! Hurry up! Hurry to help me. And to soften him even more: You who are my tender Spouse, have pity on me! »
Alluding to her distress and the help she expected from God alone, she confided to us: “I am capable of anything, but He too is capable of anything. » And again: « I often think of the Blessed Virgin, who, at the Wedding at Cana, had taken pity on the two spouses by saying to Our Lord: “They have no more wine! And I repeat to her: "My good Mother, I too have run out of wine!" Formerly, in my youth, I always had wine, I knew neither infirmity nor disease. But today, I am destitute, I have no more wine! Ask your divine Son, who is my Spouse, to have pity on my distress. »
Then pulling himself together: "However, is it really true to say that he once served me the best wine?" No... It is today, certainly, that he serves me the best: the wine of the ordeal. Thus, at the banquet of my life which is ending, he was not mistaken, he kept the best wine until this hour..."
Every morning, on entering his infirmary, we said to him: “Long live Jesus, long live his Cross! And she answered us with joyful and generous enthusiasm: "Isn't it quite right that we love him!" »
His concern was always to save souls. And she moaned, not without heroism:
"I'm like in irons. I'm embarrassed, squeezed, my arms hurt, but I'm offering this to God so that a poor soul won't be embarrassed and lost for all eternity. We still find this word from her which sums up her two great aspirations well: "Except to love the good God, to sacrifice oneself to save souls, everything is hollow." »
Would it not be appropriate here, my Reverend Mother, to reveal to you the zeal of our dear Sister with certain souls, to enlist them under the banner of the little victims of the Merciful Love of the good God?
Here are two examples, among many others:
“That, first, of the husband of her dear old friend, then deceased. He was brought there gently by the letters and exhortations of our pious Sister, and he pronounced this Act of Offering, on his knees, his voice broken by tears, at the gate of the parlor. She again conquered our old servant, Victoire, under the same conditions.
She was an eminently apostolic soul, whom our Mother Saint Thérèse must have been happy to recognize as her true daughter. Didn't she confess: “Especially since our Thérèse is Patroness of the Missions, God alone knows my ardent desire to help her by filling her hands with roses. »
And what was our little Saint doing for her dear big sister, whose eyes were so often turned towards the statue which reproduces her seated, with the Gospel on her knees, and which we had placed in a courtyard in front of her window? What did she get for this beloved godmother, who worked diligently and painfully all day long with her poor deformed hands, on the little reliquaries of her Goddaughter, and that until the last week of her life!
“I beg her, she does not answer me! she sighed. However, twice, Thérèse came to her considerable help.
On February 15, 1939, she wrote to her sister Visitandine:
..."It was January 29, in the night, I was suffering from severe rheumatism in my knees, and a very devoted White Veil Sister, who sleeps in a cell near me, had done what she could to relieve myself, so that my legs and knees no longer feel twisted, which sometimes happens. After many attempts, unable to succeed, she said to me: “I am going to ask our Saint to come to your aid. And she withdrew quite sad, but confident. “A few moments later, I felt like someone was very gently putting my legs straight, without any effort, and I had no doubt of a supernatural intervention. My nurse's prayer had been heard, and my little Thérèse had really come to my aid. I no longer suffered at all and I was able to sleep through the night. »
Another time, in an analogous circumstance, as she found herself violently gripped by the shoulder with acute rheumatism, and unable to make no movement to cover herself, Thérèse "came down" and, with her fraternal hand, had blankets over the sick limb. After thanking her, her godmother simply said to her, “Now go back to Heaven. »
Alongside these celestial interventions, the jealous demon attacked him secretly with a kind of despair. It was the word she used to convey her extreme anguish. But she responded to the temptation with heroic acts of trust, going so far as to say: "that she would consent to remain on earth in this painful state of soul and body until the end of the world, if the good Lord wanted it, in order to save more souls. »
One night, therefore, the enemy of all good avenged himself on so much zeal, faith and courage and after knocking certain diabolical knocks at the door of her infirmary, he entered invisibly and tormented her... But at the most terrible, his nurse came, thinking he had been called, although it was not, and everything was back to normal.
Three years ago a most serious and painful complication suddenly arose in his condition. A doctor from Lisieux gave no hope. They then hastily informed a doctor from Paris, who had already been visiting her for some years. He arrived in the night and saved her. This good doctor had more than once felt the effect of her grateful prayers and venerated her to such an extent that at her death he wept for her, he tells us, "like a mother". He even rushed from Savoy, where he was mobilized in a military hospital, to see her one last time, exhibited at the Choir.
At the beginning of her 11 years of ever-increasing infirmities, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart was still able, supported by her nurse, to go to the refectory, located very close to her infirmary. In the morning, for the Hours and the Mass, he was taken to the Choir. Later, and almost to the end, she was taken in a wheelchair to Vespers and recreation.
In later years, she made Holy Communion at the Oratory, at the sick gate, and attended Mass there. She loved the psalmody of the Holy Office and, when we had to deprive her of Matins, before her installation in the infirmary, it was such a great sorrow that it still pains us today because of certain little notes that we find, and who humbly express her fear of not being sufficiently submissive in this ordeal, so much did she suffer from it.
On October 15, 1936, we celebrated the Jubilee of Religious Life of our fervent Sister.
A large and very beautiful watercolour, due to the brush of one of our Artist Sisters, had been prepared. It represented Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, postulant, crowning Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart on the day of her Profession, and at the corner of the painting, SS. Pius XI blessing. The watercolor was handed over to the Augustus Pontiff, with the hope of obtaining a few words from his hand. What emotion and what joy for our venerable Jubilee to then read there this invitation to the Eternal Jubilee: VENI CORONABERIS.
HE Monsignor Picaud, our Bishop and Superior who is so devoted, who has always had the greatest esteem and confidence for Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, even saying today: “I miss her! » presided over the ceremony and knew how to eloquently recall what owed each other the elder sister, godmother of Saint Thérèse, and the little Sister and Goddaughter. Our lovely jubilee had been led in front of the gate of the Choir by our Sisters of the White Veil. The first carried the crown of roses, the second the flowery stick, and the other two gently pushed the little carriage draped in white and garlanded with flowers, like the whole Monastery. Is it not the case to quote these words of the patient and grateful cripple, in the last days of her life: “I am surrounded and cared for by angels. The Community celebrated her and sang at will, as well as from afar, our dear Carmels. He was offered the large drawings, representing the Beatitudes, intended to be reproduced in mosaics in the Crypt of the Basilica. But, among the jubilee presents, we should especially note the bas-relief in white marble, fixed since on the house of Les Buissonnets, and which represents the apparition of the Most Blessed Virgin to Thérèse as a child. This remarkable work by Father Marie-Bernard was given to the heroine of the party by generous friends from Canada. As soon as they placed her in front of her, her eyes were veiled with tears and she remained silent... One would have said that she saw Thérèse's face again in ecstasy and that this scene of May 13, 1883 dated from yesterday.
Finally, she also had the very deep joy of seeing the union of Our Holy Order brought about in the very year of its jubilee, by the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious prescribing, in all the Monasteries, the adoption of a text sole of our Holy Constitutions. Decree published in the Acta, October 15, 1936.
The year that followed was that of the National Eucharistic Congress of Lisieux and the Blessing of the Basilica, this Basilica of which she could see from afar, under the cloister and in the garden, the sparkling dome at sunset. She often stopped her little car and gazed in awe at this vision of peace, as she called it.
On July 12, she was taken to the infirmary of our Saint, to attend the Mass of the Legate of Pius XI, His Eminence Cardinal Pacelli, and to receive communion there from his hand. She had previously said: “I very much want to know all the Cardinals who pass through the Monastery, because one of them might one day be Pope; and I would be happy to receive in Carmel the Blessing of the future Vicar of Jesus Christ. She had been answered. In the morning, during the Legate's visit to the cloister, our venerated Bishop introduced her to His Eminence, who approached her with delicate kindness and smiled very paternally at these words of Monsignor: “. Eminence, it is to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, eldest sister and godmother of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, that we owe the Story of a Soul. »
Two and a half years later, on January 17, 1940, our dying Sister was to receive a very special Blessing from the Holy Father, through the intermediary of a Roman Prelate, a great friend of the Monastery, and, the day after her death, we reached from the Vatican, this new and touching telegram:
His Holiness expresses your deepest grief to you and sends Community comfort and Apostolic Blessing.
Cardinal Pacelli, who became Pius XII obviously remembered our beloved Sister.
What more shall we say to you, my Reverend Mother, of these two and a half years which separated our generous Sister from her eternal reward? Always increasing physical ills and always the same gentleness, the same patience, the same radiation of graces extending far, outside the Monastery, to souls who were dear to him, - and the most humble had his preferences - encouraging them, supporting them. of his advice, even saving them. We are thinking of one of them whose maternal solicitude guided her to religious life; to others she directed to abjuration, etc... "Do you believe that I snatch souls from hell?" she often told us.
Everything related to the glory of the Holy Church interested her first of all to the highest degree, for example this "painful cause" of which her holy and powerful little Thérèse was the granted Mediatrix... And we saw her cry secretly, several times, praying the Lord to restore the full light of faith to the upright and sincere soul of the Head, who bore him such respectful and grateful admiration, and whom the Holy Father himself urged prayers of our Carmel.
She gave us another sign, the day before her death, to let us know that she would surely take care of it Up There.
The thought of war and the evils it entails was for her a great anguish; we have noticed, however, that his desire for the glory of God took precedence over all other feelings. “Oh! Provided her reign comes, she often repeated, all the rest is a trifle! »,
She also liked to repeat to us, with consolation, these words of Our Father Saint John of the Cross: "Do not allow yourselves to be saddened by the unfortunate accidents of this world, for you do not know the benefits they bring, and by what secret judgments of God, they are arranged for the eternal joy of his elect. »
Our dear Sister was very simple: in her piety and few books found the way to her heart and her kind of mind. They had sent her one dealing with a certain very complicated form of union with God: "But I quickly got rid of it," she told us. We come to affirm in this book: "If someone wants to reach the state of union, it is absolutely necessary that he watches with jealous care never to abandon, even for a moment, the government of his inner powers. ... to collect our powers in God, that is the only thing necessary. And when I find in myself nothing but impotence!... How do you expect, my Mother, that I muster my powers! So I turn to my little Thérèse, she alone surely shows me the way, the truth and the life. »
This humility charmed the Heart of God who favored her several times with manifestations of his love:
She wrote on July 5, 1898:
“I was begging my little Thérèse to prepare me well to receive the good Lord, when I was invaded by a feeling of faith so lively, so penetrating, that I wondered how I was going to be able to take a step to get to the Communion grid. If I had seen Our Lord with my own eyes, I would not have had more faith. When I received the Holy Host, I seemed to hear an interior voice saying to me: Behold your Creator, your God, your Father, and your Saviour. But that does not express well what I felt then. Ah! I felt like I had everything in me. »
And again on November 15, 1914:
“This morning, an hour before waking up, I had a consoling little dream. I felt close to me, without seeing him distinctly, Our Lord. He said to me: “Your soul is my tabernacle. I was happy to hear these words, but as I did not want to deceive him, I showed him a very tangled skein from which no thread could be pulled. In my mind, that meant: Such is my poor soul! Could this be your tabernacle?
“But He paid no attention to it. So, I laid down my skein, saying: I understand, your mercy must also be exercised... And I leaned my head on his Heart, abandoning myself to trust and love. »
We will see now, my Reverend Mother, that our pious Sister had not lost, in Carmel, her original way of expressing her thoughts. She gives us this impression of retirement in May 1915:
“The good Lord granted me the same grace that He already granted me, a few months ago. I woke up at night feeling that someone loved in my heart, for me. So, I said: “It is no longer I who live, it is Jesus who lives in me. »
“It was a very sweet consolation; but the good Lord has not renewed it for me, because he knows that the life of faith goes even better to my soul. I consider myself too bad to have these celestial consolations. And then, I'm always afraid that the devil will catch me... So, it's better that I stay in the log category. »
Did she not inherit her beautiful spirit of faith from our good father who often repeated this invocation: “My God, increase our faith in us! »
“A centigram of faith, she said in turn, is enough to remove all evil. »
She did not like subtle dissertations on the mysteries and certain religious problems, interpreted in different ways by theologians. On occasion, she spoke to Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, her sister Céline, whose way of seeing things agreed perfectly with hers. One day, it was December 26, 1937, - instead of refuting one of these points of view which seemed to her false, or at least very exaggerated, she said quickly: "I don't understand anything about it, but let's leave all that, I'm just a child who can barely stutter, and can't say anything but a.. a.. a..”
However, the following night, towards morning, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart had a symbolic dream which she wrote to us in these terms:
“I saw on a sunny and smiling mountain, the Blessed Virgin seated, holding before her a child whom she protected with love. It was such a simple and sweet picture! Then, I saw standing, gazing at them in amazement, a great personage, like a venerable monk or prophet, who had suddenly arisen from his solitude to contemplate this beautiful spectacle.
“Immediately, I woke up, and I understood that a new era had opened for the souls; this is indeed the “little way”, the mystery of mercy explained by a child. Don't talk to me about other mysteries, I only understand this one! »
There were, however, "mysteries" that she understood, dare we say, and explained so well that when reading, for example, the following letter, we thought of the words that her holy Goddaughter once addressed to her: "Ah ! If you wanted to write what you understand of the secrets of the good God, we would have beautiful pages to read. »
Here, my Reverend Mother, is one of those beautiful pages:
January 1929.
“My Mother, you said to me the other day, looking at me with so much compassion: “The hand of the Lord has touched you. This made me think of that complaint of poor Job: "Have mercy on me, for the hand of the Lord has touched me!" I don't really understand this kind of lamentation, because the hand of the Lord is gentle and tender, it is that of a Father and, if it touches us, it can only be to relieve us, not to make us suffer. . But here it is, it does not prevent evils from reaching us, since we are in the land of evils. Me, I can't walk, I become completely crippled by rheumatism. If my temperament engenders these miseries, must a miracle remove them from me? Then it would no longer be the time of trial, if what should afflict us always disappeared as if by magic.
“The enchantment consists in our Heavenly Father turning everything to our benefit. But it is not his hand that does the ills, it is his hand that heals our wounds, those of our body as well as those of our soul; How to say "Have mercy on me!" For the hand of the Lord has touched me..."
“May this paternal hand lead me to the end of my exile, may it remove all dangers from me and make me feel the effects of its tenderness! »
She had received an exceptional but very simple gift of prayer and trust. We cannot resist, my Reverend Mother, delivering to you these two retreat notes:
February 10, 1931.
“Yesterday, at my 10 o'clock prayer, it seemed to me that I would have stayed the whole day in this intimate union in which I found myself with the good God. What did I tell him? Nothing. I was with him, that was enough for me. He knew all my thoughts, I didn't need to express any. I said to myself then, that a soul which loves the good God is never alone; she has near her a friend with whom she can converse at any moment. So, there is no loneliness for that soul; I mean sad loneliness where you feel the void, where you can't find a heart to pour out. This happy soul speaks without words to the One who knows her better than she knows herself. She can keep silent, it is enough for her happiness to know Him there...
“It is true that the good Lord alone can give us this disposition of heart, since without him we cannot have any good thoughts. Also, when one feels like in a desert, it is necessary to say to him humbly: “Do not withdraw your consolation from me, lest, deprived of you, my soul will remain like a barren land without water. »
November 1, 1933.
"I know..." I address these two little words to Jesus to express my confidence in him. It does me good to say to him: "I know"... I want him to understand by this that I know that he has reserved me for my poor little present trial, a happiness that I cannot understand. I know... Do not explain your designs to me, my Jesus: I know... I have full confidence in your love for me. Surely you are happy when I tell you: I know!
These different extracts, my Reverend Mother, have not been without making known to you a fairly strong moral portrait of our venerable dean. We have said that in Carmel she had not lost the originality of her character, an originality always in good standing, embellished with sallies which not only could not hurt anyone, but added a real charm to her virtue.
Canon Dubosq, of unforgettable memory, Superior of the Major Seminary of Bayeux who had known her, and very much noticed her, in the sessions of the Trial, as Promoter of the Faith, wrote to us on August 14, 1922:
“It's tomorrow, I imagine, that you wish a happy birthday to our dear Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart. Tell him that I unite myself with all my heart to your prayers and to all the testimonies of sympathy with which you will surround him that day. Each one must try to please the good God in his own way, faithfully exercising for this purpose the kind of gifts and good dispositions he has received; so not all the same. There is indeed a common background, which is constituted by obedience to the Rules and to the spirit of the Religious and Carmelite vocation, but, on this background, which each one embroiders and draws, according to his aptitudes and according to his grace, the good God delights in these various trials. All this to tell you that I ask the Blessed Virgin to encourage and support our dear Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, in the fervor of the virtues of generous devotion, joyful forgetfulness of oneself, frank, simple and decided service to one's neighbor and to the good God who are indeed, I believe, his form of grace. Without forgetting its sudden projections of good originality, which pleasantly season all that it does well. »
The portrait could not be more faithful and, however, we prefer this more suave one, drawn by his holy little Sister and Goddaughter, 28 years earlier:
THE PORTRAIT OF A SOUL I LOVE
M Me, I know “Marie”, she is my loving sister,
A Having received sublime faith from on high.
R Nothing in this poor exile, no, nothing satisfies her,
I It needs the good God, its only Master and its King.
E And He made her ardent and generous queen,
D Sweet and lively at the same time, always humble of heart.
U A distant horizon, the luminous star,
S Are often enough to unite him to the Lord.
A Formerly, I live it in its independence,
C To seek true happiness in full freedom;
R Spreading blessings was his enjoyment
E And forgetting himself for all, his only voluptuousness.
C It was the divine Spouse who captivated this soul,
OE Work of his love, worthy of the Creator;
U One day I will see her, like a pure flame,
R Radiate in Heaven near the Sacred Heart.
A grateful child's heart.
Feast of the Sacred Heart, June 1, 1894.
And it was Thérèse again, who, according to the desire expressed by Marie, and according to her own thoughts, made her a second portrait in her Canticle: Au Sacré Coeur Formerly, our good father called his dear eldest her diamond, another very similar portrait too. How many different facets to this beautiful diamond of such pure water! We have seen many, except "that which was hid within" and shone for Jesus alone...
We must speak to you now, my Reverend Mother, of the last illness and death of our virtuous Sister. And first of all, of the great sacrifice of detachment which was asked of her, on November 27, 1939, six weeks before this precious death, by the departure to the clinic, for an urgent and unforeseen operation, of one of these angels who cared for her. and whom she loved dearly; the one who was even totally in charge of it, day and night, for 8 years in a row, but whom we had had to have helped, for three years, by a companion, another angel, no less devoted.
We could not render the expression on the face of our venerated Sister, at the moment of separation, an expression of restrained pain and silent resignation; she thought she would never see her dear little nurse again, who was returned to her, however, 15 days before her death, and she united her suffering to that of Our Lord in the Garden of Agony, offering it to him for the salvation of souls. However, she was not abandoned, the angel who was left to her cared for her with an increased devotion of a double and entirely filial tenderness.
Our deserving cripple had been coughing often for several months, having caught cold, we believe, while taking a walk in the garden. This disposition, which worried us a little, degenerated into pulmonary congestion, at first benign, then very serious. On Monday January 16, however, we still had some hope, but on Tuesday morning, no illusions were possible and, in the afternoon, installed in her armchair, she received the sacrament of Extreme Unction and the Indulgence in articulo mortis. Then, Mr. Chaplain, at our invitation, approached her, said a word of encouragement, and received a look, a smile, a word, which will never be erased from his memory. He had heard her for the last time in the confessional on Wednesday of the previous week, and we knew from her how much, dissatisfied with herself, she had humiliated herself, calling herself the most imperfect of creatures. When we spoke about it to this good Father, he answered us: “Ah! The dear Godmother! It's always like that... and after that, without suspecting it, it's her who directs me! This worthy priest had said to him recently, these words which had been of great comfort to him: "Do not be afraid, your lamp is so brightly lit!" »
On Wednesdays and Thursdays he brought her Holy Communion. On this last day, January 18, in the afternoon, they got up for a few more hours; but she was as if absorbed and spoke no more. At one point, however, she looked at us for a long time and tenderly said to us these simple words: “My dear Mother! »
And a moment later: "I don't have a shadow of courage!" We answered him: "You are however very close to Heaven, and I believe that you will enter it without any detour". She sighed, “Oh! How I desire it! - Are you afraid of death? - Not at all! »
On this last afternoon, a supreme joy was given to him by the reading of an autograph letter from SS. Pius XII, who deigned to bless the Community and entrusted us with transmitting a paternal message to particularly dear souls, precisely those for whom our venerable patient had prayed and suffered so much.
Coming out of a semi-sleep, she murmured with emotion. " Oh ! How good the Holy Father is! How he cares for souls! »
While we were putting her back to bed with incredible difficulty, we spoke to her of the merits which, by her sufferings, she could still acquire for the conversion of sinners, in these last hours of her ordeal: “Oh! Yes, she answered in a dying voice, souls! Souls... There are so many who don't love the good God! Oh how sad! »
This exclamation reminds us of another cry that once escaped his heart: “Ah! How not to love a God so powerful, so great, so good, who does everything for our good. If I went to hell, I would tell him all Eternity: My God, I love you! »
In the evening, we assured him of the presence at his side of our Blessed Little Sister, who would help him until the end. She could only answer us with a sign, which meant: Yes, I'm sure of it.
After Matins, we called the Community; she smiled at him with such a good and sweet smile! She didn't seem downcast, on the contrary. Rather, his firm demeanor revealed the feelings of a warrior who valiantly engages in a decisive battle. As we were saying that she no longer had the strength to hold her Crucifix, placed in front of her on the blanket, she immediately put out her hand, seized it and kissed it, saying with fervor: “I love you! »
It was his last intelligible word. Then most of the Sisters withdrew with the promise of being called at the last moment, which came much earlier than we expected, at 2 o'clock in the morning.
Shortly before, our so good Sister gave a small wave of farewell to a White Veil Sister, deprived of the use of hearing, and who was standing on the side of the bed where her head was bent.
[This Sister had been very devoted to her, she was strong and had helped her to bed every night for a long time. Now, she never left her patient without having made this sign with her hand, which resembled the beating of wings, then she pointed to Heaven with her finger, saying: "You are not going there alone!" These words always encouraged Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, so desirous of saving souls. One day she even said to herself: “Oh! How I would love to hear it again! » Immediately, the little Sister resumed: « You are not going to Heaven alone. »]
A few moments later, she closed her eyes and began a rather long prayer, which she articulated clearly, but without any sound, which prevented us from understanding the words. However, the nurse, having approached very close, thought she could distinguish these words from the Pater "May your kingdom come!..." And her prayer still prolonged, we thought that she was also reciting the Ave Maria, followed even by the Act of Offering to Merciful Love, which suited this last hour so well... “And may my soul soar without delay into the eternal embrace of your merciful Love. »
When she was silent, suddenly raising her head, she opened her big eyes full of light and assurance, stared at them up, then directed them and stopped them for a long time on the statue of the Virgin of the Smile. Then she bowed her head and exhaled, with a face so peaceful and happy, that we were much consoled, and under this impression we recited the Subvenite.
But the Community was going to have a real disappointment, when they woke up, not to have been there, as we had promised them. And we had her called all the same, not by the usual means, but by that of the great days of the Beatification, of the Canonization and of other celebrations which are the consequence: small bells suspended from an iron circle, surmounted by a handful.
“We will always remember this celestial awakening,” said our Sisters. They all ran up, their hearts moved, knelt down and contemplated with delight the rejuvenated face, so soft and so abandoned, of her who had just left the earth.
After the ringing of the Angelus and the death knell, in the morning, at 6 o'clock, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face looked sadly at the statue of our little Saint placed not far from the front choir where the bell had just rung when she was favored by a sweet and strong smell of incense, very penetrating, which consoled her.
Later, two Sisters also smelled mysterious perfumes; one Mother Sub-Prioress praying on the slab of the tomb; the other the Sister of the White Veil of whom we have just spoken while washing, in the laundry, the laundry of the one who built it up for so long by her patience and her desire not to go to Heaven alone.
And we think that our Saint, as a gift of joyful advent, has undoubtedly obtained from the good God that, for a time, "the roses belong to Mary!" »
It only remains for us to confide to you, my Reverend Mother, that during the agony of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, we asked her in a whisper: "Did you write me, as every year, the traditional little letter for my Feast of Saint Agnes? She let us know it was done.
A few hours later, alone with our happy Sister sleeping her last sleep, we opened the little envelope, easily found after her death, and we read, not without shedding sweet tears, this last letter, dated in advance, January 21, 1940 .
My darling little mother,
“You asked me to write to you, for your birthday, a passage of the Gospel which was for me a light, because I often asked myself: “But what will we do in Heaven, all eternity? » These words of Our Lord suddenly came to my mind: « Eternal life consists in knowing You, You and the One You have sent. It is not too much eternity to know the infinite goodness of the good God, his infinite power, his infinite mercy, his infinite love for us. Here are our eternal delights which will know no satiety, our heart is made to understand them and feed on them.
“Often, before taking communion, I like to say the act of contrition: “My God, I am very sorry to have offended you, because you are infinitely good, infinitely lovable and sin displeases you. It is not because I fear a reproach or your punishments, but because you are infinitely good, infinitely perfect and, out of love, I must always seek to please you; it must be my only goal, my only happiness. “Down here I understand a little of what you are, but in eternal life, when I see you face to face, I will have a clearer knowledge of you, my God, who are my Creator and my Father and who have given me such great proofs of your love. In the past, my little Mother, I liked to think that in Heaven I would know all the marvels of nature, all the beauty of the stars and their immensity. Now, all this only interests me a little, and I only want one thing, and that is to lose myself in the One who has done so many wonders...
“Happy birthday to my darling Mother, whose happy sister and child I am forever. »
Sr Marie of the Sacred Heart cdi
When the mortal remains of our dear Sister were exposed to the Choir in front of the gate, one cannot say with what eagerness she was visited there during the three days which preceded her burial, fixed for Tuesday, January 23. Our good Bishop made a point of presiding over the funeral himself, and he spoke there of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart and of her relations with her holy little Sister and Goddaughter, in terms that moved the whole audience.
Our Holy Order was worthily represented by R. Father Elisha of the Nativity, Vicar Provincial of Paris, who celebrated the Requiem Mass, in the much regretted absence of Our Very Reverend Father Provincial, Louis of the Trinity, mobilized in Cherbourg. Many priests had come and entered for the absolves, preceded by the white procession of the “Little Clerics of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. All then could see the courtyard covered with snow, as on January 10, 1888.
The first absolution was given by Bishop Germain, Director of the Pilgrimage, from whom our beloved Sister had obtained a special blessing, the very day before her death, wanting moreover, she told us, to leave her a word of confidence and also of gratitude for his dedication.
Mgr Adam, Vicar General, sang the second absolution and the third went to HE Monseigneur Picaud, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux.
Today, the one that the. Community likes to call "the incomparable Sister and Godmother of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus" rests under the Shrine of her glorious Goddaughter, in a vault whose opening is inside the Monastery, very close to the Choir, where we sing each day the praises of Him whom this blessed soul loved, unceasingly, with the most generous love. She now sees, for herself and for souls, the price of her confidence in the ordeal. SHE KNOWS ! ...
At the end of these pages, for which we beg you, my Reverend Mother, to excuse the length, allow us to express to you our very deep gratitude for the spontaneous testimonies of fraternal sympathy, which you kindly gave us, as soon as the News of the death of our very dear Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart has reached you. Her so good heart will be pleased to thank you for us, and she will also be very grateful to you for adding to the votes already requested, the indulgence of the Way of the Cross, and an invocation to the Virgin of the Smile and to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
Please accept, MY REVEREND AND VERY HONORED MOTHER, the expression of our religious and fraternal respect.
From Your Reverence,
The humble Sister and Servant in N.‑S.
Sr 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,
The February 22 1940
PS - We allow ourselves, my Reverend Mother, to transcribe here with the authorization of our Bishop, the letter that His Excellency deigned to write to us after the first reading of this circular, submitted for his approval:
My Reverend Mother and dear Daughter in N.‑S.,
I read with the greatest interest the pages that you dedicated to the memory of our very good Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart. Undoubtedly, your fraternal affection shines through in this evocation of such a loving and beloved sister. But it does not harm the truth and accuracy of the story. Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart was an upright, springing soul, opposed to any complication. His quips and outbursts were not simply a character trait, they often tended to mislead the spiritual riches of his soul. From Heaven, close to her holy Goddaughter, how she must watch over “her” Carmel!... Pray to her also sometimes for her Bishop, who had for her a very sincere attachment and the highest esteem. I bless you most fatherly.
FRANÇOIS-MARIE,
Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux.
