Touriere Sister
Marie Hamard 1861-1935
The Tourières Sisters were in charge of the external service of the Monastery: reception, various commissions in town, which could not normally be assumed by the Religious held at the cloister. Persons free from any other commitment presented themselves with this intention of dedication, and after a period of probation, they were admitted to make profession under the Third Order of Carmel: they then renewed these vows each year.
Since 1889, there had been no more Tourières Sisters in Lisieux: this is perhaps one of the reasons why the house reserved for them was started and completely rebuilt between May 1889 and July 1890.
Beginnings in Carmel
It was therefore in a brand new home that Marie Hamard entered on July 8, 1890 (some documents say: the 7th) she was 30 years old and received the name of Sister Marie-Élisabeth.
She was born on October 13, 1860 in Couterne, in the Orne, but nothing is known of her childhood; at least we have not kept the elements allowing us to trace her existence before 1890. Her father was a weaver and we can note, using the terms of the obituary circular, that she was from a very Christian family whose several members were established in Lisieux and in the region; we will therefore quite naturally see more than one allusion to a little niece coming to see her “Aunt Babeth”, the occasion of a memory noted by Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus at the end of her life.
Sister Marie-Élisabeth got used to her new life very well, in perfect harmony with a young companion who had entered almost at the same time as her, and both put on the Habit on August 15 of that same year, 1890: they was then acting in a religious costume that the Carmel of Lisieux had just adopted following several Carmels of France for the Tourières Sisters: long black dress, short pelerine on the shoulders, black veil placed on an abundantly fluted white cap. On October 15, 1891, Sister Marie-Élisabeth pronounced for the first time the vows which consecrated her to the Lord, and received the crucifix which she then wore on her chest.
Sister Marie-Élisabeth and Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus
We note that Sister Marie-Élisabeth, who entered in 1890, knew Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus at Carmel: 1890-1897, most of her religious life. Admittedly, the Tourières in those days were not in frequent contact with the Fellowship, as they are now; but the offices of sacristan and portress fulfilled by Therese providentially brought her into more habitual relations with the one who thus had many opportunities to know and appreciate her better.
She liked to recall this memory of February 20, 1893, election of Mother Agnès of Jesus to the Priorat: receiving in the parlor the first blessing of the new Prioress, Sister Marie-Élisabeth noticed the emotion of Sister Thérèse who, her eyes full of tears, had accompanied his Pauline to the Tourières Sisters, in her capacity as porter.
Let us note this other very touching memory: that of little "Madeleine", niece of Sister Marie-Elisabeth, who, because of her young age, had been able to see the Community of Carmelite Sisters, and had to recite to them some little compliment of child. Thérèse alludes to this fact in these terms: "When I am in Heaven, I will advance towards the Good Lord, like Sister Elisabeth's little niece in front of the gate of the parlor — You know, when she recited her compliment and ended by a bow by raising his arms saying: "Happiness for all those I love". The good Lord will say to me: “What do you want my little girl? And I will answer: "Happiness for all those I love." I will do the same before all the saints (DE 6/7/1897).
When Thérèse was very ill, Sister Marie-Élisabeth had to look after her while the whole Community was at Mass; it was Sunday, September 26. With a devotion, certainly well intentioned, she approached the dear invalid and surrounded her with much assiduity, without suspecting that she was imposing extreme fatigue on her. The nurse of that day never knew that a painful crisis of suffocation had followed this long visit, but she kept on the contrary a memory of grace of this fortunate hour. She brought back in particular this trait which struck her: “When I think that this poor little sister didn't even want me to try to kill the flies that bothered her in this heat. She begged me not to hurt them, because they are her only enemies, and she is happy to have the opportunity to forgive: how nice. »
It was Sister Marie-Élisabeth who accompanied Sister Thérèse to the cemetery on October 4, 1897: it was a very modest procession for the burial of a very young nun who had "little lived" as she said herself (DE 11 /7/1897)... But a few more years, and we will have to exhume these mortal remains at the end of the Diocesan Process, on September 6, 1910; then again at the end of the Apostolic Process, on August 10, 1917: with the emotion that one can guess, Sister Marie-Élisabeth will attend and bear witness to it at the Process; likewise, questioned during the Trial of non-worship, she testified to the growing devotion of the faithful, but was able to prove by her assertions that no official and public worship was given to the Servant of God: she not charged, like her companions, to often go up to the cemetery and remove the ex-votos, supplications, candles and flowers that the pilgrims never ceased to deposit there? everything was handed over to the Carmel, in order to avoid any ostentatious manifestation of devotion, pending the judgment of the Church.
The Last Years and the Return to God
The great work and the great comfort of those years when pilgrims kept coming and asking for her welcome, did not spare Sister Marie-Élisabeth the tunnel of inner ordeal: from precisely this time — 1920 — and until his death, his soul knew torments and incessant worries, like a mysterious purification which remains the secret of God.
Already quite tired, she had to give up the joy of the Pilgrimage to Rome for the Beatification in 1923, and the sacrifice was very touching to her. This first stage of glorification placed, in her eyes, Thérèse in a very "high" domain, to such an extent that she one day made this astonishing reflection: "We will never make enough beautiful portraits of our holy Little Thérèse: but lying in the cloister, near the infirmary, a month before her death, she was too humiliated there. I don't like people in the world to see her like this: she is so great and so glorious now. »
Two years before her death, on December 7, 1933, Sister Marie-Élisabeth with her companions at the time, had the joy of donning the habit of Carmel according to the new Statutes of the Tourières Sisters, and the next day she renewed her vows. His pilgrimage was to end on February 13, 1935 after a short illness. In these last days, for her consolation and that of those around her, God established the dear Sister in peace: often looking at the image of Saint Thérèse placed in front of her bed, she smiled and murmured: “Oh! that I would very much like to have his perfect abandonment. And kissing her crucifix, she repeated: "My God, I love you." She very gently breathed her last, her face already clear of all sadness: she had received the grace to die in complete confidence, in the wake of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
Mary of Redemption, ocd
