Desiree Florence Cauvin (1865-1916)
Peace and very humble greetings in Our Lord who has just recalled to Him, in the most holy dispositions, our dear sister DÉSIRÉE‑FLORENCE MARTHE DE JESUS, professed member of our Community and dean of our sisters of the white veil. She was 51 years, 1 month, 19 days old, and had spent 28 years, 9 months and 12 days in Carmel.
Our very dear sister was born in Giverville, a village in the department of Eure, on July 16, 1865, the feast of Our Lady of Mont-Carmel. At four years old, she lost her mother. It was then that her only sister, 9 years older than her, remained close to her father, while the young Florence was admitted to the Orphanage of the Sisters of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, in Paris, by the through a cousin, a nun of this holy house. The child remained there for five years, and was then sent to the Bernay Orphanage, to be closer to her father, who died three years later.
Her dear and devoted convent mothers were henceforth her only family, they formed her in piety as well as in work, and our dear sister always kept the most grateful memory of them. She herself became, as she grew up, the mother and mistress of little orphans, several of whom still gave her signs of affectionate gratitude, a few days before her death.
Florence entered our Carmel at the age of 22 and a half on December 23, 1887. She was given the name of Sister Martha of Jesus.
As a result of a regrettable influence, which Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus tried to combat without succeeding completely, the religious life of Sister Marthe experienced many hours of weakness and hard struggles.... In these circumstances at least , she showed a rare discretion, speaking to no one of the secret warnings of her holy companion in the novitiate. It is true to say that the poor child, of mediocre intelligence, suffered and caused others to suffer unwittingly, through a spirit of contradiction which, despite real efforts, she never succeeded in entirely correcting. But, on the other hand, his frankness, his good heart and his devotion, which never reckoned with fatigue, finally his great piety, very often edified us.
The grace of God particularly worked his soul during these last months. Allow us, my Reverend Mother, to give you an example:
Having to make an observation to her on the office of the alpargates which she directed, we addressed ourselves in general to our sisters of the white veil, without even looking at her, so as not to humiliate her personally. A few moments later, she knocked on our door: "My Mother," she said to us, throwing herself on her knees, "have pity on me, I beg you!" It is to me that your reproach should have been addressed just now; but, I see it well, you always spare my ugly temper. Oh! don't do it anymore, I'm at the end of my life and I want to deserve, like my companions, the graces of humiliation”. The next day, we had the opportunity to talk to her again about the incident of the previous day, and, from the expression on her face, we divined the peace of her heart, "so deep," she confessed to us, "that it t is like one of the greatest graces of my life to have understood what I understood yesterday. »
Two years ago, Sister Marthe of Jesus was stricken with infectious flu, followed by laryngitis. Since then, she lost weight and sometimes gave us serious concerns. Finally, despite her energy, she had to agree to go down to the infirmary in February of this year. She continued to work on the alpargates there until July 3, when she took to her bed and never got up again.
In this last period of her illness, my Reverend Mother, our dear daughter always showed herself forgetful of herself, gentle, patient, and exclusively occupied in preparing for death. To encourage her, one day when certain memories of the past were distressing her very painfully, we reminded her that other memories were to console her, especially that of having had the honor of being one of the witnesses at the Beatification Process of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
And again, what the Servant of God wrote on this page of her Life where she says that “her companion in the novitiate had an upright heart”. Sister Marthe resumed naively, shaking her head: "Yes, my Mother, but since she is no longer here, I am afraid of having her. twisted. However, she added, it is wrong to say that she is no longer there because, despite all that I must have made her suffer during her life, she has never abandoned me. Oh how many times have I felt her tenderly reproaching me for my conduct. And she related to us, with touching simplicity, this fact, which we wrote at her request and which she wished to sign with her own hand:
“One day, in the first months following the death of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, I was at the stove cooking and very annoyed by the sisters who asked me for favors. Being in too much of a hurry, I received them badly. ! “A few moments later, as I was alone, I felt someone behind me gently pulling our veil, bringing it to my cheek and kissing me on it; I turn around quickly and I see Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus exactly as when she was alive, so much so that I no longer thought she was dead. She said kindly to me: "Sister Marthe, be kinder to the sisters, if you want to be happy. After that, she suddenly disappeared and I found myself in quite different feelings. »
Written under my dictation, SISTER MARTHE OF JESUS on August 18, 1916.
Our very dear daughter very piously received Extreme Unction on August 28th. She then told us with joy: “Until then, my Mother, I had had a terrible fear of death, but how great is the mercy of the good God! Now everything is changed in me; and since my soul is completely purified, I want to go to Heaven very quickly, to see the good God, and to love him without ever offending him again. I don't want anything from the earth anymore, I want to pray all the time. » And, drawing us close to her « During the ceremony, I felt the presence of our little saint. It was like a heavenly voice whispering in my ear: " You also, if you wanted to, despite your poor life, you could go straight to Heaven. And I understood that the greatest sinners could obtain this grace through trust and through humility. Our edifying patient no longer departed from these feelings and said to us again on Sunday evening, the day before her death: “It's incredible the peace I feel. I can not believe it ! The good God is nothing but sweetness, I would never have expected to find him so sweet; my trust in him is unlimited. And as we reminded her of these words of Holy Scripture: "It is easy for the Lord to suddenly enrich the poor," she looked at us with a smile of happiness and said to us: not me, my mother! But the more miserable one is, the more merciful he is. »
During the night, she never stopped speaking of God, of her gratitude for dying in Carmel. and repeated several times: in this Carmel of the way of love »
His last word, when we invited him to say again with us: "My Jesus, I love you", was to respond with enthusiasm: " with all my heart! »
Around 4 a.m., without giving any more sign of consciousness, our dear dying woman entered into agony and, after having received a final absolution, she expired gently, at 6 a.m. and a few minutes, at the very moment of the Consecration of the Host, during a mass, celebrated for her, in our Chapel.
We beg you, my Reverend Mother, to return as soon as possible to our dear Sister Marthe de Jeon the suffrages of our Holy Order, by grace a communion of your fervent Community, the indulgence of the Way of the Cross and that of the six Pater. She will be very grateful to you, as well as to us, who have the grace to tell us, my Reverend and Most Honored Mother,
Your humble sister and servant in NS,
Sister Agnes of Jesus,
thank you
From our Monastery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception of the Carmelites of Lisieux, September 8, 1916.
