Zoe-Adele Alaterre 1841-1905
Peace and most humble greetings to Our Lord who, during the week of the Passion, came to deliver our beloved Sister ZOE-ADÈLE-ROSALIE, SAINT-VINCENT DE from her long sufferings. PAUL, professes of the White Veil. She was 64 years, 8 months old, of which she had spent 42 years, 2 months in religious life.
Our dear Sister was born in Cherbourg, from a humble and Christian family. She was baptized on the feast of the Assumption, in the Church of the Trinity, which made her say later that she had very particular reasons for loving the Blessed Virgin and for honoring especially the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.
As a child, however, Zoe showed no disposition to piety. She was, on the contrary, mischievous, angry and insubordinate. In the evening, at prayer time, her good father was obliged to seize her unexpectedly in the midst of her games, and to make her pronounce, under the influence of fright, what she did not consent to. to say freely
Soon, alas! a cruel ordeal was going to seize in its turn this child's heart and force it to have recourse forever to its Heavenly Father.
It was in 1848: cholera claimed countless victims in Cherbourg. Zoé, barely seven years old, had just been the only witness to the sudden death of one of her aunts, struck down in a few minutes by the terrible scourge. The following night, she heard herself called by her mother: "O my little girl, she said to her with anguish, pray to the good God and the Blessed Virgin for me, because at this moment, you know, all parents are dying. . If I were to die too, what would become of you? The child was falling asleep sobbing when, again, his mother called him: “Quick, Zoe, go get your father; he's there nearby, watching your aunt; don't waste time, because I am very ill...‑ Oh! no, mum: I want to stay with you; I'm too sad and I'm too scared. »
"Then," our beloved Sister told us, still moved by the memory of this scene, "my poor mother got up and called my father, who ran immediately, gave him first aid and sat down at his bedside, mute with pain and as struck himself. I remember seeing a priest. As for me, I clung weeping to my mother's neck, and they were obliged to tear me from her arms. This is how I left, forever here below, and my father and my mother, because, the following evening, both were lying in the tomb. »
Zoe therefore remained alone in life with a brother, a little older than her, and two little sisters, one of whom was two and a half years old and the other barely six months old.
But divine Providence watched over the little orphans and everyone could say with truth: Mon father and mother abandoned me, but the Lord took care of me. »
Abused at first by an unworthy woman to whom they had been entrusted, Zoé and Thérèse (the two-year-old little sister) were sent to Caen, to the Sisters of Saint-Vincent de Paul, through the intermediary of the nuns of the Charity of Jesus and Mary, established in Cherbourg. It was, for the poor children, the prelude to numberless graces.
The ordeal had completely changed the exuberant character of our little Zoe. She had become shy and quiet. In the chapel, she could be seen contemplating with delight the statue of the Immaculate Virgin. "I remembered, she said, my mother's recommendation: 'Pray to the Blessed Virgin for me!' » and I repeated, without getting tired of the hundreds of Hail Mary, figuring to myself that at every Ave, I put a ring on the fingers of the Madonna in memory of my mother. »
After her First Communion, the pious child gradually resumed her appearance as a little girl; she laughed and sang incessantly; often she even danced. She was asked why: “Have we not been taught,” she answered, “that we live in God, since he is everywhere? so let me dance in the good Lord!"
These joyful manifestations, my Reverend Mother did not prevent her from dreaming of solitude, of penance. After reading the writings of our Mother Saint Thérèse, she decided to be a Carmelite.
One of her Mistresses, seeing her one day with her arms crossed, without wanting to do anything, or learn anything, said to her in front of all her companions: “With this rare laziness, my poor child, I wonder what you will be like later. »
- “I will be a Carmelite! replied proudly Zoe. A general laugh followed this statement.
However, over the years, our young daughter understood her duties better; and, seconded by the natural gifts she had received from God, she rendered real services to her devoted Mistresses in the jobs of sacristan and nurse which were successively entrusted to her.
What nourishment for his tender piety in the first office! and how many edifying memories she kept of the second! Later, she communicated this profound edification to us through the story of the so holy deaths she had witnessed. It was thus that Thérèse, her little companion in misfortune, left the earth predestined, at the age of seventeen, holding the hand of her dear sister, smiling at her and giving her these consoling words as farewell: Don't cry... When I am going to be in Heaven, you will enter Carmel; I promise you. »
This blessed child kept her word. All sorts of difficulties, raised at first, were ironed out and the dear suitor, proposed to our Carmel, was admitted there on February 2, 1863. She was twenty-two years old.
His beginnings in religious life were rather painful. She regretted her daily Communion; she wept before the great curtain of the choir which veiled the Tabernacle from her, the object of her love. However, Our Lord lavished his consolations on her, and her companions in the kitchen showered her with delicacies. The good dean of the time, Sister Madeleine du Saint-Sacrement, of such sweet memory, even spoiled her a little, it must be admitted. Did she see her carrying a heavy burden: “Give me that, little one, she would say to her, and sit there to peel those vegetables for me. Did the fire color his face a little too much: “Ah! my God ! we are going to kill you; you were not accustomed to these fatigues. Our Mother needs you: go and finish this embroidery that she entrusted to you and leave your place to me. »
It is true, my Reverend Mother, that the dear postulant, a stranger to household work, excelled in all kinds of manual work. Also our old Mothers, so poor then, took advantage of the devotion of the venerated dean to put to use the talent of embroiderer of her little companion.
At the ordinary time, which was for her on December 8, our good sister Saint-Vincent de Paul had the happiness of putting on the holy Habit of Carmel. The community loved this pious child, whose health and dispositions were satisfactory. However, a few months later, she was caught in the garden by a most violent haemorrhage. Faced with such an accident, what should be done for the profession? The doctor was called, who declared the case not serious. "This vomiting," he said, "was due simply to the rupture of a vessel, and the exceptional temperament of the novice gave enough guarantee for the future."
Our dear daughter therefore pronounced her vows in the joy of her heart, one of the days of the octave of the Immaculate Conception, December 14, 1864, the anniversary of the death of our Father Saint John of the Cross. The cross was also to cling to his steps. Almost every year, despite the doctor's reassuring predictions, she vomited blood profusely, between the months of April and September, but, remarkably enough, she recovered enough afterwards to resume fasting and abstinence all the time. the Holy Cross and Lent.
It is impossible for us, my Reverend Mother, to tell you all the energy, all the courage deployed by our dear daughter during her long years of suffering. Unable to lie down, she spent most of her nights sitting on the ground, and the next day she was found valiant at work, doing all the same, in her turn, the cooking, the laundry, and spending herself for her Sisters in any occasion. At that time, she no longer crossed her arms to say nonchalantly: I am Carmelite!... Experience had taught her that the ideal of the Carmelite is to combine prayer with charitable actions, and it was with good grace, with all her heart, that she fulfilled at the same time the office of Martha and that of Married.
The part of Mary, at the feet of the Lord, had, it is true, her preferences. Which of us does not remember our good Sister Saint-Vincent de Paul prostrating all the hour of evening silence at the door of Communion?
She still revealed her charms by singing pious hymns, but the refrain she never tired of was the Gloria Patri. How many times in the laundry room have we heard her suddenly break the deepest silence to sing, in her remarkably false voice, that Gloria Patri, whom she preferred to everything! There followed, one understands, a general hilarity; but the singer cared little about it, and without even wanting to spare a sicut erat magnificent, continued to the end his song of praise to the Holy Trinity.
Of a very communicative nature, it must be admitted, my Reverend Mother, that our dear daughter, between her hymns, did not always keep a scrupulous silence. She had read a lot, heard a lot, it seemed to her necessary to use her knowledge for the benefit of others. It was a weakness of her to give her opinion too easily. But we hasten to add that she humbly took the observations of her Mother Prioresses on this subject, and even the innocent mischievousness of her companions and novices who laughingly called her a living encyclopedia. AT On the feast of Saint Martha, July 29, she listened, without ever offending, to a couplet like this:
Speak Latin, Greek or Chinese,
Theology or grammar,
Vincent is never back
And said: My children, it's up to you!
Our Lord, who loved this soul, moreover so generous, took pleasure in moderating, by the ordeal of a long impotence, his too great natural ardor. She had wanted to do her purgatory on earth, it really seems to us that the good Lord granted her.
Five years ago, my Reverend Mother, new hemorrhages, of a more serious nature than the preceding ones, reduced our poor Sister to the extremity. There could no longer be any doubt of the existence of a tumor which was soon to lead her to the grave. She received the last Sacraments, then the danger passed away, but our dear daughter was only a shadow of herself. His thinness lately became truly frightening. However, until February of this year, sustained by her courage and her desire for Holy Communion, she still managed to drag herself to the choir to hear Mass. But soon his strength completely abandoned him, and it became impossible for him to make the slightest movement without the help of his charitable nurses. His condition inspired us with a compassion that was all the more vivid because his very soul seemed to be in anguish. No one could ever catch the slightest smile on his lips. Day and night, she made, so to speak, only one moan: Je can't take it anymore, she exclaimed. My God, my Everything! My God, my Everything! She repeated these same words for hours on end.
" Oh ! may he change all my complaints into acts of love", she said to one of her companions. And to us: "My MFather, the good Lord alone can know what I am enduring and what my distress and my helplessness are. I no longer know how to pray; offer him my sufferings yourself. Ah! I have well deserved them: I have so much to expiate! »
On the afternoon of April 12, which was the last day of her life, our beloved daughter, coming out of a deep slumber, said to us in a broken voice: “I dreamed... that the good Lord took me away into his beautiful sky... I also saw the Blessed Virgin... Oh! how beautiful she was! »
At 7 o'clock, finding her very oppressed, we brought in our devoted Father Chaplain, who was able to confess her again and give her a final absolution. Already a few days before, she had received Extreme Unction for the third time during this long illness, and the visits of Our Lord, as frequent as possible, had come in these last weeks to strengthen and console her soul.
During Matins, she tells us: Je can no longer suffer! We then presented her with her crucifix, which she kissed, while we exhorted her to trust. “You like him, this good Jesus, don't you? You want whatever he wants! And, to our consolation, we were still able to catch on her lips these two words, which she uttered in a faint voice: 'Oh! Yes ! »
From that moment, our dear dying girl no longer gave any sign of consciousness, until 2:XNUMX in the morning, when, with a smile, she gently exhaled her soul. It was as if at that supreme moment a vision from on high had come to rejoice and console her. Thus the one who, for long months, could no longer smile at the earth, began to smile eternally at Heaven.
However, my Reverend Mother, as it is necessary to be so pure not to cross somewhat the expiatory flames of the other life, we humbly ask you to recommend to God the soul of our beloved Sister Saint-Vincent de Paul and to add to the votes already requested, a communion from your fervent community, a day of good works and the indulgence of the Way of the Cross.
She will be very grateful to you, as well as we, who have the grace to tell us, very respectfully and fraternally in Our Lord, My Reverend and Most Honored Mother,
Your humble sister and servant,
Sister AGNES OF JESUS,
ROI
From our Monastery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception
