Louise-Adelaide Lejemble 1830-1895
tireless dedication
The beginnings
Adélaïde Lejemble was born on January 20, 1830 in the village of La Bruyère in Saint-Laurent-de-Cuves in the department of Manche. Her parents were modest farmers who, very early on, had to place her as a servant. She practiced this condition until the age of 36. It was only in 1866 that she knocked on the door of the cloister.
The book of the Foundation of the Carmel of Lisieux reveals to us that the foundations of Saigon, of Coutances and the death of Sister Marie-de-Jésus had greatly weakened the community; moreover, there were two invalids, Sister Marie-de-la-Croix who needed a nurse and Sister Louise who required day and night care. The community was obliged to work, and the breads of the altar gave it a rather considerable gain, but as we have said, its forces being diminished by the departure of the strongest nuns, the Mother Prioress accepted the proposal made to her by her Superior by receiving a fifth of the White Veil of Saint-Laurent-de-Cuves which he had under his control. He therefore gave her Miss Adélaïde Lejemble who entered on October 22, 1866, at the age of 36 and took the name of Sister Saint-Pierre-de-Sainte-Thérèse.
On the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, 1867, at the end of the retreat preached that year by Father Lelasseur, Sister Saint-Pierre took the habit, it was the Superior of the community, Father Cagniard, who gave it to him. The fact that he was her adviser suggests that she was a servant in Calvados before her entry into religion, but we know nothing of her childhood or her youth.
Sister Saint-Pierre was assigned to the service of the altar breads and her strong constitution as well as her habituation to heavy work enabled her to work there, so to speak, with tireless devotion. Having just passed fifty, after fifteen years of this office, she suffered from violent gout pains and rheumatism which quickly prevented her from doing any tiring work.
She joins the office of lingerie and hose, that is to say stockings which were then made of coarse linen. She accomplished this work "with a promptness and an address all the more remarkable that her poor deformed hands seemed to refuse her any service".
Being converse she was not compelled to the canonical office which she replaced by the recitation of a certain number of Pater. But she only left shortly before her death the obligation she had imposed on herself to recite every day, in addition to her office, the seven psalms of Penance, the prayers of Reparation proper to all the days of the week, an office of the dead, a Stations of the Cross, its rosary, the litanies of the Holy Face, of the Blessed Sacrament, etc. It is therefore not surprising that during her work, she constantly prays to overcome the obligations she has imposed on herself.
But gradually his condition worsened. Sister Marie-des-Anges describes her as follows: “64 years old. Crippled with all her limbs swollen and contorted by gout which makes her a real martyr and the victim of the Good Lord whom she prays by the meter, muttering her prayers day and night! A fervent preacher always having a sermon made for the occasion, a speaking organ with a dignity which her glasses set off even better, and which never shines better than when she is on her inexhaustible subject of the Apocalypse. »
With Therese
In Manuscript C (28 v° and sq.), Thérèse explains that "imperfect souls", that is to say sisters with a rougher character, a less refined education, and uncertain judgment are often left for account. And yet, she writes, "a word, a friendly smile are often enough to bring a sad soul to life". No doubt she had discovered under the leather of the rough remarks and complaints of Sister Saint-Pierre a sensitive and suffering heart, since "being still a novice", she decided to take charge of her eldest. “It was when my Sister Saint-Pierre still went to the choir and the refectory.”
We know that from 1892, the poor cripple could hardly leave her cell. It was a question of leading Sister Saint-Pierre from the chapel to the refectory. “It cost me a lot to offer to do this little service, because I knew that it was not easy to please this poor sister who suffered so much that she did not like to change drivers (...). It was not without difficulty that I managed to have my services accepted! (...). It was necessary to move and carry the bench in a certain way, above all not to hurry, then the walk took place. It was a matter of following the poor cripple, supporting her by the belt, I did it as gently as possible; but if, by some misfortune, she took a wrong step, it immediately seemed to her that I was holding her badly and that she was going to fall. “Oh! my God ! you're going too fast, I'm going to break. If I tried to go even more gently — "But follow me!" I can't feel your hand, you let go of me, I'm going to fall; ha! I did say you were too young to drive me. At last we arrived without accident at the refectory; there were other difficulties, it was a question of making Sister Saint-Pierre sit down and of acting skillfully so as not to hurt her, then you had to roll up your sleeves (again in a certain way), then I was free to go away. With her poor crippled hands, she was arranging her bread in her bucket as best she could. I soon realized this and, each evening, I left her only after having done her this little service. As she had not asked me, she was very touched by my attention and it was by this means that I had not sought it on purpose, that I completely won her good graces and above all (I learned late) because, after I cut his bread, I gave him my best smile before leaving.
Sister Saint-Pierre was not insensitive to so much charity since Sister Geneviève recounts: "From the first days of my entry, Sister Saint-Pierre asked me to go to her infirmary, saying that she had something very important to entrust to me. . She made me sit down on a little bench opposite her, and told me in detail about all the charity that Sister Thérèse had shown her. Then, in a solemn tone, she said to me mysteriously: "I keep everything I think about it... But this child will go far... If I told you all that, it's because you are young and that you will be able to tell others in the sequel, because such acts of virtue must not remain under the bushel. Thérèse, she had known how to find and touch the deep sensitivity of this generous heart that so many labors and evils had apparently hardened.
In 1893, so that the poor patient could take communion, the Mother Prioress had the oratory placed on one level, which gave the sisters "the advantage of being able to wheel the sick to the communion rail without any inconvenience". Moreover, adds the book of Foundations, one of our young sisters, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, painted around the tabernacle charming little angels, which increased and revived the piety of our sisters.
From this time, however, the life of Sister Saint-Pierre "became a constant martyrdom and it was then that little by little all consolation was taken away from her, even the possibility of being transported to the sick gate to hear Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion".
In April 1895, Sister Saint-Pierre's condition worsened still further. He was "administered the last rites" as they said then. However "long months of suffering were still reserved for him, like a veritable purgatory no doubt, during which the pains of the mind, which had already afflicted him for a long time, increased to the point of significantly weakening his faculties".
Shortly before her death, she said to her nurse, Sister Aimée-de-Jésus: “O my good sister! Don't leave me now, please... don't abandon me! given. She also showed the same gratitude towards the Prioress to whom she said: “My good Mother, I thank you for your immense charity.”
These were his last intelligible words. She spent a last night in great calm after having received Extreme Unction and a last absolution and on Sunday morning she expired gently, it was November 10, 1895.
It is reported that looking at the pacified face of her deceased Sister, Thérèse said: "You see, it is in conformity with what Sister Marie-de-Saint-Pierre said about it: those who have had a tender devotion to the Holy Face during their life will reflect after their death something of the divine Beauty. »
P. Gires
Poems composed on Sr St-Pierre by Mother Agnès-de-Jésus on January 6, 1884
“Kneeling on the dry straw
At the foot of the Wonderful Child
One of us cut off from the manger
A precious little piece
Contemplating this relic
My sister unite at once
Today in your hymn
Glory to that of the cross!
For the Feast of Saint Martha 1892:
(...) Let's sing "Saint-Pierre" from afar
Who meditates in his corner
Without worrying
Forward Forward
The Good Sisters of White Veil
Their talent and dedication
*
If you want a sermon
Contact Saint-Pierre
She preaches without ceremony
On the last four endings.
