God Calls “Laudem Gloriæ” to Himself

St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death — A helpful retreat — Lent and St. Paul — The Venerable Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament — Palm Sunday — Self-surrender — A sudden improvement in health — Letters to relatives.

When we drew our patron saint for the year at recreation on New Year's Day, 1906, St. Joseph fell to the lot of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity. She was very pleased. " St. Joseph is the patron of a good death," she said; "he is coming to take me to the Father." No one believed it — indeed, we smiled at the hope which so delighted her. One of the elder nuns playfully scolded her for expecting eternal rest so soon. Elizabeth made a little sign of conviction, or rather, of intuition.

During the same month she attended with the rest of the community a retreat given by a Jesuit Father which strengthened her resolution of uniting her will to that of God, so that she was quite ready to enter the via dolorosa, or rather, it was the viaticum in the strength of which she courageously walked forward in the path on which she had already started.

Sister Elizabeth owned, later on, that for some months she had felt an utter weariness beneath which she must have succumbed but for the help of God.

145 10 i46 THE -PRAISE OF GLORY"

Before leaving the office of portress, she had sometimes found it difficult to walk quickly when she heard herself summoned at some little distance. On one particular occasion, when the bell rang as she was at the foot of the stairs, it cost her a severe effort to mount the. first flight ; she simply could not get any farther, but, like our first Mothers, the generous young nun drew strength from her infirmities. " I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me !"# she exclaimed, and her body so responded to the fortitude of her soul that no one would have guessed the grave state of affairs. Even those who were most anxious, and with grave reason, about her health, were not yet aware how seriously it had broken down. Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity, fearing lest she might exaggerate her sufferings, minimized her symptoms when she was told to describe them. Everything possible was done to cure her, but, to our great grief, nothing succeeded.

"After saying the Hours in the morning," she owned when speaking of her condition, " 1 used to feel thoroughly exhausted, and wondered how I should get through the day. My cowardice reached its height after Compline, and I was sometimes tempted to envy a sister who was told to rest from Matins." " Did you not think it a want of simplicity to keep silent about your sufferings ?" interrupted the Prioress, overcome at what she heard. "The idea of telling you never entered my head, Mother, as your care for me, and the exceptions in the Observance you made for me, had no effect, I saw clearly that it was the will of God. Besides, I was always afraid of listening to nature, and what more * Phil. iv. 13.

could you have done for me ? When you made me rest, it did not refresh me ; I was thoroughly broken down, and could find no position that gave me any comfort, nor could I sleep soundly, so that it was a question whether the night or day was the more exhausting.

"Prayer was the best remedy for my ills. I passed the time of £ the great silence ' in real agony, which I united to that of my Divine Master, keeping close to Him, pressed against the grille of the choir. It was an hour of unmixed suffering, but it won me strength for Matins, when I had a certain facility for keeping my mind on God. After that, I was as powerless as before, and unseen, thanks to the darkness, crept back to our cell as best I could, often leaning against the wall."

The Mother Prioress adds: " Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity was moved to tell me some touching details of her life, to which I listened, deeply moved, recalling the words of the Apostle : ' Oh, the depths of the Divine counsels !' as I wondered at the ways of God with this girl, still so young, yet already perfected in virtue. Quoting Sister Teresa of the Infant Jesus, she declared that many pages of her history would only be read in heaven ; indeed, some of them could not be understood in this world, ' but,' she said, " « the mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever "¹ as regards His elect, for we shall see, in the light of God, that His will for us was always a will of love.' " J

Alone with the One, our little sister was journeying to her Calvary, anxious to complete her supreme sacrifice. Had she not for a long time been invited i48 THE -PRAISE OF GLORY"

to the more intimate union for which that suffering prepares us ? Knowing that " there is an interchange of love that takes place on the cross alone," she longed to mount it.

She wrote to her saintly friend in January, 1906 : " How strongly one feels the need to sanctify one's soul, and to forget self to forward the interests of the Church. Poor France ! I love to cover it with the Blood of the Just One, ' He Who is always living to make intercession for us.'* What a sublime mission ' the Carmelite has ! She ought to mediate with Christ, to be another humanity, in which He can perpetuate His life of reparation, sacrifice, praise, and adoration. Pray that I may respond to my vocation, and may not abuse the graces He showers upon me. What misgivings I feel about it sometimes! Then I cast myself upon Him Whom St. John calls i Faithful and True,' f and beg Him to be answerable for my fidelity."

With such thoughts did she fortify her soul while her body grew visibly weaker. After having spoken of her family, Sister Elizabeth ends her letter with the words : <c How full of happiness I felt on returning to our cell after Mass on Christmas night, as, remembering the joys of the past, I said to myself with the Apostle : ' For Him I have suffered the loss of all things.' J Ask Him to make me self-forgetful, that I may be immersed in God. The Sunday in the Octave of the Epiphany will be the third anniversary of my nuptials with the Lamb, so when you consecrate the Host in which Jesus will become incarnate, will you consecrate your little child to Almighty Love, that He may transform her into the ■ Praise of Glory ?' . . ."

When Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity heard her young companions make their plans for Lent, she did not feel drawn to contemplate the Saviour's Passion. But could she keep to her usual mode of prayer ? When she went to her cell after recreation, she questioned St. Paul, and on opening his epistles haphazard, the first text she lit upon was the passionate cry of the great Apostle : " That I may know Him . . . and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death." *

She was startled at the words. Was not he, whom in her simplicity she termed the iC father of her soul," announcing her speedy deliverance to her? She thought so, and later events soon convinced her that she was called to honour the sufferings and death of her Divine Master by imitation rather than by devout meditation.

The symptoms of a serious disease of the stomach showed themselves towards the middle of Lent, and a few days after the feast of her holy patron of the year, Sister Elizabeth was installed permanently in the infirmary. " I knew St. Joseph would come to fetch me this year !" she cried joyfully; " and he is here already !"

Feeling a presentiment that, unless a miracle occurred we should lose the young nun on whom we had built so many hopes, we began a regular crusade of prayers. The process of the beatification of the Venerable Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament was then being brought forward in Rome, f Her special devotions were the Mysteries of the Holy Infancy and the sorrowful Passion of the Son of God, i5o

THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

Who called her His "little bride." A striking miracle was required to bring the cause to a successful ending, and we hoped the servant of God would perform it for us, as we recalled the divine favours she had won for the Carmel of Dijon in the old days, when she held her mystic intercourse with the Infant Jesus. One of her relics was worn by our dear little invalid until she died, and we made novena after novena.

But God decreed otherwise, and the w bride of the holy Infant Jesus " leant towards her little sister to lead her on the way of suffering, which was to stamp on Elizabeth, as it had on Marguerite, a resemblance to their crucified God.

We realized it as we watched the progress of the disease, while the dear little nun, knowing that she was loved with an unspeakable love, was overwhelmed with gratitude. " My illness seems to me rather mysterious," she said ; "I call it 'love's ailment,' since it is He WTho is tormenting and wearing me away. I give myself up and am resigned to it, for I rejoice beforehand in whatever He will do to me."

Palm Sunday brought her a welcome relief and solace. She had a fainting fit in the evening which so rapidly increased her weakness that we thought it best for her to receive the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. The crisis was past when the priest entered the infirmary. He asked her whether she willingly accepted her sufferings. " Oh, yes !" she answered : "lam glad to suffer." She received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction with touching devotion, as a fresh consecration to suffering of whose " Divine dispensation " she was to receive so large a share. How beautiful she looked, as with lustrous²³ eyes, and clasped hands, she held her profession crucifix, exclaiming again and again : " O Love ! Love ! Love!"⁴

She had the happiness of receiving the Holy Viaticum, a touching coincidence with St. Teresa's account of how she always prepared herself specially for her Communion of Palm Sunday as a tender attention to her Master. The saint grieved at seeing that, though the Jews of Jerusalem strewed palm branches on His path, yet there was not one who offered Him food and shelter for the night. She watched Him on His way to Bethany, and, troubled at the thought of His weariness, she begged Him to stay within her heart and take some rest.t Sister Elizabeth, who shared this devotion, had felt very disappointed at not receiving Holy Communion in the morning, but now she was fully rewarded. At the very hour of the evening in which our Lord had asked His friends at Bethany to compensate for the forgetfulness of His people, He had come to repose in her heart and in her suffering love — in His little house. The happy little nun could not find words to express her bliss next day.

Later on she wrote : " I have been in the infirmary since the end of March, with nothing to do but to love God. A dangerous crisis occurred in my illness on Palm Sunday, and I thought the hour had come for me to enter eternity and contemplate the Blessed Trinity unveiled. I received Extreme Unction and i52 THE "PRAISE OF GLORY "

the visit of my Divine Master in the calm and silence of that night, and it seemed as if He were waiting that moment to break my bonds. The days I spent expecting the great Vision baffle description. Our Reverend Mother kept beside me, preparing me to meet the Bridegroom, and my longing to go to Him made Him seem tardy. How sweet and gentle death is for those who have loved none but Him, and who, as the apostle says, c look not at the things which are seen . . . for the things which are seen are temporal : but the things which are not seen are eternal I'"⁵

These days which " baffled description " were a real ascent of Mount Calvary for Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity ; acute pain, added to her already very suffering state, gave her a more intimate share in the Mystery we were celebrating. Absorbed in the contemplation of " Christ in anguish " she kept herself united to Him as a gentle victim who rejoiced to have been chosen for the sacrifice. Her patience never failed for a moment, and her self-surrender was complete. When she was told that an operation had been decided upon, she said with a quiet smile : " Yes ! An operation — the doctors talk of nothing else ; however, they may do what they like with me. I leave myself in their hands as in the hands of God." When a contrary decision was arrived at a few days later, she accepted it with the same simplicity. Having, as it were, passed from self into God, her peace was truly heavenly.

Her family asked for two consultations during her illness. "While the doctors were deliberating together," she said afterwards, "I united myself to the * 2 Cor. iv. 1 8.

Divine Master before the tribunals when the judges were debating whether He should live or die."

Her sufferings and exhaustion were so severe that on Good Friday we thought she was dying. Thank God, our fears were not realized ! Next night, she felt as if some change was being worked within her, and in the morning she was evidently better. Her infirmarians found her kneeling on her bed, though for the last week she had been incapable of any movement. Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity took a little nourishment, although previously unable to swallow, and, saying that she was cured, she asked to be allowed to go down to the choir for the great Office of Holy Saturday. It would have been impossible for her, yet we hoped soon to see her among us again, and our Alleluias were sung in hearty thanksgiving. Eastertide had never been more joyful for us.

No one had a greater share in our happiness than the poor mother, as she knelt in our chapel and thanked God for having preserved the daughter she thought never to have seen again in this world.

Their last interview before Lent had given her no warning of the severe trial awaiting her. Her loving child had carefully concealed the real state of her health from Madame Catez, who was ill herself and required great care. Lent passed without anyone daring to tell the latter of the rapid progress of the malady, the existence of which she knew nothing. When she was informed of the real state of affairs on the Monday of Holy Week, her faith inspired her with the courage needed to bear the cross imposed upon her, the pain of which was increased by her enforced separation from the child she loved so dearly. The depth of her Christian feeling appeared in her beautiful letter to Sister Elizabeth, who read and re-read it continually, and replied as follows :

" My dear Mother,

" I never felt so near you. Your letter has been a solace and a joy to me. I have kissed it as a relic, and thanked the good God for having given me such a matchless mother. If I had gone to heaven, how I should have kept beside you ! I should never have left you, and should have made you feel that your Elizabeth was close to you.

u As I know you will understand me, I will own to you in confidence what a deep disappointment it was not to go to Him I love so clearly. Think what an Easter Day your daughter would have spent in heaven ! . . . But that was self-love, and now I obey and ask to be cured. I do so in union with you, Marguerite, and my dear little angels, whom I should have delighted in protecting had I taken my flight.

" If you only knew how kind our Mother is ! She is a real mamma to your daughter ; and I assure you that, on the night of my crisis, I needed to hear her voice and feel her hand in mine, glad as I was to go to God, for, in spite of that, it is a solemn moment : one feels so little and so empty-handed."

Canon A joined us in storming heaven with prayers that the life might be prolonged of the saintly young nun who opened her heart to him in return for his fatherly letter : " I know that 1 can tell everything to you, who have always been my

THE DIVINE SUMMONS

*S5 confidant. My soul is filled with joy at the thought that I shall soon gaze on the unspeakable beauty of Him Whom I love, and shall be immersed in the Blessed Trinity. Oh, how dear it would cost me to come back to the world which seems so vile to me after my lovely dream ! God alone is perfectly pure and holy. Fortunately, we can dwell in Him even in this our earthly exile. However, my Master's pleasure is mine : I yield myself to Him to do as He pleases with me.

" Will you, His priest, consecrate me to Him as a little sacrifice of praise, who desires to glorify Him either in heaven, or in the midst of as much suffering in this world as He chooses. ... If I go, you will help to free me from purgatory. How clearly I realize how miserable and stained with sin I am in every way ! I need my kind Mother to rid myself of it. She comes to make her thanksgiving every morning beside my little bed. fl communicate, too, , within her soul, and the same love flows into the soul ( of both Mother and daughter.⁶) She prays so fer- Vently that I may be cured, that I ask her to let me go and be her guardian angel in heaven. How much I should pray there for you, too ; it would delight me to do something for my dear Canon !

" Good-bye ; it is sweet to wait the coming of the Bridegroom. Pray for me, that I may be completely surrendered to Him in the suffering He sends me, and that, even here, I may live for love alone."

The improvement in Sister Elizabeth's health continued, but as she was still. too weak to go to the parlour, she wrote to console her family.

" Dear Mamma,

" Your little invalid wants to speak to you from her heart, that heart so full of tenderness for you.

<c I know that you are ill, and my kind Mother inside the convent, who is always near me, tells me all about your health. You cannot imagine what care she lavishes upon me, with all the tenderness and delicacy of a mother. How happy I am alone in my little infirmary ! My Master is here with me, and we live heart to heart, day and night. I appreciate the happiness of being a Carmelite more than ever, and I pray to God for the darling mother who gave me to Him. I have been drawn nearer heaven since this illness ; I will tell you all about it some day.

" Oh mother ! let us prepare for eternity ; let us live with Him, for He alone can accompany and help us on this great journey. He is the God of love ; we cannot understand how dearly He loves us — above all, when He sends us trials."

She was afraid to tell all to her mother, who would have been injured by any strong emotion, but spoke unreservedly to her sister.

" I do not know whether the hour has come for me to pass from this world to my Father, for I am much better, and the little saint or Beaune seems to wish to cure me. Yet at times it seems as if the Divine Eagle were about to swoop down upon His little prey and carry it off to where He lives in the realms of dazzling light.

"You have always forgotten your own interests when your Elizabeth's happiness was concerned, and I am sure that if I go, you will rejoice at the thought of my first meeting with Divine Beauty. When the veil falls, how gladly shall I pass to Him, into the very c secret of His face !' There shall I spend my eternity, in the bosom of the Trinity, where I dwell already in this life.

" Only think, Marguerite, what it will be to contemplate the splendour of the Divine Being in His own light ; to penetrate all the depths of His mystery ; to be one with Him we love ; to sing unceasingly of His glory and His love ; to ' be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is !'*

" Little sister, I shall rejoice to go to heaven to be your angel there, and I shall be zealous for the beauty of your soul that I love dearly even in this world.

"I leave you my devotion to c the Three/ Live with Them in the heaven of your soul ; the Father will overshadow you, making a cloud between you and the things of this world, to keep you all His own. He will communicate His power to you, so that you will love Him with a love as strong as death. The Word will imprint in your soul, as in a crystal, the image of His own beauty, and you will be pure with His purity, luminous with His light. The Holy Spirit will transform you into a mystic lyre. Beneath His divine touch your silence will * I St. John iii. 2.

send forth a magnificent canticle of love. Then you will be the praise of His glory as I dreamt that I should be in this world. You will take my place. I shall be laudem gloria before the throne of the Lamb, and you will be laudem gloria in the centre of your soul. So shall we be united throughout eternity.

" Always keep your faith in the love of God. If you have to suffer, it will be because you are more deeply loved ; so whatever happens, love and chant your thanksgiving.

" Teach the little ones to live in the sight of God. I should like Elizabeth to have my devotion to the Holy Trinity. I shall be present at their first Communion, and will help you to prepare them for it.

" You must pray for me. I have offended my Master more than you think. But, above all, thank Him, and say a Gloria every day. Forgive me for the bad example I have often set you.

" Farewell ! How I love you ! Perhaps I shall soon go to the home of love. What does it matter ? Let us live in love, and to glorify Love, whether we are in heaven or on earth ! . . ."

Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity spoke the truth : the Divine Eagle was about to swoop down upon His prey, to bear it away to the regions of eternal light. Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament did not finish the work she had begun. She had shown her interest in our cause by dispelling all idea of an operation, but was it not best for our little sister to hasten her flight towards the end for which she longed so fervently ?

During May her life was again in danger through a second crisis. " Heaven seemed opened again !"

she cried ; " and you prayed so ardently that I am still a prisoner, but a happy prisoner who praises the love of her Lord day and night within her heart. He is so good ! Anyone would suppose that He had no one to love or think about but me, from the way in which He gives Himself to my soul. He does so that I, in my turn, may give myself to Him for His Church and His interests ; that 1 may care for His honour, like my holy Mother St. Teresa. Oh, pray for me, that I, too, may be Charitatis Victim a /"•⁷

Footnotes

1. Heb. vii. 25. f Apoc. xix. 11. X Phil. iii. 8. ↩

2. Phil. iii. 10. ↩

3. A Carmelite nun of Beaune, 1619-1648. ↩

4. "How sweet death is in Carmel !" exclaimed the priest as he left the convent. " If I were younger I would become a religious." Our account is supplemented by his letter to Madame Catez, printed at the end of this volume. See Appendix. ↩

5. '* Histoire de sainte Thdrese d'apres les Bollandistes," chap. xx. Also Relation N, 5. Baker, 191 1. ↩

6. At the beginning of Sister Elizabeth's illness jthe Mother Prioress used to come and make her thanksgiving beside the bed of the little invalid, to console her for being deprived of frequent Communion. "}It was a great comfort to the dear child, who used to prepare herself for these morning visits as if she were really about to receiveCthe hidden God Whom she adored within the soul of her Mother.^ She used to call this time the sunshine of her day. ↩

7. Hymn for the Office of St. Teresa. ↩