Quote of the day, 9 October: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

We’re having a holiday in Carmel, for our elections took place yesterday [9 October].

Oh! if you knew how, in taking away our good Mother whom I loved so much, God has given me two others who are so good, so good! You see, it is delightful, and that makes me love still more this good Master who spoils His little one so much.

Our dear Mother Sub-Prioress was elected Prioress, and my good Angel, Sub-Prioress; this good news is really going to delight my dear little Mama, and I’ve been anxious to announce it to you.

Because of the elections, we’re having a free day, that is, we can have little visits with each other during the day. But, you see, the life of a Carmelite is silence, so she loves that above all!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 97 to her sister Guite (excerpt)

Note: According to the Book of Elections of the Dijon Carmel, it was indeed “yesterday,” on October 9, 1901, that Mother Germaine of Jesus (who also held the office of Mistress of Novices) was elected Prioress and Sister Marie of the Trinity (who remained Elizabeth’s “Angel” during these first days), Sub-Prioress. The two religious, aged 31 and 26 respectively, bore the title “Mother” by virtue of their office. The prioress who was “taken away” from the community in Dijon was Mother Marie of Jesus, who became the founding prioress of the Carmel of Paray-le-Monial.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

#elections #monasticLife #MotherGermaine #silence #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 29 September: St. Edith Stein

 Since September 29 we’ve had a new Mother who would like me to write something again.

Saint Edith Stein
Echt, 5 November 1940

Just now I am gathering material for a new work since our Reverend Mother wishes me to do some scholarly work again, as far as this will be possible in our living situation and under the present circumstances. I am very grateful to be allowed once more to do something before my brain rusts completely.

Echt, 17 November 1940

I am going about my new task like a little child making its first attempts at walking.

Echt, 16 May 1941

Please, will Your Reverence also pray a little to the Holy Spirit and to our Holy Father John for what I am now planning to write. It is to be something for our Holy Father’s 400th birthday (24 June 1942)…

Echt, 8 October 1941

Because of the work I am doing I live almost constantly immersed in thoughts about our Holy Father John. That is a great grace. May I ask Your Reverence once more for prayers that I can produce something appropriate for his Jubilee?

Echt, 18 November 1941

Dear Mother,

… I am satisfied with everything. A scientia crucis [science of the cross] can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically. I have been convinced of that from the first moment and have said, from my heart: Ave, Crux, spes unica!

Echt, December 1941

Dear Sister Maria,

… while working on this task it often happened when I was greatly exhausted that I had the feeling I could not penetrate to what I wished to say and to grasp. I already thought that it would always remain so. But now I feel I have renewed vigor for creative effort. Holy Father John gave me renewed impetus for some remarks concerning symbols. When I finish this manuscript I would like to send a German copy to Father Heribert [Discalced Carmelite provincial in Germany] to have it duplicated for the monasteries.

The only reason I write so little is that I need all the time for Father John.

Echt, 9 April 1942

My dear ones,

A [Red Cross] nurse from [Amsterdam] intends to speak today with the Consul. Here, every petition [on behalf] of fully Jewish Catholics has been forbidden since yesterday. Outside [the camp] an attempt can still be made, but with extremely little prospect. According to plans, a transport will leave on Friday. Could you possibly write to Mère Claire in Venlo, Kaldenkerkeweg 185 [the Ursuline Convent] to ask for [my] manuscript if they have not already sent it. We count on your prayers. There are so many persons here who need some consolation and they expect it from the Sisters.

In Corde Jesu, your grateful

B.

Westerbork transit camp, 5 August 1942

Mother Antonia Ambrosia Engelmann, O.C.D. was elected prioress of the Carmel of Echt on 29 September 1940.  It is to her that we owe a debt of gratitude for Saint Edith Stein’s ultimate volume, The Science of the Cross. Gelber and Leuven (1993) note that although it was her final work, the manuscript was published as Vol. I in Edith Steins Werke. When Edith and Rosa were arrested in August of 1942, the completed portions of her manuscript had already been sent to a typist. Unaware of the fate that awaited her, Edith asks to retrieve that manuscript as if to continue working on it while in prison.

Stein, E. 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Vintage Remington Portable typewriter with German text. Original Flickr source no longer available.

#monasticLife #obedience #StEdithStein #StJohnOfTheCross #TheScienceOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 26 September: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

My darling little sister,

There is so much happiness in my soul that I needed to come tell you about it while asking for your prayers as well.

Our Reverend Mother is allowing me to begin retreat, and tonight I am leaving for my great journey: ten days of complete silence, absolute solitude, with my veil lowered and several additional hours of prayer; it’s a very enticing schedule, I’m taking you and your angel with me; please tell our dear Mama to pray for the hermit who, for her part, will not forget her.

Please recommend me to your brother-in-law, the Abbé, and to Marie-Louise [Hallo].

A Dieu, little sister, I leave you, and I’m going to lose myself in Him, to let all this happiness I can no longer contain overflow. Union.

Your Sabeth r.c.i. [unworthy Carmelite religious]

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 211 to her sister Guite

Note: Saint Elizabeth’s private ten-day retreat began on 26 September 1904. She indicated to her Rolland aunts in a New Year’s letter at the end of 1904 that it was the first retreat since her religious profession—”a very great grace” (Cf. Letter 216). After briefly explaining to her aunts what a private retreat is like for a Carmelite nun, she told them “that these ten days of prayer and silence have been a foretaste of our Homeland.”

Let’s pause to consider St. Elizabeth’s comment about her retreat being spent “with my veil lowered and several additional hours of prayer.” In her community—as in all Carmels today—private retreat days are devoted to prayer, spiritual reading, rest, and quiet work in the solitude of one’s cell. Each Carmel maintains its autonomy, so practices vary from monastery to monastery.

During retreat, the nun is typically excused from the two hours of community recreation, creating perfect opportunities for solitary prayer in the choir near the Blessed Sacrament or in an upper-floor prayer space overlooking the tabernacle and altar. For Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Elizabeth would have worn her grand voile lowered while with the community—the large veil covering the nuns’ faces in the photo above. She would also have worn this lowered veil during silent meals in the refectory. The veil became her guardian of solitude throughout the retreat.

For Elizabeth, who loved to be “alone with the Alone” (Cf. Letter 297), we can understand why she called this ten-day retreat “a very enticing schedule.”

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Discalced Carmelites receive a new aspirant at the monastery of the Incarnation in Avila. Image credit: Discalced Carmelite (By permission)

#monasticLife #retreat #solitude #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #veil

🕯️ A monk gently tends to his injured brother in faith ♥

New film project:
💞 Brotherhood and Love within Monastic Walls in the 12th Century 🕍

Image: Dreaminia 3.0, SDXL inpainted

#MonasticLife #BrotherInFaith #SacredCare #QueerHistory #HealingRitual #MaleIntimacy #gayart #LGBT #LoveIsLove

Quote of the day, 5 August: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Voice of Heaven

We who are bathed in Light, within the ‘Three’ –
The Face of God, the splendour of its rays –
See, by those shinings, into Mystery:
They ever show new secrets, Heaven’s days.

Infinite Being! Depth unsoundable!
Delighted, lost in Your Divinity –
O Trinity, God thrice-immutable,
We see Yourself in Your own clarity.

Voice of Earth

The saints in Heav’n . . . but, also, here below
Souls come and merge themselves in such a Love;
In mystery and night this happens so –
God satisfies: in dark, in Day above.

Through everything . . . on earth: already we’re
Possessing You, our Peace and vision! (for,
As in one light we gather, there and here,
We lose ourselves in God, for evermore!

Voice of Heaven

As sharers, now, in God’s own Essence, you
Possess all we possess in Heaven . . . See! –
You have not yet the joy we have, that’s true;
But as for giving – you give more than we.

And when one loves, how good it is to give!
(You can be giving, every hour and place.)
Oh, give God glory while on earth you live –
By self-oblation. Seize on this high grace!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Poem 80

Note: This poem was written by Elizabeth for the patronal feast of Mother Germaine on 15 June 1902. The original manuscript bears no title or date, but the handwriting and black ink confirm it was composed for this feast day. The poem takes the form of a dialogue between the “Voice of Heaven” and the “Voice of Earth,” alternating throughout. This poem was sung during a “pious recreation” performed by the community for their prioress, Mother Germaine, on her feast day, set to the melody “Reste avec moi, Jésus-Eucharistie” (Remain with me, Jesus-Eucharist). Sister Agnès of Jesus-Maria testified at Elizabeth’s beatification process that when she and Elizabeth went to work in the garden during recreation, they would heartily sing this poem together. The French critical edition notes that the autograph contains some words that are difficult to decipher, and editor Conrad de Meester, OCD, reconstructed portions of the text for clarity.

de la Trinité, E 1996, Oeuvres complètes / édition critique réalisée par le P. Conrad de Meester, carme, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, Marmion, C and Bancroft, A 2001, Barb of fire: twenty poems of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: with selected passages from Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB, Gracewing, Leominster.

#heaven #HolyTrinity #monasticLife #MotherGermaine #poetry #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 25 July: St. Thérèse

Listen to this little, very funny story:

One day [10 January 1889], after I received the Habit, Sister St. Vincent de Paul saw me with Mother Prioress, and she exclaimed: “Oh! how well she looks! Is this big girl strong! Is she plump!”

I left, quite humbled by the compliment, when Sister Magdalene stopped me in front of the kitchen and said: “But what is beoming of you, poor little Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus! You are fading away before our eyes! If you continue at this pace, with an appearance that makes one tremble, you won’t observe the Rule very long!”

I couldn’t get over hearing, one after the other, two such contrary appraisals. Ever since that moment, I have never attached any importance to the opinion of creatures, and this impression has so developed in me that, at this present time, reproaches and compliments glide over me without leaving the slightest imprint.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

The Yellow Notebook of Mother Agnès, 25 July 1897

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1977, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Her Last Conversations, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail of a photo montage created at the Carmel of Lisieux utilizing a 1913 photo of Mother Agnès (Pauline Martin) and a retouched copy of the last photo of St. Thérèse, which Sr. Geneviève (Celine Martin) took while Thérèse was getting some fresh air in the cloister. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission)

#CarmelOfLisieux #compliments #monasticLife #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 24 June: St. Thérèse

Dear little Mother, your little girl has again shed sweet tears just now, tears of repentance but more so of gratitude and love…

Ah! this evening I showed my virtue, my TREASURES of patience! And I who preach so well to others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am happy you saw my imperfection. Ah, the good it does me for having been bad!

You did not scold your little girl, nevertheless, she deserved it; but your little girl is accustomed to this, your gentleness speaks more to her than severe words; you are the image of God’s mercy for her.

Yes, but… Sister St. John the Baptist, on the contrary, is usually the image of God’s severity.

Well, I just met her, and instead of passing coldly by my side, she embraced me, saying (absolutely as though I had been the best girl in the world), “Poor little Sister, I felt sorry for you, I do not want to tire you out, I was wrong, etc., etc…”

I, who felt contrition in my heart, was astonished at her not reproaching me in any way. I know that basically she must find me imperfect; it is because she believes I am going to die that she has spoken this way to me, but it does not matter. I heard only gentle and tender words coming from her mouth, and I found her very good and myself very bad…

When reentering our cell, I was wondering what Jesus was thinking of me, and immediately I recalled these words He addressed one day to the adulterous woman: “Has no one condemned you?” And I, tears in my eyes, answered Him: “No one, Lord… Neither my little Mother, image of Your tenderness, nor Sister St. John the Baptist, image of your justice, and I really feel I can go in peace, for You will not condemn me either!”

Little Mother, why, then, is God Jesus so gentle towards me? Why does He never scold me? Ah! truly, it is enough to make me die of gratitude and love! I am happier for having been imperfect than if, sustained by grace, I had been a model of meekness…

This does me much good to see Jesus is always so gentle, so tender to me! Ah! from this moment, I know it: yes, all my hopes will be realized… yes, the Lord will do for us marvels that will infinitely surpass our immense desires!

Little Mother, Jesus does well to hide Himself, to talk to me only from time to time, and “through the lattices” (Canticle of Canticles), for I feel I would be unable to bear any more, my heart would break, being powerless to contain so much joy…

Ah! you, the sweet Echo of my soul, you will understand that this evening the vessel of divine Mercy overflowed for me! You will understand that you have been and always will be the Angel charged with leading me and announcing to me the mercies of the Lord!

Your very little girl,
Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face rel. carm. ind.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Letter 230 to Mother Agnes of Jesus, 28 May 1897

Note: This letter from Saint Thérèse was written during the final months of her life, when illness made her more emotionally sensitive. After a taxing encounter with a Sister who had previously shown severity toward her, Thérèse is moved by an unexpected gesture of kindness. She recalls Christ’s words to the adulterous woman and marvels at the mercy of God, who speaks to her through gentleness rather than reproach. The Sister she names, Sister St. John the Baptist, was known in the Lisieux Carmel for her stern demeanor, especially toward novices. Thérèse’s signature, rel. carm. ind., reflects a customary usage among French Discalced Carmelite nuns: religieuse carmélite indigne—an “unworthy Carmelite nun.”

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1988, General Correspondence: Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Volume 2 1890-1897. Centenary ed., Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail from The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, Georges de La Tour (French, 1593–1652), oil on canvas, 1635–37. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Image courtesy of LACMA Collections Online: lacma.org (Public domain).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Have you ever seen God’s mercy reflected in someone who surprised you with tenderness?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#emotions #mercy #monasticLife #SisterStJohnTheBaptist #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 20 June: St. John of the Cross

Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ.

The reason for my not having written during all this time is due more to my having been in such an out-of-the-way place, as is Segovia, than because of a lack of desire. My will to write remains ever the same, and I hope in God this will continue to be so. I have been sorry about your troubles.

I would desire that you not be so solicitous for the temporal things of the house because God will gradually forget you and you will come to a state of great spiritual and temporal need; for it is our anxiety that creates our needs.

Cast your care on the Lord, daughter, and he will sustain you [Ps. 55:22], for he who gives, and wants to give, the highest cannot fail to give the least. Be careful that you do not lack the desire to be poor and in want; for if you do, at that very hour devotion will fail you and you will gradually weaken in the practice of virtue.

If previously you desired poverty, now that you are superior, you ought to desire and love it much more. You ought to govern and provide the house with virtues and ardent desires for heaven rather than with worries and plans about temporal and earthly things. The Lord tells us not to be thinking about food or clothing or tomorrow [Mt. 6:31-34].

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 21 to Madre María de Jesús (excerpts)
Discalced Carmelite prioress of Córdoba
Madrid, 20 June 1590

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Study of a Woman’s Head was painted in oil on wood, ca. 1780 by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805). Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Public domain).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How has God shown you His care and sustained you through His Divine Providence?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#DivineProvidence #monasticLife #poverty #spiritualDirection #StJohnOfTheCross #trust

Quote of the day, 18 June: St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Sister Thérèse accepted every reproach with a heavenly joy—not only from the superiors, but even from the novices. She let them say unpleasant things to her without ever correcting them in the moment.

“I’m happy to accept corrections when they’re justified,” I told her. “If I’m wrong, I’ll admit it. But I can’t stand being reprimanded when I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“For me,” she replied, “it’s just the opposite. I prefer to be accused unjustly, because then I have nothing to reproach myself for, and I offer that to the good God with joy. Then I humble myself by thinking that I’d be quite capable of doing what I’ve been accused of.”

Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face (Céline Martin)

Counsels and Reminiscences of a Novice

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This detail from Photo no. 9 was taken by Sr. Geneviève on 20 November 1894. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How does prayer help you cope with difficult relationships or unjust treatment?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#CelineMartin #humility #injustice #monasticLife #StThereseOfLisieux