8 November : ST. ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY
A TIMELINE OF ELIZABETH’S LIFE
1880 July 18: Birth in Camp Avord near Bourges 1882 November: The family moves to Dijon
1883 February 20: Birth of her sister Marguerite
1887 October 2: Death of her father
1891 April 19: First Communion at St. Michael’s Church in Dijon
1894 Summer: Hears her soul’s interior call to Carmel
1899 March: Went on a parish mission retreat in Dijon
1901 August 2: Entrance into the carmel of Dijon
December 8: Clothing Day
1903 January 11: Religious profession
1904 November 21: Composition of the well-know prayer “O my God, Trinity whom I adore”
1905 February: First symptoms of Addison’s disease
1906 November 9: Dies at 26 years of age
1984 November 25: Beatification by Pope Saint John Paul II
2016 October 16: Canonization by Pope Francis in Rome Entry into life
A DIFFICULT BIRTH
This morning of Sunday July 18, 1880 , at the Avor military camp near Bourges, anguish reigns around the little house where Marie Rolland is expecting her first child … Two doctors have already warned the husband that the baby’s life will not be possible. probably not be saved. There is only prayer. The chaplain offers the Eucharist for them. Contrary to alarming forecasts, a little girl is born. “I had a daughter, Marie Elisabeth, condemned before her birth because the two doctors who were with me, had declared to my husband that it was necessary to make the sacrifice of the baby whose heart was no longer beating, but God was watching and at the last gospel of the Mass, which I had requested from the Chaplain and which was celebrated in the camp chapel, little Elisabeth made her entry into life, very beautiful, very alive. ”
MEMORIES OF MADAME CATEZ
“This July 18 was a Sunday, a coincidence that she will consider, in the following, as a first call to her special vocation, to what at least was the characteristic of her religious life: to be a praise of glory to the Holy Trinity. . ” Testimony of Mother Germaine
HAPPY PARENTS
Born in Lunéville in 1846, Marie Rolland is the only daughter of a military father, originally from Aude, and a mother from Lorraine. Impulsive and sensitive, appreciated by her friends, she was 16 and a half years old when her family retired to the south of Saint-Hilaire. Her faith is deep, marked however by the surrounding Jansenism, but her devotion to Thérèse d’Avila reveals her search for intimacy with God. She was 24 when her first fiancé died on the front lines in 1870. Her grief was intense. A shadow of melancholy will now mark her face, whose freshness will later be ravaged by a viper bite. Born May 29, 1832 into a modest family of peasants from Aire-sur-la-Lys in Pas-de-Calais, Joseph Catez joined the army at the age of 21 and slowly rose through the ranks until he became a captain. Active and energetic, he had been a prisoner of the enemy for seven months in 1870, then had followed his unit in garrison in the Hérault. It was there that he met Marie Rolland, whose father was now a retired commander.
A BLESSED MARRIAGE
On September 3, 1879, their marriage was celebrated in Saint-Hilaire. Their age difference is great, but they will form a very united Christian couple. They leave on October 19, 1879 for the military camp of Avord, near Bourges, where Elisabeth was born on July 18, 1880. The mother is almost 34 years old and the father already 48 years old but their deep love will know how to give little Zabeth everything. the necessary affection and above all a home where faith is a living environment. “There is a word from Saint Paul which is like a summary of my life, and which one could write in each of his moments: Yes, all these floods of grace, it is’ because He gave me too much loved ‘. ” Letter 280
by CARMEL DE DIJON – FLAVIGNEROT FRANCE