Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
Chronology and other information
1880 July 18: Elizabeth Catez's birth at the camp of Avor in the district of Farges-en-Septain (Cher).
July 22: baptism at the camp chapel.
1881 Around May 10: family settles in Auxonne.
1882 May 9: death of her grandmother, Mme. Rolland, at Saint- Hilaire.
Around November 1: another move; the Catez family goes to live in Dijon, on rue Lamartine.
1883 February 20: birth of her sister Marguerite.
1885 June 2: Captain Catez retires.
1887 January 24: death of her grandfather, M. Rolland, who was living in their home.
October 2: death of her father.
Shortly after: move to rue Prieur-de-la-Côte-d'Or, near the Carmel.
During this year: first confession.
During this year: first French lessons from Mlle. Grémaux.
1888 During this year or the preceding one: while on a trip in the south of France, Elizabeth confides her religious vocation to Abbé Angles.
October: first enrollment at the Conservatory of Dijon.
1891 April 19: First Communion at Saint-Michel.
June 8: Confirmation at Notre-Dame.
1893 July 18: first prize in higher fundamentals of music at the Conservatory.
July 25: first prize at the piano.
August beginning of October: vacation at Gemeaux (Côte- d'Or) in the Vosges and the Jura.
1894 Spring-Summer: private vow of perpetual virginity. Interior call to Carmel.
July: at the Conservatory, the prize for excellence was taken away from her unjustly (cf. L 7).
Vacation: in the south of France.
August 11: "My first poems."
1895 January 11: certificate of merit for harmony at the Conservatory.
Vacation: in the Vosges, and at length in the Jura.
1896 Vacation: in the south of France.
October: visit to Lourdes.
1897 Vacation: in the Vosges (and perhaps elsewhere).
1898 Vacation: in the south of France. Visit to Lourdes. Return by way of Marseille, Grenoble, Annecy, and Geneva.
1899 January 24 (evening) January 28: retreat preached by Père Chesnay, S.J.
January 30: begins the part of her Diary still preserved.
March 4: beginning of the mission preached in Dijon.
March 26: Mme. Catez agrees to let her daughter enter Carmel when she reaches the age of 21.
April 2 (Easter): end of the mission preached in Dijon.
June 20: first visit to the parlor of the Carmel (after her mother's consent).
Vacation: in the Jura, three weeks in Switzerland (Fleurier), then in the Vosges.
During the year: reads [St. Thérèse of Lisieux's] Histoire d'une Ame (Story of a Soul)
1900 January 23 (evening) 27: retreat preached by Père Hoppenot, S.J.
First half of the year: first meeting with Père Vallée, O.P.
Vacation: in the south of France: Tarbes, Biarritz, Lourdes, Carlipa. Then in Charentes and in Paris.
1901 August 2: enters Carmel.
October 9: Sister Germaine of Jesus is elected Prioress of the Carmel; she is also Mistress of Novices.
November: eight-day community retreat preached by Père Vergne, S.J.
December 5 7: three day retreat in preparation for her clothing.
December 8: clothing; Bishop Le Nordez presides over the ceremony; sermon by Père Vallée.
1902 May 9 17: "Cenacle" retreat: annual days of silence between Ascension and Pentecost.
October 7 14: community retreat preached by Père Vallée.
October 15: marriage of her sister Marguerite to Georges Chevignard.
December 22: canonical examination. Elizabeth spends several hours outside the enclosure with her mother and sister.
1903 January 1 -10: personal retreat in preparation for her profession.
January 11 (Epiphany Sunday): profession.
January 21: veiling.
Shortly after her profession: second portress (inside enclosure).
May 22 - 30: "Cenacle" days of silence.
1904 March 11: birth of her first niece, Elizabeth Chevignard.
May 13 21: "Cenacle" days of silence.
September 26 October 5: personal retreat.
October 10: reelection of Mother Germaine as Prioress; she remains Mistress of Novices.
November 12 (evening) 20: community retreat preached by Père Fages, O.P.
November 21: Elizabeth writes her prayer, "O My God, Trinity Whom I Adore"
1905 Lent (March 8 April 22): first symptoms of illness; dispensations from observance of the Rule.
April 19: birth of her second niece, Odette Chevignard.
June 2 - 10: "Cenacle" days of silence.
Mid-August: Elizabeth, weakened, is dispensed from her office as second portress.
October 9 18: personal retreat.
1906 January 15 - 23: community retreat preached by Père Rollin, S.J.
Before the end of March: Elizabeth enters the infirmary.
April 8: dying. Extreme Unction.
April 14: sudden improvement.
May 13: new, serious attack.
May 25 June 2: "Cenacle" days of silence.
July 8 or 9: after having invoked Thérèse of Lisieux, Elizabeth can again stand.
First half of August: Elizabeth writes Heaven in Faith.
August 16 31: personal retreat. She writes her Last Retreat.
Evening of October 30: she is confined to bed.
October 31: receives Extreme Unction for the second time.
November 1: last Communion.
November 9: death.
November 12: burial.
Horaria of the Carmel
The summer horarium (from Easter until the eve of the Exaltation of the Cross, on September 14) was different from thewinter horarium (September 14 to Holy Saturday).
Here is the summer horarium (which Elizabeth speaks of in L 168):
4:45 a.m. Rise.
5:00 One hour of silent prayer.
6:00 Little hours (Prime, Tierce, Sext, and None).
7:00 Mass and thanksgiving (about 15 minutes).
8:00 (Never any breakfast.)
The novices (the Sisters remained in the "novitiate" three years after their final profession) gathered in the novitiate for "visits" (several prayers, particularly to the saints); each novice saw the Novice Mistress for a few minutes to give an account of her prayer.
During the morning (preferably at the beginning), the Sisters, and particularly the novices, did "a quarter- hour's reading"; 15 minutes of reading in the Manual, Gospels, Epistles, Psalms, the Imitation of Christ; usually a little from each was read.
Work.
10:00 Examination of conscience (in the choir, about 10 minutes).
10:15 Meal, always in silence, accompanied by reading aloud. Perpetual abstinence from meat (except for the sick).
11:00 Recreation in common.
12:00 p.m. "Silence" (= free time, siesta).
1:00 Work.
2:00 Vespers.
2:30 Spiritual reading.
The novices gathered in the novitiate where it was usually the Mistress of Novices who gave a reading with commentary or a conference.
3:00 Work.
5:00 One hour of silent prayer.
6:05 Meal (called "collation" on the days when the fast of the Order applied, for example on the vigils of feasts and all during the winter horarium, except on Sundays; collation was still more reduced on days when the fast of the Church applied).
6:40 Recreation in common.
7:40 Compline.
8:00 "Silence" (as at noon).
9:00 Matins and Lauds (which usually lasted an hour and twenty minutes, or even an hour and forty minutes on feast days).
Examination of conscience (15 minutes).
Reading of the point of prayer for the next day (about 5 minutes).
Prioress's blessing at the doors of the cells.
10:50 Bed (later on feast days).
During the winter horarium, rising and everything that followed until after recreation was one hour later. The midday "silence" was removed, and from 1 p.m. on, the horarium was the same as in summer. In Lent, however, the sisters recited Vespers at 11:00 a.m.(in the morning!), before the meal at 11:30, recreation at noon, and work at 1 p.m. At 2 p.m., there was an hour of spiritual reading; the novices gathered in the novitiate from 2 o'clock until 3.
The sisters could request permission to write: every month to their parents, brothers, and sisters, when they had not seen them in the parlor; every three months to other relatives and friends, when they had not visited them in the parlor.
During Advent and Lent, no correspondence (in either sense) was allowed. Exceptions were possible. According to the custom of the time, both outgoing and incoming mail was read by the Prioress, except for mail to the spiritual director (if they had one) and to ecclesiastical Superiors.
Visits to the Parlor
The Sisters could receive visits in the parlor: every month, for 30 minutes, from their parents, brothers, and sisters; at that time, the grilles would be "opened" (cf. below) and the visitors could see the Carmelite; every three months, for 30 minutes, from other relatives and friends: the grille was not opened, and the visitors could only hear the Carmelite.
During Advent and Lent, no visits to the parlor were allowed. Exceptions were possible. If the visitors (particularly relatives) came from a great distance, the length of the visit could be prolonged and even repeated the same day. According to the custom of the time, another Sister (the "tierce") was always present, back in a corner, during these visits.
A double grille separated the religious from visitors: one of iron (in little squares) and the other in wood (vertical bars). On the inner side, there was also a wooden frame covered with a black veil. "To open the grille" meant that this frame was opened. In the choir, there were the same grilles as in the parlor and a wooden frame covered with a black veil. For Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during exposition, this frame was opened, but a very light veil of transparent black remained, which was drawn back only at the time of consecration and during very solemn exposition (for example, during Forty Hours and the Octave of Corpus Christi). In all cases, the shutters of the windows of the choir were closed. During Mass, Holy Communion was received through a window in another grille to one side: the "communion window" (cf. Plan 1, Chapel, c).
For very exceptional occasions (clothing, veiling, funeral), the second, wooden grille (with vertical bars) was also opened, so that the family could follow the ceremony. The shutters of the windows remained open; the Sisters, however, wore large black veils.
A Brief History of the Carmel of Dijon
The Carmel of Dijon was founded on September 21, 1605. It was the third foundation in France after Paris (1604) and Pontoise (1605). The foundress and first Prioress for fifteen months (until her departure for the foundation in Brussels) was Venerable Mother Anne of Jesus, companion of Saint Teresa of Avila and spiritual daughter of Saint John of the Cross, who wrote the commentary on his Spiritual Canticle for her. It was at Dijon, on November 1, 1605, that the first French professed nun, Marie of the Trinity, pronounced her vows.
Since the house, on rue Charbonnerie (now rue de la Préfec-ture) was soon too small, the Carmelites built a new monastery, on rue Sainte-Anne, which they occupied in 1613. The Sisters were dispersed into public life by the revolutionary laws of 1790.
In January 1866, however, the Carmelites returned to Dijon, after an unsuccessful attempt in Strasbourg. The foundress was then Mother Marie of the Trinity, Sub-Prioress of the Carmel of rue de Messine in Paris. They lived first in a little house, and then built a new monastery on the adjoining property. The blessing of the foundation-stone took place on July 25, 1868. It was this monastery, 4 boulevard Carnot, that Elizabeth entered more than thirty years later.
For reasons of the greatest importance, the Sisters moved again on March 17, 1979, in order to settle into their new monastery of Flavignerot, some eight miles southwest of Dijon.
Copyright of the English translation Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, ICS Publications. Permission is hereby granted for any non-commercial use, if this copyright notice is included.