St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Carmelite Saint
Feast day: November 8
Elizabeth Catez was born in 1880 in Avor, France. Her father was an army captain and died when she was seven. She had a younger sister, Guite, and they were very close to each other and their mother. At the age of seven, Elizabeth told a friend of the family, Canon Angles, that she would be a religious. She was a precocious child with a flashing temper until she made her First Communion. From that time on she was noticeably calm in temperament. She was an accomplished pianist. Her family was middle class, and they enjoyed parties and other social activities.
From the time of her First Communion in 1891, she “wanted to give her life and to return a little of His great love.” At the age of thirteen she bound herself to Jesus was a vow of virginity. Elizabeth’s heart had been captured, and now she could think only of Him. On her twenty-first birthday she had her mother’s blessing at last to enter the Carmel in Dijon, close to her home. Elizabeth expresses in her letters a deep joy at being in Carmel. Everything led her to her “Three,” the Trinity. She offered herself unconditionally to “Him”; He accepted.
Elizabeth became ill shortly after entering Carmel and suffered for five years from a stomach ailment, now thought to have been Addison’s disease. Her suffering was intense both spiritually and physically; this caused her love for Jesus to increase, and also her desire to offer these sufferings to Him.
In her writings Elizabeth refers often to the words of Saint Paul. She speaks of her vocation: “To be a bride, a bride of Carmel,” means to have the flaming heart of Elijah, the transpierced heart of Teresa, to be His “true bride,” because she was ”zealous for His honor.” St. Elizabeth of the Trinity had true depth of prayer, was a mystic, a great lover of Jesus, and a real friend to her sisters in Carmel and her family. She referred to herself as Laudem Gloriae, Praise of Glory. She died November 9, 1906. Her last words were: “I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!” Her canonization took place in Rome on October 16, 2016.
Prayer of St. Elizabeth
“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, let me entirely forget myself that I may abide in you, still and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity; let nothing disturb my peace nor separate me from you, O my unchanging God, but that each moment may take me further into the depths of your mystery ! Pacify my soul! Make it your heaven, your beloved home and place of your repose; let me never leave you there alone, but may I be ever attentive, ever alert in my faith, ever adoring and all given up to your creative action.”
From the time of her First Communion in 1891, she “wanted to give her life and to return a little of His great love.” At the age of thirteen she bound herself to Jesus was a vow of virginity. Elizabeth’s heart had been captured, and now she could think only of Him. On her twenty-first birthday she had her mother’s blessing at last to enter the Carmel in Dijon, close to her home. Elizabeth expresses in her letters a deep joy at being in Carmel. Everything led her to her “Three,” the Trinity. She offered herself unconditionally to “Him”; He accepted.
Elizabeth became ill shortly after entering Carmel and suffered for five years from a stomach ailment, now thought to have been Addison’s disease. Her suffering was intense both spiritually and physically; this caused her love for Jesus to increase, and also her desire to offer these sufferings to Him.
In her writings Elizabeth refers often to the words of Saint Paul. She speaks of her vocation: “To be a bride, a bride of Carmel,” means to have the flaming heart of Elijah, the transpierced heart of Teresa, to be His “true bride,” because she was ”zealous for His honor.” St. Elizabeth of the Trinity had true depth of prayer, was a mystic, a great lover of Jesus, and a real friend to her sisters in Carmel and her family. She referred to herself as Laudem Gloriae, Praise of Glory. She died November 9, 1906. Her last words were: “I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!” Her canonization took place in Rome on October 16, 2016.
Prayer of St. Elizabeth
“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, let me entirely forget myself that I may abide in you, still and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity; let nothing disturb my peace nor separate me from you, O my unchanging God, but that each moment may take me further into the depths of your mystery ! Pacify my soul! Make it your heaven, your beloved home and place of your repose; let me never leave you there alone, but may I be ever attentive, ever alert in my faith, ever adoring and all given up to your creative action.”
A RENEWED HOPE
As the jubilee of hope continues, I become increasingly concerned that I will not have anything new to say. Or that I will end up repeating myself, relying upon the same passages of scripture or stories to say what I want to say. But then I stop and realise that this ‘standing still’ in my understanding of what a jubilee of hope is quite the opposite of the movement of a pilgrim of hope, a pilgrimage into hope. What is needed then is a recommitment if you like – a renewal of hope.
Maybe the old saying ‘it is what you make of it’ has become too entrenched in my thoughts. Perhaps instead, I should think ‘it will be what I allow God to make of it in me’. Not all things are possible for me on my own, but nothing is impossible for God. Who would I rather trust in, in who would I rather place my hope? And with this in mind, I have come to a few short conclusions about hope, and my relationship with it.
Hope always and only ever looks to the future – our future in the life of God
Hope has God as its source and has God as its ultimate fulfilment – it is good.
Hope is not easy – it asks much of us. But never too much that it is impossible.
Hope, poured into our hearts by God, calls us from within drawing us towards God.
Admittedly, these are not my own thoughts, but those of St. Thomas Aquinas and his explanation of the virtue of hope. Yet still, I find in his explanation illuminates moments of my life, especially my Carmelite life, so that I can see how God has called me, challenged me, inspired me, and sustained me. But maybe most importantly, and to take all of this out of the past tense… how God is calling me, is challenging me, is inspiring me, and is and always will sustain me.
Three years ago, around this time (3rd September) I took a step out in hope into religious life as a friar in the Order. I remember distinctly the Gospel for that day as it was the feast of St. Gregory the Great. It was a passage from Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 16:13-19), where Jesus asks his disciples who the Son of Man is? He then turns to Peter directly and asks, ‘but who do you say I am?’. It is quite a piercing question, but at the same time a comforting one. Jesus asks Peter directly; he desires the individual. Not just one more disciple hidden in the crowd. I was not just another friar in the province, or in the Order, but an individual who’s hope in God’s goodness and love had driven me to this point. And so, with joy, I professed my vows of obedience, poverty and chastity for three years.
Our vocation, whether it is as a mother, father, to religious life, married life or single life, is rooted in God. It is God who calls us out into this understanding of who God has created us to be and what God hopes for us to become. A mistake may be to think that we have to wait around to see what God’s plan for us is. But our very being is God’s plan, our simple turning to God is what God desires for our lives.
Through the person of Christ, each of us is asked individually in prayer and through others “who do you say I am?”. Because of this, I believe we can do nothing but flourish. But that does not mean it is always easy! A plant for example which is planted in the perfect conditions still has to weather a harsh winter every now and again! But we do not hope in what is impossible, only in what God makes possible in our lives.
Now those three years have passed, and so I am faced with the same question as before, “Matthew, who do you say I am?”. Again, I find it to be a question of either remaining stagnant in hope or driving forwards. Pressing on, as St. Paul would say, ‘to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me’ (Philippians 3:12). In the context of religious life, that meant taking the decision to renew my vows of obedience, poverty and chastity according to the Carmelite Rule, renewing my commitment to God and to my brothers. Because for me, my profession as a Carmelite friar allows me to live in hope.
A renewal of vows which looks to the future – our future in the life of God
A vocation which has God as its source and is fully realised in God – it is good
A life which is not always easy – it asks much of us. But never too much that it is impossible.
A love, poured into our hearts by God, calling us from within, drawing us into God.
But this renewal of vows does not mean that I can rest, become stagnant again in my hope in Christ. Jesus’ question to Peter becomes a daily question which we must all consider, in whatever way we live of Christian lives. But I am confident that if St. peter’s answer is our own, then we will live in hope. Or as Elijah would exclaim before the God of his hope – With zeal, we are zealous for the Lord God of Hosts’ (1 Kings 19:10)
Matthew Janvier O.Carm
British Province of Carmelites
https://carmelite.org/weekly-reflections/a-renewed-hope/
Maybe the old saying ‘it is what you make of it’ has become too entrenched in my thoughts. Perhaps instead, I should think ‘it will be what I allow God to make of it in me’. Not all things are possible for me on my own, but nothing is impossible for God. Who would I rather trust in, in who would I rather place my hope? And with this in mind, I have come to a few short conclusions about hope, and my relationship with it.
Hope always and only ever looks to the future – our future in the life of God
Hope has God as its source and has God as its ultimate fulfilment – it is good.
Hope is not easy – it asks much of us. But never too much that it is impossible.
Hope, poured into our hearts by God, calls us from within drawing us towards God.
Admittedly, these are not my own thoughts, but those of St. Thomas Aquinas and his explanation of the virtue of hope. Yet still, I find in his explanation illuminates moments of my life, especially my Carmelite life, so that I can see how God has called me, challenged me, inspired me, and sustained me. But maybe most importantly, and to take all of this out of the past tense… how God is calling me, is challenging me, is inspiring me, and is and always will sustain me.
Three years ago, around this time (3rd September) I took a step out in hope into religious life as a friar in the Order. I remember distinctly the Gospel for that day as it was the feast of St. Gregory the Great. It was a passage from Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 16:13-19), where Jesus asks his disciples who the Son of Man is? He then turns to Peter directly and asks, ‘but who do you say I am?’. It is quite a piercing question, but at the same time a comforting one. Jesus asks Peter directly; he desires the individual. Not just one more disciple hidden in the crowd. I was not just another friar in the province, or in the Order, but an individual who’s hope in God’s goodness and love had driven me to this point. And so, with joy, I professed my vows of obedience, poverty and chastity for three years.
Our vocation, whether it is as a mother, father, to religious life, married life or single life, is rooted in God. It is God who calls us out into this understanding of who God has created us to be and what God hopes for us to become. A mistake may be to think that we have to wait around to see what God’s plan for us is. But our very being is God’s plan, our simple turning to God is what God desires for our lives.
Through the person of Christ, each of us is asked individually in prayer and through others “who do you say I am?”. Because of this, I believe we can do nothing but flourish. But that does not mean it is always easy! A plant for example which is planted in the perfect conditions still has to weather a harsh winter every now and again! But we do not hope in what is impossible, only in what God makes possible in our lives.
Now those three years have passed, and so I am faced with the same question as before, “Matthew, who do you say I am?”. Again, I find it to be a question of either remaining stagnant in hope or driving forwards. Pressing on, as St. Paul would say, ‘to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me’ (Philippians 3:12). In the context of religious life, that meant taking the decision to renew my vows of obedience, poverty and chastity according to the Carmelite Rule, renewing my commitment to God and to my brothers. Because for me, my profession as a Carmelite friar allows me to live in hope.
A renewal of vows which looks to the future – our future in the life of God
A vocation which has God as its source and is fully realised in God – it is good
A life which is not always easy – it asks much of us. But never too much that it is impossible.
A love, poured into our hearts by God, calling us from within, drawing us into God.
But this renewal of vows does not mean that I can rest, become stagnant again in my hope in Christ. Jesus’ question to Peter becomes a daily question which we must all consider, in whatever way we live of Christian lives. But I am confident that if St. peter’s answer is our own, then we will live in hope. Or as Elijah would exclaim before the God of his hope – With zeal, we are zealous for the Lord God of Hosts’ (1 Kings 19:10)
Matthew Janvier O.Carm
British Province of Carmelites
https://carmelite.org/weekly-reflections/a-renewed-hope/