#monasticlife — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 5 September: Sr. Thérèse of St. Augustine

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine: My dear little Sister, I ask a favor of you: come and assist me at the hour of my death.

Saint Thérèse: Oh, yes! I will come.

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine: And don’t let me go to purgatory. Obtain for me an act of perfect love.

Saint Thérèse: Purgatory? But you won’t go there. Souls as faithful to the Rule as you are don’t go there. You are extraordinarily faithful; it shows in everything about you. If only you knew how meritorious I find your life! You will be very surprised when you see all the good you have done and all the souls you have saved. Your eyes speak of God. How happy I am that I will soon see all the beauty of your soul and know you as you truly are! I rejoice in this, because here on earth I don’t know you.

Sr. Thérèse of St. Augustine, OCD

Memories of a Holy Friendship, no. 19, “To Know You as You Are”

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine was the nun of whom Saint Thérèse wrote:

There is in the Community a Sister who has the faculty of displeasing me in everything, in her ways, her words, her character, everything seems very disagreeable to me. And still, she is a holy religious who must be very pleasing to God. (Ms C 13v)

In January 1897, Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine heard what sounded like beams breaking apart above her head. She believed that the sound was supernatural and that someone in the community would die within the year.

That night, she dreamed that she was alone in a large, dark room. Before her was an open doorway that was completely black, without the smallest ray of light. She then found herself on the other side of the doorway, where everything was as bright as the sun. What impressed her most was that there was no interval between the darkness and the light.

The next morning, Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine told Saint Thérèse that she believed she would die that year. Saint Thérèse received the news with joy. The two sisters agreed to wait until a day of license before Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine related the dream in full. Three weeks passed before they spoke of it again.

After hearing the dream, Saint Thérèse told her:

If you knew how much good you are doing me! Haven’t I spoken to you about the state of my soul?… I don’t believe in eternal life. It seems to me that after this mortal life there is nothing more. I cannot express the darkness into which I am plunged. What you have just told me corresponds exactly to the state of my soul. The preparations being made for me, and especially the black doorway, are truly an image of what is taking place within me.… Everything has disappeared for me, and nothing remains but love.

After Saint Thérèse entered the infirmary, she told Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine, “How well your dream is coming true.” When Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine asked her about the black doorway, Saint Thérèse answered:

It is growing darker and darker. Your dream is my only ray of light. I have no other. I know it by heart, down to the smallest detail.

This is the background to the question Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine later asked Saint Thérèse in the infirmary: “Tell me, have you had any struggles?”

Sister Thérèse of St. Augustine
Julia Leroyer
5 September 1856 – 22 July 1929
View the photo of the entire community

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

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Thérèse of St. Augustine, Sister n.d., Souvenirs d’une sainte amitié, Archives du Carmel de Lisieux, viewed 3 September 2026, https://archives.carmeldelisieux.fr/au-carmel-du-temps-de-therese/la-communaute/soeur-therese-de-st-augustin/souvenirs-dune-sainte-amitie/.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

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

Featured image: © Natalie Ewert (All rights reserved), used by permission.

#darkness #dream #monasticLife #SrThérèseOfStAugustine #StThereseOfLisieux

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Her prayer to the Trinity was not only a pious elevation, but the expression of a gift of herself to God. We had prepared together for this renewal of our vows on 21 November 1904; when I asked her about it on the next day, she replied that she had received a great grace that was difficult for her to express.

Sister Marie of the Trinity, O.C.D.
Witness, Ordinary Process

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s famous prayer, O my God, Trinity Whom I adore, was discovered only after her death. Found among her private papers, the prayer was handwritten on a page torn from her personal notebook and dated November 21, 1904—a day that was deeply significant in her spiritual journey.

The day marked the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a celebration in Carmel where the sisters renewed their religious vows before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Elizabeth, the youngest of the community, fully embraced this annual act of consecration, offering herself entirely to “her Three,” as she lovingly called the Holy Trinity. This prayer, born in the silence of her cloister and from the depths of her heart, was not shared during her lifetime. Her companions only discovered it after her passing, tucked away in her writing desk.

According to her fellow Carmelite, Sr. Marie of the Trinity, the prayer was not just a spiritual meditation but an act of total self-giving. St. Elizabeth later confided that the day she composed it was one of profound grace, though she found it difficult to describe the experience in words. Her offering echoes the great spiritual traditions of the Church, drawing comparisons with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Act of Oblation to Merciful Love and St. Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Eternal Trinity.

Yet, Elizabeth’s voice is uniquely her own, expressing her desire to be a “heaven” for God, a place where the Trinity could dwell and be adored without distraction. This prayer, considered one of the most beautiful expressions of Trinitarian spirituality, invites us to surrender ourselves entirely to God. In its profound simplicity, it captures the heart of St. Elizabeth’s message: to live continually in God’s presence, wholly adoring, wholly surrendered, and wholly at peace.

To reflect more deeply on this prayer and the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, listen to our podcast episode embedded below. Let her words inspire you to invite God to make your soul His dwelling place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvMvLpH6fo

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

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

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/08/s2ep32sabeth/

#CarmelOfDijon #ConradDeMeester #monasticLife #Podcast #PrayerToTheHolyTrinity #religiousProfession #spirituality #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #Trinitarian