Silvere van den Broek - The Spiritual Legacy of Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity: Poor Clare of Jerusalem (1901-1942)

THE SPIRITUAL LEGACY
OF
SISTER MARY OF THE HOLY TRINITY

POOR CLARE OF JERUSALEM
(1901-1942)

EDITED BY

THE REV. SILVRE VAN DEN BROEK, O.F.M

Translated from the French

Published in cooperation with the
Poor Clares Corpus Christi Monastery,
Rockford, Illinois.

Nihil Obstat:

E. A. CERNY, S.S., D.D.

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

FRANCIS P. KEOUGH, D.D.

Archbishop of Baltimore

March 8, 1950

Copyright 1950 by Imprimerie St. Francois, Malines, Belgium

Copyright 1981 by Imprimerie St. Francois, Malines, Belgium

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 8182830

ISBN: 0895551659

Anyone obtaining favors through the intercession of Sister Mary of the Trinity or wishing to know more about the enclosed contemplative vocation of the Poor Clares as lived today may write to The Poor Clares, Corpus Christi Monastery, 2111 South Main Street, Rockford, Illinois 61102.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

God is still calling women to follow Him and serve Him and His Church in the Poor Clare vocation as He did Sister Mary of the Trinity. At the Annunciation Monastery, 6200 E. Minooka Rd., Minooka, IL 60447, the Sisters strive to show forth the way of life taught them by our Holy Father St. Francis and our Holy Mother St. Clare and reformed by our Holy Mother St. Colette. The cornerstone of the Chapel with its FIAT invites all to imitate Our Blessed Mother in her response to God's Will.

Be it done unto me according to Thy Will!

The Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is the center of the hidden way of the cloister. During the daily Sacrifice of the Mass and times of Adoration the Sisters are drawn into deeper union with Christ and with His Mystical Body. The praying of the Divine Office extends the graces of Holy Mass throughout the hours of the day and into the night when the Sisters rise for the Office of Matins.

SISTER MARY OF THE HOLY TRINITY

Contents

In complete submission to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and in conformity with the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, we declare that we have no wish to anticipate in any way the judgment of the Church on the nature of the communications made to Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, or to attribute to the words contained in this work any other meaning than that which the above-mentioned decrees permit.

THE EDITOR

J.M.J.A.T.

PATRIARCHATUS LATINUS

JERUSALEM

Christmas, 1942.

P.O.B. 1171Tel:, 3460

N. 104/42

Very Reverend Father,

While attentively reading the manuscript of this book, before authorizing its publication, I was constrained to admire the marvelous work of grace in a soul.

It is a gradual work which begins by removing obstacles, then sketches a broad outline of the path ahead, and finally leads to the lofty peak of perfection. All of which, Very Reverend Father, you have so well explained.

Actually, God did not require anything really extraordinary of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity. However, He did wish her to correspond faithfully to His holy inspirations and generously to refuse Him none of those little sacrifices for which opportunities arise during the course of a day.

It ever remains true that grace resembles the sun, and the soul the dwelling that receives it: we have only to open the shutters, and, even without invitation, sunshine floods the room. Such was the case with Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity, to whom in all truth we may apply the words of the Prophet

God grant, Very Reverend Father, that this book may do the greatest good to souls by making them understand that through simplicity and generosity we go straight to Him, who will then set no limit to His own generosity.

While giving you my blessing, I recommend myself to your prayers.

Sincerely yours in our Lord,

LOUIS, Patriarch of Jerusalem

Very Reverend Father Silvre van den Broek, O.F.M.
St. Savior's Monastery
Jerusalem.

SYRIAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCHATE
OF ANTIOCH
BEYROUTH - LEBANON

N. 312/44

Beyrouth, January 11, 1944.

Reverend Father,

I thank you for the copy of the book Soeur Marie de la Trinit, which you were so kind to send me.

These pages, written in an apparently simple, and indeed naive style, reveal in Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity a great soul who, while leading an ordinary and hidden life, developed the love of God to a heroic degree. The spiritual Notes of this holy nun who enjoyed divine communications raise us at times to the loftiest heights of Christian mysticism.

I congratulate you, Reverend Father, on having published this book which, I hope, will be very helpful to good souls who experience within themselves a call to a life of perfection and to an intense love for Jesus as Victim for sin.

With my cordial thanks, I beg you to accept, Reverend Father, the expression of my religious devotion in our Lord.

I. G. CARDINAL TAPPOUNI

Syrian Patriarch of Antioch

Preface

by the Editor

S ISTER MARY of the Holy Trinity (Louisa Jaques), as indeed the account of her conversion and vocation reveals, was a very affectionate and a very sensitive soul. Throughout her life, her strength lay in a sincere love. There was nothing frivolous and nothing superficial about her. Her love was not a matter of feeling or of sentimentality. She did not know what sentimentality was. She had, nevertheless, tender and sensitive feelings. Instinctively her love rose towards that which was perfect and best, even when she did not realize what it was. That is why our Lord could say to her: "You did not know that it was I whom you loved in cherishing your family and those whom I placed in your path." Her love was also characteristically feminine. It was a constant, penetrating love which she could not resist.

God, who is love, was forced to respond, and did respond to such a sincere love. Moreover, once she had found Christ, the only being worthy of her love, her soul became attached to Him with all its strength; and in the midst of the hardest trials and keenest sufferings, her love for Him never failed or diminished. This love was the guiding star of her life. This love purified her of all lapses and of all her faults. This love made her heroic in the pursuit of her vocation, and once she had achieved that vocation, this love made her heroic in living her vocation.

This love made her desire and seek her vowsthat threefold and fourfold oath of fidelity to Christwith great fervor. This longing, this love for vows in this life, was something vital in her. To her they were like tangible bonds that attached her to Christ, and like a reciprocal proof that Christ accepted her love.

If among our readers there are members of large families in which all, parents and children, are united in a warm and intimate family affection, and if they have been obliged to sacrifice that union for higher claims, those readers will understand that the sacrifices of Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity in renouncing her family through love for God were heroic, a heroism that the narrative of her vocation amply reveals.