Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter IX.
The last illness and precious death
of Mother Marie Cherubine.

The month of April 1887 was coming to an end, when the community was unexpectedly thrown into great trouble. The feebleness of their good Mother had grown to the point that her doctor considered it necessary to have the last sacraments administered to her. Let us now listen to the chronicle of the House:

“The holy ceremony took place in the morning, after the recitation of the Little Hours of the Breviary. The religious were extremely sad. The Reverend Mother was very calm, and her spirit serene. She followed the sacred rite with the greatest piety, joining in all the prayers, and considered us with a look full of benevolence.

“However, the illness took a turn for the better, and on 27th April, the good Mother was out of danger, even though she was still suffering. She had cancer of the stomach, and as far as food was concerned, she could scarcely take anything other than a liquid, and even then with a great deal of difficulty. But her virtue was nothing short of admirable. She was always happy, never letting the least complaint escape her, and she was continually occupied in prayer or meditation. When someone asked her: “My Mother, are you suffering?” she would reply: “Oh, nothing in comparison with what our good Jesus suffered.” Sometimes she manifested her desire to suffer a great deal to please God and to obtain the salvation of immortal souls.

“Fervent prayers were addressed to heaven, and it seemed that God still wished to leave us our good Mother for a while for our happiness and joy. And in fact, we saw our dear invalid at choir during the months of June and July. She took communion and heard Mass with us. Soon her strength permitted her to give us some pious conferences on the strict observance of the Rule, and especially on her preferred subject – charity and mutual support, and on the love of prayer.

“She also exhorted us to always seek our support and strength in God, and ask from Him the courage to bear our daily pains and crosses of every day, with profit for heaven.

“She even attended the recitation of the Divine Office, as she still had her voice and a great zeal for the good order of the choir.

“On 2nd October, the feast of the Holy Angels, the day when the community celebrated Reverend Mother Marie Cherubine’s feast day, the dear invalid still had the strength to come to the recreation room to receive the Sisters’ good wishes.

“One month later, on 6th November, they celebrated the 40th anniversary of her religious profession. The good Mother was still able to talk with her daughters, and ardently spoke of the great happiness of belonging to God, and excited a zeal in them that burned more and more for the service of their heavenly Spouse. It was noticed, however, that her strength was waning. The illness had undermined her constitution and the end was not too far away. So we prepared ourselves to make the sacrifice of our much-beloved Mother, if this was the will of God, as in fact it would be a great sacrifice for us.

“During those same days a very young Sister fell seriously ill, to the point where they had to administer the last sacraments to her. Sister Marie-Julie (this was her name) keenly desired to see her cherished Mother one more time, and she in her turn, although she herself was very ill, could not refuse to console her daughter. So she went to see her and console her by her encouraging words.

“For our good Mother the death of this good little Sister on 21st November was a very painful blow. After this day, all she did was decline, and on 5th December, she received the last sacraments for a second time. The dear invalid was, as always, an admirable model of patience and resignation to the will of God. For each Sister who visited her, she still had some words of encouragement. The 19th December was a day of great suffering and much pain. The doctor and the Sisters did everything they could to calm her down. If sometimes the patient seemed to be out of her mind, her spirit however remained clear and penetrating, and right up to her last moment she showed by signs that she understood everything that was said to her.

“The community confessor, a Reverend Capuchin Father from Velp, came frequently to see the patient. He recited the prayers of the agonising with the Sisters. Sometimes the good Mother would herself make the sign of the cross, and they could hear her saying little ejaculatory prayers in a feeble voice, such as: “My Lord and my God!” or utter acts of charity or abandonment to the divine will.

“Thus the 19th and 20th December passed. In those days, the extraordinary confessor of the House came to visit the dying Mother. He was most edified to see the beautiful and peaceful disposition of the good Mother in her last days.

“On the following day, 21st December, the feast of St. Thomas the apostle, she received Holy communion. This day was to be the last in her life here below. Soon she would receive the crown of the eternal happiness for which she had sacrificed everything else on this earth.

“In the evening, at about 10.15 p.m., her attendant noticed that the end was approaching. For the last time, all the spiritual daughters of Mother Marie Cherubine came and knelt down before her to assist her with their prayers in this last moment, which was so important and solemn. The confessor was also present to give her a last absolution.

“While everyone was entreating the Father of Mercy to welcome her into His eternal home, at about 10.45 p.m., the good Mother Marie Cherubine peacefully rendered her beautiful soul to her Creator. Immediately her features took on an expression of sweet serenity which told all the persons present that the dear Mother was already enjoying the contemplation of the divine Majesty.

“This was truly a case for applying the words of Holy Scripture: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord!”

This is how Mother Marie Cherubine went to receive from the hand of God the reward that she had merited because of everything she had done and suffered for Him. As He said Himself: “Whoever leaves her house, her father and mother, brothers and sisters in My name, will receive a hundredfold in the eternal life.”

For twenty nine years, the community of Velp had found in her a Mother full of charity, so it was in no way astonishing that she was wept by all her Sisters and that the love of her daughters followed her to the tomb.

When her body had been reclothed in the red robe, the blue scapular and the mantle of the same colour, the bier was brought into the lower choir. There, the Sisters took turns to come and pray day and night, right up to the moment of the funeral. These days were thus days of prayer for the repose of the soul of the good Mother. And also, adds the chronicles of the community, the Sisters, from their prayers, were able to draw the consolation and strength they needed to make the generous sacrifice that God required from them.

The 24th December 1887 was the day of the funeral. After the chanting of the Libera, the priest celebrating, followed by two acolytes, entered the enclosure to conduct the body to its last resting place. It was carried there by eight of the older Choir Sisters, while the other Sisters followed, chanting the Psalm Miserere.

At the cemetery, when the ordinary ceremonies were completed, her desolate daughters said their farewell to their Mother whom they could never forget, while they waited for the moment when they would be with her again in the beautiful homeland, where she herself would not forget her dear children at Velp.

The following inscription was engraved later on her tomb:

In the pious memory
of our Very Reverend Mother
MARIE CHERUBINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
foundress, and, for twenty nine years,
the Superior of this convent,
deceased on 21st December 1887,
at the age of 75 years.
Everything to everyone, she did not live for herself,
But for God and the Sisters
confided to her care.
May she rest in peace!

And indeed she had been everything to everyone, to gain them all for Jesus Christ.

Like a true Mother, she knew how to direct her house with a skilful hand and showed herself in everything as an excellent Superior. By her gentle direction and her pleasant manner, she gained the affection and esteem of all the Sisters and enjoyed their entire confidence, as one of their directors attests. A Reverend Capuchin Father who for a long time had the spiritual direction of the Convent of Velp has also left us this witness in her favour: “Mother Marie Cherubine has always appeared to me as an excellent religious, a prudent Superior, and remarkable by her wise direction and her great charity, and thus she was loved and esteemed by all her Sisters. I have never heard the least complaint, or detected the least discontent in regard to her. Everyone, on the contrary, sings her praises.”

To finish with, let us take note of a letter addressed to the Sisters of Velp by a priest who later became the Bishop of Surinam – Mons. Wulfingh, who had known Mother Marie Cherubine and appreciated her virtues:

“My Reverend Sisters,
“Your good Mother has thus left you for heaven! Our good God has finally called her to Himself, and she, who during her life, knew only the most perfect obedience and the most generous accomplishment of the will of the Sovereign Master, has responded immediately to the voice that called her. It is assuredly a great loss, that of a Mother who, for so many years, was devoted to the good of the community in general and the wellbeing of each Sister in particular. But it is no less certain that those who truly wish to be saints, have a precious death in the eyes of the Lord: “Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus” [Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints]. This is very much the case of the dear departed. Her death is for her only the beginning of the true life.

“Indeed, your Mother is dead, but she continues to live amongst you. Her spirit of charity, by which she was truly everything to everyone; her spirit of regular discipline, which made her a model to imitate even by the most fervent; her spirit of generosity, which brought her to sacrifice herself for everyone in general and for each one in particular, and this spirit that excited you to walk in her footsteps along the path she pioneered. She herself goes ahead of you to encourage you to follow her, and to always consider her examples as a precious treasure.

“She is dead, your good Mother, but she lives on in you, or rather, she has begun to live more than ever in you. Was her life on earth anything else than a life of continual and fervent prayer which obtained everything from the good God? Now she is with this God whom she loved so much during her life. She contemplates Him in His glory, and from there she can see the needs of her great family in Velp in this valley of tears. She can see what is necessary for each one of her children to sanctify and save them, and she is praying unceasingly for all of you in order to obtain a superabundance of graces for each one of you.

“She is dead, your good Mother, but nonetheless she does not cease speaking to your heart and telling you: “Love one another, that your life may be a supernatural one, a life entirely consecrated to God, and remain always “cor unum et anima una” – one single heart and one single spirit, as I myself have given you the example by my words and especially by my actions.

“But is this good Mother really with God at this moment? And is she now already enjoying the happiness of the elect? Who can tell, my dear Sisters. Only God knows. We only know on the one hand that nothing can enter heaven which is not perfectly pure in the eyes of the Lord, and on the other hand, that those who have had charge of others will undoubtedly receive a greater and richer reward than others, but also that they will have to render a more rigorous account.

“In consequence, pray for your good Mother, my dear Sisters, pray well for her. Do not forget her for an instant, as you know how good she was! Pray, so that if she is not yet in heaven, the good God will open it to her soon, and give her the imperishable crown of Paradise.

“As for yourselves, my dear Sisters, show the whole world that you are the daughters of a holy Mother. Imitate the virtues of which she has given you the example, and thus she will live again in each one of you…”

From this we can get an idea of the general esteem which the dear deceased enjoyed.

To sum up: Mother Marie Cherubine was a model of religious perfection for her spiritual daughters, and quite rightly, one of her Sisters, who knew her perfectly in her final years, has said of her: “She will always be a venerated Mother for the Community of Velp, and a sure patron with God for her family.”

I should like to end this short notice with the words of the pious Thomas a Kempis, in the Life by one of his fellow brothers: Pauca dicere charitas expostulat, ne margarita in agro dominico diutius lateat, sed pro aedificatione plurimorum ad lucem veniat: - “Charity demands that a precious pearl should not remain long buried in the fields of the Lord, but should come to the light for the edification of a great number.”

May this be so, and then the author’s wishes will be fulfilled!

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter VIII. A Jubilee.
Last years of Mother Marie Cherubine – Her virtues

Mother Marie Cherubine, thanks to her devotion, her abilities, her tact in the direction of souls and her pleasant manner, was thus venerated and cherished by her Sisters and the people who surrounded her - in a word, by her daughters and all those who knew her. So it is not astonishing that she was re-elected several times on the unanimity of the voices as the Superior of the community.

This is how she always remained at the head of this community that she herself had brought from Bruges, and to which she had consecrated all her cares, her life, her strength and her talents. And so she was venerated and cherished as a mother, in the full sense of the term. Everyone experienced the effects of her maternal charity and solicitude. No Sister was an exception, and this is why everyone, absolutely everyone, loved her with all the tenderness a child has for its mother. They were able to show this to her especially clearly in a solemn circumstance. Let us borrow the account of the good mother’s Jubilee from the Monastery Chronicle.

“20th July 1883. We in the community will never forget this memorable date, and it will always be happily remembered. It was the 25th anniversary of the foundation of this convent, and also the 25th anniversary of the Superiority of the Reverend Mother Cherubine, our foundress. Through the medium of Father Nicholas Mauron, the Superior General of the Redemptorist Fathers, His Holiness Leo XIII granted a plenary indulgence to every faithful who took Holy Communion in our chapel and prayed for the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff, otherwise, 300 days of indulgence, on each day of the octave, for those who came to pray in our chapel.

“Through the efforts of Rev. Father Justin, Capuchin, who for twelve years had been the Sisters’ confessor, the chapel was decorated tastefully by means of draperies, standards and placards on which sentences were written, etc.

“The Reverend Mother prepared herself for the solemnity by a retreat of several days, and the religious had the opportunity to prepare and decorate the convent the best way possible. As a witness to the esteem they had for the Jubilarian, some precious gifts were offered for the chapel and the house.

“At 8 o’clock, there was a solemn Mass with three priests. The sermon was given by Rev. Father Athanase, Capuchin. Twenty-five years beforehand, His Reverence had assisted at the foundation of the Monastery. The preacher reminded his listeners about everything that had been done concerning the establishment, with the grace of God, during these long years, and through the devoted care of good Mother Marie Cherubine.

“After the Mass, the Reverend Mother, accompanied by the founding Sisters, five Choir Sisters and two converse, was conducted solemnly to the recreation room, to the chant of the Benedictus. Everything there was decorated magnificently. The Sisters were welcomed there with many chants and compliments. This day was truly a day of thanksgiving and joy for us, and will remain forever engraved upon our memories. Our Mother also received the signs of their cordial participation in the feast from her family and her acquaintances from outside. On this occasion, the good Mother also received a letter from the hand of Cardinal Deschamps, and many letters of congratulation came from elsewhere, including from the other convents of the Congregation established in Holland and in other places.”

The thoughts running through Mother Marie Cherubine’s mind in these circumstances are well described in this extract from a letter addressed by her to one of her former spiritual daughters, and now (1883) the Superior of another community of the same Congregation.

“Here,” she told her, “everything at this moment is topsy-turvy. It is a mysterious time when I must remain in my cell. The double jubilee, that of the foundation and that (alas!) of the Superior, requires it, they tell me. I beg you, my good Mother, intervene here in my favour, and show me your filial affection in imploring for me the great mercy of the best of Fathers. Pray also that in future, all the moments of my life will be consecrated to this one thing that alone is important: my sanctification. I also await from your community a prayer for myself and for this dear house…”

So therefore this double jubilee was a magnificent and memorable feast. It could not have been otherwise, and the bonds that united the children to this excellent Superior and this charitable Mother, became even closer.

Mother Marie Cherubine, in spite of her age, continued to watch zealously over the exact observance of the Rule, and herself to progress in the way of perfection. Being everything to everyone and leading all her subordinates to God, this was her only purpose and the motive behind all her works and all her sacrifices. “None of the Sisters who were under her wise direction,” one of her daughters tells us, “could ever forget the tenderness with which she elevated our hearts to God, and the affectionate zeal with which she knew how to encourage those who were afflicted with sufferings, not just spiritual, but also corporal. Then she would lift up their courage with her thoughts of faith and generosity. She was careful to direct them all following God’s wishes and the character of each one of them in particular. She granted her daughters everything she could in order to help them in the practice of virtue and make them correspond to their vocation. As a true disciple of Saint Alphonsus, she also wanted a continual prayer to be in the hearts and on the lips of everyone who was under her direction.”

Prayer - this is a characteristic of the spiritual life. All the time she could dispose of, she consecrated to prayer. This was the life of her soul, and no pretext was capable of making her neglect this holy exercise.

To her esteem of prayer she joined her love of the word of God, Holy Scripture, which for her was always an abundant spring, where she would go to quench the thirst of her soul. It mattered little to her by whose mouth it was communicated to her. Sometimes it happened that the community was not too satisfied by one or another preacher. As for her, she was always content. It was always enough for her to hear God spoken of. Just the name of God offered her a subject sufficient for meditation.

Her life was also a life of mortification. Even when she had reached an advanced age and was bent over because of her sufferings and her fatigue, she could be heard every evening beating her poor old body with blows of the discipline. Feeble as she was, she could no longer eat the common food, and yet even on this point she would try to mortify herself. If one of the Sisters should bring her some special food, which her filial love had led her to prepare with a great deal of care, the good Superior, to mortify herself, would put it adroitly to one side, and when the Sisters were assembled in the chapel to recite the Office, she would call one of the converse Sisters and give it to her, convinced that this food would be more useful to her than to herself.

The religious who looked after her in her last illness has told us something that proves her truly maternal love for her children. Sometimes her fever was so severe that she fell into a delirium. One evening when she was being devoured by an ardent fever, she imagined that the bell was calling the Sisters to the Office in choir. She immediately got up and tried to get dressed: “It is time to go to Office,” she cried. “I must be there, let me go.” The Sister infirmarian did not know how to calm her, when the thought came to her to tell her: “My Mother, oh, be good enough to listen to me for a moment. I have a pain which is tormenting me greatly.” At that moment, to the great astonishment of the Sister, the good Mother recovered her habitual tenderness and asked her in a tone of profound compassion what was troubling her. Then, as if she had recovered her senses, she spoke to her with so much tenderness and told her such consoling words that the memory of them has never been effaced from the Sister’s memory. So great was her charity for her daughters and for her neighbour!

As her feebleness always kept on increasing with the number of her years, she more than once expressed the desire to see herself discharged of the burden of her Superiority. We have found one of her letters on this point that she addressed to the Superior of another community.

“Pray,” she told her, “pray for me and for our dear Community, as I hope that in the month of October 1882, I shall be discharged from my burden. I have borne it for a very long time for the love of the will of God. This is why I often tell my former Sisters that they should choose the Mother Vicar as their Superior. There is much to recommend her. She is prudent and intelligent. But she is opposed, on the pretext of the feebleness of her health. I do not dare to speak to her any more about it myself. The thought of it alone would make her ill. So let us pray together for this affair to have a happy outcome.”

Mother Marie Cherubine was nonetheless elected once again. She had to submit to the will of the community, which was happy to be under her wise and prudent direction. So she accepted the burden of the Superiority again that God had imposed on her, as she sought in everything and above everything, His divine will. And she carried this yoke that was so heavy for her in submission until her death, that is to say, for the space of twenty nine years.

Beginning in 1884, the good Mother’s health became feeble in a remarkable manner, and they had to make her take the necessary rest. But it was so painful for her not to be able to follow the community acts that she was in a hurry to get back to them. In this way too she was a model of strict observance to the holy Rule.

One day, as a result of her advanced age, (she was seventy years old), she had the misfortune of falling down while she was climbing the stairs, and she dislocated her shoulder. Not a single complaint came from her lips, nothing betrayed her internal suffering, and nothing could make her lose her calm and her habitual meekness. This was fresh proof of her high degree of perfection and her complete abandonment to the holy will of God.

Little by little her strength diminished to the point where, at the beginning of the year 1887, she gave the early signs that her end was more or less near. Mother Marie Cherubine was then about seventy five. The time had come for her to receive the rewards of her pains, cares and virtues.

But God wanted to purify her soul even further in the crucible of suffering. Having thus found the treasure of the pure gold of charity, she could now be united more intimately with Him for whom she alone had searched while on earth, and to whom for so many long years she had consecrated her heart and her whole life. Nothing now attached her to the world, and with the royal Chanter she could say: “As the thirsty hart sighs after the spring of living water, so my heart desires You, O my God.” (Ps. 41:2).

For a few more months yet, Mother Cherubine would have to endure great sufferings, and for a few more months yet, her daughters were able to contemplate the admirable examples of their worthy and much-beloved Superior, and then they became the witnesses of this death of which Holy Scripture speaks when it says that it is precious in the eyes of the Lord.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter VII. The royal way of the cross.

This is what St. Thomas a Kempis calls the way of suffering: “In the cross is our salvation,” he said, “in it is our life… in it is the crown of the virtues, in it is perfection and sanctity.”

These words Mother Marie Cherubine put faithfully into practice when she found herself afflicted with the cross we have spoken of. But what a model of patience and resignation did the community of Velp then find it had! Never did a single word of complaint ever pass her lips, not even when her illness made her suffer most cruelly.

At Velp itself and in the other Redemptoristine houses fervent prayers were addressed to God for the complete recovery of their beloved Mother, and to the joy of all the Sisters, these prayers were heard.

However, her triennium was coming to its end, and according to the Rule, the Mother had to be deposed, unless the Bishop would grant the necessary dispensation for the renewal of the choice made beforehand. This dispensation was willingly granted, and Mother Marie Cherubine was unanimously re-elected.

This was because everyone loved her as a veritable Mother, and everyone was convinced of the devotion and excellent qualities of this Superior.

The cure we have spoken about and which so rejoiced the community, unfortunately was only a passing one. In 1871, the illness reappeared, this time in a more alarming way. The doctor diagnosed cataracts on her eyes. He thought that an operation was necessary, and recommended it be done by a distinguished specialist, Professor Mooren of Dusseldorf. Permission from the ecclesiastical authority was granted, and the good Mother left the enclosure and set off for Dusseldorf in the company of Sister Marie-Therese, who had distinguished herself several times as a good infirmarian, and very experienced in nursing the sick. No doubt it cost the two religious dearly to leave their dear cells, but obedience demanded the sacrifice. It was enough to make them bear it cheerfully.

However, an unexpected obstacle awaited our travellers at Dusseldorf. Mr. Mooren found that the cataracts were not sufficiently developed and that he would have to delay the operation for at least another year. And so they had to return to Velp. They arrived there the following day.

A year of trials and sufferings opened up before Mother Marie Cherubine. Her sight got worse and diminished more and more, to the point where she became almost blind and was no longer in a state to carry out her habitual tasks.

Nonetheless, as always, she was a model of patience and loving submission to the will of God. The chronicle of the house says: “This time was a time of privations of every kind for our good Mother, and a time of many little sacrifices to offer every day to her divine Spouse. But she knew how to hide all this from her Sisters so well that they were never able to notice in her the least change of humour or the least impatience.” Although she was scarcely able to do them any more, the nonetheless wished to follow the regular exercises, both in choir with the Breviary, and in the refectory and recreation room.

Finally the cataracts grew to maturity, and the operation could be attempted. The Archbishop gave his benevolent dispensation of enclosure, and once again they left for Dusseldorf.

Always full of devotion to her Superior, Sister Marie-Therese accompanied her as in the previous year. In view of her perfect knowledge of the German language, the blind Mother was able to confide herself to her in all respects.

The two travellers left their convent on 1st July 1872. The ardent prayers of her daughters accompanied the good Mother, and worked a holy violence against heaven to obtain a prompt and perfect cure. Professor Mooren welcomed them most charitably. A carriage was waiting for them at the railway station and brought them to the convent of the Sisters of the Cross, where they found Mr. Mooren.

He immediately examined her eyes and found them in the state he wanted them, and promised to come the next day to do the operation.

To the great satisfaction of everyone, the operation was successful, and Sister Marie-Therese, full of joy, was able to announce the good news to her fellow Sisters at Velp. What a consolation for the community! The religious went immediately to witness their gratitude to Our Lord Jesus Christ in His sacrament of love, and also before the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. They also informed the other communities who, since they had taken part in the trial, now merited participating in the common joy.

Soon a letter arrived from Sister Marie-Therese, describing to them with what courage, patience and admirable abandonment Mother Marie Cherubine had endured the operation, and how at Dusseldorf, everyone had been edified by her piety, her pleasant manner and her complete resignation to the will of God, to such a degree that everyone held her in special esteem. Professor Mooren and his assistants also held her in veneration and rejoiced in the success of the operation, which they attributed to the numerous and fervent prayers that her dear daughters had addressed to Heaven for their good Mother.

The Sisters of the Holy Cross also did whatever was possible, by their assiduous care, to hasten the recovery of their patient, and loved to spend a few moments in her company to be edified. They found a real satisfaction in listening to the edifying words and encouragements of Mother Marie Cherubine.

At Velp, everything was joy and gratitude towards God. They felt the absence of the mother of their family, and they longed for her return. The letters from Sister Marie-Therese, announcing the continuation of the happy results of the operation, gave them to understand that their return would take place in time for the feast of Saint Alphonsus on 2nd August.

Such indeed was the plan of the two travellers, but Mr. Mooren judged it necessary for the patient to rest a few more days under his supervision, in order to decide what spectacles she would need, and thus prevent her from having to make a third trip. This news greatly disappointed the Sisters at Velp who were impatiently awaiting their good Mother.

However, the illness, against all expectations, followed so favourable a course that on 3rd August, the day after the feast of Saint Alphonsus, the travellers were allowed to return. So on this day, in the afternoon, they arrived at Velp. In their transports of the most cordial joy, all the Sisters hastened to congratulate their good Mother, whom they now discovered in the midst of them completely cured. It is in no way astonishing that days of rejoicing followed. Each one in particular wanted to see their good Superior in order to congratulate her. Everyone took the most precise care to make sure that the light was not too bright, and for this purpose great curtains were hung at all the windows of the house.

To the great satisfaction of the Sisters, a complete cure was confirmed, and Mother Marie Cherubine was able to continue her ordinary occupations.

This is how God made His faithful servant follow the royal way of the cross, and this is how she came out victorious from the combat, endowed with merits for eternity, and with God’s blessing for herself and for those who had lavished their care upon her.

Thus in the life of Mother Marie Cherubine there were some rather dark days, but there were also some serene days that served to inspire her with the great courage she needed to advance along the way of perfection.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter VI. The zealous Superior.

Sister Marie-Cherubine, in view of the little esteem she had of her own person, had in no way dreamed of becoming the Superior of the new foundation, but it was soon evident that the choice was a most happy one.

The reader will remember that, at the time of her profession, Sister Marie-Cherubine had received this addition to her name: “of the Holy Spirit”. More than ever now she had need of the lights of the Holy Spirit, so more than ever she addressed herself to this divine consoler to implore His help, and she unceasingly had recourse to this “Father of the poor, distributor of the heavenly gifts.” This is what she said one day in a meeting she had with one of her daughters. “We must often invoke the Holy Spirit with confidence,” she said, “and thus we shall always obtain light and strength in one manner or another.” Full of confidence in this powerful protector, Mother Marie-Cherubine had accepted the task that obedience had imposed on her. It was most especially during the beginning of her superiority that she had need of this confidence and this entire abandonment to the dispositions of the divine Providence, for, as in every new foundation, she often had to overcome great difficulties. “The poverty of the convent,” said one of the foundresses, “was, in the beginning, very pressing, and we lacked even the most necessary things, but Mother Marie Cherubine was always full of abandonment to the will of God. Calm and resigned, she sought her strength and consolation in prayer.”

She had the greatest zeal for the observance of the Rule, as far as it was then possible. She herself gave the example of it, and so all her daughters competed ardently in the accomplishment of their duties, inspired as they were even more by the good example of their Mother than by her words.

Early in the morning, when the community awoke, she was the first in the oratory, making the Way of the Cross, and during the day, one could be sure to find her in the chapel during her free moments. This spirit of prayer appeared most clearly in her zeal for the Divine Office. She would recite her breviary with great piety and great attention, she knew most of it by heart, and later on, when she had become almost blind, she could still lend her assistance when it was needed. During the novenas and octaves on the great feasts, she was completely plunged in the contemplation of the mysteries which were the objects of them. “Even the strongest of our Sisters,” one of her daughters avowed frankly, “could not pray in as continuous and devoted a manner as our Reverend Mother did.” The importance that she placed on prayer she showed one day on the occasion of her patronymic feast. She knew that the Sisters were preparing a surprise for her, and like a good Mother, she let them do it. “I will agree to everything, my children,” she told them, “provided that you do not neglect a single prayer because of it.”

Another proof that the spirit of prayer ruled in the little community of Velp is this passage from a letter from the Mother Superior of Bruges. “It is always with delight,” she said in it, “that I receive news of your house of Velp, as I believe, and I rejoice in it, that it is a sanctuary of piety, where you love and console our good Saviour.”

Mother Marie-Cherubine was also in the habit of conversing familiarly with God, and her heart was entirely consecrated to her Creator. One of her spiritual daughters, who had become the Superior of another community, one day received the following letter from her: “My dear and good Sister, so it has been given to me to engage a few moments with my best and former daughter, in whom I always take the most lively interest… I have not forgotten the beautiful and consoling feast of Pentecost that I spent with you. When praying for all of us, I also prayed for you, that the love of God may remain fixed in our hearts and that the divine Paraclete may be the only one to find entry into our souls, as He alone can lead us to Jesus, and make us know His love and the whole price of His grace. May He also make us always progress in love and piety towards the Blessed Sacrament, where He keeps and protects us here at Velp as much as at S. – A..!

“We know that it is Him alone who attracts us, and makes every sacrifice easy for us. May His Sacred Heart be the place of our reunion. Let us love one another mutually with a pure and sincere love, and let us help one another to live truly united in Him.

“What a joy it is for me to learn that M… is receiving good vocations! Generally speaking we can say that, in spite of the malice of the times, there are still many good souls. The good God is so merciful and so kind that the virtue and piety of a few souls make Him forget the wickedness of a thousand others. However, this does not exempt us from doing everything we possibly can to prevent evil. For you, as for us, I ask God for good and solid vocations. Last Saturday a good and talented young lady from Amsterdam made her entry here. She is 22. Thanks be to God, she has a good voice and a strong chest. I think she will be an excellent acquisition for us, as she seems disposed to everything…

“Here everything is going well. The garden looks very pretty. We have a good gardener. She knows neither pain nor weariness when it comes to procuring beautiful flowers for the Blessed Sacrament.

“I must leave you now, by good and dear Sister. The clock is calling us to Vespers. My sincerest greetings to all your good fellow Sisters.

“Ever in God, Jesus and Mary.
“I am in their love
“Your devoted Sister in Jesus Christ.
“Sister Marie-Cherubine of the Holy Spirit.”

Prayer ordinarily goes hand in hand with mortification, in such a way that it can be said: Those who pray well mortify themselves well. Mother Marie Cherubine was also a model on this point. Severe upon herself, she was not content with interior mortification, but also practised exterior or corporal mortification. She observed the feasts of the Church and those of the Rule with the greatest exactitude. Inspired by a great ardour for her own sanctification, she knew how to communicate this ardour to the hearts of her subordinates. She maintained the spirit of mutual charity which makes community life so agreeable. Like a true mother, she watched over the domestics of the house in order to ensure their well-being. Everyone who knew her and had any kind of dealings with her gave testimony of her that she was everything to everyone in order to gain them all for Jesus Christ. All the Sisters, without exception, felt happy under her wise and prudent direction, as she governed less by orders and constraints than by the heart. Always full of charity towards everyone, she knew, in the greatest adversities, how to preserve her natural good humour and remain always sweet and calm.

In the early days of the foundation, many things of prime necessity were lacking, and Mother Marie Cherubine could not always give her children the things they needed. Like a true mother, she wept more over them than over her own personal needs.

One day they found her weeping in the garden, weeping in secret before God because of the extreme necessity in which she found herself. Some of the Sister noticed her, and seeing that she was weeping, they asked her the cause of her sadness. “Oh!” she replied, “it is so painful for me not to be able to give my daughters what they need any more!”

Another time, they were woken up too early in the morning by the bell. Mother Marie Cherubine was the first to notice it, when she was already dressed. She immediately ran to all the Sisters to tell them that they still had one more hour of rest before them. As for herself, she went into the Oratory to spend that hour in prayer there,

She never departed from this manner of acting in all simplicity with her subordinates. It so happened, that through surprise or negligence, one or another piece of crockery was broken. The good Mother evidently did not give any evidence of satisfaction, which can be easily understood given the penury of the house. But then one day, Mother appeared in the kitchen, and in some sort of calamity she herself broke a brand new plate! The whole community was attracted by the noise and came running in all haste, excited by the novelty of the event, and realised with a scarcely restrained joy that it was Mother herself who had broken a plate! Then they all began laughing with all their hearts, and Mother herself was not the last one to do so.

It was always a sweet and agreeable task for her to spread her favours around her. But on the other hand, it cost her a great deal to have to be occupied by obligation with things disagreeable to corrupt nature, for example, having to hold a Chapter of faults. Then she had to do such violence to her good heart and her humility that the night beforehand she would not be able to sleep. The more she was convinced that no one had more need than her of being humbled, the more she regarded herself as the least and most imperfect of all the Sisters of the house!

She was a mother full of charity towards all without exception, and especially for the converse Sisters. She always had some very maternal things to say to them. And she could often be seen coming to their aid in their work, helping them to peel the potatoes, wash and prepare the vegetables, etc. “She considered herself as good for nothing.” This is the testimony given of her by a Sister who is still alive and has already been quoted in this notice.

This charity for her neighbour first of all embraced her spiritual daughters. But she also showed it in her conduct towards strangers who came to the house. She willingly entered into conversations with them, because she always had a few words of consolation to give them. However, she always regretted the time that she had to spend in the parlour.

Her pleasant and considerate manner of acting often helped her to gain the hearts of her postulants, and encouraged their parents to willingly make the sacrifice of a child, who, they said, would find such a good Mother in the convent. And when the postulants had decided to enter, she knew how to encourage them and strengthen them in their resolve in such a winning manner that they willingly made every sacrifice to hasten their arrival in the monastery. One day she wrote to a postulant: “Hasten to come to the abode of peace. You no longer have anything to do with the world. Jesus Christ is calling you.”

So it is in no way astonishing that so good and charitable a Mother was loved and venerated by her daughters, or that they lived happy and in peace under her gentle authority, and that the number of vocations gradually increased. And the buildings also had to be extended and various other changes made.

Let us not think, however, that there was any lack of crosses, or that everything prospered in the community. We shall soon see that God wished once again to open the royal road of suffering to Mother Marie Cherubine, and that she was thus to prepare her heavenly crown, as it is by all sorts of tribulations that we must enter into the Kingdom of God.

The means which God wished to make use of to test and purify His faithful servant was an eye infection that He sent her in 1865.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter V. The new foundation.

After the Revolution of 1848 most of the countries of Europe did not cease to find themselves in a situation of uncertainty and trouble. Liberal governments, while proclaiming themselves to be the defenders of liberty for all, granted this liberty to all the sects but refused it to the Catholic religion, which they tried to oppress in every fashion.

This was the case in Belgium. There they bore down especially upon religious Congregations, which they said deceitfully, were working against the progress of civilisation and did no more than spread ignorance and “bigotry” everywhere.

The result for the religious was difficult and perilous times against which they had to defend themselves. And then in 1857 the Belgian parliament passed a “law against religious”, which was soon reduced in practice to Brussels, Antwerp and a few other places.

The Redemptoristines of Bruges feared with good reason that they would be troubled in their situation which had hitherto been peaceful, and Mons. Malou, the Bishop of Bruges, believed he had to warn them himself of the danger they were running. Filled with a paternal solicitude, it advised them to seek a place abroad where they could live at least temporarily. The good Sisters cast their eyes upon England or Ireland, but they could not then hope to find a convenient establishment in those countries.

But good Providence would once again show its predilection for the spiritual daughters of Saint Alphonsus.

At an hour’s distance from the town of Grave in Holland, there was a village of 600 inhabitants called Velp. It was a solitary place and far from the noise of the world. Dotted in the midst of the fields, the cottages and houses of the countryside could be seen. Everywhere a pleasant and peaceful calm reigned. So it was in no way astonishing that the sons of St. Francis, in the 17th century, founded a monastery in this blessed spot that still exists today.

In 1858 there was also a little manor house there which bore the name of “Bronkhorst”. The building had a considerable garden, it was all surrounded by a stretch of water, and it occupied an area of about two hectares. A distinguished Prelate, Mons. de la Geneste, a protonotary of Pius IX, was the owner. The Mother-Superior of Bruges, Marie-Philomene, learnt that this property was for sale. The circumstances in which she knew of it deserve to be reported.

In the Belgian Province of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, there was a Dutch Father of the name of Van der Meulen, the brother in law of the burgomaster of the commune of Velp. However, Mons. de la Geneste had confided the care of this property to him, and at this moment, the month of October 1857, this Redemptorist Father was back in his native country. He paid a visit to his brother in law and learnt from him that the manor of Bronkhorst was for sale.

As quickly as he could, he made Mother Marie-Philomene aware of all this, while obtaining from the burgomaster his promise to conclude the purchase from Mons. de la Geneste. But he also had to obtain permission from the Archbishop of Utrecht, Mons. Zwysen, to establish the Congregation of the Redemptoristines in his diocese.

On the advice of Mons. Malou, Mother Marie Philomene wrote to Mons. Zwysen to beg him to be good enough to consent to the new foundation. His permission, full of benevolence, was transmitted to her several months later. A short while later, the sale was concluded, and the necessary work could begin. The burgomaster took direction of it and work began straight away to turn the little manor house into a suitable convent.

Mons Malou expressed the desire for the Superior of Bruges and one of her Sisters to go themselves to Velp to supervise both the work and order things well, and the two religious were received by the burgomaster with the greatest benevolence.

On 19th – 22nd April they decided the places for the grille in the parlour, the choir, the cloister, etc., and hastened on the completion of the work to such a degree that it was hoped that the new foundation would be completely ready by the month of July.

Mother Marie Philomene was then able to inform Mons. Zwysen that she hoped to see the house put in order for the octave of the feast of the patron saint of the Congregation, that of the Most Holy Redeemer (3rd Sunday of July), in order to place under the protection of the divine Saviour the work undertaken for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. His Lordship announced his satisfaction and then, at Bruges, they were able to begin getting ready for the departure of the founding Sisters.

Mons. Malou had decided that the choice of these Sisters would be made by the Superior and her counsel. In the community, they were asking who would be the Superior of the new foundation. On this subject no one had less concern about it than Sister Marie-Cherubine, the whole time the establishment of Velp was going forward.

Finally the moment came to make the choice of the founding Sisters. On 8th July 1858, the Community assembled to hear the nominations… After the opening prayers and some preliminary remarks, Mother Marie-Philomene then pronounced the names of the foundresses. “The Superior,” she said, “would be Sister Marie-Cherubine of the Holy Spirit.” Scarcely had she heard these words than she looked around her quite astonished, as if she was looking for the Sister designated, and forgot to fall upon her knees as a sign of submission, which is what was done in such circumstances. So the Sisters sitting beside her then had to tell her: “It’s you, my Sister, so go down on your knees!” This is how little the good Sister thought that she would be charged with this task, so honourable, but so important and onerous!

The Mother Superior noticed her confusion and began to encourage her by assuring her that, if she accepted her charge through obedience and with confidence, God would support her. Her companions would also assist her by their devotion.

Her companions and fellow Sisters were:

Sister Marie-Marguerite of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Miss Caroline Marguerite Elisabeth Van Rijckervorsel, of Rotterdam) as Sister Vicar.
Sister Marie-Anne-Josepha (Miss Caroline Dupont, of Liege).
Sister Marie-Eulalia of Jesus (Miss Marie Jougen, of Mons).
Sister Marie-Felicity of the Blessed Sacrament (Miss Wilhelmina Lefevre, the daughter of Mr. Lefevre, a professor at the University of Ghent).

Next two converse Sisters:

Sister Angela of the Holy Family (Miss Mathilda Ansieur, of Zwerssele, West Flanders).
Sister Julie de Volder, a converse educande Sister, of Hooglede, (West Flanders).

These were the foundresses of the new Monastery of Velp.

The 19th July was then designated as the day for the religious to depart. Mother Marie-Philomene herself led the little colony, which arrived at its destination on the 20th of the same month. The Dean of Velp, A. Pulzers, blessed the chapel, the house and the garden. The Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time in the new convent on the 22nd. The a great solemn Mass was sung by the Dean, whose assistants were the Redemptorist Father Van der Meulen and the Father Guardian of the Capuchin Fathers, Father Athanase. On the 26th, the enclosure was solemnly established, and the following day, Mother Marie-Cherubine and her assistant Sisters were invested with their functions by Mother Marie-Philomene.

When everything had been done, Mother Marie-Philomene returned to Bruges, on 29th July. Straight after her departure, the Sisters made their submission to the new Superior, and the community of Velp was thus constituted like all the other communities of Redemptoristines. A new career then opened up for Mother Marie-Cherubine.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter IV. Re-entry into the house of the Lord.

We have seen that Miss Celestine Platton had asked for her admission into the community of the Redemptoristines of Bruges in 1844. Some Redemptoristines had in fact come from Vienna in 1841, having as their Mother Superior Marie-Alphonse of the Will of God. She had received her religious habit at Saint Agatha of the Goths, the very place where Saint Alphonsus had formerly shown himself as a model bishop.

When this worthy religious learnt that the Revolution had chased all the children of Saint Alphonsus from the capital of Austria, she wished to receive into her own community all the Sisters of Rennweg Street, but the prudence of Monsignor the Bishop of Bruges permitted her to take only three of them.

As Sister Marie-Cherubine saw herself coming back to her own country following the persecution in Vienna, she believed that, in these sad circumstances, she would do well to ask to be attached to the Community of Bruges, where she already had one of her own sisters, Marie-Claire of the Holy Sacrament. So she humbly begged her Superior at Aix-la-Chapelle to permit her to withdraw into the convent of the Redemptoristines at Bruges, even if it was in the quality of a converse Sister.

This last proposition was not accepted, but it is an evident proof not only of Marie-Cherubine’s love for the cloistered life, but also of her profound humility. The community of Bruges was happy to receive her as a Choir Sister, as Marie-Cherubine would be an excellent acquisition for their house. She arrived there on 20th April, Holy Thursday in the year 1848, towards midday.

The welcome given to her was one of great warmth. She had been so severely tested, she had suffered so much, and now she was coming to find a refuge with her fellow Sisters! Scarcely had the Sister at the door set eyes upon her than she ran to the bell to announce her arrival. All the religious, clad in their blue mantles, with a candle in their hands, went solemnly to the door of the enclosure to give their welcome to Sister Marie-Cherubine. They all greeted her and embraced her cordially, and after the sincerest congratulations, they led her to the choir chanting the beautiful canticle: “Ecce quam bonum”. How beautiful it is, how agreeable it is for Sisters to dwell together in the house of the Lord and be there but one heart and one soul! (Ps. 132:1). Then the Reverend Mother Superior herself showed her the cell that had been set aside for her.

After leaving Vienna, Marie-Cherubine had not been able to wear her religious habit, because it would have attracted too much attention, but now she could put off her secular costume in order to once more put on the habit of the spiritual daughters of Saint Alphonsus. From now on she could live in community as before, follow all the regular exercises, and in a word, be a religious in all the significance of the term. What happiness, after such painful struggles, and after such cruel persecutions! A new horizon was opening before her, the sombre revolution had disappeared and heaven had become serene again. With courage and fervour she once more began her life as a true daughter of Saint Alphonsus. The events had given her an experience of things and had attached her with all her heart and all her soul to her beautiful and dear vocation. And then, after a few days of rest, she ardently applied herself to the community exercises, and all the religious who knew her have testified that she was a model of obedience, humility and loving kindness to all her fellow Sisters.

One of them, now very aged but still in this world, who saw her close up, declares “that she was the first in observance of the holy Rules and inspired by a special fervour in the recitation of the Divine Office, which she would never have omitted for no matter what reason, because she found her whole happiness in being able to be close to her heavenly Spouse.”

However, trials of a new kind would soon fall upon Sister Marie-Cherubine. This time the crosses came to her from the part of her Superiors. It was found good, the notes that were written about her tell us, to test her virtue. For this reason, it was made their task to humble and reprimand her at every chapter of faults. They even made her begin her Educandate and her Novitiate all over again, even though she had already made her profession. “But,” says the Sister whose witness we have reported above, “she accepted everything with the best grace in the world, as no sacrifice was too much, provided that she could remain in her vocation.” So with the most profound humility she once more did all the exercises of the Educandes and Novices, always placing herself as the least of all, and by her exemplary conduct she was an example to her Sisters, to the point that often, and even now, she was the object of their conversations.

This trial, we cannot doubt, was placed upon her to augment her merits and make them more agreeable to the Heart of Our Lord, who united Himself even more intimately with His creature the more she was humbled. Marie-Cherubine thus came out of the combat even greater and more truly glorious than the conqueror who is glorified by his triumph over his enemies, as the greatest victory that we can win is surely the one we win over ourselves.

These humiliations elevated Sister Marie-Cherubine in the eyes of God, and they also increased the esteem that her fellow Sisters had conceived for her. The same Sister says: “All of them esteemed and cherished her. Her Superiors held her in particular esteem, and indeed, some years later, in 1858, they imposed upon her the honourable, but also very heavy task of founding a new Monastery in Holland and being its Superior.”

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter III. Expulsion.

The year 1848 was to go down in the history of Europe. In February, revolution broke out in Paris. King Louis-Philippe had to flee in all haste, and some days later, the other thrones of Europe were also shaken. Austria was not spared. The city of Vienna especially was the scene of plunder and cruel persecution. For several days, the lives of the best citizens were exposed to the greatest danger. Priests and religious were exposed to the most brutal and ignoble pursuit.

To obtain an idea of the situation in the capital, it will be interesting to hear the accounts given by the newspapers and eye witnesses.

“In Vienna, the revolutionary mob set to work at the beginning of March. One morning, on 13th of this month, the rioters invaded the convent of the Redemptorist Fathers and ransacked it. The priests were forced to leave their house, put off their religious habit and put on lay clothes, and hide in the houses of some of their devoted friends. The Redemptoristines equally had to take shelter in some nearby houses.

“The weakness of the government had let everything take its course, and submitted without saying a word to the first demands of the revolutionaries. Calm was re-established for a moment in the city. It was concluded that the peril had been averted, so the Fathers and Sisters believed, in spite of the wise advice of their friends, that it was now possible to remain in their convents. This was on 30th March.

“But now on 6th April, in the morning, a troop of armed men made up of students and national guards invaded the Redemptorist convent, and roused up the furious crowd to believe that the priests did not deserve to remain any longer in Vienna. Some carriages were brought along and the Fathers were forced to get into them, and without being able to bring any of their things with them, they were driven outside the city. Rev. Father Passerat, their worthy Superior, an old man of 76, was so upset by this ignoble treatment that he lost his strength and fell when getting out of the carriage. These barbarians left him in the middle of the open country without paying the least attention to him.

“When the assault on the Redemptorist house had come to an end, the rioters now cried: ‘It’s the turn of the Sisters in Rennweg Street.’ And so their house was attacked on the evening of the same day, 6th April. At that moment, a large number of pious persons were in the chapel to attend benediction. The savage crowd which that morning had invaded the Fathers’ convent now invaded the nuns’ chapel. The chaplain was already at the altar, but these scoundrels would not permit him to begin the ceremony.

“The good Sisters were terrified and fled into their garden. The rabble had scarcely entered the convent when they gave free rein to their sacrilegious rage. Their impiety even went so far as to wrench a crucifix from the wall and trample it underfoot. They had carriages brought up and conducted the Sisters out of the city.

“A young revolutionary came up to one of these carriages, and noticing four religious in it, he spat at them as a sign of his profound contempt.

“Once outside the city, the Sisters were made to get out and they were left to go where they would. And so, as night fell, there were now thirty poor women, most of them very aged, who had been chased out of their house and forced to seek shelter in the darkness with whoever took compassion on them.

“Some of the Sisters, however, when the revolutionaries arrived, had found refuge with a neighbour, Mr. Goham, a tanner by profession, whose house adjoined the Monastery garden. This generous man declared that he would never permit, even at the risk of his fortune and his life, anyone to do the least harm to these good people who had taken refuge with him. However, the following morning, the rumours had spread, and the dregs of the people assembled in front of his house and demanded he handed over the poor nuns under pain of seeing his house attacked and destroyed. The brave tanner found the means to get these poor religious out under good guard, and then, opening his doors to the bandits, he convinced them that there were none of these persons so disgracefully persecuted within his house.”

But, in the midst of all these critical events, what had happened to Sister Marie-Cherubine?

When the news came that the revolutionaries were on the point of attacking the convent of the nuns, those who were not of Austrian origin were, upon the advice of Father Passerat, sent back to their homes. A faithful friend, Father Trogher, gave them every help they needed for their journey, and in all haste he conducted six of them out of the capital. This was on 7th April in the morning.

The travellers made their way to Aix-la-Chapelle and there they found refuge with the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth. They were made welcome there with the most affectionate and hospitable charity. They assigned them a part of their own convent, where the refugees could carry out their regular exercises.

As for Sister Marie-Cherubine, she was not of their number. To escape the rioters, she had hurriedly put on the clothes of a woman of the lowest condition, and wore an old and threadbare shawl, which gave her the appearance of a vagabond. While she was finding her way out, she came to a church, which she entered for a few moments. There, in order not to attract attention, she sat down in a corner behind a pillar, but she was noticed nonetheless by the sacristan, who began to suspect that she was in fact an expert thief. He kept on his guard and kept watch over her in consequence.

The poor Sister thus had the happy chance of leaving Vienna. She then made her way to Keulen, where she arrived on Friday, 10th April. There, she was welcomed charitably by Baron de Lago, the brother-in-law of her former Mistress of Novices, Sister Maria Victoria, who had also taken refuge with him. The two religious thus had the consolation of spending a few days together with the charitable Baron, and enjoying his benevolent hospitality.

As soon as Sister Marie-Cherubine learnt that six of her fellow Sisters were at Aix-la-Chapelle, she hastened to rejoin them. She arrived there on 15th April. But soon, on 19th of the same month, she had to leave them to go to Tirlemont in Belgium and spend some days there in the bosom of her family. It is impossible to express the joy that they all experienced in seeing her again after so long a separation, and after many days of severe trials.

However, the fervent religious longed for the blessed moment when she would be able to recommence her life in the cloister. This was why, on 20th April, the very next day, she took leave of her good parents and friends, and went on to her fellow Sisters in Bruges, who were awaiting her arrival.

But what had become of the Sisters in Aix-la-Chapelle? We can once again admire the ways of the divine Providence. For six months these good religious remained with the Sisters of Saint Elisabeth. The Mother Superior of Vienna came to join them and Sister Maria Victoria, and fixed their residence in the same house, while waiting for better times. The Redemptorist Fathers occupied a convent at Wittem in Dutch Limburg, which was about 12 kilometres from Aix-la-Chapelle, and this was part of a hamlet near the town of Galoppe. They busied themselves in procuring a residence nearby for the Redemptoristine Sisters, to the effect that the 13th October saw the first Redemptoristine Convent established at Galoppe in Holland, between Maestricht and Aix-la-Chapelle.

Other Sisters came there from Austria, where religious affairs were not improving. This is why, in view of the cramped conditions in this house in Galoppe, it was judged urgent to build a new and bigger convent, and this took place at Partij, a little hamlet not far from the Fathers in Wittem. This Monastery was situated on the road between Wybre and Malines, and called Marienthal (Valley of Mary), and it was occupied by the Redemptoristines on 26th June 1851. – The convent of the Vienna Sisters was not restored to them until 1853.

So this is how the storm of persecution, in the hands of God, became the means of extending the Institute of the spiritual daughters of Saint Alphonsus even more widely. And this is how their enemies, who believed they had exterminated them forever, were the co-operators in their establishment in Holland.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858

Chapter II. In a foreign land.

The time of trial began for Celestine from the moment she entered the convent. There she was in a foreign land, far from the paternal home and everyone who was linked to her by ties of blood. People there could only understand her with a great deal of difficulty, and there was hardly a religious who understood French. Everything was strange to her – the regulation of the house, the people, the kinds of food, and the language. It was a whole new world that opened before her. In spite of this, her courage, her strength of soul, her confidence in God and in this adorable Providence which had always directed her, did not abandon her, but on the contrary, helped her to overcome all the difficulties.

Following the prescriptions of the Institute, she had to begin her religious life in the “Educandate”, in order to receive the first notions concerning the foundations of the spiritual edifice she had to construct. The Educandate is the preparation for the Novitiate. The difficulties she had to surmount can only be conjectured by the several details we can give in a few words. Her mistress knew only a little French, and Celestine scarcely knew any German, so if there was anything that she had to ask or say, she had to have recourse to her dictionary each time. However, she found a charitable father and wise counsellor in the Very Rev. Father Passerat, who had also come to Vienna, and from time to time gave a conference to the community. One day, right at the beginning of Miss Platton’s educandate, in an informal discussion, she naively said that a great difficulty for her came from the difference that existed between Austrian and Belgian food. At Tirlemont, for example, as she said, she had been accustomed to eating slices of bread and butter, while at Vienna this custom did not exist among the Sisters. Good Father Passerat was able to resolve this difficulty very quickly. On the evening of that same day, Celestine saw, to her great astonishment, placed in front of her alone, slices of bread and butter.

In the midst of these little crosses, one thing consoled her and gave her strength and courage to the point where she declared she was blessed even in her trials. This consolation she found right where her heavenly Spouse deigned to dwell hidden in His mystery of love, that is to say, with Jesus Christ in the Tabernacle, and also with Her who, from the highest heaven, watched over her like a mother over her child, took the place of her mother on earth, and surrounded her with her maternal care. This was her good and tender mother Mary.

In one of the cloisters of the Monastery there was a beautiful image of the Blessed Virgin holding the infant Jesus on her lap. The Sisters called it the Mother of the House. It was there especially that Celestine went to pour out her heart, and it was there that her Mother consoled her. It was there that she repaired her strength and drew courage and consolation to accomplish the will of the Lord and remain faithful to Him. She felt herself truly happy in this new life that she had embraced, in spite of all the difficulties that she had to overcome every day. This is what she expresses clearly in a letter to her parents that she sent them during her Educandate. “I have learnt with joy,” she told them, “that my sister Irma also wishes to become a Redemptoristine, but that she knows German well, and that she will soon come here to our Convent of Vienna.” Sometime later, Irma made her entry into the house at Bruges, and late she went on to Velp, where Celestine had become the Superior, and she is still there today. (1883).

However, her time in the Educandate was coming to an end, and the day came when Celestine was to begin her Novitiate and receive the Redemptoristine habit. And indeed she did receive it, from the hands of the coadjutor Bishop of Vienna, Mons. Matthias Pollitzer, on 29th October 1846. Following the custom of the Congregation, she received her name in religion at the same time – it was that of Sister Marie-Cherubine of the Holy Spirit.

Filled with a holy ardour, she then began her Novitiate, and soon found her greatest delight in all the exercises of the contemplative life and mental prayer. And so she proceeded rapidly along the way of perfection. The Mistress of Novices did not tire of praising her when she spoke of the virtues of Sister Marie-Cherubine. In a letter to the Mother Superior of Bruges, Marie-Philomene, she expressed herself pretty much in these terms: “Sister Marie-Cherubine lives a life totally hidden in God.” These few words give us evidence that Celestine had given herself entirely to God, for whom she had left everything that she held dear in the world, and that she was entirely penetrated by the spirit of the Congregation. And indeed this spirit requires the Sisters to consecrate themselves to the hidden life and the life of sacrifice of which our divine Saviour gave a signal example for thirty years.

After a year of regular exercises, Sister Marie-Cherubine was admitted to the profession of her holy vows on 6th November 1847. On this occasion she received the blue scapular and the mantle of the same colour, with the black veil, the crown of roses and the gold ring, the sign of the Spouses of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Sister Marie-Cherubine had therefore attained her aim, and the object of her desires. The end had crowned the work; the reward had followed the pains and sacrifices. With her whole heart she was now able to say with the Spouse in the Canticles: “I have found Him whom my heart loves, I have Him, I possess Him. I shall never leave Him again.” (1 Ct. III, 4).

The newly Professed was now part of the community of Vienna. All the Sisters held her in great esteem. They were all disposed in her favour, because of her sweet and affable manner, her piety and her placidness of soul. Happy in her vocation, she was full of gratitude towards God for this inestimable grace, for the wise conduct of her paternal Providence who had directed her, by marvellous ways, towards the end she desired so much. It seemed that she would now spend her days in the Mother House of Vienna in peace and affectionate rapport with God in prayer and good works done for the salvation and conversion of poor sinners. But this peaceful happiness was not to last long. A very heavy trial was about to engulf her. Happily, she was solid in virtue and the habit of recognizing in every event the will of God and His wise Providence, and so she could abandon herself to this divine Providence in the midst of the critical circumstances in which she was soon to find herself.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.

Mother Marie-Cherubine, O.SS.R. Foundress of the Monastery of Velp (1812 – 1887)

* * MONASTERY OF VELP * *

Foundress of the Convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, founded in 1858 [1]

Chapter I. Birth and first years of Marie-Cherubine.
Her vocation to the religious life.

Mother Marie-Cherubine was born on 4th June 1812 at Tirlemont, a town of 8000 souls, situated in Belgian East Brabant, of an honourable and Christian family of the name of Platton. At her baptism she received the name of Celestine. Of the seven children, two boys and five girls, of which the family was composed, she was the third; but it was she who was to become the joy and crown of her parents.

Her mother and father’s great preoccupation was to give their children a perfectly Christian education, and to procure for them an honourable position in society. To this end, they confided Celestine to an instructress of the same town (Miss Angelique) who had a boarding school with twelve girl students. This mistress gave her pupils an excellent education. She taught them not just the different notions that were suited to their condition, but also and above all, the practice of the Christian virtues and religious duties. Her pupils attended all the offices of the Church, and all the processions in the parish, wearing special and modest costumes. They never appeared in public without being veiled.

From her early childhood, Celestine Platton was distinguished among her companions by the meekness and gentleness of her character. She was the glory of her mistress, the consolation of her parents, and served as a model to her brothers and sisters. Her charitable attentiveness made her considered by everyone as a real treasure; and when she was able to spend a few hours in the paternal home, everyone was happy to enjoy the presence of the good and always popular Celestine.

It was thus that she passed her earliest years in acquiring the knowledge which is required to be the ornament of a young lady, and be formed in the practice of all the Christian virtues. After terminating her classes advantageously, she returned to her family, at the age of about eighteen. There she continued her pious exercises and helped her parents in the cares of the household.

Faithful to the good habits contracted in the boarding school, she never appeared in public without being modestly veiled; and, one day when her sister reproached her for it, she replied to her forcefully: “If this inconveniences you, then leave me alone at home.”

Later on, when she felt the desire to leave the world, she approached the holy Table every day.

After she left the boarding school, she often went to see her two older married sisters, and a niece who lived in the countryside near Tirlemont. It was a pleasure for her to render them the most humble services. She was always welcome everywhere. However her family were not to enjoy her presence for much longer.

Already, in the boarding school, God had spoken to her heart, and had suggested her saying farewell to the world and giving herself to Him entirely and undivided. She was then twenty years of age; and always, but now more than ever, the same voice was pressing her to embrace the religious life. This is why, after having prayed much and reflected long upon it, she determined resolutely to finally leave the world and enter a community. But where she should she present herself? There were many communities of women in Tirlemont and the surrounding district; but she felt no attraction for their mode of life. Her choice was thus delayed until a very providential occasion arrived to fix it.

In 1844, two Dutch Redemptorist Fathers, Bernard and Michiels, came to preach a mission at Tirlemont. Their most apostolic words found an echo in hearts. Miss Celestine Platton followed the exercises of the mission ardently. “Oh!” she said to herself, “if only there were also some nuns just as devoted to the salvation of poor sinners, then I would join them straight away!” This wish was to be satisfied sooner than Celestine dared to hope.

Upon Mr. Platton’s invitation, the two missionaries paid him a visit, during which talk turned to Miss Celestine’s wishes. The Fathers made her aware of the Institute of the Redemptoristines which, in its aim, responded perfectly to her views. This Congregation had only recently – in 1841 – been established in Belgium, at Bruges. After some discussion, they came to the conclusion that Miss Platton would go and present herself to the community at Bruges.

But what difficulties did she not have to surmount in order to realise her pious desire! We have now arrived at the year 1844. Celestine, born in 1812, was now thirty two. Can we then be astonished that the Mother Superior of Bruges found her too old to enter their community? However, while refusing her admission, she advised her to go to Vienna (Austria) where she would find another convent of the same Congregation, and she assured her that she would be well received. She even gave her, to this effect, a letter of recommendation.

The young lady was not terrified by the prospect of so long a journey into a foreign country whose language she did not know. However, it was only on 5th October 1845 that she took leave of her dear parents, who only reluctantly and with abundant tears saw their beloved Celestine leave them with scarcely any hope of their seeing her again. Their only consolation was to know that God was asking this sacrifice of them. Their Christian sentiments led them to submit themselves to His holy will.

Celestine Platton thus left and arrived safely at Vienna. She made her entry into religion on 15th October 1845.

Footnotes

[1] La vertu cachée. Notice sur la Révérende Mère Marie-Chérubine du Saint Esprit, fondatrice du couvent des Rédemptoristines de Velp près Grave, par le R. P. L. Hagen C.SS.R. (1883) [The hidden virtue. The life of the Reverend Mother Marie-Cherubine, foundress of the convent of the Redemptoristines of Velp, near Grave, by Rev. Fatehr L. Hagen C.SS.R. (1883) – Translated into French from Dutch by Rev. Father Duhamel, C.SS.R.

This necrology is translated from Fleurs de l'Institut des Rédemptoristines by Mr John R. Bradbury. The copyright of this translation is the property of the Redemptoristine Nuns of Maitland, Australia. The integral version of the translated book will be posted here as the necrologies appear.