Saint Elizabeth of The Trinity: The Complete Works, Vol 3

Description:

Diary Intimate Notes Letters of Her Youth Poems

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (18801906) became a Discalced Carmelite nun in Dijon, France, at the age of twenty-one and died five years later. Her spirituality is marked by attentiveness to the indwelling Trinity and her call to become a praise of glory for God. The writings gathered in this final volume reflect the mature Carmelite spirit found in the first two volumes while introducing us to the young Elizabeth as that maturity takes shape.

This third and final volume of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Complete Works brings together, for the first time in English, four collections of the saints writings:

• The Diary, written when Elizabeth was eighteen and nineteen, records her prayer, sacrifices, vocational struggles, apostolic desires, and reflections on sermons and spiritual counsel with candor and immediacy;
• The Intimate Notes, dating from before and after her entrance to Carmel, open into the inmost depths of her prayer and include such treasured writings as To be a bride and O my God, Trinity whom I adore, the latter included in the Catechism of the Catholic Church;
• The Letters of Her Youth offer vivid snapshots of daily life, revealing Elizabeths warmth, humor, gift for friendship, delight in music, travel, and nature, and unwavering response to Gods call;
• The Poems, composed from 1894 to 1906, serve as Elizabeths spiritual diary in verse: expressions of longing, suffering, joy, gratitude, and an ever-deepening desire for union with the Trinity.

Taken together, these texts form a portrait of an exuberant young woman as her loves are gradually gathered into a wholehearted love of Christ. Each collection is introduced and critically annotated by Elizabeths biographer and editor, Father Conrad De Meester, O.C.D. Based on the expanded and revised 2023 French critical edition, this volume includes three texts discovered after the earlier French editions, as well as five indexes covering all three volumes of the Complete Works. Read alongside the first two volumesor encountered on its ownthis concluding volume allows readers to follow the formation of a saint from within, as the spirited Sabeth Catez becomes Elizabeth of the Trinity.