16th October - Canonization of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Biographical Profile from the Booklet for the Celebration in St. Peter's Square at 10:15 am

Elisabeth Catez was born on 18 July 1880 in the military base at Avord, near Bourges in France, and was baptized four days later. In 1887, a short time after the family moved to Dijon, her father died. On 19 April 1891, she received her first Holy Communion: that day Elisabeth began a difficult struggle to "overcome herself for love", learning to control her willful, fiery and impetuous temperament.

Increasingly drawn to Christ, Elisabeth made a private vow of virginity in 1894. Believing that she was called to religious life, she asked her mother for permission to enter the Carmel of Dijon. Obedient to her mother, who had prohibited her from visiting the monastery, Elisabeth did not enter until 2 August 1901. A capable and prize-winning pianist, and joyful and active in the parish and social life of her city, she passed the time before her entrance into the monastery learning how to discover Christ in all things, giving her heart to him alone, even though she was busy with many activities, participating in dances and spending time with friends.

On 8 December 1901 she was clothed with the religious habit and given the name Elizabeth of the Trinity. In the monastery she grew in her union with the Most Holy Trinity in the depths of her soul. Gazing upon the Blessed Mother, she learned to safeguard ever more the presence of the living God and each day to do the Lord's will with generosity, as she contemplated the "excessively great love" manifested in Jesus Crucified. A short time after her religious profession on 11 January 1903, Sister Elizabeth displayed the first symptoms of Addison's Disease, which led to her death following extreme suffering. She accepted everything peacefully and abandoned herself with confidence to the mercy of God, seeing in her illness a propitious occasion to conform herself to her Crucified Spouse, as she ardently desired to pass over into the Trinitarian joy of the communion of saints. Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity died on 9 November 1906 at the age of 26.