Elizabeth of the Trinity

Élisabeth Catez, known in religion as Elizabeth of the Trinity, was born on 18 July 1880 at the military camp of Avor in Farges-en-Septaine, in the Cher department of central France. Her father, Joseph Catez, was a captain in the French army; her mother was Marie Rolland. She was baptized in the camp chapel shortly after birth. A younger sister, Marguerite (often called Guite), was born in 1883. In 1887 Joseph Catez died suddenly of cardiac illness, leaving Marie a widow with two young daughters. The family then settled in Dijon, where Élisabeth spent the remainder of her life outside the cloister. The early loss of her father remained a lasting grief and later shaped how she was remembered by devotees.

In Dijon she was a lively and strong-willed child, known both for a quick temper that she worked to master and for unusual musical talent. She studied piano at the Conservatory of Dijon and obtained a first prize while still in her early teens. Her First Communion in 1891 was a turning point in her interior life; she later spoke of it as the beginning of a deeper friendship with Christ. From about the age of fourteen she became convinced of a call to the Discalced Carmelites. Her mother, who had already lost her husband and who hoped Élisabeth would marry, refused consent for several years. Élisabeth submitted to the delay, continued a social and musical life in Dijon, and waited until she was twenty-one. She entered the Carmel of Dijon on 2 August 1901, received the habit on 8 December 1901, and made her profession on 11 January 1903, taking the name Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity.

In the monastery she was formed in the Teresian Carmelite tradition and read Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint John of the Cross, and the then recently published Story of a Soul of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. She also meditated constantly on Saint Paul, especially Ephesians and Colossians. From this reading she developed a distinctive emphasis on the indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the soul of the baptized, and she desired to become what she called a "praise of glory" of the Trinity, echoing the Pauline phrase laudem gloriae. In 1904 she wrote a prayer of consecration to the Trinity beginning "O my God, Trinity whom I adore," which has since been widely used. She left letters to her mother, sister, friends, and priests, together with two short retreat texts, Heaven in Faith and the Last Retreat, and various notes. These writings, simple in style but dense in doctrine, are the principal source for her spiritual teaching.

Her health collapsed in 1905–1906 under Addison’s disease, an adrenal insufficiency then incurable. She spent her last months in the infirmary, often unable to take part in community acts, yet continued to write when strength allowed and accepted her suffering as a share in Christ’s. She died in the Dijon Carmel on 9 November 1906, aged twenty-six. After her death her letters and notes circulated, and a reputation for holiness grew in France and beyond. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 25 November 1984 and canonized by Pope Francis on 16 October 2016. The Church keeps her memorial on 8 November. The Dijon Carmelite community later transferred to Flavignerot, where her relics are preserved and venerated.