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A Fresh Look at Venerable Adele De Trenquelleon

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A Fresh Look at Venerable Adele De Trenquelleon A FRESH LOOK AT VENERABLE ADELE DE TRENQUELLEON A fresh look? We hardly know anything about her. It is good that we are trying to learn about her and beginning to pray to her. This will only lead us to a better appreciation of the Marianist Family, especially our Marianist Sisters. I once interviewed Sr. Maria Blanca, FMI. I believe it was in the late sixties or early seventies. She was one of the original sisters that began their mission in the United States. What I am sharing with you now are some of the questions I asked and the responses she gave me. Many of my questions arose from reading the correspondence of Fr. Chaminade with Adèle. Adèle’s letters Adèle was an avid letter writer. The Historical Inquiry notes that the letters she wrote to her associates at nineteen have accidentally disappeared. But before that there are 11 when she was fifteen; 30 when she was sixteen; 42 when she was seventeen; and 6 when she was eighteen. The themes treated most often in these letters are death, entrance into eternity, sin, dangers for the soul and ingratitude towards God, Jesus, Incarnation of the merciful love of God for us, Communion, the means of union with out Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, sanctifying agent of souls, the Virgin Mary, model of all virtues, especially of faith and purity, the salvation of our neighbor, the work of every Christian. Many of these same themes are expressed in Blessed Chaminade’s Notes of Instruction. But Adèle, from the very beginning, wanted religious life and the chance to work for the salvation of souls. At a very young age, she wanted to be a Carmelite. Her aunt was one. She began asking about religious life when she was six or seven and again at twelve. While her parents discouraged her from leaving so young, they did encourage her to prepare for such a calling. In fact her group said the three o’clock prayer even before she heard of the sodality. Originally this prayer came from the Carmelites. Adèle, therefore, was a very purposeful girl, knowing what she wanted. Most of her letters were written to her closest friend, Agatha Diché, who chose to marry and never entered the Daughters of Mary. However, she was the Madame Belloc, who served a s a liaison between Fr. Chaminade and Adèle. Agatha’s sister, Jean Diché, did enter the Daughters of Mary. A question I always had when reading Fr. Chaminade’s letters to Adèle was that Adèle seemed to be an indecisive young woman or one fearful of administration. Sr. Maria Blanca, gave me a completely different view. “Adèle was a very enthusiastic girl, very apostolic, very aggressive, and yet appears very docile. It is because Fr. Chaminade is testing her and Adèle is trying to be very obedient to him. For example, Therèse de Lamourous, who was sent to form this first community, tells Adèle that she would never make a good superior. Adele accepts this so wonderfully that Therèse then tells her: ‘You would be the best superior’”. Adele’s Relationship with Fr. Chaminade Adèle’s own gift was zeal for the salvation of souls. She did much to lead a Christian life herself, and was filled with great zeal for helping her companions, neighbors, and servants to stay close to the Lord. From her autobiography by Fr. Rousseau we know that, even when she was sick, she maintained a very high sense of the apostolate. Her letters really bring out her desire for the salvation of souls. The group she had formed as a young adult was intensely apostolic. This is one reason why her heart resonated with understanding when she heard about Fr. Chaminade and the Sodality of Bordeaux. Adèle learned of Fr. Chaminade through a chance conversation she had with Jean Hyacinth Lafon1, as she was on her way to visit an aunt who was a Carmelite. Lafon, who was prefect of the Sodality of Bordeaux, told Adele about the sodality and its director, and so began the affiliation of her group with the Sodality of Bordeaux, and eventually, her founding of the Daughters of Mary. It is interesting to see the development of the relationship between Adèle and Chaminade over the years through his correspondence. At the time of this interview I did not now if any of her letters to Fr. Chaminade were preserved. They have been and can be obtained through the North American Center for Marianist Studies (NACMS). One thing is sure. Adèle evidently put herself entirely under his direction. Fr. Chaminade is very open with her and reveals his inspired plan to her. “I shall tell you my entire secret. Could a father still withhold anything from one of his daughters, who gives herself without reserve over to his direction? Fourteen years ago, I re- entered France as Missionary Apostolic in all our unhappy fatherland, nevertheless under the authority of the Ordinaries of various places. I did not know of any better way of exercising my function as such, than by establishing a sodality like the one already existing. Each sodalist of whatever sex, age, or condition in life, must become an active member of the mission….” (Oct. 8, 1814) Fr. Chaminade ended this letter with the request: “Write to me if your desire to be a religious embodies the thoughts and sentiments of a little missionary”. In a letter (Oct. 13, 1814) to her best friend, Agatha Diché, Adèle writes: “I trust Fr. Laumont has shown you the fine letter which I received from Fr. Chaminade, wherein he points out the purpose of our order. We are to be little missionaries, each one in her own state. I confess that the word thrills me. So now, my 1 Jean Hyacinth Lafon has quite an impressive resumé. He was ordained a sixty-two, but had been a sub-deacon and deacon thirty-nine years earlier. He had been a tutor and professor, a sodalist and prefect of the Sodality, a prisoner of the State, conspirator, prison escapee, commissioner of King Louis XVIII, assistant supervisor of page boys at the court, president of a Christian philosophical society, apologist, honorary canon of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Bordeaux, Cavalier of the Legion of Honor, Roman Count, and Cavalier of the Golden Spur. dear friend, let us consider ourselves destined to procure, by all possible means, the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbor….”. Blessed Fr. Chaminade helped Adèle grow in the Marian dimension of her spirituality. He seemed to be the one who introduced her to the system of virtues and the three Offices. Adèle, who wanted to be a religious from the very beginning led Fr. Chaminade to see the value of the religious life within the sodality. Difficulties With Bishop Jacoupy Since Fr. Chaminade acted as superior of the Daughters of Mary for a time, everything had to go through him. At one point this led to severe difficulties between Bishop Jacoupy of Agen, Fr. Chaminade, and the Daughters of Mary. Blessed Fr. Chaminade desired solemn vows for the sisters, yet a life that would permit them to remain sodalists and animate the entire sodality. Bishop Jacoupy desired as many holy women in his diocese as possible, but he wanted them to be a diocesan order which then would care for some of the works of mercy he had in mind. So, if they desired solemn vows, then he insisted on the vow of enclosure.. Fr. Chaminade held fast. He wanted solemn vows, but he wanted the sisters to be able to fulfill the apostolic goals of the congregation. This vow of enclosure became, for the Daughters of Mary, their original vow of Stability. This cloister was not like the papal cloister. They had to have it because the Bishop insisted on it. So Fr. Chaminade acted within the framework of this limitation. For him it meant that the choir sisters were not to leave the convent without permission. They did have sodality meetings and classes, but usually these were within the community. There were also two separate areas of the house, one for their convent, and one for their apostolate. This seemed to solve the dilemma. When the vow of enclosure was not demanded any more, the sisters lost the vow of Stability. Only in 1947 was this issue resolved. Adele and the System of Virtues Adèle was trying to live the system of virtues herself. In her letters I find her talking experientially about the System. In her own notes for retreat, she reviews her own silence. She teaches the sisters about the consummation virtues. They do not seem to be the third step on a ladder, but the goal we are constantly striving to attain in our union with Jesus. As we try to put on these virtues we discover the blocks within us that prevent us from being one with Jesus. Therefore, the preparation and the purification virtues are needed. Adèle had written her own Catechism of Silence in which she states that “politeness is nothing else than the exchange of charity”. The system of virtues was meant to be both individual and communitarian. Each person was called to listen, to come to an interior silence before one’s present life situation. But so was the community. Jesus was to become the center of our individual and community life. This is what it was for Mary. All the virtues, all thoughts, all graces are centered in Jesus. Sr. Maria Blanca found it very strange when she came to America and visited other religious congregations or spoke to parents about their daughters, the novices.
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