Ronda Chervin The Way of the Pilgrimess The Story of Catherine Magdalene Mac é 2006. (Excerpts or the whole of this e-book can be printed by any reader for personal use or to share with friends.) Contents Preface .....................................................................1 Childhood in Brittany..............................................3 Higher Studies in Paris............................................7 Anthropological Pilgrimage to Asia.........................9 Further Adventures ...............................................23 Consecrated Life in the Monastery .......................27 A Pilgrim-Hermit...................................................33 At Catholic Solitudes.............................................43 Preface hen you hear the word pilgrim who do you think of? If you are from the United States, probably you are thinking of the W pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower. If you are a Chris- tian, possibly what comes to mind is the Russian hero of The Way of a Pilgrim. If you are familiar with English Catholic history maybe you know of Marjory of Kempe. Whatever your background, I am imagining that you picked up this book off a shelf or a web-site because the title intrigued you – pilgrimess? A French sounding name, Macé? If I tell you that she was also once a world traveling anthropologist, a nun, and presently a hermit, and ico- nographer, I would guess your interest will increase. It was at a hermit village in Texas, Catholic Solitudes, where I am staying as a lay contemplative that I first heard about Catherine. “She’s coming to visit us for three months, Ronda, and if you like her as much as I expect you will, you’ll want to write her biography,” Father Patrick announced one day at lunch. When he mentioned that many men had asked for her hand in marriage, my curiosity became even greater. A month afterwards, at morning Mass, an older French woman, short of stature, wearing a simple sweater and long dark skirt, and beam- ing with joy appeared at morning Mass in our simple hermit chapel. The last chapter of The Way of the Pilgrimess will describe Cath- erine’s stay with us. But before delving into her fascinating story, a word about religious pilgrims from some other writers.1 “The impulse to find and inhabit an “other” world over and against the present one is perhaps the most common form the religious pilgrim- age takes. God, the pilgrim suspects, is other and elsewhere. There must be another world where God is. The pilgrim yearns to see God face to face, so earthly life becomes a pilgrimage toward that other place…Its source, often enough, is the imagination of the artist, which seeks expres- sion in religion, the only world as vivid as the starlit world within.2 “…the pilgrim is nothing if not an independent, striving to God without obvious means of support.…resisting the lures and snares of the world.”3 About Thomas Merton as hermit “Solitude, so long defended or 1 Paul Elie, The Life You Save May be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (NY Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003 2 Elie, The Life You Save… p. 95 3 Elie, The Life You Save… p. 135 1 The Way of the Pilgrimess sought after, is no longer an end in itself, but a means to know God. God is suddenly, palpably present…the contemplative life is one of prayer in the approach to death – the experience of being on the way to God, with God, and through God, who is that Truth which is the end and by which we are already fully and eternally alive.”4 “God yearns to be known’; human sadness is God’s sadness at not being known’ and the contemplative is a person who recognizes that…the desert is a place where God is to be found.”5 In the chapters to follow you will see how a charming little French girl seemingly destined for the more common life of a wife and mother, became, instead just such a pilgrim. 4 Elie, The Life You Save… p. 370 5 Merton, The Seven Story Mountain, quoted in Elie, p. 403 2 Childhood in Brittany was born July 2, 1939 in Brittany on the coast of France in a small village, Louvigné du Desert, in the home of my maternal grand- I mother. Because my grandfather and one of my uncles were doc- tors, I, like all my siblings, was delivered at my maternal grandparent’s home. My grandmother, Marthe de Montigny, would play a great role in my life. She was of a noble ancestry and was lovingly devout and sweet- natured, welcoming priests to her home and always reaching out to the poor. My mother, also named Marthe, was like my grandmother. In my early years, my mother and father lived in a large house in the city of Saint-Brieuc, though we moved from town to town in Brittany, since my father, Jean Macé, was a judge. Eventually he became Presi- dent of the High Court of Rennes where we settled for good. Our family was upper middle class. The eldest, Bernadette, was a year and a half older than myself. I was the second girl. Brigitte and Elizabeth were next, and the youngest, Yves, was the only boy. My father was delighted to have a son after having four girls one after another. My father was much stricter than my mother. This was because he had been brought up by an authoritarian aunt. Although my father was known for his even-handed justice as a judge, at home in the family I thought he was discriminatory, favoring my elder sister, whom he always praised, and then my brother, Yves. We middle three girls felt we were less important. Once my father brought a nice toy for my older sister and nothing for me. I objected at getting nothing. My mother had to point out to my father that even though I was only 2 or 3 years old, I under- stood that he favored my sister. We were a religious family, especially when we girls were young. Every night our parents would have us pray the Our Father and prayers of petition. My father’s family tended to be what is called Jansenistic, a tendency in the Church, condemned many times, but extremely influen- tial nonetheless. Jansenists believed that most people went to hell, and that any failure or even mistake needed to be confessed. It was better for children to be “seen and not heard,” to use the American expression for this mentality. So, when we visited my father’s family, we had to sit still and talk as little as possible. By contrast my mother’s family was affec- tionate and generous. My mother played the piano very well. She espe- cially loved me, not only because she wanted to compensate me for my father’s favoritism of my older sister, but also because of an affinity be- tween us. 3 The Way of the Pilgrimess Up until the time I was 15 years old, I remember our family life as happy. My father and mother loved each other and the children. Our travels together in Europe opened for me a life-long interest in other countries and their peoples. However, when I was 15, my parents, by then middle-aged, underwent a serious crisis that left them estranged and that changed our family forever. Although they came to treat each other with outward respect, my father became cold and sarcastic. My attempts to reconcile them failed. As a result there was no longer prayer together as a whole family. What about school years? Like most little girls in that era I went to a Catholic school. Brittany was more Catholic than other parts of France. Most people practiced their faith regularly. For instance, in my family, we went to Mass several times during the week. Even when my mother didn’t go because the other little girls were too small, I would go alone before school to Mass with other girlfriends. I passed the cathedral on my half hour walk to school and always went in to the Church to kneel near the beautiful statue of Mary. Once Mary smiled at me. The school I attended was run by the Sisters of the Holy Spirit. I liked them very much. I was a good girl and the most religious in the family. Some of the Sisters thought I would some day be a religious like them, but my father wanted me to be a scientist. At school there were lots of little statues. May devotions stand out in my memory. We went in procession singing and putting flowers on a stand in front of the statue of Mary. Many of the people of the town came to processions and showed reverence when the Blessed Sacrament was brought out through the streets. During my youth I read the Bible, Lives of Little Therese, Francis de Sales, Francis of Assisi, and other holy books. I was a good student, especially in science, English and geography. I had many friends, who came to my house often, where treats made by my mother were always prepared for us. Maybe this is why even today I love to set up little festive meals wherever I am. In the evening we did our homework and then played games, mostly bridge. All of we sisters took ballet and then rhythmic free improvisation. We loved our dance classes and at the end of the school year we gave ballet performances in the theater of St. Brieuc. I had no experience of friendship with boys since my best friends were either girls of my school or my female cousins with whom we spent holidays in my grandmother’s house.