The cause of canonization of Sister Mary of the Trinity (in the world, Louisa Jaques), a Poor Clare from St Clare’s monastery, has opened in Jerusalem. The announcement was made on 29 November 2024, the feast-day of all the saints of the Franciscan family.
On this date, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem published the “Letter to the whole Diocese” and the Edict, signed by himself, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. These documents officially communicate the opening of the cause to all the faithful and make known the rules and requirements for it to proceed correctly.
Louisa-Elisa Jaques was born on 26 April 1901 in Pretoria (present-day South Africa) and grew up in Switzerland. Her father was a Calvinist pastor and her mother died only a few hours after giving birth to her. Weak in health, she spent her youth tormented in her body and spirit. At 25, she had a deep existential crisis which culminated in the “night of conversion”, between 13 and 14 February 1926. From then on, she felt “irresistibly attracted to the cloister.” She was baptized into the Catholic Church on 19 March 1928. After many attempts at religious life, she entered the community of the Poor Clares in Jerusalem on 30 June 1938 with the name Mary of the Trinity. In January 1940, obeying her confessor, she started to write down her spiritual notes (the inner thoughts that the divine voice sent to her head), which were compiled in the publication “Colloquio interiore”. On 8 December 1941 she offered herself as a victim to Jesus Eucharist, giving herself without reserve in prayer, adoration and fraternal charity. After catching typhus fever, she died on 25 June 1942 and was buried in the monastery’s cemetery.
It was “with great joy” that the Patriarch received the request of the Poor Sisters of St Clare of Jerusalem to start the process of canonization of Sister Mary of the Trinity, who for four years (1938-1942) was part of that community. After having made known the formal passages that led to the opening of the cause, the Patriarch asks the faithful to “accompany this new gift with prayer, which we are certain will bring fruits not only to the Church of Jerusalem but also to the whole of the Universal Church.”
With the publication of the Edict, the Patriarch invites “all the faithful to send directly or to the patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Latins (Latin Patriarchate Road, P.O.B 14152, Jerusalem 9114101 - chancellery@lpj.org) all the information, from which in some way it is possible to deduce elements that are favourable or contrary to the fame of holiness of the aforementioned Servant of God.” For the purposes of the collection of all the writings attributed to her, “we order that all those who are in possession of them, to give to the Curia of the Patriarchate with due promptness anything written by the Servant of God”, especially “manuscripts, diaries, letters and any other private piece of writing.
The fame of Sister Mary of the Trinity’s holiness spread all over the world, especially with the publication of “Colloquio interiore”. The Franciscan Sylvère Van den Broeck, her spiritual father and confessor, immediately began to collect evidence and information on the life of Sister Mary of the Trinity. After his premature death in 1949, his work was continued by other Franciscan fathers, including Father Alain-Marie Duboin, who was able to complete the autobiographical story of her vocation. In the early 1990s, Father Raphael Bonanno, Deputy Postulator of the Custody of the Holy Land, looked into the canonical formality to open the Cause, but without starting it. His successor, Father Sabino de Sandoli, visited the places where Louisa Jaques had lived, as well as publishing a brochure with the prayer to obtain her beatification. In 2013 there were the first contacts between the Poor Clares of Jerusalem and Father Gianni Califano, Postulator-General of the Order of Friars Minor. In December 2022, the community of Poor Clares of Jerusalem, solicited from several sides, expressed to the Postulator-General “the desire to seriously and officially take up the Cause.” In the summer of 2023, the community became the Petitioners (promoter and supporter) of the Cause, appointing Father Califano Postulator. On 2 February 2024, the Postulator appointed as Deputy Postulator Fra Ulise Zarza, of the Custody of the Holy Land. On 19 March he signed the Supplex Libellus (the petition asking for the opening of the cause), which was given to the Patriarch. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints confirmed the approval of the opening of the Process of canonization on 14 October 2024 and the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land unanimously voted in favour on 29 October. The publication of the Edict marks the beginning of the second part of the journey, the diocesan phase of the process.
A sentence is engraved on the tomb of Sister Mary of the Trinity in the cemetery of St Clare’s convent in Jerusalem: “Be my small seed planted in the soil of Jerusalem, to bring you the fruits into my Church” (cf. Colloquio interiore, no. 502) “Small seed” is also the title of the newsletter of the “Friends of Sister Mary of the Trinity.” In the special issue circulated on the occasion of the announcement of the opening of the cause of canonization, the Poor Clares of the Jerusalem community wrote: “The life, the figure and the testimony of Sister Mary of the Trinity are a lamp of hope that is lit in the present situation, not only of the Holy Land, but for the whole world (…): the Lord is there, even if apparently absent. The start of the process of beatification is an invitation to look up, to broaden horizons and look at life in its real dimensions; it is the Saints who make history, true history. Holiness is that positive force that changes things from inside in a lasting way, forever.”
Marinella Bandini
