FIRST SESSION of the DIOCESAN INQUIRY
OF THE CAUSE FOR BEATIFICATION AND CANONIZATION
of the SERVANT OF GOD Sister MARIA DELLA TRINITÀ
(Louisa Jaques 1901 – 1942)
OPENING ADDRESS – H.B. Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa
Jerusalem – The Poor Clares Monastery – April 26, 2025
- Greetings
Dearest brothers and sisters may the Risen Lord grant you His peace!
On behalf of His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is currently in Rome awaiting the beginning of the Conclave, I greet all those present: Msgr. Giacinto Marcuzzo and Msgr. Ilario Antoniazzi, the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton, present authorities, Fr. Ulise Zarza, OFM, the Vice-Postulator and, through him, the General Postulator Fr. Gianni Califano, OFM. I warmly greet the Tribunal Officials: Mons. Ilario Antoniazzi, my Delegate; Fr. Filippo Morlacchi, Promoter of Justice; Sister Marina Fischer, Notary.
I also greet the Poor Clare Sisters of this monastery, the friars, the religious men and women, the faithful, and all friends gathered here.
I now have the honor of reading the beautiful opening address that His Beatitude was meant to deliver on this occasion, and which I now read in his name.
- Ecclesial Importance and Significance for the Entire Diocese
The solemn chant of the Veni Creator has led us into this unique and meaningful moment for the entire diocese. It is a great joy for me and for the Church of the Holy Land to officially begin today the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Sister Maria della Trinità, a Poor Clare of this monastery. We are gathered here on April 26 — the anniversary of her birth — because her life is a gift to our small Church of Jerusalem and to the entire Church. We are spiritually united with many people from various countries and continents who have prayed for this moment, have longed for it, and now rejoice with us.
We cannot remain silent about the testimony of light that reaches us. Even Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation on holiness, exhorts us: “Let us be spurred on by the signs of holiness that the Lord shows us through the humblest members of that people which “shares also in Christ’s prophetic office, spreading abroad a living witness to him, especially by means of a life of faith and charity”[1]. Both, the Church and the world, need saints — brothers and sisters in faith who are authentic and credible witnesses of God’s love, of “a love stronger than evil, more contagious than selfishness, a love that creates.” So expressed the Servant of God in her youth: “A love stronger than evil (…), the only thing that remains, the pearl of great value.”[2] In these dark days in the history of our country and humanity, the experience of Sister Maria della Trinità is a word of light and hope. She urges us to anchor ourselves in true hope: When “all minds and hearts are absorbed by this terrible war, how good it is to reach for that which lies beyond destruction and death, that which alone remains forever — the Lord our God.”[3]She urges us to reach beyond destruction and death — not as an escape, but rather by discovering in them the presence of God, who is faithful and gives His grace precisely in the midst of darkness and trial: “There are no hours so dark that they do not bring with them some riches.”[4]May this also be fulfilled for us.
- Call to Holiness
Our diocese has the privilege of counting among its saints all the disciples, apostles, and friends of the Lord, as well as the prophets and saints of the first Covenant. We have the privilege of celebrating the holiness of the early Church in the liturgy, but we must not forget that throughout the centuries the Holy Spirit has never ceased to raise up living witnesses of the Gospel — many of whom gave their lives in love for God and their brothers and sisters. Today, too, the Spirit calls our Church to live this “high standard of the Christian life,” to discover that this measure is not far from us, it is on the measure of our humanity, hidden even in the “saints next door”[5] . Today, the time has come to bring to light the life and example of a young cloistered nun, Maria della Trinità, who lived “without making noise” — as testified by the sisters who lived with her. A few months after her death, my predecessor Luigi Barlassina wrote for the first edition of her Writings in 1943: “God asks nothing truly extraordinary from Sister Maria della Trinità: nonetheless, He wished from her a faithful response to His holy inspirations, and the generosity to refuse Him nothing of those small sacrifices that arise throughout the day.” This is the call to holiness that the Lord asks: “I desire that at your death it may be said: ‘She was a saint; she did everything she did very well.’ This perfection in common life is the holiness I ask of you. Nothing else. And in this task you will have more than My help: it is I who will accomplish it in you.”[6]
- Significant Features of the Servant of God's Spirituality
But what is the timeliness of her life, that more than 80 years after her death she still speaks to the hearts of many? What aspects of her life experience and spirituality are still relevant, alive, and vital for us today?
It is known that the fame of holiness of the Servant of God Maria della Trinità began to spread in the first years after her death, especially through the publication of some of her last spiritual Writings, known as the “Interior Dialogue”[7]. There was a growing interest and devotion, with requests for prayers through her intercession, visits to her tomb, and testimonies of signs and favors received. [8]Her small but rich heritage of spiritual writings is certainly significant, and we trust that the beatification process will help uncover previously unpublished treasures.
However, I wish to highlight four aspects of her life:
- The search for God: What strikes most about Sister Maria della Trinità is that her life was not easy, not straightforward. For this reason, many feel close to her. She experienced early the pain of loss, illness, separation, disappointment in ideals and love. She also knew the night of despair, to the point of exclaiming: “God does not exist, and life is not worth living.” Precisely in her darkest hour, a breach opened that set her on her journey. She allowed herself to be found by God. The beauty of this new Servant of God lies above all here: she is a young woman who searched for the meaning of life, of love, of truth — even groping in the dark, without tiring.
- Sister Maria della Trinità reminds us of something fundamental: biblical faith is born from listening. Her path of life and faith was guided by the Lord’s wise pedagogy, leading her to ever deeper, freer, and more docile listening to His voice. For her, listening became a school of faith, of prayer, of fraternal charity, of contemplation of the Word and the Eucharist, of the mystery hidden in every soul inhabited by God and called to a personal dialogue of love with Him.
- Her life is a light for the Church’s path toward unity: Sister Maria della Trinità was the daughter and sister of Protestant pastors of the Swiss Free Church of Calvinist tradition. Her journey and decision to embrace the Catholic faith — drawn by the sacrament of the Eucharist — were painful, as she experienced in her own flesh the wound of division. This led her to seek even more the heart of unity, which she found with a clearly post-conciliar spirit, understood as unity in charity and the foundational motive for missionary action.[9] Her life is a living offering for the unity of the Church — in prayer, in adoration, and in the smallest acts of fraternal charity.
- Finally, perhaps the most difficult aspect to comprehend: living the Eucharistic life, which for her bore the seal of the victimhood vow, pronounced on December 8, 1941, a few months before her death, in obedience to the inner voice. The heart of Sister Maria della Trinità’s spiritual experience is also the heart of her human experience. This victimhood vow, as understood from her writings, means "living the Eucharistic life": “I desire that your victimhood vow purify your soul. I desire that your soul be immolated, in imitation of my Eucharistic life, in silence, in oblivion, in the gift of yourself in me, interceding without ceasing, embracing every opportunity for expiation, in joy.”[10] and again: “To work solely to spread My Spirit, My gentleness, My kindness, which does not stop at evil but overcomes evil with good.”[11] “Conquer evil with good” (Rom 12:21) — this is certainly the most eloquent message that emerges from the Servant of God’s writings. It is powerfully relevant and would alone suffice to illuminate our Christian life in this Land.
- What Does This Juridical Act Mean?
Today, therefore, through this juridical act, we initiate the diocesan phase of the Cause with the First Session of the Inquiry into the life and heroic virtues, as well as the reputation of holiness, of the Servant of God Maria della Trinità. With this act, in accordance with current ecclesiastical regulations,[12] the process is “instituted to collect all documentary and testimonial evidence both for and against the beatification and canonization of the Servant of God, who died with a reputation for holiness, so that a decision may be made regarding the beatification.” Shortly, after me, the Officials of the Tribunal for the Cause “will take an oath to faithfully fulfill their office and to maintain the confidentiality of their duties.”[13] The Vice-Postulator will do likewise. Following this First Session, other sessions will take place in which the Tribunal will collect testimonial evidence from those summoned to give statements regarding the reputation for holiness of the Servant of God. The historical commission, appointed by me on December 8, 2024 — whose members are present here — is already at work collecting all published and unpublished documentary evidence, in addition to all documents that in any way concern the Cause. These will be gathered into the report they will submit to the episcopal Delegate.
- Summary of the Long Journey That Has Brought Us to Today
This step we have the joy of presiding over today is the fruit of a long journey and the contribution of many people who, over the years, have urged and labored for it, offering valuable testimonies and becoming the voice of a constant request for beatification. I wish to briefly recall some of the key moments in the development that has brought us to this day.
First of all, in Jerusalem, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land were the first to gather testimonies and documents, judging the experience of the young Poor Clare worthy of greater recognition. Of particular importance is the collection of testimonies and documents gathered by Fr. Sylvère Van den Broeck OFM, confessor and first editor of the Servant of God's Writings until his untimely death in 1949. Over the years, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land have always remained the guardians of the Servant of God’s spiritual legacy. The Cause was mentioned during the Custodial Chapter of 1962, but it was only in 1991 and 1992 that Fr. Raphael Bonanno OFM, as Vice-Postulator, took concrete steps to pursue the canonical process for opening it, though he was unable to initiate it. His successor, Fr. Sabino de Sandoli OFM, Vice-Postulator from 1993, began to gather further information by visiting places in Switzerland where the Servant of God had lived. He prepared a brief official chronology and published informational leaflets with the prayer for her beatification.
In Switzerland, as early as 1960, a Committee chaired by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Lausanne was formed to study the life and message of Sister Maria della Trinità with a view to possible beatification. Also involved was the Swiss Franciscan Fr. Alain-Marie Duboin OFM, who, building on the work of Fr. Sylvère, continued collecting testimonies and documents from relatives, friends, and acquaintances of the Servant of God. He wrote the first biography, published in 1979.
Significant encouragement for the Cause also came from South Africa — the Servant of God's homeland. There is preserved a valuable and persistent correspondence from the early 1990s by the Bishop of Pietersburg, Fulgence Le Roy OSB, addressed to Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Custos, and the Vice-Postulator, officially requesting the opening of the Cause of beatification. Likewise, in 1992, Cardinal Owen McCann, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, also voiced this request. In 2013, another prompt came from South Africa with a substantial dossier of documents attesting to the interest and reputation for holiness of the Servant of God.
In the monastery’s archives, there is a continuous and growing correspondence attesting to an increasing reputation for holiness — both in number and in geographic spread to new countries — with explicit requests for the opening of the Cause. Moved by these requests and offerings received for the Cause, in 2013 the Poor Clares of Jerusalem established first contacts with Fr. Gianni Califano, General Postulator OFM. In 2022, the community of Poor Clares decided to seriously address the many requests, and in 2023 they officially became the Petitioner, entrusting the General Postulator of the Order of Friars Minor with the initiation of the canonical process of the preliminary stages, which we may now consider concluded.
Conclusion
Thus, today a new official phase begins — a time of investigation, collection, discernment, and listening. Above all, a time of listening. Attentive listening to God’s action and the freedom to respond to Him in the troubled life of Sister Maria della Trinità. Listening to the Spirit who has spoken — and still speaks today — to our Church, also through the silent and prayerful witness of the Servant of God.
*Translated by the Media Office of the Latin Patriarchate
[1] Apostolic exhortation GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE, No. 8, Pope Francis, 03/19/2018. Quote from Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 12.
[2] Letter to her sister Alice 19.4.1919.
[3] Letter from Jerusalem to Lydia von Auw, dated 08-24-1941 during World War II.
[4] Letter to her sister Alice, December 1921.
[5] Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exultate, no. 6. Pope Francis, 03/19/2018.
[6] Notes No. 599, in Inner Colloquium. ETS 2015.
[7] First published in French in 1943, less than a year after her death, under the title Sœur Marie de la Trinité (Louisa Jaques) Clarisse de Jérusalem (1901- 1942), since the first Italian edition in 1945 it has had the title “Colloquio interiore.” - “Interior Dialogue” - It is currently translated into more than 11 languages.
[8] A witness to this — among others — is the first documented miracle in 1944: the healing of a malignant sarcoma in the knee of a seventeen-year-old boy.
[9] Account of the conversion and vocation, in Colloquio, p.77.
[10] A shared love for the same God should not divide souls of good will, missionary souls working for the Kingdom of God. The disunity among these souls caused me anguish: it is necessary to ‘draw’ souls to the Church, not scandalize them. (…) We are united in charity.” Notes No. 638 in Colloquium
[11] Idem, note No. 366
[12] Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister, promulgated on January 25, 1983, by Pope John Paul II; Normae Servandae in Inquisitionibus ab Episcopis Facendis in Causis Sanctorum, issued on February 7, 1983; Sanctorum Mater: Instruction for Conducting Diocesan or Eparchial Inquiries in the Causes of Saints, Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, 2007.
[13] Sanctorum Mater, Article 87 §2; Normae Servandae, no. 6, c.
