Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

Marie-Paul Stevens, restored to health at the intercession of Elizabeth of the Trinity. Source: press release for the canonization of Elizabeth.

On June 20, 2016 I reported the story of the healing of Marie-Paul Stevens, a professor in Belgium whose cure had just been recognized by the Vatican as the miracle accepted for the canonization tomorrow (October 16, 2016) of St. Therese’s young Carmelite disciple, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. 

From a story in La Libre, I have now learned that during the years in which she was ill, Marie-Paul Stevens, forced to turn from a vigorous, physically active life to that of an invalid, entered the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites in Belgium.  “Very active, I became semi-contemplative,” she recalled.  She made her profession in 2000 and continued along the way of the Cross.  Two years later, as she was thought to be dying, she made a pilgrimage to the Carmel of Flavignerot, successor to the Dijon Carmel, to thank Elizabeth of the Trinity, to whom she had been devoted since her adolescence, for accompanying her throughout her illness.  For a patient in her condition, the journey was risky and hard. But It was there, resting in the parking lot after praying in the chapel, that she was suddenly cured. 

On the trip to Flavigernot, Marie-Paul was accompanied by her friend Leen Melkebeke, leader of the Secular Carmelite group of which Marie-Paul is a member, who witnessed the miracle.   "I saw with my own eyes that the healing was complete,” Leek explained.  “Since then, Marie. -Paul has become a bomb of energy.  So much so that she tires me out sometimes!  For me, it is clear that God intervened in her physical and spiritual life. "

Het Belang van Limburg reported that the two women were driven from Belgium to Flavignerot by Sylvain Verbeek, a 65-year-old gentleman from Zonderhoven, whom the Vatican called to testify about the miracle.  He said that before her illness “Marie-Paul sang like a nightingale.  But because the disease completely dried up her body, she had a hoarse voice.”  He recalled the journey, saying “I remember well how badly it went with Marie-Paul at that time.  At first she wanted to drive herself, but soon she had to let me take the wheel while she rested, stretched out on the back seat. “  In Dijon, the two friends joined Marie-Paul in praying to Blessed Elizabeth for her healing.   “But the return trip was even more impressive,” Sylvain continued.  “Marie-Paul drove in one go from Dijon to Zanderhoven.  Even when I met her after the trip, she felt better than ever.  She could walk well and could again sing beautifully.”  

 La Libre adds that Marie-Paul’s former colleague, Henri Thimister, a deacon who teaches science in Stevelot, also observed her recovery.  “Miracles, the healing of some and not others, are an obstacle to the faith of some persons,” he observed.  “But the fact that these events give us the opportunity to rediscover through Elisabeth the mystery of the Trinity, that is what delights me.” 

Since then Marie-Paul, restored to full health, has resumed her earlier way of life.  Thanks be to God.  In 2014, a story about the Carmelite nuns in Bayonne reported that Marie-Paul has come to stay with them every year since 2006 and that she is the “responsable” for the Secular Order in Belgium.  If you read French, you can read her article "Des moments precieux dans la vie quotidienne" (“About the Precious Moments of Everyday Life”), published in the bulletin of the Marist Brothers in Europe (2011).  The Carmelite family has yet another reason to rejoice in the recognition of Elizabeth, who drew Marie-Paul to Carmel even before God sent her cure, the miracle that made Elizabeth a saint.  Thanks be to God.

Special thanks to La Libre and to Het Belang van Limburg, where quotations I’ve translated for this article originally appeared.