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Elisabeth Catez was born on 18th July 1880 in the military base of Avord in Cher in France. Elisabeth's father died unexpectedly on 2 October 1887 and, as a result, the family moved to Dijon. As a young girl she was noted for her great talent on the piano, but also for her fiery temper.
In time she began to explore the roots of her emotional outbursts and grew in deeper understanding of God and the world. Her First Holy Communion made a lasting impact. She also gained a profound understanding of the Trinity to which she cultivated an ardent devotion. Elizabeth visited the sick, sang in the church choir and taught religion to children who worked in factories.
As she grew older Elizabeth became interested in entering the Discalced Carmelite Order, though her mother strongly advised against it. Men had asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage, but she declined such offers because her dream was to enter the Discalced Carmelite monastery that was located 200 meters from her home. Elizabeth entered the Dijon Carmel on 2 August 1901.
Elisabeth offered real insight into the concepts of 'belonging' and 'dwelling'. She taught that only by drawing our souls inward can we move toward bold abandonment and achieve immersion in God, thereby connecting our spiritual lives to the eternal and so living a life truly in God's presence.
Towards the end of her life, she began to call herself "Laudem Gloriae" meaning "praise of glory." She felt that consistent faith and an acute knowledge of our inner nature can lead us to glimpse something of heaven and the eternal in this world.
She said: "I think that in Heaven my mission will be to draw souls by helping them to go out of themselves in order to cling to God by a wholly simple and loving movement, and to keep them in this great silence within which will allow God to communicate Himself to them and to transform them into Himself."
Elizabeth died at the age of 26 of Addison's Disease. Though her death was painful, Elizabeth accepted and interpreted her suffering as a gift from God. Her last words were: "I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!"
In our noisy and anxiety ridden culture today, Elizabeth of the Trinity reminds us of God’s power to establish in us a profound and peaceful stillness. She reminds us that that the Trinity is our home, and that God has created us in order to be united to Christ. St. John Paul II considered Elizabeth of the Trinity to be one of the most influential mystics in his spiritual life.
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