Guite (Marguerite) Catez was born a couple of years after her older sister, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. She stayed in the world but, cherishing the correspondence she had received from her Carmelite sister and making that spirituality her own, she lived as a contemplative soul in the world.

One of the striking things about her story is that, though immersed in the world to the point of marrying, carrying on daily life, and caring for nine children as a widow, she was recognized by her appearance as a saint. Her mere presence and appearance was communicative of grace. She was truly transformed and transfigured in Christ, from the highest parts of her soul down to her fingertips.

There are many and various testimonies to this:

After her death, I went close to her. No one else has ever left such an impression on me. Peace and light seemed to emanate from her.

She was so reserved, so discrete, so affectionate, so understanding, from her emanated a profound spiritual life.

The impression that she left me with is difficult to define: it was like a radiance softened by simplicity and discretion which, with her, were essential and supported by a courage and a dignity that I never saw leave her.

I lived in the same parish as Madame Chevignard [Guite’s name after marriage]. In seeing her at the church, submerged in a profound meditation, it was as if I was drawn towards the Lord. Her prayer was communicative.

One of the sisters of my [religious] community told me this story: “The Novice Mistress said to us, ‘When Madame Chevignard is in the chapel, you may watch her; you will see someone who truly prays, someone who is totally taken by the Lord.’”

She radiated but we didn’t feel her radiance… it was, without a doubt, the radiance of an Other across her… She lived absolutely all that her sister lived, that’s true…

Her simplicity was as a true tertiary of Saint Francis. She was going and coming, always smiling, gracious, speaking with the humble and the poor, without looking for anything,  counting as nothing things that are nothing, thinking in her measure as God thinks…

When the news travelled around Dijon that Sister Elizabeth [Guite’s older sister] would be beatified, the family and many friends thought, “Elizabeth surely, but her sister Marguerite even more.”

One even hears words much like those that Saint Francis de Sales applied to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal; she sang beautifully, thought she herself was deaf to it. Of Guite, one person said,

She shone, but she didn’t feel her own shining of light.

May we, too, pray for this transformation, this transfiguration, this grace, which only the indwelling Trinity can give. The story of Guite Catez shows us that such a grace is not closed to laypeople by any means!