Edifying Points of the Older Sisters

Here follow some of the edifying points of our older sisters. It is good to hold their lives before our eyes, for their ways were truly like a candle on a candlestick, casting light upon all those in the house. The light fell not only upon those in this house but also upon all who saw their ways and with whom they spoke. It was evident at once that God ruled them from within, for all their external manners and morals attested to a devout piety. These were truly notable women, rich in virtue, and, as the wise man said, zealous for beauty, though, as the Apostle said, not many were noble according to the flesh, nor wise, nor rich as the world judges such things. Yet they so perfectly possessed and attested to the true virtues that they never lacked for inner nobility and godly wisdom and true wealth. They were poor by birth, but made rich in virtue. And what they were in the eyes of God was evident from the fruits they produced, for from its fruit is the tree known. Just as our dear Lord Jesus Christ converted the rich and the wise and the noble through his poor disciples and not the poor through the rich, so through his humble and simple children of God he drew many rich and noble together with innumerable other virgins and women into his service, thus establishing these poor sisters as their original root and lineage. We let it to others to tell about the coming of the rich and the noble, their true conversion and their progress in the virtues. We like to tell about the virtues of our poor and humble sisters, so much more the amazing because such are not often to be found among these poor and partly rural folk. Yet they possessed the right and true virtues, so purely indeed as if they had seen and read them right out of Holy Scripture and the saints' lives. But it was the Holy Spirit, who filled them, who had also taught and illumined them; and just as they were illumined, so they continued to illumine others, one in obedience, another in humility, a third in resignation, and a fourth in sisterly love, while the others seemed devoured by the earnestness of the house of God. They were thus so decorated that each seemed to have something special with which God had endowed her above all others.

Since we cannot have their presence among us in the body and it is most important to have their edifying lives present in our memory, we have written down some of their most noteworthy points, as we could hear and learn about them from the older sisters who were blessed enough to see and rejoice in their ways.  They were so edifying and godly in their ways and so wondrous to others that each tried not to be seen doing anything contrary to true virtue.  They held their superiors in great respect; what they ordered or established, they took as ordered or established by God himself.  They were poor in their own wills but rich in the virtues, simple in obedience but wise in counsel.  And the Holy Spirit, simple and yet manifold, endowed each according to his good pleasure and their own natures and according to the degree that each in her youth had applied force and piously resisted evil desire.  For you can be sure that those who were outstanding in virtue in their later years had brought considerable force to bear upon themselves in their youth:  that is, that they had not given themselves over to rough joking, laughing, idle talk, and other kinds of flippancy--which, unfortunately, so many people who appear religious now yield themselves to, thus raising obstacles and resistance to the inflowing of the Holy Spirit, more even than people realize.  For this very reason, alas, we also remain stranded and do not increase in virtues as they did who lived only a short time before us.  Let us then sew up our old clothes so that the shame of our nakedness will not appear in public.  Let us listen with inner desire to how these devout maidens of Christ, our fellow sisters, did their exercises, and not imagine it impossible to imitate what they did before us in this same place and at nearly the same time.  Moreover, when we describe and take in the lives and morals of good people, they seem in a certain sense to go on living after death, and they awaken many from living death to true life.

SISTER GESE BROEKELANTS (d. 1407)

When good sister Gese Broekelants died, our worthy father John Brinckerinck said of her that she had set an example for all her fellow sisters in devotion, thoughtfulness, humility, modesty, sobriety, chastity, and tranquility. While still living with her parents and not yet very old, she was promised to a man. When she heard about it, she was extraordinarily grieved and wept a good deal. Since she knew no person who could help her, she turned to our dear Lord. She went to church, prostrated herself before the holy sacrament, and prayed to our Lord that if he would remove this burden from her, she would be his serving maid forever. As she lay there and offered herself to our Lord, she thought she heard it said to her that she should leave for Deventer and ask for a place in Master Geert's house. Before she even rose from that place where she was praying, she dedicated her purity to God. How ardent and devout her ways were once she came here, that we have heard from Father John Brinckerinck in his witness to her. She was especially devoted to the passion of our dear Lord so that at times she would burst out into many tears, like a person no longer in control of herself, and she had sometimes to leave the other sisters. Once it was asked her in secret what she spent most of her time thinking about. She answered, 'The passion of our dear Lord.' She was amazed at the love he had shown to us, and this appeared to be her daily exercise, especially on Thursday evenings and throughout Fridays. On Sundays she used to think about the resurrection, as if each one were Easter morning. She was also so filled within with eternal life that the whole expanse of time was much too short for her and she could not restrain herself from rejoicing. Thus she once said to the sister who worked alongside her, 'Can there be anyone in the world with so much wealth and so much pleasure that at just one moment they are as well off as some poor little beguine united from time to time with her dear Lord?' She went around with her head bowed and so turned in upon herself that it was if as she could see our Lord standing before her very eyes. She used often to say, 'If I am conscious at death, I will surely rue the fact that in youth I did not give myself over more to denying and mortifying myself.' At work, if she had a little time, she sat with folded hands. She was kindly, patient, and never sharp. She took careful note of her faults, and often confessed at the feet of our dear Lord. She used often to lament that she was a liar before him because she thought that she was never getting better. She observed silence so carefully that when she was about to tell something good she would say, 'I feel inclined to talk, but let us for God's sake keep silent.' When someone came to her while she was at work and told her something that was not necessary or not useful or that weighed upon her heart, this would prove very hard for her and she listened to it most unwillingly. She was very loving and drew others to the virtues, being herself exceptionally obedient, modest, and thoughtful. If she was sick, she remained so lovingly cheerful that no one else seemed to suffer from her sadness. When she lay in the illness from which she died, something happened that caused her considerable suffering. Then, one of the sisters said that she should run with it to our dear Lord, offering it and herself up, and that she should not turn herself much anymore toward other people and then she would sense peace. She answered with such a happy heart and friendly face that the sisters there rejoiced in her words: 'My trust lies in our dear Lord.' As her death drew nearer, she got a kind of stroke or paralysis so that it seemed as if she had died. But when she came back to herself, she said warmly with a loving face and folded hands, 'O good Jesus, where have you been so long?' And when death came over her, she seemed so joyful that it was as if she was laughing at it. That arose from her good conscience which she felt within her, for the Holy Spirit was bearing witness to her spirit that she was a child of God. When they reported all this to our father, John Brinckerinck, he answered and said, 'Let her laugh freely, so that she may pass into eternity full of laughter.'

SISTER NYESE FELIX (d. 1411)

Good sister Nyese excelled in this virtue, that she liked especially to go to church and to hear the Word of God, or else to hear something narrated out of Holy Scripture.  One time, after she had been to church and heard the preaching, she was so on fire from hearing the Word of God that it was as if she was literally burning.  When another sister heard she was so kindled by hearing the Word of God, she also began to rejoice in our dear Lord and said, 'All the sisters who become so ardent and devout over the Word and produce such fruit from it should be allowed to go to church.'  She was indeed a very ardent and devout person, and gave herself wholly to our dear Lord and to all the virtues.  She had no external responsibilities or activities, but she sat humbly and spun a certain kind of cloth and in this way gave herself to the Lord.  She was an older person who had lived here along with almost the very first sisters, so that she had suffered through much poverty and misery.

SISTER WIBBE ARNTS (d. 1412)

Good sister Wibbe used to take care of the inner courtyard of our house, and this was her office.  She did this humbly; it was her way of turning herself to our dear Lord.  She was an elderly sister and had lived here a long time, but she walked about simply and plainly as if she were a very young sister.  She was a plain and simple creature by nature, and she turned to our dear Lord in this same way.  She was never sharp or complaining, and was never heard talking or murmuring about the things her superiors had charged or ordered.  She did the work charged to her very devoutly and was at peace with it, allowing things to go up and down just as God and her superiors wished.  She also spurred others on, according to their abilities.

SISTER LUBBE PETERS (d. 1413)

Good sister Lubbe was very ardent in admonishing when she saw sisters transgressing our good customs or doing other things contrary to good morals or conducive to further liberties.  She was an ardent and upright woman, faithful in the things committed to her, for she used to be procuratrix [i.e., the person who kept watch over external affairs] so that she had many things in hand, producing a great deal of busyness.  She had often to suffer from it, for she sometimes did not know where the means were to come from with which to buy the things that were necessary.

When this sister Lubbe was procuratrix and had to keep watch over external matters, as well as say her hours [i.e., the regular prayers], there reigned such poverty and need in these external necessities that whoever had resolved to persist here to the end needed a very ardent spirit, with her foundations and resolutions firmly set upon our dear Lord.  She had to trust to commit her flesh and blood and all else, for God's sake, or she would certainly not have been able to stand fast.  When, for instance, someone was sent outside the house, she might well be so poor in clothing that she had to borrow from a sister, because she herself had nothing appropriate.  There was a sister named Gese Brandes who had patched her best gray skirt with a bit of animal skin, as they were accustomed to do then; on holy days this was her best skirt, and on workdays she worked in it.  Then she had no need to sew an additional strip over the front because the skin she had sewed on her skirt served to cover the whole bosom.  When it happened that out of necessity a sister acquired something new, she conducted herself humbly and modestly as if it were the roughest kind of garment.  Two of our sisters here had each one skirt from white wool with bits of gray woven in.  They wore these skirts humbly and with more joy than many in the world who wear purple or silk.

At the time whatever anyone had necessary for ordinary use she had completely to use up before she received anything new.  It was patched so many times that eventually you could see the cap and the undergarments and whether the cloth from which it was first made was rough or small.  No one was to have more than one cap, and if anyone lost it, she was to go without a whole year for taking such poor care of it.  And if anyone lost her pen she had to write for one year with a stick before she was given another.

The same was true in drinking, eating, and all the other human necessities, a rigor so great that we would think it impossible now to suffer something they regarded as great superfluity; but they were all content and no one complained as if they were subjected to some terrible judgment.  One sister used to say that she lived here probably six years and had never seen salmon [then a relatively common item] on their table.  Another sister used to say that she did not know how long she had lived here but had never eaten buttered fish from a stock pond.  The younger sisters, who were thirteen years old, were to fast on Fridays as if we were in Lent.  The sisters were often given watery shellfish on which they sometimes put oil and mustard; to get that was something special.  For a long time they ate a spiced dish that was thin and of poor quality, for they made it with a thin beer, roasted onions, and oil and vinegar.  One time there was a good sister in the kitchen named Griete te Baerle.  She took compassion on the community, and secretly fetched some better beer from the tapped barrel, wanting to put that in the spicy dish in place of the thin beer.  Just then Mother Bertha came in the kitchen and saw what was happening.  She heartily scolded her and said, 'Do you think you should serve up things you did not find here and which are not the custom here?'  After she had been scolded, Griete had to take the beer away and might not put it in the dish.  The sisters were also sometimes given a bree made with crumbs from heavy rye bread; there was nothing else in it than the large yellow roots people call carrots, to which was added a little fish, but not much.  Sometimes a little watery shellfish was also scattered over that.  This bree tasted so bad that some sisters dreaded eating it for a whole week in advance. Because they could not use various costly and heavy spices, some became quite frightened that their natures simply would not be able to hold out. Even those accustomed only to cruder things and who knew nothing of the fine found it a hard job to hold out.

But they had nourishment within that people could not see from the outside:  the holy and humble life and passion of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.  They made every effort to take that in, and took it up with their whole hearts.  That made everything sweet, and they accepted with joy whatever they were given, happy to suffer want in the name of Jesus.

SISTER HEYLEWICH VAN GROLLE (d. 1454)

Good sister Heylewich was especially conscientious about her work and always ready to take up something humbling, heavy, or rejected.  She lived here in the house from early on, at the time the convent in Diepenveen was first founded.  In the beginning she did very heavy work there such as digging, carrying sand, and other heavy work better handled by a man than by her.  She did the same here, for whenever there was something heavy or filthy she was always the first and the last one at it.  One summer she sat and combed out wool for fourteen weeks straight and was never replaced.  She paid such close attention to her work and was so faithful at it that she always knew in the midst of it exactly what time of day it was.  She was so industrious that no one ever saw her idle at work, and yet she remained so compassionate and sensitive toward others who could not do their work so well that it appeared she would gladly have done some of theirs if they could thereby be relieved.  She was so sensitive toward others that she could never think or judge them as doing anything other than their best.  Her outward manner was so lowly and humble that it almost seemed right that she should have the heaviest work to the end.  Moreover, she was careful to maintain silence during her work.  If anyone asked something she answered decently, but if it was nothing she simply kept silent.  During work she was anxious and desirous to say her prayers, because afterward she read or thought something good about our dear Lord or the Holy Scriptures.  In this she was so conscientious as to set a good example for the sisters who worked alongside her.  She was most humble and unpretentious in her clothing, satisfied with the most basic necessities.  For all that she possessed was, as it were, the good virtues; her external manner said clearly that her riches were not of this world.  She was modest and humble in her morals and so self-effacing about things she needed that she might have been one of the young sisters.

By nature a kindly and merciful person, she could not easily bear to see someone suffer need or difficulty and would have rather suffered it herself, letting the other have her possessions and necessities.  She was merciful and compassionate toward the poor and held those sisters in especially high esteem who showed kindness and favor toward the poor.  This mercy and sensitivity was not limited to people but extended as well to nonrational animals.  When snow lay on the ground in the winter and the birds could not get what they needed, in her compassion she would become so miserable herself that she could hardly hide it.  Feigning thirst or when she thought no one was looking, she would bring the little birds something to eat in the public square.  Because she was so kindly to them, she knew each of the little birds as if they were people.  Whenever therefore she walked over the square or any other place outside the house, the birds came flying to her so totally unafraid as if she were another St. Francis.  And when it was said that she should do this no more, she replied emphatically, 'Please, dear God, be kindly to them, for this is their heavenly kingdom and they will have no other.'  As if she meant to say:  Because they were created by the Good Lord like us, and are to have nothing more than their daily necessities, so they should always be granted as much as they needed in order to maintain their livelihood.  For it was by nothing other than the goodness of the Creator that we were made rational creatures, without any foregoing merit, and it was by his will and goodness that each creature was created and shaped according to his good pleasure.

SOURCE: Devotio Moderna: Basic Writings, ed. John van Engen (New York: Paulist Press, 1988), pp. 121-33 (excerpts).  THIS SOURCE APPEARS HERE FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF STUDENTS IN HIS-221 and HIS-228.  ANY OTHER USE MAY VIOLATE COPYRIGHT LAWS.