Elizabeth Thompson was born in Marylebone, London, on May 15, 1826. She was the fifth child, but first daughter, of Mr Frederick Thompson and his wife, Mary Ann Springall. She was baptised as a Protestant at the Independent Chapel in New Road, Paddington. Eventually, there were to be fourteen children, though three of them died in infancy.
Mr Thompson was a very upright Christian gentleman, who brought up his large family to love God, keep the commandments and be charitable to all. He worked in some branch of the legal profession, and was very comfortably well-off. He was totally devoted to his wife, whose health was delicate; theirs was a very happy home, and Mr Thompson took great pleasure in being in the family circle, taking a keen interest in the development of each child. One thing that marked little Elizabeth was a precocious interest in God. Even at four years old, one of her favourite pastimes was to hide in a dark corner, shut her eyes, and “think of God” for a considerable length of time. Once she had learnt to read, her favourite book was the Bible, which she studied extensively with great devotion. She was delicate, but very lively, and much loved by all the family.
Elizabeth had an excellent education at home, becoming fluent in French, Italian and German, whilst she had also great proficiency in mathematics. When she was eighteen, her father put her in charge of the housekeeping, as her mother was now too frail to attend to it and Elizabeth proved to be very capable. In 1849, when Elizabeth was twenty-three, her father had a bad fall from his horse. He was seriously injured and died at the age of fifty-one. He had been such a good man, and his loss was keenly felt in the family. Elizabeth did her best to maintain his standards, including family prayers and Church attendance. She herself began to study to deepen her understanding of her religion, but was disconcerted to find that there was a huge divergence of belief among Anglican Divines even of such doctrines as the Incarnation and Redemption.
About 1857 Elizabeth’s younger brother, Tom, became an invalid, but was recommended to travel and Elizabeth undertook to be his nurse and companion. They visited many places at Tom’s directions, and Elizabeth found comfort in going into the Catholic churches to pray. She even found great solace in attending Mass. At Boulogne, someone gave her one of the books of Fr F W Faber, The Creator and the Creature. This book made such a deep impression on her that she said to herself, “If the Catholic Faith is not the Truth there is no happiness left in life.”
When she arrived back in England with Tom, it became Elizabeth’s priority to meet Fr Faber. On November 11, 1857 she made her first visit to the Oratory, and received more grace than she could have hoped for. Indeed, a few days later, she returned to the Oratory to be received into the Catholic Church, though not without an intense interior struggle, which led her to exclaim to Fr Faber, “If, in ten years’ time, I find I have been mistaken today, I will undo it: not privately as now, but in public.” Fr Faber, who had been silently praying for her, said quietly, “And you would be quite right, but that day will never come!”
Her conversion caused a storm of disapproval from her family, which was intensely painful to her, but nothing compared with their reaction to her vocation, a few years later! With regard to this, although there were already five Carmels in England, Fr Faber had guided her towards the Carmel in Paris where an earlier convert of his was now living. Her introduction was done entirely by letter, and on the basis of her attraction to the writings and spirit of St Teresa of Avila, which fitted so well with her lifelong fascination with God, and her spirit of prayer. So on November 20, 1859, Elizabeth, now aged thirty-three, entered the Carmel at the Rue d’Enfer in Paris.
As Elizabeth had had absolutely no previous experience of Carmel, the reality was a total shock to her system; the huge iron grille separating her from the Chapel, the cold, the silence, the poor and unappetising diet, were challenges she had not even expected. Only one thing helped to maintain her courage, and that was the conviction that this was God’s will for her here and now. Naked faith and a deep but unfelt love for God made her persevere in spite of every temptation to give up and go home. The Prioress thought very highly of the new English postulant, who was so faithful to grace, and who now had the religious name of “Sr Marie Philippe de la Trinité” (later simplified to “Sr Mary of the Blessed Trinity”).
On March 25, 1860, she received the religious habit, still in the spiritual darkness of faith, quite devoid of any sense of consolation, and the year of her noviciate passed in the same way. The following year she made her Profession on April 18, and whilst she gave herself to God with the utmost generosity, it was still without any devotional feelings. In later life she could recognise that this austere experience actually brought her to a deep spiritual maturity, so vital when she came to guide other souls.
Very soon after her Profession, she was appointed Novice Mistress, and then in December 1862, to her great surprise she was elected sub-prioress. At this time, she was also heavily overworking, until in Lent 1863 she fell seriously ill, and only recovered with the aid of extra rest and better nourishment than she would normally have received, and this helped! Shortly after Easter, she had the joy of welcoming into the noviciate Lady Minna Fitzalan Howard, the daughter of the 14th Duke of Norfolk, who was to be known as Sr Mary of St Joseph (and who would also play an important role in bringing Carmel to London). Minna had also been directed by Fr Faber, and they already knew each other via their correspondence with him. Minna’s uncle, Lord Lyons, was at that time English Ambassador to France, and it was he who warned them of the gathering political storm which was to erupt in 1870 as the Franco-Prussian War.
It was in November against this sombre background that Sr Mary of the Blessed Trinity was elected Prioress of the first Carmel in France. It was indeed a baptism of fire; as Prioress, she had to organise as best she could for their safety, and even survival. The community had to take refuge in their cellars, whilst their house was bombed, with Paris under siege and starving, and two aged sisters dying in their midst. That she did so was at least in part due to her cool common sense and good powers of organisation, and she led the sisters through this harrowing experience by her own human warmth and example.
After the war, Mother Mary of the Blessed Trinity had to attend to rebuilding their badly damaged house and, in her view even more importantly, build up their community. In 1872, therefore, she was glad to welcome new vocations. The most notable of these was a certain Madeleine Dupont, now aged twenty-one, but who, in years to come, was to have a place of primary importance in her own life and work. At first, however, it fell to her to guide this young Sr Mary of Jesus whom God was leading by exceptional ways to a profound spiritual life. She gave her the habit in July 1873 and it was about the same time that the possibility of founding a Carmel in London began to take shape: the very purpose for which Faber had directed some of his converts to Carmel.
The earlier estimate that “Elizabeth Thompson would one day make a first-rate Prioress” still held good and when her term of office at the Rue D’Enfer expired she was not re-elected because the community wanted to leave her free to develop this prospect of an English foundation. However, just as this attractive horizon was opening, their Superior asked her to spend a year at the Carmel of St Denis (in another part of Paris) which had fallen into decline, and which he hoped she would be the right person to reinvigorate. With much hesitation, she accepted the challenge, and in December 1874 she set out for St Denis, eventually spending three years there, with outstanding success. However, it hugely complicated all the preparations for the London Carmel – in those days, before our modern means of communication, discussing things like the architect’s plans and every other detail was immensely more difficult. However, the experience she gained in living in a Carmel very different from the one she had entered gave her a great breadth of vision and enriched all that she would eventually bring to London. She returned to the Rue d’Enfer in December 1877, and at last, on September 27, 1878 she set out for England with six other chosen companions to open a Carmel in Bayswater. They arrived while the builders were still at work on the premises and, after the formal opening ceremony led by Cardinal Manning, they had much to do to consolidate regular community life.
They began to establish a small industry, baking and distributing altar-breads, so as to have a means of supporting themselves financially, though this took some time to develop. In this area, and in fact in every aspect of their lives, Mother Mary of the Blessed Trinity insisted on the maxim that “everything done in Carmel must bear the mark of something done for the love of God.” Their poverty was very real; their new building, still only part of what they intended to build when funds allowed, was damp and cold, and their first winters were severe. It was some time before any prospective new vocations applied. The first to make her profession here was a French sister, Angela of Jesus, who made her Profession on August 4, 1883. Sadly, by this time Mother Mary of the Blessed Trinity was experiencing severe health problems, and felt keenly that she was no longer capable of serving the community as Prioress.
Cardinal Manning was consulted, and in his capacity as their Superior he accepted her resignation and appointed to replace her – as they were too few to hold elections – Sr Mary of Jesus (Dupont). This young sister, whom she had received and professed in Paris, was a person of exceptional calibre, and their relationship of mutual respect and love was good to witness. Mother Mary of the Blessed Trinity knew that the future of this new foundation was now in safe hands. She herself retired into the background, though still diligently working in the Bursar’s office, keeping their accounts in perfect order. She had also an important moral role, as exemplar of the Carmelite ideal, and although her health was now so precarious that she could no longer join in many of the community’s activities, her infirmary room had a welcome for all, especially the new postulants and novices who, by now, were entering Carmel and building up hope for the future. Mother Mary of Jesus, the new young Prioress, was a daily visitor, and they were of one heart.
As 1904 moved into January, Mother Mary of the Blessed Trinity was visibly failing in health, but totally at peace, being full of gratitude for any little services offered to her. Early in the morning of January 8, as the Prioress and Infirmarian prayed beside her, she gently breathed her last.
