TESTIMONIES: Her friends and neighbours

Now we will follow her during her youth in Quebec, before and after her stay in New York. From 16 to 24 is a long time in which to get to know Dina.  Her friends tell us:

 

I was fifteen years old and Dina was about 20. She offered to help me with my school homework. I went to her house and showed her my literary compositions and also asked her to help me solve my problems in algebra.  Thanks to her precise advice and for her innate ability to communicate what she knew, I soon became very good at mathematics. She has always fascinated me, above all, for her young and joyful conversation. She knew how to laugh and tease us. I admired her and found her very good-looking, without understanding exactly that her very attractive personality was but the expression of an intense interior life. She was very gentle and her artistic soul was revealed when she played brilliantly the works of the greatest musicians.

Dina never complained when she was asked to play something and did so immediately. She wanted to please everyone, but was never proud of her musical talent.  Her success never went to her head.

After leaving our boarding school we spoke mainly about music. At that time she had great ambitions, even glimpsing a European Prize on the horizon. Now I think that this pretended ambition was only to hide the fact that her only objective in life was the great love of God that overwhelmed her.

She was very charitable towards the poor. She would work day and night to help those who asked for something, even making it with her own hands. She seemed to understand what misery is and knew how to cure wounds. She had a good word for everyone, her spirit of service was constant and without limits.

A neighbour says: Dina was a very distinguished young woman, generous and without caprices. She asked for nothing from her parents and was content with everything. We were poor, and I had eleven children. When my husband asked her to be the godmother to one of my daughters, she felt content and honoured. Every month she wrote to us from New York, in spite of much work that she had.

Dina was very attentive to the needs of others. A companion tells us: in a musical sketch I had the role of a beggar; I did not have a dark coat and did not know what to do. Spontaneously Dina lent me hers, having removed the buttons, something which made it look more miserable.

Someone who knew Dina very well states that she had to struggle to overcome her strong temperament, but that her efforts and the resulting progress, was continuous. The setbacks and serious disappointments that came her way did not upset her serenity or remove the smile that made her so attractive.

TESTIMONIES: Her companions

Today I am going to tell you how her school friends saw Dina – is that alright?

 They say that Dina was always very punctual and attentive in class.  She never found an excuse to be absent from school. Very studious and gifted, methodical in her work, she never lost a minute. Doing well in every subject, she came first, but was never proud. Always very generous, one day she allowed another student who had ten marks less than her, to take the first place for which she had struggled and which was hers by right. She was known as an outstandingly good student.

One companion says that Dina was a little nervous. She was rather timid but made efforts to overcome her timidity. Dina was a little shy of her above-average height. The somewhat fearful look in her eyes made her companions nick-named her “our little gazelle” which greatly amused her. In spite of this timidity, if it was a question of helping her companions, she did so. When any of them got up to mischief, she never reported about them, but when asked, told the truth. She never told lies.

Dina did what her teachers told her, which was more than the rest of us, and for this we pulled her leg, calling her Saint Dina, Holy Dina. This was not from ill will, but to tease, although underneath we did admire her.

She was very humble and unpretentious, she did everything naturally. She was simple, courteous, distinguished in her manner and easy to get on with. She did not speak of herself or of her gifts; if these were mentioned, she accepted graciously. She did not take the first place in meetings. She did not say much, but when she did speak her conversation was serious, but agreeable and entertaining, listening to all that was of interest to us.

Dina was self-forgetful and thought of others. She always had something good to say to those who annoyed her. She did not like to hear unkind things being said about others, she knew how to make excuses for their shortcomings.  In conversation she never criticised or said anything disagreeable about other people.  When a conversation arose about someone, she always tried to bring out a good quality. One companion says that she never listened to criticism: if I criticised sometimes, she found an excuse, assuming that the person’s intentions were good; she corrected my opinion but without being harsh. I do not think that I have ever heard that she made anyone suffer, she was too gentle for that.

Dina had a strong personality but was never in a bad mood. I was near her in the dormitory and in the mornings I noticed that she always had the same smile. In one music examination they asked her something that surprised and bewildered her; she blushed and seemed very annoyed, but soon regained her self-possession. She was rather slow and once her mother reproached her for making me wait, she was not cross but smiled humbly.

Her life was reflected in her writings. When asked about this, her companions say that what she says about her childhood and adolescence is true.  We can see that she was interiorly fulfilled.

TESTIMONIES: Her parents

We have followed Dina through the different stages of her life: family, childhood, schooling, youth, piano and harmony studies, New York, celebrations, concerts, religious life, apostolate, illness … An ordinary life, like that of many people but lived extraordinarily in but one key: God

The many gifts that she received from Him were unnoticed by those who lived with her, but are  reflected in the ‘stave’ of her daily life, which she lived with exquisite fidelity to the graces that God offered her and to which she was constantly attentive, not wishing to miss one note of the symphony .

The score of her life would not be complete if we did not hear some testimonies of those around her: let us begin with her parents.

Her mother says: 

        She worked on her character.

Dina did not like to be contradicted or corrected, she had a strong personality. In her early years she had small crises when she did not get her own way. Once when I asked for something she replied, very crossly “No”.  Her father tried to teach her a lesson by stamping his feet along with her … Dina understood and never did it again.  She was determined to control her strong temperament!

She accepted peacefully the events that life brings.

When the family underwent a financial difficulty, it was Dina who consoled her mother. Her mother had enjoyed singing but ceased to do so. Dina noticed this and said to her: “God knows what He is doing. Perhaps you would be proud of your house or your clothes. Perhaps God wants it like this”. On other occasions, to cheer me up she would say: “wait until tomorrow, it will change”.

When her mother had the accident which prevented her from going to New York Dina said simply, in spite of the sacrifice that this implied, “ If I cannot leave  home, I will stay”.

Her parents tell us: 

        She maintained her life of prayer

Dina went to bed late and, in the morning, feeling tired, was slow to get up, but never missed going to Mass at 7 am. She hastened to do her school homework in order to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the afternoon. Her parents tell us that after communion, they saw that she was completely absorbed in adoration and that when she prayed with them she was very attentive. Her father said: she was very discreet concerning the graces she received.

Daily fidelity

Dina was very energetic and tenacious in what she undertook and, above all, persevering if it was a just cause. She had a good family spirit, was very sensitive and tidy. Her life was tranquil. She spent three or four hours each day practicing her music. She was grateful for everything and felt that too much was being done for her.

As a child she loved nature and admired the wonders of God, above all the flowers, birds and the beauty of clouds, trees, the sky, moonlight: everything served to praise God.

Dina was very generous and shared her belongings with others. She was always truthful and expressed her thoughts with candour. Her parents add that they never had to reproach her for telling a lie.

She was respectful and on hearing criticism would say "We do not know what the intention was".

She became a saint

The fame of Dina’s holiness soon spread. Almost immediately after her death much information about her life was received and was read by many. This was especially true of her Autobiography, translated into various languages and already having reached the 5^th edition in French. Those who read it are amazed at the work of God in a simple creature.

Her remains are in the chapel of Convent in Sillery, Quebec, and the number of visits to her tomb in order to pray and ask for numerous favours increase.

On 20^th March 1993 in the Basilica of St Peter in Rome, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Dina to be ‘Blessed’. In his homily he quoted St Paul who said: “I exhort you not to receive the grace of God in vain”. This is what Dina did throughout her life, giving us also a shining testimony of intimate dialogue with Jesus, whom she always sought with the greatest delicacy and sensitivity. Dina’s gift for music prepared her to welcome the Divine Presence with praise for God that goes far beyond words. Dina found the hidden pearl, the treasure of which the Gospel speaks, and for which she is prepared to sell all.

The perfection of the charism of the Foundress of her Congregation became incarnate in her life, to reveal the active goodness of God. Her apostolic heart is consumed, burning to make Jesus and May known and loved to the ends of the earth. Even this is not enough for her; she wants to continue her mission throughout eternity, begging love for the benefit of all souls for the greater glory of Gd.

By means of her prophetic witness, written at the request of her superior, Dina reaches out to young people, adults, priests, consecrated souls, artists, the sick, in a word to all those who seeing her, open themselves to the love of God , who is the only one capable of transforming lives and of giving true happiness.

Thus is the trail that the saints leave behind them. Their lives on earth end, but their light continues to illuminate the pathway so that we do not let ourselves become imprisoned or bogged down in the mud on the way. The saints knew how to glimpse beyond everything. If we allow them to do so, they can raise us up on their shoulders, so that we too may see further, as a father lifts up his son when he cannot see because he is too short… Dina is prepared to do this. Let yourself be lifted up by her!

Who was Dina?

Dina was a simple person, noted for her great artistic sensitivity, who only desired “to love and let Jesus and Mary have their way”. She was not just a young pianist, composer, apostle and mystic, gifted with a great musical talent, applauded and praised, with a brilliant future which she renounced in order to give herself completely to Jesus, but she was also the religious who let herself be totally captivated by Jesus in silence with an intense spiritual experience. God alone was her all and she never said “no” to him. Her whole existence was consumed by him with constant and faithful correspondence with grace.

 We cannot grasp what it means to go deep into the depths of a God who is Trinity. Neither can I explain it to you. God gave this gift to Dina and with simplicity she tells us about it in her Autobiography with all the beauty and sensitivity of the artist, always attentive to the interior voice of Jesus. But you see Dina’s holiness does not lie in these extraordinary aspects which are comparable with those of many great mystics. She was holy because she never denied anything to God, she made her life a rhapsody interpreted  in the key of love, written on the score of the gospels: ”If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him  and we shall come to him and make our abode with him”.

After her death there was unanimous agreement in declaring that the holiness of her life corresponded to what she had written and that, thanks to her great reserve, she was able to hide from the eyes of others, without anybody being able to imagine what she was experiencing interiorly. The testimonies received speak of a constant fidelity to grace, of having always been very sincere, of being unable to recall any occasion in which Dina had spoken ill of anyone, of always, when something was being said against  another , of knowing how to take their part , of never having seen her to be disheartened in moments of difficulty or, during her long illness, of never complaining, accepting everything without showing either her likes or dislikes, taking on what is hard and continuing to be joyful afterwards, being ingenious in passing unnoticed and bringing out the worth of others, of seeing the amount of work she had to do in spite of being ill and isolated in the infirmary, of having always been very good to her students, of doing everything with great simplicity and not drawing attention to herself in anything, of not ever boasting of her musical talent, always emphasizing that of others.

Perhaps you can say the same as a young lady who had lived with her expressed it; “I had a saint for a friend and did not know it”. Dina can be your friend today and you will not regret it.

The end arrives

Another important moment in Dina’s life approaches. The time comes in religious life when the vows that were made five years previously are renewed forever. In her heart she had already made them forever on the 15^th August 1923, but now it will be done publically. The years have passed and Dina is aware of being totally absorbed by Jesus and she only seeks to let him have his way; grace fills her life and she makes great efforts always to respond faithfully.

Dina enjoyed and enjoys the experience of God and the desire to communicate it to others burns within her. If her apostolic activity was reduced because of her illness, her missionary spirit was not. Her apostolic impulse to work for the salvation of all mankind takes on the dimension of the whole world. She wants to travel through the universe and she discovers that her mission for all eternity, from now until the end of time, is and will be to irradiate the love of Jesus to everyone, through the Virgin Mary. Jesus said “Ask and you will receive…” Certain of this, Dina says: ”In heaven I shall be a little mendicant of love; this is my mission and I begin it immediately”. She understood that people are united with one another as much in the spiritual as in social life, and she feels at one with the whole world, loving and letting Jesus and Mary have their way. Dina desires that all may be saved, that no one be lost; that is why she affirms, “I would like to close hell forever”.

To be one with others is not always easy. It is enjoyable when solidarity entails sharing success and happy moments,  it  is hard when it must be suffered in silence, alone without visible results. This is what Dina lives in her simple room in the infirmary. Her life is ebbing away and her apostolate remains in the joyful silence of anonymity, accepting in faith whatever Jesus offers her in each moment and which she desires to give him because she continues to let him have his way.

Her illness follows its course but the suffering does not in any way reduce her concern for others. At times the suffering is so intense that she has to cry out, “Jesus come quickly and give me strength”. From July 1929 Dina writes no more, she is too weak to do so. She continues, however, to faithfully tell her superior what she is experiencing in her inner life. Those who visit her suspect nothing but admire her serenity, her joy and the kindness she shows to all who approach her. She does not lose the smile for which she once fought at the beginning of her religious life. Her parents visit her and she suffers to see their suffering.

Having lived an ordinary life filled with an extraordinary love, the 4^th of September 1929 arrives. At about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a few very calm, imperceptible breaths mark for Dina the final encounter with Jesus.

Apostolic life

Let us now continue with Dina. The doctor detects the beginning of an illness which is more serious than the previous one.  It means that although Dina takes up her teaching again, she has to interrupt it on several occasions. Dina makes the sacrifice of having to leave the pupils she has known and loved and for whom she had always been an excellent teacher. Sometimes when things are not as we had anticipated, great indifference is needed to accept them and the consequences. Dina feels her limitations and is aware of being a mere creature before God; she has to renounce many things so as to continue to have Jesus as her only Principle and Foundation.

Dina  gives  continues at various times to give herself passionately to the teaching of music in St. Michel and Sillery.  But her frequent enforced absences, in the infirmary, distance her from teaching but never manage to extinguish her apostolic zeal. Dina realizes that among many attractive possibilities, one must choose some and renounce others.  She had already done it before entering religious life and now she is convinced that this is “to love and let Jesus and Mary have their way”.

On the other hand, Dina never forgets that religious life is consecration for a mission and that she is part of an essentially apostolic Congregation. Mission is passion for Jesus and at the same time passion for humanity. Now she has to leave teaching, but not the apostolate. When she can no longer be with the students, she increased the help she gave to her sisters, by means of musical compositions, literary works, English translations, copying registers, poems, one-act plays for feast-day celebrations, writing letters to past pupils, friends and relatives who ask for help, or for a religious, teacher of the piano, converting this correspondence into an authentic music lesson. This inactivity, imposed by illness was completely apostolic and thus she could be fully contemplative in action.

During one of the periods spent at St Michel, in March 1924, she begins to write her Autobiography, about which I have already told you. In it she describes for us the stages of her mystical journey. It is a fascinating text, a progressive dialogue with Jesus in the midst of dark nights and great consolations, which leads to unsuspected heights of the greatness of God.  I am not going to translate it for you, one must read it directly because in many places it is of such great depth that it makes one feel faint.  If some day you read it don’t forget that is written by someone with a marked artistic sensitivity and, as I said, in the spiritual language of the early twentieth century, which is very different from that which we use today. Moreover it has to express the most profound stages of contemplation of the Trinity in a dialogue that goes far beyond the merely human - a symphony between God and Dina, which often can only be transcribed by silence or the use of terms that are humanly speaking absurd, with which to try to express such deep realities which escape our understanding.