EPILOGUE

Throughout her life Dina, like the “poor of Yahweh” came to know the mysteries that her life presented; a humble search, dim half-light, deep faith, trusting commitment, unconditional fidelity, unlimited self-abandonment and thus she could enter into the infinity that is God.

To believe is to trust, it is to let things happen, it is, above all, to commit oneself, to love.  Dina passed through life leaving us not only her footprint on the sand but, above all, the footprint of God. She presents God to us as the supreme Beauty, as the Love that seeks to be loved, like the moonlight over the sea of our lives, arousing in us the nostalgia for Him.

The Autobiography of Dina is not the fruit of a theological reflexion, she never studied theology. Dina searched for God, silently as a gentle breeze, tranquil as peace, attentive as the watchman who scans the horizon before the sunset. Dina is the faithful echo of the word of God, without looking for interpretations, without taking any initiative because God alone is the protagonist. In her writings Dina reveals her life and soul, unfolding as does a flower in the rays of the Sun.

If you like, having learned something of Dina’s passage through our world, we can delve more profoundly into her life, in order to get to know the score better. Do not forget that the work of God is all important, hidden to human eyes and that the score of every life requires our cooperation, so that, if you wish, we will then be able to play the whole melody.

Thank you Dina for your life and for your constant fidelity to grace. Help us, so that the score of our lives may be in tune and, like hers allow a melody to be heard – a melody to the greater glory of God

TESTIMONIES: Her Mistress of Novices

Today I would like you to hear from Dina’s Mistress of Novices in whom Dina confided the rich graces that God was offering her. We are treading on holy ground, where the main protagonist is God Himself and we feel overwhelmed by the path along which God led Dina. Her life as a religious was very brief, only eight years, but long enough to reach to the depths and navigate the deep waters of the mystery of God, something which Dina, obediently has described for us in her autobiography.

Dina hid nothing from her Mistress of Novices. She told her everything about her spiritual experiences because, receiving such an abundance of divine graces, she was afraid of falling into illusion.

The Mistress tells us:

When Dina spoke to me about her communications, I was worried and showed it; I knew that, as she was so sensitive this was a problem for her.  On seeing my concern she wept: “Why am I not like the others?” Something that, at one moment when she heard the voice of Jesus, filled her with joy, subsequently became a real torture. She found peace only when I told her that it was God’s will.

She was very simple and while her intimacy with Jesus developed, she participated fully in every aspect of the life of the noviciate.

One day in which she had confided to me that she was in deep communication with God, the novices had an outing; she laughed, enjoyed herself with and like the others but nothing revealed her secret.

The Mistress says throughout Dina’s religious life sources of suffering can be perceived:

Community life - given her gentle and sensitive personality. Her illness during which, on the orders of the doctor, she had to lie motionless in bed, in order that her lungs might heal. The greatest was when Our Lord offered her His chalice so that, in her agony, she would participate with all the suffering that He underwent: downcast, fearful, sorrowful, revulsion, loneliness etc.

Another profound suffering that we can grasp only with difficulty, was the sense of longing for heaven that is felt by those to whom Our Lord especially reveals Himself. Then faith becomes a journey, like Abraham, like Mary …

An important moment in Dina’s life was when Jesus told her that she would die on the 15^th August 1924.  The Mistress says that when , some days earlier, she went to visit her in the infirmary  and seeing that her state of health had not  declined she said to her “ You don’t seem to be dying”. Dina accepted this humbly and said nothing.

The Mistress tells us that after the 15^th August has come and gone, she made Dina understand that she was perhaps living with an illusion. She replied simply and quite naturally that she had been mistaken.  Dina was not depressed and profited humbly from the situation. She continued as before, without concern and even with greater fervour. After this I realised that she had received no further communications for quite a long time, but that her faith and love for Our Lord were even more intense. The death that Our Lord had predicted and that she had not understood, was a mystical death and now silence came over her. This silence of God, both disconcerting and overwhelming, can lead to a vague impression of insecurity, of asking oneself if all this was true and might have been the product of the imagination and not really the action of God.  The greater God’s self- manifestation, the harder it is to bear the silence that follows, Dina did not doubt, she continued to abandon herself, after which God offered her much greater graces.

Dina remained completely open with her novice mistress and the latter tells us that when Dina confided in her she was certain that it was true, even though she was aware of the possibility of illusion, she had nothing on which to base such fears.

More testimonies could follow, but there is a silence that speaks more than words,  I leave you with Dina…

TESTIMONIES: Her Sisters in religious life

Dina left what would have been a most attractive future, a loving family life, a successful musical career, a promising future, the chance to create a happy home … all this to respond with a YES to God who is above everything.

Dina made an impression on her Sisters.  Let us listen to them. They tell us that it was rather by her attitudes than her words that they noticed:

Her great simplicity

She was so self-effacing that it seemed that in her own eyes she counted for nothing. Her great humility hid her talent.

Exteriorly she was like all the others. Nobody imagined that she received extraordinary gifts of grace.

At times of recreation when the conversation became very animated, she was quiet so that others would have the pleasure of recounting what had happened.

Her joy

In the afternoons the novices organised recreations, or musical or literary activities. Dina participated fully in the activities and in the games. Her sketches amused everyone. One would have thought that her shyness would prevent her from playing unusual parts, but the contrary was true, when anything was entrusted to her she did it with spontaneity, thought and cheerfulness.

Her self-forgetfulness

In the noviciate tasks were allocated to each one. When they were not assigned she always chose the most difficult and offered to replace those who had had the hardest ones. She did this so pleasantly that she gained their affection

She always wanted to make others happy and one had to pay attention to the expression of the simplest wish because she responded to it immediately. If possible she did more, she did not wish to do less.

Always affable and good, she avoided hurting others, even if it was a religious who made her suffer.

Her austerity

Dina did not like apples. Her parents, who did not know this, often brought this fruit to her and her superior, taking her health into account, wanted her to eat some. Dina ate apples for many months until the Mistress of Novices perceived the repugnance that they caused her.

Throughout her time in the infirmary, Dina suffered in knowing that her Sisters had to serve her. She would have preferred that the roles would be reversed. She was always surprised and grateful for the smallest attention offered her, for a minute detail.  She was not demanding and seemed surprised that they had even thought of her. She endured the suffering brought on by her illness without saying anything, without it being noticed. She never complained. Her constant smile in the midst of such pain was what most attracted attention.

Her helpfulness

Sometimes the tasks that she was given to do accumulated: compositions, songs, copies, letters, registers, translations … but she never considered herself overworked. They say that, after her death, there was surprise at the amount of work she had undertaken during her illness.

She always had something good to say about people. She gave the impression that she never saw the less good or defective side of others.

While she was still able to teach music she did so with interest and was greatly appreciated. She was demanding but kind. She only sought to give the best of herself and for the good of each of her pupils.

I could tell you much more but I feel that by now you can make out what Dina was like and you yourself can draw your own conclusions.

TESTIMONIES: Her companions in New York:

Let us now follow Dina during the two years that she spent in New York. It was a period of hard work in her studies, of very happy moments as a consequence of her passionate love of music, of living it all with the lively energy of a young woman who explored all that surrounded her in that great metropolis, of daily contacts by letter with her parents, in order to thank them for their sacrifice and that they should not feel the pain of separation too much.

Dina was there with two Canadian companions: Bernadette and Aline.

The two saw her as a friendly young woman, who unselfishly tried to please. She worked very hard at her musical studies, but was also capable of breaking the monotony and laughing at some joke. Dina was very cheerful, laughed easily and accepted that we should jokingly pull her leg. She had will power that was strong and disciplined and was both firm and gentle at one and the same time. She was very tidy and careful with things, but never referred to the fact that we were not … she pretended not to notice.

She was really shy, but overcame this when she had to entertain others. In conversation she was always ready with a word to set the other person at ease. She was reserved, not easily excited, but so friendly that nobody could imagine the efforts that she made to be entertaining.

Dina’s strong character, which was evident even when she was very small, continued to occasionally betray her and be a source of suffering. One day a rather unkind remark was made about her manner of playing the piano. Bernadette tells us: I was in my room. When I saw her enter I noticed how very pale she was and asked: What’s the matter? Are you ill?  She burst into tears. I repeated my question … through her tears she told me: “I am very proud. What they have just said to me is true”. Dina accepted the rather exaggerated comment, but rebelled inwardly. Some years later she met the person but was so pleasant and discreet that nobody would have believed that something so disagreeable had previously taken place.

Bernadette, with whom she shared a room, suggested in Holy Week that they should pray during the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  Dina was happy with the idea, but did not want their other friends to know about it.  We dimmed the light and prayed for an hour. Dina always followed faithfully the programme of daily prayer that she had drawn up in Quebec. Taking her health into account she could have omitted the daily Mass, but did not even dream of doing so. Aline adds that every evening, she saw Dina praying with fervour at the altar rails, for half or three quarters of an hour, not moving, with her head in her hands.

During the holidays, Bernadette tells us that they went to Chicoutimi (Quebec) by boat.  On the return journey they found that, due to a misunderstanding, the cabins hey had reserved were not available. In the evening a passenger, who was half drunk came to the lounge where we were. Dina noticed my anxiety and said “You’ll see, we will get a cabin” and she began to cough. An employee offered her a woollen blanket but she continued to cough. At about one o’clock in the morning the employee returned triumphantly, saying that he had a cabin for us. On entering, Dina, seated on the bed, began to laugh: “I told you that we would have a cabin”, for a moment I also found it funny, but then realised that she had planned it to help me, when she had noticed my anxiety.

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".