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7. The long awaited meetingTrusting each other, we have been able to walk ahead. On April 26, 1988 there was a big celebration for the 90th birthday of little sister Magdeleine. She told the little sisters who greeted her and thanked her,
And then she added. "Don't ask that I still live a long while. I want to go to heaven so much... I have lived so long and now am exhausted." ![]() As long as she had breath within her, little sister Magdeleine was ready to take to the road. That summer she traveled as far as Moscow, sharing the joy of the Christian Community that was celebrating the millennium of their evangelization. In July 1989 she returned one last time despite the fact that she could hardly walk and had to travel lying down most of the time. In Moscow she enjoyed the openness that Perestroika blew in and for the first time was able to stay in the little sisters' apartment without fear of compromising them. There she also met her good friend, Fr. Alexander Men, one last time. He was an Orthodox priest who had touched the lives of many people and who was assassinated the following year. She was also able to make one last visit to the nuns of Kiev and to friends who awaited her each year in a tiny little orthodox church on the outskirts of the town of Orel. The return trip brought her back to France and the Tubet where the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the foundation began. After a few days they headed for Rome where she was expected for the 8th of September. Along the way she stopped to visit an old friend, the former Bishop of the Sahara, Bishop Mercier. Also quite elderly, he had tears of joy in seeing her again, saying "we will meet again in heaven." She answered, "I look forward to it." Several hours later she had a bad fall and broke her hip. She arrived in Tre Fontane on a stretcher after a painful trip. She moved into the little room that she called her "Theba'ide" ever since she had received permission to reserve the Blessed Sacrament there. She spent the last months of her life there, welcoming those who came to her despite her weakness and simply being present before her Lord. From her bed she was able to follow the Jubilee celebrations. There were little sisters and friends from around the world, including Tahar, her dear Muslim friend of 50 years from Touggourt. He had helped her to build the first house there. He told the little sisters:
![]() I cannot wait any longer The doctors felt that little sister Magdeleine was too weak to undergo surgery for her hip and chose instead to keep her in traction. This kept her confined to her bed and was very painful because of how thin she was. She never complained and followed everything that was happening around her. On September 19th Fr. Voillaume gave her the sacrament of the sick and during this celebration she told the little sisters,
Little sister Magdeleine knew that she could be a bit abrupt at times but because she also knew how to ask for forgiveness just as quickly the injured parties mostly forgot the incidents just as quickly. For several weeks little sister Magdeleine swung between life and death, suffering terribly and totally dependant upon others for her care. Little sister Jeanne and a few others kept 24 hour watch beside her. At the beginning of November her condition further worsened. On the 6th she had trouble breathing and several times was heard to say, "My God, I never would have thought that it would have taken this long...." Her last words were, "I cannot wait any longer..." That evening, November 6, 1989, as they changed her dressings she bowed her head and went to meet her Lord. The little sisters of Tre Fontane were all in the next room praying the Prayer of Abandon. It was 8:50 in the evening. Throughout the following days an uninterrupted line of friends came to pray beside her as the little sisters took turns, day and night, in a vigil of prayer around her. There was a profound atmosphere of peace and gentleness, an air of eternity that filled the little room where she lay. Cardinal Pironio came and also spoke to the little sisters:
![]() The priests from the Russicum came to sing the office of the dead in Slavonic, followed by those from the Greek College and the monks of Grotta Ferrata. As she had loved the Oriental Churches so much it was fitting that she was accompanied in death by the prayer of so many different churches. Fr. Voillaume celebrated the funeral Mass along with 80 concelebrants from various countries on November 10, 1989. As the chapel was too small to accommodate such a crowd the liturgy took place outside. The coffin was placed on the ground upon a bed of sand that recalled the desert. The pascal candle and a bas-relief of the infant Jesus in his crib was placed next to it. Over 300 little sisters from many different countries participated. Cardinal Martin came as the Holy Father's delegate as well as Cardinals Gantin, Etchegaray and Silvestrini and Bishops Macchi and Sejourne. They were all long-time friends. Bishop Spiridon came as the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I, and by some miracle Fr. Alexander Men just happened to arrive in Rome the day before unaware that little sister Magdeleine had died. It was the first time that he had been able to travel outside of Russia. The brothers of Taize and the sisters of Grandchamps were there as well as a crowd of lay people including several families who worked with the little sisters at the Luna Park fair grounds. Little sister Magdeleine had insisted that the little sisters have a stand there among the carnival workers in order to shine the light of Christmas and the message of universal love among them. At the end of his homily Fr. Voillaume spoke with great emotion:
At the end of this very moving day the little sisters gathered with little sister Iris Mary who had this to say:
Was it purely accidental or was it some kind of mysterious coincidence that that same evening, November 10,1989, the Berlin Wall began to crumble. In the following months letters arrived from around the world and from people of different faiths and nationalities attesting to how much the life of little sister Magdeleine had been a light of faith and a sign of the tenderness of God for them and of that desire "to gather together all the scattered children of God." This letter from Fr. Alexander Men is a fitting conclusion: ![]()
Little sister Annie of Jesus 15 mars 1997
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