Official opening of the cause of beatification
After a long wait, Élise's cause could be opened on May 1, 2017. The date had been set only three weeks before, which did not give much time for preparation, especially since Easter and the pilgrimage to Portugal still had to take place in between!
Between the parishioners, the friends and the villager, it was in a full church that our archbishop Hervé GIRAUD had the joy of celebrating, for the first time in his life as bishop, the opening of a cause for beatification.
In the celebration all those responsible for the cause had to swear an oath on the secrecy to be observed, and on the seriousness of the work to be accomplished:
- Mgr. Hervé Giraud, actor of the cause as bishop of Sens-Auxerre
- Father Gérard Nison, episcopal delegate in the cause
- Father Christian Lotte, promoter of justice
- Father Joseph-Marie Vaillant, notary
- Father Dominique-Marie Morstad, postulator
- Mr. Hervé Chevrier, history expert
- Miss Raphaëlle Taccone, expert in history.
Text distributed in residents' mailboxes:
Dear inhabitants of Mailly-le-Château, We would like to reassure you: this sheet is not a propaganda text. But what we tell you is just too important and too rare not to let you know. On Monday May 1, at 11 a.m., our Archbishop, Mgr. Hervé Giraud, will officially open the beatification cause for Élise Bisschop. He will celebrate Mass and during it he will receive the oath of all those involved in the investigation. Élise Bisschop, whose oldest still remember, spent thirty-three years of her life in Mailly-le-Château after having lived her first six years at the St Hubert farm in the town of Trucy-sur-Yonne. It was here in Mailly-le-Château that Élise got involved and gave testimony of friendship in the village and faith in the parish. As from her childhood she was sick her strength was limited, but the light of her smile shone on many people in our village. When Élise died on April 9, 1964 at the 38-year-old Auxerre hospital, it was sad for many. His funeral at Mailly-le-Château had the honor of finishing on the front page of the parish newspaper of Châtel-Censoir, entitled: "Une sainte de chez nous". It was the parish priest of Mailly-le-Château, Father Marcel Girard, also loved by all, who spoke thus. If the cause of beatification is successful, Elise can be proclaimed "blessed", and later "holy". What does that mean ? It means that Elise put truth and love at the center of her life. This is why she found herself, freely, before the source of Love, Jesus. Then she followed him to the end; in a very simple way, in the middle of his ever-present illness, in the middle of his daily activities. Why is this happening now? And why simultaneously the restoration works of our church undertaken very timely by the municipality? Let everyone find an answer in their own heart. The fact remains that the advent of Elise must be a source of true pride and joy for us to grow in cohesion and brotherhood. By renewing our invitation for May 1st, be sure of our esteem. Your priests of Mailly