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Therese Martin at the age
of eight
Miracles and graces were being attributed
to her intercession, and within twenty-eight years after death,
this simple young nun had been canonized.
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Saint Thérèse
of Lisieux
Celebration of Feast Day is
October 1.
Taken from "Lives of
Saints"
The spread of devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux is one
of the impressive religious manifestations of our time. During
her few years on earth this young French Carmelite was scarcely
to be distinguished from many another devoted nun, but her death
brought an almost immediate awareness of her unique gifts.
Through her letters, the word-of-mouth tradition originating
with her fellow-nuns, and especially through the publication of
<Histoire d'un ame>, Therese of the Child Jesus or
"The Little Flower" soon came to mean a great deal to
numberless people; she had shown them the way of perfection in
the small things of every day. Miracles and graces were being
attributed to her intercession, and within twenty-eight years
after death, this simple young nun had been canonized. In 1936 a
basilica in her honor at Lisieux was opened and blessed by
Cardinal Pacelli; and it was he who, in 1944, as Pope, declared
her the secondary patroness of France. "The Little
Flower" was an admirer of St. Teresa of Avila, and a
comparison at once suggests itself. Both were christened Teresa,
both were Carmelites, and both left interesting autobiographies.
Many temperamental and intellectual differences separate them,
in addition to the differences of period and of race; but there
are striking similarities. They both patiently endured severe
physical sufferings; both had a capacity for intense religious
experience; both led lives made radiant by the love of Christ.
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| The parents of the later saint were Louis Martin,
a watchmaker of Alencon, France, son of an army officer, and
Zelie-Marie Guerin, a lacemaker of the same town. Only five of
their nine children lived to maturity; all five were daughters
and all were to become nuns. Francoise-Marie Therese, the
youngest, was born on January 2, 1873. Her childhood must have
been normally happy, for her first memories, she writes, are of
smiles and tender caresses. Although she was affectionate and
had much natural charm, Therese gave no sign of precocity. When
she was only four, the family was stricken by the sad blow of
the mother's death. Monsieur Martin gave up his business and
established himself at Lisieux, Normandy, where Madame Martin's
brother lived with his wife and family. The Guerins, generous
and loyal people, were able to ease the father's
responsibilities through the years by giving to their five
nieces practical counsel and deep affection.
The Martins were now and always united in the closest bonds.
The eldest daughter, Marie, although only thirteen, took over
the management of the household, and the second, Pauline, gave
the girls religious instruction. When the group gathered around
the fire on winter evenings, Pauline would read aloud works of
piety, such as the <Liturgical Year >of Dom Gueranger.
Their lives moved along quietly for some years, then came the
first break in the little circle. Pauline entered the Carmelite
convent of Lisieux. She was to advance steadily in her religious
vocation, later becoming prioress. It is not astonishing that
the youngest sister, then only nine, had a great desire to
follow the one who had been her loving guide. Four years later,
when Marie joined her sister at the Carmel, Therese's desire for
a life in religion was intensified. Her education during these
years was in the hands of the Benedictine nuns of the convent of
Notre- Dame-du-Pre. She was confirmed there at the age of
eleven.
In her autobiography Therese writes that her personality
changed after her mother's death, and from being childishly
merry she became withdrawn and shy. While Therese was indeed
developing into a serious-minded girl, it does not appear that
she became markedly sad. We have many evidences of liveliness
and fun, and the oral tradition, as well as the many letters,
reveal an outgoing nature, able to articulate the warmest
expressions of love for her family, teachers, and friends.
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Zelie & Louis Martin
It is not astonishing that the youngest
sister, then only nine, had a great desire to follow the one who
had been her loving guide.
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"Still
God cannot be giving me trials beyond my strength. He gave me
the courage to sustain this one."
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On Christmas Eve, just a
few days before Therese's fourteenth birthday, she underwent an
experience which she ever after referred to as "my
conversion." It was to exert a profound influence on her
life. Let her tell of it-and its moral effect-in her own words:
"On that blessed night the sweet infant Jesus, scarcely an
hour old, filled the darkness of my soul with floods of light.
By becoming weak and little, for love of me, He made me strong
and brave: He put His own weapons into my hands so that I went
on from strength to strength, beginning, if I may say so, 'to
run as a giant."' An indelible impression had been made on
this attuned soul; she claimed that the Holy Child had healed
her of undue sensitiveness and "girded her with His
weapons." It was by reason of this vision that the saint
was to become known as "Therese of the Child Jesus." |
| The next year she told her father of
her wish to become a Carmelite. He readily consented, but both
the Carmelite authorities and Bishop Hugonin of Bayeux refused
to consider it while she was still so young. A few months later,
in November, to her unbounded delight, her father took her and
another daughter, Celine, to visit Notre- Dame des Victoires in
Paris, then on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Pope Leo
XIII. The party was accompanied by the Abbe Reverony of Bayeux.
In a letter from Rome to her sister Pauline, who was now Sister
Agnes of Jesus, Therese described the audience: "The Pope
was sitting on a great chair; M. Reverony was near him; he
watched the pilgrims kiss the Pope's foot and pass before him
and spoke a word about some of them. Imagine how my heart beat
as I saw my turn come: I didn't want to return without speaking
to the Pope. I spoke, but I did not get it all said because M.
Reverony did not give me time. He said immediately: 'Most Holy
Father, she is a child who wants to enter Carmel at fifteen, but
its superiors are considering the matter at the moment.' I would
have liked to be able to explain my case, but there was no way.
The Holy Father said to me simply: 'If the good God wills, you
will enter.' Then I was made to pass on to another room.
Pauline, I cannot tell you what I felt. It was like
annihilation, I felt deserted.... Still God cannot be giving me
trials beyond my strength. He gave me the courage to sustain
this one."
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Therese as a novice.
"From her entrance she astonished the
community by her bearing, which was marked by a certain majesty
that one would not expect in a child of fifteen." |
Therese did not have to wait
long in suspense. The Pope's blessing and the earnest prayers
she offered at many shrines during the pilgrimage had the
desired effect. At the end of the year Bishop Hugonin gave his
permission, and on April 9, 1888, Therese joined her sisters in
the Carmel at Lisieux. "From her entrance she astonished
the community by her bearing, which was marked by a certain
majesty that one would not expect in a child of fifteen."
So testified her novice mistress at the time of Therese's
beatification. During her novitiate Father Pichon, a Jesuit,
gave a retreat, and he also testified to Therese's piety.
"It was easy to direct that child. The Holy Spirit was
leading her and I do not think that I ever had, either then or
later, to warn her against illusions.... What struck me during
the retreat were the spiritual trials through which God wished
her to pass." Therese's presence among them filled the nuns
with happiness. She was slight in build, and had fair hair,
gray-blue eyes, and delicate features. With all the intensity of
her ardent nature she loved the daily round of religious
practices, the liturgical prayers, the reading of Scripture.
After entering the Carmel she began to sign letters to her
father and others, "Therese of the Child Jesus."
In 1889 the Martin sisters suffered a great shock. Their
father, after two paralytic strokes, had a mental breakdown and
had to be removed to a private sanatarium, where he remained for
three years. Therese bore this grievous sorrow heroically.
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On September 8, 1890, at the age of seventeen,
Therese took final vows. In spite of poor health, she carried
out from the first all the austerities of the stern Carmelite
rule, except that she was not permitted to fast. "A soul of
such mettle," said the prioress, "must not be treated
like a child. Dispensations are not meant for her." The
physical ordeal which she felt more than any other was the cold
of the convent buildings in winter, but no one even suspected
this until she confessed it on her death-bed. And by that time
she was able to say, "I have reached the point of not being
able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to
me."
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Photo taken in 1896.
"A soul of such mettle," said
the prioress, "must not be treated like a child." |
Therese washing laundry (second from
left)
" She mentions her own
patience humorously. During meditation in the
choir, one of the sisters continually fidgeted
with her rosary, until Therese was perspiring with
irritation. At last, "instead of trying not
to hear it, which was impossible, I set myself to
listen as though it had been some delightful
music, and my meditation, which was not the
'prayer of quiet,' passed in offering this music
to our Lord."
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In 1893, when she was twenty, she
was appointed to assist the novice mistress, and
was in fact mistress in all but name. She
comments, "From afar it seems easy to do good
to souls, to make them love God more, to mold them
according to our own ideas and views. But coming
closer we find, on the contrary, that to do good
without God's help is as impossible as to make the
sun shine at night."
In her twenty-third year, on order of the
prioress, Therese began to write the memories of
her childhood and of life at the convent; this
material forms the first chapters of <Histoire
d'un ame>, the <History of a Soul>. It is
a unique and engaging document, written with a
charming spontaneity, full of fresh turns of
phrase, unconscious self- revelation, and, above
all, giving evidence of deep spirituality. She
describes her own prayers and thereby tells us
much about herself. "With me prayer is a
lifting up of the heart, a look towards Heaven, a
cry of gratitude and love uttered equally in
sorrow and in joy; in a word, something noble,
supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it
to God.... Except for the Divine Office, which in
spite of my unworthiness is a daily joy, I have
not the courage to look through books for
beautiful prayers. . . . I do as a child who has
not learned to read, I just tell our Lord all that
I want and he understands." She has natural
psychological insight: "Each time that my
enemy would provoke me to fight I behave like a
brave soldier. I know that a duel is an act of
cowardice, and so, without once looking him in the
face, I turn my back on the foe, hasten to my
Saviour, and vow that I am ready to shed my blood
in witness of my belief in Heaven." She
mentions her own patience humorously. During
meditation in the choir, one of the sisters
continually fidgeted with her rosary, until
Therese was perspiring with irritation. At last,
"instead of trying not to hear it, which was
impossible, I set myself to listen as though it
had been some delightful music, and my meditation,
which was <not> the 'prayer of quiet,'
passed in offering this music to our Lord."
Her last chapter is a paean to divine love, and
concludes, "I entreat Thee to let Thy divine
eyes rest upon a vast number of little souls; I
entreat Thee to choose in this world a legion of
little victims of Thy love." She counted
herself among these. "I am a very little
soul, who can offer only very little things to the
Lord."
In 1894 Louis Martin died, and soon Celine, who
had of late been taking care of him, made the
fourth sister from this family in the Carmel at
Lisieux. Some years later, the fifth, Leonie,
entered the convent of the Visitation at Caen.
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"I will spend my Heaven
doing good on earth."
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Therese occupied herself with
reading and writing almost up to the end of
her life. That event loomed ever nearer as
tuberculosis made a steady advance. During the
night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday,
1896, she suffered a pulmonary haemorrhage.
Although her bodily and spiritual sufferings
were extreme, she wrote many letters, to
members of her family and to distant friends,
as well as continuing <Histoire d'un ame>.
She carried on a correspondance with Carmelite
sisters at Hanoi, China; they wished her to
come out and join them, not realizing the
seriousness of her ailment. She had a great
yearning to respond to their appeal. At
intervals moments of revelation came to her,
and it was then that she penned those succinct
reflections that are now repeated so widely.
Here are three of them that give the flavor of
her mind: "I will spend my Heaven doing
good on earth." "I have never given
the good God aught but love, and it is with
love that He will repay." "My
'little way' is the way of spiritual
childhood, the way of trust and absolute
self-surrender."
A further insight is given us in a letter
Therese wrote, shortly before she died, to
Pere Roulland, a missionary in China.
"Sometimes, when I read spiritual
treatises, in which perfection is shown with a
thousand obstacles in the way and a host of
illusions round about it, my poor little mind
soon grows weary, I close the learned book,
which leaves my head splitting and my heart
parched, and I take the Holy Scriptures. Then
all seems luminous, a single word opens up
infinite horizons to my soul, perfection seems
easy; I see that it is enough to realize one's
nothingness, and give oneself wholly, like a
child, into the arms of the good God. Leaving
to great souls, great minds, the fine books I
cannot understand, I rejoice to be little
because 'only children, and those who are like
them, will be admitted to the heavenly
banquet."
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One month before her
death in 1897.
The Church was
to recognize a profound and valuable
teaching in 'the little way'-
connoting a realistic awareness of
one's limitations, and the
wholehearted giving of what one has,
however small the gift.
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In June, 1897, Therese
was removed to the infirmary of the
convent. On September 30, with the
words, "My God . . . I love
Thee!" on her lips she died. The
day before, her sister Celine, knowing
the end was at hand, had asked for
some word of farewell, and Therese,
serene in spite of pain, murmured,
"I have said all . . . all is
consummated . . . only love
counts."
The prioress, Mother Marie de
Gonzague, wrote in the convent
register, alongside the saint's act of
Profession: ". . . The nine and a
half years she spent among us leave
our souls fragrant with the most
beautiful virtues with which the life
of a Carmelite can be filled. A
perfect model of humility, obedience,
charity, prudence, detachment, and
regularity, she fulfilled the
difficult discipline of mistress of
novices with a sagacity and affection
which nothing could equal save her
love for God...."
The Church was to recognize a
profound and valuable teaching in 'the
little way'- connoting a realistic
awareness of one's limitations, and
the wholehearted giving of what one
has, however small the gift. Beginning
in 1898, with the publication of a
small edition of <Histoire d'un ame>,
the cult of this saint of 'the little
way' grew so swiftly that the Pope
dispensed with the rule that a process
for canonization must not be started
until fifty years after death. Almost
from childhood, it seems, Therese had
consciously aspired to the heights,
often saying to herself that God would
not fill her with a desire that was
unattainable. Only twenty-six years
after her death she was beatified by
Pope Pius XI, and in the year of
Jubilee, 1925, he pronounced her a
saint. Two years later she was named
heavenly patroness of foreign missions
along with St. Francis Xavier.
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Saint
Thérèse of Lisieux, Virgin.
Celebration of Feast Day is
October 1.
Taken from "Lives of
Saints",
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| Read about and or get the
movie "Therese, Ordinary Girl ~
Extraordinary Soul": http://www.theresemovie.com/ |
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Novena
to the Little Flower
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Oh
Little Therese of the Child Jesus,
please pick me a rose from thy Heavenly Garden,
and send it to me as a message of love.
Ask God to grant the favor
I now place with confidence in your
hands...
(say
intention)
Help me to believe as you did in God's great love for
me,
so that I may imitate your little way each day,
Amen.
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Copyright 2007
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