Greetings.  This month I want to share with you:: 

• the historic first appearance online of the authoritative English translation of all the poems written by St. Therese.
   
• What did the Carmelites who lived with Sister Therese of the Child Jesus really think of her?  I translated a letter from Sister Therese of Jesus, who lived with St. Therese in Carmel, to Bishop Lemonnier, saying what she thought of Therese.
   
• A replica of St. Therese's cell which incorporates parts of her actual cell from Lisieux has been constructed at the National Shrine of St. Therese in Darien, Illinois. 
  
  Please see these and other articles below.  If you have events, publications, or ideas you'd like to see in future newsletters, please let me know.    

The English section of the Lisieux Carmel archives opened in the spring of 2012 and is steadily adding new resources.  I am happy to announce that for the first time, the English translation of The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux published by ICS Publications is available online at the English Web site of the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel. 
Note that the hard copy of The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, edited by Donald Kinney, O.C.D., includes a valuable general introduction by Jacques Lonchampt and detailed introductions and notes to each poem which illuminate the importance of Therese's poetry and share the context in which each poem was written.  These features do not appear online, so, if you have not read the book, it is richly worthwhile to order it.  To do so, please click on the image above.

I rejoice that, thanks to the Lisieux Carmel and the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, the text of the poems written by St. Therese are available to everyone with Internet access. 

On October 15, 1907,. Bishop Lemonnier, newly appointed bishop of Bayeux, called for information from those who had known Sister Therese of the Child Jesus.




 

On November 9, 1907, Sister Therese of Jesus, who lived with St. Therese in Carmel during all of St. Therese's years there, but who left the Carmel at her own request in 1909, .answered with this letter, translated from the Web site of the archives of the Lisieux Carmel:
   

"Monseigneur,   

 

I loved little sister Therese of the Child Jesus very much because of her youth..    She was a good child, never making trouble, loving to give services. A good little character; she had her imperfections: everyone does.

 

I have never seen anything that suggests she could be raised to the altar. Getting up in the morning, filling her little day, never overloaded.

 

 I lived 9 years and 6 months with her. I saw a child feted, cherished, adored, always placed on a pedestal. The Mother Prioress (then Marie de Gonzague) doted on her.   

 

The blood sisters of little Thérèse considered her a paragon, always giving her compliments, telling her that she was a saint, and the rest. Ah! I thought: they are imprudent. Here is a child who is praised to the skies. When her hair was cut, they kept the hair as a relic. It is easy to be amiable when you are fawned upon."

 

(Translation copyright 2012 by Maureen O'Riordan). 

 

This letter illuminates what more than one of the nuns who lived with Therese thought of her. It is interesting to read the letter in the light of the testimony of Sister Marie-Madeleine, Therese's novice, at the diocesan process on March 16, 1911:

"Generally speaking, the Servant of  God was unknown and even misunderstood in the convent.  Apart from some novices who were close to her, no one noticed the heroism of her life.  . . . As for the rest of the sisters, about half of them said she was a good little nun, a gentle person, but that she had never had to suffer and that her life had been rather insignificant.  The other half were affected by the party animosity I mentioned, so their view was more unfavorable.  These said she had been spoiled by her sisters, but they were unable, nevertheless, to make any more explicit criticism."  (St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her, tr. Christopher O'Mahony, O.C.D.  Veritas: Dublin, 1975, p. 264).

Clearly Sister Therese of Jesus, early orphaned, who had no real family life in her childhood, belonged to that "other half" who disliked the "Martin clan."  Her letter shows that St. Therese meant business when she said she wanted to be unknown to those with whom she lived, and that she succeeded in hiding her holiness from most of them.  May it encourage us to allow God to make us holy in the midst of human misunderstanding.

The liturgical feast of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin on July 12 will be celebrated at Alencon and Lisieux.

Thursday, July 12 - Mass for the feast of the Blesseds in the Crypt of the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux at 3:30 p.m.

 

Saturday, July 14 - Feast at Alencon. A day to celebrate the anniversary of your marriage: a pilgrimage, visits to the holy places, meditation, a conference, Mass, and activities for children and teenagers.  For details in French, clickhere. 

 

Sunday, July 15 - 10:30 a.m. - Mass at the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux. Mgr. Gerard Defois, archbishop emeritus of Lille, presides in the presence of Mgr. Boulanger, bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, and Mgr. Habert, bishop of Sees. 

The Shrine at Lisieux has announced that the Centenary Reliquary of St. Therese (the "Brazilian Reliquary") will make its third visit to the Philippines from December 15, 2012 through April 15, 2013.