Blessings on the feast of Saint Thérèse.  To celebrate it, I have gathered several different gifts for this newsletter.   

• The text of The Prayers of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux appears online in an authoritative English translation of the authentic edition 
• The Little Flower in Africa rebroadcast by EWTN
• All the photos of St. Thérèse published on a single Web page by the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel
• Seven million visitors to the exhibit
  "St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Burning with Love"
  at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this summer
• The testimony of witnesses at the beatification process for St. Thérèse appears online in English for the first time.  The depositions of certain witnesses were never published in English before. 
•  The healing of a child in Spain at the intercession of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin is being examined. 
• Experiencing Saint Thérèse Today reprinted by Christus Publishing 
• A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885 available in Kindle format on Amazon.

Finally, the friends of St.Thérèse and of Carmel are saddened to note the death on September 23, 2012 of Fr. John F. Russell, O. Carm., a devoted Theresian scholar and a great lover of
St. Thérèse.   

 

 (photo courtesy of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary)

 

Long before the centenary of Thérèse 's death rekindled interest in her, Fr. John did much to make her known in the English-speaking world.  He was a good friend to me and to all who had the joy of knowing him.  An article in the next issue will celebrate his life and his contributions to Thérèse. As we give thanks for him, may he intercede for us and join her in saying "I am not dying; I am entering into life."

       

This month, please join me in the prayer Thérèse asked her spiritual brothers to say for her after her death:

 

"My God, allow our sister to make You still loved."  

 

For the first time, the English translation of The Prayers of Saint Thérèse  of Lisieux published by ICS Publications  is This little gem, translated by Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. and edited by Steven Payne, O.C.D., appeared in 1997 to celebrate the centenary of the death of St. Thérèse .  It contains twenty-one independent prayers written by St. Thérèse for various occasions, including the first critical edition of the prayer she titled "Offering of myself as a Victim of Holocaust to God's Merciful Love," which others have called her "Act of Oblation to Merciful Love." 

The print copy of this book, one of the most accessible collections of St. Thérèse 's writings, includes a general introduction by Guy Gaucher, O.C.D. and detailed notes for each prayer, illuminating its importance and the context in which it was written.  These notes are full of information about St. Thérèse and about the Lisieux Carmel which does not appear elsewhere in English.  Click here for  more details about the book The Prayers of Saint Therese  of Lisieux.  You can now read the brief texts of Thérèse 's prayers online.  The supplementary information is included only in the print copy; I recommend reading it.  To order it, please click here or on the image above.

See more about The Prayers of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

This 50-minute documentary, which tells the story of St. Thérèse and of the historic visit of her relics to Africa in 2010, will air on EWTN on Sunday, September 30 at 1:30 p.m. ET and again on Saturday, October 6 at 5:00 a.m. ET. See more about the film. Order the DVD here.

One of the jewels just added to the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux is the testimony in English of most of the witnesses who testified at the diocesan process for Therese's beatification in 1910 and 1911.  Only the testimony of Thérèse's sisters Marie (Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart), Pauline (Mother Agnes of Jesus), and Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face) has not yet been posted.

The testimony of fifteen witnesses appeared in an earlier English translation in the book St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her, translated by Christopher O'Mahony. (Dublin: Veritas Press, 1975).  But the transcripts now published online include those of many witnesses whose testimony was not included in that book: among others:

• Father Lucien-Victor Dumaine, who baptized Thérèse  
• Father Victor-Louis Domin, chaplain of the Benedictine Abbey at the time of Thérèse's First Communion   
• Father Almire Pichon, the "friend and spiritual director of the Martin family"   
• Father Adolphe Roulland, Thérèse's priest-brother, who had returned from his mission to China. 
• Father Alexandre-Charles Maupas, who in 1895 succeeded his cousin, Canon Delatroette, as parish priest of St. Jacques Church in Lisieux and as priest-superior of the Lisieux Carmel.  Father Maupas heard Thérèse's confession and administered Extreme Unction to her on July 30, 1897.     
• Mother Isabelle of the Sacred Heart, who did not know Thérèse but was inspired by Story of a Soul to enter the Lisieux Carmel, where she became subprioress and novice mistress, who describes the death of Sister Marie of the Eucharist (Thérèse's cousin Marie Guérin).    
• Several teachers and others who knew Thérèse at tje Benedictine Abbey school.  

Read a witness's testimony by clicking on the witness's name in the column at the left of that Web page.

On September 17, 2012 the Shrine at Lisieux announced:

At this moment, our beloved rector, Mgr Lagoutte, is in Spain to present to the Archbishop of the place a record of the healing of the little Carmen, attributed to the Martin spouses.  If the dossier is accepted and that healing is recognized as miraculous, it will open the way for the canonization of Louis and Zélie! We therefore commend this approach to your prayers!

I am happy to announce that Experiencing Saint Therese Today has been reprinted by  Christus Publishing and is available to readers again in hard copy and, for the first time, as an e-book. These essays about Saint Thérèse's contemporary significance are based on conferences given at a symposium sponsored by the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance near Chicago in 1988, to celebrate the centenary of Thérèse's entering Carmel. 

To taste the book's quality, please click here and then click on the icon "Download Free Sample" to read "Therese's Approach to Gospel Living" by Redemptus Valabek, O. Carm.  I was present at the 1988 symposium, and I am delighted that these superb essays are available again.  Read more. . . .

A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, is now available in Kindle format.  Customers from many countries have paid high shipping costs, and the Kindle format will be good news for many.  To order it, click here.