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Greetings!
A happy feast of St. Therese! As a gift, I give you . . . Leonie! That is, this newsletter starts with my new Web site for Leonie, the first disciple of Therese's way. It continues with stories about Therese sending the Pope a white rose on September 8 this year and about the recorded voice of her cousin, Jeanne Guerin, to which you can now listen online. After some other stories about Therese, it ends with enhanced coverage of the United States tour of the writing-desk on which St. Therese wrote Story of a Soul.
May she herself obtain from God for you many blessings on her feast-day.
with good wishes and prayer,s
Maureen O'Riordan
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"Leonie Martin: Disciple and
Sister of St Therese of Lisieux"
- a new Web site
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 | | Sister Francoise-Therese six months before her death in 1941 |
For the feast of St. Therese, I am happy to announce the launch of my new Web site, Leonie Martin: Disciple and Sister of St. Therese of Lisieux. Because Leonie was the first disciple of the way of confidence and love, I am glad to give this gift for Therese's feast. During her earthly life and for many years after her death, Léonie lived on the margin and in the shadows. Now Mgr Boulanger, the bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, has granted the imprimatur for the prayer that she might be declared venerable; Father Sangalli, the vice-postulator for the cause of her parents, declared publicly that he hopes her cause for beatification and canonization can be opened soon, as so many letters request.
More than seventy years after her death, Léonie is emerging into the light. Respecting the hiddenness that was so much a part of her spirituality, and looking at her in the context of her relationships, I want to examine Léonie in her own right. The more we study her, the more she will teach us about her pilgrimage on the way of confidence and love. The site contains all the documents and photos about Leonie that have been on "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway," with several completely new jewels unique to us. Please visit soon and often! Read more . . . .
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 | | Monastery of the Visitation at Caen |
One of the proudest accomplishments of the new Web site is our English translation of the new illustrated booklet prepared by the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen and offered to pilgrims there, which contains a preface written by Mgr Jean-Claude Boulanger, bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, together with the prayer that Leonie might be declared venerable for which he granted the imprimatur. Until you can visit Caen, make a "virtual pilgrimage" through the booklet. Read more . . . . |
"The hidden life of Leonie Martin:
the rebel sister of St. Therese
emerges from the shadows" -
a new article translated from
Famille Chretienne, June 14, 2013
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 I thank Famille Chretienne for graciously allowing me to translate this article. I believe it is the first contemporary article that talks about the rise of devotion to Leonie and the prospect of her beatification. It includes interviews with the Visitation nuns who, since 1960, have been receiving letters requesting prayers for Leonie's intercession and pilgrims who come to pray at her tomb. Learn, too, about the family which says "Leonie saved our two sons from drugs!" Read it . . . |
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Why did St. Therese send Pope Francis
a white rose on September 8, 2013?
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On September 26, 2013, the Vatican Insider reported that on Sunday, September 8, 2013, the day after the prayer vigil for peace in the world, Pope Francis received a rose from St. Therese of Lisieux. The Pope authorized the Archbishop of Ancona and Osimo, Edoardo Menichelli, to disclose this news at a press conference in Pedaso, in the region of Marche, Italy, at which Archbishop Menichelli presented a book by theologian and writer Gianni Gennari entitled Teresa di Lisieux. Il fascino della santita. I segreti di una dottrina ritrovata (Therese of Lisieux. The fascination of sainthood. Secrets of a rediscovered doctrine) and published by Lindau. We now know that this was the book Pope Francis took with him when he flew to Brazil last July.
As the Pope was walking through the Vatican gardens, a worker presented him with a white rose. Archbishop Menichelli said:
"The Pope told me he received the freshly-picked white rose out of the blue from a gardener as he was taking a stroll in the Vatican Gardens on Sunday 8 September. The Pope sees this flower as a "sign", a "message" from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whom he had turned to in a moment of worry the day before." Read more . . . .
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Listen to Therese's cousin,
Jeanne Guerin, singing Therese's poem "An unpetalled rose"
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As a gift for Saint Therese's feast, the Web site of the archives of the Carmel of Lisieux presents a small miracle. After having shared so many treasures you can see, they now offer one you can hear. The Carmel has a wax cylinder recording of St. Therese's cousin, Jeanne Guerin, singing Therese's poem "An unpetalled rose," and the Archives succeeded in making it possible for you to listen to it on the Internet. Read more and listen . . . . |
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The religious profession of St Therese, September 8, 1890
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Seotember 8, 1890, the feast of the Birth of Mary, was the date set for St. Therese's religious profession. On every September 8, the Carmelites of Lisieux had the custom of exposing on the altar of the choir a small wax statuette representing the newborn Mary so that the nuns could venerate it there. The statue was called "La Bambina." Read more . . . .
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Vigil of Prayer for Peace
incudes excerpts from Therese's poem "Why I Love You, O Mary"
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The Vatican has published in Italian a worship aid for the Vigil of Prayer for Peace conducted in Rome on September 7, 2013. The vigil included the five joyful mysteries of the rosary, and, after each decade, the stanza of St. Therese's poem "Why I Love You, O Mary" that corresponds to that mystery was read. See Deborah Thurston's English translation of the vigil worship aid at her blog, Karmalight. Read more . . . . |
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About the tour of St. Therese's writing-desk in the United States
|  I have created a permanent section on the site for news about the tour of the writing-desk of St. Therese. Everything you ever wanted to know about the tour and the writing-desk can be found here. If you're going to see the desk, read this first; if you're not going to see it, visit this section for a virtual pilgrimage. Among the features: |
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