 | Teresa of the Child Jesus (Sister)
At the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux, where two of her sisters had preceded her. After less than 10 years of ordinary convent life, she died of tuberculosis in the convent at the very young age of 24. Only 17 years after her death, she was declared a Saint. She is a doctor of the Church and, together with St Francis Xavier, the patron Saint of all missions.
1.
| Her life
Thérèse of Lisieux was born in Alençon, France, on 2 January, 1873. She was the daughter of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zélie-Marie Guérin, a lacemaker. Both her parents were very religious. Louis had attempted to become a monk in his youth, but a lack of knowledge of Latin hindered him. Zélie-Marie had tried to become a nun, but was told she didn’t have the vocation. Instead, she vowed that if she married, she would give all her children to the church. Louis and Zélie-Marie met in 1858 and married only three months later. They had nine children, of whom only five daughters, Marie, Pauline, Léonie, Céline and Thérèse, survived to adulthood; the family was subject to tuberculosis. Thérèse was their youngest child.
Her mother died of breast cancer in 1877, when Thérèse was only four years old, and her father, unable to continue to work, sold his business and moved to Lisieux, in the Calvados region of Normandy, where her maternal uncle Isidore Guérin, a pharmacist, lived with his wife and two daughters.
1a.
| The vocation denied to the parents was given to their children, five of whom became religious, one in the Visitation Order and four in the Carmelite Convent of Lisieux.
When Thérèse was nine years old, her sister Pauline, who had acted as a “second mother” to her, entered the Carmelite order of nuns. Thérèse, who was being educated by the Benedictines, wanted to enter the Carmelite order, but was told she was too young. At 15, after her sister Marie also entered the same Carmelite convent renewed her attempts to join the order, but once again she was not accepted on account of her youth. Her father took Thérèse on a pilgrimage to Rome. During a general audience with Pope Leo XIII, she asked him to allow her to enter the Carmelite order, but the Pope said “Well, my child, do what the superiors decide.”
Shortly thereafter, the Bishop of Bayeux authorized the prioress to receive Therese, and in April 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux.
In 1889 her father suffered a stroke and was taken to a private sanatorium, where he lingered for three years. He returned to Lisieux in 1892, and died in 1894. Upon his death, Thérèse’s sister Céline, who had been caring for their father, entered the same Carmelite monastery, where by now four sisters lived together in the same convent. A cousin of Thérèse, Marie Guérin, also became part of that community. Léonie Martin, after several failed attempts, would eventually become a nun in the Order of the Visitation.
| 1b.
| Declining health and death
Thérèse’s final years were marked by a steady decline of her health that she bore resolutely and without complaints. On the morning of Good Friday, 1896, she began bleeding at the mouth due to a pulmonary hæmoptysis; her tuberculosis had taken a decided turn for the worse. Thérèse corresponded with a Carmelite mission in what was then French Indochina, and was invited to join them, but because of her sickness, she could not travel there. In July 1897 she was moved to the monastery’s infirmary, where she died on September 30, 1897, at age 24. On her death-bed, she is reported to have said “I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me.”
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| 2.
| Her legacy
Thérèse of Lisieux is known today because of her spiritual autobiography, “L'histoire d'une âme” (“The Story of a Soul”), which she wrote upon the orders of two prioresses of her monastery. She began the work as a memoir of her childhood, under orders from her sister Pauline, known in religion as Mother Agnes of Jesus, who was the prioress at that time. Mother Agnes gave the order after being prompted by their eldest sister, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart. A second part, a letter to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, was written while Thérèse was on a retreat in September 1896. When the seriousness of her condition became obvious in 1896, Mother Marie de Gonzague, who succeeded Mother Agnes as prioress, gave permission for Thérèse to finish her work.
It was published posthumously, and was heavily edited by her sister Pauline. (Aside from considerations of style, Mother Marie de Gonzague had ordered Pauline to alter the first two sections of the manuscript to make them appear as if they were addressed to Mother Marie as well.)
In 1901 it was translated into English.
In 1902, the Polish Carmelite priest Father Raphael Kalinowski (later Saint Raphael Kalinowski) translated her autobiography “Story of a Soul” into Polish.
In 1912 another English translation, the first complete edition of the life of the Servant of God, containing the autobiography, "Letters and Spiritual Counsels", was published. Its success was immediate and it has passed into many editions, spreading far and wide the devotion to this “little” saint of simplicity, and abandonment in God's service, of the perfect accomplishment of small duties.
It became a devotional best-seller on account of its appealing style, and on account of Therese’s trust in God despite her sufferings. Since 1973, two centenary editions of Therese's writings, including “Story of a Soul,” her letters, poems, prayers, and the plays she wrote for the monastery recreations have been published.
2a.
| “The Little Way”
In her autobiography, Sister Teresa gives a detailed account of the years of her religious life, marked by special graces and constant growth in holiness.
From its reading it appears that Sister Teresa did nothing spectacular in the convent; even the possibility of moving with other sisters to the foundation of the Carmel at Hanoi in Vietnam was prevented by the onset of the tuberculosis which was to kill her. On the contrary, she is known for her “Little Way”: the faithful following of the Carmelite rule in the spirit of a continuous search for the gift of charity.
In her quest for sanctity, she realized that it was not necessary to accomplish heroic acts or “great deeds” in order to attain holiness and to express her love of God. She wrote:
“Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.”
She is popularly known as “the Little Flower of Jesus”.
This “Little Way” also appeared in her approach to spirituality:
“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'.”
Passages like this have also left Sister Teresa open to the charge that hers is an overly sentimental and even childish spirituality. But we must remember that Sister Teresa was not a trained theologian, who uses technical terms to speak about God, rather than speak to God. Sister Teresa talks to God as a little child talks to her father. She follows the simplicity of the Gospel. This is the main reason of the tremendous appeal that her autobiography aroused, and continues to arouse in the hearts of millions of souls.
This is evident in her approach to prayer:
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy; in a word, something noble, supernatural, which enlarges my soul and unites it to God.... 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.”
| 2b.
| Quotations:
“I am a very little soul, who can offer only very little things to the Lord. I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth.
After my death I will let fall a shower of roses.
I feel in me the vocation of the priest. With what love, O Jesus, I would take You in my hands when, at my voice, You would come down from heaven. And with what love would I give You to souls! But alas! while desiring to be a Priest, I admire and envy the humility of St. Francis of Assisi and I feel the vocation of imitating him in refusing the sublime dignity of the Priesthood.
O Jesus, my Love, my vocation, at last I have found it ... my vocation is Love! Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is You, O my God, who have given me this place; in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.
Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our father’s love: difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul’s miseries, her burdens, her needs, everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events, to the heart that loves, all is well.”
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| 3.
| Canonization
Pope Pius X signed the decree for the opening of her process of canonization on June 10, 1914. Pope Benedict XV, in order to hasten the process, dispensed with the usual fifty-year delay required between death and beatification. Therese was beatified in April 1923 and canonized on May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI, only 28 years after her death. Her feast day was celebrated on October 3 until the calendar revision of 1970, when it was moved to October 1.
Thérèse of Lisieux is the patron saint of AIDS sufferers, aviators, florists, illness, and missions. In 1944 Pope Pius XII named her co-patroness of France with St. Joan of Arc.
By the Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia (“The Science of Divine Love”) of October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Universal Church, one of only three women so named (the others being Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena). Saint Thérèse was the only saint to be given recognition as a Doctor of the Church during Pope John Paul II's pontificate.
A movement is under way now to canonize St. Teresa’s parents, who were declared “Venerable” in 1994 by Pope John Paul II.
| 4.
| Patron Saint of all Catholic Missions
In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared St Francis Xavier together with the then newly canonized St Therese of Lisieux, patron Saints of all Catholic Missions.
The choice of these two Saints has a very important message, but, at first, it left a number of people puzzled why a Carmelite nun, St Therese of the Infant Jesus (1873-1897), was chosen as co-patron of Missions. St Therese spent nine years in the Carmelite convent of Lisieux: she entered the convent at the age of 15 and died at age of 24. She never left the convent.
St Francis is evidently the model of all missionaries and missionary work.
In the short space of ten years (from 6 May, 1542, his arrival in Goa, to 2 December, 1552, his death on the island of Shangchuan), Francis had visited India, Malacca, Japan and was planning the evangelization of China. He had traversed so many seas, preached the Gospel to so many nations, and converted so many people. The incomparable apostolic zeal which animated him, and the stupendous miracles which God wrought through him, explain this marvel, which has no equal elsewhere. He was canonized together with St. Ignatius in 1622.
The body of the saint is still enshrined at Goa in the church, which formerly belonged to the Society of Jesus. St Francis continues to attract pilgrims from all over the world and from all races and religions.
No one has ever queried the choice of St Francis Xavier.
4a.
| But then, we may ask ourselves, why choose Therese of the Infant Jesus as patroness of Missions?
Even as a child, Therese was fascinated by the missions. She lived at a time of epic missionary expansion, which saw hundreds of young priests and nuns leaving for Africa, South America, China and the South Seas...
When she entered the Carmel, she said: “I came to save souls and especially to pray for priests”. By praying for priests, she wanted to become an “apostle of apostles” and so make herself an even more effective missionary.
Increasingly, the whole purpose of her life became “to love Jesus and make Him loved”.
She was delighted when she was given two “spiritual brothers” and asked to help them in their ministry: Father Maurice Belliere later became a White Father and missionary in Africa; Father Adolphe Roulland, of the Paris Foreign Missions, went to China. Therese wrote to them until she died and, in so doing, extended her vision of salvation to embrace the whole world.
This desire for the missions continued until she was on her very deathbed, culminating in the hope that she would become an even greater missionary in the life to come. She wrote to Father Roulland: “I will not be inactive in heaven, my desire is to continue working for the Church and souls. I ask this of the Good Lord and I am sure He will grant me this wish.” St Therese would also say, “I will pass my heaven in doing good on earth.”
| 4b.
| St Therese repeatedly promised her sisters “I will return...”, “I will come down...”
Her deep life of prayer and communion with missionaries, made her co-sharer of the work of evangelization. We may say that in the heart of St Francis Xavier there was the prayerful heart of St Therese and in the heart of St Therese there was St Francis’ fire of evangelization.
The two saints represent the two sides of evangelization: action in contemplation and contemplation in action. They are indeed the model of all evangelizers.
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| 5.
| Carmelite monasteries: beacons of light” scattered all over the world.
In his letter to the Carmelites’ Family, in 2002, on the 550th anniversary of their birth, Pope John Paul II calls its religious and third-order members to be beacons of light in a troubled world.
“Carmel reminds people, preoccupied by so many cares, that the absolute priority must be the search for the ‘Kingdom of God and his justice,’" the Pope writes.
“In looking at Carmel, where prayer becomes life and life flowers in prayer, Christian communities understand better how they can become authentic schools of prayer.”
“that their convents be beacons of holiness, especially for the parishes and dioceses that have the good fortune to count on their presence.”
5a.
| Since the birth of the Carmelites in 1452, the monastery recognized the incorporation of the laity in the Carmelite family through the establishment of the secular third order.
The Pope invites the “men and women, called to live the Carmelite charism in the world, to sanctify all daily activity through faithfulness to their baptismal promises.”
By 2001, the membership of the Carmelite Family has increased to approximately 2,100 men in 25 provinces, 700 enclosed nuns in 70 monasteries, and 13 affiliated Congregations and Institutes. In addition, the Lay Carmelites count around 30,000 members throughout the world.
| 5b.
| There are several major Carmelite figures in the 20th century, including St. Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the few female Doctors of the Church, Titus Brandsma, a Dutch scholar and writer who was killed in Dachau Concentration Camp because of his stance against Nazism; and St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (née Edith Stein), a Jewish convert to Catholicism who was also imprisoned and died at Auschwitz. Saint Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907) was the first friar to be sainted in the Order since co-founder Saint John of the Cross.
| 5c.
| An admirer and experienced member of the Carmelites Family, describes in the following words, the mission of the Carmel in the modern world:
“That which one could call the spirituality of the desert, is a profound movement of the Spirit which will never cease as long as there are voices to listen to the voice of the Spirit. It is not fear nor the desire to repent nor simply prudence which populates the solitude of the monasteries. It is the love of God. That there be, in the middle of the big modern cities, in the richer countries, just like on the plains of the Ganges or the forests of Africa, souls capable to be content, all their lives, with adoration and praise, who consecrate themselves freely as the guarantors of humanity before the Creator, protectors and advocates of their brothers and sisters before the Father of the Heavens, what a victory for the Almighty, what glory for the Saviour! Monasticism is nothing else, in its essence.”
| 5d.
| The Carmelites are still represented on the summit of Mount Carmel at the Muhraka Monastery. The monastery is situated about 25 kilometers south of Haifa and stands on the foundations of a series of earlier monasteries. The site is believed by Christians, Jews and Muslims to be where the challenge between the prophet Elijah, who boldly announced God’s Word and the priests of Baal, who opposed him, took place (1 Kings, 18). The name of the monastery, Muhraka, meaning “place of burning”, is a direct reference to the biblical account. Carmel monasteries have kept this mission of announcing God’s Word through prayer and witness of their lives. Both Christians and non-Christians are attracted by the silent and constant invitation of the Carmelites to retreat into the desert of the heart to find God there. |
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