iFor updates about the forthcoming visit of the relics of St. Therese to the Philippines, please "like" the new "official Facebook page for the third visit of the Miraculous Pilgrim relics of St. Therese  of the Child Jesus to the Philippines" The reliquary of St. Therese visited the Philippines for the first time in the year 2000 and returned in 2008.  The relics will return to the Philippines from December 15, 2012 through April 15, 2013 and will visit more than forty dioceses in Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon.  The visit is hosted by the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines.  May it be a season of grace for that country and for the whole world. 

Thanks to the generosity of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, you can now visit in one page authentic, unretouched  versions of all of the 47 surviving photographs of St. Therese of Lisieux: 45 photos taken during her lifetime and two after her death.  Click on each thumbnail to see the enlargement.

The Carmel published these photos for the first time in 1961 in a beautiful album called Visage de Therese de Lisieux, which is now sadly out of print. The album appeared in English as The Photo Album of Saint Therese of Lisieux, edited by Father Francois de Sainte-Marie, O.C.D.  This English edition, which contains eight brief chapters explaining the history of photography in Therese's Carmel and telling the story of Celine's paintings of Therese, which were in circulation before 1961, also explains the circumstances of each photo and identifies everyone who appears in it.  The English edition is also out of print, but copies are available online below.

In this ten-minute film, Father James Martin, S.J., a contributing editor of America magazine, shares about how he discovered St. Therese of Lisieux through Alain Cavalier's film "Therese" and about the difference she makes for us.  Father Martin is the author of many successful books, including My Life With the Saints (which includes a chapter about Saint Therese), Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life.

In anticipation of the third visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to the Philippines, please see this film of the 2008 visit of her relics.  Here the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police pay tribute to St. Therese, who is their patron. 

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 as an e-book. This collection of essays about Saint Therese's contemporary significance is based on conferences given at a symposium sponsored by the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance near Chicago in 1988, to mark the centenary of Therese's entrance into Carmel,

Since they were first published by ICS Publications in 1990. these articles have lost none of their freshness and vigor. Among other topics, Fr. Jim Geoghegan strikingly compares Therese with the photographer Edward Weston. Fr. John Russell examines, probably for the first time in English, the eight "pious recreations" (plays) Therese wrote for the Carmelite recreations. (These plays were later published by ICS Publications under the title The Religious Plays of Saint Therese of Lisieux).  Joann Wolski Conn's "A Feminist View of Therese" finds Therese a mature adult who authored her own life vision and created relationships of mutuality. Fr. Redemptus Valabek's "Therese's Approach to Gospel Living" explores Therese's spirituality and reveals the warrior saint beneath her image.  Sister Margaret Dorgan's "Therese and John of the Cross" explores one of the most intriguing aspects of Therese. Professor William Thompson's "Therese: Challenge for Doctrine and Theology" is a rich and provocative look at Therese's theological significance. Gracefully written and perceptive, this short essay plumbs the depths of Therese and suggests she is a forerunner to a "third Vatican Council," that Vatican II was insufficient to permit the Church to "catch up" with the young woman who has since become its newest Doctor.

Peter Mongeau of Christus Publishing is to be congratulated for reissuing this valuable book.  Christus has published many books in Carmelite spirituality and has recently reprinted most of the ICS Publications backlist.