The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux

The feast of Mother Marie de Gonzague: June 21, 1896

The prioress's feast was always a day of special celebration at the Lisieux Carmel, but in 1896  the feast day of Mother Marie de Gonzague was celebrated with particularly elaborate festivities.  Marie de Gonzague's patron was St. Aloysius Gonzaga, known in France as "St. Louis de Gonzague," the young Jesuit who died while caring for victims of a plague in Rome.  Because Mother Marie de Gonzague had been elected prioress in March only after seven ballots, and was deeply hurt that the vote had been so divided, the nuns wanted to celebrate the feast as lavishly as possible. Writing to her parents to ask for a long list of treats: trout, green beans, strawberries, cakes, wine, cherries from Jeanne Guerin, sparkling water from Leonie, Marie  Guerin (Sister Marie of the Eucharst) wrote on June 17:  "For this feast, we must shake things up.  You understand, don't you?  We would rather have less on other feast days and more on this one."1  The bountiful celebration at which all the treats would be consumed took place on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. 

After that the novices presented a short comic play they had written themselves.  Marie of the Eucharist played the gardener, Baptiste, the "innocent"; Sister Marie of the Trinity was the schoolmaster, and Sister Genevieve (Celine) "old Father Jerome."  The manuscript of this sketch was sent to the Guerins; it did not survive.

Context for the writing of "The Triumph of Humility"

The next day, Sunday, June 21, the novitiate presented a much more serious effort: Therese's seventh play, The Triumph of Humility.  Current events, both in the Lisieux Carmel and in the wider world, gave birth in Therese's mind to the idea for this play.  The difficult election in March had divided the community, leaving the nuns unsettled.  At the same time, the Catholic world was convulsed with the tale of Diana Vaughan.  Miss Vaughan, daughter of an American father and a French mother, was an adherent of Palladism, a supposed Satanic cult within Freemasonry.  Many Catholics had developed sympathy with Diana and prayed for her conversion.  In June 1895, Joan of Arc freed Diana from the grip of the devil.  Diana then began to publish against Freemasonry, publishing a Eucharistic novena and her Memoires of an Ex-Palladist.  The novices believed that Diana's conversion could furnish the plot for the feast-day play.  We will hear more of Diana Vaughan when we examine the events of 1897.  Meanwhile, Therese grasped the opportunity to create an entertainment that might restore the community's equilibrium.

Resources: to read the text and understand the play's significance

For a full understanding of these circumstances, please consult the foreword to The Triumph of Humility in The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux, tr. Susan Conroy and David J. Dwyer, ed. Steven Payne, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 2008), pp. 298-305.  If you cannot buy or borrow the book,then, thanks to the generosity of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, the text of The Triumph of Humility is available online. 

For those without access to the book, further background is available online  The late Fr. John F. Russell, O. Carm., who, with Miss Helen Bailey, was the first to translate this play into English, also furnished an introduction, reflection, and notes which are informative.  Thanks to Carmelnet, they appear online with his  translation of "The Triumph of Humility." 

The performance of "The Triumph of Humility" at recreation

Therese's play is lively but simple and short.  She has not forgotten that in January her sister, Mother Agnes, stopped the performance of The Flight into Egypt, saying that her plays were too long and tired the nuns out.  The play is set in "the heated room" (the actual recreation room in which the nuns sat watching it).   

Sitting room from Carmel de Lisieux on Vimeo.

In this play Therese had intended the novices to play themselves.  The three characters were Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, Sister Marie-Madeleine, and a choir postulant, Sister Marie of the Holy Spirit.  Therese had written in this last role because, when she was writing the play, the community expected to receive a new postulant before the feast.  She decided not to enter, so Sister Martha of Jesus replaced her.2  On a "free day," when they had permission to talk, the three young sisters are seated in the recreation room with their backs to a screen.  I will not attempt to recreate the play here; please read it.   Lucifer and his demons, eager to destroy the Church, struggle with St. Michael, who defends it.  St. Michael makes clear that it is by "the humility of the Virgin Mary" that the demons are vanquished. 

Therese's insight into the temptations faced by the Carmelites

Therese points out a number of ways the Carmelites are distracted from God.  Lucifer says "The virgins are not all our enemies; a number of them serve me without knowing it."  He recommends that the demons "distract them with the noise of the world" and "suggest to them that they absorb themselves in their own affairs."  He tells Michael that "the virgins may obey, all the while keeping their own will in the bottom of their hearts, they may obey and desire to command, what then makes them more than I?"  Therese's plot boldly suggests that the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are not enough to counterbalance the enemy, but humility defeats him instantly.  In the play Sister Therese rejoices: "now we know how to conquer the demon and, from now on, we'll have but one desire, to practice humility . . . "3 

Footnotes:

1  See the full text of this letter on the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

2  Sainte Therese de l'Enfant Jesus et de la Sainte Face, Recreations pieuses - Prieres, Nouvelle edition.  Paris: Editions du Cerf et Desclee de Brouwer, 1992, p. 383.

3  The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 2008), p. 314; pp. 318-320. 

"Anno Domini," painted by Edwin Longsden Long

January 21, 1896 was the third and final feast day of Therese's sister Pauline, Mother Agnes of Jesus, while she was prioress.  For her first two feast days as prioress, Therese had written, produced, and starred in two plays about Joan of Arc.  For this one, she wrote the second longest of her eight plays, "The Flight into Egypt," the text of which is available online  thanks to the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. 

Background

Although it was customary for the novitiate to offer an entertainment on special feast days, "The Flight into Egypt" was a departure for Therese.  Most of her writings depend on Scripture, and this play contains at least 70 quotations from Scripture.  But the actual incident she dramatizes is based on a legend in the apocryphal gospels: that Joseph and Mary, fleeing to Egypt, asked for shelter in a den of thieves.  Susanna, the wife of the chief bandit, was the mother of his baby son, Dismas, who had leprosy.  Mary asked for water to bathe Jesus, and then Joseph, citing the healing of Naaman, urged Susanna to bathe her son in the same water.  He was immediately healed.  Many years later, the child Dismas grew up to be the "good thief" who, according to the gospel, was crucified with Jesus, who promised him "This day you will be with me in Paradise."

The Production

The book "The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux" features an introduction to this play which is indispensable for a fuller understanding of it.  There we learn that this play was probably performed in the chapter room on the second floor, where the giant creche remained on display from Christmas until February 2.  Therese herself played the Virgin Mary; Celine could have played St. Joseph, and the roles of the chief bandit, Abramin, and his wife, Susanna, might have been taken by Marie of the Eucharist and Marie of the Trinity. 

The events of January 21 show how human both Therese and her sister, the prioress, were.  First, on the vigil of the feast, Therese, arriving in choir, knelt before Mother Agnes and surrendered the "copybook of memories" she had been writing at the prioress's request for a year (now the first manuscript of "Story of a Soul").  Mother Agnes, busy winding up her term as prioress, put it in a drawer and left it there for several months.  She tells us that, when she told Therese that she had had no time to read it yet, Therese displayed no disappointment. 

A Theatrical Fiasco

The next evening, Mother Agnes stopped the performance of "The Flight into Egypt" before it was over.  She told Therese flatly that her plays were too long and that they tired the community out.  Celine found her sister in one of the alcoves, drying a few tears in private.  How deeply she must have been hurt by this rejection of the work into which she had poured her whole soul.  But Therese soon regained her self-control "and remained peaceful and sweet in spite of the humiliation." The saint's literary works, which interest us so profoundly, were not always well received on their first appearance!

Themes of the Play

The Destiny of Jesus

Unlike Therese's later poem "Why I Love You, O Mary," in which she depicts Mary as living in the night of faith, "The Flight into Egypt" shows both Joseph and Mary as fully aware, even in the infancy of their son, of his identity and mission.  They speak to each other of the privilege of caring for "the King of Heaven, the Savior of humanity." 

The Inequality of the Rich and the Poor

Joseph's experience as a working man is harsh, and he is afraid to see his son become "a poor workman like me."  But later, when Susanna suggests that the only way to escape poverty is "to rebel against the rich and to seize from them the wealth that is unjustly divided," both Joseph and Mary tell her gently that wealth is not the source of happiness.  Joseph says that at the end of time "this God of goodness and mercy . . . will reward . . . the simple desires to serve Him and love Him . . . he will judge the poor with justice."  Susanna and all the bandits are deeply moved, and they kneel before the child Jesus. 

The Redeeming Power of Jesus

Susanna tells Mary that she is afraid her husband may return to his crimes and that his son may grow up to follow that path.  Mary answers that "the infinite mercy of the good  God . . . is great enough to wipe away the worst crimes when it finds a mother's heart with complete trust in it . . . Dismas will have to be washed in the blood of the Redeemer . . . . your son will enter into the Celestial kingdom."

The Possibility of Exile

Anticlerical decrees were multiplying, and the possibility of religious communities being forced into exile (as many were just a few years later) was coming closer and closer.  In the ending song (which, it seems, the community did not hear that night!), Therese placed in the mouth of an angel the assurance that "the virgins of the Lord" will "receive in exchange for their love an eternity to love in Heaven."

This play gives insights into Therese's thought that are found nowhere else in her writing.  We are fortunate to have it.

 Icon of St. Agnes by Joan Cole. Trinity Stores.

January 21, 1896, the feast of St. Agnes, was the feast day of Mother Agnes of Jesus (Therese's sister Pauline), who was then prioress of the Lisieux Carmel.  As one of her  gifts for her sister's feast, Therese wrote her twenty-sixth poem, "The Responses of Saint Agnes," based on the "Responses" from the Divine Office for the feast of St. Agnes. 

Therese had felt a special kinship for this young martyr at least since visiting her tomb in Rome in 1887.  This is a betrothal poem in which she celebrates virginity and spiritual poverty.

Christ is my Love, He is my whole life.

He is the Fiancé who alone delights my eyes.

Thus I already hear the melodious sounds

The text is available online at the link to the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux above.  For a fuller understanding of it, I strongly recommend reading the introduction available only in the book The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., 1995), pp. 136-137.  It situates this "engagement poem" in the context of Therese's spiritual life and notes the many images she draws from the Spiritual Canticle of St. John of the Cross.  Indeed, the book of Therese's poetry is vital to any reader who seeks a deeper knowledge of the movements of Therese's soul.

As we will see, this "engagement poem" is one of the last expressions of Therese's spiritual betrothal.  The months of 1896 will draw her into a much deeper union with her Beloved.

 As Christmas 1895 approached, Therese, just short of her 23rd birthday, was ending a year of grace.  She had many responsibilities.  Celine was still a novice; their cousin, Marie Guerin, had entered as a postulant on August 15, 1895.  The feast day of the prioress, Mother Agnes (January 21, 1896) was approaching, when Therese would have to hand in her first "copybook of memories" (today the first manuscript of Story of a Soul), and write a play and a poem for that occasion.  So "The Divine Little Beggar of Christmas," a paraliturgy written by Therese in which the whole community participated, is modest compared with her longer plays.  Yet we can learn much from it.

In The Plays of Saint Therese of Lisieux (tr. Susan Conroy and David J. Dwyer; Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., 2008), which I recommend to you if you want to understand the importance of Therese's "pious recreations," we learn that this little liturgy replaced the short theatrical piece usually presented at the Christmas recreation, and incorporated the Carmelite custom of drawing "offices at the manger."  It was presented either in the recreation room or in the chapter room, which had a large representation of the Nativity scene.  An angel appeared carrying the child Jesus in its arms and sang to the Carmelites that "the One who is begging from you is the Eternal Word."  The nuns approached the manger in turn; each drew at random a slip of paper from a basket and gave it to the "angel."  It contained a verse about what the Child Jesus was begging from her.  The 26 verses set forth a program of Carmelite life.  This blog entry is an invitation to read "The Divine Little Beggar of Christmas;" its full text appears on the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.  The introduction and notes which appear only in the print book will greatly enhance the reader's understanding.

This Christmas it seems that our whole world is begging from us, as Jesus is, the gift of ourselves.  May God inspire us to give ourselves fully as Therese did in this year of 1895. 

A tableau of Our Lady nursing Jesus painted by Celine Martin at Therese's request. This image corresponds to verse 4 of "Jesus, My Beloved, Remember!" Displayed at Lisieux in the exposition of 2009. Fervent thanks to Peter and Liane Klostermann for the gift of the photograph and to the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux for permitting me to display it.

Therese wrote the poem “Jesus, My Beloved, Remember!” for her sister Celine’s feast day in 1895.  Celine was then a novice and had been in Carmel for more than a year.  In June she had made the Offering of herself to Merciful Love with Therese.  In her testimony at the 1910 process, she describes the genesis of this poem:

When I joined the Carmel, I thought that God owed me for the great sacrifice I was making for Him, and, to encourage me in my effort, I begged Thérèse to write me a hymn that would summarise everything that I had left behind for God and end with the word, “Remember”.   She did compose it, but not at all in the way I had hoped, because the soul in the poem reminds Jesus of all that He has done for her. The soul is the one who is indebted and Jesus is the benefactor (PN 24).

From the Archives of the Web site of the Carmel of Lisieux

This poem was not a crude effort to “teach Celine a lesson.”  Instead, it expressed the love and gratitude that were overflowing from Therese’s heart during this year of 1895, when, “casting a glance backward” over her life in order to write her first manuscript, she had a concrete occasion to remember and “to sing the Mercies of the Lord.” 

In “Why I Love You, O Mary” Therese wrote all that she thought about the Blessed Virgin.  “Jesus, My Beloved, Remember” is similarly deep and broad in scope, but this time about Jesus: a song of her tender and intimate love for Jesus.  In 33 verses, Therese pours out the thoughts, not of her mind but of her heart, about the Incarnation, the hidden life of Jesus, and his passion, death, and resurrection.  She does not speak of Jesus in the abstract, but locates Celine, the "sweet echo of my soul," and herself in relationship to his life, his love for them and for the world, and his ministry:

Oh! Jesus, my little Brother, deign to invite me

To that feast of love Your Mother gives you1

[Learn the full story of the portrait of Mary nursing Jesus, painted by Celine at Therese's request but then offered to Leonie].

O Jesus! come within me, come rest your Head,

Come, my soul is truly ready to receive you2 

That I want, O my God,

To carry your Fire far and wide,

Remember3

I invite you to read this poem and meditate on it.  Here Therese, the artist, uses Scripture as the foundation for expressing her intimate relationship with Jesus. She depicts his hidden life, his love for children, the role of his mother in the "way of confidence and love," the apostolate of prayer for priests and for sinners, the "Fire of Heaven" she wants to spread, the Face of Jesus, the love the Crucified poured out on us, and the life of prayer, faith, and waiting for God that is ours since the Resurrection.  

In stanza 12 Therese wrote:

Make me wise in the ways of heaven.

Show me the secrets hidden in the Gospel.4

The poem shows that God answered her prayer.  "Jesus, My Beloved, Remember!" is truly written by a Doctor of the Church.  It is an overlooked jewel which deserves detailed analysis. How does it speak to your heart?

Thanks to the generosity of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, read the full text of “Jesus, My Beloved, Remember!” online.  The valuable introduction and notes, essential for a full understanding of the poem, appear only in The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996.

[Purchases through this link support this Web site].

Notes:

1.  The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996, p. 124.

2.  Ibid., p. 125

3. Ibid., p. 127.

4. Ibid., p. 126.