Resources for celebrating the feast of St. Therese
of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face on October 1

  • Resources for catechesis and prayer from the Diocese of Lancaster in Great Britain, designed for the visit of St. Therese's relics in 2009 but easy to adapt for the feast.  Handouts about St. Therese's life, writings, and spirituality and two presentations for grades 5-8: one on Therese and humility and one on Therese and suffering.  A model prayer assembly for primary schools.
  • Liturgy resource: Prayers and readings of the Mass for the feast, with sample prayers of the faithful.  Thanks to the Carmelites of Australia, who prepared these resources for the visit of St. Therese's relics in 2002.
  • Prayers to St. Therese and a prayer written by her.  Includes a litany to St. Therese.  Courtesy of the Irish National Office for St. Therese.
  • Twelve short reflections by Robert Donnelly for the centenary of the saint's death
  • "Being like a child"--Sermon preached on October 4, 2009 by the Reverend Canon Dr. Jonathan Draper at the Anglican Cathedral of York Minster after the visit of the relics of St. Therese

A film of St. Therese's feast in Lisieux
produced by Susan Ehlert

 

 

 

The feast of Saint Therese is celebrated in Lisieux on the last weekend of September every year.   On Saturday evening the reliquary of St. Therese, containing the remains of her body, is escorted in procession from her Carmelite monastery through the streets of Lisieux to the basilica of St. Therese.  As the pilgrims walk in procession, they sing, as hymns, the poems Therese wrote.  All participate in a Mass or a prayer vigil at the basilica.  At the end of the evening, the people light their candles again and leave them at the foot of St. Therese's statue outside the basilica parking lot.  After Vespers on Sunday, the reliquary is again taken in procession through the streets to Saint-Pierre Cathedral, where Therese and her family worshipped.  Finally it returns to Carmel.  Several thousand pilgrims travel to Lisieux for the feast-day ceremonies every year.

[I thank Susan Ehlert for generously contributing her unique videos and her services as a translator to make St. Therese more widely known and loved, especially among English-speaking persons].