The nuns follow in procession as the Blessed Sacrament is brought to a sick nun in the Lisieux Carmel.

How the influenza pandemic disrupted the community life of the Lisieux Carmel

We adjourned on Sunday, January 2, 1892, when, five days after the epidemic reached the Carmel, Sister Saint-Joseph of Jesus died.  I want to look for a moment at how dramatically life at Carmel had changed between Tuesday, December 28, 1891, when the first nuns got sick, and Saturday, January 2, when Sister Saint-Joseph, the first fatality, died.  The monastery’s chronicle reads, in part:

“The influenza epidemic raged in our region with force.  On December 28, Holy Innocents, several of our sisters had to take to their beds.  When we saw our good Sister St. Joseph, eighty-three, seized by this terrible sickness, we had no doubt that the Lord would find her ripe for heaven.  We then mourned the departure of Mother Subprioress, Sister  Febronie of the Holy Childhood, and Sister Madeleine: three coffins in eight days!  . . . . Our Reverend Mother was very sick, all our sisters confined to bed; never in the annals of our Carmel had we seen the like.  At the burial of our two Sisters, hardly six or seven were present, and then at the cost of a great effort on their part!  Only the three youngest of the entire Community were not stricken by this epidemic . . . . What Community life! no more office in choir, no prayer, no reading in the refectory, no bells rung for religious exercises.  Death was hanging over us! . . .”  (Foundation III, p. 206).  The three youngest were:  Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, infirmarian, Therese, sacristan, and Marthe, cook. 

cited in Letters of Saint Therese of Llisieux, Volume II, 1890-1896, tr. John Clarke, O.C.D.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 1988, p. 747, footnote 1). 

In fact, there were three coffins in six days.  By Sunday, December 31, half the community was sick in bed, and most of the others followed.  It seems that Mass continued to be offered, but Therese and her sister Marie, the only choir sisters who were not sick in bed, could not continue to chant the Divine Office.  For the first time, the community’s life was completely suspended, even more so than during the War of 1870 when many sisters returned to their families or sought refuge in other Carmels until they could safely return.  Just as with us in 2020, the lives of the individual nuns and of the community were disrupted very suddenly.

All the nuns in positions of leadership were too sick to function.  The prioress was confined to bed; the subprioress died; the other councilors were sick.  Everything fell on the three youngest sisters, who cared for the sick, washed the dead and prepared them for burial, and communicated with the doctor, the chaplain, and the outside world.  Such communications were more frequent when three funerals had to be arranged and when, while the epidemic raged in Lisieux, the requests for prayers must have multiplied.  Sister Stanislas, the first sacristan, was among the stricken, and Therese had to prepare the sacred vessels, open the grilles for Mass, and arrange the funerals. 

After we have examined all the events of the pandemic at Carmel, we shall return to the question of how Therese reacted to this disruption and what we can learn from her. Meanwhile, we will look at the three Carmelites who died in the first week of January 1892.

“The good old Sisters”

The marvelously informative Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, which I recommend highly, offers a section about the Carmelites who lived with Therese.   The section divides the nuns into different groups.  One such group is “the good old Sisters.”  The Carmelites tell us that these elders were very helpful in integrating young women into the community, acting

“a bit like good grandmothers, acting as a buffer between the demands of the experienced sisters who keep the community running smoothly and even the management of the community. Having a little more time to themselves, whether because of infirmities or something else, they take care of the young in their own way, available for a smile, a kind word, for comfort.” 

The members of this group were Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa, Sister Saint-Joseph of Jesus, Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood, and Sister Madeleine of the Blessed Sacrament.   On December 4, 1891, all of them were living.  By January 7, 1892, all four were dead.  Thus, the pandemic not only killed three of the 25 nuns—one of almost every eight women in the community—but also, together with the death in December of the founder, Mother Genevieve, stripped away an entire layer of the community: its wisdom figures, including the only two living connections with its foundation in 1838.  Except for Mother Genevieve, we will hear little of them later on.  But, for her first three years and nine months in Carmel, Therese had lived with all of them.  Their lives, as well as their deaths, affected her and the whole community, so I want to examine them.  Part 4 of this series will consider the life and death of Sister Saint-Joseph of Jesus, the first postulant of the Lisieux Carmel.

___________________________________________________

The extract from the monastery's chronicle above, which depicts what life was like in the Lisieux Carmel during the outbreak, is only one of many gems in the second volume of Therese's letters. This book is one of the very best ways to get to know Therese, the people with whom she lived, and the world in which she lived.  Although the volume is not brief, it's easy, if you like, to begin only with Therese's letters and to skip over those written by others until they come to interest you.  The introductions to each section, referring you to the relevant passages in Story of a Soul, and the notes make the book much more readable. Although Story of a Soul has the grace of emotion recollected in tranquility, the letters are immediate and spontaneous.

Asian Flu epidemic of 1889-90 In Paris patients are treated in a supplemental tent hospital A nurse attends to several patients during the winter of 1889-90.

St. Therese of Lisieux and the Influenza Pandemic of 1891-1892

Part 2: Context

 Saint Therese of Lisieux also lived through a sudden and deadly pandemic in 1891-1892.  In 2020, what can we learn from how she responded?

The external facts are simple: a pandemic of influenza swept the world, reaching the Carmelite monastery in Lisieux just after Christmas in 1891.  Only the three youngest of the 25 nuns (including Therese, then 18) escaped infection.  In six days, the three oldest nuns in the community died of it.  During the epidemic, Therese took on many new responsibilities.  In her memoir she wrote briefly but eloquently about this experience.

The “Asiatic flu” pandemic

The pandemic that affected the Lisieux Carmel was a recurrence of the deadly “Asiatic flu” or “Russian flu” pandemic first reported in Russia in 1889.  The last great pandemic of the 19^th century, it killed more than a million patients around the world.  The pandemic was heavily covered in the newspapers, which sound eerily reminiscent of today: hospitals so overcrowded that they pitch tents in public parks; the funeral homes unable to cope with the many dead.

Although airplane travel was not in question, the epidemic circled the globe in four months. This influenza peaked in St. Petersburg on December 1, 1889 and in the United States during the week of January 12, 1890.  The first outbreak ravaged France at the end of 1889 and the beginning of 1890.  It recurred several times from 1891-1895: the outbreak at Lisieux was part of the second recurrence.[i]  Influenza invaded the Carmel right after Christmas in 1891.

The context of Therese’s life at that time

The time leading up to the pandemic contained only a few important events for Therese.  (See my page “The Hidden Years”).  Since February 12, 1889 her father Louis had been interned in a mental asylum, the Bon Saveur, in Caen.  Her sisters Leonie and Celine had joined the household of their maternal uncle and aunt, Isidore and Celine Guerin, in Lisieux.  Every week they visited their three sisters in Carmel and their father at the Bon Sauveur.  Although Therese did not know it yet, Louis would return to Lisieux permanently in May 1892. 

Professed on September 8, 1890, Therese was still living in the novitiate for the three years of continuing formation then customary for the recently vowed.  Her sisters Marie and Pauline were her seniors in Carmel.  Mother Marie de Gonzague was prioress, as she had been since Therese’s entry.  About February 10, 1891,[ii] Therese was named assistant to Sister Stanislaus of the Sacred Hearts [of Jesus and Mary][iii], the sacristan, who, because Therese was slow in finishing her tasks, affectionately nicknamed her “Little Sister Amen.”  During the epidemic Therese was second sacristan. 

In these same months the life of the community had been relatively quiet.  During the rainy summer of 1891, Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa, revered as the founder of the Lisieux Carmel, celebrated her diamond jubilee (the 60^th anniversary of her profession) on July 22.[iv]  The next day Celine refused her persistent suitor, Henry Maudelonde.[v]  On September 11, Isidore and Celine Guerin celebrated their silver wedding anniversary.[vi]  In October (probably from October 7 through October 15), Fr. Alexis Prou, a Franciscan priest, preached the community’s annual retreat.  Therese’s encounter with him in the confessional was liberating for her [Web site of the Lisieux Carmel Archives]; later, she would write “He launched me full sail upon the waves of confidence and love . . . .”    That same week, on October 10, Fr. Maurice-Joseph Reverony, Bishop Hugonin’s vicar-general, who had introduced Therese and her father to the bishop at Bayeux on October 31, 1887 and had presented the Martins to Pope Leo XIII on November 20, 1887, died at Caen.[vii]  In the end, he had been instrumental in opening the doors of Carmel to Therese.  On November 24, 1891, the community celebrated the tricentenary of the death of St. John of the Cross.[viii]  That anniversary was marked by a resurgence of interest in John in France, and Therese later wrote: “At the ages of seventeen and eighteen, I read no one else.”[ix]   Fr. Deodat de Basly, a Franciscan, preached a triduum, and Bishop Hugonin entered the cloister and showered Therese with caresses.  

Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa dies

On December 5, 1891, Mother Genevieve died.  It was the first time Therese had seen someone die.  She wrote:

“It was the first time I had assisted at a death and really the spectacle was ravishing . . . at the moment itself of our saintly Mother Genevieve’s birth in heaven . . . . in the twinkling of an eye I experienced an inexpressible joy and fervor; it was as though Mother Genevieve had imparted to me a little of the happiness she was enjoying, for I was convinced she went straight to heaven.”[x] 

Mother Genevieve was truly venerated as a saint; even Dr. de Corniere, when he extracted a tooth from her mouth, kept it as a relic.[xi]  As was usual in Carmel, when Mother Genevieve entered into her agony the community gathered at her bedside to help her with their prayers; Therese was placed at the foot of Mother Genevieve’s bed, where she remained for two hours, until the founder died.  Witnessing this death might well have prepared Therese for the experience of the deaths of three lesser known sisters,  under very different circumstances, only a few weeks later. These nuns died not in the infirmary, but in their cells; almost all the sisters were sick, and “as soon as a Sister breathed her last, we were obliged to leave her alone.”[xii]  We shall return to Therese’s experience of death during the epidemic. . 

In a growing trend toward secularism in France, the civil authorities had begun to refuse to allow religious communities to bury their deceased members on their own grounds.  Fearing that the body of the founder would not be left with them, the nuns decided to preserve her heart in formaldehyde so that they would have one major relic at least near which to pray.  In the end, after a  delay of several weeks, the town council consented to a burial "in house," and Mother Genevieve’s body was entombed in the sanctuary of the Carmel chapel  on December 23.[xiii]

The pandemic ravages the Carmel

Five days later, influenza came to the Carmel.  According to the Chronicle of the Foundation, on December 28, the feast of the Holy Innocents, several nuns had to take to their beds.[xiv]  By December 31, 12 of the 25 nuns were sick.[xv]  Dr. de Corniere, who would later treat Therese in her last sickness, was overwhelmed with work, but he came twice a day to care for the Carmelites.[xvi]  On the evening of December 31, Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood, subprioress, showed her first symptoms as she returned from escorting Dr. de Corniere to the enclosure door.[xvii]  On January 2, 1892, Therese’s 19^th birthday, Sister St. Joseph of Jesus, the oldest nun in the house and the first postulant of the Lisieux community, died.[xviii]

For the rest of the story, stay tuned.

For Part 1 of this series, a timeline of the influenza pandemic at Lisieux Carmel, click the blue button:

Notes:

[i] Wikipedia, “1889-1890 flu pandemic.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1889%E2%80%931890_flu_pandemic, accessed 5/19/2020.

[ii] Story of a Soul, 3^rd edition, tr. John Clarke, O.C.D.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., 1996, p. 283).

[iii] For more about Sister Saint Stanislas, including her brief statement in 1906 about her observations of Therese’s virtue, see http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/les-soeurs-dexperience/stanislas-des-sts-coeurs/circulaire-de-stanislas 

[iv] Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume II, 1890-1897.  Tr. John Clarke, O.C.D.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 1988, p. 733, note 1).

[v] Letters, Volume II, p. 733, note 2.

[vi] Letters, Volume II, p. 735

[vii] Letters, Volume II, p. 1316

[viii] Letters, Volume II, p. 737.

[ix] Story of a Soul, p. 179.

[x] Story of a Soul, p. 170.

[xi] Sainte Therese de Lisieux (1873-1897), by Guy Gaucher, O.C.D.  (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2011, p. 349). 

[xii] Story of a Soul, p. 171.

[xiii] Sainte Therese de Lisieux (1873-1897), Gaucher, p. 349.

[xiv] Cited in Letters, Volume II, p. 747, note 1.

[xv] "Biography of Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood," http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/les-bonnes-vieilles/f%C3%A9bronie/biographie, paragraph 7 of the section “With Therese,” accessed 5/19/2020.

[xvi] Gaucher, p. 351.

[xvii] Circular of Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood, Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/les-bonnes-vieilles/f%C3%A9bronie/circulaire-de-f%C3%A9bronie, accessed 5/19/2020.

[xviii] "Biography of Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood," Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/les-bonnes-vieilles/f%C3%A9bronie/biographie, accessed 5/19/2020.

The banner of St. Therese is carried into St. Peter's Basilica in Rome at her canonization ceremony, May 17, 1925. Credit: Wikipedia, Exorcisio Te, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CC-BY-SA-4.0

St. Therese’s Canonization Ceremony

St. Therese of the Child Jesus was canonized in Rome on May 17, 1925, 95 years ago today.  The New York Times reported that at least 25,000 French and fully 15,000 American pilgrims were present for the six-hour ceremony.  The basilica held almost 60,000 pilgrims, and 200,000 more waited in the square outside.  For the first time, loudspeakers were installed in the Basilica, so that all the pilgrims crowded inside (many of whom could not see the sanctuary) were able to hear the Pope’s every word.  This innovation was a big success.

Outer Facade of Basilica Illumined for the First Time Since 1870

Countless electric lights had been installed in the basilica for the ceremony.  The newspapers reported extensively that that night, for the first time since 1870, the outer façade of St. Peter’s was illumined. 

The illumination was done entirely with thousands of torches and lanterns, which, flickering in the breeze, gave the impression that the whole basilica was enveloped in a curtain of fire.  It is estimated that this beautiful scene was witnessed  by about a million people.

The New York Times, May 18, 1925, p. 2.

The illumination was considered a step toward the reconciliation of the church and the Italian state, for it was the first time the facade pf the Basilica had been lit up since the Pope became a voluntary “prisoner in the Vatican” after the Italian government declared war on the Papal States in 1870.

Recreate St. Therese's Canonization Ceremony for Yourself

Although the rest of  this aritcle may look like a mere list of links, it is in fact, the key to a powerful interactive experience of the canonization.  To respect the intellectual property of others, I can't reproduce everything on this page, but, merely by clicking the links, you can access a vivid sense of what the pilgrims experienced in 1925.

A Contemporary Eyewitness Account of St. Therese's Canonization

For a contemporary eyewitness account from Australia, which gives the reader  the sense of being present, please read "Over 60,000 at St. Therese's Canonization.  His Holiness Proclaims New Glory of Carmel.  All Nations Represented at the Happy and Impressive Event" from the Freeman's Journal (Sydney, New South Wales, July 2, 1925). 

Photographs of St. Therese's Canonization

See photographs of the celebrations at Lisieux and at Rome on the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

The Bull of Canonization for St. Therese

• To recreate the ceremony, read the Bull of Canonization.  (Thanks to the Catholic Forum and the Internet Archive).

• Also see a beautiful illuminated parchment of the Bull of Canonization.  It escaped the flames when Lisieux was bombed in 1944, but the parchment is twisted from the effects of the intense heat.  (Thanks to the Web site of the Archves of the Carmel of Lisieux). 

The Homily of Pope Pius XI at St. Therese's Canonization

See the text of the homily of Pope Pius XI. (Thanks to the Catholic Forum and the Internet Archive).  That afternoon Pope Pius, who remained extraordinarily devoted to St.Therese until his death, told Dennis Cardinal Dougherty of Philadelphia that it was the happiest day of his life.  After the tiring six-hour canonization ceremony, he returned to the Basilica later in the afternoon to venerate St. Therese.  There many of the 200,000 pilgrims who could not gain admittance in the morning had the joy of praying with him.

A Detailed Account of St. Therese's Canonization Day by John Beevers

 For a full account of the whole occasion, see this excerpt from John Beevers' book Storm of Glory: The Story of St.Therese of Lisieux.  (Thanks to Hathitrust for digitizing the book).  John Beevers was a British laywan who had a great love for St. Therese, translated her autobiography, and wrote two other books about her.  I am greatly in his debt, for I believe that it's he who introduced me and many others to St. Therese.

On April 25, 1897, St. Therese wrote, contrasting her mission with that of St. Joan of Arc:

I understood my missionwas not to have a mortal King crowned but to make the King of heaven loved, to submit to Him the Kingdom of hearts.1 

On this anniversary of St. Therese's canonization, when the whole world has such need of her way of confidence and love, let's canonize her afresh in our hearts. Above all, let's surrender our hearts to her Beloved so that we, too, can fulfill her only desire: "to love Jesus and to make Him loved."

Notes:

1.  Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume II, 1890-1897.  Tr. John Clarke, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C., Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., p. 1085).

Icon of Joan of Arc by Brother Robert Lentz.

Available at Trinity Icon Stores

The canonization ceremony of St. Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was Declared to have practiced heroic virtue, and thus given the title "Venerable," in 1894, in the lifetime of St. Therese, who called her "my dear sister."  She was declared blessed in 1909.  Her canonization took place at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on May 16, 1920, fiveyears and one day before Therese's.  Pope Benedict XV, who in 1921 would declare that St. Therese had practiced heroic virtue, presided at the ceremony.  Estimates of the number of pilgrims in Rome range from 25,000 to 60,000.  Newspapers report that many pilgrims had to sleep in the basilica and that many women fainted from the crush during the ceremony.  (It is said, however, that the celebration for Therese far outshone that for Joan). 

Photographs

Click on photographs of the canonization ceremony at the New Liturgical Movement Web site to see good photos. 

Newspaper articles

• A good eyewitness account is at An Australian and St. Joan of Arc: Father Brauer of Manly College Describes the Canonization Ceremonies.  (1920, September 30). Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), p. 7. Retrieved May 17, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115600407.

• On May 17, 1920, The Times of London offered a British analysis of the canonization and of Joan's sainthood in "St. Joan of Arc" 

• If you read French, La Croix offers "Fete incomparable: La Canonization de Jeanne d'Arc," a marvelously detailed account on May 18, 1920.

Contemporary reflection on St. Joan and St. Therese

"St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Joan of Arc," by Maureen O'Riordan.  I furnish some background on Therese's relationship with Joan, guide you to her texts about Joan, and present a few themes to empower your own reflection.

"St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Joan of Arc?" - an article about a lecture by Dr. Mary Frohlich, RSCJ, presented at the Washington Theological Union in 2007.  Superb; excellent background about the role played by Joan in France during the lifetime of Therese and afterward.  With thanks to the Internet Archive.