Celine Martin as a young girl

April 28 is the birthday of Celine Martin, St. Therese's sister.  Celine, the eighth child of St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin, was born on April 28, 1869 in the house at rue Pont-Neuf in Alencon where all the Martin children except Therese were born.  She was baptized on September 5, 1869 at St. Pierre de Monsort, which was the Martin family's parish church in Alencon until they moved to rue St. Blaise in 1871.  She was three years and eight months old when, on January 2, 1873, her baby sister, Therese, was born.

Celine and Therese were remarkably intimate; Therese called Celine "the sweet echo of my soul."  They were separated for six years, from 1888, when Therese entered the Carmelite monastery, until 1894, when Celine herself entered.  A hundred years ago, on April 26, 1892, Therese sent to Celine, for her 23rd birthday, a double daisy (one stem with two flowers) with an important letter explaining the double daisy as a symbol of their two souls knit into one. (from the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux).   

When Celine was in Lisieux, she saw her Carmelite sisters in the speakroom every week.  In a week in which they had visited, the Carmelites were not usually allowed to write to her, so many of their letters date from times Celine was on vacation or otherwise away.  But, when her birthday approached, Celine used to abstain from visiting that week in order to be able to receive a letter from her sisters.  Fortunate for us!  

Learn more about Celine Martin.

Let’s look at the life of Therese and her family 125 years ago, in April 1892.

Isidore Guerin's house in Lisieux (rear entrance)

 Life in the Lisieux Carmel in early 1892

From the first few months of 1892, few documents have been published.  The ranks of the Carmelite monastery had been depleted.  On December 5, 1891, Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa,1 the revered foundress, had died.  On December 26 the epidemic of influenza that swept over France reached the Carmel.  In eight days the three eldest nuns died: the Lisieux Carmel’s first postulant, Sister St. Joseph of Jesus (ACL); the subprioress,  Sister Febronie of the Holy Childhood (ACL), who found Therese’s belief that souls who trusted in God’s mercy would not go to purgatory excessively bold;  and Sister Madeleine of the Blessed Sacrament (ACL), the senior lay-sister, who had “a heart of gold.”  In this crisis, in which all but three of the nuns were bedridden, Therese, who turned 19 on January 2, 1892, showed such presence of mind in arranging the funerals, serving as sacristan for the Masses, and discharging other responsibilities that Canon Delatroette (ACL), the priest appointed ecclesiastical superior of the Carmel, who had thought her too young to enter at age fifteen, changed his mind and said prophetically “She shows great promise for this community.” 

Early in the year Father Pierre Faucon (ACL) completed his term as extraordinary confessor (the priest who, under canon law, visited the Carmel occasionally to give the nuns some variety and freedom in choosing a confessor other than their chaplain).  He was replaced by Father Eugene-Auguste Baillon (ACL).

The community's triennial elections should have been held in February, but, in view of the circumstances, the Carmelites obtained permission to extend the term of Mother Marie de Gonzague as prioress until February 1893. 

The correspondence of the Martin-Guerin family shows that Isidore Guerin had decided that Louis Martin could now return to his family (ACL) from the Bon Sauveur asylum in Caen, where he had been interned since February 12, 1889.  He would be brought back to Lisieux on May 10, 1892.

Before that, a big social event happened in the circle of the family of Therese’s uncle and aunt, Isidore and Celine Guerin (ACL): the wedding of Celine’s nephew, Henry Maudelonde (ACL), a former suitor of Therese’s sister Celine.    

The life of Leonie and Celine Martin with the Guerin family, beginning in 1889

Therese’s uncle, Isidore Guerin, had married Celine Fournet (ACL),  a daughter of the town’s leading family.  Her sister Rosalie (ACL) had married Cesar Maudelonde (ACL), with whom she had five children.  The Guerin and Maudelonde families were intimate, so that Therese and her sisters grew up as friends of the Maudelonde girls, too.  No photo of Henry has been found yet, but the Web site of the archives of the Carmel of Lisieux shows a photograph of the three Maudelonde daughters (ACL) with their mother and members of the Guerin family in 1893.

With the death of Celine Guerin’s cousin, M. David, in 1888, Isidore (through the property laws then in effect, which awarded a married woman’s inheritance to her husband) received a substantial fortune from his wife’s family.  This changed his way of life.  He sold the pharmacy (ACL), moved from the living quarters over the pharmacy to a bigger house in Lisieux (ACL), and every summer, in a kind of time-share, split with the Maudelondes the use of the Chateau La Musse (ACL), near Evreux.  (He had inherited the chateau jointly with them).  He gave even more energy to charitable and religious work and to writing to defend the Church.

Isidore’s new position gave him more leisure and placed more social demands on his family.  Leonie and Celine Martin became members of his family in May 1889, when they returned from Caen, where they had boarded for a few months at the beginning of Louis’s hospitalization at the Bon Sauveur asylum there.  Their uncle’s social position and his intimacy with the Maudelonde family obliged both young women to participate in the rather formal and structured social life then the custom for families like the Guerins.  This was in marked contrast to the sheltered life they had led at the little villa of Les Buissonnets, located some way from the center of town, where they had seen few people socially except the Guerins

Henry Maudelonde's courtship of Celine Martin (1890-1891)

In Celine’s memoirs (ACL) at p. 96, she notes that the Maudelonde young people were of an age to be married.  

“I arrived in the midst of this group of joyful and charming young people. It was a veritable change from life at Les Buissonnets . . .  One of the nieces of my aunt was engaged and there was an exchange of dinners between the two families.  . . . We found ourselves, therefore, often in the company of the nephews of my aunt. One of them . . . . developed an affectionate regard for me. Whether at his house, or at our house, he always managed to be close to me. Since he strongly protested when he was not so placed, one finished up finally relenting and placing him next to me at the dinner table so as to avoid making a scene.” 

Henry Maudelonde (1864-1937), five years Celine’s senior, was a lawyer at Caen.  His pursuit of Celine seems to have dated chiefly from 1890 and the first half of 1891.  At the wedding of Celine’s cousin, Jeanne Guerin (ACL), on October 1, 1890, Celine was a maid of honor.  Henry spent all day next to her and finally asked her aunt for permission to kiss her.  Then, on July 23, 1891, Therese wrote to Celine in terms that suggest that Henry had just made a definite proposal of marriage:  “The solicitor [pun on his profession] really made me laugh.  One must admit that he is not shy to come seeking the King of heaven’s fiancee.”  Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux, Volume II, tr. John Clarke, OCD (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1988), LT 130, p. 792.  Therese never doubted that Celine was called to Carmel, and she firmly resisted the idea of marriage for Celine.  Celine, who had already refused a proposal on the night of Therese’s entrance, was attracted by the idea of marriage as well as by the cloister, and this posed a severe internal conflict for her.

But in 1889 she had made a private vow of chastity, and Henry finally must have accepted her refusal, for he became engaged to Marie Asseline. 

Henry Maudelonde's wedding in Caen, April 20, 1892

Leonie received a letter from her cousin Jeanne Guerin La Neele (ACL) (who now lived in Caen with her husband), written April 11, describing the elaborate preparations for this wedding on April 20.

Celine is suddenly, mysteriously unable to dance

Henry Maudelonde’s wedding was the occasion at which Celine was unable to dance.  Tberese recounts in Story of a Soul (ACL) how agitated she was at the thought of Celine’s consenting to dance at this party.  Celine’s memoir (ACL) shows (at pages 96-97) that Therese was vehement in urging her not to dance.  Perhaps Therese considered that a young unmarried woman’s consenting to dance was tantamount to announcing that she was on the marriage market, or perhaps she could not stand the thought of a young man's touching her sister.  Therese, who seldom cried, was so upset that she wept for a long time at the mere prospect of Celine’s dancing, and begged God to prevent it. Her reaction to a formal dance in public at a wedding that united two respectable families seems rather hysterical.  But, sure enough, when the evening came, Celine could not refuse the invitation, but found herself unable to dance and merely walked through the dance.  Her partner was embarrassed; he disappeared and did not return.  Therese said the incident “made me grow in confidence and love for the One who set his seal on my forehead and had imprinted it at the same time upon that of my dear Celine.”  (Story of a Soul, 82r).   

What happened to Celine's second suitor?

Marie and Henry Maudelonde had two children together, but Henry was left a widower in 1895.  He married again in 1899 and had three more children: an interesting contrast with Celine’s first suitor, Albert Quesnel, who, after Celine refused him, became a priest. Celine was the only one of the Martin girls to whom anyone is known to have proposed marriage.

[Note: I am especially grateful to the Lisieux Carmel for digitizing its archives.  I encourage you to visit the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, which tells us so much about the background of Therese's life].

This is an interactive article.  To see photographs and background for the persons and events I mention, please click on the links in this article.

1 This link leads to the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.  In this article, all links to that site are indicated by the notation "ACL" next to the text link.  

Learn more:

To learn more about this period in Therese's life, please see the links above and these books:

Therese's own recollections, at folios 78r-82r

Are you interested in learning more about Therese than she tells in Story of a Soul?  I highly recommend Guy Gaucher's indispensable complement to Story of a Soul:

and Therese's letters and those of her family, with rich introductions and notes:

Finally, a biography of Celine by Stephane-Joseph Piat:

 Purchases through these links support the Web site.  Thank you.

Thanks to the Carmelites of Lisieux, in this video you can see the monastery Therese entered, the garden, the cloister (with the same Cross, but not the same corpus, in the courtyard), and the door to the enclosure, located in the sacristy, which opened to receive Therese on the morning of April 9, 1888.  Cross the threshold with her and ask her to beg God for the graces you need in the transitions of your own life.

Entrée du monastère from Carmel de Lisieux on Vimeo.

[On March 26, 1923, in view of the approaching beatification of the Venerable Therese of the Child Jesus, her relics were transferred ("translated") from the Carmelite plot in the municipal cemetery at Lisieux to the shrine which had been prepared for them in the chapel of the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux, where they remain to this day.  We thank the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel, which graciously permitted us to translate this contemporaneous account of the events of that day into English and to publish it].

Extracted from a brown leather-edged, but very thin top, bound book stored in the Glorification cabinet.  Title on the edge:  St. Th EJ her beatification [1]

Across the City

       LISIEUX had never before known such excitement as existed within its walls on the morning of  March 26, 1923, Monday of Holy Week.  Since yesterday, travelers from every direction had been pouring relentlessly out of the train station . . . Read more

Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa about 1860

On Saturday, December 5, 1891, Mother Genevieve of St. Therese, venerated as the founder of the Lisieux Carmel, died.  Therese recalls the experience of her death in Story of a Soul.

About Mother Genevieve

The future Mother Genevieve was born Claire-Marie-Radegonde Bertrand on July 5, 1805 in  Poitiers.  In 1830, at age 24, she entered the Carmel of Poitiers.1  About seven years later the Gosselin sisters, who wished to establish a Carmel with their family fortune, entered the community at Poitiers to make their novitiate.  In 1838, when the two sisters returned to Lisieux, they were accompanied by nuns from Poitiers, including the prioress of the new house, Mother Elizabeth of St. Louis, and the subprioress and novice mistress, Mother Genevieve of St. Therese.  A few years later Mother Elizabeth died.  Mother Genevieve succeeded her, and so  it was she who was considered the "foundress."  Her sisters, who loved her very much, elected her prioress as often as the Rule allowed until her health prevented her fulfilling the office any more

Mother Genevieve and the Martin sisters

Pauline Martin's entrance on October 2, 1882 fell during one of the periods when Mother Genevieve was not eligible to be elected a third term; Mother Marie de Gonzague was prioress at the time.  On January 31, 1883, Mother Genevieve was re-elected, so she held the office when Pauline received the habit.  At the end of 1884, Mother Genevieve became an invalid.  When the elections came around on February 3, 1886, it was clear that the 80-year-old founder was not well enough to serve, and Mother Gonzague was elected again.  Thus, Mother Gonzague was prioress when Marie Martin entered (October 15, 1886) and when  Therese followed (April 9, 1888).  Still, a close spiritual bond existed between Mother Genevieve and the Martin sisters, especially Pauline, whom she described as "our angelic novice," and Therese.

Mother Genevieve and Therese

The priest who supervised the Lisieux Carmel, Canon Jean-Baptiste Delatroette, vigorously opposed Therese's entrance.  When he was inside the enclosure visiting Mother Genevieve, she bravely (but in vain) asked him to consent to Therese's entrance.  

When she came to write her memoir, Therese mentioned Mother Genevieve three times.  She speaks of

my good fortune at knowing our holy Mother Geneviève. This certainly was a priceless gift; God, who had given me so many graces, willed that I should live with a saint. Not one that was inimitable, but one who was made holy by the practice of the hidden virtues, the ordinary virtues . . . . I saw the degree to which Jesus was living within her and making her act and speak. Ah! that type of sanctity seems the truest and the most holy to me, and it is the type that I desire because in it one meets with no deceptions.

 For a sensitive reflection on the influence of Mother Genevieve on St. Therese, and for the founder's role as a precursor of Therese's way of confidence and love, please see pages 131-133 of Therese of Lisieux: God's Gentle Warrior, by Thomas R. Nevin (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).2

Mother Genevieve dictated to young Sister Therese certain "secrets" (moments in her spiritual life and recollections of her childhood).  Read this "Remembrance of Mother Genevieve." 

The death of Mother Genevieve took place at the beginning of a severe winter.  An epidemic of influenza,  which would shortly claim the lives of three Carmelites, was sweeping over France.  Before it hit the community, the nuns joined the Carmelite Order in celebrating the third centenary of the death of St. John of the Cross, who died December 14, 1551.  To honor the anniversary, Fr. Deodat de Basly, a Franciscan Recollect of the same order as Fr. Alexis Prou, who had heard Therese's confession in October ("he launched me full sail upon the waves of confidence and love"), preached a triduum from November 23-25.  Therese recalls that Bishop Hugonin entered the cloister for this occasion and surrounded her with tenderness.  Mother Genevieve received "extreme unction," as the sacrament of the sick was then called, on the last day of the Triduum, November 25.  In a letter to Celine on that date, Pauline wrote:  

 Mother Geneviève was worse at the beginning of the week' now she is better, and, despite everything, she expects to die on Friday! One can tell she is convinced of it . . . how happy our holy Mother is! I find her face is imbued with celestial peace, one can sense that the port is nigh!"

It was early in the morning of Saturday, December 5, 1891, that the Bridegroom came for the 86-year-old founder.  This was the first time Therese, now 18, had seen death; she found it a "ravishing spectacle."  

 I was placed at the foot of the dying saint’s bed, and witnessed her slightest movements . . . . at the moment itself of our saintly Mother Geneviève’s birth in heaven . . . . I experienced an inexpressible joy and fervor; it was as though Mother Geneviève had imparted to me a little of the happiness she was enjoying, for I was convinced she went straight to heaven

 Read Therese's full account of the death of Mother Genevieve, together with account of her dream about Mother Genevieve after the latter's death, at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

Mother Genevieve was so revered in the community and in the town that her body was laid out in the choir for a week.  See a photo of her body and several portraits taken during her lifetime.   She could not be interred immediately, for the local government did not at once consent to her burial within the monastery.  The town council eventually consented, and she was buried in the sanctuary of the Carmel chapel, near Father Sauvage, the priest-founder, on December 23, 1891.3   

 Mother Genevieve was indeed the "grain of wheat" of which Jesus speaks: "if it dies, it bears much fruit."  The fruit would become visible in only a few years.  

1The details of Mother Genevieve's childhood and her religious life are available in the little book, now happily online, "The Foundation of the Carmel of Lisieux and Its Foundress, Reverend Mother Genevieve of St. Teresa," translated by a religious of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in 1913.  The title page lists as publishers the Carmel of Lisieux; St. Anselm's Society in London; and the Carmelite Convent in Philadelphia.  This short book is a valuable resource for those who want to understand the 50-year history of the Carmel Therese entered in 1888.  It points out that Mother Genevieve was considered the mother of the Carmels of Caen, Coutances, and Saigon (all founded from Lisieux), as well as of all the Carmels of the Far East, which were founded from Saigon.  

2 [Note that a purchase through the link supports this Web site].  

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