As it's summer, I thought you'd like to know that Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., director of the Apostleship of Prayer in the United States, is now leading a "Sacred Heart pilgrimage" to various holy places in France.  From Paris he tweeted this photo of the shrine to St. Therese at the Church of Our Lady of Victories, where she prayed fervently before leaving on her pilgrimage to Rome and where she received the grace of realizing that it was really the Blessed Virgin who had cured her of a serious illness when she was ten. 

Our Lady of Victories Church in Paris. We have arrived on pilgrimage in France. pic.twitter.com/Rt6uyoGaSM

— James Kubicki, S.J. (@frjkubickisj) June 21, 2014

Fr. Kubicki and his group also visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre, where Therese and the other pilgrims attended Mass on Sunday, November 6, 1887 in the crypt, the only part of the Basilica then completed.  In the Basilica the pilgrims were all consecrated to the Sacred Heart before leaving Paris the next day.

Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris where Eucharistic adoration is 24/7 since 1885. pic.twitter.com/aGZRhxHLIE

— James Kubicki, S.J. (@frjkubickisj) June 21, 2014

UPDATE: the series of monthly days of prayer in the presence of the reliquary of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin and of St. Therese at the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia will end on Sunday, October 5, 2014, with the conference "A Map of St. Therese's Way of Confidence and Love."  The reliquary will not be in Philadelphia on the first Sunday of November.  The Magnificat Foundation has announced its third Magnificat Day of Faith for Saturday, November 1, 2014, in Memphis, Tennessee. The relics will be venerated in Memphis—please tell your friends in the South-- so the day of prayer announced for Sunday, November 2, 2014, with the conference "The Martin Family and the Communion of Saints: Grief, Healing, and Eternal Life" in Philadelphia will not take place.  We apologize for disappointing you.

See more about the Magnificat Day of Faith in Memphis on November 1, 2014. 

To attend a day of prayer at the Philadelphia Carmel, act now.  There are four days left: on the first Sundays of July, August, September, and October.  Please come to the next day on Sunday, July 6, 2014, when the topic of the conference will be "The Eucharist as the source and summit of the spirituality of the Martin family."  For other chances to pray in the presence of the reliquary in Philadelphia after October 5, 2014, please stay tuned.

An updated flyer is below.  You may download the flyer as a PDF or as a jpeg.

The Carmel of Lisieux today announces the long-awaited "virtual visit" to the last cell of St. Therese. Therese occupied this cell from shortly before Celine's entrance on September 8, 1894 until she was brought down to the infirmary on July 8, 1897. I can't describe this five-minute video in words; you have to see it.

.On February 27, 1945, the relics of St. Therese left Lisieux for the first time.  Click to see "Saint Therese in Paris", a rare archival film (2:42) showing the ruins of Lisieux, the procession leaving the service of farewell at St. Pierre's Cathedral (one of the few buildings left standing in the town center), and the departure of the reliquary by car for Paris. The reliquary was placed first in the private chapel of Emmanuel Cardinal Suhard, Archbishop of Paris. He presided when it was venerated by fifty thousand young people in the Parc des Princes. The reliquary was carried successively into the principal churches of Paris. ending with solemn ceremonies at the Cathederal of Notre Dame in the presence of all the cardinals and archbishops of France.  Watch the procession into the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the procession through the streets afterward.  The occasion for this historic visit was the May 3, 1944 decree of Pope Pius XII naming St. Therese of the Child Jesus secondary patron of France along with St. Joan of Arc.  The Blessed Virgin is the principal patron of France.

This film was produced by Les Actualites Francaises.  We thank the Institut National Audiovisuel for making this treasure available online.  See also a short newspaper article about this visit in The Observer of Rockford, Illinois, February 25, 1945, which mentions a special Mass in Paris exclusively for the officers and enlisted men of the American Forces. 

An Encounter with St. Thérèse of Lisieux
and her parents, Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin 

Pray in the presence of their relics on Sunday, July 6, 2014
from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

“The Eucharist as Source and Summit
of the Life of the Martin Family"

- a conference by Maureen O’Riordan at 1:00 p.m.

Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament at 3:30 p.m.

Carmelite Monastery                                Bookstore Open
1400 66th Avenue                                     10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
(66th Avenue and Broad Street)               Spiritual books, 
Philadelphia, Pa.                                     children's books, DVDs,
Free parking in monastery lot                  and religious articles.
on 66th Avenue                                        Cash and checks only

Chapel is handicapped-accessible.

Download the flyer

as a PDF

as a JPEG

Learn more about Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin at the Web site "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin."