"Lisieux basilica". Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Immediately after the liberation of Lisieux on August 24, 1944, two Canadian newspapermen interviewed the Carmelites and other townspeople and cabled the story to Canada.  Substantial excerpts from both stories about the "miracle of Lisieux" appeared in the Southern Cross, the newspaper of the diocese of Savannah, Georgia, on September 30, 1944. [Note: unfortunately, the archives of the Southern Cross have disappeared from the Web].

 "[On the night of June 8, 1944] [f]lames roared and crackled over blocks of the town, creeping nearer and nearer to the convent.  At the edge of the convent, perilously close to St. Therese's own chapel, the fire mysteriously slackened, then died out completely.  The townsfolk observed this, and today they are convinced that St. Therese herself intervened .  . . .

Devout brown-clad nuns of the Carmelite Order, to which Saint Therese belonged, today told me they believed the Saint had also intervened to spare the Basilica which bears her name. . . . I talked to Sister Anne of Jesus, aged 65 . . . to my surprise, I discovered the stooped, pale little nun was a Canadian, formerly Anne Goyer of Montreal . . . .

Tomorrow, a silent brown-garbed procession will walk quietly through the ruins of Lisieux, and the Carmelite nuns will once more step into silence and invisibility, which most will never leave again.

               Richard Sanburn, writing from Lisieux for the Ottawa Citizen

I found the nuns eating a simple meal on benches in one of the little side chapels, the chapel of the Virgin of the Smile.  In this and other side chapels of the crypt they have slept while men, women, and children have also been living and sleeping in close proximity, very different from the seclusion these women have known for years.  There were mattresses even on the flagged floor on each side of the altar.

                              Frederick Griffin, writing from Lisieux for the Toronto Star

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, please see films and photos of Lisieux in the summer of 1944. 

Film of the liberation of Lisieux on August 23, 1944.  Note the sign "Saint-Desir," the quarter in which the Benedictine Abbey where Therese studied had been located.  The Abbey and the church where Therese made her First Communion were destroyed that night.  You will also see a sign pointing the wya to the Carmel.  Above the hill on the outside of the town you'll see the Basilica still standing. 

 Below are many images and films to see on their home sites if you make the effort to click the links:

Click for a still photo of St. Jacques Church, substantially destroyed.  It has since been rebuilt but is no longer a church but a municipal exhibit hall.

At this link http://www.jpaventure.com/  click on “Lisieux 1944” for many photos of Lisieux before and after the bombing,  including some of the Benedictine Abbey, St. Desir Church where St. Therese received her First Communion, Les Buissonnets, St. Jacques Church, St. Pierre Cathedral, and other sites.

 At http://www.leveildelisieux.fr/2013/08/23/lisieux-meconnaissable/ see the photo of three nuns standing in front of Les Buissonnets showing a bomb that fell in the garden but never exploded.

A paragraph describing the battle of Lisieux on August 23, 1944, which led to its liberation.  With thanks to www.normandie44lamemoire.com

At http://www.criticalpast.com/products/location_history/Lisieux_France/1940/1944 are two short films with footage of Lisieux in 1944:

• The first, filmed on August 23, 1944, is: "British soldiers fight the Nazis in Lisieux and General Charles De Gaulle visits Chartres en route to Paris liberation," one minute long.  
• The second, "The bomb damaged town of Lisieux, France during World War II," also one minute long, shows the rescue operation. 

You can read about the experience of St. Therese's two surviving sisters during the bombing of Normandy in 1944 at the  Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux,

Click on the English translation of the obituary circular of St. Therese's sister Pauline, Mother Agnes of Jesus, prioress of the Carmel, and scroll down to Section VII, "Her Last Days."  The circular notes that on May 3,1944, Pope Pius XII signed the decree declaring St. Therese of the Child Jesus secondary patroness of France, the equal of her "dear sister," Joan of Arc.  Due to the war, Mother Agnes did not receive this document until June 12, 1944, by which time she and the other Carmelites had taken refuge with other townspeople in the crypt of the basilica of the new Patroness of France.  Let's pray that St. Therese, whose protection extended to so many during both World Wars, will obtain from God a renewal of the faith in France and in the whole world. 

Click on the English translation of the obituary circular of St. Therese's sister Celine, Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face, and scroll down to Chapter V, "Sunshine and Shadows Over Carmel," to read of Sister Genevieve's experience that summer and of what a great sacrifice it was to her, in the crypt, to put up with the requests of the townspeople to speak to the sisters of St. Therese. See a photo of the crypt of the basilica taken in 1944. 

We thank the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux and their collaborators for making the story of the lives of the sisters of St. Therese available on the Web. 

The Allied troops enter Lisieux in the summer of 1944.  At the top, the Basilica of St. Therese

With thanks to the late Fr. J. Linus Ryan of Ireland, I am happy to present this excellent brief account of the bombing of Lisieux, a precise narrative of what happened to the town and to the Carmelite nuns in the summer of 1944, mentioning the public promise made on July 20, 1944 by curates of the town's three churches to celebrate the feast of St. Therese every year by bringing her relics in procession from St. Pierre's Cathedral to the Basilica.  The article was translated by Teresa Geslin Sweeney from "Therese de Lisieux," the magazine published by the Shrine at Lisieux; it appeared in English on the Web site of the Irish National Office of St. Therese.