Pope Paul VI

 The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has approved the promulgation of the decree for the beatification of Pope Paul VI, formerly Giovanni Cardinal Montini.  The ceremony of beatification is scheduled for October 19, 2014, Mission Sunday.  It will happen at the concusion of the Third Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, according to Vatican Radio.  That date is the 17th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's proclamation of St. Therese of Lisieux as a Doctor of the Church and the sixth anniversary of the beatification of her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin.  Both these ceremonies also fell on Mission Sunday.

 Healing of a child in California in 2001 certified as beatification miracle

Last Tuesday, May 6, Vatican Insider  reported that the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had voted unanimously to approve the miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope Paul VI. In 2001 a woman in California was expecting a baby, and her doctors predicted that the unborn child had such serious problems that it would either die in the womb or be born with severe kidney trouble.  The mother refused an abortion.  A nun who was a friend of the family urged her to pray to the late Pope, and the child was born safely in his 39th week.  The child, who has not been named, is now 13 and in good health. Read the details of the healing in Vatican Insider.

The bond between Pope Paul VI and St. Therese of Lisieux

 "I was born to the Church the day Saint Therese was born to heaven"

Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was born on September 26, 1897 in Lombardy.  He was baptized on September 30, 1897, the day St. Therese died.  Later, when he became Pope, he received the ad limina visit of the bishop of Seez, the diocese where Therese was born, and said:

I was born to the Church on the day on which the Saint was born to heaven. That tells you just how special the links tying me to her are. My mother acquainted me with Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus whom she loved. I’ve read the Histoire d’une âme several times, the first time in my youth."1

When he received the distinguished French author Jean Guitton, Pope Paul VI said to him:

"You know that I was baptized in 1897, on the day when Thérèse Martin, later Thérèse of the Child Jesus, passed away in France. On one of the secret notes she made before her death (cf. Last Conversations), Thérèse said: `When I am dead, I shall visit the cradles of baptized infants'. On pilgrimage in Rome, she had encountered some mediocre priests; instead of criticizing them and retreating to the periphery, she resolved to place herself at the very heart of things, in love alone. I shall read you what she said about this in the `Story of a Soul"'. Taking the book, the Pope read out the famous passage: "I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places. I cried out: I have found my place in the Church. My vocation is love."
(Reported by Jean Guitton, who adds: "Paul VI did not read me the French text, but the Latin translation in the breviary.")2

In his speech at a concert marking the centenary of the birth of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II recalled this coincidence of dates:

In mentioning Concesio, the birthplace of Giovanni Battista Montini, I naturally think of his family home and the baptismal font where he received the sacrament of new birth on the very day that — how can we fail to remember it? — the soul of St Thérèse of Lisieux departed this world. We can certainly link the spirituality of this Carmelite saint with the religious desire of Pope Paul VI, who expressed his great love for Christ through his long, wise service to the Church.3

1938: Pope Paul VI writes to the Lisieux Carmel about his lifelong devotion to St. Therese

As early as 1938, when he was "Substitute for Ordinary Affairs" under Cardinal Pacelli, who was then Vatican Secretary of State but later Pope Pius XII, the future Cardinal Montini wrote to the Carmel of Lisieux that he "had been following 'for a long time and with the liveliest interest the development of the Carmel convent of Lisieux.' And added that he had 'great devotion to Saint Teresa, a little relic of whom I keep on my work table.'"4

 1970: Pope Paul VI opened the way for St. Therese to be Declared a Doctor of the Church

 As we know, it was Pope John Paul II who, on October 19, 1997, declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church.  But this could never have happened had not Pope Paul VI named the first two women, Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila, Doctors of the Church on September 27, 1970.  In fact, the demand among the people and the bishops for Therese to be named a doctor began at her canonization in 1925, but, because she was a woman, the Vatican ordered the gathering of the signatures of the world's bishops stopped in the 1930s.  In "Therese: A Doctor of the Third Millennium," their circular letter to the Carmelite family when Therese's doctorate was announced, the general superiors of the two branches of the Carmelite Order, Father Camillo Maccise, O.C.D., and Father Joseph Chalmers, O. Carm. give the history:

I. A LONG ROAD TOWARDS THE DOCTORATE

First Steps

4. Already from the time of her canonization, there was no lack of bishops, preachers, theologians, and faithful from different countries who sought to have our sister Thérèse of Lisieux declared a Doctor of the Church. This flow of petitions in favor of the doctorate became official in 1932 on the occasion of the inauguration of the crypt of the Basilica at Lisieux, which was accompanied by a congress at which five cardinals, fifty bishops, and a great number of faithful participated. On June 30, Fr. Gustave Desbuquois, SJ, with clear and precise theological argument, spoke of Thérèse of Lisieux as Doctor of the Church. Surprisingly, his proposal had the support of many of the participants, bishops, and theologians. This positive reaction to the suggestion of Fr. Desbuquois spread universally. Mons. Clouthier, Bishop of Trois Rivières, Canada, wrote to all the bishops of the world in order to prepare a petition to the Holy See. By 1933 he had already received 342 positive replies from bishops who supported the proposal to have Thérèse of Lisieux declared a Doctor of the Church.

The Obstacle of Being a Woman

5 The petition of Fr. Desbuquois was presented to Pope Pius XI, along with a letter of Mother Agnes of Jesus, sister of Therese and prioress of the Lisieux Carmel. She informed the Pope about the great success of the Theresian Congress. On 31 August 1932, Cardinal Pacelli, Secretary of State, replied to Mother Agnes' letter on behalf of the Pope. He was very pleased about the positive results of the congress, but added that it would be better not to speak of Thérèse's doctorate yet, even though, "Her doctrine never ceased to be for him a sure light for souls searching to know the spirit of the Gospel."

However, the time was not yet ripe for a woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church. In fact, Pope Pius XI had already replied negatively to the Carmelites' petition to have St. Teresa of Jesus, "Mother of Spiritual People" declared doctor. The petition was turned down because she was a woman. "Obstat sexus" ("Her sex stands in the way"), the Pope replied, adding that he would leave the decision to his successor. After the Vatican's negative response, and by its order, the gathering of signatures in favor of Thérèse of Lisieux's doctorate was interrupted.

Circumstances Change

6. Teresa of Jesus and Catherine of Siena's declaration as Doctors of the Church in 1970 eliminated completely any obstacle to naming a woman doctor. As a result, the proposal for the doctorate of Thérèse of Lisieux was taken up again.

In 1973, the centenary of her birth, Mgr. Garrone stated the question anew: "Could St. Thérèse of Lisieux become some day a Doctor of the Church? I respond affirmatively, without hesitation, encouraged by what has happened to the great St. Teresa and St. Catherine of Siena."

 It was Pope Paul VI who not only gave the Church Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila as Doctor of the Church but also removed the "obstacle" of St. Therese's gender, which had stalled her movement to the Doctorate for nearly forty years.  How much we owe him.

1971: Thoughts pf Pope Paul VI about St. Therese's Spirituality

In a general audience on December 29, 1971, Pope Paul called Therese

she who taught in our day the spirit of childhood.  Spiritual childhood is one of the liveliest religious currents of our time.  It has nothing immature or affected about it.  Expressed in simple and innocent language, it is certainly derived from the paradoxical but always divine saying of Jesus: "Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the reign of God."  (Mt 18:3).  . . . The basis of this evangelical spirituality could not be more authoritative.  It unfolds according to a humility not only moral but also theological and metaphysical, if I may say so: the humility of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:38, 48), the humility of the wise, who have a sense of the transcendence of God and of the absolute dependence of the creature on the Creator; a humility all the more justified when the creature is something, because all depends on God, and the confrontation between our every limitation and the Infinite obliges us to bow our heads.  And humility, in this spiritual school, unites with confidence, because of how many signs God has given us of His goodness and His love.  If He wants to be called Father, our spirits must be filled with the filial spirit, and with a filial spirit, a childlike spirit full of faith and abandonment. This is the spiritual childhoood, which, at the school of the tradition of the Church, St. Therese of the Child Jesus sums up:  "It's the way of confidence, of complete abandonment."5 

June 9, 1964:  Paul VI and the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the writings of the Servants of God, Louis and Zelie Martin.

1971: Paul VI unites the two causes for sainthood of Louis and Zelie Martin

The cause for Louis Martin was opened in the diocese of Bayeux on March 22, 1957.  The cause for Zelie Guerin Martin was opened in the diocese of Sees on October 10, 1957.  Their last surviving daughter, Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face) had the joy of testifying about them before she died in 1959.  In 1971, for the first time in the history of the Church, Paul VI, finding that they became holy as spouses, ordered that the two causes be united into one single cause.  He laid the foundation for their being beatified together in 2008.6  (An Italian couple, Blessed Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Blessed Maria Corsini, were beatified in 2001.  Their cause, however, was introduced only in 1994, long after Paul VI united the causes of Louis and Zelie).

1973: Paul VI offers St. Therese of Lisieux as a teacher of prayer and hope

In 1973, on the occasion of the centenary of Therese's birth, Pope Paul VI wrote a letter to Jean-Marie-Clement-Badre, then bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, and "offered her as a teacher of prayer and theological virtue of hope, and a model of communion with the Church, calling the attention of teachers, educators, pastors and theologians themselves to the study of her doctrine."7  

 Pope Paul VI opened the way for St. Therese to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church and for Louis and Zelie Martin to be declared a blessed couple.  How fitting that he will be declared blessed on the same date, October 19, and the same liturgical feast, Mission Sunday, on which Therese was named a Doctor of the Church and on which Louis and Zelie were declared blessed.

Copyright Maureen O'Riordan 2014.  All rights reserved.  If you want to make use of this story, please apply to me for written permission.

 _____________________

1"The Popes and Little Teresa of the Child Jesus," by Giovanni Ricciardi, in the May 2003 issue of 30 Days in the Church and in the World. 

2"Popes" at "St. Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower"

3"Address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II at a Concert Marking the Anniversary of the Birth of Pope Paul VI."

4"The Popes and Little Teresa of the Child Jesus,", Ricciardi, op. cit.

5 General Audience of Pope Paul VI, December 29, 1971

6Biographical Profile of the Venerable Servants of God Louis Martin and Zelie Martin.

7Quoted in the "Saint Therese Calendar 2014" published by the St. Therese National Office in Dublin, Ireland.

10/18/14: Note that this story is copyrighted. I'm sorry to say that everal readers have copied it onto their own sites and Facebook pages without crediting the source.  Kindly do not do that, but please feel free to excerpt no more than four lines, acknowledging the source, and link to the story to encourage your readers to read it here.  Thank you.  

Pietro Schiliro, the Italian child whose healing at the intercession of Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, led to their beatification in 2008, met Pope Francis in Rome on March 29, 2014.  Thanks to the Web site of the Shrine at Alencon (www.louiszeliemartin.com/eng), I have been permitted to post the photo of this encounter here and to share Mary Davidson's translation of the brief and moving first-person essay Pietro, now 11, wrote about this encounter.  Please read Pietro Schiliro's testimony about his meeting with Pope Francis here.

Therese Martin, the 11-year-old girl who would become St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face, received her First Communion on May 8, 1884 at the Benedictine Abbey of Notre Dame du Pre in Lisieux, where she was a student.

Therese's preparation for her First Communion

Therese's careful preparation was aided by her family as well as by the Abbey.  Every night her oldest sister and godmother, Marie, instructed her in the spiritual life.  Pauline, who was already in formation as a Carmelite nun, wrote Therese a little letter every week to encourage her to be as generous as possible to prepare for the great day. Pauline also prepared a notebook which compared Therese's soul to a garden, and Therese used the notebook to record her sacrifices, prayers, and acts of love every day. 

  The Carmelite friars of Verona in Italy have prepared in English a booklet, "40 Days of Preparation for First Communion with St. Therese of Lisieux," which may be ordered in the United States.  Please click on the image for more information.

Thanks to the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, you can read online Therese's memories, written eleven years later, of these months of preparation. 

Therese receives Jesus

About the experience of receiving her First Communion, Therese wrote famously: 

Ah! how sweet was that first kiss of Jesus.  It was a kiss of love; I felt that I was loved, and I said: "I love You, and I give myself to You forever!"  There were no demands made, no struggles, no sacrifices; for a long time now, Jesus and poor little Therese had looked at and understood each other.  That day, it was no longer simply a look, it was a fusion.  Therese had vanished as a drop of water is lost in the immensity of the ocean.  Jesus alone remained; He was the Master, the King."  Read more.

Another page of the Web site of the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel gives details of the first communions of each of the Martin daughters.  Visit it and, in the far right column, about Therese's first communion, follow the links to:

• period photos of the Benedictine Abbey, including one photo of a First Communion Mass and one of a catechism class like Therese's;
• a photo of the copy of the Imitation of Christ Therese received for her First Communion;
• at the very bottom of the page, a photo (from the 1930s) of the First Communion class gathered before the statue of Mary while one child recites, in the name of all her classmates, the Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin.  

The Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin

Therese writes

In the afternoon, it was I who made the Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin.  It was only right that I speak in the name of my companions to my Mother in heaven, I who had been deprived at such an early age of my earthly mother.  I put all my heart into speaking to her, into consecrating myself to her as a child throwing itself into the arms of its mother, asking her to watch over her.

        In fact, Celine, at her First Communion four years earlier, had been chosen to make this Act of Consecration.  But in Therese's First Communion class were two young girls, Marie and Alexandrine Domin, the nieces of Father Louis Domin, the chaplain of the Benedictine Abbey.  Father Domin taught the students catechism and prepared them for their First Communion. As a compliment to him, the teachers had planned to confer this honor on one of his nieces.  Therese was so distressed at the prospect that her aunt, Mme. Guerin, who was a distant cousin of Father Domin, and Marie visited Mother Saint-Placid to ask her to reverse the decision.  In the end the whole family went to visit Father Domin, who yielded.  Celine wrote years later that she could still see the place in his reception room where she sat, could see Therese's suppliant air and pale face.  (Manuscrits autobiographiques de Sainte-Therese de l'Enfant Jesus by Father Francois de Sainte-Marie, O.C.D. Office Central de Lisieux, 1956, Volume II, p. 23). 

   We no longer have to wait till we're eleven to receive the Eucharist, and many of us have the joy of receiving much more often than Therese did.  She wrote prophetically "We are also the hosts whom Jesus wants to transform into Himself."  May she obtain that grace for us on this anniversary.

“Holy Popes, friends of Thérèse, pray for us!”

                                   – Father Olivier Ruffray, rector of the Shrine at Lisieux

 This editorial was written by Father Olivier Ruffray, rector of the Shrine at Lisieux, for
Thérèse of Lisieux (a publication of the Shrine at Lisieux), no. 954, May 2014.
Translated by Maureen O'Riordan, it appears with Father Ruffray's kind permission.

 We rejoice fully in the holy Popes whom Pope Francis offers to the official prayer of the Church.  They are the friends of Saint Thérèse.

Saint John XXIII came to Lisieux in 1930, on September 11, then three times more as Apostolic Nuncio in France.  We keep at the Shrine a photo-souvenir taken in the court of St. John’s House on August 15, 1951.  He loved to talk about Thérèse and about “her quiet and precious way of bringing to souls the riches of God.”  He also emphasized her powerful intercession as Patron of Missions.  The “Good Pope John,” as he was called by those who had tasted his charity, which was matched only by his simplicity, opened for us the Second Vatican Council.  Thanks to him, we “rediscover the Word of God;” we welcome the Church as “a light to the nations;” we think of “the Church in the Modern World;” we receive the Virgin Mary as “Mother of the Church;” we hear as a spiritual and ecclesial encouragement the “universal call to holiness.”   We understand how the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church and in the world. We divine how the spirituality of St.  Thérèse could have inspired, for its part, the Council. It pleases us to think also that the Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, by the witness of their lives and their social commitment to the little ones, opened with others, in the seething nineteenth century, the paths of the Social Doctrine of the Church. It was under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II that they were declared venerable, on March 26, 1994.

Saint John Paul II came to Lisieux on June 2, 1980 after his appeal at Le Bourget (the airport near Paris) that still rings in our hearts : “France, the eldest daughter of the Church! What have you done with your baptism? ...” At that time, Cardinal Marty presented the Pope to young people gathered at the Parc des Princes as the “sportsman of God!" At Lisieux, Pope John Paul II reminded us that the saints never get old because  they are “witnesses of the future world."  He thought of St. Thérèse, whom he was going to name the youngest Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997 in St. Peter's Square, calling her doctrine the "science of love." Yes, Thérèse teaches us to love according to the heart of God, as it seems to us we read in the luminous gaze of Pope John Paul II, contemplating the Basilica in the photograph that shows him in the Esplanade of the Basilica, June 2nd 1980. In Rome, recently, the young Pietro Schilirò and his parents met with Pope Francis. They told him about the little Carmen in Spain (the child whose healing has been submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to be considered as the miracle for the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin). The Pope reportedly replied that he knows it . . . How beautiful the Church in the light of Easter! She is our Mother, and we love her.  With the Virgin Mary in her month of May, with all the saints of Heaven, a happy and holy Easter time.

Holy Popes, friends of Thérèse, pray for us!

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

Pray in the presence of their relics on Sunday, June 1, 2014
from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

“The Marital Spirituality of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin:
Spouses Carrying Each Other to God"

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

Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament at 3:30 p.m.
with a special blessing for couples

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.

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