EWTN offers the premiere of their new film about the historic visit of the relics of St. Therese to South Africa in 2010, the first time the relics traveled to the continent of Africa.  View it tonight (Saturday, October 1) at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  You may view it on TV or online (live only) at http://www.ewtn.com/tv/index.asp

Photo thanks to Archdiocesan News, Johannesburg
(http://sacns.scripturelink.net/2010/07/south-africa-st-thesese-relics-at.html)

The film is about 50 minutes long and is exceptionally well done.  I am glad I got up at 5:00 a.m. to see it.  It includes remarks by representatives of the Church in South Africa on St. Therese’s life and spirituality; a brief history of the Church in South Africa; footage of the reception of the reliquary all over South Africa; and personal reflections by Carmelites, Poor Clares, priests, and bishops on the influence of the visit of the reliquary and the significance of that powerful spiritual event for the people of South Africa.  It captures a unique moment in the recent history of the Theresian event.  I believe that reflecting on what Therese means to the people of South Africa is helping me to see more clearly what she means for me and for all of us. Watching it is a superb way to celebrate the feast of St. Therese and to be present to her mission today.

Please also note that at 10:00 p.m. tonight EWTN presents “Heart of the Matter, the Focus: The Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux Visit Great Britain.”   Various guests reflect on that phenomenon,  including “Mgr. Keith Barltrop, National Coordinator of the British tour of the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux – an attraction that has had an even greater draw than Pope John Paul's visit to Ireland in 1979 – [who] talks of the many graces received during the tour.” 

As part of the celebration of 100 years of the presence of the Order of Discalced Carmelites in Peru, the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux arrived in Peru on August 30, 2011.  They will remain in Peru until November 30, 2011.  This is the first time such an event has happened in Peru, a country with a missionary presence, and will be a time of pilgrimage for most of the country.  The visit of the relics is called “On a mission to Peru.”  The reliquary will embark on a great pilgrimage throughout Peru, visiting communities in the south in September, central Peru in October, and the north country in November.  The reliquary will be received by Carmelite communities and monasteries, the Institutes of Consecrated Life, and parishes in the areas of Abancay, Arequipa, Ayacucho Callao, Carabayllo, Chiclayo, Chimbote, Chosica, Chuquibamba, Cusco, Huacho, Huancayo, Huancavelica, Ica, Lima, Lurin, Piura, Trujillo, Puno, Tacna, Moquegua, and Yauyos.  "With her relics, Teresa is present: her person, her spirituality, her love for the Church, her spiritual message. Through this visit we try to get to know and rediscover the living Gospel of her doctrine, founded on love and trust.”  (adapted from Lima (Agenzia Fides), 8/13/11.

See photos.

Please see the national Web site (in Spanish) for the visit of the relics to Peru.

I am delighted to announce that a fortunate group of readers can purchase new copies of the book Léonie Martin: A Difficult Life, by Marie Baudoin-Croix.  This book about St. Thérèse's sister Léonie, published in French in 1989, was translated into English and published by Veritas Press in Dublin in 1993.  Veritas reprinted it in 2004.  Unfortunately, it is now out of print, and Veritas has announced no plans to reprint it.  But, through a special grace, I have received the last eighty new copies, and you can purchase it through this Web site.

After the August 1, 2011 premiere of the film " Léonie!" in Michigan, I told Cecilia Prizer of Angels of Our Lady Religious Gifts and Bookstore in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, my partner in distributing books and articles to make St. Thérèse better known, how much I wanted to make the book available to those interested in Léonie.  Through a distributor she found the last new copies of the book, which were in a warehouse in the British Isles.  Now they're in Pennsylvania waiting to be shipped.  To be fair, we are distributing them to the first comers, so please act now if you want one.  $12.95. 

   About  Léonie Martin: A Difficult Life

Léonie Martin was the least gifted of the four sisters of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  She was an emotionally disturbed child, abused by the family’s maid, expelled from school, who suffered and caused anguish in her family.  She did not fit their expectations of holiness.

Marie Baudoin-Croix, the well-known French poet, has examined the letters of Léonie’s mother, Blessed Zélie Martin, to her daughters, her sister, her brother, and her sister-in-law.  We see the backward child, the despair of many, who was the first to follow Thérèse’s Little Way.  The author examines Léonie ‘s correspondence with Thérèse, who shared the way generously with her sister.  It was only after three valiant but unsuccessful attempts that Léonie, at the age of thirty-five, was finally accepted by the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen.  She succeeded in conquering a “tough” temperament, so that by the time of her death in 1941, at the age of seventy-eight, she was regarded as a saint, and her monastery at Caen was inundated with letters testifying to her posthumous aid. 

In his preface, Fr. Christopher O’Donnell, O. Carm. writes:  “This book by Marie Baudoin-Croix is to be strongly welcomed.  It does not add to what has been available about Léonie to specialist scholars, but it will be a revelation to so many admirers of St. Thérèse in the English-speaking world . . . . It is an ideal companion to the autobiography of St. Thérèse.”

In her introduction the author notes: “Quite simply, it is comforting to everyone to know about one woman’s struggle to conquer a difficult, intractable temperament.  Also, the story of the young rebel who was Léonie can give help and hope to parents who are hurt by their clashes—often violent—with their children.”

Léonie’s story can encourage all people, and it inspires especially the parents of other “special needs” children; persons who have a hard time finding a place in society and in the Church; and persons deeply wounded by past experiences.  Paperback, 128 pages, including six pages of photographs.  [Note; these copies sold out in weeks.  I'm delighted to report that Ignatius Press has reprinted it, so please order Leonie Martin, A Difficult Life from them].

The Shrine at Lisieux produced a lovely four-minute video and photo show of Les Buissonnets, the little villa at Lisieux where the Martin family lived from their arrival at Lisieux in 1877 until Louis Martin was interned in the Bon Sauveur hospital at Caen in 1889.
les buissonnets, maison familiale de sainte... by sanctuaire_lisieux

The Sanctuaire de Lisieux has produced a beautiful film of the highlights of the 2011 exposition of furnishings, photographs, paintings, objects, and documents associated with the family of St. Therese of Lisieux.  This exhibit will be open to the public until the end of October 2011.  If you are fortunate enough to visit Lisieux before then, do not miss this exhibition.  Otherwise, please enjoy the film.  At 2:07 you will notice a crucifix with a gold plate at its base.  This is the very crucifix that Henri Pranzini, the prisoner for whom St. Therese prayed so fervently in 1887, suddenly kissed on the scaffold as he was about to be executed. 

exposition sur les parents de sainte Thérèse by sanctuaire_lisieux