Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

I discovered the homily preached at the golden jubilee celebration of St. Therese's eldest sister, Marie of the Sacred Heart, at the Carmel of Lisieux by Mgr Picaud, bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, on October 15, 1936, fifty years to the day since Marie entered the Carmel of Lisieux (thanks to the archives of the Australian National Library).  We can imagine ourselves listening with Sister Marie, then seventy-six years old.

Citation; 1940 'A Remarkable Family.', The Catholic Press (NSW : 1895 - 1942), 11 April, p. 5, viewed 7 October, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106347288

from the Thursday, April 11, 1940 issue of the Catholic Press

Exterior of the Carmelite chapel where this homily was delivered, photographed before 1925. Public domain. Courtesy of the Blbiliotheque Electronique de Lisieux.

Little Flower and Her Sisters

BISHOP OF BAYEUX'S TOUCHING APPRECIATION.

As was recorded in a recent issue of the Catholic Press, the death occurred at the Carmelite Convent, Lisieux (France), on January 20 last of Sister Marie du Sacre Coeur, eldest sister and godmother of St. Therese ('The Little Flower').

Interest in this very remarkable family, of which three sisters still survive, .will be deepened by the following impressive discourse, delivered on October 15, 1936, by Monsignor Picaud, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Sister Marie. 

Taking as his text,

Gratias Deo super inenamibili dono ejus [“Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!”],

the Bishop said: “The Ritual places on the lips of the religious at each of the succeeding phases of their religious life— clothing, temporary, and later, perpetual profession, a hymn of thanksgiving. By these 'Te Deums' the Liturgy does not wish merely to express the passing happiness of virgins who consecrate themselves with growing fervour to their Divine Spouse: it desires to show the permanent disposition of their souls, to put in words their ceaseless gratitude.

You also, dear Sister, with your lips and your heart, have made your own these hymns, and they have never ceased to resound in your soul. You have understood very well, that in the apparent deprivation of all things pre-supposed by the vows of religion, it is not God Who is placed under any obligation, but those chosen by His merciful predestination, upon whom fell one day the Divine Glance calling them to follow Him. You have understood clearly that if the ‘fiat’ of the religious, which makes her the handmaid of the Lord, has its merits, it is only the answer to an Annunciation, of which you appreciate the honour and supreme reward.

But to this motive for thanksgiving, common to all consecrated souls, there is added in your case, an unheard-of privilege, almost unique in the history of the Church: that of being closely associated, as eldest sister and confidante, in the life of a saint, “the greatest saint of modern times”--what do I say! that of being chosen by Providence to concur efficaciously m the beginning and development of her holiness, and finally, of continuing to live in your thoughts, in union with this little queen, whose every desire all Heaven seems to hasten to grant.

Panorama of Sacred Marvels

So, today, when you look back, after so many years, over the panorama of sacred marvels which has unfolded before your eyes and in which your own activity has been exerted, you should hardly be able to find words sufficient to express a gratitude, the like of which few human creatures have felt obliged to express!

I will try, dear Sister, to recall for the sympathetic and attentive audience surrounding us the principal reasons you have for thanking God. In calling up the past I will, as far as possible, let St. Therese of the Child Jesus speak. I desire so much that it should be she who will revive in your soul the sweetness of sisterly recollections, and renew the almost sensible benefit of her beloved presence.

At the beginning of the eleventh Chapter of her 'Histoire d'une Ame,' St. Therese of the Child Jesus, who dedicated to you, these, the loftiest and most moving pages of her autobiography, recalled to you that at Holy Baptism, 'you had lent her your voice to promise her fidelity to Jesus,' and added, 'Dear Godmother, the child whom you offered to Our Lord loves you as a child loves its mother. In Heaven only will you be able to fathom the gratitude that fills my heart.'

These tender feelings of your saintly little Sister were, certainly, only the just response to your supernatural solicitude for your god-child, to your efforts as first teacher, even during the lifetime of your holy mother, and especially to your desire to initiate her while yet* a child to the practice of the little sacrifices which were to play such an important part in her spirituality. They were the response to your motherly affection, which was joined to the tenderness of her 'little Mother;' that twofold protection which St. ' Therese loved to recall eight days before her death, saying to both of you in tones so moving: 'My dear Sisters, it is you who have brought me up.' They were also the answer to the decisive role which the good Providence caused you to fulfill during that mysterious and painful illness of your sister, because truly it was your cry of faith which made the Virgin with the ravishing smile approach her and drive away the nightmare which oppressed you.' 'My beloved sister,' says St. Therese of the Child Jesus, speaking of you in her auto biography, 'knelt in tears at the foot of my bed. Then, turning towards the statue she asked Our Lady's assistance with all the fervour of a mother who begs the life of her child. It was, indeed, to her and to her earnest prayer that I owed thr.t wonderful grace — a smile from the Blessed Virgin.' Your dear god-child, at the time of her first Holy Communion, received from you very valuable help, for which your spiritual motherhood had pre destined you. Let us hear again St. Therese: 'I shall always remember my First Communion Day as one of unclouded happiness. It seems to me that I could not have been better prepared. Marie had taken Pauline's place as my guide. Every evening I spent a long time with her, listening eagerly to all she said. How delightfully she talked to me! I felt myself set on fire by her noble, generous spirit. When she talked so eloquently, I was sorry that I was the only one to listen to her teaching, for, in my simplicity, it seemed to me that the greatest sinners would be converted if they heard her, and that, forsaking the perishable riches of this world, they would seek none but the riches of Heaven.'

Interior of the Carmelite chapel, where this sermon was preached, photogaphed before 1925. Sister Marie would have been seated behind the grille at the far right. Public domain: courtesy of la Bibliotheque Electronique de Lisieux

According to Divine Plan

Why, dear Sister, at this 50th anniversary of your entrance into religious life, do 1 recall facts which occurred before your entrance into the convent? The reason is that in the predestination of souls, as well as of communities, everything is arranged according to a Divine plan. The design of the merciful goodness of God and of His preventing[1] grace is not broken up, as the succession of days and years make it appear to us. It develops according to a plan which takes account, for the evolution of our destiny, of anterior efforts and the mysterious but real influence of the Communion of Saints. And, therefore, I cannot but believe that Our Lord, by calling you to the honour of these mystic nuptials, crowned at the same time the merit of your assistance given in an efficacious way to the child whom He destined for a wonderful mission, and also this child's own merits. A delightful scene which took place on the day of your profession has rendered sensible this series of divine favours. On that day of May, 1888, 'little Therese,' who had just entered Carmel as a postulant, placed on your forehead the crown of roses, which symbolizes the royal character which God Himself bestows on those who serve Him. What kindliness of Divine Providence, and how symbolical was this little episode, so full of meaning and of promise![2]

The close association of your life with that of your saintly sister at Les Buissonnets, explains the anguish of soul St. Therese felt when you entered Carmel in 1886. 'I no sooner heard of Marie's determination than I resolved to take no further interest in anything here below, and I shed abundant tears.'

But two years later, on April 9, 1888, the doors of the same convent closed upon Therese, a postulant, only 15 years old. Delightful coincidence: You were chosen as the 'Angel' of the new postulant, and it was your duty to tell her of the many customs and minutiae which go to make up the woof and warp of monastic life.

When Therese had finished her novitiate, the obscurity of the common life and the practice of regularity and religious mortification alone nourished the profound union of your souls, for you could not come into contact with one another except at rare intervals, and only for a few moments. St. Therese has told us what mortification was caused by this separation in apparent re union. 'No, it was not to live with my sisters that I entered Carmel; on the contrary, I foresaw that it would be the occasion of great suffering never to give way to nature.' Yet your role of teacher and god-mother, sometimes hidden in the voluntary effacement of life in the cloister, was not finished. One day it was re-affirmed by your happy initiative, the consequences of which will never be calculated. You had a presentiment of the treasures of grace which the Holy Spirit was  heaping up in the soul of your sister-saint, aid you were to be the providential instrument for making them known to the whole world.

It was at your suggestion that Mother Agues of Jesus, who was then Prioress, ordered St. Therese of the Child Jesus to write down the recollections of her child hood— otherwise called the first -eight chapters of 'l'Histoire d'une Ame.'

Story of Her Religious Life

 It is interesting to read in your deposition, and that of Mother Agnes of Jesus, at the process of Beatification, the details of that simple and natural scene, which was to be the starting point of so many graces for the Universal Church. 'At the beginning of the year 1895,' we read in. the Summarium, 'two and one half years before the death of the Servant of God, as we two were warming ourselves in the recreation room, with our Rev. Mother Agnes of Jesus, Sister Therese told us two or three happenings of her childhood. -I then said to our Mother Prioress: 'Is it possible that you allow her to write little poems to please one or two, and she writes nothing of her childhood memories? Do you not see that she is an angel, who- will not remain long on earth, and we will have lost all these interesting details.' At first Mother Prioress hesitated, but I kept urging her, she said to the Servant of God that she would be pleased, if, on her feast day, she gave her the story of 'her childhood. Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, who laughed as if they were joking with her, set herself to work under obedience, and presented the first part of the manuscript to Mother Agnes of Jesus, January 20, 1896. . . . Later, Mother Agnes of Jesus, noticing that Sister Therese was very ill, persuaded Rev. Mother .Mary of Gonzaga, then Prioress, to ask Sister The rese to write the story of her religious life, which forms the second part of the manuscript. Finally, during her last re treat in September 1896, I myself asked her to write for me what I called 'her little doctrine,' her little way of confidence and love. She did so, after having obtained permission from our mother, and these pages were added, as a third part, when the story of her life was published.' The Eleventh Chapter is the sublime crown of our saint's masterpiece, showing us her seraphic aspirations towards the apostolate and martyrdom, as well as being the expression of her absolute confidence in the omnipotence of God's grace.

Sentiments of the Heart

Then followed those bursts of affection addressed to this dear god-mother, who had so opportunely manifested the desire to 'know as far 'as possible all the sentiments of the heart' of her saintly god child, 'My beloved sister, you wish to learn the secrets which Jesus confides to your god-child, and yet I know these sec rets are already yours, for it was you who taught me to listen to His teaching. 1 will try, however, to tell you something, though only too conscious, -how impossible it is for human speech to put into words what the heart itself can scarcely realize . . . .”

That is not all. Fortunately, for the spiritual posterity of St. Therese, for those little souls desirous of walking in her footsteps, you were inspired to urge our Saint to describe more fully her doctrine of unshaken confidence, in the midst of weakness and interior poverty, with a daring, seemingly, never equalled.

'After having read the burning pages written by Therese,' as you said to the judges of the Informative Process, 'I. told her that it was impossible for me to rise so high. Then she wrote me the letter dated September 17, printed in. the 'Histoire d'une Ame' — and amongst other things, she said, 'How can you ask me, if it be possible for you to love God as I love Him! My desires for martyrdom are as nothing. - * . I know well that it is not because of them that God takes pleasure in my soul. What does please Him is to find me love my littleness, my poverty, and to see the 'blind trust which 1 have in His mercy. That is my sole treasure.’”

And St. Therese continues in the same letter with the firm assurance of a teacher, and a moving insistence, that such is for her the essence of all her spirituality, of that 'little doctrine' she has to reveals to souls: 'Dear sister, do you not understand that the more weak and wretched[3] we are,' the better material do we make for His consuming and transforming love.'

Apostolic Ardor

We owe to you, then, the knowledge of the confidences of your sister-saint, especially regarding her apostolic ardour, which she made known to you one day during her illness when she was walking, or, rather, dragging herself along, in the garden, under obedience: 'I offer each step for a missionary, thinking that somewhere far away, one of them is worn out by his apostolic labours; and to .lessen his fatigue I offer mine to God.' You were also told of her plans for an apostolate after death, and received her promise, 'to let fall a shower of roses.’ Ah! dear Sister, you will never be able to thank God sufficiently for having inspired you to obtain from our little Saint the revelation of the treasures of sanctity concealed from earliest childhood in her angelic soul, and for being the recipient of such enlightening developments of her spiritual teaching. And having been associated with her 'little mother,' there again you have another title to the just homage of all those devoted to St. Therese.

'Gratias Deo super inenarrabili dono ejus — Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.'

Truly, dear Sister, when you read the interior book of remembrances gathered by your sisterly and motherly tenderness, what a theme for ceaseless gratitude! In the midst of long sufferings which it has pleased Divine Providence, during these last years, to send you, and which your holy god-child foretold, what sweetness do you not feel when you meditate upon and relish these memories! What light also I know she brings you to enlighten you on the true values of earthly things, and to protect you along the way of abandonment! On this day, when she can re fuse you nothing, all, in union with you, in union with your two sisters present here, and with the dear Visitandine of Caen, in union with the whole Carmel, all implore the incomparable Scatterer of Roses to give to this jubilee feast such sweet ness and such an odour of sanctity, that it may seem to you that she is' again crowning you, as on the day of your first profession. Amen.

[1] The implication of “preventing grace” is a grace that goes before the soul and protects it, as Therese wrote “God, in His anticipating mercy . . .” at the end of the third manuscript of her life.

[2] Note this excerpt from the English translation of the death notice (the “circulaire”) of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart:  “In honor of the occasion, one of our Sisters prepared a beautiful water-color, showing St. Therese of the Child Jesus as a postulant, crowning Sister Marie on the day of her Profession. In a corner of the picture there is a representation of His Holiness Pope Pius XI blessing Marie and Therese. It was sent to the August Pontiff in the hope that he would send some few words of reply, and great was the emotion and joy of our venerable Jubilarian on seeing the inscription which the Holy Father wrote on the painting — an invitation to the Eternal Jubilee: Veni coronaberis, "Come, you will be crowned" (Cant. 4:8).”   - See more at: http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12406:circulaire-de-soeur-marie-du-sacr%C3%A9-coeu&catid=258:circulaire&Itemid=1988#sthash.APORoNdV.dpuf

 [3]Note that the bishop quotes from the version of Therese’s letter edited by Pauline.  What she actually wrote, which was not published till the 1970s, was “the weaker one is, without desires or virtues.”