Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

The Image of the Holy Face of Tours displayed in St. Pierre's Cathedral and at the Lisieux Carmel

Context

The Holy Face in the Novitiate of the Lisieux Carmel

During the six years they were separated, Therese had fully shared the Holy Face with her sister Celine, who was passionately devoted to it.  At Celine's entrance, in September 1894, she took the name "Marie of the Holy Face," which was later changed against her will to "Genevieve of St. Therese" after the Carmel's foundress.  (In 1916, she reappropriated the title "of the Holy Face").  The sister now known as Marie of the Trinity, who entered before Celine, had been named "Marie Agnes of the Holy Face," but, as the name "Marie-Agnes" was then pronounced in Normandy, it sounded too much like "Mere Agnes," then prioress, and the young sister found her name, too, changed to "Marie of the Trinity."  On August 12, 1895, Therese wrote the poem "My Heaven on Earth," subtitled "Canticle to the Holy Face" for Marie of the Trinity's 21st birthday (WPDC; ACL). 

In March 1896, when Mother Marie de Gonzague was re-elected prioress, replacing Therese's sister Pauline (Mother Agnes), Therese's position as assistant novice mistress became somewhat more official (though it was still rather shaky; she was known simply as "senior novice").  Now there were three young women in the novitiate who shared this devotion.  Therese had entered into her "trial" in April, and in August the importance of the Holy Face of her Jesus overflowed into a new expression.  For the feast of the Holy Face in 1896, Therese prepared a "Consecration to the Holy Face" for the three of them.  She did not include her cousin, Marie Guerin, now Sister Marie of the Eucharist, because the latter was repelled by the image of the Holy Face of Tours.2

Therese calligraphed the Consecration carefully in black and red ink, and each sister signed it with her baptismal, as well as her religious, names.  You may read the English text of the Consecration to the Holy Face online (WPDC; ACL).  To understand its significance, however, and the importance of the lines from St. John of the Cross that Therese configured on the reverse side, you must consult The Prayers of Saint Therese of Lisieux, ed. Steven Payne, O.C.D., tr. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 1997), which includes an indispensable introduction and notes. 

The importance of this image, the texts Therese associated with it and those she wrote inspired by it, and of the Holy Face in her life cannot be understood in a moment, but the effort one invests in meditating on it may be richly repaid. Pauline testified that "tender as was her devotion to the Childhood of Jesus, it could not be compared with that which she had for the Holy Face . . .  it would have been more correct to call her Therese of the Holy Face."   

Notes

* The note "WPDC; ACL" acknowledges the text published by the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and, with their permission, displayed on the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

1.  For a short essay on Therese's devotion to the Holy Face, see "Ta Face est ma seule Patrie," (tr. "Your Face is my only Homeland"), by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt.  Catholic Dossier, March-April 1999.  Special thanks to the Internet Archive.

2.  Prayers of Saint Therese of Lisieux, ed. Steven Payne, O.C.D., tr. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 1997, p. 94.

3.  For an arresting theological examination of the interplay between Therese's devotion to the Child Jesus and hers to the Holy Face, see "Therese of Lisieux: Challenge to Doctrine and Theology," by William M. Thompson, an essay in "Experiencing St. Therese Today, ed. John Sulllivan, O.C.D.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, 1990).