Saint Therese of Lisieux:

Saturday,  July 11, 2008, 7:00 p.m. EDT:  Joyful news:  Venerable Zelie and Louis Martin are to be beatified on Mission Sunday, October 19, 2008, at Lisieux.  Cardinal Saraiva Martins announced it this afternoon when he presided at a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Notre-Dame Church at Alencon in honor of the 150th anniversary of their wedding.  Fr. Linus Ryan, O. Carm., director of the National Office for St. Therese in Ireland, notified me by telephone just now.  For films and stories about the lives and significance of the new blesseds and for news stories about their cause, please see http://thereseoflisieux.org.  The news has not appeared in the media yet, but I will post stories there as they appear. 

Let's rejoice together.  On July 3, 2008 Pope Benedict XVI received Cardinal Josef Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the promulgation of the decree on the miracle of the cure of the Italian child Pietro Schillero due to the intercession of the Venerable Louis and Zelie Martin.  This authorization means that St. Therese's mother and father will be declared blessed.  A July 3 communique from the diocese of Seez, in which Zelie was born, stated that Cardinal Saraiva Martins will announce the date and place of the beatification ceremony when he presides at the ceremonies at Alencon and Lisieux July 12 and 13 commemorating the 150th anniversary of Louis and Zelie's marriage, which took place on July 13, 1858.

For more about St. Therese's parents and their cause, please see my Web site at http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/their-lives/

Dear friends of St. Therese,

I have the joy of sharing with you the news that Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, announced that Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin, St. Therese's parents, will be beatified later this year.  The Cardinal announced this in an interview to be published on Wednesday, January 8, in the daily Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano.  Please see a short story about this news in English at http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11379

Let's rejoice with St. Therese, who wrote "God gave me a father and a mother more worthy of Heaven than of earth." 

For a communication from the Order of Discalced Carmelites about this news, dated January 31, please see http://www.discalcedcarmel.com/vernoticia.php?Id=1106. 

This is to rejoice with the friends of Therese on the 80th anniversary of the day (December 14, 2007) on which Pope Pius XI named her co-patroness of the missions, the equal of St. Francis Xavier.  To read the powerful letter written by Damaso Zuazua, OCD, general secretary of the Carmelite missions, please click here.

"I shall desire in heaven the same thing I do on earth: to love Jesus and to make Him loved."

A hundred and twenty years after St. Therese's audience with Pope Leo XIII, her relics were brought to Rome and were present at the papal audience on November 14, 2007.  Please see the details at  http://www.communicationes.org/news.php?nid=439&lang=eng and at http://www.zenit.org/article-21000?l=english  Her relics were brought to the Pope's private chapel, where he prayed before them for a long time. 

What a contrast between the two visits!  Therese's 1887 audience with Pope Leo XIII appeared at the time like a fiasco.  The same day her sister Celine wrote to their oldest sister Marie, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart:

Dear little Marie,

Today I am crushed; in my head there is an immense void.  Oh! how I would like to be at my dear Carmel to tell all my thoughts.  Therese is going to recount this morning's audience to you.  Each time it comes into my mind, it's like a very sharp sword which is being plunged into my heart.

I'm exhausted, dear little Marie; it's as if this were aimed at me, it's even worse, I believe.  We assisted at the Holy Father's Mass; we were supposed to receive Communion from his hand, but they feared to tire him too much, so this did not take place.  When our turn came to be at the Holy Father's feet, Therese knelt down, but unfortunately, M. Reverony [vicar-general of the Bayeux diocese] was with the Bayeux pilgrims, and it was he who was presenting them to the Sovereign Pontiff.  When Therese made her request, tears in her eyes, the Holy Father bent over and said "I don't understand very well."  You know, he is so old that it brings tears to your eyes just looking at him; he is as pale as death; he could hardly support himself or speak.  He appears to be broken by age but what a kind face!  He is truly a Holy Father.

But to return to Therese's request, M. Reverony answered immediately with a sarcastic tone:  "She is a child who is asking to enter Carmel at fifteen, but the matter is being examined by the superiors."  Then, after Therese's repeated entreaties, the Holy Father answered;  "My dear child, if God wills it, you will enter; leave it up to your superiors."  This lasted hardly two minutes, and I came afterward.  I had tears in my eyes, but would you believe that I had the audacity to say "Most Holy Father, a blessing for the Carmel."  He blessed me, saying "Oh, iti is already blessed!" 

After this request made by me, M. Reverony was careful not to say that I was Therese's sister, but he replied, laughing a little:  "It is already blessed."  The Holy Pontiff, who is so kind, seemed to understand it in another way, and it was then that he said to me:  "Oh, yes, it is already blessed!"  Then he extended his hand for me to kiss.  Papa came afterward with the gentlemen.  M. Reverony introduced him to the Holy Father, saying "This is the father of two Carmelites and a Visitandine," but he did not say that he was Therese's father. 

The Sovereign Pontiff looked intently at Papa, and he extended his hand to Papa, who kissed it and pressed it lovingly.  Papa, when returning, was weeping a little."¹

This audience is often cited as proof of Therese's courage, but at the time many considered it a total failure.  Twenty years afterward, Celine still winced at the memory of the audience:  "I was struck with dismay; it would be quite impossible to have a more definite setback.  We hid it from our father in order not to sadden him, and we hardly ever spoke about it afterward.  It was like a memory you wanted to cast far from you.  I regarded it so much as a shameful humiliation that I used to think interiorly "If later on they write Therese's life, this fiasco will mar its beauty, and when in Carmel Mother Agnes of Jesus gave her the command to write her memories, I said to myself "Poor little thing, she'll haveto recount the audience with the Pope which succeeded so poorly."  (Preparatory Notes for the Ordinary Process, 1910).²

At the 2007 audience, Pope Benedict recalled that Therese would have liked to learn the original languages of Scripture to understand them better, and he urged the faithful to spend time reading Scripture to "better understand Christ and remain in intimate contact with Him."  Therese carried the four gospels over her heart, and she often repeated "We must study the Scriptures in order to learn the personality of Jesus."  As we prepare to celebrate on December 14th the 80th anniversary of Therese's proclamation as patroness of missions, may we know her Jesus better and better.

http://thereseoflisieux.org

¹Letters of Saint Therese: General Correspondence," Volume One, translated by John Clarke, O.C.D.  Copyright 1982 by Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, Inc., ICS Publications, pp. 350-351.

²Ibid., p. 350.