Dr. Frances Therese Renda Photo credit: Sue Princiotto

It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the sudden death, on June 17, 2019, of Dr. Frances Therese Renda, the best friend St. Therese ever had.  Sue Princiotto announced her sister's death in these words:

Family and friends, it is with great sadness that our family announces the passing of Fran Renda, suddenly and peacefully in her sleep. I apologize for posting the news this way, but I wanted to make sure everyone hears before the funeral.

Please join us in paying last respects to Dr. Fran Renda on Tuesday, June 25th from 7:00 to 9:00 in the evening at The Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, located at 1076 Madison Avenue in New York City.

On Wednesday, June 26, there will be a Funeral Mass held at 10:00 am at the Church of St. Joseph of the Holy Family (405 West 125th Street - NY, NY), led by the beloved Father David Nolan.

Immediately following the Mass, all are welcome to remain at the Church for a reception in honor of Fran where you are encouraged to share stories, travel tales, and fondest memories as a celebration of her distinguished, admirable and exceptional life.

At 3:00pm the same day (June 26), a burial service will be held at St. John's Cemetery (80-01 Metropolitan Avenue - Middle Village, NY). All are welcome.

I will write a personal tribute to Fran later.  Here I merely share some of the highlights of her long and generous apostolate for St. Therese.  Fran fell in love with St. Therese when she first visited Lisieux at the age of sixteen, and, for the rest of her life, during a distinguished career as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist, never stopped trying to make Therese known and loved.  I met her in 1988 at a symposium offered by the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in Darien, Illinois to celebrate the centenary of Therese's entrance.  We saw each other at conferences and other events devoted to St. Therese. Fran had taught Therese in the seminary at Yonkers, and she also taught Therese to a group of women at St. Patrick's Cathedral.  They were so moved by what Fran communicated that in the 1990s, every day for seven years, they operated what was known as the "Therese desk" just inside the entrance of St. Patrick's Cathedral, offering for sale the best books and most beautiful medals of St. Therese.  A dizzying number of thousands of dollars worth of books were sold, and countless souls were brought to Christ. 

Fran was the moving spirit behind several important books about Therese and about the Martin family.  The first to appear was "Therese of Lisieux and Marie of the Trinity," by Pierre Descouvemont translated by Fran's friend, Alexandra Plettenberg-Serban, which appeared in 1997:

It is not widely known that Fran was the catalyst for the conversation that resulted in the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to the United States in the autumn of 1999.  I was present in when Fran's group and her friends at the Cathedral made the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to St. Patrick's Cathedral a unique grace.  The memory of those happy days will never leave me.

For years Fran encouraged her friend, Bishop Patrick Ahern, in the writing of his boook "Maurice and Therese," which appeared in 2001.

In 2005, "I Thirst: Saint Therese of Lisieux and Mother Teresa of Calcutta," translated by Fran's friend, Alexandra Plettenbrg-Serban, appeared in English. 

 Fran edited for publication the letters of Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese, which were translated by her friend, Ann Hess, and published in 2011:

 In connection with the publication of A Call to a Deeper Love, Fran was interviewed by Bill O'Donnell, host and producer of Spirituality TV in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Fran several times presented about St. Therese and the Martin family:

On January 15, 2012, Fran appeared on EWTN's Sunday Night Prime to discuss Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin:

Again, shortly before the canonization of the Martin spouses, Fran spoke with Jay and Fr. Robert Reed of the Catholic TV Network about them:

 For some years before Fran's death, she and Ann Hess had been collaborating again, this time on the monumental work "Therese de Lisieux," a long biography of Therese by Fran's dear friend and mentor, the late Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D.

On June 9, 1897, the second anniversary of her Offering to Merciful Love, Therese wrote to Maurice Belliere words that might serve as Fran's farewell to us:

Dear little Brother, there are many things I would like to make you understand now that I am at the door of eternity, but I am not dying; I am entering into life, and all that I cannot say to you here below I will make you understand from the heights of heaven.

Photo of Marie-Paul Stevens, whose cure was certified as the miracle for the canonization of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Released by the Dijon Carmel June 20, 2016

The story of the healing of Marie-Paul Stevens

The first photograph of Marie-Paul Stevens, the Belgian woman whose healing was accepted as the miracle for the canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity (announced by Pope Francis today to take place on October 26, 2016) was released today by the Carmel of Dijon, with new details about her story.

Diagnosis with Sjogren's syndrome; treatment

In 1997 Marie-Paul Stevens, a Belgian woman, was a professor of religion at the Institute of the Marist Brothers in Malmedy.  She was then 39 years old.  In May she started to have trouble speaking and developed other symptoms.  On the advice of a friend, she underwent various medical tests, and, some weeks later, was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease.  Her sickness advanced; the government asked her to retire early, and she had to leave her profession in 1998.  Although Marie-Paul received chemotherapy and other treatment, her health grew worse.  In 2000 and 2001, she became more and more disabled and was in unbearable pain.

Prayer for healing

Since her adolescence, Marie-Paul had loved Elizabeth of the Trinity and had prayed for her intercession.  Now all her friends, together with the nuns of the Carmel of Dijon (now in Flavignerot, where the nuns had moved in 1979), continued to pray the novena to Blessed Elizabeth to ask for Marie-Paul's healing. The patient herself did not ask to be cured, but she wanted to go on pilgrimage to the Carmel of Flavignerot before she died to thank Elizabeth, who had accompanied her so powerfully during her illness.

The patient makes a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to pray at Elizabeth's Carmel before she dies

Accompanied by friends, Marie-Paul came as a pilgrim to the Carmel of Flavignerot.  On April 2, 2002, in the chapel of the Carmel, she prayed and gave thanks to Elizabeth for sustaining her during her five-year illness.  Coming out of the chapel exhausted, she sat down to rest on one of the rocks that edged the monastery's parking lot. All at once she stood up, raised her hands to heaven, and cried out in amazement and happiness "I'm not in pain any more!"  From that day she has been well.

Restored to health, Marie-Paul makes a second pilgrimage of thanksgiving on foot

Just a few months later, Marie-Paul was able to walk 350 kilometers (217 miles) on a pilgrimage to give thanks.  It took some time, and many medical examinations, till the happy day when, on March 3, 2016, Pope Francis authorized Cardinal Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to promulgate the decree approving the cure of Marie-Paul Stevens as a miracle attributable to the intercession of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.  It was this which opened the way for Elizabeth's canonization, and Pope Francis announced today that she will be canonized on Sunday, October 16, 2016. 

Blessings

Marie-Paul, we thank you for your faith and endurance, and we rejoice in your cure and in God's having chosen you as an instrument to make soon-to-be-Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity known and loved.  May she accompany you more and more closely.

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity January or February 1903

This morning, June 20, 2016, at a public consistory, Pope Francis announced the canonization of five saints, including Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a  young Carmelite mystic of Dijon, France (1880-1906) who was an early and fervent disciple of  Therese.  Elizabeth will be canonized on Sunday, October 16, 2016 in Rome. This is a day of thanksgiving for all who love Therese.

 The Canonization Miracle for Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

Marie-Paul Stevens, the Belgian woman whose cure was accepted as the miracle necessary for the canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity. Photo Credit: Carmel of Dijon

Click here to read the story of the miracle approved for the canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity, with a few lines about Elizabeth's life and Therese's influence on her.

 To know more about Elizabeth of the Trinity:

 Light Love Life - Elizabeth of the Trinity: a Look at a Face and a Heart

edited by Fr. Conrad De Meester and the Carmel of Dijon; translated Sr. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. Editorial Assistant: Fr. John Sullivan, O.C.D.  A beautiful photographic album lavishly illustrated with photos of Elizabeth and her milieu, enriched with texts that will attract those new to Elizabeth and her old friends.  A marvelous introduction for her new friends, a treasure for her old friends. 

Two Sisters in the Spirit, by Hans Urs von Balthasar, S.J., the distinguished Jesuit theologian, shows how Therese and Elizabeth each complement the contemplative life of the other.  edited by Fr. Conrad De Meester and the Carmel of Dijon; translated Sr. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D. Editorial Assistant: Fr. John Sullivan, O.C.D.

Elizabeth's Writings

Fr. Conrad De Meester, O.C.D., who has interpreted Therese so brilliantly, edited in three volumes the critical edition of Elizabeth's writings.  "Vol. I: General Introduction and Major Spiritual Writings" and Volume II, Letters from Carmel have been published in English.  We are awaiting publication of the third volume in English.

Elizabeth's letters from Carmel are at once profound and accessible.  I can't recommend them highly enough.  

For a biography in English, consult He Is My Heaven:  The Life of Elizabeth of the Trinity by Jennifer Moorcroft.