St. Therese of Lisieux — The Marian aspect of the Spiritual Childhood
In her autobiography, St. Therese of Lisieux hardly mentions anything about the Blessed Virgin Mary other than her miraculous cure through Our Lady’s smile. But a second glance into her manuscripts reveals that the Blessed Virgin Mary is, in fact, the guiding thread that binds all the pages of her life, as well as works.
This Marian aspect of her Little Way, although not explicitly mentioned or developed in her autobiography, found its ultimate expression in her very last poem — “Why I love Thee, O Mary.” In it, she poured out her deepest thoughts and feelings, thus revealing how closely she lived united to Our Lady.
We can divide this conference into two parts namely, the manuscript of her autobiography, and her Marian poem. We shall try to analyze her thoughts and enter into her dispositions in order to learn from her how a little child of Mary lives his total consecration.
The autobiography
The autobiography of St. Therese consists of 3 separate manuscripts addressed to three different persons. The first was addressed to Mother Agnes of Jesus, her elder sister Pauline, who became Prioress of the Lisieux Carmel (20 February 1893 — 20 March 1896). It recorded her memories from early childhood until her Oblation to the Merciful Love of God, on 9 June 1895. The second manuscript is not really about herself. It is rather the discovery of her vocation: to become love in the heart of the Church. It was written for Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, her older sister Marie. This was the fruit of her very dry Retreat on September 1896. Unfortunately, when Mother Agnes’ term of office was over, Therese’s song of “the mercies of the Lord” was still incomplete. So, Mother Agnes asked the incumbent Prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague to ask Therese to complete the story of her soul. This became the third manuscript, from her first tubercular hemorrhage on Good Friday, 3 April 1896, plus her lights on fraternal charity, up to the time when she could not pick–up her pencil anymore, on 11 July 1897.
MANUSCRIPT 1
Her early years
The first characteristic of St. Therese’s devotion to Our Lady is its simplicity and practicality. She didn’t write a treatise of her devotion to Mary as St. Louis Marie Grignon de Monfort did. No, she simply practiced it. However, her devotion was not just a passing feeling, but a living and growing reality. Actually, she lived all her life under the eyes of Mary and under the loving care of such a Mother. Yes, for Therese, Our Lady is not just a “Queen” out there; she is most of all, a “Mother” who is always here, near her children.
“Before taking my pen, I knelt before the statue of Mary (the one that has given us so many proofs of the maternal preferences of the Queen of heaven to our family), I begged her to guide my hand so that I may not write a single line that is not agreeable to her.” (Manuscrits autobiographique [MA], pg. 19–20; Livre de vie, Office Centrale de Lisieux, 1957).
Her growing piety to the Blessed Virgin expressed itself in many ways although it was still imperfect, hesitant and having constant recourse to self. But, this will be corrected later, when she had passed through the crucible of sufferings.
“To console her Celine filled her little basket with daises and give it to her upon returning, alas, poor grandmother found that her grandchild had too much of them and so she took some for the Blessed Virgin…This does not please little Therese but she kept her silence….” (MA, pg. 42)
At les Buissonnets
After her mother’s death, they changed residence from Alençon to Lisieux. Still, the spontaneity of her devotion to Our Lady was not diminished: “Being too little to join the month of Mary, I remain at home with Victoire and with her I made my devotions before my little altar of the month of Mary which I arranged in my own manner; everything was so small: candlesticks and flower vases which was perfectly illumined by two lighted candlesticks….” (MA, pg.51)
Miraculous cure
There is only one exterior extraordinary favor that St. Therese received from Our Lady — the miraculous smile that cured her from her mysterious sickness. This happened during the novena of Masses offered for her at Our Lady of Victories shrine in Paris. The miracle itself happened on Pentecost, 13 May 1883. Her sisters, Leonie and Celine were praying for her, during her terrible crisis: “Having found no help on earth, the poor little Therese turns herself also to her Mother in heaven, she prayed to her with all her heart so that she may at last have pity on her… Then, all of a sudden, the Blessed Virgin appeared so beautiful, such beauty that I have never seen anything so beautiful before, her face breaths such bounty and ineffable tenderness, but that which penetrated even to my soul was the ‘ravishing smile of the Blessed Virgin’. At that moment, all my pains vanished, two big tears fell from my eyes and flow silently on my checks, but they are tears of joy without any admixture…” (MA, pg.81) Unfortunately, her joy would turn into a scruple that would torment her for 4 years!
First Communion
On the day of her First Holy Communion, she felt the grace of being truly united to Our Lord. In the afternoon of that day, she considered it a special privilege to recite their group’s common consecration to Our Lady: “In the afternoon, it was I who pronounced the act of consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary; it is rather just that I speak in the name of my companions to my Mother in Heaven, I who have been deprived of my earthly mother at a very young age…I placed all my heart to speak, to consecrate myself to her, as a child throws himself into the arms of his mother and ask her to watch over him. It seems to me that the Blessed Virgin did look at her little flower and smiled at it, isn’t she who cured her by a visible smile?...Didn’t she placed in the chalice of her little flower, her Jesus, the Flower of the fields, the Lily of the valley?...” (MA, pg.94)
Student at the Abbey
Her sickness prevented her from remaining at the Abbey school of the Benedictine Sisters. But she forced herself to go there in order to become a member of the association of the Children of Mary: “I fear that I would be less a “child of Mary” than my sisters, and so I went very humbly (even it cost me much) to ask permission to be received in the association of the Blessed Virgin in the Abbey. (MA, pg.105)
Then, she experienced even more separations from her loved ones. After the death of her own mother, and the departure to Pauline to Carmel on 2 October 1882, her other sister, Marie also entered Carmel on 15 October 1886: “In that year when I was received as a child of the Blessed Virgin, she has taken my beloved Marie, the only support of my soul.” (MA, pg. 106)
Yet almost instinctively, she super–naturalized her separation from Marie and turned to Our Lady in whatever difficulty or trouble she finds herself, even making the old room of Pauline her hanging garden where: “As soon as I have heard Marie’s determination, I’ve resolved not to take any pleasure on earth… There was still the ‘little white furniture’ filled with my study books, notebooks, etc….! over this furniture was placed a statue of the Blessed Virgin with vases always filled with natural flowers, some candles; all around there was a quantity of small statues of various saints…” (MA, pg.109)
Carmelite vocation
Her father consented almost immediately to her desire of becoming a Carmelite. She asked him on Pentecost Sunday, 29 May 1887. But, her paternal uncle, M. Guerin, would not hear anything about it. He thought it was the highest imprudence to allow a child of 15 years old to enter into a Convent. But Therese was enabled to cope up with her trials by contemplating and imitating Our Lady and St. Joseph in the 5th joyful mystery: “Before letting shine on my soul a ray of hope, the good God willed to send me a martyrdom that lasted 3 days. Oh, I have never understood so well as during this trial, the sorrow of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph looking for the divine Child Jesus….” (MA, pg.130)
There is no doubt that she attributed her Carmelite vocation to a special intervention of Our Lady: “At last, the 4th day came which happened to be Saturday, a day consecrated to the sweet Queen of Heaven, I went to see my uncle…He started to make some tender reproaches that I seemed to be afraid of him and then he told me that it is not necessary to ask for a miracle, that he only prayed to the good Lord to give him a ‘simple inclination of the heart’ and that he was heard…Ah! I was not tempted to implore for a miracle, because for me the miracle was already given, my uncle is not the same anymore.” (MA, pg.131)
Pilgrimage to Rome
On 31 October 1887, her father and herself went to visit the Bishop, Mgr. Hugonin to ask his permission to enter Carmel. However, the Bishop refused. But Therese did not give up. Instead, she wanted to plead her case to the Pope. That is the reason for their pilgrimage to Rome.
But, as mentioned above, she suffered scrupulosity whether the Blessed Virgin truly appeared to her, or was it just her imagination. On their way to Rome, they stopped in Paris and she was able to visit the altar of Our Lady of Victories. It was the 4 November 1887. There she was received the reassurance that it was indeed Our Lady who appeared to her and cured her. So, she considered this as a second miracle of Our Lady. The graces she received there touched her so profoundly that it can only be compared to the grace of union with Jesus at her First Communion: “The Blessed Virgin made me feel that it was really her who smiled and cured me. I understood that she watches over me, that I am her child, also I cannot help but give her the name “Mama” because it seems to me more tender than that of “Mother”… With what fervor have I not prayed to her to keep me always and to realize soon my dream of hiding under the shadow of her virginal cape. Ah, that was one of my first wishes as a child… In growing up, I understood that it was in Carmel that it would be possible for me to truly find the cape of the Blessed Virgin and it was to this fertile mountain that all my desires are aiming.” (MA, pg.145)
Yet a natural complement to her devotion to Our Lady was her great confidence to St. Joseph: “I prayed also to St. Joseph to watch over me; since my childhood I have for him a devotion that merges with my love for the Blessed Virgin. Every day I recited the prayer: ‘O St. Joseph, father and protector of virgins; so it was without any fear that I made my long trip, I was so protected that I seems to me impossible to fear.” (MA, pg.145–146)
Arriving in Italy, she didn’t like the boisterous students of Bologna, especially when one of the boys tried to take her by the arm. But, she recommended herself to Our Lady and gave him a sharp look and he let her go (Footnote 13 from MA, pg.151, Deposition of Sr. Genevieve de St. Therese to the Apostolic Process).
“I was not surprised that the Blessed Virgin chose this place, to bring there, her blessed house, the peace, the joy, the poverty reigns here sovereignly…in short, Loreto charmed me! …Ah my emotion was deep when finding myself inside the same roof as the Holy Family…these are ravishing memories!” (MA, pg.151)
Carmel of Lisieux
It would take a lot of courage for anyone to ask the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, a very special favor. Yet in a public audience on 20 November 1887, Therese, who was then only 15 years old, dared to ask Leo XIII to be allowed to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. (MA, pg.159) The Pope, however, referred the decision to the immediate superiors. Having done everything in her power, there was peace in the very depths of her but otherwise her soul was filled with bitterness because Jesus was silent. (MA,pg.161)
“My heart was wounded when going to midnight Mass, I was hoping to assist it behind the grills of Carmel!...This trial was quite heavy for my faith….In the marriage of Cana, the Blessed Virgin asked Jesus to help the owner of the house, did He not answered her that His hour has not yet come?...But afterwards, what recompense!...In the same manner Jesus acted towards His little Therese: after having tested her for a long time, He fulfilled the desires of her heart…” (MA, pg.169)
And so, the following year, on 9 April 1888, the transferred feast of the Annunciation, she finally crossed the threshold of Carmel.
On the 22 May 1888, Fr. Pichon came for the profession of Sr. Marie de Sacre–Coeur. Therese made her general confession to him with great difficulty but her consolation was complete when he told her: “‘In the presence of the good God, of the Blessed Virgin and all the saints, I declare that you have never committed a mortal sin.’ The he added: thank the good God for what He has done to you, because if He had abandoned you, instead of a little angel, you would have been a little demon.” (MA, pg.175)
With the various sufferings from community life, Therese prepared her “nuptial robe”. She carefully noted Our Lady’s help in her preparations especially in accepting her father’s very humiliating mental illness: “However, the Blessed Virgin helped me to prepare the robe of my soul; once it is finished the obstacles disappeared by themselves … The trials of Papa with all its sorrowful circumstances were the old joys but the new one was a trial very little in appearance, yet it had made me suffer a lot.” (MA, pg.187)
She received the habit on 10 January 1889 during which Bishop Hugonin mistakenly intoned the “Te Deum” at the end of the ceremony. But, her profession was still delayed for 8 months. Nevertheless, she described the day of her religious profession, 8 September 1890, as: “This beautiful day passed like the most sorrowful, since the most brilliant has a tomorrow, but it was without sorrow that I deposed my crown at the foot of the Blessed Virgin, I felt that the time does not take away my happiness…What a beautiful feast this Nativity of Mary to become a spouse of Jesus! It was the little Blessed Virgin, one day old, that presented her little flower to the Child Jesus….” (MA, pg.192)
MANUSCRIPT 2
This was addressed Sr. Marie de Sacre–Coeur, her sister Marie. Here, she once again recalled her cure by Our Lady’s smile. She even took the anniversary of her healing as preparatory to her prophetic dream of Venerable Anne of Jesus leading to her discover her vocation – to be love in the heart of the Church: “The next day was the 10 May, maybe the anniversary of the day when the Blessed Virgin deigned to smile to her little flower…In the first hours of dawn, I found myself in a sort of gallery, there were many other persons, but from afar.” (MA, pg.221)
MANUSCRIPT 3
Written for Mere Marie de Gonzague, here, Therese emphasized her littleness, yet at the same time, her belonging totally to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “This sweet song, I have started with your dear daughter Agnes of Jesus, who was the mother assigned by the good God to guide me in the days of my childhood, it was then with her that I ought to sing the graces given to the Little Flower of the Blessed Virgin, when it was in the springtime of her life, but it is with you that I ought to sing the happiness of this Little Flower now that the timid rays of dawn have given place to the burning heat of noonday.” (MA, pg.237)
Too explain how God gave her the knowledge of years she states that one of her greatest Marian graces is her true knowledge of herself: “O my mother! I am too little to have vanity now, I am too little even to turn to nice sentences in order to make you believe that I have lots of humility, I love better to simply agree that the Almighty has done great things in the soul of the child of His divine Mother, and the greatest of these is to show her littleness, her inability.” (MA, pg. 243)
She was touched because of the novena of Masses offered for her cure which started on 5 June 1897. Nevertheless, she was resigned whether to live or to die provided that it is done for the love of God: “My mother, what touches me most was the novena you made to Our Lady of Victories, these Masses that you requested for my cure…in the beginning of the novena, I told you that the Blessed Virgin should either cure me or bring me to heaven, because I find it very sad for you and the community to take care of a young but sick religious; now I would like to be sick all my life, if it pleases the good God, and I even consent that my life would be very long, the only grace I desire is that it would be broken by love.” (MA, pg.249–250)
Her missionary spirit did not leave her even in her bed of pain: “O my mother, your apostolic desire finds in my soul, as you know, a faithful echo; permit me to confide to you why I desired and still desires, if the Blessed Virgin cures me, to go to a strange land and leave this delicious oasis where I am happy under your maternal gaze.” (MA, pg.252)
The last confidence we have of her Marian life is a great encouragement for all of us. It concerns her difficulties in reciting the rosary, yet also of her daring confidence in Our Lady’s spiritual maternity: “For a long time I felt sad for this lack of devotion which astonishes me, because I love the Blessed Virgin so much, it should have been easy for me to make for her honor prayers that are agreeable to her. Now, I am less sad, I think that the Queen of Heaven, being my Mother, ought to see my good will and is content of it…Sometimes when my spirit is in such dryness, that it is impossible to pull out a single thought that can unite me to the good God, I recite very slowly the Our Father and the Angelic Salutation, then these prayers ravish me, they nourish my soul more than if I recited them a hundred times hastily…The Blessed Virgin shows me that she is not angry with me, she never misses to protect me as soon as I invoke her. If an anxiety or embarrassment comes to me, I turn to her as soon as possible and always, being the most tender of all mothers, she takes care of my interests. How many times when speaking to the Novices, it happened that I invoked her and felt the benefits of her maternal protection!...” (MA, pg.281)
The last allusion of Our Lady in St. Therese’s autobiography is also a consolation for us — our attitude towards our apostolate: “It is not the works of Martha that Jesus finds fault, His divine Mother humbly submitted to them all her life, since she need to prepare the meals of the Holy Family. It is only the anxiety of His ardent hostess that Jesus wanted to correct.” (MA, pg.300)
CONCLUSION
Therefore, in her autobiography, we can see the development of St. Therese’s Marian devotion — from interestedness to disinterestedness; from constant reflex to self, to total abandonment to the Merciful Love of God, yet always in the hands of Our Lady. We are not sure what formula of consecration to Our Lady she used after her First Communion. However, what is most important is that she lived her consecration day–by–day.
So, in the Militia Immaculate, our Marian spirituality should also be like hers: filial, simple, confident, self–sacrificing and apostolic.
The poem: Why I love Thee o Mary
Why I love you, O Mary!
Poetry 50
1. Oh! I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you,
Why your sweet name thrills my heart,
And why the thought of your supreme greatness
Could not bring fear to my soul.
If I gazed on you in your sublime glory,
Surpassing the splendor of all the blessed,
I could not believe that I am your child.
O Mary, before you I would lower my eyes!…
2. If a child is to cherish his mother,
She has to cry with him and share his sorrows.
O my dearest Mother, on this foreign shore
How many tears you shed to draw me to you!…
In pondering your life in the holy Gospels,
I dare look at you and come near you.
It’s not difficult for me to believe I’m your child,
For I see you human and suffering like me…
3. When an angel from Heaven bids you be the Mother
O the God who is to reign for all eternity,
I see you prefer, O Mary, what a mystery!
The ineffable treasure of virginity.
O Immaculate Virgin, I understand how your soul
Is dearer to the Lord than his heavenly dwelling.
I understand how your soul, Humble and Sweet Valley: Can contain Jesus, the Ocean of Love!…
4. Oh! I love you, Mary, saying you are the servant
Of the God whom you charm by your humility.
This hidden virtue makes you all–powerful.
It attracts the Holy Trinity into your heart.
Then the Spirit of Love covering you with his shadow,
The Son equal to the Father became incarnate in you,
There will be a great many of his sinner brothers,
Since he will be called: Jesus, your first–born!…
5. O beloved Mother, despite my littleness,
Like you I possess The All–Powerful within me.
But I don’t tremble in seeing my weakness ;
The treasures of a mother belong to her child,
And I am your child, O my dearest Mother.
Aren’t your virtues and your love mine too?
So when the white Host comes into my heart,
Jesus, your Sweet Lamb, thinks he is resting in you!…
6. You make me feel that it’s not impossible
To follow in your footsteps, O Queen of the elect.
You made visible the narrow road to Heaven
While always practicing the humblest virtues.
Near you, Mary, I like to stay little.
I see the vanity of greatness here below.
At the home of Saint Elizabeth, receiving your visit,
I learn how to practice ardent charity.
7. There, Sweet Queen of angels, I listen, delighted,
To the sacred canticle springing forth from your heart.
You teach me to sing divine praises,
To glory in Jesus my Savior.
Your words of love are mystical roses
Destined to perfume the centuries to come.
In you the Almighty has done great things.
I want to ponder them to bless him for them.
8. When good Saint Joseph did not know of the miracle: That you wanted to hide in your humility,
You let him cry close by the Tabernacle
Veiling the Savior’s divine beauty!…
Oh Mary! How I love your eloquent silence!
For me it is a sweet, melodious concert
That speaks to me of the greatness and power
Of a soul which looks only to Heaven for help…
9. Later in Bethlehem, O Joseph and Mary!
I see you rejected by all the villagers.
No one wants to take in poor foreigners.
There’s room for the great ones…
There’s room for the great ones, and it’s in a stable
That the Queen of Heaven must give birth to a God.
O my dearest Mother, how lovable I find you,
How great I find you in such a poor place!…
10. When I see the Eternal God wrapped in swaddling clothes: When I hear the poor cry of the Divine Word,
O my dearest Mother, I no longer envy the angels,
For their Powerful Lord is my dearest Brother!…
How I love you, Mary, you who made
This Divine Flower blossom on our shores!…
How I love you listening to the shepherds and wisemen; And keeping it all in your heart with care!…
11. I love you mingling with the other women
Walking toward the holy temple.
I love you presenting the Savior of our souls
To the blessed Old Man who pressed Him to his heart.
At first I smile as I listen to his canticle,
But soon his tone makes me shed tears.
Plunging a prophetic glance into the future,
Simeon presents you with a sword of sorrows.
12. O Queen of martyrs, till the evening of your life
That sorrowful sword will pierce your heart.
Already you must leave your native land
To flee a king’s jealous fury.
Jesus sleeps in peace under the folds of your veil.
Joseph comes begging you to leave at once,
And at once your obedience is revealed.
You leave without delay or reasoning.
13. O Mary, it seems to me that in the land of Egypt
Your heart remains joyful in poverty,
For is not Jesus the fairest Homeland,
What does exile matter to you? You hold Heaven…
But in Jerusalem a bitter sadness
Comes to flood your heart like a vast ocean.
For three days, Jesus hides from your tenderness.
That is indeed exile in all its harshness!…
14. At last you find him and you are overcome with joy, You say to the fair Child captivating the doctors:
"O my Son, why have you done this?
Your father and I have been searching for you in tears."
And the Child God replies (O what a deep mystery!)
To his dearest Mother holding out her arms to him :
"Why were you searching for me?
I must be about My Father’s business. Didn’t you know?"
15. The Gospel tells me that, growing in wisdom,
Jesus remains subject to Joseph and Mary,
And my heart reveals to me with what tenderness
He always obeys his dear parents.
Now I understand the mystery of the temple,
The hidden words of my Lovable King.
Mother, your sweet Child wants you to be the example
Of the soul searching for Him in the night of faith.
16. Since the King of Heaven wanted his Mother
To be plunged into the night, in anguish of heart,
Mary, is it thus a blessing to suffer on earth?
Yes, to suffer while loving is the purest happiness!…
All that He has given me, Jesus can take back.
Tell him not to bother with me…
He can indeed hide from me, I’m willing to wait for him.Till the day without sunset when my faith will fade away…
17. Mother full of grace, I know that in Nazareth
You live in poverty, wanting nothing more.
No rapture, miracle, or ecstasy
Embellish your life, O Queen of the Elect!…
The number of little ones on earth is truly great.
They can raise their eyes to you without trembling.
It’s by the ordinary way, incomparable Mother,
That you like to walk to guide them to Heaven.
18. While waiting for Heaven, O my dear Mother,
I want to live with you, to follow you each day.
Mother, contemplating you, I joyfully immerse myself, Discovering in your heart abysses of love.
Your motherly gaze banishes all my fears.
It teaches me to cry, it teaches me to rejoice.
Instead of scorning pure and simple joys,
You want to share in them, you deign to bless them.
19. At Cana, seeing the married couple’s anxiety
Which they cannot hide, for they have run out of wine,
In your concern you tell the Savior,
Hoping for the help of his divine power.
Jesus seems at first to reject your prayer:
“Woman, what does this matter”,
He answers,“to you and to me?”
But in the depths of his heart, He calls you his Mother,
And he works his first miracle for you…
20. One day when sinners are listening to the doctrine
Of Him who would like to welcome them in Heaven,
Mary, I find you with them on the hill.
Someone says to Jesus that you wish to see him.
Then, before the whole multitude, your Divine Son
Shows us the immensity of his love for us.
He says: "Who is my brother and my sister and my Mother; If not the one who does my will?"
21. O Immaculate Virgin, most tender of Mothers,
In listening to Jesus, you are not saddened.
But you rejoice that He makes us understand
How our souls become his family here below.
Yes, you rejoice that He gives us his life,
The infinite treasures of his divinity!…
How can we not love you, O my dear Mother,
On seeing so much love and so much humility?
22. You love us, Mary, as Jesus loves us,
And for us you accept being separated from Him.
To love is to give everything. It’s to give oneself.
You wanted to prove this by remaining our support.
The Savior knew your immense tenderness.
He knew the secrets of your maternal heart.
Refuge of sinners, He leaves us to you
When He leaves the Cross to wait for us in Heaven.
23. Mary, at the top of Calvary standing beside the Cross: To me you seem like a priest at the altar,
Offering your beloved Jesus, the sweet Emmanuel,
To appease the Father’s justice…
A prophet said, O afflicted Mother,
"There is no sorrow like your sorrow!
" O Queen of Martyrs, while remaining in exile
You lavish on us all the blood of your heart!
24. Saint John’s home becomes your only refuge.
Zebedee’s son is to replace Jesus…
That is the last detail the Gospel gives.
It tells me nothing more of the Queen of Heaven.
But, O my dear Mother, doesn’t its profound silence
Reveal that The Eternal Word Himself
Wants to sing the secrets of your life
To charm your children, all the Elect of Heaven?
25. Soon I’ll hear that sweet harmony.
Soon I’ll go to beautiful Heaven to see you.
You who came to smile at me in the morning of my life, Come smile at me again … Mother… It’s evening now!…
I no longer fear the splendor of your supreme glory. With you I’ve suffered and now I want
To sing on your lap, Mary, why I love you,
And to go on saying that I am your child!…
The little Therese…
The swan sings its best and sweetest song when it is dying. So it is, with St. Therese. She wrote this poem on May 1897, only 3 months before her death. It is prayer and a hymn made up of 200 French Alexandrine verses, sung to the tune: “Pourquoi m’avoir livre l’autre jour, O ma Mere”. Perhaps it is the crowning achievement of her ‘very important work.’ (Poetry of St. Therese, translated by Donald Kinney, OCD, ICS Publication, 1996, pg.212–220).
She said: “My little song expresses all that I think and all that I would preach about the Blessed Virgin if I were a priest.” (St. Therese by those who knew her [STBT], by Christopher O’Mahonny, Testimony of Sr. Marie de Sacre–Coeur, Veritas Publication, 1975, pg.96) In it, we can see her fully developed Marian Spirituality. Would it be otherwise for a true Carmelite? And, it is the only poem that she signed at the very end: “the little Therese”.
As noted already, although she complained that she struggled to pray the rosary but based on the profundity of her “thoughts” on the joyful and the sorrowful mysteries, we cannot help but think that her dryness in prayer was more of the purifying dryness of mystical contemplation, described by St. John of the Cross, rather than just ordinary lack of inspiration.
Neither her autobiography, nor her letters, nor her poems, nor even the testimonies of those who knew her mentioned that she read or made the Total Consecration to Our Lady according to the Treatise on the True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis Mary Grignon de Monfort. In any case, her autobiography and this poem reveal that she lived its principles and enjoyed its effects.
“By their fruits you shall know them.” (Mt 7:20). In his treatise, St. Louis Marie de Monfort enumerated the effects the True Devotion to Mary (True Devotion, no. 213–222) let us now see them in the life of the Little Flower.
1. KNOWLEDGE AND CONTEMPT OF SELF
“She told me that when she was little, ‘she was ashamed of her body’, and that the only thing that comforted her about having one was that Jesus had not thought it beneath Him to take a body like ours.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.149)
“On the way to Rome, she noticed a young man was obviously attracted to her. When we were alone, she said: ‘How timely Jesus is withdrawing me from the poisoned breasts of the world; I would perish where others do, for none of us is any stronger than the other.’” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.151)
“O my mother! I am too little to have vanity now, I am too little even to turn to nice sentences in order to make you believe that I have lots of humility, I love better to agree simply that the Almighty has done great things in the soul of the child of His divine Mother, and the greatest of these is to show her littleness, her inability.” (MA, pg. 243)
“My well–beloved mother, you see that I am just a very small soul who can only offer to God very small things, and even then, it often happens that I let some of these sacrifices, that give so much peace to my soul, escape me; but this does not discourage me, I just support having a little less peace and I will try to be more vigilant the next time.” (MA, pg.291)
1. … If I gazed on you in your sublime glory,
Surpassing the splendor of all the blessed,
I could not believe that I am your child.
O Mary, before you I would lower my eyes!…
2. … In pondering your life in the holy Gospels,
I dare look at you and come near you.
It’s not difficult for me to believe I’m your child,
For I see you human and suffering like me…
2. PARTICIPATION IN MARY’S FAITH
We must remember that when St. Therese wrote this poem, she was already undergoing the terrible trial of her faith. And yet, this poem gives us the impression that she was not suffering at all! She described this trial which began on Easter Sunday, 5 April 1896: “In the joyful days of Easter time, Jesus made me feel that there are really souls who do not have the faith, who by the abuse of grace have lost this precious treasure, the source of pure and true joys. He permitted my soul to be invaded by very thick darkness and the thought heaven that was so sweet to me, became a subject of struggle and of torment… This trial would not last for some days, or some weeks, it ought to last up to the hour determined by the good God and…this hour has not yet come….” (MA, pg.245)
“Sister Therese saw everything from the standpoint of Faith; she never confined herself to the worldly or human side of events…All her life she suffered from aridity…Towards the end of her life she was subjected to the terrible trial of being tempted to doubt the existence of heaven.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.38–39)
5. O beloved Mother, despite my littleness,
Like you I possess the All–Powerful within me.
But I don’t tremble in seeing my weakness;
The treasures of a mother belong to her child,
And I am your child, O my dearest Mother.
Aren’t your virtues and your love mine too?
“Her temptation against the faith did not cease off on the threshold of eternity; quite the contrary the veil become thicker and thicker. To her terrible physical pain, interior sufferings were now added…One morning in September she implored me in these words: ‘Dear Sister Genevieve, pray to the Blessed Virgin; I would pray so much if you were ill. But I dare not ask for myself.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of the St. Theresa, pg.158–159).
“I remember one day during her last illness (11 July 1897). The temptations against her faith were troubling her more than usual, and she kept repeating these lines from one of her poems (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.41):
16. Since the King of Heaven wanted his Mother
To be plunged into the night, in anguish of heart,
Mary, is it thus a blessing to suffer on earth?
Yes, to suffer while loving is the purest happiness!…
All that He has given me, Jesus can take back.
Tell him not to bother with me…
He can indeed hide from me, I’m willing to wait for him
Till the day without sunset when my faith will fade away…
3. DELIVERANCE FROM SCRUPPLES, CARES AND FEARS
Although the smile of Our Lady cured her, on 13 May 1883, but after she revealed her vision to her sister Marie who told the Carmelite Sisters about it, Therese’s joy turned into sorrow and even into scruples that would only be cured four years later, when she visited Our Lady of Victories in Paris, on 5 November 1887: “The Blessed Virgin made me feel that it was really her who smiled and cured me. I understood that she watches over me, that I am her child, also I cannot help but give her the name ‘Mama’ because it seems to me more tender than ‘Mother’….” (MA, pg.145)
“Four years later, when she was praying to Our Lady of Victories in Paris, on her journey to Rome, she had a kind of confirmation of the reality of this vision. As she says herself: ‘It was there that my Mother, the Virgin Mary, made me feel that it was really she, who had smiled at me and cured me…On the very day Sister Therese was taken to the infirmary, where she was to die, this same statue of Our Lady was placed there. She looked lovingly at it, and said: ‘Never has she looked so beautiful, but today it is only a statue; that other time, as you know well, it was not the statue.” (STBT, by Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart, pg.102)
“Trust in God had become her special characteristic. She felt attracted to this in early childhood…She once told me that she had been struck from childhood by this verse from the Book of Job: ‘Even if he were to kill me, I would continue to hope in Him.’ First, several scruples paralyzed this impetus, and she was even very troubled, during her first years in Carmel…But the preacher of the 1891 Retreat (Fr. Alexis Prou, OFM) restored her peace of mind. ‘He helped me especially by telling me that my faults did not offend God. This assurance made the exile of this life bearable.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.43)
1. Oh ! I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you,
Why your sweet name thrills my heart,
And why the thought of your supreme greatness
Could not bring fear to my soul.
6. You make me feel that it’s not impossible
To follow in your footsteps, O Queen of the elect.
You made visible the narrow road to Heaven
While always practicing the humblest virtues.
Near you, Mary, I like to stay little.
I see the vanity of greatness here below.
“A few moments before she died, Sister Therese clasped her crucifix to her and with great difficulty uttered these words: “Oh! I love Him…My God…I love you.” These were her last words. Then, she was enraptured by a heavenly vision similar to the one I had witnessed when, at the age of ten, she was cured by the apparition of the Blessed Virgin.” (STBT, by Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart, pg.105)
4. GREAT CONFIDENCE IN GOD AND IN MARY
When she was 10 and all remedies had failed, Therese and her sisters turned to Our Lady: “Having found no help on earth, the poor little Therese turns herself also to her Mother in heaven, she prayed to her with all her heart so that she may at last have pity on her…Then, all of a sudden, the Blessed Virgin appeared so beautiful, such beauty that I have never seen anything so beautiful before, her face breaths such bounty and ineffable tenderness, but that which penetrated even to my soul was the “ravishing smile of the Blessed Virgin. At that moment, all my pains vanished, two big tears fell from my eyes and flow silently on my checks, but they are tears of joy without any admixture…” (MA, pg.81)
When her uncle, M. Guerin opposed her Carmelite vocation: “At last, the 4th day came which happened to be Saturday, a day consecrated to the sweet Queen of Heaven, I went to see my uncle…He started to make some tender reproaches that I seemed to be afraid of him and then he told me that it is not necessary to ask for a miracle, that he only prayed to the good Lord to give him a ‘simple inclination of the heart’ and that he was heard…Ah! I was not tempted to implore for a miracle, because for me the miracle was already given, my uncle is not the same anymore.” (MA, pg.131)
When her profession was postponed for 8 months and her father nearly lost in a journey, she took this a preparing her robe for her nuptials: “However, the Blessed Virgin helped me to prepare the robe of my soul; once it is finished the obstacles disappeared by themselves” … The trials of Papa with all its sorrowful circumstance were the old joys but the new one was a trial very little in appearance, yet it had made me suffer a lot. (MA, pg.187)
The last lines she wrote in her autobiography were: “Yes, I feel it, even when I would have in my conscience all the sins that can be committed, I will go, with a heart broken by repentance; I will throw myself into the arms of Jesus, because I know well that He loves the prodigal child who returns to Him. It is not because the good God, by His preventing mercy, have preserved my soul from mortal sin that I will go up to Him, but rather by confidence and love.” (MA, pg.301)
“When we pray to the saints, they keep us waiting awhile: one feels that they have to go and present their requests. But when I asked the Blessed Virgin for a favor, I receive help immediately. Haven’t you noticed that?” (STBT, by Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart, pg.97)
“Her charity reached out, to the souls in Purgatory too. She had made her ‘heroic offering’ and entrusted all her daily merits to Our Lady so that she might use them for the benefit of those suffering souls; she had made the same arrangement regarding any prayers that would be offered for herself after her death.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.130)
“She has always a great devotion to and an utter confidence Our Lady. When she was very young, she looked on her as her mother. But her devotion grew still greater when at the age of ten, she was suddenly cured by Our Lady of an illness that doctors had deemed incurable…The Servant of God always recommended all her intentions and all her undertakings inspired by her zeal to Mary. When she wished to encourage the novices in the practice of virtue, she wrote them little letters in Mary’s name…Her devotion to St. Joseph was on a par with that of Our Lady…In Carmel, she prayed to him a lot to obtain her the freedom to receive Communion more frequently. Pope Leo XIII’s decree transferring the regulation of this frequency from superiors to confessors filled her with joy. She was always grateful to St. Joseph for this, for it was to him that she gave the credit for the decision.” (STBT, Testimony of Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.139–140)
8. …Oh Mary! how I love your eloquent silence!
For me it is a sweet, melodious concert
That speaks to me of the greatness and power
Of a soul which looks only to Heaven for help…
22. You love us, Mary, as Jesus loves us,
And for us you accept being separated from Him.
To love is to give everything. It’s to give oneself.
You wanted to prove this by remaining our support.
The Savior knew your immense tenderness.
He knew the secrets of your maternal heart.
Refuge of sinners, He leaves us to you
When He leaves the Cross to wait for us in Heaven.
“The morning of the 30 September, her pain was unutterably excruciating. She joined her hands and looked at the statue of Our Lady which had been placed opposite her bed. ‘Oh, I prayed so fervently, but its sheer agony, without a trace of comfort…About 3PM, she crossed her forearms and said to the prioress: ‘Mother, introduce me to the Blessed Virgin quickly, please; prepare me to die well…all I have written about my desire for suffering is quite true; I do not regret having offered myself to Love; quite the contrary.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.68)
5. COMMUNICATION OF THE SOUL AND THE SPIRIT OF MARY
When she wrote her autobiography, St. Therese invoked Our Lady to guide her hand. We noted earlier her constant recourse to Our Lady in all the stages of her life.
“Before taking my pen, I knelt before the statue of Mary (the one who has given us many proofs of the maternal preferences of the Queen of heaven to our family), I begged her to guide my hand so that I may not write a single line that is agreeable to her.” (MA, pg.19–20)
On 12 July 1897, she said to me: “Nothing sticks to my hands; all I have or receive is for the Church and for souls. Even if I live to be eighty, I shall always be just as poor. If I have been rich, I could not borne to see a poor person without giving him something. In the same way, as soon as I earn any spiritual riches, I immediately feel that there are souls in danger of going to hell, and I give them all I have. I have not experienced a time when I could say: now I will work for myself.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.50)
“The Servant of God used to call Pranzini ‘her child’…after this memorable victory, Therese’s zeal spread like fire. She undertook to convert a woman who sometimes came to work for us, a complete heathen. It was delightful to see her talking about God, and the children listened to her with rapt attention. Later, in Carmel, I saw her furtively slip medals into the overcoats of the workers as they left the convent.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg. 131)
One day, Sister Genevieve said that angels will come and fetch her when she dies. But Therese replied: “I don’t think I will see them, but I won’t stop them from being there. Nevertheless, I would like to have a beautiful death, so as to please you. I’ve asked the Blessed Virgin for it. I did not ask God, because I wish to let Him do whatever He likes. Asking the Blessed Virgin is not the same thing: she knows how to deal with my little desires; whether she passes them on or not is up to her, so as not to oblige God to grant them.” (STBT, by Sr. Marie of Sacred Heart, pg.104–105)
“She took the Blessed Virgin as her model of prudence, and never ceased to admire her and propose her to us as our model in her reserve with the angel, the silence with St. Joseph and in the way she ‘kept all things faithfully in her heart’ amid the joys and sufferings of life, as the Gospel tells us (Lk.2:19).” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.133)
17. Mother full of grace, I know that in Nazareth
You live in poverty, wanting nothing more.
No rapture, miracle, or ecstasy
Embellish your life, O Queen of the Elect!…
The number of little ones on earth is truly great.
They can raise their eyes to you without trembling.
It’s by the ordinary way, incomparable Mother,
That you like to walk to guide them to Heaven.
“Another time, the priest dropped a host when he was distributing Holy Communion. Sister Therese stretched out the end of her scapular to prevent it from falling to the floor. Afterwards she joyfully announced that she had carried the Child Jesus in her arms, as the Blessed Virgin had.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg. 53–54)
23. Mary, at the top of Calvary standing beside the Cross:
To me you seem like a priest at the altar,
Offering your beloved Jesus, the sweet Emmanuel,
To appease the Father’s justice…
A prophet said, O afflicted Mother,
"There is no sorrow like your sorrow!"
O Queen of Martyrs, while remaining in exile
You lavish on us all the blood of your heart!
6. TRANSFORMATION OF THE FAITHFUL SOUL BY MARY INTO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST
Her First Communion was a fusion of her soul with Jesus, but through Our Lady’s intercession and she expressed her gratitude by the common consecration which she recited that day.
“…Jesus and little Therese looked at each other and understood each other…In that day, it was not just a look but a union, they are not two anymore but one, Therese has disappeared like a drop of water that is lost in the middle of the ocean…That afternoon, it was I who pronounced the act of consecration to the Blessed Virgin…It seems to be that the Blessed Virgin had looked at her little flower and smiled, did she not cured her a visible smile?...Did she not place in the chalice of her little flower her Jesus, the Flower of the fields and the Lily of the valley?” (MA, pg.93–94)
She prepared herself as best as she can for her Confirmation on 14 June 1884 from the Bishop of Bayeux, Mgr. Hugonin. She wrote: “At last the happy moment arrived, I did not feel a strong wind in that moment when the Holy Ghost came down, but rather the gentle breeze which the prophet Elias heard the murmur on Mount Horeb…In that day, I received the courage to suffer, because soon the martyrdom of my soul would begin….” (MA, pg.97)
“Therese was no longer her customary calm self; there was a kind of enthusiasm and excitement in her…There was vehemence in her speech and such fire in her eyes that I left her deeply moved and completely affected by something entirely supernatural.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg. 113)
On Christmas night, 1886, she was transformed all at once. Celine told her: “Therese do not come down, it will give you so much pain to see what is inside your shoes! But Therese was not the same anymore, Jesus has changed her heart! Drying my tears, I came down the stairs quickly and controlling the beating of my heart, I took my shoes and placed them in front of Papa, I took out all the objects joyfully as if I were happy as a queen.” (MA, pg. 116)
“The Servant of God’s most noticeable fault at this time was her hyper–sensitiveness: she cried over the least bit of trouble, and then, when she had been comforted, she cried for having cried. She admits herself that this state was a great weakness on her part, and calls the sudden change she underwent on Christmas Eve 1886 her ‘conversion’; it was a change that made her look extraordinarily self–possessed and courageous from then on.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg. 115)
“Had God Himself and the Blessed Virgin not gone to feasts, I couldn’t see the point of inviting friends to such a thing. To invite them for a chat, or to hear them tell of their travels, or to talk about science, etc., yes; but I used to think eating was something you ought to go aside to do, or at least stay at home: I found it embarrassing.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.57)
18. While waiting for Heaven, O my dear Mother,
I want to live with you, to follow you each day.
Mother, contemplating you, I joyfully immerse myself,
Discovering in your heart abysses of love.
Your motherly gaze banishes all my fears.
It teaches me to cry, it teaches me to rejoice.
Instead of scorning pure and simple joys,
You want to share in them, you deign to bless them.
“In 1895, when I was Prioress, she spoke to me about a grace she called ‘a wound of love.’ No doubt to test her, God permitted that I should pay no attention to this at the time…until her last illness. I then wanted her to repeat what she said…It was a few days a few days after my consecration to Merciful Love. I was just beginning to make the Stations of the Cross in choir when I felt myself suddenly wounded by a flash of fire so intense that I thought I would die. I don’t know how to describe this experience; there is no comparison which could give an adequate idea of the intensity of this heavenly flame. Another second, and I would surely have died. Look, Mother, it’s something that the saints have often experienced…in my whole life I experienced it only just that once, and then aridity returned immediately to take possession of my soul.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.63–64)
“The Blessed Virgin was her kindly beacon. One day, while looking at her statue, she said: ‘I can no longer look at the Blessed Virgin without crying.’ Later, on 8 September, she asked to see her little picture of Our Lady of Victories, to which she had struck the little flower her father gave her when he allowed her to enter Carmel. In a shaky hand she wrote on the back of it: ‘Mary, if I were Queen of heaven, and you were Therese, I would want to be Therese so that you could be Queen of heaven.’ Those were the last lines that she ever wrote.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.159–160)
7. THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD
She realized her vocation of love and her mission of teaching and leading souls by her little way: “I realized that love alone makes all the members of the Church act, that if love is put off, the apostles would not preach the gospel anymore, the martyrs would refuse to shed their blood…I understood that love comprises all vocations, that love is everything, that it embraces all times and all places…in a word, it is eternal…O Jesus, my love, my vocation I found at last, my vocation is love!…Yes, I found my place in the Church and this place…in the heart of the Church my mother, I will be love…so I will be all…thus my dream will be realized.” (MA, pg.226)
“But why do I desire to communicate your secrets of love, O Jesus, isn’t it that you alone who taught them to me, and can you not reveal them to others?...Yes, I know it, and I conjure you to do it, I beg you to turn your divine countenance on a great number of little souls… I beg you to choose a legion of little victims worthy of your love!” (MA, pg.234)
“You know it, O my God that I have not desired anything but to love you, and I ambitioned no other glory. Your love preceded me from my infancy, it grew with me and now it is an abyss that I cannot fathom its depth. Love attracts love, so, my Jesus, my love dashes towards you…” (MA, pg.298)
“During the last days of her life, she had a strange premonition of what is happening now with her. She spoke to us (her 3 Carmelite sisters) about these future events…she told us that we must treasure the rose–petals which she had placed round her crucifix. ‘Later, you will find all these things useful’…One day, she even told us half playfully: ‘My dear sisters, you know, of course, that you are looking after a little saint.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.103)
24. Saint John’s home becomes your only refuge.
Zebedee’s son is to replace Jesus…
That is the last detail the Gospel gives.
It tells me nothing more of the Queen of Heaven.
But, O my dear Mother, doesn’t its profound silence
Reveal that the Eternal Word Himself
Wants to sing the secrets of your life
To charm your children, all the Elect of Heaven?
25. Soon I’ll hear that sweet harmony.
Soon I’ll go to beautiful Heaven to see you.
You who came to smile at me in the morning of my life,
Come smile at me again … Mother… It’s evening now!…
I no longer fear the splendor of your supreme glory.
With you I’ve suffered and now I want
To sing on your lap, Mary, why I love you,
And to go on saying that I am your child!…
“The angelic patient then turned to her (Mother Marie de Gonzague) and said: ‘Mother, is this not the agony, am I going to die? And, when Mother replied that it could take a while longer, she said, in a low, plaintive voice: ‘All right then! Let it go on…Oh! I would not want to suffer less! Then, looking at her crucifix: ‘Oh…I love Him…My God, I love…you!” These were her last words. The words were hardly out of her mouth when, to our great surprise, she collapsed, her head a little to the right. Then, suddenly, she sat up, as if a mysterious voice called her; she opened her eyes and fixed them radiantly on a spot a little above the statue of Our Lady. She stayed that way for a few minutes, about as long as it would take to recite the Credo slowly…It was too much for her; she closed her eyes and breathed her last. It was 7PM, on Thursday, 30 September 1897.” (STBT, by Sr. Genevieve of St. Theresa, pg.162)
“After she was dead she preserved a sweet smile; she looked ravishing beautiful.” (STBT, by Mother Agnes of Jesus, pg.69)
CONCLUSION
Therefore, even if we are not sure whether St. Therese had read the Treatise on the True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis Marie Grignon de Monfort, or made her Total Consecration, nevertheless, we are certain from her autobiography, from the testimonies of those who knew her, and from her very last poem, that she lived, albeit unknowingly, according to its principles and thus, enjoyed its effects.
And so, we can certainly affirm that there cannot be an authentic Spiritual Childhood unless the child acknowledges with love and gratitude the crucial role of his Spiritual Mother — the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, we must not content ourselves of making our Total Consecration, but must live by it daily. No one can claim God to be his Father, unless he has the Blessed Virgin Mary for his mother.
By: Fr. Carlo Magno O. Saa
New Manila, Quezon City
11 February 2016
