Assumption

In the programme :

• 11 a.m. Solemn Mass, Upper Basilica
• 15:30 p.m. Procession of the Virgin of the Smile in the gardens of the Basilica

A magnificent meeting at the Sanctuary of Lisieux to reiterate the relationship that Saint Thérèse and Saints Louis and Zélie Martin have with the Virgin Mary.

“At the end of her earthly life, the Immaculate Mother of God was raised in her body and in her soul to the glory of Heaven”. This is the privilege that the Virgin Mary derives from the death and resurrection of her Son Jesus on Easter morning. It is this truth of faith that Pope Pius XII transcribed in the Dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in 1950. "Flowing from her divine motherhood, the assumption of Mary is for all humanity a pledge of hope, a promise of resurrection" as expressed by the liturgical introduction of August 15.

What relationship does Therese have with the Blessed Virgin?

Healing through the smile of the Virgin Mary ...

On May 13, 1883, while the statue was placed on a chest of drawers, near the bed where 11-year-old Thérèse Martin had been suffering for weeks from a "strange illness", her sisters, worried about her, knelt at her feet. from the bed and turn to the Virgin. Thérèse tells how this statue received the name of Virgin of the Smile:

“Finding no help on earth, poor little Thérèse had also turned to her Mother in Heaven, she begged her with all her heart to finally have pity on her… Suddenly the Blessed Virgin seemed beautiful to me, so beautiful that I had never seen anything so beautiful, her face breathed an ineffable kindness and tenderness, but what penetrated me to the bottom of my soul was the "lovely smile of the Blessed Virgin". Then all my sorrows vanished. "

Saint Teresa, Manuscript A, 30v

But before this episode told by Thérèse, this statue already had a whole story ...

Paris, 1734. The parish priest of St-Sulpice orders statues for his church from a promising young sculptor, Bouchardon, including a Virgin in silver. The parishioners donate their silverware, the priest, it is said, accepts dinners only on condition of leaving with the cutlery… hence the nickname of Our Lady of Old Dishes given to the statue! Cast during the Revolution, eager for precious metal, it was replaced in 1832 by a smaller reproduction, of which our “Virgin of the Smile” is a plaster copy.

It was offered to young Louis Martin (father of Thérèse) by an old lady from Alençon who was very pious and confident to find in him a person worthy of welcoming such a gift. Single, Louis places her in his Pavilion where he retires to read and pray. After her marriage, the statue becomes the center of family prayer. We surround it with flowers during the month of Mary. Often Zélie turns to the Blessed Virgin and confides that she has received “favors that only I know”. At Les Buissonnets, the statue retains a predominant place.

The statue “enters Carmel” brought by Céline in 1894. It is placed at the entrance to Thérèse's cell. On the first page we read the autobiographical manuscripts of Thérèse Story of a Soul : "Before taking the pen, I knelt in front of the statue of Mary, I begged her to guide my hand so that I do not draw a single line that is not pleasant to her."
It is again under the eyes of Mary, in the guise of this same statue, that Thérèse will live her last weeks, in the infirmary of the Carmel. The statue can be found today in Carmel, above the tomb of Thérèse.

For more information, please contact us at 02.31.48.55.08 or info@therese-de-lisieux.com