The event is over.

From Thursday, October 2 to Saturday, October 4, 2025, the Teresian colloquium, which will take place as part of the Feast of Saint Therese, will have as its theme “I ask you, O my God, to be yourself my Holiness.” A program of conferences at the Basilica of Lisieux will explore figures of holiness on the occasion of the centenary of the canonization of Saint Therese, Saint John Eudes, and Saint John Mary Vianney.

This year, our Teresian conference in Lisieux finds its best presentation in the first message that our Pope Leo XIV addressed to the Bishops of France, on May 28, 2025 (see below).

The Conference will begin on the afternoon of October 2nd and will end on the 4th at noon, with Mass scheduled for late morning (at the Basilica) and Vespers each day. The perspective will be inseparably scientific and popular, in the conferences, the moments of sharing and the times of prayer.

Thursday October 2

  • 15 p.m. – Fr. Emmanuel Schwab: “What does holiness consist of in Therese’s eyes?”
  • 15:30 p.m. – Fr. Antoine-Marie Leduc ocd: “The holiness of Thérèse: from childhood, the search for union with God!”
  • 16 p.m. – Interval
  • 16:30 p.m. – Fr. François-Marie Léthel ocd: “Our heart in the “Great Heart” of Jesus, Mary and the Church, according to John Eudes and Thérèse of Lisieux”
  • 17 p.m. – Discussion
  • 18:15 p.m. – Vespers Prayer

Friday, October 3

  • 9:30 a.m. – Fr. Vincent Siret, Priest of the Society of Saint John Mary Vianney: “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” The relationship between the common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood in the light of Saint Therese and Saint John Mary Vianney.
  • 10 a.m. – Mgr Luc Crépy, Eudist, Bishop of Versailles: “Baptismal life as the formation of Christ in us, according to St. John Eudes”
  • 10 p.m. – Interval
  • 10:30 a.m. – Discussion
  • 11:30 a.m. – Eucharist
  • 15 p.m. – Fr. Didier-Joseph Caullery ocd: “Thérèse and the Priests”
  • 15:30 p.m. – Fr. Philippe Hugelé ocd: “Thérèse and the Popes, from Leo XIII to Francis”
  • 16 p.m. – Interval
  • 16:30 p.m. – P. Marc Fortin ocd: “Thérèse fabuliste”
  • 17 p.m. – Discussion
  • 18:15 p.m. – Vespers

Saturday, October 4

  • 9 a.m. – Claire Leuridan: “Highly desirable, decidedly impossible and ultimately effective: holiness in the school of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus”
  • 9:30 a.m. – Fr. Loys de Saint Chamas: “Experiencing the Jubilee with Thérèse: A liberation of the ardent heart”
  • 10 p.m. – Interval
  • 10:30 a.m. – Round Table
  • 11:30 a.m. – Eucharist

Letter from Pope Leo XIV to the Bishops of France

“I am happy to be able to address you for the first time, pastors of the Church of France and, through you, all your faithful, as the 2025th anniversary of the Church of France is celebrated in this month of May 100.rd anniversary of the canonization of three Saints whom, by the grace of God, your country gave to the universal Church: Saint John Eudes (1601-1680), Saint John Mary Vianney (1786-1859) and Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897).

By raising them to the glory of the altars, my predecessor Pius XI wished to present them to the People of God as teachers to listen to, as models to imitate, and as powerful supports to pray to and invoke. The magnitude of the challenges that present themselves, a century later, to the Church of France, and the still very relevant relevance of its three figures of holiness in facing them, compel me to invite you to give particular importance to this anniversary.

In this brief Message, I will only retain one spiritual trait that John Eudes, John Marie Vianney and Thérèse have in common and present in a very meaningful and attractive way to the men and women of today: they loved Jesus without reserve in a simple, strong and authentic way; they experienced his goodness and his tenderness in a particular daily closeness, and they bore witness to it in an admirable missionary impulse.

The late Pope Francis left us, somewhat like a testament, a beautiful Encyclical on the Sacred Heart in which he states: "A river that never runs out, that never passes away, that always offers itself anew to those who want to love, continues to spring forth from the wound in Christ's side. Only his love will make a new humanity possible."Dilexit nos, n. 219). There could be no more beautiful and simple program of evangelization and mission for your country: to make everyone discover the love of tenderness and predilection that Jesus has for them, to the point of transforming their lives.

And in this respect, our three Saints are certainly masters whose life and doctrine I invite you to constantly make known and appreciated by the People of God. Was not Saint John Eudes the first to have celebrated the liturgical cult of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary; was not Saint John Marie Vianney the priest passionately given to his ministry who affirmed: “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”; and finally, is not Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face the great Doctor of scientia amoris that our world needs, she who “breathed” at every moment of her life the Name of Jesus, with spontaneity and freshness, and who taught the little ones a “very easy” way to access it?

All lectures will be held in French in the Basilica's conference room. Access is via the "Crypt / Martin Family Chapel" entrance on the esplanade level, to the right of the grand staircase. Admission is free, and donations are possible to support the sanctuary's missions.