This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Heroicity of the Virtues of Thérèse…Program

On August 14, 1921, 100 years ago, “the Servant of God, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face” became “Venerable”. Pope Benedict XV recognized her virtues and exalted through her the way of spiritual Childhood.  

The Church by this declaration highlights two qualities which reveal the young Carmelite nun: self-forgetfulness and confidence in divine Providence and her mercy. By the example of her life and by her writings, little Thérèse invites us to convert our hearts and to place everything in the hands of the Lord.

It is from the awareness of her “littleness” that the Carmelite of Lisieux offers the Church her doctrine of trust and abandonment.

“How can I realize the desires of my poor little soul?… Ah! despite my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls like the Prophets, the Doctors, I have the vocation to be an Apostle ... I would like to travel the earth, preach your name and plant your glorious Cross on the unfaithful ground, but, O my Good -Loved, a single mission would not be enough for me… ”(Ms B 3 r)

The Assumption: 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.

Extract from the deposition to the second Apostolic Process of the Servant of God of her sister Céline, in religion Sister Geneviève.

“From her childhood, the Servant of God applied herself to practicing all the virtues. We do not really know which to praise more, because all shone over-eminently in her, with however a character of very personal originality. From this point of view, it is among the theological virtues, charity for God which dominates, by its boldness and the delicacy of its feelings. She loved God as a child cherishes her father, with incredible turns of tenderness. The cardinal virtues were no less laudable in the Servant of God: humility above all reached the last limits in her, and it was to be more humble and smaller that she followed the "path of spiritual childhood", or rather it was this faithfully followed path that made her humble and simple as a little child.
Doubtless Therese, especially in her childhood, had small faults, for example an excessive sensitivity; but the well-repressed faults become a beauty, and as she always knew how to control herself, her physiognomy takes on a stamp of grandeur and strength which delights me. His acts of renunciation were spontaneous and multiple. She had a tenacious energy that exerted itself silently, without stopping at difficulties. But with her, everything was simple and natural, so the heroic nature of her virtues could go unnoticed by most of the sisters. "

“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 disease", her sisters, worried about her, knelt at her feet. from the bed and turn to the Virgin. Thérèse recounts: “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 mercy on her… Suddenly the Blessed Virgin told me. appeared beautiful, 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. "(Manuscript A 30v) This is how this statue received the name of Virgin of the Smile.

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.

Extract from the poetry 54 “Why I love you, O Mary” written by Saint Thérèse

Soon I will hear this sweet harmony

Soon in the beautiful sky, I'll go see you

You who came to smile at me on the morning of my life

Come and smile at me again… Mother… here is the evening!…

I no longer fear the shine of your supreme glory

With you I suffered and I want now

Sing on your knees, Marie, why I love you

And say again forever that I am your child! ……