History of the Canonization of Saint Thérèse

On May 17, 1925, Pius XI, surrounded by 23 cardinals and 250 bishops, processed to the canonization [Mass] of Thérèse. Among the 50,000 faithful who came to Rome, only 5,000 were able to enter St. Peter’s Basilica and hear the pope pronounce the solemn formula declaring that the humble Carmelite of Lisieux could henceforth be called: “Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.”

Two miracles were required at the time of Thérèse’s canonization process to move from beatification to canonization. Once these miracles were authenticated, the pope could proclaim the canonization and authorize and recommend the veneration of this new saint in the universal Church.

In Thérèse’s case, the two miracles chosen for her canonization were:

• The healing of Sister Gabriela Trimusi, from the Poor Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Parma, Italy), from tuberculosis of the vertebrae (1923);
• The healing of Maria Pellemans (a Belgian who came on pilgrimage to the tomb of Blessed Thérèse) from intestinal tuberculosis. She had suffered from her illness since 1919.

Maria Pellemans sent her testimony to the Carmel of Lisieux:

It was in the parlor of the Carmel that I conceived the desire to ask for my healing, so that I could realize the dream of my life, to become a Carmelite. (…) Despite my extreme fatigue, I wanted to return to the tomb. As soon as I was there, a very sweet and supernatural feeling completely enveloped me… A heavenly sense of well-being penetrated my soul and body, I felt as if I were in another world, flooded with an ocean of peace. (…) Filled with such extraordinary emotion, I thought to myself: I am surely healed! (…)

On Tuesday, March 27, we returned home. My father, very moved, could not believe my healing. The doctor, having heard of the miracle, came to visit me. He examined me thoroughly, then, shaken as well, he concluded:

“I don’t understand, I find you completely changed, this cannot be explained naturally, as the stomach and intestines were incurable… Yes, if this transformation persists, it could be said that it is a great miracle.”

Guy Gaucher, O.C.D.

History of the Canonization of Saint Thérèse

Note: The Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux share this account from Antoinette Guise Castelnuovo concerning the “miracle of Gallipoli“:

Another miraculous event was the subject of a canonical investigation due to the stir it caused, both locally and among Sister Thérèse’s friends: it is the miracle of Gallipoli. Accounts tell that Thérèse appeared to the prioress of a poor Carmelite monastery in Apulia in 1910. She provided material assistance to her community and confirmed the validity of her spiritual path by telling Mother Carmela: ‘My way is sure, and I was not mistaken in following it.’ Gallipoli has since become a place of pilgrimage and an important center for spreading Thérèsian spirituality in Italy.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Photographer Jason Shallcross captures an image of creamy white roses. Image credit: Jason Shallcross / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/23/guy-miracles/

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Last Remission (27 August to 13 September 1897)

On the afternoon of 27 August, these great sufferings came to an end (the tuberculosis had reached its final stage, 15–27 August 1897). There remained the fever (her temperature was never taken), the thirst, and above all the difficult respiration. She had only half the left lung with which to breathe.

So that she might see the garden in flower, her bed was moved to the middle of the infirmary with the window on her left. In front, framed by the curtains she could see the Virgin of the Smile.

Look! She’s watching for me!

She was surprised that having loved Mary so much she had had such difficulty all her life saying her rosary.

In these days of remission, Mother Agnès wrote down many of the sick nun’s words. They are short sentences, skipping from one subject to another. Thérèse remained mistress of life, as much through her gestures as her words. She still joked to cheer up her sisters. At the stage when ‘the outer man is wasting away and the inner man is being renewed day by day’ (2 Cor 4:16), Sister Thérèse appeared at peace, free, happy. Those around her were astonished. ‘What did you do to reach such unshakable peace?’

I forgot self and was careful not to seek myself in anything.

She thought about Sister Geneviève who was having sleepless nights because of her. She was not at a loss for lively repartee. Mother Agnès, still anxious, said: ‘Oh, how unfortunate it is when one is sick!’

No, we are not unfortunate when we are dying. Alas, how silly it is to be afraid of death! When one is married and has a husband and children, that’s understandable, but I have nothing!

On 30 August she went out onto the cloister on a movable bed which was placed in front of the open door of the chapel: it was her last visit to the Blessed Sacrament. She scattered rose petals for him. Sister Geneviève photographed her making this well-known gesture. On 14 September, scattering more petals, she said:

Gather up these petals carefully, sisters, they will be useful for you to do favors later on. Do not lose any of them.

This was one of her few prophetic utterances.

Aunt Guérin was ingenious at satisfying her craving for food, a result of her illness that surprised even Thérèse: she desired roast meat, thick soup, apple-charlotte, a chocolate éclair.

I have an appetite that’s making up for my whole life. I have always eaten like a martyr and now I could devour everything. It seems to me that I’m dying of hunger.

She spoke less and less. Everything is said. Her gaze often went to the garden; she counted nine pears on the pear tree near the window.

I love flowers very much, roses, red flowers, and beautiful pink daisies.

But also:

Look! Do you see the black hole (under the chestnut trees near the cemetery) where we can see nothing; I am in a hole like that as far as my body and soul are concerned. Ah, yes, what darkness! But I am at peace there.

When Dr. de Cornière returned from holiday he found her very emaciated, very weak (she had great difficulty making the sign of the cross). He could only say: ‘She has fifteen days to live.’ This time he was not mistaken.

Guy Gaucher, O.C.D.

Chapter 11: Sickness, passion, death

Note: Guy Étienne Germain Gaucher, O.C.D. was ordained Bishop of Meaux, France 19 October 1986. He did not remain long in that diocese; on 7 May 1987, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, France by Saint John Paul II. He served with distinction and deep love for his Discalced Carmelite sisters and brothers, especially Saint Thérèse, until his retirement on 1 July 2005, having reached the age limit. Bishop Gaucher died at the age of 84 on 3 July 2014; his funeral Mass was held on 10 July 2014 in the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux. 

Gaucher, G 1993, The story of a life: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA.

Featured image: The bed where St. Thérèse died in the Holy Face Infirmary in the Carmel of Lisieux. Image credit: Screenshot from the virtual tour of the infirmary / Vimeo (Fair use)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/05/guy-27aug-13sep97/

#acceptance #deathAndDying #fear #food #GuyGaucherOCD_ #love #selfForgetful #StThérèseOfLisieux

She must have felt bad before Holy Communion when hearing the Sisters reciting the Miserere in a low tone of voice. She told me afterwards, shedding huge tears:

“I’m perhaps losing my wits. Oh! If they only knew the weakness I’m experiencing.

“Last night, I couldn’t take anymore; I begged the Blessed Virgin to hold my head in her hands so that I could take my sufferings.”

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Yellow Notebook, 19 August 1897

Note: St. Thérèse received Holy Communion for the last time on 19 August 1897. Biographer Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D. notes:

In her physical sufferings (fevers, profuse sweating, suffocation, insomnia, constipation, bedsores, gangrene of the intestines), and her moral sufferings, her face remained the same, and certain sisters did not think that she was really ill…. From 19 August onwards she was deprived of Holy Communion because she could not endure the complicated ceremonial.

Gaucher, G 1993, The story of a life: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA.

Thérèse & Clarke, J 1977, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Her Last Conversations, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail of a photo montage created at the Carmel of Lisieux utilizing a 1913 photo of Mother Agnès (Pauline Martin) and a retouched copy of the last photo of St. Thérèse, which Sr. Geneviève (Celine Martin) took while Thérèse was getting some fresh air in the cloister. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/18/tej-19aug97/

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