Carmelite QuotesQuote of the day, 13 August: St. Thérèse
[Did she seek out the company of her blood sisters?]:
On the contrary—during recreation and at other times, she deliberately avoided our company and sought out instead the sisters who were least sympathetic toward her.
Mother Agnès of Jesus, OCD (Pauline Martin)
Testimony given 13 August 1910, Ordinary Process
If you only knew how much I LOVE you. When I meet you, it seems to me you are an angel. . . .
Pardon me for all the sorrows that I have caused you; if you only knew how sorry I am for having told you that you were calling me too often. . . .
Oh! after your Profession never will I cause you any pain. . . . A dieu!. . . Pardon me. . . .
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Letter 49 to her sister, Marie of the Sacred Heart, OCD
Note: This remarkable testimony reveals the emotional discipline of fifteen-year-old Thérèse upon entering Carmel. For six weeks after her 9 April 1888 entry, she refrained from interacting with her blood sisters Pauline (Mother Agnès) and Marie, who were already in the community. When Marie emerged from retreat before her solemn profession in May, Thérèse finally sent an emotionally charged letter confessing her love and asking forgiveness for having rebuffed Marie’s attempts to help Thérèse adjust to monastic life.
The “calling too often” refers to Marie’s role as Thérèse’s “angel”—the sister assigned to teach her Carmelite customs. Marie later testified:
It was hardly three weeks that she was in Carmel, and, thinking that she did not know how to find the Office alone, I wanted to keep her with me to teach her how to find the commemorations. But instead of taking advantage of this opportunity, she answered sweetly: ‘I thank you, I found them today. I would be happy to stay with you, but it is better that I deprive myself, for we are not at home!’
As Bishop Guy Gaucher notes, Thérèse faced a complex challenge: the community was watching for any sign of favoritism toward “the third Martin sister,” while she herself felt “in danger of being suffocated” by two attentive older sisters and “wanted to find her own freedom.”
Her solution—publicly avoiding her sisters while maintaining intimate correspondence during permitted times—demonstrates remarkable maturity. She understood that visible family gatherings in the monastery would undermine her witness and create resentment, yet she still needed these precious family bonds. Marie’s testimony revealed the pain of this necessary distance.
Meanwhile, Thérèse wouldn’t write to Pauline, her beloved “little mother,” until July—four months after entering—and then only in coded, mystical terms. The young postulant was navigating the delicate balance between authentic religious detachment and the preservation of family bonds.
Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1982, General Correspondence: Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Volume 1 1877-1890, Centenary ed., Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.
Gaucher, G 1993, The story of a life: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA.
Archives du Carmel de Lisieux 2025, Témoin 1: Agnès de Jésus, Les témoignages du Procès Ordinaire, Archives du Carmel de Lisieux, Lisieux, viewed 11 August 2025, https://archives.carmeldelisieux.fr/naissance-dune-sainte/les-proces-la-sainte-de-therese/le-proces-ordinaire/les-temoignages-du-proces-ordinaire/#temoin-1-agnes-de-jesus.
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
Featured image: Detail of the folded hands of St. Thérèse. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)
#detachment #familyLife #MarieOfTheSacredHeart #MotherAgnèsOfJesus #StThérèseOfLisieux
