What's New on "Saint Therese of Lisieux:

A Gateway"

December 22, 2011 - Just arrived from Lisieux!  The first English edition of the "Saint Therese of Lisieux Calendar" has been published by the Shrine at Lisieux for 2012, and I have the joy of distributing it online.  See sample pages and ordering information here.

 September 10, 2011 - Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life, by Marie Baudoin-Croix.  This excellent story of the life of St. Therese's sister is out of print, but we found the last eighty new copies in a warehouse in Great Britain.  They are sold only here.  First come, first serve, so order now!

August 29, 2011 -"Living by Love: At the Heart of the Martin Family," a beautiful two-minute film produced by the Shrine of Lisieux that captures the exhibit of furnishings, objects, photographs, and documents connected with the family of St. Therese of Lisieux.  The exhibit is on display at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux till the end of October 2011.

August 27, 2011 - Avirtual visit to St. Therese's cell: a two-minute video from the Carmel of Lisieux that shows the Carmel, the Carmelites of today, and the last cell occupied by St. Therese of Lisieux.

 August 15, 2011 - A photo gallery for Leonie Martin.  It includes 85 photos, many never before published.  We present these photos with fervent thanks to the Archives of the Visitation at Caen and of the Carmel of Lisieux.  We thank Emmanuel Houis and Father Pascal Marie of Lisieux for the exhaustive exhibits about the Martin family they display every summer at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux, which are the source of many of these photos.  Fervent gratitude to Peter and Liane Klostermann of Belgium, who spent hours patiently photographing the 2009 exhibit.  And thanks to photographers Dee Curci, Susan Ehlert, Ann Hess, and Juan Marrero for generously contributing their work.

August 1, 2011 - Leonie Martin, Sister of St. Therese of Lisieux.  In conjunction with the premiere in Michigan of the feature film "Leonie!" I am happy to present a new section of this Web site about Leonie.  It includes the first published English translation of the "life of Leonie" written by her sisters at the Visitation Monastery in Caen and circulated as a "death notice" when she died in 1941.  I thank the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen for its generous permission to translate and publish the text, and I thank Juan Marrero for translating the document for "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway." 

July 2, 2011 - The Letters of Louis and Zelie Martin in English! 

I have the joy of announcing that the English translation of the definitive edition of the letters of Louis and Zelie Martin is now available.  To order A Call to a Deeper Love: the Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus or to learn more about it, please click on the image above.

November 1, 2010

See the  photo gallery of Louis and Zelie Martin.  It includes many previously unpublished photographs of their environment at Alencon and Lisieux, their family, the ceremony of their beatification, and their reliquary.  These photographs are among those which appear in my photo show "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin: Their lives and beatification," but I have been asked to display the photos here so that you can examine them at leisure.  I thank the photographers, Susan Ehlert, Ann Hess, and Juan Marrera.  Special thanks to the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux for permission to display the photographs of their historic 2008 exhibit of objects, photos, and documents associated with the Martin family.  I am happy to offer these photographs in honor of the Feast of All Saints.

October 30, 2010  "From Mother to Sister: The Development in the Understanding of Mission in the Life and Writings of St. Therese of Lisieux and Its Contemporary Relevance," a thesis by Michelle Jones.

Thanks to the "research online" site of the University of Note Dame of Australia, I am happy to invite you to read at http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/42this excellent paper published in 2006.  It links the development in Therese's understanding of mission to the challenge of the Church's mission in the postmodern era.  I recommend it.

Citation:  Jones, Michelle, "From Mother to Sister: The Development in the Understanding of Mission in the Life and Writings of St Thérèse of Lisieux and its Contemporary Relevance" (2006). Theses. Paper 42.

http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/42

October 18, 2010  To celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's proclaiming St. Therese of Lisieux a Doctor of the Church, I am delighted to present, courtesy of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, an English translation of eyewitness accounts of the exhumations of the relics of St. Therese in 1910 and in 1917 and of the solemn translation of her relics from the cemetery to the Carmel in 1923.  The document is illustrated with arresting photographs of the 1917 and 1923 ceremonies, courtesy of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

October 15, 2010.  I am happy to announce the opening of a Spanish section of "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway."  It contains Spanish translations of Sister Margaret Dorgan's article "St. Therese of Lisieux: Mystic of the Ordinary" and of my articles "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin: Companion on Our Journey" and "The Abysses of Love and Mercy of the Heart of Jesus: St. Therese of Lisieux and the Sacred Heart."  It also contains a Spanish translation of a conference I have given to many groups, but which has not been published in English:  "A Map of the Way of Confidence and Love of St. Therese of Lisieux."  I thank Sister Margaret Dorgan for permission to translate and post her article.  And I thank Teodolinda Garcia of Panama, who painstakingly translated all these articles especially for this Web site and who cited to the original sources as they have been published in Spanish. 

October 1, 2010.  Click the photo album of persons at Lisieux who knew St. Therese.

September 30, 2010.  Click the photo gallery for the letter announcing St. Therese's death; her obituary (with an English translation) in Le Normand; and the invitations to her funeral ceremonies sent by the Carmelite monastery and by the members of her family.

September 28, 2010.  For resources for celebrating the feast of St. Therese (catechesis, prayer, and liturgy) please click here.

September 25, 2010.  As part of the site's nine-day "novena of gifts for the feast of St. Therese," please see a detailed schedule of the liturgical celebration of the feast at Lisieux, with films of the processions of the reliquary.

September 8, 2010.  Today is the 120th anniversary of the religious profession of Sister Therese of the Child Jesus.  For an article about it, with photographs of her crucifix and of the crown of roses she wore that day, please see here.

September 6, 2010.  Today is the centenary of the first exhumation of the body of Sister Therese of the Child Jesus, which took place in the town cemetery at Lisieux on September 6, 2010.  For an account, with photos, of this process and of the miracles associated with it, please see "Centenary of the first exhumation of St. Therese of Lisieux."

August 19, 2010. Today is a great day for those who love St. Therese of Lisieux.  "Sainte Therese de Lisieux 1873-1897: Biographie," the long-awaited comprehensive biography of St. Therese of Lisieux by Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D., who edited the centenary edition of her works, was released in French by Editions du Cerf in Paris today.   Its 690 pages offer an astonishingly detailed look at the life and environment of St. Therese.  Click on the image below to learn more or to order it. 

July 29, 2010 - Blessed Louis Martin, the father of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face, died on Sunday, July 29, 1894 at Chateau La Musse near Evreux.  In honor of the 116th anniversary of his death I posted a gallery of photos of him, places and objects associated with him, and the death card distributed by his family; please visit it here.

See a meditation written for the first anniversary of his death by his niece, Marie Guerin, later Sister Marie of the Eucharist in the Carmel of Lisieux, here.

July 25, 2010 - A plaque marking the house at 7 rue Labbey in Lisieux where Blessed Louis Martin lived for the last two years of his life was unveiled as part of the celebrations of his feast at Lisieux.  To see the photos and film of the ceremony graciously made available by the Hervieu family, the present-day owners of the house, and by Susan Ehlert, please click here.

July 12, 2010 - The article "Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin: Companions on Our Journey," by Maureen O'Riordan, appears in Spanish as "Beatos Celia Guerin y Luis Martin: Compañeros en nuestro Viaje" to celebrate the second feast of the blessed parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face.  This article was first published to celebrate their beatication in 2008.  Special thanks to Teolindo Garcia for translating it into Spanish. 

June 11, 2010 - Please see details of the historic first visit of the relics of St. Therese to South Africa in conjunction with the 2010 World Cup.

October 17, 2009:  Please see the main page for an audio of my conference "A Map of the Way of Confidence and Love of St. Therese of Lisieux" only until October 24, 2009, in honor of "Little Way Week."

 September 9, 2009 - Just in time for the arrival of the relics of St. Therese in England on September 16, and in honor of the  Year of the Priest, the Catholic Truth Society in Great Britain has published "Praying for Priests with St. Therese of Lisieux" by Maureen O'Riordan.  In this 64-page booklet Saint Therese tells the story of her apostolate of prayer for priests, and we read excerpts from the critical edition of her letters to seminarian Maurice Belliere and mission priest Adolphe Roulland, the two young men to whom she was a "spiritual sister."  The booklet includes an apostolic novena to St. Therese composed entirely of passages from St. Therese's letters to her priest-brothers.  I hope that many priests will be inspired to adopt St. Therese as their sister and companion, for she invites us to be companions of Jesus, and that many persons will be called to share in Therese's apostolate to priests.  Order now to give as a little gift to your priest-friends for the Year of the Priest and as a gift to others for St. Therese's feast on the first of October.

Price:  1.95 in British pounds; about $3.22 in U.S. dollars, plus shipping

To order, click on the image.

 From the cover:

"St. Therese of Lisieux loved the priesthood and consecrated herself for priests, calling herself "an apostle to apostles."  She did not pray for priests for their sake only, but out of love for the souls they were to serve.  She prayed for the priest in solidarity with Jesus in the Eucharist, with Mary, with the Church, and with the world, and offered her life for their apostolic ministry.  In this Year for Priests, Therese can lead us to share in this work of prayer by means of the special Novena for Priests included here, composed entirely of excerpts from the critical edition of her letters to a priest and a seminarian."

July 18, 2009 - See the sad and happy news of the death of Fr. J. Linus Ryan, O. Carm., the great apostle of St. Therese of Lisieux and of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin in Ireland.

July 15, 2009 -  See the photo gallery for the celebration of the first feast of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin at St. Patrick's Church in Columbus, Ohio.

July 9, 2009 - In honor of the first feast ofBlessed Louis and Zelie Martin, please see a photo show of their lives and our pilgrimage to their beatification.

June 23, 2009 -  I am happy to report that I have recovered "Therese 2002,"a splendid Web site the Carmelites created to prepare for the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to Australia, to which they later added many photos of the visit. This historic site, archived in an Australian library,disappeared from the Web.  Now, thanks to the Internet Achive's Wayback Machine,you can visit it again!  Learn about Therese's life, spirituality, and mission; see reflections, photos, worship resources, coverage of the relics in Australia, Ireland, and the U.S.A. and much more here. I thank the Australian Carmelites for creating this site and the Internet Archive for permission to link to it.

June 19, 2009 - Pope Benedict inaugurated the Year of the Priest today.  To read about St. Therese's apostolate of prayer for priests, please click here.  To read about Therese's mission to priests, please click here.

June 16, 2009 - With three months to go before the reliquary of St. Therese arrives in England and Wales, I have created a special new blog to prepare for the visit.  Please see it here.

June 8, 2009 -  The first liturgical feast of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Therese, will be celebrated on Sunday, July 12, the anniversary of their marriage in 1858. The Shrine at Lisieux has announced a two-day celebration of liturgy, prayer, and festivities.Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, will preside at a Pontifical Mass in the Basilica of St. Therese, where Louis and Zelie were beatified on October 19, 2009. For a complete schedule of the liturgies and festivities please click here.

June 7, 2009 - To celebrate the first visit of the relics of St. Therese to England and Wales in the autumn of 2009, I have created a page with information about the visit, links to events, and a special store for books and resources about St. Therese in the United Kingdom.  To visit it, please clickhere. 

June 6, 2009 - To see the first English translation of the Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XVI declaring Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin blessed and establishing their feast on July 12, their wedding anniversary, please visit my blog.

June 3, 2009 - To see my tribute to St. Therese's sister Leonie on her birthday, please visit this page. 

May 17, 2009 - To honor the anniversary of the canonization of St. Therese on May 17, 1925, I am happy to present the link to an online exhibit of 116 photos of Lisieux "au temps de Therese." The photographer, Francois Bidet, operated a pharmacy near that of Isidore Guerin, Therese's uncle.The exhibit is presented by La Bibliotheque Electronique de Lisieux; the photos are the property of the Musee d'art et de histoire de Lisieux, and the accompanying text was written by Jean Bergeret. You can see the Cathedral Saint-Pierre on the Place Thiers during the bitterly cold winter of 1895; a man begging who could be one of the people helped by the Martin family; a Eucharistic procession in the town square; market day, and many other photos. Please visit them at this site.

May 3, 2009 -  Two unprecedented films about the family of St. Therese in Alencon.   "Louis and Zelie Martin of Alencon" shows scenes familiar to the Martin family in Alencon, interviews in French, and the first film footage of the Pavilion, Blessed Louis Martin's watchtower and walled garden on the outskirts of Alencon.  Until the beatification, this property had been closed to pilgrims for decades.  The second, "The Inauguration of the Martin Family Home in Alencon," films the event in late April 2009 at which Louis and Zelie Martin's house on Rue Saint-Blaise, where St. Therese was born, was reopened to the press after having been closed for restoration.  Mgr. Jean-Claude Boulanger, bishop of Seez, and artists who worked on the house give interviews in French.  I thank the diocese of Seez WebTV for permission to post the ilms here.  To see the films, please visit this page.

April 29, 2009 - Early in 2009 "Catholic Destinations," a TV show produced by Catholic TV, produced a film about the Basilica of St. Therese at Lisieux with an exhaustive tour and history of the basilica, background about St. Therese, and interviews with Mme. Laurence Panontin, a long-time member of the staff of the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux.  To see it, please visit this page.

April 25, 2009 - The Carmel archives preserved a certificate showing that Therese Martin, at age 12, became a member of the Apostleship of Prayer in 1885.  To see the certificate and to learn more about the Apostleship, of which St. Therese is co-patron with St. Francis Xavier, please see this page.

March 8, 2009 - The relics of St. Therese are making a return visit to Ireland.  For news stories about the pilgrimage, please see this page.

March 1, 2009, the First Sunday of Lent.  To see Susan Ehlert's new film of the Stations of the Cross at Lisieux, please visit this page.

February 25, 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Thérèse's last surviving sister, Celine, Sister Genevieve of the Holy face, who died in the Carmel of Lisieux on February 25, 1959.  For more about this anniversary, please see my blog for February 25, 2009.

February 20, 2009 - I am delighted to present Susan Ehlert's film of the pilgrimage to the beatification of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin.  Made in October 2008 in France, it shows the pilgrims visiting the places Louis and Zelie knew at Alencon; the renovated Carmelite monastery at Lisieux; the events of Beatification Sunday; and the garden of the house on Rue Labbey in Lisieux where Blessed Louis lived during the last two years of his life.  To see it, please click here and scroll down a little.

December 6, 2008 - His Grace, the Most Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis, Archbishop of Colombo, preached at a special Mass in honor of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin on November 30 at St. Theresa's Parish in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Thanks to the kindness of His Grace and of Father Neil Dias Karunaratne, pastor of St. Theresa's, I have the honor of offering his homily on thereseoflisieux.org. To listen to it, please visit this page.

November 27, 2008 - "Exposition: Story of a Family: Louis and Zelie Martin."  In 2008 the Pilgrimage Office mounted an historic exhibit of items belonging to the Martin and Guerin families at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux.  To see photos of the artefacts and films of the special nocturnal session where "Louis and Zelie Martin" and "Isidore and Celine Guerin" appeared in period costume, please visit this page.

November 22, 2008 - "Relic of St. Therese in outer space."  To see the story on Zenit.org about the astronaut who brought with him into outer space a relic of St. Therese at the request of an American Carmelite community, please visitthis page.

November 18, 2008 - "Film of the opening ceremonies of the beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin at Alencon on Saturday, October 18" - To see a three-minute film by Hubert Moritz of the opening celebrations of the beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin at Alencon on October 18, please visit this page and click on the third link. The fim shows the new statue of Louis and Zelie and an interview in French with sculptor Fabienne Bayi; the rarely-seen interior of the church of St. Pierre de Montsort, where the family worshipped from 1858 to 1871 and where all the children except Therese were baptized; photos of the Pontifical Mass at Notre-Dame Church, where Louis and Zelie married and Therese was baptized; and highlights of the "spectacle" (scenes from the life of the Martin family based on Zelie's letters) produced by the young people of the diocese of Seez.

November 15, 2008 - "Louis and Zelie Martin: Parents for the Modern World" is the title of the annual Carmelite Lecture Series sponsored in the Philippines by the student friars of St. John of the Cross Monastery and the OCDS communities in Manila.  To see the details in their beautiful souvenir program, which reproduces several articles from thereseoflisieux.org, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

November 9, 2008 - This new film showing the renovations to the chapel of the Lisieux Carmel and the souvenirs of St. Therese's religious life on display in the new"parcours theresien" adjoining the chapel was produced by Susan Ehlert.  We thank her for contributing it to the site. To see it, please view the first film on this page.

November 1, 2008 - Venerate the reliquary online by watching this film of pilgrims venerating it after the Mass of Beatification on Sunday, October 19 at Lisieux.  The first detailed photographs of both sides and both ends of the reliquary, which was made in Verona and donated by an Irish family.  Produced by Susan Ehlert for thereseoflisieux.org.  To see it, scroll down to link #5 on this page.

October 25, 2008 - To share with everyone the joy of being present at the ceremony of beatification of Zelie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Therese, in Lisieux, I have done my best to recreate the experience for you. For

  • a link to an online film of the whole ceremony (three hours) courtesy of KTO TV, with French commentary
  • a link to a 52-minute special program online courtesy of KTO TV with highlights of the ceremony and interviews with Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D. and other scholars and bishops; voices in French
  • an English translation of Cardinal Saraiva Martins' homily "Witnesses of Conjugal Love"
  • an English translation of the biographical profile read during the Mass by Father Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D., the vice-postulator for the cause of Louis and Zelie
  • links to photo galleries of the beatification celebrations
  • the first photo of the beautiful reliquary in which the bodies of Zelie and Louis now rest together
  • a link to a slide show of the historic exhibit of objects belonging to the Martin family now on display at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux

please visit this page.

October 12, 2008 - Fr. Antonio Sicari, O.C.D has graciously permitted me to present, for the first time in English, his excellent conference on the soon-to-be-Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, translated by Fr. Thomas Koller, O.C.D.  To read it, scroll to the bottom ofthis page.

October 11, 2008 - EWTN is scheduled to broadcast live the Beatification Mass for Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, on October 19.   For details, please see my blog.

October 8, 2008 - For our English translation of the detailed schedule of five days of celebration at Alencon and Lisieux of the beatification of Zelie and Louis Martin, please see this page.

October 4, 2008 - The article "Death of a mama: August 28, 1877," newly translated for us from "Therese de Lisieux," the magazine of the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux, gives details of the last hours, death, and funeral of Venerable Zelie Martin and of the testimony of her maid, Louise Marais.

September 30, 2008 - On the anniversary of St. Therese's "entering into life," please see the marriage medallion Louis Martin designed and gave to Zelie during their marriage ceremony.  This medallion will be on exhibit in Alencon on October 18, the vigil of the  beatification.  I have the honor of displaying this photograph thanks to Father Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D.   Commemorative medals adapted from this medallion are available to the faithful here.

September 29, 2008 - Thanks to the kindness of Father Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D., we have the joy of presenting a recently discovered photograph of the soon-to-be-Blessed Zelie Martin, undated, but believed to have been taken in 1875, when Therese was two years old.  Please see it at

/photos/

September 19, 2008 - The reliquary of St. Therese will make its first visit to England and Wales next year, from September 16 to October 16, 2009.  The bishops have planned a year of catechesis to prepare for the visit, with a special invitation to young people, the sick, and those of any faith who are seeking their way in life.  See the Web site of the bishops' conference.  I am honored to report that it lists thereseoflisieux.org as

Far and away the best website about St. Thérèse, it is the work of Maureen O’Riordan from Philadelphia. This well-organised and attractively presented site contains a huge amount of information about every aspect of St. Thérèse’s life and mission.

To see this in context, visit the resourcespage of their site and scroll down to "Web sites."  I thank everyone who has contributed to the site. Please pray that the time of preparation and the visit of the reliquary will bring many graces not only to Catholics but to all the people of both countries.

                 Beatification of St. Therese's Parents

July 12, 2008 - Venerable Zelie and Louis Martin are to be beatified on Mission Sunday, October 19, 2008, at Lisieux.  Cardinal Saraiva Martins announced it this afternoon when he presided at a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Notre-Dame Church at Alencon in honor of the 150th anniversary of their wedding.  For more news, visitthis page.

For English translations of the Cardinal's conference "Louis and Zelie Martin: A Path of Sanctity that Transmits the Faith" and of his homily "The human charm of Christian sanctity," please click here.

July 3, 2008 - Pope Benedict XVI certifies the miracle of the healing of the Italian baby Pietro Schiliro for the beatification of the Venerable Zelie Guerin and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Therese. 

Edith Piaf Movie: "La Vie En Rose."  Edith Piaf was a French singer.  St. Therese cured Edith of blindness as a child, and Edith remained devoted to Therese all her life.  This devotion is highlighted in this recent movie.