In 1887, St. Therese visited the crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre in Paris. Later she sent her gold bracelet to be melted down to form part of this monstrance

St. Therese of Lisieux shared with her whole family a passionate love for Jesus in the Eucharist. 

• At age 22 Therese recalled in the language of mystical union the experience of her First Holy Communion.  (Web site of the archives of the Carmel of Lisieux)
  
  
• She remembered participating in religious processions on the great feasts:

"I loved especially the processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.  What a joy it was for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God!  Before allowing them to fall to the ground, I threw them as high as I could, and I was never so happy as when I saw my roses touch the sacred monstrance." 

(Read more about Therese's childhood experience of the great feasts of the Church at the Web site if the archives of the Carmel of Lisieux).

• In 1887, before leaving on the pilgrimage to Rome, 14-year-old Therese spent a few days in Paris with her father, St. Louis Martin, and her sister Celine.  Before departing from Paris, all the pilgrims were consecrated to the Sacred Heart in the crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre.  Later Therese sent her gold bracelet to be melted down to form part of the monstrance pictured above, which was used for the perpetual adoration of the Eucharist.  How happy she must have been to think that the substance of the little bracelet that once touched her wrist was so near her Eucharistic Lord.  I thank the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre for permitting "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway" to display this photograph, which was taken in 2012 when, to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Therese's visit in 1887, her reliquary was venerated at Montmartre for several days.
• Although Therese's understanding, experience, and theology of the Eucharist continued to grow and develop throughout her short life, it was already well formed when she was only sixteen.  In May 1889, during her novitiate, she received a letter from her nineteen-year-old cousin, Marie Guerin (later Sister Marie of the Eucharist).  In Paris to visit the great 1889 Exposition, Marie, a young girl from the provinces, was troubled by her reaction to the nude statues in the exposition, and wrote to Therese suggesting that she could not receive Communion in that condition.  On May 30, 1889, the 16-year-old novice answered with the prophetic wisdom given by the Holy Spirit:

Oh, my darling, think, then, that Jesus is there in the Taber­nacle expressly for you, for you alone-, He is burning with the de­sire to enter your heart ... so don't listen to the devil, mock him, and go without any fear to receive Jesus in peace and love!. . . ,

 
Your heart is made to love Jesus, to love Him passionately; pray so that the beautiful years of your life may not pass by in chimer­ical fears.

We have only the short moments of our life to love Jesus, and the devil knows this well, and so he tries to consume our life in useless works ....

Dear little sister, receive Communion often, very often. . . . That is the only remedy if you want to be healed.

(LT 92, to Marie Guerin, May 30, 1889), from The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume I.  Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, 1982, pp. 568-569.  I repeat: if you know Therese only through her Story of a Soul, great graces await you in her letters).

In 1910 Msgr. de Teil, the vice-postulator for Therese's cause, showed this letter to Pope St. Pius X, the Pope who gave us frequent communion, and said to him "This little sister has made a commentary in advance on Your Holiness' decree on frequent communion."  "Est opportunissimum!  Est magnum gaudium por me!" ["This is most opportune!  This is a great joy to me"], cried the Pope.  He ended "We must hurry this cause."  Ibid., p. 569.  At the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, read the full text of Therese's letter to Marie Guerin about the Eucharist.

May our love for the Eucharist continue to grow and deepen, and may the transformation it brings us express itself not only in adoration and in frequently joining with the Christian community to celebrate the Eucharist but also in satisfying, with Jesus, all the hungers of the human family. 

On August 7, 2010, St. Therese answered the prayer of Pope Francis, then Cardinal Bergoglio.  CNA reported that the Cardinal's press secretary, Federico Wals, gave an interview saying that on that date Cardinal Bergoglio had presided at a Mass at the shrine of St. Cajetan for the feast of his death.  After Mass he wanted to walk down the line of thousands of pilgrims, which sometimes extended 15 blocks, but was in such pain that he decided to go only two blocks before turning back.  But he prayed to Therese for a sign, and a man in the crowd suddenly handed him a white rose, saying

"This is the sign you are waiting for."  The Pope turned to his press secretary and said:

"Federico, Santa Teresita did not abandon me; I'm going to walk until the end of the line [of the faithful." . . . . Bergoglio's countenance changed; he was radiant and continued until the end.

Read the full story at "A history of little miracles - behind Pope Francis' devotion to Saint Therese" by Elise Harris.  Catholic News Agency.

The shrine (the tomb) of St. Therese in the little side chapel at the Carmelite monastery in Lisieux.  It was unveiled on the day of her beatification, April 29, 1923.  (Photo courtesy of Dee Cursi)

Ninety-three years ago, on April 29, 1923, Venerable Therese of the Child Jesus was beatified at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  At the same hour a special Mass was offered in the chapel of the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux.  The next day Marie of the Sacred Heart, Therese's oldest sister, wrote to their sister Leonie, describing vividly the ceremonies at Carmel and quoting from a telegram sent to the Carmelites from Rome to tell them about the beatification.  Read Marie's letter.

Photo Credit: Carmel of Dijon

The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has authorized the canonization of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a young Carmelite who died at the Carmel of Dijon, France in 1906 at the age of twenty-six.  On Thursday afternoon, March 3, 2016, the Pope received Cardinal Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorized the Congregation to promulgate the decree recognizing as a miracle the cure of Ms. Marie-Paul Stevens.

Story of the Miracle

 Marie-Paul was teaching religion at the Institute of the Marist Brothers in Malmedy, in Belgium, in May 1997, when she began to have trouble speaking and other symptoms.  Some weeks later, after undergoing medical tests on a friend's advice, Marie-Paul discovered that she had Sjogren's disease.  As her illness progressed, the government asked her to retire early.  Many people were praying the novena to Blessed Elizabeth to ask for Marie-Paul's healing.  Although the patient received chemotherapy and other treatment, her health deteriorated.  As Marie-Paul moved closer to death, she requested to go on pilgrimage to the Carmel of Flavignerot to thank Elizabeth for giving her strength during her illness. This was the community of Blessed Elizabeth; the nuns moved in 1979 from Dijon to nearby Flavignerot.  On April 2, 2002 she prayed in the chapel of the Carmel and gave thanks to Elizabeth.  Afterward she rested by sitting on one of the rocks at the edge of the monastery's parking lot.  The two friends who had accompanied her were astounded when, all at once, she stood up, lifted her hands to heaven, and cried out in amazement and happiness "I am no longer sick!"  From that day on she has been well.

Marie-Paul Stevens, the Belgian woman whose cure was accepted as the miracle for the canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity.  Photo credit: Carmel of Dijon.

History of the Inquiry into the Miracle

The diocesan process to examine this miracle with a view to canonizing Elizabeth was formally opened on July 11th, 2011 in the chapel of the Archbishop of Dijon, Most Rev. Roland Minnerah.  The vice-postulator of Elizabeth's cause, Fr. Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D. (also the vice-postulator for Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin and the postulator for the Servant of God, Leonie Martin, the sister of St. Therese of Lisieux), wrote a letter requesting the opening of the process, and the members of the tribunal were sworn in.  Three Carmelite nuns of Flavignerot were interviewed about the miracle.

The members of the tribunal traveled to Belgium to conduct several sessions of inquiry.  They interviewed more than 40 witnesses, including several physicians.  Everyone was amazed at Marie-Paul's healing and moved by Elizabeth's life and writings.  The successful closing of the process was celebrated at Vespers (evening prayer) in the chapel of the Carmel of Flavignerot (where Marie-Paul had prayed to Elizabeth) on August 25, 2012.  Marie-Paul Stevens herself was present at the solemn closing of the process together with several friends; members of the Chevignard family, descendants of Elizabeth's sister Marguerite, known as "Guite;" and friends of the Flavignerot Carmel.

Father Sangalli was then commissioned to present the voluminous dossier of the tribunal's work to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, which again investigated the healing and recommended that it be recognized as a miracle.

About Elizabeth of the Trinity

Elizabeth Catez was born in 1880.  She entered the Dijon Carmel in 1901 and died there in 1906 at the age of twenty-six. She penetrated the depths of the contemplative life had a profound experience of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in her soul.  Her spiritual influence has been growing deeper and wider since her death.

Elizabeth of the Trinity and Therese of Lisieux

Elizabeth is one of the earliest and most fervent disciples of Therese.  With her novice mistress, Mother Germaine of Jesus, she was deeply influenced by an early copy of Therese's Story of a Soul.  Her writings are full of quotations and echoes of Therese, easily recognized by those who know Therese.

The Jesuit theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote a book about Therese and Elizabeth: Two Sisters in the Spirit, showing how each one complements the contemplative life of the other.   

Elizabeth's Writings

The critical edition of Elizabeth's writings was edited in three volumes by the distinguished Belgian Carmelite scholar, Fr. Conrad De Meester, who has presented and interpreted Therese so brilliantly.  Two of the volumes, "Vol. I: General Introduction and Major Spiritual Writings" (also called "I Have Found God") and Letters from Carmel, have been published in English. 

I have spent much time meditating on and praying over Elizabeth's letters from Carmel and have found them the best way to get to know her and to understand her profound union with Therese and with God. I recommend them.

If you prefer to read a narrative of her life, consider He Is My Heaven:  The Life of Elizabeth of the Trinity by Jennifer Moorcroft.

 Pope St. John Paul II and Elizabeth of the Trinity

Elizabeth was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 25, 1984.  In his homily he said of her:

This contemplative, far from being isolated, was able to communicate to her sisters and to those near her the richness of her mystical experience. Her message is spreading today with a prophetic force.  We invoke her: the disciple of Teresa of Jesus and of John of the Cross, she inspires and sustains the whole family of Carmel; she helps many men and women, in the lay life and in the consecrated life, to receive and to share the 'waves of infinite charity' she received 'at the fountain of life.'

My translation, from the Vatican Web site.

Canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity

The date of her canonization, which will no doubt take place later this year, is expected to be announced on March 15, 2016.