Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

On this first writing-desk, which she used from April 9, 1888 through August 1894, Therese wrote the following documents which have survived:

Letters

125 letters, LT 46 to LT 170.

Therese began to use this writing-desk for her letters.  The first surviving letter was her first letter from Carmel to her father, written April 29, 1888.  The last letter was written to Leonie at the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen on August 20, 1894, twenty-two days after their father's death.  Therese writes

"Papa's death does not give me the impression of a death but of a real life.  I am finding him once more after an absence of six years, I feel him around me, looking at me and protecting me. . . . 

Between these two letters lie 123 other letters that trace Therese's spiritual and personal intinerary during her first six years in Carmel, including letters to her father, her aunt and uncle, and her cousins; letters to her Carmelite sisters describing her retreats for her Clothing and her Profession; her intimate spiritual correspondence with Celine during the years their father was interned in a psychiatric hospital and later; and her letters to Leonie after Leonie returned to the Visitation Monastery at Caen in 1893.

These letters have been published in Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux, Volume I (1877-1890) and Volume II (1890-1897).  These two books are a gold mine for understanding Therese and the persons and influences who surrounded her.

Prayers

Three prayers, Pri 2, Pri 3, and Pri 4.  These include Therese's Profession Note:

Jesus, I ask you for nothing but peace, and also love, infinite love without any limits other than yourself; love that is no longer I but you, my Jesus.

Poems

Therese wrote her first nine poems  (PN 1 to PN 9) on this writing-desk.  She began with her first poem, "The Divine Dew, or the Virginal Milk of Mary," written on February 2, 1893 for Sister Therese of St. Augustine, who shared her devotion to the childhood of Christ.  (Although Therese had a strong natural aversion to Sister Therese of St. Augustine, the two were special friends). Among the important poems Therese wrote on this first ecritoire are "Saint Cecilia," "My Song for Today," and "Prayer of a Child of a Saint," a loving remembrance of her father's life and the first poem Therese wrote for herself.

Plays, or "Pious Recreations"

One play, her first, "The Mission of Joan of Arc, or, the Shepherdess of Domremy Listening to Her Voices."  In February 1893 Therese's sister Pauline, Agnes of Jesus, was elected prioress.  For her first feast as prioress, January 21, 1894, Therese wrote this first play, in which she herself played Joan.

As a Carmelite, Therese took her first steps in three literary genres that would be important to us--letters, poems, and plays--on the pine ecritoire.

Last updated on September 26, 2013 by Maureen O'Riordan