FAQ about Therese's writing-desks > FAQ about Therese's writing-desk and writing > What were Therese's pens and paper like? Why did she dip her pen in milk?
Therese’s love of poverty led her to use pens and paper in a way that made writing difficult. Celine writes:
For the writing of the autobiography the Saint used two very cheap child’s copybooks which our sister Leonie, according to Therese’s direction, had procured for her. [She is referring to the writing of the first manuscript]. At first she thought she would need only one, and she was very much surprised when she had to order a second.
For the pages addressed to Mother Gonzague, Therese, then very ill, had to use lined paper. She was ordered, in view of her increasing weakness, to bess less constrained and to leave larger spaces between the words and lines.
Her poems were scribbled on old envelopes or other waste paper—of all colors and sizes—which had been discarded. As a result, some of her compositions were almost unreadable.
Saint Therese continued to use her pens after they had become unit for service. Toward the end of her life when she was on a milk regimen, she used to dip these pens into a few drops of milk “to sweeten their message,” as she used to say.
A Memoir of My Sister Saint Therese, p. 165.
Last updated on September 26, 2013 by Maureen O'Riordan