The new Venerable. Photo credit: La Croix, August 17, 1921, in the National Library of France
As a special gift to my readers on the feast of St. Therese, I have the joy of presenting the speech made by Pope Benedict XV on August 14, 1921, when he declared that Sister Therese of the Child Jesus had practiced heroic virtue and might now be called “Venerable.” Note that Therese's sister Celine said that, when Pope Benedict in this speech "officially raised the way of spiritual childhood to its exalted rank in the life of the Church, my joy reached heights never again attained, not even on those other memorable days when my little sister Therese was first beatified and then canonized by Holy Mother Church."
Pope Benedict delivered the speech personally and seized the opportunity to speak at length about Therese’s way, then called “the way of spiritual childhood,” and to urge the whole church “to enter wholeheartedly” into it.
It is a dream come true for me to be able to publish this speech, which brought joy to the advocates of St. Therese’s cause around the world and showed the Pope’s appreciation of the significance of her spirituality for the postwar world and his desire that everyone embrace it. His words are no less powerful and prophetic today. Enjoy! The speech has its own page. To read it, click on Pope Benedict's 1921 Speech about Saint Therese's Way of Spiritual Childhood.