Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

 Oratory of the Children of Mary, Benedictine Abbey, Lisieux. Souvenirs of St. Therese's schooldays and of her reception as a Child of Mary. Photo Credit: The Far East.

St. Therese of Lisieux and the Children of Mary

It was on May 31, 1886 that Therese Martin, then thirteen years old, was received as a Child of Mary at the Benedictine Abbey of Notre Dame du Pre where she had until recently been a student.  The organization of the “enfants de Marie,” whose members consecrate themselves to the Blessed Virgin for life, is known in some English-speaking countries as the Sodality of Mary.  All five of the Martin daughters were members (Marie and Pauline having been received at the Visitation school at Le Mans where they studied), and Celine had been president of the chapter of the Children of Mary at the Benedictine Abbey where the three youngest Martin girls were students.

Therese Martin as an aspirant for the Children of Mary

On February 2, 1885, the feast of the Presentation of Mary, Therese, just turned 12, had been received as an aspirant into the Children of Mary.  But, at Easter 1886, when her father decided that she must withdraw from the school due to her frequent illnesses, she had not yet become a full member.  Solemn reception into the Children of Mary at the Abbey happened only twice a year on two great Marian feasts:  December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and on May 31, the feast of the Visitation. 

Therese in February 1886, a few months before she was received as a Child of Mary. Courtesy of the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux

Therese tells in her memoir how, not wishing to be less a child of her heavenly Mother than her Sisters had been, she went to Mother St. Placide and asked the favor of being received even though she was no longer a student.  Mother St. Placide had to consult the president and counselors of the Children of Mary.  As the request was Irregular, they hesitated at first, but Mother St. Placide said prophetically (no doubt without realizing it):  “I don’t believe that you will ever have any reason to regret having admitted Therese Martin into the sodality.”  As a condition, Therese was obliged to come to the Abbey twice a week in the afternoon, from one o’clock until five o’clock.  (All former students were allowed to attend the afternoon classes in drawing, needlework, and painting).  She writes of how, after the lesson, she spent the rest of the afternoonbefore the Eucharist, “Jesus . . . my only Friend.” At this time Therese was still technically an aspirant, for the members received new girls only by voting for their admission.  The vote was taken a few days before May 31, and Therese was admitted. 

Therese Martin's reception as a Child of Mary on the Feast of the Visitation, May 31, 1886

The solemn ceremony of reception was celebrated in the Abbey chapel where Therese had received her First Communion on May 8, 1884.  So Therese was consecrated as a Child of Mary before the same altar where she had recited the Act of Consecration on her First Communion day.  

 The altar and the statue before which St. Therese was consecrated as a Child of Mary, May 31, 1886

St. Therese's blue ribbon and medal as a Child of Mary 

That day, Therese received the blue ribbon and the medal worn by the Children of Mary.  Hers, destroyed in the bombing of Lisieux in 1944, was identical to the ribbon and medal pictured, which were displayed at Lisieux in 2009 and which could have belonged to one of her sisters or to another Child of Mary of that time. 

Medal of the Child of Mary. Photo credit: Peter and Liane Klostermann

Blue ribbon and medal of a Child of Mary, displayed at Lisieux in 2009. Thanks to Peter and Liane Klostermann for the gift of this photo and to the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux for permission to display it.

The text of St. Therese's Act of Consecration as a Child of Mary

Thanks to the Southern Cross newspaper, I have the honor of re-presenting the English text of Therese’s Act of Consecration as a Child of Mary. This is not the same text as the consecration used on her First Communion Day. 

" O Mary conceived without sin, I, Marie Françoise Thérèse Martin, wishing to be enrolled under your special protection, choose you as my Patron, Advocate, Mistress and Mother. At your feet I make the .firm resolution of working with all my might at spreading devotion to you. . I wish to make henceforth solemn profession of belonging to you .without reserve, of walking in your glorious footsteps and imitating your virtues, especially your angelic purity and incomparable charity. This promise I make at your altar before the whole Heavenly Court. Obtain for me, O tender Mother, the grace of being faithful to it during my whole life, that I may merit the favor of being your child for eternity. Amen."

The Oratory of the Children of Mary became the Oratory of St. Therese

Membership in the Children of Mary was a lifelong commitment.  All the Children of Mary came to the Abbey on the first Sunday of every month to listen to a conference from the chaplain, Fr. Domin.  The Benedictine nuns took care to influence the spiritual lives of their graduates, and every former student continued to attend these conferences until she married.  Therese attended these monthly conferences until she became a Carmelite in April 1888; they were presented in the special oratory of the Children of Mary.   Later it became the oratory of St. Therese, where pilgrims came to pray before the souvenirs of Therese’s schooldays.  Her blue ribbon and medal and the parchment of her consecration were displayed there until they disappeared when the Abbey was destroyed in the bombing of June 6, 1944.

May Therese unite us more closely to Mary, who, as she wrote, "gives Jesus to us and unites us to Him."