A new series for May 2017:
the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Therese of Lisieux knew
For May 2017, I am introducing a series to present many of the images of Mary which St. Therese saw at different times in her life. Some will appear in this blog. Others I can present only as links on Facebook, so, to see them all, please use the button at left to "like" the Facebook page "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway." The images will appear in roughly chronological order, and I hope that seeing them will help you to feel closer to Therese and also to enter into her tender and filial affection for Mary.
The Martin family's treasured statue, "Our Lady of the Smile"
The statue of "Our Lady of the Smile" cherished by Saints Louis and Zelie Martin and their children
The history of the statue
The great French sculptor Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) created the original of this statue for the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. During the French Revoution it disappeared. Later it was replaced by a similar statue. The statue that came into the possession of St. Louis Martin was modeled after that second statue in Paris. The statue in St. Sulpice is also linked to the image of Mary that was reproduced on the Miraculous Medal.
Replica of the statue of Our Lady given to St. Louis Martin before his marriage by Mlle. Felicite Beaudoin, a saintly elderly woman who invested in his watch-shop. He put it here in the garden of his Pavilion, a small property on the outskirts of Alencon where he prayed, meditated, and kept his fishing tackle.
The gift of Mlle. Fellicite Beaudoin
Mlle. Felicite Beaudoin, a devout elderly woman who set Louis Martin up in business, gave him this statue. In 1857 he bought the Pavilion, a one-room, three-story tower surrounded by a walled garden on the outskirts of Alencon. Here he read, prayed and meditated, and kept his fishing tackle to use in the nearby River Sarthe, and he placed the statue here.
Replica of the Martin family's statue "The Virgin of the Smile" in its original location in the Pavilion in Alencon
The statue in the domestic church of the Martin family
In 1858, Louis married, and his wife, Zelie, who was passionately devoted to the Blessed Virgin, asked him to set the statue up in their home on the Rue Pont-Neuf. He did so, and every evening the Martin family said their evening prayers before it. At the end of prayers, the girls were allowed to kiss the statue's hands. They carried out this little ceremony so fervently that Louis and Zelie had to keep a few extra pairs of hands for the statue around the house.
Close-up of St. Louis Martin's statue, later called "Our Lady of the Smile"
"The Blessed Virgin doesn't leave her place"
While she was praying before this statue, Zelie received special graces from Mary. One day, her oldest daughter, Marie, thinking that this statue was too much like a school statue, asked her mother to replace it with a smaller and finer statue. Zelie answered, "When I am dead, you can do as you like, but, while I'm here, the Blessed Virgin doesn't leave her place." Marie said that her mother's May altar was more trouble to make than the one at the church.
'Our Lady of the Smile' in Lisieux
After Zelie's death, when the Martins moved to Lisieux, they took the statue with them, and it occupied a place of honor in their new home, Les Buissonnets. It was only after Therese was cured of a serious illness while she and her sisters were praying before this statue in 1883 that it became known as "the Virgin of the Smile." We will encounter it again in Therese's story.
"Our Lady of the Smile" in the Pavilion at Alencon today
A plaque that reads "It was here that Monsieur Martin, the father of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, before his marriage had placed the statue later called 'Our Lady of the Smile,' of which this one is a faithful replica."
The actual statue cherished by the Martin family stands today above St. Therese's shrine in the Lisieux Carmel. This replica has been placed in the garden of the Pavilion at Alencon to mark the spot where St. Louis put the statue when Mlle. Beaudoin gave it to him.
At the time of Louis and Zelie's beatification in 2015, the Pavilion came into the possession of the Church, and pilgrims may now visit it. Louis brought his little girls here on outings, and they used to garden here, too. This is only one of the joys that await pilgrims to Alencon, where the roots of the Martin family are.