Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

"Anno Domini," painted by Edwin Longsden Long

January 21, 1896 was the third and final feast day of Therese's sister Pauline, Mother Agnes of Jesus, while she was prioress.  For her first two feast days as prioress, Therese had written, produced, and starred in two plays about Joan of Arc.  For this one, she wrote the second longest of her eight plays, "The Flight into Egypt," the text of which is available online  thanks to the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. 

Background

Although it was customary for the novitiate to offer an entertainment on special feast days, "The Flight into Egypt" was a departure for Therese.  Most of her writings depend on Scripture, and this play contains at least 70 quotations from Scripture.  But the actual incident she dramatizes is based on a legend in the apocryphal gospels: that Joseph and Mary, fleeing to Egypt, asked for shelter in a den of thieves.  Susanna, the wife of the chief bandit, was the mother of his baby son, Dismas, who had leprosy.  Mary asked for water to bathe Jesus, and then Joseph, citing the healing of Naaman, urged Susanna to bathe her son in the same water.  He was immediately healed.  Many years later, the child Dismas grew up to be the "good thief" who, according to the gospel, was crucified with Jesus, who promised him "This day you will be with me in Paradise."

The Production

The book "The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux" features an introduction to this play which is indispensable for a fuller understanding of it.  There we learn that this play was probably performed in the chapter room on the second floor, where the giant creche remained on display from Christmas until February 2.  Therese herself played the Virgin Mary; Celine could have played St. Joseph, and the roles of the chief bandit, Abramin, and his wife, Susanna, might have been taken by Marie of the Eucharist and Marie of the Trinity. 

The events of January 21 show how human both Therese and her sister, the prioress, were.  First, on the vigil of the feast, Therese, arriving in choir, knelt before Mother Agnes and surrendered the "copybook of memories" she had been writing at the prioress's request for a year (now the first manuscript of "Story of a Soul").  Mother Agnes, busy winding up her term as prioress, put it in a drawer and left it there for several months.  She tells us that, when she told Therese that she had had no time to read it yet, Therese displayed no disappointment. 

A Theatrical Fiasco

The next evening, Mother Agnes stopped the performance of "The Flight into Egypt" before it was over.  She told Therese flatly that her plays were too long and that they tired the community out.  Celine found her sister in one of the alcoves, drying a few tears in private.  How deeply she must have been hurt by this rejection of the work into which she had poured her whole soul.  But Therese soon regained her self-control "and remained peaceful and sweet in spite of the humiliation." The saint's literary works, which interest us so profoundly, were not always well received on their first appearance!

Themes of the Play

The Destiny of Jesus

Unlike Therese's later poem "Why I Love You, O Mary," in which she depicts Mary as living in the night of faith, "The Flight into Egypt" shows both Joseph and Mary as fully aware, even in the infancy of their son, of his identity and mission.  They speak to each other of the privilege of caring for "the King of Heaven, the Savior of humanity." 

The Inequality of the Rich and the Poor

Joseph's experience as a working man is harsh, and he is afraid to see his son become "a poor workman like me."  But later, when Susanna suggests that the only way to escape poverty is "to rebel against the rich and to seize from them the wealth that is unjustly divided," both Joseph and Mary tell her gently that wealth is not the source of happiness.  Joseph says that at the end of time "this God of goodness and mercy . . . will reward . . . the simple desires to serve Him and love Him . . . he will judge the poor with justice."  Susanna and all the bandits are deeply moved, and they kneel before the child Jesus. 

The Redeeming Power of Jesus

Susanna tells Mary that she is afraid her husband may return to his crimes and that his son may grow up to follow that path.  Mary answers that "the infinite mercy of the good  God . . . is great enough to wipe away the worst crimes when it finds a mother's heart with complete trust in it . . . Dismas will have to be washed in the blood of the Redeemer . . . . your son will enter into the Celestial kingdom."

The Possibility of Exile

Anticlerical decrees were multiplying, and the possibility of religious communities being forced into exile (as many were just a few years later) was coming closer and closer.  In the ending song (which, it seems, the community did not hear that night!), Therese placed in the mouth of an angel the assurance that "the virgins of the Lord" will "receive in exchange for their love an eternity to love in Heaven."

This play gives insights into Therese's thought that are found nowhere else in her writing.  We are fortunate to have it.