Celine, left, aged 12, and Therese, aged 8

The spirit of gratitude is a vital element of the way of confidence and love of St. Therese of Lisieux.  We can't be surprised that the saint to whom "everything is grace" radiated a spirit of gratitude.  In reading Story of a Soul, Therese's letters, poems, prayers, plays, and reported conversations, I have noticed again and again how often she spontaneously overflows with gratitude to God, to the person to whom she is writing, to Mary, to the saints, or to anyone she is remembering who has been good to her.  

St. Therese's counsel on the importance of gratitude to God

In the words of her sister Celine, writing of the years when Therese was her novice mistress at Lisieux Carmel:

"It is the spirit of gratitude which draws down upon us the overflow of God's grace," our holy Mistress said to me one day, "for no sooner have we thanked Him for one blessing than He hastens to send us ten addiitonal favors in return.  Then, when we show our gratitude for these new gifts, He multiplies His benedictions to such a degree that there seems to be a constant stream of divine grace ever coming our way."  She added, "This has been my own personal experience; try it out for yourself and see.  For all that Our Lord is constantly giving me, my gratitude is boundless, and I try to prove it to Him in a thousand different ways."  . . . . 

One day, when I was lamenting the fact that  God seemed to have abandoned me completely, Therese energetically admonished me:

"Oh! don't speak like that.  You know that at times I, too, become perplexed about circumstances or the turn of events, but I try to keep on smiling; I even turn to Our Lord and say 'Thank You.'  We are disloyal to His love whenever we do not trust Him completely.  Please!  never any 'imprecations' against divine Providence, but only, and always, a spirit of deep and lasting gratitude!"

My Sister Saint Therese,  by Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face (Celine Martin).  Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers, 1997, pp. 97-98.

St. Therese on showing gratitude to those around us

Celine speaks of the tender gratitude Therese felt and expressed to anyone who did her the slightest favor; 

Even in her human contacts, Therese was always outstanding for this virtue of gratitude, however trifling the favor might be.  There was an added dimension to her spirit of gratitude, however, with regard to those priests who, in Our Lord's place, had, from time to time, solved her spiritual difficulties; to these benefactors she was eternally grateful.

My Sister Saint Therese, p. 97.

Celine's remarks about the gratitude Therese showed to the persons around her are echoed by another novice, Marie of the Trinity, who entered in June 1894, shortly before Celine.  Therese was her "angel" (in charge of instructing the newcomer in the community's customs), and Marie reports that Therese had done her quite a few favors for which she was grateful, but for which she had never expressed thanks.  Then Therese said to her:

You must get used to letting your gratitude be seen, to saying thank you with an open heart for the least little thing.  This is the practice of charity, to act this way; otherwise, it is indifference which, even if it is only exterior, freezes the heart and destroys the cordiality that is necessary in community.

Therese of Lisieux and Marie of the Trinity, by Pierre Descouvement.  Staten Island, New York: Society of St. Paul/Alba House, 1997, p. 110.

These two sources are a valuable look at St. Therese through the prism of two important relationships. Both were written by novices who lived under her care from 1894 until her death in 1897: Celine, the sister whom she called "the sweet echo of my soul;" Marie of the Trinity, for whom Therese experienced a deep spiritual affection.  The translationof Celine's memoir, My Sister Saint Therese, reflects that it was written in the 1950s, but this little book is rich in details of Celine's relationship with Therese and in conversations not reported elsewhere.  Therese of Lisieux and Marie of the Trinity, a more contemporary work, tells much about the relationship between the two young women and also about the life story of this early disciple of Therese and of what happened in the Lisieux Carmel after the death of Therese.  Which of her counsels to these two novices can you adapt to suit your own formation in the life of the spirit and in community life?  

 To cultivate the spirit of gratitude so important to St. Therese, consider these two other resources: the TED talk "Want to be happy?  Be grateful," by Brother David Steindl-Rast (a 14:30 video accompanied by a transcript) and his marvelous book, "Gratefulness: The Heart of Prayer: A Guide to Life in Fullness."  He remarks that "it's not happy people who are grateful, but grateful people who are happy."

I rejoice to think of the gratitude St. Therese has inspired in me and in her countless other friends; every day she is, as St. Paul wrote, "increasing the amount of thanksgiving that God receives."

Dorothy Day's classic book Therese: The Story of Saint Therese of Lisieux, in which Dorothy shares how Therese entered and re-entered her life, how she finally became devoted to Therese, and how Therese and the Martin family inspired her in the Catholic Worker movement, has been reprinted.  Dorothy was born on November 8, 1897, about five weeks after Therese's death on September 30, 1897.  

 About eight years after Dorothy died, I had the honor of speaking at the Catholic Worker in New York about St. Therese.  Many friends and former co-worker's of Dorothy's came back to the house for the occasion, and the evening truly brought Dorothy's devotion to Therese to life for me.  To celebrate Dorothy's birthday by learning more about the book or purchasing it, click on the image below: 

To learn more about Dorothy Day, please see, thanks to Fr. James Martin, S.J., text, photos, and a video about her.  May she, with Therese, continue to draw "little souls" to the Heart of Christ. 

"Celine. Sister and Witness of St. Therese of the Child Jesus," by Stephane-Joseph Piat. The cover shows Celine, left, at twelve; Therese, right, at eight, 1881.

120 years ago today, on September 14, 1894, Therese's sister Celine entered the Carmel of Lisieux at the age of 25. She had taken care of her father until his death six weeks before, on July 29, 1894.

Celine's story is told in the book Celine: Sister and Witness of St. Therese of the Child Jesus by a Franciscan priest, Stephane-Joseph Piat, who knew her well in her later years.  (She died on February 25, 1959, at the age of 89).  She herself tells the story of the three years she spent with Therese in Lisieux Carmel in her memoir My Sister Saint Therese, first published in French in the 1950s.

Celine had lived much longer "in the world" than her sisters.  From the age of seventeen she had been in charge at Les Buisonnets.  She had accompanied her father during his confinement in a mental hospital; nursed him, together with Leonie, and managed his household after his release; participated in the social life of the family of her uncle Guerin; refused two proposals of marriage; considered joining the Jesuit Father Almire Pichon in an apostolate in Canada; been an active member of her parish; organized other young women in charitable and apostolic works in Lisieux; and vigorously pursued studies in art, photography, and other fields.  Because she had looked after her father and managed his household, and because of her strong personality, incredible energy, and many talents, Celine's early adjustment to the Carmelite way of life, which at that time was so rigid (for a guide to all its minute customs, see the "Paper of exactions" at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux) was a challenge. Like so many of us do, she often compared herself with Therese and became discouraged despite her courageous efforts.

Read her eyewitness testimony about Therese at the 1910 diocesan process in the book St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her at

At the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux, read the circular of Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face, an account of her life which was prepared at Lisieux and sent to other Carmels at Celine's death.

Read an online biography of Celine on the Web site "Martin Sisters."

September 14, 1894 was an historic date in Carmel not only because of the entrance of the young woman who would give us such valuable testimony about her sister-saint but also for several other reasons:

To make room for Celine, the cells were moved around, and it was to prepare for September 14 that Therese moved into her last cell, which she occupied from then until she left it for the infirmary on July 8, 1897

writing-desk on which St. Therese wrote the three manuscripts of "Story of a Soul"

 When Celine entered, Therese passed on to Celine the ecritoire (small wooden writing-desk held on one's lap) that she herself had been using. Therese replaced it with another, no longer fit for use, which she had found in the attic. So it's on this last, somewhat battered writing-desk, which was displayed in the United States in the summer of 2013, that Therese wrote the three manuscripts of "Story of a Soul"

and all her letters to her spiritual brothers, the young priest Adolphe Roulland and the young seminarian Maurice Belliere.

Celine brought with her a small notebook in which she had copied out extracts from her uncle's Bible. She passed this notebook on to Therese. Since the nuns did not have Bibles, some of the passages were new to Therese. It was in this notebook that Therese found the Scripture passages that were the foundation of her "way of confidence and love": "If anyone is little, let that one come to me." "For to the one that is little, mercy will be shown." "You shall be carried on the knees and fondled at the lap."

Celine also brought that day another object that would be important to the spread of Therese's message: the photographic apparatus with which most of the photographs of Therese as a Carmelite were taken.

May Celine (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face) obtain for us the grace to enter into following her sister's way of confidence and love with the same energy and courage with which she entered Carmel. 

 Bishop Guy Gaucher, who died on Thursday, July 3, was an authority on St. Therese of Lisieux and is best known to English speakers as the author of The Story of a Life: Saint Therese of Lisieux (Harper and Row, 1993), a truly invaluable companion to St. Therese's own Story of a Soul.  See other books in English by Guy Gaucher.  

 “I am not dying; I am entering into life,” wrote Thérèse of Lisieux a few weeks before her death in Carmel on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her dear friend, Bishop Guy Gaucher, went to join her on July 3, 2014, at the age of 84 years. The phrase “All is grace” perhaps expresses best the desire of these two souls as they greet each other in the love of Christ.

“All is grace!” It was reading these words at the end of Diary of a Country Priest, by novelist Georges Bernanos, that guided the young Guy Gaucher, aged 18, toward Thérèse. He would become an authority on both subjects, even preaching a retreat in a Carmel in 2004 on the affinities between the great Georges and Thérèse (“All is grace,” Cerf, 2009). Bernanos might have quoted these words of Thérèse, his spiritual master, but Guy Gaucher found in them the beautiful flower of his life. When he sought the source of the text, he discovered the true face of Thérèse and her spirituality based on trust, mercy, and hope. From that day he never left Thérèse.

Ordained at age 33 in 1963, Bishop Gaucher was professed in the Order of Discalced Carmelites on October 3, 1968. When he was appointed Bishop of Meaux in 1986, the change from the life of a contemplative religious to that of an active bishop was a trial. A few months later, he rediscovered his beloved Thérèse when he became auxiliary bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux until 2005, when he reached the age limit. He was a member of the team that published the New Centenary Edition of Thérèse’s writings. Bishop Gaucher devoted all his energy to making known the life and writings of St. Thérèse, who was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997. In 2010, Bishop Gaucher published a definitive biography of Thérèse (Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux: Biographie, 1873-1897.  Cerf, 2010), containing more than 700 pages.

The friends of our friends often become our friends. So it was through Thérèse that I met Bishop Gaucher. I visited with him several times in Lisieux, together with my wife and his faithful secretary, Sister Monique-Marie, who accompanied him until the end of his life. I remember his good nature, his simplicity, his sense of history. Quiet and with a subtle sense of humor, he loved playing the piano, inviting friends out for crepes, making notes in a small notebook, and sharing his experiences as he traveled around France with the reliquary of Thérèse.

Bishop Gaucher also visited Quebec several times. He was there in 2001, during the pilgrimage of the relics of Thérèse in Canada. He writes in the journal Thérèse of Lisieux in January 2002: “Once again, I saw with my own eyes, always astonished that I was seeing the same sight again in a completely different context-- Moscow, New York, Manila, Rome, Belgium: the crowds that come from who knows where, who wait in silence, in prayer before the reliquary, confessing their sins, listening to the Thérèsian teaching. All these families, the disabled, children, the elderly, all these friends of Thérèse who have a secret relationship with her, some of whom had not set foot in a church for decades …”

Guy Gaucher had the look of a child who would “sing God’s mercies” with Thérèse. He wrote the foreword to my book Thérèse of Lisieux, A Hope for Families, revealing my love for the saint which, in fact, reflected his own: “I have seen in this book that love for the young Carmelite of Lisieux comes alive.”

Dear Guy, I hope you are now with Christ, St. Thérèse, her Blessed parents Louis and Zelie Martin, and all the others, so many brothers and sisters of the same Father. You have not left; you have arrived. You have not died; you have entered into life. On this day, July 3, Thérèse confided in her last conversations that with her death “I will do all that I please.”  I hope that, like Thérèse, you will spend your Heaven doing good on earth.

I remember presenting a program with you on Thérèse for Radio Ville-Marie in Montreal. Toward the end, the facilitator asked for a sentence that summarized the Patroness of the Missions. I read this excerpt from one of her letters: “It is confidence, nothing but confidence and trust, that will lead us to love.” You chose this amazing sentence said by Thérèse on July 13, 1897, and it reveals something of your life also: “The Good Lord will do all my will in heaven, because I've never done my own will while on earth.”

The funeral of Bishop Gaucher will be celebrated in the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux on Thursday, July 10, at 3:00 p.m. The Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Boulanger, bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux. The homily will be given by Carmelite Father François-Marie Léthel.
 

The death of Mgr Guy Gaucher
(1930-2014)
is announced on July 3, 2014 by the Paris province of the Carmelite Friars

 Brother Guillaume Dehorter, provincial superior of the Paris province of the Discalced Carmelite friars, informs you of the

Return to God of Monseigneur Guy Gaucher
(1930-2014)

Our brother Guy left us on July 3 at 9:30 a.m.  His funeral will be celebrated at Lisieux during the week of July 7, at a date which is not yet fixed.  (It will be decided as soon as possible).

“No, I am not dying, I am entering into life.”  This saying of Thérèse, we can say with our brother Guy, who dedicated his life to making his little sister known.  How she must have welcomed him, with the Lord, into the glory of Heaven!

Guy Gaucher was born March 5, 1930 in Seine-et-Marne. Ordained a priest on March 17, 1963, he entered Carmel in our province of Paris.  He pronounced his vows on October 3, 1968.  He was ordained bishop of Meaux on October 19, 1986 and then auxiliary bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux on May 7, 1987, in residence at Lisieux.  In 2005, having reached the age of 75 years, he retired to our convent at Lisieux and then to Vénasque (Notre Dame de Vie; that is, Our Lady of Life). 

At first a great connoisseur of Georges Bernanos, Bishop Guy Gaucher was one of the greatest experts on St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.  Here is his principal bibliography:

• La biographie référence : Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897), août 2010, Éditions du Cerf
• « Tout est grâce ». Retraite avec Georges Bernanos dans la lumière de sainte Thérèse de Lisieux, mai 2009, Éditions du Cerf
• La Vie du Père Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus Henri Grialou (1894-1967) « Je veux voir Dieu », mars 2007, Éditions du Cerf
• « Je voudrais parcourir la terre… » Thérèse de Lisieux thaumaturge, docteur et missionnaire, octobre 2003, Éditions du Cerf
• « Histoire d’une vie » : Thérèse Martin (1873-1897) Sœur Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus de la Sainte-Face » février 2002, Éditions du Cerf
• « Histoire d’une âme » de Thérèse de Lisieux, juin 2000, Éditions du Cerf
• Jean et Thérèse. L’influence de saint Jean de la Croix dans la vie et les écrits de sainte Thérèse de Lisieux » septembre 1996, Éditions du Cerf
• Georges Bernanos ou l’invincible espérance, mars 1994 Éditions du Cerf
• La Passion de Thérèse de Lisieux. 1972, réédition en 1993, Éditions du Cerf – Desclée De Brouwer.
• Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux» septembre 1992, Éditions du Cerf
• Histoire d’une vie : Thérèse Martin. 1982, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, rééd. revue et corrigée en 1993.
• Collectif, Édition du Centenaire, édition critique des œuvres de Thérèse de Lisieux, Ed. du Cerf/Desclée de Brouwer, 1971-1992

For information, please contact Father Provincial Guilaume Dehorter : provincial@carmes-paris.org

Translated from the Web site of the Paris Province of the Discalced Carmelite Friars