[On March 26, 1923, in view of the approaching beatification of the Venerable Therese of the Child Jesus, her relics were transferred ("translated") from the Carmelite plot in the municipal cemetery at Lisieux to the shrine which had been prepared for them in the chapel of the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux, where they remain to this day.  We thank the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel, which graciously permitted us to translate this contemporaneous account of the events of that day into English and to publish it].

Extracted from a brown leather-edged, but very thin top, bound book stored in the Glorification cabinet.  Title on the edge:  St. Th EJ her beatification [1]

Across the City

       LISIEUX had never before known such excitement as existed within its walls on the morning of  March 26, 1923, Monday of Holy Week.  Since yesterday, travelers from every direction had been pouring relentlessly out of the train station . . . Read more

Today, May 30, we observe the feast of St. Joan of Arc.  Because Joan was not beatified until 1909 or canonized until 1920, her liturgical feast was not celebrated during the lifetime of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Neverthess, Joan of Arc had a profound influence on Therese throughout her life, and Therese, in her poems and plays, presented Joan as one who both inspired and followed the way Therese was discovering of littleness, confidence, and love. 

By furnishing some background, guiding you to the texts, and presenting a couple of themes, this modest article highlights certain aspects of Therese’s relationship with Joan and empowers you to reflect on the texts and interpret them in the light of your experience.

St. Joan of Arc in Therese's childhood 

When Therese was a little girl, her study of Joan’s adventures brought her a sudden illumination of her own vocation. At age 22, in 1895, she recounts:

When reading the accounts of the patriotic deeds of French heroines, especially the Venerable JOAN OF ARC, I had a great desire to imitate them; and it seemed I felt within me the same burning zeal with which they were animated, the same heavenly inspiration. Then I received a grace which I have always looked upon as one of the greatest in my life because at that age I wasn’t receiving the lights I’m now receiving when I am flooded with them. I considered that I was born for glory and when I searched out the means of attaining it, God inspired in me the sentiments I have just described. He made me understand my own glory would not be evident to the eyes of mortals, that it would consist in becoming a great saint!

Story of a Soul, The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, Third Edition.  Tr. John Clarke, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, 1996, p. 72.  You may see this quotation in context at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

1894, "Joan of Arc Year" in France

 Although Joan would be canonized five years and one day before Therese (on May 16, 1920), during the 1890s she was very much a “current event,” someone to whose canonization the Martin family could contribute (as we can now to that of Therese’s sister Leonie, Sister Francoise-Therese of the Visitation at Caen).  1894 was “Joan of Arc Year" in France.  On January 27, 1894, Pope Leo XIII, at whose feet Therese had knelt almost six years before, declared Joan “Venerable” (a title given to candidates for sainthood who are considered to have practiced “heroic virtue.”  We are now praying that the study of the life and writings of Leonie Martin may lead to her being named Venerable). 

Therese's First Play About Joan of Arc: "The Mission of Joan of Arc"

Six days earlier, Therese had produced her first play for the Carmelite recreations, “The mission of Joan of Arc, or The Shepherdess of Domremy listening to her voices.”  She wrote it for the feast on January 21, 1894 of her sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus, the prioress, and herself played the role of Joan. 

Note: You may read this and Therese’s second play about Joan in The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux: “Pious Recreations,” with a general introduction by Guy Gaucher, O.C.D., translated by Susan Conroy and David Dwyer.  (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Carmelite Friars, 2008).  Bishop Gaucher’s general introduction to this volume and his short introduction to each play place them in the context of Therese’s life and spiritual development.  Further, this volume is a splendid way to become familiar with Therese’s least-known writings.  You may also read the text of the play (but not the introductions and notes) at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

Although Therese will discover her “way of confidence and love” only toward the end of 1894, it’s clearly foreshadowed in this play. 

“I am only his little spouse,

and I will try to return to Him love for love.” 

“I, too, want to remain always very little and very humble,

so that I will be like Jesus and He will dwell in me.” 

As the play ends, Joan leaves to seek the Dauphin and take up arms, but Saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret foresee her glorification:  “Come, save France a second time!”

May 8, 1894: A National Holiday for Joan of Arc in France

Very soon, events surrounding Joan began to accelerate in France.  From The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, 1996, pp. 46-47), we learn that Therese’s uncle, Isidore Guerin, wrote several articles about Joan for Le Normand.  Henri Wallon, whose biography of Joan Therese had consulted, presided over a commission that introduced into the National Assembly a bill proposing that May 8 be celebrated as a “national holiday” each year in honor of Joan of Arc.  Tension between the Church and the state continued to run high, and Uncle Isidore saw this holiday as a scheme by the freemasons to reclaim the saintly Joan for their cause and to secularize her. 

Lisieux shared especially in the enthusiasm for Joan, for, in a way, the town represented Joan’s “blood money.”  Pierre Cauchon, the pro-British bishop who had presided at the trial of Joan of Arc, was rewarded by being named bishop of Lisieux.  On May 8, 1894, a precious flag of “the glorious Liberatrix” was placed in the chapel Cauchon had built in St. Pierre’s Cathedral at Lisieux, the very chapel where Therese, as a laywoman, had participated in the weekday Mass.  Celine Martin and Marie Guerin joined a committee of young women recruited by the pastor of St. Pierre’s parish to prepare for the celebration.  They sewed twelve big banners covered with the fleur de lis.  On May 8 the church was brilliantly lighted, and five thousand people jammed inside. 

Therese's First Poem for Joan of Arc, "Canticle to Obtain the Canonization of Joan of Arc"

 On that same day, dedicating it to her sister Celine, Therese wrote her “Canticle to Obtain the Canonization of Joan of Arc.” (Thanks to the generosity of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites, it's online at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.  You may read the poem with complete notes in the book The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, referenced above).  Therese sees Joan’s path as her own: 

“A heart of fire, a warrior’s soul:

You gave them to the timid virgin.” 

She, who was especially united to the virgin-martyrs, shows the kinship between Joan and the Carmelites:

Sweet Martyr, our monasteries are yours. 

You know well that virgins are your sisters,

And like you the object of their prayers

 Is to see God reign in every heart.

She echoes the sentiment of her first play:

Come down to us, come convert France.

Come save her a second time.

Therese's Second Play about Joan of Arc, "Joan of Arc Accomplishing Her Mission"

Therese then began to prepare her second play about Joan, a longer and more ambitious work:  “Joan of Arc Accomplishing Her Mission, or: The Victories, the Captivity, the Martyrdom, and the Heavenly Triumphs of the Venerable Joan of France,” which would be presented for the prioress’s feast day on January 21, 1895.  This longer play was greeted with general enthusiasm.  To interpret the meaning of the play for Therese (which is beyond the scope of this article), I direct you to Bishop Gaucher’s introduction to that play in the book The Plays of St. Therese of Lisieux: “Pious Recreations,” cited in full above. 

Photographs of Therese in Her Costume as Joan of Arc

Sometime between January 21, 1897 and March 25, 1897, Therese put on her costume again (a brown wig worn over her  toque and a gold-paper costume worn over part of her Carmelite habit) and was photographed five times as Joan of Arc.  Although I have no permission to display these photos on this site, you need only click to see them (photos 11-15 in the catalog of the 47 photos of Therese) here courtesy of the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

Therese and Joan of Arc in 1897

Joan was always at Therese’s side, but in the spring and summer of 1897, as  Therese faced her own death, Joan became even more real to her.  On April 27, 1897, she wrote to Maurice Belliere, the seminarian who was her “spiritual brother”:

When I was beginning to learn the history of France, the account of Joan of Arc's exploits delighted me; I felt in my heart the desire and the courage to imitate her. It seemed the Lord destined me, too, for great things. I was not mistaken, but instead of voices from heaven inviting me to combat, I heard in the depths of my soul a gentler and stronger voice, that of the Spouse of Virgins, who was calling me to other exploits, to more glorious conquests, and into Carmel's solitude. I understood my mission was not to have a mortal king crowned but to make the King of heaven loved, to submit to Him the kingdom of hearts.

Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux, Volume II, tr. John Clarke, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Carmelite Friars, 1988, p. 1085).

Betrayal: Leo Taxil

Incredibly, one souvenir of Therese’s play inside the cloister became known in Paris.  Therese had learned of the existence of “Diana Vaughan,” a character who had supposedly forsaken a Satanist cult and converted to Catholicism.  Therese sent to "Diana" a copy of a retouched version of photo 14, of herself as Joan and Celine as Saint Catherine.  But "Diana" was a hoax.  She did not exist.  Leo Taxil, a con man, had made her up to ridicule the Church.  On April 19, 1897, “Diana Vaughan” was to appear at a big press conference in Paris to satisfy critics who questioned her existence.  Instead, they saw only Taxil, who projected the photo of Therese and Celine as Saints Joan and Catherine (courtesy of the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux).  Taxil told the press that the photo had been taken from a play about Joan of Arc that had been enacted in a convent.  One newspaper wrote “What convent? Probably Taxil’s house!”

Therese's Last Poem about Joan of Arc, "To Joan of Arc"

How acutely Therese felt this betrayal is shown in her last poem about Joan, “To Joan of Arc,” written a short time later, in May 1897.  Like her Beloved openly mocked by unbelievers, plunged into a trial against faith that brought her into solidarity with atheists, and facing her own death, she wrote to Joan:

At the bottom of a black dungeon, laden with heavy chains,

The cruel foreigner filled you with grief.

Not one of your friends took part in your pain.

Not one came forward to wipe your tears.

 

Joan, in your dark prison you seem to me

More radiant, more beautiful than at your king's coronation.

This heavenly reflection of eternal glory,

Who then brought it upon you? It was betrayal.

Therese and Joan after the Death of Therese

Therese spoke often of Joan during her own months in the infirmary.  We may note that her deep sense of kinship with Joan and with Joan’s mission was recognized by the Church.  Joan was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.  On the day after Therese’s canonization in 1925 Pope Pius XI, speaking to the French pilgrims, called Therese “a new Joan of Arc.”  And on May 3, 1944, as France was overrun by German soldiers, Pope Pius XII named Therese secondary patron of France, the equal of Joan of Arc.  (The principal patron of France is the Blessed Virgin).  May these two sister-saints intercede not only for France but for the whole world and inspire us to carry out our mission with the same courage they showed. 

Note: I recommend the article “Thérèse of Lisieux and Jeanne d'Arc: History, Memory, and Interiority in the Experience of Vocation” by Mary Frohlich, which appeared in Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, Volume 6, Number 2, Fall 20016, pp. 173-194.  Only the abstract is available online to the public, but you may access the full article online if you are affiliated with an institution that subscribes to Project MUSE.  If not, you may purchase the issue online.

The Carmelite monastery at Lisieux translated into English its ledgers from the years St. Therese lived there (1888-1897) and published them at the Web site of the archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.  The French historian, Claude Langlois, wrote an analysis of the finances of the Lisieux Carmel which tells what we can learn about the Carmel's life and situation from these ledgers and what questions they raise.  I am delighted to announce this latest of the generous gifts the Lisieux Carmel is sharing on its Archives Web site.  How fortunate we are to see all these jewels that were  never before released! 

Did you know that:

• in order to guarantee the survival of the community, the families of choir sisters were expected to pay board for their daughters during their novitiate; to contribute the cost of the ceremonies of clothing (reception of the habit) and profession; and to give a considerable dowry to provide for their nun-daughter's support?
• during Therese's first four years at Carmel, the Marquise de Briges, a generous benefactor, contributed gifts totaling 56,000 francs, 35% of the community's annual budget?
• The considerable dowries of the Martin sisters and the large inheritance the Carmel received in 1894 from the estate of Blessed Louis Martin did much to stabilize the Carmel's finances?  

Read more about the finances of the Lisieux Carmel, 1888-1897. 

A four-minute film of the recreation room in the Lisieux Carmel, where "Story of a Soul" was born.

The Carmelites of Lisieux present a four-minute film in English of the recreation room St. Therese knew.  

The daily schedule of the Lisieux Carmel allowed an hour of communal recreation after lunch and again after supper.  This was one of the few times the nuns were free to speak.  In the summer, recreation was often spent in the "chestnut walk" (see the photo on the wall above, where Therese, with the statue of the Child Jesus, was photographed with her sisters), but in the winter and cooler seasons it was in this room on the ground floor, called the "warming room" (le chauffoir) because, unlike the other rooms in the monastery, it had a fireplace.  

Many incidents reported by Therese or her Carmelite sisters took place in this room, and all her religious plays were produced here.  Perhaps the most historic moment was a conversation among Therese and her sisters Marie and Pauline that led to Therese's writing her memoir, "Story of a Soul,"  which has transformed so many lives.  Pauline, who was prioress at the time, testified in 1910:

One winter's evening early in 1895 (two and a half years before Sister Therese's death), I was chatting with my two sisters, Marie and Therese, and the latter was telling us a lot of stories about her childhood.  "Mother," said Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart [Marie Martin], "what a pity we haven't got all that in writing!  If you asked Sister Therese of the Child Jesus to write down her childhood memories for us, I'm sure we'd find them very entertaining."  "I couldn't ask for anything better," I replied.  Then I turned to Sister Therese, who was laughing at what she took to be a bit of leg-pulling, and said "I order you to write down all your childhood memories."   

St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her, testimonies from the process of beatification, edited and translated by Christopher O'Mahony.  Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1975, p. 33.  

This conversation, at which the fourth sister, Celine, was not present, took place during the holidays after Christmas 1894; it could have been on Therese's twenty-second birthday, January 2, 1895.

See two early photos of this room at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. 

We congratulate and thank the Carmel of Lisieux and the Association of the friends of St. Therese and of her Carmel, which produced this film.  Thanks to their generosity and accomplishment, we can see without leaving home what the pilgrims who have flocked to Lisieux since Therese's death could not see: the rooms where, in her adventure of faith, she allowed God, "content with my weak efforts, to raise me to Himself and make me a saint, clothing me with His infinite merits."  

 The Carmelites of Lisieux at prayer in the choir where St. Therese prayed. Click on the image to make a virtual visit to this choir.

The Carmelites of Lisieux invite you to make a "virtual visit" to the choir where St. Therese and the Carmelites of her day prayed the Divine Office, made their mental prayer, and attended Mass every day.  Join the Lisieux Carmelites in prayer at this 3:20 film on Vimeo, or make the English "pilgrimage visit" they offer on the Web site of the "Carmel de Lisieux."  An audio in English gives the words of St. Therese about prayer. 

As soon as the 15-year-old St. Therese entered the enclosure on April 9, 1888, as she writes, "I was led, as are all postulants, to the choir, and what struck me were the eyes of our holy Mother Genevieve, which were fixed on me."  It was here that she received the Habit on January 10, 1889 and, after her profession, received the black veil on September 24, 1890. 

The professed nuns participated in the Divine Office from their "stalls" against the wall.  At the time of Therese, at least some of them made the morning and evening hour of mental prayer" while sitting "on their heels" on the floor of the choir.  Sister Marie of the Trinity remembers that Therese, who never got enough sleep, often fell asleep during the hour of mental prayer or the thanksgiving after Holy Communion; her head fell over and she slept, her forehead touching the floor. 

It was also here that, at evening prayer, Therese was placed in front of Sister Marie of Jesus, who spent the whole hour unconsciously tapping her teeth with a fingernail.  Read Therese's humorous account of how "I paid close attention so as to hear it well, and my prayer, which was not the Prayer of Quiet, was spent in offering this concert to Jesus."

In the early summer of 1897, Therese was so sick that she had to give up attending the choir. But on August 30, 1897, she was placed on a movable bed and wheeled down the cloister from the infirmary to the entrance to the choir, where "she prayed for some time with her eyes fixed on the Blessed Sacrament.  We photographed her before bringing her in."  See the August 30, 1897 photograph of St. Therese. 

From this choir Therese's Carmelite sisters participated in her funeral Mass on October 4, 1897, and it was here, on March 26, 1923, that they welcomed their sister's body back after the solemn translation of her relics from her grave in the municipal cemetery at Lisieux to the chapel of the Carmel.

We congratulate the "Association les amis de Sainte Therese de Lisieux et de son Carmel" and the Carmelites of Lisieux for producing this beautiful film and for making it available in English.