“Holy Popes, friends of Thérèse, pray for us!”

                                   – Father Olivier Ruffray, rector of the Shrine at Lisieux

 

 This editorial was written by Father Olivier Ruffray, rector of the Shrine at Lisieux, for
Thérèse of Lisieux (a publication of the Shrine at Lisieux), no. 954, May 2014.
Translated by Maureen O'Riordan, it appears with Father Ruffray's kind permission.

 We rejoice fully in the holy Popes whom Pope Francis offers to the official prayer of the Church.  They are the friends of Saint Thérèse.

Saint John XXIII came to Lisieux in 1930, on September 11, then three times more as Apostolic Nuncio in France.  We keep at the Shrine a photo-souvenir taken in the court of St. John’s House on August 15, 1951.  He loved to talk about Thérèse and about “her quiet and precious way of bringing to souls the riches of God.”  He also emphasized her powerful intercession as Patron of Missions.  The “Good Pope John,” as he was called by those who had tasted his charity, which was matched only by his simplicity, opened for us the Second Vatican Council.  Thanks to him, we “rediscover the Word of God;” we welcome the Church as “a light to the nations;” we think of “the Church in the Modern World;” we receive the Virgin Mary as “Mother of the Church;” we hear as a spiritual and ecclesial encouragement the “universal call to holiness.”   We understand how the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church and in the world. We divine how the spirituality of St.  Thérèse could have inspired, for its part, the Council. It pleases us to think also that the Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, by the witness of their lives and their social commitment to the little ones, opened with others, in the seething nineteenth century, the paths of the Social Doctrine of the Church. It was under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II that they were declared venerable, on March 26, 1994.

Saint John Paul II came to Lisieux on June 2, 1980 after his appeal at Le Bourget (the airport near Paris) that still rings in our hearts : “France, the eldest daughter of the Church! What have you done with your baptism? ...” At that time, Cardinal Marty presented the Pope to young people gathered at the Parc des Princes as the “sportsman of God!" At Lisieux, Pope John Paul II reminded us that the saints never get old because  they are “witnesses of the future world."  He thought of St. Thérèse, whom he was going to name the youngest Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997 in St. Peter's Square, calling her doctrine the "science of love." Yes, Thérèse teaches us to love according to the heart of God, as it seems to us we read in the luminous gaze of Pope John Paul II, contemplating the Basilica in the photograph that shows him in the Esplanade of the Basilica, June 2nd 1980. In Rome, recently, the young Pietro Schilirò and his parents met with Pope Francis. They told him about the little Carmen in Spain (the child whose healing has been submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to be considered as the miracle for the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin). The Pope reportedly replied that he knows it . . . How beautiful the Church in the light of Easter! She is our Mother, and we love her.  With the Virgin Mary in her month of May, with all the saints of Heaven, a happy and holy Easter time.

Holy Popes, friends of Thérèse, pray for us!

 

Every year thousands of people gather in Lisieux to celebrate the feast of St. Thérèse.  This year the faithful all over the world are invited especially to unite themselves with the pilgrims at Lisieux in praying for priests and for the priesthood.  Please use this schedule and the films of the feast-day celebrations in Lisieux to continue in union of prayer with those who are privileged to celebrate the feast at Lisieux.

Communiqué

 

His Excellency, Monseigneur Jean-Claude Boulanger, Archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, and Monsignor Bernard Lagoutte,  Rector of the Basilica of St. Thérèse and Director of the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux, inform you

of the celebrations of the feast of Saint Thérèse in 2010

with Cardinal Hummes,
Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, presiding

This year, the celebration of the Thérèsian feasts will be marked by the grace of this Year of the Priest.  The celebration will open with a Mass at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 26 at the Basilica of St. Thérèse.

On Monday, September 27, we propose that all priests and bishops of the world and all the lay people who have it at heart to support them and pray for them and for vocations participate in this day at Lisieux.  Cardinal Hummes will give a conference and will preside at a Mass at the basilica at 11:00 a.m.

 The schedule of the celebrations is:

Saturday, September 25:

9:00 a.m.:	Mass at the Carmel of Lisieux
3:30 p.m.:	Concert of organ and harp music in the crypt of the basilica.
8:30 p.m.:	Procession of the Relics of St. Thérèse from the chapel of Carmel to the basilica, followed by a prayer vigil in the basilica.

The video below shows the 2009 candlelight procession of the major reliquary of St. Therese from the Carmel of Lisieux up the hill to the basilica, where you can see the priests and the people venerating the reliquary as the prayer vigil begins.  I thank Susan Ehlert, who produced the film, for permission to display it here.

 Sunday, September 26:

10:30 a.m.	Solemn Mass at the Basilica.  Cardinal Hummes will preside.
3:30 p.m.:	Procession of the relics from the Basilica to the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where we will celebrate Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament exposed for our adoration.

The film below shows the procession of the reliquary into the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where the Martin family attended Mass and Vespers on Sundays during their years in Lisieux.  I thank producer Susan Ehlert for permission to display it.

The film below, also thanks to Susan Ehlert, shows the relics returning in procession to the chapel of the Lisieux Carmel:

 

Monday, September 27:

A day of thanksgiving for the Year of the Priest: Thérèse and priests

9:00 a.m.	The office of Lauds (Morning Prayer) in the Basilica
9:30 a.m.:	Cardinal Hummes will give a conference:  “Priestly Spirituality”
11:00 a.m.:	Celebration of the Eucharist in the basilica

2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.:	The event “Thérèse and priests"
	Each person can choose one of the six venues below.  Based on the location, a facilitator will discuss the relationship between Thérèse and the priesthood.  In each place the activity will take place in three stages: the presentation of the theme the distribution of the texts of Therese a time of silence and prayer The six places are: The upper Basilica The crypt of the Basilica The sacristy of the Basilica Les Buissonnets The Cathedral of St. Pierre The chapel of the Carmel of Lisieux
3:30 p.m.:	Return to the Basilica
3:30  p.m.:	A conference by Monseigneur Jean-Claude Boulanger, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux:  “Priests: disciples and apostles in following Jesus”
4:30 p.m.	Evening Prayer at the Basilica

 

Tuesday, September 28 through Friday, October 1 (October 1 is the liturgical feast of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face):

At 3:00 p.m.each day	a conference on the spirituality of St. Thérèse (in French) at the Centre d’Accueil Pastoral International located under the square facing the Basilica.
At 4:30 p.m. each day:	Vespers in the Basilica

 

Sunday, October 1 - liturgical feast of St. Therese

10:00 a..m.	Feast-day Mass in the Basilica
3:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m.	Conference Vespers

Saturday, October 2 - A day for the sick and disabled

10:30 a..m.	The celebration of the sacrament of the sick in the Basilica
3:00 p.m.	Mass for the sick in the Basilica

 

Sunday, October 3

10:30 a..m.	Closing Mass of the feast in the Basilica of St. Thérèse
3:00 p.m.	Celebration of Vespers in the Basilica.

 

 For more information,

 please call the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux: Tel. 02 31 48 55 08

The festival program is available on the Internet in French at the Web site of the Shrine of Lisieux at http://www.therese-de-lisieux.catholique.fr/Venez-consulter-le-Programme-2010-du-Sanctuaire.html

As today's gift to prepare for Therese's feast, I invite you to visit an online exhibit of 116 photos of Lisieux "au temps de Therese."  These photos are from the album of Francois Bidet, who was proprietor of a pharmacy near that of Isidore Guerin, Therese's uncle. I thank La Bibliotheque Electronique de Lisieux for mounting this exhibit.  The photos are the property of the Musee d'art et de histoire de Lisieux.  Jean Bergeret wrote the accompanying text.  You can see townspeople shoveling snow before the Cathedral Saint-Pierre on the Place Thiers during the bitterly cold winter of 1895; a man begging who could be one of the people helped by the Martin family; a Eucharistic procession in the town square; market day, and many other photos.  Please visit them at this site.

On the vigil of the feast of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, a commemorative plaque was dedicated to mark the house at 7 rue Labbey, Lisieux, where Louis lived after he left the Bon Sauveur hospital in Caen in May 1892.  Susan Ehlert and the house's present owners, Mme. Anne-Marie Hervieu and M. Jacques Hervieu, graciously made available photos of the house and plaque and a film of the ceremony, including a view of the garden where Louis spent so much time.  See film and photos of the dedication of the plaque at 7 rue Labbey.

With thanks to Susan Ehlert, I am happy to present her seven-minute photo show of the events of the week of the beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese in October 2008.  Join us as we tour the places Louis and Zelie knew in Alencon.  Glimpse the historic exhibit of the belongings of the Martin family at St. Jacques Church in Lisieux.  See the renovated Carmelite monastery and the souvenirs of St. Therese.  Watch the events of Beatification Sunday.  Visit the garden of the house in Rue Labbey, Lisieux, where Blessed Louis lived for the last two years of his life.  Scroll down a little on the page to find the photo show.