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.

A contemporary photo of the first tomb of St. Therese in the Lisieux cemetery

This article tells you:

•  how Therese laughingly rehearsed her own funeral
• why, when she was laid out, her body was dressed in an old, worn-out cap
• how Leonie arranged for the habit, cape, veils, and sandals Therese had worn to be saved
• who deliberately burned another pair of Therese's sandals
• where you can see Therese's obituary in her local newspaper and the invitations to her funeral sent by the Carmelites and separately by her family

I published this article on my Facebook page for St. Therese because there the link displays the first photo of St. Therese in death.  If you are not a Facebook member, you will still be able to see it.  Facebook may greet you with an invitation to join.  To decline that invitation, just click "not now."  To see the article, please click on this text link:  "What happened immediately after the death of St. Therese of Lisieux?"  Thank you.

This article contains information about:

• how Therese laughingly rehearsed her own funeral
• why Therese's body was laid out in an old, worn-out cap
• how Leonie arranged for the habit, cape, veils, and sandals Therese had worn to be saved
• how another pair of sandals were deliberately destroyed

I published this artilce on Facebook because there the link displays a photo of St. Therese in death.  If you are not a Facebook member, you can still see it.  Facebook may greet you with an invitation to sign up first.  To decline that invitation, just click ":not now." To see the article, please click on this text link:  "What happened immediately after the death of St. Therese of Lisieux?"

In this ninth and last day of the days of prayer before Therese's feast, although I include a few lines from Therese, it is hardly necessary to quote her directly because the Holy Father's words express so well what she knew in her heart and experienced in her life.  I recommend that you pray over paragraphs 23, 24, and 25 of Misericordiae Vultus to prepare to celebrate the feast of St. Therese, Missionary of Mercy.  

The Mother of Mercies

Toward the end of Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis writes:

My thoughts now turn to the Mother of Mercy.

(“The Mother of Mercy” evokes Zelie Martin’s words to Pauline when the family was praying for Zelie’s cure from breast cancer:  “Pray trustingly to the Mother of mercies.  She will come to our aid with the goodness and sweetness of the most tender of mothers.”).

May the sweetness of her countenance watch over us in this Holy Year, so that all of us may rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness. No one has penetrated the profound mystery of the incarnation like Mary. Her entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh. The Mother of the Crucified and Risen One has entered the sanctuary of divine mercy because she participated intimately in the mystery of His love.

Compare this with the bold words of Therese:

You love us, Mary, as Jesus loves us . . . .
The Savior knew your immense tenderness.
He knew the secrets of your maternal heart.

Pope Francis continues: 

Chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God, Mary, from the outset, was prepared by the love of God to be the Ark of the Covenant between God and man. She treasured divine mercy in her heart in perfect harmony with her Son Jesus. Her hymn of praise, sung at the threshold of the home of Elizabeth, was dedicated to the mercy of God which extends from “generation to generation” (Lk 1:50). We too were included in those prophetic words of the Virgin Mary. This will be a source of comfort and strength to us as we cross the threshold of the Holy Year to experience the fruits of divine mercy.

At the foot of the Cross, Mary, together with John, the disciple of love, witnessed the words of forgiveness spoken by Jesus. This supreme expression of mercy towards those who crucified him show us the point to which the mercy of God can reach. Mary attests that the mercy of the Son of God knows no bounds and extends to everyone, without exception.

Compare these last lines with Therese:

Refuge of sinners, He leaves us to you
When He leaves the Cross to wait for us in Heaven.

The Pope continues:

Let us address her in the words of the Salve Regina, a prayer ever ancient and ever new, so that she may never tire of turning her merciful eyes upon us, and make us worthy to contemplate the face of mercy, her Son Jesus.

 Make this prayer ("Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy" by listening to the chant below:

Time of Prayer

Choose any of the passages above or from paragraphs 23, 24, or 25 of Misericordiae Vultus and pray over them. 

Let's conclude the nine days of prayer to prepare for Therese's feast during the Jubilee of Mercy with the Pope's words:

 I present, therefore, this Extraordinary Jubilee Year dedicated to living out in our daily lives the mercy which the Father constantly extends to all of us. . . . . From the heart of the Trinity, from the depths of the mystery of God, the great river of mercy wells up and overflows unceasingly. It is a spring that will never run dry, no matter how many people draw from it. Every time someone is in need, he or she can approach it, because the mercy of God never ends. The profundity of the mystery surrounding it is as inexhaustible as the richness which springs up from it.

Just before offering the Prayer of Pope Francis below, pray with him for the Church in these last words from Misericordiae Vultus:

In this Jubilee Year, may the Church echo the word of God that resounds strong and clear as a message and a sign of pardon, strength, aid, and love. May she never tire of extending mercy, and be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort. May the Church become the voice of every man and woman, and repeat confidently without end: “Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old” (Ps 25:6)..

The Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee 

Click here to read the Prayer of Pope Francis.

Thank you for making these nine days of prayer.  May God bless you through them.

Pope Francis's Lenten message offers St. Therese of Lisieux as an example of how the saints are not indifferent to us:

The prayers of the Church on earth establish a communion of mutual service and goodness which reaches up into the sight of God. Together with the saints who have found their fulfilment in God, we form part of that communion in which indifference is conquered by love. The Church in heaven is not triumphant because she has turned her back on the sufferings of the world and rejoices in splendid isolation. Rather, the saints already joyfully contemplate the fact that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, they have triumphed once and for all over indifference, hardness of heart and hatred. Until this victory of love penetrates the whole world, the saints continue to accompany us on our pilgrim way. Saint Therese of Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church, expressed her conviction that the joy in heaven for the victory of crucified love remains incomplete as long as there is still a single man or woman on earth who suffers and cries out in pain: “I trust fully that I shall not remain idle in heaven; my desire is to continue to work for the Church and for souls” (Letter 254, July 14, 1897).

We share in the merits and joys of the saints, even as they share in our struggles and our longing for peace and reconciliation. Their joy in the victory of the Risen Christ gives us strength as we strive to overcome our indifference and hardness of heart.  

[from the Vatican Web site]

Read Pope Francis's message for Lent 2015 in full.  And read the letter the Pope cited from St. Therese (her last letter to her spiritual brother, Father Adolphe Roulland) at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.