Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

of the Holy Face

Entries in The Poetry of St. Therese of Lisieux (1)

125 years ago with St. Therese: Therese writes the poem "To my dear Mother, the Fair Angel of my Childhood" - September 7, 1895

September 7, 1895 was the 34th birthday  of Therese's sister Pauline, Mother Agnes of Jesus. As a gift for her sister's birthday, Therese wrote "To my dear Mother, the Fair Angel of my Childhood." 

Detail from Jacopo di Cione, "Six Angels," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Detail from Jacopo di Cione, "Six Angels," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Mother Agnes had been serving as prioress for two and a half years, years of grace for Therese, who wrote that on the day of her election "Pauline became my living Jesus."  The tenderness and gratitude that overflow in this poem were undoubtedly evoked by the fact that since January 1895 Therese had been writing her childhood memoir, a long letter to Pauline, which brought vividly before her Pauline's delicate and vital role in her life. 

Therese depicts herself as a child and Pauline as the angel "who guides my steps," assigning to her sister the role of guardian angel.  This angel sang of "the charms of Jesus," "the joy of a pure heart," the "beautiful blue Heaven," "the God of childhood" (a phrase that appears only here in Therese's writing), "the Virgin Mary."  Tactfully Therese alludes only with the word "alas!" to the acute distress Pauline's departure for Carmel caused her, and dwells instead on her present happiness:

And now I can hear

Her sweet song every day.

At her voice, my delighted soul

Is set aflame with the fire of Love.

 Mother, Love gives wings....

Soon I'll be able to fly away

To the Everlasting Hills

Where Jesus deigns to call me...

Therese  writes of how the roles will be reversed after her death.  Later she would write of how the angels can do good to us while still contemplating the Face of God.  She boldly claims the same privilege for herself and promises to remain close to her sister:
 
But without leaving the Heavenly Court,

I'll come down to this foreign shore,

Close by my Mother,

To take my turn as her angel.


Heaven would be without charms for me

If I could not console you.

Changing your tears into smiles....

Telling you all my secrets!....

In seventeen short stanzas, Therese artlessly expresses her deep gratitude and her filial love for her sister.
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The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D. (Washington, D.C.: Washington Province of Discalced Carmelite Friars, 1996), contains the English and French text of all Therese's poems, together with valuable introductions, commentary, and notes found nowhere else.
Posted on Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 10:36PM by Registered CommenterMaureen O'Riordan in , , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint