Novena For Kieran Asking Intercession Of Bls Louis And Zelie Martin

[maximillion]

Praying today.......

[AnneLine]

Day 9 - Novena

 

On this last day of the novena, it seems only appropriate to close with the USUAL gateway most people use to getting to know the Martin Family -- their youngest daughter, St. Therese.

 

There is much written about St. Therese and her spirituality on the internet; today's entry will focus on some things you may not have known about her.

 

St. Therese of Lisieux - Apostle of Prayer

 

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rQTVhv_ag[/media]

 

"O Jesus, why can't I tell all little souls how unspeakable is Your condescension? I feel that if you found a soul weaker and littler than mine, which is impossible, You would be pleased to grant it still greater favors, provided it abandoned itself with total confidence to Your Infinite Mercy. But why do I desire to communicate Your secrets of Love, O Jesus, for was it not You alone who taught them to me, and can You not reveal them to others? Yes, I know it, and I beg you to do it. I beg you to cast Your Divine Glance upon a great number of little souls. I beg You to choose a legion of little Victims worthy of your LOVE!"

 

St. Therese, Story of a Soul (manuscript B)

 

Therese was easily the most-photographed saint of the 19th Century.

 

We have family photos of her as a child and young woman from professional photographers in Alencon and Lisieux.  There are a few photos that were taken when she became a novice (with the white veil) that are shown in the videos and in some of the links. (The novice photos were taken by a friend of the Carmel when she was trying the habit on for size prior to her actual clothing day -- which is why the veil looks so huge--all her hair is under there!) Therese was actually fairly tall at about 5'9".

 

There were no photos taken when Therese made her vows, but about five years later, we again begin to have photos, after Celine entered the Carmel after Bl. Louis' death with her camera.

 

The Carmelite habit is made of a tunic of brown wool with a white head covering (the 'toque'). Over that a brown wool scapular is worn (with a crucifix worn under the scapular over the heart). The whole thing is then topped with a veil. Novices (sisters who hadn't taken vows/are in training) wear white veils; the black veils are worn after vows. Additionally, on special occasions and for Mass, the Carmelites wear a creamy-white wool mantle (cape).

 

You may have noticed that the veil that St. Therese and the Lisieux Carmelites wear appears different from that of St. Teresa of Avila, Bl. Teresa de los Andes, and some of the other Carmelite saints and blessed.  The monasteries of nuns who came through France chose to pin their veils; the Spanish nuns and the monasteries that came from the Spanish Carmels sew the edge of the veil down, creating almost an ‘elastic’ look.   There are also some small other differences from monastery to monastery.

 

The photos by Celine were all taken with a box camera, and required the subjects to remain absolutely still for a long period of time. Then the photos had to be developed using chemicals and glass negatives. Because gold was often used in the developing process, the photos have a distinct 'sepia' or gold tone to them. Almost all of the photos we have of Therese are part of group shots with the other sisters....

 

 

http://hicatholicmom.blogspot.com/2010/10/feast-of-st-therese-of-lisieux.html

 

On some special occasions, the Sisters would put on plays and for those they might dress up in a costume... but the costumes were worn over  the habit.   

 

All the pictures of St. Therese that show long, flowing hair are actually taken from a play in which she played Joan of Arc.  She had written the play, and St. Joan was one of Therese's favorite saints. If you look carefully, you can see she is wearing a brown wig over her toque!!!!

 

Below are more of the photos of St. Therese that were taken of Therese by Celine.

 

both from  http://www.jennyhaniver.com/?p=37

 

http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_st_therese.asp

 

 

The photo below was taken only a few months before St. Therese' death from tuberculosis in 1897. The Sisters realized they needed some photos of her before she died, so several  photos of Therese by herself were taken. In one, she is holding a large wooden cross; in this one she is holding the two objects associated with her full name as a Carmelite: Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.

 

You will recognize that image of the Holy Face as being the one that was used for Louis' remembrance card at the time of his death.

 

http://www.holyfacedevotion.com/sttherese.htm

 

 

You can see how much thinner she had become by the time of this photo. Therese had to hold the pose kneeling for several minutes without moving, and apparently she found it VERY tiring and got a little testy with her sister. She begged Celine to 'please hurry.'  Somehow, that makes me feel closer to her... and it makes her feel very much like one of us.

 

This blog has more photos and some quotes from St. Therese:

 

http://hicatholicmom.blogspot.com/2011/10/st-therese-of-child-jesus.html

 

 

to be continued ..... in a few moments....

[AnneLine]

Day 9 - Novena ...................... (continued...)

 

 

Visit to St. Therese's Carmelite convent in Lisieux

 

This is an exceptionally fine video!

 

(Click through to watch it on YouTube.... it will play properly if you do this)

 

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8MHfr0NABA&feature=player_embedded[/media]

 

 

The Story of a Soul and after Therese's death...

 

After Therese's death, the nuns sent copies of her autobiography around to the various Carmelite houses around the world, to share the story of her life. Sending out a short biography of a dead nun (known as a ‘circular’)  is a pretty common custom in the Carmelite order.  In fact, short biographies for most of the sisters that Therese lived with are posted Archives of the Lisieux Carmel:

 

There are also a TON of resources about St. Therese and her family.   You will do yourselves a disservice if you don't spend some time looking through the archives.  Select English or French, your choice.  Some of the materials in French have not been translated, but most of them have.

 

http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/

 

It was common to send a short biography of the deceased sister to the other Carmels, but it was unusual to send a detailed autobiography!  Because Therese’s Uncle Isidore (Zelie's brother) had run 5,000 copies of the original printing, the nuns sent the book out as the Circular.  The nuns started to share these books with friends of the monastery... and they started to share this spirituality of doing little things well for the love of God... and people began to get interested.  VERY interested.

 

Soon reports were arriving at the Lisieux Carmel of favors being attributed to Therese’ intercession… and people wanted extra copies, pictures, rose petals, etc.  

 

During World War I, a number of soldiers and pilots insisted that they had seen Therese and that she had helped them. These included French and American soldiers and pilots, who insisted they had seen her in their airplanes! They often didn't know who she was, but recognized her face when they saw her - (which would have been Celine's paintings at that point).

 

This blog has some interesting info about this!

 

http://laudemgloriae.blogspot.com/2009/08/pluie-de-roses.html

 

The clamor for her beatification and canonization made Rome move faster in her case than was customary at that time. Only about 25 years elapsed between her death and her canonization... which was unheard of in that time, when usually it was a minimum of 50 to 100 years.  For many people it was considerably longer… about 300 years for St. John of the Cross!

 

 

All recent popes have spoken very highly of St. Therese....

 

Some of you may want to check out these links:

 

Apostolic Letter from Pope John Paul II when he proclaimed her St. Therese a Doctor of the Church:

 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19101997_divini-amoris_en.html

 

 

A sermon by Pope Benedict XVI on the Little Way of St. Therese:

 

http://ocarm.org/en/content/ocarm/little-faith-therese

 

 

"Before He Was Pope - A sermon on St. Therese by Pope Francis when he was Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio 

 

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LTR4_4h2Xw[/media]

 

 

 

St. Therese and Space shuttle

 

Toward the end of her life, Therese told Celine and Pauline that she wanted to spend her heaven doing good on earth. She spoke many times of wanting to be a missionary, and of her desire to travel all over the earth to share her love of Jesus with all the souls on the planet.

 

In a very modern way, St. Therese got her wish during the 21st Century! One of the shuttle astronauts contacted the Carmelite nuns in New Caney, Texas, to make a very special request: He wanted to bring a relic of St. Therese with him when he went on his shuttle mission. The nuns agreed, and let him carry their relic of St. Therese with him on his next mission.

 

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/st-therese-relic-makes-space-flight

 

http://opinionatedcatholic.blogspot.com/2008/11/relic-of-st-thrse-on-space-shuttle.html

 

And… this article indicates that she may have made a return trip!

 

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/astronaut_to_carry_another_relic_of_st._therese_to_space_in_2011/

 

 

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/astronaut_to_carry_another_relic_of_st._therese_to_space_in_2011/

 

 

And isn't it interesting that we are finishing this novena on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing?

 

If you want to know more about Bl. Louis, Bl. Zelie, St. Therese and the rest of their family, there is lots of good information here!

 

http://www.sttherese.com/

 

 

http://ocarm.org/en/content/liturgy/bls-louis-and-zelie-martin-parents-therese-lisieux-m

 

Novena Prayer

 

God of eternal love, You give us Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese, as an example of holiness in marriage. They remained faithful to You in all the duties and trials of life. They desired to raise their children to become saints. May their prayers and example help Christian family life to blossom in our world today. If it be your will, grant me the grace I now ask of You, through the intercession of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, and let them be counted among the Saints in Your Church. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~   :congrats: ~~~~~~~~~~

If you want to know more about St. Therese and her family.....

 

If you want to read St. Therese' autobiography, The Story of a Soul, be sure you get the translation into English by John Clark, OCD. It is the best and most complete one in English. Many of the earlier translations were made including the editorial changes made by Pauline.... and it is generally felt that you will get a better sense of St. Therese's spirituality and her personality without the 'improvements' that Pauline put into the early editions.  Recently a ‘study edition’ has been released which also includes commentary and much more information about Therese, her family, her religious community and the world in which they lived.

 

Therese's letters have also been published.

 

The letters of Louis and Zelie have been published under the name "A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therse of the Child Jesus (1864-1885).  

 

More information about it here:

 

http://www.albahouse.org/Call%20to%20a%20Deeper%20Love.htm

 

There are also extensive biographical and spiritual materials on St. Therese and her sisters.  All of these will help the Martin Family come alive for you.   If you wish a list of some of those, it can be posted.

 

It was a privilege to post this for you, ArchaeologyCat and our prayers go up to heaven for you, Kieran and his siblings, and your family.

 

God bless all of you, and all who have made the novena and who continue to use this thread.

Edited July 20, 2014 by AnneLine

[Ash Wednesday]

I was in Oxford and lit a candle at the Oratory for Kieran today :)

[Archaeology cat]

Thank you!

[CatherineM]

Hoping for the best

[Archaeology cat]

Kieran is sick again. Two weeks since last episode.

[maximillion]

Praying................

[AnneLine]

Oh, ArchaeologyCat.....   praying...

[Archaeology cat]

So far Zofran is working

[brandelynmarie]

More :pray:& :amen: :saint: :saint:

[Archaeology cat]

So far so good. I'm super nauseated, but he's better.

[Archaeology cat]

He's vomiting again. Zofran worked all day but has stopped working now. Husband just took him to ped.

[Archaeology cat]

And he's headed to the ER. Nurse at ped wasn't sure she could get the vein, and we didn't want him to have to be stuck multiple times.

[OnlySunshine]

Oh, dear!  I'm so sorry to hear that Kieran is ill again.  Prayers!  Since today is the Feast of St. James and tomorrow is St. Anne and St. Joachim (parents of Our Lady), I'll ask for their intercession.  :(