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La pasión de Teresa de Lisieux
This book telling the account of Therese final eighteen months, when tuberculosis was consuming her young body and the night of nothingness tortured her soul, reveals her at the summit of her journey.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 10, 2012
St. Thérèse is patroness of our diocesan priestly vocations program. For this reason, I was expected as a seminarian to cultivate a devotion to her. And I tried. I read Story of a Soul. I even went on a pilgrimage to Lisieux (and other places). And none of it did much for me except to provoke a dutiful acknowledgement that, yes, she was important and a lot of people liked her.
The problem was, I think, that the image I received of her was too sentimental. Part of the reason is that the saint herself was the product of an era of very sentimental piety, which meant that she expressed herself in the terms of that era. Add in the fact that her writings were edited by one of her sisters who did not want anything released that would offend the piety of the age, and it is no wonder to me that I, with a vast aversion to sentimentality, couldn't get the point.
Last week, I was visiting the National Shrine of St. Thérèse (largely because it happened to be along my way home from vacation and I had time to spare). I passed through the bookstore once and didn't buy anything. I wandered through the small display of objects from France associated with her. And then, for what reason I can't entirely say, I went back into the bookstore, where I found this book, picked it up, decided, "I might as well try it," and bought it.
And then I read it. It's the story of the last thirty months of St. Thérèse's life, and there is very little sentimental about them. I knew that she had died young of tuberculosis and that it had not been an easy death, but I had not heard or read much about it beyond brief references. Reading the book gave me a much different view of her: strong-minded, funny, brave, and totally willing to accept whatever God gave her, even doubts and spiritual darkness.
The book is not without flaws; it can be repetitive, the translation is adequate but not smooth, and the occasional typos are jarring. But the personality and the spirituality of St. Thérèse come through despite those flaws, and I'm very grateful for the chance to meet her again and to come to understand her and her appeal much better.
The problem was, I think, that the image I received of her was too sentimental. Part of the reason is that the saint herself was the product of an era of very sentimental piety, which meant that she expressed herself in the terms of that era. Add in the fact that her writings were edited by one of her sisters who did not want anything released that would offend the piety of the age, and it is no wonder to me that I, with a vast aversion to sentimentality, couldn't get the point.
Last week, I was visiting the National Shrine of St. Thérèse (largely because it happened to be along my way home from vacation and I had time to spare). I passed through the bookstore once and didn't buy anything. I wandered through the small display of objects from France associated with her. And then, for what reason I can't entirely say, I went back into the bookstore, where I found this book, picked it up, decided, "I might as well try it," and bought it.
And then I read it. It's the story of the last thirty months of St. Thérèse's life, and there is very little sentimental about them. I knew that she had died young of tuberculosis and that it had not been an easy death, but I had not heard or read much about it beyond brief references. Reading the book gave me a much different view of her: strong-minded, funny, brave, and totally willing to accept whatever God gave her, even doubts and spiritual darkness.
The book is not without flaws; it can be repetitive, the translation is adequate but not smooth, and the occasional typos are jarring. But the personality and the spirituality of St. Thérèse come through despite those flaws, and I'm very grateful for the chance to meet her again and to come to understand her and her appeal much better.
December 23, 2018
Had Therese lived fifty or sixty years later instead of the late 1800's, I'd be reading a different book. Maybe Therese's horrible suffering was needed. She went through her own 'calvary' and oh what a painful road to heaven it was!
What this book explained is that one of my favourite saints was above all human, and that tuberculosis was a mortal, cruel, badly treated disease and that yes, some of her cloister sisters didn't believe she was seriously ill, including the prioress: Mother Marie de Gonzague. The author also disputed the more 'adorned' version of Therese's last months; from what she said, wrote, told her sisters, the physical aspects of her suffering, to what she truly felt when death was inevitable. She despaired, she cried, she hated some of her medications, she saw her dreams crushed by the disease and in the mist of all this, she managed to love Jesus and His Mother above everything else by loving not only those around her but far away. So, I was there, through eyewitnesses, diaries, letters, books written shortly after her death and testimonies given during the Apostolic Process.
The thing is that by the middle of the book I've got the picture. Therese suffered more than I can imagine and in spite of it all her faith, her little way never faded, on the contrary. Didn't see the point of the book of not getting 'to the point' earlier. One thing I can't agree with the author is his attempt at painting a better picture of the prioress. Nope, I don't buy what Bishop Gaucher wrote. Mother Marie de Gonzague was vindictive, petty, and full of envy. He can't deny what he himself read, be it Therese diaries, letters or the letters written by her family and Therese's doctors.
But Therese's Little Way can't be denied. She offered her suffering for the souls in purgatory and for those priests she counselled. I'm trying really hard (and failing miserably and yet...) to love in little, unseen ways.
What this book explained is that one of my favourite saints was above all human, and that tuberculosis was a mortal, cruel, badly treated disease and that yes, some of her cloister sisters didn't believe she was seriously ill, including the prioress: Mother Marie de Gonzague. The author also disputed the more 'adorned' version of Therese's last months; from what she said, wrote, told her sisters, the physical aspects of her suffering, to what she truly felt when death was inevitable. She despaired, she cried, she hated some of her medications, she saw her dreams crushed by the disease and in the mist of all this, she managed to love Jesus and His Mother above everything else by loving not only those around her but far away. So, I was there, through eyewitnesses, diaries, letters, books written shortly after her death and testimonies given during the Apostolic Process.
The thing is that by the middle of the book I've got the picture. Therese suffered more than I can imagine and in spite of it all her faith, her little way never faded, on the contrary. Didn't see the point of the book of not getting 'to the point' earlier. One thing I can't agree with the author is his attempt at painting a better picture of the prioress. Nope, I don't buy what Bishop Gaucher wrote. Mother Marie de Gonzague was vindictive, petty, and full of envy. He can't deny what he himself read, be it Therese diaries, letters or the letters written by her family and Therese's doctors.
But Therese's Little Way can't be denied. She offered her suffering for the souls in purgatory and for those priests she counselled. I'm trying really hard (and failing miserably and yet...) to love in little, unseen ways.
November 25, 2019
What an awesome book!! Most people think St. Therese had an easy life but now we see the reality. She struggled so that "little souls" who followed her way could see her life as an example. Very revealing & inspirational.
November 18, 2019
She inspires me.In her suffering she chose to.trust and love.
October 14, 2010
This is the story of the final part of Therese of Lisieux's life. I don't pretend to understand the Christian term 'passion', which seems to mean 'suffering leading up to death'. That's certainly what this book is about. I have an autobiography of Saint Therese on my list of books to read, but this deals purely with the onset of symptoms of the tuberculosis that led to her death.
This is an interesting read, particularly because I had no idea who Saint Therese was or why she was important (or even that she was actually a canonised saint). I was also rather ignorant as to the progression and final stages of pulmonary tuberculosis, that it can spread to the intestines (which apparently causes gangrene and is most unpleasant) or even that there were multiple varieties of tuberculosis (I shall have to google phthisical tuberculosis - apparently phthisis is a medical term for 'wasting away' and so it has the same meaning as 'consumption' and other terms no longer used for tuberculosis, one definition has it as meaning 'pulmonary tuberculosis'!).
I personally found Saint Therese rather irritating in her desire to die, to be a martyr. Isn't she supposed to wish to live so as to work for her god? Apparently, that only applies if you consider the Christian heaven to be a place of rest. Saint Therese considered that she would be able to do her work far better in heaven and so was anxious to be there. I'm not sure how I feel about her, but I consider her 'little way' to be something of great interest. As far as I can tell, it entails being completely dependent on and trusting in god, such that you give yourself up into god. As you might imagine I see quite a few parallels to what she says with what Bernadette Roberts said in her book. It's likely I'm seeing things that aren't there, but there are certain phrases that Saint Therese uses in describing her experiences that struck me all the more forcefully for the previous reading.
As someone interested in what makes people themselves, this is an interesting book. I don't know that I'd recommend it to anyone that wasn't interested in Saints, Religion or the Way Religion Effects People.
This is an interesting read, particularly because I had no idea who Saint Therese was or why she was important (or even that she was actually a canonised saint). I was also rather ignorant as to the progression and final stages of pulmonary tuberculosis, that it can spread to the intestines (which apparently causes gangrene and is most unpleasant) or even that there were multiple varieties of tuberculosis (I shall have to google phthisical tuberculosis - apparently phthisis is a medical term for 'wasting away' and so it has the same meaning as 'consumption' and other terms no longer used for tuberculosis, one definition has it as meaning 'pulmonary tuberculosis'!).
I personally found Saint Therese rather irritating in her desire to die, to be a martyr. Isn't she supposed to wish to live so as to work for her god? Apparently, that only applies if you consider the Christian heaven to be a place of rest. Saint Therese considered that she would be able to do her work far better in heaven and so was anxious to be there. I'm not sure how I feel about her, but I consider her 'little way' to be something of great interest. As far as I can tell, it entails being completely dependent on and trusting in god, such that you give yourself up into god. As you might imagine I see quite a few parallels to what she says with what Bernadette Roberts said in her book. It's likely I'm seeing things that aren't there, but there are certain phrases that Saint Therese uses in describing her experiences that struck me all the more forcefully for the previous reading.
As someone interested in what makes people themselves, this is an interesting book. I don't know that I'd recommend it to anyone that wasn't interested in Saints, Religion or the Way Religion Effects People.
December 13, 2019
A touching, spiritually moving look at The Little Flower in her final days here on earth via the prayers she wrote in 1897.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews