B.A.S.I.C.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST

On 19th October 1997, just 100 years after her death, St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the "Little Flower") was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. She was the third woman to receive this title, which has been conferred on 30 men. Less publicised is the fact that Thérèse felt a strong calling to the priesthood.

Among the testimonies from the process of her beatification there is a long and detailed statement by her sister, Céline Martin, whose name in religion was Sister Genevieve of St. Teresa. She gave her testimony from 14 to 28 September 1910 before a diocesan tribunal, set up by the bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux. Sister Genevieve bore witness under oath that:

In 1897, but before she was really ill, Sister Thérèse told me she expected to die that year. Here is the reason she gave me for this in June. When she realised that she had pulmonary tuberculosis, she said: 'You see, God is going to take me at an age when I would not have had the time to become a priest ... If I could have been a priest, I would have been ordained at these June ordinations. So, what did God do? So that I would not be disappointed, he let me be sick: in that way I couldn't have been there, and I would die before I could exercise my ministry.' The sacrifice of not being able to be a priest was something she always felt deeply. During her illness, whenever we were cutting her hair she would ask for a tonsure, and then joyfully feel it with her hand. But her regret did not find its expression merely in such trifles; it was caused by a real love of God, and inspired high hopes in her. The thought that St Barbara had brought communion to St Stanislas Kostka thrilled her. 'Why must I be a virgin, and not an angel or a priest?' she said. 'Oh! what wonders we shall see in heaven! I have a feeling that those who desired to be priests on earth will be able to share in the honour of the priesthood in heaven.'

For further reading on this subject, see The Priestly Vocation of Therese of the Child Jesus by Catherine Broome OP, SPIRITUALITY Volume 6, No. 30 + 31, Dominican Publications, 42 Parnell Square, Dublin 1