.JPG)
This is the Carmel at Lisieux, the enclosed convent where Thérèse spent the last nine years of her short earthly life. She entered Carmel on this day in 1888, having fought long and hard to be admitted at the younger than usual age of 15. The night before she entered she had a final meal with her family, which she desribed in her autobiography as a heartrending experience.
Thérèse wrote of how she asked her father to bless her as she went into the Carmel. "A few moments later, the doors of the holy ark closed upon me, and there I was received by the dear Sisters who embraced me. They had acted as mothers to me and I was going to take them as models for my actions from now on. My desires were at last accomplished; my soul experienced a peace so sweet, so deep, it would be impossible to express it."
.JPG)
This is the chapel of the Carmel as it appears today. There are a little over 20 sisters in the community - a similar number to the community that Thérèse knew. The nuns are seen publicly for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, but otherwise they remain out of sight. This is the life that Thérèse knew, and the life of Carmelites around the world today.
.JPG)
This is the Carmel at Lisieux, the enclosed convent where Thérèse spent the last nine years of her short earthly life. She entered Carmel on this day in 1888, having fought long and hard to be admitted at the younger than usual age of 15. The night before she entered she had a final meal with her family, which she desribed in her autobiography as a heartrending experience.
Thérèse wrote of how she asked her father to bless her as she went into the Carmel. "A few moments later, the doors of the holy ark closed upon me, and there I was received by the dear Sisters who embraced me. They had acted as mothers to me and I was going to take them as models for my actions from now on. My desires were at last accomplished; my soul experienced a peace so sweet, so deep, it would be impossible to express it.".JPG)
This is the chapel of the Carmel as it appears today. There are a little over 20 sisters in the community - a similar number to the community that Thérèse knew. The nuns are seen publicly for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, but otherwise they remain out of sight. This is the life that Thérèse knew, and the life of Carmelites around the world today.
