St Thérèse: an overview

Around the world there are countless shrines to St Thérèse. It is no surprise that a huge number of churches in Normandy - where Thérèse lived most of her life - have statues and images of her. These candles, bearing the image of St Thérèse, were photographed at Rouen Cathedral. Alongside the devotion there is a need to learn more about Thérèse's life and message, so a number of resources for catechesis and prayer have been published over recent months. From today there is an overview of St Thérèse's life and contribution to the Church on this website. It includes the text of Divini Amoris Scientia, the document in which Pope John Paul II declared St Thérèse to be a Doctor of the Church. You can find this new resource in pdf format here.

St Thérèse: the Diocesan Novena

Walk into any church in the Lancaster Diocese and you have a good chance of finding an image or statue of St Thérèse. This one, for example, is at St Joseph's Church in Wesham. From 26 July it is hoped that St Thérèse will become an even more prominent figure in the Diocese, as we ask her intercession duing a nine-week novena leading up to the visit. Each week there is an intention for prayer; a paragraph relating the intention to St Thérèse's life and message is given (this may be used on parish newsletters or in preaching) and an intercession for use at Mass is included. It is hoped that the novena will also be used at weekday Masses; this could be done by offering a daily prayer for the week's intention and also by using the prayer for the visit (see here) at the end of Mass. Details of the novena will be arriving through parish letterboxes before the weekend; the texts are now also posted online - in pdf format (here) and as a Microsoft Word document (here).

How to beat the crowds

These photographs of the relics of St Thérèse in the Philippines give some idea of her capacity to draw the crowds. The extent of interest in the visit to Lancaster is just becoming apparent, and we can expect it to be very busy indeed. Earlier today a new page launched on the Thérèse section of the Cathedral website, designed to help group leaders choose a time for a visit. The visit has been split into short (mostly 3/4 hour) periods and each is marked in green (quiet), yellow (fairly busy) or red (very busy - avoid!). The page will be continually updated as the situation develops, but currently we are recommending against organising any further groups for the period of Tuesday (29th September) lunchtime. The arrival of the relics (Monday 28th at 4pm), the departure (Wednesday 30th at 11am) and the Monday and Tuesday evenings all have enough space for more groups. If you are planning to bring a group please contact us to discuss the best time. You can find the new webpage here.

An update on group visits

It's three weeks since we last gave an update on visiting groups, and much has happened since. There has been an excellent response to our school visits programme, and enquiries are still coming in. Schools are invited to contact us if they would like to bring a group during the visit. A number of parishes have been in touch about the possibility of bringing a coach. The Thornton/Fleetwood deanery is now organising transport for anyone in the area - please sign up in your local parish if you would like to come with the deanery group. Nearly every part of the Diocese has now begun arranging coaches. If you're unsure what is going on in your area, ask your priest or click here for links to the area pages.

St Thérèse: the prayer for the Lancaster visit

93 days ahead of the relics' arrival in Lancaster, today we publish for the first time the prayer which has been written for the Lancaster visit. It is addressed to the Lord rather than to Thérèse herself, but includes an invocation asking for her intercession. Please use the prayer and share it with others in the run-up to the visit. It will also be in frequent use while the relics are with us.

Lord Jesus,
We thank You for Your gift of
Saint Thérèse to our world.
May her courageous confidence
in Your loving providence and
her burning desire to make
You known and loved
be a constant inspiration to us
as we seek to follow in her
“Little Way” of total loving.
Amen.

Saint Thérèse, pray for us

Thérèse draws the crowds

There are still 105 days until the relics of St Thérèse arrive in Lancaster, but already the signs are that there will be a lot of interest in the visit. We are now fairly regularly hearing from people looking to organise group visits, and coaches are now being advertised in many parts of the Diocese and beyond. If you are looking for a coach in your area, the first point of contact is your local parish. However, here are some of the groups we know of so far: in Preston, Fr Chris Loughran is organising a group from St Clare's parish (Tuesday 29th, leaving mid morning; tel: 01772 719604); in Blackpool, Fr Bob Horn is organising coaches on behalf of the whole deanery (see local parishes or call Fr Horn on 01253 391002); in West Cumbria a deanery visit is planned for Tuesday 29th (see local parishes for details); the parish of Our Lady, Star of the Sea in St Annes is organising several coaches (tel. Mgr Turner, 01253 723661); coaches are being arranged from Carlisle and Penrith (details should be appearing in parishes shortly); Saints Mary and Michael, Garstang, are hoping to bring coach(es) for an evening visit to include Compline (Monday 28th/Tuesday 29th - call Fr David Elder on 01995 602164); coaches are also being arranged from the Morecambe parishes (see parish notices or speak to your priest). There are also a number of coach parties planning to make the journey from Scotland, and several schools have already booked for our school visits programme. You can find more about local events and coaches coming from each area on our regularly updated local pages - the links are at the very foot of this page, or click here for a list of areas. Meanwhile, if you are organising a group or know of a coach party which is not listed, please contact us.

Coming soon to a school near you

The centrepiece of a new pack for schools, this CD ROM is being sent out with other resources and information about the visit to every Catholic school in the Lancaster Diocese. Most of the Primary Schools will receive their packs at a meeting on Wednesday; other schools will receive them by post over the coming days. The packs are the work of Cathedral parishioners who work in education, and will hopefully provide a good basis from which to teach about the life and message of St Thérèse. Some of the resources are now available to download, and you can access them in the sidebar to the right in the section entitled 'Resources for Schools'. Also within this section you can find out about the exciting programme being arranged for schools making a visit to the relics on Tuesday 29th September.

Lancaster learns about Thérèse

Last night the people of Lancaster came together for a session called 'Curious about Thérèse?' It's the first of two sessions under this title (the second is next Tuesday and all are welcome) and explored something about Thérèse's influences and motivations, looking at her earthly family and the spiritual family she joined: the Carmelite order. The Lancaster Cathedral Blog carries more pictures and a fuller report: take a look here.

Thérèse events in June

If you're looking to learn a bit more about the life of St Thérèse, a few events taking place this month may be for you. At the Cathedral two talks take place under the title 'Curious about Thérèse?' - these are free of charge and take place in St Walburga's (the Cathedral 'day chapel', access from Balmoral Road) on Tuesday 2nd and Tuesday 9th at 7:30pm. At St Thomas More's, Lancaster, there is a session on the spirituality of St Thérèse taking place on Monday 8th, 7:30-9pm. Again, it's free and all are welcome. Canon Luiz Ruscillo will lead a day on the saint at the Ladyewell Shrine near Preston on Saturday 13th June. There is no charge but participants are asked to book; please call the Education Centre on 01524 841190 to reserve a place. A full list of Thérèse events taking place in and around the Diocese of Lancaster can be found here. If you know of an event that we haven't listed, please contact us.

The Desire for Religious Life

This statue is found in the back garden of Les Buissonnets, the house at Lisieux where Thérèse and her family lived. It depicts Thérèse asking her father for permission to enter Carmel at the age of 15, and stands in the very garden where her request was made on this day in 1887. He agreed, though it must have been difficult parting with his daughter; two had already entered the Carmel and his wife had died eleven years earlier. During the visit of the relics of St Thérèse in September there will be information about vocations to the priesthood and religious life: it could be a great opportunity for those whom God is calling to this commitment.

St Thérèse for Schools

When the relics of St Thérèse visit Lancaster Cathedral at the end of September a special programme will be laid on for visiting school groups. Resources are also being supplied to all the schools of the Lancaster Diocese in the run-up to the event; in this way it is hoped that all the schools of the Diocese, whether or not they are able to arrange a visit, will take part. We had hoped to supply resources to schools by the end of May, and a pack is in the final stages of preparation, but we now expect that information will reach schools early in June. In the pack schools will find resources for assemblies, for telling the story of St Thérèse and her message, items for display and ideas for how to mark the visit in schools. There will also be full details of an exciting programme for schools in which they can visit the relics and take part in workshops on the Cathedral site on Tuesday 29th September. We will post more details of the plans on this site when the information has gone out to schools. Watch this space!

The Canonisation of Thérèse

On this day in 1925 Pope Pius XI pronounced, "We declare Blessed Thérèse of the Child Jesus to be a saint." The canonisation ceremony, at St Peter's Basilica in Rome, was perhaps the grandest ever seen. 34 cardinals, over 200 bishops and up to one million faithful attended. The Pope said, "We desire most earnestly that all the faithful should study her in order to copy her, becoming children themselves." Privately he spoke to the Archbishop of Philadelphia, referring to Thérèse by saying, "whom you call in America the Little Flower, but whom I call my guiding star."

The Healing of St Thérèse

On this day in 1883, in this room on the first floor of the family house in Lisieux, the young Thérèse experienced a miraculous healing. She had fallen seriously ill after her sister Pauline had entered the Carmel, and her family greatly feared for her life. A novena of Masses was offered for her in Paris, and during the novena Thérèse's sisters gathered with her to pray. The sisters together faced a statue of Our Lady which was in the room. "All at once the statue became animated", Thérèse recalled. "Our Lady became so beautiful that I shall never find words to express that heavenly loveliness... but what penetrated to the depths of my soul was her ravishing smile. Then all my pain vanished." Thérèse was completely cured of her illness. Visitors to the house can see a relica of that statue (on the right of the picture above); the original was placed with the reliquary which remains permanently at the Carmel in Lisieux.

The Cathedral Cloister Garden

The visit of St Thérèse to Lancaster Cathedral will be permanently marked with a new garden built around a statue of St Thérèse in the Cathedral cloister. The garden design is the result of a competition launched at Myerscough College, a few miles south of Lancaster. Today we reveal the winning entry. The image above gives some impression of how the garden will look to those entering. Plenty of space has been left around the statue to allow groups to gather for prayers and devotions.
The competition was won by Josie Beeson from Kirkby Lonsdale, who is in the final year of her Foundation Degree in Garden Design at Myerscough. Josie said, "I am thrilled to have won this competition as it is the first one I’ve ever entered. The project was definitely a challenging one due to the area receiving practically no direct sunlight, being enclosed on all sides and containing eight downspouts. I am hoping to start up my own business once I graduate and this will look fantastic as an example of my work." The design is inspired by St Thérèse: white flowers and surfaces represnt purity and serenity, while purple shades point to the suffering which was so much a part of Thérèse's life. Seen from above, the statue is in the centre of a simple cross, a reminder of the simplicity of Thérèse's message and the importance of the Lord's death. The garden has been designed with the impression of beauty and strong scent in mind.

We hope that work on the garden will begin shortly. It is a major task, which first involves some landscaping work to transform this currently very barren part of the site into something appealing. The transformation is being funded by donations from parishioners and others who are keen to help. If you'd like to contribute, please get in touch.

Thérèse events in May

The build-up to the visit of St Thérèse begins to become more public this month, as the first talks on the life and message of Thérèse take place around the Diocese. Over June and July there will be further opportunities to learn about this great saint. We know of two talks happening in May in the Diocese of Lancaster: On 18th May at 7pm Fr Frank Gallagher OCD will deliver a talk entitled "The Spirituality of St Thérèse of Lisieux" at St Benedict's School in Whitehaven; the poster can be found here. The following evening, 19th May at 7:30pm, Raymond de Souza (St Gabriel Communications and EWTN) will speak on "The Spirituality of St Thérèse in the Year of St Paul", at Our Lady Star of the Sea Social Club, St Alban's Road, St Annes-on-Sea. You can read a little more about this parish in an earlier post here. Both talks are free of charge and no booking is required. For a full list of the events we know of which are happening in the Diocese, see the diary here, or scroll down to the foot of this page to see details of events in your own area. If you know of any events which are not listed, please contact us.