Saint Therese of Lisieux
Oct 22nd, 2007 by michelle
Please make a visit to my friend, Audrey’s blog to read “Saint Therese on Suffering“. She has also written another post on this saint.
Born to a middle-class French family. Her father, Louis, was a watchmaker, her mother, who died of cancer when Therese was 4, was a lace maker, and both have been declared Venerable by the Church. Cured from an illness at age eight when a statue of the Blessed Virgin smiled at her. Carmelitenun at age 15. Defined her path to God and holiness as “The Little Way,” which consisted of love and trust in God. At the direction of her spiritual director, and against her wishes, she dictated her famed autobiography Story of a Soul. Many miracles attributed to her. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.
Yes, she is a Catholic Saint. I don’t have a problem with acknowledging other saints. We obviously do not venerate them because they aren’t Orthodox. I don’t believe that it is because they are somehow less saints than the Orthodox. I found the following on St. Vlad’s website; it is on the topic of intercessory prayer:
St Therese, a Roman Catholic saint, had difficulty knowing that God heard her prayers for others. As a youth, she decided to put God “to the test” once and for all. Perhaps only a saint can “test” God. She prayed fervently for the salvation of a callused serial killer of women, Henri Pranzini. Pranzini was caught, found guilty and sentenced to the guillotine. During this time, Therese prayed that he be saved, and that she be given a sign that a conversion took place. Pranzini became more arrogant. Therese persisted. On the execution day, Pranzini walked up the steps, put his head onto the block, still jeering. Then, unexpectedly, he lifted up, grabbed the crucifix hanging from the side of the nearby priest, and Pranzini kissed the feet of Christ three times. Pranzini publicly repented. He then put his head back down onto the block, and the guillotine fell. Therese claimed that her prayers were answered. She claimed that her intercessory prayers saved a hardened criminal.
Is this really the way intercessory prayer works? In a word, yes. How? The answer to that rests somewhere in God’s mysterious ways. What we do know, for certain, is that every prayer for someone else is heard, and in God’s goodness, answered, for the other person’s good. Every single prayer for another helps that other person, and helps us.
The lives of the saints are replete with examples. St Monica, mother of St Augustine, prayed day and night for her son when he was living a wild life. Augustine had, among other activities, fathered a child out of wedlock. Monica was told by her Bishop that “no child of so many tears (prayers) could be lost.” Monica’s prayers were instrumental in saving Augustine.
We are each called to pray, ardently, for our children, family, priest, the Church, country, world. We have a noble and royal vocation, to pray and make an untold difference in the entire cosmos.
Ouch! Therese is not a saint! NO Orthodox church accepts her as such except for the vagante masqueraders at New Skete and (I believe) the loony-left fringe of the Paris Exarchate (the same folks who gave us “St” Maria Skobtsova (unrecognised by no major Orthodox Church, INCLUDING the EP!).
Why not write about real saints such as St Matrona the Blessed of Moscow or such real elders as Fr Ioann Krestiankin (+2007) or Mother Varvara of Pyukhtitsa (still alive)?
I have a friend who was recently chrismated (last September) and her saint IS St. Maria Skobtsova. I do not think that the bishop would have allowed for my friend to take St Maria as her saint unless she is, indeed, a saint in the Orthodox Church. I am sorry that we do not agree on this point.
Here is a link regarding St. Maria: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Maria_Skobtsova
I am only repeating the official position of the Moscow Patriarchate, which is final in all cases regarding Russian saints. I am very sorry that such things are creeping in amongst us.
In any case, I am personally well-informed regarding Ms Skobtsova, and her life is not in the model of Orthodox monasticism. Not only do we disagree, but, I fear that any veneration of Ms Skobtsova is not general save in fringe groups.
We should leave this at that. Pray for this sinner. The times we live in are not “normal”. May God preserve the right.
I do agree with you that St Maria is “not in the model of Orthodox monasticism”, but these is much to be learned from her life.
My husband pointed out to me that St. Isaac of Syria was in fact a Nestorian, not even Orthodox. And he is a major figure in the Orthodox Church.
I don’t want to be a person who judges others. We can learn from people by the good things that they do and by the bad. No saint is necessarily the ideal, save the Theotokos. I pray that God will open our eyes to what we can learn from all those who confess the Christian faith.
I know many Catholics who have a special affection for St. Therese, I appreciate learning more about her, thank you.