Popes...
Saint Pius X." The greatest
saint of modern times. . ."
BENEDICT XV
"It is our wish that the secret of the holiness of
Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus should not
remain hidden from any of our sons". (1921)
Pius XI
"From the depths of her enclosed convent, she fascinates
the world today with the magic of her example, an example
of holiness which everyone can and must follow, for everyone
must enter on the `Little Way' - a way of golden simplicity,
which is childlike in name only - on the `Way of Spiritual
Infancy' .... `Little Thérèse' has become
the `Great Saint Thérese (1925).
Angelo RONCALLI - LATER POPE
JOHN XXIII)
"I shall never cease blessing and exalting the little
and great saint who has always been, and always will be,
the lucky star of my mission in France. It was at the altar
in the chapel dedicated to
her in Ankara, in the heart of Turkey, that I bade farewell
to the Orient, where I had spent twenty years of apostolic
ministry. Every day, I look at her marble statue in my private
chapel in the nunciature; better still, I turn to her in
prayer and confide to her all my problems and difficulties
in the ministry of reconciliation and peace which is my
mission in the service of the Holy Church and of France
also."
PAUL VI
"You know that I was baptized in 1897, on the day when
Thérèse Martin, later Thérèse
of the Child Jesus, passed away in France. On one of the
secret notes she made before her death (cf. Last Conversations),
Thérèse said: `When I am dead, I shall visit
the cradles of baptized infants'. On pilgrimage in Rome,
she had encountered some mediocre priests; instead of criticizing
them and retreating to the periphery, she resolved to place
herself at the very heart of things, in love alone. I shall
read you what she said about this in the `Story of a Soul"'.
Taking the book, the Pope read out the famous passage: "I
understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love
was everything, that it embraced all times and places. I
cried out: I have found my place in the Church. My vocation
is love."
(Reported by Jean Guitton, who adds: "Paul VI did not
read me the French text, but the Latin translation in the
breviary.")
ALBINO LUCIANI - LATER JOHN
PAUL I)
"Dear Little Thérèse I was 17 when I
read your autobiography. It hit me like a thunderbolt. You
had called it `Spring Story of a Little White Flower', but
the willpower, courage and resolution which it revealed
made it seem to me the story of a steel bar. From the moment
you chose the path of total dedication to God, nothing could
stop you: neither illness, nor external opposition, nor
inner clouds and darkness:'
JOHN PAUL II
"The holy patron of the missions comes from your region.
From Lisieux, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and
the Holy Face has spread her missionary zeal throughout
the world. Her spiritual teaching, which is of luminous
simplicity, still touches the faithful in all walks of life.
It is right that we should ask her to help Catholics in
France to follow in her holy footsteps and to develop their
solidarity with their brothers in Europe, Africa and other
parts of the world, so that all can share in the gifts received
from Christ, our Savior." (1992)
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