The young man who proposed marriage to Celine Martin, sister of St. Therese of Lisieux, on April 9, 1888

Celine Martin as a young woman

St. Therese entered the Carmelite monastery at Lisieux after the 7:00 a.m. Mass on Monday, April 9, 1888.  But that was not the only momentous event in the life of the Martin family that day.  That same evening Celine, Therese's eighteen-year-old sister, received an offer of marriage.

For more than a century the identity of Celine's first suitor remained unknown to the public.  The first young man ever known to have proposed marriage to any of the Martin daughters, he was a Man of Mystery.  I'd often wondered who he was and how he had become friends with the Martin family, who led a sheltered life at Lisieux.  In 1997, when Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D., whose knowledge of every detail of the family's life is unparalleled, spoke at a Carmelite conference at Marquette University, I asked him for the name of the young man who proposed to Celine the night after Therese entered.  He answered "We don't know."  Since then, further research has identified the suitor, for both the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux and Bishop Gaucher's exhaustive 2010 biography, Sainte Therese de Lisieux (1873-1897), divulge the name: Albert Quesnel.

M. Albert Quesnel on March 27, 1893, almost five years after he asked Celine Martin to marry him

 The Quesnel family, wealthy jewelers, were neighbors of the Martins.  Their house, near Les Buissonnets, was also located in the parish of Saint-Jacques.  Albert, their only son, was born July 16, 1858 at Lisieux, four days after the midnight wedding of Celine's parents, Louis and Zelie Martin, in Alencon on July 12, 1858.  His family were close friends of the Martins, and he had known St. Therese during her childhood and until she became a Carmelite.  He had given Celine advice in drawing and painting, in which he was gifted. 

At the time he asked Celine to marry him, Albert Quesnel was twenty-nine years old.  Although Celine did not seriously consider accepting him, his proposal upset her, making her question her religious vocation.  Years later she wrote in her autobiography:

This piece of news distressed me, not that I was undecided as to what I had to do, but the divine light, in hiding itself from me, delivered me up to my own fickleness; I kept telling myself "Isn't this offer, which is made to me the instant Therese leaves me, an indication of God's will for me, which I hadn't foreseen?"  The Lord may have permitted me this desire for religious life up until now so that, in the world, I might be a strong woman.  So many people tell me I do not have the makings of a religious!  Perhaps, indeed, I haven't been called to that life by Divine Providence.  My sisters never had to choose formally between the two lives; doubtless, God wanted them for himself, and he does not want me!  In short, although my resolution had never changed, my anguish kept mounting and mounting . . . . I could no longer see clearly. Yet, just in case, I responded that I was not willing, that I wanted to be left in peace for the time being, and that no one should wait for me. 

(Celine: Sister and Witness of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, by Stephane-Joseph Piat, OFM.  San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997, pp. 33-34).

Therese was not the only Martin daughter whose vocation was beset with trials! 

After Celine refused his proposal, M. Quesnel decided to study for the priesthood.  He continued to be friends with the Guerin family.  Mme. Guerin mentions him in a letter, and on March 27, 1893, he was photographed while attending a reception at the Guerin home.  See the group photograph at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.

M. Quesnel carrying the reliquary of his former neighbor, little Therese Martin, who had become St. Therese of Lisieux

He was ordained, and he served as a parish priest in Ranville, where he died on May 11, 1935, and where he is buried. Celine, who entered the Carmelite monastery in Lisieux on September 14, 1894, more than six years after his proposal, outlived him by almost twenty-four years, dying on February 25, 1959.

Except the text from Celine cited to Piat, the information in this article is drawn from Bishop Gaucher's Sainte Therese de Lisieux (1873-1897) and from the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. I thank the Archives for permission to display their photographs of M. Quesnel and of Celine.  To see many more photos and documents, visit the Archives Web site.

An essay illustrated with 19th century photos to celebrate the 125th annniversary of the day St. Therese of Lisieux entered Carmel, April 9, 1888

Therese Martin entered Carmel on Monday, April 9, 1888.  That year April 9 was the feast of the Annunciation, which had been transferred from March 25 because of Lent.  This photo essay is to celebrate the 125th anniversary of her entrance.

Therese a few days before she entered on April 9, 1888

Let's listen to some accounts of her entrance.  First, Saint Therese's own:

"On the morning of the great day, casting a last look upon Les Buissonnets, that beautiful cradle of my childhood which I was never to see again, I left on my dear King's arm to climb Mount Carmel. Chapel entrance of Lisieux Carmel photographed shortly after Therese's death

 As on the evening before, the whole family was reunited to hear Holy Mass and receive Communion.  As soon as Jesus descended into the hearts of my relatives, I heard nothing but sobs around me. 

 I was the only one who didn't shed any tears, but my heart was beating so violently it seemed impossible to walk when they signaled for me to come to the enclosure door.  I advanced, however, asking myself whether I was going to die because of the beating of my heart!  Ah! what a moment that was.  One would have to experience it to know what it is.

Louis Martin, probably at age 58, about 1881

 My emotion was not noticed exteriorly.  After embracing all the members of the family, I knelt down before my matchless Father for his blessing, and to give it to me he placed himself upon his knees and blessed me, tears flowing down his cheeks.  It was a spectacle to make the angels smile, this spectacle of an old man presenting his child, still in the springtime of life, to the Lord!

Space where Louis knelt to bless Therese when she entered, April 9, 1888A few moments later, the doors of the holy ark closed upon me, and there I was received by the dear Sisters who embraced me.  Ah! they had acted as mothers to me in my childhood, and I was going to take them as models for my actions from now on.  My desires were at last accomplished, and my soul experienced a peace so sweet, so deep, it would be impossible to express it." 

(Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of LIsieux, tr. John Clarke, O.C.D.  Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 3rd ed., 1996.  Used with permission).

Canon Delatroette

St. Therese writes "A few moments later."  She tactfully omits what other witnesses report happened in those few moments.  Canon Jean-Baptiste Delatroette, the parish priest of St. Jacques, was the ecclesiastical superior of the Lisieux Carmel (the priest charged with supervising, from the outside, this community of women religious).  He had bitterly opposed Therese's entrance, believing her too young, but was overruled by his bishop, who left the decision up to the prioress.  Before Therese crossed the threshold, and in the presence of her father and her sisters, Canon Delatroette announced "Well, my Reverend Mothers, you can sing a Te Deum.  As the delegate of Monseigneur the bishop, I present to you this child of fifteen whose entrance you so much desired.  I trust that she will not disappoint your hopes, but I remind you that, if she does, the responsibility is yours, and yours alone."  He could not have foreseen that twenty-two years later Pope St. Pius X would call this girl "the greatest saint of modern times."

Much less well known than Saint Therese's account of her entrance is Celine's description of her experience of the same moment. Celine and Leonie were present with their father at the short ceremony. 

Celine and Leonie the year after Therese enteredAfter writing of how inseparable she and Therese had been, Celine continued:

It tookmuchyettoget toMonday, April 9, 1888, where the little Queen left her own, after we heard Mass together in the Carmel, to join her two older sisters in the cloister.  When I gave her a farewell kiss at the door of the monastery, I was faltering and had to support myself against the wall, and yet I did not cry, I wanted to give her to Jesus with all my heart, and He in turn clothed me in his strength.  Ah! how much I needed this divine strength!  At the moment when Thérèseentered theholy ark, the cloister door which shut between us was the faithful picture of what really happened, as a wall had arisen between our two lives."  (from the obituary circular of Celine Martin, Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face, copyright Lisieux Carmel; translation copyright Maureen O'Riordan 2013).

The enclosure door which shut between Celine and Therese on April 9, 1888Saint Therese continues, writing of her impressions that first day:  "Everything thrilled me; I felt as though I was transported into a desert; our little cell, above all, filled me with joy."  St. Therese occupied three cells in Carmel, and until now few people have seen even a photograph of that first cell, for the photo commonly published was of Therese's last cell.  Thanks to the generosity of the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel, we can at last see early photos of the room Therese saw that day.  It was on the corridor near the garden:

The corridor with the door to Therese's first cell standing openThis cell looked out on the roof of the "dressmaking building" where habits were made:

Carmelite postulants wore a secular dress with a little capelet, and a small net bonnet on the head.  The photograph below of Marie Guerin as a postulant (she entered August 15, 1895) shows how St. Therese and all postulants dressed until they received the habit.

Learn more about the Carmelite life Therese began to live on April 9, 1888.

The feast of the Annunciation is usually celebrated on March 25, just nine months before the feast of Christmas.  One of the other nuns testified that Therese loved the feast on March 25 "because that's when Jesus was smallest."  Therese began her Carmelite life on the feast of Mary's "Yes" to her Lord.  May each of us enter every day of our own lives with Therese's fervor and joy, for every day is a doorway for each of us to intimacy with God, to wholeness, and to sainthood.

Note: the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux are being digitized and posted online in English at the Web site of the Archives of Carmel of Lisieux.  All the above photos are displayed courtesy of that site.  Please visit it here to see thousands of pages of photographs, documents, and information about St. Therese, her writings, her family, her environment, the nuns with whom she lived, and her influence in the world.  It is a true doorway to Saint Therese!

 

April 22, 2013: the album "Vivre d'Amour," the poems of St. Therese of Lisieux set to music by Gregoire and sung by Natasha St.-Pier, to be released

Thérèse - Jeter desfleurs (Natasha St Pier- TEASER

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(Listen above to the 90-second teaser of Therese's poem "Jeter les fleurs" ("To scatter flowers") sung by Natasha St.-Pier).

On April 22, 2013 the album "Vivre d'Amour," the poems of St. Therese of Lisieux set to music by Gregoire, will be released in France. 

"Vivre d'Amour is a bold and singular project.  It is also a project surprisingly created by the meeting of talents.  And it is above all an encounter between a composer, Gregoire, and the poems written at the end of the 19th century by St. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite with an extraordinary destiny who died of tuberculosis in 1897 when she was only 24 years old.  As a variation to the infinite that symbolizes Love, Therese's "Living on Love" is also an unusual project because of its collective dimension.  Several artists accompany the singer Natasha St.-Pier on this album: Anggun on the first single "Vivre d'Amour" ("Living on Love"), Sonia Lacen on "Mes Armes" ("My Weapons'), Elisa Tovatoi on "Rapelle-toi" ("Remember"), and many other surprises. 

The members of the Collective are:  Natasha St-Pier, Anggun, Elisa Tovati,SoniaLacen,The StentorsGregoryTurpin,BishopdiFalcoLéandri, Michael Lonsdale,The Little Singersof the Wooden Cross, and Gregory.

[The above article is translated fromCharts in France, accessed April 7, 2013].

"Therese of Lisieux: Doctor of the Church. A Study of the Cause, Process, and Proclamation of October 19, 1997."

"Therese of Lisieux: Doctor of the Church.  A Study of the Cause, Process, and Proclamation of October 19, 1997," a master's thesis by Mary-Ellen Malolepszy in the department of theological studies of Concordia University in Montreal, is now available online.  Among other themes, the author examines the history of the cause for Therese as a doctor of the Church in detail, with some comments about the role attributed to American Catholic dignitiaries; explores the issue of gender in relationship to Therese's doctorate; and explores the implications of Therese's doctorate.  This paper contains details about the cause of Therese's doctorate that, to my knowledge, have not been available online before now. Enjoy it.

Film footage from the time of St. Therese of Lisieux of the arrival of a train in France

 This 52-second film, from the time of St. Therese, shows the actual arrival of a train at La Ciotat, near Marseilles.  Therese passed through it on her return from Rome to Lisieux in November 1887.  You can imagine that she was moving among people dressed in this way.  See more details of the pilgrimage to Rome at the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.