#celine-guerin — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 2 May: St. Zélie Martin

I was very pleased to hear the good news about your little Jeanne. You must be happy to have such a lovely little girl; I was also very happy when I raised my first [Marie], she was so healthy. I was too proud; the good Lord didn’t want it to last; all the other children I had afterward were difficult to bring up and gave me a lot of trouble.

The youngest, little Joseph is still among them, he is still sick. For three months now he has been suffering from bronchitis which has left him in a sad state; last week we thought he was going to die. The doctor put a vesicant between his shoulders and left it on him for several days.

Just think how much this poor little boy must have suffered! And with that, a continuous cough and a tightening of the chest that was choking him. I went to see him twice a day; in the morning, I left at five o’clock, and in the evening at eight o’clock, and I always came back with a heavy heart.

He has been better since Saturday, he is beginning to take a little food and coughs less, but he is far from being cured, I am sure that your little one is much more resistant than him because he is reduced to nothing and has no strength. I would have been very happy to have a strong little boy, but I can’t be pleased now, maybe that’s for later, I console myself with that hope.

I am happy that you have decided to come to Alençon this year; it is about time after not having seen you here for two years! Since I will have the pleasure of having you here, I will not go to Lisieux, as I had thought. If you only knew how valuable I am here and how difficult it is for me to be absent. I cannot trust my father’s servant, I can only compare her to the one I sent you, they are not more serious than each other and are only good for watching passers-by and giving a bad example to children.

I am glad that your business is doing well, it reassures me, mine is going badly, quite badly, it could not be worse. I believe positively that I am at the end of my reign; however, it is against my will, because I would have liked to work until the end for my children. We already have five of them, without counting those who may arrive, because I do not despair of having three or four more!

My father has been ill for several days, he was sick yesterday, he complained a lot about every part of his body, he thinks he is going to die. I am very sad to see him like this. He doesn’t want to see a doctor, but if this continues, I will go and get one.

Saint Zélie Martin

Letter CF 32 to her sister-in-law Céline Guérin
May 1868

Note: Poor little Joseph Jean-Baptiste Martin (19 December 1867 – 24 August 1868) suffered nearly four months more after his bronchitis, followed by gastrointestinal problems. Vesicant therapy was used to create a blister on the skin near the diseased organ so as to extract or draw to the surface of the body all that may be harmful to the preservation of health, such as Joseph’s life-threatening respiratory infection (cf. D’Alembert 1751).

On the day he died, St. Zélie wrote to her brother Isidore Guérin, “My dear little Joseph died this morning at 7:00. I was alone with him. He had a night of cruel suffering, and I begged with tears for his deliverance. My heart was relieved when I saw him breathe his last” (cf. CF 36).

In the oil painting Le sommeil de l’Enfant Jésus, Céline depicts a grouping of cherubs that feature the faces of her four deceased siblings, Hélène, Joseph-Louis, Joseph Jean-Baptiste (mentioned in St. Zélie’s letter above), Mélanie-Thérèse, and cousin Paul Guérin.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

#business #CélineGuérin #familyLife #illness #JosephJeanBaptisteMartin #medicine #StZélieMartin #suffering

Quote of the day, 3 January: St. Zélie

My little girl was born last night, Thursday [January 2], at eleven-thirty. She’s very strong and in very good health. They tell me she weighs eight pounds. Let’s say six, which is still not bad. She seems very sweet…

I barely suffered a half hour. What I felt before was practically nothing. She’ll be baptized tomorrow, Saturday. The only thing missing to make the celebration complete is all of you. Marie is going to be the godmother, and a little boy close to her age will be the godfather.

I received your letter, as well as the box containing the New Year’s gifts. I don’t know if I should scold you. I want to very much, and yet I also want to thank you, but everything is too beautiful and too expensive. Céline wore her beautiful fur and muff for the first time on the first day of the year.

I wish all of you a happy New Year. Please remember me to Monsieur and Madame Fournet and Monsieur and Madame Maudelonde.

I look forward to sending you a longer letter. I can’t write a long one today.

Marie and Pauline have been on vacation since Tuesday evening. They’ll stay with me until Monday or Tuesday.

Saint Zélie Guérin Martin

Letter CF 84 to her sister-in-law Céline Fournet Guérin
3 January 1873

Note: M. and Mme. Fournet were the parents of Céline Fournet Guérin, the wife of St. Zélie’s brother Isidore. M. and Mme. Maudelonde were Céline Guérin’s sister, Marie-Rosalie Fournet Maudelonde and her husband César. The Maudelonde, Guérin and Martin families often saw each other in Lisieux or on vacation, especially at Trouville.

Martin, Z 2011, A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885, Society of St. Paul, New York.

Featured image: Photographer Glen Bledsoe captures this image of a vintage cradle and bedroom in the Methodist Parsonage at Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, Oregon. Image credit: glenbledsoe / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#Alençon #baptism #birth #CélineGuérin #letter #MarieMartin #PaulineMartin #StThérèseOfLisieux #StZélieMartin

I didn’t know how to play like other children and as a consequence wasn’t a very pleasant companion. I did my best, however, to imitate them but without much success. I was very much bored by it all, especially when we spent the whole afternoon dancing quadrilles.

What I really liked, though, was going to the park [le Jardin de l’Etoile], for there I was first in everything, gathering flowers in great profusion and, knowing how to find the prettiest, I excited the envy of my companions.

What pleased me was when by chance I was alone with little Marie [Marie Guérin, her cousin] and, not having Céline Maudelonde [Marie Guérin’s cousin] dragging her into ordinary games, she left me free to choose, and I chose a game that was entirely new.

Marie and Thérèse became two hermits, having nothing but a poor hut, a little garden where they grew corn and other vegetables. Their life was spent in continual contemplation; in other words, one hermit replaced the other at prayer while she was occupied in the active life. Everything was done with such mutual understanding, silence, and so religiously that it was just perfect.

When Aunt [Céline Fournet Guérin] came to fetch us to go for our walk, we continued the game even on the street. The two hermits recited the rosary together, using their fingers in order to screen their devotion from the inquisitive public; however, one day the younger hermit forgot herself completely: having received a piece of cake for lunch, she made a big sign of the Cross over it before eating it, causing people to laugh.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Manuscript A, folios 23r–23v

Note: Visit the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux to view a wash drawing by Charles Jouvenot depicting Marie and Thérèse in their little hermitage.

Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Indonesian photographer Gratias Adhi captures this image of a young girl and her mother praying the Holy Rosary together on her bed at home. Image credit: pakWw / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/06/tej-kidhermits/

#active #CélineGuérin #children #contemplativeLife #hermit #hermits #MarieGuérin #Rosary #StThereseOfLisieux #walk

SCRIPTURE

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Matthew 16:24–26

READING

It’s true that each person has a cross to bear, but there are some for whom it is heavier than others. My dear sister, you’ve already begun to see that life is not a bed of roses. God wills this to detach us from the world and raise our thoughts toward Heaven.

Yesterday, while going with the doctor to see my little Thérèse, who is very sick, I noticed a beautiful chateau and some magnificent properties. I said to myself that all of that is nothing. We’ll only be happy when all of us, we and our children are reunited in Heaven, and I offered up my child to God.

Saint Zélie Martin

Letter CF 90 from Zélie Guérin to her sister-in-law Céline
30 March 1873

PRAYER

Saints Louis and Zélie,
you who in your life as a couple and as parents
have borne witness to an exemplary Christian life,
by putting God first,
by fulfilling the duties of your state in life
and practicing the evangelical virtues,
we turn to you:

Help us to have unshakable trust in God
and to abandon ourselves to His Will,
as you did through the joys,
as well as the trials, grief, and suffering
that marked your lives.

Help us to love God with all our hearts,
to persevere through our daily difficulties,
and to abide in the joy and hope
that a living faith in Christ gives us.

Intercede for us

(Mention your intentions here)

that we may obtain the graces we need
today and every day of our lives.

Our Father…

Glory be…

Saints Louis and Zélie, pray for us.

Martin, Z 2011, A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885, Society of St. Paul, New York.

All scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.

Let us unite in prayer

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/09/lzmnovena24-8/

#CélineGuérin #cross #detachment #happiness #heaven #novena #prayer #roses #StThérèseOfLisieux #StZélieMartin #StsLouisMartinAndZélieGuérin

SCRIPTURE

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me
    to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
    they shall stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
    my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
    yet I will be confident.

Psalm 27:1–3

READING

I’m not sure if you know that the Prussians have been in our home since Monday morning, at seven o’clock. They marched in front of the house until one o’clock in the afternoon. There were 25,000 of them. I couldn’t describe our anxieties.

Monday, around three o’clock, all the doors were marked with the number of enemy soldiers to be housed. A big sergeant came to ask us to inspect the house. I took him up to the first floor while telling him we have four children. Fortunately for us, he didn’t try to go up to the second floor. Finally, they made us take in nine of them, and we can’t complain. In our part of town, small shopkeepers who have only two apartments are taking in fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five. Those we have are neither mean nor looters, but they love to eat like I have never seen.

We’ve had to let them have the entire first floor and move to the ground floor. If I told you everything, I’d have to write a book.

All the livestock in the surrounding area were taken. Now there’s no more milk anywhere. What will my little Céline do? She drinks a liter a day! And what are the poor mothers who have only small children going to do? Nor is there any meat in the butcher shops. In short, the town is in desolation. Everyone is crying except me.

My husband is sad. He can neither eat nor sleep. I believe he’s going to get sick.

Saint Zélie Martin

Letter CF 64 from Zélie Guérin to her sister-in-law, Céline
17 January 1871

PRAYER

Saints Louis and Zélie,
you who in your life as a couple and as parents
have borne witness to an exemplary Christian life,
by putting God first,
by fulfilling the duties of your state in life
and practicing the evangelical virtues,
we turn to you:

Help us to have unshakable trust in God
and to abandon ourselves to His Will,
as you did through the joys,
as well as the trials, grief, and suffering
that marked your lives.

Help us to love God with all our hearts,
to persevere through our daily difficulties,
and to abide in the joy and hope
that a living faith in Christ gives us.

Intercede for us

(Mention your intentions here)

that we may obtain the graces we need
today and every day of our lives.

Our Father…

Glory be…

Saints Louis and Zélie, pray for us.

Martin, Z 2011, A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885, Society of St. Paul, New York.

All scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.

Let us unite in prayer

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/08/lzmnovena24-7/

#anxiety #CélineGuérin #familyLife #FrancoPrussianWar #intercession #novena #prayer #sadness #StLouisMartin #StZélieMartin #StsLouisMartinAndZélieGuérin #suffering #war

SCRIPTURE

While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Job 1:18–21

READING

Your letter did me good. I’m truly grateful for all your concern for me, and I thank you for it. I’m resigning myself to the will of God, although it’s very hard to lose such a pretty little girl [Hélène died 22 February 1870 at the age of five years and four months, on Marie’s tenth birthday].

Saturday night she still came downstairs to be with us. We always gave her meat broth with a little vermicelli [pasta] and barley water. She was so tired of it that the maid said to me, Friday night, that it would be better to give her a light bread soup. I listened to her. The little one ate some twice on Saturday, and she liked it so much that I gave her some again on Sunday, at noon. That’s what I regret and what I will regret my entire life. However, I don’t think that was the cause of her death because she passed away from weakness.

Sunday night she had trouble breathing, and I sent for the doctor right away, He wasn’t there and didn’t come until Monday morning. He told me the child had a mucous fever [inflammation of the mucous membranes in the digestive tract and lungs] with congested lungs, that she was in very great danger and that I shouldn’t give her anything but broth. However, he gave me permission to add a little vermicelli or semolina when I told him that she didn’t want to drink clear broth.

After he left, I looked at her sadly; her eyes were dull, there wan’t any more life in them, and I began to cry. Then she put her two little arms around me and consoled me the best she could. All day she had been saying to me, “My poor little mother’s been crying!” I spent the night with her, a very difficult night. In the morning, we asked her if she wanted to take some broth. She said yes, but she couldn’t swallow it. However, she made a supreme effort, saying to me, “If I eat it, are you going to love me better?”

Then she took it all, but afterwards she suffered terribly, and I didn’t know what was happening. She looked at a bottle of medicine the doctor had prescribed and wanted to drink it, saying that when she had drank it all, she would be cured. Then, around a quarter to ten, she said to me, “Yes, in a moment, I’m going to be cured, yes, soon….” At that moment, while I was holding her, her little head fell onto my shoulder, her eyes closed; then five minutes later she didn’t exist anymore….

That made an impression on me I’ll never forget. I didn’t expect such a sudden end, nor did my husband. When he came home and saw his poor little daughter dead, he began to sob, crying, “My little Hélène! My little Hélène!” Then together we offered her to God.

Saint Zélie Martin

Letter CF 52 from Zélie Guérin to her brother Isidore and his wife, Céline
24 February 1870

PRAYER

Saints Louis and Zélie,
you who in your life as a couple and as parents
have borne witness to an exemplary Christian life,
by putting God first,
by fulfilling the duties of your state in life
and practicing the evangelical virtues,
we turn to you:

Help us to have unshakable trust in God
and to abandon ourselves to His Will,
as you did through the joys,
as well as the trials, grief, and suffering
that marked your lives.

Help us to love God with all our hearts,
to persevere through our daily difficulties,
and to abide in the joy and hope
that a living faith in Christ gives us.

Intercede for us

(Mention your intentions here)

that we may obtain the graces we need
today and every day of our lives.

Our Father…

Glory be…

Saints Louis and Zélie, pray for us.

Martin, Z 2011, A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885, Society of St. Paul, New York.

All scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Joseph, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Edith Stein.

Let us unite in prayer

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/07/lzmnovena24-6/

#CélineGuérin #children #death #familyLife #HélèneMartin #illness #intercession #IsidoreGuérin #novena #prayer #StZélieMartin #StsLouisMartinAndZélieGuérin