Share views re St. Thérèse's vocation to the priesthood

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njlisa

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This post is not intended to start an argument. I am asking to learn from others in the CAF community.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux is considered the greatest saint of modern. She is also a Doctor of the Church. With that said, she felt she had a vocation to the priesthood. How do we reconcile her views with official church teaching? Please share your thoughts about St. Thérèse’s vocation.

"I feel in me the vocation of the PRIEST. With what love, O Jesus, I would carry You in my hands when, at my voice, You would come down from Heaven. And with what love would I give You to Souls! But alas! While desiring to be a Priest, I admire and envy the humility of St. Francis of Assisi and I feel the vocation of imitating him in refusing the sublime dignity of the Priesthood.”
 
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Well, she didn’t become one, did she?

I wanted to be a priest when I was a teenager too. I didn’t become one either. Perhaps one day I will emulate St. Therese and be a lay OCDS instead.

Obviously the Vatican didn’t have an issue with what she said as they canonized her and made her Doctor of the Church. And it wasn’t an alleged “modernist” Pope who canonized her either, it was Pope Pius XI. I’m assuming as part of these processes they read everything she wrote.

Seriously, I have to ask, what value is there in nit-picking St. Therese’s private thoughts? It’s not like she was marching around the cathedral with a sign reading WOMEN PRIESTS NOW. (FWIW, I don’t do that either. I was IN the Cathedral praying while people were marching outside last time I saw that.) She also wasn’t likely expecting that the world would be reading her writings or that she would be one of the most popular saints of the 20th century. When she got to see the Pope, she didn’t ask him to let her be a priest. She asked him if she could enter Carmel at 15.
 
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We are all called to share in the vocation of priesthood.
Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ. … “to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5). By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people …” (1 Peter 2:9). Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers ( CCC , 1267, 1268).
 
@Tis_Bearself: She says, at the end of the quote, that she wanted to emulate St. Francis and refuse the honor of the priesthood. St. Therese had a passion for saving souls. In fact, she corresponded to a couple of priests about the Little Way. As you know, she was a passionate woman. I think her vocation was a “what if.”
 
Full Quote:

“I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr; as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for Your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I’d got the courage to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dying on the battlefield in defense of the Church. And at the same time I want to be a priest; how lovingly I’d carry You in my hands when you came down from heaven at my call; how lovingly I’d bestow You on men’s souls! And yet, with all this desire to be a priest, I’ve nothing but admiration and envy for the humility of St. Francis; I’d willingly imitate him in refusing the honour of the priesthood."

I think in that quote she clearly says that she wants to be a priest and at the same time wants to refuse the priesthood because they are both good things, somehow! She didn’t become a lot of the things that she felt called to be, because, I think, they were all second place for her to be who she was.
 
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It was an expression of her love for Jesus. She realized it wasn’t possible and found a way to rationalize that and channel it into an expression of spirituality. Works for me.

It reminds me a bit of how her predecessor, St. Teresa of Avila, wanted to run away and fight the Moors when she was young.
 
@jag her comment about refusing the honor of the priesthood had to do with St. Francis of Assisi.

@Stephen_says: As I said earlier, St. Therese had a passion for saving souls. As you know, she was a passionate woman. I think her vocation to the priesthood was a “what if.” At the time, she didn’t realize the tremendous impact she would have on the salvation of souls.
 
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@Tis_Bearself:
Tis_Bearself said:
When she got to see the Pope, she didn’t ask him to let her be a priest. She asked him if she could enter Carmel at 15.
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She wasn’t supposed to speak to the Pope. And she was dragged away by the Swiss guards because she kept pestering him. What an awesome moment!
 
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@Tis_Bearself:
St. Anthony of Padua wanted to be a martyr. He was shipped off to Morocco, but he was to sick to preach. So he was sent back to Italy. He had a tremendous impact on defeating the Carthusian heresy.

Oddly enough, my childhood ambition was to be a martyr.
 
Well, you’re holier than me in that regard. I wasn’t in a hurry to get killed, or I would have joined the diocesan El Salvadoran mission team out of high school (two from our diocese had already been killed down there).
 
But she well understood her priestly duties, a privilege for every Catholic: to spend her life interceding before God for souls.
 
I quite agree that it was a wish. She had a passion for souls. Before she was a Carmelite, she fervently prayed for the soul of a murderer. Just before he was to be decapitated in the guillotine, he kissed a cross held before him.

@Tis_Bearself
Tis_Bearself said:
Seriously, I have to ask, what value is there in nit-picking St. Therese’s private thoughts?
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I’m sorry. I never intended to make this into an argument. I asked for peoples’ views. I often read her writings. This issue caught my attention.

The wonderful thing about saints is their passion for souls. And St. Teresa’s desire to fight the Moors is a great example of her zeal. Saints are all about zeal. That’s why we love them so much.
 
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njlisa said:
I’m sorry. I never intended to make this into an argument. I asked for peoples’ views. I often read her writings. This issue caught my attention.
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I’m sorry if I misunderstood. I am so used to people attacking Mary on the forum that when I see a thread linking St. Therese and women priests, I automatically assumed the worst. My bad. I just hope no one decides St. Therese was a so-called “liberal”.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I’m sorry if I misunderstood. I am so used to people attacking Mary on the forum that when I see a thread linking St. Therese and women priests, I automatically assumed the worst. My bad. I just hope no one decides St. Therese was a so-called “liberal”.
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I spend 98 pecent of my time on the prayer intentions boards. I’m hardly a rabblerouser. Whenever I post, I’m looking for other peoples’ (name removed by moderator)ut. I hate debating. I like learning.
 
Therese’s writings in Story of a Soul are memoirs / reflections - they’re not intended to be a comprehensive theological study and it’s important to keep this in mind when reading them. At the same time of course, given that she’s a Doctor of the Church, there’s nothing in them which is in any way heretical or theologically misguided. but there’s still a world of difference (in terms of the style of writing if nothing else) between a theological study and an autobiography.
 
InThePew said:
I think in that quote she clearly says that she wants to be a priest and at the same time wants to refuse the priesthood because they are both good things, somehow! She didn’t become a lot of the things that she felt called to be, because, I think, they were all second place for her to be who she was .
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InThePew said:
Therese’s writings in Story of a Soul are memoirs / reflections - they’re not intended to be a comprehensive theological study and it’s important to keep this in mind when reading them. At the same time of course, given that she’s a Doctor of the Church, there’s nothing in them which is in any way heretical or theologically misguided. but there’s still a world of difference (in terms of the style of writing if nothing else) between a theological study and an autobiography.
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Thanks so much. I’m learning so much from everyone’s (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
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njlisa said:
She had a passion for souls. Before she was a Carmelite, she fervently prayed for the soul of a murderer. Just before he was to be decapitated in the guillotine, he kissed a cross held before him.
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<cough, cough> Catherine of Siena

St Therese’s is a story of frustrated desires. Her desire to be a missionary led to her becoming a patroness of the missions, even though her health kept her from any chance at missionary work.

That she died at the age when a man might be ordained is taken by some as a sign by some that God wanted to spare her that frustration.
 
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