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

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I believe she wrote her autobio in her last days, while she was dying of TB. Persons in the throes of chronic/terminal illness can often have spiritual experiences. Her soul was so perfect that she was gushing like St. Peter at the Transfiguration. Her vocation as a Discalced Carmelite was to pray for priests, which led to an empathetic experience. However, the Holy Ghost led her to resignation of her situation as a woman who was ineligible for the priesthood.

Blessings,
Mrs Cloisters OP
Lay Dominican
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Yeah, the Pranzini story is discussed at length in every biography and autobiography of her.

I think the Lord let her come home to him because her work on earth as a human was done. She has pretty clearly continued her work on earth as a saint in Heaven, with God’s permission. She said she wanted to spend her Heaven doing good things on earth, and I firmly believe she does that very thing. She travels more places than she ever could have as a missionary, since missionaries don’t time-travel.

St. Therese, pray for us!
 
Her devotion to living in her Carmelite enclosure; even while having these desires, makes her even GREATER as a saint, in my view.

Like when we read St. Teresa of Calcutta’s journals where she shared how apart from God she felt, for many years, yet remained fervent in her loving care of the poor and dying.

I pray, that I might have but an ounce of the faith and love and joy that Therese the Little Flower exhibited in her short time on earth.

Shower us with roses from heaven, St. Therese!
Deacon Christopher
 
I’m reading Therese’s collected letters right now. I am quite attracted–always have been–to the idea of spiritual childhood and complete trust in God as a way to holiness.
That said, a couple things strike me in reading her works, perhaps especially the letters. She was very, very effusive, in a young girl type way, with a lot of uber-pious, Victorian sentiment. That’s hard to cut through sometimes. Far more importantly, though, she was 100% convinced that she was a saint and was going directly to heaven. I can’t think of another saint so convinced of their sanctity already here on earth, and it certainly is something I can’t relate to! I have to ponder a lot to comprehend this.
 
@Limoncello4021

St. Thérèse went through serious periods of doubt when her tuberculosis became came so horrific that she was drowning in her own lung fluids. Her priest admonished her to avoid the mortal sin of despair.

Here’s one quote that shows how badly she suffered:

“Watch carefully, Mother, when you will have patients a prey to violent pains; don’t leave near them any medicines that are poisonous. I assure you, it needs only a second when one suffers intensely to lose one’s reason. Then one would easily poison oneself….”

St. Thérèse’s life was not a cakewalk. Although her father, St. Louis Martin, was exemplary, he could nort make up for the mother Thérèse lost at age 4 1/2. Moreover, she stayed with a wet nurse as an infant, because her mother, St. Zelie Martin, could not nurse her. She was seriously ill as a child, but the Blessed Mother granted her a healing miracle.

Her sisters were her mother figures. One by one, they left her for the Carmelite Monastery. She was very emotional and overwrought over her losses. She was rejected in school by a girl she considered her friend. But, finally, at age 14, Thérèse experienced her Christmas conversion, when she finally overcame her tempestuous emotions.

Thérèse was passionate about everything in her life. Her florid writing reflects that passion.

Her life at the Carmel was not perfect. In developing the Little Way, she learned to put up with the nun who splashed dirty water in her face.

I encourage you to read her autobiography, “Story of a Soul.” Also, check out “The Passion of St. Thérèse,” translated by Guy Guacher. It recounts her last months of life.

In Heaven, Thérèse showers us with roses – in spite of her difficult life.

@Diaconia

I agree that God led St. Thérèse where she was meant to be. Her terminal illness allowed her to write “The Story of a Soul.” I want to add another point. I believe contemplatives’ prayers bathe the Church in holiness.

And speaking of wrong-headed vocations, St. Anthony of Padua (another of my favorite saints) aspired to be a martyr. Once he arrived in Morocco, he was too sick to preach to the Muslims. When he was shipped back to Italy, he realized God had other plans. His preaching helped to put an end to the Carthusian heresy. And we know the rest of the story.

@Tis_Bearself
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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God forbid that I would attack the Blessed Mother. I revere her and love her because Jesus gave her to us as our mother. She has kept me going during my darkest moment.
 
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She taught other people that they too could go straight to Heaven if they trusted God enough, and that God wanted people to trust him.

Remember she was coming out of a climate where it was taught that people were so bad and unworthy of Heaven. She also suffered severe scruples, so her ability to overcome that and trust that God would save her was a great triumph for her. Finally, she never suggested that she was going to get to Heaven all on her own. She trusted in God to get her there.
 
Oh now I remember why I posted this question. Benedictine Sister Ruth Schönenberger of Germany was using the St. Thérèse quote to bolster her argument for ordination of women.

Thank goodness I remember the context.
 
It’s twisted and distorted by the people who want women priests. St. Therese knows that women can’t become priests. She was using hyperbole to express her love for Jesus. But it’s no good trying to point that out to feminists with an agenda.
 
First of all, as the person who referenced Mother Seton, I said nothing about an agenda, and YOU are the one drawing unwarranted implications from a post that simply noted factual information. If you are truly interested in following up on this, I highly recommend Catherine O’Donnell’s excellent and deeply documented biography, “Elizabeth Seton: American Saint” (Cornell University Press, 2018). O’Donnell’s only “agenda” seems to be rigorous scholarship…
 
Yes, of course I know all this and have read Story of a Soul (and taught it) many times over. It is quite obvious that her life had suffering in it. That’s not my point at all, if you read my post. I was commenting on the fact that she knew in this life, and often expressed, that she was bound directly to heaven.
 
Well, yes–I agree with this. Of course she never implied she was going to “get to heaven all on her own!” And her entire theology of spiritual childhood was in direct response to the pernicious Jansenism of her time.
 
Are you talking to me? I’ve got no idea what you’re taking about.
 
Yes, I was referencing your comment. You suggested that people who referenced these saints’ desire for priesthood were people with a “feminist agenda” or who supported women’s ordination. That is what I was talking about. I have no idea if O’Donnell has an opinion on either of those things, and you do not know me or what I may or may not believe about them, either.

Here is what you said, and to which I was responding: “It’s twisted and distorted by the people who want women priests…But it’s no good trying to point that out to feminists with an agenda.”

All I did was point out a fact: that Mother Seton expressed her own desire for priesthood (obviously, well before Ste. Therese did).
 
You seem quite angry about my comment. My statement is based on the fact there is a movement to pressure the Vatican to allow so-called women priests. These activists wrongly use St Thérèse to bolster their agenda.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
Yes, of course I know all this and have read Story of a Soul (and taught it) many times over. It is quite obvious that her life had suffering in it. That’s not my point at all, if you read my post. I was commenting on the fact that she knew in this life, and often expressed, that she was bound directly to heaven.
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Please excuse my mistake. I must have read too quickly and (obviously) incorrectly. God bless you for your devotion to the Little Flower.
 
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