Lost images always have an incredible story.
After a long investigation, we present to you one of the "biblical images" of Thérèse, unpublished, found in the belongings of a priest who bequeathed his personal papers to the Carmel of Lisieux. He was the nephew and godson of a Carmelite nun from Lisieux who entered in 1916, who cared for Marie du Sacré-Coeur and Céline until their death.
It is probably a copy, made by Céline, although the handwriting is mistakenly that of Thérèse, but Thérèse's capital J and her lowercase f are different. His J's usually have a small hat. However, in picture 5 where the young Mélanie is represented in the arms of an angel, Thérèse writes a capital J identical to those of this image. When Thérèse writes quickly, a letter for example, she stretches her word endings to the right, but not in a well-calibrated text like this. Note in the left column the pencil strokes under his text, as in picture 1 or on certain pages of the album made for Marie de Gonzague. Furthermore, Céline copied and recopied part of the biblical images created by her little sister, in the very characteristic style of the summer of 1896: see images n°1, n°2, n°5 and n°8 in the small menu on the right. Each time, Céline applies herself to straightening her own handwriting leaning towards the right to imitate that of Thérèse. Finally, note that Thérèse chose a copy of the two souvenir images of the beautiful spring celebrations of 1896 - probably the remains of the two interested parties: Celine's professional image (Sr. Geneviève) on February 24, 1896, and the image of taking the habit of Marie Guérin (Sr Marie of the Eucharist) on March 17, 1896.
Transcription
[At the top]
Luke XV / Ps 123
I am still far; but my Father sees me... He will become tender and come running towards me to embrace me, to kiss me... Yes, my soul will escape like a sparrow from the net of the fowlers: the net will be broken and I will be delivered. ..
[to the left]
Beneath my steps the grass has bruised, the flower in my hands has withered... Jesus, I want to run in your meadow, on it my steps will not mark!... Jesus, it is you! 'Lamb that I love You are enough for me, O supreme good! In you I have everything: the earth and even the sky. The flower that I pick, O my King, is you!
[See here stanzas 33 and 36 of her Poetry 18 which Thérèse copies.]
[to the right]
Happy moment, O ineffable Happiness! when I will hear the sweet sound of your voice... when I will see the divine radiance of your adorable Face for the first time! You know well that my only martyrdom is your love Sacred Heart of Jesus! Towards your beautiful sky if my soul sighs it is to love you... to love you more and more!.........
[See here excerpts from stanzas 3 and 4 of his Poetry 33 that Thérèse copies.]
[downstairs]
When the Lord draws my soul from captivity, my deliverance will appear to me like a dream... my mouth will then cry out for joy and my tongue will sing songs of rejoicing. Then it will be said among the nations: The Lord is doing marvelous things for this child. – Yes, the Lord will do very great things for me: and I will be filled with joy... (Ps CXXV)
Commentary by Claude Langlois for this unpublished image
Why comment at length on an unknown image, dating from the summer of 1896, which Thérèse simply made for her? For several reasons which, each in their own way, shed more light on Thérèse and her story.
Firstly because we entered, with the beginning of the XNUMXth century, into a civilization of the abundant image, thanks in particular to mechanical reproduction processes, which began, at the beginning of the century, with lithography: the prints can easily reach tens of thousands of copies. It is not yet the cinema, nor the video. But caricatures, paintings, current events ... and pious images are easily distributed. These are quickly exchanged between women on all occasions and the practice is found in Carmel. Parisian image makers, such as the engraver Lataille and the publisher Boumard, responded to public taste and produced series which seemed to us cutesy but which were very popular at the time.
Because, also, at the other end of the chain, this image made at the end of the 1th century, takes on, in the following century, when Thérèse is recognized as a saint, an exchange value with a strong symbolic charge. We could reconstruct its later journey: Céline makes a copy of it, as she did of images 2, 5, 8 and XNUMX. Later, the copy will be offered to a younger sister of the carmel (her nurse) so that this has something, in turn, of Thérèse. And the Carmelite transmits the said image to a priest nephew who, at his death, gives his papers to the Carmel... with the image. Circuit which may seem unusual but which reflects a frequent circulation of Theresian relics.
Because this image model, representing in an allegorical way the warm contact of the faithful with Jesus, had already known a previous journey among those close to Carmel. Marie de Gonzague, then prioress, had offered an image similar to the front above to Pauline Martin when she told her of her desire to enter the Carmel in 1882. Then, a year or two later, she had gave the same gift to young Thérèse to prepare her for her communion, in May 1884 - see here. And Thérèse herself, who liked the image right away, will offer one of the same fold-out model to her godmother, with a small text written on the back - see here.
Because, in a more singular way, this image is part of a series of so-called "biblical" images that Thérèse made, very probably in 1896. She chose well-known Gospel themes (nativity, adoration of the shepherds, holy family , Marie-Madelaine at the foot of the cross) and a dramatic episode in the life of Joan of Arc (Joan in prison). From negatives of various origins (images, paintings or photos of Céline), Thérèse experimented with new ways of illustrating the negatives of texts chosen by her by borrowing them from the Bible (gospels, psalms) but also by resorting to her own poems. These unfinished models of new images provide us with proof that Thérèse was looking for familiar supports in 1896 to make known her new spiritual perspectives. You can see them by clicking on the images from 1 to 8 on the menu opposite at the top right of this page.
Because finally this rediscovered image is very moving. Admittedly Thérèse proceeded here as for the previous images, by mixing Gospel reference, verses of psalms and extracts from her poems, in particular two stanzas of a new poem intended for Marie of the Sacred Heart for her feast (poetry 18). Thus she intended to give a new spiritual meaning to an image that she liked so much. But she does not content herself with expressing her feelings through her poetry, she also uses the words of the psalms and especially the parable of the prodigal son to make people understand how she envisages a death that she senses is imminent. She does this in particular by putting herself in the shoes of the prodigal son when he sees his father coming to meet him. It's like reading a script for a camera movement: "I'm still far away but my father sees me... He [will] soften and run towards me to kiss me, kiss me..." Then she quotes the verse 7 of Psalm 123 (according to the vulgate) to give the meaning of this hoped-for meeting: “Yes my soul like a sparrow will escape from the net of the fowlers: the net will be broken and I will be delivered. »
