Maurice and Therese: The Story of a Love by Patrick Ahern
$19.00
As
Saint Therese lay dying in the Carmel of Lisieux, she overheard a
conversation that amused her. Outside her window, two nuns were
discussing what they could write in her obituary that could possibly
be of any interest, since the twenty-four-year-old nun had never done
anything worth nothing. Therese was pleased, for she had always kept
a low profile. With the posthumous publication of her spiritual
autobiography in 1898, however, that low profile would vanish
instantly. She became one of the most beloved saints of all time, and
her influence will expand dramatically because of Pope John Paul II's
declaration that she is a Doctor of the Church. Amid growing interest
in her writings comes the collected correspondence between her and a
humble young seminarian, Maurice Belliere. Though they never met in
person, they exchanged twenty-one letters that opened a window on the
heart of Saint Therese that would have remained forever closed had
Maurice not written to the Mother Superior at the convent asking for
a nun to pray for him. The Mother Superior chose Therese, and in
these conversational letters the Little Flower reveals herself in a
way that we would never have known from her autobiography. In his
accompanying text, Bishop Patrick Ahern expertly leads the reader
into the worlds of Maurice and Therese and reveals the full beauty of
this saint's spirituality.
Measures 5.5" by 8.5".
Paperback, 286 pp.
