Seminarian in France- Day 5

Today is our last day in Normandy, and it was time to head to Liseux, and most people will associate that town with the St. Therese of Lisieux, or of the Child Jesus. St Therese moved to Liseux when she was 15 to enter the Carmalite monastery where she stayed till she died at the age of 24. What she achieved in that time was so profound and immense that she was declared a saint in 1925, and in 1997 StTherese was proclaimed a doctor of the church only one of four women in the church due to here spiritual writings, the most well know is Story of a Soul, which is an edited version of here journals.

St Therese's tomb, Apparantly three of her sisters that entered the Carmilites are buried under her tomb as well.

The Basilica of St Therese.

The interior of the basilica the top part, is shaped with a huge dome in the center of the church.

The main altar, Jesus with Mary and StTherese either side of him.

The petition altar, I lit a candle for our seminarians in the Beda as St Therese said she will pray for seminarians.

The lower chapel is situated under the main Bassilica.

At the rear of the lower basilica is the tomb of St Therese's parents Luis and Zelie Martin. They were both canonised as saints in 2015 by Pope Francis. Both had a strong desire to be saints themselves and both tried to enter religious orders but were reject. They met and maried and wanted to live together celebate lives but there local preist told them this was not how marriage is ment to work. They ended up having nine children four of them did young and the surviving five girls all entered religious life four of them including Therese with the Carmiltes. They are an outstanding example for any parents striving to raise their children in the Catholic faith, and any parents doing so are on the path to sainthood themselves. I lit a candle at their tomb for the families in the Port Pirie Dioces.

The top of St's Luis and Zelie's tomb.

Fr Bijoy had a mass booked in a side chapel and celebrated with deacon Riachrd assisting.

After mass we strolled down the hill to the Carmilte community where St Therese's body is kept, (it is not in the basilica) and said a few prayers in front of her. St Therese is know as the little flower and her cript is adorned with fresh flowers. St. Therese's path to holiness was "the litte way", well that little way sure turned into something quite big. St Therese is the patron saint of missionaries and florist as well as being an inspiration for priests, seminarians and religious. Many of the Beda seminarians have a great devotion to St Therese.

The cathedral in Lisieux is St Peter's and it is where St Therese used to attend mass with her family before she entered the Carmel.

The main altar in the Bassilica that was donted by Luis Martin after Therese entered the Carmel.

The chapel where they attended weekday mass, located behind the main altar.

We could have stayed so much longer in Liseux but time was ticking by and we had to drop Steven off at the airport in Paris where the rest of us would stay the night before heading off on the train on our last leg of the trip to Ars.