The Global Spiritual Impact of the Little Way of St Thérèse of Lisieux
In a fitting and stunningly beautiful tribute to the youngest Carmelite nun to be canonised, Philip C. Kolin once again captivates readers with his latest work, A Centenary Garland: Poems about St Thérèse of Lisieux. Kolin, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Southern Mississippi and a faithful Catholic, brings great spiritual depth and literary skill to this collection. He captures the saint’s humility, devotion, desire to win souls, and her rapture before Christ’s sacrifice for us all.
The poems were occasioned by the celebration of the 100th anniversary of St Thérèse’s canonisation in 1925. She died of tuberculosis at the tender age of twenty‑four, having gained the fond appellation ‘The Little Flower’. According to the Society of the Little Flower:
St Thérèse loved nature and often used its imagery to explain how God’s presence is everywhere. ‘Thérèse saw herself as the “Little Flower of Jesus” because she was just like the simple wildflowers in forests and fields, unnoticed by the greater population, yet growing and giving glory to God.’
The Little Flower, who entered the Lisieux Carmel at fifteen when most entered in their twenties, made a profound impact with her theology of the Little Way. Kolin explains it as:
representing the small acts and hours
(‘In the Lourdes Courtyard: A Photograph’, 25)
in which God is present in the ordinary events of life.
In ‘The Great Laundry Day at Carmel’ (29), readers encounter one of Kolin’s many clever turns of phrase as he offers an example of one of these little acts. Here we find St Thérèse, dressed in a white apron, sleeves rolled up, humbly
paddling heavy habits
stitched with vows.
On that day, a sister carelessly let some of the dreary water splash into Thérèse’s face. Her response?
Thérèse let it hit her face
thinking of Veronica’s
shroud imprinting
Christ’s sweaty visage.Yet another opportunity
of Thérèse’s serving God
doing little things
with deep love.
In the same poem, Kolin demonstrates his consummate use of alliteration and enjambment when he describes the clothes as:
sodden with sorrel salt and
ash to purify what they wore
in a world soiled
with selfish dust.
Kolin offers vivid, often colourful imagery throughout, as our holy imaginations accompany St Thérèse to the beach on holiday, the sacristy, her father Louis Martin’s luxuriant garden, her infirmary room where tuberculosis wracked her body, and other settings. The poet also introduces us to the saint as a literary creative:
At nine before her First Communion
St Thérèse pledged herself
to all the Holy Angels.So with bright vermillion wings
(‘St Therese and the Angels,’ 27)
they fly through her poems and plays,
Story of a Soul, art and prayers.
He floods our imagination and spirit with the litany of nature in ‘Chestnut Alley’ (24):
Every holy place has trees –
palms, oaks, cedars, pomegranates…
Fruit‑laden with lush, leafy canopies,
God’s gifts to Carmel.
The poem is accompanied by a lovely photograph of the alley of chestnuts at Carmel. Throughout the book, the poems are punctuated by graphics of roses and photographs taken by St Thérèse’s sister Céline, also a Carmelite nun.
St Thérèse loved roses, and as she was dying promised: ‘I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens; I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.’ Those who have prayed for or received miracles of healing after her death often report seeing roses in hospital rooms, at church altars, and in other unexpected places. She continually prayed that souls would be saved, and Kolin recounts that the Lisieux Carmel sent a sack
of dust from Thérèse’s exhumed coffin
(‘St Thérèse, Patron of Missionaries,’ 44)
to two French missionaries in the cruel Arctic
who sprinkled it overnight on non-believers
who awoke to Christ.
With that, Kolin says it all. The one who viewed herself as the bride of Christ — the one who, looking into the bottom of a freshly cleaned Communion chalice, could see ‘Thérèse in Christ; Christ in Thérèse’ (‘The Reflection’, 20) — has bestowed countless gifts upon humanity, both in life and in heaven. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Philip Kolin for reminding us of the life and legacy of this remarkable young woman, one of the Church’s most beloved saints.
