LST11 – The Ordinary Quality of St. Therese’s Holiness – The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux with Fr. Timothy Gallagher Podcast

Here are some of the various texts Fr. Gallagher refers to in this episode:

The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. I: 1877-1890 (Critical edition of the complete works of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux)

Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. II

From the Witnesses of the ordinary trial – Witness one: Agnes de Jesus (Pauline Martin)

One of them said that it wasn’t difficult being holy when one had everything one could wish for as she did, and when one lived with one’s family and was pampered. I am obliged to say that this senior professed nun, who was not of very sound judgement, decided to leave the monastery and is now living out in the world. Another, during her last illness, said, “I wonder what our Mother Prioress could possibly write about Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus. What can you say about someone who has been constantly cosseted and hasn’t acquired virtue at the cost of struggles and suffering like us? She is meek and good, but these things come naturally to her.” [LC 29-7] I heard these words through Sr Thérèse herself, who had heard them. The nun who pronounced them is now dead. On the other hand, that same nun, who was a Lay Nun, said on other occasions that Sister Thérèse of the Child [241v] Jesus was a saint