J. M. J. T.
Carmel of Lisieux
July 7, 1925
My dear Sister Ignatius,
First I must apologize for my long delay in thanking you for your kind letter and enclosure. I need not explain to you the reason of my delay, for you know it well. It is not assuredly forgetfulness for I think of you very often. Yes, I often think of my dear sisters of Philadelphia, those on earth and those in Heaven. On the day of the canonization I congratulated dear Sisters Stanislaus & Mary, for both must have felt a special joy on this day of triumph which by their prayers & labour they helped so much to hasten.
I always feel moved when I think of them, and how often do I say to our little saint that if we gave to her English speaking clients – so many books & pictures to make them good, she owes it to Rev. Mother Beatrice who gave leave to her daughters to work, and to Srs. Stanislaus & Mary who encouraged me so much to make the editions and helped so wonderfully to dispose of them. Then Sister Francis & your dear self succeeded to your little saints and thus Saint little Thérèse owes quite a lot to your dear Carmel, and we too.
We try to repay you in praying for you all and doubtless our little saint will do so in granting you the roses you all desire: that of an ever increasing love for Our Lord.
Many thanks for the details of the celebrations of May 17 in Phila. I hope you will be able to obtain the account of the blind child cured.
I hope you received the Journal des Pélerins [Journal of Pilgrims]; as our Rev. Mother said in her circular, a benefactress has paid the subscription for one year to all the Carmels; so as you paid for one, you will in future receive two copies of the ed. de luxe; you might like to give the second copy to some friends. As for the pictures, I sent your order to the Office Central but they could not supply the 4 pp.rotogravure leaflets as they are not yet ready. There are no coloured pict. with English text.
I will send you 500 new novenas. I hope you are all keeping well. We are just having a seven day feast after the consecration of our chapel. Tomorrow there will be six bishops & one Cardinal. It is quite glorious and we trust that the shower of roses falls abundantly on all. Our greatest seven day feast in honour of our little saint will take place Sept. 24 to 30th. I commend to your prayers my eldest brother who died a very holy death on April 22nd. R.I.P. All the community unites in sending to Rev. Mother Seraphim, Mother Beatrice and all the sisters, warmest greetings. Assuring you, dear Sister of my sisterly affection, I remain, your loving sister in Our Lord.
[no signature – indeed there was no room on page for her signature]