Carmel of Lisieux
October 24, 1921
My Dear Sister Ignatius,
Though your kind letter has not reached us for the 14th of August, we knew well that our dear Mothers and sisters of Philadelphia, those in Heaven and those here below, were in spirit with us, and we were closely united to you all. In the prayers that we offered on that day for the friend, the benefactors and the apostles of our Venerable, you had a special share as you can well imagine, and doubtless our beloved sister must have showered her roses on you. The report of the ceremony, English version, will be ready in a few days, it will come a long time after the glorious event it relates, yet we think it will interest you all the same. As for myself, the more I read the Decree and the discourses of the Pope, the more I find teachings in them and the more I desire to follow the Little Way. The Pope’s words: “We desire to see the secret of the sanctity disclosed to all our children,” are a great encouragement to spread the knowledge of the Little Way.
Now there, remains the process of the miracles to be made before the beatification. Of course the miracles have already been selected: one on behalf of a nun, one for a priest, and one for a very poor and miserable child of 8 years. The diocesan processes have been made and now at Rouen they are busy with The Apostolic Process of these miracles. It is a big work which requires much time but prayers will hasten the work as it happened in the process of virtues which was made in a very short time. As they say in Rome, the Course of the Venerable “ne marche pas, elle vole.” I can’t translate the word “marche” in this sense. See what a good scholar I am!
On September 30, I prayed very specially for our dear Mothers and Sisters of Philadelphia, and as usual I paid in their name, a visit to the infirmary, and cell of the Venerable. I draw a petal of roses and here is the message our “Little Thérèse” (you will remark that the Pope calls her thus in his discourse) sends you: “The Creator of the Universe awaits the prayer of a poor little soul to serve a multitude of others. For Sister Francis the message is: We who run in the Way of Love, we must never allow ourselves to be troubled by anything.” And for the Community: “There is no stay, no support to seek out of Jesus. He alone changeth not. What happiness to think that He can never change!
Many thanks for the check of L 16.15 received. I enclose receipted account. I had already sent 1000 relics paper envelope in the first days of October and had sent another 1000 with the last order. As they are paid in advance we don’t mention them in the invoice.
We were united with you during the novena and on the feast of our Holy Mother Teresa. By the way you will notice that in the report of the ceremony of Aug. 14 we put Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Many in Ireland always preferred the word Thérèse to Teresa. The autobiography is entitled Soeur Thérèse. The life for children “Little Thérèse” yet on many pictures we used to put Teresa, but at the end we have decided to keep Thérèse in order to make a distinction with our Holy Mother. Yet I think in the English speaking countries she will always be called The Little Flower of Jesus.
We have prayed and will still pray for the repose of the soul of your departed Rector. How he will help you from above. Yet we always feel the departure of those who make us good. What a joy when we will all be united for ever in Heaven! Pray for me dear Sister. I never fail to commend you to Our Venerable and your little saints daily. Many thanks for the nice picture of your holy patron saint. I will keep it in our breviary and will often speak of you to him.
With affectionate regards, yours sincerely in Our Lord,
Sr. Anne of Jesus