The Journey of Thérèse of Lisieux

As a conformation to Christ:

Mercy in fragility and primacy of grace

First Meeting of Ongoing Formation of European Carmelites

October 21, 2023

Giampiero Molinari, O. Carm.

pdf To read the Questions for Reflection - Mercy & Grace (365 KB)

Introduction

In this year we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (2 January 1873) and the centenary of her beatification (29 April 1923). 2025 will be the centenary of the canonization (May 17, 1925). As we know, UNESCO has also placed Thérèse among the historically significant women. All this is a good reason to take up her writings and reread her doctrine, trying to bring it into life.

In approaching Thérèse we must not forget a fact: if on the one hand she is certainly a light for having recalled the perennial values of the Gospel, on the other (like each of us) she remains a daughter of her own time. Her writing is influenced by the romantic and somewhat honeyed atmosphere of the time and is characterized by a wide use of diminutives, prolonged punctuation marks, etc. All this may not facilitate reading and also create a certain annoyance! If, however, a little effort is made and we go beyond this “rind”, we will discover a very deep spiritual experience (substantially not understood when the saint was alive) and a doctrine, which we can define as a narrative and symbolic theology.

The Experience of Divine Mercy in the Root of One’s Own Fragility:

A Microhistory of Salvation

We can consider Thérèse of Lisieux as the Doctor of divine mercy. This theme appears, in fact, as the leitmotif of the two autobiographical manuscripts in which she rereads her own life (Manuscript A, whose drafting begins at the beginning of 1895, and Manuscript C, written from June 1897).

At the beginning of Manuscript A, Thérèse outlines the intended purpose:

I will do only one thing: begin to sing what I must repeat forever – “The mercies of the Lord” (Ms A 2r).^[1]

Manuscript C is on the same wavelength; addressing the prioress, Mother Mary of Gonzaga, the saint writes: “Beloved Mother, she has expressed to me the desire that I complete with her my Song of the Mercies of the Lord” (Ms C, 1r).

In this regard, we must not underestimate the beginning “incipit” of Manuscript A: “Spring History of a White Flower” (Ms A 2r) – which would be better translated “small white flower” (respecting the original French) – since in Thérèse’s intention it contains a profound experience of God’s mercy. It is, in fact, the saxifrage^[i] that her father gives her after he confided to him the desire to enter Carmel: 

What I remember perfectly was the symbolic gesture that my beloved King made without knowing it. Approaching a wall not very high, he showed me some white flowers similar to miniature lilies and, taking one of those flowers, he gave it to me, explaining to me how carefully the good Lord had given birth to it and had kept it until that day. Hearing him speak, I thought I was listening to my story, such was the similarity between what Jesus had done for the little flower and the little Teresa” (Ms A, 50v. Bold mine).

In her Manuscripts, therefore, Thérèse rereads her own life as a micro-history of salvation: she is not the centre, but God’s merciful action in her. The saint is clear on this point: “it is not my real life that I will write, but my thoughts on the graces that the Good Lord has deigned to grant me” (Ms A, 3r). And shortly after: “The flower that will tell its story [...] he recognizes [...] that only his mercy has done all that is good in him” (Ms A, 3v).

1. The Context of Fragility

The theme of divine mercy shines even more if we consider Thérèse’s experience, especially in the first years of her life. A period marked by various traumatic events, which produce not minor wounds, blocking, in a certain way, the natural affective maturation. Here they are in summary:

1. The two separations experienced around the age of two months: from her mother, who cannot breastfeed her because of breast cancer and must entrust her to a nurse and, subsequently, from the latter following the return to the family.
2. The illness and subsequent death of her mother in 1877 (cf. Ms A 12r-13r):

I don’t remember crying much and I didn’t talk to anyone about the deep feelings I felt... I watched and listened in silence... [...], yet I understood (Ms A 12v. Bold mine).

On the following page we read:

starting from the death of Mother, my happy character changed completely; I became so lively, so expansive, shy and sweet, sensitive to excess. One look was enough to make me melt into tears (Ms A 13r).

3. The departure for Carmel of her sister Pauline, whom Thérèse had chosen as her second mother (cf. Ms A 13r):

I did not know what Carmel was, but I understood that Pauline would leave me to enter a convent, I understood [...] that I would lose my second Mother!... Ah, how can I tell the anguish of my heart?... In a moment I understood what life was [...] a continuous suffering and separation. I shed very bitter tears... (Ms A 25v. Bold mine).

4. Narrating the departure for Carmel of his sister Mary – who, after the separation from Pauline, had taken as her only support (cf. Ms A, 41r) – Thérèse returns to the theme: “Pauline was far away, very far from me... [...]. Pauline was lost to me, almost as if she were dead” (Ms A, 41r-41v). These are very strong words, which reveal the drama she is experiencing.

1. The Experience of Mercy with Marian and Christological Tones

As we know, all these traumatic situations cause the onset of a psychosomatic illness, characterized by symptoms such as insomnia, tremors, headaches, hallucinations, etc. It is a kind of neurosis and childhood regression. Paradoxically, it is precisely in this phase of extreme fragility and vulnerability that Thérèse experiences God’s mercy, to the point of affirming – rereading her own life – that the characteristic of love, of grace, is to humble oneself (cf. Ms A 2v). The saint can say this because she experienced at this particular juncture a God who bends down to her misery. For this reason, in writing Manuscript A, now “matured in the crucible of external and interior trials” (Ms A, 3r), she cites Psalm 22 (The Lord is my shepherd), highlighting with conviction: “The Lord has always been compassionate and full of sweetness towards me” (Ms A, 3v).

The healing journey lived by the saint (which we could define as a sort of personal “path of salvation”) is characterized by two fundamental stages with a Marian and Christological tone, respectively.

We all know the story of Our Lady’s “enchanting smile” (Cfr. Ms A 30v-30r), thanks to which Thérèse regains a substantial (although not complete) basic serenity: “all my sufferings vanished” (Ms A 30r), “the little flower was being reborn to life” (Ms C 30v), we read in Manuscript A. Reading this story carefully we will realize that the saint perceives the smile of the Virgin as the reflection of God’s tenderness. This can be guessed from the use of the symbol of the “sun” that is applied to God to emphasize his benevolence (cf. Ms A 3r), but later it is also extended to the Virgin Mary (cf. Ms A 29v) and to the creatures themselves at the moment in which they are perceived in the act of mediating the care of the divine Sun (cf. Ms A 24r).

Although restored, Thérèse is still distinguished by a remarkable hypersensitivity, which she defines as an “ugly defect” (cf. Ms A 44v). She describes as follows:

I was really unbearable for my excessive sensitivity; so, if I happened to unintentionally give a little displeasure to a person I loved [...] I wept like a Magdalene and, when I began to console myself with the thing itself, I cried for having cried... (Ms A 44v).

At this point the merciful action of the Father will take on a Christological connotation, centred on the abasement of the Son of God in the mystery of the Incarnation. This is the well-known “Christmas Grace” of 1886 (cf. Ms A 44v-45v), defined by the saint: “the grace of my complete conversion” (Ms A 45r). It constitutes, in fact, a real “watershed”: Thérèse perceives herself so transformed that she no longer recognizes herself; From that moment, she writes, “I walked from victory to victory and began, so to speak, ‘a enormous race!...’“ (Ms A 44v).

For the theme we are dealing with, the synthesis proposed by Thérèse herself is interesting:

In an instant the work that I had not been able to do in 10 years, Jesus did it by being content with my good will that I never lacked (Ms A 45v).

In this rereading of the event of Christmas 1886 I seem to grasp, in fact, how the saint is now aware of  the primacy of grace: it is always the love of God that takes the first step, being content with our “good will”.  

1. The Underlying Message:

A Gaze of Faith that Opens to Hope

Through her experience, therefore, Thérèse opens us to hope: no wound, no limit can block our path of maturation towards holiness if we surrender ourselves to the transforming action of the Spirit. Limitations, wounds, psychophysical fragility, the ‘chiaroscuro` (light and shade] of life can become horizons of grace to^[2] the extent that our daily life is given with trust to God.

Thérèse could very well turn in on herself, remain a prisoner of her wounds. Openness to grace, on the other hand, enables her to leave the “childhood phase” (cf. Ms A, 44) to live in the perspective of the gift of self: “I felt [...] the need to forget myself to please and since then I have been happy!” (Ms A 45v), she writes at the conclusion of the story of the “Christmas Grace”.

The saint invites us to refine our gaze of faith: despite all the setbacks that may arise, in the soil of our life there are many seeds of God’s mercy (cf. Dt 6:10-13). Pope Francis also reminds us of this in the Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exsultate: “Look at your history when you pray and in it you will find so much mercy. At the same time this will nourish your awareness that the Lord keeps you in his memory and never forgets you” (n. 153).

It is precisely this awareness, matured over the years, that leads Thérèse to a new vision of perfection. She talks about it in folio 32r  of Manuscript A (which according to Conrad de Meester, ocd represents one of the best formulations of the “little way”^[3]):

I always feel the same bold confidence to become a great Saint, because I do not rely on my merits, since I have none, but I hope in Him who is Virtue, Holiness Itself: it is He alone who, being content  with my weak efforts, will raise me up to Him and, covering me with His infinite merits, will make me Holy (Ms A, 32r. Bold mine).

It is  the primacy of grace, the awareness  of the gratuitousness of salvation, to which the saint arrives through a gradual journey of conforming to Christ.

Conforming to the Face of Christ:

From voluntarism to the gratuitousness of salvation

Simplifying the debate a little, we can affirm that the dominant spirituality at the time of Thérèse is characterized by rigorism, asceticism, the offering to the Justice of God in reparation for sins and voluntarism. At the centre we find personal effort, the need to acquire merits.

This atmosphere is obviously also breathed in the Carmel of Lisieux (although the spiritual vision of St. Francis de Sales is also gaining ground) and we can also see it in Thérèse. On January 8, 1889, two days before the clothing, she wrote to her sister Sr. Maria of the Sacred Heart: “How thirsty I am for Heaven [...]. But it is necessary to suffer and weep to reach it... Well! I want to suffer whatever pleases Jesus” (LT 79). In the same year, reporting on the speech of a preacher, she wrote to Céline: “Holiness consists in suffering and suffering everything. “Holiness! it must be conquered with the unsheathed sword...” (LT 89).

1. “The Mysteries of Love Hidden in the Face of our Bridegroom” (Ms A 71r):

Devotion to the Holy Face and the Illness of Louis Martin

Another traumatic moment in Thérèse’s life is represented by the illness of her father, to whom she was very close. A source of particular suffering will be his hospitalization, on February 12, 1889, in a psychiatric hospital in Caen, due to the intensification of senile dementia. The expressions with which the saint recalls the event are significant:

Ah, I didn’t say that day that I could suffer more!!! Words cannot express our anxieties, so I will not try to describe them (Ms A 73r).

Even with suffering (as also shown by the graphological examination of the letters written in this period), Thérèse faces the new trial with great spiritual maturity. Her father’s illness led her to deepen her devotion to the Holy Face, already lived in the family and later in the monastery. In fact, in the no longer recognizable face of the father she sees the features of the Suffering Servant described by the prophet Isaiah (cf. Is 53:1-5 and 63:1-5) and understands more deeply the abyss of humiliation into which the Son of God wished to descend.

The close link that Thérèse places between the trial that struck her father and the Passion of the Lord appears clearly in a Holy Face that she draws in a chasuble shortly after the death of her father, which took place on July 29, 1894. Observing it even superficially, in fact, the similarity of this image of the Holy Face with the somatic features of Louis Martin does not escape^[4].

In the light of Scripture and her father’s illness, Thérèse discovers the essence of the Holy Face: she speaks of “mysteries of love” (cf. Ms A 71r), of “hidden beauties” (cf. LT 108). In her letter of 4 April 1889 she wrote to Céline: “Jesus burns with love for us [...] Look at Jesus in his Face and there you will see how he loves us (LT 87).

In the disfigured Face of the Lord, Thérèse contemplates God’s crazy and gratuitous love for each one of us, beyond our merits. Before that Face there is no longer room for optional, for titanic effort or for the search for merits, but gratitude for an ever anticipated divine grace. Suffering itself acquires meaning only if it is the consequence of love and fidelity to the Gospel. In the letter of July 6, 1893, the saint addresses Céline with these significant words: 

He [Jesus] teaches her to play at the bank of love; but, no, rather it is He who plays with her, without telling her how He does, since this is her business and not Thérèse’s; what concerns her is to abandon herself, to give herself without reserving anything, not even the satisfaction of knowing how much the bank yields (LT 142. Bold mine).

And in the Act of Offering to Merciful Love, of 9 June 1895, she writes: “In the evening of this life, I will appear before you empty-handed, because I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works” (Pr 6. Bold mine).

Significant is what the saint reports in the last pages  of Manuscript C (written in June 1897, therefore three months before her death): “here below I cannot conceive of an immensity of love greater than that which you were pleased on my part to lavish freely without any merit on my part” (Ms C, 35r. Bold mine).

Conrad De Meester summarizes Thérèse’s journey in these terms:

Holiness [...] is no longer a conquest but a grace received. Man, before the God of love, becomes more passive, more receptive. [...] man’s first commitment is to open himself completely to the Redeemer, while his effort becomes collaboration^[5].

And further on: “The will to conquer has been completely transformed into receptivity to the gift”.^[6] Obviously this does not mean a low-profile spirituality: Thérèse in fact – De Meester underlines – “does not neglect any effort to be faithful [...] to the will of God as it is manifested in concrete life.”^[7] The difference lies in a greater peace of mind in the face of powerlessness and one’s own fragility. Letter 142 of 6 July 1893, which we have already quoted in part, constitutes a sort of “manifesto” in this regard.

1. “Let Me Resemble You, Jesus!” (Pr 11)

At this point in her journey, therefore, Thérèse sees holiness from a radically new perspective: it is a question of growing ever more in likeness to the Face of Christ. This is what she expresses in a very short prayer, written on a small parchment in which the Holy Face was depicted. The text sounds like this: “Make me resemble you, Jesus!” (Pr 11). Significant is the fact that the saint always carried this prayer with her, together with others, in a bag pinned with a pin on the side of the heart: almost a visible manifestation of the desire to live the gift of self as a response to the gratuitousness of salvation.

^[1] I quote the writings of the saint using the following volume: S. Teresa di Gesù Bambino, Opere complete. Scritti e ultime parole, LEV-Edizioni OCD, Città del Vaticano-Roma 1997. [Quotations in the original Italian text are translated in this English version unofficially.]

^[2] A. Piccirilli, Fragile come tutti, felice come pochi. Teresa di Lisieux e le nostre ferite, San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 2019, 14. [English translation of book title: Fragile as everyone, happy as few. Thérèse of Lisieux and our wounds.]

^[3] C. De Meester, Teresa di Lisieux. Dinamica della fiducia. Genesi e struttura della «via dell’infanzia spirituale», San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 1996, 208-210.

^[4] The image is visible in P. Descouvemont – H. N. Loose, Teresa e Lisieux, LEV, Vatican City 1995, 207.

^[5] C. De Meester, A mani vuote. Il messaggio di Teresa di Lisieux, Queriniana, Brescia 1997⁵, 44.

^[6] Ibid., 52.

^[7] Ibid., 53.

^[i] Translator: Saxifrage, also known as rockfoil, any of the flowering plants of the family of Saxifragaceae.

Carmelite Student Retreat at Nocera Umbra Brings Together Europeans for Week of Prayer and Fraternity

The retreat of the simply professed from the provinces, commissariats and delegations of Italy, France, Spain (Catalunia, Betica), Britain, La Bruna, Poland, Naples and Ireland, gathered in Nocera Umbra on July 29th until Sunday August 4th for a week of prayer, retreat, and fraternity. Some recently solemnly professed also joined the week. We are very grateful to the community in Nocera Umbra, and to our brothers in the Italian Province for hosting this wonderful retreat. We must also thank the hard work of the organising committee led by the General Councillor for Europe, Richard Byrne, O. Carm., and his team for pulling together the excellent team of speaker (Pat Mullins, O. Carm.) and translators (Matteo Antollini, O. Carm., and Eduardo Agosta, O. Carm.)

With each day beginning in prayer, led by a different language group, the group gathered for the first of many excellent talks. These took the form of an exploration of the readings of the day, the ‘sword of the spirit’ for our lives. With great skill, Pat wove in the deep traditions of our Carmelite charism, highlighting not only the importance of scripture as the foundation of prayer, but also how the themes and messages of the daily readings can be read constantly through the eyes of our own Formula of Life. We were reminded that the scriptures should be that tool by which we are called aside from our own ideas and plans for the day and to turn our attention towards the presence of God. At noon each day was the celebration of Eucharist with a variety of languages being used in the celebration.  

After some time in the afternoons for personal reflection or group activities, we met together in the cooler evenings to hear Pat speak once more. Here he challenged us to reflect our calling as Carmelites in our world, our church and in our own provinces. Asking how can we be authentic witnesses to Carmelite life, and how can we be prophets for the world today? These sessions were followed by sharing in small language groups. An opportunity to share with one another the fruits of our personal reflection. Listening and learning from the witness of our Carmelite brothers.

The Friday of the retreat consisted of a pilgrimage to Assisi, some 30 minutes drive from Nocera Umbra itself. The pilgrimage began with in interesting tour of the city and the major basilicas by Matteo Antollini, O. Carm., followed by a wonderful meal and free time around the city.

The retreat ended with a final session in the small groups evaluating the retreat and looking ahead to the future. Asking ourselves the questions: How will I live out my Carmelite identity when I return to my home province/delegation? What will support me in my Carmelite formation in the future? The retreat ended on the Saturday evening with a wonderful meal, provided by the parishioners of the parish served by the friars in Nocera Umbra, and music and dance celebrating the many cultures and countries represented by the group.

Once again, the participants of the retreat thank Richard Byrne, O. Carm., and his team for their organisation of the retreat, and for their attentiveness to making it an atmosphere of fraternity and generosity in which all participants were enabled to share their experiences of Carmel, and Carmelite life. To Pat Mullins, O. Carm., thanks for his insightful talks and sessions. And finally, thanks to the community of Nocera Umbra for opening their house to the simply professed friars of Europe.

By Matthew Janvier, O. Carm. (Brit)

Fr. Míċeál O’Neill, the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of October 2024:

October 1-4: General Council, plenary session
October 6-11: Canonical Visitation in Tanzania
October 11: Lecture via zoom to the Ongoing Formation Course on Titus Brandsma
October 11-19: Canonical Visitation in Kenya
October 17: Conference via zoom with the Assembly of the Italian Federation of Carmelite Nuns
October 21-November 1: Canonical Visitation in Germany

World Communications Day 2025: Create the Condition for Dialogue

The Vatican Press Office released the theme of the Catholic Church’s 59th World Communications Day, celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost. In 2025 the day will be celebrated on June 1. Pope Francis chose the theme Share with Gentleness the Hope that is in Your Hearts, communication that creates the condition for dialogue. The theme comes from the First Letter of Peter (3:15-16).

The theme aims to bring attention to the fact that in today's world, "too often communication is violent, aimed at striking and not at establishing the conditions for dialogue." This theme calls for efforts "to disarm communication, to cleanse it of aggression."

According to reports in Vatican News, the notes describing the theme holds  that the prevailing standard seems to be that of competition, opposition, and domination as can be seen in television talk shows to verbal wars on social media. It adds that for Christians, "hope is a person, and He is Christ." This hope is tied to community, since "when we speak of Christian hope, we cannot disregard a community that lives the message of Jesus in such a credible way as to give a glimpse of the hope that it brings, and is capable of communicating the hope of Christ with deeds and words even today."

World Communications Day was established by Pope St. Paul VI in 1967 following the Second Vatican Council as an annual celebration that encourages reflection on the opportunities and challenges that the media offer and how the Church can better communicate the Gospel message.

• pdf Lectio Divina October, 2024 [Pdf] (1.87 MB)
• default Lectio Divina October, 2024 [ePub] (233 KB)
• default Lectio Divina October, 2024 [Mobi] (1.36 MB)
  

The directors of communications programs in each of the Carmelite Order’s provinces, delegations, and commissaries have been invited to participate in six days of presentations and discussions in Rome from January 22 through 27.

The group will first participate in a biennial conference at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. Entitled Communication and Evangelization: Context, Attitudes, and Experiences, the conference is focused on questions raised about the link between evangelization and communication. It will also be an opportunity for the Carmelites to network with communications experts from around the world.

The group will then participate in the Vatican Dicastery for Communications’ celebration of the Jubilee Year. Several events are planned in various parts of Rome.

The final part of the meeting will be a meeting of the participants in a discussion about the next steps to develop a world-wide communications program for the Order and the sharing of skills and resources. This meeting will also be available online to those not able to attend.

The meeting is being organized by the Order’s communication office and its International Communications Commission. Further information can be obtained from the office: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Doing Good in the Name of Jesus
(Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48)

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] (3.01 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] (4.08 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - XXVI Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (250 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - XXVI Domenica del Tempo Ordinario (252 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em família - XXVI Domingo do Tempo Comum (251 KB)

INITIUM NOVITIATUS
11-08-24  Paulus Bonari Ndundu  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Romanus Stanis Lewar  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Gregorius Dua  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Fransiskus Xaverius Esdu Maghu  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Ewaldus Sudirman  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Yohanes Aristo Gedo  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Kasimirus Nipa  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Pitansius Pei  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Tibertius Oro Ngaba  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Marianus Mario Timu  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Yoseph Rangga  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Theofilus Iyai  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Heribertus Harto Jelahu  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Gerardus Vladimir Ridi Toda  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Yohanes Elton Wero Beo  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Vinsensius Alex Davian  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Arlinus Eky Renyaan  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Ignasius Edwardo Lema Lewogete  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
11-08-24  Emanuel Christian Theovano  (Indo-Est) Maumere, Indonesia
25-08-24  Dedy Apriyadi Nainggolan  (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
25-08-24  Evan Orion Siregar  (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
25-08-24  Rafael Gregory Hegon Kumaniren  (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
25-08-24  Febri Elias Makmur Purba   (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
25-08-24  Benediktus Abelard Lumbantoruan  (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
25-08-24  Gregorius Kusuma Dewantara  (Indo) Batu-Malang, Indonesia
08-09-24  Adolfo Rafael Rivas Hernández (Bética-Venezuela) Salamanca, España
08-09-24  Renaud Ouedraogo (Bética- Burkina Faso) Salamanca, España
08-09-24  Alex Martín Capote Torres (Cataluña-Venezuela) Salamanca, España
08-09-24  Jesús Manuel Rodríguez Utrera (Cataluña-Venezuela) Salamanca, España

PROFESSIO SOLEMNIS
24-08-24  Filiberto Oregel Álvarez (PCM) Washington, DC, USA
07-09-24  Atsu Roger Aziamale (Bética- Burkina Faso) Madrid, España

ORDINATIO DIACONALIS
07-09-24  Atzuu Roger Atsimale (Baet-BF)  Madrid, España 

ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS
17-08-24  Keven Mutsvairo (Hib-Zim)  Harare, Zimbabwe
17-08-24  Gift Batsirai Chinyadza (Hib-Zim)  Harare, Zimbabwe
31-08-24  Rafael Dorgival Alves Fonsêca Neto (Pern)  Cajazeiras, Brasil

The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of St. Ann in Carpineto Romano was held on September 21, 2024, the feast of St. Matthew, Apostle.

The monastery was founded in April 1979 with nuns from the monastery of Aesinati. It was named after St. Ann. It was first located in the rectory of St. John the Evangelist parish. It was officially approved on December 11, 1985 by the Congregations and the bishop made it official on March 19, 1986. In 1992 the new monastery of Cerreto was started and in 2005 the new foundation of Biella was made.

The monastery belongs to the St. M. Magdalen de' Pazzi Federation. More information about the monastery and the nuns' lives can be found at: www.monasterocarpineto.it

The following were elected:

Prioress | Priora | Priora:
Sr M. Valentina Rossin, O. Carm.

1st Councilor  | 1ª Consejera | 1ª Consigliera:
Sr M. Noemi Malagese, O. Carm.

2nd Councilor | 2ª Consejera | 2ª Consigliera:
Sr M Paola Ricci, O. Carm.

3rd Councilor | 3ª Consejera | 3ª Consigliera:
Sr M. Agnese Talano, O. Carm.

4th Councilor | 4ª Consejera | 4ª Consigliera:
Sr Ana Mihaela Tiba, O. Carm.

Treasurer | Ecónoma | Economa
Sr M. Agnese Talano, O. Carm.

Formator | Formadora | Formatrice
Sr M. Noemi Malagese, O. Carm.

Sacristans | Sacristanas | Sacrestane
Sr M. Carla Zinno, O. Carm. e (vice) Anna Luisa Voltazza, O. Carm.

39th World Youth Day | November 23-24, 2025

“Do Not Set Out as Mere Tourists, but as True Pilgrims” Says Pope to Young People

According to the Vatican News Service, Pope Francis has released a message for the 39th World Youth Day which encourages young people to embrace life's challenges with hope and perseverance. As previously announced the next World Youth Day will take place on November 23-24, 2025, the Feast of Christ the King. It is intended as a celebration of youth and young adults in local Catholic communities.

The papal message, entitled Those Who Hope in the Lord Will Run and Not Be Weary, focuses on the themes of hope and endurance. Pope Francis writes “Dear young people, I am inviting you to set out on a journey, to discover life along the path of love, and to seek the face of God. My advice to you is this: do not set out as mere tourists, but as true pilgrims.” While encouraging young people to see life as a pilgrimage, a quest for happiness, the pope admits that such a journey is also tiring. But “it is precisely in this journey that hope must shine brightest,” said the Pope.

Referring to the Jubilee of 2025, the pope expressed his hope that the year’s celebrations would be seen by young people as an opportunity to deepen their relationship with God and to experience His mercy and love. But he asked that they come to Rome not “as mere tourists, but as true pilgrims," speaking of the Jubilee preparations as a spiritual journey as well as a physical one.

He concluded by encouraging the young people to “Take courage.” He quotes from St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all those who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim 4:7-8). The example of so many saints, men and women, impels and sustains us.

Exclaiming “courage” the pope entrusts the young peoples’ journey to Mary so that they can “persevere in their journey as pilgrims of hope and love.”