Familial Origins of the Little Way

Louis and Azélie

The first place to start, then, if one is to seek to understand the familial bond, is with the two that make up the building block on which the whole unit depends: the parents. Significant in the lives of both Thérèse, as well as her siblings, it is hard to imagine what would have become of Thérèse with any other parents. As she herself said, ‘with a nature such as my own, had I been reared by parents without virtue or even if I had been spoiled by the maid, Louise, as Céline was, I would have become very bad and perhaps have been lost.’ [4] Both had discerned religious life, something that, whilst not imposed on their daughters, provided an environment that would have been nurturing and open to the idea. [5]

Louis Martin, born in 1823 before Zélie, had been content with entering into religious life, but due to him having no knowledge of Latin the process was frustrated as it was a requirement for anyone seeking ordination to know it at least at a foundational level. [6] Yet even if the Little Way has its origins in religious life, it was in the secular world of Louis, where the first roots begin to find their grounding. Zélie herself sums up how ardent in faith Louis was, remarking in a letter to her brother about their aunt’s visit that he; ‘is a rigorous observer of the commandments of the Church, [and] would neither fat nor fast for an empire.’ [7] This unwavering commitment is emblematic of the subjection to the Church that is required of adherents to Thérèse’s comportment.

It is also from Louis that humility, a crucial element of the Little Way, is exemplified: ‘Essentially humble, he did not desire to attract attention, nor mix in worldly affairs […] Whenever he went on a journey, he traveled third class for the same reason, and because it was less comfortable.’ [8] So austere were his penitential acts at times, his daughters attempted to reassure him that God [nor the Church for that matter] counted drinking water as breaking a fast.

This steadfast and seemingly indomitable trust in God’s will, which in the language of the Little Way would be termed abandon, not only serves him and his family through turbulent external events, such as the War of 1870, but also in his final illness, which is replicated by Thérèse in hers. Humility, a cornerstone of Theresian spirituality, is exemplified in the way that he handled his undignified demise in such a holy manner; but also, there is a seeming change in relation to the saint and his God which is a requirement of practitioners of the Little Way also, and it is from here that it could potentially originate. According to Thérèse, and contrary to how every other near-death or death was dealt with in the family, he asked for no intercessions to spare him. [9] Even when he was at his very weakest, and most humbled, he chastised Céline and told her not to pray a novena for his intentions as; ‘you must not ask that, but only the Will of God.’ [10]

There is a chance that Louis, in this instance, was inspired by his daughter; however, due to the separation that at this point existed, it seems unlikely, and this could be emblematic of an earlier expression of the Faith that Thérèse would have been around to pick up on and turn into this doctrine of refraining from directly showing our struggles and sufferings to the attention of God. A God ‘Who loves us so much […] and has sorrow enough in being obliged to leave us on earth to fill out our time of probation without our constantly reminding Him that we are miserable down here.’ [11] Regardless of the reasons, much of Louis’s faith is later replicated by Thérèse, and shows itself in the Little Way to some extent.

Zélie, born in 1831, followed much the same path as Louis, attempting to enter the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, but due to her sickly constitution she was thwarted, and thus resigned herself to lay life, eventually meeting Louis in 1858. [12] For Zélie, life then became more about imbuing the faith into everyday affairs, fulfilling the role of the active, in contrast to her then-unknown husband, who fulfilled the role of the contemplative. It was both the active and the contemplative traits of fulfilling one’s vocation that Thérèse was to copy, and thus make core to the Little Way.

Like Louis, Zélie displayed the same fundamental characteristics of a devout Catholic and was as diligent in keeping the precepts and the fasts of the Church; even to the same austere and devoted level, including when she had been diagnosed with cancer which would technically have exempted her. [13] This austerity, replicated by Thérèse in the Lisieux Carmel, was symptomatic of the austerity of middle-class French practices of faith (partially in response to widespread scrupulosity) and comes to also be a key feature of Theresian spirituality. However, none of this is predicated on ideas of desolation, something that whilst Thérèse is also accused of later, is not the case in either instance here; rather, it is directed towards the mercy of God who has an infinitely loving and compassionate heart.

Unlike Louis, though, Zélie brings about the concept of abandon in a way only a mother can, complete trust in God’s providential love at the apex of the calamity of losing one’s child (something that she experienced four times). In a letter consoling her sister-in-law, Mrs Guérin (after the loss of her new-born), she expresses the brevity of life and that the travails of this world are nothing compared to what is promised by God; ‘I did not think that the sufferings and anxieties could be weighed in the same scale with the eternal happiness of my children. Then they were not lost forever; life is short and full of miseries, and we shall find them again up yonder.’ [14] This focus on love, the wellspring of all virtues, is arguably the contribution of most import that Zélie has on her daughters, and consequentially the childhood foundations of Thérèse’s way.

As was recounted during the apostolic trial, the Martin household, while never devoid of love and mercy, was serious, and they ‘would not tolerate any fault […] without being severe.’ [15] A training ground, as it were, for dealing with Almighty God, who ‘is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and plenteous in mercy [..] a father who has compassion on his children,’ a point that the Little Way keenly intends to teach its practitioners. [16]

Pauline and Céline

Pauline Martin, both her sister and her superior, as well as the raison d’être for Manuscript A and the petitioner behind Manuscript C: ‘It is for you alone I am writing the story of the little flower gathered by Jesus.’ [17] She became the de facto second mother to Thérèse, after the death of Zélie on the 28 August 1877, and, as such, takes over the role that is normally given to the nurturement of children when she is only sixteen years of age. Thérèse, at this point four years old, chooses her over the elder of the two Martin sisters, Marie-Louise, seemingly so as to do the opposite of what Céline was doing. What is significant though, and Thérèse herself acknowledges this, is that this period of her life, ‘the most painful of the three [with Zélie; until Carmel; in Carmel],’ is the one in which the more serious disposition toward suffering combined with love begins to develop. [18]

As Pauline was now effectively the matriarch of, well at least little Thérèse, as Marie-Louise was still in charge of the running of the house, it fell to her to provide the day-to-day lessons of a Christian. [19] Thérèse recounts that every morning Pauline, when dressing her, discussed simple theological principles, and then the two of them said morning prayers together before the day’s classes. [20] One of the defining features of the Little Way is that it does not require a great foreknowledge of theology, therefore, as Pauline was the one to provide the foundations of a basic Christian life, after the age of reason, and remained in this role as a secondary mother until she entered into the Lisieux Carmel herself in 1882; it would be proper to attribute at least the basics of Thérèse’s piety, to her instruction. Taking ‘care of her beautiful little celestial soul, [and] of her first studies.’ [21]

This is not to be the end of Pauline’s influence on Thérèse, though, as Thérèse then enters five years later and will find herself under her care again as the Prioress; taking over from Mother Marie-Gonzague in 1893, and thus the last few years of her life when she authors the Story of a Soul. However, from here on, she takes an almost editorial role, like that eventually taken up by Céline, and as such influences the Little Way more subtly in her edits (even though these have now been separated). That is not to say however that these influences are not substantial in themselves, for as previously mentioned it was only at her request that Manuscript A and C (Manuscript B is much shorter and was requested by her biological eldest sister, Marie-Louise, who was the first to enter the Lisieux Carmel) were produced. Until a critical edition of the collective manuscripts was produced by Fr François de Sainte-Marie in 1956, it was Pauline’s version of the Little Way that was in-print and the most widely accessible. Therefore, for almost 50 years of devotion, and 25 years since Thérèse’s canonization in 1925, it was through an additional lens provided by Pauline that the Little Way was practiced and studied.

Céline Martin on the other hand, much closer in age to Thérèse, as she was only four years her senior, could perhaps be classed more as a student of the Little Way, rather than a contributor to its origins in her own right. [22] Either foundational, like that of her parents; or consequential, like that of Pauline. Though in turn much can be said of the way she codified it after the death of Thérèse in 1897, especially during the ordinary and apostolic processes. The writings about how Thérèse fulfilled her duties as the novice mistress in The Memoir of My Sister in particular show the Little Way in action, as well as all the inner workings of how Thérèse herself saw her teachings. An example being when Céline recounts how Thérèse shaped her dealings with each of the novices to their individual personalities and traits, ‘to the particular soul in question.’ [23] This discounts the Little Way as some monolithic exercise that fits all, as it is often presented; rather, although it must be centered around the core principle of abandon to God’s merciful love, it still must also be attuned for each person’s unique charism and personality.

Not only this but she also wrote extensively about her parents, Louis and Zélie, and even though by this point she had died (Céline died in 1959, and Louis and Zélie were not canonized until 2015) she played a key role in their trials for beatification. Therefore, most of her influence comes from sculpting the way Thérèse was received outside the walls of the Carmel of Lisieux, much like the role played by Pauline. However, Céline was also an accomplished photographer, and the impact this skill, rare at the time, had on the Little Way’s publication, according to Fr Piat, is not to be underestimated. [24] Thérèse is one of very few 19th century saints to be photographed, and the only, as currently thought, to be photographed throughout all stages of her life in this period; from her childhood, adolescence, religious life, and eventually her death. This is substantial, because the same photos that led to Thérèse’s ‘first’ humiliation with the fraud Leo Taxil, are the same used during the ordinary and apostolic processes, and the same now used for her veneration.

Thus, it can be said that Céline captured the portrait of a saint in a way that had not been done before, and helped promote core elements of the Little Way to the outside world beyond the walls of the Carmel monasteries for which it was intended. Her role is that of the first practitioner of the Little Way, ironing out the absurdities of a way of life that was never intended to breach the walls of the Carmel, and then promoting it widely to the religious and the laity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, though her parents both played a substantial role in the spiritual development of Thérèse, allowing for her to eventually produce the eclectic codex of the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood (contained in her autobiography, as well as her other, less well-known writings, such as her poetry and her plays). They merely, if I may use that word to describe a still monumental effort, provide the foundations of a lively and pious faith, rather than directly influence the Little Way’s creation or promulgation.

From Zélie, even if only briefly, Thérèse holds that she exerted a special effect on her, in her ‘eager temperament,’ that brought the love that is so often associated with the Little Way to the forefront. [25] To her father, Louis, who was alive, if but barely toward the end, for all of Thérèse’s pre-Carmel days, instilling within her a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin, far beyond what the ‘normal’ Catholic, of both his day and our day, has; and who provided her with the epitome of sacrificial love and uncompromising devotion to God, even if He asks for everything. And lastly, perhaps most importantly in regard to influencing what would become the Little Way, the example of the role that merciful love, exemplified by the love of a father towards a sometimes-naughty child, or of the requirement to suffer greatly for the benefit of others, has in our relationship to God, which both of this saints demonstrated in copious amounts over the course of their lives.

Additionally, her two sisters, Pauline and Céline, played an important role in influencing the development of the Little Way, but less directly in its conception than that of their parents. Though Pauline did provide a considerable amount of the Thérèse’s formation (for a not insignificant number of critical years in a child’s development). However, what they did influence was the way in which Thérèse’s magnum opus was to be received after her death. And in that regard, one could attribute much of the coherence of the Little Way to their own writing, editing, and photographic prowess.

Therefore, whilst the Little Way is undoubtedly a product of Thérèse, it finds its earliest prototype in her parents and the example that they passed unto their daughters. And it finds its coherence as a doctrine of life in the way it was produced, edited, and promoted by her two sisters towards the end of her life and after her death. Without the former Thérèse may never have allied humility, uncompromising devotion to God’s mercy, and abandon, without falling into a perpetual state of chronic scrupulosity and perhaps even desolation. And without the latter, the Little Way would have been long forgotten and never breached the cloister of the Lisieux Carmel. They are respectively the forerunners and the guardians of the Little Way.