A Day in Lisieux

In honor of the feast day of our beloved St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, I bring you a day in Lisieux, France with my family...

In February 2006, my sister, her husband, and their three very young children (the youngest in utero) came to visit us in Brussels. During their stay, we rented a farmhouse west of Paris and made daytrips to Chartres, Mont St Michel, the Normandy beaches, and Lisieux. My favorite by far was Lisieux, an unassuming town in Lower Normandy where our Lord fashioned a little saint who would be loved the world over.

We began our pilgrimage with a visit to Les Buissonnets, the home where Louis Martin raised his five daughters after the death of his wife, Zelie. A tiny, elderly woman (was she a nun? I can't remember) met us at the door. She spoke no English, but thankfully, my talented brother-in-law was able to communicate with her in French. Even more thankfully, she played a recording in English that led us through the house.

We stood before the fireplace where Thérèse and her family had gathered many times, we climbed the stairs she had run up and down, we entered the room where she had been miraculously cured of a serious illness after praying before a statue of our Lady, we explored the bedroom which displayed clothing and toys from her childhood. It was all so amazing and beautiful, a simple home where a holy saint and her family had lived not so long ago.

Upon leaving Les Buissonnets, we visited the Basilica of St Thérèse, an enormous and quite extravagant church filled with mosaics and stained glass windows that seek to illustrate the message of St Thérèse. When my father-in-law saw it a few years ago, he was disturbed by the magnitude and opulence of the building. He did not find it fitting for this saint of the Little Way and couldn't imagine that she would approve. I, however, found it a magnificent tribute to the greatness of God and the many miracles He has given us through this powerful intercessor. Lining the sides of the upper sanctuary, chapels of gratitude have been erected by countries from all over the world. It was very touching to see this tangible witness of the shower of roses that Thérèse has sent down from Heaven. There we prayed before her relics and felt her presence.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit Carmel, the convent where she gave her life completely to God and wrote The Story of a Soul. It was closed during the lunch hours, and we had planned to spend the second half of the day at the Normandy beaches and their memorials of World War II. I would love to go back someday and devote more time to this special little town, but for now, I am thankful to have been blessed with a few precious hours.

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Because I also missed the feast day of

St Michael and the Archangels, I'm going to add a couple of photos from our visit to Mont St Michel here.

If you ever travel to France, after Lisieux and Omaha beach (and Paris, I suppose), don't miss Mont St Michel! It is an architectural wonder, incredibly beautiful to behold. And if you manage to go during a snow storm in February, the crowds won't really be too bad.