Portraits

Keeping a final image

There emanated from the person of Mother Thérèse such an aura of holiness that her sisters strove to preserve her words, her gestures, but also her features. On September 4, 1885, while the foundress was suffering painfully from an illness that would take her life less than twenty days later, her nurse, Mother Sommesson, quickly sketched her portrait in the morning: “Mother Sommesson sketched Mother Thérèse this morning, half in the shadows; I do not know if she suspected it, for she had her curtains closed.”

Mother Thérèse surrendered her soul to God on September 26, 1885, after an agony marked by great suffering. Her superior was therefore greatly surprised to discover her peaceful and relaxed face the next day. She wrote to the Superior General:

“Our holy Mother rests on her bed surrounded by flowers, with an air of peace that does good to the soul. I never would have believed that these features, so contracted by suffering, could relax in this way. Last night, even a few hours after her death, she did not have the beautiful face she has had since this morning. So, when I saw this air of beatitude, I thought it was a great pity not to preserve the features of this Venerated Mother on her bed, and I sent for a photographer.”

The body of Mother Thérèse, who died in Lyon on September 26, 1885, was transported to Lalouvesc and buried in the Congregation’s vault on the 30th. During the night of September 14, 1909, the coffin was transferred to the chapel of the Cenacle under the care of Doctor Vincent. In 1929, as part of the investigation for the Cause of Mother Thérèse, a first recognition of her remains took place; they were placed in a second coffin, which was then returned to the chapel vault. Finally, in 1951, the year of the beatification, the body was exhumed once more and offered for the veneration of the faithful in a shrine, still within the chapel. Photographs of the shrine and the face of the Blessed were then distributed.