Saint Thérèse de Lisieux

Beloved as "the Little Flower of Jesus," Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin-or Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)-is remembered today for this, her spiritual autobiography. Before her too-young death from tuberculosis at the age of 24, she put down in words her simple yet profound approach to the worship of God, called her "little way," a philosophy of everyday goodness and appreciation of life and nature that anyone may follow. Remarkably, her deep piety grew from her own life-long suffering, from the loss of her mother at age four to her own ill health, and through them her dedication to obedience of and surrender to God's will. A favorite of spiritual seekers, this is a lovely work of devotion and prayfulness.

Dédié à la poétesse Annalisa Cima avec qui Montale s'entretient de 1968 à 1979, ce testament poétique, longtemps tenu secret, se révèle à la fois familier et surprenant. Car, anti-poète en son grand âge, l'auteur de ces quatre-vingt-quatre textes, ému et flatté par une présence féminine jeune et attentive, retrouve parfois les cordes les plus hautes de son inspiration première.

“The last conversations of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, May-September, 1897” “with an introduction by Cardinal Spellman. Revised translation by the Carmelite nuns of New York”

For the first time the authorized edition of this great modern spiritual classic, as St. Therese herself wrote it, is being made available in English. This new publication is an exact rendition of the saint's words and ideas, masterfully translated by Monsignor Ronald Knox from the unedited manuscripts, a facsimile edition of which recently appeared in France. Although the spiritual autobiography of St. Therese has gone through many editions, all of them have been based on the version edited by Therese's sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus, after the saint's death. In the last years of her life Therese had written three autobiographical manuscripts which she entrusted to Mother Agnes with instructions to change, add, or delete as she saw fit. In the words of Father Francois de Sainte-Marie, the Carmelite charged with preparing the facsimile edition for publication, Mother Agnes, for reasons which he gives, "practically rewrote the autobiography in order to present it in a traditional form that would please the public of the period." These manuscripts have now been returned to their original form and chronological order, the omissions (about a quarter of the whole) restored and the alterations eliminated. In this translation of her own words, Therese's mission and message to the world have not been changed, but she herself appears in a new light — more human, yet stronger and more radical in her vocation to love. From the point of view of historical exactitude and as an exact rendering of her thought, this is the only valid text. From dust jacket