Diptych saint Louis Martin and the quotation "La belle figure"

Description Diptych saint Louis Martin and the quotation "La belle figure"

For this diptych which represents on the left panel the father of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, on the right panel we put a quote of the Little Flower excerpted from the manuscript A. At this time she asked his father's permission to enter Carmel, she was then 15 years old! But she did not know how to do it. She therefore prayed urgently for Heaven to help her. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus knew the great affection her father had for her Little Queen and she was well aware that leaving her father so soon would be a cause of suffering for him. Therefore, she was not sure how to apply. But the day of Pentecost, after vespers, an opportunity presents itself to her. She sees her father sitting in the garden contemplating the wonders of nature after a beautiful day in spring:
" The beautiful figure of Papa had a celestial expression, I felt that peace flooded his heart ; without saying a single word I went to sit by his side, eyes already wet with tears, he looked at me with tenderness and taking my head he pressed her to his heart, saying to me: "What do you have my little queen? ... entrust this to me ... "He got up as if to conceal his own emotion, he walked slowly, still holding my head on his heart. Through my tears I confided to him my desire to enter Carmel, then his tears came to mingle with mine, but he did not say a word to divert me from my vocation, just content to point out to me that I was still very young to make such a serious determination. "

This sentence written eight or nine years after the event may seem to embellish it by the temporal distance. To this we can answer that on one hand, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus had an excellent memory and on the other hand a particularly important scene, charged with emotion sometimes remains engraved in the memory as if it were yesterday. Therefore we can give this sentence of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus all its meaning.

The beauty of a soul inhabited by God, of a soul where the love of God reigns supreme, reflects in one way or another on the body and especially on the face. Does not a face without natural beauty become magnificent when it is illuminated by a smile coming from the depth of the soul full of divine grace?

Quotation :

La belle figure de papa
avait une expression céleste,
je sentais que la paix
inondait son cœur...

Sr Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus,
et de la Sainte Face