- Journey to Rome
- Audience with His Holiness Leo XIII
- Response of Monseigneur the Bishop of Bayeux
- Three months of waiting
Excerpts
Rome: St Cecilia
From the Coliseum we went to the Catacombs, and there Céline and I laid ourselves down in what had once been the tomb of St. Cecilia, and took
some of the earth sanctified by her holy remains. Before our journey to
Rome I had not felt any special devotion to St. Cecilia, but on visiting the house where she was martyred, and hearing her proclaimed "Queen of harmony"—because of the sweet song she sang in her heart to her Divine Spouse—I felt more than devotion towards her, it was real love as for a friend. She became my chosen patroness, and the keeper of all my secrets; her abandonment to God and her boundless confidence delighted me beyond measure. They were so great that they enabled her to make souls pure which had never till then desired aught but earthly pleasures.
St. Cecilia is like the Spouse in the Canticles. I find in her the Scriptural
"choir in an armed camp."[10] Her life was one melodious song in the midst
of the greatest trials; and this is not strange, because we read that "the Book
of the Holy Gospels lay ever on her heart,"[11] while in her heart reposed
the Spouse of Virgins.
An audience with the Pope
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| Thérèse with Pope Leo XIII. Picture by Céline |
Leo XIII, whose cassock and cape were of white, was seated on a raised chair, and
round him were grouped various dignitaries of the church. According to custom each visitor knelt in turn and kissed, first the foot and next the hand of the venerable Pontiff, and finally received his blessing; then two of the Noble Guard signed to the pilgrim that he must rise and pass on to the adjoining room to make way for those who followed. No one uttered a word, but I was firmly determined to speak, when suddenly the Vicar-General of Bayeux, Father Révérony, who was standing at the Pope's right hand, told us in a loud voice that he absolutely forbade anyone to address the Holy Father. My heart beat fast. I turned to Céline, mutely inquiring what I should do.
"Speak!" she said.
The next moment I found myself on my knees before the Holy Father. I kissed his foot and he held out his hand; then raising my eyes, which were filled with tears, I said entreatingly: "Holy Father, I have a great favour to ask you." At once he bent towards me till his face almost touched mine, and his piercing black eyes seemed to read my very soul. "Holy Father," I repeated, "in honour of your jubilee, will you allow me to enter the Carmel when I am fifteen?"
The Vicar-General, surprised and displeased, said quickly: "Holy Father, this is a child who desires to become a Carmelite, but the Superiors of the Carmel are looking into the matter."
"Well, my child," said His Holiness, "do whatever the Superiors decide."
Clasping my hands and resting them on his knee, I made a final effort:
"Holy Father, if only you say 'yes,' everyone else would agree."
He looked at me fixedly and said clearly and emphatically:
"Well, well! You will enter if it is God's Will."
I was going to speak again, when the Noble Guards motioned to me. As I paid little attention they came forward, the Vicar-General with them, for I was still kneeling before the Pope with my hands resting on his knee. Just as I was forced to rise, the dear Holy Father gently placed his hand on my lips, then lifted it to bless me, letting his eyes follow me for quite a long time
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