What do you think?
Rate this book
The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux
Translated by Donald Kinney, OCD Complete collection of Thérèse's poems, translated from the critical edition, with 6 photos.
Despite their importance, the poems of St. Thérèse of Lisieux are among the least known of her writings, previously available only in highly edited selections. Here for the first time in English is the complete collection of Thérèse's poetry, faithfully translated from the French critical edition by Donald Kinney, O.C.D. Also included are a preface by Jean Guitton, a general introduction to Thérèse's spiritual and poetic development, 6 photos, and individual introductions to each of the poems, indicating its background and significance. The volume closes with the French text of the poems and a fully linked index to their major themes and images. Together with the ICS Publications editions of Thérèse of Lisieux's Story of a Soul, Last Conversations, Letters, Plays, and Prayers, this is an indispensible work for all those who love the life and spiritual message of the greatest saint of modern times.
Despite their importance, the poems of St. Thérèse of Lisieux are among the least known of her writings, previously available only in highly edited selections. Here for the first time in English is the complete collection of Thérèse's poetry, faithfully translated from the French critical edition by Donald Kinney, O.C.D. Also included are a preface by Jean Guitton, a general introduction to Thérèse's spiritual and poetic development, 6 photos, and individual introductions to each of the poems, indicating its background and significance. The volume closes with the French text of the poems and a fully linked index to their major themes and images. Together with the ICS Publications editions of Thérèse of Lisieux's Story of a Soul, Last Conversations, Letters, Plays, and Prayers, this is an indispensible work for all those who love the life and spiritual message of the greatest saint of modern times.
438 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1873
35 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Thérèse of Lisieux
201 books366 followersSaint Thérèse de Lisieux or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.
She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices, such as sacristan and novice mistress, and having spent the last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. The impact of her posthumous publications, including her memoir The Story of a Soul was great, and she rapidly became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XI made her the star of his pontificate. She was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. The speed of this process may be seen by comparison with that applied to a great heroine of Thérèse, Joan of Arc, who died in 1431 but was not canonized until 1920. Thérèse was declared co-patron of the missions with Francis Xavier in 1927, and named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944. On 19 October 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church, the youngest of all Doctors of the Church, and only the third woman Doctor. Devotion to Thérèse has developed around the world.
Thérèse lived a hidden life and 'wanted to be unknown' yet through her writings—as well as her spiritual autobiography she left letters, poems, religious plays, prayers and various notes, and her last conversations were recorded by her sisters—and thanks to the photographs taken inside the Lisieux Carmel by her sister Céline, she became known to, and later seen by, millions of men and women. According to one of her biographers, Guy Gaucher, after her death, "Thérèse fell victim to an excess of sentimental devotion which betrayed her. She was victim also to her language, which was that of the late nineteenth century and flowed from the religiosity of her age." Thérèsè herself said on her death-bed : "I only love simplicity. I have a horror of pretence", and she spoke out against some of the Lives of saints written in her day :" We should not say improbable things, or things we do not know. We must see their real, and not their imagined lives." The critic Marina Warner observed that the excesses sometimes associated with her cult should not blind one to the heroism of her, "struggle to be good, and the radical affirmation of ordinary lives that her sainthood stands for."
The depth of her spirituality, of which she said "my way is all confidence and love," has inspired many believers. In the face of her littleness and nothingness, she trusted in God to be her sanctity. She wanted to go to Heaven by an entirely new little way. "I wanted to find an elevator that would raise me to Jesus." The elevator, she wrote, would be the arms of Jesus lifting her in all her littleness.
The Basilica of Lisieux is the second greatest place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.
She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices, such as sacristan and novice mistress, and having spent the last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. The impact of her posthumous publications, including her memoir The Story of a Soul was great, and she rapidly became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XI made her the star of his pontificate. She was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. The speed of this process may be seen by comparison with that applied to a great heroine of Thérèse, Joan of Arc, who died in 1431 but was not canonized until 1920. Thérèse was declared co-patron of the missions with Francis Xavier in 1927, and named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944. On 19 October 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church, the youngest of all Doctors of the Church, and only the third woman Doctor. Devotion to Thérèse has developed around the world.
Thérèse lived a hidden life and 'wanted to be unknown' yet through her writings—as well as her spiritual autobiography she left letters, poems, religious plays, prayers and various notes, and her last conversations were recorded by her sisters—and thanks to the photographs taken inside the Lisieux Carmel by her sister Céline, she became known to, and later seen by, millions of men and women. According to one of her biographers, Guy Gaucher, after her death, "Thérèse fell victim to an excess of sentimental devotion which betrayed her. She was victim also to her language, which was that of the late nineteenth century and flowed from the religiosity of her age." Thérèsè herself said on her death-bed : "I only love simplicity. I have a horror of pretence", and she spoke out against some of the Lives of saints written in her day :" We should not say improbable things, or things we do not know. We must see their real, and not their imagined lives." The critic Marina Warner observed that the excesses sometimes associated with her cult should not blind one to the heroism of her, "struggle to be good, and the radical affirmation of ordinary lives that her sainthood stands for."
The depth of her spirituality, of which she said "my way is all confidence and love," has inspired many believers. In the face of her littleness and nothingness, she trusted in God to be her sanctity. She wanted to go to Heaven by an entirely new little way. "I wanted to find an elevator that would raise me to Jesus." The elevator, she wrote, would be the arms of Jesus lifting her in all her littleness.
The Basilica of Lisieux is the second greatest place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 9, 2025
"Esse sangue corre-me nas veias_
Da tua Vinha santa e deslumbrante_
Sou_um cacho dourado_um vinho
Capitoso_que tu beberás_um dia_
Não receies pressionar-me_Podes
Esmagar-me entre os dedos_Prova-me_
Sou deliciosa a amar_não quero outro gozo_
Apenas ser_um sumo que te escorre pelos lábios."
"Jésus, Vigne sainte et sacrée,
Tu le sais, ô mon Divin Roi
Je suis une grappe dorée
Qui doit disparaître pour toi...
Sous le pressoir de la souffrance
Je te prouverai mon amour
Je ne veux d'autre jouissance
Que de m'immoler chaque jour."
Excertos do mesmo verso do poema "A Jesus, na sua prisão de amor (apresentação dos meus desejos" ["Mes désirs auprès de Jésus caché dans sa prison d'amour"], da autoria de Thérèse Martin de Lisieux, traduzidos para português por Maria Gabriela Llansol.
***
A poesia mística agrada-me porque permite o reencontro com a ideia de abnegação, com a sinuosa convergência entre pulsões de morte e de amor e, não menos sedutor, o apelo à entrega absoluta (ao deleite, ao êxtase): estas dimensões encontram-se perfeitamente espelhadas na poesia de Thérèse Martin, e talvez tenha sido por esse motivo que algumas opções de tradução me tenham suscitado tanta estranheza; Llansol intensifica, nas suas versões, o delírio do prazer e reforça (ainda mais) a dimensão erótica (arrastando-a do plano metafísico para o corpóreo)... o resultado é, no entanto, semelhante aos poemas no seu estado originário: uma sensação inebriante, excessiva, insustentável; um desejo de fusão absoluta com o amado, com a luz.
April 22, 2024
Interesting to read St. Thérèse's verses about religious ecstasy. Though I am also Christian, the happy verses make me feel very sad for her, I think because the entirety of her life was this religious dedication. It seems a very incomplete existence to me.
June 4, 2024
''Desejas teu coração no meu _ teu rosto
Sobre o meu desenhas _ e esse olhar que me prende
Sobe aos lábios _ com o beijo que me dás. Ama-me _
Dizes _ enquanto meus lábios desenham _ Jesus
_ A palavra que preferes.
Com essa palavra nos lábios _ cantarei
Aos anjos _ louvores sobre o amor sagrado.
Se não tardares a levar-me _ em breve serei
Um deles _ Jesus, não tardes _ Morrer de amor
_ Eis o que mais quero.
Não serei _ menos do que a borboleta
Atraída pela chama _ que a chama e inflama.
Mais fará o teu amor por mim _ Atrair-me-á _
Minh'alma dançará com ele _ cada vez mais perto
_ Até sermos uma só chama.''
~~
''Preciso de um coração _ cuja ternura queime _
Que nunca por nunca me deixe _ sem apoio _
Que ame tudo em mim _ a minha fraqueza incluída _
Que de noite _ que de dia _ jamais me deixe só».
Até hoje _ não encontrarei uma criatura desse modo
Que sempre _ me amasse e jamais morresse _
Preciso de um Amante _ que sinta como eu _
Que seja meu irmão _ e capaz de sofrimento.''
~~
"Minh'alma desidrata-se _ Não me deixes em sede _
Aumenta em mim _ Amigo _ o fogo desse segredo _
É uma sede que não se acalma _ um sofrimento
Que me acaba _ e me faz desejar ir ter contigo.
Entendes _ por que amar-te _ é doçura e martírio?
Quanto mais me incendeias _ mais doce és"
~~
Decididamente um dos livros que mais me atravessou nos últimos tempos. Depois de o ler, senti uma urgência tão grande de abraçar o livro que tinha em mãos...
Sobre o meu desenhas _ e esse olhar que me prende
Sobe aos lábios _ com o beijo que me dás. Ama-me _
Dizes _ enquanto meus lábios desenham _ Jesus
_ A palavra que preferes.
Com essa palavra nos lábios _ cantarei
Aos anjos _ louvores sobre o amor sagrado.
Se não tardares a levar-me _ em breve serei
Um deles _ Jesus, não tardes _ Morrer de amor
_ Eis o que mais quero.
Não serei _ menos do que a borboleta
Atraída pela chama _ que a chama e inflama.
Mais fará o teu amor por mim _ Atrair-me-á _
Minh'alma dançará com ele _ cada vez mais perto
_ Até sermos uma só chama.''
~~
''Preciso de um coração _ cuja ternura queime _
Que nunca por nunca me deixe _ sem apoio _
Que ame tudo em mim _ a minha fraqueza incluída _
Que de noite _ que de dia _ jamais me deixe só».
Até hoje _ não encontrarei uma criatura desse modo
Que sempre _ me amasse e jamais morresse _
Preciso de um Amante _ que sinta como eu _
Que seja meu irmão _ e capaz de sofrimento.''
~~
"Minh'alma desidrata-se _ Não me deixes em sede _
Aumenta em mim _ Amigo _ o fogo desse segredo _
É uma sede que não se acalma _ um sofrimento
Que me acaba _ e me faz desejar ir ter contigo.
Entendes _ por que amar-te _ é doçura e martírio?
Quanto mais me incendeias _ mais doce és"
~~
Decididamente um dos livros que mais me atravessou nos últimos tempos. Depois de o ler, senti uma urgência tão grande de abraçar o livro que tinha em mãos...
April 21, 2010
A lovely collection of Saint Therese's poetry. What I especially liked about this book is that both English and French translations are included, so I was able to brush up on my French. Also, the French versions often rhyme, unlike the English translations. Being able to see those rhymes and plays on language would not have been possible without the French. A fun and enlightening read.
Read
May 24, 2024I have not read this book. I could not find any way to open it!
April 24, 2011
Very interesting read though I wished they had it formatted differently (the original poems were in the back while you had the history and criticism with the English translation in the main part. I would have liked to been able to read the original and the translation side by side with the history first and the criticism last instead of the two intertwined).
A few poems showed Therese's humor quite well. Those were fun. :D
A few poems showed Therese's humor quite well. Those were fun. :D
December 9, 2021
While a great poet the Little Flower is not, her divinely inspired mind is as evident here as it is in any of her other works.
The notes from the translator range from merely helpful to beautifully poetic in their own right.
The notes from the translator range from merely helpful to beautifully poetic in their own right.
Read
March 12, 2011touching from the beginning.....french text in the back.....explanations....strange beauty
September 27, 2016
These were up lifting poems.
January 14, 2019
Very peaceful and encouraging.
October 1, 2024
Beautiful poetry by the little flower. Inspirational.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews