The Last Communion of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and her path to holiness

The life of Santa Teresa of Lisieux was marked by a profound devotion to the Christian faith and by a great vocation to Carmel. In fact, when she was only 15, she decided to enter the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, where she spent most of her short life.

Life in the convent it wasn't easy for Teresa, who had to face many difficulties and moments of discouragement. However, her faith in God and her dedication to the religious life helped her overcome every obstacle and find the inner peace that she so sought.

His spiritual journey was based on the doctrine of the "little way“, or a path to holiness which consists in abandoning oneself completely to will of God, in trusting in his merciful love and in accepting one's own human weakness.

Saint Teresa of Lisieux, in fact, never tried to be great heroic gestures or to draw attention to himself, but dedicated his life to prayer, humility and love of neighbor.

St. Teresa's affection for Charles Loyson

Father Hyacinthe he was a Carmelite friar who had left the order to become a diocesan priest. However, after she expressed his support for the French Republic in a sermon, he was excommunicated by the Vatican and had to flee into exile. Saint Teresa, who had known the priest several years before, continued to worry about him and prayed for his conversion.

After a few years, Father Hyacinthe asked to be rehabilitated into the Catholic Church and to be accepted again among the Carmelites. Unfortunately this was never granted to him.

But the most emotional episode of Saint Teresa's affection for Father Hyacinthe occurred on the day of hers last communion. The Santa, already consumed by tuberculosis and conscious of the proximity of death, she received the sacrament in an adapted bed on the abbey esplanade outside her cell. On that occasion, she discovered that Father Hyacinthe was visiting Lisieux and invited him to join her for her communion.

Father Hyacinthe accepted the Saint's invitation and together with her, received communion from Cardinal Lecot, representative of the Pope. For Saint Teresa it was a moment in which she was able to join an old friend in faith, even in the presence of imminent death.