French Revolution:
In Thérèse's time, the French Revolution, which happened only a hundred years before, still greatly divided the political thinking of the people. The Franco-Prussian war, which erupted in 1870, saw Paris fall to the Prussians and Napoleon III defeated and exiled. This marked the definite end of the monarchy. The Third Republic was formed and lasted throughout Thérèse's lifetime. The Revolution started in 1789 and ended a few years later when Napoleon took power. The contemplative orders in France suffered the most during the French Revolution and the subsequent Restoration period. The Carmelite orders in particular were totally wiped out. Many of those who took leadership in France during the French Revolution were unfriendly to the Catholic Church. Among the reformers were agnostics, freemasons and deists, but very few devout Catholics. In the opinion of the Enlightenment, if a religious order did not have some practical purpose to exist it should be destroyed. The Benedictine nuns of Lisieux had to start a day school, the one that Thérèse attended, just in order to survive. In 1789, the government started seizing Church property to pay off the national debt and many religious died during what is called the Reign of Terror. When Napoleon took power he saw that peace between the Church and France was essential. He signed the Concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VII, ending all persecutions against the Church. However, during this time the Church was quite ineffective and the religious orders received no help.

The Restoration:
The Restoration period refers to the time after the French Revolution when France was struggling to restore the government. The restored Church of 1815, stripped of its land and wealth, was more zealous, better disciplined and far more conscious of the Gospel than the pre-revolution Church. In 1815 during the first Restoration period, the Carmelite order was reestablished in France. In 1880, when Thérèse was considering entering the Lisieux Carmel, there were 113 monasteries of Discalced nuns. The French government, still anti-church, made it very hard to found a religious order. Of the 113 monasteries, only 16 of these had gone through the rigorous process of becoming "legal"; all the rest were unofficial. This meant that those who were not recognized by the government might be closed down at any time. In the eyes of the government, the Lisieux Carmel was illegal. The nuns adopted the practice of not shaving the heads of the younger sisters, in case the government should ever close the monastery.

History of Carmel:
The Carmelite Order takes its name from Mount Carmel, a range of mountains in the Holy Land. In the 13th century a group of former crusaders and pilgrims, following the spirit of the prophet Elijah, settled on the mountain and called themselves the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1206, Saint Albert of Jerusalem gave these hermits living on Mount Carmel a Rule of Life and the Church officially recognized them as an Order. Blessed John Soreth, Prior General of the Order, founded the women religious, also known as the Second Order, in 1452. Then in the 16th century during the Reformation, the great Spanish Carmelite and mystic, St. Teresa of Avila, desired to renew the fervor and purity of the spiritual beginnings of the Order. With the help of St. John of the Cross, she initiated a reform movement which spread also to the friars. After her death, monasteries of her reform were established in France and Belgium, and from these two countries foundations were made in England and then in Scotland and Wales. Now there are Carmelite monasteries in almost every country of the world. Friars and nuns currently number approximately 29,000 worldwide.

Carmel of Lisieux:
The Carmel of Lisieux was founded by three sisters from the Carmel of Poitiers, Athalie and Desiree Gosselin and Caroline Gueret, on August 24, 1838. It was based on the reformed rule of St. Teresa of Avila. Two senior nuns from the Carmel of Poitiers accompanied them, Mother Elizabeth of St. Louis, their prioress, and Sister Genevieve of St. Teresa, sub-prioress and novice mistress. Sister Genevieve of St. Teresa, who Thérèse said was very saintly, died in 1891 shortly after Thérèse's entrance. The monastery was 50 years old to the day when Thérèse entered. In 1895, the Lisieux Carmel had 26 nuns in community, 22 choir nuns and 4 lay sisters. The community was considered very austere. The buildings were not heated and a nearby river made the environment cold and damp. Mother Marie de Gonzague, the superior of Carmel at the time of Thérèse's entrance, was of the nobility, an educated and refined woman. She demonstrated her open-mindedness when she allowed Thérèse to enter even though the rule of St. Teresa states that not more than two members of the same family should enter the same community. Although Mother Marie de Gonzague was hard on Thérèse at times, she also loved her very much and fostered her spirituality. Unfortunately, many of the nuns were opposed to the Martin family and didn't like Thérèse.

Jansenism:
Jansenism, a heretical movement centered near Paris, had struck fear into the hearts of Christians with its teaching of absolute predestination, which states that a soul's after-life is already decided. The consequence of Jansenism is an unhealthy fear of God and the belief that because sin is nearly unavoidable, very few will go to heaven. Thérèse's monastery was not spared the awful effects. Desiree Gosselin, who took the name Sr. Marie of the Cross after founding the Lisieux Carmel, feared God's punishment and offered herself to "Divine Justice" as a victim soul. Shortly after, she went insane and was confined to her cell for the last 30 years of her life. She died in 1882 and the memories of these events were still potent in the minds of the nuns when Thérèse entered Carmel six years later. When Thérèse learned of this, realizing she was weak and imperfect, she offered herself instead to God's "Infinite Mercy and Love". Thérèse wrote, "It seems to me that if all creatures had received the same graces I received, God would be feared by none but would be loved to the point of folly. To me He has granted his infinite Mercy, and through it I contemplate and adore the other divine perfections! All of these perfections appear to be resplendent with love, even His Justice seems to be clothed in love." Thérèse's life was a breath of fresh air to the Church. Her thought helped lay the foundation for Vatican Council II and its consequent renewal of the Church.

Daily Life in the Monastery:
Daily life in Carmel was rigorous. Prayer took precedence over everything else, occupying about seven hours. Work, which took up five hours, was performed in solitude and consisted of such tasks as laundry, dishes, baking and gardening. The nuns slept for six hours in the summer and seven in the winter.

Thérèse's schedule was as follows:
4:45AM Rising
5:00 Prayer in choir 6:00 Early hours of the Office 7:00 Mass and thanksgiving
8:00 Breakfast
8:15 Work
9:50 Examination of conscience
10:00 Meal
11:00 Recreation
NOON Free time in silence

1:00PM Work
2:00 Vespers
2:30 Spiritual Reading
3:00 The bell is rung to recall the death of Christ
3:15 Work
5:00 Mental Prayer
6:00 Dinner
6:45 Dishes and recreation
7:40 Compline
8:00 Free time in silence
9:00 Matins and Night Office
11:00 Retire for the night

City of Lisieux:
The city of Lisieux, situated in Normandy, France, was not particularly devout. The people were known for their practicality and good sense rather than their fervent faith. They were also fiercely patriotic and proud of their country. Thérèse was a true French girl; she loved France while also embracing the world. In Lisieux of Thérèse's day, the textile industry, which flourished years before, had died out and there were plenty of poor in the lower class. Several strikes during the industrial strife required the intervention of the army. Louis Martin often visited a house of refuge for poor women in town. Thérèse called these women her sisters and said she would have lived with them if she were denied entrance to Carmel. Thérèse was of the working middle class but she came in contact with both the lower and the upper classes.

Theophane Vénard:
Despite the damage inflicted to the economy after the Franco-Prussian War, the French looked outward and founded colonies in Indochina, Vietnam, Africa and the Pacific. Young Missionaries were inspired to leave home and preach the Gospel in new lands. St. Theophane Vénard, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988, was a favorite hero of Thérèse. A French missionary, Fr. Vénard was martyred in Tonkin in 1861 for preaching the Gospel. On the way to his execution, Father Vénard chanted psalms and hymns. To his executioner, who coveted his clothing and asked what he would give to be killed promptly, he answered, "The longer it lasts the better it will be". In 1896, one year before Thérèse's death, she read the life of then Venerable Theophane Vénard and placed a prayer card of him in the infirmary.

Maurice Belliére:
France colonized Vietnam in 1858 and captured Saigon in 1859. They then moved west and north, completing the conquest of Indochina by 1907. In 1861, the Carmel of Lisieux made a foundation in Saigon, under the direction of Mother Genevieve. Thérèse had a great desire to be a missionary in foreign lands and would have traveled to Saigon if it were not for her poor health. Instead, Thérèse was chosen to be the spiritual sister to a struggling, young missionary priest named Maurice Belliére. Maurice wrote to the Prioress of Carmel, Mother Agnes of Jesus, who was Thérèse's older sister Pauline, requesting that a nun be assigned to pray for the salvation of his soul. Over the last two years of Thérèse's life she exchanged 21 letters with Maurice, who eventually became a White Father in Africa and considered his relationship with Thérèse a major factor in his discernment. Thérèse was very grateful to God for giving her the opportunity to pray for Maurice, who was both a priest and a missionary.

Secular Life:
When Thérèse was nine years old, she was exposed to high society when her father took her on a trip to Alencon. Of this she wrote, "The friends we had there were too worldly; they knew too well how to ally the joys of this earth to the service of God. They didn't think about death enough, and yet death had paid its visits to a great number of them, the young, the rich, the happy!" Yet Thérèse also wrote that she was dazzled by that life and could have easily joined them. For the Martin family upper class life was highly structured, proper and comfortable. At home, Thérèse delighted in her nice clothes and loved when Céline dressed her for Sundays and Holy Days. In the 1890's, dresses were bell shaped with bustles and tightly corseted. She also enjoyed taking breaks from home schooling with her sister Pauline and going on long walks with her father. Thérèse wrote, "Being the youngest in the family, I wasn't accustomed to doing things for myself. My sister Céline tidied up the room in which we slept, and I myself didn't do any housework whatsoever."

Religious Life:
After Thérèse's entrance into Carmel, she experienced hard manual labor within the cloister walls. Many of the women there were of the lower classes and rough in their ways. Thérèse had to do dishes, laundry and gardening, activities she did not have to engage in before entering Carmel. In fact, her family was quite well off and employed a number of servants, which perhaps contributed to the other nuns judging her as a spoiled brat. The nuns of Camel had to do all the daily chores on their own, which was in striking contrast to bourgeoisie women who relied on servants and hardly had to do any work. Thérèse had seen both worlds and found one much more appealing than the other.

Joan of Arc:
St. Joan of Arc, a 15th century French warrior and beloved saint, was a simple peasant girl who led the French army to victory at The Battle of Orléans. This young maid represented the soul of the French resistance and was the youngest general ever to lead an army into battle. St. Joan of Arc's popularity spread rapidly in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. In 1877, historian Hanri Wallon published a 566-page volume on her life and Pope Leo XIII authorized the cause of her beatification. Thérèse had a great devotion to then Venerable Joan of Arc, and saw in her the perfect synthesis of the Catholic faith and French patriotism. She wrote two plays on her life, The Mission of Joan of Arc and Joan of Arc Accomplishes her Mission. Amazingly, archeologists discovered under the chapel where Thérèse attended daily mass, the burial place of Bishop Pierre Cauchon, the judge who condemned St. Joan of Arc to burning at the stake.

Martin Family:
Many factors contributed to Thérèse's sense of God and her spirituality, but none more so than her parents, Louis and Zélie Martin. Declared Venerable on March 26, 1994, these two were constantly looking towards Heaven. Marie, Thérèse's oldest sister, said, "Our parents raised all of us in a spirit of detachment from the things of this world. This seems to me to have been the characteristic note of our upbringing. They frequently reminded us of eternity." All of Thérèse's sisters went into the convent; Marie, Pauline and Céline joined the Carmelites, and Léonie joined the Visitation at Caen. As some families are particularly gifted in music or athletics, it would seem that the Martin family had a special ability for spiritual things. The great biographer of the Martin family, Fr. Piat, wrote, "It was as if the whole family was leaning out the window looking up at heaven." Thérèse received such love from her father, who she saw as a very holy and prayerful man; it was not hard for her to understand the unfailing love of God, the Father, for His many children.

Family Recipe:
The Martin family had many special recipes. One of Thérèse's favorites was Soup Minonnee. Its name is taken from an Old French word for mijotee, which means to stew slowly. Well-known in Normandy, it is called panade (bread soup) in other regions. The nuns adopted this recipe and made the soup in Carmel.