The Devotion of Our Lady of the Smile is tied to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus. The spirit of filial devotion of which Mary marked the interior life of this great saint. Highly sensitive and precocious she decided to dedicate her life of God from infancy. And she made her consecreted life a singular missionary project of the Virgin Most Holy. Therefore, this model of missionary work, never left the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux, France.
The fundamentals of religion Theresa learned with her parents, Luis Martin and Zélia Guerin. The father was strongly devoted to Mary and possessed an image of the Holy Virgin in his room. When he carried, the image passed to the family. Therese was the youngest of nine siblings. She suffered a great trauma in 1977, when her mother Zélia became sick and died in a few months. Then at four years of age she remained under the care of her sister Paulina.
In October 1882, Therese suffered another strong wound. She was without her ‘second mother’. Paulina entered the Carmelite Monastery of Lisieux, with the blessing of her Father. A sad Therese became sick which worsened each day. On Easter night in 1883, the crisis of tremors began and lasted for weeks. The family doctor diagnosed a profound depression motivated by affective frustration. The emotional immaturity proper to this age, did not permit her to assimilate the loss of ‘two mothers’. Living in anguish of abandonment and unable to react, the presented a regressive behavior that brought her to be treated as a newborn. It was a grave case and in this era, without a medical cure.
Paulina, united to the rest of the Carmelites in the Convent of Lisieux, intensified the prayers to Our Lady, that she may obtain a cure. With this intention her Father Luis demanded that a novena of masses in the santuary of Our Lady of Victories of Parish accompanied by all the relatives and friends.
But later, in the her autobiography, Story of a Soul, Saint Teresa said that she was cured of this infirmity by the maternal intervention of Mary. She wrote that on the day of 13 of May of 1883, feast of Pentecost, . . . I turned my head to see the image of Our Lady and suddenly the Holy Virgin appeared to me beautiful, so beautiful that never had I seen anything similar, her face show a kindness and an ineffable tenderness, but that which went deep into my sould was a ‘charming smile of the Holy Virgin’. All my sufferings left at this moment, two big tears fell from my eyes and fall down my face. They were tears of pure joy. . . Ah! I thought The Holy Virgin smiled for me, I am happy. . . It was because of the intense prayers that I had the grace of the smile of the Queen of Heaven. (Ma …30v)
This image she gave the title of the Virgen of the Smile and the invocation began with her family. After she brought the devotion to Carmel of Lisieux, where she entered at 15 years of age with the special permission of Pope Leo XIII. Finally, it was divulged in all Carmelite orders and was propagated throughout the world.
The image of Our Lady of the Smile of Saint Teresa is more than 90 centimeters high (about 3 feet), and is a reproduction of the work of Artist Bouchardon. It was in front of the infirmary of the Carmel of Lisieux, where she concluded her brief existence of 24 years in 1897. Today the image is venerated in the chapel of the same Carmel, above the glass crypt that keeps the relics of the saint. Our Lady of the Smile of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus is celebrated the 15th of August.
Eliana Sá
Eliana Sá is the wife of Ricardo Sá who are both consecrated members of Canção Nova (New Song) They write from Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil.
Translated from Portuguese