| Author | Dorota Narewska |
|---|---|
| Title | The influence of „real” on „virtual” or the confrontation of Teresa Martin’s life practices with her theory of spirituality – doctrine of „the little way”. The study of the correspondence of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus with the priests – Maurice Bellière and Adolf Roulland |
| Keywords | Teresa Martin – Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Maurycy Bellière (1874‒1907), Adolf Roulland (1870‒1934), the doctrine of „the littleway”, Carmel, the epistolary heritage |
| Pages | 205-239 |
| Full text | |
| Volume | 32 |
Heaven for free! This is a great truth – this is the essence of Teresa Martin’s (1873‒1897) „the little way”. The epistolary heritage of the saint of Carmel consists of 266 letters, including 17 addressed to the two Catholic missionaries – Maurice Bellière (1874‒1907) and Adolf Roulland (1870‒1934). The first, Maurice Bellière went to Africa the day before the death of his spiritual sister, where he stayed briefly and died in disgrace, and the second Adolf Roulland was working in the mission in China for 13 years and lived to see the canonization of Thérèse of the Child Jesus. By the decisions of the two superiors of the monastery in Lisieux, both clergy were for two years writing letters to the terminally ill Carmelite who was conscious of her disease. The letters show how the spiritual doctrine of „a little way” discovered by Teresa Martin, that is the reality of the sacred – „virtual”, was confronted –thanks to interpersonal communication – with the „real”, that is the profane.