The Beauty of Heaven on Earth

This peacock was sent by God to brighten up our winter - I mean mine and yours! I saw him a few days ago (the peacock, not God!) while I was walking the dog, which just goes to show that I have a great neighborhood (thank You, Jesus!) and there are perks to what the Northerners think of as No Seasons. But I am not gloating (and it has gotten down, down, down in temps these last nights) - no, I'm sharing the riches of God's beauty with you! How can I help it when He has given them so freely to me? 

I'm not the only one who feels this way. This compulsion to share His Beauty on earth is common to many, including Celine, the kindred-spirit-sister of St. Therese. Celine was 3 years older than Therese (who was herself the baby of the family), but from an early age they were inseparable. Thus they shared everything they could with each other, and this eventually led to Celine being one of the chief inheritors of the Little Way. Which meant, naturally (and supernaturally), that she was then compelled to share the Little Way with others.

One of my favorite stories is of Celine giving testimony on Therese to the judges at the process for Therese's beatification. Actually I think this was before the Cause for Therese's Sainthood was officially opened, but the idea was the same. Those who had known Therese had to prepare careful statements and answer questions which would help the investigators know if they should move forward with this Cause. Celine was a key witness, being one of the closest to Therese, and she took every chance she could to highlight the Little Way, to the point that the judges told her: Stop! If you speak of a special "way" you will sink the Cause! This is the kind of thing that stops causes all the time!

Celine, nicknamed "the Intrepid One," would have none of that shushing! She responded, "Fine then, let it sink! The only point in making Therese a canonized Saint is to raise her Little Way to the altars with her! This is her mission, and I will not shush!"

I love Celine!

This shushing and not being shushed was going on maybe about 1910, which was 13 years after Therese left earth for Heaven. In those intervening 13 years she'd been super busy "coming down" as she'd promised, and bringing with her showers of roses, covering the whole world with them, in fact. It started with the publication of her Story of a Soul one year after her death, and this book so immediately set souls on fire that it started a conflagration of Love! Within only a few years, it had been translated into lots of languages, and the Carmel was receiving letters from really and truly all over the world, attesting to miracles - or begging for them - from places that shouldn't even have known of this hidden nun!

Meanwhile at the Carmel, Therese wasn't only consoling her sisters with letters. She had arranged for the first photos of the Shroud of Turin to be taken, and thus the first negatives to be seen revealing the true face of Our Lord. She had already learned from her sister Mother Agnes and shared with her other sisters too the devotion to the Holy Face, so it was right and just that once in Heaven where she saw Jesus Face to face, she should share this Beauty with her sisters. Celine was not only her closest soul mate, but also the photographer and artist par excellence among them. And so, it was to Celine that Therese revealed (from her place in Heaven though through earth-dwelling messengers) the Holy Face from the Shroud.

Celine was blown away! She immediately wanted to paint this Face - especially since Mother Agnes and Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (their oldest sister) didn't have the same reaction of awe at the negative image of the Shroud. Celine realized it was given to her (by Therese, no doubt) to share this image with the whole world by making it more visible through a portrait.

As I write this, I am myself blown away. There is a long, long (silly, silly) controversy over the images of Therese. Do you know of it? Celine was, as I mentioned, a photographer. Apparently those entering the Carmel could bring in one possession, and Celine brought her camera. She became the photographer of the Carmel in the early years of photography, and the consequence is 40 or so photos of St. Therese! But whether it was early days or whether it is now, there is an interesting question that arises about photos versus paintings. This was more a burning debate in those early days because portraits had been the way of preserving a person's likeness. Now portraits were perhaps threatened by photography. But in fact, many thought there was no threat because it was so obvious that a portrait could so much better capture the full likeness of a person! 

After Therese went to Heaven, it was up to the Carmel to respond to the many and increasing requests that came to them for more, more, more on Therese. Our sister had been keeping her promise - starting immediately on her entry to heaven which was immediate upon her departure from earth - her promise to work to make God loved as she loved Him. She did this (smart girl) by granting favors of all sorts to anyone and everyone who asked. Word spread quickly, especially after her Story was circulated.

Celine, then, was the one to paint pictures and portraits of Therese so that her true face could reach those who loved her but were dependent on the Carmel to get to know her and see her image. We'd think Celine and the Carmel should have sent out piles of photos, but they knew that the photos didn't do Therese justice. To take a small example, in the gorgeous photo Celine took of Therese in death, Therese's eyebrows show up black or very dark. Well actually Therese's eyebrows were blonde!

But more to the point, Therese had a happy, smiling, loving, compassionate, and mischievous face with a multitude of changing expressions. Almost none of these expressions were captured on film because in those days one had to hold a pose for 19 seconds in order for enough light to enter the lens of the camera to take the photo. Therese's face would become hard and rigid almost every time, all spontaneity lost. 

Surely, then, God sent two gifts into the Carmel with Celine: her camera and her ability to paint. For she worked from the photos and her memory to paint really wonderful pictures of Therese that, all the sisters agreed, captured and conveyed her personality as well as her face, so much more vividly than a camera ever could.

Consequently these images drawn and painted by Celine were used for the frontpieces of various editions of Story of a Soul, as well as put on holy cards to send out in response to the endless requests that came pouring in through the mail. 

As the years passed, and then decades, people needed something to argue about (don't we always?) and so started to attack the Carmel for sending out false images of Therese. OH BROTHER! The Bishop defended the Carmel from the beginning and pamphlets were distributed with his cogent explanations on behalf of Celine and the others. The photos were later made entirely available to the world, and now we have, in a sense, all of Celine's work.

You know what the funny thing is? When my husband and I made our pilgrimage to Lisieux last May, I crammed my suitcase with holy cards to bring home. No, that's not the funny part yet! That's just absolutely required activity for a pilgrimage to Lisieux! But the funny part is that when I would, for several months until they were all given away, offer an array of holy cards to friends, acquaintances, and practically strangers (whomever Therese wanted to meet and bless, which meant everyone), and said, "Choose one! Or two if you can't decide!" - what do you think happened?

I offered a variety of photos of Therese and one image painted by Celine. 

The image painted by Celine was the most often chosen!

But let's get back to the real Beauty in the case - that of Our Lord. As recounted, Therese made sure, as soon as she got to Heaven, to arrange for Celine, the one she called the sweet echo of her soul, to also receive a clearer glimpse of Our Lord's face, namely by giving the world and Celine the negative photographic image of the Shroud of Turin. But not all could see or appreciate His Beauty there, so Celine did what she could to show others what was really there hidden in the photo - she painted a portrait of Christ's face that was a better likeness than the photo itself!

The other night, by a crazy sequence I won't go into now, I found myself reading Celine's autobiography from the Archives of the Lisieux Carmel. It is marvelous, and I hope to share much from it here in coming days, weeks, months, and years! But for now, here is what I want to share, because we all have our moments, and Celine had them too . . . 

She wrote about her work painting the Holy Face: 

"Since Therese thus took care to bring out Jesus from the shadows, she had to choose someone to promote this treasure. It was her Celine that she used as an artisan. It was quite natural, we prefer to deal more often with simple workers whom one can guide according to one's taste, rather than to address masters whose works one is obliged to accept without daring to criticize. And what a guarantee for souls, who were later to enjoy this portrait, to know that the hand of the worker was only a machine and that all the merits of initiative and success are due to the Elect from Heaven: The Angels and the Blessed!"

Celine commended her work - before, during, and after - to the Blessed Virgin, to Saint Joseph, and to all the Saints and Angels. She often painted on her knees, and generally observed the type of demeanor and contemplative attitude we associate with icon writers. Several times she had a kind of vision of the Holy Face, Jesus Himself coming, in a way (though not as an apparition) to pose for her. And finally, Therese also made her presence felt and known and guided Celine in the work. Below is a picture of Celine at work, and the final result. It won the major prize at an international art show, it won the praise and indulgences of Pope St. Pius X, and it enjoyed much popularity amongst the devout - and still enjoys appreciation from those who see it! Fr. Michael Gaitley printed a high quality reproduction of Celine's Holy Face inside his wonderful 33 Days to Merciful Love - it is worth getting the book for the contents, but if you have a copy already, you may want to get an extra just to be able to take the front cover off and have the Holy Face more easily accessible!

There is a tradition of celebrating a feast of the Holy Face on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, the day on which it makes sense to not only have a nice big piece of chocolate cake, but also to kiss Jesus in reparation for those who take Mardi Gras too far. Maybe we'll celebrate Jesus' Holy Face here on that day! Maybe we can even do a novena leading up to that day. In fact, I think we'd better because this year that day is February 25 - the 61st anniversary of Celine's own entry into Heaven!

In the meantime, here is Celine's Holy Face, before which we can happily say with her and Therese and the rest of the Elect:

Draw me, we will run!