Anyway, the whole town is basically dedicated to them. There wasn't a whole lot in it besides St. Therese stuff. But we got a map and sat down on a bench facing the Basilica and ate lunch (bread, cheese, grapes). Then we checked out the Basilica and Crypt. The bones from Therese's arm are chillin' inside the Basilica surrounded by tons of beautiful candles, etc. The remains of Zelie and Louis are in the crypt in a big gold tomb thing. The crypt was very pretty colors with mosaics of scenes of Therese's life all over. Pretty.
After checking out the Basilica we wandered out back where the tombs of Blessed Zelie and Louis were. (They remains were moved into the crypt in May of 2008 or 2005--I can't remember.) There were also stations of the cross and a beautiful view!
We wanted to continue our journey so we got out the map of all Therese's sights to see and Sara started navigating. She looked at it for a minute and then we started walking. I asked if she knew where we were going and she said, "I think we just follow the blue line." It turns out there is an inch to two inch wide painted blue line on the side walk all around Lisieux that takes you to all of the places of Therese: Carmel, her parish church, her house, etc. I thought it was super sweet!
The first stop was Carmel, Therese's convent. There was a museum with all sorts of things about her life in it. (And descriptions in English, which was boss! :) ) The sweetest thing in the museum was a prayer book and medal or prayer card that had a bullet hole in it. It turns out a soldier had that in his pocket and the bullet didn't go all the way through it, so he didn't get hurt! Ah, awesome! We also saw the chapel and on the side of the chapel is a wax sculpture of her laying on her bed how she died. Underneath the sculpture is her remains.
After Carmel we headed down a main street (following the blue line, of course) and stopped at a bakery for a snack and stopped in a few stores. Then, we got to Therese's parish church. It was old! Louis had donated the high altar, which was pretty spectacular. Other places in the church were where Therese had her first confession and her family chapel. The chapel has a statue placed in the same spot that Therese sat for Sunday mass. The church also pointed out the spot where one of Threse's sisters got her calling to become a nun. (For those that don't know, Therese had 4 sister; 3 of whom became Carmelite nuns at the same convent as Therese, and 1 who became a Visitandine nun in Caen, France.)
The final stop was Therese's house. We waited outside and took some pictures; it was such a cute house! Then we were led inside and a long audio recording played...in French! :( But, we saw the parlor, dining room, Therese's bedroom, an inidentifiable room (turned into a gift shop--of course), and Louis' bedroom. The dining room and Louis' bedroom were only seen through a glass window. The backyard was also pretty. It had a really cute statue of Therese and Louis. I wish I could have heard what was being said, but it's alright.
After the house we hurried back to the Basilica so we could go to mass. (It was a Saturday.) We had plans on going to an international mass at Notre Dame Sunday morning, but this worked out better because we were already there and we had yet to climb up the Eiffel Tower and we were going to do that on Sunday morning as well. Anyway, mass was in the crypt, it was beautiful, and quite French. After mass we hopped on the train and went back to Paris!
(This silly blog isn't letting me upload photos right now, but I can give that a shot later...otherwise they should be on facebook soon...)
Go St. Therese! :)
ReplyDelete=) yayyyyy!
ReplyDeletelove, Tracy
(I'm just gonna sign things and enter anonymous cause i'm too lazy to make a profile....)