Dorothy Scallan - The Whole World Will Love Me

The Whole World
Will Love Me

The Life of Saint
Therese of the Child
Jesus and of the Holy
Face

Dorothy Scallan

NIHIL OBSTAT:	John M. A. Fearns, S.T.D.
Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:		Francis Cardinal Spellman
Archbishop of New York New York
July 28, 1953

The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

Copyright 1954 by Emeric B. Scallan. First published by The William-Frederick Press, New York, 1954, under the author's pen name, Doris Sheridan.

ISBN 0-89555-818-1

Images of St. Therese and of the Holy Face of Jesus:

Copyright Office Central de Lisieux.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

2005

I N R ECOGNITI ON AND IN G RATITUDE

for teaching her youngest sister S AINT T HERESE

TO E MBRACE

The Devotion to
The Holy Face

THIS BOOK IS HUMBLY DEDICATED TO

M OTHER A GNES OF J ESUS

P RIORESS OF THE C ARMEL OF L ISIEUX

WHO EXPIRED IN THE ODOR OF SANCTITY
JULY 28, 1951

"ETERNAL FATHER, since Thou hast given me for my inheritance the Adorable Face of Thy Divine Son, I offer that Face to Thee, and I beg Thee, in exchange for this coin of infinite value, to forget the ingratitude of souls dedicated to Thee, and to pardon all poor sinners ."

St. Therese

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
1873-1897
Canonized in 1925. Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

T HE H OLY F ACE OF J ESUS

Painting by Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face (Celine Martin), based on the photograph of the Holy Shroud made by Secondo Pia in 1898.

HOWEVER TENDER WAS THE DEVOTION WHICH SAINT THERESE HAD FOR THE CHILD JESUS, IT CANNOT BE COMPARED TO THE DEVOTION SHE HAD FOR THE HOLY FACE.

M OTHER A GNES OF J ESUS

I N FULL OBEDIENCE to the decrees of Pope Urban VII , and other Supreme Pontiffs, the author declares that the graces and other supernatural phenomena treated in this volume, which testify to the sanctity of Servants of God, other than those canonized or beatified by the Church, are based on human authority. In this regard, as in all matters of faith, the author submits without reserve to the infallible judgment of the Apostolic See, which alone has the power to render infallible pronouncements .

CONTENTS

Publisher's Preface

"The whole world will love me," predicted St. Therese near the end of her life. (See .) This is certainly a startling statement from a Saint, and one can presume that these words were well scrutinized for undertones of pride and egotism during the Process of her Canonization.

Yet these words were simply a prophecy of the truth, stated with humility, and in a few short years they came to pass. Therese had not touched many souls directly during her lifetime, but as she neared death, she stated, "I feel that my mission is about to begin: my mission to make others love the good God the way I love Him." She would touch souls mainly through her now-famous book, The Story of a Soul , which has sold millions of copies in many languages the world over. This phenomenon is an extraordinary event in the field of publishing as well as in the life of the Church.

St. Therese had said, "After my death I will let fall a shower of roses," and she kept her word. So many favors were obtained through her intercession that people worldwide clamored for her canonization. The Bishop of her diocese, "despite his lack of enthusiasm" Today St. Therese is probably the most popular Saint in the world.

One of the singular merits of this book, The Whole World Will Love Me , is that it brings out St. Therese's devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. "It was the Little Flower's devotion to the Holy Face which drove her to her unparalleled heights of sanctity," states Fr. Emeric Scallan. Here the reader learns of the beginnings of this devotion in Tours, its uncanny spread to Lisieux, and its crucial importance in the life of St. Therese and in her mission to save the souls of unbelievers. The author particularly brings out the role of the Holy Face of Jesus in enabling St. Therese to triumph over temptations against faith in the long and excruciatingly intense "dark night of the soul" which she endured for the last 18 months of her life.

Written in a "story" form, The Whole World Will Love Me is nonetheless a well researched biography by an author steeped in her subject and is very likely the best biography of St. Therese yet to appear. It brings out many facts about her life that are usually overlooked or barely mentioned in most accounts. These include the providential circumstances of her parents' meeting, the Martin family's financial circumstances, Louis Martin's refusal to work on Sunday, his efforts to work with the Church's "bureaucracy" in Rome to get a hearing for his daughter's aspiration to Carmel, the daily challenges of life in Carmel, St. Therese's last illness and death (not described, of course, in The Story of a Soul) , and the remarkable spread of her fame soon after her death.

Even readers very familiar with St. Therese's life will find their eyes opened to many new insights in Dorothy Scallan's book. And those who have previously appreciated the Little Flower as St. Therese of the Child Jesus will come away from this book with a new understanding of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face .

The Publishers, 2005

"O JESUS, Thy Face is the only beauty that delights my heart. Impress on my soul Thy divine likeness, so that Thou mayest not look at Thy spouse without beholding Thyself. O my Beloved, for love of Thee I am content not to see here on earth the sweetness of Thy glance, nor to feel the ineffable kiss of Thy sacred lips; but I beg Thee to inflame me with Thy Love, that it may consume me quickly, and that soon Therese of the Holy Face may behold Thy glorious Face in Heaven ."

St. Therese

"T HERE IS no need for me to inquire how things turned out for Zelie at the convent," said Captain Guerin as he entered his well-lighted house and closed the cold, wet outdoors behind him. "I can tell at a glance from the way you look that you've been disappointed."

"I could have told you even before we left this morning," answered his wife, "that the nuns wouldn't accept Zelie as a postulant. But, then, whenever I say anything, you tell me I am too pessimistic!"

The captain pretended not to hear her answer. Stroking Zelie's silken dark hair, which was neatly parted in the center and displayed a strikingly fair forehead to real advantage, he asked sympathetically, "Did they give you no hope at all, my child?"

"Sister Superior said I had no vocation," the daughter replied, valiantly holding back the tears in her large brown eyes.

"But I don't understand! You always had your heart very much set on entering a convent, and if I am any judge of my daughter, I would say that you would make a good nun. Tell me, what reason did the Sister Superior give for refusing you?" Although Captain Guerin had retired from his commission in the army many years before, he had never lost the characteristics of a military officer. In his opinion those in authority ought to be at all times ready to give reasons for their official acts. Now he wanted to know why his daughter, who had been so anxious to wear the veil since she was thirteen, was turned away from the religious life as unsuitable.

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