The Sickness of Therese Martin and Her Healing by the Smile of the Virgin Mary Cover Image

La maladie de Thérèse Martin et la Guerison par la Vierge Marie
The Sickness of Therese Martin and Her Healing by the Smile of the Virgin Mary

Author(s): Krzysztof Pawłowski
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History, Language and Literature Studies, Sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Karmelitów Bosych
Keywords: Therese of Lisieux; Therese of the Child Jesus; Therese Martin; John of the Cross; night; sickness; neurosis; healing; the smile of the Virgin Mary

Summary/Abstract: The sickness from which Therese was suffering when she was ten years old was diagnosed by physicians as neurosis. She diagnosed it herself as an effect of a demon’s attack. Are these two different opinions so contradictory that they exclude each other? No necessarily so. John Paul II, in his Fides et ratio, says that truth acquired through natural reason does not render useless the truth of faith. While appreciating the medical point of view, a theologian should not be satisfied with this level of interpretation. It is so in this case because Therese dedicated seven pages of her autobiography to recounting her difficult experience in order to express, above all, her faith.

  • Issue Year: XI/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 73-91
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: English, French