Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and Father Adolphe Roulland, "Brothers in the mission"

01 October 2022

< Go back

In 1861, the foundress of the convent of Lisieux sent four of her daughters to Saigon for a foundation in Vietnam. This zeal for the salvation of souls was taken up by the successive priors. This is how Mother Maria di Gonzaga chose Teresa as a correspondent for Adolphe Roulland, who very often expressed her desire to join the sisters in Vietnam.

Adolphe Roulland, on May 30, 1896, wrote to the prior of the Carmel of Lisieux, to entrust his future apostolate to the prayer of a Carmelite nun.

Teresa was chosen. On June 20, 1896, eight days before his ordination, Roulland received a reply and wrote to his prior to thank her for having given him «an auxiliary angel of my apostolate [...]. Thanks to the prayers for me in the Carmel, I will win souls to our God».

The eight letters addressed to Adolphe Roulland translate a profound and mystical covenant that Teresa worked to define and deepen during the last months of her life: for her the evangelizing energy in the mission can only germinate and be realized only in the mystical encounter of the Carmelite and the missionary with God.

Teresa, inspired by the writings of Teresa of Avila, who supported the need to use her soul in supplication and intercession for the conversion of sinners, the sanctification of missionary priests, theologians, preachers, "to give a thousand lives to save one soul "(Path of Perfection, Escorial, 1, 2).

It is in this climate that Teresa is also attracted to the missionary perspective; Teresa long before taking on the spiritual interests of her two missionary priests, was attracted to the idea of becoming an apostle.

But it is not a question of being a simple apostle, Teresa wants to become "apostle of the apostles". Teresa announces the double project that she will formulate more precisely in her mystical alliance with her two spiritual brothers. Teresa does not seek to be the first of the Twelve, but she places herself in the primary role of welcoming the Easter Good News, before each mission, before becoming the initiator of the apostolic mission like Mary of Magdala upon returning from the tomb.

Strengthened by this personal commitment to the mission, she offers Adolphe Roulland an already more explicit definition of apostolic union: it no longer concerns the union of two beings, but includes the gift of God who can only answer the missionary's prayer to ignite the heart of Teresa to awaken souls to God; the relationship between Teresa and the missionary is no longer direct, as Roulland imagines it, but indirect and, in the spirit of Teresa, her prayer will not touch the missionary but, by the grace of God, directly the hearts of the nonbelievers: «Not being able to be missionary of action, I wanted to be missionary in love and penance»...

For more details:

Catherine Marin, L'union apostolique de Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus et d'Adolphe Roulland, dans "Histoire et missions chrétiennes" 2010/3 (n° 15).

Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux