The cloistered Carmelite community that shaped the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux has said it is facing “profound changes,” amid a decline in numbers.
The Carmel of Lisieux, in France’s northwestern Normandy region, announced July 18 that it was affiliating with a Carmelite federation covering northern France.
“Following discernment between the Carmelite community of Lisieux and the Carmelite order in the face of the difficulties encountered by the sisters in maintaining their daily life, the Carmelite community of Lisieux is now affiliated to the Fédération Thérèse-Elisabeth des Carmélites de France-Nord, involving profound changes in the life of the Carmel,” it said.
The Carmel said that due to the changes, Lauds (morning prayer) and Vespers (evening prayer) will generally no longer be celebrated in the Carmel chapel from July 17. But Masses will continue to follow the current timetable.
According to the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, the community has 14 sisters but has not received new vocations for several years.
The newspaper said that eight sisters are expected to leave the Carmel, with some resettling in retirement homes. Six will remain to ensure the continuity of the community founded in 1835.
The Fédération Thérèse-Elisabeth des Carmélites de France-Nord, which brings together 32 Carmelite foundations in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania, seeks to “foster communion and mutual aid” between monasteries, as well as to promote “the contemplative life specific to Carmelites.”
The federation, formed in 2007, is under the patronage of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a French Carmelite mystic who died in 1906.
Sr. Marie-Gabrielle de la Sainte-Croix, the Carmelite federation’s president, will serve as the Lisieux community’s major superior. She will oversee the Lisieux Carmelites with the help of a council, while a local superior oversees the community’s day-to-day life.
Sister Marie-Gabrielle told La Croix: “There is no question of closing the Carmel of Lisieux.”
She added: “We want to take the time to reflect on the future of the Carmel and the community that will inhabit it.”
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has approved the Carmel of Lisieux’s new affiliation, La Croix said.
St. Thérèse — also known as the Little Flower — is a Doctor of the Church and one of the most popular saints of the 19th century.
Almost 150,000 people a year visit the Carmel where St. Thérèse lived from 1888 to her death in 1897, at the age of 24.
Three of St. Thérèse’s siblings — Marie, Pauline, and Céline — also lived in the community.
Visitors to the Carmel of Lisieux are permitted to enter the chapel and shrine, which contains the tomb of St. Thérèse, beneath a life-sized recumbent statue of the saint reputedly called “the greatest saint of modern times” by Pope Pius X.
Access to other parts of the Carmel — such St. Thérèse’s last cell and the infirmary where she died — is restricted. But virtual tours are available on the community’s website.
Pilgrims also typically visit the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux, which can accommodate 4,000 people, and Les Buissonnets, St. Thérèse’s family home, located just outside of the center of the town with around 20,000 inhabitants.
Since 1994, St. Thérèse’s relics have been taken to almost 70 countries, often drawing vast crowds.
The Sanctuary of Lisieux will celebrate a “Teresian year” in 2025, in honor of the centenary of St. Thérèse’s canonization, which falls May 17.
The Carmel of Lisieux, whose sisters come from Rwanda, Israel, and Réunion, as well as across mainland France, expressed gratitude for its supporters’ prayers as it navigates “this important stage in faith and hope, even if not without suffering.”
“The members of the Sanctuary of St. Thérèse renew their deep friendship with their Carmelite sisters, and assure them of their prayers in truth and charity, so that the Carmel of Lisieux may remain a source of grace and intimacy with the Lord,” the community said.
According to the website of the Discalced Carmelites — the branch of the Carmelite order to which St. Thérèse belonged — there are around 11,500 Discalced Carmelite nuns worldwide, in 98 countries. The sisters devote themselves to a contemplative life of prayer in cloistered communities.
“The fact is certainly reassuring that vocations still continue firmly in the west of Europe, especially in Spain, France, and Italy,” the website says.
“Unfortunately, more and more communities are suffering from the lack of new vocations, including some who cannot continue and must take the painful decision to be suppressed.”
“Joys, just as much as sorrows, are a sign of the times, which invite us to discern God’s will and to fulfill it faithfully in a new situation.”