vu/src/data/propers/nocturn-readings/st-therese-of-lisieux.yml

# Matins Nocturn 2-3 readings for St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus,
# Virgin (Oct 3). Sourced directly from
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/10-03.txt, English/Sancti/10-03.txt.
# Nocturn 2: Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita.
# Nocturn 3: Lectio7's Gospel citation (Matt 18:1-4, the little child
# set in the disciples' midst) is a bare "Et réliqua" incipit in the
# horas file -- the same pericope this day's own Mass proper carries in
# full (missa/Latin+English/Sancti/10-03.txt's [Evangelium]), sourced
# from there and added 2026-09-05 (isGospel: true) immediately before
# the homily (Lectio7-9, Pope St. Leo the Great -- itself an unusual
# reuse of a Sermon originally preached for Epiphany, but on this same
# Matt 18:1-4 text, so it pairs correctly here).
id: st-therese-of-lisieux
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Terésia a Jesu Infante, Alensonii in Gállia, honestis paréntibus,
        singulari et assidua erga Deum pietáte conspicuis, orta est. Inde
        a prima ætate, divino Spíritu prævénta, religiosam vitam ágere
        cupiebat. Serio autem promisit, se nihil Deo denegatúram, quod
        ipse ab ea petere viderétur: quam promissiónem fideliter usque
        ad mortem servare satégit. Quinto ætátis anno, matre amissa, Dei
        providéntiæ se totam commisit sub vigilanti custódia amantíssimi
        patris, sororúmque natu majórum: quibus magistris, Teresia ad
        curréndam perfectiónis viam ut gigas exsultávit. Novennis
        virgínibus ex Ordine sancti Benedicti Lexoviis excolenda
        traditur, ibique in rerum divinárum cognitióne excellere visa
        est. Décimo ætátis anno, arcanus et gravis morbus eam diu
        cruciávit, a quo prout ipsa enárrat, ope Beatíssimæ Vírginis,
        quæ eídem subrídens appáruit, et quam, sub titulo Dominæ nostræ
        a Victoria, per novendialia invocare studuit, divinitus fuit
        liberata. Tunc, angelico fervore repléta, ad sacrum convivium,
        in quo Christus sumitur, se diligentíssime præparáre curávit.


        Ut prímitus eucharistico pane fuit refecta, insatiábilem
        cæléstis hujus cibi famem haurire visa est: unde velut
        inspirata, Jesum rogabat, ut omnem mundanam consolatiónem in
        amaritúdinem sibi verteret. Inde tenerrimo in Christum Dóminum
        et in Ecclésiam amóre exæstuans, nihil antiquius hábuit, quam
        Carmelitárum Excalceatórum Ordinem íngredi, ut sui abnegatióne,
        suisque sacrifíciis, sacerdótibus, missionariis, totique
        Ecclésiæ opem afferret, et innumeras ánimas Jesu Christo
        lucrifáceret: quod jam morti próxima, apud Deum se factúram
        pollícita est. Propter ætátis defectum, multas ad religiosam
        vitam amplecténdam nacta est difficultates, quibus tamen
        incredibili animi fortitúdine superatis, quindecim annos nata,
        Lexoviensem Carmelum feliciter ingressa est. Ibi mirábiles Deus
        in Teresiæ corde ascensiónes dispósuit, quæ, Maríæ Vírginis
        vitam abscónditam imitata, quasi hortus irriguus, flores ómnium
        virtútum germinávit, præcipue vero exímiæ in Deum et in
        próximum caritátis.


        Quo magis Altíssimo placéret, quum in Sacris Scripturis mónitum
        illud legísset: Si quis est párvulus véniat ad me; párvula in
        spíritu esse vóluit, et inde filiali fiducia Deo, tamquam Patri
        amantíssimo, se perpetuo trádidit. Hanc, spiritualis infantiæ
        viam, secúndum Evangélii doctrinam, alios docuit, speciatim
        novítias, quas ex obediéntia ad religiosárum virtútum studium
        informandas suscépit, atque ita apostolico zelo repléta, mundo,
        supérbia inflato et vanitátes diligenti, evangelicæ simplicitátis
        iter patefécit. Sponsus autem Jesus eam patiéndi desidério, tam
        in anima, quam in corpore, pénitus inflammávit. Insuper Dei
        caritátem undequáque neglectam animadvertens, summo dolóre
        affecta, duobus ante óbitum annis, Dei miserentis amori se
        víctimam óbtulit. Tunc, ut ipsa refert, cæléstis ignis flamma
        vulneráta est: unde caritate consumpta, in écstasim rapta,
        ferventíssime ingéminans: Deus meus, te diligo; viginti quatuor
        annos nata, die trigesima Septembris, anno millesimo
        octingentésimo nonagesimo septimo, ad Sponsum evolávit. Quod
        autem móriens promiserat, se perennem rosárum plúviam in terram
        demissuram, hoc in cælum recepta, innumeris miraculis reapse
        adimplévit et in dies adimplet. Quam Pius undecimus, Pontifex
        maximus, Beátis Virgínibus adscriptam, et biennio post, jubilæo
        máximo recurrente, inter Sanctas relatam, peculiarem ómnium
        Missiónum Patronam constítuit ac declarávit.
      en: >-
        Theresa of the Child Jesus was born in Alencon in France. Her
        parents were estimable people, well known for their piety and
        their love of God. From her earliest childhood, endowed by a
        special grace of the Holy Ghost, she yearned to enter the
        religious life. She promised God with the utmost sincerity that
        she would deny him nothing he might ask of her. She kept this
        promise faithfully to the end of her life, although she had to
        suffer a great deal to keep it. Her mother died when Theresa was
        but five years old. From then on the child committed herself to
        the providence of God, under the vigilant care of a most tender
        father and her elder sisters. Under their teaching Theresa raced
        as gayly strong as a young giant along the way of perfection. At
        the age of nine she was sent to school at Lisieux to the
        Benedictine nuns, where she made remarkable progress in her
        knowledge of divine things. In her tenth year she was ill for a
        long time of a serious and mysterious malady. From this, as she
        herself relateth, she was delivered only by the power of God
        himself, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
        who appeared to her with a smiling countenance, and to whom
        under the title of our Lady of Victories, she was constantly
        making novenas. Filled with angelic fervour she prepared herself
        at this time with the utmost care to receive Christ in the
        sacred banquet of her first Holy Communion.


        After being refreshed for the first time with the Eucharistic
        Bread Theresa seemed to develop an insatiable hunger for the
        celestial food. Then, as if by inspiration, she asked Jesus to
        turn all her earthly consolation into bitterness. After that she
        burned with a most tender love for Christ the Lord and for his
        Church. More than anything in the world she wanted to enter the
        Order of the Discalced Carmelites, where by self-sacrifice she
        might assist priests, missionaries and the whole Church, and so
        gain innumerable souls for Christ Jesus. All this, she promised
        God would do for her, even when apparently she lay at the point
        of death. Her extreme youth was an obstacle which hindered her
        entrance upon the religious life. Even this she overcame by her
        incredible courage of soul. She entered Carmel at Lisieux
        happily at the age of fifteen. There God fashioned the heart of
        Theresa in a marvellous way, teaching her to ascend to him step
        by step. Imitating the hidden life of the Virgin Mary like a
        well-watered garden she bore flowers of every virtue, especially
        an abiding love of God and neighbour.


        That she might please the most high God to greater degree, when
        she read in Sacred Scriptures the warning, Whoever is a little
        one, let him come unto me, she determined to be a little one in
        spirit. As such she consecrated herself forever with childlike
        confidence to God, her most loving Father. The way of spiritual
        childhood, following the teachings of the Gospel, she taught to
        others, especially to the novices whose training in the pursuit
        of religious virtues she undertook in obedience to her
        superiors. Overflowing with apostolic zeal she pointed out to a
        world filled with pride and a love of vanities, the simple way
        of the Gospels. Meanwhile Jesus, her spouse, inflamed her with a
        desire to suffer both in soul and in body. Moreover, perceiving
        that the love of God was everywhere rejected, she became filled
        with grief and two years before her death, offered herself as a
        victim of love to the merciful God. She writeth that she was
        then wounded by a flame of fire from heaven, whereupon she
        became consumed by love, rapt as it were in ecstasy. Repeating
        over and over again the fervent words, My God, I love thee, she
        passed on to her Spouse on the 30th day of September, in the
        year 1897, at the age of twenty-four years. As she was dying she
        promised that she would let fall upon earth a ceaseless shower
        of roses. This promise she hath indeed fulfilled in heaven, and
        her shower of roses hath continued to this very day. The
        Sovereign Pontiff Pius XI added her name to the Virgins declared
        Blessed and two years later, at the time of the great Jubilee,
        listed her among the Saints. He also appointed and declared her
        Patroness of all the missions.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: true
    citation: { la: "Matt 18:1-4", en: "Matt 18:1-4" }
    text:
      la: >-
        In illo témpore accessérunt discípuli ad Jesum, dicéntes: Quis,
        putas, major est in regno cælórum? Et advocans Jesus párvulum,
        státuit eum in médio eórum, et dixit: Amen, dico vobis, nisi
        convérsi fuéritis, et efficiámini sicut párvuli, non intrábitis
        in regnum cœlorum. Quicúmque ergo humiliáverit se sicut
        párvulus iste, hic est major in regno cœlórum.
      en: >-
        At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who then is
        greater in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little
        child to Him, set him in their midst, and said, Amen I say to
        you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will
        not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoever, therefore,
        humbles himself as this little child, he is the greatest in
        the kingdom of heaven.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: false
    source: "Pope St. Leo the Great, Sermon 37, on Epiphany, ch. 3-4"
    text:
      la: >-
        Tota, dilectíssimi, christianæ sapiéntiæ disciplína, non in
        abundántia verbi, non in astutia disputándi, neque in appetitu
        laudis et glóriæ, sed in vera et voluntária humilitate consistit,
        quam Dóminus Jesus Christus ab útero Matris usque ad supplícium
        Crucis pro omni fortitúdine et elégit et docuit. Nam, cum
        discípuli ejus inter se, ut ait Evangelista, disquírerent quis
        eórum major esset in regno cælórum, vocávit párvulum, et státuit
        eum in médio eórum, et dixit: Amen, dico vobis, nisi convérsi
        fuéritis et efficiámini sicut párvuli, non intrabitis in regnum
        cælórum. Quicúmque ergo humiliaverit se sicut puer iste, hic
        major erit in regno cælórum. Amat Christus infantiam, quam
        primum et animo suscépit et corpore. Amat Christus infantiam,
        humilitátis magistram, innocéntiæ regulam, mansuetúdinis
        formam. Amat Christus infantiam, ad quam majórum dirigit mores,
        ad quam senum redúcit ætates; et eos ad suum inclínat exemplum,
        quos ad regnum sublimat ætérnum.


        Ut autem plene valeámus agnóscere quómodo apprehéndi possit tam
        mira conversio et in puerílem gradum qua nobis mutatióne
        redeundum sit, doceat nos beátus Paulus et dicat: Nolíte púeri
        effici sensibus, sed malítia párvuli estote. Non ergo ad
        lúdicra infantiæ et imperfécta nobis primordia reverténdum est,
        sed aliquid, quod étiam graves annos déceat, inde suméndum, ut
        velox sit commótium tránsitus, citus ad pacem recursus: nulla
        sit memória offensiónis, nulla cupiditas dignitátis; amor
        sociæ communiónis, æqualitas naturalis. Magnum enim bonum est
        nocére non nosse et maligna non sápere; quia inférre ac referre
        injúriam, mundi hujus prudéntia est; némini autem malum pro
        malo reddere, christianæ est æquanimitátis infantia.


        Ad hanc vos, dilectíssimi, similtúdinem parvulórum mystérium
        hodiérnæ festivitátis invitat; et hanc vobis humilitátis formam
        adorátus a Magis puer Salvátor insinuat: qui, ut imitatóribus
        suis quid glóriæ paráret, osténderet, ortus sui témpore éditos
        martyrio consecrávit; ut in Bethlehem, ubi Christus natus est,
        geniti, per communiónem ætátis consortes fíerent passiónis.
        Amétur ígitur humilitas, et omnis a fidelibus vitétur elátio.
        Alter álterum sibi præferat, et nemo quod suum est quærat, sed
        quod alterius; ut, cum in ómnibus abundaverit afféctus
        benevoléntiæ, in nullo virus inveniátur invidiæ: quóniam qui se
        exáltat humiliábitur, et qui se humíliat exaltábitur.
      en: >-
        The whole teaching of Christian wisdom consisteth, dearly
        beloved, not in an abundance of words, not in skill in
        disputation, not surely in seeking after praise or glory, but
        rather in seeking after true and voluntary humility. This was
        the way which the Lord Jesus Christ chose and taught with all
        his strength from his Mother's womb to his death on the Cross.
        When the Lord's disciples, as the Evangelist saith, discussed
        among themselves which should be the greatest in the kingdom of
        heaven, he called a little child and set him in the midst of
        them, and said: Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted,
        and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
        kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
        this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of
        heaven. Christ loveth childhood, which state at first he took
        upon himself, both in his soul and in his body. Christ loveth
        childhood, for it is the teacher of humility, the rule of
        innocence, and the type of meekness. Christ loveth childhood,
        for he formeth the character of the grown man on this model,
        and bringeth back the latter years of the old to this very
        state; and he shapeth on this wise those whom he would raise to
        the kingdom of heaven.


        But, that we may be fully able to understand how this marvellous
        transformation can be accomplished, and by what change we are
        to return to the state of childhood, let us follow the teaching
        of the blessed Paul, who saith: Be not children in
        understanding; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in
        understanding be men. Hence we are not to return to the
        pastimes and imperfect beginnings of childhood, but thence are
        rather to take whatever is suitable to the full-grown: such as
        the swift passing of excitement; the speedy restoration of
        peace; the forgetfulness of injuries; the indifference to
        dignity; the love of the companionship of their comrades; and
        the natural evenness of temper. It is indeed a great good not to
        know and not to have a taste for harm; for to do and to return
        injuries is the wisdom of this world, but to render no man evil
        for evil is to possess the childhood of Christian goodwill.


        The mystery of this day's festival, dearly beloved, calleth you
        to this imitation of little children. And the Saviour, who was
        adored by the Magi as a child, recommendeth to you this pattern
        of humility. To shew what glory he prepareth for them that
        would imitate him, he consecrated by martyrdom those born at
        the same time as himself. And thus the children born in
        Bethlehem, where Christ was born, became sharers of his passion
        by virtue of sharing the age of his infancy. Let the faithful
        then love lowliness, and shun all arrogance. Let each one
        prefer his brother to himself. Let him seek not even what is
        his own, but only that which will profit his brother. The
        feeling of charity will abound in all; the poison of envy will
        be found in none. For he that exalteth himself shall be
        humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }