In July 1937, forty years after St. Thérèse’s death, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, came to Lisieux to give a first blessing to the basilica then being constructed in honour of the Little Flower. He had a meeting in the Carmel with Thérèse’s sister, Céline, in religion, Sr. Geneviève of the Holy Face. The Prioress gave her permission to take Pacelli’s photograph as he posed under an archway in the cloister. Afterwards, the Cardinal and the Carmelite had a private conversation. Sr. Geneviève kissed his hand, and then astonished him by saying: “Your Eminence, you’re going to be Pope after Pius XI. I’m sure of it. I’m praying for it.” Unsmiling, the Cardinal replied: “I’d much rather you prayed for me to have the grace of a happy death. That’s far more precious to me. May the good God be merciful and kind to me at that supreme moment.”
It was a wonderful reply: Eugenio Pacelli knew that no one gets to Heaven by an automatic process, and being a Cardinal, far from being a help, might well prove to be a hindrance. The Church teaches us, the saints never cease to remind us, that we must pray every day for the great gift of perseverance to the end, for the grace of a holy death. Céline, Sr. Geneviève, immediately responded with words that must have impressed and consoled the Cardinal: “If you follow the little way of spiritual childhood of our little St Thérèse, there is room only for confidence. She said there would be no judgement for children, and that you can remain a child even if you hold the highest of offices.”
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