St. Therese: Doctor of the Little Way, Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.

Published by Park Press,Wake Park, MN 1997 U.S. $9.50, pp.180

This book was published by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, followers of St. Francis of Assissi and St. Maximilian Kolbe. It is a compilation of the "past and latest" writings on our newest Doctor of the Church in the form of over 30 articles written by members of the Franciscan and Carmelite Orders as well as other authorities on her teachings.

The editor is clearly chagrined about the state of the Church today: "The Church is experiencing a terrible crisis of faith in our times. Dissent is rampant but at the same time God is raising up great saints." He believes that many of these saints will be those followers of St. Therese's Little Way. In fact, the purpose of this book is to encourage others to read A Story of A Soul, Therese's spiritual autobiography, and be inspired to seek personal holiness of life through the practice of her "Way."

There is a vitality to this book. It contains so many innovative and fascinating articles that one knows scarcely where to start; one of the most fascinating and well worth the price of the book alone describes the spiritual affinity between St. Maximilian Kolbe and Therese. It documents the deep Marian spirituality of the two saints beginning from childhood. One learns that St. Maximilian was reading A Story of a Soul in 1912 while he was a teenaged Franciscan student. He was devoted to St. Therese! En route to Japan, in 1930, he stopped first at Lourdes, then at Lisieux, to beg St. Therese's intercession for his newest missionary endeavours. What is even more amazing to discover is that the two of them had a kind of agreement! He told her (and this is before she was even beatified) that if she would help him to become a priest he would pray for her canonization! The agreement was kept! And then some--Therese has become a Doctor of the Church as well. The author of this wonderful article, Franciscan Fr. Thomas Mary Huff,, raises another great possible parallel between the two saints, that "perhaps some day St. Maximilian, too, may be raised to such a dignity.

Not surprisingly, in this Franciscan publication, here is an article on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Therese as "Spiritual Brother and Sister". Another fascinating article compares the writings of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and Therese under apt title "Father Teilhard's Studied Ambiguity and St. Therese's Simplicity." Timely and urgent for today's euthanasia-prone society is an article describing St. Therese's doctrine on suffering entitled, "St. Therese's Light in the Culture of Death." It should be printed and distributed to every hospital and nursing home in the land.

This book is a gold mine of information on St. Therese and has much to offer whether a reader is well acquainted with the writings of St. Therese or is reading about her for the first time. It has an excellent five-page bibliography. Highly recommended.