Saint Therese of Lisieux: A short life - Rilegato

Harrison, Kathryn

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0297847287 ISBN 13: 9780297847281

Casa editrice: W&N, 2003

Riassunto

The spread of devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux is one of the impressive religious manifestations of our time. During her few years on earth this young French Carmelite was scarcely to be distinguished from many another devoted nun, but her death brought an almost immediate awareness of her unique gifts. Through her letters, and especially through the publication of "The Little Flower" she soon came to mean a great deal to numberless people. Within twenty-eight years after death, this simple young nun had been canonized; and in 1944, the pope declared her the secondary patroness of France. Born to a devout Catholic bourgeois family, Therese and her four surviving sisters all became nuns. Therese had long assumed she would die young and looked forward to it as her reunion with God and her lost loved ones. When her health began to fail in 1894 (she was 20 years old and the tuberculosis that was diagnosed would end her life aged 24) she suffered her first pulmonary haemorrage on a Good Friday and rejoiced in the fact that God had announced her imminent death to her on the anniversary of his own crucifixion. Her sainthood and the continuing attraction of her life and belief stems from self-sacrifice.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'Harrison's psychological analysis is compelling. She locates many of Therese's ideas in the early death or her mother and the mental illness of her father...Harrison's account of the saint's childhood is well written, sympathetic and horrifying...[a] beautifully crafted book.' (Damien Thompson LITERARY REVIEW (November) )

'Kathryn Harrison has written a biography which is neither hagiography nor hatchet-job. In her reading St Therese is a damaged soul, but almost because of that, a truly great one.' (Caroline Moore SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (9.11.03) )

'...fascinating...the writing is powerful and will cause reflection.' (Talitha Stevenson OBSERVER (30.11.03) )

'Harrison knows her stuff and writes so well that the reader soaks it up.' (Christopher Howse TELEGRAPH (29.11.03) )

'Harrison offers a critical perspective of Therese, but whether praising or blaming, her style is always luxuriously poetic. Written with a passion that pervades the prose, this is a grippingly good read.' (Anita Sethi CITY LIFE (Manchester, 19.11.03) )

'insightful.' (Bess Twiston Davies CATHOLIC HERALD (5.12.03) )

'The account Harrison gives of the little nun's heroic and uncomplaining final journey cannoy fail to touch the heart.' (THE UNIVERSE (7.12.03) )

'The excellence of Kathryn Harrison's short book is that it is an honest and rigorous account.' (Roz Kaveney TIME OUT (17.12.03) )

'This is no holy, holy book. It's different from anything you've ever read before about the little French nun who became a Doctor of the Church. She would have loved it.' (IRISH NEWS (Belfast, 19.12.03) )

'[an] utterly fascinating read.' (GOOD BOOK GUIDE (1.1.04) )

L'autore:

Kathryn Harrison is the author of the novels Thicker Than Water, Exposure, and Poison. She has also written a memoir, The Kiss, in which she confessed why at the age of 20 she had a sexual relationship with her father. Her personal essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and other publications. Born in 1961, she lives in New York with her husband, the novelist Colin Harrison, and their children.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: W&N
• Data di pubblicazione: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0297847287
• ISBN 13: 9780297847281
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 224