# Theresian Anniversaires 2023 - Introduction ## General Introduction – The Origin of Manuscript a One winter evening, while the four Martin sisters are gathered in the only heated room of the monastery, Therese recalled some childhood memories. Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart then suggested to Mother Ag-nes, then Prioress, to ask Therese to write her memoirs. Mother Agnes accepted and commissioned this account for her feast day, January 20, 1896. In the Lisieux Carmel there were four Martin sis-ters: first of all the eldest, Marie, who took the religious name of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, born in 1860 and entered Carmel in 1886; then there was Pauline, Sister Agnes of Jesus, born in 1861, entered Carmel in 1882 and prioress for the first time in 1893; there was also Celine, Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face, born in 1869, entered Carmel after the death of her father in 1894; finally, there was Therese: Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, born on January the 2nd, 1873, in Alençon, en-tered Carmel at the age of 15 on the 9th of April, 1888. To these would be added a cousin: Marie Guérin, Sister Mary of the Eucharist, born in 1870 and entered Carmel in 1895. Therese was her Novice Mistress. Therese, after having feared that writing her mem-oirs would distract her heart by too much concentration on herself, came to understand that this could be a providential invitation to “sing the mercies of the Lord”. At this time she was only twenty-two years old, but af-ter seven years of life spent in Carmel she could already measure with wonder the whole journey travelled. In this same year 1895, this feeling of overflowing gratitude 6 Presentationled her to offer herself entirely to Merciful Love (June 9, 1895). Therese thus filled a small black notebook of 85 sheets, written on both sides (for the texts you will read we have Ms for Manuscript, then the name of the manuscript – A, B or C – and finally the corresponding page with the indication of r[ecto]/front or v[erso]/back), in which she narrates not so much the family memories that her sister had suggested to her, but the “mercies of the Lord” towards her. On January 20, 1896, Teresa silently placed her first manuscript before her Prioress. This happened in the choir, before the hour of silent prayer began. Therese never solicited any impression on this work; for her part, Mother Agnes would no longer speak about it. Manuscript A is Therese’s long thanksgiving for her childhood and youth, in the family and at Carmel. She com-pleted it as she was entering her full spiritual maturity. --- **Source:** OCD General Curia, *Theresian Anniversaries 2023: Manuscript A* (Rome: OCD General Curia, 2023).