Nine-Year Novena

2024-2033

By Sr. M. Dorothea Kuld, CSA

 “Whenever I prayed to God, the thought always came to me that a new house for sisters should be founded, where all the good that could be done would be done.”

Alix Le Clerc, 21 years old, faced this urgent call. It was 1597. She took the initiative, supported by Pierre Fourier, the new parish priest of Mattaincourt—a 32 years old Augustinian canon, Doctor of Theology and law (both ecclesiastical and civil). But it wasn’t until 1617, twenty years later, that the new community received permission from Rome to establish a convent in Nancy. Only then could the formal investiture take place. Alix took the religious name Thérèse of Jesus. However, she is not known by this name, but rather as Alix Le Clerc. Karolina Gerhardinger also chose the name Thérèse of Jesus. Coincidence? Or a role model?

What was the driving force, the spirit that inspired Alix and urged her to act? Her deep relationship with God, the boldness of her faith, and her boundless trust in God enabled her to create something new in the society of her time. Enlightened by the Spirit of God, she recognized the challenges of her time and saw in them a divine call to which she responded with total devotion, full availability, and the use of all her talents and her entire being.

But this is the retrospective of her life. In between lies the path of conversion—from many longings (Alix often uses the plural in her autobiographical account, the “Relation”) to the one longing, the goal of her longing.

Alix Le Clerc (February 2, 1576 – January 9, 1622) was lively, charming, full of joy. She was aware of her good looks and attractiveness and enjoyed the admiration she received. People treated her with respect. She was a self-confident, one might say emancipated young woman. About her youth, she wrote: “The best thing I had at that time was that I loved honor. I had a certain devotion to Our Lady and to St. Anne, so that I was considered a clever and pious girl. I felt no inclination toward marriage; in short, I had an aversion to submitting to a man.” Apparently, her parents accepted her will.

At about the age of 19, Alix felt dissatisfaction with her way of life. “My soul was very sad amid the pleasures,” she later wrote. During this time, her family moved to Hymont. The  small town belonged to the parish of Mattaincourt. Influenced by Pierre Fourier’s sermons, Alix became aware of the emptiness of her previous life. She contacted him, and under his guidance began the long journey from a seemingly free life to true inner freedom. During this time, the desire to become a nun awakened in her, and she recognized her calling to found a new religious community.

One of the great spiritual teachers of the 17th century, Jean-Joseph Surin SJ, speaks of two steps in conversion. The first is the determined will to refuse God nothing and to do everything possible to please Him: “Everything begins with great courage.” The second is a total surrender of oneself: “To love God out of love for Him alone.”

This, in short, is Alix’s path, the path of longing, her path to freedom. What kind of freedom? Freedom from what? Freedom for what? Her “Relation” (life story) offers insight into this development.

In 1615, she stayed with the Ursulines in Paris to gain experience for her own religious concept. There she had the following experience (Relation §67): “One day, while I was in the choir with the sisters, I was strongly moved by a longing to know what I could do that would be most pleasing to Our Lord, and I prayed for this intention. I was told, while in ecstasy, that I should seek, inwardly and outwardly, whether all my actions were always purely out of love for God.”

Later she recounts (Relation §68): “Another time, in Nancy, as I walked alone and meditated on complete union with Jesus Christ in the next life, I sighed deeply in longing for death. I was suddenly stopped, and it was said to me: ‘If I am here with you, is that not enough? Beware of seeking yourself.’”

Alix concludes her account with a recent event (Relation §70): “A few months ago, while I was in the choir with all the sisters listening to Holy Mass, I prayed fervently to Our Lord that He would always imprint His Passion and the example of His holy life in my memory. He answered me: ‘Always keep one eye on Me and the other on your faults, to correct them, and you will reach the goal of your longing.’”

‘And you will reach the goal of your longing.’ This word, which Alix hears inwardly, points to a future, the end of a journey.

A later experience of God placed her initial conversion in context. It shows how significant the shift from many desires to the one great desire—for God—was for her. She writes (Relation §25): “One morning, as I was getting dressed and again had the same longing to die because I was annoyed by serving my body in so many different ways, the Lord seemed to rebuke me inwardly, saying: ‘If I am with you, that must be enough; but there is still a certain seeking of yourself.’”

After this, her intense desires calmed, she accepted her body, and her soul found unity in a “gentle and peaceful surrender to the will of God with a detachment from self-love,” and she understood inwardly “that one must love God out of love for Him alone” (Relation §25). This led her to ever greater freedom.

Alix’s deep devotion to God and her great desire to lead people to God can be sensed from the few writings we have of her. In a text entitled “Preparing a Dwelling for God in Our Soul,” this prayer is found:

“My God, how good and generous You are to us, and patiently You bear our ingratitude. Always grant us Your Holy Spirit, who lets us know Your holy will. Every moment we receive countless blessings from Your generous hand. You want us to use them so that they bring us the greatest benefit. For Yourself, You ask only for our heart.”

Alix urged the sisters to always maintain unity and mutual love, saying it was the only means that sustained them. The only letter from her that has survived, written on June 4, 1620, ends with the words:

“I pray to God fervently that He may be your whole love.”

That is her legacy.

Reflection Questions:

• When did I recognize my one true longing?
• What role does inner freedom play in my life?
• How can I continually renew my longing and freedom?

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