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Primary sourcePhotograph1896

Thérèse Holding La Mission du Su-tchuen

Céline Martin · 1896

A photograph of Thérèse in the Carmelite courtyard holding a missionary book and a quotation from Teresa of Ávila, taken by her sister Céline.

This photograph shows Thérèse herself, staged by her, holding objects expressing her devotion and missionary interest.

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Sepia photograph of a woman in a dark Carmelite habit and light cloak standing beside a brick wall in a courtyard with arched brick cloisters behind her. She holds a rolled parchment and a book, and her face is turned toward the camera.
Céline Martin, Thérèse of Lisieux holding La Mission du Su-tchuen, 1896.

About this source

What it is

This 1896 photograph shows Thérèse of Lisieux standing in the inner courtyard of her Carmelite convent. She holds a parchment on which she had written words of Teresa of Ávila and a book about a missionary bishop in China. It was taken by her sister Céline Martin, who was also a nun in the same convent.

Why it matters

The photograph was carefully staged by Thérèse and Céline to express Thérèse's spiritual interests: her devotion to her namesake Teresa of Ávila and her deep concern for missionary work, even though she herself never left the convent. It shows how the Martin sisters used photography, a fairly new technology at the time, to capture and shape Thérèse's image for history.

Look closer

  • Why might Thérèse choose to hold these particular objects for a photograph?
  • What does this image suggest about her interest in missions she never personally undertook?
  • How does a photograph taken by a close family member differ from one taken by a stranger?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Therese on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Portrait of Thérèse of Lisieux

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Photograph of Thérèse as Joan of Arc

Céline Martin (Sister Geneviève) · 1895

Photograph of a book cover with a marbled brown and tan speckled paper binding and a beige cloth spine, with blue flecks. A small library credit in the lower right reads Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France. The cover appears worn at the edges.Book

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Histoire d'une âme, first edition (1898)

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