Gorey cleric featured in new St Thérèse book
Canon John Lennon, the Gorey cleric who in 1912 became the first Irish commentator to write about Thérèse of Lisieux, is recalled in a new book titled ‘The Little Flower, St Thérèse of Lisieux: The Irish Connection’ written by bestselling author Colm Keane and his wife Una O’Hagan who is a former RTÉ newsreader.
Writing in the August 1912 edition of the influential Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Canon Lennon outlined the life story, teachings and miracles of the French Carmelite nun who had died only 15 years earlier in 1897. She had yet to be beatified or canonised, and was generally unknown outside France.
At the time, Canon Lennon was a highly-regarded cleric in Gorey and had held various roles in the Ferns diocese, including that of Precentor and Vicar-General. Just like Thérèse, he came from a religious background, with his brother being a curate and his sister a nun.
‘There lived some short time ago, in France, a generous and loving soul,’ so began Canon Lennon’s article about the future saint. ‘Not only told of love but set the heart on fire.’
Her message, as the canon put it, was for ‘little souls,’ offering ‘words of encouragement from heaven sorely needed and mercifully vouchsafed in these modern days of ours.’
The core of Thérèse’s philosophy, he argued, was simple – that the trivial could become the profound; the mundane could blossom into the rarest of flowers.
Canon Lennon, who died in 1924, also highlighted the Little Flower’s miracles. He said: ‘Her wish is to spend her heaven in doing good on earth, not alone in healing the sick, but in succouring the sinful, uplifting bruised hearts, guiding little souls by easy paths up the mountain of perfection. And in these impatient, assertive times – in days such as our own – this message from Lisieux is surely very opportune.’
Keane and O’Hagan’s book also recalls the arrival of St Thérèse’s relics to Wexford in April 2001. More than 1,000 people stood in wait at Rosslare harbour to welcome their arrival to Irish shores. The reliquary, weighing 400 pounds, was carried ashore by six military pallbearers. An army guard of honour and garda escort lined the route for the transfer of the saint’s remains from the harbour to St Patrick’s Church in Rosslare.
‘The Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux: The Irish Connection’ is written by Colm and Una. Colm has published 27 books, including seven No 1 bestsellers, among them ‘Going Home, We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘Heading for the Light’.
Una is a former RTÉ newsreader with Radio Telefís Éireann. She has anchored all the main news bulletins and interviewed Nelson Mandela, among others.