The lives of these two saints with similar names could hardly be more contrasting. St. Teresa, reformer of the Carmelites, 'busy woman and great saint', endured the religious mania of sixteenth-century Spain and lived in a state of near perpetual ecstasy. Thérèse, on the other hand, lived the quiet life of a nun in late-nineteenth-century France, was meek, devout and perhaps rather dim. She became a saint of the common people, largely because of the ordinariness of her life (excepting the odd vision).
Setting / LocationFrance
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreThe eagle and the dove: a study in contrasts, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux / V. Sackvillle-West Lead Character
Every girl needs to know she is cherished. She needs to share her heart with someone who will honor, esteem, and care for her. She needs to believe there is a God who loves her personally and has a vision for her life. In Saints for Girls, we share stories of real-life girls and women who responded whole-heartedly to Jesus and His love. Some of these holy women were warriors like Saint Joan of Arc, writers and counselors like Saint Catherine of Siena, pioneers like Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, and visionaries like Saint Bernadette. Parents, grandparents, all who care for children, and girls in particular, will enjoy many warm and wonderful 'teaching moments' in the pages of this beautifully illustrated new classic.
Karlheinz Stockhausen is a unique figure in the history of twentieth-century music. A tireless innovator, his work has always aroused great controversy, as well as attracting a fanatical discipleship. Stockhausen is renowned for his role in establishing European serialism, for his pioneering work in every form of electro-acoustic music - from early musique concrete to computer music - for his exploitation of physical performance space, and in the seven-opera cycle Licht for the integration of sound and movement. Stockhausen the man, however, has largely escaped analysis. . Now Stockhausen: A Biography reveals the personal history of this extraordinary figure. We learn of his boyhood in Cologne, his struggles as a student, his studies with Messiaen in Paris, his exacting and highly individual teaching methods at Darmstadt and Cologne, and the circumstances in which many of his greatest works were composed.
Sur Charles de Foucauld comme sur Thérèse de Lisieux, à laquelle le père Congar l'a associé en évoquant "ces phares que la main de Dieu a allumés au seuil du siècle atomique", il y a toujours place pour une nouvelle biographie, tant leur rayonnement et le sens de leur vie ne cessent d'être approfondis. Né en 1858 à Strasbourg, élève très dissipé de Saint-Cyr puis de Saumur dont il sort dernier, le jeune vicomte Charles de Foucauld mène une vie dissolue dans ses garnisons et il est en quasi rupture avec l'armée quand il la quitte en 1882. En 1883, déguisé en Juif, il explore au péril de sa vie le Maroc inconnu. Peu après, en 1886, cet être égoïste, hédoniste et incroyant est brutalement touché par la grâce en l'église Saint-Augustin de Paris. Répondant à l'amour du Christ, il s'engage dans une longue errance mystique marquée par la recherche non seulement de l'ascétisme et de l'humilité, mais de l'"abjection". Même la Trappe lui paraît trop douce. Il la quitte pour vivre comme un domestique dans une cabane aux portes des Clarisses de Nazareth. Se jugeant indigne de la prêtrise, il ne se résignera qu'en 1901 à être ordonné. C'est dans sa vie d'ermite à Tamanrasset, au cœur du Hoggar, au milieu des Touaregs, qu'il trouvera son accomplissement. Il y fut assassiné le 1er décembre 1916, il y a quatre-vingts ans, par des pillards. Dans la mesure où, de son vivant, il ne fonda rien ni ne convertit personne, sa vie pouvait sembler un échec. Mais ses "écrits spirituels" et le rayonnement de son exemple allaient exercer une grande influence. De tous les coins du monde se levèrent des êtres épris d'absolu, à l'imitation de Charles de Foucauld, le "frère universel" (Paul VI). Ils forment aujourd'hui les 340 "fraternités" des Petits Frères et Petites Sœurs de Jésus. Pour écrire cette biographie, Jean-Jacques Antier a passé au crible de la critique historique tout ce qui a été publié à ce jour. Repartant à la source des écrits et de la correspondance de Charles de Foucauld, se référant aux archives de la postulation (I'Eglise a ouvert son procès de béatification) et à de nombreux témoignages, il met à nu, dans la lumière de la foi et parfois dans les ténèbres du doute, cette personnalité de feu que Lyautey tenait pour "la plus haute figure spirituelle que j'ai rencontrée."
Born into wealth in New Orleans in 1795 and married into misery fifteen years later, the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba led a life ripe for novelization. Intimate Enemies, however, is the spellbinding true account of this resilient woman's life - and the three men who most affected its course. Immediately upon marrying Celestin de Pontalba, Micaela was removed to his family's estate in France. For twenty years her father-in-law attempted to drive her to abandon Celestin; by law he could then seize control of her fortune. He tried dozens of strategies, including at one point instructing the entire Pontalba household to pretend she was invisible. Finally, in 1834, the despairing elder Pontalba trapped Micaela in a bedroom and shot her four times before turning his gun on himself. Miraculously, she survived. Five years later, after securing both a separation from Celestin and legal power over her wealth, Micaela focused her attention on building, following in the footsteps of her late, illustrious father, Andres Almonester. Her Parisian mansion, the Hotel Pontalba, is today the official residence of the American embassy in France, and her Pontalba Buildings, which flank Jackson Square in New Orleans, form together with her father's St. Louis Cathedral, Presbytere, and Cabildo one of the loveliest architectural complexes in America. As for Celestin, he eventually suffered a total physical and mental breakdown and begged Micaela to return. She did so, caring for him for twenty-three years until her death in 1874. In Intimate Enemies, Christina Vella embroiders the compelling story of the Almonester-Pontalba alliance against a richly woven background of the events and cultures of two centuries and two vivid societies. She provides a window into the yellow fever epidemics that raged in New Orleans; the rebuilding of Paris, the Paris Commune uprising, and the Second Empire of Napoleon III, European ideas of power, class, money, marriage, and love during the baroness' lifetime and their inflection in the New World setting of New Orleans; medical treatments, legal procedures, imperial court life, banking practices, and much more.
The eagle and the dove: a study in contrasts, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux / V. Sackvillle-West by V. Sackville-West | Literally Just Books
