In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Therese Neumann's life is one of the great wonders that God has accomplished on earth.
Jesus made her share the pain of His wounds and for 35 years she only ate daily Communion.
Therese Neumann lived her entire life in Konnersreuth, a German town in Bavaria with about 1,200
inhabitants, located a few miles from the border with Czechoslovakia.
At that time, the atmosphere of piety was very strong in the town.
The Konnersreuth church was more crowded on ordinary days than those of the neighboring
towns on Sundays.
Since 1928 the dance halls had been closed and the carnivals had ceased to be days of celebration.
Therese's parents were simple peasants.
Her father worked as a tailor, when he had work, and her mother farmed the fields.
Her father Ferdinand Neumann, who lived from 1873 to 1959, was tall and thin, reserved
and of few words.
He loved his family very much and was deeply respected and obeyed by his children.
He was a man of character and all his life he supported his daughter Therese, even against
some ecclesiastics who wanted to test and supervise his daughter in hospitals to verify
the authenticity of the gift of inedia.
He was an honorable and hard-working man who lived poorly, but honestly.
On one occasion he was offered $500,000 US to film one of Therese Neumann’s ecstasies,
but he refused.
In his later years he attended Mass every day.
He died at the age of 86, after a brief illness, which he accepted calmly and resignedly.
Her mother's name was Grillmeier.
She married Ferdinand when he was 24 years old and she was 23.
They had 11 children, one of whom, Engelbert, died very young and they gave the same name
to another of the children, who died in 1949 at the age of 45.
The ten children, six girls and four boys, were always very religious.
Therese was the oldest.
Her mother was not very tall, and Therese looked a lot like her.
She was highly respected by her children and she had a great sense of humor, as well as
being intelligent and hard-working.
She died in 1949 at the age of 75.
Therese Neumann was born on the night of Good Friday to Holy Saturday, shortly before midnight,
on April 8th, 1898
On Easter Sunday, April 10th, she was baptized.
She grew up healthy and robust and was noted for her love of nature.
She liked to hear the country birds sing and enjoy the beautiful landscapes.
As an adult, she would work a small piece of land, growing flowers of different colors
to adorn the church and, especially, the Blessed Sacrament.
According to all the witnesses it was a very well cultivated and tidy flower garden.
For this she had received advice from a friend who was an expert in flowers.
In her house there were pots of flowers in all the windows, and she also had cages with
little birds to rejoice at their song.
Therese attended school from the age of six to thirteen, standing out for her intelligence.
Her 1914 elementary school certificate reads
Religion and General Instruction: Outstanding.
Reading and calculation: remarkable.
Writing and calligraphy: good.
Overall Rating: Outstanding.
Since she was little, because she was the oldest, she helped what she could with the
housework, taking care of her little brothers, cleaning and washing, among other things.
She also stood out for her great piety, because she liked to pray to make Jesus happy and,
for that reason, she tried to behave well and be obedient so as not to offend Him.
Therese Neumann also loved and respected the priests very much.
Father Naber who lived from 1870 to 1967 tells us what Therese herself told him
When she was still little and had not yet received the Savior, she ran from afar to meet the
previous parish priest and delicately shook his hand, thinking with joy of the idea that
that same day in the morning those hands had held my dear Jesus and that I could touch them.
That filled me with joy and I left happy with the memory of the Lord Jesus.
Her wish as a child was to be a religious nurse to help the Black people of Africa.
And she dreamed of the day that she would make her first Communion.
That day was the first time that she saw Jesus, the Savior, as she said.
From her first Communion, since she could not receive Communion daily in those times,
she went to church every day to make visits and spiritual Communions.
Sometimes it happened that Jesus came out of the tabernacle and spiritual Communion
became real and sacramental Communion.
Therese Neumann herself declared in 1953 to an Ecclesiastical Commission under oath
In such visits to the church it happened two or three times, or perhaps more
that when I knelt at the Communion rail, the sacred host came out of the tabernacle and floated
to me and I received it.
When Therese was 14 years old, she wanted to make her wish of being a religious missionary
in Africa come true and, after inquiring, she was determined to enter the Benedictine
missionaries of Tutzing.
But the First World War that lasted between 1914 and 1918 broke out and her father was
called to the front.
Before leaving
her father made her promise that she would not go to the convent before
the war was over.
On one of her father's permits to leave, he brought from France a picture of Sister Therese
of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, before she was a saint.
From that moment, because Therese Neumann had the same name, she had great devotion.
Therese was healthy and strong, she farmed the land and even carried sacks weighing more
than 110 pounds or 50 kilos.
She started working in the house of a farmer and innkeeper from Konnersreuth.
In 1916 Therese Neumann, with her two sisters, took over all the work in her house and in
the fields.
Therese worked enthusiastically, because she liked the countryside, while she didn't like
sitting down doing knitting such as sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and other things.
Her father returned from the war on March 9th, 1918, and she already dreamed of going
on a mission, but God's plans were different.
The next day, March 10th, a fire broke out on the adjoining farm and Therese Neumann
was one of the first to go.
She got up on a bench and took the buckets full of water that people passed her and gave
them to the owner of the burned farm.
Her effort was too great and at one point she fell and twisted her back.
Her second and third lumbar vertebrae slipped out of place, crushing her central nerve cord,
which led to progressive numbness, requiring her to stay in bed.
The attempts for her cure at the Waldsassen hospital were unsuccessful.
On March 17th, 1919, she also became totally blind and, for periods, she also became totally
deaf due to purulent otitis.
What made her suffer the most was being a burden to her family and not being able to
fend for herself.
She, who had always been the strongest, was now completely disabled and without any chance
of healing according to the doctors' opinion.
It took her a couple of years to understand her mission as a praying and suffering missionary,
and to accept God's plan.
There were seven long years of total immobility in which she grew spiritually and in which
she continually prayed to her great friend Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face,
asking for her beatification.
On the day of the beatification of Saint Therese of Lisieux also known as Saint Therese of
the Child Jesus and the Holy Face that happened on April 29th, 1923, without realizing the date
Therese Neumann seemed to see someone touching her pillow in a dream.
She woke up and could see.
She then called with her cane, with a few taps, from the second floor where she was.
When her mother arrived, she gave her the great news.
Her mother, a little incredulous, made her describe some flowers that were in her room
and she was able to convince herself that it was true.
Therese Neumann could see.
The whole family felt happy.
But that was just one step.
She was still paralyzed and had severe cramps.
On May 17th, 1925, Therese began to scream and everyone came to see.
She was in ecstasy and, suddenly, she sat up without anyone's help, being able to walk.
She told Father Naber that she had seen a wonderful light from which a voice asked her
if she wanted to be cured.
She replied that everything that comes from the good Lord is good and that He knew what
was best for her.
The voice asked her again: Would you be happy if you could get up and walk today?
Therese Neumann said
“I am glad of everything that comes from the good Lord.
Everything makes me happy, the little flowers, the birds and even a new suffering.
What makes me happy the most is my dear Savior.”
The voice explained to her
“Today you can experience a little joy.
You can get up.
Try it, I'll help you".
The same voice told her
My sister, the beginnings of your apostolate are marked by the seal
of the cross.
The Lord treats you as a privileged one, because He prefers to reaffirm His reign in souls
through suffering rather than brilliant preaching.
I have written this before.
Father Naber searched and found that these words were from Saint Therese of Lisieux,
who addressed them to her spiritual brother, Father Roulland on May 9th, 1897.
Saint Therese of Lisieux also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
was the one who healed her again on that day, May 17th 1925, which was the same day as her
canonization.
On June 11th, the parents of Therese Neumann took her after seven years to church.
It was the day of Corpus Christi, the great feast of the Eucharist.
Half the town had gathered in the plaza to see her arm in arm with her father, since
her legs were still a little weak.
On September 30th, the anniversary of Saint Therese of Lisieux's death, Therese Neumann
was in bed, reciting the litanies in honor of the saint, when Saint Therese of Lisieux
appeared to her again in a marvelous light and her friendly voice told Therese Neumann
that she could walk without help.
The next day, she went to church alone.
In a letter that Therese Neumann wrote to a nun from Oberschönenfeld, a former classmate
of hers, on June 16th 1925, Therese Neumann tells her: The main pain, that of the spinal
column, has completely disappeared.
The bad part, thank God, is completely fine, the cartilage is quite straight.
I'm going to tell you on May 17th, the day of Saint Therese of Lisieux's canonization,
I was completely alone in my room doing what I am supposed to do in the month of May and
praying the rosary.
Suddenly, everything became clear and beautifully luminous in front of me.
At first I was scared and I let out two screams that they heard and came to see me.
But when they went upstairs, I no longer saw or heard my dear parents.
Seeing that light, a very sweet voice immediately began to speak, asking me if I wanted to be cured.
And I said: “For me everything is fine, to live and to die, to be healthy or to be
ill; what the good Lord would like to do with me, is good for me.
Then the voice told me
Would you like to fend for yourself?
I always have joy in everything.
Therese Neumann replied.
Then the voice told me
The Lord is pleased that you are so devoted.
Now you too can experience a little joy.
But you will still have to suffer long and hard.
I am always by your side and will continue to help you.
No doctor can help you.
Now you can sit down, try it, I'll help you.
Then the voice spoke to me about suffering and she told me
“I have already written this before.”
Later my confessor recognized that the phrase was from Saint Therese of Lisieux also known
as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, because he found it in her writings.
The days of All Saints and All Souls, November 1st and 2nd, 1925, Therese Neumann spent in
church, earning indulgences for the souls in purgatory.
She got cold and had to stay in bed.
She had a high fever.
The doctor diagnosed on November 13th that she had appendicitis with risk of perforation
and ordered her immediate admission to Waldsassen hospital for surgery.
The doctor went ahead to prepare things for the operation while her father found a car
to transport Therese Neumann comfortably on a stretcher.
Her mother was crying and Therese Neumann, moved, prayed to Saint Therese of Lisieux
and had a relic of hers placed on the part that hurt her.
And again
the light appeared to Therese Neumann and her friendly voice told her: Your full
dedication and joy in suffering makes us happy.
And for the world to know that there is a higher intervention, now you don't need to be operated on.
Get up and go immediately to church to give thanks to God!
Immediately, she felt healed and dressed to go to church to give thanks as the voice had told her.
The next day she went with Father Naber to the hospital in Waldsassen to be seen by the doctor
who could not understand the facts, confirming, as she had informed him
that the pus had been evacuated during the night by the natural route of the intestine.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.