It may be asked why she was so devoted to this young Martyr.  She herself explained the reason in an affectionate interview with her own sisters:  “Theophane Venard is a little saint; his life was not marked by anything extraordinary.  He had an ardent devotion to Our Immaculate Mother and a tender love of his own family.”  Dwelling on these words she added:  “And I, too, love my family with a tender love; I fail to understand those Saints who do not share my feelings.  As a parting gift I have copied for you some passages from his last letters home.  His soul and mine have many points of resemblance, and his words do but re-echo my thoughts.”

We give here a copy of that letter, which one might have believed was composed by Therese herself: 

“I can find nothing on earth that can make me truly happy; the desires of my heart are too vast, and nothing of what the world calls happiness can satisfy it.  Time for me will soon be no more, my thoughts are fixed on Eternity.  My heart is full of peace, like a tranquil lake or a cloudless sky.  I do not regret this life on earth.  I thirst for the waters of Life Eternal.

“Yet a little while and my soul will have quitted this earth, will have finished her exile, will have ended her combat.  I go to Heaven.  I am about to enter the Abode of the Blessed—­to see what the eye hath never seen, to hear what the ear hath never heard, to enjoy those things the heart of man hath not conceived . . .  I have reached the hour so coveted by us all.  It is indeed true that Our Lord chooses the little ones to confound the great ones of this earth.  I do not rely upon my own strength but upon Him Who, on the Cross, vanquished the powers of hell.

“I am a spring flower which the Divine Master culls for His pleasure.  We are all flowers, planted on this earth, and God will gather us in His own good time—­some sooner, some later . . .  I, little flower of one day, am the first to be gathered!  But we shall meet again in Paradise, where lasting joy will be our portion.

“Sister Teresa of the Child Jesus, using the words of the angelic martyr—­Theophane Venard.”

Toward the end of September, when something was repeated to her that had been said at recreation, concerning the responsibility of those who have care of souls, she seemed to revive a little and gave utterance to these beautiful words:  “To him that is little, mercy is granted.[11] It is possible to remain little even in the most responsible position, and is it not written that, at the last day, ’the Lord will arise to save the meek and lowly ones of the earth’?[12] He does not say ‘to judge,’ but ‘to save!’”