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Our Carmelite Saints
Br. Lawrence of the Resurrection
The famous spiritual writer Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1611-1691)
was a Discalced Carmelite Brother in our Paris house. There he served
the community for thirty years as a cook and a cobbler. He enjoyed a
continual sense of the presence of God in the midst of his daily activities.
He was sought out by many including some of the famous for his spiritual
advice. His spiritual maxims and letters were published after his death
and today are still very popular. In The Practice
of the Presence of God he testifies to the satisfaction of a
Brother’s life, "There is not in the world a kind of life more
sweet and delightful."
General Introduction
For the third centenary of the death of Brother
Lawrence (1691-1991)
On February 12, 1691, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection died at
the Discalced Carmelite Monastery, Rue Vaugirard, in Paris-the same
house where, on September 2, 1792, a century later, two bishops and
twelve priests were put to death during the furor of the French Revolution.
At present, this house is part of the Institut Catholique of Paris.
Lawrence of the Resurrection, cook and sandalmaker, lived an intense
experience of God at the service of "pure" love, an ideal
at the forefront of the study of mysticism and theological discussion
at the time. What happened after his death is no less astonishing! Fenelon
and Bossuet, in their well-known and bitter quarrel, would often discuss
questions taken from the writings and conversations of Brother Lawrence,
and Protestant publishers, interested witnesses of the debate, diffused
his writings widely.
This is why Lawrence of the Resurrection was practically forgotten
in his own country until the time of Pierre Pourrat' and the perceptive
Henri Bremond (who described this Brother as one of the most outstanding
mystics), although Lawrence was translated and retranslated abroad.
In Brother Lawrence's own country people are still surprised to see
his Practice of the Presence of God described as "famous throughout
the world" by a specialist like Bl. Titus Brandsma, or to read
in the writings of Aldous Huxley himself that Lawrence "has enjoyed
a kind of celebrity in circles otherwise completely uninterested in
mental prayer or spiritual exercises."
Brother Lawrence has become a friend of the many seekers of God through
the depth of his experience, his common sense, and his engaging disposition,
and therefore deserves renewed and more serious attention.
Biographical Sketch
We will rapidly recount Brother Lawrence's life, leaving the development
of his innerjourney for another place.
His given name was Nicolas Herman and,
unfortunately, we have few details of his youth. Nicolas was born in
1614 at Hériménil, a small village near Lunéville
in Lorraine. He learned Christian principles from his parents Dominic
and Louise, who were "very fine people" (EL 7). But the biographer's
compliment extended only to their human and religious qualities and
not to their material well-being, because Nicolas, who would give evidence
of sound intelligence, apparently did not have the opportunity to study.
We do not know whether Nicolas had brothers or sisters, how he spent
his childhood, or what his academic training and first employment might
have been.
At the age of eighteen, a sudden, cosmic intuition of the grandeur and
presence of God grasped him profoundly (CN 1). It was a silent call
of the divine mystery and a first conversion.
Nonetheless Nicolas did not turn toward religious life but chose instead
"military service" (EL 8) during this troubled period of the
terribly destructive Thirty Years' War. At one point Nicolas Herman
was arrested by "German" troops. Suspected of being a spy,
he was threatened with death, though he was able to establish his innocence.
He rejoined the Lorraine troops but was wounded during the siege of
Rambervillers (1635). Nicolas then returned to his parents' home (EL
8-9).
We wonder if he, as a soldier, participated in one way or another
in the lootings often accompanied by the atrocious, cruel violence so
characteristic of the Thirty Years' War. He would later deplore the
"disorders of his youth" (EL 12) and the "sins of his
past life" (EL 21), "determined to rectify his past conduct"
(EL 10).
He searched intensely. In any event, we can imagine an inner struggle
before he decided to try the eremetical life and joined a gentleman
living in solitude (EL 13-15). He was not mature enough, however, for
this kind of life, which he abandoned. We can most likely situate his
stay in Paris as the "valet" of M. de Fieubet (CN 2) after
his attempt at the hermit life.
At the age of twenty-six he made a serious decision. In mid-June of
1640, he entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites
on the Rue Vaugirard in Paris, as a lay brother. In mid-August
Nicolas Herman received the brown Carmelite habit and took the religious
name of Lawrence (perhaps the patron saint of his village) completing
it with the title "of the Resurrection," a mystery he admirably
lived in the sight of the living God and his Christ.
During the novitiate the lay brothers attended certain formation classes
with the young clerics, complemented by other classes adapted to their
tasks and possible future duties. The new Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection
admitted he was disappointed even to the point of reproaching the Lord,
"You have tricked me!" He entered fearing "they would
skin him alive" for his awkwardness and faults—as he said
in his own unpolished, simple language, often seasoned with humor—but
fortunately for himself and his brothers he "experienced only satisfaction"
(CN 3).
Nonetheless he did enter into a dark night that would continue a number
of years, the last four of which were the most harsh. He feared he would
be lost, for he had the impression, as he said, that "I was damning
myself, that there was no salvation for me at all." On one hand,
he experienced God intimately, but on the other, his desire to please
God in everything was the source of his distress. "The fear that
I had not given myself to God as I desired, my sins always present before
my eyes, and the great graces God gave me were the sum and substance
of all my woes." In this conflict he used only one insignificant,
yet at the same time powerful, weapon: "It seemed to me that creatures,
reason, and even God himself were against me, and that faith alone was
on my side." His impressive testimony, taken from a personal letter
(L 2), also sketches the outcome: "Once I accepted the fact I might
spend the rest of my life in this troubled state of mind ... I found
myself changed all at once. And my soul, up to that time in turmoil,
now experienced a profound inner peace, as if it were in its center
and resting place." How frequently and intensely he dwelt there!
Lawrence's entire method can be summed up in the return to the presence
of God, whose consoling love he often experienced.
We are getting ahead of our story, however. The two years of his novitiate
completed, this young brother made his solemn profession of vows on
August 14, 1642, at the age of twenty-eight.
Louis de Sainte-Thérése, his prior, summed up the lay
brother's vocation as one of "prayer and manual work." Following
his profession, Lawrence was the cook for the Parisian community for
"fifteen years" (CN 18). Some years this community numbered
about one hundred friars, ncluding many young men in formation.
More and more, however, Lawrence suffered from "a kind of sciatic
gout that made him limp" (EL 50). This may have been the result
of the wound he received on the battlefield. The kitchen became too
difficult a task for someone physically handicapped, so they entrusted
him with an assignment where he could sit, the sandal shop (CN 19).
There he repaired the two hundred sandals of the Discalced Carmelites.
But the brother sandalmaker was also entrusted with other assignments,
for example, buying the wine. This called for a long journey to Auvergne
in 1665, one that might have taken three weeks to cover the eight hundred-some
kilometres round-trip, thus allowing him to establish all sorts of contacts.
In 1666, he would make a six hundred kilometre round-trip to Bourgogne
by river, so difficult for him that this poor brother, "crippled
in one leg, could only get about on the boat by rolling over the barrels"
(CN 17).
These were not his only opportunities to make contacts. There were
the workers who came to the monastery, the beggars at the door, and
the visitors to both the parlors and the church. The lay brothers had
to go out for all sorts of errands, often to beg money for the living
expenses of the community, which was composed largely of young friars
in formation. And his own confreres certainly benefited from the advice
and example of this silent witness to the presence of God.
Gradually, the influence of the humble brother sandalmaker grew, and
not only among the poor he helped and advised (EL 49). His biographer,
who visited him regularly from 1666, made known the esteem that "many
learned people, religious, and ecclesiastics had for him" (EL 39).
Father Goujet of Paris may have exaggerated when he presented Brother
Lawrence as venerated by "all Paris." Nonetheless, it is true
that many people, and not only the least influential, greatly appreciated
the conversation of this humble brother, so anchored in God. His biographer
gave the example of "an outstanding bishop of France" who
had several conversations with Lawrence.
Fénelon, another visitor, deserves special note. He went to
see Lawrence shortly before he died, and the memory of the meeting was
still vivid ten years later. "The words of the saints themselves,"
he wrote, "are often very different from the discourse of those
who tried to describe them. Saint Catherine of Genoa was prodigious
in love. Brother Lawrence was rough by nature but delicate in grace.
This mixture was appealing, and revealed God present in him. I saw him,
and there is a place in the book where the author, without mentioning
me by name, briefly related a fine conversation I had with him on death,
and even though he was very sick, he remained very happy." And
here is Fénelon's reply to Bossuet: "You can always learn
by studying God's action on experienced though uneducated souls. Could
we not have learned the practice of the presence of God by conversing
with Brother Lawrence, for example?"
Though Brother Lawrence had something to say to the learned, "he
hid nothing from the little ones and the most simple" (EL 37)!
When it came to the practice of the presence of God, "he counseled
all his friends to apply themselves to it with all the care and fidelity
possible" (EL 31).
His biographer has left us a portrait of his social virtues. "Brother
Lawrence's virtue never made him harsh. He was open, eliciting confidence,
letting you feel you could tell him anything, and that you had found
a friend. For his part, once he knew who he was dealing with, he spoke
freely and showed great goodness. What he said was simple, yet always
appropriate, and made good sense. Once you got past his rough exterior
you discovered unusual wisdom, a freedom beyond the reach of the ordinary
lay brother, an insight that extended far beyond what you would expect"
(W 3). He had "the best heart in the world. His fine countenance,
his human, affable air, his simple, modest manner won him the esteem
and good will of all who saw him. The more closely you looked, the more
you discovered in him a depth of integrity and piety rarely found elsewhere....
He was not one of those inflexible people who consider sanctity incompatible
with ordinary manners. He associated with everyone and never put on
airs, acting kindly towards his brothers and friends without wanting
to be conspicuous" (EL 35).
Lawrence possessed a certain intellectual training. He sometimes spoke
of the books he had read or examined. He had the opportunity to hear
many fine sermons in the monastery church or those of Paris (EL 43).
And then there were his confreres and the visiting experts! Lawrence
was nourished by the spirit of holy Mother Saint
Teresa of Avila whose Way of Perfection
was read in the refectory every year. The Madre's statement that
"the Lord walks among the pots and pans" must have pleased
the brother cook. Judging from his writings, he must have also have
found joy in reading Saint John of the Cross,
whose works were remarkably well translated by Cyprian of the Nativity,
one of his confreres. Lawrence certainly read and heard explained the
exhortations of the Venerable John of Jesus and Mary (of Calahorra,
Spain), the official teacher, you might say, of the Discalced Carmelite
Order in the seventeenth century. The counsels of John of Jesus and
Mary (very fervent but rather detailed, and couched in lengthy vocal
prayers) could not have pleased Brother Lawrence for long, because his
simple life was centered on the presence of God, infinitely admired,
faithfully sought after, and sweetly experienced.
If Lawrence spoke, he was more often silent. The lay brothers lived
in the shadows, in the already profound silence of Carmel. Juridically,
they occupied the last place in the house, for even the cleric novices
ranked ahead of them. Except for rare occasions, they did not attend
the choral Office but instead recited a certain number of "Our
Fathers," the admirable prayer! In the morning they served the
priests' masses. Most days, because of their duties, they could not
make the morning or evening hours of silent prayer in common but, according
to the instructions of the prior, made their prayer at other times,
very often at night. But Lawrence, and we will read this many times,
was accustomed to living constantly in the presence of God, praying
without respite, in all circumstances. His heart had become "prayerified."
For more than fifty years the always obliging good-heartedness of
Lawrence--who lived the depth of a contemplation that was the source
of the wisdom of his counsels--delighted and inspired the friars of
the monastery on the Rue Vaugirard.
His physical sufferings increased, however. The sciatic gout that
caused his limping tormented him for about twenty-five years and degenerated
into an ulcer of the leg, leaving him in intense pain (EL 50). He was
ill three times during the last years of his life. When he recovered
the first time he said to the physician: "Doctor, your remedies
have worked too well for me. You have only delayed my happiness!"
(EL 51). He anxiously awaited the glorious Encounter. Three weeks before
he died he wrote "Goodbye, I hope to see him soon" (L 16).
And six days before the end: I hope for the merciful grace of seeing
him in a few days" (L 16).
Lucid up to the last moments, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection
died on February 12, 1691, at the age of seventy-seven, almost a century
after the death of St John of the Cross.
Taken from: Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence
of God, Critical edition by Fr Conrad de Meester OCD, Translated by
Salvatore Sciurba OCD. Available from: ICS
Publications, Washington (1994).
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