Mother Marie Therese Desansdais, A Visitandine mystic whom we have written about in the past, was featured in a stunning lecture by Father Pedro Fernández Rodríguez, o. p., ( Pénitencier at the Basilica of Saint-Marie Major in Rome) given in Spanish but translated into French at this website:
http://sd-1.archive-host.com/membres/up/130634193450834136/Arinteriana/Arintero_et_lOAM.pdf
We would like to give you some highlights in English and encourage you to read the full work, if possible.
Therese Desandais was born in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir) in 1876. An only child, she lost her father at age six, and learned as a child to live with suffering and accept obedience. Moreover, she developed a passion for the truth and she felt very attracted by love. 30 September 1986 at the age of twenty, she entered the Visitation monastery of Dreux, to take the habit on May 4, 1897. Her religious vocation was however already clear since the age of nine. After her religious profession, she was struck by the physical and moral trials that opened her mind to a victim spirituality.
In 1902, after five years of religious life, she wrote the first messages of Merciful Love, namely “The Hidden Treasure” and prayer “Offering to the Merciful Love”. The text of the latter is: “Holy Father, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you Jesus, your beloved Son, and I offer myself in Him, with Him and through Him and for all your intentions in the name of all creatures. “ For her, the hidden treasure is Jesus, who is also Merciful Love. The spiritual context born in the course of Merciful Love is in full conformity with the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. In this regard, Mother Teresa Desandais then wrote: “There is nothing extraordinary about Merciful Love; we find in it the application of the spirit of our Founder and the continuation of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
The writings of Mother Desandais, printed by the work of Propaganda of the Sacred Heart of Lyon, were greeted with much spiritual fruit. She eventually met Fr Arintero, who printed many of her articles and spread the message of Merciful Love in many countries, especially Spain.