April 12, 2000 Welcome to ICS Publications Online!      Already for several years we have had a modest presence on the internet, thanks to the kindness of our brothers, the Discalced Carmelite friars of the Austrian province, who graciously posted our catalog on their website. As a new millennium begins, however, ICS Publications has finally decided to step fully into the cyber-age. We cordially welcome you to our new website, www.icspublications.org, where you will be able to learn more about us and to buy our books and tapes online. We hope, in addition, that you will want to return often, for the latest Carmelite news and for Carmelite resources in English. This page, for example, will be regularly updated with information on our latest books and upcoming Carmelite events. In our "Archives" section, we hope to post a growing collection of online Carmelite texts. We invite you to submit your name and email address to us, so that you can be notified when these pages are updated. Getting Started      Besides the Austrian Carmelites, we are grateful to all those who have encouraged us to take this important step, or who have collaborated in developing these pages. Claudia Sarmento of Zona4 in Brazil is responsible for all the basic programming and layout; she came highly recommended by the Daughters of St. Paul (whose USA website she designed) and we are very pleased with her work. Chris Reid helped with the laborious task of scanning our covers. Others too numerous to mention also made useful suggestions, or provided us with certain images and texts. Soon our current tapes editor, Father Regis Jordan, O.C.D., will assume the duties of webmaster. We hope you will find this site fully functioning and easy to use. But since it is new and still "under construction," we encourage you to notify us if you believe you have found mistakes, broken links, missing credits for copyrighted material, and so on. We will take immediate steps to correct such problems. Travels With Thérèse      As most of you know, between early October of last year and late January of this year the relics of our best-known Carmelite saint, Thérèse of Lisieux, were on tour in the United States. At nearly every stop thousands came out to honor her. The crowds exceeded all expectations. Here in Washington our tiny chapel, which usually holds no more than 120 worshippers, attracted over 500 people wanting to pay homage to their favorite saint. Two weekday noon Masses with the relics at the nearby Shrine of the Immaculate Conception drew over 10,000 of the faithful.      We at ICS Publications owe a particular debt of gratitude to our sister, Saint Thérèse. Her autobiography, Story of a Soul, in Father John Clarke's excellent translation, has remained our best-seller for many years. But as the relics toured the United States, we suddenly noticed a fourfold increase in the sale of all our Thérèse books. Evidently, people are not only drawn by her relics but also want to learn more about her message. Soon, with the release of a final volume of St. Thérèse's Plays, we will have all of her writings available in first-rate editions from ICS Publications. We are very proud to be the authorized publisher of St. Thérèse's complete works in English. Remembrance of Père Jacques      This year marks the centenary of the birth of Lucien Bunel (1900-1945), better known to the world by his religious name, Père Jacques. His story is told in our recent book, Père Jacques: Resplendent in Victory, by Francis J. Murphy, professor of history at Boston College.      Proud son of a working-class family, with a lifelong concern for social justice, Lucien became a diocesan priest and skilled educator. Drafted into military service, he won the esteem of fellow soldiers from every walk of life because of his openness, integrity, and generosity. He later joined the Paris province of the Discalced Carmelite Order in 1931, drawn by a deep attraction to contemplative prayer, and was soon placed in charge of their boys school in Avon, where he guided the sons of some of the most prominent families in France. Here during World War II he registered Jewish children under assumed names at the school, to save them from the Nazis. Betrayed, arrested, and deported, he became an angel of mercy to his fellow prisoners amidst the horrors of the Mauthausen concentration camp. He died shortly after the camp was liberated, and has been honored by the State of Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a rescuer, one of the "Righteous Among the Nations." His cause for canonization was opened in 1990.      To mark the anniversary, Father Murphy delivered a lecture entitled "Père Jacques and the Beginnings of French Rescue of Jews" on April 11, 2000, at 4:30 P.M. in Caldwell Hall at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Peggy Obrecht, representative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, responded. A prayer service followed at 5:45 PM in Caldwell Hall Chapel, with a reception afterward where guests met and talked with the speakers. Until the Next Update... We wish you all a blessed Lent and a joyous spring season! Steven Payne, OCD Editor-in-Chief ICS Publication