(OSV News) — The students at Sainte Thérèse de La Guerche, a high school in the northeastern French region of Brittany, are still overjoyed to know that Pope Leo XIV tasted their “St. Thérèse cake” on Sept. 26 in Paris, before going on to celebrate Mass at the Place de la Concorde.
Founded in 1990 and named in honor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the high school specializes in training students for careers in the hospitality and restaurant industries. It is located in La-Guerche-de-Bretagne, a small rural town of 4,500 residents that is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the Normandy town of Lisieux.
For Vanessa Piquet, the school’s assistant principal, the event is a major one.
“This cake has been around for twenty years,” she told OSV News. “We had the idea of organizing a trip to Rome to mark the anniversary of its creation. But in the end, it was the pope who came to meet us!”
‘Very proud’ the cake reached the pope
“Today, the students are all very proud that this cake has reached the pope,” Piquet emphasized. “It is a cake rich in symbolism. Its heart shape evokes the love that is at the center of St. Thérèse’s message, and is both love for God and love for others.”
Piquet also mentioned the rose petals that are part of its decoration, which evoke the “shower of roses” St. Thérèse spoke of as the graces her prayers would obtain after her death.
Like many Catholic high schools in France, Sainte Thérèse welcomes many students who are not baptized or are not practicing Catholics.
“The six students who prepared the cake on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 23, however, are committed Catholics,” she said. “They participate in pastoral activities at the high school, and they were happy to take on this mission, which for them was a way to bear witness to their faith before the pope.”
To deliver the cake to the nunciature, where the pope was staying and having his meals, the students left for Paris by minibus very early in the morning on Sept. 24. “They were deeply impressed by the warm welcome they received at the nunciature,” Piquet said. “They were remarkably well received by the nuncio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who showed them great consideration. It was an honor for them.”
Teacher Hubert Delorme accompanied the students
Accompanying the students was their teacher, Hubert Delorme, who created the recipe for the cake 20 years ago. He also holds a Ph.D. in history and has published several books; his most recent, published in 2005, focuses on the history of gourmet cuisine in Brittany during the Renaissance, in the 16th century.
In an interview with the Breton television station TVR, Delorme recounted how, over the summer, he attended the Grand Pardon de Sainte Anne d’Auray, Brittany’s largest pilgrimage, which is celebrated annually on St. Anne’s feast day, July 26.
There, he “ran into” Archbishop Pierre Paul Oscar d’Ornella of Rennes, “and I suggested to him that we make the cake for the pope,” he told TVR. “He hesitated a little, but in the end he told me to send him a letter, because ‘nothing is impossible for God.’ And we received a reply about fifteen days later. The proposal was accepted!”
“The idea of presenting this cake to the pope thus came about by chance,” Piquet added.
A single pastry shop in Lisieux carries cake
TVR noted that the “Saint Thérèse cake” is sold exclusively at a single pastry shop, in Lisieux itself. It provided details on its ingredients, which include a compote of exotic fruits — papaya, mango and pineapple — with passion fruit juice, served with shortcrust pastry, Bavarian cream and vanilla cream.
For Piquet, the six students involved are not likely to forget the pride they felt while making it and delivering it themselves to the nunciature.
“It was an experience that meant a great deal to them,” she emphasized. “They spoke emotionally about it in their high school classes, with Monsieur Delorme, upon their return from Paris on Friday the 24th, just as the pope was beginning his visit to France.”
Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.
