Thérèse of Lisieux (2 January, 1873 – 30 September 1897)
St. Thérèse was a Roman Catholic Carmelite nun from France. She lived in obscurity throughout her lifetime but has since become one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most popular and beloved saints, with Pope Pius X dubbing her “the greatest saint of modern times”. Her simple yet extraordinary life, particularly her basic spiritual approach, has recently been loved and praised by the church’s faithful, increasing her place among the saints. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, often known as the Little Flower of Jesus, embodied holiness in her lifestyle and inspired many generations of Catholics and even many other Christians.
Born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin in Alençon, France, to Louis Martin a watch Maker and jeweller, and Marié-Azélie Guérin (popularly known as Zélie) a successful lace maker. She was the youngest of 5 surviving all-female children of her parents. All five daughters, raised in a grounded Catholic upbringing, became nuns. Her parents had both wanted to enter the religious life but couldn’t. On October 18, 2015, they were canonized by Pope Francis.
Before her birth, her parents had lost 4 of their children within three years. At her birth, little Thérèse was frail, and her parents, so used to death, were planning for her death, but she exhibited her resolve to life. She was baptized two days after birth and later regained full health. At four years of age, she lost her mother to breast cancer. During her childhood, she was self-confident and a troublemaker. She always sought to do well but would always resolve to mischief. This made her strive for a life of piety to overcome her evil exhibitions.
After her sister Pauline, whom she had come to regard as her second mother left for the Carmelite convent, she became ill. She was moved into her sister’s room with the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon seeing her sisters pray to the blessed virgin on her behalf, she also turned and said a prayer for herself. She regained her health after reporting that the blessed mother smiled at her.
On Christmas day 1886, Thérèse who would easily have emotional outbursts at the slightest criticism, was expected to have a rage because her father’s criticizing words were surprisingly calm and rather than herself, thought of her father’s emotion. This day she referred to in her autobiography as her “conversion” as Jesus did for her which she couldn’t do for ten years. The next year, she entered into the Carmelite convent at Lisieux at only 15 years of age. From a young age, she had wanted to do great things for people but the Carmelite order only confined its nuns to praying for priests. Within her, she resolved to pray for those who needed prayers and offer her help to those who may need it. She carried out this charge by associating and assisting novice nuns with a repellent attitude and insisted on being a novice throughout her life, thus, not even qualified for any office and always under the permission of other full nuns. Her book ”Story of a Soul” was published in her journal were she talked
Even though she live for just 24 years, St. Therese had a simple yet powerful message that still resonates in the hearts of millions today.