The Little Flower

Marie Francis Therese Martin was born to Louis and Zelie Martin in Alencon, France on 2 January 1873.  Afflicted throughout her life with health issues, Zelie Martin died from cancer on 28 August 1877.  After her death, Louis moved the family to Lisieux to be close to his wife’s brother and his family.  Raised in a very pious family that would eventually produce five vocations to conventual religious life, Therese had a deep faith from an early age.  On the Feast of Pentecost (13 May 1883), Therese was healed from a serious illness by the miraculous intervention of Our Lady of Victories.  After her older sisters Pauline and Marie entered the Carmelite Order in Lisieux, Therese vigorously petitioned to be allowed to enter the Order at the early age of fifteen.  On a pilgrimage to Rome, she even went so far as to ask Pope Leo XIII directly for permission to join the Order.   Her pleadings ultimately proved successful and she entered the Carmelite Convent in Lisieux on 9 April 1888.  She received the Habit on 10 January 1889 and professed her vows on 8 September 1890.   While in the convent, Therese developed a spirituality based upon humility, child-like simplicity and deep faith.  She wrote a spiritual autobiography Diary of a Soul which has since become widely read throughout the world.  But her life was also marked by illness and great suffering.  She died on 30 September 1897 from tuberculosis.   

 
The extraordinary Martin Family produced five vocations to religious life.  Therese, Marie-Louise, Pauline, and Celine all entered the Carmelite Community in Lisieux.  Leonie entered the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen.  

 
Therese was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 17 May 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II on 19 October 1997, only the third woman to earn this honor.  “Thérèse of Lisieux did not only grasp and describe the profound truth of Love as the centre and heart of the Church, but in her short life she lived it intensely,” said Pope Saint John Paul II as he declared her a Doctor of the Church. “It is precisely this convergence of doctrine and concrete experience, of truth and life, of teaching and practice, which shines with particular brightness in this saint, and which makes her an attractive model especially for young people and for those who are seeking true meaning for their life.” 

 
You can learn more about Saint Therese on the Society of the Little Flower’s website https://www.littleflower.org/st-therese/ 

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus...pray for us.