Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is one of the most widely known and venerated saints of the Catholic Church. She is popularly called “The Little Flower of Jesus” or “The Little Flower.” Born in Rue Saint-Blaise, Alençon, France in 1873, she is the youngest of the nine children (five of whom survived) of Saint Marie-Azélie “Zélie” Guérin, an excellent lacemaker, and Saint Louis Martin, a watchmaker and jeweler. It is remarkable that Saint Thérèse’s parents, both pious Catholics, are also Holy Saints of the Church, the first ever couple to be canonized together. As a true testament of the couple’s devotion and Catholic upbringing of their children, all five became nuns.
Catholics all over the world have admired Saint Thérèse for her simple, practical, yet saintly expression and understanding of the Faith. Many people felt connected to the example of her life, which was a life of pain and suffering, as well as of true love and service to God. Tragedy struck Saint Thérèse when her mother Saint Zélie died when she was only four and a half years old. Three months later, her father Saint Louis decided to relocate the family to Lisieux, Normandy. She recalled her mother’s death as a time of grief and sudden change in her disposition- she easily cried in outbursts, became oversensitive and extremely affected by people’s opinion of her. She prayed to Jesus to help her control her emotions but there was no answer. Finally, around ten years later, on Christmas Day of 1886, Saint Thérèse experienced what she referred to as her “complete conversion.” On that night Jesus entered her heart, helped her overcome all the difficulties deep inside her since the death of her mother. In her own words, she said, “In an instant, Jesus, content with my good will, accomplished the work I had not been able to do in ten years;” that she “recovered the strength of soul” she had lost when her mother died and that she “was to retain it forever.”
On the day of the Feast of the Assumption in 1888, Saint Thérèse entered the Carmelite Monastery in Lisieux, where her elder sisters Pauline and Marie were also living as Carmelite nuns. Her years in her vocation were lived in much prayer and contemplation, small acts of service and charity, and humility. It was when Saint Thérèse discovered what she called the “little way,” or “petite voie.” It was about recognizing that to become a saint, one need not do great deeds or perform acts of heroism. It was remaining little, while offering every action, no matter how small, as a sacrifice and expression of love for the Lord God. This was the way Saint Thérèse lived the rest of her life in the Carmel up to the young age of twenty-four when she died on 30 September 1897. In her final days, she immensely suffered in silence due to tuberculosis, which she also considered to be part of her spiritual journey.
Much of what is known about Saint Thérèse, to which the beginning of her popularity across the world is attributed, is based on her autobiography, a spiritual memoir- L’histoire d’une âme, “The Story of a Soul.” It was a compilation of manuscripts, letters, poems and prayers she wrote in the monastery. Her work rapidly gained recognition among many people after its publication. The “little way” by which Saint Thérèse had trusted Jesus and offered her days and small deeds to be holy sacrifices to God instead of great deeds was instantly appealing to thousands of Catholics. In it, people have found the inspiration to find and desire holiness in their rather ordinary and simple lives. She was canonized a saint in 1925. In the year 1969, Pope Paul VI moved her feast day from October 3 to October 1, the day after her “birth to heaven.”
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is truly a reminder to us that the little things and acts in our lives bring us closer to God’s Kingdom when we make them holy and offer them to the Lord.
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us!
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