Saint Theresa of Lisieux "The Little Flower" (1873-1897)

Patronal Feast Day: 1 October

Marie Francoise Therese Martin was born on 2 January 1873 at Alencon (Orne) in France.

She was raised in a model Christian home, and educated in the Benedictine Convent at Lisieux. While still a young child, Therese felt the attraction of the Cloister, and at the early age of fifteen had, by persistent entreaties, obtained permission from the Bishop of Bayeaux (Mgr Hugonin) to enter the Carmel of Lisieux as a novice. Two years later on 8 September 1890, she made her solemn profession as Sister Theresa of the Child Jesus.

She wanted to offer herself in sacrifice for Priests and Missionaries and the whole Church. She heard God's call to little ones to come to him and surrendered herself forever with childlike confidence to God's "merciful love". Her short and early life drew to a close on 30 September 1897, at the age of twenty four years, her last words being "My God … I love Thee", epitomising a life, the story of which has since edified and consoled many millions of Christians seeking "The Little Way".

So universal was the devotion to the "Little Flower" that the Holy See dispensed with canonical law requiring fifty years to elapse before commencing the process of Canonisation. Therese of the Child Jesus was solemnly beatified on 29 April 1923, in Saint Peter's and Canonised a Saint of Holy Mother Church on 17 May 1925. The joy that then filled the great Basilica of Christendom has since overflowed into the whole Catholic world, manifesting beyond doubt that "Shower of Roses" from the heavenly garden with which the beloved Little Sister of Lisieux promised to refresh the faithful on earth.

NB. This brief account of the life of Saint Theresa of Lisieux is based on extracts taken from the Roman Missal and Butlers "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs And Other Saints".