Saint therese of lisieux patron saint of

About St. Therese of Lisieux

Therese Martin known as St. Therese of Lisieux was born January 2, , in Alençon, France. Thoughtful of the things of heaven from an early age, she entered the convent taking the name Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. She dedicated her life to simple acts and was asked by her superior to write her story. What began as a planerat arbete for Mother Superior became a book published after her death entitled &#;Story of a Soul&#;, which is still popular spiritual reading today.

“I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses.” Known as “The Little Flower” by many, St. Therese’s words illustrate the emblem by which she shares with us her intercession and inspiration even from heaven. In living “The Little Way” by which she sought to attain eternal life with Christ, St. Therese performed small acts, unbeknownst to others, in beställning to give glory to God alone. She taught that we are to do “ordinary things with extraordinary love.”

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St. Therese of Lisieux

Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the "Little Flower", and found in her short life more inspiration for their own lives than in volumes by theologians.

Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." (Collections of her letters and restored versions of her journals have been published recently.) But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized.

Over the years, some modern Catholics have turned away from her because they associate her with over- sentimentalized piety and yet the message she has for us is still as compelling and simple as it was almost a century ago.

Therese was born in France in , the pampered daughter of a moth

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Marie Francoise Martin was born at Alencon, France, on January 2, , the youngest of nine children of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zelie Guerin. Her mother died when she was five, and the family moved to Lisieux, where her older sister and an aunt raised her. Two of her sisters became Carmelite nuns, and she resolved to emulate them. She was refused admission at first but a year later was admitted to the Carmel at Lisieux.

She was professed in , taking the name Therese of the Child Jesus. Afflicted with tuberculosis, she bore her illness with great patience and fortitude, devoting herself to prayer and meditation and serving for a time as mistress of novices.

By order of the prioress, Mother Agnes (her sister Pauline), she began in to write the story of her childhood, and in , after finishing it the previous year, she was ordered by the new prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague, to tell of her life in the convent. Both were combined into The Story of a Soul, which became one of