Saint Therese of Lisieux :

Feast day : 01 October

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux also called Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, but lovingly known as the “The Little Flower of Jesus”. She was a French Discalced Carmelite nun who lived during the period 1873-1897. As best described by Pope John Paul II, “Humble and poor, Therese shows the “little way” of children who confide in the Father with ‘bold trust’. The heart of her message, her spiritual attitude, is for all the faithful.” She was canonized on 17 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI and honoured with the title Doctor of the Church on 19 October 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

Early life:

Saint Therese was born on 02 January 1873 in Alençon, France as the last child of Saint Louis and Saint Zelie Martin, who were themselves canonized in 2015. She was lovingly called by her father “little queen”. Her parents were devout Catholics who raised their children in Catholic values. Therese was undoubtedly the most loved one in the family. Her four older sisters Marie, Pauline, Leonie and Celine also eventually joined the Carmelite Order. Interestingly, her parents desired the religious life too before they were married but were turned away and entered into Holy Matrimony. Saint Therese lost her mother at the age of four and a half years and it took its toll on her emotionally. But it was God’s way of bringing her to spiritual maturity. Her elder sister Pauline took her mother’s place in training her in prayer and general discipline. When Pauline entered the Carmel convent in 1882, she again experienced a sense of loss and fell seriously ill a few months later with no cure for her malady. Her father and sisters prayed to the Blessed Virgin and she was miraculously healed. After her First Holy Communion on May 8, 1884 she again fell ill with scruples which lasted for a year and a half. In her early teens she was known to suffer frequent headaches because of which she was moved out of her school and home tutored.

Desire for the salvation of souls:

Once when a holy card showing the hand of Jesus pierced on the Cross slipped out of Therese’s prayer book she began to think of His Precious Blood and that it should be applied to souls. From that time onwards she had an intense desire to save souls. One of the most famous events of her life was her prayer for the conversion of Henri Pranzini, a notorious murderer. She alongwith her sister Celine prayed for his conversion but he kept refusing spiritual help from a priest. Therese prayed for a sign from God that he would be forgiven. After the execution, the next day the newspapers narrated the event. Therese read that before his execution, Pranzini reached for the crucifix held by the priest and kissed it three times. Little Therese was overjoyed to read it and believed it was a sign from God that her prayers imploring His mercy on Pranzini were heard. Her thirst for the salvation of souls grew and led her to desire a religious life. She decided to enter the Carmelite order. When she was asked why she wanted to be a Carmelite she responded “I came to save souls and especially to pray for priests”.

Vocational life:

On January 10, 1889, she received her Carmelite habit. A month later her father suffered his third stroke and loss of memory. He suffered till his death in 1894 but offered all his sufferings to God in return for all the favours he had received from Him. Therese made her profession on 08 September 1890 and took the name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and later added 'of the Holy Face'. Within a year she experienced great interior trials. She experienced dryness in prayer and struggled for five years. She had a mystical experience on June 14, 1895 as described by her in her own words “wounded by a shaft of fire so strong that I thought it would kill me”. After this event, she was all the more filled with an intense desire to save as many souls as she could. She wanted to give herself to Jesus to be consumed by Divine love.

Her penances and mortifications were simple acts of self denial. Before entering Carmel convent, one of her main act of penance was to refrain from leaning back against her chair. In the convent she was allowed to do penances that mortified her self-love such as not to look at the clock during prayer, not to ask what news was told by a visitor, to refrain from rubbing cold hands etc. These and similar acts of penances were her ‘little way’ to holiness. She had a childlike trust and faith in God. She once told her cousin Sr. Marie “Fortunately I didn’t ask for suffering. If i had asked for it, I fear I wouldn’t have the patience to bear it. Whereas if it is coming directly from God’s Will, He cannot refuse to give me the patience and the grace necessary to bear it.”

She had a great devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. With special permission she added it to her name too. The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus was promoted by another Carmelite nun, Sister Marie of St Peter in Tours, France in 1844. Thérèse wrote many prayers to express her devotion to the Holy Face. By contemplating the sufferings associated with the Holy Face of Jesus, she felt she could become closer to Christ. She wrote the words "Make me resemble you, Jesus!" on a small card and attached a stamp with an image of the Holy Face. Over the decades, her poems and prayers helped to spread the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

The best known of her writings is her autobiography ‘The Story of a Soul’. It is a compilation of three separate manuscripts. The first, in 1895 is a memoir of her childhood written at the request of her own sisters, the second part was in response to a request from her sister Marie to write some of the secrets that Jesus had revealed to her and the third part was written in 1897 and was addressed to the Prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague. It was published a year after her death and became very popular. Her simple spirituality that speaks to people of all walks of life has inspired thousands since then. She also has written several letters, poems and plays for festive occasions in the convent in which she even directed and acted.

Final illness:

Saint Therese’s final sufferings began on the night of Holy Thursday in 1896 when she vomited blood. It happened again the next night. She was not frightened but eagerly looked forward to meeting Jesus. But on Easter Sunday of that year, her darkest trial began. In her words “He permitted my soul to be invaded by the thickest darkness, and that the thought of Heaven, up until then so sweet to me, be no longer anything but the cause of struggle and torment.” This trial lasted till her death almost a year and a half later. She bore all her increasing sufferings from her tuberculosis and her interior trials cheerfully and continued her normal routine till May 1897. On her last day she said “Never would I have believed it was possible to suffer so much! Never, never! I cannot explain this except by the ardent desires I have to save souls.”

Death & Sainthood:

At 7.20 p.m. on September 30, she looked at her crucifix and said “Oh! I love Him!...My God...I love You!”. These were her last words. Saint Thérèse was buried on 4 October 1897, in the Carmelite plot, in the municipal cemetery at Lisieux, where her parents had been buried. Her body was exhumed in September 1910 and the remains placed in a lead coffin and transferred to another tomb. In March 1923, however, before she was beatified, her body was returned to the Carmel of Lisieux, where it remains. The figure of Thérèse in the glass coffin is not her actual body but a statue based on drawings and photos by Céline after Thérèse's death. It contains her ribcage and other remnants of her body.

Therese was canonized on 17 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI, only 28 years after her death. Thérèse of Lisieux is the patron saint of aviators, florists, illnesses and missions. In 1927, Pope Pius XI named Thérèse co-patron of the missions, with Saint Francis Xavier. In 1944 Pope Pius XII decreed her a co-patron of France with Joan of Arc. By the Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia (The Science of Divine Love) of 19 October 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church. The Basilica of St. Thérèse in her home town of Lisieux was consecrated on 11 July 1954 and has become a centre for pilgrims from all over the world.