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Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin, also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, O.C.D., was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun who is widely venerated in modern times. She is popularly known as "The Little Flower of Jesus" or simply "The Little Flower".

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Marie Martin, the oldest daughter of the family, joined her sister Pauline at the Lisieux Carmel in 1886. Leonie Martin entered the Visitation Convent at Caen the following year. Therese then sought permission from her father to join Marie and Pauline at the Lisieux Convent. Louis was probably expecting the request, but it saddened him nevertheless. Three of his girls had already entered religious life. But, characteristically generous, he not only granted Therese's request, but worked zealously to help her realize it.

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therese's mother

her father

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At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: "My God, I love You!"

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The Story of a Soul is the autobiography of Thérèse of Lisieux, a French Discalced Carmelite nun, later recognized as a saint. It was first published on September 30, 1898, a year to the day after her death from tuberculosis at the age of 24, on September 30, 1897.

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Born to Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin and Louis Martin in 1873, Therese often spoke about how happy and loved she felt as a young child. At the age of 14 she became a carmalite.
She had 3 sisters who became nuns and carmalites as well: Leonie, Genevieve and Marie-Pauline. She also had 2 other brothers and 2 other sisters: Marie-Odile, Marie- Melanie, Joseph Louis and Joseph-Jean.

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Thérèse entered the Carmel of Lisieux with the determination to become a saint. But, by the end of 1894, six full calendar years as a Carmelite made her realize how small and insignificant she was. She saw the limitations of all her efforts. She remained small and very far off from the unfailing love that she would wish to practice. She understood then that it was on this very littleness that she must learn to ask God's help. Along with her camera, Céline had brought notebooks with her, passages from the Old Testament, which Thérèse did not have in Carmel. (The Louvain Bible, the translation authorized for French Catholics, did not include an Old Testament). In the notebooks Thérèse found a passage from Proverbs that struck her with particular force: "Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me" (9:4)

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St Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897) was a French Catholic who became a Carmelite nun at an early age. She died in obscurity at the age of 26. However, after her death, her autobiography – Story of a Soul was published and became a best-seller around the world.

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St Therese of Lisieux was a young Carmelite nun who devoted her life to God. As a permanent  novice, she would never be able to perform great deeds.After not feeling well for sometime, she became gravely ill. She remained silent and cheerful until the end when she sadly passed away at the age of 24. St therese is one of the patron saints of the missions, and her feast day is October 1st.

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“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily
do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm.
If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”

“The world's thy ship and not thy home.”

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St. Therese discovered early on that love gave people a reason for living and a sense of hope. As a child she says that she was surrounded by love and she also had a loving nature. Yet the experience of love began to unravel somewhat when she lost her own mother at age four and a half and then again when her sister Pauline, her second mother, went off to the convent of Lisieux. Is there a permanent love? What does love mean when there is suffering? Where does fulfillment exist? Everyone asks questions about love. What is love really, how am I to understand its ways?

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Born: January 2, 1873, Alençon, France

Died: September 30, 1897, Lisieux, France

Feast: 1 October