unless otherwise stated.
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Saint Teresa of The Child Jesus
(Saint Thérèse Of Lisieux).
Virgin.
Feast Day 3 October.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Teresa of The Child Jesus
(Saint Thérèse Of Lisieux)
(The Little Flower)
Image: CARMEL, GARDEN OF GOD
English: Amber Flush rose - Bagatelle Rose Garden (Paris, France).
Français : Rose Amber Flush - Roseraie de Bagatelle (Paris, France).
Photo: 1 June 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Georges Seguin (Okki).
(Wikimedia Commons)
The life of this young Saint is not distinguished by any heroic or very great deed. She simply served God with a constant and assiduous fidelity in little things.
To her, the words of Our Lord are applied by the Church: "Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Saint Teresa of The Child Jesus,
(Saint Thérèse Of Lisieux),
(The Little Flower)
(Wikipedia Commons)
Apostolic Virgin ! Such is the Title which seems best to characterise Saint Teresa of The Child Jesus. Like her Seraphic Patron and Mother, she desired to make the Salvation of Souls the object of her life in the Cloister, and, thus, her whole life was a "sacrifice of love, a holocaust to merciful love".
When she left Carmel for Heaven, she repeated her intention of continuing to be an Apostle in Eternity, as she had been here on Earth."I feel that my mission is soon to begin," she said."My mission to make others love the good God as I love Him . . . to teach my Little Way to Souls.
English: The Birthplace and family home of Sainte Thérèse.
Français: Maison natale de Sainte Thérèse et des
bienheureux Louis et Zélie Martin, ses parents.
Photo: 25 June 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Pierre-Yves Emile.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The humble "Little Flower" was: Beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923, twenty-six years after her death; Canonised in 1925; and, in 1927, proclaimed Patroness of all Catholic Missions.
Let us offer The Holy Sacrifice, in Thanksgiving, for all the Graces bestowed on this Saint, and let us receive Our Lord in Holy Communion in order to partake, through Him, in the Virtues which adorned her life.
Marie-Azélie "Zélie" Martin née Guérin (1831-1877),
Beatified. Wife of Blessed Louis Martin,
Mother of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux.
Date: Circa 1875.
Author: Unknown Photographer.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (Born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, 2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, O.C.D., was a French Discalced Carmelite Nun. She is popularly known as "The Little Flower of Jesus" or simply, "The Little Flower."
Thérèse has been a highly influential model of Sanctity for Roman Catholics, and for others, because of the "simplicity and practicality of her approach to the Spiritual Life." Together with Saint Francis of Assisi, she is one of the most popular Saints in the history of the Church. Pope Saint Pius X called her "the greatest Saint of modern times."
Thérèse felt an early call to Religious Life, and, overcoming various obstacles, in 1888, at the early age of fifteen, she became a Nun and joined two of her elder sisters in the Cloistered Carmelite Community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite Religious, having fulfilled various Offices, such as Sacristan and Assistant to the Novice Mistress, and having spent her last eighteen months in Carmel in a Night of Faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four.
Louis Martin (1823-1894).
Beatified. Husband of Blessed Zélie Martin.
Father of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
Photo: Circa 1875.
Source: http://www.devinrose.heroicvirtuecreations.com/blog/
2008/07/04/blessed-louis-and-zelie-martin-and-saint-damien/
Author: Unknown Photographer.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Pope Saint Pius XI made her the "Star of his Pontificate". She was Beatified in 1923, and Canonised in 1925. Thérèse was declared Co-Patron of the Missions, with Saint Francis Xavier, in 1927, and named Co-Patron of France, with Joan of Arc, in 1944. On 19 October 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church, the youngest person, and at that time only the third woman, to be so honoured. Devotion to Thérèse has developed around the world.
Saint Thérèse lived a hidden life and "wanted to be unknown," yet became popular after her death through her Spiritual autobiography. She also left Letters, poems, religious plays, Prayers, and her last conversations were recorded by her sisters. Paintings and photographs – mostly the work of her sister, Céline, – further led to her being recognised by millions of men and women.
English: Les Buissonnets.
The Martin family house in Lisieux, to which they moved in
November 1877, following the death of Madame Martin. Thérèse lived here from
16 November 1877 to 9 April 1888, the day she entered Carmel.
Français: Maison familiale des Martin (Lisieux) où Sainte Thérèse passa son enfance.
Photo: August 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Grentidez.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The depth of her Spirituality, of which she said, "my way is all confidence and love," has inspired many Believers. In the face of her littleness, she trusted in God to be her Sanctity. She wanted to go to Heaven by an entirely new "little way". "I wanted to find an elevator that would raise me to Jesus." The elevator, she wrote, would be the Arms of Jesus lifting her in all her littleness.
Thérèse is well-known throughout the world, with the Basilica of Lisieux being the second-largest place of Pilgrimage in France, after Lourdes.
English: The Monastery, that Saint Thérèse entered, was not an old-established House
with a great tradition. In 1838, two Nuns from the Poitiers Carmel had been sent out to
Found the House of Lisieux.
One of them, Mother Geneviève of Saint Teresa, was still living
when Saint Thérèse entered. The Second Wing, containing the Cells and Sick Rooms in which
she was to live and die, had been standing only ten years.
"What she found was a Community of very aged Nuns, some odd and cranky, some sick and troubled, some lukewarm and complacent. Almost all of the Sisters came from the Petty Bourgeois and Artisan Class. The Prioress and Novice Mistress were of old Norman Nobility. Probably, the Martin sisters, alone, represented the new Class of the Rising Bourgeoisie."
The Hidden Facep.193-195, Ida Gorres.
Français: Carmel de Lisieux.
Date: Circa 1900.
Source: Carte postale.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
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