Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Teresa of The Child Jesus
(Saint Thérèse Of Lisieux).
"The Little Flower".
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)
Saint Thérèse Of Lisieux
("The Little Flower").
Available on YouTube at
Mary-Frances-Teresa Martin was born at Alençon, France, on 2 January 1873. She was brought up in a most-Christian family, and educated by The Benedictine Nuns at Lisieux. Whilst still a child, she felt drawn towards The Cloister, and, at the age of fifteen, after much petition, was allowed to enter The Carmelite Convent in that Town. At the age of twenty-four, she slept peacefully in The Peace of The Lord.
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)
"I do not intend to remain inactive in Heaven," this Saint said on her death-bed. "I wish to go on working for The Church and for Souls." "After my death, I will let fall a Shower of Roses." "It is Our Lord Who is calling me to Heaven and the hope of being able to love Him as I have so much desired to do, and the thought that I shall be able to make Him loved by a number of Souls, who will praise Him eternally."
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)
"I wish to spend my Heaven in doing good upon Earth. Nor is this impossible, since, from the very heart of The Beatific Vision, The Angels keep watch over us. No, there can be no rest for me until The End of The World. But, when The Angel shall have said: "Time is no more ! ", then I shall rest, then I shall be able to rejoice, because The Number of The Elect will be complete". (Autobiography).
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.
Mass: Veni de Libano.
Saint Marie-Azélie "Zélie" Martin, née Guérin (1831-1877).
Wife of Saint Louis Martin and Mother of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux.
Date: Circa 1875.
Source: OUEST FRANCE
Author: Unknown Photographer.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
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.
Saint Louis Martin (1823-1894).
Husband of Saint Zélie Martin and 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)
The impact of The Story of a Soul, a collection of her autobiographical Manuscripts, printed and distributed a year after her death to an initially very limited audience, was great, and she rapidly became one of the most popular Saints of the 20th-Century.
Pope 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)
Thérèse said on her death-bed, "I only love simplicity. I have a horror of pretence", and she spoke out against some of the claims made concerning The Lives of Saints, written in her day, "We should not say improbable things, or things we do not know. We must see their real, and not their imagined, lives."
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 were sent out to Found The House of Lisieux. One of them, Mother Geneviève of Saint Teresa, was living when Saint Thérèse entered. The Second Wing, containing Cells and 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."
Français: Carmel de Lisieux.
Date: Circa 1900.
Source: Carte postale
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
