The
Greatest Saint of Modern Times
St.
Therese of the Child Jesus was born in Alencon in France on 2
January 1873. She was the last of nine children, four of whom had
already died. Her father was a watchmaker and her mother ran a small
lace-making business. When Therese was four, her mother died and the
family moved to Lisieux. Here she spent the next ten years of her
life, brought up in an atmosphere of love and affection.
From
an early age she wanted to give herself to God. She struggled with
her own stubbornness of will and suffered a lot from her very
sensitive and scrupulous nature. When she was ten years old, she was
cured of a serious illness through the 'smile of the Queen of
Heaven'.
At
the age of fifteen, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux and
was given the name 'Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy
Face'. She spent the next nine years of her life here, faithfully
and heroically living the life of a Carmelite nun with great
simplicity and humility. She discovered what she called her 'Little
Way' - a way of confidence and trust and of total surrender to God's
Merciful Love. At the end of her life she realized her mission was
about to begin, and she would spend her heaven doing good on earth.
Before she died, Therese, under obedience, began to write down the recollections and memories of her childhood together with her reflections on the religious life. St. Therese died on 30 September 1897 at the age of 24 after eighteen months of great physical suffering and desolation of spirit. She was canonized in 1925. She has been proclaimed a Patroness of France and of the Missions and in 1997 was declared a Doctor of the Church.
Her
autobiography Story of a Soul was published one year after
her death. Millions of copies have been sold and it has been
translated into over fifty languages. Her feast is celebrated each
year on 1st October.
