St. Therese of Lisieux
On October 1st, we celebrate the feast day of the beautiful St. Therese of Lisieux. Although she is now one of the most well known and celebrated Catholic saints, St. Therese was virtually unknown on her deathbed; she lived a simple and, eventually, cloistered life before her death at the age of 24. So how did this young Carmelite nun become one of the spiritual giants of the last century?
Therese was born in 1873 to a devout Catholic family in a small town in France. She grew up with four living sisters (she had four other siblings who died in infancy or youth) and her beloved parents, Louis and Zelie (who were canonized in 2015). Her family was very close knit, and their faith played a pivotal role in their daily lives. Therese would visit the Blessed Sacrament with Louis every day during their daily walks. Zelie died when Therese was 5, and Louis when she was 21, but the foundation they both left for the family was indelible.
Therese was able to join the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, where two of her sisters had already joined, after obtaining special permission at the age of 15. She spent the next nine years as a cloistered nun, living out her days doing the simple yet powerful work of prayer and daily tasks. As the behest of her sister (who had been elected as Mother Superior), she wrote her autobiography, which was published posthumously as The Story of a Soul. Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1896, Therese suffered greatly for a year before passing away at the age of 24.
St. Therese's spirituality was spread far and wide through her autobiography. Those who came to know her fell in love with her overwhelming love for Jesus. Even more so, they became inspired by what she called her 'little way', the essence of her spirituality, which she also described as 'spiritual childhood'. This consisted of retaining the virtues of children that made them so pleasing to God. As she described it,
“It means that we acknowledge our nothingness; that we expect everything from the good Lord, as a child expects everything from its father; it means to worry about nothing, not to build upon fortune; it means to remain little, seeking only to gather flowers, that flowers of sacrifice, and to offer them to the good Lord for His pleasure. It also means not to attribute to ourselves the virtues we practice, not to believe that we are capable of anything, but to acknowledge that it is the good Lord Who has placed that treasure in the hand of His little child that He may use it when He needs it, but it remains always God’s own treasure. Finally, it means that we must not be discouraged by our faults, for children fall frequently.”
Her spiritual philosophy emphasized humility and simplicity, living an ordinary life in a virtuous, loving manner. She's often called the 'little flower' because of her desire to be seen as one small flower among many giving glory to God, a sign of her humility. Because of her spiritual influence, St. Therese was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope St. John Paul II, only the third woman to have received the accolade (there has since been named a fourth, St. Hildegard of Bingen).
From obscurity to Doctor of the Church, St. Therese has certainly made her mark on the Catholic Church. She is surely living out her stated mission in eternity - "My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death...I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Say a novena to St. Therese, and perhaps she will send you a rose as a sign that your prayers have been heard!
By Anna Neal