1 October

St Therese of the Child Jesus (1873-1897)
Doctor of the Church

Born: January 2, 1873, Alençon, France
Died: September 30, 1897, Lisieux, France
Canonized: May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI
Major Shrine: Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, France
Patron of: AIDS sufferers; aviators; bodily ills; florists; France; illness; loss of parents; missionaries; tuberculosis

Today is the Memorial of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897), more popularly known as “the Little Flower.” Although just an obscure cloistered Carmelite nun, she has had universal appeal since her death in 1897. St. Thérèse is the patroness of all foreign missions and patroness of France, and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997.

Entrance Antiphon, Cf. Dt 32:10-12

The Lord led her and taught her, and kept her as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle spreading its wings he took her up and bore her on his shoulders. The Lord alone was her guide.

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who open your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones, lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of Saint Thérèse, so that through her intercession we may see your eternal glory revealed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Gospel Verse, Cf. Mt 11:25

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

Communion Antiphon, Mt 18:3

Thus says the Lord: Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

On October 1, Catholics around the world honor the life of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, or St. Thérèse of Lisieux on her feast day.  St. Thérèse was born January 2, 1873 in Alençon, France to pious parents, both of whom are scheduled to be canonized in October 2016. Her mother died when she was four, leaving her father and elder sisters to raise her.

On Christmas Day 1886 St. Thérèse had a profound experience of intimate union with God, which she described as a “complete conversion.”  Almost a year later, in a papal audience during a pilgrimage to Rome, in 1887, she asked for and obtained permission from Pope Leo XIII to enter the Carmelite Monastery at the young age of 15.

On entering, she devoted herself to living a life of holiness, doing all things with love and childlike trust in God. She struggled with life in the convent, but decided to make an effort to be charitable to all, especially those she didn’t like. She performed little acts of charity always, and little sacrifices not caring how unimportant they seemed.  These acts helped her come to a deeper understanding of her vocation.

She wrote in her autobiography that she had always dreamed of being a missionary, an Apostle, a martyr – yet she was a nun in a quiet cloister in France. How could she fulfill these longings?

“Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places…in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love…my vocation, at last I have found it…My vocation is Love!”

Thérèse offered herself as a sacrificial victim to the merciful Love of God on June 9, 1895, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity and the following year, on the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, she noticed the first symptoms of Tuberculosis, the illness which would lead to her death.

Thérèse recognized in her illness the mysterious visitation of the divine Spouse and welcomed the suffering as an answer to her offering the previous year.  She also began to undergo a terrible trial of faith which lasted until her death a year and a half later.  “Her last words, ‘My God, I love you,’ are the seal of her life,” said Pope John Paul II.

Since her death, millions have been inspired by her ‘little way’ of loving God and neighbor. Many miracles have been attributed to her intercession. She had predicted during her earthly life that “My Heaven will be spent doing good on Earth.”

Saint Thérèse was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997 – 100 years after her death at the age of 24. She is only the third woman to be so proclaimed, after Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila.

St. Thérèse wrote once, “You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”

Source: CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Beatification and Canonization

The reception given to the example of her life and Gospel teaching in our century was quick, universal and constant. As if in imitation of her precocious spiritual maturity, her holiness was recognized by the Church in the space of a few years.

  • In fact, on 10 June 1914 Pius X signed the decree introducing her cause of beatification
  • And Pius XI proclaimed her blessed on 29 April 1923.
  • Shortly afterwards, on 17 May 1925, the same Pope canonized her before an immense crowd in St Peter’s Basilica, highlighting the splendour of her virtues and the originality of her doctrine.
  • Two years later, on 14 December 1927, in response to the petition of many missionary Bishops, he proclaimed her Patron of the Missions along with St Francis Xavier.

St. Thérèse

Marie Thérèse Martin was born at Alencon, France on January 2, 1873, the youngest of five daughters.

Her father, Louis, was a watchmaker, and her mother, Zelie, who died of breast cancer when Thérèse was four, was a lace maker.

She was brought up in a model Christian home. While still a child she felt the attraction of the cloister, and at fifteen obtained permission to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. For the next nine years she lived a very ordinary religious life.

There are no miracles, exploits or austerities recorded of her. She attained a very high degree of holiness by carrying out her ordinary daily duties with perfect fidelity, having a childlike confidence in God’s providence and merciful love and being ready to be at the service of others at all times. She also had a great love of the Church and a zeal for the conversion of souls. She prayed especially for priests.

She died of consumption on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24, and was canonized in 1925. She has never ceased to fulfill her promise:

“I will pass my heaven in doing good on earth.”

Her interior life is known through her autobiography called Story of a Soul. Pope Saint John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

Patron: florists; foreign missions; missionaries; pilots; against tuberculosis; AIDS sufferers; illness; loss of parents; Australia; France; Russia; Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska; Diocese of Fresno, California; Diocese of Juneau, Alaska; Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado.

Symbols: roses; discalced Carmelite nun holding roses; Carmelite nun with roses at her feet; Carmelite nun holding images of the Child Jesus and Holy Face of Jesus; Carmelite nun holding a crucifix and roses; book.

Things to Do:

  • Find photographs of St. Thérèse and her family.
    Her sister Celine and cousin Marier Guerin had become interested in the art of photography, and when Celine entered the Carmelites with her sisters, she was given permission to bring her equipment and use it in the convent. A wonderful out-of-print book with all the photographs of this saint is called The Photo Album of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
  • Read St. Thérèse’s autobiography The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The translation by John Clarke is considered the most accurate. Find biographies suitable for your children.
  • The Institute of Carmelite Studies has a wonderful collection of writings by St. Thérèse and other books about her.
  • Read more about her confidence in God, an excellent book is I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Father Jean C. J. d’Elbee.
  • St. Thérèse belonged to the Discalced order of Carmelites, which means unshod or barefoot. Find out more about the order of Carmelites.
  • From the Catholic Culture Library:
  • Learn about the Society of the Little Flower.
  • There is the historic National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, a Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower in San Antonio, Texas.
  • Bake a cake or brownies and frost. Decorate with roses, either real, artificial, marzipan, icing, candy or other. Let your imagination go! See top bar for marzipan suggestions.
  • Learn about St. Thérèse’s sacrifice beads, purchase or learn to make them.
  • Enjoy doing some rose crafts or recipes today. St. Thérèse’s dying words were: “I will let fall a shower of roses after my death.” Catholic Culture has some wonderful old-fashioned rose recipes.

Source: CATHOLIC CULTURE