Who is St. Thérèse ?
Our Patroness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Who is Thérèse?
Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (1873-1897), known as
Thérèse lost her mother at a very young age and was raised by her father, Louis, and her older sisters. She received special permission to enter the local Carmelite convent at age fifteen – the same convent where three of her four sisters lived. Thérèse lived and loved in that convent for nine years before she died of tuberculosis at twenty-four. She had a short and hidden, yet she is one of the greatest saints of our time!
“It is important to realize that Jesus was a young person. He gave his life when he was, in today’s terms, a young adult.”
-Pope Francis, paragraph 22 of Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive)
Spiritual Childhoood
Thérèse lived in France at a time when God’s judgment and wrath were frequently over-emphasized. Holiness seemed unattainable or exceedingly difficult to achieve. In the face of this, Thérèse recalled the passages in Scripture where Jesus speaks about being like children. He says, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” and “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 18:3, 19:14). She decided to embrace spiritual childhood, since she believed that God is a good and merciful father who takes delight in his children. Thérèse remembered that God himself became a little child, which made her wonder how anyone could see him as frightening. She placed all her trust in God, knowing that even the smallest deeds, done in love, would please him.
The Little Way
Thérèse felt incapable of the ‘grand deeds’ done by some of the saints and chose instead to love in every little moment of her ordinary life. She called this her Little Way. The Little Way is not a restful one, full of only sweetness and consolation. Rather, the Little Way involves the daily practice of the actions of self-giving love. It involves an emptying of self for the other in imitation of Jesus’ love on the Cross. Thérèse knew that choosing to love the sisters in her community who annoyed her required heroic love. So does being a parent, a faithful spouse, or a holy single person. Sainthood, according to Thérèse, is for you and me, not only for popes, Mother Teresa, or martyrs.
Students of St. Thérèse
Our students spend a year under the tutelage of
