Thérèse de Lisieux

Author profile

born

January 02, 1873 in Alençon, France

died

September 30, 1897

gender

female

genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Poetry, Religion & Spirituality

About this author

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Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.

She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices, such as sacristan and novice mistress, and having spent the last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. The impact of h...more Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.

She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices, such as sacristan and novice mistress, and having spent the last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. The impact of her posthumous publications, including her memoir The Story of a Soul was great, and she rapidly became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XI made her the star of his pontificate. She was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. The speed of this process may be seen by comparison with that applied to a great heroine of Thérèse, Joan of Arc, who died in 1431 but was not canonized until 1920. Thérèse was declared co-patron of the missions with Francis Xavier in 1927, and named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944. On 19 October 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church, the youngest of all Doctors of the Church, and only the third woman Doctor. Devotion to Thérèse has developed around the world.

Thérèse lived a hidden life and 'wanted to be unknown' yet through her writings—as well as her spiritual autobiography she left letters, poems, religious plays, prayers and various notes, and her last conversations were recorded by her sisters—and thanks to the photographs taken inside the Lisieux Carmel by her sister Céline, she became known to, and later seen by, millions of men and women. According to one of her biographers, Guy Gaucher, after her death, "Thérèse fell victim to an excess of sentimental devotion which betrayed her. She was victim also to her language, which was that of the late nineteenth century and flowed from the religiosity of her age." Thérèsè herself said on her death-bed : "I only love simplicity. I have a horror of pretence", and she spoke out against some of 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 critic Marina Warner observed that the excesses sometimes associated with her cult should not blind one to the heroism of her, "struggle to be good, and the radical affirmation of ordinary lives that her sainthood stands for."

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 and nothingness, 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.

The Basilica of Lisieux is the second greatest place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.(less)

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Average rating: 4.35 · 1,719 ratings · 143 reviews · 27 distinct works

	Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux by Thérèse de Lisieux, John Clarke (Translator) 4.35 avg rating — 1,630 ratings — published 1896 — 61 editions	My rating:
	Thoughts of St Therese: 4.42 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1988	My rating:
	St. Therese of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations by Thérèse de Lisieux, John Clarke 4.37 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1977 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux (Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Saint Therese of Lisieux) (Centenary Edition 1873-1973) 4.27 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1995 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. I: 1877-1890 4.50 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1982	My rating:
	The Little Way for Every Day: Thoughts from Therese of Lisieux by Thérèse de Lisieux, Francis Broome (Translator) 4.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Photo Album of St. Therese of Lisieux 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1990	My rating:
	The Autobiography of Therese of Lisieux by Thérèse de Lisieux, Robert Backhouse (Editor) 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1997	My rating:
	Simply Surrender 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way" for Everyone 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2007	My rating:

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Quotes by Thérèse de Lisieux

“May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux

73 people liked it

“The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily
do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm.
If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux

48 people liked it

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
― Thérèse de Lisieux

29 people liked it

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Thérèse de Lisieux

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Quotes by Thérèse de Lisieux

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Books by Thérèse de Lisieux