Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie- Françoise-Thérèse Martin. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She is one of the four women doctors of the church!

Marie - Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (Carmelite) Pauline - Mother Agnes of Jesus (Carmelite) Léonie - Sister Françoise- Thérèse, Visitandine Sister. Her cause for beatification is under way! Céline - Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face Therese - youngest Bl. Louis Martin – Father Bl. Zelie Martin – mother 3 children died as babies 1 died at age 5 Her parents will be canonized in Oct. 2015!

HER VOCATION Therese prayed to Jesus: “To be your Spouse, O Jesus, to be a Carmelite, by my union with you to be the mother of souls, should content me... yet it does not... Without doubt, these three privileges are indeed my vocation: Carmelite, spouse, and mother. And yet I feel in myself other vocations—I feel myself called to be a soldier, priest, apostle, doctor of the church, martyr. Finally, I feel the need, the desire to perform all the most heroic deeds for you, Jesus... I feel in my soul the courage of a crusader, of a soldier for the Church, and I wish to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church...” Searching the Scriptures, she came upon the words of St. Paul saying the most perfect WAY is the way of LOVE. Upon reading this she cried out: “"At last I have found my vocation. In the heart of the Church, I will be Love!"

HER “LITTLE WAY” St. Therese believed that the people of her time lived in too great fear of Gods judgment. The fear was stifling and did not allow people to experience the freedom of the children of God. However, St. Therese knew from her life that God is merciful love. St. Therese once wrote that she could not understand how anyone could be afraid of a God who became a child. She also knew that she would never be perfect. Therefore, she went to God as a child approaches a parent with open arms and a profound trust. This was the motive behind her “little way.” St. Therese translated "the little way" in terms of a commitment to the tasks and to the people we meet in our everyday lives. She took her assignments in the convent of Lisieux as ways of manifesting her love for God and for others. Above all, she tried to show a love for all the nuns in the community. She played no favorites; she gave of herself even to the difficult members. Her life sounds so routine and ordinary, but it was steeped in a loving commitment that knew no breakdown. It is called a little way precisely by being simple, direct, yet calling for amazing fortitude and commitment.

HER WORDS… "I leave to great souls and lofty minds the beautiful books I cannot understand, much less put into practice and I rejoice that I am little because children alone and those who resemble them will be admitted to the heavenly banquet. I am glad that there are many mansions in the Kingdom of God, because if there were only those whose description and whose road seem to me incomprehensible, I could never enter there.“ "It is needful to remain little before God and to remain little is to recognize one's nothingness, expect all things from the good God just as a little child expects all things from its father; it is not to be troubled by anything, not to try to make a fortune. Even among poor people, a child is given all it needs, as long as it is very little, but as soon as it has grown up, the father does not want to support it any longer and says: "Work, now you are able to take care of yourself". Because I never want to hear these words I do not want to grow up, feeling that I can never earn my living, that is, eternal life in heaven. So I have stayed little, and have no other occupation than of gathering flowers of love and sacrifice and of offering them to the good God to please Him.

Birthplace in Alencon (uh- len-suh), France

The Carmelite convent where she entered in Lisieux.

Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus, a carmelite convent, known throughout the world for the numbers of pilgrims it attracts in Liseaux, Normandy, France.

American Shrine of The Little Flower near Detroit, MI in Royal Oak NATIONAL SHRINE OF ST. THERESE IN DARIEN, IL

The “Dark Night” of Therese

Canticle of Love PG-yWdYhttps:// PG-yWdY