Saint Therese of Lisieux

Born of Louis and Zelie (both on my baby name list) in 1873, St Thérèse’ of Lisieux (aka The Little Flower or St Therese of the child Jesus) was the youngest of 9 children, of whom only 5 would survive childhood. In 1877 when Thérèse was only 4 years old, their mother Zelie would be taken by breast cancer and the family would relocate to Lisieux, France. Here, in the deeply religious atmosphere of her home, Thérèse and her 4 elder sisters would grow in piety and eventually all 5 would become nuns. Thérèse first enquired about entering the Carmelites when she was only 9 years old (they thought about it for a second and then told her to wait a couple years) and she eventually entered the convent at 14 where she lived a relatively unremarkable life, accomplished not much and suffered from bouts of poor mental health. Young Thérèse also suffered from an extremely sensitive nature, prone to being overwhelmed to the point of tears and distressed by her own conscience. However she eventually realised that God was calling her to great love, not heroic deeds. Before dying of tuberculosis at only 24 years old, Therese said that not a single day had ever passed without struggle.

Although outwardly unremarkable, Thérèse’s 24 years would display exemplery spiritual accomplishments and in 1997 she would become the youngest Doctor of the church and her burial site in Lisieux would become a place of pilgrimage. Thérèse’s popularity is largely due to her loving pursuit of holiness in an incredibly ordinary life (however, the more unknown reason for her popularity, is because she wasn't very good at Maths or spelling - and I really feel that). St. Thérèse defined her doctrine of the Little Way as “the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender.” Desperate to be a saint, but feeling so far from that reality Thérèse wrote “I have always noticed that when I compared myself to the saints, there is between them and me the same difference that exists between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and the obscure grain of sand trampled underfoot by passers-by.”

Feast day: October 1st
Patron Saint of Missionaries, Aids sufferers, florists and the sick