St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, commonly known as “the Little Flower,” was born Marie Françoise Thérèse Martin in Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873. After her two older sisters, Pauline and Marie, had entered the cloistered Discalced Carmelite convent at Lisieux, where the family had moved in 1881, she also applied to enter, but because she was only fourteen years of age, her entrance had to be delayed. In the meantime, she visited Rome with her father and on that occasion she met Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903). When she told the pope of her desire to enter Carmel—hoping he would intervene in her behalf—all she received was a noncommittal “You shall enter if it be God’s will.” She was finally accepted in April 1888, when she was fifteen. She spent a total of nine and a half years in the convent; her life was one of humility, simplicity, and trust in God. In 1893, she was appointed mistress of novices and filled that office for four years. She contracted tuberculosis—its first signs began to appear in Holy Week 1896—about eighteen months before her death, which occurred on September 30, 1897. Shortly before her death, she wrote her autobiography, commonly known as Story of a Soul, written at the request of her superior. In it, she tells others of her “Little Way” of approaching God. Her Little Way has nothing extraordinary about it; it is merely fidelity in the observance of the rule and in the performance of one’s duties. Without going beyond the common order of things, Thérèse achieved sanctity. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church. The opening prayer of today’s Mass also refers to “the way” of St. Thérèse.
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