St. Thérèse of Lisieux “The Little Flower”

Full name: Marie Francoise Thérèse MartinBorn in 2 January 1873 Youngest of 9 children (spoilt!)Mother died when she was 4When she was 15 she became a Carmelite

nunDied at the age of 24 because of

Tuberculosis

That’s it really-just an ordinary person

But she was an ordinary saint!

• “ What matters” she wrote “is not great deeds but great love”

• She often fell asleep while praying. She was embarrassed but believed that God loved her just like any parent would love their children while they are sleeping

Her prayer was simple

“I just tell our Lord all that I want and He understands.”

People annoyed her too!

• “There is one sister in the community who has the knack of rubbing me up the wrong way at every turn…so I was determined to treat this sister as if she were the person I loved best in the world. Every time I met her, I used to pray for her… I felt certain that Jesus would like me to do that.”

The Little Flower

She loved flowers and saw herself as the “Little Flower” of Jesus who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self.

Ordinary but extraordinary!

• To many even in the convent St. Thérèse was just an ordinary person.

• She teaches us to do the ordinary things of life with extraordinary love….a smile, saying thank you, holding the door open etc.

The Little Way

• She shows us a “little way” to get to heaven……LOVE

• She liked to keep things simple. Her “little way” teaches us that God is everywhere-in every situation and in every moment

Funny

• Her Prioress (her boss) Mother Marie de Conzague decribed Thérèse “She can make you shed tears of devotion and she can as easily make you split your sides with laughter.”

The story of a soul

• The reason we know about her

today is because she wrote an

autobiography called

“The story of a soul”

Lot of suffering

St. Thérèse suffered a lot and died in 1897 at the age of 24 from Tuberculosis.

Before she died she said “My mission-to make God loved-will begin after my death.. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.”

Final Words

• Her final words were

“My God, I love You”

Feast Day

Her feast day is October 1