Their story
Thérèse Martin was born on January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France, the youngest of five surviving daughters of Louis and Zélie Martin, both now canonized saints. Her mother died of breast cancer when Thérèse was four, and the family moved to Lisieux. She was a sensitive, tearful child. She later described a sudden “conversion” on Christmas night 1886, when she stopped crying over a hurt remark of her father's and felt her strength return.
At fifteen she asked to enter the Carmelite (an order that began with hermits on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land) monastery of Lisieux. When the bishop hesitated, she asked Pope Leo XIII in person during a pilgrimage audience in Rome in November 1887. She entered on April 9, 1888. Her sisters Pauline and Marie were already there; Céline and Léonie also became nuns. Inside the convent she worked as sacristan and helped with the novices. She found her “little way”: doing small, unseen things with great love, and trusting God like a child.
She developed tuberculosis and died on September 30, 1897, at twenty-four, saying, “My God, I love you.” Her memoir, The Story of a Soul, was printed for other Carmels and spread across the world within a few years. She was canonized (officially declared a saint by the pope) in 1925 and named a Doctor of the Church (a title the pope gives to a saint whose teaching is of special value to the whole Church) in 1997 by John Paul II. People follow her because her path needs no great deeds: a smile at a difficult sister, an unkind word left unsaid.
Three things you might not know
She is patron of the missions even though she never left her convent; she prayed and wrote letters for missionaries.
She is one of the very few women named a Doctor of the Church.
She was canonized in 1925, only 28 years after her death.
The novena
Nine days · one intention
A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1–2). Pray this each day:
Dear Little Flower of Jesus, St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, behold us here gathered together to render thanks to God for the sublime and heavenly favors which He has poured down upon you and for the mighty power which He has given you to obtain from His goodness a shower of roses to cast upon mankind. We rejoice that God has so evidently heard your sublime and trusting prayer that you might spend your eternity in doing good upon earth. We ardently desire to partake in the spiritual blessings which the Sacred Heart of Jesus has designed to give to the world through your intercession. We hope, through this novena, not only to obtain for ourselves the special favors we ask, but to gain for the entire Church, for its priests, for our parish, and all parishes, for all dioceses throughout the world, for all Catholic good works, and for the entire Catholic faithful and particularly for those for whom we wish especially to pray, a shower of graces and blessings through your holy, and powerful intercession. We desire to obtain also the conversion of sinners, the prosperity and progress of the Catholic missions, the success of the lay apostolate, union and cooperation among Catholic societies and good works, the growth of Catholic literature and all that may help for the conversion and sanctification of the entire world. Teach us your little way, of love, intention and desire, your art of appealing to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through little offerings and sacrifices, made with great love, and your entire conformity to the will of God. Whatever is wanting to our poor prayers during this novena, do You supply it from the exhaustless treasuries of the merits of Jesus and of Mary and of the angels and saints in heaven. Amen.
