Therese shows her in the habit of a Carmelite — either a white or black veil, a brown habit, and sometimes, a cream-colored cloak. She is often holding a crucifix and an armful of roses. Another common depiction of her shows her in costume with her arms in shackles, or in armor with a sword.
Each of these pictures is from a play that the sisters put on in the convent, in which St. Therese played the part of St. Joan of Arc. Let Saint Therese of Lisieux be your partner in prayer as you say the novena or one of the prayers below or as part of your rosary devotion. Find Saint Therese Rosary Beads here. Though cloistered, you went far and wide through fervent prayers and great sufferings.
You obtained from God untold helps and graces for his evangelists. Help all missionaries in their work and teach all of us to spread Christianity in our own neighborhoods and family circles. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love; ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.
In order that my life may be one act of perfect Love, I offer myself as a victim of holocaust to Thy merciful Love, imploring Thee to consume me unceasingly, and to allow the floods of infinite tenderness gathered up in Thee to overflow into my soul, so that I may become a very martyr to Thy Love, O my God. May this martyrdom, after having prepared me to appear in Thy presence, free me from this life at the last and my soul take flight — without delay — into eternal embrace of Thy Merciful Love.
O my Beloved! Pray this day that I may be made well in body, mind, and spirit. O great Saint Therese, through your devotion and prayer life, you lived an example of your love for God. Help me to grow closer to God, living in honesty with myself and with others. Teach me to grow in faith, believing that He will always hear my prayers. O Saint Therese, help me to release my fears to you. Bring my prayer requests before the Lord: mention your needs here.
Please fill us with patience and peace of mind, and guide us with your gentle hand. Teach us how to see the good in everyone we meet and the beauty in ourselves. O Saint Therese, help me to remember that Our Lord waits for me at the end of this life. Keep me hopeful and longing for the day when I can meet you and all my departed loved ones in heaven. O Saint Therese, you suffered silently the unbearable pain of your illness—please be with me and my loved ones during our times of suffering.
Through my suffering, help me to better understand the trials others face. O Saint Therese, strengthen me emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Bring comfort to all who whisper your name in prayer and heal them with your loving way. I pray to you, Saint Therese, to show me the way to the Lord. Lead me to live for His glory and honor. Pray that I may become like you, and that He may welcome my acts of kindness toward others as a humble offering.
I pray to you, Saint Therese, to help me face each day with God in my heart and by my side. Show me how to see God in everything around me and to grow closer to Him in my triumph and failure, joy, and sorrow.
Remind me that He is everywhere, and that He will be there to brighten even my darkest days. Let your devotion be a steady inspiration for me, and give me the strength and courage I need to follow the path to God. Loving Saint Therese, pray for me that I may not stray from the Lord. Help me to face temptation with strength and resolve. Make your deep love for God an inspiration for me.
Help me to grow closer to God and abandon myself to His Love, so that I may one day rejoice with you in heaven! Bless our Church with loyal servants of the Gospel.
Renew our Church in love by igniting the love of the young men Jesus calls. We need your help, intercession, and intervention today, Beloved Patron of Priests. Your email address will not be published. New graces led her to higher perfection and she discovered fresh insights for the diffusion of her message in the Church, for the benefit of souls who would follow her way. She was transferred to the infirmary on July 8th.
Her sisters and other religious women collected her sayings. Meanwhile her sufferings and trials intensified. She accepted them with patience up to the moment of her death in the afternoon of September 30, Her final words, "My God Her teaching and example of holiness has been received with great enthusiasm by all sectors of the faithful during this century, as well as by people outside the Catholic Church and outside Christianity.
On the occasion of the centenary of her death, many Episcopal Conferences have asked the Pope to declare her a Doctor of the Church, in view of the soundness of her spiritual wisdom inspired by the Gospel, the originality of her theological intuitions filled with sublime teaching, and the universal acceptance of her spiritual message, which has been welcomed throughout the world and spread by the translation of her works into over fifty languages. Mindful of these requests, His Holiness Pope John Paul II asked the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which has competence in this area, in consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with regard to her exalted teaching, to study the suitability of proclaiming her a Doctor of the Church.
About St. Louis Martin and his daughters did all they could to help little Therese who missed her mother so much. They lavished affection and attention upon the motherless child.
At Les Buissonnets, under the tutelage of her sisters Marie and Pauline, Therese began her first schooling. Each day after classes were over she joined her father in his study.
They would visit a different church each day and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. The bond between father and daughter grew stronger and stronger. Her sister Celine, nearly four years older, became her favorite playmate. The passage is all the more remarkable because it revealed the theme of exile which dominated her whole life. Sundays had tremendous significance. They were days of rest tinged with melancholy because they must end. It was on a Sunday evening this youngster felt the pang of exile of this earth.
Therese, given the proper occasion, continued to produce extreme temper tantrums. The following is her own account of one of the more sparkling scenes that took place between herself and her poor nurse, Victoire. But she refused, telling me to get up on a chair.
Classes bored her. She worked hard, and loved catechism, history and science, but had trouble with spelling and mathematics. Because of her overall intelligence, the good nuns advanced the eight-year-old to classes for fourteen-year-olds. She was still bored. Her keenness aroused the envy of many fellow pupils, and Therese paid dearly for her academic successes.
Genius has its price, and the youngest Martin girl was paying it. The ordinary games and dances of other children held little interest for her.
She was uncomfortable with most children and seemed to be at ease only with her sisters and very few others. Of all the Martin girls, Pauline was closest to Therese. Therese thought of her as her second mother. Nine-year-old Therese was stunned. Ah, how can I express the anguish of my heart! In one instant I understood what life was; until then I had never seen it so sad, but it appeared to me in all its reality and I saw it was nothing but a continual suffering and separation. Experts have diagnosed her sickness as everything from a nervous breakdown to a kidney infection.
She blamed it on the devil. Whatever it was, doctors of her time were unable to either diagnose or treat it. She suffered intensely during this time from constant headaches and insomnia. She took fits of fever and trembling and suffered cruel hallucinations. One day, while Papa was looking at me and smiling, the hat in his hand was suddenly transformed into some indescribable dreadful shape and I showed such great fear that poor Papa left the room sobbing. None of the treatments helped. Then, on May 13, , Therese turned her head to a statue of the Virgin near her bed, and prayed for a cure.
She approached the prioress of the monastery and sought entrance. The prioress advised her to return when she grew up. Therese was only nine years old at the time. During her long illness, her resolve to join the Carmelites grew even stronger. After her illness, Therese was more than ever determined to do something great for God and for others. She thought of herself as a new Joan of Arc, dedicated to the rescue not only of France but of the whole world.
She was to accomplish this by becoming a saint. She understood that her glory would be hidden from the eyes of others until God wished to reveal it. She was intelligent enough to realize she could not accomplish them without suffering. What was hidden from her eyes was just how much she would have to endure to win her glory. Her eucharistic hunger made her long for daily communion. Shortly thereafter though, the young Martin girl experienced a peculiarly vicious attack of scruples. This lasted seventeen months.
She lived in constant fear of sinning; the most abhorrent and absurd thoughts disturbed her peace. She wept often. Her father finally removed her from the Abbey school and provided private tutoring for her. During this time her sister, Marie, became very close with Therese, and helped her to overcome these fears. But Marie in turn, also entered the Lisieux Carmel on October 15, After midnight Mass, Christmas, , the shadow of self-doubt, depression and uncertainty suddenly lifted from Therese, leaving her in possession of a new calm and inner conviction.
Grace had intervened to change her life as she was going up the stairs at her home. Something her father said provoked a sudden inner change.
The strong character she had at the age of four and a half was suddenly restored to her. A ten year struggle had ended. Her tears had dried up. The third and last period of her life was about to begin. I forgot myself to please others and, in doing so, became happy myself. Now, she could fulfill her dream of entering the Carmel as soon as possible to love Jesus and pray for sinners. Grace received at Mass in the summer of left her with a vision of standing at the foot of the Cross, collecting the blood of Jesus and giving it to souls.
Convinced that her prayers and sufferings could bring people to Christ, she boldly asked Jesus to give her some sign that she was right. He did. In the early summer of , a criminal, Henri Pranzini, was convicted of the murder of two women and a child. He was sentenced to the guillotine.
The convicted man, according to police reports, showed no inclination to repent. She prayed for weeks and had Mass offered for him. There was still no change in the attitude of the condemned man.
Therese hoped that many others would follow once she was in the Carmel. Marie Martin, the oldest daughter of the family, joined her sister Pauline at the Lisieux Carmel in Leonie Martin entered the Visitation Convent at Caen the following year.
Therese then sought permission from her father to join Marie and Pauline at the Lisieux Convent. Louis was probably expecting the request, but it saddened him nevertheless. Three of his girls had already entered religious life. Therese was not yet fifteen when she approached the Carmelite authorities again for permission to enter.
Again she was refused. The priest-director advised her to return when she was twenty-one.
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