Saint October 1 : St. Therese of Lisieux, Little Flower, the Patron of AIDS, Illness, and Missionaries - Famous for Sending Roses from Heaven!
DISCALCED CARMELITE MYSTIC, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Born:
January 2, 1873, Alençon, France
Died:
September 30, 1897, Lisieux, France
Canonized:
May 17, 1925 by Pope Pius XI
Major Shrine:
Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, France
Patron of:
AIDS sufferers; aviators; bodily ills; florists; France; illness; loss of parents; missionaries; tuberculosis
SEE ALSO: Powerful Prayers to StTherese Little Flower with Litany, Rosary + Novena to Saint Therese to Share!
https://www.catholicnewsworld.com/2021/10/powerful-prayers-to-sttherese-little.htmlThe parents of St Therese, Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin married on July 13, 1858. Within the next fifteen years, Zelie bore nine children, seven girls and two boys. Within three years, Zelie’s two baby boys, a five year old girl, and a six-and-a-half week old infant girl all died. Louis and Zelie Martin had five surviving daughters; Marie, 12, Pauline, 11, Leonie 9, Celine, 3, and their new-born. Louis and Zelie named their new-born; Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin. All 5 daughters became nuns. A century later people would know her as St. Therese, and call her the “Little Flower.”
Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin was born on January 2, 1873, and baptized two days later on January 4th. “All my life, God surrounded me with love. My first memories are imprinted with the most tender smiles and caresses…Those were the sunny years of my childhood.” Due to Therese’s weak and frail condition at birth, she was taken care of by a nurse for her first year and a half. Little Therese was blond, blue-eyed, affectionate, stubborn, and alarmingly precocious.
At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: "My God, I love You!"
The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, "Story of a Soul". She described her life as a "little way of spiritual childhood." She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.
She loved flowers and saw herself as the "little flower of Jesus," who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God's garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title "little flower" remained with St. Therese.
Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. Had she lived, she would have been only 52 years old when she was declared a Saint.
Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. Had she lived, she would have been only 52 years old when she was declared a Saint.
"My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death," she said. "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese's signature. Countless millions have been touched by her intercession and imitate her "little way." She has been acclaimed "the greatest saint of modern times." In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church - the only Doctor of his pontificate - in tribute to the powerful way her spirituality has influenced people all over the world. Text Source: www.littleflower.org - Image Source: Google Images - Grapevine.is
Prayer:
Prayer:
O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, Please pick a rose for me
From the heavenly gardens And send it to me As a message of love.
From the heavenly gardens And send it to me As a message of love.
O little flower of Jesus, Ask God today to grant the favors
I now place with confidence In your hands.
I now place with confidence In your hands.
(Mention your specific requests)
St. Therese, help me to always believe, As you did,
In God's great love for me, So that I might imitate your
"Little Way" each day. Amen
In God's great love for me, So that I might imitate your
"Little Way" each day. Amen
Comments