Saint Thérèse was the youngest of nine children, five of whom survived childhood. After her mother died of breast cancer in 1877, Thérèse moved with her family to Lisieux, France. In the deeply religious atmosphere of her home, her piety developed early and intensively. All four of her older sisters became nuns, and at the age of 15 she entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux. Although as a child she had suffered from a severe mental breakdown, scruples and, at the end of her life, a dark trial of faith, she kept the rule to perfection and maintained a smiling, pleasant, and unselfish manner. Before her death from tuberculosis, she admitted that not one day had ever passed without a struggle. 

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The story of Thérèse’s spiritual development was related in a collection of her essays, written by order of the prioresses and published in 1898 under the title:“Story of a Soul." Her popularity is largely a result of this work, which tells her loving pursuit of holiness in ordinary life.

 

Saint Thérèse defined her doctrine of the Little Way as “the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender to Jesus." She was canonized in 1925 and is the youngest person to be designated a Doctor of the Church.

 

Because of the astounding number of miracles worked through her intercession, Pope Saint Pius X called her "the greatest Saint of modern times!"