01/10/2026
St Therese of Lisieux Pray for us to persevere in our vocations and to have a missionary spirit.🙏🏼🙏🏼
01 October | St. Therese of Lisieux
St. Therese is a patron saint of missions and of florists. She was named a doctor of the church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.
Let us know more about her in this post:
1. St. Therese had OCD and Many Symptoms of Depression
It is a well-known fact that St Therese had scruples, which are most basically described as a form of religious OCD. Fear that her sins had offended God or that she had committed a mortal sin plagued her at different times in her life. A childhood that included the death of her mother at a very young age, the loss of her sister, her ‘second mother’ Pauline, to the Carmelites, harsh bullying at school and an extremely sensitive nature, meant that she displayed many of the symptoms of depression even at a young age.
Her extreme physical suffering of tuberculous at the end of her life also caused her the temptations of despair and the wish that her life could end due to the pain she was in. Yet she constantly turned back to Christ, and kept firmly in the right way.
2. St. Therese Was Calm in a Crisis
St. Therese was miraculously cured of her hypersensitivity, and after joining the Carmelite nuns, became much more emotionally stable and a dependable sister in Carmel. I have found that during those times of crisis in life, when the ground seems to have been robbed from under your feet and the future feels like it has been wiped out, she remains firm. St. Therese knew and learned in her life that no matter what shock happened or how much change she had to endure, the foundation of her life is the unchanging love of Christ. A prayer to her in a crisis is a swift reminder of this fact.
3. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
Following the biblical tradition, when people entered religious life, they took a new name to signify their new call from God. When she entered the Carmelite Monastery to give her life to God, Marie Francoise Therese Martin took the religious name "Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face." Therese had great devotion to the Infant Jesus, and her spirituality was a childlike simplicity and trust in God's love. In Lisieux, the Carmelite Monastery had a great devotion to the suffering Holy Face of Jesus that was reflected on the veil of Veronica. This included an outdoor shrine in the cloister garden. She explained: "I desire that, like the Face of Jesus, my face be truly hidden that no one on earth would know me. I thirsted after suffering and I longed to be forgotten."
4. Little Flower
Therese saw herself as "the Little Flower of Jesus" because she was just like the simple wild flowers in forests and fields, unnoticed by the greater population, yet growing and giving glory to God. Therese did not see herself as a brilliant rose or an elegant lily, by simply as a small wild flower. This is how she understood herself before the Lord - simple and hidden, but blooming where God had planted her.
5. Little Way
Therese saw herself as a child of God. She liked to keep things simple and focused as a child does. Trust, especially trust in God, is a childlike virtue. Therese's spirituality is simple and she calls it her "little way". She believed and teaches us that life presents enough challenges and opportunities for grace. She teaches us that God is everywhere - in every situation and person - and in the ordinary, simple details of life.
"Everything is grace" is probably the theme song of her spirituality. Her "Little Way" teaches us to do the ordinary things of life with extraordinary love. A smile, a note of encouragement, a phone call, suffering in silence, always having a positive word, a simple unnoticed task to brighten the life of another, and so many other simple deeds, done with love - these are the examples of her spirituality. The smallest action, done with love, is more important than great deeds done for personal glory, gratification or simply out of obedience. Therese teaches us that Jesus is everywhere and is the power for love and goodness operating within us. Such is the power and presence of grace. Therese's life was hidden. To many even in the convent, she seemed like such an average, ordinary person. Her greatness showed in the constancy of her love for others in the most simple ways.
6. Doctor of the Church
She is the 3rd female saint to be declared as doctor of the church. The other two are St. Catherine of Siena and St. Teresa of Avila. St. Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face is the youngest doctor of the church. She died at the age of 24.
St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us!
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Sources:
1.I Didn’t Like St. Therese of Lisieux… Until I Learned These 8 Little Known Facts About Her — Catholic Link (published by Ruth Kennedy)
2. A Million Roses for the World - Filipinos at Prayer
