Thérèse of Lisieux facts for kids
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) (aka. St Therese of the Child Jesus/ Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux) is Doctor of the Catholic church, which means that her life and writings are considered particularly important for Catholics. She is also called the Little Flower of Jesus. She lived in France as a nun, and died at 24 from tuberculosis. Mother Teresa chose her name in honor of her.
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Zélie Martin, mother of Thérèse. In June 1877 she left for Lourdes hoping to be cured, but the miracle did not happen.."The Mother of God has not healed me because my time is up, and because God wills me to repose elsewhere than on the earth."
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Thérèse in 1886, age 13. "It would certainly be unfair to call Thérèse of Lisieux limited, narrow. She was very alert and intelligent – But her horizon was limited – she was quite definitely a vertical person, could only grow skywards and into the depths – no breadth." (Ida Görres, Diaries 1955–57).
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Thérèse at age 15. For her journey to Mgr Hugonin, Bishop of Bayeux, to seek permission to enter Carmel at Christmas 1887 Thérèse had put up her hair for the first time, a symbol for being "grown-up". A photograph taken in April 1888 shows a fresh, firm, girlish face..The familiar flowing locks are combed sternly back and up, piled in a hard little chignon on the top of her head...her face, vigorous, tensed, concentrated around an invisible core almost tough in its astonishing poise, with a resolute, straight mouth, stubborn chin; but this impression of toughness is contradicted by eyes full of profound life, clear and filled with a secret humour'.
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The monastery Thérèse entered was an old-established house with a great tradition. In 1838 two nuns from the Poitiers Carmel had been sent out to found the house of Lisieux. One of them, Mother Geneviève of St Teresa, was still living when Thérèse entered... the second wing, containing the cells and sickrooms in which she was to live and die, had been standing only ten years... "What she found was a community of very aged nuns, some odd and cranky, some sick and troubled, some lukewarm and complacent. Almost all of the sisters came from the petty bourgeois and artisan class. The Prioress and Novice Mistress were of old Norman nobility. Probably the Martin sisters alone represented the new class of the rising bourgeoisie."
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In 1896, Father Adolphe Roulland of the Society of Foreign Missions, asked the Carmel of Lisieux for a spiritual sister. Thérèse was assigned the duties – she answered questions, consoled, warned, and instructed the priest in the meaning of her little way. As everywhere in her doctrine it is based on the scriptures. "I rejoice in my littleness, because only little children and those who are like them shall be admitted to the Heavenly Banquet."Letter to Père Roulland, 9 May 1897.
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With more than two million visitors a year, the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux is the second largest pilgrimage site in France, after Lourdes.
