VEYO Patron Saints

St. Therese of Lisieux

Born: January 2, 1873 at Alencon, France
Died:  1897 at Lisieux, France
Canonized: May 17, 1925
Feast Day: October 1st
Patron Saint of: missions, missionaries and parish missions

Born 1873 into the middle-class Martin family in Normandy, France, Therese was one of nine children, four of whom died at a young age. Her Father was a watchmaker and her Mother, who died of cancer when Therese was four, was a lace maker. Cured from a mysterious illness at the age of eight when a statue of the Blessed Virgin smiled on her, Therese grew up to embrace her religious vocation at the rather young age of 15.

She entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux where two of her sisters had preceded her. She quickly progressed in the spiritual life, became novice mistress and was asked by her superior, against Therese’s wishes, to write her now famous autobiography “Story of a soul”. In it Therese defined her path to God and holiness as ‘The little way’, which consisted of doing everything, even the most ordinary, with extraordinary love of God. Therese died at the young age of 24, but her fame and message spread rapidly through the Catholic and non-Catholic world. Her short life, determination and call to love and trust have inspired millions around the world, which earned her the popular title “greatest saint of modern times”.   
Even though Therese never travelled outside her native France except for one journey to Rome and never left the convent once she had entered, her earnest concern and constant prayer for those involved in missionary work made her patroness of the Church’s missions.

Growing up Therese did not receive much formal education and left no writings except her autobiography, some letters and poetry. But she was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II for the profound insights into the spiritual life and for her unique way to live the Christian life and find a purpose and a place in the heart of the Church.    

For more info go to

• http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/saintt02.htm
• http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/17721a.htm
  
• http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=105
  
• http://therese-de-lisieux.cef.fr/ang/frameang.htm