The Little Way

St. Thérèse, known as the "Little Flower," was born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin on January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France, the youngest of five surviving children in a loving Christian family. Desiring to devote her life to God, she persuaded the religious authorities to allow her to join the Carmelite convent at Lisieux at the age of fifteen. Feeling unable to meet the perceived demands of Christian perfection, she sought a simpler, scriptural way to reach God, an "elevator to take me straight up to Jesus." The "little way" she discovered--that of humility, trust, sacrifice, and resting in God's deep love--captured the essence of the gospel with profound simplicity. It transformed her relationship with her heavenly Father, and its ripple effects surged to a global impact that continues to this day. Thérèse died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897, at the age of twenty-four. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, published shortly after her death, eventually became a worldwide bestseller, with millions of copies in print. The work has been translated into more than sixty languages and dialects. Thérèse was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church on May 17, 1925, and was declared a Doctor of the Church on October 19, 1997. Pope John Paul II described her insights into faith as "vast and profound."