"Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person."

- Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Marie Françoise Martin was born at Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873, the youngest of nine children of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zélie Guerin. Her mother died when she was five, and the family moved to Lisieux, where her older sister and an aunt raised her. Two of her sisters became Carmelite nuns, and she resolved to emulate them. She was refused admission at first but a year later was admitted to the Carmel at Lisieux. She was professed in 1890, taking the name Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

Afflicted with tuberculosis, she bore her illness with great patience and fortitude, devoting herself to prayer and meditation and serving for a time as mistress of novices. By order of the prioress, Mother Agnes (her sister Pauline), she began in 1894 to write the story of her childhood, and in 1897, after finishing it the previous year, she was ordered by the new prioress, Mother Marie de Gonzague, to tell of her life in the convent. Both were combined into The Story of a Soul, which became one of the most widely read modern spiritual autobiographies.

The life of St. Thérèse was characterized by her simplicity and her “little way" of holiness. She had a wonderfully trusting relationship with God whom she loved so totally. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 on September 30, 1897 at Lisieux, and quickly attracted a tremendous following as the “Little Flower” and the "Saint of the Little Way”. She was canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. She was declared co-patron of the missions, with St. Francis Xavier, in 1928, and in 1944 was named, with St. Joan of Arc, co-patroness of France. St. Thérèse’s feastday is October 1st.