Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873, the youngest daughter of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin. After her mother's death she grew up in Lisieux, and at only fifteen, with special permission, she entered the Carmelite monastery there in 1888, taking the name Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face.

Her life in the cloister looked ordinary, but she discovered her "Little Way": doing small things with great love and trusting God as a child trusts a father. At her prioress's request she wrote the memoirs published as Story of a Soul. She died of tuberculosis on September 30, 1897, at twenty-four. Pius XI canonized her in 1925 and named her patroness of the missions, and Saint John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

Thérèse promised to spend her heaven doing good on earth and to let fall a shower of roses, so roses are her sign. Many people pray her novena and take a rose as a sign that the prayer was heard.

In Latin America and the United States, parishes bless and hand out roses on her feast, and Carmelite communities celebrate with special Masses. Her relics have toured the world, drawing huge crowds.