What do you know about Saint Terese of Child Jesus and the Holy Face?
Also known as Therese of Lisieux, she was born on January 2, 1873 in Alencon France. Her parents were Louis and Zelie Martin. Her mother died when she was only four, and her father and older sisters all spoiled her terribly. On Christmas day 1886 she experienced what she called her conversion. It was a spiritual enlightenment for her; her heart was opened to God and to others. The next year, despite her father’s protestations, she entered a Carmelite convent in Lisieux where she took the name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. While there, she wrote her autobiography Story of a Soul at the request of two prioresses. She saw herself as the “little flower of Jesus,” who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God’s garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title “little flower” remained with St. Therese. She described her life as a “little way of spiritual childhood.” In 1897 at the age of 24, she caught tuberculosis
