Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897) became a Carmelite nun at the age of fifteen after having appealed to her local bishop—and the Pope—himself in order to be allowed to enter at such a young age. She resolved to spend her entire life doing little things with great love. Her spirituality, known as the Little Way, was based on complete trust and childlike confidence in God. She died at twenty-four of tuberculosis. During the last two years of her life, she suffered overwhelming doubts about faith but persevered in her belief and in the performance of her duties as a nun. After her death, she was quickly canonized, named a patron of the missions, and, in 1944, made the patron of France. Pope St Pius X declared her the greatest saint of modern times, and Pope John Paul II made her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church in 1997. |
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