THEÙREØSE OF LISIEUX (1873-1897)

Marie Francoise Martin was born at Alencon, France, on January 2, 1873; the youngest of the nine children of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zeùlie Gueùrin.

Her mother died when she was five, and the family moved to Lisieux, where she was raised by her older sisters and an aunt.

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 Theùreøse 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.

She died of tuberculosis on September 30 at Lisieux, quickly attracted a tremendous following as "the Little Flower" and "the saint of the little way," and was canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, and declared as Doctor of the Church on Oct. 19, 1997 by Pope John Paul II.