Saint of the Day

Feast Day: October 1

Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873, the youngest of nine children. Her mother died when she was only four, and the family moved to Lisieux, where Thérèse was raised by her father and older sisters.

From an early age, Thérèse felt called to religious life. At fifteen, after a pilgrimage to Rome where she boldly asked Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter Carmel early, she was admitted to the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, joining two of her sisters who were already there.

In the convent, Thérèse developed her "Little Way" of spiritual childhood—a path of complete trust in God's mercy and love expressed through small, hidden acts of charity. She wrote: "I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way—very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new."

Thérèse suffered greatly from tuberculosis in her final years, yet she maintained her trust in God even through spiritual darkness. She died on September 30, 1897, at age 24, whispering, "My God, I love You!"

Her autobiography, "Story of a Soul," written under obedience, became one of the most influential spiritual works of modern times. She was canonized in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997—one of only four women to receive this honor.

Spiritual Lesson: St. Thérèse teaches us that holiness is not about great deeds but about doing small things with great love. Her Little Way invites us to approach God with childlike trust, confident in His mercy rather than our own merits.