Hitchhiker's Guide to Religion
Catholic

Therese of Lisieux

The Little Flower

Catholic Spiritual childhood, hidden sanctity, the "little way"
Attribute Value
Combat
ATK 5
DEF 50
SPR 96
SPD 40
INT 80
Rank Carmelite nun / Doctor of the Church / Patroness of missions
Domain Spiritual childhood, hidden sanctity, the "little way"
Alignment Holy / Modern
Weakness Died at 24 having done almost nothing visible -- which is exactly the point
Key Act Entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux at 15 (a special dispensation; the canonical age was higher). Lived nine years in obscurity. Wrote *Story of a Soul* under obedience to her superior. Articulated the "little way" -- sanctity through small acts of love performed in hidden faithfulness, accessible to anyone, no heroic mortifications required. Died in 1897. Canonized 1925. Declared one of only four female Doctors of the Church in 1997
Source *Story of a Soul* (autobiographical manuscripts published posthumously, 1898)

“I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.” — Therese, on her deathbed

A French girl from a devout middle-class family — her parents Louis and Zelie Martin are also both canonized saints, the first married couple to be canonized together — who entered Carmel at fifteen and died at twenty-four having published nothing in her lifetime. Story of a Soul was assembled from her notebooks after her death and became one of the bestselling spiritual books of the twentieth century. Her “little way” is a deliberate counter-program to the heroic asceticism of earlier monastic spirituality: God can be reached not by great deeds but by small ones done with great love. Patroness of missionaries despite never leaving her convent. Co-patroness of France with Joan of Arc.


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Combat Radar

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