St. Terese of Lisieux

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Today we honor St. Terese of Lisieux. She was born in France in 1873 and she died at age 24 in 1897. The cause of her death was probably tuberculosis, but back then it was called "consumption." I know this because my mother's mother died back then at about the same age of the same cause.

Some of the other nuns in the Carmelite community thought of her as just a quiet, ordinary little nun. But she has become the favorite saint of many Catholics who have read her Diary of a Soul that she wrote under obedience to her sister Paulina, the mother superior of her convent.

She has become known for what she called her own "little way to sanctity." It consisted of joyfully accepting other nuns' complaints about her. From reading the Diary of a Soul, one item was her reaction to a sister complimenting her for looking fine. Ten minutes later another sister said "Oh Terese, you're looking very poor today." From that pair of comments, she took away the resolution to place her faith only in Jesus and not in what people said.