The Annual Feast of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Elias Bejjani/October 01/2026
Who is Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus whose annual Feast Day falls on October 1st
1- Birth and Early Life
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was born on January 2, 1873 in Alençon, Normandy, France. She was the ninth and youngest child of a holy family: Louis Martin, a jeweler, and Zélie Guérin, a lace-maker. Both parents were later canonized on October 19, 2008. She lost her mother at age 4, and her father moved with his five daughters to Lisieux, where she spent the rest of her life. All five sisters became nuns.
2- Entry into the Carmelite Order – Her Age
From a young age she felt called to Carmel. On May 29, 1887 she asked her father to enter, but faced refusal from the parish priest, the Bishop of Bayeux, and the prioress because of her young age. She did not give up. She traveled with her father to Rome to meet Pope Leo XIII and childishly begged him to allow her to enter at age 15. The Bishop finally allowed it, and she entered the Discalced Carmelite convent of Our Lady in Lisieux on April 9, 1888, at only 15 years old, where three of her sisters had already entered. She received the habit on January 10, 1889. She made her religious vows on September 8, 1890 – the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
3- Her Illness and Healing by the Virgin – “Our Lady of the Smile”
At age 10, after her beloved sister Pauline entered Carmel, she suffered a serious, mysterious nervous and psychological illness with hallucinations and severe pain. Doctors could not explain it. Her family prayed fervently before a statue of the Virgin Mary in her room. As she writes in her autobiography “Story of a Soul”: On May 13, 1883, Pentecost day, I was looking at the statue of the Virgin, and finding no help on earth, I turned my whole heart toward my heavenly Mother and begged her to have mercy on me… Suddenly the Virgin appeared to me so beautiful, more beautiful than I had ever seen, and she smiled at me with a tender smile, and immediately the pain disappeared and my health returned. Hence the Virgin in Lisieux is called “Our Lady of the Smile – La Vierge au Sourire”. Thérèse called this healing “the grace of the smile of the Queen of Heaven” that saved her from depression.
4- Her Prayer to the Virgin
Thérèse loved the Virgin with a deep filial love, not seeing her as a distant Queen but as a close and small mother like herself. One of her most famous prayers to the Virgin is: “O Mary, O Virgin, O Mother of Jesus and our Mother, you who with a clear smile deigned to console and heal your daughter, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus from depression, restore to us the smile of life…” She also wrote a long poem titled “Why I Love You, O Mary”, saying: “You know that I love you, you who made yourself small to embrace me… More than Queen, you are my Mother.”
5- Date and Cause of Death
On the night of Holy Thursday to Good Friday in 1896, she suffered a sudden hemorrhage from her mouth. It was the beginning of pulmonary and intestinal tuberculosis. She hid her illness and endured terrible pain for months with a constant smile, experiencing a dark night of faith and spiritual darkness. She received the Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion for the last time on August 19, 1897, and died in the convent on September 30, 1897 at 7:20 PM, at only 24 years old. Her last words were: “My God, I love You!”
6- Miracles
Before her death she promised: “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses.” As soon as her autobiography “Story of a Soul” was published in 1898 (first edition 2000 copies), letters poured in from all over the world about miracles through her intercession: Medically documented cures of incurable diseases, which were the cause of her beatification and canonization
Sudden conversions of sinners, especially the story of the criminal condemned to death, Henri Pranzini, who converted before his execution through her prayer when she was 14
Protection of soldiers in World War I, where French soldiers carried her picture in the trenches
The appearance of a strong scent of roses as a sign of her presence and intercession – the most famous sign until today.
7- Date of Canonization by the Vatican
Her cause was one of the fastest in modern Church history:
April 29, 1923: Beatified by Pope Pius XI after two miracles
May 17, 1925: Canonized in Rome by Pope Pius XI himself
1927: Declared by Pope Pius XI as Patroness of the Missions and Missionaries in the world, although she never left the convent, alongside Saint Francis Xavier.
October 19, 1997: On the centenary of her death, Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Universal Church, the third woman to receive this title after Teresa of Avila and Catherine of Siena. She is the youngest Doctor in Church history.
8- Her Characteristics as a Nun and Saint
She did nothing extraordinary in appearance, her holiness was in “The Little Way – La petite voie”: Childlike Confidence: She lived like a small child in the arms of a loving Father, trusting blindly in God’s mercy, not His justice.
Absolute Humility: She considered herself a “little flower” only fit to adorn the altar of Jesus, not a cedar of Lebanon.
Love in Small Things: She washed dishes, smiled at difficult sisters, endured cold and small humiliations for love of Jesus. She said: “To pick up a pin from the ground for love of Jesus is an act that saves souls.”
Prayer for Priests and Sinners: She offered her life as a sacrifice of love for the Church and the world.
Evangelical Simplicity: She taught that holiness is not in great deeds but in doing small things with great love.
Hence she was called “The Little Flower of Jesus” and “The Flower of Lisieux”.
9- Prayer Through Her Intercession for Peace in the World and for Peace in Lebanon
Prayer to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus for Peace
O Little Saint Thérèse, O fragrant rose of Lisieux, you who promised to shower the earth with roses from heaven, you who lived war in your heart and transformed every small pain into a prayer of love,
We ask you today on your feast day to intercede for our suffering world.
Look at the wars tearing apart Ukraine, the Holy Land, Sudan and all corners of the earth, and at the hardened hearts that have forgotten we are all children of one Father.Teach us your little way: to overcome hatred with a smile, violence with prayer, and despair with childlike trust. Shower upon us roses of peace, roses of forgiveness, roses of mercy.
Prayer for Lebanon
Your second homeland, Lebanon, that loves you so much: O beloved Saint of Lebanon, O patroness of our families and our churches that bear your name from Jounieh to Souhaila, Bcharre and every village, Intercede for wounded Lebanon. This homeland that knows suffering like you – illness, war, emigration, fear for tomorrow. Give its children the smile of the Virgin that healed you, to heal its despair and depression. Give its youth the hope to stay, its leaders the wisdom of humility, and its families the peace of the house of Nazareth that your holy family lived. O Our Lady of the Smile, O Mother of Thérèse and our Mother, protect Lebanon under your mantle, and make it a land of holiness and peace, as the saints dreamed. Amen.
Note: The information contained in this study is compiled from numerous documented ecclesiastical, theological, academic, and media sources.
