Our Saint for today is courtesy of a request from my cousin Amy Williams.
St. Therese of Lisieux was born in 1873, the youngest daughter of Saint Marie-Azelie and Saint Louis Martin (the only married Saints to be canonized together). She was a very precocious, high-strung child. Her mother died when she was barely 4 1/2, which she later saw as a turning point in her life.
As one by one, her older sisters entered into religious life, Therese also desired to become a Carmelite Nun. She even went so far as to directly petition the Pope for permission to enter the convent at a young age - which was eventually granted when she was only 15.
She lived a quiet, obscure life in the cloister - during her brief life, no one outside her community had heard of her. Her Superior, who was also her sister, had her write her autobiography, which was published after her death from tuberculosis at the age of 24. This autobiography, "Story of a Soul", brought her hidden life to the world's attention. She is known for her "little way" to holiness as well as for her promise to spend her heaven doing good on earth, saying the prayers she answered would fall "like a shower of roses."
Among other things, she is the patroness of missionaries, florists, gardeners, tuberculosis and Alaska (go figure). Her feast day is October 1.
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