St. Thérèse, the Little Flower
St. Thérèse (say tay-REZ) was a sister who lived in a quiet convent in France. She never did giant, famous things. She did little things with great big love!
St. Thérèse
The Little Flower
Her Little Way of Love
Meet St. Thérèse!
St. Thérèse (say tay-REZ) was a sister who lived in a quiet convent in France. She never did giant, famous things. She did little things with great big love!
People call her “The Little Flower”
Walk the Little Way!
Let's follow Thérèse, one little step at a time.
Story 1
Papa's Little Queen
Alençon & Lisieux, France, 1870s
Long ago in France, a baby girl named Thérèse was born. She had four big sisters, and a mama and papa who loved God very much. Papa called her his “little queen.”
Thérèse loved going for walks with Papa. Whenever they met someone poor, Papa gave Thérèse a coin to share. She gave it with her very best smile!
One night, Thérèse looked up and saw stars making the letter T! “Look, Papa!” she cried. “My name is written in Heaven!”
A real photo!
Thérèse at 8 years old
Let us pray
St. Thérèse, help me to see God's love all around me, even in the stars!
Story 2
The Little White Flower
Lisieux, France, 1887
Thérèse grew up loving Jesus more and more. When she was 14, she had a big wish: to give her whole life to God as a Carmelite sister. One evening in the garden, she told Papa.
This place is real!
Thérèse's home, Les Buissonnets
Papa smiled with happy tears. He picked a tiny white flower from the wall and showed her how lovingly God had made it grow. Thérèse thought, “That's me! I'm God's little flower!”
A real photo!
The real Pope Leo XIII
Thérèse was so young that she even went to Rome to ask the Pope for help! He smiled and said, “You will go in, if God wants it.”
And God did want it! When she was 15, Thérèse joined the Carmel convent in Lisieux. Now she was called Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
A real photo!
Thérèse in the Carmel courtyard
Let us pray
Dear Jesus, I give You my heart, just like St. Thérèse did.
Story 3
An Elevator to Jesus
The Carmel of Lisieux
Thérèse wanted to be a saint. But the great saints seemed as big as mountains, and she felt as small as a tiny grain of sand!
In those days, there was an amazing new invention: the elevator! No more climbing, just whoosh, up you go! Thérèse thought, “I'm too little for the big stairs. I need an elevator to Jesus!”
Then she read in the Bible that God carries His little ones in His arms. “Jesus, Your arms are my elevator!” she said. She could stay little and let Jesus lift her up. This was her Little Way!
Let us pray
Jesus, I am little. Thank You for carrying me in Your arms!
Story 4
Folding with Love
The Carmel of Lisieux
Life in Carmel was quiet and simple. The sisters prayed and worked. Thérèse swept the floors, washed the dishes and folded the laundry. Nobody clapped. Nobody said, “Wow!”
But Thérèse had a happy secret. With every fold, she whispered, “This one is for You, Jesus!” Fold, smooth, pat… Each towel became a little gift of love.
One day at the washtub, the sister next to Thérèse kept splashing dirty water on her face. Splash! Splash! Thérèse didn't frown. She smiled and gave it to Jesus as one more little gift.
Let us pray
St. Thérèse, show me how to do my chores with a happy heart.
Story 5
The Tiny Pin
The Carmel of Lisieux
One day, Thérèse was walking down the hall when she spotted something tiny and shiny on the floor. It was a little pin! It was so small that nobody else would ever notice it.
Thérèse bent down and picked it up, just for Jesus. She said that even picking up a pin with love can help someone come close to God. Little things become big when we do them with love!
Let us pray
St. Thérèse, help me spot the little ways I can help today.
Story 6
The Sunniest Smile
The Carmel of Lisieux
In Carmel, there was one sister who always seemed to bother Thérèse. The way she talked and the things she did made Thérèse feel grumpy inside.
So Thérèse made a plan. Every time she saw that sister, she gave her the sunniest smile and did something kind for her, just as she would for her very best friend!
One day, the sister asked, “Thérèse, why do you like me so much?” Thérèse smiled. She was loving Jesus, who lived in that sister's heart!
A real photo!
The real Thérèse, age 22
Let us pray
St. Thérèse, help me share my sunniest smile, even when it's hard.
Story 7
A Shower of Roses
Lisieux, France, 1897
Thérèse wrote the story of her life in a little notebook. She also prayed for missionaries far, far away. She never left her convent, but her prayers and love traveled all around the world!
She painted this!
Thérèse made this for a missionary priest
When Thérèse was 24, she became very sick. But she still smiled and loved. “I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth,” she promised. “I will let fall a shower of roses!”
Then Jesus carried Thérèse home to Heaven. Today she is one of the most loved saints in the whole world, and people say she still sends her roses of love!
This place is real!
St. Thérèse's church in Lisieux
Let us pray
St. Thérèse, please send a rose of God's love to someone who needs it today.
A Prayer to St. Thérèse
The Rose Prayer — let's pray it together!
St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, please pick a rose for me from the gardens of Heaven, and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to help me with what I need today. Help me to believe, as you did, in God's great love for me, so that I can follow your Little Way each day. Amen.
A little prayer for little ones
Little Flower, kind and sweet, help me love each friend I meet. In the little things I do, help me love Jesus, just like you! Amen.
My Little Way!
Color in a rose each time you do it!
I can help fold the laundry or set the table.
I can pick up toys, even the tiny ones!
I can smile at someone, even when it's hard.
I can let someone else go first.
I can whisper, “This is for You, Jesus!”
St. Thérèse's Special Day
October 1
Every year on October 1, the Church celebrates St. Thérèse, the Little Flower. Here are some fun ways to celebrate!
Give someone a flower
Make Little Way beads
Do a secret kind job
Pray the Rose Prayer
Color St. Thérèse!
Little things, big love!
You can walk the Little Way too!
You don't have to be big to be a saint. Every little thing you do with love — a smile, a hug, a folded towel — is a gift for Jesus. St. Thérèse is cheering you on!
Dear Jesus, thank You for St. Thérèse. Help me do little things with great love. Amen.
For Grown-Ups
Where these stories come from. Almost all of them are told by Thérèse herself in Story of a Soul; they are retold here simply and gently for young children.
Papa's Little Queen. Born in Alençon on January 2, 1873, the youngest of the five Martin daughters. Her mother, Zélie, died in 1877, and the family moved to Les Buissonnets in Lisieux. Louis and Zélie Martin were canonized together in 2015. The coins for the poor and the “T” in the stars are from Story of a Soul.
The Little White Flower. On Pentecost 1887 her father gave her a little white flower picked from a wall, which she kept all her life. She asked Pope Leo XIII on November 20, 1887, and entered the Lisieux Carmel on April 9, 1888, aged 15.
An Elevator to Jesus. In Story of a Soul she compares the great saints to mountains and herself to a grain of sand, and finds her “elevator” in Proverbs 9:4 and Isaiah 66:12–13.
Folding with Love. She worked in the laundry, the refectory and the sacristy; the splashing at the wash is told in Story of a Soul.
The Tiny Pin. The saying that picking up a pin out of love can save a soul is traditionally attributed to her. As a child she counted her little acts of love on a string of “practice beads.”
The Sunniest Smile. She treated a sister she found hard to like as if she loved her most, until the sister asked why. Thérèse wrote that she was loving Jesus hidden in that sister's soul (Story of a Soul).
A Shower of Roses. She died on September 30, 1897, aged 24. Her promises to spend her heaven doing good on earth and to let fall a shower of roses are in her Last Conversations. She prayed and wrote for two missionary priests. Canonized in 1925; patron of the missions (1927); Doctor of the Church (1997).
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us!
The end
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