The Little Way Of St Th R Se Of Lisieux

Therese of Lisieux

Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, is popularly named the Little Flower. A Carmelite nun, doctor of the church, and patron of a score of causes, she was famously acclaimed by Pope Pius X as the greatest saint of modern times. Thérèse is not only one of the most beloved saints of the Catholic Church but perhaps the most revered woman of the modern age. Pope John Paul II described her as a living icon of God. Her autobiography Story of a Soul has been translated into sixty languages. Having long transcended national and linguistic boundaries, she has crossed even religious ones. As daughter of Allah, she is venerated widely in Islamic cultures. Therese has been the subject of innumerable biographies and treatises, ranging from hagiographies to attacks on her intelligence and mental health. Thomas R. Nevin has gained access to many untapped archival materials and previously unpublished photographs. As a consequence he is able to offer a much fuller and more accurate portrait of the saints life and thought than his predecessors. He explores the dynamics of her family life and the early development of her spirituality. He draws extensively on the correspondence of her mother and documents her influence on Thérèses autobiography and spirituality. He charts the development of Therese's career as a writer. He gives close attention to her poetry and plays usually dismissed as undistinguished and argues that they have great value as texts by which she addressed and informed her Carmelite community. He delves into the French medical literature of the time, in an effort to understand how the tuberculosis of which she died at the age of 24 was treated and lamentably mistreated. Finally, he offers a new understanding of Thérèse as a theologian for whom love, rather than doctrines and creeds, was the paramount value. Adding substantially to our knowledge and appreciation of this immensely popular and attractive figure, this book should appeal to many general readers as well as to scholars and students of modern Catholic history.

Living the Little Way of Love, with St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“My way is all of trust and love. I don’t understand souls who fear so tender a Friend.” Thérèse of Lisieux, 9 May 1897 Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church and one of the greatest women of modern times, lived an uneventful, ordinary life of an enclosed Carmelite nun in a small provincial French town in the late years of the last century. She was a nun for a mere nine years, calmly and heroically meeting a painful death at the young age of twenty-four years. Her companions within the strict enclosure numbered little more than two dozen, and many of them never recognized anything so very special about her. However, within a few decades she became one of the most loved of all saints. It has been only a little more than a century since she discovered “a short, direct, new way” to spiritual fulfillment and fruitfulness; a “little way” available to everyone in any state and walk of life. Living the Little Way of Love with Thérèse of Lisieux explores that “little way,” showing readers how to understand it, possess it, and make it their own. According to Nelson “the little way is for action, not for uninvolved admiration.” This book is a practical exploration of Therese’s inspiration - the how, what, why and when of her ideas considered within our ordinary daily life. The purpose is to encourage and assist the reader in the daily practice of the little way of love. A way that is open to all whatever their particular beliefs, circumstance or condition. It will inspire optimism and renewed hope and purpose in a world so often devoid of spiritual meaning.

The Little Flower