Ste therese de lisieux biography of christopher

Thérèse Martin was born on 2th January in Alençon. She is the youngest of a family of nine children, four of whom died at a young age. His parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, were husbands of great piety. She has four older sisters: Marie, Pauline, Léonie and Céline.

She is baptized the 4th January by Canon Dumaine in the church of Notre-Dame d'Alençon.

Le August 28, , Zélie Martin dies from breast cancer. Only four and a half years old, Thérèse was deeply affected by it. She then chose her big sister Pauline as “Little Mother”.

En November , Louis Martin and his five daughters settled in Lisieux, in the house of bushes, in order to get closer toIsidore Guerin, brother of Zélie and substitute guardian of the Martin girls. Isidore and his wife Céline are parents of two little girls: Jeanne and Marie.

De to , Thérèse follows her schooling at theNotre-Dame du Pré Abbey, where she is a half-boarder. However, she has difficulty adapting to collective life with her classmates, and will end up taking private lessons from Madame Papinau until February

In , Pauline, whom she had chosen as a second mother, entered the Carmel. Thérèse is very affected by this and, at the end of the year, falls seriously ill. Headaches, malaise, hallucinations: his family is very worried and prays to Notre-Dame des Victoires. THE 13 May , the day of Pentecost, Marie, Léonie and Céline turn to the statue of the Virgin placed near Thérèse's bed. Thérèse also prays, and then sees the Virgin smiling at her: she is definitively healed.

Le 8 May , Thérèse makes her first communion. The same day, his sister Pauline made Profession at Carmel.

Le 14th June , Thérèse receives the sacrament of confirmation at the abbey from the hands of Monsignor Flavien Hugonin, bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux. She chooses Léonie as godmother.

In , Thérèse underwent another separation since it was the turn of her sister Marie to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. At the same time, Léonie joined the Poor Clares of Alençon for two months.

À Christmas , Thérèse receives a grace of conversion which brings her out of childhood:

Le 29 May , the day of Pentecost, Thérèse informed her father of her desire to enter Carmel as soon as possible, if possible by Christmas , the anniversary of her conversion. Despite some reservations because of Thérèse's young age, Louis Martin gave her his consent. His uncle Isidore Guérin, meanwhile, refuses, asking him to wait until he is seventeen, before accepting on October

Thérèse receives a second grace in July , after a Sunday mass at Saint Pierre Cathedral. As she looks at an image of the crucified Christ protruding from her missal, she receives the revelation of her mission: to save souls through prayer and sacrifice. The first soul she saves through prayer, whose power she then discovers, is that of Pranzini, whom she considers her “first child”. The latter, condemned to death for a triple assassination and refusing all help from religion, kissed the crucifix when going up to the scaffold.

Le 31 October , after having suffered a categorical refusal from the Canon Delatroëtte, superior of Carmel, Thérèse and her father went to Bayeux to obtain authorization from the bishop, Monseigneur Hugonin. For the occasion, Thérèse put her long hair up in a bun to appear older. The bishop listens to her express the wish to devote herself to God, which she has had since she was a child, but he postpones his decision until later.

En November , Louis Martin takes his daughters Céline and Thérèse to a pilgrimage to Rome organized by the diocese of Coutances-et-Avranches.

During this stay, Thérèse has the audacity to ask the Pope Leo XIII authorization to enter Carmel at the age of 15 despite opposition from superiors, but the Holy Father did not give him the answer he had hoped for:

The bishop finally gives Thérèse permission to enter the Carmel. The date of his entry is set for 9 April , day of the Annunciation.

During her postulancy, Thérèse worked in lingerie with Sister Marie of the Angels, the sub-prioress, and is also responsible for sweeping the staircase and the dormitory.

She learns about the harsh life of the Carmel:

Thérèse takes the habit 10th January . Shortly after, his father, suffering from a degenerative brain disease, had a particularly serious attack. He must be interned at the Bon Sauveur asylum in Caen where he will stay for three years. Thérèse then plunges into silence and prayer, contemplating the Holy Face for a long time. She deepens her vocation, she who wants to become a great saint, practices charity towards her sisters, and reads Saint John of the Cross. Her life of prayer draws its source from reading the Gospel which she always carries with her. During her novitiate, she worked as a rector with Sister Agnès de Jésus (Pauline).

Thérèse pronounced her final vows on 8 September , on the Nativity of Mary, at the age of 17 and a half, in the hands of her prioress Mother Marie de Gonzague. She then took the name Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face. His black veil took place a few days later, on September

In , she became a sacristan assistant to Sister Saint-Stanislas. In October, on the occasion of the community retreat, she met Father Alexis Prou, a Franciscan, who launched her “ full sail on the waves of trust and love ».

In , Sister Agnès de Jésus became prioress. She entrusts the novitiate to Mother Marie de Gonzague, and asks Thérèse to help him in this task.

The same year, Thérèse wrote her first poetry, then in , his first pious recreations (small plays performed on major holidays by a few sisters for the rest of the community).

On July 29, , Louis Martin died. Céline entered the Carmel of Lisieux on the following September She brings with her her camera, thanks to which we know so well today the Therese's face.

At the end of , Thérèse discovered her "little way" and experimented with it more and more, until to offer oneself to Merciful Love le 9th June .

On August 15, , the four Martin sisters were joined by their cousin, Marie Guérin, who took the name Sister Marie of the Eucharist.

In December , during a break in the warming room, Mother Agnès de Jésus ordered Thérèse to write down her childhood memories at the suggestion of Sister Marie of the Sacré-Cœur (Marie Martin). Throughout , Thérèse therefore wrote what would become the Manuscript A, first part of theStory of a soul. She will give it to Mother Agnès for her birthday on Jan. 20, .

She writes the Manuscript B at the request of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart in September .

En June , at the suggestion of Mother Agnès, Mother Marie de Gonzague asks Thérèse to write down her Carmelite memories, which will become the Manuscript C. Thérèse uses her last strength in writing this manuscript which will end with the word “love”, like each of her autobiographical manuscripts.

Le 10 October , Mother Agnès of Jesus entrusts to Thérèse her first spiritual brother, theAbbot Maurice Bellière, White Father then still a seminarian, who quickly became one of the first disciples of Thérèse's “little way”.

Le 30 May , Mother Marie de Gonzague entrusted her with her second spiritual brother, the Father Adolphe Roulland, priest of the Foreign Missions of Paris who is preparing to leave for China, and who will become a true soul brother for Thérèse.

In the Thursday night to Good Friday , Thérèse spits blood, which she perceives “ like a soft and distant murmur announcing to me the arrival of the Bridegroom (Ms C, 5r°). These are the first signs of tuberculosis which will prevail a little more than a year later.

A few days later, she is plunged into the deepest spiritual darkness from which she will never emerge.

During the winter, Thérèse's health deteriorated and she suffered a lot. Mother Agnès and Sister Geneviève begin to note the last words of their sister in April. THE July 8, , Thérèse is installed in the infirmary of the monastery. On the evening of September 30, she died at the age of " I don't die, I enter into life. ».

She was buried in the square of the Carmelites in the Lisieux cemetery on October 4,