ST. THERESE MEDAL

About St. Therese . . . Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the "Little Flower," and found in her short life more inspiration for their own lives than in volumes by theologians. Therese was born in France in 1873, the daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. They had nine children; the five children who lived were all daughters who were close all their lives. Tragedy and loss came quickly to Therese when her mother died of cancer when she was 4-1/2 years old. Her 16 year old sister Pauline became her second mother -- which made the second loss even worse when Pauline entered the Carmelite convent five years later. A few months later, Therese became so ill with a fever that people thought she was dying. When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. Without realizing it, by the time she was 11 years old she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity. When her other sisters, Marie and Leonie, left to join religious orders (the Carmelites and Poor Clares, respectively), Therese was left alone with her last sister Celine and her father. In 1887 she joined her sisters and entered the Carmelite convent. She knew as a Carmelite nun she would never be able to perform great deeds. She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. When Pauline was elected prioress, she asked Therese for the ultimate sacrifice. Because of politics in the convent, many of the sisters feared that the family Martin would taken over the convent. Therefore Pauline asked Therese to remain a novice, in order to allay the fears of the others that the three sisters would push everyone else around. This meant she would never be a fully professed nun, that she would always have to ask permission for everything she did. This sacrifice was made a little sweeter when Celine entered the convent after her father's death. Four of the sisters were now together again. Then in 1896, she became ill. She kept working without telling anyone until she became so sick a year later everyone knew it. Worst of all she had lost her joy and confidence and felt she would die young without leaving anything behind. Pauline had already had her writing down her memories for journal and now she wanted her to continue -- so they would have something to circulate on her life after her death. She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24 years old. Whe was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.