Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897), known as the "Little Flower of Jesus," was a French Discalced Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church. Entering the Lisieux Carmel at age fifteen with special papal permission from Pope Leo XIII, Thérèse lived a quiet monastic life of nine years characterized by her "Little Way" of spiritual childhood. Her spiritual doctrine teaches that sanctity consists not in extraordinary deeds, but in doing ordinary daily tasks with extraordinary love and total childlike trust in God's merciful fatherhood. Her spiritual autobiography, Story of a Soul, touched millions across the globe. Before dying of tuberculosis at age twenty-four, she promised: "I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.