Saint Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower", felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, she became a nun and joined two of her elder sisters in the cloistered Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices such as sacristan and assistant to the novice mistress, and having spent her last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died at aged 24, following a slow and painful fight against tuberculosis.

Thérèse has been a highly influential model of sanctity for Catholics and for others because of the "simplicity and practicality of her approach to the spiritual life". Pope Saint Pius X called her "the greatest saint of modern times"

Feast Day: October 3
Patronage:
Missionaries; France; Russia; HIV/AIDS sufferers; radio care-a-thons; florists and gardeners; loss of parents; tuberculosis; Alaska