The Catholic Defender: St. Therese the Little Flower Story/Novena

Begin by making the Sign of the Cross.In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

1. Call on the Holy Spirit.Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.

2. Call on St. Thérèse.Dearest St. Thérèse of Lisieux, you said that you would spend your time in heaven doing good on earth. Your trust in God was complete. Pray that He may increase my trust in His goodness and mercy as I ask for the following petitions … [name your petitions]

3. Ask St. Thérèse to pray for you.Pray for me that I, like you, may have great and innocent confidence in the loving promises of our God. Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me, and one day see the Face of God whom you loved so deeply. St. Thérèse, you were faithful to God even unto the moment of your death. Pray for me that I may be faithful to our loving God. May my life bring peace and love to the world through faithful endurance in love for God our savior.

4. Talk with God.Loving God, you blessed St. Thérèse with a capacity for a great love. Help me to believe in your unconditional love for each of your children, especially for me.

5. Say and rest with the day’s prayer.Your guide on Hallow will lead you through each day of the novena. Rest with today’s intention to grow closer to God through the intercession of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

6. Close with a Glory Be.Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Marie Thérèse Martin was born at Alencon, France on January 2, 1873, the youngest of five daughters. Her father, Louis, was a watchmaker, and her mother, Zelie, who died of breast cancer when Thérèse was four, was a lace maker. I watched a movie about St. Theresa and I cried uncontrollably when I witnessed how blessed her father, Louis was having such a family of faith. I tried to have the same, my children whom I love I pray for daily.

She was brought up in a model Christian home. While still a child she felt the attraction of the cloister, and at fifteen obtained permission to enter the Carmel of Lisieux.

For the next nine years she lived a very ordinary religious life. There are no miracles, exploits or austerities recorded of her.

She attained a very high degree of holiness by carrying out her ordinary daily duties with perfect fidelity, having a childlike confidence in God's providence and merciful love and being ready to be at the service of others at all times.

She also had a great love of the Church and a zeal for the conversion of souls.

She prayed especially for priests.

She died of consumption on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24, and was canonized in 1925.

St. Thérèse’s feast day on October 1, the day when she passed away from tuberculosis.

She has never ceased to fulfill her promise: "I will pass my heaven in doing good on earth." Her interior life is known through her autobiography called Story of a Soul.

Pope Saint John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

Patron: florists; foreign missions; missionaries; pilots; against tuberculosis; AIDS sufferers; illness; loss of parents; Australia; France; Russia; Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska; Diocese of Fresno, California; Diocese of Juneau, Alaska; Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado.

Symbols: roses; discalced Carmelite nun holding roses; Carmelite nun with roses at her feet; Carmelite nun holding images of the Child Jesus and Holy Face of Jesus; Carmelite nun holding a crucifix and roses; book.