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. Together with Francis of Assisi, she is one of the most popular saints in
the history of the church. Pope Pius X called her "the greatest saint of
modern times".
Thérèse 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 older sisters in
the cloistered Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy (yet another sister,
Céline, also later joined the order). 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 (a time when she is said to have felt Jesus was absent and when
she even felt tormented by doubts about the existence of God), Thérèse died at
the age of 24, from tuberculosis.
Her feast
day in the General Roman Calendar was 3 October from 1927 until it was moved in
1969 to 1 October. Thérèse is well known throughout the world, with the
Basilica of Lisieux being the second most popular place of pilgrimage in France
after Lourdes.