St Teresa’s Catholic Church
Newbury Park. Ilford. Essex. IG2 7JA
Registered Charity No 234092
St Teresa of Lisieux (1873 - 1897) Patroness of the Missions
Thérèse was born January 2, 1873, in Alençon, France. Her parents, Saints Louis and
Zélie Martin, had nine 
children. Of these, four died in their infancy and five entered
the cloister. The father and mother were worthy examples of true Christian parents.
Every morning they assisted at Holy Mass; together they received Holy Communion.
To be a spouse of Christ had been Thérèse’s ardent desire since the early age of
three. When she was nine and again when ten years old, she begged to be received
into the Carmel of Lisieu
x. When she completed her fifteenth year, the door of the
convent finally opened. There the superiors put her virtues to the sharpest test.
On January 10, 1889, she was invested with the holy habit and received the name Sister
Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. She pronounced her holy vows on
September 8, 1890, and gave herself to the practice of the interior life. On the
path of spiritual childhood, of love and confidence, she became a great Saint.
Thérèse suffered much during her short life, but it was hidden suffering, which she
offered out of love for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of priests.
She writes: "I know of one means only by which to attain perfection: Love! Let us
love, since our heart is made for nothing else. I wish to give all to Jesus, since
He makes me understand that He alone is perfect happiness. The good God does not
need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul. Love can supply for length of
years. Jesus, because He is eternal, regards not the time, but only the love."
Shortly before her death Thérèse said, "I feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission of bringing others to love our good God as I love Him, and teaching souls my little way of trust and self-surrender. I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth." Her mission was to teach souls her way of spiritual childhood. She practiced all the virtues of childhood, but those that attracted her above all were the confidence and tender love that little ones show toward their parents. Love, confidence, and self-surrender are the keys to her spiritual life.
On September 30, 1897, Thérèse, a true victim of Divine Love, died of tuberculosis,
a disease that in her case had assumed a very painful character. A moment before
she died the patient sufferer once more made an act of perfect resignation, and with
a loving glance at her crucifix, said, "Oh, I love Him! My God, I love You!" She
was twenty-four years old when she died.
Saint Thérèse was canonized only twenty-eight years after her death. She was declared patroness of the Foreign Missions. She was canonized by her devoted client, Pope Pius XI. The Pontiff said: "That light enkindled a love by which she lived and of which she died, having given nothing to God but love alone and having resolved to save a multitude of souls that they might love God for eternity. Her shower of mystical roses is proof that she has begun her work, and it is our most keen desire that all the faithful should study Saint Thérèse so as to copy her example” Her feast is celebrated each year on the 1st October.
Our Patron Saint