Pilgrimage series: St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Editor's note: Sixteenth in a series on the sacred places and tombs of saints included in The Compass pilgrimage to Rome and Paris that retired Green Bay Bishop Robert Banks will lead May 3-13. (More information on pilgrimage)

By Tony Staley

	St. Thérèse of Lisieux Who: Doctor of the church What: Childhood home, Carmelite Convent and basilica When: Jan. 2, 1873-Sept. 30, 1897 Where: Lisieux, France Feast: Oct. 1 Patron: Aviators, florists, foreign missions, France and Russia

On the third day back in France, the pilgrims will travel 130 miles northwest of Paris to Lisieux, home of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Here they will visit her family home, the Carmelite Convent she entered at age 15 and the Basilica of St. Thérèse.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the "Little Flower," ranks as one of the church's most popular saints, though she lived only 24 years and was a cloistered Carmelite nun in a small French town.

Thérèse became famous through her autobiography, "The Story of a Soul." In it, she detailed her "Little Way" of following Jesus by seeking holiness through the ordinary in daily life.

Thérèse, the youngest of nine children, was born in 1873 as Marie Françoise Martin at Alençon, France. After her mother, Zélie Guérin, died when Thérèse was 5, her father, Louis Martin, moved the family to Lisieux, where an aunt lived.

That red brick house in Lisieux, "Les Buissonnets," is the first stop. The house is surrounded by high walls, entered through a tall gate, a lawn and garden. Thérèse's older sisters, Marie and Pauline, taught her lessons in this house before she started school. In the house are paintings of scenes from her childhood, her first Communion dress, and some of her school books and toys.

In the back garden is a statue of Thérèse telling her father on May 29, 1887, that she wanted to go to the convent, as two of her sisters had done. There was a problem: The nuns wouldn't accept a 14-year-old. So, while on a pilgrimage to Rome, Thérèse, during an audience with Pope Leo XIII, boldly asked him to let her enter the Carmelites. He too refused and she had to wait another year.

The next stop in Lisieux is the Carmel where Thérèse professed vows in 1890 and lived until she died of tuberculosis. Her body was buried in the town's public cemetery because French anti-religious laws banned burial in monastery cemeteries.

On March 26, 1923, a month before she was beatified, her remains were transferred to the Carmel chapel and placed in a marble tomb that is flanked by lighted candles and huge vases of roses. Her effigy is above the tomb. A small museum beside the monastery holds her long blonde ringlets, cut off when she received the habit, and other items.

The final stop is the thing people first see when approaching Lisieux - the huge neo-gothic basilica, whose upper church can seat more than 3,000. Work started in 1929 and was paid for by people from around the world. It was consecrated July 11, 1954.

The church suffered little damage in World War II and was used for a while by occupying German forces. For nearly three months, during air raids in 1944, the entire Carmelite community, including Thérèse's sisters, Pauline and Céline, used the crypt for shelter.

Mosaics and stained glass windows in the basilica depict God's love and our response. Eighteen chapels, each donated by a different country, are around the basilica. The crypt also includes mosaics, five of which show scenes from Thérèse's life.

(Staley is a retired editor of The Compass.)

Next: Shrine of the Miraculous Medal