Thérèse Martin and her sisters grew up in a home where faith was much more than a Sunday obligation. Prayer, devotions, acts of sacrifice, pilgrimages and a living devotion to the saints were woven into the daily life of the Martin family.
It was in this environment that the future St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus — now known around the world as St. Thérèse of Lisieux or the “Little Flower” — grew in faith.
One story from her youth reveals a side of Thérèse that can sometimes be overlooked: a young girl full of energy, courage and almost childlike determination.
Shortly before entering Carmel, Thérèse travelled with her family on pilgrimage to Rome. It was the same journey during which she personally appealed to Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter the Carmelite monastery at an unusually young age.
A pilgrimage that would help shape her life
Thérèse discovered her Carmelite vocation at a very young age. The difficulty was that she was considered too young to enter.
She was not prepared simply to wait without trying.
During the family pilgrimage to Rome, she saw the possibility of meeting Pope Leo XIII and made use of it. Despite the normal protocol of the audience, she personally appealed to him for permission to enter Carmel.
The episode already reveals something characteristic of Thérèse: when she believed that God was calling her, she could act with extraordinary determination.
That same energy appeared again during the group’s visit to one of the most famous sites in Rome.
Thérèse and Céline arrive at the Colosseum
During their Roman pilgrimage, the group visited the Colosseum.
For Thérèse and her sister Céline, it was not merely one of the great monuments of ancient Rome.
They approached it through their devotion to the early Christians and the martyrs.
They wanted to draw as close as possible to a place they associated with the witness of those who had given their lives for Christ.
They longed to kneel and pray in the arena, remembering the martyrs whose courage they deeply admired.
Two young sisters inside the enormous Colosseum
For many visitors it was another remarkable site on a tour of Rome. For Thérèse and Céline it became a place of prayer and remembrance of Christian courage.
There was one problem: the arena was roped off
When the group entered the Colosseum, the sisters discovered that the main part of the arena was inaccessible.
For most visitors, that would simply have meant remaining within the permitted area.
Thérèse and Céline had another idea.
While the rest of the group followed their guide through the public sections of the monument, the two sisters took advantage of a brief moment when attention was elsewhere.
They slipped beneath the barrier and hurried towards the arena.
They wanted to kneel there and pray in honour of the holy martyrs.
This was not merely tourist curiosity. Thérèse wanted in a concrete way to draw close to the witnesses of faith whom she admired and whose courage strengthened her own desire to belong completely to Christ.
Prayer on the arena floor
Thérèse and Céline knelt and prayed.
According to the story, they also gathered some small pieces of gravel as keepsakes from a place that, in their devotion, was deeply associated with the Christian martyrs.
Then they hurried back to their group.
Their brief disappearance apparently passed almost unnoticed.
We can only imagine the expression on the face of their father, St. Louis Martin, when his daughters returned from their little Roman expedition.
Were saints always quiet and perfectly composed?
Religious images can sometimes give us the impression that saints moved through life with perfectly calm expressions, folded hands and completely ordered emotions.
Their real lives were far more human.
Saints had personalities.
They were courageous.
They made mistakes.
They had to mature.
They learned discernment, patience and obedience.
Thérèse was not born as a finished saint.
The Colosseum story shows a young girl whose passionate heart did not always want to wait.
That same heart would gradually be purified and directed by God towards a remarkably mature spiritual life.
From great deeds to the Little Way
As a young person, Thérèse was fascinated by martyrs, missionaries and heroic saints.
She wanted to do something great for Jesus.
In time, however, she discovered that her own path to holiness would not depend primarily on dramatic achievements.
It would consist in loving through small things.
Patience.
Forgiveness.
Ordinary duties.
Accepting difficulties.
Trusting God even when she felt small and weak.
Thérèse did not lose her enthusiasm. God transformed it. The energy of the teenager who wanted to draw close to the martyrs became a complete surrender to Jesus in the smallest circumstances of everyday life.
What does it mean to become like a child?
Jesus does not call us to childishness.
Spiritual childhood is not irresponsibility and it is not a refusal to grow up.
It is trust.
A child knows that he or she is not completely self-sufficient.
A child needs help.
A child can reach out.
A child can trust.
This became central to the spirituality of Thérèse.
She did not try to become great through her own strength.
She wanted to allow God Himself to carry her towards holiness.
The martyrs taught her about total love
Thérèse’s fascination with the martyrs was not a fascination with suffering for its own sake.
She saw in them people who had placed Christ above everything else.
Their witness raised a question within her: how completely do I love Jesus?
Not every Christian will be called to martyrdom.
Every Christian, however, is called to fidelity.
Sometimes that fidelity is expressed not in one heroic moment but in thousands of small choices for what is good.
Holiness can have personality
This brief story from Rome is memorable because it reminds us of something important.
God does not manufacture saints according to a single personality type.
He does not need to erase our energy, humour, determination or temperament before He can make us holy.
He wants to purify these gifts and direct them towards what is good.
Thérèse remained Thérèse.
Her holiness did not consist in becoming less herself.
It consisted in allowing her entire personality to be increasingly transformed by divine love.
A saint with some spunk
“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Thérèse’s eagerness to draw close to the witnesses of faith reveals something of the childlike enthusiasm and wholeheartedness that would later become central to her Little Way.
Trust God completely
Ask St. Thérèse today to help you grow in the childlike confidence in God that became the heart of her Little Way. Entrust to Him one situation that you have been trying to control entirely through your own strength.
Do one small thing with great love today
You do not need to search for a dramatic opportunity to be heroic. Choose one ordinary task today — a conversation, a duty, an act of service or a moment of prayer — and do it consciously out of love for God. It was through such small things that Thérèse discovered her path to holiness.
Prayer Through the Intercession of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, teach me to trust God as a child trusts a loving Father.
Help me not to search for holiness only in great deeds, but to discover it in small duties, patience, forgiveness and love.
Obtain for me a heart that is courageous, simple and completely surrendered to Jesus.
Amen.
