Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Lisieux · 1898
T
Thérèse of Lisieux
Thérèse of Lisieux
1873 CE–1897 CE · Modern · Alençon
Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin (1873–1897) was a French Carmelite nun who entered the Carmel of Lisieux at age fifteen and spent her entire religious life there until her death from tuberculosis at twenty-four. Under obedience she composed her spiritual autobiography, later published as "Story of a Soul" (Histoire d'une âme), which articulated her "Little Way" — a path of childlike trust, radical simplicity, and confident love rather than heroic asceticism. Her writings spread rapidly after her death and generated an unprecedented wave of popular devotion worldwide. Pope Pius XI canonized her in 1925, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church — the third woman ever to receive the title, after Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena (both 1970). She is widely regarded as the most beloved Catholic saint of the modern era and a major influence on twentieth-century spirituality.
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Stop 1 of 21873–1877Born
AlençonFrance
What they did here
Born 2 January 1873 in Alençon, Normandy, to Louis and Zélie Martin, both of whom were later canonized in 2016.
About Alençon
Alençon, a town in Normandy, northern France. It was the birthplace of Thérèse of Lisieux (1873), the Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church.
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Thérèse of Lisieux’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.