Author Description

In this wonderful translation by Monsignor Thomas Nimmo Taylor -- the original English translation -- the life of the saint of "the Little Way" is made available to us today in a manner that brings to life the world in which the Little Flower lived over 100 years ago. Monsignor Taylor is known as "The Apostle of the Cause for the Beatification of Thérèse of Lisieux." It was he who first translated her autobiography into English and worked fervently for the recognition of her sanctity by the Church. He was the second witness in the Beatification of Thérèse and it was largely through his efforts that The Story of a Soul became known to the English-speaking world. THÉRÈSE MARTIN was born in Alençon, France on January 2, 1873. Two days later, she was baptized Marie Frances Thérèse at Notre Dame Church. Her parents were Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, both of whom were canonized saints in 2015. After the death of her mother on August 28, 1877, Thérèse and her family moved to Lisieux. On April 9, 1888, she entered the Carmel of Lisieux. She received the habit on January 10th of the following year, and made her religious profession on September 8, 1890 on the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Carmel she embraced the way of perfection outlined by the Foundress, Saint Teresa of Jesus, fulfilling with genuine fervour and fidelity the various community responsibilities entrusted to her. In her autobiographical manuscripts she left us not only her recollections of childhood and adolescence but also a portrait of her soul, the description of her most intimate experiences. She discovered the little way of spiritual childhood and taught it to the novices entrusted to her care. She penetrated ever more deeply into the mystery of the Church and became increasingly aware of her apostolic and missionary vocation to draw everyone in her path. She completed her first autobiographical manuscript on January 21, 1896. In the words of Francis Cardinal Bourne: "To many, on rea