4.5" x 6.0" Greeting Card
 
Blank Inside
 
Front Watercolor Image: St. Therese of Lisieux
 
The Discalced Carmelites, avid practicioners of the spiritual life, have no lack of famous saints to their credit, and St. Therese of Lisieux stands out as one of their brightest lights. From her own autobiography, Story of a Soul and from the accounts of her family and superiors, we learn that her entire life exemplified her central teaching of spiritual childhood. So insightful and divinely inspired was her doctrine that Pope St. John Paul II would proclaim her a Doctor of the Church. After losing her mother at the age of four and then miraculously healed of a serious illness by the Blessed Mother at the age of 10, St. Therese continued to advance to such heights of sanctity despite her youth. She was permitted to join the Carmelites at the age of 15, earlier than the normal canonical age of admittance. It was there in the Carmel that her doctrine of spiritual childhood was forged from interior trials as well as from the profound suffering in her long bout with tuberculosis. She would succumb to the disease at the age of 24 and went on to her eternal reward in the year 1897. Her titles include the Little Flower and St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Among the many patronages assigned to her are AIDS sufferers, missionaries, florists, illness, and France.