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Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux

by Thérèse de Lisieux , John Clarke (Translator)

4.37 of 5 stars 4.37 · rating details · 6,760 ratings · 324 reviews

This book, first published in 1898 in a highly edited version, quickly became a modern spiritual classic, read by millions and translated into over fifty-five languages. John Clarke's acclaimed translation, first published in 1975, is now accepted as the standard throughout the English-speaking world.

Paperback , Third Edition , 306 pages

Published January 19th 1996 by I C S Publications, Institute of Carmelite St (first published 1896)

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Sep 14, 2011 booklady rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: my daughters

Recommended to booklady by: Sacred Heart sisters

Shelves: autobiography , religion , hagiography , 1990s , all-ages , youth , 2002 , 2005 , 2008 , 2010 , children , church-documents , classic , family , non-fiction , spiritual , theology , worth-reading-over-and-over , must-have

I can't remember the first time I read this but I think it was in high school. Dear St. Thérèse was my Confirmation saint so I wanted to read her autobiography. I remember being blown away by her simple and yet powerful approach to sanctity. It IS the Gospel -- so gentle, humble, meek and Christian -- and not even difficult in a way except that I kept forgetting to live it!

Then as I got older, I confess I sort of forgot about this book and my patron saint. I even came to think that she was too I can't remember the first time I read this but I think it was in high school. Dear St. Thérèse was my Confirmation saint so I wanted to read her autobiography. I remember being blown away by her simple and yet powerful approach to sanctity. It IS the Gospel -- so gentle, humble, meek and Christian -- and not even difficult in a way except that I kept forgetting to live it!

Then as I got older, I confess I sort of forgot about this book and my patron saint. I even came to think that she was too 'young' for me. She died in her mid-twenties so what could she have known or written which could be of help to a wife and mother, someone living the active life out in our modern world? Everything. I reread her book a few years ago and it spoke to my heart a million times more than it did when I was younger.

Here are some of my observations from my 2010 reading: I have so much to learn from her! In many ways I envy her that quiet, solitary life behind the walls of Carmel. So much crowds in on my life and seems to stand between me and simplicity, between me and the love of God. Then I read some more and know that all the 'things' don't matter, whether they be physical, emotional or mental. It is only a matter of a willing heart. Is this heart open to Him? Am I willing to give it all away in a second and run to Him when He calls? Am I following Him now ... or trying to anyway? Little Flower, please continue to be my guide! Dear gentle mentor saint, help this sinner follow Him Whom we both love.

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Special note: My oldest daughter, Meg, was born on St. Thérèse's feast day, October 1st! That has always felt like such a special gift to me from her! A further 'rose' from her was the gift of my present job, as Director of Religious Education at my parish. Coincidentally (and of course there are no coincidents with God!) my first day on the job was her feast day as well ... the 1st of October, 2009. Thank you again dear St. Thérèse!

Just found out one of the dates/times I actually read this, so I'm recording it now. ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Leslie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: Seekers

Recommended to Leslie by: Mother Therea

Shelves: spiritual , bio-memoirs , french

Well this book has been such an emotional experience for me. I guess I have now come full circle from my early childhood version of God ( magical nice fatherly fellow who granted wishes and protection from evil) to my early adulthood ( and also completely wrong notion of) God ( angry father who didn't love me, but seemed to reward evildoers) to my later notion of their not being a God at all. That was the only way I could explain the horrors of the modern world, the evils I learned of on the nig ...more

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Jun 15, 2015 Webster Bull rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: faith

Therese puts so many questions to the ordinary, meat-and-potatoes Catholic, i.e. me. How much do I believe "this stuff"? How much am I willing to give for what I believe about it? Therese believed it all and gave everything. In fact, one of her famous sayings was "I take all." And yet she did nothing heroic and would not even be known if her biological sister and Mother Superior (the same person) had not ordered her to write down the "story of her soul" in the two years before she died of tuberc ...more

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Sara J. Webster wrote: "Is Therese's "little way" (small sacrifices of self made secretly, for Jesus) really so unique? Taking nothing away from St. Therese o ...more
Jun 14, 2015 04:42PM

Poiema Excellent review!
Jun 15, 2015 06:24AM

Sep 07, 2012 ♥ Ibrahim ♥ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality , biography , thinkers-i-adore

I have always heard of her and didn't know what to make of her. I read quotes here and there and didn't catch my attention much. Since I have begun reading her autobiography, I have been completely absorbed and taken by every words she writes and I feel like she is sitting in front of me like a bosom friend telling me her story in all purity, in all simplicity, in an extremely natural manner. Sometimes you read the Saints and you end up feeling they are way up there but not so with our beloved T I have always heard of her and didn't know what to make of her. I read quotes here and there and didn't catch my attention much. Since I have begun reading her autobiography, I have been completely absorbed and taken by every words she writes and I feel like she is sitting in front of me like a bosom friend telling me her story in all purity, in all simplicity, in an extremely natural manner. Sometimes you read the Saints and you end up feeling they are way up there but not so with our beloved Thérèse who is every bit as human as she can be. I read a part of the book and I feel like I really miss her and I want to go back to her to hear her talking some more to me. Reading just excerpts of her quotes will not do her justice or help you know and meet the real Thérèse. You HAVE to read the Autobiography first and then you would hear her heartbeat in what she is saying in every word she is writing. Reading her I feel like I am getting a letter from a pen-pal living in France and sharing in full transparency how she really feels and what she longs for.

Since the Lord has called me to missionary work reaching out to Muslims, it delighted me to know that my little friend Thérèse also had real longing for proclaiming the Gospel in foreign lands, to the infidels, i.e. those who are still living in darkness and Christ has yet to open their eyes. I adore her missionary, evangelistic zeal. On p. 216 she talks about how since her entrance into the blessed ark, she has always thought that if Jesus did not bring her swiftly to heaven, her lot would be the same as that of Noah's little dove: the Lord would open window of the ark one day, telling Thérèse to fly very far, very far, towards infidel shores, carrying with her the little olive branch. Now, this is true evangelist at heart, and can she preach!

She often talks about realizing her vocation for the foreign missions. As a convert from Islam into Christianity, I had to leave my family and was exiled from my homeland, Egypt. I feel Thérèse can relate to my situation as she says in a child-like manner that He, i.e. Jesus, has given her the attraction for a complete exile (p.218). In her heart, she knew that she is not to make lodging here but her real home is, indeed, heaven. We leave our homelands, where we have had roots all along, and then for the sake of the cross we have to be pulled out of all this be called to a different kind of citizenship, to be a citizen of Heaven, my real home where my ultimate loyalty rests.

I loved her honesty as she, like some of us, struggled with concepts of faith and how she wondered if heaven was real. She was evidently intelligent and she struggled with the realness of some Christian concepts while she herself was full of heaven and her focus was heaven-ward all along. That is one thing I love about the saints: they are not ashamed to express struggles and doubts, and this helps us in many ways to relate to them and take them for close friends. Her littleness was the secret of her spiritual uniqueness and I believe she got her inspiration from the mouth of Eternal Wisdom speaking in the Holy Bible: "Whoever is a LITTLE ONE let him come to me" (Proverbs 9: 4).

What about people who aggravate us and keep giving us a hard time? Does Thérèse have something to say to us from her own experience? Well, she share that in her Community there was a Sister who had the faculty of displeasing her in everything, in her ways, in her words, her character, everything seemed disagreeable to her. Yet, despite all that, Thérèse insists, she must be very pleasing to God, and this should count for a lot. Everytime Thérèse met her she prayed to God for her, offering Him all her virtues and merits. Thérèse says: I felt this was pleasing to Jesus, for there is no artist who doesn't love to receive praise for his works, and Jesus the Artist of souls is happy when we don't stop at the exterior, but, penetrating into the inner sanctuary where He chooses to dwell, we admire its beauty. Whenever Thérèse was tempted to answer her back in a disagreeable manner, I was content with giving her the most friendly smile, and with changing the subject of the conversation as it says in the Imitation: It is better to love each one in his own opinion than to enter into arguments (The Imitation of Christ III, 44: 1). Finally this Sister got curious and one day at recreation she asked Thérèse in almost these words: "Would you tell me Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, what attracts you so much toward me; every time you look at me, I see you smile?" Thérèse explains that what attracted her was Jesus hidden in the depths of her soul; Jesus who makes sweet what is most bitter. Then she answered her that she was smiling because she was so happy to see her.

While we hope to do great things for the Lord and be "mightily used" by Him, as the cliché phrase goes, and we should give our best for the Lord and His work, Thérèse teaches us that she is just delighted to be a "little brush" in the hands of the great Artist (p. 235). The brush can't boast of the masterpiece produced with it. She explains: An artist doesn't use only one brush, but needs at least two; the first is the more useful and with it he applies the general tints and covers the canvas entirely in a very short time; the other, the smaller one, he uses for details. Then she tells her mother that she is the precious brush the hand of Jesus lovingly holds when He wishes to do a great work in the soul of her children while she, Thérèse, is the very small brush He deigns to use afterward for the smallest details.

I will always fondly remember her, she who was a soul winner, and believed in her effective role as a Christian in praying people into the Kingdom. Her intercessory prayers never go in vain. She believed in a God who draws all people to Himself and we are actively involved in His work and she could boldly pray as Jesus pray and see her role in the mission of the Father.

Many a friend of mine who have told me how she has impacted them greatly in the beginning of their monastic vocation and she is so indispensable to their spiritual growth. What sheer joy and sheer delight!! ...more

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Apr 29, 2011 فضيض rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-the-first-time

القديسة تريزا ليسوع الطفل

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus

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سأنحي مسألة إختلاف الدين جانبًا، فهذا الكتاب من أفضل كتب السيرة الذاتية التي قرأتها من قبل، أحببته للغاية ومازالت (قدّيستي) تريزا في البال إثر إنتهائي منه خلال الأسبوع الماضي إلى الآن، هنا مقالة مطولة عنها اختصرها صاحب المقال من كتابنا هذا، وهي تغني كثيرًا عن التمهيد لها ..

http://www.marnarsay.com/Santas/St.Te...

وقصتها مفعمة بالإيمان والبراءة والبساطة والتأمل والجمال النفسي وكل خصائص النفس الطيبة الوادعة، وكل ذلك جاء في سيرتها في أعلى درجات ...more

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Sep 19, 2008 Wanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008 , acpl , saints , spiritual-reading

A sweet story!

I didn't like the book as well as I thought I would, though. I think I just can't relate to someone as doted on as Therese was. I kept thinking what a wuss she was and then feeling bad that I thought such a thing about someone who became a saint! I'll admit that in the end she was not a wuss at all.

The best thing I got out of the book is that God gives everyone the ability to be a saint in his/her own way, and doesn't expect anyone to be a saint in the way that anyone else did. W ...more

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Collette I agree with you ladies that the Little Way is hard, but I think we can still agree that Therese was pretty spoiled and sheltered as a child. I really ...more
Feb 21, 2011 11:58AM

Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) Therese repeatedly admits that she was spoiled beyond the norm by her doting father and older sisters. Not surprising given the fact that 4 children b ...more
May 14, 2014 03:23AM

Aug 30, 2011 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am torn in my reaction to this book. With all of our knowledge of psychiatric illnesses today, we would probably medicate Therese and send her to therapy due to her hallucinations, visions and, at least from the tone of Manuscript A, her self-absorption. I only became interested in the book and St. Therese when I started reading Manuscript B which is almost 2/3 of the way through the book. Manuscript C and the Epilogue were the sections that really moved me and brought home the true scope of h ...more

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Apr 27, 2015 Webster Bull rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: faith , favorites , modern-saints , memoirs

* A must-read for Christians, Catholics in particular, though you might need two readings. At least. *

From my first days as a Catholic convert-in-training in 2007, I heard tell of Therese of Lisieux, the 19th-century French girl who entered a Carmelite convent at 15 and died of TB at 24. The third of three female Doctors of the Church. The greatest modern saint. An inspiration to millions. And so on.

But it was hard to restrain my skepticism when I first read her spiritual autobiography, "The St * A must-read for Christians, Catholics in particular, though you might need two readings. At least. *

From my first days as a Catholic convert-in-training in 2007, I heard tell of Therese of Lisieux, the 19th-century French girl who entered a Carmelite convent at 15 and died of TB at 24. The third of three female Doctors of the Church. The greatest modern saint. An inspiration to millions. And so on.

But it was hard to restrain my skepticism when I first read her spiritual autobiography, "The Story of a Soul," in 2008 or 2009. I knew I was supposed to be inspired, but the thing just seemed too sentimental, too damn treacly. Her full religious name was Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and the enormity of that moniker was as nothing compared with her devotion to Jesus himself.

The story of Therese's parents was more impressive to me initially, as a married man and father myself. Therese's father and mother were each rejected for religious life, so they decided to enter into a celibate marriage. (Like, who wouldn't, right?) Months later a priest counseled them that, um, you know, maybe, if you're married, you might think about having children. So they did. They had nine children, all named Marie. The four boys died; the five girls entered religious life.

You don't find parents like that these days, anyway not in Massachusetts.

Well so now I have read Marie Therese Martin's "Story" a second time, and its effects are finding their way into my heart. I am beginning to understand why so many have found "The Little Flower" so inspiring. I recognize now that the over-the-topness of Therese's devotion casts more light on our times than on hers, and not a favorable light either.

Therese of Lisieux is a thermometer against which any Christian can measure his or her lukewarmness. His or her degrees of faith, hope, and love. We have all become too secular too quickly.

Her "little way" of small, unnoticeable, but demanding sacrifices is one that anyone, Christian or non, can apply to the moments of their daily lives. Her depth of faith is something that surely can come only from grace.

The book was written as an act of obedience to her mother superior, who was her biological sister. If Therese had not written it in her last year or two, when she was already showing the effects of the disease that inevitably would kill her, the world would never know "The Little Flower." But God would, which was the whole point of her "little way."

When you pray, do it in secret, the Gospels say. Which is what Therese did—along with who-knows-how-many-other anonymous saints in religious life, past and present, whose identities are known only in heaven. ...more

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Lori Schwabenbauer One of my favorite books - you're right, it may need time to sink in, but Therese's Little Way has inspired me to better myself in small but God-cente ...more
Mar 09, 2015 08:05AM

Webster Bull I agree. In my review of "He is My Heaven," about Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, I made the same point. Elizabeth's devotion seems so "big," Therese's ...more
Mar 09, 2015 08:08AM

Helen I was really taken aback and astonished by Therese the first time through too! We were blessed to have her reliquary visit Reno many years ago and wer ...more
May 23, 2015 12:40PM

Jun 29, 2013 Nicola Mansfield rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reason for Reading: Our church has been run by the Carmelites for over 100 years. Our priests are Carmelites and we have a statutory of St. Therese in the building. I was much intrigued about her "little way' and after watching the recent 2004 movie about her life was ready to read her autobiography.

In truth, the book is really not an autobiography but more of a snippet of memoirs. It is divided into three pieces, the first, being the longest, was commissioned by her Mother Superior who also hap Reason for Reading: Our church has been run by the Carmelites for over 100 years. Our priests are Carmelites and we have a statutory of St. Therese in the building. I was much intrigued about her "little way' and after watching the recent 2004 movie about her life was ready to read her autobiography.

In truth, the book is really not an autobiography but more of a snippet of memoirs. It is divided into three pieces, the first, being the longest, was commissioned by her Mother Superior who also happened to be her sister. This is where Therese tells of her childhood up until she is accepted into Carmel. Therese was a sheltered child, raised along with 4 other sisters who also became nuns and devout Catholic parents who kept them from the worldly ways of life but raised them within a deeply loving family atmosphere. Therese was very much childlike her entire life of 24 years, never having experienced any of life's degradations and was a complete innocent in so many matters. Yet her soul belonged to the Lord from a very early age (three) and she knew she wanted to be a saint. Even though her mother died while she was still young her childhood seems to have been happy enough, with Therese preparing herself for a Religious life and a holy, saintly, Heavenly eternal life which may have taken some of the childhood fun out of her but her soul was content with this and she yearned to suffer for Jesus while she was exiled here on earth.

The second piece is a much shorter memoir written for another Mother of the Abbey who had requested Therese write of life at Carmel. Here we see Therese grow-up though she will always retain her childlike innocence. Here for the first time she will actually suffer from things the reader is more able to relate to rather than the childish sufferings in the first part. Therese met fellow Sisters who did not care for her because of her young age and the nepotism that seemed to be going on with her family within the Abbey. She was treated harshly by some, worked hard at back breaking chores, and never let her faith slip. She learned to put into practice what she called her "little way", making small, little efforts to please to the Lord. Over time these little things will add up to a greater good in the end.

Finally, the last piece is more of a letter written to Sister Marie (again her actual sister) who has asked for a small piece from her as she now lays on her deathbed dying of Tuberculosis. Here she writes of her most secret thoughts and desires and requests of Jesus. Her visions, dreams and then glories that await her when she reaches Heaven as she knows she will be gong straight there to continue her work of saving earthly souls from her place in Heaven.

A beautiful little book, with a powerful message between its deceptively short pages. St. Therese was not writing for anyone to read other than her intended singular audience and perhaps she knew other sisters would read her words. Thus she writes simply and childlike and again this can be deceptive to the reader especially as one goes through the first half of the book about her childhood but there are some very wise lessons about living, love and the pursuit of eternal life that came from this dear soul who died at the age of 24. She actually gives us a way to live our lives according to the Gospels, her "Little Way" is an inspiring way to lead one's life. She was not made a Doctor of the Church without reason. This is one of those books that every Catholic should read.

I will be finishing my study of St. Therese with one more book which is a fairly recent autobiographical book written about her life and her way. ...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Marne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to confess, that this was the most difficult book to read that I have read in a long while. It doesn't usually take me several days to finish a book of only 241 pages, even taking into account that I don't have a great deal of time to read every day.

Overall, it was a worthwhile read. I found her experiences, her outlook, her very nature to be almost completely foreign to me. For a while, I read almost in disbelief, thinking to myself that nobody could possibly be this humble, or rejoice I have to confess, that this was the most difficult book to read that I have read in a long while. It doesn't usually take me several days to finish a book of only 241 pages, even taking into account that I don't have a great deal of time to read every day.

Overall, it was a worthwhile read. I found her experiences, her outlook, her very nature to be almost completely foreign to me. For a while, I read almost in disbelief, thinking to myself that nobody could possibly be this humble, or rejoice so much in suffering, or even have faith that is so strong as to look forward, joyfully, to death, which she often refers to as, "the end of exile."

I never really got over that feeling of disorientation -- her life being completely different than mine. But I found that I could connect with her in many small ways. I enjoyed her metaphors. I found the way that she took the opportunity to make the most of small sacrifices in her life very compelling, to guard her tongue, for instance, or to allow someone else to do something she would have liked to do. Her humility certainly gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own lack of the same virtue.

There were a couple of passages that really uplifted me. I posted one the other day, regarding allowing the light of Christ to illuminate our souls like the sunshine on the treetops on a beautiful night. At another point, in a letter to a Seminarian, she writes, "It is so consoling to think that Jesus...has felt all our weaknesses and shuddered at the sight of the bitter chalice..." I too, find this consoling. I fear death, and for me it is a great comfort to know that the end even Christ asked for the cup to pass by him. St. Therese too, goes through a period of darkness, where she fears that she will not go to heaven, and this, at least, was something to which I could relate!

So overall, I'm glad to have read it. What an amazing person! I hope that I can consider ways in which I can use her example to draw closer to Christ. ...more

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Apr 23, 2014 Wayne added it

Recommends it for: ?????

Recommended to Wayne by: my older sister Dianne

Shelves: french-classics , re-reads , memoirs-biography , religion

I first read this book as a young monk.
And then EVERYTHING about her I could lay my hands on!!!
Later as a Retired Catholic I visited Lisieux and the convent where Therese lived and died.
Revisiting this book after so many years fills me with curiosity and is something I'd like to do before the lights go out.I am interested in my response, now, when I have done some 180 degree turns in some areas of my life.
I hesitate to award any star rating yet - not fair to me or the book.

But I do recall two ...more

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Al Bità Ah, the Little Way! More ancient memories! You are right about the influence this book has had on countless millions of Catholics. I would even sugges ...more
Jul 24, 2009 02:58AM

Oct 21, 2011 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle , biography , religion-faith

As a non-Catholic, I was very interested in this autobiography and writings of Saint Therese of Lisieux, the young Catholic nun who lived in the late 1800's and died at age 24.

The variations of her thoughts were fascinating to me. Things such as "I am most thankful to Our Lord that He let me find only bitterness in earthly friendships." and how she looked forward to her death and being with her Lord and spouse, "That day everything was little except the graces received - except my peace and joy As a non-Catholic, I was very interested in this autobiography and writings of Saint Therese of Lisieux, the young Catholic nun who lived in the late 1800's and died at age 24.

The variations of her thoughts were fascinating to me. Things such as "I am most thankful to Our Lord that He let me find only bitterness in earthly friendships." and how she looked forward to her death and being with her Lord and spouse, "That day everything was little except the graces received - except my peace and joy in gazing upon the beautiful star-lit sky at night, and thinking that soon I should fly away to Heaven and be united to my Divine Spouse amid eternal bliss."

Yet when someone asked her "How comes it that you can be so patient? You are ever the same - calm and full of joy." Her answer was, "It was not always the case with me, but since I have abandoned all though of self-seeking, I live the happiest life possible."

Some of her thoughts on the scriptures were also interesting: "In Heaven only shall we be in possession of the clear truth. On earth, even in matters of Holy Scripture, our vision is dim. It distresses me to see the differences in its translations, and had I been a Priest I would have learned Hebrew, so as to read the Word of God as He deigned to utter it in human speech."

Even her thoughts about nuns themselves were interesting: "The Apostles murmured against Magdalen. This still happens, for so do men murmur against us. Even some fervent Catholics think our ways are exaggerated, and that - with Martha- we ought to wait upon Jesus, instead of pouring out on Him the odorous ointment of our lives. Yet what does it matter if these ointment jars - our lives - be broken, since Our Lord is consoled, and the world in spite of itself is forced to inhale the perfumes they give forth?".

She seemed to desire, even cherish, suffering: "I give thanks to my Jesus for making me walk in darkness, and in this darkness I enjoy profound peace. Willingly to I consent to remain through all my religious life in this gloomy passage into which He has led me. I desire only that my darkness may obtain light for sinners. I am content, nay, full of joy, to be without all consolation."

And as her death at a young age appeared to be approaching, she wrote to another "Brother, I am so happy to die! Yes, happy...not because I shall be free from suffering: on the contrary, suffering, combined with love seems the one thing worth of desire in this vale of tears: but happy to die because far more than on earth I shall help the souls I hold dear."

Yet in the end, her motto was "Love is Repaid by Love Alone." ...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was a most helpful book in rediscovering the joy and simplicity of a love-relationship with your higher power. I actually have a little miracle story from this little saint: It was recommended to me on Amazon to read this book and I meant to have read her but never got to it. I ordered it online and it never came, I thought it was a mistake with the processing. A few days later at work I found a copy of this book in my boss' golf cart. He said a sister had left it behind and I cou ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religion

Inspiring and thoughtful. My favorite passages:
"Only the day of the first, the only, the eternal Communion in heaven will be without a sunset!" (p. 79)
"Life is your ship and not your dwelling." (p. 92)
"Oh! Beloved Mother, how these beauties of nature spread out in profusion did good to my soul! How they lifted it up toward the One who was pleased to toss such masterpieces onto a land of exile that must last only a day..." (p. 137-8)
"That beautiful day passed, just as the saddest ones do, si ...more

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Apr 09, 2009 Emma rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: school

I am not finishing this book. Now that I have switched English classes, I do not plan on reading this again. As you an see, my feelings for this book have not changed. Everyone says how they admire Thérése so much. I just don't get it. She is extremely full of herself, and she is always crying at every little thing. She seems really spoiled, and it drives me crazy. Even when she says that she "did it for Jesus" she is still obsessed with herself. I just don't know what people like about her.

Ok. ...more

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Desclian Emma - I felt very similarly about Therese when I began the book, and even half-way through I thought she was rather self-centered. This changed when ...more
Jul 21, 2013 03:31PM

Ireid nice response
Jan 22, 2014 09:29AM

Sep 19, 2013 Christian Engler rated it 5 of 5 stars

To have a veritably sacred and loving bond with God is a wonderful and unexplainable sensation, an ecstasy that no degree of hyperbole can befittingly describe, for, it is an experience that is transcendent above all things earthly. When one searches to have a holy unification with the Lord, when they utter, "I love God," they are seized by the ethereal clasp of the Divine. And it is good. Sometimes that celestial grip is so wonderfully strong, what emanates from the soul into the sanctified cup To have a veritably sacred and loving bond with God is a wonderful and unexplainable sensation, an ecstasy that no degree of hyperbole can befittingly describe, for, it is an experience that is transcendent above all things earthly. When one searches to have a holy unification with the Lord, when they utter, "I love God," they are seized by the ethereal clasp of the Divine. And it is good. Sometimes that celestial grip is so wonderfully strong, what emanates from the soul into the sanctified cup is overflowing, leaving copious amounts of blessed spillage. But 'spillage' is often deemed as a mess, the useless and unwanted remnants of our material gains, the wastes of humanity, the 'useless eaters' of society whom the public (myself included) at large, without flinching, tenaciously, soullessly, ignore. But in the case of Saint Therese of Lisieux, her spillage, quite simply, are her very words, loving pledges and unnterances that resound with unadulterated esoteric wisdom that is normally relegated to those who have lived well beyond their years. And even in old age-through a conscientious process of living and observing-it is very doubtful that one could possibly have attained, achieved the indefinate caliber of grace, purity and intelligence that she was obviously endowed with. Her words remind one and all that in the ugly there is beauty, in the hopelessness, there is hope, in the gravity, there is grace, in the challanged (mentally, physically), there is profound depth and courage, but it all derives from a glowing source: God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Her words teach, for she herself says on page 124: "...any small good deed I do can be mistaken for a fault, the mistake of calling a fault a virtue can be made just as easily." When something moral is made to appear immoral and something immoral is made to appear moral, a blunt mental crash may easily occur, destroying that which was once soild and good: the innocence of youth a prime example, the weapon, one of many: social politics. Her autobiography, written with some reticence, brings forth (not fully) the story of how she came to be a Carmelite nun, but the stark affect God had over her: "One Sunday when I was looking at a picture of Our Lord on the Cross, I saw the blood coming from one of his hands, and I felt terribly sad to think that it was falling to the earth and that no one was rushing forward to catch it. I determined to stay continually at the foot of the cross and receive it. I knew that I should then have to spread it among other souls. The cry of Jesus on the cross--'I am thirsty'-- rang continually in my heart and set me burning with a new, intense longing. I wanted to quench the thirst of my Well Beloved and I myself was consumed with a thirst for souls. I was concerned not with the souls of priests but with those of great sinners which I wanted to snatch from the flames of hell." P. X. In time, Saint Therese also worked for the souls of priests. It's a shame she's not here now. Her simple little book is not, true, a literary magnum opus, but its direct simplicity offers something of far better value; it is a work that led to her canonization by Pius XI in 1925, led to her being declared the principal patron (along with St. Francis Xavier) of all missionaries and missions and later, declared the secondary patron of France (with St. Joan of Arc). The book-like the Bible-has an inarguable power to move and clense: "I am only a weak and helpless child, yet it is in my very weakness which has made me daring enough to offer myself to You, Jesus, as the victim of your love. Long ago only pure and spotless victims were accepted by the almighty God. The divine justice could be satisfied only by immaculate victims, but the law of love has replaced that of fear, and love has chosen me as a victim-feeble and imperfect creature that I am. Is the choice of me worthy of love? Yes, it is, because in order for love to be fully satisfied it must descend to nothingness and transform that nothingness to living fire. I know, Lord, that 'love is repaid by love alone.' And so I have sought and I have found the way to ease my heart-by giving You love for love." P. 162. If that is not what we're here for, the human race will never survive.
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Jan 23, 2013 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianity , classic , autobiography , 2013-must-reads

First things first, I'm not Catholic and I'm a missionary.

As the patron saint of missionaries, St Therese's way of following Jesus is profoundly humbling. A nun who never left her village, entered the convent at 15 and died at the young age of 24, she nevertheless had a burning passion to pray for the lost and missionary priests. But more than that, St Therese believe that she could never accomplish great spiritual or missionary tasks, but that the path of holiness could be taken in everyday, o ...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Cathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Began reading this book a little begrudgingly as St. Therese of Lisieux just never really appealed to me. My opinion was that she was spoiled and had an easy life, so what would she have to offer me?

Well, this is one of my favorite books. The first few chapters I had to drag myself through, after that it was smooth sailing. She had such a practical and 'easy' outlook on life and holiness, very much like St. Josemaria Escriva - that it's through the small, every day events in our lives that we ca ...more

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Dec 16, 2014 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

I take personal retreats regularly at a center named after Saint Therese. So it seemed only right that at some point I should read her autobiography.

It is personal narrative with a single thread throughout: Therese's intense love for Jesus that was a consequence of her great confidence that she was greatly loved by Jesus. It is this love, even more than the fact that two of her sisters had preceded her in entering the monastery, that moved her from an early age to long to be "wed" to Christ.

She I take personal retreats regularly at a center named after Saint Therese. So it seemed only right that at some point I should read her autobiography.

It is personal narrative with a single thread throughout: Therese's intense love for Jesus that was a consequence of her great confidence that she was greatly loved by Jesus. It is this love, even more than the fact that two of her sisters had preceded her in entering the monastery, that moved her from an early age to long to be "wed" to Christ.

She confesses at times that her writing is "muddled" and indeed it has something of a "stream of consciousness" flow to it moving from an event in her family to reflections to a narrative on caring for novitiates. Yet the theme of the love of Christ and her love for Christ weaves throughout and gives the narrative an underlying coherence.

The book speaks of her earliest spiritual memories in her awareness of the love of God for her manifest both in nature and in the Catholic mass. She describes her confirmation and chrismation and the joy of knowing herself sealed by Christ's Spirit. She recounts her pleas with her priest, bishop, and finally on pilgrimage, the Pope to be allowed to enter the Carmelite order early. At last, all relented and she entered at age 15.

She describes the vicissitudes of monastic life and how she learns through each of these to see them as loving gifts from God to form her more deeply in the love of Christ. She discovers that this is a love that is greater than all her weaknesses. We see her embrace of caring for others in her novitiate beginning with her prayers. With that love, we see a growing passion for "lost souls" expressed in prayer both for missionary priests and the people they sought to win.

We hear this love burning more brightly as her death at age 24 approaches. Toward the end of this narrative (and her life) she wrote this, which expresses well the recurring theme of this narrative:

"O eternal Word, my Saviour, You are the Eagle I love and the One who fascinates me. You swept down to this land of exile and suffered and died so that you could bear away every soul and plunge them into the heart of the Blessed Trinity, that inextinguishable furnace of love. You re-entered the splendours of heaven, yet stayed in our vale of tears hidden under the appearance of a white Host so that You can feed me with Your own substance. O Jesus, do not be angry if I tell you that Your love is a mad love...and how can you expect my heart, when confronted with this folly, not to soar up to You? How can there be any limit to my trust? (p. 158).

The Catholic context in which this love is expressed may seem foreign to the non-Catholics like me who read this account. But one cannot help but ask oneself in reading Therese's narrative, "do I love Jesus with anything like the longing of this woman who died so young?" As one who believes in the grace of God in Christ, I must ask whether I have anything like the confidence of Therese in the greatness of God's love to overcome my lesser and greater sins?

Good questions for my next retreat, it seems.

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Jan 06, 2011 Rebecca Haughey rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite devotional reads. Ever. I may be a bit biased because she's my Confirmation saint, but I love St. Therese. This book completely changed my views about the importance of a prayerful life. Her simple way of showing love to God is inspiring and humbling. A beautiful reminder of the potential for sainthood in all of us. I need to pick it up and reread it soon. Recommend to both Catholics and non-Catholics looking for a spiritual-type book.

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Sep 17, 2013 Mattye rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mattye by: Jonathan

Shelves: finished-reading

A most profound and amazing read! I am forever transformed by this humbling experience. It is no wonder that she is a Doctor of the Church.

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Jan 02, 2013 Aatira Benn John rated it 5 of 5 stars

‘The Story of a Soul’

I do not know if I would be able to convey all the essential details of a book .
Before I venture into writing the book review, a few words about the author would serve as a pre-requisite to reading the book wholly and thus reaping its benefits. St.Theresa popularly called as
Little Flower was a French Carmelite Nun, born on January 2nd 1873 to saintly parents. She is
considered as one of the doctors of the church. How would the autobiography of a cloistered nun be
of use to a l ...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Brittany rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although the writing style was a bit hard to follow, reading the story Saint Therese of Lisieux has profoundly changed my life. Coming to an understanding of her "little way" through her eyes and reading about her devotion to Christ and of her self sacrifice, her humility, and her total love of God has been monumental to me and my salvation.

This summer I was working at a day camp held at a Catholic school named after St. Therese. During this time I was struggling with my faith. There was a book ...more

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Sep 13, 2015 Isabel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This amazing book, more than any other, helped me renew my faith. In this book, the future St. Therese recounts her life as a young child and, later on, as a nun and all the simple sacrifices she made for love of the Lord. In one vignette, she describes how she used to hate washing dishes at the convent, but came to love being splashed by another sister who would help her wash the dishes. Why? Because she would offer up these little sufferings for her prayer intentions. This way of praying becam ...more

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Aug 07, 2015 Santiago Vieto Rodríguez rated it 5 of 5 stars

A saint admirable in its smallness and greatness of soul. An essential book on the life of any Catholic.

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Oct 19, 2012 Carlos Torres rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: catholic-christian , ebooks , favorites , 2012

It's impossible to read this and not have an emotional reaction to what you're reading. What an amazing woman! She is the perfect example that being great really means being little. Simplicity in the way she approached life and the size of her heart is what makes Little Therese stand out. Don't just read this; let it transform your life!

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Mar 18, 2008 Colleen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

This short autobiography of a simple saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, gives hope to us all. She has shown us that we don't have to accomplish great things to be loved by God. She is the saint of "little things". Millions of copies of this book have been printed and spread across the world. It has been translated into more than 50 languages.

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Jun 08, 2010 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Is it sacrileges for me to say that I really did not like this book at all? I really didn't get anything out of it. I don't even know what to say in this review about it, except that I don't recommend reading it. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 so I don't upset the spirit of Therese of Lisieux.

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Feb 06, 2015 Ginny rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not Catholic and so my perspective of St. Therese is as an outsider. So I found some things repetitive and tiresome. However, for someone so young to let go of herself and find ways to love others was admirable. But she went even farther by seeking out those who were unpleasant and annoying to love and serve. I believe God heard and answered her prayers. She was blessed because of her self discipline and outward focus. I admire her for the effort she made every day to be like Jesus. I marvel ...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Pater Edmund rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: monastic , theology

St. Pius X once said (in conversation) that St. Therese of Lisieux was "the greatest Saint of modern times." One wonders is meant by "modern times." I suppose most readers of the Story of a Soul would agree that one could take it to mean "since the death of the last Apostle."

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About Thérèse de Lisieux

Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.

She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, beca Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus". She was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church May 17, 1925.

She felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the enclosed Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy. After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices, such as sacristan and novice mistress, and having spent the last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith, she died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. The impact of her posthumous publications, including her memoir The Story of a Soul was great, and she rapidly became one of the most popular saints of the twentieth century. Pope Pius XI made her the star of his pontificate. She was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. The speed of this process may be seen by comparison with that applied to a great heroine of Thérèse, Joan of Arc, who died in 1431 but was not canonized until 1920. Thérèse was declared co-patron of the missions with Francis Xavier in 1927, and named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944. On 19 October 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her the thirty-third Doctor of the Church, the youngest of all Doctors of the Church, and only the third woman Doctor. Devotion to Thérèse has developed around the world.

Thérèse lived a hidden life and 'wanted to be unknown' yet through her writings—as well as her spiritual autobiography she left letters, poems, religious plays, prayers and various notes, and her last conversations were recorded by her sisters—and thanks to the photographs taken inside the Lisieux Carmel by her sister Céline, she became known to, and later seen by, millions of men and women. According to one of her biographers, Guy Gaucher, after her death, "Thérèse fell victim to an excess of sentimental devotion which betrayed her. She was victim also to her language, which was that of the late nineteenth century and flowed from the religiosity of her age." Thérèsè herself said on her death-bed : "I only love simplicity. I have a horror of pretence", and she spoke out against some of the Lives of saints written in her day :" We should not say improbable things, or things we do not know. We must see their real, and not their imagined lives." The critic Marina Warner observed that the excesses sometimes associated with her cult should not blind one to the heroism of her, "struggle to be good, and the radical affirmation of ordinary lives that her sainthood stands for."

The depth of her spirituality, of which she said "my way is all confidence and love," has inspired many believers. In the face of her littleness and nothingness, she trusted in God to be her sanctity. She wanted to go to Heaven by an entirely new little way. "I wanted to find an elevator that would raise me to Jesus." The elevator, she wrote, would be the arms of Jesus lifting her in all her littleness.

The Basilica of Lisieux is the second greatest place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes. ...more

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Books by Thérèse de Lisieux

St. Therese of Lisieux: Her Last Conversations

The Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Vol. I: 1877-1890

The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux (Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Saint Therese of Lisieux) (Centenary Edition 1873-1973)

The Little Way for Every Day: Thoughts from Therese of Lisieux

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“I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors'defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” — 33 likes

“God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.” — 30 likes

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