A Boring Saint

Boring people do not tend to become saints. People who live small, unnoticed, and quiet lives usually don’t, either. When we think of the great saints of Church history, we envision brave martyrs, beaten and burned for a faith they refused to deny. Or perhaps we picture undeterred missionaries, credited with bringing Christianity to entire nations of lost souls. For those outside orthodox traditions, saints often conjure images of larger-than-life evangelists who lead thousands to Christ or charismatic mega-church pastors launching new campuses every other month. These are the spiritual warriors our faith celebrates—the heroic figures who come to mind when we think of saints. But whatever image the word “saint” evokes, it’s unlikely to include someone boring.

We certainly wouldn’t think of a teenage girl in poor health, struggling to find her place in the world. Yet that’s precisely who Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin was. She wasn’t larger-than-life, adventurous, or even particularly interesting by most standards. And yet, millions of Christians across the globe remember her as Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. (In French, her name is pronounced teh-REHZ. In English, it’s often said as teh-REESE.)

It might seem improbable that anyone would take a pilgrimage to honor an adolescent girl who found her church duties dull, her fellow Sisters insufferable, and staying awake during long prayers nearly impossible. Yet each year, countless believers from all denominations flock to the basilica in northwestern France that bears her name. They pray and pay tribute to this deeply beloved saint of the Catholic Church. Ordinary people don’t usually receive such an honor. Small and frail people don’t either. But little Saint Thérèse does.

So, who is Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and how did she leave such a lasting mark on Christian history? As I’ve already mentioned, she wasn’t someone who stood out in her time. She lived a short, quiet life as a nun in a Carmelite convent in Normandy, France. At just 15, she joined Carmel with special permission from the Pope—a remarkable exception for someone so young. She was one of five surviving siblings, her parents having lost four children in total. Thérèse herself endured the devastating loss of her mother to a brain tumor when she was only four years old.

This future saint lived a routine and unremarkable life during her time in the convent. Apart from a single trip to Rome, her days were spent in the same place. In her autobiography and letters, she often described herself as powerless, little, and meek. Though she dreamed of preaching the Gospel on all five continents simultaneously and even shedding her blood for the Savior she loved,[1] her life at Carmel was ordinary. Her days were filled with staying in her “cell,” taking long walks through the countryside, doing laundry, painting, sewing, praying for six hours daily, and following a schedule most would call mundane. That was her existence until she died of tuberculosis at just 24 years old in 1897.

Thérèse never imagined she would one day be canonized as a saint. She couldn’t have foreseen that anyone, outside of God and perhaps the recipients of her letters, would give her life a second thought. But we do. Today, this meek little girl is celebrated around the world.

For now, we will leave Saint Thérèse here…

[1] Thérèse, Story of a Soul, 193.