Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897), a French Discalced Carmelite nun, was canonized in 1925 and two years later, Pope Pius XI, named her co-patron of all foreign missions and missionaries with Saint Francis Xavier; and, in 1997 she was recognized, by Pope John Paul II as a Doctor of the Church for her spiritual accomplishments.
But how can a young cloister nun be considered one of the greatest missionaries of the Catholic church?
She wanted to be a missionary, but being a cloistered nun, she decided to pray intensively for the missionaries all over the world.
She wrote in her autobiography Story of a Soul: “In spite of my littleness, I have the vocation of the apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your name and plant your cross on pagan soil… one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles! I would be a missionary, not for a few years only, but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages…”.
The Catholic Church celebrates her feast every October 1st to remember this young and great Discalced Carmelite nun, a pride for the world.