TERATOLOGY. - It is the science that studies monsters in their genesis and characteristics. A monster is defined as an individual presenting one or more anomalies so severe as to render him gravely aberrant from normality. The distinction between monster and ano-
TERESA OF THE CHILD JESUS AND OF THE HOLY FACE, Saint. - Discalced Carmelite, born Thérèse Martin, at Alençon (Normandy) on 2 January 1873, died at Lisieux on 30 September 1897.
Lively, with a delicate tenderness combined with rich gifts of mind and heart, very fond of the poor, considered the “little queen” of her family, she entered the convent at Lisieux on 9 April 1888, where two of her sisters were already professed; she made her profession on 8 September 1890 and for some years served as mistress of novices. She embraced and lived to the point of heroism the spirituality of childhood according to the Gospel: complete abandonment to the influx of grace, adopting the way of ever-smiling simplicity and full trust in God, with a love for Him so strong that she offered herself as a victim for souls and the Church. She described herself, at the order of her superior, in *Histoire d’une âme* (Lisieux 1898 and frequently thereafter), a book of singular charm that exercised extraordinary influence in the conversion of many dissenters and wayward souls. The countless miracles worked after her death spread her memory and devotion throughout the world. She was beatified on 9 April 1923; canonized on 17 May 1925. In 1923 she was proclaimed Patroness of Carmelite missions; in 1925 of the St Peter’s Work for Indigenous Clergy; in 1927 of the missions, alongside St Francis Xavier; in 1929 of the Russian College in Rome. Numerous churches, chapels, circles, associations, and even religious congregations are dedicated to her name. Feast day: 3 October. See plate CXLI.