TERESA del BAMBIN GESÙ E DEL VOLTO SANTO, saint. — Discalced Carmelite, in the world Teresa Martin, born at Alençon (Normandy) on 2 January 1873, died at Lisieux on 30 September 1897.
Lively, endowed with a delicate tenderness joined to rich gifts of mind and heart, and greatly devoted to the poor, she was regarded as the “Little Queen” of the family. On 9 April 1888 she entered the convent at Lisieux, where two of her sisters were already residing; she made her profession there on 18 September 1890 and for several years served as mistress of novices. She possessed and practiced to the point of heroism the spirituality of childhood, according to the Gospel: complete abandonment to the influence of Grace, adopting the way of ever-smiling simplicity and complete trust in God, with such a strong love for him that she offered herself to him as a victim for souls and the Church. At the order of her superior, she described herself in Histoire d'une âme (Lisieux 1898 and repeatedly thereafter), a book of singular charm which exerted an extraordinary influence on the conversion of very many dissenters or those who had gone astray. The countless miracles bestowed after her death spread her memory and inspired confidence in her throughout every part of the world. She was beatified on 9 April 1923 and canonized on 17 May 1925. In 1923 she was proclaimed Patroness of the Carmelite missions; in 1925, of the Opera di S. Pietro per il clero indigeno; in 1927, of the missions, alongside s. Francesco Saverio; and in 1929, of the Collegio Russico in Rome. Numerous churches, chapels, circles, associations, and religious congregations are dedicated to her name. Feast on 3 October. Vedi tav. CXLI.