The product of twenty years of research and writing, this extraordinary new work is the most comprehensive portrait of Therese ever published, and the ultimate reference to her life and spirituality. A Companion to Saint Therese will appeal to all devotees of Therese, as well as those approaching her for the first time, who will find it a fascinating introduction. There is abundant material concerning her autobiography as well as her other literary and artistic works, and a treasury of information on all the people and places in her life story. Finally, the author revisits the steps leading to her beatification, canonization, and the proclamation of her as a Doctor of the Church, and provides a history of the Carmelites and the origin of the Lisieux Carmel. As a source of biographical detail and photographs it is unsurpassed in any language and will remain the most authoritative work on Therese for many years to come. "A remarkable book " --FR. BENEDICT GROESCHEL, C.F.R., Co-founder of Franciscan Friars of the Renewal "Obviously a labor of love. If one were making a movie about the Little Flower, this would be the perfect book to provide the background material to help understand St. Therese and all the people that touched her life." --FR. ROBERT J. BOYD, Ph.D., F.S.S.P., Third Order Carmelite "An astounding achievement in the annals of Catholic hagiography. There has never been a work like this regarding the life and times of 'the Little Flower.' It will be an essential acquisition for every theological library, every Catholic school and homeschooling co-op, and every member of the lay faithful with a devotion to Saint Therese." --CHRISTOPHER A. FERRARA, President, American Catholic Lawyers Association "In A Companion to Saint Therese of Lisieux we are given the opportunity to study Therese in a novel way, through the optics of the people and places associated with her. I exhort all of you to come to appreciate she who identified her vocation as Love." --FR. FRANK PAVONE, National Director, Priests for Life "This is an encyclopedia of information on the life and spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux. Here you will find information and photos concerning the Saint that have not been published anywhere else. The author is to be congratulated for his diligence and persistence in assembling all this material for the many Catholics devoted to the saint of the small and simple way to God." --FR. KENNETH. BAKER, S.J., Editor Emeritus, Homiletic & Pastoral Review

Teresa of Avila was declared a doctor of the church because of her reform efforts, the profundity of her writings about the spiritual life, and her dynamic faith and love. With her ability to combine common sense and deep mysticism, Teresa shows us what it means to be persons alive in our own culture who enter into the depths of our own life and heart and find God there.

Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, is popularly named the Little Flower. A Carmelite nun, doctor of the church, and patron of a score of causes, she was famously acclaimed by Pope Pius X as the greatest saint of modern times. Therese is not only one of the most beloved saints of the Catholic Church but perhaps the most revered woman of the modern age. Pope John Paul II described her as a living icon of God. Her autobiography Story of a Soul has been translated into sixty languages. Having long transcended national and linguistic boundaries, she has crossed even religious ones. As daughter of Allah, she is venerated widely in Islamic cultures. Therese has been the subject of innumerable biographies and treatises, ranging from hagiographies to attacks on her intelligence and mental health. Thomas R. Nevin has gained access to many untapped archival materials and previously unpublished photographs. As a consequence he is able to offer a much fuller and more accurate portrait of the saints life and thought than his predecessors. He explores the dynamics of her family life and the early development of her spirituality. He draws extensively on the correspondence of her mother and documents her influence on Thereses autobiography and spirituality. He charts the development of Therese's career as a writer. He gives close attention to her poetry and plays usually dismissed as undistinguished and argues that they have great value as texts by which she addressed and informed her Carmelite community. He delves into the French medical literature of the time, in an effort to understand how the tuberculosis of which she died at the age of 24 was treated and lamentably mistreated. Finally, he offers a new understanding of Therese as a theologian for whom love, rather than doctrines and creeds, was the paramount value. Adding substantially to our knowledge and appreciation of this immensely popular and attractive figure, this book should appeal to many general readers as well as to scholars and students of modern Catholic history.

Her mission continues... Countless books and now a movie, have been produced about the immensely popular St. Therese of Lisieux, but this book offers a different focus. Here, in her own words, are reflections on her love of God, the way she lived her life, how she approached her death, and her view of eternity. Here, for the first time, is a book in which St. Therese is your companion as well as your guide. Here is not only her "little way," but - as you join her in adoration before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament - how to discover and better live your "little way."

“Thérèse has been such a presence in my adult life—it is as if I have known her personally; she is as real and alive to me as my lifelong friends... I’ve identified three gifts that Thérèse has given me, which I would like to offer in this book to everyone seeking to find more meaning in their faith and their journey to find God.” --Patrick Ahern Transformation in our lives happens when we live with the confidence that "God is nothing but mercy and love.” In this inspiring book, beloved author Patrick Ahern looks at the teachings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, through the lens of his own personal experiences in which this "saint for our times" played such an important role for more than seventy years. With honesty and humility, he delves into the transformational love that infused her faith, led her to be named one of only four female Doctors of the Catholic Church, and gave Ahern’s own journey direction and meaning. Ahern focuses on what he calls the three gifts of Thérèse: her universal appeal, her conviction, and her little way. Echoing Therese’s recognition that bureaucracy, penances, rules and commandments miss the message of love that she knew to be true, he says, "She convinced me that someone as ordinary as I could aspire to the love of God, which filled her heart to overflowing." He hopes the same for his readers.

For over a century, the Carmelite Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897) has been revered as Catholicism's foremost folk saint of modern times. Universally known as "the Little Flower," she has been a source of consolation and uplift, an example of everyday sainthood by "the Little Way." This book puts aside that piety and addresses the torment of doubt within the life and writing of a saint best known for the strength of her conviction. Nevin examines the dynamics of Christian doubt, and argues that it is integral to the journey toward selfless love which Thérèse was compelled to take. What, Nevin asks, did doubt mean to her? What was its source and nature? What was its object? He gives close attention to her reading and interpretations of the Old and New Testaments as pathways through her inner wilderness. Her Carmel of spiritual sisters becomes a vivid setting for this drama, with other women challenging Thérèse by their own trials of faith. One of Thérèse's indispensable lessons, Nevin concludes, is the acceptance of one's helplessness in the midst of spiritual darkness. Bringing a new direction to the study of Thérèse, and of the challenges of sainthood itself, this book reveals how Thérèse's response to divine abandonment is a unique and painfully won imitation of Christ.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux sought a new way to Heaven: “a little way that is quite straight, quite short: a completely new little way.” Blessed with personal limitations that might have discouraged another, Thérèse believed God would not have given her a desire for holiness if He did not intend for her to achieve it. She learned to humbly accept herself as she was and trust completely in God’s love. First given as a retreat by renowned author Father Jacques Philippe, The Way of Trust and Love navigates excerpts of St. Thérèse’s writings phrase by phrase, extracting powerful, resonating insights. To Thérèse, the journey seemed “little” as she traveled it. A hundred and fifteen years after her death, the message of the young saint and Doctor of the Church has traveled around the world inspiring millions. With this newly translated study of her spirituality, many today will rediscover—or find for the first time—the relevance of “the little way,” in all seasons of life. Fr. Jacques Philippe is well-known for his books on prayer and spirituality. A member of the Community of the Beatitudes, he regularly preaches retreats in France and abroad. He also spends much of his time giving spiritual direction and working for the development of the Community in Asia and Oceania where he travels frequently. View Fr. Jacques Philippe's website and App (www.frjacquesphilippe.com)

As Saint Therese lay dying in the Carmel of Lisieux, she overheard a conversation that amused her. Outside her window, two nuns were discussing what they could write in her obituary that could possibly be of any interest, since the twenty-four-year-old nun had never done anything worth noting. Therese was pleased, for she had always kept a low profile. With the posthumous publication of her spiritual autobiography in 1898, however, that low profile would vanish instantly. She became one of the most beloved saints of all time, and her influence will expand dramatically because of Pope John Paul II's declaration that she is a Doctor of the Church. Amid growing interest in her writings comes the collected correspondence between her and a humble young seminarian, Maurice Belliere. Though they never met in person, they exchanged twenty-one letters that opened a window on the heart of Saint Therese that would have remained forever closed had Maurice not written to the Mother Superior at the convent asking for a nun to pray for him. The Mother Superior chose Therese, and in these conversational letters the Little Flower reveals herself in a way that we would never have known from her autobiography. In his accompanying text, Bishop Patrick Ahern expertly leads the reader into the worlds of Maurice and Therese and reveals the full beauty of this saint's spirituality.