When she was fifteen she applied for permission to enter the Carmelite Convent, and being
refused by the superior, she went to Rome to seek the conset of the Holy Father, Leo XIII.
Along with her, came her father, who was as eager to give her to God as she was to give
herself. When they met the Pope, He preferred to leave the decision in the hands of the
superior, but St. Therese refused to leave until her request had been granted, she stayed
there in the presence of the Holy Father until she was carried off by Papal guards.
On the return to France, the superior who had denied her permission
to enter the Convent finally consented to her joining and on the 9th
of April, 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered
the convent of Lisieux where two of her sisters had preceded her.
When her old sister Pauline was elected prioress, she asked Therese
for the ultimate sacrifice. Because of politics in the convent, many
of the sisters feared that the family Martin would take over the
convent. Therefore Pauline asked Therese to remain a novice, in
order to ease the fears of the other nuns that the three sisters would
push everyone else around. This meant she would never be a fully
professed nun, that she would always have to ask permission for
everything she did. This sacrifice was made a little easier when Celine entered the convent
after her father’s death. Four of the sisters were now together again.
Therese continued to worry about how she could achieve holiness in the life she led. She
didn’t want to just be good, she wanted to be a saint. She thought there must be a way for
people living hidden, little lives like hers.
She once wrote:
“I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I
have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that
there is the same difference between the saints and me as there
is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a
humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of
being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for
something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim
at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up
with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for
some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short
and very straight, a little way that is quite new.”
In the Convent, Therese often overworked herself, not having enough rest, making her body
prone to illness. Then in 1896, she started coughing up blood. She kept working without
telling anyone until she became so sick a year later everyone knew it. Worst of all she had
lost her joy and confidence and felt she would die young without leaving anything behind.
Pauline had already had her writing down her memories for journal and now she wanted
her to continue, so theywould have something to circulate on her life after her death.
8
Children of the Rosary