One of the great admirers of Therese was Pope Piux X, the pope of simplicity, who kicked off her process of beatification and canonization. Some of his statements on Thérèse have become famous. To a priest who protested that in Thérèse there was nothing extraordinary to recognise her as saint he answered bluntly: “What is most extraordinary about this soul is precisely her extreme simplicity. Consult your theology.” For him Thérèse was “the greatest saint of modern times.”
At the Priory one of the many ex votos to Therese is a fibula of Pope Pius X. Thérèse always enjoyed great and deep devotion at the Priory both by friars and people, even before her process of canonisation started.
Is it a coincidence that Pope Francis, already known and admired as the Pope of Simplicity cultivates a great devotion to the “Little Flower?” In Buenos Aires the then Cardinal Bergoglio kept an image of Therese in his library always adorned with fresh white roses.
About his devotion to the saint he stated: “Whenever I have a problem, I ask the saint not to solve it, but to take it into her hands and to help me accept it and I almost always receive a white rose as a sign.” …
Therese in her simplicity reveals herself as a robust character seeped in prayer and deep spirituality. Her mission seems to be that of attracting people to Christ through her extraordinary ordinariness, leading them to Christ.
Go Ahead, Leave A Comment