She died at 24, an unknown cloistered nun, having lived the last nine years of her life inside the Carmelite Monastery in Liseux, France.

Now 110 years later, Therese Francois Guerin Martin, a.k.a. St. Therese of the Child Jesus, is one of the major anchors of the Catholic Church in its continuing campaign for souls. In the language of our time, she has become a major “public relations tool” of the Church, an icon to engage modern man in his spiritual journey on earth.

In 1997, on the centenary of her death, she was declared a Doctor of the Church – a major development that was meant to push her to the front lines, there for people to see, listen to, and follow.

Indeed, in the gallery of saints and doctors of the Catholic church, she is deemed the “most accessible” for modern man, somebody every person in any station in life can relate to. She did not die the way of martyrs, she did not write complex treatises nor did she accomplish anything out of the ordinary.

In fact, she is quiet the opposite of what the normal concept of a saint or doctor of the church is: she is ordinary. But it is precisely her ordinariness that has made her very attractive to people, and therefore, very effective in the campaign to bring people on track to God. By her ordinariness, St. Therese has “reshaped spirituality for the modern man,” as priest Fr. Lito de la Paz put it.

She was declared a saint, and later, a doctor of the church, on the strength of her book, The Story of A Soul, where she detailed what is now known as the doctrine of spiritual childhood – a spirituality based on total surrender and confidence on God.

That doctrine is based on many passages of the Bible, such as the one of Luke’s verses: Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child, will not enter it…”

Through the ages, the faithful have marveled at how she was prepared for her role and how she lived her life for God’s glory. For example, The Story of A Soul was not meant to be a book; she was ordered to do it so there will be details to fill her obituary.

It is also a source of wonder how a camera got into the Carmel in Lisieux during her time when cloistered nuns were supposedly disallowed to use it. Because of this, there are now over 40 photos of this youthful and pretty saint.

That may be a minor detail for some, but it becomes very important when one considers that a photo is needed if she is to be used as poster girl of spirituality for modern – and cynical – man.* To be continued

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