Upon reading them at a much later date, Mother Agnes described them as ‘heavenly pages’, and contributed to her seeing Thérèse as a saint. Manuscript A, written in 1895 was requested by Mother Agnes of Jesus (Thérèse’s sister, Pauline). In fact, the writing of the manuscripts which make up Story of a Soul were acts of obedience to her superiors who requested the writing of autobiographies at various stages of Thérèse’s life. The ‘story of the Little Flower gathered by Jesus’ is formed from three manuscripts, and the text was not written as one continuous piece. But her ‘shower of roses’ continued to fall, and Thérèse was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Despite her short life of 24 years, Thérèse has quickly become one of the most popular saints of modern times, and was canonised by Pope Pius XI only 28 years following her death. Much that we know about her is from the manuscripts which make up her autobiography, L’histoire d’une âme, her letters and poetry, and from her sisters (both blood and spiritual) who were in the Carmel of Lisieux with her. Thérèse of Lisieux was born as Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin on Januin Alençon. Therese of Lisieux and her Story of a Soul is one in which she found purpose in her darkness, and union with God by identifying with unbelievers and loving them.
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