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St. Therese of Lisieux     There are some people that sense the great St. Teresa of Avila, the namesake of my Therese Martin, rather terrifying. When you get to hump a little about her, she seems very charm and you begin to like her. Little Therese, on the other hand, has never been disliked and has never do anybody in the least afraid. She was characterized by a carry out ordinariness and if it wasnt for her being an exceptional person, she would be a traffic pattern woman. Nevertheless, her main significance lies in her spiritual doctrine, the method which she herself described as the Little Way. A large part of her appeal is that she made the astounding promise just ahead her death that she would spend her promised land doing good on earth, a promise which has been carried out by the exploit of countless miracles, a good number of them miracles of grace. There are veritable things about her that ware to be overcome. One of these, which was not her fault, is her upbringing. The saint of antimacassars or of the lace curtains is one of the most astonishing of exclusively the great saints.      Thereses Little Way of spirituality did not once permit her to have any ecstasies or visions. She made no prophecies. She had zero in the genius of a stigmata, nor did she wear any invisible ring, such as was congeal on the finger of St. Catherine of Siena." (Maynard, 290) Her life was so ordinary that when she lay dying, she hear two Sisters talking in the kitchen, saying that they wondered what the Reverend Mother would find to say about Therese went she sent out her obituary notices. Therese did experience the phenomenon of what is called piece sight, but that is a known psychic symptom and has no needed connection with holiness. If she was a mystic at all she belonged to that class which enjoys nothing more than union with God.      The Martin family is known mainly for one thing they all aimed at holiness. Thereses father, Louis Martin, in 1847, when he was twenty-four traveled to the monastery of St. Bernard and apply for admission as a beginner. He was told that he did not know enough Latin, and was advised to return home and learn more before applying again. He went back to Alencon, his home town, and did study for a while, meanwhile carrying on his trade as a watchmaker.