She lived 24 years and was an obscure nun for nine of those. Yet she is known the world over by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Dead in 1897 and was canonized in 1925, her statue soon appeared in most Catholic churches in the world. With St. Joan of Arc, she shares the title "Patroness of France" and with St. Francis Xavier the honor of "Principal Patroness of all Missionaries." Her devotees acknowledge her as a second St. Jude in her powerful intercession with God. Her appeal is universal—from peasants to popes—and people of all stations know her and call upon her for help.

What factors conspired to shape St. Therese of the Child Jesus? John Beevers addresses this question in Saint Therese of the Little Flower: The Making of a Saint. As author of an earlier biography, The Storm of Glory, and as translator of her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, he brings to his task an authority on her life unsurpassed perhaps by any writer in English.

The story of this life is a marvel—a miracle—of divine grace. For the life of St. Therese is the lesson to all men: one of spiritual greatness to be achieved by perfect love of God and total consecration of all our actions, even the smallest, to His greater honor and glory.