Handmade St. Therese Statue

Product Description

Patron of Rose Growers, Florists, and the “Little Way”

Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–97) was a Carmelite nun who died in obscurity in her convent at the age of 24. She became known to the world after her death when her spiritual autobiography (The Story of a Soul) was published. The book became hugely popular in part because Thérèse, in contrast to the then-dominant Catholic practice, offered a spirituality based on finding God and the holy in the most mundane and human acts and situations: scrubbing floors, tilling earth, suffering. This is her “Little Way,” a path of “holiness in everyday life,” a “way of spiritual childhood.” Because of the profound influence of her spirituality, Pope John Paul II in 1997 declared her a doctor of the church, a title held by only two other women (Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Ávila).
The original of this small statue of St. Thérèse was hand carved in clay by Hank Schlau and was cast by him in a resilient architectural material. It was hand painted by Karen Schlau. Thérèse’s association with roses comes largely from something she once said: “After my death I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth.” This promise is the basis of the thousands of miracles that have been attributed to her. The bird perched on Thérèse’s left hand is a symbol of herself and her soul (in her autobiography she wrote: “O Jesus, Your little bird is happy to be weak and little”). Birds also symbolize those who, like Thérèse, are able to fuse the spiritual (the air, the heavens) and the tasks of everyday life on earth.

7.5 x 4 x 2 inches