The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (Tan Classics)

Wonderful story. Actually autobiography. It shows how person can be dedicated to God and still have problems that everyone faces at one time or another. Great book.

Amazing read ♡

In the translation of “The story of a Soul; The autobiography of the Little Flower, the life of Saint Therese of Lisieux”, is honored. From her childhood days to entering the Carmelite ministry, you’ll know this is a warm and wonderful book exemplifying her love and grace for all humanity. This is a book for all Catholics who wished to further their relationship and knowledge of Saint Therese de Lisieux.

My patron saint :)

This story is worth the read for everyone. The story of a beautiful soul who continues to work in Heaven. This helped me. May her prayers be with us. My favorite part was when she turned to her sister soon when she was about to die and told her “Love alone counts”

1 copy Great Book that was not delivered. Waited for a month then canceled it.

(note: this Translation leaves something to be desired, but Therese's message is the same. Get a more modern translation) Charming and full of humor, Therese of Lisieux takes us through her childhood, her hopes, dreams, prayers and her Love for Jesus. This sheltered woman who lived in Victorian times had the sentimentality of her era. That can be off-putting for us in our brash times, but when I understood that, and accepted it, her message is deeply powerful! Basically, we trust in Jesus as a child trusts. We know our Littleness before Him. He accepts us as we are in our Littleness. Littleness means for me, a knowledge that I'm human, I fail often, and what's more the Creator of the Universe knows better than I what's good for me...especially because He loves me...and I return that Love by offering everything I do, even the smallest action, like typing this, for Love of Him. Sometimes people call this childlike trust and obedience as 'infantilism' that is, we can't make up our own minds, as grown adults, about what's right and wrong. But Jesus says: 'Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven' and our approach to the Throne of God should be as a child approaches a loving parent,, and when we have life-changing decisions, we must be cognizant of the Commandments and the rules of the Catholic Church. Therese's life exemplifies this! How is she so famous? She was only a nun who died young. Her memoirs were sent outside after her death, to relatives. Nobody had the idea of publishing until already many people had prayed to her to intercede at God's throne for them and their prayers were answered! It was then realized that there was a Gem in the memoirs, and that this quiet nun was a Saint. She is one of the most beloved Saints on the List.

"The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux" is, in my opinion, one of the greatest of the autobiographical writings of the Saints... one of the most important Catholic books of the last 200 years... and a definite "Must Read" for all Catholics. I always have a copy of it lying around... and I read through it leisurely... never rushing through it or trying to finish it as quickly as possible. When I do finish reading it, it doesn't tend to be too long before I start reading it again. I not only have it in "book" form - I also have it on my Kindle, so I'm able to have it on me at all times via the Kindle app for my iPhone. The "Tan Classics" paperback edition is fantastic. Great quality... it's able to hold up to heavy use. The printing/text is very easy and comfortable to read. The cover is nice, and is also quite sturdy. Bottom-line: "Yes" - you should buy and read this book!

A must have book for Catholic Christians or Christians in general.

From the moment I picked up this book, I could not put it down. It is a book that ignites faith and sustained hope for those who are going through life adversities.

Reason for Reading: Our church has been run by the Carmelites for over 100 years. Our priests are Carmelites and we have a statutory of St. Therese in the building. I was much intrigued about her "little way' and after watching the recent 2004 movie about her life was ready to read her autobiography. In truth, the book is really not an autobiography but more of a snippet of memoirs. It is divided into three pieces, the first, being the longest, was commissioned by her Mother Superior who also happened to be her sister. This is where Therese tells of her childhood up until she is accepted into Carmel. Therese was a sheltered child, raised along with 4 other sisters who also became nuns and devout Catholic parents who kept them from the worldly ways of life but raised them within a deeply loving family atmosphere. Therese was very much childlike her entire life of 24 years, never having experienced any of life's degradations and was a complete innocent in so many matters. Yet her soul belonged to the Lord from a very early age (three) and she knew she wanted to be a saint. Even though her mother died while she was still young her childhood seems to have been happy enough, with Therese preparing herself for a Religious life and a holy, saintly, Heavenly eternal life which may have taken some of the childhood fun out of her but her soul was content with this and she yearned to suffer for Jesus while she was exiled here on earth. The second piece is a much shorter memoir written for another Mother of the Abbey who had requested Therese write of life at Carmel. Here we see Therese grow-up though she will always retain her childlike innocence. Here for the first time she will actually suffer from things the reader is more able to relate to rather than the childish sufferings in the first part. Therese met fellow Sisters who did not care for her because of her young age and the nepotism that seemed to be going on with her family within the Abbey. She was treated harshly by some, worked hard at back breaking chores, and never let her faith slip. She learned to put into practice what she called her "little way", making small, little efforts to please to the Lord. Over time these little things will add up to a greater good in the end. Finally, the last piece is more of a letter written to Sister Marie (again her actual sister) who has asked for a small piece from her as she now lays on her deathbed dying of Tuberculosis. Here she writes of her most secret thoughts and desires and requests of Jesus. Her visions, dreams and then glories that await her when she reaches Heaven as she knows she will be gong straight there to continue her work of saving earthly souls from her place in Heaven. A beautiful little book, with a powerful message between its deceptively short pages. St. Therese was not writing for anyone to read other than her intended singular audience and perhaps she knew other sisters would read her words. Thus she writes simply and childlike and again this can be deceptive to the reader especially as one goes through the first half of the book about her childhood but there are some very wise lessons about living, love and the pursuit of eternal life that came from this dear soul who died at the age of 24. She actually gives us a way to live our lives according to the Gospels, her "Little Way" is an inspiring way to lead one's life. She was not made a Doctor of the Church without reason. This is one of those books that every Catholic should read. I will be finishing my study of St. Therese with one more book which is a fairly recent autobiographical book written about her life and her way.

Good 👍

A very famous book which needs to be read if you are interested in the stories of the saints.