Lisieux is located in the heart of one of the most charming places in Normandy, lies 25 kilometers south of the Côte Fleurie and its prestigious seaside resorts.
It was at the dawn of the twentieth century that France and then the whole world discovered the life and message of a young Norman Carmelite, Sister Therese of the Child Jesus. The town where she lived became a Mecca for spirituality.
Thérèse of Lisieux), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun who is widely venerated in modern times. She is popularly known as "The Little Flower of Jesus", or simply "The Little Flower.”
Thérèse has been a highly influential model of sanctity for Catholics and for others because of the simplicity and practicality of her approach to the spiritual life. Together with Francis of Assisi, she is one of the most popular saints in the history of the church. Pope Pius X called her "the greatest saint of modern times".
Thérèse felt an early call to religious life, and overcoming various obstacles, in 1888 at the early age of 15, she became a nun and joined two of her older sisters in the cloistered Carmelite community of Lisieux, Normandy (yet another sister, Céline, also later joined the order). After nine years as a Carmelite religious, having fulfilled various offices such as sacristan and assistant to the novice mistress, and having spent her last eighteen months in Carmel in a night of faith (a time when she is said to have felt Jesus was absent and when she even felt tormented by doubts about the existence of God), Thérèse died at the age of 24, from tuberculosis.
Her feast day in the General Roman Calendar was 3 October from 1927 until it was moved in 1969 to 1 October. Thérèse is well known throughout the world, with the Basilica of Lisieux being the second most popular place of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes.
This is the first great basilica, built in honor of St. Teresa in the 1930s that attracts the largest number of visitors. The tomb of the Holy exposed in the chapel of the Carmel. The Gothic cathedral, symbol of the glorious past of the city, was the parish church and the beautiful house, the Buissonnets, "the gentle nest of his childhood."
After the Second World War, which profoundly affected the city, the reconstruction work have helped develop an exceptional heritage. timbered houses, churches and mansions are still witnessing a very rich and intense history. Lisieux is also ideally located in the heart of the Pays d'Auge and Normandy from which to explore this beautiful green province with varied landscapes and many flavors.
