The faithful are invited to join the Eucharistic celebration Thursday (Oct. 1) at 10:30 a.m., to celebrate the feast day of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, the youngest Doctor of the Universal Church and one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most popular saints.
The holy mass will be streamed live from the National Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus on Manlunas Street, Villamor Air Base, Pasay City. Only about 150 persons (10 percent of the shrine’s capacity) will be allowed inside the church. Military Ordinariate of the Philippines Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio will preside over the high mass.
Also known as the “Little Flower of Jesus,” St. Therese of Lisieux is the 33rd and the youngest Doctor of the Universal Church. Her sacred relic was brought to the country for the third time in 2013 in time for her 140th birth anniversary.
Born in Alencon, France on January 2, 1873, she entered the Carmelite Monastery of Lisieux in France at the age of 15. She died of tuberculosis at the young age of 24 and was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. In 1927, together with St. Francis Xavier, she was declared the patron of foreign missions.
Pope Pius X referred to St. Therese as “the greatest saint of modern times.” Her major shrine, the Basilica of St. Therese in Lisieux is the second most popular pilgrimage site in France after Lourdes.