St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the “Little Flower of Jesus,” promised before she died: “I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth.” Few saints are invoked as often. Her novena is prayed especially from September 22 to 30, before her feast on October 1, and many people pray the “rose novena” of twenty-four Glory Bes, asking her to send a rose as a sign that their prayer has been heard.
This page gives the traditional prayer to St. Thérèse from a 1925 prayer book, a nine-day novena with her own words from The Story of a Soul, and the 24 Glory Be novena.
The prayer to St. Thérèse (every day)
This “shower of roses” prayer was printed just after her canonization in 1925:
Thou servant of God, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who in thy dying moments didst say: “I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth,” hasten to let fall upon me a Shower of Roses that I too may be inflamed with that fire of love which burned so brilliantly in thy breast and which brought thee so gloriously to the arms of Jesus, my Lord and my God. Amen.
How to pray the novena
- Make the Sign of the Cross and name your intention.
- Read the thought for the day from St. Thérèse.
- Pray the prayer to St. Thérèse above.
- Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.
- Choose one small act of love to offer that day, in the spirit of her “little way.”
Day 1: A little flower of Jesus
Thérèse Martin was born in Alençon, France, on January 2, 1873, the youngest of nine children of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin. She called her life “the story of a little flower.” Today: thank God for the gift of your life and family.
Day 2: Loss and comfort
Her mother died when Thérèse was four. She chose her older sister Pauline as her “second mother.” Today: pray for children who have lost a parent, and for all who grieve.
Day 3: The Christmas grace
At Christmas 1886, at fourteen, she received the grace to overcome her oversensitivity and to forget herself for others. She called it her “complete conversion.” Today: ask for the grace to overcome one weakness.
Day 4: The call to Carmel
At fifteen she begged Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter Carmel early, and on April 9, 1888, she entered the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux. Today: pray for vocations and for courage in following God’s call.
Day 5: The little way
Feeling too small to climb “the steep stairway of perfection,” she discovered a new way to holiness:
I will seek out a means of getting to Heaven by a little way—very short and very straight, a little way that is wholly new. We live in an age of inventions; nowadays the rich need not trouble to climb the stairs, they have lifts instead. Well, I mean to try and find a lift by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection. I have sought to find in Holy Scripture some suggestion as to what this lift might be which I so much desired, and I read these words uttered by the Eternal Wisdom Itself: “Whosoever is a little one, let him come to Me.” Then I drew near to God, feeling sure that I had discovered what I sought; but wishing to know further what He would do to the little one, I continued my search and this is what I found: “You shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees; as one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you.”
Today: do every small thing with great love.
Day 6: My vocation is love
Longing to be a missionary, a martyr, a priest, everything for God, she found her answer in St. Paul’s hymn to charity:
“O Jesus, my Love, at last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love! Yes, I have found my place in the bosom of the Church, and this place, O my God, Thou hast Thyself given to me: in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be LOVE! . . . Thus I shall be all things: thus will my dream be realised. . . .”
Today: find your own place of love in the heart of the Church.
Day 7: The trial of faith
In her last eighteen months, Thérèse suffered from tuberculosis and from a deep darkness of faith, and yet she kept making acts of faith and love. Today: pray for those who are tempted to despair or doubt.
Day 8: “I am not dying, I am entering into life”
She died on September 30, 1897, at twenty-four, with the words, “My God, I love you!” Today: pray for the dying and for a holy death.
Day 9: A shower of roses
Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, spread around the world, and countless favors were attributed to her prayers. She was canonized in 1925, named patroness of the missions in 1927 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Today: thank God for the favors you have received, and ask her to teach you to trust.
The 24 Glory Be novena (the rose novena)
A popular novena in honor of St. Thérèse consists of praying the Glory Be twenty-four times a day for nine days, in thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity for the graces of her twenty-four years of life. It is often prayed from the 9th to the 17th of any month. Before each set of Glory Bes, many add the prayer to St. Thérèse above or simply say, “St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, pray for me.” People often ask her to send a rose, real or in some sign, as a token that their prayer has been heard; but the novena is a prayer of trust, not a test.
See the Glory Be prayer.
When to pray the St. Thérèse novena
| Novena | Begin | End |
|---|---|---|
| Before her feast | September 22 | September 30 (feast October 1) |
| The rose novena | The 9th of any month | The 17th |
| For any need | Any day | Nine days later |
Frequently asked questions
When is the feast of St. Thérèse?
October 1. It is an obligatory memorial in the General Roman Calendar.
Why is she called the Little Flower?
She described herself as a little flower in God’s garden, and her autobiography begins as “the story of a little white flower.”
What does it mean when you receive a rose after the novena?
Many people have reported receiving roses after praying to her, recalling her promise to let fall “a shower of roses.” The Church does not require such signs; the answer to prayer is God’s, and it may come in many forms.
What is St. Thérèse the patron saint of?
The missions (with St. Francis Xavier), florists, the sick, and France (secondary patroness). Many priests and missionaries also consider her their spiritual sister.
More novenas and saints
- St. Thérèse prayer
- Prayer for priests
- Novenas: how to pray a novena
- Patron saints for every need
- The St. Jude novena
- The St. Rita prayer
- Saint of the day
Texts and sources
- Prayer to St. Thérèse: Charles J. Callan and John A. McHugh, Blessed Be God (1925), Devotions in Honor of the Saints, public domain (Wikisource).
- St. Thérèse of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, trans. Thomas N. Taylor (1912; 8th ed., 1922), chapters IX and XI, and the account of her last days, public domain (Project Gutenberg); footnote markers removed.
- John Paul II, apostolic letter Divini Amoris Scientia (1997), proclaiming her Doctor of the Church.
- The daily thoughts were written for this page.