Mary Frances Teresa Martin was born at Alencon (Orne) in France on January 2, 1873. She was brought up in a model Christian home, and educated in the Benedictine convent at Lisieux. While still a child she felt the attraction of the cloister, and at fifteen had by persistent entreaties obtained permission to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. She wanted to offer herself in sacrifice for priests and missionaries and the whole Church. She heard God’s call to little ones to come to Him and surrendered herself forever with childlike confidence to God’s “merciful love.” She died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24, and was canonized in 1925. She has never ceased to fulfill her promise: “I will pass my heaven in doing good on earth,” and the cult of the “Little Flower” has had an extraordinary extension and influence. Pope XI in 1927 declared her patron of all foreign missions, and Pius XII made her patroness of France.