By outward appearances, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus et de la Sainte Face) lived a simple life anchored to a small cloistered Carmelite community in northwestern France. However, her life was anything but ordinary, and her devotion to Mary and the rosary brought many people to live in faith, even people she would never meet.

In her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, St. Thérèse would often share how she wanted to be a missionary for Christ in every corner of the world. She corresponded with her missionary brothers, offering words of encouragement, as well as the sufferings she endured. She once wrote to one of them, “I offer every step for some missionary who, far away, is exhausted by his work for souls; I offer my exhaustion to relieve his.”

Dearest followers of Christ, you labor like bees in your daily lives to provide for your families and build up society. I ask that you remember the most important task at hand — you too are called to pray, fast and offer good works to establish the Church of Christ in the heart of every nation. No prayer is too small or said too quietly to be heard by the living God and his mother.

I urge you to pray the rosary every day in imitation of this great missionary saint. Thérèse knew that through Mary, all people can come to know her son.

“The rosary is a long chain that links heaven and earth,” St. Thérèse wrote. “One end of it is in our hands and the other end is in the hands of the Holy Virgin.”

Let us give honor to our mother, Mary, and ask for her protection of our brothers and sisters who dedicate their lives to sharing the Gospel throughout the world with our neighbors.

In Christ’s love,

Most Rev. Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS

Bishop of Charleston