Ready to share the story of St. Therese of Lisieux with kids?
Whether you’re a homeschool parent, a school parent, a catechist, or a Catholic school teacher, you can use this plan to give a quick and memorable lesson to your students about this amazing young saint.
St. Therese died when she was only 24 years old, and since we know a lot about her childhood thanks to her autobiography Story of a Soul, she is a beloved saint for many kids. Of course, kids who love flowers will have special affection for this saint who was called “the little flower.”
Before you begin, you’ll want to assemble some coloring supplies, print a free coloring page of St. Therese (here), and decide whether you want to watch a video about St. Therese or read aloud her biography (or both!). You also might want to get a candle and matches for the prayer time.
1Share who St. Therese was
St. Therese is one of the best-known saints, so your kids might know something about her already.
Ask, “Do you know who St. Therese of Lisieux was? She’s sometimes called the Little Flower.”
Listen to what they know about her and discuss some things to know about this beloved saint. You can say something like this:
St. Therese was the youngest of five sisters. She and her family loved each other a lot and helped each other get closer to Jesus, just as we try to do in our family. Her mom and dad are also saints, and all five girls in her family became nuns!
(At this point, you might stop to clarify, “Do you know what a nun is? It’s a lady who doesn’t get married the way we usually think of it; instead, she marries Jesus. She spends a lot of her time praying and helping people, maybe by teaching kids or taking care of sick people. And she has fun with the other nuns who are like her sisters!)
St. Therese had a kind of unusual life story. She knew she wanted to be a nun ever since she was a little girl, about nine years old. But there was a rule that she wasn’t allowed to enter the convent until she was 21. She asked the bishop to let her enter the convent early, and he said no. So then she went all the way to the pope and asked him! Finally she got permission to enter the convent when she was only 16, and she was so happy.
When she was little, she dreamed of being a missionary who went around the world telling people the Good News of Jesus. But since she was a kind of nun who stays inside her convent most of the time, instead she prayed for the missionaries. She prayed really hard. And her prayers were so powerful that lots of missionaries, all over the world, felt her prayers help them to be stronger and better in their work. So today she is the patron saint of missionaries, and she shows us that praying is a really important part of doing God’s work on earth.
St. Therese loved being a nun, but she only lived in the convent for a short time, because she died when she was 24 years old. She must have been so happy to see Jesus and Mama Mary when she got to heaven! Before she died, she said something amazing. She said, “I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses; I wish to spend my heaven in doing good upon the earth.”
This summary is only a small part of all that we know about St. Therese, so you may want to share your own favorite stories about her. If you have a book about her life, that would be perfect to read aloud together. Her story is featured in Princesses of Heaven in case you have it.
If you want to go into more detail about her story, you might want to watch one of the following two videos about her life.
If you have a subscription to Formed, there is a video about St. Therese from Littlest Saints.
2Open the conversation for your kids to share their thoughts
After reading about her, have a short conversation with your kids about her life.
If your kids like crafts (some of mine do, and some don’t), you can pass around a coloring page or show them an image of St. Therese that they can copy. This printable St. Therese statue would be a really fun activity too.
While they draw or color, open up the conversation. You might ask the following questions:
- What did you hear?
- What do you think St. Therese meant when she said, “I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses”?
- Why do you think she wanted to become a nun so much?
- A lot of people in her family became saints. We see this a lot with saints: You usually find saints in groups, because good people help each other to be better. Can you imagine some ways that St. Therese’s parents and sisters maybe helped each other to be saints? Can you think of ways you could help your family to become saints together?
- St. Therese’s parents made a home where it was easy for their children to be good. What do you think a home like that would be like? How can we make our home like that?
- Do you have any questions about St. Therese?
3End with a time of prayer together
Finally, close with prayer. You might light a candle at this point to set aside this prayer time as something special and sacred. Together, you can pray this prayer from St. Therese:
God our Father, you promised your kingdom to the little ones and the humble of heart.
Give us grace to walk confidently in the way of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus,
so that, helped by her prayers, we may see your eternal glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.Amen.
Finally, ask the kids if they want to share their own prayer or song to Jesus before your time of prayer ends.
St. Therese, pray for us!
