n 1925, Pope Pius XI canonized a French Carmelite nun named Sr. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897). Born Marie-François-Thérèse Martin to devout and loving parents – Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, who were themselves canonized together as a couple in 2015! – Thérèse was the youngest of nine children, although of her siblings only four other sisters lived past early childhood.
Excepting one pilgrimage to Rome with her father, Thérèse never left the Normandy region of France where she was raised. During her life, she never built any hospitals, never cared for any orphans, never begged alms for the poor, and never traveled to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel. When she lay dying of tuberculosis at the age of only 24, she overheard her fellow Carmelites wondering, “What will we write in her obituary? She hasn’t done anything.”
And yet…Thérèse realized that her mission was not to be carried out on earth, but in heaven. She famously said: “I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will let fall a shower of roses.” Within just a handful of years after her death, the Carmel of Lisieux was receiving hundreds of letters per day containing the stories of miracles attributed to her intercession. Even before she was canonized, Pope Pius X called her “the greatest saint of modern times.” She has since been named co-patroness of world missions alongside St. Francis Xavier, co-patroness of France alongside St. Joan of Arc, and one of only 36 saints in history to be accorded the title of Doctor of the Church.
St. Thérèse is loved by so many, yet devotional songs to her seem to be few and far between. I hope that this article – a catalog of sorts – will serve as a useful starting point for anyone searching for such music. I make every effort to credit the authors of the hymns or hymnals (as far as they are known) from which these texts are drawn. The following survey makes no claims to being exhaustive, but will, I hope, be edifying. Most importantly, I pray that these hymns will help us to grow in our devotion to St. Thérèse, and in doing so grow closer still to her Spouse, our Eucharistic Lord.
Title: Hymn to St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, “The Little Flower”
Author/Source: H. Maery, Dwyer’s Catholic Hymn Book (1936)
Meter: 7.6.7.6 Irregular
O Blessed “Little Flower,”
With joy thy praise we sing.
How wondrous great thy power,
Dear spouse of Christ the King!
Glory to Him who destined thee
His merciful love to impart,
Glory for ever that thou shouldst be
So loved of His Sacred Heart.
O Blessed “Little Flower,”
Thy fragrance ne’er shall cease;
Let roses in a shower
Descend from thee, Therese.
Roses of love, of love like thine,
Roses of ev’ry grace,
Happy Therese of the Child Divine,
The Child and the Holy Face.
O Blessed “Little Flower,”
Obtain for us, we pray,
That we may gain rich dower
Through thine own “little way.”
Scatter thy roses o’er our path;
Teach us the art divine,
Ever to live but for Him Who hath
His love and His way made thine.
Title: How well I know that all our honesties…
Author/Source: The Summit Choirbook (1983)
Meter: 10.10.10.10
How well I know that all our honesties
Are worthless in Your eyes, are empty signs.
To make my sacrifices verities
I cast them, Lord, within Your Heart’s confines.
In lightnings, You handed down Your law;
Yet will I hide, all fearless, in Your Heart.
In Your eyes even angels show a flaw;
You, Lord, are all my virtue, all my art.
To scatter flowers for You, to sacrifice
My smallest sigh and my intensest dread,
My sorrows, bliss, renunciations, joys –
Behold, here are my roses, white and red!
Title: Lift up thine eyes unto the hills…
Author/Source: An anonymous Carmelite nun in A Daily Hymn Book Accompaniments (1932) via Dwyer’s Catholic Hymn Book (1936)
Meter: 8.8.8.8 (Long Meter)
Note: Typographical errors in Dwyer’s Catholic Hymn Book checked against A Daily Hymn Book Accompaniments and corrected in the text below by Veronica Brandt.
Lift up thine eyes unto the hills,
And see o’er Carmel’s distant height,
A new and brilliant star, which thrills
Our souls with its celestial light!
‘Mid all the stars which crown our Queen,
Or lilies of her heav’nly bower,
No star, no bloom hath fairer been
Than Jesus’ humble “Little Flow’r,”
Hers was no life to gain renown,
Or move the world her praise to sing,
She won no martyr’s ruby crown,
No message bore to Pope or King.
Then, why the bright, unearthly glow
Which crowns that brow so sweet and mild?
It mirrors forth, for us below,
Christ’s words: “Be as a little child.”
Hidden by Carmel’s cloister-wall,
But e’en more “hid with Christ in God,”
Love’s victim, who, in giving all,
Her “Little Way” unswerving trod.
No earthly cloud e’er came between
Teresa and her Only Love,
While all unnotic’d and unseen,
She lived as angels live above.
And still her pray’rs make sick men whole,
To anguish’d minds bring peace and rest—
More wondrous still, those heal’d in soul
By thousands “rise, and call her blest.”
Teresa of the Child Divine!
Styl’d “Saint” by Holy Church’s pow’r,
The sacred aureole is thine—
But still thou’rt Jesus’ “Little Flower.”
Title: Let all who lovingly avow…
Author/Source: Office of Readings for the Feast of St. Thérèse
Meter: 8.8.8.8 (Long Meter)
Let all who lovingly avow
Those gifts the Christ Child came to share
Acclaim Thérèse’s virtues now
And praise her name in song and prayer.
Her patroness and mother chose
The lofty peaks of Carmel’s height
And there Thérèse in fervor goes
To follow Christ, her one delight.
Inspired by Jesus to convey
Amazing secrets of his grace,
She taught the world the simple way
Of childhood that the Gospels trace.
More like an angel than a child
She gathered virtue’s flowers at will
By whose sweet scent was God beguiled,
Whose tender fragrance charms us still.
Yet joy itself could not portray
The surge of her immense desire
Nor cloister walls have strength to stay
A love that swept the world like fire.
All glory, Jesus, be to you
This day revealed to little ones,
To Father and blest Spirit, too,
While age on age forever runs.
Title: Her boundless love for Christ her Lord…
Author/Source: Morning Prayer for the Feast of St. Thérèse
Meter: 8.8.8.8 (Long Meter)
Her boundless love for Christ her Lord
Impels Thérèse to greater things.
The martyr’s and apostle’s crown
To crown of virgins now she brings.
To be a victim of God’s love
Her heart aglow with mystic fire,
She begs her Spouse by love consume
Her life, a holocaust entire.
When death, the herald of true life,
Brings to its close, her life’s brief race,
She calls, “I love you” as she dies
And hastens to meet Christ’s embrace.
Now savoring all heaven’s joys,
The glories by her virtues won,
May she that shower of roses send
Which once she promised to her own.
O King of meek and gentle heart
Who for the little ones prepare
Your feast, grant us who follow her
In childlike trust, to enter there.
All praise be to the Father now,
Praise also to his only Son,
The Spirit in all virgin souls,
As ages endless through time run.
Title: From your bright place in heaven…
Author/Source: Alternative Morning Prayer for the Feast of St. Thérèse (Source)
Meter: 7.6.7.6
From your bright place in heaven,
Thérèse, where you now reign,
Let fall a shower of roses,
Do not our prayer disdain.
Fair roses tinged with glory:
Faith’s light, hope’s glad desire,
Love’s flame, so strong yet tender,
To set our hearts afire.
Send too the rose of childhood,
That trusting openness
Which finds in every moment
Our Father’s will to bless.
We honor you, O Jesus,
Revealed to little ones,
With Father and blest Spirit
While course of ages runs.
Title: From clear high mansions of that shining place…
Author/Source: Evening Prayer for the Feast of St. Thérèse
Meter: 11.11.11.5
From clear high mansions of that shining palace
Where you enjoy the light of God’s dear presence,
And plead our causes, mindful of your promise
Shower down your roses.
Roses of faith to shed its light supernal,
Roses of hope when obstacles surround us,
And for our strengthening in daily living
Roses of pure love.
Through your own childlike confidence and candor
Send us the rose of quietly discerning
Love of a Father, shining in each happening
Both sweet and bitter.
This be our portion, God forever blessed,
Father eternal, Son and Holy Spirit,
Whose is the glory which through all creation
Resounds forever.
Title: Therese, the flame of love bright
Author/Source: The Community of Teresian Carmelites of Worcester, MA (Source)
Meter: 7.6.7.6
Therese, the flame of love bright
Abided in your heart.
You listened still like Mary
And chose the better part.
You made yourself a dwelling
For Him who reigns above.
O sing for us your story,
Your canticle of love.
To live of love’s your story,
A hidden life unknown,
Just like the tender Master
Who had no earthly home.
But love, your sole desire,
Transformed all time and space;
In every place and moment,
You found God’s loving grace.
Your melody of love sung
Will find a welcome here;
Its descant’s high resounding
Will cast out all our fear.
The God of love and mercy,
With whom you took delight,
Will be for us a shelter
By day and in our night.
Title: St. Therese, the Little Flower chosen by the Lord above…
Author/Source: Sr. Debra-Therese Carroll, CTC (Source)
Meter: 8.7.8.7
St. Therese, the Little Flower
Chosen by the Lord above,
Light the spark of love within us,
Chosen flower, rose of love.
As we make our prayers and petitions,
Bring them to God’s holy throne;
Let your perfume go before them,
Making our requests your own.
Sweet apostle of God’s mercy,
In whose love you came to share,
You surrendered self completely
In your tasks and in your prayer.
Lead us to that lowly valley
Where the humble find their God;
Light our pathway, cheer our spirits,
Walking where the Master trod.
Confidence, abandonment,
Simplicity in us instill
That like you we may completely
Follow God’s most tender will.
In the hours of great darkness,
Light the lamp of faith we need,
Trusting your eternal promise
That for us you’ll intercede.
Title: Saint Teresa, flow’r of grace…
Author/Source: The Living Parish Hymn Book (1961)
Meter: 7.7.7.7.5
Saint Teresa, flow’r of grace,
Hidden save from God thy worth,
Turn not from our earnest prayer,
Show’r thy roses on the earth,
Little Flow’r of God.
God alone the Leader was,
On His shoulders thou wert borne,
Like an eagle’s were His wings,
Spread to guard thee night and morn,
Little Flow’r of God.
From above, now thou canst see
All earth’s grief and bitter pain,
Save the world and our dear land,
Pray that Christ our King may reign,
Little Flow’r of God.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us!
