Incense for Saint Therese of Lisieux: The Little Flower
Saint Therese of Lisieux is one of four women named Doctors of the Catholic Church, and the patroness of the missions, though she never left her Carmelite cloister. She lived only twenty-four years (1873 to 1897) and is known around the world by the name she gave herself: the Little Flower of Jesus. Her way to holiness, the Little Way, holds that sanctity is found in small, ordinary acts of love done with great trust in God. The Church canonized her in 1925, and Saint John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1997. She was only the third woman to receive the title.
Her feast is October 1. Her sign is the rose: before she died she promised to "spend my heaven doing good on earth" and to "let fall a shower of roses." This post covers her life, the Little Way, and the Milagros Saint Therese resin, which recreates an incense blend first made for her own Carmel.
Who Saint Therese was
Therese Martin was born in Alençon, France, the youngest of five surviving daughters in a devout Catholic family. Her mother died when Therese was four, and her father moved the girls to Lisieux. At fifteen, after asking Pope Leo XIII in person during a pilgrimage to Rome, she entered the Carmel of Lisieux, where her older sisters Pauline and Marie had gone before her. She stayed there until her death from tuberculosis at twenty-four.
Her Carmelite life was hidden: no preaching, no public ministry, no travel. Her gift to the Church came from a manuscript she wrote in obedience to her prioress, Story of a Soul (Histoire d'une âme), published a year after her death. It spread from France across Europe and then the world. Pope Saint Pius X called her "the greatest saint of modern times."
The Little Way
The core idea of the Little Way is that holiness does not require great deeds. The ordinary duties of the day, such as washing dishes, bearing with a difficult sister, or accepting a small humiliation without answering back, become the material of sanctity when they are offered to God with love. Therese rooted it in the Gospel image of the child: "Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Against the more severe spirituality of her century, she insisted that confidence in God's mercy is the heart of the spiritual life.
The Little Way became one of the most widely followed spiritualities of the twentieth century. Saint Teresa of Calcutta took her religious name from her, and millions of lay Catholics found in Therese a saint whose path was within their reach.
Why incense, and the Milagros Saint Therese blend
Therese is the saint of small offerings, and incense fits the Little Way closely. A few grains of resin go on the charcoal with an intention you may never say aloud. The gesture is small, the smoke rises and fades, and what matters is the heart that offers it.
The Milagros Saint Therese resin recreates an 1850 blend from the Carmel of Lisieux, composed by Fr. Charles Dominique Renier, the priest who designed the chapel where Therese would later live and die. Olibanum, myrrh and rose petals are layered in the French style of the period. The result is deep and complex, closer to an old European church incense than to a floral perfume, and it is strong: a little goes a long way.
There are two prayer kits. The standard kit pairs the resin with a pink ceramic burner shaped like a rose. The red kit has a red rose burner and red packaging, a nod to the crimson roses of her promise. Both carry 0.7 oz of resin and six quick-light charcoal tablets.
For her feast on October 1
Both prayer kits hold the same Saint Therese resin with a burner, charcoal and tongs. The resin also comes on its own if you already have a burner.
Prayer kitSaint Therese prayer kit0.7 oz of Saint Therese resin, a pink rose-shaped ceramic burner, six quick-light charcoal tablets and tongs.$34.90See the kit
Red presentationSaint Therese red prayer kitThe same resin, charcoal and tongs, with a red rose burner and red packaging.$34.90See the kit
Just the resinSaint Therese resinOlibanum, myrrh and rose petals, from a small sachet to a large canister for a parish or long novenas.From $4.96Choose a size
How to use Saint Therese incense at home
Three patterns work well.
The Little Way, every day. A few grains of Saint Therese resin on the charcoal during morning prayer or evening Compline, with a single intention: "I offer this small act for..." The smoke is the visible sign of the offering. Fifteen minutes is enough.
A novena to Saint Therese. Nine consecutive days of prayer for one intention. Light the resin on the first evening and again each evening through the ninth, and set a single rose beside it if you have one. Many Catholic families speak of a "rose sign," an unexpected rose received or noticed during the novena, as a mark of her intercession. A novena begun on September 22 ends on the eve of her feast.
October 1, her feast. The prayer kit, a single rose on the table, and the Gospel of the day's Mass. Children take to this devotion easily because of the roses.
New to burning resin? The step-by-step method is in How to Burn Resin Incense.
Frequently asked questions
When is the feast of Saint Therese?
October 1 in the current Roman calendar. The calendar used before 1969 kept her feast on October 3.
What is the "shower of roses"?
Her promise near the end of her life: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth... I will let fall a shower of roses." Catholics have understood it both literally, as roses noticed during prayer for her intercession, and as an image of the graces she obtains from God for those who ask.
Why is she called the Little Flower?
She chose the name herself in Story of a Soul. Looking at the variety of flowers in nature, she understood that not every soul is called to be a rose or a lily, and that the small flowers also belong in God's garden.
Is she a Marian saint or a Carmelite saint?
Both, in the Carmelite way. Carmelite spirituality is deeply Marian, since Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the order's patroness, and Therese's love for the Virgin Mary runs through Story of a Soul.
What is the difference between the standard kit and the red kit?
The resin, charcoal and tongs are the same. The standard kit has a pink rose burner; the red kit has a red rose burner and red packaging. Choose whichever suits your home altar or the person you are giving it to.
How strong is the Saint Therese resin?
Strong. It is a full, high-feast blend, so start with two or three small grains and add more only when the smoke fades. In a small room, open a window.
A small offering each day
The Saint Therese prayer kit has what you need to begin: the Carmel of Lisieux resin, a rose burner, charcoal and tongs.
Or browse:
- Pure resin incense, including the Saint Therese resin from 0.3 oz to 17.6 oz
- All prayer and starter kits
- Related: How to Burn Frankincense Resin
Milagros resins are made in Brazil. Every order ships from Florida.