Day 9: Doctor of the Church

The ninth and last day of the Saint Therese Novena closes with the highest title the Catholic Church has bestowed on Therese: Doctor of the Church. Pope Saint John Paul II solemnly declared Therese a Doctor of the Universal Church on 19 October 1997, at the close of a year of preparation for the centenary of her death. She is the youngest Doctor of the Church in history, having lived only twenty-four years, and the third woman to bear the title (with Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila, both declared Doctors in 1970).

Today's invocation

Saint Therese, Little Flower of Jesus... (the full opening prayer)

Today's meditation

The title Doctor of the Church (Latin: Doctor Ecclesiae) is given by the Catholic Church to saints whose doctrinal teaching is recognized as having particular universal value for the formation of the Christian soul. Pope Saint John Paul II, in Divini Amoris Scientia (the apostolic letter declaring Therese a Doctor), gave her the proper title Doctor of the Science of Divine Love (Italian: Dottore della Scienza dell'Amore divino).¹

The Catholic Church's recognition of Therese as Doctor of the Church is theologically significant in several ways.

First, it confirms the Catholic doctrinal tradition's openness to the contributions of women. Therese, like Catherine and Teresa, taught the Catholic faith with theological precision and pastoral fruitfulness, and her teaching was found by the Catholic Church to be worthy of the highest doctoral title.

Second, it recognizes the value of experiential theology alongside the speculative theology of the great scholastic Doctors (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Albert the Great). Therese did not write systematic treatises; she wrote her Story of a Soul and her letters from her own experience of the spiritual life. The Catholic Church recognizes both modes of theology as valid and necessary.

Third, it elevates the Little Way itself to the status of doctrine. The Catholic faithful are not only encouraged to admire Therese; they are taught, by the magisterial authority of the Church, that her Little Way is a reliable doctrinal path to holiness. The Catholic spiritual writers of the post-1997 era have increasingly drawn on Therese as authoritative on the same level as the great Doctors of the previous centuries.

Today's intention and act of thanksgiving

Bring to Saint Therese for the last time in this novena your principal intention. Whatever the visible state of the matter at the close of these nine days, give thanks for her intercession.

A traditional Catholic act of thanksgiving and entrustment:

Saint Therese, Doctor of the Church, Patroness of the Missions, Little Flower of Jesus, I thank you for the prayers you have offered with me and for me through these nine days. I commit my intention finally to your hands. I promise to honor you as my heavenly friend, to walk the Little Way you have taught, to pray for the missions of the Catholic Church, and to encourage devotion to you among my friends and family. Saint Therese, intercede for me at the hour of my death, that I may join you in the Beatific Vision and in the love of the Lord forever. Amen.

Reflection

The Catholic devotion to Saint Therese is, in its fullest form, not the seeking of particular favors but the daily walking of the Little Way under her patronage. The novena closes, but the Way continues. Many Catholics keep the simple invocation Saint Therese, pray for us as a daily prayer, and many add the practice of offering small daily acts to her in the spirit of her Way.

The Catholic spiritual writers recommend that the Story of a Soul be read slowly, perhaps a chapter a week, by those who wish to deepen their relationship with Therese. The book, completed in 1897 and published in 1898, has been translated into every major Catholic language and is available in inexpensive editions. To read it is to enter the Carmel of Lisieux for a short period and to absorb the Little Way at its source.

Conclusion of the novena

For the saint herself, see Saint Therese of Lisieux. For other novenas in the Catholic tradition, see the novenas hub. For broader theological context, see the Communion of Saints and Doctor of the Church.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Doctor of the Church, Little Flower, pray for us. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Footnotes

1. Pope Saint John Paul II, Divini Amoris Scientia (apostolic letter, 19 October 1997). Available at vatican.va. The proclamation took place at Saint Peter's Basilica during the Mass of World Mission Sunday. ↩