St. Theresa

When Theresa was 15, she told her father of her desire to become a Carmelite. While her father agreed, the Carmel authorities and the local bishop refused her because of her age. Some months later, on a French pilgrimage, the family joined in a public audience with Pope Leo XIII. Theresa boldly broke the unwritten rule of silence and asked the Pope to be allowed to enter Carmel. At first he denied her request but by the end of that year permission was given and Theresa Martin entered Carmel at Lisieux where she made it her special mission to pray for priests.

By order of her superior, Mother Agnes (who was her sister Pauline), she was commanded to write an autobiography, The Story of a Soul, which is still recognized for its deep spiritual wisdom and beauty and for being an invitation to experience joy in serving and loving.

Theresa died at the age of 24. Her death generated a tremendous following and she became known at the "Little Flower". She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923 and declared a saint, Saint Theresa-of-the-Child-Jesus, in 1925.

St. Theresa is imaged in the stained glass window surrounded by roses and holding the Cross. Pastors Fr. Stevenson (appointed pastor of St. Angela's in 1937) and Msgr. McGlynn (appointed pastor of St. Angela's in 1956) were both ordained in 1918, just prior to Theresa being canonized. This, along with the great devotion to her memory, is what likely inspired the decision to chose her image for this window when the sanctuary was added in 1960.