Familial Origins of the Little Way

This paper examines the familial origins of The Little Way, the spiritual doctrine developed by St. Thérèse of Lisieux, by tracing its foundations in the piety, virtues, and lived example of her biological family. While Thérèse's theological contributions have been extensively studied, this analysis shifts focus to the domestic 'soil of sanctity' that nurtured her spirituality - particularly the influence of her parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, and her sisters Pauline and Céline. Both parents, though thwarted in their own religious vocations, cultivated an environment of unwavering devotion, humility, and abandon to divine providence, modeling the core tenets of Thérèse's later spirituality. Zélie's maternal trust in God's mercy amid profound suffering and Louis's austere yet joyful submission to divine will provided Thérèse with a template for her own "little" acts of love and sacrifice. Meanwhile, Pauline, as Thérèse's surrogate mother and later her Carmelite superior, shaped her early theological formation and later curated the dissemination of The Story of a Soul, ensuring the Little Way's coherence as a spiritual path. Céline, Thérèse's closest companion, further refined its reception through her photographic documentation and postmortem writings, bridging the cloister and the wider Church. By situating Thérèse's spirituality within her family's collective witness, this paper argues that the Little Way emerged not in isolation but as an organic development of a shared domestic holiness - one that transformed ordinary familial bonds into a blueprint for universal sanctity. Louis and Zélie are the forerunners: Pauline and Céline are the guardians of the Little Way.