During his June 7 general audience, Pope Francis placed a white rose near the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and announced that he would write an apostolic letter this year for the 150th anniversary of the birth of the saint, popularly known as the Little Flower.
The saint’s reliquary has traveled to more than 80 countries since 1997. The Vatican newspaper reported that the presence of reliquary at the Vatican was the saint’s first “visit” there since 1887, when she asked Pope Leo XIII to allow her to enter the Carmelite order at the age of 15.
Relics of the saint’s parents, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, were also present at the audience.