Tears and prayers greet St. Thérèse relics in Towson

TOWSON – Emily Linthicum’s eyes filled with tears the moment she touched the arched plexiglass that surrounded an ornate 300-pound reliquary containing some of the bones of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Nov. 26.

The 35-year-old social worker had traveled nearly 400 miles from Boston at the height of Thanksgiving travel season to reach the Carmelite Monastery of Baltimore in Towson, where the relics were available for public veneration Nov. 25-26.

A child prays before a reliquary containing some bones of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Nov. 26, 2025, at the Carmelite Monastery of Baltimore in Towson. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Pausing in prayer as she held her face in her free hand, Linthicum seemed overwhelmed. A nearby woman wrapped an arm around her in support.

St. Thérèse was a 19th-century Discalced Carmelite nun known for her “Little Way” – performing ordinary acts with extraordinary love and trust in God. Despite her deep faith, she experienced a “dark night of the soul” while dying of tuberculosis at 24, doubting the existence of eternal life before ultimately holding fast to her beliefs.

“Even with her dark night of the soul, she still knew herself as a beloved child of God,” Linthicum explained moments after venerating the relics. “I’ve always struggled with that understanding.”

Linthicum, who was accompanied by her parents, Richard and Mary Linthicum, parishioners of St. Ignatius in Hickory, called being in the presence of St. Thérèse’s relics “overwhelming.”

“It’s just amazing, incredible, awe-filled and all powerful,” said Linthicum, a Maryvale Preparatory School, Lutherville, alumna whose devotion runs so deep she has roses tattooed on one arm – a tribute to the saint’s promise to “let fall a shower of roses” after her death in signs of answered prayers she would send from heaven.

An original signed charcoal drawing of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, sketched by her younger sister, Carmelite Sister Céline Martin, was displayed Nov. 26, 2025, at the Carmelite Monastery in Towson, near relics of the saint. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Linthicum wasn’t alone in her love for St. Thérèse.

Well more than 1,000 people of all ages reverently filed past the relics during the saint’s two-day stop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Many pressed rosaries, prayer cards or other objects against the encased reliquary. An original signed charcoal drawing of St. Thérèse, sketched by her younger sister, Carmelite Sister Céline Martin, watched over the crowd from an easel adorned with roses at its base.

The relics, usually kept in St. Thérèse’s native France, are traveling across the United States as part of a pilgrimage marking both the 100th anniversary of the saint’s canonization and the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year. They last visited the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1999, stopping at the Carmelite Monastery and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.

Carmelite Sister Judy Long, prioress of the Carmelite Monastery, said she was moved to see so many people from different walks of life pray before the relics.

“I hope they take away how much God loves them – unconditionally,” Sister Judy said. “There’s no conditions on God’s love. His mercy, his love – it’s there. It’s an infinite abyss that all you have to do is ask for. God loves everybody.”

Carmelite Father Steven Payne, chairman of Carmelite Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., delivers the homily in the presence of relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux during a Nov. 26, 2025, Mass at the Carmelite Monastery of Baltimore in Towson. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Sister Judy explained that relics create a tangible sense of connection to a saint, much like visiting a loved one’s grave evokes their presence. People felt deeply moved because having part of St. Thérèse physically present allowed them to bring their joys and struggles to her, the prioress said, trusting the saint would present them to Jesus.

In his homily during a special Nov. 26 Mass at the monastery, Carmelite Father Steven Payne, chairman of Carmelite Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., pointed out that the phrase “performing ordinary acts with extraordinary love” is often attributed to St. Thérèse even though she didn’t use those precise words. St. Teresa of Kolkata helped popularize the phrase, he said, echoing St. Thérèse’s emphasis on childlike trust and offering small acts to God.

Yet St. Thérèse recognized that one can’t earn holiness or God’s love, Father Payne said. Performing acts in love is an expression of gratitude for the infinite and transformative merciful love that God has freely showered on his children, he said.

“They are like the little gifts that children bring to their parents – big dandelions, buttercups or very shiny rocks,” Father Payne said. “The gifts aren’t really that significant in themselves – it’s the love that gives them.”

Click play below to watch a video about the relics. Story continues beneath.

St. Thérèse, a doctor of the Catholic Church, believed that God can use all those tiny expressions of gratitude for the good of others to save souls,” the priest said.

Mitch and Kellie Matack, parishioners of St. John in Westminster, brought their five children, ages 1-13, to the Mass and venerated the relic. Holding her 1-year-old son, Leo, Kellie Matack pressed her head against the reliquary and prayed for St. Thérèse’s intercession. Her 11-year-old daughter, McKinley, pressed a doll of St. Thérèse against the same sacred object.

Carmelite Sister Judy Long, prioress of the Carmelite Monastery in Towson, welcomes worshippers to Mass Nov. 26, 2025. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

The Matacks, who are expecting another child, were among many homeschooling families to visit the relics in Baltimore.

“It’s just powerful to be near someone so holy,” said Matack, holding back tears. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ekaterina Mamachev, originally from Russia, traveled to Baltimore from New Jersey with her mother, Nadia, to see the relics. Mamachev, 35, is Greek Orthodox and heard about the pilgrimage through a Catholic women’s Facebook group.

“I made several genuflections and I kissed the glass and put my head against the relic,” Mamachev said. “My spiritual father taught me when venerating relics, it’s as if you’re whispering in their ear, you’re talking to them. I was praying for everyone I could think of for St. Thérèse to continue helping us. And, of course, she was also a mistress of novices, so she knows how to reach everybody’s heart.”

A woman presses rosaries against plexiglass encasing relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux displayed Nov. 26, 2025, at the Carmelite Monastery of Baltimore in Towson. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Abby Toro, a parishioner of St. Mark in Fallston, brought her two children, 3 and 7, to the monastery. She had just completed Father Michael Gaitley’s book, “33 Days to Merciful Love: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Consecration to Divine Mercy,” which focuses on St. Thérèse. Venerating the relic was a fitting culmination to that consecration, Toro said.

“I just felt goosebumps, and I still feel goosebumps all over my body,” she said. “I just feel the overwhelming love of Jesus – and I know that’s Big Sister St. Thérèse helping (and) guiding the way.”

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Also see:

St. Therese’s Little Way in Action

Relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux coming to Baltimore