She was prone to tears as a girl, developed a childlike trust in God and, after her death at 24, became the first saint whose life was photographed extensively.

She is also patron saint of Roman Catholic missions worldwide, on equal footing with St. Francis Xavier, and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II. More than 1,800 churches bear her name.

And, more than likely, she was a relative of some of Maine’s St. John Valley residents.

In coming days, two churches just across the border from Maine will be host to some relics of St. Therese of Lisieux, known as the “Little Flower.”

“I invite everyone to be near St. Therese,” said Monsignor Francois Thibodeau, bishop of Edmundston, New Brunswick, across from Madawaska, Maine. “Many say she is the greatest saint of modern times.”

Relics, which comes from a Latin word meaning “remains,” are objects connected with a saint, including body parts and clothing. They are not worshipped in the Roman Catholic tradition but are venerated, or honored.

Some of St. Therese’s bones will be part of a nearly 300-pound reliquary, which is like an open casket covered with a clear, plasticlike material. It measures 41/2 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet high and was designed by a Brazilian artist in 1927.

The reliquary has been traveling across Canada and will enter the Diocese of Edmundston at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Quebec-New Brunswick line. At 4 p.m., a welcoming ceremony will be held at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral at Edmundston. The relics will remain at the cathedral until 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, then be taken to the Assumption Church at Grand Falls, New Brunswick, where they will remain until 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 7.

The Rev. Richard Ouellette, pastor of the Parish of St. David at Madawaska, said there was a strong devotion to St. Therese among French Catholics of the St. John Valley. He said many parents in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s named daughters after her.

“Many of our [St. John Valley French people] come from her area of France,” Ouellette said. “We have some Martins in the area that can trace themselves to her family roots.”

St. Therese was born Therese Martin in 1873. Web sites devoted to her say she was a precocious, pampered child. One biography notes a childhood sensitivity that left her prone to tears. She became ill with a fever before being healed by the Virgin Mary at the age of 11.

Two years later, she experienced a religious conversion. After considerable opposition because of her youth, she was allowed to enter a Carmelite convent at age 15.

She never founded an order or traveled extensively, but stressed the grace she found at work and in simple things in the events of her life. She suffered from tuberculosis and died Sept. 30, 1897.

After her death, a sister edited and distributed her writings and, as the HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism says, “Her teaching shows how the most ordinary human existence contains material for extraordinary holiness.” Her focus was unlimited hope in God’s merciful love and close attention to the power of prayer.

Photos of her were widely distributed and events, including several miraculous cures and many high-profile conversions, were attributed after her death to her promised “shower of roses.”

Barely 13 years after her death, work on her canonization began. She was beatified in 1923 and canonized two years later by Pope Pius XI. As a Doctor of the Church – an expression from the Middle Ages – St. Therese is considered among the saints whose writings are considered outstanding in guiding the faithful.

“We hope that the passage of St. Therese of Lisieux in our midst [will] help us encounter like her the living God,” Thibodeau said. “She entered into life in order to carry on her mission to be a witness of the love of Jesus.”

Canada is the 22nd country to welcome the reliquary of St. Therese since a worldwide tour began in 1995. During the Canadian tour, the relics will be viewed in 40 of the country’s 63 dioceses.

“We have a one-hour time slot to share in the celebration of this great saint,” Ouellette said. “The closest her relics were to us in the 1999 tour of the United States was Boston.”

Prayer services are scheduled each hour while the relics are at the Edmundston cathedral, from 4 p.m. to midnight Wednesday.

On Thursday, services start at 6 a.m. and continue until the departure of the relics at 6 p.m.

At noon Thursday, one hour is dedicated to prayers by Maine parishes.

The relics will continue their tour of eastern Canada until they return to France.