To mark our anniversary, we have invited 50 Catholics to choose a person from the past 175 years whose life has been a personal inspiration to them and an example of their faith at its best For many contemporary Cath­olics the sobriquet “the Little Flower” conjures up images of a simpering young woman, sporting rouged cheeks and wearing a brown robe, and holding in her slim, white hands a bouquet of colourful flowers. Countless kitschy holy cards and plaster statuettes depict Thérèse Martin, later known as St Thérèse of Lisieux, as overly pious and more or less unreal. So it is almost always a surprise when sceptics finally read her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, and encounter what you might call the “historical Thérèse