Welcome to this beautiful and holy place! Our Shrine of St. Therese of the Infant Jesus was founded on April 25, 1947. St. Therese Catholic School began classes on September 15, 1947. During the Marian Year 1954, construction was begun on the Shrine of the Little Flower. It was dedicated on December 4, 1955. From an architectural, construction, materials, cost and artistic standpoint, our church is among the finest celestial buildings in New Mexico. The original price tag was unfathomable in 1954 due to the tons of marble, bronze, oak and Italian glass mosaic tiles used in the walls, floors, alters and furnishings. Located along four major thoroughfares, easy access off of Interstates 40 and 25 and on historic Route 66, we are among the most accessible Catholic Parishes in the city.
We welcome visitors and new parishioners to visit the many beautiful hand crafted statues on site at the Shrine of St. Therese. Some of them include:
Our Lady of the Smile sculpted by Albuquerque artist, Michele vandenHeuvel and was installed in the in the winter of 2017.
Entering the garden gate is the beautiful Saint Therese also sculpted by vandenHeuvel of Bene Bronze in 2015. Relics of Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus were placed inside the bronze sculpture on May 25, 2016 as the sculpture was installed into its concrete and porphyry stone foundations.
Upon entering the church is the Shrine Room where the beautifully hand carved wax statue of Saint Therese of Lisieuxis reclining and dressed in a Carmelite habit, which is one of four entombed statues in the world. There are three other exact replicas of this statue that were carved in France by a Cistercian Monk using the death mask of her face around 1927-1928.
The Stations of the Crossat the Shrine of the Little Flower were designed by French artist Maurice Lucien Loriaux (1908-1998) at his Santa Fe Studios of Church Art once located on Sena Plaza in Santa Fe. The Stations and other statues, symbolic images of citizens of heaven, were fabricated of hand carved oak in the Italian Alps as per Loriaux's design drawings and specifications.
May your visit, prayers and celebration of the mass at the Shrine of the Little Flower bring you peace, blessings and only good things. May God bless your loved ones and you and may St. Therese intercede for you.