The reason for the visit was the Carmelite order was hosting the relics of one of the Catholic Church's most popular saints, St Thérèse of Lisieux.

"I remember writing a petition to pray to St Thérèse that she might help me to discern my vocation," Fr Peter said.

Wrestling with the priesthood, an answer didn't come straight away.

But he felt differently. "I felt consolation and peace," he said. "I can't really describe it."

The next year Fr Peter did enter the priesthood and has not looked back. He is now assistant parish priest at St Agnes' Parish in Port Macquarie.

Now 18 years after the first visit, St Thérèse's relics and also her parents' relics are in Australia and will be in Port Macquarie on Wednesday, February 19. Her parents Louis and Zélie Martin are also saints.

For Catholics, St Thérèse remains one of the most popular and enduring saints of all time.

Yet on first appearances her life might seem unremarkable.

She was only 15 when she entered the enclosed Carmelite religious order. She died less than ten years later.

Yet despite her short and secluded life, in 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Thérèse a Doctor of the Church in tribute to the powerful effect her spirituality has had on people all over the world.

It was her writings, which were released after her death, which inspired generations of Catholics.

The basic premise was that ordinary people could lead saintly lives without needing to commit heroic acts of virtue.

She believed that her actions were to let God's love work through her, no matter how big or small the task. To do ordinary things with extraordinary love.

Despite this, her own life was marked by tragedy.

Four of her siblings died as children and her beloved mother passed away from breast cancer when she was four.

But she bore her sufferings with fortitude and grace until her death from tuberculosis at age 24.

In her writings she said, "I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth" and many Catholics believe she has interceded with God on their behalf to grant them special favours.

St Agnes' Parish Director of Mission Integration Anne O'Brien is one of those people. Mrs O'Brien's confirmation patron saint is Thérése of Lisieux.

"It may seem like a selfish thing but I chose her because I knew she was a saint who spent her life praying to help people," Mrs O'Brien said.

"I thought she would help me to be a good person and she would look out for me. I feel she has done that."

"When I look at my life I have been blessed, I have a beautiful family, four beautiful children, I have been able to work with lovely people in every school I've worked at."

Bishop of Lismore Greg Homeming says the devotion shown by many Catholics to the relics of saints is similar to that shown to treasured items given to us by people we have loved and that remind us of that person or a special event.

"Relics are physical remains, which connect us with the goodness and holiness of the saint," Bishop Homeming said.

"They remind us of the saint and through the saint move us to live better lives.

"The path to holiness is the path of struggle and ordinary life... carried and lived with love, and dependence on God. They have been where we are, and have together allowed God to perfect them. Being a family, the Martins prove that the family is the seed ground of holiness and goodness. We can learn from them."

Saint Thérése of Lisieux and her parents Saints Louis and Zélie Martin's relics will be at St Agnes' Parish on Wednesday, February 19.

Itinerary as follows: Welcoming at 12pm, Mass (for schools and the community) at 1pm, Veneration and Visitation at 2pm and Mass again at 5pm.

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