three surviving sisters who were also Carmlite nuns in the Lisieux convent, with a view to helping promote the life story of this extraordinary young woman. Quickly, Canon Taylor became an acknowledged expert on the life and work of St. Thérèse and, beginning in 1902, published regular articles in Catholic newspapers of the day of to engender broader awareness of the young Carmelite nun of Lisieux throughout the United Kingdom. Thanks to the Canon's efforts, her enclosed life of devotion to Jesus and her "little way" to God attracted considerable admiration in Scotland, England and Ireland following his publications. Canon Taylor believed that St. Thérèse, a future Doctor of the Church, would become an important figure early in the new century. He also spoke to the Vatican Committee which considered St. Thérèse's cause for canonization and was present in Rome in 1925 soon before little Thérèse was proclaimed a Saint of the Church. So, as a measure of his devotion to the Little Flower, the Canon added a statue of St. Thérèse directly across from that of Our Lady of Lourdes. The shrine's statue to St. Thérèse was erected within weeks of her beatification in Rome by Pope Pius XI on 29 April 1923, an event which the Canon attended. The decision to erect the statue was controversial. Some pilgrims expressed the view that this "new" Saint's statue should not stand in such proximity to that of the Blessed Mother. The Canon took the unusual step of collecting these opinions and sending copies to the Superior of the Carmelite convent in France where St. Thérèse had lived her vocational life. The Mother Superior's advice was that the statue should remain in its location, and she predicted that the Carfin Lourdes Grotto would enjoy large numbers of pilgrims as a result. St. Thérèse of Lisieux is the secondary patroness of the grotto after Our Lady. In August of 2019 the relics of Bernadette of Lourdes were brought to Scotland specifically the chapel and grotto, where 30,000 people came to visit the relics. Students from Taylor High School, New Stevenston carried the relics from St Theresa's church into the vehicle in which they were taken to Carfin, and then from the vehicle into St Xavier's church. National and international pilgrims By the time of Canon Taylor's death in 1963, the Carfin Lourdes Grotto enjoyed a high national profile and attracted tens of