A QUEUE to see the relics of a saint snaked out into the street outside Nottingham's St Barnabas Cathedral yesterday.

Mothers, fathers, children and grandparents all viewed the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, practitioner of "the Little Way" an inspiration to many whose desire to do good outweighs the scale on which they can do that good.

St Thérèse died more than a century ago, in France, at the age of 24. The relics, which have been touring the world for more than a decade, arrived in Britain for the first time earlier this year.

The Lewises – Lynne and Gary and their children Caitlin, eight, Scarlett, two, and Archie, one – made it a family outing. Caitlin has been learning about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux at Blessed Robert Widmerpool Primary School, in Clifton.

"We learned that she carried these beads with her," Caitlin said. "She lifted one bead up if she did something good, and if she did something bad she put one down. She wanted to follow Jesus's footsteps."

Another family group included Angela Taylor and son, Ryan, 12, from Mansfield.

"We've had a few worries in the family," Angela said. "So we decided to come and say a few prayers."

They sought intercession from a saint who would have understood family worries.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux's mother died when she was a little girl; when she had just become a nun as a teenager, her father was sent to an asylum. She died young after a life beset by illness.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux wanted to minister in missions on the other side of the world, but she died of tuberculosis in the town where she grew up before she got the chance. However, her teachings and beliefs, enunciated in the one slender autobiographical volume she left behind, would travel the world in her place. The "Little Way", as her philosophy would become known, was that of a person who praised God through small deeds when large acts were not made available to her.

"Love proves itself by deeds," she wrote, "so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.''

Her writings began to receive attention, and she was canonised 28 years after her death, in 1925. At the time, her passing largely went un-remarked.

"There were only 30 people present at her funeral," said Father Michael Brown, Cathedral Dean of St Barnabas.

''But the humility displayed in her writings, and the simple belief that a "small" person could find God through small acts, spoke to people."