Church of the Little Flower (Coral Gables, Florida)

Church of the Little Flower
Church of the Little Flower in June 2010
Country	United States of America
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.cotlf.org
Architecture
Years built	1951
Specifications
Capacity	900
Administration
Archdiocese	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami

The Church of the Little Flower is a Roman Catholic church in Coral Gables, Florida founded in 1926. The church's domed 1951 building was constructed in Spanish Renaissance style, in keeping with the Mediterranean Revival architecture for which Coral Gables is noted.

The church members have long been conspicuously upscale. But whereas in the 20th century its members were predominantly Irish-American, political liberals who voted the Democratic ticket, by the end of the century the majority of members were Cuban-Americans known for being politically conservative and voting Republican. Both of the Floridian contenders for the 2016 Republican nomination for president, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, attend Little Flower with their families. The Rubios were married in the church.

The church was established in 1926 at the request of a small group of Catholics in the newly established town of Coral Gables. Bishop Patrick J. Barry of St. Augustine – the diocese that included Coral Gables at that time – announced that the new parish would be named in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, known as "The Little Flower". Masses were celebrated in St. Joseph's Academy, a boarding school established by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1925, until the temporary church was built in 1928.

Although the Sisters of Saint Joseph had intended to expand their new school, and even to add a junior college, the Great Depression left them so short of funds that they signed the deed to St. Joseph's Academy over to the parish in 1932, and withdrew from Coral Gables. The St. Joseph's Academy building was renamed St. Theresa School and became a parochial school associated with the parish. Originally staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph, the school has been operated by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles since 1991.