Louis Martin (22 August 1823 – 29 July 1894) and Azélie-Marie ("Zélie") Guérin Martin (23 December 1831 – 28 August 1877) were a French Roman Catholic couple and the parents of five nuns, including
Thérèse of Lisieux
Thérèse of Lisieux (french: Thérèse de Lisieux ), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (), was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...
, a
Carmelite
, image =
, caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites
, abbreviation = OCarm
, formation = Late 12th century
, founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel
, founding_location = Mount Car ...
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
who was
canonized
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...
as a saint of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in 1925 and
Léonie Martin
Léonie Martin, also known as Sister Françoise-Thérèse, VHM (3 June 1863 – 16 June 1941) was a French Catholic nun who led a cloistered life as a member of the Visitation Sisters. She was the daughter of Saints Louis Martin and Marie-Azé ...
declared "
Servant of God
"Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint.
Terminology
The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...
" in 2015. In 2015, the couple were also canonized as saints, becoming the first spouses in the church's history to be canonized as a couple.
Early life
Louis Martin
Louis Joseph Aloys Stanislaus Martin was the third of five children of Pierre-François Martin and Marie-Anne-Fanny Boureau. All his siblings died before reaching age 30.
Although Louis intended to become a
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
, wishing to enter the
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
Great St. Bernard Monastery, he was rejected because he did not succeed at learning Latin. Later he decided to become a
watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
and studied his craft in
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
and in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
Orne
Orne (; nrf, Ôrne or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019. She had an older sister, Marie-Louise, who became a
pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
. Her maternal family was from the Madré, in the neighbouring department of Mayenne, where her grandfather, Louis Macé, was baptised on 16 March 1778.
Zélie wanted to become a nun, but was turned away by the
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul were founded on May 11, 1849, when the four founding Sisters of Charity arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from New York City; this has been designated a National Historic Event.
History
The story of ...
due to respiratory difficulties and recurrent headaches. She then prayed for God to give her many children and that they would be consecrated to God. She later decided to become a lacemaker, manufacturing Alençon lace. She fell in love with the watchmaker Louis Martin in 1858 and married him, only three months later, on 13 July 1858, at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in
Alençon
Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people).
History
The name of Alençon is firs ...
. Zélie's business became so successful that, in 1870, Louis sold his watchmaking business to go into partnership with her.
Marriage and family
Although the couple lived celibately for ten months after their wedding, they decided to
consummate
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...
their marriage after a spiritual director encouraged them to do so. They would later have nine children, though only five daughters would survive infancy:
#''
Marie Louise Marie Louise or Marie-Louise may refer to:
People
*Marie Louise of Orléans (1662–1689), daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, queen consort of Charles II of Spain
*Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel (1688–1765), daughter of Charles I, Landgrave ...
'' (22 February 1860 – 19 January 1940), as a nun, ''Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart'', Carmelite at Lisieux;
#'' Marie Pauline'' (7 September 1861 – 28 July 1951), as a nun, ''Mother Agnès of Jesus'', Carmelite at Lisieux;
#'' Marie Léonie'' (3 June 1863 – 16 June 1941), as a nun, ''Sister Françoise-Thérèse'', Visitandine at Caen; candidate for sainthood since January 2015;
#''Marie Hélène'' (3 October 1864 – 22 February 1870);
#''Joseph Louis'' (20 September 1866 – 14 February 1867);
#''Joseph Jean-Baptiste'' (19 December 1867 – 24 August 1868);
#'' Marie Céline'' (28 April 1869 – 25 February 1959), as a nun, ''Sister Geneviève of the most Holy Face'', Carmelite at Lisieux;
#''Marie Mélanie-Thérèse'' (16 August 1870 – 8 October 1870);
#'' Marie Françoise-Thérèse'' (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), as a nun, ''Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face'', Carmelite at Lisieux, canonised in 1925.
As a father, Louis loved nature with a deep sentimental enthusiasm. It was from him that Thérèse inherited her passion for flowers and meadows, and for her native landscape, clouds, thunderstorms, the sea and the stars. He made pilgrimages to
Chartres
Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...
and
Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...
, went to Germany and Austria, travelled twice to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and planned, but did not live to carry out, a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
. Along with this desire for adventure was an impulse towards withdrawal; in Lisieux Louis arranged a little den for himself high up in the attic, a true monastic cell for praying, reading and meditation. Even his daughters were allowed to enter it only if they wished spiritual converse and self-examination. As in a monastery, he divided the day into worship, garden work and relaxation. As a jeweller and watchmaker, Louis loved the precious things with which he dealt. To his daughters he gave touching and naïve pet names: Marie was his "diamond", Pauline his "noble pearl", Céline "the bold and fearless one", and "the guardian angel". Thérèse was his "little queen ... to whom all treasures belonged".
Death
Zélie died of
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
on 28 August 1877 in Alençon, aged 45, leaving her husband and daughters. Her funeral was held in the basilica where she had married Louis. A few weeks later, Louis sold her lacemaking business and their house along Rue St. Blaise, and moved to
Lisieux
Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland.
Name
The name of the town derives from the l ...
,
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, where Zélie's brother Isidore Guérin, a pharmacist, lived with his wife and two daughters.
After Zélie's death, Marie (Louise), Pauline, Thérèse (Françoise-Thérèse), and Céline all became Carmelite nuns, along with a cousin, Marie Guérin. Léonie became a Visitandine nun at
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Poor Clares
The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
.
In 1889 Louis suffered two paralyzing strokes followed by
cerebral arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis is the thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries. This process gradually restricts the blood flow to one's organs and tissues and can lead to severe health risks brought on by atherosclerosis, which ...
, and was hospitalised for three years at the Bon Sauveur Asylum in Caen. In 1892 he returned to Lisieux, where two of his daughters looked after him until his death on 29 July 1894 at Chateau La Musse near
Évreux
Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy.
Geography
The city is on the Iton river.
Climate
History
In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...
.
Canonization
Louis and Zélie were declared "
venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cathol ...
" on 26 March 1994 by
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
. They were
beatified
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
Lisieux
Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland.
Name
The name of the town derives from the l ...
.
A few months earlier, the Catholic Church had recognized the miracle of Pietro Schilirò, an Italian child cured of lung trouble at their intercession. For Louis and Zélie to be canonized, the Church needed to find that God worked a second miracle at their intercession.
On 7 January 2013,
Carlos Osoro Sierra
Carlos Osoro Sierra (; born 16 May 1945) is a Spanish Roman Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Madrid since 2014 and been a cardinal since 2016.
Life
Osoro was born in Castañeda in northern Spain on 16 May 1945. He studied at ...
, Archbishop of Valencia, presided at the opening of the canonical process to inquire into the healing in 2008 of a girl named Carmen, who was born in Valencia four days before Louis and Zélie were beatified. Eight doctors testified that there was no scientific explanation for her cure.
The diocesan tribunal held its closing session on 21 May 2013, and the file was sent to Rome for review by the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pa ...
.
On 3 March 2015 Angelo Cardinal Amato announced informally that Louis and Zélie Martin would be declared saints during the Synod of Bishops. The Congregation accepted and promulgated the miracle on 18 March 2015.
On 26 June 2015, ''Miracle of Life in Valencia'', a film produced by the Archdiocese of Valencia about the canonization miracle was released online in English. The next day, at a consistory of cardinals in Rome, Pope Francis approved the decree for the canonization of Louis and Zélie Martin and announced that the ceremony would take place in October in Rome.
On 18 October 2015, Louis and Azélie-Marie Martin were canonized as saints by Pope Francis.
In December 2003, Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services of
Harold's Cross
Harold's Cross () is an affluent urban village and inner suburb on the south side of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district D6W. The River Poddle runs through it, though largely in an underground culvert, and it holds a major cemetery, Mount ...
, Dublin opened a satellite unit for specialist palliative care in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, provided through the generosity of the Louis and Zelie Martin Foundation. The Foundation was established in 1997 by developer Noel Smyth in memory of his nephew Luke, and named in honor of the Martins.Collins, Liam. "Land development to fund Hospice", ''Independent'', April 28, 2002 /ref>
Publications
In 2011, the letters of Zélie and Louis Martin were published in English as ''A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, 1863–1885'' (). Although only 16 letters from Louis survive, many of Zélie's 216 letters give vivid details about the family's life and Louis's character as a father.