Very few married couples have been elevated to sainthood. Of course we remember St Joseph and the Blessed Mother, as well St. Joachim and St. Anne, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and most recently another couple joined them. They are the parents of yet another saint, and so we can say that there are three saints from the same family, a rare feat. Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin are the parents of St Therese of Lisieux. Louis was born in 1823 and wanted to become a monk, but he was poor in his studies of Latin, and became a watchmaker instead. Zelie was born in 1831 and she also wanted to become a nun, but with some breathing problems, she was refused entry into the convent. Instead she became a professional lace-maker, to such an extent that her husband left his job and helped her in the production of Alencon lace, which became very popular all over France.
Their love for each other continued to blossom,
and they got married on July 12, 1858, at the Basilica of Notre Dame in
Alencon. It was the same time when the Blessed Mother was appearing to Bernadette
Soubirous in Lourdes. They wanted to live a celibate life without any sexual
relations between them. But when their spiritual director heard of this strange
marital arrangement, he reprimanded them, and insisted that this is not the way
married couple should live their lives together. Apparently they must have
listened to him, because in 13 years they had 9 children. Only 5 of them lived
into adulthood and they were all girls, and all of them became nuns.
Marie Louise lived 80 years, Marie Pauline lived
90 years, Mare Leonie lived 78 years, Marie Celine lived 90 years, and Marie
Francoise-Therese lived only 24 years, and became the popular saint Therese of
Lisieux. Their parents, however, were not lucky enough to enjoy the company of
their daughters. Their mother Zelie died of breast cancer in 1877, aged 45, and
their father Louis died in 1894, aged 70. They raised their
daughters with deep spirituality and love. Louis had built a little chapel
where he used to spend time in prayer. He loved nature and traveled to many
holy places, like Rome, Lourdes, Costantinople. He even gave affectionate
nicknames to his girls. One he called diamond, another one pearl, another one
the brave, yet another Guardian Angel, and young Therese he called little
queenie, reginetta. Louis and Zelie used to write beautiful letters to each other and were
published in a book. Although the letters from Louis were only 16, the ones
from Zelie were 216, and they show the deeply spiritual life they used to live
together. They were canonized by Pope Francis in October 2015.
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