June 27, 2015: Pope Francis announces canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin for Mission Sunday, October 18, 2015

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

The Shrine at Lisieux has announced that at an "ordinary public consistory" (a meeting of cardinals) this morning in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace in Rome, Pope Francis announced that on Mission Sunday, October 18, 2015, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, will become the first spouses in the history of the Church to be canonized as a couple.  Thanks be to God. 

Pope Francis during the canonizations of St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II.  Photo by Jeffrey Bruno from New York City, United States [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• The lives of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin
• Their significance
• Recent homilies and conferences about them
• Their letters:  "A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885."
• The history of their cause for canonization 
• Their canonization miracle: the cure of Carmen Perez Pons

The Apostolic Palace seen from St. Peter's Square.  By Gaspard Miltiade (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Louis and Zelie will be named a saintly couple on the liturgical anniversary of their beatification in 2008 and of their daughter, St. Therese, being named a Doctor of the Church in 1997.  In 1997 and again in 2008, Mission Sunday fell on October 19.  In 2015 it falls on October 18.   The canonization ceremony will take place in Rome during the fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which has as its theme "the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world."

Pope Francis announced the news during the celebration of Terce, the midmorning hour of the Divine Office.  He also announced, for the same date, the canonizations of Blessed Vincenzo Grossi, a diocesan priest from Italy, and Blessed Mary of the Immaculate Conception, a nun from Spain.

"Miracle of Life in Valencia," a documentary in English about the healing of little Carmen, the canonization miracle for Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

The Canonization Miracle of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

The miracle accepted for the canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin: the healing of little Carmen Perez Pons in Valencia, Spain, including "Miracle of Life in Valencia," a 15-minute documentary in English. 

On the eve of the announcement of the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, I am dleighted to present in English the documentary about their canonization miracle.  To view it, please click on the photo or on the headline above.

June 17: Vatican declares that Pope Francis will announce the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin at the consistory on Saturday, June 27, 2015

Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin

The Papal Office of Liturgical Celebrations published today that Pope Francis will announce the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin at the consistory of cardinals on Saturday, June 27, 2015 (per the Vatican Information Service).  Zenit added that the date of the canonization will also be announced then.

The Shrine at Alencon posted in French a communique from the Office of Liturgical Celebrations noting that at 10;00 a.m. on June 27, in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Pope will preside  at Terce, the hour of the Divine Office that is usually celebrated at midmorning. The consistory, at which the canonizations of Italian diocesan priest Blessed Vincenzo Grossi and Spanish nun Blessed Mary of the Immaculate Conception wil also be announced, will follow.  

Let's unite in prayers of thanksgiving for this happy day!

Blessed Louis Martin visited Great Britain in 1882

People praying in the presence of the reliquary of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin n the Cathedral at Plymouth, May 15, 2015. Photo courtesy of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales.

Rejoicing with the people of Great Britain that the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin are now visiting the diocese of Plymouth, I remembered that England knew the joy of the presence of Blessed Louis Martin during his lifetime.  About October 2, 1886, he visited Dover with his oldest daughter, Marie, who was preparing to enter the Lisieux Carmel on October  15.  Father Pichon, her spiritual director, returning from a mission to Canada, wrote that he would pass through Dover and Calais on October 2,  Marie asked Louis to take her to meet him so that she could welcome him home and say good-by before she entered.  Louis said “I can’t refuse you anything, my big girl.”  The Martins did not find the ship at Calais, so they crossed to Dover, hoping to find Fr. Pichon there. 

On that October 2, a Saturday, Therese wrote to Marie from Les Buissonnets:

My dear little Marie,

We just received your telegram. I’m very happy, for I believe this means that you’ve seen Father at Dover.  He sent you a letter on Wednesday [this letter was from Dublin, where the ship must have stopped first] which was telling you to go there before him today.  You can’t imagine how worried we were.  Celine has sent some letters to Dover and Calais “hold till called for.”

http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/octobre-1886/11221-lt-21-a-marie

 Sadly, because of a series of misunderstandings and crossed letters, Louis and Marie did not find Father Pichon at Dover either.  Marie was acutely disappointed.  Louis, with his customary serenity, said to her “Do not complain, Marie; God saw that you needed this trial.  For my part, I am happy to have been His instrument in making this trip with you.”  Happily, on their return to France, they found Fr. Pichon at Paris. 

May Louis and Zelie be God’s instrument in the pilgrimage their relics are now making in Plymouth!  

Relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin visit the diocese of Plymouth in Great Britain, May 15, 2015

On Friday, May 15, the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin were welcomed in the Cathedral Church of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. They will remain there for special Masses (with the renewal of marriage vows, for the anointing of the sick) for prayer and veneration until Monday, May 18 and then, from Monday through Wednesday, May 20, will be received at Holy Trinity Church in Dorchester. See the schedule for events at the Cathedral in Plymouth.  Let's unite in prayer with the people of the diocese of Plymouth in thanksgiving for this great grace.