"A marriage is as much a road to holiness as a monastery" - Fr. James Martin, S.J. on the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

fr. James Martin, S.J.

"The canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin is a reminder from the Vatican that married people are just as holy as--and often holier than--priests, sisters, brothers, bishops, cardinals and popes.  And that a marriage is as much a road to holiness as a monastery."

James Martin, Jesuit priest and author of My Life with the Saints.  June 27, 2015

When Louis and Zelie were beatified in 2008, Fr. Martin wrote "His Wife's a Saint; So Is Her Husband" for the Wall Street Journal, an article worth reading or re-reading.

My Life with the Saints has a chapter about his favorite saint, Therese of Lisieux.

Below, in the five-minute video "In Praise of Lay Saints," he speaks engagingly of the universal call to holiness and the need for the Church to recognize saints to whom lay people can relate.  He mentions Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin and displays their portrait.  

Why the Vatican needs to recognize ordinary men and women who have lead extraordinary lives of holiness. A commentary by James Martin, S.J.

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.

Carmen's parents speak about the acceptance of her healing as the miracle for the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin

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Carmen with her father and mother and mgr jacques Habert, bishop of seez, where louis and zelie martin spent their married life.  Valencia, May 2013.

“The news of the canonization of Blessed Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin fills us with emotion, with joy, and with gratitude. For us, they are part of our family, since we have prayed to them and they have interceded with the Lord to grant us the healing of our daughter. The Martin couple is an example of family union founded on love and on respect for children. And, thanks to them, we can demonstrate these values to our two children.”

--statement from the parents of little Carmen on the occasion of the approval of the healing of their daughter as the miracle necessary for the canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin.  

Courtesy of the Shrines at Alencon and Lisieux.  Translated by Maureen O'Riordan

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin to be first spouses canonized as a couple in October 2015

Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, who are to be named saints in October 2015

Cardinal Amato announces that Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, the first spouses in the history of the Church to be declared saints as a couple, will be canonized in October 2015

March 3, 2015.  Zenit.org reported today that Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has announced that Louis and Zelie Martin will be canonized during the Synod on the Family, which will take place in Rome in October 2015.  No date was reported.  The cardinal spoke during a meeting organized by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) to emphasize how important sanctity in the family is.  "Thanks be to God, in October two spouses, the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, will be canonized.  Saints are not only priests and nuns, but also lay people," the Cardinal said. Please see Zenit's article announcing the canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin. See also Nicholas Seneze's article in La Croix, which states that Cardinal Amato made the announcement on Friday, February 27, and that the recognition of the miracle for Louis and Zelie's canonization has not yet been officially announced by the Vatican.

More about

• Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, their lives, spirituality, and beatification, at "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux"
• The healing in 2008 of the newborn baby Carmen Perez Pons in Valencia, Spain:
  • "The cure of Carmen: Is this the miracle that will make Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St.  Therese of Lisieux, canonized saints?" - Process opens in Spain to examine "presumed miracle."  by Maureen O'Riordan.  January 20, 2013.
  • "Vatican to investigate "presumed miracle" attributed to Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Will the healing of little Carmen make them saints?" - by Maureen O'Riordan.  May 28, 2013.
  • "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux a Step Closer to Canonization," by Maureen O'Riordan.  Carmelite Review, Summer/Fall 2013.

• The history of the diocesan inquiry into the "presumed miracle" of the healing of little Carmen, written by the vice-postulator, Father Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D.  May 21, 2013.  Courtesy of the Shrine at Alencon.

• The Web site of the Shrine at Alencon, which receives pilgrims who visit the Martin family home at Alencon (the town where Louis and Zelie lived together; it was only after Zelie's death that the family moved to Lisieux).

• The Web site of the Shrine at Lisieux.  Louis and Zelie were beatified in the Basilica dedicated to their daughter at Lisieux in 2008, and the Shrine at Lisieux promoted their cause.

• For an audio reflection on Louis and Zelie, please listen to the radio show Carmelite Conversations, on which Maureen O'Riordan was a guest to reflect on the lives and spirituality of Louis and Zelie Martin on February 23, 2015.

May 24, 2014: Stained-glass window dedicated to the Martin family to be blessed by Mgr Jacques Habert, bishop of Seez

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The stained-glass window dedicated to the Martin family in the church of St. Symphorien des Bruyères in the province of Orne, France.

On Saturday, May 24, 2014, at 11:00 a.m., Mgr Jacques Habert, bishop of the diocese of Séez, will preside at a Mass of thanksgiving for the restoration of the Church of St Symphorien des Bruyères in the province of Orne.  Then he will bless the three new stained-glass windows in the church, including the window pictured above, dedicated to the Martin family.  The window shows a scene from the life of the Martin family.  At left, Zelie is teaching her two youngest daughters to pray: Therese is on her lap, and Celine kneels in front of her.  One of the older Martin daughters looks on. The other two are near their father, who looks on. At the top of the window can be seen the words "Martin Family" and, at the bottom, the words "All Called to Saintliness." 

A family at prayer

The Shrine at Alençon informed me that the window is based on the painting above, which represents the Martin family at prayer.

The family of Louis and Zelie Martin was chosen as a subject of the window not only by the Church but also by the mayor and the people of the commune of St Symphorien des Bruyères, a small municipality about an hour northwest of Alençon.  We congratulate the commune and the Association for the Conservation of the Heritage of the commune for completing the restoration of this fifteenth-century church after ten years of work. 

You may see other photos of the church on the Web site of Atelier Touchard Architectes, which accomplished the restoration.

May the life of the Martin family be a true icon for us.  May we see their hardships and joys all now illumined by the light of Christ.  May the light of their lives shine through ours so that they may obtain for us from God the same grace of seeing God in everything and everything in God. 

I thank the Shrine at Alencon (http://www.louiszeliemartin-alencon.com/eng/), which permits me to share with you the photographs and the story.