"STS. LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN, ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX, AND SIBLINGS" - ICON By PAOLO ORLANDO
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A blessed feast of Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin! This year, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of their daughter, St. Therese of Lisieux, and of the 200th anniversary of St. Louis Martin’s birth, which we celebrate on August 22, 2023, the relics of Sts. Louis and Zelie will visit the United States for the first time, together with the relics of St. Therese, which visited this country once before, in 1999.
The relics will come first to the National Shrine of St. Therese in Darien, Illinois from September 17, 2023 through October 1, 2023 (the feast of St. Therese). They will be available for public veneration. For the details of this visit, cut and paste this URL into your window:
I hope many of you will be able to pray in person in the presence of the relics of the Martin family.
interview with Fr. Antonio Sangalli, vice-postulator for Louis and Zelie Martin, in 2015
In the meantime, to celebrate the feast, please watch this short conversation in English with Fr. Antonio Sangalli, who was interviewed in 2015 before the canonization of Sts. Louis and Zelie. He says Louis and Zelie lived simply, but were generous to the poor; that, in the face of many tragedies, they continued to trust in God; and that they specialize in helping persons find a boyfriend or a girlfriend; helping couples have children; and helping spouses love each other more every day. May they bless you and your family on their feast day.
Thanks to the kindness of don Riccardo Brena and the parish of Marcallo in the Archdiocese of Milan, you can order reproductions of their icon of the Martin family through Trinity Stores Religious Artwork and Icons in Colorado.
This icon by Paolo Orlando, shows Louis and Zelie Martin with their five adult daughters dressed as nuns. From left, Marie and Pauline as Carmelite nuns; Leonie, whose cause was introduced in July 2015, as a Visitation nun; Celine and Therese as Carmelites. Near the parents are the four little ones who died very young: Marie Helene, Marie-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste, Marie-Melanie-Therese, and Marie-Joseph-Louis.
The icon is available in many sizes and formats: holy cards and prayer cards, magnets, framed desk art and wall art, giclee prints, and wooden plaques. You may also order the icon on devotional candles, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. Some of the available sizes are quite big enough to be installed in churches and monasteries; you may also order custom reproductions. Purchases through this link support this Web site. Thank you.
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Louis and Zelie and their children gathered every night to pray before the statue of the Virgin of the Smile. I hope this icon of the Martin family will become a center of prayer in many homes, churches, and monasteries; will make the new saints known and loved; and will be a window to the holy. Consider ordering it to celebrate the canonization; for the feast of Sts. Louis and Zelie; for a wedding or anniversary gift; or for a Christmas present.
I hope that many churches dedicated to St. Therese will install this icon to honor Louis and Zelie and to remind the people that Therese did not fall out of heaven as a completed saint, but was brought up in a holy family. I would also like to see donors appear to give the icon to many Carmelite monasteries and monasteries of the Visitation. Please pray that God attracts many souls through this sacred art. Thank you.
Every year thousands of people gather in Lisieux to celebrate the feast of St. Thérèse. This year the faithful all over the world are invited especially to unite themselves with the pilgrims at Lisieux in praying for priests and for the priesthood. Please use this schedule and the films of the feast-day celebrations in Lisieux to continue in union of prayer with those who are privileged to celebrate the feast at Lisieux.
Communiqué
His Excellency, Monseigneur Jean-Claude Boulanger, Archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, and Monsignor Bernard Lagoutte, Rector of the Basilica of St. Thérèse and Director of the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux, inform you
of the celebrations of the feast of Saint Thérèse in 2010
with Cardinal Hummes, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, presiding
This year, the celebration of the Thérèsian feasts will be marked by the grace of this Year of the Priest. The celebration will open with a Mass at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 26 at the Basilica of St. Thérèse.
On Monday, September 27, we propose that all priests and bishops of the world and all the lay people who have it at heart to support them and pray for them and for vocations participate in this day at Lisieux. Cardinal Hummes will give a conference and will preside at a Mass at the basilica at 11:00 a.m.
The schedule of the celebrations is:
Saturday, September 25:
9:00 a.m.:
Mass at the Carmel of Lisieux
3:30 p.m.:
Concert of organ and harp music in the crypt of the basilica.
8:30 p.m.:
Procession of the Relics of St. Thérèse from the chapel of Carmel to the basilica, followed by a prayer vigil in the basilica.
The video below shows the 2009 candlelight procession of the major reliquary of St. Therese from the Carmel of Lisieux up the hill to the basilica, where you can see the priests and the people venerating the reliquary as the prayer vigil begins. I thank Susan Ehlert, who produced the film, for permission to display it here.
Sunday, September 26:
10:30 a.m.
Solemn Mass at the Basilica. Cardinal Hummes will preside.
3:30 p.m.:
Procession of the relics from the Basilica to the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where we will celebrate Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament exposed for our adoration.
The film below shows the procession of the reliquary into the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where the Martin family attended Mass and Vespers on Sundays during their years in Lisieux. I thank producer Susan Ehlert for permission to display it.
The film below, also thanks to Susan Ehlert, shows the relics returning in procession to the chapel of the Lisieux Carmel:
Monday, September 27:
A day of thanksgiving for the Year of the Priest: Thérèse and priests
9:00 a.m.
The office of Lauds (Morning Prayer) in the Basilica
9:30 a.m.:
Cardinal Hummes will give a conference: “Priestly Spirituality”
11:00 a.m.:
Celebration of the Eucharist in the basilica
2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.:
The event “Thérèse and priests"
Each person can choose one of the six venues below. Based on the location, a facilitator will discuss the relationship between Thérèse and the priesthood. In each place the activity will take place in three stages:
the presentation of the theme
the distribution of the texts of Therese
a time of silence and prayer
The six places are:
The upper Basilica
The crypt of the Basilica
The sacristy of the Basilica
Les Buissonnets
The Cathedral of St. Pierre
The chapel of the Carmel of Lisieux
3:30 p.m.:
Return to the Basilica
3:30 p.m.:
A conference by Monseigneur Jean-Claude Boulanger, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux: “Priests: disciples and apostles in following Jesus”
4:30 p.m.
Evening Prayer at the Basilica
Tuesday, September 28 through Friday, October 1 (October 1 is the liturgical feast of St. Thérèseof the Child Jesus of the Holy Face):
At 3:00 p.m.each day
a conference on the spirituality of St. Thérèse (in French) at the Centre d’Accueil Pastoral International located under the square facing the Basilica.
At 4:30 p.m. each day:
Vespers in the Basilica
Sunday, October 1 - liturgical feast of St. Therese
10:00 a..m.
Feast-day Mass in the Basilica
3:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
Conference
Vespers
Saturday, October 2 - A day for the sick and disabled
10:30 a..m.
The celebration of the sacrament of the sick in the Basilica
3:00 p.m.
Mass for the sick in the Basilica
Sunday, October 3
10:30 a..m.
Closing Mass of the feast in the Basilica of St. Thérèse
3:00 p.m.
Celebration of Vespers in the Basilica.
For more information,
please call the Pilgrimage Office at Lisieux: Tel. 02 31 48 55 08
The festival program is available on the Internet in French at the Web site of the Shrine of Lisieux at http://www.therese-de-lisieux.catholique.fr/Venez-consulter-le-Programme-2010-du-Sanctuaire.html
On the feast of St. Therese I rejoice with the people of Great Britain in all the graces they are receiving during the "reverse pilgrimage" of the relics of St. Therese and with the friends of St. Therese all over the world. May I ask two feast-day favors of my readers?
First, on October 12 the reliquary will visit the Wormwood Scrubs prison in London. The Catholic Herald reports that inspectors recently found that the prison had deteriorated and that gang activity had increased. Will you please join in prayer with and for the prisoners and ask God to permit the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to open a new era of nonviolence for everyone associated with the prison? I invite you all to join in "days of solidarity" between Therese's feast and October 12, and to pray fervently before and during the visit that it will be a turning point in the spiritual history of the prison.
Second, I ask your prayers for a personal intention: the healing of my sister, who is seriously ill.
May we celebrate St. Therese not only by admiring her but also by casting ourselves, as she did, into "the abysses of love and mercy of the Heart of Jesus."
Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, the Parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
The lives of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; their spirituality; the life of their family; their beatification in 2008 and canonization in 2015; what we can learn from them today. Articles, homilies, conferences, photo galleries. A unique photo show to celebrate the visit of their relics to Ireland in 2018.
