the Parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
The life and spirituality of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin and the history of their cause for sainthood
"STS. LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN, ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX, AND SIBLINGS" - ICON By PAOLO ORLANDO
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"Works of mercy were the very foundation on which Louis and Zelie Martin built their life." See the National Catholic Register interview with the vice-postulator, Fr. Antonio Sangalli, O.C.D.,, who speaks sensitively about their canonization, the miracle of little Carmen's healing, and the significance of their lives for us.
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"Under the Veil of the Virgin: The Gradually Developing Relationship of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face to the Blessed Virgin Mary," by Fr. Christopher Armstrong, is a marvelous work about St. Therese's relationship with Mary, newly published online and drawing on sources rearely published in English. The opening chapters tell of Louis and Zelie's devotion to Mary and of the Marian atmosphere in which they raised their daughters. See some details..
On Monday, Jul. 13th, at 7:00 pm EST , I had the pleasure of talking with host Frances Harry about "The Canonization of Louis and Zelie Martin" on "Carmelite Conversations," a program of Radio Maria. I talked about the history of their cause, the process of canonization, and the healings of Pietro Schiliro (their beatification miracle) and Carmen Perez Pons (their canonization miracle).Please listen at http://radiomaria.us/july-13-2015/ Thank you.
little maria celia frias, now aged five and a half years
In honor of the feast of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin on July 12, 2015, and thanks to the Shrine at Alencon, we have the joy of publishing in English the story of little Maria Celia Frias. We thank Juan Marrero for the translation of this happy story.
On July 10, 2009, I was 16 weeks pregnant. I went to have an echogram done, and my unborn child was diagnosed with a fetal congenital malformation of the abdominal wall (a condition called “gastrochisis”). It’s worth mentioning that, in 2003, I had had my first daughter Maria Joaquina, who suffered from the same malformation, but she died after two surgeries; she was only 14 days old. Given all that had happened, my anguish at that moment was indescribable. When my aunt, who lives in Toulouise, in France, found out what had occurred , she suggested that I begin a novena to the parents of St. Therese, Louis and Zelie Martin, because they had already cured an Italian baby. I began the novena on July 13, 2009, and, from that time on, prayed to them and to the Blessed Virgin Mary with much faith.
I continued having echograms performed at a hospital with sophisticated technological resources. I went there regularly to determine the appropriate moment for a delivery by Caesarean section, to be followed by urgent surgery on the baby in order to save her. Everything went so well that the the radiologist was able to give us a range of dates for the Cesarean: from October 1 (the feast of St. Therese) until October 19 (the anniversary of the beatification of Louis and Zelie). This range gave me a sense of the sense of the presence of the Saints and the Virgin accompanying me, so that I could withstand the great sorrow and uncertainty and continue a normal life with my family and my other daughter, Maria Dolores, who was then 4 years old.
My daughter, Maria Celia (named after Marie Zelie Guerin), was born on November 16, 2009 at 34 weeks of gestation. She weighed 2.220 kg. She was operated on immediately. At first, all seemed to go well, and the baby improved daily. The doctors agreed that, instead of continuing the tube feeding, I could start to breasfeed Maria Celia. But one day, to give her more nourishment, the doctors put a catheter throug her neck vein. Then everything started to go wrong. It began with a grave infection, and then a dangerous clot that did great harm to her little organism, so premature and defenseless. The baby was again taken to intensive care. She began to swell up and to turn blue. She was growing worse by the day, worse even than when she was born. This was very sad for the family. I was desperate, and I couldn’t understand what was happening.
But the last thing I would lose was faith in the Blesseds and in Our Holy Virgin Mary of Lourdes. I began the novena to the little Virgin, and another mother who was in the neonatal area gave me a bottle of holy water from the grotto of Lourdes in France. While I made the sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead with the Lourdes water, I prayed fervently. I also made my “claim” to the Blesseds feeling in a way that they had forsaken me. Why had things turned seemingly for the worse when all was beginning to improve? Why would I be losing a daughter again? I should note that the doctors, once so optimistic, were very worried now for my daughter, who grew worse by the day. Until, miraculously (and to the surprise of all, including the doctors), the baby began to improve, the infection was controlled, and the clot dissolved without residuals.
On December 8, 2009 (the day of the Immaculate Conception, a great sign for me at that moment), I was able to lift and carry my daughter Maria Celia, who was still very weak, and feed her. This was the second miracle. Each day she improved more and more. On the tenth day, now weighing 2 kg., she was discharged from the hospital. I brought her home, where her grandmothers and sister waited for her. My daughter has had no more problems. Her father, who is a surgeon, examines her umbilicus for a hernia, and even that has not appeared. Thank you, Louis and Zelie and Virgin of Lourdes!!!!
by MARIA CELIA FRIAS (it’s worth mentioning “casually” that I have the same name as Blessed Zelie, but my mother chose this name in 1975 when I was born).
Editor's’ note: Note that this child’s diagnosis took place near the first feast of Louis and Zelie. They were married at midnight during the night between July 12 and July 13; their feast is celebrated on July 12, but the Catholic marriage ceremony must actually have taken place on July 13, the date on which Maria Celia began her novena. Louis and Zelie both made pilgrimages (separately) to Lourdes, and Therese herself used Lourdes water in her last illness. Finally, December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, was a day on which Zelie several times received important graces.
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.
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.
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