Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the family of St. Therese of Lisieux

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For the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel I share with you a photograph of the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which was in St. Jacques Church in Lisieux when the Martin family lived there. 

St. Jacques was the parish in which their home, Les Buissonets, was located.  Father Delatroette, who was the ecclesiastical superior of the Lisieux Carmel and opposed Therese's entrance, thinking her too young, was a priest of St. Jacques and, for a time, was Leonie's confessor.  

But when Louis Martin and his five daughters moved to Lisieux in 1877, it was impossible to "rent" seats for six at St. Jacques.  So on Sundays the Martins attended the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where Louis's brother-in-law, Isidore Guerin, was one of the churchwardens.  But the family often participated in weekday Mass at St. Jacques.

It was before this statue in St. Jacques Church that Pauline Martin, Therese's sister, then twenty years old, was praying on February 16, 1882 when she suddenly understood that she was called to become a Carmelite.  Before that she had been thinking of the Visitation, where she had been educated.

St. Jacques Church was substantially destroyed when Lisieux was bombed in 1944, but this statue was recovered.  Although the church was restored after the war, it is no longer used as a church, but serves the town of Lisieux as a municipal exhibit hall, where, in the summer, an exhibit about the Martin family is usually held.  This statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel can be seen today at St. Pierre's Cathedral.  I thank the photographer, Corinne May, for permission to display her photograph here.

For the reference, see Therese et Lisieux by Pierre Descouvement and Helmut-Nils Loose. Editions du Cerf, 1991, p. 49. 

The Apostleship of Prayer reflects on Louis and Zelie Martin

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To celebrate the feast of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin, Fr. James Kubicki, the director of the Apostleship of Prayer in the United States, wrote in his blog about "A Call to a Deeper Love," the new English translation of the letters of Louis and Zelie Martin.  Most important of all, he ordered it, and he mentioned this Web site.  He also created this fine two-minute video about Louis and Zelie and their significance for us.  Both Blessed Louis Martin and St. Therese were members of the Apostleship of Prayer, and Therese is its co-patron with St. Francis Xavier.  Thank you, Fr. Jim! 

 

Ten ways to promote "A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, 1863-1885"

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 Click on the image to order the book

Ten ways to promote A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, 1863-1885: 

  1. Order the book, which is the letters of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin.
  2. Submit this writeup to the media.
  3. Download this 8 1/2 x 11 flyer and this 8 1/2 x 14 poster.  Circulate them to your network by e-mail.  Print them out and post them or distribute them in your parish and your community.
  4. Insert this brief blurb in your parish bulletin or your group's newsletter.  Add it to your Web site or Facebook page.
  5. Add "www.thereseoflisieux.org" to your e-mail signature.  Link to it online.
  6. Ask your local bookstore to stock the book.
  7. Request your library to purchase it.
  8. Recommend the book to your friends.
  9. Choose it as a gift for someone who will enjoy it.
  10. Donate a copy to your church library.

 

 



The feast of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin on July 12

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Just in time for the feast of the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, their letters have appeared in English! A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885 invites the English-speaking world to find out how much it has to celebrate in these spouses who, while engaged unreservedly in the fabric of everyday life, gazed so steadily on the face of Christ.

ZelieandLouisatcentericon.jpg

 To celebrate the feast, we display, with the permission of Fr. Antonio Sangalli, the above icon of the Martin family, painted by Paolo Orlando.  The adult daughters stand in order of age; Leonie is distinguished by her Visitation habit, and Therese, of course, by the halo.  The four children who died so young also appear. 

May the celebration of the Martin family's adventures in holiness be a source of healing and liberation for the families of today.