The veneration of the relics of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin,
the parents of Saint Thérèse,
at the Church of Saint Thérèse in Metz, with the daily schedule

     Louis and Zélie Martin were beatified on October 19, 2008, not because they gave five religious to the Church, one of whom is a saint, but because their married life gave witness of an exemplary Christian life.  That life was completely ordinary, that of a Christian couple who raised their children by working together.  They knew the joy and pain of all families, but in their togetherness all was love: the love of God; love of their children; love of others.  Saint Thérèse wrote to abbé Bellière: “The good Lord gave me a father and a mother more worthy of heaven than of earth."  And in a letter to Father Roulland she speaks of the "heaven towards which tended all their actions and all their desires."  Their life is like a catechism on family life.

Even though around us, and perhaps in our own homes, divorce and family rupture multiply, and the very concept of the family is called into question, we welcome one of God's loving responses in the face of this crisis: the MARTIN family - a gift of God for our time. 

 From Hélène MONGIN, Prier 15 jours avec Louis et Zélie MARTIN.

Schedule for the veneration of the relics of Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin,
the parents of Saint Thérèse, at the Church of Saint Thérèse in Metz

The original cover of the schedule (with French text) is below; under it, the schedule in English

VENERATION OF THE RELICS
OF BLESSED LOUIS AND ZÉLIE MARTIN

 Church of St. Thérèse, Metz, France 

November 25-28, 2011

Come to pray for families, for couples, for children, for families touched by illness . . . .
For the sick, for those at the end of life . . . .  
For vocations, for the missions, for the benefactors of our parish . . . .
And for all our intentions . . . .