"The Canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin," an appearance by Maureen O'Riordan the radio show "Carmelite Conversations," July 13, 2015

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.

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.