Zélie and Louis Martin

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Marie-Azélie (Zélie) Guérin Martin (* December 23, 1831 ; † August 28, 1877 ) and Louis Martin (* August 22, 1823 ; † July 29, 1894 ) were the parents of St. Therese von Lisieux and her eight siblings. They are venerated as saints in the Roman Catholic Church . The Martins' five surviving daughters all became nuns . In 2008 Benedict XVI spoke . the married couple Martin blessed . On October 18, 2015, Pope Francis Zélie and Louis Martin canonized in the context of the Synod of Bishops on marriage and family pastoral care.

Zélie Martin, b. Guérin

St. Marie-Azélie "Zélie" Martin, b. Guérin, around 1875

Marie-Azélie Guérin was born in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon as the second daughter of Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé. Her older sister Marie-Louise joined the Order of the Visitation of Mary , her younger brother Isidore became a pharmacist. Zélie actually wanted to join the Vincentians , but was turned down as a candidate for health reasons. Then Zélie made the decision to become the mother of as many children as possible and to raise them for life as a priest or in an order . She learned the trade of lace maker and made Alençon lace (a form of needle embroidery) for sale in the family shop. In 1858 she married the watchmaker Louis Martin.

Marie Azélie Guérin Martin died of breast cancer on August 28, 1877 in Alençon at the age of 45.

Louis Martin

St. Louis Martin, around 1875

Louis Joseph Aloys Stanislaus Martin was the third of five children of the couple Pierre-François Martin and Marie-Anne-Fanie Boureau. Louis Martin actually wanted to become a monk . He made an attempt to enter the Augustinian Canons at the Great St. Bernhard Pass , but was turned away there due to a lack of knowledge of Latin. He later became a watchmaker and after three months of acquaintance, married the top trader Zélie Guérin.

Louis Martin made several pilgrimages to Chartres , Lourdes , Germany and Austria , Rome and Constantinople and planned a trip to the Holy Land before his death . He had a kind of hermitage on the Martin family's property in Alençon, where he often spent the day gardening and praying . After the early death of his wife, he sold her lace business and moved with his children to live with his brother-in-law's family in Lisieux in Normandy.

In 1889 Louis Martin suffered two strokes and subsequently spent three years in the Bon Saveur mental hospital in Caen . In 1892 he returned to Lisieux, where his daughters Céline and Léonie looked after him until his death on July 29, 1894 in the castle La Musse near Évreux.

Married life and family of the Martins

After the marriage, Zélie and Louis Martin had a Joseph marriage for almost a year before the couple decided to follow Zélie's plan. In the following years of marriage they had nine children, of which only five of the daughters reached adulthood.

  • Marie-Louise, called Marie (February 22, 1860 - January 19, 1940), Sr. Marie of the Sacred Heart, Discalced Carmelite in the Carmel of Lisieux
  • Marie-Pauline (September 7, 1861 - July 28, 1951), M. Agnes von Jesus, Carmelite in the Carmel of Lisieux
  • Marie-Léonie (June 3, 1863 - June 16, 1941), Sr. Françoise-Thérèse, Visitandin in Caen. Her beatification process began in 2015.
  • Marie-Hélène (October 3, 1864 - February 22, 1870)
  • Marie-Joseph (September 20, 1866 - February 14, 1867)
  • Marie Jean-Baptiste (December 19, 1867 - August 24, 1868)
  • Marie-Céline (April 28, 1869 - February 25, 1959), Sr. Geneviève of St. Face, Carmelite in the Carmel of Lisieux
  • Marie-Mélanie Thérèse (August 16, 1870 - October 8, 1870)
  • Marie-Françoise-Thérèse (January 2, 1873 - September 30, 1897), Sr. Therese of the Child Jesus and St. Face, Carmelite in the Carmel of Lisieux. Canonized in 1925.

After Zélies and Louis' death, Pauline, Marie, Thérèse and Céline and their cousin Marie Guérin entered the Carmel of Lisieux. Léonie first tried her luck as a clarissess , but had to leave the strict order after a few weeks. Later she entered several times with the Visitandinnen (Salesians) in Caen, which she had to leave after a short time because of her health, until she was finally able to stay after her third entry in 1899.

Adoration

On March 26, 1994, Pope John Paul II established that Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin had heroic virtues and declared the couple Martin to be venerable servants of God . On October 19, 2008, they were presented in the Basilica of St. Therese was beatified in Lisieux because of her exemplary lifestyle and married life . The liturgy was presided over by Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins . Her feast day is July 12th.

During the family synod in 2015, the Martin couple were canonized on October 18, 2015.

Web links

literature

  • Céline Martin: My parents Louis and Zélie: The strong roots of St. Theresa of Lisieux . Media Maria, Illertissen. ISBN 978-3-945401-16-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.zeit.de/news/2015-10/18/vatikan-eltern-der-heiligen-therese-von-lisieux-heilig-gesoken-18134802
  2. ↑ Celine Martin: My parents Louis and Zélie: The strong roots of St. Theresa of Lisieux . Media Maria, Illertissen. ISBN 978-3-945401-16-3 .
  3. ↑ Lisieux prépare intensément la canonisation des époux Martin. In: www.news.va. Retrieved October 17, 2015 .