Saints Louis and Zelie Martin
Saint Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Saint Zelie Martin (1831-1877) the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux were canonized as a couple on 18th October 2015.
Saints Zelie and Louis Martin:
Married Couple and Parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux
Saint Louis Martin (1823-1894) and Saint Zelie Martin (1831-1877) the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux were canonised as a couple on 18th October 2015.
Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux France on 22nd August 1823. He was privately baptised soon after birth; the public ceremony was some time later as his father was on military duty in Spain. Marie Azelia Guerin was born near Alencon France on 23rd December 1831. She was baptised the next day in the local church; was always known as Zelie and later became Zelie Martin. Her father, a military veteran, was in the local police force.
Louis was a watchmaker/jeweller and Zelie a lace maker. After a formal religious engagement of three months they married at midnight on 13 July 1858 in the church of Notre Dame in Alencon France. They settled in Alencon from where they conducted their businesses. Some time after the marriage Louis took on the business management of Zelie’s lace making enterprise.
The couple were married for nineteen years before Zelie’s death from breast cancer in 1877. They created a close, caring, family home, where love of God and neighbour were taught and practised. Of their nine children, two of the girls and both boys died at early ages.
Louis and Zelie cared for their children, the poor, the sick and the dying, relatives and neighbours. During the Franco Prussian war they had to billet nine German soldiers and acted with justice and charity towards these men in their home.
It was in and by marriage that Louis and Zelie were to gain their own sanctification and set a heroic example for others. They showed that marriage can be a starting point of the journey to holiness made in the company of a spouse. Married and family life as God meant it to be is a vocation: a call to holiness.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Papal Legate said at their beatification, that Louis and Zelie are a gift for married couples, parents, those who have lost a spouse, and those facing illness and death.
Get to know Saints Zelie and Louis a little better!
The beloved Carmelite friar Fr Tadgh Tierney wrote a wonderful booklet about Saints Zelie and Louis. It's informative, accessible, engaging, and FREE! Click here to get the booklet!
And below is a soul-nourishing talk about Saints Zelie and Louis by the Carmelite friar Fr Donald Kinney. Enjoy!
Principal Events in the Lives of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin
1823 — August 22: Louis born in Bordeaux France.
1831 — December 23: Marie Azelia Guerin born near Alencon France.
1850 — November: Louis set up his watchmaker/jeweller shop in Alencon.
1853 — Zelie set up as maker of Point d’Alencon lace in that town.
1858 — July 13: Louis and Zelie married.
1859 — September 9: Death of Zelie’s mother.
1860 — February 22: Birth of Marie: first child of Louis and Zelie.
1861 — September7: Birth of Pauline: second child.
1863 — June 3: Birth of Leonie: third child.
1864 — October 13: Birth of Helene: fourth child. Signs of Zelie’s future illness appear.
1865 — Death of father of Louis.
1866 — September 20: Birth of Joseph Louis: fifth child and first son.
1866 — December Zelie’s ageing father came to live in the Martin household.
1867 — February 14: Death of baby Joseph Louis.
1867 — December 19: Birth of Jean Baptiste: sixth child.
1868 — August 24: Death of baby Jean Baptiste.
1868 — September 3: Death of Zelie’s father.
1869 — April 28: Birth of Celine: seventh child.
1870 — February 22: Death of Helene at five and a half years of age.
1870 — August 18: Birth of Marie Melanie Therese: eighth child.
1870 — October 10: Death of baby Marie Melanie Therese.
1871 — Death of Zelie’s nephew Paul Guerin. Louis and Zelie billet nine German soldiers.
1873 — January 2: Birth of Marie Francoise Therese: ninth child – future Saint Therese.
1877 — February 24: Death of Sr Marie Dosithee sister and confidante of Zelie.
1877 — August 28: Death of Zelie Martin from breast cancer.
1894 — July 29: Death of Louis Martin after several years of suffering from an illness in the Bon Saveur psychiatric hospital in Caen. He returned home to die.
