About the new saints - St. Zélie and St. LouisSometimes prayers work when we least expect it! Well, St. Zélie has been one of those saints like that for me - "boom" a prayer is answered - even though it had been awhile since I had done a novena, etc. She's a great saint to get to know - plus her husband Louis is also great. So, who are we talking about here? The parents of St. Therese! That's who!! I thought I would do a little biography of this saintly couple. First of all, Louis had wanted to become a priest - he thought that was his vocation, but for whatever reason - he kind of got turned down to enter the seminary. So, he was praying to find the right holy woman to marry! Louis was also a watchmaker! Well, enter Zélie - she is a shy young woman who knows how to make lace. She was also considering a vocation to be a nun - but maybe the draw was a not for sure - she was also wanting to know God's will. These two meet up on a bridge (meeting date July 13, 1858)! They just happened to be passing by each other on a bridge and they started talking, etc. Mr. Louis courts Zélie and proposes marriage after a bit! So, it seems like a match made in heaven - they get married! By the way Louis was around age 34 and Zélie around age of 26. Back then she probably was almost an old maid! So, the following 15 years - she bore nine children - seven girls and two boys! However, tradegy struck as her little Helene died at age 5 and two baby boys died after birth. Quote: Zélie remembered: "When I closed the eyes of my dear little children and buried them, I felt sorrow through and through...People said to me, 'It would have been better never to have had them.' I couldn't stand such language. My children were not lost forever; life is short and full of miseries, and we shall find our little ones again up above." (Source 1). When St. Therese was born: The Martins' last child was born January 2, 1873. She was weak and frail, and doctors feared for the infant's life. The family, so used to death, was preparing for yet another blow. Zelie wrote of her three month old girl: "I have no hope of saving her. The poor little thing suffers horribly....It breaks your heart to see her." But the baby girl proved to be much tougher than anyone realized. She survived the illness. A year later she was a "big baby, browned by the sun." "The baby," Zelie noted, "is full of life, giggles a lot, and is sheer joy to everyone." (Source 1). More about life of St. Therese and St. Zelie: Therese was, she wrote, "incredibly stubborn. When she has said 'no', nothing will make her change her mind. One could put her in the cellar for the whole day." Therese's candor appeared early and was unusual. The little one would run to her mother and confess: "Mama, I hit Celine (her sister) once-but I won't do it again." (Source 2). Choosing all and St. Zelie's death: At the age of twelve, Therese's sister Leonie felt she had no further use for her doll dressmaking kit, and stuffed a basket full of materials for making new dresses. Leonie then offered it to her six year old sister, Celine, and her two year old sister, Therese. "Choose what you wish, little sisters," invited Leonie. Celine took a little ball of wool that pleased her. Therese simply said, "I choose all." She accepted the basket and all its goods without ceremony. This incident revealed Therese's attitude toward life. She never did anything by halves; for her it was always all or nothing. On Sundays, Louis and Zelie Martin would take their daughters on walks. Therese loved the wide open spaces and the beauty of the countryside about Alencon. Frequently, the walks tired little Therese. This would result in "Papa" Martin carrying his daughter home in his arms. Unfortunately, the pleasant family times would soon come to an end. The shadow of death that had previously occupied the Martin household, once more relentlessly returned. Therese's mother, Zelie (after an illness of twelve years), died of breast cancer in August, 1877. Therese was only four years old at the time. -Source 2 More about St. Louis St. Therese's Father loved his "Little Queen" as he often called her as a youth. When their mother died, they left Alecon and moved to Lisieux into a big house that suited the whole family and their cousins were nearby - plus Uncle and Aunt. St. Therese traveled to Rome with her father to obtain permission to enter Carmel earlier - but this permission didn't come during the trip. The Pope told her "she would enter if God's will." When they got home, she was a bit devastated - but the Superior had a change of heart and did allow her to enter at the age of 15. Louis' health began to decline in his older age. He had some dementia. In fact St. Therese had a vision of him in the garden with his face covered and in like a wheel chair. This was God's permonition of his coming death. She was able to be professed as a Carmelite before his death. Then St. Louis died on July 29, 1894. Since St. Therese's parents were the first ever saints to be canonized together - the Vatican thought it would be appropriate for them to share a feast day - so the Vatican declared their feast day to be July 12! (I am not sure why they picked that date - seems like the 29th of July would have been a better choice for St. Louis' death or August 28th for St. Zélie's death - but I would suggest praying to them on all 3 dates!!) Their canonization date was October 18, 2015. (Source 3). Source 1: https://www.littleflower.org/therese/life-story/her-parents/ Source 2: https://www.littleflower.org/therese/life-story/the-early-years/ Source 3: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-louis-martin-and-zelie-guerin Comments are closed.
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September 2021
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