The Martin Family

19th Century: Feast Days: July 12, October 1

Thérèse of Lisieux is one of the most influential saints of modern history. However, like all saints, Thérèse did not achieve holiness alone. Her family, led by her parents Sts. Zelie and Louis Martin, set a powerful example of holiness for her. In the Martin family, we see that a family must pursue holiness together and remain always oriented to heaven.

Neither Louis nor Zelie Martin desired to be married. Both had hoped to be professed religious, but Louis was rejected due to his poor Latin, and Zelie because of her health. Amid this disappointment, Louis and Zellie crossed paths on a bridge one day. Zelie later wrote that at that moment she had felt a strong interior voice say, “That is he whom I have prepared for you.” Louis went home and told his mother about Zelie, only to learn that his mother had met Zelie in a lace-making class and secretly prayed that she would become her daughter-in-law. 

Shortly after they were formally introduced, Louis and Zelie were married. From the start, the couple practiced their faith together, attending Mass each morning, sharing spiritual reading, and walking to the adoration chapel each evening. Then, following a conversation with a priest, Louis and Zelie committed themselves to having as many children as possible so their children might serve the Church and become saints. In total, Zelie gave birth to nine children, although only five girls would reach adulthood. In two short years, Zelie and Louis buried four children: a five-year-old little girl, a six-month-old baby boy, another boy lost at nine months, and a baby girl who died at four months old. 

Zelie and Louis were devastated by each of these losses, but the Martins used this pain to orient their hearts to heaven. Zelie wrote in a letter, “When I closed the eyes of my dear little children and buried them, I felt sorrow through and through…But my children were not lost forever; life is short and full of miseries, and we shall find our little ones again up above.” The Martins believed that each child they lost became an intercessor for the family from heaven.

Even as they suffered, the Martins lived a very busy life. Zelie and Louis ran a successful lace business, rising early and staying up late to work on the business. The couple also managed a large household and saw to their daughters’ education. One daughter in particular, Leonie, challenged her parents. Lazy, slow to learn, and uninterested in prayer, Leonie was expelled from several schools. She often disturbed the Martin household, pushing her mother to her wit’s end. And yet, Zelie would have done anything to help this daughter achieve sainthood. She wrote in a letter, “If it only took the sacrifice of my life for her to become a saint, I would give it willingly.” Today Leonie has been declared a Servant of God and is on the path to canonization.

When Thérèse, the youngest, was four years old, Zelie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Zelie desperately wanted to stay with her family, but she was resigned to going where Jesus led, and she passed away in 1877. After her death, Louis moved his family to Lisieux. There, one daughter after another left for the convent. When each one left, Louis cried and embraced them. This too was a kind of death, since his daughters joined the Carmelite order where women lived a cloistered life of prayer and never left the walls of the convent. Although it was painful, Louis refused to hold anything back from God. When his last remaining daughter, Celine, told him she planned to leave for the convent too, he said, “You can leave. I will be happy to give you to God before I die. In my old age, a bare cell will be enough for me.”

In the years that followed, Louis suffered a series of strokes and lost his ability to speak and care for himself. During his last visit to see his Carmelite daughters, Louis struggled to utter any words. Finally, Louis pointed up and forced out the words, “In heaven!” as tears streamed down his face. He promised his daughters that they would speak of all things when they were together again in heaven.

Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin pursued holiness together through the Sacrament of Marriage and the mystical gift of the family. The Martins’ pursuit of heaven and unity in their faith was unshakeable, even as they walked through desperate tragedies. This is perhaps best illustrated by Zelie herself. After the death of one of her infant sons, she wrote, “I noticed a beautiful chateau and some magnificent properties. I said to myself that all of that is nothing. We’ll only be happy when all of us, we and our children, are reunited in heaven, and I offered up my child to God.” 

Christian families, lock your eyes on heaven. Hope in the Lord and remain confident in His promise that if we are faithful, we will enjoy the eternal reward of heaven when this life is over. Remain firmly planted on the foundation of faith and pledge to each other that you will see each other again in heaven.

Sts. Louis, Zelie, and Therese, and Servant of God Leonie, pray for us!