Every July 12, the feast of the holy spouses Louis Martin and Zelie Guérin, parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, is celebrated. Saints Luis and Celia Martin were the first spouses to be canonized together. Pope Francis declared them saints on 18 October 2015.
July 12 was chosen as their feast day because it was on that day, in 1858, that they were married in the Basilica of Notre Dame in Alençon, France, and they pledged together to live the sacrament of matrimony.
Both sought holiness before thinking about marriage
Luis spent time in an Augustinian monastery, but could not master Latin, and Zelie had tried to become a Sister of Charity, but due to breathing difficulties and migraines, she was not accepted. However, God had in mind the vocation of marriage for them: they were married 3 months after they met and lived in celibacy for almost a year.
Zelie prayed that God would give her many children who could consecrate themselves to God
God blessed Zelie with nine children, four of whom died shortly after being baptized, while the other five discerned vocations as religious.
Zelie died young and Luis took care of his children
Zelie died of cancer at age 46, leaving Louis to care for their five daughters, including Saint Teresa, future patroness of the missions, who was four years old at the time.
Louis died in 1894, at the age of 71, after being ill for a long time and finally paralyzed due to cerebral arteriosclerosis.
Louis accompanied three of his daughters to Carmel
Between 1882 and 1887 Luis accompanied three of his daughters to the Order of Discalced Carmelites. The greatest sacrifice was separating from Teresa, who entered Carmel at the age of 15.
Sometime later, all his daughters became religious, four in Carmel and one in the Order of the Visitation of Santa María.
Saint Therese of Lisieux praised the holiness of her parents
In her book Story of a Soul, the saint gushed about how she had been blessed with “incomparable parents” and how God had given her “a mother and father more worthy of heaven than of earth.”
The couple’s daily practices included Mass at 5:30 am, frequent Confession, participation in parish life, praying the Angelus and Vespers, resting on Sundays, and fasting during Lent and Advent.
They also invited poor people to dine with them at home, and often visited the elderly, teaching their children to treat the underprivileged as equals.
Other of his daughters are on their way to the altars
His daughter Teresa was proclaimed a saint on May 17, 1925, by Pope Pius XI, and in July 2015 the cause for beatification of his sister Leonia was opened.