Can Married Couples be Saints? Saints Louis and Zelie Martin are a Witness to the Holiness of Marriage and Family Life

July 12th is the Feast of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin -- the first married couple to ever be canonized together, but perhaps better known for being the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower.

Both Louis and Zelie tried to become Religious before they met each other. They wanted a vocation to Religious Life and the Lord had to slowly draw them to each other and the glory of their vocation to marriage and family life. After their wedding, they even attempted a Josephite marriage, meaning a marriage which is never consummated, but eventually a Priest made them aware of the call as husband and wife to come together and be fruitful. Indeed they were, as they continued on to fully embrace their call and had multiple children.

They gradually fell in love with each other and being parents. Zelie later said that she wished she could just keep having children! As we read their letters to each other (see below), we get a glimpse into the real, tender affection and love they shared as spouses. For example, in a letter from Zelie to Louis while he was away, she wrote, "I am longing to be near you, my dear Louis. I love you with all my heart, and I feel my affection so much more when you're not here with me. It would be impossible for me to live apart from you."

They teach us many lessons, but perhaps they teach us most profoundly about the joy of abandonment to the will and love of God. When we look at their own hearts and lives, it becomes apparent how Saint Therese would've been extraordinarily exposed to this spirituality due to the holiness and example of her parents. Louis and Zelie suffered the death of four children and later Zelie herself would suffer and die of cancer. Even while dying, she wrote that she was praying “If not for a cure, then for perfect abandonment to the will of God.”

After she passed away and Louis raised his daughters by himself, he was offer all four of his daughters to the Lord as they one by one left and entered Religious Life, three of them joining the same Discalced Carmelite community in Lisiuex. As he aged, he suffered from ever-intensifying mental illness up to his death.

Saints Louis and Zelie teach us the call to holiness in married and family life, that just because the Lord does not call all to be Religious, even when we may want to be called, we are not excluded from intimacy with Him, from holiness, sainthood.

Below are some excerpts from the letters of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin:

1869 from Zelie to Louis while he was on a business trip:

"I embrace you with all my heart, I am so happy today, at the thought of seeing you again, that I cannot work.

(signed) Your wife who loves you more than her life."

1876 from Zelie to Louis while she is in Paris receiving treatment for her cancer:

"However, he seems to say that I can go on like this for a very long time. Thus, let us place ourselves in the hands of the good God, he knows much better than we do what we need: “He is the one who makes the wound and bandages it. I will go to Lourdes, on the first pilgrimage, and I hope that the Blessed Virgin will heal me, if necessary...I am very happy to see you all again; How long does the time seem to me! How I would have liked to come back today! I am happy only with you, my dear Louis."

Similarly, from 1873

"I long to be with you, my dear Louis; I love you with all my heart, and I still feel my affection redoubled by the privation I feel of your presence; it would be impossible for me to live away from you."

From Louis to Zelie 1863 while away for business

"I won't be able to get to Alencon until Monday; time seems long to me, I long to be near you.

Needless to say that your letter gave me great pleasure, except to see in it that you were much too tired. Thus, I highly recommend calm and moderation to you, especially in work. I have a few orders from the Compagnie Lyonnaise; once again, don't worry so much, we will manage, God helping, to make a good little house.

I had the happiness of taking communion at Notre-Dame des Victoires, which is like a little earthly paradise. I also lit a candle for the whole family.

I embrace you all from the heart, while waiting for the happiness of having reunited you. I hope that Marie and Pauline are very good

Your husband and true friend, who loves you for life."

To read more of the Martin's letters from the Carmel of Lisieux archives, you can find them here.