Letters from Saints Louis and Zelie Martin on their feast day - July 12th

Today is the feast day of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

Zelie and Louis both tried to become religious before meeting each other, only to both be sent away and told they did not have a vocation. When they did meet and eventually marry, in their love for the Lord and desire to live a radical life for Him, decided to have a "josephite marriage". In other words, they decided to live as brother and sister in Christ and not to consumate their marriage. After a short time, they were corrected by a priest who counseled them in entering into the fullness of their married life by welcoming children.

Louis and Zelie went on to have nine children, seven girls and two boys. They are known most commonly as having just five daughters (Pauline, Marie, Celine, Therese, and Leonie), but within three years they lost two baby boys, a five year old daughter, and a six week old infant girl. Already in their early married life they were acquainted with great suffering, loss, and still maintained a radical openness to and trust in the Lord and His call for their marriage.

Zelie suffered for over 12 years from breast cancer until she finally passed away in 1877 when little Therese was only four years old. Louis lived for several years after his wife but suffered from cerebral arteriosclerosis coupled by a series of strokes which left him paralyzed and mentally ill . He passed in 1894.

They were a couple marked by their holiness, a great witness to us married couples and our own call to live totally for the Lord and to love each other with deep tenderness. Below are some select quotes from their letters and the link to all of their saved correspondence in the Lisieux archives.

Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, pray for us!

“When I think of what the good Lord, in whom I have placed all my trust and into whose hands I have entrusted the care of my affairs, has done for me and for my husband, I cannot doubt that his divine Providence watches over her children with special care.”

Zelie Martin on dying from cancer and leaving her children behind

“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.”

Zelie on suffering from cancer

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

Louis in a letter to Zelie

“Very dear friends, Thérèse, my little queen, entered Carmel yesterday!... God alone can demand such a sacrifice... Do not pity me, for my heart overflows with joy.”

Louis in a letter to a friend

“I embrace you with all my heart, I am so happy today, at the thought of seeing you again, that I cannot work. Your wife who loves you more than her life.”

Zelie in a letter to Louis

“Everything I’m seeing is splendid, but it remains a terrestrial beauty and our hearts will not be at all satisfied until they see the infinite beauty that is God.”

Louis while in Rome

“You will see that she will protect you in a very special way, and that she will make you succeed in this world, to then give you an eternity of happiness. What I am telling you here is not an exaggerated and unfounded piety on my part; I have reason to have confidence in the Blessed Virgin: I have received from her

favors that I alone know.”

Zelie in a letter to a friend

Read more of their correspondence, and the correspondence of all of the Martin girls here.