Parents “more worthy of Heaven than of earth.”

Br. Vladimir Guadalupe of Sts. Louis & Zélie, OCD 

One of my favorite parts of being assigned to live and serve at the Little Flower Basilica is the numerous stories people share with me about St. Thérèse. Some share how they “met” the Little Flower, while many others share the stories of miracles they have experienced through her intercession – the many roses she has let shower upon earth.

I met St. Thérèse when I was in college. One summer, a friend gave me a book entitled Maurice and Thérèse: The Story of a Love. This book is a collection of letters (with some commentary) between St. Thérèse and a seminarian named Maurice. The beautiful relationship they shared and the way that St. Thérèse supported this seminarian with her words and (most importantly) her prayers inspired me to ask St. Thérèse to become the patroness of my vocation – I entrusted the task of praying for my vocation to our Little Flower. At this time, I did not know that she had a shrine here in San Antonio, nor did I make the connection between her and the Discalced Carmelite Order that she belonged to. She would eventually lead me to both the Basilica and to the friars.  

She would also lead me to meet two very special people in her life: her mother and father, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin. I met her parents in October 2015 on the day they were canonized. That day, the Basilica hosted a special Mass to celebrate the momentous occasion. They were the first married couple (non-martyrs) canonized together in the history of the Church. This took place on October 19, 2015, which is the same date (25 years ago this year, on October 19, 1997) that their daughter, St. Thérèse, was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. My devotion to these saints and to praying for married couples would eventually lead me to requesting the taking of their names for my religious title.

For those not familiar with the lives of Sts. Louis and Zélie, these saints did not originally intend to serve God as married people. Both attempted to enter religious life and both were rejected. Louis became a watchmaker and Zélie learned the trade of lacemaking. They would eventually meet and be married on July 13, 1858 in Alençon, France. They would have nine children, four of whom would die as infants or small children. The five who survived to adulthood would all enter religious life, four of them joining the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Lisieux, including St. Thérèse. At the age of 45, when Thérèse was four years old, Zélie would die from breast cancer. The family would then move to Lisieux, France to be near the rest of Zélie’s family. After suffering from strokes and cerebral arteriosclerosis, Louis was placed in a mental hospital for three years. When he was able to return home, his daughter Céline (the only to have not yet entered the convent) cared for him until he died at the age of 70.

What can we learn from these great saints?

First, that God is to be first in all things. Both Sunday and daily Mass were essential parts of the daily life of the Martin household. Spiritual reading, celebrating various feast days, pilgrimages, and participation in parish organizations (such as Nocturnal Adoration or the Catholic Circle) were all embedded in the daily life of Sts. Louis and Zélie, a life that they shared with their daughters. Today, there is the frequent temptation to disobey God’s command to “keep holy the Sabbath” – many use Sunday to work, catch up on homework, or do other unnecessary work. A number of friends and acquaintances of St. Louis encouraged him to open his watchmaking business on Sundays, pointing out the great profit that could be made (many others were opening their businesses – why shouldn’t he?). However, he refused and chose to keep God first by honoring the day of rest. Sts. Louis and Zélie put God first and chose to instead rely on His Providence. When looking at other Carmelite saints, we sometimes have trouble relating to them and the seemingly miraculous things that happened in their spiritual life (visions, levitations, etc.). The decisions and actions made by Sts. Louis and Zélie as regarded their faith life were not miraculous – they are completely possible and entirely doable. 

Second, we learn from these saints that trusting in God completely and being upset when tragedy occurs are not mutually exclusive. As mentioned earlier, out of the nine children that Sts. Louis and Zélie would have, four of them would die as infants and children (as an aside, in the United States, October is also dedicated to Infant Loss Awareness; it is becoming more common that Sts. Louis and Zélie are invoked for those who have suffered miscarriage, stillbirth, or the loss of a child). By September 1868, Zélie had dealt with the loss of two of her sons and her father, losing one of her sons and her father within a week of each other. In the letters she writes we can see the deep trust she had in God, while still mourning these profound losses. She writes in a letter to her sister-in-law: 

I walked along a path I had taken five weeks ago with my little baby and my father. I couldn’t tell you all I was feeling. I didn’t pay attention to anything happening around me. I looked at the places where my father had sat, and I stood there, almost without thinking. Never in my life had I felt such heartache. When I arrived home, I couldn’t eat. It seemed as if I would now be indifferent to any misfortune that happened to me. (CF 39) 

In 1869, Zélie was pregnant with Céline, her seventh child. Writing again to her sister-in-law,

So, you can’t imagine how frightened I am of the future, about this little person that I’m expecting. It seems to me that the fate of the last two children will be his fate, and it’s a never-ending nightmare for me…. This morning, during Mass, I had such dark thoughts about this that I was very deeply moved. The best thing to do is to put everything in the hands of God and await the outcome in peace and abandonment to His will. That’s what I’m going to try very hard to do. (CF 46)

Then, in October 1871, Zélie’s sister-in-law gave birth to their first son. The boy was stillborn. Zélie, being no stranger to this kind of suffering at this point, wrote to her sister-in-law:

When I closed the eyes of my dear little children and when I buried them, I felt great pain, but it was always with resignation. I didn’t regret the sorrows and the problems that I had endured for them. Several people said to me, “It would be much better never to have had them.” I can’t bear that kind of talk. I don’t think the sorrows and problems could be weighed against the eternal happiness of my children. So they weren’t lost forever. Life is short and full of misery. We’ll see them again in Heaven. (CF 72)

St. Zélie shares with us both her profound sorrow and her profound trust. 

Finally, we can learn from Sts. Louis and Zélie how to create an environment of openness to vocation.  When I meet someone who is trying to discern God’s will for them, especially in terms of discovering and following their vocation, I always recommend that they seek the intercession of Sts. Louis and Zélie, regardless of whether they are discerning or leaning towards marriage, religious life, or priesthood. As mentioned earlier, all five of the daughters who survived to adulthood became nuns. However, this was not due to the initiative or urging of their parents (although all of her daughters becoming Carmelites was a secret desire of Zélie’s, one which she would not live to witness). In fact, when one of the daughters would express an interest in religious life, the parents would make certain not to make too big of a deal of it to ensure that the daughters were joining the convent because they were called, and not simply because it seemed to please the parents. They also supported their daughters in their other hobbies and ventures, such as Céline’s artistic talents. Rather, the parents of St. Thérèse created an environment in their home in which the daughters could encounter Him who is Love, and respond to a call from Him; it became natural to choose to enter the religious life, to accept Christ’s invitation to become His spouse. The parents lived their faith not just in their individual lives, but together and with their children. People who are discerning their vocation can work to create this “environment” in their own lives, and those who have already made a life commitment in their vocation (married or celibate) can follow the
example of Sts. Louis and Zélie and help to create that for others (such as for their children or the people they serve).

We would not have the Little Flower without her parents. Let us give thanks to God for the gift of St. Thérèse and for the gift of the holy marriage of Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin.  

*Orginally published in the Apostolate of the Little Flower Magazine Vol. 90 No. 2