Sts Louis and Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin – July 12 – Carmelite Saints
Summary:
Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux on August 22, 1823. While he was a master watchmaker in Alençon, he met Marie Azelie (Zélie) Guérin, a lacemaker born in Gandelain (St-Denis-sur-Sarthon), on December 23, 1831. They were married on July 13, 1858, and had nine children, including the future Saint Thérèse of the Infant Jesus. Model spouses, devoted parents, workers, attentive to the poor, always nourishing a missionary spirit, they found their strength and hope in regular attendance at Holy Mass and in deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin. After a long illness, Zélie died in Alençon on August 28, 1877. Louis, in retirement, went to Lisieux near his in-laws to ensure a better future for his five children (the other four having died in infancy). This patriarch of the family, after offering all his children to God, knew suffering and illness. He died near Evreux on July 29, 1894. They were beatified in 2008 and canonized in 2015.
History:
Louis Martin
Louis Martin was born on August 22, 1823, in Bordeaux, southern France. While his father served as a captain garrisoned there, he happened to be away in Spain during Louis’s birth. The newborn was baptized privately immediately, but the full ceremonies at the Church of St. Eulalie were held in October, after his father returned. Named Louis Joseph Aloys Stanislaus, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who happened to be in the Church at the time of the baptism, went over to bless the baby and said to the parents, ‘Congratulations! That child is a predestined one.’
Louis was the third of five children. His only brother, Pierre, who was four years older, died at sea while still young. Marie, his sister, three years his senior, passed away at twenty-six. After Captain Martin returned from Spain, he was transferred to Avignon. There, in 1826, Anne Fannie was born. Anne, the only sibling besides Louis to raise children, married Adolphe Leriche. In 1844, she welcomed a son named after his father, but died nine years later. The youngest sister, Sophie, became Louis’s favorite. He served as her godfather, and her death at age nine caused him deep distress.
Louis grew up at various French military posts, where he learned order and discipline. Influenced by the French bond between spirituality and military life, he focused on spiritual matters. When Captain Martin retired in December 1830, he returned to Normandy and settled in Alençon so his children could be educated there.
At nineteen, Louis began an apprenticeship as a watchmaker, moving to Rennes to live with his father’s cousin, Louis Bohard, who taught him the trade. In September 1843, Louis left Rennes to continue his apprenticeship in Strasbourg. Before traveling there, he visited the Augustinian Monastery of Mount St. Bernard, renowned for its monks rescuing travelers in the cold mountains.
After two years in Strasburg, Louis again visited the Swiss Alps, this time seeking admission to the Monastery of Mount St. Bernard. Inspired by the monks’ courage and charity, he hoped to join their community, but the Abbot required proficiency in Latin. Undeterred, Louis returned to Alençon to study Latin, persevering for a year. When illness interrupted his studies, he never resumed them, believing that God had other plans, and returned to his apprenticeship in Paris.
Eventually, Louis became a master watchmaker and established a thriving business in Alençon. His prosperity allowed him to purchase a house large enough for himself and his parents. In 1857, he also bought a small property called the Pavilion. In the garden, Louis placed a statue of Our Lady, a gift he cherished. He later added a jeweler’s shop to his business. In Alençon, Louis enjoyed the quiet surroundings and fishing by the local trout stream. For nearly eight years, he maintained a quiet bachelor's life, with no desire for marriage, much to his mother's distress.
Marie-Azélie Guérin
Marie-Azélie Guérin was born on December 23, 1831, in the parish of St-Denis-sur-Sarthon near Alençon. Second of three children born to Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé, she was baptized on Christmas Eve. Her father had retired from the army and was a member of the local police force. Her mother had given birth to her first child, Marie Louise, two years previously, and the family was completed with the birth of a son, Isidore, ten years later.
Her parents, though strict, raised her and her siblings with resolute faith. Zélie described her childhood and youth as "bleak." Zélie’s mother possessed deep faith but treated her daughters with rigid austerity. She cared for them, but withheld affection and forbade dolls. Her father enforced discipline, though he demonstrated greater warmth. He later sold his property to send them to school.
When the family moved to Alençon, Zélie was 13 years old. There, she and her sister attended the school of the Perpetual Adoration Sisters. Zélie excelled in her studies and cultivated a deeper religious devotion. However, she struggled with severe headaches and respiratory problems. Her desire to enter the religious life was strong, but due to her health, she was unable to join the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
Following their settlement in Alençon, Zélie's mother ran a café for a short time, while her father tried his hand at woodwork. The family continued to encourage education. Isidore, Zélie’s brother, who was a bright yet spoiled child, was later sent to the Lycée. Eventually, after studying medicine in Paris, he became a pharmacist at Lisieux.
Zélie's sister chose a different path. She entered the Visitation Convent at Le Mans at the age of 29, taking the name Sr. Marie-Dosithée. Upon her arrival, she declared, ‘I have come here in order to become a saint.’
With her religious aspirations no longer possible, Zélie decided to marry. Seeking guidance, she turned to Our Lady to ask how she should earn her dowry. On December 8, 1851, she received an answer: an interior voice said, ‘Make Alençon point lace.’ Pursuing this direction, Zélie learned her craft at a professional school, quickly excelled, and soon started her own business. Towards the end of 1853, she established herself as a “maker of Point d'Alençon,” providing work for home workers, employing about 60 lace makers. The quality of her work made her workshop famous.
Marriage
Later, in 1858, Zélie noticed a man passing by on the Saint-Léonard Bridge and heard an interior voice say, ‘This is he whom I have prepared for you.’ The man was Louis Martin, whose mother had told him about Zélie after noticing her at the lace-making school. Their connection was immediate.
They married three months later, on July 13 at midnight at Notre-Dame church. The book of Tobit 8:4-8 records the prayer of Tobit and Sarah on the night of their marriage, in which they ask God for his blessing on their life together. This reading must have had special significance for Louis, as after he and Zélie exchanged wedding vows, he presented her with a silver medallion he had designed and engraved with images of Sarah and Tobit.
After their marriage, Zélie asked Louis to bring the statue of Our Lady from the Pavilion garden into the home, and it became the center of family devotions. It was this statue that, years later, smiled on Thérèse when she was ill and has since become known as ‘Our Lady of the Smile.’
Since Louis and Zélie both desired to live the religious life, they chose to continue their dedication to God through chastity after their marriage. During the first year of their marriage, they cared for a little boy of five whose father had died and whose mother had eleven children. They lived a life of chastity for ten months, after which, under the direction of a confessor, they agreed to have children of their own.
Although Zélie never lost her attraction to the religious life, her focus shifted. Inspired by a new maternal mission, she resolved to bear many children and nurture them to become saints. If she herself could not be consecrated to God, she decided she would consecrate all her children to Him.
Convinced this was God’s will, they had nine children in thirteen years—seven girls and two boys. Only five daughters survived childhood, each entering religious life. “We lived only for them,” Zélie wrote. “They were all our happiness.” Zélie, meanwhile, established her office next to Louis’ shop and continued her lace-making.
Their first child was born on February 22, 1860, and was named Marie Louise. Zélie and Louis had decided to give all their children the name Marie in honor of Our Lady. As she waited for the first baby to arrive, Zélie was careful to follow this advice: in the months immediately preceding the birth of her child, the expectant mother should keep especially close to God, so that she might be a living sanctuary for the child within her.
On September 7, 1861, Marie Pauline was born. She, too, was a reasonably strong child, though she suffered from a chronic cough during her first years. Their third daughter, Marie Léonie, was born on June 3, 1863. She was a frail child, which caused her mother much anxiety. Like Pauline, she suffered from a chronic cough, but she was not as strong as her sister.
When Marie Hélène was born the following year on October 13, Zélie’s own health was already beginning to fail. She was unable to nurse this child herself and had to entrust her to a wet nurse, Little Rose. By this time, the two eldest were strong, lively children.
Léonie was cause for concern; small for her age, she suffered badly with measles, violent convulsions, and extended eczema, hovering between life and death for sixteen months. When she recovered, Hélène had returned from her wet nurse.
After the birth of her fourth child, Zélie became aware of a glandular swelling in her breast, which had become painful. She did not trust the surgeons of her day, and this tumor was ignored for the next eleven years.
In June 1865, Louis’ father died. Little did the couple know that they would experience the death of a loved one five more times in as many years.
Zélie had always hoped that one day she would have a son who would become a priest, so it was a cause of special joy when on September 20, 1866, she gave birth to Marie Joseph Louis. It was the easiest birth since her first child, and the baby was big and strong. She had to let him go to a wet nurse, but this was not a cause for anxiety, as Little Rose was both kind and reliable.
On New Year’s Day, she brought the baby to Alençon for a few hours, filled with the hope that he would fulfill her dream of being the mother of a future priest. However, her joy quickly faded when, on February 14, he died. Heartbroken by the loss, Zélie, supported by her family, accepted with sorrow that God had taken him to Himself.
She believed she had a saint in Heaven, and when five weeks after his death, Hélène had an ear infection for which the doctor could do nothing, Zélie suggested to her that she say a prayer to her little brother in Heaven. The next morning, the ear was completely healed. Zélie herself renewed her prayers for a son who would become a priest. She turned to St. Joseph, making a novena which ended on his feast day, and the baby was born precisely nine months later.
Marie Joseph John Baptiste arrived on December 19, 1867, but his birth was the most difficult of all. The child nearly died, and the doctor baptized him. Everyone could see that this baby was not strong. On August 24, 1868, he died in his mother’s arms. To add to her troubles, Zélie had been nursing her father for over a year. Unable to live alone, he had been persuaded to move in with his daughter and her family. He died less than two weeks after her second son.
On April 28, 1869, Marie Céline was born. Zélie, saddened and anxious about entrusting Céline to a different wet nurse and fearing the loss of another child, experienced relief when Céline survived. Tragically, Hélène fell ill and unexpectedly died forty-eight hours later at the age of five.
After Céline returned home from her wet nurse, Zélie found comfort in her youngest child. Though she continued to hope for a son, her eighth child, Marie Mélanie Thérèse, was another daughter, who sadly lived less than two months.
In April 1870, Louis sold his business to his nephew, Adolphe Leriche, to go into business with his wife, whose lacemaking business was booming. He handled the bookkeeping and marketing, traveled to Paris to secure the best prices, supervised the delivery of particularly valuable pieces of work, and even chose patterns and drew designs himself.
In July 1871, the family moved to Zélie’s old home. Zélie was pleased that there was a garden for the children, even though it was not very big. They were near Our Lady’s church, and Louis and Zélie went to the 5:30 Mass there every morning; they both received Holy Communion several times each week, which was unusually frequent at that time.
Zélie found lace-making compatible with motherhood as it let her remain at home. She managed about 15 women, who came every Thursday to deliver work, collect cotton, and receive instructions. Zélie assembled their pieces. She always made time for her children, writing often to the two eldest.
Having lost Hélène and Mélanie Thérèse, Zélie was delighted to find herself expecting her ninth child. On January 2, 1873, Zélie gave birth to her last child, Marie Francoise Thérèse. She tried to nurse her, but when the baby became ill, she turned to Little Rose once more.
Perhaps Zélie knew from the beginning that there was something special about this child, for she confided to her sister-in-law, ‘When I was carrying her, I noticed something which never happened with my other children; when I sang, she sang with me.’ When Thérèse returned home aged fifteen months, her mother lost no time in teaching her to pray.
Throughout this time, the family experienced both comfort and loss with the deaths of four children, as well as persistent challenges with their middle daughter, Leonie. Ill from childhood and isolated within her family, Leonie was expelled from school and abused by a maidservant. She tried religious life three times before she succeeded: in 1899, she entered the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen.
In their trials, Louis and Zélie’s trust in God remained unwavering. The couple lived simply, helped the poor, and led daily prayers in the household. Their nurturing environment laid a foundation for their daughters, Pauline, Marie, Céline, Léonie, and Thérèse. The Martins were loving but firm, determined to make saints of their children. The little brothers and sisters who had died remained a part of the family, and, following Zélie’s conviction, the children were taught to see Heaven as their true home.
Zélie never tolerated bad behavior in her children; she won their confidence through love and encouraged generosity, but always corrected careless speech, fussy eating, or pride. The children learned to make sacrifices and yield to others. Louis loved to spend time with his five daughters, delighting them with toys he crafted, stories, and songs. He was firm, expecting obedience, and they obliged out of love. St. Thérèse later wrote: “God gave me a father and a mother who were more worthy of heaven than of earth.”
From 1865, a gland in Zélie's right breast degenerated into cancer, causing her great suffering. In October 1876, the swelling in her breast increased. She knew medicine offered no hope. At night, the pain was worse; it was dull and caused numbness throughout one side. She could not lie on that side, making sleep difficult. She spent Christmas with the Guérins to please her brother, who wanted her to see a surgeon. The surgeon confirmed it was too late for an operation. Zélie's faith remained strong; she trusted God’s will. When Louis realized his wife was fatally ill, he became inconsolable. He stopped fishing for a time and would not leave her.
Marie took over the house and the care of her two youngest sisters, coping well with her new responsibilities. Meanwhile, Pauline was at school wanting letters, and much care and gentleness were still needed with Léonie. On February 24, Zélie’s sister died at the Visitation.
Zélie fulfilled her role as mother to the last. While reading the life of Bl. Mary of the Incarnation, she remarked, ‘All her daughters Carmelites … How could one have such an honor!’
Despite her worsening condition, she continued to go to the early Mass, even though it took all her strength to restrain herself from crying out in pain. By July 8, the pains were worse than ever, causing intestinal trouble and fever. Facing inevitable death, Zélie resigned herself to making the best of the time left to her.
On the first Friday of August, Louis went to Mass with Zélie for the last time. Afterward, he hardly ever left her side until August 26, when he went to fetch the priest for the Last Rites. During this period, on August 16, Zélie wrote her last letter to her brother, ‘If the Blessed Virgin does not cure me, it is that my time has come and that God wishes me to find my rest elsewhere than on earth.’
Ten days later, a hemorrhage took away her voice, her limbs became swollen, and she became so weak that the Guérins were summoned. As Zélie's condition worsened, Louis fetched the priest escorting the Blessed Sacrament from the Church.
On August 28 at 12.30 a.m., Zélie died, her husband and brother beside her, at the age of 45. The three older girls were present, but they did not wake the two younger children. The next morning, Thérèse’s father took her to see her mother for the last time. Thérèse was only four years old. The following day, Zélie was buried with the four little ones. It was not until 1894, when Louis died, that Isidore Guérin had the family grave moved to Lisieux.
After Zélie's death, Louis was left with five daughters, ages 4 to 17. He fulfilled his wife’s wishes by selling the lacemaking business and moving to Lisieux to be near his brother and his wife. In Lisieux, an ordered family life was soon established. Louis always insisted on punctuality and good manners, qualities his daughters respected. Marie ran the house, helped by a maid. Soon Louis returned to his fishing, and sometimes he took Thérèse with him. He often gave his catch to the Carmelite nuns.
He took a daily walk to visit the Blessed Sacrament, often with Thérèse. When they visited the Carmelite Chapel, he explained to her that nuns were praying behind the grille. He also spent time in prayer and reading. The family evenings always ended with prayers. St. Thérèse said that she only had to watch her father to know how the saints pray. He assisted at early Mass daily. He also helped establish the Nocturnal Adoration Society, and he was active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
He spent each evening with his daughters and often played with them. Usually one of them read aloud from ‘The Liturgical Year’ or some other book. Céline and Thérèse often sat on his knee, and he told them stories and sang to them. This was where Thérèse first heard many of the melodies she later used as settings for her poems. When Thérèse began school at the Benedictine Convent, it was often Louis who took her and collected her together with Céline, who was also a pupil there.
One by one, Louis granted permission to four of his daughters to enter religious life. Each parting was a great sorrow. Despite his loneliness, he said, “It is a great, great honor for me that the Good Lord desires to take all of my children. If I had anything better, I would not hesitate to offer it to Him.”
When Pauline expressed her desire to enter Carmel, he willingly gave his permission, even though he was not at all sure that her health would withstand the austerities of the life.
The next March, Louis traveled to Paris with Marie and Léonie to celebrate Holy Week and Easter ceremonies. Céline and Thérèse stayed with their aunt and uncle. During that time, Thérèse became very ill. Her aunt quickly contacted Louis, who returned home in distress as soon as he received her letter.
Louis, desperate to save the life of his youngest child, had Marie send to Our Lady of Victories in Paris to ask for a Novena of Masses to be said for her recovery. It was during that Novena, on Pentecost Sunday, that Our Lady smiled on Thérèse and she was cured.
It was especially hard for him when his eldest daughter, who had never shown any inclination towards the religious life, asked him for permission to follow her sister into Carmel. Louis was shocked by Marie’s request. He could not imagine life without her at home.
To allow Marie to visit her mother’s grave once more before entering Carmel, the whole family went on holiday to Alençon. During this trip, Léonie decided to enter the Poor Clares. Despite his surprise, Louis did all he could to smooth over the incident, for Marie was very indignant that her sister had entered so hastily. In less than two months, Léonie was home again. She was not strong enough to follow the austere rule of the Poor Clares, but by this time, Marie was already in Carmel.
When Thérèse requested permission to enter Carmel, Louis was less surprised, although she was only fourteen. He picked a little white flower from a low wall and gifted it to her, explaining how God had cared for it. Thérèse felt she was hearing her own story and always thought of herself as ‘the little white flower.’ Louis recognized her true vocation and did not stand in her way.
He did all he could to help Thérèse obtain permission from Church authorities to enter Carmel at the age of fifteen. Meanwhile, Léonie, now with her father’s full permission, went to try her vocation at the Visitation Convent in Caen. Even though the Visitation was much less austere than the Poor Clares, Léonie’s health was not good enough, and she returned home in time to see Thérèse enter Carmel.
By this time, Louis’ health had deteriorated. The year before Thérèse entered Carmel, he experienced a paralytic stroke affecting his left side, but he recovered enough to make the pilgrimage to Rome with his two youngest daughters.
In June 1888, while Louis sat in the Belvedere, Céline brought him a painting of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Mary Magdalene, which she had just completed. Louis was so impressed that he offered to take her to Paris to study with a professional artist. Céline explained that she hoped to follow her sisters to Carmel and preferred not to study in Paris, choosing instead to stay with him during his last days. Louis knew Léonie still intended to enter the Visitation once her health allowed. He recognized that Zélie’s wish for all their daughters to become nuns was close to fulfillment.
By this period, Louis was suffering frequent lapses of memory. At one point, he went to Le Havre without telling anyone. Four days later, Céline and her uncle found him there, confused.
The date for Thérèse to receive the Carmelite Habit was delayed due to Louis’ illness, but was finally set for January 10, 1889. The family feared he would not be able to attend, but that day, he was able to take part. He led Thérèse down the aisle; she was dressed as a bride in white velvet trimmed with swansdown and Alençon lace, which he gave her. After Thérèse entered Carmel, Louis seemed very old and tired, and soon suffered another stroke.
In 1889, Louis was paralyzed by strokes. On February 12, he was admitted to the Bon Sauveur at Caen. The sisters cared for him lovingly and appreciated his gentle manner. He spent much time in the Chapel and received Holy Communion daily when well enough. He shared everything given to him with others and never complained, though he missed his family.
On May 12, Louis was taken to visit his Carmelite daughters. It was the last time he saw them. He was no longer able to walk at all. In 1888, they had inherited a large property near Evreux; the Guérins used it from May to August each year. By the following summer, the whole family had become more accustomed to coping with Louis’ needs, and they decided to try to take him to Evreux. Their efforts were rewarded when he showed his obvious delight at the beautiful views. Céline and her cousin Marie wheeled him through the extensive woodland, where at twilight he was enchanted by the song of the nightingale. Louis never lost his love of music; he could still sing a little himself, though his voice had grown weak, and he loved listening to his niece Marie sing and play the piano.
After the brief stay with the Guérin family, Louis, Léonie, and Céline moved into a small, rented house nearby. A married couple was employed to help with Louis. Léonie later entered the Visitation Convent at Caen again in June 1893. Céline alone remained with her father until his death, but she was greatly supported by the Guérin family.
In May 1894, Céline went to Caen, but while she was there on May 27, Louis suffered a serious stroke, which paralyzed his left arm. Her uncle sent a telegram, and she returned at once. Louis received the Last Sacraments. He seemed to be recovering again until June 5, when he had a serious heart attack while Céline was at the 7 a.m. Mass in the Cathedral. He suffered another, more prolonged heart attack on July 28, and again he received the Last Sacraments.
At 5 o’clock the following morning, Desiré called Céline as he was convinced that Louis’ death was very near. Céline recalled that her father’s eyes were closed and his breathing had become strong and regular. Most of the household left by carriage to assist at the early Mass in Evreux; Céline and her aunt stayed behind with Louis; her uncle, Isidore, was still asleep as he had returned late the previous night from Lisieux.
Just before 8 o’clock, they noticed that Louis was icy cold. Céline remained alone with her father, praying the invocations to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for a happy death. As she finished praying aloud, Louis looked at her with love and gratitude, then he closed his eyes for the last time. Isidore and Céline Guérin had come into the room, and Isidore pressed the crucifix to Louis’ lips several times. By this time, his breathing had become very weak, and at a quarter past eight on Sunday, July 29, 1894, he died. Isidore said that he had never seen a more peaceful death.
Louis’ body was taken back to Lisieux, where he was buried on August 2 after a Requiem Mass in the Cathedral. Céline wrote to her sisters in Carmel, ‘Papa is in Heaven’.
Louis and Zélie Martin were an inspirational couple, devoted to God and one another, and faithful, holy parents who helped each other and their children toward sainthood. Their child, St. Thérèse, “The Little Flower,” was canonized in 1925, and her sister Léonie’s cause for beatification was officially opened in July 2015. They were declared Venerable in 1994 by Pope St. John Paul II, and were later beatified in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI. Louis and Zélie Martin were canonized by Pope Francis in 2015. Louis and Zélie are excellent models for all Christian spouses. They are the first-ever married couple with children to be canonized in the same ceremony.
Prayer:
O God,
who gave to Saint Louis and Marie Zélie
the grace to lead a life of holiness
as Christian spouses and parents,
grant that, through their intercession and example,
we may be able to love and serve you faithfully,
living worthily our own vocation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
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