Saints Louis and Zélie Martin

Life story

Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux in 1823 into a military family. He trained as a watchmaker and opened a shop in Alençon, in Normandy. As a young man he asked to enter the monastery on the Great St Bernard Pass but was refused because he had no Latin. Zélie Guérin was born in 1831 at Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, learned the craft of Alençon lace and soon ran her own workshop with a number of workers.

The two met and married in Alençon in 1858. They had nine children; four died young, and all five surviving daughters entered religious life, among them Thérèse, later Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Louis eventually sold his watchmaking shop to help Zélie with the lace business. The family kept a regular rhythm of daily Mass, prayer at home and time set aside for the children.

Zélie developed breast cancer and died on 28 August 1877 in Alençon, aged forty-five. Louis then moved the children to Lisieux, to live near her brother's family. In his last years he suffered serious illness affecting his memory and health and spent a long period under medical care; he died on 29 July 1894 at the Château de La Musse near Évreux, on the estate of his wife's family.

Zélie's letters to her husband, brother and children have been preserved and give many ordinary details of a craftsman's household in Normandy. The couple's cause was handled together; they were beatified in 2008 and canonised on 18 October 2015, the first married couple to be canonised together as a couple.

Works and witness

• Louis was a watchmaker in Alençon; Zélie ran an Alençon lace workshop employing many workers
• They raised nine children; the five surviving daughters all became nuns
• Zélie's many family letters survive and are studied today
• Canonised together on 18 October 2015

Saints from the same country

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Zélie Martin, Correspondance familiale

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.