I reached Lisieux at 6 pm Thursday to join some other American friends of thereseoflisieux.org.  Writing briefly from a borrowed French keyboard

Last night a special nocturnal visit to the marvelous exhibit of the Martin family belongings at St Jacques Church, where they often went to weekday Mass.  "Louis and Zelie Martin" and "Isidore and Celine Guerin" were there in costume to welcome us and we saw furniture; portraits; toys; a small traveling bag of Louis that Therese used on the pilgrimage to Rome; and much of their two homes recreated  The exhibit is breathtaking, and if you can get over to see it before it closes (November 1, I believe), it alone is worth the trip.  I will post photosafter we return home.

This morning we drove to Honfleur to visit the chapel of Notre Dame de Grace where the two Gosselin sisters went in 1837 with Father Nicholas Sauvage to pray that they might be accepted as Carmelites and found the Carmel of Lisieux.  Fifty years later, in July 1887, Therese Martin prayed in the same chapel that she might be admiited to the Carmel they founded.  It is a place of grace.  This afternoon we returned to the exhibit to photograph it for you:  I pray that all the friends of thereseoflisieux:org will share abundantly in the graces of our pilgrimage.  I will report again when I can. Please pray for us.

The Venerable Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face, will be beatified on Mission Sunday, October 19, in the basilica dedicated to their daughter at Lisieux in France. The first parents of a saint to be beatified, they are the first spouses in the history of the Church to be proposed for sainthood as a couple and the second to be beatified together.

Zélie and Louis are an inspiration to the families of today. Each owned a small business and worked hard while raising a large family. In the 19^th century this two-career couple faced the challenges we face in the 21st: finding good child care; achieving professional excellence; operating a profitable business; caring for aging parents; educating a special-needs child; forming their children in the faith; finding time to pray and to be active in their parish. Devout Catholics, they saw Christ in the poor and worked for a just society. In 1877 Zélie died of breast cancer, leaving Louis a single parent with five minor daughters to bring up. Later Louis was diagnosed with cerebral arteriosclerosis and spent three years in a psychiatric hospital.

Like us, Louis and Zélie could not control their circumstances. Life came at them unexpectedly, just as it comes at us. They could not prevent their tragedies: the Franco-Prussian war, when they had to house nine German soldiers; the infant deaths of four of their nine children, one from abuse by a wet-nurse; their painful diseases; Zélie’s premature death. Nor could they escape their responsibilities as business owners, caregivers, spouses, and parents. Their genius lay in how they accepted what happened to them: they accepted their own powerlessness, that God might be all-powerful in their lives.

They taught the same radical openness to their youngest daughter, Thérèse, now a doctor of the Church. Zélie and Louis were not declared “blessed” because of Thérèse. She became a saint because of them. They created an environment that invited her to holiness, and she responded freely to the invitation they offered her.

They offer the same invitation to us. We know many “married saints,” but most canonized saints have not been married. In recognizing Louis and Zélie as a blessed couple, the Church points to the mystery of the vocation of marriage, the way of life in which most people are called to reach the common goal of all Christians: sainthood. Engaged unreservedly in the responsibilities of daily life, Zélie and Louis became saints in the fabric of their marriage. They epitomize the words of Pope John Paul II: “Heroism must become daily, and the daily must become heroic.” They are the heroes of the everyday.

Jose Cardinal Saraiva Martins will preside at the Beatification Mass at the Basilica of Saint Thérèse in Lisieux on Mission Sunday, October 19, 2008.  Download the press release for the beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin.

Fr. Antonio Sicari, O.C.D., of the Verona Province of the Discalced Carmelite Friars, presented this excellent conference on the soon-to-be-Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin in Italian.  I am most grateful to Fr. Thomas Koller, O.C.D., of the California-Arizona Province, for translating it and to Fr. Sicari for his gracious permission to post it here.  Fr. Sicari reflects on the life of this couple with many extracts from Zelie's letters and shares his thoughts about how they speak to us today.  To read it, scroll to the bottom of this page.

EWTN is scheduled to broadcast live the Beatification Mass for Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (10:00 a.m. in France) from Lisieux. The broadcast, which will last about three hours, will be repeated at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Please see their schedule at http://www.ewtn.com/tv/NA_101908.asp

Jose Cardinal Saraiva Martins, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside over the Mass as the legate of Pope Benedict XVI. During the Mass he will read the Apostolic Letter of Beatification signed by the Holy Father, and the portrait of Zelie and Louis will be unveiled. Parents and their children will carry the reliquary containing the bodies of the newly beatified in procession from the crypt of the basilica to the foot of the altar. 

Surely this is the first time in the history of the Church that a couple has been beatified in a basilica dedicated to their youngest daughter! In January 1939, their oldest daughter, Marie, recalled Zelie's visits to the cemetery near the site on which the Basilica would later be built: " Recently, I was looking at the Basilica, and I was thinking of Mamma; when she came to Lisieux, Aunt always used to take her to the cemetery. It was on a beautiful site, and she had members of her family who were buried there. If anyone, at that time, had said to her: "Do you see this beautiful hill where we are? Well! in fifty years, a superb Basilica will be built here . . . and this Basilica will be in honor of your little Therese.' Poor little Mother! She would have said 'You're losing your mind!' Certainly, she wouldn't have believed it; she who had so many troubles! . . ." [Conversation of Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, written down by Sister Marie of the Incarnation, from the latter's notebook, p. 228, cited in Letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, Volume I (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1982), p. 124.]

Two of the Martin daughters, Pauline (Mother Agnes of Jesus) and Celne (Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face) lived in the crypt of the basilica, where the reliquary of their parents will be venerated from now on, during the summer of 1944. All the Carmelites and some townspeople took refuge there during the bombing of Normandy. The Carmelites lived toward the front of the crypt on the right, in the section near Our Lady's altar. See more about the festivities and ceremonies of the beatification of Louis and Zelie Martin.

 The reliquary of St. Therese will make its first visit to England and Wales next year, from September 16 to October 16, 2009.  The bishops have planned a year of catechesis to prepare for the visit, with a special invitation to young people, the sick, and those of any faith who are seeking their way in life.  See the Web site of the bishops' conference.  I am honored to report that it lists thereseoflisieux.org as

Far and away the best website about St. Thérèse, it is the work of Maureen O’Riordan from Philadelphia. This well-organised and attractively presented site contains a huge amount of information about every aspect of St. Thérèse’s life and mission.

To see this acknowledgment in context, visit the resources page of their site and scroll down to "Web sites."  I thank everyone who has contributed to the site. Please pray that the time of preparation and the visit of the reliquary will bring many graces not only to Catholics but to all the people of both countries.  May we celebrate the feast of St. Therese by being partners with her in fulfilling her desire:  "I shall desire in Heaven the same thing I do on earth: to love Jesus and to make Him loved."