When Léonie Martin, Sister Françoise- Thérèse, the sister of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, died in 1941, her life was written by the nuns of the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen and circulated to other monasteries.  Thanks to the great generosity of the nuns of the Monastery of the Visitation at Caen, who gave me permission to publish an English translation of this document at "Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway," and to the partnership of Juan Marrero, who translated the document into English for this Web site, I am happy to announce the publication of this "summary of the life"of  Léonie Martin in English as the centerpiece of a new section of this Web site dedicated to Léonie. I am opening this section on August 1, 2011 in honor of the premiere in Michigan on that day of the American feature film "Leonie!" 

Léonie was one of the earliest and most fervent disciples of Thérèse's way of confidence and love.

I hope that many who see the film, and many others, will want to learn more about the real Léonie Martin.

Here is a photograph of the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel which stood in St. Jacques Church in Lisieux when the Martin family lived there. 

St. Jacques was the parish in which their home, Les Buissonets, was located.  Father Delatroette,1 who was the ecclesiastical superior of the Lisieux Carmel and opposed Therese's entrance, thinking her too young, was a priest of St. Jacques and, for a time, was Leonie's confessor.  

But when Louis Martin and his five daughters moved to Lisieux in 1877, it was impossible to "rent" seats for six at St. Jacques.  "Pew rents" were one of the forms offerings to the parish church took in France at that time.  We can imagine, then, that the church was crowded.  So on Sundays the Martins attended the Cathedral of St. Pierre, where Zelie's brother, Isidore Guerin, was one of the churchwardens.  But the family often participated in weekday Mass at St. Jacques.

It was before this statue in St. Jacques Church that Pauline Martin, Therese's sister, then twenty years old, was praying during the early morning Mass on February 16, 1882 when she suddenly understood that she was called to become a Carmelite.  Before that she had been thinking of the Visitation, where she had been educated.  She was the first of the four Martin sisters to understand that she was called to Carmel.

Little Therese was then nine years old.  In the bitter years after her dear sister disappeared behind the walls of Carmel, what must she have felt when seeing this statue when she went to Mass at St. Jacques without Pauline?

When Lisieux was bombed in 1944, St. Jacques Church was substantially destroyed.  But this statue was recovered.  Although the church was restored after the war, it is no longer used as a church, but serves the town of Lisieux as a municipal exhibit hall, where, in the summer, an exhibit about the Martin family has often been held.  Today, you can pray before this statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at St. Pierre's Cathedral.  I thank the photographer, Corrinne May, for permission to display her photograph here.

For the reference, see Therese et Lisieux by Pierre Descouvement and Helmut-Nils Loose. Editions du Cerf, 1991, p. 49. 

1 Link to the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux. 

To celebrate the feast of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin, Fr. James Kubicki, the director of the Apostleship of Prayer in the United States, wrote in his blog about "A Call to a Deeper Love," the new English translation of the letters of Louis and Zelie Martin.  Most important of all, he ordered it, and he mentioned this Web site.  He also created this fine two-minute video about Louis and Zelie and their significance for us.  Both Blessed Louis Martin and St. Therese were members of the Apostleship of Prayer, and Therese is its co-patron with St. Francis Xavier.  Thank you, Fr. Jim! 

 Click on the image to order the book

Ten ways to promote A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, 1863-1885: 

1. Order the book, which is the letters of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin.
   
2. Submit this writeup to the media.
   
3. Download this 8 1/2 x 11 flyer and this 8 1/2 x 14 poster.  Circulate them to your network by e-mail.  Print them out and post them or distribute them in your parish and your community.
4. Insert this brief blurb in your parish bulletin or your group's newsletter.  Add it to your Web site or Facebook page.
5. Add "www.thereseoflisieux.org" to your e-mail signature.  Link to it online.
   
6. Ask your local bookstore to stock the book.
   
7. Request your library to purchase it.
   
8. Recommend the book to your friends.
9. Choose it as a gift for someone who will enjoy it.
10. Donate a copy to your church library.

This two-minute filmed reflection about Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin, prepared by Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., national director of the Apostleship of Prayer for the first feast of the Martin spouses in 2009, has lost none of its freshness.  Enjoy!