Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux: their lives and beatification from Maureen O'Riordan on Vimeo.

The first liturgical feast of Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Therese, will be celebrated on Sunday, July 12, the anniversary of their marriage in 1858. The Shrine at Lisieux has announced a two-day celebration of liturgy, prayer, and festivities.Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, will preside at a Pontifical Mass in the Basilica of St. Therese, where Louis and Zelie were beatified on October 19, 2009. See the schedule of liturgies and festivities.

In honor of the first feast of the Martin spouses, I am happy to present the photo show "Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux: Their lives and beatification" above. Please celebrate the feast by joining us in this virtual pilgrimage to the places Louis and Zelie made holy by living with such faith, hope, and love. View the historic exhibit "Story of a Family" mounted at Lisieux in honor of the beatification, with furniture, possessions, documents, and photos belonging to the Martin family. See photos of Pietro Schiliro, the Italian child healed at the intercession of Zelie and Louis, and photos of his family. View the images of the beatification ceremony and of the reliquary. Come as a pilgrim of the heart to honor the faithful servants of God, and ask for the grace to imitate them.

On the feast of the Sacred Heart am happy to present my article "Saint Therese of Lisieux and the Sacred Heart of Jesus," which the Apostleship of Prayer published on its Web site. Therese joined the Apostleship of Prayer on October 15, 1885, when she was twelve.  With St. Francis Xavier, she is now its co-patron. 

June 24, 2009. Zenit.org reported that the astronaut who carried a relic of St. Therese into space attended the Papal audience in Rome today. He will bring another relic of St. Therese on his next trip into space in 2011. 

In 2002 the Carmelites of Australia created "Therese 2002," a splendid Web site to prepare for the visit of the reliquary of St. Therese to Australia, to which they later added many photos of the visit. This historic site, archived in an Australian library, disappeared from the Web. Now, thanks to the Internet Achive's Wayback Machine,you can visit it before the reliquary arrives in Great Britain! Learn about St. Therese's life, spirituality, and mission; see reflections, photos, worship resources, coverage of the relics in Australia, Ireland, and the U.S.A. and much more. I thank the Australian Carmelites for creating this site and the Internet Archive for permission to link to it.

With thanks to M. Franck Monvoisin, I am happy to offer a link to more than a hundred icons and photos of Saint Therese of Lisieux which he has posted on his French site.