LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN: THE SEED AND THE ROOT OF THE LITTLE FLOWER

The canonization of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux, means that, for the first time, a married couple are canonized together. This is a true love story. Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin, the parents of the greatest Saint of modern times, fell in love at first sight. They loved all their children and wanted to provide the best for them, but above all they loved God and desired that each of their family would also love Him. This is also a story of battle and conflict. The Martins lived at a time of trouble for the Church in Rome and of war between France and Prussia. Their main battle, however, was in achieving holiness for themselves and each of their children. Paulinus Redmond's much loved account, now published in a new edition, tells the story of Louis and Zélie in the form of letters written to their daughter, St Thérèse of Lisieux, each linked to the next to form a continuous narrative. Here we meet Thérèse's two brothers and her sisters, including Marie, Pauline and Céline who all became Carmelite nuns, and also Léonie who joined the Visitation Order. Almost from her birth in 1873, Thérèse had within her a sense of the presence of God. She loved Him with her whole heart, mind and soul. She also loved her parents, knowing that she owed to them the foundation of much of the strength of her spiritual life. Thérèse is often known as The Little Flower and her parents may rightly be thought of as The Seed and The Root of that Flower. With a family of Saints, Louis and Zélie Martin stand as an affirmation of Catholic family life for the twenty-first century. What was their secret? These letters to Thérèse reveal that they simply lived ordinary lives extraordinarily well. Paulinus Redmond was ordained into the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and now lives as a solitary Hermit.