My Pope Philippines – August 2018

True Believers

The one Louis called

his Little Queen

St. Louis Martin

St. Zelie Martin

that the couple had accepted

her fate and was preparing

for the worst. But thankfully,

the baby was much tougher

than they had expected. She

survived, and as her parents

beamed with love at their

beautiful and fun-loving

daughter, they had no idea

that years later, she would be

known as St. Thérèse of the

Child Jesus.

When Zelie died of breast

cancer, Louis moved with his

daughters to Lisieux and

continued to raise them as

Zelie would have wanted.

One by one, he saw them

enter the religious life: Thérèse,

Pauline, Marie, and Celine

joined the Carmelite Order-

Lisieux, and Leonie joined the

Visitandine in Caen. Soon after,

the beloved patriarch passed

away when he was addled with

dementia and struck down by a

debilitating stroke.

In a letter, St. Thérèse wrote

of her parents, “The Lord gave

me a father and mother more

worthy of heaven than earth.

I have had the happiness of

belonging to parents who have

no equal. God brought it about

that I be born in a holy land.”

PATH TO SAINTHOOD

In 2008, Louis and Zelie were

beatified following the miracle

of baby Pietro Schiliro, an Italian

child cured of lung problems

through their intercession. Four

years later, it was discovered

that another baby was cured

with the couple’s intercession.

Baby Carmen, born on October

15, 2008, was cured of various

diseases, one of which was

cerebral hemorrhage, when her

parents prayed to the couple.

This second miracle led to their

canonization, and now people

all over the world celebrate the

saintly couple’s feast day on July

12, the day before Louis and Zelie

were wed.

Saint Thérèse spent her growing up years in this

bedroom, where her mother later on took her last breath.

ZELIE’S LAST BEDROOM

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE EMBASSY OF FR

ANCE TO THE PHILIPPINES AND COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG (GRENTIDEZ).