Every July 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the spouses Saint Louis Martin and Saint Celia Guérin, parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux (Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus). They were sanctified in married life, in the family that they built assisted by divine grace, marking a milestone in the history of the Church: they were the first married couple to be canonized in the same ceremony.
Marriage is the path to holiness
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“The holy spouses (…) lived Christian service in the family, building every day an environment full of faith and love; and in this climate the vocations of the daughters emerged, among them Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus,” said Pope Francis at the canonization Mass of Luis and Celia.
The history of the Martin Guérins is full of exemplary episodes, marked by profound joys, as well as the pain and difficulties inherent to married life.
It is always edifying to see how both, united, knew how to overcome the obstacles of everyday life with love and trust in God. Perhaps it is good to consider some of those details: like many families today, the Martins, after nineteen years of marriage, were forced to leave the land where they had always lived and move to Lisieux, affected by the economic crisis that devastated France at that time. Also, like many families today, what moved them to take the big step was the desire to guarantee the well-being and future of their children.
Luis worked as a watchmaker and jeweler, while Celia became a small businesswoman – today she would be called an “entrepreneur” – running an embroidery workshop. Together with their five daughters, the Martin Guerins used time, effort and ingenuity to get ahead, and God always provided them with what was necessary to cover household expenses and to help in solidarity other families in greater need.
domestic church
The holy couple had to live in 19th century France, afflicted by the political and economic problems that occurred after the French Revolution and Napoleonic expansionism. They also had to face times of growing secularism and abandonment of faith.
Louis was born in Bordeaux in 1823 and died in Arnières-sur-Iton in 1894. His wife, Maria Celia, was born in Saint-Saint-Denis-Sarthon in 1831 and died in Alençon in 1877.
Luis and Celia were raised in devotion by their respective families, and embraced their faith from a very young age. During her youth, before meeting Luis, María Celia wanted to be a nun and entered the monastery of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.
Luis, for his part, also experienced the desire to consecrate his life to God and presented himself as a candidate for the monastery, but he was not successful in his studies due to his difficulty with Latin. Ultimately, God had a different plan for them.
The young people met when Luis was 35 years old and Celia was 27. The understanding and love was so rapid and great between the two that they married on July 13, 1858, just three months after they met. Both led an exemplary married life: daily Mass, personal and family prayer, frequent Confession, participation in parish life. Nine children were born to their union, four of whom died prematurely.
Diversity of callings, a single goal: holiness
The five daughters who survived entered religious life. Among them was Saint Therese of Lisieux, the future Patroness of the Missions, who, incidentally, was an invaluable source to strengthen the sanctification process of her parents. For Saint Therese, if any ideal was always present in the minds of her parents, it was this: to educate her daughters to be good Christians and honest citizens.
God called Celia first, at age 45, while Luis survived him for several years, until he was 70. Luis was 53 years old when he became a widower.
Between 1882 and 1887, Luis accompanied three of his daughters to the doors of a Carmelite convent at different times. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice he experienced was separating from Teresa, who entered Carmel when she was 15 years old. Then, without a doubt, God would reward her generosity richly: among her daughters is one of the most important saints and mystics of modern times.
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