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The saints

Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin

A watchmaker and a lacemaker, parents of St. Thérèse, canonized together as a married couple.

Feast: 12 July (memorial kept where approved; not on the universal calendar) · 1823 to 1894 and 1831 to 1877 · The modern era · Alençon and Lisieux, France

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Two old photographs side by side: St. Zélie Martin seated in a dark dress and St. Louis Martin seated with a beard.

Unidentified photographer, 2020. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin

Alençon, France

Louis was a watchmaker and Zélie ran a successful lace business.1

Both had wanted to enter religious life and were turned down.1

They married, and had nine children, four of whom died young.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers them as the first married couple canonized together, the parents of St. Thérèse.

01Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin

A holy home

They went to daily Mass, prayed together and raised their five daughters, all of whom became nuns, including Thérèse.1

Zélie died of breast cancer, and Louis raised the girls alone, later suffering a long illness.1

They were canonized together in 2015.1

Live it this week

Pray with your family once

Louis and Zélie prayed together at home every day. Pray together with your family (or a roommate, or a friend) at least once this week, even just a grace before dinner.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.