Saints Louis and Zelie Martin

Saints Louis and Zélie Martin
December 13th 2015
8 x 10 inches
Pencil and charcoal on toned paper

I made this picture for a friend of mine for Christmas. She has a great devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and I thought I’d make her an image of Thérèse’s recently canonized parents. I’ve also been wanting to try out white charcoal on toned paper for quite some time now and I’m a bit excited by the results. I’ll probably be doing more of these in the upcoming months.



:+: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAINTS :+:

Saint Louis Joseph Aloys Stanislaus Martin (August 22nd 1823 – July 39th 1894 A.D.) and Saint Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin (December 23rd 1831 – August 28th 1877 A.D.), were the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and eight other children. On October 18th 2015 during the Synod on the Family they were the first married saints to be canonized as a couple. Louis Martin had originally intended to become an Augustinian monk but was turned away after being unable to master the Latin language. He instead became a watchmaker and later met Zélie Guérin who was also a craftswoman who had a successful business in the making of fine Alençon lace. She too had at first pursued a religious vocation and had sought entrance into the order of the Sisters of Chairty of St. Vincent de Paul. She had also been turned away, but for her bad respiratory health and recurring headaches. Afterwards she had asked God to be the mother of a large family so that they would be consecrated to Him. Louis and Zélie met, fell in love, and were married three months later on July 12th 1858 at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Alençon, France.

They had nine children together although only five of their daughters survived infancy:  Marie Louise (1860), Marie Pauline (1861), Marie Léonie (1863), Marie Céline (1869), and Marie Françoise-Thérèse (1873). Zélie died of breast cancer in 1877 at the age of 45. After her death, Louis sold their house and her lacemaking business and moved to Lisieux in Normandy to be close to Zélie's brother Isidore Guérin and his family. In 1889 Louis suffered two paralyzing strokes followed by cerebral arteriosclerosis, and was hospitalized for three years in an asylum in Caen. In 1892 he returned to Lisieux, and died two years later at the age of 71. All of their daughters had gone into religious life: Marie, Pauline, Thérèse, and Céline became Carmelite nuns in Lisieux, and Léonie became a Visitandite nun in Caen.

Louis and Zélie were declared venerable by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1994, were beatified in 2008, and on October 18th 2015 were officially canonized as saints by Pope Francis.



The Feast of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin is celebrated on July 12th.