Saints Louis & Zelie Martin
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Feast Day: July 12
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Patronage: Domestic church, illness, mental illness, marriage, parenting & widowers
They passed each other on a bridge one spring day — a distinguished, reserved, hardworking watchmaker who had tried and failed to become a monk and a lovely, intelligent, productive lacemaker who had been turned away by the Vincentian sisters. When St. Zélie first laid eyes on St. Louis she heard an interior voice, one that she had learned to trust, say, This is he whom I have prepared for you. Their life together began on July 12, 1858 — a date remembered by the Church as the feast day of the first husband and wife canonized as a couple. While their married life was holy and admirable, God gave them the opportunity to enter into the suffering of the Cross at the end of each of their lives. In their 19 happy years of marriage, Sts. Louis and Zélie ran a successful lacemaking business in Alençon, Louis having given up his trade to help his wife in hers. They had nine children, all of whom they baptized within days of their birth. When they lost four of their children to illnesses, they placed their hope in seeing them again in Heaven. Louis and Zélie were very careful to raise their surviving children with virtuous habits, correcting their faults sternly, but also rewarding their good deeds with affectionate love. Zélie would pray about and examine the faults and strengths of each child and foster them into holiness and encouraged them to make little sacrifices every day to help them become less selfish. They sought holiness through the devotions and traditions of the Church. They never worked on Sunday, sought to do the works of mercy, and were very generous with their time and money towards the poor in the community. They always prayed for the souls of those who had died, and went out of their way to help dying people receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and Last Rites. They were very careful to follow the Church’s guidelines of fasting and abstinence, and even took on further voluntary mortifications. It was with great sorrow in December of 1876 that they learned the swelling in Zélie’s breast which had been causing concern for 11 years was very advanced cancer. Despite the grim diagnosis, they never ceased to hope in God and accept his will. In June 1877, Zélie took her three older children to Lourdes to pray for a cure. She wanted to live for the sake of her family. She went into the baths multiple times, had a miserable journey, and when she arrived back home, her illness took a turn for the worst. Zélie resigned herself to God’s will, placing her hope in the joys of Heaven. Her health diminished throughout July and August with such awful pain she could hardly find a comfortable position. After receiving Last Rites on Aug. 26, she departed for her heavenly home, surrounded by her family, on August 28, 1877. After the death of his wife, Louis lived on to raise his daughters, moving them to Lisieux to be near relatives. He found refuge in the joys of his family life, while remembering the hours he spent holding his dying, suffering wife in his arms. One by one, he offered four of his daughters to the convent — Léonie entered and then left several times. A month after Thérèse entered the Carmelites in Lisieux in 1888, Louis, who had given up all whom he loved on earth, prayed at the Church of Notre Dame d’Alençon this prayer: “My God, it is too much! I am too happy; it is not possible to go to Heaven this way. I wish to suffer something for you, and I offer myself...” (Céline Martin, Father of the Little Flower, p. 84) Two months after his prayer, he started suffering from paralyzing strokes. On July 28, he suffered another heart attack, and received Last Rites and the Anointing of the Sick. On July 29, 1894, six years after the start of his suffering, Louis died a peaceful death. Sts. Louis and Zélie Marin were beatified in 2008 by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis. Their feast day is July 12. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-holy-lives-and-passions-of-sts-louis-and-zelie-martin
SAINT OF THE MONTH:
St. Gemma Galgani
St. Gemma Galgani, also known as the Flower of Lucca, was referred to as the "Daughter of Passion," for her intense replication of the Passion of Christ. She was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca. At a very young age, Gemma developed a love for prayer. She made her First Communion on June 17, 1887. Gemma was loved by her teachers and her fellow students, as a student at a school run by the Sisters of St. Zita. Though quiet and reserved, she always had a smile for everyone. Unfortunately, Gemma had to quit school due to her chronic ill health before completing the course of study. Gemma had an immense love for the poor and helped them in any way she could. After her father's death, the 19-year-old Gemma became the mother-figure for her seven brothers and sisters. When some of her siblings became old enough to share the responsibility, Gemma went to live briefly with a married aunt. At this time, two young men proposed marriage to her. However, Gemma refused because she wanted silence, retirement, and more than ever, she desired to pray and speak only to God. Gemma returned home and almost immediately became very ill with meningitis. Throughout this illness, her one regret was the trouble she caused her relatives who took care of her. Gemma prayed for help to the Venerable Passionist, Gabriel Possenti, and, through his intercession, she was miraculously cured. Gemma wished to become a nun, but her poor health prevented her from being accepted. She offered this disappointment to God as a sacrifice. On June 8, 1899, Gemma had an internal warning that some unusual grace was to be granted to her. She felt pain and blood coming from her hands, feet and heart. These were the marks of the stigmata. Each Thursday evening, Gemma would fall into rapture and the marks would appear. Such marks, called the stigmata in the language of the Catholic Church, refers to the appearance of the wounds of the crucified Jesus Christ appearing on the bodies of some men and women whose lives are so conformed to His that they reflect those wounds of redemptive love for others. The stigmata remained until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. When the bleeding would stop, the wounds would close, and only white marks would remain in place of the deep gashes. Gemma's stigmata would continue to appear until her confessor, Reverend Germanus Ruoppolo, advised her to pray for their disappearance due to her declining health. Through her prayers, the phenomenon ceased, but the white marks remained on her skin until her death. Through the help of her confessor, Gemma went off to live with another family where she was allowed more freedom for her spiritual life than she was at home. She was frequently found in a state of ecstasy and on one occasion she was believed to have levitated. Her words spoken during her ecstasies, were recorded by her confessor and a relative from her adoptive family. At the end of her ecstasies, she returned to normal and carried on quietly and serenely. Gemma often saw her guardian angel. She sent her guardian angel on errands, usually to deliver a letter or oral message to her confessor in Rome. During the apostolic investigations into her life, all witnesses testified that there was no artfulness in Gemma's manner. Most of her severe penances and sacrifices were hidden from most who knew her. In January of 1903, Gemma was diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the start of Holy Week in 1903, Gemma began suffering greatly. She died at age 25 on Holy Saturday, April 11. The Parish Priest in her company said, "She died with a smile which remained upon her lips, so that I could not convince myself that she was really dead." St. Gemma Galgani was beatified on May 14, 1933 by Pope Pius XI and canonized on May 2, 1940, only 37 years after her death, by Pope Pius XII. She is the patron saint against temptations, against the death of parents, against tuberculosis, of students and of pharmacists. Her feast day is celebrated on April 11.