Louis Martin (1823–1894), a watchmaker, and Zélie Guérin (1831–1877), a lacemaker, married in Alençon, France, in 1858 and had nine children, four of whom died very young; their five surviving daughters all entered religious life, including Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Zélie died of breast cancer in 1877, and Louis bore years of humiliating illness before his death in 1894. In 2015 they became the first married couple canonized together, by Pope Francis.
Louis and Zélie show that holiness is lived in ordinary family life — in daily work, in love for their children, and in trusting God through the deaths of little ones they cherished. They knew the grief of burying children, and they kept believing that those children were alive with God and praying for their family. Their example is a quiet promise to every grieving parent that sorrow and faith can live in the same heart.
Saints Louis and Zélie, parents who entrusted your children to God through every joy and every loss, pray for our family and for all who mourn. Help us to love faithfully and to trust that our beloved children live in the arms of the Father. Amen.