Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin

Blessed Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin
Born	23 December 1831 Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Orne, France
Died	28 August 1877 (aged 45) Alençon, Orne, France
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	19 October 2008, Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse by Pope Benedict XVI

Blessed Marie-Azélie "Zélie" Martin née Guérin (23 December 1831 - 28 August 1877) was a French laywoman and the mother of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Her husband was Blessed Louis Martin.

Life

Early life

Marie-Azélie Guérin was born in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Orne, France and was the second daughter of Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé. She had an older sister, Marie-Louise, who became a Visitandine nun, and a younger brother, Isidore, who was a pharmacist. Her maternal family were from the Madré, in the neighbouring department of Mayenne, where her grandfather Louis Macé was baptised on the 16th March 1778.

Zélie wanted to become a nun, but was turned away by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul due to respiratory difficulties and recurrent headaches. Zélie then prayed for God to give her children and that they would be consecrated to God.

Later, she decided to become a lacemaker, making Point d'Alençon lace. She later fell in love with a watchmaker, Louis Martin, in 1858 and married only three months later.^[1]

Marriage and family

Although Zélie and Louis had led a celibate marriage for almost a year, they had decided to have children. They would have nine children, though only five daughters would survive infancy; all became nuns:

• Marie-Louise (22 February 1860 – 19 January 1940), as a nun, Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, Carmelite at Lisieux.
• Marie-Pauline (September 7, 1861 – July 28, 1951), as a nun, Mother Agnès of Jesus, Carmelite at Lisieux.
• Marie-Léonie (June 3, 1863 – June 16, 1941), as a nun, Sister Françoise-Thérèse, Visitandine at Caen.
• Marie-Hélène (October 3, 1864 – February 22, 1870)
• Marie-Joseph (September 20, 1866 – February 14, 1867)
• Marie Jean-Baptiste (December 19, 1867 – August 24, 1868)
• Marie-Céline (April 28, 1869 – 25 February 1959), as a nun, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, Carmelite at Lisieux.
• Marie-Mélanie Thérèse (August 16, 1870 – October 8, 1870)
• Marie-Françoise-Thérèse (January 2, 1873 – September 30, 1897), as a nun, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Carmelite at Lisieux, canonised in 1925.^[2]

After Zélie's death, Pauline, Marie, Thérèse and Céline all became Carmelite nuns one after another along with a cousin, Marie Guérin. Léonie became a Visitandine nun after being rejected by the Poor Clares.

Death

Portrait of Thérèse's mother at the Basilica of St. Thérèse (Lisieux).

Marie-Azélie died of breast cancer on 28 August 1877 in Alençon, Orne, aged 45. She was survived by her husband and daughters.^[3]

Beatification

Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin were declared "venerable" on 26 March 1994 by Pope John Paul II. They were beatified^[4] on 19 October 2008 by Jose Cardinal Saraiva Martins, the legate of Pope Benedict XVI in Basilique de Sainte-Thérèse, Lisieux, France.^[5]

Publications

In 2011 the letters of Blessed Zélie and Louis Martin were published in English as A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, 1863-1885," translated by Ann Connors Hess and edited by Dr. Frances Renda.^[6]

External links

1. ^ Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway
2. ^ Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway
3. ^ Canadian Catholic blogsite
4. ^ Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway
5. ^ Website of saints at sqpn.com
6. ^ Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway

Persondata
Name	Guerin Martin, Marieazelie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 December 1831
Place of birth	Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Orne, France
Date of death	28 August 1877
Place of death	Alençon, Orne, France