The Feast of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin
Today is the feast of our patrons, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin.
Pictured above is something possibly unique in the whole world - as far as we know, the only reliquary where a whole family of saints are presented together. Last week, it was received and placed in its new home, the baptistry of our Philadelphia cathedral basilica. This event is of profound significance for Martin Saints Classical High School. I encourage everyone in our community to make a pilgrimage to the cathedral and pray for our school.
This reliquary contains bones from saints Thérèse the Little Flower (marked by the golden rose in the back) and her parents Louis (marked by the lily on the left) and Zélie (the lily on the right). A pair of wedding rings in the center unites the reliquaries of Louis and Zélie.
The relics are a gift from the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux, France, where Louis and Zélie are also buried. The reliquary was crafted by Fleur Nabert, a French sculptor. The relics made their way to Philadelphia via the Carmelite sisters on Broad Street and eventually, thanks to the stewardship of Fr. Dennis Gill, to their new and permanent home in our cathedral.
Saints Louis and Zélie Martin were declared venerable by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1994. They were beatified by Pope Benedict in 2008. They were canonized by Pope Francis in 2015. They were married 166 years ago, on July 13, and their annual feast is observed today, July 12.
They are our school patrons because of the way they lived their lives as a family. As it says in the Martin Saints mission statement, Louis and Zélie were parents who fell in love not only with each other, but also with Jesus. They served him in and through ordinary family life. They invited their children into the life of discipleship. For most of us at Martin Saints, family life is our vocation too.
In Catholic history, the family is referred to as the "domestic church." There is a refrain in Catholicism that the family is the basic and irreplaceable foundation of social life, the first and primary school of love, with an integrity unto itself. But a domestic church cannot be merely inward looking, for it must also look outward in love and service to the wider church.
This is the spirituality we are trying to live at Martin Saints: protecting and celebrating family life, while also building our school, a family of families, as an act of service and renewal for the wider church.
If we look around at our country and at the universal church today, there are many serious problems. The Martin family also lived in a difficult and even dangerous context. Louis and Zélie's fathers were soldiers during the violent anti-Catholicism of the French Revolution. Nineteenth century France continued to be unstable, with successor revolutions and recurring threats to the Church's integrity and members. The Paris Commune captured and executed the Archbishop of Paris just a year or two before St. Thérèse was born. The Martin family knew first hand what it's like to raise a Christian family when the rule of law is fragile, when a nation turns its back on God, when what was once sacred and stable is under threat.
Nevertheless, and also living through many personal setbacks, illnesses, and deaths, they invited their children to love and serve Christ and his Church. They persevered faithfully and joyfully.
Martin Saints is proud of our patrons. We want to honor them by living like them. We want our school to support the renewal of the Church during a time of cultural and ecclesial instability. We want to pass the faith to our children. We pray our children grow up to be saints.
Gathering a community of diverse families, and creating a new school from scratch is not easy. It's always an adventure. Let's pray for each other, and let's ask Sts. Louis and Zélie to pray for us all. Pray for your family, pray for the other school families, pray for our teachers, pray for our common endeavor to renew the Church and build a faithful, joyful, vibrant school.
Saints Louis and Zélie - pray for us!
