Looking for an ideal
Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux in 1823. Son a military man, he spent his first years moving a lot. Then his family finally settled in Alençon where Louis went to school.
He learned about clock-making in Rennes, Strasbourg and Paris. These were decisive years for him during which the desire arose to give his life to God, in the monastery of Grand St Bernard. His difficulty in mastering Latin caused him to abandon this project. He then opened a jeweler's and clock-making boutique in 1850 at rue du Pont Neuf in Alençon.
Until his wedding in 1858, he shared his time between work, his past-times (in particular fishing), meditation and meeting others. He took part in the circle of Vital Romet, which gathered about 12 young Christian adults around Fr. Hurel and discovered a form of social engagement in the framework at the conference of St. Vincent of Paul.
Time for marriage
His mother who could not accept his celibacy talked to him about Zélie Guérin with whom she was learning lacework. Their first encounter on the Sarthe bridge was to be decisive. Less than a year later they married on 12th July 1858 at 22h in the town hall in Alençon and at midnight on the 13th of July in the church of Notre Dame.
Married life was to last 19 years
It was to be marked by :
- the choice of experiencing continence in marriage
- welcoming of nine children five of whom would live.
The correspondence of Mrs. Martin revealed the profound affection that united the couple.
:- Louis' participation in educating the children
- his professional choice of renouncing his own career to help his wife direct the lace
-making company she had founded .
- the deep faith in the family that made them so aware of those surrounding them. - the repercussions in the religious and social life of the time (it was the end of the Second Empire and the birth of the III Republic…)
- and finally the long ordeal that Madame Martin had to endure ; that of cancer that she died of at the age of 46 on 28th August 1877.
A time of loss
The period as a widower was to begin for Louis which he decided to spend in Lisieux near the Guérins, his wife's family.
Some letters from this period shows us an attentive father to each one of his daughters and who was ready to accept their choice of entering the order.
After Thérèse entered Carmel, he fell ill in 1888 which brought him to Bon Sauveur in Caen.
During times of remission, one could see him taking care of the sick around him.
Paralyzed he was brought back to his family where he died on 29th July 1894 at 71 years old.
ZELIE MARTIN
1831-1877
Zélie, a girl from XIXth century, an heiress of her time
Second child of Isidore Guérin and of Louise-Jeanne Macé, Azélie-Marie Guérin (only ever called Zélie) was born on 23rd of December 1831 in Gandelain, a community in Saint Denis sur Sarthon in the Orne region, where her father, a former soldier from the empire period, was engaged as a gendarme.
She was baptized the day after her birth in the church at Saint Denis sur Sarthon. She had a sister, Marie Louise who was two years older. She was to become Sister Marie-Dosithée at the Visitation order in le Mans. A brother, Isidore was born ten years later and was to be the spoilt child of the family.
In a letter addressed to her brother, she herself defined her childhood and her youth as "sad as a shroud, because, if mother spoiled you, with me, you know, she was too severe; she who was so good did not find a way with me, and so I suffered terrible heart ache."
This education was to mark her character, her very (too?) scrupulous manner of living her spirituality.
Zélie, active woman, an entrepreneur, committed to justice...
After her studies in the convent of the Adoration Perpétuelle, Lancrel road, Alençon, she felt a religious calling but, faced with the refusal of the Mother Superior, she took on a professional course and initiated with success the manufacture of the famous Alençon stitch. Toward the end of 1853, she began as a "manufacturer of the Alençon Stitch" at 36 rue Saint Balise and created work from home for many hand-workers. Her workshop was renowned for the quality of her work. The relationship that she had with her personnel whom she said she must love as members of her own family, just like her neighbors and the people she knew, showed us that she was always ready to fight injustice and to support those who were in need. The Bible guided her every move.
Zélie, a loving wife
On the bridge of Saint Léonard in the month of April 1858, Zélie Guérin met a man whose allure impressed her…It was Louis Martin, a clock-maker. Three months later, on 12th July 1858 at 22h00 their civil wedding took place and two hours later at midnight on 13th July, at a private ceremony, they exchanged vows in the church of Notre-Dame. They were married by Fr. Hurel, parish priest at Saint Léonard. The love she shared with her husband can be read in her letters: "Your wife who loves you more than her life", "I embrace you, I love you"…These were not only words: their joy was being together and sharing their daily lives with the Lord looking upon them.
Zélie, a fulfilled and a distressed mother
Between 1860 and 1873, 9 children were born into the Martin home, 4 of whom died at a young age. Zélie felt the joy and the sadness with the births and the deaths: As we read in her correspondence: "I love children so much, I was born to have children…" Then, after the birth of Thérèse, her youngest daughter; "I have already suffered so much in my life." Educating her daughters took up all of her heart's energy. For her children she wanted the best…to become saints! This did not stop her organizing parties, games…they had fun in this family!
Zélie, ill and still confident
From 1865 on Zélie suffered with a gland on her right breast that degenerated to become cancerous. "If the Lord wants to cure me, I would be very happy, because deep down, I want to live; it would pain me to leave my husband and my children. But another of part of me says: if I am not cured, it is because I will perhaps be more useful if I go".
On 28th August 1877 at half past twelve, midnight, Zélie died in the company of her husband and her brother. Let's leave the last words to Thérèse: "I loved mother's smile and her deep look seemed to say:
"Eternity delights me and attracts me, I am going to the blue sky to see God!"
