By Marie-Liévine Michalik
It’s possible to walk by without even noticing it – the Alençon sanctuary dedicated to Sts Louis and Zélie Martin, a simple house with an orange facade in the town center opposite the Orne prefecture in the northwest of France, is unpretentious. Some clues guide the casual visitor nearby: “Rue Sainte-Thérèse,” the “Sainte-Thérèse” pastry shop… Alençon’s attachment to the little saint of Lisieux is explained by the fact that she spent her early years there, surrounded by her parents.
Alençon became a sanctuary in 2015, the day after Pope Francis canonized Sts Louis and Zélie Martin. A tour through the town invites visitors to walk in the footsteps of these modern saints, from their childhood to their meetings and workplaces.
Dedicated to the first canonized couple, the Alençon sanctuary is focused on families. The Martins, parents of nine children, lost four of them before they reached the age of reason. At 45, Zélie, who headed a lace-making business, died suddenly of cancer when Thérèse, the youngest, was only four years old. Stricken by illness, grief, and trials, the Martins resonate with families facing difficulties.
Support in family and married life
A new generation of pilgrims in their 30s and 40s, still in the early years of marriage and parenthood, visit Alençon. “I couldn’t get pregnant,” said Camille, who was with her husband, Alexandre. “We tried for four years, then we came here to Alençon for a retreat, and we had our first child,” they recounted. The Normans are parents of four children aged five to ten months. Since the birth of their first child, they visit the sanctuary every year at the beginning of summer. “It’s our way of starting the vacation and thanking God, Saint Thérèse, and the Martin couple for our children, who are a miracle and a blessing.”
Over 250 retreats are organized annually, “honoring the family in all its realities,” said Grégoire Moreau, the sanctuary’s general secretary. These retreats are primarily intended for couples hoping for children, widows, singles, or engaged couples. His motto: “Comfort those who are doing well, support those who are struggling, lift up those who have fallen.”
Margaux and Thibault know the Alençon sanctuary well because “they owe it a lot.” After marrying young, at 22 and 24, their honeymoon didn’t last and was clouded over in the months following their union. “We just couldn’t get along,” said the young woman from Lyon, still slightly emotional. The couple’s daily life quickly became strained – he moved in with a friend, and she was about to file for divorce. As a last resort, on her parents’ advice, Margaux went to Alençon and asked the Martin couple for “the grace of marriage.” A year later, the couple was doing better and had reunited under the same roof. “It’s not magic,” Margaux clarified, “but we managed to communicate, express our needs, and listen to each other.”
Saints for our time
Like them, many couples and families come to lay down their personal and professional burdens. “Louis and Zélie demonstrated that one could become a saint very simply by honoring family and professional responsibilities without doing great deeds,” continued Guy Fournier, deacon and assistant to the rector. Through the importance they placed on hospitality and charity, they are, for many Christians, modern examples of a path to holiness within marriage and family life.
“Fully integrated into their social fabric” and invested in society, the Martin couple lived in a century marked by social demands and the fight against poverty, Moreau recalled. Sensitive to social issues, Zélie did not hesitate to get involved with the less fortunate. As head of her lace-making business, “she was a modern woman who worked, prayed, and cared for her family,” Moreau said. Alongside contemporary figures such as Pauline Jaricot or Madeleine Delbrêl, the Martin couple illustrated the possibility of “following the entirety of Christ’s life” while remaining entirely in the world. They can also reach out to people affected by mental illness, as Zélie’s writings reveal her struggles with anxiety and depression, and Louis ended his life in a psychiatric hospital. – La Croix International
