Our Blessed Friends #3

“PERFECT ABANDONMENT”

Zelie Martin

Her eyes came to rest on the young man crossing the bridge. Though she had always planned to become a nun like her sister, she had just been turned away. Now, a voice called from deep inside her heart, “THIS IS HE WHOM I HAVE PREPARED FOR YOU.” Suddenly, she knew G’D had a plan for her that was more wonderful than anything she could come up with. But who was this young woman, and what did G’D have in store for her?

Zelie was born to Isidore Guérin and Louise-Jeanne Macé on 23 December 1831 and baptized the following day. She did not remember her childhood fondly, remarking that her childhood in a military family was “DISMAL”. Zelie’s education is attributed to the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Alençon. She became a skilled lacemaker while there - a trade which she would continue practicing for the rest of her life. 

Zelie met her future husband, Louis Martin, in Alençon and married him in 1858, when she was 26. Originally, she had wanted to enter the convent with her sister, Marie-Louise, but after being turned away, she quickly met Louis and was swept into the blessed life of motherhood.

Zelie bore Louis nine children, four of whom died at early ages. All four of those babies died within three years, leaving Zelie shocked and saddened. 

In 1876, Zelie began to suffer from cancer which developed in her chest. She once wrote, asking “IF NOT FOR A CURE, BUT FOR PERFECT ABANDONMENT TO THE WILL OF G’D.”

Zelie died in August 1877, but her legacy continued with her saintly children. The holiness she fostered in her daughters stayed with them, and all five became nuns. Before her death, Zelie’s youngest daughter Thérèse wrote down her Little Way, which seems to have been rooted in her mother’s constant reminders to please Jesus through sacrifice and prayer. Thérèse was later canonized and was named a Doctor of the Church, and another one of Zelie’s daughters, Leonie, is on the road to sainthood. Her other surviving daughters - Marie, Pauline, and Celine - also lived exemplary lives of virtue and may one day be canonized saints. Zelie made sure her husband also made it to heaven, and he is canonized as well. Their loving example proves how our impact on others can make the greatest saints!