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This morning's canonizations
- Thread starter Rob2
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Tis_Bearself
Patron
This is some very interesting Mass music they have going on.
C
christofirst
Guest
We have a large community from El Salvador here in Los Angeles, and there will be a Mass and celebration of Archbishop Romero’s canonization at our cathedral later today.
San Romero and all saints, pray for us!
San Romero and all saints, pray for us!
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S
Start
Guest
The one around 37:30?
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A
Augustinian
Guest
There has been a shrine to Blessed Nunzio on the North Side here in Pittsburgh for at least 30 years, I guess they’ll be changing that to St. Nunzio.
A disproportionate number of Italians here in Pittsburgh have ancestors from Abruzzo.
A disproportionate number of Italians here in Pittsburgh have ancestors from Abruzzo.
M
mVitus
Guest
I haven’t watched the video, but that is a mouthful and I admit curiosity as to why he has that long canonized name.Nazaria Ignacia of Saint Teresa of Jesus
H
HeDa
Guest
He is actually a she and she is a sister and that is her name in her order. It is very common to receive or take a religious name and also if there is something that really suits the sister it could be added like “sr Maria Elisabeth of the Annunciation”. Different religious orders have different traditions.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
I just got to ceremoniously remove Paul and Oscar from my list of blesseds whose canonizations I pray for.
Hope to have 2 new names to take their place soon.
Hope to have 2 new names to take their place soon.
T
Trishie
Guest
Dear @Tis_Bearself
then can you add Leonie Martin? Saint Therese’s sister, if she’s not already on your list? To be a saint of the difficult person, the difficult child, and the one somehow left out?
Least little one as wriiten up in my journal
It is not necessary to be regarded as a ‘beautiful flower’ to please God. Nor is it necessary to be honoured or to have good self-esteem or cleverness to become holy in God’s eyes.
I rejoice in having discovered, in a “CARMEL in the World” magazine, some information regarding the Martin sister for whom I have sometimes shed sympathetic tears. She alone of the sisters could not share the same Carmelite Monastery or experience Therese’s unfolding sanctity firsthand. In this way, she was somewhat an outsider in her family.
Leonie was regarded as the ‘difficult child’ who led her dying mother to grieve , “I just don’t know what to do with her.” Racked with terminal breast-cancer, Zelie Martin prayed that God would spare her life to continue her efforts to ‘straighten out’ Leonie. Saint Therese of Lisieux compassionately called her ‘poor Leonie’ . The sisters of Saint Therese in Carmel assuredly became holy. Yet it is “poor Leonie” who is being considered for beatification by the Church! Leonie was promoted for beatification because of the favours and miracles she has obtained for those who asked her intercession, not because her Religious community of Visitation Sisters at Caen requested it.
Whether or not Leonie is beatified, her witness shows that God can effect holiness in anyone who cooperates with divine grace, no matter how poor his or her nature. The call to holiness is to every individual, even to those least expected to succeed. She offers hope for those insignificant and damaged individuals who may be marginalised and overlooked. She encourages us to trust in the loving mercy of God and the Little Way of spiritual childhood regardless of our strengths or weaknesses. Leonie also represents hope for parents who are at wits’ end in the guidance of their ‘difficult’ children.
Even from birth, Leonie suffered from medical conditions, including the eczema and intestinal problems that plagued her throughout life. She was less intelligent than her sisters, she was accident-prone, and disobedient. Her aunt, Sr. Marie-Dosithee offered to take Leonie in hand but found her to be so difficult that her health declined and Leonie was returned to Alencon.
In later attempts, the Aunt changed tactics from scolding to gentleness, with temporary success. After Leonie returned home, her mother sadly wrote, “With others, she loses all her self-control and becomes terribly unruly.” As Leonie could not conform at school, Zelie hired tutors, but they could not persevere with the unsettled girl and finally her eldest sister Marie was appointed as her tutor. Leonie, comparing herself unfavourably to her sisters in behaviour, appearance, and intelligence, sadly suggested that perhaps ‘ the real Leonie’ had been exchanged at birth.
then can you add Leonie Martin? Saint Therese’s sister, if she’s not already on your list? To be a saint of the difficult person, the difficult child, and the one somehow left out?
Least little one as wriiten up in my journal
It is not necessary to be regarded as a ‘beautiful flower’ to please God. Nor is it necessary to be honoured or to have good self-esteem or cleverness to become holy in God’s eyes.
I rejoice in having discovered, in a “CARMEL in the World” magazine, some information regarding the Martin sister for whom I have sometimes shed sympathetic tears. She alone of the sisters could not share the same Carmelite Monastery or experience Therese’s unfolding sanctity firsthand. In this way, she was somewhat an outsider in her family.
Leonie was regarded as the ‘difficult child’ who led her dying mother to grieve , “I just don’t know what to do with her.” Racked with terminal breast-cancer, Zelie Martin prayed that God would spare her life to continue her efforts to ‘straighten out’ Leonie. Saint Therese of Lisieux compassionately called her ‘poor Leonie’ . The sisters of Saint Therese in Carmel assuredly became holy. Yet it is “poor Leonie” who is being considered for beatification by the Church! Leonie was promoted for beatification because of the favours and miracles she has obtained for those who asked her intercession, not because her Religious community of Visitation Sisters at Caen requested it.
Whether or not Leonie is beatified, her witness shows that God can effect holiness in anyone who cooperates with divine grace, no matter how poor his or her nature. The call to holiness is to every individual, even to those least expected to succeed. She offers hope for those insignificant and damaged individuals who may be marginalised and overlooked. She encourages us to trust in the loving mercy of God and the Little Way of spiritual childhood regardless of our strengths or weaknesses. Leonie also represents hope for parents who are at wits’ end in the guidance of their ‘difficult’ children.
Even from birth, Leonie suffered from medical conditions, including the eczema and intestinal problems that plagued her throughout life. She was less intelligent than her sisters, she was accident-prone, and disobedient. Her aunt, Sr. Marie-Dosithee offered to take Leonie in hand but found her to be so difficult that her health declined and Leonie was returned to Alencon.
In later attempts, the Aunt changed tactics from scolding to gentleness, with temporary success. After Leonie returned home, her mother sadly wrote, “With others, she loses all her self-control and becomes terribly unruly.” As Leonie could not conform at school, Zelie hired tutors, but they could not persevere with the unsettled girl and finally her eldest sister Marie was appointed as her tutor. Leonie, comparing herself unfavourably to her sisters in behaviour, appearance, and intelligence, sadly suggested that perhaps ‘ the real Leonie’ had been exchanged at birth.
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T
Trishie
Guest
Leonie continued …
Leonie knew that she lacked her sisters’ enthusiastic piety and according to her mother, she “will not pray to the Lord unless she has no choice.” Yet when at her own request her mother shared with her the life of Jesus, Leonie wept when listening to her account of the Passion. With this love of Jesus and with meek awareness of her faults, Leonie actually revealed the seeds of the true gospel spirituality and of the humility that was later to lead to holiness.
Leonie shared none of the holy sentiments of her sisters in receiving her First Communion (May 1875, at age twelve). Later she confessed, “that day was not the finest of my life; my childhood and youth were spent in suffering the bitterest trials.” Her severest trial was in recognising that although like her sisters she knew the catechism thoroughly, she remained prone to moodiness and temper outbursts.
Leonie was aware of the anxiety that her behaviour caused. She agonised over her own incorrigibility and self-perceived inferiority. However, to the surprise and some regretful scepticism of family, when her aunt lay dying, Leonie wrote to her requesting that she intercede with God that she be granted conversion and grace “to be a true religious.”
Although less favoured than her sisters, Leonie’s aspirations reveal the God’s blessing upon this troubled adolescent. Leonie nevertheless endured several unsuccessful attempts to enter Religious life, and only succeeded in becoming a professed Religious after the death of her saintly youngest sister.
There are often mitigating reasons for behavioural problems. Some of Leonie’s problems arose from her birth in the middle of a large family where both parents worked. Her father was often required to travel and her mother, a fine lace maker, was required to work long hours even as she grew increasingly ill. These conditions allowed the housemaid, Louise, to gain power over Leonie with threats of violence if she obeyed anyone but herself. When this was discovered, Zelie managed to achieve a gentle change in Leonie’s behaviour, although Leonie still rebelled if anyone other than her mother requested anything of her.
When Zelie died of breast cancer, the family moved to Lisieux, and Leonie boarded with the Benedictine nuns. Young Therese and Celine chose Marie and Pauline as surrogate mothers; just as when Therese was ill and delirious, it was evident although Leonie lovingly nursed her, the little girl desired Marie. However, Therese kindly chose Leonie as her sponsor for Confirmation.
Following two failed attempts at Religious life, Leonie’s limitations were further highlighted when her youngest sister Therese entered Carmel at fifteen. Soon afterwards, Leonie found herself responsible for caring for their father alongside Celine, but with the three sisters in Carmel writing for news of him, addressed their letters to Celine, with only brief postscripts to Leonie. Despite their goodness, the Martin sisters appeared unable to take Leonie seriously, thus reinforcing her poor self-esteem, although she accepted these things humbly as her due.
Leonie knew that she lacked her sisters’ enthusiastic piety and according to her mother, she “will not pray to the Lord unless she has no choice.” Yet when at her own request her mother shared with her the life of Jesus, Leonie wept when listening to her account of the Passion. With this love of Jesus and with meek awareness of her faults, Leonie actually revealed the seeds of the true gospel spirituality and of the humility that was later to lead to holiness.
Leonie shared none of the holy sentiments of her sisters in receiving her First Communion (May 1875, at age twelve). Later she confessed, “that day was not the finest of my life; my childhood and youth were spent in suffering the bitterest trials.” Her severest trial was in recognising that although like her sisters she knew the catechism thoroughly, she remained prone to moodiness and temper outbursts.
Leonie was aware of the anxiety that her behaviour caused. She agonised over her own incorrigibility and self-perceived inferiority. However, to the surprise and some regretful scepticism of family, when her aunt lay dying, Leonie wrote to her requesting that she intercede with God that she be granted conversion and grace “to be a true religious.”
Although less favoured than her sisters, Leonie’s aspirations reveal the God’s blessing upon this troubled adolescent. Leonie nevertheless endured several unsuccessful attempts to enter Religious life, and only succeeded in becoming a professed Religious after the death of her saintly youngest sister.
There are often mitigating reasons for behavioural problems. Some of Leonie’s problems arose from her birth in the middle of a large family where both parents worked. Her father was often required to travel and her mother, a fine lace maker, was required to work long hours even as she grew increasingly ill. These conditions allowed the housemaid, Louise, to gain power over Leonie with threats of violence if she obeyed anyone but herself. When this was discovered, Zelie managed to achieve a gentle change in Leonie’s behaviour, although Leonie still rebelled if anyone other than her mother requested anything of her.
When Zelie died of breast cancer, the family moved to Lisieux, and Leonie boarded with the Benedictine nuns. Young Therese and Celine chose Marie and Pauline as surrogate mothers; just as when Therese was ill and delirious, it was evident although Leonie lovingly nursed her, the little girl desired Marie. However, Therese kindly chose Leonie as her sponsor for Confirmation.
Following two failed attempts at Religious life, Leonie’s limitations were further highlighted when her youngest sister Therese entered Carmel at fifteen. Soon afterwards, Leonie found herself responsible for caring for their father alongside Celine, but with the three sisters in Carmel writing for news of him, addressed their letters to Celine, with only brief postscripts to Leonie. Despite their goodness, the Martin sisters appeared unable to take Leonie seriously, thus reinforcing her poor self-esteem, although she accepted these things humbly as her due.
T
Trishie
Guest
continued …
Three years later, Leonie made a retreat with the Visitation Sisters whom she frequently visited. Subsequently she received permission to enter the convent. At this time, Therese began to write letters that remained to encourage Leonie.
Therese wrote, “Jesus is well pleased with you; I know it; although He still allows you infidelities in your heart. I am sure that the actions of love, which He gathers up, outnumber them by far. Which of us two Therese’s will be more fervent? Whichever is more humble, more united to Jesus, more faithful in performing every action through love. Oh, let us pray for each other that we may be equally faithful…Let us not refuse Him even the smallest sacrifice; everything is so important in religion, that even picking up a pin, if it is done through love, can convert a soul. What a great mystery! It is Jesus alone who can give such value to our actions; let us love Him with all our hearts.”
After their father’s death Celine entered Carmel with her sisters, while Leonie continued to struggle with her flaws. She found difficulty in following the Divine Office in Latin; and finding her Profession day deferred, she wrote humbly to Therese, “No human being will see my efforts, for I will keep them hidden in my heart. I will try to make myself forgotten; I need no eyes to see me but those of Jesus. What does it matter if to others I seem poor, bare of intelligence and talent?” However by July 1895, her ill health, her emotional difficulties and the austerity of the Rule, led her to the leave the Visitation Order.
A year later Leonie wrote to Therese, “You, my darling, are ready to go to meet God. You will surely be well received.” In a spirit typical of Therese, Leonie continued, “But I will face Him empty-handed; yet I have the temerity not to be afraid. Do you understand that?” Then sweetly inquiring about Therese’s health Leonie humbly continued, “And tell me about God, and about everything that can make me grow in virtue; these are the only things that truly make me happy… If you only knew how much help that I need… Dear sister, you will prevent me from making my old mistakes, won’t you? I am so weak… I beg of you to ask God very specially to deliver me from my scruples; I am always turning in on myself, and this does me terrible damage, and hinders my attempts at perfection. You may be sure I’m showing you my wounds as clearly as I can.”
Therese wrote back , “If it were necessary to do great things we should be deserving of pity, but we are happy beyond measure, because Jesus lets Himself be captured by the smallest action… With you dear Leonie, little sacrifices are never lacking. Is not your life made up of them? I rejoice to see you in the presence of such wealth, especially when I remember that you know how to make profit thereby, not only for yourself but also for poor sinners. It is so sweet to help Jesus to save souls which He has ransomed at the price of His Precious Blood, and which only await our help to keep them from the abyss.
Three years later, Leonie made a retreat with the Visitation Sisters whom she frequently visited. Subsequently she received permission to enter the convent. At this time, Therese began to write letters that remained to encourage Leonie.
Therese wrote, “Jesus is well pleased with you; I know it; although He still allows you infidelities in your heart. I am sure that the actions of love, which He gathers up, outnumber them by far. Which of us two Therese’s will be more fervent? Whichever is more humble, more united to Jesus, more faithful in performing every action through love. Oh, let us pray for each other that we may be equally faithful…Let us not refuse Him even the smallest sacrifice; everything is so important in religion, that even picking up a pin, if it is done through love, can convert a soul. What a great mystery! It is Jesus alone who can give such value to our actions; let us love Him with all our hearts.”
After their father’s death Celine entered Carmel with her sisters, while Leonie continued to struggle with her flaws. She found difficulty in following the Divine Office in Latin; and finding her Profession day deferred, she wrote humbly to Therese, “No human being will see my efforts, for I will keep them hidden in my heart. I will try to make myself forgotten; I need no eyes to see me but those of Jesus. What does it matter if to others I seem poor, bare of intelligence and talent?” However by July 1895, her ill health, her emotional difficulties and the austerity of the Rule, led her to the leave the Visitation Order.
A year later Leonie wrote to Therese, “You, my darling, are ready to go to meet God. You will surely be well received.” In a spirit typical of Therese, Leonie continued, “But I will face Him empty-handed; yet I have the temerity not to be afraid. Do you understand that?” Then sweetly inquiring about Therese’s health Leonie humbly continued, “And tell me about God, and about everything that can make me grow in virtue; these are the only things that truly make me happy… If you only knew how much help that I need… Dear sister, you will prevent me from making my old mistakes, won’t you? I am so weak… I beg of you to ask God very specially to deliver me from my scruples; I am always turning in on myself, and this does me terrible damage, and hinders my attempts at perfection. You may be sure I’m showing you my wounds as clearly as I can.”
Therese wrote back , “If it were necessary to do great things we should be deserving of pity, but we are happy beyond measure, because Jesus lets Himself be captured by the smallest action… With you dear Leonie, little sacrifices are never lacking. Is not your life made up of them? I rejoice to see you in the presence of such wealth, especially when I remember that you know how to make profit thereby, not only for yourself but also for poor sinners. It is so sweet to help Jesus to save souls which He has ransomed at the price of His Precious Blood, and which only await our help to keep them from the abyss.
T
Trishie
Guest
continued …
“It seems to me that if our sacrifices take Jesus captive, our joys make Him prisoner too. All that is needful to attain this end is that, instead of giving ourselves over to selfish happiness, we offer to (Him) the little joys He scatters in our path to charm our hearts and draw them towards Him. You ask for news of my health. Well my cough has quite disappeared. Does that please you? It will not prevent God from taking me to Himself whensoever He wishes. And I need not prepare for that journey, since my whole endeavour is to remain as a little child. Jesus Himself must pay all my expenses, as well as the price of my admission to Heaven.”
The letters of both sisters revealed a humble and trusting spirit. In her final letter to Leonie in July 1897, Therese emphasised the importance of accepting God’s will in both trials and joys, rejoicing in both as gifts of God’s love. Therese’s final illness had lingered longer than expected, but she wrote, “This does not distress me; I would not want my own will to bring me to Heaven one moment sooner…our only happiness on earth is to concentrate on always finding the lot which Jesus gives us delightful… If you want to be a saint… keep only one end in view, give pleasure to Jesus and bind yourself more closely to Him.” “You asked me to pray to the Sacred Heart for you, when I am in Heaven; I won’t forget to give Him your messages and to ask Him to send you all you need in order to become a great saint.”
Therese died on September 30, surrounded with her other sisters, as Leonie prayed in the Carmel chapel. Less than two years later Leonie was again received into the Caen Visitation convent—as predicted by Therese, receiving the name Sister Francoise-Therese. With a more understanding novice-mistress, and the Little Way of Therese as guide, Leonie was able to persevere, attaining her Profession on July 2nd 1900. She learned to accept her limitations and mistakes with humble good-humour, trusting in God to achieve His will through her.
Leonie’s position always remained humble, however she was happy with “little sacrifices known only to Jesus”, her “little nothings” that she offered for the salvation of souls “as little as I am myself.” She had special compassion for anyone in sadness or difficulty, having experienced these from infancy. “I have suffered greatly from my inferiority,” she wrote, “I have felt keen isolation of heart—of every kind. I experience the same difficulties again and again; worries, dislikes and weariness of all sorts. But I feel that all these kinds of torments are a purification —that God is at work; and I thank Him for all of it.” “I know well that Jesus asks nothing of His lowly little one except effort; and so I am far from being discouraged, for I want to remain in my complete helplessness, which is my strength. By this childish ruse I touch the heart of God.” Clearly, Leonie had learned well to put into practice the Little Way of spiritual childhood witnessed by Therese.
“It seems to me that if our sacrifices take Jesus captive, our joys make Him prisoner too. All that is needful to attain this end is that, instead of giving ourselves over to selfish happiness, we offer to (Him) the little joys He scatters in our path to charm our hearts and draw them towards Him. You ask for news of my health. Well my cough has quite disappeared. Does that please you? It will not prevent God from taking me to Himself whensoever He wishes. And I need not prepare for that journey, since my whole endeavour is to remain as a little child. Jesus Himself must pay all my expenses, as well as the price of my admission to Heaven.”
The letters of both sisters revealed a humble and trusting spirit. In her final letter to Leonie in July 1897, Therese emphasised the importance of accepting God’s will in both trials and joys, rejoicing in both as gifts of God’s love. Therese’s final illness had lingered longer than expected, but she wrote, “This does not distress me; I would not want my own will to bring me to Heaven one moment sooner…our only happiness on earth is to concentrate on always finding the lot which Jesus gives us delightful… If you want to be a saint… keep only one end in view, give pleasure to Jesus and bind yourself more closely to Him.” “You asked me to pray to the Sacred Heart for you, when I am in Heaven; I won’t forget to give Him your messages and to ask Him to send you all you need in order to become a great saint.”
Therese died on September 30, surrounded with her other sisters, as Leonie prayed in the Carmel chapel. Less than two years later Leonie was again received into the Caen Visitation convent—as predicted by Therese, receiving the name Sister Francoise-Therese. With a more understanding novice-mistress, and the Little Way of Therese as guide, Leonie was able to persevere, attaining her Profession on July 2nd 1900. She learned to accept her limitations and mistakes with humble good-humour, trusting in God to achieve His will through her.
Leonie’s position always remained humble, however she was happy with “little sacrifices known only to Jesus”, her “little nothings” that she offered for the salvation of souls “as little as I am myself.” She had special compassion for anyone in sadness or difficulty, having experienced these from infancy. “I have suffered greatly from my inferiority,” she wrote, “I have felt keen isolation of heart—of every kind. I experience the same difficulties again and again; worries, dislikes and weariness of all sorts. But I feel that all these kinds of torments are a purification —that God is at work; and I thank Him for all of it.” “I know well that Jesus asks nothing of His lowly little one except effort; and so I am far from being discouraged, for I want to remain in my complete helplessness, which is my strength. By this childish ruse I touch the heart of God.” Clearly, Leonie had learned well to put into practice the Little Way of spiritual childhood witnessed by Therese.
T
Trishie
Guest
continued …
Leonie’s Carmelite sisters continued to write encouraging letters, as a sense of inferiority and rebellion in infancy and childhood confers some lasting difficulties, and ill health can cause emotional stress. Her sister Pauline wrote, “How God has loved you, and how surprised you will be in Heaven by the glory and love you enjoy! It’s all the same to God if one has a bumpy forehead and crooked teeth!” Leonie was aware of her lack of soundness, as she endured itchy eczema, scalp dermatitis, loss of her ‘crooked teeth’, migraines, nausea, intestinal inflammation, ingrown toenails, and frequent colds that developed into bronchitis or pneumonia. In 1930, her knees required surgery, and henceforward she was unsteady, her condition exacerbated by painful, crippling rheumatism.
Leonie lived with pain and discomfort, however the Visitation community cared very kindly for “the shrivelled old woman” who was unable to “find any comfortable position” for her aching body. “My ailments are increasing,” she wrote, “No part of me is healthy any longer except my eyes, my heart, and my head, thanks be to God—but He can take everything, for everything belongs to Him! I abandon my intelligence, small and poor as it is.” If God desired it of her, Leonie offered to sacrifice everything, even to suffer the feared loss of mental faculties that her father endured.
In 1941, Leonie suffered a stroke as she rose to receive Communion, losing her ability to speak. She lingered for five days until dying on June 17. During those last days, Leonie clutched both a rosary from Marie and a crucifix, mute testimony of her love. When on her last evening two lay sisters brought her roses sent by her Carmelite sisters, Leonie, Therese-like, lovingly unpetalled them over her crucifix. Hearing of her death, thousands ignored Nazi occupation forces to honour this humble Sister. God also appears to honour this woman of ‘little worth’.
We thank You God for providing us with such humble, ordinary, practical saints as the Martin sisters, to light the Way of the gospel for Your people and to intercede powerfully for us. Thank You for such extraordinary Saints whom ordinary people cannot follow without being overwhelmed, even as one is inspired and instructed by their holiness and teaching. Theirs appears to be supernatural giftedness.
Their intercession reaps monumental graces for souls, yet in Saint Therese and her holy sisters, You illuminate the way for ordinary people to be made holy in Your sight whether or not there is earthly evidence of Your action. Let Your Saints inspire us to seek and obtain grace and salvation for our brothers and sisters of the world.
Leonie’s Carmelite sisters continued to write encouraging letters, as a sense of inferiority and rebellion in infancy and childhood confers some lasting difficulties, and ill health can cause emotional stress. Her sister Pauline wrote, “How God has loved you, and how surprised you will be in Heaven by the glory and love you enjoy! It’s all the same to God if one has a bumpy forehead and crooked teeth!” Leonie was aware of her lack of soundness, as she endured itchy eczema, scalp dermatitis, loss of her ‘crooked teeth’, migraines, nausea, intestinal inflammation, ingrown toenails, and frequent colds that developed into bronchitis or pneumonia. In 1930, her knees required surgery, and henceforward she was unsteady, her condition exacerbated by painful, crippling rheumatism.
Leonie lived with pain and discomfort, however the Visitation community cared very kindly for “the shrivelled old woman” who was unable to “find any comfortable position” for her aching body. “My ailments are increasing,” she wrote, “No part of me is healthy any longer except my eyes, my heart, and my head, thanks be to God—but He can take everything, for everything belongs to Him! I abandon my intelligence, small and poor as it is.” If God desired it of her, Leonie offered to sacrifice everything, even to suffer the feared loss of mental faculties that her father endured.
In 1941, Leonie suffered a stroke as she rose to receive Communion, losing her ability to speak. She lingered for five days until dying on June 17. During those last days, Leonie clutched both a rosary from Marie and a crucifix, mute testimony of her love. When on her last evening two lay sisters brought her roses sent by her Carmelite sisters, Leonie, Therese-like, lovingly unpetalled them over her crucifix. Hearing of her death, thousands ignored Nazi occupation forces to honour this humble Sister. God also appears to honour this woman of ‘little worth’.
We thank You God for providing us with such humble, ordinary, practical saints as the Martin sisters, to light the Way of the gospel for Your people and to intercede powerfully for us. Thank You for such extraordinary Saints whom ordinary people cannot follow without being overwhelmed, even as one is inspired and instructed by their holiness and teaching. Theirs appears to be supernatural giftedness.
Their intercession reaps monumental graces for souls, yet in Saint Therese and her holy sisters, You illuminate the way for ordinary people to be made holy in Your sight whether or not there is earthly evidence of Your action. Let Your Saints inspire us to seek and obtain grace and salvation for our brothers and sisters of the world.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
I put her on the list. I’m wondering how fast they will move on it though, considering that they just canonized Therese’s parents, so they might take their time about another family member. I would expect her to be declared venerable soon though. She can’t have written very much for them to review.
T
Trishie
Guest
I’ve wondered the same, @Tis_Bearself. It’s remarkable that she is on the path, this humblest member of the Martin family.
Her nature is very relevant to the modern generation, given the alienation, low self image, poor body image, changes of direction, the disconnection, that she battled through before coming to what some consider to be a peaceful state of sanctity. She could offer hope to those who undergo similar battles. Who knows.
Her nature is very relevant to the modern generation, given the alienation, low self image, poor body image, changes of direction, the disconnection, that she battled through before coming to what some consider to be a peaceful state of sanctity. She could offer hope to those who undergo similar battles. Who knows.
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