Simple Ways to Celebrate the feast day of Sts. Louis & Zelie Martin

We celebrate the feast of Saints Louis & Zelie Martin on July 12th.

Saint Louis Martin was a watchmaker and Saint Zélie Martin was a lacemaker. They are patron saints of illness, marriage, parenting, widowers, infertility, and child loss.

Sts. Azélie-Marie (“Zélie”) and Louis Martin were the first married couple to be canonized at the same time. They were parents to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and eight other children. Three of their children passed away within their first year of life, and they lost another at age five. They raised their family and worked together in Zélie’s successful lacemaking business until Zélie passed away at age forty-six from breast cancer, when her youngest, Thérèse, was only four years old. All of their surviving children became nuns.

Here a few simple ways to celebrate!

Sew a Removable Collar

Zélie was a well-known lacemaker and owned her own business. She is often depicted wearing a large collar. There are a lot of different ways to make removable collars that you can find online. 

Donate to the Breast Cancer Foundation 

Zélie died from breast cancer at the young age of 46. Donate in her name.

Wear a Watch

Louis was a watchmaker. Wear a watch, and when you look at it throughout the day, pray for those who are struggling in their marriages. 

Shop Small

The Martins were small business owners. Buy something from one of your favorite local businesses, or share on social media about one of your favorite small businesses, including what you love about them and your favorite product from them.

Be Intentional about Showing Love to Your Spouse

If you’re married, look into love languages and try to figure out which ones resonate with you and with your spouse. According to the theory of the five love languages, we all have two languages that communicate love to us and two by which we love others. The languages include physical affection, words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, and gifts. Once you know your “languages,” act in accordance with your spouse’s “languages” to make sure your spouse feels loved today.

A Prayer for Marriage

God our Creator,
you drew us together to be companions in life 
through the gift of marriage.

May we praise you in our happiness,
seek you in our sorrow, and
find you in our work and need. 

Send your Spirit to help us love with vulnerability, intimacy, and joy that overflows to serve your people with gratitude and generosity.

Give us the grace to always see first the goodness in one another and to forgive quickly.

And after a happy old age, together with the circle of our friends and family, may we come into the fullness of your love in the kingdom of heaven through Christ, our Lord. 

Pray for Your Future Spouse 

A time when I felt as if God had forgotten me was when my friends all got married, and I was still single. It dawned on me that it was likely that my future spouse still had other things he needed to experience before being ready to be in a relationship with me—and I did, too. I began to pray for him—not so much to meet him—but for whatever he was going through at that time and that God may be present to him. I also prayed to be open to the ways God was preparing me for him. If you aren’t yet married but feel called to marriage, try praying for your future spouse—that God would prepare each of you for your eventual life together and that he would give you patience and perseverance in the meantime.