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ENGAGEMENT, MATRIMONY AND CHILDREN

In April 1858, on the Saint-Léonard Bridge Zélie crossed paths
with a handsome young man who struck her with his good looks,
his bearing and his physiognomy. It was Louis Martin, who had a
watchmaker’s workshop. It was “love at first sight “ and after only 3
months of engagement, they decided to get married.
They had nine children, four of whom died at an early age; five
girls remained and, as Louis would say, the Lord gave them the gift of
naming them as His brides. Of the five nuns, Thérèse became a saint
(Saint Thérèse of Lisieux) and Léonie, who had worried her parents
so much because of her difficult character and some behavioral
problems, is today a “Servant of God”.

WORK
There were joys and worries as well as difficulties in reconciling
the work of both parents with the education of their children and the
many tasks that a large family entails.
The success of Zélie’s workshop led Louis to close his ENGAGEMENT, MATRIMONY AND CHILDREN
watchmaker’s store to help his wife.

GRIEF, ILLNESS, AND WIDOWHOOD

There were moments of great hardship too: the loss of four of
their children and Zélie’s illness, which led to her premature death
at the age of 46. Louis remained a widower with four daughters who
were still small (the youngest, Therese, was only five years old) and,
in order to respect Zélie’s wishes, he decided to move to Lisieux.
Leaving Alençon for Lisieux meant giving up the lace workshop,
leaving friendships and an environment to which he was attached,
but the girls would have the companionship of their cousins and the
closeness of their aunt and uncle Guérin, to whom Zélie had silently
entrusted them shortly before her death. 2

2 Cf. S.G. Piat, Storia di una famiglia, Ed OCD, VII edizione I ristampa, Roma 2018, pp. 253-273.