The Pope has signed the decree recognizing a second miracle attributed to the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, Louis and Zelie Martin
They may be canonized indeed during the XIV General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, next October, thus proving once again the great attention that Pope Francis devotes to questions concerning the family.
The life of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, was always marked by prayer and total reliance on God. This is why the couple has always been a model and inspiration for Christian families around the world. They will be canonized, since yesterday Pope Francis recognized their intercession in the miraculous healing of Carmen, a girl of Spanish origin affected by a serious illness. Since the treatments were not having any effect on the child, her parents asked for comfort at a Carmelite convent, where they were encouraged to seek the intercession of Louis and Zelie Martin, thanks to whom another child, Peter Schilirò, had already been cured. Carmen‘s cure, a couple of weeks later, astounded doctors, and when the relics of Louis and Zelie, beatified last year, arrived in Spain, in 2009, the grateful family went to venerate them. "God gave me a father and a mother more worthy of heaven than earth," Saint Teresa once said, speaking about her parents. Now, the story of Mr. and Mrs. Martin "attests that holiness permeates all stages of life, and that there are no problems that cannot be overcome," notes Father Antonio Sangalli, postulator of the cause of canonization, in an interview with Zenit. The Pope‘s devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux is well-known: it is not without reason that, on the occasion of the recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family, Francis wanted the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux as well as those of her parents and of another married couple, Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, to be in Rome, given the sensitive issues that would be discussed.