Zelia and Louis Martin, parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, will be beatified in Lisieux on 19th October, the World Day of Missions. It was announced on Saturday 12th July by card. José Saraiva Martin, the former prefect of the Papal Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, at the end of a conference in Alencon on the holiness of Zelia and Louis Martin, on the 150th anniversary of their marriage. The same announcement was repeated during the Eucharistic celebrations in Alencon, on Saturday 12th July, and in Lisieux, on Sunday 13th July. The process for the canonisation of the parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus began in 1957: for Louis Martin in the diocese of Bayeux-Lisieux and for Zelia Martin in the diocese of Sées. In 1994, they were declared "venerable" by John Paul II, and on 3rd July Benedict XVI signed the decree on the miraculous healing of an Italian baby (Pietro Schilirò) suffering from a serious lung malformation. In September, the mortal spoils of Zelia and Louis will be put in a reliquary, which will be placed in a crypt in the sanctuary of Lisieux. It is the second couple to be beatified after the Italian Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi. (continued)
