The Relics of Three Remarkable Saints
Coming to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

St. Zelie Martin; St. Therese of Lisieux; St. Louis Martin

St. Therese Parish in Deephaven announces that
the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux
and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin,
are coming to the Twin Cities from October 4 through October 15, 2023

Below are the locations and dates open to the public. For details and events, please visit the following websites 

October 4 - 5: St. Mary’s in Stillwater – www.stmichaelandstmarystillwater.org

October 6 - 7: Cathedral of St. Paul – www.cathedralsaintpaul.org

October 7 - 10: Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis – www.mary.org

October 12 - 15: St. Therese Parish in Deephaven – www.st-therese.org

What is a relic?

Relics are classified as first, second, or third-class.  A first-class relic is part of a saint’s body (e.g., bone, blood, flesh).  Second-class relics are possessions that a saint owned, such as clothing or something used by a saint.  Third-class relics are objects that have been touched to a first, second, or another third-class relic of a saint.  We will be receiving first class relics of the visiting Saints.  

Why venerate relics?

From Sacred Scripture to online references, there are many examples of healing after exposure to relics. The healing is from God; relics are the means through which he acts.  Any good that comes about through a relic is God’s doing.  By venerating or honoring the saints through whom God has worked in an extraordinary way, we adore and glorify God, who worked so beautifully in their lives.  Our veneration of relics also reminds us that we are part of the Communion of Saints, the great “cloud of witnesses” who have run the race before us (Heb. 12:1).  

Why venerate St. Thérèse and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin?

Pope Pius X referred to St. Thérèse as “the greatest saint of modern times.”  Her autobiography, Story of a Soul, and her “little way” of trust and love has inspired millions.  In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II declared St. Thérèse a Doctor of the Church. On October 18, 2015, Louis and Zélie were canonized by Pope Francis I.  They are the first spouses who were not martyrs who were canonized together as a couple in the history of the Church!

Details about St. Thérèse and her parents

There will be more information on these wonderful saints at each location.

If you have questions or want more information, reach out to Laura Hunziker at lhunziker@st-therese.org

In this less than three-minute film posted today, see an interview with Father Antonio Sangalli, the vice-postulator of the cause for canonization of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, and footage of pilgrims praying before the "family relics' in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. 

In this film of the opening Mass of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, view Pope Francis incensing and praying before the "traveling reliquaries" of St. Therese of Lisieux and of her parents, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, from 10:18 to 12:10.  Sunday, October 5, 2014.

Louis Martin visited Rome at least twice in his lifetime.  One hundred and twenty-nine years ago, when Therese was twelve, he made a pilgrimage through Europe with a priest friend, Father Charles Marie.  On September 27, 1885, he wrote from Rome to his oldest daughter, Marie:

We finally arrived in Rome at six-thirty in the morning.  For me. Saint Peter's is really the most beautiful thing in the world.  I prayed for you, whom I love so much.  It's so pleasant to pray here! . . .

During these visits to Saint Peter's, Louis, of course, prayed for his five daughters, including St. Therese, and remembered in prayer his wife, who had died eight years before: 

I place you all in the grace of God and pray for you every day in Saint Peter's.  The thought of your mother also follows me constantly.

[See A Call to a Deeper Love: The Family Correspondence of the Parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, 1863-1885.  Staten Island, New York: Society of Saint Paul, 2011, pp. 363-364.].

           Two years later, in November 1887, he returned to Rome as part of a diocesan pilgrimage with Celine and Therese.  It was then, on November 20, 1887, that Therese asked Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter the Carmel.  Because she refused to leave the Pope's feet, she was carried out of the room by the Swiss Guards.  But on May 17, 1925, her relics were warmly welcomed at Saint Peter's for the ceremony of her canonization.  That night the outer facade of Saint Peter's was outlined with lamps for the first time since 1870.  

The relics of St. Therese returned to Saint Peter's Basilica on October 19, 1997, when St. John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church.  The relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin were exposed for veneration in Saint Peter's Basilica in January 2009, soon after their beatification, and Pope Benedict XV received their relics in his general audience on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. 

Scroll presenting the reliquary of St. Therese and her parents, Louis and Zelie Martin, to the United States

With his generous gift of the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin (and the gracious gift of the Carmelites of Lisieux of the relics of their daughter St. Therese), Mgr. Bernard Lagoutte, former rector of the Shrine at Lisieux, presented the above scroll to mark the occasion of the arrival of the reliquary in Philadelphia.  I reproduce the text in typewriting below. 

Msgr. Lagoutte visited the Carmelite Monastery in Philadelphia on Sunday, November 10, the day after Magnificat Day, and offered Mass for the nuns and their guests together with the new rector, Father Olivier Ruffray.  He had the joy of seeing the shrine where the reliquary will be venerated and of speaking to the Carmelites about continuing their mission of communicating the spirituality of St. Therese and of the Martin family.  The nuns welcomed both rectors with great happiness.

The reliquary was transferred to the Carmelite Monastery this afternoon, where a beautiful evening Mass celebrated this great joy.  Children, lay persons, religious sisters, deacons, and priests joined the Carmelites in thanking God.  Visitors drove from as far away as Maryland and Virginia to venerate the relics, and the chapel was adorned with two hundred roses sent by a friend of the community.  We rejoiced especially in the presence of a delegation of schoolchildren and young people from Regina Coeli Academy in Abington.  The reliquary now rests in the shrine of St. Therese in the chapel, not many yards from the tombs of the four foundresses of Carmel in Philadelphia who did so much to make Sister Therese known early in this century.  Public veneration resumes at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and continues until 8:00 p.m., interrupted only for Benediction at 3:00 p.m. and a conference by Fr. Frederick Miller at 3:30 p.m.  We welcome everyone to come, share our happiness and pray for your intentions.

In September 1896, one year before being called back to God, Thérèse had an intuition of the celestial mission that Jesus was going to entrust to her until the end of time:  “I wish to travel the world proclaiming your name throughout the earth!” she cried to Jesus.  The reality of this mission would be verified almost immediately after her death by the incredible universality of her spiritual experience and the innumerable graces obtained through her intercession.

Today the Little Flower, Thérèse, proclaimed Doctor of the Church and Patron of Missions, still travels the world proclaiming the Flame of Jesus!  She does this notably through the tangible sign of her relics.  And when joined by those of her cherished parents, Blessed Louis and Zélie Martin, this sign is all the more meaningful for the men and women of our time who are engaged in the vocation of marriage.   In inviting veneration of these relics brought together for the first time in a unique ‘family’ reliquary, I hope that all of America—spouses, parents, and children—will give thanks to God for their love lived in the humility of everyday life and will pray that their family life may be a road to sanctity.  Yes, that all may confide their family joys, anxieties, and distresses to the Lord, through the intercession of Thérèse, Louis, and Zélie!  I also hope that on the occasion of the veneration of these relics, my brother priests may revitalize their zeal for pastoral initiatives for families.  I wanted to entrust these precious relics to the Magnificat Foundation because, in their work of evangelization through the good, the true, and the beautiful, I am certain that they will know how to share and make known the spirituality of the Martin family in the U.S.  Happy and moved to see this reliquary arrive here in Philadelphia on this magnificent continent where the faith burns with ardor.  I give it my benediction.

Msgr. Bernard Lagoutte
Rector of the Sanctuary of Lisieux
July 2013

June 24, 2009. Zenit.org reported that the astronaut who carried a relic of St. Therese into space attended the Papal audience in Rome today. He will bring another relic of St. Therese on his next trip into space in 2011.