Sr. Genevieve of the Holy Face - The Mother of the Little Flower: Zelie Martin (1831-1877)

M ADAME M ARTIN AT THE AGE OF 35.

Nihil Obstat:	Edward Gallen Censor Deputatus
Imprimi Potest:		John Charles [McQuaid] Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland Dublin, November 21, 1957

Copyright 1957 Office Central de Lisieux.

First published in December, 1957, by M. H. Gill and Son, Ltd., Dublin. Reprinted in 2005 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. by permission of the Office Central de Lisieux.

ISBN: 978-0-89555-811-4

Cover illustration: Zlie Martin and little St.Thrse, from a painting by Sister Genevive of the Holy Face (Celine Martin).

Anyone who has received favors through the intercession of Louis and/or Zlie Martin may make them known to the Carmel of Lisieux, 37 rue du Carmel, 14100 Lisieux, France, or to the Postulator General of the Discalced Carmelites, Corso dItalia 38, 00198 Roma, Italy.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
2011

Our mother was abnegation personified, gifted with great courage, and an extraordinarily energetic character. She had a very sensitive and very generous heart, turned always to God, in whom she had a truly heroic confidence.

The sisters of St. Thrse

Letter of His Excellency Msgr. Picaud, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, to Sister Genevive of the Holy Face, of the Carmel of Lisieux.

Bayeux, May 3, 1954.

My dear Daughter in Jesus Christ,

Your Mother Prioress has asked you to take up your pen again in order to give us, as a diptych, together with that of your admirable father, the portrait of your incomparable mother.

Wholeheartedly, I give my blessing to this undertaking which completes the work that I had suggested to you and your sisters, ever since my arrival in the Diocese of Bayeux. I have always been convinced that you alone were the qualified witnesses to give the moral characteristics of your parents, who may be considered as providential models, to be held up for the imitation of our modern fathers and mothers of families. The tasks and obligations imposed on the latter are so heavy and laborious that it is right to encourage them by holding up the shining light of such examples. We have no right to keep them hidden.

Doubtless, Mme. Martins most lively and entertaining correspondence has already made known many aspects of her virtue. It has won for her many sympathetic admirers, but does not her humility hide away several other noble characteristics? Your personal remembrances, in addition to those of your older sisters, will succeed in revealing her completely to us.

I offer you, therefore, my dear Daughter, my most paternal good wishes for a widespread distribution of your filial testimony regarding your father and mother. It will give glory to God, and, at the same time, to your saintly sister, the blessed fruit of grace of that chaste union.

Franois-Marie

Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux.

The moral portrait of the father of St. Thrse of the Child Jesus, outlined by our dear Sister Genevive of the Holy Face, has aroused in many readers and friends the desire of having similar testimony in regard to the mother of our saint.

We ourselves feel very strongly how appropriate and right it is to collect all these precious memories of the last surviving member of that blessed family, and we heartily agree with so legitimate a desire. None of these treasures should be lost, for their good to souls becomes more and more striking. We are aware especially of a growing movement, the echoes of which reach us from all parts of the world, of veneration for and confidence in the saintly parents of St. Thrse of the Child Jesus.

That explains the object of this booklet, in which Sister Genevive of the Holy Face completes with her pen the description of her heroic mother, whom her artistic talent had already helped us to know and to love.

The Carmelites of Lisieux.

I was only eight years and four months old when my mother died. Consequently, my recollections of her are necessarily limited. But at the time of the publication of The Story of a Soul and of The Story of a Family, I very often questioned my older sisters about our mother. In that way I collected many notes which concern her.

It is this collection of notes and facts assembled by Mother Agnes of Jesus and myself, that constituted the basic documentation for The Story of a Family. On that account, also, The Story of a Family may be considered as having been completely inspired by us. It is authentic.

In this particular collection, dealing especially with my mother, for the sake of greater clearness, I shall place under different headings my own recollections and those from our family archives. The restricted scope of this booklet does not permit the publication of her many letters (about two hundred letters have been printed).quote from the letters of my own sister, Marie, who lived at home the last two years of my mothers life.

When in the course of my recollections I use the term saint in regard to my mother, or quote other testimonies which employ the term, I do not intend to give to that expression other than a purely personal and private significance.

And first of all, as a heading for all these testimonies, I place as a faade description the characteristic trait of our mother which was stressed by my sisters at the Process of Beatification and of Canonization of the Servant of God, St. Thrse of the Child Jesus. This is their testimony:

Our mother was abnegation personified, gifted with great courage, and an extraordinarily energetic character. She had a very sensitive and very generous heart, turned always to God, in whom she had a truly heroic confidence.

Sister Genevive of the Holy Face

and of St. Teresa,

O.C.D., Carmel of Lisieux

January 2, 1954.

Zlie Gurin, my mother, was born on December 23, 1831, near Alenon, in the township of Gaudelain, where her father, a veteran of the Imperial Army, was enrolled in the constabulary. She was baptized the following day in the local church, and received the name of Marie Azelia. However, she was always known as Zlie.

Her mother, a woman of strong faith, but rather too austere, did not understand her and treated her highly-sensitive nature too harshly, which caused her to write, later on, that her youth was as sad as a winding-sheet. A single detail shows us the picture: though she would have given anything for it when she was a child, Zlie never had a doll, even the smallest one. She suffered from frequent headaches, and this added to the painful atmosphere.

Together with her older sister, who was to become a Visitation nun, as Sister Marie-Dosithe, Zlie became a day pupil at the boarding school of the Perpetual Adoration, at Alenon, directed by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Picpus. She was a very gifted pupil, and developed a tender and solid piety in that religious atmosphere. A little brother, Isidore, ten years younger, was then in his infancy.