AnneLine Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thank you everyone. I'm running low on props, but you are all propped in my prayers.... :saint2: :saint2: :saint2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archaeology cat Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thank you again. For those who don't know, Leo has the rare problem of pediatric gallstones (incidence of .15-.22%). They have tried medication to no avail. He had more lab work today (heartbreaking!) to check his liver, among other things, and we'll have the results at the specialist appointment next Friday. As long as I avoid any remotely fatty, acidic, or fried foods, and dairy and soy in any form, he does pretty well. He's a very happy baby overall, thank God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Praying! my mom had gall stones a few years back and I remember how much pain she was in when something would trigger an attack, I can't even imagine what it would be like for an infant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Poor little guy has my prayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysisterisalittlesister Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 So many prayers for Leo! That novena is beautiful, Anneline :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beati Pacifici Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Praying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Day 2 - Novena Here is some more information about the lives of Bl. Louis and Bl. Zelie, from the website of the Discalced Carmelites of Australia: "Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux France on 22nd August 1823.... Marie Azelia Guerin was born near Alencon France on 23rd December 1831. She was baptised the next day in the local church; was always known as Zelie and later became Zelie Martin.... "Louis was a watchmaker/jeweller and Zelie a lace maker. After a formal religious engagement of three months they married at midnight on 13 July 1858 in the church of Notre Dame in Alencon France. They settled in Alencon from where they conducted their businesses. Some time after the marriage Louis took on the business management of Zelie’s lace making enterprise." "The couple were married for nineteen years before Zelie’s death from breast cancer in 1877. They created a close, caring, family home, where love of God and neighbour were taught and practised. Of their nine children, two of the girls and both boys died at early ages...." Read more about this fascinating couple here: http://www.carmelite.com/saints/default.cfm?loadref=111 This video shows the family home in Alencon, France, where Louis and Zelie lived, and where Therese was born. You may recognize the red-covered bed at the end of the video as the same one that little Pietro Schillero was shown sitting on in yesterday's entry! It is also where St. Therese was born, and in which Zelie died. Pilgrimage visit to St. Therese's birthplace, Alencon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP3fxPwpguc Novena Prayer God of eternal love, You give us Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese, as an example of holiness in marriage. They remained faithful to You in all the duties and trials of life. They desired to raise their children to become saints. May their prayers and example help Christian family life to blossom in our world today. If it be your will, grant me the grace I now ask of You, through the intercession of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, and let them be counted among the Saints in Your Church. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ..................................................... Edited March 1, 2013 by AnneLine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Bump (had to post today last night, and wanted to be sure you all saw it....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissyP89 Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Arch Cat, I may not stick with this novena but will keep you and Leo in my prayers. Hang in there, both of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) Day 3 - Novena I'm going to share a little more about Louis and Zelie today.... Some of you may know that both Louis and Zelie discerned whether or not they might have religious vocations before they discerned marriage. Louis trained as a watchmaker, but felt called to religious life. He wanted to enter the Swiss Abbey of St. Bernard. However, when he presented himself at the abbey, he was told he needed to learn Latin prior to entrance. He had never learned the language, because his training had not been in a classical college, but in a commercial apprenticeship. He went back to Alencon, engaged a Latin tutor... but was not successful in learning the language. After several years of trying, he realized he wasn't going to be able to follow that dream. He instead worked as watchmaker... and was from all accounts an EXCELLENT watchmaker. He settled down into a quiet life as a Catholic layman in a small town, doing his work, active in his parish, enjoying fishing and hiking and other solitary pursuits. He was very happy... but his mother was not pleased. She wanted him to be married.... and apparently determined that she would do something about this! Alencon, where Louis and Zelie lived, is at the center of the French lacemaking trade. It was common for women to take classes to learn this skill, which was one that took many years to perfect, and which was a very well-paid skill. It was also one that young women realized could be continued even after marriage and raising a family. Mme. Martin had been taking lacemaking classes, and her eye settled on Zelie Guerin, a young and very capable lacemaking student. About six years younger than Louis, Zelie Guerin had also discerned religious life with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Zelie's older sister had entered the Visitation Nuns, and she and Zelie were very close. Zelie had wanted to join the Daughters, but she was refused admisison by the mother superior. It's possible that the superior was concerned by what she saw of Zelie's mother, who was from all accounts a very strict, overbearing woman. After being refused admission to religious life, Zelie decided she had best plan on a marriage, and decided learn to lacemaking so she could accumulate her dowry. That was where and how she encountered Louis' mother! Louis and Zelie met about three months before their marriage... and there is a good possibility that Mme. Martin played a part in their 'accidental' meeting on a bridge in Alencon. That's not a lot of time for an engagement even by 19th Century standards! Zelie was startled (and dismayed!) when her new husband announced on the afternoon of their marriage that he wanted to have them live as sister and brother rather than as man and wife! She told her sister at the Visitandine Monastery in Caen that she was very unhappy at this prospect. She had wanted to give her life to God, and He had refused her the opportunity to be a Sister; then she wanted to marry so she could have many, many children... and now look what had happened! Her sister didn't know what to tell her! After about eighteen months, their local parish priest lovingly counseled them to reconsider what God wanted from them. He told them that they were not suposed to find God in SPITE of being married but THROUGH being married, and pursuaded them to have a normal married life, and that they should be open to having children. They took his advice, and ultimately they had nine children, seven girls and two boys. Five of the daughters lived to adulthood, three died as small babies, and one as a child of about 5. (Losing children in infancy and early childhood was a sad but normal thing in the 19th Century.... which didn't make it easier to bear.) Their youngest daughter, Marie Francoise Therese, was called 'Little Therese' from birth -- because she was named for her older sister, Marie Melanie Therese, who had died shortly beforehand. 'Little Therese' is someone we know very well: she is known to us as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and Holy Face, and she is a Doctor of the Church. After his marriage, Louis gave up his watch making business and helped Zelie with her lacemaking work. More about that--and about Therese's sisters!--on another day! Today's video is an overview of Louis and Zelie's daughters that survived to adulthood. All of Therese's sisters lived to their eithties and nineties, dying in the 1940's and 1950's. Her OLDER sister, Celine, lived until 1959!!!! Three of them were members of the same Carmelite community that St. Therese lived in. The middle daughter, Leonie, became a Visitation nun at the same convent in Caen where Zelie's older sister lived! There are those who would like to see all the sisters beatified... and that's why there is a prayer toward that end in the video! The pictures of the four Martin sisters as middle aged women were taken at the time of the inquiry into St. Therese life prior to her beatification and canonization. You will also notice a piece of artwork toward the end of this video showing ALL the Martin children and their parents. It's beautiful to think of them that way, but that image couldn't have happened... St. Therese never met her older brothers and sisters who died young. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNdkzH2lAow Novena Prayer God of eternal love, You give us Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese, as an example of holiness in marriage. They remained faithful to You in all the duties and trials of life. They desired to raise their children to become saints. May their prayers and example help Christian family life to blossom in our world today. If it be your will, grant me the grace I now ask of You, through the intercession of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, and let them be counted among the Saints in Your Church. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Image of Bl. Louis and Bl. Zelie unveiled at the time of the Beatification. It is the work of artist Fabienne Bayi, shown beside the sculpture.) Edited March 2, 2013 by AnneLine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissyP89 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Lady AnneLine wishes to inform the pham that she's away from the computer right now but will post Sunday's entry as soon as she's able. For now, keep praying Leo and his mama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Will do. Kinda figured that was the case; AL does not forget prayers :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Thank you, Missy, for passing on that message! And thank you Missy & BG for knowing I hadn't forgotten you'all... :) Will post a very quick one in a few moments... and then Monday's links shortly afterwards. Doing what I can...... :) :) Praying for all of you in fact!!!!! :) :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 (edited) Day 4 - Novena Today we will look more specifically at Louis and Zelie and how they dealt with problems and struggles. It was written by a Discalced Carmelite Bishop, Guy Gaucher, who has made St. Therese and her family a special area of study. This fine article wa s issued for the fourth anniversary of their beatification, last year. http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/my-blog-about-st-therese/2012/7/11/louis-and-zelie-martin-a-marriage-of-love-by-guy-gaucher-ocd.html/ This is a picture of the home that Louis and the daughters moved to in Lisieux after Zelie's death. They did so at Zelie's request so the girls could be close to the family of Zelie's brother, Isidore and they daughters. Here's a picture of a young woman working on some of the lace.... and of a sample of the lace... but it is NOT a picture of Zelie working on it!): Zelie's specialty was in combining all the little strips of lace that the various lacemakers in her employ created. Louis also helped by designing the tiny patterns, a skill very comparable to the fine watchmaking work that he had done while employed in his own watch and clock making business. I also think it is wonderful that Louis had saved some of Zelie's lace for Therese's wedding gown when she was received as a Carmelite nun. That gives me a special insight into his very romantic heart.... In case anyone is interested, below is an excellent video on the making of Point d'Alençon Lace. The video is in French, but I think you'll be able to enjoy it even if you don't speak the language. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBws14YwHgw Another article on Zelie and the children.... http://nobility.org/2012/07/12/zelie-martin/ Novena Prayer God of eternal love, You give us Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of St. Therese, as an example of holiness in marriage. They remained faithful to You in all the duties and trials of life. They desired to raise their children to become saints. May their prayers and example help Christian family life to blossom in our world today. If it be your will, grant me the grace I now ask of You, through the intercession of Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, and let them be counted among the Saints in Your Church. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Edited March 4, 2013 by AnneLine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Below is a picture of a piece of lace that was created by Bl. Zelie and presented to Pope Leo XIII for his Jubilee as a present from the Diocese of Bayeux. I had heard before that her work was exceptional... but this is truly magnificent. I cannot imagine the hours of work it represents.... the video (above) shows how each little detail is picked out from plain thread. If you want to read more, here is the link that appeared in the last post.... If you click on the link in the article, you can enlarge the piece of lace. http://nobility.org/...2/zelie-martin/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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